Shoftim 4: Devorah, Barak, and Yael—Defeating Sisra Through Bitachon, Not Might

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Now we have the first milchama conflict that she approaches when she comes. She duels against Sisra. She calls Barak, who happens to be her husband. We've spoken about in the past why Barak is not with her. Barak is not there with her. She calls him, and she summons him to come to go to milchama against Sisra. So the pasuk vav: Vatishlach vatikra leBarak ben Avinoam miKedesh Naftali. She tells him, Halo tzivah Hashem. It's an interesting lashon, halo. Behold, the Ribono Shel Olam commanded, Lech u'mashachta bHar Tavor, v'lakachta imcha eser elef ish miBnei Naftali u'miBnei Zevulun. Then you draw Sisra into a milchama near Nachal Kishon. Barak tells her, I'll go, but on one condition: im telechi imi. That's pasuk ches. V'halachti, I will go. Im lo selchi imi, lo eilech, I'm not going. So we have to discuss what exactly was the tzivui, what exactly was the milchama, the reason for this milchama, and how and why is Barak— Claiming that he doesn't want to go unless he puts a condition that Dvorah goes with him. Chayeles, the Rabbeinu Shlelem zagt, gang, gaitmen. The Rabbeinu Shlelem sends a nevuah, Haloi tzivah Hashem. She introduces the tzivui that the Rabbeinu Shlelem—she commands. The Rabbeinu Shlelem tells her, Haloi tzivah. Okay, so you know some of the mefarshim. Okay, we'll talk, but let's discuss what was the milchamah, and why is it that Barak feels that he has the right to come and say he's not going. So first of all, let's understand the tzivui: Haloi tzivah Hashem es Yisrael. Haloi tzivah Yisrael. What's haloi? What do you mean, haloi? Say, Barak, I had a nevuah, and the Rabbeinu Shlelem—when the Radak learns like this, the Radak learns that everything she told him actually was in the nevuah: that there's a milchamah against Sisra, you'll have to gather the people from Naftali and Zvulun, and the Rabbeinu Shlelem tells you that you'll be matzliach. The whole shmues that we have over here from pasuk vav through pasuk after pasuk tes is all part of the nevuah. And that's tzivah Hashem; the Rabbeinu Shlelem commanded such. No, leiter al bag is the chameredike kasha. Like we said, as the Rabbeinu Shlelem zagt, the Rabbeinu Shlelem is metzaveh, the question is not going to be if, but the question is when and how fast you're going. So what's the taich, the pshat, that Barak feels that he could come and say that he's not going? Condition. I condition my going: if you go with me, and if not, I'm not going. So this kasha, Acharonim talk about it. So Reb Chaim Kanievsky, in Taamah d'Kra, has an interesting mahalach. He says like this: b'emes, the pesukim are interesting. It doesn't say exactly that the Rabbeinu Shalom was tzivah, leich u'mashachta Ba'al Tova. No, haloi tzivah. Now, he doesn't make the diyuk haloi, but he's trying to say that it seems that she's referring back to a different tzivui, not necessarily what I'm saying now. Haloi, behold the Rabbeinu Shalom was metzaveh. Where was He behold, so to speak, in the past metzaveh? So Reb Chaim Kanievsky, I'm me'orer that it could taytch: b'emes, the nevuah was to Devorah that she should fight Sisra and win. But that's about it. There was no discussion who should go to do this milchamah. There was no discussion how many people to take. There was no discussion from where to take these people. It was a blanket statement: you'll go and you'll win. Geist is divine. Nachal Kishon means if you go, you'll succeed. That's the nevuah. Mimeila, says Reb Chaim, you have the old tzivui of hacharem tacharim. Go to war to destroy the Goyim. Now he seems to learn—

That if not for this, that there was a tzivui, a command that he will be matzliach, he wouldn't be mechuyav. Either there's a mitzvah of hachrim tachrimem. So he discusses, lahalacha, the Brisker Rav as well, at the end of Parshas Beshalach, in the Kisvei Harizal Levi on the Chumash, also discusses the same question. When you go to war, of course there's sakana. But before there's a war, the mitzvah of hachrim tachrimem means you don't have to put yourself in sakana. You don't have to put yourself in danger for it. Yes, there's a tzivui, there's a mitzvah to go to war. Part of the mitzvah, as I stated in Minchas Chinuch, that part of the mitzvah is to put yourself in sakana. Mimeila, al ha-tzivui, the Ribbono Shel Olam is telling you, when you won't be in sakana. Mimeila comes back the old halacha of hachrim tachrimem, that you must go kill them. The only heter not to be machrim them is that you'll be in danger. It's a defeat. It's a definite defeat. So don't go. If it's a guaranteed hatzlacha, that everything will be, im yirtzeh Hashem, the best, you have to go. Hachrim tachrimem is mechayev you. That's the halachah tzivui. Not here now. Halachah tzivui in the Torah, the Ribbono Shel Olam is saying, hachrim tachrimem. Azoi lebt a chai. Now, rabosai, I have to point out that the Brisker Rav learns endlach, which means very much the same, but a little bit with a little difference. He wants to say that actually the tzivui was on the milchamah, and the tzivui was to Barak, and the tzivui was who to take. Ten thousand people from Naftali and Zvulun, but for the rest of Klal Yisrael there was no tzivui. So meila, they were not mechuyiv to go fight al this tzivui. So they were only mechuyiv to fight al tachreim tachrimem. Says Brisker Rav, that's the pshat. Later on we find that Devorah, when she says her nevuah, she says, Zvulun, Naftali, am cheref nafshi lamus. They gave up their life because they were mechuyiv. They had a din milchamah, so they had to. What about the rest of Klal Yisrael? The dvorah complains against them: Why didn't you come l'Ezras Yisrael? Ruvein, lama yoshavta bein hamishpatayim, doylim chikkei lev, hayitachen? Says the Brisker Rav, hayitachen, because all it was a mitzvah of hachreim tachrimem, and you should have went knowing that you'd be in good hands, that you wouldn't have a sakanah. Azei leint the Brisker Rav. So let me repeat it just once so everyone should get clearly, because I'm trying to bring out a yesod from over here, and that is that the nevuah to Devorah to give over to Barak is not clear exactly what was told and exactly what was the tzivui. Reb Chaim Kanievsky learns that bhechrech the pshat is that Barak was never mitzuveh. Barak was never told through the nevuah that he has to go. And the raya is because then otherwise Barak wouldn't say, Hegeinish, ... balabatishkeit, ... geit, geit nisht. You come ... What are you asking questions for? So nothing was in the nevuah. The nevuah was, You'll go, you'll win. That's it. Now, ha'litziva, the old hachrim tachrim now comes back because since you're guaranteed to win, so why did you go kill them? It's a mitzvah, because the only ptur not to would be sakanah. The Brisker Rav learns that actually the nevuah was for everything. It was for Barak. It was for take the people from Naftali. So what's the pshat that we speak about hachrim tachrim? That's for the rest of Klal Yisrael. They should have taken the opportunity to be machrim, knowing that the war is going to come out in favor of Klal Yisrael. There wasn't a sakanah here. But helicha nami, the nevuah to Devorah was takkeh to take Barak as the general, and it was to take, from Naftali, and to take dafka ten thousand people. So it comes out an interesting chiddush, chabreisei, that the milchamah was a guaranteed win. So who made up, according to Rav Chaim Kanievsky's mahalach, so to speak, who to take? Why dafka Naftali? Why did she decide Naftali? Because the rest of Klal Yisrael doesn't have to go to war, b'mechtesa. Why did... [unclear Hebrew phrase] ... good, but...

that she got a nevuah that they're gonna win. So she, on her own, shefatah, she's a shefatah, she decided it's good to go to Barak, and it's good for Barak to go to Naftali. And for Naftali, it's only to take 10,000 people. What's the pshat? 10,000. I assume we're gonna learn that b'ezras Hashem. The milchamah against Sisera was unbelievable. The amount of ammunition that Sisera had was something that it was a guarantee that nobody could fight him. The Targum says this clearly. The Targum says, in perek hei, says the Targum, pasuk ches. He says a list. You want to know the army, the list of what he had? I wouldn't even have enough time to beis. I wouldn't even have enough time to read it. If I had to start from the beginning, it's about 20 lines worth: tanks and missiles. I mean, phenomenal. He gives you numbers. And he says, and he ends off, And all this, all this, this unbelievable amount of klei milchamah, of artillery, and still, and still, the milchamah was that Barak won with 10,000 people. So Targum Rabbeinu, a mefurash Targum in hei ches, yivchar Elokim chadashim, explains the Targum. The amount of ammunition was paldik. So what's the pshat that they chose from Naftali and Zvulun? Why only Naftali and Zvulun? And what's pshat? Ten thousand people. So I want to tell you, there's two interesting Chazal. Chazal say, what's the pshat in Naftali and Zvulun? Zogt the Medrash, the Chilta, ksiv, it says by Binyamin, sorry Yehuda, sorry Zvulun, sorry Naftali, boi lomad, shek'sheim she'asa HaKadosh Baruch Hu nisim al yedei shevet Yehuda, Binyamin al hayam. The same way the Ribono Shel Olam did nisim through Yehuda and Binyamin al hayam, because some say it was Binyamin, some say it was Yehuda who jumped in. It's a shaila in the Midrashim. Now, kach asah lYisrael nisim al yedei Sarei Zvulun, Naftali al yedei Devorah. They decided, now we're going to do Zvulun and Naftali. That's patish la, fatirkel. Why? What, everybody's taking turns, you mean? We got to spread out the zechus of being the Moshiach shel Yisrael. Good, that's a shaila. Ata sho'el kol kach yafeh k'mah k'mah Chazal? Zeh hashe'elah. Zeh b'diuk hashe'elah. Ma hapshat? Vos heppent? Yesh milchamah. You know what? Bo nilcham Zvulun, Naftali. So I went to look a little further. I found an interesting Eliyahu Rabbah. In Eliyahu Rabbah, perek tes, it's brought down, Ma ta'iva shel Devorah etzel Barak? V'loi Devorah bimkomah, and Ephraim, uBarak bimkomoi b'Kedesh Naftali? Ach amru chachamim. Now listen to an interesting Eliyahu Rabbah. Barak hayah mishamesh es haskenim. Barak was a meshamesh. והם בחייו של יהושע. וכי חזר ושימש לאחר מסוסו. Shabbos vaiter, אחר שבת, fresh little Shabbos, a Shabbos before and a Shabbos after, a Shabbos. ולפיכך הקב״ה עושה ונושא אותו לדויר. That's why Barak is by Devorah. How did Barak come to? Because Devorah has to go fight Sisra, so you need a shamash for them. That's what it says, right? How'd they do it? They went to look for a professional shamash, and who was the professional shamash? Barak. Does that mean with Naftali and Zvulun? Yeah. Guess what? So listen to the Ohr HaChaim. Says the Ohr HaChaim, ומד נשתנו זבולון ונפתלי מכל השבטים שבאו תשועה גדולה לישראל על ידם. Why did this yeshuah come to them through Zvulun and Naftali? שנאמר, like it says, you should take from Naftali. כך אמרו חכמים: נפתלי שימש את יעקב אבינו. Oh, right, a shamash. Yeah, אתה מעשה. Naftali is a shamash. ויוצא מן הכרס, לוח, and he did a tremendous thing. He ran back for Yaakov Avinu by the kever to get the shtar, right? We're gonna learn.

Listen in this week's parsha, mamish this week's parsha, speed, he sped back, right? So he was mishamesh. How about Zvulun? Shimeish es Barak. He was also—sorry, I'm sorry—Zvulun shimeish Yissachar, excuse me. He was mishamesh Yissachar. Zvulun takes care of Yissachar, so he's a shamash to Yissachar. ... We have ... Yissachar. Good, it's Beis. So it's Shabbos. For some reason, we need a professional Shabbos to go fight this war. I tried to look anywhere. Is it have a ... credit because of that? Good. You want to know, yeda men shoggagin zechusim. When oib a statement, if it says that we're looking for this ma'alah, there's got to be something in this ma'alah that's unique to the story of Sisera. We're discussing the nevuah. What was the nevuah? What was told? So according to Reb Chaim Kanievsky and others, maybe nothing was told to Devorah, only that she'll be matzliach in the war. That's all. The Rambak says yes, everything was there. But the Rav says not everything. It's true, the parts that Barak has to go, but what about with the rest of Klal Yisrael? That was given for Devorah to say they should have came. He uses a lashon that they should have came, lo shi'asu Yisrael because of the mitzvah hachrim tachrimem. Hagam the lashon of the Chazal, lo shi'ah Yisrael would be, why didn't you help? It's mashma the ta'ina on them was, what are you sitting idle when Klal Yisrael has a milchamah? There was ... k'shomea lecha nafshi. Now, does it not negate to you? Of course it's negate to you, but the Brisker Rav doesn't learn like that. The Brisker Rav learns the ta'ina was hachrim tachrimem. Okay. So we have to understand, why was the nevuah given in such a way, You're gonna win, and therefore decide on your own what to do, and that's the way it comes out. The nevuah was, You're gonna win. Yes, and okay, so we have to decide. So now we have to go to war because we have our confidence we're gonna win. You see how it comes out? It's not an answer to the sugya yet. It's not that he was told to go to fight Sisera. They were told they're gonna win. U'me'eila, they're the ones who gained. U'me'eila, they're the ones who gained. Why would the Ribbono Shel Olam come out, You're gonna win, if He's hinting it to me, maybe? So we're discussing how did Zvulun and Naftali—ups, all these Zvulun and Naftali have to go fight Sisera? So we said two just answers, Chazal. One is that in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu, it was Binyamin and Yehuda. They jumped into the waters. So now it's Zvulun's turn. Take turns now. It's your turn, my turn. It's all about turns. So I found an interesting—Rabbi says they all had one thing in common: they were mishamshim. Barak was mishammesh the talmidei chachamim. Naftali was a mishammesh in shtub. Zvulun was a mishammesh to Yissachar, u'me'eila vas. The yeshuah over here, you see clearly, had to come through an ish. If you look at pasuk tes, it says clearly, Vataomer, 'Haloch eilech.' I will go. Devorah says, I'm going. F.S. Ki lo sifadcha al haderech asher atah holech. The glory, kovod, you're not gonna have from this because you're not gonna get credit for this milchamah. Ki biyat isha yimkor Hashem esa. It's going to be through the hand of a woman. Now, is the pshat it's going to be through the hand of a woman because you're not going? Is that what it means? Maybe that's what it means. L'maaseh, you should have went. Had you taken the opportunity and the chance, you would have been the sfardicha, you would have been the winning general. L'maaseh, you didn't do it, so you should know it's going to come al yedei isha, which, so to speak, is a double bizayon for you. You're not... but the isha got it. The isha got the credit for it. But it's a lot deeper, and I'm going to show you where I got this from. If you take a look, who is the isha, first of all? Who are we referring to when we say b'yad isha? So the Radak says—what'd you say? Okay. So the Radak says that it's possible that it's Yael, because b'yad isha. All the pshat is, he says, and he says that he does not maskim to it, and other mefarshim say yes, it's Devorah. It's a question of it's Yael or Devorah. Is the isha that took Sisera down Devorah, or was it Yael? Yael. Yael.

The question is, which isha is getting the credit? Okay, so it's a shaylah in the mefarshim. Now, rabosai, if the ta'anis that you're making me go with you, you should have went, so then the pshat is you should know that I'll get the credit for it. Then I hear what Dvora is saying. If she's trying to say that it's not me, it's actually b'yad isha, Yael, so what's she trying to say? You know it's going to be a bizayon for you, that an isha is going to make the nitzachon. Well, maybe she was telling him that this is a very unique milchamah, that the Ribono Shel Olam wants that it should be b'yad isha, that Sisra should fall in the hands of an isha. Not the pshat that you should know that by default, because you're not going, there's going to be an isha over here that's going to win this milchamah. No. It was predestined that they're going to fall b'yad isha. And I'll tell you where I got this from. There's a Sefer HaIkrim that says on the pasuk in the shirah later, the shirah says that Dvora says that the mother of Sisra was wondering why he's late. So she says, you know why she's probably late? Because he's wearing beautiful scarves made of colors of red, and that's why he's late. Which means the loot, the booty after the milchamah, they're crowning him, they're prestigious, they're making some kind of a parade for him, and he's walking. Az eishteigen pos. You notice that what it means. I changed the Tanach. So let me tell you what says the Sefer Ikrim, and the truth is the Radak alludes to it, but he doesn't explain where it comes from. He says, interesting, b'yad ishah, that the tzagninim, the gaze, the star gazers, told Sisro, you know, I see a woman here. I see some kind of woman that's going to defeat you, and there's blood all over the place. Says Sefer Ikrim, when they heard this, like by Paro, when he heard the tzagninim laughing his head off, did we just read the amount of ammunition, the war machine that Sisro was? It's going to fall b'yad ishah. Today we don't realize it. You have Secretary of State, afray. I'm not the media, whatever it is, right? What I'm saying is, I don't know, I don't know what she is, achray, achves, beheimos, chayim and beheimos, they stay apart. The Gemara never knows if kviyah is min chayim and beheima, or min ishah. Achal panim, an afkamina. Good, a little humor, a little bit, you know, in the middle of the day, lunch. Achal panim, a day. Afray. You know what it is in those days? Afray, that Sisro is going to fall in the hands of a woman. The mother said it can't be. So when they see, in the sky, in the stars, that it's about a woman, about blood, it must be he's going to wear scarves of the ladies that have blood, that's red. And they're gonna decorate him with this. I'll tell you something to say for ikr, that Dvorah is pointing out how off course they were. That the stagnim told them clearly, b'yad isha, that he is gonna fall in their hand, and the Radak brings this clearly. Radak says he misunderstood the stagnim. As a matter of fact, who told them that? The stargazers told Sisra, You ain't gonna make it. There's a woman. I see a woman that's... So they were laughing, Woman? Are you kidding? I'll tell you something. I even printed out the loshon of the ikr. It says clearly, What happened? They didn't believe her. Women, two women, Devorah, Yael. How could they win such a war? You're talking about the biggest army in the world, tanks and missiles, the latest technology at the time. No. They dropped Sisra, but the end, no more Sisra. So they understood it means this. Now I want to tell you something interesting. There's a sefer called Meloi HaOmer. It's about...

Beautiful sefer. Ah, heilige sefer. It's magic. Anybody who wants a little bit different flavor about ... In the Megillah, he uses this sefer ikrim to explain the story with Vashti, with the tree. I'm sorry, to explain with Zeresh, with the tree. Why? They also saw in the stars that there's going to be a lady that's going to take down Haman. Haman's thinking, What are you talking about, a lady? Ya'asu eitz gavoha chamishim amah. Let's make a big tree. Oh, they'll get to hang Mordechai on the tree. Little did he know that the tree, he's hanging himself. And he saw all this in his stargazing. He says that's the same thing, the misunderstanding of the stargazing. They just didn't read properly what it said in the stars. This is what he brings down. Let's bring down the Kisvei Ari. Sisra and Haman, it's the same gilgul. Haman is the gilgul of Sisra. Esther was the gilgul of Yael. You hear? Wait. He says it's merumaz in the pesukim, the Ari. There's the words of the Ari now. MiShamayim nilchamu hakochavim, mimsilosam. Nun is nilchamu, ha-kochavim mimsilosam. Hey mem mem, nu? Haman. You have over here Haman. It's a remez for shepeter. Hey mem nun. Right, nilchamu is the nun, ha-kochavim the hey, mimsilosam the mem. The osiyos, the first osiyos. It's Hagar. How about you know something? You know, it's something interesting. You know, there's a Meshech Chochma that says, how do we know that it might be Yoel? Maybe it's meant Dvoyra. How do you know Dvoyra meant it will fall in the hands of an isha, that isha is Dvoyra, is Yael? Maybe it's Dvoyra. How did Chazal know that maybe she was referring to Yael? He says because the lashon of the pasuk is, Vayimker. He'll fall? Don't say he'll fall. Let's see the lashon again in the pasuk, ha'beisai pasuk, yeah? Al haderech asher ki b'yad isha yimkor. I'm worried to get Meshech. You should not have. I can't even tell you, it's not good to go to work when you see a yimkor. Azavta from the Meshech Chochma, you'll have more, more, more... with the answer. I wish you bracha, hatzlacha the rest of the week. You should make big money. Now listen carefully here. What's yimkor? What do you mean? Lashon yimkor. Zogt the Meshech Chochma, tell me, what did Dvoyra lose? Nothing. Yael lost, you know that? The Gemara says Yael, she lived with Sisra many times, and it was b'rshus, it wasn't b'ones. Esther said, Kasher avadti, avadti. So she lost out with Mordechai. Yael did the same thing, and she was maskim, she was maskim to do it. And Chazal point out she became asurah l'baalah. So the word yimkor means a sale, sale. Why? Because Yael had to pay for it. D'voira had a zchus to fight this milchamah. Yael had to pay for this milchamah. Nimkar. It's a sale. She lost her husband. Now you understand Esther and Yael. It's interesting, huh? It's the same sugya. There's a sugya here of mesiras nefesh, to lose. Kasher avadti, avadti. Getting back to our sugya. So we have over here that there was a diktuk, klar, min haShamayim, that it should be an ishus. And he made this mistake, Sisra. He didn't understand it. Why should it be dafka an ishus? The way we are learning now, it comes out it wasn't by default because Barak didn't want; it was set. It was already set up that way. So there's an interesting, I read, and I don't want to go into it because it's more Kabbalistic, all the nissim that happened to Klal Yisrael till Mashiach, there's a woman involved. There's an Afein hoya b'ois hanes. You know this Torah from the Ari? Bnei Saschar is busy with this in Adar and in Purim, and he says pshat that all the nissim are choyd.

By shaking their head. Were you on the Kabbalah? How do you know what I'm talking about? I don't even know what I'm talking about, so how do you know what I'm talking about? All the nisim are hoy, and that's why shira is a lashon nekeivah. Moshiach comes, it'll be netzach. Netzach Yisrael lo yeshaker. It'll be a zachar. It'll be strong. It'll be a man. The point is that the nisim—let's just make it in layman's terms, for me, for you fellas who probably understood the hoy and the netzach—I'll say it in simple terms, that all the nisim came b'toires rachamim. The Ribono Shel Olam had rachmanus. It was hoy. There was a touch of isha there. Ein b'Yisrael, like we spoke last week, there was a touch that the Ribono Shel Olam sent in Bnei Yisrael a nes. Mimeila, shira is going to be a lashon nekeivah. Asid lavo, it's going to be strictly gevurah. Klal Yisrael will be zocheh. They'll be on the madreigah. They'll be worth the nesim that happened to them. So that's called netzach. Now, please don't say, Oh, I know kabbalah. Please. When you walk out of here, I want the oilam to say, He probably didn't understand what he said, even though he really did, but that's for a different time, for a different place. What's pashut pshat that Bnei say? So the Bnei Sasson, I read, it had to be an isha for heilegin Yidden. What's the pashut pshat why it had to be an isha? You know, two weeks ago I quoted to you an interesting Malbim. Sisra came at a time where Klal Yisrael was completely meyuash. The Malbim says it wasn't that they were vayizaku, they davened, vayitzaku, they screamed out from being lost. They were completely meyuash because they saw it's impossible to beat Sisra. Sisra, he says, he brings, k'mat the targum says, the amount of ammunition. That he had was so great that Klal Yisroel walked around meyuyash. What's the inyan of Nachshon? Havoysi, if you notice, the war was such a war, and the way the Targum stresses it, that af al pi kein. That's how the Targum says. The Targum says that with all the... and af al pi kein, they fell in the hands of Barak with ten thousand people from Naftali. What does that mean? And the pshat is like this, chaveirim. There's a pasuk I'd like to quote. Yonason, the last war, he went to war with Bitachon. It says clearly, it's in Shmuel Aleph, perek yud-daled, pasuk vav, and he uses the lashon, he tells the naar, the person that's carrying the kelim, Ki ein laShem matzor l'hoshia b'rov o b'ma'at. The Ribbono Shel Olam is able to save and make a yeshuah whether you come with few people or if you come with a lot, it makes no difference. The Ribbono Shel Olam is able to save. What was the nevuah? The nevuah was, You're gonna win. Klal Yisroel hears this, they're thinking, You're serious? You gotta be kidding me. What are you talking... As a matter of fact, the Radak says that that's gufa why Barak asks Devorah to come with him, because Devorah is the chachamah, a tzaddekes, the Shechinah was shorah with her. So he's thinking maybe in her zechus there'll be hashraas haShechinah on the army that they're taking, which means he's looking at his army, he's looking at his men, and he's going... What are we supposed to do? This, with this, we're gonna go to war? ... You know the famous story with the mashal, with the war, that the Chofetz Chaim and Reb Chana go to war and they both win, right? You know, the famous, the maskil. This is basically what Baruch is saying. I need another shtickel Chofetz Chaim with me. Come, come, d'vorim, come with me. She gets upset. She says, No, I don't want to come with you. You make a mistake. I shouldn't come with you. Why? D'vorim is trying to give a yesod, that as the Ribono Shel Olam ... k'megein ... Toises mentions ... Why did you take already all of Naftali? According to the cheshbon, it was her decision. If you come and say it's the Ribono Shel Olam's decision, which also needs to be explained, but if it's her decision, I mean, why did you take all of Naftali? Take all of Klal Yisroel. You have a war, so you have to come and say we should only take five people. Take whatever you can take. The teretz is she understood it has to be bedavka with this. Now you want to know the number ten, Reb Tzadok HaKohen is busy with the numbers. It's heicha teima, I don't want to go into it. But whatever it is, it's ten. It's al yedei isha, to the point that Sisra can't understand what's going on. ... al yedei isha.

We're gonna lose to an ishah. It has to mean something completely different. The lesson was, yes, you will win al ydei ishah, and this was to bring up the level of bitachon that Klal Yisroel was now meyuash. This is the beginning of future where Klal Yisroel is gonna come up against big, big tzaros, big armies. So the Ribono Shel Olam sends an ishah. She sends a Yael. Who is Yael? Nobody even knows. I don't know if you know, it's not even so pashut who Yael is. Who is Yael? Anybody know who she is? Was she a Yehudis? She was a convert. She was a convert. From Yisroel. She was eishes... a Keni. No, she wasn't really a gerus; she was a Yisrael. Her father or grandfather, whatever it is, back... she was a Yisrael. Tell me, where did they live? They were part of Klal Yisroel? They weren't part of Klal Yisroel. What do you want? From left field comes a woman called Yael, and through her, that's where the nitzachon is gonna be. Now let's go back to Zvulun and Naftali. Who were the gedolim? Yissachar. Everybody asks me, why was Yissachar? Yehudah. Now we'll take the shamash, we'll take Barak, who was a shamash to the tzaddikim, to the talmidei chachamim. We'll take Zvulun, and the answer is, v'alubonei sheloi lomdil. If the Ribono Shel Olam wants, the hatzlachah doesn't have to come with what makes sense on paper. The Ribono Shel Olam can send b'yad ishah, b'yad me'atim. This was the lesson, and I'll tell you, Rabosai, where I got this from. You read it clearly in the Midrash. Let me read for you the Midrash. Says the Metzudas like this. She tells Barak, You come with me, good, and if you don't come with me, you won't have the tiferes. It's an interesting conversation. You won't get the honors. Says the Metzudas, Hinei, hapera nitel l'Saratzava. It's interesting, very beautiful. Derech b'derech klal, he says pshat. Here he says, Peshat mamasha ra'ui. Why does a—oh boy, okay, one more second, boys. Why does a sar tzava, a general, get reward? What's his accomplishment? And the answer is, it could be one of two reasons. Oy, baharis oy. It's either because he shows that he's fearless, without pachad, or because he won physically; he beat the other, the opponent. U'lezeh omrah, this is what she's saying, Devorah to Barak: Sisro yumas al yedei ishah. You don't have to be victorious in the war, so that's not what you're a general about. You know why you have to be—what's your general? What are you going to be a general about? How much ometz halev you show, how much bitachon you show. Where do you get this? Anyway, it's going to be al yedei ishah. V'higaleis chavra keini, kasher ye'amer b'inyan, im kein, yad'u hakol shemiyad Hashem. Everybody knows the war was waged in a way that we know for sure the outcome is all miyad Hashem; it has nothing to do with you. Ki lo bekoach tigbar ishah, because a woman can't win. She's not a general. How did she win all this? Ve'im kein, if you'll be afraid to go, shuv lo tihyeh lach al haderech hagdolah hatiferes, because you're not this either. The one thing we ask of you, Boruch, was not to fight, because it's going to be al yedei isha. The strong person in this war, the gibor in this war, is going to be the isha, not you. You're going to have to show what type of gevurah? Bitachon. So if you're scared to go and you want me to go with you, you're missing out on the whole ... I'm really convinced of this. The idea of the isha was to show that it was strictly b'yad Hashem. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.