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1. *Biblical source for *Maot Chitim*** — While often cited as a *minhag*, the *Gra* (*Vilna Gaon*) derives the obligation to provide the poor with *matzah* (and the means to buy it) from a textual redundancy in the *Torah*.
2. *Personal vs. Communal eating* — The distinction between the commands *tochal* (you shall eat) and *yei'achel* (it shall be eaten) teaches that one must ensure *matzos* are provided for others, moving beyond personal obligation to communal responsibility.
3. *Generosity requires *sevi'ah*** — Halacha dictates that while an individual may be stingy with himself, consuming only a *kezayit*, when providing for the poor, one must ensure they reach a state of *sevi'ah* (satiety), symbolized by the *malei* (full) spelling of the word *matzos*.
4. *Holistic poverty relief* — True *chesed* involves being a *maskil el dal*, one who "understands" the poor by reading between the lines to identify unspoken needs, such as providing meat for someone who only asks about milk.
5. *Economic impact on *da'as** — As seen in the life of *Rabbi Yochanan**, financial distress directly impacts a person’s cognitive and emotional clarity (*da'as*); thus, providing for a person's physical needs is a prerequisite for their spiritual and intellectual growth.
6. *Mandatory storytelling* — The obligation to recount the Exodus even if "we are all wise" finds its *remez* in the *Torah* when *Moshe Rabbeinu* recounted the miracles to *Yisro*, despite the text explicitly stating that *Yisro* had already heard everything.
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For פסח Pesach, based on כרם צבי הגדה Karem Tzvi Hagada. Reached page פ״ז Pey Zayin. One between two. Pass them round. Pass them round. אחד לשניים echad lishnayim. So we're on page פ״ז Pey Zayin, כל דכפין Kol Dichfin. Ready Eliyahu? We're starting. יש להבין מה נשתנה Yesh lehavin mah nishtanah. Yeah, play on words, מה נשתנה mah nishtanah. חג הפסח מכל המועדים Chag haPesach mikol hamo'adim. Why is פסח Pesach different from all the other יום טובים Yom Tovim שמכריזין בו כל דכפין ייתי וייכול shemachrizin bo kol dichfin yeitei veyeichol? Really, you should invite guests on סוכות Succos, you should invite guests on שבועות Shavuos. Why do we have this declaration that we make דוקא davka on פסח Pesach? That's question number one. Point number two: והגדת הרמ״א הביא המנהג לקנות חטים לחלקן לעניים לצורך חג הפסח Vehagadat haRema hevi haminhag liknot chitim lechalkan le'aniyim letzorech chag haPesach. The רמ״א Rema brings a מנהג minhag which is called מעות חטים Maot Chitim that you should buy special wheat, give them out to the poor and that's based on a ירושלמי Yerushalmi. וטעמא בעי Veta'ama ba'i and we need here another reason: למה לא נזכר מנהג כזה בשאר מועדים lamah lo nizkar minhag kazeh bish'ar moadim? It's the same question twice. It's why do we on ליל הסדר Leil haSeder call out everyone who's poor who needs food to come and eat? And also why is there a מנהג minhag of providing wheat to the poor ahead of time, which we don't have that same מנהג minhag? We don't have a concept of מעות חטים Maot Chitim for סוכות Succos where you help people provide food to make their bread on סוכות Succos time or their meat on סוכות Succos time. Why the difference? וראיתי רבינו הגדול הגר״א זצ״ל שכתב רמז בזה מן התורה Veraiti Rabbeinu hagadol haGra zatzal shekatav remez bazeh min haTorah. There's a רמז remez, an allusion to this in the תורה Torah itself. דכתיב שבעת ימים תאכל מצות מצות יאכל את שבעת הימים Dichtiv shivat yamim tochal matzos matzos yei'achel et shivat hayamim. ויש להבין את כפל האזהרות Veyesh lehavin et kefel ha'azharot. Now we're learning חומש Chumash, a שיעור shiur in חומש Chumash. The פסוק pasuk says the same thing twice in two different ways. It says for seven days you shall eat מצות matzos, שבעת ימים תאכל מצות shivat yamim tochal matzos, and then it says מצות יאכל את שבעת הימים matzos yei'achel et shivat hayamim. So if you're being superficial about it, it would just say seven days eat מצה matzah, seven days eat מצה matzah, saying the same thing twice. If you're being מדייק medayek, then there's a difference. ויש להבין את כפל האזהרות Veyesh lehavin et kefel ha'azharot. Why does it say it twice? ומדוע כתוב אחר כך מצות יאכל בקמץ תחת האל״ף מבניין נפעל Umadua katuv achar kach matzos yei'achel bekamatz tachat ha'alef mibinyan nifal? They should be eaten, not you should eat, but they should be eaten. ומדוע Umadua, and here's another difference in the פסוק pasuk if you noticed. The first time it says the word מצות matzos, it says it חסר chaser without the ו״ו vav. מצות Matzos with a חולם cholam but no ו״ו vav. והשני מלא ו״ו Vehasheni malei vav. So question number one: why does it repeat the same idea twice? Question number two: why does it say it first time in תאכל tochal, you should eat, second time יאכל yei'achel it should be eaten? Question number three: why is the word מצות matzos חסר chaser in the first part of the פסוק pasuk and it's מלא malei in the second? אך Ach. You ready for this? הציווי הראשון הוא לכל אחד מישראל Hatzivui harishon hu lechol echad miYisrael. There's two different commandments here. Pay attention. The first one is for every single Jew. שבעת ימים תאכל מצות Shivat yamim tochal matzos. You have to eat מצות matzos every single day of the seven days, or at least there are seven days in which you shouldn't be eating something else. Seven days eat מצות matzos. שכל אחד בעצמו מחוייב לאכול מצה בפסח Shekol echad be'atzmo mechuyav leechol matzah bePesach. Every Jew is obligated to eat מצה matzah פסח Pesach and that's why it's an אזהרה azharah with the word תאכל tochal, you need to eat. אזהרה שנית Azharah shenit. What's the second? What's the second דרשה drasha teaching? ועל להוסיף חיוב לדאוג גם אחרים יהיו להם מצות לאכול Ve'al lehosif chiyuv lid'og gam acherim yihiyu lahem matzot leechol. It's teaching you that you have an obligation to take care of other people. This goes back to what we're learning yesterday about the fact that it's the Rabbi's obligation to take care of the people's spiritual needs but primarily their physical needs. You have to take care of the physical needs first. So you have the obligation to eat מצות matzos and you have the obligation to make sure that other people have מצות matzos too. It's a פסוק pasuk in the תורה Torah. So don't ask me why it's special for פסח Pesach and doesn't apply by סוכות Succos. The תורה Torah says so. You can ask the תורה Torah why the תורה Torah says so, but the תורה Torah says so. דכתיב מצות יאכל Dichtiv matzos yei'achel. מצות Matzos should be eaten על ידי אחרים al yedei acherim through other people. לתת כדי שביעה לעניים הצריכים כהוראת בניין נפעל Latet kedei svee'ah le'aniyim hatzrichim kehora'at binyan nifal. יאכל Yei'achel means you should make sure that they're eaten. את שבעת הימים Et shivat hayamim for three days. And that answers the second question: why does it say once חסר chaser and once מלא malei? So notice which one is which, right? When did it say מצות חסר matzos chaser? That was when you're eating. שבעת ימים תאכל מצות Shivat yamim tochal matzos. When you eat, it says the word מצות matzos without the ו״ו vav. When you're giving others to eat, then it says it with the ו״ו vav. Why? Why the difference? לכן כתיב תאכל מצות חסר ו״ו כי לעצמו רשאי לצמצם אכילתו ולכמץ Lachen ketiv tochal matzos chaser vav ki le'atzmo rashai letzamtzem achilato ulekametz. When you're eating yourself, there you can go light. You shouldn't be overeating. You have what you need to have. Don't be stuffing yourself. And that's what the גמרא Gemara says in ברכות Berachos מדקדקים על עצמם עד כזית עד כביצה Medakdekim al atzmam ad kezayit ad kebeitzah. What does it mean על עצמם al atzmam? נראים כמיותרים Nirim kemeyutarim. Just say מדקדקים עד כביצה medakdekim ad kebeitzah. Why מדקדקים על עצמם medakdekim al atzmam? והספר Vehasefer... קהלות יצחק Kehillos Yitzchak, which Rabbi Yitzchak Sofer tells us was written by Rabbi Yitzchak bar Nissim Reitbord, thank you very much, Rabbi Sofer, in the name of רב חיים מוולוז'ין Rav Chaim of Volozhin, דלא תימר דמשום הכי מחשבין לברך גם על כזית ברכת המזון כדי לפטור בזה סעודת עני d'lo teima d'mishum hachi machshivin l'vareich gam al kazayis birkas hamazon k'dei liftor bazeh seudas ani. Don't say this is why משום הכי mishum hachi מחשבין machshivin, why it's so significant, גם על כזית ברכת המזון gam al kazayis birkas hamazon. Why do we make a ברכה bracha even on a כזית kazayis? Why do we add that כדי לפטור בזה k'dei liftor bazeh, so that you can give less to עניים aniyim? You have to give to עניים aniyim. The תורה Torah says you have to when you make a ברכה אחרונה bracha achrona when you have a שביעה seviah, שיעור שביעה shiur seviah. But if the rabbis made it a חומרה chumrah and they said that we are already able to make a ברכה אחרונה bracha achrona already when you ate a כזית kazayis, so maybe that means that if I'm giving charity I only have to give them a כזית kazayis because the תורה Torah says I make ברכת המזון birkas hamazon, that must be it's considered enough. No. על עצמם al atzmam they were מחמיר machmir. על עצמם al atzmam they were מחמיר machmir not to wait for שביעה seviah but even to make ברכת המזון birkas hamazon from a כזית kazayis. But when they were giving to the poor they said no, we're not counting כזית kazayis as if you're satiated. When you're giving to the poor you're going to give enough that they actually are going to be satiated. That's why it adds the word על עצמם al atzmam. לכן אמר שרק על עצמם מדקדקים להחשיב כזית לברך ברכת המזון אבל לעני נותנים כדי שביעה lachein amar sherak al atzmam medakdekim l'hachshiv kazayis l'vareich birkas hamazon aval l'ani nosnim k'dei seviah. That's why it says regarding פסח Pesach, מצות יאכל matzos yei'achel, מלא ו' malei vav with the extra ו' vav לרמז כי לעניים צריך לתת כדי שביעה l'ramez ki l'aniyim tzarich lates k'dei seviah, as it says ואכלו בשעריך ושבעו v'achlu b'shiarecha v'save'u. That's the first פשט pshat. Now he doesn't address this but I want to add a point. He told us, he asked the question, why by פסח Pesach do we have a מצוה mitzvah of inviting people to come and eat? Why by פסח Pesach do we have the מצוה mitzvah of מעות חיטין maos chitin? And the answer was it's a דרשה drasha in the פסוק pasuk. In the פסוק pasuk it says an extra commandment, not only should you eat מצות matzos but you should ensure that other people have מצות matzos to eat as well. That's why. It doesn't say an extra פסוק pasuk by סוכות Succos, it doesn't say an extra פסוק pasuk by שבועות Shavuos. So he answered the question well, meaning the תורה Torah said so. That's the answer and he proved it from the פסוק pasuk. But now our question obviously is, okay so why did the תורה Torah say so? Why did the תורה Torah differentiate between פסח Pesach that there is an extra מצוה mitzvah to take care of עניים aniyim and it didn't say by סוכות Succos and it didn't say by שבועות Shavuos? So he doesn't address that point but I wanted to add that idea. That when it comes to the other ימים טובים yamim tovim there we were already a nation. We were already formed as a nation. פסח Pesach was our לידה leida, it was our birth. It was when we were being formed as a nation. And when you're being formed as a nation there's a concern that you say like I'm more of a major part in the formation and other people are coming along, they're not as significant. There was an importance in Judaism there's an importance that when you're forming something it has to be everyone's a part of it. We learn that from דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech. When דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech wanted to buy the חלקא chelka, the portion of land where they were going to build the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, he had enough money to buy it by himself. But he said he's going to collect fifty שקל shekel from every single one of the tribes so that he'll have six hundred שקל shekel to buy that it's owned by everyone. Because when it's founding the place of קדושה kedusha of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash there should be no place that can claim it's mine more than it's yours. So when it comes to the מצות matzos on פסח Pesach which is the formation of us as a nation, it's our national birthday, there it would be inappropriate if there would be some people who were more rich who were doing it and some people who were poor who weren't doing or some would be more involved and less involved, it has to be that everyone's involved. So when it comes to other ימים טובים yamim tovim there we're already formed as a nation, it's already part of our national identity. So we're going to continue it. But for פסח Pesach there there had to be that calling out, taking care of the needy, we're all in this together, we're one nation and everything together, there's no elite, we're all united. So from this לימוד limud it's מצוה דאורייתא mitzvah d'oraisa. It's מצוה דאורייתא mitzvah d'oraisa to provide for other people, right. Even though the רמ\"א Rema just brings it as a מנהג minhag, but the source, the הגר\"א Hagra, the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon says, but the source of that מנהג minhag comes from a חיוב דאורייתא chiyuv d'oraisa to provide for other people, מצות יאכל matzos yei'achel, you should ensure that they're able to eat the מצות matzos. ובילדותי שמעתי u'veyaldusi shamati, I heard when I was a child, מפי הגאון mipi hagaon רבי יצחק מאיר Rabbi Yitzchak Meir שהיה אב בית דין קדוש סלבודקה she'haya av beis din kadosh Slabodka, and he died on that year, which I think Rabbi Yitzchak Sofer added there, ביאר שינוי הלשון כל דכפין וכל דצריך be'eir shinui halashon kol dichfin v'chol ditzrich. It says there are two types of people who are needy: כל דכפין kol dichfin means anyone who's hungry, כל דצריך kol ditzrich means anyone who's needy. Why do you have that double language? Just say anyone who's needy or anyone who's hungry, it's all the same thing, come and eat. Why the double language? יש שני מיני נצרכים yeish shenei minei nitzrachim. There are two types of needy people. אחד עני שהוא רעב ואין לו מה לאכול echad ani shehu ra'ev v'ein lo mah leechol. You have the simple needy person who's hungry and doesn't have what to eat. והשני הוא איש צבא v'hasheini hu ish tzava. He's on the border of Lebanon. או חולה מבני ישראל השוכב על ערש דווי o choleh mibnei Yisrael hashochev al eres davai. או חבושים בבית האסור o chavushim beveit ha'asur, or he's trapped somewhere and he's not able to buy his own food. יש להם מה לאכול yesh lahem ma l'echol, in theory they have food to eat, אלא שצריכים לטובתנו לאכילת מצה ומאכל כשר ela shetzrichim l'tovateinu l'achilat matzah u'machal kasher, but they don't have kosher food, they're not able to provide for themselves. נגד הראשון neged harishon, page פ\"ח pei-chet, אומרים omrim, כל דכפין ייתי וייכול kol dichfin yeitei v'yeichol, ונגד השני אומרים v'neged hasheni omrim, כל דצריך kol ditzrich. There's some people who are actually hungry, there's some people who are needy. לא דכפין lo dichfin, they're not hungry. איננו רעב כי הלא יש לו מה לאכול einenu ra'ev ki halo yesh lo ma l'echol, אלו שצריך לטובתנו elu shetzarich l'tovateinu. That was the drash that he said and I'm adding to that, the same idea but just taking it a step further, that there are two types of needy people. There are types of needy people who don't have food and that's why we say כל דכפין kol dichfin, because they're hungry, physically hungry, you provide food. And there's some people who are emotionally needy, they're by themselves, they're lonely, that you can't say כל דכפין kol dichfin, anyone who is hungry, because they're not hungry. They have enough money to buy matzahs themselves, but they're sitting by themselves and they're lonely, and they're saying: Why isn't anyone inviting me? Why doesn't anyone take care of me? Or maybe they're not religious, and they're interested in having a religious experience, but no one in their neighborhood has invited them. They're not hungry, but they are needy spiritually or needy emotionally. So we say a double language: כל דכפין kol dichfin, anyone who is hungry, כל דצריך kol ditzrich, anyone who is needy. What's the needy referring to? They're needy because they need you to call out to them and invite them and bring them into your home. So that's why we say a double language. So that was one שמועה shmu'a that he heard. My addition: ושמעתי מפי גאון ישראל פאר הדור רב צבי הירש רבינוביץ הגאון אב בית דין דקובנא v'shamati mipi geon yisrael peer hador rav tzvi hirsh rabinovitz hagaon av beit din dekovna, which is a neighboring part of Slabodka, שהמליץ על זה דברי החוזה shehimlitz al zeh divrei hachozeh. He said on this an idea based on the פסוק pasuk in ישעיהו yeshayahu. אל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח el zeh abit el ani uncheh ruach. זה עני אשר רוחו נשברה מרוב עניו ומחסורו zeh ani asher rucho nishberah merov onyo u'machsoro, וחרד על דברי v'chared al devari. Who's that referring to? איש צבא או חולה בבית האסורים בבית החולים של אומות העולם שיש לו מה לאכול ואינו עני והוא חרד על דברי ish tzava o choleh beveit ha'asurim beveit hacholim shel umot ha'olam sheyesh lo ma l'echol v'eino ani v'hu chared al devari, but he's careful to do the will of השם Hashem, כי יחדל לאכול ki yechdal l'echol, he's not going to eat all the other food they're providing for him, מה שמוכן לו יען כי הוא חרד לדבר השם ma shemuchan lo ya'an ki hu chared l'dvar Hashem, ובשביל זה נזקק לטובתו u'vishvil zeh nizkak l'tovato. Someone who wants to do the will of השם Hashem is not willing to eat the food they're providing for him, you have to take care of him. ועלינו למלא רצון שני מיני נצרכים v'aleinu l'malei ratzon shnei minei nitzrachim, ולכן מכריזים בפסח כל דכפין ייתי וייכול v'lachen machrizim bepesach kol dichfin yeitei v'yeichol, וגם המנהג של מעות חיטים לחלקם לעניים פסח יותר מלסוכות v'gam haminhag shel ma'ot chitim lechalkam l'aniyim pesach yoter m'lesukot, ששם נאמר רק בסוכות תשבו shesham ne'emar rak basukot teshvu. It doesn't say ישבו yeshvu, they should be sitting. It says תשבו teshvu, you should sit. כל אזרח בישראל ישבו בסוכות kol ezrach beyisrael yeshvu basukot, ולא נזכר דבר אכילה נצרכים v'lo nizkar dvar achilah nitzrachim. So maybe you should help people build סוכות sukot, but it doesn't say you have to provide food for them. רק חיוב צדקה בכלל השנה וענייני לקט שכחה ופאה rak chiyuv tzedakah b'chlal hashanah v'inyanei leket shikchah u'peah, that you have other מצוות mitzvot to provide for the poor in general, שאינם חיובים מיוחדים לחג הסוכות דווקא she'einam chiyuvim meyuchadim l'chag hasukot davka. אבל בחג הפסח יש רמז בתורה הקדושה aval bechag hapesach yesh remez batorah hakedoshah לדאוג לטובת הנצרכים lid'og l'tovat hanitzrachim, and that's why they had the תקנה takanah of מעות חיטים ma'ot chitim. Something else I heard, על הגאון רב חיים מוולוז'ין al hagaon rav chayim mivolozhin, שפעם אחת בא איש אחד לפניו ושאלו אם מותר לקיים shepa'am achat ba ish echad lefanav u'she'alo im mutar l'kayem—this is a famous story, I love this story—there was someone once came to רב חיים מוולוז'ין rav chayim mivolozhin and said to him: Are you allowed to fulfill the מצווה mitzvah of ארבע כוסות חלב arba kosot chalav? He didn't have wine, so he wanted to know could he use milk for the four cups of wine. הגאון לקח שתי זהובים או יותר hagaon lakach shtei zehuvim o yoter, and the רב חיים מוולוז'ין rav chayim mivolozhin gave him two gold coins or maybe even more, ונתן לו לקיים המצווה כראוי v'natan lo l'kayem hamitzvah k'ra'uy, and his family asked him: הלא על יין ארבע כוסות די זוז אחד halo al yayin arba kosot dai zuz echad, you don't need to give him so much money just to buy wine. And he said: לא השכלתם להבין שאלתו lo haskaltem l'havin she'alato, you didn't understand what he was asking. There was more beyond the question that he was actually asking. הלא כוס רביעי הוא אחר המזון halo kos revi'i hu achar hamazon. The fourth cup of wine is after benching. אחר שאכל בשר יתכן לעלות על דעתו לשתות חלב achar she'achal basar yitachen la'alot al da'ato lishtot chalav? If he was asking can he drink four cups of wine, how is he going to drink the fourth cup of wine with milk? That's after the meal. So if he asked can he drink four cups of milk, that obviously means he didn't have meat. אלא וודאי שאין לו בשר ela vaday she'ein lo basar, ולכן נתתי לו סכום מעות שיהיה לו גם בשר v'lachen natati lo s'chum ma'ot sheyihiyeh lo gam basar. You have to read between the lines, understand what he's asking on a deeper level. כי בשר ויין צמוקים היו אז בזול ki basar v'yayin tzukim hayu az bezol, וסכום כזה היה נתינה חשובה ומספקת v's'chum kazeh hayah netinah chashuvah u'mesapeket. ועל זה נאמר אשרי משכיל אל דל v'al zeh ne'emar ashrei maskil el dal. Fortunate is the person who understands the poor. המבין סתרי לב העני גם מה שלא יבקש מפיו hamevin sitrei lev ha'ani gam ma shelo yivakesh mipiv. Great story my family like this. A few, a couple of years ago a friend of mine phoned, friend of mine who learned with me in Kerem B'Yavneh, now he's in Beit Shemesh, and he phoned me and he said to me: Hi Tzvi, how are you doing? I said: Good. I said, \"Good.\" And then he said, \"So you still have guys over for שבת Shabbos?\" I said, \"Yeah, we occasionally have boys for שבת Shabbos meals.\" He said, \"Oh, good. And are you living in a bigger place now?\" Because when he was in Camp יבנה Yavneh, when I first moved in Camp יבנה Yavneh, I lived in a very, very small little kind of caravan type thing which doesn't exist anymore. So I said, \"Yeah, yeah, we've got...\" \"So you have space for the boys to invite?\" I said, \"Yeah, yeah, some space.\" And then my wife whispers to me, \"Invite them for שבת Shabbos. Invite them for שבת Shabbos. Invite them for שבת Shabbos.\" I said, \"Why?\" \"Invite them for שבת Shabbos.\" I said, \"Would you like to come for שבת Shabbos?\" \"Yeah, we would love to! We would love to! Like, is next week good?\" \"Yeah, sure, next week we have... it's both good.\" So I thought like, how did she know? Like, he was asking if you invite people for שבת Shabbos. He was saying, \"Is your house big enough to host people for שבת Shabbos?\" What was he asking you that for? I didn't pick up on him. אשרי משכיל אל דל Ashrei maskil el dal, you know? How fortunate is the person who is able to read, understand like, if a person's asking a question, pay attention to what they're asking. Read into the lines. They're asking to come for שבת Shabbos meal. Open invitation. Don't hint to me. If you would like to come for שבת Shabbos meal, just say, \"Rabbi Davidson, I would like to come for שבת Shabbos meal.\" Open house, it works. Usually it works, but don't... I'm not so good at hinting, as you saw from my story. Like, you can hint to my wife, it's not going to work. You have to hint... if you hint to me, it's not going to get through. ומה שכתוב משכיל אל דל ולא כתוב אשרי נותן לדל u'ma shekatuv maskil el dal v'lo katuv ashrei noten ladal. So why does it say \"how fortunate is the person who understands the poor,\" and it doesn't say \"how fortunate is the person who gives to the poor\"? יש לומר עוד בזה על פי המבואר בירושלמי דאמר רבי יוחנן שגזלו ליסטים ולקחו כל ממונו yesh lomar od beze al pi hamvuar biyerushalmi d'amar Rabi Yochanan shegazlu listim velakhu kol mamono. Wow, that's a terrible story. רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan was once held up by bandits and they stole all of his money. Did you know that? רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan, they stole all of רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan's money. ונכנס אחר כך לבית מדרש venikhnas akhar kakh l'veis medrash. And afterwards, now with empty pockets, רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan went into the בית מדרש beis medrash. והיה ריש לקיש שואלו דבר הלכה ולא השיב לו vehaya Reish Lakish shoalo davar halakha velo heshiv lo. And ריש לקיש Reish Lakish said, \"Ah, רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan, I had a question, I was waiting for you to come in.\" And רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan was just sitting there, like, dumbfounded after he just got all of his money stolen and he couldn't answer the question. וחזר ושאל לו vekhazar veshaal lo. So ריש לקיש Reish Lakish asked him again. ולא השיב לו velo heshiv lo. And he didn't answer him. אמר לו מהו הכין amar lo mahu hakin? אמר לו כל האיברים תלויים בלב amar lo kol haivarim tluyim balev. And this is רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan's answer. He said, \"All of my body, all of the body depends on the heart,\" which means the emotions. והלב תלוי בכיס vehalev taluy b'kis. And a person's emotions are dependent on his financial status. Isn't that crazy? Meaning your ability to function depends on how you feel and your ability to feel depends on how you're doing financially. And right then, he wasn't feeling so great financially because he just had his money stolen. Someone told me from the speaker Rabbi Davidson Alpern, he said that he grew up in a house of חסד chesed and once at the סדר Seder they said כל דכפין kol dichfin and an עני ani knocked on the door and joined the סדר Seder. Really? Wow, that's a great זכות zchus. I heard of a family who they would actually go and open the door and look if there was someone outside because it's kind of strange to say inside while the door's closed, you know? Yeah. My father-in-law עליו השלום alav hashalom, so he used to, on the night of פסח Pesach, he used to say כל דכפין kol dichfin. He would say it in שול shul. He would stand up at the end of דאווענינג davening and he would say that there's a מנהג minhag in עם ישראל Am Yisrael that we go to ליל הסדר leil haseder and we say כל דכפין kol dichfin, anyone who's hungry, כל דצריך kol ditzrich, anyone who's needy. And he says, \"I don't understand the מנהג minhag. You're already at home! Who's going to hear you? So my מנהג minhag is to say it in שול shul. If there's anyone who's hungry, if there's anyone who's needy, we have an open house, come and speak to me right after this talk.\" And our house was open and people would come, my mother-in-law would always put on like an extra few portions and people would come. People who weren't so religious and they would come to שול shul because they were planning to go home and just have their own like not real סדר Seder, just like whatever, or maybe eat too much matzah, but the שול shul was much better and they would go. So he would do it in שול shul in order to fulfill it in a much more effective way. ראינו מזה כי גם כי העני לא די מה שהוא עני וכיסו ריק כי גם דעתו מבולבלת rainu mize ki gam ki he'ani lo dai ma shehu ani vekhiso reik ki gam daato mevulbelet. So you see an interesting point from here. Someone who's poor, his heart and his thoughts depend on his financial status. So a poor person has a double fold or a double lack. Double lack. He's lacking financially but he's also lacking דעת daas because his mind is thinking \"Where am I going to get the money from? How am I going to provide for my family? How's it going to go?\" So he's also lacking the ability to think in a straight way, like רבי יוחנן Rabi Yochanan wasn't able to answer a הלכה halakha question. ובינתו קצרה מהבין דבר לאשורו uvinato ktzara mehavin davar laashuro. He's not able to understand things fully. That's why if a person says \"I'm going to stay in full-time learning for the rest of my life\" and they don't have any financial backing for that, they're not going to be learning. Their mind won't be there. They'll be worrying \"How am I going to pay rent? How am I going to provide for my children's education? How am I going to marry off my child?\" And in theory they're in full-time learning, but they're actually in full-time worrying about their financial situation. It's not going to be productive. וכשאדם עוזרו vekh'she'adam ozro. So when a person helps, when you help and provide for someone financially... לא רק אשר בזה ימלא חסרון קיבתו וישבר רעבונו lo rak asher baze yemaleh chesron keivato v'yishaver re'avono. Not only are you helping them financially and breaking their hunger, כי גם מחכימו ki gam machkimo. You are also helping him understand things on a greater level, ומרחיב דעתו u'marchiv da'ato and you expand his knowledge, ונעשה משכיל v'na'aseh maskil and he becomes greater understanding with greater understanding. וכאשר מעיין אחר כך בספר או אומר ההגדה v'ka'asher me'ayein achar kach b'sefer o omer ha'Haggadah. Afterwards when he looks in a ספר sefer or he reads the הגדה Haggadah, I'm just going to pause for a second because it's the next page I just want to say. So we've said two פירושים perushim on what it means אשרי משכיל אל דל Ashrei maskil el dal. The first פירוש perush is like the story with my wife, אשרי משכיל אל דל Ashrei maskil el dal, or like רב חיים מוולוז'ין Rav Chaim of Volozhin, is how fortunate is a person who reads in and understands what the real needs of the poor are. It's not enough just to say \"I think he needs this, I'm going to provide for him what I think he needs\", but rather אשרי משכיל Ashrei maskil is how fortunate is someone, how great is someone who they understand what the needs of the other person are and they give them according to their needs. That was the first פירוש perush of why it says משכיל maskil and not נותן noten. The second פירוש perush is אשרי משכיל אל דל Ashrei maskil el dal, not only are you providing food for the דל dal, but אשרי משכיל Ashrei maskil you're able to actually provide שכל seichel to the דל dal, because together with from the story of רבי יוחנן Rabbi Yochanan you see that together with the food that you're providing for him you also provided for him the ability to then think and have his דעת da'as return to him. ומבין דבר מתוך דבר ומרבה לספר בדעות ותבונה u'mevin davar mitoch davar u'marbeh l'saper b'de'ot u'tivunah. By you providing for him financially then he's able to understand his own learning on a deeper level. כשמדבר בענייני העולם כגבר משכיל k'she'medaber b'inyanei ha'olam k'gever maskil. And that's what it means in the second פירוש perush אשרי משכיל אל דל שעושה אותו משכיל Ashrei maskil el dal she'oseh oto maskil. You're making him a משכיל maskil. בשכר זה b's'char zeh the rest of the פסוק pasuk continues ביום רעה ימלטהו השם, השם ישמרהו ויחייהו b'yom ra'ah y'mal'tehu Hashem, Hashem yishm'rehu v'yichayehu. Have you ever seen after a person's name ה-י-ו Hay-Yud-Vav? Have you ever seen that? ה-י-ו Hay-Yud-Vav, what does it stand for? That we just read it. השם ישמרהו ויחייהו Hashem yishm'rehu v'yichayehu. אם זה על פי הפסוק הזה im zeh al pi hapasuk hazeh. השם ישמרהו ויחייהו Hashem yishm'rehu v'yichayehu. So by you providing financially for a person and then you give a person a greater knowledge and a greater understanding that also then on a difficult day that actually saves their lives because they're able to not only financially be saved but also understanding they'll be able to know how to handle themselves in that situation. עבור שיחיה נפש העני ואושר בארץ כי ישתבח בעיר גם לחכם וכבוד לחכם ומידה כנגד מידה avur she'yichyeh nefesh he'ani v'osher ba'aretz ki yishtabach ba'ir gam lachacham v'chavod lachacham u'midah k'neged midah הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give you back wisdom as well. Final story, גאון אחד בבואו מדרוש שבת הגדול gaon echad b'vo'o midrush Shabbat HaGadol. There was a גאון gaon, a great תלמיד חכם talmid chacham who came for the דרשה drasha of שבת הגדול Shabbat HaGadol. שאלו קרוביו מה חידש בבית הכנסת בדרושו sha'alu k'rovav mah chidesh b'veit hakeneset b'drasho. So his family asked him, \"what חידוש chiddush did you say?\". You know there's a מנהג minhag in עם ישראל Am Yisrael that the rabbi goes to give a דרשה drasha שבת הגדול Shabbat HaGadol. They asked him, \"what דרשה drasha did you say? what was the חידוש chiddush that you made in the דרשה drasha?\". אמר להם תרצתי קושיא עצומה וסתירה בדברי רמב\"ם amar lahem tiratzti kushya atzumah v'stirach b'divrei Rambam. I brought a big קושיא kushya on the רמב\"ם Rambam, there was a סתירה stirah there and I gave the answer and I resolved the answer of the רמב\"ם Rambam. What's the סתירה stirah? What's the answer? In פרק ו' מהלכות חמץ ומצה הלכה א' perek vav of Hilchot Chametz u'Matzah halachah aleph the רמב\"ם Rambam writes מצות עשה מן התורה לאכול מצה בליל הפסח בכל מקום ובכל זמן mitzvat aseh min haTorah l'echol matzah b'leil haPesach b'chol makom u'v'chol zman. Everyone has the obligation to eat מצה matzah every night. That's one רמב\"ם Rambam. ובהלכות גזילה ואבידה u'v'hilchot gezeilah v'aveidah there's another רמב\"ם Rambam that says הגוזל שווה פרוטה מחבירו עובר בלא תעשה שנאמר לא תגזול ha'gozel shaveh perutah me'chavero over b'lo ta'aseh shene'emar lo tigzol. You're not allowed to steal. You're not allowed to steal. So what's the סתירה stirah? אם כן מה יעשה עני שאינו לקיים מצות עשה דאכילת מצה im kein mah ya'aseh ani she'eino l'kayem mitzvat aseh d'achilat matzah? So what are you supposed to do if you don't have any money? On the one hand the רמב\"ם Rambam says you have to eat, on the other hand the רמב\"ם Rambam says you're not allowed to steal. So what are you supposed to do? How are you going to eat? אם כן דברי הרמב\"ם סותרים זה את זה im kein divrei haRambam sotrim zeh et zeh, it's a סתירה stirah in the רמב\"ם Rambam. What's he supposed to do? ותרצתי v'tiratzti and the Rabbi said I have an answer, כי הבעלי בתים יתנו לעניים צרכי החג ki haba'alei batim yitnu la'aniyim tzorchei hachag. Everyone in shul has to give צדקה tzedakah, everyone has to provide. ויתקיימו שפיר שני פסקי הרמבּ\"ם v'yitkaymu shapir shnei piskei haRambam and then they won't have to steal and they will have the ability to eat their מצות matzas now it was a סתירה stirah. כי יקיימו מצות עשה דאכילת מצה וגם לא יצרכו לעבור זה העשה שלא תגזול ki y'kaymu mitzvat aseh d'achilat matzah v'gam lo yitzrechu la'avor zeh ha'aseh she'lo tigzol. That was his joke that he was saying, but it's a חיוב דאורייתא chiyuv d'Oraita according to what we saw. מצות יאכל Matzot ye'achel that there's an obligation to provide for other people. It's a חיוב דאורייתא chiyuv d'Oraita. יפה עד כאן yafeh ad kan. We'll pause, I have one more דרשה drasha that I want to say in the קובץ kovetz hazeh. I didn't print it up because it was a whole 'nother page and I wanted to do even pages and it fit in nicely over here the even pages, but he has a beautiful beautiful פשט pshat also. One of the things the רב פפר Rav Feber likes to do in his ספרים sefarim is he likes to show how אין דבר שלא רמוז באורייתא ein davar she'lo ramuz ba'Oraita, meaning even if you have something which is a דין דרבנן din d'rabbanan but nevertheless you see like we saw over here, like where he brought the גר\"א Gra. But another example of that he does that, we say in the הגדה של פסח Haggadah shel Pesach, we say אפילו כולנו חכמים כולנו נבונים כולנו יודעים את התורה afilu kulanu chachamim, kulanu nevonim, kulanu yodeim et haTorah. And nevertheless you have the obligation to tell the whole story of פסח Pesach. So he says where do we see that from in the תורה Torah מפורש פסוק meforash pasuk? מפורש פסוק Meforash pasuk in the תורה Torah where it says that. That exact thing. Who knows? Ah, you're cheating, you have the הגדה Haggadah. You're looking it up. But how do you know where to look it up? Ah, אפילו afilu, it's under אפילו afilu. You hear the question? Where is it from? So he brings, this is a phenomenal piece. He brings in the story of יתרו Yisro. Right? So יתרו Yisro comes and משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu tells him the whole story. And the פסוק pasuk says explicitly that משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu told him כל kol—I wish I had the exact language. Has anybody—you find it? Can I borrow? כל הטובה שעשה השם לישראל Kol hatova she-asah Hashem l'Yisroel. כל הטובה Kol hatova. It says the word כל kol, right? I'm racing you, משה Moshe. It's between me and you, who's going to find it first. I'll do it this way. I'll look at the beginning where I can see the whole הגדה Haggadah because the language is very מדויק meduyak. צדי זין Tzadi zayin? צדי זין Tzadi zayin, thank you. Okay, here we go. אפילו כולנו חכמים Afilu kulanu chachamim. אין דבר שלא רמיז באורייתא Ein davar shelo ramiz ba-Oraita. There's nothing that doesn't appear in the תורה Torah. דכתיב Dichsiv, וישמע יתרו את כל אשר עשה אלהים למשה ולישראל עמו Vayishma Yisro es kol asher asah Elokim l'Moshe ul'Yisroel amo. So it says and יתרו Yisro listened to everything that God did. כי הוציא השם את ישראל ממצרים Ki hotzi Hashem es Yisroel mi-Mitzrayim. אם כן היה יתרו יודע הכל בעצמו Im kein hayah Yisro yodeia hakol b'atzmo. So it says that יתרו Yisro already knew everything. It says וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yisro. The תורה Torah testifies about יתרו Yisro that he had already heard everything. וישמע יתרו את כל אשר עשה אלהים Vayishma Yisro es kol asher asah Elokim. He already knew everything. ובכל זאת כתיב Uvekhol zot kesiv, and nevertheless it goes on and it says, ויספר משה לחתנו Vayisaper Moshe l'chotno, everything that happened. So why did he listen? Why was משה Moshe telling him the whole thing again if he already knew everything? מזה מוכח דאף על פי שכולנו חכמים Mizeh muchach de'af al pi shekulanu chachamim, even though everyone knows everything already, מצוה עלינו לספר mitzva aleinu lesaper, there's still a מצוה mitzvah to hear it again. That's a רמז בתוך התורה remez b'soch ha-Torah that there's an obligation to hear everything again. יישר כח Yashar koach. Thank you. צדי זין Tzadi zayin.