Mishpatim: The Torah’s Laws as a Guide to Yashrus, Middos Tovos, and Bein Adam L’chaveiro

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Chazal emphasize how mishpatim is special, how chashuv, how great, how unique. Mishpatim. To the point that Chazal tell us, based on the pasuk, V'elah hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem, only Klal Yisrael has mishpatim. Goyim don't have mishpatim. Yadua, it's known that everybody already asks on the parsha, every nation has mishpatim. Every nation has its rules. Every nation has its code of law. What do you mean in Mishpatim, baal yadua, that goyim don't have this? What is it, this that they don't have? You know, everything, arayos, chesed, para, mazik, nizik, okay, there's rules. Speak to the lawyers. You know, I was once very taken back. I was in an office from a lawyer, Baruch Hashem, for nothing major. I wasn't being sued or anything. I had to be there, and I look and I see he's got an entire bookcase, an entire bookcase full of books. I say, Cook, tract, art scroll? No, it's not art scroll. What is it? I pull out mamish pages and pages. I ask the guy, I said, Tell me, what's in all these sefarim? He svarim l'havdil, what's in it? So he tells me, what do you mean? This is law. How we study it, how we make stiras, and we put together, we say this is yedoim, it's not doymik, gezeirah shavah, kal vachomer, kal vachomer, gezeirah shavah. So I tell him, well, how long does it take this? He says, what are you talking about? In the big law schools, they sit there, biyun rav, and they learn up this case and that case, and is it doymeh to this case, is it not doymeh. So they also have laws and code of halacha. So what is it, u'mishpatim bal yedu? What is so special and so unique that we give a chashivus to parshas Mishpatim, that this, this, no, no, this goyim don't have. So, rabosai, I believe that we don't really understand what the word mishpatim means. We don't understand what the word mishpatim means. First of all, let's translate the word mishpatim. So there's a beautiful Abarbanel in the beginning of the parsha, and he says we find there's eidus, chukim, and mishpatim, three things. What's eidus? Eidus is the mitzvos haTorah that say testimony that there's a Ribono Shel Olam. There are mitzvos which scream out, so to speak, HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world, Shabbos, for example. There's an eidus that the Ribeishter created the world. That's called eidus. Then there's chukim. Chukim are things that we don't understand. And then there's something called mishpatim, says the Abarbanel, and that is bein adam l'chaveiroi, mazik, nizik. I have a question, rabosai. Pesach by night, the chacham, he asks the question: Mah ha'eidus, v'hachukim, v'hamishpatim, asher tzivah Hashem eschem? Tell me, what shaylah of mishpatim do you have Pesach night? Mishpatim means laws of mazik, nizik, so to speak. He did, he didn't, he owes, he doesn't. How did it come into Pesach night? Mah ha'eidus, v'hachukim, v'hamishpatim, asher tzivah Hashem eschem, and the teretz is avadim hayinu. What does that have to do with Pesach night? So the truth is, if you look at the Ramban, it's possible that the pshat in the pasuk, takkeh has nothing to do with Pesach night. He's not asking a kasha, Mah ha'eidus, v'hachukim, v'hamishpatim. And you know what? You have to give a ... maybe.

You know, there's a whole shaila that the Gemara, the Tosefta says that the Tannaim were sitting kol ois haLeilah, and they were being oisek in hilchos haPesach, halacha of the korban Pesach. And there's a whole question: what does that have to do with ... mitzrayim, halachos of the korban Pesach? Here I have a further pshat, that it's not only halachos of korban Pesach; stam any halacha, ma zeh kanizik? Take out Gemara Bava Kamma and talk to me learning Pesach night, because that's his question: Mah ha'eidus, v'hachukim, v'hamishpatim asher tzivah Hashem eschem. So the chacham is asking about mishpatim, so he should take out and answer, the teretz is kisikneh eved Ivri instead of avadim hayinu. He should answer, kisikneh eved Ivri. He's asking a question, Mah ha'eidus, v'hachukim, v'hamishpatim. V'hamishpatim means eilu hamishpatim asher ta'aseh lifneihem. So why don't we answer, kisikneh eved Ivri sheishanim ya'avod, uvashvi'it yetzei lachofshi chinam? You told me that has to do with avdus. Isn't that what you just told me? Avadim hayinu? Yeah, but you asked about mishpatim. Maybe you could come and say as a tzachus. Tzachus means a little bit of a joke, so to speak. You know, Pesach night there is a mishpat: who stole the afikoman? They're fighting over who stole the afikoman, who's right, who's wrong. So maybe about mishpatim, maybe that's where mishpatim comes into the night of Seder. Haboisai, I think that we don't have a clear understanding of what the word mishpatim means. If we translate mishpatim, mazik and nizik, you're right. Even though l'rosho, the Ramban is mashma that way, that he's asking about moa edus, shor hanizik and shor hamazik. That's what the Ramban seems to be learning ayin sham. But kipshuto, it has to do with Pesach. So what does the Pesach have to do with the mishpatim? And the answer is, we have to understand what mishpatim is. And today, im yirtzeh Hashem, I'm going to give you, through the words of Chazal and the Rishonim, an understanding of what's mishpatim. And then we can go back to understand why is it the mishpatim about Yisroim, that these mishpatim have no shaychus to goyim. It's only unique and special for Klal Yisroel. The Medrash says, right away in the beginning of this week's parsha, Parshas Mishpatim, the Medrash says, Eileh hamishpatim, atah keinanta meisharim l'ohavecha. You, Ribono Shel Olam, keinanta — keinanta means you directed — meisharim, straight. You gave us straight, straight laws. For who? L'ohavecha, to those that you love, which is Klal Yisroel. You love Klal Yisroel, you gave them meisharim. Says the Medrash, what is that referring to? Because, says the Medrash, al yedei hamishpatim, through the mishpatim, heim osim merivah. They make fights, Klal Yisroel is fighting. Al yedei hamishpatim, through these mishpatim, then they come lidei mishpat. They come to court, beis din. To come and get a psak halacha, and then they go and make shalom. They make peace as a result of the mishpat. So l'choira the medrash is a peleh. This that the medrash says that they have mishpat and that brings shalom, okay. It brings closure, closure to peace. It's supposed to. I mean, unfortunately, today most in Torah end up with more machlokes than you started with, but all right. But it's supposed to be that you had mishpat and the mishpat resulted in shalom. But what does it mean, al yedei hamishpatim heim osim merivah? What does that mean? Through the mishpatim they make merivah. They make fights through the mishpatim? You know what I would say? Maybe there's a comma there. Maybe you have to say, Atah keinanta meisharim l'avosecha al yedei mishpatim, comma maybe, sheheim osim merivah al yedei hamishpat. It's not mashma. The simple translation of the medrash is that somehow the mishpatim themselves...

Are the base of the meriva. They're the cause of the meriva, to the point that they have to come to Beis Din and use those mishpatim to make shalom. What does it mean? So Baalei Mussar say an interesting point. Baalei Mussar say that Yidden fight, they don't fight, I'm right and you're wrong. The opposite. They fight, you're right. And the other one says, No, you're right. One says, I owe you the money, and the other one fights and says, No, you don't owe me the money. That's al yedei hamishpatim, through the mishpatim, which means they use the psak halacha of right and wrong, and they fight over that. Mimeila then it's oisim shalom. That's when shalom. If you fight, when each guy is fighting for the truth, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are fighting the other one's right, then it's oisim shalom. Truthfully, I never saw anybody fight like that. Chazal bring stories like this, that there were people who fought, the other guy's right. It's a classic case in history, because today it's almost unheard of. So what do Chazal mean, al yedei—the Baalei Mussar talk on a very high level—that through the mishpatim they're making meriva. Ah, could be. How does it apply to us, lemaaseh? So I would say, rabosai, a different pshat. What does it mean, al yedei hameriva—I'm sorry—al yedei hamishpatim me'osim meriva? Through the mishpatim, they make merivah. And the answer is as follows. Mishpatim is keinanto. It gives a certain yashrus. When you have a din Torah based on yashrus, then the result is shalom. That's what the Medrash is saying: Ata keinanta meisharim l'eihavecha. You gave a code of yashrus: straight, truthfulness, honesty. So if a person comes and he makes a merivah from the point of honesty, sometimes you're right and the other guy's wrong, but you're looking for the truth, then it's osim shalom. But if it's not about the mishpatim, it's not about yashrus, it's about winning, winning that's not shayach to make shalom. You know, there's a very famous story about the Beis Halevi once brought out how a person with negius can never lose a din Torah. I'm sorry, if you try to make him lose, he goes crazy. While a person without negius, even if he loses, he doesn't look like he lost it. It's not called losing a din Torah. The story goes that a person once came to the Rav, and he asked about a cow, if it's kosher shechitah. The Rav said it's treif. You know how much money went to l'ibud, to loss? A lot of money, the cow. A few months or so later, he came to within Torah with a few dollars with his friend. The Rav paskened, he has to pay the money. He starts cursing the Rav. What are you talking about? So the guy said, I don't understand. The same Rav paskened four months ago that the cow was treif, and you threw it happily in the garbage and you didn't say a word. Now the Rav paskens that you're chayiv, it's much less money, it's a few pennies compared to the cow, and you go crazy. And what's the answer? said the beis... very poshut. The cow, he lost to somebody. He lost the cow, okay, fine. You lose a cow? Mitzvah, teirah, kashrus, whatever. But in this scenario, it's nothing money. Yeah, but he's losing to somebody. Oh, that's something. Oh, that he can't handle, and he curses the Rav. Because he lost twice? No, because someone else won. To lose money is one thing, but to lose that the other guy should win, that's already way above the person's capability of accepting. Why? Because if you look for the truth, that's a whole different...

But when you have negius, when you have interest, personal, and it's not yashar, then the mishpatim is not that geshmak. Mishpatim can be a very, a very, very difficult thing. So when do mishpatim make shalom? When it's ata konanta meisharim, konanta, which means you guide them with yashrus. You come to a mishpat from the focus of yashrus. Unbelievable. When you come to mishpat and it's not from a starting point of yashrus, but it's a starting point of using the mishpat for winning, for achieving, for getting what you want, then it's not osim shalom. Nothing good will come from it. So the Torah is telling us, Eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem, that these mishpatim are yesharim. Yesharim. So if you're looking for yashrus, you're right. You know, they say over a very nice sharp vort. I believe it's a Kotzker vort. I heard it from my grandfather many times. The Medrash says that before Hashem created the world, the midas ha'emes came and said that you shouldn't create the world. You know why? Because kulo sheker. The world is all lies and lies. So Hashem took the sheker, the emes, excuse me, took the emes and He threw it to the floor. And He created the world. Asked the Kotzker Rebbe, you ever ask a person what he's searching, so he'll say, I'm searching the truth. I look for the emes. Says the Kotzker Rebbe, Chazal tell us where it is. Chazal tell us, it's on the floor. Everybody's looking, I'm searching for the truth. Says the Kotzker Rebbe, you know where it is. The Chazal tell us it's on the floor. Says the Kotzker Rebbe, the problem is, but you have to bend to get it. A person has to be mitkofef to get it. That's the problem. Everybody knows where it is. You don't know how to bend to get it. Truth, if you're looking for the truth, you're right. The problem is, who's looking for the truth? So mishpatim is osim shalom if the meriva was al yedei hamishpatim. That's what it means. If the focal point of the mishpat—I'm sorry, of the meriva—was because you taken want the mishpat, then it's osim shalom. Then the result is there'll be peace. If not, then there's no peace al yedei hamishpatim. I'll explain to you what I mean, okay? And then you'll understand better. I'll tell you a story, okay? My father told me 40, 50 years ago, when they still were driving Plymouths. Remember the Plymouths before your time, Mr.? The Plymouth. So he was driving my zeide in a Plymouth, and the cop was directing traffic right and left. My father doesn't hear so well. Those that know him, he has a little bit hard of hearing. So he didn't hear the cop told him, Go to the right, and he went to the left. So the cop took his fist and he started banging on the car, whacking the car with his foot and yelling and cursing, I told you to go to the right! What are you... screaming. My father's, al zich, a very eideler person, a very soft person. He rolls up the window. He tells the cop, I didn't hear you. Why are you screaming at me like that? Why are you screaming for? Vos shraistu? So he got even more angry, and he started cursing even more. You know, I could throw you into jail for this, insubordination of authority. He's yelling. So my father asked him again, What did I do wrong? What did I do so bad? So he goes, The rules are the rules! The law is the law! And he's yelling and screaming. My zeide was sitting in the car. He said, To us, this is what Chazal meant: U'mishpatim bal yedu. Laws. Every nation has laws. Aber efsher zay a mentsh, a shtikel mentsh, the laws...

That's the law. To rule is the rule, right? You're parking the parking, yeah, in the wrong spot. He can yell and scream, he's right, the law. But zaya mensch, zaya shtikel ben adam, it has nothing to do about being a ben adam. It has to do with the rule of law. Some of these chayis, yeah, in the name of the law, they could curse you and smack you down. You know, Mishpatim, the Barbenel uses the loshon, ben adam l'chaveiro. That's the Barbenel's loshon. It's Mishpatim is not laws. Mishpatim, rabosai, is midos. If you translate Eileh Mishpatim, these are the laws, it's a problem. But if you translate them, Eileh Mishpatim, these are the laws that bring out good midos, that bring out midos tovos, then you got the translation correct. Eileh Mishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. We don't mean code of law, mazik and nizik. We mean code of law of midos tovos. I'll prove it to you soon. But first let me tell you over from the Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish writes in an Iggeres. In a letter, letter pei beis, chelek gimmel, from the Igros Chazon Ish, he says, when you look at life, it's difficult, difficult. It's hard to know what's right and what's wrong. Life sends you a lot of confusion about right and wrong in middos. So how do you get that people should have good middos? Says the Chazon Ish, they should learn Parshas HaMishpatim. He says it clearly: Kasher nisboinen b'ma'bad chitzoni al hachayim al pi haTorah. If you look at life through Torah, if you look at life not through Torah, difficult. But if you look through Torah, there's an eitzah. There's, he says, emtzoi yakar, a good vehicle on how to be misragel in middos tovos for people. How do you get people trained in middos tovos? Answers the Chazon Ish, al pi simas chok, l'lamed l'cholam, to teach the people, es Toras haMishpatim v'ha'onshim shel kol evel. Be'isuk hanar b'onshei avel yuta b'liboi es tovas ha'avel. When he sees, You're mazik, you have to pay this, he starts to realize it's a good sign, I'm mazik. Mishpatim is not the laws, but Mishpatim is going to the hashkafah of the person to train him to be a better person. You hear? Unbelievable talk. You know, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zicher tzaddik livracha, said, Why do we start teaching a child Ela Mitzius? His haschalas Gemara, the beginning of Gemara, is Ela Mitzius. Why? Why Ela Mitzius? says Rav Moshe zicher tzaddik livracha, that we're trying to instill in a child a concept of money. Yours is yours, someone else's is someone else's. Because otherwise he can't even begin to learn Hilchos, Choshen Mishpat, all the other masechtas in Nezikin. You want to learn Nezikin? How could you learn Nezikin if you don't have a clear-cut hashkafah, a clear-cut feeling of right and wrong, and my money is mine and his is his? So there's nothing what to talk about. You know, you can have a judge, he's talking about the law, but he has no concept from within of money, right and wrong. So he could pasken a shailah. U'mishpatim baYedum — it's not about the laws on the books; it's about from within, the sense of right and wrong, the sense of good and not good. That's what a Dayan needs, and that's what Ela Mishpatim stands for. This takkeh is Mishpatim baYedum. The goy might pull out a whole bookcase full of books.

Law. In Harvard they study law, but the biggest chayes come out of there. You're right. Beautiful. Brilliant. You ever speak to a lawyer? Every word is challenging the other guy. Shray, and I'll show him, and your lawyer will speak to my lawyer, and unbelievable. And again, I don't mean to put down lawyers. I love lawyers. I grew up with plenty lawyers, Torah yidden. I don't mean that. But the concept of law is bulldog. Teirehdike law and bulldog don't go together. I never saw—is brought down—a dayan has to yell or scream. I never saw it. It doesn't brought down. I looked all over. In Shulchan Aruch, does a dayan ever raise his voice? I don't know. It says, ma'aymin alav by shvua maybe. It doesn't say it says it in a way that you have to yell or scream. Could be the most sweetest person in the world. The idea of being a bulldog in middos, u'meila mishpatim is a stirah. That's mishpatim by yeduim, fakert. The idea of eilu hamishpatim is to change the person from within through the mishpatim. You know, I'm going to show you something very interesting. There's two interesting Gemaras. Haroitzeh lichliyos chasid. So one Gemara says you should be osek in mila d'avos. Remember such a Gemara? You osek in mila d'avos. There's another Gemara: haroitzeh lihyos chasid ya'asek b'mila d'nezikin. Avos, nezikin, nezikin, avos. Avos is the avos, the middos. Tell me, what is the avos called? You know what they're called? Rabban says that Chumash Bereishis is called Sefer Yashar. Why is it called Yashar? Because the avos, they were yesharim. Avraham was a yashar. The middos of Avraham were yesharim. What is middas hanezikin? Middas hanezikin, rabboisai, is also yashar. It's about being middos, straight. It's the same. Haroitzeh lihyos chassid, it's the same chassid. You know, they all talk about if a person sees violence all day and he talks about violence all day, especially on TV and thus, it's going to have a shpan him. So I always think to myself, imagine a talmid chacham sits in yeshiva all day and he talks about violence: shor shenagach es haparah, and mazik and nizik and beating and kicking and megadef and mecharef, the whole nezikin. What's the whole nezikin? He kicked and he beat and adam hamazik and shor and bor. So it should have an influence on him that he should turn out to be a criminal. And the truth is, it's just the opposite. The more they learn nezikin, the more lihyos chassid, you become a chassid from it. And the answer is because the violence on TV, the shoresh of it is from the violence of the producers. What they're doing is they're playing out their fantasies of the violence that they are. They're violent, shlechte menchen, and they enjoy this. So maybe they play it out in this form of violence. Taeves kenanta meisharim, it's the opposite. The mishpatim, the shor shenagach, is based, and as I will soon show you throughout the parsha, that all the parshah nezikin is based on shoresh of middos toivos. It's all about middos toivos. So the mishpatim that result from those middos toivos, you know what it's going to bring out? Chesed, tzidkus, emunah, ahavas Hashem. You're learning violence, no? Isn't that... The Gemara says he killed him, the edus has to see the... If you would send someone to watch that, you would say, the beis din is going to be disturbed from talking about it. So Chazal learn it, talmidei chachamim learn it, and emunah, bitachon Shamayim, middos, and thus is u'mishpatim va'yeduim, because the shoresh of it, the shoresh of it, rabosai, is not evil.

The opposite. It's based on mitzvahs and chesed, and it comes through in Mishpatim, as I soon will explain to you. You know, I'll tell you something interesting. I want to point out something interesting here. The first parsha we have is Eved Ivri. Rashi says clearly, ozen sheshama al Har Sinai. The ozen, the ear that heard Har Sinai, lo signov, don't steal, v'halach v'ganav. It went and it stole. It went and it stole. So if it stole, why didn't you hear that Hashem said lo signov? So we go and we pierce the ear of the person. Tell me, the ozen sheshama al Har Sinai lo signov, is talking about stealing money? It's not talking about stealing money at all. It's talking about stealing nefashos. Rashi brings the Gemara in Sanhedrin. It's b'gonev nefashos hakasuv medaber. It's not talking about stealing money. So what do we take a guy who stole money, he became an eved, and we pierce his ear? Didn't you hear Hashem said lo signov? It's anyway not talking about geneivas mamon. Abaye said, let me tell you what I think the pshat is. It's talking about geneivas nefashos, that if you kidnap somebody. But the Har Sinai, ozen sheshama al Har Sinai, when they heard on Har Sinai, the second one's also not. Vayikra. In Vayikra it says— Vayikra is not on Har Sinai. Vayikra didn't happen in Har Sinai. Yisro happened in Har Sinai, Veschanan happened in Har Sinai, and there it says lo signov, and there it's referring to. Tatla, I can't help you. Lo signov didn't happen. That's the Gemara. The Gemara says lo signov is goneiv nefashos. It's not talking about goneiv mamon. So oneh sheshama is not talking about that, unless you learn like Reb Saadya Gaon that everything is merumaz in aseres hadibros. Okay, that's one teretz that the world says, that everything is merumaz in aseres hadibros, lo signov. Okay, could be. But pashut, lo signov is goneiv nefash, and the teretz is very geshmak, rabosai, with a story. I'll tell you a nice maaseh. I once read a letter that my zeide wrote to somebody who asked him a question about a certain business deal: should I or shouldn't I? Why should I? Good money. Why shouldn't I? It's a little bit of a tricky, you know, it's not so straightforward. So he asked my grandfather if he should go into it. My grandfather writes him back, Matmia ani alecha. I can't understand you. Can't understand you. We both learned by the Chofetz Chaim in the yeshiva, and anyone who ever heard the Chofetz Chaim talk about dinei mamonos, he said, Money, be careful, geneivah. So it should have left such a roshem, it should have left such an impression that you could never go and do something which wasn't straight. That's how pure, and that's the effect that it had when you heard the Chofetz Chaim talk about dinei mamonos, you hear? So even if it's not geneivah, we're not talking about geneivah. We're not talking about stealing. The guy didn't write a question if he's allowed to steal money. That wasn't the question. Question was, it's a little bit not, you know, yashar, yashar, not straight. So he answers, but didn't you hear the Chofetz Chaim say, Lo signov? In the Chofetz Chaim's Lo signov, you should have heard, yashar, yashar, yashar, yashar, yashar. And he brings in the story with the stamps, that when the Chofetz Chaim, if he went to send out the Mishnah Berurah and one stamp didn't go, sometimes the stamp is good, so he would pay the post office to make sure that he paid for the service, or he would rip up the stamp. Chofetz Chaim was very makpid, yeah? So my grandfather was saying this point: when you heard the Chofetz Chaim talk about mamonus, you could still think about not being yashar. I'm thinking that's the same thing. Lo signov, you're right. Lo signov is talking about geneivas nefashos. We're not talking about the issur. The Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu said on Har Sinai, the word lo signov, it should have went into your kishkes, so to speak. It should have went into the mahus of the person. Geneivah, anything which even in English we call it smacks of geneivah, anything which even has a little reiach of geneivah, you should tremble and not be able to do.

That's the effect. We don't mean lo signov, issur. The issur is about geneivah nefashos. We mean the middos in lo signov. Lo signov in the ultimate is stealing a person. In the middos, it could be anything. So that's ozen sheshama l'Har Sinai lo signov. The Ribono Shel Olam gave a scream, lo signov. How does it not go, in effect, into your whole being, that you should run away from anything which is even close to geneivah, and hayitachen you went and you stole money? Because the mishpatim of the Torah was not only said legabei the mishpat, but it was supposed to be choder. It was supposed to go and sink into the person and his middos, to change him completely to be an ish yashar. So if you heard lo signov, geneivah nefashos, it should have made you such a yashar that you can't even steal fresh air from the other guy. I, in Shulchan Aruch there's no issur to steal fresh air from the other guy, but in middos, in middos. Tell me, is there such a thing called gezel sheinah? Is there such a thing? I don't know. It's a nice question. Could you steal someone's sleep? You want to know? Probably in Choshen Mishpat you can't steal someone's sleep. But in shlechte middos, you could steal someone's sleep. So someone's going to say, but it's not nichlal lo signov. It's nichlal only, sign of the middos of lo signov. You hear? It's nichlal in the middos of, if you're meyasher yourself to understand not to be goneiv, huh? Unbelievable, you hear? When you're stealing money, you're right, that's lo signov. But when you're stealing sleep, eh, it's eiba mamash, you could come with a million different things, right? But in middos, is it lo signov? Yes. The lo signov in parshas mishpatim, so to speak, is not about stealing money, per se. It's about being an ish yashar that you can't take away from somebody else. And I'll prove it to you. I'll tell you a meyredike vort. Ready? Does anybody know what Seder Nezikin is called? Yeshuos. The Gemara in Shabbos, daf lamed aleph amud aleph, says, Chotzinitecha yeshuos, emunasitecha... I'm sorry, emunasitecha chotzin yeshuos, emun is zro'im. Why? Because you need a lot of emunah not to plant your field during shevi'is. What about yeshuos? What is yeshuos? Yeshuos is Nezikin. You know, I'll tell you how far it's called yeshuos. Yosef HaTzadik got all his Torah from Yaakov Avinu. Shas. Shas. You know that Yaakov taught him Shas. Why am I saying? Baal HaTurim says, Baal HaTurim says, Ki ben skunim hu loi. Skunim is zro'im, kodshim. Nun is Nashim. Mem is Moed. And what's the yud, rabosai? Skunim, Y. Shuois. So I had a question. Why is it the only one that we gave its nickname? Zroyim, say, emunos. Give it a name. Yeshuos is its nickname in the Gemara Shabbos. Let it be nezikin. Why is the only one from all of it, you hear, that we gave it its nickname? Zroyim, kodshim, nashim, moed. Very good question. And you know what the teretz is? Why is it called Yeshuos? Anybody know why it's called Yeshuos? Rashi says that through nezikin, yeshuos, it'll save you from being a mazik. It will save you from taking somebody else's money. So the yesod of nezikin is not to pay the nezek after you a mazik. You know what the yesod of nezikin is? Not to come to be a mazik. Nezikin is not about mazik. Nezikin is about not to become a mazik. And that's what the yesod of nezikin helps you with. Yesod of nezikin makes that a person is able to be shomer himself. Mazik is a person who does damages. Moiredik, gezach, moiredik, yeah? Nezikin.

Kin means, we don't want that he should... Here, my zeidy once said a mayridige thing. He said, people hardly learn mussar. If you see a guy learning mussar already, he must have done something seriously wrong. If he's already sitting to learn mussar, he must have done something bad. If he's learning mussar after the fact, you can imagine he must have done something very bad, okay? The same thing here too. Nezikin is after the fact that you are mazik. It's no good. No good. Nezikin is the taich before he becomes a mazik, to protect himself from becoming the mazik. That's called yeshuos, and that's why skunim, Yisroim, kachim, nashim — yeshuos. Nezikin is called yeshuos. Yes, a meirdige pshat, meirdige pshat. Hear, rabosai, again, listen carefully. Nezikin is not about after the fact that you were mazik. Nezikin is the mishpatim which protect you from becoming a mazik. Nezikin is trying to make a person yeshuos, to protect him that in his middos he shouldn't cheat somebody else's money. He shouldn't take what doesn't belong to him. That's mishpatim. Mishpatim brings out the best of the person, and that's what the Chazal mean: al yedei hamishpatim heim oysim merivah. When the merivah is based on bringing out the best of the person. They're oisim shalom. They're all looking for the truth. But if the meriva is based on the worst of the person, the bad of the person, then eino chanami, then it's not shayach, then it's not possible to make shalom at the end. But this, rabboisai, I think we can explain a beautiful Gemara in Bava Metzia. Gemara in Bava Metzia, daf lamed aleph, says, Lo charva Yerushalayim ela al she'amidu divreihem al din Torah. Yerushalayim became destroyed. Why? Because they were ma'amid their words. They kept their words on din Torah, which means, pashut, let's go to a din Torah. Let's go to a din Torah. Al she'amidu divreihem al din Torah. So of course, you have to understand this Gemara. What's wrong with the din Torah? Din Torah is what we're supposed to do. So either you could come and say there's an amount to din Torahs. You don't have to go every Monday and Thursday, you know, on every little thing, you know, Ah, you parked your car a little too much into my driveway. Let's go to a din Torah. That's not what it means, right? When it's serious, you go to a din Torah. But the truth is, I think the way we're explaining, we could give a better understanding to this Gemara. You hear what the Gemara is saying, rabboisai? Al she'amidu divreihem. What was the maskana? What did they want from the din Torah? Just the din Torah? You don't want the din Torah. You know what you want from the din Torah? You want from the din Torah that you should become a better person. If you want from the mishpatim the din Torah, you're in trouble. If you want from the mishpatim the truth— And the middos, and to change and become a bigger and better person, that's beautiful. So the entire is not the end result. The entire is the vehicle. The mishpat is the vehicle on how to make shalom, on how to become a better person, on how Yidden can live together better. It's not about the entire. Hemidu divreihem. They used the, ah, right and wrong in the entire. It's not about right and wrong. I won, I didn't win. It's not about winning. Therefore, charvu Yerushalayim. Lo charvu Yerushalayim ela shehemidu divreihem al din Torah. Now I go back and I say I understand. I understand beautifully. Pshat in Chukim uMishpatim that comes to Pesach night. I ask you a question. It says, Ma haedos v'hachukim v'hamishpatim. How does mishpatim have to do with Pesach, where we didn't— And the answer is, rabosai, mishpatim doesn't have to mean choshen mishpat. Mishpatim doesn't have to only mean shor shenagach es haparah. You know what else there's in mishpatim? Mishpatim also has halacha.

This, which result in bein adam l'chaveiro, in middos, and I could tell you a lot of pesach seder is about that. For example, you know, even in the Karban Pesach itself, how many mitzvahs does the Karban Pesach have? Eleven. You know what most of them are based on? Middos tovos. For example, you have to eat b'chaburah, right? Group. You're not allowed to break a bone. You know why you're not allowed to break a bone? Why are you not allowed to break a bone? So the Bechinuch says, because you're bnei melachim. You consider like kings the night of Pesach. A ben melech eats royal. He doesn't sit there and break the bones like a dog. You hear? So even in the Pesach Seder, all the mitzvahs is to bring out good middos. Again, listen carefully, rabosai. I'm telling you a big yesod, and I'm going to show you where in the Rambam it's clear, clearly written, this yesod. Again, we have now come to an understanding that Mishpatim is not laws, code of laws, but it's actually code of ethics based on laws. See the difference? It's not about rules. It's not about law. It's not about Harvard, because that's Mishpatim by Yisro. But we have Mishpatim, they have laws, but not this. What are Mishpatim? Mishpatim is code of ethics, which result from doing the laws. From keeping the mishpat, a person becomes a much better person. So the chacham asks, Ma ha'eidus v'hachukim v'hamishpatim that are nogea to Pesach Seder? We don't mean choshen mishpat. We mean mishpatim, the rules which elevate the person to be a better and bigger person, and that's a lot on Pesach. There's a lot of that on Pesach. I'll tell you over a mayseh dike vort. Anybody who ever learned Bava Kamma, the first Mishnah, has a question to ask. Simple question: What are the arba avos nezikin? What are they? So one of them is shor, bor, mav'eh, hever. What does mav'eh mean? Mav'eh is not fire. Rashi says mav'eh means adam. It's a person. Frankt the Gemara, why is it a person? Why is mav'eh called a person? And the answer is, im tiba'ayon ba'ayon. It's based on a pasuk: If you ask, you ask, and it's referring to a person. So therefore, mav'eh is adam. So it's a simple question: Why do you have to come and give me a word that nobody knows what it is? And then the Gemara has to ask, What do you mean? And the Gemara says it means a person because we find the pasuk say adam. Shor, bor, adam. Finished. Why say mav'eh and make it difficult if you could say adam and make it simple? So there's a pshat from Rav Wolbe, zecher tzaddik livrachah. It's brought down from Rav Shlomo Kagan's sefarim, Rav Shlomo Kagan, zichrono livrachah, in the Shivivei Or. He writes from Rav Shlomo Volbe zichrono tzaddik, that a person is a bayun. That's what he is. A person is a mevakeish. The word bayun means tefillah, b'ba'usi, that he comes on to Hashem b'ba'usi, in prayer. And that's what an adam is. The whole metzius, the whole entity of man is bayun, that he requests from Hashem, and that's why it says, Adam is bayun. Yeah, but why here in Nezikin? You want to teach me this Maseches Brachos? Okay, Maseches Brachos, where it talks about tefillah. So instead of using the word adam, it should use the word bayun. What does that have to do with Nezikin? It's unbelievable kasha. So some Rishonim want to say that if it would say adam, you would think it's eved. So therefore it says bayun; therefore it doesn't mean eved, it means a regular person. Just say adam. Adam hamazik, and that's all. Man, man who does damage, shor bor adam. What's—what is mah? What are you saying? Rabosai, let me tell you what I think the pshat is. You know why people are mazik? Why does someone go and damage somebody else's? And the answer is because he does—

Doesn't have respect for someone else's, A, rights; B, chafeitzim. Doesn't have respect. Therefore, he neglects to respect the other person and his possessions. Where does that come from? Where does it come? What's the shoresh of it? And the answer is, when a person feels powerful. So he doesn't have respect for the other person. You know, most people in strong positions abuse others and their money. It's an abuse of someone's rights is because you feel all-powerful, yeah? So the shoresh of mazik actually comes because the person feels great and big by himself. Secure. He feels powerful by himself. The Torah teaches us, Adam ha-mazik, tiboin boi. What are you? You yourself are nothing. You only have to come onto Hashem. Whatever you have is a nishal. It's given to you by Hashem. Man without Hashem would have nothing. He has to constantly come onto the Ribono Shel Olam. Now, if you understand that, you'll have respect for other people's chafeitzim. And I have news for you: you'll even have respect for your chafeitzim too. I told this to you about Yaakov Avinu. Why does Yaakov Avinu go back for pachin ketanim? Why does he go back for small jugs of water? And the answer is because he understands it comes from Hashem. You hear, Mr. Yaakov? You hear? When a person understands that it comes from Hashem, then he has respect. For his, for the other person's. That's why in Adam Hamazik, the Torah says the word, Kach nirah laniyas daiti, b'ezras Hashem yisbarach, I believe that's the true pshat. Chazal are teaching us the shoresh of mazik. You know where mazik comes from? He lacks the understanding that everything is given to him from Hashem. He lacks understanding that everything in this world was given as a matanah from Hashem, and therefore he's mazik. If not, he would be extremely careful. Haroitzeh lihyos chasid, ya'asok b'middos nezikin. He would be careful. He wouldn't touch what doesn't belong to him, yeshuos. He'd be careful. So the shoresh of it is all the middos tovos and the emunah and the yiras Shamayim that come from it. So true, it's laws: don't destroy what doesn't belong to you. But at the root of these laws, at the base of these laws, is to teach a person emunah, bitachon, yiras Shamayim, middos tovos, and that results in these laws. That's why it says, Adam. What does Adam mean? Mavdil. It means that he comes onto the Eibishter, because if a person is clear, he wouldn't be Adam Hamazik. He wouldn't do it. He'd be extremely careful not to touch. It's the Eibishter's. Belongs to Ribbono Shel Olam. It's not yours. It's not even the other guy's. It's Ribbono Shel Olam's. That's why the Chazal went out of its way, because like I'm explaining to you, mishpatim. It's not about the mishpatim. The end result is about not the law, but the mussar and the yashrus that it teaches the person. And that's a mishpatim baal yedum. And that's what the chacham asks on the night of the Seder, Mah ha'eidus v'hachukim v'hamishpatim. What is the elevation in middos, in adam, in gadlus ha'adam that I take out from the laws of Pesach? That's what mishpatim means. I want to show you something interesting, rabboisai. Take eved Ivri. Eved Ivri to me is a chiddush nifla. He steals money. Let's say it's mocheru beis din, that's the pashut case, mocheru beis din. Yeah? His rebbi, meaning his adon, is able to give him a shifchah Kenaanis. You're talking about a frum guy off the street, regular frum guy. His adon goes and gives him a shifchah Kenaanis. Unbelievable. You know what it is to live with a shifchah Kenaanis? And the answer is, Chazal tell us, because there's a chiyuv to be oved es rabbo by yom uvalailah. He's mechuyiv to do for his master by day and by night. So how does he work by night? The answer is, he produces avodah for him.

Here, here what goes on here, the shibud, the amount of shibud that he owes to the other guy. Okay. Now let's look at the other extreme of it, the other, meaning the other side of the coin. The master has to treat him like an equal, ממש like an equal. If he has one pillow, who gets the pillow? The eved gets the pillow. You have one bed. You sleep on the floor and he gets the bed. סתירה מיניה וביה. The contradiction is mind-boggling. You'll give him a shifcha Kenaanis because you owe me. That's the amount of shibud you owe me. I have one pillow, I give it to you. I want to tell you how far it goes. The Mechazkinu asks the question: How could you have one pillow and give it to him? The halacha always says, חייך קודמין. Your life comes first. So al chayecha קודמין, you should take the pillow. We all know, חייך קודמין. Mechazkinu asks this for a question. So some want to answer, right, it's not true, because it's by anything. חייך קודמין is anything. I mean, what am I supposed to give you, what, my hat because you want a hat? What was that? If I have a hat, I should give it to you. Then why do I have to give it to you? I come first. He asks for a question. I don't understand. You know what I believe the simple pshat is? Pashut. He's a broken person. He has no identity. He has no life. There's no חייך קודמין in relevance to someone else who's broken. When we're both equals, I come first. But if he's in an eis tzarah, I have to elevate him. And I think it's by every story like this. You know, you come and say, my neighbor, chayacha kodmin, I come first. Is he in trouble? Is he depressed? Is he in a bad shape? Who says you have a chayacha kodmin in such a case? So someone said to me, Yeah, but the eved is my responsibility. That's why a guy gave a scream out in a shiur. But the eved is my responsibility. Who says my neighbor is not my responsibility? Where's my responsibility? So chayacha kodmin goes out the window when he needs help. I looked at him, Your neighbor, your friend, he's not your brother. What are you talking about? Everybody is your responsibility. What are you talking about? Could be chayacha kodmin is when we're both equals. When the other guy is down, I have to give up from myself to pick him up. He's broken. He's broken, and I'll prove it to you. Do you know that the am ivriah, what does it say? You have to send her out if you don't want to marry her. Why not? Bigdah bah. He was boged in her. He didn't marry her. So, l'am nochri lo yuchal l'mochrah, b'vigdo bah, l'chofshi yishalchena. You have to send her out. I'm mechuyav to marry her? I don't want to marry her. What do you want from my life? I'm mechuyav to marry her? Says the Chinuch, she's broken. He made her into an amah ivriah. So you're mechuyav to go out of your way to make sure you pick her up. You don't do that, lo yuchal l'mochrah, b'vigdo bah, he has to send her free. Your responsibility is to take someone who's mevuzeh, mevuzeh. She was treated second-class citizen. You're mechuyiv to take away that feeling, and if you can't do it, send her free. It's my responsibility. I buy an amah. Rabbi, think, Rabbi, think of what you're saying. I buy an amah. Nu, I buy an amah. I bought her. I was supposed to buy her. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm mechuyiv to marry her? I'm mechuyiv to marry? What are you talking about? And the teretz is, yeah, because you bought her, so she's second class. You made her second class citizen. Now you're mechuyiv to make her first class citizen. And if you can't do it, send her free. So, the chinuch, this point: she feels mevuzeh. You know, I was once thinking to myself, there's a halacha by a wife that you're supposed to be mechabed yoser mi'gufo. More. Says by Avraham Avinu, first he put up her tent, and then he put up his tent, right? He put up Sarah's tent first. Pasuk says, mechabdo yoser mi'gufo, more. Why? I chayecha kodmin. I don't understand. How could you come and say—so either you come and say it is chayecha, you and her is the same. No, it's the same entity.

Ishta kegufei. Or we could come and say, a wife automatically feels under her husband. Under her husband. She's under. So therefore, whenever someone feels under, your job is to treat her more so she should feel equal. That's why she's always the ezer chayil on Shabbos. We bring her up. Bring her up. She worked hard. She's almost like a slave, like an ama ivriah for Shabbos. She's almost like an ama ivriah. So what do we do? We put her Shabbos night and we say, Eishes chayil mi yimtza, so she's the malka, she's the queen. Pick her up. Because when she feels a little down, your job is to pick her up. You hear? You hear, rabosai? Moyrid, moyrid dikerei, moyrid dikerei, you hear? This is why by the eved, when the eved, you hear, he feels low, your job is pick him up. Your job is to pick him up, you hear? Okay. So I have an interesting ha'arah. What happens if I don't need to drink? I don't need to drink. I don't need to drink. Yet, I want to ask my eved to bring me a cup of water. Am I allowed to do that? So the Rambam in Hilchos Avadim says clearly that if I don't need to drink, if I don't need to drink, I don't need. Yet I want to ask him, I'm not allowed to. The Rambam in Hilchos Avadim, perek aleph, halacha vav. Why? You don't need it. So, what's chayiv in eved, is it? What's an eved? And don't forget, what do you mean, I want it. What's the... don't I want it? You know, in Hilchos Muktzah, there's a whole shaila if I'm allowed to move utensils for no reason. So, Mishnah Berurah paskens you're not allowed to. There's no tzorech, and there's a heter of tiltul keilim only l'tzorech. The Aruch HaShulchan comes and says, what do you mean? That's l'tzorech. If you want to do it, it must be l'tzorech, no? If you're doing it, that means you want to do it. That itself becomes a tzorech, says the Aruch HaShulchan. And he's matir it. He says there's no such thing as shelo l'tzorech. There's no such thing. So I'm asking you, by the eved, I tell him, Go get me a cup. Oh, you're not allowed to do it. You don't need it. I do need it. If I didn't need it, I wouldn't ask him. What do you mean? I have to sit there and clap? Do I really need it? I don't mamash need it. You know, they say over from a ... zechuso yagen aleinu, zecher tzaddik livrachah, ... Rosh Yeshiva, that in the middle of the night when he would wake up and he'd be thirsty, he would get out of bed, wash negel vasser, fill up the cup of water, spill out the water and come back to his bed. Why? Because he would say, Maybe I'm not getting up because I'm lazy, atzlus. But at the same time, who says I really need it? Beis, takke, to get out of bed for a cup of water, isn't that going too far for olam hazeh? Get out of bed. So on one hand, atzlus, maybe it's atzlus that I don't want to get out of bed. Or no, maybe l'shem shamayim I don't want to get out of bed. Why? Because that's going too far. You know, this is not for this world at all. It's almost not for this world, huh? So a barber had an eitzah. What was his eitzah? He would get up. Watchdogel vasa took care of the atzlus. Says, פיל up the cup and then spill it out. Right? That was the pshat. It's a famous thing that he used to train himself against atzlus. Yeah? It's very normal. Reb Baruch Ber was the most normal person, much more normal than we'll ever be. So listen carefully, rabboisai, listen carefully. So if I come and I ask for an eved for a cup, there's a reason why I'm asking for a cup of water. There's a reason why I'm—let's say it's because I want to train him that he should listen to me. It's also a reason, no? I mean, whatever the reason is, I enjoy that I'm asking and he's listening to me. What's wrong with that? Let's say the whole thing is just to show him that he's an eved. People do that, to train him like a dog, let's say, l'avdo. So it's also tzorech, no? Who decides and what defines tzorech? Chamur dika kasha. You know what the answer, rabboisai, is? Eved ivri. If we had to think of eved ivri, we wouldn't be able to figure it out, because it's such a delicate balance between two different middos. And I'll explain to you what I mean. Okay, you ready?

On one hand, he's extremely meshubad to me. He took away my money, and he's my adon, and he's my eved. He took away my money. He owes me. You know what the word shibud means? We think shibud's a joke. Rabbi Ruchim speaks tremendously about the inyan of shibud. Shibud, shibud. When you owe, most people don't know what that concept is. They try to throw away shibud. They try to throw it off themselves. No one wants to remain in a state where I'm a meshubad to another person. That's why we kofei tov to rabbeim and parents. Where does it come? We don't want to be meshubad, and therefore we don't want to be meshubad to the Eibishter. It's all one disease of being shibudless. A person doesn't want to be meshubad. Doesn't want. I can't. Freedom! Even in Egypt today. Freedom! Freedom! What are they going to do with their freedom? They'll be meshabed others. What are they going to do with their freedom? They're going to yell freedom, and then they'll be meshabed the people under them. Nobody wants to be meshubad, yeah? At the same time, the adon, right, so the slave, the eved needs to be meshubad to the ultimate extent. At the same time, the adon has to have rachmanus. The adon has to be, look at him and say, He's a yid, my brother. So there's a delicate balance, a delicate balance between shibud, to teach him shibud, which he needs to learn because he was mazik yether the adon's money. Where you, on the other hand, have to learn what it means to be merachem on another Yid, and I'll explain to you where I got this from. There's a Mechilta. I read you the lashon of Mechilta: Ki sikneh eved. Yachol tikra enu eved. Maybe I can call him an eved. When you call your slave, what do you call him, butler? Are you allowed to say, Hey, butler, come here? Mechilta says you're not allowed to do that. You can't call him eved, right? Why? Talmud lomar, because it says achicha. Eved Ivri achicha. It says clearly achicha. You must call him brother. So you call him bruder. Kum aher, bruder. Brother, come here, okay? Shetzarich linhog bo ka'ach. You have to treat him like a brother, says the Mechilta. What about him? Maybe if he feels brother, so he could start chummy-chummy with you, chummy-chummy. He'll start putting his hand around you. Yachol yinhag atzmo b'achvah. Maybe he could treat you b'achvah, right? A brother is two ways, right? Talmud lomar, eved. Hatorah karasai eved bal karchach. Now you be an eved, he's your brother. There's a balance here, rabosai. He has to learn to be the ultimate eved. And the ultimate eved means oved es rabo bayom uvalayla, and therefore, moser lo shifchah Kenaanis. He gives him a shifchah Kenaanis. You have to treat him like an ach, like a brother. Now you understand what it means mishpatim baYedun? Now yechap that mishpatim is so much middos. There's so much behind it. And that's what I was telling you before. In every mishpat haTorah... There's so much deep lesson in Adam and in aliyah, how a person could grow in bein adam l'chaveiro, in middos, and in yiras Shamayim. There's so much. Every mitzvah entails its lessons, rules of lessons in gadlus ha'adam, in growth. Now, you know where I got this from? The Rambam. This ... is teman in the פירוש הרמבם. These last words I just told you: mitzvahs, mitzvahs, is worlds of lessons in how a person can elevate himself into being a bigger and better person, ... yiras Shamayim, of course, in bein adam l'chaveiro as well. Every mitzvah. And that's why I told you, Ela mishpatim—excuse me, not Ela mishpatim—ma edus v'chukim v'mishpatim. Mishpatim is shayach to Pesach night also, because every mitzvah is a lesson. It's an entire textbook in middos and in the balance of middos. You know, middos are complicated. There's your soft, your tough.

Sometimes you're supposed to be soft, sometimes you're supposed to be tough. Eis le'ehov, eis lisno, eis... Right? There's a time for everything. So it's a balance. Who teaches you that balance? And that's that Chazon Ish I showed you. You know what the Chazon Ish is saying? Only through mishpatim. The Torah is the gauge. It's the, it's the—right word I'm looking for—is the textbook to teach that balance, that healthy balance of middos that a person needs for shleimus. Yeah, Shaul was a tremendous rachman. What happened with his rachmanus? You know what happened, right? He was chamal al Agag, v'al ha'meitav hatzon, and look what happened—a kilkul, tremendous kilkul. Sometimes too much rachmanus is also no good. The balance. Who gives you the lesson on balance? The mishpatim, the mitzvos. You know where I got this from, like I said to you? Nu? The Rambam. I read you the Rambam. The Rambam says like this. He talks about temurah. Why is it, v'hu u'temuraso yihyeh kodesh, that when you switch an animal, it turns kodesh and its temurah turns kodesh? Now listen to words of Rambam. It's כדאי to take this Rambam and plaster it on the walls as a lesson of life. Unbelievable Rambam, you hear? He says like this. Yir'eh li, says the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Temurah, shezeh she'amar ha'kasuv v'hayah hu u'temuraso yihyeh kodesh, k'inyan she'amar v'es hamakdish yigal, es beiso v'yosif chamishis kesef erecho alav, yaradah Torah l'sof machsheves ha'adam. The Torah went down deep into the machshava of a person, u'ktzas yetzer hara and his bad yetzer hara. Yetzer hara is a killer. So who could unravel that? Who could figure out the yetzer hara, what's right, what's wrong? Who could go there? The Torah. Yarda Torah l'soif machsheves adam, u'ktzas yetzer hara, sheteva shel adam noitel harbeh kinyanei v'lachas hamamon. The nature of a person is to want more money and money, so he doesn't understand. Says the Rambam, I'll skip a few lines just for the sake of time. We'll get to the point of the Rambam. V'chol eilu ha'dvarim k'dei lachof es yetzro. So what does the Torah say? Hu tmuras yei kodesh. The Torah puts a safeguard that you're trying to save some money, it and the temurah, and the korban that you take it for will become kodesh. And this is k'dei lachof es yetzro, next words, u'l'saken de'osav, to be mesaken his mind, his thinking. A person could think the craziest things, unbalanced in his way of thinking. The Torah, through its mitzvahs, balances a person, l'saken, yashrus, straight. V'rov dinei haTorah einam ela eitzos. They're advice. They're lessons of wisdom, of advice, meirachok, from far, migadol ha'eitzah, from the great one of advice. Who's the one, the great one of advice? Who's considered the wisest of the wise? The Eibishter, the Rabbeinu Shalom through His Torah, the greatest mechanech, so to speak. Who is the greatest mechanech? Rabbeinu Shalom. Through Moshe Rabbeinu. But the greatest—so through the Torah, the Rabbeinu Shalom is giving us eitzah, counsel, l'saken hadeios u'l'yasher kol hama'asim, to make us balanced up here and balanced in action, yasher, straight. V'chein hu omer, and he brings a pasuk. You hear, rabosai? Man could be completely unbalanced if he's unchecked. What keeps a check of yes and no, right and wrong, tov and lo tov? And the answer is the mitzvos haTorah, because the Rabbeinu Shalom is the ultimate gadol ha'eitzah. Someone says counseling. We all need counseling. We all need counseling, rabosai. If we were just left on our own, unchecked, we would be completely tangled up like a pretzel. What straightens the mind, straightens the person's actions? Gadol ha'eitzah—the Rabbeinu Shalom is the ultimate counselor. That's what the Rambam says, gadol ha'eitzah. Rabbeinu Shalom, who is the ultimate, the great eitzah, the one who gives advice.

Through the mitzvahs, counsels us. Balance, right and wrong. Eved Ivri was supposed to be a balance between right and wrong. You hear, rabosai, the Gemara says, Talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba'olam. How are talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba'olam? Talmidei... right? Talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba'olam. How are they marbim shalom? How? What? So the Velt has a sharp word they say. It's called a vertel, because since they make most of the machlokes, so if they make up, there will be marbim shalom ba'olam. Most of the machlokes. Since the talmidei chachamim are busy fighting with themselves, so they're marbim shalom ba'olam when they make up. That's not pashut pshat. What's the pashut pshat? You know what the pashut pshat is? The mitzvahs haTorah is, kol deracheha darchei noam, v'chol nesivoseha shalom, al yedei hamishpatim oisim merivah v'oisim shalom. The mishpatim themselves, the mishpatim themselves have in it the power to make shalom, to make straight, to make truth. So al yedei the limud itself, like the Chazon Ish says, teaching the people Torah. You want to know how you straighten people out, that there should be shalom ba'olam? Teach them Torah, because from Torah and from the mitzvahs, kol nesivoseha shalom. All its roads are peace. That's how talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba'olam. They bring peace to the world, because Torah equals peace. And if you see Torah that doesn't equal peace... You should know that if something's wrong with the Torah, it's not being learned properly. It's not about lishmah of the Torah, because the lishmah of the Torah is, v'chol nesivoseiha shalom. So talmidei chachamim marbim, by teaching and learning—well, it's actually by learning and teaching—they're marbim shalom ba'olam. I want to bring out one more point, rabosai. I know you've sat long, but I've come from a long journey for this shiur, so I get my rights to finish the thought. I want to show you another angle of Parshas Mishpatim, another angle of Parshas Mishpatim, rabosai, which also, also so eloquently proves this point, how the mitzvos haTorah are balanced, the balance of middos that come from the mitzvos of Mishpatim, and that the Mishpatim are there to go to the heart of the person. Maybe we'll just end with one last thought on the previous thing, and then we'll continue with this. Ata kenanta meisharim li'ohavecha. So what do we see? That has to do with the fact—the medrash that we began with—that has to do with the ahavah, the fact that the Ribbono Shel Olam loves us, that He gave us these Mishpatim. What does kenanta means? He guided us. You know, a father and a child, the relationship builds, and the child feels that he's being guided by his father, when he feels that his father is there for him to help him grow. Guidance, guidance, and that's where ahavah gets built from. When a person learns Nezikin and he learns it properly, when he learns Mishpatim and he learns it properly. And he understands that it's keinanta d'Ribono Shel Olam's guiding the person to elevate and to grow and to become a bigger and better person. It's ohavecha. That's why we find tremendous ahavas Hashem and ahavas haTorah that comes when you learn the sugyos of Nezikin. Bnei Torah spend their whole life learning Nezikin, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, and they have tremendous love for the Eibishter from it, and tremendous love for His Torah and love for Klal Yisrael. Where does it all come from? They're not learning ahavas Hashem, they're not learning ahavas haTorah, they're not learning ahavas Yisrael. What are they learning in Nezikin? How could a person spends all day learning shor shenagach es haparah, does he turn into ahavas Hashem and ahavas haTorah and ahavas habriyos? Where does it come from? And the answer is, keinanta meisharim l'ohavecha, because you see from the mishpatim the guidance that Hashem guides us to be a bigger and better person. The love that Hashem shows in that builds within the heart of the ben Torah who learns Nezikin to the point that he loves the Eibishter, and he loves the Torah, and he loves Klal Yisrael. This is atah keinanta meisharim l'ohavecha. Like I said, let's point out another part of the parsha mishpatim which also brings—

It brings out this point beautifully. There's a mitzvah called prika u'teina. You see an animal overload, help him take off the load. That's called prika. You see a person that's trying to load up his animal and he can't do it, that's called teina. You're supposed to help him, prika u'teina. This is in Shemos, Chaf-Gimmel, pasuk daled. What's the yesod of the mitzvah? What is the reason for this mitzvah of prika u'teina? So the Rashba learns, as do Tzar Baalei Chaim, and the teshuvos, chelek aleph, siman reish nun beis, reish nun vav, and reish nun zayin. He says that it's about tzar baalei chaim, and he says to the point that since it's about tzar baalei chaim, since not only an animal, it's even a person, because kol shekein. If madach, you have to make sure that the animal shouldn't suffer, you have to make sure a person. So, for example, a person's overloaded with baggage, he's walking in the store and he can't—prika u'teina, just like the animal, kol vachomer kol shekein. The Minchas Chinuch in mitzvah pei, os vav, says it can't be, because then it's tzar baalei chaim d'Oraisa, and it seems to be that רוב ראשונים say tzar baalei chaim is only d'Rabbanan. If prika u'teina is about tzar baalei chaim, so yeah, tzar baalei chaim is d'Oraisa, comes from the pasuk. Reb Chaim, based on a beautiful Rambam in Hilchos Nizikin, Nezek u'Shmiras Nefesh, he says that there's a shaila of hashavas gufoi. You know, there's hashavas gufoi and hashavas mamono. You have to make sure that a person doesn't lose his money, and more so, you have to make sure a person doesn't lose his nefesh, lo samod al dam re'echa, hashavas nafsho, okay? The Rambam says that if a person's going to be busy doing prika in the middle of the road, some guy could come and kill him. You see, he's unattended in the middle of a desert, who knows where, what. So it's danger, says the Rambam. So the Rambam, at the end of Hilchos Rotzeach u'Shmiras Nefesh, therefore the Torah says, help him, so he should be quickly on his way. That's the yesod of the mitzvah of prikah, says Rav Chaim in the Bava Metzia, the Rav Chanucheh Grach on Bava Metzia. He says it's called hashavas nafsho, hashavas gufo, which means we're trying to protect. The Velt says that's why it's in the Rambam in Rotzeach u'Shmiras Nefesh. What's prikah, what is doing Rotzeach u'Shmiras Nefesh? That's where the Rambam brings these halachos, and the answer is, according to the Rambam, he's in danger, physical danger, and therefore the Rambam put these halachos in Rotzeach, because someone might kill him. Shmiras nefesh, you're protecting him. The Smak learns in mitzvah nun daled, it's hashavas mamono. It's only about mamon. The Chinuch goes through the taam ha-mitzvah; it's chemlah, it's about having rachmanus. You have to have rachmanus. Okay. Let's say you have two animals: one animal to do prikah, and one animal to do teinah, which means one animal is collapsing, and the other animal you have to help to load him up. What do you do first? Of course the prikah, right? This animal is collapsing, so first you go and you do prikah. What happens if the animal of the prikah is your oyev, and the animal of the teinah is your soneh, meaning the one who owns that animal is your enemy. So one guy is stuck with a flat tire, so to speak; he's your friend, and the other guy is stuck with a flat tire, I guess giving it mashalim of today's times, and he's your enemy. Which one do you do first? So halachah is, Bava Metzia, right? The Rambam brings it down, Rotzeach Nefesh, perek yud-gimmel, halachah yud-gimmel. You do the enemy first. Why? Lachafes Yitzrei. We want that you should work on your middos. Don't have enemies. Don't hate. The Targum Onkelos and the Targum Yonason both say that's pshat in the pasuk, Ozoyv tazov. What's the double lashon? Ozoyv is to help, tazov is to let go your hatred to him. Tazov. Let the hatred dispense. Ozoyv, help; tazov, let the hatred go away, because you have to undo your hatred in this mitzvah. In this mitzvah, your enemy, your friend, go take care of your enemy first. Fragt the Gemara, Pesachim daf kuf yud gimmel amud beis, what kind of enemy? You're not allowed to have enemies. You're not allowed to be an enemy. What kind of enemy? Chas v'shalom. Says the Gemara, kuf yud gimmel amud beis, b'ro'ah she'asa aveirah. You saw him do an aveirah, so you have to be your enemy. You have to hate him. You saw him clearly with your own eyes. You saw with your own two eyes him do an aveirah, and there's no limud zechus, you know for sure. But there's no edim. There's no edim, but you saw, so you have to hate him. Says the Gemara, you're supposed to go and take care of his animal first. That's pshat in the pasuk, hate, enemy. Enemy comes first.

First, the Ra, when he saw he did an aveirah, fregt a kasha on the beis, the top Tosafos: but why do I go help him then? You're supposed to hate him, I thought you said. You just told me he did an aveirah and you're supposed to hate him, and that's why he's called your enemy. So why does the pasuk come and tell me I should go take care of him? Fakert, I should hate him. It's a great question. Mah nafshach. You know what mah nafshach means? Either/or. Either he's not supposed to be your enemy, so then why are you saying about an enemy? And if he's supposed to be your enemy, so why are you helping him to say he shouldn't be your enemy? What does it mean? Answers Tosafos an unbelievable chiddush. There's a klal: k'mayim panim el panim. The way I look at you, that's how you look at me. And since I hate you, so you'll hate me, and therefore I'll hate you and you'll hate me and I'll hate you. The hatred will get so bad, we don't want it to be that bad. So you have to come and help him that it shouldn't be so bad, the hatred. K'mayim panim el panim. So I had a simple question. I don't understand something. Why do we need that you'll hate him, he'll hate you, and go back and forth like a ping-pong table? Just say you're not helping him. You're not helping him, so he'll hate you. Why do we need k'mayim panim el panim, el panim, that if you don't help him, just say if I don't help him, he'll hate me. The fact that I don't help him, that itself is enough reason for him to hate me. Why does it have to be I'll hate him and he'll hate me, and the way I look at him, he looks at me? Who needs all that? Are you allowed to cause someone else to hate you? There's a rule called lifnei iver lo sitein michshol. You know that? The Chazon Ish speaks about it in a beautiful teshuva, in Sha'arei Tziyon, called Ginzei Tziyon. There's a sefer called Ginzei Tziyon. They give teshuvos from the Chasam Sofer—excuse me, from the Chazon Ish. Are you allowed to give to drink someone who's not going to make a bracha? Give him a drink; he's not going to make a bracha. You're allowed to do that. So some say not. The Chazon Ish says yes. You're allowed to give him to drink. Why? Give him—why? Because the fact you don't give him will cause hatred. He'll hate you. The lifnei iver of making him hate you is worse than him not making a bracha. Lifnei iver, you're causing him to hate you. That's worse of an aveira than giving him to drink and he's not going to make a bracha. Unbelievable, huh? Mutar. כיון שכל האיסור בדבר הוא משום לפני עיוור, ואם לא נגיש שום דבר, אין נכשל עושה באיסור יותר חמור, דהיינו איסור שנאה. And he says that's pshat eivah. Whenever we find in the Gemara we matir things because of eivah, the pshat is because lifnei iver. So I have a question. Let's say that you're making lifnei iver by you not helping, because now he'll hate you. You're not helping. Why do you need—he looks at you and my panim el panim. You know what the simple teretz is? Very poshut teretz. You didn't not help him; you went to your friend first. It's not that you didn't b'davka didn't want to help him. You have your friend. I mean, he understands; he's your friend. Second of all, prika would just told you was much worse. Prika is that the animal's collapsing, so you have to start bal chayim. Understand, there's an animal that's ready to die. Why don't you take care of the animal that's collapsing? He's my friend. So he's my enemy, so I have to show him I'm not an enemy? Wait, let me take care of this one first. It's an emergency. You don't understand. And that's why he's not going to come to hate you, really. But since you're hating him, the hatred of him by you is making you hate each other, k'mayim panim el panim. It's not this story he'll hate you. He's not going to hate you because of this. He understands. He sees you went to somebody else. He sees you went to your brother. Let's say your brother has a flat tire and he's in the middle of a road and there could be a collision. So he understands. You go to him and not to the enemy. So we're not worried that he'll hate you because of this, l'choira. I believe pshat in Tosafos is. What are we afraid of? We're afraid of something else. L'maaseh you're hating him. Hatred leads to more hatred. Stop the hatred. So you hear how far it goes, that we're matir tzaar baalei chaim then. Which means don't take care of the animal that's dying, let the animal die, to stop hatred on a person who you're supposed to hate anyway. Are you supposed to hate this person? Yeah, because it says he's a sinner, he did an aveirah, but not that much. It says it. It's not that much. Hate him, but not till the end. So to stop—

At levels, not to the end, we say do teina instead of prika. I, prika is, is, is—prika is the animal's collapsing. I would have the tzaar baalei chayim. This is what we see from here, an unbelievable thing. And I'll tell you even what bothers me. You know what the soinis is thinking to himself? You know why he's doing it? He's doing it because there's a mitzvah. He's not doing it because he likes me. Was he stupid? Could you imagine what the soinis thinks now? Huh? He looks at me as my soinis, and he's mekayem a mitzvah in me. You know, like the ani of Purim, yeah? You're gonna be my ani. You know, they say over that many people, they don't want to support the ani throughout the year. Why? Because when it comes to Purim, they need him. So they keep him being an ani. Like this, he's the cheftza shel mitzvah. He becomes the cheftza shel mitzvah to give tzedakah on Purim. You need an ani to give money on Purim, so we keep him an ani. Don't support him all year. Like this, ah, I'm mekayem a mitzvah with you, yeah? It's called the cheftza shel mitzvah. Here too, ah, you see? He's going to take care. You know why he's going to take care of me? Because the pasuk says so. You look at the Medrash Tanchuma Yashan, it says exactly that way. You know what it says over there? This guy stops and says, It's a mitzvah. I have to take care of my enemy. The enemy says, Oh, he must not hate me that much. That's the pshat. So maybe the pshat is, if you hate somebody, even if it's a mitzvah, you wouldn't do it. Maybe that's what it means. Even if it's a mitzvah. You're right, he's doing it because it's a mitzvah, but it can't be that he hates me that much. If he hated me that much, even for a mitzvah he wouldn't do it. Right? That's maybe pshat. Maybe. Maybe. Like the Akedah uses the lashon on this pasuk. That's the way the mitzvos haTorah work. You know what the mitzvos haTorah do? They make shalom. The Ribono Shel Olam is gadol ha'eitzah. Gadol ha'eitzah means He's so brilliant, so to speak, the ultimate teacher, the ultimate counselor. He knows through His Torah and mitzvos how to make shalom, how to make chesed, how people should grow. So you're right, you have a good question. Doesn't He know that He's doing it on purpose? He's doing it just to make peace with it because the pasuk says it, and He's not doing it because He really likes me. It's true. But l'maaseh, the mitzvos haTorah mashpia, and that's al yedei hamishpatim osim merivah, v'na'aseh shalom, and become shalom. You hear, rabosai? You're right. And what does the Torah want? Forget about prikah, and forget about your friend. He's your friend, and his animal's dying. Help to put on the animal teinah. Why? Lachafes yitzrei. What does that mean, lachafes yitzrei? You can't have such hatred. Yidden don't fight like this, because the mishpetei haTorah is meant to bring out the best in Klal Yisrael. It's meant to bring out shalom in Klal Yisrael, peace. And the ultimate wise educator for this is the Ribono Shel Olam through His Torah and mitzvos. Through His Torah and mitzvos. This, rabosai, is ... lo asu chein l'chol goy. From mishpatim by Yisroel, dasa. Di gevaldige middos tovos has nothing to do, nothing to do with goyim. They have laws, but they don't have a code of ethics, which is based on the laws, which is the result of the laws, which is supposed to be the lesson that's supposed to be taken from the laws. And this is only for Klal Yisroel. It's to be zocheh, to learn and learn and grow, and in aliyah and ruchniyus and in middos tovos. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.