Mishpatim MiSinai: Ehrlichkeit in Business, Neki Kapayim, and the Kedushah of Honest Money

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, ruchim habaim. Parshas Mishpatim, ve'eleh hamishpatim. These are the laws, mostly about bein adam l'chaveiro, mamonos, monetary halachos, asher tasim lifneihem. Ve'eleh, the vav, ve'eleh. It should have said eleh hamishpatim. Zokt Rashi, the vav is vav mosif; it's to add. Ve'eleh hamishpatim is a continuation. It's connected to the previous parsha. The previous parsha was Kabbalas HaTorah, where we received Aseres HaDibros, the luchos. Ve'eleh hamishpatim, these are the mishpatim, vav mosif, ma eilu miSinai, af eilu miSinai. Just like the Aseres HaDibros were given from Sinai, mishpatim no less also were given miSinai. Many a pshat have been said in this Rashi, in this Chazal. What does it mean, ma eilu miSinai, af eilu miSinai? There's an interesting Mizrachi. Mizrachi says that just like the Aseres HaDibros were given b'kolos u'vrakim, so too, ve'eleh hamishpatim, mishpatim were given with kolos u'vrakim. Chaim HaKadosh says— Where does the Aruch Mizrachi see this? What's the mekor for this, that Aseres HaDibros that we had last week's parsha, Ma'amad Har Sinai, Kolei subrokim, eila hamishpatim, is the same with the kolos u'brokim? And the Orach Chaim says it's not nitan l'hishama, it's not an acceptable pshat. What is pashut the he'er of the Mizrachi? What is the pshat of the Mizrachi? L'choira, the pshat of the Mizrachi is the kolos u'brokim brought out the ma'amad of Har Sinai. It brought out the helekeit, the his'alus, the hisnasus, the greatness, the ma'amad of Har Sinai. No, Aseres HaDibros, we understand, eila hamishpatim, it's mundane, it's monetary issues. Zelbe ma'amad Har Sinai, mitazelbe yirah, mitazelbe hisnasus v'nis'alus, eila hamishpatim. Zelbe helekeit. A person understands, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, dos a ma'amad, it's a yiras hakavod. We find that there's a minhag that we stand. Tzibur, when we read Aseres HaDibros, minhag is to stand. Chayne in the Mizrachi ligt az men darf efsher shteyn. You have to stand when we say eila hamishpatim in the kriyas haTorah, when we read it, we need to stand up. Mitazelbe yiras hakavod, mitazelbe tzugein. The approach has to be that just like Aseres HaDibros... Be'eimo b'ira b'reasusu b'zeyo. This is heilig. We understand that that's heilig. Zelbe choimer, zelbe yiras hakavod, v'eila mishpatim. This is the taich in Eila Mishpatim. Ma eilu miSinai, af eilu miSinai. Zelbe way we understand. A Yid's a heilige Yid, a lept mit matan Torah. A Yid was lept mit Eila Mishpatim, is a oichit miSinai. He's oichit a mekurav to the Ribono Shel Olam and to Sinai and to Matan Torah. In the tefillah of Nila, there's a line that we say, which is very interesting. We thank the Ribono Shel Olam for the day, the day of Yom Kippur. And what do we thank? Ata nosen yad laposhim, v'yemincha peshuta l'kabel shavim, v'ata lamdeinu, Hashem Elokeinu, l'zakos usfanecha, kalaveinu, l'maan nechdal me'oshek yadeinu. That we should be protected from oshek, robbery, stealing, oshek yadeinu, of our hand.

And we continue, and we thank the Eibishter for this great day of Yom Kippur, that we could cleanse ourselves. Atah hivdalta enosh meirosh, vatiten lanu, Hashem Elokeinu, b'ahavah. Ribono Shel Olam, You gave us a great day, Yom Kippur, ... limaan again, l'maan nechdal me'oshek yadeinu. Why is Yom Kippur summed up with nechdal me'oshek yadeinu, that the Ribono Shel Olam protects us through the Yom Kippur, that we were able to be taken away from this aveirah of oshek yadeinu? Why oshek yadeinu? There's so many aveiros. Why is that the conclusion, summing up of Yom Kippur? Heilech Chofetz Chaim used to say, You see from over here a big yesod. Yom Kippur, anilah is the culmination of Yom Kippur. What is the one thing that stands out on this moment? Geneivah, oshek yadeinu. You see how oshek yadeinu is the most important. Having clean hands, being neki kapayim, not having geneivah on our hands, is the greatest thing, that at the greatest moment we thank the Ribono Shel Olam, l'maan nechdal me'oshek yadeinu. I thought about this Chofetz Chaim. What is the Chofetz Chaim? What does he mean? What is the kavanah that Yom Kippur, the shpitz of Yom Kippur, is l'maan nechdal me'oshek yadeinu? I think the wording of the Chofetz Chaim is, if not, it'll be a tremendous kitrug. If you're steal, there's a kitrug. So, Neilah is the time that we're saying, Ribono Shel Olam, please help us take away, please help us and protect us from all kitrugim. I was thinking there's an oymek here also. Yom Kippur is a day where a Yid becomes close to the Ribono Shel Olam, one of the most beautiful days of the year, the nunkait, connection. The Kohen Gadol goes lifnai u'lifnim, and the Ribono Shel Olam asks him, Bni, barcheini. Yishmael, bni, barcheini. The shpitz, the ultimate kesher, connection, kirva, closeness to the Ribono Shel Olam, and every Yid feels this kesher. But if there's oyshik yadeinu, if a man's hand is not clean, he can't be close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Yaaleh בהר השם, u'mi yakum bimkom kodsho, neki kapayim u'var levav, asher lo nasa lashav nafshi v'lo nishba l'mirmah, which is the Eilam Mishpatim. So havin adveikus, to be connected, to be close to the Ribono Shel Olam, man and his handling in his daily business, in his money, it's got to be clean. It's got to be neki kapayim. So Yom Kippur, and at the shpitz of Yom Kippur, the height, the culmination of Yom Kippur, we thank the Ribono Shel Olam for this kirva, and we talk about l'maanech dal. Me'oyshek yadeinu, the hands are on zayin rein. I saw this yesod in the Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer says, b'shem his Heiliger Rebbe, Reb Nosson Adler, the taich in the pasuk by the shomer chinam. Pasuk says, perek chof beis, pasuk vav, Ki yiten ish el rei'eihu kesef o keilim lishmor, v'gunav mi'beis ha'ish; im yimatzei haganav, yeshalem shnayim. So the ganav has to pay kefel. Im lo yimatzei haganav, what happens? The shomer chinam asks back, I gave you an object to watch. Could you give me back my object? Give me back the chefetz. The ganav, we didn't find him. So, v'nikrav baal habayis el haElokim, im lo shalach yado b'meleches rei'eihu. Chazal, the taich, Chazal explain the pasuk that the baal habayis, he's the person watching the chefetz, so he comes with the baal hachefetz to the beis din. V'nikrav baal habayis el haElokim, which is the beis din, to make a shevuah im lo shalach yado b'meleches rei'eihu. That is the pashut pshat in the pasuk. Zogt the Chasam Sofer.

The name of his, heilige Rebbe, Reb Nosson Adler, that there's a deeper pshat in the pasuk: V'nikrav baal habayis el haElokim. The baal habayis, he becomes close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Im lo shalach yado b'meleches re'eihu, if he didn't steal, if he didn't rob the cheifetz, and he comes to beis din, and he swears, and he proves his integrity that his hands were clean, that's how v'nikrav baal habayis el haElokim. Oh, I always wondered the pshat, v'nikrav. Choirah, the word v'nikrav, it should be v'yavo, he should come. Why does it use an expression, v'nikrav, he gets close to? It should say v'yavo, he should come to the beis din. This sefer, it's me'irdik: v'nikrav. I've heard once, baal habayis el haElokim. The baal habayis—I saw a pshat from a Mendel MiRiminov. He brings from Reb Meir Pamishlan, v'nikrav baal habayis, the emphasis on baal habayis, because the Ben Torah has the v'nikrav when he learns the masechtes and the sugyos of Parshas Mishpatim, dinei mamonos and Choshen Mishpat. How does a baal habayis, who isn't holding all day in these sugyos, but he's in the workplace, he's oisek in mamonos, how does he have this kirvah? How does he get connected to the Ribono Shel Olam? And the answer is, v'nikrav baal habayis—the baal habayis. The Ben Torah gets it in the yeshiva. He learns b'kamus, b'metzius. How does the baal habayis get this kirvah? The nikra baal habayis Elokim. He comes to the beis din, and he's mekabel the psak of the beis din. And he was never—he was lo shalach yado b'meleches re'eihu. He's clean. His hands are clean. He didn't steal. He didn't take what's not his. That's how he gets close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Mishpatim is a vehicle. Mishpatim is the catalyst for a person to be able to become close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Those that learn it feel very non to the Ribono Shel Olam. Those that act it, and those that keep it, and those that follow it, mamash kahalacha, also have this ma'alah v'nikrav. Baal habayis Elokim, they have the miyaleh b'har Hashem. They have the miyokam b'mkom kodsho because they're neki kapayim. Notice the words, lo shalach yado b'meleches re'eihu. L'choira it's talking about a cheifetz. So what should it say? Lo shalach yado b'cheifetz chaveiro, b'cheifetz re'eihu. Meleches means the work. And I think there's a meyudike, oymek, meyudike idea behind meleches re'eihu. A person's cheifetz also is the result. Of his melacha, of the work. Work is really the Rabbeinu Shlolam that's behind the person's work. Chazal tell us on the pasuk, the pasuk says, Al kol dvar pesha, asher achamah, ad haElokim yavo dvar shneihem. Why does it say ad haElokim till haElokim yavo dvar shneihem? Agav, I heard from the Skulener Rebbe, zicher tzaddik livrachah, the Skulener Rebbe, the first one that came to America, zocheh to hear from him a little bit. So he said, ad haElokim yavo dvar, that through the halachos of Choshen Mishpat, ad haElokim, these halachos, these mishpatim, those that learn it and those that keep it, is ad haElokim. The groich pizin boir oylam, which is really what the Chasam Sofer is saying, v'nikrav, a person's able, he has the opportunity to get close to the Rabbeinu Shlolam through the mishpatim, through the neki kapayim, through keeping hilchos parshas mishpatim and hilchos Choshen Mishpat. But it's really, Chazal say, because when you have a din and the person who was wrongly—he was taken away from him his belongings—the Rabbeinu Shlolam now has to go and return it to him. So it's really a judgment.

Not the Ribono Shel Olam. It's not. You're right, here in front of us, it's this person's cheifetz. But really, the Ribono Shel Olam is behind. It's really a judgment against the Ribono Shel Olam, because now he has to return the cheifetz that this person got rightfully, and this person stole it wrongly. So you have to understand, melaches, the whole workforce is really the Ribono Shel Olam. It's really the Ribono Shel Olam that's behind it. You think you're robbing your friend in business, you're robbing the Eibishter. You think you're taking from your next door, from your competition, then it's from the Ribono Shel Olam. And that's why it can't be that you can be close to the Eibishter at the same time while the two-stop the Eibishter. Two-stop the Eibishter. That's the taich. A person's in a ki kapayim, so he's with the Ribono Shel Olam. A person goes to work. It's such an opportunity to be close. Every deal he makes, let the Ribono Shel Olam, Ribono Shel Olam, You gave me, Ribono Shel Olam, You gave him and not me. With that mindset that he's close to the Eibishter, who could steal? Them bagam, bagam is Yedim, bagam is Ribono Shel Olam. Melachas re'eihu. It's not the object that's nearsighted. That means you only see what's in front of you. It's a very local vision when you say, Oh, I stole his. No, it's melachas re'eihu. In the workforce, it's deeper. It goes to the whole business. The entire business and the business world and the economy, this ... Rabbeinu Shloylam. You're playing with them. You're playing with that. You're playing around with Malaches Re'eihu, which is ad elokim yavoi, d'maar shneihem. It says, al pi drush habisel, Malaches Re'eihu. We always know that re'eihu has two meanings. Re'eihu could mean your friend, and re'eihu, like it says, v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, reacha v'rea avicha could mean the Rabbeinu Shloylam. So, efsher in drush, ... im lo shalach yadoi b'melaches re'eihu, you're touching, you're interfering, you're interrupting, not melaches re'eihu, just the cheifetz of this person. The whole melacha, the whole economy, the whole momonis, that the Rabbeinu Shloylam is fearing, the Rabbeinu Shloylam is setting up. So, meidik a ... Reb Yitzchok ... tzaddik livrachah, leket sichos mussar. Meidik a ... Chayra, we have two parshiyos. We have the shemachinam, which follows with the parsha of the shemesachar. By the shemachinam it says, V'nikra baal habayis el haElokim, which is he comes to beis din to make a shvua. Yet by the shemesachar it just says, next parsha, next pasuk yud, Shvuas Hashem tihyeh bein shneihem. It doesn't say v'nikra baal habayis el haElokim. Why? Frekt the Sfas Emes, he says it bothers him. How come by the shemachinam, the person who watches for free, there it says, V'nikra baal habayis el haElokim. The person who watches for money, there it just says, Shvuas Hashem tihyeh bein shneihem. Why doesn't it use this beautiful lashon hapasuk, v'nikra baal habayis el haElokim, by the shomer sachar? It says a teretz there. I was thinking of a deher, thought about it a lot. The shomer sachar gets paid to watch, so of course he has to produce the records, what happened to the cheifetz. He can't just come and say, Chaveir, it got stolen. Talk to me. Prove it to me. So you have to make a shvua, Shvuas Hashem tihyeh bein shneihem. It's a deal between two people. If I pay you to do a job, farshteyt zich, you have to come and produce the evidence if something happens to it. I can't just say, I'm sorry, it got stolen. But the shomer chinam, he can come with a taina: What are you bothering me? I did you a favor. The shomer chinam can come and say, Tenah tovah. I did you mamash a favor. Mi'tovas libi I went and I watched your cheifetz for free. So you're coming now and taking money me to a din Torah? You're coming now and—

Forcing me. In English, the term we'd use is suing me, suing me in beis din. What are you suing me in beis din for? Imagine a person sees on the doorstep of somebody, on the porch of somebody, a package. Delivered was a package to his neighbor. It's raining, it's snowing. He takes the package in, having pashut, caring for his neighbor. The neighbor says, Oh, it's raining. Could you take the package in? I already did. I was thinking about you, chayim. A few hours later, hey, somebody robs the house. Robbed, it was stolen. Shvuas Hashem, you got it. I bring you to beis din. I sue you. You're suing me. What are you talking about? I did you a favor. Darten likt. Over there, the Torah is telling us the ki kapayim. It's lifnim mishuras hadin. You're a patur, you're taka. You taka did the guy a favor, and you could taka feel bad. Why do you have to produce your innocence? But that's the maila. The maila is to be a neki kapayim, and with this you'll get close to the Eibishter. The nikrav, look at it as an opportunity. Look at it as an opportunity. Don't look at it, how you tochen, how you tochen. Ich bin doch a tzaddik. What are you bothering me? What am I? And the Torah says, don't look at it that way. Going lifnim mishuras hadin, being a neki kapayim brings a person very close to the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a... it's a whole... Outlook in yashrus in business. How many times people come to me and they tell me, What do I have to be in yashrus in business? Look at this guy, look at that guy, and he does it. What am I, a tembel? What am I, a tam deya? Why? What's all this yashrus? And the Torah says, Don't look at it as a difficult, as a hindrance in your parnassah. Look at it as an opportunity to be a Yid, to be a neki kapayim, to be close to the Ribbono Shel Olam, nikra baal habayis Elokim, to reinkeit, and to prove your innocence, and to make a kiddush Hashem about your innocence. Goyim, as well as other Jews that you work with, will say, There's a reine mensh in business. Okay, so you don't get the deal. The shrewd ones sometimes get the deal. The cutthroat sometimes get the deal. The ones who are a little shaky, they're the ones who get the deal. But you know what you got? You got a nikra baal habayis. Hashem loves you. He's nahn to you, and the Ribbono Shel Olam is mialeh, behar Hashem. He's keeping you behar Hashem, umiakomim mekom kadosh. There's a ma'amar of the Piskei. Piskei says an interesting ha'arah. There are sixty mitzvos, halachos in Pesach, Pesachim. When I get to Pesach, hagalah, and then Pesach and chametz, sixty. There are 60 halachos in Choshen Mishpat, in Parshas Mishpatim. 60 in Pesachim, 60 in Mishpatim. Zogt the psikta. What's the psikta want? What is it, vaz vila? What, to keep records, to keep the numbers, the scores, the gematriyos? Sometimes people like to keep the numbers and the records so they can make a good gematria. Is it all about numbers and record keeping? I think the psikta is saying, tifer. The psikta is saying, the same way you understand the chomer of Pesach, and the same tzugang, the attitude you have to chametz on Pesach — mamish chumra shebechumra shebechumra — and it's all about emunah and the Ribono Shel Olam and yetzias Mitzrayim, Pesach. How many people are so makpid on gebrochts? How many people not to mish? How many people, if something falls on the floor, even a utensil, they won't already eat with that utensil because chashash chametz, a bissel lechem, a kleinchike chametz, efshar, efshar, efshar. And the chumras haPesach, there's no end to it. Zogt the psikta, in Choshen Mishpat, in the workplace, in the halachos of mammonus, you need to have the same attitude.

Zoyvi verstehts, a chametzl, a kleinchikachveiz, a bissel gneivah, a psakanah, even a small mashu. It's the same chomer. Ma'eilu miSinai, af eilu miSinai. You need to have the same yirah, fear. Azoyvi mat pachad, the same way you're afraid of a chametzl chaveira, gneivah shegelds naboki b'shishim. It's all b'chomer. The same fear that you have, and the same approach that you take, the chumrah and the importance of Pesach and all the halachos of Pesach, chazoi daf mem-nun, mishpatim, with all its sixty dinim in halachos. You notice, rabosai, Kabbalas HaTorah last week, Ma'amad Har Sinai, Mishpatim brings us to Mishpatim, v'eileh, it's vav mosif, and at the end of Mishpatim, taka, we have again Ma'amad Har Sinai, like a continuation. The end of the parsha, shteit doch klar, Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, aleh elai haharah. So it's Yisro, Ma'amad Har Sinai, and this is the end. So there was the beginning, here's the end, Mishpatim is in the middle. It dachtzach that this is the kavanah, why the Torah splits it like this. A person hears anochi Hashem Elokecha, shalech mebeis avdus l'olam, and then after Ma'amad Har Sinai, you go home? No. You go home to V'eileh HaMishpatim, because there's a mi'aleh b'Har Hashem. That's Parshas Yisro. Yisro is the ya'aleh b'Har Hashem. The mi'ukam is the hard part. The Mishpatim, the daily life, miyokum. When is Vayecheses Elokim? When do you see the Rabbeinu Shalom? They wanted, Retzeinu lishmaya. They wanted to hear from the Rabbeinu Shalom. That's in Parshas Yisro. They want to see the Eibishter, Retzeinu liros es Malkeinu, which they were zoche to. At the end of the par- that's after Mishpatim. Miya lehar Hashem, that's Yisro. And that you hear, Anochi Hashem. U'melept in the himmel. But you can't live in the himmel all the time. You got to go lachzor l'bayis. You got to return home. Go back l'oheleichem. You go back home, and then Mishpatim starts. Daily, constant, every day and every moment of every day. That's where the trick, that's where the chachmah, that's where the hard part is, because miyokum, to be able to hold up bahar Hashem, to live that way. And then you have the end of Ma'amad Har Sinai, Vayecheses Elokim. Ma'aseh shekel, which is the beginning of the next parsha, Truma, they had to give a machatzis shekel, Parshas Ki Sisa. It's called shekel hakodesh, the chelek is shekel. Chazal say that Moshe Rabbeinu was niskasheh; he couldn't understand the machatzis shekel, till the Rabbeinu Shalom said, You need to know it, machatzis shekel? You want to? Kzeh. This is the machatzis shekel. This is, right, the pasuk says, Kzeh yitnu. This is this. This is it. Here, I'm showing you. This is the machatzis shekel. Hereu matbea shel eish. The Rabbeinu Shalom showed him a coin of fire. Many a pshat has been said in this Chazal. What does it mean that Moshe didn't understand what the machatzis hashekel is, and the Ribbono Shel Olam now shows him the matbea shel eish? Oh, now Moshe understands it better. What didn't he understand? Now what does he understand better, that it's from fire? And what does it mean, a matbea shel eish? Plenty of Torah. I'm sure everyone has heard already an eibshat in this. I once brought to Reb Shmuel Birnbaum a pshat that I had, asking him if he agreed, if he liked the pshat. I said the pshat as follows. Rosh Yeshiva, I said, maybe you could say, what was the shakla v'tarya? What was bothering Moshe? Many different terutzim have been said, but efsher k'mozogin, the word shekel in kodesh, how do you put it in the same sentence? You know, gelt, money, has many terminology on what the money is. It's an interesting thing. It's reine gelt and zichere gelt and sheine gelt and clean money and nice money and guaranteed money. L'maaseh, shekel is kodesh? The heilige, the heilige...

Look at shekel. Shekel. You should be happy that the shekel is not tamei. Shekel is not kodesh. B'shekel hakodesh. Now the truth is, maybe once you gave it, it became kodesh. Kan eich zayn. Once you amaktish it, it became kodesh. Yeshiva, I said, yeshiva, efsher kemen zogn az a pshat. What is kodesh? Moshe didn't understand what it was. Hire'u HaKadosh Baruch Hu matbea shel eish. Eish, eish dos lomer is Torah. The Torah is called, V'dvarai ka'eish. He showed him koach dike gelt. He showed him shekel, vos iz oysge'arbet in parshas mishpatim. It's oysge'arbet in, but the ... b'metzius b'basra. It's oysge'arbet in Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat, v'nosei kal vachomer. That's shekel, matbea shel eish. It has in it Torah; it's a Torahdige gelt. Oh, Moshe, now I understand what's pshat heilege gelt, shekel hakodesh. Moshe is niskasheh, he can't understand. Vos iz... how could you talk about a shekel? Der heilige shekel. Vos iz der heilige shekel? When the Torah says, ko dvarai ka'eish, I see Torahdik. If it's halachadik, if it's Choshen Mishpat, then it becomes matbea shel eish and kodesh. I remember years ago in Camp Agudah, I was zoche to see giants. Of the olam hateva, Rav Ruderman, Rav Ruderman, zecher tzaddik livracha, was walking with Rav Gifter. This was a tremendous, a tremendous activity in camp, Camp Agudah. This was the activities that we had in Camp Agudah. We would be able to nash, nanshe — it's an expression in Yiddish — to nash from the gedolei Yisrael, to walk behind them and hear their sichas chulin. Rav Ruderman, Rav Gifter turns to Rav Ruderman and he tells Rav Ruderman, You veist, a baruchber, a shiva baruchber. When he would talk about the sugya in Chulin of kurkeven. Kurkeven is the gizzard of the animal. It's the gizzard, certain halachos and kashrus. He would say, They're heilige kurkeven, they're heilige kurkeven. And Rav Ruderman had such excitement from that story. I remember, he enjoyed, he enjoyed so much the story. What's the taych? Asi Torah. If the kurkeven is in Chulin, and we learn the kurkeven and we talk about the kurkeven in the context of Masechtes Chulin in the Gemaras, is das the heilige kurkeven. It becomes the heilige kurkeven, un dos is der heilige shekel, asi Torahdik. When you talk about shemei chinam, shemei sachar, or if you're in the workplace and you keep hilchos shemei chinam and shemei sachar and geneivah and gezeilah, then it becomes heilige gelt. Reb Shmuel. Tell me, s'a gevaldige pshat. Gevaldig, gevaldige pshat. No, I knew the yeshiva's atzal, that by him anything that you say is teirah miteirahs. So I said, Rosh Yeshiva, you like the pshat because it's all about Torah and gelt is about Torah. Is that the reason why you like it? Reb Shmuel had a habit that he would tap the guy. He taps me. He says, Nein, nein, s'gut, s'takeh emes, my be'er shel eish, s'takeh emes, takeh. Dos is my be'er shel eish, teirahdige gelt. I saw a letter, I have it at home, that my zeide sends to a friend of his who asked him about a certain business deal if he should do it, and it was a little bit of a sneaky business. It wasn't so straightforward. Should he do it? He shouldn't do it. My grandfather, Reb Shmuel David zatzal, replies, Tomania lecha. I'm wondering, how could you ask me such a question? We were together by the Chofetz Chaim in Radin. We sat, we learned under the Chofetz Chaim in his yeshiva, and that's all the yeshiva told us, that's all the Chofetz Chaim mun from us was yashrus in business and clean and to be a neki kapayim. And my grandfather is, you know the story with the stamp that there was a return...

They returned the certain sefer to the Chofetz Chaim. I guess there was a binding issue, and the Chofetz Chaim was makpid to make sure that if there was any problem, he would return the money to the person who bought it. But it came without a stamp. So the delivery was delivered for him, delivered back to the Chofetz Chaim, but the original sender who was sending back didn't put a stamp on it or something, whatever happened, and the Chofetz Chaim was worried. Efsher she... efsher he got a delivery by mail and no one paid for that delivery. Abeisai, tzirus land was Russia. Hagoyim and a ganef? No. Hagoy gneivas akum. It's toyus akum. Pashut, it's toyus akum. So what are we talking about? It's gimel ha-tivusa. There's three reasons why the Chofetz Chaim could say, and on top of everything, it's not even him. What do you want from me? It's my fault. It's my fault that he sent it without a stamp. What was, was from me. So that makes it the fourth cheshbon, which I could add to many more, let the Chofetz Chaim could say, you know, big deal. I'm a stam, it wasn't that much money either. The Chofetz Chaim was matriach himself to go to the post office to pay for a stamp. Mikikapayim, kiddush Hashem Shamayim, daf zay rein. And my grandfather writes this to the person. He says, Tomani alecha? You ask me about this business proposition? Tacha nishken yashrus. It's not 100% straightforward. How could you even think of such a question? How could you ask me such a thing as if it's a doubt in your mind? The Gemara in Shabbos, lamed aleph amud aleph. What's the first question we ask a person when he comes to the Olam HaEmes, to the din ha'achrein, the final din of the person, the final judgment? What do we ask him? Nasasa v'nasata be'emunah. Did you deal? Did you handle with emunah, with straight, with honest, with truth? The Gemara in Sanhedrin, daf zayin amud aleph, actually says there's a different question that we ask first, and that is, al divrei Torah. No? Did you learn? Aleichora, that makes sense, right? Did you learn? That should be the first question. Torah, did you learn? Did you learn? Whatever it is, it's a stira for sure. Here it says the first question is nasasa v'nasata be'emunah, and then we ask, Kovat itim laTorah. And here it says that we ask first al divrei Torah. Tosafos is me'ayer the she'eilah, and Tosafos says a pshat: one is talking about a ben Torah, one is talking about a baal habos. The ben Torah, we ask him al divrei Torah. That's the first question. Can't ask about business; he didn't go to business. So we ask him what? We ask him Torah. The businessman, we ask—no, we ask the nasasa v'nasata be'emunah, the business, and then we ask, Kovat itim laTorah. Were you kovea itim laTorah? The mefarshim say different terutzim. Hainu hach: the nasasa v'nasata be'emunah is really al divrei Torah, because business could also be Torah. Business could also be Torah, if the business is Torahdik, if the business is halachadik. If the business is al pi parshas mishpatim, and if the business is oisek halten in the Babis, ... it's oisek halten Choshen Mishpat, that's al divrei Torah. A person in the workforce is able to mamish learn sugyas, business halacha, where business halacha has to be a miktzoa, that a person who's looking for a shiur on business—no. The way you go every moment, business shailos come up, and you got to go find out what the halacha is. It's another way of learning, al divrei Torah. I saw a pshat, Sefer Tapuchei Chaim, Rav Avraham Shmuel Panet, Kalush-Bergenov, says a very nice pshat. In pasuk it says—I'm sorry, in the tefillah we say, Halichos olam lo. Al tikri halichos ella halachos. So say halachos. Why do you have to say halichos olam lo? Just say halachos. Talk to the point. Halichos—halichos means halachos. So he says a meyridike pshat. Halichos—it's taka going on the halichos. It's taka going on the person's daily activities, halichos. But if you want it to be olam lo.

You want it to remain. You want it to last. You want the money to come and stay by you. You want that the money should come to you and stay in your bank and not unfortunately have to be squandered and lost. Al tikach halichos ela halachos. Follow the halachos. The halichos olam has to be done through halachos olam. Then it'll be olam li. Then it'll be forever. It'll have a kiyum. You start to wonder. You do big business deals, and then all of a sudden you lose those business deals. What happened? Halichos olam li. Maybe, maybe yashrus, kenzayin. And of course, not money. It's taka very difficult. And you see klar that that's the first thing we ask, so obviously it's important and it's not easy. If it'd be so easy, we wouldn't have to ask it. It's taka big nisayon. Aber that's halichos. The halichos of an ehrliche Yid is halacha, and then it's olam li. Ger Rebbe's, zchusim yagan aleinu, used to say, ‘Mong we know is all about parnassah. It's the sugya and the parsha of parnassah. Recently we just had the segulah. If you say Parshas Hamann on a certain day, it's a segulah for parnassah. We just passed that day recently. What does it say by mann? The pasuk says, ‘I gave you the mann l'maan anasenu — to test. The mann, parnassah, it's a test. What's it a test? Hayelech b'sorasi im loi. Does it say, Hayeilech b'tzivui? You'll follow the command of not taking double or whatever the laws and the rules the Rabbeinu Shalom set for the money. No. What's the lashon of the pasuk? Hayeilech b'seirosi. It's a test already on the entire Torah. Do you keep the Torah? Do you keep mitzvahs? Are you keeping the halachas? And that's the test in parnassah, rabosai. Parnassah is difficult. Every day, the person walks into the workforce, what's awaiting him is tests. Complete, complete baggage, luggage full of tests, peklach of tests. Hayeilech b'seirosi, will he follow halacha? Will he be oisek, arbit? Will he be medakdek to follow everything halachic? That's anaseinu. Hayeilech b'seirosi im lo. Chazal tell us, like I just mentioned, that the first question that we ask is, Nasata v'nasata b'emunah. People say it quickly, so they think it's the same word twice, nasata v'nasata b'emunah. The first nasata is spelled with a shin, sin. Nasata with a sin, v'nasata with a taf. The second one means, did you give? What does the first one mean, nasata? So it means you handled. You picked up, you picked and came and, you know, you said back and forth, nasata v'nasata. It's a lashon of handling, up and down in business. You know, you have to go up and you got to go down, you got to offer and hire and lower, nasata. Lashon isiyah of sometimes you got to raise the price and sometimes you got to handle it down and bargain. Many learn that that's the taich of nasata, with a sin, nasata v'nasata, did you give and take, up and down, you know, higher, lower, you know, price, business, handling. Rabosai, efsher k'menzogin, nasata is a loshon of the hoiben. It's a loshon of nesiah. Did you elevate yourself? A mensh could do business via pachus. Va'nidrik a mensh, he's sneaky, he cuts corners. And then you have the Yid that's yaaleh bahar. He's higher up, he's on a mountain, he's high up. He's nasata, as the hoiben, the hoiben, nasata. Men nasata b'emunah. I hold it's an emes pshat, rabosai, b'ezras Hashem yisbarach. Nasata v'nasata, hastu geven a hoibener mensh? Did you elevate yourself, or did you fall low in business? There's an interesting Ramban, rabosai, I'd like to share with you. At the end of Mora, it says, in the parsha...

B'shalach in Marah, the Baishem tells Klal Yisrael, Im tishma b'kol Hashem, v'hayashar b'einav ta'aseh, v'haazanta l'mitzvosav, v'shamarta kol chukav. It's a lot. All the mitzvahs, did you keep them? Did you hold them? Did you... kol haTorah, yeah? What is hayashar? What is hayashar? The right, the einav, in Hashem's eyes you have done. What is that referring to, says the Mechilta? Hayashar b'einav ta'aseh, hainu hayashrus b'mekach u'memkar. That's what it means. Yashar refers to being a yashar in business. Says the Ramban, what do we see from here? That if you're yashar b'einei Hashem, you have everything. You have kol haTorah kulah, you have all the mitzvos. You have Tishma b'kol Hashem, v'azanta l'mitzvosav, v'shamarta kol... because kol haTorah kulah, afilu Maseenai. That's what the pshat is, mishpatim. In the mishpatim itself, you already have everything. You have all the Aseres HaDibros. Everything's in there. When you're yashar in business, rabosai, you're a yid, you're a Torahdike mensh, because in Choshen Mishpat ligt, lays all the Aseres HaDibros, it lays kol haTorah kulah. I saw something which somewhat, I guess I could use the word frightening, something scary I saw in the Bnei Yissaschar, in his Iggeres DePirka, os tav chavav. He says that he heard from Reb Mendel of Riminov, what happens to children that they're learning, learning, learning good, and all of a sudden they go off and there's trouble. So today they call it teenager syndrome. They have a, it's a fancy word for it, and teenager syndrome, and now they gave kids at risk. Unfortunately, the shekinda, probably 99.9%, if not all of them, are really good children, and they have good hearts, and they have a lot of ratzon for Torah and avodah there. Just got to know how to deal with it. But what happened? There was sitting and learning, and hevel pihem shel tinokos, sigyon kedusha. So why isn't there Torah that was learned b'kedusha, Torahs yeladim, tashbar? Why did that not protect that they shouldn't go off the derech? What happens if a child is learning, he's mi'aleh b'har Hashem, he's there. What happens? Why the miyakum? He doesn't use the analogy of the pesukim, but that's what he's asking. Oytzi mi'aleh, what goes wrong? Miyakum. What happens? Why can't it sustain itself? Why can't it be continuous? Why do we find pitfalls that send them on a different path? So he says that Reb Mendel of Mirinov said to him, We understand if they eat non-kosher, they can't learn Torah, right? That's self-understood. Az the nefesh is tamei, metamtemes halev, it's going to have an effect on the learning. The money that the father brings home from the business, if that's not kosher, if that's not kosher, then the food that he buys from this money is also not kosher. It's not kosher food, and we know non-kosher food can have an effect. It could have a tremendous detriment, for limud haTorah and in inyanei kedushah. Kosher food that's bought with non-kosher money is not kosher. When you say the word glatt kosher, you're looking for glatt kosher. Maybe you should be looking for glatt, glatt in halacha of Choshen Mishpat. When you look for Beis Yosef, look Beis Yosef in Choshen Mishpat. That's what we're looking for. This is kosher, kosher. Kosher means taka shekel hakodesh, Torahdike gelt. Medrash Talpios brings an interesting story about Chaneich tofeh na'alim, the shoemaker. He used to make shoes. His name was Chaneich. What was so special about this shoemaker? Al kol tefirah u'tefirah, every stitch he made, amar, he said, Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam va'ed. He was meyached yichudim, mamash mekasher kesharim in the olamos, hafla vafela. Chaneich tofeh na'alim. Zogt Reb Yisrael Salanter, you read the Chazal, you think that ...

He was sitting there making stitches. He b'chalal wasn't in this world. He was in some other hemisphere, in the olamos mamash. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter says that's not what pshat in this story is. That's not chaneich. Chaneich, toifen olam. On every stitch he was makpid that it should be 100% good, because if not, he's over geneivah. Baruch shem, he was mekadesh Shem Shamayim through his work, because they saw the Ehrlichkeit. They saw that he lived with the Ribono Shel Olam. He wasn't there fool anybody. He was doing business with the Ribono Shel Olam, nasata v'nasata b'emunah, with real emunah in Hashem. And that's how he's miyached yichudim. I believe that's what Rabbi Yisroel Salanter means, Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam va'ed. He was mekadesh Shem Shamayim. He was mekadesh Shem Shamayim in his work. A person thinks miyached yichudim, he has to sit there in lebedige olamos, live in this world, zaya mench of Dervelt. But through your behavior, through your hanhagah, through your Ehrlichkeit, you're able to elevate and to go mamash like of Bark Sinai, the way you understand the hisnasus, that the hoybinkeit that a mensch had, he wasn't here b'chalal. Yotzu nishmosam, they weren't even in this world. They were in some other world when they were connected to the Ribono Shel Olam. ... he had their tug, yeder minut, an arbet of mensch is able. To dagreich, to reach that maamad, that level, that darga, that he was by Maamad Har Sinai, that's miyached yichudim. Zogt dibur. I think I saw it once clearly in the Imrei Emes. The Imrei Emes says, Why do we ask first Naaseh v'nishma and then we ask al divrei Torah, if kavata itim laTorah? Zogt the Imrei Emes, because Naaseh v'nishma, did you behave in a way that was mekadesh Shem Shamayim? Did you fear Hashem in business, mit ehrlichkeit, so then it was Shem Shamayim misyached al yadcha? People say, Oh, I was an ehrliche businessman, as a Yid. In case not, all the divrei Torah and all the kavata itim laTorah will not help you. It means nothing. It mentions mechalel Shem Shamayim in the street, in the workforce. I'm being careful, rabosai, I don't mean to say anything sharp, but all the sedarim that you keep afterwards, I don't know how they look at it in Himmel. Try and carefully, because I'm not much myself, to be very careful how I repeat this, but it's an Imrei Emes, rabosai. Mechalel Shem Shamayim in gas, in the shulfin, in bais medrash, whatever you do there, it's not going to help you anything. It's an Imrei Emes, rabosai. It's a peledike vort. And this is the taich of miyached yichudim, miyached yichudim. I saw a beautiful story brought. The shechit of Salant, the shechit of Salant, a shechit kashrus. He came to Rabbi Yisrael Salant and he says, I want to give up my job. The achrayus of kashrus, I'm afraid. Ich zol hoben of mind kop that chas v'shalom if people eat treif, I just can't sleep at night with it. It's too much oil, too much stress for me. Rabbi Yisrael Salant turns to him and says, Ah, interesting. So what would you like to do? Let me hear what your capabilities. What do you plan on doing if you quit the job as shechit? You're a good shechit. You learned halachos. You were accepted in town as the shechit. What will you do? Yeni parnassah, a vai mit kinder, a chashtud mit kinder. What do you plan on doing? He says, I'll do something easy. I'll open up a store. I'll sell fruits, vegetables, a chveizvas, bread. Aha, and that you're not afraid? Shechit, how many aveiros are you over if you eat treif? One.

Business, you have a chash, gezel, pulas sachir, oinah. You realize what the amount of aveiros that you come in contact with, that you're confronted with — that was the word I was looking for — that you're confronted with every day if you're in the money field of parnassah. So this, to you, you're afraid: kashrus. And this, you're not afraid. There's an interesting Malbim. Malbim, Vayikra, reish lamed gimmel. Malbim says that the scale that you use, the mishkalos — we know it's one of the important things, the mishkalos should be straight — the mishkalos, he says, if you look, carry the Shem Hashem. He says the mishkal, the weighing, is like a hei, and the spoon is like a yud, and the stick in the middle is a vav. Explains that in the mishkalos, in the weighing machine, you're able to see. And it was done with design, on purpose that way, that a person should always remember Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid in business. You walk into business, the first thing you see, with a big sign in front of you, Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid. And this is starting the day of business on the right approach. I saw an interesting story of one of the great Sefardi Gedolim, Reb Shalom Chavush, zecher tzaddik livracha. When the new scales came out, he was sitting and staring and trying to figure out, you know, this new scale and, you know, and all the parts. So I guess talmidim or people around him, they asked him, Kavod HaRav, what are you staring at? You don't know how to work this new machinery, the new technology? We'll teach you. You know, the older generation has sometimes very hard to adapt to the new technologies, right? We all know our kids are sitting and laughing at us and say, Let me show you how to use, right, this phone or this electrical. Is that the issue? We'll teach you. He says, No. It's yedua in sefarim, it's brought that the Shem Hashem, the Shem Havayah, is in the scale, and I'm looking in this new scale where it is. I'm trying to find it. It's part of the scale is the Shem Hashem. Rabosai, we do a lot of business on our phones. Got to find the Shem Hashem there, rabosai, dafka finin, that it should be taka with a mi'alah, Baruch Hashem, with a deveikus to the Ribono Shel Olam. It should be v'nikrav baalabayis el haElokim, and with this we keep mekadesh Shem Shamayim. I do want to end that I know thousands of choshuve balabatim. Borei Olam has what to be proud of. The ehrlichkeiten business and the yashrus in business. This was not chas v'shalom in any way degrading or putting down or giving mussar to Klal Yisrael; beautiful. Yidden are beautiful. Some acts of yashrus and kindness are something that no goy in the world could even fathom to think of, let alone do. This was just a mussar to be me'orer. We could be ehrlich, ehrlich in mammon, ehrlich in business, to be yashar throughout the day, to be v'nikrav baalabayis el Elokim, to be close to the Ribono Shel Olam and live in His world of mon, live in the world of the Ribono Shel Olam that gives parnassah, and this will taka be zoche to live Yidden, to live with koileis u'vrakim, with ma'amad Har Sinai all the time. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.