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We learned last time around the idea that the תשובה is basically returning to
י-ק-ו-ק אלוקיך.
Listen,
this is למעשה בהרחבה,
it's found in אגרת התשובה of the בעל התניא,
where he discusses this at length from פרק ג' או ד' and further.
That is for those who are interested in looking it up,
so there's a whole מסכתא on this.
But let's get to the point here as follows.
If you remember,
we learned in source אלף in the מאירי that one who does not engage
in תשובה specifically on ראש השנה,
he's a מורד במלכות,
he's אין לו חלק באלוקי ישראל,
he's not part of the kingdom of God.
We learned that,
and we discussed the idea of why does one sin?
When one sins,
it seems to be because one does not live within the authority of הקדוש
ברוך הוא.
We quoted the מכילתא that the מכילתא says that הקדוש ברוך הוא said אנכי
ה' אלוקיך before he said לא יהיה לכם אלהים אחרים על פני,
simply saying because at first they have to be מקבל עול מלכות שמים,
only after you're מקבל עול מלכות שמים is it possible to be מקיים the
גזירות of הקדוש ברוך הוא.
But without that,
we simply live in inconsistency of our religious behavior,
and this is basically that we saw also this is a מכילתא brought down
in רמב"ן על התורה,
פרשת יתרו,
on the פסוק of אנכי ה' אלוקיך.
And it's also brought down in ספר המצוות of the רמב"ם,
מצוה א',
the מצוה אנכי ה' אלוקיך,
and the השגות of the רמב"ן there.
I would like to elaborate a bit on the idea of what this means,
living in front of God,
in God awareness,
okay,
if you don't mind.
I'd like to discuss a bit what this is.
So,
let's read רמב"ם,
you know,
על הסדר,
just to understand what this thing is.
And this is,
well,
you have it in source י"א a bit,
but we'll start from there.
We're going to have to read a bit more than that.
Source י"א,
you have רמב"ם הלכות תשובה,
הלכה א'.
The רמב"ם writes,
let me just get it.
Right.
Says the רמב"ם,
כל מצות שבתורה,
all commandments in the Torah,
בין עשה,
whether they are positive,
active commandments,
or passive,
refraining,
בין לא תעשה,
whether they are restrictions,
אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן,
if one transgressed any one of them,
בין בזדון,
whether they did it maliciously,
בין בשגגה,
whether he did it בשוגג.
And you immediately ask,
if he's שוגג,
I didn't know,
what exactly is the problem?
Why do we need a כפרה by שוגג?
Worse than that,
you also say,
and you say actually here he mentions שוגג,
he doesn't mention אונס,
but it's interesting,
the לשון הוידוי that you say,
you also say אונס.
If you look in יום כיפור,
what do you say?
על חטא שחטאנו בין באונס ובין ברצון.
Okay,
and you're asking yourself,
what is this idea,
the וידוי of אונס,
and why are you מתוודה on שוגג?
I didn't know,
what can I do?
I went to,
סך הכל,
to Jewish day school,
had to go to college,
didn't have time to go to the gap year in Israel,
whatever it is,
like most people my age didn't have that,
that came later in life.
Okay,
most people didn't have that מתנה,
I would almost say,
of having a gap year.
How do you expect them to know all this?
So why does he have to bring a קרבן חטאת?
Why does he have to do תשובה?
Why does he have to do all that?
And the answer is obvious,
because we know that you say every day in תפילה,
you say in ברכת אהבה רבה or אהבת עולם,
whatever you say,
you say you have to לשמור ולעשות ולקיים את כל דברי תלמוד תורתך באהבה.
לשמור,
לעשות,
ולקיים,
we have to define what are those three terms.
Do things,
but they're not fulfilling the obligation,
but not that knowledgeable.
Many people,
I'd rather not look around at the לולבים in שול.
Some of them,
they're definitely not exactly fitting the bill to the,
well,
to פסול I wouldn't say,
but definitely there are a lot of problems.
And you know,
many things people have problems,
you see the תפילין they wear,
or the ציצית,
whatever it be,
they sure don't know.
What can you do?
People go,
you see on שבת,
people don't know.
If they would know what they're doing,
you go to a house,
people are עובר איסור בישול and הטמנה like every מאָנטיק און דאָנערשטיק,
every you know you really have to know הלכות שבת.
משנה ברורה writes in the הקדמה in name of the הגר״א,
"Brother,
if you don't know הלכות שבת,
I suggest you don't move." That's what he says.
So,
what is לשמור?
לעשות I understand,
לקיים I understand,
not just to do it,
but actually to fulfill the obligation.
That's not an easy thing to do.
People say קריאת שמע,
but it's like,
sorry,
you didn't look at the watch,
you're not מקיים the מצוה,
because it was after זמן קריאת שמע.
You daven תפילה,
it's very nice,
but it's after זמן תפילה.
You learned a lot,
but you don't retain the information at all,
and don't take what it takes to retain the information,
you're not מקיים the מצוה of ושננתם לבניך.
ושננתם,
שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך,
שישאלוך אדם בכל מקום לא תגמגם.
You have to be able to coherently remember whatever you learned.
עד כדי כך that the Rebbe writes in הלכות תלמוד תורה,
אדמו״ר הזקן writes that it is better to review and review and not learn
new things,
than to than to than to than to keep on learning new things and
not reviewing,
and you won't retain the information.
At least whatever you learned,
you retain the information.
You have to have clarity and be able to say,
this is what the this is the הלכה,
this is what the גמרא says.
As he writes himself,
that the minimum a person has to know is פסקי הטור ונימוקיהם.
You have to know the sources in גמרא which lead to the הלכה למעשה.
Just learning משנה ברורה without knowing the sources in the גמרא,
and knowing them,
not learning them,
in his words.
It's not like these כוללניקעס that they learn in order to understand the שולחן
ערוך,
and then they forget the גמרא.
That's not part of the deal.
ושננת,
you have to do whoever what what what whoever whatever you're learning,
whatever you're learning you have to have clarity,
you have to retain the information.
I don't care,
don't learn so much.
Learn less,
חזר more.
I think they have this organization in America,
חזרה חזרה חזרה.
What's it called,
ושננתם,
or something like that.
The idea,
very important to do חזרה.
So what happens if you don't do it?
It's a מפורש משנה in פרקי אבות:
כל השוכח דבר מתלמודו מתחייב בנפשו.
יכול,
תוקפה של משנתו.
You would have thought,
נבעך,
you know,
you're getting old like me,
all of a sudden don't remember if a תוספות is in עמוד א׳
or עמוד ב׳.
That's that means I'm getting old,
okay?
That's pretty bad,
to say the least.
You know,
I have to hesitate,
I don't remember,
it's in the פs,
I don't remember if it's פ״א or פ״ד.
That when I was younger would never happen,
okay?
That's what happens.
You know,
when there's more less hair to cover you from the sun,
I guess that's what does it.
You guys are lucky.
No,
Howard,
you're like me,
you're okay,
okay.
Yeah,
and Mark,
you're with me too,
okay?
So you understand that's the way it is.
But really,
I mean,
you understand this is תוקפה של משנתו.
No,
that's not מתחייב בנפשו,
that's the normal course of events.
Can't do more than that.
But הא אינו מתחייב בנפשו עד שיסירם מלבו,
in other words he takes it out of his heart.
What does it mean?
You open up a רמב״ם or open up the אלטער רבי'ס שולחן ערוך הלכות
תלמוד תורה,
it means he doesn't חזר.
So a person which doesn't do חזרה is פשוט מתחייב בנפשו.
I hate to say it,
that's a pretty bad word.
Means he forfeits his license for life.
Now,
that is not a pleasant title,
to say the least.
Whatever it means,
I don't want even elaborate on,
because there's a big קיטרוג on people who learn and don't חזר.
There's no such thing.
So what does לשמור mean?
לשמור means do what it takes to make sure you remember.
The מצוה is ושננתם.
Do what it takes to make sure you do,
do what it takes to make sure that you will,
in other words living with a sense of obligation,
living with a sense of authority,
living with a sense that this has to be done.
How do I know this?
It's a מפורש גמרא in יבמות.
The גמרא says in יבמות,
brings it's a דרשה in תורת כהנים on the פסוק,
את שבתתי תשמרו,
you must keep My Shabbos,
ומקדשי תיראו,
and you'll be in awe of My sanctuary.
So the גמרא,
what what we learn,
the גמרא says,
מה שבת,
just like by Shabbos,
לא מן השבת אתה ירא,
you are not scared or in awe of Shabbos,
אלא ממי שצוה עליה,
but only on the who commanded him the Shabbos,
also מן המקדש,
אין אתה ירא מן המקדש,
you're not ירא מן המקדש,
אלא ממי ששוכן בתוכה,
He who resides in it.
That's the מפורש of the גמרא,
it's a תורת כהנים.
It's a it's a yeah,
it's a תורת כהנים.
So לכאורה,
it makes no sense.
It didn't say anywhere that there's a מצוה of יראה on שבת.
Why did it say מה שבת,
לא מן השבת אתה ירא?
It says שמירה on שבת,
it doesn't say יראה on שבת.
What what what does it mean?
So the יראים,
Reb Elazar of Metz,
says that the פשט is because there's a היקש,
that since שבת is מוקש למקדש,
and since מקדש is a דין יראה,
so ממילא there's a דין יראה also on שבת.
And by שבת,
it definitely means ירא מהקדוש ברוך הוא,
therefore ממילא,
so the mode of that which is derived from מקדש now explains what מקדש
is,
it also means הקדוש ברוך הוא and not from the מקדש itself.
That's a יראים.
But that's a דעת יחיד in ראשונים,
no one else learns that way.
No one else is מונה,
except for the יראים,
is not,
and and רס״ג,
is מונה a מצוה of יראה on שבת.
There's no מצוה of יראה on שבת.
The יראים says there is a מצוה of יראה on שבת.
למעשה,
it's a מפורש ירושלמי in דמאי,
where the גמרא says in דמאי that an עם הארץ,
which is not נאמן on דמאי,
he's a person עם הארץ means a person which you know,
because his lack of knowledge,
in those days they didn't have what we have today,
today you have everything is accessible,
it's in English,
you can become a very learned,
knowledgeable,
religious Jew without stepping foot in a ישיבה.
אדרבה,
sometimes you're better off,
okay?
Because you don't hear all the חפצי גברא and all the waste of time,
you learn the real thing,
okay?
You know,
you don't waste your time,
it's a good thing,
you get to the point.
It's like in business,
you know what I mean?
It's like you know you know in college,
we all know there's a lot of waste of time.
Basically,
most of your first degree is a freaking waste of time,
it's more socializing than doing anything,
okay?
So you you could actually do your PhD in three years starting with your
bachelor if you really if you really worked your knuckles off the way it
should be done.
The answer is we waste time.
So here you have the same thing,
so you understand it's you have to let's let's put it the way it
is.
So a guy's an עם הארץ,
he doesn't know,
but on שבת he's נאמן on מעשרות.
Why?
יראת,
מורא שבת עליו,
oft in the ירושלמי in דמאי.
שבת he has awe of הקדוש ברוך הוא,
מורא שבת עליו.
What is this מורא שבת עליו?
I once told you that Reb Yerucham Perlow writes that's the מקור,
he thinks,
of the מנהג to stand by קידוש.
He said it doesn't make sense,
why is anybody standing by קידוש?
קידוש במקום סעודה means that should be the קידוש is the beginning of the
סעודה,
so why are you standing?
You're supposed to be sitting.
That's why the מנהג in ליטא is that they sit.
Okay,
I only stand because I married into a Polish family,
and I did because of שלום בית I stand,
what can I do?
That you know נר שבת is שלום בית,
that that's over everything,
okay?
So I already forgot what it is to sit by קידוש,
but you're supposed to sit by קידוש,
the רמ״א,
for goodness sakes.
You sit by קידוש.
Why do we stand?
So Reb Yerucham Perlow wants to write in his ביאור on the רס״ג that's
a קיום דין of מורא שבת.
You're expressing awe of שבת by standing.
That's why you're when you're you're bringing in שבת with קידוש,
you're doing it בעמידה as a קיום דין of מורא שבת.
It's a very beautiful idea,
but the question is once again,
where's the מקור of מורא שבת unless you hold like the יראים?
The answer is פשוט.
Because what does לשמור mean?
לשמור means you have a sense of authority,
you have a sense that this is what I have to do.
You have a sense of דע לפני מי אתה עומד,
לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא.
You have a sense of your Orwellian nightmare.
God is looking at you like J.
Edgar Hoover,
says,
"I expect this.
You do it." You make sure to do it.
You do what it takes to do it.
If you don't know שבת,
you'll learn הלכות שבת to know how to do שבת.
Like you're not going to become a doctor unless you went to medical school,
hopefully,
okay?
You're not going to become an engineer unless you went to a decent engineering
school,
so how do you think you're going to keep שבת without knowing the laws
of שבת?
So לשמור means do what it takes,
live with a sense of obligation and authority in order to fulfill the מצות,
so you have that's the יראה.
The יראה of שבת lies in the word לשמור.
מה שבת,
לא מן השבת אתה ירא,
אלא ממי שציווה עליו.
Where is the ציווי?
Because it says לשמור את השבת,
שמור את יום השבת לקדשו.
It means to say you must live with a sense of authority that He
is מלך מלכי המלכים or as the רמב״ן writes,
He is י-ק-ו-ק,
there is אלקינו,
ראוי לעבדו,
so He's God.
What's what יראת שבת means,
the first רמ״א in שלחן ערוך שויתי י-ק-ו-ק לפני תמיד,
that's what it means.
ממילא,
that's a מחייב.
That's יראה.
It is interesting to know there are,
you look carefully in the beginning of שולחן ערוך,
many of the הלכות there are to generate a feeling that you're standing in
front of God.
Look at the הלכות,
it's נעבעך,
you know,
I lived in dormitories with ישיבה בחורים,
I saw how people are not מקיים שולחן ערוך,
that's why I say I don't find a single a single community which keeps
it from the beginning to the end.
It's so terrible.
Okay?
There's ways of getting dressed.
There's ways of how to act in a bathhouse.
There's ways of how to cover yourself or not cover yourself even in the
lavatory.
There's ways how to act בצניעות without going into the פרטים of that.
There's there's גמרות,
רמב״ם,
and שולחן ערוך.
What's it for?
You think God doesn't see under my under the blanket?
It's for you to understand you're עומד לפני המלך,
and therefore you must generate you are internalizing the idea of שויתי י-ק-ו-ק לפני
תמיד.
That רמ״א is the פתיחה to all those beginning סעיפים in שולחן ערוך which
deal with that.
I stand in front of God.
What is the הלכה of,
you can't עובר לפני המתפלל?
He's talking to God.
Why are you disturbing?
The הלכה is that if you had to go,
all of a sudden you had to go in the middle of שמונה עשרה,
you had to go to the toilet to be מפנה,
to empty yourself,
the דין is you have to go back exactly to where you were standing.
Look up in טור,
the בית יוסף says,
because God's there waiting for you!
You're דאווענינג שמונה עשרה,
it means God has a שכינה there,
it's there.
You walked away,
very nice,
come back.
He's waiting for you!
Open a בית יוסף over there where you look at the הלכה of a
person which has to be מפנה באמצע שמונה עשרה.
So all these הלכות are to generate that fact and that reality that we
are עומד לפני ה׳.
Constantly we are למעשה עומד לפני ה׳.
But obviously there is דרגות upon דרגות upon consciousness,
but there's a basic,
latent reality.
That's לשמור.
The מחייב of לשמור is שויתי הוי״ה לנגדי תמיד.
That's לשמור.
לשמור says you must live with this obligation,
with this sense of covenant.
I say this because when I talk about so this is the idea that
what's שגגה?
שגגה is basically,
what happened?
How could you not know it's שבת?
God help you if you didn't know it was your wife's birthday!
Try it!
God help you if you didn't know it's your anniversary!
Woohoo!
You might as well take a ticket to Alaska!
No way!
What do you mean you don't know?
If you don't know that,
bye!
How do you How can you not know it's שבת?
How could you not know?
I don't know I know the IRS doesn't ask you whether you have a
degree in law.
You evaded taxes,
you can't say,
"I didn't know." I promise you.
Try it and see what happens.
There's no excuse in the law for not knowing the law.
You're supposed to know.
You're a law-abiding citizen,
means you must know the rules of society.
You can't say,
"I didn't know." With greatest respect,
not all truths are self-evident.
Even the truths written over there in in that great document or that they
think is self-evident,
they're not.
One of them is "all men are created equal." I think it's wrong.
Okay?
I don't think all men are created equal,
it's not true.
It's a שקר וכזב.
There's a there's ברוך ה׳
אלקי שם,
שם,
and there's and there's יפת אלקים ליפת,
and there's ארור כנען.
What do we want?
I don't understand.
Why are you telling me all men are created equal?
They don't have equal opportunity,
they don't have equal נשמות.
My נשמה is not yours,
yours is not mine.
All men are unique and different.
I believe the unique quality of everybody.
I agree that all men have should be given equal as much as possible
equal rights.
That's not all men are created equal in the image of God,
that's not true.
It's simply not true.
You have more צלם אלקים than me,
I have less than you,
you have more capability of abstract thought,
I have less capability of that,
so it We're all different,
thank God.
I see no that's a But whatever it is,
believe me that people You can't say You can't tell a cop,
if he was bored and decided to pick you up for jaywalking,
"Sorry,
I didn't know the law." I would imagine people growing up in New York
that jaywalking is common,
they probably don't know that you can't jaywalk.
How would they know?
Okay.
So you understand there's no answers,
so that's לשמור,
how could,
of course you're חייב on a שוגג.
Of course you're חייב on a,
of course you're חייב on a שוגג.
How could you not be חייב on a שוגג?
That's a שוגג is קרוב לפשיעה,
you weren't מקיים לשמור.
What do we do with אונס?
Now that's an interesting question.
The רמב״ם doesn't mention a חיוב תשובה on אונס,
yet over there we know in the מחזור we say על אונס.
And the answer lies in something else,
because we know שכר מצוה מצוה ושכר עבירה עבירה.
So רב חיים וואלוז'ינער writes what does it mean שכר מצוה מצוה?
A person which does a מצוה gets a certain aura of קדושה,
which gives him סייעתא דשמיא,
which draws,
it makes it easier to do other מצוות.
Not by rote.
Now one would say,
"Yeah,
you get used to,
you're in the swing of things." No,
no,
I don't mean that.
That's not good.
That's what the נביא calls a מצות אנשים מלמדה,
that is a negative thing,
not by rote.
But the idea of שכר מצוה מצוה,
you create a certain סייעתא דשמיא.
And שכר עבירה עבירה,
by having a פגם in לשון הרע,
that is a פגם in your נפש,
or a פגם in חסר ציצית,
or שבת,
whatever it is,
it creates a פגם,
creates the opposite,
it creates the opposite of an aura,
which makes you more prone to doing things which are negative.
So your אונס is basically there,
אין הכי נמי you're not punished,
because you didn't weren't מורד במלכות,
so you're not punished,
okay,
but למעשה is there's something there which has to be cleaned,
not the action itself,
but the reason for the action.
The עבירה which caused this reality,
there it is.
It's like the מדרש הלכה says,
the ספרי says in פרשת שופטים by הורג בשגגה,
why are you הורג בשגגה?
Because למעשה you're חייב גלות,
עונש,
because of X,
Y,
and Z.
God fixes things up that you somehow that you did things that you weren't
supposed to do,
so you're going to be punished in one way or the other.
Why?
Because you did an עבירה X,
you're going to get paid by עבירה עבירה.
Why?
This is the פשט שכר עבירה.
So we have to do תשובה,
so the תירוץ is on the מעשה עבירה of שגגה,
that's a מרידה במלכות,
you weren't מקיים לשמור.
The תשובה,
the וידוי on אונס is not on the מעשה עבירה,
it's basically it's a תשובה and a וידוי on the cause of why it
happened.
It happened because obviously something,
if I would have had the aura of שכר מצוה מצוה,
I wouldn't have fallen to the situation.
This we have to understand.
So that's what the רמב״ם says:
בין בזדון בין בשגגה,
כשיעשה תשובה,
when and if he does תשובה,
as we explained.
According to רמב״ם,
does it mean to say you don't have to do תשובה?
Yes,
he doesn't say it's חייב לעשות תשובה,
it's a given!
Why is it a given?
Because we look once again not at the action that you're doing,
but what did the action mean.
The fact that you didn't weren't מקיים קריאת שמע בזמנה,
that is not alone a מחייב of תשובה.
There is no מצוה to fix that.
The מצוה is fix the,
not the symptom,
but there's the cause!
Why were you not מקיים קריאת שמע בזמנה?
Because you're a פורק עול מלכות שמים.
You don't care to be מורד במלכות.
Rather,
you don't even believe that you live with a מלך.
So ממילא,
what's מחייב the תשובה?
The פסוק:
אנכי ה׳
אלקיך,
which the רמב״ן says means קבלת עול מלכות שמים.
So we're looking at,
every time the מחייב of תשובה is not the עבירה itself,
not the מצות עשה or the מצות לא תעשה enumerated in תרי״ג,
but rather the more,
the not just the מצות עשה of אנכי ה׳
אלקיך,
but actually that aspect of אנכי ה׳
אלקיך which is the precursor,
the הקדמה to מצוות.
אנכי ה׳
אלקיך has two aspects to it.
The בה״ג says it's not a מצוה,
it's the הקדמה to מצוות.
You need that in order to be מקיים מצוות,
it's the reason for מצוות.
The רמב״ן principally concurs.
The רמב״ם also thinks it's that way,
but he says,
"What can I do?
The גמרא says בפירוש that one of the תרי״ג מצוות is אנכי ה׳
אלקיך." It's a גמרא at the end of מכות:
אנכי ולא יהיה לך מפי הגבורה שמענום.
What's the פשט in this?
So the פשט is a דבר פשוט.
There's two aspects to אנכי ה׳
אלקיך.
There's that basic knowledge of קבלת עול מלכות שמים,
which we can't be מצווה you.
First you have to accept the sovereignty of the King to have a ציווי.
It's a statement,
it's a fact.
But then there's also a מצוה to understand what those words mean.
When they say י-ק-ו-ק,
to understand it,
and whatever dimensions you,
me,
and anybody has the capability of understanding it,
it's called מצות ידיעת אלקות.
Okay?
אנכי י-ק-ו-ק אלקיך,
it's a ציווי to understand what does the word אנכי mean,
what does the word י-ק-ו-ק mean,
וואס מיינט אלקיך mean,
and how does that add up,
אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים,
etc.
That's a לימוד,
that's a לימוד which would take a room full of books to learn.
There's a great ספר called the דרך מצותיך,
the צמח צדק,
you'll look it up,
מצות ידיעת אלוקות.
Except there's a מצות האמנת אלוקות,
two מצות.
The מצוה,
לידע,
לשון הרמב"ם,
לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון.
You must know as much as possible.
We're not even talking about belief.
Belief only occurs after you've you've you've exhausted the capabilities of knowledge.
And believe me,
there's a lot to learn.
Believe me,
I can tell you look I'm telling you.
I haven't finished it yet,
okay?
And I've been studying this for since I'm 11,
okay?
That's when I started learning תניא,
the age of 11,
okay?
But since then I'm still working on it,
okay?
Believe me.
It's a lot to learn,
and where that ends,
that's where אמונה starts.
It's a צמח צדק,
if you really want to know.
So this is the פשט.
So אנכי has two things:
there's the מצוה of the לימוד,
of doing what it takes to know,
and there's the basic הקדמה,
the statement.
Now what's the מחייב of a truth?
The truth is the truth is מחייב because it's the truth.
This is something and and we must understand.
There are values which have nothing to do they are the absolute truth,
not that they are relative truths,
cuz relative truth shades with the weather.
You know what I mean?
Relative truth shades here for me,
for you.
Absolute truth means it's an absolute reality which has no there's no it doesn't
have a reason for it.
Usually truth means because the two the reasons of the truth add up to
the result.
A B AB.
So I look at AB,
I understand that it's an A B.
Okay,
you know what I'm talking about,
that's basics sixth grade algebra,
for goodness sakes.
Right?
I don't know,
when did they start algebra,
I remember it was sixth or seventh grade.
That's that's when you start.
It's been a long time.
Don't remember it anymore,
okay?
But the A B AB.
איך ווייס,
מיט the dots around there,
whatever,
the parentheses,
whatever it be.
But at the end of the day,
so I look at A B,
I understand there's an A and there's a B,
that's the truth.
The truth means there's a there's a proportionate relationship between the cause and the
effect.
That's what it means.
That's what the word truth means here.
But absolute truth means to say,
as the רמב"ם writes in פרק א,
יסודי התורה,
it means it means it is an absolute existent.
There's no reason for it.
It's a perpetual truth.
It stands on its own,
not because it adds something up.
It's the truth.
It's a truth.
When we say ה' אלקים אמת,
you're about to say that in the תפילות of ראש השנה,
יום כיפור,
doesn't mean He doesn't fib.
It means He's absolute.
And I don't mean the vodka.
He is absolute,
okay?
That's what it means.
He's absolute.
There's no reason there's no reason for Him.
Beginning and therefore there's no end.
He's just there.
An absolute existent.
An absolute truth is basically an axiom.
It's a given.
It's the absolute truth of existence.
This is the truth that He is the י-ה-ו-ה.
He is the source of all and ultimately,
therefore,
we are nothing more than subjugated to His will,
cuz we are pawns on His chessboard.
That's קבלת עול מלכות שמים,
you're living that way.
So one has to understand so that's the פשט.
Of course you have to go do back תשובה,
because you basically undermined your existence.
Your whole existence is there as an expression of an עבד ה',
cuz אנכי ה' אלקיך,
I repeat,
not the מצוה of אנכי,
but the basic הנחה,
the basic axiom,
that aspect of אנכי,
which everybody agrees does not need a מצוה cuz it's the reason for מצוות,
that's a מפורש מכילתא which I quoted you the רמב"ן last week,
so two weeks ago,
so we know that.
Without that there are no מצוות,
okay?
אנכי ה' אלקיך,
I am י-ה-ו-ה,
הוי' קדמון שממנו הכל בחפצו וביכולתו,
לכן ראוי להיות מלכם לעבודתו.
I am quoting the רמב"ן.
And that's what תשובה is.
Well,
according to that,
this is what it means.
I said תשובה,
when you do תשובה,
cuz you want to be Jewish,
you do תשובה.
וישב מחטאו,
you will return you will return from your sin.
What does it mean over here?
You will revert back from the way of sin.
You were wayward,
you were מורד במלכות,
you stopped thinking about God's awareness.
When you come back from this חטא,
this חטא means חיסרון,
right?
וחיטא את הבית,
you empty out the house by by טומאת נגעים.
חטא means a חיסרון.
Okay?
You'll ישב מחטאו,
you will walk away for your deficiency.
Deficiency in what?
In קבלת עול מלכות שמים.
חייב להתוודות,
now there's a commandment to confess.
Where?
לפני הקל ברוך הוא.
You must do this in front of God,
הקל.
What does הקל mean?
Here he used the word הקל.
What does הקל mean?
Well,
הקל means to say basically we can go to פרק א' הלכות יסודי התורה.
And what does he write here?
He writes:
יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל הנמצא וכל
הנמצאים מן שמים וארץ ומה שביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת המצאו.
And this is this is this is called this is what is called God,
this is called ה' אלוקיכם אמת,
as he says.
So on this God that we just mentioned in פרק ב',
he calls him הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה,
which was described in פרק א',
מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו.
What does it mean קל in this context?
He did not describe קל as the God of חסד or רחמים that you
probably think when you say קל רחום וחנון.
רש"י writes over there it means רחמים,
cuz that's not the לשון of רמב"ם.
We're learning רמב"ם at the moment.
What did he mean?
Well,
look,
הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה.
He is נכבד,
he is נורא,
doesn't mention he's מרחם.
נכבד and נורא is mentioned as described in פרק א',
and you can read it together on your own.
This is the source It means the source of all.
And everybody's nothing more than a relative existent to His will and His and
His whim.
That is called a נכבד.
He is definitely honorable,
cuz honorable means cuz he's on the top of the pyramid.
What is honor?
Honor is a consciousness which you are aware of an hierarchical reality.
When you're at the bottom of the pyramid and you look on top,
you see that,
that's the feeling of כבוד.
Okay?
הקל הנכבד,
you understand is He's higher when He is ממציא כל הנמצא וכל הנמצאים מן
שמים וארץ ומה שביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת המצאו,
that's called נכבד.
נורא,
that's obvious!
That is awesome because it shrinks your ego!
So He is נכבד and He is נורא.
More that you're aware of this hierarchical reality,
it shrinks you!
It's very simple,
it's like you stood in front of the ליובאוויטשער רבי,
you saw that he was נכבד,
way above on the pyramid,
and you felt very small.
He basically diffused all your projected image of self.
You felt like Mickey Mouse's,
you know,
nephew.
That's what you felt like.
You felt you were loved,
hugged,
but you know you he he put you back to where you were without
even doing anything.
Just look at him and you understood that way.
You stood in front of ר' משה פיינשטיין,
that's what you felt.
You stand in front of greatness,
you shrink.
What can you do?
It's a it's a great thing to do.
That's called נכבד and נורא.
If he's טאקע נכבד,
he'll be נורא!
Okay,
it doesn't mean in any bad way,
so there's a מצוה to love the נכבד ונורא.
Doesn't mean he's an ogre,
he's awesome,
he's dangerous.
Are you supposed to love something dangerous?
Oh,
my my my my lovely dragon!
Spits fire and I'm supposed to love him?
No,
it means נורא means it shrinks basically your your your sense of self,
it's called it מצמצם your יש.
And this is the פשט of הקל הנכבד והנורא.
So קל,
what does קל mean?
קל comes from the פסוק of כח:
אילי הארץ,
the all-powerful,
that's what it means,
okay?
קל is all-powerful,
that's what it means.
אילי הארץ,
the lord the the powers of the land.
So we're talking about the מצוה is standing in front of the power,
that power.
Which קל are we talking about?
The קל of נכבד והנורא that it means to say what?
That he's ממציא כל הנמצאים מן שמים וארץ.
And when you learn רמב"ם כסדר,
so it's obvious that in פרק א' הלכות תשובה,
which is the end of ספר המדע,
this goes back to what's written in פרק ב' הלכות יסודי התורה,
which is explains what's found in פרק א' הלכות יסודי התורה.
So it's in front of this God of ממציא כל נמצא you're supposed to
stand,
ברוך הוא,
and here you're supposed to be מתוודה.
We see there's a special הלכה of וידוי לפני ה'.
What does that mean?
It means not just the הלכה that you're supposed to be שב אל ה'
בלב,
you're supposed to revert back to a God awareness,
you have to when you say this,
there is a special דין,
it's part of the מצוה,
of having a consciousness of עומד לפני ה'.
Now we have that in כמה הלכות לדינא.
למשל,
as far as שמונה עשרה is concerned,
the רמב"ם says מפורש in הלכות תפלה that a person which says at least
minimum the first three ברכות of the שמונה עשרה without consciously experiencing that he
is standing in front of the שכינה,
not lip service.
That's a פסוק of בשפתם כבדוני ולבם רחק ממני.
You don't want to be there,
believe me.
You have to sit,
that's why you have to stand,
we discussed when we learned הלכות תפילה,
we discussed this.
You have to come,
that's why תפילה is found only after פסוקי דזמרה where we discuss the God
of science,
and finally the God of מלאכים and ברכות קריאת שמע,
until we said י-ה-ו-ה אלקינו י-ה-ו-ה אחד,
then finally we have a certain God-consciousness,
we can say ה׳
שפתי תפתח.
I still can't open my mouth.
If you open my mouth for you,
I will talk.
And that's when you say שמונה עשרה.
That's why you have all these דינים before,
this תפילה before,
and this is all found in in in תניא where he discusses at length,
we did this also in the past.
The idea is to create,
generate an atmosphere within yourself to become עומד לפני השכינה.
And the רמב״ם says that that's מעכב in תפילה.
I say this again specifically before ראש השנה and עשרת ימי תשובה.
Without that,
you're not מקיים the מצוה of תפילה at all.
And no one argues with that רמב״ם.
That's why sometimes I think,
not that I don't know,
I need a מנין of מתפללים,
not a מנין of of readers.
Find a מנין where you have 10 people with the first three ברכות are
עומד לפני השם,
you're not going to find it in Monsey,
and I don't know you're going to find it in your neighborhood.
פארקאקטע,
טריפענע ליטוואקס,
you know what I mean,
what can I tell you,
they don't learn a word of חסידות.
But this is,
at the end,
the truth.
עומד לפני השם,
that's the הלכה.
So there's a דין of תפילה,
so וידוי is מחייב לפני השם.
You said וידוי last night.
Do you notice how they all cry by שמע קולנו because they don't want
to be end up in the geriatric ward?
And they all במוצאי מנוחה,
the חזן goes crazy,
you know what I mean.
But when it comes to אשמנו,
they move so fast,
brother,
there you wouldn't know what hit you.
As soon as they did the שמע קולנו,
the game's over and now it's it's it's a horse race to end up
with למען שמך.
I don't know about you guys,
I finished סליחות 15 minutes after קדיש,
and I didn't have a chance to say any of the פיוטים.
I only said the י״ג מדות and the פסוקים between the פיוטים.
I didn't I didn't have a chance to say any of that.
The only thing I had a chance to say was שמע קולנו and I
said it fast because I knew that I wasn't going to קוועטש,
because I want to say the עשה למען שמך that I understand.
And that took me,
believe me,
10,
15 minutes more than the סליחות.
That's why I tell you there's no דין of מנין in סליחות,
because I hate to say that,
I'm not sure if I find 10 people which are עומד לפני השם in
סליחות.
Okay,
when they say אשמנו בגדנו גזלנו,
do they really bother to sit there and they really mean it?
Are they עומד לפני השם?
That's the דין of וידוי.
For the רמב״ם,
the וידוי has to be בכוונה לפני השם,
like שמונה עשרה.
Now,
say if שמונה עשרה is נעבעך a מת מצוה,
וידוי is with 10 קל וחומר׳ס a מת מצוה.
They go,
especially you know during,
they דאווען נוסח ספרד,
so they day every day they do it like rat-a-tat-tat,
it's like drummer boy,
you know,
whatever,
can't sing the song.
You know,
it is like drummer boy.
It's a telegraph,
you know,
what are you doing?
It's a Morse code.
What are you doing,
therapeutic heart massage?
I don't understand.
I only say what they have like a lot of וידויים there,
I only say one,
I can barely say one,
it takes you 6,
7 minutes.
I mean,
just read it in English,
man,
it's right right there,
you know what I mean.
I'm empty,
I am treacherous,
I have a filthy mouth.
I mean,
how can you like roll this feasibly?
I don't understand what you're doing.
Do you really mean what you're saying?
Are you עומד לפני השם in saying this?
עומד לפני השם means to say,
A,
understanding,
B,
being being honest,
because if you think you can snow God,
He's not worth talking to,
bro.
That's a דין of עומד לפני השם by וידוי,
שנאמר איש,
אשה,
כי יעשו מכל חטאת האדם,
למעול מעל בה׳.
What does למעול מעל בה׳
mean?
Here the רמב״ם brings the פסוק which says something which is really hits you.
What does למעול מעל mean?
This term is found by two places.
It's found by by חטאים and it's found by the סוטה.
ומעלה מעל בבעלה.
What does מעל mean?
She was treacherous in the covenant.
She two-timed him.
The פסוק basically said that every עבירה we do,
we're having an affair.
We are basically two-timing God.
We're a נואף.
למעול מעל בה',
you're treacherous in the covenantal relationship.
That's what it says.
If you did חטאת האדם,
any iniquity,
you're simply,
that's what בגדנו means.
Guys,
I don't know if you understand בגדנו.
בגדנו means it's not just I did a sin,
I was treacherous in our covenantal relationship.
It was I had a mistress.
That's what it means.
Can you imagine telling your wife אשמנו the way you said blah blah blah,
"and by the way I had an affair,
you know..." Oh yeah,
you did?
Okay.
No,
what do you tell her?
"No,
it wasn't really me,
it was something else." That's what we all say,
right?
It's not it's not the real me.
You tell your wife,
so the first time she'll believe you,
but when you do it the third time she says,
"Get the hell out,
I don't know if it's you or not,
you got bad friends,
I don't want to be with you." So what's this story,
it's not the real you,
who is this,
John Doe?
Not the real me is it's a fallacy.
There's no such thing as not the,
unless you're schizophrenic,
that's the real you.
Get this straight.
If I may,
I'm going to add here and explain a רמב״ם which they all quote and
misquote in a terrible fashion,
in a terrible way.
This is the source of this idea of there's the real me and the
not-the-real-me.
It's a ממש,
it's a,
I think it's אסור to say it.
רמב״ם writes in הלכות גירושין,
famous רמב״ם in הלכות גירושין,
where the רמב״ם writes,
what is the פשט,
how do we coerce on a on a גט?
You're supposed to give a גט ברצון,
your רצון,
and where you're being built up...
you know,
hit to a pulp,
literally,
they really they make you into Pulp Fiction,
so to speak,
they make you into a pulp,
and what happens?
And then and then you say,
"Okay,
I'll do it." You don't want to divorce her,
you want you know,
you want them to stop hitting you!
So the רמב״ם:
למה לא בטל גט זה?
This is פרק ב' גירושין הלכה כ'.
הרי הוא אנוס,
בין בידי גוים בין בידי ישראל,
whether they sent a bunch of hooligans from Bensonhurst to beat me up or
a bunch of יידעלעך from from Williamsburg,
what's the difference?
In both instances I'm an אנוס!
שאין אומרים אנוס אלא למי שנלחץ,
we call a person an אנוס when he was pressurized,
ונדחק,
and put in a corner לעשות דבר שאינו מחויב מן התורה לעשותו.
If you pressurize a person to do something which he is not obliged to
do מן התורה,
that's called אנוס.
אבל מי שתקפו יצרו הרע לבטל מצוה,
but if he was attacked by this outsider called the יצר—do you know such
an outsider?
I don't know such an outsider.
My יצר הרע is a constant resident,
he's not a tourist!
And his name is Mendel Blachman.
He doesn't have to come to me,
he's there!
It's not like The Screwtape Letters where he's whispering in my ear.
It's me talking!
בובע מעשה'לעך!
Tell me the truth about this:
תקפו יצרו לבטל מצוה או לעשות עבירה,
והוכה עד שעשה דבר שחייב לעשותו או עד שנתרחק מדבר שאסור לעשותו,
he says,
אין זה אנוס ממנו,
אלא הוא אנס עצמו בדעתו הרעה.
He has coerced himself with his bad ideas!
Why?
And he explains:
מאחר שהוא רוצה להיות מישראל,
because he does want,
he wants to be a Jew.
Thus,
if he wants to be a Jew,
that is synonymous with רוצה הוא לעשות כל המצות ולהתרחק מן העבירות.
What does that mean?
He says,
you you can't say you want to be a Jew,
and you don't want to live under the authority of God.
The word Judaism is is synonymous with having a covenantal relationship with God.
If there's no such word as Jew.
The word is נכנס בברית.
Conversion is not to become Jewish,
it's to enter the covenant with God,
it's a מפורש רמב״ם,
הלכות איסורי ביאה פרק י"ג.
Conversion is to become a member of the covenant.
That's what it means.
In those days,
let's remember,
until the ghetto walls broke down,
the idea of Jew meant nothing more than a member of the covenantal relationship.
And then you say,
"Listen,
I'm a member of the cov— I want to be a Jew equals I
want to be a member of the covenantal relationship,
equals I accept the total responsibility of הלכה,
but it's hard for me to fulfill it." That's something else.
I accept the covenantal relationship between me and my wife,
but sometimes it's which should include probably taking down the garbage and doing who
knows what,
but sometimes it's not easy to do.
And sometimes I fail,
I grant that.
Anybody here the perfect husband?
I doubt it.
So you understand this is a דבר פשוט.
So obviously there's the No one's a perfect person,
but at least you accept the framework,
and you're said you understand the failure within the framework.
But you accept the framework.
That's called עם ישראל.
There's a ברית,
and the ברית is with כלל ישראל,
and that ברית makes him into a member,
והבאתי אתכם,
I brought you into the covenant and therefore you're His nation,
להיות לו לעם סגולה.
Did you read פרשת נצבים?
כי עברך בברית,
therefore you're now His סגולה.
רמב״ן writes there was a there was a ceremony of כניסה לברית in פרשת
נצבים,
read the first רמב״ן on פרשת נצבים,
parallel to the ceremony found in פרשת משפטים.
There was a ceremony there,
too,
of כניסה לברית.
The תורה doesn't elaborate because it's obvious,
we we equate that ברית to the ברית of הר סיני.
Look at the רמב״ן at the beginning of פרשת נצבים.
So we understand there's a there's a ברית.
Conversion means entering the ברית.
I personally will פסקן להלכה and do that a person which converts just because
he wants to be Jewish,
but does not accept the total ברית of הלכה,
I use it for a שבת גוי לכתחילה שבכתחילה שבכתחילה.
Being Jewish doesn't mean a thing.
Today in my country,
being Jewish means serving in צה״ל.
I remember there was a Bedouin scout,
which was a high general,
he was an אלוף משנה,
he died.
So they're going to bury him,
he was very חשוב a person,
saved a lot of people,
they're going to bury him,
but outside of the,
not in the Jewish cemetery,
there's a they put a wall there next to him.
And woo-hoo in הארץ,
I remember at that time in the newspaper,
they went crazy,
"Oh,
he's just as Jewish as anybody else!" Yes,
Jewish,
if you want to use the word Jewish,
I don't care what it means.
A Jew,
as far as as far as הלכה means a בן ברית.
He was not a member of the ברית!
You are born in the ברית,
a person wants to come in has to accept the ברית!
That's the that's being a Jew,
that's what it means.
גרות means becoming a Jew.
A Jew,
by definition,
until the walls of emancipation came and broke down the walls of the ghetto,
Jew meant בן ברית.
It is only from Napoleon and further,
which slowly but surely the Jew meant national identity,
which is also part of the ברית,
but they took it away from the ברית,
ethnic identity,
historical identity,
you can name identity,
but כמעט nobody thinks of the Jew as a member of a of an
authoritative covenantal relationship.
And that's what poor בית דין now is totally misunderstood,
and when they tell you you have to מקבל עול מצות,
so they that's coercion,
Jews don't!
You're not becoming Jewish,
you become a member of the covenant!
It's like saying to your wife,
"Listen,
we're getting married,
but,
you know,
I want an open marriage." Well,
today that's possible,
once upon a time that was an oxymoron.
Once you're married,
you want to do whatever you're doing,
that's another problem,
but you're married.
You accepted the covenantal relationship.
That's what נעשה ונשמע means if you read carefully.
The מקור of קבלת מצות by גרות is נעשה ונשמע.
That's the the definition of גרות is כניסה לברית equals נעשה ונשמע.
What do you have to do once you want to be נעשה ונשמע?
קרבן,
מילה,
טבילה,
etc.
But the essence of Judaism is כניסה לברית.
So when you do an עבירה,
you are basically transgressing the covenant!
That's מעלה מעל בחטא.
That's like the סוטה,
which is מעלה מעל באיש.
That's the same thing!
There's no difference.
It's a פסוק in חומש,
for goodness sakes!
That's what the Rav said,
"I don't think this רמב״ם is is applicable today in our modern world,
where the word Jew does not have anything to do with covenant." Ask the
typical person in שטיבל,
he won't think of that.
He'll think only,
you know,
ethnic,
historical,
איך ווייס,
נשמה,
he'll give you some kind of wishy-washy answer.
It means to say כניסה לברית equals קבלת עול מלכות שמים because that's what
כניסה לברית is.
ברית with הקדוש ברוך הוא,
it's not a ברית of equals,
it's a ברית of He's the מלך and you're the עבד.
That is the כניסה לברית,
and therefore נעשה ונשמע,
נעשה what you told us until now,
ונשמע we will adhere to everything you say in the future.
That's רש״י on the spot.
This was said the day after מתן תורה in the in the ceremony of
כניסה לברית,
ay,
in פרשת משפטים.
That's what it means.
That's the מקור of קבלת עול מצוות by גירות.
It's not a part of the מעשה גירות,
it's the עצם גירות.
גירות means נעשה ונשמע.
Without that,
you don't want to be a גר.
You want to be a Jew,
that's something else.
So one has to understand this is every חטא is breaking the ברית.
Breaking the ברית because you don't live with that awareness of ברית.
So there's a דין of וידוי לפני השם,
you have to be able you have to actually be able to say,
no,
you stand in front of God,
and you say,
"I broke the ברית." That's the עמידה לפני השם.
Not just say,
"I sinned," but that sin equals בגדנו.
אשמנו,
so the רמב״ן in פרשת וילך,
אשמנו,
עשיתי עצמי שממה.
I am a waste of space.
I undermine the justification of my existence.
בגדנו,
I was מועל מעל in this ברית.
Every time,
every עבירה is a מעילה,
מעל.
You have literally had an affair,
and your wife is looking and seeing,
and this is הקדוש ברוך הוא,
which is עין רואה,
אוזן שומעת,
is seeing that you are פשוט having an affair.
That's what it is.
That's why תשובה and וידוי demand an external expression of עמידה לפני השם.
It's not enough to feel it.
You have to say it.
Why?
Because saying things concretizes feelings and makes them vivid and real.
It's another external expression of concretizing that commitment and that understanding:
I stand לפני השם.
This is the idea of לפני השם by וידוי.
That's why it's like ממש like שמונה עשרה.
It's not an easy thing to do.
I must say the honest truth.
The רמב״ם doesn't mention.
The רא״ש brings down גאונים to stand by וידוי.
But the נתיבות already writes that all places they have to stand are only
למצוה,
but if you can מכוון יותר by sitting,
you're allowed to sit.
Okay?
מפורש he writes this,
it's in נתיבות.
Okay,
where is it found?
It's in the נתיבות in דרך חיים in עניני הלכה in אורח חיים in
the סידור.
The רמב״ם doesn't bring בכלל the הלכה of standing by וידוי.
The רמב״ם doesn't bring it at all.
It's based on a ר״ן and a רא״ש of understanding a גמרא in יומא.
I'm not saying a שיעור now,
I'm going to do that in כרם ביבנה on ראש השנה.
רש״י is מפורש that וידוי is with sitting.
רש״י says מפורש,
what's the מקור?
The גמרא says פורט את החטא by וידוי is where?
Is when משה רבינו fell on his face and said,
אנא חטא העם הזה חטאה גדולה,
that's וידוי,
and the גמרא learns from there,
you have to be מפרט את החטא.
So that's וידוי when he's laying down,
he wasn't standing.
The רמב״ם learns the דין of וידוי from the וידוי of קרבנות.
וידוי קרבנות you're supposed to lean totally on the animal,
סומך בכל כוחו.
סמיכה כישיבה דמי.
So that's why there's a great מקום to say that that you can sit
by וידוי.
I sit by וידוי.
First of all,
I held that I start like the שולחן ערוך,
well,
it's the רמב״ם and רש״י are good people.
Except for that,
the נתיבות,
thank God,
I can be מכוון יותר בישיבה.
I'm an older gentleman,
so forgive me,
okay?
My knees hurt,
okay?
I'd rather know or my back hurts,
so I don't want to have my back hurt,
I want my heart to hurt.
So I sit.
I cover my head in a טלית,
and no one has to see me,
and I take take the וידוי at my pace,
and I tell God,
talk to God in English,
actually.
And I don't just say the generics,
I actually,
you know,
I enumerate.
And then sometimes talk to myself,
"Let's take an example what I did X amount of time.
To what extent did I deny God's existence when I was doing it?" I
wait.
Yeah,
do these thing,
yeah.
Takes time.
Do one of them for real,
and the rest I forgive you.
Because תשובה has to be done with a real וידוי,
and it's מעכב.
לפני השם,
מודה כל העולם.
According to רבים,
מעכב in תשובה,
וידוי.
So to do וידוי פה,
not to do it with עומד לפני השם,
not to mean what you're saying,
it's just חבל,
it's a very important day,
you might as well do it right.
That's all I have to say,
you know,
you don't get this day very often.
It's a beautiful day where we can like talk to God and He's there
with us and we can and we can have an open discussion,
and by יום כיפור,
it really it really looks,
you know,
and you kind of and you feel you you can cleanse it,
you can purge it,
it's unbelievable,
it's a חסד שאין כדוגמתו.
But it only works if you're real.
אמת,
פשוט,
חסד ואמת יכופר עון.
First is First and foremost,
it has to be אמת.
לעבדך באמת,
כי אתה אלוקים אמת.
That's the one who's מוחל וסולח you.
He don't like fibbers.
So ממילא,
I want you to understand this is לפני ה'.
A big יסוד comes from here,
because the ברית with הקדוש ברוך הוא of נעשה ונשמע was not to you
and me.
It's to כלל ישראל,
and we are shareholders in that.
The מלכות of הקדוש ברוך הוא is not to you and me.
There's no מלך על היחיד,
אין מלך בלא עם.
The מלכות is to כלל ישראל.
That aspect of מרידה of מלכות is you as part of the nation.
You drilled a hole in your cabin,
and the freaking ship is sinking.
So תשובה has to be done,
וידוי לפני ה',
and once we understand it's מעל מעל,
that aspect means to say it's not just me as Mendel Blachman,
it's me as part of כלל ישראל,
whatever part I share of.
I've drilled a hole in my cabin,
and the freaking ship is sinking.
Cuz that's the ברית.
The ברית is not with the יחיד;
the ברית is with every יחיד as much as he's part of the רבים.
It's only on the רבים there's an idea that the two בטוחים שיעשה להם
נס.
But the יחיד himself,
there's two aspects here.
You have to understand that's the הלכה.
How can the חזן say וידוי for me?
The כהן גדול says וידוי for you.
What,
he can say בושתי ונכלמתי?
How's he do that?
The answer is,
just like you said שמע ישראל,
you didn't talk about you as John;
you talk about you as part of כלל ישראל.
שמע ישראל י-ק-ו-ק אלוקינו י-ק-ו-ק אחד.
Just when you do a מצוה,
you're supposed to be doing לשם יחוד בשם כל ישראל.
The only if you really want an effect of the מצוה to happen,
you have to do it as a representative of the ציבור,
not as being just you,
John,
Harry.
Anybody read the לשם יחוד,
which is basically from האר''י ז''ל,
הגה זו על פי כוונות האר''י,
okay?
So you understand your חטא is basically your the פגם in the ברית is
a פגם in כל כלל ישראל.
You drilled a hole in your cabin,
and the ship is sinking.
You're יונה!
Your iniquity is sinking the ship!
So either you stop the hole,
or you ask them to throw you out!
One of the two!
So this is the idea.
One has to understand דאס איז דער פשט that,
therefore,
the חטא is a חטא my חטא היחיד is has the מרידה aspect is
a part of me being part of the ציבור.
ממילא,
so the שליח הציבור,
which is ממונה על פי הציבור,
could be mayim could could do it for the ציבור.
As we say,
the דין is that the חזן in מלכיות,
זכרונות,
ושופרות,
the גמרא says at the end of ראש השנה,
he's מוציא עם שבשדות.
People that live who knows where.
They don't hear him,
they don't know about him,
he's מוציא them with the ברכות,
with the תקיעות of מלכיות,
זכרונות,
ושופרות.
How?
Cuz it's a תפילת הציבור!
It's a corporation!
And he's the שליח הציבור!
The corporation!
We are all members of the corporation.
The only problem is we can sink the This is not a limited corporation.
We carry moral responsibility in context of the corporation.
And we can sink Each one of us has way of sinking the corporation,
or enhancing the corporation.
The corporation's not just the money is invested,
but outside divesting us from our moral responsibility,
which is a legal corporation.
No,
this is ציבור.
We are we we are we we create we make and break the corporation.
That's the פשט.
The שליח הציבור,
I hope the חזנים understand that they're not just there for an opera,
but they're supposed to be a שליח of עם ישראל,
which has a ברית with הקדוש ברוך הוא,
and therefore they can say this.
לשון הרמב''ם:
מתוודה בשם כל ישראל.
לשון הרמב''ם,
שעיר המשתלח פרק ב':
is כפרת כל העם,
לפיכך הכהן מתוודה על כל העם,
חטאו,
עוו,
פשעו עמך בית ישראל.
What are you knocking at my heart for?
The תירוץ is,
no,
we're all one heart.
This is the idea of תשובה עומד לפני ה',
yes.
I wish us all a כתיבה וחתימה טובה,
a גוט געבענטשט יאר.
We should have,
you know,
we should all the blessings of the celestial baskets should be poured all over
us.
Not just us,
but through us to כל כלל ישראל.
כלל ישראל should have a year of מנוחת הנפש,
בגשמיות...
וברוחניות and ביאת גואל צדק.
אוי,
Jonathan,
המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים,
he just lost his mother.
Thank you.
אַ ברכה,
כל טוב,
כתיבה וחתימה טובה,
have a great year,
all.
Rabbi,
can I ask you a question?
Yeah,
sure.
Is there,
like,
besides for,
you know,
continuously learning it or reminding us,
are there any exercises that רבי finds is helpful to cultivate that awareness of
לפני השם?
I believe it's with you learn more and more the the פרשה of קריאת
שמע and the ראשונים,
then you learn חסידות specifically,
it talks tons of it,
it's endless what it talks about,
plus keeping all the שולחן ערוך.
In the beginning of אורח חיים,
all the הלכות which there to enhance that,
living that,
learning that,
I think it is saying קריאת שמע בכוונה with the כוונה,
and תפילה!
תפילה enhances the awareness of לפני השם in a big way if you דאווען
like a מענטש.
You know,
I always say תפילה בציבור is a big מעלה,
but it can't stand in place of תפילה!
If you go בציבור and נישט דאווענען,
דאס איז גארנישט!
You need 10 people which עומד לפני השם for a מנין.
רחמנות,
you know,
therefore,
I'm very hesitant to be a חזן,
I'm afraid it's a ברכה לבטלה!
There are no 10 people which are עומד לפני השם.
Okay,
what can you do?
But davening,
davening,
davening and repeat,
and learning more and more about אנכי השם אלקיך.
For me,
reading מורה נבוכים and understand,
if you're philosophically intent,
enhanced to me enormously the לפני השם.
רמב״ן על התורה is a tremendous tool.
But the אמת is,
look,
I'm sorry,
what can I do?
I have been learning חסידות since I'm a little boy,
but,
Mark,
you're not holding by that at the moment,
okay,
you know what I mean?
דער כלל in life is,
first you have to finish בבלי,
ירושלמי,
ספרא,
ספרי,
מכילתא.
That's אלף בית.
And then you דאווען like a מענטש.
You דאווען,
take your time in דאווענינג.
You know,
why don't you say פסוקי דזמרה like an hour before you get to שול?
All you have to get to שול is basically for שמונה עשרה,
and Monday and Thursday it's very good,
you hear the ברכו afterwards,
you don't have to hear the ברכו before.
And today in in America they all say ברכו afterwards anyway,
so you said ברכו.
You know what I mean?
All you have to be there is for the first ברכות of שמונה עשרה
if there's 10 people which are מכוון.
Learn from me!
Thanks so much.
כתיבה וחתימה טובה.
Good to see you.
Okay,
take care,
have a great year,
ברכה והצלחה,
זייט געזונט.
תזכו למצוות.
תזכו למצוות.