Lakewood Police Shooting: Hakaras Hatov, Am Segulah, and Mesiras Nefesh

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This past week, an interesting event took place in Lakewood, New Jersey, where I live. It actually began the week before on a Thursday, where a policeman was shot. The policeman, innocent, he stopped a guy. He was a gang member, shot him for no reason, and all the cops went out in force to find the fellow. And they found him relatively quickly. It was one of their own. Their blood was boiling. The cops, they were angry, and they caught him very quickly. He was a Lakewood police officer, and the murder took place in Lakewood. Lakewood is a Jewish town. They're even thinking of calling it a city soon. The numbers, it's going to turn into a city. The mayor and the vice mayor and the deputy mayor, they're all Yidden, all from Yidden, guys from the yeshiva. Klal Yisrael has to represent itself in a way that fair. I mean, if you're a mayor of a city, you got to be fair to all the people in the city, and you also have to be compassionate. Just because the person wasn't a Jewish police officer doesn't mean he wasn't a person. So there was a lot of discussion in halacha. On how to deal with this loss of the police officer. So it began with Shabbos. Could the mayor of the town go to the family on Shabbos? The family was grieving, and the role of the mayor is to come and pay a condolence, a shiva call, so to speak, to the family and to be there as a support and vechulei vechulei. It was Shabbos. So I don't know firsthand, but I heard from one that heard from another that heard from a child of the mayor. I don't know. I heard from pretty much a pretty close direct link that they had a heter to be driven in a car by a goy to the house of this police officer to pay the condolences and to do their duties. So the mayor and then the deputy mayor went, and the whole group went on Shabbos. Okay, that was one halachic issue. Then there was another halachic issue. They made a tremendous funeral, like almost parade of a hero. They gave him a hero's parade in Lakewood. Why? They say it was the first cop that was ever shot in Ocean County, and they loved the guy. He was a wonderful guy. It made him into this big hero with a parade, with a whole march, with a band, and they took him with horses on a wagon. It was a whole to-do. And again, the question became, the Bnei Torah learning in the yeshivas in Lakewood, are they supposed to stop learning to go to the funeral? I mean, how do you deal with this situation? Again, I don't want to go into the halachic issue of it so much. There are those that said, send the representation, but you don't have to have all the yeshivas stopping, BMG, the Beis Medrash Gavoha, together with all the other yeshivas around. Talking about so many people who are sitting and learning to stop learning, to go out for this funeral, to show respect for the police officer. You can imagine there are those that said yes, there were those that said no, and like everything else in Olam HaTorah, it becomes controversy. I heard Rabbi Leib Steinman said that since he's a police officer, so he protects, and since he protects, so therefore we have to appreciate the protection, because if not, they can come into the yeshiva and start shooting us. So therefore, in chiyuv, we were mechuyiv to show appreciation and to even stop learning and to stop the yeshiva in the middle of its seder, because otherwise it would turn into the future, that would turn into a problem of, you know, if you don't have the police, eiva. Eiva means that if you don't do for them, they're not going to do for you. For example, a doctor on Shabbos, a Jewish doctor is allowed to be...

Mechal Shabbos for a goyishe patient. And the reason is eiva. Eiva meaning that if we don't do it for them, when we're going to need a doctor on Shabbos, they won't do it for us. So ultimately it will turn into sakanas nefashos, and therefore here too, if we don't respect the police, they're not going to, you know, care for our needs when we're in trouble, when we are in danger. Therefore, you're mechuyiv to stop. Others discussed hakaras hatov, he protected us, and therefore we have to show, you know, in their time of loss, that we care for them and we feel halachic dispute. And of course, like everything else in that part of the world, it becomes he said this and he said the opposite, and it's a whole story. The final decision of the yeshiva, with other roshei yeshivas, with the rabbanim, was that everybody should go out to this funeral. And I don't want to discuss the pros and cons of it. Like I said, it was based on other rabbanim and gedolim, great people who pasken this, so I don't think it's even our discussion. There's nothing what to even, you know, probe. It is what it is. But I do think that hindsight, looking back, to understand what happened. I mean, how do you have a police officer? You're talking about a 29-year-old, if I may say, a regular guy off the street. Didn't seem like he was such a, you know, such a spiritual, holy person. A regular guy, okay. He had such a funeral, and that the whole yeshiva world in Lakewood stopped. Stopped. To pay respects, standing on the sidelines, so to speak. I thought it was something that needs to be understood. In Hebrew we have an expression, haloi davar hu. It's something. You know, you see something which is out of the ordinary, something which is, can we say, strange or even maybe borderline bizarre. A person who just says, mikreh ba'alma, ah, it happened. I think he's just not being a frum Yid. A frum Yid is supposed to try to understand what's the message, what's the lesson. What did the Eibishter try to teach us with this, that he should make a situation where the entire olam haTorah in a town, which is the ir haTorah in America, should come to a halt. All the yeshivas, from every yeshiva they went out, part of the procession. What is it supposed to teach us? What are we supposed to take out of this situation? When has such a thing ever happened? It might have been in the history, I don't know such a story, bichlal. Even the greatest Rosh Yeshiva, I'm not saying the biggest, when the biggest pass away, then the yeshivas pretty much more or less stop and all the yeshivas go to the funeral. But when it's not the biggest Rosh Yeshiva, it's a talmid chacham, all the yeshivas stop and everything goes on, everything continues. Tzadikim pass away, life goes on. It doesn't— Here, a 29-year-old cop made the whole Olam HaTorah stop dead in its tracks. A procession, a tumult. See, I experienced it because I live there. You fellas are going to still see it in the newspapers to come, in the Jewish and Gentile newspapers. You're going to look at it, you're going to go, What happened? He had the levayah of a gadol and nasi bYisrael. What? What is this? And why did HaKadosh Baruch Hu make it such? Are we supposed to learn from it? Is there a lesson to be taught? Is there a lesson to be taken? And I believe, of course, the answer is yes, there is. Yes, there's a tremendous lesson. And yes, as a frum Yid, we're supposed to understand, Mai hai? What happened? So, rabosai, let me begin by saying why this policeman got what he got, the honor. That's chushma d'Rachmana. Who knows? Maybe he had a grandfather that saved Jews during World War II. Who? I don't know. Okay, and we'll never know. That's chushma d'Rachmana, and Chazal tell us, b'chushma d'Rachmana lamah lach. A person is not—

Not supposed to second guess, or in English we call it quarterback, to look backwards and try to figure out what was the kavana, what was the reason. Who knows? Nobody knows. And to come and say simply, maybe we're being taught hakaras hatov. Maybe. Maybe we're being taught that a police officer, a Gentile, we have to show hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov. So kal vachomer ben beno shel kal vachomer, how much more should we show hakaras hatov to parents, relatives, rabbeim, friends. That's also true. It's also true. But it's a pretty strong lesson for hakaras hatov. I mean, to make this kind of a big lesson to be taught for a very simple point. The lesson of it is pretty simple. You should be makir tov, you know. But that it had to come with such a great expense, it's interesting. I believe there's something very deep over here, rabosai. And I'll go as best as I could through the glasses of Chazal, through the glasses of the Gemaras, what Chazal have taught us. What comes to mind, so to speak, at first is the Gemara in Makos. The Gemara in Makos tells us that Rabbi Akiva and his friends were walking. And they hear, kol hamoni miRomei, which means a tremendous parade, a tremendous parade coming from Rome. I can imagine the lavish, the noise, the drums, the unbelievable. So the friends of Rabbi Akiva cry. Rome is now on top of the world. Rome is the center of the world, and look at Klal Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. It's Eretz Azuvah. It's a land which desolate. It's a desolate land. So the friends begin to cry, how Rome is now on its high, so to speak, while Klal Yisrael is at its low. Rabbi Akiva laughs. Rabbi Akiva finds humor in it, finds amusement in it. So the talmidim—I'm sorry, the chaverim—ask Rabbi Akiva, what do you find so amusing? And he answers, Im la'ovrei retzono kach, if this is what those that go against Hashem's will get, so la'osei retzono, for those that do Hashem's will, how much more so will they have happy and parade? How much they'll have, in Yiddish there's an expression, shpitz. They'll have the ultimate. If this is what the Rome that's eina osei retzono shel Makom, this is their celebration. Imagine the celebration for osei retzono. I've explained in the past the pshat in all that Gemaras there, because there's a few cases where the talmidim, the chaverim cry and Rabbi Akiva laughs, that Rabbi Akiva understood that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was showing them these situations. HaKadosh Baruch Hu was giving them to see it, strictly to teach them this lesson, brought from the Rishonim and the mefarshim on the Gemara there, that when we see these scenarios, it's not grada we see it and immediately we say, Ah, this is what happens to the goy, kol shekein to oisir retzonoi. The opposite. The Ribono Shel Olam gives us to see it as a nechamah. The Ribono Shel Olam wanted us to see it as a consolation, as a nechamah that we should know that we're going to get, since we're oisir retzonoi, much, much more. So I feel that we can apply the same idea of the Gemara, the same hashkafah of the Gemara here. That here they made a big parade, a hero's parade. What? A police officer. The Ribono Shel Olam maybe is teaching us, im lo...

Ritzono kach. This is what oiver retzono, the parade that oiver retzono gets, a hero's welcome. La'osei retzono al achas kama v'kama, that we should understand and appreciate, as we said before, the word shpitz, the ultimate parade that our Yid, an oseh retzono, deserves. In which nekudah, though? This officer, he died in the line of duty. So when everybody asks him, he'll say, What's so respectful to this officer? What are we showing appreciation? He sacrificed his life in the line of duty. That's the idea of the kavod, the armor guard, the salute, the soldier, the drum beats. What is it all about? Mesiras nefesh, that he gave up his life for the public, so to speak. He gave up his life for his achrayus to help and to do, v'chulei v'chulei v'chulei. You know, Klal Yisroel, the ultimate middah of Klal Yisroel. What is the fabric of Klal Yisroel? The fabric of Klal Yisroel is mesiras nefesh. If someone wants to know, what is the DNA of a Yid? What is it? What are the genes and the molecular makeup, the genetic makeup? The answer is, Mesiras nefesh for Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Mesiras nefesh for Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. So I start to hear, and I'll soon go into this theme to understand mesiras nefesh by Klal Yisroel, that it makes up the whole Yid. We're going to discuss this in a few moments through the Chumash of this week's parsha, through Kabbalas HaTorah. We're going to discuss it. But I begin to feel the lesson and the kesher it has to us as Bnei Torah, as avdei Hashem, that we're being mechabed mesiras nefesh. There was a parade for someone who was moser nefesh. That's the idea of the parade for this police office. We're parading and showing gratitude and showing respect for mesiras nefesh. Im lo osei, im lo ovei retzonei kach, lo osei retzonai is a halachah kama v'kama. These are the emotions, the hergeshim, the feelings that I felt witnessing this scenario, witnessing the entire drumbeat to this parade of funeral for the officer. What is it? It's giving recognition for mesiras nefesh. By who? By ovei retzonai. What is he? A police, okay. And the Yidden had to see this. And witness it to the point that all the yeshivas came to a halt is maybe to teach us this lesson. So, l'oiser ritzonoi, that our moser nefesh, halachos, kama v'kama. What do I mean by saying that the fabric, that the DNA, the genetic makeup of a Yid is Kiddush Hashem Shamayim? You know, in Parshas Yisro, Kabbalas HaTorah, the Ribono Shel Olam gives us, so to speak, a pep talk. In English they call it a pep talk, introductory remarks to mechazek us, to prepare us for Kabbalas HaTorah. One of the things the Ribono Shel Olam tells Moshe to tell Klal Yisroel, that through Kabbalas HaTorah, v'atem tihyu li mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh. V'hayisem li segulah mikol ha'am. What does it mean to be segulah mikol ha'am? Klal Yisroel is entitled...

Am segulah. Why are we given that title? What does that title connotate? What does it mean to be am segulah? What is it about us that gives us this recognition? What is it about us that makes us, and that brands us, and that gives us the chashivus that we could say we're the am segulah? What is it? So Rashi points out, segulah means an oitzer. It's a treasure. A treasure is something special, and Klal Yisrael, mikol amim, is a treasure. I've heard from my grandfather, and I've seen it also written in the kisavim of Reb Tzadok HaKohen, in the sefarim of Reb Tzadok HaKohen, that he says it's an interesting thing. The word segulah is an oitzer. It's a special. It's something different. So of course it's different than anything else. So if Klal Yisrael is segulah, then obviously it means segulah mikol amim, right? What is Klal Yisrael? Klal Yisrael is a nation. So if you will be segulah, so simply it means segulah mikol amim. Why the redundancy and the emphasis, segulah mikol amim? It's good enough, Atem tihyu li mamleches kohanim. V'goy kadosh. So we're talking already about the fact that you're a nation. And it should have said, v'yisam li segulah. And I understand segulah means best of the others, right? You can't be best of when there's nobody else. I used to say over a cute thing, that a father used to tell his son, You're my best son, and the son would say over, But I'm your only son. So it's not a big deal to be the best if there's nobody else there, right? Tell us, you have one student. Turn around and tell your father, You're my best father. You only have one. It's not a very big compliment. If there's hundreds, then you can be the best. So v'yisam li segulah entails that it has to be mikol ha'amim. So if segulah was in reference to other things, meaning your segulah in reference to not necessarily other nations, but that's not the pshat in the pasuk. The pshat in the pasuk is going on the goy, mamleches kohanim, goy kadosh, the nation. So as a nation, and your segulah itself understood that it's segulah mikol ha'amim. So Reb Tzadok HaKohen says pshat in the pasuk, Segulah. When do we see your segulah when it's mikol ha'amim, when it's in contrast to the other nations. Says Reb Tzadok HaKohen, mikol ha'amim, when you're in galus and you're amongst the other nations, you stand out, v'hisam li segulah. It doesn't just mean you'll be the segulah from all others. I mean, of course, segulah means that there's a bunch, and you're the best of the bunch. Now he's saying a whole different pshat from Tzadok HaKohen. That's why it has the emphasis, segulah mikol ha'amim, that you're segulah. Where do we see you're segulah? Mikol ha'amim. When you're in contact, when we can see it as a contrast, when you're amongst the other nations, and that's when we see v'hisam li segulah. When you're in galus, that's when we start to see v'hisam li segulah. And in what point do we stand out in the galus? It's in galus that we stand out to be the am segulah. In which point? So I've heard this from my zeide, but I see also Rav Shach, zecher tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, as quoted in Sefer Merosh Amanah, spoke at the Yarchei Kallah.

Tavshi lamed ches, and he gave an entire speech to explain that the am segulah is because of Klal Yisrael's ability to make mesiras nefesh, to do mesiras nefesh for Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. He brings an interesting story. He says that he read one of the stories about the Shoah, about the Holocaust, that there was a group of young Yidden that were taken to the gas chamber, and it was Simchas Torah. And before they were put in, they realized their lives were ending. They turned one to the other and they said, You know, Simchas Torah today. Simchas Torah, customarily we dance with the Torah, so we're supposed to dance, and with the Torah. We can't dance with the Torah; we don't even have a Torah. We don't have a Torah even to dance with. But we're still Yidden, and we want to keep Simchas Torah, so how do we keep Simchas Torah? He said, True, we don't have a Torah, but we have the Ribono Shel Olam. That no one could take away from us. They might be able to take away a Sefer Torah from us, but the Ribono Shel Olam that we have within us, that we have connected to our neshama, we're connected to the Ribono Shel Olam, that they can't take away. Let us dance with the Ribono Shel Olam. And they began to dance the rikudim of Simchas Torah as they were led into the gas chambers. So Rav Shach has an entire shmues, an entire sicha about this story. And within the sicha, he points out that this story, as well as a few others that he brings, this is what gives the title am segulah. Sipurim eilu hinam mevatim es yichudeinu. This gives us our uniqueness, ki am segulah. What is Klal Yisrael called am segulah? Klal Yisrael is called am segulah because of their koach, their ability to be moser nefesh. It's not only that we die for Kiddush Hashem, but gam chayim. We live, we live Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. That's what makes us am segulah. So we can have an interesting pshat now in the pasuk. Vayisem li segulah mikol ha'am. Mikol ha'am means when you're amongst the nations in galus, they torture us, they afflict us. Yet, that's when we shine forth as being the am segulah, because that's when we show our ability to be moser nefesh for Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. You know, Leviim signed their name segel. It's a custom. When you see the word segel, you know the person's a Levi. Segel. The segels are usually Leviim. It's interesting. I once spoke to Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky about a young man in Lakewood. And I said his name was Segal. The first question Reb Shmuel asked me was, Is he a Levi? Segal and Levi go together. Now why does Segal and Levi go together? The segals from the ocean? What is Segal? How does Segal and Levi get put together? So it's pretty clear in the mefarshim that talk about these topics that it has to do with the word segulah. It's not so much segal, but lashon segul. It's lashon of segulah. Leviim are called am segulah. Within am segulah, within the nation, Klal Yisrael, which is the am segulah, the Leviim in particular were given the title of segol, segulah. You know why? I'll tell you why. Levi had a tremendous koach. You know what the koach of Levi was? If you look at V'zos Habrachah, it says clearly, Yoru mishpatecha l'Yaakov, right? Let's take out the Chumash. I'll read you the words inside. In V'zos Habrachah, we give Levi a tremendous praise. What's the praise of Levi?

Says the pasuk, U'Levi amar, Tumecha v'Urecha l'ish chasidecha, ha'omer l'aviv u'le'imo lo re'itiv, v'es echav lo hikir, v'es banav lo yada, ki shamru imrasecha u'vrischa yintzoru. What's that referring to? Rashi says, K'shechatu b'egel. When they sinned in the Egel, Klal Yisroel, they said, Mi laShem eilai, and they commanded, Harog ish es achiv, es re'eihu, v'es karovo. Ki shamru imrasecha, lo yilachel im acheiro, u'vrischa yintzoru, bris milah, she'osim shenoldu b'midbar sheYisrael malu. And they did milah. Tell me, what is the connection between that they went and they killed all those that did egel, and that they also kept the bris milah in the midbar, u'vrischa yintzoru? And you know what the answer is? It was dangerous to keep the bris milah in the midbar. It was dangerous. Levi was moser nefesh, not afraid. Tell me, you know what it is to go to war against the whole Klal Yisroel? When Levi went and said, Mi laShem eilai, they were moser nefesh. There was mesiras nefesh, you hear? Mesiras nefesh for Kiddush Shem Shamayim, for the Mi laShem eilai. That's ha'omer l'aviv u'le'imo lo re'itiv, v'es echav lo hikir. I don't know from nothing. I only know what Hashem, Mi laShem eilai. I jump into the fire. Mi LaShem eilai. That's it. No cheshbonos, no cheshboynes. Bris milah is dangerous? I don't care. Mesiras nefesh. We make a bris milah in the Midbar. That's why Levi was called segulah. Segulah means very special. Just like l'havdil elef havdalos, the police officer becomes very special because he gave up his life for his duty. He gave up his life to protect others. Levi gives up his life, l'havdil elef havdalos, for mesiras nefesh, Mi LaShem eilai. That becomes segulah. That's something special, something very unique. Mesiras nefesh, as we're being taught, is why we are called am segulah, the ability to give up our lives for Kiddush Shem Shamayim. Does that mean we jump into the fire and we don't think? Ha'omer la'aviv v'le'imo lo ra'isi, v'es achiv lo hikir, v'es banav lo yada — zombie. You know, there's different nations and different religions where people, they jump into burning fire, explosion, bombing, huh? In the name of Allah, in the name of God. So they also show tremendous mesiras nefesh. Don't they also show tremendous mesirus nefesh? Why do we give Klal Yisrael this tremendous, this tremendous praise, segulah, yichud, meyuchad, that they're special? Others do it also. We're saying that it's special. The lashon of Rav Shach, the wording of Rav Shach was, Sipurim eilu inam mevat'im es yichudeinu. Am segulah means special, special, different than all other nations. Look, you don't know other nations that sacrifice. You know, it's brought down, documented, that before the Muslim goes and does his, his Kiddush Hashem shemayim, Allah, there are two things that he needs. One, he needs to be drugged up physically and drugged up emotionally. They drugged him. They give them a good, a good hashish from the Middle East over there, hashish that can make a guy—we live in, what do they call that, completely—dimyones. He sees rabbis as...

Mit psulos, mit zachin, who knows what demyones they have after their shtickel hashish. Even a horse would get starved, even a dog, a horse would have died from such an ashish, yeah? And the second thing is, they have to give them, pump them up emotionally. You'll go to a better place. You'll go to a better place, and there's going to be mesulos waiting for you. Unbelievable, yeah? Seventy-two, unbelievable what they pump you up with, yeah? Klal Yisrael doesn't need to be pumped up. It's davening mesiras nefesh. And no, they don't go with mesiras nefesh with closed eyes, as they say, completely brainwashed. I once told you that Avraham Avinu, when he took Yitzchak to the Akeidah, it's a tremendous, of course, nisayon for someone to give up the life of his child, his ben yechid, asher ahavta, that he waited so many years to have, Yitzchak, the great son that he had, Yitzchak. So in the conversations that Yitzchak has with his father by the Akeidah, one of them has no follow-up. It says over there in the pasuk, Vayomer Yitzchak avi. Yitzchak says, My father, and the pasuk says Avraham answers him, Hineni bni. Yes, here I am, my son. Hineni bni. Yeah? Hineni bni. And then he continues, Vayomer Yitzchak el aviv. Here is the knife, where is the seh? And the meforshim ask that the first Vayomer Yitzchak el aviv, Vayomer hineni bni, has no follow-up. There's no conversation. What does it mean? So the Shiurei Yankiv brings down a pshat that Yitzchak was afraid maybe his father loves Hashem so much that he blocked out of his mind that this is his son. You know, hypnosis. A person is able to be brainwashed. And then when he goes to the Akeidah, Hashem, Hashem, Hashem, Hashem, it's all about Hashem. My son? No, I don't know my son. Who? My son? I don't have a son. And then he's able to do the Akeidah. Yitzchak was afraid that that's what's happening, that his father lost sight, his father lost his whole mind. He was brainwashed that this is his son. He forgot that this is his son, and that's how he's able to do it. Vayomer Yitzchak, Avi. My father. Vayomer, Hineni bni. I know. I know, and I'm doing it anyway. I understand. I have full comprehension. I didn't forget. I don't lose over, so I'm not blocking anything out of my mind, and af al pi kein. And even so, hineni bni, I know you're my son, and even so, I'm doing Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. I'm being moser nefesh. It's not with blocking anything out. It's not with brainwashing. It's not with taking medications. It's with full understanding. What is it that he understands? And the answer is, he understands what life is really all about. What does it mean, life? What does it mean, a child? Life is Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. It's a whole different understanding of what life means. So we don't look at it as death. We look at mesiras nefesh as life, as I will explain to you in a few moments. And this becomes the difference between the Yid and the goy in mesiras nefesh. Many have jumped into a fire for what they believe in, but it's with lack of thinking. You jump in, you don't think, you jump. The Yid, the opposite, because he thinks and because he understands, and with full understanding of what he's doing, he jumps into the fire for Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. The opposite. It's not from a lack of appreciation of life. Many times we read that the reason why these bombers, these suicide bombers, they have no life.

They have no life. They have no life, so therefore they'd rather give up their life, depressed, like this they move on to a better situation. By Klal Yisroel, farkert, we do have a life, and the kiddush Hashem Shamayim itself becomes life. We look at that as living, as I soon will explain to you, and I'll show it to you in the words of that same sicha, the same drasha that Rav Shach gave at the Yarchei Kallah. He brought out this point. But let me be makdim, let me give you an introduction, an interesting story from the Gemara. The Gemara tells us that Nevuchadnetzar, we know, took Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and he threw them into the kivshan eish. At that moment that he threw them into the kivshan eish, so the Gemara in Sanhedrin, daf tzadi beis amud beis, says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Yechezkel, at that moment, he threw them in, at that moment, says the Gemara, He tells Yechezkel, go to the midbar and be mechayeh, bring to life the dead bones that we know the famous techiyas hameisim that Yechezkel did. It was at the same exact moment. The Gemara continues and says that once these bones came to life, he was mechayeh meisim, they come to Nevuchadnetzar, v'tipach lo al rosho, they punched him in the head. He says, What? What is this? Bones, dead, now they're alive? Oh, unbelievable. Ravrvin oivdeich, the pasuk says that he praises Hashem, tremendous praises. The zmiros of Leil Shabbos, Ravrevin oivdeich v'sakifin machachromaiu v'zakeh kefifim, is based on Nevuchadnetzar, so people don't realize it's Nevuchadnetzar's niggun, those words. Huh? Kari b'noila. It's this same what the Nevuchadnetzar was saying, Ravrevin oivdeich, it's when he saw the techiyas hameisim that happened to these bones. So the meforshim have a nice question. The fact that Chananya, Mishael, and Azaria survived, he threw them in and they lived, why was that not enough to show Nevuchadnetzar the Ribono Shel Olam is great? Why do you need this, at the same time that he should go and be mechayeh meisim the bones? What do you need that for? Why does that open up the eyes of Nevuchadnetzar more than Chananya, Mishael, and Azaria coming out of the fire? What is the lesson that the Ribono Shel Olam was teaching Nevuchadnetzar in the techiyas hameisim of the bones at that particular moment when he throws Chananya, Mishael, and Azaria into the fire? The answer, I believe, rabosai, I believe the answer—you have to think a minute, and once you comprehend it, you see what Kiddush Hashem Shamayim is. Chananya, Mishael, and Azaria is being thrown into the fire. Nevuchadnetzar thinks he's killing them. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying, You killed? That's what you think? Why? Because physically they're dying? Come, I'll show you some dead people. That with my word, they'll become techiyas hameisim. You think you're killing Chananya, Mishael, Azaria? You think you're doing something to them? Nothing. They take bones, they're gonna live. The lashon, the wording of the Gemara: chavereihem shel eilu, the friends of Chananya, Mishael, Azaria, which is Yechezkel, are being mechayeh meisim. What does that have to do with the friends of Chananya, Mishael, Azaria? Why is it—look, yuthroi, Chananya, Mishael, Azaria. Here, look at his friends, is being mechayeh meisim. What does that have to do with the friend? And the answer is, don't you understand that Klal Yisroel has a different gauge of what life and death is? Yechezkel is being mechayeh meisim. You're killing Chananya, Mishael, Azaria? You think you're killing them? This nation is the am segulah, and as the am segulah, they understand life is v'heyisem li segulah mikol ha'amim. What they call life is that they're attached to Me. That's called life. V'heyisem li. So when you throw in Chananya, Mishael, Azaria—

You're not doing anything. Well, what are you doing? As Chananya, Mishael, and Azariah get thrown into the fire, there's no greater v'yisam li than that moment. So you're not killing them, but the opposite. You're being mechayeh meisim them. The opposite. You're giving them life. You're right, dead, physically dead. But for Klal Yisrael, it's techiyas hameisim. That's called life. Now let me read to you the words of Rav Shach, where it echoes everything I just said through the words of a great giant, a gadol b'Yisrael, great Rosh Yeshiva, Torah leader, how you see the way he viewed the hashkafah of what mesiras nefesh is. And it's very much in light of everything we said. It's exactly with the same idea. He brings that story I told you above, the way they were dancing simchas Torah. Don't forget, what is simchas Torah? Nagilah v'nismecha bach. It's not the Torah, it's bach, with the Eibishter. The goyim, eineni yodea, I don't know, what does it mean? I have to have simcha? The answer is on Simchas Torah, nagilah v'nismecha bach, with You, Hashem. Listen to the words. The sefer Meirosh Amanah quotes like pretty much from the tape. It's taken out from the tape almost word for word. Sho'el ani eschem, rabosai. I ask you, listen to the words of Rav Shach in Yarchi Kalah TashNun Lamed Ches. Ha'im meisu al kiddush Hashem? Do you think these people that danced into the gas chambers died for Kiddush Hashem, oi chayu al Kiddush Hashem? But is that called that they lived for Kiddush Hashem? Ha'im meisu b'mesiras nefesh? You view that that they died with mesiras nefesh? Oi chayu b'mesiras nefesh. But that's called life. They lived b'mesiras nefesh. You, as an outsider, mevuchat netzer, looks at that as death. But you're going to be taught by the am segulah, as the Rosh Yeshiva Rav Shach puts it, that's called living. That's called techiyas hameisim al Kiddush Hashem. And now, even more profound is the following paragraph of the words of the Rosh Yeshiva himself, of Rav Shach. B'oso shah hayah lahem olam hazeh v'olam haba. These young Jewish people who danced into the gas chambers by simchas Torah, at that moment they had both this world and the next world. They experienced a life of olam hazeh and olam haba at the same moment. Eineni yodea mah atem choshvim. I don't know what you're thinking, says Rav Shach. He tells the people, I don't know what you think. And you see this is almost word for word. You see they're quoting word for word because they're quoting the whole expression. I don't know what you're thinking. I know what I'm thinking. Es kol chayai. Pay close attention. You hear? Es kol chayai. My whole life, I will give up my whole life just for those few moments to be part of it, to experience what they experienced. You know, Rav Shach taught Torah for 90 years. 90 years he was marbitz Torah, close to 90 years. He says, I would have given it all up. And it's interesting, you'd say a person, he had an unbelievable life of Torah and avodah. He says, I would give it all up. Yeah? For that regaim, those moments of oisher, of satisfaction, of enjoyment. Oisah ta'anug shehayah lahem regaim achad lifnei hamisah, this enjoyment they had before they died, ein laharicho b'kesef. You can't even evaluate. There's no way to evaluate this with money. Ze shavah kol hon sheba'olam. It's worth all the money in the world. Kach hu Yehudi. That's what a Jew is. And then he...

He says another story, and then he finishes this point. That's what am segulah means. Now you know what am segulah means. Am segulah doesn't just mean mesiras nefesh, ready to jump into the fire for a higher cause. Many do that. It's to understand that that's called life, and to enjoy it and appreciate it. That's called Yiddish. That's the fabric. That's the DNA. What a Yid is different than vayisam li segulah mikol ha'amim. When we talk about special, you know what special segulah is? What's called chayim. What's called life. For a Yehudi, that's called life. That makes us am segulah, and that's mikol ha'amim. In the galus, it comes across when we're amongst the nations, afflicted and tortured by the nations. The true essence of the Yid comes out, and that is chayim al Kiddush Hashem, chayim al Kiddush Hashem, chayim al Kiddush Hashem, vayisam li segulah mikol ha'amim. I recently read an article in the Hamishpacha magazine. Someone, Rabbi Jaskowitz, Mendel Jaskowitz, he was a Polish Yid from Poland, and he made it his life's mission to restore the kevarim in Europe and the Holocaust. He was a Holocaust Yid. What moved him to do all this, he says that when he was a little boy, he was a child, I think of ten, he writes. He witnessed the hanging of ten Yidden, of ten Jews in the concentration camp. Beroisham was the Rosh HaKol, Reb Shloime Zalachovitch. That was the name of the Rosh HaKol, with nine other Yidden. They were hung on Shvuos. The Nazi chose Shvuos because he brought out a point that, take a look, take a look. The reason why you think you're so special is because you're the am segulah. What makes you the am segulah? The Torah, Kabbalas HaTorah, v'yisam li segulah. So on Shvuos, I'm going to show you that I'm going to hang you and kill you on Shvuos. So they chose ten Yidden to make a public hanging on Shvuos. I think, hamshpachah, two, three weeks ago. Very interesting article. And it's, you see the v'yisam li segulah. You hear, the goy was jealous of the v'yisam li segulah that happened by Matan Torah. The goy was jealous of the v'yisam li segulah that happened... preparing themselves with the tefillah of Yom Kippur. They came to the piyut of Ne'ilah, of Kel Na'ra Alilah. And they stopped, only to be continued as they were being marched Shavuos morning. They were marched to the guillotine to be hung. They continued the piyut, Reb Shloime Zalchavitch b'roisham, going ahead and the nine following behind, and everyone is singing Kel Na Ralila, the end of the piyut of Neila. And he says an interesting...

Well, what are we gonna do? He said it. Avenge the blood of the Yid by showing the Nazi, Nu, you know what nu means? You think you're hurting me? You think you're doing something to me? You might kill my guf, my body you can take away. But my neshama, my soul, my Yid, who I am, you can't take that away. Nu was telling the Nazi, I'm gonna avenge my own death. I'm not gonna give you the satisfaction that you think you killed. You didn't kill me. And this is what I was telling you by Nevuchadnetzar. He throws Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fire. You think you're killing... I don't. Particular story from Rav Shlomo Mishavitz. Rav Shlomo Mishavitz was a ... talmid.

Not working. How long was it working before? Before I saw, it was blinking. A few minutes. From sound? Well, when was that blinking? When I talk, it records. No, no, no. Yeah, it was recording, because this was also blinking.

Yeah, this was blinking. Yeah. So, Oymani Choyma. What's Oymani Choyma? Goylu v'surah. It's all about Klal Yisroel, Klal Yisroel in the Galus. What is Klal Yisroel in the Galus? Oymani Choyma. Choyma means like a wall, strength. Yeah, strength. What's Klal Yisroel's strength? Ha'aruga alecha. And we let ourselves get killed for you, alecha, because of you, ha'aruga. V'nechsheves k'tzon tivcha. We're considered like sheep that are slaughtered. And in that piyut, we even say, tzon kedoshim. We call Klal Yisroel tzon kedoshim, the sheep, the holy sheep. K'hilos Yaakov. What is this about? I'll tell you what this is about. I've witnessed, I was zoche to see the way a sheep gets shechted. In the keilah, they did it to show shechita, and I saw it. A bull, an ox kicks and bangs and screams, and the sheep, not so. The sheep lets itself get killed, lends its head. It's almost like peacefully, with serenity. It almost like tells you, Go ahead, if that's what you need to do, go ahead. You know, Rebbe told the ox, when the ox came to him and didn't want to get shechted in Babmetzia, what does Rebbe tell the ox? It started hiding underneath his jacket. Leich ki lachacht metzarta. Go, because that's what you were created for. Interesting. You know what Rebbe was telling him? That was your tafkid. But the bull doesn't hear that, and ox doesn't hear that. A sheep understands, Leich ki lachacht metzarta. It lets itself get slaughtered. Klal Yisroel, it's tzon kedoshim. Mi ani u'mi atah? What am I? I'm Yisroel. What is Yisroel? Tzon kedoshim. It has to do with the hishtanah. And everybody goes, meh, to bring out the point that we're v'anachnu amcha v'tzon mar'isecha, that we're Klal Yisroel's am, the Ribono Shel Olam's am. Am segulah. And what does am segulah mean? V'tzon mar'isecha. That just like the sheep goes, 'Baa,' what does the sheep go? The sheep puts its head out, 'Baa.' That's what it means. V'nechsheves k'tzon tivcha, tzon kedoshim k'hilos Yaakov. This is the maila. And this is when we dance with the Torah. What are we dancing with the Torah? We're saying, Tzon kedoshim, tzon kedoshim, tzon kedoshim, that we let, we let, we go to the shechitah because we know ki lachacht metzarta. This is what we were created. This is life. Now I want to explain to you something beautiful according to this. You know, by Kabbalas HaTorah... When Hashem said, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, was parcha nishmasam. The neshamos flew out. The guf remained, the neshama flew out, they died. Why did it have to be that way? Why did it have to be that by Kabbalas HaTorah it was parcha nishmasam? So, kipshuto, the pashut pshat is, it wasn't done on purpose. It was that they couldn't handle it. Parcha nishmasam was because there was nothing else that could be done. The guf and the neshama, they couldn't accept Anochi Hashem Elokecha; it was so great that the neshama flew out. There's a pshat from Reb El Yishvei, the Tzaddik Levracha, the Philadelphia Rosh Yeshiva, talmid of Reb Baren. He says, the Chazal say that the whole world stopped when Anochi Hashem Elokecha. The birds didn't chirp. Everything came to a halt. So he wants to say, why is it? He says because Anochi Hashem Elokecha means ein od milvado, that there's nothing else that exists, only Hashem. So everything ceases to exist when He said Anochi Hashem Elokecha. So parcha nishmasam is for the same idea.

Life ceases. Only Hashem, ein od milvado. Rabbi Kagan, zich tzaddik livracha, the Pittsburgh rosh kollel, in his sefer brings out this pshat from Reb El Yishiv. Sefer Shivivei Or, he was a very big talmid chacham, he passed away young, he was a very brilliant talmid chacham, and he quotes this pshat from Reb El Yishiv. Obviously it was his friend, that ein od milvado means everything ceases by Kabbalas HaTorah when you hear Anochi Hashem Elokecha. I would like to offer another pshat. The idea of Parchah nishmasam. The Ribono Shel Olam was teaching Klal Yisroel, you know what Kabbalas HaTorah is? Vayisem li segulah mikol ha'amim. You know what that means? That Klal Yisroel doesn't live physically. The neshama, the soul, you can't kill the soul. Torah means, v'atem tihyu li mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh. What does that mean, Parchah nishmasam? It's not that they died, maybe the opposite, that they lived. The idea of—yeah, that's no good—the idea was that Parchah nishmasam, the guf dies maybe by Kabbalas HaTorah. So was that life or death? The opposite, it was life, that the neshama lives. Techiyas hameisim. They had techiyas hameisim. Chazal say that the moment the neshama came out, Hashem had to revive them. That's the same thing with Nevuchadnetzar, it's Chananya, Mishael, and Azariah. The guf is dying, but the neshama lives through Kabbalas HaTorah, Klal Yisroel's v'yisem li segulah mikol ha'amim. You know, there's an interesting— Halacha, that a Yid that dies and you make a levaya, he has to be carried on the shoulders, bakaseif. He has to be carried on the shoulders. Why is he carried? He has to be carried. In Yerushalayim they makpid. They walk all the way from the levaya to the Har, to the—mamash carrying him on the shoulders. It's a whole shaila if you're allowed to put it into a car, because is that called carrying on the shoulders? The Ramban in Chumash says we learn this from Yaakov Avinu, that Yaakov Avinu, from Mitzrayim all the way to Canaan, they carried. They carried Yaakov Avinu bakaseif. Says the Ramban, from here we learn that you have to carry a meis. Choireh it's a question. Maybe Yaakov Avinu was so special, you know, it is to carry from Mitzrayim to Canaan, but he was very special, Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov was the melech. Chazal say that all the malachim came out to greet the levaya of Yaakov Avinu, and they took their crowns and they threw it onto the aron of Yaakov, saying, Our crown is nothing compared to your crown, Yaakov Avinu. Look at you. So who says every individual, every Yid, is that way? Good question. Another question. Marv Yabok, which is from the Kadmonim, he quotes from the Zohar the reason why we have to carry a meis, davka bakaseif, on the shoulders, just like the Aron HaKodesh. The Aron HaKodesh had to be carried on the kaseif. So I have a question. A Yid, Aron HaKodesh—you don't see a difference between the Aron HaKodesh and a Yid? Every Yid, every Jew that dies is like the Aron HaKodesh? The word aron, I see the resemblance, aron and aron. But the word kaddish, you know what the answer is, rabosai? We don't realize the yisom l'skulah mikol am, what that means, the importance and the chashivus of every Yid. Just like Yaakov Avinu had to be carried, and had to have such a procession, such a funeral, that he was carried on his shoulders, every Yid has that halacha as well. Some would say, well, Yaakov Avinu was different. No, every Yid is v'yisem li segulah mikol ha'amim. Every Yid is special, oitzer chaviv. What about an aron kodesh? That's bluches. Yes, every Yid, and his funeral is b'domeh is compared to carrying of an aron kodesh. Now let's go back and put all the pieces together. If a goy had such a funeral procession because he died in the line of duty, how much more v'yisem li segulah, every Yid. How much more l'oser retzonoi, the chashivus, the greatness of every Jew who's ready...

To give of his life in the line of duty, as they speak, as we're speaking. How much more, how much do we understand the chashivus that we have to give to another Yid, and that his funeral—look at the funeral, like by Yaakov, like Yaakov Avinu, like Aharon HaKodesh. And that's what could be the lesson for the Olam HaTorah was. And why is that a lesson? I'll tell you. I have a very important rule. Why do you have to wait for someone to die to tell him that he's special? You need to come to his levayah to tell him how great he is. What's wrong if you understand the v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha while the other person is still alive? That's what I want. I think the lesson that was supposed to be learned from this, if someone like this could have such kavod and derech eretz, Olam HaTorah, learn how much more your friends and kol shekein the rabbeim and your parents, how much kavod, how much derech eretz, how much honor you should give them, v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. That could be a very important lesson to be learned. This is what l'ovrei retzonoi, that's the chashivus, the honor guard, the respect. Could you imagine the respect of another Yid, and don't have to wait till he dies to show it. You could do it while he's alive. I know it's long. Those that need to go, I'm afraid there are those that feel it. I'm ready to continue. I have more to say. So, yeah, we can continue? Okay. I know, that's what I meant. I saw that there are those that have to leave, and I feel bad, but this is the end of a thought. We're going to continue on. Thank you very much. Okay. Now, on the theme that we would bring out the chashivus of a Yid, of his mesiras nefesh, I have a friend in Lakewood, Rav Victor Bornstein. He added two points to this shmooze that I gave. I said more or less this shmooze Friday night in the shul by us in Lakewood. So he told me two points. The first point, he told me that there's a Targum Yonason on the—I'm sorry, Targum Sheini on the Megillah that says an interesting thing. Haman starved the Jewish children because he took them and he chained them to a chair. All 24,000—the Gemara says there were 24,000 children Mordechai was learning with them—he chained them to the chair. So it says over there in the Targum Sheini that the mothers went and cooked food to feed the children. Why? Because they wanted the children should die in the hands of Haman, al kiddush Hashem Shamayim, and not die from hunger before it happens. They died? No. Baruch Hashem, there was the nes of Purim. But in preparation to the killing that Haman would kill them, they fed them in order that they shouldn't die from hunger, but they should all go together in the hands of Haman al kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Very interesting targum. Again, you see the mother, even a mother, was able to go and understand the chashivus of what it means to die for kiddush Hashem Shamayim, and she doesn't want her child to die now. He should be zoche to die al kiddush Hashem Shamayim. And he said over an interesting thing. He told me that Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlita, said over that when they were taking Avraham ben Avraham, the ger tzedek, to get killed, they marched him down the streets of Vilna. So the Gra stuck his head out the window and gave a scream to Rabbi Avraham ben Avraham, the ger, a bissel schneller, walk a little quicker. Why? Show, like the new and the news, you're excited to go. They're taking longer? No, no, the mitzvah, kiddush Hashem Shamayim, unbelievable zechus.

Gave a scream, a little quicker, walk quicker. Yeah, this is the idea to show, okay? This is life. The same way you run for life, you run, you run for this too. Aboysai, I'd like to jump to another point that brings out also the same theme that I discussed, how you're supposed to mechabed another Yid and realize every Yid is v'yisam li segulah mikol ha'amim. In Aseres HaDibros we have, Kabed es avicha v'es imecha, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha, al ha'adamah. In order you should have long life. So, kabed es avicha v'es imecha gives long life. It's interesting, in the Dibros Shniyos, it doesn't only say l'maan ya'arichun yamecha. It says, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha u'l'maan yitav lach, should be good for you. So why in the Dibros Rishonos doesn't say l'maan yitav lach, and in the Dibros Shniyos, in the second Dibros, it says l'maan yitav lach? So this question the Chasam Sofer asks. Why? Why does it say l'maan yitav lach only in the Dibros Shniyos? So he says a marvelous pshat. He says, what's the reason we have to respect our parents? Because shlosha shutfin heim ba'adam. There's three partners, and they created us. Hashem created, true, but parents create, says the Ramban. He brings the Ramban, shlosha shutfin, and therefore you have to appreciate. Lemaaseh, Tosafos asks a question. Don't we rule, mutav lo l'adam shelo nivra, that it's better for a person not to be created? So then what are we mechabed our parents for? We could always tell our parents, better off if you didn't make me. Thanks? No thanks. As they say in English, thanks for what? I asked you to make me? Mutav lo l'adam shelo nivra. So he brings some Tosafos that says that goyim could say that, because they don't have Torah and mitzvos. But for us, mutav lo l'adam shelo nivra, a person. But for a Yid, ah, a Yid has avodas Hashem, you hear? So he says that's the pshat in the pasuk, Baruch Elokeinu shebaranu lichvodo. Ah, we thank Hashem because He created us lichvodo, because then it becomes good that we were created. Says the Chasam Sofer, kavod is a vichavesimecha. When is it a good thing that therefore we have to appreciate our parents? Only after Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. So we accepted the Torah. Ah, kavod is a vichavesimecha, because look, says the Chasam Sofer, that's before the eigel. Why? Because before the eigel, a person could come and say, Baruch Hashem, I'm going to get Olam Haba. I get Olam Haba. Hashem created me so it's kedai to be in this world for Olam Haba. Once they did the egel, the olam was not so, what, to live only for Olam Haba. So meileh, Hashem in the second dibber has to tell him, L'maan yitav lach. You'll have good in this world too. You look at the Tur, he takke says, L'maan ya'arichun yamecha, like the Gemara says is going on Olam Haba, but, L'maan yitav lach, Olam Hazeh. So before the egel, it was enough, L'maan ya'arichun yamecha, says the Chasam Sofer, Olam Haba. Now, after the egel, what did we need? L'maan yitav lach, even in Olam Hazeh. Rabosai, I want to tell you a different pshat. Some sefarim is gevaldig, but I'm going to explain to you a different pshat, L'maan yitav lach. First of all, it's an interesting chiddush, yeah? It comes out that a goy maybe doesn't have to respect his parents, because the whole reason you have to respect your parents here is because you can have a noach Hashem Elokecha, v'chulei v'chulei v'chulei. So why does a goy have to respect his parents? He doesn't have that noach. Shibudan lichvodo, says the Chasam Sofer, only because, R' Moshe in the teshuvos has an interesting she'eilah: what happens when a person is a ger? Is he mechuyav in kibud av va'em of his parents? The parents ask him.

You know, what do you want from me? What does the Gemara say? That ger k'katan shenolad dami, and I don't know who my parents are. So he says an interesting thing in Yoreh De'ah, chelek beis, siman kuf lamed. Remaisha in the teshuva says that he's still mechuyiv, because take a look, what's the reason for kibud av va'em? Karas hatov. Karas hatov. He says hakaras hatov. Even a guy is mechuyiv in hakaras hatov. And he says, take a look, adam rishon. Adam Rishon, what did the Eibishter tell him? You're a kafui tov. What's wrong with being a kafui tov? I stopped from the zayin mitzvos Bnei Noach. Says Remaisha, you see, even a guy without the zayin mitzvos Bnei Noach is not allowed to be a kafui tov. So therefore he says the ger is mechuyiv in the kibud av va'em of his father. There's an interesting teshuva from my Alter Zeide, the Beis Aharon, that if there's a ger whose father dies, should he say Kaddish? Say Kaddish. He says this thing, he's mechuyiv in kibud av va'em, so he's mechuyiv al kavodoi to say Kaddish. So the ger is saying Kaddish. Who do you say Kaddish for? Le'ilui nishmas John, Ben Paul, chargoi. Kaddish, kibud av va'em. Pshat. We have a cheshbon, mutav lo shelo nivra, you would have been better off not. So the truth is here may be different, because the ger can't say mutav lo shelo nivra, right? Because the ger became a ger. What about a regular guy? You see, Dov ben Nesina was mechabed his parents. אי מותר לוישלי נברא? What do you do with that? According to this question, it's better off for the goy not to be alive. So what does he have a din of kibud av va'em? I want to tell you pshat like this, rabosai. Listen carefully. Who says the kibud av va'em is only for giving you birth, birth to you? Maybe the kibud av va'em is for giving you food once you're here. You look, there's a Mishnah in Kiddushin, perek beis, Mishnah tes. All the things that a father gives a child, all the things the father gives a child. Noi, chochmah, Yerushalmi, kedushin. Daf lamed aleph says, Yerushalmi, tes, those Gemaras, that therefore you're mechuyav in hakaras hatov. You look at the korban Moshe, the korban Eden, and the pnei Moshe, they say what? Gidleihu, holidu vegidleihu. They give you so much, your parents, what they just give you when you're born, they give you afterwards. So maybe mutav lo shelo nivra, so therefore you don't thank them for the fact that you were born. What about for the fact that they gave you food? Maybe for that. There's an interesting Chayei Adam in Klal samach zayin. He says that those that say this point, that they're not mechuyav in kibud av va'em because they owe nothing to their parents, because who said I should have been born? I'd been better off if I wasn't born. He says they should be quiet, and they should be told to shut up, and they're terrible, and it's horrible, and of course. And you know why, he says? Because what are you saying? That it's no different than an animal. He says, just like an animal cares about his child. Eibishter put in the briah that a father should care about his child. Says the Chayei Adam, you know what then? You see, you're admitting you're an animal then. He says if that's how you think, that the reason why you're not mechuyiv to the kibud av va'eim, because why? The Eibishter made like all other animals, then you're admitting you're an animal. Let me tell you over, myridik thing. The Ralbag discusses why kibud av va'eim. You know what the reason for kibud av va'eim is? Who knows what the reason for kibud av va'eim is? Parshas Ha'karas HaTov, right? Why is the matanah, the schar, for kibud av va'eim, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha? Why? So there's a pshat from the Abarbanel. The Abarbanel says, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha, you hear? L'maan ya'arichun yamecha, because when do people mechabed? When you're older. When you're older, people—so therefore you need to get old, they should mechabed you because you mechabed your parents. The whole thing was you mechabed your parents, so how do you get midah k'neged midah to live long? Because people only respect old people. So if you want to get back the derech eretz, you have to be old. So l'maan ya'arichun yamecha. I used to always think that the pasuk—

That is, if you respect your parents, you make them live longer. You take care of them, they live longer. So meileh, you'll live longer. That's how I always understood the pashut pshat. My Zaidy once said that when he came to America, he understood why, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha. Because in America, they're only mechabed the parents once a year. They buy him a tie on Father's Day. So in order to get back all the what you did for your parents, you have to live many, many Father's Days, many, many years you have to live. You mechabed your parents. In Europe, they were mechabed their parents every day. They came to America, he says, they only mechabed their parents once a year. So how are you going to get back all the time? The teretz is, you have to live 150, 200 years to get back all the—like this, you get 200 ties for Father's Day. I'll tell you, there's a Meiri dekaral Bach that says a whole different pshat. I'm sorry, excuse me, there's one other pshat I think we have to say over. The Rabbeinu Bechaye brings from the Rasag that a person thinks he's taking away time from his life to take care of his parents. You see, you know, I'll take care of my parents, but it's taking so much time away. So we say, you know what? For the time also we'll pay you back, l'maan ya'arichun yamecha. You know, they say over the Chasam Sofer, that the Chasam—it's a Meiri dekarasag—they say over from the Chasam Sofer, yeah, that the Chasam Sofer used to daven long. So they asked him, why don't you daven a little shorter? Because you're wasting time from learning. Daven long, you could have learned. He says, you don't understand. I daven long—the Gemara says, marichin al yomav v'shnosav for davening long—so I get it back. I'm cutting away my time from learningness. I daven long, I get long life. I have more time to learn. Same thing, a person thinks to himself, yeah. My father, my father, I'm taking too much time. It's taking. L'maan yarichun yamecha, we pay you back. Okay. There's a meyudiker Ralbag that says that the l'maan yarichun yamecha is not a schar olam, that we give you long life. That's not what it means. A person learns kibud av va'eim, so he's a baal derech eretz. He becomes a baal derech eretz, and therefore when he goes out into the world, he learns derech eretz with people. He learns how to treat people with respect. Meileh, l'maan yarichun yamecha, l'maan yitav lach. Otherwise, you don't have respect, life is a waste. It becomes a whole problem, life. You want to have a good long life, respect people, says the Ralbag. And where do you learn the respect? You learn it from kibud av va'eim. So I had two ha'aros. First of all, you want to teach respect, so teach respect. Why do you have to teach it through kibud av va'eim? But why does it have to be an emtzai to teach a person respect? A second question I saw Reb Henoch Leibowitz, zatzal, Rosh Yeshiva of Chofetz Chaim, asks. But the respect for a parent is a lot different than the respect for another person. What do you mean? You're going to tell me, like you respect your parents, you should respect everybody in the street? What does that mean? And the answer is, I think the answer is, respect is learned in the home. You want your children to have derech eretz? You have to show an example of derech eretz. That's the first thing, kibud av va'eim. You respect your parents, so your children will learn from you how to respect people. They'll respect people, they'll respect everybody. Ah, you'll ask me a question, but it's not the same level of respect. And you know what the answer is? Maybe it is. Reb Henach Leibowitz says, We don't know what means respect another person. You have to have the same haracha, the same respect. And I wanted to tell this to the oilam. You know, the Chareidim brings down, what kind of derech eretz do I have to have to my parents? So the Chareidim in siman tes says, like there's nobody greater than them. They're the special, the best. You know something? That's the same respect you have to have for people. The goyim brings down, the goyim brings down that the first question they're going to ask you—people think they're going to ask you about Talmud Torah. You know what they're going to ask you? Himlachta es chavercha. When you come to Shamayim, they're going to ask you, Himlachta es chavercha b'diburecha? Did you make royal your friend with your language? Did you talk to him in royalty? So what's our question? Our question is, kibud av va'eim means you'll learn how to respect others, but it's a different type of respect. This is mora and kavod. It's a different— And you know what the answer is? Maybe not. Maybe not. Himlachta es chavercha...

Maybe you're supposed to treat everybody with such respect. Maybe, maybe you have to treat everybody with such derech eretz, so we could learn from Kibud Av Va'em how to treat. Now I understand why it says, L'man yitav lach. You know what the Gemara is saying, L'man yitav lach? It's good for you. It's good for you. The Gemara says that when Hashem said, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, you know what the goyim said? Ah, the Ribono Shel Olam means Himself. It's all about Him. When He said, Kabed es avicha v'es imecha, ah, the Ribono Shel Olam doesn't mean only Himself. The Gemara Kiddushin daf lamed aleph. You see, not only thinking about Himself, He's thinking about the others also. I think it's a very deep vort. You know what it means? When Hashem is telling us to be mechabed, kavod, the Torah, the Torah is teaching kavod, it's so you should be a baal kavod. It's you should learn what it means to be mechabed. L'man yitav lach. It's not for me. It's not even for your parents. It's l'man yitav lach, that you should be a better person. That's what I think the l'man yitav lach is. You would say, Oh, the Ribono Shel Olam wants mechabed my parents. For who? I'm mechabed my parents, what, for the Eibishter? Because like this you'll be mechabed the Eibishter, like the Gemara says? No. And it's not even for your parents. You know who it's for? L'man yitav lach, I believe, is the pshat, according to the Ralbag, for you. For you, for you, for you, because you're going to learn. This brings us back to the original point that I said. If we only knew what it means to treat another Yid with derech eretz, with kavod, atem tehiyu li mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh. Every Yid is a mamleches kohanim, malchus. Every Yid is am segulah. This is the lesson that we were supposed to learn by that funeral. And we don't have to wait for someone to die to do it. L'man yitav lach. It's the best thing that could ever happen to you. Let's be zoche to take these lessons, learn how to treat with derech eretz, with kavod, our chaverim, another Yid, even mora, even fear and respect that we're supposed to have. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.