Vayeira: Avraham Sending Yishmael Away—Chinuch, Parental Influence, and Pidyon HaBen

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We have the nisyonos of Avraham Avinu. The last of the nisyonos of Avraham was the Akeidah, the tenth nisayon. The Ribono Shel Olam proclaims, Atah yadati ki yerei Elokim atah. The ninth one, one before the tenth, the Akeidah, is the nisayon of, Gareish ha'amah hazos ve'es b'nah. According to the Cheshbon that the Rav in the Mishnayos in Pirkei Avos, on the Mishnah of Asarah Nisyonos nisnaseh Avraham Avinu, he lists the ninth one as, Gareish ha'amah hazos ve'es b'nah. The fact that the Ribono Shel Olam is telling Avraham Avinu to listen to Sarah, to send Yishmael out of the house, there was his son, it was difficult, and yet he had to do it. Kol asher tomar eilecha Sarah, shema b'kolah. We've spoken many times that the ten nisyonos that Avraham Avinu went through is a model role for us in our lives. These are basic nisyonos; these are the founding nisyonos, so to speak, of life. That in every nisayon, it's the nisayon of life, and we are to take these parshiyos and these nisyonos and learn them, and to take from them lesson. In our daily lives, Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu, we said over from the Sfas Emes many times that the Mishnah points out, it doesn't say nisnas Avram, but nisnas Avraham Avinu. And the emphasis is on Avinu because this is the ma'aseh of the similar banim, that in these nisyonos, Avraham Avinu became the foundation of us and our lives, the children, the grandchildren of Avraham, the zera Avraham. And so, it's the nisyonos that Avraham actually has given over to us the koiches, the wisdom, and how to pass these nisyonos as Avinu, almost like a tzavah, when a father leaves over a last will and testament, directing and teaching the children. So the nisyonos was Avraham's nisnaseh, that he went through these nisyonos as a guide for the children in the future generations. This is the way we explain the Sfas Emes, the kavanah, the pshat in the Sfas Emes on the Mishnah of Aser Nisyonos nisnas Avraham Avinu, that it wasn't just that he went through it on a personal level, for himself or Avraham, but it was Avraham Avinu; he went through it as the Avinu of Klal Yisrael. And from the way he passed these tests and the way he lived through them, it becomes a guide, like a tzavah of a father to the children. So let us understand the tzavah, so to speak, after we've just explained that it's a tzavah, the tzavah which is the nisayon, the ninth one of Gareishes Hagar. How is it in practicality nogea to us? And I believe the lessons of chinuch, chinuch, chinuch yeladim, is the nisayon, the ninth, which is supposed to be a guide for us in our chinuch habonim that we do in our homes to our children. The nisayon was great. It was still a son of Avraham Avinu. He was a father to Yishmael as well as he was to Yitzchak. Says clearly in the pasuk, Vayeira hadavar al oidos banai. For Avraham it was a difficult move. Avraham must have been a very good father, as well as a very warm person and a caring person. So for him to send out a son, it's difficult. It's a son. Vayeira hadavar. The Torah is me'id that it was difficult. It was very difficult for him. It was ra, Vayeira hadavar al oidos banai. The Chofetz Chaim says the lesson to be taken from this nisayon is that when it comes to bad hashpaah in the house, you can't overlook. You got to send it away. You got to cut it away. A person can't make—

A person can't make a cheshbon that it's sof kol sof, my son, or in many cases my relative, or in many cases my friend, or the son of my friend. When a jeopardy dieses, when it puts into sakana the ruchniyus of your son, you must cut it away and send it away. Sometimes it's a neighbor. Sometimes it's a friend. Sometimes it's the son of a neighbor or the son of a friend. Sometimes it's a family member. And unfortunately, sometimes it's within the house itself, which is what Yishmael was, was from within, an own son, an eigene kind, was a bad hashpa'ah to Yitzchak. When it's going to ruin one, we got to take it away and send it away, the bad hashpa'ah. What was the bad hashpa'ah? We're learning a lesson to cut away the bad hashpa'ah. What called the bad hashpa'ah? What was Yishmael's chet that he was defined as a tremendous bad hashpa'ah on Yitzchak? The Torah tells us, Vateira Sarah es ben Hagar haMitzris asher yaldah l'Avraham metzachek. Metzachek. What is metzachek? What does it mean, metzachek? The literal translation means vitzen. He's joking. He jokes. Tzchok. It's interesting. Yitzchak's name is tzchok. Yitzchak himself is called tzchok. What is the mitzachek? Is it so bad to be a mitzachek? So Rashi says it doesn't mean literally mitzachek, joking, but it's actually l'inyan avodah zarah, lashon avodah zarah. And then he says it's a lashon of gilui arayos, and then he says a third pshat, it's a lashon of retzichah. So actually, we don't mean mitzachek, joking. Joking? No, no. A kid jokes around; it's not the end of the world. But the mitzachek really means deeper. It's avodah zarah, and it's gilui arayos, and it's shfichas damim, retzichah. L'choirah, if it means these or one of these, and it's not even clear which one, so why does the Torah not write clearly that he did avodah zarah? Why does the Torah not write clearly that he did gilui arayos, or that he did shfichas damim? Why does it have to be masked, masked with the lashon of mitzachek? I believe, rabosai, that it's possible it wasn't clear avodah zarah. It wasn't clear gilui arayos. It wasn't clear shfichas damim, retzichah. But it was a mitzachek, which in it, it had gilui arayos, shfichas damim, and retzichah. Chazal say, Chazal say that the retzichah—what was the retzichah? He would shoot arrows. Toward Yitzchak, as if he's like trying to kill him. So there's two ways to understand that. Either we could say that he was trying to kill him, but he was a bad shot. Or we could say that the pshat is he wasn't trying to kill him, but he could always, I was joking. I was joking. Shh, I was joking. I'm playing around, school fun. It's in the yard. You pay attention sometimes to the behavior of the metzachek, and you see in it that it could have avodah zarah, it could have in it giluy arayos, it could have in it retzichah. Pashut, you learn Rashi's telling us that it was literally these three things. It was avodah zarah, giluy arayos, and shefichas damim, retzichah. Or maybe we could say that it was actually metzachek, metzachek that had in it, had in it tones. There were tones of avodah zarah, of giluy arayos. Depends what type of joke you make. Jokes could be innocent, could be benign, yet jokes tell a lot of really, it could be the foundations and shorashim of all.

Terrible things, shooting arrows. He's playing cops and robbers. Well said, he's playing cops and robbers. He's not doing anything. You know, when we grew up, our parents, mayfim, never let us have a toy gun. Never let a toy gun. Today, you think a big deal, toy gun. What's, what's, what's? Who doesn't have a toy gun, a toy water gun? Parents said, What do you mean? You're right, it's toy and it's fun and it's play. You're right, it's only mitzachek. But in the mitzachek, there's retzichah. There's overtones of retzichah, and mimeila, this is already a bad hashpa'ah. And that's why the Torah doesn't write clearly what the mitzachek was. Avodah zarah? No, it was mitzachek, and it's a lashon of avodah zarah, and it's a lashon of giluy arayos, and it's a lashon of retzichah. The Ramban learns that he was actually mitzachek. Many Rishonim follow this mahalach, that it was mitzachek. He was joking. What was he joking? He was joking, mehavi melech nis'aber Sarah. You see, it says in the pasuk, the pasuk says, Vayigdal hayeled vayigamal, Vayaas Avraham mishteh gadol b'yom, and then it says, Vateire Sarah, that he was mitzachek. So the Ramban says we have to tie the two pesukim together. The mitzachek comes after, from the Vayigamal. And what was the mishteh? The mishteh was to show that it was his child. And not Avimelech, because everybody was saying Avimelech nis'aber Sarah, right? So therefore, the mitzachek is tied to the Avimelech nis'aber Sarah. That was the jokes. He walked around saying, Avimelech nis'aber Sarah. Is that so big? Is Avimelech nis'aber Sarah a reason? And don't forget, what was he saying? He was saying what he heard in the street. I mean, where does such a thing come from? That's what the reshaim hador was saying. So he was getting it off the internet. I'll say that. Okay, but he was getting it from somewhere, right? He was getting his information from somewhere, all right? He was listening to stations on the radio that were telling him, Avimelech nis'aber Sarah, and he was repeating it. And is that enough of a reason to throw him out of the house? So I could say, yeah, maybe. Maybe it's a bad thing to say in the house, Avimelech nis'aber Sarah. Or maybe the tzchok of it is a schlechte zach. It's a mean thing to make such a joke. Meaning, it's not only the content, but even if you're joking, the joking of it is already mean. You know, a person makes a joke. There's nice jokes, there's funny jokes, and there's mean jokes. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe according to the Ramban, this was a mean joke. Or maybe, if you look at the Ramban, it's mashma this way: from a joke, it becomes a fact. You joke about something that much, then you start to believe it after a while. Because what's going to happen is he's going to claim at the end, Avimelech nis'aber Sarah, and he's the yoresh. He'll want everything at the end, says the Ramban. Be careful from jokes. They start as jokes. You never know where that leads to. Sometimes a joke becomes that the person starts following and believing in his joke, and it becomes a reality, and it becomes a reality. We're learning up the pshat in Rabban Rabbeisay. Either the Ramban means that the joke of Maviyelech nis'abra Sarah—he's learning it's a joke, it's taka mitzachek, he was joking. But what type of joke? It's a very mean joke, Maviyelech nis'abra Sarah. So either it's the fact that he walked around saying this loshon hara, which was motzi shem ra, and motzi shem ra—you can't let motzi shem ra in the house. Or maybe it's the joke about the motzi shem ra, which is mean, and that's bad middos. Or the third pshat is that the joke, and the child becomes a joker, and he believes in his jokes, and he follows his jokes, and then he loses reality. Sometimes when you have a person that's all joke, and it's nothing real, from the joke becomes a reality, and the reality is a joke, so there's nobody. And he'll come and he'll say one day, Maviyelech nis'abra Sarah. Other Rishonim learn differently. Like I tell you, it's a joke. The joke—

Talking of Yishmael was the issue, but the Sippurna, Chizkuni, Aben Ezra, they talk about the joke, that being that Yishmael knew how to joke, Yitzchak didn't know how to joke. So she was niskaneh, she was jealous. That's the yesod in the Rishonim, yeah? Chizkuni, Rishonim. What's the problem with the Metzachik? It says clearly that this was a kinah from Sarah, right? She was miskaneh. What was she miskaneh? That Yishmael is making jokes, and her son isn't making jokes. What? That's what it boils down to? She was jealous that her son didn't have a sense of humor? That that's what it is? It's not more than that? It's an unbelievable question. It's that Yishmael is a metzachek, and that Yitzchak is not a metzachek, so she's jealous. So your son doesn't have a sense of humor; he does have a sense of humor, and that's what the kinah of Sarah Imeinu, to the point that she sends out Hagar with her son, and to the point that the Eibishter tells Avraham she's right, Shma b'kolah. What was she right about? That she's jealous that Yishmael has a sense of humor. I'll tell you another chiddush. The Tzror HaMor, which is a kadmon, says a chiddush: he was a metzachek, and she didn't understand his jokes. She didn't understand what he was talking about, so she perceived that he was metzachek about her. He used to walk around the house laughing, giggling, right? She always thought, you know, I think he's laughing at me. And he could be laughing, Mavi Melech and Sarah. So according to the Ramban, he was actually making that joke. He was actually saying, Mavi Melech and Sarah. The Tzror HaMor learns that he didn't say that. He didn't say anything. He was probably joking about who knows what, about the nonsense that was in his head. The fact that she saw him laughing, she always thought, laughing about me, laughing about me. And because of that, she decided she's got to get rid of him. So according to the Rishonim, the Chizkuni, the pshat is, he knows how to joke and Yishmael and Yitzchak doesn't. And according to the Tzror HaMor, it's even less than that. He jokes and she thinks it's about him. I remember I once sat at a table of a certain person on a Shabbos table, and he was makpid gamur that we all speak in Lashon Kodesh. Never forget, he made such a tirah, and he would come and show, it says in the halacha that b'koishi yatiru loimar Sholom b'Shabbos. You're really not supposed to talk at all on Shabbos. So if you talk, you're supposed to talk in Lashon Kodesh. You have to speak only in Lashon Kodesh, in Hebrew at his table. I never understood why he made such a tirah about it. I never understood why he made such an issue. He was makpid gamur. And then I realized. Then I realized. From things that he said, you know what the real issue was? When we would sit and talk in English, in his head he thought I was talking about him. He always was worried that if we would laugh, maybe we're joking about him. You hear? And then I realized the sensitivity of people, which is a very important nekudah, you hear? People are sensitive. You laugh, they think you're laughing about them. You know, in the morning, you smile at someone, right? The person is happy because he smiled at him. When you don't smile at him, you know what he thinks? Oh, he must be angry at me. Ooh, what did I do to him? What? And the truth is it has nothing to do with you. The truth is he had a bad day, I don't know, whatever. I don't have to tell you what a bad day looks like and sounds like. Bad day. The guy walks around thinking it's about him. That's why Rabbi Yisrael Salanter used to say, the face is a reshus harabim. The face of a person is a reshus harabim. The way you greet people, they think it's about them, and the truth has nothing to do with them. So you got to be careful. You might be hurting somebody with giving him the sour face that you feel about yourself. I believe, rabosai, that that's the pshat in the yetzer.

The Tzror Mor is saying that there was a chisaron in midos. Yishmael lacked the midos of not laughing in front of Sarah, that lack of sensitivity. Because when a person laughs in front of somebody, that person thinks it's about him. That's the chisaron. It's not so much that Sarah was hurt, and that's what I believe is the pshat in the Chizkuni as well. My son can't make a joke, and Yishmael knows how to make a joke. Maybe the pshat is Yishmael, he knew how to say a good joke. Yitzchak couldn't respond. Yitzchak didn't know how to respond. So bad midos, to make a joke where the playing field, so to speak, is not even. Sometimes a joke is good between people when the other guy gets the joke. But if you make a joke where the other guy doesn't get it, then you're hurting him. That's the pshat. The pshat in the Chizkuni is not that she was mekaneh, she was angry that Yishmael, she was jealous that Yishmael knew how to make a joke and Yitzchak didn't know how to make a joke. But she was hurt because Yitzchak was hearing a joke and he didn't understand jokes. It's possible, like the Tzror Mor says, he used to say, Ima melech and Sarah. He found it funny. He was joking. Maybe Yitzchak and Sarah didn't find it that funny. They didn't see what was so funny about it. When you make a joke, I like to say the words that's used, al cheshbon acheirim. You make a joke when it's on the cheshbon of other people, it's not a joke, and it becomes a ritzicha. It becomes a wicked, an act of ritzicha, Rabosai. You know, litzanus is good at times. Milusa d'bedichusa is good at times when both parties are enjoying it. But when only one party enjoys the joke, Rabosai, then it's not a joke anymore. Then it becomes retzicha, it becomes a dagger. And then it becomes avodah zarah. And then it becomes giluy arayos. That's the pshat, Rabosai, in this Chazal. The Rishonim are all trying to fataytch the word metzachek. What do you mean, metzachek? What did he do? And the answer is, he was metzachek. But in tzchok, there could be many things in tzchok. Tzchok at times could be giluy arayos. Tzchok at times could be retzicha. Sometimes because inherently it's retzicha. Tzchok about shooting somebody and killing somebody is not a joke. You can't say, I wanted to say I'm going to kill him and I'm just joking. That's not a joke. And then sometimes the joke itself is a retzicha when the other guy doesn't get it, when the other guy doesn't think it's funny. And that's what the other Rishonim are saying. The other Rishonim are saying she sees Yishmael is making jokes maybe about Yitzchok, gar. And Yitzchok doesn't respond, he doesn't joke. It's not funny to him. Or like the Tzror HaMor says, thinks that it's about her. That's not a joke. You got to be careful. You got to be careful that the joke isn't retzicha. And she sees that Yishmael doesn't care, and that's called a bad hashpaah, boys. This is the lesson that to be taken in the Metzachek. Our children come home with friends and jokes from school. What is the friend and what is the joke that he's coming home with? Is it innocent? Is it benign? Is it funny? Sometimes it's not that funny, if it's on the expense of others. Sometimes it's inherently nivul peh. Nivul peh. Sometimes it's nivul peh of arayos, sometimes nivul peh of avodah zarah, sometimes it's nivul peh of retzichah. It smacks, it has overtones of avodah zarah, giluy arayos. That's bad hashpaah. And the friend that gave it to him is considered a bad hashpaah. And there's a halachah, gareish es ha'am hazos v'es b'nah. The nisyon was to get rid of it. You got to cut it away, because hashpaah, like a fire, it will spread. It will cause damage. There's an interesting Ben Yehoyada. The Gemara says that Reish Lakish used to joke, used to joke, till he heard from, I don't remember.

Remember, the Tanna, the Rabbi Akiva, he heard from somebody not to joke, and he stopped. And he stopped. Says the Ben Yehoyada, what's the big deal? I mean, so he did it. So he was mekabel what he heard, that you're not supposed to do it, so he didn't do it. Says the Ben Yehoyada that the chiddush was because in nature he was a batchen. For Reish Lakish, not to joke was a difficult thing. Reish Lakish, in nature, was a batchen. And because he was a batchen, it was a big thing for him that he stopped making these jokes. I saw there's a new sefer called Megadim Chadashim. Very nice sefer, very interesting, melaket, beautiful, you know, yesodos and yedios. And he says, and what is the chiddush in that? So he brings from, I think, the Ramami Pano from earlier, that Reish Lakish was a gilgul of Yishmael. And because Reish Lakish was a gilgul of Yishmael, so he had the metzachek that Yishmael had. He had the metzachek that Yishmael had. So it was a big thing for him to uproot the inyan of metzachek. You know, sometimes the joke is deeper than just he said it. When the person becomes a jokeer, he sees that, Vateira Sarah es ben Hagar haMitzris asher yaldah l'Avraham, he's metzachek. He did tzchok, he made a tzchok, or he is a metzachek. I believe the pshat might be, it's past just making jokes. He's eimetzachik. That's who he is. He's a joker. He's a joker. And because he's a joker, so it's not anymore, okay, it's fun. Okay, he said it. Okay, he did it. But it's who the person is. And that sometimes means that the person inside is not shalem. There's something wrong. There's a very big difference between a person who makes a joke and a person who is a joker. Ayar, she sees. See, I don't know, I didn't know all the yedios. I saw it in the sefer, Megadim Chadash, and he quotes from Friediker, that Yishlakish was a big chiddush. He stopped making badchanes because it was against his tchunah, because he was a gilgul of Yishmael, not the maaseh. Pshat, the pshat is that not Yishmael made jokes, because then it wouldn't go into the kids. It wouldn't be in the gilgul neshmasai. It wouldn't be in the doros later, so to speak. And then it wouldn't have been mashpia either. You see? Not macht men a joke, mitzachik, all right. You could say, I'm sorry for that, but it was more. It was mitzachik. Sarah understood, you see? Sarah, who was together with them and sees the contrast between Yitzchak and Yishmael, she begins to see that it's deeper than just he made the joke. But let us use the words, he is a joke. He's a joke. He's a mitzachik. He's a joker. We got to get rid of him. With this, rabosai, I think we could say a tremendous yesod. Retzonus. Ber hashpo. We shouldn't take it lightly. And the way we're explaining, because Yishmael, I could see where Avraham is saying, So what? What'd he do already? I mean, if he came and he did giluy arayos and shefichas damim, okay, so then I understand that, you know, get rid of him, finished, done. But this is metzachek. Here Avraham, Avraham feels, ber aloidis b'nai. I mean, and let's even, don't forget, isn't there a rule, Vayishma Hashem el kol hanaar ba'asher hu sham, that the Eibishter protected him. Why? Because ba'asher hu sham, he didn't do anything wrong. That's what it says, ba'asher hu sham, he was tzaddik. At that moment, he was a tzaddik. Yeah, but I thought he was doing avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shefichas damim. Isn't that what Rashi says? Didn't Rashi tell us that he did the worst of the three aveiros? He did the giluy arayos, shefichas damim, retzichah. So why, Vayishma Hashem el kol hanaar ba'asher hu sham, at that moment he was a tzaddik, Hashem let him go. And the Torah says it wasn't outright giluy arayos, and it wasn't outright avodah zarah, it wasn't outright shefichas damim. What he did was benign, per se, as far as he's—

As far as him, but as far as his hashpaah on Yitzchak, that's dangerous, because it was a metzachek, you see. Had he takke done avodah zarah, had he takke did shefichas damim, had he takke tried to shoot Yitzchak, so what, Avraham as a ahavah mean to keep him in the house? I mean, who wouldn't call protection if one son wants to kill another son? Who wouldn't protect? And the answer is, it was able to be explained away as, I was just joking. That's what Sarah says, I don't like. That's the problem. It's not the retzichah. It's not that he was going to shoot him. I don't believe, I don't believe Yishmael was going to shoot him. I don't believe that. But even the joke about trying to shoot him, and even the joke about the metzachek already, is ki lo yirash ben haamah hazos im bni Yitzchak. The Ksav V'Kabbalah says, if you notice the word yirash, right? What's the lashon of the pasuk? Garesh haamah hazos v'es b'nah ki lo yirash ben haamah hazos im bni Yitzchak. Notice that it says the word yirash. Says the Ksav V'Kabbalah, there's two leshonos. There's one lashon nachlah, and there's one lashon of yerushah. What's the difference between nachlah and yerushah? He says a me'irdike zach. Nachlah is when you divide between the brothers. That's called a nachlah, inheritance. Yerushah, when you're the only one. Ki lo yirash, it's either/or. It's not a nachlah im bni Yitzchak. If it's nachlah, so then maybe a little, a little. It's this vort, I think, of the Chofetz Chaim. There's no compromise. It's either yiras zeh or yiras zeh. It's one of the two. Either Yitzchak, the tzaddik Yitzchak, or he drags Yitzchak completely in the other direction. Ki lo yirash, not ki lo yinchal. Nachalah, says the ksav v'kabbalah, means inheritance spread out. It's not what he's saying, ki lo yinchal, that he'll have a part and Yitzchak will have a part. No, ki lo yirash. It's either/or. It's yerusha. Either Yitzchak gets it, and I don't want that Yitzchak should lose everything. Don't think, ah, it's a compromise. All right, so he won't. No, it's not. The minute you start thinking, you should understand that you're losing your child completely. If you let him become mushpa from bad hashpa... Where does the mekor of this hashpa? Where does it come from? He's a child. At the end of the day, Yishmael is just a child. So I explained to you that Yishmael got it from the radio, so to speak. Why? Because he heard the people in the street saying, Macha Melech, nisaber Sarah, right? That's the— I mean, how does a child become, at a young age, to become so rotten, so to speak, that he's a bad hashpa? The answer is he listens to what's out in the street, which is a tremendous lesson. It's mashma like that in the Medrash. He got it from the street. Rabosai, the street is dangerous. The street is where we lose our kids. And the more we expose them to the street, the more we're giving our children away. We're losing our children with that. The bad hashpaah comes from the street. But Rabbei said, I'd like to point out, sometimes it actually comes from the home. It comes from the parents. And this is a mefurash Rosh. Rosh is medayek in the pasuk. It says, Gareish ha'ama hazos, and then ve'es bnah. Even if the trup of it, if people who know taamei haMikra, it's Gareish ha'ama hazos. It's a mercha tipcha, right? Gareish ha'ama hazos, stop, ve'es bnah. It's like it's as if it's not, get rid of the mother and the child. Get rid of the mother, get rid of the child. Why the mother first? It should say, get rid of the child with his mother, if it's with. And dikduk, Rabboisai, I mean the Rosh doesn't speak the dikduk, but l'choira in taamei haMikra it's even more blatant the question. It's more obvious. Gareish ha'ama hazos ve'es bnah. It should be, Gareish ha'ben im ha'ima, together with his mother. Says the Rosh, the ikar was Gareish es ha'ama, because the Rishon understood that the bad—

Starts with the mother. It is children who are repeating over what they hear from the parents, and he says that's the way of life. Children, when you see bad, they're just repeating what they saw by their mother. The ... from the Rosh, you hear? Yiddish is an expression, Vos kleine shpayen, greise kayin. What does that mean? What little kids spit out, it's actually coming was the greise, the ones at home, the big ones are chewing. Now they're more polished than to say it in the street, right? So the kids say it in the street. The yesod of chinuch begins with the parents. And if there's bad hashpaah coming from a kid, you got to start searching, A, in the street, and maybe even more so in the ama, in the mother, the ima, to see where it's coming from. Because the children are a hashpaah directly from the parents. Don't think that if you talk in shul, your son will turn out to be a talmid chacham because he sees you. How many times do parents say, Don't do, and then they do the same thing. What do you expect is supposed to happen, right? A person who at home doesn't learn, what do you want, your kid to come home from yeshiva and do his homework? What do you expect? You don't learn. What children see, they're a mirror of the parents. They're just going to repeat that. I told you over many times that there was a story about a child in yeshiva when the Rebbe asked— What's more chashuv, more important than Torah? And he was expecting all the kids to answer nothing. Nothing's more important than Torah. Torah is. And all the kids did, besides for one. One said, I believe that the cholent on Shabbos is more important than Torah. So the Rebbe thought he was joking, so the Rebbe gave him a smack. So the kid goes, Why'd you give me a smack for? I'm telling you, the cholent is more important than Torah. So he sends him to the menahel, and the menahel is completely spellbound. What? Completely confused. How does a kid answer that? He's not afraid, and he says it again. He doesn't see what he said wrong. He says, Tell me, why would you say a thing like that? He said, I'll tell you the emes. I come home every Shabbos with the dvar Torah, and I want to say it in the beginning of the meal. My father always tells me, Not yet. First comes the cholent. He said, First comes the cholent, you hear? So I see that the cholent is more important than the Torah. Now, b'ezras, bitach shpa doesn't have to be with doing bad. Even subliminal messages that we give in the house are also bitach shpa for the children. It's going to lead the children to go off from middos tovos, to not follow the derech haTorah and middos tovos as well. You don't have to sit at a Shabbos table and speak blatant vulgar lashon hara that the kids should walk around being critical, bad people. That's obvious. It's even the nuances. If a parent sits at a table and you mention somebody or something or another, gadla... Makes a, there's a famous line, with the nose a person could kill somebody, a machtn noz. That's going to have hashpa'ah l'doros on your children, rabosai, if you're not a positive person, if you don't speak highly of talmidei chachamim, if the atmosphere in the house is critical, it's going to be that. And if the atmosphere in the house is mitzachek, it's all a big joke, then everything's a joke, and then your kids will turn out to be a mitzachek. Goreises ha'oma zois ve'es b'nah. It's in the amah, and Sarah understood this, that it all begins, begins with the mother, with the parents. And in some cases, like I said, it might be the outside. Sometimes the parents are not responsible. Sometimes the parents lose the chinuch of the child to the outside world, which is mashpia, the midrash happened by Yishmael. But then there are times where it's michutz tishakel cherev, mibayis. It's sometimes that it's from within, not only michutz, from outside, mibayis, u'micheder chadarim. It could be from the inner side. Sometimes the plague, so to speak, is from the outside, and sometimes the plague is from the inside, from within, from the house.

This becomes a bir hashpo. The lessons of the chinuch are obvious. We have to be sure and careful that we're giving over the proper chinuch. And if not, if we find that there's bir hashpo, we got to get rid of it. Sometimes the hashpo can mean what's in the house, not only a person. It can mean a television. It can mean a computer. It can mean a newspaper. Just because the pasuk of garesh es haamah hazos, the nisayon was about a person, but it could be about an idea. It could be about a thing. Whatever the bir hashpo is, it's part of this nisayon of garish. And sometimes it's hard. Sometimes parents feel that they need it. A lot of the bir hashpo we bring into our homes is because the parents feel that they need that. They need to read this newspaper, and they need to see whatever they need to see, and then they're melamed zechus, and therefore they leave it in the house, and therefore the child ends up getting it. It doesn't only have to be a bad person that's mashpia, but it could be a bad thing, or even a bad idea, a bad concept. It could also ruin the house, and that's part of garesh es haamah hazos v'es bnah. You got to be able to cut it away. This is on the negative side. I'd like to talk a little bit about the chinuch on the positive side. What becomes the chinuch? You know, it's interesting that the krias haTorah of Rosh Hashanah is this, the story of Yishmael, and then it's the story of the Akeidah, which comes after, Vayehi achar hadvarim ha'eileh, v'Elokim nisah es Avraham, right? Shh. V'Elokim nisah es Avraham, right? Shh. V'Elokim nisah es Avraham. What's achar hadvarim ha'eileh? So Chazal already speak about the achar hadvarim, Vayehi achar hadvarim ha'eileh. The Eish Moshe says, oymach dvar shel Satan, the seudah. I would say maybe another pshat, Vayehi achar hadvarim ha'eileh. Once you're mekayem the goresh es ha'ama hazos v'es b'nah, you protected Yitzchak from the bad hashpaah. Now Yitzchak's roi to be a korban. Now Yitzchak's pure. Now you've completed the circle of the chinuch habanim, that your son is roi l'hakravah to be a korban al hamizbeach. Vayehi achar hadvarim ha'eileh, after the nisayon nine, which you went and you protected Yitzchak from the hashpaah, so you mechanech him al taharas hakodesh, Elokim nisah es Avraham. The next thing is now you have a son that's going to go to be roi al hamizbeach. It goes back to back, nine and ten, and not disconnected. Nisayon nine and nisayon ten are related, and one leads to the other. Vayehi achar hadvarim ha'eileh, after you mekayem the nisayon of goresh es ha'amah, now you have a ben hakadosh. It's not only in the negative in chinuch that you have to protect, that the child shouldn't have negative exposure, exposure to the negative, but he also has to have exposure to the positive: kedusha, middos tovos, middos tovos. The more you put into your children, the more kadosh. It's brought down that, it's known, that one of the reasons that Sarah was niftar, kemat shelo nishchat, that Sarah died either because thinking that he was, that Yitzchak was taken as a korban, and others learn that kemat shelo nishchat, he wasn't. Was there something wrong with my chinuch? There was something wrong with my child? Was there something wrong that he wasn't roi to be a korban? And that's why Sarah dies. Sarah is wondering, did we not reach the level my son should have been who he is? You know, it's interesting, in the beginning of the parsha, U'vYitzchak yikarei lecha zara.

Ki b'Yitzchak yikarei lecha zara. It should have been ki Yitzchak yikarei lecha zara. What's b'Yitzchak? It's the lashon im Yitzchak. It should say, ki Yitzchak, Yitzchak will be called zara. Brought down in the sefarim. Ki b'Yitzchak, in Yitzchak, yikarei lecha, they'll call in him, Ach, this is zera Avraham. To reach the level that this is your son. In Yiddish, there's a poem. They make songs of this poem. And I'll just tell you one of the final stanzas of the poem is, Afilu ven ich fal. Even when I fall, ich bin almal mayn tate's a kind. He tells the yetzer hara that even though you might sometimes get the better of me, but even when I fall, I always remain my father's son. A Yid is always the son of his father. We are the sons of Avraham Avinu. Ki b'Yitzchak, when a Yid walks in the street, you know what he takes with him? He's a kind fun Avraham Avinu. This is a child of Avraham Avinu. Ki b'Yitzchak, in Yitzchak, when people see Yitzchak yikarei lecha, they'll say, Ach, this is zera, this is his children. It's not enough just to have children. We have to have children that embrace, that glorify, vos a Yid. They carry with them the beauty. They carry with them the yichus, the yichus, that they're zera Avraham. How many times do Chazal identify what is a zeh Rav Rom? Baishonim, gomlei chasadim, right? These are the simanim of the zeh Rav Rom. There's a certain level that we reach, that we carry with us the title of zeh Rav Rom, and that level has criteria: Rachmana, baishanim, gomlei chasadim. Ki b'Yitzchak, with Yitzchak, yikarei lecha zara. Chinuch is not only not negative, but the chinuch has to be a positive in Torah and yiras Shamayim and middos. You know, we just had in the Daf Yomi, the last blatt of Pesachim, we had pidyon haben. Pidyon haben is an interesting mitzvah. We come to the kohen and we literally podeh. We buy back our son. We buy back our son. When the son is born, theoretically, and maybe even more than theoretically, because I don't really know what the right word to use is, he belongs to the kohen. Now why do we give five selaim? Why is that the amount? Pashut gezeiras hakasuv, the Torah says so. The Gemara in Shekalim tells us that there's a reason for the five selaim. The Gemara tells us in perek beis, halacha gimel in Shekalim, that the reason for the five selaim is a tikkun for mechiras Yosef. The amount of money paid to the brothers for mechiras Yosef was five, and therefore pidyon haben is five. Comes the Meshech Chochmah, Shemos yud-gimmel, yud-gimmel, on the pasuk of pidyon haben, he says he doesn't understand: who was the one who sold Yosef? It was Levi. It was Levi. So how could it be that Levi gets the money for the pidyon haben, the chapela? If anything, if you want to be mesaken pidyon haben, you should have had that Levi should pay the Yisrael the money for the pidyon haben. How could it be that Levi's getting the money? There's an expression, Harotzachta v'gam yarashta? You want to do the aveirah and still get paid for it? The Meshech Chochmah has arichus to explain this. How does it work, pidyon haben, that the Levi gets the money? I'd like to share with you a gedanken, a thought that I had to explain pidyon haben, the Levi's role in the pidyon haben and why he gets the money. Originally, everything was by the bechor. The bechor was supposed to be the oved in the Beis Hamikdash. What was bechor? Now, bechor has in it two ma'alos. It has in it two tracts of chashivus. One is, it's a monetary thing. He gets yerushah, he gets pishnayim, he gets the kavod, he gets the honors. He's the head of the house, the bechor. But it's also ma'alos ruchni, and that is whatever the ma'alos of bechor, he does the avodah. Eisav was a bechor. He only wanted half of the bechor.

He wanted the monetary, the kovod, right? That's what he was upset about. When does he become crazy about the bechirah? When it comes to kefurah, when it comes to burial, right? Then he's the bechor. Shalom aleichem, I'm here, I'm the bechor. But the truth is, the part of the avodah, which Rashi tells us clearly he didn't want. Hinei anochi holech lamus on the avodah. I don't want the chelek of avodas Beis HaMikdash, kedushah mailah. I don't want to live my life the way I am, like Bilaam says, Tamos nafshi mos yesharim. Bechirah, when I die, not when I'm alive. When I'm alive, I want Olam Hazeh. Yaakov, Yaakov understands that what? That the inyan of the bechirah is more than just the enjoyments that come with it, the benefits that come with it. It's an achrayus. It's a responsibility. It's kedushah. So he buys it, so to speak. He buys it, so to speak, from Esav. The mefarshim ask, buying? How could you buy a thing like this? It's either/or. Either you're a bechor or you're not a bechor. How can a person buy bechirah? It's not something that can be sold. Either you are or you're not. And the answer is, avadah. The physical part of the bechirah is what it is. But then there's a ruchniyus part of the bechirah, and that has to be wanting. You have to want it, and you have to work on it, and you have to be koneh it. Like all things in ruchniyus. All things in ruchniyus has to be, Torah has to have a kinyan, kinyan haTorah. You have to achieve it. It doesn't come by itself. Yaakov Avinu gives the bechairah, so to speak, to Yosef. One second, Reuven. What happened to Reuven? Yes, Yosef was bechor l'imo. Ma'aseh, Reuven was bechor l'imo u'la'aviv, right? What's not Reuven? Reuven is not the bechor. And the answer is very poshut. Yosef had the ma'alos. Ziv ikunin. Yosef was mamash a copy of Yaakov Avinu. When he gives him the kesones passim, the brothers are jealous. You know why? They don't understand. Wait a minute. Bechor, bechor is ma'alos. There's ma'alos to bechor: avodah, the kesones passim, the nice clothing, the money in it. That should go to Reuven. Reuven was the bechor. Lefi dargasam. I'm not saying it—we have very little understanding in the shevatim and the bechiras Yosef—but the little bit that we see, it's definitely there was a kinah there. There was some sort of jealousy, that's clear. So, lefi madregasam, they didn't understand that bechorah is not totally in peter rechem only, but it's in the achievements of ruchniyus that you have in it. Lefi what a person achieves in the ruchniyus, that's bechorah. Here, habeisei nachamo, hev nachamo. Yaakov understands that he wasn't a bechor, but he turned into the bechor. Feels that therefore Yosef could be a bechor. Therefore it could be such a thing. Therefore, because at the end of the day, the bechaira, avada there's a part of bechaira which is the firstborn, peter rechem, no question about it. But it's not only that. You can't just say, I'm a peter rechem. Eisav said that, I'm a peter rechem, so what's the difference what I do? With peter rechem, there has to be kinyanim ruchniyim that have to—there has to be a life of mesiras nefesh, Torah and avodah, kinyan. Yosef had that, and Yosef gets the bechaira. The ksones pasim wasn't a physical thing. The ksones pasim resembled inyanim; it was a symbol for inyanim ruchniyim. That's where Levi comes in. Who was the bechor? The bechor till Levi, right? As soon as Levi killed out b'mesiras nefesh all those that did the eigel, they became the bechorim in the avodah, so to speak. You hear? Levi. Levi, who says Mi laShem eilai, takes away the bechaira from the bechor and does the avodah now. But he's not a bechor, Levi. Yeah, but he said, Mi laShem eilai. Mesiras nefesh for Torah and for ruchniyus, that is bechaira. There's two parts to bechaira. There's the physical and—

Then there's the bechirah, the ruchni, that a person elevates himself in mesiras nefesh to do avodas Hashem. So therefore Levi becomes, instead of the bechor, tachas, tachas kol habechorim. Zeidy used to say over that the Chofetz Chaim, zichrono livrachah, used to say, You know why I am a kohen? You're not a kohen. I am a kohen. You know why? Says the Chofetz Chaim, I'll tell you why. Because my zeidy said Mi laShem eilai, and your zeidy didn't say that. Now, I don't tell you you should walk around talking like that. Don't say, My zeidy, your zeidy. We're all, baruch Hashem, am echad, we're all from one zeidy, no problem. All right? Chofetz Chaim had the right to say it because he meant it with love. He was trying to bring out that my grandfather said Mi laShem eilai, and that's who I am today. The Mi laShem eilai produced the maila of bechor of pidyon peter, that the bechor is kodem l'chol davar. Who is everything first? The kohen today. Here, you're sitting at a table. You have a bechor and a kohen. A bechor and a kohen. Who benches? The kohen. Wait, but the bechor. Mi laShem eilai is the difference. The difference between the bechor — the bechor, you're right, you're peter rechem — but the maila of bechor is Levi, is Levi. You know, when in a shul you have a kohen... You don't have a Levi to wash his hands. Who goes to wash the hands of the Levi? Bechor. What are we saying? We're teaching him. Go service the Kohen. Bechor, get down on your knees now and wash the Kohen. Tell him, no? What, a Bechor? Get somebody else. A Bechor has to do it. It's to remind him: you were supposed to be, you could have been, you should have been, your olam was got there, yeah, you just, you missed it. You're tachas Levi. Not only is Levi tachas Bechor, but Bechor is tachas Levi. Bechor, you're Bechor. You're something, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You would have been, you should have been, you could have been, you had... I say that's the minhag. When there's no Levi, you take a Bechor to go wash the hands of the Kohen, because he's really... he's almost there. It's brought down in Chazal that lasid lavo, the Bechorim are going to come back, and they're going to do the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. The whole shevet is together with the Leviim, but without the Leviim, all right, it's a whole discussion in the Rishonim: how is it going to work, lasid lavo? But that's irrelevant for us. When Moshiach comes, we'll know what's what. But the point being, the Bechor and Levi is a war, so to speak, at the hip, joined at the hip. The Bechor comes with his rights of firstborn. The Levi comes with his maalah. Mi laShem eilai, mi laShem eilai. Now when a child is born, if you notice, it doesn't say that the child is kadosh. The pasuk says, Kadesh li kol bechor. Kadesh li kol bechor? You make the kedushah of the bechor; it's memeila. It happens as soon as he's born. The Netziv asks this for a kashya. The Netziv in Haamek She'eilah says he doesn't understand: why does it say, Kadesh li kol bechor? What's kadesh li kol bechor? It's memeila, right? Haamek Davar, Shemos yud-gimmel. The Netziv, he asks this for a kashya. Why kadesh? I believe the Torah is pashut. Don't think it happens by itself. The kedushah of your son, he's given the opportunity because he's a firstborn, but it still takes a lot of kadesh li that you have to instill in him kedushah. The Torah is trying to teach me you could take a bechor and redeem too; Eisav did that. It's very easy to take. Tell me something: who's the bechor, Yishmael or Yitzchak? As far as the father, Yishmael was older, right? Yishmael could come and say— they do that. Unfortunately, I believe that that's what the whole Muslim world is screaming: Yishmael is the older son. That's what they're screaming about. Yishmael is the older son. But he's not the bechor. That's what the pasuk is telling us.

Ki lo yirash, ki b'Yitzchak yikarei lecha zara. What are you talking about? He's the older boy, but he's not the mi l'Hashem eilai. Kadesh li kol bechor. Bechor is not, rabosai, what? A bechor mimeila. A bechor is that the father has to take. It's an opportunity. Avadeh, he's born with certain kishrin and certain koiches, koiches, that he could be kedushah. But the father needs to now do what? Kadesh li. And therefore, I believe he goes to the Levi. The Levi becomes the raya. The Levi becomes the symbol of kadesh li. It's not enough just to be firstborn. You need the mesiras nefesh of the mi l'Hashem eilai. You need the mesiras nefesh of the mi l'Hashem eilai. Kadesh li kol bechor. You want a son? Go to the Levi. This kid is born to the Levi, not to you, because the Levi is kadesh li. The Levi is kadosh. Now you want to have him in your house. You want to take him, right? So you have to be podeh the kedushah. Tell me, when you're podeh kedushah, how does it work? Does anybody know? You're podeh. What happens to the thing that you're podeh? It goes now what? That you could desecrate it? Can I do whatever I want with it? Can I take it and— no. I have to eat it. I have to use it properly. It was once kodesh. Kadesh li kol bechor. Take your son. Understand that he is born with kedushas bechorah, and therefore kadesh li. Now you got to behave in a way that it's kadesh li. Otherwise that's called desecrating the kedusha that once was, or the kedusha that could have been, or that should be. So we go to the Levi, and we're podeh from the Levi. If you ever noticed the lashon of the pidyon haben, it's very interesting. Mai ba'is tefei? The Levi asks, Mai ba'is tefei? And what's the answer? Mai ba'is tefei? I'd rather have my son, and I'd rather give you the money. Are we joking? Does the Levi actually ask, Mai ba'is tefei, like it's a real question? Why did the chachamim, anshei Knesset HaGedolah, whoever was mesaken the nusach of the ma'aseh pidyon haben, say it in a way which is really a metzachek? It's a joke. What are you saying already? Just say, I know you want your son. Give me the money. What do you want? Like it's a question. Beisai, I think one of two things, and one is really added to the other. The first pshat will be the basis for the second pshat. I think the pshat is like this. Pshat number one: we want the father to understand what is bechor, Mai ba'is tefei. Do you want the money part of the bechor? Is it about bechor, money? Is it about kavod? Or is it about kedushas haben, Mai ba'is tefei? Is it the money or the son? Do you understand that the kedushas bechor, is it about money? Money give to the kayin. Now, what is it about? It's about ben. And now I think we can say a second pshat, which is even deeper. You're taking your son into the house. It's supposed to be kadosh because he's... My boy is tfei. Make a decision in life what you want your house to be about. Either you want your house to be all about money, or you want your house to be about kedushas haben. Don't forget, you're starting a family. This guy is starting a home, and this is his first child. It's a lesson. What's the home? My boy is tfei. Is the goal of the house to make money, to achieve wealth, to get a house, and to go on vacations? It's going to be on the expense sometimes of the kedushas haben. I don't have time to learn with my son. We have to go on vacation. It's not good for him. We live in a neighborhood. It's not good for the chinuch of my children. But I need this neighborhood. It's a fancy, upscale neighborhood. Or do I give it all up? And maybe even deeper, do I give up the rights of the bechor to the Levi, the money, the money part of...

The bechor. I give to the Levi, I'll give to the Beis Hamikdash. I have no problem with that. I'll take the kedushah of the ben, the second part. You see what Rabbeinu is saying? The lesson in chinuch is we have a choice to make. We could either say, Yishmael, the bechor, the firstborn, Esav, the bechor, the firstborn, or Yaakov and Yitzchak, the real bechor, the mi LaShem elai. Kadesh li kol bechor. Got to choose, Rabboisai. We got to choose in our children what bechor is. Kadesh li kol bechor. It's not just he was born first. Many have been born first. Esav was born first. Yishmael was born first. No, no, no. It's Kadesh li kol bechor. It's what you take, it's what you do, and it's a decision in the house. And the Levi is asking him, I'm not giving up this kid so fast. I got to see, like child protection. You ever see my child protection? Before they give you an adopted kid, they check out to see if the house is fit, if the parents are fit, if the home is conducive for the growth and health of this child, right? You can't just come in, I want to adopt a kid. The Levi is asking the same question. Fill out the papers. Let me see. What's this house? I'm not just going to give up the bechor; they should go live in your house. I want to know what you want. Do you want money, or do you want kedushah? Which one is the house going to—what's going to be the tenets, the basis, the goal, the focus of the house? What is it? Is it this or is it that? Ah, you want the son over the money, which means you're even saying, Bechor, you know what? You take the money, the Bechor. I believe maybe we could say a pshat in the Gemara. Yesterday we had the Daf Yomi, and everybody asked this for a question, and it's actually the Rishonim are reading this question. The Gemara has a shaila: who makes the shehecheyanu? Does the Kohen make the shehecheyanu, or does the avi haben, does he make the shehecheyanu? What are the two צדדים? Maybe the Kohen makes it because kamati hanaah leyadei; he gets the enjoyment. Or does the father make the bracha because what? It's his son. Fragging the Rishonim, what does one have to do with the other? The shehecheyanu is about the mitzvah; it isn't about the—so what does it have to do with the fact that he's getting enjoyment? The hanaah is not the mitzvah. Granted, so let him make a tov v'hametiv. He got himself money now, so let him make a tov v'hametiv. How did that become a shehecheyanu, which is l'choira in the mitzvah? Or let them both make a shehecheyanu. Zei fregt the Rivash, let them both make a shehecheyanu. He should make a shehecheyanu because he did the mitzvah, and he should make a shehecheyanu because— I believe, chaveirim, according to what I explained to you, it's very deep. There's a deep understanding over here. We're talking about the bechor. The bechor has money; it has money rights to it. What is the opinion of ben about? Is it the father who takes the boy and gives back the money, or is it the Levi who's giving over the boy b'kedushah and taking away the money? The hanaah leyadei means in the mitzvah of bechor. Hasid, like I explained to you, two things. It has the monetary, it has the physical benefits. And then there's the kedusha. So now there's a switch here. So we're a team. The Levi, the Kohen, and the Yisrael are now going into a business deal together, so to speak. And they're saying, you know what? I have the child while you have the money. Bechor means both. You know what? I'll entrust the son to you. Show me that you're ready to give up the Kohen, the bechor, the benefits of the money. The five selaim, what the brothers sold Yosef for, for the misunderstanding what the bechorah is. And they sold him for this. Now we're mesaken it by giving the money to Levi, by saying, I got it now. The bechor is about the kedusha, not the money. I give you the money. You're a bechor because you took away the bechorah. You know what? Give me the kid, I'll give you the rights. I'll give up those rights because it's not about those rights. It's not about the money. The mechirah was about misunderstanding bechorah, and therefore they sold him for this amount of money.

The tikkun is by saying we're going to reverse this. Bechor is about the kid, about the kedushah, the child. The benefits, you'll take them. But it's within the context of the pidyon, that we're going to divide now the benefits of the bechor and the kedushah of the bechor. And the question is, so who does what? Is it the Levi who's giving, the Kohen who's giving, or is it Yisrael that's getting the child? Because in it, as a partner, they're doing a pidyon ha-ben, and they're going to the heart and the core of what it means, bechor and kedushas bechor. And that's why the havamina, there was a shailah in the Gemara: who should make the shehecheyanu? Should the shehecheyanu mean because the Levi is giving kadosh to the Yisrael? The Levi is giving kadosh to Yisrael. He's the adopter; he's giving the adoption, he's putting up his son for adoption, so to speak. Or is it the family that's accepting the adoption, the Yisrael? Because together, they're going to the heart and core of what it means to be a bechor, what it means to have kedushas bechor, what it means to be mesaken pidyon, to be mesaken what happened by Yosef, that they were mekaneh and sold him for money. They're undoing, they're dissecting, they're replacing the mechirah with the pidyon. They're reversing—that's the right word—they're reversing the pidyon, the mechirah, excuse me, they're reversing the pidyon with the mechirah. They're reversing the pidyon with the mechirah. The mechirah was that the bechorah was switched for money, for physical, for honor. And now they're saying, here's the bechorah, and we're switching it the other way around, that we're giving the money to the Beis HaMikdash. The ikar is what? Kedushas ha-ben, kadesh li kol bechor. The lesson, rabosai, is poshut. Like I said, be'ezras Hashem, you got to be careful, but it's not enough. In order to have a good home, the home has to begin, has to begin on a note of kadesh li kol bechor, ma boyis tfei, the right hashpaah, with kedushah, with the chinuch for good middos. And then we're zocheh to hakedah, we're zocheh to children who will be mekadesh shem Shamayim. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.