Parshas Parah and HaChodesh: Anavah, Emunah, and the Renewal of a Lev Chadash

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. That we read four parshios between before Purim till Rosh Chodesh Nissan. They're called, ki yadua, known, it's known, it's called the daled parshios. We've spoken about Shekalim, we've spoken about Zachor. I'd like to speak about Parshas Parah and Parshas HaChodesh. Last week was Parah, this coming week is Parshas HaChodesh. The halacha clearly states that you can't separate Parshas Parah and Parshas HaChodesh. You know, you want to work it out that Rosh Chodesh should be Parshas HaChodesh, but you can't work it out in a way that Parah separates from Chodesh. It's called hafsakah. The separation, the stop has to be, if you want, between Zachor and Parah. But Parah and Chodesh have to be connected. You can't be mafsik. Obviously, the reason is because Parah and Chodesh is connected. Parshas Parah and Parshas HaChodesh, for some reason, as we will explain in the shiur, have a shaychus, have a connection, that therefore we can't separate them. What is this connection? Why is Parshas Parah and Parshas HaChodesh united to the point that we don't want to separate them? So let's understand what is Chodesh and what is the hakdamah, the fact that we give Parah before Chodesh. I'd like to point out from the pasuk of the haftorah. The haftorah says in Parshas Parah, V'zarakti aleichem mayim tehorim. It's a pasuk in Yechezkel, siman lamed-vav. I will spritz on you mayim tehorim, u'tehartem, mikol tumoseichem u'mikol giluleichem tehartem. And then it says, V'nasati lachem lev chadash. V'nasati lachem lev chadash, I will give you a new heart. V'ruach chadashah. And a ruach which is new, et אבן... v'nasati lachem lev basar. So from here we see clearly that there's something called a lev chadash and ruach chadashah, which really is about chodesh. Parshas HaChodesh we're going to learn is hischadshus. It's a renewal, lev chadash. And in preface to that, as hakdamah to that, the pasuk says, V'zarakti aleichem, which is Parshas Parah. So the Parah is the introduction to Parshas HaChodesh. Since Parshas HaChodesh is lev chadash and ruach chadashah, hischadshus, renewal, so the V'zarakti aleichem is the introduction to that. How? How and why is Parshas Parah an introduction to the hischadshus? So pashut, it's you cleanse yourself, then you could start over fresh. But the truth is a little deeper, rabosai, and I think with this we'll explain the last part of the pasuk, that I'll take away your lev even and I'll give you a lev basar. What does it mean, a lev even? Stone, cholesterol, spiritual cholesterol, lev even. And I'll give you a lev basar. What does it mean to have a lev basar? So I'd like to discuss Parah Adumah a little bit. Chazal tell us Parah Adumah is unique, that it's a chok, to the point—Rashi brings down, the first Rashi in Parshas Chukas—that the umos ha'olam, the goyim, they bother Klal Yisrael, they question Klal Yisrael. They question Klal Yisrael: How could you do such a thing, Parah Adumah? What does it mean? What is the understanding behind it? What is the kavanah behind it? The choire, the question is, what do you mean, what's the reason behind it? There is a reason. Just because you don't know the reason doesn't mean there's no reason. Chazal even tell us there is a reason. Ramoisha Hadarshan—Ramoisha Hadarshan, Rashi brings down, says...

Tavoyaei v'tikanech achar habas, that the parah adumah is to cleanse, to be mesakein for the eigel. So how could you come and say that there's no reason and the goyim question us, how yitachen? There is a reason. Chazal right away tell us there's a reason. So the question becomes twofold: why is it called a chok? And if it isn't a chok and there is a reason, why are the goyim so bothered by it? And the truth is, we really ask a little bit deeper: is this the only chok in the Torah? There's many chukim in the Torah. So why are the goyim more bothered by this chok over any other chok? Here, rabosai, the question is very simple questions. We're trying to understand the connection between parshas parah and parshas hachodesh. Parshas hachodesh seems to be connected to parshas parah in the sense that we don't want to be mafsik, we don't want to separate the two. I show you from the haftorah of parshas parah that it talks about taharah, the zrika of the taharah, the cleansing, and then the next pasuk talks about, I'll give you a lev chadash, ruach chadashah. So hischadshus has a hakdamah, it has a preface. With what? Taharah. What does that mean? So be'emes, what is parah adumah? Parah adumah seems to be a chok that's so not understandable that the goyim ask, How yitachen? But there really is a reason. The Maaseh Darshin says that the reason is a kaparah for the eigel. Second of all, what does it mean that the Goyim, they have this question? What kind of question is it? If there's a reason, there's a reason. Maybe you don't know the reason. Maybe you don't understand the reason. What, the Goyim think they have to understand everything? And if they don't understand the reason, there's no reason? There's a reason. Maybe you don't know it. And is this the only chok in the Torah? There are many chukim in the Torah. So why are the Goyim so, in English we call it, bent out of shape? They're so perturbed by the inyan of Parah Adumah. Moynim es Yisrael. What's the pshat? What does it bother the Goy Parah Adumah more than anything else? Abosai, I think the answer can be found in the Shlah. The Shlah in Parshas Chukas explains Parah Adumah as follows. Shlomo HaMelech says, Echkamah v'hi rechokah mimeni. I was trying to be wise, but I see that wisdom is far from me. We know that this pasuk is referring to the Parah Adumah. Chazal say that Shlomo HaMelech said it about Parah Adumah. Says the Shlah, what's the pshat in this pasuk? The pshat in this pasuk is that when you know in Parah Adumah, then you know that you don't know. The more you know, echkamah, the more you know, you know v'hi rechokah mimeni, and that's Parah Adumah. It's a different type of a chok. Some chukim we don't know. We don't know what it is. And the truth is, the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Mikvaos tells us, chukim doesn't mean there's no taam. Chukim means that if I had to write it, or if I had to decide it, I wouldn't come to this conclusion. But not that there's no taam. So then what becomes the chok of Parah Adumah? That the more I look into it, and the more I understand, the more I understand that I don't understand. And that's the chok of Parah Adumah. Amarti echkamah, v'hi rechokah mimeni, that no matter how much I go into it, I can't get it. And that's only because I went in to start to understand. So what's the shoresh of that? What is the shoresh of that? And the answer, rabosai, is like the Kedushas Levi and many other mefarshim talk, the inyan of anavah, humility. When a person is humble, he accepts, he accepts. And the acceptance of it is based on humility, that he doesn't know. It's beyond him to understand.

So if there's no tam because he doesn't know the tam, okay, so that's not humility; you just don't know it. But if the pshat is that you go into it, and the more you go into it, you still can't understand it, that's anavah, that you can't grasp it. Amarti echkam, I am smart, and I did go into it, and I still don't understand. That's paraduma, and that's anavah. That's humility. You look, rabosai, at the halachos, the details of paraduma, it all talks about anavah. It all brings out the point of anavah, and that is, for example, we have halacha that eizov, a small grass with an eitz erez has to be brought. Eitz erez is gaivah; it's something which is haughty, it's a tree which stands proud. The eizov is a small grass; it stands short and humble. Says Chazal that there's a reason for this, because we teach the person that the gadol shouldn't think he's so big. He should look at the katan, and he should say, You see? Me and you come together. And the katan turns around and looks at the gadol, and he says, I'm just like you. B'einei HaKadosh Baruch Hu, kulan shavin. That's what the Medrash says, the idea of the eitz erez and eizov. Chazal tell us more. Chazal say that you notice the efer. Para adumah is efer. The eish of the parah adumah. Where is the root of this eish? Says Chazal, because Avraham Avinu said, Vanochi afar va'efer. So, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Chayecha, I promise that I will take the afar va'efer and I'll make it a kaparah for your children. Avraham Avinu was humility. Avraham Avinu's anavah, where he said, afar va'efer. Ah, now we understand the kesher to Moshe Rabbeinu, of course. Navada. Avraham Avinu, when he said, Vanochi afar va'efer, this became embedded in Klal Yisroel, a kaparah, kaparah of taharah, the taharah of anavah, that they can accept what the Eibishter says and does, whether or not they like it, whether or not they understand it, Vanochi afar va'efer. And that's that eitz erez v'eizov, that the Torah says we got to bring the eitz erez and the eizov and say it's all shaveh, it's all the same, humility. With this, I understand also why it says, V'yikchu eilecha parah adumah. Chazal say that it's eilecha, you, Moshe Rabbeinu, V'yikchu eilecha parah adumah, that al shemecha nikraas. The parah adumah is called after your name, parah asah Moshe ba'midbar, which means all the parah adumahs, all the parah adumahs take the name, they get the stamp, the parah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Why? Moshe Rabbeinu, we know, was anav mikol adam. Now, it's not a simple thing to be an anav. I'm sorry, it's a simple thing to be an anav if you don't know anything. To know, and to be rich, and to be great like Moshe Rabbeinu, and still be an anav is an unbelievable thing. That's chochmah. To know, and yet still be humble, is Moshe Rabbeinu. Vayikchu eilecha, parah shasah Moshe ba'midbar. As a matter of fact, Chazal tell us that Vayikchu eilecha, that they took a piece of the parah of Moshe Rabbeinu, of the ash, and they hid it. They kept it for generations, that whenever they made a parah adumah, they would put a piece of Moshe Rabbeinu's parah adumah in there. And that's why, because the way we're explaining is beautiful, because the ingredients of the parah adumah was Moshe. It was Moshe Rabbeinu made up the ingredients of the parah adumah: afar v'efer, anochi anav. Humility, humility, humility, humility. Why? So I always understood the pshat is because Moshe Rabbeinu, in some way or form, was responsible for the eigel. Moshe Rabbeinu added an extra day.

And because of that, they didn't understand that he came. They thought he came late. They made a mistake in the calculation. Rabbi Yonason Eibshitz brings a very interesting pshat in this week's parsha, Parshas Pekudei. Rashi brings down in Pekudei that Moshe Rabbeinu wanted that we should make the keilim first. Betzalel wanted that we should make the Mishkan first. Why? So it seems like there's a machlokes: first you make the house and then you make the keilim, while Moshe Rabbeinu held you make the keilim and then you make the house. What's the machlokes? The truth is, first you make the house and then you make the keilim. Says Rabbi Yonason Eibshitz that Moshe Rabbeinu felt guilty about the eigel, while Betzalel felt guilty about mechiras Yosef. Chazal tell us that the gold in the Beis Hamikdash was a kaparah for the eigel. The silver in the Beis Hamikdash, the kesef, was a kaparah for the kesef mechirah for Yosef. So Moshe Rabbeinu, who felt guilty about the eigel because he said an extra day, and because of him he came late, so he was more concerned about the keilim, which had the gold. Ma she'ein kein Betzalel comes from the shevet of Yehuda, and Yehuda was the one who was responsible for the sale of Moshe Rabbeinu, so he was more concerned about the walls, the adanim, which came from kesef. So says Rabbi Yonason Eibshitz in this week's parsha. The point that we're trying to bring out, you see that Moshe Rabbeinu, in a roundabout way, was responsible for the eigel. And since he was responsible for the eigel, so maybe parash asa Moshe, that Moshe Rabbeinu somehow had to be the bringer of the parah adumah, which came to mechaper on the eigel. But now let's take a little bit deeper. The whole metzius of Moshe Rabbeinu, what Moshe Rabbeinu represented, anav, b'chal beisi ne'eman hu, eved. He's a servant of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that he doesn't budge from what the Eibishter says or does or wants. Mimeila, Moshe Rabbeinu is an important ingredient, is an important ingredient in the parah adumah, because the parah adumah represents his batlus, humility, accepting what the Eibishter said even if I don't understand it. And that was Moshe Rabbeinu, b'chal beisi ne'eman hu. And that's v'yikchu eilecha parah asa Moshe. Moshe is in fingerprints, so to speak, had to be all over the parah adumah then and for generations to come. And this is all rooted in the V'anochi afar v'efer, that Avraham Avinu said, Anochi afar v'efer, and I accept what the Eibishter wants and does with humility. How is this a kaparah to the eigel? Maisu, we know, tavo ha'eim v'tekaneich achar ha'bas. And the answer possibly is that what happened by the eigel, what happened by the eigel was that they came with cheshbonos. They didn't understand, Where is Moshe? What do we do? With humility, they should have said, We don't know. We'll wait for the Eibishter to tell us. We'll wait for Aharon HaKohen to tell us. Instead of we coming to tell Aharon HaKohen what to do, we'll wait with anavah, and we'll accept. So the cheshbones that they had, the calculations that they made, thinking that they know the tikun for that, is, Tavoi ha'eim v'tikaneach achar habas. Maybe, maybe, I'm thinking a little bit further. What is the mashal, the language that Chazal use, Tavoi ha'eim? The mother should come and clean up after the daughter, the wording of cleaning up. Why did Chazal pick such a lashon? And I think the pshat may be: a mother is the mother. The child is underneath the mother. Yet, the mother is mizbatel. The mother becomes subordinate to the will of the child, even without thinking. If a mother had to think—

She wouldn't be able to do it. To be mekaneach, to clean up after, if you think you can't do it. It has to be on instinct, the nature of coming and being mevatel, accepting. It's a deep raayon, rabosai. It's a thought, but you have to grasp it. Mothers have tremendous hisbatlus. Hisbatlus in English would be they become subordinate. Mitbatel l'ratzon shel hayeled. If they had to make cheshbonos, they couldn't do it. They're up all day and all night, and they feed and they clean. But that's the inyan of hisbatlus. Tov ha'eim v'tekaneach achar habaas is what the egel was supposed to be, and the way we're supposed to react to an egel is hisbatlus. Hisbatlus. It's a raayon al pi machshavah, bal korcham, getting back to the yesod that the yesod of the parah adumah is anavah, is humility, and that's the tikkun. That's how you mesaken the egel. With this, rabosai, I think we could go back and explain something interesting. Emunah, which is the opposite of avodah zarah. A person does avodah zarah lacks emunah. The Steipler in Chayei Olam writes clearly that where does a chisaron emunah come from? Gaiva. He says if you look into a person that has sfeikos and emunah, it's because he has gaiva. If he was truly humble, he wouldn't have any sfeikos whatsoever. Reb Chaim Kanievsky, in his sefer Orchos Yosher, ends and he says that part of all the problems that we have today, a piece of all the problems, is the fact that we have a tremendous gaiva. There's a tremendous lack of hisbatlus. And because of that lack of hisbatlus, we are fighting, and this is goyrem all the difficulty. He brings it down in Orchos Yosher under the klal of anavah. What's the point? The point that we're trying to bring out is there's something called a leiv even. What is a leiv even? A leiv even is when a person is made of gaiva, of stone. We find by Paro. Paro had a chisaron emunah. He didn't believe in Hashem, mi Hashem. What was it rooted in? Gaiva, that he thought he was the king of the world. And what does it say by Paro? Ki ani hichbadti es libi, es lev avadav. The idea of giving a leiv even—look at the Rambam—is this: Paro. Paro is the leiv even. And since Paro is the leiv even, so how do you break the leiv even? Humility. You humble him. This is emunah. Pesach, the yesod of Pesach, is not only just the story that we left Mitzrayim. It's the milchamah against galus Mitzrayim. And Galus of Paroi. Avodim hayinu leParoi b'Mitzrayim. Meforshim say that we were avodim to two, to Paroi and to Mitzrayim. It doesn't say avodim hayinu b'Mitzrayim; avodim hayinu leParoi b'Mitzrayim. There's a yetzer hara called Paroi, and that is ki ani ichbadeti es liboi, that the person doesn't have emunah. So in order to come to Pesach, the Ribono Shel Olam has to give us a lev chadash and a ruach chadashah, to take the lev even and make it a lev basar. The lev basar is humble, soft. A lev basar is a lev nichna, a heart that is subordinate. Otherwise there's no emunah, like we speak from the Steipler. Emunah is connected to anavah. So the meirev rav came, and they had a tremendous lack of humility, that they're the ones who are deciding. They're the ones who are creating the outcome and the future of Klal Yisrael regarding Moshe Rabbeinu's departure. So they're being taught, Tavo ye'em... v'tkaneach...

A bus that you can't know, that you can't know. And because if once you think you know, then the gaiva sets in. You have to accept with humility. You have to accept being humble. With this, I think I understand why it's brought down that the goyim, the umos olam, can't take Parah Adumah. Because the one thing that the umos olam can't take by Klal Yisrael is hisbatlus to the Ribono Shel Olam, even when it's difficult, even when they don't understand. I've told you over many times a story that Rav Gifter, zicher tzaddik livrachah, used to say over how the Telzer rav was killed by the Nazis. The Nazi came into Germany—I'm sorry, into Tels—and they asked for the rav. They wanted the rabbi. So he was told that he's in the front of the shul. He comes to the front of the shul, the Nazi, and he sees Telzer rav learning. So he tells Telzer rav, Rabbeinu, where is your God? You think he'll protect you now? See? Where is he? Here, where is he? What? Ridiculing, mocking. And what is he mocking? See, can he help you now? Here, you believe in him. Is he going to help you? Telzer rav got up and he said, My God—it's not only my God, it's your God too, and it's the God of the whole world. And there'll come a day that the whole world will realize, Ki Hashem hu Elokim. The Nazi got so angry that he didn't even have the— The mind, the thought of mind to turn the gun around to shoot with the barrel of the gun. He broke his neck and he killed the Telserov. What's the point of this story? There are many of them. One is, of course, the greatness of the Telserov and his strength. But I also learned from this that what eats the goy more than anything else? The simple emunah, the humility of accepting what Hashem wants, regardless. The goy can't take that. They don't know, so they don't know. But that's not what's bothering them. What's bothering them is the inyan of parah adumah, that Klal Yisrael is being taught that even if they're in the midbar, even if they're in the midbar, and even if their destiny is unknown, accept, rely, have bitachon in the Ribono Shel Olam. Ribono Shel Olam knows better. This the goy can't swallow. This, to him, is almost like being foolish. He mocks it, he ridicules it. He can't swallow it. How the Yid is humble, with humility in front of the Ribono Shel Olam, that no matter what happens to him. That's why we know all these stories from the Holocaust, that the moment you show you didn't care, the moment you show that you're happy to die al kiddush Hashem, the goy can't take it. Because the goy can't accept that you accept Hashem with humility, that no matter what. Whatever he says is for the good. That's why the umos ha'olam are moina Klal Yisroel on the inyan of Parah Adumah. And this Parah Adumah becomes the hakdamah, the introduction to Parshas HaChodesh, because emunah, emunah is based on the yesod of humility. You know, the Ramban talks, eikev anavah yiras Hashem, that eilu chamidah tovos, mikol hamidos tovos, like anavah. Now what is anavah? Anavah is—let's talk l'maaseh—anavah means that a person backs off. He's told something. That's what Reb Chaim Kanievsky brings in the sefer that I was telling you, that most of our problems today, that we lack anavah, we lack the humility, and that causes so much fighting and bickering. If a person would be able to be humble and accept bolea in his home, with his friends, he says, Badek u'menusah. Those are the words Reb Chaim Kanievsky—Badek u'menusah—that this brings tremendous hatzlachah and yeshuos. It saves us from a lot of problems in our times. That's one way how to do it, that a person is a bolea.

You know, a humble person doesn't mean that he walks around, I'm a nothing. That's not what it means, I'm a nothing. You know, they say over that in Navardik, there used to be a song. Navardik is based on humility, bittul atzmi, to be mevatel yourself. So they used to have a song, Ich bin a gornisht, ani efes, I'm a nobody. And the boys in the yeshiva, the older bachurim, used to sing, Ani efes, ani ich bin a gornisht. So they say over that a bachur came, a new guy came to yeshiva, and he sees the good guys, the older guys in yeshiva singing it. So he started to sing it also, Ani efes, I'm a nothing. So the older bachurim came over to him and said, You bal gaiva, you. You haughty guy who you are. Who do you think you are? You just came to the yeshiva, and you think you can already walk around thinking that you're a nobody? It takes years of work to realize that you're a nobody. Ech kama v'hirhurei chochmah mimeni, to be a nobody. And to think you're a nobody is not a big thing. It's to be a somebody and to think you're a nobody, that's a big thing. But who's going to be like that today? Who's going to walk around? First of all, we're nobodies anyway. We're nobodies anyway. So where does the anavah... Parshas Achrei... I tell you, is a preparation for—I'm sorry, Parshas Parah is a preparation for Parshas Achrei to be humble. But we have nothing to be a bal gaivah about. I once told you another story. That the person once came to Rav Gifter, a bachur in yeshiva during first seder, and he asked Rav Gifter for mussar. He wants a little tochachah about being a bal gaivah. Rav Gifter, wrong person at the wrong time. You don't go in the middle of learning first seder in the yeshiva and start asking Rav Gifter about tochachah for being a bal gaivah. Rav Gifter realized it wasn't real, so Rav Gifter gave a bang on the bimah, and he said, You? Bal gaivah? What do you have, nothing to be a bal gaivah about. You're nobody. How did you come to gaivah? You're just a real nobody. What are you talking about? Well, I guess Rav Gifter gave mussar about gaivah. But the point is that if you're a nobody, so what's the big deal that if you don't have gaivah? Who are we already? So therefore, to work on thinking that we're very little, don't worry, we are very little. So then how do we work on anavah? So there's two things. The first thing is to back off from a fight. Someone bothers you, sit down, stay down. Remember in yeshiva there were two guys. One guy used to rip every guy in learning. Ooh, used to scream and yell. And then there was another guy that always kept quiet, never answered. If someone would say to him in learning, didn't say anything. So the rosh yeshiva in yeshiva told me, You'll see one day, this guy's going to be a gadol, a giant, and this screamer is going to remain a nothing. I said, why? He said, this person, he screams. You scream at him, he yells back at you. This other one, he's not as good a learner. He's not such a big baal kishron. But he's a bolea pim mitoch. He keeps quiet. He backs down. He has humility. And the pasuk says, Eikev anavah, yiras Hashem. Yiras Hashem comes from humility. Yiras Shamayim. He'll be a bigger person. You'll see. And he was right. This Rosh Yeshiva turned out to be right. Look back years later, unbelievable. This one grew and this one remained the same. So when a person is told something, don't get angry. But there's really another thing, which goes deeper than just how you respond. If you take a look at Rabbeinu... at the Ramban, Iggeres Ramban. Iggeres Ramban says that when you talk to someone, you should talk with humility. Why? If he's richer than you and smarter than you, all right, listen, he's richer than you and smarter than you. But what happens if you're richer than him and you're smarter than him? So how do you want me to be misyaches to him? I mean, the fact is, I'm smarter than him. Says the Ramban, he should think to himself, but who gave you the wisdom? Who gave...

Maybe the money. It's Hashem's. So it comes out that he's being misgayer on something that doesn't even belong to him. What did I see from this? That Yiras Shamayim plays a role in anavah. If a person understands that whatever is given to him is from the Eibishter, he'll be humble. And this is a good way of being humble on how we look at people. You know, we grow up to look, ah, that guy, ah, this, ah, he's not like from my family. You ever see how families talk? My family is from the more... His family is from the lower families. If we learn to look at each other, the eitz erez and the ezov, the eitz erez and the ezov, then we'll be able to what? Have anavah. We'll be able to have taharah. The biggest taharah, the biggest purity, is anavah. Taharah and anavah is the same thing. Taharah is hamachshavah, that a person is pure. Geivah, geivah makes something not pure, makes something not clean. And I want to explain to you deeper how this applies by Pesach. You know, it's interesting, Pesach, there's something interesting. There was Moshe Rabbeinu, and then there was Aharon HaKohen, big people. And then there were the simple people. When they left Mitzrayim, what does it say? Vaya'aminu baHashem uveMoshe avdo. Who? Who? Who was Vaya'aminu baHashem uveMoshe avdo? Chazal tell us. Lo shivcha layom, mashloyro cheskel ben Buzi. The shivcha, in emunah, saw the same thing that Yechezkel ben Buzi. Unbelievable. How do you expect the shivcha to see the same thing that Yechezkel ben Buzi? How could it be? Here, Chazal. I was thinking to myself even more. It says, afilu kulanu chachamim, kulanu nevonim, kulanu yodim es haTorah, mitzvah aleinu lesaper b'Yetzias Mitzrayim. Why? The answer is because just like the simple person is mesaper b'Yetzias Mitzrayim, me too. So I thought I'd be excluded. I know much more. How could you sit me down by the same Haggadah like the simple person? As a matter of fact, if you look at the arba banim, what do we have? Keneged arba banim dibra Torah. Tam she'eino yodea lishol, at the same table with the chacham. Today, if you have to make a school, the first thing you do is you sift out the good ones, special school for the good ones, the tam she'eino yodea lishol, special programs for them, right? Chas v'shalom, if a father is a tam a kid, he can't even get him into yeshiva today. Who wants a tam? By the Pesach Seder, keneged arba banim dibra Torah. They're sitting at the same Seder, and the father teaches the same emunah. And the father teaches the same emunah. I want to tell you over a maiseh, rabosai. It's not a story in the books; it's a story in a heilige book. It's in Tanach. Gidon. Gidon became a shofet. How did he become a shofet? Klal Yisroel is going through difficult times, and malach appears to Gidon. Says Gidon to the malach, Ayeh kol niflosav? Where are all the miracles that the Ribono Shel Olam told us? Where are all these miracles? Rashi explains that he tells the malach, Yesterday, yesterday was Pesach, and my father told me, b'tzeis Yisroel miMitzrayim, all the miracles my father told me. So where are all these miracles? How come now Klal Yisroel suffers? asks Reb Yerucham, why does it have to say, my father told me? You know how old Gidon was? He was ready to become a shofet. He was a grown man. So why does he have to say, my father told me? Could you imagine if I said a shiur like this: My father told me, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. My father told me. It's in the pasuk. I mean, when I learn Chumash, I know it. It's true that when I was a baby my father taught me Chumash, but I don't have to quote my father now on a pasuk, right?

When I come and tell you my father told me I have to keep Shabbos, you know, Shabbos? My father said you have to keep Shabbos. No, the Torah says. I learned it from my father. Okay, my father said it. How come over here he says, My father told me? It says, Yisroel Mimitzrayim, last night by the Pesach Seder. And the answer is, emunah, emunah, emunah comes from humility. The humility of learning from somebody else. Emunah, emunah, emunah comes, I'm humble. My father told me. It's not I. I was taught by my father. I accepted. Emunah is a kabbalah, that I accepted from somebody else. Pesach by the night, the father teaches the chacham and the sheini, the lo shelo. Because when we left Mitzrayim, you know how we left Mitzrayim? By, V'he'eminu baShem u'v'Moshe avdo. Even the shifchah al hayam saw more than Yechezkel ben Buzi. How? How? How? How? And the answer, rabosai, is, Vayosha Hashem es Yisrael miyad Mitzrayim, vayar Yisrael es yad hagdolah. What does yad hagdolah mean? They saw the big hand of Hashem. When a person sees the big hand of Hashem, what does it do to him? It makes him humble. The Rambam tells me, the Rambam tells me, how does a person have emunah? He looks into the briah, and he realizes how great and how big and how little he is. All of a sudden he has yirah, he has fear, he has emunah. He becomes humble, humble. Anav. Pesach, Pesach, Pesach was this inyan of anav. Okay, now I want to show you where we learned. You ready? Yom layabasha nephchu mitzulim, shir chadash, shira chadash. Right? What does it say? In Ezra, Ezra, ... right? Give me a siddur. You have a siddur? Give me a siddur. It says like this, Abba Yisah, ya ya ya ya ya. Oh, yo yo yo yo yo yo yo. Is that all? No, one second. Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya. Ah, didim. It says, didim. Here it is. Motzi asirim, poideh anavim. Ois daled. What does poideh anavim mean? Anav. Poideh. He was poideh anavim. He was paidah. Where was he paidah? What does it mean, he's paidah? What does that mean? When we left Mitzrayim, it's going back on here: kol bechorei Mitzrayim, l'melech, ... mashpil ge'im, magbiah shfalim, motzi asirim, podeh anavim, ... When we were niftar, when the Ribono Shel Olam was podeh us, He was podeh anavim. Anavim means the humble. We left Mitzrayim with humility. I believe that that's why Pesach represents the matzah. You know what the matzah is called? Lechem oni. Why is it called lechem oni, the poor man's bread? It has to do with humility. Humility. Humility. Ani. Ani darko b'prusah. The idea of the chametz is gaivah. Gaivah. The idea of the matzah is anav. Pesach is about anavah, because Pesach is about emunah. Emunah and anavah go together. Emunah and anavah, emunah and humility go together. When a person is humble, when a person has darka b'prusah...

Have emunah, he can come to Pesach, and he can appreciate. Mashloyach cheskel ben Buzi. The minute a person holds himself and he behaves in a way that's gaivah, he can't even see the Eibishter that's right in front of him. You behave like an anav. You behave with humility. You behave humble. A Yid is supposed to be... Ashras Hashem Mitzrayim, a yirah of Hashem. That's why they saw the Yad Hashem, they became humble. Vayiru, they had anavah. They had yirah. That yirah could be more than cheskel ben Buzi. This is the inyan of Parah Adumah as an introduction. So Pesach's coming. You're going to have situations in the house where the wife is going to bother you, and believe you me, no house is patur from it. Every house is going to have humility, humble, look the other way. And you'll see that the more you have anavah, the more and more you'll have emunah the night of the Seder, and with this we'll be zocheh, Parah. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.