Hakaras Hatov: The Foundation of Being a Yid and the Legacy We Teach Our Children

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Today, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach, we're going to talk about something which is yesodei hadat, the foundations of Jewish religion, one of the most important tenets of Torateinu HaKedoshah, and what the Torah wants of us as Yehudim, as Jews, the hashkafah, the way a Jew is supposed to think and feel, one of ikarim sheb'ikarim. And without this, a person is far from what a Jew is supposed to be and what the Torah wants that the Jew should be, and that is to be a makir tov, hakarat hatov. I'm sure you heard many, many speeches about it, how important it is. Today, we're going to learn it through the pesukim of the Chumash. We're going to learn it in Parshas Bereishis and in Parshas Noach, this week's parsha. And we're going to learn it in Parshas Vayishlach and in Parshas Vayechi, to show you how over again and over again and over again, the Torah makes this ikar sheb'ikarim, and that without it, adam mufrach. A person is, in Yiddish they say, opgefrekt. There's something wrong. He's missing basic, basic, basic as Adam, a person, and basic as Yehudi, a Jew. Hakaras hatov, you have it, you're a person. You have it, you're a ben Yisrael, you're a Yehudi. You don't have it, you lack in hakaras hatov, you're a kafui tov. Not only you're not fulfilled as a Jew, you're lacking the mahut, the metziut of what every Jew is supposed to be, but you lack even ben adam. You fall lower than where a person was meant to be. Adam lo ben adam? Adam lo ben adam? Could be such a thing? Adam lo ben adam. We're going to soon learn this as we begin. The Torah seems to tell us that a person could fall lower than a person and even become a kof, a monkey. A monkey. You're looking, monkey? Monkey? Where did monkey come in here? You know, the goyim believe they came from monkeys. You know, the monkeys walk around saying, Please don't blame us for that. Please don't blame us for your behavior. Atem tzochkim. Midrash, the Chazal mefurash. What happened to the dor hamabul—I'm sorry, the dor haflagah? What happened to the dor haflagah? Human turns into monkey. Midrash. Shevet Musar explains that's why monkeys mimic person. You ever see the monkeys able to do—he does everything that a—well, not everything that I do, because I learn Torah, so I don't have the problem. But everything that the—they know how to shoot good hoops. They're very good at that. They're very good jumping and running and—huh? Shouldn't say that? Okay. Why, says Shevet Musar? Because Adam was the origination of monkey. They think that monkey was the origination of Adam. It's the opposite. Chazal tell us that Adam was the origination of monkey, and the monkey's trying to go back to its roots. Shevet Musar says this. That's why it—what? It's mechakeh. It does the same thing as the monkey—as the person. The monkey, it copies the person because it's trying to go back to its shoreshim. How does a person turn into—

Why does a person turn into a monkey? What happened? Why was that the onesh of the Dor Haflaga? Why was that the onesh of the Dor Haflaga? From all the onshim, Hashem could do so many different things to be me'aneish, to punish. Now, he brought a mabul. You're gonna say he couldn't bring a mabul again, because he promised he wouldn't do a mabul again. So the Dor Haflaga could not be punished with mabul. Good, so be punished with something else. There's so many punishments. It has to turn into a zoo animal, a monkey. And obviously, it was a lesson that the Dor Haflaga did something that made them lower than a person, that took them to an animal that looks and sounds and almost behaves like an adam. Chaser ha-ben adam. Chaser ha-ben adam. Ata lo ben adam. Ata kof. What did they do? So we all know they did avodah zarah, right? They wanted to go up, and they wanted to build a tower, and in their warped minds, they thought they're gonna come and fight Hashem. All right. Harbeh meshugayim, b'mesech hadorot shechashvu, v'hayu lahem hasagot meshuga'ot ka'eilu ba'avir. Okay, but what's the connection? What, adam she'oseh avodah zarah, someone who does avodah zarah, someone who rebels against Hashem, is lo ben adam? He's not a person? What did the Dor Haflaga do? That cause, cause and effect, that they should become a kof a monkey. You hear the question? We don't find anywhere in the Torah, in the Torah, a guy does a certain aveira, he doesn't keep Shabbat, he turns into a monkey. In magic shows, these things happen. He's able to take a stick, turn the guy into a pigeon, a monkey. But nowhere in the Torah does it say that if you do such and such, you're going to turn into a monkey. Here we find by the Dor Haflagah that they turned into a monkey. So there's got to be a reason for it. Why? Why? Was it avodah zarah? It's got to be something else. So let's delve into Dor Haflagah. Let's understand Dor Haflagah. What did Dor Haflagah do that brought out the monkey in them? Brought out the monkey in them. Chazal tell us, based on the pasuk, that the Dor Haflagah were coined a name, Bnei HaAdam. Bnei HaAdam. Bnei HaAdam. The pasuk says, Vayered Hashem lirot es hair. It's in this week's parsha, Parshas Noach, Bereishis Yud Aleph, pasuk hei: Vayered Hashem lirot es hair v'es hamigdal. Hashem went to see this tower that they built. It doesn't say asher banu, that they built. It says asher banu, bnei adam, the children of man. Says Rashi, in the name of the Chazal, the children of man? What, were they children of monkeys, of horses, of donkeys? Of course. Of course they were bnei adam. Why does it say bnei adam? Let's read the Rashi together. Ela bnei mi? Who are they children of? Of course they were bnei adam. Shema bnei chamorim u'gmalim. Were they the children of chamorim, of donkeys or camels? Ela bnei adam harishon. They were the children of Adam Harishon. Shekafah haTovah v'amar ha'isha shenasa'tu imadi. Afilu kafu b'tovah limrod b'mi shehishpiam tovah u'malta min ha'mabul. Hashem saved you. Now this is 300 years from the Dor HaMaflaga to the Dor HaMabul is 300 years, so you should have known history.

Three hundred years ago, your great-grandparents were saved. So we're rooting it back to who? To Adam, who was the great, great, great, great-grandfather. He was also a kafui tov, because when Hashem asked him why he did the eitz hadaas, the chet eitz hadaas, who did he blame? Ha'ishah asher nasata imadi. Hashem, you gave me this wife; she did it, her fault. I gave you an eizer, I gave you a help, I gave you a wife. You're blaming her? That's a kafui tov. Grandchildren of kafui tov. So now we're starting to see that the kafui tov is what? Is the root, is the root of the sin of the dor haflaga. Because it doesn't say Bnei Adam that did avodah zarah. Just say that the people did avodah zarah. No, no, no, it's more. We're delving into the root of the avodah zarah. What's the root? And the answer is, the root is because they were kafui tov. Bnei ha'adam, because they were kafui tov. So meila, this is what they are being coined as. Their aveirah is not the avodah zarah, but the kafiyas hatov, which led obviously to the avodah zarah. Now how does kafiyas hatov lead to avodah zarah? Very simple. If a person appreciates Hashem, because he appreciates what Hashem does for him. Someone who's moreed baKadosh Baruch Hu is moreed b'tovato shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But it's something interesting here, yeah? Because what do we have? We have over here that they did a tremendous aveirah, and yet we're rooting it to kfiyas hatov, which explains, why monkey? What's the monkey? And the answer is, Ata lo ben adam. The lesson to be taken: you could walk around eating, talking, even doing business, and have a tremendous mind tovrat tzlachah in this world, yet the Torah says, Ata lo ben adam, ata kof, you're a monkey. You look like a person, you sound like a person, aval ata lo ben adam. There's a story that they say over. They say over a story that there was once a daughter of a prominent, prominent mayor in a town, that she went crazy and she decided that she's a chicken. She had a mishigayon that she's a chicken. So she went to the backyard, yeah, and she took off habgadim shelah, and she stayed with the chicken, eating corn kernels like a chicken in the coop. The father, who was a prominent mayor, he was so embarrassed. What happened to his daughter? Anyone who could heal my daughter? I will give honerav, I'll give all my money, okay? היהודי אחד שהיה חכם פיקח, Jew was a smart guy. He says, I'm going to take care of this. Goes to the mayor, and he says, Leave it to me. I'm going to take care of her. He goes to the backyard. He takes off his begadim, and he goes on all four, and he sits next to this daughter, and he starts eating the chicken food, like, and he's pecking. So she says to him, What are you doing here? He says, What do you mean, what are you doing here? He says, I'm a chicken. He says, So, so too, I'm also a chicken. I'm a rooster, okay? And together, this went on for a while. One day he turns to her and he says, איפה כתוב, where does it say that a chicken has to be in a chicken coop outside when it's cold? Maybe it can be in a house. Maybe it can be in a house, in a warm room. Let's go inside. It's מוכח, it has to be that we are outside in a chicken coop. She goes, You know, זה היום טוב. You're right. They both went in. He tells her, Who says a chicken has to be בלב בגדים, בוני לבש בגדים? Who says a chicken has to sleep...

On the floor, he could sleep in a bed. Who says a chicken has to eat chicken kernel, chicken food? Garinim, bonochal, beitzim. Let's go eat, let's go eat bread, lachmaniot, you know, whatever you guys like, lachmaniot, jachna, whatever you guys eat. Okay, I don't know, whatever it is, yeah? Bonochal. And little by little, he convinces her, and she starts to behave like a regular person. He comes to the father and he says, All right, pay up. Pay up. You see? She sleeps in a bed. She goes to work. I got her to do everything like a regular person. He goes, But what are you talking about? She still thinks she's a chicken. So he tells the father, Ma ichpat lecha? Ma shehi choshevet? What do you care what's inside her? As long as she eats and drinks and sleeps like a regular person, she's a person. Give me money. Pay me up. Bifnimi choshevet shehi chicken. Ma ichpat lecha? What's the problem with the story? Of course it makes a difference. Just because you walk around and you act officially like a person, and you go to work and you sleep in a bed, זה עדיין לא אומר שאתה בן אדם. מה בפנים? מה בפנים? What's inside you? Chicken. אדם שהוא כפוי טוב, חושבים שהוא בן אדם. חושבים שהוא בן אדם. חושבים. Look at him. He's so honorable, respectable, big businessman. Ukof, uchaya, ulo ben adam. This was the lesson that was supposed to be taught to the dor hahaflaga that we're supposed to take from it. But I want to go one step further, rabosai. Did you notice that they didn't just come and say that they were—the Torah doesn't just come and say that they were kafuyei tov. We're dragging Adam Harishon into it. No? What do you have to—you know, in English there's an expression: Why are you dragging my great-grandfather into this? Why are you dragging my parents in? Yeah? Yeah, everyone's smiling. I have to say, it's between me and you. What are you dragging my parents into this? Why is the Torah dragging Adam Harishon into this? How did Adam Harishon come in here? Rabosai, בוא נלמד אדם הראשון. בוא נלמד חטא עץ הדעת. Till today, we are living לתקן חטא עץ הדעת. The Saba m'Slobodka, the mashgiach used to say—the Saba m'Slobodka, Alter of Slabodka, used to say—that he has 300 sichot to understand Adam קודם החטא. Now he's going to work hundreds of sichot to explain Adam לאחר החטא. Adam and his chet is very, very complex. החיים, היום-יומיים, העולם הזה, לתקן—we're trying to be metaken. I could go and spend hours to explain to you how every story and every churban is all tied back to where. Etz hadaas. But if someone asks you what was chet eitz hadaas, the answer is, Chazal tell us in one word, and that is, kfiyat hatov. You're right. Yecholim legid sichot meleot lavin, aval b'milah achat, b'kitzur, it's kfiyat hatov. It was a kafui tov. Etz hadaas was kafui tov. And here the dor haflagah, the dor avodah zarah, it's being tied back to where? To the kfiyat hatov of Adam HaRishon. Let's talk. The kfiyat hatov of Adam HaRishon. Let's talk. You notice, Adam gives a name to Chava. Chava, eim kol chai. When does he give her this name? After. Why after? Tell me, could you imagine you go on a date with somebody, no name, no name, no name. After your first fight, okay, now you're getting a name. After the— what was till then? The minute he had the first initial contact with...

Excuse me, Chava, finish, give her a name. It's after sipur shel etz hadaat. It's a she'eilah tovah. Why? Why did he wait till after? So I heard a pshat from my Rebbe, Rav Pam, zicher tzaddik livrachah. I believe my uncle, Reb Zalman Sorotzkin, alav hashalom, laTorah says the same pshat. Adam Harishon could have been very angry, could have been very angry. He could have blown up and bebekas at Chava. She destroyed his life. You realize what she did to him? Do you have any idea what she did to him? She says good. She killed him. Peshutai. Simply, she literally killed him. You're right. Do you realize when a guy has a bad day in business, he comes home, he blames his wife for it. You ever notice that? Even when she's not at fault. Could you imagine when she is at fault? She forgot to give a message and you lost a big business deal. You come home, you get angry, right? Adam Harishon didn't just lose a big business deal. He lost every deal. Kods v'dardar tatzmiach. His business went south. He lost. You know what he went through, a parnassah because of his wife. Could you imagine a wife who spends on credit cards? She doesn't stop spending, and he comes back and he sees that he lost all his money. Imagine you come to the... and you see no more money in the account. You know why? The wife went and she's... Only maybe a malach could keep quiet. This is even worse than that. L'dor dorot. He got a curse. Kotz v'dardar tatzmiach. I have another question for you. When he ate from the eitz hadaas, you think she just made him a delicious dessert, you know, a nice ice cream from eitz hadaas, like a lemon—what do they call it?—lemon marmalade, what do they call it? A sherbet, a lemon sherbet. He was—shaila what the eitz hadaas was. Okay, lemon sherbet. Chazal, the Baal HaTurim brings it: Hi nasnah li min ha'etz, v'ochel. She gave me from the eitz. Why does he have to tell Hashem, Hi nasnah li min ha'etz? Hi nasnah li, she gave me. Did you eat from the eitz hadaas? Hi nasnah li, achalti. Why does he madgish? Why does he stress, Hi nasnah li min ha'etz? She gave me with a stick. She beat me up. The Medrash says she came with a stick. You better eat from the eitz hadaas. Hi nasnah li min ha'etz. And he was scared, I guess. And why'd she do that? The Medrash says she was afraid that if she would eat and he wouldn't eat, she'll die and he'll go marry somebody else. Could you imagine the scheme? The scheme. All right? That's the answer. So next time you're saying the shiur. After all this, he turns around and he says, Chava hashma. Ein kol chai. I see the positive. I see the good. I find the good point in her. With all that she did to me, instead of getting angry, I turn around and what do I... Ah! Was kedai to come for this, huh? It's just the beginning. There's plenty more to come. Hu רצה להדגיש. He wanted to emphasize that with all the bad that she just did, but she has a tremendous quality, a ma'alah. Ein kol chai. She's the mother of our life. She gives me children. Every time he calls her, every time he says her name, he remembers Ein kol chai. Instead of getting angry, you know, a person should learn this. He comes home, he should call his wife, my children. So every time, instead of getting angry that she burnt or she did, the mother of my children. The Gemara says that the word tanayim, that had very, very difficult wives. And the Gemara says, what did they used to say? Shemegadeles et banenu. They bring up our children. We have to be makir tov. We have to see the positive. This was the koach, yeah? Adam...

Sheon wanted to bring out the positive. He doesn't even know what I'm talking about. You know why? Because, you know, we read the whole life, it's a change of way of looking, that somebody could come and do something to me. And I say, you know what? I don't look at the bad. I look at the positive. Ein kol chai. And it wasn't just enough to reiterate, לחזור על זה במחשבה שלו. He calmed her that, that every time he called her name, he should remember, Ein kol chai, Ein kol chai, Ein kol chai. She's the mother, the mother of life, the positive. להכיר את הטוב ולא להסתכל על הרע, ולא להסתכל על הקלקול. You don't have to be sorry. There's nothing to add to this. This is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. What do you say, it's miraculous. That even though, yeah, you're asking, but it's a steer to the comforter. I said, wait a minute. Let's talk a minute. Let's talk a minute. So the question is, why did he do this? So I want to tell you, to understand Adam, we have to really interpret and explain another Chazal. Now, what does Adam Harishon answer to Hashem when Hashem comes to him, בכבודו ובעצמו, Borei Olam comes to him בכבודו ובעצמו and asks him, המן העץ אשר אמרתי לך לא תאכל, אכלת? What does he answer? היא נתנה לי מן העץ ואוכל. No, you guys know Hebrew. When you want to speak about eating in the past tense, I ate, you say, achalti. Hi nasati limin ha'etz, v'ochalti. I ate, I ate. V'ochel is a difficult word. You know why? Because it could mean past, present, and future. Ochel, achalti. It can mean achalti. Ochel means now. Ochel means I will eat. He should have said, hi nasati limin ha'etz, achalti, says the Medrash. Ochel, v'od ochel. I'll do it again. That's what he told Borei Olam, I'll do it again. Do you understand how Kadosh Baruch Hu comes to him? The fear, the pachad. He was scared. He was hiding. Kadosh Baruch Hu, bichvodo u'v'atzmo, comes to him and says to him, because it says, hi nasati limin ha'etz v'ochel. It doesn't say v'achalti. So the Chazal דורש, ochel, ochel v'od ochel. I'll do it again. Why would he say, I'll do it again? How can he do it again? So Baalei Mussar explain, the Baalei Mussar say, he didn't take responsibility. Could you imagine someone says you did something wrong, it's his fault. You have our people like that. No matter what they did wrong, it's the other guy's fault. Can't do teshuva. There's no way to fix it. So he'll eat again. He didn't say he'll eat again. Mimeila, mimeila, he's going to eat again. Why? Because he blamed the wife. He didn't take responsibility. I would say it differently, Rabosai, and I think it's emes la'amito. The shoresh of the chet of Adam Harishon was a lack of hakaras hatov. So if he came and he said, Ha'isha asher natata imadi, he didn't have hakaras hatov. And if you don't have hakaras hatov, what is it? Ochel v'od ochel. I'll do it again. When a person is not a makir tov b'shoresh, he will sin again and again and again and again. It was—he never said he'll do it again. The Torah was made that from his response, we know he'll do it again. Because if a person is a kafui tov, he's a kafui tov, you should know that he will sin again and again. Rooted in chet etz hadaas, kipshuto. Of course, there's a lot of depth in chet etz hadaas, but this is the shoresh, the simple, in one word: lack of hakaras hatov. And if you have lack of hakaras hatov, you'll do it again and again. And the tikun, rabosai, what is the tikun? Hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov. That's the way to be metaken. That's the way to fix.

How do you fix eitza daas? We're here to fix eitza daas. And the answer is, yesod. Yesod of Yadus is hakaras hatov. Why in the name? Let me discuss with you. Avraham Avinu had a daughter. You know he had a daughter? His daughter's name was what? Huh? You made up. You make up nice midrashim, you make up. His daughter's name was Bakol. Bakol. Hashem beirach es Avraham bakol. One man d'amar says bakol means he had everything. He had a son. And the other man d'amar says he had a daughter. Her name was Bakol. You want to explain to me why someone would call his daughter Bakol? Maybe she had all the ma'alos. אולי היא יש לה הכל, she had all the ma'alos. She was waiting for the shidduch. He wanted to make sure on her resume she's Bakol. She has everything. What kind of expression is Bakol? You know, Esav says, Yesh li rav. Yesh li rav. What does—what's his name say? Yaakov? Yesh li kol. I have everything. The difference is, when a person is makir tov, he has everything. Avraham Avinu was saying, Hashem, berach oti bakol. I have everything. I'm makir tov to Hashem. He named his child Bakol. So every time he called her Bakol, he was saying, Hashem, I thank You for everything. I have everything I need. Every time he called his daughter Bakol, he was saying, Borei Olam, natata li hakol. You gave me everything. Others look for money and for who knows what they're looking for. I appreciate, Hashem, beirach es Avram bakol. So he called his daughter Bakol, that in the name, it's hoda'ah to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that he has everything. Where did I get this from? This idea, this is my own understanding of the name Bakol and why Avram called it Bakol. Yehuda. Yehuda. Yehuda was called Yehuda, pa'am odeh es Hashem. Leah, hapa'am, now I thank Hashem, hapa'am odeh es Hashem. Chazal say Leah was the first to thank Hashem. First, the first person in the world to thank Hashem was Leah, because she said, Hapa'am odeh es Hashem. Question: you don't think Avraham Avinu, you don't think Yitzchak, you don't think people in the past, Adam was makir karbanot, Noach was—everyone thanked Hashem. What are you talking about? What did Chazal mean that Leah was the first? My rebbi, Rav Pam, zichrono tzaddik livrachah, told me a me'oreidike pshat. She was the first one to name a child Odeh es Hashem. It's one thing to thank Hashem. It's another to name a child that every time you say his name, you're bringing out, I remember the praise, the thanks that I owe Hashem. She was the first one, you hear, to understand hoda'ah and to name a child Hapa'am odeh es Hashem. I want to show you something interesting. Yehuda had a very interesting characteristic. What was the ma'alah of Yehuda? The Medrash says that because Leah, she took pelach hodiyah, she took the root of praising Hashem, zachah, she was zocheh that her children had the ma'alah that they were modeh laHaKadosh Baruch Hu. And who are they? Yehuda, by Tamar. What does Yehuda, it says, tzadkah mimeni. He said, It was me. David HaMelech. What did David HaMelech say? David HaMelech said, right, odeh laHashem. He praised Hashem constantly. This was the children of, the children of Leah. Now, because the mother said, A pam odeh es Hashem, that's how and why the child and the grandchildren—what is the connection? It seems like because Leah did this, it became what? A midah in the children. The Medrash continues and says that Rachel...

Took pelach shel shtikah. It's quiet. Huh? Quiet. When the story with Leah, she never said anything, right? She didn't give out the simanim and the whole story. She didn't tell Yaakov that Leah was the... So she took shtikah. And because of that zechah, that Binyamin was a shotek. Binyamin knew that Yosef was sold. Binyamin knew his brother was... He never said a word. Do you know what the stone on the choshen that Binyamin is? What stone is he? Yashpeh. That's the stone that Binyamin is, yashpeh. Chazal say, yesh peh. Why yesh peh? He kept quiet. Shatak, like Rachel when she was shatak when they were giving the sister as a wife to her husband, Yaakov. She kept quiet. Yesh peh. Also Binyamin kept quiet all the years, never told Yaakov what happened to Yosef. The question is, yesh peh seems to say the opposite. It should say ein peh. The name of the stone should have been ein peh, not yashpeh, avnei yashpeh. And the answer is, because when a person has nothing to say, doesn't talk, that's not a malach. The maalah is yesh peh. He has what to say and he doesn't say it. Yesh peh, yesh peh. He has... He's... He's quiet. He had what to say, yesh peh. He had a lot to say, and he still kept quiet. See, my son is going like this. Yes, it's beautiful. You know what a shatkan is? They say the Chazon Ish was a shatkan. He was very quiet. Huh? You think the Chazon Ish had nothing to say? The whole world stood on his psak halachot. Never spoke. He hardly ever spoke, the Chazon Ish. People who have what to say don't say. It's usually those that have nothing to say that don't stop talking. But that's a shmooze, a sicha for a different time. But what do we see from here? That it's a midah. That just like the midah, the Chazon Ish used to say that he's very quiet, זה המשפחה פעלא, which means it's a trait of my family. It's a family trait. Shtika is a trait. It's a midah. How about hakaras hatov? You would say hakaras hatov is in the mind. It's the way a person thinks. No. It's a midah in a person, of who the person is, that he's a makir tov. And like I explained to you, if you don't have it, you're like a kof b'alma. You're mamash like a monkey. Getting back to the vort, so what do we have? That because Leah, nu, she had odeh es Hashem, and she called her child that, so in the child became the shoresh of the midah of what? Lehodot laKadosh Baruch Hu. I want to read to you two beautiful things. If you take a look, it says Yaakov Avinu gives a bracha to Yehuda. Yehuda, atah yoducha achecha. Yehuda, your brothers will praise you. Yehudcha, praise. Yehuda, ata yoducha achecha. Says the Targum, what does it mean, oidisa? You were modeh v'loy b'hitisa, and you were not afraid with the story of Tamar, you were modeh. Meila, Yehuda ant odisa al uda d'Tamar, begin kein. Because of this, lecha Yehuda nachcha, v'yiskarun yudin al shmecha. Why are we called Yehudim? It comes from this pasuk, that Yaakov Avinu said, Jews will be called Yehuda. Why will Jews be called Yehuda? Because what Yehuda was modeh, and because Leah said, hapaam odeh es Hashem. There's a Medrash. The Medrash says, Amar Rav Shimon ben Yochai, you kol achecha nikra'im al shmecha. All Jews will be called on your name. Ein adam omer, Ruveni ani. Maybe my great-grandfather is Reuven. Why am I calling myself Yehuda? No one ever says, Ruveni, I'm a Ruveni. No one ever says, I am from a different shevet, I'm from Shimon. What do you say? Yehudai. Why? Because Yehuda means the shoresh of every Jew is hapaam odeh es Hashem.

The first thing a Jew does in the morning, when he wakes up, what's the first word that comes out of his mouth? Modeh ani lefanecha. Modeh ani lefanecha, Melech chai. It's the first thing that a Jew says when he wakes up in the morning, what comes out of his mouth: Modeh ani lefanecha. Why? Because Yehuda is what a Jew is. So not only a ben Adam means to be modeh and thank and be makir tov, but as a Jew, uniquely and specifically, we are makirei tov, makirei tov. You know, in the story of Purim, something is so interesting. How many times does it say, ish Yehudi haya, ish Yehudi? Why the emphasis so much that Mordechai was an ish Yehudi, and the war of Haman was against by Yehudim? The Yehudi played such a big role. The name Yehudi, the phrase that he's a Yehudi was such a big part of Purim, and the answer is because Haman was a tremendous kafui tov. Chazal say, and we say it in the piyut, in the krovetz, V'lo zachar Chasdei Shaul. Haman was a tremendous kafui tov. Why was Haman alive? Because Mordechai's great-grandfather, Shaul, saved his great-grandfather Agag. How did he come, right, Agag? He was supposed to get killed in the war. Shaul saved him. Shaul didn't kill him. And that night he had a baby, and from that came Amalek, right? So v'lo zachar. He was a kafui tov. And you want to know something? Haman was even a kafui tov because Achashverosh. Achashverosh did so much for him. Achashverosh built him up from nothing. And what did he do? He backstabbed him. He planned to undermine him and to get rid of him and to take over and to steal his wife. Yehudi, ish Yehudi, the makir tov. Klal Yisrael, Yidden are makirei tov. Klal Yisrael are makirei tov. Now I understand something very beautiful. We think, and I almost understood, that the reason why Leah called Yehuda, Yehuda, that she should remember Hamodes Hashem. Leah called Yehuda because she wanted that Yehuda, Yehuda, should be Yehuda, that he should be Odes Hashem, that he should give over to the children this tchunah, that every Jew should have this thing, that he's able to be makir tov and not to be a kafui tov. Now let's go back to Adam HaRishon. You know why Adam HaRishon calls her Chava after the eitz hadaas? Because he realized. He said, Hein nasa li Elokim, eitz isha asher nasata imadi. He was a kafui tov. So now he was mesaken it. He fixed it by saying, Ein kol chai. Now everything, everything fits together, rabosai. You see? This is, this is the pshat. Adam Harishon realized that where was the shoresh of his chet? He'nasta limaneitz. So what did he turn around? He was mesaken, and what did he say? Ein kol chai. I'm makir tov to what she is. That was the beginning of the tikkun, the beginning of the tikkun for the chet of the eitz hadaas. Avraham Avinu, he was teaching his family Klal Yisroel, the beginning of Klal Yisroel. Yitzchak with his daughter, that Bakkol, got to appreciate and be makir tov. There's a custom Ashkenazim have, and I know Sefardim have it as well, that after Hallel, they say a pasuk, and it's a segulah for arichas yamim. Which pasuk? Hashem beirach es Avraham bakol. How did that come into Hallel? No, Yidalach, no, you're gonna say the shiur for me? Go ahead, say the shiur. This is Hallel. The lesson of Hallel: Avraham zakein ba bayamim, v'Hashem beirach es Avraham bakol. To realize that Hashem gave everything. That's Hallel, and that's a segulah for arichas yamim, because life, if you're makir tov to the Eibishter, Hashem gives you life. Hashem gives you life. Hashem gives you life.

That is the yesod of Yadus and the yesod of Adam. Now let's go back to explain Bnei HaAdam. Remember I asked you a question, simple question: why are we dragging the story of the Dor Hamabul—I'm sorry, the Dor Haflaga—all the way back to Adam Harishon? Bnei Adam, that they're the grandchildren. And the answer is, it all is in the shoresh. If the parents are makir tov, if the grandparents are makir tov, if the great-grandfathers are makir tov, then the grandchildren will be makir tov. Hapaam odeh es Hashem. Leah, by being makir tov, she instilled in her children and great-grandchildren, is Yehudi, that they're makirei tov. Bnei Adam, where did it come from? Where did it come that a person could do something like the Dor Haflaga? Where could it—where? And the answer is Bnei Adam. It's all rooted in where? In the great-grandfather. You know, rabosai, I know many fathers and mothers that come complaining that their children are not makir tov to them. Here, take a look how ungrateful he is. Maybe you should look in the mirror and say that I trained my children, that I give the right chinuch, that my children should see what it means to be makir tov. It's all rooted in the grandparents. There's a very nice story, and with this I'll end. It's brought down. A following story, that there was once a person that came to the Rav, and he says, Rav, you have to help me. My daughter, she wants to marry a guy. She wants to marry a guy. Please, if you could talk to my daughter, she wants to marry a gentile. Could you convince her? So the Rav says, I'm very sorry, I can't help you. What do you mean? Why can't you help me? Twenty years too late. Twenty years too late. You should have came to me twenty years ago. What was twenty years ago? He says, very simple. Twenty years ago, when I sat in the beis knesset, and I gave the sichot, and I gave mussar, you sat there and undermined me. You sat there and you said, Eh, what does the rabbi... Now, twenty years later, what do you expect? You expect that the daughter should listen to me? What do you expect is supposed to happen? It's a tremendous lesson. If in the home, the father walks around being makir tov, appreciating all the good, appreciating everything that's good that happens to him, then the children will pick it up. It's all in the shoresh of the home. That was the lesson that has to be taken. Bnei, bnei, bnei, bnei, bnei. It's all about the children seeing and going in the footsteps of the grandparents when it comes to hakaras hatov. So this, rabosai, is the end of the shiur. We'll stop over here. But this is the lesson. This is very important, rabosai. You have to learn this, az miz makir tov. Your children will be makirei toiv. If you're kfuyei toiv, don't expect the children to be different. Bnei ha'adam, it always shayers. But then the person can start thanking the Eibishter, and with this, the Eibishter in return gives pakel Hashem berech Avram bakol. The more you're makir toiv to the Ribono Shel Olam, the more the Ribono Shel Olam gives you. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.