The Yesod of Pesach: Emunah Means Longing for the Geulah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I'd like to speak about a yesod, the inyan of the Seder, what the Seder is meant to be. It's pashut, everybody knows it's emunah. It's the emunah in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, in sipur yetzias Mitzrayim, emunah in the Ribono Shel Olam's hashgacha, hefkerte velt. This is Pesach, bechlaliyus, and the Seder, b'pratiyus. This is what the Seder is designated to accomplish: emunah. But there's one nekudah in the inyan of the Seder and in the inyan of emunah which needs to be touched on, which seems to be overlooked. Im yirtzeh Hashem, at the end of the shiur we'll see that this is a very important part, a yesod, an ikar, in the emunah, in the Seder. I want to begin with the Arba Parshiyos that lead up... To Pesach, with a kasha. We all know that HaChodesh hazeh lachem, this is this week's parsha, we read Parshas HaChodesh. And before Parshas HaChodesh, we have Parshas Parah. The Yerushalmi actually asks that the seder should have been reversed. We should have first read Parshas HaChodesh, and then we should have read Parshas Parah. This is a Yerushalmi, Megillah, perek gimmel, halacha hei. Rabbi Levi, shem Rabbi Chama bar Chanina, amar: bedin hu shetakdim Parshas HaChodesh leParah. Parshas HaChodesh should have actually came before Parah, because loi techeshbin echad b'Nisan hu kama Mishkan, and then came the parah. The order of events isn't Parah and then Chodesh, but the opposite. It's Chodesh and then Parah. So why do we read first Parshas Parah and then Parshas HaChodesh? And the Yerushalmi explains, because it's taharasan shel Yisrael. What does this mean? So the mefarshim explain it's a technical thing. Sometimes the person needed haza'ah; he would need haza'ah in the seventh day, right, all the shelishi u'shvii. And l'maaseh, not always was he ready to be tahor on time for the korban Pesach. So therefore, we were makdim it, shetzrichim leida din hatares tamei v'hazaah shlishi, shvii, sheyesh bo tzorech, v'miyokarin parshas Parah b'Shabbos shniyah l'achar Pesach Chodesh. If you wait for that Shabbos, it might come out that you don't have enough time. So many weeks—it depends on how many, sorry, many years—it depends if you have, according to the date on the calendar, if there was enough time to have the parah on time, if you read it on Shabbos, to have it for the korban Pesach. The mefarshim ask—I know the Divrei Yoel, Satmar Rebbe, is very busy with this question—l'maaseh today it's not nogea l'maaseh. It's not a technical problem that you won't be able to do the hazaah on time for the korban Pesach. It's not nogea l'maaseh. So then we should have done it l'fi haseider. The answer to the question of the Yerushalmi, that it's a technical issue, that there should be enough time for Pesach, it's not nogea b'zman hazeh. So then the kasha should have been, let's go back to—

To say that the first came Parshas HaChodesh, and then came what? Parshas Para. Das is the kasha that was the mefareshim fregen. Now, l'rabosai, I think we have to understand Parshas Para, and why taka Parshas Para is before Parshas HaChodesh. What is Parshas Para? You know, there's an interesting Magen Avraham in halacha. The Magen Avraham at the end of Hilchos Taanis says, Kasav haTanya, the Tanya, b'yom hashishi, Parshas Chukas, nohagu yechidim l'hisanos. It's a taanis. Sheb'oso hayom nisrefu chaf kronos, maleiim sefarim b'Tzorfas. It's a taanis. Terrible tragedy happened. V'lo kavu osa bimei haChodesh. So why don't we just do it the day that it happened of the month? Never do we have that it has to be an erev Shabbos, Parshas something. It's always the day of the month that the event took place. Erev Shabbos, grad it happened to be an erev Shabbos then. Emphas the Magen Avraham, a mir dike zach, shemitoch she'eilas chalom noda lo. It came to him in a dream. The Tanya says it came to him in a dream, the answer to this question. It's a Magen Avraham in Shulchan Aruch. And what is the answer? That it has to do with the day of the parsha. שיום הפרשה גוירים גזירות התורה, זויס חוקת התורה מתרגמינן, דא גזירת אורייתא. The decree, chukah, the targum, gezeirah, this is the gezeiras haTorah. What does it have to do with Parshas Chukas? It's called, this is zois chukas haTorah. So I guess in the remazim, there's a pshat remez, gezeirah that happened on Erev Shabbos of Parshas Chukas. Does it have anything to do with Chukas? Chas v'shalom. Does it have anything to do with the parshah of Parah Adumah? Nothing, right? Graditz and remez. Or maybe not, rabosai. Maybe it's direct. You hear the shaylah? Pashut question. We're reading Parshas Parah, right? The question is, Parshas Parah happened after Parshas HaChodesh. Why are we reading it before? So I'm showing you something very interesting about Parshas Parah. Do gezeiras eiraisa, a dream came to the Tanya, the Rishon, that there will be gezeiros, there will be decrees, and therefore you have to fast. Do gezeiras eiraisa Erev Shabbos Parshas Chukas. What does that have to do with the parshah? Has something to do with Chukas? Has something to do with Parshas Parah Adumah? Maybe the Parah Adumah is a kaparah for the eigel, and we know that all the tzaros of Klal Yisrael, uvayom pakdi ufakadti, goes back to the eigel. But I'll tell you more, rabosai. I believe the pshat is— There's a meiredike, meiredike psikta, a Tanchuma. What is the whole parsha, Parah Adumah? It's a peleh. Zogt the Tanchuma yashan, Chazayin chavches, Parah Adumah, parah zu Mitzrayim, adumah zu Bavel, temimah zu Madai. The Parah Adumah, the parsha, is merumaz on the four goluyos. It's a mefurasher medrash. Parah, zu Mitzrayim. Like he brings a pasuk, Eglah yefeh fiya Mitzrayim, adumah is Bavel, onto reisha didahava, temimah zu Madai, asher ein bah mum zu Yavan. So the parsha of Parah Adumah talks about the golus. But yet there's another part of this medrash: Davar acher. You know who the parah is? Who is the parah? Davar acher, parah, eilu Yisrael. The parah, must be mefaberent, is referring to Klal Yisrael. Ah, meiredik. The medrash is telling us clearly that in this...

Starting from Mitzrayim to Yavan, and the parah that they're burning. Who are they burning? The parah adumah temimah is Klal Yisroel, not means Chazal, not פירוש המדרש. I want to read you more in the Medrash. The pasuk, you give it to Elazar Kohen, and you shecht it el michutz lamachaneh. Says the Medrash, Elazar Kohen ze Yirmiyah. Zehu Yirmiyah min haKohanim asher bAnasos, v'hotzi el michutz lamachaneh is Klal Yisroel going to Bavel. Medrash, פירוש המדרש. There's kein lomdus, there's kein Torah, there's kein chidushim. V'shachat osah lefanav, v'hemenak min geshachten, es bnei Tzidkiyahu shachtu le'einav. The tzaaros of the galusin. Hamerumaz in the parshah of parah adumah. Medrash. Here's another Medrash. The Medrash, perek yud-daled: V'osaf ish tahor es efer haparah. Who is ish tahor? Zogt der pshikte, ze HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Rabbeinu Shleimah. Evet nemen, evet uvzamlen, uvzamlen, the efer haparah, the verbrente, the ashes. Ateisek midrashim, mefurashim, mefurashe heilige midrashim, that it's parsha Parah Adumah is clearly merumaz the golusin. It's clearly merumaz the tzaaros of the golusin. It's also clearly merumaz the v'osaf, the v'osaf, nitchei Yisrael, as the Ribono Shel Olam, the Ribono Shel Olam will pick up the ashes, will collect the ashes and bring us to geulah. It's altz mefurashim, mitanchumes, mitpsiktes, klare. With this, I understand, dogs eirecha raisa. Why in the parsha Parah Adumah is merumaz sreifas hasfarim, the tzaros? What does that do? Parshas Chukas, dogs eirecha raisa. In their parsha, ligt the golusin and the tzaros of the golus, and weiter, the yeshuah of the golus. Dos is the parsha from Parah Adumah. Klar, Rabosai, niskein chidushim, sim mamish opene midrashim. Parah Adumah is Klal Yisrael, vos vert farbrent, Klal Yisrael that turns to ashes, by the hand from the goyim, v'osaf ish, medrash, the Ribono Shel Olam, the Ribono Shel Olam mit fazamlen. You know, Rabosai, there's a meiredike Chasam Sofer that is mazbir a Baal HaTurim. The Chasam Sofer writes, he says. במסעירה, ואָסַף גימל. The Baal HaTurim says that the word v'osaf is three times in the Torah. Once in the parsha of the parah adumah, v'osaf ish tahor, it's eifer haparah. The next one is v'osaf hametzora, perek mem-beis, pasuk hei. Then we have v'osaf nidchei Yisrael, which is geder aveisah, is a mefurash Chazal, the Tanchuma. The Baal HaTurim is really a short version of different midrashim, that there's three things in the parsha of parah: v'osaf ish tahor, v'osaf es hametzora, v'osaf nidchei Yisrael. Zogt the Sam Seifer, baal, this is merumaz of geulah ha'achronah, the last geulah. The Gemara tells us that the final geulah—it's a Gemara in Sanhedrin, daf tzadi ches—what is the geulah? אי דור שכולו חייב, אי דור שכולו זכאי. And that's the pshat. Osaf means he'll take away. You take away ish tahor, and what's left, all the tameiim, דור שכולו חייב. Zogt the Sam Seifer.

It's beautiful. V'asav ish, v'asav es ha-metzora, he'll take away the tumah, the metzora. What's left? Only tahorim. That's called Zachai. And then you'll have, v'asav nidchei Yisrael. Az eiz a masbed de baal ha-turim, my beisai. Haflah, haflah, fellah. In the parshah of Parah Adumah is merumaz the golusin, the strifes, the struggles of the golusin, to the end will be the v'asav ish tahor, which is this Baal HaTurim, v'asav nidchei Yisrael, which is ... also. Now let's see why we read Parshas Parah, and then we'll try to understand why we read it before Parshas HaChodesh, or before Chodesh Nisan. Why do we read Parshas Parah בכלל? So, parshah everybody knows, l'taher, l'taher for the korban. We don't have a korban today. We don't have the whole sugya is not nogea, and the teretz is, nu, nu, nishal, the parah, ... good, ... right? But instead of doing it, we learn it. It's a ... Chofetz Chaim pushed, there's a ... in Kutchin. Today you don't have to push for it. That's the only yeshiva almost in Eretz Yisrael, ... Kutchin. Okay. Chofetz Chaim pushed learning Kodshim. Why? ... right? Everybody knows this Chofetz Chaim. They even say that the Chofetz Chaim felt that he might have to do the avodah, therefore he might be the Kohen Gadol, and I never understood this Chofetz Chaim. Who said—I mean, there's Aaron HaKohen... who said? ...the heilige Chofetz Chaim is kodesh kadosh. Okay, you're in the piece of history. This is a side note on the shiur, the famous video of the Chofetz Chaim that just came out. People ask me, what is it all about? Why did it come out now? You don't have to be a brilliant brain surgeon to figure it out. The Ribono Shel Olam vilns al hoben chizuk and shmiras halashon. So before a guy opens his mouth—oh, the video—before he texts a bissel a chveizvas, hot er the bild from the Chofetz Chaim gleich by the bayis. You see it live. ... And to me there was a special point in the video. It was nisgaleh this week, it's in the Yiddish newspapers, that after the third one, after the Chofetz Chaim coming in, is the Alter Zeide. One of them is the Alter Zeide. We did the research the last two, three days. We made stills. It's the zeide zichrono livrachah coming out of the—into the kesiyah gedolah. Okay, a piece of history. Now getting back to the Chofetz Chaim's neshamah ... So l'choirah, why would he think that he's been doing the avodah and that's the reason to learn Kodshim? I found the Chasam Sofer says exactly what I said, but without the kashya on the Chofetz Chaim. Zogt der Chsam Sofer al haTorah, this that we learn the halachos and say the avodah, it's not because when Moshiach comes we'll have to know the halachos. He says it clearly, because Moshe and Aharon will be around and they'll teach us the halachos. Vedafkeina kuntresim and likutim, you're not going to need all this. Says it clearly. ... Moshiach Rabbeinu ... says it clearly. We learn straight from the Torah, from the Rabbeinu Shleilam, from Moshe Rabbeinu. I don't have to prepare it now. So then why are we doing it? And the answer is because k'ilu hikriv. You say that when you learn it, it's as if you did it. That's how the Chsam Sofer learns, u'neshalma parim sefaseinu. Fragt the Chsam Sofer, so then what's Parshas Par? So you would say, what, neshalma parim sefaseinu k'ilu. That's not emes, zogt the Chsam Sofer, because tahaira, that nishkumen ... pasuk Chumash. He says, I read it inside: אבל הקריאה בתורה בפרשה הזאת מחטאת אי אפשר לומר שיהיה על ידי זה טהור מטומאת מת, כאילו הוזה בשלישי ובשביעי.

Not true. And he finishes, Ze einoi bli sofek. I don't have a shaylah about this. So then what's the reason to read Parshas Parah, not nishal me'parah? It's not. The heilige Chasam Sofer, halimud b'zeh is a gezeiras hakasuv. It's a chok. And that's what zois chukas haTorah means. Zois chukas haTorah asher tzivah Hashem leimor, ala meforashim say that that's the makor that you have to say it, and you have to read the parsha. Where does it come from? Who says I have to read the parsha? Where does it come that it might be d'Oraisa, the Tosafos in Brachos? Where does it come from? The teretz is, zois chukas haleiman. Ata dos is chukas haTorah, it's a gezeiras hakasuv, nedafes ton. And he finishes, Zeh she'amar zois chukas haTorah, mah chukah shetzivah Hashem leimor. And the answer is, drush b'kabolas sachar. No. Dos halein is the chukah, that there's such a thing called parah, aleph, reish, vov is the mekor that Parshas Parah is d'Oraisa. It's a chok. That's it. Zois chukas haTorah. Ab'n yeder chok is der habisl ahezber, a taam, dafke dafn doch zogen, epes a achveis, epes. The chinuch zogt doch taamei hamitzvos, m'darf doch zogen a bisl taamei hamitzvos. I just explained to you that the Parshah Parah is the yesodes of golus, and I showed you from some sefer that oy kulei chayiv, oy kulei zakai. Now I'm going to show you another shtikel from some sefer ad eisai, that this is in the Likkutim. Some sefer, you want to know what the chok of Parah Adumah is? We all know that nismecha Misas Miriam leParah Adumah. Loimar lecha, k'sheim sheParah Adumah mechaperes, kach misas tzaddikim mechaperes. A Gemara in Moed Katan daf chaf-ches. Miriam, then Chukas, misas tzaddikim is mechaper. זאגט דער אמרי דיקע זאך. You know how kaparah in galus works? Amol, the Ribono Shel Olam takes away the tzo'ah. That's what the Remaisha Darshan says: Tavo ya'em v'tikanech haretzo'ah. Sometimes the beard is taken away, the tzo'ah, the shlecht, the aveiros, cleans it out, and the tzaddikim bleiben. And amol, s'fakelt. Tzaddikim go, and the resha'im bleiben. זאגט דער הייליגער סם סופר, Eileh chukah chakakti. This is a chok of galus. Ein lecha reshus laharher achar midosav, v'do hi gezeiras haRaisa. So mechaven the Chasam Sofer. The Sofer is saying we have questions in galus. Chok. Dos do hi gezeiras haRaisa. Why tzaddikim, they die and the resha'im stay? Why the resha'im sometimes die and the tzaddikim stay? We don't know. The parshah of Parah Adumah is the paradox of galus. This is up the hill in some sefer. And dos iz do hi, gezeirah seirahisa. It's politics. Politics. Na, rabosai. Let's go to explain why we read Parshas Parah. So the Chak Yaakov always gives the reason like I just told you, because we baal, the parah, we need to come Pesach, and shloshim yom kodem lachag, you start taking care of Pesach, and meileh comes Parshas Parah. Azoi brengt the Chak Yaakov in siman tof-chaf-tes, se'if katan beis, b'sheim the Tanya, the same Tanya that the Magen Avraham brings. Okay, good. I have a kasha. So then read it thirty days before. Start on Purim. No, I mean, if it's because of shloshim yom kodem lachag, so do it thirty days before. Good, we could say Torah. That's not the point. What's my point? I want to share with you a levush. Why do we read Parshas Parah bichlal? What is it all about?

The answer is, zogt the levush, likach koyrim parshasu, lehispalel lifanav yisbarach. It's a tefillah. It's a bakasha, shegam aleinu yizrok mayim tehorim b'mehirah, levush, in siman tof reish pei hei. It's a tefillah. It's a longing, Rabbeinu shel olam. We wish You would put on us the mayim tehorim u'mizol habina kavin peisa. Ah? Is there a gevezman azeh? I think there's a whole new taich in v'nishalma parim sefaseinu, Rabbei. We long, we banken. We miss it, Rabbeinu shel olam. We want to be makriv the korbanos. Ah? V'azoi, kemen zogen, a pshat. Today, before I came to say the shiur, I saw the Divrei Yoel already says this in a different shtikel, and that's why we read it before Parshas HaChodesh, because Parshas HaChodesh begins, Nissan b'Nissan nigalu. So we start with Parshas Parah as a hakdamah. What does he mean, this Torah? He pretty much speaks out, galus. Parah resembles efer haparah, vas mifabrent gevoren in galus, and it has in it also v'asa vishtaher, that l'osid. So the shibud is also that im yirtzeh Hashem. Mitz Hashem, we'll have geulah. Chodesh Nisan means hachodesh hazeh lachem, rosh chodashim, b'Nisan nigalu. So we read Parah as a hakdamah to the parshah of Chodesh. Now, rabosai, listen carefully because we're saying a big yesod. In every emunah, there's two parts to emunah, and the whole Pesach Seder is klal, it's lachem aniyah, and at the same time it's also that the osid, we talk about Mitzrayim and we talk about ve'Veisi. I want to talk to you about this because it's the yesodei hadas of emunah. Emunah is not only to believe, rabosai, as the Ribono Shel Olam took us out of Mitzrayim and He's the Manhig, but there's an inyan called tzipisa liyeshua. The Gemara in Shabbos tells us clearly that one of the questions that one is asked when he comes to Shamayim is, Tzipisa liyeshua. Brisker Rav—I don't know what's happening here, but something's happening—Brisker Rav explains that this is me'ikrei hadas, that you have to be mechakeh libi'aso. It's not just enough to believe, ani ma'amin be'emunah sheleimah b'vias haMashiach; you need also— That you have to long, tzipisa, tzipisa l'yeshua. And he says that's the pshat: V'af al pi sheyismamea, im kol zeh achakeh loi. What do you mean, af al pi sheyismamea? What's the hava amina? If I have to believe he's coming, so what's, of course, af al pi sheyismamea, right? Pashut, even though it's whatever it is. Says the Brisker Rav, no, it's not a stipulation that I still believe. For karet, that's part of the emunah, is af al pi sheyismamea, achakeh loi, because I need tzipisa. I have to look forward for the yeshua. The Gemara tells us that it's not just, did you believe in emunah? That's not the question the Gemara says we'll ask. We could ask tzipisa. Did you look forward? Gemara in Shabbos: Amar Rava, b'shaah shemachnisin adam l'din, omrim lo, nasata v'nasata b'emunah, kavata itim laTorah, asakta... Tzipisa l'yeshua. It doesn't say he'emanta; it says tzipisa. And the Brisker Rav explains that's the v'af al pi sheyismamea, im kol zeh achakeh loi. It's not that I believe even though; it's not I believe. I have to be achakeh loi. I wait for it. What do I—

Have to wait for. Let's talk l'maaseh. You say the adas. What am I looking forward for? So there's an interesting Shaarei Teshuva, Rabbeinu. The Shaarei Teshuva and Aruch HaChaim—see, there's tons of sefarim, okay, we'll leave it. The Aruch HaChaim, the Shaarei Teshuva says you have to be mitzapeh l'yeshuah, to be mitzapeh. I'll read you inside. Yechaven l'ma shesho'elim oso etzel pisa l'yeshuah, lachein techaven. Then when we say lishu'ascha kivinu kol hayom—and as far as the nusach Sefard is, mitzapim l'yeshuah, okay. But lishu'ascha kivinu kol hayom, what are you supposed to mechaven? Letzapos liyeshuas Hashem she'oseh imanu l'hatzileinu mikol pegamim ra'im b'chol yom, the tzaros. So the Shaarei Teshuva writes clearly that what's the pisa? Galus is bitter, so I have to be mitzapeh. It's ein gut. Good? Gleicht es? It's a chiddush, you know why? The Ramban and the Chofetz Chaim acharav writes clearly that that's not tzipiyah l'yeshuah. You shouldn't be mitzapeh l'yeshuah fazich. Chofetz Chaim and Tzipiyah l'Yeshuah and Likutei Amarim writes—you know what tzipiyah l'yeshuah means? For the Ribbono Shel Olam's malchus to have back the avodah. That's tzipiyah l'yeshuah. With this, Rabbeisai, let's talk about emunah the night of the Seder. How do we begin the Haggadah? We begin the Haggadah, Kol lachma anya di achalu avhasana b'ar'a d'Mitzrayim. Hashata hacha, l'shana haba'ah b'ar'a d'Yisrael. Why do we speak about hashata hacha, l'shana haba'ah? Famous question. All the meforshim talk about it. Shibolei HaLeket says clearly that the reason why we say this is because emunah means I believe, and I also mitzapeh. I long for the yeshuah. He finishes off, Yehi ratzon. That's the pshat, hashata hacha, l'shana haba'ah b'ar'a d'Yisrael, yehi ratzon sheyibaneh HaMikdash, v'nachzor v'na'aseh haPesach. Emunah, rabosai, is not just emunah; it's also a longing, a yearning for the yeshuah. This is a very important nekudah in the Seder. Senitna geulah, geulah mit avdus. It's part of the emunah, is to be mitzapeh, to look forward, to long, hashata hacha, that we should have a Korban Pesach. When you sit by the Pesach Seder, to think to yourself, Ribbono Shel Olam, how beautiful it would be if we could have had a Korban Pesach, and we're looking forward to that Korban Pesach. The inyan of chipazon, and with this I'll end my Pesach, I want you to think about it. What's the inyan of the chipazon? What's chipazon? Posen means that I'm waiting any second that the geulah is going to happen. Posen is a chelek of the emunah. See, pisa, that any minute we're going to be nigal, ad shenigla aleihem, huh? Keheref ayin. Yeah. Chelek of it is the yeshuas Hashem keheref ayin. That's the yesod. And this is the inyan of emunah, of tzipisa liyeshua. I think it's an important nekudah, rabosai. You sit by the seudah. I know tzaddikim, from my zaidy, still look out the window. See coming? Moshiach? Eliyahu Hanavi. What's the pshat, Eliyahu Hanavi? He's going to be mevaser. We're looking, we're opening the door, we're ready. Emunah yeda minot. Hadas is the yesod from emunah in the Nach, the yesod. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.