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This week's parsha, Yaakov Avinu passes away. Before he passes away, he gives all of his children brachos. Some of the brachos that were given are criticisms of his children. And Yaakov Avinu, at the end of his life, he wants to make sure that his children are set up for success. So he says, he speaks in a very real way to his children. And regarding Shimon and Levi, listen what the pasuk says: 'Arur apam kiyaz, the evrosam kikashasa achalek am biYaakov vaafitzeim biYisrael. Cursed be their wrath for it is mighty, and their anger because it is harsh. I'll separate them throughout Yaakov, and I'll scatter them throughout Israel.' That's what the pasuk says. What is this referring to? We all know the story. The story is the story of Dinah, that Dinah was abducted by Shechem.
And she was violated by Shechem, and we know that we know the story that Shimon and Levi wiped out the entire city of Shechem, and Yaakov Avinu disagreed with them. He said, "You're creating a situation where I'm not going to be able to have an impact on the nations of the world." And they said, "Should we allow them to treat our sister like a harlot? Should we allow them to treat our sister like a zona?" This was the machlokas that Shimon and Levi and Yaakov had over how to respond. To Shem violating Dinah, and now it's at the end of their life, and at the very end of Yaakov Avinu's life, and there's Shimon and Levi, and he's giving them mussar. Meaning, you see that Yaakov Avinu was not okay with the way that they behaved, even though they said, "How? What do you mean? How could we not respond? How could we not wipe out the city of Shem? They violated our sister. They allowed our sister to be violated." But you see that even at the end of Yaakov Avinu's life, he was not okay with that behavior. He was not okay with the fact that they wiped out the entire city of Shem.
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And what does he do? He says, 'I'm going to scatter you. I'm going to separate you two. You guys can't be together. I'm going to separate you two. Shimon and Levi cannot be together.' That's what he says. But Rashi tells us a fascinating thing, and it's this Rashi that I want to discuss with you tonight. Rashi says, and I'm not going to go through it inside, but Rashi basically says as follows: Generally, there are certain jobs that don't make a lot of money. What are the jobs that don't make a lot of money? So Rashi says teaching. You see, even back then, even back in the times of Rashi, or maybe even in the times of Shimon and Levi, rabbis were underpaid. So this is something that will only be rectified in the times of Mashiach. I have a vested interest in Mashiach coming on many levels, but of course, one of them is the rabbis should be paid properly, and also sofrim, right, sofrim.
My father-in-law, Avraham, was a sofer. You don't get paid a lot of money to write mezuzos or to write tefillin or to write sifrei Torah. This is not a profession that's an easy profession. And so Rashi explains that because these professions are professions where you're going to need to go around a lot because they're not professions that make a lot of money. You're going to need to be scattered about. So Shimon is going to be sofrim and they're going to be rebbeim and they're going to be scattered throughout the land. And Levi, of course, are going to become the Kohanim and the Levim, and they're going to get Trumas and Maizros. And again, you don't make a tremendous amount of money being Trumas, getting from your Truma and Maizer. And so this is a job where you'll be scattered. And so in this way, Shimon and Levi will never be together because when Shimon and Levi are together, bad things happen. Since they're such Kanaim, they're so zealots. They're so strong.
I don't know if you have this in your families. I know I have it in mine. There are different types of children. There are alpha children and then the non-alpha children. Families sometimes have interesting dynamics. I'll tell you a story. My Rebbe's wife said this story. She told us that they flew to Eretz Israel to go to a grandchild's wedding. My Rebbe and the rabbitzin brought along all of their children, but they couldn't afford to fly in all the spouses. If you have eight kids, it's already expensive to fly seven of them to Eretz Yisrael. But to fly fourteen of them is ridiculously expensive, and somebody needs to be home to watch the kids. So they made a family trip. Even though the children at that point were in their fifties and sixties, they made a family trip to bring everybody to Eretz Yisrael. My Rebbe's wife said she told my wife.
That on the plane back then, this was like you could choose your own seats. She said it was interesting to see that even in their 50s and 60s, they chose to sit with their partners that they grew up with. The kids that didn't get along still in their 50s didn't sit near each other. And the kids that did get along. And there's certain strong personalities that like at the Shabbos table when those kids sit next to each other or sit across from each other, the Shabbos table is going to be epic. All you have to do is say something, and those are the kids that speak up and go like, "It's the dumbest thing I ever heard." And go, "Yeah, it is the dumbest thing, right?" And like, they go at it. Shimon and Levi—they were very powerful people. To put them together was very dangerous. So Yaakov Avinu gave them a criticism, maybe even you want to say a—I don't want to say a klala, but like a piece of advice. Like, we're going to get you guys scattered about. Like, you're going to go into professions that don't make a lot of money. This way, you won't all be in one place. Because if Shimon and Levi are all in one place, bad things happen.
But there's a beautiful question from Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky on this. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, you all know who Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky was. He was one of the Gedolei Ador of the last generation. He was the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Tor Vedas. He was a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous tzaddik, a tremendous genius. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky asked a very beautiful, and I think it's a pretty classic question on this Rashi. It doesn't seem to be midah kineged midah here. At first glance, it seems to be appropriate. You don't want them together, so let's scatter them about. You don't want Shimon and Levi hanging out with each other, so let's scatter them about. But think about the professions that they got. You took Shimon, who was like this powerful. Again, I hate to speak this way because I don't want to Chassid Shalom send you the wrong message. Shimon wasn't an angry person. I don't want to give you the sense in any way. You shouldn't walk away from this year thinking that Shimon had like anger management issues.
Shimon was a tzaddik of epic proportions. We can't possibly imagine what it means to be a Shimon. But Shimon was a person who, when it came time to act, he acted with real passion. He acted in a very strong way. Levi as well. You make that person into a rebbe. I'm saying it doesn't sound exactly right. It doesn't sound mida keneged mida, like it's a little bit of a dangerous thing, right? You make that person into a sofer. You make that person into a priest. You make that person into a Levite. It's not so obvious that these are good jobs for them. So it's one thing. Like there's a story with the Chavetz Chaim. One of my favorite stories with the Chavetz Chaim is that somebody came to the Chavetz Chaim and they said, 'I'm thinking about leaving right now. I'm a shochet, right? I slaughter animals for a living, and I'm thinking that I should leave being a shochet and I should go be a rebbe.' So the Chavetz Chaim said, 'Why?'
He said, as a shochet, if you shech something the wrong way and it's not kosher, and then somebody eats non-kosher food because of you, that's a big deal. I don't want to mess up people's kashrut. So maybe if I'm a rebbe, it'll be better. The Chavetz Chaim said to him, because I guess the guy had some anger management issues. He goes, better you should shech animals than shech children. You have to be very careful if you're going into chinuch. You have to really be able to be patient. Sometimes for a couple of months before they're ready for real lima Torah. You don't want a rebbe who's going to come in and just go off. On the one hand, it's a very beautiful thing that you don't want Shimon and Levi to be together. That makes sense, but on the other hand, is that really the best job for them? Is the best job to put them in leadership positions in Klal Yisrael? To be a rebbe means you're a very influential person. To be a sofer is not just like writing a book. You know what it means to be a sofer? It means that you're somebody who's responsible.
For the transmission of the truth of Torah, if even one word is off, it's a terrible thing. And to be a Cohen, to be a Levi, these are unbelievable jobs. Riviyako says, really, this mid the Keneged Midah. This the right thing to do because Shimon and Levi are so powerful. You want to separate them? I understand, but so maybe make them live in different sections of the country. Like Levi should live up north and Shimon should live all the way down south. You're giving them very powerful jobs. This is Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky's question. You girls hear the question? It's a pretty good question. I think it's a pretty good question. So Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky gave an answer, and I want to share with you this answer. This answer, it's not an answer about chinuch. It's an answer for every one of us. Rabbi Yaakov says as follows.
And again, not everybody gives the same answer, but I want to share with you Rav Yaakov's answer. There are other answers, but I want to share with you Rav Yaakov's answer as follows. Rav Yaakov said like this: What do you do when you see another person in pain? There's a certain mido that Shimon and Levi had. There were twelve shvatim. Everybody saw what happened to Dinah. Why is it that only Shimon and Levi acted? You want to say like Yaakov Avinu that they acted unappropriately? That's fine. But why is it that the other ten Shvatim didn't act? So maybe that's one way of saying it. Maybe one way of saying it is they had a powerful personality, and maybe that's even true. But Yaakov adds on a layer, and he says as follows: Some people, when they see another person being violated
There was called in Hebrew 'imo anochi betzara,' your pain is my pain, and I can't bear to watch you go through this. It's not okay for me. I'm not comfortable with watching you have to go through this. And they act not because they like need to save this person, but because it's almost like it happened to them. That's how in touch with you they are. That there are certain people that they feel the pain of another Jew so deeply. That they're like, it's not your pain, it's our pain, and I can't be in this level of pain with you. Let's solve this. Not because I can't hold space for your pain. I want to be clear, but because when it's happening to you, it's happening to us. In the famous story with Rav Aryeh Leibin, girls have heard of Rav Aryeh Leibin. Rav Aryeh Leibin was the tzaddik of Yerushalayim. He was a tremendous, tremendous person. And Rav Aryeh Leibin, he was the father-in-law of Rav Yisachar Zechet Tzaddik of Bracha. He was one of the Gedolei Adorah of the last generation. Rav Aryeh Leibin famously.
There's a story that he went to the doctor with his wife, and they went into the doctor's office. The doctor said, 'What's the problem?' He had a very good lashon. He said, 'My wife's foot is hurting us.' Meaning that when you're married and you're in a beautiful relationship, and you see your husband in pain, it's his pain for sure, but you are with him in his pain. I don't want to Chassid Shalom give over the wrong message. I don't want to create codependency. Where somebody else's emotions become yours. That's not what I'm talking about. I know that when I'm speaking here in Sharfins, I'm speaking to a very psychologically astute group of girls. So I don't want to. I want. I'll stay. I'm not talking about codependency. I'm talking about it's their pain, but I'm with you in pain. That's an amazing thing. I heard avart once from my rashi shiva shliuter rabbi Bender shliuter's rashi shiva of Darche Torah. He says over avart that on the day that Sarah imenu gave birth, all of the akarot, all of the women that were barren and couldn't have children.
They all had children on the same day. The simple explanation is because since Hashem created that nace, that Sara imenu who wasn't able to have children was now able to have children. All of that shefa, all of that spiritual power came into the world, and they were all able to have children. Rabbi Bender, I don't remember where he says it. Maybe he says it from his rebbe, from Rav Palm, but I don't know where he said it over from. So I'll say it over b'shem Rabbi Bender. Rabbi Bender said it's not the pshat. Rabbi Bender said Sara imenu. She was emo anochi butzara she was nose baolim chaveru she held all of the pain of all of those women that couldn't have children it wasn't just their pain it was her pain and if she would have had a child and they still wouldn't have had children she wouldn't have been able to be besimcha when Yitzchak was born she would have been holding Yitzchak but she would have been her heart would have been breaking for all those other women so Hashem said in order to give Sara imenu true joy he made all of the women have birth on that day
How could I be besimcha if you are in pain? That's the way that great chesed organizations start. Great chesed organizations don't start because I saw a problem that exists and it's your problem, so I'm going to go solve it. Great chesed organizations start because people said it's not your problem, it's our problem, and when you are in pain, I'm in pain. The I always wanted to do that. The it worked. The idea is, and this is why it's such an important idea because we're not talking now about Shimon and Levi. We'll talk about Shimon and Levi in a second. We'll talk about what it means to be a good rebbe or what it means to be a good sofer or what it means to be a good cohen or a good levite in a moment. But we're talking about for every one of us. We're talking about for every one of us. There was a mila, even though Yaakov Avinu was critical of Shimon and Levi, and he said what you guys did was inappropriate.
You have all this power, and you took it, and you destroyed the entire city of Shem, and that was inappropriate, and you guys need to be scattered. But Yaakov Avinu saw something else also. And by the way, this is also a beautiful thing about Yaakov Avinu. It's also a beautiful thing about Yaakov Avinu that Yaakov Avinu, even though he saw the negative in his children, he also saw the positive. He said, "Only two of my kids acted. Ten didn't. Maybe I don't agree with the two that did. I don't agree with the way that they acted, but they acted." They acted because Dina's pain was their pain. Because they said our sister should be treated in such a way. How could we allow our sister be treated in such a way? Imagine the trauma that Dina went through. How could we allow that? We need to solve this problem. So Yaakov Avinu disagreed with the solution, but he loved their empathy. He loved their empathy. Empathy is the ability to locate somebody else's pain within yourself.
Empathy is a very vulnerable thing because if somebody comes to you in pain, sympathy is you feel their pain, it's like you're in pain, I see that. Empathy is you go, I can relate to that deeply because I know that pain. We didn't have the same experience, everyone's experience is different, but I can locate your pain within myself. You feel lonely, I know what it's like to feel lonely. You feel violated, I know what it's like to feel violated. And when I feel that way, it's like, so let me help you. I want to help you. It's born from that deep place of empathy. I have a chaver like that. I always knew that he would be something great, and he is. And his name is Rav Baruch Ber Bender. Rav Baruch Ber Bender is my Rashi Shiva's son, Rabbi Yaakov Bender's son. Rav Baruch Ber Bender is the founder of an organization called Achazer. Anyone here from the Five Towns? So you know the organization. Who's here? You know the organization Achazer. So Baruch Ber Bender, Rabbi Baruch Ber Bender, started Achazer. I want to tell you.
I always knew, always since he was little, I always knew that Baruch Ber was going to end up starting an organization like that. It's not an accident. I worked with him. We worked in camp for a couple of years together. We really got to know him. I got to see him in action. He's a person who grew up obviously on his father's lap, and he always heard the shmuhs of his father. You have to be nosy ba'olim chaveru. You have to be imo anochi batzara. That when somebody is going through something, we go through it together. If you grow up at the Shabbos table and you say that enough times, you know what's going to happen? Your children are going to start to feel the pain of other Jews. Achyazer wasn't born because the Five Towns had a problem and he solved it. Achyazer was born because Baruch Ber Bender, his entire life, when a Jew was in pain, he was in pain with them. And that's the way great organizations start. I'm not here to glaze, you like that? I'm not here to glaze on Baruch Ber Bender. I don't be I don't be O. D. Glaze, yeah? But I think it's an amazing thing. I think it's an amazing thing when you have somebody.
Who who sees a person in pain and they say we're in pain with you and and this has been Rabbi Bender's this has been Rabbi Bender's constant refrain. How when did I meet Rabbi Bender? When I was when I was 10 years old I met Rabbi Bender. So I know I've been hearing shmuuzin from Rabbi Bender, you know for for you know Baruch Hashem a long time already. Yeah, for 34 years I've been hearing shmuuzin from Rabbi Bender. I can't tell you any time a tragedy strikes, Rabbi Bender will always send out the same video or the same email. It's the same message over and over again. I'm telling you, I've been hearing shmuuzin from Rabbi Bender my entire life. I think he's got like thousands, tens of thousands of shmuuzin that he's given. There's only like four or five of them. They're all the same. They're all like the same basic things, right? Just manifest in a million different ways. I cannot tell you how many times, in a million different ways, I've heard the shmuuz from Rabbi Bender. If your friend is going through something, you go through it with them. If Yenim is suffering, then you're suffering along with them.
If something happens in the community, our responsibility is to be nosher olam. When October seventh came out, we have to be nosher olam chaveru. Did you girls see that picture? It was a picture that went viral. Of I think it was Rav Kalodetsky, Rav Chaim Kaniewski's son-in-law. Since October seventh, he has not slept in a bed. Since October seventh, he sleeps on a board. He sleeps on a wooden board. Why, Rav Kalodetsky, Rav Chaim Kaniewski's son-in-law? And he's an elderly man. Meaning, we're not talking about a young man. He's an elderly man, and he sleeps on a board. Why? Because if there's soldiers that are in the Shatach, and they're not sleeping in a bed, I'm not sleeping in a bed. If there's Chatufim, what's the English? If there's hostages, yeah, and they're not sleeping in good conditions, I'm not sleeping in good conditions. That's what it means to be a mensh. To be a mensh means Shimon and Levi. Yaakov says, you guys acted.
You acted too much. It was because you felt their pain so much that you responded inappropriately. You shouldn't have wiped out the entire town of Shechem. And even at the end of his life, he's critical of them. He says we had to separate you guys because you're too powerful together. So what should you be? You should be rebaim. You know why? Because a great rebbe, and I don't just like it could be a mother, it could be a father, right? But it's the concept. You should be rebaim because you know what it means to be a great rebbe. A great rebbe is not just someone who teaches Torah. A great rebbe sees someone in pain and says, "You're in pain. I'm in pain with you. You're not alone. We're going through this together." That's what it means to be a great kohen. You go to a kohen. You did an avera. You go to a kohen, and the kohen says, "Okay, we're going to bring carbon chattes." So is it like a formal thing? Like you walked in and the kohen says, "Okay, you did this avera. We'll bring this carbon and we'll get it solved." No, when you came to the kohen, imagine if you bring a carbon chattes, a little embarrassing, no?
You come in and you go. I did this avera. You know the kohen does because he's an empathetic person because he comes from Levi. He's an empathetic person. He says, "I must have been in a lot of pain when you did that avera. You probably didn't do it because you're a bad person. Let's bring a carbon together. Let's elevate yourself. There's a sweetness, there's a gentleness, a tenderness to the way that the Kohanim behave, to the way that the Levim behaved." So on the outside, yes, it's true, and this is the beauty of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky's zvur. On the outside, it's true. They needed to be separated. They needed to be scattered. Let's give them jobs that don't make a lot of money. This way, they'll have to travel around. But on the inside, he was telling them the types of jobs that they should have. Look at what Rashi says. Shimon should be what a sofer. He should be a sofer. He said, does it require empathy to write a safer Torah?
Write a sefer Torah. Just like write the words, write a sefer Torah. What's the difference? You're empathetic, you're not empathetic. What's the difference? The words are the same words. Because Torah is not a history book. Torah is not a math book. You're not just transcribing information. When you write the words of Torah, that's giving over the Masaora to the next generation. You're sharing the wisdom of Kol Yisrael. So you know what that is? When you write a sefer Torah, you write it from a deep place of connection to every other Jew. That's how you write a sefer Torah. That's the beauty of writing a sefer Torah. So our sefrim can't just be people that have good handwriting. If you're artistic, that's not the qualification for becoming a sefer. You have to be able to write it clear. You have to be able to write good handwriting. You have to be able to follow the halacha. You know what makes a great sefer? Someone whose heart bleeds for another Jew. That's what makes a great sefer. So here we are, and you think it's okay. It's the end of the Torah. Beautiful Torah.
You have to be an empathetic person. You have to be no se ba olam chaveru. You have to be emo anochi but zara. If your friend is going through something, you should go through it with them. And that's what Shimon and Levi were all about. But there's another element to this story, and I want to lock in on this. Is the story over? Is this the last time we meet Shimon and Levi? It's not. When do we see it again? We know the story, but you might not have realized it. Much later on in the Torah, there's a story. That Klal Yisrael went to war, and was a whole thing. You girls know with Bilam and Balak, right? At the end, when Bilam couldn't curse the Jews, I'll tell you. If you don't know, I'll tell you the story now. At the end, Bilam, if Bilam said, "I can't curse the Jews," so I'm going to tell you how to get to them. I'm going to tell you, and he basically had these women, who were not Jewish women. They were Midianite women, and he said like.
Go behave inappropriately with Klal Yisrael. That'll be the way you'll defeat Klal Yisrael. So what happened? There was a guy whose name was Zimri, and Zimri was from the tribe of Shimon. Zimri, in the middle of the camp, was having an inappropriate relationship with a woman whose name was Cosbi, who was a Midianite princess, and Pinchas, who was from the tribe of Levi, came along. Now you know the story. He skewered them. So that was in the previous parsha. Balak wanted to curse the Jews. He hired Bilam to curse the Jews. Bilam couldn't curse the Jews, so he gave him this etza. Get the Midianite women to behave in inappropriate relationships with Klal Yisrael. That'll be their downfall. It's what happened. It was a tremendous, tremendous like.
Attack on the sanctity of Kali Yisrael that was occurring in the middle of the camp. Kozbi and Zimri were together. Zimri was from Shevet Shimon and Pinchos was from Shevet Levi. Speared them and he skewered them and he killed them. And after that it stopped. So it's an interesting thing, says Rabbi Yako Kamenetsky. Shimon and Levi have to be scattered because they're very powerful. But we see that the Shimon and Levi come back again together much later. And now Shimon's on one side of the aisle and Levi's on the other. And this time it's the grandchild of Levi, as Pinchas, who's the tzaddik, and he does the right thing and he stops Klal Yisrael from behaving inappropriately. How did Shimon end up with these? How did Shimon end up with this grandchild, Zimri, who behaved in such an inappropriate way? And I'll tell you what the Gemara in Sanhedrin says. Listen, this Gemara in Sanhedrin, it says that the tribe of Shimon gathered together and they brought all these Midianite women to Moshe Rabbeinu.
And they said to Moshe Rabbeinu, 'Are you permitted to marry this Midianite woman or not?' So Moshe Rabbeinu, before he answered, they say, 'Whatever name, whatever answer you give, just bear in mind, you married Yisro's daughter. You didn't marry a Jewish woman. So you, Moshe Rabbeinu, didn't marry a Jewish woman. Why can't I be with a Midianite princess? So it wasn't just Zimri. It was the whole tribe of Shimon that was behind them. And the whole tribe of Shimon was arguing that it was okay for Zimri to be doing what he was doing. So you see that it wasn't just Shimon and Levi, like one grandchild on this side and one grandchild on that side. The whole tribe of Shimon was engaged in this completely inappropriate activity. How did we get here? And not only that, but if you look, the Torah depicts Zimri. It says Zimri ben Salu. Zimri's father's name was Salu. Nesib be'Av. He was the prince of his father's house. La Shimoni. He's described as what?
From the tribe of Shimon, meaning Zimri, and not Yaakov Avinu. The Gemara says, meaning Yaakov Avinu says, I don't want my name attached to this. I don't want my name involved. It's just Shimon. This comes from Shimon. How could it be that Shimon ends up with a child who could do something like that? And Levi somehow is different. So Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky says an unbelievable var, and this is the final thing that I want to share with you today. But it's a deep, deep var, and he says as follows: There's a difference between Shimon and Levi. They all started off in the same place.
But there was a difference between Shimon and Levi. They both were very empathetic. They both felt another Jew's pain, and that's awesome and that's beautiful. How did Shimon end up over here, and Levi ended up over here? Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky says as follows: Because in Mitzrayim, the people from Shimon were slaves, and in Mitzrayim, what happened? What were the Shevet Levi doing? You know the Shevet Levi; they weren't enslaved in Mitzrayim. You know that. They were learning Torah. Says Riviyal Kamenetsky, this is the way that we're supposed to learn Torah. Learning Torah is meant to change us as people. If a person learns Torah academically, if a person learns Torah intellectually, you could learn math and you could learn science, you could learn history and you could learn literature, and you could be a professor of Talmud.
You could be a professor of Rashi, you could be a professor of Ramban, of Nachmanides, of Maimonides. There are some people who learn Torah academically, but that's not the way to learn Torah. Torah is meant to be a transformative experience. That's why you come to Sharfman's for the year and you put a sefer in front of a girl over and over again. You hear shirum over and over again. What starts to happen? Transformation. You take somebody who has all this power like Levi, and what do you do? You say Chelcholay Raisel. Let's sit and learn Torah. Let's see what happens. You know what happens? He takes that power, and now what does he do with it? It brings him closer to Hashem. So Levi has all this energy, all this power. He's this amazingly powerful person. You know what he does? He sits and learns Torah. So when the time comes, let's say by the Chet Ha'egel, by the golden calf. It was Shavuot Levi that said, even though there's family members of ours that worship the golden calf, we're going to fight a war against those people. We stand with Hashem.
Because Torah transformed them, Torah made them into godly people, and now all that energy, all that power that they had, it changes them fundamentally. They become focused on what can I do to bring Hashem into this world. That's why you walk. I used to joke around when I went to the Mir. If I'd come back, I never went to Mir Yeshiva, but I would come back to Eretz Yisrael to visit sometimes, and I would stop by the Mir. I would walk through the mirror and I would say, I knew that guy in high school. That guy was a thug. That guy was a drug dealer. That guy was an alcoholic. I'm just joking, obviously. I don't mean it that intense, right? But it was like these guys who were like not necessarily the frumest guys in high school, but they had energy. They had passion. You put a sefer in front of them, it transforms them. They start to learn Hashem's Torah. They become passionate people, right? But if you don't sit and learn Torah, or if you don't learn Torah the proper way, so you know what happens, that passion could be unbridled.
And you could do dangerous, not good things with that passion. So generations later, it plays itself out. The same passion that Shimon had, that he went and destroyed all of Shechem, was the same passion that you saw in his grandson Zimri. And that's why Zimri, at the end of the day, took that passion and he did an inappropriate thing with it. But who was it that stood up to him? It was the passion on the other side. It's like we have two passionate people, but one transformed himself. One became like this. Exceptionally godly person, and he said, Mila Hashem Eli, I stand on the side of Hashem, and I will kill Zimri and I'll kill Cosby in the middle of the camp if that's what it takes. And Hashem rewarded him and said, You did the right thing. That's an unbelievable thing that Pinchas did because he took his passion, he didn't suppress it, he guided it, he brought it closer to what's called, he brought it closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I once heard a var from Rav Moshe Weinberger, an amazing var, that they davened, Chazal davened to get rid of the taiva, to get rid of the desire for avodah zara, for idolatry.
And the Gemara says the Gemara describes it like a lion at that time came running out of the Kodesh Hakadoshim like a lion, like not a physical lion, like a spiritual lion, and they trapped it with a cauldron and they locked it up. So we lost our taiva for avodah zara, but we also lost at the same time prophecy. Rav Weinberger always said this years ago. I heard this var from a tremendous var. He said it's not about trapping the tiger; it's about taming the tiger. Because we no longer have the taiva, we no longer have the desire for idolatry. We also can't be prophets, because if you take away our energy, then we can't reach to Hashem either. The same mitzvah that brought us down is the same mitzvah that brings us up. So if you take away the mitzvah that brings us down, then we're not going to be able to go up. You understand? So it's not about trapping that lion; it's about taming that lion.
That's what Levi did. Levi learned Torah, and it transformed him as a person. That's what we're here to do. We're not here, Chas v'Shalom, girls. We're not here to take away your energy and your passion. Becoming stark, becoming a great Jew, doesn't mean that now you become one of these like Adel Madel Bais Yaakov girls. That's not what we're looking for. We're not looking for you to walk around now and be like, hi, good morning. The girl that was crazy—that's what we're looking for. That same craziness, that same lunacy that we saw in the beginning of the year here in September. Don't lose that lunacy. Don't lose it. That's gishmak. But channel it in the right direction. Learn Torah and take it somewhere. I'll share with you one final var, one final story, really. I remember many years ago, I was in yeshiva and there was a guy in yeshiva who was the darkest guy in yeshiva. He was learning in the beis medrash program and he was just learning all day long. His name was—I should say his name. His name at the time was Adam Vogel.
Today he is Rav Usher Vogel, but back in the day he was just Adam Vogel. Adam Vogel today is a rebbe in Mevaseret, but back then he was just like a basic medrash guy. He was a pillar. He sat like these two pillars that we have. These pillars had names in Mevaseret. One of them was Adam Vogel, the other one was Ben Baiser. They're both rebbeim in Mevaseret today. And Adam Vogel was the sweetest, nicest guy in the world. Like, always with his head a little bit down and his hands clasped and always learning Torah. And he was awesome. He went to Rama's in high school, and he had long blonde hair in high school. And now he was like this serious bentora, and I really looked up to him. And one day I was walking along the path in yeshiva, Mashkiyach saw me from the window, and I was trying to be like Adam Vogel. So I was walking with my hands a little bit clasped, and I was a little bit hunched over. Like I don't know why you have to develop a hunch to be from, but I definitely thought you had to develop a hunch. And I was taking small steps, like the ramban said, you shouldn't take big steps, you take small steps. And the Mashkiyach calls out from the window. He goes, Berk.
Get here right now! So I didn't know what to do because on the one hand I can't run because that's going to be like Davidic if you're running, but at the same time the mashgiach. So I started taking small fast steps, like it looked like a moron, you know, and he's like run. So I took off and I ran because the das Torah tells me I have to run. I'm very frum, so I ran into the beis medrash, and I remember the mashgiach looked at me and he goes, "You're not Vogel." And I said to him, I was like, "But aren't I supposed to be? Isn't that what a ben Torah is?" And he looked at me like I was out of my mind. And he goes, "What is wrong with you? Don't do that. You have your personality. He has his personality. Let him be that. That's for him. He's going to be that type of tzaddik. You have a different personality. Don't lose your personality. Don't lose your energy. Just channel it in the right direction. The truth is, Baruch Hashem, the Mashgiach saw me on that day because I would have tried. You should know I would have failed because you can't suppress your personality for that long. And by the way, when I would have failed, I probably would have gone a lot lower because when you feel like.
You're supposed to be that guy, and then you can't be. So you don't just fall back to zero. Usually, you end up doing even worse things. Baruch Hashem, the Meshgiach saw me on that day. The emphasis, I don't think I'd be the person that I am today if not for the Meshgiach. If he didn't say those words to me in that time, because I probably would have been the guy who had to suppress his personality. But then, what do you share with the world? You have to share yourself with the world. It's not about losing yourself. It's about finding yourself. Find yourself. Find your passion. Find you have a Shimon and a Levi inside of you. The question is: Are you going to learn Torah? Are you going to transform? Are you going to engage with Hashem and become the person that you can become? Use that energy in the right direction, or chas v'shalom the opposite. We have two amazing lessons that we learned from Shem and Levi from this beautiful piece from Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky. Number one: If you want to be a rebbe, if you want to be a sofer, if you want to be a Cohen or a Levi, if you want to be a mother, if you want to be a community member, if you want to change the world, what's the number one thing you need? You have passion, but you have to have empathy.
Number two, it's awesome that you have that empathy. It's awesome that you have that passion. But unless you're engaged in seriously learning Torah, unless you're in a relationship with Hashem, your unbridled passions could chas v'shalom destroy a tremendous amount around you. And the opposite: if you're connected to Hashem, you're going to do unbelievable things with that passion. Girls have a wonderful Shabbos.
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