Parshas Shekalim: The Heart Behind the Money and the Mishkan’s Testimony of Love

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This is Parshas Pekudei. This is also Parshas Shekalim. I'd like to share with the oilam an insight in Parshas Shekalim. Of course, the shekalim were used to do and build the Mishkan. It was used for the karbanos as well. This we all learned in Parshas Ki Sisa. Interesting, Parshas Pekudei repeats to detail every part of the binyan haMishkan and all the money and where it went to, and these are the pekudim. Pekudim is an account, an exact account of where all the money went and all the avodos that were done. Interestingly, we have a Rashi that stresses on a word of the beginning of this week's parsha, and that is Mishkan haEidus, eileh pekudei haMishkan, and we find a title for the Mishkan, and that is that it's Mishkan haEidus. Rashi says, why is it called Mishkan haEidus? Says Rashi, eidus is testimony. This was a testimony. Eidus l'Yisrael shevitel lahem HaKadosh Baruch Hu hamaaseh ha'egel. Sharei hishra Shechinaso beineihem. The fact that Rabbeinu Shleilam returned the Klal Yisroel to be mashreh Shechinah between them, amongst them, this was a raya, this was an eidus, a testimony, sheHaKadosh Baruch Hu viter. Interesting lashon, viter, on the maaseh haegel. The question is, why all of a sudden here do we have this remez, this point that the Rabbeinu Shleilam was mashreh the Shechinah, Mishkan ha'eidus, that it's a raya that the Rabbeinu Shleilam, an eidus l'Yisrael, that He was mashreh Shechinah, sheviter lahem al maaseh haegel. This is not the first time we mention the Mishkan. This is Mishkan we've been learning for the last few parshiyos. It's not even the time that the Mishkan is complete. That would be later on in the parsha. Here in the pekudim, when we give the account of every detail, here the Torah found the place to tell us Mishkan ha'eidus, that it's an eidus l'Yisrael, sheHaKadosh Baruch Hu viter lahem al maaseh haegel. L'choira, it should have been brought before, when the mention of the Mishkan, or at the end of the completion of the maaseh, of the building of the Mishkan. Why is it here in the pekudim as an introduction to the clear... Accounting of the Mishkan, of where the monies and the avodas were. Mishkan ha'eidus, sheviter lahem HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Here we have to know that this is Mishkan ha'eidus. There are many questions befrat on this Chazal. First of all, the word viter. Viter, viter usually means that the Ribono Shel Olam overlooked, mevater. You know, there's a famous Gemara in Gemara Bava Kamma, daf nun, where the Gemara says, whoever says HaKadosh Baruch Hu vatran, yivatru chayav. It's a tremendous bad thing to say, to say that the Ribono Shel Olam is a vatran, which means that He overlooks. Hashem doesn't overlook. The Ribono Shel Olam is Kel kana v'nokeim. There's a cheshbon, there's a din. Yes, there's rachamim b'din, correct, but a vatran, yivatru chayav. His life should be overlooked, not a good thing. And here Rashi uses these words to say that the Ribono Shel Olam is mevater, sheviter. The Ribono Shel Olam is mevater on the maaseh ha'egel. Another question that the mefarshim talk about: Ribono Shel Olam is mevater on the maaseh ha'egel?

That's not what we've been learning all over the place, all over the pesukim and the Chazal. The pasuk tells us clearly, Uvayom pakdi. It's a pasuk in Shemos, lamed beis, lamed beis: Uvayom pakdi ufakadti aleihem. Whenever I remember any sin, any problem, this goes into the account. There's a Rashi in Bamidbar yud tes. Rashi clearly says, lemishmeres. Rashi says clearly. We'll even read the Rashi, not to misquote it. Rashi says, lemishmeres. Pasuk tes says, Rashi, that they kept the efer haparah lemishmeres, kemo shepasha ha'egel shamur l'doros l'pera'oniyos, she'ein lecha pekudah she'ein ba mipekudas ha'egel, shene'emar, Uvayom pakdi ufakadti. So how could we say a Chazal, Rashi quoting a Chazal, sheviter להם HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that the Ribbono Shel Olam was mevater on the egel? Ribbono Shel Olam was בכלל not mevater on the egel. The Ribbono Shel Olam takes it into account and He remembers it, and we're still paying for the egel till today. So what does it mean, sheviter, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was mevater al ma'aseh ha'egel? The Sfas Emes has another kasha, a very famous question. We all know the pasuk, Hashochein itam b'soch tumosam. The pasuk says clearly that the Eibishter lives with us even amongst tumah. The Gemara in Yoma, daf nun vav amud beis, says clearly. Says the Gemara, Yuma, Hashoichin itam, afilu b'soch tumasam. Even when they sin, I don't take away my Shechinah from among them. I still live among them. So what's the raya? Eidus HaKadosh Baruch Hu viter? What's the raya for this statement? Possibly we're still b'tumasam. We're possibly still in the problem of the eigel, and yet, Ribono Shel Olam is shochen, He's mashrih Shechinaso, as it states in the Gemara, as it states in Chazal. So there are many questions that the mefarshim ask on this Rashi. What's pshat in Mishkan HaEidus, sheviter HaKadosh Baruch Hu al ma'aseh ha'eigel? What's viter? What does it mean that the Ribono Shel Olam gave up on the ma'aseh ha'eigel? He forgot about it? What are you talking about? ... The Ribono Shel Olam never forgets the ma'aseh ha'eigel. What does this Chazal mean? Now the truth is, this needs a lot of hesber. And over the years I've spoken about it, but we can spend a good hour just to answer these kashas, because the eigel is complicated. And what does it mean that the sin of the eigel is still till today is a shiur for itself? But I would just rather go back to the Rashi and say a pashut pshat in the Rashi, translating the words. It doesn't say mechilah. The Ribono Shel Olam was not mochel. It doesn't say that the Ribono Shel Olam was mochel. It's an interesting word, viter. Notice it doesn't even say the chet of the eigel. It says, ma'aseh ha'egel, sheviter HaKadosh Baruch Hu al ma'aseh ha'egel. The Rabbeinu Shloilam overlooked the ma'aseh of the egel. The chet ha'egel is Yom Pakdi Ufakadti, it shomer l'doros. We still till today have to correct what happened with the egel. But there was something in the ma'aseh haMishkan, the Mishkan ha'eidus, which showed that the Rabbeinu Sholam was mevater, vitur, vitur. And that's why Rashi, quoting Chazal, are specific in the language. It's viter on the ma'aseh of the egel. What does it mean that he was viter on the ma'aseh of the egel? What does it mean? No, rabboisai, the ma'aseh egel had in it many different issues. Besides for the issue of the avodah zarah shebo, there was avodah zarah. There was a lack of listening to the tzivui of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. There was a meridah against Moshe. There were many different issues in the ma'aseh egel, and like I said, to go into the ma'aseh egel would take much more than the time allotted in this shiur. But there's a part of the egel.

Which is that the Rabbeinu Shleilam said, I gave you the kesef v'zahav. I gave you gold. I gave you riches. I gave you money. And this is what you do with the money? As a matter of fact, Moshe Rabbeinu turned it around. We all know that Moshe Rabbeinu told us to the Rabbeinu Shleilam, Di zahav. The fact that you gave them so much money, that itself was the root of the eigel. In Parshas Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu was mefa'er all the chata'im that Klal Yisrael did in the midbar. Beremizah, di zahav. Di zahav, that you gave them too much money. So what exactly is the mussar? If it's di zahav, I mean, if it's only meant to be melamed zechus on Klal Yisrael, di zahav, so then what was the remez, the mussar that he gives Klal Yisrael? And the answer is, a todas gufe. If the Rabbeinu Shleilam gives you money, and the Rabbeinu Shleilam pours on you shefa, bracha, and hatzlacha, this is what you do with it. This is how you pay back the Rabbeinu Shleilam with the kesef v'zahav that was given to you. Di zahav, yes. Moshe Rabbeinu, like the Kedushas Levi, knew how to turn everything that it should be for Klal Yisrael's sanegoria, that it's supposed to be for the defense of Klal Yisrael. But avada it was meant also, b'me'or d'idan, di zahav. A todas, tostum with the Rabbeinu Shleilam's gelt. This is di zahav. This is what it... You got so much. This is how you pay back the Rabbeinu Shloilam. I now start to understand the answer to the question. I asked you, why is Mishkan haEidus, eidus that the Rabbeinu Shloilam was viter? Why is it here? Why is it in the Pekudim, when we give the account, when we go through the exact numbers of the money that was given and where it was given to and for, does it become Mishkan haEidus? And the answer is, sheviter lahem HaKadosh Baruch Hu al maaseh haegel. There's a chet haegel, and there's plenty into the egel that we still till today have to correct. But the maaseh haegel was a kfiyas hatov against the Rabbeinu Shloilam. Here the Rabbeinu Shloilam sees in the maaseh haMishkan that Klal Yisrael is capable of using the money and giving and doing, to do the right things with the money. So viter, the Rabbeinu Shloilam said, I'm going to be mevater. Viter can't be on a chet. It can't be such a thing on a chet. The word viter: shekol she'omer HaKadosh Baruch Hu, vatran, yevateru chayav. But on a kfiyas hatov, on an attribute that Klal Yisrael shows to the Rabbeinu Shloilam in the egel, so the Rabbeinu Shloilam says, I'm going to overlook that because I now see. What the Yid is really. What is the Yid? The Yid is not a kafui toiv. The Yid is a makir toiv. Yid, when he's giving money, he puts his money where the Rabbeinu Shloilam's kavod is. He comes, he does, he gives, he brings. He asks me, where I get this from? It's in the פירוש Rashi, I say. You just have to open sometimes your eyes and read every word in a Rashi. And sometimes the Rashi is nisht af an ort; it's somewhere else. There's a Rashi in Vayikra, perek tes, pasuk chav-gimmel. Pasuk chav-beis, on Shulik. Vayeiso Aharon es yado el ha'am, vayevorachem, vayered me'asos hachatos veha'olah vehashlamim. Oh, it's taka chav-gimmel. Vayavo Moshe v'Aharon el ohel moed, vayeitzu vayevorchu es ha'am. Gave them a bracha. What was the bracha? So Rashi says, Amru, Vihi noam Hashem Elokeinu...

Eloheinu, yehi ratzon shetishreh Shechinah maaseh yedeichem. That was the bracha. Fishekol zayin yemei ha-miluim shehemidu Moshe laMishkan v'shimshim bo b'chol yom, lo sharsah bo Shechinah, v'hayu Yisrael nichlamim v'omrim l'Moshe. They were afraid there was no hashraas haShechinah in the zayin yemei ha-miluim. And they told Moshe Rabbeinu, Kol hatorach shetarachnu shetishreh Shechinah beineinu, v'neida sheniskaper lanu avon ha'egel. All the tircha that we put in. We put a lot of work into this Mishkan. And you know why we put this work into the Mishkan? Oh, we wanted hashraas haShechinah after the maaseh egel. We knew we lost something special. We knew we lost hashraas haShechinah. So tarachnu. We were matriach ourselves. It wasn't an easy thing to build the Mishkan. It took lots of work. It took lots of open hearts, of giving, of nedavah. Zogt Klal Yisrael, Moshe, we have a problem. We put so much work and yet there's no hashraas haShechinah. And what is bothering us? Avon ha'egel. See, Rabosai, that's what the pshat is. Mishkan ha'eidus. The eidus is l'Yisrael sheniskaperu with hashraas haShechinah, dafka in the pekudim, in the details. How much money was given and how much work was put in. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying, Yes, I saw all that tircha. Yes, I accept the fact that you were so much involved and put so much work and effort and money into building a Mishkan. The melech's Mishkan haedus here in Eilah Pekudim, and we give the exact account of all the money and all the work and how, to the detail, everything went perfect, exactly to do the ratzon Hashem, tzivah Hashem es Moshe, the repetition in the parsha so clear, ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe. So Eilah Pekudim, because here the Ribono Shel Olam is being makir tov on the tircha of Klal Yisrael. See, the Ribono Shel Olam repeats over again and over again in the detail of what they did, and I've told you many times, it's to bring out the ma'alah of Klal Yisrael, and it's also how the Ribono Shel Olam looks at Klal Yisrael. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying, I didn't just wake up one morning and there was a Mishkan. Look how much work went into it, and I recognize that as well. You know, rabosai, over the years, as a Rosh Yeshiva, in Gelait, kollel in Gelait that learned by me, there's always sholom bayis issues that come to the door of a rav or a Rosh Yeshiva. One such issue is an interesting case. Husband and wife came. Look what he bought me. She comes and she shows a beautiful diamond ring. Those days, I didn't even know they made such rings, you know. I didn't even realize they have such a thing. To me, it looked like a structure for itself, a ganze. Okay. So I said, So what's the shalom bayis problem? It sounds, a levayah... What was the issue? So he turns around and he says, I don't know. I bought her this beautiful gift, and she's still not happy, and I'm angry about it. I put so much money into it. So I asked, I said, So what's bothering you? He says, Did he tell you how he bought the diamond? He went over to one of his friends in shul and he said, Listen, the anniversary is coming up. Do me a favor, pick out a diamond, all right? Whatever you think is nice, okay? And just send me the bill in the mail and I'll take care of it, okay? And he looks at me. So what's wrong? What's the problem? So she turns around, she says, You think I want the diamond?

By my own diamond. Did you put any effort into it? Did you put any thought into it? Did you try to think that maybe it's more important for me how much work was put into it, and how much thought was put into it, and how much heart was put into it? Shiks yenim keifin v'kveza. What does the diamond tell me? That what? That you're rich? Okay. I know you're rich. I got it. I learned a tremendous lesson from this. Of course, it's a simple lesson. It doesn't take much chochmah to see the lesson in it. And that is, it's not always the money that you give. It's how you give the money. It's what's behind the money. It's what's behind the gift. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying, I don't want to just say, Oh, there's a Mishkan. I'm going to chazer over again and over again and over again every penny that was given and how much work was put into it over again and over again. And this becomes l'doiros, l'doiros. What is the Mishkan? And the Mishkan is not the final bayis, but the work that was put into it. I want to tell you a chiddush, rabboisai. Klal Yisrael did not put up the Mishkan. It's not true. When people, especially children, come home from yeshiva, they're going to say, Tzahal built the Mishkan. Klal Yisrael built the Mishkan. It's not true. It's not true. Actually, the Eibishter built the Mishkan. It's mefurash in Rashi, it's mefurash in Chazal, that Moshe Rabbeinu could not put up the Mishkan. I guess, contracting-wise, I guess according to the laws of physics, it just couldn't stand. So the Ribono Shel Olam said, Make as if you're going to put up the Mishkan. I'll put up the Mishkan. I'll take care of it. Yom hukam, it became by itself. Beyom hukam haMishkan, Chazal say, ... the Ribono Shel Olam built it. What's the pshat? This bracha, ... shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'aseh yadecha. I didn't ask you to build me a Mishkan. I asked you to put the work into it. That's what I wanted. Bo'in v'lichtos alichken alein. The Ribono Shel Olam needs you to build a Mishkan? No. The Ribono Shel Olam wants you to put the work and the lev and the nefesh that goes into building the Mishkan. V'ta das build, the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam owns the whole world. It's all His. Hakol shelo, it's all belonging to Him. So vos zucht er fun undz? When we daven to the Eibishter, what are we doing? The meforshim talk about it. The ... the Eibishter needs your tefillos? The Ribono Shel Olam's a lot bigger than that. The Ribono Shel Olam will deal. He wants you. He doesn't need the final product. Dos ken er alein ton. Er vil dir. He wants you. There's a ... bnei Yissaschar, parshas Vayakhel. The pasuk says, Vayomer Moshe el kol adas Bnei Yisrael, in the beginning of the parsha, Zeh hadavar asher tzivah Hashem leimor, Kechu me'itchem terumah laHashem. Kol nediv libo yevieha es trumas Hashem. Fragt the Bnei Yissaschar, pashte kashe. It's almost repetitious, the pasuk. Chumi itchem, take the truma, and then it says, Kol nediv libo yevieha. Okay, truma laShem, that's it. Bring it. I mean, where else? What else should you do with it? Okay, chumi itchem, take. Nemes vos nachamol yevieha, vos bring in trumas Hashem. Okay, we understand we're talking about trumas Hashem. Zogt the Bnei Yissaschar a gevaldik: the truma wasn't only the money. The yevieha was also the truma. The Ribbono Shel Olam wanted truma, zol gebn, un es zol zayn mamon, dayn gelt, un es zol zayn dayn arbet, avodah. You got to put work into it too, yevieha. It wasn't only truma laShem separating the truma. The Ribbono Shel Olam wanted, you know, a lot of people today, they'll send you a—speak to my secretary, she'll send you out a check.

Say again, you know, you know the way of the world today, right? My people speak to your people, and email in our ... right? Why? Don't bother me. Don't bother me. You know, there's a very famous line that they say: Call me what you want, just don't call me at home. ... that's a famous—anybody that has a business, they know that line. Call me what you want, and after minutes, just don't call me at home, especially not during supper, okay? ... what did you—yeah, ... And I think, ... this is a good introduction to understand the parshas Shekalim. What is the parshas Shekalim? What is shekalim? ... shekalim, shekalim, and then you see that we were saving the time of Haman. We were saved because of the shekalim. ... that the shekalim of Haman was ready to destroy us, and the shekalim that we gave in the time of the Mikdash, that saved us. What is shekalim already? It's a machatzis shekel, not half a maiseh, it's half a shekel at the end of the day. What's a shekel? I'll tell you a good joke. I see that the oilam is ready to leave. I'll tell you a good joke, okay? Maybe this will keep the oilam interested. My father told it to me, so I guess it's mitoich ha'av. My father came to my house to visit my son, and he tells me that there were two people who were counterfeiting. One person counterfeited dollars, and the other person counterfeited shekalim. Pashtn getan, that the one who counterfeited dollars, they put him into jail. And the one that counterfeited the shekalim, they put him into mental institution. If you're counterfeiting already machatzis shekel, vos m'schafen zinen? Vos iz shein vert dem shekel? So there's something wrong with you. Why am I saying this, vitz? You know, Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't understand the whole shekel. Chazal even say this. Chazal say that he turned around to the Ribono Shel Olam. Now people think he didn't understand the half a dollar, the this, what doesn't—but Moshe didn't understand. So if you look at the mekor, where Rashi brings this Chazal, Hera loi matbea shel eish. In the psikta is the mekor, the Psikta Rabbasi, perek tezayin, ches. There it says that Moshe couldn't understand that. That's called koifer nefesh. Moshe couldn't understand mit a halbe shekel, vos, vos? It's called koifer nefesh, dos iz koifer nefesh. Moshe couldn't understand, vos iz der halbe shekel, vos iz? Vos kutsa chopta. So if you look at Chazal, Chazal say, Rashi quotes it, Hera loi matbea shel eish. What's the matbea shel eish? In Alech Siddur Shesfarim, in different Sefardian and other siddurim, speaks beriches about the eish is the fire, the brand. It's not the dollar bill. It's the eish that goes behind. It's the nefesh, it's the lev, it's how much heart you put into it, how much fire you put into it. You know, a person can give a dollar. Hey, get the guy, get rid of the guy. Then you give a dollar, you tell the guy, listen, I wish you chizuk and a bracha and hatzlacha. So the dollar becomes a vehicle, rabosai, to do unbelievable chasadim besides the dollar. Give you a chance to mechazek a Yid and give him a bracha. Az eifel zachin can—there's so much you could do with that dollar. Harei lo matbea shaleish. You know, Rashi doesn't quote the whole Chazal. I don't know why. Rashi just says, matbea shaleish. Where does the matbea shaleish come from? The Ribbono Shel Olam, he has a bankruptcy? Where is the matbea shaleish? So the same pasuk that says, Mitachas l'kis... mikis Yaakov, this—Eibishter has, what, a treasure chest of shekalim under his kis Yaakov? What does it mean? What does it mean, tachas kis Yaakov? The teretz, rabosai, is many of the sefarim speak about it. The nefashos of Klal Yisrael are found underneath the kis Yaakov. Nefesh Yisrael comes from under the kis Yaakov. It's in all the sefarim, going all the way back to the...

Sifrei Kabbalah, the Rabbeinu Shalom was showing, matbea shel eish. Shekalim of yid is a lot different than just the dollar bill. It's matbea shel eish. There's a nefesh. It's how much they put into it, the nefashos of Klal Yisroel. That's kofer nefesh. That's what the Chazal mean. It's really the nefesh talking. You know, it's interesting, money — Chazal have an interesting name. It's called damim. Chazal say, Damim tarti mashma. It's good. Damim is blood and damim is money. What does it mean? What are Chazal trying to say? Chazal are trying to say that there's a whole idea of mamon, and when the Ribono Shel Olam gives money, it could be the dam, it could be the nefesh ha'adam. It's another way of giving for zech. You know, when a person wants to fast and he can't fast, in places where you're supposed to, chas v'shalom, if a sefer Torah falls, tefillin, they say, You're poideh it with money. And the cheshbon that the poideh comes say is this cheshbon, because this represents the person, damim, his life, his money by Klal Yisroel should be understood, its purpose, that it's always matbea shel eish, and it's mitachas Kisei HaKavod. I would like to end with the following. There's an interesting noitzrus for Parshas Shekalim, and the stanza... Of the Musaf parshas Shekalim, the Yotzros is all the same. Or panecha aleinu Adon nisa. Or panecha. V'shekel esa babayis nachon v'nisa. And this is the, consider the stanza of how the Yotzros end. Or panecha, the light of Your face. Adon nisa. Lift up. Shekel esa, and I will lift up the shekel, babayis nachon v'nisa. What does it mean? And of course, the Yotzros have many meanings. There's a lot of deep things in there. So I saw a vort from Reb Shila Belzer. He says, Or panecha means that the Ribbono Shel Olam is nosei panim l'Klal Yisrael. Don't forget after the eigel. And again, he doesn't say it with the arichus and the way I'm going to explain it, but more or less this is what he means. Don't forget the Ribbono Shel Olam officially turned away His face by the eigel. He asked the Eibishter, Or panecha tishuv shechinah. That's what it means. Or panecha aleinu, on us, bimasher the Shechinah. The shekalim reversed the fact that the Ribbono Shel Olam took away the nesias panim from us. It reversed it. I want to show you something interesting that I believe it's in the meforshim there. The Medrash says in Parshas Haazinu, it's a Tanchuma, Medrash says that there's a problem in one place. The Ribbono Shel Olam says, Lo yisa panim. Rabbeinu Sholam is not nosei panim, l'yikach shochad. But then it says that the Rabbeinu Sholam is nosei panim to Klal Yisroel. So which one is it? Are you nosei or you're not nosei? Do you show favoritism, so to speak? Are you nosei panim, which is vitur, Rabosai, going back to the original Rashi, vitur? Are you mevater or you're not mevater? So the Medrash says, k'sha'osim teshuvah, when you do teshuvah, then I'm nosei panim. Interesting. So then that's called nosei panim. So then what's lo yisa panim, when you didn't do teshuvah? Says the Medrash, and I'll show you in what case I was nosei panim: hashra'as haShechinah in the Mikdash. That's called nosei panim. That means that the Eibishter overlooked; He was nosei panim. If I may use the word, He took shochad. But it wasn't shochad for money, Rabosai. It was Yiddishe shochad, from Yiddishe gelt. When He saw of us the Yid tefaklaf of the Rabbeinu Sholelam in His money, that shochad the Rabbeinu Sholelam takes. Teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah ma'avirin es roa gezeirah, that's shochad, yes. Yisa panim. The Eibishter is nosei panim. The Eibishter...

He cuts the corners, so to speak. Where do we see? We see it in the Mishkan. Viter. That's this Chazal, that the Ribono Shel Olam mevater because of the shekalim, and that's what it means: Or panecha aleinu Adon nisa, shekel esa. I believe that's what it means, when I lift up the shekel. You know, I'll end with one more story, and I'll bring out the point I'm trying to bring out. This is from the Ben Ish Chai, a mashal. I've said it here before, so those that have heard it, fine. The Ben Ish Chai brings an interesting mashal on how people live in a world of sheker when it comes to money. He says, it's interesting, and he gives us a mashal, a story. He says there was once a din Torah between two, and the one that was losing saw that he has no chances of winning the din Torah. So he has a private one-on-one with the Dayan, and he tells him, maybe is there any way how we could somehow figure out... So the Dayan says, listen, I'll tell you the emes. I have a house full of children. I got to make chasunas, and I'll tell you what, listen to me carefully. The day of the psak halacha, you'll take a check or whatever it is, you know, today's credit card, whatever it is, and you'll put it into the envelope, and you show me the envelope, you know, and I'll already figure out a way how we could swing it your way. Says the Ben Ish Chai, hahi hayom, the day of the psak halacha. So that's what the guy did. Takes the envelope, and to the shock of everyone, he paskened that this guy's right and this guy was wrong. And everybody's thinking, how could there be such a thing? It was so clear, it was obvious that the person was wrong, and the other guy was right. Nobody understood what happened. As they're saying goodbye to the dayanim, you know, they're passing by, the guy takes out the envelope and he slips it to the dayan. The dayan puts it in his pocket, and everybody leaves. This guy who lost felt terrible. He didn't understand why he lost, but this guy knew. One-one, he knew. The dayan goes into his private chambers, and he's all excited. He opens up the envelope, and guess what's inside? Nothing. So he begins to scream, Azoi luma sheker, oy vey, gib a kuk di oylam hasheker, vos tut zikh op. Here, aveisai, money is—it'd be all about a whole olam hasheker. There's a whole world that revolves around an olam hasheker. Then there's a mishpat that revolves around Yiddishe gelt, shiklei Yisrael, when it's nisa, when it's elevated, when you do something proper with your money. And with this I will end with the following. You know, rabosai, I believe strongly that a person lives at a tekufa, that he's supposed to live at that tekufa because the events of that tekufa... are meant for him and his neshama, for whatever, in Olam Haneshamos, a tikkun for him. It's for him to grow. He needs to experience and see those things that are through his lifetime. There was an interesting event that took place last week, last Shabbos. I know my son came to tell me about it. He probably knows maybe even the details a little more. But my son came and told me that there was a flight supposed to land in JFK, and because of the fog—I guess it was Erev Shabbos last week, the fog—they landed in Syracuse. But they couldn't get off the plane. Customs, again, some ma'aseh. So everybody, Yidden on the plane, all waited on the plane. And then the plane flew on Shabbos to JFK. The Yidden were all prepared for them. All types of Yidden from all different communities. Arrangements were made, hotel rooms, food for Shabbos. I shouldn't be telling you chiddush; I'm sure you listened to the news. I heard this was in the news. You hear, rabosai.

In JFK, Eden, we're waiting, waiting, with food. You know what it is to rent a motel in JFK? Does anybody know the price? Does anybody have any idea how much money goes into it? That's b'shekel essa, bayis nachon v'nisach. Take lessons, rabosai. When gelt is rain, when gelt is toyredik, biful harts, hayidleik darayn in zayn gelt, then the gelt becomes an osh tishru Shechina, maaseh yadecha. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.