Rav Aaron Dovid Poston: Moses Was Late in Coming Down from the Mountain

[music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] >> Shalom aleichem everybody. Welcome back to the Yuba and May Midrash. Welcome home to Torah a warm welcome home to Torah. As you all know, we deal with the clear car specifically the book called year giborim. So it's a little bit off the beaten path. Right? Everyone's familiar with the clear Yakar. Well, the clear car of Ephraim also wrote many other swarming and that's one of them. So I encourage people to go on to the website and um basically there's a link down below. You find the year, the title and you'll follow along in the Hebrew sheets if you can. If you want to be on the email list for the English sheets, send me an email. Okay, we're in for a real treat tonight. He always deals with the fundamentals of Judaism and we will not be uh what's the word? We won't we won't be uh we won't be at a loss. Okay, so he begins with a famous um idea. Famous verse we all know it's the first verse of the parashah. Okay, so source number one. Ki Tisa Rosh Bnei Yisrael lifkudeihem. When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, what do you do? Each person is going to give a kofer nafsho laHashem some type of a uh an atonement. Going to give an atonement to the Hashem for your soul when they are counted. Um b'skol otam and guess what will happen as a result? There will be no plague among them when they are counted. Lo yihiyeh vahem negef b'skol otam. So we know that what? What we know? That we don't count Jews. We don't count Jews, right? You're looking for a million, you make sure you have a million, so you can count the different verses have 10 words in them. Uh you can count kippah, you can count chairs. So, we don't count Jews. It happens to be if I'm not mistaken, it's the Abarbanel who holds that you're allowed to count. But, you have to give to daka afterwards. So, then So, just think look at the verse for a second, right? So, when you do make a census, so each person is going to give a coin, right? The half shekel. Everyone's going to give the same amount. Cuz if it wasn't the same amount, it would be difficult to know. So, you give the same amount, the same coin, and you count the coins. That's what we did in the desert, and that's the idea. But, listen what it says, "Let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted." So, the Abarbanel has has a leg to stand on. When you count, you have to give some kind of kapara, some kind of atonement for your soul. Okay, and that's what Rashi mentions, right? It says in the middle, right? They're going to give each a half shekel, and you shall count the shekels. We don't count them by the head. We saw it by King David in Second Samuel chapter 24, where there was a plague due to the fact that he counted. Okay. So, the Midrash, it's actually a Midrash in Midrash Tanhuma. I couldn't find in Gemara Shekalim, but I'm sure it's there somewhere. He brings down in the Yerushalmi in Shekalim, "Lama yisnu machatzit ha-shekel?" Why did each person have to give that amount? In other words, so okay, they all have to give the same amount, but why that amount? What's the half shekel? And there are lots of commentators, plenty of commentators explain why have Sheko. My the famous one that I really like is that each person should feel that they're only half. Right? Number one. Right? The man shall not be alone, right? It's not good for man to be alone. So, the idea is you need a partner or you need a community. The idea is you should not be considered yourself totally independent and self-sufficient. That's not good. So, that's one idea, but that's not the idea he brings from the Gamara here and Midrash Tanhuma. Yefei she hatu be hatz hayom. Because the Jews sinned with half a day. Half a day. Day is 12 hours. So, they sinned in the sixth hour. They sinned with six hours. What does that mean? So, look in Exodus 32:1. When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron. So, in the sixth hour, what does it mean? In Hebrew, Vayar ha'am ki beshesh Moshe leredet min hahar. What is beshesh? It really means to be delayed. Rashi says right away in Targum Onkelos, okher. Right? It's an expression of lateness. And he gives a few other verses as proof that beshesh bosh has to do with lateness. But, if you read the Rashi clearly, um the rest of it speaks about the very fact that they were um maybe counting wrong. They didn't understand that the day that he said, "I'm going to be coming down to you in 40 days." That the when do you start those 40 days? So, it was still daybreak. It was still during the day. And it was only really starting from that night. So, they were already off by x amount of hours. Okay, you look at it. They were off by x amount of hours. The truth is there's another way to look at it, and that is how do we Jews count time? Right? As a new day from sunset. And perhaps because it was pre Mount and Torah, the idea is that perhaps they were counting as non-Jews. That that was a day and wasn't a new day. Okay, but that's for another time. The point here is that they sinned with half a day, with 6 hours. And if you look at the Hebrew, "Vayar am kibshesh." But don't read it as "bashesh", read it as "boshesh". He came in the sixth. He was delayed by six. That's one opinion. That's why That's why what? That's why we give a half a shekel because it was a half a day. The "chan amar lifi she avru al aseres hadibros." Another opinion is that we transgressed transgressed all 10 commandments. "Vifikach because we transgressed all 10 commandments, yasnu kol echad mechatzis hashekel." Therefore, we had to give half a shekel. Does that make any sense? No, not yet. Wait until you hear what he has to say. Because in the shekel, there are 10 gera. Gera are like sub parts of a shekel. Okay? It's a measurement. And A gera is 1/20 of a holy shekel, which is 0.57 g of silver. Okay. So, since there are 20 geras in a shekel, therefore 10 are half a shekel, and 10 geras is representing the 10 commandments that we transgressed. Clear as mud? Okay, so that is the medrish. Again, I just want to reiterate that a lot of times, remember this is like a 20-page essay, we're only going to get a page and a half in. So, we may not see the full connection between why he brought this medrish and his essay. But with God's help, in the future years, we'll get further. So, let's begin with the clear cut so. "Kvar hiskarno." Now, I don't know where he mentioned it because I haven't read the whole >> [clears throat and cough] >> the whole Eer Giborim. But, he says Bishas Teshuvah, at the moment that somebody does Teshuvah, when we're doing Teshuvah, the Indian Maaseh Haegel Besivto, they they must include this sin of the golden calf and everything that caused it. Al Derech Amram Zal in Gemara Avodah Zarah, it brings down and I'm going to call cryptic because we have to really decipher it. Lo Hayu Yisrael Ruin Lo Oisin Maaseh Ela Kedai Leitein Piskon Pelah Baalei Teshuvah. It sounds what it's saying and we'll see the actual source itself in the source number uh source number four. Let me just tell you what I think it's referring to. This idea that the Jewish people really weren't sinners. In fact, if you really think about it, who was responsible? The Erev Rav. There were 3,000 Jews and I'm going to say only 3,000 Jews that were killed on account of the sin of the golden calf. If we as a people were really guilty of the worshipping the golden calf, a lot more than 3,000 people would have been killed. They were the ones who enticed it. They're the ones who who pushed it. They're the ones who created all the fake news surrounding it. Okay? So, this idea is that we weren't really that bad, but it happened anyway. And it happened in a in a certain way, in a certain reason, so that later on people will say, "Wow, they sinned with some of the most severe sins, and yet they repented. And they repent that means I can repent. I'm not even as bad I didn't break all 10 commandments in one shot. And yet, like and I'll just give an example of the idea that they did break off the three top. And if they broke the three top, then we're sure they broke the bottom seven, right? So, we know that they committed I adult- idolatry, idolatry. And if you saw the movie, they had belly dancing in their movie, but basically there was fornication going on and there was murder. Korah was murdered trying to stop. So, if they committed from what we know, the big top three, the ones you're supposed to die as a you know, before committing, then for sure they could have transgressed transgressed even the lower ones. Okay, so this idea that Israel wasn't really fit, they weren't really worthy of even committing such a crime, nevertheless, this is somehow an opening for other people in the future, if they ever sin, to say, "Well, if they could do teshuvah, certainly I can do teshuvah. There's nothing holding me back. If they were repented they were atoned for, I could be atoned for as well." And this statement can be clarified and is clarified when we think about all the possible questions that can come up. Now, including this idea is that maybe a inference that if we're saying that the Jewish people were not really fit for that particular mitzvah, meaning to to worship or to slaughter animals to the golden calf, but however, they were fit for a different mitzvah. And that I'm not sure I'm not so sure not so clear about what that mitzvah acher could have been, but we'll continue. And could be teshuvah. This is what were they were thinking. We're now in the minds of those who committed this grave sin of worshipping [clears throat] the golden calf. What did they think? Who did we hear the 10 Commandments from? We have various I'm going to call them discrepancies. Right? It sounded like we heard them all from Hashem. It sounded like we might have even heard them at one shot. Could be we only heard the first two. Okay? And that's really what we're going with, that they only heard the first two and they said, "Whoa, Hashem, this is way too much. You know what? Let Moses be the spokesperson from now on and we'll hear the rest from him." Look in Exodus chapter 20 verse 16. They said to Moses, number five on the source sheet, they said to Moses, "You speak with us and we will hear, but let God not speak with us lest we die, right? Right? Let you speak and we will listen. Okay? If that's the case, they could have thought and they probably did think, "You know what? These 10 Commandments that were that CV8, well, let's just put them in a in a big basket. These Commandments that Moses tells us, you know what? Maybe he made them up. He invented them. But the millibo, he fabricated them in his heart. So, if that's true that he invented them, well, that's what we're thinking. If it's true that we're thinking that he invented them, so then when God says, "Come up and get the tablets," Moses is going to say, "Well, that's going to prove me wrong. I'm going to go up with the tablets and the tablets are not going to match what I told them cuz what I told them, I made up. I'm going to bring the tablets, they're not going to match. So, I'm I'm by ash, I'm too embarrassed and ashamed. It's a loose end in fact. Um Right? He that he's embarrassed to come because then God might not even want to give him the they're not going to match. And that's brings us back to our verse when it says perhaps the word is related to the word right? That the people saw that Moses was embarrassed or ashamed. Cuz this is all what they're thinking that he made invented the whole thing. So, they actually note in chapter 89A. You see this number seven on the source sheet. And this is going to be very interesting as we go through it. I'm going to just read the Hebrew on the sheet. So, it seems like we can explain just in the simple way. They thought he died and we mean he went up to the heavens alive, but he's no longer human. He's purely an angel like and just seem to go to the next world. Um see by him it says regarding angels. In Isaiah chapter 6 verse 2. You see this in number eight that the stood for above for him. Six wings, six wings to each one. With two he would cover his face and with two he would cover his feet and with two he would fly. So, this is a description of the angels having six wings. So, the idea of covering their face look at so as not to look at the even the angels would have to cover their face not to look at the Shekinah. So, two of the wings would cover the face, two would cover the feet for modesty, meaning that you're around the Shekinah, you don't want to show your entire body and not to bear his entire body before the creator. And um And why two? They they fly, right? Angels. We saw on Purim a few angels walking around with wings. So, they two wings to fly, two wings to cover their face, two wings to cover their feet. So, this word, cuz the word six is shesh. Okay, so that's what they thought that Moses became angelic. Great. And that's the verse. This is a marker tube. Now, this is a little bit of a typo. This is going back to um to our verse in chapter 32, verse one. Where it says bo shesh. So, that's means that he came with six. Meaning six. Six wings. It was tough on him the man he got here. So, since he's no longer human being, now he's angelic, we are requiring we're we're looking forward to having a different uh a different um leader. Just as a side point, I I discussed this several times. What was going through the erev rav's mind that um Remember, cuz even though Aaron threw the gold into the fire, he didn't construct it. He didn't make it. It came out like a golden calf. So, I'm just making the assumption that it came out as a calf number one cuz God made it come out as a calf. But, what was on their minds? What was the intention of the erev rav that it came out like a calf? And the Kli Yakar explains in another in another place that going back to the 10th plague. The 10th plague firstborn are killed and the Jews are told go to all the homes and ask to borrow the gold, the wealth, cuz you're leaving, but ask them borrow it from them. What was Moses doing? He went down to the Nile and he said, "Ali sure, Ali sure." What was Ali sure? Sure and a calf are the same family here, right? One's an adult, one's a child. So, the idea was that Moses went down to bring up the bones of Joseph and he wrote on a little piece of clay, Hashem's name, and he says, "The sure should rise, the sure should rise." Who's the sure? We see in the brochos of Yakov, we see in the brochos of Moshe, and throughout other parts of Tanach, we see that Joseph is referred to the as the sure, right? Even as the calf will as the sure will look up, right? With the when we were in the in the desert and the enemies saw us coming, Moab and Midian, it was due to the revengeance that they thought that Joseph was going to take out on them cuz the Midianites were involved in the sale. Okay, that's a little bit deeper and not for now. But, um the idea is that Moses Joseph made his children swear that they ain't leaving without his bones. So, if Moses was the most important person, he's the guy who's the leader and now he's missing with the power of Joseph is why we left Egypt. It was with the power of Joseph because Joseph made everyone swear, you ain't leaving without my bones. And the the everyone's looking for money and Moses is looking for the bones. And it was only because And not only that, the sea split because the sea saw the sea saw his bones and they they sensed his bones. As it says that when he ran away from Potiphar's wife, Mrs. Potiphara, that um he it was he ran, he ran away, the anos. And so too, when the sea split, the same word is used that it it departed and ran the other ran up the other, you know, upstream so to speak. Okay. So there's a connection over there between Joseph's bones and why the calf between Joseph and the calf. So that that Remember, we the Jews are Yisrael. We go straight to God. And okay, Moses is an intermediary, but Moses the voice that came out of emanated from Moses' uh what do you call it? The larynx was actually God's the voice of God. Okay, remember Moses was a stutterer and didn't have uh the ability to speak well. But when he spoke, it was Hashem's voice. Um why did I bring that up? Because the Jews want to have a connection directly with Hashem. I'm sure the rest of the world also does. And they can. That's what I can tell you. They can. They can accept Noachide laws uh as commanded at Har Sinai. Okay, let's move on. So he says, "Amnam." Third line down from the bottom. Amnam the theme of should be Arnu Nuchal Lefaresh Lashon Busha. Okay. However, according to what we already explained, we certainly know we can explain this according to the explanation that there was a shame, a certain bush involved. Shisoso Ishu Bush Lavu Me'achar Shelo Nit Amto Divorav. Right? That he was embarrassed after the fact that perhaps his own words would not be justified. He couldn't uh certify his own words. Kilachak Nikru Luchos Sa'edus. This is exactly why the tablets called the tablets of testimony. The tablets of witness. Shayu Edus La'ames Divrei Mosha. That they actually serve as testimony to certify, to make true, to show the truth of Moses' own words. Kilu Luchos Ayam Maisa Nisim. This is when it says come it's come mem and the samach. That inside the Luchos, by the way, this is a very interesting idea. The the the the the tablets were engraved all the way through. I mean, no matter which angle you were, remember there's how many sides? Six. They were cubes. They weren't just like uh tablets. They call them tablets, but they were cubes. There's six sides to a cube. No matter which side you looked at, it wasn't like, you know, when you're driving in a car and you're looking at an ambulance and it's in the front of the ambulance it's actually spelled like in a mirror backwards. And the reason for that is so that in your rearview mirror you see the word ambulance. Okay? You know that. Now, if you didn't know that, it's one thing you learned today. So, but the tablets on the other side were not like that. It wasn't a mirror image. Doesn't matter what side you're on, you were able to read it correctly. You know what I mean? Correctly. But the the mem in in the Assyrian script which we use, this is one of the proofs that I don't know there's detractors, people who don't really like the Jews that much. Um they say that we invented that the whole alphabet and the language, the font that we use. The truth is that was the font that was used on the tablets. It was later not in use as we wrote it back, but that's a whole 'nother story. The claim here is that the mem and the samach I'm talking about the final mem. And the samach have what you would look as I don't know I'm going to call it a donut, a donut hole. Okay? And it would levitate it. So, within the um these tablets, the very fact that the the hole or the whatever, the donut hole of the mem and the samach levitated, everyone could see this was the word of God. This was the finger of God. It wasn't that Moses uh not only invented these things that he actually wrote the 10 Commandments on the tablets. No, it was a miracle. It was It was God wrote it with his finger, so to speak, and there was no way to dispute that. Because of the miracle of the mem and the samech By a miracle, those middle pieces were hanging or levitating. Had it not been for this miracle who who then maybe they would say that Moses was the one who he's the one who engraved it. Because he wrote he wrote the the the script that's on the on the tablets. Against the will of God. In other words, it wasn't God's will. Moses made the whole thing up. But now we're going back to the original thought that the people thought perhaps Moses was embarrassed. Right? Because he he invented the whole thing. Because he wasn't able to um explain his own words. And that's why they This is the explanation according to why did those people, at least the 3,000 Jews and the Arab transgress Moses' words cuz they didn't believe him. But afterwards But the real question is, if that's all the case, why did they transgress those two? Specifically those two. You follow? We're building up to crescendo here. It was specifically the ones they heard from God. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other. I'll I'll Moses wouldn't even need to prove his point. He wouldn't have to clarify anything. And yet and the point here is that what did they end up doing? They ended up transgressing all, not just those two, but all the 10 Commandments according to this thesis. And going back to that uh Mish the uh the Gamara in in Shekalim, Midrash Tanhuma, where it says Israel really wasn't fit to do the crime. They were specifically that that the two Commandments they weren't fit to to do that crime. Again, referring to something else, which we're not sure what it means. And perhaps this is the answer that um that the the matter the real reason behind it was the real reason. I'm going to translate as um meaning the ultimate reason. The real reason was after the fact that they saw them that they were um after the fact they were seen they saw them that they were they did this evil act. They not just test They weren't just confessing. They weren't just testifying to testifying, but to a certain sense that's what they were doing. They were testifying on this sin. And they transgressed everything else. Like I said, it was like a kal v'chomer. If they could transgress those two, they transgressed the other other eight as well. But again, why did they go and transgress those first two? Lika de litan piscon pal about chuva. This could be the mice here. This is what they were looking for. They wanted they wanted to give an opening for other people in the future to do chuva. Just like the man who collected the wood in the desert. Right? He knew that it was high mesa, there was a death penalty. But he knew that nobody knew which one it was. There's four different types of death penalty. He wanted to clarify it so that people would keep shabbos properly. And he went ahead and he collected the the wood on shabbos. Similarly litan piscon pal about chuva. I'm not missing a sukim of war shashi shachuva. But one thing, if you look through the the verses here in the parsha, we don't really see that the people did chuva. We know that Moses is davening for us. There's no question about it, so we should be forgiven. But shouldn't we only be forgiven if we did chuva? So what kind of chuva was there? The near the heavy kassat raya, according to the clear car, he wants to bring some proof, a little bit of proof that there was some chuva involved. And he's going to claim they're actually from the verses themselves, men of sukim. So if you look in Exodus 33:5. Now, the truth is I put here on the sheet 33:4 and 5. He goes with five number one. He starts out with verse five, and then he backtracks and go to four. So I want to read it in the same order that he brings it. Look at number nine on the source sheet, the second half. And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, you are a stiff-necked people. If I go up into your midst for one moment, I will destroy you. But now, take off your ornaments. Leave off your finery. The ornaments, what are the ornaments? These are the crowns that when we said na'aseh v'nishma, each Jew got two crowns, one for na'aseh and one for nishma. We will do and we will understand. It's a big deal because normally you say, "I ain't doing it until I understand." But the Jewish people, and this is the when we ask people convert, they're basically in the same position. That's what we did at Sinai, we converted. The Jews are converts. And anybody wants to convert, they basically can say, "Look, I don't understand it all, but the little I understand, I'm willing to do and I take by faith the rest is really good, too." So, I'm willing to do it and I'm willing to continue learning. Okay, so we had these 600,000 angels, they came and put two crowns on our head. After we sinned, there was 1,200,000 angels that came and took the crowns, the two different crowns, off of the heads of the 600,000 Jews. So, in verse five, it says that these crowns were basically removed. Remove your crowns. Now, what the Kli Yakar is going to ask, if they're being removed in verse five, look at verse four. Verse four says they didn't even put them on. One second, have Did we ever notice that? In verse four of chapter 33 of Sh'mot, when the people heard this bad news, they mourned and no one put on their finery. They didn't put on their crowns. Well, okay, if you want to talk about those crowns, maybe it's cuz the angels put them on, but the Kli Yakar is going to say there's different crowns. The ones they didn't put on, that's one thing. What they took off was the crowns that we just discussed. So, what are the crowns in verse four? Let's just look at the Kli Yakar. He says, it's on the right side on Rashi Tet, the rabim shaalim kan mah hayatsark l'tzavot lahem. There are many that ask here, like what need was there to command them to remove their crowns? After already says in verse four, right? We saw the first part, that it says, "Lo, shatu ish edyo Allah." They never even put them on. The kol echad meyashav she'ela zul ef siklo. Clear card saying, "Listen, everyone who comments on it has their own answer. I'm going to give you mine. I'm going to offer you my opinion." That's how he says the Omer Ani. Then when the when he says the Omer Ani, he's now offering his thesis. She'arei harishon, those original uh crowns or ornaments, she'lo shitu alayhem, that they never put on themselves. Hem kesarim hanosim lehem b'Har Sinai keneged. They were put on by the by the angels when they said na'aseh v'nishma. Now the atah avru al divrei atzmam, now that they themselves, I'm going to say they went against their own words, na'aseh v'nishma, well, they didn't. They violated the Torah, right? So now that they violated their own words, therefore their need by shoe, they themselves are embarrassed v'horidu kesarim, and they're removing their crowns. Aval amash ne'emar b'tzivui, "Horidu me'alaychem." Now going back to that verse five where it it actually says there was a command to remove from yourselves these crowns, these ornaments, eino medaber al oisin kesarim, it's not referring to those crowns. Keheim b'chol kishut, keheim b'chol kishut shehayu mitkashtim bahem. This is a different type of ornament. He's going to get into this idea we ornament ourselves. I'm going to use the word haughtiness. Somehow or another we the way we dress, the way we hold ourselves there's a certain amount of and maybe even like certain luxuries, you know, the gold chains and whatever it is, but that's what he's talking about. He's talking about regular uh type of kishut, a regular type of ornamental things you put on yourselves. V'deirech ba'al teshuvah she'neimo atzmo This is by way anybody who's a ba'al teshuvah, let's assume he wasn't uh circumcised and now he's circumcising himself eino machsheiv atzmo he's right someone who's a ba'al teshuvah and I I'm going to put converts and even people who convert to Noahide right? They get rid of their old self. They're going to remove from themselves all those adornments. K'dei shelo yichpotz yitzro olam l'tardo min olam. All the different things, whether it's the dress or the cars, who knows what it is, that we adorn ourselves with. If you're a real ba'al teshuvah, you're a real convert, you're a real you know, you accept upon yourselves and get rid of all your yashkas and what all that stuff, you're ready, you're basically you're you're when it says maybe when you circumcise yourself, maybe we're not talking about of the flesh. I don't know, but you're basically born again, okay? And born again in the truest sense as as Judaism teaches. Every morning we get up and we're renewed, our soul's given to us. So you you don't adorn yourself. And why don't you? K'dei shelo yichpotz yitzro so that the yetzer hara doesn't jump on you and tries to remove you remove you from this world like it says in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 13. What happens over there? >> [applause] >> So I also brought 14 because he also brings it. And your herds and your flocks multiply become into land of Israel and we are blessed, but the blessing might have a dance downside. Your herds and your flesh multiply, your silver and your gold increase, and all that you have increases. What luxury, what wealth. And what's the next verse? Verse 14, and your heart grows haughty and you forget the Lord. What is this about haughtiness? That's where the yetzer hara, it's coming through the heart. Veram levavcha we're going to see it you the the raising of the heart is referring to the um the haughtiness. So, that's what the Kli Yakar brings down. He says, "Ein levavcha ela hayetzer hara." In fact, there's two bets, right? Many times could have said livcha or levavcha or lev, but it says levavcha with two bets and we learn that the two bets represent the two different inclinations, the good inclination and the bad inclination. The negative inclination. And how do we know in Genesis chapter 8 verse 21? Look at number 11. This is "And the Lord smelled the pleasant aroma and the Lord said to himself, 'I will no longer curse the earth because of man.'" This is the time of Noach, "For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Ki yetzer lev adam ram minurav. Already from his youth. V'chein kan b'maaseh ha'egel, so too when it came to the sin of the of constructing and worshipping and slaughtering to the ego, it says over there in when the Gemara Berachos is quoting and the verse from Exodus 32:31, it says they made themselves a god of gold. Vaya'asu lahem elohei zahav. They made it from gold. Now, Moses, we ask the question, did the people do teshuvah or not? Where's the proof? Moses is saying to God, rebellion of shall I learn that Moses was begging for our forgiveness and he says to God, it's your fault. That is a chutzpah. But he did. He had that royal chutzpah. He's he's he's a good lawyer. He said, "God, they never would have made a golden calf had it not been for all the gold you gave them. You gave them too much. You gave them too much." That's what he says. Perish me wrote that to you because you did such good for them. They became haughty, proud. And because they thought different schemes up in order to um uh to what? To commit uh these evil deeds. That's what happened. Like it says in Gamoran the Darin, wait till you hear this in page 9B. So, Shimon HaTzaddik was familiar with a certain a particular person. This particular person was a Nazir. And how did he know him? Because he came to the base of Mikdash to get out of his Nazirite, his Nazirite Naziriteship. Which uh implied number one, he couldn't cut his hair while he was a Nazir. But when he becomes uh a tone for and he brings his sin offering at the end of his Naziriteship, he's going to get a haircut. So, the Gamoran the Darin explains being in a Nazir shall Shimon HaTzaddik hide in the Kashi Atzmo who park a love Israel at Tardo. The story is he was a shepherd. You can read the story. He was a shepherd and he went down to draw water from the spring and when he got a chance to look at his own face, figure. He saw what a beautiful beautiful handsome man, and it got to his head, and he realized this is uh actually, you know, this this this body is only going to be eaten away by maggots and and, you know, uh creepy crawly things in the ground. What's the point of all this? Even though I've been living my life as quite a handsome man, maybe, you know, took him to places he didn't want to go, and uh he became a Nazir. Uh maybe we should read it real quick. It's not that long at all. Uh he said to me, "I was a shepherd for my father in my city, and I went to draw water from the spring." It's number 14 on the source sheet. "I looked at my reflection in the water, and my evil inclination quickly overcame me and sought to expel me from the world. I said to myself, 'Wicked one, why do you pride yourself in a world that's not yours? Why are you so proud of someone who eventually be food in the grave for worms and maggots?' Meaning your body. And so he said, "I swear by the temple service that I shall shave you for the sake of heaven." Right? How do you get to shave your head for the sake of heaven? Become a Nazir, and at the end of the Nazirship, that's what he did. So that's the thing. So so then we're talking about the the haughtiness, the the cockiness. Somehow or another, the the aura that we build up for ourselves, whether with physically hair or maybe other ways we have pride. So he says like this, "K'mo kein kol oichez b'derech zeh, l'harbeitz b'kishut kishut." That anybody who follows in this way, right? Anyone who's oichez b'derech zeh, he's grabbing, he's seizing, he's following with this haughty haughtiness with these ornaments as who Megara Sahara bin Asha, you're just provoking the eight Sahara. That's all you're doing. You're provoking your eight Sahara. >> [snorts] >> You hear that guys? Al Derek Cole had go to the Yitzhak we have a growing sucker that explains the bottom line over there that Torah scholars have a greater Yitzhak hard than anyone else. Right? Because Hashem is giving us free will 50/50. So you can imagine you see these when I was growing up I only thought that these you know I didn't know too many rabbis, but I knew like um Boy Scout leaders, you know, or you know, science teachers like people who were like you know, you know, you could trust, you know, and um >> [snorts] >> and I just imagine these people never sinning, you know, they just were too pure, you know, yeah, you see pure people you never think of them as sinning, but the truth is they have a Yitzhak hard that's bigger than yours. And yes, they're not sinning, but they're fighting or they're overcoming. Okay, so this is a an ideal to look forward to that the greater you are in your Yitzhak hotov it's also going to mean the other great Yitzhak hard as well. So that's what it means. Al Derek Cole had go to the Yitzhak go to me men. And therefore me and it came from or through the sudden the the whole instigation and provocation to make the ego came from an evil point an evil place. The he sudden who Yitzhak the sudden by the way has several hats. That one of the hats is that he's a Yitzhak he's the sudden but he's Yitzhak he's the provoker he's the provoker he's going to be the persecutor and the instigator and he's also the Malach Hamaves. Malach Hamaves, he's the angel of death as well. And the executioner. K'mu vu Chazal, like Chazal explained in Gemara Shabbos, that we saw this already, "She'asatin hora l'hem d'mus arono shel Mosha ba'avir." Okay, so what happened was that the Satan tricked the people. He made it look like the word Well, the word arono, we'll call it coffin. Right? But we're going to It's a play on word, because the arono could just also mean the actual holy ark of that Moses made. Okay? So, somehow or another, it's kind of cryptic. There was a d'mus of Moses, there was some kind of image of the coffin of Mosha floating in the air. "V'amru lei, d'mus mitato." And they said, "This is the image of what? What's a mi- It could mean mita. A bed, like the deathbed, the the aron, the the coffin. Or mateh is a broom, but it would actually could mean a staff, a stick. The famous mateh of Mosha, the stick of So, we're going to go back and forth with all these imagery. That it was the d'mus of the mita or mateh of Mosha. "Rotzo lomar she'asatin she'asatin she'u he- yeitzer hara." We already know that the Satan is the yeitzer hara, the evil inclination. "Horeh l'hem b'choach hadimyon." He showed them with what? The power of imagination. It says the aron that "She'asah Mosha luchos." It's the actual ark that Moses had made for the luchos. That it was pareach ba'avir, it was somehow floating in the in the air. Okay? "Kolomar, as if to say shame on momish with the same of ruach. What was the click what was the sudden saying? The sudden was saying that whole thing you called the Torah it has no momashals. It's of no substance. It's just a figment of your imagination and it's just floating in air. It like can dissipate in a second. Oh, now that would mean >> [cough and clears throat] >> the mita. What about if you read it mit matesto that it was his staff? The an image of his staff. Why would it why would the sudden use the image of his staff? Ramada la mate shalosh shippable nisin. Remember it's like a magic wand, right? Seems like it seems like. I'm emphasizing it seems like a magic wand that the power of the kishuf the witchcraft was all in that that wand and the wand is sitting there in the sky looking you know it's the imagery of a a wand or the staff is in the sky. It was you this was the staff that activated all of the miracles. Kadesha yetu in order to trick them. In other words the the yetzer hara the sudden is always trying to confuse the people to make them make a mistake. The yom room what were they going to say? What could they say? Shakol mashu poel haya mikol hamaha hamate hayanas Derek shifu kish kishuf foot witchcraft. So they would say that all that was activated from the power of this uh staff and all was done Derek maksha foot through witchcraft. We will tell them chazal so chazal say now this is something amazing cuz the clear cut brings it down in other places. That by krias Yam Suf and Rashi says and there's other people that and the Gamara says it in Shmos Yud Daled Tes Zion Look at the number 16 and you shall raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it and the children of Israel should come in the midst of the sea on the dry land. You shall raise your staff. No. The word saying Haram means to throw it away, to let it go, to remove it. Remove it. In other words and do what? Raise your hand. Note to Es Yadcha. Stretch out your hand. Don't put your hand, don't leave in your hand this magic wand. Don't leave in your hand the staff because what are people going to say? It was the staff. It was Kishuf. No. Put it aside and just raise your hand. So in the movie they got it all wrong. Right? I think in the movie Charlton Heston's got the staff in his hand. When it says raise your staff, read it as and release the staff and stretch out your hand instead. Okay? And the Kli Yakar explains why that's so important. Heinu tesalekha hamata. To remove right? To remove it. Kedei shelo yomru she'ein bo koach la'asot chum davar rak hamata. The only power Moses had was in that thing. That's what people would say. No, in order to remove those thoughts that it was it was in the magic wand so to speak but really it was Moses. He could have done it with a click just by saying it. He didn't need that mateh. K'fi Perush Rabbeinu Bechayei Parshas Beshalach, Rabbeinu Bechayei also says this. L'kach her'elem hasatan hamateh. Again, we're going back We're sticking with this for a moment. With the staff could be You can read the rest also. with the bed, the iron. But the sudden showed this staff again or the bed Kadesh in order that they should be confused in this. Shalt thou and it all comes from the the power of the sudden which tried to confuse them and make them cause a mistake. That's why it says in the Midrash and Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says Zuvay Maves Yabiash This is in Psalms chapter 10 verse 1. So dying flies make putrid and foamy the oil of a perfumer. Um Zuvay Maves. Now the the yetzer hara is compared to a zuv to a fly. Why? The fly is always looking for raw flesh. So it's looking for an opening. Could be by the end of your right? By the end of your no the end of your Wherever it is looking for it cuz it doesn't have the power in the mouth. Whereas the Jew, the power is pifiyot. Right? The the the double-edged sword of the Jew is the mouth through Torah and through prayer. But the the the yetzer hara the the fly does not have the power in the mouth. So it's looking for raw. It's looking like an Amalek. It's looking for the the weak the weak flesh. Wherever it can find an opening. Um and uh so the clear card explains Aylu Erav Rav. This is the Erav Rav. This fly that's [snorts] hanging around a dead person or dead flies Shin im shu Zuvay Maves V'eish Rechan Sheyisrael Bagel. They cause a stench. The Erav Rav causes a stench amongst the Jewish people just like they did by the Egel. And it says over there in Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 12. While the king was still at his table, and this is referring to her at the Mount Sinai when we received the the the the Luchos the My spikenard gave strength its fragrance. Now, it sounds all nice, but you'll see from the Rashi it's a euphemism for the opposite. Let's look at Rashi. Um While the king was still at his table, the congregation of Israel replies and says, "All this is true. You bestowed good upon me, right? The Torah. But I repaid you with evil, right? The sin of the golden calf. For while the king was still at his table at his wedding banquet. Right? Where was the wedding banquet? That was the the wedding between the Jewish people and Hashem at Har Sinai. But my spikenard gave forth its fragrance. Now, that sounds good, but I said it's a euphemism for the opposite. Instead of saying gave forth its stench, right? Shir Hashirim does not want to say that. See, while the Shechinah was still at Sinai, I sinned with the golden calf. My scripture describes it with an expression of love. Gave forth its fragrance, but it really was not like that. It should have written stank or became putrid because the the scripture speaks euphemistically. Okay, so we're going to we're going to maybe read the last part. According to the Tosfos, it doesn't say stank because of the euphemism and does not say abandoned its fragrance all because of love. Remember, we say over and over again all day long, Hashem has a an infinite love for the Jewish people even when we sin. So, this is for all those anti-Semites out there. Yes, it's true, right? We have a covenant. And individually, individually, some of us are going to pay for the violation of that covenant. But as a nation, God made a promise that he would never get rid of the Jewish people. So, you're going to be you're going to have us. You anti-Semites, you're going to have us. So, but it's for our job to redeem each other, to help each other, to teach each other, um to give to each other, right? And we just over you know, we just passed through a holiday called Purim where Achdus and unity and not just that, we're experiencing through big anti-semitism in the world, but we're experiencing here in Eretz Yisrael uh sirens galore, right? Ballistic missiles hit and miss. Baruch Hashem, most of them are shot in the air. Baruch Hashem to uh Jewish ingenuity, which was given a gift by God. And uh for all you anti-semites who use all, I don't know, from iPhones and you know, medical ingenuity, I don't know what you're going to do without us. So, anyway, I always say, if you can't beat them, join them. And So, anyway, that's your choice. But at least you have the seven Noahide Laws to to fall back on. Anyway, with that, I'm going to end here even though we have pages and pages, but as Hashem, next year we'll continue onward. And uh wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom, a good life, and we'll see you next week as Hashem. >> [music and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Hashem Hashem [music] Hashem >> [singing]