Parashas Shekalim: Yotzros, Machatzis HaShekel, and the Mitzvah to Bring Joy to Others

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Communities to say Yotzris on the daled parshiyos, Shekalim, Zachor, Parah, Chodesh, while others don't have this custom. Different communities have the custom. Some don't have that custom. And there's a whole question with the custom in the middle of the Shemoneh Esrei, not in the middle of the Shemoneh Esrei, is it a hefsek? Yotzris is always a point of contention in every shul, to say, not to say. And like every other good shul, it happened in my shul as well. There are those that wanted to say, there are those that didn't want to say. Like every good shul, they fought over Yotzris. I believe it's important to answer this question hashkafically, because it really goes to the heart of what Shekalim is about. We just read Parshas Shekalim, Shabbos Parshas Shekalim, and they were fighting over the Yotzris. If we understood what Parshas Shekalim stands for, I think we'd understand the approach, the mahalach that we should take in the shuls when it comes to the issue of Yotzris. And in the broader sense, to every controversy that we have in our lives, every point of contention, every issue between chaveirim, between members of Klal Yisrael. What is Parshas Shekalim? So Parshas Shekalim doesn't seem to be much. It's a simple hachraza. It's to announce that Rosh Chodesh Nissan is around the corner. And since Rosh Chodesh Nissan is around the corner, we're going to have korbanos from the new batch of money that comes in. It's called Lishka Chadasha, and therefore we have to collect new money. It's just to announce the coming of Nissan. And when do we announce it? On the first of Adar. And it's a Mishnah. The Mishnah says, Rosh Chodesh Adar, what do we do? Mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. Tnan hasam, Gemara Megillah chaf tes brings it, b'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. And as I explained to you, as Rashi points out, it's hachrazas beis din, basically. And in commemoration of that hachraza, we lain Parshas Shekalim. Is it nogea bizman hazeh? Now, bishlema in Parshas Zachor, so we always have to remember to annihilate Haman, Amalek. But l'choira Adar, mashmi'in al ha-shekalim is almost irrelevant today. How is it nogea bizman hazeh, shekalim? The truth is, there's a lot more depth, significance to Parshas Shekalim. If you take a look at the Gemara Megillah... The Gemara Megillah says, Yud gimmel amud beis, b'echad b'Adam mashmi'in al hashkalim, vayomer hamelech l'Haman, says the Gemara, hakesef nasun lach. It's connected to Haman's giving shekalim. Amrei, Shlakish, galui v'yadua lifnei Mi she'amar vehaya ha'olam, she'asid Haman lishkol shekalim al Yisrael. Lefichach hikdim shikleihem l'shiklo. So to preempt, to preempt the shekalim of Haman, we have the shekalim that we give b'echad b'Adar. So it's not only just mentioning to give money for the Beis HaMikdash, but the shekalim, the parashah of shekalim and the reading of shekalim is tied actually as a hakdamah, an introduction to the story of Purim. And that is to be makdim the shekalim of Klal Yisrael to the shekalim of Haman that paid to annihilate, and that's the reason and the zechus that we have that saved us. Zeh kumt ois in the Gemara. This is the way the Gemara is mashma in Megillah yud gimmel.

How did the shekalim that Klal Yisroel gave preempt? How was that the tikun? How was that the yeshuah, the salvation from the shekalim of Haman? So the Chida says, very pashut. We know there's a rule: ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor, which means that the prosecuting koach of the prosecution can't turn around and be that itself the defense. And because of this, we find many halachos. For example, we can't use gold on Yom Kippur, because gold is the egel. So ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor. Says the Chida in Keser David, the opposite is also true: ein saneigor ya'aseh kateigor. So since the saneigor, which means the money, the shekalim to the Beis Hamikdash, can't turn around now and be used to kill Klal Yisroel. Ein saneigor na'aseh kateigor. Just like the prosecution can't become the defending koach, so too the defending koach can't turn around and become the prosecution. So if we brought shekalim in zechus, in merit, we can't have the kesef, the money now causing us the opposite. Can't have the money causing us that we should have problems, tzaros in Klal Yisroel. The Maharal in Ohr Chadash says a different pshat. The Maharal says, you know what a korban is? Korban, don't forget, the shekalim were given. As a payment for the korbanos, it was supposed to buy us the korbanos. What is a korban? Adam ki yakriv korban laShem. It says, mikem. Mikem means you. So the korban actually means that the person becomes close to the Eibishter. So if a person becomes the Eibishter through the korban, that leads that the homan can't buy us. We're sold. We're already taken. We're owned already by the Rabbeinu Shleilam. I would use the concept that kodesh can't become chulin. Once it's hukdash l'Beis HaMikdash, no force could come and own it after that. No ba'alus, outside ba'alus, could be chal on it. So if korban, the Rabbeinu Shleilam, we become kanoi to the Rabbeinu Shleilam, hekdesh, mimeila Haman can't have shlita, can't have koach, can't have rights over us. So learns the Maharal in our Chiddush. So the Chida learns it's pashut ein saneigor na'aseh kateigor. Shh. The Maharal says it's deeper. Maharal says that because we become kanoi, we belong to the Mikdash, to the Eibishter, through the fact that we brought money that's now a korban, mimeila Haman can't have any rights over us. In Yaaros Dvash, as well as Chasam Sofer in the drashos, he discusses a different angle of this inyan of Shekalim, and he says— What was the chisaron in the times of Haman that the Rabbeinu Shlolem sold us to the hand of Haman? The Gemara says, shenehenu misudas Achashverosh, because they went to the seudah and they took part and they enjoyed the seudah of Achashverosh. What was wrong with that? Ah, it was kirtzon ish v'ish. It was kosher. It was a fully kosher catered event. So it could be the entertainment wasn't good. You're right, kosher doesn't mean kosher. Just because the kashrus of the chicken is good doesn't mean the kashrus of the eyes are good. Who knows what was going on over there? The assimilation between the Yid and the goy. But on top of that, there was a hashkafic issue. Forget about the actual aveiros that were probably, they were over by going, but there was a hashkafic issue, and that is, what was the seudah? The seudah of Achashverosh was to celebrate that the Beis Hamikdash will never be rebuilt. He realized, he calculated, that's why he brought out the klei Hamikdash. Why did he bring out the klei Hamikdash? Because he realized that the Beis Hamikdash is not going to be rebuilt. So if you make a seudah in celebration of that, how could a Yid go and be happy?

So the problem isn't even that they went. The problem is shenehenu. The lashon of the Gemara is hana'ah. You go, but you should bite your tongue by going. You should feel sad that you're there, because you're celebrating that there's no Beis Hamikdash. So what was the role of the Yid over there? That he should have went b'shaa b'di'eved and b'kfiyah and almost crying that he had to go. That's not what it says. It says shenehenu. They went and enjoyed it. So which means deep down they didn't feel the loss of the churban habayis. What were Shekalim? Says the Chasam Sofer, Shekalim, they gave shekalim then. Says the Arizal, how did they give? By reading the parashah. Be'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al haShekalim. They did it already then. And what was the reading of the Shekalim? That im yirtzeh Hashem we'll give shekalim to the Beis Hamikdash. We don't have it today, but we long for the day that we could do it. So that was the tikkun for the nehenu misudas Achashverosh, because they enjoyed from the seudah meant that at some form they forgot about the Beis Hamikdash. So by reading Shekalim, which in essence is saying we look forward to give the shekalim for the binyan habayis, which should come quickly in our time, that we can give the shekalim. So meileh hikdim. This is the tikkun. This is how we correct. This is how we correct the story of the sechisah and the problem in the time of Haman. And that's pshat that it saved us. What saved us? The Shekalim, the mashmi'in al haShekalim, like the Gemara says, be'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al haShekalim. Okay. The pashut pshat is that the shekalim that Klal Yisrael gave in the midbar is what protected them in the time of Haman. So he's saying it's not only the giving of the shekalim in the time, because that really has nothing to do with Haman. It's the reading of Parshas Shekalim that they read in the time of Haman. The fact that they read it, what are they saying? What does a person say when he reads Shekalim? It's not negea b'zman hazeh, but we're saying, Meheira yibaneh HaMikdash. We hope the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt, and then we can give our shekalim again, right? So that fixed the chisaron that when they went to the seudah, they showed that they forgot about the Beis HaMikdash. And the answer is no, they didn't, because you see that they read the Shekalim. So the reading of the Shekalim was a tikkun for the aveirah, the chisaron, the thing that they did wrong by nehenu misudas Achashverosh. Had they not had the Shekalim, then the Ribbono Shel Olam would say, Forget it, let it go. I can't have these Klal Yisrael. But the fact that deep down they still longed for the Beis HaMikdash, it's a siman. I mean, that itself was the sign to say that even though they went to the seudas Achashverosh, and even though they went, nehenu misudas Achashverosh, but they still cared, and they still hoped, and they still longed for the Beis HaMikdash. The Velt has a different pshat. Everybody else, besides for the above mefarshim, seem to be peh echad, say one other pshat, and that is: how Shekalim works, the Alshich tells us, it's machatzis hashekel. Why is it machatzis hashekel? Why does it have to be half? And the answer is, says the Alshich, machatzis is to teach a person that him, you're only half, together with the other guy, the other half, become one. So shkalim, machatzis teaches us together, me and you, achdus. What was the one taina that Haman brings out on Klal Yisrael? Yeishno am echad mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim, v'doseihem shonos mikol am. So you see clearly, you see clearly, that they're mefuzar, they don't have achdus. So what was the tikkun? The shkalim. The shkalim, that you show achdus, that actually we're one coin, two sides of a coin, two halves of a coin. You know, it's almost impossible to break a coin. It's one of the, a dollar bill you can rip in half. A coin, you can't really rip it in half. It's really sturdy, put together. Klal Yisrael becomes two halves of a coin. And the pshat is, and the—

That is Rabbeisai, that it's achdus in Klal Yisroel. You know, I was thinking a little bit on my way in. We call it matbea shel eish, a fire. How does a coin become one? And the answer is through fire, right? You take it and you melt it into one piece. Otherwise, right? That's how it... Torah is eish. The chiddush is matbea shel eish, that the coin becomes fire. Paper, for example, a check doesn't need fire. A credit card doesn't become through fire. As a matter of fact, you can rip a credit card, a check, and a... it's rippable. A coin is not rippable. Eish, Klal Yisroel, they join together through the koach of Torah, fire. What joins them together is a lot more than just it happens to be two pieces together. And this is what Shkolim is, and this is the anecdote. This is the tikkun to what Haman was saying, Yeshno am echad mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim. I was thinking to myself once, how does Haman see a lack of achdus in Klal Yisroel? Where does he see it? And it seems to be an essential part of the inyan of Purim. We see clearly Purim, what do we do? We give mishloach manos. We try to be marbeh reius, because Haman brought out the point that Klal Yisroel at that time lacked achdus. Where did he see it? So I want to say a meoridike vort. ישנה הלכה, מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים, ותעשהם שונות מכל עם. Their laws are different, right? How are the two things connected? They're mefuzar umeforad, but yet, the same shaines. So I want to say pshat like this. What unites Klal Yisroel? The same. You know what makes a Yid that me and you are one, and that the pshat is we don't connect with the goy because of that: the Torah, our laws. Mefuzar umeforad בין העמים, yet we see that the mefuzar umeforad בין העמים, and they were able to assimilate. So then it's with the same shaines, so then they're stam not doing what was. If the same shaines is because they stick together, okay, so they have nothing to do with us. But they do have to do with us, the mefuzar umeforad בין העמים. So then why don't they keep our laws also? That means they hate the government. Let's say you have a religion, right? They'll say it's his religion, but he still likes the government. America feels threatened that people sit in a shul and they daven. No, that's what they do. But if otherwise they are mefuzar umeforad, they do assimilate. So why don't they assimilate with also the ways of behavior? Ah, that's a siman that they're anti the government. When it comes to your taivas, that you don't mind being like the goy. So why by this you might be... that means you don't care. So that means you don't like the government. If it wasn't the fact, if the same shainos was real, then the mefuzar meforad bein ha'amim wouldn't be there. To walk around and assimilate with the goy on every level, but then to say, I have things that I do different, why are you different? And this is a tremendous lesson, yeah, that if a person wants to be able to survive as different, Klal Yisroel, then it's got to be completely disconnected from the goy, the opposite. All throughout the doros, the biggest chisaron is that Klal Yisroel had is when they try to assimilate. All Israel, right, they try to be like the rest of the world. So you know what the rest of the world laughs at them all of a sudden. So then why do you do this and why do you do that? But if we say we're different, taka, then if the same shainos doesn't become anything more than the religion, so we're left alone. The point is that Haman was able to tap into mefuzar meforad, and you know where he saw the mefuzar meforad? From the fact that they went to the seudah. Had they not gone to the seudah, so they are different.

We're religious, but you go to the seudah, and for the entertainment you're not. So then why are you keeping all your halachas? That means you're anti the government. I want this a pashut pshat, rabosai. You hear? If they didn't go to the government, if they didn't go to the seudah, so they're saying they're religious, they don't like this type of entertainment, they don't like the drinking and the drunkness, whatever went on in the party, then they'd be respected. But the fact that what? They mifursum umefoireh bein ha'amim. They taka went and became part of the cultures of where. So why were they same shaynes? Ah, it means it's anti the government. Al kol panim habeis, what do we have? We have a moiridike taher, a moiridike pshat in shekel, and that is to fix what Haman saw, lack of achdus in Klal Yisroel. And this, rabosai, becomes the reason why I'm Purim. We're so careful to give shalach manos. Why do we give the shalach manos on Purim? To fix the achdus, to be able to get along one with the other. Imagine, rabosai, imagine that the tachlis of Shekalim is achdus. You know how achdus comes? Machatzis. You know what machatzis means? In order for somebody to become one with the other, he's got to cut himself. He's got to break himself. It doesn't say chatzi shekel. Machatzis. It's to break. It's half of, not half, it's machatzit. Say chatzi shekel, a half a shekel. It's machatzit hashekel. And I want to tell you even more. You know, it's interesting. Reb Shlomo Shadran, zecher tzaddik livracha, would say over that he saw Haman read Parshas Zachor. He saw it. Oh yeah, sure. He saw Haman get up and be the baal koreh for Parshas Zachor. Where did he see Haman? He said he was once in a shul, and the baal kriyah, the person who was going to show up, something happened. Snow, rain, whatever, he didn't show up. So they didn't know who to turn to. So there was a kid in the shul, a bar mitzvah boy, he says, You know, I could lein. And he got up and he leined beautiful. But then when it came to Parshas Zachor, there's a whole question if a bar mitzvah boy is allowed to lein Parshas Zachor. Why? Because you need a gadol. Since the kriyah is de'oraisa, it's min haTorah, Parshas Zachor, so you need a gadol. A bar mitzvah boy is not clearly a gadol. He's gadol b'shanim, in years, but we don't know if he has the simanim. Now why do we let any child go and lein? Because chazakah, probably he's a gadol. Probably he has the simanim, the signs of gadlus. But that's not good enough where it's a de'oraisa. So there's a whole question halacha: could a child do, a bar mitzvah boy do, where it's de'oraisa? So some guy got up and he said, Parshas Zachor, someone else has to read Parshas Zachor, because he's only a bar mitzvah boy and we can't, we don't know he's a gadol. The people in the shul didn't know the difference. They said, What are you embarrassing the little kid for? He leined so good. What, are you going to push him off now that he can't lein Parshas Zachor? Terrible. No, let him lay. We don't care. We like that he's going to lay. The guy goes, No, and halacha is brought down. The people are embarrassing. No. He went up himself, this guy, and he lay in Parshas Zachar. Says Reb Shalom, I saw Haman read Parshas Zachar. You see? I saw Haman read Parshas Zachar. Of course. Doesn't mean you're allowed to step on a child and embarrass him, because you have a chashash, you have something. There's a lesson to be learned from Parshas Zachar. The lesson to be learned is: look at Haman's wickedness, and you're not supposed to be wicked. So too, Shkolim is a lesson. What's the lesson of Shkolim? Machatzis. To be able to get along, to be able to break yourself, to be able to be half with another person, and that becomes whole. This, rabosai, is the lesson of Shkolim. So if we take that Parshas Shkolim and use it to fight, to argue, to bicker, to make machlokes over the yoitzes of Parshas Shkolim, it defeats the whole message of Parshas Shkolim. The entire message of Parshas Shkolim is that Klal Yisrael...

It's supposed to unite. That Klal Yisroel is supposed to unite as one, b'achdus, and that's how you combat all the gezeiros and all the ra that Haman and the Hamans of the world are trying to do to us. So to use that and you make a machlokes, it's like Haman reading Parshas Zachor. It's the same thing. There's an interesting gaon, Rabbi Yisai, and it seems like the Gaon learned an entirely whole different pshat in the idea of machatzis hashekel. The Gaon in Kol Eliyahu, it's brought down in Ha'oras HaGra as well, is me'oirer on a Gemara. The Gemara says that Moshe Rabbeinu—the Gemara in Bava Basra—the Moshe Rabbeinu asked the Ribono Shel Olam, Bameh terum karin Yisroel? With what will Klal Yisroel's glory and honor elevate itself? So the Ribono Shel Olam said, You want to know with what Klal Yisroel will elevate glory itself? Ki sisa es rosh Bnei Yisroel, Parshas Shekalim. And the word sisa means to what? Elevate, ki sisa. So the Parshas Shekalim elevates. Says the Gaon, what does it mean? What was Moshe's question? How does Parshas ki sisa elevate Klal Yisroel? So the Gaon says that the idea of the shekalim is actually tzedakah. Moshe Rabbeinu was concerned that in the time of the Midbar there was no way to do tzedakah. How are we going to do tzedakah in the time of the Midbar? Everybody got. We don't poor people in the Midbar. The answer is tzedakah through the Mishkan. That was the way, says the Goyen, that was the way you did tzedakah. So the Ribono Shel Olam answered him. Moshe Rabbeinu says, How are they going to elevate? And he says a chiddush, because only through tzedakah, only through tzedakah is it possible, b'olam hazeh, because all other mitzvahs, where is it? B'olam haba. So what elevates, what's rewarded in this world? Only tzedakah. So Moshe was concerned, where are we going to have, for Klal Yisrael, kisisa? What are they going to have in this world that the Ribono Shel Olam says that you have elevating them? And the answer is, if they give tzedakah, they'll have kisisa. So says the Goyen, it's pshat in the Gemara in Bava Basra. It's interesting, you hear, rabosai, part of Purim is tzedakah. Like I showed you, part of Purim is what? To give shalach manos. Part of Purim is to give tzedakah. It's one of the main parts of the mitzvahs, mishloach manos, matanos la'evyonim, because what? The shekalim was an inyan of tzedakah. Now what's the inyan of tzedakah? Because tzedakah, rabosai, is matzil mi'maves. We all know tzedakah saves. So the shekalim, according to the Goyen that says, that the Gemara says that the shekalim, you were makdim the shekalim and it protected us from Haman, because tzedakah is matzil mi'maves. And I want to tell you another Goyen. The Goyen says something so interesting. He says that the word machatzis, if you notice the middle word, it's tzaddik. Tzedakah. That stands for tzedakah. What are the letters on the side of tzaddik, says the Goyen? Veches and yud, chai. What are the outer osiyos? Meis, mem and taf. So if you give tzedakah, you're closer to chaiim and further away from meis. The goyen. You see, not only did the Goyen have Torah on the Gemaras, each word by him was Torah and Torah and learning and Gemaras here. The word matzis hashekel, he says. Because the word matzis means tzedakah. You're giving tzedakah, matzis. And what does that save you from? Meis, and it makes you closer to chai. And this is this Gemara, that the shekalim, I mean, he doesn't tell us what he means, that the shekalim that the Klal Yisroel gave was the tzedakah that was makdim, the refuah to the makkeh to the time of Haman. There's another piece of Goyen. The Goyen says, if you take a look, the word u'mesanai. What is u'mesanai? By shekalim, you give the shekel, kofer nefesh. What is u'mesanai? It's spelled vav, nun, samech, vav, which backwards and forwards is read the same way. Vav, nun, samech, vav is the same thing backwards and forwards. Says the Goyen like this: if you take a look, there's something called galgal hachozer.

Which means, you give tzedakah, maybe one day you'll need tzedakah. What would it be better to be, the giver or the taker? It's better to be the giver, right? If you have to have givers and takers, you better well be the giver of tzedakah, right? Tell you a cute story. I remember I was once working with my father in those days in New York City, Manhattan. It's not like today. It's pretty safe today, but in those days it was pretty dangerous to walk when I was a little boy. So my mother was telling my father that he should walk faster because it's dangerous. Kitza, so my father went into the car, and he was driving very fast. So my mother said to him, Why are you driving fast? You might run this guy who's standing there. You might run him over. So my father said, You know, he looks like a guy who can murder you. So my mother says to my father, Yeah, but if you run him over, you're going to sit in jail. My father said, I'd rather sit in jail than to sit in the beis hakvaros, right? I'd rather be the giver of the punch than the receiver of the punch. If you receive the punch, you're in the ground. I give the punch, man, I'll sit in jail. All right, you're right. I'd rather sit in jail than to get killed and sit in the ground. Same thing. There's got to be a giver and a taker in tzedakah, right? Yeah? So the giver, you better off being the giver than the taker. Says the Gra, that's what it means, kadma v'azla. If you notice, u'nesanei is kadma v'azla. So kadam, u'nesanei. You first try to be the giver, because if not, it's going to return the other way around, the azla, and you'll have to be the taker. V'nasnu ish kofer nafsho, tzedakah. The guy learns clearly that it's all about tzedakah. Now how does this become chai? Why is it that tzedakah is chai, and the Torah is very pashut? If you give life to others, if you help others live, so HaKadosh Baruch Hu pays you back by giving you life. You see? And that can't be in the next world. That's what I understood. Why is it that tzedakah we give you in this world? Because the schar is midah k'neged midah. So it has to be that I give you to in this world, because you're giving this person this world. And therefore, in return, I give him what? This world. It has to be. It has to be that, you see, since you give tzedakah, you gave that person life. So it has to be the reward is here, because in the next, true, there's going to be more in the next world also, but the yesod of the payment has to be in this world. This, rabosai, is shkalim. Shkalim is that when a person gives chai, and I think this is a meiridike derech, kisisa. How does counting—I'm sorry, the giving of shkalim, kisisa—how does that elevate? I think there's a few things that we can say according to what we just explained. First of all, what elevates the Yid over the goy? Koach of achdus that Klal Yisroel has that nobody else has. There's an achdus in Klal Yisroel that nobody and no other nation could achieve. As friendly and as caring as goyim might be one to another, it never reaches the yesod of achdus that Klal Yisroel is expecting, that we and me and him become one. That's kisisa. That elevates. Keren Yisroel. What makes Klal Yisroel unique and special is this inyan. And I think that that could also be the tikkun. Yesh la'am echad mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim. Why are they special, the mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim? They're no different. Keren means, Klal Yisroel is. They've shown in the time of Mordechai and Haman that they are different. That's why it says, Nikhalu haYehudim b'irayhem. Klal Yisroel joined together, and what happened? Ki nafal pachad haYehudim aleihem. There was a certain respect. They lost respect for the Yid. Vayivez.

Einav l'sloyach b'mordechai levadoi, ki higidu loi shehu Yehudi. Haman was embarrassed. Haman was embarrassed. Haman was embarrassed to fight Mordechai levadoi. What was he embarrassed? So the pashut pshat is, va'yivez b'einav lishloach yad b'Mordechai levadoi, because he's a Yid. What was so embarrassing? And the Teretz is, the Yid was considered low class. So what changed around in the time of Purim? Ki nafal pachad haYehudim aleihem. That Klal Yisrael became exulted, and therefore many what? The nikhalu haYehudim. They didn't realize that koach, the ability of Klal Yisrael to come together. And this is in the inyan of shekalim, shekel, and this is the inyan of tzedakah, that Klal Yisrael is able to give tzedakah in amounts way beyond any other country or nation. The idea of tzedakah, the pshat is that a person has to give to mechayeh somebody else. This becomes the anecdote to the story of Purim. And this, I say, is a pivotal thing, and I think it's a very important yesod in a shul, for example. People don't realize what it means that you have to bend, to compromise to help the other person. I want to bring you an interesting raayon, an interesting yesod. You know, Friday night after davening, we say Magen Avos. What is Magen Avos? It's a bracha, right? We mamish have a chazaras hashatz. Maariv never has it. Why this Friday night? So the Gemara tells us why. People would come late, and we don't want that he should walk home by himself. So therefore, we prolonged the tefillah, that I guess we could wait for everybody to finish. Let me ask you: if you come late, I have to wait for you. Don't come late. You're coming late. It's Shabbos. You're coming late, right? So I have to wait for you after instead of going home earlier because you need to. Second of all, second of all, who said daven quicker? Unless he mamish came the last minute, so you think that an extra minute would help? What are we talking about? Daven faster. Again, why am I— You see, אמרתי יסוד, rabosai, that in a shul, in a tefillah, you have to bend to help the other person. And because of this Chazal went, and we're kovea l'doros that we should have a bracha. It's a bracha, shem Hashem, it's a bracha. Mekadesh HaShabbos, we make a special bracha, even though be'etzem there shouldn't be that chazaras hashatz, for the sake of the other person. You know, Parshas Mishpatim, which is really what we just read, tells us a big yesod. Eila hamishpatim is connected to Sinai. How does Mishpatim connect to Sinai? I mean, all of Torah mitzvahs is Sinai. Everything comes from Sinai. And the Teretz is, rabosai, the next part of Rashi really explains it as well. Rashi says— That you have to put the Sanhedrin next to the Mizbeach. The Sanhedrin next to the Mizbeach? Why? Why does the Sanhedrin have—it's a gezeirah, the pasuk says, Mizbeach, mishpatim. Why do you have to put the Mizbeach in front? Why? Aboisai, pshat's like this, you hear? A person thinks Mizbeach, that's avodah. You don't realize that part of avodah is eila mishpatim. That just like there's an avodah that a person learns and davens, it's the same Mizbeach. It's the same avodah out of the Beis Hamikdash. Careful in the other person's money, careful in the other person's feelings. You hear? It's an unbelievable thing. It's a peleh, you hear? Mishpatim, Mizbeach. What's the connection? Because just like a person thinks, Mizbeach, avodah, wow, kodesh, right, heilig. The same kedushah Rabbeisai is in the street when you deal with the other person in business, in life. Same thing. It's the same Mizbeach. That's pshat MiSinai. It's also MiSinai. Why Eved Ivri? Why was Eved Ivri chosen to be the first parshah? What are the chances of Eved Ivri?

It's not that common, an eved. What's the pshat? You know, a person thinks to himself, the eved, it's my money. I can do whatever I want. I mean, it's mine. I own him. Still, we find an interesting halacha, and that is that if you have one pillow, you got to give it to him. You want to explain to me why? There's a halacha, chayecha kodmin. If I have a pillow and my friend needs a pillow, so who gets the pillow first? Me, of course me. It's my pillow. It's not your pillow. You want to know otherwise, you know what you should do? Every guy that has a nice house should say, I move out and give it to my friend. I mean, I understand, you're my eved. Why would you get the pillow if it's my pillow? I should sleep without, you should sleep with. Does that make sense? Where's chayecha kodmin? It doesn't make any sense. The Teretz, rabosai, is the Chinuch writes, why do you have to give him an almah friyah? Why are we caring so much, melamed shemegarea mi'pidyono, you got to help him buy himself back? What is this all about? And the answer is, this eved feels very low by himself. He feels almost like he's a nobody. The Torah says, in that case, we have to go to the other extreme to make him feel important. Then there's no chayecha kodmin. There's no such thing as chayecha kodmin, rabosai, if it means that through your behavior you're making another guy feel lower, second-class citizen. Unbelievable, huh? Mishpatim is an interesting hakdamah eved. You would come and say that there's a story called chayecha kodmin when it comes to money. The Torah is teaching me, you're right, but there's no chayecha kodmin when it means that the other person, through your actions, is being hurt, hit. The Chazon Ish writes, my main tafkid, it's in Iggeres Lamed Gimel, he says, you know what my main thing is? L'sameach lev acheirim, to make others happy. V'mechuyav ani l'hizaher, and I have to be so careful to make another guy feel אי נעימות, I feel לרגע אחד, even for one second, uncomfortable. What's wrong if I make the other guy feel uncomfortable? What's the problem with that? Mechuyav ani l'hizaher, even for one second uncomfortable. And the Torah, rabosai, is, you see a tremendous yesod. It's not so much you're not allowed to hurt the other person. It's deeper than that. You have to mechuyav to make a person happy. And if that means that you make him uncomfortable, and therefore he's not happy even for a second, you're already in a zone of problem. This is already not what the Torah wants. I'm mechuyav to make, yeah, I'm mechuyav to walk around and make other people happy. You know where I saw this? I'll tell you where I saw this. There's a ma'ridike Yereim. Yereim is the rebbe of Rabbeinu Tam, the Baalei HaTosafos. In his sefer HaMitzvos, he writes two things which I thought is peledik. First, on the mitzvah of lo sa'no ish es amiso, that you're not allowed to hurt another person, eino azdvar, right? Says the Yireim, you know what's included in that? Ra as panim. If you show him a bad face. Show him a bad face? What am I doing? You're causing him uncomfort. He's not comfortable. He feels bad. You're already over the issur of onaas devarim. It's unbelievable chiddush. You hear, rabosai? It's not that I say hurtful things. I look at the guy and I'm in a bad mood. I show a sour face. In English we call it sour face. Says the Yireim, you're over the issur, and Chazal tell us it's b'metzius. Onaas devarim is worse than onaas mamon. It's one of the worst issurim that you could do, is onaas devarim. Do you understand what we're talking about? Show a guy a sour face, and it's part of the issur of onaah, which is from the most chamurdik aveiros. And if you saw the way the Yireim starts the mitzvah, you'd be unbelievably shocked. Throughout the entire Yireim, tzivah HaKadosh Baruch Hu, tzivah, tzivah. Here he uses the lashon, tzivah HaKadosh Baruch Hu bHar Sinai. The Ribbono Shel Olam commanded us at Har Sinai not to do the issur of onaah. Tzivah HaKadosh Baruch Hu bHar Sinai. Why all of a sudden these—

He used the word Har Sinai, and I think he's saying, the pshat we're saying in this Rashi. Rashi's saying it's also miSinai. You would think, what is it? This is Sinai. This is important that you should behave nice. No, it's the same Yiddishkeit. The same Yiddishkeit of V'anochi Hashem Elokecha, and the same Yiddishkeit of Chilul Shabbos is the same Yiddishkeit of Kol almanah v'yasom lo sonun. Ma eilu miSinai, just like miSinai, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, so too miSinai. Don't hurt the yet, give him your pillow. What the Ireim is trying to teach us: what's called Sinai? You would say, Sinai, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, lo sisa. No. You know what Sinai is? Lo soneu es hamisah. You know what Sinai is? Eved Ivri. The parsha of Eved Ivri, you see. Af eilu miSinai. Lo sira chamor... rovetz tachas masao, that's Sinai. We disconnect it. We say, He's a frumer, he's a frumer, he's more... Where's his middos? Ah, he doesn't have middos. What? Ma eilu miSinai. Just like if a person wouldn't keep Anochi Hashem Elokecha, you would say, This guy is completely not. So too if he doesn't keep mishpatim, and everything that says in mishpatim, it's as if he's koifer in Har Sinai. That's ma eilu miSinai, af eilu miSinai. That's why the Ireim used the lashon, Tzivah HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'Har Sinai. I think it's a mitzvah, the aleph of the Yireim, Tziva Koshborchu, and he concludes, and what's part of this? Even to show a guy a sour face, no. This is only by Yidden, my friends. This is achdus. These things, and that's Tarum Keren Yisrael. That's Tarum Keren Yisrael. This is where Klal Yisrael stands out in its midas hachesed. That elevates, ki sisa es rosh Bnei Yisrael, of kudeihem. This is where it stands out. You know, there's an interesting Shaarei Teshuvah. Shaarei Teshuvah brings down that just like there's an issur to hurt a person, and like we said from the Yireim, you have to show him a nice face, you're not allowed to act in a way that you bring fear to the other person. And there's a whole psychological makeup of people today. Make him feel, you know, and he'll respect you. No, you have to make him feel, you know, like this he'll respect you. You know, if you make him afraid of you a little bit, you know. I don't know about where they're getting their information. My Shaarei Teshuvah tells me you're not allowed to do that, and that if you do that, you're over the issur of onaah. There's a beautiful story from the Kedushas Levi, the Berditchever. People don't realize that when he spoke to the Eibishter, the Berditchever spoke great about Klal Yisrael. But when he spoke to the people, he gave them real mussar. He gave them real strong mussar. Berditchever got up once at a Shabbos hagadol drashah, and he said, You know, rabboisai, the world always condemns Klal Yisrael that the matzos have in it goyishe baby's blood. Goyishe blood. It's not true. There's no goyishe blood in the matzos. But I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, and I have to tell you, there's Jewish blood in our matzos. And you come to the matzah bakery, and who works there? Almanas, yesomim. Who works there? Women who don't have parnassah. And you stand there and you mutch them, and you make them afraid, and you scream at them that they're not doing quick enough and they're not productive. And you make their life miserable. It's true, of course. I know that's what they do. That's the history of the matzos. I know that's the history of the matzos. Says the Kedushas Levi, there's Jewish blood in our matzos. You've got to be careful from the Jewish blood that's spilled over our matzos. Vos iz vil der Kedushas Levi? Flum, you're right. I want to tell you a maiseh. Years ago, there was a whole shaila about all the conventional matzah bakeries. They were taking from the Russian communities, and there was a posek, a gadol, who brought up a shaila, and he claimed that he went to Reb Elyashiv with it, and he put it in the papers even, a big posek, that there's a problem with the matzos.

Because who do they take? They take from these Russians, and who knows, they're Yidden. Not all of them are Yidden. There's no chazakah. We're not sure. How do you know? You know, take any lady that comes, a Russian, and a goy can't do lishmah. Now, the truth is, a probably a goy could do lishmah if it's oimed al gabav. I don't know. It's not so simple that there's no lishmah. If the person on top of the person makes the person need lishmah, even if it's a goy, it's no different than a machine. It's a tumah and halachah. The bottom line is, through the dairos it was done, and obviously there was somech on this nekudah that even if it was a machine, it would be good enough. So when I went to Reb Chatzkel Roth, zichrono livrachah, I used to learn by him, with him, I was moirah to him this nekudah that they sang about the matzos bothered him very much. He said, for dairos they were baking matzos with whoever came when it was good enough. And he says, besides, let's say you're turning away all these people, right? You want now that the matzos should be baked by Bnei Torah, yarei Shamayim. You know how many people are losing parnassah that they looked for? Is it worth not being somech on the kula and bringing so much pain to so many people? Is it worth it? Better to be somech on the kula, and like Reb Kudshas Levi basically is saying, and not have Jewish blood over the matzos, not to spill Jewish blood in the matzos. This is one of the nisyonos that we have. We sometimes become zealots, we become kana'im on inyanim of yiras Shamayim, on the cheshbon of being over de'oraisas. That's what I want to bring out with the shekalim. Yoitzrus, yeah, yoitzrus, nish yoitzrus. It's not about yoitzrus, Rabbi. Tayi b'heven shul, when it comes to, should you say yoitzrus? If you mevazeh somebody for yoitzrus or not for yoitzrus, you did a lot worse. You made yourself more of a problem than the yoitzrus, and you defeated the whole problem, the whole inyan of shalom in the first place. Inyan of shalom was that the Klal Yisroel should be misyached, they should come together. And here you go, and you go and you do the exact opposite of what it was meant to be. I was trying to tell you before that you should understand that there's not just a mitzvah people think, I'm not supposed to hurt the other person. That's not true. It's more than that. You're mechuyav l'sameach. You're supposed to make another person happy. It's more than just not to hurt the person. You're supposed to m'sameach the other person. That's part of the chiyuv. The Yire'im, when he brings the mitzvah of Kol almanah v'yasom lo sa'anun, he doesn't bring it down that you're not allowed to hurt them. The opposite. Chayavim l'sameach. You're mechuyav to m'sameach the lev of the aniyim and the geirim and the yesomim. It's more than just not hurting. I'll tell you a beautiful story. My zeide, zichrono livracha, my uncle Reb Chaim told me that on one Erev Pesach, what are people busy with Erev Pesach? Matzos and maror, and then checking the lettuce, right? People are busy. My zeide turned to my bubby and he said, Tzivya, I want you to make a kugel from potatoes. So she says, Shmuel, I'm insulted. I ... his name was Reb Shmuel. I'm insulted. I made so much food. What, you think I didn't make enough food for Pesach? What, you punk need the potato? You have to tell me I should make potato kugel? What's going on? What happened? He said, No, you don't understand. There's a woman, tan and bam, a mir. The husband was a mir, and the husband was nifter. They lived here in Forest Hills. Her husband was just nifter. Could you imagine what she's going to feel like over Pesach, an almanah? So in order to show her that we're thinking about her, I want you to make the kugel, and we'll send it to her. So my bubby made the kugel, and my Zeidy called my uncle Reb Chaim with a taxi. He should go to Forest Hills to give her the kugel. And just like when you bake the matzos, what do you say? L'shem mitzvas matzah. My Zeidy said you should turn around to the lady and say, L'shem mitzvas lev almanah, to elevate, to make happy the heart of an almanah. It's also l'shem mitzvas matzah. It's the same l'shem mitzvas matzah. You see? Why? Because it's the same Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. We think the matzos, the almanah is just like the matzos. It's the same shem mitzvah. Why?

Because Klal Yisroel, Misinai, it's all Misinai. There's no such thing as Misinai mitzvahs and Misinai is not middos. It's all the same Misinai. This, chabeisai, is a tremendous yesod. And I think if you look at the inyan of Purim, Purim is not just to give tzedakah. Purim is to be mesameach the ani. It's more than just the tzedakah. As a matter of fact, there's a whole shaila how much tzedakah you're supposed to give on Purim. So the Mishnah Berurah brings from the Ritva, a prutah. A prutah. It's only a penny worth. Tell me, what could an ani have from a prutah? Nothing. So the poskim say that really the real way to do it is, is to do something that will be mesameach him. And that is, you have to give enough for a seudas Purim. Tzedakah is a different type. Avadah tzedakah is a prutah, but it's not about giving tzedakah. It's deeper than the tzedakah. It's about the other guy to be mesameach him. And therefore, if you sit there with mishloach manos or matanos la'evyonim, with a, what do you call it, a measuring stick, are you yotzei, you're not yotzei, you didn't do the mitzvah. You know what the mitzvah of mishloach manos is? You know what the mitzvah of matanos la'evyonim is? L'sameach acheirim, to make others happy. Purim is supposed to bring out beauty. A Yid lives in mitzvah. What is the mitzvahs hayom? L'sameach acheirim. It's a peldike thing. It's a day that the mitzvahs hayom is l'sameach acheirim. This, chabeisai, is tarum keren Yisroel. This is something that you couldn't touch. You can't touch that. Haman's shekalim wasn't able to defeat the shekalim that Klal Yisroel gives, the shekalim of machatzis with the other person, the shekalim of tzedakah. Those shekalim, Klal Yisroel's tarum keren. They're above. You know, I was always thinking to myself, the mazel of Klal Yisroel. Haman worked with the mazel. The mazel of Klal Yisroel, takkeh, was he was able to get them at the mazel. But what was a tarum keren? It uplifted Klal Yisroel, make them beyond mazel, was the tzedakah that they gave, was the chesed that they did. This, chabeisai, is shekalim, and this is the inyan of reading Parshas Shekalim. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.