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Allah Yaya y. Ya. Yaya y.
Last pasuk in Parashas Matos. Says Novach halach Val yilko das knas vesmosea. Novach went And he captured Knas and the suburbs of Knas. Vayikra la Novach b'shmo. And Novach named the area that he just conquered after himself. He named it Novach. Rashi quotes from Moshe Adarshin. There's something called a mapikhei. You've seen it before. It's the dot in the letter 'h'. And with only three exceptions in the entire Torah Every time it says the word la. In the hey, there's a mapik hey. There's a dot in the letter 'h'. And here is one of the three exceptions. Vayikra lo novach b'shemo, novach Named this place that he had conquered, Knaos, and the suburbs of Knaos after him. The law is missing the dot in the hey.
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And Rav Mosheh Darshan points out that since it's missing the dot in the hey Instead of being read loh with an emphasis on the hey It could also be read lo. It could be read To indicate that this place, Knas and the suburbs of Knas, that Novach conquered. Did not actually remain with the name Novach And this is what's indicated by the missing dot in the letter Hey. And of course, the obvious question is Why do we care? If the Torah goes out of its way, and every letter and every nikkuda in the Torah is so precious and so important And here we have a dot. That's indicating that even though Novach conquered this area The area did not remain named after him. Why is that important to us? If the Torah is infinite and the Torah is eternal, that means that every single message in the Torah is relevant to every single person in the world in every single moment in every single year.
And why here in NCSY Kollel in 2022? Why do we care? In the three weeks, why do we care that Novach does not end up being the name? This Shabbos Despite our beautiful niggunim of Shabbos in Beit Meir We will be in the old city. Teach you guys a new niggun. We'll be in the old city. I imagine that many of you, while you're in the old city, will walk into Eishat Torah. And when you walk into Eishat Torah, if you've never walked into Eishat Torah before, though I imagine many of you have walked into Eishat Torah You'll see a two-story Exquisite glass chandelier. It was made by Dale Chihuly. And Dale Chihuly made this in his factory in Seattle. He made it in his factory in Seattle. And he shipped it here to Israel in hundreds of boxes. And this wonderful piece of art, this gorgeous, stunning piece of art It begins on the bottom with blue, and in an ascending spiral, it becomes red, yellow, and orange.
Why is that the centerpiece of what you see when you walk into Eishat Torah? And Dale Shohuli explained that he made this piece of art specifically for Eishat Torah because of the mission statement of Eishat Torah and because of the name Eishat Torah. It came from Rivakiva. We all know the story of Rivakiva. He was forty years old, and Rivakiva was a simple shepherd. And Rivakiva saw the water dripping on the rock, and he said, "If water with such a slow drip could have such a strong impact on a stone." Then certainly the Torah—that's fire, the Eishat Torah—could have such an impact on my heart. And this is how Eishat Torah got its name. And if you look at this wonderful piece of art this Shabbos, and I encourage all of you to take the opportunity to go to the roof of Eishat Torah, but to stop and pause at that magnificent piece of art You'll notice that on the bottom it's blue, which symbolizes the water of Rivkaiva's rock. As it goes up, it symbolizes the fire that Rav Akiva said he was hoping would have an impact on him.
And we know that the Torah is compared to fire. Rashi and the Ramban and others talk about the fire of the Torah being white fire and black fire. The black fire of the letters written on the white fire of the parchment. Why is Torah compared to fire? When you go into business. A person must ask themselves the question: What is success? What is success? I remember many years ago I was talking with a well-known rab in America, mashgiach of a great yeshiva. He had been in Chinuch for probably thirty years at that point. And he said to me, Mordechai, tell me. If I was running a business for thirty years, and after thirty years I paid all my employees, and after thirty years I was only a hundred thousand dollars in debt, but I took a salary for myself every year, would I be successful?
So I said, maybe. If the goal of the business was to pay yourself, then maybe you're successful. He goes, so look at me, I'm a big success. I've been in Chinuch for only thirty years. I'm only a hundred thousand dollars in debt. I have a successful business. I said I don't know if you. If you're going to lose your house, you're going to lose your mortgage. I don't know how successful you are, but it's an interesting point. What defines success? And the same thing is true in our Judaism. What is success? You come to NCSY Kollel for the summer. What is success? We want to know what it looks like to walk out of NCSY Kollel, and we can point to you and say that was a successful summer. Is it that you did more mitzvot, less averos, more time in the beis medrash, less time in other places? What is success?
It can't be that success is merely more mitzvot Because as the navi says, "Lamali roves zvchechem." Why do I need all of your sacrifices to the infinite God? It makes no difference if a person does a thousand mitzvot or one. So success in our Judaism cannot be simply that we did more mitzvot and less averos. That can't possibly be success. What is success? The emissaries, chazal, spell out very clearly what success is Though perhaps it's not been said clearly enough for us, and as a result, perhaps, unfortunately, some of us have fallen into the trap of just do more good things and do less bad things and considering that a success. The Chasam were very clear. What is success? Rachmana liba boy. The most Hasidic statement you'll ever find anywhere in the entire Torah is in open Gemara. God desires the heart. What does that mean?
Why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu desire our heart? Why is that so important? Rabbi Bousai, if you think about Yiddishkeit not as a religion but as a relationship Then you'll realize that a wife and a husband are not defined by the roles that they have. For example If a husband cooks dinner for his family, if he makes a barbecue for his family He's not a cook. It's not what he is. If he just dispassionately goes and puts food on your plate, then he's a cook. But when a father goes and he wants to make sure that the temperature is right and he gets the nicest barbecue stuff for his family because he wants his family to have a geshmack of barbecue. It's no longer that the husband is just a cook. He's a father. And the difference is everything. If we are here simply to perform mitzvot, if we're just robots that are here to do more mitzvot and less averos, it doesn't matter if we care or not. You can be totally dispassionate and it's all the same.
But if you're in a relationship, it matters. You're young. You're not married yet. But one day, you're going to have the following fight with your wife. You're going to do everything she asks. But she'll say to you words that no male has ever understood. She'll say to you, "I feel like you're not here" And no man has ever understood those words because my being here has nothing to do with your feelings. I'm here, clearly. I'm here. I can scientifically prove it. What does it mean? You feel like I'm not here. But that's what a wife says, and she's right because it's possible for a husband to show up to take out the garbage. And it's possible for a husband to take out the light bulb and put in a new light bulb. And he's just doing things, but he's not participating in the relationship. What a wife wants more than anything is a husband who cares, who's passionate.
Many years ago, I heard from Moshe Weinberger Shleika. He said, "A machshel." He said it happens all the time. He said, "A husband and a wife come to sit down with me." And they're having some bias issues, and they're struggling in their marriage. And Weinberger says to them, "Who wants to go first?" And the husband says, "I'll go first." And the husband says, "I don't know what this woman wants from me. Nothing I do is ever enough." I take out the garbage. I coach little league. I change the light bulbs. I put down the toilet seat. Nothing I do is ever enough. And the entire time that the husband is talking, the wife is sitting there with her arms crossed, like this, shaking her head. And he turns to Rav Weinberger, frustrated, and he says, "Rebbe, you see, even now it's not enough." And Rav Weinberger gently turns to the wife and he says Seems like a pretty good guy.
What's bothering you? And she looks at Rav Weinberger and she says "Do you think I married him to take out the garbage? Do you think I married him to coach little league, or to change a light bulb?" I married him because of the way that he looked at me under the chuppah. And when's the last time that he looked at me that way? What Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires from us is a relationship, and a relationship is not limited to performance. In fact, a relationship is not defined by performance at all, but by the passion with which we perform. That's why the pasuk says Kehu meitzchem truma la Hashem kol ne devlibo yevi'eha. Take for yourselves truma, an offering for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Anyone who has a generous heart should bring it. Asks the altar of Kelim, the great balmuser Yiviyah, what? What should you bring if you're a generous spirit?
Says the altar of Kelim, that's what you should bring. You're nediv leif. To show up to Akadus Baruch Hu and to say, "Here's another karpun, here's another mincha, here's another mirv" But to do it without passion is missing the point. Is it important to show up? Of course it is. Is it important to do a mitzvah? Of course it is. But if we're going through it by rote, if we're just showing up, then it's stale and we don't want to do it. And the truth of the matter is that we're seeing a rebellion today. Unlikes that which we've seen in hundreds of years Teenagers today are rightfully rebelling And they're coming to their rebbeim and they're coming to their parents and they're saying, "I'm not satisfied with this Yiddishkeit. It's not enough." I can't just show up to davening anymore. I can't just say the same old words. I can't just wrap the same old straps and put on the same fringes. And they're right.
Their right to demand more out of Yiddishkeit, because intuitively the Jewish soul knows that this is a relationship And if it's a relationship, then it should have passion. And what our youth are telling us today is that they demand passion, and rightfully so. And if you find yourself as one of these people Then know that you're doing the right thing. And the question that you're asking is bringing Mashiach. Be relentless until you get the answer to this question: Why is it not working for me? And in different ways, it works for different people. But I'll share with you that you shouldn't be fooled Because there are people in this room right now who do a tremendous amount, and it may appear on the outside that they're very passionate. But you should know that sometimes those people are fooling themselves. And if you look at them and you're getting depressed because you look at that guy and he's shuckling like he's having a seizure and looks amazing for him and why am I not having a seizure? Maybe there's nothing wrong with my Yiddishkeit because I don't daven in a way that makes me look like I'm my Rebbe didn't daven that way.
And sometimes you see a guy and he's a Masman and he's in the beis medrash till one, two o'clock in the morning. And you might think, how is that guy in the base medjus till one two o'clock in the morning? We don't know what's going on in a person's heart. Maybe they're in the base medjus for gaiva reasons. Maybe they want to be known as the guy that's in the base medjus till one or two o'clock in the morning. Or maybe that's just what people in our yeshiva do. Maybe that's what it looks like when you come back from NCSY Kollel. But what I've seen so often is that guys get so frustrated with themselves. That guy seems to have figured it out, but me, I can't figure it out. My davening is hard. I'm saying the same words, and it's not working. Where's the passion? But one thing for sure Yiddishkeit not only should have that passion, it must have that passion.
Toshis and Shabbos asks the following question: We know that Klal Yisrael said Nasa v'Nishma. And we know Kaf Aleim Harkegigis Hakadosh Baruch Hu held the mountain over our head, and He said, 'Accept the Torah, v'Imolav, and if you don't accept the Torah, Sham take foraschem. There you're going to be buried. I'm going to drop the mountain on your head.' Frak toisvus. We already said Nassev Nishma. Nassev Nishma was no small deal. The Malachim already crowned us for saying Nassev Nishma. Was it necessary? For Hakadosh Baruch Hu to hold the mountain over our heads and say, 'Accept the Torah, otherwise I'll kill you.' We already said Nasa and Ishma. We were excited. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, 'Do you want?' We said, 'Yes.' Afterwards, you'll tell us what's in it. This is a people you need to threaten. That's like—I don't know if any of you have this type of mother.
If your mother asks you to do something, you go, "Yeah, I'll do it." She goes, "You better." You ever have that? It gives you that secondary like, "I already said I was going to do it. Why do you gotta threaten me?" Maybe this is my mom. I'm 42; she still does it. This special love that a mother has for her child. Chassvusham says Tosus. Klal Yisrael was afraid. Why was Klal Yisrael afraid? Because the Torah was given with fire And since the Torah was given with fire, it was so imposing and scary. Maybe we would back out. So even though we were already on such a high madriga to say Naso and Ishma, maybe we'd back out. So comes along Hakadosh Baruch Hu and says, "I'm holding the mountain over your head, and if you don't accept the Torah, I'm going to kill you." So the Balle Chasidus asks a very obvious question.
So then, don't give the Torah with fire. Give the Torah gently. Give the Torah calmly. Why does it need to be with fireworks? Why does it need to be so imposing? Why does it need to be so scary? The Balle Chasidus answer. Because it's impossible for Torah not to be given over with passion. Torah is passion. Torah is the place where our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu is born. It's born in the beis medrash, not just in the beis medrash, but everywhere we go with our Torah. That's where the passion for our Yiddishkeit is. It's impossible for Torah to be given without fire, and therefore it must be given with fire, and it must be given with the mountain over our head. So the question is, how do we cultivate passion? How do we make sure that in a couple of weeks from now, when we're leaving NCSY Kollel, that we at least have some idea what the derech is that we take in order to get the passionate Yiddishkeit that we're looking for? I'd like to share with you perhaps a humble suggestion of what might be a path for you.
There was a machlokes the Gemara says between Rav Chia and Rav Chanina And Rav chia said to Rav chanina. You should listen to me. Because if Chassv Shalom Klal Yisrael ever forgot Tyra I have such unbelievable capacities when it comes to LMDs and analytics that I could recreate the entire Tyra. I ensure that Tyra will never be forgotten. I'm sorry, that's what Rav Chanina said. And Rav Chia said back to him. You should listen to me Because you might be the safeguard in case we ever forget Tyra. But I'm working right now to ensure that Tyra is never forgotten. How did Rivkia do that? And Rivkia explained. He said, "I plant seeds, and those seeds that I plant are flax seeds. And I take the flax seeds after they're grown, and I make nets out of the flax. And then I take those nets and I trap deer. And then I kill the deer and I feed the meat to the orphans and I take the skins of the deer and on the skins of the deer I write Hamisha Chum Shaitira and I go to a town where there are children who don't have a malame they don't have a rebbe and I teach them Torah and I give each one of them a Torah scroll and I tell them go teach others and then I teach the Shisha Sidre Mishnah to six other children and I tell them go teach others."
You might be the safeguard in case we ever forget Tyra But I ensure that Tyra is never forgotten. And I'd like to ask two questions. Question number one: That seems to be a wonderful story, a beautiful story, an amazing story about Rav Chaya. Why is Rav Chaya wasting his time? Why is Rav Chia wasting his time? Rav Chia needs to become a farmer. He needs to plant flax seeds, and then he needs to make flax nets, and then he needs to become a hunter who traps the deer, and then he needs to become a butcher who kills the deer and gives out the meat to the orphans and writes the Torah scroll himself. Why can't Rav Chia have a 24-hour fundraiser? It'll be matching. He'll tell everyone it's triple matched. He'll make a big thing and get all the talmidim to make phone calls for him and say, "Please donate to this very holy cause." Without you, children in Klal Yisrael will not have Sefirot Torah. It'll be an amazing campaign. There'll be a Jewish video with drones. Every Jewish video I've noticed today has drones on top. It'll be Mordechai Shapiro music. It'll be fast-paced. This video is going to go viral. I promise you, it's going to be amazing. Rivkia could get butchers.
He could get farmers. He could even get Sifrim to write their Sefirot Torah and then give them out. And then he can do what he does best, which is to teach Torah. Could you imagine? He's not here. Could you imagine if we were sitting in the basement and you saw a shechter outside? In the dirt, planting, and you went over to him and said, "Rebbe, what are you doing?" And he looks at you and goes I'm planting flax seeds. Rebbe, why are you planting flax seeds? Imagine if you saw him running around campus trying to kill a deer. Your shechter should sit in the beis medrash and be a light for all of Klal Yisrael. That's what he does best. This is Rav Chaya. What's Rav Chaya doing? And also, there's one part of the story that seems to be unnecessary. Why do I need to know what Rav Chaya did with the meat?
I need to know what he did with the hides. The whole point of the story is how Rivchiah taught Taira. So I understand he planted the flax seeds in order to get the flax to make the nets to get the deer, to kill the deer to have the hide to write the Sefer Torah to teach the children. Why do I care that Rivchiah gave the meat to orphaned children? And what does this have to do with the fact that we should paschim like him? So I'd like to suggest to you the following answer. If you want to ensure the transmission of Torah Then the transmission of Torah can only come from a Rebbe who's giving leiv v'nefesh, who's giving his entire being over to the Talmud. That's the only way the Talmud will take it in. If the Talmud sees that for the Rebbe it's kihem chayenu v'yarech amenu. That the Rebbe couldn't possibly go a day without learning Torah. That the Rebbe himself, every moment that he has, is grabbing another piece of Torah. Then the Talmud pays attention. This is life itself. They tell a story about Rishlomahayim, the great Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vidas. That on a snow day he came to Torah Vidas. Most of the Talmidim thought that Reb Hayim wasn't coming in, so they didn't come in. Four Talmidim came.
And Rishlomahayim was giving the She'er with four Talmidim in front of him. He was used to having an auditorium full of people coming to hear his sheir. There were four talmidim in front of him, and he was screaming the Gemara like he had five hundred talmidim in front of him. And they said, 'Rebbe, why are you screaming? There's only four of us here.' And he looked at them and he said, 'There's only four of you here. What are you talking about? There's generations here. Your children and their children are in the room.' Rishlomahayim was giving over Torah with the passion that the boys should know that on a snow day with only four people in front of them. The only way to guarantee that those four talmidim would become four rebbeim—not rebbeim in a classroom necessarily, but people that were going to ensure the continuity of Torah in Klal Yisrael. It only comes from that type of passion. It only comes from that type of rigor when you're giving the she'er. It has to be something you live.
I remember I saw from my own rebbe. You should be zeicher refus shalayim. I remember my Rebbe of Parnas. He was giving Shir and he was talking about Hasmoda. And my Rebbe was a very stoic person, a very intellectual person. But I saw him light up And he said, "Rabbi, say you have to be ferocious Masmida." That was the word he used, ferocious. And when he said it, I was like I was shaking. Ferocious. That was the word he used. He was alive. It was passionate. And I was zayichi to be my rebbe's chevrusa for three years. And I once asked my rebbe, "How long does rebbe prepare every shir for?" Because I knew that he never looked at his notes. I knew that he never looked back at the shirim that he gave beforehand. Every single night we learned it as if he had never learned it before.
Classic talmud of R' Salavetchik. And he said, 'Mortykhai, I prepare the average shir seven to ten hours.' I said, 'Rebbe, I know your schedule. I know how long we learn. I know how long you're in yeshiva. Where do you have seven to ten hours?' And my rebbe looked at me and he said On the way to the car, in the car, while I'm walking from the car into my office, while I'm walking from the office into the bais medrash, every moment I'm living only in the sugya. I remember when Artscroll offered my Rebbe to write the notes on the Ramban, the Artscroll Ramban. They asked him to write the notes because he had a very famous Ramban she'er that he gave for years in Yeruah. And he turned it down. And I asked my Rebbe, "Why'd you turn it down?" He said, "I do one thing only: the she'er, and that's it. And it's my entire life."
I got into a car accident. My wife was nine months pregnant with our first child. I was driving in Borough Park. I crashed the car. I ended up having to spend Shabbos in Crown Heights. On Sunday morning, I'd call my rebbe ere Shabbos because it was a shaila if we were going to make it back in time to the five towns. I called them and asked them what to do. We ended up in Crown Heights for Shabbos. Sunday morning, my rebbe asked me, "Is everything okay?" I said, "Baruch Hashem, everything is okay." My rebbe looked at me and he leaned forward and he said to me, "Mordechai" Were you thinking and learning? Is that why you got into a car accident? I looked at him and said, "No." Just driving like an idiot. But he was so excited, and he said, "Mordechai, you should know that if you were thinking and learning, and you were thinking b'iel, and you should know" You shouldn't do that. It's a gemara that says you shouldn't do it. If it was b'kias, it'd probably be okay.
The passion, the fire, the ferocity—that's what was inspiring. The lundis was amazing for sure. The mahalach was amazing. But the transmission was fire. That's what it needs to be in order to be successful. Rav Chaya was saying you should pasquin like me Because that's what it means to transmit Torah. You're an unbelievable tzaddik, and if we ever lose Torah, we could turn to you. But in this world, we pass like the people that are given levin nefesh. It's my flax seed. It's my net. It's my dear. It's the hide that I wrote, and when I gave it over to that Talmud, they knew that I wrote every word. Every word was my blood, sweat, and tears. You know that video that went viral a month ago? It was a viral video about Rishus cold seltzer. For those of you that saw it Yeshivish guy in Muncie who was going crazy about Rabbeinu David and Arve Pshachem, and he said, "All I want is to check out a life with a Rishas cold seltzer and gala, which is like whatever you guys are too modern for gala." But I just want to learn Rabbeinu David and Arve Pshachem, and everybody was making fun of it.
I thought it was awesome. I thought it was awesome. First of all, any Jew that likes seltzer like that—that's my type of Jew. I don't necessarily like seltzer, but I like a Jew that talks about seltzer with that type of passion. And to use the word 'rishus' like wicked, like you're from Boston, and turn it yeshivish is like you're my guy. That's my spirit animal right there. That's the guy I want to be. But he wanted to check out a life with a rabbi who davened and an arve pshachim, and he was so excited about it. What do we get excited about? What's motivating us? What's inspiring us? What are we passionate about? Why was it important for us to know that Ruchya gave the extra meat that he had to the orphans? Because it was a tirah of chesed. I know, for all the guys who are in YU.
I mean the actual when we dive in tirah chesed. Tirah chesed is a tirah that has life. It's a tirah that's expanding outwards from my being. That's what Chesed is. For Rav Chia, the transmission of Torah was an extension of himself. Whatever he had, he gave. And nothing left in the tank. He gave it all to his talmidim. Rav Chayyim Rebbe Zechariah of Bracha points out that the Gemara points out that the Mishkan Was never destroyed. Both batay miktosh were destroyed. But the mishkan was never destroyed. Why was the mishkan never destroyed? So based on the medrash, the rebbe says Because the mishkan was built with niddiv leiv. The mishkan was built with heart. The mishkan was built with passion. And when something is built with passion, it is never destroyed. Is a story. And we'll finish with this story. It's a story that I read from my dear friend Rav Judah Michel.
He told the story that when Rav Nachson The beloved Talmud of Rabbi Nachman Who had dedicated his life to getting people to go to Uman for Rosh Hashanah to daven by the Tzion of Rabbi Nachman He decided that they were going to build a proper shul there in Uman. And so he decided to go on a fundraising campaign. And the first stop was a town. The name of the town was Ladison. And in Ladison there was a very poor man whose name was Rambamdal. Rambamdal heard that Rabbi Nachman was coming to collect money to build a kloiz, to build a shul where people could daven at the zion of Rabbi Nachman. And he said to Rabbi Nosson, 'Please wait here. I want to get you money. I want to give a donation.' And he ran back to his house and he gave the first donation for the clothes to Rabbi Nosson. He gave him two rubles.
It was everything he had. And Rabbi Nosson looked at Raimendel and he said to him, "Mendel, I can't take the only two rubles you have left in the world." And Raimendel started getting upset at Rabbi Nosson And he said to him, 'Please, I'm begging you. Take this money. Allow me. This is the money that Hashem gave me. Allow this money to go towards the klois that I should have a schuss in building the tziyah and building the klois by Rabbi Nachman's caver.' And Rabbi Nosson took the two rubles. And later, after the klois had been built, Rabbi Nosson remarked He said I got many large donations from many wealthy Hasidim. But the klois was built. On two roubles from Mendel. Rabbis, I don't underestimate the heart of a Jew. Don't underestimate what it means to be a passionate Jew. Don't underestimate what it means to be in a relationship with the Beis HaIlan. It's what every single one of us is seeking.
So we'll end with a bracha. It's the bracha of the Sfas Emes. The Sfas Emes says, "Pshach li bi besayra secha" means that we will not be judged based on the amount of Torah that we know. Some of us will know more, and some of us will know less, and some of us will still know less than that. But ultimately, at the end of days What we will be judged upon is whether we opened our hearts to Torah. Is the Esh Tamed on the Mizbeach alive and burning within me? And so our shi'ifa this summer in NCSY Kollel Is were we able to open up our heart to allow our Kadosh Baruch Hu in? Rabbis, I have a beautiful shabbos. What does it have to do with Noach? What does it have to do with Noach? They named the city, and it wasn't named after him. The Pnei Menachem. The Ger Rebbe says that the dot in the middle of the hay is the heart. If you have the dot in the middle of the hay, then you have Kiyum and things last. If you forget the dot in the middle of the hay, if you have no heart, the city doesn't last. Now we can have a good shot.
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