Vayigash: Yaakov’s Krias Shema, Hachnaah, and the Power of Nefilas Apayim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. That after so many years of separation, when Yaakov Avinu finally meets Yosef, Chazal point out that the pasuk says that Yosef, hatzadik, falls on his father's shoulder and kisses him, while the pasuk implies that it didn't work the other way, that Yaakov kisses Yosef. And the question is, why was it one-sided? Why is it that Yosef kisses his father while his father doesn't kiss Yosef? So Chazal say because Yaakov Avinu was reading Kriyas Shema at the time. Yaakov Avinu was reading Kriyas Shema, and during Kriyas Shema one may not be mafsik, one may not make gestures, so therefore he doesn't fall on Yosef and kiss him. Why is Yaakov Avinu reading Kriyas Shema? So we have to say because it was the time to read Kriyas Shema, kepshuto. That would be the simple reason why he's reading Kriyas Shema, and then thus it brings out the question, why was Yosef not reading Kriyas Shema? If it's the time of Kriyas Shema, then just like Yaakov reads Kriyas Shema, then therefore he can't kiss Yosef, so Yosef should be reading Kriyas Shema as well. So the question is not earth-shattering, because we could say a simple answer. Yaakov traveled. Traveling, he didn't want to say Kriishma. He comes to Yosef, he stops. Now he's able to say Kriishma with kavanah, and so he says Kriishma. Yosef, maybe he said Kriishma before. Maybe Yosef didn't have to wait to the last minute to say Kriishma. Pshat is maybe this zman Kriishma was passing, and since this zman Kriishma was passing, so Yaakov said Kriishma. Why? Because Yosef already said it. He said it before. That would be the pashut pshat, and the meileh the kasha doesn't require much change and more than simple pshat. Yaakov, yeah, he reads Kriishma because could be he delayed the reading of the Kriishma. He comes to Yosef, the traveling is over. Maybe the time was short, and therefore it was time to quickly read Kriishma instead of reading his son, while Yosef already said Kriishma. Yosef done with a second minyan. It's yadua. It's famous, the Teretz brought many sefarim, the Maharal and others, that it's not about Kriishma, this zman, the chiyuv, but this was something that Yaakov did on his own, which possibly he already said Kriishma for the chiyuv. This was a second Kriishma, a separate Kriishma. Yaakov Avinu expresses himself upon seeing his son Yosef by reading Kriishma. So it's more about, it's more about Kriyas Shema. Yaakov Avinu is reading and saying, it's a Kabbalas ol Malchus Shamayim that Yaakov Avinu is doing, and therefore Yaakov did it, Yosef. It's not a question if it's a zman; it had nothing to do with the zman and the chiyuv. Mameila, it's not a question why Yosef didn't do it, only Yaakov Avinu did it. Why would Yaakov Avinu say Kriyas Shema when he sees Yosef? So there's many ways of saying this teretz, but the most classical way that the Acharonim seem to say is that at the moment where he felt an overabundance of love for his son, he wanted to take that opportunity and use it, love for the Ribono Shel Olam. At the moment, at the moment where he sees his son and the tremendous hergeshim, the feelings of love, of longing, that are now coming to fruition by seeing Yosef, he wants to dedicate. He wants to be mechaven l'ahavah shebaShamayim d'Ribono Shel Olam. They say over, I heard this from my zeide, that when the Chofetz Chaim's son, Reb Leib, was niftar...

The Chofetz Chaim stood up and said, Rebbeinu Shleilam, till now I had to share the love that a father has between You, Rebbeinu Shleilam, and my son. I'm a father, I have love for my son. Now I can dedicate all my love, all my thoughts to You. I don't have to share it now between a son and the Rebbeinu Shleilam. This is what Yaakov is saying. I know there's tremendous feelings and hergeshim and thoughts. It's all mechuven klapi Shmaya. This would be the pshat of most of the mefarshim, and why Yaakov Avinu is reading Kriyas Shema at this juncture, at this moment. Maybe we could say, maybe with a little bit different nusach, a different understanding, that Yaakov Avinu, in seeing Yosef, realizes the Rebbeinu Shleilam's master plan. He realizes that the Rebbeinu Shleilam is Melech ha'olam. Take a look how the Rebbeinu Shleilam planned and brought about that Yosef should be the melech in Mitzrayim. Recognizing the Rebbeinu Shleilam in the story, he's mekabel ol malchus Shamayim. He's recognizing the Rebbeinu Shleilam. You see here the hand of Hashem, and so he says Kriyas Shema. That's another way how I would say, I guess the same teretz with a different nusach. The Maharal another say it is that he wanted to be mechaven the love towards the Rebbeinu Shleilam, direct his love that he has now and say it's all for You, Rebbeinu Shleilam. All we could come and say that it was a Kabolas Ol Malchus Shamayim. He saw the hand of Hashem. He's accepting and realizing and declaring, Rabbeinu shel olam, ein od milvado. I see how great You are, because look how the story concluded after all this time. Look at the last chapter that was written. Look at Yosef. This Chabeisai is known. A pshat that everybody knows, the reading of the Kriyas Shema, when Yaakov Avinu meets his son Yosef. What's a little less known is something which is found in the Maharami Panoch. See the Shuvim, bring it. They don't quote necessarily the Maharami Panoch on Aseres HaMoros, but it's actually in the Maharami Panoch. It's a rishon that Yaakov Avinu also said Shemoneh Esrei at the time. Now, chayif he said Kriyas Shema, and we're talking about the chiyuv Kriyas Shema, then it makes sense that he should say Shemoneh Esrei. But after Shemoneh Esrei, he also said Tachanun. When, upon seeing Yosef, Yaakov Avinu says Tachanun. What is the Tachanun? Amusa hapaam. If you notice, Yaakov Avinu... Rabbi Hecht, I love you so much, and I'm listening to you. I'm not concentrating on my shiur. There's so much derech eretz to you, that when you speak and I—I'm listening, zicher l'maaseichem, I'm listening to you, mitoch ahava. What should I do? I have to. There's a halacha of trei koli lo mishtamai. When one is chaviv, then it's possible. But not if the person's doing the speaking. The person who's speaking and the other person is chaviv to him, he listens to the other person. Anyway, so there's a vort like this, rabosai. What does he say? He says, Amusa hapoam. Amusa hapoam is tachnun. What's the tachnun? The Kisvei Ari brings down, the Kisvei Ari, that Nefilas Apayim—Nefilas Apayim is a geder of mesiras nefesh. It's like dying al kiddush Hashem. Tachnun, Nefilas Apayim, it's called mesiras nefesh al kiddush Hashem. So when Yaakov Avinu said, Amusa hapoam, he meant to say, I'm saying tachnun. So not only do we have from Chazal that he was reading Kriyas Shema, but the Maharal miPrague says, I'm stam, he said Shemoneh Esrei. Smichas geulah l'tefillah, you have to say Shemoneh Esrei. And then he concludes with tachnun.

The tefillas apayim amusah hapo, because tachnun is mesiras nefesh l'misah. That's tachnun, as the Zohar HaKadosh. Now what's the chiddush that he said tachnun? I mean, pashut, if he said Kriyas Shema and he said Shemoneh Esrei, so of course he said tachnun. Why would he not say tachnun? So I could come and say, if you learn like the Maharal, that it wasn't the chiyuv Kriyas Shema. It wasn't the chiyuv Kriyas Shema, but rather it was Kriyas Shema that he wanted to say. So maybe it's a chiddush: who said he said the Shemoneh Esrei and who said he said the tachnun? But then the kashya is who said he said Shemoneh Esrei? Maybe he didn't say Shemoneh Esrei either. If he just said Kriyas Shema, meheicha teisa, how do we know that he said Shemoneh Esrei? Maybe he just said the Kriyas Shema. So the Maharami Pano seems to be learning there was regular Kriyas Shema, and therefore it had to be Shemoneh Esrei followed, and then it has to follow with tachnun. So then what's the chiddush that he said tachnun? Unless we could say a very nice chiddush. First of all, it's the day that he meets his son. Maybe on such a day it's a Yom Tov. On a Yom Tov you don't say tachnun. Besides, bichlal I have a question. The Chasam Sofer, and before him many others, have pointed out that the day that Yaakov meets Yosef was Pesach, because you have to make the cheshbon from the day that Yaakov went down to Mitzrayim, right? That's when the galus began, and we left on Pesach, so the years coincide that it was Pesach. It's brought down from the mefarshim. The Chasam Sofer says it clearly, it was Pesach. So then why waste tachnun anyway? Why does he say tachnun on Pesach? There must be something about special tachnun, which means, מצד... just like by the Kriyas Shema, we have to say maybe it's not the chiyuv Kriyas Shema, because Yosef isn't saying that Kriyas Shema. The tachnun maybe was also something separate, and maybe it wasn't even followed by the Shemoneh Esrei. Maybe it wasn't because he said Kriyas Shema, therefore he said Shemoneh Esrei, and therefore he said tachnun. He said Kriyas Shema, and then he said tachnun, maybe. So you might say, Nacha, I'm just trying to understand. The Maharami Panel says that he didn't just read Kriyas Shema, but he also said tachnun, and that's what it means, amusa pam, because the Ari explains amusa pam is tachnun, because tachnun means to die al kiddush Hashem, which we have to explain. Why is that? What's in tachanun? What's in the Tefillas Tapayim that's called mesiras nefesh al kiddush Hashem? Good. But the question is, how do we know it? And the answer is because if he said Kriyas Shema, he must have said Shemoneh Esrei, and if he said Shemoneh Esrei, he must have said tachnun. So then what's the chiddush then? What's the whole big story in the pasuk that he said tachnun? And the answer is maybe it's the day that he met his son, he wouldn't say tachnun. It's Yom Tov, or maybe it's Pesach. So therefore we have to say that maybe it was a special reason to say tachnun, so then it has nothing to do with the Shemoneh Esrei. Maybe he said Kriyas Shema and he said tachnun. Maybe he said—there was an inyan to say tachnun that day. There was an inyan to say, ah, Yom Tov, but he said, that's—it's obviously if amusa pam means this, and it was on Pesach, he said it. Why? Rabosai, what does it mean that nefilas apayim is considered mesiras nefesh? So there's an interesting Baal Shem in Parshas Ki Sisa that says that after the eigel, it comes out that two had mesiras nefesh. Aharon HaKohen was moser nefesh to save Klal Yisroel; he tried to protect. But the eigel, he was putting himself in danger to protect Klal Yisroel. He agreed, yeah, but he was trying to push them off. He was playing with them, and he made a cheshbon that if they kill me, what's going to happen? Mesiras nefesh. He also was moser nefesh. Moshe Rabbeinu, why? Because we find, Vayipol al panav, he keeps on falling on his face, Moshe Rabbeinu. Says the Baal Shem, Aharon did the mesiras nefesh of Kriyas Shema, and Moshe Rabbeinu did the mesiras nefesh of nefilas apayim, of tachanun. Actually, Rabbeinu Bechaye says this clearly. Rabbeinu Bechaye says that after the story of Korach, we find that Moshe Rabbeinu falls on his face, Vayipol al panav. Says Rabbeinu Bechaye, what does it mean he fell on his face? He said tachanun.

He said, Nefilas apayim, and Nefilas apayim is a form of Kiddush Hashem. It's a form of mesiras nefesh l'misa, and Moshe Rabbeinu is doing this. And what does he have from it? So he brings an interesting Gemara. The Gemara says in Bava Metzia that when someone says Nefilas apayim, he's in such a level that anyone who touches him gets punished. The Gemara says two Tannaim, one was saying Nefilas apayim, the other one caused him a little tzaar and he died because of it. Gemara in Bava Metzia. So Moshe Rabbeinu was trying to punish Korach. He tried to punish Korach by being Vayipol al panav. So says Rabbeinu Bechaye, based on the Gemara in Bava Metzia daf tzadi tes, ... Nefilas apayim, and he explains, pshat, the person is so connected with the Ribono Shel Olam that the moment that he says Nefilas apayim, that anybody who comes near him or touches him, who's pogea in him, is going to get punished. You hear? Rabosai, what does all this mean? That there's a mesiras nefesh of Kriyas Shema, there's a mesiras nefesh of Nefilas apayim. What does it mean that if a person touches somebody when he's in Nefilas apayim, it's so dangerous? And soon we're going to learn that actual saying the Nefilas apayim is dangerous. That's how strong the Nefilas apayim is, that if the person says Nefilas apayim and he's not fit to say it, he himself could get into big danger. The Chida brings this down. In Meir Betz, he says clearly that people, when in doubt, better not to say tachnun. Why? Shouldn't you say, shouldn't you say? Is it a day that better not to say it? Why? Because if you're not a fit at the time to say tachnun and you say it, you could be putting yourself in danger. What is the secret? And as a matter of fact, it's interesting, when the Marami Pano says that he said tachnun Yaakov Avinu, he says it's a raz hakasuv b'ksuvim, it's a special secret. What is the secret? What is tachnun? What is the mesiras nefesh? What is the sugya here? Let's open up the sugya to understand the tefillah tapayim in the context of mesiras nefesh and the tremendous danger that's around tefillas hapayim. You hear, let's repeat a little bit, what it means, tefillas hapayim. So we have over here an interesting Marami Pano. If you take a look at Divrei Yechezkel, see the sefarim speak about it, Avodas Yisrael, Yitav Lev, all the sefarim bring this down. But it originates from the Marami Pano in Asarah Maamaros, that not only Yaakov Avinu reads Kriyas Shema, but Yaakov Avinu is nofal al apav. He says tefillas hapayim, and that's what it means, amusah poam, like the Ari says, that tefillas hapayim is mesiras nefesh. You're giving up your life for the Eibishter, al kiddush Hashem. Give up your life al kiddush Hashem. What does it mean? How is tefillas hapayim mesiras nefesh al kiddush Hashem? What does it mean? Kriyas Shema in this thing. You know, Kriyas Shema, by Kriyas Shema you're supposed to say, V'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavcha, with all your heart. Even if He takes away your life, and you're supposed to be mechaven, like the Tzeduah, the Mishnah Berurah brings it down, you have to have in mind that I'm ready to die for Kiddush Hashem. Good? So Kriyas Shema is Kiddush Hashem. But how is, lefi lashon... How is, even though the truth is, if you look at the pasuk, it clearly states, Nafshi esah. David HaMelech says, I'm ready to give up my life. That's one of the pesukim that we have in the Tachanun, Tefillah l'David. Now the truth is, Sefardim don't say the same Tachanun that the Ashkenaz says. I think it's for this reason, because— Sefardim, we say the Tachanun, we don't put our heads down. You don't put your head. Right, but they change the Tachanun. Right, Ashkenaz, because of this reason, we're afraid to say those words. But what we do is we don't put the head down. I know, I know. I'm trying to— I'm showing you. People don't realize that it's a potent thing, the Tachanun. Sefardim don't want to put their heads about. Why? It's dangerous. It's a dangerous thing, Tachanun. Aleph, Ashkenaz, you're right, they do it, but they change the nusach. They don't say—the lashon of the pasuk is by David HaMelech, Nafshi—what's the end of the pasuk? Nafshi esah. I'm giving up my life for the Eibishter.

They're afraid to say those words. How did it fall into the parsha, musa pam? What is going on? Unbelievable question, huh? Okay. So first of all, let me show you something very interesting. You know, the olam here likes nice Torah from Kisvei Ari and Reb Chaim Vital. It's brought down that the shem which is memuneh on mesiras nefesh is chaf-chaf. Chaf peshutah with chaf kefufah, which means the chaf which is the first chaf, which is kefufah, it's bent, and then the peshutah, which is chaf sofit, right? That's called peshutah. Okay, so chaf-chaf is the shem hamemuneh al mesiras nefesh. It's Reb Chaim Vital. Minchas Yitzchak, the Dayan, the posek hador in Eretz Yisrael from the eidah chareidis, had a whole discussion in his sefarim to explain how tachnun is connected to mesiras nefesh. And he says, if you notice, the name, the shem that's nogea to mesiras nefesh is chaf and chaf. The tefillas apayim has that. Why? With one hand you go like this, that's the chaf kefufah, and with one hand you stand straight, right? That's the chaf peshutah. You got it? The Minchas Yitzchak, in a sefer, Chumash, explains this, and on what pasuk does he go on? It says that Aharon HaKohen was afraid to go to do the avodah in the beginning of the Mishkan. So he tells him, Moshe Rabbeinu, his brother tells him, Leich go, ki lkach nivcharta. What is kach? Chaf, with a chaf straight. So he brings down from Chiddushei Sefarim that that's what it means, lkach from mesiras nefesh. The chaf and the chaf means mesiras nefesh. So he's telling him, You're right, you're scared, but that's what you're here for. The kohen, he was moser nefesh. They used to go into the Kodesh HaKodashim; most of them never came out. In the second Beis HaMikdash, none of them came out. They used to change them every year. Tomorrow says, another vavil, they died. Ki bikrovai ekadeish. He says, Go, because that's what nivcharta — you were chosen for this. Ki lkach nivcharta. So he says, brings from Chiddushei Sefarim, that's the pshat, kach hi darko shel Torah, pas bamelach tochal, the yesod of Torah is mesiras nefesh. And then he says that's the pshat also when it says, Im lomadta Torah harbeh, al tachazik tovah l'atzmecha, ki lkach nivcharta. I would like to add one more, which is even more clear than the others. From all that he brought, I would say the clearest one is the following. The Gemara says in Menachos daf chaf-hei that Rabbeinu shows Moshe Rabbeinu all the doros, all the generations in the future after him, and he shows him Rabbi Akiva, that Rabbi Akiva sits and is doresh every tag, every... So Moshe Rabbeinu says, I don't understand why you're giving the Torah through me. Why did you give the Torah through Rabbi Akiva? What does the Gemara say that the Rabbeinu Shalom answered him? Kach alsa lefanai b'machshava. Who was moser nefesh, gave up his life? Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was the symbol of dying al kiddush Hashem, which was Rabbi Akiva. So I think the word kach, also, kach alsa lefanai, it has to do with mesiras nefesh. Kach, kach alsa lefanai b'machshava. This was my plan. Kach, mesiras nefesh. Rabbi Akiva has a different job. Your job is one job, his job is the other. Now what does that mean? I mean, Moshe Rabbeinu says, Give the Torah through him, and the answer is kach. So what was the discussion? What does Moshe mean, Moshe Rabbeinu? What is Rabbi Akiva? How is Moshe and Rabbi Akiva the same, but this is Rabbi Akiva's job? And the answer is because Moshe Rabbeinu was also moser nefesh, but a different way. Mesiras nefesh could go on many different ways. We have this from the Beis Yosef. The Beis Yosef said he wanted to die al kiddush Hashem, so he used to die.

Amfris. So it's brought down that the Maggid, when he came to him, the Beis Yosef said, I davened to daven al Kiddush Hashem. So what does the Maggid answer? The malach answers the Beis Yosef, Your job is bigger. You were supposed to live al Kiddush Hashem, which means, Moshe Rabbeinu, you have one job of mesiras nefesh. Reb Akiva is going to have a different job of mesiras nefesh. Kach, the mesiras nefesh, it has different plans at different times for different people. Moshe Rabbeinu, your life is also mesiras nefesh, like we'll soon explain. Like I said to you, how many times was the savea yipol al panav? Moshe Rabbeinu keeps on falling on his face on everything that happens. What's the vayipol al panav? It's also mesiras nefesh. So what is the mesiras nefesh of Moshe Rabbeinu? What is the mesiras nefesh of vayipol al panav, which in essence is the mesiras nefesh of tachnun, of nefilas apayim? What is it? Rabosai, let me tell you over that it's very dangerous to say tachnun, yeah? What is exactly the danger of tachnun? Now it's interesting, Chassidim try to stay away from saying tachnun. Whenever they have a chance, when in doubt, there's no tachnun. They don't say. Whenever they can have a chance not to say, they try not to say. But it's actually a chidah, rabosai. That's what I'm trying to tell you. It's a chidah me'ir betzpa, that whenever you can stay away from tachnun, better off. Tachnun's a dangerous thing. Now a big time when Chassidim don't say is Erev Shabbos. They don't say Erev Shabbos. Satmar Rebbe zichrono livrachah, based on his grandfather's, never said tachnun on Erev Shabbos. So in the Sefer Likutei Maharich, it's a very nice sefer halacha, a lot of Chassidish halacha minhagim come from there. He explains that since the Avudraham says that you're not supposed to say Tachnun on an erev of a day that you say Hallel, that's how the Avudraham brings it down. On a day that you don't say Hallel, the erev, the day before, you don't say Tachnun. Yet on Rosh Hashanah, erev, we don't say Tachnun, but there's no Hallel. So we learn from here that you don't need to have a Hallel to any Yom Tov, even though it's a Yom Tov, you don't say Hallel. So then Shabbos included. Since Shabbos, you're right, doesn't have Hallel, but it's a Yom Tov, it's a holiday, so to speak. It's a Yom Tov, right? Yom Tovik Shabbos, Shabbosik Yom Tov. You're right, Hallel. But you see from Rosh Hashanah that there's no Hallel and still you don't say Tachnun on Rosh Hashanah. So many Chassidim don't say Tachnun on Erev Shabbos. The Bnei Yissaschar, which is one of the classic Chassidish sefarim, screams against this custom, and he says it's wrong. You should say Hallel on Erev Shabbos. He says that someone who doesn't say Tachnun on Erev Shabbos is mezalzel in the Shabbos. Why? The reason not to say on an erev, why don't we say, is to bring chashivus to the day that's going to follow, right? To show the chashivus of the day, we already don't say Tachnun, nefilas apayim, from the day before. But Shabbos is min haTorah. You have to show chashivus. The Gemara always speaks about Shabbos is strong; it doesn't need chizuk. So he says by not saying Tachnun, you're making it sound like Shabbos is not that important. It's not d'Oraisa. If Shabbos is a d'Oraisa, it doesn't need chizuk, it doesn't need to be strengthened. You don't have to prelude it with—I say, oh, the day before is considered a holiday, and you don't say tachanun. So he's up to Bnei Yissaschar, and he screams, and he says that whoever has the ability to stop this minhag, to stop people from not saying tachanun on Erev Shabbos, it's a tremendous thing that he's doing. This is—ah. So the truth is, Yom Tov is also mid'Oraisa. He's trying to say Shabbos and Yom Tov. He brings out this point. Now, the truth is, in halacha we don't say Erev Yom Tov. I guess he meant to say maybe in the morning; we don't say Erev Yom Tov in the morning either. I don't know, this is what he says, that by Erev Shabbos you're coming to say that it's not chashuv. It's a very famous Bnei Yissaschar, okay, in Devarim Nechmadim. Now, the truth is, there's a mekor. I went to look for a mekor in halacha where it's brought down to say or not to say, and I found there's a rishon called Machzor Vitry. A lot of minhagim come from there, and there it says clearly not to say Erev Shabbos, and the reason is because people are torud in parnassah. We try to make the davening as quick as possible. Don't forget that—

The Torah writes clearly it's not a chiyuv to say nefilas apayim. So when it's not a chiyuv and it's tirda d'tzibbura, people are busy, therefore we try not to say Tachanun on Erev Shabbos. I bring down, I told this to you from the Meir Be'etzba, from the Chida, se'if gimel, os pei tes, that whenever in doubt, better not to say anyway because it's a danger to say Tachanun. So where does it come from that they don't say Tachanun on Erev Shabbos? So they quote from the Zidichover Rebbe, Uchsidim. It's based on something the Zidichover Rebbe said, and that is that we don't say Tachanun on Erev Shabbos. Why? What happens if a person dies when he says Tachanun? Because it's so dangerous. So then the people are going to have to go to his levayah, and they're busy on Erev Shabbos, so therefore best thing is not to say Tachanun. That's where Chassidim—those that don't say Tachanun—comes from here. That's where it comes from. Sunday they don't say. They don't say Sunday either. What's the reason not to say Sunday? Because you need one day in preparation in order to say Tachanun, and Shabbos you can't prepare yourself because Shabbos you can't be busy with your avodas. So Sunday you don't say, and Friday you don't say, because what happens if a person dies when he says Tachanun? Like we said, it's a big sakana, and then the people have to go to the levayah; mimeila it becomes a danger. In Kloizenberg they used to say over that it wasn't only on a day like Friday, even on a rainy day they shouldn't say Tachanun, because if people have to go to the levayah on a rainy day it's a difficult day, you know. So therefore, on a snowy day, yeah. So no snow days, no rain days, no hurricane, right? Too hot, or if the buses aren't going good that day, you know, it's too hot. You can't say, you never say tachnun, basically. The point being, what am I trying to bring out? The tachnun is an interesting thing, that it's dangerous. There's something dangerous about the tachnun. There's something big and powerful about the tachnun, techsidu bichlal, based on the machidah, which says the same point. That's the sakana to say tachnun. And they're bracing on a Gemara where the Gemara says clearly that the tanna said tachnun, and the other tanna who digged at him, he died because of it. While he was saying tachnun, that was terrible, because they had, there was between them something. By saying tachnun, he died. What's the pshat? Okay, so let me tell you over what I understand in tachnun. There's a Beis Yosef that brings a Zohar, and when a person says tachnun, it's mechaper on all aveiros. What is the tachnun? It's kaparas avonos, yeah? This explains why we say vidui. Why do we say Ashamnu before? Because the tachnun is a kaparas avonos. Rav Leib, zichrono livrachah, my rebbe in Beis Avi, writes, obviously it comes from Europe, comes from before him, but he was writing in the teshuvos in a few places that the reason to say vidui is this thing, because maybe you'll die, and it's called mesiras nefesh. Didn't we just say that saying tachnun is mesiras nefesh? So you have to say vidui. Anybody died? Anybody died? The Gemara says that there was someone died for bothering the tanna, for bothering the tanna. He was in an issue with the Tanna, and the Tanna said the person died. The wife thought because it was the wrong day, the Gemara says. They thought it was a day you don't say Tachanun, and if you say Tachanun, that's the story of the Gemara there. So what's the pshat, they say? Ah, you know what the yesod of tefillah is? The Zohar brings down that tefillah—and listen to what I told you from the Beis Yosef, mechaper on all the aveiros. What's the pshat? Pshat's like this, the Beis Yosef. The Zohar brings down that there's six mitzvahs in tefillah. One of them is mesiras nefesh. When you look at the Chovos HaLevavos, the Chovos HaLevavos says, Da achi, it's in Shaar Cheshbon HaNefesh, perek yud-gimmel. He says a person, when he davens, should think he's going al kiddush Hashem, b'hachna'ah, with humility. There's an inyan of hachna'ah in tefillah. Notice that at the end of the Shemoneh Esrei, what do we say? We say, V'nafshi k'afar la'kol tihyeh. How did that come in at the end of the Shemoneh Esrei? It's a prayer for that, v'nafshi k'afar? I ask the Eibishter He should help me? Most of it is a tefillah. We're asking.

All of a sudden, v'nafshi. I always understood the pshat is we're stating humility after the Shemoneh Esrei. After a person is omeid lifnei HaMelech, he has to be ready to say, v'nafshi ke'afar la'kol tihyeh, hitbatlut, complete hisbatlus. Then it leads into tachnun, and that's called mesiras nefesh. There's different types of mesiras nefesh, rabosai. There's mesiras nefesh where a person has to give up his physical life. And then there's a mesiras nefesh called hisbatlus. The Gemara tells us, Harotzeh lichyos... Gemara in Taanis, harotzeh lichyos, yamis atzmo. What is yamis atzmo? He should kill himself? And the answer is no. Yamis atzmo means he should act humble, humility, humble, humble. I'm nothing. Harotzeh lichyos, yamis atzmo. That's also the type of misa. V'nafshi ke'afar la'kol tihyeh, what are we saying, Ribono Shel Olam? I recognize Your greatness to the point that there is no me. I'm like afar. Then he goes and he falls on his face, nefilas apayim. That's called Kiddush Shem Shamayim, mesiras nefesh for the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a different type of mesiras nefesh. That's what it means. There's Kriyas Shema, yes. Kriyas Shema is the physical that I say, b'chol levavcha uvchol nafshecha, I'm ready to die physically for the Eibishter. And then there's called mesiras nefesh that Moshe Rabbeinu did, and that is, Vayipol al panav, Vayipol al panav. Which is a tremendous lesson, according to the Beis Yosef. It's mechaper on all the aveiros. Humility, anavah. When a person is humble in front of Hashem, it forgives all the aveiros. Here, there's a way of how we can have a terufah. There's a way how we can have a, what do you call that, a receipt of health, a bill of—how do we get a clean bill? Anavah, anavah. It heals all the aveiros. Why? The person is misbatel. The person is humble. That's also a form of Kiddush Shem Shamayim, and we all know that Kiddush Shem Shamayim is mechaper on all the aveiros, even chilul Hashem. Anavah, humility, humble. V'nafshi k'afar lakol tihyeh. Then what do I do? I'm nofel al apai. I fall on my face in humility, like Moshe Rabbeinu, vayipol al panav. It's hachnaah. You take a look at Rabbeinu Bechaye, he explains this, that when Moshe falls, it's from tzaar and hachnaah. It's a type of hachnaah, humility, humility. And we know that Moshe Rabbeinu was anav mikol adam. That's what it means, leich kiltach nevcharta. What does that mean? Kach also. Rabbi Akiva had a different type of mesiras nefesh. Rabbi Akiva's mesiras nefesh was to die physically al Kiddush Hashem. You Moshe Rabbeinu—remember we had the question, what is he telling him? This is Rabbi Akiva's life, is to die al Kiddush Hashem, and you, Moshe, the answer is you, Moshe Rabbeinu. Is to live. Rotzeh lichyos, yamis atzmo. That Kiddush Hashem. That Kiddush Hashem, v'chein היא מספרך. I'm novel. It's like I'm dead. Mecheini, pure is batlus. This is the mesiras nefesh that Moshe Rabbeinu, exactly the mecheini מספרך. Moshe Rabbeinu set forth the mahalach of mesiras nefesh through living, to live with mesiras nefesh, and that is his batlus, humility, humility. This, rabosai, is tachnun. Tachnun is that the person becomes a kadosh, a moser nefesh, through a concept, nefilas apayim. I fall in humility in front of You, Ribono Shel Olam. And this comes after Shemoneh Esrei. After being עומד לפני המלך, the Shemoneh Esrei means he recognizes. Reb Chaim Brisker told us that what's the kavanah in tefillah? To understand and visualize that you're standing in front of the King. Ah, after you finish, you fall to your face. You fall to your face in humility, in hachna'ah. That's called mesiras nefesh. Now I want to go back to Yaakov Avinu.

You know, rabosai, one of the things that should humble a person is when he recognizes the chesed of the Eibishter, how much kindness the Eibishter really does with a person. That's supposed to cause a sense of to be humble in front of Hashem. We find by bikurim that when a person brings bikurim, it says that he puts the bikurim down and he thanks the Eibishter, and v'hishtachavisa, you're supposed to bow down in the Beis Hamikdash. The mefarshim discuss what is the inyan of hishtachaviah. Why are you bowing down? So the Brisker Rav learns there was a din that whenever you walked into the Beis Hamikdash, you had to bow down. So it's not so much connected to the bikurim as much as that you're in the Beis Hamikdash now. Or maybe we could say it's connected directly to the bikurim, that at the moment that the person thanks the Eibishter, he comes to the understanding and the recognition of the chesed of the Ribono Shel Olam. Hishtachaviah, he falls in humility. He's humbled by the chesed of the Eibishter. That's hishtachaviah which is relevant in the bringing of the bikurim. This, rabosai, is Yaakov Avinu, musa pom. Yaakov is saying like this: I see Your face. Ka'asher panecha lo pilalti, amusa pom. Now I fall on my face in the tefillas apayim, in humility, from the chesed, from realizing the greatness and the kindness of the Ribono Shel Olam. When you start to understand and recognize... For years, don't forget, for years, Yaakov Avinu was sitting in misunderstanding, Ribono Shel Olam, what are you doing to me? The Chazal say that the Ribono Shel Olam tells Yaakov, You think I made you suffer for nothing? He was actually punished. Chazal tell us that he was punished. Why? Because he looked so bad, and he complained, Yemei shnei chayai. He got punished for that. Why? Ribono Shel Olam says, Here I'm trying to make you son the king, and you complained. All of a sudden, when he sees Yosef, he realizes, Wow, for 22 years I didn't understand. It was all chesed of Hashem. Amusah paam, I fall in humility in front of the greatness and the chesed of the Ribono Shel Olam. This was the inyan of tefilas hapayim. Tefilas hapayim is hachna'ah, hachna'ah in front of the greatness of עומד לפני המלך, when you see the hand of Hashem and His kindness. Imagine, imagine, imagine that a person is davening to the Ribono Shel Olam, and he starts to realize daas and food and everything, it's all from Hashem. That's, Nafshi yatza bedabro. When I start to talk to Hashem, my soul comes out from recognition of Hashem's greatness, from the chesed of Hashem. That's the pshat, Amusah paam. Ribono Shel Olam, my neshama is longing to you now, falling in front of You in humility. Tell me mesiras nefesh, in light of the tremendous chesed that you've done for me. You know, rabosai, I want to discuss with you part of what Yaakov Avinu realized, the chesed of the Eibishter was. You know, Yosef Hatzaddik. A tremendous thing happened to Yosef Hatzaddik. For 22 years, he was in the worst situation possible. Nobody in the world could withstand the nisyonot, the nisyones that Yosef went through, to the point that Yaakov Avinu didn't even believe that even if he found that Yosef was alive, he didn't believe that it was Yosef, that Yosef would remain. Now I'll explain to you. You said it very good, and I want to explain this to you. There's an interesting medrash. The Satmar Rav brings this medrash down, that when he saw the agalos, when he saw the agalos, the— not only is alive, he didn't do the maaseh Potiphara. From the agalos, Yaakov Avinu understood.

Lo ychata, that he didn't fall in with the story with Potiphar. So he asks the question, how did he see in the agalos? How did he see that? So I always said the pshat is, the agalos were a siman of learning, the Torah that he learned. That was the last thing he learned. You think he would remember all the Torah that he learned in the yeshiva if he was busy doing zimas haaretz, the terrible things in Mitzrayim? It doesn't sound like someone who'd be learning. So if he's still talking about learning, is a siman that he's still a ben Torah, he's still a yeshiva bachur, and therefore he knew that he didn't do the aveirah. Big roshei yeshiva always say, you could tell on the face of the bachur where he's holding. Someone who watches movies that he shouldn't be watching, you could tell on his face the way that he's not holding by learning. That's what they always say. Maybe that's what Yaakov meant to say. If he's talking in the sugya that they learned, it's a siman that he wasn't with Potiphar. I want to say something deeper. If you notice, the pasuk says that Yosef tells his brothers, Ki pi hamedaber aleichem. See, I'm Yosef, because look, I'm talking to you. Says Rashi, I'm talking to you in lashon kodesh. So it must be that I'm Yosef. Rashi, pi hamedaber means I spoke lashon kodesh. It's a siman that I'm Yosef. Fragt the Ramban a kasha: what's the proof? Everybody spoke lashon kodesh. Why? They lived next door to Eretz Yisrael. Mitzrayim and Israel is very close. You don't think Mubarak knew how to speak Hebrew a little bit? They speak it. Really? You don't think in the streets of Egypt there aren't people who could speak Hebrew? Of course they speak Hebrew. Sure they speak Hebrew. So why is it a proof that he spoke Hebrew? This is the Ramban's question. So Ramban says, You're right, it's not a proof. But he wanted them to feel comfortable, you know, so he spoke to them in Hebrew, to show them, you know, to be mefayes them, Ah, you see, I'm also like you, but it's not a proof, really, because everybody spoke Hebrew. It's not a big deal. Ramban. That's how the Ramban learns. The Chasam Sofer explains a different pshat. Chasam Sofer says it's impossible to remember lashon kodesh. You forget it. It's impossible, because it's kodesh, and if you are not kodesh, it forgets. He says if you take a look at the doros, people forgot right away. They start speaking other dialects. Why? Because if you're not holding in the kedushah, you can't remember lashon kodesh. Satmar Rav says it a little different. He says, you know, he didn't like the modern-day Hebrew. He says, Yeah, they'll speak, but not kodesh. They'll speak Ivrit maybe, but not lashon kodesh, you see? He says someone who's tamei not going to speak lashon... Rashi didn't say he spoke Hebrew. He spoke lashon kodesh. Ahh. You know, he didn't like the whole if you're a baal aveirah, there's no Hebrew. Yeah, maybe Hebrew, yeah, you know. It's the same type of vort. It's more or less the same vort. Okay. Others say pshat: Ki pi hamedaber. You know, pi, my mouth speaks, which means I'm fluent in it. Why didn't you just say, I speak to you in Hebrew? Pi, my mouth speaks. You know when you can tell the difference if it's a person's real language? If he's fluent. When it's not your real language, you know, it doesn't come out right. It comes out with an accent. It's pi hamedaber. You see, my mouth is saying, ahs, it must be from birth. It's got to be from birth. I must be a Jew from birth, because only a Jew from birth could speak like this Hebrew. Oh, to an Israeli, oh, he speaks Hebrew. No American guy—you ever see when an American guy tries to speak Hebrew? Atah omer, you know. I see right away you laugh at him. You know he's not from Israel, right? He was trying to—pi hamedaber. Look, my mouth is—it's fluent. No accent. No accent. The Bobover Rebbe, Friediger, it's קסדר, he says this pshat. It's a nice pshat. Okay. What do I want to say? I want to say like this. The fact that he speaks lashon kodesh is a raya that he's Yosef. Notice he sent agalos. What are agalos? Agalos is wagons. What does agalos have to do with an eglah? It's not domeh bichlal. How did eglah arufah, which is what he learned, have to do with—it's two different agalos. One is a cow, and the other is a carriage. So maybe the pshat is that the reason why it's called an agalah is because it's pulled by a cow, maybe. Maybe that's why it's called an agalah. Maybe. But a cow is one thing, and a carriage is another thing.

The pshat is, he meant to say the Hebrew, in Hebrew, in agalah, and then he would remember from that that it's egel. Forget about the same shoresh. The point is that when you see an agalah, the name is the same as this, but that's only if you speak Hebrew. So the fact that he speaks Hebrew is a raya that shelo chata. How did he prove from the agalos? And the answer is because an agalah has nothing to do with an egel, unless you speak Hebrew. When you speak Lashon Kodesh, it has the same name. This is an egel, this is an agalah. Oh, if he still remembers after 22 years the Lashon Kodesh, it's a siman that what? That that's what he talks in the house. If you didn't speak for 25 years a language, you think you'd send the remez with a language you don't speak at all? Teretz is they speak it like this in the house. He's fluent in it. So it's a siman shelo chata, like the Chasam Sofer, because if he was chata, no, he would never remember egel and agalah. That's how I want to say pshat. Oh, it's beautiful, huh? It's a beautiful pshat, huh? You hear the ... that the fact that he sends an agalah, and it's supposed to be a remez for egel, it's only in Lashon Kodesh. In Mitzris it wouldn't be a remez. It's if he sent a calf, so you'll say that was the last thing he learned, so you don't have to come on to the language. But here you have to come on to the play of the language. So it's a siman, what, rabosai, that he speaks Lashon Kodesh, and if he speaks Lashon Kodesh, you hear? Okay. So what do we have? That Yosef remained exactly the same. Now I want to tell you more. Everything about Yosef remained. He spoke like a Yid. He looked like a Yid. I want to hear how he looked like a Yid. I'll tell you how he looked like a Yid. It says in the pasuk that when they saw Yosef, Nivhalu mipanav. When he saved. Nivhalu. When they saw, Ani Yosef, right? When he said, Ani Yosef, Nivhalu mipanav. So the Bnei Yissaschar says it should have said, Nivhalu milfanav. Why does it say Nivhalu? And the answer is mipanav. They got scared from his face, literally his face, not in front of him, literally his face. What about his face scared him? So I always said the pshat is from the Chida. Chida says he looked just like Yaakov Avinu. They didn't see before. They didn't see, and the answer is because they didn't want to see. When you don't want to see something, it can be right in front of you, you won't see it. The clearest, simplest thing, you don't want to see it, you don't see it. So when they looked at him, Nivhalu mipanav. Whoa, looks just like Yaakov. How could we couldn't tell? Mipanav, literally from his face. That's how I always said the pshat, but I see the Bnei Yissaschar says a different vort. Nivhalu mipanav. His face was that of a Yid. You look at a guy, disgusting look. You look with a beard and peyot. Imagine you come to Mitzrayim and you see a person with a beard and peyot, okay? And the face is like the Shechinah, like Bava Sali. You had no clue that he's Yosef HaTzadik. Nivhalu, that's what the Bnei Yissaschar says, Nivhalu mipanav. They looked at his face, and on his face you could tell who he was. He didn't look like the goyim, the rishayim, dachzarim that was in Mitzrayim. When you look at Obama, you don't see a Yid. There's no way. You can look at a Yid, you see a Yid. That's what it is. You don't see a Yid. I want to say that's the pshat that Yaakov Avinu says, Yaakov Avinu says, Re'oh panecha lo פיללתי. I didn't dream of what to see. Panecha. Why does he stress the panecha? The face should be your face. He thought he would come to Mitzrayim and see a Yosef. You know what Yosef would look like? Like a Mitzri. But your face, the face of Yosef that I remember from the house, that I didn't plan on seeing. Yosef looked like Yosef HaTzadik when he left. That's the— so he speaks like a Yid. He looks like a Yid. Now I'll tell you more. He sounds like a Yid. I'll tell you where I got this from. There's a beautiful pshat from the Belzer Rebbe, zichrono tzaddik livracha. Beautiful, mamash beautiful pshat. He says like this: they come and they tell Yaakov Avinu...

No, that Yosef is alive. Oy, Yosef chai. Vayafeg libo ki lo he'emin bahem. His heart started to bang because he didn't believe them. Vayedabru, they spoke all the words of Yosef. Oh, Yosef is still alive. I'm going down to see him. Ask the Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, previous three before this one, what's the pshat? First he didn't believe, his heart was pounding, and then when they spoke it, then he did believe it. Why? First he didn't believe and then afterwards believed. What changed? He says, it's interesting, if you notice, Yosef gave instructions to the brothers. What? No, besides that, what should you tell my father? Tell him, Vayasimeni l'av l'Paro, u'le'adon b'chol eretz Mitzrayim, u'Moshel b'chol eretz Mitzrayim, right? Did he say u'l'Moshel or did he say u'Moshel? He should have said, Simeni, the Eibishter put me l'av, l'adon, u... It doesn't say that. It says u'Moshel. Says the Belzer Rebbe, he was very careful. Officially he's the Moshel, right? Officially. Actually, he walks the streets, he has to walk with a title that he's the Moshel. But Yosef was humble, and Yosef says, I'm not the Moshel. The Ribono Shel Olam's the Moshel. So he never said, I'm the Moshel. What does he say? I am l'av, I am l'adon in Mitzrayim, but u... Hu Moish, not me. There is a moishel in Mitzrayim. Who's that not me? Tevishter. So that was what Yosef gave them instruction: not to say, I am l'av, I am l'adon, I am l'moishel. Hu Moish. There is a moishel b'chol eretz Mitzrayim. Who is he? They think it's me, but it's not me. It's really who? What did they come back and say? The one thing that they said: Oy Yosef chai, v'chi... No. Hu moishel. It says clearly, v'chi hu moishel. They came back and they stressed—why did they have to stress hu? Just say, v'chi moishel. They came and said, v'chi who? What? Vayafog libo. Yaakov Avinu's heart starts to... He told you to tell me that he's the moishel in Mitzrayim? That's how a Yid talks? The Ribono Shel Olam is moishel b'goyim. What are you talking about? The Ribono Shel Olam is the moishel. Vayafog libo k'lihemin bahem. Vayedabru kol divrei Yosef. What is kol divrei Yosef? It's a pashut means the agalos, the whole story, the milah. No, no. Yaakov said, could you say again what he told you? Oh, he never said he's the moishel. He said he's the av and the adon, hu moishel. There's a moishel. He got happy: I'm going to see Yosef, my son, terem amus. That's when he started to believe and be happy that Yosef is alive, you hear? So Yosef in Mitzrayim sounds like a Yid. K'shem Shamayim shagur al piv was like a Yid. How could such a thing be? And the answer is because the Ribono Shel Olam did a tremendous chesed. He started to see the nes, the miracle that happened to him through Yosef in Mitzrayim. After 22 years, he comes back to see his son, the king of Mitzrayim, and he's like Yosef HaTzadik that never left. Amusa hapam. He falls to his face, realizing, Ein od milvado. It's so clear to him now that the Ribono Shel Olam was running the show the entire time. Hisgalus Hashem was so open in front of him that it was nafshi yatza. His soul went out. Chazal tell us that on Matan Torah—what happened by Matan Torah? By Matan Torah, why? The minute they heard and they saw the Shechinah, their neshama went out. Yaakov was saying, I see, when I look at your face, what do I see? I see the Ribono Shel Olam's hand to the point, amusa hapam. The miracles, the chesed is so big, I'm ready to die. My heart is ready to fall out. Amusa hapam. And that's hachnaah. What's the lesson, rabosai? There's a lesson here to be learned. Hashem does tremendous miracles with us. If you take what Hashem gives us as a miracle, it has to lead us to hachnaah. For example, Hashem gives us money. If a person looks at it as money, then he could go off very...

Quickly, big things a person can do with money. Why? Because right away, a person gets rich, shamanta, visa, right? Vatishkach Kel. You can forget the Eibishter. You can become a baal gaivah. Baata, you can become a baal gaivah, v'ram levavcha. A person who gets money, he starts thinking very, very big of himself. But when a person realizes it's Hashem, the Eibishter gave the money, and every day He gives, so then you become humble. It makes a person hachna'ah. That hachna'ah is mesiras nefesh. That mesiras nefesh is mechilas avonos. It's mechaper on all the chataim, like the Rebbei Yosef brings down, that the hachna'ah in the tachnun is what brings out the mechilas avonos. And this makes that a person should be able to live a life of kedusha, a life of kedusha, a life of kedusha, to be humble, to be connected. That's what it means, that the connection with the Eibishter at that time is so strong that anybody who touches the person. That's the Gemara in Bava Metzia. You become so—how do you become so attached during tachnun? Because through the first tefillah, you're עומד לפני המלך, you recognize, and then you become humble. That hachna'ah makes a person attached to the Eibishter, like a person who dies al kiddush Hashem. And that is the inyan of amusah paam in life. A person doesn't have to, lo aleinu, go al kiddush Hashem, but he can live a life of mesiras nefesh, a life of kiddush Hashem shelayma. This is a lesson that we should take, and im yirtzeh Hashem we'll be— You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.