Parshas Ki Tisa: The Secret Life of Hur

2:32 Rashi tells us that Chur was actually the nephew of Moshe Rabbeinu. His mother was Miriam. Miriam married... Kalev ben Yefuna. So Miriam and Kalev had a child. That child was Chur. He was the nephew of Moshe Rabbeinu. Two times in the Torah we see Chur. The first time is in the war with Amalek. So Klal Yisrael has left Mitzrayim, and now Amalek attacks them. And Moshe Rabbeinu says to Yosua to go pick men so we can go fight against Amalek. And Moshe Rabbeinu says, 'I am going to stand on top of the hill overlooking the battleground' And I am going to have the staff, my staff, in my hand. They did as Moshe Rabbeinu said. Moshe, Aaron, and Chur went up to the top of the mountain. And Moshe, whenever he would take down his hands, a Malik would start to win. Whenever his hands would be raised up, Klal Yisrael would win. But Moshe Abenu's hands were heavy. The Torah says, so they took a stone and they placed it under him, and he sat down on it. And in the meantime, Aaron and Chur held up Moshe Abenu's hands.

3:51 Aaron on one side, Moshe Abenu's brother. Chur on the other side, Moshe Abinu's nephew, holding up his hands until the sun set. What do we know about Chur? Not only was he the nephew of Moshe Abinu, but something else. We know that he was obviously a particularly righteous person, because if Moshe Abinu tells Klali Yisrael to go choose specific people to fight against Naamalik, and he specifically takes Chur up to the mountain with him to hold up his hands. I imagine that Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't want to take the sort of regular, common Jew to do that. Clearly, he took Aaron a Cohen. So Chur was obviously a tremendous, tremendous person. The next time we meet Chur, as we discussed, was by Chet Egel. Right before Chet Egal, something happens that also involves Chur. Moshe Rabbeinu, we know, was very concerned about who will take care of Klal Yisrael when he's gone.

4:54 Who's going to be the one to adjudicate their cases? Who's going to be the one to listen to them? So before Moshe Rabbeinu goes up to the mountain for forty days, he tells the Zakenim, "Wait for us here until we return to you, and you'll have Aaron and Chor with you. Whoever has a case, let them go to Aaron and Chor." So not only was Chur somebody who Moshe Avinu trusted to bring with him into battle to hold up his hands, and we know that when Moshe Avinu held up his hands, they were victorious. But even more than that, Chur was somebody who Moshe Avinu gave the leadership of Klal Yisrael to. And the amazing thing is, none of us know anything about him. If you think about that, here was a person who was clearly maybe you don't want to say he was second in command because Aaron maybe was first in command. He was clearly top three. Was Moshe, Aaron, and Chur? And by the way, very interesting. Even we have a little bit of a raya that Chur was greater than Aaron. Who did they go to first to make the egel? They didn't go to Aaron first. Who did they go to first? They went to Chur.

5:57 What was that? It doesn't make them braver. At least means that people in Klal Yisrael thought that it would be better to have the egel made by somebody of Chur stature than Aaron and Cohen. And in fact, I'll tell you something else. Maybe they just thought that. It's interesting because it was exactly the opposite. Chor was the one who said no way, and they killed him, and Arum was the one that acquiesced. Could be. But no matter what, he was at least top three. In fact, one of the reasons that Arum and Cohen did help them with the Chet HaEgal is because the Navi and Yeshaya says that if you kill a Cohen and a Navi, then there's no room for Teshuva. So they had already killed the navi, and Aaron was the Cohen, so he didn't want them to do it. So he figured, I'll stall them by making the Agen. So at the very least, he was a navi in Klal Yisrael. At the very least, he was the person that Moshe Rabbeinu chose to have him alongside him in the battle of Amalek. And at the very least, he was the person that Moshe Rabbeinu left in charge of all of the cases of Klal Yisrael while he was receiving the Torah.

6:57 So Chur was not a stam person. What does Klal Yisrael do? Kalahi Yisrael murders him, even though just 40 days prior. Remember, girls, they didn't have 613 commandments yet. What did they have? They had 10 commandments, the Aseret HaDibros. I guarantee you, they hadn't forgotten, 'Thou shall not murder.' So, Klahi Yisrael must have been experiencing something that they chose to murder one of the most incredible leaders that they had. That's question number one. Question number one is why did they kill Chur? It's a little bit. You'll forgive me for saying it like this. Many of us have the childish version of Judaism, and we're entitled to the adult version of Judaism. In our childish version of Judaism, how do we know this story? Kalayisah got really upset because Chur wouldn't build the Menegel, so they killed him. But girls, we're talking about the Dardaya. We're talking about the people that forty days prior had seen Hakadosh Baruch Hu at our Sinai. Kolosu brakim. They saw him. They experienced the divine.

7:58 Forty days later, they commit murder. We can't be children about the Torah. We are entitled to the adult version of Judaism. We have to pursue it. Question number one is, What in the world was going on that they murdered Chur? Question number two: We've grown up thinking that Avodah Zarah is foolish. And obviously, it goes without saying that Avodah Zarah is foolish. But how many people were taught that Avodah Zarah is like just like a meaningless idol that you bow down to? How many people were taught that? For those that are conscious to do that So it was all of you. The rest of you that are sitting there like this, the answer is all of us. We were all taught that this idol was something like this bottle of water. It was just some random statue, probably in your head. You're thinking of something like Buddha. And then they bow down to it and they think, stupid people that they are, that maybe the idol is going to give them what they want. But the truth of the matter is that idolatry is very sophisticated. It's very sophisticated. It's not random.

8:58 If idolatry was stupid, if idolatry was not a philosophy, then the Torah would not make such a big deal about it. The fact that the Torah makes such a big deal about idolatry tells us that there's something sophisticated about idolatry. So the second question is: Of all of the things that Klal Yisrael could have made into an idol, why make an eagle? Why make a golden calf? Why not make a golden sheep? Why not make a golden bird? These things have meaning to them. The second question for tonight is: Why did Klal Yisrael Of all things, Make a an eagle? Okay. Last but not least Chur shows up one more time in the Torah. But Chur's name shows up one more time in the Torah. Anybody know? Where else, aside from these two stories in the Medrash, does Chur show up in the Torah? Is he like the father, grandfather of Betsalel? Excellent.

10:04 He is the grandfather of Betsalel. Betsalel ben Uri ben Chur. Now that right away is very strange. Usually, if you want to tell us who somebody is, what do you tell us? Who they are and who their father is. The Torah goes out of its way to tell us that Betsalel. The person who builds the mishkan, the person who's tasked with building the mishkan, is the grandson of Chur. Once we start to think about this, there's an obvious question that arises: Is there some sort of interconnection between Chur and the building of the mishkan? Is it random? It's obviously to us right away. Most of us are thinking that it can't be random. But let's think about it for a second. Chur, leader of Kla Yisrael, Moshe Abenu's second or third in command, and his grandson is tasked with building the Mishkan. What's the connection between Chur and the Mishkan?

11:09 In order to understand this, we need to understand something very basic about hashkafa, and then we'll move into something very deeply kabbalistic. It's a very cool thing I'm going to teach you tonight. Everywhere, Klal Yisrael is in general exceptionally deep. Up until this point in Klal Yisrael, how did Klal Yisrael relate to Hashem? The way they related to Hashem was through Moshe Rabbeinu. So when Moshe Rabbeinu is suspended, lifeless between Shamayim and Aretz, and the Satan says, 'Look, here's your Moshe Rabbeinu,' Klal Yisrael now has a very deep and important philosophical problem. It's a water problem. I always wanted to hand hot water to a runner, somebody who's in a marathon somewhere. It's terrible. Thank you. It's delicious. So Klal Yisrael says

12:33 If Moshe Rabbeinu is gone, we need to be connected to Hashem. How can we connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Some of you may have heard things like this. Here's where we're going to make a little bit of a left turn. They said we need an instrument of connection. Almost like a mishkan. We need an instrument of connection, almost like a mishkan. What will be the instrument of connection? The instrument of connection will be the agil. Why the agil of all the things in the world? Why the agil? Because the agil is on the kisei akvod. Different things that are on the kiseh hakavod. The Gemara tells us, but the agel is on the kiseh hakavod. So they were saying as follows. And they were right most of the way. They got wrong at the end. No person can understand God. God cannot be understood by the human mind. If you think about it, what's the greatest thing that our imagination could come up with? We can come up with a unicorn. Why? Because you can say, I know what a horse looks like. I know what a horn looks like. What if I put them together?

13:52 The mind cannot even imagine anything that doesn't already exist. We can imagine it in different shapes and in different sizes, but we can't even dream of something that doesn't exist. We wouldn't even know how to start. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and this is where they got it right. It cannot be understood or comprehended by the human mind. Therefore, they made the following argument: It's Giver. For a person to say I can connect to God. Everything you've been taught this year, they would have argued, is gaivah. How could you, a mere mortal, whose mind is so limited that you can only understand that which you've seen, that which you've experienced, claim to have a relationship with something that you can't even understand? And by the way, I venture to say that some of you have felt the same exact thing. You're asking us to have a relationship with the boreolum. I can't even understand the boreolum. How am I supposed to have a relationship with him?

14:53 This is like what every guy and every girl says when they get married. I can barely understand this person. How do you want me to have a relationship with them? At least there we're both human. Men are human. Women are human. Men are a little less human. Women are a little more human. But at least we're on the same species. But you mean to tell me that I can connect to a Hakadosh Baruch Hu who I can't even understand? That's gaiva. We need an intermediary. By the way, doesn't it make a little bit more sense now? It's an animal. It's less than. B'seder. But that's because you're thinking of it as an animal. Remember what we said before? It's not an animal. What is it? It's the kiseh hakavod they were asking him to make. Now that sounds very strange. Why do they make the kiseh like that? Because they're going to see there's something deep going on. Why did it take Chur to make this idol?

15:46 Chur didn't make the Mishkan, but Salom made the Mishkan. Second, I'm asking you a simple question. Don't go into that place where you do that seminary thing where we just say things. Let's slow down. What was that? We're going to try to learn it deeper. I know it's a problem. We're going to try to learn it deeper. As I said, I also grew up with this. But we're going to try to learn it deeper now. If it's just a question of making an idol, can't anyone do it? Because an idol is stupid, right? But remember, girls, an idol is not stupid. An idol is a very sophisticated thing. Why did they come to Chur to make an image from the Kiseh Kavod? It was the idea they had was wrong. The idea they had was it's gaiva for us to say that we can connect to God with Moshe Rabbeinu, who was barely human. He could get to the level where he could go up to Shamayim and not eat or drink for forty days while he's makabul the Torah. I get it. If we have that guy in our life, we can connect to Hashem. But without that, we can't connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Mameila, there is another intermediary.

16:55 It's a spiritual intermediary. It's called the Kiseh Hakavod. They were asking Chur not to make a regular idol. What were they asking him to make? The Kiseh Hakavod, as an intermediary, specifically the golden calf. They were asking him to tap into that power. Where in the world did they ever get the idea that it was possible to make a kiseh haKavod? And I'm going to tell you the truth: not only is it possible, it's been done before. Yeah, Marker here. This is not what an aleph really looks like. That is what an aleph looks like. Two yuds. This yud is a reflection of this yud, and this is the vav that's in between. This yud, this one right here on the top, represents the asara mamros, the ten utterances with which creation was made. This yud is the reflection of those ten utterances, and this right here, this vav, is what we're going to call the bridge.

18:12 So you have the ten utterances, the reflection of those ten utterances, and then there's the bridge. Tonight we're going to talk a lot about the bridge. Let's start off. Where do we see places in Chumash that you've seen up until now where the bridge, this vav, shows up? I'll give you an example. Remember when you were young and you were learning Parshas Noach? What did you learn? How many animals went on the teva? Two by two, right? Seven by seven, yeah. Girls, how big was the teva? Massive. Massive? And yet, what do Chazal say? It fit all the animals. We always grew up with this. We were children. So we said, it expanded. It was a miracle. This is the way we grew up. It expanded. It was a miracle. The Bais Hamikdash expanded. It was a miracle. I have another question for you. The whole world was being destroyed, but Noach was saved because he had a boat.

19:15 Because he listened to Hashem. And if somebody else had a boat, they would have drowned. So if that's the case, why did Moshe Rabbeinu need a boat? Why did Noach need a boat? What does the word "teva" mean? Don't be smart here. What does the word "teva" mean? I'm giving it away. What does the word "teva" mean? It does not mean ark. Teva means a word, like roche tevot. So it's interesting. These asara mamaros, these ten utterances. What happened to them after God said them? The answer is that those ten utterances are still in creation in the form of letters. Every single thing in creation is made on a spiritual level from letters. So this stender right here is not just a random stender. This stender has spiritual letters that are inside the stender, saying be a stender. That's why it's a stender. This table has spiritual letters saying be a table. We're not going to get into all the Kabbalah of it now.

20:17 But when Noach was in the teva, the reason why he survived is because he was not in the bottom yud. He was not in the reflection of the asar mamros. What was the teva? What was the letter he went into? The letter he went into is this vav. That vav is the letter. It is the teva. Remember, a moment ago we said. Before I get to the punchline, I don't want to get to the punchline yet. Anybody else know a strange story in Parshas Noah that involves something also almost seems like out of creation? It's also in Parshas Noah. Tower, and that story never made sense. If I build a tower, then I defeat God. So I understand. But let's say they had built the Empire State Building, we win. God is still infinite. Remember, does the story need to tell us foolish stories? If the Torah tells us about Megdal Bavel, what might be going on? It might be that there's something deeper going on beneath the surface. It's very interesting. All the bricks made from Megdal Bavel were made where? Which famous oven were those bricks made in? The same Kivshana Eish that Avram Avinu was thrown into. And it was a Kivshana Eish that specifically was used by Nimrod, the greatest idolater in the world.

21:37 Why were they using such special bricks? Where was it coming from? The answer is Megdal Bavel looked like what? What does a tower look like? Which letter looks like a giant vav? And by the way, what was the tremendous capacity that they had when they were building Megdal Bavel? They all spoke the same language. Then God babbled their language. That's where Bavel comes from. And then all of a sudden, they couldn't have the capacity to do it anymore. So when we were growing up, what did we learn? This one asked for a screwdriver and the guy hit him on the head with a hammer because they didn't have the same language. If you're seven You might buy that. But if you're 18 years old, you should stop buying that story. If you're 18 years old, this might make more sense. The whole capacity to get into this world of the words is built on speech. If we don't have this commonality of language, we lose the capacity to do it. They said, "We don't want to ever be attacked by a flood again. The world God can attack and bring a flood to. But what if we leave the yud and go into the vav? Here's a really strange thing."

22:38 If you look at the end of Parshas Noah, every single parsha in the Torah has a gematria. You girls know about this. At the end of every single parsha, there's a gematria, the amount of psukim that there are. What would the gematria be? What would the least likely gematria be? To be at the end of Parsha Noach. Kuf Nun Gimel Psukim. The Gematria is Betsalel. What is Betsalel, who's not going to come till much later and build the Mishkan? Kuf. It's not a pasuk. It's Kuf Nun Gimel. It's the amount of psukim that are in every Parsha, the end of every Parsha. There's a Masorah that we have. How many psukim are in the parsha and a particular gematria that's identified with it? The gematria of Parshas Noah is Btzalal. Why? Because the Gemara says a fascinating thing. The Gemara and Sota says Btzalal had a particular wisdom. This is why he was chosen to build the Mishkan.

23:34 He knew how to take the letters of creation. This is an open Gemara. It's Gemara and Sota. Go look it up. He knew how to take the letters of creation and to reorder them. In order to build the Mishkan, which means the Mishkan was not a physical building in the classic sense. What it was is it had the appearance of a building, just like a tevah is an ark. It has the appearance of a building, but what is the Mishkan really? The Mishkan is the vav, and I'll bring you a proof. Rashi says a very strange thing: when Yosef and Binyamin finally meet up after all those years, they cry on each other's necks. And what are they crying about? What does Rashi say? They're crying about the destruction of the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash. Go take a look in Rashi. Rashi says that when Yosef and Binyamin were crying on each other's necks, they weren't crying that they had seen each other after all these years, which is what you would expect. Rashi says they were crying about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the Mishkan. Why? Where did Rashi get that from? All of a sudden, girls. We're telling the story. The story is a regular story. We don't need to go so deep.

24:43 Joseph and Benjamin are brothers. Their mother is dead. Joseph has been gone for 22 years. They meet each other. They're crying. Why are they crying? Because they missed each other. What does Rashi say? They're crying because of the destruction of the base of Mikdash and the Mishkan. What are you talking about? Why? Where would Rashi get that from? By the way, Rashi says about himself that he always comes to give the simplest shot. So Rashi here takes the simplest shot. He leaves it, goes a million miles to the left, and says they're crying over the destruction of the base of mikdash. Where does he get that from? There is one place in the body that's identified with a particular letter. All the parts of the body are identified with letters. Your neck has a particular shape. It's the shape of the vav. And it makes sense because the neck is the part that joins your mind and your heart. And what does a vav mean in Hebrew? It means and. So it's the connection of the mind and the heart. It exists in between. That's what the Mishkan is. Betzalel was the one who took the letters. I'm sorry, I know I'm moving fast. Betzalel is the one who took the letters of creation and reordered them. Girls, remember when we were talking about the miracle of the teva expanding? You know why the teva expanded?

25:46 We're used to a world of math and science. Math and science means you could do the same thing over and over again. It'll keep happening. This table right here. My hand can't go through it. How come? Because math and science dictates that this has physical properties. My hand doesn't have the physical properties to go through it. It's not liquid. And even if it was, it would have to be the thinnest thing in the world. But what if we lived in a world where math and science were different? What if we lived in a world where my hand could go through tables? It's equally possible. It's just that that's not what the letters of creation say should happen. What if I reordered the letters of creation? What could happen? My hand could go through a table. So when everyone bowed down in the Beis Hamikdash, why did the Beis Hamikdash expand?

26:29 Because that's the nature of the letters of the Beis Hamikdash. I'll give you another one. The lechem apanim in the Beis Hamikdash never went stale. Why not? Because we live in a world of math and science. If you leave bread out, what's going to happen? It's going to go stale. But what if you were in a different world? You understand? So the reason why we think of the Beis Hamikdash and we go, It's miraculous. It's right. We live in the bottom yud. Since we live in the bottom yud, we're used to a world of bottom yud. But there exists this vav somewhere between Shamayim and aretz, just like Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, who suspended lifeless between Shamayim and aretz, was where, in the vav. So we're used to thinking about this from a very physical perspective and then we say it's miraculous. There is another dimension. To an extent, we still have this. When you hear stories that people have a hard time, they're not suddenly attracted to mezuzas.

27:20 Of course, because on some level, the spiritual right is still right beneath the surface of the world, and if you are not calibrated properly with the spiritual, then your physical is going to have a particular appearance. Of course, and by the way, you don't even have to run that far. Isn't that what davening is all about? Isn't davening really about saying words? That's why we daven out loud. We say words because we are connecting to the depth of creation. That's why when people say davening is so silly, I'm just reading from a sitter. Those are not random words. The top seventy nevi'im in Kli Israel at that time said these are the words you need to say in order to be calibrated with creation. How many people want to go? But I don't understand what it means. So learn what it means. You understand? So you don't have to run to the miraculous. It's right there underneath the surface. Let's go back to Chor's argument.

28:15 Okay. Yes. So once we came to Galus, the letters were reordered. So there's a very, very deep Torah from Marami Prague. Marami Prague speaks about the fact that unity is what gives you access to the letters. Which is why in Migdal Bavel they had access to the letters. Noach was connected. He was Tumim. He was perfect, so to speak, in the eyes of God. Meaning, he was deeply connected. He was unified. When Klal Yisrael is unified, then we have access to the Beis Hamikdash. But sinas chinam destroys the Beis Hamikdash. Make sense? So that capacity still exists in the world. But it's not here right now because we're not unified. If we would be unified, we would have access to it. Mashiach will give that to us. That's all it is. That's what it is, right? Now let's go back to Chor. Klal Yisrael comes and they say we cannot connect to God. What does Chor say? We do not need intermediaries. We can connect to God. They think you're a balgiva. You're sick. What you're saying is that a mere mortal could connect to God. You are worthy of death. You're a kofar. Clearly so

29:38 So they killed Chur. But why, of all people, of all the people in the world, why was Chur the one that said you don't need an intermediary to connect to God? Because Chur was part of the particular Mitzvah that knew this idea of what it means to be in this world, but to have the capacity to be that Vav. That's what Chur's special talent was. Because Chur understood that a person is like a shadow of God. Is your shadow you? But it is a reflection of you, isn't it? So Chur understood what it meant to live in the shadow of God. And if you're the shadow of God, then you are intrinsically connected to God. Now Chur has a very interesting grandson, whose name is Btzalal. And what does the word Btzalal mean? Btzal, not in the image of God, Btzal in the shadow of God. Just like a human being lives in the shadow of God, so he's deeply connected to God. To Chur

30:39 Who understood that had a grandson whose name was Betsalel who was the shadow of God. Since Betsalel since Chur knew this mesora he had this idea that he could manipulate the letters of creation. Who do they want to build this golden calf? They don't want any calf. What do they want? The kiseh akavod. What does it mean to build the kiseh akavod? Girls it's not simply a matter of taking gold and putting it into a particular form. What is it now? It's much deeper than that. They were asking him to rearrange the letters of creation. They did know it. What was that? So they did know. That's the idol they wanted. Why would they kill him? Because he refused to do it. He said, "You don't need a kiseh akavod to do it. You are connected to God even without that." They said, "We can only be connected to God if we have something in between." Moshe Abena was our in between. Even now, he's suspended, lifeless between Shamayim and Arutz. But he's dead. We need somebody who exists between Shamayim and Arutz.

31:34 Now we know that we can connect. Don't worry, I'll get there at the end. Let me get there. So why weren't they upset about the fact that Moshe could connect? They loved that because Moshe is the intermediary. He was human. Mere mortals cannot do it. Moshe Rabbeinu was not a mere mortal; he was human in one sense, but he was so godly. Remember, he was radiating light off of his face at some point in his life. It's after the story, but he was obviously for them. He represented much more. So they said, as long as Moshe Rabbeinu exists, there's a bridge between us and God. Fine, but to say that me, a regular average Joe, could be connected to God, that I live in the shadow of God, so I am the shadow of God. So that means that I'm deeply connected to God. That's heresy. That's kifira. We should kill that person. But he was saying, you don't need a kiseh hakavod. You are just like I am, Chur. We'll see what chur means in a moment. But Sala, my grandson, knows this wisdom of living in the shadow of God. Which means you are, in a certain sense, you have this creational capacity. You are godly. Don't you need anything else. You've got it all already. Such a person is worthy of death. Last question that I got to finish this year.

32:48 Because what he was saying was crazy. From their perspective, what he was saying is they've only for sure. And again, to be clear, it was a Rev Rav that said this. To be clear, lemaisa, they were making a very good point. Because in the beginning of the year, remember, all of you were shaking your head, going, "That does sound arrogant to say that just me, a regular average Joe, could connect to God." The fact that we have the capacity to say the words Baruch Ata, we call God You. That's very informal. That's very personal. Jews were the first ones to say that you could have a personal relationship with God. Everybody else thinks it's arrogant. Jesus needs to die for my sins. We're the ones that say no. You have a personal relationship with God, even as messed up as we are. I need to finish this year, so I'm going to ask you to hold off.

33:34 With this in mind, we can understand the difference between the first and the second luchos. The first luchos were carved out by God. The second luchos were carved out by man. Why? Up until now, nobody ever understood this. Now you're going to understand it deeply. The first luchos were carved out by God. What was Klal Yisrael saying? We can't connect to God. God can come down to us, but I can't come up to God. So the second luchos, God had to say to them, 'What? I'll write the words, but you have to carve out the stone.' What was God saying to them? What was the message? The message was: Remember, Moshe Rabbeinu comes down and he smashes the luchos. Why does he smash the luchos? Because these were godly luchos, and what did Klal Yisrael need at that time? Human luchos, luchos that could be mortal, human luchos that could transcend and connect to God. It's amazing, no? You start to see a level of depth to this. And with this in mind, we can now understand a very fundamental arachaim Hakadosh. The arachaim Hakadosh says, 'What was Chur's name? Chur comes from the lashon of choren, which means freedom.'

34:38 So Chur represents freedom. His grandson Betsalel, as we said, represents the shadow of God. Why? Because the Aruch HaYam explains through the Mishkan. Listen to this: through the Mishkan was the Tikkun for the Chet HaEgel. So they achieved their freedom. When? When's the Chur? When's the freedom? Not until his grandson Betsalel comes and builds the base. Comes and builds the Mishkan. Now it's interesting. Because the Mishkan, initially, it doesn't sound so different, right? It doesn't sound so different from the Chet Egel. What were they saying? Let's build an Egel because we can't connect to God. The Mishkan is exactly the opposite. What's the Mishkan? Let's build a Mishkan because we can connect to God. You hear the difference? By the Egel, they were using Chor in the wrong way. We want to be connected to God. We want the freedom. Somebody who's free is deeply connected to God. Comes along Btzalal and he gives them redemption, Tikkun, rectification for what happened from his grandfather. And he says, "No, we can connect to God. We build the Mishkan." Girls, how many pesukim does it take to teach us the entirety of creation? Only thirty-seven pesukim. How many pesukim does it take to tell us about the Mishkan? Hundreds of pesukim.

35:58 Hundreds of pesukim are dedicated to the Mishkan, which tells us clearly. What's more impressive? God building man, or man coming up and transcending and connecting to God? The answer is obvious. So you'll say, and here's the bottom line: What does any of this have to do with me? There's a lot of deep connections here, girls. Fundamental. We run in our life to intermediaries. We run so fast. I need to ask my Rebbe. I need to ask. Whatever happened to connecting to God? Whatever happened to talking to God? But so many girls tell me that I can't because I've done so many avirays in my life. So many wrong things. God knows me better. I'm the worst Jew in the world. That's the same argument as those that did the Chet Ha'egel. We are too human to connect to God. What does Chora teach us? What does Btzalal teach us? What are all the things we say? What are they teaching us? No. If you're human, you can connect to God because you live in the shadow of God. No matter how far you've strayed, you are created B'tzelem Elokim. You are created in the image of the Divine, which means it's never possible to fall out of a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.