Sefiras HaOmer: Lo Nahagu Kavod Zeh Bazeh, Respecting Talmidei Chachamim, and Kinyanei HaTorah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, bruchim haba'im. Parshas Kedoshim. We are now in the yemei haSefirah, the days that we count Sefiras HaOmer, and it's in these days that we are misabel. We mourn the talmidei Rabbi Akiva, the 24,000 talmidim that Rabbi Akiva lost, that were niftar. What is the significance of the aveilus of the talmidei Rabbi Akiva? What is the avodah? How are we supposed to take these days, and how are we supposed to learn from these days? This week's parsha, Parshas Kedoshim. Kedoshim tihyu. Kedoshim, we all know, means to be sanctified, kedusha, Rashi, shtei pirushim: separated, spiritually elevated. Yet there's an interesting Chiddushei Harim. Chiddushei Harim points out that in Parshas Kedoshim, in the continuation of the pesukim, we read a lot about bein adam l'chaveiro. Within these pesukim of bein adam l'chaveiro, we have the mitzvah v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, that you should love your friend like you love yourself. It's a mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael. Rabbi Akiva, the same person who lost all of the talmidim. The 24,000 talmidim that we mourn in this period, Reb Akiva says, Zehu klal gadol baTorah. Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, this is a big rule, a klal gadol in the Torah. Points out the Chidushei Harim, the word klal gadol signifies that there must be a klal katan. Whenever there's a klal, a rule which is big, there's got to be a klal which is קטן, comparative to the klal gadol. What is the klal katan if Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha is the klal gadol baTorah, says Chidushei Harim? Kedoshim tihyu. That is the klal katan. The pasuk, the first pasuk in the parsha Kedoshim tihyu, and then we keep on reading Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. And if Reb Akiva says, Zehu klal gadol baTorah, and Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, obviously it must be that the klal katan is Kedoshim tihyu in relevance to the mitzvah of Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, which is the klal gadol. Days of Sefirah, I think we have to emphasize and we have to focus that the klal gadol is Ve'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. That's the tremendous avodah at this time. Lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. The talmidei Reb Akiva, they were punished, they were nifter, they passed away because they weren't noheg kavod zeh bazeh. The Gemara in Yevamos, samech beis amud beis. So the tikkun that we must do these days is to be misaken the lo nohagu kavod zeh bazeh. What was the chet? What was the chisaron of lo nohagu kavod zeh bazeh? I've always wondered, was it bein adam l'chaveiro? Was the issue that when you're not noheg kavod zeh bazeh, it lacks in v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha? Or was it a chisaron in kavod talmidei chachamim, in the chet of hadarta pnei zaken, which is also in the parsha, the pesukim following Kedoshim tihyu? Was it a bein adam l'chaveiro, v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha? Or was it a kavod haTorah issue of hadarta pnei zaken? They didn't respect their fellow talmid chacham friend. As mentioned, it was no other than Reb Akiva himself that said v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha is a klal gadol baTorah. Many mefarshim say that Reb Akiva is the one who says this memra because he came to this realization by losing his twenty...

The 24,000 talmidim. It is this that brought him to realize and to accept and to teach that v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, zehu klal gadol baTorah, v'azoi l'cheira, the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh must have been a chisaron in v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. Reb Akiva's lesson from his 24,000 talmidim that passed away was v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, zehu klal gadol baTorah. He would follow to say that l'cheira, the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh was a chisaron in v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. Yet we find in mefarshim that try to see the chisaron in Torah. Understandably, 24,000 talmidim, they were the greatest of the talmidei chachamim, so there was an onesh in the Torah as well when they passed away. So they tried to tie the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh to a chisaron in Torah. Reb Shiva, Reb Aharon Kotler, zichrono tzaddik livracha, Mishnas Reb Aharon, fataitches the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh was a chisaron in the kinyanei haTorah. There's mem-ches kinyanei haTorah. This is the way Torah needs to be learned, and especially if the Torah is going to be the Torah that will continue the mesorahs haTorah. Reb Akiva's talmidim were the hemshech in the mesorahs haTorah. If they lacked in the kinyanim necessary to be mekayem and to have Torah with all its kinyanim. Memeila, their Torah was flawed to the point that they had to die. The Chav Daled, elef talmidim. The kinyanei haTorah mechayev that there should be kavod zeh bazeh. And if it lacks in kinyanei Torah, says Rosh Yeshiva, memeila it was gorim there petirah, was gorim there that they should have to die. It's yadua that the yemei haSefirah, the days of Sefirah, are designated to work on the kinyanei haTorah. If you notice, there are 49 days of Sefirah. There are 48 kinyanim that gebracht in sefarim. Sefarim tell us that the avodah this time, in this juncture between Pesach and Shavuos, the 49 days is to work each day on another one of the kinyanei haTorah till we come with all of them, Shavuos. The question is, there's 48 kinyanei haTorah, there's 49 days of Sefirah, so there's two pshatim. Either the 49th day is designated for chazarah. It's to chazer over and work over. It's one of the limudim also, one of the yesodos, and probably one of the kinyanim of Torah, that even you have achieved, you need to go back and chazer. So the 49th day is the day of chazarah on all the 48 kinyanim. Another nusach, another way how to understand the 49th day, which was given in the avodah of the 48 kinyanim, is the 49 days the shleimus of all of them together. Each day we work on a kinyan, and the 49th day is the day that we have all the kinyanim, bishleimusam as one, and then we're ready for Kabbalas HaTorah. We've spoken about this in the past, but according to the mahalach of the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Aharon, it's more geshmak, because now we understand where the chisaron in the kinyanei haTorah. The fact that they were lacking in the kinyanei haTorah, which at this time between Pesach and Shavuos, the time that was designated to work on the kinyanei haTorah in preparation for Kabbalas HaTorah, was the chisaron that caused the chav daled elef talmidim to be niftar. Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, shiur Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, mir Rosh Yeshiva, has a different mahalach. He says that the chisaron of the chav daled elef talmidi Reb Akiva was lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh, and therefore it was דווקא a chisaron in Torah, because if you're not mechabed, if you're not noheg kavod with your chavrusa, with your friends, the Torah that they learn and the Torah that they're mechadesh, you don't accept, you don't want to listen to it. You're not interested. You don't have kavod for the person, so you don't want to hear his Torah.

That he was mechadesh. So many chiddushei Torah got lost that way. It was taka given a chisaron in Torah. Reb Aharon's learning, it was a chisaron in the mahalach of the limud. Reb Chaim Shmulevitz's learning is a chisaron, etzem limud haTorah, lacked limud haTorah. I've always thought about this yesod, how when you're not mechabed properly, you can't learn from the person if you're not mechabed him properly. The worst thing is bittul. When you start being mevatel somebody, that itself causes that you can't hear. You're not mekabel the person, that he says maybe beautiful chiddushei Torah, maybe big yesodos and hashkafah, limudim in middos that he could give you. Mizmevatel, that's the yetzer hara's koach. Nu, eh. And once you go eh, and you're not mechabed the person, so whatever he has to teach doesn't apply to you. You're not interested in it. I've always fatached. If you notice, by Noach, Noach wasn't able to mashpia al doiro. The question is why not? Why was Noach not able to matzliach? He built the teivah for 120 years. Chazal's mashma, as he was building, he was giving them mussar, telling them, Mabul will come. Yet we find he wasn't mashpia al doiro. So there's one pshat in the mefarshim that even though he gave them mussar, but he wasn't mispallel aleihem. Chazal already, shelo hispalel al doiroi. A person could give mussar; you're not mispalel. If you don't daven that the person should change his ways, well, the mussar is not necessarily going to help. It's not necessarily going to do the trick. Daven, mispalel zayn far em. So, Iktiva from the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Aharon Leib, shteit in zechus tzaddik livrachah, that somebody came to him. He was a mechanech, and he said, I'm giving up about a certain bochur. I tried, and I spoke to him, and I worked with him. I can't do it anymore. Rosh Yeshiva, what do I do? I'm holding at the threshold of giving up. Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Aharon Leib tells him, What is this child's name, the name of the mother? What's the name of the mother of this child? The mechanech, the rebbe, says, I don't know. He says, What? You don't know? Means you never davened for this child, that he should be chozer, that he should be on the right path of Torah, and you're ready to give up on him. With all the mussar and all the chinuch, daven mispalel zayn. That's l'choirah one mahalach of why Noach was not capable and able of changing his dor, regardless that he gave mussar for 120 years. But efsher kemetzagen noch a taytsh. Shteit Noach ish tzaddik, tamim haya b'dorosav. Rashi says, Yesh shedorshin l'shvach, v'yesh shedorshin l'gnai. Why would Rashi need to bring a yesh dorshim lignai? What about Noach, ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav, dachalamol yadua. It's a good tezach and mention. Taftachn zogn k'shlechte zach. Why speak yesh dorshim lignai? There's a lot of drush about this question. One of the ta'ina could be Rashi's trying to fashtei, to give us to understand why was Noach not matzliach? Why Noach, ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav, why was he not mashpia al doro? And the teretz is because yesh dorshim lignai. There were people that were saying, Eh, Noach, meh. Ilu hayah b'doros shel Avraham, lo nechshev l'klum. Who's Noach? What's Noach? Noach is mei, mah l'Noach. That's why he was not mashpia. The bittul. Asida yesh dorshim lignai. He can't be matzliach. You notice when it says dorshim l'shvach, it's yeshmei Rabbeinu shedorshim l'shvach. By the bittul, by the gnai, it's yesh dorshim. It doesn't say yeshmei Rabbeinu. There, it's not the Rabbeinu that are dorshim lignai. It's the gas. It's l'tzonea dor. The yesh dorshim lignai. U'meileh, Noach wasn't able.

To have the hashpaah that he could have had. It's tremendous limud, rabosai. Az miz nisht noyeh kavod. There's no respect. So even people who are able to say beautiful Torah, and people who are able to be mashpia, we lose out from their koach of Torah, from their chiddushei Torah, from their beautiful hashkafah and mussar and middos that we could learn from them. Mefareshim question why the Talmid of Akiva died punk this time between Pesach and Shavuos. Why dafka in the yemei haSefirah leading up to Kabbalas HaTorah? Another question that's asked: Afilu delo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh, nischayvu misah? Where does it say in the Torah that if someone isn't mechabed the other person, he's chayav misah? It says, Hashochein es hazach, v'achar kamecha, sargei aveirah, al bishtei technishas, mischayev misah, that someone will die because he's not noheg kavod zeh bazeh. Kipshutoi, davzogen that the yemei haSefirah are yemei din. In fact, the brachten al the sefarim, it's a time of din. And the time of din, HaKadosh Baruch Hu medakdek im hatzaddikim kechut hasaarah. So meileh, in this tkufah between Pesach and Shavuos, the chaf-daled, lamed, talmidim, they were taken away middas hadin. Tiktu kadin. Bimei ha-sefirah, a blayte mahalach from Rosh Yeshiva Reb Baren, a leita mahalach from the Rosh Yeshiva Reb Chaim Shmulevitz. It was takke in the Torah, there was something missing, there was something lacking in the Torah. It wasn't only the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. The lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh brought about a tremendous pegiah in the Torah, a tremendous loss in Torah, tremendous shichchas haTorah. We know that there's a famous Mishnah: Hashocheach davar miTalmudo, chayav misah. No, dos is der taich. It's a bigeder, shocheach davar miTalmudo, when the middos and the kinyanei haTorah are not there, mimeila yesh shichachah, there's a shichchas haTorah, there's a chisaron. It's ke'ilu they mamash took and made a loss, made a pegiah in the Torah, a shichchah of the Torah. And then there's a chiyuv misah, as it states in halachah, shocheach davar miTalmudo chayav misah. And that's why, punkt in this tekufah, because this is the tekufah where you need hachanah for Kabbalas haTorah. In this tekufah dafka me'arbetin, we have to work on preparation to be koneh Torah, not chas v'shalom the hepech, the opposite. That's the chorah, the taich in the aveilus, dafka mis'abel zayin on the talmidim of Rabbi Akiva. It was a tremendous loss, but it's what the talmidei Rabbi Akiva represent. The mesayres haTorah, the tremendous chidushei Torah that the Chavdaled elef talmidim, that we lost with their petirah, and that's what we're being misabel. It's interesting, Lag BaOmer, it's a day of simcha. In the middle of the yemei haSefirah, we have a day, Lag BaOmer. It's not brought down in Shulchan Aruch. The Beis Yosef in Shulchan Aruch doesn't bring it at all. The Ramo says that it's a day that we have simcha, nohagim ketzas simcha. What's the reason for this? You ask everyone, they'll say Reb Shimon bar Yochai. That's also not brought down clearly in the Shulchan Aruch, in the Nosei Keilim. The Mishnah Berurah brings down because they stopped dying, the talmidei Rabbi Akiva stopped dying, shepasku lamus. No, it's yadua, there's a whole inyan of Reb Shimon bar Yochai. Chasam Sofer questions it: why is there a simcha on the yahrzeit of a tzaddik? V'kert, today should be a day of aveilus. If you look at the Shaar HaKavanos from the Arizal HaKadosh, he says Lag BaOmer, the simcha was because this day Rabbi Akiva went and he gave semichah to the five talmidim of Mizrach. The five talmidim after the twenty-four, he had five talmidim that...

Came from the Mizrach, and with them he continued the kiyum and the mesiras haTorah, and that's the simcha. The aveilus was that there was a hefsek, there was a pegam, there was a break in the Torah and the mesiras haTorah. So understandably, in that kufa, that when there was a continuation, a rebuilding of that Torah and the mesiras haTorah of Rabbi Akiva, mimeila velt simcha. You know, people don't realize the aveilus of the talmidim of Rabbi Akiva is the greatest period of aveilus that we have. It's interesting, the Churban. The Churban was also tremendous, tremendous tragedies happened during the Churban. Skeinim, ne'arim, taf. Yet how many days are we misabel for the Churban? There's Tisha B'Av, there's Shivah Asar b'Tammuz, there's the nine days, the three weeks. Here we have a period of lamed-gimmel yom for Sefirah, maybe even seven straight weeks according to the Ari, seven straight weeks that we're misabel. There is no greater event of tragedy. There is no greater event of tragedy in the history of Klal Yisrael that we mourn to such an extent. Seven straight weeks, half a fellah. Even the Churban HaBayis, it's one day, Shivah Asar b'Tammuz, Tishah, like I explained, like we point out, but it's not seven straight weeks. Seven weeks of aveilus gives you to understand the loss and the tragedy of the misas talmidei Rabbi Akiva. You know, today, rabosai, chas v'shalom, a Yid gets shot somewhere, two, three Yidden get killed. It's a tremendous feeling of tragedy, and it wakes us up with hisoirus that we need to be mischazek. Twenty-four thousand talmidei chachamim, l'yom ki asupa. How it's supposed to wake us up, the tragedy, the loss for Klal Yisroel. And it is expressed, taka, in the amount of aveilus that we're misabel. I can imagine that the truth is, talmidei Rabbi Akiva and their loss was actually kimat churban ha'olam. We know, Bereishis bara Elokim bishvil haTorah shnikreis reishis, that the whole world stands on the Torah. And if there would have been a hefsek in the mesiras haTorah, it affected the entire world. It was almost like a world war, a churban ha'olam. And all of it stemmed from a lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh, the shoresh of this great tragic churban for Klal Yisroel, bifrat, and l'chol olam mistama bichlal. Lebrisi shamayim v'aretz, chukos shamayim v'aretz lo samtiv. If it wasn't for the Torah, the whole world probably would have went under with the misas talmidi d'Rabbi Akiva. And it all is rooted in what, in maybe in our eyes seems to be no, lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. It speaks volumes, and it should be a tremendous eye-opener to all of us what it means, lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. Not to minimize the tragedy and the chisaron that could come from what seems to be a simple lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. And this has to be the avodah and this תקופה, to be misaken that. And to be misaken it means to fully understand the chet and the ivus and the kilkul that what it is. You know, it's very hard to be mesabel and to fix something that we don't understand is a problem. First step is to, of course, understand and admit the problem. Rabosai, lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh is a real, real, real churban. It creates—

It could lead to chavdaled elef talmidim should die, v'nitaken Torah because of lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. And l'doros, Klal Yisrael for weeks and weeks is misabel for something that started with lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. Gives light to the kedoshim tihyu is the klal katan. V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha could be the klal gadol baTorah, baTorach. Could be that this is the whole Torah stands on this. Without it, the entire Torah could be lost. Without it, it's a pegiah b'chol haTorah kula. Rabbi Akiva started to see how far and how deep is the inyan of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, klal gadol baTorah. Not just it's one of the most important; the entire Torah stands on it. And maybe that's the taich that when the ger comes to Hillel, he wants to know the entire Torah al regel achas. And Hillel tells him, What is sani lach, which is the mitzvah of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. How is that the whole Torah? The way we're explaining, the way we see it is the whole Torah, and could be that's what it means on one foot. It's a new taich I understood this year. One foot means the ma'amit, the whole Torah. This is the foot that the Torah stands on. And if you don't have this... You don't have legs. The Torah doesn't have legs to stand on. Mimeila there'll be churban. Mimeila there'll be shikchas haTorah. There's a pegiah in the Torah. L'dori doros, l'dori doros will have to be corrected. I'm learning the Ketav. Klal gadol. Klal sometimes means the whole Torah stands on something; it's a klal. The Torah is not just a klal, it's so important. This is the amud that the Torah stands on. This is the foot that the Torah stands on. In the parsha, as we mentioned, we read the pasuk, Mipnei seivah takum v'hadarta pnei zaken. The mitzvah of kavod talmidei chachamim. The Gemara in Kiddushin says mipnei seivah. Seivah means an old person, even if he's not a talmid chacham. V'hadarta pnei zaken. It's redundant? No. Zaken can mean zeh shekanah chochmah; he's a talmid chacham, even though he is not a zaken. So there's a chiyuv kavod for the elders, even if they're not a talmid chacham, and there's a chiyuv kavod for a talmid chacham, even if he's not old. The pasuk ends emphasizing, V'yareisa meElokecha. You have to stand up mipnei seivah takum, and you have to respect pnei zaken, v'yareisa. You have to have fear of Hashem. What is the emphasis of v'yareisa meElokecha here? So, kepshutoi, you could say the Talmud chacham represents the Ribono Shel Olam. So respect, mora, mora rabcha, the fear is really the fear of the Eibishter, because the Talmud chacham represents the Ribono Shel Olam. Rashi, in the name of Chazal, says a different pshat: Yarei es melekecha yachol yatzim einav k'mi shelo ra'ahu. I would say a person will say, I didn't see him. Yatzim einav, he closes his eyes as if he didn't see him. I didn't stand off in my Chumash gezen. My head was in the Gemara. My head was down. Maybe today my head was looking at the phone. I didn't see the Talmud chacham, Chumash gezen. So the Ribono Shel Olam, yarei es melekecha, I know. I know if you saw, you didn't see. Now what does yatzim einav, he closes his eyes, mean? Physically, actual b'poel, he has his eyes closed. His eyes are not looking at the Talmud chacham. I've always felt that there's a different type of yatzim einav, very relevant in our times, and that is in the mind. You close your eyes, not wanting to see that he is a Talmud chacham. There's a yatzim einav physically, and there's a yatzim...

It's a meina, mentally, that the person, he closes his eyes at the Talmud Chacham, not to recognize the Talmud Chacham. Meileh, you don't stand up for him, you're not mechabed him. Rabboisai, being mevatel somebody is another form of yatzim, of yatzim einayim, that you close your eyes. In English there's a word, it's called rationalization. It could also be called justification, when we, in our minds, rationalize that we don't have to respect or do something because it's not chashuv, it's not important. This, this, Rabboisai, is another form of yatzim einayim. There's a vort that the Velt says, Vos? Ich bin mevatel talmid chacham, chas v'shalom. It's a tremendous aveirah to be mevatel talmid chacham. Fir macher mois talmid chacham un machter him, mevatel him. First I make him that he's not a talmid chacham, and then I knock him to the ground and I undermine him. But to be mevatel a talmid chacham, this is the game that the yetzer hara plays with us. There's a story, a famous story said over about a Rosh Yeshiva. Who comes to a gvir and asks for money for the yeshiva. He says, You've given me in the past years. Could you give me this year? The gvir, the balabos, tells him, Not so fast. I have a lot of criticism towards you, the Rosh Yeshiva, towards the yeshiva. Can I tell you my criticism, and then I will give you the check? The Rosh Yeshiva tells him, No. First give me the check. First give me the donation, and then I'll listen to all your criticism. The Rosh Yeshiva explained very simple: sometimes the criticism is an excuse. It's a justification not to give the money. So let's get that out of the way. First give the donation. Now, if you still want to tell me the criticism, which probably you don't want to tell me anymore, because a lot of times in our minds we have criticism. In our minds we have bittul as an excuse to not have to respect and not have to do. It's justification and rationalization. If you notice in the parsha, Parah Adumah, the zekeinim, someone was killed between the cities, so the zekeinim of the closer city have to come and bring a korban. What do they say? Yadeinu lo shafchu es hadam hazeh, ve'eineinu lo ra'u. An interesting vidui: we didn't do anything wrong. We didn't spill the person's blood, and our eyes did not see what happened to him. We took care of him. We gave him. It's not our fault. Eineinu lo ra'u. We didn't see. It's a famous question, all the mefarshim ponder, so then what are you saying vidui and bringing a korban for? You know, it sounds like the chataim that we mevadeh for, we didn't do anything wrong, so then what are you being misvadeh for? Vidui means I did something, not I didn't do. And here they're proclaiming they did nothing, like, Ve'einenu lo shafchu v'einenu lo ra'u. It's an excuse, we didn't see. We've spoken in the past many terutzim, said over pshat from my zeide. I think there's an interesting taich in the context of what we're speaking, how people justify and rationalize, and they're matzmi'einayim, which means they saw, but they rationalize and therefore they don't see. Maybe that's the pshat, Ve'einenu lo ra'u. It doesn't mean they didn't see. They saw, but their mind, in their mind they rationalized that they don't have to do anything to help this person. That's also called Ve'einenu lo ra'u, to not see what you see, to close your eyes and not pay attention to what you see, to excuse yourself that what you saw doesn't affect you, is also a chet. It's the chet of Ve'einenu lo ra'u, that we didn't see.

The brothers of Yosef also say vidui. They admit a certain guilt. Once Binyamin was taken into captivity, they start to realize that there's something going on. There's something beyond the regular circumstance that's happening here. And they say, Aval asheimim anachnu al achinu. They start to realize that it's something to do with mechiras Yosef. What blame do they have in mechiras Yosef? The words that they use is, Aval asheimim anachnu al achinu asher ra'inu b'tzaras nafsho, b'hischaneno eileinu v'lo shamanu. We saw, but we didn't hear his cries. I think, rabosai, what they were saying is they're starting to realize that they were rationalizing. They saw his screams, but they didn't hear it, because in their minds he deserved it. So you don't hear with your ears what your eyes are seeing. It doesn't enter, because you're being me'atzem ozen, you're being me'atzem ha'einayim. It's a tremendous chet, where the mind blocks the message that the eyes are seeing because of a motive. It's something that we see every day, where people are just blind to not accept what's in front of them, what they see, because of ulterior motives, because pre- Preconditions, things that they've machlit that this is right, this. But it's in front of you. It's screaming to you. It's rationalization that you don't have to see what you actually see. Maybe that's the pshat. Yosef sends agalos. He sends to his father agalos. The mefarshim, based on a Rashi that says agalos has to do with eglah arufah, try to understand what was this symbolic message in the sending of the agalos of eglah arufah. Many mefarshim say that he was sending a message because by eglah arufah, the chisaron was that you weren't melaveh. They weren't melaveh the person, and because they weren't melaveh the person, what came out of it is that the person died between the two cities. He was killed. Yosef is saying, They let me go alone. Yaakov, you sent me between the brothers alone, without leviah, and look what happened. So I am like the poor person that was killed between the two cities, and there's a ta'ina of Yadeinu lo shafchu v'eineinu lo ra'u. It bothers me always. On this pshat is, he's sending mussar to his father. The mussar comes out that the mussar was to Yaakov Avinu. It's possible that there's a different taich. He was sending with the brothers a message. It wasn't so much to the father, but it was more in the hands of the brothers, a message to them, and that is, they also. The v'einenu lo ra'ah. Yadeinu lo shafchu es hadam hazeh. They thought because there was a psak halacha, they were right. V'einenu lo ra'ah. They didn't pay attention. They didn't see, asher ra'inu b'tzaras nafsho. He was sending a message that the brothers committed the crime of eglah arufah, the chet of eglah arufah, the ziknei. There were zekeinim, zekeinim pasken, the dayanim. But in their dayanus, they made a mistake of v'einenu lo ra'ah, because Hashem manachnu, al hachinu asher ra'inu v'lo shamanu. It's a chet of v'einenu lo ra'ah. Most chataim bein adam l'chaveiro, rabosai, I believe, are rooted in this v'einenu lo ra'ah. We rationalize that it's right what we're doing. Yidden are ehrlich people. All in all, Yidden are shomrei Torah u'mitzvos. Their intentions are good. So why all the chataim bein adam l'chaveiro? It's because we rationalize that that person deserves. That person does not deserve our kindness.

or he deserves that we should do something to him. That justification and that rationalization is the root of all the chisronos, v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, bein adam l'chaveiro. It's the one foot, so to speak. It's the shoresh, madaloch sani l'chavrach lo savid. As we've spoken before, in order to be mesaken chataim, you need to get to the root of it. You need to understand where the chet, what is the root of the chet, what is it exactly. This, I believe, this v'einenu lo ra'u, is a tremendous part of the shoresh of all chataim bein adam l'chaveiro. There's an interesting story, rabosai, that opens up my eyes a lot. I think about it all the time. The Divrei Chaim, the Tzanzer, his mahalach, his way was always to be mechabed all talmidei chachamim, young and old alike, a kollel yungerman, someone who was learning. He got up for him, respected him. So one time a young man walks in, a regular kollel guy. The Tzanzer, the Rebbe alein, gets up for him in respect. No, this talmid chacham felt uncomfortable. Why is the Rebbe getting up for me? Simple yungerman. He says, Rebbe, the Gemara states, the Gemara says that if a talmid chacham, they give him respect, that he knows chav daled, that he knows many masechtas, he has to say he only knows one. Rebbe, I have to say only one. I don't know why you're getting up for me. The Tzanzer replies, You want to know why I'm getting up? Because of the one masechta that you know. That's why I'm getting up for you. There's a tremendous amkus. There's tremendous depth in the story, rabboisai. It's such an eye-opening story. We're accustomed to view people and say, Look what they don't know. Look what they don't have. And because of that, we put them down and we don't respect them. The Tzanzer is saying, instead of looking at what the person doesn't have, what he hasn't achieved, look at what he has achieved and respect him for that. This is the same for Noach. Ech. Noach is not Avraham. Noach doesn't have to be judged in relevance to Avraham. Noach should be judged for Noach. Bittul is always this, es nisht dos. Ech. Why? Why do we have to judge based on what the person did not accomplish and has not shown to be the great gadol, but he is this, he has these attributes? Azoy a talmid chacham iz er, so be mechabed him for that. There's a hesped that the Beis Halevi said on the son of the Trisker Maggid. The son of the Trisker Maggid was an unassuming talmid chacham. He passed away in the life of his father, the Trisker Maggid. Beis Halevi said a hesped. It's brought in the sefer Shalshales Brisk, Harishon l'Shalshales Brisk. Beis Halevi says as follows: Yodeinu lo shafchu es hadam hazeh, that we could say. We did not bring about the death of this tzaddik, talmid chacham. It's not something that we caused. But we're still not free from rebuke. We still have to give din v'cheshbon, because maybe v'eineinu lo ra'u. We didn't pay attention to see his ma'alos. He was an unassuming tzaddik in the corner. A lot of times, these tzaddikim, they are unlooked. No one looks at them. No one pays attention to them. And this is the ta'ina on us: v'eineinu lo ra'u. We didn't see the ma'alos, to respect him, to treat the person with kavod that he deserves. I shudder when I think about the Beis Halevi saying, Moiridige zach, that in Shamayim they'll mon us. In Shamayim, they will ask us.

This person, this friend, this talmid, did you properly see him for who he is and give him the kavod that he deserves? ... lo ra'ah. You didn't look. You saw, but you didn't have your eyes open to see what was in front of you, the people that were in front of you. How many people around us do we not pay attention to their ma'alos? And this might be a taina on us. ... lo ra'ah. You know, rabosai, from everyone around us we could learn. Every person has what to teach. Some in Torah, some have such nice divrei Torah. People, just simple people around us, some the way they daven and some the way they behave. The Mishnah ... Pirkei Avos, Mishnah Aleph, איזהו חכם? הלומד מכל אדם. There's so much to learn from everyone around us. Every person we meet is an experience, yet we don't learn from anyone. And the reason for this is because we have a lot of bittul. Even without realizing it, we are so trained, eh, eh, eh, eh, that we don't see the ma'alah, and therefore we don't learn from the ma'alah. ... so deep within our behavior patterns, within our psyche, we lose so much from it. There's so much to be learned from all the people around us. Mishnah Avos, ... Mishnah Yud-Beis: יהי כבוד חברך כמורא רבך. The honor of your friend should be like the mora, like the fear that you have for your rebbi, mefaresh asks, why is the kavod for a chaver like the mora, like the fear for a rebbi? The way we're explaining it's garpashit, because every person around you, especially your chaverim, are able to be somebody who you can learn from. They could be teaching you something, and therefore it's important to have kavod. And this kavod is a kavod of mora rabcha, the nohagu kavod zeh bazeh. Otherwise, you can't learn from him. If you don't have the proper reverence, kavod—there's different types of kavod. Like nohagu kavod zeh bazeh is not just you get up; you have to have reverence, which is respect, which is in the level of mora rabcha, and then, and only then, could you properly take in the ma'alos and the things that you can learn from the friends you have around you and the people that are surrounding you. It's such a moradike hashkafah in life. We're so trained that we don't respect, even if we don't even realize it, to the point that we can't learn from anybody. We're not able to absorb because we can't even recognize the ma'alos of the people around us. And the reason we don't do that is because inherently our mindset is bittul. Our mindset is that we don't have the proper reverence for who the people are and their ma'alos. Hanohagu kavod zeh b'zeh, rabosai, is not just a simple thing. It's deep. It's a life changer. It's not just about, yeah, kavod, nishkavod. You know, the tefillah of Reb Melech MeLizhensk, the tefillah before the tefillah. You know, I know people run to the kever of Reb Melech MeLizhensk. I never went there, but I've experienced Reb Melech through the tefillah, through the Tzaddik Cotton. See who Reb Melech MeLizhensk was. The Rebbe Reb Melech, in the hakdamah to the tefillah, he asks in tefillah shenirah, Ma alas chaveireinu v'lo chisronam. And if you don't know it from the tefillah of Reb Melech MeLizhensk, it's already a song. Everybody knows the song, Shenirah ma alas chaveireinu v'lo chisronam. If you notice, by the ma'alah it's ma alas chaveireinu; by the chisronos, chisronam, lashon rabim.

Ma'alas chaveireinu. Don't say ma'lois; we should say ma'alas chaveireinu. V'lo chisronam. So, kipshutoi, ma'alas doesn't have to mean the attribute, but ma'alah of the person, ma'alas chaveireinu. The person, his ma'alah. V'loי chisronam, because the chisronos are not the person. But I always wanted to say it could be by the ma'alos, even if it's one, you should see it. By the chisronos, even if it's many, you shouldn't see it. Shenireh ma'alas, not ma'lois, ma'alas, even one. Focus on the one good thing and not the many, even if there are many bad things. Then you can have a proper relationship with the person. Then you can learn from him, and there's so much to learn from every Yid. Ma'alas, not ma'lois. It doesn't need many. Ma'alas, ma'alas chaveireinu, even one. V'loי chisronam, you shouldn't see them even if there are many. I once was zoche to get a kiss from my rebbe, Rav Pam, zecher tzaddik livrachah, for something that I told him. I told him a story that I heard from Rav Binyamin Kamenetsky, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the Rosh Yeshiva of South Shore, the brother of Rav Shmuel. Told me that he once went with my zeide, Rav Shmuel Dovid Walkin, to Washington, D.C. They went by train for Shabbos. They spent the Shabbos there to show support for the Rav, who was in—he was in a situation where his rabbonus was in jeopardy. They wanted to send him away, so to show support for the Rav, they both went. He told me that when my zeide came back with him, people asked, Nu, hostu gezen a poshete Yidn dort? It's an expression in Yiddish, sheine Yidn. And he said, Chashuve, honorable Yidden are called sheine Yidn. Hostu gezen a poshete—in Washington, D.C. My grandfather, and this I heard from Rebben Yomin, protested to that question. He said, Vos? By me, Yidden, Yidden are sheine Yidn. Every Jew is a beautiful Jew, huh? The word sheine, sheine Yidn—you didn't like that we pick out, This is a sheine Yid, and in relevance to others, that they're not. My Rebbe Rav Pam pointed out that the nusach, the saying of a sheine Yid, is based on the pasuk, V'hadarta pnei zaken. Beauty, shein. A sheine Yid is v'hadarta. I said, Rebbe, efsher kemin Moed Katan zayin, az evian esrig. By an esrog it says pri etz hadar. So the pri etz hadar—how do we take the esrog? We exalt it. P'sh, shein esrog, here come, you want to see? We put it on a pedestal. Azoi darf men oichen vadarta pnei zaken. Onerlich a Yid, a talmid chacham, vadarta, should be with reverence. Let's put it up on a pedestal. A sheini Yid is something that we have respect for in hiddur. Azoi vi a sheini esri. Rebbe said, Ya, gut gezogt, and he gave me a kiss. You know, rabosai, what does it mean, Lo noagu kavod zeh bazeh? If you notice, it doesn't say lo kibdu zeh zeh. It says, Lo noagu kavod. They probably were mechabed. They were talmidei chachamim, and talmidei chachamim, especially on the level of Talmid of Rabbi Akiva, must have been brilliant people, and they got it. They got it right. They understood who their friends were. But they were lo noagu, lo noagu kavod zeh bazeh. And why not? Could be they looked at kavod as something which is very low. It's a dishonorable thing. Kavod, their kavod was vos iz der kavod. Alter from Kelm learns like this, that their kavod, that they weren't noheg, didn't come from a bad place even. It came from a good place. It came from a good understanding.

Howz they were so big? They looked at a kavod, nisnishkin sheinah zach, ... kavod, ... min hakavod, ... from kavod. So I'm gonna go and go be mechabed Yenem? Zeit a tzal. My grandfather used to say over a sharpe zach. You know, when you take wine and you want to drink by a Kiddush, you pick up the wine, you say, L'chaim. Why do you say L'chaim? It's your ... because the wine could bring you misa, yolad l'olam. Look, look what it did to Noach after the teivah, right? Look what it did to Lot. Wine, wine can cause tremendous tragedy, yoladah. It could cause death. So what do we do? We pick up the wine and we say, This wine, when we drink it, it should be l'chaim. The zeidah gezagt that today when we give kavod to another person, dafka heichetzagin l'chaim. V'al kavod ken heichet avek hargenin. Kavod can do so much damage, hakinah, v'hataivah v'hakavod motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam. It could cause a person the worst things. So when you mechabed dafka m'zagin, here's kavod l'chaim. It should be for life, l'chaim v'lo l'maves. The talmidi Reb Akiva looked at kavod like that. Mechabed zayn? Vach, the worst thing is kavod. You need the kavod? No. But bnei Torah don't need it. It's you, talmidi Reb Akiva, my chaver, my chavrusa, do dafka kavod. Kavod is vakleine yingalach, vaklindelach, let's ... We see that even that was a tremendous chet, because yes, kavod is important. You don't want kavod yourself. You don't like kavod. You're mevatel kavod. Do it for yourself. Vayenem, you gotta be mechabed him. I saw that the Alter from Slabodka said a meyredige shmues: kavod, that mechabed zayn yenem azoyvi er iz Mordechai Tzadik. When a mechabed zayn azoyvi es Haman HaRasha. He had a whole shmues like this. Yenem darf mechabed zayn azoyvi es Mordechai Tzadik. When yenem darf mechabed zayn azoyvi es Haman HaRasha, what does he mean? Mechabed zayn yenem es Haman HaRasha, zogt er, mechabed zayn yenem es Mordechai Tzadik is kumt a mamish reish in gelus. He is the greatest. He's the rabbeinu, the Moshiach shel Yisrael. That's how much kavod you gotta give. And you gotta give that person kavod as if he's Haman, because you can make a cheshbon if he's such a tzaddik, what does he need the kavod for? Vos darf er dos? Haman, if he had all the kavod in the world, yet he was missing one shtickel, a brekel of kavod, that mordecha, the one yid, it's like kavod lo yazami menu, became cholzei nishaveli. He gotenz up. He became completely out of commission because of the brekel. Azoy darf mechabed zayn yenem. Yud din to be mechabed yenem is, don't make cheshbonos. ... dafkes nisht. ... chagei Semen, ... punkt a brekel of kavod. You need to mechabed him. Azoyvi Haman. That was the shmues that the Alter from Slabodka gave. ... All that avodah, ... is for you. Don't be karg in the kavod that you give to the other person. After everything we've explained, how much does it bring out what we spoke about in the beginning, with all the cheshbonos that they really mechabed their friends. And it was just a shaila of l'shem Shamayim on how to set up a bismedrash, that Dafka zayn mit the ganze knak of kavod. And even that was goyrem so much kilkul, and it was such a chisaron in the limud haTorah, in the mesorahs haTorah, in the hemshech haTorah. It was an aveilus because of it more than anything else that we're misabel for. Vos es meint mechabed zayn Yidden. I can't stress it enough how much it needs to give us an eye-opener, how much it has to give us an understanding. Vos es meint. Today, rabosai, we almost don't think it's an avodah to work on the nekudah of mechabed zayn a tzveiten. We're not opening up our eyes to what's mamash ikrim in the calendar of Yiddishkeit.

The yemei hasefirah, the aveilus is this. It's gebeit on a churban which came from a leinagu, kavod zeh bazeh. Not a lo kibdu, not a lo kibdu, chas v'shalom. They were machshiv in their hearts who their chaverim were. אפס, אפס, אפס, in their understanding and in their way of reacting and behaving with. It's אפס נשגב, and 100% לפי דעת התורה. ... to live דרך חורבן, to live דרך חורבן. I want to tie in another pshat, rabosai, another fataitch in the talmidei Rabbi Akiva that passed away in this tekufah in the lo nahagu, because of lo nahagu כבוד זה בזה. Bnei seiva, tokef adarto, פני זקנים. V'ra'isem Elokecha. We asked, why v'ra'isem Elokecha? Why is it over here a הדגשה, by standing up for the talmid chacham, v'ra'isem Elokecha? So I saw the Chida, the Chida in Reish David says a peledike thing. He brings from the Ra'ah Montson, brings from one of the earlier mefarshim, the Ra'ah Montson, that people think that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is mashria Shechinah in Eretz Yisrael because we have yiras Shamayim, yarei Shamayim, we have yiras Shamayim. Mimeila, it's the place where the Shechinah rests. It's the Ribono Shel Olam's home. He says, Fakert, the Ribono Shel Olam rests in Eretz Yisrael, so we should have yiras Shamayim. Wherever the Shechinah is, it facilitates more yiras Shamayim. Eretz Yisrael, the Ribono Shel Olam wants we should be yire'im u'shleimim, so He brings the Shechinah there, which brings out yiras Shamayim. Zogt the Chida, the Talmud Chacham, the zaken, has the Shechinah on his face. The Shechinah rests, and therefore veyareisa meElokecha. When you mehader it, when you look at the פני זקן, when you respect the פני זקן, you could take in that yiras Shamayim, because if you're not mechabed him, kukst em nisht in ponim bichavod. How many times talmidei chachamim say shiur and we don't even look at their face. We're busy looking here, looking there, staring at the walls, looking at telephones. Veyareisa meElokecha. You get yiras Shamayim, and he brings from the Chida, from the Chareidim, that the Chareidim takke says, segulah for yiras Shamayim is, they say, Vatakku veyareisa meElokecha. If you mechabed, you mevader the פני זקן, you look, you learn b'chavrusa, kukst yanem in ponim. It's an expression. You look him in the face, you have respect for him. There's a contact. You have kavod. You look, you talk to him with respect, you'll get the veyareisa meElokecha. You'll get the yiras Shamayim. We know, as the Mishnah teaches us, Im ein yirah, chochmah. There's no yiras Shamayim, אפס felt in the Torah. You can't have Torah without yiras Shamayim. And meila, we could come and say that the Talmid of Reb Akiva, the lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. It's interesting, it should say, lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh. It could be it was the unit, zeh bazeh, they were sitting with their chavrusa, lacked in the vadarta pnei zaken. Meila lacks in the yarei, meila lacks in the v'yareisa Elokecha, and when it lacks in the v'yareisa Elokecha, felt us in the gantze Torah, rabosai. You know, I humbly tell you this. Many learn today, but do we properly respect? Do we properly respect? We don't even realize that we don't respect. It's become so natural, it's become so part of the way we behave that it's normal. We don't realize the respect and the kavod, what it means for a rebbe, the respect of kavod for a talmid chacham, the respect and the kavod zeh bazeh one for another, a chavrusa, dafes mesaken zayn. The time to do it is the yemei ha-sefirah.

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