Beha’aloscha: Good and Bad Complaints—Lamah Nigara, the Mis’onenim, and Spiritual Hunger

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshas Ba'aloscha. I like to call the parsha of complaining, the complainers' parsha. Not only because we find the asafsuf, we find the misonenim, the complainers, that they wanted basar b'Chheseihem, they complained, they wanted meat. But actually, throughout the parsha, we find complaints. We find people who were dissatisfied, dissatisfied with their position, and they complained. And the Torah is trying to tell us there are different types of complaints. There are good complaints and there are bad complaints. There are things that a person should be unsettled with, not happy and search, while there are things where a person should say, I'm happy with what I have. Because if you look at the parsha, throughout the parsha we find situations of complaining, and that is beginning Ba'aloscha. Aharon HaKohen felt bad that lo hu v'lo shivto, they weren't part of the Chanukas HaBayis. So they had room for complaints. They were not satisfied. So that's a good complaint. So the Ribono Shel Olam gives them a menorah. We find— That the tameiim l'nefesh also complain. Lamah nigara? That's a good complaint. That complaint brings that we give you Pesach Sheni. Then we have bad complaints. We have people who are complaining about their situation, food, mis'onenim, boichen lishpochei seyam, arayos. And then we have complaints where a sister complains about a brother. Miriam, she complained about her brother. Complaints. So I like to call the parsha a textbook of lesson: what is complaining, what is called good complaining, what is called bad complaining. If you complain that you want more ruchniyus, that's a good complaint. Aharon HaKohen is complaining; he's not part of the Chanukas HaMizbeach, Chanukas HaBayis. He said, the Ribono Shel Olam says that's good. I give you the menorah. The tameiim complaining, they want the korban Pesach, that's very good, that's excellent. Lamah nigara, that's great. But to complain that you want more taivah, more olam hazeh, to complain against others, that is nishkut. So we learn from here that there's a time and a place where a person is supposed to be dissatisfied with his matziv. To look for more. While in certain situations, a person should be satisfied with his matzav, satisfied. A person doesn't have to get more and look for more and search for more. What is good taiva and what is bad taiva? What is bahaloischa es haneiros, lama nigarah? And what is mis'onenim? So let's learn a little bit the parsha of mis'onenim. Pasuk says, Vayehi ha'am k'mis'onenim, ra b'oznei Hashem. Vayishma Hashem, vayichar apo, vativar bam eish Hashem, vatechal b'ketzeh hamachaneh. So if you take a look, we have one pasuk of mis'onenim, and then in pasuk daled we have, V'ha'asafsuf asher b'kirbo hit'avu taiva. Who are the mis'onenim and who are the asafsuf? It's a shaila in the Rishonim. Some say they are two unrelated groups of people. There was the mis'onenim, there was the asafsuf. Aven Ezra learns that actually it's the same group of people. Mis'onenim leads to mis'avim. It begins with the complainers, and then they turn...

Turn into what? Asafsu shebikirbo, hishavu taiva. So first we have a big, so to speak, from the pasuk alein, a very eye-opening lesson. Complainers. The next step is asafsuf, hishavu taiva. It's connected, and one leads to the other, a mesaynein and an asafsuf. Are we in danger, in danger of turning into asafsuf? We all know complainers. Are the complainers of today and modern time able to turn into an asafsuf? We have from the Torah that the Torah tells us clearly that the mesonenim turned into asafsuf. Mesonenim means complainers. They complained. We still don't know yet what they complained about, but they complained, as they state in the pasuk. And the asafsuf is that they wanted, they weren't happy with the man. They wanted basar, Mi yachileinu basar, who will give us meat? So the first diuk, the first ha'ara we have to ask: why does one become a complainer? What is he complaining about? If someone complains that it's cold outside, he's going to turn into an asafsuf. Who is the complainer? The complainer, the next step is asafsuf. One leads to the other. Who is the complainer? What is he complaining about? So if you take a look, the pasuk doesn't say. The pasuk doesn't say what he complained about. Rashi brings the complaint, but first Rashi explains that actually what is mesonenim, lashon alilah. Mevakshim alilah, heich lifrosh me'acharei hamakom. So actually, it's not about the complaint. It's what's behind the complaint. A mesonen is not necessarily what he complains about. And if you look later, Rashi is going to say, what did they complain? Amru, oy lanu, kamah levaknu b'derech hazeh shlosha yamim. It was difficult, three days. We're already traveling three days. We didn't rest mini haderech. We're tired. So the pasuk didn't say that. The pasuk should have said what was bothering them. They were mesonenim on the derech. First we have a Rashi that explains what mesonenim is, and then at the end Rashi says what, from a Chazal, what they were complaining about. And the pshat, Rabbeisai, is pashut, because it's not about the what. A complainer who has a machlah, sometimes a person complains it's too cold outside. So the issue is what he's complaining about. But then there's such a thing called a complainer that it's not about what. It's just that he's complaining. Then we got to search to find what he tags it onto. You hear certain people, you have people who are chronic complainers. Those people, you just got— You just gotta give them the chance to find what to complain about. But it's not about the topic. It's not about what they're complaining about. It's a tchunah. It's a nature of being a mesaynen, a complainer. And that's what Chazal are trying to say. The mesayneh is a lashon alilah, mevakshim alilah, heich lifrosh me'acharei hamakom. It's an excuse. You know, rabosai, they say over that someone once came to the Chazon Ish, and the Chazon Ish says, What happened to you, Yankel? Before the war, you were an ehrlich Yid. Before World War II, mamash, I remember you from Europe you were. How did you turn off? How did you become a gantze arup fun derech? So he says, You know, because of the war, I had a lot of kashas, a lot of questions. The Holocaust, it brought out in me questions. So the Chazon Ish answered him and said, It didn't bring questions. It brought terutzim, excuses. Yiddish a teretz is an excuse. It's not the complaint that you have. It's not the issues that you have. Sometimes the underlying nekudah is an excuse, alilah.

For something else. It's really to be me'orer HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and you taka look for something to tag it onto. Now you see where even in kefirah, how far it goes. A mesaynen, a complainer, could be actually rooted, rooted in kefirah, that a person wants to be a kofer, a person wants to have an alilah against the Ribono Shel Olam, and because of this he looks for excuses, and that's mesaynen. So we don't have a mesaynen, a benign mesaynen. A benign mesaynen would mean, taka, it's cold outside, he complains. He's hot, he complains. That's nothing. You have a mesaynen where it's malignant, which means deeper down, it's gebait an alilah. It's meant as more of an excuse than a complaint, and that's what Rashi means. Ein mesaynen el lashon alilah. It's not a complainer, but it's a person who's looking to give an excuse, an alilah, to find something against the Ribono Shel Olam. Mimeila, what do we find? We have to find something. Oy lanu, kamah levatlu b'derech hazeh. It was difficult for us to go and travel, and that's why the Torah doesn't say what they were mesaynen for. Interesting, it leads to Asafsuf. How does this lead to Asafsuf, the taiva? Another thing I think we have to be medayek, that even in the Asafsuf, it doesn't say what they had a taiva for. V'ha'asafsuf asher b'kirbo his'avu taiva. Vayashuvu vayifku gam bnei Yisrael, vayomru, Mi achileinu basar. Oh, that's what they said. You see, the Torah doesn't say, Yis'avu ta'avah lebasar. The Torah says, Yis'avu ta'avah. And then again, let's see what's the—what are they saying? They're saying, Mi achileinu basar. But again, deep down is something underlying that it's actually ta'avah. You see, again, a person says one thing, but the Torah, the Chochmas haTorah, the Ribono Shel Olam and His Torah, zooms in to the core of where it all comes from. So here they're mis'onenin kama Torah chaderech. Here they're mis'aveh when they're saying, Mi achileinu basar. So the Torah, by the way, this is not about basar, and this is not about ta'avah chaderech. This is about being a mis'onen, and this is about being a baal ta'avah. And soon we're going to see how they're both connected, how they connect. Why is a person a mis'onen? Why? What is the root of mis'onen? Where does it come from? The, so to speak, the malignant disease of a mis'onen. Complainer. The malignant disease of a mis'onen. Where does it come from? What is the shoresh of— You see, pashut, you learn on mis'onen about—no, it's not about. It's a machlah. It's a machlah in the person. So I want to explain to you the pashut zach: a person's bitterness, a mis'onen. You know, we find people— When they're bitter, they're unhappy, they complain about everything. Katzker Rebbe used to say, that's the pshat in the pasuk, that they came to Marah, V'lo yachlu lishtos mayim miMarah, ki marim heim. It's an interesting lashon. It should have said, ki marah hi, the waters. Heim says the Katzker, actually is going back on the people. They couldn't drink water from Marah. You know why? Because they were complainers. Marim heim, they were bitter people. And when you're bitter, nothing is good. You're right, it was probably not the sweetest of waters, but I'm sure it was drinkable. So a normal person drinks it and that's it, and finished. Marim heim, V'lo yachlu lishtos mayim miMarah, ki marim heim. The people are bitter. Bitter people are complainers. The Chofetz Chaim seems to say a different pshat, rabosai. You hear? The Chofetz Chaim, I found, if you notice, how many days were they in Marah? One day. Then they traveled and they went to Elim the next day for 20 days. They were 20 days in Elim. Elim, they had sweet water. Zokt der Ben Ezra, pashut, Marim was bitter waters, so they were there for one day.

The next day, they traveled to Eilim. Azai zokt der Even Ezra, you hear? And there they were for 20 days. Zokt der Heilige Chofetz Chaim, you know what the lesson in this Even Ezra is? Had they only been patient, they would have realized that the Ribono Shel Olam knows what he's doing. Today it's a little difficult, the water is bitter, but tomorrow they're traveling to Eilim. You know why people complain? It's because they don't see the past. They don't see the future. They see the present, right here, right now. What do you have in front of you? Water is bitter. Yeah, okay, so tomorrow the Ribono Shel Olam will tell you, take you to Eilim. You'll have plenty of drinking water there. He says the person is nearsighted. See? He don't see farsighted, meaning he don't see long term. He don't see ahead of him. Mimeila, he complains. Azai zokt der Chofetz Chaim, complaining comes from the inability, the inability of being able to realize that the Ribono Shel Olam has a mahalach. I'm thinking to myself, the mesaynim, yeah, they had to have three days of difficult travel, right? They traveled three days. You know why? Because they're ready to go into Eretz Yisroel. Had they not been a mesaynim, Rashi's shita was that they would have went in right away. Three days of toirech. Why did they have three days of toirech? Don't forget, in the midbar, the Ribono Shel Olam gave them everything in comfort. Man, the Ribono Shel Olam gave them mamash everything that they could have asked for. Kashi yisa tinok es hayonek, the Ribono Shel Olam carried them. So why was it tirchas haderech taka? So the Chiddushei Harim says very pashut: Eretz Yisrael is niknas b'yisurim. Ah, wait a minute. Eretz Yisrael is niknas b'yisurim. That's life, meaning certain things it takes work to get to. Why don't you look at the fact that in three days you'll be in Eretz Yisrael? The Torah says you're only looking right now, and because of that you're complaining. Could you imagine three days of tircha, which is necessary here? A woman has a baby. Avada it's hard, the labor, but she knows that soon she'll have a baby. That's how every woman, unless she couldn't go through labor. How could anyone go through labor? And the answer is because she knows soon she'll have a baby, so she could do it. So the Chiddushei Harim is saying the same thing here too. You're right, it's three days of difficulty, but Eretz Yisrael is niknas b'yisurim. The Rivash taka says that it wasn't so much the tircha haderech; they were ready to go into Eretz Yisrael, and the whole Eretz Yisrael already was for them. In Yiddish, zugt maya b'lebinish, it was already too difficult. Why? Yeah, it could be a difficult life in Eretz Yisrael. And again, Eretz Yisrael is niknas b'yisurim. So they misunderstood the long-term benefits because of the short-term difficulty. That's a misleid. A complainer, a complainer doesn't look. Look at the good, look at the bigger picture. I think with this, chaveirim, we can explain the lashon of the pasuk. They were mis'onenim, ra b'oznei Hashem. Why is it ra b'oznei Hashem? So Rashi takke says a pshat: te'una shehi ra b'oznei Hashem, shemiskavnim shetavoi b'oznav. Like they directed it, it should go into the ear of the Eibishter, which means it was geared specifically to hit the target, so to speak, and the target was oznei HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Azoi lernt Rashi, azoi fatayt Rashi b'oznei Hashem, that it was directed b'oznei Hashem. I would like to say maybe a vort. You know why it was ra b'oznei Hashem? Hashem saw the bigger picture. Hashem meant toivah for them. Hashem is saying, I'm helping you. I'm giving you three days of tircha to get to Eretz, so you should have much more tircha. Eretz Yisroel niknis b'yisurim is three days of tircha. That's a—you're getting off easy with it. That's why it was ra b'oznei Hashem. The Eibishter was looking and saying, What are you talking about? This is bad? This is good, to the Eibishter's ear, so to speak. To the Eibishter's ear.

This is a difficult thing. Like someone says, I can't listen to this. Rab, oznei Hashem. I made tircha, yeah, yeah, vadei tircha. Eretz Yisrael is niknas b'yisurim. To get to Eretz Yisrael is not an easy thing to obtain, to reach, to be koneh Eretz Yisrael. So, Rab, oznei Hashem. This vort I'd like—I base on a Medrash. The Medrash tells us that actually Yankev Avinu was a complainer—not a complainer, but he complained once; let's use that better terminology—when he spoke to Paro. Medrash says, he said, Yemei chayai me'at v'ra'im. He was complaining. So the Medrash, the Rabbeinu Shalom got angry, bothered, so to speak, if I can use that language, that lashon. I'm here spending years put together l'hamlich es bonecha, to make your son the king in Mitzrayim, v'ata omer me'at v'ra'im, and you're complaining? The Rabbeinu Shalom is saying, I see the bigger picture. I mean it l'tovascha. So the Rabbeinu Shalom is saying, I can't be mekabel that you complain. What are you complaining about? It's all l'tovah. I'm trying to do you a tovah. This is the pshat, Rab, the oznei Hashem. This was something that the Rabbeinu Shalom is saying, the misonen—what are you being misonen for? What are you complaining? For what? It's all—it's all for your good. You don't see it's for your good. What are you complaining about? But this, I think we could go one step further. A mesaynen, the Chofetz Chaim tells us, is the pshat that he doesn't see the toivah. That's a mesaynen. He doesn't see the long-term toivah. Why does a person not see the long-term toivah? So you could come and say because a person is limited, near-sighted, far-sighted, near-sighted. Or maybe the pshat is that even when the toivah is right in front of you, you still can't see the toivah, because a person is a kafui tov. A person doesn't want to see tov. You know why a person doesn't want to see tov? Baalei mussar tell us because a person doesn't want to be a mechuyav. He doesn't want to owe anything. A person wants to be able to receive and not have to pay back, to be a baal chov is something which is a big oil, it's a big, what do you call that, a heavy burden on a person to live mechuyav, responsible. You notice, what was one of the complaints of the asafsuf? Zacharnu es hadagah asher ochalnu b'Mitzrayim chinam. Tell me something. You want to tell me what the dagah was? Does anybody know what the dagah was? Zacharnu es hadagah asher nochal b'Mitzrayim chinam. Says Rashi, Im tomar sheMitzrayim nosnim dagim chinam? You think they gave them for free? For loch v'nema, v'teven lo yinasen lachem. So what's the pshat? Lo hayu nosnim chinam, dagim hayu nosnim. U'ma hu? Chinam, chinam min hamitzvos. Free from the mitzvos. Chazal tell us that the women in Mitzrayim were fed fish. You know when they were fed fish? The Eibishter. The Ribbono Shel Olam went and fed them. When they buried the children under the tree, the Ribbono Shel Olam sent fish, right? So it's a peledike thing. If that's the dagah that they're referring to, that means that the Eibishter did them the biggest chesed. So now they go and use that dagah to come and complain against the Ribbono Shel Olam. Ze charus hadagah, not a pele, mamash a pele. The Ribbono Shel Olam gave, so instead of being makir tov to the Ribbono Shel Olam, you turn around, you're a misonen, and you become a complainer. Ze charus hadagah. And if you notice, Rashi says, what's chinam? Chinam is min hamitzvos. What is chinam min hamitzvos? Without responsibility. You see, avadim, free is free. Free without mitzvos. That's what we're looking for. Chinam min hamitzvos, to want to throw off from yourself all the responsibilities. You know what it is to keep Torah mitzvos, that every time you eat—

You have to make a bracha rishona, and then you have to bench, and it's... We want chinam b'mitzvos, without hakaras hatov, without having to feel that we owe in return, to be responsible. This becomes the mesaynim, the mesaynim. How does the mesaynim turn into the asafsuf? How does the mesaynim turn into the asafsuf? What is the asafsuf? It's a taiva. When a person is unhappy, when a person is a complainer, he's a mesaynim. What happens is he looks for things that are going to replace his unhappiness. He's going to look for things to replace his unhappiness. That's the pshat. So, charnu es hadagah asher nochal b'Mitzrayim chinam. So what do we look for? We look for mi ya'achileinu basar. First of all, they had plenty of basar. Chazal, the Rishonim talk about it. They had plenty of basar anyway. Second of all, the mon was fantastic. What could be wrong with the mon? The mon had all the flavors and tastes. You could have gotten anything you wanted from the mon. So what are you complaining about already? You know what the answer is? When you're a complainer, you're never satisfied. See, the תלונה, when it's a machla, it's not about the thing. Now the תלונה becomes, you find things, you're mechadesh things that you need to fulfill. Taiva is to fulfill a void. The תלונה, the complainer, looks for something to fulfill his void. You know, it's interesting. One of the things that they complained about, we remember the kishuim, the avtichim, the chatzir, the ptzalim, the shumim. So the Rishonim, based on the Gemara in Yuma, ask, Yeah, but I don't understand these things. Why wasn't it in the mon? Why weren't these things in the mon? I mean, they should have had the mon, take the mon, and taste in the mon these things. So the Gemara says the mon didn't give these five things. Why not? Because it's kasha. Rashi brings the lashon, מפני מה המן משתנה לחלדו וחוץ מאלו? מפני שהם קשים למניקות. It's unhealthy. אומרים לאישה אל תאכלי שום ובצל מפני התינוק. So therefore, the mon didn't give the taste of these things, because we're not healthy. It's not good for you. מפני שהמן משתנה לחלדו וחוץ מאלו שהם קשים למניקות. Unhealthy. If you look, right, you'll see that these things are unhealthy for you. So why do you want it? These are unhealthy things, unless you say it's only for מניקות, unhealthy. Maybe only for a מנקת it's considered an unhealthy thing. I saw Rabbeinu Bechaye learns that why were the Mitzrim giving these things? And the answer is because this was the cheapest junk that you could find on the market. Kishum, avtichim, chatzim, betzalim. He's almost like animal fodder. They couldn't find less on the food chain than these things. Could you imagine the Rabbeinu gives you man, that you're able to taste in the man the most delicious steak, and after the most delicious steak you can have the most delicious dessert, and a guy sits and cries, I need, I need chavezvas, garlic, which tastes bitter, and they used to stuff it down your throat as animal fodder. They used to treat you like an animal and feed this to you. Unbelievable. Imagine a guy comes and says, Steak, flavor, what, cake? No, I want mud. I'm looking for the mud. More than that, you know, it's a pele. I always think to myself, what's the pshat that the Rabbeinu...

So he warns them, Ad sheyeitzei me'apchem. You're going to die because of this. The Ribono Shel Olam pre-warns them that if you eat the meat, it's going to cause tremendous, tremendous destruction among you. It says clearly in the pasuk. Zogt the pasuk, zogt the pasuk klar, that He gave it to them, ad here, ad sheyeitzei me'apchem, till mamish, ho. So why would someone continue? You know what they should say? Forget it, I made a mistake. Made a mistake? Well, why would you? And the teretz, chaveirim, is this is the folly of a person who has everything, complains and he's unhappy, and he looks for nothing. Ata dases. Ata dases da pele. Here, on one hand we have Aharon HaKohen, that what does he complain about? He wants more ruchniyus, the Tmeiei meis, lamah nigara. Here, the person who has it and says, I want to throw it away for nothing. Complaining? I don't know. Man? I want good? No. Here, imagine you come, you give a guy a ten-course meal, all right, and the guy says, This? I don't want this. Only with the dog is eating. A dos vilich. You would laugh. It would be a comedy. Imagine you come at a restaurant, you have a five-star restaurant, and they give you, and the guy, the waiter comes and says, picture it, and he gives you the menu: wines, this and that, and you look at the whole thing and say, Special wine? No, no, no. Steak? Al parmesan? I'm not so familiar, rabosai, with the heintige machalim tovim. But you know, at the restaurant, everything with a French little bit at the end, and you say, ... becomes a gantze maichel kosher, okay? No, no, none of this for me. I'm going to take the—oh, you see what the dog, what the dog over there is eating? Dos vilich. That's what I want. So what would you do? You would go and take the guy, and you would call Hatzalah for him. He must have had some kind of nervous breakdown. You'd carry him away and take him to wear a yellow jumpsuit, a chamishugener, right? This is what it looks like. The Dugma Maggid says that's why it's called kivrei ha-taiva. You notice the pasuk explains, Sham kavru ha-mis'avim, so it should be kivrei ha-mis'avim. Why is it called kivrei ha-taiva? Call it kivrei ha-mis'avim, those that had the taiva. We're buried there. It's not kivrei hataiva. It says in the Targum, it's kivrei hataiva. To the Ribono Shel Olam, buried taiva, which means the Torah is teaching you what a taiva is. If not for the fact that the Torah would show you taiva, you'd think it's a normal thing. Here the Torah gives you to read, look, you see what taiva is, you see? That a guy could go and have everything, throw it away for nothing, be warned that his life is over if he eats it, and he'll do it anyway. He'll run after it anyway. So it's kivrei— we're not talking about the mesavim. By the fact that the Eibishter killed and buried the mesavim, it was meant to be kivrei to bury the taiva, says the Targum Onkelos. It's to teach a person that a taiva is something you should bury in the ground, because the taiva is just going to kill you. So either you kill the taiva before it kills you. That's kivrei hataiva. You better bury the taiva before the kivrei hamesavim, that it buries you. So we have a— here, a misloinen, a misloinen. The next step is, he becomes an asafsuf. But it's interesting.

People don't realize the effect that a mesaynenim has. If you notice, the pasuk says that who? The mesaynenim. Mesaynenim. How many? Who are they? Says the pasuk, Vayehi ha'am. Zogt Rashi, ein ha'am ela resha'im. It wasn't everybody. There was ha'am, resha'im. So it wasn't everybody. Yet the pasuk continues, Vayishma Hashem. I'm sorry, I skipped the pasuk here. Oh. Vayehi ha'am k'mis'onenim. Yes. Vayitzak ha'am el Moshe, vayispalel Moshe, vayishma Hashem, vayeichar apo, vatashav ha'esh, vateva'er bam, vayikra shem hamakom hahu Tav'eirah, v'hasafsuf asher b'kirbo hit'avu ta'avah, vayashuvu vayivku gam Bnei Yisrael. So who did it? Also, Rashi says, ha'safsuf eirev rav. So it's interesting. The mesaynenim led to the ha'safsuf. Who are they? Resha'im, eirev rav. And the next part of the, the next words of the pasuk is, Vayivku gam Bnei Yisrael, which means that they got included in this. How did they get included? And you see a major lesson. The complainer, it's mashpia. It takes one person to complain. It takes one person to be me'orer alilah. It's mashpia on Klal Yisrael. Unbelievable. You know, false taivos. It's the same thing. Takes one guy to do it. One person to say, I want to go, and I want to go chutz from the gedarim, and everybody joins in. Mis'onenet, and Asafsu, the Torah is trying to teach us that it starts with a few small people, a small group of people. Vayifku bnei Yisrael, drag everybody into it. It drags everybody into it. Takes one person. One guy in a shul, he comes, he starts making tlunos. Those tlunos, the person is unhappy, could lead to taivus, and the taiva is a few chutz l'gedarim of what's normal. Guess what? Eventually, Vayifku kol bnei Yisrael. You're going to drag everybody into it. This is the koach, koach hara of bad that's in every taiva. With this, rabosai, I want to go and explain l'umas zeh, the mud. You see, they got disgusted in the mud. That's really the story here. What could you get disgusted in the mud? You have everything, right? So we explain that actually it's deep. It's about being a misonen and not being happy. For character, the mud was too good. There was nothing wrong with the mud. There was nothing wrong with the people, right? That's the way we're learning, that the mud was very good, was extra good, and yiddishkeit was too good. And when something is too good, the person becomes a complainer, and he doesn't want it, right? And the reasons are either because, like we said, that they're bitter. Or the reason is because they don't see the good in it. They're kfuyei tov, they don't want to be a baal chayv, v'chulu v'chulu, all the inyanim of hakaras hatov. Okay. What is the man, and how does one learn to appreciate the man? The Torah tells us on one hand how they didn't appreciate the man and what caused them not to appreciate the man. Now let's talk the other way in reverse. How are we yes to appreciate the man in our life? How does one work on appreciating the man? So I want to tell you of a Meiri Chazal, a Midrash that the Chida brings down. The Chida says, and they said, V'ha'asafsuf asher b'kirbo his'avu ta'avah, v'ashuvnu v'achalnu b'Mitzrayim chinam. Says the Chida, there's a Midrash that says, Mikan l'hadlakas ner Shabbos. From this pasuk we derive an inyan of hadlakas ner Shabbos. Azoy brengt der Chida a Meiridike Midrash, you hear? V'ha'asafsuf asher... You see, rabosai, I want to explain one more time. I'll repeat myself to understand the thought, the full shiur, the thought of the shiur.

Here, I want to show you zeh l'umas zeh, what it means not to appreciate the money, and why you don't appreciate the money, and מצד שני, how one does appreciate, and when is it, and what is it that makes people, yeah, appreciate the money. You see? We see, okay, a misayinen, he cannot appreciate the good in the money. So how does one, yeah, appreciate the money? You know, like in everything in ruchniyus, you have to develop a taste for it. That's really, you know, maybe I'll give away a little bit of the yesod of the shiur at the end. Now you should understand the hemshech. You have to develop a taste. Ta'amu u're'u ki tov Hashem. You have to develop a taste for it. You know, you tell a person, Go be oved Hashem, go learn Torah. If you don't develop a taste, he ain't gonna enjoy it. He's not gonna appreciate it. Ta'amu. Give it a taste. Develop a taste. U're'u, and then you'll see ki tov Hashem. We have by Kachi darka shel Torah, pas ma'tochal, mayim sartishteh, v'al artishan, v'chai tzar tichya. Why would someone want to do it? And the answer is, Shema ta'aseh kein. Reb Elie Lapian used to say this word, Shema ta'aseh kein. If you do it, you'll develop a taste. Ashrecha v'olam hazeh, v'tov lach l'olam haba. That's why the Mishnah speaks it out, Shema ta'aseh kein. You're right, on first glance, it don't sound very appetizing. But you develop, Shema ta'aseh kein, you'll develop a taste. How does one develop a taste for the man? So I want to show you, like I said, this Medrash, that the Medrash says, Socharnu es hadaga, mikan, for hadlakas ner Shabbos, that you're supposed to light ner, hadlakas ner Shabbos. Says the Chida, what's the connection? So he says, they're pashut. He says, what didn't they appreciate in the man? They had all the tastes. And the teretz is, it tasted, but tzait, you didn't see anything. There was no—it didn't look like a juicy steak. Tasted like a juicy steak if you wanted, but a person needs to see, to see, to sees up the Chida. Chazal tell us that a suma doesn't appreciate his food. A blind person doesn't appreciate food. He doesn't see it. Part of the appreciation of the food is to see it. You know, the pasuk says, L'maan anoscha, in order to torture you almost, inui. By the man it says that the Ribono Shel Olam gave us the man, L'maan anoscha u'l'nasoscha, ladaas, im Hashem levavecha, if you're with the Eibishter. What's anoscha? I mean, you were full. Can't call it an inui; it wasn't a fasting. So the pashut pshat is this that we're speaking, the fact that they didn't see it was an inui. It was almost like fasting. You know, a person could be on a very healthy diet, get all the nutrients he needs, and he still thinks he's dieting. Why? Because he doesn't have that external excitement of what a good piece of cake looks like. This is, mikan, says the Chiddah, l'hadlokas ner b'Shabbos, you hear? That's l'hadlokas. We're supposed to be able to see the meal, because the Ribono Shel Olam wants you to enjoy oneg Shabbos, the food, so mikan l'azehir l'Chiddah. That's how the Chiddah explains in Dvash L'Pi. A zecher, zichrono livrachah, once said a pshat: You know what's l'maan anoscha? If you had everything. So he said a vort that Chazal tell us that according to the person's emunah and yiras Shamayim, that's where the food came. If he was a tzaddik, it came to his door. If he came a little further, if he was not such a big tzaddik, it was a little further. Depending on his level of ruchniyus was how the mun fell. So, imagine a person's a big tzaddik, but one day he slipped. He comes out to the front door and it's not there, his food. It's far away. What do you do? He wouldn't eat. Maan anoscha. Many went hungry, said the zeide. They would say, the way the zeide said over, they would announce, Today's a...

The fifth day. Today's a Yom Taanis, you know, today we fasted. Because he was ashamed to show that he had to go far to pick up his food. As a matter of fact, there's a Rabbeinu Bechaye that says that part of the chesed in the midbar—how did people do chesed with each other in the midbar? Everybody got food, so there was no tzedakah. So he says this, that they helped—let's say he was far away, so the guy either couldn't get there or he was ashamed to go, so his friend would go and pick it up for him and bring it to him. That was how they did chesed in the midbar. The point is, l'maan anoscha, you know, there was a lot of—the way the Zohar said—a lot of people went hungry in the midbar for many days, because, Chabosai, I think that there's a deeper pshat to all of this. And it's interesting because even on the lashon of the pasuk, l'maan anoscha, there's a medrash that says, Mikan l'hadlokas ner Shabbos, on the l'maan anoscha. So l'choira it's mashma like the Chida, that the fact that you don't see the food, that's the inuy, and that's why we need hadlokas ner Shabbos. But I would say the pshat like this, Chabosai, a little bit deeper. Food is a mazon gashmi. It's a mazon gashmi; it fills the person physically. The mon was mazon ruchni. It satisfied the person, the neshama. It satisfied the neshama. Food, it has, so to speak, a dual purpose. If you look at the Kabbalah sefarim... There's a lot of ruchni in the food that's meizen the neshama as well. So it all depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking for the physical part of the food? Are you looking for the mazon ruchni, the spiritual, for the neshama, soyed the neshama in the food? The man was only good for someone who was looking to be meizen his neshama, to sustain himself from within. For someone who was looking for mazon gashmi, so to speak, the man was not much of a good delicatesse, you see. It wasn't something that was going to help the person. The person who was looking for mazon gashmi, he didn't find the... Ner Shabbos. What is the ner Shabbos? I found the Meiri, Chasam Sofer, rabosai. Chasam Sofer says in the drashos, why do women daven for children, bnei Torah, when they light hadlakas ner Shabbos? The minhag Yisrael is, it's a custom, accepted custom, that b'shaas hadlakas ner Shabbos, the women daven for good children. Says the Chasam Sofer, ner, what is the ner? The ner is the nishmas ha'adam. With the hadlakas ner Shabbos comes the neshama yeseira. And, vibald, it's the time where we talk about the neshama yeseira, it's a time where we daven for good children because bnei Torah. It's about the neshama. Says like some sefer. Bnei Torah means neshama. Neshama, hadlakas ner Shabbos is the time where the neshama. Says like some sefer, the neshama is the time when you bring in the neshama yeseira, and mainly daven for good children. It's interesting, Vayevarech Elokim es yom hashvii, Chazal say, Barchei in two things: barchei b'man, u'barchei b'or. There's an or, there's a light. Shabbos is light. Barchei, Ribono Shel Olam benched it with light. Also it says, Barchei b'man. Ribono Shel Olam benched the Shabbos with the man. What's the pshat, rabosai? Barchei b'man? Fakert. He wasn't mevarech the Shabbos with man. The man didn't fall on Shabbos. You know who asks this kasha? The Biur Halacha brings this in the beginning of Hilchos Shabbos from a Tosafos. The Rama brings down we're supposed to eat pashtida. Pashtida is a question. According to the Chashulchan, it's kreplach. It's dough on top, dough on the bottom, the meat in the middle, like the man, zecher laman. Chassidim say it's the kugel, the kugel.

That the tzlida meat is pashtida. Why should you eat it? Zecher l'man, as זאגט דער רמ״א. It's mefurash in Rama, and he says we're not noheg to do this today. Okay. Says the Biur Halacha, he brings from a Tosafos the opposite: the man didn't fall on Shabbos. The man never fell on Shabbos, so how could you make a zecher l'man by this? Then he asks a kasha, then why by Yontif don't we do it? So, to tell you the truth, tzlida meat, kugel on Yontif too. People eat kugel, they eat kugel all the time. Also, the halacha, the Biur Halacha speaks about by night and by day. The zecher l'man is for the night, is for the day. All right, so you go l'chumra, eat the kugel סעודה by night and סעודה by day. Good. אבל למעשה, freigt the Biur Halacha, it didn't fall on Shabbos. Brings from a Tosafos a kasha: it didn't fall on Shabbos, so why are we eating a kugel or a kreplach, according to the Aruch HaShulchan or whatever other machalim your wife makes that resembles the man? Why do we eat it on Shabbos? It never fell on Shabbos. Zogt doch the Mishnah Berurah, the Biur Halacha, Shabbos is me'ein Olam Haba, it resembles the time when Moshiach will come. When Moshiach will come, we'll have the big seudah, the seudas Leviyasan. So all the machalim that we have, as says the Biur Halacha, all the machalim that we have in the seudas Leviyasan, the shor habor, right, and the fish and the wine, yayin hameshumar. We eat it at the Shabbos table. Zei zogt a biur halacha: I have a kasha, rabosai, but where's the man? I never understood this biur halacha. What's he saying? The whole idea is to eat the man. Pashtus, zecher laman. Forget the biur halacha kasha, but there's no man on Shabbos. And the Torah says in the seudos Mashiach, in the seudos Leviyasan, yeah? So where's the man there? Unless he's being mechadesh, we could eat man over there. Rabosai, mir darf tzach... and it could be, I think there's a raya like this. You think it's going to be shor habar hamburgers? No, it's not going to be shor habar hamburgers. It's going to be maachal ruchni like the man. It's going to be a maachal — that's what he means, man. Zecher laman means just like the man in the midbar was lechem min hashamayim, this is also going to be a seudah made in heaven, literally, a heavenly seudah. The shor habar, with that — it doesn't mean that they're going to sit there and eat man. That's not — they're shteigt a klotz, eat shor habar and fish. Unless he means to say it's man, it's all the same thing, it's maachal ruchni, yeah? Now I understand what the Chazal mean. Chazal are saying, Vayevarech Elokim es yom hashvii, bircho b'or, uvircho b'man. The or is that lockishner Shabbos that resembles the or. What is that? That's the or of the neshama. Shabbos is gebentsht, and so we're going to see clearly with the neshama yeseira. That's what the Chasam Sofer means to say. The oyer of that lakas neer is the neshama yeseira. U'meileh, since it was birchoi b'oyer, the neshama yeseira, meileh is birchoi b'man. Because what does the neshama need to eat? It needs to eat man. So the seudas Shabbos that we eat will be like man that's meizen the neshama. Now you're looking at me and saying, Rabbi, ... It's not mine, rabboisai. You know who said this vort? Rashi in Mesechtes Beitzah, daf tes-vav amud aleph. Rashi says, I'm a peirush Rashi. The Gemara tells us that the Ribbono Shel Olam on Shabbos gives us a neshama yeseira. Zogt Rashi, what is the neshama yeseira? Zogt Rashi, it makes a person happy, and then he says it gives a person revacha, makes a person, he should be able to eat and eat, and it shouldn't be nafshi katzah alav. So the neshama yeseira makes it that we should be able to eat the machalei Shabbos in abundance, and we shouldn't get kutz, we shouldn't get disgusted from it.

Pshat like this. You know, food, like everything else, you get sick of it after a while. How much could you eat? You get tired, right? But this is only if you eat for the guf. But if it's man, if it's maicha ruchni for the neshama, maicha ruchni for the neshama, there's no end. Ruchnius, there's no end. That's the pshat: the Ribono Shel Olam gave a neshama yeseira. The neshama yeseira is able to eat mazon ruchni, and it's b'meila, the seudas Shabbos becomes mazon ruchni. You see? Here, Rabbeisei, it's a miracle they could have. Baruch, the Ribono Shel Olam gave a bracha in the Shabbos that there should be ohr. What is ohr? Ohr is, like the Chasam Sofer tells me, the neshama yeseira. The ohr, the nishmas adam is the ohr. Then the neshama yeseira becomes the inyan of the man. It's the same nekudah. And that's the Rashi in Tes-vav, that the Ribono Shel Olam gives us a neshama yeseira, that we should be able to eat and eat and eat, and it shouldn't be nafshi katzah. Because it's a maicha ruchni. That's the pshat, you hear? So with this, we go back to understanding: when a person takes the food, and he looks at it for gashmi, so then it's nafshi katzah. Right away you get sick, and then you're misloinen. And then you're looking for busa taiva to fulfill because you're not satisfied. And more and more and more. Mi achileinu basar, but they had basar. Mi achileinu basar? Did they have basar or not? So how can you come and say mi achileinu basar? And you know what the teretz is? Fifty types of cheesecake for Shavuos. That's the teretz. If you take a look, there's a store. I don't mean to take away the business of the store. I wish them all hatzlacha, v'nachal Yisrael, I don't mind. But it took me, shocking that they have an advertisement, you hear? We sell fifty different types of cheesecake for Shavuos. Who has time to eat fifty types of cheesecake on Shavuos? If they announce, We have fifty different pshatim in Rus that the olam can learn fifty different peirushim on Rus, ah, basherich. The more the barrier, the more the better. Fifty types of cheesecake. What's the pshat? There's no end. There's no end, you see. Hamis'onen means a zucht epes andersh. Memeila is nafshei katzalah. Nafshei katzalah is avodah taiva. But if a person eats the man, he eats it b'teiras ruchni, it's never nafshei katzalah. That's the pshat in Shabbos. Shabbos is neshama. If you know anything about Zohar, shvet gebracht that talmud chacham is b'chinas Shabbos. Yismach Moshe b'matnas chelko, that Moshe Rabbeinu and Shabbos, all the Kabbalah, all the divrei Zohar, the ones that work on the Zohar, are busy with this yesod. Shamishmuel, the Talmud Chacham in Shabbos. What's the pshat? Azoi vi by us Shabbos is the neshama, it's the man, the Talmud Chacham has this every day, you see. The Talmud Chacham is bechinas Shabbos, and that's the pshat of some sefer. When you light the candles on Shabbos, you ask your children, Bnei Torah, it should be Shabbos all week by them. That's what the some sefer means. It's a time, because that neshama, that ruchniyus by the Talmud Chacham is keseder, is constant. You know, there's an interesting thing. Chazal tell us that there was something called an ohr haganuz, ohr haganuz. Zoyevet gebrakt that the ohr haganuz, the Ribono Shel Olam put it in the Torah. He put it into the Torah. What is the ohr haganuz? Who is the ohr haganuz? The Ribono Shel Olam says that ohr shel olam, Chazal tell us, u'mihu oro shel olam? Is the Ribono Shel Olam, right? So the ohr haganuz, the ohr haganuz, what's in the Torah that a Talmud Chacham, when he learns it, he absorbs this ohr haganuz, and that's the neshama. Where is the neshama? The nishmas...

Elokim. HaNeshama is a chelek Eloka mimaal. It's actually a part of the Eibishter. This is the kavana. If you notice, what does the Rabbeinu Shalom say when he gets upset? The pasuk says clearly, Yan ki ma'astem es Hashem asher b'kirbechem. What's the asher b'kirbechem? Interesting lashon. Rashi says, Lo shenatati Shechinasi beineichem, lo gavo levavchem likanos l'chal hadvarim haeileh. That the fact that I put myself in you, among you, you would have never had this gaivah, so to speak, to come and do all this problem with the hasafsuf. What's the connection? It's a simple lashon, eh? Hashem, v'holeichem laZarah. Yan asher ki ma'astem es Hashem asher b'kirbechem. Im lo shenatiti Shechinasi beineichem, lo gavo levavchem likanos l'chal hadvarim halalu. The way we're explaining, there's a meyridike taich over here. The man had to do with the neshama. The neshama should have been very happy. What is the neshama? The neshama is the Elokim asher b'kirbechem. The neshama is the chelek Eloka mimaal. It's a part of the Eibishter. It should have been extremely satisfied. You weren't happy with that. Yan asher ma'astem the Elokah, that's Hashem asher b'kirbechem. The neshama. That's what they were me'oyes in the man. The man is taka something that satisfies the neshama. Birchoi b'man Shabbos is gebenched with the man, the neshama yeseira. The food on Shabbos is like the man. Chazal tell us, Vayared ha-man ela l'mekablei haTorah. It's a Gemara that the inyan of the man was for those that sat and learned Torah. So the Velt has a pshat that those that learn Torah need to be supported from the Eibershter, so to speak. The way we're learning, it's very simple, pashut. For someone who learns Torah, the neshama, the mazon ruchni of the man was unbelievable. It was the best thing you could feed a person who sits and learns Torah properly, was man. It was meizen his neshama. Ma she'ein kein, someone who is not learning Torah, the man is the worst thing. The worst thing you could do to somebody is give him man. Ya'an asher maastem es Hashem b'kirbechem. What is the lesson to be taken from all this? Rabosai, a person who searches to satisfy his inner ruchni, his inner neshama, will be thrilled with Torah and mitzvahs. If he doesn't get that, lamah nigara? He's choking. He's choking. That's where the parsha, the parsha is showing you the contrast, the contrast between someone who's looking to be meizen the neshama, b'meila he has a taanug. How come he's not part of the Chanukas HaMizbeach, the Chanukas HaBayis? Lamah nigara? How come I don't have the Korban Pesach? Someone who's looking not to satisfy their Yid from bifnim. He's looking to satisfy himself, his guf. Money is not a good thing; he becomes a mesoinen. He becomes a mesaveh. And then he's, Yanah shema'astem, Hashem bekirbecha. The Yid has a whole inner part of himself. A person who is mo'es in ruchniyus and lures after the life of taiva should be careful, because he's being mema'et the neshama, the pnim that a Yid has. He's looking to satisfy his chitzoniy like a goy. The Yid needs other sustenance. He needs to sustain the bifnim, the inner of the person. Das is der chiluk between a mesoinen and a lamanigara. One person doesn't have the ruchni, lamanigara; he feels extremely, extremely deprived. The other person is searching for gashmiyus, even if he has all the gashmiyus in the world, he's still deprived. He's looking for more.

He's looking for taiva. He's looking much. We got to go further. And that's even though he knows that he's losing from it, asher yeitze me'apchem. He knows the degradation. He knows the problems that it causes. He knows what he's giving up for it, and af al pi kein, he goes to search it. And so I return to my words that I started with. Parshas Beha'aloscha is the parsha of complaints: proper complaining and misplaced complaining. If you're looking for what your body is asking for, your gashmi, that's called misplaced. That's called misguided complaining. But if you want to know what your neshama is complaining for, what it's searching for, if you're trying to sustain what the inner dimensions is looking for, that's called good complaining, and the Ribono Shel Olam feeds you, like the man. He'll send you. Don't worry, you'll get it. The Ribono Shel Olam promises never, right, Vezarati mevakesh lachem, right, Lo ra'isi tzaddik neezav, vezaro mevakesh lechem. You'll get the lechem. The Ribono Shel Olam takes care of the tzaddik, but you got to know what you ask for. If you come and you ask for ruchniyus, if you ask for even the gashmiyus for the sake of ruchniyus, that's called ruchniyus. But if you're searching a world of gashmi, you're leading yourself off a cliff. It's misonein, you complain, and the next is asafsuf, and the next problem is, asher yeitze me'apchem, kivros hataiva, kivros hataiva, till you're buried. And that's the lesson: bury the taiva before the taiva buries you. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.