Gidon’s Barley-Bread Dream: The Korban HaOmer, Purim, and the Power of Achdus

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. To prepare Gidon goes to milchamah against Midyan. Pesukim tell us how even after all the simanim the Ribono Shel Olam gave him that he'll be matzliach, he was still afraid. He was still scared. Says the Ribono Shel Olam in pasuk, Vayehi balaylah hu, vayomer eilav, kum reid bamachaneh. Gidon, you're ready to go to war. You know what? Sneak up into the machaneh, ki nasativ b'yadecha. You're going to win this milchamah. I'm reassuring you. V'im yarei atah laredes, pasuk yud, if you are still afraid, red atah u'Phurah naarcha el hamachaneh. You know what? Go down with Phurah and spy on the machaneh. And what you'll hear over there will reassure you that you will win. V'shamata mah yedaberu. You'll hear what they're talking amongst themselves. V'achar techazakna yadecha. You'll feel strong. V'yaradta bamachaneh, and then you'll come down and you'll fight against the machaneh. Pasuk says he did so. Vayered hu u'Phurah naaro. He went down with Phurah, his servant, el ketzeh hachamushim asher bamachaneh, with all the people that were in the machaneh, all the Midyanim, as mashma in Chazal, there were Amalekim, there was from many nations gathered there. U'Midyan va'Amalek v'chol bnei kedem noiflim bo emek ka'arבה l'rov. They were like locusts; there were so many. U'legmaleihem ein mispar. And to their donkeys there were so many, and obviously that was a form, right, the camels, that was obviously a form of milchamah, kechol shafas hayam l'rov. Kitzur, he sees that it's a big army he has to fight. Vayavo Gidon. Yet Gideon comes. V'hinei ish megid me'chaso. There's a person mesaper l're'eihu. He tells his friend, Chalom, I dreamed, chalamti. V'hinei tzelil lechem, it's a loaf of bread, se'orim, made out of barley, misapech ba'machaneh. It's rolling around. This is the dream I had. A bread of barley is rolling around in the machaneh Midyan, of Midyan. Vayavo ad ha'ohel, it comes to the tent, vayakehu, hits the tent, vayipol, the tent falls, vayahafchehu l'ma'alah, and the tent gets turned over, v'nafal ha'ohel, and the ohel falls down. Vayaan re'eihu. So the friend says to him, Is this your chalom that you had, that the bread is rolling, this barley bread is rolling? Vayomer, Ein zois bilti, es cherev Gidon. It's clear that it's the cherev of Gideon ben Yoash ish Yisrael. That means that Gideon is going to come and win the war; he's going to conquer us. Nasan Elokim b'yado es Midyan v'es kol ha'machaneh. Hi kishmaya giday. When Gidon hears this, es mispachas haChalom v'es sivroi, which means the chalom itself, the story of the chalom, and its interpretation that the Midyani gave. Vayishtachu, he bows down to the Ribono Shel Olam. Vayashav l'machane Yisrael. Vayomer, Kumu, abaisei, we're getting up, we're going to milchamah, ki nasan Hashem b'yedchem. It's machnei Midyan. So l'choira, the reassurance came from a chalom, a dream. What was the dream? Se'orim. What was the significance of the se'orim? What's the pshat in the chalom? Why is the chalom about se'orim? Chazal talk about it, the Rishonim talk about it. Im yirtzeh Hashem, we'll have a clearer picture after we go through a little bit of the Chazal. Why the se'orim? What was the nekudah? The bread, the bread was misapech, it rolled around. The sefer that explains the rolling around. But it seems to be se'orim bedavka. I guess you're able to tell on a piece of bread if it's se'orim, if it's a barley bread or a wheat bread. But in the chalom, it was so clear, the detail. It's a chalom, yeah? Imagine a person has a chalom, and he says about bread, you think he would be that clear in the chalom that it should be a certain type of bread?

Yes, you see from the pasuk that it was so clear, it meant klar, that it was a se'eirim. What's the se'eirim? What's the yesod? What's the kavanah behind this chalom? So first of all, we have to discuss lahalacha: is a person allowed to go to war based on a chalom? The dream, the dream is mamash, you're right, it's a good sign, it's a good omen, if you use the English. So, mimeila, gein l'milchamah giboyt af a chalom. Habayis, this is not my shailah. All the Rishonim, Mechayeves Halvavos, b'rosham ask this shailah. So there's two shailos here. First of all, there's a halachah of nichush, chaveirim, which means there's a sugya called a person is not allowed to act upon a good omen. Let's discuss this halachah. The Rambam in Hilchos Avodah Zarah, perek yud aleph, halachah daled says, Ein menachshin kegoyim, shene'emar, Lo senachashu. You're not allowed to do nichush, like the goyim. What is nichush? So the Rambam himself says, Keitzad hu hanichush? What is nichush? Kegon eilu she'omrim, Hail v'nafal piti. A good omen, the bread fell, it's a sign. My stick fell, so on and so forth, all the omens that we know today. Signs and signals, ah, it must be. This is called nichush, and it's asur because of darkei haEmori. Interesting, the Rambam discusses how Eliezer eved Avraham did that. Eliezer eved Avraham, the Rambam continues, did the same thing. He was menacheish. He said, If it'll come out the way I asked, the Rabbeinu... Ah, it's a siman. Ah, siman? Siman is nichush. Im yeired li kach v'kach eser, davar ploni lo yeired lo ye'aser, k'Eliezer eved Avraham. V'chal kiotzei b'dvarim ha'eilu, hakol asur. So wait a minute, Eliezer did something wrong? Fragt the Raivid, what, vos ches the Rambam? You give me an example of what's asur from Eliezer? Charaif on Eliezer, that he did it, that it must be mutar. Says the Raivid, eino chenami, shibush gadol. This is a tremendous mistake on the Rambam's part. Sheharei davar zeh mutar. This is not stam, it's mutar. And then he writes, U'mutar hu. It's mutar and it's definitely mutar. V'ulai yitehu halashon shera, kol nachash she'eino k'Eliezer. He made a mistake in learning the Gemara Chullin. I don't have time to go through the Gemara Chullin, but al kol panim, he says this is 100% good. And then the Rambam continues—I'm sorry, the Raivid continues—V'lo hi ela hachi kama, eino re'ui lismoch alav, v'eich chashu latzaddikim kemoisam aveirah zu? You think that these tzaddikim, they made aveirah? It can't be. It can't be, and it must be a big mistake on the Rambam's part. So we have here a big machlokes rishonim if someone is allowed to say, if the sign goes a certain way, then I'll do a certain thing. According to the Rambam, it's asur, and according to the Raivid... Not only it's mutter, as we find from Eliezer and on, that it's been done. So the shaila becomes not according to the Raivid, but according to the Rambam. According to the Rambam, that you're not allowed to make a sign. So based on a sign, he went to the milchamah. The sign was the chalav. Was this mutter? Was this allowed? So let me tell you, if it wasn't for the Chovos HaLevavos himself that asked this kasha. It's a mefurash Chovos HaLevavos. In Shaar Yichud HaMaaseh, perek hei, where the Chovos HaLevavos says a person is not allowed to follow signs, but he has to have full emunah and bitachon in the Borei Olam. Ah, you'll ask me gidon, the tzaddik, the shofet Gidon, he made a sign with a dream and he followed that sign. This was the signal to go to milchamah. What do you mean, a sign? Tamim tihyeh. Answered the Chovos HaLevavos what you say. Very pashut, the Eibishter sent him. It's a different story, says the Chovos HaLevavos. Here the Ribono Shel Olam sent him to go listen to what they're talking in the machaneh. The Ribono Shel Olam said, go down with Purah and listen, pay attention to what they're saying.

Zei is valt demut. Azei zogt the Chovos HaLevavos klal. I’d say, let’s discuss maybe another pshat, and that is, there’s a Ran. The Ran says what type of signs are asur? Signs which have no meaning, foolish signs. Omens, black cats, l’havdil, okay? Things that we make up on our own. This is just something over the years — the bread fell, so what? So the bread fell. But this says the Ran, this is not an omen. This is a serious thing, a chalom. A chalom ba echad meha-tzanis. So we’re going to have from the Sefer Chasidim, siman reish mem daled, that the Sefer Chasidim says, pay attention to chalomos, serious things, dreams, because you see Gideon went to war based on a chalom. So you see, rabosai, all I did was use the leshonos of the Rishonim, and I started the shiur with that. Could one go to milchamah based on a chalom? Is really a Sefer Chasidim who proves from Gideon, yes, that a chalom is something serious enough, a dream is something serious enough, that you should go to milchamah based on a dream. Azei zogt the Sefer Chasidim, the peirush in siman reish mem daled. So then what becomes a problem of nichush? When it’s something which is not serious — nudnik, theyt a kap, he has signs, remezes, narishkeiten, stuff that the goyim make up. These Fridays and those Fridays, I don’t even want to speak it out. Friday the… theyt a kap. Be it omens that the guy you make up is called Darkei HaEmori. But this, this is something which makes a lot of sense. This is something which is real. This is something which is a serious chalom. Now, if you notice, the guy uses an interesting lashon. He tells his friend, Chalem chalamti. Who else used that lashon? Remember who used the lashon chalem chalamti? Paroh. Chalem chalamti. The mefarshim say, Va'lishtanos hachalom — Rashi brings it down — va'lishtanos hachalom pa'amayim, Yosef said, Oh, he had it twice. And how do we know he had it twice? Because chalom, chalamti. And here too it says what? Chalem chalamti. So maybe double lashon — it's not my pshat, I saw it in the mefarshim — the double lashon implies that he was trying to say serious, that the chalom was a serious thing. Chalem chalamti. It was a serious chalom. And notice that he was able to remember the detail, like I speak out in the beginning of the shiur. You know what it is to remember exactly that it was lechem se'orim? Could you imagine a chalom that's so real and it's so alive that he can remember the detail of what type of bread we're talking about? This is chalom chalamti. It was a serious chalom. And if it's a serious chalom, so Gidon took it serious. Gidon says, Oy bazoi, oy bazoi, I go l'milchamah. Habeisai, I'm thinking of another two pshat, and they're both nogea to the shiur. It's both in the context of the shiur. You know, if you notice, it says that Gidon hears the dream and shivroi, which means its interpretation. Which means he paid attention to the interpretation that the goy gave. Which means it wasn't just that he heard the chalom, but he heard the chalom, and he heard the way the goy interpreted the chalom, shivroi, which means its interpretation. Oh, so it means it wasn't just that the chalom was assigned to him, but the interpretation that the goy interpreted was part of the sign. We all know the Gemara tells us, Kol hachalomos holchin achar ha-pisron. So maybe, maybe, Rav Eisai, Gidon says, Gevaldik, the goy alein was poisel as a hegyon of chalom, and hakol holech achar ha-pisron. I'm mekabel it, gevaldik. Maybe that's the pshat, huh? Maybe the fact that Gidon sees that the goy alein and the other guy accepts it, that this is the pisron of the chalom, das alein, velt o mitzius fun dem pisron fun dem chalom.

Nefesh HaChaim is another pshat, another pshat, beisai. And that is, who says it had anything to do with the wall, with the chalom, I mean? Maybe the fact that the goy interpreted it this way is the pshat, because the goy was afraid, and that's what he was thinking about all day. And m'meila, we have another Gemara, that every chalom goes after what a person thinks throughout the day. It reflects what the man, tacht, in aveinik, in himself, within what he thinks throughout the day, comes out in a chalom. So maybe it was a sign where the goyim were holding. You're being afraid of them. I think they know something that you don't know, that they're afraid they're going to lose. And that itself was a chizuk to Gidon to go to milchamah. And we invert all the shailos, all the rishonim. It has nothing to do with simanim. It has to do with, you know what, go pay attention and see where they're holding. When he sees how afraid they are, and the raya is, because look, there was a chalom, and look how they interpreted the chalom, which means that's what's on their mind, that's what they're thinking, that's what they're afraid of. M'meila, you should be strong to go to milchamah, and it's really meduyak in the pasuk. It says in the pasuk, V'im yarei atah laredes, v'shamata mah yedaberu. Listen to what they speak, pasuk yud aleph, v'achar techazekna yadecha. You'll get strong. Listen to their shmooz. Listen to their sichah between themselves, their— The chatter, the chatter between themselves, you'll see that maybe they're more afraid than you are, gilgul milchama. And that itself will give you chizuk. I went to look if anybody says this pshat. I found Nachlas Shimon, Reb Shimon Krasner, shlita from Baltimore. He has a very nice sefer on Tanach. He also learns this pshat. I think it's a pretty glatt pshat, that the chizuk, that it was nothing to do with the michush and the dream. You don't have to go through all that. Just the fact that this is the way they interpreted the dream is the Chassidim, they're more afraid than you are, and that gave him chizuk. Problem is, it's not mashma like that in the pasuk. Vayaan Re'eva vayomer, ein zois bilti im cherev Gidon, vayhi kishmoa Gidon es mispar hacholom v'es shivro. It seems to be that the dream was the defining fact that Gidon is going to win the war. It's not so much that he secured him that they're afraid. It seems that the dream itself was a serious message to him, a lesson to him, a message from Shamayim. Zeh l'choireh is mashma from the pesukim that the chalom itself is what led him to believe that he's going to win the war. So we come back to the sheilah: what's the pshat in the chalom? So, rabosai, let me tell you what I think pshat is. What is the chaloim, the se'orim? What role does the se'orim—it seems like the se'orim is a big part of the message here. What's the reason for this? So there's a meylech, Chasam Sofer. Chasam Sofer says, it's interesting, it's rolling. Yeah? What's the rolling? What's the idea of the rolling bread? Okay, so when you walk out of the shiur, the rolling loaf of bread. What is the rolling loaf? So the Chasam Sofer, rolling means mutar asur, mutar asur, mutar asur. Okay? It's a heilige Chasam Sofer, chaver. Mutar asur, mutar asur, mutar asur. Says the Chasam Sofer, that I tell you from Satmar Rav zichrono livracha, that he remembered when they passed by the butcher shops, they used to have the neon lights: kosher, basar kosher, on and off, right? So Satmar Rav flicks, kosher, amal kosher, amal nit kosher, amal kosher, amal nit kosher. That was his humor to say, on and off. So the heilige Chasam Sofer, on and off. It's the same thing. The bread is asur, mutar, asur, mutar, asur, mutar. What's the pshat? Midyan had a hold on Klal Yisrael. Because they had a hold on Klal Yisrael...

They gave taxes. The halacha is, Tosafos paskens, that if the goyim have a kinyan through the fact that they have on you a hold through the taxes, you're mufka from trumos u'maasros. It has to be your land, and if it's not your land, meaning the goy has the kinyan in it, and even the fact that he just has a kinyan through misim, through taxes, it's his land and you're patur from trumos u'maasros. ... you'll be patur from chadash. There would be no issur chadash. So now let's talk about the loaf of bread. The loaf of bread started off that it was mutar because of Midyan. Gidon, you're gonna win. So now becomes Klal Yisrael gets back Eretz Yisrael, now it became aser. What day is this story taking place? Rashi tells us it was Pesach in the morning. Remember the original dream, Pesach in the morning? The korban omer. It all ties in. From the first time he meets the malach, he was cutting the omer. It was Yom Sheini shel Pesach. Here it's Yom Sheini shel Pesach. Now the omer becomes mutar through the korban, and that's the rolling loaf. So when you walk out of this shiur, you remember the rolling loaf. What is the rolling loaf? Mutar asa, asa mutar, mutar asa. It started off that it was mutar because it belonged to the goy, ... Gidon's gonna win back Eretz Yisrael, so now it belongs to the yid, ווערט אסור. But since they're gonna be makriv the korban, ווערט חדש mutar. And that was the sign, says the Chasam Sofer. You like that? Chazal says, you see in the chalim, the pshat that Gideon is going to win. That's where you see the nitzachon. That's what he says, Gideon, from the chalom itself, you see the nitzachon of Gideon. Rabosai, I would like to offer another pshat. Baruch Hashem, we have enough time for it. This will be an introduction to Purim. Purim, vikum Purim da. Chazal tell us, and this Rashi quotes a fenote, the omer, like I told you, it was Yom Sheini. B'schus havlaas ha'omer, you're going to be nitzel. The milchamah, the milchamah was won in the zechus of the korban omer that they bring. That's the lechem se'orim, the zechus of the se'orim. Do you remember in history, in what other juncture were we saved from a tremendous tragedy because of the korban omer? Purim. The Gemara tells us in Megillah, tezayin amud aleph, that because of the korban omer, the Kindelach were sitting and learning with Mordechai Tzadik, kemitzah omer. They were learning the halachos of omer, b'schus dal karban omer, that's it, they're going to win. They're not going to fall in my hands. Remember such a Gemara? Hey, Purim, dal karban omer. Pshat, how is korban omer? How does korban omer bring yeshuah? You ever think about it? I'm a foolish Gemara. At the korban omer. What's in the korban omer? A pashut, like a Beis HaMikdash, no? So the pashut pshat in the Gemara is, bimheirah yibaneh HaMikdash. We're hoping that the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt. I've spoken to you in the past about it, that the geulah and yeshuah of Klal Yisrael come when Klal Yisrael hopes and longs for the yeshuah, when they think, bimheirah yibaneh HaMikdash, that itself brings the yeshuah. Not enough time to go into that, im yirtzeh Hashem maybe before Purim again. But al kol panim, rav eizei, is a specific to omer? Chayav or not? That's efshiyah. Efshi is specific to omer, and the omer saves us in the time of Matzah, and it saves us in the time of Gidon. How do I know this? Let me tell you over a meidike meshech chochmah. I tell the meshech chochmah, almost a hidden meshech chochmah. I don't know how many people know this meshech chochmah. It's at the end of Shemos, it's on the haftorah of Shabbos HaGadol. Zogt der meshech chochmah: V'hafach Hashem minchas Yehudah v'Yerushalayim kimei olam. Arav means sweet. Av, it's going to become sweet, the minchas Yehudah v'Yerushalayim like it always was. What does that mean? Sweet, he says, has two leshonos: matok and areiv. Zogt der meshech...

Masik means it's inherently sweet. Sugar is inherently sweet. Ore is when you mix other things in it, then it becomes sweet. He says like this: when you come and you take a mincha, notice that a mincha cannot be a korban tzibur. There's no such a thing—I'm sorry, a korban yachid. I'm not saying it properly. The inyan of the mincha can't be in a korban tzibur. A yachid brings a korban, nefesh ki secheta. A yachid brings a korban mincha. All of a sudden, we have over here Minchas haOmer, which is a korban tzibur. So how did it become a korban tzibur? Because Klal Yisrael unites, ones up the meshech chochma, and mimeila, v'zeh einz can bring a korban mincha. I'll read it, you know, I'll read it. Zehu Minchas haOmer, pshat, shehayu nichshavim l'tzibur because they became a tzibur, u'klal Yisrael shakul keneged kol midyan v'Amalek. So when Klal Yisrael unites, there is nothing in Midyan and Amalek that could even come close to them. Shekol echad miYisrael shakul harbeh, vyecholim l'hakriv mincha, u'se'oirim lekev yachid rak b'tzibur. So the se'oirim is never a Minchas Yachid; it's only a Minchas Tzibur with korban, to teach me that when they come together, they become a tzibur. He says, a me'iri deke vort. He says by Esav we find it says nefashos. Mash'ein kein by Yaakov it says kol nefesh haba l'Beis Yaakov, that only by Klal Yisrael could they become one nefesh, the tzibur. By Mincha it says nefesh, and Klal Yisroel is able to unite. And v'orva laShem, because in Mitzvas Hashem when Moshiach comes, this is going to be the areivus. That Klal Yisroel unites, and mimeila v'orva, this is sweet by the Ribono Shel Olam, like the mincha, the inyan of the mincha. I said it b'kitzur, because of the time, so I didn't go through it more b'arichus, b'aklapanim, rabosai. One was Haman's ikar ta'ina against Klal Yisroel: ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים. There was no achdus, and mimeila there was an inyan of shekalim. What were the shekalim? Machatzis hashekel, the Alshich says, two become one. So notice that besides for the omer, what is the other thing that caused us in yeshuah in the time of Mordechai? The shekalim. The two things, the shekalim, hikdimu shekalayhem l'shekalav and the korban omer, because it's yesod, they're both the same. The shekalim is the taich that two unite as one, and this becomes ישנו עם אחד, the tikkun for the ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים. It's a ... haflah. The min Haman says korban omer. Remember, when you read it, omer, remember the Meshech Chochmah. I want to tell you even more. The Meshech Chochmah is at the end of Shemos, naftulei Elokim נפתלי גפן. And he goes further. How does the story of Gideon start? וידל ישראל. Interesting lashon. That's how the history of the tekufah starts. We learned it in the perek vav, וידל, lashon dal. Says the Gemara, the Chazal, the Yalkut, what's Vayidal, shelo hayu b'yadam l'hakriv minchah. I'd love to be makriv a minchah. What are you talking about? They were that poor. What does it mean? He says they couldn't be makriv a minchah as a tzibur because they lacked tzibur to become yachid, to be able to make the korban minchah. ... Vayidal. What does it mean, Vayidal? They became poor? They became poor that they can't bring a minchah, meaning that they weren't able to become echad, joined together b'achdus, to make a minchah in a korban tzibur. So the tikkun of that was, lechem sa'orim. And that was the remez to Gideon. The remez to Gideon is that the lechem se'orim, they're going to be makriv a korban se'orim, and with this se'orim you can break the ohel of Midyan. With this you're able to break the ohel of Midyan. And I want to tell you one more interesting nekudah in the Meshech Chochmah. Meshech Chochmah says, what's the pshat that they were that poor and they couldn't make a tzibur? Because they were doing avodah zarah.

When you do avodah zarah in Klal Yisrael, that itself is mafrid. Why? Because what unites is the Torah. But this embarks, this lodges, it makes us all nifrad, is when everybody's doing their own thing and not united under the quote-unquote, the banner of Torah and mitzvahs. Okay. In the time of Matityahu, how did he see yesh na mechad mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim? How did he see? Where did it just tell us a chais? What, he went into the house and he saw them fighting? I mean, he never understood this. He went to the seudah. Chazal tell us they went to the seudah. Went to the seudah. So then once the tide, bistoch Chashmonaim ends, you're coming, you want to be like and assimilate just like the goy. So ממילא you're nifrad. And when you're nifrad, you're worthless. You're nothing. You're מעט מן העמים. You're the nothing among the nations. Am Yid, a chaval for a Yid. When a Yid goes where he shouldn't go, he stands out as a nobody among them. That's when Klal Yisrael unites in the beis medrash, in Torah and avodah, then they have an echad, they have a koach. Yesh na mechad mefuzar umeforad bein ha'amim. That itself means that they're mefuzar umeforad amongst themselves. They like it. It's emes. How does Haman—you think Haman went around looking, Oh, look at them, שלצח by the dinei Torah and beis din? Mos veiser. He sees that they come to the seudah. You don't belong here. You stand out. And you're trying to belong. That itself separates you from the other Yid. It's when you stand separate, that's when you become one. That's how you... And that's really what the Meshech Chochmah is saying, and that's the Vayidal, they couldn't bring a korban minchah. And if they couldn't bring a korban minchah, now, Aharon is telling us, oh, they're bringing the korban, and they're able to unite. And who knows if this is not because of Gidon, who stands there and taines zechus for Klal Yisrael, one person caring for the rest of Klal Yisrael. Lech b'kochacha zu. This is what the Chazal tell us, that the Ribbono Shel Olam says, I appreciate the fact that you, Gidon, stood up to save the rest of Klal Yisrael. That itself is the inyan of the achdus, and maybe that's the cherev Gidon. The lashon. What was the pisron? Even though the goy said it. It's not that... the goy said, it's what ein zois bilti im cherev Gidon. This is the lech b'kochacha zu. Gidon's cherev is what, Rabosai, that he stands up, unites Klal Yisrael. He stands up caring. He says, What's going to be? Ayei kol niflosa? The cherev of Gidon, through the omer, through the achdus, is the mapalah to the oyel of Midyan. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.