Vayikra - Korbanos: Giving the Gift of Ourselves to Hashem

2:21 When it says min hatzon, this is not what we're going to be discussing tonight. Just to show you that every single word is relevant. It means that if an animal was used for avodah zara, you're not allowed to bring that animal as a karban. If an animal killed a person You're not allowed to use that animal as a carbon. Those are not what we're discussing tonight. This is a good question. This is what the Gemara learns out from these words. It's an excellent question, but I'm not focusing on that for tonight. I'm just showing it to you here so that you realize every single word in the Torah is learned from. There's no extra words. Tonight, what we're going to be discussing is something different. Here there's a gzera, there's a not gzera chazal, there's a drasha on the pasuk when it says Adam ki yakriv miken When a man from among you brings a carbun So Chazal teach us as follows, and this seems to be a very strange drasha.

3:27 Just as Adam Harishon did not bring a stolen carbun. How do we know that other Marishon did not bring a stolen carbon? Because there was no one else in the world. Just as Adam, it says Adam here. The drasha says it doesn't just mean a man. Rather, it needs to be understood as who? Adam Harishon. Other Marishon, other Marishon didn't bring a stolen carbon, so you're not allowed to bring a stolen carbon. There are two questions here that are very important, and I think you're the type of person that's going to ask this question based on your question from before. It seems I don't know how to say this nicely, and obviously I don't mean it this way, but it seems like a bit of a stretch. Just because it says the word Adam, that's referring to other Marishon. That's that's a hard one, no?

4:24 Adam kiakriv mekem when a man from among you brings a garbon. Adam refers to other marishon. Don't bring any stolen karbanos. It's a little bit difficult to think that that's really what the Torah meant, but that is what Chazal darshan. So obviously, there's some inner lesson here that needs to be understood. That's our first question. The second question is as follows: Girls, are you allowed to use stolen items for a mitzvah? No. Of course not. So why do we have a separate drasha here? That when it comes to a carbon specifically You're not allowed to use a stolen carbon. Obviously you're not allowed to use a stolen carbon. You're not allowed to use a stolen anything for a mitzvah. You girls have the two questions or three questions, real? I'll repeat them now, just so that everyone who's here, who's not 100% here, but it's kind of here, but sort of here, but not really here, I'll repeat them now so that all of you can join me because I would love to have all of you with me here. Let's start again. We'll try again. If at first we don't succeed, we continue. One, Rashi says, which type of carbon are we speaking about over here?

5:33 A voluntary carbon, not a mandatory carbon. So whatever we're talking about, it's important that we know it's a voluntary carbon. Why? Second question. Adam refers to who? What does the drasha tell us? Adamarishon. Really, seems like a little bit of a stretch to think that just because it says Adam, it means Adamarishon. And how do we use Adamarishon here? To teach us that just like other Marishon didn't use a stolen carbon, so too we shouldn't use a stolen carbon. Girls, we already know that you're not allowed to use a stolen thing for a dvar mitzvah. So what in the world is the Torah adding on over here? That saying specifically in the realm of carbonos, you're not allowed to use a stolen carbon. Those are the three questions we have for today. And I would like to share with you an answer that I saw from a great rasha shiva who lives today in Silver Spring, Maryland. His name is Rav Aaron Lapiansky. Anybody here from Silver Spring?

6:27 Beautiful, Rav Aaron Lapiansky. Today, one of the real, real gadolei Torah in America, a brilliant thinker. This answer belongs to him. It's a gorgeous answer. Really try to lock in. It's something very, very special. Listen what Rav Lapiansky says. If I hire someone to paint my house. And that person steals paint to paint my house. And they do a gorgeous job. Every brushstroke is absolutely perfect. There's no streaks. The corners are done well. They really do a great job. The only problem is stolen paint. Stolen brushes Stolen you know thing that they make the paint in. You know what I'm talking about? Like the tub thingy, the roller, stolen roller. The job itself From my perspective Guy did the job. I don't like the fact that he stole it. He's going to have to pay for his stolen goods. But from my perspective Do I really care that he stole the paint?

7:38 Not really. I care on a moral level. I don't like the fact that my house has stolen paint in it. But I hired him to do a job, and he did a job. Does that make sense? Ma Cesar Lapianski. There is something a little bit different when it comes to a gift. Let's say you have a guy And you like this guy very much And he appears to like you very much. So he decides he wants to buy you a gift. Girls, what's the value of a gift? The value of a gift is not the value of the money that he paid for it, right? Because we all know that a gift that's less expensive but more meaningful is worth a lot more. For example When you're engaged, if a guy goes out and he drops ten grand on a diamond ring, he might be meshugana. You might be meshugana. It's exciting.

8:40 But let's say you're married for I don't know Eight nine years, and he comes home with a ten thousand dollar ring. What's the first thing that comes to your head? What'd you do wrong? Why'd you just spend all this money? Why is that? Because the gift in the beginning is appropriate to spend that much money, look how much I love you. But as you get older, and as the relationship gets deeper The value of the gift becomes less important. The meaning of the gift becomes more important. For example, let's say you happen to mention to this guy that you're dating. That your favorite author is fill in the blank. And this guy goes out and he finds from a rare book dealer a first edition copy of that book signed by the author. He doesn't have to pay a tremendous amount of money for it. He has to pay some money for it.

9:39 But the fact that he heard you Stuck it in his head, and when the time was right, came to you with this first edition signed copy of the book. How much more meaningful is that than a piece of jewelry? The reason it's more meaningful is because a gift is not about the value that you spend. The gift is about I cared about you, and this is an expression of how much I care about you. So in the beginning of a relationship I can only express how much I care about you in volume. So I can buy you an expensive gift. But if five years down the line, ten years down the line, twenty years down the line, the only way that I know how to express how much I love you is by dropping a fortune of money, that means I know nothing about you, and more importantly, I'm giving nothing of myself to you.

10:36 Do you hear the difference? So if somebody steals something and then gives it as a gift How do you feel? Guilty. Why? Because it's different than the guilt of my house was painted with stolen paint. Unloved. Right. What did you just say? If it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have stolen. Taking someone else's item. I don't feel guilty. I'm using the right way to take. You girls are talking about the guilt that I was gorim theft. What you're talking about is on the nail. You're saying you didn't give of yourself. All you did was you stole something. Instead, make something for free. I would have rather given you a piece of yourself that you actually earned. That you actually gave up Than you just stole something. You didn't give of yourself. I asked the question. I'll get to you one second. I asked the question to a friend of mine today. The minig here in Eretz Yisrael.

11:44 Is when you have a son in yeshiva in cheder, whatever the system that your kid is in. So on Purim, there's a minhag to give the rebbe like a nice bottle of wine, but also to give some money. Because these rabbis don't get paid a lot. I have five daughters and one son. And my son is only seven years old. He's the youngest, so I'm not used to like you know this whole system for the rabbis. So I reached out to a friend of mine today. I would play you the voice note, but you don't need it. I reached out to a friend of mine today and I said. What, how much do you give? I don't want to give the Rebbe like Fifty shekels. If that doesn't seem very nice, but I don't know what's appropriate. So one guy says to me every year my wife and I have this fight. I say we should give the Rebbe one hundred and fifty shekel, and she says we should give the Rebbe two hundred shekel.

12:32 He goes, and is there an assistant Rebbe? I said there happens to be in my son's first grade class. There's an assistant Rebbe. He goes, you have to give the assistant Rebbe too. I said of course. Doesn't the assistant Rebbe give the same amount as the Rebbe? He said no. The assistant Rebbe, my wife wants to give him 150 shekel. I want to give him 100 shekel because between the two of them, it's a lot of money. Says okay, I'm listening to them. They have their ideas. I'm sitting there, okay, but say they're fine. I'm not sure that you know 50 shekel either way makes a difference, but okay, fine. I guess for some people it does. I reached out to a different friend of mine, somebody who's had a lot of boys in the system. I said, what do you do? So he goes, I'll tell you. The amount varies depending on how much I have to give. But I spend a lot of time every year before Purim writing really meaningful letters to the rebbeim, appreciating what they've done, and I try to give like specific examples to say like this is what you've done for my son this year. I saw when he came in. He was like this, and now he's been in Yerushalayim seven, eight, nine months already, and I see he's an anderemensch.

13:35 And it was from that time that you sent him home, and you told him to do this, and you're great, and he came and he reported to me, and he's investing all this money in the letters. The guy told me he said, I want you to know, over the years I've gotten some amazing feedback from the rebbeim. How much they appreciate the letters much more than the cash. Now the truth of the matter is I think everyone appreciates the cash. I think everyone wants, at the end of the day, to be able to come home on Purim. And if you've got 25 kids in a she'er and every parent gave you 200 shekel, I think everybody wants to be able to come home and say, "Look, we can afford to make Pesach." I think everybody wants that. But I'm sure he's 100% right because I know it myself. When I was a counselor in camp, you get tips at the end of the summer.

14:22 So some parents give the standard amount, right? Some parents give you less than the standard amount and you always feel a little bit like did I not do a good job now I know why your son is like that you know what I'm saying you always have these narratives that you make up about those parents some parents are very wealthy when I was a kid growing up I worked in a certain camp and there was always that bunk talking about with all the wealthy kids are put in that bunk and if you were the counselor of that bunk you knew those are the most obnoxious kids. But on the end of the summer, when you get it's gonna be you're gonna get your Because those people don't tip the standard amount; it would be beneath them.

15:05 And then you're walking around like, who got the biggest tip of the summer, right? This guy got a hundred dollar tip, when the recommended was like twenty five. This is back in the nineties. And it's like, wow, look at him. But at the end of the day, what did he get? Seventy five bucks, right? And you know how fast seventy five dollars gets spent. The money is here today, gone tomorrow. I always liked working with the regular bunks, the middle class bunks, maybe even the bunks that didn't have so much money, because you got letters at the end of the summer, and the letters are much better. And you hold on to the letters because you're like, that person actually valued what I did. And anybody could write a check, and anybody could pull some money out of their wallet, but you know how much time it takes? Not that long to sit down and write something thoughtful. To write something heartfelt. That's a completely different universe.

15:55 When it comes, Rav Lapiansky says, when it comes to mitzvot There are two different types. There's mitzvot Which, if we're being honest, a mitzvah is an obligation. A mitzvah is a commandment. Thou shall do this. So that's like a worker doing his job. What does Ikkud Shmuel want you to do? Show up, do the job. It doesn't have to be from you. You just have to get it done. Nobody cares. You got to just do what you're supposed to do. It's an obligation. If you have an obligation, meet the obligation. But Cesar Vlapianski A korban is not just a regular mitzvah. We think of the word korban as a sacrifice. Vlapianski says that's a bad word. Korban doesn't mean sacrifice. What does korban mean? An offering or a gift. And a korban, like you just said, it means to draw close. When the pasuk says Adam ki yakriv mikem How did we translate it before? When a man from amongst you comes to bring a carbon, says Rav Lapianski, that's not the right way to read it.

17:04 Adam ki yakriv mikem. When a man comes and brings a carbon from himself From his Adamness That's when it's a carbon. What does Hashem want from us? Does Hashem want us just to slaughter animals? Is it interesting to Hashem that we come and we bring an ox or we bring a sheep or whatever we do and we slaughter it? Is that what's interesting to Hashem? Listen, what the pasuk in that we read every year in Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos before Tishav Lamali rovziv chechem yomer Hashem. The Navi says, Why do I need all of your animals, all of your carbonos? I have so many burnt offerings of rams and fat and bulls, and I have no delight in it. Why? Because anybody could just pull ten dollars out of their pocket. That's not a gift. That's not an offering. That's not how we exist in a relationship.

18:06 There's something very beautiful about your generation. Something that I'm this far from. That I learn a tremendous amount from. I'm inspired from your generation more than any other. It used to be that a Jew showed up to work. That's what a Jew did. You know why a Jew puts on tzitzit in the morning? Because I'm a Jew. That's what I do. That's what it was back in Europe. A Jew would learn Torah because that's what a Jew does. Today, your generation has taught our generation that you will not be satisfied just showing up and checking the boxes. You know what I hear from guys and girls all the time? I don't feel anything. I'm not passionate about this. That's the most unbelievable thing you could say. Because when you say I'm not passionate about it, what are you really saying? I want to be passionate about this. I'm sick and tired of showing up to this relationship and just checking a box. It doesn't feel meaningful to me. You understand? So you girls are saying, and you're right to say this.

19:12 I feel like I'm giving stolen goods. I feel like I'm just showing up and giving you what you want. Look at me, Hashem. I said the words. Aren't I a good girl? Look at me, Hashem. I dressed nice. Aren't I a good girl? What's the answer? You did the mitzvah, but was that a karpun? Is that what Hashem wants from us? Your generation is doing the most amazing thing. You're saying, 'I'm not satisfied unless Hashem, I'm giving you a piece of myself' And that's what Hashem wants from us. Hashem says, 'Bring a karpun like Adam Harishon brought a karpun.' What did Adam Harishon bring a karpun? He wasn't in competition with anybody. What did he give? Whatever he had. What did he have? The only thing he had was himself. He couldn't take from anybody else. All he did was live for himself. What does this look like?

20:03 Tachlis, practically. I want to make this real. If our relationship with Hashem is about bringing karbanos and not just doing the mitzvah Then we have to change the way that we relate to the mitzvot. A mitzvah is not just an obligation in a certain sense. Remember, we said what does Rashi say? What type of karbanos are we talking about here? Voluntary. Even though there's an element of obligation behind every single mitzvah, I do it because I'm responsible to do it. It's my job. I'm a Jew. But what does Hashem want from us? He wants us to do the mitzvot not just because we're obligated to, but because we want to. Because we're showing up voluntarily. What does it mean? Godol hamitzvah ve'aisa. We always say greater is the one who's commanded. Because when you're commanded, it's hard. But how we relate to the command is important. Do I do it just because it's a command, or do I do it because I want to? I want to tell you an amazing story.

21:10 Sometimes these soldiers, these very precious Jewish soldiers that put on a uniform and fight in Gaza, so that we could learn Torah here in Yerushalayim. These soldiers have a question that they have to ask themselves: Do I write anything down before I go to war? Because if Chas v'Shalom I'm killed, I want there to be a tzava, I want there to be a will, I want there to be something that I communicate. So one of my talmidim called me up and he said to me, Rebbe, what do you think? I'm heading out. Should I write something or not? What type of question is that, girls? What am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to say? How do I know how to answer that question? I'm just a guy. I didn't know what to say. But I'm thinking about the question and my heart is breaking over the question. Because there's no answer that's going to be as beautiful as the question. Here's a guy who's going out to war. He says, 'Rebbe, on the one hand, it's morbid. I don't want to write it. It's a morbid thing to write.'

22:06 But on the other hand, I want to write it because if something happens to me, I want there to be something that I communicate from beyond the grave. I said, "What do you want to communicate?" So he said, "Rebbe, a lot of these Chayalim After they're killed, they have this paper on them that they take, this Tzava, this last will. It says, 'Don't cry for me.' I gave my life exactly as I wanted to. I died for something that I believe in, protecting the Jewish nation and the Jewish homeland. That's what this guy wanted to write. Like so many other soldiers before him, he wanted to write Just don't cry for me. Come to my funeral and sing. Come to my funeral with a smile on your face, because I died the best way possible. Al Kiddush Hashem, fighting for my people. I'm listening to this guy and I'm realizing I'm a nothing.

23:02 I'm a blot on the floor. This guy. Think about the levels. Is that not the most righteous thing you've ever heard? Here's a guy putting on a uniform, going out to war. And what's he going out to war for? He wants to tell people, in case something bad happens to me, don't cry. I'm the happiest person in the world. I'm the luckiest person that I got to die in this way. It's an obligation for him to go out to war. This guy that called me, he's obligated. He's in the Israeli army. He was finished with the Israeli army, and you get called up for service. That's what happens. There's something called miluim. Even though you're not actively fighting anymore, you're on reserve duty. What does reserve duty mean? It means that chas v'sholom, in case there's a war, you are obligated to come fight. But this guy might be obligated to come fight. But that's not the way he's fighting. He's running to the front. He ran into Gaza. He didn't go because they obligated him to go. He ran to go. You know why? Because he said, "This is what I want."

24:06 It's not enough just to show up to our Judaism because I'm obligated to. That's a great start. Of course, even if we don't want to, we should do it anyway because we're obligated. Even for that soldier that's afraid to go to war, he's also obligated to show up, and he has to figure out what to do with his fear because his fear is dangerous. But that's not the way we want people to show up to fight. We want people to show up to fight and say, 'I'm not obligated to do this. I'm running to do this. I want to do this. It's a karban edava. It's voluntary. This is my everything. This is what I'm looking for. That's the best way to serve Hashem.' How do we do that? How do we turn our mitzvot into karbanos? How do we turn our obligations into things not that we're doing because we're obligated, but because we actually want to?

24:53 So I'm going to teach you this concept. I learned it from my rabbi years ago, and now I'm going to pass it on to you. You ready for it? There's something called lifnim mishuras hadin. Lifnim mishuras hadin means to go above and beyond the letter of the law. You've heard of that concept before? Lifnim mishuras hadin. So my Rebbe said an unbelievable pshat. Listen to this: Lifnim Mishures Hadin means you have to go not just beyond But you have to go lifnim. What does lifnim mean? To go inside the law. Girls, what comes before the commandment? The commander. Before the commandment is the commander. Inside of every single halacha in the Torah, we find? Hashem. We find Hashem. You know why a person goes beyond the letter of the law? We go beyond the letter of the law for the people that we love. For example Let's say let's say you have a husband, And your husband he does all of his husbandly responsibilities.

26:00 He brings home a parnasa, he works hard, he's honest, he changes the light bulbs, etc. Etc. Does that mean he's a good husband? That means that he fulfills his obligations well. How do you know when he's a good husband? When he's not just doing what he has to, but you see that he wants to spend time with you. He doesn't just want to check the box. I did my obligation. He wants to go to the inside of the obligation because on the inside of the obligation to provide for his family is what his family. So the guy when he goes to work, does he go because he's obligated, or does he go because he says? I want to be able to buy that dress, that skirt for my wife for Yom Tov. You hear the difference? It's a totally different mentality. Some people go to work because they're obligated to. Some people go to work because they love the benefit of going to work.

26:54 I'm going to get to buy my wife this. I'm going to get to buy my kids this. That means that he's not just showing up and checking the box. It means he loves his family. How do we transform our yiddishkeit? It's very simple. How do you go from doing it because you have to doing it because you want to, because you feel like it's the design of your soul? It's very simple. We can focus on the mitzvah. Or we can focus on the mitzaveh. We can focus on the mitzvah, or we can focus on the commander. This is what it looks like. Some people go Shabbos is so boring. You ever hear people say that Shabbos is so boring? You ever feel that way? Sometimes I feel that way too. Shabbos is so boring. That's because we're focusing on the mitzvah. But let's say I said to you that Hashem said, "When I created the world in seven days."

27:43 The six days I worked, on the seventh day I rested. And I'm inviting you to participate in my rest. Every single Shabbos, I stop and admire my handiwork. Won't you join me in admiring my handiwork? Now you're not bored on Shabbos anymore. Why? Because Shabbos means something. It's not just Shabbos anymore. It's not just stay off your phone. It's I have the opportunity to sit with Hashem every single week. A guy said to me today. He said, I feel like I'm just putting on tefillin. I hear that. For most people, they are. Most people they throw on a tefillin shal yada, a tefillin shal rosh. They make a bracha. They daven right. But they're not actually paying attention. I said, what would happen if you started thinking? When I put on tefillin, I'm literally tying myself to Hashem. I'm tying my actions, my heart, and my mind to Hashem.

28:35 It'll change your tefillin. Many years ago in yeshiva, there was a guy I'll never forget. I asked him about his religious levels of observance. You know what he said to me? I wrap the straps. It was such a painful line. You wrap straps. Some people put on tefillin. This guy was wrapping straps. He was fulfilling his obligation, but he was missing the karpun. He was missing the nedava. He was missing the fact that he wanted to. He was checking the box. Some people keep Shabbos. They don't do any malacha. Other people have oneg Shabbos. They have real delight in Shabbos. They love Shabbos, not just because it's good for family time. They love Shabbos because they say that's my day of just me and Hashem. I don't have to do anything on Shabbos. I just have to be. My brother has this line. He got it from somewhere else. Six days a week, we're a human doing. On Shabbos, we're a human being.

29:28 It's a good line. But how many people are just staying off their phones on Shabbos? It's a crazy thing. Somehow, the way that we teach Yiddishkeit today, something got lost in translation. Today, we teach all the halachos. We do a great job of teaching halachos. You go to any Beis Yaakov, and they have all these amazing halacha curriculums. But somehow we didn't keep up with the other half of the equation Teaching why we're doing things, how this connects us to Hashem. If we don't know that this is connecting us to Hashem, why would we want to do it? It's a great line I saw many years ago. Somebody said, "we have to teach our kids the halachos of Shabbos," and he's right. But somebody responded to him. Teaching the halachos of Shabbos. Without teaching the majesty of Shabbos is like showing someone the menu without letting them taste the food.

30:23 The menu is not delicious. The food is. You could teach all the halacha in the world, but if you don't want to, it doesn't mean anything. I'll tell you a bad story about myself. You're not allowed to say lashon hara about yourself, but really, I think this is the toelis because it's a great chinuch lesson. When I was a kid, I was in a certain high school and I didn't like davening. Some of you have had this experience. I opened up a siddur. I didn't like saying the words of the siddur. It felt boring. It felt repetitive. I didn't understand what I was doing. So what does a boy do when he doesn't like davening? He talks to the guy next to him. So one of the rebbeim in yeshiva was a very sweet man. He wanted to give me mussar, but he wanted to do it in a gentle way. So what did he do? He took out a sefer on davening, and he came to me in the middle of davening and he showed me. This time during davening, when you're talking I just want you to know that it's usher to talk during this time.

31:13 So I started laughing in his face. I was in eleventh grade. I was cracking up in his face. And he's like, "What's so funny?" I'm like, "You think I don't know the halacha?" Show me a sefer that says why I should daven. You're telling me that it's usher to talk during davening now. I know that it's usher to talk during davening. I went to yeshiva. I know the halacha. I don't care about davening. Do you think I'm going to be inspired to daven just because you opened up a halacha sefer? I was wrong, on two levels. One, even if you don't want to daven, you should daven. That's your obligation. But the level that I was right on is what, in a very immature way, I was communicating to that rebbe, and what I wish I would have said differently, obviously, because it was klutzbedik. What I wish I would have said is, show me how to connect to Hashem during davening. This way, I'll want to daven, and I won't want to talk. Everyone says all the halachos of what you're not allowed to say because it's lashon hara. How many times have we ever heard a she'er on the haftorah kamocha? How could you say lashon hara? Don't you love your brother? Don't you love your sister? All we do is we teach the halachos, but we don't spend nearly enough time teaching the love.

32:24 This is the beginning of vayikra. There's three stages in our relationship to Hashem. Bereshis—that's dating. It's the beginning of our relationship with Hashem. This is all the people that dated Hashem. Avram, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, Moshe. Not Moshe. That was still Shmos. Then Shmos came, and we decided to get married. Marriage is beautiful. Shmos, Matan Torah, building the Mishkan. We literally got married. We built a home. Step three is Va'yikra. Va'yikra means to be called. Now it's not just a question of getting married and building a home. It's participating in a relationship. You want to participate in a relationship? Adam ki yakriv mikhem. It's not enough to give gifts. It's not enough to fulfill your obligations. They have to be your gifts. You have to give of yourself. That's what our Kadosh Baruch Hu is looking for, and frankly, that's what we're looking for. The Gemara says, 'Rachmano li b'abayi.' What does Hashem want? He wants our hearts. And what do we want to give to Hashem? We want to give our hearts. We know that the reason we're not inspired is because we're not giving our hearts. Yeratzom ne'avinu shabashamayim. Be Hashem's will that we be zeicha this year and especially this Purim. To really celebrate Purim in a way that we're giving all of ourselves to Hashem, we block out the das and give our entire hearts to our Kadosh Baruch.