Vayikra: Al Kol Korbancha Takriv Melach—Tears, Longing, and Drawing Close Through Tefillah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Vayikra, Chumash Vayikra, begins korbanos, the parshas of korbanos. It begins the parshas of korbanos. What is korbanos? If we understand properly korbanos, we'll understand tefillah. Tefillah is b'makom korbanos. Today that we don't have korbanos, we have tefillah, davening, prayer. So through the understanding of korbanos, we'll have a deeper insight, a deeper understanding, and more of an appreciation to understanding what tefillah is. Korbanos is obviously about kaparah. It's clear that many of the korbanos are geared towards kaparah, forgiveness. A person brings a korban, lechaper, kaparah. Now how does that exactly work? So we could say it works, as the Rishonim tell us, that a person views the korban as a mirror of what should really happen to the person himself. He sees the korban being slaughtered. He sees the korban being burnt. The baalim, the owner, stands on top of the korban, and he gets a lesson, a lesson of what it means when a person sins. What should have happened to him was this, was what's happening to the korban. But from Hashem's kindness, instead of giving this lesson to the person himself, He teaches the person a lesson through his korban, maybe his money. His money. A korban costs money. It must have costed a lot of money. Sometimes we lose money, and this is supposed to be a kaparah. Jews throughout the years have always spoke, have always expressed themselves when they lost money. Zo zeina kaparah. Should be a kaparah. It's a type of sacrifice. It's also, the korban is his money. So on a physical sense, it was a clear in front of him a construction of what really should happen to him. He sees exactly this is what, a little bit more distant. Understanding of it, it's his money. You know, this expression based on a Gemara, Dam tarti mashma. Dam. Dam is blood. Dam, the plural of dam is damim, bloods. But dam is also money. Same word. Damim tarti mashma, the Gemara says. Sometimes we sacrifice, and we need to pay with blood. And sometimes we sacrifice, and we're lucky that we pay with money. The Ribono Shel Olam uses different methods of kaparah. Kaparah, that a person can upkumen, could pay up his debt, so to speak. Sometimes it's with blood, and sometimes it's with money, and both, both are symbolic merumaz in the korban. A person sins, his blood was supposed to be the blood that's getting spilled. The behemah that goes l'misah might have been what should have happened to him.

Hashem, it happens to the korban, but for him to learn the lesson, it should be a limud for him that this is what should have happened to him. And korban also costs money. Korbanos cost money. The Gemara, Maseches Tamid, speaks how there was a business, so to speak, in the Beis Hamikdash for korbanos. They had a store, literally a store. Maseches Tamid speaks about a store where you came and you bought your korban, and you paid, and you got a receipt for it. It costs gelt. A korban costs money. So this is the lesson of korban: blood. Blood, and in English's expression, blood money. That's where it comes from. Kesef damim, damim tarti mashma. And this is kaparah, kaparah, lechaper, kaparah. A lot of the tefillah, we speak about Hashiveinu Avinu l'sorasecha, Slach lanu Avinu ki chatanu. We talk about sin and kaparah. It's a big theme. A big theme of the tefillah, of the davening, is our aveiros and kaparat avonot, how to have kaparah through the tefillah. Yes, we say korbanos in tefillah. Chazal tell us that if you say the korbanos, k'ilu hikriv korban. The mere fact that we say over the korbanos, it's as if we're makriv the korban, that's true. But the tefillah, which is bimakom korban, also addresses aveiros and slicha mechilah for our aveiros. But there's another part of korban, and that is get close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The word korban, adam ki yakriv mikem, korban laShem. The word korban is l'hiskarev, to come close, come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Now when you have an aveirah, the aveirah separates you from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. A toitzah of the korban, since it's kaparas avonos, since it's to forgive and to clean the sin, so it reinstalls the connection to the Eibishter. You're back close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Teshuvah, aveirah, shuv, you come close, lashuv, to return to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So korban, l'hiskarev laKadosh Baruch Hu, is in the nekudah of sin, vaiter kaparah. If you have forgiveness, you come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But there's also another aspect of korban, which is not about chet. It's not about sin. Not all korbanos come for sins. We have korbanos which are not sin. Korban olah, korban Pesach. We have things that are not necessarily... Karban, for an aveirah. So then the karban is liskarev, simply to come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu through the karban. So what is it in karban that brings the person close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? That's the question we would like to address today. And then we'd understand that tefillah is also to become close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Now tefillah, we know, is Shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. You're talking directly to the Melech. Tell me, are you able to talk to somebody from far distance now? Of course not. Today you could, because today there's telephone, right? Today there's all different electronic devices that make you messaging, right? And the more, right, the more this generation goes on, the less connection you have with the person, and you can still communicate with him. You know what the idea of a text message is? I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to hear your voice. I'd rather not see your face or hear your voice, and yet I still want to tell you what I want to tell you. That's what a text message really is.

As generations move, and as the tkufes and the doros, who knows what the next form of telling the other guy what you want from him without having any shaychus to him. You know, today, the text message is, they have a special code. What's the code? To minimize the connection, to say thank you. So they have now a whole code on how to say thank you without taking any time whatsoever from your TY. TY. It's because keina vilsh hamitzvah tamid tzvei. Nobody wants to have anything to do with the other guy, right? But you want things from the other guy. So this is what it is. The new invention is. Now, tefillah is the opposite. Tefillah is, I talk directly to the Ribono Shel Olam. So to talk directly means I'm connected. You know, when the telephone company, originally when they want to put out their advertisements, the nusach was to be connected. Reach out and connect with somebody. Reach out and connect with somebody. Because talking to somebody connects people. Could you imagine if you talk to somebody and it's not through a media, through a middle? It's direct. It's even more connection, right? That's the greatest connection. Baruch atah. Baruch is blessed you, you directly, talk directly to the Ribono Shel Olam. Connected. I'm connected to the Melech, direct line to the Ribono Shel Olam without even having a telephone in the middle. Straight face to face. Yeah? Could you have more connected to the Ribono Shel Olam than that? No. You can't be more connected. Reb Chaim Brisker explains that tefillah is not I talk to Hashem, and once I'm talking to Hashem, I speak the tefillah, the nusach ha-tefillah. Now what is tefillah, the nusach? It's what I'm telling, right? Tell me, when I say I spoke to the other person, is it the fact that I spoke to him or it's the words that I told him? Yeah, a good shaila. Let's talk. I'm giving a shiur to you. So what is the shiur? The shiur is that me, I talk to you. What's the words that I say? What are you gaining from the fact that I talk to you or the fact that the words that I'm saying, you're listening to and you're hearing? Someone comes and says, I went to a shiur from so-and-so. So what is the point? The point is that you heard a shiur from him or it's the words that he said? So you would say it's the words that he said, right? It's not that you heard from him. It's, ha'ikar, the main nekudah is the words, right? Reb Chaim Brisker explains that that's not tefillah. Tefillah is the act of עומד לפני המלך. I'm standing in front of the king. ממילא, when I stand in front of the king, I talk to him, right? So it's not what I say, which is the ikar ha-tefillah; it's the fact that I'm standing in front of the king. Yeah? Reb Chaim Brisker explains that there's halachah of kavanah, and there's contradictory halachos about kavanah. In one place it says, kol tefillah beli kavanah is not a tefillah. Yet we find halachos that yotzei tefillah if you're not mechaven. There's a Magen Avraham, the first bracha. If I'm not mechaven, I am mechaven the first bracha. It's a whole issue. Pashut, היום we see even if you're not mechaven in the first bracha, it's good enough, just keep on going. But yet the Rambam says, kol tefillah she'ein bah kavanah is not a tefillah. So is it or is it? Hamayotzei or not yotzei? Says Reb Chaim Brisker, there's two parts to kavanah.

In the act that I'm standing in front of a king, that I must have, because that is tefillah. Tefillah means that I am עומד לפני המלך. I'm standing in front of the king talking. Kavanah of what I'm saying, understanding what I'm saying, I'm yotzei without that also. There's two kavanas. There's kavanah, מה שאני עומד לפני המלך ומדבר. Then there's kavanah, what I'm thinking and what am I understanding and what are my thoughts while I'm saying these things. Even without that kavanah, you're yotzei. Famous Reb Chaim Brisker. Tefillah — people think tefillah means saying the words. That's not true. Tefillah means standing in front of the king, עומד לפני המלך. Tell me, you know what the word tefillah means? What does the word tefillah mean? נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי, עם אחותי גם יכלתי. The word naftol — naftulei is to tie together something, is to be connected. נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי. Rachel says, נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי, עם אחותי גם יכלתי. Connect. You know the tefillin — the root word of the word tefillin comes from... Naftulei, it's connected. Tefillin makes a kesher between HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the Jew. That's the kesher, right? Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. Tefillin. And Hashem also has tefillin, the Gemara says. What is the tefillin of Hashem? What does it say in the tefillin of Hashem, how great Klal Yisrael is? It's a kesher. It's a kesher between HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Pasuk says, V'ro kol amei haaretz ki shem Hashem nikra alecha. You're connected to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Do you know when the Rambam says tefillin, which is really based on a lashon of the Gemara, he never uses the word tefillin. You know what the Rambam calls it? Tefilah. Tefilah shel rosh and tefilah shel yad. Look at the Rambam. The word tefillin, it's not tefillin. People walk around, Here I have a pair of tefillin. Tefilah. Walk around saying tefilah. Could you imagine saying, Did you leave your tefilah? Did you take your tefilah with you? No, you say tefillin. No, the Rambam doesn't say that. The Rambam calls it tefilah, connected to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Tefilah means mikusher. Korban means close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's a part of korbanos, which of course is kaparas avonos, a lesson to the person to learn that he sinned and he has to fix the sin. But there's also a part of korban. Which to become close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Kiruv. And what is that? How is the korban a kiruv to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? What? I slaughtered an animal. Where is the kiruv to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? So if he sinned and the korban fixed the sin, so then he becomes close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He was shav b'tshuvah; he becomes close back to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But if he didn't sin, what about—what is a korban? He slaughtered an animal. All you need is the animal rights activists to come and scream, What are the poor animal—what are you, animal rights? What is, taka, pshat in a korban, which is not about aveirah? And the answer is very, very simple. There was a halacha that a person would come to the Beis HaMikdash to bring a korban. He came to the house of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and he was עומד לפני השם. He's standing in front of the Ribono Shel Olam in the Beis HaMikdash. You know, oyleh regel.

What was oleh regel? Liro'os kol Yisrael. Kol Yisrael came, and they saw HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu sees them. There was an elevation, an experience that a person felt, that he's standing in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the Beis HaMikdash. The korban was lehiskarev el HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. There's a part of tefillah, there's a part of tefillah, which is this inyan of kreivus, being close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, by actually being עומד לפני המלך, standing in front of the King. It's not so much what I do, but it's where I'm doing it, that I'm coming to service and to bring a korban to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, in the house of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And every Yid, when he stood on top of his korban, there's halacha of ba'alim, that he has to be there. You know, you can't send a korban—email, express mail. You can't text a korban. Imagine a person says, I'm going to text my davening to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, send it in email, my tefillah, send it in for Shacharis. It doesn't work that way. You got to come and stand in front of the King. Every korban had a din that the ba'alim had to stand on top of the korban; he had to come himself. Part of the korban was to actually come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and stand in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and have that experience. And this is korban, kirvus laKadosh Baruch Hu. Adam ki yakriv mikem, korban laShem, that the person came to the Beis HaMikdash and he's עומד in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that itself was the korban, that he becomes close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. As we learn korbanos, we're going to see that every korban and every act that was in the korban was addressed, was there to bring out either the kaparah part of the korban or the kirvus, the connection, the want to be connected, the coming to be connected to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And we dedicate this shiur to this point. So, rabosai, let's make a one-minute chazarah, because I want you to hear clearly what we're trying to address, and that is: korbanos, Vayikra is all about korbanos. Today we don't have korbanos. We say korbanos, and it's ki'ilu hikriv korban, but we don't have korbanos actual, but we have tefillah bimakom korbanos. The davening takes the place. So what is korbanos, and how does davening take its place? So the truth is there's a basic— Inyan, and point of korbanos, which is kaparas avonos, is to be mechaper. And how does that work? Like we explained, the person looks at the korban. Many Rishonim learn like this: it should have been him. It should have been him. It could have been him, and Baruch Hashem, it's not him, it's the korban. It's also his money. Damim tachti mashma, his blood, his money spilling. It's also kaparas avonos. But then there's a whole part of korbanos which is not about chet, but that's what, other kiyakarim can become close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So what is it in korbanos that brings the person close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? And how is that found in tefillah? And the answer is, Omed lifnei hamelech. It's clear that the korban was, the man came and stood in front of the Ribbono Shel Olam. So too by tefillah, the man is literally karev, because you can't be עומד לפני המלך ומדבר לפני המלך unless you are what? Close to Him. Okay, rabosai, are we all clear? Nu? Yeah, klar? Part of korbanos.

This is kaparah, yes, but there's a whole chelek, a whole part of korbanos is not about sin, about getting close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Tefillah encompasses both, that it's a vadah kaparah, slach lanu, speak about asking Hashem to forgive us, hashiveinu, bring us close. We sin, bring us close. But there's another part of tefillah which inherently, in itself, is like a korban, and that is that we are close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Korev, you're close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And every part of the korban is there to either address kaparas avonos, or it's there to address and to bring out kirva laKadosh Baruch Hu. So let's discuss one of the halachos of a korban, and that is melach. You're supposed to put salt on every korban. Why? Al kol korbancha takriv melach. Why? Why do we have to put salt on every korban? So there's a very interesting Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim. The Rambam speaks how every korban was anti-avodah zarah, the opposite of what the baalei avodah zarah did. We take that and we do the opposite in the Beis HaMikdash for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He says, if you notice, there's a few... Detailed halachas about a korban. One is we can't put honey. V'chol sar v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem. Sar is leaven. Dvash is honey. You can't give sar v'dvash. Why? says the Rambam. He says because the baalei avodah zarah used to sacrifice all their korbanos with dvash, with se'or. Se'or is leaven, yeast, leaven, se'or, leaven bread. V'chol sar v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem. Why? Because, nu, the goyim used to do that. So we have to do the exact opposite. Salt. No. Why the salt? He says that the goyim used to not salt because they wanted more, and they wanted the blood also. Salt takes out the blood. If you don't put salt, the blood stays in. The goyim wanted that. Their avodah zaras, I think he says that as consolations, Mars, I think he speaks about over there. They used to be makriv korbanos to Mars. And therefore, they who didn't put salt, we put salt. Whatever they do, we do the opposite. They put honey, we don't put honey. They put se'or, we don't put se'or. Salt, they didn't put, so we do put salt. Because the whole idea of a korban is what the Goyim do, we do the opposite for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So learns the Rambam and the Moreh Nevuchim. It's interesting, because the Chasam Sofer speaks that there's a machlokes Rishonim if the Kohanim, when they ate korbanos, if they had to salt them. Machlokes. Says the Chasam Sofer, if you learn that the Kohanim had to salt, it makes sense, because they too had to follow anti-avodah zarah. Because, I mean, we all know that when the Kohanim ate, that was also part of the kaparah. Ba'alim miskaprim, Kohanim ochlim, ba'alim miskaprim is also part of the kaparah. So if the kaparah is to do not the avodah zarah, the opposite of the avodah zarah, says the Chasam Sofer, so then they would have to also put salt. They would also have to put the salt. But if you learn that they don't have to put salt, that would be a kashya, stirah, contradiction to the Rambam's theory of why we put salt.

The Rambam says we put the salt because that's the kapara to do the opposite of avodah zarah. If the kohanim and their eating is part of the kapara, then they should have to put salt, and according to the shitas that they don't have to put salt, it would be a kasha. There's a very famous shaila that the Rishonim ask on this Rambam, and that is, if the goyim do this, so we have to do the opposite. Why do we care what the goyim do? Who cares what the goyim? Huh? Tell me, should we do everything in the shul the exact opposite of what the goyim do? That's the whole shul? Who cares what they do? Why do I have to pay attention to what they do? Why do I have to pay? Now the truth is, I don't know. Maybe, maybe if we understood the world of avodah zarah and hakravah of avodah zarah, we don't understand the whole inyan of hakravah today. You know, what's the hakravah? Today the biggest hakravah they have is the cookie with the ... I don't know, the wafer, the biscuit. I'm just saying, we don't understand what it is even. What's hakravah, the makriv korbanos today? If we knew and understood the yetzer hara, if we knew and understood the yetzer hara of hakravah to avodah zarah, the korbanos, maybe we'd understand why the emphasis on not doing. That for the Beis Hamikdash, korbanos laShem, maybe. I saw an interesting Tur. The Tur says, Ah, it's too lofty, all these concepts of why the salt. It's too lofty, all these concepts why the salt. It's very simple. Tell me something, would you eat food without salt? Of course not, unless you're on a special diet and the doctor tells you that. Salt, everybody loves salt, right? When you get older and you're not eating anything, then you start cutting out salt, right? But when you want it to taste good, you put tons of salt, right? Salt brings out the taste in something. Any mother, they'll tell you, any woman who cooks, they'll tell you the salt brings out the taste. Yeah? You have to give a korban to the Eibishter, it's called lechem Elokecha. So you have to give food that tastes good. You fellas might have to put a lot of different spices, I don't know, whatever spice, charif and all, I don't know. Maybe you should put charif inside your korbanos, I don't know. All right? It has to taste good. You also point out, the Tur says that you can only be makriv to HaKadosh Baruch Hu min hamutar beficha. There's a whole inyan that korban has to be something that's fit for your palate, min hamutar beficha. Says the Tur, part of that is not just issur v'heter, not just issur v'heter, but what? In taste. It has to taste good, just like what you like. A lot of times, fazich, a person for himself, he gets the most luxurious things. His vacations are thousands of dollars. His car is gorgeous. Then when he has to give for the Rabbeinu Shloylam, he has to give for the b'shul, he has to give for a mitzvah, then he's cheapo. All of a sudden, all of a sudden he becomes karg, you know? Yeah, it's unbelievable, huh? For yourself, when you expect me to live like this? You expect me? Tell me, how do you expect the Eibishter to live in a shul that's dilapidated, everything's falling apart? Tell me, rabosai, let's look around the bais medrash here. Tell me, would you live like that in your house? I just want to know. Would you live with all that stains over there? Would you live with a carpet that there's—here, take a look. Look on the floor here. You see, you notice that there's tape to fix up the carpet. You see it over there? Would you live like that? Would you live like that? I'm asking, would you live like—oh. It's okay, I'm not trying to make an appeal for the bais medrash here. I'm trying to bring out a point. For the Rabbeinu Shloylam, it's good enough, but for yourself this wouldn't be good enough. The Torah is saying, you're giving the Eibishter a korban, it's got to be...

Tam? Huh? No. What are you mushlafs? What are you thinking about? Come on, no. What's that about tam? It's not about tam, yeah? It's gotta be mamash, but all the spices. Give me the spices. Yeah, yeah, put in your osaf. What do you put over there, no? The cholent. What do you guys put in? Some special spice. You don't know, huh? Why? Because for yourself it needs to, has to be... Give a korban to the Eibishter. It's gotta be batar. It's gotta be... There's a whole mahalach in the mefarshim, Rishonim discuss it at arichus. We find melach bris. Bris melach. It's a treaty of salt. Bris melach. What is it about melach that's a bris? It's a treaty, salt. You know, I don't know if you know that when you wash and you eat hamotzi, you must dip the bread into salt. Mamash, it's—there's even a whole shaila, Pesach by night, we're coming close to Pesach, right? Pesach by night, you take the matzah. Do you dip the matzah in salt? It's a whole shaila halacha. The hamotzi by matzah, do you have to dip it in salt? The Rambam says that the matzah is dipped in charoses. That's the shita of the Rambam. The first hamotzi matzah, we think we dip charoses, only maror, charoses. We only maror and charoses, yeah? And then we take the korech, we put in charoses. According to the Rambam, even the first hamotzi is dipped into charoses. Shitas haRambam. So there's a whole shaylah if you should take that and dip it also with salt, because you need salt. Every time you make hamotzi, you need salt, yeah? Now tell me, matzah, matzah has to be what? Matzah has to be lechem oni. So it shouldn't have taste. It has to be tasteless. Should I put salt? Should I put salt with charoses? Should I put salt and charoses? It's a good question. Halacha l'maaseh, according to the Rambam, you dip in charoses. What about salt? Okay, and even according to us that we don't what? We don't dip in charoses. There's a whole shaylah halacha: should I dip it in salt? Halacha, you'll each should do according to the custom of his family. You, Mr. Kaykov, should put salt, okay? And you, you shouldn't put salt. I'm not answering you what I do. But there's a question here, what I do. What's the shaylah? What's the nafka mina what I do? I'm just asking you, what's the nidon? And the answer is, you must always put the bread into salt. Why? Why do you always have to put the hamotzi into salt? And the answer is because shulchan is kemizbeach. Shulchan is k'mizbeach. The hamotzi is like the beginning of a korban. You're starting. Al kol korbancha takriv melach. So to remember that, to remember that, we put salt. To remember that, we put salt. So we find, interesting, salt, salt, korbanos, salt. What does the salt do to the point that every meal and every... There's something very ruchniyistic. There's something very unique and special about salt in its relationship to korbanos. What is it? And it's bris, yeah? Bris melach, the bris of melach. So many want to say that melach has a ruchnizdike message to it, and that is: melach never changes. The Rishonim say, melach never changes. You know how long you could keep salt in your house? Forever. Doesn't matter. As long as you don't put water, it all stays like this forever.

There's no change, nothing. Everything else you need new and fresh, and the old spoils, right? The Rivash speaks about it. Reb Shamshon Folher speaks about it. The inyan of melach on a korban was a lesson, symbolic lesson, that a Jew has to remain in his state of ruchniyus, in his spiritual, in his purity, remain like this. Meheicha? I don't know how many people, when they were makriv a korban, they thought of this. I mean, מסתמא before they were makriv a korban, I imagine the rabbanim or maybe the kohanim would give them an insight, a brochure, so to speak, to teach them why they do what they do. Otherwise, you're supposed to take out from the melach a lesson, a limud. Now what's the limud that you have to take? No? That a person needs to remain who he is, true to who he is, and never change. You know, when you want to keep something for a long time, you know what you do? You salt it, you pickle it. Pickling, it preserves, preserves, preserves. Salt has a preserving koach to preserve things. So it's a lesson that when a Yid should preserve himself. Yeah? Salted fish stays a long time. I don't know, in your house salted fish stays a long time; not coming to eat by you. Or they do that in the stores. Okay, okay. But the point is, salt preserves, okay? You hear? So salt preserves. A Yid needs to preserve his kedusha, his sanctity, his essence, v'chulei, v'chulei. There's another ideological concept, interesting yesod: salt. What's the salt, and what is its relevance to the table when you make the hamotzi? Salt is a reminder of Sdom. Very interesting. You notice the Gemara talks about melach Sdomis, and that when a person finishes his meal, he has to what? May machroinim. He has to wash off the melach Sdomis, yeah? What does it mean? It blinds the eyes. I don't know, it's like—interesting, melach Sdomis. There's a whole shaila today: we don't have melach Sdomis. We don't have it. We don't have melach Sdomis. So there's a whole machlokes if you have to anyway wash, because it could be the wash is not only about melach Sdomis; maybe it's about having clean hands for benching, miskadishim, viskadoshim, Gemara brachos, eilu mayim rishonim, eilu mayim acharonim, that maybe a person needs to clean his hands before he benches. What is melach Sdomis, and how did it come in here? Maybe there'll be melech's doymes. What are the chances? You buy salt. You buy salt in the store. There's some chances that it has to do with melech's doymes. Ha'boisai, there could be an amkus about melech's doymes. Stoim commemorates opposite of hachnosas orchim. A table in Stoim was all about what? Themselves. Lot's wife, we find, it's interesting, the one thing she didn't want to give was what? Salt, because she didn't want to give flavor. The idea of a table, put the bread in the beginning of a meal, is to show we're not Stoim. It's the antithesis, the anti-Stoim. And that's the pshat: we have to wash away melech's doymes. The Yiddishe table is clean from melech's doymes. This kadishtem v'hyisem kedoshim, part of kedusha is to learn, to take out that we are not Stoim. We do the opposite of Stoim. Sifsei Kohen.

Chamish goes down this road of understanding of why on every korban do we put melach, matzdoim, matzdoim. Korban. Maybe one of the greatest korbanos we could do is to give to others. It's also a form of korban, sacrifice. Adam ki yakriv mikem korban. My zeide used to speak all the time, hashkafah of yadus was sometimes the greatest sacrifice is the sacrifice from oneself. Adam ki yakriv mikem, giving of oneself for others is the greatest form of korban, the greatest form of sacrifice. I repeat a story that I said over. My zeide zichrono livracha, I heard this from my uncle Reb Chaim. My uncle Reb Chaim Wolkin told me, you know, Erev Pesach, there's a whole world that's busy with a custom that's brought in Shulchan Aruch, Erev Pesach matzos, to bake matzos on Erev Pesach. Some say it's a good idea to do, like the korban Pesach, Erev Pesach, בערב תאכלו מצות. The matzos of Pesach is hukash to the korban Pesach. Discussed it in the yeshiva a little bit, while others say, no, what are you talking about? It's just going to be a problem of chametz. Could you imagine you make a mistake? It's a problem. I did a little research over Shabbos. I found that— And from interesting information that the Skverer Rebbe's used to bake these matzos by the Seder. By the Seder they used to bake matzos at the Seder, matzos at the Seder. While the whole world is busy with yes Erev Pesach matzos, not Erev Pesach matzos, my zeide's zichrono livracha was busy with something completely different, and that is: he woke up Erev Pesach, one Erev Pesach, and he went to my grandmother, and he says, Tzivya — my grandmother's name was Tzivya — could you show me the kugels you made for Pesach? Let me see, can I see? How many did you make? My grandmother's looking, Shmuel David, what? You're oversized, seeing the kitchen, how much cooking was done for Pesach. What happens? Strange, strange request. What? I remember my bubbie used to say over, she got insulted. Machst genug Essen of Pesach. What are you questioning me? Of course I'm a good wife, I made plenty of food. He says, No, no, you don't understand. I need you to make a special kugel. There's an almana in Forest Hills, Tannenbaum. Her husband was one of the mirers, and he passed away a few days before Pesach. And she was an almana, just frisch, it was fresh, just happened. So in order to lift her spirits, that people are thinking about her, he wanted... He sent her a kugel special for Pesach, okay? So he asked her to make this kugel, and he sent this kugel with my uncle, the taxi, to take it to the almona. And he told my uncle, she mechaven l'shem mitzvas lev almona Arnin, she, the kavanah. What should you think when you give it to her? Think that you're doing it l'shem mitzvahs, to uplift, to make happy the lev, the heart of an almona. Well, the whole world is busy with the l'shem mitzvah matzah. My grandfather was busy l'shem mitzvahs almona Arnin. One of the greatest mitzvahs and the greatest sacrifices is for others, to do for others, to help others, to give for others, to think about others. Adam ki yakriv mikem, to be selfless. Adam, to be makriv, adam ki yakriv mikem korban, mikem, from yourself, to be selfless. That itself is korban. That itself—stein was selfish. The antithesis of stein is to be selfless.

Selfless is the essence of a korban. Adam ki yakriv mikem korban laShem. Selfless. The animal is selfless. Its creation is fulfilled by doing for Adam. It's a tremendous lesson, a korban. Human rights activists will scream, What? Animal rights! You know what's interesting? The same peoples who scream about animal rights won't care that much about human rights. It's interesting. It's very interesting. Throughout the history, we find—I wasn't in the time of the Germans, the Nazis—but the documentation is such that they cared more about an animal than about a human being. And what's the answer? Because it's not based on selflessness, but selfishness. So the animal is more than the Adam. The animal is man's best friend in many ways. Adam, it's very hard to like somebody else because he's taking from you, he wants from you. How many people find connection? They find companionship with animals. Oh yeah, sure, you know that. There's a whole world that they have to have a dog. Why do they have to have a dog? What's wrong with having a friend? It's man's best friend. I don't know about you, I have friends that don't, they're not klavim. I don't need a kelef. I have good friends. I have real friends. But if you can't have a human being as a friend, so you gotta have man's best, best friend, not a man's best friend. How can it be man's? You want to explain to me how a dog can be man's best friend? Best friend? Best friend? He's the best friend. Yeah, you want to have a puppy, you want to have, chas v'shalom, a pet, can't be man's best friend. And the answer is, when you can't communicate with an adam because you have sinah and kinah, so you find that the animal who you can't—well, you can be mekaneh a dog, and the dog's mekaneh you—oh, then he becomes your best friend. Animal. Sometimes you're busy with animal rights over human rights. It's not based on caring and loving and feelings, not necessarily. Take a look how he treats adam. How does he treat a human being? And the answer is, there's a psychological—the wires are a little bit tied up, they're a little bit short-circuited, that adam... behemah? Behemah? Behemah? There's a very interesting Even Ezra: Ki yigach shor ish es shor re'eihu. Ki yigach shor ish es shor re'eihu. When the shor of a man will gore the shor of his friend. Now who's the friend? It's his friend, the man. Man's ox will gore the ox of his friend, the man. The two men are friends. The Netziv quotes Ben Buta. Maybe he was a maskil, I don't know what he was, but he learned, shoreihu means that the shor, the ox, is the friend of the ox. Ki yigach shor ish, shor, the shor is re'eihu. This ox has a friend. Chayim, ox has a friend, davar ox. Not chayim and davar, but the ox and thems, it's friends, okay? Betsy the cow and Bobby the ox, okay? Says the Netziv, it's the craziest thing you ever heard. The ein l'rea shor ela Ben Buta. The only guy that could have a friend, an ox, is this guy who wrote this pshat. He could have a friend, an ox. That's what he says. Ben Buta, who wrote this pshat, for him it makes sense that he should have a friend, an ox. You know, today people have a pet, my best friend, and my this, and they buy him clothing and shoes, and there might be some psychological issues there, you know. The ein...

V'yei ashor, ela ben buta. A korban is a selfless thing, to the point that the animal is selfless because it's giving up its life for its tafkid adam, the service of man. That itself is the ultimate worth. Leich ki l'kach netzarta. Rebbe told this to the animal when the animal was supposed to get slaughtered. Go, for this you were created: selfless, tafkid, to service man. It's a zechus for an animal to be slaughtered, to facilitate and help man. Maichel tzaddikim. The zechus of an animal. By Esav it says that Yaakov Avinu sent min haba b'yado. He sent mincha l'Esav min haba b'yado. What's min haba b'yado? Meforshim say he didn't send him kosher animals. He sent him only the treif animals. And how did he know? Min haba b'yado. You push it down, it stays down, and it's a treif animal. If it's able to pick itself back up, it's one of the simanim, the signs to tell. Today we don't use it, of course. We're not going to tell kosher or not kosher based on it, but it's min haba b'yado. And why would he not send kosher animals to Esav? And the answer is very simple. The tafkid and tachlis of a kosher animal is to be slaughtered kosher and to be eaten. Kosher. To give it to Esav would be denying the animal its ultimate tafkid. The tafkid of a korban, the animal's tafkid is to service man. That's selfless. That's korban. Adam ki yakriv mikem korban laShem. The salt is to resemble and to symbolize and to commemorate and to remind the person, ... selfish, that to be makriv the selfish, to be selfless. You got to makriv, kill, destroy, be makriv, slaughter. Slaughter the selfish, the ... in order to what? No? In order to be selfless, which is korban. Let me add to you one more insight, which I think you'll appreciate very much. Salt, table. Do you know, you know what? I know that I see everybody is fidgeting already. They're taking out their phones. Well, actually, they've been taking out their phones for the past who knows how long, and I'm controlling myself because I really want to lash out at this phone. I'm controlling myself. But then I think to myself, make it more interesting and they won't run to the phone. Do you know what? I'll give you a little bit something interesting, okay? Shulchan. What is the root word of the word shulchan? Where does it come? Shulchan. We know the Rishonim tell us that every word in Lashon Kodesh is in itself the meaning of the thing that—it's not just, as the Ran says, haskamas uma kol uma, they got together. For example, table. Why is it a latabla? So this guy's going to come and say because in Latin, table is latabla. So why was it in Latin latabla? And the answer is a few Latin drunks got together and decided that that's what table is, latabla. But that's not what it is in Lashon Kodesh. And I was in tenth grade. My tenth grade rebbi was a very, very special person, Rav Bloch shlita. Hashem should give him gezunt; he should be marich yamim, to be marbeh Torah for many good years. Maridike rebbi, excellent rebbi, talmid chacham muflag. He was giving shiur, and there was a boy in my class that was from Brazil, from Brazil, a boy in my class. It began to snow, and he never saw snow in his life. We were in Staten Island yeshiva, it was snowing, and he—see, he ran to the window in excitement, snow, he never saw it before. The rebbi understood his excitement, but at the same time, middle of class, right? See, today what he would have done, he would have taken out his phone and Googled snowing outside.

Biden seen on his phone, right? But then there was no, right? There was no Google schmoogle. He had to—when he ran to the window, and he saw the snow. The Rebbe understood, but he wanted him to chazer class. He calls him back. He says, I want to tell you something. Let me tell you over a ma'amar chidah about snow. Snow in Hebrew is? Shin and lamed and a gimel. Shin, a lamed, and a gimel. It's all components of three. Shin is 300, lamed 30, gimel 3. Three, three, three, three, three, three, 30, 3, 3, and 300. How many molecules are in snow? And the answer is three: H2O. Two hydrogens and one oxygen makes up water, which is snow, and that's why it's shin, lamed, gimel. Three, three, and three. Now you can ask me, so why is water not that? Okay, we'll talk about it at a different time, all right? When we do tal and geshem, we'll discuss mayim and why it's called mayim, all right? One yud. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, but some mayim is geshem. No, no, no, mayim. Okay, you write a book about it, I'm with you. I'll give you haskamah on it. Okay, now, getting back to—you hear? Getting back to the point that every word means itself. So what is shulchan? Says the Ma'am Loez in Pirkei Avos, you hear? Shulchan. Is shliach. Hashem gives you a table. Hashem gives you money and food. You're a shliach to give it to others to eat. You're the messenger to feed others. Shulchan, shliach, shlichut. Mamloyos. Beautiful. Shulchan is k'mizbeach. Mizbeach is k'shulchan. Shulchan is the antithesis of zdoyim. Zdoyim is what? Not to feed, and not to give, and not to do. Shulchan k'mizbeach, makriv the melach, to be makriv the salt. Sifsei kohein. Sifsei kohein already—he doesn't speak out all the, as they say, the arum and the arum, all the inyan of shulchan and the whole. But the salt represents anti-zdoyim, not zdoyim. There's something interesting, another thing about the Pesach Seder. Salt represents tears. Salt water represents tears. We dip the karpas into salt water, and every child knows—he comes back from yeshiva, from school—what's the reason for the salt water? That's from your schools they come back with Yosef... But most schools they come back with tears, the tears, the crying, salt water, tears. Okay. Let me give you a little bit of understanding: karbon and tears, and water and salt. There's another... The whole mahalach of why we put salt on every korban, and the answer is: it originates, it goes back to the time of Bereishis, the creation of the world, where the Rabbeinu Shalom said, Yeikavu hamayim. We're going to separate the waters. We're going to take the waters and say, part of you will be in shamayim, shamayim, and part of you will make up the waters on this earth, separating, rakia, to separate mayim ha'elyonim and mayim hatachtonim. The Medrash says that when that happened, the waters from earth, the waters from below, mayim hatachtonim began to cry. Rabbeinu Shalom, Rabbeinu Shalom, how could you do that to us? You're separating us from You, from shamayim. The waters above, we're lucky, they're close to You. The waters below, belonging. Rabbeinu Shalom, how could you take us away? How could you further merachek us, push us away? We want to be close to You. Mayim hatachtonim were boichim, they were crying.

There's an interesting pshat, very famous pshat. Al naharos Bavel, sham yashavnu gam bachinu. What is gam bachinu? We stood on the waters of Bavel and we also cried. What do you mean also? Bachinu. What do you mean also cried? Al naharos Bavel, sham... gam bachinu. We also cried. We cried. We stood at the waters on the way out, that we were thrown out of Eretz Yisrael on the way out to en route to Bavel, we cried on the neharos. What's the gam bachinu? The Ribono Shel Olam gave a compensation to the mayim hatachtonim. You want to be close to Me. You want to be close to Me. You're crying that I separated you. I'm going to give you a compensation, and that is the salt, which is rooted from the ocean, the waters. We're going to put you on the mizbeach by the korbanos, and through that you'll be karev, you'll be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Al kol korbancha takriv melach. On every korban we put salt. Salt, because the salt is the mayim hatachtonim. That was their compensation to be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, their longing to HaKadosh Baruch Hu when they were separated, and further was to be on the mizbeach on every korban. When the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and Klal Yisrael was sent out of Eretz Yisrael, Al naharos Bavel, sham yashavnu gam. We also, also together with the waters, we cried. The waters lost out with the churban HaBeis Hamikdash also, because they also felt the churban Beis Hamikdash. Because what was their compensation to be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Was korban in the Beis Hamikdash. Al naharos Bavel, no? Sham yashavnu gam. Together with the waters, also we cried. Also with them we cried. Al kol korbancha takriv melach. On every korban you bring salt. Salt represents the tears, that the waters cried, that they want to be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Every korban symbolizes, and its essence is, the longing that a Jew has to be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's not only the korban, but it's al kol korbancha takriv melach, the tears, the salt water. The tears, the salt represents the tears. Like I tell you, the night of Pesach, the salt water represents the tears. Chazal tell us, af al פי שננעלו שערי תפילה, שערי דמעות לא ננעלו. A big part of the tefillah is the tears, the longing, the kisufim that a Yid has to be close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and that is tefillah. Tefillah has also melach; it also has salt, the tears, the tears that we put into the tefillah. This is the inyan of korban, and many more inyanim that we could speak, and im yirtzeh Hashem, maybe as the parshiyos progress, we'll talk. The korban sees its fruition in the tefillah, and we need to understand korban and all the details and all the halachos of korban. Then we will properly see it in the hilchos hatefillah and how we daven and the way we should daven. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.