Ki Atah Imadi: Shmuel, Chinuch, and Pikadon

Topics

• Shmuel as a Me’oreh Halachah
• Uzza and the Consequence of Mishandling the Aron
• The Chasam Sofer on Chinuch
• A Gemara About the Kohanim
• Chinuch, Pikadon, and Nidon Al Shem Sofo
• The Responsibility of Chinuch
• Putting in Tears, Koiches, and Sweat
• The Me’il of Shmuel
• What the Medrash Means by the Me’il
• Being Buried with What One Lived For
• Chana, the Child, and the Emphasis on a Naar
• The Emphasis of "Vahanar Na’ar"
• The Language of "Asher Sha’alti Me’imo"
• וַיִּתֶּן ה' לִי שֵׁלָה
• וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה' כָּל הַיָּמִים
• Hisboydedus and the Din of a Pikadon
• Rashi on Chana’s Tefillah
• The Yesod of Shomrim and a Pikadon
• The Eibishter’s Pikadon
• A Story About Emunah and a Pasuk
• Ki Ati Imadi and Ba’alav Imo
• A Source in the Chida
• Hashleich Al Hashem Yehavcha
• The Pashut Shomrim
• Returning to the Rebbe
• Davuk with the Eibishter

Transcript

# Shmuel as a Me’oreh Halachah

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.

To learn and to explain the story of Shmuel at the end of Shmuel Aleph, perek aleph: that Shmuel was a me’oreh halachah lifnei rabboi, and that Chana came to defend him and to be metzaref, to beg by Eli that Eli shouldn’t give him misa, and Chana’s plea was accepted. We spoke many yesodos in the inyan of chinuch, many nekudos. I’d like to quickly chazer those nekudos, because we didn’t get a chance at the end of the shiur last week to go back and read it in the pesukim. So we’ll quickly go through a few of the nekudos that we mentioned, and then we’ll bring it back to the pesukim.

We all know the story, like we mentioned last week. Shmuel was a me’oreh halachah lifnei rabboi. As soon as he walked into the Mishkan, he said that shechitah is k’sheirah b’zar. They were looking for a kohen; he said, “We don’t need a kohen. Shechitah is k’sheirah b’zar.” And Eli, l’choirah, wants to kill him, even though it’s not clear in the pesukim, but the Gemara says this in lamed aleph, chayav misa. He was chayav misa.

We spoke that the mefarshim ask: he was two years old. So how is it shayach that he should be mechuyav misa? That was the question we began the shiur with last week. And though the Alshich seems to learn that he was much older, because of this kashya, he says it’s impossible that he knew so much. How would a child of two know shechitah k’sheirah b’zar? Mimaileh he learns that he was much older. But peshuto shel mikra, the midrashim, and the Maharsha seem to learn clearly that he was two years old, and the kashya is: so why is he mechuyav misa?

So we addressed this shaylah last week, and we mentioned that the pshat is that it wasn’t a question that he was mechuyav misa. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was that Eli felt that this was not Shmuel, that Shmuel’s asid, like we pointed out beautifully, the Shmuel that they were looking forward to for so many years, the nevuah that there’ll be a Shmuel—Eli ta’ined, it’s not this child. It can’t be, because a chatzuf, a chutzpenyak, what good could come from a chutzpenyak?

The truth is, we mentioned this a little bit last week. I want to speak out to you an interesting Chasam Sofer, and the Chasam Sofer addresses the shaylah, and he says a very big chiddush. The Chasam Sofer is in a few places. The b’kitzur of the whole shtikel of the Chasam Sofer, which is really noge’a more to time constraints, we’ll speak out the kitzur; those who want the arichus can look it up. It’s on the Gemara in Maseches Berachos, but in the drashos, page shin samech ches, he speaks about the kashya: he was only two years old. And he says that me’oreh halachah lifnei rabboi is not maybe a chiyuv misa, but that’s what has to be. It can’t be otherwise. It’s not that he is mechuyav that Eli would go into a beis din and give him misa. But this is the result.

It’s like eating, he says, sam hamaves. Someone eats poison; you’re not mechuyav misa. Even though that’s a nice she’eilah—hakol bidei Shamayim—so why, if a person eats poison, does he die? Many Acharonim want to say because he put himself in a matzav of sakana, he’s mechuyav misa. He was over on the issur of, “ונשמרתם לנפשותיכם.” You have to be shomer your nefesh. “ושמרתם לנפשותיכם,” so you’re chayav misa. But peshuto, it’s a result. It’s a result. And the Chasam Sofer learns like this. He says that the pshat is: ay, there’s no ones l’katan, ela kavanah, כי האומר הלכה אינו מתכוין. Ela k’ochel sam hamaves u’meis me’eileha. He dies me’eileha.

And we find this concept of misa in many places. He speaks about, we find by Nadav and Avihu—he doesn’t bring it here, but he brings it in Berachos—Nadav and Avihu, me’orei halachah, they were chayav misa. Also the same thing: they all of a sudden die, vayamusu. It’s not a chiyuv misa. Once, in the teshuvos of Shevus Yaakov, Meishi writes that Uza—

# Uzza and the Consequence of Mishandling the Aron

He held on to the aron when they were carrying the aron, and it slipped. So the pasuk tells us that Uzza died on the spot. Fragt the Rosh Yeshiva zatzal: what chiyuv misa was there? The Gemara says that he was over on *ha’aron nosei es nosav*. He should have known that the aron carries itself, and not that you carry the aron. Tell me, which chiyuv? Which pasuk in the Torah says this? For what was he chayav misa? Tracht a kasha. Who is the tzaddik uzeh? Good, he made a mistake. Okay, good.

The Rosh Yeshiva zatzal says the same yesod. R’ Moshe, in a teshuva, says this yesod as well, the same as the Chasam Sofer: sometimes it is not that you are chayav misa, but sometimes it is simply a result. If this is what a person does, such a thing has a consequence. It is like eating poison. *Meira halacha bifnei rabbo.* The Chasam Sofer calls it eating poison. Interesting. When you eat poison, you cannot come with excuses: I didn’t know, I’m sorry, I’m a shogeg, I’m a katan—what’s the nafka mina? Imagine a guy comes into the emergency room and tells the doctor, “I’m a katan.” *Vos vilstu fun mir?* The teretz is, in Mishneh Geva it says that a katan is a result, an effect, cause and effect. And the cause and effect of *meira halacha bifnei rabbo* means *ben mavet*. A maaseh. Good.

## The Chasam Sofer on Chinuch

Al kol panim, yes, koach is one of the raayos, but we do not want to miss the whole charum now, because I want to get back to the pesukim. Al kol panim, zogt der Chasam Sofer a chiddush nifla. So then what was her excuse? How did she fake it? How did she excuse herself? If it is like eating poison, so kenst kumen in beis din, the doctor, *vifel du vilst*. Der mama bett zich baym doctor. Vos hot er gezogt? Zogt der a meiredige chiddush, and the truth is we spoke about this last week, and that is why I am saying over the Chasam Sofer, and I will say it fast because I want to get back to the pesukim, and I want to go a little bit vayter in the pesukim.

Zogt der chiddush nifla: *shehachisaron in chinuch*, like we spoke last week, that was the real problem over here. Sof kol sof, at the end of the day he was a katan, un dos kumt in heylin, vi me zogt. A kid is a kid. A kid, sach hakol, mit der richtige chinuch, kenen oysheilen. We can fix the whole *me’orei halacha chutz mi*—we canes farrichten, yeah? Zogt der Chasam Sofer, vos iz do in chinuch, un vos iz der pshat? The machlokes is whether chinuch is by the av or by the em. It is a shaylah. So he brings from the poskim that when the father is not there, then the chinuch turns to the mother. Un dos hot zi getainet, the tatte nit do, *koneh b’nichdo*. Un oy ich bin do, zi meint, I accept the chinuch. It is like we spoke last week, a meile zogt er, that is the pshat: *ani ishah nitzaves*. When I went, *v’shilti laShem*, what right did I have to give him to the Eibishter? Ich bin baal habos. Ikumt tzu baal habos az a kind, my child that is born to me, I give him back to the Eibishter—the teretz is chinuch, and you see the Eibishter was maskim with me, because the Eibishter gave me the child. V’al ich em tzugezogt that I will be mechanech him and I will bring him into the Mishkan, un der redenish leileh, matmaskin geven. The Rabbeinu Shleim could have said, What? Du bist baal habos? Who gave you the right to give back to the Mishkan? The teretz is, that is why the pasuk ends off. You hear? The Rabbeinu Shleim answered my tefillah. Memeila, *v’shilti*, right, *ela nareses palalti, vayiten Hashem li es shelosi*. So you see that there was a din chinuch. I had a din chinuch. I am making it simple; this sefer is longer. He has a kashya with the *pirushim yisurim*, but *chaveisai, nachamal*.

## A Gemara About the Kohanim

No, said, *eilem*, taf a bisl a klap mit a finger. You know, I know the clap with the finger. It is not my chiddush. It is a Gemara. The Gemara says that when the kohanim fell asleep in the Beis Hamikdash, *miflek makeh zayin betzreida*, they used to go like this, no? So mad if the kohanim fall asleep in the Beis Hamikdash. No, in that part we are not going. The Gemara tells me that they went and they burnt their clothing and they got patched us at that time. I am not warning in advance; that is why I do not go. But al kol panim, dos, yeah, *makeh betzreida*, zet men doch, the Kohen Gadol flicked his cane, no? ... yeah, ...

# Chinuch, Pikadon, and Nidon Al Shem Sofo

The Gemara in Taanis. So we can get back to the pesukim. What do we have with the big yesod? That the vikuach, like we spoke last week, was: is there hope for Shmuel?

Chinuch. See my achrayus. Chinuch, the mama, I’ll take care of the achrayus of the chinuch, and he’ll, be’ezras Hashem, come out—you’ll see—a good English.

I want to tell you one hosafah. It is interesting. By the Ben Sorer UMoreh, which is also nidon al shem sofo, very much like what we are learning here, that Shmuel, even though he was a katan, was nidon al shem sofo, that there was no future—how could it be that... when the teretz is... The Ben Sorer UMoreh is al shem sofo. But there is a second כלל: ותפסו בו אביו ואמו. The mama and the tata have to come and bring him. Actually, the pshat is that the parents give up hope. The Gemara states that such a thing never happens with a Ben Sorer UMoreh, because which father and mother is going to come and bring their child? A parent always thinks, my kind, I don’t give up hope. So the nidon al shem sofo is when the parents already give up hope too.

That is the nidon al shem sofo. It is now when the parents are already saying, there is not much we could do here. So Chana is saying there is what we could do here. There is something. Let’s devach.

# The Responsibility of Chinuch

We also spoke another shaila: if you are mechuyav misa, right, how could it be that she ta’anes a chayis? And like we said, the teretz is that she is ta’anes she’ll be mechanech. We spoke last week that the yesodos of chinuch are in these pesukim, because that is what Chana is telling Eli: I take achrayus for the chinuch.

So we spoke that what is the achrayus of chinuch? The first thing is that the parents have to know that they have a pikadon. The Eibishter gave it to you, and you have to protect it. Azoi a pikadon, something that is given to you to watch. If you take a look in pasuk chaf, that is why Chana called Shmuel what she called him. Why is his name Shmuel? The pasuk: וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן, וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמוֹ שְׁמוּאֵל, כִּי מֵה׳... It is clear. Chana understands achrayus.

So pashut, the pshat is because she knows she wasn’t supposed to get it. So when you can’t get something, you borrow it. In America, when you borrow something, sometimes the kavana is never to give it back, right? What is called borrowing, bakol panim. Chana understood. Yes, it is borrowed. And the taych that we are saying is that she understood that every kind, every child that is given to a parent, is shiltif.

# Putting in Tears, Koiches, and Sweat

I want to show you something interesting. We also spoke that besides understanding the achrayus, the pikadon that you have, you also have to put in tears and koiches and sweat. Let me show you something peladik. Shmuel had an interesting coat. Does anybody know about the coat of Shmuel? You look later in Perek Beis, pasuk yud tes: וּמְעִיל קָטֹן תַּעֲשֶׂה לּוֹ אִמּוֹ, וְהָעֲלָתָה לוֹ יָמִים יָמִימָה. Every year he grew—you know, listen, Shmuel, you need new clothing every semester, right? So, yeder yom, yamim yamimah, as they learned in bais medrash, yeder yar, hat zi gemacht, nacha mil. Alein genait. She didn’t go to the store, farshtehst, and buy stock, bring me from the stock, from the boxes, a size five. That is not what she did. Alein genait, alein gemacht, mi’il katan asah lo, ta’aseh lo imo. I want to tell you something about—

# The Me’il of Shmuel

This coat. You want to hear something about this coat? There is a peldike Yalkut, a peldike Medrash. Later on, Shaul is going to call Shmuel from the grave, in perek chaf-ches, pasuk yud-daled. The ov, through kishuf, brings Shmuel, and the pasuk says, *shetei vatomer*—she tells Shaul, excuse me, *vatomer ish zaken oleh*. What do I see? An old man is coming up. *V’hu oteh meil*—he is wearing a me’il. *Tachtan mantel.* Yes, *tachtan mantel*. *Velchen mantel tragt er?* Is he counting? A bekeshe? Ah, good. You said it, I didn’t say it. I’m not taking a chayis for this one, okay?

*Me’il katan*—what is a *me’il katan*? What is going on here? A me’il from Gan Eden? He comes from Gan Eden with a *me’il katan*? *Veyada*, says the pasuk, she knew right away because of the *me’il katan*, *ki Shmuel hu*. So, Shmuel. Good. What is the pshat? How did she know? Because she saw the mantel. Okay, you got me to the bekeshes. There are different colors; different rebbes wear different bekeshes, so she knew from the type. Good, thank you for the mashal and the nimshal, shey.

## What the Medrash Means by the Me’il

But how did she see that it was Shmuel? What lies in the pasuk, in the Yalkut, in the Medrash? *Tana, hameil boi gadol, boi nikbar, boi halah.* This is the *me’il katan* that his mother made for him, this pasuk. And the me’il carried a whole life. He was buried with this me’il, and he comes back from Olam Haba with this me’il. What is the me’il? *Yaakov Shmuel, remez kuf lamed tes.* Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, zicher tzaddik livrachah, has a whole mahalach on this. It is more or less the same as what we are saying, but with a shinui.

I wanted to say it פשוט, chaveirim. Look at Reb Chaim—Reb Chaim says a deep insight there. *Al derech dvarav*, we can say it simply. You know what this me’il was? It represented the mammes, the actual avodah, her hard work, her sweat, her tears. The me’il represented that he took his mother with him wherever he went; he took the *hismaschus halev*, the *mesiras nefesh* of the mother. His mother’s chinuch he took with him all his life, and that made him who he was. *Boi gadol, boi nikbar, boi olah.*

Because that is what I explained to you last week: the yesod of a mensch is *der avanye*, the shvitz, the koiches of the mother and the father, how much koiches one puts in. That is the mensch. That creates gadlus. Gadlus comes from the mother’s mesiras nefesh. She herself bent over and made this.

Shmuel understood this, so he wears it all his life, and he is buried with it. Gedolei Yisrael were buried with the things for which they were moser nefesh. There is a famous picture of the Chofetz Chaim, with a rayzayn betel. What is lying on his bed? Sefarim, the Mishnah Berurah. People are buried with what they lived for.

## Being Buried with What One Lived For

I began learning Hilchos Niddah because I was moved by a story. I was גרעד in yeshiva; I learned only lomdishes zachn all my life, in the beginning years. Okay, good. That was it. I heard that the Shevet HaLevi, Rav Wosner, said he wants to be buried with the mareh, toisen, toisen, toisen, the mareh—what was matir, what day and night, as David HaMelech said, וידעו מלחלך בדם בשיליאות כדי לטהר אישה לבעלה. He wants to be buried with it. When I heard that, I got moved. I got moved by it. Something about a person who devotes his whole life, and he realizes that this is what he lived for—he wants to be buried with it.

# Chana, the Child, and the Emphasis on a Naar

This moved me to learn Hilchos Niddah, but this is the pasuk here. Shmuel looks at the milkatn; he wore it all his life. Now I don’t know what size he wore, das neisech. Lechaireh, chmein, which milkatn did he... Was it from the beginning yet? Ale lach. That was just a joke, ich veis nisht.

Okay, al kol panim, rabosai, what do we have? We have a big yesod. First of all, Chana farshteit a chayis fun pikadon. Second, we see the milkatn, that she understood the koiches that you have to put in, and that the child needs to take this with him; he has to remember it all his life.

We also spoke: is it birchas tzaddikim or is it tefilas ha’eim? Which one is it, right? We learned from the Maharshal last week that the Maharshal says that Chana was promised another child by Eli: I’ll take this one and then I’ll give you a different one. She says, no, ani el hanaar hazeh hispalalti. I davened for this one, zogt the Maharshal. It’s more important to me; it’s better for me. Ich vil der kinvas yedamit yoiser, more than the child that you’re promising me that will be a gadol, guter.

So we clarified: maybe birchas tzaddikim is not the mahalach how you get good children, and we went back and forth with this. Now let’s go back to all the pesukim, rabosai, and then we’re going to have a hosafah. Vos dervos is do is going to co-work away dancing. Hasheinah hosafah in the pesukim, a yesod, a pshat, kukt arayn, rabosai, in the pesukim, and we learn shteit in pasuk.

## The Emphasis of "Vahanar Na’ar"

Vataleihu imo, pasuk chaf-daled, vataleihu imo. Chana takes the child with her, and she brings korbanos. Vahanar na’ar. No’ar. Vos vil men, the kind is a yingele. Vos vil men? What’s the hadgasha? What’s the emphasis, vahanar na’ar? Zogt Rashi, zogt the Metzudas. Vahanar na’ar, ratzei leimar. The Metzudas is bothered by the question. Hanar hayah yedenu na’ar katan verach. Na’ar means he was really a young child, I mean a little baby. Na’ar, verach, he’s mamash a klein kind.

And the chiddush is, vim kol ze lo nimna melavio ka’asher gam altoi. And af al pi kein, she didn’t have rachmanus. How many times do we have rachmanus? It’s very cold outside, so the bus... you can wake up a little later. Missed place, rachmanus, rabbeisai. Maybe, chveis. I’m shuldig, but also don’t think I’m not shuldig. I do the same thing. Okay, good. My kid, it’s cold, and I tell him, okay, you’re going an hour later to yeshiva and I’ll take... I do the same thing. I get it.

Bal korchanim, this is what the pasuk is trying to say, vahanar na’ar, af al pi kein. She brought him, she brought him. It got rachmanus of her. Obefshar, rabbeisai, the kezogin, az der pshat, vahanar na’ar, the pasuk wants to say a chiddush, vahanar na’ar. He was still subject to chinuch, kanoich l’naar al pi darko, because that was the shakla vetarya. The discussion: is he chayiv? What’s his asid? Vana naar. He’s still impressionable. He’s still a child. Vana naar is the chakin.

The pasuk is, and you notice the pasuk, it keeps on madgish, keeps on emphasizing, vayaviu es hanaar el Eli. Pasuk chaf-hei, pasuk chaf-vav, vayehi... pasuk chaf-zayin, el hanaar hazeh hispalalti. Naar, naar, naar. Vifeln davka onder fun a naar. At some point Shmuel should get insulted. Okay, genug, she’gehelpt fun a naar. She’gehelpt. Vifeln davka madgish zayn dem naar.

Und der pshat is, naar, harui lechinuch. The pasuk wants to be madgish: this is a question about a naar. What are you doing? A naar is a... afilu a yingele, afilu a klein kind. The teretz is, Chana zogt, ich bin achrayev zayn chinuch, el hanaar hazeh hispalalti. Like I told you, that’s what she says to Eli: don’t kill him, el hanaar hazeh hispalalti tefillah, like we spoke.

## The Language of "Asher Sha’alti Me’imo"

Next part of the pasuk, vayiten Hashem li es she’eilasi, asher sha’alti me’imo. It’s a chibur kelashon. What’s asher sha’alti me’imo? Vayiten Hashem, התפללתי.

# וַיִּתֶּן ה' לִי שֵׁלָה

וַיִּתֶּן ה' לִי שֵׁלָה. Rabosai, what does the pasuk mean? The Rishonim ask this, and they say exactly what we said last week: there are two different nuschos of she’eilah. If you look at the Metzudas, there is a great deal of lashon she’eilah here. The first one is she’eilah in the sense of a request. The second is, אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי — borrowed. Marikah, borrowed from the Eibishter, a pikadon.

אֶל הַנַּעַר הַזֶּה הִתְפַּלָּלְתִּי, וַיִּתֵּן לִי ה' אֶת שְׁאֵלָתִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵעִמּוֹ. She’eilah — borrowed from Him. Marikah, the pshat is that it became clear that she was saying: I understand the chinuch, I took him from them, and I borrowed him.

# וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה' כָּל הַיָּמִים

The next part of the pasuk says, וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה' כָּל הַיָּמִים. What is this? Now, rabosai, listen carefully — מ’גייט רעדן שיינע רייד. This is where you’re going to have to start dancing, okay? What does it mean, וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה' כָּל הַיָּמִים? How is that an excuse for Shmuel’s behavior, or a plea on Chana’s part that Eli should not be mechayev misa, or, at the very least, as the Chasam Sofer says, that he should not die anyway?

We spoke last week quickly because we had to finish. There are several inyanim in chinuch and the hatzlacha of a child. The first thing is that the child has to know that there is only one tzek. Forgive me for the Yiddish; it is my mama loshon. Chane zogt ach mama loshon. It’s all about the mama. You have to excuse me with the Yiddish.

A tzek, rabosai, means: I have one goal in my life for my child. Many times children do not remain bnei Torah. You know where it comes from? Because somewhere in the chinuch of the parent — and again, I do not blame, because there are many things that go into chinuch, and it can go wrong in many ways, and a lot of it is siyata diShmaya, neshamos. I understand. I’m not going there. But sometimes, when the child does not see that by the parents there is only one thing, this is my goal, I do not have other goals. When you start hearing the parents say, no, I’m a doctor, chveizvas, I’m a ... mitayentz... vadik vil a shaneidim a ben Torah, yes — there lies the subliminal message.

What Chana was saying is: I have one clear, focused goal. וְגַם הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה' כָּל הַיָּמִים. By me, there is one kav, one route. There is only one route he can take: tzricht zich m’bainishlo. That’s it. This is it. And me’meyla, the chinuch is very clear in my home. It is going to be a very clear message from the parents: וְגַם הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה'. This is it. There is nothing else.

A second pshat: you have to give him treibishte, to the full walls of the beis medrash, rabosai, as a kind, breitzach in the gassen, whatever the reasons are. Mayas haben v’lo yechteh. What do you expect? You need to protect the child. You need to be able to seclude him. And seclusion can mean many things. It means, first of all, not in the street, and it can mean in the home too, because a person could bring the whole street back into the house.

Rabosai, we live in a dor where there was a time when the house was protected. Yetzi gevangen, kol dichfin yeisei vayeichol — it’s an open house. It gives a whole new meaning to an open house. You know what they mean to say? Hachnasas orchim. That’s all they mean. They don’t mean an open house. Yeder mishagasn, yeder chveiz, vilde zach can come into a house.

הִשְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ לַה'. I’m not keeping him home; I’m quickly bringing him back to the beis medrash. And both pshatim we can put into the lashon of the Metzudas. Let’s take a look at the lashon of the Metzudas.

# Hisboydedus and the Din of a Pikadon

Sagt, די מצוה is David. Yehert. Vegam, to say, gam b’eis ha-tefillah, nadarti oz laShem. Nu, read it with me: *lehisboyded tamid b’avodasoi*. Hisboydedus.

What does that mean? Strictly, this word, *hisboyded*, means to be secluded. Is that the right word in English? Secluded. Secluded. Okay, good. That is basic developed English. Good. Secluded. All right? *Hisboyded* can mean focused. That is, no, my eintzige zach, I don’t want to hear anything else. Well, *hisboyded* really means secluded. Yetz chaveisai, you’re getting the prize, the dessert at the end of the shiur. Okay?

## Rashi on Chana’s Tefillah

Why do we read Rashi’s pshat? We learned that this was the mitzvah’s pshat, that the Eibishter—she is telling the Eibishter, I gave him *hisboyded*, I secluded him for avodas Hashem. Zogt Rashi a chidush nifla. Let’s learn the Rashi.

*Hu sho’el*—what does that mean? *Ki loimar*, zogt Chana, *ein atah rishai l’onsho*. You can’t punish him. Why not? She is trying to save him. You can’t punish him. Why not? Zogt Rashi: *HaKadosh Baruch Hu*, who *naseh olov sho’el*. *Meira pikadon*, *meira dika veizeh*, ya pikadon. You gave me a pikadon. Give it right back to you. And mimeila the pikadon is by you. So, Eli, what, you want to take away the Eibishter’s chiyuv to return? Haflahfelah. You held a chaner, you held, you held. Meira dika zach.

She tainet tzriches, as if she was mamash a yeshiva bochur. She tainet *perech kamafkid*. Vos is mit *perech kamafkid*? If someone is mafkid, so I gave you a pikadon with the Ribono Shel Olam. He shielded, I lent it to you, and you are mechuyav to return it to me. U’meileh, Eli, you can’t touch it, but you’re taking away the Ribono Shel Olam’s chiyuv shomrim. Haflahfelah.

## The Yesod of Shomrim and a Pikadon

Let’s talk about this inyan, this yesod of shomrim, as the Ribono Shel Olam is a shomer, as if we give a pikadon to the Borei Olam. What does it mean? Every morning we say a pasuk: *Beyadcha afkid ruchi, b’eis אישן ואעירה*. What does *beyadcha afkid* mean? *Afkid*—the lashon of pikadon, no? The Ribono Shel Olam becomes a baal mafkid, the Ribono Shel Olam becomes a shomer. Let’s talk about it.

There is a meiredige Zohar. The Zohar is in Bamidbar, parshas Naso, os mem-beis: *U’bar nash boi lakadomo l’mifkad beyadi nafshei b’pikdono*. A person must return his neshama as a pikadon to the Eibishter. The taich on the pasuk, *בְּיָדְךָ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי, פָּדִיתָ אוֹתִי ה' אֵל אֱמֶת*, is to give back your neshama to the Ribono Shel Olam as a pikadon. And he stresses, he continues the Zohar: *Ki pikadon d’over nash*. Az evi, you give a pikadon to a person, *d’yahiv pikdon l’achora*. Az evi, you gave me, I give it back to you as a pikadon. This is exactly what is happening with the neshama.

Ah, says the Zohar, the Ribono Shel Olam can make a cheshbon. I am giving you back the pikadon. You know what you owe me? You give a pikadon by somebody. You owe that guy five million dollars, and instead you give him a parah eh, you give him a few eggs, right? So he comes, he gave you the eggs, *tzricht zoln, muzt tzricht zoln*. I pay your mortgage. What are you talking about, right? No, this is what we look like with the Eibishter. We tell the Eibishter...

# The Eibishter’s Pikadon

You owe the Eibishter unbelievable. Vos kumstu taynes tocheis l’Rabbeinu Shalom? You must pay me back. Must? Can you imagine trying that with a father or mother? The child comes over and says, “Yeah, you must pay me back because I lent you the two dollars.” Must? Give it tzvei freskes from panim. What are you talking about?

I see nobody’s agreeing with me. It’s a heitege davar, okay, a heitege davar. You have to appease the children. Okay, I got it. I got it. Aber gleibt mir, in Europe, if you came ... who supports you? What are you talking about? Now I got everyone to smile. Okay, good.

Af al gav d’ihu chayiv l’gabei, yasim al pikudah. It’s much more than the pikadon. Aber still, lo kaday l’sachta bei. It’s still not kadai for the Eibishter not to return the pikadon. You give a pikadon, the Yid will give it back. The Eibishter gives it back. You’re right. He doesn’t need—He could come and tell you, “I don’t owe you, you owe Me.” Abal pik. Why? Hoyil u’pikdonos mas l’gabei, because sof kol sof you gave it as a pikadon.

V’im yisarev bei. And if, let’s say, there’s a person who doesn’t feel this, doesn’t feel, “I’m giving you a pikadon to the Eibishter,” in the shamayim, eh? Nivdoi kapasrei, gotta check after him. The lav mizera kadisho efshar sheyihyeh bichlal. Hayidchach mishtasek. Hayidchach, Ribono Shel Olam, b’derech apikorus. The lav mibnei me’emunah. This is not from people who have emunah. Pshat, Yidden think this way: the Ribono Shel Olam, it’s Yours, You gave it to me, I’m giving it to You. It’s Your pikadon to watch. Azoi tracht a Yid. Okay.

# A Story About Emunah and a Pasuk

Now let me tell you a little story, and with this we’ll end, because this is going to be the yesod, and we’ll bring it back to the Rashi, and we want you to think about this. Al das mibnei emnusah. The yesod is hadas. I saw in the Chiddah on Kesel Dovid, it says something very interesting, but I want to be magdim to you, like I said, a maaseh, okay?

My son got sick last year. It’s not a chiddush; everybody knows, especially those on the shiur over here. It was an interesting year. It was a difficult year, an interesting year, difficult. Reb Shlomo Miller, Hagaon Reb Shlomo Miller, Rosh Kollel of Toronto, and a rav beis din here in Lakewood now, came to visit me and my son, came to visit us in the house. And he turns to me and my son, both of us, and he says, “I want you to think all the time the pasuk, Gam ki eilech b’gei tzalmaves,” and he made my son repeat, repeat, “Lo ira ra ki Atah imadi, lo ira ra ki Atah imadi,” say it again and again and again and again, all year.

A kachava, when things were difficult, when news came back, which was somewhat scary, ups and downs all year, I kept on reminding my son, a psak. It’s a psak from the Av Beis Din of Lakewood, the gadol, the gadol haposkim. He was maktiber az Remeisha. I hear this from Reb Michel Sherkin. Remeisha, on Rosh Hashanah, paskened of the achshanah toivah. Vibal derah tochter din fun the gadol hador, the posek hador, the mainly his psakim have to be niskabel. So instead of giving him a bracha for a shanah toivah, I gave him a psak, az azol hoben a shanah toivah psak, you know? Paskened of the shanah toivah. Az Remeisha’s a tzaddik, shiurim, shiurim, good.

So I told my son, you have a psak: lo ira ra. The posek hador told, posek here by yosed Lakewood, paskened, lo ira ki Ati imani. Verstehst? I said it so many times that I had fifty different pshatim in what it means. Every time I would say it, another pshat, and pshats like this, pshats like that. So first let’s get the pashut pshat, eh? The oilam is getting excited.

# Ki Ati Imadi and Ba’alav Imo

I don’t know what the time is like. I got it. Okay, so listen carefully.

The simple pshat in “ki ati imadi,” according to Reb Chaim Volozhiner, is that if a person thinks that the Ribono Shel Olam is with him — *ein od milvado* — then, as Reb Chaim Volozhiner says, it is a *segulah bedukah menusah*: nothing can happen to him. He cannot be afraid of anything bad, because “ki ati imadi” — You are with me.

But then the pshat fell into place, and I went with this pshat all year. All year I went with this pshat. The Torah says that if I gave a Yid a *pikadon* to watch, who is mechuyav to watch it? The one to whom you gave the *pikadon*. But what happens if *ba’alav imo*? It is stated in the pasuk that if the baalim is together with the *nifkad*, he is patur. Why is he patur? Because then it is on the baalim *l’shamer*.

You like it, huh? I see the Bnei Torah are smiling here. “Ki atah imadi, ba’alav imo.” You gave me this neshamah, this child, this matziv. Ribono Shel Olam, I can’t watch it. It is out of my hands. *Ba’alav imo* — the baalim is here. It’s Yours. It’s not mine at all. Vos vilstu? Azoi vi Chanah gezogt, *she’eilah tivla Hashem*, parshas Shomrim.

## A Source in the Chida

How did I get this בכלל? Where did I get this Rashi? But I’ll tell you a little mekor. We’re almost done, rabosai. Nacha minut, you’ll thank me afterwards.

In *Kesel David*, the Chida, in parshas Tzav, writes that Yidden could come back to the Eibishter with an excuse, with a petur, if they did not keep the mitzvos one hundred percent the way they should. The Chida says they will be able to make a taina — not stam, not just turning the head, but a real taina. What taina? Parshas Shomrim.

What is parshas Shomrim? The Chida says it beautifully: the Ribono Shel Olam gave us the Torah to watch, and it is our chiyuv to watch the Torah and the mitzvos. But the Ribono Shel Olam has a chiyuv to watch us, so it is *ba’alav imo*, and therefore one is patur. How fitting. It is a Chida.

We can come to the Eibishter and tell Him: *ba’alav imo* — what do You want from me? You wrote Your Torah. You are the baal habayis. You are *ba’alav imo*, and therefore patur. So if I could not watch, the mitzvah was out of my hands.

I saw people even quote the Chida for peshaya. I’m afraid to go there, okay? *Shogeg v’shogeg*. There is a patur of *ba’alav imo*; there is a machlokes in the Gemara whether it applies even by peshaya too. Machlokes. *Ba’alav imo* is even by peshaya, but okay, let’s leave it as shogeg, so zayin azoi.

## Hashleich Al Hashem Yehavcha

In short, I was thinking about the Rashi, the Chida. And then I think to myself of the pasuk, “Hashleich al Hashem yehavcha” — send the package back to the Eibishter. I say over this vort, and it became mamash the pshat. This is because I went to my Rebbe, Reb Shlomo Feivel.

Now there is a lot more to the story, which I am not going to say b’rabim. So anybody who wants can come over to me afterwards, and I’ll tell you the rest of it. But b’rabim, we’ll leave it at the shorter version.

I wrote to Reb Chaim Kanievsky. Reb Chaim Kanievsky is not well now; he doesn’t see people. I couldn’t get an answer, because I’m thinking I have to say it b’rabim. Pashut shomrim, you hear?

# The Pashut Shomrim

Chan is trying to create the pashut shomrim, no? I went down to my Rebbe, Reb Shmuel Feivel, and I said: emunas chachamim—whatever my Rebbe says is b’zeh anaf. I showed him the letter I wrote to Reb Chaim Kanievsky, the whole Rashi, with the... I said, “This didn’t gefelen.” He says, “Es geshmak.” I said, “Rebbe, you don’t like it?” He says, “I didn’t say that. I didn’t say that. Davka b’tach. No, no, it’s good. I already saw.” Okay. I felt very bad afterwards.

So I quickly called up my uncle Reb Chaim in Eretz Yisrael. I said, “Uncle Chaim, tell me, I have a pshat. All year, a year and a half I’m walking around with a pshat, and whenever it gets a difficult moment, I say, Ribbono Shel Olam, I’m throwing it back to You... I went to my Rebbe, my Rebbe tells me it’s extremely original, but I like it. Say it over. Mustuch.”

# Returning to the Rebbe

So here’s the start part of the story that I’m going to leave out, because it’s a big long story in the middle over here. But let’s fast forward. I went yesterday back to my Rebbe, with the Beis Yisroel, and nimnu v’gamru, the psak from my Rebbe, that the pshat is good.

Okay? I read to you the Beis Yisroel. The Eis Yisrael says, Mishpatim, year Tavshin Tes-Vav. He brings b’shem Aviv, which is the Imrei Emes, that the parshah of Shomrim is nega to the neshama of every person, the sugya, the halachos of shomrim. And that’s the pshat: ki yitein, was given him kesef o keilim lishmor. It’s going on the neshama.

It sounds familiar, eh? Nu, the Ribono Shel Olam gives neshamos to me, to my children, the pikadonos. שאדם צריך לשמור את אשר נמס לו—you have to protect the pikadon, hilchos shomrim. What about the shvuas hashomrim? Shteit doch in Chazal: before a person is born and the neshama comes down to the earth, to this world, mashbi’in oisah. They give him a shvuah. Kodem tzeisah la’olam hazeh, they tell him, you better watch and make sure you... Shvuas hashomrim!

# Davuk with the Eibishter

Va’ikar lihyos davuk b’Elokei Shamayim. You have to be davuk with the Eibishter. Why? So he brings from the Sfas Emes, because if you’re davuk with the Eibishter, then you have what? Ba’alav.

Now we’re going to come to the final, final second of the shiur. V’zeh she’amar David... Nu, finish it off with me, rabbeisai, gantzeh... Ki atah imadi. And things get rough, rabbeisai. Everyone has his yissurim that are rough for him. Remember, shomrim, shikasirek tzurei—Ribbono Shel Olam—and tell Him, ba’alav imai, You with me, ki atah imadi, lo ira ra.

For all those who want to hear the deleted part, which is even more than everything else I just told you, after the shiur.