Shemini: Aharon’s Birchas Kohanim, Ahavas Yisrael, and Becoming an Ohev Shalom

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. It's Hashem, in the shiur of Parshas Shemini, I'd like to discuss Ahavas Yisrael. What is Ahavas Yisrael? What is Ahavas Yisrael l'maaseh, in halacha? What does Ahavas Yisrael mechayev me to do or not to do? So I would like to begin with the pasuk in Shemini, that after the avodah of the Bayom HaShemini, Shemini L'miluim, after the entire avodah, in pasuk chof-beis, perek tes, pasuk chof-beis, Vayisa Aharon es yadav el ha'am, vayevarechem. Vayered me'asos hachatos v'ha'olah v'hashlamim. Vayevarechem. He benches Klal Yisrael. Says Rashi, birchas Kohanim. Yevarechecha, ya'er, yisa, birchas Kohanim. No, no, no, hold on. Birchas Kohanim, birchas Kohanim. It's mevuar in the Rishonim that this was actually Aharon HaKohen was mechadesh Birchas Kohanim over here. Aharon HaKohen comes out and he gives the bracha, and on his own. He was mechaven to the nusach of Birchas Kohanim, and the Rabbeinu Shlolem appreciated the nusach to the point that it became Birchas Kohanim, a mitzvah in Parshas Beha'aloscha. Now it's interesting, every time a Kohen gives us a bracha, we know we give them a yasher koach, Kohen. We give them a thank you in return, a yasher koach, a bracha, that he should have koach, and that he should have shtarkkeit. Yasher koach for giving us this bracha. Now, l'chora it's interesting, why are we giving a bracha? I mean, it's a mitzvah. The Kohen has a mitzvah to give us a bracha. He has a mitzvah. Tell me, do you get a yasher koach for putting on tefillin? No. Do you get a yasher koach for keeping Shabbos? A mitzvah is a mitzvah. You don't have to get a bracha for keeping a mitzvah. So why is it that we give the Kohen a yasher koach? Now the truth is, we find the minhag that when a person gets an aliyah, we also give a yasher koach. So there could be the pshat, because theoretically you should have gotten the aliyah. Every person should make Birchas HaTorah, and he's your shliach. So we give him the yasher koach for being motzi you, for being motzi you. Yasher koach is a bracha because he's being motzi you. But l'cheira, by Birchas Kohanim he's not being motzi you. So what's the inyan of giving him a bracha, yasher koach? So, habeisah, I would say pashut. The kohen has a mitzvah levarech es am Yisrael, but it says b'ahavah. He has to do it with ahavah. So the more ahavah he puts into the bracha, the more it's a bracha. So we give him a yashar koach for the b'ahavah, which is him, to do the actual steps and words of Birchas Kohanim, dastacha mitzvah. But the feelings that he puts into it, there's no gvul. The b'ahavah that he puts into the bracha is him, is him. U'meileh, we get the yashar koach of them. Again, rabosai, pashut. I'm trying to understand the pshat in giving a bracha to a kohen, yashar koach, a thank you, ki'ilu. So, l'choirah, we don't find anywhere that if a person does a mitzvah, he gets yashar koach for them. Unless we could come and say that he gave you a bracha, so you give him a bracha. Maybe it's a bracha for a bracha, maybe. Or we could come and say that since there's a b'ahavah, which is a condition...

In the Birchas Kohanim, that already is him. He's told to do it b'ahavah, but the ahavah that he puts into it, the levels of ahavah, is already him. And since it's him, mimeila we give him a yashar koach. Now it's interesting. Vayisa Aharon es yadav. So the pasuk says yadav, a kri and ksiv. The way it's written is yadai; it's missing a yud. The way it's pronounced, it's yadav with a yud. So it's a chaser ksiv, it's missing a yud, yadai, and it's yadav, kri, the way it's written. Why is it written that way? Why is it yadai, yadav? What's the reason for this? So the emes is, I'd like to discuss an interesting medrash. The medrash says that at the moment that Vayisa Aharon es yadav, zacha b'matnas kehunah. The reason for matnas kehunah was this pasuk: Vayisa Aharon es yadav el ha'am, zacha b'matnas kehunah. It's a medrash. This point, this act of Vayisa brought about matnas kehunah. What's the connection, the shaychus? So there's an interesting hakdamah, an introduction from the Alter Zeh, from the Alter Zeh, the Baal HaTanya, in his sefarim, on Metzach Aharon, on drush, that he gives a brachah to the kehillah that they should be matzliach in gashmiyus, in ruchniyus. And he says, what's the reason to give the bracha to the kehillah? Because since his parnassah comes from the kehillah, so when he gives a bracha to the kehillah, he's giving with all his heart. And he says that's pshat Matnas Kehunah. He brings a Maharsha, that the reason why the kohen gets matnas kehunah, in order to help him with the behavah. Because since he's giving a bracha, in order for it to be the better bracha, it has to be with more heart. So if he gives bracha and in return he gets matnas kehunah, because the more they get, the more they give back to him, so the bracha will be with a fuller heart. It will be with more meaning. Mit gantsn hart. Hart anaynzet. You hear, rabosai, that the reason for matnas kehunah is the behavah. It's to facilitate, it's to facilitate the behavah. Ei basai, ei basai. That's the pshat here. Vayisa Aharon es yadav el ha'am. It is because of this that he gets birchas, he gets matnas kehunah. Why? Because Aharon went out el ha'am, vayevarechem, and the vayevarechem means it should be behavah. How do I guarantee more and more and more ahavah? Ahavah means a two-way street. I love you if you take care of me. A todus is a haver, rabosai. Now the truth is, dos iz gezogt more in a technical sense. Technically speaking, chasich, chig, if I get from the bracha that I give you, then I'll give you with a more heart. But I'm thinking, the Kenesses Zekenim even deeper. It could be deeper, that ahavah is based on giving, on doing. We're going to speak about this more, b'arichus, that the key shoresh word in ahavah is hav, as he says, the Chida. Ahavah is about giving. So I give you a bracha, you in return give me matnos kehunah. Mimeila, that's ahavah. And according to this, I understand now why in return we give the Kohen a bracha. I give me a bracha, I give him a bracha. The ahavah is to build up the connection, the love between the Kohen here and the Yisrael here. You should put this away because you're missing good stuff that you're not going to hear anywhere else. I'm discussing Birchas Kohanim, in Vavos kitmen, why are we giving a bracha back to the Kohen? It's his mitzvah to do. So I'm explaining to you, the Medrash says that he got matnos kehunah at this point. Why does he have to get matnos kehunah when he gave Birchas Kohanim? So I'm telling you, the Alter Zeide in the Hagdam explains because his bracha is a bigger bracha.

If he knows that he blesses you, and in return you give to him from what he gave a bracha. I give you a bracha, parnassah, and from that parnassah you support me, so it's going to be with a full heart. But I'm saying it could be it's even deeper. Ahava means give, hav. The shoresh of ahava—say, Shteigman, the Chiddah speaks about it—is about giving. So in order for it to be true ahava, it has to be that I give you a bracha, you give me matnas kehunah, or in our case, you give me a bracha in return. It's all to build up the kesher, the ahava, because Birchas Kohanim needs it should be be'ahava. With this, rabosai, I think we could discuss the uniqueness of Aharon HaKohen in this inyan of ahava. What is ahava? You know, rabosai, ahava is something very special. All through the Torah we talk about ahava: ahavas haTorah and ahavas hamitzvos and ahavas Hashem and ahavas Yisrael. What is ahava? I want to tell you a nice maaseh. It's brought down from—I mean, I'm sorry, not brought down, but I once was zocheh to hear a shmues from Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the Mirer Rosh Yeshiva that just passed away recently, some two, three years ago. He started a kollel. The Mir started a kollel in Borough Park, in the Mirer minyan, for nights, night kollel for Bnei Torah, and I would join that kollel many years ago. And we were zoche that Rav Nosson Tzvi, when he came to America, was going to speak for us in the Kollel. To my amazement, to my astonishment, he didn't say too much, but what he said was a story. He said, I'd like to share with the oilam a story. He said that Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, Mir Rosh Yeshiva, first Mir Rosh Yeshiva, Chaim Shmulevitz, he would take walks in front of the yeshiva, even as he would walk, you know, before davening and after. And he would pass by a shoe store. There was a shoe store next to the yeshiva, a shoe store for children. And he would stare into the window. People didn't understand why every time he passed by, he would stare into the window of the shoe store. So they said to him, Rebbe, is it you want to buy shoes for your grandchildren for Yom Tov? We'll get it for you. We'll help you with the—we'll do the errand for you. He said, No. I come here because I want to see. What do I want to see? I see the way mothers buy shoes for children. Selfless devotion. Love, ahava. Selfless devotion. This you're not going to see in the next world. This you can't experience in the next world. It's only in this world. I want to take it in. I want to see more. I want to see what it means, love, what it means selfless devotion. I want to take in the sight, this ruchniyusdike thing called ahava. I want to experience it and see it as much as I could. I didn't understand, what did it have to do with the Bnei Torah that was sitting there. I didn't understand at the time, and I left, and I was thinking, what does he want, Chaver Vasvila? What is he trying? I mean, this is the message, the lesson for Choshuv Bnei Torah who are sitting and learning. I realized, after some thought, after some time passed, he was teaching us what a Yid is about. It's all about ahavah. And ahavah is about everything we do in this world: Ahavas haTorah and Ahavas haMitzvos and Ahavas Hashem. Ahavah means selfless devotion. Selfless devotion at the dos is ahavah. And this is unique to Aharon HaKohen. Aharon HaKohen excelled in this selfless devotion of ahavah. He mastered ahavah, Ahavas Hashem and Ahavas haTorah and kol shekein Ahavas Yisrael. He mastered it. And this is the pshat, asher kidshanu — it's a kedushah, kedushaso shel Aharon. It's a kedushah. It's a kedushah of Aharon. What was the kedushah of Aharon? This ahavah is a unique spiritual elevation only Aharon had, ahavah. You know, there's a sheilah, like I said, why does it say the word yodai, singular form?

Why does it say yad yistengel a form? So there's a meiredike vort from the Ropshitzer, a vort. I just told you that in order for the ahavah to be, it needed that it should be a two-way street. It should be a two-way street, right? It should be that I give you and you give me, right? What happens if it's a one-way street? What happens, says the Ropshitzer, it's yadei chasah, which means that the hand—he didn't put any money into the hand. You came for a bracha, but you didn't support the kohen. Af al pi kein vayevarechem. Aharon sheld a vek that the ahavah can be one-sided. I understood the Ropshitzer vort in light of everything we just spoke. Ahavah needs to be a two-way street, but Aharon's ahavah was so strong that even if it was a one-way street, even if it means only one way, yadei chasah, which means one hand, but the other hand, meaning the other hand that was supposed to give, didn't give. He walked away chaser. And af al pi kein, af al pi kein. They say over a maaseh, you hear, that the Satmar Rebbe zichrono livrachah, heilige Satmar Rav, once gave a bracha, and he gave a hand to the person, and he expected that there should be pidyon. All rebbes, when they give brachos, they expect pidyon in return. The person didn't leave any money with the Satmar Rav, and he took his hand back. So the Satmar Rav said to him, A bracha? You have to pay for a bracha. You have to pay for a bracha. Yeah, you have to pay, yadav. Rebbes know that you got to put in the hand of the kohen, you got to pay him. So the guy was a mechutzef, and he tells the Satmar Rav, I don't understand. Pay for a bracha? Look at the kohanim. By the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash, you had to pay them to give you a bracha? So the Satmar Rav said, Yeah, that's why they walk around without shoes. That's why they walk around without shoes, because they're busy giving brachos for free. What do you expect? Aharon HaKohen was mechadesh that you give a bracha for free, yadav, and that's disruption to avodah. But I'd like to say another deher, another fatach here. It says, Vayisa Aharon es yadav el ha'am. It's interesting, el ha'am. It should have been me'al ha'am, keneged ha'am. What's to the people? Interesting lashon. Vayisa Aharon es yadav el ha'am, as if it would have said that he gave them his hand. Literally, he gave them. He gave, vayisa, he picked it up to his hand and he gave it to them. What's the pshat? So I'm thinking maybe the pshat is, there's another interesting halacha about birchas kohanim. In Shulchan Aruch, siman kuf chaf ches, se'if yud beis, it says that the kohanim, when they duchen... Keep their hands together as one. I think, I believe that that could be the remez here in the yadav. The lashon yaday means it's two hands, but it's yaday as one. Why is it that he puts both hands as one? I think the pshat is like this, chaveirim, it's mevu'ar that we have two of everything. We have two eyes. We have two ears. We have two. Why do we need two? Two hands. And the answer is, it's to teach a person that there's always two. For example, eyes. Sefarim say to look at the other guy good, and on yourself you should look b'kayrus and give yourself, you know, see your chisronos, to see his ma'alos and your chisronos. Two eyes, right? Bilam only had one. That's the vort we spoke about by Bilam. Bilam had only one eye, only saw bad. We spoke about ayin ra. He had one bad eye. When you have one eye, you don't see the ma'alos and the chisronos. How about two hands? The Gemara tells us what we need two hands: yamin d'dacheh and yamin d'mekarev. The left hand should push away at times.

And the right hand should be mekarev. Aharon's koach was that both hands was all b'ahava. The kohen's koach was that even in his approach, where it needed to be doicheh, he was able to achieve the same thing b'ahava, that both hands were one. Vayisa, I think, is the pshat. Aharon gives both his hands to Klal Yisrael, to help, to bench. Aharon was selfless. You know what hands are for? Hands is to obtain, to be koneh, to take. By Aharon it was vayisa, to give. Aharon's hands were vayisa la'am levarechim. It was given away to the people. The Gemara even speaks, Arei kohanim shluchei d'Rachmana or shluchei didan? How about themselves? There's no shluchei d'Rachmana and shluchei didan. They're our messengers, or the—what about themselves? And the answer: there is no self. A kohen has no self. A kohen was the koach, and that's the kedushah of Aharon HaKohen. But Aharon totally devoted, selflessly devoted for Klal Yisrael, selflessly devoted. The idea of selflessly devoted, you hear? This will leave for a different time. I want to talk a little bit about the significance of ahavah and selflessly devoted. You know, a child gets bar mitzvahed. What is the mitzvah that symbolizes the bar mitzvah? The tefillin. I never understood why. He has mechuyiv in all mitzvahs. Why did the tefillin become the, the mitzvah, that this is the mitzvah that symbolizes now bar mitzvah? He was mechuyiv in all mitzvahs before. Chinuch. Now maybe he doesn't put on tefillin before, but some do put on tefillin a little bit before. I don't understand what the tefillin is the siman of a bar mitzvah. So I asked this question to Maran, Marenu, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zecher tzaddik livracha. I asked him this question. I didn't understand why I was a bar mitzvah bachur myself at the time, I think I was 14, and Rav Moshe was in Staten Island yeshiva. I learned in Staten Island yeshiva, and I asked him in yeshiva, What's the pshat? So he explained to me something interesting, which at the time I didn't understand, even though I was embarrassed, I told him I did understand. He asked me if I understood, and I said yes, I understood, but I really didn't understand. He asked me if I understood, and I didn't really understand. But then I got to understand either more or less what he meant, and if it's not exactly what he meant, it's more or less this yesod. A child has love. A child is loved, but it's all based on how much you give him. Ahavah. Do you know that the shoresh of ahav and ahavah is also the same shoresh? Ahav, sav. Sav v'ta, it's the yesherish of ahavah, but it's about hav, it's about giving. You know, even a child when he learns, if you don't give him a prize, he's not going to want to learn. There's no such a thing as him giving; it's about him taking. You know what a bar mitzvah yingele learns? There's a whole new kesher with the Eibishter now. It's about only the Eibishter. You know what tefillin stands for? Tefillin, Rishonim and Acharonim, is about Hashem says to Klal Yisrael, Mi ka'amcha, and we tell the Ribono Shel Olam, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Echad. It's about true ahavah, selfless. It's about ani l'dodi, v'dodi li. It's about v'rastich li l'olam. When we put on tefillin, we say, why? Ersin means kinyan. I'm completely for the other. I'm almost owned by the other person. Klal Yisrael is like an isha to the Ribono Shel Olam, almost owned, owned by the Eibishter. That's a whole new relationship, a whole new avodas hakodesh. Tefillin resembles the—

Child, when he grows up now to understand with daas, it's not about getting. It's about now giving, giving to the Eibishter, giving to Klal Yisroel. And that's what tefillin resembles. Tefillin resembles this yesod, the yesod of ahavah of the Eibishter, ani l'dodi v'dodi li, complete, complete selflessness in the relationship with the Eibishter. All I think about is the Eibishter, while the Eibishter shows I only think about Klal Yisroel. And that's the maturity, that he matures at his bar mitzvah. And I believe that this is what Reb Chaim Shmulevitz was saying. When he sees ahavah, he sees something unique, because true selfless ahavah is almost not capable by anything or anybody, only by a father, only by a mother, and we have this with the Eibishter. This is the relationship we have with the Eibishter. This is the relationship we have with other Yidden, ahavah, and it's very special and it's unique. With this, rabosai, I would like to explain to you a Mishnah in Avos. You know, we learn in Avos, perek aleph, Hillel says, Havei mitalmidav shel Aharon, ohev shalom, v'rodef shalom. You have to love shalom, you have to run after shalom. Now, l'choira, why is this in Avos? Ohev shalom, v'rodef shalom. It is a mitzvah to be a rodef shalom. It can't be about machlokes, no. I don't need a Mishnah in Avos to tell me that you shouldn't be like Korach. Korach va'adaso is a lav, v'lo siyeh k'Korach va'adaso. Tell me, does it say anywhere in the Mishnayos of Avos that a person should keep Shabbos? Does it say anywhere that a person shouldn't speak lashon hara? No, because it's an issur to speak lashon hara. How did it turn to avos? How did it turn into ethics, פירוש המצוות, to love shalom, to run after shalom? I have a better question for you, chavrei rabosai, and this question, of course, mefarshim speak about it. Why doesn't it just say to be an ohev shalom? Hillel omer, havei ohev shalom, be an ohev shalom. Why does it have to be that I be talmidav shel Aharon? Talmid halacha, just be an ohev shalom and finished. I have another question. You know, Chazal tell us already the importance of being an ohev shalom from the Eibishter. We learn from the Ribono Shel Olam. Why? The Ribono Shel Olam says there's a fight between a husband and a wife, My name should be erased, sotah, the waters of sotah, my name being erased to bring shalom. So you see clearly that even the Eibishter goes out of His way to such an extent to bring shalom. So why do I need to learn it from Aharon if I can learn it from a bigger source, the Eibishter Himself, and the Gemara learns it from the Eibishter? You know what the Mishnah should have said? Hevei mitalmidav shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And how do I know you're supposed to be a talmid shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Because it says clearly, Mah Hu af atah... V'halachta bidrachav, you should go in the Eibishter's ways. It should have been like this: Hillel omer, you should be an oyev shalom, because it says, V'halachta bidrachav. Why do I have to learn from Aharon HaKohen? So I was thinking maybe, you know, listen, the Eibishter brings shalom between a husband and a wife. All right, that's a serious thing, a husband and a wife. It's important to make shalom in a home. You could destroy the whole home if there's no shalom. But Aharon was even by two people who are fighting in a shul. Right, the baal tenurah brings down from Avos d'Rabbi Nosson, he saw two people that were in a fight, they're angry. You know what you could say to yourself? So what? So let them fight, who cares? What's the big deal? So if two people in shul get in a fight over a chair, so let them fight over a chair, big deal. Huh? What's the— you know, there's a famous line that people say, that any shul that doesn't have a good machlokes is not a shul yet. You know, you have to have one good— you have to have a little bit something, you know. How could it be that Aharon cares so much for such a— between— oh, maybe that's mitalmidav shel Aharon. The fact that the Eibishter is an ohev shalom, that could be in serious situations. But Aharon was any little fight.

So between two people, another person would say, Ah, leave it alone. It's nothing. It's just a small little issue. Ah. Still, he would try to make shalom between the two parties. Maybe. But I'm thinking of another point. Again, mitalmidav. Just say, learn from Aaron. Why do you have to be a talmid of Aaron? The Chareidim ask this kasha. Chareidim is a rishon, in the times of the Beis Yosef. He says, doesn't understand why the word talmidim. Just say, look at Aaron and see what an ohev shalom is, and that's all. Why do we have to be a talmid of Aaron? An official sign up in the, Hey, you're a talmid. You're an official talmid. So there's a mechudash Chareidim, a chiddush. Chareidim answers the question by saying that in Shamayim there are many, many yeshivas, and each yeshiva has a giant in that yeshiva that heads the yeshiva. There's a yeshiva in Shamayim called Yeshiva d'Rachmanusa, the yeshiva of mercy, of rachmanus, and Aharon HaKohen is the Rosh Yeshiva there. And you sign up here in this world through your actions if you will get to that yeshiva. I always say over, you know, in Lakewood, in order to get into a yeshiva, as soon as the child is born, and maybe even before that, you have to sign up already in yeshiva, otherwise you won't get in. Here we're learning that you have to sign up maybe even seventy years before to get into the yeshiva of Aharon HaKohen. You got to start acting in a certain way, and this is the way you sign up to join the yeshiva deRachmenus of Aharon HaKohen in Shamayim. That's pshat, mitalmidav shel Aharon. You should be mitalmidav shel Aharon. How? By acting in a way that you belong in his yeshiva. Az eiz zogt the Chareidim, a chiddush, a meyldige chiddush, yeah, that there's different yeshivas, groups in Shamayim. It's interesting, we always use the lashon yeshiva shel maalah. There's yeshivas there. Yeshiva shel maalah. Yeshivas over there. So the yeshiva shel maalah has in it one branch called yeshiva deRachmenus, and to join that yeshiva, you got to already start behaving here to forget otherwise. Listen, if you don't prepare, you're not on the level, they'll say, You're a shvache bachur for us. You're not for us. They'll send you out. They're not going to take you in. So to prove yourself that you're fit for the yeshiva deRachmenus, you need to act in this world like Aharon HaKohen, mitahavin, mitalmidav shel Aharon HaKohen. Habeisai, that's a great inyanim. But I would say pshat a little bit based on a Medrash Shmuel. The Medrash Shmuel says, you know why it says mitalmidav shel Aharon? You got to learn what it means to be an ohev shalom. You know why? Because if you don't take a lesson, you're going to go off. You'll make a big mistake thinking, like everybody unfortunately thinks, Me? I'm the ohev shalom. He's the problem. Every time there's a machlokes, every guy thinks, I'm okay. Me? I'm an ish shalom. What are you talking about? It's he's the problem. I say this about the Medrash Shmuel, ... you have to learn from Aharon. Why? When two people are fighting, Aharon didn't say, You're wrong, and he's right. We're both right. You both have to make shalom. You have to learn from Aharon because Aharon was really an ish shalom. If you're not really an ish shalom, you know what happens? You always think you're okay and that guy's the problem. There's a ma'amardik pasuk that my zeide used to quote and explain. It says, Elokim yevakesh nirdaf. The Eibishter searches out those that are the rest, those that are nirdaf, that people are going after them, nirdafim. So the zeide zichrono livrachah used to say the pshat is, Elokim yevakesh — He searches out who the true nirdaf is. Whenever there's a fight, each guy claims that he's the nirdaf. The other guy is wrong. 'He's oppressing me. You could be doing who knows what, but he's doing it to me. He's oppressing me.' Elokim yevakesh. The Ribono Shel Olam searches out.

Who the true nirdaf is, and he stands to protect the nirdaf. Unfortunately, machlokes is complicated, that a person always believes that he's right and the other person is at fault. Mimeila, the Mishnah says, Havei mitalmidav shel Aharon, and I think he's saying a meiridike teirah. You need to have a rebbe. You need to speak to someone who's a gadol who can give you insight, because if you're not there to learn who's right and who's wrong, you'll definitely make the mistake thinking that you're 100% right all the time and that guy's always 100% wrong. Mitalmidav. This is something that needs shimush. This is something that needs to be learned. It needs to be spoken through, to take a lesson, to listen, to hear, to hear from someone like Aharon HaKohen or the Aharon HaKohen of your time, that he should open up your eyes to teach you what it means to be an ohev shalom. Because if not, you can live your life to be the greatest baal machlokes, thinking you're an ohev shalom. You know, people who are baalei machlokes carry with themselves ammunition to prove that they're right. They always have certain things. For example, they use a Chasam Sofer. There's a very interesting Chasam Sofer on this Mishnah. Chasam Sofer asks the question: If you're ohev shalom, then you're not a rodef shalom. How could you be ohev shalom and then rodef? Rodef means to go against it, to oppress it. Says the heilige Chasam Sofer that sometimes you have to be ohev shalom. And sometimes you gotta fight the shalom when it's wrong. For example, Zimri. Pinchas. Pinchas went, brisi shalom. He was a nasi shalom, right? He was an einikel of Aharon HaKohen, yet he killed Zimri. Why? Because you have to be rodef shalom. Sometimes you have to attack the shalom when the shalom is wrong. Azoi zogt some sefer: ohev shalom v'rodef shalom. Sometimes it's ohev and sometimes it's rodef. There's a ma'aseh dike, the helf from Reb Ber, that people say over. It's a famous vort. Zeide told it to me. I saw it printed. I saw Reb Schnei wrote it in a few of his letters. Who was the biggest chesed tzaddik? Avraham. Avraham Avinu. Yet he sees Lot. It's not good to be together with Lot. He parted, Get away. Avraham Avinu, the biggest baal chesed, mekarev. He's mekarev everybody. And the answer is, sometimes, zogt Reb Ber, pirud is shalom. Machlokes is shalom. Sometimes to separate is shalom. It's the way to make shalom. Baalei machlokes use this all the time. This is, you know, I once had a person that made—he had a big machlokes with a friend of his. His name was Shalom. So he said, because he's ohev shalom, that's why he's rodef shalom. He likes him so much, that's why he's busy being rodef him all the time. If you have a baal machlokes, you find all ways of explaining justification for your actions. He told me, he's ohev shalom, he loves him. That's why he's rodef shalom. Anei say, he could talk himself anything he wants, and the Tzemach Tzedek is right, and the Rebbe is right. And what's the nafka mina? Avraham Avinu, Aharon HaKohen, they knew when and where. But if not, then you're going to have a problem that you're going to do it in the wrong context, and then you can do the worst things. There's a time and a place where ahavah means unconditional love, and then there's a time and a place where ahavah means to be a kanoi. I agree with you, but that's mitalmidav shel Aharon. That's Pinchas. Pinchas was yichsei achar Aharon. Pinchas ben Elazar. If Aharon came from the fact that he was Aharon HaKohen's grandson, that he did what he did. You have to know ahavah. Ahavah is something you have in mitalmidav. It needs to be learned. You know, there's an interesting Rambam in Peirush Mishnayos. The Rambam writes that another thing that Aharon HaKohen had a ma'alah, he made shalom even with ovrei aveirah, for example.

A person was an oveir aveirah. He did something. Aaron would see him in the street and say hello to him, Shalom Aleichem. The person would say to him something, Wow, Aaron's saying hello to me. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for the aveirah I did. And because of that, he would do teshuvah. So, fregt the Tosafos Yom Tov, but it says, Al tischaber l'rasha. If a person did an aveirah, so how could you become his friend? It says over there, the lashon of the Rambam, he would be mechaber himself. He would start becoming the guy's friend. He looks at the guy and he's becoming his friend. Yeah, but you're not allowed to become friends with a rasha, fregt the Tosafos Yom Tov. So the mefarshim say, depends who. Aharon HaKohen was a chassid. A regular person, if he's mischaber l'rasha, he might learn from the rasha. It might rub off on him. But Aaron didn't have to worry about that. So he was able to become part and friend, part of the life of the rasha, and he was able to sit at the same table with him and become his friend, and it wouldn't affect him whatsoever. I would say, Rabosai, efshar anan b'pshat. The lashon of the Rambam, פירוש המשניות, is he saw that his tochei ra. That's the lashon of the Rambam. It says also that when he would say hello to him, he would be boish. Oh, when someone has busha for what he does, then that's teshuvah b'koach. He's capable of doing teshuvah. Aaron didn't go to a rasha that was an az, that had no respect. That could be al tischaber l'rasha. But Aaron's ahavah gave him the koach to see the good in the person, to realize he's capable of doing teshuvah. You see, rabosai, there's such a thing as judging a person black and white according to his actions. But if you don't judge with ahavah, you'll never see what's really the person. Is he capable of doing teshuvah? Aaron saw deeper. Aaron saw with love, and mimeila he was able to see who was ראוי to be chozer b'teshuvah, and he could be mischaber elav. That's pshat shetochei ra. He saw there's something wrong on the inside. He saw that this person's not happy. He understood the person because he judged him through ahavah, and that's the koach of a talmid of Shal Aharon. Talmidav shel Aharon means you have to learn from Aharon. You know, if a person wants to be a kanoi and it's black and white, everybody's black. You're going to find half the world is no good. In order to be a kanoi, it's got to come from tochei ahavah. And once it comes from that, then you start to judge and see who is really a baal aveirah and who's not a baal aveirah. You see, the meforshim ask, the Rambam says clearly he would become friends with this person till he did teshuvah, but you're not allowed to be friends with a rasha. So they say Aharon was allowed; he was a chassid. I'm saying a different mahalach. Aharon saw that the person wasn't a rasha. You know, there's a very famous line that they say. Why certain, in certain places, they're mevatel, they're mevatel all talmidei chachamim. They say, Ah, ah, this he did this, he did that. So when they came to ask the head of this group, he said, I'm not mevatel talmidei chachamim. First I make that they're not a talmid chacham, and then I mevatel them. First I show they're not talmidei chachamim, and then I knock them down. You know, Aharon HaKohen did the exact opposite. Aharon HaKohen first made the person that he wasn't a baal aveirah, and now he can go be machzir b'tshuvah. You see? First Aharon worked b'ahavah to realize that the person is lost, the person has issues, whatever it is. Now that he's not a rasha, so there's no issur to s'chabel a rasha, now be machzir b'tshuvah. You see how? That's mitalmidav, mitalmidav shel Aharon. To be a talmid of Aharon means to follow and to learn, to take lessons from Aharon. Because it's not just blank to be an ohev shalom. It's not just blank not to make machlokes, because sometimes you have to make machlokes.

Other times you're not allowed to make machlokes, but you have to learn this. This needs shimush. Havi mitalmidav shel Aharon. This, chabeisai, I would like to tell you about a meyridige zach in the end of the parsha, mamash meyridig. We find that the birds that are tamei, one of them is called a chasidah. It's called a tamei bird, the chasidah. Says Rashi, why is she called chasidah? She'osah chesed im chavroseha. So what's wrong with that? Sounds pretty good to me. She does chesed. She does acts of kindness with her friends, so why is she a behemah temeiah? If you look at the Chizkuni, the Chizkuni explains that all the birds that are mentioned in the Torah, their names bring out their chisronos, their tumah, their characteristics, why they're not kosher birds. So chasidah, l'choirah, is not so bad. She'osah chesed im chavroseha, so what? Why is she a temeiah? Why is she a bird? Rashi says, she'osah chesed im chavroseha. So there's a very famous vort, Kotzker ander zogt, she'osah chesed only with chavroseha. She only does chesed with her friends. She doesn't do chesed with everybody. She has a club of friends around her, and she does chesed only with those. If she would do chesed a gevaldig, but she's osah chesed im... For example, if you're not part of chavroseha... Stay away. Don't, don't, don't ask me for money. Don't ask me for any favors. I'm not doing with you. She'oseh chesed. So I said to myself, but it's still not enough to be a beheima temeiah. She'oseh chesed im chaverah. God, that's a shichsoines. You know, the Ramban explains that all animals that are tamei is because they have in themselves the characteristics of a doires. Doires is an attacker. You see a vulture. That's a beheima temeiah. It attacks, it kills. All animals that are attacking animals are tamei. A cow is not an attacking; it eats grass. A sheep, they're not an attacking animal. So I didn't understand if it's not a wild bird. You know, I don't know if the Olam knows this. For example, an owl. It's a dangerous bird. People don't realize birds that are tamei are dangerous birds. Birds that are tamei is because they're— that's the word I'm looking for— they're predators. And there's a whole zoo, if you ever go to the birds, there's predator birds. That's what the Ramban says. They're beheimos temeios because they're predators. So I don't understand. Chasidah doesn't make the mark, doesn't make that level of a predator. She's oseh chesed im chaverosah. Good, so she's not a nice, you know, she's selfish. Okay. So where did it become a predator, a beheima temeiah? It bothered me for many years, this kasha. And I was zoche this year for the first time to understand it. First time. Sora Meisha Skenim, which is baalei teshuvah, that says that you know something about this bird, chasidah? You know why she's called chasidah? She's mamish a chassid. She attacks all birds that are mezaneh. She viciously attacks all birds that are mezaneh, she'eino b'minah, that doesn't stay within the species. And she plucks it and she rips the feathers, and she's an attack bird l'shem Shamayim. Any animal that's mezaneh, doesn't stick with its min, it attacks. You hear? There's a goyen in Nedarim Eliyahu that says, what's the pshat in chasidah, chassid? She goes to the mikveh. Every time she lives, she cohabits, she goes to the mikveh. It's a goyen. The Vilna Gaon in Nedarim Eliyahu writes this. Wow. Chasidah, ein kleinikeit? Eh? Ein kleinikeit. Thought to myself, something is going on over here. On one hand, mamish a tzadeikes of a bird, yeah? On the other hand, we say it's tamei, and we say she'oseh chesed im chaveroseha.

I have a different question. Then why do you call her chasidah, which sounds like a good thing? Just say she'eino oseh. Give me something that she doesn't do chesed. Give me some kind of a name she should be called, lav chasidah. Lav chasidah she should be called. Eina chasidah, or kirchas... something. You know, rabosai, I think the shadchan, I chapped it this year for the first time. She's a kanoi, this bird. Ooh. She goes to the mikvah before and after, a tzadeikes like you never saw. Tell me something. How's your chesed doing? That she's weakened. It's a sign that the kanois is not real. It's a sign that when she is doires, and she attacks, it's not from kindness and caring like b'ahavah of Pinchas. It's because she's cruel. Deep down there's cruelty there. Pinchas was from love. Love. Pinchas ben Elazar b'ahavah. This is from cruelty, and the proof is, let's see her chesed level. You know, the Satmar Rebbe, zichrono livracha, they used to attack him, that he was a tremendous kanoi. He used to rip, rip everybody. You know why he was accepted? Because people looked at the chesed that he did, and they realized that what did he do chesed with? The same people that he attacked. He would attack a person in shita, and those same people he would give money, help them. That's a sign of love. You hear? I heard this from my zeide. My zeide told me not to learn about the Chasidim, but the Satmar Rebbe. I remember my zeide used to read—this is before your times—there were two newspapers, Der Yid, which was a Satmar paper, and Algemeiner, which was the opposite of that. I remember my zeide used to read Der Yid, his hands were shaking. He couldn't take it, all the different shitas. The Algemeiner was more, you know, pro-Israel, pro... you know. So I asked my zeide once, so why buy Der Yid? What do you need to read it if it upsets you so much? He said, Listen to me, the Satmar Rebbe, he attacks and he attacks, but when you see all the chesed that he did—you know, all the chesed organizations that we have today in America, Bikur Cholim, Hatzalah—it was all the Rebbe, all Satmar Rebbe. His love for every Jew was unbelievable. At the same time, while he was attacking. This was a lesson in what means kanoius. Kanoius. What a kanoi really means. Brisker Rav was a kanoi, but at the same time his love for every Jew was unique. This, rabosai, is the lesson. I want to show you something interesting. The Chazon Ish, worst. It's the worst. It's the siman of tumah, yeah? Why is the Chazon Ish the worst of tumah? So there's a Kli Yakar that says an interesting vort. If you look at the pasuk, it says, Because he's a mafris parsa, true such, but he's not a maaleh gerah. So he's missing the chewing of the cud, but it has this... Practically, yoker, it's not because he has a— even though he has a split hoof. It shouldn't be because, ki. It should have said that the chazir's treif, lamrot, regardless that he has a split hoof, not because he has a split hoof. Says the Kli Yakar, no, no, it's because he has a split hoof. The fact that he has a split hoof, and that he's a malach, he walks around showing everybody how kosher he is. He walks around, in Yiddish there's an expression, chazer kosher fishl, which is an expression for someone who acts one way, showing that he's holy and he's gevaldig and he's spiritual, and the truth is he's really not that. That's the siman of tumah. Azoi zogt the Kli Yakar. Do you know that when Mashiach comes, the chazir is going to be kosher? It'll be kosher. Ramban brings this down. That's why it's called chazir, sheyachzor, it's going to return. I was thinking to myself, why? Havazel zayn asa? When the Torah says, in this world there's an olam hasheker. The chazir is olam hazeh. When Mashiach comes, u'maleh aretz deiah, there'll be no sheker. The chazir's tumah is going to subside. There'll be wars. It says clearly there'll be wars when Mashiach comes, according to—

One shita, the Rambam. So predators will have, but the sheker. U'molad deas Hashem, it will be clear, the truth. The fact that you could... I want to show you something interesting. You look at perek shirah. All animals, even the treif ones, say shirah. The only one that doesn't say shirah is the chazir. Says the Ivitz, why? How do we know? How do we know? Was that your question? Chazal. Perek shirah. No, I wasn't sure what he was... I thought he was asking me if I ever spoke to any of these animals. I wasn't sure what you were asking exactly. So the question is why the chazir more than anything. So maybe the chazir is so tamei, it's so... The Ivitz, you know what the Ivitz says? The chazir has an interesting tchunah. You ever see the chazir stick his head down? It can't get its head up. It's the only animal, it can't pick it. He can't look up to Shamayim. He looks only down to the earth. He can't say shirah. You know what I think the pshat is, chaver? It's very difficult. You ever see a chazir? There's no way, he doesn't have... he can't. It's down. It's really, he's created with his head down. Pshat, artzi. It's only in this world, so meileh he plays this game, yeah. Sheker. A person who looks up to Shamayim, he's connected to the Eibishter. There's no sheker. Even the most tummydik animal speaks shira to the Eibishter because he understands, understands, Marabu Ma'asecha Hashem, You created me. The chazir is the only one that don't look up, you hear? These are simanei tumah, rabosai. You know what simanei tumah is? The contradiction, the sheker. A havah is there to see clearly. And it's very possible the fact that the Kohen works in the Beis Hamikdash and he's completely devoted to the Eibishter, so it's he who could have ahavas Yisroel. He's disconnected from the world in such a way that he sees the world purely. And with this I'd like to end with a vort, rabosai, if you don't mind. Maybe that's the pshat why he got matnas kehunah when he gave birchas kohanim. We don't want the Kohen to go out to the outside world. If the Kohen's going to have to go out and make a living, it's not going to be b'ahavah. He's going to lose the clarity, the kedushah, the sensitivity, the seeing the truth beyond what's in front of him if he goes out to the world. So we tell him, You stay in the Beis Hamikdash. We need b'ahavah, and we'll supply you with the sustenance, matnas kehunah. Maybe, maybe after everything we just spoke, we now go back to the original question: why does Aharon HaKohen get matnas kehunah? Because he sticks his hands out al ha'am. Behava. So to keep those hands pure, to be neki kapayim, we need a neki kapayim for Birchas Kohanim. We tell you, stay away from the business world. Stay away from the outside world. You stay in the Beis HaMikdash. Min haMikdash lo yeitzei. We'll come to give you the food. They say over that the Alter from Navardok—how did he start his movement? He was a businessman. The Alter, I heard this from my zeide, zichrono livracha, the Alter from Navardok was a businessman. He was traveling to a business endeavor. A friend of his met him on the train and says—Yoizel, his name was Yoizel—Avu geystu? He says, Gei machna leben. I'm going to make a life. A leben in Yiddish means parnassah. So he says to him, Un vos geystu ton machna leben? Something clicked in his head. Vos gei ich ton machna leben? What am I doing to make a life? Make a life, living, make a—snapped. Something snapped in his head. He was a businessman. Reb Yoizel was a businessman. And he started thinking to himself, Make a life. What am I doing to make a death? A life is a few years you live. What am I doing to prepare myself for death?

He got off the next stop, went right back home. His wife told him, What happened? He says to her, Don't ask. He went to the beis medrash for 22 years. He locked himself in the shul in Nevardok. That's when he was mechadesh the mussar of Nevardok. And people used to bring him food. There were two holes, fleishigs and milchigs. And in the beis medrash, the whole town, Rav Yoizel from Nevardok. Food, you hear? You know what the pshat is? Rav Yoizel realized, out there, you're not gonna make a Rav Yoizel. You're not gonna make Nevardok. You're not gonna make a Leiben. You're not gonna make a Tateh. A Tateh you'll make, and a Leiben vest es shmachten. You understand? This is not. We tell the kohen, b'ahavah, purity, kedushah, you stay in the beis hamikdash. We'll come and bring you through two holes. Machnis kehunah. This, Rabosai, there's a ahavah, ahavah, ahavah, ahavah. The inyan of ahavah is kedushah, Rabosai. And it takes pure eyes and pure heart to see it. Otherwise, you get fatumel. You could be the biggest baal machlokes, thinking you're right. You lack the clarity. This I want to reiterate: mitalmidov. You need a rebbe. You need someone to look up to. You need someone to be magic you. You have an issue with your neighbor, your friend, don't decide on your own how to react, because you'll probably be wrong. Because a mensch has negius. A person has his own, that he's always right and the other guy is always wrong. Have mitalmidov. Go ask him. These are certain things need, and this, rabosai, I'd like to end, just to answer the first question that I asked you. What's the doing an avos? To be ro'ehv shalom v'rodef shalom, it's a mitzvah, and the Torah says we're not told to be ro'ehv shalom v'rodef shalom. We're talking about something completely different here in this Mishnah. We're talking about to understand ahavah, to understand what it means, real shalom. A person could read in the pasuk, Don't be like Korach. You know what he reads it? He reads, Don't be like Korach means if I fight with my rebbe, I'm Korach, but if I fight with my friend, I'm Korach. He could say a million different things. Ahavah mitalmidav shel Aharon means, and that's why it's in avos. You know what Pirkei Avos is to teach us? How the avos understood mitzvos. You see, there's Torah, but then there's the way the avos dealt with mitzvos and Torah, the way they perceived it, the way they understood it with their feelings and their hashkafos. That needs avos. That needs mitalmidav shel Aharon. That needs to look at the fridike, the previous generations and learn from them. Because if you're going to just go by the letter of the law, like I quote my rebbe, Reb David, a person could kill another person with the shmiras halashon. You could do it. A guy could take the shmiras halashon and kill the other guy with it. You don't understand what the shmiras halashon is based on: the avos, the principles, the ethics. Then the person is able to do the worst things under the guise and disguise of ohev shalom. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.