Shemos: Pharaoh’s Blindness, Hakaras Hatov, and Recognizing the Truth

Transcript

Rishonim, ayin, it says like this. ... So it's a medrash, it's from the Midrash, like a Gemara. I don't know, Tannaim. Ein Shmuel, the Tannaim. Reb Shimon, rosh haTanaim, from Frankfurt, he put together all the Rishonim: Sifra, Sifri, Mechilta, Pesikta, Medrash Rabbah, Tanchuma, Achbar, Shechotov, ... Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu, Seder Olam. ... It's the words of the Gemara. Yeah, I'm asking Rishonim. I mean, medayek in the words like a Gemara. It's a Gemara. ... It's a Medrash Rabbah. Medrash Rabbah is mamash Gemara. It's not even someone ... It's still Gemara. Gemara. ... It's the Tannaim speaking. I know, but we have Gemara. This is— if you want to open— the opposite, the Gemara quotes from here. Okay. It's like the Gemara, same like the Gemara. ... No, Rabba means big, the Medrash Rabbah. ... V'achar ba'u Moshe v'Aharon. Yeah, this is when Moshe and Aharon— what? When Moshe and Aharon come to— right here, hey. V'achar ba'u Moshe, kuf ayin vav. Kuf ayin vav, yeah. V'achar ba'u... Moshe, Moshe v'Aharon. Moshe and Aharon came. Vayehi ki voam, Moshe beit hamelech, hinei shtei kfirot arayot asurim sham. Yeah? There were two lions. There were two lions. You know about this? There were two lions. Bikvlei barzel. The lions had to be held down with what? With iron chains. Yeah, these are the type of lions they had. Bikvlei barzel. Ve'ein ish yotze uva milifneihem levad asher yetzaveh hamelech. Impossible to piss. Impossible. אי אפשר היה לעבור, רק מי שהמלך ציווה. Huh? The doorway. Listen to the king. Vayelchu haumnim, vayasiru hakefirim belachshayhem, vayiviuhu. Yeah? The umnim went, and they took away the lions with their lechashim, their lechashim. Vayiviuhu, vayemaher Moshe, vayanaf et hamateh al hakefirim, vayatirem. So Moshe took his stick, and what did he do? He untied it. Vayatirem. Vayavou beit hamelech, v'hakefirim bau imam b'simcha gedolah. Yeah? Moshe and Aharon, they came. The lions were tied up to the thing. Right. So what happened? So Moshe and Aharon came and untied them. And he took them like a dog. He was carrying them like, you know, you're taking a walk with the dog. Moshe and Aharon was taking a walk with them. K'sheyismach hakelev v'ladonav b'vayim min hasadeh. The same way a dog is happy when he goes free. You ever see when you free, you let the dog out into the field? Ooh, he's running around b'simcha gedolah. These lions were b'simcha gedolah. V'hi kirot Paro ken, when Paro sees this, says the Medrash, vayitamel kacha, vayitma, makor eifo, vayivahel me'od mipnei ha'anashim. And he got very scared. Why? Hayah Toram k'toar bnei Elokim. Moshe and Aharon looked like angels. They didn't look like people בכלל. You hear Medrash. Vayomer lahem hamelech, mah tem rotzim? What do you want? Vayomru lo, Hashem Elokei Ivrim sh'lachani eilecha leimor, shalach et ami, v'chulei v'chulei. Vayei acharei lechtam, vayishlach Paro vayikra el Bilam hakosem. So then after they left, he calls Bilam, Bilam the kosem. Vinus, vimbrinus, banav. You hear those are the names of Bilam. You know Bilam's son was Vinus? Vinny. Italian name, Vinny. Vinnyus, you hear? And vimbrinius hamechashefim, v'chol charashim Mitzrayim, you hear? And all the charashim Mitzrayim he called. He called all the...

Jokes over there, you know, the charashim. I mean the jokers, the witchcraft people. Vayevo el hamelech. The king called them, they came. Vayesaper lahem hamelech et asher dibru elav. And he told over the mechafshim what happened. Vayomru hachartumim elav, ech bo ela hanashim hanekfirot? I mean, how did they get past the lions? What happened? Vayatirum, vayavou, gam hakfirim naasu kaklavim. Here he tells them the whole story, that they untied them and they became happy like klavim. Vayan Bilam el hamelech. Yeah? So what did Bilam tell the king? Ein elokim mechashvim kemonu, vata shlach baadam vyavou, vivchen ata vyaas hamelech ken. Yeah? We'll go, we'll check out to see if they're mechashfim, whatever, vyaas hamelech ken. Now, boys, you have an unbelievable story. The kefirim, unbelievable. But what was b'ikar? Vayivahel. Why did he get scared? Did he get scared because of the kefirim? He got scared because they look like bnei Elokim. So Pari sees bnei Elokim. He sees malachim, angels, and he gets scared. What does he talk about? He doesn't talk about the fact that they look like bnei Elokim. What does he talk about? There's Aryeh, the lions, the kishuf. He saw bnei Elokim. Imagine you saw an angel. Imagine you walked in now and said, you know, I'm walking in this room, I saw an angel. What would you be nishtomem? You would be... Or you talk about—no, forget about the angel. You would talk about, you saw the witchcraft. You talk about, you saw an angel. No, zeh lo medaber. על מה הוא מדבר? איך? Witchcraft, ואיך עשה הכשפים, זה מה שדואג לו, yeah? Slow, slow, slow. Now—oh, slow. Now, if you take a look, it's another medrash. You see, unbelievable thing. He saw Bnei Elokim, וַיִּוָּהֵל, and it scared him. He walks away, and what does he talk about? The arayot and the kishuf, and how is it able, and yichush of Noach and Bilam, whatever you want. You saw Bnei Elokim, you saw angels. What do you think? לא עשה שום רושם עליו. מה זה לא עשה שום—it wasn't no impact to him at all. He saw angels, and what does he talk about? Not that he saw angels. He saw the arayot and the... Yeah, yes and no. I'm trying to bring a simple point. You see that a person could see Bnei Elokim and walk away talking about what? The kishuf, and call Bilam and talk about kishuf. That's what you see from this medrash. He wants to find answers. Answers for the kishuf. Now, if you look in Pirkei, medrash says like this. Pirkei says like this. Listen to a medrash. Not here. Where is it? ... וַיֹּאמֶר פרעה. After Moshe Rabbeinu came and said, Ko amar Hashem, Elokei Yisrael, shalach et ami. Here, chagu li bamidbar. He אומר, Paroh, Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, l'shalach et Yisrael? Lo yadati et Hashem. I don't know who Hashem is. Come, you tell me Hashem? I בכלל לא יודע מי זה Hashem. I don't know who that is. What? V'gam et Yisrael lo אשלח. I'm not going to send the Jewish people. You look at the Midrash. The Midrash explains, מה זה לא ידעתי את ה'? Listen to an unbelievable Midrash. Midrash says like this, here. Hey, yud. Listen to a Midrash here. Pli ploy. It says like this, here. V'achar ba Moshe v'Aharon, heichan holchu hazekeinim? Where did they go? Okay, it says the Gemara like this. Says the Gemara like this. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looks like... Midrash, it's so difficult because they don't have it straight, you know what I mean? It's...

Lo yadati es Hashem. Which, which parsha, which perek? It's in Yud-Daled, parsha Hei, Yud-Daled. Lo yadati es Hashem, v'gam es Yisrael lo ashalach. What does that mean, lo yadati es Hashem? Amar lahem, hamtinu li ad she'achapesh b'sefar sheli. Here, take out my books. Lo yadati es Hashem. Miyad nichnas l'beit armon shelo. He walks into his library. Kings have libraries. V'haya mabit b'chalumah u'maveleha, and he started to look at every nation and its god. Libraries, yeah, they have libraries, religion, this, that. Hitchil korei. He started to read like this: Alehei Moav, alehei Amon, elohei Tzidon. I'm looking, chipasti, shmoi b'veis knesses v'lo matzati oto. This Hashem I don't know. That's lo yadati es Hashem. That's the pshat. The pshat what it says is that when they said to him, Hashem, he says, Lo yadati es Hashem. He says to the Medrash, what happened? He says, Wait a second, let me go take out my encyclopedia. Takes out his encyclopedia: Alehei Tzidon, alehei Moav, alehei this one, alehei that one. Lo yadati es Hashem. There's no Hashem in my books. And, boys, let me ask you a kasha. Let me ask you a kasha. You remember Yosef? Do you remember such a story about Yosef? What was the first thing, what was the first thing that— What was the first thing that Paro said? When he saw, yaish, ruach ish asher ruach Elokim bo. What's going on? Stira. But they died. They have one shita. Moshe should learn that it was the same king, same king. If it's the same king, eizehu mischakim u'mischakek? What happened? It's not going to Rab. He's going to everybody. According to that shita, that it's the same. Yes, what's this question? No? What's the question? Let me tell you something. I want to show you the targum. You know, you better look at the targum inside, like this you won't ask me these type of kashas. Tzarah, tzarah. According to most opinions, it was the same king. Ela shechadesh, nitchadesh gezeirotav, says clearly, nitchadesh. When Moshe was coming back from... Everybody take a look. Yeah, Bereishit mem-alef, Bereishit mem-alef, pasuk lamed-tes. No, no, no. Bereishit mem-alef, you hear? Lamed-tes, pasuk lamed-tes. Vayomer Paro el avadav, hanimtza kazeh ish asher ruach Elokim bo. Says the targum, yeah, says the targum, you have it. Vamar Paroh l'avadav, hanishkach k'zeh gever, asher ruach Elokim bo. He looked at Yosef and he said, Yosef, you're a navi Hashem. I see, I see you're a navi from God. So how can he turn around years later and say, מה, השם? השם? ... Ruach Elokim, hu navi Elokim, but not navi Hashem. Mi-kedam Hashem. What does Elokim have to do with the... He said ruach Elokim. That means nevuah. Nevuah. That means he's a navi. That means you believe in Hashem. What is a navi? Who said you believe in Hashem? Who said you believe in Hashem if you're a navi? A person is a navi is not from Hashem, so what is he, a navi of what? Bilam, what is he a navi of? ... Okay, it doesn't... What are you saying? If he believed that he was a navi, what is the word navi? What is a navi? Navi means there's a God. He's a navi from God. Navi means he believes in the name of Hashem. That's the word navi. It says, navi mikedam Hashem. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Would you—let me tell you what you're doing, and I'll tell you why I don't agree with what you're doing. You're quoting to me Achronim shebaTorah. You understand? Elokim and Hashem is something that—there's a difference, but you know who really works on these...

Differences, zachron. If it's more, it's more Acharonim, which they have a hard time with this medrash. They're not going to be able to answer this medrash. Because I'm going with the Gemara. The Gemara tells me that he talked around saying, I don't know Hashem. Lo yadati es Hashem, it says in the pasuk. The pasuk says Hashem, lo yadati es Hashem. You're telling me, katuv Elokim and Hashem, and I don't know Hashem, I don't know Elokim. You know, do you have a mekor for this? Do you have a proof that that's what it is? I'm showing you a simple thing. L'maaseh, one here, he says that he looks at Yosef, and he sees that Yosef is a navi. Then he turns around, lo yadati es Hashem, and he plays games here, and he takes out books, and he's trying to show that he doesn't know, he doesn't know nothing. Nothing. Unbelievable tag. Beautiful tag, no? Nothing. He looks at Yosef, he goes, Yosef, you're nothing. Navi of who? I don't know Hashem. He is later. Yeah, he did a teshuvah, shliach. Livrach, Kadosh Baruch Hu mimeno al yedei shliach. ... Livrach Kadosh Baruch Hu mimenu b'atzmo. ... ... ... ... ... ... So what? Malach Hashem. Here he paid back some cheruv al yedei malach. Here directly. Why? Shechirei Hashem. Here in Gemara, shechirei Hashem, it's on amud beis already. Shechirei Hashem directly. What? I can't hear, what? Some cheruv was also mecharef Hashem. Some cheruv. He said, I'm going to come into the ... So how did Hashem pay him back? That he sent the malach, and the malach killed out from some, me'ah u'shmoneh v'chamishah alaf, 185,000. 185,000. You see, who's worse, Paro? Paro is called, Chiref, yeah, chiref b'atzmo. Why? When he said, Mi Hashem. I thought you just said that what? He was forced. I thought you explained to me that he was forced. ... Let me ask you a deep question. You know I always like deep. I like to translate a pasuk. Very good. What's lo yadati es Hashem? Let me ask you. As far as I go, anything you know. I don't know Hashem. What's lo yadati es Hashem? You know, if he knows it, he knows what I like. What's lo yadati? I have another question. Vayakom melech chadash al Mitzrayim asher lo yada... asher lo yada. Thank you. Lo yadati. So where's the av? Where's the av? This question bothers me. No, lo yadati is in the other. I know no now. You hit it right on the button. You know what the point of all this is? It's very, very simple. You know what Paro was? Paro was a kafui tov. Yosef, and that's the pshat in the Medrash. He first, he stood for the ground of Yosef. Yosef, right? Now, another question. You have to really understand the Medrash itself. On one hand, we're discussing yedias Hashem, lo yedias Hashem, right? How does it start? It started with what? Not Hashem, but it started with Yosef. What does he say in the Medrash? What would Yosef did for us? What would Yosef did? How could you do it? He never said, How can we do it because of Hashem? It started with Yosef. The nekudah, the nekudah was Yosef, and it ended with Hashem. When a person begins to be a tafui tov, a musar say, not just a midah ra, it's an areivus to the person. It's a poison in a person. It's not just the person is not makir tov. Pshat is the person becomes destructive, and from that he's able to mecharef, to make that deficit Hashem. The Gemara tells us that a person who's not mechabed his mother and his father, says the Gemara, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I'm not even going to go down. Gemara Kiddushin. Remember Gemara Kiddushin? Yeah. The Gemara says, I'm not even going to go down.

Why am I going to go down? Because vadai not going to be mechabed, vadai. So the question is a davar I don't understand. Just because a person is not respectful to his parents, that means he's not being mechabed the Ribono Shel Olam? What happens? We see so many people, they come to aliyah, Baruch Hu es Hashem hamevorach, and they mamash kavanos, ilyonos, and then it comes to the house, they don't behave the way they should behave, right? Abba, ima, stand up. In the street, you know, they walk around with big, big hat, you know, and long coat, and tzaddikim gemurim gedolim, right? What's the answer? The answer is that now, eventually, bichnin, somewhere, somewhere down the line, bichnin, you know what the end is going to be? The end is going to be, it'll be kafui tov neged Borei Olam. And the Kli Yakar explains it beautifully. If you look at the Kli Yakar on the pasuk of Kabed es avicha v'es imecha, he says beautiful. He says, could you imagine if father and your mother give you and you see it? You see it. You see what your father does, you see what your mother does, and still you're not makir tov. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it's not barur, it's not, you don't see it. You have to believe it. Kol shekein, how much more for sure what's going to happen to this Kli Yakar on the pasuk, for sure you're not going to be makir tov. Makir tov is a tchunah in an adam. It's a type of person. Tchunah, it's a tchunah in a person. You know, you're saying to yourself, I look at him, I'm makir tov. It's not the makir tov, it's deeper. It's a person, what type of person. A person who can't be makir tov is, there's a... Therefore, a person's makir tov is a sign that it's good. That's the pasuk. Vayakom melech chadash. Mai chadash po? Ma nischadesh? What changed in the person? Asher lo yada es Yosef. The avar. He forgot the avar. U'shachach es ha'avah shel Yosef. U'meileh what happened? That's already lo yada es Hashem too. Yeah, he means this. You, they use it. He also means. I know. And what happened? He couldn't control himself. He couldn't control. Give up the malchus. Give up the malchus. So what? He couldn't. He couldn't hold out. And once he couldn't hold out, what happened? He was a kafui tov against Yosef. Once you're kafui tov against Yosef, that's the beginning of being kafui tov against the Ribono Shel Olam. That's the beginning of being kafui tov against the Ribono Shel Olam too. That's what the pshat is. You know, he saw what? He saw malach Hashem. The medrash I started off with, what did he see? He saw them kipnei Elokim. When he saw Moshe, vayivahel, he got scared. If he didn't know what Elokim is, or people who look like bnei Elokim, or he didn't believe in Hashem, what did he get scared about? What did he get scared about? The teretz is he knew what Elokim is. And the teretz is what? He understood they looked like bnei Elokim, but it meant nothing to him. You know why? He was atum. He became atum. He became completely covered over. You could see, a person could see in front of him and be blind. That's the chiddush over here. You know, some of the Rishonim asked the kasha: How does a normal person—Paroh, was he normal? He was a normal person, right? How does a normal person go through, what? ... seventy languages. You know, you would say today, mamash doctor, doctor, you know, you would make... I mean, how does he not see? Right? And not only that, the Chartumim already tell him, etzba Elokim hi. And what is he? It's not... What happens? So many Rishonim learn by a chabed, what is it? Hashem. Hashem did it, and there's no explanation. No explanation. If you take a look, if you take a look, there's different times. First it says, kavod lei paroh. He himself made himself. How did that happen? According to the Rambam, it's kavod, he himself. The shitah of the Rambam is that he himself, and meileh they took away the bechirah afterwards. What did he himself, what was he thinking? What was he thinking? What was he thinking? You know, the truth is, I don't know. A lot of baalei mussar say that it's very hard to judge a person because of the gaavah. It's very hard to judge a person, you never know. But it's deeper than that. When a person doesn't have his right hakarah, what is the word makir to?

What is the word makir mean? It's to recognize. Hakarah means to see something, to vision something. When your vision is off, everything. That's what it is. When you're not makir the difference between tov and ra. Here, I'll give you an example. Let's see the etz hadaas. What was the etz hadaas? What was the lashon of the etz hadaas? Ki b'yom acholcha mimenu... No? What's the lashon by etz hadaas? Tov v'ra. What's the lashon? Read it inside, beginning of etz hadaas. Ki b'yom acholcha mimenu... No? Elokim yodea tov v'ra. What does Elokim mean? Elokim means to know the difference between tov and ra, to have a judgment between tov and ra. That's what it means. In other words, here, the Gemara says havdalah. What's the word havdalah? The Ribono Shel Olam was mavdil between chamish havdalos, right? Between Yisrael la'amim, Shabbos, Yom Tov. Where does the Gemara put it? We put it in the Atah chonen l'adam daas. Says the Gemara, why we put it in Atah chonen? Because if there's no daas, havdalah minayin. To be mavdil, to be mavdil takes a certain daas, to see the difference between good and evil takes daas. Adam only knew tov. He didn't have to know ra. He didn't know what ra was. That was the whole thing. Everything was tov. There was no ra. There was no ra. That's what he meant by the day you eat from it, you'll be like Elokim. What does Elokim mean? Elokim means to know the difference between tov and ra. Hakarah. You see, the difference of knowing between toiv ra, it's called eitz hadaas. Havdolos, says the Gemara, where do we put it? In Atachonim, because in ein daas, havdalah minayin. Do you know what the Gemara? Ein daas, havdalah minayin. Daas, here, hakarah, to see something. When a person is not a makir tov, not a makir, he doesn't see. What happens is his vision is off. You know what they call it in English? His vision is, not blurred, but they have a better word for it. The store has even a better word. Whatever. He doesn't see straight. Once you don't see straight, you know what the bottom line is going to be? The bottom line is going to be that a person could come and say, Lo yadat. Yosef, Yosef, what? Okay, melucha. He was ready to lose the melucha because of it. Af al pi kein, Chazal tell us he should have withstood it. He should have withstood it. You should know, rabosai, I think it's a tremendous yesod, tremendous yesod. You see, by gedolim, hakaras hatov. You see a tremendous thing. It's a very nice story, which Reb Yisrael know. It's a very, very deep story. Hakaras hatov. When you're makir tov, sometimes that hakaras hatov doesn't have to be something that I would say is tov. For example, here, what happened was Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't able... Hit the, hit the, hit the land of Mitzrayim, right? Hakaras hatov to the river. All the Rishonim ask the kasha, what toivah? What do you think the river cares if you hit it, if you don't hit it? I'll give you another example. Slow, slow. Let me tell you what I'm trying to bring out here. The Gemara says, Ish Mitzri yatzilanu, right? Ish Mitzri. Which Mitzri is referring to? The guy was dead in the karka. According to many of the mefarshim the Gemara brings down, Ish Mitzri, Moshe Rabbeinu told him, Don't be makir tov to me. Be makir tov to who? The Mitzri that I had to kill. And because I had to kill the Mitzri, I had to run away from—I'm a melech here. Gemara. Ish Mitzri, what does Ish Mitzri mean? Would you think of hakaras hatov? Would you do that? Yeah. Would you come and say like this? That's right, hey, come. Thank God that that yeshiva threw me out. You know, got to thank them. You know why? If they didn't throw me out of the yeshiva, I wouldn't be here today to do this favor. You know what I mean?

At the point, you think the Roman terrible people is to take you throughout, but even ... Yeah, he says, ‘Thank you a lot.’ Thank. Thank. If that yeshiva would have thrown me out, I wouldn’t be here now on the street. You’re the space. I’m not telling you that you should thank. Here in Gemara — you know this Gemara. He knew the Gemara. The Gemara says like this: Ish mitzri hitzilanu. A Mitzri, he thanked us. He saved us. Says the Gemara, what’s the ish Mitzri? Moshe Rabbeinu. According to one shita, because kafa b’artza, lo nikbar b’artza, because he walked around like a Mitzri and he didn’t say, ‘I’m not a Mitzri,’ right? He lost being buried in Eretz Yisroel. Okay. According to one other opinion in the Gemara, the Gemara says, you know, ish Mitzri? It wasn’t ish Mitzri Moshe, but ish Mitzri, the Mitzri. Moshe is telling them, ‘If I would have killed the Mitzri, I wouldn’t have to run away. I wouldn’t be here to save you.’ So it comes out, who is it? Ish Mitzri hitzilanu. You hear the story? Would you say that to somebody? Listen, thank my mother that she threw me out of the house. Look, I was able to do you the favor. Don’t thank me. I didn’t do you anything. What I did is ... Thank what? You’re missing the point. Moshe’s not meshugeneh. What does a meshugeneh think to say? That’s right. You know, we should thank Paro that we had Pesach. If Paro wouldn’t have killed us, we wouldn’t have had Pesach. So you know what? Let’s make Paro into a tzaddik. What are you saying? What are we saying? ... Don’t think a ... question. Why should this have to play? You have to thank the mitzri, because the mitzri, if he wouldn't have killed the mitzri, he wouldn't have to run away. No, Rabbei didn't say. He said thank the mitzri. He just said, Thank me for the story. What? In the way he's saying that because of the story of the mitzri, it happens to be that he wants to have to do the mitzri. What does the mitzri have to do with it? Huh? What's the mitzri? No, מה קורה פה? What does the mitzri—what does the mitzri have to do with it? I'll tell you a very nice story. There's a very nice story with Reb Yisrael Meltzer. Reb Yisrael Meltzer, the Eitz Chaim... Huh? I'm going to explain. You'll soon see what I want. Reb Yisrael Meltzer, in his old age, yeah, he went to a bar mitzvah. Not to a bar mitzvah. Trying maybe five, six floors on a Shabbat, he had to a bar mitzvah. And he asked him... He says he has hakarat hatov to the bar mitzvah boy. Yeah? He has hakarat hatov to the bar mitzvah boy. Hakarat—he helped you? What? He helped. Now listen to what it means to be makir tov. I remember this boy's brit. As a matter of fact, I even remember the father's brit. What happened? He sent me the invitation. I thought to myself, Look, I still remember his father's brit, and now all of a sudden, because I did teshuva, therefore I'm chayav hakarat hatov to the child. Went all the way, all the way up to the bar mitzvah to show hakaras hatov because he caused me to do teshuvah. How did he cause me to do teshuvah? Why? What do you see? What do you see? This is what I want to end. I want to tell you yesod: hakarah. What does hakarah mean? Hakaras hatov, to recognize. Hakarah is, you know, I heard this over from a couple of things I should have wrote. I heard this over at a seudah preidah. Preidah means when we left yeshiva, when we left Torah Temimah. So one of my friends, his name is Smith, I haven't seen him since then. I haven't seen him since Torah Temimah. But he got up and he said something. Everybody spoke, and he said something, and I remember all the rabbeim enjoyed very much what he said. He said over from the Chofetz Chaim, when a person pays back a favor, right? Let's say you do me a favor, I pay you back. What do I say? I want to be what? Makir tov. It should be called what? Hashlamas hatov. When I pay you...

Back in favor, says the Chofetz Chaim. Why do I say I want to be machir tov? We should say, I want to be what? Mashlim tov. Teretz is, says the Chofetz Chaim, the trick is not to be mashlim. What's the trick? To be makir. Once you're makir, says Chofetz Chaim, then maybe you'll pay. What, you're not a rasha. You're not a sick guy. Normal people, when they realize you did them a favor, what's the problem? You don't realize. You don't realize. Now why don't people? Getting back to the teretz, you'll soon see what I want. A person doesn't realize, you know what it is? He thinks, hakol makiel. A person in life walks around, yeah, yeah. When you start being makir how the Ribono Shel Olam runs the world, and everything is mesubach just in order you should get what you get, then you realize, ... Why am I here? Borei Olam is very, very much רוצה להתחסד with me. Hakarah. He realizes where and why this came about. That's pshat hakarah. Otherwise, what is he? He's a kafui tov. ... The seder halevai we shouldn't have to. Come on. But we all do come on to basar v'dam. And first of all, there's a chiluk between makir and stam tove. It's a very big difference. I mean, if you have stuff with a car, you're stuck with a car, right? Now this is what it is here. I'll give you an example, a simple example. Let's say a person comes here. And he stuck with his car. A guy passes by and he helps him. So what does the person think to himself? Ah, very nice, the person helped me. Little does he realize how the Ribono Shel Olam is mesahev that this person should just pass by now. Why? Because let's say the person had to finish the meeting 15 minutes early to get here, right? Otherwise he would have never seen, right? This meeting, 15 minutes, how many people, how many people lives were changed because of these 15 minutes? You don't realize that everything is mitgalgel in order, what the cheshbon is that you should have the guy come now and fix your car, and u'voto cheshbon, all other people that kibbel tovah gam ken mizeh. Because let's say he came 15 minutes early so his wife was able to go shopping. That's hakol, darkei Hashem. We say in this ... I don't know if you say Karibon. Does everybody say Karibon? Karibon is one of this ... you see here. It says over there, Lu yechyeh gavar shnim alef, lo yael gevurtech bechush benaya. What does it mean, lu yechyeh gavar? The person would live a thousand years. There's more than a thousand. Lu yechyeh gavar shnim alef. Two thousand. Maybe shnin means years. Shnim alef means years, thousands, thousands of years, right? Lo yael gevurtech bechush benaya. He would never understand the cheshbon of Hashem. Why wouldn't he understand the cheshbon of Hashem? So he would say, because hakol mesubach. If you take a look, it means it's so complicated. You know, it's very complicated. You ever open up a computer, you see all the wires. You open up a car, you see all the wires and the little bits, you know, every little wire, you know. That's, that's HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Open up a radio, open up a radio. You open up a radio, there's wires and they're all, you know, every little... It's a... Yeah. The Rabbeinu... If you look at Chaim Vital, says an unbelievable pshat, unbelievable pshat. He says like this: 'נשמת משה, אלוקי ראשונים ואחרונים.' What's that, 'אלוקי ראשונים ואחרונים'? What kavanah? 'אלוקי ראשונים ואחרונים.' What's that? ודאי, הוא בורא עולם. And you see He's God of the world. What do you say, 'ראשונים ואחרונים'? Here, what 'אחרונים'? What 'ראשונים ואחרונים'? What are you talking about? 'ראשונים' from the Gemara, the 'אחרונים'... The people that lived before, the people that lived after. No, the people... ... הראשונים... 'מה זה, לכה כל בשר' says, 'לכה כל בשר.' Okay, He's... What, everybody's מכיר Him? You would think He's only from the beginning and after the end, or from the end and after the beginning.

I love him. I love him. He doesn't look like a true, but everybody is makir him. So what are you saying? You say, what, everybody's crazy? What are you saying? I don't know what's going on. I have to praise God that good people don't know what he is. Hashem, I'm sorry to tell you that everybody knows. You should know that. You should know that. Don't pay attention to what everybody says about you. Don't worry about it. That's—you're all right. Don't worry about it. You know, there was a story. A lady was listening to the rav shiur, and she got very angry at him. He said something she didn't like. She got up. You have no idea what came out of her mouth. So there was another lady sitting there. She felt very bad, so she wanted to help, you know, to fix up the matzav, but she was also deepesh. So she tells the rav, Al tita'ag, al tishma ila, hi meshuga, hi omeret kol ma sheshomaat mikulam. She repeats what she hears from everybody. She's tamah meshugeneh. Don't listen to her. Whatever people tell her, she says, Oh, she's meshugeneh. Don't pay attention to her. What is she trying to say? But everybody talks about her that way. He's trying to fix it. She wanted to fix it. So she says, Rav, al tishma ila, hi meshuga, hi... omeret kol ma sheshomaat mikulam. So what? What's a l'karei shain v'achronim? What's a l'karei shain v'achronim? ... Says Rav Chaim Vital, ... Says Rav Chaim Vital, haplufo, haplufo. Haplu... you listening? Haplufo. Chaim Vital, baal. Haplufo. This is what he says. Ani oseh mashu hayom, yeah? I do something today. Can I know what's going to be the תוצאות of this maaseh a hundred years from now? There is no way for me to know. There's no way for me to know. Ani acharai al hachshav. There's a very nice mabit. Mabit says, if you take a look, there's a Gemara in Moed Katan—I'm sorry, it's Chagigah, daf gimmel amud beis. Gemara says like this, that when they called up Shmuel, you know, the ov yedoni, Shaul was scared, right? They called up Shmuel, right? It says in the pasuk, Shmuel was very afraid. The lashon of the pasuk: terrified. He became completely terrified. Oh, Shaul called up Shmuel Rabbeinu. Tomorrow—okay, let me tell him the Gemara, let me tell him the Gemara. The Gemara says like this: Shaul—listen, nishma, ani achzor itcha, we'll go it over, so don't worry about it. If you take a look, the Gemara says like this: Shaul was scared that he would lose the milchamah, yeah? So what does he do? He walks around and he's completely mevulbal. He decided he's going to go to ov yedoni, meaning he's going to go to one of the women that take the bone of the dead, they stick it under the arm, and then the dead speaks to them, like that, בדיוק like that. Today it's more modern, you know, the cell phone. Kids, so what happened? You're the one from Lakewood, you're the one from... same one. She was... So the Gemara says that she came not looking as Shol before. He didn't look like Shol. He dressed himself up as a peshutah, because otherwise she would never, you know, let him into the house, because he was giving... She was the only one which was left. The kids, so what happened? They called Shmuel. They called up Shmuel. Shmuel haNavi should come up. Comes up Shmuel, yeah, and as soon as Shmuel comes up, the Gemara, the pasuk says he got very scared, mechad, tremendous fear. The Gemara explains what was the fear, what was it. Says the Gemara, miyad, the moment he was called Shmuel, he ran to Moshe and Aharon. He ran to Moshe and Aharon, yeah, Yosef, yeah. He went to Moshe and Aharon, tells Moshe and Aharon, You come with me and tagid eidus, shekol mah shekasavta baTorah kiyamti. The Gemara, you learn the Gemara, Gemara Chagigah. Sha'alah me'abit bet Elokim. Unbelievable she'eilah. Abit, יודע what abit was? No. Abit, famous, famous, abit. Says, Abit lo gamar din. How many years ago Shmuel? Many, many years before. So what kind of a din could he have now? Eize din שייך?

It's seen as within a year. It takes one year. Half a little felt, right? Says the Mabit, you see this yourself. A person could do something, and you never know the תוצאות, what he did. Those תוצאות is also his אחריות. He says, eventually, a person is going to have to not only answer for what he did now, anything that comes from what he did. For example, a rav ate certain foods, right? ... שזה כשר ... לא כמו שצריך. וכולם אומרים, שנים, שנים, they'll say, Oh, you saw that rav did it, so it's mutar. Or every time a person eats because of that rav, it's on the אחריות of the rav. The rav paskened, the rav amar, the rav behaved, right? כולם למדו דורי דורות מזה. It's all going to be on the חשבון of who? I know, like you said. Yeah, that's something. I'm saying something. No, that's something. I'm saying the point is, when a person does something, years and years later, he can still be אחראי for something that he— He wasn't even here בעולם when it happened, right? What do we see from here? Shmuel got scared. He thought that they're calling him לדין again. That's the Mabit. Says the Chofetz Chaim v'Taal. That's the pshat. הראשונים ואחרונים. הראשונים, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who עושה חשבון, איך הוא יודע לעשות חשבון? הוא יודע לעשות חשבון הראשונים ואחרונים. Pshat, elef doros in the later, a thousand generations. That's pshat, l'keirishonim v'achronim. Huh? ... Kayin v'Havel, the ... of Kayin v'Havel, yeah? L'keirishonim v'achronim. Zeh pshat, ... lo yichyeh gevah shnin alfin. Even if you would live a thousand, meaning that ita rishonim and ita acharonim. ... What do you say? A person, something happened here. A person was killed in a car accident. Young person, miller, 32 years old. A young person, a ... b'metah. ... Kol ma sheyu mevakshim mimenu, היה עושה. A person, Miller, he was killed in an accident here in Israel. What happened? So you have to make a cheshbon. Who knows dorei doros before this? Who knows what ... Who knows? We don't know all this, right? So you can come and say, if I would live here all those years, I would be able to understand, right? B'emet, היית ... That's what we're saying. Lo yichyeh gevar shnin alfin. Afilu im chai, even if you would live shnin alfin, you still wouldn't. That's how difficult and complicated is chushban d'Hashem. ... The Medrash is wrong. Rashi says over, ... malachim. It says that they came, the malachim, to complain. Saddikim, ... Rabbi said to them, shtok. In lamed, hafoch et haolam. Turn around the whole world upside down. He says, You know what? You don't understand why I'm doing this, but not ... matchilah. Not ... matchilah. And the Arelacha says the pshat. Every step. ... Why? ... Maybe they don't have a choice. They won't do this. Or maybe, so He won't punish them. No, he doesn't mean that. He meant to say is, ... from this point on, I'll show you. Let's go back. Not pshat, I'll be machzir באמת את העולם לתוהו ובוהו. Meaning, let's go. We'll go from the cheshbon mitohu vavohu. Let's start from the beginning again, and then you'll see. Cheshbon Hashem is very complicated, very complicated. קשה להבין why gedolim are niftar and why young people are killed. Very difficult to understand why yes, why not. Cheshbon Hashem is קשה מאוד. What's the point? Hashem is מטיב לך.

I'm making a cheshbon. Paro should have made a tremendous cheshbon, what was Paro's cheshbon? He should say like this, listen, Yosef was brought down to Mitzrayim here as a slave. Yosef was brought down to Mitzrayim as a slave. The whole story of the slave is shloka derech hateva. He goes to Potipharah, the whole story of Potipharah. He's in the jail, the whole story in the jail, right? Shasar oifeh vasar hamashkim. Hakol mah? Sheyetze hayom, the day should come out, Paro עומד לפני המלך, he's sitting in front of the king, לא ייצא לפרעה. Now, we know מצד הקדוש ברוך הוא, מצד כלל ישראל מה החשבון. We understand, what was it? The galus, מה החשבון מצד פרעה. What was his... what was he supposed to see in this? ... Take a look. ... take a look how you try to save me. You sent me nisht yevri, right? The whole story with Potipharah, with sar hamashkim and everything, all I should want? Because let's make a cheshbon. Let's say the seven years of hunger would come, and they would have food in Mitzrayim. Would Paro still be the king today? They'd get rid of him. They would get rid of him. There would be no Mitzrayim. They would have got rid of him, right? There would be no... So Paro, please, you're a kores hatach. You see, hakarah. The trick is hakarah. You took Yosef and you weren't makir tov. That's the... In the beginning, you stopped this thing. You realize how the Ribono Shel Olam was מטיב לך. You realize how the Ribono Shel Olam did so much for you. Where's your... Once you're not makir tov to Yosef... You don't see the whole hishtalshlus, but to see good, to see the tov, to understand the tov, then you'll be kafui and kofer in the Ribono Shel Olam. That's the pshat, you see. That's hakarah, you see? To see the cheshbon. Why did the guy just pass by that just fixed my tire? You know how much cheshbon went into just... and you think it's only for you, it's for you and it's for this one and for that. Hakol mistaber, cheshbonos l'heitev. That's hakarah, hakarah. That's pshat in ... And that's ... men l'shalem nunu. And you should know something: the biggest yetzer hara a person has in this world is to be kafui tov. The biggest yetzer hara in the world. Why? I'll give you an example. A person gets very excited, a shidduch, beautiful shidduch. I like this yeshivah. Two weeks later, or a month later, yeshivah... That's the sheirish of kafui tov. That's where it comes from. A person in nature, a person in nature, he gets used to it. He gets used to the matzav, he becomes ... Let's say a person walks in first time into a good situation. He notices, he realizes, I didn't deserve it, I shouldn't have gotten it, and all of a sudden what happens? I got it. So what do you realize? After a few weeks, then after a few weeks, ... I need more. What are you missing? What are you forgetting? What? What? The tov you know is there, but what are you forgetting? Hakaras hatov. I appreciate. Hakaras hatov, how it got there, the hishtalshlus, who gave it to you. Everything else is still there. You still like the matzah. The matzah is good. You're not makir. It becomes all of a sudden, it's good. It becomes part of life. Hakaras. See? Hakarah. And that's where a person lacks, and that was the end. What was the end? That he was chiref b'atzmo. A parah that sees Yosef and he says, Nevuah kodem Hashem. Nevuah. He looks at Yosef and he says, This guy's a navi. He sees Moshe and he sees malach Elokim, vayivahel. ...arayot, kishuf, ... Hashem, ... mesachek, meschakim. Hashem? Boreh shem Hashem פה? There's meschakim, אתה משחק. What kind of game is he playing? What, are you meshuga or something? And what's the answer? He's meshuga. That's pshat in the Ramban: Ki beres libo. What, you're meshuga? You're mamali. You're losing your whole country. A person is not makir. He doesn't see the truth. That, that, havdalah, that. A person who has no daas, he's not ... I'll tell you one more vort and then we'll stop.

How? No, he's saying an unbelievable thing. Lo yeda means I don't know now. Lo yadati, lo yad — asher lo yada means he's made, he doesn't know Yiddish at all. Never heard of him. The kafri toiv is where the chisaron comes from. Where was the problem over here? The problem is not lo yeda. He never. He never. That's the pshat. The fact that he's not realizing that there was a tov over here, he's saying lo yadati, I don't know from nothing. That's how the ... person never דעת and he's still not makir tov. He knows the tov, but he's still not — No, that's not what I'm trying to say. Daas, l'havdil, see the difference between what was before and what was after. Sometimes you know what was the mikor and you don't want to be makir. No, that's what I mean, daas. That's daas. You don't see it. Chochmah to see it. Sometimes we don't have the chochmah. But then there's the yetzer not to see it also. I'm asking, but there's two. What? I'm trying to tell you, there's a taiva. There's a taiva to be a kafui tov. You lose your hakarah, you lose your — Yeah, I'll give you an example, a very simple example here. How many times do people, a mashpia, vayesh et atzmam, they embarrass themselves for an aliyah. They'll fight for an aliyah. What's aliyah? It's kavod, right? Kavod. You embarrass yourself for kavod. I mean, think about it. A guy can act like a two-year-old, like a baby. Woo, woo, woo, kavod, woo, and make a whole thing. Everybody's looking at him. Right? Why? ... Now they say over, they say over an unbelievable thing that Chofetz Chaim, I heard this from my grandfather, that there was in a certain town a balabayis person who would take care of the mikveh, the mikveh, yeah? He'd take care of the mikveh. So, cleaning mamish, you can't get a lower job than that, right? They would say over that this person, biganav, biganav, you know, the kids, one day, yeah, one day, somebody, he puts the towel away, plays, he listens to some stupid story. ... תשמע, תשמע, אתה לא מכבדים את הענב הגדול, הבעל הבית הזה, שאתה לא מכבד אותו. Where's the kavod for the big anav, the balabayis, who menakeh פה בניבות? What was? Yitzchok. What are you saying, Yitzchok? What are you saying already? אתה מקפיד על הכבוד, שמה שיש לך בגלל שאתה ענב, yeah? He's makpid on the kavod that he's supposed to give because he's an anav. Yeah, this is the hakpadah that he had. The same thing, a person comes to aliyah, he can be mevayeish את עצמו. למה אתה לא מכבד אותו? But, תביישו, come, תביישו, כי בגלל שאתה לא מכבד אותו. That's what he's saying. What's the teretz? When a person has a taiva, he doesn't see the truth. He doesn't see. He doesn't see that he's mevayeish himself. You look at others, you'd say, Ah, you do the same thing. That's the way it is. You don't see it. אדם לא רואה. הכרה, הכרה. A person sometimes has taavos and he's not makir. He lacks the right hakarah. This is, I want to tell you one more last thing from my grandfather, but this will stop. Yehuda. That's from Shmuel Daled. Yehuda, yeah. Yehuda was zoche. What was Yehuda zoche? Yehuda was zoche to malchut. He was zoche to malchut. Why was Yehuda zoche to malchut? Really mid by Tamar. There's a medrash that says that, you know where Yehuda got his koach from? From where? Reuven got it from him. Where did Yehuda get it from? Me'imo, from his mother, because his mother said, Hapaam odeh es Hashem. The word odeh es Hashem. Modeh, odeh, yeah. Okay, what's pshat? What's the pashut pshat, yeah? Modeh, yeah, Hapaam odeh es Hashem. That's why. So my grandfather wants the connection. Odeh, modeh, ma koreh? What happened? He says, pshat: when a person is makir chelko, what I deserve, what I don't deserve, what does that mean? That was her chelek. Hapaam odeh es Hashem. What Rashi says, shenatalti...

Tell me, tell me, Michalki. She was the first. She was four, right? Everyone had to... No. Leah was the last one she was supposed to. ...because if she wouldn't have gotten, then everybody else would have gotten even. She realized she got more than everybody else, right? ...Shnatalti yoter michelki. Wait a second, wait a second. What is the hoda'ah? To be makir that I don't deserve it. A lot of people, when they get, they get, ‘Yeshus, makir li, makir li, vay, gadol, v'chol.’ No, not Leah. Leah said, ‘Hapaam odeh et Hashem, shnatalti yoter michelki.’ Hakarah. She realized, ‘Zeh chelki.’ Zeh natalti yoter. When a person has the right hakarah, he can be modeh la'emet. This is also, like they made a mistake. The reason why people do aveirot and they're not makir, because they lack the hakarah, true and not true, what's right and what's not right, what I did or what I didn't do, bifnei ha'limitz. To be makir, when a person starts to recognize the truth, what I... makir li, makir li, ma shelo makir li, lo makir li. Yehuda was able to come and say, ‘Tzadkah mimeni.’ Zeh chelki. I did it. A lot of people, they would say... I'll tell you, you know the best example, I always think about them. Truth is, gam ani Hashem. If a person is in a car accident, yeah, what's the first thing everybody runs out? First thing, both parties run out. What are you talking about? The first thing, the first thing. You ever notice that? The first thing. How do you feel? The whole America is like this. You missed the point. You're finished. First reflex of a person is, Oh, you went through the red light, but it was green. No, it was really red. First reflex of a person is, ... You know, a guy could do the stupidest thing and blame it on another person. Stupidest thing. A guy could do the biggest aveirah, it's the other person's fault, you hear? Hakarah, to recognize the truth about things. That came from Leah when she said, ... It's realize, you know, I meant, I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve this. Kibalti, ... You know, can you call me do it all the time, no? Every bangin', every bangin', the guy's ... You run outside, I'm sorry. Why didn't you look? I'm sorry. Yeah, right away. ... actually says it's my fault, and I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. ... Don't say, you tell, it is your fault. You shouldn't have said you're sorry. No, but he didn't ... I'm not telling you to say I'm sorry, but you don't have to come out. No, don't say anything. Call the cops and you write it down, but don't blame the other guy. Right away they come and blame the other guy. Don't blame the other guy either. Don't say you're wrong, right? Don't say anything. He the guy hit you, what'd he do? Talk to him. I'll give you, I'll tell you, here's an example. You were in my car when the guy just went right into me. I was parked. I was a parked car. I was a parked car and the guy went into me, yeah? The guy went into me. I was a parked car. He come running out, ... I look at him, I'm a parked car. I'm in a parked car. I was in a parked car right here. It happened right here. The guy came running out, Louie טוט... Hashem is... Okay, sorry. It's unbelievable. It's an nekudah in a person, not to be mocker the truth. You're not mocking the truth. Hakarah, hakarah. That's the yesod of makir tov. And when a person doesn't have the right hakarah, hakaras hatov, what's the next step? He doesn't have it in hakarah in the Ribono Shel Olam either. Mi shechaser lo hakarah... I'm saying, and therefore he's not going to have hakarah to the... He doesn't see right. He doesn't see right. You know this? This is other stories. This is before. That car radio I a long time don't have. So which accident? There's plenty accidents. This is one of them. This one I was lucky. I thought I was a parked car. You with me in the car then? Who was with me? One of the guys, the... was with me in the car. So what, he said it's your fault? Ephraim was with me in the car. Ah, that's it. Ephraim was with me in the car. Ephraim and Shmuel. Ephraim and Shmuel with me in the car. We were in a parked car. So the guy said it's your fault? Yeah, and he won also. What? Yeah.

I was a little worried about... it's ... you know, in America, that's with the mouth.