Balak: Ma Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov—Unity Through Different Shevatim and Derachim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We have Bilam the Navi. Bilam, the pasuk says, Eshasher tevarech mevorach, veshasher taor, you are. He has special koiches, tremendous powers. He definitely had the koach to give klalah, that's for sure. Shalav, he had the koach habrachah, but whatever it is, his words meant something. A lot of what he said at the end, after he couldn't get a chance to be mekalel, are tremendous nevuos about Klal Yisrael. As a matter of fact, there's Brisker Torah that says that just like Moshe Rabbeinu spoke and it became Torah, as Bilam spoke, it became Torah. So the nevuos of Bilam mamash are Torah from a navi. And interestingly, Chazal tell us, though, that all the brachos that he gave, vnishapechu lklalah, they all went back to being a bad thing. He said good things, and they inverted, they switched to become klalah. The only one brachah that he said that remained a brachah is, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. Ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov. This is in Perek Chav-Daled. Vayar Bilam ki tov b'einei Hashem levarech es Yisrael, v'lo halach kipaam b'paam likras nechashim, pasuk beis. Vayisa Bilam es einav, vayar es Yisrael shochein lishvatav, vayisa mashalo, vayomar: Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. How good are the tents of Yaakov, mishkenosecha, the dwellings of Israel. We use this pasuk as the introduction to the tefillah. Before you start davening, we say, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. This is opening. It's the opening of the davening: Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov. Why did this pasuk remain from all the other pesukim and brachos that, in turn, the klal, this remained? Why? It's interesting. It's a pashut. I don't know what the Rabbeinu Shom's cheshbonos are, but it's an interesting ha'arah, l'choira, something that needs to be discussed, to be understood. All the brachos went back to be a klal. This remained a brachah. Why? So, rabosai, I think that to answer this question, we have to understand the pasuk. Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. What is the pasuk referring to? What does the pasuk mean? What is the context and meaning of these words? So it's interesting, Rashi points out that he actually started with the intention of giving a klalah. And then he saw them shechein lishvatav, vati'al ruach Elokim alav, u'vilvoi shelo yekalel. He had a change of heart. So Rashi tells us that there's something here that he saw which moved him, changed his mind, to the point that he says, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. What was it that moved him? So Rashi says that what did he see? He saw, ma tovu ohalecha—what did he see? Ra, sorry, shechein lishvatav. Ra kol shevet v'shevet shechein l'atzmo, v'einan me'uravim. They don't mix. Each shevet stands separately. Ra she'ein pischeihem mechuvanim. He sees that their pesachim, their doors from the houses, are not adjacent. Ze keneged ze, shelo yatzitz l'toch ohel chaveiro.

In order, he should look into the ohel, into the tent of his friend. So they made, let's say, you have windows, and one window is next to the next-door neighbor's window, you could see in. So the houses were set up in a way that you couldn't look in. And this caused him, ala b'libo shelo yekalel. Okay. So the question of Chaira is, Rashi seems to be saying two things. Ra kol sheive v'sheivet shechein l'atzmo. He sees that each sheivet is separate, v'eino me'uravin. That's one thing, right? And then it continues, Rashi, ein pischeihem mechuvanim. A second thing. So is it one or two things? Which one is it? I mean, l'choira, if Rashi puts it together, it's mashma it's all one thing, one inyan. Ra kol sheive v'sheivet shechein l'atzmo v'eino me'uravin, and Rashi, ein pischeihem mechuvanim, seems to be two different inyanim. It seems, l'choira, right? One is that he sees each sheivet separate, and then he sees that the neighbors don't look into each other's houses. But the way Rashi brings it down, it would seem that it's one thing. Another shaila I have: what exactly was going through his mind when he wanted to curse them, that this changed his mind? So if you take a look, it says, Vayashes el hamidbar panav. So Rashi says, ki targumei, that Bilam, he faced the midbar. Says Rashi, like the targum. What's the targum? The Targum Yonason ben Uziel says, Lemitkar alayin avdu d'eigla d'avdu taman. In the midbar they did the eigel. So he was focusing on the midbar, meaning the eigel, and with this he was trying to be maskir the chataim. And then when he sees them, Shechein lishvatav, ah, he had a change of heart. How did this change his heart from the eigel? I mean, it seems that's completely disconnected from the eigel. What, eigel, yeah? And then he sees, Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim. Is it connected? It's not connected. So maybe you could come and say, Ein hachi nami, it has nothing to do with the eigel. The pshat is, he wanted to curse them, and then he had a change of mind. He became misrageish from the fact that they were living together, and soon we'll see from the Rishonim, Rabbeinu Meuchas, that it means they were living b'achdus. So ein hachi nami, it's not connected. The chet ha'eigel and the roa that they were shecheinim lishvatav, einam me'uravim, ein pischeihem mechuvanim, is two different sugyas. The eigel has nothing to do with it, but it's—he first, he wanted to bring the eigel, and then he was moved by something else, which is independent of the eigel, has nothing to do with the eigel. Gerad in the Medrash HaGadol, Medrash HaGadol, it says that it is connected, and that is, he saw them shecheinim lishvatav, meaning there was a השראת השכינה. He saw that the Shechinah was resting among them. Ah, then the eigel is nothing. The whole cheshbon, the eigel is— That the Rabbeinu Shalom was angry at them, and the Rabbeinu Shalom took away His Shechinah from them. But once he sees that the Shechinah is there, shochein l'shvatav, so ala b'liboi, he had a change of heart. So the Medrash Gadol is connecting his thinking before and what moved him as actually one is connected to the other. He was thinking egel, he was thinking egel. But once he sees the hashraas haShechinah, he realized that there was nimchal lahem, it was forgiven. The Sifsei Chachamim seems to say it's disconnected. It's not connected one thing to the other. The Sifsei Chachamim wants to say that actually he wanted to bring up whatever he wanted to bring up, and then he was nisragesh. I read you the... hiskalmav an egel, vatilor... masha shoyelov nevuah... he says, ela misapeh bishvachan shel Yisrael, umefaresh alah b'liboi, uk'ilu amar, vatilor... cherev.

Stam Yisroel shevach. He saw the shevachim of Klal Yisrael, he had a change of heart. It's not in the egel necessarily. It's not an anecdote to the egel that he saw. Stam Yisroel shevach from Klal Yisrael. That's what's mashma from the Sifsei Chachamim. But like I explained to you from the Medrash Aggadah, it seems that there was a connection. I would like to say a pshat, rabosai, in the connection of the egel to the anecdote that Bilam sees shechein lishvatav, he has a change of heart. How is the shechein lishvatav an answer to the chet ha'egel? You know, it's interesting, chet ha'egel, rabosai, people don't realize, was not one egel. It wasn't one. The Yerushalmi in Sanhedrin, in perek chelek, says that they made twelve agalim. There was twelve of them. The Gemara says, Elohim harbeh ivu lahem. The Gemara in Sanhedrin says that they wanted many gods. They tried to make plural, plural gods, not one, but twelve they made. So the Ramban in the parashah of egel, on the pesukim of egel, explains why did they make twelve? Shelo yad'u bameh livchar. They didn't know what to choose, which means they wanted a variety. You know, the word ivu is taiva. Whenever you talk about taiva, you want variety. You know, I was recently in a place where they were selling—I mean, not selling, they were giving coffee. Coffee. Fifty different types of coffee. I asked the guy to make me a coffee. He tells me we have fifty different types of coffee. What's the coffee? Blueberry coffee. Who would think of blueberry coffee? And the answer is, a man who's looking for taste, looking for enjoyment, he doesn't suffice with one. Why? He needs a variety. He needs a variety. It has to be fifty different, he needs. And once it's fifty different, then he doesn't know which one to choose. The Rabban is saying that even in avodas zaras it's that way. You want a variety of avodas zaras, you hear? Or we could say that the twelve was actually because there's twelve shevatim, and each shevet wanted its own avodah zarah. You know, when Klal Yisrael stood on Har Sinai, they became misyached, ish echad b'lev echad. Why? Because it's under the banner of the Rabbeinu Shleilam. It's all about the Rabbeinu Shleilam, which is Hashem echad, right? How do we say by Shemoneh Esrei of Shabbos Mincha, Atah echad v'shimcha echad. Umi k'amcha Yisrael goy echad. When it's about the Eibishter, then you know it's echad. V'yaasu kulam agudah achas la'asos retzoncha. When it's for the Rabbeinu Shleilam. The minute it splinters into many groups, you could start worrying and start to detect that there's some avodah zarah. So the minute that they came to make an avodah zarah... Klal Yisroel splintered into twelve, and the meila, they needed twelve different. They needed twelve different avodah zaras. It's possible that Bilam knows that the eigel was somewhat forgiven. He knows that. The Ribono Shel Olam told Moshe that he was mochel somewhat the eigel, right? So Bilam knows this. What does he want to be maskir again the chet eigel? Told news. It's old news. Then of course the pshat is, yeah, okay, midas hadin, and at that moment that he's maskir the eigel, it could reawaken, chas v'shalom, it could reawaken the hatred of the pisht, which was because of the eigel that once was, that even though Klal Yisroel seemed to have gotten a p'shtikel a mechilah for that, but it's enough at that moment, Kel zo'am, klalyeim, to me'orer midas hadin, right? All we could say, that it wasn't the eigel per se. He was coming with a different nekudah, and unfortunately all anti-Semites come with the same thing: pirud in Klal Yisroel. That's their big, that's their agenda. We spoke many times, and Haman also came with this: Yeshno am echad mefuzar...

It's not one nation. They're not b'yachdus. They know that the trick, that the solution, actually the final solution, to destroy Klal Yisrael is to take away the achdus from within. It's to dis- to, what do you call that, to take apart. Like you have a puzzle, or you have a, what they put together, the airplane, what do they call those things, the models, right? So if you take out a piece, the whole thing collapses. It doesn't. Apart. They know it disintegrates, it falls apart. All Sonei Yisrael know this. This is embedded in the agenda of all Sonei Yisrael. And here too, Bilam maybe is being me'oir chet ha'egel. Which part of chet ha'egel? You know which part? The fact that it's Yud-Beis. The fact that it's Yud-Beis. The fact that there's twelve. Twelve. So you see Klal Yisrael is not united, but rather divided. I think there's even an expression in English, a house that's divided can't stand. There's an expression like this in English. Kil needs united. The minute it's divided, there's no kil. Mimeila, now I understand what shochen l'shvatav means. Shochen l'shvatav, like I tell you from Rabbeinu Meiruches, means that they're united, yachad. They're united. And since they're united, mimeila this is matil of ruach Elokim. Ala b'libai shelo yikaleleni. Now he starts to say, I have charatah. I moved by it. I'm moved by it. That's put on. It's too high. Wait. Not on at all. Yeah. Keep on closing. You tell them, give me five minutes. Yeah, they keep on closing. Outside. It's boiling hot. Okay. So mimeila, he sees shochein l'shvatah. Shochein l'shvatah means that it's an anecdote to the egel. Which part of the egel? The pirud that happened during the egel. Ah, you'll ask me a good question. How could I come and say that he sees achdus? It punk farkert. He sees ra kol shevet v'shevet, shochein l'atzmai. V'einam me'uravim. They don't mix. Medrash Hagadol, they don't mix, Medrash Hagadol Rashi brings. So how could I come and say that he sees achdus? Rabosai, you have to understand achdus. We think achdus means me and you, we have to be joined at the hip. No. Achdus means that we have to be able to let you be you and me be me. Achdus means to learn to have unity through division, which means—explain, okay. You know when pirud is? When I don't let the other person—he can't be. It has to be what I do and what I say and what I think. There is yud-beis shvatim, and there's a reason for yud-beis shvatim. When the yud-beis shvatim are not meruv, when the yud-beis shvatim, each one lives and does what he has to do, that itself is called achdus. There's an interesting Arizal that the Magen Avraham in siman samech-ches brings down. He questions if someone's allowed to change his minhag. So tell him, tell him. Tell him for you. Tell him it bothers you. I don't want to tell him the whole time, okay? Yeah, tell him it bothers you. Don't tell him it bothers me. It's not me right this time, Rabbi Yecht. I'm learning to live with it. I'm listening to you, Rabbi Yecht, and I'm enjoying it so much. I say, you know what? I'd rather listen to you, but he's bothered by it, so it's me. Okay, you hear, rabosai? So listen good, listen good. You hear? So listen carefully, rabosai. We can't say—why are we trying to...

Say that there's an achdus in Klal Yisrael through pirud, through the fact that they're twelve and each one does what he has to do, and they don't mix into the other person's business. Adarabba, you do what you have to do. Arizal, in Siman Samech Ches, questions if a person is allowed to change his nusach hatefillah, the way he davens, the miftach tefillah. The Arizal says, no, no, no. Every person must daven with the nusach of his fathers. Why? Because there's yud-beis she'arim in Shamayim. There's twelve channels of how to daven to the Ribono Shel Olam, and it's needed that way. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, the Arizal quotes this pasuk, Vayar Yisrael shochein lishvatav, that they can't mix. They need twelve different shevatim. I was once thinking, you know, as they say, lulavim mistafina. I'm afraid to say it, but I think, libi omer li, something tells me that maybe that's why we went to so many different galusin. You know, eser shevatim agan. We don't know where they are. They got lost. We're left as descendants of two, but we need twelve. It has to be twelve. So the Ribono Shel Olam sends us among the nations that he should be a poilish Yid and he should become, chas v'shalom, a Moroccan Jew, because it's needed to be twelve. As we soon will see, because of merkavah, the Aruch HaChaim says the Ribono Shel Olam has his units of soldiers around him. There's ligayon. Hey, you have only one division? Tell me, does an army and a king have one division? No, he has twelve divisions. That becomes merkava, special forces, right? So the Ribono Shel Olam made it—I mean, again, it's, you know, b'chushba d'Rachmana, it's not my place to decide what the Eibishter did and why He did it. But, but I see that there's something to this point that, you see, we need all types. We need taka twelve, and that's merkava l'Shechinah. It has to be that way. If you notice Haman in his address to Achashverosh, Yeshno am echad mefuzar u'meforad bein ha'amim. Now, l'choira, if he means to say like the meforshim, is to be mekatrig on Klal Yisrael, that they don't live b'achdus, just say, Yesh am echad mefuzar u'meforad. Why the emphasis on the words bein ha'amim? Yeshno am echad mefuzar u'meforad. Why was it necessary to add mefuzar u'meforad bein ha'amim? I think, rabosai, it's because Haman, like Bilam, didn't understand this concept of Klal Yisrael united by the fact that they're different. Bein ha'amim means that they live taka like I explained to you, the Polish Yid and the Moroccan Jew and the American Jew, it was all same law. And that's the pshat, bein ha'amim, because they all took from the influence of the amim. Haman looks at this and says, Ah, take a look. Look at this Yid, this Yid's laining a payis, and this Yid, this is for sure... And this, with the beard, this without a beard, whatever the pratim, I don't have to give you; you all understand every Jew looks different, right? One guy's wearing a shtreimel, the other guy's wearing a hat, the other guy's wearing a gold kippah, you know, I don't know, whatever the differences, you know, the nuances you can understand yourself. And this he looks and he says, Mefuzar u'meforad bein ha'amim. How could they take on the culture of the nations? And the teretz is, that's what the Rabbeinu Shlomo wanted. Donsalein, donsalein is the ichud. He doesn't understand that even after everything, after being from different cultures and places, they come together, they're takkeh one. I think with this we can explain a beautiful meimer of Chazal. When Bilam is going, his donkey doesn't want to go. He hits his donkey how many times? Three times. So if you notice, the pasuk says that when he was given the mussar, he says, Shikisas ha'sa'chon zeh shalosh regalim. Now the word regalim is not the common word to use for time. You should say pa'amim. Zeh shalosh pa'amim, and say that. It says, Zeh shalosh regalim. So Rashi says it's a reference to oleh regel. You're trying to destroy an umah that does aliyah laregel.

I don't know what's the connection, what... Rabbi, there's a Rambam mein nevuchim. Exactly. There's a Rambam mein nevuchim, and there's also a Barbenel that's mearech in the parshas Re'eh. Five reasons why the Torah gave us the mitzvah of aliyah laregel. The Rambam is mamash b'kitzur, but he ends off with these words, shetehei k'seinu k'seinu, which means the far ends, so to speak. How does a Yid from Galil ever see a Yid from Yerushalayim? They're living in different, you know. So today it's easy, you take a cab. I mean, those days it doesn't... it was a big trip. So let's take a Yid from America and from Russia. And the answer is, there was a mitzvah of aliyah laregel. So even though each one lived separately in his shevet, in his family, but there was a time, and the Barbenel says it beautifully, that they should intermingle with each other and help each other. And he says a big raya: Yeravam ben Nevat, he stopped people from being oleh laregel. Why was that the thing that he wanted to... why did he want to stop oleh laregel? So Chazal tell us very simple: ein yeshiva ba'azarah ela malchei Beis David. And he was afraid that they would come and see that David sits and he stands. The Barbenel says something interesting, mamash פלא. He says that he was trying to break off Malchus Yisrael from Malchus Yehuda. That was to divide Klal Yisrael. The concept was to keep a division in the meluchah, that it should be two. The way to do it is by stopping the aliyah laregel, because aliyah laregel... Facilitated, says the Barbenel. It facilitated achdus and Klal Yisroel between the different factions. So Yeravam ben Avat, in order to keep it fractured, to keep Klal Yisroel, he stopped aliyah l'regel. This is what Bilam really wants. There's a Chazal like this, keganas ali nahar, that Bilam complained. He said, Look, this one says over b'shem Rebbe, and this one says b'shem Rav Kahana. So the Ribono Shel Olam answers him, ali nahar, but they all go back into the ocean. They all lead into the same. You know what a gan is? A gan is a garden. Every guy has his own garden, right? But what does it lead to? The waters that go to the gan lead from the big ocean. It's the same water. Chazal are telling us that Bilam's goal, Bilam's agenda was to point out pirud in Klal Yisroel. So he comes to Klal Yisroel, and he's ready to stand there and say, Take a look. And guess what he sees, to his surprise? He sees them shechein lishvatav. What is shechein? Yes, separate, but together separate. Together, separate yet together. And that's an unbelievable koach. That's something very special. And this, the Ribono Shel Olam tells him in advance, You're coming to be oiker an umah that's chogeges gimel regalim, aliyah l'regel. Aliyah l'regel means that you unite. What's the lashon? Kol b'voi kol Yisroel liro'os. Klal Yisroel unites as one, al yehareg. And you're coming to destroy. That's what you think? You think that's gonna work? Ain't gonna work. It's not gonna work. B'vai, kol Yisrael ... pnei Hashem. It's not gonna work. You know, Chazal tell us another thing he saw here. Vayar, you know what he saw? Shochin lishvato, and that is, he saw the degalim. He saw the degalim. And he says, wow, and he was very impressed. He says, even the goyim, when they look on the degalim, teme'im, they wonder. The degalim. What's the big deal? Every nation has its own flag. What's he talking about? We spoke about this many times in the past. The malachim, as a matter of fact, if you take a look at the original plan of the degalim, who was the original architect of the degalim? The malachim. By Ma'amad Har Sinai, Chazal say, by Ma'amad Har Sinai, Klal Yisroel looked up and they saw the malachim, and they saw that they had degalim. And they were nis'aveh, they wanted to have the degalim. Wow, you need malachim to teach me the concept of a flag? Every nation has its flag. What's the degalim? And the teretz, rabosai, is, avadah every nation has a degel. You know what a degel means? That I'm not you. Every flag, you know what it represents?

I am me, and I'm not you. And I'll kill you for my flag. That's what it means, right? Russia was like that. Russia, the whole world is like that. It's all that you can fight over a flag, a war. You can have a whole war over a flag, right? And the flag goes up, and then you win the war, the flag goes down. It's all about flags, right? How about flags by malachim, which are all in the same unit, palgei d'galim, and they have different flags. It's like a palgei thing, huh? Mechadik. Klal Yisroel is nis'aved for degalim is the taich. What type of degalim? The degel that doesn't say I'm different than you. The degel that says, because I'm different with you, and that's why I'm connected to you. It's a different type of a flag, rabosai, you hear? You have a flag, I'm with you, you hear? Yet I'm different than you. We're part of one, but different. Mechadik, huh? You know what's interesting? Lehavdil. I always think to myself, everything that the Ribono Shel Olam creates is to teach us a lesson. Chofetz Chaim told us this. I always speak it over, the Chofetz Chaim, that the reason why we have the record player — at that time it was a record player — to teach a person that whatever he says in this world gets recorded in the next, because people didn't believe it. People thought that whatever they say, forgotten. What's the big deal? And then you saw, the Ribono Shel Olam, you see. You could say it today, and they can play it back. Then came all the media. You could say it here on one side of the world and hear it on the other side of the world. I'd like to add, they put up in the, what do you call those things? They put up in the satellites, right? Could you imagine from the moon they're able to see what a guy does in a room? I want to add that it's also to teach a personal lesson, that the Ribono Shel Olam, if a satellite could see, what's the kasha? Ribono Shel Olam could see into your room, your action. This, rabosai, is briah to teach us a lesson. Chofetz Chaim spoke like this. Chofetz Chaim said this. Okay. I said even another yesod, that the internet, the, what do you call that, the computer, you can't really erase a computer. It's like a whole avodah to erase, because even if you erase it, it still has its memory. You can always retrieve it somewhere. It's also a lesson. The mind of a person takes in information; you can't erase it. Yeah, you can do teshuvah, you can try to cover it over. It's always there. It's always there. The mind, once you computer it into the mind, you can always retrieve it at some point somewhere, all right? I spoke in a whole shmues, examples of this yesod. Today I'd like to discuss another example, and that is the American flag. It's interesting, the American flag has on it stars. How many stars does it have? Anybody here know history? Why does it have 50 stars? 50 states. So what is the American flag saying? Separate yet united. And that's why it's called United States, right? It's a paradox, huh? States yet united. The flag is a lumdus that we're one yet separate. And there's a lot of legality that— and there was wars fought over this. America is the superpower of the world, right? Supposed to be the superpower of the world, right? America had tremendous hatzlacha, the shloike derech hateva hatzlacha, right? Malchus shel chesed. Some acharonim, you know, attribute it to the malchus shel chesed. I would like to also point out that the yesoidus of united yet divided are meyudik yesoidus. Real achdus does not mean, like in Russia, that you're completely batel. Russia has achdus. They believe that every— what?— but you're all batel to the melech. You're all— no. Individual rights, state rights, big legality, rabosai, yet united under one— under God, whatever the nusach they use. It's hashkafah of Yahadus.

Now, unfortunately, they stole it from us, right? One nation—what's the lashon they use? They use this language: one nation, united under the yesod, this aveirah, Rabosai. Unfortunately, maybe had we've been a good example of that, the goyim wouldn't have stolen from us. Maybe. And again, lulei demistafina, I'm not here to interpret history. I'm a very small person. I just have maybe a heart that cares about the Ribono Shel Olam, maybe, huh? Court system, same. I know, I know, I know. I'm telling you a tremendous, a tremendous insight. The court system is the individual's rights, courts, the state rights. It's all this, Rabosai. And what is it? Because this is yashrus. It is yashrus. If it's done right, it's yashrus. It has to be al pi yosher. And it's possible, had we been the example of that, maybe we wouldn't have lost it to an America. I don't know. Maybe we would have been the superpower of the world. And again, maybe you'll bring me a Gemara or a Chazal that says it's like this, and I don't want to go into that. I'm not here to talk—I'm not talking to discuss, as they say, shittas. I'm not talking shittas. I have no shittas about this. I'm just saying it's a raya to think about, that the world runs in a way, united yet divided, and it has to be that way, okay? And this is the malchus of the Eibishter, yeah? And this is shechein lishvatav, and this Bilam doesn't get. He don't get it till he sees it in action. From far, he didn't understand the yesod. See, he comes and says, Yud-beis shevatim, Yud-beis agolim, and the teretz is shechein lishvatav. And I want to quote you a Meiri, the Gra Chaim, Rabosai. What does he see, shochin l'shvatav, says the Aruch HaChaim? He sees shochin l'shvatav, zogt the heiliger Aruch HaChaim, פירוש שראה בהם שני עניינים גדולים. He saw two big things. In the pasuk, shochin l'shvatav, he saw two things. What did he see? אחד, שוכן כל שבט ושבט בפני עצמו. And beis, ותהי עליו. He learns the Aruch HaChaim that the second part of the pasuk, vatehi alav ruach Elokim, is also what he saw. He sees the shochin l'shvatav, and also he sees vatehi alav ruach Elokim. Says the Aruch HaChaim, what is the second thing? שהשרה שכינה על כל שבט בפני עצמו. Not that it's shochin l'shvatav separate, vatehi alav ruach Hashem, that the Shechinah rests on Klal Yisrael. No, no, no. It rests on the shochin l'shvatav. Here it's a mefurashdige Aruch HaChaim. It's not pshat he sees shochin l'shvatav and stop, also vatehi alav, which is a chiddush. Vatehi alav ruach Hashem means it happened. No, he's learning he saw that. Yes, but it's two things. No, it's one thing. He saw that the vatehi alav ruach Hashem is on kol shevet veshevet bifnei atzmo. Malkoi b'rosho. The king is at the head of every shevet. Malkoi b'rosho. Va'taam, שכל שבט יש לו הדרגה בפני עצמו, because each shevet has its own dargas. It's a special unit for itself. A foot soldier is not the same. The Chofetz Chaim used to give this mashal: a foot soldier is not the same as a parachuter, as a pilot. Tanchan. Each one is a unit for itself, separate. Malkei b'reisha, malkei b'reisha, you hear? V'atam, shekol sheyesh... one has more zechus than the other. It's different levels, olefi haminyan, or bigger, smaller. Gam remez, says the Arachayim. But now we have to put the two together. There's a remez here. What's the remez? Shnei dvarim al pi divreihem zal she'amru, shemeimtzai shenizra Yisrael b'derech zeh, because shechein lishvatav, memeila matiruach Hashem alav. It has to do here because b'derech zeh kol shevet bifnei atzmo, hishachna aleihem Shechinah, ונעשה מרכבה לו. He became the merkavah, the ligayon, the army of the Eibishter, you hear? How do you become the merkavah? Because it's twelve units. So, meichadik, Arachayim basically, meichadik, you hear? He sees a shechein lishvatav, eino meruvim. He sees, vatihi ruach Hashem... we're on this, on this itself, that it's separate.

Each shevet had a separate hashra'as haShechinah, and he understands that this is because merkavah has to be that way. And this is what he understands, you hear? It's unbelievable. It's an unbelievable Aruch HaChaim that he starts to understand the dynamics. He starts to understand the DNA of a Klal Yisrael. He didn't even understand how to dissect a thing like this. It's twelve yet one. Well, what does twelve mean? It's not one. One means not twelve. Now I understand what Chazal mean, Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim. Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim is— I asked you first, what does it mean? So there's a machlokes what it really means, l'maaseh. Some midrashim, there's a Leket Yosher that's mashma like this. It's tznius, and tznius brings hashra'as haShechinah. Tznius, privacy, respect. You don't look at the other person's wife. Tznius in yonim, that's Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim. From the Gemara, and Rabbeinu Bechaye brings it down this way, it's a hezek re'iyah, the famous hezek re'iyah that all the Bnei Torah have learned in the sugyas, that you can't be mazik the other person through looking into his house, and therefore you need a fence, bameh b'dvarim, hezek re'iyah, daf hei. Is this Gemara? Is this Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim? Now we can come and say another teirutz. Since Rashi puts it together, Rashi says that each one is shochein l'shvato, einam me'uravin. Rosh ein pischeihem mechuvanim is how do they live? They live in a manner that every person lives in his house. And that's his house. I stay away from that. V'kert. You can't have mechuvanim. You can't have one. Everybody has to be different. Rashei she'ein piskeihem mechuvanim means he sees that I let you be who you are, and I don't mix into that. Mechuvanim, that everybody has to be the same, that's not what Klal Yisroel is about. And meileh, that's pshat, it's connected. I asked you, how come Rashi puts it together as if it's one pshat? It's not one pshat. I mean, Rashi, that they're not me'urav is one thing, and the second thing is that she'ein piskeihem mechuvanim has a kriah, a tznius. It's two different sugyas, l'choira. The way we're learning the einam me'uravim, which means that they live in a way that they let the other person be who he is because we need different, meileh, Roshai she'ein piskeihem mechuvanim means he sees that I live with my next-door neighbor. He has his house, I have my house. You know, when people try to copy the other person, and there's no self-identity, so the minute he gets a certain type of windows, you got to get those same windows. You ever notice that? There's certain blocks that every house is the exact same. Don't move onto such a block. Any block that the house—let me start again. If they built the houses and you're moving in there, I don't mean that, okay? That's not what I meant. But if you're building a house and every guy builds the same house, you're not going to have a life. Why? Because it's all about what the other guy is doing. That's all. Roshai she'ein piskeihem mechuvanim. Every house is different, you hear? It's a little vertel, they say. Lo she'eifescheim vechavanim means I can have such a house, live and let live. Loz up, loz yedem leben. You don't have to make sure every guy lives just like you. He goes deep into the hashkafah that Klal Yisroel is not meant that me and you have to be the same. It's not true. You have the Yid, hatzayin nageishim, and he has his feelings and his olam. Kol hakayim nefesh Yisroel ki Elokim olam malei. He mentions, he's a world for himself. This, habeisai, is the pshat, you hear? Malchu b'reisha. What's malchu b'reisha? Let's go a little deeper now. Malchu b'reisha is saying that they have their own hashra'as haShechinah, their own hashra'as haShechinah. Every group in Klal Yisroel has a special malchu b'reisha hatzlachah. Certain groups are more matzliach in Torah, certain groups are more matzliach in tefillah, certain groups are matzliach in chesed. There's different groups in Klal Yisroel. There's different minhagim and kehillos, and each one stresses a different thing. That's called malchu b'reisha. It's all hashgachah pratis, and they're matzliach and connect with the Eibishter. That's...

Malke b'roisha means they connect with the Eibishter separately. Otherwise, just say the melech is on all the shevatim. Stam דער בויראשם's... No, no, it's malke b'roisha, each shevet separately. I'll tell you a nice maise. You earned it after listening for so long, divrei Torah, you're gonna get a nice maise. I like to call this story the Malke b'roisha story. Why do I call it the Malke b'roisha story? Years ago, so many years ago, somebody came to me, he needs a shidduch for his daughter. The person was a shtikel Rosh Yeshiva, a litfisher, a litfisher. So I told him, I'll tell you the real truth. I don't really deal with litvishe people. I almost not litvak myself anymore, because I have so involved with the Chassidish community and the Sefardi community, I sometimes wonder if I'm still a litvak, you know? There's nothing lit anymore. Don't worry, I'm still a litvak. Anyways, haklapanim, you hear? So I told him, maybe a Sefardishe bachur. He wants from the yeshiva dafka, from here, from there, okay. Kids, they read him a shidduch, a guy was gonna wear a shtreimel. So he starts telling me it's not for him, it's not for him. Taines against Chassidim, there's a... I was surprised, I was shocked. If bishlema you come and tell me you just don't like a shtreimel, okay, that's each... So you know what I mean, some people don't wear a shtreimel, they wear a hat. If it's only a chitzoniyusdike problem, so fine, all right. Right, you know, each—some guy likes a tall guy, some guy likes a short guy, you know. Some wants this color hair, that color. That's al ta'avor reiach, and it vakeach. But I heard that it was more. His derech, that—I'm... I was shocked. I was פשוט shocked. So I tell him, let me ask you a question. What would you call the Chasam Sofer? Now, I know this is a little bit touchy topic, but it's a story, so take the story for what it is. Meaning, I don't mean to bring out any shitas from the story, okay? I don't want to offend anybody. I love every part of Klal Yisroel; to me, is gold. But I really was trying to open up the eyes of this person. I asked him, what would you call the Chasam Sofer? Now, I know it's a controversial topic. Satmar claim he's theirs, and Litvish claim he's theirs. It's one of these controversial topics, okay? It's like the Raketzchover. Speak to the yeshiva about Raketzchover—vadas. Speak to Lubavitch, they say he's Lubavitch. Tell this over to the Litvish, they think you're out of your—. What, he קומט אצל Lubavitch בכלל? They don't even know what the connection is. All right. Again, and I don't mean to offend. I don't—it's the point of the shiur is not shitas and different people and opinions; I don't get involved in that. I just want to tell you a lesson in life, you hear? So I tell him, Chasam Sofer really was Ashkenaz. I don't know if you know that. Not stam Ashkenaz—the most Ashkenaz, the biggest Ashkenaz that's out there was the Chasam Sofer. Do you know that in Chasam Sofer land, which means under the Chasam Sofer, they didn't wear a tallis over the head. They would wear a tallis and a hat. In Frankfurt, they were real Yekkes, what you call the Yekke community is really— They don't wear long. They wear short jackets. And I'll tell you a beautiful maiseh. B'tazelt, I just read this in one of the pamphlets that the Skvere oilem puts out. They have their Shabbos thing. It's a beautiful maiseh there. And I was in Vermont when I saw it, and Rav Akil, shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva shlita, was there that Shabbos with us. And he saw it, and he loved it so much, he asked me if he could take it with him, because the story is such a meirdike maiseh. What's the maiseh? There was a person who used to collect money. He would collect money, and that was his job. He got paid. For example, in this city, this guy owes you money. How are you going to get to that city? And how are you going to force the guy to give you the money? So you have a money collector, and he would come back and take a percentage of what he collected, okay? He collected money for somebody. He comes back on the chariot, on the horse, on the buggy, on the taxi, whatever. He comes off the taxi. He sees that the money is gone. Someone stole it. Someone stole the money from him. Is he chayiv? Is he chayiv to pay for the money that got to reimburse the original owner? So he comes to the Rav, and I forgot the name of the Rav. He was a big—

Poisek, there were many sefarim, very posek, it'll come to me. Kitzi comes to that rav, and he asks the rav if he's chayiv. So the rav said he's not chayiv, right? He's not chayiv. There's a Gemara that says that money has no shmirah ela b'karka. The only way to protect money is if you bury it somewhere; you gotta hide it. Keeping it around is not a shmirah, okay? But this rav paskened. I mean, how did you want him to take from one place to another? He had to keep it in his pocket. That's enough of a shmirah. So the fact that he kept the money in his pocket and it was stolen from his pocket, he's not chayiv. He asked the rav if the rav could write this as a psak halacha, and the rav wrote, yes, he's not chayiv. He did what he had to do; he was watching it khalacha. He comes back to the town and he shows this letter that he's patur. Oh, don't ask what happened. Kitzur, he went to this person who sent him, went to a different rav, and this rav said, What? Of course you're chayiv. And he takes out a teshuvas Chasam Sofer where it says clearly that you're chayiv. Chasam Sofer clearly speaks about this case and he says you're chayiv. They come back and they show this money collector, You gotta pay. The Chasam Sofer says you're chayiv. So he's shocked; he doesn't know what to do. He got a psak from the rav in the town that he's patur. What do you do now? So he goes back to the rav of the town and he says, You know, Rebbe, you paskened I'm patur and everything, but there's a Chasam Sofer. Really, there's a Chasam Sofer. He quickly runs, he looks at the Chasam Sofer. Yeah, Chasam Sofer says you're chayiv. He's mamish white like a ghost. You're talking paskening something where the Chasam Sofer is the exact opposite. And he starts pacing back and forth in his room. How did it come that I should make such a mistake to pasken against what the Chasam Sofer is saying? I mean, and he sees the raya of the Chasam Sofer, and he says, I don't understand. I went through the Gemara, just the same sugyas and everything. It hit him. He goes, No, no, no, I'm right, and it's not against what the Chasam Sofer is saying. Chasam Sofer, of course, is right, but it happens to be that your case and what the Chasam Sofer is doing are two different cases, and that's the answer to the question. So they start reading, but it's the same story. The money collector, when you collected the money, he put it in his pocket, and then he... So the rav says, Now you don't understand, you don't understand. But unzer chassidim wear chassidim, we wear long. And when you go in the thing, you close—you ever see before, they go in, they close the jacket, so it was protected. The pocket was protected. By Chasam Sofer and Oberland, they wore short. They wore short jackets. Ah, so it wasn't covered. A suit they wear, so the pocket isn't covered. Haveisai, you know, even in the Chasam Sofer, ein a klach. Some of them are real Litvakes, real, and some of them are chassidim, chassidim, chassidim. Chasam Sofer, okay. Who Chasam Sofer's rebbe was, who was the Chasam Sofer's rebbe? Naflo. Naflo was... Naflo was a chassidishe, mamash emes chassidishe. How he came to Frankfurt is a whole story. We'll talk about it at a different time. So I tell this guy... Some soifer took a rebbe who was a shtreimel. What do you want? The haflagah b'chasidus. What do you want? מספיק. No, okay. I would say maybe half a year later, he says, the daughter still didn't find a shidduch. They ran him a bachur, very good in learning, brisk and everything, but he had a haftaah, Sefardi, because he's a Sefardish from his house. He can't have it, because when they come Kiddush in his house, they'll make Kiddush like this and they'll be sitting, and it's not for him. He can't swallow it. I tell him, I'll show you some soifer. Who's the other rebbe of some soifer? Reb Nosson Adler. Reb Nosson Adler davened like a Sefardi. Everybody knows, it's the famous Reb Nosson Adler davened like this. I says, what do you want? Kids, he finds a shidduch perfect, what he's looking for, right? Exactly the way he was. Okay. He didn't take long till he got into a major fight with his son-in-law. They were fighting over something halacha in the Mishnah Berurah. They got into a major machlokes, you hear, to the point that they didn't see each other. They stopped. Okay, all right. This story happened, I would say maybe 12, 14 years ago, between 12 and 14 years.

It's not exact, but more or less that. I can make the cheshbon, but more or less. Recently, he got sick, this person, and I went to visit him in the hospital. He's laying in the bed. I come in there, and he tells me, Malkei b'rosho, malkei b'rosho. I didn't know what he was talking about. Then I go, I know the Aruch HaChaim. And then I remembered I spoke to him about this Aruch HaChaim. I was trying to tell him then that look at the Aruch HaChaim that says clearly, Malkei b'rosho, that every chelek, a Klal Yisroel, if yehadragah shelo... I was giving him mussar, I get tochachah, you make such chilukim. So I tell him, What are you referring to? He says, Listen to me here. I'm laying here in bed. My son-in-law didn't come once to visit me, he tells me. You know who came to visit me 20 times today? Chassidim in Borough Park came to visit me 20 times, asked me if I need food, and asked me if I need what to read and if I have what I need. He says, You're right, Malkei b'rosho. I made a mistake. I'm sorry, he tells me. I should have understood what it means that every chelek of Klal Yisroel is a chelek of Malkei b'rosho. They have their hatzlachah and ruchniyus. And I said, Wow, I have my shmooze now. This is going to be my—the next opportunity I have to talk will be about Malkei b'rosho. Okay. Now, we still haven't come to how did this become the beginning of the daf? Va'elecha Yaakov mishkenosecha Yisrael. So lefi what we're learning is, geshmak. You know why? Since in davening there's twelve different shiarim, and it's based on shechein lishvatav, so meileh as a hakdamah to tefillah, mateivu alecha Yaakov, all types, any type, mateivu, ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. You hear? It's fakert, the chiluk in the shevatim, the chiluk is, what's it called again, it's mudgash. It takes root in the tefillah more than anything else, because you need twelve shevatim in tefillah. So meileh we begin with mateivu alecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. Nu, rabosai, I'm telling you, nacha pshat, nacha pshat. What is mateivu alecha Yaakov? Why do we say those? And I ask you an interesting question: why is it that that's the only bracha that didn't turn into klalah? So lefi what we said before, we could say a meiridike deher, that mateivu alecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael, when there is that achdus, there's no makom for klalah at all. It's not shayach for a hipuch. The Ribbono Shel Olam is saying that that nekudah is kulo bracha, and it can never be klalah. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Efsher kemen zogn a nacha deher, rabosai. Yeah, listen to another pshat. All other brachos, Bilam gave bracha, right? What about over here? Was it bracha or klalah? Did he mean good or did he mean bad? I could tell you that he actually meant bad. You know what an ohel is? What's an ohel? Ohel is temporary. Ohel moed, it's just to come to, right? When you need it, you put up a tent and that's it, and then you take down the tent. How about Mishkan? Mishkan is also temporary. You see the Mishkan, the Midbar, as long as the Shechinah is there, and then it... How about Beis HaMikdash? That's kedushas olam. The Rambam says clearly. The Rambam says, lo batla me'olam. It never... We say, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. That's what Bilam had in mind, that it should just be temporary. So it's not a good thing. Why do we finish? But we finish something. What do we say? Ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha. Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael, but avo beisecha, and that's b'chesed. Ani b'rov chasdecha. Officially, it could have been an ohel and it could have been a Mishkan, but the fact that it became established as a bayis, bayis is established, Ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha, eshtachaveh el heichal. Tell me something. How does this little Beis...

Medrish, or rather this space, is big, but I don't mean in how big it is. How does that become the tachlis, zeh tachlis, the temurah of a Beis HaMikdash? Why is it that way? And the teretz is because since the Beis HaMikdash is kedushaso olamis, it has to be that way. It has to remain forever, but there's no bayis there. So then it becomes like a temurah on here, in hilchos temurah. It becomes this in hilchos zeh tach hazeh. Bayis means it can't become charuv. It's, V'ani b'rov chasdecha — realize the chesed of the Eibishter, avoi beisecha — that even though it could have been an ohel, and it could have been just a mishkan, HaKadosh Baruch Hu made it, V'ani b'rov chasdecha, with His great chesed, avoi beisecha, that it turned into a bayis. You know, there's a Chazal that Avraham Avinu calls the Makom HaMikdash har, ki b'har Hashem yeira. Yitzchak called it a sadeh, and Yaakov called it, Ein ze ki im beis Elokim, v'zeh shaar hashamayim. What's the difference? Each one added something. A har — it's very hard to reach the har. You know, you ever see the car that my car made it up Mount Washington. It's not very so easy to climb a mountain. Yitzchak made it more accessible, like a sadeh. Person goes to the sada, but it's also temporary. You don't live in the sada. Yaakov Avinu kara bayis, that it's permanent forever and ever, established like a bayis. So, V'ani b'rov chasdecha, avo beisecha. The fact that I could come and have a bayis. Bilam meant klalah. So the Rabbeinu Shalom went and turned it around to bracha. You see, it's an interesting nekudah here, that be'emes, whatever Bilam said had to go the opposite. So here Bilam gave a klalah, matoyv. He meant bad. So the Rabbeinu Shalom was, Vayapech Hashem es haklalah... livrachah. The Rabbeinu Shalom took certain parts of Bilam's speech, Bilam's speech, and made it into a bracha. Zechor na ami. Let's see the haftorah this week. Zechor na ami. Remember, remember. What should you remember? Says the pasuk, Ami, zechor na ma yoatz Balak melech Moav u'ma anah oso Bilam ben Beor, l'maan daas tzidkos Hashem. See here, Ami, Ami, zechor na. So he's talking to Ami, and all the pesukim is this: Ami, me'asisi lecha? Ami, zechor na. Remember this. What's the nekudah of Ami? And the answer is, could be, could be. Like I said to you before, Bilam came to destroy the fact that it's an am echad. The Ribono Shel Olam was maskir. The Ribono Shel Olam was telling them, Ami, you're my people, my nation. U'man da siftei Hashem, like this you'll understand what the Ribono Shel Olam sees in Klal Yisrael. This we'll talk a little bit more b'arichus. I don't want to be mareich on this pasuk right now, but al kol panim, this is the yesod. The yesod is that Bilam tried to undermine by not understanding the ma'alos of Klal Yisrael, not understanding how Klal Yisrael works. You know, it's interesting, it says, shochein l'shvatav, yeah? So what does it say? V'atah l'orcha Hashem. So what did he see? It says he saw the batei knessios and batei midrash, right? That's what it's referring to. Let's see Rashi. Rashi says, right? Oh, says the Rashi, Vatovah lecha, bischecha uvchavan, mishkenosecha, chanuyosecha, davar acher, ma tovu ohalecha, shilo, Beis El, Nov, Givon, where they bring korbanos chovah. Okay, mishkenosecha, af shehem chareivim. Okay.

If you look at the Midrash, the Targum, the Targum says it's referring to the batik nesios u'bati midrashos. That's pshat, ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. Where did he see all this? So pashut he saw b'nevuah. I guess he saw b'nevuah that there's going to be a Beis HaMikdash. He saw b'nevuah batik nesios u'bati midrashos. So, ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael is what? The tents, right? He didn't mamash see batik nesios u'bati midrashos. And yet, Chazal say it's referring to the batik nesios u'bati midrashos. So how do we make the jump from the ohel, the house, to the Beis HaKnesses and to the Beis HaMikdash? How did it become ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov, right? Meaning, ra she'ein pesacheihem mechuvanim, right? Ra sheheim, they're separate, and therefore he sees what? Ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov in the batik nesios. And the teretz is, you see clearly that it's not only in the way they live, it's even in the batik nesios u'bati midrashos also. This ma'alah that he sees in the ohel of Klal Yisrael is the ma'alah that he says already is shayach even in the Beis HaKnesses, Beis HaMedrash. You see that this is the ma'alah that was given over as yesod in Klal Yisrael, and then it will be ma toivu ohalecha Yaakov. Mishkenosa, what? That's what I'm saying. So, right, if you take a look, there's a shayla when you say Matovu. There's really a good shayla. Either Matovu lecha Yaakov is going on tefillah. If you look at the otzar tefillos, it says it's a pesach for the davening, Matovu lecha Yaakov. So, like I explained to you from that Rishal, it's good because there's twelve shevatim. Or it's on the way to the beis knesses, which means it has to do with how you come into a shul. That's this chelek of Matovu lecha Yaakov mishkenosecha Yisrael. The nevuah was on the batei knessiyos, and there was an inyan of ra'shei pischeihem mechuvanim in that too. And that's what we have today, the yud-beis, the inyan of Matovu lecha Yaakov mishkenosecha Yisrael. So the lesson is very poshut, rabosai. We have to appreciate, we have to appreciate all the different types, all the different derachim of avodas Hashem, the different minhagim, the different shitos. There has to be an ichud of Klal Yisrael. So, what it means to be shochein lishvato. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.