Rubashkin’s Release and the Azan Tragedy: Sharing Every Jew’s Simcha and Pain as One Family

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Last week was a big event that happened to Klal Yisroel, an event that brought a lot of response from different communities and all different types and stripes of Klal Yisroel, and that was the release of Mordechai Rubashkin. It was an event that everyone was involved with excitement. There was response from every part of Klal Yisroel, and I paid attention and studied the different responses that people had, all the different emotions and responses that we saw. Many took the Rubashkin release as a nes, a nes, a miracle. They attached it to Chanukah. The last day of Chanukah he was released, nes Chanukah, and they were all excited. Nisim b'yameinu, a miracle, an open miracle. Then there were many who took The Rubashkin as a lesson of emunah and bitachon. Take a look. He had so much emunah and so much bitachon through the sentence and the jailing and everything that he went through, and it came to a geulah. It brought about a tremendous geulah, a yeshuah, emunah and bitachon, emunah and bitachon. And then there was a third response: happiness, achdus, unification in Klal Yisrael. All the different chugim, the different sects of Klal Yisrael, all joined with one voice to be happy, to be happy from Reb Martches' release and the end of the suffering of a family, of an entire family. Now, nisim. We know HaKadosh Baruch Hu does nisim, and probably in the history, and probably in the realm of all other nisim, it's probably not from the biggest nisim the Ribono Shel Olam did. Nisim we see every day, rabosai. Chayeinu amsurim b'yadecha, v'al nishmoseinu hapkudos lach, v'al nisecha sheb'chol yom imanu, v'al nifl'osecha v'tovosecha sheb'chol eis erev vavoker v'tzaharayim. Every Yid sees nisim all the time. Don't believe that we need— A nes, so to speak, of the release of the tired Yid to speak about the Rabbeinu Shalom's nisim. Yes, it's definitely something to be happy about. But we know the Rabbeinu Shalom does nisim, and that emunah and bitachon brings yeshuah and geulah. I think every Yid throughout his life is going to learn that, and anyone that's been around for quite some time and has grown, and has grown up living in this world, knows that emunah and bitachon is the only route to live, it's the only way to live, and it's the only way that there's geulah v'yeshuos. So that's also not, to me, a tremendous, tremendous lesson that should be learned here. What to me is maybe more than the other two responses, greater than the other two responses, is the achdus, the unification, that Klal Yisrael comes together to be happy, happy, happy for the yeshuah of a prat, of an individual and the individual's family.

Family. Did anyone have personal kesher with the Ribashkin, with Mordechai? I'm a vadi yet. Friends, and there were people, but most people didn't have a personal connection to him, and yet the celebration and the joyous simcha for his yeshuah, each one took it as if it was his own. That's, to me, even maybe the greatest nes of all. It's the nes of Klal Yisrael. It's the miracle that speaks to the greatness of Klal Yisrael, the am hanivchar, the Yid. That's something to put up and celebrate. Klal Yisrael, Klal Yisrael. When you look and you see that response to the yeshuah of an individual, we need to keep in mind and keep in focus the tzarah of a different prat, a different individual and his family, in the backdrop of the Azan tragedy. So interesting how perplexing almost. On one hand, the suffering and the pain that we have to feel for a beautiful family that— Suffered such a tremendous tragedy, and then the next day, we have to dance b'simcha for the yeshuah of a different family. It's all the mechanics and the dynamic of what it means to be a Yid. Here we were in pain and we suffer, and here we are b'simcha for individuals that we have no shaychus to, and they both require the same response. Just like here we're happy, it requires the masses to join together in aveilus, in being mishtatef b'tzaar of a family. It's the same k'sheim shemevarchim al hatov, kach mevarchim al hara. It's the same k'sheim. We need to be sure that we show the same response. We need to be diligent to show the same response, just like we went out and with such fanfare, we were b'simcha for one family and its yeshuah. We need to show the same amount, k'sheim, the same k'sheim, the same exact amount of tzaar and yagon and distress. For a different family. And the Rabbeinu Shloylam, whose cheshbonos we don't understand, wanted it back to back. Who knows why? But this is definitely the avodah. The avodah was, which is obvious to anyone who pays attention, the avodah was, yes, Rabbeinu wants to see aveilus for the yachid, for the prat, and simcha for the prat. Because that really proves that we're all united. It proves that we're taka all one family. There's a beautiful vort from R' Meir Shapiro. The Gemara says, Atem kruyim adam, v'ein umos ha'olam kruyim adam. You're called adam, man, while goyim are not called man. In the times of the Beilis trial in Russia, the goyim and their priests got together to attack the Shas, and they tried through the courts, the Russian courts, to ban the Shas. It was racist against the goyim, against Christianity. They found in Chazal...

Different memories, different sayings of Chazal, which the Goyim found are against them. And one of them was this: Atem kruyim adam, that Klal Yisrael are called. What do you mean, we're subhuman? How could you talk about us that we're subhuman? And it flared the anger of the Goyim, the anti-Semitism of the Goyim. In defense of the Shas, there was a group of great talmidei chachamim, rabbanim, yorebes, that came together to try to answer all these different types of Chazal that the Goyim are going to pick on to harass the Shas and harass the Yidden, that they shouldn't learn the Shas. R' Meir Shapiro came up with a brilliant pshat in defense of this Chazal to say in the courts, Atem kruyim adam doesn't mean that you're subhuman. It means something completely different. A human being, a man, a person, adam, is a unit. Could a person say, If my hand is hurting, so my foot is okay, he has no problem? Could the foot say, I'm hurting and the arm say, Well, it has nothing to do with me. You're somewhere far down on the human body. We have no connection. Of course it doesn't. It's impossible. Why? Atem kruyim adam. Adam is one unit, and if his toe hurts him... And the top of his head hurts him, right? It's the same. Klal Yisrael is adam. When one is in pain, then all of us are in pain as one person. U'musa'olam are not like that. If you have a connection with the goy that's having the problem, then it bothers you, and if not, what does that—what does John has nothing to do with Jimmy if you don't know Jimmy? It bothers him that Jimmy from five blocks away is going through who knows what. What does that have to do with him? If he knows Jimmy because he plays with him golf every Sunday, then it bothers him maybe, maybe a little bit, right? That Jimmy's going through who knows what problem. But if he hears on the news that so-and-so is—he doesn't care. That's pshat, Atem kruyim adam, v'ein umos ha'olam kruyim adam. Rabbeinu Shleilam is looking to see that we are adam, that each hand feels the pain of the other hand as one adam, as one person. There's a beautiful pshat from my zeide, zecher tzaddik livracha, mamash a beautiful, beautiful, moiredike pshat. In Parshas Shemos, we find that Klal Yisrael went down to Mitzrayim, and the galus and the shibud and the pain and the suffering of galus in Parshas Shemos, and it continues in Parshas Va'eira. Boi, finally at the end of Parshas Boi, when they're ready to leave, only two-thirds of Klal Yisrael left. Chamushim, pasuk in beginning of Parshas Beshalach, Chamushim, echad me'chamish, one of five. Chazal say, what happened to the rest? Meisu. They died during makas choshech. Why did they die? It was those that didn't want to leave. Those that didn't want to leave, they remained comfortable enough to stay in Mitzrayim. They didn't want to leave. They got killed out. Mefarshim ask, it's not a chiyuv misa. If someone doesn't want to leave Mitzrayim, maybe they're afraid to leave Mitzrayim. You know, when you get comfortable, it's very hard to pick yourself up. Don't forget, Lechtech acharai bamidbar, b'eretz lo zrua. They're being told to go into a desert. The Ribono Shel Olam looks at this as a chesed, that Klal Yisrael went into the desert. It's not simple to pick yourself up and go into a wilderness. You remain comfortable, and even if it's not such a good situation, you make the best of it. Many explain, many historians interpret that's the reason why.

The Jews, when they saw the oncoming trouble of Nazism, of Hitler, Germany, they didn't run. They pacified. They were me'orer, so to speak. Ah, it's not going to be so bad, eh? And they interpreted because it was difficult to pick yourself up and go. You have your house, and you have all your belongings. People don't want—it's very hard to pick yourself up and move and change your whole life and location. Today we have this in France. They talk about in France how they have to move, and it's so bad, the situation in France, and they end up never moving. A lot of them are staying on. And when you ask them, it's because it's difficult. It's difficult to pick yourself up and move and go. So what was the chet? What was the terrible sin of not wanting to leave Mitzrayim? It could have been explained away as a limud zechus. It's hard to go. Why did the punishment with death? Is it a chiyuv misa? And let's say it's a chisaron emunah. Let's say, okay, me'ken zogn pshat it was chisaron emunah. They should have believed the Ribono Shel Olam. Ribono Shel Olam says, I want you to go and Mitzrayim. Okay, but a chiyuv misa? I want a chiyuv misa? My zeides' atzal says a marvelous vort. If you look at the mefarshim, the Netziv is very elaborate on this point. The Yidden didn't want to leave. They were comfortable because their situation, even monetarily, was getting better. If you notice, they were asked by Moshe Rabbeinu, Pitzuvi HaKadosh Baruch Hu, v'sha'alu ish mishchenteihu migoras beiso, klei kesef u'klei zahav. They should go borrow. What's goras beiso? Goras beiso means someone who lived in your house. What is a Mitzri doing living in your house? How are the Mitzri? They were the landlords and they were the tenants, and even more, he says, they had slaves, because they were already moving up in society. They came as greeners. They were outsiders, but then slowly but surely, Yidden figure out a way how to move up in the societal ladder, right, to the point that they started hiring work. They started hiring help. They had help. A lot of them started making it, so to speak, in Mitzrayim. And those didn't want to leave. It's really in the Netziv already, this yesod in HaMek Davar. Says my zeide, wait a minute, you're able to survive the situation. It's starting to work for you a little bit. What about the rest of Klal Yisrael that's suffering terribly in Mitzrayim? And you can't understand that you got to give up this little bit that you're making, this little bit success that you have, because the rest of Klal Yisrael is suffering. That's not my, that's not my Klal Yisroel. That's not, that's not what I put you in Mitzrayim to unite you as an am. ... Galus is supposed to unite the Yid. ... The Maharal speaks a lot about this, how galus is supposed to create the unity of Klal Yisroel. And for some reason, at the end of the shibud, the end of the experience of Mitzrayim, the Yidden were saying, you know, for me it's getting... They had to die. They, they, they—it's almost like a zechus, they don't have the zechus to be part of this whole. And they couldn't even be forced to leave, because they wouldn't be leaving as Yidden that they were supposed to become in the galus. They were supposed to become Am Yisroel, a nation united, a nation, adam. That's one unit. They were lacking the problem. My foot hurts, but that's not my hand. Their hand was making the money, but their feet were hurting because the rest of Klal Yisroel was suffering.

They lacked this atem kruyim adam, so the foundation of Yiddishkeit and the yesod of Am Yisrael was being disintegrated. It was losing its... and therefore they couldn't survive Mitzrayim. Ribono Shel Olam had to take them, and during makas choshech, take them out of the picture, so to speak, take them out of the equation. Maybe dikete her. Klal Yisrael must be united, or it's not just that it's not united; it's not Klal Yisrael, and you can't be a part of that. Klal Yisrael being nifrad. And what is nifrad? Nifrad can mean I'm fighting with the other guy. That's not the nifrad that the pasuk is referring to. It's a nifrad of not empathy. It's not being mishtatef b'tzaar. It's not feeling the pain of the other person. That's already enough to be considered not part of the klal. I would say not part of the klal. I'm fighting with you. I have nothing to do with you. I'm and you is... that's not even called— that's called terrible destruction. That might even bring churban Beis HaMikdash. This is even something less than that. What is this? This is Klal Yisrael not united as one entity. Mitzrayim was supposed to create that, to be mishtatef, to be mishtatef in the tzaar of the other one. Reb Yankiv Kamenetsky, zecher tzaddik livracha, said once a very profound thing. There's a whole issue of making a sheva brachos in a shul. It's a party. Sheva brachos is just a party. There's no kedusha to sheva brachos. It's a party. That's all it is. It's a simple party, to mesameach the chassan. It's a nice thing. It's a mitzvah to be mesameach the chassan, but it's not a davar shebikdusha. Why is it done in shuls? People make sheva brachos in shuls. So Reb Yankiv comes with a unique perspective, a heter, and that is, it's to teach Klal Yisrael, and to teach us, that a sheva brachos, which is the celebration of the building of another home, another family in Klal Yisrael, is not a personal thing. It's taka the tzibur. It's taka Klal Yisrael. Sheva brachos, it's not the pshat he got married and he has a simcha, we have a simcha. Klal Yisrael has another simcha. Klal Yisrael has another great event, the building of another home. So where do we make it? We make it in the shul. We make it—it's a davar shebikdusha for the klal, and that's why it's permitted in a beis haknesses. When my son Pinchas, bar mitzvah, at his bar mitzvah, I got up and I was trying to bring out this point. So I gave the Olam a bracha when I finished my speech, and I said, And therefore, I would like to wish you all should be zocheh to simchas by me, and I should be zocheh to simchas by you. That is my zechus to have your simchas, and your zechus, and your bracha is to have simchas by me, because it's all one. It's atem kruyim adam. We're all one unit. And the Ribono Shel Olam, maybe, I humbly, I don't know cheshbon derachmana, but the Ribono Shel Olam wants to test us in the galus. Is it atem kruyim adam in the pain, in a family, a fire, something that any person has any drop of Yiddishe gefeel should feel tremendous pain from it and lose sleep over it. And at the same time, mamish flipping almost hours later, the simcha of another Yid should affect that we should go out into the streets and dance.

The Rabbeinu Shom is testing the v'achach kach bo'u bonecha. Yidden are bonim laShem. We're considered one, one family, with one tatte in Himmel. Once you understand that there's one Father, ein tatte, when you understand that Klal Yisrael, our bonim of Hashem, are all brothers. Maybe, maybe that's the connection that was to Chanukah. It happened on Chanukah. The Rabbeinu Shom is testing the words, v'achach kach bo'u bonecha. Do we understand the tatte, the Father, the Rabbeinu shel olam? Because if we're bonim, that means we understand the Rabbeinu Shom is Father. That means we have to understand we're brothers. Very shayach. I'd like to talk the inyan of achdus, achdus of Klal Yisrael, the unification and unity of Klal Yisrael. Yosef, after they buried Yaakov Avinu, gives reassurance to the brothers who were afraid and concerned that he would take revenge for mechiras Yosef. So he gives them reassurance: don't worry, don't worry. Vayomer aleihem Yosef, al tira'u. Bereishis nun, pasuk ches, pasuk chof—sorry, pasuk yud tes. Vayomer aleihem Yosef, al tira'u. Vayomer aleihem Yosef, al tira'u. Al tachas, lihimanechi. V'atem chashavtem alai ra... Elohim chashav l'tovah. The Ribono Shel Olam planned that it should come out this way. And then again he tells him, Al tiro, again, don't be afraid. It says already, Vayomer aleihem, Yosef, al tiro. So he already told him not to be afraid. I mean, the Torah is repeating, repeating. Now, you know, the conversation, what it was, might have been elaborate: don't be afraid, don't be— If the Torah repeats it, it's to be madgish, it's to stress. And what is he stressing again? Al tiro, anochi achalkel eschem es taf. I'll feed you. I'll still supply you and give you sustenance and support. And then it says, Vayinachem osam, vayidaber al libam. Why so much promise? All he had to say is, I'm not going to take revenge. Here, you come to me, I think, Yosef, I think now you're going to take revenge. So you know what he should have said? Al tiro, I will not take revenge. It's all good. Why more adding and emphasizing, I'll support you, and everything will be good, and I'll feed you? Baalei mussar, they say that it's a lesson to be learned from here, something that we find in the hanhagos of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. The story is told of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter that someone mistreated him on a train ride, not knowing it was Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. The person, when he realized it was Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, he came over to apologize: I'm sorry, Rabbi, I didn't realize it was you. You know, I see, I guess they came to the train station and people came to greet Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, and that's chap an kop. Who did I chap? Who was I disrespectful to? Reb Yisroel Salanter said, No, don't worry, it's fine, it's good, it's all okay, you didn't do anything. From that day on, Reb Yisroel went out of his way to do extra favors, to show more, to reensure that he's not upset at him. So baalei mussar say that it's really pshat in the story of Yosef. It wasn't enough to say, Okay, don't worry, I'm mochel you, or the Rabbeinu Bechaye says he was a mochel, but whatever it is, he could have said, Don't worry, I'm not gonna take revenge. No, אני אחלקה, I'll keep on giving you and doing and caring for you and doing you favors. My humble opinion, I'd like to say another pshat, which I think is emes. I think it's, Baruch Hashem, a beautiful deher. There's a Maharal in Nesivus Olam, page kuf ayin beis, Nesiv HaTzedakah. He says a yesod: tzedakah is achdus. The way to create unification in Klal Yisrael is by giving tzedakah, by giving, by support.

Helping everyone. Could be Yosef, as we're going to learn soon. His avodah Mitzrayim was to be mesaken the pirud, the splintering of the achdus that happened in the home of Yaakov that led them down to Mitzrayim. Yosef's avodah, as we're going to learn, and I guess we could speak a lot about, but we'll take out a few examples, was l'saken ha'achvah v'haachdus, to fix this achvah and achdus that got splintered. Part of this reunion of the brothers with the father, this was the tikkun. It was the joining together of the brothers as one family, as one unit. And Yosef understood, stuck, stuck, I got it. That's what he's trying, v'ata al tir'u. I promise you I'll keep on giving you support. Stuck is achdus, and I'm going to work on this achdus. If you notice, Yosef is the melech. It's an interesting story. Yosef melech. They were fighting over this also. Who's going to be the melech of the brothers? What melech? What, in every home there's a fight who's the king? I don't know. Your brothers, where does a king—what is king? So maybe that's in the future. Klal Yisrael will eventually have a king, and the question is who's the king. But we know Yehuda is the king. I don't know, it's an interesting topic that needs... To be analyzed and studied. But I hold there's a mevuardike pshat in the story of Melech, in the story of the brothers and the fight of the brothers with Yosef. There's another Maharal. The Maharal explains that the avodah of the melech, the concept of melech, is to make achdus in Klal Yisrael. The melech is there to represent the klal. Now, the understanding of it is quite pshat, and that is: Klal Yisrael is many, hundreds of thousands of people, but they're represented in one. Lev melech is lev ha'am. There's one heart. Pay attention, rabosai. Chazal tell us, lev—the lev of the king is the lev of the am. How do you unify an entire am through one heart, through the melech? And the melech represents the Ribono Shel Olam, which is klar in the Chazal, and it's Yisrael and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. They're unified with one lev, with one heart. The melech is lev ha'am. I've studied this, I've been me'ayin into this quite a lot. It's clear the Maharal speaks many a time, and all the mefarshim speak: the melech is there to unify the nation, to me'ached it. How are you me'ached? It means lev echad. Ein lanu ela lev echad el Avinu shebashamayim. And the melech represents the Ribono Shel Olam. It actually unites the Ribono Shel Olam and the Klal Yisrael in one person, within one lev. Yosef is the melech. Yosef's job is to unify. It says, hu hamazbir, and he was also what? Mazbir is to supply food. The story of they came down, food. That is ... the avodah of the melech. The Gemara says in Brachos that every day they came to Dovid HaMelech, and they would say, Amcha Yisrael tzrichin parnasa. Every day. It's a more ... Gemara in Brachos, rabosai. Every day. Can you imagine? Every single—it says every day. This was the seder hayom, first seder of Dovid HaMelech. What was first seder? The Gemara gives through his seder hayom, and one of the things was that they came in and they said, Amcha Yisrael tzrichin parnasa. That's the king's job, parnasa. And then he gave, and he said what? Lechu parnesu zeh mizeh. Interesting, zeh mizeh, achdus, unification. You and him join together. Lechu parnesu zu mizu. Gemara says they said it's not enough money, so they went ... But why is it the avodah of Dovid HaMelech every day? Because the melech is there to unite.

The parnassah, the feed, is the way to unite, and that's the job of the melech. This becomes the issue and yesod of melech in the brothers. There's an interesting Chazal. Chazal tell us the Beis HaMikdash is part of the avodah of unification of Klal Yisrael. The koach, the dynamics of the Beis HaMikdash is to create unification in Klal Yisrael. The Gemara says that the Olam lo omed tzar li hamakom. There was always plenty of room, plenty of room in the Beis HaMikdash. How is there room? How is it possible? And the Gemara says, Omdim tzefufim ומשתחווים רווחים. It was a tremendous nes. It was a miracle. They stood squeezed together, tzefufim, but when they bowed, משתחווים was רווחים. The Kotzker Rebbe used to say a beautiful pshat: משתחווים, when someone bends a little bit, then there's room. So when everyone stands in their place, they don't want to budge, bend, עומדים, everybody stands in his ground, so to speak, then it's tzefufim. It gets very congested. But משתחווים, people are ready to bow a little bit, bend a little bit, then it becomes רווחים. There's room for everybody. Why? When there's a havon... There's plenty of room, the Gemara's son, he says. There's never a problem of room when there's love. Beis Hamikdash was there to mached Klal Yisrael. If you notice, Oleh Regel, what is oleh regel? B'voi kol Yisrael, kol Yisrael. All of Klal Yisrael was supposed to go to be oleh regel. The times of oleh regel Yom Tov were there to bring Klal Yisrael together as one. And what's the pshat is one? Because the Ribono Shel Olam, the Shechinah, connects to Klal Yisrael in the Beis Hamikdash when they're one, when they're united. It's b'voi kol Yisrael. There's a ma'amar in Netzach Yisrael. The Maharal says that the reason why the split in malchus between Malchus Beis David and Malchus Yisrael did not happen in the days of Shlomo HaMelech, because he built the Beis Hamikdash. Beis Hamikdash is unity, and the split of malchus of the two kings of David and Yisrael is a sign of pirud, of a split in the unity. So it couldn't be b'yom of, in the days that he built the Beis Hamikdash, that there should be a split in his malchus. Malchus is unity. Beis Hamikdash is unity. Maybe, maybe, when Yosef and Binyamin come together, they fall on each other's... it says they cried. What did they cry about? Yosef cried, Binyamin, the Beis Hamikdash. Binyamin cried, Mishkan Shiloh. Rashi, the Chazal. Why? At that moment of unity, the Beis Hamikdash, because Beis Hamikdash is what? It's unity. It's achdus. At that moment, there was the moment of tikkun, that they fixed the achdus, but they saw that it's going to get destroyed, this achdus, which means Churban Hamikdash and Churban Mishkan. It is that moment that they come together, that they unite together, which was the ultimate tikkun. The brothers are coming together. At that moment, they envisioned Churban, which means what? Pirud, period of achdus. I believe strongly, and I've explained this to you in many shiurim throughout the years, Yosef's avodah was to fix the achdus, to fix the achdus that became splintered in a way.

Mefarshim tell us that he was responsible for this pirud, for this, and that's why his avodah was to fix it. I want to discuss this with you. Was Yosef shuldig, in Yiddish, was he somewhat guilty in the pirud that happened between the brothers? Was he guilty? You know, there was Asara Harugei Malchus. Yeah, everybody knows Asara Harugei Malchus: ten giants, tzaddikim, tanoim, they were murdered because of mechiras Yosef. Mefarshim ask, but there were only nine brothers who sold, only nine of them. So why ten? Why Asara Harugei Malchus? The Gra says, muvdik and meyudik a pshat. The Gra learns that the tenth was because of the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam also needed kaparah and tikkun. Why? Chazal tell us that they joined together and they made a beis din with a cherem, and who was the tenth on that beis din to sell? No, who? The Ribono Shel Olam. The tenth one was the Ribono Shel Olam. So Ribono Shel Olam needed kaparah, which is an unbelievable chiddush. It's something which needs explanation. What do you mean, Ribono Shel Olam? The Ribono Shel Olam could be wrong that it needs... But the truth, we find this. We find clearly, Rosh Chodesh, zman kaparah, bring a korban because shemi'atati es halevana. Ribono Shel Olam told us the moon becomes smaller. So Rabbeinu says, I need a kapara for that. I hurt the moon, so to speak. I touched, angered, angered. I touched. I caused tzaar, so to speak, whatever that means in terms of a moon, to the moon. Yeah, but the Rabbeinu is right. He can't be wrong. So how could it be kapara? Kapara is for chet. Chet means I did something wrong. The mefarshim say, and this is a big yesod in hashkafah, kapara doesn't necessarily mean chet, wrong, because kapara is also tikkun. It's to fix. There's a balance. You know, Mordechai HaTzadik, when he found out about the gezeirah in the times of Haman and Achashverosh, it says, Vayiz'ak ze'aka gedolah u'marah. He went out into the street and he cried a ze'aka gedolah u'marah. It's the same words that Esav, the cry of Esav when he cried when he lost his brachos to Yaakov, ze'aka gedolah u'marah. Chazal in Maseches Megillah tell us, yeah, Yaakov Avinu caused Esav this pain, that he should cry ze'aka gedolah u'marah. So therefore, many years later, his children, Yaakov's children, many years later, Mordechai had to be ze'aka gedolah u'marah. Tikkun. You made Esav cry, ze'aka gedolah u'marah. He was right, Yaakov Avinu. He did the best thing in the world. He did the most right thing in the world. Esav was a gangster. Esav needs the brachos. Esav should be getting the brachos. Of course Yaakov took it away from him. Parashah. What's? And one that it was b'ruach hakodesh that told him to do it. Rivka told him, Shema b'koli, Yaakov, listen to my kol, my voice. Chazal say koli is kol of ruach hakodesh. So the Ribono Shel Olam told him to steal the brachos. The Ribono Shel Olam told him to take the brachos. So the Ribono Shel Olam told him to take the brachos. So how could Yaakov, years later, have to pay? Zakkah gedolah l'morah for making Esav cry, zakkah gedolah l'morah. And the teretz is, and this is a big lesson, im bein adam l'chaveiroi and in achdus, that you can even be right. You can be right. Yaakov was right, but b'maaseh, Esav got hurt. And when there's hurt, there's tikkun that's needed. It needs to be corrected. It needs to be fixed. Right and wrong is not an issue in tikkun. Sometimes when you're 100% right, still a tikkun is needed, and that's the pshat by the levanah. The Ribono Shel Olam was definitely right for making the levanah smaller. Can't be wrong. The Ribono Shel Olam...

Can't be wrong, yet he still says, I need a tikkun. A lot of people are always busy with, But I'm right! It's not about right and wrong always. It's about the balance of when it breaks, you need to fix. You know, Asha shibarta. The Ribbono Shel Olam gave Moshe Yasher koach. It's interesting, he didn't say Chazak u'baruch. I'm sorry, I don't know, he should have said Chazak u'baruch for breaking the luchos. He said, Yasher koach. Was he asking? Whatever. Yasher koach, you hear? Yasher koach sheshibarta. So it was a good thing he broke the luchos. You know what happened because he broke the luchos? Shikchas haTorah. Chazal say it was shikchas haTorah. Torah was forgotten. But it was a good thing that he did it. Not always about good and bad. It's about fixing and not fixing. Now let's get back to Yosef, eh? Mechiras Yosef. The Ribbono Shel Olam said to sell. So Ribbono Shel Olam was the tenth on the beis din; he needed a tikkun. So one of the asarah harugei malchus went to be mesaken, to be mesaken for the Ribbono Shel Olam's part of Mechiras Yosef. Says the Gaon, which one of the ten was there to be mesaken? Which one of the ten was there to be mesaken? Which one of the ten was there to be mesaken for the Ribbono Shel Olam? Says the Gaon, Reb Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was the one who went to be mesaken for the Rabbeinu Shalom. Why? The Gemara in Pesachim says that Shimon HaTimni was doresh every es in the Torah, es l'rabos to add. Till he came to es Hashem Elokecha tira, es — what means l'rabos what? You have to fear Hashem and only Hashem. Can't be fear Hashem plus and — can't be and; it has to be only. So how is it es Hashem Elokecha tira l'rabos? Peirush. He said, I'm not going to explain any more the es. Sheheim shemekablim schar al hadrisha, kach mekablim schar al haprisha. No more. I'm not going to explain any more es. Ad sheba Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said, Es Hashem Elokecha tira — yesh l'fear Hashem. Es is l'rabos talmidei chachamim. Why? Because the talmid chacham represents the Rabbeinu Shalom. So when you fear the Rabbeinu Shalom, you could fear the talmid chacham that represents the Rabbeinu Shalom, and it's all part of yiras Hashem. Oh, you, Rabbi Akiva, think? You, Rabbi Akiva, doresh? You, Rabbi Akiva, learn pshat in the pasuk that the talmid chacham represents the Rabbeinu Shalom? So when the Rabbeinu Shalom needs a kaparah, you'll represent the Rabbeinu Shalom. Rabbi Akiva was the tenth tanna. That was the tikkun for the Rabbeinu Shalom. Kegoyin says that it's merumaz in the pasuk. By maaser it says, Kol asher ya'avor tachas hashavet, v'ha'asiri. Ye kodesh laShem. So pashut pshat in the pasuk is, kol asher ya'avor tachas hashavet, they used to have a stick, one, two, three, under the stick, and the tenth one, they would hit with a stick that had paint on it, and they knew that was kodesh. So asiri was kodesh laShem; it was ma'aser. Says the goyen that's the pshat in Reb Akiva going b'makom HaKadosh Baruch Hu merumaz in this pasuk. Kol asher ya'avor, the nine that passed was tachas hashavet, the shevatim. Ha'asiri, the tenth one, Reb Akiva was kodesh laShem; he went for the Ribono Shel Olam. Merumaz in the pasuk, the inyan of Reb Akiva being the tenth one in asarah harugei malchus for the Ribono Shel Olam. It's meyudak, meyudak pshat. Others learn that the reason that there was ten, only nine brothers sold, because Reuven didn't need a kaparah. Because Yaakov is responsible that caused all the kinah and sinah. The Gemara says that Yaakov made a mistake by giving extra to Yosef, thus making the jealousy, causing the jealousy. So maybe the kaparah is for Yaakov Avinu. While others learn that the kaparah was—

was for Yosef, because Yosef told the dreams. He edged on that kinah, which led to the sinah, which led to the pirud ha'achim, so he needed a kaparah. So Yosef was somewhat guilty, and he felt that guilt, and he knew that he needed to be misaken to fix that achdus. I found this very clear in a pshat of the Chasam Sofer, which is classic. You know, to pick Yaakov up from Canaan to bring him to Mitzrayim, the pasuk says that Yosef sent agalos. He sent wagons with calves, agalos. Chazal say that he was sending him a message with this, and that was eglah arufah, because that was the last parsha that Yaakov learned Torah. We know Yaakov learned Torah with Yosef. The last thing he learned with Yosef was eglah arufah. Why is he sending back this message? I'm still learning. He's trying to tell Yaakov, Od Yosef beni chai, as they say. What's pshat? Yaakov, when he heard that Yosef was alive, he wasn't that excited, because who knows what he looks like already. He's a Mitzri and he's a melech in Mitzrayim, oy vey. He's not only just a member of Congress there; he's the president. Oy vey, oy vey. Could you imagine how kind of, who knows what, right? Then when he heard and he saw the agalos, ooh, he's still learning Torah. The lashon of the pasuk is, Od Yosef beni. My son Yosef is alive. Yosef is alive is not such a big excitement for me, but it's beni. Still my son, the son I taught Torah to, the son of his father. Yaakov, that to me is a tchiyas ruach Yaakov Avinu. So by sending him back to agolos, what is he sending him? A message that he's still learning Torah. Why was this the last parsha they were learning? Many mefarshim say because that was the story of Yosef, that he went to see the brothers without leviah, without being escorted, which led to him being either—Yaakov understood—killed, right? Yaakov thought tarof toraf, which is really the story of eglah arufah. You know, there's a daas kedoshim, Baalei HaTosafos, that says that that's not the message in the agolos. It's not the parsha of eglah arufah. What is the agolos that he sent, and what was the message that Yosef was sending back to his father? It's the eglos of the agolos that brought to the Mishkan all the karbanos and the nesiim. Chanukas habayis, right? Each nasi brought his karbanos and all his donation. They brought it with agolos, with wagons. And those agolos is the agolos that they were learning, that sugya, so to speak. They were learning when Yaakov departed with Yosef. That was the last thing they were learning. So Yosef is sending back the message that I'm learning is what? Eglosav with the nesiim. Never understood this. What could you be learning about Eglah Arufah? It's a simple thing that they brought agalos. I mean, what's the big— Eglah Arufah is a big sugya. It's a big sugya, Eglah Arufah. Eglah Arufah, they were learning it. That's what's there to learn. These wagons, they brought the Nesiim's karbanos. So I saw a ... Chasam Sofer, ממש ... says the Chasam Sofer like this: The agalos were actually not twelve agalos, even though there were twelve Nesiim. How many agalos? There were six. Twelve Nesiim, six agalos. Why? Says the Chasam Sofer, because each shevet and the nasi of their shevet brought together with the neighboring shevet and their nasi. They joined together in one agalah, in one wagon to bring it. Why? Because that's the yesod of the Mikdash and the Mishkan: unity between the shevatim. It had to be brought in one, as the Alshich explains shekel hakodesh. What's kodesh? Chatzi and chatzi.

Two halves. Me and you are two halves that make what? One whole. Yeah, rabosai, ... Two halves make one whole. Two shevatim together, one agalah, because that's how we build a Mishkan. Now Yosef had a ma'alah over the rest of the shevatim that he was zocheh to have how many shevatim come from him? Two, Ephraim and Menashe. So how many agalos did Yosef have? One between Ephraim and Menashe. Did he join with a different shevet? No. He didn't have the zechus to join together with his neighboring shevet, with his neighboring brother. It was within the family, within the shevet of Yosef, Ephraim and Menashe, one agalah, one chariot, one wagon. Yaakov was teaching Yosef this: your actions are separating you. They're distancing you from your brothers. Yosef, yeah, Ephraim and Menashe, within yourself, you're not going to bring to the Mishkan together with, no, with your brother, the shevet. He was telling—now it's interesting, maybe it's even deep, because Yosef is about the Mishkan. We've said this, Yosef is about the Mishkan. What is Yosef sending back his father the message? Tata, I get it. At the end of the story, throughout the galus that I went through in Mitzrayim, now I'm sending you back. I understand the last year. I got the kavana behind the last shiur. You were trying to tell me that the pirud ha'achim, I have to be nizhar, I have to be careful. I'm somewhat responsible. I got to work on it. And that could be the pshat Yosef's avodah in Mitzrayim. With this, rabosai, I would like to explain to you one more beautiful yesod. You know, it's interesting. Lashon hara. What is the tikun for lashon hara? The tikun for lashon hara is learning Torah. It's one of the tikunim. Why? Why? Why is the tikun learning Torah? So pashut, you could say bad words, Torah is good words, right? Lashon hara is bad speech, and Torah is good speech, right? Could you imagine how much lashon hara is out there on the internet and on the modern technology, and Torah anytime is the anecdote, right? There's a plug for Torah Anytime. And Torah Anytime, yeah, is the opposite of all the lashon hara. It's Torah, speech, speaking, words. But I think there's a little bit more depth and pshat in this yesod that Torah is a tikun for lashon hara, and that is lashon hara is a mafrid. Lashon hara separates. Lashon hara separates. And Torah unites. Torah unites. Torah is me'ached Klal Yisrael. The Gemara tells us in Brachos that when someone... Parts with his friend, he should part through divrei Torah. Why? Shemitoch kach zochreihu. Like this he'll remember him. I say, divrei Torah, you remember me. Why? And the answer is very simple, because connection, everlasting chibur, connection is through Torah. You know, a person could play ball with people and, and, and go out here and there and make jokes. They'll never remember that guy. You'll remember your chavrusa in yeshiva. That you'll remember. Someone who you learned with, that's a connection. That's a real chibur. The Rambam says that talmidei chachamim, in the language of the Gemara and the Rishonim, is chaver. Talmid chacham is called—why is he called a chaver? Because that's the true chibur. Chaverim, friends, is only through Torah. That connects. You can have an external connection. It's, you know, it's—but a true, deep, real, penetrating, real connection, something that's lasting and something that's deeper than just from the surface, is through Torah, because Torah has the koach to unite. Torah has—

Has the koach to bring neshamos together. My neshama unites with your neshama. My heart unites with your heart. Through what? Through Torah. When we accepted the Torah, it says we accepted it, we were in a madrega of k'ish echad b'lev echad. I love to say over this chiddah I've done, and I've said it over many a time to you in the past, and I'm going to say it over again. The chiddah, I believe it's in Ohel David, the chiddah says, moiridike pshat. The chiddah says that what month was the Torah given in? Sivan. Sivan. Why? Why was Sivan chosen to be the month? Says the chiddah, the mazal of Sivan, you know each month has its teumim, twins, to teach us this lesson that Torah needs that Klal Yisrael has to unite as brothers, as twins. So the Torah was given in Sivan because it needs bridershaft, brotherhood, but not just brothers, twins. So I always tell people that I listen, they always say every Yid is a brother. Yidden are brothers to each other. It's not so. It's not true. It's more than brothers. According to the chiddah, what is it? It's twin brothers. Not just. Now, you know, there's a study in the world that when twins, when one is in pain, the other feels it. You know that? You know that? You're aware of that? There's a study like this. You'll go home and you'll study it. There's talk that when brothers are twins, when one feels a certain pain, somehow the other brother feels it too. But the truth is, it's more than we're just twins. So we're not just brothers. We're twins, like the chidah, but we're more than that. Why? Ki ish echad. We're saying these twins. We're not just twins. I always say, let's learn the Chazal. We're brothers. Everybody knows, achim, achim, es achai anochi mevakesh. You're not brothers. Brotherly love between you. It's more than that. The Chidah says we're sayimim, teumim, and it's actually more than that. What are we? Ish echad. We're one person. We're joined. You ever see when Siamese twins? Not with Siamese twins. Not identical twins. More. There's brothers, then there's twins, and then there's identical twins. And here, what? We're actually more than that. What are we? Ki ish echad. We're sayim. And how about more? You ready? With one heart. You ever see when two babies are born with one heart? You can't separate them. It's impossible. That's Klal Yisrael. That was Matan Torah. We join at the heart, the lev. You know what the Beis Hamikdash is? Lev. We spoke about a lot on Tisha B'Av. Dabru al lev Yerushalayim. The heart. The Beis Hamikdash is the heart. And what is the heart? It's the Ribono Shel Olam and Klal Yisrael. And it's all united with one heart. We beat to the same heartbeat. And I want to tell you something very interesting. If you notice, there's two chambers to the heart. There's the giving of the blood, and there's the receiving of the other. Two chambers. One gives blood and one tzedakah. That's Klal Yisrael. That's how you unite Klal Yisrael. One gives and one takes. One gives blood, damim, life, money, support, help, and the other one receives it. This is mechaber one heart. You know how many doctors it takes to separate Siamese twins with one heart? That's what Torah does. It creates that we should be all one heart. With this, rabosai, I think we can explain why Yehuda was sent by Yaakov before the brothers. What was he sent for? Because Yehuda shalach lefanav la'asos lo beis Talmud, to make a yeshiva. Why? Why did he send Yehuda? So the mefarshim say you can't go down to Mitzrayim till there's no yeshiva. If you don't have a yeshiva, you're not anchored in the yeshiva, you don't belong in Mitzrayim. You're going to get washed up with the tumas of the street of Mitzrayim.

Efsher kemen zogn a moiredike pshat, rabosai. Maybe we could say a moiredike taytch. The yeshiva plus Yehuda. Why Yehuda? Who was the rosh yeshiva in Mitzrayim? Rambam says clearly it was Levi, wasn't Yehuda. So I always say maybe Yehuda is malchus, royalty. Maybe Yehuda is gevurah, to build. You need malchus. You need gevurah to build Torah in a strange land, in a strange country, maybe. But maybe we could say even deeper. Yeshiva is Torah. Torah is to create ki'ish echad b'lev echad, the achdus. And Yehuda, his job was, Vayigash eilav Yehuda. Yehuda had to join with Yosef. Yehuda sold Yosef. Yehuda's job was what? No? What was Yehuda's job? Yehuda's job was to make beis talmud, the chibur. The yeshiva is there to join the neshama of Klal Yisrael as one, to unify Klal Yisrael. Yehuda's job, Yehuda's avodah was to go down to Mitzrayim and build a beis talmud. Yaakov's home was a yeshiva. Yaakov was a moiredike home of Torah, but it wasn't yeshiva. Why? Because it was pirud ha'achim. You notice that when Yehuda sold Yosef, what does it say? Vayeired Yehuda. Yehuda went down. Chazal say, what do you mean, yered? What, did he go down? They took him away from the malchus. He became ois melech. He was the melech of the brothers, and they told him, why? Melech is achdus. Remember? Melech is achdus. You sold Yosef, you broke that achdus. We took you away from being melech. Now Yaakov is saying your job is to go down to Mitzrayim, and what? Unify. Unify. Unify the brothers, yeshiva. Rabosai, there's a tremendous avodah to unify. Why? Because they're Rabbeinu Shleilam, and Klal Yisrael is lev echad, and Torah is part of that connection, and it needs chibur in order for it all to come together. In order for Yisrael, v'oiraisa v'Kudsha Brich Hu, Rabbeinu Shleilam, Klal Yisrael, and what unites it in the middle? The Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Yisrael. And what is in the middle? The chibur. Where is Torah? Torah is where? What's the lashon? V'dabek libeinu b'mitzvosecha. We'll have to talk. Torah is about the lev. Torah goes straight to the heart. It's mechaber the neshama of the Yid. And when it's Torah with achdus, the Rabbeinu Shleilam is unified in that lev. This, rabosai, to me, is what I saw, what I saw in the Rebashkin story. I wish, ... bracha. We're so happy for you. All of Klal Yisrael was happy for you. And to the Hazan family, we suffer with you. Our hearts go out for you. B'emes, it doesn't leave my mind for a second, the suffering. We promise that we'll daven for you, that you should have... Chizuk and strength to go through, and we will learn Torah. L'ilui nishmas your families that didn't make it, and for the chizuk of your family that did make it, as our own. It is our families. This is one Adam. It's all affecting us, because we are people who live with the Rabbeinu Shlolem. We are people who learn Torah, and we are people of am echad, of achdus in Klal Yisrael. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.