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I want to start tonight by talking about three levels of hakarasatov. The first level of hakarasatov is what I'll call hakarasatov that impacts the one who's being makirtof. Then I want to talk about hakarasatov where people perhaps have. An impure motivation And then finally, I want to talk about people. If we can have a karasatov to people who have not just an impure motivation But a negative motivation. There's a lot of midrashay chazal on this issue. Yaakov Avinu sends Yosef to check on his brothers. If you look carefully at the pesukim, that's when Yosef ended up getting sold down to Mitzrayim. If you look carefully at the pesukim It's not exactly what Yaakov Avinu said. What did Yaakov Avinu say? He told Yosef I want you to go check on your brothers and the sheep. And the sheep. Why does Yaakov Avinu? Want Yosef HaTzaddik to go check on the sheep.
Sirkheim Shmulevitz says that Yaakov Avinu had akaras atov to sheep. In akaras atov to sheep, he made his livelihood off being a shepherd. In the house of Lavan, Yaakov Avinu became a shepherd. Yaakov Avinu had akaras atov to sheep. Moshe Rabenu. Moshe Rabenu was told by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, "You're going to bring the makos." Arna Cohen is going to be the one to actually put his staff to hit the water. And then the water will turn to blood. It'll be Arna Cohen that puts his staff in the sand that brings about the lice. Why was it that Moshe Rabenu couldn't hit the water? Why was it that Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't hit the sand? We all know what the Chazal say. Hakaras Atov. Moshe Rabbeinu could not strike the water because the water saved him when he was a baby. The sand saved him when he buried the Mitzri.
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So it's clear from Chazal that Chazal saw, and we'll try to develop this concept. It's clear from Chazal that the notion of Hakaras Atov is not a function of. The person who's receiving hakaras hatov, because in the case of sheep, in the case of water, in the case of dirt There is no hakaras hatov that can be experienced by an inanimate object. Rather, it's clear from Chazal that a person must be a person to be an Eved Hashem. A person must be someone who expresses hakaras hatov. And I'll share with you. There's an unbelievable medrash. The medrash says that someone who's not makir tov cannot be mekabel on themselves all malchus shamayim. We have to understand why that is. There's an amazing story. It's a story I grew up with. I don't know if it's a story that you grow up with, so I'll share it with you.
Have you girls heard of Rav Gustman? Rav Gustman was one of the world's leading talmidei chachamim. By the time he was 18 years old. He sat on the bezdin of Rav Chaim Ozer Grozensky. If you heard of Rav Chaim Ozer was the gadol hador in Lithuanian Jewry, and he's to sit on the bezdin of Rav Chaim Ozer Grozensky at 18 years old. Rav Gustman was an unbelievable genius. Rav Gushman used to give shir for many hours. He would give shir in kol Torah kulo. He was a tremendous talmudachem. He was also a very sensitive person. So the talmidim used to wonder why Rav Gushman, who was a world-class talmudachem, and who was a tremendous masmid They would see that Rav Gushman had a garden. And he would tend to the flowers in his garden. It's not exactly what you expect. Could you imagine going to Rav Chaim Kaniewski and Bene Brak And Rav Chaim who wakes up at three o'clock in the morning to finish Shas Bavli, Yerushalmi, Shulchan Aruch, Rambam, Tanach every single year? Could you imagine if you came to Rav Chaim and you saw him watering the roses?
Hard to imagine. So finally, one of the Talmidim got up the courage to ask Rav Gusman, "What's with the gardening?" So Rav Gusman explained. That he ran away from the Nazis. And Rv Guzman during the war He lived with a group of partisans in the forest. You girls know what the partisans were. The partisans were people who hid from the Nazis, and they would do whatever they could to sabotage the Nazis. And Rv Guzman was with these partisans in the forest. And Rv Guzman lived off of the vegetation in the forest. In fact, he told the story. That one time, Rav Gushman was walking in the forest with Rav Chaim Ozer, and they were talking and learning. And out of nowhere Rav Chaim Ozer started pointing out to Rav Gushman "This plant can be eaten, but this plant can't be eaten because it's poisonous. This mushroom can be eaten, this mushroom can't be eaten." And Rav Gushman remembers that he would say that he remembered wondering why Rav Chaim was going on this tangent and automatic and just like randomly talking about what can and cannot be eaten in the forest. And then it came back later when he was actually in the forest hiding from the Nazis. That's how he survived.
And Ruv Gushman said that he would water the plants every single day. Hakaras atov to the plants. Again, the notion of hakaras atov to an inanimate object. The Torah sees it as a prime value. A person should be a person who's makir tov. Why that is and what's required to get there, we'll discuss. But we have to start off with the basic hanacha. To be a makir tov, to be able to recognize the good that something or someone has done for us, is absolutely essential. That's level one. Level two is a little bit more complex. Suppose a person is not trying to hurt us. But suppose a person has motivation that's not necessarily in our best interest, but they do a good thing for us. Do we have to have akharas atov to them? What would be an example of this in the Torah? Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes to Moshe Rabbeinu and he gives him a shlichus.
Go to Mitzrayim. Get your people free. Except Moshe Rabbeinu does not listen to Hakadosh Baruch Hu right away. What does Moshe Rabenu do first? Anybody remember? Again, it's so hard because we don't necessarily Read these things inside. We should take the time to read them. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu imagined girls, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu came to us And he said, "Go do this. Would you stop off and do anything else first? No. Of course not." And if Moshe Rabenu does, then it must mean that it was essential that Moshe Rabenu could not fulfill his shlichus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu until he did this thing first. So what does Moshe Rabbeinu do? And he goes. What does he do first before he goes to Parol? He goes to his father-in-law Yisro to ask permission to say, "I was told by Hakadosh Baruch Hu that I have to go to Mitzrayim."
Why?" So the Medrash explains that Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hakadosh Baruch Hu,"Of course I'll do your shlichus But first I need to pay my respect to my father in law because he took me in when I had nowhere else to go. There comes along the sifsechayim, R' Chayim Friedlander And he points out as follows: What was Yisro's motivation in taking Moshe Rabbeinu in? First of all What had Moshe Rabbeinu just done? He just saved his daughters. So he was in debt to Moshe Rabbeinu. And secondly, Chazal make it clear why he wanted to take in Moshe Rabbeinu. Because he said. I finally found a good son-in-law. So this was really in Yisro's interest. He was not sitting and thinking. "I have an opportunity to bring in a refugee into my home and to open up my house." He had a selfish interest in mind. Imagine I had over a guy from Eivasseret. Imagine I had him over for Shabbos.
Not because I'm such a balchesed. But because he was one of the good ones, I should build a close kasher with him because I got daughters. This is why I don't have boys over so much. Yisro was not coming from this altruistic perspective of let me take in a refugee. Didn't have borders. He wanted a son-in-law. And yet, says Zeruchaim Friedlander Moshe Rabbeinu felt. Listen to this Moshe Rabenu felt that he could not have the mission of Hakadosh Baruch Hu be fulfilled through him until he went to Yisro. What's the pshat? In stark contrast to Moshe Rabenu Who's the foil for Moshe Rabenu? Girls, remember when you learned literature in high school? Every character has a foil. Remember that? Show you the Who's the foil for Moshe Rabbeinu? Who's the opposite personality of Moshe Rabbeinu in the Torah? Paro. And it's interesting because who is Paro?
Paro embodies the epitome. Of being a kafui tov, where do we see that? What's the very first thing we see about Paro in the Torah? When it came to the story of Moshe Rabbeinu and Shmos He didn't remember Yosef. What does Rashi say? He acted as if Yosef didn't exist. Imagine this: a person comes He saves your entire kingdom. He saves your entire malucha. Without Yosef HaTzaddik, Mitzrayim would have been finished. If the famine had come and they had nothing, the people would have left. Paro's entire malucha came because of Yosef. And then what happened? Not that long afterwards. Who is this Yosef? What have you done for me lately, Jews? And now the Jews are a threat. If Paro embodies being a kafwey tov. Then, in order for Moshe Rabbeinu to succeed in his mission, what does he need to do? He needs to be the ultimate in Hakaras Atov.
Why is that? We're going to answer that question soon. But there's a third dimension. Up until now, we've spoken about Hakaras Atov to inanimate objects that have no intentions. We've spoken about Hakaras Atov to people that have. Not our best interest in mind. It's self-serving, and yet still we see that Moshe Rabbeinu had Akharas Atov. Now we'll talk about a third dimension. Can we have Akharas Atov to people that not only did they not have our interest in mind But they had the opposite. They had a negative interest, and yet what they did served us anyway. And once again we come. To Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu comes And he sees that the daughters of Yisro are being attacked by these shepherds And he saves them. The daughters go to Yisro, and what do they say? Strange language. Ish Mitzri hitsilanu. We were saved by an Egyptian man.
The Medrash takes note of the fact. It's Medrash and Shmos Rabba one thirty-two. The Medrash takes note of the fact that Moshe Rabenu is called an Egyptian. One would not necessarily identify the ultimate prophet in Klal Yisrael as an Egyptian. So the Medrash says an unbelievable thing. Moshe lemahadaver dome. What can this be compared to? It can be compared to a person who is bitten by a lizard. And the person runs down to the river to quickly wash out their wound, making sure that the poison doesn't go in. And while they're at the river, they notice there's a child that's drowning, and because they're at the river, they jump into the river and they save the child. They pull the child to safety, and the child turns to the person and says Thank you for saving me. And the person turns to the child and says, "Don't thank me."
Thank the lizard that bit me. It's to the lizard that you should have akharasatov Because if the lizard had not bitten me, I would not have been in a position to save you. This, as the medrash is what Ish Mitzri Hitzilani means. Moshe Rabenu was having a conversation. This is the subtext. Moshe Rabenu was having a conversation with the daughters of Yisro. They had just finished being saved by Moshe Rabenu, and they turned to Moshe Rabenu and said, "What?" Thank you so much for saving us. "And Moshe Rabenu says to them, 'Don't thank me.' It was Ish Mitzri. It was an Egyptian that saved you. Because had I not seen that Mitzri, that was hurting that Jew. I would never have killed that Mitzri. I would never have been forced to run away, and as a result, I never would have been in a position to save you. So you, the daughters of Yisro, should have akar satov to the Mitzri that was hitting that Jew.
Certainly, the Mitzri that was hitting that Jew. anybody know who that Jew was? Who was the Jew? That bad person. That's correct. Aviram. Dassan and Aviram. In fact, the fight the next day that Moshe Rabbeinu saw was between Dassan and Aviram. If you want to learn more about that, I can explain more another time, but not now. Let's understand this: there's a Mitzri that Mitzri is going to kill a Jew. By the way, the reason the Mitzri is going to kill that Jew is because he wanted to take his wife. So there's a Mitzri who wants to kill a man to take his wife. I think we can all agree these are not the noblest of intentions. And yet Moshe Rabenu says You, the daughters of Yisro Must have akharas atov to that Ishmitzri. That is a wild medrash. Do you girls realize the implications of this medrash?
It means that the daughters of Yisro should have akharas atov. To somebody who is intending to do something terrible. A disclaimer for all of this: it goes without saying Which means it has to be said, it goes without saying that when we talk about akarasatov Primarily What we mean is akarasatov to the rebbeinu shalom. That is davar pshutim admaod. And if I'm not speaking about it, it's because there is a baseline expectation that one will have akarasatov to their rabonu shalom. The question is, can we have akarasatov to their rabonu shalom's shluchim? That's the question. So before we answer that question, before we go back there, I just want to explain why akarasatov is such a central midah, perhaps the central midah To being mekabel all machus shamayim that medrash that we said in the very beginning. Why do we see that it's so central that Chazal obligate us to have a hakaras hatov to an inanimate object, to a person whose motivation may have been self-serving, and even to someone whose motivation was negative?
It goes back to other Marishon. Other Marishon sinned. Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and he says, "What did you do?" And what does other Marishon say? God It's this woman you gave me. What does Rashi say? Adamarishon was a kafui tov. Adamarishon did not express his akharas tov to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for creating a wife for him. At the very first chance he got He said the thing you made for me was bad. To rectify the sin of Adamarishon, what must a person have? He must have hakarasatov. He must have gratitude. Where does gratitude come from? Gratitude comes from a posture of humility. There's a posture. There's two postures. There's a posture of humility, and there's a posture of arrogance. A posture of arrogance does not allow us to appreciate what somebody else has done for us. Because a posture of arrogance is guarded by its very definition. You see, arrogance means that I need to have a self-inflated ego. It means I really don't think very much of myself. For me to recognize another as an arrogant person is very difficult.
And you see that the yisod of arrogance is kochi vaotzem yad. It's me. I did it. It's a fear. If I recognize you, I empower you. I need to hold all of the power. That's why Paro, in his essence, was a kafui tov. Paro, in his essence, was terrified. He was built in a worldview of fear. We must deal intelligently with these Jews. Why? Because they could overtake us. Somebody who has a posture of arrogance, like a Paro, who sees himself as a god, by definition, he lives with fear. Somebody who lives with fear cannot express gratitude. And that's why The number one midah you should be looking for in a husband is a humble person. Because an arrogant man will not be able to recognize the insane amount of work that it takes to be a Jewish mother. And we all need recognition. And so there's a posture of arrogance that exists that I can't see what you did because if I do, it's like you could imagine such a person. He's like, I would say thank you, but then if I say thank you, she's going to have something on me.
You know what I mean? I don't want to recognize that she's dancing because then she'll have something on me. There's a fear that exists. Humble does not mean adol. You know what I mean by that? It's not humble per se to be this person. You know what I mean? Is that not humble. A loud person could also be humble, or at least I hope that's true. Isn't it wonderful to be giving this shiur and to be hearing the music in the background at the same time? Humble does not mean lacking confidence. In fact, I would say that a person who lacks confidence is not humble. Humility is a posture of recognizing that everything comes from the Eibaster. Everything comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Which means that if I'm truly humble, what do I have? If I'm truly humble I know that I have everything that I need, and there is no fear.
There is no fear. So I'm able to recognize that you've done something for me. Which means At its core What is Hakaras Tov? It's a connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In other words, what's the litmus test? We all want to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We can either be humble like Moshe Rabenu or arrogant like Parol. What's the litmus test to see if you're truly humble or if you're in a posture of arrogance? Are you a person who recognizes and expresses gratitude when you have the opportunity? And look how far Chazal took that concept: Hakaras Atov to an inanimate object, Rav Gusman watering the plants; Hakaras Atov to somebody who did not necessarily have your interest at heart, self-serving, and even Hakaras Atov to somebody whose motivation was terrible But Lameisa it ended up in something good. Of course, like the Chovas Halavavo says, that person was only a shliach. The Mitzri was deserving of a karas atov only because a kadosh baruch hu made him the shliach.
Nevertheless We have to have a karas atov Which is why Going back to our original medrash You cannot be makabel all machus shamayim. If you don't have hakarasatov It's not possible. The stories of Gedaily Taira and the hakarasatov that they had, and the extreme length that they went to express their hakarasatov—literally hundreds of stories, thousands of stories. What does it mean for us today? Can we be sophisticated enough to have Hakarasatov to Medina Yisrael? Would like to suggest that again, it goes without saying, but we should say it because we must say these things. Of course We should have Hakarasatov first and foremost, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Anybody who does not recognize the value of what we have is simply not opening their eyes. And if I had to critique Maybe critique is too strong, Eloshem.
Not maybe not. If I had to critique some of today's youth I would say that perhaps some of us have taken this for granted. We grew up. Coming to Eretz Yisrael is not a big deal. The Kotel is like Cinderella's castle at Disney World. Kever Rachel is like the teacups. We come for summers. We go on programs. Mechlelet. We came for our bar and bat mitzvahs. We come for family vacations. We come to visit relatives. It's not a big deal. A couple thousand bucks. You're on a flight. You're here. It's no big deal. It's not like we have to take a boat. My grandparents took a boat to Israel. On the high seas Like with seasickness, that's a real thing. Imagine having to come to your year in Israel on a boat. Quarantine is a joke. What was that? That's a classic seminary question. Maybe I'd come on a boat, but if I could bring four suitcases.
Guys have the same issues, but then they bring meat. It's like a different thing. I'm sure the barbecue was delicious, but it's not Abel's and Heiman hot dogs. You know what I mean? It's when I come back. When I go to America for yeshiva. So I try to chop certain cities and I try to stay away from other cities. My intentions are far from noble. I like to go to Chicago because there's a deli in Chicago called Romanian. So I like to I like You I come back with a suitcase full of Romanian. My kitchen looks like a deli, like salami's hanging down. My I like to go to L. To get Jeffs and Pats. I don't like to go to Memphis. I don't know why. You're not gonna sell me on Memphis. I like the Jews in Memphis. It's not the food. Dallas, they have good barbecue. This is going to take us to a bad place.
I like New York too. Now I'm distracted. Are we really Makatov? Or have we come to think of Israel as a vacation destination? What would our great grandparents have said about such an attitude? What would our great grandparents in Poland in 1933 have said If we could say to them that in 2021 we were going to be sitting in a backyard in Beit Shemesh In Israel Safe? Learning Torah. But I don't know It's like so much more comfortable in America. What would they have said? I know that's a little bit of a harsh mussar, but it's something to hear once in your life. Do we really have akarasatov? Are we just taking it for granted? Maybe push the envelope a little bit further. Do we have akarasatov for the shluchim that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent? And yes There are problems. It's far from a perfect system here.
But I think that if we abstract it If we think about it in an abstract way, we can appreciate that Medina Yisrael also built us roads. That Medina Yisrael. Has some systems, some that have worked less well for us, but some that have worked very well for us. And there are publicly funded schools here. My daughters go to public school. Beis Yakov Public school. I pay seventy shekel a month tuition. Which means that for my daughter's education, for all five of them Gone all the way through twelfth grade. I will pay less for all of them than one year of high school for you. And I wish I could tell you that I moved to Eretz Yisrael only for kedusha sa'arets, but that's a pretty good deal. So there has been a tremendous amount of good that has come from this institution. Baruch Hashem, today we have tens of thousands of Jews learning Torah in Eretz Yisrael under the safety of Medina Yisrael.
Are there problems? For sure. Should we pay attention to those problems? Absolutely. And we should vote with our feet. If we live here If we come en masse And we vote, we participate in the system. We can and we are changing this system. And Baruch Hashem Sometimes the shluchim from the Rebbeinu Shalom are less than pure. This week's haftorah The four mitzorim, the four lepers that brought about the Yeshua. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go look in this week's haftorah. There's no doubt that sometimes Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends shluchim that aren't necessarily pure of heart. But we can And should appreciate. On an abstract level, we can appreciate Ishmitsri Hitzilano. So when we speak about Yom HaAtzmaut I think we can get lost in saying This day. Tazova the day. Forget the day. Sphira, not Sphira. That's not. That's not the issue. That's a technical issue. If you don't want to value the state of Israel today because it's Sfira, if you don't want to play music or any of that, say there. I understand you could have your halachic position.
Halal with a bracha, without a bracha. These are not the issues to me. These are technical issues that draw us away from the hashkafa that we can have. The hashkafa that we can have. Is we can have hakaras hatov. You want to express it now, or if you want to express it after Lag BaOmer. That's a technical issue. The reality is, the Lebavitcher Rebbe was not a fan of Yom HaAtzmaut. You know why? He said we should be celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut on Shavuos because we have to send a message to the world. The world says, 'Listematem, you are stealing Israel.' We should celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut on Shavuos, A good chap. But the point is not to get caught up in the minutia. Should it be today? Should it be a different day? Should I say Hallel with a bracha, without a bracha? If you're fighting about Well, you didn't say Hallel with the bracha, or you said Hallel but you only said it after davening or in davening, or you didn't say Hallel, or you said Tachanun or you didn't say Tachanun.
You and I are not having the same conversation. You're talking about technicalities. I'm talking about something much more important. What is our position when it comes to this unbelievable gift that our Kaddish Baruch Hu gave us? I'll leave you with this thought, and then we'll open it up to questions and answers. Every day in davening, we say 'Vesechazena einenu b'shuv cholotzion berachim.' The simple understanding is Return us to a state of redemption that we should be zocheh to see redemption. But I heard a beautiful pshat. I forget who said it. Return our eyes so that we should be able to see that geula is happening all around us. I don't know if Medina Israel is Reshit Smichat Gulatenu or not. To me, again To get involved in those types of issues takes away from the Hakaras Atov that we can have. I don't like to get caught up in minusha.
But one thing for sure, girls, when I look out my window and I see that Eretz Israel is being built, Baruch Hashem, firecrackers. It wouldn't be a good Yom HaAtzmut year without music in the background and firecrackers in the distance. Girls, you're not going to see it. It's Israeli firecrackers. They don't actually go off. They just make loud noises. When I look out my window and I see them building all of Ramat Bechemesh Gimel Something is happening. And if you don't see that Then you need to have your eyes examined.
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