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Join Rav Shlomo Katz in uncovering מעלת תפילת נשים—the unique spiritual power of a Jewish woman’s tefillah.
Drawing from Chazal, halacha, and pnimiyut, and learning deeply from the Biala Rebbe’s "Zechut Nashim Tzidkaniyot", we explore why women’s hearts, rooted in רגש טהור (innate emotional purity) and holy bitul, move heaven and earth.
Together we’ll clarify classic questions (time-bound mitzvot, obligation vs. essence), learn the siddur through the eyes of our sages, and translate inspiration into avodah that nourishes real life, especially as we enter Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
This series is both a celebration and a strengthening of the women who daven with fire, carry Am Yisrael with love, and teach us how to speak to Hashem with truth.
Boker tov everybody. Thank you for coming. We're learning this month of Kislev sponsored by the Gantavniks in honor of Eliana's Bat Mitzvah and our anniversary, by the Aaron family, memory of Levi Ben Yosef. Anonymously for the refuah shlemah for Shoshana Yona Bat Eydel.
By the Finns for the hatzlacha and shmira over our tzadikim, our chayalim, and for the refuah shlemah of those that are injured. Dovid Nechama Alon Ben Ayala Ahuva, Tzvi Dovid Ben Tamar Malka, Roi Chaim Ben Meirav, Achia Ben Yael Chaya, Tov Shmuel Ben Aviva Nava and Avram Yaakov Ben Dvora Pnina. And by the Silver family in memory of Batya Feige Bat Yisroel. And the month of Kislev also sponsored by Andrew, aka Raziel Chaim and Leah Hershkowitz, in memory of Andrew's Saba, Shlomo Leib ben Rafael Gedaliah.
Andrew, where's Andrew, which one's Andrew's ima? You're here. I'm here. Joyce, welcome. Thank you.
Welcome, welcome. This is your Abba? Ken. Oh, wow. It's a zchus to learn in his memory.
Thank you. And the week is sponsored anonymously for the limud Torah of this week and by Lisa Bloomberg in honor of Ike's birthday. All right. We have, there's a lot going on, Baruch Hashem.
I just want to mention a few things. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who came out last night to hear the Torah of the of the Bialer Rebbe. Of the son of the one who we've been learning from when the Rebbe came into the office before we were learning, I showed him when before he he gave over his Torah, I showed him what we were learning. He couldn't, he couldn't believe it.
It's like things don't happen in most places. He was, she b'emet, really. We had an amazing, amazing conversation, it was very, very special. Further and just as important, I say this to empower us.
That's my reason to empower us. Every single day, not like a few times a week, every single day I receive messages from people from all over the world, every single day that are sitting around this table. They are. They're literally sitting around this table.
They could already recognize some of your voices through the questions that are asked, and that they feel that they're part of this family. They feel like they're part of this mishpacha of Shirat David and the learning that we're doing here. And it's as much as it's like, that's such a beautiful thing, such an incredible thing, it also is like a big achrayut. It's a big responsibility.
People always ask me how do you feel everything? I say I feel more and more responsible. Just responsible, responsible, responsible. And that's why bezrat Hashem next week on Wednesday and Thursday, as some of you have seen that we've sent out a mailer that we're doing some messages that we're doing a 36-hour campaign to bezrat Hashem enable the continuation of all the thousands of hungry neshamas that feel like they that are part of what we're doing and would like to be part of what we're doing without them even knowing it. And that's why what we need is, and it's almost like I'm almost like feeling like maybe I should be like a, there should be a psak, not like a like a psak halacha, but what we need is everyone to show up and everyone to feel like you're running the show, that this is your game, this is your class, this is your mahalach of life and to join us and become an ambassador for this campaign to represent and to help us spread this light, because I believe b'emunah shlemah with complete faith that Hashem is sending through us something that many, many, many neshamos need.
As simple as it is. So, more instructions and mailers will be sent out in order to join this and to become an actual ambassador, a shagrir and shagrira, taking it on with simcha, with pride, knowing that this is like a very easy, I don't want to call it sales pitch, but an empowering moment that you could really be part of helping a few broken, or not even broken, but good people that don't know yet that they're broken, we're all broken, but they don't even realize yet that they're broken, to taste from the sea of Torah that Hashem is sending our way. I want to empower you with it because it's very chashuv. I'm not gonna be here Sunday morning, it won't be shiur Sunday morning, but I wanted to make sure that we already get that out now to go vaiter and go very, very strong and to and to do it with simcha also, and to do it with pride, mamash with with holy pride.
Okay. Now, what we began learning last week, and it was mentioned last week in shul as well and a few other times was something very important. We're going to talk mainly today outside the text, just a little bit of text. And we spoke about how it works that the gates of shamayim, the gates of heaven seem to be cracked wide open through the davening of women.
This is b'klal been the the topic from day one. But specifically over here to focus in on the qualities, what what it is about the t'fila of a woman besides the fact that there's demaot, besides the fact that there's tears, that seem to be gate openers. What we spoke about last time was that a woman's basic ratzon is to do what Hashem wants. What's the ratzon of Hashem? That's all they think about, what does Hashem want? And when you're constantly thinking about what Hashem wants, you're not stuck in the game of I want to make sure I'm doing all of my obligations.
Because you want to do much more than just obligations. As we spoke about so many times, that's the difference between מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא and מצוות עשה שאין הזמן גרמא, time-bound mitzvos that men are obligated to do, as opposed to non time-bound mitzvos, where where women are not obligated to do. So how could it be that there's so many mitzvos that women are doing that they're not obligated to do? It's because you're not just trying to come and say, hey, look, I did the right thing. You want to go vaiter, you want to go more.
You have this mida, it's innately inherent in every woman. And we began speaking about this last week. What we're going to be seeing today is how powerful that strength is of going extra, always extra. And this is not a shiur to tell you to do something that you're not doing already.
It's to point out what may not be obvious to you, but is obvious when you, you know, when you zoom out and look at the picture of avodas Hashem, of serving Hashem like a woman as opposed to a man. Like I always say every single shiur, be'emet, the point over here is not to come down on the man and say, wow, you're so low. It's just taking a look at what Hashem had in mind with the amazing, brilliant way through which through which women were created. And it's a very important avodah.
And the natural, the natural outcome of looking at it like this will be again, a deeper sense of appreciation and of value, to to look at the inherent value of what it is that you're all doing. None of you have to be here. There's no mitzva or chiyuv for you to be sitting here right now. None of you.
You realize that. I, I had to be here. Not because I, it's my job. I had to be here an hour and a half ago.
I, I had to. I would love to say, and even if I didn't have to, I would for sure show up to join a a bunch of tired men in the morning and and and put on tefillin and tallis and davening here. Halevai. I had to.
You don't have to. I just want to add, there's women, there are women that daven every single morning at the at the minyan. I'm sure they do also in the afternoon in other places. The women that daven here every single morning on the weekdays, it's ze mashu.
Be'emet. It's something very, very, very big. To me it just, it's, it takes whatever the concept of minyan was to the next level. Yes, you don't have to.
Yes, you're not counted in a minyan, but the, but the sound of that minyan, the voice of that minyan, the energy of that minyan goes mala mala mala, as we've seen before with the tzaddikim that wouldn't even daven in a shul that didn't have an ezras nashim, a women's section. Okay. So now we're going to go forward. In the pages that you have in front of you it's דף קוף כף אלף.
I believe it's the second page that you have. In the middle. We're going to be speaking about something that obviously is a sensitive thing, for each person it's very different. I just want to put it out there that Hashem should open up the gates of birth, healthy babies, b'ezras Hashem for all bnot Yisrael.
In the right time. Baruch Hashem, there've been two births in the shul this week, which is very special. Brandon and Lisa Beer had a baby boy and Shloime Mordechai and Nachama Bernstein had a baby girl yesterday. yesterday.
And and there's there's more on the way. Not from them, I mean. Eventually. I mean, yeah.
Exactly. Like there will be. Yeah. Let them let take breathers for them, but there's more there's more on the way.
Baruch Hashem, b'sha'ah tovah umutzlachat. So the Rebbe is now going to be the Bialer Rebbe is now is going to say, you want to understand this whole concept of of the extras and where it comes from? He says, look what happens.
ואנחנו רואים את כוחם של נשים בדבר זה. You see on the second, second part of the page.
We see the strength of women in this inyan, כי הנה אחד מעיקרי שליחותן בעולם הזה להביא ילדים לעולם. Women were sent down to this world to bring children into this world. Even though אף שדבר זה כרוך בצער ירחי לידה. It's not exactly nine months of feeling like you're in a spa, it's nine months of tzar yirchei leida.
חבלי לידה וצער גידול בנים. and it doesn't stop after. It's not like once the kid is born, it's like, now we did this mitzva and now it's just gevalt. It's just so, it's just so beautiful.
That's not the situation either.
שאינו דבר קל כלל וכלל. It's not an easy thing.
שבשביל כך צריכות הן לוותר מעצמן ומנוחיותן.
In order to take care of this next shlav, both shlav, both stages in life, the birth and the raising of children, women have to give up of themselves and of their comfort zones all the time.
ואף על פי כן עושות את כל זאת באהבה בשמחה וברצון כמו שהיה הדבר מובן מאליו. Now, let's be real, it's not always be'ahava berotzon besimcha. But on the bigger picture it is.
In the general picture, it is. And the most important thing that he writes here is that וזה לא מובן מאליו, and it shouldn't be taken for granted at all. I don't think that he's hoping that men are learning this in order to appreciate their wives more. I think that this be'emet is a sefer for women to understand that that which you have such a natural approach to is not a natural, it's not a normal thing.
Lo muvan me'eilav, it's not, it's not a given. Well, of course I would, it's my child. You're a human being with needs, to just keep on like giving up of your of needs, of of sleep, of food, of of, in many cases, there's some families I speak to sometimes, Hashem should bless them with with parnassah. You know, they the money that's in the house is very, very, very, very limited.
And sometimes there'll be mothers that that that need certain things of levush or, you know, clothing or other things, and it's not even a shailah. It's not even a question that if they think the kid may need something, where does the money go to first? So we would be like, no, that's natural, that's a. It's maybe natural, maybe it's a motherly instinct, but it's still לא מובן מאליו. It's still not to just be taken for granted because that's the right thing to do.
And that's an important thing to point out.
ולא זו בלבד שאין ממלאות את שליחותן במלואה. It's not just that they they fulfill their shlichus fully, במה שהן טורחות כל חייהן בהבאת נפשות לעולם ובטיפול צאצאיהן, that they bring children to the world, then they take care of those children, l'lo heref, non-stop.
וכאשר הן מבשלות ואופות ודואגות לכל צרכיהן ולרצונותיהן, and they take care of everything.
כי מוסיפות הן על כך עוד כהנה וכהנה. They add more and more and more all the time.
שהרי מביאות נפשות רבות לעולם יותר מחיוּבָן. This is an important thing.
How do we know that a woman is so much, so connected to not trying to be yotzei mitzvos? Because if you want to say, like yotzei means to be to fulfill your obligation of a mitzva.
לפי כמעט כל הדעות, according to כמעט כל הפוסקים, when is a woman yotzei, even though it's not even her mitzva, it's on the, right, we learned this already. But when would it be considered that the woman is part of fulfilling a mitzva of bringing children into the world? l'fi rov hade'os, according to most de'os, when are you finished? When you have a boy and a girl. Boy and a girl.
And I remember when we still, when we were on four girls before our fifth, our ben, our son came into the world, I would always have these conversations with when people would ask me, "Oh how many how many kids do you have?" I said, "Oh, we have four princesses." "Oh, you're not, you're not nervous?" People would always say, "And what about, you know, the mitzva?" I'm like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "You know, you have to have, you have to have a son too." And so people meant well, I think. It's it's pretty weird. It's a pretty weird state. I don't know.
Yeah, that's cute but that's pretty weird. I have a good friend alone, he has four four daughters and he would also get those comments all the time. And he would always answer back. He says, "Brother, how do you know that in my last gilgul I didn't have four sons, and now this is my, this is my yetzia, right?" What he's saying over here is that to be, let's say you want to really be makpid that you're yotzei, right? So you're yotzei would mean a boy and a girl.
Okay, l'fi, l'fi rov hade'os. That's how we hold. You'd be done after two. let's say in the first two, let's say let's say you had twins, a boy and a girl.
Or let's say you had one, right? You're let's say lo yodea ma. it's an interesting thing. Let's say the first two, like you had a girl, then a few years later a boy or, right? But that's not even our approach and again, with each family it's different. That's why I'm saying, don't don't take anything here personally.
We're talking about a general outlook towards a mitzva. Of course, there are certain people that that that they just can't handle and no one is judging anything, but on a on the spectrum how when we look at things in the grand scale of things, we see, wait a second. It's zeh mashu. Look at this.
And a woman already knows, let's say after going through two births, it's not exact, like we said, this is not nine months in a spa. This is, this is avodah, this is avodah that a man I can could never ever, like I heard such a funny but stupid thingy where they showed like a man wanted to feel the pain of Braxton Hicks. Did you see this? Yeah, they posted it. Oh so, that doesn't hurt? I thought that's the pain.
What is that? Those are the practice ones. What's before that? What's before that? Contractions. At the end. Like the the the whatever it is.
They transition? Transition? Whatever. The guy's sitting there. I don't know what they plug into him. You saw that? The tens.
Huh? She's pressing. And he thinks he's such a gibor that for a few seconds he's experiencing pain that women have for God knows how long. It's a joke. A man wouldn't accept to do that for another second in his life voluntarily.
But he feels like such a gibor that he went through a few minutes of going through it, right? A woman knows consciously, even though she doesn't remember the actual feeling of those pains during while while while it's happening, she still goes and says, more. Yeah. We're gonna have, we're gonna have more kids. We're gonna have more of this.
Where does this come from? Now, it's an interesting thing that when you look at I I saw this I saw this recent documentary about population of of Europe. And that Europe is mamash going to become an Islamic, a full-on Islamic empire in the next decade. Why? But why? What's the what's the inyan?
הילודה. The average, average of a European family is 1.5, I think 1.5 percent...
huh? 1.2. And they're having simcha v'sason. So the fact that by us Yidlach, there's, you know, we're always, we embrace this mitzva with such a an excitement and an awe of of b'ezrat Hashem, more children, more children all the time. Where does it come from? Bless you.
So look how he brings in the second to bottom line, כי מוסיפות הן על כך עוד כהנה וכהנה, שהרי הן מביאות נפשות רבות לעולם יותר מחיובן.
כי ברצונן הטוב they bring more than they have to because from their good will בחרות הן לעשות לפנים משורת הדין. They always try to go above and beyond the letter of the law. If we say, if we hold that the letter of the law is two children from each, right? A boy and a girl.
They it's always about going above and beyond the letter of the law. Like I said, no one is telling no one... the the the and this is the energy we see in the world of what holy women's leadership and holy women's power. Not the shtuyot that baruch Hashem is I think dying out in the world, I hope.
Like the what through through all the stuff we said that is is not the emes. Not the truth when it comes to women's rights and leadership, but the real women's rights and leadership. Where is it coming from? Going above and beyond the letter of the law. This is what you have.
It's inherent in you.
וכל זה מראה את מעלת האישה, this shows how great of a level a woman is on.
שהיא מסורה ונאמנת היא לעשות שליחותה בעולם מעל ומעבר לחיובה, again, always going above and beyond what she's obligated to do.
ועל דבר זה אמרו, and this is what Chazal, our Sages say, בזכות נשים צדקניות נגאלו אבותינו ממצרים.
In the merit of righteous women our our fathers were redeemed, we were all redeemed from Egypt.
כי בזכותן בני ישראל פרו ורבו במצרים. Because in their merit of the of the women, the women were bringing more and more children in the in into the world. How do we know that? Because there's a pasuk that says meforash, ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו.
vayatzmu meod meod. The pasuk says, while we're living in such a state of being under Pharaoh, what are the women busy doing? Above and beyond, more and more and more. People always think it's because of their emuna, and I'm sure that's part of it, but it comes from a place of that they went even above and beyond whatever would have been. Listen, if a woman said, I'm not bringing children into this world when they were under Pharaoh's leadership, are you going to tell them anything? No.
I always tell you that one of the biggest wonders I have about my grandmother, my grandfather, from our grandmother and grandfather from my father's side, is that each of them were married and each of them had children before the war, and they were all killed, the spouses and the children. They meet in 19, it must have been '44, towards the end of the war, and they decide, I don't understand this, to get married. They have my uncle January 1945 and my father three years later in November of '48. Where does that come from? What where did this come from? They already were yotzei chiyuvam of bringing children into the world.
And also, what kind of world did they know of? And yet they still are plugged into something. Bemyuchad ma I'm saying over here, my grandmother, aleha shalom, Chaya bat Batya, they're plugged into something that's above and beyond anything that anyone can tell them. This was the same situation of the women that were living in Mitzrayim.
ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו meod meod.
I showed you Chani Teitelbaum a couple years ago who, when she was here, she brought a Midrash that said that the women, just like piggybacking on what you said about how amazing they were, would go and meet their husbands while they were working to give them chizuk. So also that's within that they understood the importance of growing their family and getting their husband's chizuk so they could continue going. Beautiful. Also, the mirrors that they used in the Beis Hamikdash for themselves.
The mirrors, yeah. Nachon. And used them in the Beis Hamikdash. Nachon.
So I think a lot of women also felt this after October 7th, like it was so dark. Betach. But then how many babies were born after that. Betach.
Crazy. Just in our, I mean, just in our shul alone, the amount of births that have been post-October 7th, mamash. It's really unbelievable. And this, and we know what world we're bringing them into, and yet and yet it's coming from a such a high divine place, such a high and divine place.
So the second line over here in the second paragraph, kimevoar b'Gemara, the Gemara teaches, that מצווה זו של פרו ורבו מביאה גאולה לעולם. This mitzva of pru urvu brings redemption to the world.
כי הרי אמרו חז"ל, the Gemara in Yevamos says, ein, listen to this. This is a this is a really fascinating line in the Gemara.
אין בן דוד בא עד שיכלו כל הנשמות שבגוף. Mashiach comes when all the neshamos, well, let's explain it. This is I want to make sure we get it right. D'hainu, shekol haneshamot, that all the souls שנבראו מששת ימי בראשית, that were already created from the six days of creation, yavou l'olam.
They're all finally come to the world. Like there's so many neshamos, right? Infinite amount of neshamos, how many neshamos, but Mashiach will come when they've all gone, come down, and have set themselves in a body, right, and done their thing in this world. That's what the Gemara says. So chashivus mitzva, and then Mashiach will come when they all finally come down.
We have to bring down more and more until it's done.
בחשיבות מצווה זו כי היא נעשית במסירות נפש. This is a mitzva that's done with mesirus nefesh.
ודבר זה מביא גאולה l'klal Yisrael.
This brings redemption to all of Am Yisrael. That's why every single Jewish baby that's born, every single one that's born, just by its mere existence, and just by the decision and their acceptance and their ratzon of a baby coming into the world, a woman has to understand, and maybe she knows this intuitively, I'm sure she does. The man has to of course understand this as well, but the man is not the one that's going through anything regarding bringing a child into the world. They're involved for a few minutes after the baby's born, but besides that, we know where it's holding.
Is that every time a child comes into the world, you know what you actually did? You made that distance between us and Mashiach shorter. That's what that's what the Gemara is saying. So you could say, listen, whatever, the Torah says to me the obligation is two babies, a boy and a girl. But you're thinking to yourself, is that...
Is that what I care? Is that what's more important to me? To make sure I'm yotzei a chiyuv? Or to live in the context of what's going on in the world? And that and doing things with the consciousness of bringing the Geula closer. Now, there's one more important mida, and this is really what I wanted to get to today because this, this is what this is what we've referenced on Friday night in shul, because we're still in the parshios of this, it always, shneim, it always feels really good when it comes and it connects together. You see the next word? It's one of the hardest words to embody. Vatranut.
Vatranut, to be mevater, mevateret. Levater. We always want our children, oh, the bigger kid is the one that's mevater, that that is uh, how would you say this? In English? Huh? Gives it up. Yeah, but giving up, it doesn't mean I give up.
Forgiving? No, not giving in. Don't give up. Not give in? No. Acquiesce.
What what? There has to be a word. Relinquish. Okay. To accept the situation as is.
And to give, there's got to be a better word for this. It's true what you're saying, there's got to be, I think it has to do with, no, it has to do with context more than anything. to be mevater, lemevater. Let me see if it says.
could be like share, but let it go. It's, I think this is a contextual concept over here, especially with what we're doing over here. There was a there was a there was a commercial growing up, the commercial said it was about, it was a commercial for zehirut badrachim. Those that grew up in Israel will remember this.
There was a commercial about trying to avoid traffic problem, like like accidents and chalila. So the line was בכביש אל תהיה צודק, תהיה חכם. That's actually very, it's a very it's a very deep line for. Giving way maybe is.
Listen, listen, בכביש אל תהיה צודק, תהיה חכם means, means you may be right that he shouldn't do this right now, right? Like from last night, my wife and I were trying to get out of a of a of a of a parking garage in Yerushalayim. There's a guy standing right in front of us, and he's just not, he's just standing, he's like staring at us and he's not moving. realized immediately the guy is shicker off his off his face. So I could be tzodek.
What's the tzodek thing? Honk the horn, scream at him. Tihiye chacham, listen to your wife and see he's just drunk, don't make a mehuma. Like בכביש תהיה צודק, אל תהיה צודק, תהיה חכם. Be wise.
Now, our, it's more of a male thing that I always have to be right. I always have to be right. But this mida of looking at a bigger picture and realizing being right is not as important as being smart, as being wise, as being introspective and thinking about things in a much, in a much grandiose scale, right? Where does this come from? Where so this is a very important thing.
ונראה כי את תכונת המסירות והנאמנות המושלמת.
This aspect of having such mesirut, such dedication, complete state of dedication, קיבלו בנות ישראל מרחל אימנו עליה השלום. We got it from mama Rochel, and it's great to learn about her while she's still alive in the parshios. And it's always great to learn about mama Rochel when she's literally right behind us, laid to rest. Through her avodata kdosha, through her holy work.
החדירה תכונה זו בהן לדורות עולם. There was something that she did, well there's many things she did, that she put something in nishmos bnos Yisrael, in the souls of the girls of Israel forever.
שכן דבר זה היה סוד כוחה של רחל אימנו במסירות נפשה ללאה אחותה. We always daven that our children should get along with each other.
When our children don't get along with each other, we instantly always think that we're, you know, horrible thoughts about ourselves in parenting, vchulu. This is all Amalek thoughts. Children, especially when they're in each other's faces all the time, and there could be competition between them subconsciously as well, they're bound to not always get along, right? But in the moments that they really get along, there's there's Gan Eden in the house. So, not just that, but when there's moments when a child mamish gives up for another child, that is even at a higher moment.
There's something, you can't you can't put it into words. And I bless us all to experience this. I'm not going to say all the time because mashiach isn't here yet, but to have moments like this that have an imprint on us. So he's saying over here that what Rachel did for Leah, right? By that on that fateful night, when she vitra, when she gave up on what did what did she give up on? I mean, lich'ora, what does it seem like she gave up on? When she gave the simanim to Leah, what did she give up on? Marriage.
Destiny. Everything. Love, passion, life. Everything.
She gave it all up. Now Rashi helps us there and tells us, what what was the real reason that she gave it up? Do you remember what Rashi said? She didn't want her to feel embarrassed. She didn't, very good, she did not, she couldn't stomach for a second the notion that her sister would be embarrassed. Now why? Because they knew in that family, what Lavan said was was the truth actually, meaning he was a conniving ramai, a cheat, but it was the minhag that they don't, you don't give the younger daughter before the older daughter.
That that was a truth. He could have said it earlier. He definitely could have said it earlier. I mean, he could have helped us a lot.
It's true. But but Rachel knew, Rachel and Leah knew, that was that was the minhag habayit. Like they they knew that. And Rachel is thinking to herself, for a second, if I don't do this, what's going to happen is that Leah is going to be humiliated by who? Who was going to be in front of who is she going to be humiliated? By Yaakov.
By Yaakov. By by by someone that she loved very much. And she didn't want the person that she loved to be the cause of hurting her sister. It's a whole, you think about what what went on in her head.
The sensitivity that she had to the whole picture was incredible. But at the end of the day, who ends up going home alone? Rachel. Who ends up that night looking at Hashem and saying, I'm going to say something a little bit crazy now, but let's just take it for what it is for our own sense and purposes. Rachel Imeinu that fateful night could look at Hashem and say, I'm sure you do a lot of good things for good people, but for me, you're a cruel God.
To give me a taste of such love, from love at first sight, literally. That's how the Torah explains it. Mamish love at first sight, and then to say, you know what? It's not going to work. And you know who it's not going to work with? Your sister.
There's nothing more, it's b'diyuk like like sakin bagav, like sticking a knife in the back than that when it's your sister. And I always think about that night, about that Rachel Imeinu that night when she was crying. And that midah that she had of giving up. Now, why did she do that? It wasn't only what Rashi says, obviously.
She knew that there had to be a lot of sparks that Yaakov Avinu had to lift up from that home of Lavan. And he had to spend those 14 years there. It had to be, couldn't have been just seven years. She knew this, prophetically she knew this.
And yet, she was willing to give up on all that just to be able to make sure that the bigger picture is still intact. But I'm sure there was still a tear in her heart that night. She was a human being, Rachel Imeinu. She had human feelings.
Yes, she's Rachel Imeinu. She loved someone. And that night, she knows that her love of her life is going to be with her sister. This is pashut lo ye'uman.
You see, we have to stop sometimes and think about these things just a second more, even though we know this story since we're three, four years old, and we read it every year in the parsha. But when you stop and inhale it and internalize it, you realize, do I, well you ask yourself, is that in my DNA too? Do I have something like that in my DNA? The ability, the ability to be mevateret. Now this is, chalila, I'm not saying over here, try to see if you can be mevater on the love of your life for someone else. I have to, I got a lot, I told you in the beginning of the shiur I get messages every day.
I get a lot of messages that people that aren't sitting here and don't know Hebrew perfectly, and they miss one word and then they think that I would say such an insane thing. Like if we really were holding, we would also give up on the. So I have to be very careful. That's not what I mean, but the midah.
midda of vatranut. The characteristic trait of being able to give up on that which may seem most precious to you for a much bigger reason, a man does not have that. That's not inherent to a man.
בכלל לא עבודה שלו.
It's not where he's holding. Unless it's really someone that's davuk b'Shechina K'dosha, but really this midda we find by Rachel Imeinu, by women. So I want to read this paragraph again.
ונראה כי את תכונת המסירות והנאמנות המושלמת קיבלו בנות ישראל מרחל אמנו עליה השלום בעבודתה הקדושה, החדירה זאת בהן לדורות עולם.
She gave this over for generations and generations to come.
שכן דבר זה היה סוד כוחה של רחל אמנו. This was the secret of her strength. When?
במסירות נפשה לאה אחותה, when she gave over, כאשר נתנה לה את משוש ליבה המיועד לה, יעקב אבינו בכיר שבאבות, when she gave her love of her life to her sister.
ki b'godel rachameha, and from the greatness of her rachamim, of her mercy, מתוך שכאבה את כאבה. She she felt her pain.
לא יכלה לשאת את חרפתה. She couldn't stomach the busha that her sister was going to feel, שתצטרך לצאת מאוהל יעקב בבושת פנים, that Yaakov, that she would have to leave the tent of Yaakov humiliated.
She couldn't stomach it.
ועמדה וותרתה על כל היקר לה ועל כל עתידה במסירות נפש נפלאה. And she gave up on all that was precious to her and her future. She at that moment, she gave up on her future.
Because at that moment, it wasn't clear to her that it would there would be some situation where she would actually end up marrying him and also be the mother of at least, well, that's a whole another parsha, how many children she has. But she didn't know anything, she'd be the mother of Yosef and Binyamin, and then Binyamin, you know, in Binyamin's chelek and his portion and inheritance in the land. You know where Binyamin's chelek is? We we literally know. I mean, it's an amazing thing.
We have the region of Binyamin, but do you know where it extends to? Where in the Beit Hamikdash? Not all of Beit Hamikdash. Where in Beit Hamikdash? The Kodesh Kodashim. Yehuda starts right after that. It's, we're we're in Yehuda.
It's an amazing thing. She didn't know that when she did that night that that's what would be. But that's what it ended up happening. She didn't know that she'd end up being the great great grandmother of of Mordechai HaYehudi.
Mordechai was from Binyamin. She didn't know any of these things. She didn't see all that. See, if she saw all that and she gave it up, it'd be like, well, she knew good things were going to happen to her anyway.
Shum davar. That night she gave it up, it was done for her. It's like sacrifice. Mamash.
The verb sacrifice, you know, not. Not an, right, right, right, right. It's an actual, nachon.
ועל אף, now this is the whole, this is the whole thing.
Um, sorry, this ועמדה וותרתה.
מסרה את הסימנים שנתן לה מתוך הקרבה, right. She, she, the finishing of the second to bottom paragraph, מסרה לה את הסימנים שנתן לה מתוך, exactly what you said, hakrava atzmit muchletet. She was in a state of complete and total sacrifice.
v'lo kin'a ba. And she wasn't jealous of her. She was in pain over not being with Yaakov, but she wasn't jealous of her. Now look what, what's the whole point? Why is he bringing this whole thing? Tell me something, did Rachel have to do this? No.
Was there a big mitzvas asei, lo ta'asei that she was fulfilling by giving the simanim over to Leah? Put it like this, and if she didn't give over those signs to Leah and she ended up marrying Yaakov, would Hashem been, would have been angry at her? No. I mean, there would have been a regret, but I'm not sure it would have been in the category of, that's not how she lived now. Would Hashem be upset with her? That's what I'm asking. Of course not.
No. There's no chiyuv. There was no obligation for her to do this. There was no mitzva for her to do that.
You understand, there was no obligation. This is what we're coming back to. And yet, we see that's not how we look at the, in the heart of things, in the deepest depths of things, that's not really how we look at a person's values, like were you someone that was committed to make sure you were yotzei all your obligations? This is the world of of the Shechina, of the nukva is not about that, it's about so much more than that. V'al af...
It's her calling. So, what's that? It was her calling. But the call, right. I didn't say that she would have missed, like, I don't know if angry is the right word, but it's like she would sin to her calling.
It was her potential. Those are all, this is all beina l'vein atzma. I'm talking about right now about a person that calls himself religious is looking at this story and we're asking the religious person, did Leah, did Rochel have to do this? No. That's the answer.
It's true calling and all these things. It's usually not a person's calling to give up on the love of their life. Nachon? It's a calling of the, on a much higher order of nature, but it's not someone's calling to take the love of their life and set it up that they end up with their sister. That's that's not a, you know, that's a beyond, beyond level.
Of course it was her inner calling, but the point over here that he's trying to make is that she wasn't stuck on fulfilling obligations or not. That's the point. Ve'al... Yeah, you want to say something? Well, I'm just thinking that since busha is akin to death in some ways that it was sort of like לא תעמוד על דם רעך, and, and that she couldn't, as it says, as it says here, you know, that she couldn't bear the thought, you know, because it was just like seeing the destruction of her sister.
That's very good. I happen to know plenty, plenty of people that ended up marrying people that they knew that others would be jealous of. So, what would we tell them? She wouldn't be, she wouldn't have been intentionally humiliating her sister, it's just the situation that just arose, having to, yeah, be humiliated. Correct.
If she didn't act. Like meaning the humiliation would not have really been her fault or... It wouldn't have been on her. She was humiliated from the reality, from the story, but not that she did something.
Right. That's really what... is whether, like an omission, you know, of just like... No, I hear what you're saying.
It's a good, it's a good thing. This is like this is a sugya in the Gemara, what what's happening over here. But let's do this for a second. If, and you have to always use a thumb and start with if, okay? If we say that לא תעמוד על דם רעך is a is is results, you you you you go over it when when when anyone can get insulted and embarrassed by your actions, then Rachel Imeinu really is at fault if she would have married Yaakov.
But if you think about it, is that you can't live your life if that's the definition of לא תעמוד על דם רעך, because naturally it will be that if you just breathe and look nice, someone will get insulted. So we we don't, we can't act like that, right? But that's a different level that she saw, was able to really understand deeply how it was going to affect not a random Joe on the street. She's still not chayav. I'm not saying she's...
That's, that's all we're saying today. Her different level, her higher level. Still not, she's in love. Leah wasn't in love with him.
You didn't understand that when I learned it with Johnny and then I don't understand it now. Leah, Leah, was Leah in love with Yaakov? She just was freaked out by having to marry Esav. That's what we know from Chazal. But was Leah madly in love with Yaakov? She grew to love him.
But but it wasn't like, I think about Leah for a second. What about her on that fateful night? I'm sure she thought highly of Yaakov. I'm sure she thought very highly of Yaakov Avinu. But she also had to give up on something of like the dream of like, I'll end up marrying someone that I know loves me.
She couldn't say that. And we see that that plays a role in the relationship throughout the throughout the story. There's also vatranut by her. There's also vatranut.
Oh, it's okay, you'll grow to love each other. He's in love with my sister. Do it. She also gave up.
The whole mida here is about giving up. On both sides. I don't know if he's, I don't think he goes into that side of things, because when we look at the story, we always think of Rachel being the one that gave up. But Leah gave up on the notion that every little girl says, one day Prince Charming's going to come and you're going to feel so special.
That didn't happen with her. That's not her story. And it takes a long time for her to find her place in the world, Leah. Long time.
So the bottom paragraph, ואף על פי שלא היתה מחוייבת בדבר, עשתה את כל המעשה הנאצל שעשתה.
כי לא יכלה למצוא מרגוע לנפשה. She couldn't, she was thinking of doing a million different things, but she couldn't find the margo'a l'nefesh, anything soothing to her soul, עד שויתרה לה על הכל. Until she came to this decision, I just have to...
give her these signs and let it be that she's the one that moves forward. And this whole world of her of her rachmanut and the issurim that she went through, we see later on that that she was also, Chazal say also subconsciously, what else would did she give up on? Much later in life, at death. What did she give up on? She gave up on being buried together with everyone else. In in a in a very hard way for us to understand.
In the last second of a shiur, she also gave up. When did she die? She dies when the kodesh kodashim comes into the world. Meaning like her Binyamin. Her whole her her whole thing in this world is that what what people say would be a picture perfect is not part of my chelek at all.
And yet, how do we come back to Eretz Yisrael after 2,000 years of galus?
רחל מבכה על בניה. So we'll we'll continue more be'ezrat. Is there a shiur next week or no? On Thursday. There is shiur? Huh? We'll make it happen? So we'll continue be'ezrat Hashem next week, taking this to the next level, but just to take put this in the context, when a person that is in tune with this middah stands before Hashem and says, Ribono shel Olam, please, Tefilas Nashim, what's gonna stand in the way of that? What stands in the way of Mama Rochel's tears? And those are your tears, and your daughter's tears, and your mother's tears, and your sister's tears.
And that's what Am Yisrael needs more than ever to to be approaching the the throne of glory so that only good news and prosperity can come on Am Yisrael and the rest and the rest of the world, be'ezrat Hashem. Okay, ambassadors, have an amazing day.