Chapters
Transcript
Automatic transcript; may contain mistakes, especially in Hebrew.
Shalom aleichem, everyone. Hope everyone is having a meaningful ben azmanim. I know that people are working very hard getting ready for Pesach. And of course In line with that theme Getting ready for Pesach means that learning Torah never stops. So let's take a couple of moments out of our day, perhaps while we're cleaning for Pesach, helping our parents, helping our spouses. Stop doing whatever we're doing. To learn some Torah as we begin. Sefer VaYikra, very exciting. As we begin this beautiful Sefer VaYikra, let's take a moment to really take a global look at all of Sefer VaYikra. And also a specific look, specifically this week's parsha of Parsha VaYikra. What is significant about the word VaYikra? The word VaYikra, like every word that begins anything, contains within it everything that is to follow. Just like the genetics of a child contain the entire adult person.
All the way from the moment of conception until the moment of death. So too, all of Chemos Chum Shetora is embedded in the word Bereshis. And of course, every sefer is embedded within its first word. So Bereshis encapsulates all of Bereshis, in addition to Chemos Chum Shetora. Shmos encapsulates all of Shmos, and VaYikra encapsulates all of VaYikra. So there must be something special about the word VaYikra. That gives us an insight into the entire sefer. The question is, what is significant about the word vayikra that it should be used to describe the entire sefer? The second question of the night is that the word vayikra is written in the Torah with a small aleph at the end. The Balaturim very classically explains that this is because Moshe Abinu was a big one of And he wanted to use the same word that Bilaam was called by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There it was Veikar.
Read the full transcript
In the sense that they happened to meet. So Tumay Shabenu here is being humble, and Shabenu is making it seem as if we happened to meet Hakadosh Baruch Hu and I. Veikar, we happened to meet. The Aleph is small. Don't pay attention to the Aleph. The Aleph is small. Veikar, Hakadosh Baruch Hu and I just happened to meet. And of course, there's many famous questions on this Baraturim. First of all, this isn't the first time that Hakadosh Baruch Hu used the word Veikro in Moshe. We find it several times in Shemais. Chapter nineteen, verse twenty; chapter nineteen, verse three We only find here in VaYikra that it's used with a small aleph. And so, if this was indeed the way that Moshe Rabenu wanted to make it seem that it was just nothing special, just like the same way Hakadosh Baruch Hu called to Bilaam, then every time that he wrote it in the Torah, it should have been written with a small aleph. It seems that specifically here at the outset of Sefer VaYikra, Moshe Rabenu says, 'No, Dafka, now we need to put the dogesh.' On the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu and I have the same relationship, like Bilam, the question is why.
Also, it's a very strange thing. Mimanovshach What did Hakadosh Baruch Hu want Moshe Rabbeinu to write? If we wanted him to write VeYikra with a large aleph, then he should have written it with a large aleph. If it was indeed true that it was VeYikra and they just happened to meet, and that's the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted him to say it, so then why does Moshe Rabbeinu write it with a small aleph? There shouldn't have been any aleph at all. It sounds almost like there's Chas v'Shalom in a million years to say something like this, but it sounds on some level almost like false humility. Moshe Rabbeinu is like T4. Kol D'varchu and I just happened to meet. It's not a real relationship between me and Kol D'varchu. How could that possibly be? Clearly, Kol D'varchu wanted him to write it Vayikra with an Aleph that was large. He should have written it that way. What's this? What's this Moshe Rabbeinu going against Hakadosh Baruch Hu? How could that even be? Hakadosh Baruch Hu speaks mitoch grono. Moshe Rabbeinu is totally battle. He's a merkava and every single level to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So Moshe Rabbeinu obviously couldn't do something that was outside of the realm of what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted him to do.
So what exactly is going on here with the small aleph? To answer these questions, we'll ask a couple more and then dive into a beautiful shtikel taira from Rav Tzadok Akoin Milublin. In this week's parsha, we find the carbon shlamim. Zara Kadosh says that though the shlamim is not considered the most kadosh, that's the carbon ola. The carbon shlamim is the most desirable. It's the most beloved of all of the carbonos. And the obvious question is why? In fact, the Targum Onkelos and the Targum Yerushalmi ben Uziel actually translate the words carbon shlamim as holy sacrifice. There's clearly something very kadosh, though it's not the most kadosh. There's clearly something very kadosh about the carbon shlammim. There's something very cherished and desirable about the carbon shlammim. What is the nature of the carbon shlammim that gives such nachas ruch to the rebbeinu shalom? The gemara in Zvachim very interestingly tells us that Zvachim ninety nine b says that halacha is that someone who's in onen Someone who has lost an immediate family member
But they have not yet buried them. It's usur for them to bring a carbon shlamim. The Gemara explains that this is because the word shlamim originates from the word shalem. There's a sense of wholeness that a person has, and in their state of aninos, they're not whole, and so they can't bring a carbon shlamim. And this also requires further bedika. What exactly does this mean? That because a person is in a state of aninos, they specifically can't bring a carbon shlamim because they're not in a place of wholeness. What is the nature of this carbon that a person needs to be whole in order to bring this carbon? So I want to share with you a stunning tirah from Rav Tzadok Hakohen Mila Blin. Rav Tzadok says as follows: In order to answer all of these questions Even though Rav Tzadok doesn't answer, doesn't address the first several questions, we're going to use this piece of Rav Tzadok to answer the first questions. Rav Tzadok says, in order to understand the nature of The Shlamim, let's first take a look at the nature of the K'tayres.
The pasuk in Bamidbar, chapter seven, verse eighty-six Says, "Kappos zav shteim esrei maleios k'tayres, asara hakaf b'shekel ha'kodesh." Twelve golden spoons were filled with incense. Each spoon weighed ten silver shekels, ten shekels per piece, according to the holy shekel, the shekel ha'kodesh. The Zohar Hakadosh asks. Rav Tzavik brings the Zohar. The Zohar Hakadosh asks, what's the pshat that it says asara in the pasuk twice, asara hakaf b'shekel Hakadosh. So the Zohar Hakadosh says these two tens are keneged the asara mamaros that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world with, the ten utterances of creation, and also the asaras hadibros, the ten commandments. What's being said over here is a very deep idea. Ketores is from a lashon of kesher. That's what the ketores represents. We tend to think mistakenly that there are two separate entities called physical and spiritual. And never the twain shall meet. There's something called the material world. There's something called the spiritual world.
To believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to believe in one God It's not just to believe that there is one God and not many gods. The aside of believing in one God is in believing in the oneness of all things. That there's a synthesis, a harmonization, a unity that's possible between all things, because underlying all things, there's an underlying unity that exists in the material world and in the spiritual world. Of course, from a Jewish perspective. The material world and the spiritual world are meant to be harmonized. That will one day be the world of Olam Habah when they reveal their inner unity. That's the insight of Yiddishkeit. The insight of Yiddishkeit is that physical and spiritual are meant to be harmonized because fundamentally they're not two separate entities. The physical world only achieves its highest level of perfection when it operates in accordance with the spiritual world.
And therefore. The Asara Ma Maros of creation, meaning the fabric of the material world, and the Asar Asaros Hadibros—they're the same Asara. They have to live together, and that's the nature of the Keteris. The nature of the Keteris that was brought was the harmony of the Asara Ma Maros of creation, the material world, and the Asara and the Asaros Hadibros that were given by Ar Sinai. That's what happened by Ar Sinai. The revelation that synthesis was possible is what happened by Ar Sinai. Memaleh We understand that in order for a person to come close with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he cannot just live in the spiritual world. In fact, there's something very Gaivadik about a person who wants to retreat to the spiritual world. Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent us into the world to build for Him a Dira b'Tachtonim. To build for him a dwelling place in the worlds down below. That's the nature of our mission in this world.
A person might feel very spiritual by going off into some mountaintop in Tibet and meditating, but that is not the nature of what it means to be a Jew. To be a Jew means to be involved in the material world in a spiritual way, revealing the inner harmony of all things. That's what it means to be a Yid. Of course, on the other hand, a person who lives in the material world without elevating it to the spiritual world, without revealing the inner harmony, a person who's a glutton, a person who lives just for themselves in the material world, is also equally operating on a level of gaiva and abdicating their mission. It requires a real, true humility to subjugate ourselves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and say, "I'm going to live in the material world, but I will not fall prey to the lure of the material world, and I will live in the spiritual world, and I will not fall prey to the lure of the spiritual world."
I will harmonize both. I'll live within both. The carbon ola is a purely spiritual carbon. Only a kohen is allowed to participate and receive only the skin of the carbon ola. None of the meat is allowed to be eaten. In contrast to the carbon shlumim, Rashi says shlumim is from a lashon of shalom. It brings peace to the world. Some carbons are completely consumed on the mizbeach. Others are burnt on the mizbeach and shared with the kohanim. The carbon shlumim, the carbon that brings shalom to the world, is shared by everybody: the mizbeach, the kohanim, the owners of the carbon. Everybody has their share in the carbon itself. In other words, what is unique about the carbon shlomim is that it's a completely physical carbon. Everybody is engaging with the physicality of the carbon. And yet it's a carbon. It's being used in a spiritual way. So the carbon shlomim has that expression of the keteris. It harmonizes the physical and the spiritual all at once. That's the nature of the carbon shlamim.
And memela, we understand what Rashi means. It's called a carbon shlamim from Alshinu Shalom. It brings peace and harmony to the world because the world itself does not live in a harmonious state. The world lives in a state where it yearns to be connected to its truest essence, which is the spiritual world. So there's a lack of shalom that exists in the world. There's a certain level of fragmentation that exists in our world. The world itself is begging for some peace, for some respite. The entire world today lives in a state of fragmentation with war and everyone living in their own egocentric, narcissistic bubbles, talking at each other instead of listening to each other. The material world lives in a state of fragmentation, but it's desperate for unity. That's why any time we have any sense of unity in our lives, there's such a nachas ruach that comes with that shalom, that comes with that sense of unity, because a human being cannot live in a state of fragmentation.
This is the bechina of Yaakov. Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov Avinu is called Kadosh. The pasuk says, "Ki berosah yiladav." This is the pasuk in Yeshayahu. "Ki berosah yiladav, mase yaday bekirbo, yakdishu shemi veikdashu as kadosh Yaakov." Yaakov Avinu is specifically called kadosh. What does kadosh mean? Kadosh doesn't mean that a person lives a purely spiritual life. Kadosh means that a person endows the physical with the spiritual. They reveal the inner spiritual nature of the physical. This was the bechinah of Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov Avinu is melashen yud akev. On the one hand, he's called akev. He holds on to the lowest point of creation. Esav harasha, and not only Esav, but the lowest point of Esav, the heel of Esav, the most unfeeling, lowest part of the body, the callousness of Esav. Yaakov Avinu holds on to that. He's engaged in the lowest aspects of the material world, and yet he's the bechinah of yud.
He's able to reveal the inner harmony of all things. That's why Yaakov Avinu is this bechina of kedusha. He lives with the harmony of opposites, or what appears to be opposites: the spiritual and the material world. And the same thing is true of Shabbos. Shabbos is also called kadosh. In fact, it's the first time that the word kadosh is used in the Torah. The pasuk says, "Vayivarech lekim esayim hashivi kadei shayso." On Shabbos, we don't retreat from the material world. It's true that we don't work. But on Shabbos we eat and drink. For spiritual purposes, we elevate our material existence on Shabbos to the level of kedusha, where we are able to reveal the inner unity of all things, and that's why Yaakov Avinu has the bechin of Shabbos, as the pasuk says, 'Va'yavo Yaakov shalem ir shchem, asher be'aretz Kanan be'vav mipodon aram, va'yichan es pneyir.'
And the Medrash in Bereshis Rabba, an unbelievable Medrash in Bereshis Rabba, tells us that Yaakov Avinu, when he encamped before the city, what does it mean? Yaakov arrived safe in the city of Shem, which is in the land of Canaan, having come from Padan Aram, and he encamped before the city. The Yichanas Pnei Yir, the Medrash and Peres Shas Raba eleven seven says that he entered into the city as Shabbos was setting, as Shabbos was coming And he established boundaries, meaning he made a Tum Shabbos. He made a Tum Shabbos, and because he made a Tum Shabbos, because Yaakov Avinu kept Shabbos. Therefore, he inherited the entire world without any boundaries. That's why the pasuk by Yaakov Avinu specifically says, 'The higher zarecha ke'afar ha'aretz ufaratz da yamav ha'kedma v'tzafain v'negba the nivruh v'cha kol mishpachayis adamu v'zarecha. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants.'
In contrast, Avram Avinu. Medrash says, by Avram Avinu, we don't see that Avram Avinu kept Shabbos, even though of course we know that all the Avos kept Shabbos, kept all the mitzvos on their level. But whatever it means that Yaakov Avinu specifically is identified with Shabbos, Avram Avinu was not specifically identified with Shabbos, and that's why he only inherited the world in a limited measure, as the pasuk says, "Kum hisalech ba'aretz la'arka u'larach ba'kilachat nena." Get up, walk about the land through its length and through its breadth, and I'll give it to you. In other words, Avram Avinu. Inherited the world, but he inherited it in a limited sense. Masei Cain Yaakov Avinu inherited the entire world without any measure. The idea being that because Yaakov Avinu is the bechina of Shabbos, because Yaakov Avinu is the bechina of kedusha, because Shabbos is the bechina of kedusha, so the entire world there was no place in the world that Yaakov Avinu could not reveal the inner spirituality, the inner unity of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world And therefore Yaakov Avinu was shyach to the entire world. Yaakov Avinu understood the true meaning of Shabbos, the meaning of harmonizing those opposites of physical and spirituality, revealing their inner unity.
And Memeila Yaakov Avinu was the bechelam of Shabbos. Memeila Yaakov Avinu was zayich to the entire world. He was able to show the godliness of every single aspect of the world. And with this beautiful idea in mind Stunning idea, it's unbelievable. You learn pieces from Ritzta de Karkoy, and a person could go wild from Ritzta de Karkoy in such an unbelievable tirah. We can now use this piece to answer our original questions. What is Vayikra all about? Vayikra is all about Karbanos. Karbanos is Milash and Karov. Vayikra is how we draw close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. That's what the entire Sefer Vayikra is about. To come close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu means that we have to fulfill His mission. We have to bridge the gap between the material and the spiritual. But what does that require from us? Two things. Number one, of course, it requires the basic humility that we spoke about at the beginning—that I can't be lured into the trap of the material world or the trap of the spiritual world.
But there's even a deeper level of humility required to bridge the gap between physical and spiritual. It requires humility—humility in the sense that I have to be humble and fulfill the mission. But it requires the pulling back of oneself to reveal the larger truth. It's almost as if the spiritual world is so spiritual And the material world is so material. That we would not be able to perceive the inner essence unless we see the humility of the material world and the humility of the spiritual world. A good muscle for this might be the muscle of a husband and a wife. A man and a woman appear to be two distinct entities. Never the twain shall meet. A man cannot marry a woman. A woman cannot marry a man. But if a man humbles himself, he can become a husband. If a woman humbles herself, she can become a wife. A husband and a wife can get married.
The idea is that when we become husbands and when we become wives, we're pulling our ego back to reveal the inner unity that exists between us. Before we were born, a baskal came out of Shamayim and said, 'Ploni will marry Plonus.' There's an inner harmony that exists between us. But in our state of being a man and being a woman, that inner harmony is not revealed. When a person pulls themselves back And a person reveals their inner essence, so then we can see the underlying unity of all things. It's not by accident. That Moshe Rabbeinu says, yes, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has used the word vayikra before with me with a large aleph But now dafka at the beginning of the sefer that deals with building a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which means to live a life of kedusha Which means that specifically now we're being called upon if we want to draw close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu by engaging the material and the spiritual at once.
In order to do that, we have to live with humility. The humility of showing the spiritual world that there's godliness in the material world. The humility to tell the material world that what you're so desperately searching for in your state of fragmentation is the inner unity that the spiritual world reveals. So of course, Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Moshe Rabbeinu to write a Vayikra with a small Aleph. Moshe Rabbeinu would never have written something that went against the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It would have been impossible. Myrshabenu was totally batul and mavutul to Hakadosh Baruch Hu But the inner message was humble yourself, pull yourself back. Act in this moment as if there's no difference between you and Bilam. What does that mean? Of course, there's a difference between Myrshabenu and Bilam. There's every difference in the world between Myrshabenu and Bilam. Myrshabenu is the greatest tzaddik ever, and Bilam is one of the greatest rishonim ever.
But from the perspective of inner unity, all things are godly. There's no difference between mitzvos and averos from the perspective of Hashem's atzmos. There's no difference between tzaddikim and rishonim. This was the message of Purim that we spoke about. The message of Purim is ad lo yada bein arur hamon lebarach mardechay. That a person when they get to the highest levels of Hashem's atzmos, all they see is the Rebbeinu Shlom. They see the Rebbeinu Shlom and the greatest tzaddikim. They see Rebbeinu Shlom and the greatest rishonim. This is our responsibility, specifically in this tefufa of Yomosha Mashiach. It's to humble ourselves. We cannot retreat from the material world, and we cannot retreat from the spiritual world. We're being asked more than ever now to engage in both. We lead more materialistic lives than ever before. We have more things than we've ever had before. Klal Yisrael lives in a state where we're not being persecuted like we have been in previous generations. There's unbelievable materialism that is at our fingertips today, and sadly, many of us, including myself.
Are being lured into the material world in ways that have never lured us in before. The opportunities to be lured into the material world never existed before in the history of the world. Kings did not wear clothing as nice as the clothing that we wear today. They didn't sleep in beds as soft as the beds that we sleep in today. They did not eat foods that were as delicious as we eat today. It's unbelievable the level of materialism that we have, and a person could be very easily lured into it. And at the same time, there's unbelievable spirituality in the world today. We see that people today are retreating from the physical world because of the temptation for the physical world. They say, 'I just want to live in the spiritual world. I don't want to have anything to do with the physical world.' And that too is not necessarily what we are expected to do in this world. We're expected to harmonize the opposites. We're expected to lead Shabbatic lives. That's why the Gemara says that Messiah will come when we keep two Shabbatos in a row. It doesn't mean two Shabbatos in a row. It means when we have a Shabbos of kedusha, synthesizing the material and the physical.
And then we bring that into our week, and then we finish off the job by having another Shabbos. We reveal the inner essence of all things. We reveal the inner unity of all things, the underlying spirituality that is beyond, that is beneath physical and spiritual, the Atzmos of our Kadosh Baruch Hu. That's what Sefer VaYikra is about. That's what we're being called upon to do in this time. Many of us right now are holding in very what appears to be to us material places, getting ready for Pesach. It's a very material time. We're engaged in physically cleaning our homes, running around shopping, buying new begadim, jewelry for our wives, for our daughters, whatever it is that we're involved in. It appears to us, at least on the outside, to be a very material time. But we have to know that that's not true. All the hachana that we're doing for Pesach, all the kibud avayim that we're doing for Pesach, everything that we're doing We're doing this because this is how we engage in the material world in a spiritual way.
A person shouldn't have a chalishas hadas when they're in bein azmanim mode and say, 'But I'm not in the beis medrash as much as I was during this man. I don't have as much opportunities as I did during this man to be able to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.' A person could be scrubbing the counters of their kitchen. A person could be vacuuming the corners of their homes, putting their hands into the deepest crevices of their couches. Of course, goes without saying that a person should not drive themselves crazy. A person has to only follow the halacha when it comes to b'dikas chametz. A person should ask their local Orthodox rabbi exactly what that means. Dust is not chametz. We have to follow the halacha. A person shouldn't make themselves crazy. But going back to the main point, if a person thinks to themselves, But I'm not in yeshiva right now, or even if I'm married and working. But I have my star, and I'm not able to keep my star as much because my wife needs me home more now. The kids are home now. It's ben azman, and whatever's going on in a person's life, the person has to know that is what our kadosh baruch hu is asking us to do.
That's what it means to lead a spiritual life in a material world. This is what it means to bring Mashiach. The Gemara tells us that in Nissan we were redeemed. By Yitzias Mitzrayim, and ultimately we will be redeemed in Nissan. So we are now in the Chodesh, perhaps of the final redemption. Maybe this is it. Maybe Mashiach is going to come in the next couple of weeks. Wouldn't that be absolutely amazing? And if we want to bring Mashiach, we have to have the humility to lead godly lives, to engage in the material world in a spiritual way. To humble ourselves, and in so doing, to reveal the inner Atzmus of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that is rooted in all things. Rabbi Say, miss you all, love you all Wishing you a chag kosher v'sameach. The greatest mitzvah of bein hazmanim is kibud av v'em.
Is this shiur filed in the wrong place? Let us know.