Pirkei Avos 2: Derech Yesharah, Honest Self-Judgment, and Learning to Love Tochachah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Starting Pirkei Avos, b'ezras Hashem, for the next few weeks, we will do the perek of the week, Pirkei Avos, the Rishonim, to the Acharonim, to the Baalei Mussar, hashkafas hachaim. But the Avos, these are the Pirkei Avos that they set forth, the derachim of middos tovos and hashkafos. I begin with the second perek, which is this week's perek. Rabbi Omer, Eizehu derech yesharah sheyavor lo ha'adam. Yavor means to be mevarer, to choose. So Rabbi is saying, what is the derech yesharah that a person should choose? Kol shehi tiferes l'oseha. It's tiferes, it's shem, for lack of a better term, we'll use a Yiddish term, shein for the mensch, which most Rishonim learn that's what l'oseha means, for the one that does the act, the person. V'tiferes lo min ha'adam. And it's also tiferes shem ba'andere. That's the most simplest translation of this Mishnah. The mefarshim ask many she'eilos on the lashon of the Mishnah. I begin with Eizehu derech yesharah. What does the word yashar mean? Tov. It's another word we find in Chazal. Godder their Mishnayos like that later, that sheid bakba adam, derech tov. There's also the word tov, good, nachon, yashar. What does the word yashar mean? Straight, okay? We know that the avos were called yesharim. So eizo hi derech yesharah? There's something important about being yashar, which we will discuss. What is the yashrus in this Mishnah? What is it referring to? And what does yashrus bichlal mean? It's interesting, the answer. And again, the mefarshim ask on the lashon of the answer: Kol shehi tiferes l'oseha, v'tiferes lo min ha'adam. What is lo? Kol shehi tiferes l'oseha v'tiferes lo min ha'adam, to the person. What's tiferes lo? Tiferes l'oseha v'tiferes lo min ha'adam. Also, what is the meaning min ha'adam? Tiferes, it's pretty, b'adam, by others. What's min, from others? What does it mean, min ha'adam? These are she'eilos that all the mefarshim address, rabosai. If you look through the Rishonim, Acharonim, these are interesting ha'aros on the lashon. What does it mean, tiferes? Also, we must ask, what is the lashon, Kol shehi tiferes l'oseha v'tiferes lo min... Ha'adam. Ha'adam, with the hei hayediah. The mefarshim speak about that one as well. But one of the most important questions that needs to be asked, that Rebbe himself gave a different answer to this question in Mesechtes Tamid. Rebbe gives a teretz in Mesechtes Tamid: who is yashar, what is called shehi yashar, eizo derech yesharah that he should choose? And there Rebbe gives a completely different answer, and that is, Yehaives hatoichachos. He should appreciate mussar. The Maharsha already asks, how come Rebbe gives a different teretz? Dor Rebbe in Mishnin Avos says that the derech sheyavor lo ha'adam is kol shehi teferes, and in Mesechtes Tamid—now, Mesechtes Tamid starts not from daf beis, so if I tell you it's daf chaf-ches and you ask me there's only twelve blatt in Tamid, it's because it doesn't start with daf beis. But the Gemara there is daf chaf-ches, that Rebbe's exact lashon is, Eizo derech yesharah sheyavor lo ha'adam, and the answer is, Yehaives hatoichachos.

What changed from Avis to Kachim? Kachim, Tamid is the last Masechta in Kachim. All of a sudden it became Yavas HaTeichachas. And I have a shaila, rabosai, which I don't really understand. Yavah, it's up for the person to choose a derech. What does that mean? We sit and we pick and we choose, and isn't whatever is supposed to be in middos and in halacha already brought in the Rambam and the Rishonim? I mean, there's a derech which is put already forth in front of us. Even in middos, look at the Rambam in Hilchos De'os. The Rambam tells us how to behave. So every person has to choose. Eizehu derech yesharah sheyavor? A person chooses his own derech in avodas Hashem. What does it mean? So these are the kashas, the ha'aros, the she'eilos that we're going to address, and let's repeat them again. Like this, when you see the terutzim, you'll see the beauty of this Mishnah in its entirety. The first she'eilah is yesharah. What are we addressing in yesharah? Yashrus. The second she'eilah is, what does it mean that it's tiferes loi, to him, almost implying that it's each person personal, loi, to him. It's his choice, and it's something that he feels is tiferes. What do you mean, tiferes loi? It should be tiferes. It's pretty, it's right, it's shain, it's richtig. What does it mean, lei? Tiferes lei. Also, what does it mean, min ha'adam? From the person to people, le'adam. It's tiferes la'adam. Sichein, sirichik ba'andra. What is lei min ha'adam? Also, why does Rebbe change and say a whole different choice of derech sheyavo lei adam in Mesechtes Tamid in Kachim? And the biggest shaila, of course, that we have to address in the Mishnah is: leave it up to choice. It's not easy to. And everybody has his own Torah and his own mahalach and his own... What's the Mishnah? Rebbe, don't tell us which should we choose. Tell us what's right. Tell us the mahalach. It's a choice. It's an inyan of choosing. So, let's begin by explaining the pshat in the Mishnah. What does it mean, tiferes l'oseha? So pashut means, like I explained to you, it's tiferes for the one that does it, the one that picks this choice, this mahalach, these actions. It's tiferes lei. Azoi leint Rashi, azoi leint the Rav on the Mishnah, most meforshim are like that. But interestingly, the Meiri brings a yesh acharim meforshim that there's a different pshat, l'oseha, and it means l'oseha to the one that created Adam, referring to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So there's a whole new pshat in the Mishnah. What does it mean, tiferes l'oseha? Does it mean tiferes... To the person, or tifares l'oseha, to the one that created man, the one who created the mensch, the Rabbeinu Shleilam. We have a machlokes Rishonim over here. Now let's discuss the Mishnah according to both pshatim. If the Mishnah means l'oseha, to the one who created the person, so what does it mean, tifares lo min ha'adam? So it has to be tifares for the Rabbeinu Shleilam, good? HaKavod, k'vod Shamayim, which is the ikar. Every Jew lives to exalt the kavod of the Rabbeinu Shleilam. So what does it mean, tifares lo min ha'adam? So all baalei mussar, as well as in Chassidus, this is one of the big themes of hashkafah, and that is, it's got to be tifares for both. Sometimes people have a mahalach, avodah, k'vod Shamayim, but does it fit in tifares lo min ha'adam? Is it also yisanekim Hashem u'mi Yisrael? Is it also something that people feel that they have, they're respected from it? A person could go within the mahalach, can for the Rabbeinu Shleilam, if to take into account that it should be...

Tiferes. Tiferes loy min ha'adam. In Kotzk, I remember my zeide used to use this lashon all the time: menshliche heilikeit. Zei flekt men nutzen de lashon in Lita, even though Kotzk wasn't in Lita, but that's how they used to call it, menshliche heilikeit. And we all know anshei kodesh, tehirin, and the tairos behind it, it's known. Those are known tairos. But the Mishnah tells us that we have to be as the sulam of Yaakov, mutzav artzah u'rosho magia hashamaymah. It's got to be both: tiferes for the Ribono Shel Olam, and tiferes loy min ha'adam. The other pshat, of course, is loysehal, pashut, it means don't mench, that does it. Are we talking about mitzvahs, or are we talking about middos? Which derech are we talking about? It's interesting. So you would say, avadeh we're talking about middos. What else? I mean, mitzvahs. There's a derech in mitzvahs, whatever the Shulchan Aruch tells us, al teh saseh is this, yeah? It's interesting, most Rishonim don't learn that it's going on middos. The Rambam learns like that, but Rashi learns it's going on kiyum ha-mitzvos. Yeah, al ta'aseh, that there's a derech sheyavor lei ha'adam, that man chooses in mitzvahs. There's a choice of mitzvahs. Hasiah mitzvah, dafka min das tan. Az es shteit in Shulchan Aruch, az ei dafka zach firen. What does it mean? It's interesting, the lashon of Rashi. What is the, Tiferes la'oseha, tiferes lo min ha'adam? He should pick the mitzvahs that a person has a derech yesharah, v'yekaymenu, az yismach b'yoser aleha. So the tiferes, l'choira, what does it mean? I mean, if you have to do it, right? So what's the tiferes l'adam? The teretz is, it brings tiferes l'adam. Azeh lent Rashi, he'll have hana'ah. A mensch vos tut mitzvahs af a gevise oifen, the way the Mishnah gives us the solution on how to do it, the mahalach on how to do it, so, kRashi, then it will be tiferes, az yismach b'yoser aleha, v'gam bnei adam mefarim umeshabchim oso. And then people will also say, 'Rashi, allowed to take a bakotshein?' But it's going on mitzvahs, chaveirei. We always thought pashut pshat, when we read this Mishnah, it means a mahalach in lebin, derech, middos. No, says Rashi. A lot of Rishonim follow with Rashi's mahalach, that it's going on mitzvahs. I don't know how to do a mitzvah, chaveirei. Says Rashi, and if you do it right, it will be tiferes lo min ha'adam. And if you don't do it right, then it's not going to be not tiferes lo min ha'adam, has v'shalom, gam nisht. I don't mean kiyum mitzvah, but al kol panim hana'ah, as well as others. They're not going to be meshabeach and mefa'er. They're not going to give you the proper recognition, honor. It's an interesting Rashi. We'll get back to this Rashi, be'ezras Hashem. But I want to first talk about the mussar chelek of this Mishnah, which is the other pshat of the Rambam, that we're not referring to mitzvahs, but we're actually referring to middos, and a person must choose his middos. What does it mean he must choose his middos? Look at the Chaim Volozhin, beautiful sefer, the Chaim d'Shkafes there. It's full on this Mishnah. It's full. So many different pshatim that he says mamash to fatach this Mishnah. You see that it's nit kein pashte Mishnah. Reb Chaim says, like you say, based on a Chazal, Ein adam ro'eh nigei atzmo. This Mishnah is beginning with the person who needs to choose. He needs to start thinking about himself. A person reaches a certain age, starts maturing: Avu halt ich, ver bin ich, who am I? What is my mahalach? What should I choose? And the answer is, I don't know, because I don't...

I don't even know myself. Ein adam ro'eh nigei atzmo. You know, unfortunately, people spend their whole life, and then one day they look in the mirror and they go, Oh, I don't recognize myself. Ein adam ro'eh nigei atzmo, says Reb Chaim Volozhin. So the Mishnah here is giving us a solution to how to deal with ein adam ro'eh nigei atzmo. And he says a famous thing that all baalei mussar speak about. You know, when a man says, A ganef, everybody by him is a ganef. Oh, he's... A person is a liar, then I tell you, everybody's liars. You start looking around, and you start realizing yourself through others. Zogt Reb Chaim Volozhin, ... dafshat meMishnah. How do I know that it's tiferes loi? How do I know I'm doing the right thing? How do I ever know if I'm באמת doing something which I think is right, but it's not right? ... The Torah says, Tiferes loi min ha'adam. See how you view others who do this. I saw the Sfas Emes says that's the pshat. He doesn't say, Tiferes loi la'acheirim, it's nice for the others. We're not discussing that it's nice for them. We're discussing that to you. Min ha'adam. From that person, you're going to learn what a tiferes is. Tiferes li min ha'adam, which is really what Rav Chaim Volozhin is saying: through others. In English we call it projection. You could project yourself through others to see. Give me the best example. How many times do we see people when they cut a line? Tell me something, Avigdor, you don't cut the line sometimes? And the teretz is, when it's negea, when you feel, and when you... How do you view others? If it's tiferes li min ha'adam, when others do it, take from that, says Rav Chaim Volozhin, and then you'll know that it's tiferes l'oseha. But this, rabosai, I think is meyredik teretz to the kasha we asked. Are we talking about choosing? A person chooses a derech? And the answer is, we're not talking about shtei din Shulchan Aruch. We're talking about something which is called yashrus. Eizehu derech yesharah. And in every person's mind, ehr is a yashar. That's what it is. What I think and what I do, dos is yashrus, dos is gerecht. What happens? Says the Mishnah, view it in the context of others. Vi anderer tuen, and how do you feel when they do it? And then you'll know for yourself what's called... Yashar. So we have already a teretz to the kasha: why is it yashar? Ish kol yashar b'einav ya'aseh. This is tachlis hayesod from Mishlei. Every person, his actions are yashar to him. But how does a person ever really know? And the teretz is: see it through the behavior of others. And that's why it's sheyivror, that he chooses. What are we choosing? And the answer is, we're not talking about vashteit the Shulchan Aruch, because nobody knows how to apply themselves to vashteit. Every person thinks that. Mamash what he does is mefurash. He has a raya; the das is azei dafka. Every person feels he has a raya: this is it. Put yourself into the shoes of others. Mishnayos talk about, al tehi... chavercha... Person can't live that he himself judges, and that's the loshon of Reb Chaim, the loshon I'd like to use, his loshon: no person can be a shofet al atzmo. No person, because he's nogea b'davar. That's a beautiful arichus, Rebbe. Yes, sir. You've earned the maaseh, Rebbe.

This point you've earned the maaseh. It fell into my head as we're talking. I was once sitting with a very, very chashuva person, and he said something very sharp. I was surprised at the sharpness of it. I was a little taken back by it. He looks at me and he says, I'm sorry that I did this. I'm sorry that I said this. And he started to go into... Now the truth is, the personality of that person is that. That's the way this person was. He was very tough, very sharp. So I wasn't sure how to respond. On one hand, ... for others, all right, ... so what? ... No, no. But I was shocked because he said, ... He says, Ah, it's not really, you know, what I usually do. It's, it's... So I told him, No, what do you mean? You do that. You do this all the time. This is... you seem to have... this is... people talk about you like that. He looks at me and he tells me, That? That's how people... that's what people say about me? And I'm looking at him, You don't know? What world are you living in? I was shocked. And I realized... A person from within has a complete dimyon of who he is. A complete dimyon. It was something so surprising to me that a person could say about himself he's the opposite of everything that everybody knows and sees, and it's so obvious. And then it got me wondering, maybe I'm the same. Maybe I'm the same thing. And I walked around thinking to myself, Who am I? I don't know. You know, it's complicated. A person looks in the mirror and he sees a neredik, and they say this, alimuser speak about, that the Ribono Shel Olam created shikcha, because if there was no shikcha, we'd look in the mirror, we wouldn't be able to survive. We wake up in the morning, and that's the inyan of kemaiin panim el panim. There's no mirror. There's a lot to talk about this, but at least I understand what the Mishnah is addressing, and that is, sheyiver. Sometimes a person has to look into himself. What am I doing? Who am I? When the other guy does the same thing, how do I react? Now I understand what Rebbe meant in Masechtes Tamid. What is the derech yesharah? Sheyehei ohev es hatochachos. What does it mean I should love tochachah? And the answer is, I need to be able to look into myself, to want to know. In our beis medrash, you can hear a thousand drashas. And you can learn Pirkei Avos from today till tomorrow. Step number one is to know that I need to have toichachah. I need to be guided. Every person at his level and in his age, yehoiv es hatoichaches. He should want it, love it, and search for it. Am I taka? Is it taka this? Am I doing taka richtig? So Rebbe is saying the same thing, Tzain and Avos and Tzain Talmid. It's yehoiv. He should love toichachah. He should love to want to be better, to want to change, to want to see... You know how many people, rabosai, are so set in their ways. I don't want to change. This is what I want. This is who... No. You need to look, and you need to think, and you need to say to yourself, I cann't zayn a besserer mensch, a besserer Yid. This, rabosai, is tiferes. That's the sheinkeit for mensch. People who don't grow, rabosai, there's no tiferes. They're immature and stumped from growth.

Das is nit der shenkeit fun mensch. Der tiferes fun dem adam is to constantly grow, tsu vern a beserer mensch, tsu vern an a mensch vos mentshen kuken af im un zogn, Ah, dos iz a mensch, dos iz... Tiferes loy min ha'adam. Many mefarshim learn, adam harishon it's referring to. Ha'adam, vos labatkeruft ha'adam, godliness ha'adam, the greatness of person. A person can never reach godliness unless he constantly works on himself. Man's greatness is to go against his techunos. It's to go against what he feels is right when it's not really right. Hardest thing is to break yourself. The hardest thing is to say, I'm wrong. The hardest thing is to say, Ich darf epes andersh ton. It's very difficult. People set in their ways, and that's it. Zogt Rebbe, eizehu derech yesharah sheyivor lo adam, kol shetiferes lo losev v'tiferes lo min ha'adam. And that's yashrus. What is yashrus? The word is given its up for interpretation, and the answer is, a yashar is a person who is able to see past what he feels. Let me hear what the other guy has to say. Let me hear. With this, we can go to a second pshat that Reb Chaim Volozhin says, which is beautiful. Rav Chaim Volozhin says that the Mishnah is trying to teach us, Tiferes l'Yoimer ha'adam. It means that we have to give a chaver a toiv and check everything out with him to see if it's a chichdik. A chaver, it's like a friend. You know what knei lecha chaver means? You got to buy this friend. How do you buy a friend? You buy him. You take him out for a dinner, and therefore you have a good time. I lose for you. He'll never be your chaver for that. You'll have a good time with him, and you'll move on. Knei lecha chaver means that a person gets somebody that he's mechubar to. He's attached to. And that person is a person that will be able to give you and guide you: am I right or am I wrong? Says Rav Chaim Volozhin, like we said before, because a person never knows. So the Mishnah is telling us, sheyivrar is to choose, to choose somebody, and that person will teach you Tiferes l'Yoimer ha'adam. Is it a rebbe? Sometimes it's a rebbe. Sometimes it's a chaver. Rav Chaim Volozhin, who was interestingly, he was a talmid of the Gra, with all his conflicts with the talmid, he doesn't learn it up as a rebbe and talmid, which a lot do. But he says, pashut, a chaver toiv. Every person needs a good friend. And what's a good friend? Not someone who will agree with you. On everything you say. A chaver tov is someone who will disagree with you and tell you what's proper and what's right, and when it's wrong, he'll tell you it's wrong. Ah, so when we get to that Mishnah, Rabosai, we'll have to talk about it. You're talking about time constraint. How do you get such a chaver, Rabosai? We have to choose our friends, and we have to daven to the Eibishter about that. But there's a lot that's in this question, and yes, I will answer it. Because you've asked it, I will answer and address this shaila. Rabosai, it's a tremendous lesson in life. You always need a chaver. Many learn, many Acharonim, many baalei mussar speak: V'tiferes lo min ha'adam, not v'tiferes for you. V'tiferes lo min ha'adam means that it's not you. For character, the other person. For him it's easy, for you it's hard. And you're going to do it because it's against your teva. You know, every person is prone to do what he...

Feels, lefi hischonus. When someone is lazy, you know everything is right to do it a certain way. It's right, this is the way to do something. Zogt der Mishnah, v'tiferes lo min ha'adam. See how it's tiferes by others, and it's not tiferes alone for you. And then it should become derech sheyiva l'Adam. It's choice. Now, rabosai, let's discuss the Mishnah on the tzad that we're talking about mitzvahs. Chayra, a person chooses mitzvahs? What does that mean? Good, mitzvahs. A person needs to choose a mahalach from within himself. But if it's going on mitzvahs, what does it mean that he's yiva? What is he choosing, and it's tiferes lo min ha'adam? And avodah d'teretz, rabosai, is one of two things, and here I quote a Medrash Shmuel, rabosai. Medrash Shmuel pelled it, mamash a peleh. If you have a shaylah of doing a bein adam laMakom, a shaylah of doing a bein adam l'chaveiro, it's a Medrash Shmuel, rabosai. You choose the bein adam l'chaveiro. I would ask everyone to please look it up on his own. Heichan ha'neder Shmuel? Das is geredt of the middos, chelek, of the halachic chelek. Mitzvahs, our mitzvahs is derech sheyiva l'Adam? Vos meint das? Satan medrash Shmuel, a bein adam laMakom, mit a bein adam l'chaveiro, yivchar. A person could choose a bein adam l'chaveiro over bein adam laMakom. V'al das is tiferes lo, u'tiferes lo min ha'adam. It's also kiddush Shem Shamayim. If it's all about tiferes, and this is the way I understand the Medrash Shmuel, I want to add to the words of the Medrash Shmuel, if your whole kavanah is tiferes l'eiseha, to the One who even created—let's go back to the first pshat from the mefarshim—that was a gemachtament, you want to wait kol v'shamayim, then see tiferes lo min ha'adam. More than just worrying about, directly bein adam laMakom, tiferes lo l'eiseha. Pilei ployim, rabosai. Medrash Shmuel—it's a peirush haMedrash Shmuel on this Mishnah. The choice given, you choose the bein adam l'chaveiro, and I understand now the tiferes. Das is tiferes haRibono Shel Olam. The way a person behaves with others and the way he deals with others, kavod Shem Shamayim. Das is the Ribono Shel Olam. Ha'adam yatzil kapo, was the Ribono Shel Olam l'bashafen. Now we can say another pshat, chaveisai, and then you'll get your ma'aseh. There's another pshat. Yom Kippur Katan, we have a very interesting vidui that we say. It's the vidui of Rabbeinu Nissim. And one of the viduim that we say is, Asher hekalta... Hechmalti. Just like there's a vidui on what you were machmir, I was meikel. I cut the corners. There's also a vidui, a mefurasha vidui. Aveinu nisim, vidui. Eis asher heikalta, hechmalti. Vos meint dos? Un der teretz, rabosai, is chumris. You have to know how to do a chumra. You got to take many things into an account when you do a mitzvah. A mitzvah has to have, and the loshon of Rashi is, you have to have hana'ah from the mitzvah. You know when you have hana'ah from a mitzvah? When you do the mitzvah right. Tzadikim live their lives to do one mitzvah because it was done right. Maybe today we don't enjoy. Maybe we see kids that don't enjoy the derech of mitzvahs and Torah. Maybe we didn't give them to enjoy it properly, because we didn't give them to understand what's ligten a mitzvah. If you look at the outside, the shell of the mitzvah, and you just make them do it, which I will soon show you how mefarshim speak about.

Tiferes loi min ha'adam. What is loi mean? Don't just do it because it's tiferes la'acherim. It also has to be tiferes loi. You can't copy somebody else. My Rebbe Rav Shustal once told me, I once discussed with him, yeah, why don't we— I didn't say we, actually, I said I. I said, why don't I do what this rav, rosh yeshiva, whatever it was, did? And he looked at me and he said, Why you— what he did has nothing to do with you. It should never be in your vocabulary. You have to do what you need to do and what you're rightfully supposed to do. You don't copy other people. And the way he said it was, Kenish nachmach yenem's hatzlacha. You could do everything exactly, you try to be like that person, it's not happening. You know why? Because it's not you. My zeide once told me a vort: Harbeh asu k'Reb Shimon bar Yochai v'lo alsa b'yadam. Why not? And the teretz is because they were asu k'divrei Reb Shimon bar Yochai. They didn't do it because it was themselves. They did it to what? ... S'geday enough, vad avodah. Harbeh asu k'Reb Shimon bar Yochai. Yeah, that's why it didn't go. You have to do it because it has to be tiferes loi. Yes, take examples min adam from others, but it has to be for him. Mitzvos raveisai. If it's not done right, it's done copy-paste, it's done to copy others, it's not going to work. Eis asher hikalta, ichmarti. Chumras. If they're real, they're real. And if they're not real, they don't work. Eis asher hikalta. Don't be machmir for the sake of being machmir. You gotta be machmir either you feel it or you believe in it. And I've heard b'sheim the Shebiner Rav, tzaddik v'vrocha, that a rav that's matir and gives hashgacha on a certain food, and he himself doesn't eat from it. I asked this from them. You gotta be careful with this, rabosai. Because if you hold it's kosher, then you hold it's kosher. ... Eis asher hikalta, ichmarti. ... In this I'll end. My zeide, zichrono livracha, was a Slabodker. It was Chofetz Chaim. That was the world that stormed in him. Every word, everything was Slabodker, Slabodker, ... Chofetz Chaim. And we, for better or for worse term, we had to live with it when we were young. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to get mussar on every move that we made, on every word that we said, but we got it. We got it. I remember once there was a writer of books, famous person, came to speak to me from Maaseh of my zeide. So he started by asking me, Shabbos table, I started telling him. He says, I can't print this stuff. This is nobody losing. Are you kidding me? This is, this was mussar. A malach Yidden lived that every step they took. So I'll tell you an interesting maaseh about a Kalter Chmarti. It was very makpid on this. Once sitting at a table by a chasan. Everybody was eating, and then there was one person, a rav, etnish gegesen. So we all know the jokes, the fish, the meat, the shar habor, the Leviasan, everybody knows. Why says Leviasan, right? Why do we need the shar habor and the Leviasan? What's wrong with just the shar habor? The pshat is there are going to be people who are not going to eat from the Eibishter's hashgacha, and therefore we have to feed them the fish. ...

You never heard this vort? So now you have a second reason why you have to come. Dos tchanalte vort. Still, Yidden was nitnasen from the Rabbeinu Shlelem's hashgacha, and meileh they're gonna order the fish. Trei, the meisai. Worms, bugs, fish, and... They order empty plates. Could you give me an empty plate? That's what they want, because the vegetables have bugs, the fish has bugs. And I don't want you to read into my words, yes fish, no fish, yeah bugs, not bugs. I don't mean anything, okay? I just mean that there are plenty of people who are not really serious about, and then when it comes to these things, they become externally very serious about everything. Now all of a sudden, ... Good, ... Baruch Hashem. ... He's sitting at the table, ... Doesn't eat. Father's maiseh. ... Okay, he's a gentleman, he's not gonna say anything. The first dance, first course, then the second dance, and he keeps on coming back to the table to sit down with everybody. This ... maiseh. ... Stand outside and shmooze ... I don't know, what do you... You have to sit at the table and show everybody, do bis, chima v'yena. Now if you don't get this, then you didn't belong in Slabodka, rabosai. This was about—this was Kelm, this was Slabodka, this is what it was all about then, okay? So he looks at the guy, and I heard it first from my father, and then I tracked down who it happened to, and I heard it from him as well. And I was surprised that this guy, he said, Dos iz geven a baal mussar. He was yavesh atochachas, right on the money. Zeide looks at him and tells him, Reb Yid, du bist geven mayn rebbe. You became my rebbe. Why? What happened? He said, All my life, I had a quandary in mussar. There's a safek in mussar: Velche yetzer hara is greser, velche taivah is greser, taivas achilah, or taivas hakavod? I wasn't sure. I never knew. You were poshet this shaila for me. Zes badir, dal taivas hakavod, it's greser from my taivas achilah. What was he trying to say? There's double taivas involved here. The taivas achilah lechgeven dort, but the taivas hakavod overrode the taivas achilah. Un er farshteanen eis asher hekalta, hechmalti. Hapoisai, Yiddishkeit is tiferes l'oseha, shein. Midas hahalton sheyehei tiferes lo min ha'adam, u'midanhagah. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.