Tetzaveh - Ringing the Bells of Greatness

2:24 V'nishma by the Cohen Gadol. V'nishma by Nasa v'nishma And v'nishma when it came to Achashverosh having his decree heard throughout the entire kingdom. So I want to share with you a vart. I'll elaborate on it a little bit from Roshal Alter Shlitah, who's the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva. He's a very big tzaddik, very big Talmud Chacham that lives today. This is his idea. I'm just saying it in my own words, but I didn't make this up. And it goes like this. What does nasev nishma mean? Nasev nishma means I am completely dedicated to you. That's what it means. If somebody says to you If a teacher says, "Can I ask you a favor?" There are two ways of answering that question. You can go, "Sure. What do you need me to do?" That's nasev nishma. If a teacher asks you, "Can you do me a favor?" and you go Wait, what? It's like, 'What? What is it?' What does that tell you about your relationship with the teacher?

3:38 Meaning, there's something here that I'm afraid you're going to ask me Something that's going to be beyond what I'm capable of. Something that's going to be. Not so good for me. Something that might make me feel less than. But if your teacher, who you love their class, they're amazing. How could you do me a favor? You go sure. What do you need me to do? There's a trust that exists in the relationship. And there's a complete level of dedication. When Klal Yisrael said naseh vinishma You can imagine what they were experiencing. So this is after they were slaves in Mitzrayim for 210 years And what did these people see? They saw unbelievable miracles. They saw all the maccos. They saw the splitting of the sea. They saw the destruction of the entire Egyptian army and all the spoils of war washed up. So by the time they got to Har Sinai, they were wealthy beyond imagination. Did you know that they were ridiculously wealthy in maccaschosech?

4:47 They took all the money for all the years that they should have been paid, so they got paid reparations. And then after Kriyas Yamsuf The Egyptians came with all of their wealth to fight them, and all the wealth washed up on shore. By the time they got to Har Sinai, what did a Jew say? Our relationship is beyond compare. There's so much love here. Ask me for anything. Amen. That's the relationship that we would like to have with our parents. Because if you actually spent time to think about what your parents have done for you It's pretty wild. First of all, they gave you life. Without your parents, would any of you be here? No. For that alone, if we just stop there, the level of gratitude and devotion that we should have to our parents would be off the charts. They literally gave us life.

5:54 After that What do they do for us? They nourished us in a time when we couldn't take care of ourselves. For example, my daughter is now waking up every couple of hours to feed the baby. Do you realize that that's what your parents did for you? They wanted to sleep instead of sleeping. What did they do? They changed our diapers. They fed us when we were cranky. They took care of us in a time when we couldn't take care of ourselves. They paid for our education. They paid for our clothing, our shelter, and our food. Do you know the average cost of raising a child? It's over five hundred thousand dollars in our community. Is that a gift or a loan? A gift. Could you imagine if somebody came to you and said, 'Hey, I loaned you. You didn't. You weren't paying attention. But for the last 18 years, I spent.' And let's say they came to you with a laundry list of things. If they imagine your parents documented every moment of your life, what they spent, what you spent.

6:58 And all the things they did for you, and they attached a price tag. And now they come to you. They go, "You're 18 years old. Congratulations on turning 18." Here's the bill. Right. And then they said, "Tell you what." Because I love you, I'll knock the bill in half. You only owe me 250 grand. What would your reaction be? I just saved 250 thousand dollars, but how am I going to get the next 250 thousand dollars? Go get a job. Pay me back just like I did to my parents. Imagine they came to you and said, 'Tell you what. It's free because I love you.' Tell me what your attitude would be the next time your mother did something that you didn't like. Because it's like you just gave me five hundred thousand dollars and much more, because we don't even know how to pay for life.

7:49 Nasev Nishma means I love you so much, and it's so clear to me everything that you've done. I'm totally dedicated to you. Is that historical? Is Nasev Nishma something that happened all those years ago by our Sinai? So here's a big secret. Nasv and Ishma is something that every single Jew has inside of them Because our ancestors said Nasv and Ishma, because all those years ago Klal Yisrael declared Nasv and Ishma. Every one of us has inside of ourselves a talent. The talent is our ability to be totally and utterly dedicated to Hashem, to be able to say Nasv and Ishma. Did you know that throughout history there have been times where Jews who didn't live for Hashem were willing to die for Hashem? Did you know that Jews were totally off the derech? But given the opportunity to die al Kiddush Hashem, they jumped at the opportunity. What is the pshat?

8:50 Because inside every single one of ourselves, we have the ability to give ourselves totally over to Hashem, nasa v'nishma. So when we're walking around right now, you might think to yourself: Am I really so great? You might think to yourself, Chas v'shalom. You might say to yourself, I don't know, am I really devoted to Hashem? What's the answer to that question? Sometimes we're more devoted and sometimes we're less devoted. But we always have the capacity to be totally devoted inside of us. That's not academic; that's practical. Does that make sense? So far, so good. So the first neshma teaches us what. Every single Jew has the capacity to be totally dedicated to Hashem. This brings us to the next nishma. There's a question that whether we acknowledge it or not, every single one of us in this room, every single Jew in this world, is asking this question. Ready for the question?

9:54 I'm just going to be the one to say it out loud and give it language. But every one of us has this question. We either have this question out loud, or we bury this question deep inside of ourselves because we don't want to pay attention to it because it's a painful question. But every one of us is asking this question: What if I've gone too far? What if I've done one avera too many? What if Hashem is no longer interested in hearing from me? Every single Jew has that question. Because every single one of us has done things that we're not proud of. It doesn't mean that we're bad people. It just means we're not perfect. But every single person asks themselves the question: Can our relationship really recover from how far we've gone? You ever have this question? Even if you haven't asked it out loud, trust me, you have this question.

10:47 I'll give you an example of this. Let's say. Let's say you have a young woman who's—it's a little bit hard to give this example now with modern technology, but just play the game with me for a second. Pretend you didn't have smartphones. Pretend there wasn't Uber. Let's say I told my 14-year-old daughter. She said, "Abba, can I go to the mall?" So I said, "Yes, but you need to be home by curfew because that mall is in a dangerous area." I do not want you hanging out there late at night. So I'm giving you money. Do not spend this money. This money is for taking a cab home. I'm going to be in a very important meeting and won't be available to pick you up. Please don't spend this money. Please use this money to take a cab home. And now my daughter is in.

11:51 I'm gonna sound silly now because I don't really know the names of the clothing stores. I just know this one, Zara's. That's a thing, right? Zara, Zara's, Zara. So she's in Zara's and she sees this outfit. I don't, I don't know dresses, skirts. I'm not really sure. I know the difference, right? She sees an outfit And the outfit is twenty dollars more than she has. And I've given her twenty dollars to take a cab home. And in a moment of weakness, my daughter says. I'm just going to spend the money and I'll figure it out. I'm sure somebody will give me a ride. So now she buys the outfit and now she has zero dollars. And now the mall is closed. It's eleven o'clock at night. She was told to be home at eleven. She can't get a ride, and she starts to see Oh man, I'm in a bad neighborhood And she's stuck and she doesn't know what to do.

12:47 So she's about to pick up her phone and call me, her father. But that's a tough phone call to make. Because when she calls me, what's she going to have to say? She spent the money. So even if she doesn't acknowledge that this is really what's going on inside of her, she's saying to herself I don't want to make this phone call because I don't want to deal with the consequences of the pain that I'm about to cause my father. And if you do cause pain to somebody, how often can you cause pain to someone before they just go, "I'm done with you." How many avera have we done in our lives? How much lashon hara have we told? Just lashon hara alone. Anyone here know lashon hara so gishmak? It's such we don't. I don't really understand why, but it's such a delicious avera.

13:37 It's like after you say lashon hara, you don't feel good about yourself, but sometimes you feel amazing about yourself. You ever have a conversation where like three people are just talking about one girl And at the end, it's forty-five minutes of just roasting her. And there's a certain power that you get from it. We're awesome. We're much better than her. How much lashon harav did we say? We're asking ourselves the question: Can I really daven the next day? Can I call? Can I call Hashem? Can I say to Hashem? Imagine if you fell asleep at three o'clock in the morning because you went on a five-hour lashon harav rant. Are you going to wake up on time for davening and daven with kavanah? Because you're going to say, 'What does Hashem want to hear from me? I just used my mouth the night before. To roast someone, and now Hashem is going to listen to me.'

14:24 So I don't want to wake up and daven. I don't want to go learn Because I don't think I'm worthy of learning Hashem's Torah. That's a question that every one of us has on some level. Maybe I've hurt too much. Maybe I caused too much pain. So here's the secret that you don't know And this is the second pasuk. When you're a parent You're going to know. That's what you want more than anything Is that when it's eleven o'clock at night and your daughter is at the mall The person you want her to call the most is you. And when she calls and she goes, Abba, I know you told me that you're in the middle of a very important meeting. But you're the only one that I could call to come pick me up. And I know you said I shouldn't spend the twenty dollars.

15:15 But I did. Do you think you could come pick me up? So this is what the father's reaction is going to be. You ready for it? I'll kill you later. I'm coming to get you now. Right? All the time. This is a familiar. I see that I've touched a familiar chord. All the time. It's like I'll kill you later. I'm coming to get you now. When the father is rushing over in the car because he knows it's a bad neighborhood, he knows his daughter's in danger. Do you think he's thinking? "Oh man, I'm going to ground her, I'm going to punish her"? You know what he's thinking? I just want to make sure my daughter is safe. I'll deal with the consequences later. I just need to get her home. What do you think Hashem is thinking when we're making our mistakes? He's saying, 'You need me now more than ever.' Now is not the time not to talk to me. Now is specifically the time to talk to me. If you stayed up all night saying Loshon Hara You need to daven more the next day than ever before.

16:25 You understand? And it's not that Hashem wants to hear from you less. If anything, Hashem wants to hear from you more. If you have a kid that's doing everything right, the parents kind of go, "You've got this." If you have a kid that's doing everything wrong, as a parent, you know what you want. I want to be involved. I want to try to help you. Can you come talk to me? That's what a parent really wants. I'm not saying that parents are always the best people to go to. I'm saying what the parents want. I want to talk to you. I want to help you. I'm going to say this a little bit differently now. Use a little bit of a different martial to bring out the same point. If Hashem created us, that means He wants to be in a relationship with us, right? What does that mean to be in a relationship with someone? Can I be in a relationship with someone eighty percent of the way? You can, but then you'll only have eighty percent of a relationship.

17:16 So let's say you're really embarrassed about something. You say, "I don't want to tell my husband." I don't want to tell this guy that I'm dating that this is something I struggle with. And then you get married to that person. And then you go I don't know why it's not connecting. " Well, sure you do. It's because you never really introduced yourself. What does Hashem want? Hashem wants to be the Melech of this world. He wants to be the King of this world. Which part? Only the good parts. Does that make sense? Hashem wants to be invited into every single aspect of our life. Not just the parts where you're doing Mitzvos. Can you invite Hashem into your averos? Can you say to Hashem, 'Here's an area where I know I've done wrong. I know I've caused a lot of pain' But I got to talk to you about it. This is where my life is. I want to build a relationship with you. Does that make sense? Just like the father who I'll kill you later, but I got to pick you up now. I want you to be safe.

18:16 It's the same thing. The husband who's saying to his wife, "Just introduce yourself. Tell me who you are. Stop pretending to be perfect. I don't need you to be perfect. I just want you to be you." That's why sometimes after, if you ever dated someone Sometimes after you're really vulnerable The emotion and the attraction grows. Isn't that an amazing thing? You could be dating somebody and going good But then you have one conversation where you're just forget it. I'll tell you who I really am. And it's like a five, six-hour date, and then afterwards you're like That was awesome. Because it feels great to be deeply connected. This resonates. This hits. This makes sense all the time. Not all the time, obviously. Friends also. Friends also, a hundred percent. If I'm gonna be in a relationship, I want to be with all of you. Let's go back to the words of Megillah Esther. Remember, in Megillah Esther, it never says Hashem's name.

19:09 But every time it says Hamelach Who's it really referring to? It's really referring to Hashem. Let's listen to it again. But let's think about this concept. This is what Rishal Alter Shlita says: The Nishma Piskam Hamelach Asher Yase Bechol Malchuso. The decree of the King, meaning Hashem. Will be heard. Throughout the entire land. So here's what R' Shlomo Alter says: We are the children of those that said Nasav and Ishma, which means that we have dedication inside of us. Maybe you're gonna say, 'Who wears the bells? Who's the one that gets to enter into the Beis Hamikdash? Who's the chosh of a person that gets to make those sounds?' It's Cohen Gadol. It's not me. Hashem doesn't want me. He wants her of Chaim Kaniewski, he wants her of Al Yashav, he wants her of Moshe Feinstein, he wants her of Cook, he wants her of Salavishik, he wants the Lubavitcher Rebbe. What does he want with me? He doesn't want anything with me. He's not interested in me.

20:11 So to that we say, no You are the kids of the ones who said Nasav and Ishma. You carry Nasav and Ishma around inside of you. So you go, I carry it inside of me, but look at all the things I've done. Vinishma piskam hamelech asher yaseh bechal machus. So every single Jew. Wherever they're found, Hashem wants to hear from them. And this is the home run part. In other words, every single Jew is a kohen gadol. And the problem is that we don't know it. Every one of us is expected to wear the big day kahuna. Every one of us is expected to wear the priestly garments, and wherever we go, there should be noise. There should be bells. People should look at a Jew in the streets and go, 'That's the representative of Hashem coming.' Every one of us is a kohen gadol.

21:04 If we knew that we are kohanim gadolim, we would never behave this way to begin with. There's such a thing called being noble. I had the opportunity this year to meet a guy whose name is Jason Greenblatt. Have you ever heard of Jason Greenblatt? Jason Greenblatt worked in the Trump White House. And he was one of the architects of the Abraham Accords. That's where Israel made peace with the UAE and a whole bunch of other countries. And it's been unbelievable for the entire region. And Jason Greenblatt was at the heart of it And he came to visit Mevaseret. He came with his son. And I was first of all I felt like such a privilege to sit with him. What an amazing person And he was talking to me about the experiences that he has had in his life, and he literally said, 'I've been in the palaces of kings and princes.'

22:00 Imagine, he's walked into the palaces of kings and princes to try to make peace with Eretz Yisrael, and he did. It's an unbelievable accomplishment. We should be walking around like kings and princesses, like queens and princesses. It's this is what we should be. Could you imagine if you were walking the streets of Yerushalayim, and your attitude and your dignity was a princess is coming. How would you walk down the street if you knew you were a princess? You would not with gaiva, not with arrogance, but you would hold yourself with nobility. A princess—forget the way you dress. How would we speak? What would we speak about? We're nobility. We should speak about high things. We're agents of Hashem in this world. We should be speaking in a godly way. We should be thinking in a godly way. We should be acting in a godly way. When a Jew walks down the streets.

22:51 If we were living in a perfect world, the entire world would go. That's a representative of Hashem, chosen nation. That's big stuff. That's really big. What can we do? It's never going to be like that. It will be by Hashem. It will be, and I know it's hard to believe that it will be because we're in exile. But you know, until Mashiach comes, it's our responsibility to know this. But I'll tell you one thing: if you want to Let's say you're walking down the street. I'm making up a story. I'm sure this is not you. But let's say you have a girl And it's Thursday night here in the holy city of Jerusalem. And you know, the holy city of Jerusalem because it has so much on the side of holiness. It has some things on the side of tuma also, because the world is a balanced place.

23:37 And a girl is walking towards a place that could be a holy place, but for whatever reason In this world right now. In the daytime, it's just selling fruits and vegetables. Seems like a simple place, but come the night, I don't know. The nighttime brings with it strange things. And you have a girl who's walking down the street, and she just out of nowhere, a rush just comes in her head, and she's like "Maybe I should go see if they're selling fruits and vegetables at night." And so she starts to walk to that place. You should know that if she knew that she's a princess, she would turn around. She would turn around if she knew. I have inside of me nasa v'nishma. I'm the child of people that said I am completely dedicated and devoted to Hashem, and even though I've gone so far away from Hashem and I've made certain decisions, maybe I've been to that place before where they sell frozen vegetables at night, so I feel pretty badly about myself.

24:33 Hashem is the Melech bechol machuso. He wants us, no matter where we are, to come talk to Him. Then we would know that we are the ones that will come into the Beis Hamikdash with bells ringing. This is a major shift in the way that we see the world. You could choose to see the world through the lens of I'm a terrible person. I'm not a kohen gadol. Kohen gadol, we talking about? You lunatic kohen gadol? Do you know where I was earlier today? I'm not kohen gadol. That's the mistake. That's the yitzhahara. We should all be walking around with bells. We should be walking around, announcing our presence. Here comes a Jew. This is the game changer of Yiddishkeit. No matter how far you've gone, Afal Pishachot Yisraelu. Even if you've sinned, you're still a Jew. To be a Jew is the most noble thing that a person could be.

25:26 Girls, you hear the mussar? The mussar is: no matter how far you've gone, you've not lost your nobility. The prince who strays from the derech of his family is still a prince. Even if the king says I'm exiling you to a different country, he's just a prince in a different country. And what does the king really want? Come back and be my prince. V'nishma be'ez Hashem, one day it will be heard. Be'ez Hashem be'karov, one day it will be heard that you're going to be walking down the street. I'm telling you, you're going to be walking down the street. Take the musser. Take the musser. You're going to be walking down the street. Bells are going to be ring for her. Be'ez Hashem. Girls, have a wonderful Shabbos.