Bo: Hachodesh Hazeh Lachem—The Moon, His'chadshus, and Seeing Each Day as New

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, ruchim haba'im. This week's parasha, Perek Yud-Beis, Pasuk Aleph. Vayomer Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon b'eretz Mitzrayim leimor, Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodashim, rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashanah. Hachodesh hazeh, this month, Nissan, this is going to be rosh chodashim. Hachodesh hazeh lachem. Chazal a doresh, why does it say lachem? Hachodesh hazeh rosh chodashim. And then the pasuk continues, rishon hu lachem, it says already lachem. What is the hadgasha, the emphasis, hachodesh hazeh lachem? Lachem rosh chodashim. Say Chazal, lachem rosh chodashim, because Klal Yisrael follows the moon. So they follow the chodesh, which is the kiddush of the chodesh, which is the renewal, the month through the moon. That is what is Klal Yisrael's calendar. U'ma sa'olam, they follow the sun, 365 days a year. So hachodesh hazeh, which is about kiddush hachodesh. Rashi, niskadesh Moshe ha'moled al halevanah, b'eizeh shiur, tira v'tehei re'uyah l'kadesh. So, Kiddush hachodesh is lachem, lachem, Klal Yisroel. So, pashut, mesurah b'yedeichem. It's given in the hands of Klal Yisroel to decide. But there's also Chazal that explain lachem because Klal Yisroel follows the levana; their year, their calendar is based on the levana. Umos ha'olam, they follow the shemesh, the sun. In the nusach hatefillah that we say by Kiddush levana, we actually compare. We compare Klal Yisroel to the levana. Sheheim asidim lischadesh kemoisa. Klal Yisroel also, just like the moon renews itself, Klal Yisroel will renew itself. So the connection of Klal Yisroel to the levana is not just Kiddush hachodesh, but there's a parallel, there's a connection, for lack of a better term, a symbolic connection between Klal Yisroel and the levana. What is this symbol? What is this connection that we have with the levana? Sheheim asidim lischadesh kemoisa says Sfas Emes, it's the koach of hischadshus. Klal Yisroel could renew itself. Klal Yisroel is able to be mischadesh. Even if, let's say, at times we fall, we're able to revive and renew and be mechadesh anew. And this is all because— In this world, things go as regular, as regilus. Things have habit. Everything is geared to habit. The sun comes up every day. It's every day. There is nothing new about it. The moon, smaller, bigger. Some months the month is longer, some months the month is shorter. The koach of being mischadesh is levanah, and Klal Yisrael has this ma'alah that they could also be mischadesh. Says Sfas Emes, Tav-Reish Nun Ches, the year, Taf-Reish Nun Ches, the Sfas Emes goes according to the years, says the Sfas Emes that thirty days is a regilus. That's habit. We find in many halachos, for example, stam halvaah is shloshim yom, a she'eilah. Thirty days, if you didn't eat a fruit, you didn't see a person, you make a mechayeh hameisim, thirty days. So you see, thirty days is the hergel. That's what we call habit. When something is beyond habit, above, past habit, that's after thirty days, and Klal Yisrael has this koach that they are mischadesh after hergel. They don't follow the habit. Seforim...

that the word shana, a year, is rooted in the word mishneh, which means to repeat, repeat, a repetition. We find lechem mishneh, shana, mishneh. In halacha, the lechem mishneh, many Acharonim want that the two breads should be almost identical. The closer you could get it to be a one and a repeat exactly of the previous, that's mishneh. One and an exact repeat is mishneh. So shana is a repeat, year after year, after year, after year, while chodesh, the word chodesh connotates renewal, renewal. And this is, rabosai, the koach of Klal Yisrael, the koach of renewal. And this will be the topic of tonight's shiur. What is this koach hischadshus of renewal that Klal Yisrael has? We are like the levana, like the moon. Sheheim asidim lischadesh kemoisa. We will renew, constant renewal, renewal. What is this renewal, this koach hachidush that we have? So the Meshech explains that Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim, they were beteva stuck in a situation where they couldn't get out of. The teva and the, what do you call it, the laws of this world. There was really no way for them to get out. They were in this galus under a ruler who was the ruler of the world. So the teva of dvarim, the nature of things, they were stuck. But they had to go above the nature. They had to get out of this teva. So then they had this new thing called HaChodesh Hazeh, which was given here in the start, in the beginning of the process of the geulah. It was a hischadshus to get away from the teva, to get away from the nature, the daily, what is set already in motion. They had to go and be me'al, from above it. So they needed a special seder meyuchad v'hanhaga, and that's the koach of Klal Yisrael's renewal above the laws of nature. Nature dictates repetition. When you're stuck in something, you can't get out of it and there's no hope, Klal Yisrael is able to rise above and renew shelo kederech hateva. And this was given to them in this Chodesh Hazeh lachem. So Rav Samson explains that where does this koach hachidush come from? It's because it's true in this world there are laws of nature, but Klal Yisrael does not live in this world. Klal Yisrael, he calls them Bnei Olam Haba. They are people from the next world. What does he mean? He means that you live on an underworld, the laws of teva, the laws of nature. Don't bind him. Don't weigh him down. Don't restrict him. He's able to live in a nanderer velt than the whole world around him. That is the world of the Yid, and in his world, everything around him isn't about teva; it's mi'al hateva. He quotes the famous pasuk. It's a pasuk in Koheles: Ein kol chadash tachas hashemesh. There's nothing new under the sun. Yes, under the sun. The nations of the world, umos ha'olam, like we explained, follow the sun. 365, day after day, habit, laws of nature, shemesh. Tachas hashemesh ein kol chadash. But we don't live tachas hashemesh. Maybe we could say we live mi'al hashemesh. The lashon of Chazal is ein chadash tachas hashemesh, aval mi'al hashemesh, above the sun. You can live above the sun. Leptnishd, leptn an ander velt. Either we live in the world of the Ribono Shel Olam, lashon the Sfas Emes. We tap into the world, the world of the Eibishter, the Ribono Shel Olam's world within this velt. Or we could say we live in the Olam HaTorah. We live in a world of Torah. It's an entirely different atmosphere and hemisphere. And in that world.

World, there is chadash. Ein chadash tachas hashemesh. The world gets stuck. There's no way for them to get out, laws of nature. We are above that. Sfas Emes writes in the year Taf-Reish Lamed Aleph, in the shtikel Torah of Taf-Reish Lamed Aleph, Sfas Emes writes that galus is only binding in this world. As much as we are in this world, and as much as we are attached, and we are living in this world, galus affects us. Galus is this world. In the Olam Haruchni, the world of the Ribono Shel Olam, there is no galus. It's all cheirus. And Klal Yisroel is leaving one world to enter an entirely different world. Hachodesh hazeh, you're entering a world of levana, where the world and the calendar is under the rules of levana, which is sheheim asidim lischadesh kemoisa. I saw another beautiful Sfas Emes, beautiful classic, classic Sfas Emes. Sfas Emes explains the Yevanim tried to abolish chodesh. Why were they so fixated on abolishing chodesh? Why Rosh Chodesh was one of their agendas to do away with? So there's many pshatim. Chanukah time, we could speak different pshatim and the reasons. L'geil in yameinu, the Sfas Emes says, Chodesh is about hischadshus. It's about renewal. The Yevanim understand that Klal Yisrael needs hischadshus; if not, they will extinguish. Klal Yisrael needs this new thing called koach hischadshus to prevail, to continue. Without it, things end up ending. There's a keitz, v'soif l'chol davar. Things end. The greatest of societies, they dwindle and they perish. Everything comes to an end eventually. How is it, and why is it, that Klal Yisrael keeps on going and is able to prevail and pursue and be able to withstand all its trials and tribulations and yissurim and tzaros? The koach of hischadshus, able to constantly renew and they don't get extinguished. Yevanim tried because they tried to destroy Klal Yisrael, to find the secret of its endurance, the secret of its survival, the secret that it's able to pursue. And the answer is this koach, hachodesh hazeh lachem, that the Ribono Shel Olam gave Klal Yisrael uniquely to Klal Yisrael. He explains the Sfas Emes, that's why Chanukah is this concept. Chanukah is to rededicate, renew, renewal, Chanukah. It's re. After there is a destruction, after there is a tzarah, they're able to come back again, and Chanukah with renewal. And the Sfas Emes explains that is why we have Rosh Chodesh in Chanukah, and Chanukah is at the end of the month, because Rosh Chodesh is part of Chanukah. In essence, it's the same idea. In essence, it's the same maila ruchni, and that is Chanukah hischadshus, to renew. Every month has its unique maila ruchni. The months of the year for the goyim is only based on the seasons and the weather around that time. There isn't a special maila of February over March. It's just a matter of the weather, right? Will it be a sunny day or not a sunny day? Klal Yisroel has the chadashim, which inherently...

From the chodesh itself has different mailos ruchniyus. It's brought down in Mesechta Sofrim, and many of the great Chassidic literature talks about this Mesechta Sofrim, that the months of the year are keneged the Yud-Beis shevatim, and each month has its special yichoyach, lefi the shevet that it's dedicated for. Many darshei reshumos explain and translate, Hachodesh hazeh, ha zeh is twelve, zayin hei gematria twelve. So, Hachodesh hazeh lachem, rosh chodashim, that there's twelve koiches, like the twelve shevatim in the Yud-Beis chodesh, and every month Eden are able to tap in to those koiches. Many Yidden, especially Chassidish Yidden, know that on Rosh Chodesh, when you say the bracha, Mechadesh chodashim in the tefillah, there is Yud-Beis tzirufei osiyos Shem Hashem. There's different ways how to put together the name of Hashem, and each month you're supposed to be mechaven in a different tziruf Hashem. And what's the pshat? Because each month has its connection to the Ribono Shel Olam, its maila ruchni, and the Yid is tapping into that maila ruchni every month. So the month before is not the same month; it's a different month. It isn't days as usual. It's not that the days continue, oh, it's the same as the previous. No, every month, the days in that month come with mailos seguliyos, for ruchniyus, for avodas Hashem that you didn't have in the previous month. And therefore the koach of hischadshus is not because we keep on renewing the old, because it's not old, it's new. Every month is a new month, new opportunities that come with that month. There are new opportunities in ruchniyus that one is able to tap into, that one is able to take and put into his life. So it's actually hachodesh hazeh because it's not that you're just renewing and renewing, but rather because there is renewal. There is a new month ahead with its mailos and its segulos. This is hachodesh hazeh, the remez of zeh. Im yirtzeh Hashem, we're going to speak more from the Rishonim that there's a lot in the word hazeh. It's an extra word, l'chaira, hachodesh lachem, rosh chodashim. What's hazeh? And Rashi points out already, k'zer eve kadesh. The zeh is an emphasis, like this. There's a lot in the word hazeh, both in the Rishonim and in the Sifrei drush, but this is one of the pshatim that is said: ha-zeh is the, twelve, zeh. Because the months are keneged the Yud-Beis shivtei Kah, and each month comes with a maila of the shevet, with the madreges, and one is able to institute, to take from and put in his life from those mailos, from the shivtei Kah. The first, we ask a question: Hachodesh hazeh lachem, Rosh Chodashim, and we talk about hischadshus. And then we say, Ein kol chadash tachas hashemesh. Yeah, okay, that's in this world. But mi'al hashemesh there is nothing new. Every day in davening, every Yid says, Hamechadesh b'tuvoi b'chol yom tamid maaseh bereishis. So we're saying one of the attributes, one of the shvachim of the Ribono Shel Olam, that He is a mechadesh b'tuvoi b'chol yom tamid maaseh. I thought you said that only the levanah is unique. The levanah is all about hischadshus. Teit oich, the whole maaseh bereishis, the Ribono Shel Olam is mechadesh.

It's not every day, but even b'chol yom tamid, ma'aseh Bereishis. So tamid can mean b'chol yom, every day tamid. There can be one way how to translate the word tamid: every day, consecutively is tamid. Chaim Volozhin clearly explains the word tamid, every second. B'chol yom, comma, tamid, comma, every day, every second, every moment. So every moment is a new moment, and not only in the levana world, but even in what? In the entire ma'aseh Bereishis. So how do you explain this whole yesod of koach hischadshus attributed to the levana? Sfas Emes explains that yes, the Ribono Shel Olam is mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid. If you live with the Ribono Shel Olam, you will have that mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid. When there's a disconnect in the mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid and the person, then that person has ein chadash tachas hashemesh. He will be misya'esh. He will fall into a rut. He will fall into habits and lose cheshek. The Ribono Shel Olam, and in the Ribono Shel Olam's world, if you live in the world of mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid, if you live in that world, then the world is beautiful. The world is new. There is no hisyashnus. There is nothing getting old. There's no boring. There's no repetition. The trick is to live in the world of a mechadesh b'tuvoi, to live with the Ribono Shel Olam. There's a beautiful Chiddushei Harim. You know, rabosai, there's many ways to understand hischadshus, the koach of chidush. Koach hachidush could be a ruchni. It's about spiritual. A person falls into a rut. A person falls ruchniyus, mailos, and he needs renewal to be able to pick himself up and again spiritually to renew himself. That's one of the mailos of the koach of chidush. There's a Chiddushei Harim, beautiful, beautiful Chiddushei Harim. He brings from the Chayei, the Chayei from Lublin, explains a Gemara in Shabbos kuf-mem-zayin amud beis. The Gemara says, Reb Elazar ben Arach ikla lahasam. Reb Elazar ben Arach comes to a certain place and he starts to darshen, Hacheresh haya libam. It's this pasuk, Hachodesh hazeh lachem. Hacheresh haya libam. Deaf, cheresh, deaf was their hearts. Of course, there is no girsa like that in no Chumash. Sometimes it's a girsa issue. This is not a girsa; this is a mistake. So he thought maybe his mind is—he's losing, he's losing his koiches, his kishrones, his ability to think. They davened for him, and his knowledge came back, and he said a chiddush: Hazeh lachem, rosh chadashim. Explains the Chozeh, pashut this was a mistake, and they had to daven that he should get back his way of his thinking, that he should be able to think properly. Says the Chozeh, no, that's not the pshat. The real pshat is the pasuk is trying to say, hacheresh hayah libam. Hacheresh, when it's deaf in the ear, you can't hear the Torah anymore. You're in a matzav of yeridah. You're able to be, Hazeh lachem. If it's hacheresh hayah libam, it's possible to do, Hazeh lachem. So it was seemingly a mistake, but it wasn't really a mistake. You know, Tannaim don't make mistakes. It was a mistake that was given to him to say, to explain.

What happens if it's hacheresh, hayah libam? And the answer is, hachodesh hazeh lachem. You're able to renew. Many times, we can't listen. The shiurim, we can't hear anymore. We're in a situation where mekatrenishteren. The learning, it becomes difficult. We're tired of it. We get bored of it. The davening, good, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, ah, Yevaldik. But then, as the year progresses, it gets difficult, and the rav is speaking, ah, can't hear it anymore. Hacheresh hayah libam. What do you tell yourself? No. You tell yourself, hachodesh hazeh lachem. It's a renew again, a nachamal, a naye monat. A new. Let's do it again. Let's renew. And we're able to do it because we have this maila. It's a maila ruchni that a Yid has. He's able to pick himself up and start again fresh, start again fresh. There's a beautiful pshat from the Mashgiach, Rabbi Yerucham of the Mir, zicher tzaddik livrachah. Rosh Hashanah, we have a haftorah, Ephraim misnoded. Ephraim wanders. Many translate it, the wandering Jew, Ephraim, which represents Klal Yisrael, misnoded. Rabbi Yerucham says that it means something much deeper than just the wandering Jew. Misnoded means he's movable. The Yid has a koach that he can be moved. You know, the older a person gets, the harder he becomes, like a rock. You can't change him. There's an expression in English: old habits don't die. It's very difficult to stop something that a person is doing for many years and change course. We find by Esav. Esav, he was called asui. From the moment he was born, he was already complete. What does that mean? Was he born like a six-foot jhlub? He was a jhlub. Was he born that way? It doesn't mean that. It means asui. He was complete. You couldn't change him. He wasn't priva to being molded anymore. He was what he was. He was a rasha. He had bad middos, and you couldn't change that. Ephraim, Klal Yisrael always has the koach, even when they're 90 years old, to get moved, to be mis'orer, to be reawakened, and to do teshuva. It's a tremendous koach that a Yid has. The pasuk says, Naar Yisrael v'ohaveihu. Klal Yisrael is like a naar. L'choira, it's a derogatory term, naar, kalla guy a naar. Could you imagine? Him? He's a naar. So you should see Hashem's koach for the compliment. The Ribono Shel Olam says that's what He loves about Klal Yisrael. He loves that I'm a naar. What does that mean, naar Yisrael? Says Reb Yerucham, naar... He's like a child that he can be molded. He's not set in his ways. No matter how old the Yid gets, he's like a child, that if you guide him, if you me'orer him, he becomes like a fresh, young child, and he gets back into the learning and the davening. Chassidish sefarim, I think it's b'shem the Sfas Emes, says that the word naar is milashon niur. You're able to move, mekenem ruken. We could move a child. You could have him change his ways. Naar, niur, is to move. It's the same vort of Reb Yeruchim, אפרים מסנוידעט. He's impressionable. We could change. We could give him something that's me'orer him to change course. Rosh Chodesh has this ma'alah. It's misgulas hayom that the Yid could redirect, renew, be mis'orer, and change his derachim. Yesod v'shoresh ha'avodah, very chashuv, they say, Yesod v'shoresh ha'avodah, chovos hamo'ados, perek beis, he says something.

Something very interesting. We know that Rosh Chodesh, customarily we put on different clothing than the rest of the month, the rest of the days. Omu Shabbosdik, we try to dress with something which is somewhat Shabbosdik. Pashtus, I always understood that it's because Rosh Chodesh ikri moed, it's like a type of Yontif. And it's Yontif, so you have to wear bigdei Yontif, bigdei Shabbos. Says the Shisoid v'Shoresh HaAvodah that there's maybe a little bit of different reason behind wearing special clothing on Rosh Chodesh. Zois oylas chodesh b'chodsho, chodsho b'shinui, to be meshaneh begadim. Oylas chodesh, renewal. It's about renewal, something new. So efsher, chveisish l'halacha, maybe it's not about wearing the bigdei Shabbos, but wearing something new for Rosh Chodesh. It's about new. It's not about every day the same old. So mimeila, chodsho, l'chadshe b'shinui, to be meshaneh the begadim. I saw in the Kunei Zohar it brings that on Rosh Chodesh a person gets a neshama yeseira. What's the pshat? It's something new, the neshama yeseira, not the same as the day before. Something about Rosh Chodesh, that the Yid is given more neshama, so he's able to elevate himself. Rabbeinu Shalom helps a Yid so much. If we only understood how the Ribono Shel Olam helps Yidden, oizer HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Ribono Shel Olam helps people do teshuva. Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the Ribono Shel Olam helps people do teshuva more than they can imagine, they could ever dream. You think it's easy for a person to change himself? It's very difficult. A person, habit, it's almost impossible. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter would say it's easier to learn through Shas than to change one bad middah. So who is able to change? And the Torah says the Ribono Shel Olam gives a special maila, special siyata dishmaya. Ribono Shel Olam is helping you. He's giving you a koach hachidush. Chodesh, He gives you a neshama yeseira. He's pushing you, helping you from within, from within the neshama. Ribono Shel Olam gives you the support you need to do this koach of hischadshus. It's a miraculous avodah. This is unique to Klal Yisrael because Ribono Shel Olam loves Klal Yisrael. Chodesh hazeh lachem. This month the Ribono Shel Olam is saying, You're becoming Am Yisrael. You're becoming Klal Yisrael. I'm giving you something. I'm giving you the koach lischadesh, and it's Me who's giving it from within you. I'm helping you. I'm elevating you from within so that you can never have to say, I can't do it. I fell into a hergeilus. I fell into habit. I can't get out of it. The Ribono Shel Olam says, koyach is chadshus, month after month, sheheim asidim lischadesh kemoisam. I saw another nekudah, another point from the Sfas Emes, really very beautiful. Sfas Emes writes that it has to be that there's a koyach hachidush in Klal Yisrael, because the spark that's in the neshama never gets extinguished, so it can always be re-flamed again. It can always be brought back. Yechateh begechalim. We find concept in Hilchos Shabbos that coals are burning, they're almost extinguished, so what you do is you give it a move. You move them around, and the coals re-flame themselves. The neshama of the Yid has a chitui. Yechateh begechalim because the coal never went out. The flame never goes out. Meileh it's able to rekindle, and if with a little movement, a little nudging, so to speak.

Well, nudging from the Rabbeinu Shlolam and from life, it reawakens itself and becomes again a big flame. You know, you ever see a big fire? All it needs is you put the stick in over there and you move the things around a little bit, near, near. You move it around a little bit. Again, every Yid has that flame from within his neshama. With a little movement, it's able to re-strengthen itself. Rabosai, this is in the pshat of koach hachidush in ruchniyus. I believe there's also a taich, a pshat, a deher in koach hachidush in the kiyum of Klal Yisrael, in the existence of Klal Yisrael, in the physical existence of Klal Yisrael. Klal Yisrael goes through so many different shmades. We went through a Holocaust and we had renewal. We're able to rebuild ourselves, not only in ruchniyus; physically, we're able to come back again. Most nations pretty much would have ended. Menisei nisim, we're able to reinvent ourselves, to re- again another, the nation. We're able to bring ourselves back from the ashes. This is also part of the koach of chidush that the Rabbeinu Shlolam gives Klal Yisrael. Understand that in the context that Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim is broken. Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim... And don't forget, most of Klal Yisrael been in Mitzrayim. Chamushim, one fifth left. And that one fifth that left were the people who had emunah, who were broken, and pashut had no koach. So, Charti lachesen u'rayach, amas klui sayach, lachteich achar bamidbar. We were broken. We were shattered. We were a nation shattered and tattered. Yet we were able to, am seridei koach, we were able to rebuild ourselves. HaKadosh Baruch Hu had to give us this power of, Hachodesh hazeh lachem, Rosh Chodashim. We should be able to rejuvenate not only ruchniyus, but gashmi, physically too, from ashes to splendor, to Klal Yisrael, to midbar Kabbalas HaTorah, Eretz Yisrael. I think maybe with this we can explain a beautiful pshat in a Rashi, quoting a Chazal. Hachodesh hazeh lachem, hazeh. Rashi says, what's hazeh? נתקשה משה במולד הלבנה. Moshe had a hard time understanding the molad, the renewal of the moon. When do we do Kiddush HaChodesh? We announce every month, you know, by the davening, the molad is. Moshe had a hard time understanding molad, Kiddush HaChodesh. The Brisker Rav asks, what's so hard to understand? What do you mean? The minute you see it. So if you're able to see it, you're mekadesh the chodesh. What could be so difficult about that? You see it, you're mekadesh the chodesh. What's niskasha Moshe? Zogt the Brisker Rav, it's muchach that there's a shiur to the levana to be mekadesh the levana. There's a shiur. It's a mathematical equation, and Moshe had a hard time with that mathematical equation. Chazon Ish just cholek on the Mishnah Berurah. Chazon Ish held, no, there is no shiur. The minute you see it, you're mekadesh the chodesh. So, according to the Chazon Ish, the kashya is a starke kashya. What's niskasha Moshe? What was so difficult to Moshe b'meileh the levana? Even with the Brisker Rav's pshat, l'choira, if we have sefarim that figure out Kiddush HaChodesh, Moshe couldn't do it? It's hard to imagine that Moshe Rabbeinu—what, he didn't know math? It's very schwer to understand. Even if the taich is there's a shiur, so Moshe can't figure out, we figure out all the shiurim for all the mitzvos. We have sefarim that are full with these hagdaros of what the shiurim are and how we come to them. What's so schwer? Good, kisha levana, it's maybe a more harder halachos, but there are those that figured it out, unless maybe once Moshe Rabbeinu gave it over, it's easier for us to figure out.

That could also be a pshat, maybe. Once Moshe brought it down as Torah min haShamayim, now we could sit and figure it out. Maybe efshar, ken zayin. Maybe we could say a drush, a taytch in this Rashi. Klal Yisroel is like the levanah. The levanah gets small, and then it rejuvenates, and it's mischadesh, and it builds itself up again. Sheheim asidim lischadesh. This is Klal Yisroel's—this is their talich, this is their journey. Moshe Rabbeinu says, Ribbono Shel Olam, I understand that Klal Yisroel will go through tekufos where they'll get very small. Ribbono Shel Olam shows Moshe Rabbeinu dor dor v'dorshav, the future of Klal Yisroel, tach v'tat, Holocaust. I understand small, but that small? That's how small Klal Yisroel becomes? I hear Klal Yisroel is like the levanah and it gets small, but that small? That's how Klal Yisroel will shrink? That's how much yisurim, that's how much the goyim will be rodef Klal Yisroel till extinction? This, Moshe couldn't handle this. The story's said over. From the Ostrovtser Rebbe, zich tzaddik livrachah, one of the great poilishe rebbes by World War One, he fasted forty years, pre-seeing. He saw that there will be a World War One and maybe World War Two, whatever he comprehended, but it was his avodah to fast that the Ribono Shel Olam should protect Klal Yisroel from the great world wars. One Shabbos Shuddis, he sat and he cried. Chassidim asked the Rebbe, What is the reason for your crying? So he said, Ikvesa d'Meshicha, so the yissurim, the tzaros of Klal Yisroel at the end of times before Moshiach comes, and like we spoke, he carried with him, this great tzaddik carried with him the pain and the suffering of the vision of what the churbanes of World War One and World War Two would be. Al zani boiche, this is why I cry. Rebbe, why are you crying? Did you not teach us that the Ribono Shel Olam only gives as much as the person can handle, as much as Klal Yisroel is able to withstand? So the Ribono Shel Olam will put us through it. We'll obviously have the strength to withstand it. The Ribono Shel Olam git nish mer vi as a mensch ken oyshalten. The Rebbe responded. You know, realize how much we're able to accept, how much we're able to go through and still stand. It's a tremendous chiddush in Klal Yisrael's koiches. Most tragic years and suffering could go through a Yid, and the talich of Klal Yisrael, the journey of, and they're able to stand and withstand. Because this, this maisha, this Moshe Rabbeinu had it very hard to accept. We could say, rabosai, that this is what the Ribono Shel Olam tells Moshe: Kezeh re'eh v'kadesh. Moshe, you see this, and it's difficult for you to see how Klal Yisrael will suffer. Kezeh re'eh. There's nothing to talk about. Just see it. V'kadesh. It's holy. It's heilig. Rirs nisht on. Sometimes we have to take a step back and say we don't.

It's kedushah, it's karbanos. It's a different world. We have no understanding in it. View it and know, don't touch. Kadeish, it's heilig. So how the Ribono Shel Olam is telling Moshe Rabbeinu how to view Klal Yisroel's miut, the suffering of Klal Yisroel throughout the doros. I think, rabosai, that there's yet another pshat, another deher in the koach hachidush of Klal Yisroel. We said that it's about ruchniyus, that they're able to fall, ruchni, do aveiros, do teshuvah. They're able to rejuvenate and to be misaken and to start again. We said it's also about the physical, Klal Yisroel's ability to renew itself after years of destruction. I think that in every individual there's something given to him that's called the koach hachidush. The koach hachidush is not to fall into a rut, to be able to wake up in the morning and be fresh again, afrishe tag, it's a new day. That's also part of the segulah of the koach hachidush. The Gemara in Sanhedrin says, אמר רבי יי אסי, אמר רבי יוחנן, כל המברך... על החידוש בזמננו כאילו מקבל פני השכינה. It's as if you saw the Shechina. Why? Because the levana represents the mechadesh b'tuvo. Ribono shel olam is mechadesh; it's new, and you see that renewal of the Ribono shel olam. The sun comes up almost as habit. Where do we see the involvement of the Ribono shel olam that every day and every month is different? Through the levana, which is different, right? Sometimes it's 29 days, 30. It all depends on the Ribono shel olam's putting out the levana when it's supposed to come out. So you see the Shechina through the chiddush halevana. And this is supposed to be Klal Yisrael is being mekabel פני השכינה. There's a story that I heard from Reb Anshel Weinhaus. Reb Anshel Weinhaus, zichrono livracha, was one of the Alter Mirers. He used to learn in the Mir minyan in Borough Park. And he told me that someone came over to Reb Yerucham, the mashgiach in the Mir, and asked him the following question. And he was standing there, and he was witness to this story. He asks Reb Yerucham, they say over that Reb Yisrael Salanter would wake up in the morning, he would go to the window, he would see the sun shining, and he would begin to dance, and he would make the bracha, הנותן לשכוי בינה להבחין בין יום... Vei loyla. Why is it that we, who don't live so far from Reb Yisroel, this is telling Reb Yerucham in the Mir, how many years is it from Reb Yisroel Salanter? Not only aren't we moved by seeing the sun that we dance, we don't even pay attention when we make the bracha. He has no effect on us. Why? Reb Anshel Weinstein told me that I expected Reb Yerucham to say, I don't believe Reb Yisroel Salanter danced. ... That's what he told me. Reb Yisroel Salanter was a rebbe; he came to tanzen and ... Reb Yerucham did not say that. Says Reb Anshel Weinstein to me, Kan nireh, Reb Yerucham knew this was a true story, that Reb Yisroel Salanter danced every morning when he saw the sun and he made the bracha, ... Reb Yerucham answered this person, You know why Reb Yisroel Salanter danced and we don't? We don't because the sun doesn't only shine for us. If it would shine for the person himself only, then he would be very happy and he would be very...

Thrilled from simcha, and he would dance. You ever see a person, he's the only guy on the block that has this beautiful new car. He's all excited, he's happy, he's the only guy that has it. The minute everyone on the block gets it, ah, shoin Yom Tov, shoin yachsen. Everyone has it. Yeah, the son, it's for me, it's for everyone, okay. That's why we don't get moved to dance. We're not excited. Ah, the son, it's for everybody. And then Reb Yerucham said, and now you understand why Reb Yisrael Salanter danced, because it was for everyone. Because it wasn't only for him. ... he was happy. What's the pshat in the maaser, rabosai? Chesed of the Eibishter. If you see it and you were able to understand it, it brings a lot of simcha. It brings a lot of hakaras hatov. You're able to notice the chesed of the Eibishter. Good? You're able to notice the chesed of the Eibishter. Reb Yisrael Salanter, when he saw the sun, he saw the Shechinah, and he saw the goodness of the Eibishter and the Shechinah. He saw the mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid. It's not mechadesh b'chol yom tamid, it's mechadesh b'tuvo. He saw the Ribono Shel Olam's kindness. We only see the kindness when it's us who gets it. We're on the receiving end of that kindness. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter saw the kindness on the giving end of it, the Eibishter, and it's for everyone. It's more kindness. It's for everyone, and everyone is able to get from that. And that, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, was a moment of simcha, a moment of kabolas pnei haShechinah, the Ribono Shel Olam and all His kindness and all His chesed. The Rambam clearly tells us and teaches us the method how a person could achieve ahavas Hashem. Famous question: ahavas Hashem, either you love or you don't love. How could a person be mitzuvah? How could a person be commanded to have an emotion, to love? Says the Rambam, we are commanded to do things that bring this love, that bring out from within us this hergesh, this emotion of love to Hashem. And what is that? Says the Rambam, you should look at briosav hanifla'im, the Ribono Shel Olam's amazing world, His amazing creation. I once asked Reb Shmuel Birnbaum, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the Rosh Yeshiva zatzal, so why don't we take bochrim on nature walks every day? Bein hazmanim, we should go in the forest and see briosav hanifla'im. Many held that it's taka what one should do according to the Rambam. Many preach this in the camps, when people are anyway in the mountains, they're anyway near places where you could see beautiful briosav Hashem's beautiful world. To taka, to spend time seeing Marabu maasecha, Hashem. But on a daily basis, why don't we do it? It's a great question, and many held it's maybe what should be done. We should taka focus on the Marabu maasecha, and that will cause us to have more ahavas Hashem. That will bring us to have more ahavas Hashem. I asked this to Reb Shmuel Birnbaum, why don't we in the yeshivas institute this Rambam to be a necessity? It should be one of the exercises and one of the academic things that we do in the yeshiva. Reb Shmuel Birnbaum told me that we're not holding on that level. We're not holding on the madreiga that when we see the beautiful briah, we come to ahavas Hashem, which is really what Reb Yerucham was telling this bachur, this talmid, that when we see the sun, it doesn't move us. It doesn't— we're not mis'orer from it. Then Reb Shmuel Birnbaum told me something interesting. It's really, midvarim l'mi she'amram. Reb Shmuel gave me a tap. He always used to tap when he used to talk. He used to tap you on your arm.

That's the Rabbeinu Sholeilam's wondrous creation. ... that's the Rabbeinu Sholeilam's world. You see, remember we spoke about this a little bit. You know, in the outside world, it's not the very pretty world. In Reb Shmuel Birnbaum's world, which is the Olam HaTorah, which is the world that the Rabbeinu Sholeilam has given to a Klal Yisrael. Remember the Sfas Emes, if you tap into the Rabbeinu Sholeilam's mechadesh b'tuvoi, hamachadesh chiddush. Tell me, when you learn Gemara, you see the chidushim, chidushim, and more chidushim, chidushim of the Rishonim, chidushim, chidushim. You ask a guy pshat, pshat in Rashi? Chad chiddush in Rashi. Chiddush? Yeah, in this world, this is the chiddush, and that's b'tuvoi, and that's where you'll see ahavas Hashem. To love the Rabbeinu Sholeilam is to learn His Torah, is to live in His world, the world of Torah. Torah is shemosav shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's the names of HaKadosh Baruch Hu are all in the words of the Torah. Thus is the Rabbeinu Sholeilam's briyah, ... it was so eye-opening. Such a mussar when he told it to me with a pashtus, told me the pashtus. ... Rabbeinu Sholeilam's ... His tremendous creation, the Torah, the Torah, from the Torah, from them comes avas Hashem. You know, rabosai, there's a tale of two worlds. There's the outside world. It's all negative. It's all about unhappiness. And then there's the world within, the inner world, the world of the Rabbeinu Shloilam, whether it's through avodah or through Torah. In that world, there's a koach of hischadshus. It's not negative. It's beautiful. And every day is a positive day. There's a beautiful nefesh hachaim. Nefesh Hachaim, Shaar Beis, Perek Yud-Gimmel, asks a kasha: Why do we daven the same tefillah three times a day, every day? Let's mix it around a little bit. Let's have a little, you know, imagine you serve the same food every day. You say, let's mix it up a little bit. Let's have a little variety. So why don't we have variety in tefillah? And the truth is, a lot of people find it difficult to daven because of that. It's the same thing again and again and again. Nachamu... nefesh hachaim explains that the tefillos create worlds that we don't even understand. The nusach hatefillah, it's not the same. Every tefillah, every tefillah creates worlds different than the tefillah before, and also in Shaar Aleph, Perek Beis, in the Hagah he explains something very interesting: Hamechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid. I mentioned to you in the beginning of the shiur, tamid means every second is a new world, zmanai velt. And when it's a new world, so the tefillos that you davened in the previous world is not the same in this world, because this world now... Needs these three tefilos. It isn't a repetition. What I davened yesterday is not the same thing. I don't daven the same thing today. This moment is a new world, and in this world there needs the tefilos of Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv. Mincha of yesterday is not the Mincha of today because it's a different world that we're davening Mincha in. Every moment, every moment is a world for itself. When you live in the world of the Rabbeinu Shloilam, when you live in the world of a mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid, there's nothing old about it. There's nothing repetitious about it. You know, there's a saying in the world: live in the moment. I teach you, live in the moment. This is a mechanism for people who are very unhappy, for people who are suffering from whatever situation they're in. So they tell you, don't think about the past and don't think about the future. Live in the moment. That's the taich of live in the moment. In a goy's world, it's to block out whatever problems till now and whatever problems that will continue after. This moment, I'm eating, I'm drinking, I'm sleeping, great. That's what they mean.

Live in the moment. With this nefesh hachaim, rabosai, it's a whole different, it's a whole different idea. We tell a Yid, live in the moment, because the moment is the beginning of a whole new world. It's a whole new life. Every moment, that moment is nothing to do with the previous moment. He could be able to be noylad chadash if he does teshuva, and there's a whole new world in front of him. Live in the moment, which is the beginning of the future. When the goy tells you, when the world teaches you, when the psychologists tell you, live in the moment, you know what they're telling you is? Block the past out. Don't think about the future. Think about the moment. And we're telling, according to the nefesh hachaim, about the moment: live in the moment, because the moment, the moment is the beginning of a whole new world. This is the koach of chiddush that the Rabbeinu Shlolem gives Klal Yisroel. I saw a pshat from the Beis Aharon, the Stoliner. Hachodesh hazeh, hazeh. What is hazeh? Hazeh. This month you're going to say zeh Keili v'anveihu. Hachodesh hazeh, zeh Keili v'anveihu. I thought it was a beautiful pshat. It happens to be in the Rabbeinu Bechaye, already. The Rabbeinu Bechaye says this pshat, that this month... You're going to say, Zeh Keili v'anveihu. What does that mean, Zeh Keili v'anveihu? I think it goes deeper into the understanding of what hischadshus really is all about. You know, when we said Zeh Keili v'anveihu, Chazal say it means, hisnaeh Lefanav b'mitzvos. Make mitzvos beautiful. And we promised the Ribbono Shel Olam after Kriyas Yam Suf that we will make the mitzvos beautiful. What does that have to do with Kriyas Yam Suf? What's the connection to Kriyas Yam Suf? Chazal tell us Kriyas Yam Suf was beautiful. The Ribbono Shel Olam made that the walls, the water should stand and it should look like crystals. The Ribbono Shel Olam could have just said, you know what, I saved you. Be happy with it, with whatever it was. It's muddy, it's this. Just, Baruch Hashem, you survived, right? That's not what the Ribbono Shel Olam did. The Ribbono Shel Olam was mechadesh b'tuvoi b'chol yom. Even Kriyas Yam Suf, which was a chiddush, it was with kindness. It was beautiful. It was with love and caring. When we saw that, we said, Zeh Keili. The Ribbono Shel Olam cares about me personally, v'anveihu, and I will repay by making the mitzvos beautiful. They saw this beautiful, that the Ribbono Shel Olam is mechadesh b'tuvoi b'chol yom tamid. They saw the kindness, that the Ribbono Shel Olam, akriyas Yam Suf, it should be beautiful for them. Bnei Shom understood they were scared, and they were suffering from being slaves, and they were frightened. So Rabbeinu made a kriyas Yam Suf that was beautiful, b'tuvoi; he was mechadesh. And mimeila they responded by saying, Zeh Keili. I will understand. I will comprehend the chesed and repay it by doing the mitzvahs va'anveihu. My bubby and zaydie, zichron tzaddikim livracha, went through the Holocaust. They saw a horrible, a horrible world. Yet from them I always heard, Rabbeinu's velt is a sheine velt. People who saw the worst of humanity still walked around saying the world is beautiful, because they lived in a different world. They lived in the Rabbeinu's world is beautiful. You're right, we don't even see the beautiful world, even though we don't go through that much, and we don't have these difficulties. I'd like to share with you a story, and I know my time is allotted for maybe five more minutes, and I'll be done. Huh? Okay. There's a beautiful...

Beautiful story that I'd like to share with you about this special maila that Klal Yisroel is being asked to see things positive, to see the world around you in a positive light, not to see negative. I'd like to share with you a beautiful story. Rav Ganachovsky, zicher tzaddik livracha, Tchebiner Rosh Yeshiva. In his yeshiva, there were two bachurim who learned together, and one was jealous of the other, and because of that there was a lot of friction and tension. On Halosa yeshiva discussed this in a hanhala meeting, in a meeting of the rabbeim. What do we do with this chavrusaschaft? Rav Ganachovsky, zicher tzaddik livracha, Tchebiner Rosh Yeshiva, said, I'll take care of it. I'll speak to the bachur. He calls the bachur over and he says, You know, I feel bad for you. You see, take me for example. I wake up in the morning, and the first thing that I think about in the morning is, Ah, Ribono Shel Olam, the chesed You do for me. You are machzir my neshama. You gave me to wake up in the morning. Then I put on clothing, and I say, Ah, Ribono Shel Olam, the chesed You do for me, that You gave me clothing. Shtalzach far an kleider, what would be? I go out into the street, and I see the sun, and I go, Ribono Shel Olam, ah, hamechadesh b'tuvoi, Ribono Shel Olam, You took and made a world to be meshamesh me, to help me, to give me a good life. I get on the autobus to yeshiva. Wow, what a creation, an autobus, so I can get to yeshiva. I walk into the yeshiva, the building beautiful, all for me. The mazgan, the air conditioning, it's all for me, so I should be able to learn and have a good day of Torah. So when I walk into the beis medrash and there are four roshei yeshivas, and one rosh yeshiva says maybe better Torah than me, and this rosh yeshiva has more talmidim than me, I'm in this frame of mind that everything in my day is l'tovah, it's for my good. So this is also for my good, I say. This person says better chiddushim than me? Of course. So I can learn, I can have from it, because that's the mind frame that I walked into yeshiva with. You, you wake up in the morning, you don't think of any of the chesed of the Ribono Shel Olam, and you're in a bad mood about everything that's happening. So once you come and you sit down by your chavrusa and the meeting says a better vort than you, boom, all the bitterness and anger and jealousy comes out. I feel very bad for you. The world you live in is not the world I live in. The bochur takes this mussar and it worked on himself. They learned b'chavrusa together for many years, and they both became big roshei yeshivas. It's the way we view things, if we're able to be positive. Every morning we wake up and we say, Modeh ani lefanecha, Melech chai v'kayam shehechezarta bi nishmasi. I've always asked the question, bothers me, and I haven't seen anyone really address it. Why don't we talk directly today, Bishter? Nodeh lecha shehechezarta bi nishmasi. We say Baruch Atah Hashem, that's direct. In benching we say nodeh lecha. Why do I speak like almost in third person, Modeh ani lefanecha? Behold, I am praising in front. Say nodeh lecha. Thank You, Hashem, directly. Baruch Atah Hashem, we say directly in tefillah. Nodeh lecha, we say in benching. Say Baruch v'nodeh lecha Hashem, she'ezarta b'nishmasi b'chem larabah emunasecha. There's a moidah k'neged tziv, rabosai, with this I can answer the kasha. The Netziv says that moidah ani lefanecha is not a thank you for the avar, but rather it's a tefillah for the asid. Every morning, the person wakes up in a world where all the situations and circumstances around him are being judged how they would apply to him in his day, in his life. The Ribono Shel Olam is being dan at that moment. Moidah... chiddush from the Netziv, at that moment the Ribono Shel Olam is being dan what is going to be the day ahead. And that's why we say Rabah emunasecha. Ribono Shel Olam, we have a lot of emunah that the day ahead will be good, and the circumstances of the world around us will apply to us in a way that will only be good. And that's why we say moidah ani lefanecha in the morning, because that's the shaas hagzeirah, best time to daven. Now I understand moidah ani lefanecha. Moidah ani lefanecha isn't a thank you for the...

Pesht, it's a tefillah, Ribono Shel Olam, I should be in front of You today a modeh. I should be able to see and thankful, to be in a state of mind that I thank You for everything. I shouldn't be in a state of mind where I overlook all the chasadim. And that's pshat, al kein neshama shenasata bi tehorah hi. Kol zman shehaneshama... modeh ani. There we say the same thing, Modeh ani lefanecha. What does Modeh ani lefanecha mean? I want to be a person who is always a modeh, that he's able to see the chesed of the Ribono Shel Olam, the positive, the positive. The koach of chiddush is to wake up every morning and see positive. Today is a good day ahead. Good things will happen, ruchniyus and the gashmiyus to help me with the ruchniyus. And this is the part of the koach of chiddush, that every morning a Jew is able to wake up and say, The day ahead will be a day modeh lecha that I will praise You. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.