The Salt of Tefillah: Tears of Longing and the Meaning of Korbanos

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I begin by Yikra, korbanos. I'd like to share with the oilam a thought, a gedank that I had in the inyanim of korbanos. Machshavah, something, a nayen gedank. Tefillah is bimakom korbanos. Unfortunately, we don't have korbanos. Chazal tell us, tefillah is keneged the korbanos. What is it about tefillah that compensates korbanos? Vas ligt in the korban, and vas ligt in the tefillah, az the tefillah is vi the korban. So avadeh, of course, korbanos is about kaparas avonos. The basic inyan of korbanos is kaparah, a mensch tut a chet, so he has to bring a korban. A lot of the tefillah, we ask, lachlanu, the best of kaparah, b'einshlus al moichel zayn unzer aveiros. So the basic of korbanos is in tefillah, poshut, yeah. But there are many korbanos which are not aveirah. Oriented. It's not about aveirus. Many, there's a Karban Shlamim, Karban Todah. It's also. There's chalakim of the tefillah which also are to thank the Eibishter. So anyone who gives an honest look, so to speak, kukt arayn mit an emes, he'll see karbanos and tefillah, there's a parallel, there's a connection. A lot of korban ligt shoin in the tefillah, and a lot of what we say in the tefillah ligt shoin, the maiseh, the karbanos. But I think, habeisai, there's a general yesod in korban, which is in tefillah. There's a general overlook, overview—whereas not overlook, it's an overview—general overview of what a korban is, which is the base, yesod of tefillah. And that is karbanos liskarev laKadosh Baruch Hu, to come close to the Eibishter. Karban is adam ki yakriv mikem, korban laShem. All the mefarshim, don't have to even enumerate it, everyone knows this. The ikar is the kreivus laKadosh Baruch Hu. The prat, how to do it, is mit a korban. But the main thing is the kreivus, adam ki yakriv. Mikem, mikem, the mensch. A person can go through the motions, yeah? Bring an entire korban, but if he doesn't have kavonah, right? All right. So, kashachna beheima, that's what he did, no? Kashachna. Chasmaleik der ein kop and heart. If you put your feeling, your mind, your machshavah into the korban, then nontzera Rabbeinu Shleilam. Korban is karovus, korban mikem, and that's l'choira tefillah too. Tefillah is to become close to the Rabbeinu Shleilam, to become attached to the Rabbeinu Shleilam. The lashon of tefillah is actually to be tied, gebunden. Sefarim shreiben, mefareshim hamasbir, naftulei Elokim niftalti, im achosi gam yachalti. I tied, locked horns. In English it's mamash, I locked horns with—you ever see when two, you lock horns, mamash entwined. Dos is naftulei tefillah. Naftulei.

Tefillah is naftulis, mikusher, tied, tzugebunden. Korban, mikusher tireibishter. Tefillah also, mikusher to Eibishter. Every yeshiva bachur knows the first Reb Chaim Brisk in the sefer. If you don't know that, so... how could you ever say you ever learned Reb Chaim? The first one, mamish. As Reb Chaim is masbir, s'dos zwei dinim in tefillah. Well, actually, maybe not the exact—not the first one, but it's in the beginning there—that there's two dinim in tefillah. There's the regular tefillah of saying tefillah, and then there's the kavanah of tefillah. The Rambam writes that called tefillah she'eina b'kavanah is not a tefillah. Yet we know you could be yotzei without kavanah. First bracha, not the first bracha, the Magen Avraham—today we don't do it. Yeah, okay, today even if you didn't have mechaven on the first bracha, okay, you could discuss the halacha after the shiur. But be'etzem, it's not eina tefillah. If anything, it might be a chiyuv. It might be one of the tenaiim, the conditions to be yotzei tefillah. But eina tefillah—it's the mahus, the mahus from the tefillah, the cheftza from the tefillah. To find an English word, because they'll say, I know, I'm gonna get there. What, you think I didn't learn English in my life? I read. But I'm saying, the mahus, the metzius, das der gantze yeshivaishe shprach, the essence, the essence of tefillah. Now we could be officially... On all the English stations, yeah? Okay. The essence of tefillah, what is the essence of tefillah? עומד לפני המלך, that you're standing in front of the King. Un az me'hatnisht der kavana, zogt Reb Chaim, pshat in the Rambam, shinish king tefillah. Because the whole tefillah means that you're עומד לפני המלך, stehst before the King. Yidelach, mit gekumen in a beis hamikdash, you brought a korban, you felt the same עומד לפני המלך. It's the same hergesh, same feeling. Yidelach, mit gekumen in beis hamikdash, k'derech sheba liro'os... aliyah l'regel, mit gekumen liro'os, ein davar beinish le'olam. Mensch brengt a korban, he saw it, he saw it, gezען. He saw the עומד לפני המלך. So we have that the tefillah and the korban are very, one and the same, one and the same. U'memeila takeh tefillah b'makom korbanos. Mefarshteyt, we understand what tefillah b'makom korbanos is. Aber rabosai, korbanos is vast. Korbanos has so many different halachos. I'd like to pick one interesting prat in a korban and see where is that found in tefillah. Nu, yedelach nit geshlafen, lomed in a beis... Yeah, you hear? Gut. Let's take one prat, an interesting nekudah in tefillah—I'm sorry, in korban. And let's see, vu gefintzach. Where do we see it in tefillah? Melach. Every korban needs to have melach. It needs al kol korbancha takriv melach. Avu is melach in the tefillah. It's a gezaltzene davening. Stal zach far. The baal tefillah finishes, Ah, az a gezaltzene davening, ich kimush geheert. Zogt, az a zise davening, ha? As a baal tefillah, would you take that as a compliment? Oh, that was real salty. That was a salty davening, huh? What? You like, huh? A sweet davening, yeah. A shtarke davening. A feste yeshiva's shray, a feste davening. But a gezaltz, I never heard anyone tell somebody, Dos iz a gezaltzene davening. You know, kids today love salty, mitcharif, mitchveisvas, all this sharf. Jalapeño, mit jalapeños, chveisvas. My kid one gave me a potato chip, mit jalapeño. Ich bin mekachalish, I couldn't. Dos is, dos is, vi es men das בכלל? Ich veys, efsher.

Heint vert men fun zises gevorn zoyer. I don't know, maybe the oilem became more sharp, charifim, ich heis. So they have a sharp taste. How about klopaning la'beisai? You had gezaltsen. Me git a mensh a bracha, yeah, a praise, a shevach. Azoi gezaltsene davnen. My kind felt mamish a geshmakkeit from them. Imagine you tell him that. It's a chalapino davening. Absa, a sharpkeit. Vu is doch, where is melach in tefillah? Rabosai, lomer lernen, let's understand what the reason. When the heilige Torah hot uns gezogt, we must legen melach to the Ribbono Shel Olam mitzavuns, to put salt on every korban. Why? The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim says an interesting yesod. He says, goyim, ovdei avodah zarah, they wanted sweet. They wanted chametz. They wanted sourdough. That's how they brought sacrifices, sacrifices to their avodah zarah. It should be sweet. It should be leaven, chreis, geivich, chreis. Un ufgeblozen. And they also didn't want salt. Why? Salt takes out the blood. So they wanted that it should be with all the blood, mit di gantze blut, mit di gantze... Sagt the Rambam, to be mafkia, to be an anti, lashdegoyim. With the goyim, a makriv their avodah zaras with honey and leaven, and without salt, we do punkt farkert, yeah? No sour and no dvash, and yes salt. Do tust azoy, mitum punkt farkert. Ganz gut, ah? A yid veyst, az eyn kloyster bay uns punkt farkert. Heint vil men doch zayn azoy, the maskilim. What do they want? That the synagogue should be a ... azoy, mit an orgel, mit a dos, mit a yantz, ... it should be a concert. No, no, right? Some sefer mit gekempft. There was a war that unzer shuln and unzer avodah should be what? Not like the goyim. Farkert fun the goyim. Whatever the goy does, we'll do the opposite. Our dos is makriv ... Rambam. Lech some sefer, he challenges this Rambam. There's a machlokes rishonim. Reb Aharon HaLevi in Bedek HaBayis speaks that a kohen is not allowed to put dvash on his korban that he eats. When he eats, the baalim; when the kohen eats, right? The halem afdi korbanos, do they put salt? Do they put salt? So the Rabbeinu Levi says that they have to put salt, but they don't have to be makpid on dvash. And this is a machlokes rishonim: yeah, dvash, yeah, melach. Maybe it's only on the korban alone. If so, says the Chasam Sofer, ma nafshach: if you hold you need to put salt, right, then you shouldn't have dvash. If the reason for the salt is to be not like the goyim, so how could a kohen lay dvash u'legenzalts? It doesn't work together. If you hold that you're supposed to put salt, and the reason for the putting of the salt is always what? Because you don't want to not like the goyim, who don't put salt, so then a bezeh should put dvash either. The Rashba taka paskens you don't have to be makpid on the salt. You don't have to put—the kohen doesn't have to put salt. Good. Chasam Sofer is good because it could be it's not all the dinim of a korban. But how does it go half and half? איךעקט דער Chasam Sofer, yeah. And you can be mefalpel: is part of the kaparah, part of the korban, is when the kohen eats.

Do you need the melach? Don't you need the melach? This will leave, b'mezakt, and we learn the sugyas. But there's an interesting Tur. The Tur says a pashut: tell me, fazich zalts tu esen? Unfortunately, when you get older, mit zis, un mit zoyer, mit zalts, you can't zugt tamit essen. You're not eating anything, right? But that's not prime food, right? Prime food is that it should be taste, and salt brings out the taste more than anything. So, fazich, for yourself, you make salt in your food, is the Ribbono Shel Olam ... lechem lefanai, daf melechet zalts; you have to put salt. Min hamutar b'ficha, says the Tur. That's a chelek from min hamutar b'ficha. Whatever you eat, give to the Ribbono Shel Olam. How many times, fazich, no good, it's not working out. Oh, it's working out good, very good. How many times is the reverse? Fazich puts the zachon, you know, has a beautiful, yeah, ... and when I get that Pesach, ... Sometimes, ... whatever you give for yourself, for the Ribbono Shel Olam has to be more. So if you give yourself melach, it's avada, dafka ... for the Ribbono Shel Olam. No? Plain and pashut. Yeah, good, rabosai. There's an interesting mahalach from the Sifsei Kohein al haTorah, pli ploy. He says, melach brings us back to zdoym. How tamaisa. Zdoym, they didn't put salt in the food. You know the whole story with Eishes Lot. You know, Rabosai, salt. You know what the word salt is supposed to remind you right away? Sodom is zdoym. They didn't give salt. Why didn't they give salt? You know, to give a person to eat—like I said, today it's a health thing to not put salt. But no salt is a zdoymdike zach, yeah? In korban, dafn vaizen name, because adam ki yakriv mikem, you have to be makriv the shlechta mideseichem. Salt represents, b'samaises zdoym, of not wanting to be mehaneh, not wanting to give the person a full, delicious eating. ... Sifsei Kohein al haTorah, nu, Rabosai, yeah? Mimeila, zaltsmen al kol korban takriv. Fazaltzn a korban. I think this is what he means, mikem. Part of the korban is to be makriv the shlechta mideseichem. Salt reminds us of the shlechta mides of Sdoym. I was thinking to myself, there's a whole sugya in Shas, melach Sdoymis. It's mesames einayim, mevar blind from them. Vos melach Sdoymis? Vu melach Sdoym? Where? What, Sdoym? Where is Sdoym? Derech hashulchan, rebshe vegen dem. Who has melach Sdoym today? Yeah, melachs doymis today, right? ונשתדם. According to one צד in the Gemara, ותקדישתם, yousin kedoshim, kedusha. So pashut means clean hands. Alef frage: does it have to do with melachs doymis? Is it two reasons, one reason? No, nu gut. ... ניט קיין דרוש mit ma'ases. Yeah, nu. The Chashal says we have melachs doymis today. We obviously have it. We don't realize it, but somehow the oceans are connected and, I don't know what, and salt in it. Somehow you can have a kernel of melachs doymis wind up in your food, huh? Maybe melachs doymis, chaveisai, is a conceptual thing also. ... ותקדישתם ויִהְיוּ קְדוֹשִׁים. Yeah. You know what's ...? A person eats, and he's showing he's a tremendous machnis orch, but deep down, what's lying in them? ... Mamesh you see it, explicitious. It's a tremendous ...

Five-course meal. You had the bis, ... The shlechte middos in them, licked in them, because it's missing the salt. Here, that's an ... Eliches taamis. ... U'meila, kol korbancha takriv melach. ... Abosai, lomer ich zogen nocha vort in melach. You know, there's water, and there's salt from water. Water has salt. Chazal tell us that there was mayim elyonim and mayim tachtonim. There was the upper waters and the lower waters. Yirkia b'soch hamayim. They split the waters. Chazal say, called mayim boichin. The waters cried. What did they cry? Ribono Shel Olam, you're detaching us from You. We want to be close to You. Hot der Ribono Shel Olam gezogt, zogt the Chazal, a medrash, I'll pay you back. Al kol korbancha takriv melach. Where does the salt come? It comes from the water. Leikt men dos af hamizbeach, adam ki yakriv mikem yiheyeh karban, close to the Ribono Shel Olam. Ah? Meiredik. The sultan, the karban, is the waters that want to become close to the Eibishter. It's called mayim boichin. Al kol korbancha takriv melach is a payment that the waters felt menutak from the Ribono Shel Olam. Al naharos Bavel, sham yashavnu gam, gam. What's oich geve? What's meant oich geve? Sham yashavnu uvachinu. It's in all the sefarim, it's a famous vort. We cried with the waters. The waters were misnachem that they had the korbanos, like this they were attached to the Eibishter. So with the Churban Bayis, not only we cried that we were detached from the Ribono Shel Olam, the waters cried also. Ribono Shel Olam, how are we supposed to attach ourselves? Vi ken men zikh mekusher? Gam bachinu mit d'vaser. We cried together with the waters. Waters cry. Kol mayim boichin. Waters cry. How we speak every Yontif, mishlepn zich d'vaser. That's the way, you know, Pesach is kami Chalamoed, they schlep, the family, they take you always boating, mit chaveir's boat, always near the waters, Baruch Hashem. And always a very interesting thing: water storms. What is—how does it storm? It storms up. Ever see? Vaserin, vi geit vaser? It storms up because the water wants to go back. The waters cry. What do they cry, Rabbeinu Shleilam? I want to go back. I want to be mekusher with You. Rabbeinu Sh... I want to be mekusher. Mikolos mayim. There's a kol to mayim, a kol, the kol of bechi, that it cries. I saw a ma'aseh devar from the Imrei Emes. What is Simchas Beis HaShoeivah? What is Simchas Beis HaShoeivah? ... You want me to scream? I'll scream. Mikolos mayim ... No. What is the simchah? It's the water. Mayim elyonim, mayim tachtonim. Imrei Emes, ma yedukeh vort. It's the simchah. The vasser kumt tzerik. The Eibishter promised. The Eibishter promised. Simchas Beis HaShoeivah. Sukkos, the Yidden is mekusher with the Rabbeinu Shleilam. That's Sukkos. Sukkos, a Yid is mekusher with the Rabbeinu Shleilam, lifnei Hashem. The waters. We are sameach with the waters. The waters, nisach hamayim.

The waters go back to the Rabbeinu Shlelem. You know, Rabosai, I want to tell you ha'arah, and with this we'll end. I see the oilam shloft. All right, let's watch what I do. Which way? I'm not—I don't have the koiches to scream today, to wake everybody up. All right, have a ha'arah. You know, the night of Pesach, karpas, what do we dip it into? Dip into salt water. All right. I went to look, research, what's the reason for salt water, and I found ta'amim and ta'amim. The Seder Aruch is the classic sefer that brings all the ta'amim, yeah? So I look and I see he brings like this: one reason from sefer Minhagim, that the kohanim Mitzrayim weren't allowed to eat melach. V'chein anu tolin karpas b'mei melach. Almost like the Rambam's reason for the salt on the korban, yeah? Mitzrayim, no melach, yes melach. Same reason, right? Huh? Sounds familiar? Okay. Then he brings another thing: yisurim, markim. Salt represents pain, and therefore we're tovel the karpas b'mei melach, shekein hakarpas af hu romez l'yisurim avodas perech. Salt. All right? Salt. Yach. Markim, like salt on top of a wound. Okay. This he brings from different mefarshim. Then he brings, Pesach v', that they went to tefillah. That after they went to the milah, ... of the Pesach, they all went into one mikveh. You know what the mikveh looked like? He brings it, taamei minhagim, b'shem the Rashbi Belzer. You think you have a dirty mikveh? Yeah, what? ... mikveh? Yeah. It says, therefore you have to have salt to remind us. ... He talks a little bit over here about melech Sedomis, with Sdom, and brings another reason. The one reason he doesn't bring, it was the one I wanted, that I grew up with, I don't know. Has to do with the tears. No, I went, look, I can't find it. Didn't we grow up with this, that the saltwater tears? No, you never had the tears one? Avada. קוק, ... please find it. I'll give you homework, find it. The tears, Klal Yisrael, ... tears, ... saltwater tears. Who doesn't know? ... tears, ... The ... that we said in ... the tears, the tears, eh? ... First of all, let me just tell you, ... and I want you to tell this to the kids. Is karpas a siman for the geulah, or is karpas a siman for the shibud? It's a big shaila in Rishonim, it's a big shaila in Acharonim, because there's a whole shaila if you're supposed to eat the karpas b'seiva. A lot of discussion about it. So, man d'shach, is it karpas, samach perach, avodah, need a b'seiva? Someone is saying that it's very possible that the whole night of the Seder is this, you know, dichotomy. See? Not an English word, dichotomy. It's a stira, man d'shach. Is it this or is it this? Which one is it? When the Torah says, ... I heard this from Rav Gifter, he used to scream, Yiddishkeit can't be explained. They can have stira d'Yiddishkeit, but at the same time, ... See, as Rav Gifter used to scream, he used to say, Give a cook. ... You make two brachos, ... I don't ... You have a split personality. Another guy tells you that, lock him up. Lock him up. Lo b'seder. How about ... I can't at the same time to cry and to thank ... That's the ... Yeah, good, good. ... At 2:30 you want me to talk about it, then you'll have ta'inus afterwards.

Let's see if you're crying or laughing if I continue. Lama zeh? The taaretz habeisai is, vos? Vos der teretz? Treren could also be what? It's very certain, treren, they say. There's two types of tears. M'ken veinen, vos me hot nisht, m'ken veinen vam me vil hoben, longing, mayn boichen. There's a different type of crying. Miss something, cry, want. Kol karbancha takriv melach. Remember, if you had a korban, a Yid has to have what? The hergesh, vos der baserim gehat. Ribono Shel Olam, I miss you. I miss you. I did a chet. I was misrachek from you. Shaarei dmaos lo ninalu in tefillah. It's one of the yesodos of tefillah. In every davening, in every tefillah, the davening to Ribono Shel Olam, kesher. What's the ... in Shaarei Dmaos lo ninalu? So I have a shaylah: what's dmaos? It should say Shaarei dimah. Vos is dmaos? On the teretz is, Rabosai, there's different types of tears. There's tears of happiness, and there's tears of longing, and there's tears of yisurim. It's all tears, different types of tears. Shaarei dmaos, Ribono Shel Olam accepts all of it. In tefillah, you have to feel, Ribono Shel Olam, I want to get close to You. We're lost. We're far. This is the inyan of korban melach, when it does hatmanah in tefillah. Shaarei dmaos lo ninalu. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.