Pesel Micha: The Limits of Religious Error and the Saving Power of Hachnasas Orchim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Today, b'ezras Hashem, we're going to talk about a topic which is difficult, controversial, one of the most difficult sugyas in Tanach, and that is Pesel Micha. As the pesukim tell us, that Micha was from Har Efraim, perek yud-zayin, pasuk aleph, perek yud-zayin, pasuk aleph. But his name actually was not Micha. His real name was Michohu. So it states in pasuk, Va'ish mehar Efraim, u'shmo Michohu. His name is not Micha; his name is Micho. The pasuk continues to call him that till about pasuk hei. His name is Micho. But who is this Micho? So he's from Har Efraim, and it's a story where, he admits, he stole money from his mother, and now he's returning the money. Vatomer imo, Baruch bni laShem. Ah, give berachos to zei, my tayere zisse yingele. You helped my maaseh, Baruch Hashem. Now today, you tell if a person has yiras Shamayim, the way he responds to things. Baruch Hashem, uchasdei Hashem. Now, I'm not telling you it's siman muvhak. Some people say that, and it's just talk. But it's definitely a shtikel raya or remez that this person is thinking about the Eibishter, sheyei shem Shamayim shogur b'fiv. And that's how the mother responds: Vateimer, zeh karach beni laHashem. And why do I point this out? Because they're going to make a pesel in the next pasuk, which is going to have to give us a question. Afrume mameh, Baruch Hashem, dankt dem Ribono Shel Olam, and for that she goes and makes a pesel. Something is missing over here. Let's read the next pasuk. Vayoshev es elef u'mea kesef l'imi. Vateimer imi, hakdesh hikdashti es hakesef laHashem miyadi libni. So it says clearly she was makdish it to who? The Ribono Shel Olam. La'asos pesel u'maseichah. Did I miss something in the pasuk? She's makdish it. Could you imagine? A mensch is makdish gelt for the Ribono Shel Olam, machin a church. Makdish for the Ribono Shel Olam. The pasuk says, Hakdesh hikdashti. I was makdish the money. Give me... I'll make a bracha. So she's makdish the money, here. Laseis pesel u'maseichah. A pesel? I have a pasuk, l'sas l'cha pesel. ... mitanish, mechakeh pesel. So, makdish to Hashem to make a pesel. He's giving money for Jews, for dvayoshke. Teirah, the teirah zugt doch, mitaldich nisht, and she's being makdish the money laShem. So how did it become pesel u'maseichah? V'atashivenu loch, b'kitzur. Vayoshev es hakesef l'imo, and the mother went, and she took it to a tzoref, pasuk daled, a crafts- a blacksmith, vaya'aseihu pesel u'maseichah, vayimach taka pesel u'maseichah. Vayehi b'veis Michah, and he's still called Michah over here, okay? Then the pasuk zugt, v'ish Michah loi beis elokim. Now, he also turned into Michah. Is he Michah, or is it Michah? Now we know that when you get heimish to mensh, you start, you know, giving him a short version, Elyahu over, Elya. That's what's going on in the pasuk, Michah over, Michah. Doesn't sound right. L'choirah, we, when we talk to our friends, can call our friend Dov, we can call him Ela instead of Eliyahu. But the pasuk...

If he calls him Micho till here, what's the pshat that he starts to be called Micha? Also, it says he had a beis elohim. What is beis elohim? What does that mean? He had a shtiebel? He had a shul? What, vos het he got a beis elohim? We're going to learn a great deal, a great discussion about this beis elohim. Pashtus, before we get into the Rishonim and Acharonim on the inyan, this was alternative religion. It was an alternative to the Beis HaMikdash. Instead of having to go to the Beis HaMikdash, you went to this beis elohim, to the point that he duplicated. A replica of everything in the Mikdash was in his house. He made, like it says in the pasuk, Vayaas eifod u'terafim. He made all the bigdei kohen he made. As a matter of fact, Vayemalei es yad echad mibanav. He made a kohen gadol. Alternative religion. In case you can't make it to the Beis HaMikdash, so you can go to the local beis elohim on your block, and over there you'll find what you need in religion. Tut zich op. What's going on over here? You know, I have friends that are called Micho. Plenty of friends. Some of you also have somebody that you know is called Micho. Is Micha a tzaddik? Is Micha—who is Micha? Is Micha a baal oveid avodah zarah? Was he a rasha? The pasuk seems to say— Then he went, he made a pasul l'maaseh, and he had a beis elohim. So who is Micha? HaTzadik o dacha rasha? Rabbeisai, the Malbim tells me, and I'll be very accurate in his words when I repeat them, techilah haya tzaddik, u'levsof avodah zarah. Doesn't call him a rasha, but he says that, l'vasof, in the beginning he was a tzaddik. Zogt der Malbim, that's the change in the name. Why? Micha, he's called Micha. Notice that it says, u'shmo Micha. There are two ways of saying a person's name in lashon hakodesh: his name is Micha, or Micha is his name. By tzaddikim it says his name is. By reshaim it says, the name is his name. Naval Shmoi, for example. Naval, and then Shmoi. This is not the Malbim; it's a Gemara. It's actually a Chazal. But whenever it says u'shmoi, the person, tzaddik. If it says the name and then it says that that's shmoi, then he's a rasha. Says the Malbim, u'shmoi Michao as a tzaddik at this point, and that's why he's called Micha who. Then he became an anderer man. Yeah. I know people that in Europe, Reisa, Reisa Choshli Elchin, then when they came to America, they had to change their name, you know, because what are you gonna have a name like Chaim David Belkovich? So they turn to Bernie. You want to burn it? You know, ... So this is really what's happening here. Now the Malbim doesn't go to explain the vav, micha, michahu. All he says is the change of name, that in the beginning he was a tzaddik, here, he was a tzaddik, here, and then afterwards he became an oveid avodah zarah. So that's why we have Micha, who, that turns into Micha. Everyone's looking at me, maybe you're looking for a maiseh and stuff. I'll tell you a maiseh. ... Rabbi, thanks for ... The Rebbe looked at him, I don't know why, I couldn't recognize him. He says, Rebbe, ... we learned together in yeshiva. Who? Leizer. Thanks, Leizer, with the Leizer, you had a Leizer. Whoa, Leizer. How do you expect me to remember you? Before the ... you had payos ... but you looked like a poshute, don't remember you. So he says, Okay, so tell me. He says, Today my name is Lazar. His name is not Leizer anymore. He changed from Leizer to Lazar.

Lazer's too. Sounds too Jewish, you know? I see, goes, this doctor Lazar. The Satmar Rav looks at him, he goes, Now I get it, huh? The guy moved to Eretz Yisrael, yeah? He says, Al ze ne'emar, uva l'Tzion goel. You know what goel in Yiddish is? An oyslezer. A redeemer in Hebrew is an oyslezer. So he goes, Eretz Yisrael, ah, iz a gevarn a goel, a oysleizer, and he became Lazar. He became a different man. I don't know yet. Maybe as the shiurim will continue on the topic, we'll get to know the difference between Micha, who, and Micha without the vav. But there's a change, and the change is in the person. First he was Michahu, and then he became oysMicha. He became Micha. And this Micha was an eved avodah zarah. Ooh, Pesel Micha was an avodah zarah? Let's talk about that. There's a peladike Medrash Rabbah. Pela. Where does he come from? So actually, he comes from Dan. He was living in Har Efraim, but he was from Dan. The pasuk tells us by Dan, Goyim u'kehal goyim mincha yetzei. What is goyim and kehal goyim? What is the difference? Remember the pasuk, Goyim u'kehal goyim mimcha yetzei. Zogt the Medrash Rabbah, there'll come a time that you'll behave just like a goy. Goyim. U'kehal goyim. There'll be mamish like, like, like a kehal goyim. When? Eventually they'll be makriv korbanos on a bamah b'shaas issur bamah. When the time will be that you can't be makriv, they'll continue to be makriv on a bamah. Zogt der Yefei Toar on the bottom of this Medrash, it's in Parshas Vayishlach, Parshas Pei-Beis, that this is referring to the time of Micho. They continued to be makriv on a bamah. So the avodah zarah here is, mamash avodah zarah, chas v'shalom, chas v'shalom, Micho. Nein, chas v'shalom, avodah zarah. Yashke. Chas v'shalom. The mamatach geven a gute Yiddishe mameh, Hashem, ... ad eibishter, the eibishter. He made a big mistake. As a matter of fact, he wants to say a chiddush that the mistake came from the pasuk there, that they were doresh the pasuk. It says clearly that you can be makriv on a bamah, and the truth is there's going to be a time, v'loyo bahar haKarmel, is really what it's referring to. But they made the mistake thinking that they have a heter, and it was referring to them not as an episode that will be in the future, but a heter that they're allowed to do this. They learned the Yefei Toar in the bottom of the Medrash. So their mistake was hakravah b'bamah, Beis HaMikdash, Shiloh. Why don't you go to the makom? So therefore, once you have the mizbeach, you don't have bamah. They continued, and this was the beis of Micho. It was a bamah. Yetzer, he just undermined and minimized avodah zarah. It's a to'us; they made a big mistake. Eyes of the yefei toar. So then what's the pesel u'maseichah? That doesn't sound right. It sounds like a cross to me, right? V'kumta pesel u'maseichah. So they did it l'shem... No, it was a symbol, blah, blah, blah. We're gonna get to it. You don't think I came with Moshe Rabbeinu prepared? We're gonna get to it. You hear the... vaz vil ich do? Vil farteitchen first the story, then we can go deeper. Michah, was he a baal aveirah of avodah zarah? It's definitely the Malbim is telling us there was a change in character. He started off as a Michah, and he ended up as a Michah. That's the Malbim. It says clearly that they made a pesel u'maseichah. Targum says clearly, no, make a pesel u'maseichah. Yeah, but it says he made it, basically him he made, and he took an eifod and a choshen and a Kohen Gadol. Alternative religion to the Beis HaMikdash. So is that avodah zarah? What happened? So the yefei toar says clearly they made a mistake, and it's interesting, he makes it that the mistake was in the pasuk for character.

They thought they're supposed to do it. V'kir goyim u'kehal goyim mimcha yeitzeiu was a tzivui, a hora'ah to them that they should do it. ... Yeah? Interesting, the same mechaber of the Yefe Toar wrote a peirush on the Yerushalmi called Yefe Mareh. And the Gemaras in Chelek about Moshiach, which we'll get to later, he fataches pesel Micha a little differently. And the Rambag learns like this as well. It had to do with asidus, magid asidus, astrology. It was supposed to be something that was going to give them some kind of understanding of the future. Now, I'm not an astrologist, nor do I know much about asidus. I don't know. We know that the Torah tells us you're not allowed to do it. The Torah says, Shelo yechokecha asidus, tamim tihyeh. But a lot of times we find that they were looking for something to guide them, horoscope. So today, is it innocent horoscope? Maybe. Maybe because such horoscopes anyway has to be innocent. Who cares? Whatever it is, let's just borrow the word horoscope, okay? That was pesel Micha. Same with the Rambag. They were looking for something future, astrology. You got to speak to somebody, vas a yedea in the nuances of different types of avodah zarah. You know, avodah zarah baisai is by here. Make something ... avodah zarah, nishkan avodah zarah might be. You know, I'll tell you what I heard from my Rebbe, Reb Belsky. You know, there's different beliefs out there. One of them is the power of energy, and they heal with this. They use this. So Reb Belsky said that there's two types. He told me once, there's one that they don't touch you, but they put your hand on top of their hand on top of your hand, and with the energy, that's not an avodah zarah. One that they touch you, they think it has to do with some koach or something, that's avodah zarah. I didn't ask him. You know why? I have no shaychus. I took his word for granted that that's mistama the metzius. Here too, I don't know the metzius, and I'll take the Ramban's words that it wasn't meant for an avodah zarah; it was meant as a magid asirus. The Barbenel and the Kuzri says, you know, we didn't first time in history have this; it's not the first time in history we have this. The egel. You know I'm not going to go into the egel right now. That takes a good few hours to explain what exactly, according to the Rishonim, the story of the egel was. But whatever egel was, that was pesel Micha. And tzoi, they looked for a middle, someone who could connect them to the Ribbono Shel Olam, but avada they meant ruchniyus. As hezogt the Barbenel clear with those words, they meant ruchniyus. Tell me, is a egel avodah zarah? Choyra, yeah, but it's an avodah zarah where it's a mistake avodah zarah, right? Does the person become a rasha? We still don't see Micha Rasha. We see he's a baal aveirah maybe. There's an interesting Kli Yakar from Perdo. Yaakov Perdo, he says that it was a kishuf zacher. Fine, mechashfim. Pesel Micha was a kishuf. Now I gave you a summary of a discussion which needs great, great analysis. But the point that I'm trying to bring out is, rasha that's a mishkav rasha. That's the question. But it's Micha a rasha? The Malbim tells me he wasn't the same person that started. As he started, he was Micha, and at the end, tafkeid he was Michahu, and he turned into Micha. Avodah zarah, yeah. Malbim says he was an oveid avodah zarah. So lemaaseh, what was the avodah zarah? Okay, he made a mistake in halacha, a ta'us, bamah, kishuf, egel, a tumah, okay? A tumah. Let me tell you over a Gemara in Sanhedrin. This you alluded to. Micha is an old character. He's not a new character. Micha's been around for many, many years. As a matter of fact, the Rishonim don't even know how he lived so long.

asks the kasha later, we'll soon see. How you talking? ... I live so long. And he uses the word Rosh, which we'll get to later, okay? That's the Yad Ramah's kasha: how you talking? Now where exactly does Micha start? Where was his birthplace or birth day? Chazal tell us in Sanhedrin, daf kaf aleph amud beis, that Micha was one of the children that the Mitzriim put into the walls. What does that mean? The Yidden complained that they don't have enough straw, they don't have enough clay, leveinim. They can't make the buildings. No. Like heimuch, right? Like all the reshaim, like all the reshaim in Germany, they always came up with an eitzah: you need a lamp, you may take a Yid. So we'll take a Yid and we'll make the building out of children, Yiddishe kinder. Shikker. But this is what happened in Mitzrayim. ... Yiddishe kinder, make lampshades out of them. What? Yiddishe kinder? What? What? Okay, avodas parech, galus. ... It's so bizarre. Once told Yova, vat ... and the truth is it's way before him, but he spoke about it after the war a lot. ... says, No nation rises to the heights that you have risen. ... When you fall, nobody falls lower than you. ... when you go up, no one rises. Okay, that's ... But when you fall, no one, he falls lower. ... So he said, if you take a look, history of Klal Yisroel, side of the bad and side of the good, shows that we are on a different road than everybody else. In the histalyafut of humanity, did they ever think of making lampshades for people? Something is not... And the teretz is, ... Hashem. Mash'ein kein to the rest of the world, the Ribbono Shel Olam leaves them to teva, כמעט. So life takes its course, and in life, in this world, nobody thinks to make a lampshade from a person. Ashreichem Yisrael, you see that you have a different, what do you call that, a different course in life. You have a whole different set of rules, and it's only because you're the am hanivchar, and it's only because ... kin fun takhton. Now, we spoke many times that Tisha B'Av is called a moed. Why is Tisha B'Av a moed? Kara alai moed. So pashut pshat, they called it a moed. Kara alai, they, right? They called it a moed. They were dancing that they destroyed us and they killed us. Maaseh, we don't say tachanun. So moed is when Moshiach is supposed to come. He's born on Tisha B'Av, as they say in Chazal. So kara alai moed. There's a moed in Tisha B'Av because, l'asid, that's going to be the day that Moshiach was born, and that's going to be the geulah. Baalei mussar, baalei machshavah always say it is a moed. You know what the word moed means in this world? Tells us, they say over this vort, moed means an appointment. There's a moyed, an appointment, that the tatte smiles and gives you a present. Then there's a moyed, it's the tatte lifter arayn and gives a patsh from a shraytef. It's both moyed. Moyed means connected with an appointment by the Ribono Shel Olam. That's the word moyed. So there's a moyed, Yontif, vos miz mesameach. And then there's a moyed, vos der Ribono Shel Olam zogt. Sometimes chinuch of children, rabosai, is difficult. Sometimes we have to do things which we don't— it doesn't please us. It's not lefi. We would rather give the child a candy and a kush. But you have to do what you have to do. I always give the mashal: a kind, he didn't behave in shul, the tatte gives him a patsh. Zogt the kind, Tatte, ich bin chayim of getan a zelbe zach. Tatte, ich bin chayim. What do you want from me? There's a zelbe zach is mir geben a patch. What do you want from me? There's things in history which are bizarre, which are so off the charts, as they say, is only because Hashem Yisbarach has a cheshbon. That's micha. There was a cheshbon by micha. You know the cheshbon.

You know what the needful was? The Rabbeinu Shlem says, these children, if they would not be put into the walls and be taken out of life at this juncture, they would turn out to be reshaim gemurim. That's the lashon of the Chazal. Reshaim gemurim. Hear the lashon ha'beis. Reshaim gemurim. Zogt the Rabbeinu Shlem, I'll prove it to you. Take out one of these babies, and he'll live. We'll protect him, he'll live, and you'll see what the ason is. That's Micha. That's Micha. Micha went through Mitzrayim. Micha went through Kriyas Yam Suf. Micha goes on and on and on. There's also shayla, how later did Micha live? Pesel Micha went on for years, rabosai. Shmuel never took care of Pesel Micha. Eli never took care of Pesel Micha. It says clearly in the pesukim, went all through the period of Tanach, we had Pesel Micha. And the meforshim ask, someone had to take care of Pesel Micha. Someone had to come and close it down. Can you imagine next door there's a church in Lakewood? You don't think there are yeshivos would come and send the troops down and close down the shop? Yes, of course. You live in a dor of beautiful talmidei chachamim. Al kol panim, מיר רבייסי, ... And the teretz is, Pesel Micha was complicated. It was a pashut. Couldn't even figure out what—to put the finger on what Pesel Micha was, zeh shteitn al ha'archeinim. It was difficult. Yet the Torah is me'id, the words of the Rabbeinu Shleilam are that these children will be resha'im gemurim. Yeah, beis din, chapel, mamash pilei ployim. Had Michah been killed in Mitzrayim, it would have been a get to Mitzrayim. It would have been mutar sheyamus zakai v'al yamus chayav. And the Rabbeinu Shleilam saved him to show Moshe this lesson. And later on this Michah goes and he makes a pesel Michah. Sruf tzachon resha'im gemurim. I want to tell you over another Gemara. Eilu she'ein lahem chelek l'olam haba. Achav, he doesn't have chelek l'olam haba. Is Michah in the list of people that doesn't have chelek l'olam haba? So the Gemara, it's on Sanhedrin kuf gimmel, two daf after the first Gemara I just quoted you, says that Michah is not in the list. Why not? Why not? Why is he not in the list of eilu she'ein lahem chelek l'olam haba? Answers the Gemara, because his pitui metzuyah l'oved derech. He fed people. He gave people who needed food, he gave them food. Yad Rama, as he's mashma in Rashi. So therefore he wasn't in the list of eilu she'ein lahem chelek l'olam haba. Avad is an eilu chelek l'olam haba, it's a chaver. You know how many years he did chesed? What was the din to him in Menashe? Menashe didn't let people go. To the Beis Hamikdash, he also made an alternative. He didn't let people... Huh? What, don't you mask? Micha? Well, what's wrong? You don't— excuse me, I said, excuse me. I'll tell you the truth, my eyes are on the clock, okay? So if I make two, three more mistakes, you'll know it's because it's after hours, and I'm afraid that I'll be one on the list of people who you're gonna want that... Okay, so, ... okay, your question was that? That was your question, ...? Okay, so let me finish and then we'll talk, because the truth is there's a little bit more, and there's— I gotta get out the sugya, and then we can discuss it in greater... So the pshat is he didn't belong in Olam Haba, but we don't put him in the list of bizayon, as they learn in Rishonim. Yankiv on the Gemara learns that he had chelek l'Olam Haba. He didn't belong in the list because he— so even though he did whatever he did, he was saved. You hear that basic? Because pitei metzuyah etzel oveir aveirah. Says the Ben Yehoyada, isvas? So pita metzuyah, that's it? So a person who gives bread to— mimeila he's off the hook on avodah zarah? ...

That's it. He had a free pass to Olam Haba. You don't go to Gehenna. ... Says the Ben Yehoyada, he gave money to talmidei chachamim and tzaddikim, and he fed them, so he was mechayeh them. So whatever they do, Torah mitzvahs, is on the record of Micha. ... You help out people. You get all their zechusim, all their ... You help people, and they do mitzvahs. Mimeila, you can't go to Gehenna; it's the shayach, you go to Olam Haba. There's a Mishnah in Avos we just learned: Hamezakeh es harabim, ein chet ba al yado. Says the Rishonim, what's the pshat? You can't be that you should be in Gehenna while the talmidim that you helped and you were mezakeh and you taught them, that they should be in Gan Eden. Pshat. Why not? Why can't it be that way? Maybe it says ... the Rav goes to ... the talmidim can't separate from ... So even in Olam Haba they can't separate. ... ... So how can it be that they're going to Olam Haba for those mitzvahs and you're not going to Olam Haba for those mitzvahs? You get those mitzvahs. You get the schar also. In Olam Haba we make the cheshbon how many people you mezakeh, how many people did you help to do mitzvahs, and that's also your cheshbon. Of mitzvahs. The problem with this chatei sayi is, Achav, ein lo chelek l'olam haba, and he's in the list. You know what the Gemara says about Achav on daf kuf aleph? The Gemara says about Achav that he had a tremendous midah, kuf-beis amud beis in Sanhedrin, v'vatlin b'memoinoi, u'mehanei talmidei chachamim min nechasav. And he ain't going to Olam Haba. Loit a cheshbon from the ben yada, davta oiskumen, that he's אויך going to Olam Haba. Mehanei talmidei chachamim, tzaddikim. The Gemara says that—first of all, she, and it's a big topic, it's a Gemara. Now you want to know why I should go into now to explain that Gemara? It's a mefurshe Gemara. You have homework today. Take out the Gemara. The Gemara says it clearly, that he was niskaper chatzi kaparah, but he didn't go to Olam Haba, af al pi kein he didn't go to Olam Haba, and the zechus was he was a vatran b'memoinoi. Mefurshe Gemara: v'vatran b'memoinoi haya, u'mehanei talmidei chachamim min nechasav. Does it mean everybody? No, it means a few, obviously, the way you—right? And af al pi kein, al kol panim, what do we do with this ben yahad? So I found in the Maharal, it learns different pshat in the Gemara. He says it doesn't mean that he was mezakeh mentioned, or talmidei chachamim, or tzaddikim, anybody. Tzedakah. He gave tzedakah. It's called teshuvas ha-mishkal. Tzedakah, we know, Torah, tefillah, tzedakah, ma'avirin es roa gezeirah. So the gezeirah taka on, the gzar din on Micha was not to go to Olam Haba. You redeem themselves. You reflect on stuff, yeah? I want to tell you over a Medrash Rabbah, a peleh. The Medrash Rabbah speaks in Parshas Naso, perek yud, os hei, u'shmai Michyo. Since that's shmoi first, remember I told you from the Malbim that he's a tzaddik. He was taka a tzaddik. Why? V'fi shehaya mekabel orchim. You notice the pasuk didn't say what, or the Gemara didn't say he stopped, gave tzedakah. It gave a specific type of tzedakah. What did he do? He gave pitei ovrei derachim. He did it from a binus chesed. All right? And these chesadim protected him from Olam Haba, which we'll have to continue next year, but I want to end with a point, okay? We have a tremendous yesod that there was a gezeirah for a person to go to Gehenna, not to go to Olam Haba ever, and oved avodah zarah, oved avodah zarah, a rasha gamur. Chazal call him a rasha gamur. The Rishonim is meit rishayim gemurim. He had a beis hamedrash for years that people came in, okay? Duplicating an eifod and a choshen, okay, we don't have to build it up, we got it, okay? And yet he goes to Olam Haba. Why? Because he was poideh himself.

Through the mitzvah stuff. You know, they say, we have a big discussion: yet to go to a macha, not to go to a macha, for the draft in the Israeli army, that they want to draft yeshiva guys. Tumult, a chavel. Yet to go, not to go. I don't get involved. Gedolim tell us what to do. Ein ani machnis roshi bein harim. But I have a question, rabosai. Now that the macha is over, okay? The day came and went. What's now? I haven't heard that much instructions or guidance of what it's supposed to be now. You know, rabosai, a macha is maybe one step or a first step into doing what you got to do, but then there's a big avodah after that. It's not just the macha: we went, we didn't go, we should have went, whatever the story is. You know, Rav Shteinman, in his letter writes clearly it's a gzeirdin, and therefore, what do we do in this gzeirdin? We don't have neviim to tell us what the problem is, so you have to be marbeh b'tefillah, which he's right: tefillah, teshuvah, tzedakah ma'avirin es roa hagezeirah. We know tefillah helps for that, right? Rabosai, why do we forget the teshuvah, the tefillah, and the tzedakah? That's also ma'avirin es roa hagezeirah. Isn't that really what we learn, that that's what helps in every time there's a gzeirdin? And this is a point I want to bring out. Ami nafshi b'sheelosi, v'ami bvakshosai. You know what Esther says? Ami—I'm sorry, nafshi. It's late. Nafshi b'she'eilasi. You know the difference? Nafshi is b'she'eilasi. And ami is b'vakashas. You know the difference? Elter Zeide has a million dike vort, a million, a million. You know what she'eilah means? I ask, I get it good. I don't get it, okay. I asked. Bakashah, till I get it, I don't let go. Achas sha'alti me'es Hashem. It's not enough. Osa avakeish. They got it till— You know how many times we wake up and we say, Rebbeinu shel olam, ata chonein l'adam daas, chaneinu me'itcha de'ah binah v'haskel, right? L'lamed lishmor v'la'asos v'lekayem. So we ask. But what's after that? We leave and we forget it, right? It's not going to come with the she'eilah alone. It has to be achas sha'alti, and then you have to be mevakeish, in tevakshenu kakesef u'kematmonim, in tevakshenu, az timtzae. It's not just she'eilah. Unfortunately, we think—how many times, rabosai, that when we need parnassah, or we need something personal, we daven and daven and daven, and we don't let go till we get it. It's all the time, right? How about when it's a tzorech of Klal Yisrael? When it's tzorech, we daven once, twice. Esther was teaching us, nafshi is b'she'eilasi. I'm the opposite. I ask, I get it, I get it good, but ani, it's about Klal Yisroel, bakashasi. I don't stop till I get it. The bais, like tefillah is the same thing. The same way we daven for our own tzarachim, and we don't let go till we get it, as Rabbi Yerucham would say. You know, when a guy needs, let's say, parnassah, every part of the davening is about parnassah. Magen Avraham, his name is Avraham, so you have to protect me, give me, give me, give me parnassah. Mechayeh meisim — parnassah, the wife will kill me since mechayeh meisim, yeah. Ha... Yerushalayim — oh, I could buy a house in Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim ir ha... I could buy an apartment in Yerushalayim. Rabbi Yerucham didn't give these mashalim; my addendum to Rabbi Yerucham. But Rabbi Yerucham's vort was that every part of the tefillah becomes him. He'd say every part of the tefillah should be ani b'vakashasi. Shouldn't forget about it. And the final thing is, you see from here, tzedakah. There's three things: Torah, yeah; tefillah; teshuvah with tzedakah. With tzedakah, you see tzedakah is ma'avires roa gezeirah, mentions, it wipes away, which we're going to talk, im yirtzeh Hashem, in great length next week.

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