Shavuos: Naaseh V’Nishma, Ahavas HaTorah, and the Bond Between Father and Children

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Talk a little Hashem Beis, Hashem Yisbarach about Shavuos. Not that that's coming. It's Hashem in a few days. Shavuos. The symbol of Shavuos is naaseh v'nishma. Captures the essence of Kabbalas HaTorah and the essence of the Yontif of Shavuos, naaseh v'nishma. Let's learn a little bit the Gemara of naaseh v'nishma. The Gemara tells us that when Klal Yisrael said naaseh v'nishma, there was a bas kol. It's a Gemara in Shabbos, pei ches amud aleph. Amar Reb Eliezer. Reb Eliezer said, B'sha'ah shehikdimu Yisrael naaseh l'nishma, they first said naaseh and then they said nishma, yatza bas kol v'amra lahen. The bas kol told Klal Yisrael, Mi gilah raz zeh shemalachei hashares mishtamshim bo. If you look at the lashon of the Gemara, it actually, Mi gilah raz zeh l'bonai. To my children. What is the secret? What is the geisa raz, the secret? It's a secret. What does it mean, Lebonai? Why does it madgish? Why is the pasuk madgish, Lebonai? And what's the pshat that the malachei hashares are mishtamshim, they use it. They do their tzivui, they listen to the tzivui of the Ribono Shel Olam with naaseh v'nishma, mishtamshim, they use it. Rashi already explains that what's the pshat in the ma'alah of naaseh v'nishma, because the Gemara brings the pasuk. The pasuk says, Barchu Hashem malachav. The malachim, they bench the Eibishter. Giborei koach, osei devaro, lishmoa b'kol devaro. Bereisha oseh v'hadar lishmoa. So first it says, osei devaro, and then it says, lishmoa. So the malachim, they use this roz, this secret, the secret. Like the pasuk says, osei devaro, and then lishmoa b'kol devaro. So Rashi already explains the Gemara, osei devaro, what's the difference between osei devaro? Muchanim la'asos kodem sheyishme'u, that they're ready to do before they even hear. V'lo k'derech sh'ar avadim. An eved, he first hears, so kenes ta'aneh tutus, he's got to hear what it entails. So, malachim is like avadim. So Rashi already is fataytching that there's a pesachilik between a malach and avadim, sheshom'in techilas hadavar l'edim yecholin lekabel aleihem im lav. So malachim don't have that. So when Klal Yisrael has it, so their opposite of avadim is banim. L'choira, that's the pshat in the Gemara. Mi gila razeh lebanai? Yibald, it's to say that they're being mishtamesh like the malachim, which the pasuk is saying is not like avadim. So oy bazeh, the maila, the opposite is banim. Memeila, mi gila razeh lebanai, shemalachei hashares mishtamshim bo. So what's the chiluk between an eved and a ben? So the pashut pshat is the ben doesn't listen to the pratim; he does it without listening. Rabosai, today, banim, not they listen, not they do, all right. But pashut, the ben pshat is that they don't have to hear; they just do it. What does that mean? What does it mean that they do it even though they don't hear? And what does it mean, raz, that it's a secret?

And how are the malachei hashares mishtamshim bo? They use it. What are they using? I mean, a malach has to listen. And what do we mean listen? He doesn't have to hear, but he has to keep what the Ribono Shel Olam tells him. So what does it mean, mishtamshim, they use this? Beis, let's discuss a little bit what the maila of Av and Ben in Torah is. There's a maila, there's an inyan of Av and Ben in Torah. We say it every day in davening. We ask the Ribono Shel Olam, one of the brachos, Hashiveinu Avinu l'sorasecha, v'karveinu Malkeinu la'avodasecha. So when it comes to avodah, service, that's Malkeinu. But by Torah, the lashon that's used is Avinu, the tata. So the Tur already discusses the shaila: why by Torah does it say Avinu, and why by avodah it says Malkeinu? Zogt the Tur that the pshat is, it's a Tur in Orach Chaim סימן ק״ו, because since a tata is mechuyiv to teach his son Torah, so the Ribono Shel Olam is mechuyiv to teach us Torah. Mameila, Hashiveinu Avinu — we're moneying the Eibishter, Ribono Shel Olam, als tata. He got to give us Torah. ... Shiveinu Avinu, Tata, come to learn with me. ... The tata, the kid comes home from school and he says, Tata, I have to do the homework. I have to chazer the Gemara. And the tata has to say, Yes, avadeh, I'm mechuyiv. That's doch my chiyuv. So, Shiveinu Avinu, Avinu, l'sorasecha. There's a very famous Bach. The Bach says, Hamelamed Torah l'am Yisrael, the bracha. He's melamed, he was. Shelimed Torah. The Ribono Shel Olam gave us once the Torah, but what's hamelamed? Constantly, seder every day in the Torah it says, the tata does his homework with the children officially. This is what it is. He's melamed Torah l'amo Yisrael. Good. Das a tur mit a Bach in Hilchos Birchas HaTorah. Good. Chaim Volozhin says a different pshat. Reb Chaim Volozhin says there's a beautiful Mishnah in Avos: Chavivin Yisrael shenikru banim laMakom. We're called banim, banim laMakom, children. The Mishnah ends: Chavivin Yisrael shenitan lahem klei chemdah. Klal Yisrael is chaviv; they gave us the Torah. Zogt Reb Chaim Volozhin, habah talya. The chavivin that they're banim is the same chavivin that He gave us klei chemdah. And soon we're going to farteitch the klei chemdah, the nusach chemdah. So, ir hatevese, today we're going to discuss the kesher. We have a tatte in Himmel through Torah. There's a kesher. The Ribono Shel Olam is excited. The Tabas Kali teaches us, Mi gilah raz zeh lebanai? It's my kinder. In Kabbalas HaTorah, there was a kesher. There was an expression of an av and a ben, and it came through when we said Naaseh v'Nishma. And today we're going to fataytsh it. What is that kesher? It's that shaychus. Hashiveinu Avinu l'Sorasecha. So we have this Reb Chaim Volozhin that says, hafla vefele, it's hob hotalya. Pshat, because we're banim, and when the Ribono Shel Olam is our tatte, mimeila He gave us the klei chemdah. Why? And he gives a mashal: when someone has the inner—who has the key to the inner, it's the bank account, so to speak, of the tatte? Only a kid, only a son, only a child do you entrust with the private zachin of a person that he owns and that he has. So too the Torah, the maftechos—says Reb Chaim Volozhin—the maftechos, the keys, the keys.

For the seudas haTorah, he entrusts only to the Klal Yisrael. U'memeila, Betmen hashiveinu avinu. Zei zogt der Chafetz Chaim, avinu is because seudas haTorah is totally in avinu. You know, there's a very famous shaila, rabosai. What's the pshat? Mehata yom tov Shavuos, mekabel geven the Torah. We weren't mekabel the Torah on Shavuos. HaLuva kalush is insa, we ruined it right away, and we were actually mekabel the Torah on Yom Kippur. So why don't we make Shavuos Yom Kippur? Chapash the shaila. Imagine a person makes his anniversary to the day that he got divorced. Chapash the shaila. We did the eigel, we never got the Torah. So what's the pshat that mimacharas Yom Tov, the first and not the second Kabbalas haTorah, Yom Kippur? A lot of Torah was said about this kasha. Biur tachtach, rabosai. It could be it's a famous teretz, possible. When did we say naaseh v'nishma? That we said by the first Kabbalas haTorah. Naaseh v'nishma, that we said by the first Kabbalas haTorah. Siemes, haLuva kalah, we ruined it by going to the eigel. Ah, but the naaseh v'nishma pleight, that can never be destroyed. Un vos iz der naaseh v'nishma? Der naaseh v'nishma is the ratzon that we want. Ratzon can never be extinguished. The pasuk says, Ma yim rabim lo yuchlu lechabot es ha'ahavah, u'neharos lo yishtefuha. No matter what you throw at ahavah, if there's ahavah, it can't get extinguished. Fakert, to us, the Yom Tov is vos mitgezapt naaseh v'nishma, because whatever happens after that, that can't uproot. Dos ken nisht oyker zayn, der ahavah of the mi gilah raz zeh lebanai. This, that a Yid has a love for Torah, and he's margish in the Torah, Ashiveinu Avinu l'sorasecha, dos is Kabbalas haTorah, the first when we said naaseh v'nishma. You're right, mir zaynen mitgegangen tsu a egel, we went, we did an egel. But that, the limud we're trying to teach, that the naaseh v'nishma, that doesn't fall away, fakert. Der ratzon, the Kabbalah, that we came and we expressed as an ahav to the ahav that we're a ben, dos is ba'uns a Yom Tov. Dos is ba uns a Yom Tov. A beisai, efsher kemen fataitshen that that's the pshat, raz. What's the secret? You know, raz is something that's hidden. A person learns Torah that you see, but the ratzon pnimi, that's a raz, that's a secret. That's the pnimiyus, that's the sodes haTorah. Mi gilah raz zeh? To uncover the real raz of Torah. It's the cheshek pnimi, it's the ratzon pnimi, it's the ahavah pnimi, every Yid has for the Ribono Shel Olam and His Torah. And the Ribono Shel Olam sees this ratzon and cheshek, and a bas kol comes out, omru lahem, Mi gilah raz zeh l'banai, that they were able to express it through the naaseh v'nishma. Mi gilah raz zeh l'banai shemalachei hashares mishtamshim? They can't have it. Why can't they have it? Because a malach can only do pe'ulah. He doesn't have a hergesh, he doesn't have feelings. The koach of regesh, of hergesh.

of love to the Eibishter and to love of his Torah. This is something that a malach mishtamshim boi. They use it. They use the inyan of naaseh v'nishma. The megillah is that that's takke the essence of the Yid. Klal Yisrael was עומד on what are they coming to Kabbalas HaTorah? They're coming to Kabbalas HaTorah with Ribono Shel Olam. We're not avadim, we're bonim. Raz zeh, lebanai is that we love Torah. Ribono Shel Olam, we have ahavas haTorah. Ribono Shel Olam, we have ahavas haTorah. The pasuk that Reb Chaim Volozhin brings, that he says the pshat is the Mishnah: Chavivin Yisrael shenitan lahem kli chemdah. Why is it called kli chemdah? Why is it called kli chemdah? You know, in Anim Zemiros, a beautiful piyut, what do we say? Nafshi chamdah b'tzel yadecha, lodaas kol raz sodecha. Raz, the secret. What's raz sodecha? What does that mean, sodos haTorah? It's very interesting, no? Reb Chaim Volozhin spoke about sodos haTorah. Miderech ha'av legalos sodo. The Gemara in Shabbos says what? Megillah. Raz zeh lebanai. Here, Rabosai. Nafshi chamda. What do I want? Klei chemda. The Torah is the klei chemda of Klal Yisrael, because it's raz, it's sod, it's the inner pnimiyus of every Yid, atzmiyus haYid. Yid is Torah and the kesher to Torah. And that's the Yom Tov of Shavuos, the naaseh v'nishma, the naaseh v'nishma. Midei Rabosai, kemezogen a gevaldige pshat in a Gemara. The Gemara says, what was the ma'alah of naaseh v'nishma? Ketapuach b'atzei hayaar, ketapuach b'atzei hayaar. Lo amonim shelo Yisrael l'tapuach, lo ima lecho, ma tapuach ze piryo kodem le'alav, af Yisrael hikdimu naaseh lnishma. So the tapuach came before. The tapuach came before. And that's naaseh before the nishma. So it's interesting, the mashal, the nimshal, vos vil men do? It's ketapuach, like an apple. What do we want? Vos vil men do? Ketapuach b'atzei hayaar, kidodi mitgazakt, daf hoben a mashal mit a nimshal mit an apple. Vos vil men? What do we want with this? Teisvis already asks the kasha, hiksha Rabbeinu Tam. An apple grows like any other fruit, so it doesn't make sense, the whole thing. In fact, Teisvis, but an apple is piryo kodem l'alav, nit emes, bichlal nit emes. So Teisvis answers, you're right, it doesn't mean an apple, it means an esrog. A lot of times we confuse the esrog with the apple, the velt. They always think that the eitz hadaas was an apple tree. There's no mekor for that. The real mekor is it was an esrog tree. For some reason, apples, when eschagim, veren tzumisht. Tell me, the eitz hadaas, what was the eitz hadaas? It was an apple tree. Everybody thinks the eitz hadaas was an apple tree. It's not. It's an esrog tree. Grape tree, efsher; chaveis chitah, it was wheat maybe, depending on the Chazalim. Esrog it was, and people think it's an apple. It comes from this Gemara, l'chaira. You see that ufamisht, eplach — in English they say they mix apples and oranges — ufamisht apples mit esrogim, shein. Kitzur, Teisvis says another kasha, that the pasuk that it's brought is talking about the Eibishter: Ki tapuach ba'atzei hayaar, re'eh dodi bein habanos. We're talking about the Ribono Shel Olam. So how could it be that it's nimshal l'Yisroel? The pasuk, when you read Shir HaShirim, is talking that we're telling the Eibishter, Ki tapuach ba'atzei hayaar, that the Ribono Shel Olam is kein dodi bein habanos. Zei fregt Teisvis a kasha, the Gemara.

What is trying to bring a raya that it's klal Yisroel. And for Tosfos, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, kivsiv, Kein doidi ... ketapuchim. So Tosfos, b'emes the yeshiva brought a different pasuk, a pasuk later that says, Apecha ketapuchim. What's the teretz to the kasha? There's no teretz to the kasha. Tosfos is like a kasha. Some toch sefer? No. The Gemara is gevaldik. The kasha came from ... The Ribono Shel Olam is ketapuach b'atzei hayaar. So klal Yisroel v'zeh banim laMakom is vayter. In English there's an expression: apples don't fall far from the tree. This is the Gemara. V'ibald the Ribono Shel Olam is ketapuach b'atzei hayaar, mimeila nimshalu Yisroel. Makes the kasha even bigger now, you hear? A mashal with that apple — an apple has nothing to do with klal Yisroel. ... That kasheh. So she'ein a vort from some sefer, but what do you do with the Gemara? What's with the Gemara בכלל? The teretz ... The pshat is, megilah razei lebonai, ... is an expression that we're banim laMakom. It's about ahavah, as I'll soon explain to you. It's about the love that we have for the Ribono Shel Olam, u'meileh, ohev the Ribono Shel Olam d'tata. Es ketapuach ba'atzei hayaar. And he's magdim masul l'nishma, the pshat is because he loves Klal Yisrael. The Ribbono Shel Olam meichatater ma'ila, that for Klal Yisrael also. The Ribbono Shel Olam hat liban cheshbon. That's the pshat. The Ribbono Shel Olam hat uns lib on cheshbon. V'efshar, rabosai, how many times do we say, V'ahavta... mi'olamim? What's the v'ahavta? What's it referring to? All my life, when it comes to this part of Ma'ariv, it's the pshat. Almost the tears come out every night. I once saw Rav Shaimberg, zecher tzaddik livracha, dam for the emes, in my father's shul. He cried like a child when he said, V'ahavta... I'll never forget. Still until today it rings in my ears, V'ahavta... mi'olamim. Expression of ahavah through ahavas olam, ahavah, chemlah. What is it? Al kein chukim u'mishpatim osanu limadta, that He gave us the Torah. The Torah is klei chemdah. Part of what the Torah is about is the chibut, the love, kesher, ratzon pnimi. Must the tata hat for us, and we have for the tata. V'ahavta. Whose ahavah could be one of both ways, either the Ribbono Shel Olam's ahavah for us, or our ahavah for the Ribbono Shel Olam. V'ahavta, our love for You, al tasin imanu l'olamim. U'dosnal kein chukim u'mishpatim. The Torah is the vehicle that we have love for the Ribono Shel Olam. That's pshat naaseh is kodem l'nishma. It's a sign of ben, because it's a sign of ahavah. When you love, there's no such a thing, mayim rabim lo yuchlu lechabot es ha'ahavah. How come the Ribono Shel Olam didn't throw us away by the eigel? Ufaked. What was the siman shemachal lahem al ha'eigel? HaKadosh Baruch Hu knew. What was the siman shemachal lahem al ha'eigel? That He gave us the Torah on Yom Kippur. The Torah itself is the siman. It's the sign that the Ribono Shel Olam loves Klal Yisrael, chat afilu mitoch machtanegel. You know, Rabosai, Shavuos, what's it called? Oh, I just told you, Shavuos, yeah, good. Why Shavuos? What is Shavuos? It should be the day of Kabbalas HaTorah. So the Rishonim, pshat each, the pshat is Sefiras HaOmer.

The Shavuos that lead up to Shavuos, the hachanah, the preparation, the Sefiras HaOmer, the shvuos, that itself is the Yom Tov. The preparation creates the Yom Tov, the hachanah. After the hachanah, akm Shvuos. There's another taich in Shvuos. A beisai, viful promises were made by Kabbalas HaTorah. We find the nusach mushba v'omeid meHar Sinai — there was a shvuah. What was the shvuah, mushba v'omeid, that we're going to keep the Torah, right? That's mushba, yeah. A bevoses der taich, eh vazoi shvuos? Why plural? So you could come and say, because there's many mitzvos. Maybe there's many mitzvos, shvuos. Oder me ken zogn in the pshat, ti do hast a achidn, arvus, b'shvuoseichem, the pasuk by bikurim, b'shvuoseichem, because Klal Yisrael — it's not one, it's all of you together made a promise. U'vo kulam bivris yachad, naaseh v'nishma omru keechad, so mameila it's b'shvuoseichem. Yah, nu, abeisai, yah. Nefesh hameisan, gar asheina vot b'shvuoseichem, yeh, abeisai. Mezeideflakt iber zogn, Rabbeinu Nissim Gaon — what was he called? Sorry, Rabbeinu Gershon, excuse me, Rabbeinu Gershon, what was he called? Me'or haGolah. Why was he called Meiragel? Why? Lichtikeit from the golus. Zeide flegt iberzogen, stam ... daily Yisroel said it before him. Rabbeinu Gershon made two takanos. One is you can't be megareish בעל כרחה. You can't throw a wife out if she's not maskim. And then on top of it, he made another takanah that you can't have two wives. ... So what happens if his wife is nisht kein gutte vibe? He's stuck. Can't be megareish בעל כרחה, and he can't ... What's he supposed to do? Klal Yisroel. Also, we did the eigel, the ... So the Ribbono Shel Olam could come and say, Areis, we know shvuos is nisuin, it's erusin. Chassidim macht ... to read the shtark suba. The marriage told us many times that all the minhagim of the chasan I learned from Kabbalas HaTorah. The chasan comes out to greet the kallah. The kaf aleihem har kegigis is the chuppah. Ay, we once spoke that the whole kaf aleihem har kegigis is forced. So we said from the Maharal that it was forced through ahavah, it was so much love. That was the force. We couldn't say no. When we said pshat in Rashi, Rashi says kegigis, like a barrel of sheichar, and we asked the kasha: kegigis like a barrel, barrel of beer. ... Yeah, okay. But we ... that it's like a shikkur. We were drunk from a hava. Sheikah kegigis. That's the kaf aleihem har kegigis. Zeh heting iz a pshat, akl panim. The flowers on the chasan, I learned from Kabbalas HaTorah. The Reb Shmueli Aleckit says even the music, kolos uvrakim. Says Reb Shmueli Aleckit, I'll tell you even more, rabosai. I used to say the flash of the photographer, the brakim, macht flashes. Gut. So this is Kabbalas HaTorah, okay? Should get rid of us. We didn't behave. Right away, alu vekalu, we didn't behave. Kumt Rabbeinu Gershon, and it gezogt, mekareish megaresh ein baal, kacha. Nu, so then you can take an uma acheres, he'll have two. Take a second. Can't do that either. The Ribono Shel Olam has to listen to cheirem Rabbeinu Gershon. And Meili was called me'or hagolah, the lichtikeit from the galus. He saved us in galus. Et uns geratevit. He saved us in galus, me'or hagolah. Un it dos iz doch pshat bishvuoseichem, bishvuoseichem, because there's two shvuos. It's like wedding vows. Goes both ways. The Ribono Shel...

Klal Yisrael. The double, b'shvuoseichem. There's two shvuos: the Ribono Shel Olam to Klal Yisrael, and Klal Yisrael to the Ribono Shel Olam. We promise to keep the Ribono Shel Olam's Torah, and the Ribono Shel Olam ... zugt, Bonai, ... I'm not gonna switch you b'umah acheres. There's shvuos, there's promises. But this, rabosai, I want to ... here. Bonai, from Rashi's mashma that it's about doing even though you didn't hear, even if you can't do it, so to speak, as they state in Rashi, like an eved first sees if he could do it. But I think there's more here too, and that's what we were speaking the whole time. Bonai is about the ahavah. There's a limud. The limud haTorah has to be through ahavah, through love. I'll tell you where I got this from. You know, rabosai, every ben Torah in yeshiva is indoctrinated: haTorah dafka lilmod ulishmor. It's a Mishnah: Ha'lomed Torah lishmah zocheh לדברים הרבה, zocheh to a lot of things. Un yeder yeshiva bochur is taught properly, the Nefesh HaChaim from Shaar Daled, that what's called Torah lishmah? Torah l'shem Torah. Yeah, ale ves. I get invited from time to time to the yeshivas, the mesivtas here in Lakewood. To give shiurim, shmuzen especially about Torah and ahavas haTorah. I tell over this nefesh hachaim, and I ask always the Olam, tell me, rabosai, this nefesh hachaim veyst. Obviously, don noch a shtikel. There's another piece of nefesh hachaim, which is not in Nefesh HaChaim, but it's in Ruach Chaim. The Mishnah, the Mishnah in Avos, when it says that you have to learn Torah lishmah, zocheh chaim, v'lo shepirushah, Torah l'shem ahavas haTorah. Hold it. Here, it's a andere Reb Chaim. Dos zelbe mechaber, dos zelbe Reb Chaim Volozhin. Kudsha Brich Hu v'Oraisa v'Yisrael chad hu. See, if the Ribono Shel Olam has such a ahavah to Klal Yisrael, ahavah pnimi, Torah darf men lernen in eches. Ahavah. It has to be in ahavah. Mir, rabosai, meredik. And that's what the Ribono Shel Olam s'un nasan v'nishma. Megillah razeh l'bonai, that Klal Yisrael could reach the madreigah, that they could learn Torah as a ben, and that they could daven twice a day, three times a day, to say Hashiveinu, Avinu, Hashiveinu Avinu, that they understand the relationship of Torah is that the Ribono Shel Olam's a tateh. So it's not only how you keep the mitzvahs, because that, the malachei hashares are mishtamshim bo. The Malachei Hashares use this formula of how they keep mitzvahs. But the malachim are only mishtamesh with it. But Klal Yisrael has it from within, in the penimius, the penimius. I've been asked over the years, Ahavas HaTorah, how does one reach Ahavas HaTorah? How does one attain Ahavas HaTorah? How do you? Adam hahatos, adam hahatos nisht. Yetatzecha besai, that every Yid has in him inherently. If he stood on Har Sinai and his gzeirah said naaseh v'nishma, the yerushah of Torah is to have also Ahavas HaTorah. The yerushah of Torah is not only just the yerushah of the Torah, but the Ahavas HaTorah also. When Klal Yisrael said naaseh v'nishma, they came and they expressed Ahavas Hashem, Ahavas HaTorah. Beirushah came down this chivus, this chivin, the bonei chivin, and shenitan lahem klei chemdah, that the Torah is a chemdah, nafshi chamdah b'tzel yadecha lodaas. It also came birushah.

It's inherently with the Torah and the kabbalah of the Torah. I want to tell you over, Rabbeisa, a ma'aseh dike zach for the yeshiva, Rabbi Meir, zecher tzaddik livrachah. The vort is simple, but if you listen closely, it speaks volumes of how a gadol b'Yisrael viewed a shtickele Gemara, Rashi, a Tosafos, hafla vefela. The pasuk says, Tzoror tzivor lanu Moshe, morashah kehilas Yaakov. What's morashah? Yerushah. The Gemara says, me'orasah, erusin, same word, erusin. Morashah, pashut means yerushah. Rosh yeshiva zatzal said, mashal למה הדבר דומה? Why it's called a yerushah. Shtel zach far a kallah krikt lichter the day of her wedding. She's ecstatic, meiredik, her leichter, excited, she goes to pick it up, meiredik, ah. Sagt the Rosh Yeshiva, what happens if these leichters are not just bought in the store and she goes to pick them up from the store, but these leichters are the babby's leichters, that her babby got it from her babby. Chivivus, the love, how they're cherished, because it's not just from today the leichter from the store that was... it's from ir babby's leichters. Half a fella, half a fella. Beautiful. So, the Roshiva, that's the pshat: Torah tzivah lanu Moshe, morashah kehilas Yaakov. Yeder Yid. He looks at the Gemara and he says, ... he does my zeides a Tosafos. And this was his zeides' Tosafos, and his zeides' Tosafos. Yeah, half, half a fella. Beis, do you know how much mesiras nefesh, how much our zeides went into the fire? Kiddush Hashem for these Tosafos, for this blatt Gemara. Understand what a blatt Gemara is? That's what the Roshiva was farteitching. It's a vort, it's so simple, and it's so deep, and it speaks volumes. Love, the chavivus, chavivus, chavivus. The klei chemdah, the jewels, the crown jewels. You know, I always think to myself, my beis, I give you, if you don't mind, another minute, Shavuos, another minute. You know the rishus l'chosen Torah that we say on Simchas Torah? It's very interesting. What do we say? We say, Rishus, mekach rishus from the Ribbono Shel Olam, yeah? Mikar mizahav u'mipeninim, we ask from the Torah, which is the diamonds. And what do we say about Torah? Shenesenes chayim v'osher v'chavod v'sifarah. Nu, my beis, I ever pay attention, by that time the olam was azoi tumult. Far trunken, far kiddush, veys men gedenkt vos men zogt. To me, this is the highlight of Simchas Torah. To me, the highlight is this. Wait to listen to it. With open ears. ... Hakel hagadol hagibor. ... mipnimiyim yakar, the diamond, the Torah. That one is Torah, ... chayim v'osher. Really? Okay, let's take a look around the real bnei Torah, vos zיצן ... avodah, ... they have no money. What kind of osher does the Torah give? Bishlam, mechayei, chayim hi l'machazikim bah. But osher? Good Rebbe. Rebbe was zocheh l'shtei shulchanos. How many people are zocheh to ashirus in Torah? Who? Who's zocheh to ashirus? ... So, ... osher gives osher. The ... Rabbeisai is, vos is osher? What's called rich? A tatte, a talmud gevust, mayn kinder bin in Torah. That was to him. You know, there's a Gemara, Daf nun. The Gemara, Daf nun in Kesubos says on the pasuk, Hayu va'osher b'veiso. It's a pasuk in Tehillim. Hayu va'osher b'veiso, v'tzidkaso omedes l'ad. Hayu va'osher is rich.

His home, b'tzidkaso, his acts of righteous deeds, of tzedkus, is a medes lo'at. Someone asks you to translate the pasuk. How would you translate this pasuk? A man is rich, so he can do chesed. B'tzidkaso, his acts of chesed, yeah? Zogt the Gemara, Kesubos daf nun-tzvei amud aleph: Eina, zogt, the pshat is, zeh ha-kosev Torah Neviim u'Kesuvim. And the other man d'amar says out, loi miteira melamdo. Hoin va'osher b'veiso? B'tzidkaso, omedes lo'at. What does it mean? What's pshat? How do you translate? Rabosai, not the Gemara. I'm a פירוש of Gemara, Kesubos daf nun. I'm a פירוש of Gemara. Hoin va'osher should be riches. B'tzidkaso, acts of chesed, of tzedkus. The teretz, rabosai, is, geshmak, yeah. Hoin va'osher—what's really hoin va'osher? And the teretz is, ha-loi meiTorah u'melamdo. And if he understands that that's his home, it's not his house, and it's not his furniture, and it's not his wife's diamonds that she wears. That's not it. Hoin va'osher b'veiso. Vos is ba'emes shtub? Consider in our shiurus. What's the hashirus by him in his house? Torah u'melamdo. And if it's that, b'tzidkaso omedes lo'at. The heart of Hashem, Elokecha, as divrei seiroscha b'finu, u'vefi ... v'nihyeh anachnu, v'zetza'einu, v'zetza'a kolanu, yodei shmecha, v'loimdei Torasecha lishmah. Because then the children have it. Vetzit kasa yoymedes load. If the child sees, az by the tatte, still, this is it. Lern the Torah. This is the oysher. This is the prize. This is the prize. This is the yekar mipnimim upaz. These are the jewels, the jewels of every Yid. Bshaah she'amru naaseh vnishma, the Ribbono Shel Olam came down and gave them kesavim. What are the kesavim, Rabosai? Royalty. Diamonds. Diamonds. Kesavim. Riches. The melech is considered the richest of all. Malchus. Royalty. Royalty. Malchus. This, Rabosai, is all in the naaseh vnishma. Yeah. You really deserve a story now for listening to so much. You deserve a story, but I don't know if the oilam's ready to sit another few minutes, so I'm ready to stop. You see, I'm a smart soicher. You see what I do? I'm gonna leave it now to you to tell me if you want me to say the story. Huh? ... Anyone want to leave now? Huh? The oilam's staying, ... they want the story. Okay. You know why this vort from the Rosh Yeshiva zatzal, of the bobbe's leicht, means so much to me? People who hear it, No! It's a vort! No, no, no, no. Okay, okay. Many a Shabbos table I've sat... With my bubbie, aleha hashalom, Rebbetzin Valkin, tzadekes, yeah. And she told us over how she ran away from the Nazis in the Shavuos morning. Interesting, Shavuos morning. Maybe it was somehow there's some connection, Shavuos morning, איכלס, Shavuos morning. She was—her husband, Reb Shmuel Valkin, my zeide, was not there. He was in Vilna because of the war. She went back to her parents. Her father was a rav in Trab, a shtetl near Radin. Trab was a little dereful near Radin. Shavuos by night, the rosh hakol comes to knock on the door by the rav, the zeide, Trab Rav, Avraham Sacherov, that tomorrow they're coming to take away the daughter, my bubbie, with her three children, to Siberia. They're coming to take her away to Siberia, together with two other families. The brothers and family of that family lived with my grandparents here in America. They were very close all the years, al kol panim. My zeide, Trab Rav, went and hired a Polish driver, a horse and buggy, to take away the bubbie, fartogs, before they would come to take her away.

To sneak away before the day came. So he wakes up my grandmother, you know, early before dawn, and he says, My tayere, tachtere, must on kleifen. You have to run. They're coming to take you away to Siber, with the kinder, mit a pam mishpachas. All the families, I arranged that they should all run away. It was snowing. He took her to outskirts of the town, the derfel. He gave her his boots, put on her boots, and he told her that she should go, and that's probably going to be the last time they're going to see each other, im yirtzeh Hashem. My bubby told me that she begged her father to come with, to come with, because if they find that she left and he's there, the tzares they'll cause him, the beating that he'll get from this is—he should run with them. He said, No, he's not allowed to do that, because in case he goes, they're going to let it out on the people of the shtetl. Someone's going to pay for it. So he stayed. Didn't leave. Didn't leave. My bubby told me that she left that morning with three children. Two she held by the hand, and one she carried. On the other shoulder she carried the bubby's leichtes. And all the years, I always licked the cup, the bubby's leichtes. You hear? Hakaras, appreciation, the cherish of a bubby's aleichter, that that bubby gave it to her, that she got it from her bub. Okay? The bubby's leichtes. Teshuvah zatzal. A taisis was that. To him, the mashal v'nimshal was those bubbe's leichtes. That's how. That's how. But this is the real story I want to tell you. This is the story that brings out the entire nekudah that we spoke today. I was a bachur learning in the Mir many, many years ago. To the Mir, I would walk through Shchunat HaBucharim, the Beis Yisroel, to the Mir. One day I was walking, and an elderly Yid calls me, Yungerman, Yungerman, kum aher, I need help. At the time I didn't know who it was. An elder, looked like a chashuv Yid. Found later, as the story unrolls, you'll realize that it was Reb Yosef Kahan, zecher tzaddik livracha, av beis din of Yerushalayim, the son-in-law of Reb Tzvi Pesach Frank. He wrote all the Har Tzvi. He calls me into the house. He needed help to take his wife from the bed to the wheelchair. I helped him put her in a wheelchair. Reb Tzvi Pesach Frank's achter. He asked me my name. Tell him, Aaron Volkin. You need to come tomorrow to my shul, Harry Fischel, for Shacharis. Very important. What time are you davening? Six in the morning. Stami doesn't have a minyan. Stami needs a tenth guy for minyan. I davened in Sanhedria Murchevet. So I remember telling myself, say no. Learn to say. I couldn't say. I have a shvachkeit, I don't know how to say no to people. People ask me, I always say yes. It gets you into a lot of trouble. But kitzur, I said, say no. I said yes. I hear the way I'm saying yes, and I'm thinking to myself, What? I said yes. Five o'clock in the morning, I get up, I take the first bus from Sadher Buchavet to Harry Fischl Beis Medrash in Shunat HaBuchar. I come in there, there's eight yidden. I'm thinking, Knew it. It was about a minyan. Ay, why did I do this? Havas. Why couldn't I be strong and say no? It was not about a minyan. Reb Yosef Kahan, zecher tzaddik livracha, hadein Yerushalayim, comes in with his tallis and tefillin. He sees me, pulls me over to the mizrach, and he tells me, I want you to meet somebody. In the mizrach, someone is standing there. He's a professor in the college university of—what's it called in Eretz Yisrael? Huh? Hebrew University. He's a professor of Hebrew. Reb Yosef Kahan says, Aaron Valkin. I see his facial demeanor change completely, change completely. He was a person with a lot of stolz. I see he became moved. He says, Aaron Valkin. Aaron Valkin, rav sheli, my rav, from Pinsk. From Pinsk. He grew up in Pinsk.

He was zeide the Rav. I was the last person to see him. I was the last person to see him. What was the last person to see him? What? The zeide went into hiding six months before the Nazis came, because he knew that he'd be from the first ones to be shipped out. He was on the list of troublemakers already since the Soviets. He was sat in Soviet jails for speaking against communism. Al kol panim, to make the story quick, short, my ilmas to leave. The story is that after a few months of hiding, they came out with a gezeirah: the shuls have to be closed. No one's allowed to go to shul. When the zeide heard this, he went out of hiding. He hid his beard, put on a kasketel, and he went from house to house where there were bnei Torah, bachurim, with a petition that they should sign, guaranteeing, promising, that they would all come together to learn, to daven, even if it means al kiddush Hashem, even if it means that they have to give up their life for it. He was one of those bachurim, and the Rav knocks on the door, zeide, and he starts to plead with him that he should sign this petition, and he should be one of the ones who are going to join this movement of— says that his mother came and started to complain to him that he shouldn't do it. Don't do it. If they believed, if they would behave, it wouldn't make trouble. They wouldn't get into any, you know, don't rattle the boat. Bottom line is, he didn't want to sign. The zeide started to plead with him, Please, please, beg you. He began to cry. He says he was so moved by it, and that the tears went on the lapel of his jacket, that every time he learns and he davens, he still feels those tears. He signed, and he was there till the last day when they took away this whole shul, this whole minyan. The zeide was b'rosham. He was there. He was learning with them and davening with them. So a meirdike yesod: ahavas haTorah. When you see ahavas haTorah, a Yid automatically responds. Bachur, the chavera bachur, he told me he couldn't say no. At gezen how much it meant, and how much he was ready to be moser nefesh, the zeide, for this, that he had to join. Shvuos, a beisai. Try to picture all the years of naaseh v'nishma, was unzer taktes, was unzer zeidus, moser nefesh for this naaseh v'nishma, and it'll bring out that b'rov kulam b'dvor echad, together, everyone, they join together, naaseh v'nishma amru kechad. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.