Devorah HaNeviah: A Woman Shofetes and the Power of Pure Kavod Shamayim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. ...to the next shofet, or maybe more accurately, shofetes, of Klal Yisroel. And that is Dvorah HaNeviah. There's an interesting chapter in the history of shoftim: a woman. Dvorah HaNeviah is the next shofet in Klal Yisroel. The pasuk tells us in Shoftim, daled daled, U'Dvorah ishah neviah, eishes Lapidos, hi shoftah es Yisrael ba'eis hahi. Now, if we notice, the pasuk stresses that she was a neviah. That a woman could be a neviah is common knowledge. It's not the first time, not the last time. The Gemara Megillah tells us, daf yud daled amud aleph, mem-ches neviim, and zayin neviayos nisnabu lahem l'Yisrael. So actually, she's one of seven. She's not unique that she's the only neviah; there are seven others, six others. The Gemara Megillah, yud daled, enumerates them and tells us Sarah was a neviah, Miriam was a neviah, Dvorah was actually the third one, the third neviah. Then comes Channah, Avigayil, Chuldah, and Esther, seven. So it's nothing out of the norm, so to speak, that we have a neviah, an ishah. But of course, there's a chiddush nifla that we have a neviah, an ishah, who is a shofetes. She sits and judges a dayan. Imagine you walk into a beis din, and the av beis din is a chai. You would say, Oh, this got to be a reform, not even conservative. This is off the charts. It happened in the history of Klal Yisrael, rabosai. What's the pshat? So first, let's attack it halachically. Could there be such a thing? Halacha l'maaseh, could we have a shoifet, a dayan who's an isha? So Tosafos in Niddah, daf nun amud aleph, asks this for a she'eilah. We know, kol ha-kasher l'hoyrid is kasher ladon. Someone who can't say eidus is not kosher to be a dayan. An isha is not kosher to be a eidus. Fragt Tosafos, how could she be a dayan? Question, of course, is d'vorah. How was she a dayan? So Tosafos gives three terutzim in Niddah. The first teretz is, Ein hachanami, you could. You could have a woman, v'lo charaya d'vorah. So if you needed an av beis din, and the most qualified for the position would be an isha, so Tosafos, you see from d'vorah, in Megillas Macha and in Megillas Tan, chiddush nifla. Ai, what do you do with the klal of kol ha-ro'ui l'hoyrid is kasher ladon b'ish? So Tosafos, that's only by a man. A woman is different, gedarim different, halachos. We could talk about it maybe in great length at a different time when we want to learn the sugya more b'iyun. But Tosafos, the klal doesn't apply to a woman, and meila, you could have a woman an av beis din. So is Tosafos. Huh? Where do we get? So this we'll discuss in a few moments. Where do we get? The word shoifet, pashtus means died. And if you look further in the pesukim, it says clearly, Vayaalu eilev Bnei Yisrael lamishpat. The pasuk clearly says, Mitkumentze ir, mishpat. Mishpat means dinei Torah, choshen mishpat, pshut. We will discuss this. This is up for discussion in a few moments. Al kol panim, pashtus, she becomes the dayan, and it's mutar, v'lo acharaiya d'vara. I, the klal, the klal is only by an ish; by an isha it doesn't apply. Tosafos gives a second teretz. And this is a little bit more complicated because it's not so clear what does Tosafos mean. There's many Acharonim that learn Tosafos one way, other Acharonim learn it a bit different way. But let's just say the simple way. Tosafos says that Dvorah was different, that she used to pasken al pi hadibur. When a woman is paskening al pi her knowledge in Shulchan Aruch, that's not a good dayan. But here she had a higher authority, as he writes up in English, a higher authority. See, paskened not from Shulchan Aruch; it was al pi hadibur, the Eibishter. She's a neviah. Ah, Maritz Chiyus asks the kasha.

We could talk about it in a few moments. That's the Maritz's chiyuv kasha. So l'choira, since she's paskening not from the Shulchan Aruch, zog Teisvis, she's allowed to be a dayan, and voiru, special shein. Teisvis gives a third teretz, and he says, it doesn't say she paskened. Tzit oys gelernt halochos, mit gekumen, mit gefregt, what's the halacha? Yeah, she was a tremendous yodea, a good gekent b'sugyos, and she paskened. Zog Teisvis. What pshat paskened? Not b'toires psak halacha, because she can't be a dayan. But she paskened because she told them, ... on the sugya. She was teaching more than she was paskening. You know, a lot of rabbanim talk like that: I'm not paskening, I'm just going to tell you the sugya. That shtick — and I don't want to say the word shtick, but let's use, for a better term, that chochmah — d'voirech shein getan. D'voirech, because she paskened, ... Who tells you a pshara is niskein din? As a matter of fact, it's the only din we have today. Oh, now you're telling a Teisvis, ... mamash, you know the sugya good. There you ... the sugya. It's a Teisvis. We're going to get to that Teisvis in a few moments. I see with you have so much knowledge, I got to come and fuel up for the discourse, as they say. L'choira, oislernen un nishpasken. Dos zogt Teisvis. And need the three terutzim. So again, teretz number one. You're allowed to pasken. D'vorah was allowed to pasken. I kosha l'hoyi, that's only by a man, that rule. Second teretz: she would pasken al פי הדיבור. It's a different type of psak halacha, and das megbin. A woman is allowed to pasken in such a case. The third teretz of Tosafos is she didn't pasken, but rather she would oiskelernt v'i medaf pasken, but not l'maaseh that it had a koach of a psak halacha. Tosafos in Bava Kamma, tes-vav amud aleph, gives another teretz. The people would mekabel her. You can be mekabel posul l'eidus and posul l'dayanim, and b'mechtach mekabel zayin of zech. If you want, now I'm going to lie Abba, now I'm going to lie avicha. Nisht erger zogt Tosafos that you're mekabel. Why? And Tosafos says, mipnei haShechinah. The eilem liked what she had to say. She's good backing. The Eibishter is behind everything she's saying. Mimeila, the olam went to her b'toras kabbalah. If you look at the lashon, the pasuk is takke meduyak: Vayaalu eileha Bnei Yisrael lamishpat. I think the Ohr HaNer points this out already. It's not that she went and paskened, and she had a koach of a beis din, but rather the people came to her. Mitgakabel. Havasah mitgakabel. They were mekabel. They were mekabel because, taka, she had what to pasken. But mikoach hadin, she wasn't right to be a dayan. But if you're mekabel her, Vayaalu eileha Bnei Yisrael. And rabosai, the whole shiur is not going to be a pilpul. We'll get to a little drush, a little of everything, but we have to first get who is Dvorah. And what is her koach of psak? There's an interesting Ritva, and maybe that's what you're being mechaven to. The Ritva in Kiddushin, daf lamed hei, says, where does it say she paskened? What, the word shoifet? Remember we spoke about what a shoifet is, and I told you we'll get to it later on. Shoifet has two meanings. A shoifet can mean a posek, and a shoifet can also be a manhig. Remember we spoke from the Barbenel that the shoifet carried two roles. Shoftim were manhigim as well as the poskei hador. By Devorah, it was that she was a manheges, says the Ritva, but she didn't pasken. You can't pasken. Now if you notice later on in perek hei, pasuk zayin, what does Devorah talk about herself when she says, Hu Devorah, ad shekamti Devorah? Shekamti, famous pesukim, anyone who ever went through a Beis Yaakov's dinner probably heard this nusach, ad shekamti, em b'Yisrael. Avuz the shoifet, avuz the neviah, em, a mama, a leader. Could be, could be, according to the Ritva, it's meduyak, the pasuk, that's all she was. The Velt says a lilanderish, farshteytz zich for the Beis Yaakov dinner.

We have to polish it a little bit, they say. You see, she was a neviah, and you see she was a shofetes. And still, what was her greatest title, her greatest role? Was that she was a em b'Yisrael. For the Bis Yaakov did, if you have to speak, use this word. It's a good one. Now, so we have over here, who is the dvoyrah? Maybe she's just a manheges, not more, not a shofet, not a posek, a manhig. Rabosai, we have maybe more kashas than we have terutz. True, Tosafos gives us four or five mahalchim. Let me tell you what the problems are, and then we'll see maybe we can go a little deeper to understand further. On the teretz of Tosafos, that she paskened al pi hadibur, it's doch gefrekt gevaldik, the Maritz Chiyus fregt there kasha: Torah lav bashamayim. She couldn't have paskened al pi hadibur. What does that mean? She went and she discussed everything al pi... If a navi tells you halacha, it's not negea, halacha l'maaseh. Torah lav bashamayim. And if Torah lav bashamayim, fregt the Maritz Chiyus, he doesn't understand what Tosafos means. Now let's go to the second teretz of Tosafos, that while she didn't pasken, but she taught Torah. Yeah? Who's allowed to teach Torah? We all know the Gemara, the Rambam brings down halacha in Hilchos Talmud Torah, perek aleph, halacha yud-gimmel, that if a woman learns Torah, it's k'ilu melamda tiflus. Which Torah? What learning? Vu gelernt vos? What kind of learning? What, she sat in Choshen Mishpat? An interesting footnote, Reb Chaim Kanievsky in his sefer Derech Sicha... Says an interesting, almost bizarre story. He says that his sister wanted to learn Gemara, and you know why I have to tell you this? Because it's so interesting, you'll walk away, you'll say, Wow, what an interesting story. At least dos ... the gantze shiur. You ready for something interesting? She wanted to learn Gemara, so she went to Reb Chaim Kanievsky, and she says, Lebude leben, ... teach me Gemara. So he went to ask the Chazon Ish if he's allowed to learn with her Gemara, and the Chazon Ish answered, Ba'kroi. The halacha that a woman shouldn't be learning is a farshtendike oifen, you know, a seder, you know, learning first seder, second seder. Aber ba'kroi makes you learn a shtikel Gemara. So he sat down to learn with her Gemara. Azoi shteit, Reb Chaim Kanievsky writes this in his sefer. He learned with her the hardest sugya of Shas. Does anybody know what that is? It's in Niddah, exactly, in Tagrai lud. It's one of the hardest sugyas in Shas. So I guess he wanted to teach her a lesson, so he started learning with her, and he says over there that she understood the Gemara, the ... she understood the Gemara, she understood the Rashi, but when it came to the Tosafos, she was finished. I guess that was already the limud, and that's what he was teaching her in Gemara. Amol you'll teach Gemara that you could learn Gemara, and amol you teach as farshteisns the Gemara. Zei a limud, but ... she was taught. It's not for her. D'vorai ha-nevi'ah what? Nuchai shemishpat? Vos iz der taich? Ki ilu melamed tiflus. We know women don't learn Gemara, they don't learn Shulchan Aruch. What? Ella mai, maybe, maybe, maybe, the halachos that are negea to them: Shabbos, ner Shabbos, niddah, challah. Maybe that's sheifetes. She paskened halachos niddah? It's not mashma. Sheifetes is mashma, choshem mishpat, huh? Yesh omrim. I know a lot of the Acharonim want to say that she was sheifetes in halachos that are nogea to a nisha. Vaya'alu eileha Bnei Yisrael, maybe the women came to her. It's nish mashma. Pashut pshat, haboisai, sheizvas? She paskened, choshen mishpat. Zogt Tosfos, not gepaskened. All right. Aber limadah? She doyskes, gezogt a shiur in Bava Kama, tzi gezogt? Tosfos is learning she said a shiur. Limdah, she was teaching them how to pasken. I, ki'ilu melameda tiflus, the Rambam, halacha. How about the teretz of Tosfos, that was al pi hadibur kemefateh, like this, rabboisai? Tosfos doesn't mean that she would pasken al pi hadibur, but it was hora'ah. Maybe that's what Tosfos means. Tosfos fregt a kasha: how could a woman be a dayan? Teretz is she paskened al pi hadibur. So the Maritz Chiyus learns al pi hadibur means what, rabboisai? Al pi hadibur, that she went back to ask.

And everything she paskened was al pi hadibur. Al yidlma, bichlal, the fact that she paskened them for toisnish pirya v'rivya lahalacha, because this was a horaah shaah. Why? Then the kasha becomes why. But I'll just tell you a beautiful Orach LeNer. The Orach LeNer says it's meduyak in the pasuk. The pasuk says, V'hi shoftah, hi shoftes Yisrael ba'eis hahi. U'devorah ishah neviah. What's the hi? Just say shoftah. What's hi shoftah? And why ba'eis hahi? So the Orach LeNer: hi only, and ba'eis hahi only then, horaah shaah, which means not to learn up from Devorah that you can have an ishah shofetes. So I said, what's the pshat in horaah shaah? Why did it have to be that we have an ishah, a posek? What's wrong? You couldn't find anybody else? There were no men who were eligible to be the shofet? What's the pshat? So I did a little research because it bothered me. I mean, horaah shaah, horaah shaah, you could come and say gezeiras hakasuv, or mikan zogin pshat, and I taka found that the Rishonim bring from the Chazal already why taka. Where is there a horaah shaah over here that Devorah should be the neviah? First let me tell you over a Zohar. The Zohar writes she was shofetes, oi loi l'adam. The Gemara tells us in Brachos what was to the person, sheishto mevareches bishvilo. A man says, Az a am haaretz, that his wife has to make the birchas hamazon for him. Das iz oylei. I feel bad for that household. Oy l'dor zoch de zoyer, zoyer vayikra. Oy l'dor shelo nimtza בהם איש יונס העם אלא נקבה אחת. You're right. What was my question? Couldn't find anybody else? And the answer is, Dr. Zoyer, yes. We couldn't find anybody. There was one nekeivah here. I don't know where she came from, which yeshiva she was from. Maybe there was a BJJ in those days. Forgive me, I don't know if your daughters went to other places. I don't mean BJJ. I'm chuldik for the politics behind. I don't mean anything, okay? The point being, how did ... come? Where? What? One nekeivah here. Imetza ken gut lernen. Yeah, ... was ... Where? Where is it that not one person knew how to learn? A maaseh just popped into my head. You're gonna get a nice maaseh. Reb Chatzkel Abramsky and Klug. He was a big talmid chacham, a gaon already in Russia, ... So when he was rav in England, he was the av beis din. So he said, he used to talk very cute, very... So he said, Si da drei Yidden vos kenen lernen in England: em, Reb Leib Gurwicz. So they asked him, but that's only two. He says, Yeah, I take up the first two slots. I'm number one, and I'm number two, and he's number three. What he was trying to say is, ... This is it. If you have to take up three slots and he takes up two of them, it's hard to find a chutzpah, ... with his humor. The point being, you hear how many people knew how to learn in those days? Two people, dvarim. That's it. Just dvarim on neviah. Azoi zogt the Zohar. The Zohar says they couldn't find anybody who could pasken, and therefore dvarim became the neviah. The Yalkut Shimoni says not like that. I found the Yalkut Shimoni. Yalkut Shimoni says, Ma tiva shel dvaira? What's up this dvaira? Where did she come from? V'lo Pinchas ben Elazar omeid. Pinchas ben Elazar doch gelept. What's wrong with him? Could you imagine they passed him over to pick up Devorah? The Yalkut says Pinchas got passed. Pinchas, no, you're not the dayan. Who's in the front by the yetzer over there in the pictures? Dvarim on neviah. Ela me'ayin ani oleh es haShamayim v'es haaretz, shebein goy...

Listen carefully, rabosai. It's ... So yalkut shimoni. The Rabbeinu Shlolem says, Mayn ani alai es hashamayim v'es haaretz, shebein goy uvein Yisrael, bein ish uvein isha, even a goy, yeah, bein ish uvein isha, bein eved bein shifcha, hakol lefi ma'asav shel adam, v'hakadosh baruch hu shoreh alav. The Rabbeinu Shlolem is trying to teach: divrei is kumtik. Yeah, it's a yalkut, it's a medrash. Mativah shel Torah, vu kumt Torah? Pinchas, the Kohen. Pinchas' name, Torah. To teach, Mayn ani alai es hashamayim v'es haaretz, says the Eibishter. Bein goy, which we'll talk about maybe a different time, there's a Rambam like this, that's mashma even a goy, but we'll talk about it not right now, in ten minutes left to go. But the point is, the divrei was chosen to bring out a point, even divrei, even divrei, yeah, yalkut, even divrei. You know, rabosai, let me tell you over another reason for divrei, which is found in the Chazal. It's a Tanna d'bei Eliyahu zuta. You notice she has a very nice name, Eishes Lapidos. Lapidos was her last name? No. Lapidos was her husband's name. Maybe in those days that's what her last name was, Eishes Lapidos. Chazal say she was called Eishes Lapidos for a reason, and the truth is her husband wasn't so much the Lapidos; she was the Lapidos. Pay attention. We would think, Eishes Lapidus. Her husband was—her husband is going, can't Lapidus. She was the Lapidus. But because of who she was in relevance, we'll soon see, to her husband, she was called Eishes Lapidus. Zogt Rashi, why was she called Lapidus? So Rashi, she's called Lapidus because shehaysa osah psilos laMikdash. She used to make beautiful wicks, long ones, fat ones, for the Beis HaMikdash. That's it? That's the story? We'll get to it in a few moments. There's a deeper story behind this Rashi. The Metzudas David says a different reason why she was called Eishes Lapidus. What is Eishes Lapidus? So the Metzudas David, Lapidus is a lashon of fire. It's a lashon of fire. Daled, daled, here. Oh, Eishes Lapidus, here. Retzono lomar, Eishes chayil. She was a tzadekes. She was very—she was quick. B'maaseha kelapid eish. You know, Yiddish has an expression, flame fire, fire. In English, she's on fire. She was on fire. She was a lapid eish. Three reasons. Mimeila she was called Eishes Lapidus. So it has nothing to do with who her husband was. She was an isha Lapidus. It doesn't mean eishes. It's funny, why eishes? Just isha Lapidus. Why call her eishes? It should be the husband of. Vas hot es mit dem man? She'd be eishes Lapidos. She was a, a Brennfeuer. Could be, where it was in... right. The Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu learns that has to do with her husband. We're soon going to learn. And let me tell you the history behind that Rashi. In Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu, perek tes, she told her husband to bring these lapidos to the Beis HaMikdash. The medrash is like this: Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu, ba'alah am ha'aretz. Her husband was an am ha'aretz. Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu, ba'alah shel Devorah am ha'aretz haya. He was an am ha'aretz. Amrah lo, boi ve'eslecha psilos. I'll make it for you. You bring it to the Beis HaMikdash. V'leich l'mishkan sheb'Shiloh, and listen to our... v'hi chelkah bein ha'ksherim shebahem, v'tavoi l'chayei olam haba. She was eishes Lapidos. She did it for her husband. Her husband should go and bring these lapidos to the Beis HaMikdash. Her husband was an am ha'aretz. What's the pshat? So I was thinking to myself the following: The Gemara in Shabbos, chof-gimmel amud beis, tells us, Hazoher b'ner, havin lo banim talmidei chachamim, ki ner mitzvah...

With the Torah Or, what is it? Ner Chanukah zogt Rashi, and ner Shabbos. Now, ner Beis HaMikdash zavadados, right? It's the ultimate ner Chanukah. Un nisht nor it's Chanukah, ner Chanukah, ner Shabbos. By the way, if you take a look, it's brought down in the sefarim, it's bedomeh, zai tateh, az di shmirah me'eredige seif on Shabbos, and dortn shraybt vi the Beis HaMikdash is doimeh to the Shabbos. We copy everything on Shabbos just like the Beis HaMikdash: the neiros and the challahs and the mizbeach, and, we'll say b'kitzur only because of time constraints. Point being, so the ultimate ner is the Beis HaMikdash, yeah? So, hazoyer b'ner havlei bonim talmidei chachamim. Hatzige volt, iman efshar zol vern a talmid chacham, which the Radal learns, he taka became later. It's a shaylah if this husband of hers, we'll soon learn, Baruch, was a navi or not. We'll talk about it a little bit later, next year probably. But she akal panim wanted her kids to be talmidei chachamim. Der man is nit azoi. So what did she do? So she went and sent her husband to the Beis HaMikdash with neiros, yeah, that hazoyer b'ner havlei bonim talmidei chachamim u'nafsho gor. Kol shekein the man if the husband brings it. You know, by the way, every time Shabbos the wife lights the candles, who prepares those candles? Letgebracht halachah, the man should prepare it, right? So together they're in this mitzvah of havlei bonim talmidei chachamim. So, taltza shaychus, yeh rabosai. So you give an amerdige kluge frage, yeh. Could be she was zocheh that she should become a sheifetes because of this. The ma'nefesh nishgev, ki yechent azei gut lalmen. But she walked away knowing how to learn from this. That's what Chazal are telling us. She was zocheh through this to become a sheifetes. Let me tell you over a very ... You ready, rabosai? Moshe Rabbeinu wants to go into Eretz Yisroel. The Ribono Shel Olam tells him, You can't go in. But stand on the mountain, and I'm going to show you Yamov, vokeimov, Tzafon, Mizrach, and you're going to see the entire Eretz Yisroel. That's what it says in the pasuk. The Medrash, the Yalkut, tells us exactly what he saw. Like a travel guy gives you a brochure, there was a brochure in the Yalkut, exactly what he saw. And one of the things he saw was Dvorah paskening under the tomer Dvorah. Finish the Medrash. That's what he saw. The Ribono Shel Olam showed him that Dvorah, Dvorah, was sitting tachas ha'alah, under the tree, tachas tomer Dvorah, and paskening. Satmar Rav's Chayn u'vrachah in his sefer, his pages, vos epes tomer Dvorah, vos a shayches. That's interesting. We're soon going to learn, in the next four minutes, with the help of the Ribono Shel Olam, that he also saw Ishto shel Lot. So maybe the travel guy, you know, all the sites in Eretz Yisroel, you know, he went to Sdom and they saw tomer Dvorah. Could be that's where the good travelers, they get it from there, the sites. The Satmar Rebbe's Torah about it. Rabosai, let me tell you what I think. Originally, years ago when I saw this Yalkut, the tach vosepes. So the truth is, I'm going to tell you a chiddush. In Sefer HaDoros it's brought down that Dvorah was a gilgul, you ready? Of who? Tziporah eishes Moshe. Huh? It's interesting. Moshe Rabbeinu's shteit, and they give him to see Dvorah. Who is Dvorah? Dvorah is eishes Moshe. As a matter of fact, there's a very interesting Rambag that she was poresh from Barak. She calls Barak, I don't know if you noticed, she says, Barak, come! Come from where? Why, she wasn't home? Moshe Rabbeinu was poresh from ishto because he was a navi. Tziporah went and was poresh from Barak because he was a navi and she was eishes Moshe. Interesting Rambag, rabosai. You hear how great? Dvorah is actually Moshe Rabbeinu's frau in a gilgul. So maybe they showed her, Moshe Rabbeinu, Tziporah. Rabosai, let me tell you what I think is a deeper pshat in this Chazal, and we'll end in a minute or two.

Sure. Let's talk a minute, rabosai. Moshe Rabbeinu wants to go into Eretz Yisroel. Yeah. Why does he want to go into Eretz Yisroel? Moshe Rabbeinu is thinking, Torahs Eretz Yisroel. Ein Torah k'Toras Eretz Yisroel. He didn't have a chance to be melamed Torah to Klal Yisroel, Torahs Eretz Yisroel, Hilchos Eretz Yisroel, mitzvos hateluyos ba'aretz. Hot men ihm gevizen d'vorah. What is d'vorah? Chazal tell us this is the Tana d'bei Eliyahu, that she was zocheh to be a shofetes. Why? Zogt Chazal that the Ribbono Shel Olam said, You made Me psilos. Why? K'dei sheyehei ohron merubah, that there should be more light in the Beis Hamikdash. And who did You do this for? For My kavod? HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who is boichei lev v'kloyos, and tells d'vorah, At niskavanta l'harbos ori. You did it for My kavod. Af ani arbeh orcha b'Yehuda u'virushalayim. So therefore you will be a marbitz Torah, so to speak, in Yerushalayim and Yehuda, because your kavanah was My kavod. Moshe Rabbeinu wants to teach Torah. He wants to be marbitz Torah in Eretz Yisroel. The Ribbono Shel Olam tells him, Rav lach. Sh'lo yomar rav, kamah kashah. It's a kiddush shem Shamayim more if you don't go into Eretz Yisroel. So we show him d'vorah. D'vorah is the lesson that habotzas Torah. is supposed to be rooted in leharbis kevodi. It's about kavod of the Ribono Shel Olam. That an isha who thought to be marbeh the kavod Shamayim in the Beis Hamikdash, the Ribono Shel Olam chose her to be the marbis Torah. And I want to tell you an interesting story, and with this I'll end. There's a beautiful story, rabosai, from Reb Elia Lopian. I read it, and I also researched it because the story meant a lot to me because I hold it's a yesod in hashgacha. So I went to the families of Reb Elia Lopian, and I asked the grandchildren, and I verified the story is exact. I have the exact story the way it happened. There was a Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael that was very matzliach, hundreds of bochurim in his yeshiva. He was proud, so he asks Reb Elia Lopian to come and see his yeshiva. No. Reb Elia Lopian, listen, gets such an invitation. Of course he took on the invitation. He comes there at night, and it's packed to the eilim learning. The Rosh Yeshiva is moved by his beautiful yeshiva, and he begins to cry. He begins to cry. Reb Elia Lopian gave him a palmusa. He wanted to know how honest are these tears. Are they personal success tears, proud of his success, or it's kavod Shamayim tears, that he was moved by the kavod of the Ribono Shel Olam? And he asks the Rosh Yeshiva, tell me, you know, a few blocks from here there's another yeshiva, packed. If I went there with you, would you also shed these tears upon seeing the beis medrash full of Torah? So that's all Reb Eliyah said to him. What Reb Eliyah was trying to tell herbotzas Torah is not a personal thing. It's about kavod Shamayim. And if it's about kavod Shamayim, it doesn't make a difference. Mine yeshiva, or the Yannim's yeshiva. It's all to the Ribono Shel Olam's yeshiva. Ribono Shel Olam's Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu wants to go to Eretz Yisroel. Why do you want to go? Avada, mitzvahs teluyos ba'aretz, b'graisin yonim, habatzas Torah, beautiful. The Ribono Shel Olam says, let me show you dveikus. What does dveikus do? Leharbeis kavod, to be marbeh My kavod, oiri, My light. So you went and made wicks, and she brought it with her husband. She didn't bring it herself. It wasn't about her. She sent her husband gar. You know who got the credit for it on the big plaque? Big donation! From who? From Baruch. They don't say anything about dveikus, the Ribono Shel Olam. And if you notice the words of the Chazal, the words of the Chazal is, HaKadosh Baruch Hu boichein lev v'kloyos. The Ribono Shel Olam saw the root, the neshama, the lev behind the maaseh of making these lights. And he said, Atah niskavanta l'harbos...

From why kavod, you'll be marbeh Torah as a present, as a matanah, to be marbeh k'vod Shamayim through habotzas Torah. This, rabosai, is dveirah. Dveirah was eim b'Yisrael. She meant Klal Yisrael, rabosai. She meant habotzas Torah, kavod Shamayim. And even an isha, even an isha, could be zocheh to such exalted levels. And that's what Chazal are teaching, made on the olai, Shamayim v'aretz. Bein goy, bein Yisrael, even an isha, an eved, it makes no difference. If your main kavanos l'shem Shamayim, to l'harbis k'vod Shamayim, ani mashreh ruach hakodesh olav, ruach hakodesh shorah. Even an isha, even dveirah. Das iz dveirah. Das azhir kamti. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.