Vayikra’s Small Aleph: Korbanos, Anavah, and the Humility That Brings Kaparah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshas of the korbanos, the Chumash of Korbanos begins with Vayikra el Moshe. Vayedaber Hashem eilav me'ohel moed leimor. Rashi already points out that Vayikra is different than Vayakar. By Bilam, the lashon is Vayakar: Vayakar Elokim el Bilam. Moshe Rabbeinu, Vayikra. The Eibishter calls. Vayakar means that he comes upon. That's by Bilam. That's when the Eibishter has to come as a nevuah to a person like Bilam is Vayakar. Mashen kein when he comes to Moshe Rabbeinu, it's Vayikra; he calls him. It's a lashon of chibah. The Baal HaTurim, yadua, points out that actually the aleph of Vayikra is an aleph ze'ira. It's a small aleph. Says the Baal HaTurim, why is it a small aleph? Because actually Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to write Vayakar. From humility, he was humble, so he wanted to write the same way it is by Bilam. HaKadosh Baruch Hu gezag, nein, me muss schreiben a zeicher. I told you to write Vayikra. So he got away with it by making a small aleph. Says the Baal HaTurim, famous Baal HaTurim, that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't want to write on himself Vayikra, but rather Vayikor, the way it's by Bilam. And that was because he was a tremendous anav. Moshe was a tremendous anav mikol adam, humility. The kasha is, yadua, is this the first time in the Torah it says Vayikra, Hashem el Moshe? It's not the first time. As a matter of fact, by Kabbalas HaTorah already it says Vayikra Hashem el Moshe, that the Ribbono Shel Olam calls Moshe. So why here did Moshe find it the place to write Vayikor, and therefore he wrote a small aleph? This is a kasha that the mefarshim deal with. This is not the first Vayikra, Hashem el Moshe, that it's written in the Torah. So why here now is there an issue that Moshe wants to write Vayakor and the Ribbono Shel Olam tells him write Vayikra, and he makes an aleph ze'ira? Kipshutei, the simple pshat l'cheira would be, it's the beginning of a Chumash, it stands out, it's so clear, Vayikra Hashem el Moshe. No. So he decided to do it here. אבל למעשה, by Kabbalas HaTorah, echad. That's also a big ma'amad. That's also a very parsha that everybody noticed. So there it should have been also Vayikra, the aleph ze'ira and the ganzen shakla v'tarya, the give and take between the Ribbono Shel Olam and Moshe Rabbeinu. So the kasha stands: why here? Rabosai, if I may, I'd like to say a pshat. I think that Moshe Rabbeinu used this as a hakdamah to the parashah of korbanos. The Chumash Vayikra deals with korbanos. Moshe Rabbeinu understood the essence of the korbanos, and he taught it to us through a lesson of Vayikra Aleph, Zeirah, hachna'ah, humility, to be humble. If you look at the Rishonim, the Rishonim discuss what is the reason for korbanos, and this would take an extensive shiur to discuss all the ta'amim, all the reasons that are brought in the Rishonim, ta'am ha-korbanos, why we bring korbanos, from the Rambam, Trupsag, Goyin, v'chulei v'chulei, so many different reasons. What stood out to me was a lashon of Rabbeinu Bechaye. Rabbeinu Bechaye says, al derech ha-pshat, ta'am ha-korbanos—this is on pasuk tes—yihyeh ki yechta asham mitzad ha-yetzer hara ha-netua bo, if a person...

Unfortunately, will sin. He'll do an aveira. It's the yetzer hara. Ra'ui lo sheyisnachem. He should feel bad. It should bother him. He should have a rebuke why he did it. Yisnachem. He should feel bad that he did it. V'yakir v'yisboinen b'pchisus atzmoi, u'be'erech romemus ha'adam yis'aleh asher himras piv. Korbanos is a whole—it's a workout, so to speak, a psychological workout. A person brings a korban. It's not stam, taka korban. Korban had to have an effect on a person. And what was the effect that was supposed to do on the person? That it was supposed to be that he should be misboinen b'pchisus atzmoi. He should start to realize how small he is and how great the Ribono Shel Olam is, asher himras piv, that he went against the Ribono Shel Olam's word. So according to the Rabbeinu Bechayei, and many other Rishonim follow, as I soon will show you a lashon of the Chinuch soon, hachna'ah, humility. A person brings a korban—if I may use the words—it was a humbling experience. And that was the essence of korban. The essence of korban was hiskarvus to the Ribono Shel Olam. It's clear in the Rishonim. When a person's a chayta, there's geius. A lot of it has to do with that he forgets the Ribono Shel Olam, and that's merachik the person, because he becomes a meshukatz, a meto'ev. The Ribono Shel Olam does not like gvah lev. The Ribono Shel Olam distances Himself. Throughout Chazal we find the Ribono Shel Olam distances Himself from a person who has gvahus halev. So the hiskarvus, when he comes close to the Eibishter, it's derech hachnaah, it's with humility. And so, properly so, Moshe Rabbeinu, understanding what a korban is, he decided, here is the place to teach korbanos with the aleph ze'irah, with the idea of a person should be humble. Who is he comparing himself to? To Bilam? To Bilam he's comparing himself to? Tell me, there's no middle ground. Is that what Bilam bincha? Is that what Moshe Rabbeinu is trying to say? I want to use the same lashon like it says by Bilam. Heisartein, you don't know the Mishnah. There's a chiluk between talmidav shel Aharon and talmidav shel Bilam, and talmidav shel Avraham. You're comparing yourself to Bilam. And the answer is, Moshe Rabbeinu is telling us that a person has to have such hachnaah, and we'll soon discuss this, what level of hachnaah? Like Bilam? Compare yourself to Bilam? We'll discuss this in a few moments. But appropriately so, Moshe Rabbeinu felt that the aleph ze'irah, the lesson of the aleph ze'irah, is here. Vayikra, that the Ribono Shel Olam calls him. I want to write Vayakar, as if it was written like by Bilam. You know, rabosai, there's an interesting Rashi in the beginning of the parsha. Rashi says, Vayikra. Every time the Ribono Shel Olam calls Moshe Rabbeinu, it's Vayikra, l'chol dibros, u'l'chol amiros, u'l'chol tzivuyim, kodma kriah lashon chibah. So whenever the Ribono Shel Olam calls Moshe Rabbeinu, derech chibah, Vayikra. It's interesting, the Medrash gives a different reason. Rashi doesn't bring this Medrash. The Medrash says, from here we learn out, Vayikra, any talmid chacham she'ein bo daas, neveilah teiva heimenu. Vayikra, you're called, then you come in. You come in, azoi. You know, two places we have in Chazal. First of all, even the Kohen Gadol, when he had to come into the Kodesh HaKodashim, he had to announce his arrival. Real, the pamein.

Veis min dachna, d'eilam nos chumish bachasha. The Gemara even says that the Eibishter hates someone who walks into his house without first announcing that he's coming. You know, just come barging in. It's a certain derech eretz. And Chazal call this, she'ein bo daas. Mashkeh seichel? Ein bo daas, and a neveilah teiveh mimenu, and he's still a talmid chacham. Something's wrong here. Could he be a talmid chacham? And Moshe Rabbeinu is saying, I don't want to be a neveilah here. Therefore, Vayikra el Moshe, I'm waiting till I'm called. So the talmid chacham has no daas. If he's not called, what daas are we referring to? But he has no seichel, mashkin. And neveilah teiveh mimenu, what's the pshat? So in the sefer Zera Shimshon, he's mearech on this kasha. But before we address the teretz, why here? Lechol tzivuyim u'lechol amiros, Vayikra el Moshe. All of a sudden again, this becomes the place to learn that you have to have daas to be called and you don't go on your own. Vaiter, vos epes dafka Vayikra el Moshe? Why here? He was always called. Every time Ribono Shel Olam called him, so we should learn from here and other places as well that every time you're called, you come, and if not, you don't come. So what's Vayikra here, bedavka? The idea of a neveilah teiveh mimenu, the Chazal, why is it learned from over here? So, b'zera Shimshon, some moreydike arichus. I don't think I can go through the whole thing right now. It's good I look it up over there. He brings an interesting Chazal. Chazal say, Kol mi she'ein bo daas, asur l'rachem alav. It's a famous Gemara. Freakeder, if he has no daas, aderaba, muzbar oven rachmanus afen. Fakert, it's only then he becomes a rachmanus. Asur l'rachem alav. What does it mean? So he brings some interesting mashal, he says. The mashal says, ein bo daas. He doesn't have daas to understand that the Ribono Shel Olam is the one that gives everything. Ein bo daas. He doesn't understand that the Ribono Shel Olam is above, and he is just a mekabel from the Ribono Shel Olam. So what does this person do? He uses his own seichel to do business, and he thinks, Ah, I'm smart, I'm this, I'm that. And then he loses all his money, zogt the mashal. So asur l'rachem alav. Why? Because ein bo daas. Which daas doesn't he have? He doesn't have daas to understand that the Ribono Shel Olam fit the velt. That's the ein bo daas, says zogt the mashal. And why is it, v'lo tov emenu? Says the Zera Shimshon, a vade. Ahunt, efshar shteit kein zach nisht. And he says even another very tiefe deher, beautiful vort. You know, neveilah, what's the reason for neveilah? The answer is, shelo lekapeach schar kol beriyah, because the neveilah goes to the kelev. Hasish kei daas. So the neveilah is the lesson of the Zera Shimshon, that the Ribono Shel Olam takes care of everybody. If you don't have the daas to understand that, so mimeila, asur lerachem alav, tami shomer rachmanus alav. That's what they're saying. Meiridike reid. Kol mi she'ein bo daas, asur lerachem alav. The daas that we're referring to is the daas, as the Ribono Shel Olam is above. Now we start to understand that when a person is a choteh, what does he do? He forgets the Eibishter. He forgets that the Ribono Shel Olam is omeid al gabav. I saw the Taamei Dveirah says a meiridike zach, mind-opening. I never realized this till now. He says, take a look at the chesed of the Eibishter. While a person's doing the aveirah, the Ribono Shel Olam is still giving him life. The Ribono Shel Olam should say, of emes chesh...

Ich gib dir life. I give you life. Okay, tus tach eiches? What's the pshat? So he says that a person, when he realizes that the Ribono Shel Olam is a meitiv and a noisen and a giver and a doer, could you imagine while you're doing the chet, He's still being meitiv with you, and He's still giving you. It's unbelievable. It's a ... It's a ... So he says, Oy bazeh, ein boi daas, means that the choteh, when he does his aveirah, ha'tachlis kein seichel. He's lacking the daas that the Ribono Shel Olam fitervelt and the Ribono Shel Olam tut and the Ribono Shel Olam git. You know, there's a lashon of the Chinuch, ... mitzvah tzadik hei. Yeshes oires lalev b'korban habeheimos. What's the reason for beheima, korban beheima? Zogt the ... kezach: מצד הדמיון שגוף האדם והבהמה ודמוי בכל עניניהם לא יתחלקו. The person and the beheima is actually the same. The only difference between the two is, is the seichel. Azoi zogt the Chinuch, he? Is daas. Health a maiseh. Daas. Seichel. Avul der seichel. שבזה נעשה הנעשה ולאי בזה, וביויס הגוף יוצא מגדר השכל. And since he goes out, says the Chinuch, from the geder of seichel, yesh lo lidash, and nichnas b'eisah hi b'geder habehemah. He becomes a behemah. And meila, the Ribono Shel Olam says, Take the behemah and burn it. It's chinuch. Tavren the behemah in zich. Burn the behemah in you. Very, very strong language, but that's what the Chinuch. The Ribono Shel Olam vil az men zol farshtein: a behemah hot seichel; vu is dayn seichel? Where is your seichel when you did this aveirah? Now we understand why Moshe Rabbeinu was teaching us a meiredike zach. Vayikra el Moshe. Zogt der Chazal, he was waited to be called. And why was he waited to be called? Because kol talmid chacham she'ein bo daas, neveilah tovah heimenu. Now we start to understand that neveilah is toivah heimenu. Even the neveilah gives daas. Even the neveilah, git so farshtein, as the Ribono Shel Olam fit the velt. So Vayikra el Moshe, he calls to Moshe. What is he calling? Like the Medrash says, hachnaah, vayakar, Vayikra. So Moshe understands that the hachnaah, the yesod, he has to also, Vayikra, has to have daas. On daas, on seichel, on hachnaah, on anavah. A person can't reach anything. The hiskarvus to the Rabbeinu Shleilam has to be through this inyan, that a person has hachnaah. A korban has an inyan of hachnaah. And then, we have lessons of hachnaah, tremendous lessons of hachnaah. A person without hachnaah means he lacks seichel. There's an interesting story in the Reb Shimon Shkop. There's a sefer on Reb Shimon Shkop. He brings something very interesting which caught my eye years ago, that when Reb Shmuel Rozovsky, zicher tzaddik livrachah, took his bechinah by Reb Shimon, when he left, he left differently than all other bochurim. The door had a hinge that would close by itself. The door had a hinge that it was possible to close by itself. So Reb Shimon, you know what's said in the bochur, so, you know, told him, Yasher koach for the shmues, for the divrei Torah, and the bochur would leave and let the door slam. Reb Shmuel Rozovsky left, and he closed the door behind him, didn't let it slam by itself. Reb Shimon saw in that.

Ebed Sinai, gadol baTorah. He has the daas, the ha'nivus, the hachnoah, the menschlichkeit. On azoi daas kumen farshteyn in Tosafos. Azoi hot Reb Shimon shkap gezogt, Reb Shmuel gezogt. I say, sometimes it's not big things. It's small nuances of anavah, of middos, of sensitivity, of finekeit, where the daas makes the difference. The choiter? Why don't we come to the choiter and say to him, the aveirah itself? Why are we looking in the Rishonim to find what's the pshat in a korban? A korban, you did an aveirah, so the upkosten a pardel and bring a korban. Why don't we look at it that way? No, it's got to be more. It's got to be deeper. It's got to be that the person walks away and he says, A minut, avuz geven mein seichel? Avuz geven mein daas? How did I do the aveirah? Not what I did, but where was my seichel that I did it? Tzam nehigtik azoi? No. Why don't the Rishonim just come and say, You did an aveirah. You're not much of a beheima. Kost a cha gut, it's a knas. And I remember, I had different rabbeim over the years. Some rabbeim would say, You did this, a knas, finished. You do this, you get a knas. A fine. It wasn't that fine, especially if you're a bachur, you're on an allowance. You would get a fine. Then I had a rebbe, who was a meyredike mechanech. He would give the knas, and as soon as you gave the knas, he would sit you down and explain to you why you got the knas and how to correct it for the future that you shouldn't get this knas. A person brings a korban. The Rishonim are trying to teach the person not to do the aveirah again. What caused you to do the aveirah? What was lacking in your understanding of ... you're standing in front of the Ribono Shel Olam. What made you not understand that? You know what they say when you're in a car and there's a blind spot. What was your blind spot that you were able to do this aveirah? And the answer is, you lacked pachna, you lacked the proper, like the loshon of Rabbeinu Bechaya, you were mamrid the Ribono Shel Olam, who did so much chesed to you. You overlooked something. And that becomes the lesson of the korban. Just to bring a korban and to not understand or be taught how to correct it, and you didn't learn anything. Maisha Rabbeinu says the ikar yesod of all of this is hachna, hachna, hachna, humility. When a person has humility, when a person's humble, he's able. He's able to take in all the mussar, and he's able to learn and to change his ways, and so to get close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Besides for the fact that hachna is one of the darkei ha-teshuva, the Rambam brings it, Rabbeinu Yonah brings it, to be ma'avir al hamidos. Hachna becomes a chelek of teshuva, like it says clearly, ma'avirin lo al kol peshav. The kaparah of the korban needed that there should be with hachna. And I want to point out something interesting. Baalei mussar speak in great length on how one achieves anavah. Obviously, it's not an easy feat to accomplish. You see all the baalei mussar, greatest of the baalei mussar, the Mesillas Yesharim and the Tomer Devorah, they all talk: how does one achieve anavah? And each one has their own protocol. It's interesting. I see the Mesillas Yesharim...

Famous in all the yeshivas they teach it. It's heragilus v'hahisbonenus. In perek chav-gimmel, darkei knias ha'anavah. Thought. You see, a person can't just become an anav. He can't just become humble. It takes a workout. It takes a lot of avodah. And Rabbeinu Yonah in Mesilas Yesharim says, the first thing is you have to imargel atzmoi me'at me'at, lehisnaheg b'shiflus al haderech shezacharnu, yeshivas mekomos hapchusim, v'leches b'sof hachevrah, lilbosh begadim tznuim. Externally. External humility. Ramban even says the way you talk. And he famously גערעס the Ramban, to talk humbly, v'nachas l'chaladam. That's an external avodah. Externally a person trains himself to do and to become an anav. Then he says there's a second part of it, and that is hisbonenus. And the question is, what should you be misbonen in? And this becomes a big machlokes in many, many sefarim. What should you be misbonen in? The classic thing of being misbonen in, of course, is you have to remember, lo nataholech, that a person doesn't live forever, and so on and so forth. That's quite depressing. We all know the famous vort from the Kotzker. The Kotzker said, the Gemara says there's three ways for a person to stay away from aveirah. The first thing is Yeker Kriyas Shema, the yetzer comes to me should read Kriyas Shema. The second way is that he should go into the beis medrash. And the third way is, Yaaskil l'yom hamisa. And the Kotzker asks, so why don't we just go to the third one, which seems to be the one that definitely works, right? The Yaaskil l'yom hamisa, there's nothing after that. So why don't we just go straight to the Yaaskil l'yom hamisa? A person has a yetzer hara, just jump into the thought of Yaaskil l'yom hamisa. So there's two schools of thought on how to answer this kasha. Halimusar say that the Yaaskil l'yom hamisa won't help you unless you first go through the Kriyas Shema and the Torah, and then Yaaskil l'yom hamisa will work. How many people think about Yom HaMisa and they say to themselves, Then I better live it up, right? In English there's an expression, Eat, sleep, be merry, for tomorrow we shall, right? That's really what the baalei mussar are telling us, that if a person doesn't have the right cook and the right view, what is all the Yaaskil l'yom hamisa help him? It's not going to help him anything. He needs the Kriyas Shema, he needs the Kabbalas ol malchus Shamayim, the Torah, and then Yaaskil l'yom hamisa works. Bnei Yisrael, throughout the doros, even put themselves inside an open grave to experience what is it, Yaaskil l'yom hamisa, what does it mean. Me'oros HaGedolim, Rav Chaim Zaitchik brings down. That the Chofetz Chaim would periodically do that. I never heard that from my zeide, so to me that was a very big chiddush. He says periodically the Chofetz Chaim—it's written there clearly in the Ma'aris HaGedolim, it's a very accepted, very something that a person can rely on the sefer Ma'aris HaGedolim, Rav Chaim Zaitchik—that the Chofetz Chaim would periodically go to the back where he lived and lay on the ground, yaskiliam hamisa. As a matter of fact, baal mussar, Brisk down, and he brings that there as well, that the Rothschild, the famous Gvir Rothschild, he would stop his work at twelve o'clock and he would disappear for about an hour. People didn't know where he went, but they got an inclination where he went, because when he came back he was wearing tachrichim. Every time he would come back, he was wearing tachrichim. And they asked him, Why are you wearing tachrichim? And he said, Listen, I'm a rich person, I have all the wealth. Once a day I go, I'm maskiliam hamisa. This keeps me in check. This is one school of thought. Then there's the Chassidus sheb'mahalach to the teretz to this kasha, and that is that a person shouldn't be maskiliam hamisa unless he needs to. Better to do it through Kriyas Shema, better to do it through Torah. That doesn't work, so then...

Okay, listen. Then you got to go out and, so to speak, do the most serious, serious trufa, the most serious thing that could help you. But if a person could do it through Kriyas Shema, through Torah, it's better to do it that way. So this becomes the Mesillas Yesharim's mahalach of hisbonenus, hisbonenus. See in Tomer Devorah, it says something extremely different. Eitzes lehargil atzmoi b'anavah, in perek beis. The first thing is to be boreiach mehakavod kol mah sheyuchal. You have to be boreiach min hakavod as much as you could. Sheyislamed al tzadak; otherwise, a person can turn into a big baal gaivah. I saw in the Me'iris HaGedolim again something interesting. He explains why, when the Chofetz Chaim wrote his sefarim, in the shmiras halashon, the Chofetz Chaim, the name was not in there. The Chofetz Chaim did not put his name, while in the sefer Mishnah Berurah he did put his name. Huh? He did not put his name. He did, but Chofetz Chaim he did. So he explains why. He says something very interesting, fascinating, Reb Chaim Zaitchik, I never knew this. He says because originally, when he went around selling the Chofetz Chaim, he refused to take the kavod for it. As a matter of fact, he didn't even go say to people that he was the author of it. He went around selling it as if he's the middleman for the person, whoever it was in Radin that wrote the sefer. And when people asked him who he was, he would say, I'm just here to sell the sefer. He didn't want anyone to recognize him. And because of that, he became known as the Chofetz Chaim, because he used to walk around peddling the sefer. Because they didn't know his name, so they called him the Chofetz Chaim. That's the Chofetz Chaim's sefer. Now why did he write his name in Mishnah Berurah? Because he said, like this, people could argue with me. It's a halacha sefer. If I write, they'll think, who knows who wrote it. Like this, they know. If someone may have from Rav wrote it. Like this, if anybody wants, he can argue with me. That's why Reb Chaim Zaitchik in his sefer Me'ir Sakedeilah. Beautiful. A second point that the Talmud Vayer brings, and my mind is on the clock, don't worry, rabosai, we're almost there. Sheyargil machshavto liroiz b'bizyono. A person should train himself not to be offended. Not to be offended. Not to be makpid on his kavod. Sheyargil machshavto liroiz b'bizyono, v'yomer, im hayoish me'adam, ein yodim sheyotzim malim mizeh, so people don't respect me the way I want it. Rabosai, you don't have to be a big Rosh Yeshiva to feel that. Even in one's home, sometimes relatives don't give you the proper respect. It's vas. No, no. This is yargil atzmo lanav. My zeide, zatzal, always told me that the Chofetz Chaim would lament. He would always say, Vas vet shein zayn. Mitzisrael me'eh losed lave. Nishgat genug bizyones of der velt. People treated him nicely, people respected him, and he lamented the fact that he didn't have those bizyones. Remember, he's using the words, the exact words of the Chofetz Chaim: Oy, vos vet shein zayn Mitzisrael me'eh, losed lave, az nishgat genug bizyones of der velt. We dread bizyones, and the Chofetz Chaim was wishing he would get more bizyones. Embarrassment, not the proper treatment that people expect that they should be treated properly. Okay, because you spoke out in the middle of the shiur, you reminded me of a story. Okay? Okay, I'll tell you a beautiful story. Reb Zeides Hatzal was a rav in a city called Lukach, in Queens, in Kew Garden Hills. There was a family, Rachwiger. The father was from Lukach, and I heard this from the son, who is now, of course, a grandfather. His son was my friend, but we grew up together, and he said to me, I want...

Tell you something. My father was from Lukatch. Yosef, there was a Rebbe in Lukatch. At my chasunah, my father went to Yosef and asked him to be mesader kiddushin at the wedding. I, I didn't know about this, so I went over to my Rebbe from Chofetz Chaim yeshiva, where I was learning semicha. I think it was Rav Paltiel. He wrote a sefer, Yad Paltiel. I forgot the last name of the Rosh Yeshiva. He was the bochur for Yoreh Deah that time in Chofetz Chaim yeshiva. What was his name? Paltiel. Okay. Supposed to be a chashuv person. I only know him, I saw the sefer, and I know because this family, Rachuger, told me that. And I asked my Rosh Yeshiva to be mesader kiddushin. I came home and I told my father, and I said, Ta, you know, I asked my Rosh— He says, How'd you ask your Rosh Yeshiva? I went and I asked already the rav. So he says, You'll have to cancel. I asked my Rosh Yeshiva. So the father said, No, you'll have to cancel. I'm making the wedding. And I already asked the rav. He tells me he didn't know what to do. It was a dilemma between the two of them: who should cancel? If you know Mr. Rachuger, he's a wonderful person. He says, I left it up to the Eibishter. And I said, Whatever happens, happens. And I came to the chasunah thinking, I hope this works out, because here this altere rav is coming to be mesader kiddushin, my Rebbe. He's also coming to Mesader Kiddushin. So he told me that a vadiv worked out. How did it work out? He said, this zeide was a rav already for so many years. He was busy with mesader kiddushin so many times. He came the last minute, and he had other things to do. My Rosh Yeshiva, my rebbe, from the first times he was doing it, it was a big thing for him. He was there early and everything. So he sat down to start writing the kesubah, and your zeide came, and he sits down and he starts to realize right away that something's wrong. He's not being mesader kiddushin. He says, My rebbe had derech eretz. My rebbe understood that he still needed for my zeide to ask him a few questions, how to write certain names, you know. So he turned around and he said, You know what, Rav, can you, much older than me, why don't you be mesader kiddushin? You're helping me write the kesubah anyway. My zeide said, B'shum oifen not. He said, First of all, you started, you were asked, you need to do it. Second of all, ich bin shon alter rav, I've done it so many times. Farkert, it's a good experience for you. You're going to have to do it in the future. Like this, go ahead, you do it, okay? So he tells me he couldn't believe. Alter rav had for a yungerman—he was a yungerman at the time, this rebbe. So he told me what happened. Meiridike maaseh. It's just a beautiful story. The story continues. He says, You think that's the only patch-up I did? You know me, he says. I make all these mistakes all the time. Instead of putting Yezayda on the head table with all the other rabbanim, I put him with the Lukatche Yidden. So he was sitting at the table with all the Lukatche Yidden, and all the rabbanim are sitting at the table. And the minute me and my kallah realized this, we jumped up and we ran over to, and we said, ‘Chosson, please, we’re so sorry. It’s such a mistake that we put you at this table.’ To which he responded, he said, ‘First of all, it’s not a big deal. I am a Lukatcher. What’s wrong with a Lukatch? Second of all,’ he told them, ‘you think it’s nice if I get up now and show these people that they’re not chashuv enough and I have to go sit at the head table?’ He took out his wedding album and he showed me the picture of the table that my Zeide was sitting at. Okay? It’s not like today, rabosai. Today the tables at the chasanas don’t look—there’s this men and there’s ladies separate, and there’s black hats. Even from my molde didn’t look like that. My Zeide refused to get up and be mevazeh these people, and he sat with them, and he shows me this picture. And then he says, ‘And now I want to show you something.’

Gor interesting. Yosef was machnia himself. He was humble. He was mevatel himself, the kavod of this mesader kiddushin, of a young talmid chacham, as well as the people at the table. Could you look through my wedding album? Tell me who was mesader kiddushin at my wedding. I said, I don't understand what you're talking about. What do you mean? He says, look. And I'm looking, and we see one picture, three different shots of it, under the chuppah, my zeide. He says, you know what the funniest thing is? The photographer, for some reason, every time he took a shot of the mesader kiddushin, it got blocked. So we only have pictures under the chuppah of your zeide. So whoever looks at our chasna pictures assumes that your zeide was the mesader kiddushin at the wedding. And he gave me a copy of both, both pictures, okay? You know, rabosai, humility, hachnaah. You think that it's a bizayon. You think that what happens is a person, he acts humble, it's a bizayon. It's not bizayon. Farkert. This is the greatest kavod. This is the greatest... I just want to end with the last thing of the Torah. The Torah brings down, and this is really why I brought it out, sheyachshev, the third ingredient. In the protocol on how to reach anavah, says the Tomer Devorah, sheyachshov al avonosov tamid. He should think, you know, I have aveiros. I'm not such a big tzaddik like I think I am, or that I want people to think I am. David HaMelech says, v'chatasi negdi samid. It's always there. Anavah. It was humility. And he brings this, the Tomer Devorah, b'arichus, that a person should... And with this I'll end with a story that Rav Chaim Zaitchik, taka, brings from the Chofetz Chaim. He says that they once came in to the house of the Chofetz Chaim Shabbos afternoon, and they asked him, Give mussar. Give us mussar, the bachurim asked. You know, a lot of people get up and they give mussar. They rant the olam out. They mamish, they rip the olam to pieces. The Chofetz Chaim never did that. I heard this from my zeide, Rav Chaim Zaitchik says the same point. Even his mussar shmoozin were, Come, let's discuss together. Actually, I'm talking about myself, and maybe you could also gain from what I'm talking about. He never directly gave mussar. Rav Chaim Zaitchik says that that time that they asked for mussar, he broke out and he cried, and he said, I should give you mussar? How could Yisrael Meir give mussar if I'm a baal aveirah myself? I don't have the proper yiras Shamayim that I'm supposed to have. I'm Torah? Ah, I'm nowhere where I should be learning. Azoi brengt er a maaseh from the Chofetz Chaim. Like I said, it's a reliable sefer, Rav Chaim Zaitchik's sefer. It's been combed through to perfection. You hear what a nav is. You hear, rabosai. When a person comes and he brings a korban, ya'achshev alav k'ilu. It brings a tremendous hachna'ah, a tremendous humility. And this humility is peleh, vayakar. You see how Moshe Rabbeinu says, I'm no different than Bilam. No different than Bilam? What are you talking about? What's ratzon Moshe Rabbeinu? You don't see a difference that Bilam, the Ribbono Shel Olam, vayakar; you want to write, put yourself in the same, in the same madreges, Bilam? And the answer is, you see from the ma'aseh of the Chofetz Chaim, to his own talmidim, his own talmidim. Imagine a Rosh Yeshiva who comes to his talmidim and says, I really can't give you musar because I'm a baal aveirah. Aveirah. Rabosai, hachna'ah, anavah, hachna'ah and anavah. The main yesod is, which I think for us, I don't think we should walk around thinking we're such big baalei aveirah, but at least the second point of the time of dveirah, shenyakbel bisyonai. All right, so the guy said it, so the guy did it. And this, rabosai, is the korban of today.

You don't have korbanos today. You don't have it. So what is the way that a person can mekayem, that he should be in this kaparah of avonosav? Hispatlus, anavah, hachnaah, aleph zeira. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.