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Okay,
you have the source sheet I hope.
Maybe it's printed in front of you or maybe not,
but here I'm going to start with the first source is a בית הבחירה,
מאירי in ראש השנה דף טז עמוד ב.
אף על פי שבכל יום ויום ראוי לאדם לפשפש במעשיו ולשוב מדרכו הרעה.
To translation:
although it would daily be worthwhile or worthy of a person to do introspection
and to return from his evil path.
Now why does one call it ראוי,
worthwhile?
Does that imply that it's not a religious obligation?
The language of ראוי,
what would that mean in the language of Maimonides which would say מצוה,
חובה?
No,
it doesn't seem to be saying that,
ראוי.
Now if you have a language similar to that in Maimonides,
that would be at the end of הלכות מעילה where the רמב"ם says over
there discussing טעמי המצוות,
actually it's very נוגע to last week's פרשה,
טעמי המצוות and חוקים,
whether there are reasons for it or not.
So the רמב"ם'ס language is at the end of הלכות תמורה and also at
the end of הלכות מעילה.
In מעילה it's פרק ח.
It says the end of the last הלכה in תמורה where he writes the
same language,
פרק ח מעילה הלכה ח,
the רמב"ם writes:
ראוי לאדם להתבונן במשפטי התורה הקדושה.
It is worthwhile to contemplate in the laws of our holy Torah ולידע and
to understand to the extent of emotional intelligence as we discussed multiple times in
the past.
חכמה is cerebral intelligence,
בינה is understanding,
and דעת is taking that cerebral understanding,
creating emotional intelligence.
Okay,
so the idea is you must basically,
it is worthwhile to contemplate להתבונן in the laws of the holy Torah and
to basically understand it to the extent that it becomes vivid and part of
your emotional intelligence.
סוף עניינם,
their purpose,
לפי כוחו,
according to your subjective capabilities.
Now this is clearly not discussing an objective reason,
but rather you must do your best to understand the way you can understand.
And this is called ראוי.
It's not called a מצוה,
not called a חובה,
but rather ראוי.
Well the source of this הלכה is actually described in מורה נבוכים in the
third volume,
in the thirty-first chapter or thirty-first where he describes since there is a פסוק
in חומש which says,
we're going to be reading it shortly,
that the nations of the world will say:
רק עם חכם ונבון הגוי הגדול הזה,
this is such a wise and knowledgeable nation.
אשר לו חוקים ומשפטים צדיקים,
which has חוקים,
which means statutes,
not דוקא civil order but statutes,
ומשפטים צדיקים,
which are just.
So the רמב"ם points out that we're talking about,
as I mentioned once,
we're not talking about someone which is a PhD in relative religion or in
jurisprudence,
but I would say the גירגשי farmer and the חיטי candlestick maker and the
חיווי baker,
you know the whole list over there,
and they will see basically that these חוקים and משפטים are חכמים צדיקים.
רמב"ם points out therefore it's clear that even to the layman pagan of כנען
in the times of the Bible,
they would look at the חוקים and say well these things make sense.
So obviously when we say that חוקים make no sense,
this is something rare.
We actually don't find it by most חוקים.
We only find it specifically if you really want to know by פרה אדומה
and by שעטנז.
That's where we find it.
All the other חוקים we can understand.
The רמב"ם himself writes that שלמה המלך understood all the חוקים except for פרה
אדומה.
That's what he writes in הלכות תמורה.
שלמה המלך:
אמרתי אחכמה והיא רחוקה ממני.
He understood the טעמים of the חוקים.
Well here the רמב"ם is telling you that even the גירגשי candlestick maker can
understand the חוקים and he didn't go to Harvard,
didn't go to Yale,
definitely not an Oxford scholar.
You know he wasn't a Fulbright כוילילניק.
אף על פי כן,
he can figure it out.
That's what he says.
So what since we see that the תורה says that the גוי can understand,
obviously when the תורה tells you that it means to say I think you
should try to understand.
understanding yourself.
That's the מקור of this רמ"א of the ראוי.
We're not talking about a religious obligation,
we're talking about a worthwhile activity.
In light of this,
the language of the מאירי is very almost startling,
which says that although it is not an obligation,
it is worthwhile,
ראוי.
Now what is the reason that it's ראוי?
You're going to see in two minutes.
You should do introspection and do תשובה.
The לשון is ראוי.
Okay,
that's an interesting concept over there.
Because when we talk about תשובה,
we usually talk about something which is not just ראוי,
but it's a חובה,
מצוה,
whatever you call it.
You're מחויב דעסיק בתשובה.
How do we have the language for that?
For example,
it says...
well,
okay,
we'll leave it at that at the moment.
So it seems to be implying here that the תשובה of every day is
not something which you're religiously obliged to do.
It's not based on a commandment,
but rather it's something which is a religious value.
What is the מקור of this?
So he says כמו שאמרו חז"ל,
as our חז"ל teaches in פרקי אבות in the second פרק,
the tenth משנה:
שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך.
Implying there's no חובה,
but it's worthwhile.
Because why?
Because if you don't do it לפני מיתתך,
you're going to end up in front of a brick wall up in עולם
האמת,
and that isn't going to be very pleasant.
So it's a religious value.
If you believe in שכר ועונש of בית דין של מעלה,
it is the right thing to do to prepare yourself for that משפט.
Like if you're going to have a serious litigation,
it is worthwhile to get a decent lawyer.
Okay,
so the same thing here,
it is worthwhile to do תשובה.
He's not discussing חובה or מצוה.
And this is the idea of תשובה בכל יום.
When you say סלח לנו and השיבנו every day,
לכאורה,
this is what he is talking about,
the שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך.
Okay,
something we have to understand.
He's implying that there's no מצות עשה of תשובה בכל יום.
Otherwise the לשון would make very little sense.
You have something similar to that and that is something which is very unique,
and that's in source 'ב in רמב"ם,
פרק ב' הלכות תשובה הלכה ז'.
If you look at source 'ג:
יום הכיפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל.
That is the time of תשובה for all,
whether ליחיד,
whether for the single person,
or לרבים,
or for the multitudes.
והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל.
This is a set time for מחילה and סליחה.
I will explain that a little later on in the series,
what's the difference between that.
לפיכך,
thus,
because of that,
not because there's a מצוה of סליחה מחילה,
חייבים הכל לעשות תשובה ולהתוודות ביום הכיפורים.
Now there's no פסוק anywhere in the תורה says that you have to do
תשובה on יום כיפור.
רמב"ם טאקע points out what the לשון חייבים of this רמב"ם is really very
interesting.
Where does this come from?
Oh,
this comes from a,
let's see if I have it here.
If I have it here,
that'll be very good.
Let me find it.
Right,
in source כ"ה.
The source of that רמב"ם is an אור זרוע,
חלק ב' הלכות יום הכיפורים סימן רע"ז.
Discussing יום הכיפורים,
he says:
התחלת ערב כיפורים.
ערב יום הכיפורים,
let's,
okay,
we'll read all of it.
מנהג לטבול,
the מנהג is to go to the מקווה.
ולבקש מחילה כל מי שחטא לחברו,
you ask forgiveness from anybody that you basically did a transgression against his honor
or his will,
etc.
כדאשכחן דרב דאזל גבי ההוא טבחא,
he went to that butcher that somehow there was some kind of infringement on
his dignity,
במעלי יומא דכיפורא,
ערב יום כיפור.
וגבי רב חנינא תריסר מעלי יומא דכיפורא.
והראיה שטובלים מדאמרינן במדרש תנחומא סוף פרשת ואתחנן שמע ישראל.
רבנן אמרי:
אבל ביום הכיפורים שהן נקיים כמלאכים.
אומרים אותו בפרהסיא.
So we see,
that's when we say ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו בפרהסיא.
ואמרינן בפרקי דרבי אליעזר ראה סמאל שלא מצא חטא.
He couldn't find a sin בישראל ביום הכיפורים.
אמר לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא רבונו של עולם יש לך עם אחד בארץ כמלאכי
השרת.
You have one nation in this whole world like the angels.
מה מלאכי השרת יחפים.
יחפי רגלים,
just as the מלאכי השרת don't have shoes,
in other words what's the idea behind it?
Shoes are there basically in order that you should be able to walk as
כמבואר בפסוק it says נעלך it's discussed over there doesn't it says שמלתך לא
בלתה מעליך.
We talked about that your clothes did not did not did not wither away,
but doesn't say your shoes it says ורגלך לא בצקה.
Your shoe your your feet didn't didn't didn't blow up,
didn't swell.
It doesn't mention that your shoes stayed.
So the מהר"ל discusses this.
The מהר"ל says because shoes are not are not clothes.
Shoes are only a protective factor that you should be able to walk as
opposed to clothes they carry inherent dignity of your own as we know מאני
מכבדותי your clothes is perceived as your dignity.
So the פסוק says that your dignity through clothes never withered away,
as far as the shoes there's nothing important.
The עיקר is ורגלך לא בצקה.
It's a מפורש ירושלמי not the way we're נוהג בזמן הזה that there's no
special shoes for שבת.
This is the idea behind this.
It's not the כבוד,
it's not נעלי כבוד today,
what do you mean if you don't have a Cole Haan,
איך ווייס דה שוואס or Wolf Shepherd,
איך ווייס whatever it only be,
you know,
you're wearing leather shoes in the summer.
Something's wrong with you,
right?
or something like that.
I never understood.
I wear תשעה באב shoes all year,
you know,
I don't think I should be wearing leather on תשעה באב.
But whatever it be,
this is a this is what it says יחפי רגלים אף ישראל כן.
מלאכים don't grow,
so they're not going anywhere,
therefore they're יחפי רגלים.
They attain the שלמות,
there's no מהלך ועבודה.
So the ישראל ביום כיפור so to speak attain the שלמות,
they're not going anywhere,
they're standing לפני המלך and they're not walking away from Him they also have
no shoes.
כן ביום כיפור understand what it means not to have shoes on יום כיפור.
It means you're עומד,
you're not הולך.
מה מלאכי השרת אין להם קפיצים they don't jump around,
yeah אף ישראל כן עומדים על רגליהם ביום הכיפורים they stand מה מלאכי השרת
אינם אוכלים ושותים ישראל כן ביום הכיפורים מה מלאכי השרת נקיים they are clean
of all sin כך ישראל נקיים מכל חטא ביום הכיפורים.
מה מלאכי השרת שלום ביניהם wow כך ישראל שלום ביניהם ביום הכיפורים.
So two criteria now the עיקר thing is that there should be שלום ביניהם
which is very אין בהם חטא.
הקדוש ברוך הוא שומע מפי קטיגור שלהם He hears the prosecutor saying this ומכפר
על המזבח ועל המקדש ועל הכהנים ועל כל הקהל מקטנם ועד גדולם.
This is the מדרש.
It's an unbelievable מדרש in פרקי דרבי אליעזר פרק מ"ו.
זאגט אור זרוע מדי דקאמר ישראל נקיים היינו שטבלו what does it mean נקיים?
It said they don't have חטא what does it mean נקיים?
So נקיים means they're they were טובלו they're נקי from טומאה.
שמע מינה so therefore we deduce שכן מנהג ישראל לטבול בערב יום כיפור.
This is the מקור טבילה ביום כיפור.
טבילה is מדין פשט מדין the פשט is this is called עומד לפני השם
the man's טהרה.
The עמידה לפני השם ביום כיפור which is עמידה כמלאכים היינו that we ain't
going anywhere.
This is where we are and we have no other place to go.
This is מחייב טהרה.
ומכאן כמו כן סמך לאותם שעומדים ביום כיפור כל היום.
There are those people that do that וכמה שיש ישראל שלום ביניהם ביום כיפור.
שמע מינה שכך הוא רגילות ומנהג ביום כיפור וכל מי שחטא לחברו שמבקש ממנו
מחילה בערב יום כיפור.
You're מחויב every day,
right?
You're מחויב you're חייב לפייס חברו.
You're עובר על לאו,
okay?
You're מבזה חברו whatever you did לחברו the דין is what even if you
גזל you have to have מחילה returning the stolen object is not enough.
Okay that's another הלכה of תשובה.
Here on יום כיפור there's a special idea of being כדמי למלאכי השרת.
ויהיה כל יום הכיפורים שלום ביניהם דומיא למלאכי השרת.
ובמדרש שוב מצאתי ישתבח שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ויתעלה זכרו שהוא מחבב את
ישראל praises God that He loves the Jews ותיקן להם עשרת ימי תשובה He
created for them ten days of repentance שאפילו יחיד עושה בהם תשובה that even
a יחיד does תשובה there מקבלים את תשובתו כתשובת הציבור.
It's as if with the תשובה the whole ציבור.
לפיכך צריכים כל ישראל להחזיק בתשובה ולעשות שלום בין איש לרעהו ולמחול זה לזה
בערב יום כיפור כדי שיתקבלו תשובתם ותפילתם לפני הקדוש ברוך
הוא.
ובחיבה ובשלום ובאהבה.
That's a מדרש.
So the מדרש is מפורש that the idea of asking מחילה,
the idea we're gonna add going to the מקוה,
the idea of doing תשובה is in order to be זוכה to this special
כפרה because this is a time where the עשרת ימי תשובה,
it's the end of עשרת ימי תשובה,
the peak is יום כיפורים,
so make sure just like you don't ask מחילה every day,
the עיקר דין of מחילה is on ערב יום כיפורים.
That's why you say תפילת זכה,
you go to the מקוה like ערב יום כיפורים.
Also the תשובה is because you want to be like מלאכי השרת on יום
כיפורים because you're עומד לפני ה'.
That's the פשט that is this a מצוה?
המדרש מדרש תשובה is a מצוה,
it's a חובה,
is דברי אגדה.
The תירוץ is it's a Jewish value.
That's the מקור of this רמב"ם and the רמב"ם here writes לפיכך חייבים כל
ישראל לעשות תשובה.
It doesn't mean a חיוב of a מצוות עשה or מצוות לא תעשה.
It means here it means literally since יום כיפורים is זמן תשובה לכל,
therefore everybody should be doing it.
Here the word חייב does not mean a religious obligation,
it means say it's an obligation which comes not from a מצוות עשה or
מצוות לא תעשה,
but as we discussed in the past,
we are מחויב to fulfill Jewish values.
We discussed this multiple times in the past.
Here you have another case like that.
It's what the רמב"ם calls sometimes מצוה,
but doesn't call it מצוות עשה.
מצוה,
we learned that also in the past.
The רמב"ם uses the language מצוה to mean a value.
So this goes back to that.
So we have here very clearly pointing out that the words ראוי or מצוה
etc.
do not mean מצוות עשה.
It seems to be saying that תשובה יום אחד לפני מיתתך is not the
מצוות עשה.
There is a certain worthwhile activity to make sure it happens ערב יום כיפור
because you want to be like מלאכי השרת.
Where is the מצוה?
We discussed in the past,
I'll semi-peruse that later.
I want to see something else at the moment.
So he says all of this is true,
מכל מקום,
the third line of the מאירי,
בזמן הזה,
in this season specifically,
we're talking now from ראש חודש אלול ביז ראש השנה,
leading to ראש השנה,
רצה לומר ראש השנה,
we talk about ראש השנה specifically,
ראוי לו להתעורר ביותר.
It is worthwhile and worthy to be מתעורר to wake up to תשובה more
than any other day of the year.
Here you have it מפורש in רמב"ם,
oh Kenny,
how are you?
Okay,
more than any other day of the year.
לשון of the רמב"ם is ראוי לו להתעורר ביותר more than,
equals more than תשובה יום אחד לפני מיתתו.
תשובה יום אחד is ראוי but ראש השנה is a bigger value.
What's the bigger value?
And let's read a little to understand.
This is something which is interesting.
It reminds me of the famous ווארט of the קוצקער.
You know,
we don't mention חטא on ראש השנה.
That's why you don't eat nuts,
אגוז,
because אגוז is בגימטריא חטא.
So the קוצקער once says yes,
חטא is also בגימטריא חטא.
So don't do any sins.
You know what I mean?
The biggest אגוז is חטא itself.
Okay,
it's a good thing to remember.
You know,
we have comments after the חזן and the מוסף and the דרשה.
חטא is בגימטריא חטא.
A good thing to remember.
You know what I mean?
The עיקר we won't eat אגוז.
You know what I mean?
The קרני here says that ראש השנה is a מחייב of תשובה.
מחייב,
as much as there is a מחייב of תשובה of יום כיפור because you
have to be דומה למלאכי השרת כמבואר באור זרוע.
There's a מחייב of ראוי בכל אדם כי תשובה יום אחד לפני מיתתך.
The one which is more important,
I'm going to say clearly you've seen it is more than יום הכיפורים and
more than every day is דווקא ראש השנה.
Where do we have that?
לכאורה we don't see that in the תפילות and yet this is...
let's see what he writes where from.
So אמרו חז"ל דרך משל.
This is an important thing to remember.
People always write you should be written,
written,
written,
written.
This כתיבה וחתימה טובה gets on my nerves.
What exactly does this mean?
Do they have this big ledger over there?
God has,
you know,
an accounting firm?
שטייט מפורש המאירי what that means.
אמרו חז"ל דרך משל,
I love the word.
ג' ספרים נפתחים בראש השנה.
There are three books which are opened up,
three ledgers.
על הרשעים,
על הצדיקים,
ועל הבינונים,
right?
So what does רצה לומר,
now what does this mean?
זאגט המאירי שכל אחד ואחד נידון לפי מעשיו.
That's what it means.
So forget the books,
forget the writing,
forget all these things.
It's very simple,
it's נידון לפי מעשיו,
meaning to say it's a משל saying that everybody is...
there's no collective,
everyone is נידון according to who he...
He is what he is and where he's from and where he's going.
כמו שביארנו במשנה as the המאירי said I mentioned this,
the משנה דף ב׳
בראש השנה.
And therefore since it's the day which is יום הדין,
which is נידון לפי מעשיו,
therefore שכל אחד כמו שביארנו,
ויעורר,
therefore he should wake up בקדושת משפט,
לפשפש במעשיו to introspect in his actions.
ולחזור ממה שהוא בידו,
he should come back,
we'll understand what the word coming back means,
ויחזור.
Literally the word תשובה means לשוב,
to return,
not to repent.
This is King's James version.
It means simply to repent,
it means to return,
to revert,
לחזור ממה שהוא בידו.
Go back to your original path,
as one says you go back where you belong,
JoJo.
This is what it means here.
You basically go back,
Alan you're enjoying this,
okay,
you go back to where you belong.
ולחזור ממה שהוא בידו מן העבירות,
then he adds the word and this is the מחייב of this specific time.
What's the מחייב of תשובה,
of מורא,
which is ראוי,
even that is not a מצוות עשה.
But ראוי,
המחויב is what?
Is not because you have to be מלאכי השרת to יום כיפור,
not because if not you're gonna get stuck up in the great heavenly כסא
לשפוט court of שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך,
but rather המתרשל בזמן הזה מן התשובה,
one is lethargic about doing תשובה at this point of time.
Obviously תשובה can't be done in one day.
I gotta tell you a story you don't understand.
I was once at a wedding of a very close תלמיד of mine.
This guy is so close that when he was in ישיבה שנה א׳
I threw him out.
And then after like a month I brought him back in and since then
we're tied to the hip,
believe me I went to every בר מצווה of his kids even if they
were somewhere in the north or the south.
Actually I just went this Friday to הר הזיתים,
נעבעך,
to the לוויה of יהודה כץ with him also.
I don't know if you all know,
we had a,
there was a לוויה of one of the boys that I still remember him
well.
He was a חברותא of ר׳
מוטי גרינברג.
He was lost in the,
in the battle of Sultan Yacoub back 44 years ago in Lebanon one,
and they just found him.
Unbelievable,
they found him with the DNA,
perfect,
and the disc,
the disc was still on the skeleton where it said his name.
It was a ידיעה ברורה and the works.
It's unbelievable what happened.
They had to bomb,
it was in Syria they found him.
They had to bomb somewhere to distract the army over there to be able
to go in there and take out the bones.
This is an unbelievable thing people do מסירות נפש for this.
This is very special in ארץ ישראל.
ממש כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה.
Sorry,
I was there with this fellow.
So this fellow,
how did I get there?
One minute.
I'm losing my train of thought.
Just one moment,
just tell me why,
how did I start this?
What am I looking for?
The student that you were tied to the hip and Har Hazeisim?
Right,
yeah,
but why did I start that?
Okay,
I'm losing it.
Anyway,
so I somehow will come back to this.
Okay,
I'm losing it,
forget it,
I won't tell the משל because I don't remember what the connection was.
So anyway,
it says over here that if you're מתרשל,
if you're lethargic from doing this,
what happens?
What does he say,
what happens to you then?
אין לו חלק בה׳
אלוקי ישראל.
Now that's a very sharp פסוק.
In other words you don't do it,
it's okay,
you know,
no problem,
just by the way you're no more part of the nation.
Where does this come from?
This is a פסוק בשמואל ב׳
פרק כ׳,
source ב׳.
If you know your תנ״ך,
you know that the first rebellion against the מלכות of King David was by
a fellow called שבע בן בכרי.
And the פסוק there says that all the,
all the Jews regained together to go to,
to coronate,
to accept the מלכות of דוד,
and שבע בן בכרי got up,
he was a בנימיני.
He blew a ram's horn,
he said everybody come on guys forget it,
this is,
this is nobody,
let's go back home.
So what was his language?
So look at the source,
ושם נקרא איש בליעל,
ושמו שבע בן בכרי,
there was a שבע בן בכרי which is a nasty fellow,
איש ימיני,
a member of the tribe of בנימין,
ויתקע בשופר,
he blew his trumpet in order to catch attention,
ויאמר and he said,
אין לנו חלק בדוד,
we have no portion in דוד,
ולא נחלה,
we have no inheritance בבן ישי.
We have none to do with this guy.
It's called מורד במלכות,
this is the לשון used as מורד במלכות,
the classical לשון of מורד במלכות,
אין לי חלק בן דוד ואין לי נחלה בבן ישי.
איש לאהלו ישראל,
everybody go back home.
This is the לשון that the מאירי,
if you understand שפת חכמים,
you used to the culture of language of the ראשונים,
how they use pieces of פסוקים.
What are they saying?
They're saying a person which doesn't care about doing תשובה—now I remember what the
story was,
I'll tell you in a minute—doesn't care about doing תשובה,
to be able to be מהרהר בתשובה by ראש השנה,
my dear friends,
he is called a מורד במלכות.
Now that's something else.
In order,
the מחויב of תשובה ראש השנה is because there is a חיוב of קבלת
עול מלכות שמים,
and if you do not do תשובה,
prepare for ראש השנה with תשובה,
you're a פורק עול מלכות שמים.
That couldn't be worse.
It's not that you are doing anything specifically wrong,
you're undermining the whole framework of religion.
You are saying that I have no מלכות שמים literally.
That's pretty bad.
That's a מפורש מאירי.
Now one has to understand what this is,
what does it mean.
Now I'll tell you the story,
I remember why did I say בזמן הזה means from אלול,
because at the wedding of this fellow,
his uncle was a very famous rabbi called רב אברהם שפירא.
He was the ראש ישיבה of מרכז הרב and the רב הראשי,
a גאון עולם.
I remember my רבי רב זיסל told me that there was no bigger עילוי
that ever walked out of חברון ישיבה more than רב אברהם שפירא.
The חזון איש loved him.
רב כהנמן wanted him to be a ר"מ in פוניבז' before he brought רב
שמואל,
but he couldn't,
he didn't want to go because he wanted to stay and take care of
a sick mother.
He was the ראש ישיבה,
you see,
those days whether you were a Zionist or not didn't matter,
what counted was do you learn.
Okay,
that's what counted.
So there was no such thing as חרדים,
this,
that,
these politics happened later in life.
Anyway,
so רב אברהם tells me and I'm about to be an עד on the
כתובה,
he tells me תהרהר בתשובה.
I looked at him and I laughed.
He says לא יעזור.
Not gonna help you,
ho,
ho,
do תשובה,
hello,
what do you want me to do exactly,
jump?
Says לא יעזור,
אמר לי אתה פסול.
I said okay,
אז אני הולך.
As soon as I turned around,
טוב טוב תחזור,
אז אתה כשר.
Because if you take it seriously,
you understand you can't תהרהר בתשובה,
okay,
that means you take it seriously,
so you behave בחזקת כשרות,
you're כשר.
And I'll never forget that story,
okay,
at least I was honest.
I mean this guy,
תהרהר בתשובה,
just goes like—by עדיי,
I get it,
supposed to be מהרהר בתשובה,
בעצם מעדי קידושין too,
when I'm מסדר קידושין,
I tell the guys a little before,
you know,
okay,
you guys got like twenty minutes,
start starting counting your עבירות and make a list.
Okay,
but that's what you're supposed to תהרהר בתשובה.
So obviously it doesn't work תהרהר בתשובה,
you can sing all the בספר חיים ברכה ושלום as much as you want
on ערב ראש השנה,
that's not gonna help you for the תשובה,
give me a break.
Okay,
it's not אמת.
We can talk about תשובה,
we can this,
but you're not עוסק בתשובה.
Come on.
The only people that really do תשובה are the people that are down in
the pits,
they go through a religious metamorphosis.
This I know is a real תשובה.
The rest is language.
I'm not supposed to be קטגור כל ישראל.
It's a problem to say the least,
okay?
So obviously it takes at least a month.
I'm trying to say the מחייב of אלול,
you know,
we used to call ישיבת אלול used to call Black September.
It was a very,
very,
very—it was a very heavy month,
you know,
I remember in חברון ישיבה no one dared to get married in אלול.
חלילה,
רב חצקל wouldn't go to the חתונה.
There's no such thing,
no בחור would go to a חתונה in אלול.
אלול is—I want to say depressed,
it was כובד ראש.
It's no day,
no month for dancing around.
Today they still go to camp in אלול.
Okay,
why you start זמן next week?
You know what I mean?
That's the way it is.
So the כלל is that what,
yeah,
you need forty days for יום כיפור.
I understand,
it's an old biblical thing and this is the idea of משרש בתשובה.
So the חיוב of תשובה לכבוד ראש השנה,
not לכבוד יום כיפור.
לכבוד יום כיפור that's מדין דמיון למלאכי השרת as we saw the מדרש.
The regular,
that's just a—it's a very important thing to do.
The דין of תשובה of because of a so to speak because of a
כל יום is—יהא ראוי הדבר כמבואר במאירי.
I say this as opposed to רבינו יונה.
רבינו יונה thinks there's a special מצוות עשה to do תשובה on יום כיפור,
but that's not mentioned anywhere in the רמב"ם.
Rambam anywhere with a big A.
So those who try to attribute this רבינו יונה to the רמב"ם לא קרו
ולא שנו ולא שמשו.
המקור הרמב"ם on יום כיפור is this מדרש that the אור זרוע brings,
and this makes sense.
Typical of him to write that way.
There's no מצות עשה anywhere of doing תשובה on יום כיפור.
It's ראוי.
But here,
if you don't do תשובה in אלול לכבוד ראש השנה,
you're a מורד במלכות.
And this is what he writes,
again,
כל המתרשל בזמן הזה מן התשובה אין לו חלק בה' אלוקי ישראל.
שכל השנה אין התעוררות מצוי כל כך.
Why specifically this period of time?
כי כל השנה אין התעוררות מצוי כל כך.
It's harder,
so we can't say you're not doing תשובה because you're a מורד במלכות because
it's much harder to wake up to the necessity,
you're living by rote.
ואף מדת הדין מסיחת ממנו.
Even the prosecutors up there,
come on,
we understand that at the moment we can't expect them to do תשובה because
he's busy,
I don't know what,
you know,
it's the middle of חודש ניסן,
he's worried about his מצות,
whatever it is.
וממתנת לו and she waits עד זמן הזה.
She waits,
so now you're accountable.
Why?
Because you had אלול.
You had חודש הרחמים,
etc.
So now it's easier.
Now that there's a חודש י"ג מדות הרחמים so it's easier.
Now there's no לימוד זכות anymore.
So he says,
והוא אצלי מה שאמרו and this he says,
this is what it means in the חז"ל,
אין בית דין של מעלה נכנסים לדין עד שיקדשו בית דין של מטה את
החודש.
When does the celestial court convene?
Until בית דין של מטה is מקדש את החודש.
What's,
which חודש is this talking about?
Whether he's talking ראש השנה תשרי or whether he's talking אלול,
איך ווייס נישט,
it doesn't make a difference,
depending on how we understand בזמן הזה.
I think it means אלול,
but it doesn't matter.
It means there's not going to be a דין until there's a time which
is open and prone for תשובה,
which we know למעשה is ראש חודש אלול.
So there's a certain הלכה of דין תשובה,
not,
it's very clear in the המאירי that we're not talking about a religious obligation
as far as a מצוה is concerned.
It's rather it's a value or the strongest value which is basically the הקדמה
of all of religion itself.
It's called קבלת עול מלכות שמים.
To understand that clearly I'm going to go back to something we once learned
in the past and that is in source ו',
the פסוקים in דברים ל' where there the פסוק says והיה כי יבאו אליך
כל הדברים האלה.
All these terrible things or these good things will happen to you.
We're talking about the תוכחה of משנה תורה.
הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך.
והשבת אל לבבך,
you're going to be aware where you actually suddenly take things to heart,
equals you'll take it seriously.
והשבת אל לבבך means,
as I said before,
you will bring this into your emotional intelligence,
you'll actually feel it.
והשבות,
you will bring it back to your heart.
And as you know,
a lot of things,
we are a generation full of God-knowledge,
we're almost like E.T.,
our heads are blown up with God-knowledge,
but we have very,
very shriveled hearts.
והשבות אל לבבך,
where will this happen?
דוקא in גלות.
בכל הגוים אשר הדיחך ה' אלוקיך שמה.
In other words,
we were not עובד את ה' בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרוב טוב.
So נעבעך,
God has to send us to the terrible גלות in order for us to
take religion to heart.
And what will happen at that stage?
ושבת and you will return עד until,
listen carefully to the way I translate this,
you will return עד until you will be standing in front of ה' אלוקיך.
You're returning back to the presence of ה' which is your Lord.
And then and only then will you live in the presence of ה' and
understand that the presence of ה' demands logically that He must be your Lord.
ושמעת בקולו then you will actually adhere to what He has to say.
בכל אשר אנכי מצוך היום everything that I teach you today as opposed to
selective halachic observance which is common in most of our societies.
No,
now we will not be selective,
but rather we will do everything said because we stand in His presence.
אתה,
not just you but also בנך.
Education will actually work because you are standing in front of God and that's
how you train your children,
because in the גלות you take religion.
religion to heart and you come back to standing in front of י-ה-ו-ה,
which is your Lord,
therefore ממילא,
not only will you not be selectively הלכה observant,
but actually education will work and you will all do it בכל לבבך with
your total emotion.
Actually it means focus.
לבב,
שים לב.
What is the idea of לב?
בכל לבבך as we discussed in the past,
the heart,
well once upon the time when you know in the old days when they
used to think that emotions are in the heart,
that’s how חז"ל understood it.
Even the old Valentine carvings on the trees,
you had the Cupid shooting an arrow in your heart.
You realize if Cupid shoots an arrow in your heart you’re dead,
right Mark?
You’re a doctor.
Probably shooting an arrow in your heart.
Thank God for William Tell,
shoot it on top,
you don’t go into the heart.
Does that mean to say when you fall in love it means you’re dead?
Maybe.
Maybe it means brain dead.
Whatever it means,
it means what does it mean because they thought it meant to say that
you pierce your emotions.
What the מעשה does it mean?
Because תורה is תורת נצח,
so אינו הכי נמי דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם כמבואר in the רמב"ם in
מורה נבוכים that what did that mean?
That the language of the Bible is the language which is usage common to
the גרגשי farmer and the חוי candlestick maker.
Therefore you cannot bring ראיות from the biology as expressed in the תורה or
even in תהילים because דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם.
So ממילא when it says,
איך וייס,
you know,
יריד בשבת over there that the sun moves the move from one side of
the earth to the other and goes into its little place at the end
that רבינו תם took seriously,
what can I tell you?
This is דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם of the astronomy which was understood at
that period of time not to משה רבינו but to the גרגשי farmer and
the חוי candlestick maker.
This should undo a lot of religious dilemmas.
Okay?
I just want us to,
this is a דרך אגב,
I'm giving you a present by the way.
This is דברים מפורשים in רמב"ם.
Okay?
Now that we know this,
so we understand so what is the heart?
In reality,
heart is that when you are excited and focused,
you need obviously more blood,
you need more nutrients towards the cells in your brain.
If not,
you will faint.
You're very focused.
So therefore when you're excited,
your pulse runs.
Why does it run?
Because all of a sudden you have more focus,
you need more nutrients to keep those cell that cell system going because if
not,
that’s why your heart is working.
The heart doesn't have feelings goodness sake,
all your feelings come from your brain.
We know that by now.
Okay?
The heart is nothing more than then supplies more nutrients via the Mississippi,
I would say,
of bloodstream to bring those nutrients to the cells basically to allow you to
continue being in an intense fashion.
That’s what you're doing here.
So בכל לבבך means you will be very focused,
excited.
והשבות אל לבבך,
you will see be very focused and excited,
that’s what it means.
אל לבבך.
So what does it say?
There we will עובד השם בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
What does ובכל נפשך mean?
As we all know that the נשמה has five names כמבואר the גמרא בברכות,
נפש,
רוח,
נשמה,
חיה,
ויחידה.
We discussed this when we learned some פרקים בתניא.
נפש means to say that aspect of the soul which is basically the life
property.
That aspect of the soul which is life property.
As we know,
the נשמה,
חיה,
ויחידה does not even express itself in the body.
In the body you only have נפש ורוח.
נפש and נפש is basically life property what you call 'I am',
I am the existent.
Okay?
When person dies there is שפיכת,
you suddenly what you have is there’s no more נפש.
The נפש,
that aspect of נפש goes back to its source,
it’s not expressed in the body anymore.
That’s what it means.
Okay?
חטאים are dealt with with what?
ונכרתו הנפשות העושות.
נפש כי תחטא.
It is the נפש,
that aspect of the נשמה expressed in the life property in the body which
engages in sin and engages in מצוות,
engages in all עבודת השם,
that the נפש.
It's מושפע a certain way indirectly on נשמה כמבואר what רב חיים מוולוז'ין says
when you say אלוקי נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא.
I still remember I was a part of a problem with this as a
child because I didn't know this נפש החיים.
How can I say that?
I’m a freaking sinner.
I should say נשמה היתה.
נשימה אחת say סלח לנו,
I say נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא.
It don’t work too well.
So רב חיים מוולוז'ין because that which engages in sin is נפש ורוח,
not נשמה.
נשמה is מושפע from that,
it gets tainted from it,
but doesn't engage in it.
Engaging in sin is that aspect of the נשמה which is the life property
and motivates the body's actions and the emotions,
which is נפש and רוח.
Okay,
so this is what we understand בכל נפשך means what your total identity of
self.
So עבודת השם is supposed to be with total excitement and focus and total
identity of self.
Not means to say what does it mean total identity of self?
I serve with total identity of self.
What does that mean?
I know what בכל לבבך means.
Very intense.
Yeah,
I've seen these people.
Especially when it comes,
you know,
some people love a,
you can see אלי ציון on תשעה באב.
Some people sing it בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך,
they love mourning on תשעה באב.
Or somebody's,
I noticed that מוצאי יום כיפור,
you know,
לשנה הבאה בירושלים,
I can feel the בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
I can feel it.
Yeah,
I feel it.
Okay,
but what does it mean day to day בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך?
התירץ is a ביאור בבא מציעא.
It has to be understood.
There's a גמרא in בבא מציעא.
I'm sorry,
this is a bit winging it,
but you don't mind,
I hope.
The גמרא says in בבא מציעא in פרק השואל.
The גמרא says in בבא מציעא,
the הלכה is there are ארבעה שומרים as you all know.
Right here it is.
צ״ו עמוד א׳.
So the גמרא,
the דין is like this:
there are four שומרים.
One is a שואל.
If you borrow something from somebody,
the הלכה is if you borrow something,
you borrowed this car.
So the דין is even if lightning strikes it,
you're חייב on it.
Not פשיעה,
not any אונס.
Even if lightning strikes,
if a freak occurrence,
there was an earthquake,
you're responsible for the car,
it doesn't matter.
That's the דין.
One should know that.
It's not worthwhile to be a שואל,
you know.
Be a שוכר at least,
he's only on גנבה ואבדה,
okay.
But by אונס you'd be פטור.
So it's worth paying the rent.
People pay health insurance when they go to a trip.
God knows what's going to happen to you.
Nothing usually.
That's why they make money.
Yet you make insurance.
When it comes to being a שואל,
they do it easily.
What are you crazy?
Pay a little rent and get off for אונס.
מסתמא they don't care about הלכה or they didn't learn בבא מציעא.
So what's the הלכה?
When is a שואל פטור?
If he what?
If he took the owner of the object to be working with the,
with itself.
I borrowed your,
your plow and I borrowed your,
your cow and I borrowed you or rented you to work on the field
with the cow,
with the,
with the plow and with the cow.
This is called בעליו עמו.
If בעליו עמו,
then the דין is that the שואל is פטור מאונסין.
So the גמרא has a question צ״ו in בבא מציעא.
אמר ליה רבינא לרב אשי.
רבינא said to רב אשי:
האומר לשלוחו צא והשאל לי עם פרתי.
Can you send an agent to be your representative as a,
to work instead of me and plow with the ox that I'm lending out
to somebody?
Would we say that since I don't want to go,
I'm a,
I'm a,
you know,
I have other things to do,
okay,
but I'll send a שליח to be instead of me and that would be
called בעליו עמו?
Do we say שלוחו של אדם כמותו for שאילה בבעלים?
And the גמרא says,
what do we say?
בעליו ממש בעינא?
You really need the presence of the owner and the presence is not here.
או דילמא שלוחו של אדם כמותו?
Now what is the question on the table?
I'll tell it to you very simply.
You see a שליח is usually someone who's empowered for the judicial persona of
the person.
Every person has a judicial persona and therefore has within it rights,
obligations and זכויות and merit.
Now I can represent your judicial persona.
I,
just like I can act for you,
I can also be a recipient for you.
For example,
recipient of a,
the bill of divorce.
She doesn't have to do anything,
she just has to be a recipient,
she has to receive the גט.
But the שליח לקבלה because he's representing her judicial persona.
But by שאילה בבעלים do you need the judicial persona or do you need
the person?
I need Yanku,
I need the halachic Yanku.
That's the question on the table.
שלוחו של אדם כמותו is good for the halachic person but not for me.
The halachic man,
we'll use that.
But not for the man,
not for he that,
do we say שלוחו של אדם כמותו for the man or for the halachic
man?
That's the question on the table.
The גמרא goes further and finally the גמרא says something unbelievable.
The גמרא says everyone agrees that...
Here it is.
האומר לעבדו,
what happens if you tell your servant?
We mean your עבד כנעני.
צא והשאל עם פרתי,
you be משאיל בפרתי,
מהו,
what's the הלכה?
תיבעי למאן דאמר שלוחו של אדם כמותו,
תיבעי למאן דאמר שלוחו של אדם אין כמותו.
I'm gonna talk about that מאן דאמר because that's the הלכה.
למאן דאמר אין שלוחו של אדם כמותו,
you can't send a representative.
Why?
Because I need your presence.
I need you,
not your judicial personality.
הא ניחא שליח,
that's a שליח,
because a שליח cannot be me,
he can only represent my judicial personality.
אבל עבד יד עבד כיד רבו,
it means the עבד has no personality outside of the extension of the alter
ego of the master.
That's a מפורש גמרא if you know how to read,
שייך מפורש גמרא that the עבד is an extension not of the judicial persona
of the owner,
but of the owner per se.
It's called בגופו ממש.
That's the הגדרה of the הלכה.
So that's the הלכה that עבד שלו is more than שליח,
it's him.
The proper דין of שליחות is the judicial personality and this is you are
me,
you don't have to represent me,
you're an aspect of me.
So this is the כלל גדול בתורה,
that's the גדר of an עבד.
Has to remember that הלכה.
Now that we know that,
when the פסוק says you're supposed to be עובד השם בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך,
what does it mean?
It means very simple,
you're totally focused on what you're doing and you have no other identity outside
of that.
You're an עבד בכל נפש.
Your whole sense of self says what else would I do?
That's what God wants,
that's what I'm doing because that's who I am.
I'm nothing more than an עבד השם.
It's much more than כל מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו.
The גמרא in בבא מציעא tells me יד עבד כיד רבו means that he
he is nothing more than an extension of the owner not just in הלכות
of קניינים of acquisitions,
even in basic presence.
Now this is a מפורש קרא.
This is the פסוק.
So the idea of והשבות אל לבבך,
the idea of taking religion seriously is coming to a situation where I have
no identity outside of being an extension expression of God's will and whim in
existence.
That's what it boils down to be.
At that point it says ושב,
next פסוק ושב השם אלוקיך את שבותך,
next ושב השם אלוקיך את שבותך,
it is then after you do that תשובה that God will return those your
people that that have returned that have returned ורחמך,
ושב,
and he will have mercy upon you.
ושב,
and he will return.
וכתיב וקיבצך מכל העמים.
And the פשוטו של מקרא obviously talks about the גאולה שלמה,
it can only come through תשובה.
This is according to רבי אליעזר שיטה.
We know this in a גמרא in סנהדרין.
אשר הפיצך השם אלוקיך שמה.
And what does it mean?
So it is predicated by what?
By ושבת עד השם אלוקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
What happens at the next stage?
It says אם יהיה נידחך בקצה השמיים משם יקבצך השם אלוקיך ומשם יקחך.
והביאך השם אלוקיך אל הארץ אשר ירשו אבותיך וירשתה והיטיבך והרבך מאבותיך.
That's the first stage of the גאולה.
The first stage of the גאולה שלמה is there's going to be תשובה שלמה.
תשובה means to say that you go back to reverting to living in God
consciousness to the extent you have no identity outside of being an expression of
הקדוש ברוך הוא.
And thus you're doing things in a just as God does things in a
focused way,
you are nothing more than that,
you're doing it in a focused way and therefore God will have רחמנות and
will be מקבץ נדחי ישראל.
אם יהיה נידחך בקצה השמיים,
they may be who knows where?
משם יקבצך השם אלוקיך ומשם יקחך.
Yeah,
we still are waiting for that.
We have the beginning of קיבוץ גלויות,
but there's so many Jews,
ninety percent of the Jews in America are assimilated according to the Pew report.
Overwhelmingly most of them don't even acknowledge that they're Jews or care about any
fraternization with Jews and that means קצה השמיים at the end of the far
corners of thought.
Yes,
God will bring everybody back.
It's a פסוק in נביא ושבתי אשר ישוב.
No one is going to be lost.
Let's get this straight.
So that part of this נבואה depends on us on ושבת עד השם אלוקיך.
At that stage,
those who have to do תשובה and can do תשובה will do that and
thus because of that God will take even those which are at the end
of the world north.
So you want to do קירוב,
start by doing קירוב with yourself.
Okay.
והביאך ה' אלוקיך אל הארץ אשר ירשו אבותיך וירשתה והיטיבך והרבך מאבותיך.
Unbelievable,
then finally there's going to be a קיבוץ גלויות to the extent of everybody
and everybody which that obviously hasn't happened yet.
That's why we're only in אתחלתא דגאולה.
It's like you know it's like a preview what the real thing's going to
happen when all of Berkeley will end up will empty out I don't know
what you know I mean oh and Bernie Sanders will come to בית תלמוד.
Okay,
that's what I'm talking about you understand.
The J-Street will become I don't know what ליובאוויטשער חסידים.
Okay,
whatever.
They'll become religious.
Okay,
whatever,
don't want to say anything.
Okay,
then at that stage something else will happen ומל ה' אלוקיך את לבבך.
Basically we will circumcise our תאוות,
we will have no more תאוה for anything outside of רצון הקדוש ברוך הוא.
That means to take away the קליפה,
the husk which covers our emotions which makes it a hard time to move
from intelligence to emotional intelligence,
rather we will be totally open,
the flow between intelligence and emotional intelligence become very natural.
That's what it means מילת ערלת הלב ואת לבב זרעך.
Also your children,
I repeat the idea education will work.
לאהבת ה' אלוקיך,
then you will actually love God as we know what loving God means.
כמו we learned this multiple times in פרק ב' הלכות יסודי התורה and פרק
י' תשובה.
Please look it up.
בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
Again,
רמב"ם writes what does it mean אהבת ה' בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך?
He says look at שיר השירים and look at it's when you're lovesick,
I don't know if everybody has been,
I was,
so I know what it is.
רמב"ם described you walk,
talk,
eat,
sleep,
think only that young lady.
Okay,
says much more than that is supposed to be אהבת ה' בלב אוהבו.
More than that.
What's more than that I don't know,
but more than that.
That's what שיר השירים is all about.
בכל לבבך...
למען חייך in order that you should finally live.
In other words at the moment we're dead weight.
This just told you the פסוק you want to really live,
that's what's going to happen.
At that point of the time it says I'm going down to פסוק י"א.
כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום.
Which מצוה is he talking about?
כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום.
This מצוה that I'm talking commanding you today.
לא נפלאת היא ממך,
you know it's a famous MBD song,
right?
לא נפלאת היא ממך,
it's not so wonderfully far from you.
לא רחוקה ממנו.
לא בשמים היא לאמר מי יעלה לנו השמימה ויקחה לנו וישמענו אותה ונעשנה.
לא מעבר לים לאמר וכי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו.
This we all remember is the פסוק which is the basis of תניא.
Anyway,
so which מצוה is he talking about?
כפשוטו all the ראשונים.
כפשוטו של מקרא,
it means to say the תורה.
This is exactly when there's the שבועה.
This is the end of דברים where you now he's reiterate כל התורה כולה.
So this כל התורה כולה which I'm commanding you,
which is basically you know starting from the עשרת הדיברות,
שמע ישראל,
והיה,
the whole shebang.
This is not far,
you can do it.
I already brought it down from heaven.
You don't have to go up to heaven to get it.
So just do it.
How do you do it?
says a whole book called תניא,
not bad only 53 chapters which explains why it isn't that hard to do.
I suggest you go through it.
I recently had a סיום with a beautiful friend of mine we learned it
together for a few years.
He's actually here in this group at the moment and we made a סיום.
It's a beautiful thing.
You should learn to understand why it's קרוב אליך הדבר מאד.
You can actually doable.
It's actually not doable without it,
without that book,
but it's doable.
So what we have over here,
now which we're talking about כל התורה כולה,
that's the פשוטו של מקרא and that's how all the ראשונים learn it including
רמב"ם.
Look at רמב"ם in ח'.
כל הנביאים כולם צוו על התשובה,
all the prophets commanded on תשובה.
It doesn't say in the תורה,
it says the prophets.
ואין ישראל נגאלים אלא בתשובה,
that we just read that in the חומש that I just read with you.
וכבר הבטיחה תורה and the תורה promised שסוף ישראל לעשות תשובה.
Does it say it's a commandment or it's a promise of future?
שמיד הם נגאלין שנאמר והיה כי יבאו אליך כל הדברים ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך
ושב ה' אלוקיך.
רמב"ם...
Those פסוקים are not a commandment,
they're a promise.
So the רמב"ם has no פסוק anywhere to say there's a מצוה of תשובה.
The only פסוק is over here and this is nothing more than a promise,
it's not even a commandment.
The only one ראשון which writes explicitly that this פסוק does not mean כל
התורה כולה but means the מצוה of ושבת is the רמב"ן which is right
here in source ו'.
In source ו' he writes וטעם כי המצוה הזאת על כל התורה כולה.
That's the truth.
That's the simple פשט.
והנכון כי על כל התורה יאמר כל המצוה.
But he says be exact,
usually he doesn't say המצוה,
he says כל המצוה.
So what is המצוה הזו?
So he says על התשובה הנזכרת.
It says כי השבות אל לבבך ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך.
He says מצוה שיצוונו לעשות כן.
So he learns it's a מצוה and he has a problem,
so why doesn't it say in the language of commandments?
So he gives an answer which I don't want to deal with at the
moment.
You can read the next two lines.
So be these the only ראשון in the book except for רבינו יונה,
excuse me,
but the רבותינו that thinks the פסוק ושבת is a מצות עשה.
The רמב"ם explicitly argues right here in פרק ז' הלכה ה'.
It couldn't be better than that.
There's no מצוה of תשובה per se.
Yet what is it?
What is it the idea?
The idea is very simple,
it's a דבר פשוט.
Let's understand,
what does the פסוק say here?
Unless you ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך we're not שומע בקולו and we have lousy
issues with our education of our children.
Why?
And also why?
Because we're not doing it בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
מפורש.
Someone asks you why doesn't education work?
Because the parents aren't doing בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.
Remember a story I once heard as a kid,
someone went to the בעל שפת אמת of גור.
רבי ישראל אלתר says my kid,
I don't know what he's doing,
he's taking Lego blocks and putting it on his hand as if he has
תפילין.
What do I do with him?
So he looks at him,
stop דאוונינג at home and go to שול.
He sees you putting on תפילין at home so he tries to emulate you.
If he wouldn't see you putting on תפילין at home,
then maybe he wouldn't know,
he wouldn't do that.
That was a true...
same thing here.
Education doesn't work because we don't work.
Don't blame the teachers,
blame the parents.
It's as simple as that.
So he says if you will do it right your children will do it
right.
So all this selective halachic observance is a product of not doing it בכל
לבבך ובכל נפשך is because we haven't bought והשבות אל לבבך.
Why?
Because we weren't ושבת עד י-ה-ו-ה אלוקיך.
Now this is a מפורש רמב"ן and a מכילתא once we learned in the
past but it's time to bring it up again.
The מכילתא is quoted in the רמב"ן in source ט"ז.
There's a מחלוקת הראשונים whether אנכי ה' אלוקיך is a מצות עשה or not
a מצות עשה.
It is not written in the language of commandment,
it's written in the language of statement.
My mind is concurred that since it's written in the language of statement it
should not be called a מצוה.
The only reason he thinks it's a מצוה he says is because it's a
מפורש גמרא at the end of מסכת מכות which calls it a מצוה.
What's this גמרא?
אמר רבי שמלאי,
a very famous מימרא,
תרי"ג מצות נאמרו למשה מסיני that the 613 מצות were given to משה at
סיני.
How do we know?
תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב.
Now מורשה is בגמטריא תרי"א.
So מורשה,
once again it sounds like a vision of Torah,
מורשה תרי"א,
מורשה קהלת יעקב we were נצטווינו מסיני.
Where are the other two?
The other two are אנכי and לא יהיה לך מפי הגבורה שמענו.
So it's מפורש גמרא at least from רבי שמלאי that as much as you
think there's an idea of תרי"ג מצות well part of those תרי"ג מצות are
אנכי ולא יהיה לך,
תרי"א from משה and two from God Himself,
that's the גמרא.
The רמב"ן basically in the beginning of ספר המצות says whoever thinks this רבי
שמלאי is להלכה?
Whoever said this דברי אגדה,
who says we all agree to it?
Why bother?
He says if this would be true so every time there's a מחלוקת גמרא
whether there's a מצוה or not,
they should ask well what other מצוה do you have if there was your
תרי"ג?
If you think one thing is not a מצוה you have to add another
one,
and that's not those סוגיות גמרא from anywhere in ש"ס or anywhere in מדרש
הלכה.
It's a serious question.
If בבלי or ירושלמי or מדרש הלכה never bothered by the fact if someone
says this is a...
So where's this תרי"ג?
And the רמב"ם points out this question just as this anyway.
Therefore,
he tends to say that that's דברי אגדה and that's not מוסכם מפי אמוראים
ותנאים.
Pretty heavy undermining of a basic tenet of תרי"ג כנגד this,
כנגד that.
Yeah,
the רמב"ן,
the big kabbalist,
he's not just a philosopher,
he's a big מקובל.
He thinks this is דברי אגדה which is לאו דוקא לאמת.
But at the end,
he writes:
"But נניח,
since this is the way כל ישראל accepted it,
so I'm going to work with it." You should read the הקדמה of the
רמב"ן to ספר המצוות.
So then he says the same thing,
he brings this רמב"ן,
but he says you all know that the בה"ג,
בעל הלכות גדולות,
is מונה is not מונה it as a מצוה.
Why?
Because he doesn't believe it's a מצוה;
it wasn't written בלשון ציווי.
So what is the idea behind it?
So the רמב"ן brings a מפורש,
מפורש,
מפורש מכילתא.
It's on if you have source ט"ז,
go to the side,
the side,
the second side of source ט"ז,
and go down to the one,
two,
three,
fourth line.
Okay,
you see it's the side which has source י"ז and י"ח in it.
It starts with source ט"ז,
the fourth line:
ואמרו במכילתא.
This is quoted also in the רמב"ן in לא תעשה ה':
"לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני".
You must not have other lords that's his exact translation in My presence.
למה נאמר?
Why was it said?
לפי שנאמר:
אנכי ה' אלהיך.
It was already said:
"אנכי ה' אלהיך",
so why do you have to say "לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני"?
I just told you I'm God,
that's it.
Why tell me there's no other God?
I just told you I'm God,
your Lord.
"לא יהיה לך",
that's the same thing.
So if you're a little ישיבה בחור and an עשה and a לא תעשה,
somehow the ספרי didn't the מכילתא didn't like that תירוץ.
אף על פי שהמכילתא:
לפי שנאמר:
אנכי ה' אלהיך.
משל למלך.
The example is a king.
כשנכנס למדינה,
he went into a מדינה.
We all know that מדינה in תנ"ך means a city-state.
מלך העי.
How big was העי?
As big as רחוב משכיל לאסף in הר נוף.
Okay,
like how big was עיר דוד?
משכיל לאסף,
Shulson.
מטעסדורף is bigger than עיר דוד.
You understand?
So we talk it means city-states.
משל למלך שנכנס למדינה.
He went into a city-state and ואמרו לו עבדיו:
גזור עלינו גזירות.
Yalla,
decree laws,
legislate!
אמר להם:
לאו.
No,
I can't do this yet.
כשיקבלו מלכותי,
if they will accept my מלכות,
אגזור עליהם גזירות.
Then I will decree laws upon them.
Now here's a very strong sentence:
שאם מלכותי אינם מקבלים,
because if they don't take upon themselves the total recognition of my sovereignty,
they're not מקבל עול מלכות,
גזירותי היאך מקיימים?
How can they fulfill my גזירות?
What do you mean?
I know a lot of people that are מקיים גזירות התורה without קבלת עול
מלכות שמים.
I know very little people that live constantly with קבלת עול מלכות שמים.
The תירוץ is but they're not consistent.
There's things you accept and things you don't.
Every society has another מצוה which they're good at and a מצוה that they're
bad at.
We don't have to enumerate that around the world.
I mean literally from Teaneck,
L.A.,
קרית יואל,
you know,
and even נאסקוור.
Okay,
you name it.
You know,
there they terrorize people not to buy real estate,
whatever they do over there.
Everybody does something,
everybody has a piece of שולחן ערוך which is somehow chopped away.
Whether it's צניעות,
whether it's זמן קריאת שמע,
whether it's oh boy לשון הרע ורכילות,
whether it's honesty in business.
Every קהילה has something which is deficient because,
as we discussed multiple times,
it's selective הלכה observance.
It's like you live in the HBO world,
this is the H-H-S-H-O world:
selective הלכה observance.
Why is that true?
Because they're not מקבל מלכות שמים.
That's what he's saying.
גזירותי,
אם אין מקבלים מלכותי,
גזירותי היאך מקיימים?
It's impossible.
And I want them to be consistent.
Therefore כך אמר המקום לישראל:
"אנכי ה' אלהיך".
Be מקבל my מלכות.
I am י-ה-ו-ה which is your Lord.
Now I can legislate:
"לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני".
That's already a לאו.
כי אני שקיבלתם עליכם מלכותי במצרים.
אמרו:
הן.
Did you accept my מלכות in מצרים?
They said:
"הן".
כשם שקיבלתם מלכותי,
כך קבלו גזירותי,
which is "לא יהיה לך".
So the first...
So דברים מבוררים that we see over here that the פסוק says it only
if we understand that the י-ה-ו-ה is אלקיך then that's called קבלת עול מלכות
שמים.
Unless you stand in front of the presence that י-ה-ו-ה is אלקיך okay I
don't have to repeat this רמב"ן that we probably all know by heart by
now we discussed that in the past I suggest you read source יד to
refresh in your memories.
Okay therefore י-ה-ו-ה is אלקיך that's called קבלת עול מלכות שמים.
And if you don't live with that consciousness you've walked away from קבלת עול
מלכות שמים and therefore there's not going to be real תשובה and there won't
be real there will be inconsistency of religious behavior and even what you will
do will not be בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך and obviously we got problems in
our educational system.
It's but it's a very very simple thing it's a דבר פשוט it's a
פסוקים in חומש I don't need the רבי דסלר I don't need רבינו יונה
I know I'm an old-fashioned Jew חומש and רמב"ן okay דברים מפורשים.
מוכרח מכאן this is the פשט okay I will continue next week next time
this is the פשט in this מאירי.
If ראש השנה is supposed to be the time of קבלת המלכות if a
person doesn't revert back to קבלת עול מלכות שמים which is what תשובה is
שובה עד י-ה-ו-ה אלקיך doesn't mean repenting it means going back undoing the cause
of sin not undoing the sin the cause of sin is the lack of
living in God awareness and being מקבל עול מלכות שמים.
That's what we're supposed to be focusing on get this straight not about oh
don't sin because you're gonna burn in hell that don't even matter you if
you don't sin because you're gonna burn in hell that's self-preservation so you're not
serving God you're serving your existence you simply want to be that's very not
altruistic to say the least you know it's terribly self-centered okay God is a
medium for your self-preservation thank you very much.
Oh I love you darling because you you cook a vicious steak yeah try
saying that to your wife and see what happens okay you understand it's not
שייך okay that's nothing to do with it ושבת עד י-ה-ו-ה אלקיך and then
it'll be בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך אתה ובנך וכולי וכולי.
This is the פשט and if you don't do it in this point of
time if that's not what your focus is if your שמע ישראל during אלול
is the same as it is during אדר if you're עומד לפני המלך on
ראש השנה is the same way it is in ניסן then sorry this is
called משתרשל and it's called אין לנו חלק באלקי ישראל this is called מרידה
במלכות.
So this is a very heavy month it's a month we have to focus
a great I love these songs המלך בשדה all these cute they're very sweet
what do I need it for I have a פסוק in חומש I have
a רמב"ן I have a מאירי they're before the אלטר רבי okay let's get
this straight it means to say if you don't do this you're a פורק
עול מלכות שמים you're שבע בן בכרי.
Have a beautiful month use it guys because it's it's we almost finishing קידוש
לבנה story's over see ya around before ראש השנה I think right ברכה והצלחה
take care Phil have נחת Kenny your kids are a gem.
Thank you so much rabbi thank you rabbi ברכה זכית take care כל טוב
bye bye everybody Aaron nice to see you.