Pokeach Ivrim: Seeing Hashem’s Goodness Beyond Physical Sight

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Today, we're going to learn the bracha of Pokeach Ivrim, shiurim al lefi seder of tefillah. We did the first few brachos, now we're holding the bracha Pokeach Ivrim. Simply k'pshutei, the bracha is about sight. We thank the Eibishter for chush hari'ah, the ability to see, the ability to see. We make a bracha, Pokeach Ivrim; the blind don't see. Thanking the Ribono Shel Olam, Pokeach Ivrim, that you give sight to those that see. Now it's interesting, the wording is a little bit not for the person himself. It's not—how do you say it again? Pokeach doesn't say me. Ah, ah, it's not saying me, right? She'asani, she'asa li kol tzarki. It's in general, Pokeach Ivrim, malbish arumim, matir asurim. Tell me, is every person an asir? Is every person in captivity? No, it doesn't have to be he himself. The Ribono Shel Olam is a matir asurim. So so too. He is a pikeach ivrim, so too he is a zakef kefufim, she'asa li is asa li kol tzarki. So it's not such a question that if the person is not blind, and then he sees in the morning, he's not a blind person, so how is he able to make the bracha pikeach ivrim? Not my kasha; the Rishonim ask this for a kasha. Mensch macht a bracha pikeach ivrim. He's not blind. He's not blind. So what's the bracha pikeach ivrim? So kipshutei, it doesn't have to mean he. The Ribono Shel Olam is a pikeach ivrim. Ribono Shel Olam makes those that are blind see. But how many people are blind and that see? It's a small amount of people. Yet matir asurim, we make the bracha matir asurim. We could discuss this in great length, but what I'm trying to bring out is, kipshutei, it's going on the bracha, thanking the Ribono Shel Olam on sight, to be able to see. Chush hari'ah. It's interesting, I saw in the Yesod v'Shoresh HaAvodah. He says brachos are made eyes closed. So when it comes to the bracha pikeach ivrim, he should open his eyes. Bechasimas habracha, when he finishes the bracha, he should make bechasimah, when he finishes, when he... Leidedikah, since brachos are made with eyes closed, so to show and feel and identify with the bracha, you should open his eyes wide, bechasimas habracha, because there states in the bracha, ... So bechasimas habracha, he makes—he opens his eyes. Today, we don't make brachos with our eyes open, fakert. We look in the siddur. I'm saying closed. We don't make our bracha with the eyes closed; we make them open. So what do we do? So I saw Rav Schwab has a sefer, Yon Tefillah. He says it would be a good idea, fakert, to close your eyes for a minute. Close your eyes for a minute, and you should think to yourself, Kuf-vav valt geven az ich ken itzen, and then you make the bracha fakert. I don't know if he saw the yesod in Shaarei Avodah, that the yesod in Shaarei Avodah is saying that we make our bracha open because we normally make brachos with eyes closed. Who does that already today? But he's saying the same yesod in the fakert, pshat, to recognize what it means to be able to see. Lemaaseh, the Rambam, when he brings the bracha...

Pekeach ivrim. He says, K'shemavir yadav al einav, he puts his hands over his eyes, he makes the bracha. What does that mean? What does the Rambam mean, mavir yadav al einav, he makes the bracha? Could be whyn't you should close your eyes, taka. What's it like? I know he made with the face, because that's not the pashut pshat. The pashut pshat is he's washing his face, and that's the pshat, the Gemara. He's washing his face, and then when he's mavir yadav al einav to clean it, his eyes are clean now, then he makes the bracha, Pekeach ivrim. Which really leads me to understand, and b'emes I found this also in the oitzer rishonim on the siddur, that it's actually in relevance to the sleep of the night. A mensh shloft ba'nacht, he's sleeping at night, he doesn't see. He's like a meis. The Gemara says it's a little bit of a misa sleep. Shtei fachachma, it's one of the rishonim, he says that the pshat is a person, when he wakes up in the morning, it's like he's alive, he's alive, and when he's alive, so now he sees. A dead person doesn't see. An iver. It's interesting, a suma is chashuv k'meis also. It's interesting, it's all, if time lets us, maybe we'll go into this a little bit. An iver, a meis. Meis is an iver. At night a person's sleeping, so he's like a meis, and therefore he's like an iver. We'll discuss that a little bit. We have to discuss. Al kol panim, the pshat in Pekeach ivrim now means that when a person... Sees in the morning. It's not chushariya bichlal. You know what? This answer is an interesting question. Bothered me for many years. Why do we make a bracha only on chushariya? What about those nayim? What about dibur? HaMesiach Ilmim, make a bracha, Baruch Atah Hashem, HaMesiach Ilmim. It gives us the ability to talk. I mean, if you wouldn't be able to talk, you wouldn't be able to make the bracha. Baruch... HaMesiach Ilmim. Is that a good kasha, huh? So I saw years ago, b'sheim, I think it was a Belzer... I can't track it down now, but I believe I once saw it b'sheim a Belzer... It says that when a person sleeps, his chush hashmiah still works. Even his chush hadibur works. You see people talk in their sleep. People sleep talk. So this... when they're up, sometimes they say more intelligent things when they're sleeping. It's a joke. The point being that people are able to talk in their sleep. Shmiah, you never notice, you call a guy his name, he wakes up. Obviously he's listening, he hears. Now you're shaking your head because that's not such a big raya. There's a very interesting Naim Eli Melech. Naim Eli Melech says that the name of a person is his essence. It's his neshama, it's who he is. And his proof is, notice when you wake up a person, you call his name, he wakes up right away. Because it's not going through the eardrum, it's going straight to the neshama. You're calling the neshama, and the neshama wakes up. V'kai neshama shesashiv, hezarti bi. That's how you machzir it. It's interesting. It's a naimali melach. Rabbi Reb Elsky, zatzal, used to say over this naimali melach a lot, that the neshama of a person identifies with the name. It's interesting, when a person, l'achar meah v'esrim, he's a neshama, he's not a guf. You ask the neshama what his name is; he has to remember his name, right? The pesukim at the end of the siddur, at the end of Shemoneh Esrei, see, the neshama and his name identify with each other. Why am I telling you this? This was on the Shemini Atzeres kabbalah. I'm not here to tell you kabbalah. It's the chinuch of the siddur. Every person has a siddur, and at the end of Shemoneh Esrei, his name, l'fi the pesukim. And what's the reason for that? That if he chazers it and he does it through pesukim of Torah, he'll always remember his name, that l'asid lavo, when they call his neshama, neshama, and he remembers his name, that means the neshama is intact, the neshama is tahorah. I guess for the purpose of this year, it's good enough to leave the rest of it for the mekubalim to explain.

Explain in greater depth. But whatever it is, you see the neshama and the name are connected. And the name, Eli Melech, says, az mir ruft a mentsh Yankel, the neshama hears the word Yankel. Dovidl, he hears the Dovidl, he hears it, yeah. U'meileh, the neshama, the name, and that's the pshat. That's the pshat in shemiah, in sleep. Not necessarily that he hears, but interestingly we find a person wakes up in a lot of noise. So we can go into a scientific discussion about that. You know, maybe the noise, sleep patterns, the brain patterns, but pashut the hearing is there. That's the simple understanding, that a person slept, heard. Yes, so that's the question: how an alarm clock works. Okay, so you want to know something? That was the kipshute. I'm asking. We can discuss it, what? He hears it. Many say that that has a lot to do when a child is a baby, what he hears in the house, it's going to affect him. Even though he himself might not be aware, but es geit arayn, it goes somewhere. I agree with all of the above. All I'm trying to bring out is that the only thing that doesn't work at night is the re'iyah. Yankel, you maskim? L'chaira, ken zogen. Okay. I once saw it b'shem Reb Eliyahu. Okay, so now we have two pshatim in pekech Ivrim. Either pekech Ivrim means in general the Ribono Shel Olam gave eyesight. As a matter of fact, halacha, that kebrach, how does a blind person make a bracha? Can he make a bracha pokeach ivrim? And the Torah says it's not about his sight; it's about someone else's sight who could help him. So you see that the pokeach ivrim doesn't have to be person. Rabbeinu is maskim, l'choira, pshatav, that it's about sight in general, chush hare'iyah, not necessarily his sight. Second pshat, it is about him, his sight, because every night a person goes to sleep, he doesn't see. And because when he wakes up in the morning, he's able to see, that's called pokeach ivrim. I saw an interesting Rabbeinu Yakar, Rabbeinu, the Ri BaYakar in Avudraham, that says that it's not about physical; it's not the chush hare'iyah. It's about the ability to understand things, insight. You know, in English we have an expression, not sight but insight. Insight. And he says because באמת the lashon pekichah, if you think about it, it's not psichah, it's pikuach. Pikuach means pikchut; it's to understand. And he brings rayas from all over, from many places in Chumash, that the sight doesn't mean physical, he sees or he doesn't see, but it means sight to understand. The Ri BaYakar and the Avudraham. He brings the pasuk, for example, by Chavah. Vatifkachna eineihem, their eyes opened up, and they saw they were עירומים. What do you mean? They weren't blind. Vatifkachna eineihem means that they started to understand. It doesn't mean blind. Blindness is a niskaved. They were blind to not see what was in front of them, right? Vechaheina vechaheina, he brings raayos. Rabosai, I would like to bring another raya. And the raya that I'm going to bring is a little bit to Parshas HaShavua. It's the parshas hashavua, because I think it brings out beautifully a lot of what we're going to learn in the parshas hashavua. I found the same lashon, rabosai. Where do we find the same lashon? Hagar. Hagar, she thinks that Yishmael is finished. There's nothing for Yishmael to drink. The malach tells her, Don't worry. Vayifkach — same lashon, vayifkach, Bereishis, chaf-alef, yud tes, Sippurna. Vayifkach Elokim es eineha. So what does that mean? Hashem opened her eyes. What does that mean? Zogt—

The sippur, the bear was always there. Hashem opened their eyes; she saw the bear was there. The bear didn't become there. So, nasan bo daas lehakir makom mayim shehayah sham, ki lo hayah סומא קודם לכן. She wasn't blind before this. Was she blind? So what's vayifkach? And the Torah says something could be right in front of us, and we don't see it, till the Eibishter gives us the wisdom to see it. Huh? Meiredik. Meiredik. Ay, how can that be? How meiredik is that? A mensch can zayn 20/20 and be still a blind person. Hakol becheskas sumim, ad sheyair HaKadosh Baruch Hu es eineihem. Sometimes we miss what's in front of us. The whole world cannot, doesn't see what's in front of them. He's blind. Mensch is blind. He doesn't want to see, whether the taivos don't let him see, whatever it is. Someone who doesn't have taivos sees it differently, sees it clearly. You know, we speak so much about das Teirah. What is das Teirah? What is das Teirah? It's a very nice maaseh. ... beautiful maaseh. They say over a story, it's brought in sefarim, that the ... was once asked a business question. You get fregn business questions by a ... Interesting. I'll tell you, if someone came to ask me a business question, the first thing I tell him is, ... Mistama, whatever I tell you in business, you should do the opposite. Not a good businessman, mistama. זיי דיסמאזד. Dismazed up the Chacham. Nusach: דאס בעל הבתים כנגד דעת תורה. A nusach in Shulchan Aruch. Achas v'shalom, we don't mean baalabatim as it's... We mean the baalabatim as they יבואו in my mind, sure. ... All right. Shei, דאס בעל הבתים כנגד דעת תורה, yeah? The Sma used to go ask the baalabatim in shtot what they thought the halacha is, און פאַרקערט, do the opposite. He said, look, the Sma, the Sma, when he had a shaila in Choshen Mishpat, he used to go ask the big businessmen in his... What do you think? Right? That guy is right. Okay, that guy's right. Sma. This is the... everyone's smiling. See how you do it, the Sma. Anybody knows the Sma. And this is the story behind the psak of the Sma, דאס תורה כנגד דעת בעל הבית. Shei. Flik min kumin צו ר' אלחנן. Shailas in business. Interesting. You have to understand, Reb Elchanan never left his daled amos almost. It's interesting. Reb Elchanan was different than the Chofetz... My grandfather used to speak about it. I spoke it over with Reb Shmuel Birnbaum, zecher tzaddik livracha. Chofetz Chaim used to speak a lot, was worldly, was social. Reb Elchanan was not. Reb Shmuel Birnbaum said a nusach hamal. I heard it from him. It's a geblaste kalta vint, leben Reb Elchanan. It was cold. It was cold. Around Reb Elchanan, it was cold. Reb Elchanan was afraid to talk. He was afraid to laugh. He was afraid to smile. Oz yimalei s'chok pinu. He was very serious, Reb Elchanan. They asked him once, Hayitachen that you don't speak? The Rebbe, you hold of the Chofetz Chaim by the Rebbe. The Chofetz Chaim doesn't stop talking. He speaks and speaks and speaks, and he's so lebedig, he's so social with people. Why do you keep so quiet? He says, The Rebbe veyst vos tzu redn. He knows what to say. He's not afraid that if he talks and he talks and he talks, he'll say the wrong things. I'm not so secure with myself. Ich hob meira. I'm afraid if I just keep on talking, who says I'll say the right thing? Reb Elchanan. Ask him Reb Elchanan. You see how much we've come a long way from Reb Elchanan's understanding of what it means, shmiras halashon. Al kol panim, here, zogt Reb Elchanan to this person who came to ask him advice about business, Amenut. I'll give you advice about business. Amenut. Give me two, three minutes. He went to the shaftke. He took out a Gemara.

Rebbe's genumen a Gemara. Rebbe's genumen a Gemara. And he started learning, closed the Gemara, puts it away, comes back, he tells the person, Do this in the business. Azoy, azoy, aher, hen aitza. So the guy asks the Buchanan, Rebbe, my case is in the Gemara, my question, my business is in the Gemara. You saw it in some Bava Metzia, Bava Basra, Bava Kama, you dealt in? The Rebbe said, Neeh, vu, vu. K'dei emferen dem emes, darf ich siyata dishmaya. I need the Ribono Shel Olam should help. So I learned fifteen minutes, a shtark azoi, lernen lishmah, Teirah. So I had the siyata dishmaya, and now I can answer you. Siyata dishmaya. What does that mean? Reb Chanan understood, das Teirah, it's so difficult to see. You see the whole picture, you see the entire thing. Like a camelish visin, you can never know. A person never knows this way or that way, is this the right, is this the right hanhaga? Should you do this? Is this good for me? Is this bad for me? Can't know. How does a person ever know? I'm holding a yeshuah is right in front of you, but you don't see it. I'm holding what you think the yeshuah is, but the main sasonita is there. You think it's not there. It's so. The man's just blind. Vos ken shan a mensh visen? A mensh hot tzvei eygen, yeah? If he had fifty eyes, he still wouldn't be able to chap the gantze. So what do you do? Das Teirah, siyata dishmaya. Have siyata dishmaya. The bein ish laylam is pikeach, pikchus, pikchus. He gives the wisdom to the eyes to see. Vos bedavzen? You hear pikchus. Hehogar, the bear was right there. The bear was right there. You still need. Hakel b'cheskas sumim, ad sheKadosh Baruch Hu yoreh eineihem. I'm אומר, you turn around and you say, Wow, the solution was right in front of me. What happened? Az der Eibishter vil iz mezol zeyn zetn, az der Eibishter vil az mezol nitzen, vet men nitzen. You won't see it. You won't see it. That's life. Dos hashgachas fun yadus. There's another point that Gedolei Yisrael have toas teirah. There's another part to it. You know, a navi is called a tzofeh. Navi is a tzofeh. It's one of the terms that are used to describe a navi, is a tzofeh. What's a... he sees far. What does that mean, he sees far? You know, it's interesting. Shaul becomes the melech when he comes to Shmuel, and what did he come to Shmuel for? You know what he came to Shmuel for? Heicha bizneshaylech. What a bizneshaylech. Avu zenen di gemalim? Avu zenen di beheimos fun mayn tate? A search engine. He went to Shmuel. He said, Emes, he went to Shmuel to do me a favor, could you go and do a search for me, a Google search, map. What do you call the maps today? MapQuest? Nu, help me out. Waze. Waze, he went to Shmuel. Shmuel, use your inner... In other ways, GPS. ... told him right away where the chamayim are, and told him right away where they are. What's the pshat? Tzoyfa, novi zeh tzachin. He sees what people don't see. Malbim explains, al hanavi ... he stands heich. You ever see when a guy sits on a watchtower? He sees very far. A guy from on the floor, he doesn't see from ten feet away, right? And the man says, Heich? What's heich? Ruchniyus. He's elevating. He also has no negius. He doesn't have cataracts. Habaisai, you want to know what the number one problem in today's society is? We all have cataracts. Oh yes, sure, vade. But you don't think we don't have cataracts. Yeder mensch, mit zayn negius, is a cataract. What is a cataract? What do you think a cataract is? It's a shuman. It's a personal thing that blocks the eyes from seeing. What do you think? If the lens is blocked, it's blocked, rabosai. It could be blocked from many different things. It could be blocked because of taivas. It could be blocked because of ... kinah.

You know that a person that's kinni, he cannot see what's reality right in front of him. Men shet kinni doesn't see what's right in front of him, mamish. I want to show you an interesting Ramban, and that's why I'm giving you this hakdamah. The parsha from Yosef could be understood, and should be understood, with everything we just said. Yosef gave a good brother. Yosef was a good brother, a good brother, Yosef, cared very much for his brothers. They didn't see it, because ... gezagt. So much misunderstanding. There's so much pili ployim, mamish pili ployim. The Ramban, סוף פרשת ויגש, you hear? Yosef goes ... The malach tells him, they went, nichlei dosois, they're planning bad plans about you. Nichlei dosois, straight tochlach. Chazal tell us that he was warned. נעשו מזה, נעשו מן האחוה. They were hinting, they were hinting. The malach was hinting to Yosef, Gei nisht, vos tustu? Where are you going? So why did Yosef go? What was Yaakov thinking? ... Yaakov knew exactly what was going on in the house. So why would he send Yosef ... We could talk many terutzim to this kasha. But the number one teretz is the Ramban: מלמד. Shagzeirah emes, va'charitzus sheker. As der Ribono Shel Olam vil epes, ale chachmus un ale yediyos, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. The wisest of people, mit ale zeyer cheshbonos, it doesn't change anything. As der Ribono Shel Olam vil epes, azoi vet es zayn. That's what's going to be. Melamed shehagzeirah emes, v'hacharitzus sheker. Mizet nisht. Mizet nisht. Pirsum der Ribono Shel Olam efen di eigen to see. I'd like to show you the end of the chapter of the parsha of Yosef, so to speak. And then you'll see the relevance, how it's in our lives as well. Yankev Avinu suffered terrible, terrible. Pari looks at him and he asks him, Kamo yemei shnei chayecha? How old are you? Tell me. You meet somebody, when there's an alte mensh, is that the first question you ask him, how old are you? Sh'telt zich far, me fregt es afray. You're done, because you would get a straight answer anyway. But let's say, Kamo yemei shnei chayecha? Vehr fregt azoi a kasha? Sholom aleichem. Before anything, how old are you? Chazal zogen he was nishtoimen on how old, how—he never saw something like it. He was shocked to see such an altekeit. Kamo yemei shnei... So he answers him, Where does it come from? Yemei shnei chayei... I'm not even as old as my father. My father died thirty-something years later. Leidu the night that I'm going. I'm this because ma'atriyim had a very hard life. Ma'atriyim. Chazal tell us, it's a medrash, it was a tremendous ta'ina on Yankif. The ta'ina on Yankif is, Kafui tov. Vos, ma'atriyim, you had a hard life? What are you talking about? You had a hard life. The lashon of the medrash: אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא, אני מלטתי אותך מעשו ומלבן, והחזרתי לך דינה, גם יוסף. I returned you Yosef as well, ועתה משראים על חייך. You have ta'inas on your difficult life? What are you talking about? Gave you a great life. Yankif Avinu cooked, and he looks in the mirror, and he... The Ribbono Shel Olam, what's... What are you talking about? Had a great life. I gave you back Yosef, the dinah, everybody. There's a ksav yad Tanchuma. There's a Tanchuma. There's different nuschaos in the Tanchuma. There's Moshe one more nekudah. החזרתי לך יוסף, וגם אני עשיתי אותו מלך ומושל.

Not only did I return you, Yosef, but I even made you what? I made him a melech, made him a king, yeah? So that's adding to the toivus sheHaKadosh Baruch Hu asah, that the Ribono Shel Olam did with him, yeah? Let me show you another medrash, rabosai. When Yankev Avinu screams at Shimon v'Levi, Lamah hereisem li? How did you do such a bad thing to me? How did you...? ... opgeton, opgeton. Lamah hereisem li? ... opgeton. Chazal say that it never happened. It was lo batolu, Lamah hereisem li. Whatever happened to Yaakov Avinu because of Shechem? Nothing. So, batelah, stam stam reid. Chazal say, did any consequence happen? No. Nothing happened, right? You're so afraid, Lamah hereisem li? Look at the bad thing you did. Chazal fregt, a kashe. Even if he was questioning, Lamah, he shouldn't have said hereisem, ki'ilu something bad did happen. Could say, Ulai, maybe something bad will happen. But did bad happen? Did that ever happen? Nothing bad ever happened. Levi did it. There was no consequence. A medrash. So the medrash, נישט יענקב האָט דאָס געזאָגט, nor the Ribono Shel Olam האָט דאָס געזאָגט. Lamah hereisem li? For us? I did bad to you? Ani osek, I'm busy. Lahamlich es banecha melech b'Mitzrayim, v'atah omer hereisem li? Why the Ribbono Shel Olam ...? What are you complaining about? I'm busy making your son the king. Chazal are telling us that sometimes in life we view things as the worst thing that could have ever happened to us. And we don't realize that this thing itself, this thing itself that we think is the worst thing, the worst, is really the best thing that could have ever happened to us. It's the best thing that could have happened to us. Yankev Avinu ... Yosef's ... standard world, end of his life. ... No, fakunk, fakout. The best thing that could have ever happened to Yankev was Yosef in the story of Mitzrayim, and he's busy trying to make him a melech. ... You're saying that I made her ... I did bad to you. Let's go back ... and end. Good? Yeah, maskim? Maskim? Yeah, good. A whole new taich, the bracha pekechiv. ... Machna bracha pekechiv. Ribbono Shel Olam, open my eyes. Let me see. Not see physically. Let me see what's in front of me. Let me see what's supposed to be good for me. Let me taka see whatever happens, that it is good for me. ... A person could walk around ... full day, blind, you should say blind like a bat, with 20/20 vision. Batman, the Ribbono Shel Olam, pekech. Let me understand. Let me see. Let me have an insight, account what needs to happen to me, what I should be doing, and everything that does happen, I should understand. It's a fashteyn, it's a zen. Az takke l'tovasi. You know, there's a very famous, and this with this I'll end: Hagomel chasadim tovim l'amo Yisrael. Alef-beis in the vort, yeah, understand me. Hagomel chasad... but there's chasadim not tovim? No, it's chasadim tovim. Hagomel chasadim — chasadim, chasadim is tovim, no? So God says something chesed. There's chesed, but it's good for you. A shot is also good for you. I'm all getting some doctor. You need it; it's good for you. It's not a good thing, but... The Eibershter, Hagomel chasadim tovim. She gives us the chasadim, that those chasadim that are toiv. I think we can say there's another teirutz also, that the Eibershter gives the person to understand that the chasadim are takke toiv. Well, zachin happen.

Are they good? They don't look good. But that we should be able to see that all the chasadim is really actually chasadim tovim. Chesed of the Eibishter is not just, it's good for us. It's good for us, and we'll understand that it's taka toiv, and we'll appreciate it. That's what the bracha of Pokeach Ivrim is. Okay. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.