Pekudei: Yashrus, Accountability, and Why Ehrlichkeit Brings Bracha and Hatzlacha

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, Bruchim Habaim. Parshas Pekudei. Eileh Pekudei HaMishkan, Mishkan HaEidus, asher pukad al pi Moshe avodas haLeviim b'yad Itamar ben Aharon HaKohen. Pekudei, Pekudei HaMishkan. What is this parsha, the yesod of the parsha? It's accountability. Moshe Rabbeinu is opening up the books of where all the money, a cheshbon of where all the money that was collected, where it went to in the Mishkan. The Medrash, both Yalkut Shimoni in Mishlei and the Medrash Tanchuma here, is doresh a pasuk, uses a pasuk to explain this parsha. V'ish emunos rav brachos. It's a pasuk in Mishlei, chof-ches beis. Ish emunos, a person who is getrau, is ehrlich. Emunos ze Moshe. Like it says in the pasuk, B'chol beisi ne'eman hu. Rabbeinu Shalom is me'id that Moshe Rabbeinu is a ne'eman, so the ish emunos the pasuk in Mishlei is referring to is Moshe Rabbeinu. Mimeila, rav brachos. There was a lot of bracha. There was a lot of bracha in the Mishkan because Moshe, he was the overseer of the project of the Mishkan, and he was ehrlich by showing Pekudei HaMishkan, opening up the cheshbon. And give accountability for all the monies, mimeila Rav brachos. Let's quote the Medrash: V'ish emunos rav brachos ze Moshe, shene'emar, b'chol beisi ne'eman hu. וכל הדברים שנעשה גזבר עליהם במלאכת המשכן היו מתברכים. Moshe, he was the overseer, he was the gizbar; mimeila everything was with bracha. V'lamah? Mishum shehaya ne'eman. Because he was a ne'eman, and hayah korei lacheirim. He calls Yisamar, and then he shows it in the entire parsha where all the money went, and that's eileh pekudei haMishkan. Chayores, fregt zich the kasha, the question must be asked: but they choshed Moshe Rabbeinu, that Moshe Rabbeinu would misuse the funds that were collected for the Mishkan. Ribbono Shel Olam alone was made on Moshe Rabbeinu b'chol beisi ne'eman; he's the most ehrlich. By Kriyas Yam Suf, Klal Yisrael sees this. While everyone is running for bizas hayam, Moshe Rabbeinu is busy with Atzmos Yosef. So we see clearly, and it was clear to Klal Yisrael that Moshe is not running after money. Moshe is kein gelt mensch, kein ehrlicher mensch. So why all the hadgasha, the emphasis on accountability to show where everything in the Mishkan went? Look at the Baal HaTurim. The Baal HaTurim says, ein hachanami, they were taka choshed him. The reason for Moshe... Acting in Parshas Pekudei in such a way of showing all the books and to make cheshbon where everything went was because they were taka choshed Moshe Rabbeinu, and it's really a Medrash. The Medrash says that Moshe Rabbeinu overheard someone say, Ah, look, Moshe Rabbeinu has a very heavy neck. He's a very thick neck, stam like double chins. Ah, it's because he's taking the money from the Mishkan. He's pocketing it, and he's buying food with it, and he's becoming fat from our money. Mechapela. First of all, one person is choshed Moshe Rabbeinu, so forget about him. Write him off. He's crazy. And even that is a pelah that Moshe has to take into consideration, the chashad, that he has to show that he didn't misuse or pocket the money. Hayitachen, hayitachen they'd be choshed Moshe Rabbeinu? And for this we have an entire parsha, Pekudei, in the Torah. You look at the Alshich. The Alshich says, of course they weren't choshed Moshe Rabbeinu. It's keneged zayin. Moshe Rabbeinu is the most ehrlich of all. So what's the cheshbon that Moshe Rabbeinu is giving here in the parsha?

Why is he opening the books and the teretz is not for others, but for himself? This was to give a din and a cheshbon, to hold himself accountable, to make sure every penny went to where it was supposed to go and for what was needed, and there was nothing misused in the binyan haMishkan. L'maaseh, you look at Chazal, the Medrash, he started to wonder, thousands of shekalim were missing. Toma l'atzmai, lashon, he started to wonder. So l'chein it means for himself. Vazicha leini wanted to make sure that everything was oisken cheshbon and all the funds were properly used. Where were takke these thousand shekalim? A bas kol came out and said it went to the vavei ha'amudim, and for some reason that part of the project of the building of the Mishkan was overlooked. This l'chaira would be the pshat if we're going to learn that they weren't choshesh Moshe Rabbeinu, and all the accountability here was Moshe klapei atzmai for his own cheshbon hanefesh, so to speak. אבל למעשה, מדרש שטייט ניט אזוי. The Medrash says clearly that why did Moshe open up the books? Because he heard this person say that Moshe pocketed the money and he became fat over our money. L'chaira it's not like this Alshich. What does the Alshich do with this Medrash? So efsher, maybe we can say pshat. That there's two parts to the accountability in the parsha. There's two reasons for it. Avada b'ikar, it starts with Moshe giving accountability for himself, as the Al Shich l'choira seems to be saying. Now the question, though, becomes, so why does Moshe Rabbeinu have to open the books to everyone? Why does everyone in Klal Yisrael have to see the cheshbon? Good, you want to make a cheshbon, make it between yourself, maybe Yitzamar, Aaron, Sanhedrin, Betzalel. But why does it have to be open to the public to see? You look at the Baal HaTurim. The Baal HaTurim says, Eileh pikudei, malei. Pikudei can be spelled with a vav, and it can be spelled without a vav. Here it's pikudei with a vav, malei vav, shepakad l'chol vav me'os elef, which means all 600,000 people, the books were open to, shelo yechashdu, shelo lakach min hakesef. So maybe that's what the Medrash means. Accountability, this, that he made the cheshbon was takkeh for himself. But the question is, why does he go and open it up to everyone? Why do we need an entire parsha in the Torah l'doros? This is written for generations. The Chappelle, even if it was about accountability, it didn't need to be an entire parsha in the Torah for all the doros to read, and the Torah says, the one person. The one person that was choshesh Moshe Rabbeinu. So this is the two sugyas and the two inyanim in the Eilah Pekudim. One was from Moshe himself, and the other was taka to make sure everyone in Klal Yisrael saw that every penny went to where it was supposed to go. If you look at the lashon haMedrash, pretty meduyak, because the Medrash starts off by saying he counted to make keep a cheshbon, and he didn't know where the sh'tei thousands of shekalim were, and it was vavei amudim. And then it says, V'lamah—after the Medrash had v'lamah, why did he go and make this pekudah?—is because he heard the person say this thing, that he pocketed the money. It's mashma that that was a second shlav, a second part, a second phase in the accountability of opening up the books of cheshbon. You look at Daas Chochmah U'Mussar, chelek aleph, amud kuf yud ches. He fataytches, what was this ne'emonus of Moshe Rabbeinu, this accountability that Moshe Rabbeinu did? He says when it comes—

Just the funds of mitzvah of tzedakah, there's a yetzer hara to misuse it l'shem shamayim. Once it starts entering l'shem shamayim, there's a special nisayon of ehrlichkeit, which Reb Yerucham is trying to say, that chas v'shalom Moshe wasn't choshesh anyone on geneivah, geneivah, to come and make a cheshbon on what Betzalel did or where all the money went. What, he would choshesh that Betzalel's a ganef? And the teretz is, it's not about geneivah of mamon; it's about ehrlichkeit and akiyus kapayim when it comes to l'shem shamayim dekinyanim, where there the yetzer hara plays with the l'shem shamayim and convinces you to misuse and to do things and to utilize things not for the right cause, thinking that it's l'shem shamayim. It's a certain concept, a certain yetzer hara of geneivah and sheker l'shem shamayim, which is more of a nisayon, scarier, so to speak, than just plain average regular geneivas mamon. I think with this pshat of Reb Yerucham, which explains the nisayon and the accountability that Moshe is trying to bring out over here, there's an interesting medrash. The Medrash Tanchuma, when it speaks about Moshe Rabbeinu being eilech, it says, v'ish emunos, rav brachos. That's Moshe, like we spoke, that he was ne'eman, and therefore there was bracha in the Mishkan. The end of that pasuk in Mishlei is, v'otz li'saser lo yinakeh. If a person is quick, he's hasty to become rich, lo yinakeh. Nothing good will come, nothing clean will come out of it. Zeh Korach. Moshe, ish emunos, rav brachos. Otz li'saser, zeh Korach. Fragt the mefarshim the kashya: Moshe's erlachkeit was in mamonus. Korach's not erlachkeit. It wasn't about money. It's not otz li'saser. It wasn't about becoming rich. Korach was rich. Korach wasn't interested in money. Korach made a machlokes about kavod, trachtn mit gelt. I always say that the first and only machlokes that's not around money was Korach. Usually machlokes somehow is about money, it's based on money, and Korach wasn't about money. So what's the pshat in the Medrash that we're saying, zeh l'umas zeh, davar v'hipucho? Moshe, opposite Korach. Moshe was erlachkeit; money, Korach was an i-erlachkeit, in gaivah, in kavod. Loit Reb Yerucham, we could say, gargeshmak, even by Moshe it was not about money, chas v'shalom. It wasn't chemdas hamamon and the pocketing and stealing of money that Moshe was afraid, but l'shem Shamayim. L'shem Shamayim, maybe the money needs to go a little more here, or maybe some of the workers need to get paid extra, whatever their l'shem Shamayim of the moment is. So it's a ehrlichkeit, a yashrus in l'shem Shamayim, where koirach, the opposite. He also claimed he was l'shem Shamayim. He also claimed he wants avodas Beis HaMikdash. Moshe was the Mishkan. The money should go properly to the Mishkan. Koirach, Re'etzachai, Mishkan, avodas HaMishkan. But his l'shem Shamayim wasn't ehrlich. It wasn't ish emunos. Reb Yeruchim in Daas Torah, Vayikra, says an interesting deher: v'yesh m'nikiyim efshar tzricha kasha. The one person that spoke against Moshe, so write him off. Who cares? Why are you addressing? Why are you taking some hearts? Vos einer zogt, he said it. He said that Moshe pocketed the money. And let's say he said it over to two, three of his cronies in shul, mah. Forget it. Davst machen a gantze Torah? And then you have to make an entire parsha just for this guy? Zogt Reb Yeruchim, you need to understand what the mitzvah of yisin l'kiyum is. Yisin l'kiyum Hashem u'Yisrael is even for chshad of one person. Nikiyus is nikiyus, and it's a chiyuv, the yisin l'kiyum.

And if it means even one person, you got to take with a chshad. A mitzvah, a chiyuv, v'yisem nekiyim, Hashem u'miYisrael. Rabbi Yerucham quotes an interesting Gemara in Shekalim, brings down a Gemara in Shekalim, perek gimmel, halacha beis: Hanichnas litrom halishka. Someone who went in to give money to the lishka in the Mikdash, lo haya nichnas b'minal, he didn't go in with shoes nor did he go in with long sleeves. Why? Maybe he'll pocket the money. He'll take from the money, put it in his shoes, hide it, and go out. Perplexing is the following: if this is not enough of a chiddush, a guy is going to steal money and put it in his shoes, the Gemara says that he wasn't allowed to come in with tefillin, tefillin, because maybe he'll undo the strings, the gidim of the tefillin, and hide, I guess, a shekel or two. Could you already put in the tefillin and walk out with this? So ich freg dir, rabosai, would anyone do it? And would anyone be choshesh that someone would do it? So far-fetched, yet v'yisem nekiyim is mechayev such nekiyus, such integrity, that even this is clean and that no one could be choshesh. Mi'dachtzach, that could be it's not about a real chshad. It's about a certain hanhaga. It's about how a person has to act. Harei a man, she has to be clean, has to be straight. He has to be above reproach. And it's not only because of people, because that's the right hanhaga for the klapi Shmaya too, and that's v'hisenekiim Hashem umiYisrael. It's one thing. It's not so much what people are going to speak. It's an erlichekeit from zich alein, klapi Shmaya umiYisrael, which is also the erlichekeit of the mensch, and it has more to do with the person than the people who are speaking about this person. And that's what I was fataytching midachzach, is the Alshich and the whole medrash. The original and maybe more important temaisha of the counting was from zich alein, to make sure that everything was yashar, and that's ish emunos. The mensch alein is an erliche mensch. A mensch alein is a trustworthy person. There'll always be one or two crazies that will talk, one or two hustam plaplers. There's always going to be, but it's not about them. It's about you. It's about the person. It's about being an ish emunos. And this brings bracha, because erlichekeit brings bracha. Eileh pekudei haMishkan. Yes, there was chashad. It's true. But maybe it's more about it shouldn't be a situation of chashad. More is about that than it is about the choshdim, those that are taka being choshed, because those who are choshed is probably not that many, and those that are choshed, there's keferlach. It's not too much trouble would have came from it. It's about anhaga, hanhaga yeshara. It's about our hanhaga nekiyah, areina, elech hanhaga. If you notice, the lashon of the pasuk is ish emunos. It doesn't say ish emunah; it says ish emunos, plural. Why the plural? Says in the Ben Ish Chai, drush l'Shabbos, teshuva, drush gimmel, and really it's meduyak in the Even Ezra, the way the Even Ezra pataches the pasuk, emunos, plural, in everything that he does. The Eibershter is not only elech in money; he's an elech in l'shem Shamayim, in his Yiddishkeit. He's not only elech in his Yiddishkeit and not in his money. It's both. It's elech. If you're elech, you're elech in everything. Ish emunos. It's not ish emunah, because it's emunos in everything that he does. It speaks to the core of who the person is. Vos iz der mentsh? The mentsh is, areina, elech a mentsh, and m'meila everything that he does is with emunah. It's elech. And soon we're going to explain emunah has takke to do, the Ribono Shel Olam, emunah baShem. And that's why it's not ish emunah, but ish emunos. Unfortunately, we find people who are very elech when it comes to mitzvahs, but they're not so elech in mamon. Then there are people who are very elech...

Bein adam l'chaveiro, bein adam laMakom, they're not so, and they cut the corners, so to speak. Dav zayin reinu nelech, an עלה in yonim, and that's the person that becomes the ish emunos. Famous kasha that is asked on the parsha: why is Moshe Rabbeinu revealing all the money that was collected? There's a Yeduadike klal, very famous yesod: Ein bracha sharuyah ela b'davar hasamui min haayin. It's got to be covered away from people's eyes. Tarsha ayin hara, kinah and whatnot, and then there's no bracha. So how and why is Moshe Rabbeinu revealing and opening up to everyone how much money was collected, and yet we're still on top of that saying there was bracha? There's a mechudeshdike Maharal that says, maybe because of this we didn't have the Mishkan l'olam, and we didn't have the Beis HaMikdash l'olam, because maybe it was too much fanfare of how much money and splendor of the Mishkan, how much money went into it. And ein bracha sharuyah ela b'davar hasamui min haayin. He says that's the pshat why we have in the pasuk, Mishkan ha'eidus, eileh pekudei haMishkan. Mishkan ha'eidus, Rashi, two Mishkans, because it's referring to the two batei Mikdash that the Ribbono Shel Olam took away from us as a mashkin. The Maharal in Aleph regel, why here do we have to hear Mishkan, Mishkan ha'eidus? We already in previous parshas, when itztavu, we were commanded to make a Mishkan, and there it should have told us Mishkan, Mishkan ha'eidus, that it's not going to be forever. Why here now, in this pasuk, in this junction, do we have to hear mishka mishkaneidus, that it's not going to be forever, one day it will be taken away from us, and the teretz of sevelei pekudei, zogt the Maharal. Money was counted, everything was open to the public, ein bracha shruya ela bedavar hasamui min haayin, ayin hara. L'maaseh, this question already was addressed in the Zohar, and it's not the teretz that the Maharal gives. The Zohar gives different answers. The Zohar says that Rabbi Yitzchak asked this question from Rabbi Shimon. So the Zohar, alein, the Zohar, a few pages later says a teretz. We find that Moshe went out to the people and he gave a bracha on the construction, when they put up the Mishkan, he gave a bracha: Yehi ratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem, a special tefillah that there should be hashra'as haShechinah. Zogt the Zohar, why was it needed that there should be a special tefillah, yehi ratzon shetishreh? They did kasher tzivah, they did everything they were supposed to do, so farishteit zich there'll be hashra'as haShechinah. The Ribono Shel Olam said, Build me a Mishkan and we'll have hashra'as haShechinah. Why would there not be hashra'as haShechinah? Zogt the Zohar, because l'maaseh the money was counted and it was shown to the whole public, and ein bracha shruya ela bedavar hasamui min haayin. So to combat, to go and have keneged this problem of counting, ein bracha shruya ela bedavar hasamui min haayin, Moshe Rabbeinu had to give a tefillah. Moshe Rabbeinu had to give a special bracha. Shetishu Shechinah b'maaseh yadeichem. Mar'eh chiddush, l'nechama. Like the Maharal says, there was a problem of ein bracha shorah ela b'davar hasamui min ha'ayin. Our tefillas Moshe was the anecdote to this problem of ein bracha shorah ela b'davar hasamui min ha'ayin. There could be a chiddush in l'maaseh. Whenever a person חושש for ayin hara, maybe tefillah, maybe to daven, maybe a bracha of a tzaddik, maybe someone who is a tzaddik, hakol panim. However you want to fatach, tefillas Moshe or birchas Moshe, that could be the anecdote to ayin hara. Maybe al pi the Zohar, hakol panim. Reb Shimon gives a different teretz to Reb Yitzchak, who asked this question: why counting all the funds and showing it to the people? Why reveal it and open it up if ein bracha shorah ela b'davar hasamui min ha'ayin? So, Reb Shimon, it depends why you count. If you're counting it because you want to count, ein bracha shorah ela b'davar hasamui min ha'ayin. You're opening it up to the public for no reason, ein bracha shorah ela b'davar hasamui min ha'ayin. But if you open it up to the public, mitzad ha'kedushah, minu, you're counting it mitzad ha'kedushah.

Then you don't have to worry about ein aproch shel bdavar shebminayim. What does he mean, mitzad hakedushah? It's meinte. What does the Zohar mean that it was a counting mitzad hakedushah? You look at the Bnei Yissaschar, you look at the ... it's graisin yonim, the whole parsha bichlal, it's graisin yonim, ruchniyusdike inyonim in the counting. Moshe, Rav Shiva Zatzal says an interesting deher: the counting is a physical thing, they counted, it's part of. But we know in everything in the Mishkan it had its symbolism; it was symbolic for something ruchni. Where is the ruchni? What the ruchniyusdike message in Eileh Pekudei, says the Rav Shiva Zatzal, hashraas haShechinah. Hashraas haShechinah needs cheshbon hanefesh. The Mishkan had hashraas haShechinah. A mensch will have hashraas haShechinah in zich, shachanti bsocham. It needs to be achieved with cheshbon, cheshbon hanefesh, lev metacheshev. So these inyonim of pekudim are, as well as they are physical, where all the money went, a simple cheshbon, but it's also ruchniyusdig. There's groise inyonim in it. Midatchach rabosai, mekanzegn gar pashut, the meaning was mitzad hakedushah vyisum nekiyus. Eich kedushah? A reinkeit, nekiyus. Mitzad hakedushah means that Moshe needed to build the Mishkan with reinkeit, with ehrlichkeit, as we soon will explain, and that's the minui mitzad hakedushah, mitzad hakedushah. The Gemara in Beitzah, daf tez-vav amud beis, says, Haroitzeh lsaser. Gemara gives us advice. If someone wants to become rich, yita oder. He should plant oder trees. It's the name of a tree. No, it's the name of the month also, but it's the name of a tree, oder tree. Yita oder. Why? If you're rich by planting oder trees. The Chazalin, look at Maseches Tamid, that the oder tree is a very strong tree. You can build bridges, and that the wood is so strong that it can uphold tremendous weight. Maybe that's oder. It's expensive wood. It's a very strong wood. It's good for business. It's interesting that the Gemara would give business advice on a technical way of how to make money. Maybe everything's in the Gemara. Hafoch bah v'hafoch bah, d'kula bah. Maybe there's good business tips in the Gemara. The Meiri says another pshat. And what does it mean, Haroitz l'saser yita oder? If you look at the Malbim on the pasuk of Ish emunos rav brachos, he patches this Meiri as follows: Oder is a tree that grows straight up. It doesn't bend right. It doesn't bend left. It's straight. It's yashar. Chazal are giving us a message. They're giving us a mussar. Haroitz l'saser, if someone wants to become rich, yashar. You got to be straight. You got to be ehrlich. Don't bend right. Don't bend left. Yita oder. Maybe symbolically, ki oder meitzas adam, man is like a tree. So from the tree he should learn a lesson. From the oder tree, he should learn how he, the person, must behave. If you notice the end of the pasuk, as we mentioned before, is otz lis'aser lo yinakeh. Quick to make money, lo yinakeh. He's not going to be clean. Tzudas David explains, the Metzudas of HaNeret explains, otz means he's quick and he's not straight. Otz means he cuts corners and he's slick, and he's trying to make a quick dollar. Otz lis'aser, trying to cut the corners. He's trying to get the deal, but he's not being straight. Lo yinakeh. He won't end up being rich. And this is the Meiri and the Metzudas giving us advice on business. Business is not about making the deal, but making an ehrliche deal. An ehrliche deal brings riches. Not ehrlich doesn't bring you lo yinakeh. Nothing good will ever come from it. If you look at the Yalkut Mamloyes that I began to quote you, that he quotes the Meiri, he says an interesting pshat from the Aruchos Chaim. He says, if you look at the words ish emunos, rav is Shabbos. Sofei teivos, the ish emunos, rav.

Shin, emunos, taf, beis, beis, together make Shabbos. So ish emunos, Rav somehow is tied to the Shabbos. That's the connection, the shaychus. ... to explain, to be mefaneach, to uncover the hidden meaning of this. ... Ish emunos, Rav Brochos. We know Shabbos is mikor habrachah. Why is Shabbos mikor habrachah? Ish emunos. Shabbos is all about emunah. There's a Yerushalmi that tells us clearly, an am haaretz is not ne'eman on ma'asros; we can't trust him, it's d'mai. Yet on Shabbos, says the Yerushalmi clearly, on Shabbos, if he tells us that he took ma'aser, he could be believed. Why? Because Shabbos is k'shutah. People speak the truth, k'shutah; they speak the truth on Shabbos. Yerushalmi, d'mai, perek daled, halachah aleph: hameratzim are ne'eman on Shabbos to say they took ma'aser, because in zogn in Erlach, they say truth on Shabbos. It's a mefurashin that we see it's not so, not for tonight. Maybe a different time. Maybe it has to do the way you keep Shabbos. Maybe it has to do the way others keep Shabbos around him. Maybe they're not telling the truth and not behaving the way a Yid's supposed to behave; maybe it has something to do with us, v'yan anderesmol. This is a discussion for a different time, but it's a mefurash Yerushalmi which brought halachah, that am haaretzim are ne'emanim; they have ne'emonus, even an am haaretz, which normally doesn't tell the truth, he has ne'emonus. Could be the root of this is because every Yid becomes an eid on Shabbos. We know we're saying edus. We're saying testimony that the Ribono Shel Olam created the world. Part of an eid has to be that he is a ne'eman, that he's telling the truth. Otherwise, it's k'neged. Brought down in sefarim that Friday night, when a person comes into his house and before he makes Kiddush, he should think teshuva. That's why, if you notice, l'halacha it's brought down that Erev Shabbos is a zman of teshuva. Mishnah Berurah brings down you're supposed to fast on Erev Shabbos. It's called taanis tzaddikim. Mishnah Berurah learns it has to do with not eating Erev Shabbos, so a person would become hungry to the meal on Shabbos. L'maaseh, if you look at the Kaf HaChaim, which is really bringing and quoting from a Zohar and from the Ari, it has more to do with teshuva. That since Erev Shabbos, leading into Shabbos, is a zman teshuva, so tzaddikim used to fast on Erev Shabbos. Can't fast on Shabbos, so you fast on Erev Shabbos, leading into Shabbos. Pshat could be it's a zman of teshuva. Why is it a zman of teshuva? We all know under every chuppah you'll always find the rav that will turn to somebody who is an eid and say, Teshuva, tach teshuva, bist chaneid. You have to be an eid, so be meharer teshuva. Friday night we're going to be an eid. By Kiddush, vayechulu shamayim v'aretz v'chol tzva'am, we're saying edus. There's the Chazal, there's a whole shaila, vayechulu, that said in the shul, should you say it with another person because you need two witnesses, two eidim. They say over from the Chazon Ish that he wasn't makpid on it. Even one could say the edus. Maybe the pshat is that eid echad ne'eman on Shabbos, asoyvi there's a din eid echad ne'eman b'issurim. Maybe for Shabbos too there's halacha eid echad ne'eman. After, al kol panim, there's zecher nekudah of eidus in Vayechulu hashamayim, in testimony that the Ribono Shel Olam created the world. An eid needs to do teshuvah. An eid needs to do teshuvah, and eile Friday night is an inyan to do teshuvah. As you come into Shabbos, before you say Vayechulu hashamayim, va'aretz v'chol tzva'am, an eid has to be a kosher eid, and part of an eidus l'chair kosher is to say the truth. Otherwise it's kedei. So it could be on Shabbos the Ribono Shel Olam gives, Ribono Shel Olam delivers the koach of ne'emanus for the Yid to be an eid. But also, Shabbos is about emunah, that the Ribono Shel Olam created the world. Maybe that's the taich rav emunos, plural, the two emunos: the emunah, the ... the ne'emanus eid; emunos, the emunah in Hashem, and it's probably connected, nasata v'nasata b'emunah. The Gemara says in Shabbos that we ask a person, nasata v'nasata b'emunah. Emunah there means emunah, ehrliche business, and it also means, according to many mefarshim, emunah baShem, because it's connected. If you have emunah baShem, you'll have emunah in business; you'll be ehrlich in business.

The two are connected. Can't separate. A person has emunah, he'll be ehrlich. If he doesn't have emunah, he won't be ehrlich. Rav emunos. Eileh ish emunos. If you have both emunos, rav brachos, you'll have birchas haShabbos. You'll have Shabbos mikora bracha. Efsher. Notice on Shabbos we don't do work. We don't do business. No business is a good time not to lie. Business, a lot of nisyonos of sheker. No business on Shabbos, a good time, kushta, to tell the truth. And it's all connected to the ma'alos of Shabbos, ulai efsher. I saw the Kuti Yehuda brings from the Sfas Emes a kasha: ish emunos, rav brachos. The Medrash tells us that there was lots of bracha in the Mishkan, and the reason for this bracha is because Moshe Rabbeinu was ish emunos. Ehrlich. He opened the books. He showed accountability, mimeila rav brachos. Fragt the Sfas Emes, it's not rav brachos. If everything was accounted for, and everything went to where it was supposed to go, so it wasn't bracha. Where's the bracha? It wasn't an overabundance of bracha. Wherever the money was collected and it had to go, to it went. Zogt the Sfas Emes, a sheiner pshat, in pshatav in the pshat of the pasuk. The pasuk tells us, Vhamelacha hoysah day v'hoser. There was enough and plus extra. The day they collected. How did they get the hoser? How did they get extra? And the pshat is because there was bracha. There was a special gevisa bracha in the collection, because it was done through Moshe Rabbeinu, the gizbar ne'eman. You know, when you have a project, usually you never come to fill the quota that was originally set out for what you need. Never. Most projects come up short. Here, not only didn't it come up short, it was v'hoiser adas Moshe bracha. Where did this bracha come from? Teretz is in the collector. I don't know if it's a lesson that if you have a project and you collect money and the collector is ehrlich, there'll be extra funds, there'll be davka hoiser. Maybe it has to do with the collector. Al kol panim, al zeh learned the Sfas Emes that Moshe, because he was the gizbar, so there was bracha in the collection. The way we learned from the Zohar, Rav Shechem ben Zoga Nacha teaches, the bracha was not in the money collected, but it was in the results of the Mishkan that there was hashra'as haShechinah. Moshe Rabbeinu comes out and says, Yiratzeh shetishreh. The Zohar tells us that that was a special bracha needed to combat the fact that it was ein bracha shorah ela bedavar hasamui min haayin. You see, where is the bracha? Not in the collection, but in the result, that there was hashra'as haShechinah. In a house, rabosai, sometimes the bracha, you have the money to build a house, but it still doesn't mean you have bracha in the house. The bracha in the house is not the building, it's not the walls, it's not the furniture, it's the hashra'as haShechinah. And the happiness that is in the home, which is where the bracha is. We're used to thinking the bracha, a tasheinah shtub. Rabboisai, there's a very big difference between a nice house and a nice home. A person can have a nice house and not a nice home, and a person can have a nice home and not necessarily it's a nice house. The walls don't make the home; they make the house. The bracha, like the Sfas Emes says, in the money, in the collecting. Moshe was the gizbar; he did the collecting, so he had bracha that it was dai, and not only that it met the quota, but hoisir even extra. We're learning, al pi the Zohar, the bracha was not in the house of the Mishkan, but it was in the home of the Mishkan. It was in the hashra'as haShechinah. It was in the veshachanti b'socham, which l'choira is a lesson: you need bracha inwardly. Bracha is the home and in the person himself, that he should be happy and he should have everything that he needs. I think we can answer with what we speak, a modeh ka'ara. Yitzchok Moshe fregt a kasha: you want to show accountability for everything that happened in the Mishkan.

And where all the money's went, and you want to do it later, after you finish building the Mishkan, show where all the money went. It's famous, what do we call it, hanhogas, it's accepted that when you finish the project, you'll show where all the money went. Why now? Why here? Before even the building had to be a cheshbon, a cheshbon where all the money went, azoi fregt the Yismach Moshe, the Teretz Rabboisai is gargeshmak. The Mishkan had to be built on ehrlichkeit. It had to be on a foundation of reinekeit, on kedusha. And therefore everything had to be ehrlich from the start, from the get-go, mit a klarkeit, in order that the hashraas haShechinah that's in the Mishkan should be built on this ehrlichkeit. Because if not, when the foundation is not ehrlich, Hashem lo yivneh bayis shav, amlu bonav bo. And I saw this in a mefurasher Gaon. The Gaon brings down in Tikunei Zohar an interesting Zohar. Chavraya, the Tannaim, when they learned Toras Hanistar, I guess it's the Torah of the Zohar, they didn't do it in beis medrash. They did it bein ha'ilanos. They did it between the trees. Why between the trees? What's wrong if you learn in beis medrash? Zogt the Gaon, the beis medrash, the building, you never know what the kavanos and where the money that the binyan, the building, where it came from. Who knows if it's ehrlich, if it's pure. And that would have a tremendous effect on the Torah that you learn there. I quote you the lashon of the Gaon, she'ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu mashreh Shechinaso ela al pe'ulah shel tzedek. Hashra'as haShechinah needs to be on foundations of tzedek, of erlechkeit, righteousness. Bein ha'ilanos, the Ribono Shel Olam created those ilanos; they're pure. There's no gezel, there's no bad middos. In a house, in a building, you never know what goes in. And therefore here, before the binyan, dachtach, with this Gaon we can explain the pshat to the kasha of the Yismach Moshe: why was there cheshbon? Why was there an open revelation of how erlech and how straight and how emunah the project was? Because the binyan that had to be built on these yesodos of emunah, of the yesod nekiyim, and if not, then Hashem lo yivneh bayis, shav amlu bonav boi. In our rabbeisai, we find an interesting thing. Moshe is erlech; he doesn't take money by Mitzrayim, the Mishkan, to the penny, and he's out front with clerkheit. Erech, not a penny. Yet Moshe does become rich. Chazal tell us, פסל לך. Now, when Moshe Rabbeinu carved the second luchos, the extra pieces, I guess like the sawdust from the carving, were like diamonds. They were expensive, and he became rich because he was given those diamonds. If Moshe Rabbeinu had to get rich, rabosai, why did it have to come from the psoles of the luchos shniyos? Why dafka through that form did the Ribbono Shel Olam give riches to Moshe Rabbeinu? Reb Shmuel Shkop, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the rosh yeshiva, Reb Shmuel Shkop from Grodno, says a pshat, hakdamah of Shaarei Yosher. First luchos he broke. Had he not broken, there would never be shikchas haTorah. No one would ever forget learning. You don't forget learning. You could have learned a few hours by the day, got everything klar, never forget it, and then you can go to work the rest of the day and make money. Chazal tell us that because he broke the first luchos, and with the second luchos came a whole new, a whole new metzius, and that is that...

Person forgets, and therefore, because of that, says Reb Shimon, you have to learn again and again and again in harav yagia b'salcha. Maybe it's part of the psolescha; you have to work on it. First luchos, maybe that's the taich. The first luchos were given to you. The second luchos, it's psolescha; you got to work on it. Now that you have to work on it, and if not, you'll forget it. If not, you won't be masig the Torah. So now you can't go to work because you're busy learning all day. There's no time to work. Vestrachten, vesmeinen, oh, now I don't have money. I'm sitting in kollel all day, and I'm harving and learning. Where am I going to get money from? Says HaKadosh Baruch Hu, ich vel dir geben, I'll give it to you, luchos shniyos. Luchos shniyos represents ashirus. You will get rich from luchos shniyos. Nefesh hachaim is nogea a taich, rabosai. Moshe Rabbeinu breaks the first luchos. Why does he break the first luchos? He comes down and he sees eigel. What is eigel? Kli Yakar explains, eigel, in the beginning of parshas Ki Sisa, is the avodah zarah of chemdas hamamon. Di zahav, a lot of money. Says Kli Yakar, it's not that they only had a lot of money, but they wanted more. Di zahav means they never had enough. Di zahav, money — you have money, you want more money. Mi sheyesh lo maneh rotzeh masayim, and that was the chemdah, that was the avodah zarah. And he says that's why they made a shor. He brings from Chazal in that shor is in the kisei hakavod, facing Tzafon. We all know, harotzeh le'aasher yatzpin. Tzafon always represents riches. So Klal Yisrael wanted to become richer as rich as they were. It wasn't enough; they wanted to be more rich, and there was an avodah zarah by them to get more rich, and they made shor. They made the symbol of the ox. Chazal tell us, ... machatzis hashekel is the anecdote. It's the teshuvah, it's the tikkun for the eigel. Why? Machatzis. It's money, and it's half, because a person has to learn that as much money as he has, it's only half of what he'll always want, because whatever he wants, he always wants more. So you never get fully what you want; you always get machatzis in the shekel, and this became the kaparah and the tikkun to the eigel. ... Fascinating pshat. Moshe Rabbeinu sees this. So what did he see? He saw eigel, he saw chemdas hamamon, he saw taivas hamamon, he saw the avodah zarah of mamon, and Klal Yisrael is doing an aveirah, an aveirah, with this mamon, with this desire. So he's shover the luchos. He breaks the luchos. Shviras haTorah, he breaks it. Maybe it's an inyan of shvirah, maybe it's an inyan of machatzis. Whatever the concept of shvirah, he breaks it because this avodah zarah forgets, and Torah cannot זיין together, because Torah has to be clean. Torah has to be v'yisnakei Hashem, u'mi Yisrael has to be reine gelt. It has to be reine middos and retzonos. The second luchos, which is shleimus haTorah, from them ווערט מירייך. The lesson was: money will not come through aveirah. Money will come from Torah. When Torah is b'shleimus, when it's reine Torah. It took a lot out of Moshe to break the luchos. It was a tremendous iskabrus. It took a tremendous koiches hanefesh to break the luchos. Good, Chazal say he got heavy, he dropped it. Whatever it is, there was shviras haluchos. Hashem shibarta, Chazal tell us clearly, the Ribono Shel Olam told him, Yashar koach sheshibarta. You did a good thing by breaking it. But Torah, mit nit reina gelt, geit nit tzam. Reina Torah, bringt gelt. Nish reina gelt is shoveh Torah. Reina Torah brings gelt. It brings money. You know, rabosai, Haman was a bad achsharis. By Esther, he spoke about rov oshroi. He spoke about all his money and all his wealth. How did Haman try to get ahead? How did Haman try to get, like we see, kovod is also part of l'sas, so we see by Korach. How did he try to get his kovod? How did he try to get his money in the teretzes he wasn't a yashar? He was sheker. It was all lies. It was all kniving and manipulation.

Mordechai goes heilech. Mordechai is the ish emunos. If you look at the story of the Megillah, Mordechai is straight. Mordechai is ehrlich. If you take a look, Haman, he made a cheshbon Adar, and he was all excited. Why was he all excited about Adar? Because it was the time that Moshe Rabbeinu died, and he thought it was good for him. And the truth was, it was a miscalculation, because it was when Moshe Rabbeinu was also born. The yesod of the Megillah speaks loud and clear, volumes about him. Hashem lo yivneh bayis, shav amlu bonav boi. HaMelech in the Megillah is always the Ribono Shel Olam. HaMelech, the Ribono Shel Olam, is maneuvering the world, and we have Amalekim and Hamans that are trying to lie and cheat and cut and manipulate to get ahead. And they think that with every step they take, they're getting closer to their achieved dream, while every step they take is a misstep, because it's sheker, and the Ribono Shel Olam is pushing it farther and farther away. Adar, it came out great. His mazal, it's tremendous, it's Adar, and really what was it? The exact opposite. Every step he took was a miscalculation, lo yinakeh to his downfall. Adar, the month of Adar, the mazal. Chazal tell us if you have a din with a goy, you should do it in Adar. Why? Because there's a special mazal. The Ribono Shel Olam is guiding and helping and giving you hatzlacha, while the goy lives in the world of maaseh, and he thinks he's achieving and he's moving ahead. And I always say over, if you look Esther, Achashverosh asks, Mi hu zeh v'eizehu? Who is the person that's the evil one? Who is the person who is responsible for the downfall of your people? Who's doing it? She points at Achashverosh, not at Haman, the Gemara says. And the malach came and pushed it to Haman. Why would she point at Achashverosh? She was trying to save the Yidden not to commit suicide and kill all the Yidden with her. What was she thinking when she pointed at Achashverosh? And I always say the pshat is she wasn't thinking more than, past being ehrlich straight. She doesn't know. Nobody knows. The story of Purim is that the Ribono Shel Olam brought the yeshuah through the actions of Klal Yisrael, and she relied completely, Keli, Keli, my Keli, my Ribono Shel Olam that guides me and holds me and protects me, that I am in Your hands. You'll protect me. So the only thing I could do is say straight, say it as is, say the truth. Who is it? It's Achashverosh, and the Ribono Shel Olam took care of it. Malach came and pushed it towards Haman. Hadar is mazel dagim. Dagim, if you notice, davar hasam min ha'ayin. The dagim have this ma'alah that they're samein ayin; they're in the ocean, therefore they don't have ayin hara. What's the pshat, Klal Yisroel? Hisamim min ha'ayin, then there'll be matzliach. That's part of their mazal. Mazal dogim is the mazal of Klal Yisroel on Adar, that if they don't do anything, if they're not the ones who are trying to achieve, they leave it in the hands of the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam guides, and He puts together the scenarios one after another to connect that the yeshuah comes out. And maybe that's the pshat, Rotzeh l'sa'aseg ita Adar, the tree, Adar, the month. Should be noiteh, should plant in himself the lessons of Adar, that Adar has a tremendous mazal, that the Ribono Shel Olam is protecting and guiding the Yid, and his hatzlachah is in the hands of the Ribono Shel Olam, al yei'ayin, that it's mechusam min ha'ayin. They don't look. They're not eyes everywhere to get ahead. They're not manipulating and micromanaging everything. Take a step back, so to speak, close their eyes and have emunah, and that becomes the mailah of the Yid and the lesson of Purim and the—

Eilu of the month of Adar. Hanoi haroitzeh lis'aser, if you want to become rich, erlich. Don't give ayin hara, don't manipulate, and mimeila you'll have, and you'll be zocheh to ashirus. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.