Beha’aloscha: The Power of Ratzon—from Aharon’s Menorah to Pesach Sheni

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshas Baaloscha has many different parshiyos, many different topics, which seem to be random, put together. L'choira, the parshiyos, the menorah, the Leviim, and then we have Pesach Sheni, and then we have chatzotzros, and then we have his'avus taiva, the asafsuf. It seems to be random issues, topics, parshiyos, and there doesn't seem to have much connection between one parsha and the other. My rebbe, Reb Elsky, zecher tzaddik livracha, in Camp Agudah, after Shacharis of Shabbos, there was a small kiddush, and he would say Chumash Torah. And every week, the mahalach of the Chumash Torah was to try to gather all the parshiyos within the parsha. How are they connected? There's got to be a theme that connects all the parshiyos within a parsha. So we'll try today to see if there's some kind of a connection between the different parshiyos, which seem to be random, put together in Parshas Baaloscha. We begin with the menorah. Aharon HaKohen was given the mitzvah, b'ha'aloscha es haneros, el mul pnei hamenorah ya'iru shivas haneros. Rashi tells us that why was the menorah... Given to Aharon HaKohen here in this parsha. So, krashi, lo manismecha parshas hamenorah leparshas hanesiim, which means ba'aloscha is actually connected to the previous parsha, where the nesiim, they brought to the Chanukas HaMishkan, they brought nedavah to the Chanukas HaMishkan. So, ba'aloscha is connected to that. Ba'aloscha is connected to the previous parsha, leparshas hamenorah, leparshas hanesiim, lefi shek'shera Aharon Chanukas hanesiim, cholsha az da'ato. He felt bad, shelo hayah imo b'chanukah, that he wasn't taking part in the inauguration, the chanukah of the Mishkan, lo hu v'lo shivto. Amar lo HaKadosh Baruch Hu, chayecha, shelcha gedolah mishelahem. Chayecha is a lashon of a shvuah. What's given to you, what I'm going to give you, the menorah, the mitzvah of hadlakas hamenorah is gedolah mishelahem, she'atah madlik u'meitiv es haneiros, because you will be madlik and meitiv the neiros. Chazal tell us, which is really in the Tanchuma, that part of the shelcha gadol mishelahem isn't only she'atah madlik u'meitiv es haneiros. It's not only the actual hadlakas hamenorah, but it's also that shelcha kayam l'olam. What you're going to get is forever. It will be here. It will remain forever, shelcha. What's given to you, the menorah, kayam l'olam. Famous Ramban. Ramban asks the kasha, but it's not kayam l'olam. The Ramban says, we know that the menorah was kol zman there was a Mishkan, kol zman there was a Beis HaMikdash. Once the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, we don't have the mitzvah, hadlakas hamenorah. So what does it mean, shelcha kayam l'olam? And the answer, of course, famous, it's referring to the hadlakas hamenorah that we do in the houses based on the Chanukah, the inauguration that happened during Chanukah. And m'meila, shelcha kayam l'olam through the mitzvah hadlakas menorah in the houses throughout the doros, even when we don't have a Beis HaMikdash. What's the shelcha kayam l'olam? It was part of the piyus. L'choira, it was given, it was what was granted to Aharon HaKohen in consolation. Not only are you getting such a great mitzvah, the menorah, but what you're getting will be kayam l'olam. And that's the shelcha kayam l'olam, to be mefa'yes.

As a consolation to Aaron, yes, you weren't part of the Chanukas HaMishkan, lo hu v'lo shivtei, not you and not your shevet, but what you're getting is such a great thing. Like the lashon of Rashi, shechagdolah she'ata madlik u'meitiv es hamenorah. And yet on top of that also, it's kayim l'olam, while everything else in the Mishkan was not kayim l'olam. I was thinking maybe we could say a me'irdike pshat. As we will show, Beha'aloscha, the underlying theme, which really connects all the parshiyos in Parshas Beha'aloscha, is ratzon, the maila, the attributes, the importance, the chashivus of wanting something. When you want in avodas Hashem, when you want in kiruv, closeness to the Ribono Shel Olam, when you want in Torah, that want is very chashuv in Shamayim by the Ribono Shel Olam. And if you want, you'll get. The wanting might be the ikar of everything. The wanting is what the Ribono Shel Olam is looking for: do you want? And when you want, there's nothing that stands in your way of getting. And that's the chalsha da'atoi, the parsha of the Menorah. Aharon HaKohen, he sees that there's a Chanukah, that there's an inauguration, there's a simcha in the Chanukas HaMishkan, and he's not part of it, chalsha da'atoi. And of course, we understand that Aaron had everything else in the Mishkan. He had all the other avodos, yet this maila, that he wasn't part of Klal Yisroel in the Chanukah, that he wasn't together with everyone else, also being zoche to be part of the Chanukah, chal shedaitoi, means he wanted. And when you want, the Ribono Shel Olam responds and He gives. This may be, I think, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach, hamoir dike toher, that that's the shulchan kayam l'olam. The wanting, Aaron, this is what you bring to the Mishkan: the ratzon, the chukah, the desire, that's kayam l'olam. That will stay forever. Ratzon remains. Nothing could block. Nothing could stop. Nothing could impede ratzon. When there's ratzon, it stays and it continues, and nothing could stop it. And we could go one step further and explain: we're talking sheloi bizman haMikdash. We're talking when there is no Beis HaMikdash. Shulchan kayam. What you're bringing will remain because the ratzon will always be there, even bizman hagalus. When we don't have a Mikdash, when we don't have a Mishkan, what do we have? The ratzon to do the avodah, the longing to do the avodah, the longing for the Beis HaMikdash. That's kayam l'olam. That will be even in galus. Shelcha kayam l'olam. It's not going particularly on the hadlakah, but on the rechol shedaitoi, the chukah, the avodah of Aaron in chukah, in ratzon, in cheshek. Shelcha kayam l'olam. This will stay forever, because chukah has no boundaries. Chukah has nothing. There's no wall that could withstand the chukah. If you want, you'll get, and the Ribono Shel Olam will give you. And thus is the avodah, when there is no Beis HaMikdash, shelo b'zman HaMikdash, the Ribono Shel Olam wants us, ratzon, and cheshek to do the avodah, our longing for the Mikdash and the avodah. Later in the parsha, in Balakcha, shteit, Vayas kein Aharon, l'hagid shvacho shel Aharon shelo shinah, that he never deviated, he never changed. Of course, there's so many different pshatim of what that means, but each pshat is really based on shelo shinah, his ratzon to do it, his cheshek, his ahavah, his desire to do the mitzvah me'eileh, lo shinah.

Day in and day out. This is Parshas Balakcha. This is what rises. This is Balakcha. What rises to Shamayim in the avodah is the ratzon and the cheshek that you put into the avodah. Later we have in the parsha Pesach Sheni. What is Pesach Sheni? They were tameiim, yet they wanted to do a Pesach. They wanted to do a Korban Pesach, and they ta'ined, למה ניגרע לבלתי הקריב את קרבן ה' במועדו בתוך בני ישראל? We want. It's famous, the question: You want, but you can't. You're tamei. Imagine a person comes and says, I don't have a hand. Something happened. My hand was cut off, but I want to wear tefillin. Can't do. You can't. That's the din. That's the halacha. What does it mean when you ta'ine, למה ניגרע? Why should we be different? Unfortunately, you are different. You're tamei. The farshim explain that, vaiter, that's the chiddush in Pesach Sheni ratzon, that if you want, you will get Pesach Sheni. Your cheshek, your תשוקה, your persistence that you want to do a mitzvah, that's going to bring about that you will be zoche to do the mitzvah, and we'll give you Pesach Sheni. Chidusheiim brings a meyredige chiddush by Bnos Tzelafchad also. B'nos Tzelafchad came and tained, Why are we different? Also, lamah nigara? Why? Our father died and we don't have a nachalah; we want a nachalah. The Ribono Shel Olam tells them, Good, we'll give you the parsha of nachalah. The lashon over there in the Chazal is, Kach parsha zu ksuvah lefanai bamarom. I already have this parsha prepared, b'nos Tzelafchad. We're going to take care of you. It's already in Shamayim, this parsha; it just wasn't given over yet. We're going to give it over through you. You're going to be the one to bring the parsha down because you have chibas haaretz, because you love Eretz Yisrael. Zogt the Chidushei Harim, b'shem Sifsei Tzadik, that by Pesach Sheini, we don't find such a lashon, that it's already there. It was already part of the Torah. It's mashma that it was nischadesh, that it was a new parsha that came into effect. It was a new parsha that was invented, and it was Pesach Sheini, and that was because they wanted a Pesach; they wanted to do a korban. Nischadesh, gemarah, a parsha in the Torah. That's the koach of ratzon. That's the strength, the power of ratzon. Even mimechadesh a new parsha in the Torah. B'nos Tzelafchad also, they were zocheh to bring a parsha, but it's already a parsha that was written, a parsha that was meant to be given. It came through them; ma she'ein kein. Pesach Sheini. Pesach Sheini was nischadesh. Rabbeinu Shalom had to recreate the Pesach Sheini, the whole mitzvah of korban Pesach, because of ratzon, cheshek, תשוקה to do a mitzvah. This is the koach, the power, when somebody wants. This is the koach. This is the tremendous, in Shamayim, how the Rabbeinu Shalom is mekabel yenems ratzon to do, someone's ratzon to do a mitzvah, that the Rabbeinu Shalom will be mechadesh anaya parsha in the Torah. We find this by Matan Torah. By Matan Torah, we know the Rabbeinu Shalom came down from Shamayim and He said, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, and He spoke to Klal Yisrael. This wasn't the original plan of Matan Torah. Originally the plan was that Moshe would bring the Aseres HaDibros. Rashi tells us that the Rabbeinu Shalom told Moshe to go speak to Klal Yisrael, that they'll get the Aseres HaDibros through you, Moshe Rabbeinu. Klal Yisrael...

He said, No, we don't want that. It's brought in the Rashi, it's a Chazal. Ritzoneinu, ritzoneinu, ritzoneinu. It is our want. It is our ratzon, our תשוקה, our חשק לראות את מלכנו. We want to see the Ribono Shel Olam. When the Ribono Shel Olam hears this, im kein, it's the lashon of Chazal, if so, if you want so much, lech emor lahem, go tell them we'll rearrange, and we'll replan Matan Torah. Make them heilig and I will come down and speak to them directly. Ritzoneinu, לראות את מלכנו. It's not shayach. It's not possible. כי לא יראני האדם וחי. It's not meant to be that people should see, לראות את מלכנו. Yet they were zoche, they were zoche by Matan Torah. Reb Yerucham, Reb Yerucham mashgiach in Mir, ... רצוננו. Yes, כי לא יראני האדם וחי. And the plan was actually meant to be something completely different, change of plans, anaya parsha, a chiddush, because רצונך. If it's your ratzon, you'll get it. If it's about ruchniyus. Came by Kodesh, חזיתיך לראות עוזך כבודך. ... נפשי בארץ ציה ועייף. A person in a world where you don't see the Ribono Shel Olam. It's בארץ ציה ועייף. There's so much helem, so much cover. Where is the Rabbeinu Shloilam? Yet Dovid HaMelech says, Tzomah lecha nafshi, liros uzcha, to see the Rabbeinu Shloilam's strength. You want to see the Rabbeinu Shloilam in your daily life. You want to see the Rabbeinu Shloilam every day, day in and day out, in everything that happens around you. Retzoneinu liros es Malkeinu. That's Tali ratzon, as mevuel. Tzomah, tzomah lecha nafshi. Tzomah lecha, you have to want. Tzomah lecha nafshi, kamah lecha besari, liros uzcha chvodecha. Yes, if there's tzomah, you'll be zoche to the liros, and you'll be zoche to the kein bakodesh chazisicha, liros uzcha chvodecha. It's tzomah, it's ratzon, it's tshukah, as mevuel retzoneinu liros es Malkeinu. You want to see the Eibishter. Rabbeinu Shloilam shows Himself to us. Rabbeinu Shloilam will give us that our eyes will see the siyata dishmaya, will see the yad Hashem in everything that happens around us. I want to show you how far ratzon is able to change. Ratzon is able to completely change. What a mitzvah. It's an unbelievable thing. We have Pesach Sheni. We think that Klal Yisroel did Pesach Sheni, the temeiim. They didn't do Pesach Rishon. They were tameiim. They did Pesach Sheni. There's a meyredige chiddush. A davar chadash. It's such a big chiddush from the ... Bnei Yissaschar says a pshat. I'll read it to you word for word. Pashut, because it's such a big chiddush. V'achshavah b'efshar. I think maybe, efshar, I'm thinking maybe, mishum hachi lo ne'elam shum teshuvah. If you notice, they came to complain, We want Pesach Sheni. They were never given an answer. Like Bnos Tzelafchad, there was an answer to Bnos Tzelafchad. Moshe came and responded to them what the Eibishter sent, the response. Here we don't have a response. V'ha'emes could be parshah of Pesach Sheni was said for Klal Yisroel l'doros. They heim asu haPesach b'moyadei. They actually did Pesach Rishon. A chiddush nifla. Pashut, always learnt the parshah.

that they came to complain they couldn't do Pesach Rishon, and the Rabbeinu Shalom told them, do Pesach Sheini. He spoke to Bnei Yissaschar, they were never told to do Pesach Sheini. Klal Yisrael was given a new parsha, Pesach Sheini l'doros. They? Were they told to do Pesach Sheini? Bnei Yissaschar, we don't find that. And actually, it's possible that they did Pesach Rishon. The lashon of the Bnei Yissaschar is, V'efshar leva'er zeh. It's very hard to elaborate on this, ki kol echad yomar kein, because then we'll learn the whole parsha this way, all the Chumash we could learn this way, that really they did—yeah, but it's aser. They were tamei, so it's mutar. V'havein ki amok hu. Bnei Yissaschar, it's a very deep understanding. What is the Bnei Yissaschar being mechadesh? Their ratzon was so strong, and it was so niskabel in Shamayim, that they actually were zocheh to do Pesach Rishon b'tumah. They weren't doing Pesach Sheini. They did Pesach Rishon b'tumah. Even tumah couldn't stop—it couldn't stop them from doing Pesach Rishon because of their ratzon. And I think it's taka interesting, it's meduyak, because that was really their request. What was their request? Lamah nigara levilti hakriv es korban Hashem b'moado b'soch Bnei Yisrael. They wanted to do it in its proper time, and they wanted to do it amongst the rest of Klal Yisrael. So they didn't get Pesach Sheini because their request was b'mayadik taka on Pesach Rishon, and their request was b'soch Bnei Yisrael and loyte Bnei Yissaschar, they got it. They were granted. Go do a Pesach Rishon, you're rotzon will override the tumah. It's a moydige chiddush, and it's pashut, I had to read the words themselves from the Bnei Yissaschar because it's such a moydige chiddush. In pasuk it says, that were anashim temeiim l'nefesh adam, v'lo yachlu la'asos haPesach. It doesn't say asur; it says they couldn't do it, lo yachlu la'asos haPesach. It should have said they were asur, not that they couldn't do it. It's not about could or can't; it's about allowed or not allowed. Thinking afshar deheira, boisai. On the issur, you can't come and say it should be mutar. Asur is asur, and mutar can't become mutar because you have ratzon. It's on the lo yachlu. The parsha of Pesach Sheini is about not being able to do something, and here we have a chiddush: there's no such a thing as not being able. If there's ratzon, you're able. To come and say, I want the asur to be mutar, that's not the parsha of— that's not the oymek, that's not the yesod of the parsha of Pesach Sheini. The yesod of the parsha of Pesach Sheini is there's no such thing as lo yachlu. As we'll speak later from the Gedolei Baalei Mussar of the Vardik, that whenever someone would say, when it came to inyanei Torah u'mitzvos, I can't, the Alter of Vardik used to tell him, Don't say you can't; say you don't want, because there's no such thing as you can't. The parsha of Pesach Sheini is, Ratzon means yes, so v'lo yachlu means yes, you could. Ay, you'll ask me the kasha, yeah, b'lmaaseh, mutar can't, aser can't become mutar. It's an interesting vort from Reb Yitzchak MiVarka. Reb Yitzchak MiVarka says that till here we didn't find, till this parsha of Pesach Sheini, we don't have the issur of tumah yet. It doesn't say anywhere that if they're tamei, they can't do a Pesach Sheini. I'm sorry, they can't do a Pesach Rishon; it doesn't say it anywhere. Now, when we're given the parsha of Pesach Sheini, it says, okay, you can't do it b'tumah, but it never said yet till here an issur b'tumah. Zogt Reb Yitzchak MiVarka that the taich is they tried to do it, and there was a block; they just couldn't do it.

Because they were tamei, and they were wondering, how could it be they can't if their ratzon was to do it? Mutar—I'm sorry, asur is not going to become mutar because you want. The pshat over there was they were trying to do a korban, and something was stopping them. It's a very good lesson, rabosai. A lot of times, when we try to do mitzvahs and things come up and there's stoppage, things that stop us, and things that are blocking us from doing it, the Ribono Shel Olam is testing the v'lo yachlu. The Ribono Shel Olam wants to see how much do you really want, because if you want, all the mafri'im, all the ikuvim, all the things that are stopping you and standing in your way will fall away. If you notice, there's an interesting Rashi at the beginning of the parsha of Pesach Sheni. By Pesach Sheni, Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe b'midbar Sinai, b'shanah hashenis. Second year. Second year, hachodesh harishon, the first month. So this is Nissan, by the korban Pesach, Pesach Rishon. Yet Bamidbar begins with chodesh sheini. Bamidbar begins, b'echad lachodesh hasheni. So this parsha of Pesach Sheni should have been before. The parshas of Seu es rosh kol adas Bnei Yisrael. This happened, this Pesach Sheini happened, bashanah ha'sheinis, chodesh harishon, and this happened, nasoi, the counting, seu es rosh kol adas Yisrael, b'echad lachodesh ha'sheini, bashanah ha'sheinis. So why is this after and this before? Says Rashi, this was to cover up genusan shel Yisrael, shekol arba'im shanah shehayu Yisrael bamidbar lo hikrivu ela Pesach zeh bilvad. This was the only korban Pesach they did for forty years. There was no korban Pesach, so therefore we didn't want to begin a Chumash with the story of korban Pesach, because for forty years they didn't do it. Why didn't they do it? Chazal tell us because the children couldn't have bris milah. There was a ruach tzfonis. It was dangerous to do bris milah in the midbar, and if you have a child at home that doesn't have a bris milah, you can't bring a korban Pesach. So to cover up this embarrassing fact that Klal Yisrael didn't do a korban Pesach for forty years, there was no korban Pesach in the midbar, therefore we didn't start Parshas and Chumash Bamidbar with korban Pesach. The kashya, of course, is it's not genus. There's nothing embarrassing. They couldn't do it. They weren't allowed to do the bris milah on the children because it was a sakana. No chiyuv to do a bris milah if there's a sakana. So why is this genusan? They didn't do anything wrong, but they didn't do a korban Pesach. They were not supposed to do the korban Pesach. They didn't have milah because they weren't allowed to do milah. So why is it genusah shel Yisrael? The Sifsei Chachamim, fregting the kasha. The Sifsei Chachamim already asks this question. He gives a teretz: had they not done the eigel, they would have went straight into Eretz Yisrael. Nope. So the fact that they were forty years in the midbar, which they couldn't do bris milah and therefore they couldn't do Korban Pesach, was really their fault. Because had they not sinned, not done the aveirah, they would have went straight into Eretz Yisrael and they would have done a Korban Pesach for the past forty years. It's a shtikel chiddush lahalacha that if you do something wrong and because of that you're in a situation where, halachically, you can't do something, so you're chayav for all the toitzaos, and that's genusah. It's an interesting chiddush, that because they did an aveirah, they couldn't go into Eretz Yisrael. Mimeila, now they're in a situation where they can't do bris milah, and therefore it's their fault because they should have went into Eretz Yisrael. That needs to be discussed in light of halacha. But there's another famous teretz that the mefarshim say: Levi did do bris milah. They, on themselves and their children, they did bris milah in the midbar. Why did Levi do it? There's a sakanah, and the teretz is it didn't stop them.

If they wanted, they wanted to do a bris milah b'mesiras nefesh. Their ratzon and cheshek was so to be mekayem the mitzvah that they did it. And they were able to do it because ein davar omed bifnei haratzon, and the Ribono Shel Olam watched them and protected them. And they, takke, nothing happened. So the genuzah shel Yisrael is, volst gevolt. If you really want it, there wouldn't be these tirutzim, sakanas nefashos, ein davar omed bifnei haratzon. And possibly that's why it's here in the parsha of Pesach Sheni, because Klal Yisrael did a Pesach Rishon, yet, there was a chesaron in ratzon, and they didn't do bris milah, and therefore they didn't do the rest of the forty years. While here in Pesach Sheni, the temeiim, they had tremendous ratzon, lamah nigara, and they got a Pesach Sheni, and possibly like the Bnei Yissaschar, Pesach Rishon. Fakert, it's in the parsha of Korban Pesach that there's a genuzah shel Yisrael, that something stopped them, that there's something that impeded them, that there was something that blocked them from doing a Korban Pesach. That's genuzah shel Yisrael in the parsha of Korban Pesach and Pesach Sheni, because the whole mitzvah of Pesach Sheni represents cheshek ein davar omed bifnei haratzon. Az du vilst, vos tu ken ton, az du vilst, vos tu gehat a Korban Pesach. One of the details of Pesach Sheni is if the person, like we spoke, is tamei. He has to do a Pesach Sheni, but if he's b'derech rechokah, if he's far away, also he couldn't do the Pesach Rishon, he has a Pesach Sheni. V'ish asher hu b'derech rechokah, he's far away. How far away is he that he couldn't come to do a Pesach Rishon? So we would say he was probably out of state, he was not in Yerushalayim, maybe he was out of Eretz Yisrael, whatever the case may be. But far, he couldn't come. Chazal tell us differently. Chazal tell us this person was far away; he was b'askufas ha'azarah, which means he was chutz from the doorstep of the azarah. He was one step away. He just, when the korban Pesach was being nikrav, he was just out the door. What does that mean? Just go in. He didn't make it. He was one step away. So he's already called b'derech rechokah, he's not in the azarah, and therefore he has a Pesach Sheni. Why is that called rechokah? He's not far away; he just is not in the azarah. He just didn't get in there. Why is it he referred to? Why do we call on him and say on him that he was b'derech rechokah? Sefarim write, the Meor Einayim Chiddush, Chatzos HaBeis Yisrael, and many others have said it. A person could be very far, yet very close. And then you can have a person who's very close, but is very, very far. A Yid who was able to make it to the Mishkan, yet he was one step too late. What does it assign? That he's far. He's taka rechoikah. The derech rechoikah. There's a derech which is rachoik, yet the person is karov. And then there is a derech which is karov, but the man is rachoik. He's far away. How do you miss a Korban Pesach? If you wanted, you would have made it. The ratzon is not there. The ratzon is far away. Reb Yehuda HaLevi so poetically wrote, Libi b'Mizrach, v'ani b'sof Ma'ariv. A Yid is able to be in the Mizrach. He's able to be far away from Eretz Yisrael, Yerushalayim, the Beis HaMikdash, yet where is his heart? Where is his heart? It is in b'Mizrach. It's v'ani b'sof Ma'ariv. You could be far away, but the heart is close. Where the heart of a person is, that's where he is. Libi b'Mizrach, v'ani b'sof Ma'ariv. I could be far in the Ma'ariv, far away, yet the heart's of a Yid.

He faces Mizrach. He davens. He longs for the Beis Hamikdash, which is in Mizrach. So libi, where's his heart? His heart is in the Mizrach. He's there. A person could be in the Mizrach, right next to the Mishkan, but his libi is b'ma'arav because he didn't make it. A person is his ratzonos. The Ribono Shel Olam looks at the person, who are you? You are your ratzon. Zehu adam, ratzono is the person. And if your libi b'Mizrach, you could be your guf, your body is b'saif ma'arav, but you're in the Mizrach. You're in Yerushalayim. You're in the Beis Hamikdash. And that's the parsha of Korban Pesach. Korban Pesach, Pesach Sheini, and maybe, rabosai, efshar, efshar k'man d'zagin. There's still a halacha of Pesach Sheini, that the day is kavua for a Yom Tov. We don't say tachnun. We eat matzah Pesach Sheini. The chiddush, the kasha is, Pesach Sheini is only where there's no Pesach Rishon. And we don't have a Pesach Rishon anyway. Where Pesach Rishon was missed, there's a Pesach Sheini. Why in Chutz La'aretz, where there is no Pesach Sheini, meaning there is no Pesach Rishon, that if you miss it there'll be a Pesach Sheini. We don't have a Mishkan. We don't have a Beis HaMikdash. We're in galus. Why are we celebrating, so to speak, Pesach Sheini? I would say even deeper, rabosai. The Pesach Sheini is only to bring the korban when you couldn't do Pesach Rishon, but we can't bring the korban Pesach Sheini either. So there is no Pesach Sheini. What is the Yom Tov? What is the day that we're kovea Pesach Sheini? What is Pesach Sheini? Pesach Sheini is to bring the korban when you couldn't do Pesach Rishon, but you can't bring the korban anyway, so there is no Pesach Sheini. There is nothing in Pesach Sheini if you don't bring the korban. And the teretz is, Pesach Sheini is not korban, but Pesach Sheini is l'ma nigara. It's the chalsha da'ato. Pesach Sheini is the longing to want to do a korban Pesach, and that we bedavka have in galus. It could be Pesach Sheini is the Yom Tov of Pesach in galus. It's the Yom Tov of korban Pesach in galus, where we long and we mishtokek, and we ask the Ribono Shel Olam that we should be able to do a korban Pesach. The parsha before Pesach Sheini is the Leviim. What's the connection of the Leviim? I think the way we explained the genusah shel Yisrael that they didn't do a korban Pesach is that they didn't do bris milah, like Levi, who didn't find a good enough reason not to do a bris milah. Their ratzon, their cheshek to do bris milah was so strong that they did it even in the midbar. Am cheref lamos, that they're ready to do bris milah no matter what. So that's the kachas Leviim, taka, because the Leviim, they did have this cheshek. Kachs Leviim mitoch Bnei Yisrael v'tiharta osam. The Rambam, at the end of Zeraim, the Rambam says that all the matnos kehunah, they're given to Levi because Levi, his job is to be parush. It's to be disconnected from the whole world, la'avod es Hashem, to do avodas Hashem, and therefore, Ribono Shel Olam supplies parnassah to the Levi through the matnos kehunah that the Yisraelim give. Interestingly, how the Rambam finishes that halacha of lo shevet Levi bilvad. It's not only shevet Levi alone, ela kol mi shenadva rucho, v'hevino da'ato, anybody who nadav, he wants his spirit...

It's Levi. His neshama pushes him, you know what? I also want to be like Levi, and I want to also be moser nefesh to cut away from the whole world. הרי הוא קודש קדשים. And he's like Levi. Levi is not v'ruchoi. Levi is rotzon to be oived Hashem and to cut away, and that's the kochos haLeviim, the maila of Levi. It's interesting, one of the things about Levi in the parsha is, what's the job of the Levi? The Levi is to be mavdil, to be mavdil. Zogt the pasuk, what's Levi's job? ואתה הלוים, נסונו לה' לבונה, לחפה בני ישראל, ולא יהיה בבני ישראל נגע בגשת בני ישראל אל הקודש. In this parsha, there's a specificity of what is the avodah of Levi, that he has to make sure that Klal Yisrael doesn't come close to the Mikdash, stays within its boundaries. Could be, the avodah of Levi is really yedei Yid's rotzon to do avodah. And therefore, part of the avodah is to stop the Bnei Yisrael because they have tremendous cheshek to come close, because they have innerly... This cheshik to become close, that their avodah is, V'lo yiheyeh bivnei Yisrael negef, b'geshes bnei Yisrael el hakodesh. It's possible that the next parsha is the parsha of chatzotzros. What's the parsha of chatzotzros? Chatzotzros is a, like the Kli Yakar, we find, Uri yesheinim. It's l'orer the lev. It's supposed to bring out the ratzonos. The shofar is able to arouse the inner feelings, the inner cheshek, the inner ratzon. That's the inyan of shofar that we have. The Rambam says that's the remez of shofar. Chatzotzros also. Moshe is able to arouse in Klal Yisrael the cheshek pnimi. At the end of the parsha, we have, Mesavim, mesonenim, masasu. What is this mesonenim? Vaiter, the mesonenim is that they had ratzon, they had cheshek, but for the wrong thing. The parsha shows us in the beginning what is cheshek. The right cheshek is when it's cheshek for a mitzvah. When the cheshek of the mitzvah is not there, in its place comes cheshek for taivos, hishavu taivah. Man is a creation of ratzon. It's a briyah. It's a briyah of ratzon. There's so much will within a person. It needs to be geared towards mitzvah. It needs to be used properly, utilized for mitzvah. If not, then you have the end of the parsha, this avod taiva, the ratzon becomes for other things. The Rambam tells us that the taivas nashim comes when there's no learning. When there's no learning, so then it gets filled, this void, with the taivas nashim. When there's mitzvah and there's ratzon for mitzvah, then that becomes the person. And if not, automatically, ritzonei shel adam gets geared towards taiva. It's a very important lesson. Man has to follow ritzono. It has to be. You need to keep focus: what is taka your ratzon? What is it? Because the yetzer hara will convince you that this is your ratzon and that's your ratzon, and it's not. And because it's about ratzon, then you're going to run after it. One of the things by a korban that the Torah tells us is, Lirtzonchem tizbachu. With your will, you...

Go and make the korban. You should bring the zevach. There are five pshatim, b'erech, of the translation of lirtzonchem tizbachu. The pashut pshat is lirtzonchem sheyihyeh l'ratzon, which means it should have find favor in the eyes of the Ribono Shel Olam, your korban. Yihyeh l'ratzon imrei fi, lirtzonchem, for your ratzon, which means in front of the Ribono Shel Olam it should be l'ratzon. Another pshat, Chazal, the Rambam brings it l'halacha, lirtzonchem v'lo b'kfiya. It should be for your will, and it shouldn't be that you were forced. Sefarim say, what does it mean lirtzonchem? It should be a kaparah on your ratzon. In every aveirah, it's not only the aveirah, but it's the ratzon that you had to do the aveirah which needs a kaparah. And the way we're explaining above, it's very pashut, because the real person, adam ki yakriv, the person, who is the person? It's his ratzon. The ma'aseh is external; the ratzon is pnimi. In every chet, what needs to be corrected is the ratzon, lirtzonchem tizbachu. You need to bring a korban on your ratzon. Your ratzon is such an exalted, it's such a heilige zach, it's who you are, and yet you took that ratzon to do bad, to do an aveirah, so your ratzon needs a kaparah. Other sefarim say a pshat, lirtzonchem tizbachu, to change your ratzon. A person had a ratzon to do bad; when he brings the korban, what it does is it's lirtzonchem, it re- He recalculates your ratzon, that it should be taka the ratzon for mitzvahs and not aveiros. And the final last pshat, lirtzonchem, to create ratzon, Tizbachu. A korban will create in a person this ratzon to come close to the Ribono Shel Olam, one who doesn't have it, and because of that he went and did aveiros. There's a reinvention through the korban that now your ratzon will be directed. Your ratzon will be directed in a different place. I believe, rabosai, that all five pshatim are actually all one thing. The way we've explained above, a man's ratzon, that is the whole person. And if he has the right focus, his ratzon will be l'toiv, and if not, the ratzon will be l'ra. So to take that special thing called ratzon and to ruin it, and to be metameh it by doing aveiros, so the ratzon needs a kaparah. And now that your ratzon was given for bad, so in its place you need to have a ratzon toiv, because that's the only way to take ratzon. It needs to be redirected, because there's going to be ratzon and either it's l'ra or it's l'toiv. So you've got to switch that ratzon, lirtzonchem Tizbachu, to redirect the ratzon. And this becomes the kreivus to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The kaparah of the inyan of ratzon. Can't stress enough. A person needs to search and to make sure that his ratzon is heated to, that you pay attention to your real ratzon and not follow the ratzon hamedumeh, that the yetzer hara creates ratzonos about things that are really not your ratzon pnimi; it's not who you are. Because those ratzonos leads to ra. Those ratzonos leads to his'avus taiva. The ratzonos that are l'toiv is kayam l'olam. Taiva is right away, the ratzon, it goes away. It falls away very quickly. But the ratzon l'toiv, ein davar omeid bifnei haratzon, and that ratzon stays with the person forever and ever, and it's kayam l'olam, and that's the shalchah gadol mishalahem. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.