True Emunah: From Yediah to the Heart—Lessons from Pharaoh and Shovavim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshiyos, Shemos, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yetzias Mitzrayim, in great detail, what happened in Mitzrayim, what happened as we left Mitzrayim. Ufashteyt zach, this is the yesod of emunah. That's why it's so important, and every day we maskir Yetzias Mitzrayim two times a day, Matzkir Yetzias Mitzrayim kol yemei chayecha. The whole world is noheg in these days of these parshiyos shovavim. It's based on an Arizal. Shovavim. What is shovavim? Shemos, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yisro. All these parshiyos are a zman mesugal of teshuva, what they call chet hayesod, which means taharah, kedushah, for the inyanim of taharah and kedushah. This is a time of tikkun, time to do teshuvah. I don't know if it's your minhag or if it's not your minhag. It's a ganze velt. The whole world is oisek in teshuva in these parshiyos for the inyanim of kedushah and taharah, and it's called Yemei Sheovavim, the days of Sheovavim. If you look, every newspaper will be full with the different lists of shiurim on Hilchos Niddah, thousands and thousands of different shiurim, Yemei Sheovavim. It's based on an Arizal, that the Arizal said that these are the days which are mesugal for the tikkun in these inyanim. And what is it in these parshiyos that gives us tikkun, that it's the time to do teshuva on these inyanim? So there's a lot of Torah. I saw the Nesiv HaShalem has a kuntres, a special shmuzen on these inyanim of Sheovavim, and he says, b'kitzur, I'd like to use his kitzur because it's straight to the point. He says that kiyadua, there's three things which are the tikkun for these inyanim. First thing is emunah. If a person has emunah, and he explains emunah to know and to realize that Hashem is everywhere and watches and sees everything. So why would a person do, and how could a person do aveiros b'tzina? These are aveiros that a person does, so to speak, b'chadrei chadarim, that nobody knows or sees. It's in the mind. And the answer is emunah. And this emunah is to be taken from Yetzias Mitzrayim, the way we see the Ribono Shel Olam saw and understood everything, Paris said, and the makos were everywhere. The Ribono Shel Olam was all over, even in Mishareisecha, even in Paro's bedroom. He sent in tzvarei hashlichim to go after Paro. So the tikkun of emunah, which is learned from these parshiyos, is the number one tikkun for the yonim of shevevim. A second thing he says is yiras Shamayim. That's the second. If a person has yirah, which is yirah of din, he'll have to pay for everything he does wrong. That's another thing that's a tikkun for these inyanim. And of course we see that in Yetzias Mitzrayim as well, that there was din, that he had to pay. There was payment for everything that he did wrong, right? Oynish, midah keneged midah. Nothing went unpunished, unseen.

And the third thing he says is, is hachnas hachumrius bitlataiva. And of course, in the parshiyos of Mitzrayim, Mitzrayim was into chomer, Mitzrayim was into ervas haaretz. And they learned a very, very strong lesson that everything could be taken away in a moment, all the gashmiyus. And at the end, all his money was taken away by an Atzlus Mitzrayim. Everything is taken away. So these are the three inyanim that is learned from Yetzias Mitzrayim, which becomes the tikkun for these days of Yemei Shiva B'Av. I would like to emphasize and work a little bit on the inyan of emunah. You know, emunah, rabosai, is a difficult thing. Yet we feel it's simple. Ah, the Ribono Shel Olam, there's a Ribono Shel Olam. There's a very big difference by saying there's a Ribono Shel Olam and by knowing there's a Ribono Shel Olam. It's a whole different world. Fun zagen bis taken gleiben, from saying to actually knowing is worlds apart. It's a dibur from the Kedushas Levi, that the Levi, when he got married, he went to his rebbe, Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg. When he came back, his shver asked him, Nu, what did you learn? You went away. You traveled away. What did you learn over there? So he said, gelernt a siddur, siddur Rabbeinu Shleimim. So his shver looked at him, That's what you learned? That's what you have to make a big trip for? He called over the goyte, and he tells the goyte, Tell me, is there a God? Is there? So she said, Yeah, there's a God. Maybe he was talking to a goyte, it was a Yid, different nuschaos in the maaseh. It doesn't really make a difference. So she said, Yeah, there's a God. Of course there's a God. So the shver says, No, you see? You see? Even she knows. She didn't travel all the way there, and she knows that there's a God. To which he answered, Yeah, she says that there's a God. She says that there's Hashem. But I know it. There's a very big difference from zagen to visen. To know is very difficult. We all walk around talking, Avadeh, the Eibishter, Baruch Hashem, the Eibishter, mitz Hashem. It's true. Yediah is much more difficult. We learn in the parshiyos that what was the yesod of Yetzias Mitzrayim? Veyadatem ki Ani Hashem Elokeichem. It's yediah. Yetzias Mitzrayim and the lessons of Yetzias Mitzrayim are supposed to teach us not only emunah, but yediah. To know, to know, not just to walk around and l'maan tesaper b'oznei bincha. A lot of emunah is to sap a baznei bincha. You make your son, you're teaching it to your son. It has to be veyadatem. First you have to know. It's not only l'maan tesaper b'oznei bincha. A lot of times we make our children do things we ourselves don't do it, yeah? Make our children not talk in shul. What do you want? Az du gehst in shul, what, will you expect your son not to talk in shul? L'maan tesaper b'oznei bincha has to first come from veyadatem. And it's a very difficult thing, rabosai. Veyadatem is very difficult. I want to tell you over a mechidike thing I saw in the sefer Uvdos V'Hanhagos LeBeis Brisk. It brings a peledike thing. Siman chelek aleph, page samech ches. He brings from a Tzvi Markowitz, the rosh yeshiva of Kallin. I don't think he's alive anymore, tachtzeh, chelek sheini, zichrono tzaddik livrachah. So he says that he went to Kaminetz in the summer of Taf-Reish Tzadik-Zayin to learn by Reb Boruch Ber. One of the nights he was sitting in the house of the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Boruch Ber, together with Reb Elya...

And Reb Shraga Grossbard, and they talked about emunah. They were discussing emunah. And he says that in those days it was common to sit and talk inyanei emunah because there was so much haskalah. Because there was so much haskalah, they would go and talk emunah. Kitzur, of course he says, Reb Boruch Ber had an emunah peshutah. He had temimus about himself. He was very temimusdik when it came to inyanei emunah. He writes over here, hanhagah muflaah shel temimus. He had a tremendous temimus. Kitzur, the mareh would says that I told him, Reb Boruch Ber, that we find previous generations that they would work on inyanei emunah. They would sit there and contemplate emunah things. And I gave a mashal. What was the mashal? It says in the pasuk, Yekar hi mipninim. Emunah is like diamonds. Why is emunah like diamonds, yekar hi mipninim? So he said, pshat's like this. Whenever you have a string of pearls, you put them through a string, right? If you don't make a tight knot at the end of the string, all the diamonds are going to fall away, right? So he says the same thing with emunah. If the emunah, if you don't make a strong knot... B'kol hatzadim, yeah. Azi efsher l'hishtamesh gam b'derech ha'iyun v'hachkirah. All your thoughts and all your learning, it's all gonna fall away. You have to make a strong knot, and that strong knot, that's gonna hold everything together. To his surprise, Reb Ber got up and started to yell. And he started to say, How do you know this? Who told you? You have a raya to this? You have a proof to this? And that the Mangishchin started screaming, Bring a raya! I said, Bring a raya. He looked at him, Bring a raya to what? What did I say that was so difficult that you gotta bring a raya to? I said, Yekarim mipninim. It's like diamonds, and if you don't make a knot, which means if you don't work on it that it should be strongly knotted together, the whole thing is gonna fall apart. No, you gotta bring a raya. And then he even said, Take a look. When you have a shaila about kashrus, yeah, you have a shaila about a basar b'chalav, you gotta go to a rebbe to get a psak halacha. How about kashrus in de'os, in hashkafah? Kashrus in hashkafah, does that make, you're allowed to pasken for yourself? You say halacha in Hilchos De'os, you gotta go to a rebbe and get a psak halacha to say if you're saying good. So I want to know, where'd you get your psak halacha to say what you're saying? What did I say that this was such a pashte zach, emunah, ahavah, chizuk, and at the end... Then Reb Baruch Ber told him, Elamai, what are you going to say? You're going to say, I mentioned, v'zitzt un laut. So he has daas Teirah, efashteit. So he can say an emunah. He can talk about emunah. Reb Baruch Ber told him, but that's still not a good enough svara. Why not? When a person learns, he doesn't waste time. He wastes time also a little bit, so then he's not already a kosher dayan to pasken on emunah. See, Markut said, I don't understand. Here, haigam mi sheloimeid Torah, kama devarim beteilim v'hafsakos yesh b'limudo? What, he thinks he's learning mamash? ... What right do you have to say opinions about emunah? See, Markut said the same. What did I say already? Kitzur, he says he was very moved and touched, and not in a positive way, to what happened. So what did he do? Before he left, Reb Baruch Ber called him over. He said, I want to tell you...

Story. I was originally a rav in a city called Lusk. Before he became Rosh Yeshiva, he was a rav in a place called Lusk. And when I had to hold my first drasha, Reb Chaim called me over, and again I'm quoting what it says here in word for word, that the Rebbe said that the Rebbe, Reb Chaim, didn't hold I'm so smart. I'm not such a big chacham. He didn't think I was such a wise chacham. So he had to double-check on my drasha to make sure I'm saying good for the people, okay, not adding or subtracting. It's exactly what it says here. Guess what I told Reb Chaim? This vort, yekarim mipninim, that there's diamonds, and if you don't hold it together with chizuk and emunah, the whole thing, the chain of pearls are going to fall apart. And Reb Chaim went wild. He got angry. He jumped up, yeah, and he started to scream, What right do you have to say this? Where do you know this from? Who told you you could say this? So what did I do? When you told this to me, I repeated what Reb Chaim said to me. That's it. That's the story, yeah. What's the lesson of the maiseh? The lesson of the maiseh is, inyanei hashkafah, you need a rebbe, because it's so easy to make mistakes. Slight, a little nuance of the difference makes a whole different, a whole different issue. Just to give you a mashal. The flu today, right? The flu shot does work, it doesn't work, right? A little, a change of a strand. It's one small—it's a whole different sugya. It's a whole different flu. And emunah, if it's not taught properly from a Rebbe with the right hadrachah, you can really make big mistakes. It brings to the Ponovezher Rav a beautiful vort. The pasuk says, Hinei yamim ba'im, ne'um Hashem, v'shilachti ra'av ba'aretz. The day will come, there'll be hunger, but it won't be hunger for bread. It won't be hunger for water. Lo ra'av la'lechem, v'lo tzama la'mayim, ki im lishmoa es dvar Hashem. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Chayre, it's a good thing, no? Pasuk mashma that it's not from the better things. V'noamayim ad yam, yeshotetu levakesh dvar Hashem v'lo yimtze'u. They won't find it. Bad thing. It's gonna be a bad thing, that they search and they're not gonna find. Zogt Ponovezher Rav, what's the pshat? When a person is starving, he'll jump on any piece of bread that he'll find. It doesn't have to taste good, it doesn't have to be fresh. Zogt Ponovezher Rav, that's the pshat. Lo ra'av la'lechem, lo tzama—it's gonna be like hunger. Anything that anybody gives them, ah, it's gevaldik, it's the best thing. That's why. Ponovezher Rav, huh? Okay. Why did I give you this hakdamah? I would like to dedicate the devote this shiur not to say over in hashgachah and emunah for myself, to see over what the three gedolim who worked on emunah, who were poiskim on inyanei emunah, discussed emunah, and then we'll bring it back to see it in Mitzrayim, in Parah, and in the limud of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Like I told you, the yesod of Mitzrayim is not just to say that there's a Rabbeinu Shleilam, but like the Kedushas Levi said, v'yadata, to know. What does it mean to know? What does it mean? And why don't we know? Why does a person talk all his life about emunah? Twenty-four hours a day it's emunah, and yet we can't come and say, do we really have emunah? Gedolim bigger than us said that they didn't have emunah, so we for surely can come and say that we have to work on it. What is emunah, and why don't we have it? You know, in a leinung l'Shabbos every day we say, v'yadata hayom va'asheivosa el levavecha. So whatever yediah you have in the Rabbeinu Shleilam, it's still not enough. You've got to take that yediah and do what? Bring it...

Back to the vavecha. What is this all about? What is an emunah, v'yadata hayom? We say it every day, Rabbeisai. Pashut, simple: v'yadata hayom, va'hashevosa el levavecha. What does it mean, va'hashevosa el levavecha? I thought you know. Bishlama, you're saying, I say it, and I still don't have it in me. Okay, that I could hear. People talk, it's misafer lachutz, but you're not saying, I say it, and then I got to bring it internally. V'karov yadata hayom, you already know it. So what's va'hashevosa el levavecha, huh? Zogt ober Rabbeisai, vos meint v'yadata hayom, va'hashevosa el levavecha. I want to tell you over pshat like this, Rabbeisai, based on the Alter from Kelm and Rebbi Yerucham, v'chulei v'chulei. I want to begin with a question. If you notice that the night before we left Mitzrayim, the Ribono Shel Olam gave us two mitzvos. The Ribono Shel Olam gave us dam Pesach and dam milah. Rashi, perek vav, perek yud-beis, pasuk vav, says clearly, this Chazal, v'lat orim the area, you were empty from mitzvos, so I had to give you two mitzvos: dam Pesach and dam milah. Why did I have to give you Pesach? Because you oved avodah zarah. It doesn't say why I gave you dam milah. Rashi does not speak out. Rashi just speaks out, l'maaseh they were ovdei avodah zarah, so they had to do what? Pesach. This is a kasha. They didn't mention why milah. L'choirah is mashma that the milah is not connected directly to the ovdei avodah zarah. L'choirah, azeh is l'choirah meduyak bislon Rashi, right? The milah is separate from the inyan of the avodah zarah and the korban Pesach. I'll show you something interesting. The Mechilta brings from Reb Eliezer HaKapar that's cholek on this Tanna, and he says, What? They didn't have mitzvos? Of course they had mitzvos. We find so many ma'alos: lo shinu shemam, lo shinu malbusham. We see they were davuk b'nesheihem. There was no arayos. We find many ma'alos that they had. How could you come and say that they didn't have mitzvos? So Rashi doesn't bring this chelek in the Mechilta. It's two—one man d'amar says they needed mitzvos, Reb Eliezer HaKapar says no, it's not true, they had mitzvos. L'choirah, daf sach freg in the kasha. So l'maaseh it's true, they did have—what he's arguing, that they didn't have mitzvos. It's a machlokes in metzius. One of the two man d'amarim—one man d'amar says no, they needed mitzvos, so I had to give them these two mitzvos. And the other man d'amar says, but we know they had mitzvos, so what's the teretz? What, the other man d'amar says it's not true, they didn't have those mitzvos. Hismuchach that besides for all the mitzvahs, they needed two special mitzvahs. They needed dam Pesach, and they needed dam milah. Why did they need dam milah? There's a ma'irdige Reb Akiva Eiger. I don't know if everyone knows it. It's in the teshuvos, siman mem-beis. Reb Akiva Eiger learns that every milah is not just a milah on the chituch habasar of the orlah, but it also works on orlas halev. It takes care of what's inside, the lev. The man d'amar that says that they needed mitzvahs—avadeh they had mitzvahs—but they needed something called milah in order to be mafkia from avodah zarah b'Pesach, in order to have emunah sheleimah. It's directly connected in being meisir orlas halev. This is not my chiddush. This is already in older sefarim, older rishonim, acharonim. I'm just giving it to you in a simple oifen to show it to you klar in the pesukim, that in order to have dam Pesach, it had to come together with what? Dam milah, to take off orlas halev. Let's go back, rabosai. V'az vil men—

V'yadata hayom, va'asheivosa el levavecha. There's two things going on here in emunah. One is yediah, to know. But even after I know, we still need va'asheivosa el levavecha. Why? What is an apikores? You know, rabosai, we throw around the word quite easily. Ah, it's apikores, er is an apikores, dos apikores, dos apikursus. I don't want to have a discussion about this, maybe a different time. But what is apikursus? From where did it come? Where does apikursus come from? I had many a discussion, many of daily Yisroel, many of roshei yeshivas, many of my rabbeim. These are big topics, chaveirim. Yeseidei hadas. It's the reason why they're called yeseidei hadas. But one of the main questions that all the baalei hashkafah talk about is, Reb Yisroel Salanter's kasha. Simple question: how can apikores be an apikores? Isn't it at least a safek? You don't know for sure. The same way he doesn't know for sure that there's an Eibishter, there's for sure that there is no Eibishter. It's also, it's the same. I mean, if you're honest, you don't know. Yeah, but you don't know the other way either. So mi'safek, fregt Reb Yisroel Salanter. You might as well be secure and not do this, because who knows what's waiting you. Zei fregt Reb Yisroel Salanter. He says he doesn't understand the apikaires. Ma nafshach, if you have sfeikos, you had the safek; it's sfeik sfeika, no? So azoi vi s'do a safek, the same way you have a safek if, right? So maybe there's a safek that maybe you're wrong, that it's if not. There's also a safek about that. Zei fregt Reb Yisroel Salanter a kasha. I beseech, let me answer that kasha in the next few minutes, and you'll see a meiredike yesod. Okay. Paro, I guess, is the symbol of a koifer. You can't get a bigger koifer than Paro. He announces, Lo yadati es Hashem, to the point, Eretz Chaim, az er alein is an avodah zarah, right? Hinei yotzei ha-mayimah. He's not a person. He is completely convinced, or al kol panim wants you to be convinced, that there's no Eibishter. Yeah? Good. So I want to ask you a question. If someone asks you, Is Paro a meshugener? Is Paro a tremendous baal taivah? Is Paro a mushchas in middos? What makes a person, a human being, reach a level where he's this? Ultimate apikores, a stubborn kofer. How does a guy turn into such a stubborn kofer? Rabbi Yerucham pins it on the fact that he was a meshugah. Rabbi Yerucham says it clearly. Rabbi Yerucham in Daas Tevunah says a meirdike zach. He speaks b'arichus, I don't have the time to go through the whole metzius Mitzrayim, and he says, Ha'emes yoired darka, ki baas haTorah, that through the story of Mitzrayim, the Torah wants to teach us ki adam tzarich l'hizaher me'od me'od in akshus, stubbornness. We all know, kaved lev Paro, vayichbad libo. There was a kveidus halev. What is kveidus halev? What is it? So we know the Eibishter did it, the Rambam says it was an onesh. Because he did chata'im, so the Ribono Shel Olam made vayichbad. But what's l'maaseh? So therefore what? What does it mean to be kaved lev? Rabbi Yerucham learns, meshugah. So I'll read to you inside. So he says, L'choirah there was no one wiser than Paro, ki yadua mechachmasoi. He was a tremendous...

And this brilliant person. So what is it that he didn't get? What part of the story don't you get it? To the point that you're ready to sacrifice all this and withstand a tachtanzain on a mala mensch. Make a long story short, Rabbi Yerucham writes, ... The answer is, ... Bnei Yisrael, ... They saw the inyan of yetzer hara. ... That's it. The yetzer hara, ... that a mensch is completely insane. That's what it is. You're meshugeneh. So if someone asks you, l'maaseh, ... teretz is, ... No, says, I'm meshugeneh. Azoi lernt Rabbi Yerucham. ... was a meshugeneh. The Steipler in Chayei Olam has many, many shmuzen that every apikores is rooted in taivah, rooted in taivah. The Steipler is hakdamah to Chayei Olam, and he has a whole siman about it. He says people come with tzveikes and emunah, they never go off the derech. There's no such thing. And the truth is, he brings Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, but not without quoting Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, because the same way you have a safek, so you have a safek the other way too. I mean, if you're looking for the truth, he says no one ever went off the derech because of a safek of emunah. People go off the derech is because they have taivos, and even says something very sharp. In the Hagdamah he says he met many tzirei Yisroel that have problems in these inyanim. Al pi rov, hasibah ha'ikaris l'zeh hu, they should tzitzu b'sfarim chitzoniyim, oi b'teinim chavshiyim, liros maamarim oi sipurim. And he reads things tameiim u'metamim, things that are metamei. It has to do with taivah. A person who has taivah finds an excuse in the chisaron of hashgachah not to have emunah. So it's more of an excuse, and we know this Torah already, kashyos, terutzim, we all know this is famous Torah. I saw, which to me meant a lot, that from Kelm, the Alter from Kelm says that the yesod of apikorsus comes, and I'm going to quote it for you: Ma she'atem mis'onenin, this is chelek aleph, page reish ches. Ma she'atem mis'onenin al anashim shechaserim daas emunah, da b'ni ki zeh ba hakol misibas hamidos hanishchosos. Comes from bad middos. That's where it comes from. Ki zeh ba hakol, misibas hamidos hanishchosos, v'hachachmah lo tanuach b'lev. Ra. A person is bad, is bad. The middos are bad. Ki ein lachachma mishra al lev ra, lachein lo yisanua boi, ki ein lo nachas sham; it can't rest over there. Achrei shehalev ra. It can't work. And he continues with this yesod. It has to do with bad middos. I saw, grada, Reb Yerucham says a meirdike vort, and I see the time, so we'll try to make it b'kitzur. Reb Yerucham, in Dvarim, says a meirdike thing. Reb Yerucham says people think that an apikores has to do with his emunah. It has nothing to do with his emunah, says Reb Yerucham. It has to do with who the person is. V'ram levavcha v'shachachta es Hashem. It's the mention and not what he thinks. V'zacharta ki eved hayisa b'Mitzrayim.

Person. It has to do with anavim; it's the person. Emunah, says Rebbi Yerucham, is not the person fixed. Emunah is who the person is. There's a meyridike vort from Rebbi Yerucham in this parashah. He says, Hinei anochi sholei'ach es kol mageifosai el libecha. Interesting. The Ribono Shel Olam is sending all the makkos. Where is He sending? Nu, hinei lachzok, no? I'm going to send you all the makkos el libecha. What does that mean? Rebbi Yerucham frekt this shailah. He says a meyridike zach. You know, just to bring it to modern terms, you know, today there's something called targeted proton therapy. Rebbi Yerucham, sholei'ach — the Ribono Shel Olam sends it directed. You have to have guided like a laser missile. He says, mamash di zuchos. He speaks about medicine. He says people think that if it didn't work, the medicine is because the doctor has nothing to do. He says the eiver that needed the tikkun didn't do its tikkun, vechulei vechulei. If I had the time, I'd read you inside. It's beautiful shtickel from Rebbi Yerucham. Sholei'ach — the Ribono Shel Olam targets. So what did the Ribono Shel Olam target by Paroh? The answer is what? The lev. You see clearly that the targeting... What's the lev, you hear? V'yadata hayom va'hasheivosa el levavecha. It's a sefer from Simchas Chizkah from Kelm. Even when a person knows, it's still not going to help you anything. You know why? Because if the lev is not tahor, then the retzonos outweigh what the person believes. A person could believe in the Ribono Shel Olam, megedik. But what's going on in the lev? The lev needs to be tahor. Hinei anochi sholeach es kol magefosai el libecha. It was targeted to work on the lev of Paroh. Vayichbad libo. We find so much in the Torah, the vayichbad libo. Just end with the following Chassid Yaavetz. Chassid Yaavetz has a sefer, Maamar Achdus, in perek lamed. He asks an interesting question. Paroh was a tremendous koifer. Why didn't Moshe Rabbeinu come and discuss with him hashkafah she'eilos? He claims that he's a, right? Claims. So you know what? Ask him, how could it be? Talk to him. I don't understand. Give him... make for him a, what do you call those, the Shabbaton, arachim. Go sit there and talk to him and tell him, ... you think that... He's a chacham. An ehrlicher chacham, he's supposed to be a smart guy, and he has all his people, his chachamim. Talk to them. Give them a discussion, hayitachen? Sagt the Yavetz, es hot nisht tzu ton mit what Pari thought. Pari's kefirah had nothing to do with seichel and mechkar, chakirahs. It had nothing to do with that. It had to do with lev Pari. It had to do with what he wanted. It had to do with ratzon. So we had to do what? To undo his ratzon. How do we undo his ratzon? Mageifosai el libecha, with targeting the right disease. The disease wasn't in the daas. The disease was in the middos. The disease was in the middos. What do I want from all this, chaveirai? B'kitzur, let's talk b'kitzur. Emunah, emunah, emunah. You can write.

Sefarim, mitzfarim. There's so much to talk about emunah. But l'maaseh, l'man tisapeh b'oznei bincha u'ven bincha. We're talking to the child. What emunah could a child have already? And the Reb Elchanan speaks about all this. How could a child? He told my greatest zaken, emunah is dacha. You expect the child to be a philosopher, and you expect he should know philosophy? What do you want? And you know what the answer is? That even a child, and maybe even more so a child, because a child is pure. There's nekiyus. Where there's nekiyus, there's emunah. That's what. Eis asher hisalalti b'Mitzrayim. And I'll end with this vort. What was the hisalalti? What was the big joke in Mitzrayim? Tell me what the joke is. You tell me. Sayene gelachta? I don't think it was that funny what happened in Mitzrayim. To me it sounded very, very— to me this wouldn't be a comedy. This would be, I don't know what they call it in English, but it would be a sad, right? It'd be a sad story. The megahah of a complete country. Where is this hisalalti b'Mitzrayim? You know what the teretz, the pashut pshat is? Hisalalti— when a person does something believing that this is right, that this is, and I'm in power, and what I think... And all the chachma didn't help them. It didn't help. It's almost like a puppet show. Pari walks around, he's the big brilliant guy, and, et tut zachen k'neged. Imagine a brilliant guy puts his hand in the fire. Why would a brilliant guy put his hand in the fire? And the teretz is, because if you work with daas, it doesn't work. If the lev is not tahor, matisapeh b'oznei bincha ben bincha. Which part of the emunah are you teaching your children? Mechkar? No. You're teaching them, look at Pari, kaved lev Pari. Take a look what happens when a person doesn't have the right middos toivos. Take a look what happens when a person is a mushchas. He does everything k'neged hefech hadaas. That's hisasheri, salalti, yisalalti b'Mitzrayim, and that's the l'maan tisaper b'oznei bincha, ben bincha. Nekiyus, nekiyus, nekiyus. Emunah is a difficult, difficult thing. Now let's go back in one second, understand, shoivevim, rabosai. It's emunah. Emunah is connected. Emunah is connected to what, rabosai? Nekiyus and taharah. Yes, it is. It's very much connected. Where there's no nekius, there is no emunah, with the fiveth verse. Mitzrayim, Mitzrayim was a lesson in these inyanim: nekius, Rabbi, nekius hadas, middos, menschlichkeit. This brings to emunah. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.