Lag BaOmer: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Judging Every Yid Favorably

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This week, Yidden all over the world celebrate Lag BaOmer. Of course, Lag BaOmer is the celebration of the life of Reb Shimon bar Yochai, his holiness, his achievements, the fact that he gave us the Zohar. And of course, there's a lot to discuss on this point of Reb Shimon bar Yochai's life and the impact that he had on Yiddishkeit. But there's one angle that I'd like to, you know, put emphasis on that maybe is a little less known. I found in the sefer Bein Pesach L'Shavuos by Rav Cohen, Rav Tzvi Cohen from Eretz Yisroel, who is melaket a beautiful maamar mekoros. He brings mekoros that bring down that on Lag BaOmer it's a time for mechilas avonos, that a person is forgiven on his sins by Lag BaOmer. And he brings the reason for it is because there was Reb Shimon bar Yochai had, so to speak, a change of heart in his life. Originally, Reb Shimon bar Yochai was in the cave, and when he left the cave, whoever he saw was working, wasn't sitting in the beis medrash learning, fire. Came out of his eyes and burnt the person up. Eish haTorah, the fire of Torah, the fire of Zohar. The Ribono Shel Olam said, Please go back to the cave. That's not what I had in mind. Yet we find when he left the cave the second time, and he brought us the Zohar and everything, it's brought down in the Gemara, Sukkah, that Reb Shimon said a quote. Reb Shimon said about himself, After aniyas kalah olam kulo min hadin, I will forgive the whole world. I will forego the whole world from judgment. The mefarshim explain that to mean that Reb Shimon bar Yochai was saying that he'll protect, he will protect Klal Yisrael from kitrug, malachim, and mekatrig on Klal Yisrael that they do aveiros. After his kalah olam min hadin, I will protect them. You have this, you read this in the Chak Yaakov, you read this in this maamar. It's a Gemara. The Gemara says, After his kalah olam min hadin, that I, Reb Shimon bar Yochai, will stand and protect. I will be a guardian that Jews should not have din. They shouldn't be judged. They shouldn't be punished. Pshat. Originally, Reb Shimon bar Yochai came out and judged everyone very strictly. Those that were working, you're supposed to work. Many people should be working. Yet Reb Shimon bar Yochai judged them, You really need to work? You really should be in the beis medrash. Chacham, chomer. He judged them very strictly, second time, first time. Then afterwards, he was taught in the me'arah, Rebbi Shimon to go back, and he comes out and he's taught, no, after his kol elam, that actually what is the Eibishter looking for? That tzaddikim should be melamed zechus, that tzaddikim should protect not only the innocent, but even the sinners. And so, he brings mekoros of great people that said that lakba omer is a time of mechilas avonos because Reb Shimon bar Yochai stands above and he protects, stands above and is melamed zechus for Klal Yisrael. It's interesting that it's the one place that all types of Yidden come together. An interesting observation. No one's thought about it. You know, we have the Kotel. The Kotel is something that unites all of Klal Yisrael, all different factions, right? That's because ki beisi beis tefillah yikarei lechol. It's for everything, even for the goyim, so kol shekein for the Yidden. But why by the kever of Reb Shimon bar Yochai do you find such a unification of so many different big people, of different types of sects of Klal Yisrael? And I think it has to do with Reb Shimon bar Yochai.

His lesson of Esther's kol olam and hadin, Klal Yisroel, to unite and to protect, to be lamed zechus. This was the lesson, the lesson of the Zohar. In previous years we've spoken, because what is Zohar? Zohar is actually to see the penimius. The idea of the Zohar is to see not from the outside, but to look deep into the reality, and that becomes reality. A Jew maybe on the outside might sin, but if you look at the penimius, if you look deeper, you see that it's not coming from a makor of sin, but rather it comes from mistake, tinok shenishba, different reasons why people sin. But in the inner core of the Jew is pure and good. So the Zohar that the Reb Shimon bar Yochai was taught and then gave over later after he left the me'arah was this yesod, the penimius, to the point that even in the Jew the penimius shines forth, and therefore Esther's kol olam and hadin, and therefore that brings about a tremendous achdus in Klal Yisroel. I'd like to discuss this point of being dan l'kaf zechus. As I've spoken to you just now, that Reb Shimon bar Yochai's tafkid, so to speak, when he left the me'arah was limud zechus, to find sanegoria, to find the—his goal, his purpose is to find sanegoria, to find a defense for Klal Yisroel. You know, Aaron HaKohen, Aaron HaKohen comes into the Kodesh HaKodashim, right? This is what we learned over here. Aaron HaKohen comes into the Kodesh HaKodashim, and Chazal tell us that he was not supposed to wear the golden, but rather the white, the white garments. Why? So the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah tells us, Ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor, because the egel, it represents the egel, the gold. So you don't want the kateigor in the Kodesh HaKodashim, because it's na'aseh saneigor. You need to look for defense and not prosecution. My uncle, my great uncle, Reb Zalman Sorotzkin, zecher tzaddik livrachah, asked a nice question. I don't know if it's in the sefer, but I heard it from my zeidy zatzal, I heard it from Reb Zalman. A nice question: If there's a problem of ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor, so he should never wear the gold. Why is it only when he comes into the Kodesh HaKodashim on Yom Kippur does he not wear the gold? In general, keep it away from the home base, HaMikdash, since the Beis HaMikdash is for kaparah, and the gold reminds us of egel. Never have gold in the Kodesh HaKodashim. So Reb Zalman Sorotzkin, my great uncle, answered a very nice pshat. One is not supposed to overlook the sin, and there's a time and a place where one is supposed to focus on the aveirah that was done. You can't excuse away completely an aveira. The person who did the aveira must deal with it. It's only when he talks to the Eibishter, the tzaddik, the gadol who talks to the Ribono Shel Olam, and he discusses the Klal Yisrael and its sin to the Ribono Shel Olam, he has to be melamed sanegoria. He has to come and speak about defense. So, klapi chutz, when he did the avodah, what the people saw, they needed to be reminded of the egel. You can't excuse away egel and tell people, Ah, you did the egel, don't think about it. Of course you should think about it. But when he went into the Kodesh HaKodashim, where he spoke to the Eibishter, where he was in contact with the Ribono Shel Olam, over there, over there, he doesn't bring up the egel. He speaks about lavan, white, pure. The saneigor, the defense, is to the Ribono Shel Olam. And he says that people misunderstand the Barditchever's yesod, the Barditchever is a chassidic v'kadosh l'bracha, that he always was melamed zechus. It doesn't mean that he never told a person...

Mussar. It doesn't mean that he never told a person that you did something wrong. You're supposed to tell somebody he did something wrong. What, you're supposed to tell everything is fine, you did good? So then there's no mussar. There's no tochachas עמיתך. What's the pshat? When you talk about the person and the aveirah to the Ribono Shel Olam, who's the Father, that you don't speak ill, that you try to find a limud zechus. And I always give this as a mashal. You know, understand the Ribono Shel Olam being the Father. So sometimes you have to come down strong on the child. When you come and turn it over to the Father, you find a way how to buffer it, that it shouldn't be so painful to hear. So says the Reb Zalman, people don't understand. They think that the bardichever is yesod of Ahavas Yisroel, and his yesod of being dan l'kaf zechus is a blank check to do aveiros. Do what you want. Yeah, it's fine, you did this. And a lot of the jokes, so to speak, that they say about Reb Levi Yitzchok Bardichever's great shitah is along these lines. Yeah, he did aveiros, he did this aveirah, those aveiros. The person has to know you did wrong. And that's why outside of the Kotel, when Klal Yisroel sees the Kohen do the avodah, that's b'bigdei zahav. It's to remind them that they did something wrong. But when they talk klapei pnim to the Eibishter in the Kodesh HaKodashim, that's where you do not bring up the aveirah. That's where you speak Sanigurian Yisrael and you wear the white. Sanegor is defense. Defense, you only bring up the white. And the truth is, one of the classic stories of the Reb Levi Yitzchok Barditchev really goes to this yesod. It speaks of this yesod. They say over, Reb Shalom Shvadron used to say it all the time, this story about Reb Levi Yitzchok, that in Barditchev, someone once walked into the beis medrash and he put on his tefillin very fast. Reb Shalom used to say it over almost to the point where the person wasn't sure if he was putting it on or taking it off. He was completely— the whole thing was so quick that he didn't know if he was starting to daven or finishing davening. Then when he davened, he davened and was finished. It was unbelievable, quick, the speed. So Reb Levi Yitzchok Barditchev was bothered by this. How does a person daven like that? That's how you daven today? So he went over to the person and he tells the person, ... The person goes, What? ... Rebbe, what are you saying? ... He turns to the guy next to him, Is he okay? Is the Rebbe right? So then Reb Levi Yitzchok says, Of course I'm right. What's the problem? He says, Rebbe, how do you expect me to understand one thing you said? So Reb Levi Yitzchok said, And tell me, how do you expect the Eibishter to understand what you said? You daven the same way. It's exactly how you daven. How do you want the Eibishter to understand? Reb Shalom Shvadron used to say over that people say over this story, but there's really more to the story. And that is that there was an older Yid sitting at the table that saw this back and forth between Reb Levi Yitzchok and this, so to speak, new quick mispallel. And he says, Rebbe, I don't agree with your mashal, with your parable. Why? You're right. When a person talks to another person and he would speak like this, nobody—there's no way for him to understand. But take a child in the crib. Take a child in a carriage. But the mother and the father understand what he wants. The Ribono Shel Olam is a father, and if He's a father, He understands. He understands what the person wants. Reb Levi Yitzchok was so moved by this person's ahavas Yisrael and his limud zechus, he asked him, How old are you? He said, I'm ninety-something years old. Says Reb Levi Yitzchok...

But ditche, you should know that you lived these ninety years for this moment. You merited the schus ... You hear? Says Reb Sholom, but that's not the end of the story. There's still more to the story. Levi Yitzchok, butditche turned around and said, You're mashal of the child, understood. Shh. You're mashal of the child, shh, understood. But isn't it a bizayon when a forty-, fifty-year-old man acts like a baby? What's your limud zechus? That what, that he's like a baby in a carriage? Shameful that a fifty-year-old man should be a baby in a carriage. A baby in a carriage, the kid do better. That's the best he could do. He says, Imagine a fifty-year-old man sitting in a crib. What do you see from over this story? I learned from this story that Reb Levi Yitzchok felt that the person needed to be told that he's wrong, and strongly. Hocheach tochiach es amisecha. Hocheach tochiach es amisecha. You're supposed to tell. Yet he blessed the older person that he had a schus to ... Klal Yisroel, because one has nothing to do with the other. To the choyta, you got to come down and say, Listen, it's wrong. You got to— You got to own up and live up to teshuva. You got to do it. Klapi d'Eibishter. Ah, that's a tremendous thing, to be melamed zechus. But the truth is, I learned another part of a lesson from this story. How did Reb Levi Yitzchok Barditchev give the mussar? Isn't it a bizayon that a fifty-year-old man should act like a child? You know what he was telling him, I believe? You're not a child. You're a fifty-year-old man. You have tremendous capabilities. He was uplifting the person. So even when he gave the mussar, what was he telling him? You're a baby? No. He was telling him, you're not a baby. He was telling him, you're a big—you're a chashuv, a gavra rabba. You're fifty, so you're capable of much more than a baby. Why do you minimize yourself? Don't minimize yourself to the abilities of a child. I would like to translate a pasuk for you, boys, according to this pshat that I just explained to you in the story. Twice it says, and the Gemara says even many times, it says, 'Till he listens.' Now, I don't want to go into the halachos of tochacha. It's long. There's a lot of halachos. You can ask me many questions now. But I want to translate the pasuk and say an interesting pshat. 'Hocheiach tochiach es amisecha, v'lo sisa alav cheit.' You shouldn't put on him a cheit. What is the cheit the pasuk is referring to? So either by not stopping him from doing the aveira, you make him have a cheit. Or Chazal learn from here that the way you give mussar— You shouldn't make it, lo sisa alav cheit, that he should not want to do the mitzvah. You can't do it in a way that he'll turn around and curse you. Musar has to be given in a way, lo sisa alav cheit. Don't make him be a bigger sinner. I would like to translate the pasuk the following, rabosai. V'lo sisa, don't uplift the chet on him. Don't make the chet bigger than the person. Make the person bigger than the chet. V'lo sisa alav, don't hold on him all the time. Ah, he's this, which means you're holding on him, on his—he's a cheit, he's a this, he's a that. No, no, no, no. V'lo sisa, don't make the chet, sisa, over the person. Lift the person up away from the chet. Elevate him. I remember my bubbie's, aleha hashalom, once gave mussar to a cousin of mine. It left such an impact. I learned all the halachos of tochachah from her in a few small sentences that she said. And I don't know if she was so learned in halachos, I don't know, I never saw her study the hilchos tochachah, but with her wisdom, the Yiddishe mama understood what it means. Like it says in the pasuk, Al tisa...

There is a wisdom to the Yiddishe mother. My Bubby gave a mussar to a cousin of mine that was reading something he shouldn't have been reading. It wasn't something which was proper for a ben Torah to read. So instead of her telling this cousin of mine, What are you doing? How could you do such a thing? How could you do such an aveirah? No. She elevated him. She said, You're such a good person, chazak, chashuv a bachur. You're such a... Why would you read such a thing? How do you come to read it? It's not for you to read. That's elevating the person over the chet, and not to elevate the chet, make it, Look at the aveirah you did. That's elevating the chet over the person. Lo sisa alav. Don't make on him greater the chet over the person. Don't hold it over him. Elevate him over the chet. And that's what I think Reb Levi Yitzchok was doing. He wasn't saying that the person is a child. He was saying, The person, you're not a child. You're a person. That's what he was trying to bring out. You're a gavra. You're fifty. You could be much greater than the child in the carriage. Don't settle for that. Don't settle for being a child in a carriage. This is lo sisa alav chet. So we see a tremendous thing over here, that there's a balance between tochacha and limud zechus, tochacha and limud zechus. Now what is this balance? Reb Zalman Sorotzkin said a beautiful story. Reb Zalman said over that Rav Amram Bloy told him about Reb Chaim Zanefel. Now who was Rav Amram Bloy? Rav Amram Bloy was the head of the Neturei Karta. Neturei Karta was known that they viciously fought the Zionism. There was clashes based on tremendous hashkafah, right? Anti-Zionism. It was fierce. Rav Amram Bloy was fierce in his battles. Reb Chaim Zanefel was the rav in Yerushalayim, Yishalachoima. He was the famous tzaddik from Yerushalayim, and he was the head of that. He was the rav. He was the rav in the Neturei Karta, so he went with that shita. Yet the story is as follows. Rav Amram Bloy said over that there was once walking in Yerushalayim in the street, and there was a parade from the Israeli government. Reb Chaim Zanefel stopped, didn't want to look at it. You know, they were so against the Zionists, he didn't want to look at it. Yet he was mumbling words to himself. So Rav Amram Bloy asked him, What are you saying? What is the Rebbe talking? What are the words that you're mumbling? He says, I'm saying pesukim, speak about Klal Yisrael: Ashrecha Yisrael, Mi kamocha Yisrael, Am nosha baShem. That even though I fight you, to your face I tell you you're wrong, to the Eibishter what do I say? I say it's Klal Yisrael, it's beautiful. It's beautiful story. You have to straighten up, please. But the pshat is that even though I have to fight, hocheach tochiach es amisecha, there's a time and a place where, to your face, I have to be strong, and I have to state my opinion, and I have to tell you that you have to change your ways. Yet when I talk to the Eibishter, what do I say? Ashrecha Yisrael, mi kamocha Yisrael. The heder of the Turi Karta. Okay. This Reb Zalman Sorotzkin would say is the understanding of why the big day zahav was not worn by the Kohen Gadol in the Beis Hamikdash, in the Kodesh HaKodashim, not to remind chet. Yet outside of the Kodesh HaKodashim, all year long, he did wear, because he was supposed to remind chet. You're supposed to know that you did something wrong. We learn from here, we learn from here, a tremendous lesson. What is Kodesh HaKodashim? What does it mean? Kodesh HaKodashim means that it's uniting with the Eibishter, to talk to Him. And Kodesh HaKodashim means that it's the time to be melamed zechus on Klal Yisrael. That's what Kodesh...

Kach HaKadosh Baruch Hu meets, that the Kohen Gadol had a time during the year where he unites with the Ribono Shel Olam. He unites with the Eibishter to talk to Him. What is the talk that he has with Him? Limud zechus on Klal Yisrael, limud zechus on Klal Yisrael. So now I'm going to show you how this is brought already all over in the literature of the whole Avodas Yom HaKippurim. The idea of Avodas Yom HaKippurim is limud zechus, has kateigor v'kach sanegor. The idea is to take away kitrug on Klal Yisrael. You know, you send a sa'ir. Forgiving Am Yisrael is the avodah between Klal Yisrael and the Ribono Shel Olam. But in the Beis HaMikdash, the avodah of the Kohen Gadol was to take away the chov, as if to wipe away sin of Klal Yisrael, to take away the kitrug, or I would say the prosecution of Klal Yisrael. The idea of the Avodas Yom HaKippurim was to find the good and cover over the prosecution. And I'll show you where this is spoken about a lot. You know, we take a sa'ir and we send it la'azazel. One is in the Beis HaMikdash, and one goes to the cliff and thrown over the cliff. Now the Zohar explains that this sa'ir that went over the cliff was supposed to be for the sitra acher, for the Satan. As an appeasement that he should go and be melamed zechus on Klal Yisrael. Normally, what does the Satan do? The Satan is supposed to—he's supposed to find prosecution. He's supposed to say bad. So what do we do? We give him a bone, so to speak. We throw him a steak, and we figure maybe with this he'll just... The question is, that's—he don't need the steak. You know, Bishlaima the guy, the judge, him with a bottle of wine you could buy him off. But how do you buy off the Satan with an animal that you throw it off the cliff? What does it mean? What is the translation of the words? It's almost fantasy. You give him an animal, you throw it down, and that's going to be that you bought him off, and he's going to now go and—what does it mean? So Yitav Leiv, which is the grandfather of the Satmar Rebbe, explains it very nicely. Where do we send the sa'ir? Where do we send it? We send it to the Azazel, right? Hamidbarah, el eretz gezeirah. The words of the pasuk is to a land which is gezeirah, desolate. Eretz, el eretz gezeirah. Gezeirah means there's nothing there, deserted. So the question is, and the Rashbam explains that there's nothing growing there, and it's bad, it's a junky land, and—The question is, the pasuk says you send it to the midbar, la'azazel. Why do you have to—Azazel, midbar, eretz gezeirah—what do you want with all this? There's so much description about... Desert, desert is desert. Everybody knows where the desert is. It's desolate. Why all the explanation of where and what the midbar is? Says Yitav Lev, says Satmar Rebbe, a very nice pshat al pi the Ohev Yisrael. Apter Rav, the Ohev Yisrael says a pshat. You know, what is the greatest limud zechus on a person? What's the limud zechus on a person sins? How can we bring out a defense for him? And the answer is that he's mei'adam. He comes from the earth. Adam yisodo me'afar v'sofo le'afar. What is a person? A person is just mei'afar, mei'adam. He comes—Adam is mei'adama, comes from the earth. Where does sin come from? What was the first entity to not listen to the Ribono Shel Olam and sin? The tree. The tree. The tree. The Maharal explains that when the person sinned and he ate from the eitz hadaas, what was the punishment? Arurah ha'adamah, that the earth became cursed. Why curse the earth? Imagine this guy sins and this guy gets punished. Curse the person. What do you curse the earth for? Arurah ha'adamah.

Why? Hashem. Yeah, of course it makes sense. Great question. Imagine I say, What? You did that? Okay, you—what you? You who did it. Why am I cursing the earth? Explains the Maharal, because how does a person even get the ability to not listen to the Hashem? What does that mean? A person should have ceased to exist. Everything is what Hashem wants in this world. Hashem didn't want you to do it, so how do you do an aveirah? And the answer is, it comes from the earth, that it was the first to not listen to the Eibishter. Hashem said, Make trees, that the trees taste like the fruit. Eitz pri, eitz. That the eitz was pri, oiseh pri. It didn't listen. It made tree that tastes like wood and fruits. The only thing that has the tree the same taste as the fruit? No, is esrog. And that's why we take the esrog, and it's tzaddik, it's considered the tzaddik, right? It's resembled. Why? Because it listens to the Eibishter. So explains the Maharal. So, arurah ha'adamah. The earth got cursed when? When the man didn't listen. When man didn't listen, who's the blame for it? Earth. Because since the earth didn't listen, man is created from the earth. There's a part of him which is earth. So who caused him to sin? The earth. It's the earth that brought sin and not listening to the Eibishter to the world. Arurah ha'adamah. The ground was the first to not listen, and the Maharal explains that the Eibishter did it that way because otherwise no one could ever sin. So the Eibishter made it that there should be a metzius where the earth doesn't listen, in order that man who comes from earth should also be able to not listen to Hashem. So arurah ha'adamah, the earth gets cursed when man doesn't listen. But there's a flip side. So just like I get punished, so to speak, the earth, because I sinned, I can also get off the hook with that defense. It's my fault. It's the earth's fault. You're blaming me for? You created me. Atah yedei yitzram, atah yotzram, atah yedei... You created me like this. You created me with a chip, so to speak, like from a computer to sin. What do you want from me? You were the one who made it. Atah yedei yitzram. You created man from adam, from adamah. So what do you expect? Says the Ohev Yisrael, the Apter, that we send Eretz Gezeirah to the midbar, where it's all land, desolate land, land that doesn't grow and doesn't do anything, to be a limud zechus. That's how we buy off the Satan. We tell the Satan, take a look, Eretz Gezeirah. We explain the Satan, we're made from Eretz. That's what we're made of. We're made of Eretz Gezeirah. We're made of this. Desolate earth that doesn't have any tov or anything good in it. The lashon of the Rashbam, she'ein bo tov, nothing good is there, there's no growth. And that's the limud zechus itself, meaning we're opening up the sotan with what we want him to be melamed zechus on us. We're teaching him. We're giving him the defense. It's like when the defense, you know, the prosecutor, so the defense lawyer tells the prosecutor lawyer, listen to me, I have some good evidence over here. This is going to be a good defense. You better jump ship and change to the defense team. And what is it? Eretz gezeirah. Man is no different than the midbar. He comes from this eretz gezeirah, this eretz hamidbar, and that becomes the limud zechus. So we see that the yesod of avodas Yom HaKippurim is to bring out the defense of Klal Yisrael, that they're human. They're human. Now I'm going to explain to you a tremendous yesod. You ready? It's an interesting thing. We act like malachim on Yom Kippur.

If we act like malachim on Yom Kippur, right? I would have said the opposite. If the whole idea of Yom Kippur is to bring out that we're human, and therefore we're fallible, and therefore we shouldn't be judged—we're a person. What do you want from a person already? So why do we go and act like malachim on Yom Kippur? It defeats the purpose. I always thought about that. We want the Eibishter should look at us and go, Ah, one is kisisgarena, ben adam kisifkedenu. Who's a person? What's a person? Vu a mensch, ven a mensch? What's a person already? So why are we coming to the Eibishter, look at us, we're like malachim? That defeats—it defeats the whole purpose. So let me discuss this point, okay? The pasuk says that no person was allowed in the Ohel Moed when Aaron HaKohen came into the Kodesh HaKodashim, lechaper baKodesh on Yom Kippur. Vechol adam lo yihyeh b'Ohel Moed bevo'o lechaper baKodesh v'ad tzeiso. No one was allowed to be in there. The Gemara tells us—it's a Yerushalmi—why does it say vechol? Say adam lo yihyeh, a person. Why does it have to have vechol, an all, which is a ribui, which comes to add something? What is it adding? Adam—you know of anybody else that goes in there that's not adam? What animals? Who are you referring to? Vechol adam. Says the Yerushalmi this is referring to malach. Shedmusam demus adam. They look like people. There's a lot of features. A malach looks like a person. And so, the Gemara understood that the pasuk is teaching us that even a malach doesn't go in. Malachim were not allowed to go into the—when Aaron HaKohen went into the Kodesh HaKodoshim. Why not? What's the big deal? Malachim, they're usually there and they have to leave. I mean, what's the big deal? Like, what? What's more perplexing is, Yerushalmi a few pages later asks the question, V'chol adam lo yihyeh b'ohel moed, v'chi Aharon lav adam? Yeah, but Aaron's a person, so what do you mean no one's allowed to be there? You just said no man is allowed to be there, but Aaron's a man and he's there, so how could the pasuk write that? So of course the simple pshat is, V'chol adam, besides Aaron, besides him. Yerushalmi says a different teretz. Yerushalmi says that Aaron, after he purified himself and after he prepared himself to go into the Kodesh, is like a malach. He's like an angel. He's not an adam. He's not a person. What's the contradiction? Here you just told me, V'chol adam lo yihyeh b'ohel moed, that a person, including malachim, are not allowed to be in the Ohel Moed. And here you answered, how was Aaron allowed to be in the Ohel Moed? Because he was a malach. It's a famous contradiction. All the mefarshim ask this. There's a contradiction in the Yerushalmi between two or three pages in the Yerushalmi. In one place Yerushalmi writes, no malachim, no angels, and in another place Yerushalmi says, but Aaron was a person, and how was he allowed? The answer is he was not—he was an angel. Yeah, but angels are not allowed, you just told me. So the mefarshim answer that a person is a person. A malach is a malach, but a malach from a person is much greater. Which means if a person elevates himself to the status of malach, that's something already beyond malach. It's greater than just being a malach. And so when the Yerushalmi says, no malachim, yeah, no malachim. Aaron, Aaron was a person that turned into a malach. It's a different type of malach. My Zeidy zatzal told me a story that there was a rav from Germany that went to visit the Chofetz Chaim, and he spent a lot of money on a ticket. He wanted to see the Chofetz Chaim. He heard so much about the Chofetz Chaim, he wanted to see who's this person. He came. Tell him, tell him. He came. Yep, he came. He walks into the room of the Chofetz Chaim. He spent some time with the Chofetz Chaim. He was not impressed. Why? The Chofetz Chaim was very simple. He was very down to earth.

He's very talkative. He acted like any other person. If you didn't know the Chofetz Chaim on a regular basis, nor did you see his Mishnah Berurah work, when you sat at the table with him, you'd walk away and say, I don't know, what do you see in him already? He's the regular nice person. So he left the room, and he was disappointed. He spent a lot of money. It was a ticket, a travel from Germany, and he expressed himself, Nah, fart a mensch. Eh, he's a person. What's the big deal they make? My zayde used to say he had the misfortune—my zayde used to use these words—he had the misfortune of saying this in front of Reb Elchanan. Reb Elchanan used to go to visit the Chofetz Chaim, and he would humble himself as a talmid to the Chofetz Chaim, and every word he would be like a— with humility under the Chofetz Chaim. And this was the worst thing that you could have said. That's—you couldn't have said it in front of anybody worse than the Reb Elchanan. To say such—Reb Elchanan started to yell, What? What? A person? Of course he's a person, but he's a person who elevates himself to be a malach. He's greater than a malach. It's bigger than a malach. From this point, that when a person elevates himself to be a malach, it's not just a person, and nor is it just a malach. It's an adam malach. It's a person of man that's the greatest. And that's what they say, and my zayde, the sefer gives this teretz, the stira, the contradiction between the two Yerushalmis. Yerushalmi says that no person was allowed in when Aaron came, and the Yerushalmi says even angels, and then a little bit later it says, How did Aaron—but he was a person. The teretz is what? The teretz is, he was a malach. Yeah, but I thought you said no malach. When he answers, he was a person, a malach. The Belzer Rav, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Belz, beautiful, beautiful pshat. It's a beautiful thing. He goes to this Yerushalmi with another angle, and he says, you know, there's an interesting Zohar. The Zohar says that Chanoch turned into an angel. The pasuk says that the Ribono Shel Olam just took him away. Ki lakach Elokim, he just disappeared. He was walking down the street one day and just disappeared. Chanoch in the Torah, he just disappeared. It says in the pasuk. Make a good, what do you call that, comic strip. All of a sudden, the guy just disappears. He disappeared. Okay. The Chasam Sofer explains in the teshuvos, in the hakdamah to his teshuvos, why did Chanoch disappear? What happened? Chanoch was a tremendous tzaddik, even bigger than Noach. Chanoch was a bigger tzaddik maybe even than Avraham Avinu, he says. He would sit in the corner and daven and learn in his room. But what? The Ribono Shel Olam doesn't need malachim. Chanoch turned into a malach. He wasn't... Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu chafetz b'malachim; He has plenty of them in Shamayim. So He tells Chanoch, I didn't bring you to this world to be a malach. Come back. Avraham Avinu, ki ahavtiv, the pasuk says, why do I like him? L'maan asher yetzaveh es banav es beiso acharav. He's mekarev other Yidden. He lives among people and he helps people, he teaches them, he learns with them. That's what I need. I don't need angels. I need rabbanim, roshei yeshivos, talmidei chachamim, rebbes, mekubalim, whatever your taste is, right? I need people who are going to teach. Chanoch, you're not teaching. You're learning for yourself. Do me a favor, come back, you know. You're more malach than person. Come back here, that's all. You look at the teshuvah of the Chasam Sofer. The Belzer Rav, though, brings this Zohar, where the Zohar seems to say something else. The Zohar seems to say that why does the Ribono Shel Olam take Chanoch back? To be a shomer al Yisrael, that he stands and he protects Klal Yisrael. Remember we started this shiur with Reb Shimon bar Yochai, and I told you that Reb Shimon bar Yochai protects, ani afters kol olam kula min hadin, that he protects Klal Yisrael from judgment. Actually, I see this also in this Chanoch. That Chanoch was taken back to protect Klal Yisrael, to be shomer. Says Belzer Rav, what does it mean? What does it mean? And the answer is, he's there to be melamed zechus on Klal Yisrael. Chanoch was taken back as an angel, as a defense angel for Klal Yisrael. Freg the Belzer Rav, you'll ask—

Ask me, why do I have to take Chanoch as a defense angel? I have so many angels in Shamayim. Lacking, missing angels? Says the Belzer Rebbe a brilliant thing. Angels don't understand people. They can't properly defend them. We took Adam, someone that was here, and we brought him to Shamayim. Now go defend, be a malach to defend Klal Yisrael. So this I don't know, but this is this medrash. This Zohar that says that he was there as a defense. Why do you need him? Why do I need the malach? The answer is, you need a human being that understands the weaknesses, somebody that's understanding. Says the Belzer Rebbe, that's the pshat over here too. Vechal adam lo yihyeh ba'olam ha'elyon, malachim. You don't belong there. You know why you don't belong in the olam ha'elyon? Because the whole olam ha'elyon, like I explained to you, is to find defense for Klal Yisrael. It's to discuss with the Ribono Shel Olam a defense plan, a defense for Klal Yisrael. Malachim are not equipped for that. Vechal adam lo yihyeh ba'olam ha'elyon. I, Aharon HaKohen, Aharon HaKohen is fit for that. He's a malach, like Chanoch, and his job now is to defend Klal Yisrael. Beautiful, beautiful, so beautiful. If you understood the understanding of what it means, avodas Beis HaMikdash. The avodah of the Beis HaMikdash was— To defend, to defend, to defend the honor of Klal Yisroel, and to explain away their aveiros, to explain it away, v'chol adam lo yihyeh bahem. No man, a malach included. You know why? He won't do the job. The one who could, the right defendant was the Kohen Gadol, who turns into a malach, like Chanoch, who elevates himself. And why is he a malach? He's a malach because this becomes his tafkid, to defend Klal Yisroel. With this, I would like to discuss: what does it mean? What does it mean to be melamed zechus? What is it? How do you defend? There's a very nice story of Shalom Shvadron zatzal, used to say over, a beautiful story, that there was in the years of '48, right before the Medina, Israel became Israel, still Palestine, Britain, there was a mohel, a very chashuv a mohel, who had a gold coin, which was a lot of money at the time. He could have supported his family a whole year with this gold coin. So instead of putting it in a bank, because it was a very dangerous time, nobody was secure, so he put it on top of his refrigerator, put it away, hidden over there. One of his kids climbed up there. You know, I guess kids are kids. And he sees the coin and he thinks to himself, I need lollies, I need candy, you know. So he took the coin and he ran to the local supermarket to buy himself candy. He don't know the difference between gold and pennies. Money is money, right? He doesn't. See, he comes back with three lollipops. You ever heard this story? It's a great story. He comes back with three lollipops, see, and the mother asks him, Where did you get these three lollipops from? So he says, I climbed on top of the refrigerator, and I took the coin, the money that was the gold coin, and you got three lollipops. What? She goes to look there, and it's not there. Oh, her heart sank. Quickly she tells her husband, and together they run to the storekeeper. What kind of a lowlife are you? A kid comes in with a gold coin and you give him three lollipops? Says the owner, What? He didn't come with a gold coin. He came in with a penny, one penny. As a matter of fact, I felt bad for him. I gave him two extra lollipops. He should have given only one lollipop. I'm a tzaddik. I'm a good guy. I gave extra. What are you talking—? He says, What? It's a gold coin. What are you talking about? Here, it's missing. There was only one gold coin over there. What? He says, Yeah, from top of the refrigerator. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. They're yelling and screaming at him. So he took him to a din Torah, to a din Torah. So the...

Paskened that the storekeeper has to swear, since he's a kofer hakol. Today, kofer hakol makes a shevuah? Kofer hakol? He says, I don't owe you the money. It's not true. So therefore, yeah, the halacha today, in the time of the Gemara, kofer hakol didn't swear. But today, a kofer hakol has to swear. So he says, okay, swear. So Reb Shalom used to say that originally he heard the story that the mohel said, You know what? Forget it, because the Gemara says that even if the person that makes you swear false—not only the person that swears false, but the person that caused you, that forced you to swear—he also is responsible. He also will get punished. You know what? Forget the gold coin. Leave it, I'm mochel the shevuah. Later, Reb Shalom would say that years later he found out that it actually was the other way around, that the mohel said, Swear, and the chenvin, he said, You know what? I'm not going to swear. What happened? It was a tremendous story in the streets. People started to stay away from this storekeeper. Why? He didn't swear. He ended up not swearing. Ah, for sure he stole the money. Look, he took advantage of a little kid. A horrible story. Put him in cherem. The end of the story was that after Israel became Israel and the economy started to grow a little bit, the mohel gets a letter from a yeshiva person, a person who learned in the kollel, and he says, I want you to know that I owe you a gold coin. What happened? Your son was walking in the street, and I see a kid playing with a gold coin, and I figured to myself... If a little child could be walking around with a gold... comes from a rich family, huh? I mean, which kid walks around with a thousand dollars in his pocket, right? It doesn't make sense. So I figured, you know what? If it's from a rich family, I don't have any money. I'm dying from hunger. My family's dying from hunger. I'll borrow the money. I'll borrow the money, and one day I'll pay you back. So what he did was he gave him a penny instead of a... He said, Let me see what you got over there, and he gave back the kid a penny. The kid didn't know the difference. I don't know, from nothing. So when he came to the store, he gave the penny, and the storekeeper said, For one penny, you get one lolly, but you know what? You look like a nice kid. I'll give you two extra lollies. He was right. You hear? To make a long story short, there are all three of them. They passed on, right? Says Reb Shalom, a mayridike thing. Take a look in Shamayim, these three people. The moel, he didn't do anything wrong. I mean, he went to a beis din, and the beis din said he should swear. He's supposed to swear. Makes sense, he should swear. He didn't do anything wrong. The chenvani was a tzaddik. As a matter of fact, he's going to sit very high in Gan Eden because they were choshed him for something that he didn't do. And the Gemara says that if they're choshed somebody for something he didn't do, ashrei, he's praised. You're lucky. You're lucky that you know why? Because they clean up your aveiros with that, so you're a very lucky guy, the Gemara says. So says Reb Shalom, this guy is sitting in Gan Eden very high up. How about the guy that stole? He did teshuva. He wrote a letter. He's sorry. He doesn't know about what they said about this chenvani. He didn't try to make the chenvani have a bad name. He gave back the money. He paid back. He wrote a, I'm sorry, I owe you the money, and he paid him back. So he did teshuva. So all three people more or less fixed what they had to fix. They did what they had to do, and they're all sitting in Gan Eden today. Says Rav Shalom, who's paying for this story? It's all the neighbors. They walked around and, right, what word? Spectators. Spectators who weren't dan l'kaf zechus, you hear? Who weren't dan l'kaf zechus for no reason. They have nothing to do. He says, they didn't know what was going on there anyway, accused him. Those are the people, says Rav Shalom, those are the people that I paid dearly for this story, you hear? So he says, take a look. The three people were involved, they're going to be off the hook. It's you that was chayshed. Instead of being dan l'kaf zechus, look who's going to pay. I want to tell you a pshat. The Gemara tells us, I see you need another piece of paper. Anybody have a piece of paper for this gentleman? You're a gentleman. Yes. Yes. Take that as a compliment. The Gemara tells us, it's a Mishnah, Gemara in Yuma.

Before Yom Kippur, the beisin used to send a messenger to the Kohen Gadol to quiz him, to quiz him on the avodah, if he's going to do the avodah properly. Why? The tzaddikim used to do it one way, and the chachamim said we're supposed to do it a different way, fire before, fire after, the procedure of the avodah on Yom HaKippurim. Says the Gemara that when they left the Kohen Gadol, he was crying and they were crying. They were crying, they were chosheshim b'ksherim. They went over to the Kohen Gadol to ask him if he's doing the right thing, and maybe he's a tzeduki, maybe he's an apikores, and he's doing it the way the tzedukim did it. Chosheshim b'ksherim. Chosheshim b'ksherim. It's very painful. So the people, the beisin, walked away crying. V'hu, and the Kohen Gadol walked away crying. You know, look how they were choshesh me, terrible. He felt terrible. Look how they're being choshesh me b'ksherim. The mefarshim ask a very nice question. The people who were choshesh, it was done because the beisin sent them. So what'd they do wrong? What are you crying about? It's not your problem. It's not something that you did wrong that you have to fear or feel bad. What are you feeling bad about? So I always used to say one of two things. First of all, you're right, but still you feel, a nice person feels bad that he has to do something which is so unpleasant. You know, you don't have to be crying because you feel you did something wrong. You're crying that you did something right, but that you had to do it. It's also not so, you know. You know, how does a father tell his child when he hits him? He says, You think you're crying? I'm crying even more. We don't think he's wrong. We don't think he did something wrong, but still, it's uncomfortable. And if someone has middos tovos, he cries by having to be choshed b'ksheirah, to be choshed someone for no reason. Or, I used to say over another pshat. Now, if you take a look, it's interesting. We find that Yaakov Avinu took the brachos from Esav. He stole them. Esav goes out and cries. What? Tzaakah gedolah u'marah, a very big, strong, bitter cry. Tzaakah gedolah u'marah. We find the same language many years later, that Mordechai HaTzadik, when he finds out from Haman also, Vayeitzei—he went out into the city—vayiz'ak ze'akah gedolah u'marah. So the Gemara Megillah puts the two words, the two leshonos, together. Ooh, look, by Esav it says ze'akah gedolah u'marah, and by Mordechai, ze'akah gedolah u'marah. Why? It came to fix. It was this that Yaakov did to Esav. He caused him pain, so he caused him to scream a ze'akah gedolah u'marah, exactly those words, which means that measurement of pain. Years later, Haman, who was the grandchild of Esav, returned it, so to speak, the favor to Mordechai, and now Mordechai's vayiz'ak ze'akah gedolah u'marah—payment. This is a payment for this. That's what the Gemara says. The mefarshim ponder this; they don't understand. But Yaakov did the right thing. When Yaakov stole the brachos, he was really a bad, evil kniving—no, he did what the Eibishter... didn't say shema b'koli. Mifke says, listen to my kol, says Chazal, kol means what? Ruach HaKodesh. So the Eibishter was telling him to do it. So how could he later on get punished? Punished, punished. Vayeizag zakah gedolah u'marah. So we spoke about this many times, and we said a yesod, that even when you're right, if you cause others pain, there's payment for it. Even when you're right, even if you're 100% right, not everything is about right and wrong. You could be 100% right, and still, still, still, there's payment for causing someone else pain. So here too, when they come and tell the Kohen Gadol, they tell the Kohen Gadol, look, maybe you're not a kosher Kohen Gadol, they had to do it. They're right for doing it. But still, they're crying. You know why? You might have to pay for this one day. You might have to pay for it. You might have to be mesaken that you were chosheshim and caused them pain. These are the two terutzim that we always said. But I ask the other way around. I have a different question. Why is the Kohen Gadol crying? That's a normal thing. It's a standard...

Procedure that they come and they question the Kohen Gadol every year. It's not you. And also Chazal tell us, Ashrei mi shechoishdin boi v'ein boi. It's the greatest thing you could ever have, that people are choshed and it's not true. It's brought down that the Steipler was accused for a very big aveirah, a sexual aveirah. He did a sexual thing with some maid, and it wasn't true. And he was mochel; he forgave the people that caused him all this. And I don't want to go into all details, it's a long story, but basically, because he was mochel, said the Steipler about himself, the doors of Shamayim, of Chochmas HaTorah, opened up for him. His wisdom of Torah came as a present for the fact that he overlooked his bizayon, his chashad, and he said, You know what? I leave it alone. It's fine. Ashrei mi shechoishdin boi v'ein boi. There also was a shaila of a chilul Hashem. There was a few other points that the Steipler brought out. It's not for right now; it's late. The point being, why is the Kohen Gadol crying? What's the big deal? What's the big deal? So they're choshesh him. So what? It's a standard questionnaire that they ask every year. You're not Kohen Gadol over somebody else. Every year they ask whoever the Kohen Gadol is. It's not a sign on the Kohen Gadol that he's weak or something. They saw some question about him, A, and B, and if they are choshesh, it's a great thing; it's kaparas avonos. I want to say pshat: since the whole avodas Yom Kippur is based on not being choshesh. The idea of— Avodas Yom HaKippurim is to not see l'kaf chov. Is to always be dan l'kaf zechus. So in the Avodas Yom HaKippurim, both the questioner and the one that's being questioned is in pain, is crying that we have to be choshesh. It would have been better if the day before Yom Kippur, instead of coming to the Kohen Gadol and having to be choshesh him, to be dan him l'kaf zechus. And that's why he's crying. The fear of coming to the Yom HaDin, to the Kodesh HaKadoshim, where each one was choshesh the other one, so to speak, and not dan l'kaf zechus, that was the fear and the crying. Ki'ilu they wanted that there should be a kaparah. It shouldn't be a blemish for the day of Yom Kippur, this that they were choshesh the Kohen Gadol and weren't dan him l'kaf zechus, because the idea of Yom Kippur is to come to the Ribono Shel Olam dan l'kaf zechus. Now I want to explain to you what it means to be dan l'kaf zechus. What is it? There's a story in the book of Reb Aryeh Levine which truthfully changed my life. It had an impact on me because it really opened up my eyes, really opened up my eyes to understand what it means, the chiyuv, the responsibility of being dan l'kaf zechus. The story over there is brought, and I'm not sure if it's in the English edition; it might be in the second volume, the Hebrew one, Tzadik... So he brings a story like this, that Rabbi Aryeh Levine was at a funeral for a friend, and he was broken, felt bad, friend, he was very close. One of the friends from the group breaks away from the funeral, and as they pass by a place where they sell flowers, atzitz, they sell plants, he goes into the store and he buys a plant. Rabbi Aryeh Levine felt very bad. Middle of a funeral for your friend, you go buy a plant for everybody. Imagine a guy comes to a funeral and he goes into a pizzeria in the middle of the funeral. What's wrong with you? Guy goes to buy a Coke in the middle. What's—crazy? So Rabbi Aryeh said, even I, who doesn't, you know, rebuke people and respects people, he just couldn't hold out. And he went over to the guy and he said, What's wrong with you? He says, It's not what it looks like. You think I went to buy a plant for my house in the middle of a funeral. I go to visit lepers, cholim, in the hospital. There were a lot of lepers. I don't even understand why, but there was leprosy in the '48 in Israel. There was a lot of leprosy. I don't know maybe where they're coming from, Africa. It was machlah misdabekes. It was very contagious. R' Moshe has teshuvas about it. And what do you do with the tefillin of such a person?

The government of Israel and the hospital policy was to burn everything, including the tefillin. He would go visit this person, and he felt bad for the tefillin. So he went over to the doctor, and he tells the doctor, Maybe I could take the tefillin home with me. The doctor said, No, it's policy. I'm a religious person also, but not gonna work. It's the policy. It's the government. It's the hospital. But what I do is I give you good advice. Come with a plant, as if you're buying a plant for one of the sick people, you know, flowers, a plant. Take the tefillin and hide it in the earth of the plant, and then go home with the plant. Make believe, you know, okay, you came home with the plant. So he thought it was a good idea. So he was supposed to visit this person after the funeral. From the funeral he went to go—so he bought the plant. So Rabbi Levine held his head and he said, Wow. Imagine if I would have never asked him what he was doing, I would have lived my whole life thinking, eh, eh. V'lo sisa alav cheit. What is v'lo sisa alav cheit? V'lo sisa alav cheit means don't keep it hanging forever. Here forever and ever and ever. He would have left. You know, it is like that, by the way. When you see a person do an aveira, every time you see him, ah, yeah, ah. Maybe did teshuva. The Gemara says, Im ra'isa talmid chacham, if you see a talmid chacham she'aver aveira balayla, al taharer acharav. What is taharer? Don't think all the time, hmm, hmm. Why? Because vadai asa teshuvah. He definitely did teshuvah. Now, I don't know if every person is a talmid chacham, that the next morning he did teshuvah. I'm not going to tell you that. But why does it have to be that when you see a story, forever and ever that becomes the person? That becomes the person. Oh, that's the guy. Oh, I saw him. Oh, yeah. Who knows? Maybe you saw incorrect. Maybe you didn't see the right thing, yeah? Vechal adam—I'm sorry, that's the pshat. Al yehei chet techichas al nesech. Don't keep it long term. Al yehei... that forever and ever the chet hangs on him forever. No. Maybe he fixes it. You did your job. You gave tochachah. From here on, maybe he's a baal teshuvah. Leave him alone. Al yehei... Now with this, I think we could go and explain something very nice. I told you that a malach can't be melamed zechus. An adam could. You know, there's something very interesting about a person. A person, when it's about him, he's a melamed zechus. When it's about him, all of a sudden all he sees is that it's okay. There's nothing wrong. When it's about the other person, it's always wrong. I'll give you a story. They say over from Rav Hutner, zecher tzaddik livrachah, brilliant Rav Hutner, zecher tzaddik... Rav Hutner. Very interesting story, you hear, that someone went to Rav Hutner. He said, There's a kid in my son's class. This kid ruining the whole class. He's destroying the class. He's making all the kids go down in Yiras Shamayim. Gotta get rid of him. Says Rav Hutner, You know, he comes from a very good home, this boy. He comes from a good home. I throw him out of yeshiva, the father is going to suffer terrible. It's going to be a tremendous blow to the family. I have a hard time doing it. What? You sacrifice the whole class for one guy because his father? What kind of a father is that guy already? He should have been a better father, and if he comes from a good home, it makes it all the worse. You know, the boy himself, not such a bad boy, not such a bad boy. He has some good traits, that he's friendly, he's nice. What? All the more reason, because he's friendly, he can make people more on his side. We got to get rid of him, and he's... Let's say I get rid of the boy, yeah. What's going to be with him? He could go completely...

We're gonna lose him completely. I have to think about that. What? You care about—he's lost already anyway. Look at him and look what he does. Says Rav Hutner, tell me something. Do you know who this boy is? So he goes, I don't know exactly who it is, because my son didn't want to tell me, and the kids in the class don't want to tell me. But I heard, and all the parents are talking, that there's one boy that's just destroying the whole class. And if the Rosh Yeshiva doesn't throw him out immediately, you should know, and you should do, and you should see, and the whole school... Said Rav Hutner, tell me, did you know that this boy is your son? All of a sudden the guy goes, What? Rosh Yeshiva, wait a minute, but he comes from such a good home, and he's such a nice boy, and what's gonna be with him? Ah, ah, ah. You know, it's the same story, just the... No, it's a real story. Famous story. He didn't know there was a kid ruining the class, and then the father—Rav Hutner was trying to tell him, You don't even get it. It's your kid. It was your kid who was ruining the class. Then all of a sudden the guy turned it around, and all of a sudden he didn't see anything. He didn't see all the other half of everything. You know why? Because that's called adam. How could a person... How could a person be melamed zechus on another person? And you know what the answer is? The answer is, you do the same thing. You do the same thing. What are you talking about? You know how many times people look at another guy and they say, Look, look how he talks during davening. But you also talk during davening. What are you talking about? You do the same thing. We usually blame the other guy for the same stuff we do. You see the other person's fault in yourself. The Gemara says, Kol haposel, b'mumo posel. It's the way it is. When you have something wrong, I want you to know something, yeah? I'll tell you something interesting. A ganef, a ganef, will walk around all day long, Oh, that guy's a ganef. Oh, he's a real—he's a thief. You know why? Because it takes one to know one. You come to me, I don't see all of that. I look at life pure, so therefore I see everybody pure. Kol haposel. The whole adam. It takes an adam to be melamed zechus. You know why? Because you have to be able to do the same thing to understand that therefore I don't blame the other guy for doing it. A malach can't understand that. He says, Why are you doing these aveiros? Because he doesn't do them. In order to be melamed zechus on the other person for doing the aveirah, you look in the mirror. That's b'chol adam. You need an adam who fixed himself. He turned into a malach. He doesn't do that. But he knows that he could do it. He knows that he could be the same. He could be that person. I think that's the pshat, and I want to tell you over a vort from the Bnei Yissaschar. Hecheach tochiach es amisecha, v'lo sisa alav cheit. What is v'lo sisa alav cheit? So there's a gevaldige vort from the Bnei Yissaschar. Bnei Yissaschar says it's yadua from the Baal Shem that when a person sees another person do an aveira, there's a reason why you have to see it. There's a reason why you had to see that person do an aveira. They say over that the Baal Shem Tov saw someone being mevazeh Talmud Chacham. I'm sorry, the other way around. He saw someone being mechalel Shabbos. So the Baal Shem Tov said, It's because of me. I have to learn a lesson from this, because Talmud Chacham and Shabbos is the same, and maybe I didn't respect talmidei chachamim the way I should. So the chilul Shabbos that this guy did is a lesson for me that maybe I should fix in this area. You see somebody do something wrong, says the Bnei Yissaschar, that's the pshat in the pasuk. Hecheach tochiach — why double lashon? Because when you see a guy do an aveira, there's two tochachos: one for that guy, and one for yourself. V'lo sisa alav cheit — don't put the sin on him. Maybe it's you. I want to say pshat.

Don't make him the sinner. You're the same guy. You do the same stuff. Don't look at the other guy. What about you? Tochtes al bazachin, you do the same things. V'lo sisa alav cheit. This, rabosai, is what it means to be melamed zechus and be dan l'kaf zechus. And this, like I explained to you, is Reb Shimon bar Yochai's, afters kol ha'olam kulo. I'll pat to the whole world, which means I'll be dan l'kaf zechus. This causes mechilas avonos. Like I explained to you, it's a time for mechilas avonos, lag ba'omer, and with this zechus, taka we'll be zoche to have the Ribbono Shel Olam should be dan us l'kaf zechus and bring us Moshiach. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.