Shemini: Ma’achalos Asuros, Kosher Fish, and the Spiritual Power of Taharah

Transcript

Parshas Shemini. We have the mitzvahs and dinim of macholos asuros, which foods, animals, which beheimos, which dagim, which chagavim, what are we allowed to eat and what we're not allowed to eat. This is in perek yud aleph, Vayikra yud aleph. Says the Torah, Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe, leimor, Dabru el bnei Yisrael leimor, zois hachayah asher toichlu. This is the chayah that you're allowed to eat. Kamafreses parsah, the simanim. Then it says, aches lo toichlu, the gamal, shafan, ha'arneves, chazir. Then it goes through the fish, stam b'kaskeses. Then it goes through the birds. Let's discuss the inyan of tahorah and tumah. What makes a behemah tahorah and tumah? Now, l'churah, kasher, right? If it would be kosher, then it's a behemah tahorah. And if it's not kosher, then it's tamei. It's not b'etzem the behemah is tahor and tamei. So even the lashon, let's take a look at the lashon of pasuk daled. Ufarsa einenu mafris, tamei hu lachem. So the tamei is not that it is tamei. Tamei hu lachem, which means issur. So tahor and tamei, l'choirah, is issur and heter, l'choirah, yeah? If I discuss tahor and tamei, it's not b'etzem. It's a result of the issur. When it's mutar, then it's tahor. When it's asur, then it's tamei hu lachem. It's a lashon of issur. We're going to learn today that it's a lot deeper than just mutar and asur. There is b'etzem tahor and tamei. Foods, especially baalei chai, there is such a thing as tamei and tahor b'etzem, b'etzem. Lo rak machmas ha'issur. Mutar, asur, is it tamei and tahor? But rather it's etzem, etzem, tahor and tamei. Let me show you, starting from the fish, I want to show you something very interesting. What kind of fish are you allowed to eat? So the pasuk says, tes and yud: Es ze tochlu mikol asher bamayim; kol asher lo snapir v'kaskeses, fins and scales, bayamim uvanchalim, osam tochelu. Those are that you could eat and whichever does not have snapir v'kaskeses, bayam uvanachal mikol asher bamayim, mikol nefesh hachayah... Sheketein. And again, what does it say? Sheketein? It says sheketein lachem. So again, the implication is that maybe it's not be'etzem, but rather it's sheket, to you. You're not allowed to eat it. What's the chiluk between a fish with snapir and kaskeses and a fish without? What's the difference? So the Ramban says a very interesting thing. Says the Ramban, V'tam ha-snapir v'ha-kaskeses, ki ba'aleihem shochnim l'olam b'elyon ha-mayim. When it has snapir v'kaskeses, it lives above, on the tops of the water, on the surfaces. U'bitzluleihen... and in the shade of, meaning it's—well, no, it says, elyon ha-mayim, u'bitzluleihen. In the clear waters, in the clear, tzalul, in the clear water. It means on top. It means not deep where you can't see it. It's more on top. Yekabel gidulo ba'avir, and it gets its growth from the air, right? You see fish, what do they do? They come up. Certain fish come up. The dolphin. The dolphin comes up to breathe, right? Certain ones come up to breathe.

Then there's certain fish, I understand, but then there's certain fish that remain in the bottom of the ocean. They never come even to... They talk about octopuses. Octopus is so deep that it doesn't come to the surface at all. Right? It doesn't come to the surface. And therefore they have a little bit warmth, so doiche mehem shifas haleichus. It takes away the mucus. Kashe yaasah atzemev asar, v'gam matziparnayim b'adam uvabeheima, she'ein lois naapi b'kaskeses, yishkon l'olam b'tachtius hamayim. It lives on the bottom of the ocean. Uv'achoreihem, and it's dirty waters. Ul'rov haleichus... and because of the leichus, the mucus and the heat, lo yidcheh mehem davar. V'al kein heim baalei leicha kara, dveika, krovah, v'lahamas. That's why they're more poisonous. Hime misah b'ktzas hameimos, kagam heim hamufashim, and that's why they cause... Okay, make a long story short, I'm not going to go into the science of it. It's a technical thing. One is a healthier fish and one is a not healthy fish. Ramban. Unbelievable, huh? The difference between scales and fins is technical. It's a healthier fish. The fish that live above the oceans, on the higher levels of the ocean, are healthier. They're not so mucus and dirt and chrezvas, okay? And those that live on the floors... Crab? Yeah, crab lives on the floor. They're more like a poisonous, dirty fish. I'm not going into the details because I don't understand them. I'm not a fisherman. If you want to discuss the science that the Ramban discusses about fish, you go to the fish man, okay, and you discuss with him this Ramban. What I do have from the Ramban is that it's a question of refuah. It's a healthier, right? תשמע שמוליק, למה יש דין של סנפיר וקשקשת בדגים? says the Ramban, healthy. It's a healthy fish. It's on top of the waters. מה שאין כן, if it's crawling on the floor, it's not סנפיר וקשקשת, doesn't float, doesn't swim, it's more deeper in the ocean, those fish, they have ליחה, unhealthy. You knew this? Pshat, Ramban. Mamash regular Ramban Chumash. Now, Barbanel vehemently discusses, you hear, the topic of macholos asuros in relevance to refuah. He says there are those that say that it has to do with healthy and unhealthy. And he says whoever says this is mamash missing the whole point of macholos asuros, because the Torah is not a health book. Not a health book. The Torah is not going to sit there and tell you healthy fish and not healthy fish and healthy animals and not healthy animals. רבי המפרשים חשבו בטעם איסור המאכלות שהוא מפני בריאות הגוף ורפואתו, וחלילה לי מלהאמין כן, חלילה. You hear? V'fi she'im kach, hoyah sefer Toras Elokim b'madreiga sefer katn miSefer Refuah Ktzarah. So it's no different than a chaverisa book you're buying in the store for four dollars that tells you healthy foods and non-healthy foods. You like his lashon. You hear? It's a beautiful lashon. V'fi she'im kach, hoyah sefer Toras Elokim b'madreiga sefer katn miSefer Refuah Ktzarah. Same shelf. Same shelf. V'ein ze Toras Elokim, v'ani mekaveneh. Then he says, I'll prove it to you, because the goyim do eat all this junk, yeah? V'shara oifes, and all these chayim, kulam hayom chazakim. They're all strong and healthy. It's like beasts. Now the truth is, the Gemara uses this lashon, that by goyim, since they eat shekatzim, chaval gufaihu. They're not as healthy as the Jewish people. It's Gemara Bava Kamma, l'gabei nezakin. But he obviously says, but hanisayon me'id lo kacha. Take a look at all the athletes, yeah? Strong, k'mo chamorim, yeah? They eat all the shekatzim v'remashim, and look at all the Yidden, they're all weak and heartaches and heart... yes, and arthritis. You go to Florida, heart and arthritis. How come? We eat only kosher. The Torah says kosher and treif is not about refuah. Not about refuah.

Kitzur, he says that there's others. Yeah. There are yesh briyos acheres shezeh mefurasim, v'lo nizkar kan bichlal asuros. There are certain animals, there are certain animals, no problem, you don't understand, I know. There are certain animals, yeah, that for surely is a very unhealthy animal to eat, and the Torah doesn't even talk about those animals. Then he says, and what about all the vegetables that are not healthy? They have all the different poisonous mushrooms and herbs. How come the Torah doesn't speak about them, says the Barbenel? You're talking about health, so let the Torah say, don't eat certain vegetables and certain ... certain ... It's a beautiful Abarbanel. No, it's like a ... No, it's such a shein Abarbanel. It's beautiful. You see, ... da? ... Okay. Kitzur says that Abarbanel, because of all this, it is barur, it is clear to me that the reason why the Torah asered all this is, shelo yavo haTorah ela kis l'refuas haguf, u'levakesh briusam, ela levakesh brius hanefesh, u'lerapeis tachlu'ah. This is spiritually not healthy. It's not physically not healthy, but spiritually. Okay? So the Ramban that learns that it has to do with the types of fish, you know, by ... is healthy and not healthy, Abarbanel says it can't be. You can't start discussing machalos asuros in context of healthy and not healthy. And then he goes through, ... lev tahor, and al tishaktzu es nafshoseichem, lashon of a pasuk, right? Nafshoseichem, al tishaktzu es nafshoseichem. בכל אשר תשורת על הארץ. You see, it has to do with the nefesh, v'chulei v'chulei v'chulei, that it's all about ruchnius. Okay. So we have a basic machlokes: is it refuah, physical, or is it refuah spiritual? What exactly is spiritually no good with these things? When you discuss physically no good, you can come and say cholesterol, and you can come and say chreisvus, maybe poisons. What exactly are these animals that are spiritual hindrance, they're a spiritual sakana, and that what tamei and tahor could be b'etzem, something wrong with them, that they're tamei and tahor b'etzem? What is? So, pashut, the Torah uses the word sheketz. By oif it says sheketz, by fish it calls it sheketz, by the remashim it's called sheketz, right? So there's a peledik Ohr HaChaim, and the Ohr HaChaim says, you know why all these things are called sheketz? Because if you eat them, after you die, your flesh turns into sheketz. The Ohr HaChaim in pasuk yud aleph. Give me the— I have the Ohr HaChaim here, pasuk yud aleph. Says the Ohr HaChaim, ah, unbelievable. Peirush, sheketz is sheketz yu lachem. Now why does it say, v'tam omroi v'sheketz, b'tosefes vav, right? Yisboyer takalah, okay? Oh, oy girmos, ki heim yishaktzuhu, sheketz yiheyeh lachem. These things are gonna make you into sheketz after you die. Atah na'aseh remesh, you know, your body's gonna be full of worms. Laharim tola'im b'moisai. V'hu amar sheketz yiheyeh lachem, peirush, atzmechem. Yaakov says, you knew this, you knew this. Eat machalos asuros, your body turns into—come sit with us, beautiful stuff, but you have to go, huh? Beautiful, it's unbelievable, you hear? Sheketz yiheyeh lachem, she'atem atzmechem, you yourself will turn into sheketz. So what do we see? What do you see? You see not so poshut. You see that if you makpid on kashrus, I guess the worms go in you, but that you yourself turn into worms. You have to understand, your food—we're gonna learn about this—a person's food becomes who he is, becomes a chelek of his blood and his flesh. So if you eat shekatzim, you'll turn into a sheketz. You see goyim that start to look like crabs. There's a reason for it, because they eat crabs.

So they will start to resemble because it becomes a mahut of them. Okay, this is what the Aruch HaShulchan says. I'm going to say a little different, okay? Because the way you learn pashut, that there's something horrible, horrible in these foods, so either it's physical or spiritual, yeah? And on the spiritual, chas v'shalom, sheketz, it ruins the person. We can say a little bit different. I want you to notice, by all maachalos asuros, the Torah writes what's asur. By dagim, the Torah writes mutar and asur. Go ahead, let's look it up. Let's look it up. It starts off by saying, right, this is what—let's see by first by maachalos, it says like this: 'Zos hachayah asher tochlu, mikol habehemah al haaretz.' This is what you're allowed to eat, right? And then it says what you shouldn't eat: 'Shafan, arneves, chazir, u'vasam lo sochlu.' 'Ezeh tochlu mikol asher bamayim, kol asher lo snaper v'kaskeses. V'chol asher ein lo...' Not. Where's the list? Honestly, by fish—I'm sorry, by bird also. 'V'es eileh teshaktzu min haof.' By dagim, it doesn't discuss what you're not allowed to eat. Very interesting, huh? No list. Why not? ... So many Rishonim say two things. One is endless, endless list. What are you going to start making a fish list? You'll never get finished, you know what I mean? ... Right? Bechol ha... bechol asures, they bring mutar and asur in a list. And then over here we bring by oif also a list; by dagim, no list. Either the pshat is what, rabosai? Too big. Or many Rishonim want to say, Adam HaRishon didn't see all the fish. Well, you think Adam HaRishon sat by the water and saw all the fish? So he didn't give them names. There was no names for them. So therefore you're not going to give the list. He wasn't a marine biologist. You think he put on flippers? You think he put on... Ata choshev shehu yarad... chalifat zeh v'yarad l'toch hamayim. How is he supposed to know what's going on in the ocean? It's a very interesting pshat. So meila, that's why some Rishonim want to say that's why there's no list. Okay. Ve'oid, another ha'arah which I want to point out to you. If you notice, the Torah repeats itself twice. Kol asher yesh lo snapir v'kaskeses, and then the next pasuk, kol asher ein lo. It's the same pasuk. He's saying the same thing twice. Posuk tet, posuk yud is a repetition of the exact same thing. But the other machlokes asur is the other way. This is what you're allowed to eat, and there are exceptions because there are some different. Then by the bishul, what you're not allowed to eat. But over here, you're repeating the klal twice, or two klalim, right? But it's repeating it twice in two different pesukim. Tagid, asher tagid, mashehu mutar, kol sheyesh lo snafim v'kaskeses. Or tagid, להפוך, what you're not allowed to eat, kol she'ein lo snafim. You can't repeat the same thing twice. What's the chazarah? Okay. I want to say pshat. You ready? I'm going to say pshat, rabosai, with the help of the Eibishter. You have such a beautiful Torah, and you gave it even to the most simple people like me, mefaresh, ulasbir. And I'll give you a little hint, a little hint. You ready? Just to show you how gevaldik I'm saying. Ulahavdil bein hatamei— no, there's one other word. You missed a word. Ulahavdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor. It says the word bein twice. Let it say, lahavdil bein hatamei v'hatahor.

Tell me, when you have atachonantanu, right, what do you have? Mavdil bein kodesh l'chol. Does it say, Mavdil bein kodesh uvein chol? Just say, Mavdil between tamei and tahor. What is the lashon of bein and bein? Rabosai, shush, shush, shush. Let me tell you what we're going to say. We're going to start going on a certain derech to explain that what you're allowed is not anything that doesn't have tumah, and what you're not allowed is not anything which is not tahor. But there's something called tahor and there's something called tamei. When you want to separate between two things, two, divide between two things, you say the word bein once. But when there's two separate things, A, we don't want you to have tamei, and B, we want you to have tahor, then it's bein and bein. Again, od pa'am. You hear it? You hear it? What? You have to think about it, okay? Again, let me explain to you like this. When we don't want you to eat tamei, is it because it's not tahor or because it's tamei? So when there's only one reason that it's just not tahor, then you don't have to say bein and bein, as long as it's— Chiluk between tahor and tamei. This you're allowed, this you're not allowed. But if there's two reasons, A is because it's not tahor and B because it's tamei, so there's actually two separate things. One is we want you to eat tahor, and one is we want you to eat tahor and not tamei. So tahor is not just the opposite of tamei, and tamei is not just the opposite of tahor. It's not because it's not tahor, so therefore it's tamei, or if it's not tamei, therefore it's tahor. There's something called tahor and there's something called tamei. Huh? Yes, there's plenty of havanah because there's a shiur. We still have two good two hours now to work on. Usually if there's tamei, so the opposite of that is tahor, right? ... Then there's something called no, b'etzem tahor and b'etzem tamei. What's your question? Well, you have a question? Other examples. Hamavdil... Okay, so I just want you to know that many Acharonim say that the chiluk is d'Oraisa and d'Rabbanan. Whenever we talk about things in the Torah, the Torah writes two times, bein, and whenever the Rabbanan talk, it's one time bein. And I don't like it so much. ... The nusach bein uvein. ... There's two things, יש טמא ויש טהור. והטמא זה לא בגלל שזה לא טהור, והטהור זה לא בגלל שזה לא טמא. Okay, now let me show you, let me show you. Ma kamona po, okay? Ma omek po? What's the pshat, and why does the Torah write, kol asher yesh lo yisnapeh b'kaskeses, and the other way, which is tamei, is kol she'ein lo? Why repeat it? And why the klalim without the pratim? I mean, tell me the cases, tell me the animals. The Gemara in Chulin asks this for a kasha. Why does the Torah repeat snapeh v'kaskeses, yes; no snapeh v'kaskeses, lo? So the Gemara says, l'avor alav bishnei lavin. One is—not, I'm sorry—not bishnei lavin, but one aseh, one and a lav. So if a person eats fish which are not kosher, he gets two issurim. He gets the aseh, because he was mevatel kol asher yesh lo, and he was mevatel the lo sa'aseh of two. So you see that the Gemara already asks the repetition. Why taka two? It's taka pshat. So you could come and say, chomer, it's a stronger—I guess it's much worse maybe, I don't know, right? L'avor al bishnei lavin, it's much chamur, I don't know. Why would the Torah put an aseh and a lo sa'aseh on the same thing, right?

Why would the Torah put an aseh and a lo sa'aseh on the same thing, unless, rabosai, something about what I said before rings very nicely. If one is just the opposite of the other, if one is just... so you don't need aseh and a lo sa'aseh, unless, fakert, there's one halacha you're supposed to eat this, and there's one halacha that you're not supposed to eat that. And it's not one michlal the other, that if I didn't mekayem the aseh, or I didn't mekayem the lo sa'aseh. It's two different things. There's an aseh to eat, it's not b'vikas keses. There's a lo sa'aseh not to eat what doesn't have simanim. And it's not by me eating that I wasn't over the lav, and it wasn't by me not eating that I was over the aseh. It's two separate things. There's an aseh, because it's lehavdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor. Lachein yesh aseh v'yesh lo sa'aseh. I'll just say one thing: if I over that aveirah, I mean, if it's two sides of a coin, I didn't do what I'm allowed to do. Az lachein, mai hishmua lan? Lachein yesh aseh. So kipshuto, hapshat, ba'aseh v'lo sa'aseh nu is what? Chumra. Chumra. I guess it's more strict, I don't know. The Torah would put an aseh and a lo sa'aseh. But if you learn that there's an aseh separate and a lo sa'aseh, it's two different things, so you can hear why there's an aseh and a lo tas. I want to ta'ina an interesting cheshbon. Is it about the fish that is or isn't? Or is it about the snapi v'kaskeses itself? Again, parshit, it's a siman, right? What type of fish is kosher? Snapi v'kaskeses. What type of fish is not kosher? It doesn't have fins and scales. Or maybe the fins and scales is taharah, and the lack of fins and scales is tumah. Avada the fish that doesn't have it, there's something wrong. It's about the fish. I'm not saying not. But if there's an aseh about snapi v'kaskeses and a lo sa'aseh for not snapi v'kaskeses, we could go and start thinking that the snapi v'kaskeses is not just a siman ba'alma, not just a siman ba'alma, but it's b'etzem. A fish that has a snapi v'kaskeses is one type of fish, and a fish that doesn't have a snapi v'kaskeses is a different type of fish. And I'll prove you in the Rishonim that there's talk like this. Again, parshit, it's just a siman, right? You want to have a siman for a kosher fish, so a fish that has a snapi v'kaskeses is that league of fish, right? It's that group of fish. Or maybe the fact that it has a snapi v'kaskeses, that itself is what makes it tahor, and the fact that it doesn't have a snapi v'kaskeses... That itself is what makes it tamei. Let's discuss it. You ready? The Me'iri vuchim, the Rambam clearly states. אם mistake, I think it's in chelek gimmel, perek mem aleph. The Moreh Nevuchim writes, snapeh v'kaskeses, siman v'lo siman. Says it clearly, which means it's not the etzem. It's not something about it. It's just a siman that this is the fish which Hashem wanted, okay? Mashenkin, if it doesn't have the snapeh v'kaskeses, no good. Let me discuss with you an interesting chap. You ready? What happens if the snapeh v'kaskeses fall off after you take it out of the water? There's a case like this. The Gemara brings it down in Chulin. The Rambam brings down the halacha. Machlokes asuros, perek aleph, halacha chav daled. Bring it to me, I'll show it to you inside. He had the snapeh. He had the snapeh v'kaskeses, but the snapeh v'kaskeses, by the time it came to you in the fish store...

Doesn't have the snap of a kaskeses. Not that it was cut off; it was cut off, okay, I'm talking about it fell off. Machalos asuros. ... Ein lo yachshov. What happens if right now you catch the fish, it doesn't have the snap of a kaskeses. ... Kashrus. Ein lo yachshov, u'kesheyagdil, yihyeh lo. So right now it doesn't have, but eventually it will have. O sheyesh lo kaskeses k'shu ba'yam, u'kesheyalei yasir kaskeses, harei ze mutar. The Gemara speaks about it, the Rambam paskens that it's mutar. So even if it doesn't have now, but it will have, or even if it doesn't have now but it had, in both cases it's mutar. Acharonim say that's the two pesukim. Ze tochlu mikol asher ba'mayim, kol asher lo snav v'kaskeses ba'mayim, ba'yamim. Why does it say ba'mayim? What do you mean, ba'mayim? It says—it's an extra word. Ze ma shetochlu, this is what you should eat... In the water. Kol asher lo snab b'kaskeses. What are you talking about? Torah says this case, that it had it when it was still in the water. Toich. V'chol asher ein loi, it doesn't have snab b'kaskeses, ba'yamim, again, or ba'nechalim. What does that mean? It never had it at all ba'yamim, but eventually it will have ba'yamim. As long as its min, its min has ba'yamim, right, then it's okay. It's gevaldik, no? It's gevaldik. You know, he says, the sefer called... Rashi doesn't say. Rashi brings this case. No. Huh? Rashi. Wait a minute. No, no, no. Wait a minute. Ma talmud loimar, sheyachol ein li sheyemutar ela hama'alos simanim shelo haya bahem. U'maiyim minayin? Talmud loimar, kol asher ein lo kaskeses ba'mayim. Af al pi sheshir ba'liyah... No, and what's the second pasuk? He's saying there's two pesukim. I'm saying, what about the first pasuk? He's saying the two pesukim. The two pesukim, I'm telling you, there's two pesukim. So one... Right, and what about the first one? The first one is to tell me that as long as it will have. Okay, it brings you one of the two. K'vodo shel Torah. There's a sefer called K'vodo shel Torah. Reb Chaim Abulafia. He quotes Reb Chaim Abulafia that says this vort. Two psukim is for the two cases, all right? A, it will have, even if it doesn't have now, and B is it once had, even if it doesn't have now. L'choira, according to this, it's a raya that it's not the etzem snapi v'kaskeses; it's the sug of fish. L'choira, yeah? L'choira. If the pshat is that it's—you don't need a fish that has a snapi v'kaskeses. Unless the pshat is, since it will have or it did have, that's called that it has. That the shirah is not called not having, you know? Hair doesn't mean that you have to have hair. Hair means that you have hair. It grows; you take it off, but it grows. I'm not sure. But pashut, pashut, what's the pashut pshat? That what? That we don't need—we don't need what? We don't need etzem snapi v'kaskeses, as long as the min is min sheyesh bo. So l'choira it's not a sibah, but a siman, unless you say that it's a sibah, but here the pshat is it's as if it has. As long as the min has, that's called having. It doesn't mean it has to have now, so you can still learn it's a sibah. Adayin yecholim shemulik l'hagid shezeh sibah, u'v'chol zos.

Okay. I'm going to show you a perek in Tosafos. Tosafos in Makos, daf tezayin, says that there's a certain fish, bemachreisha, that comes in the—huh? No, no. Bemachreisha means it's in the—you find it in the, when you grind. It's like a worm. It's a type of worm, you hear? If it was bamayim, this same thing, it would be mutar because it has a kaskeses. Okay? Yeah. This worm fish, or whatever it is that you found in the machreisha, אילו אותו דבר היה בתוך המים, it would be mutar, right? אבל מאחר שזה לא במים, as a stam sheretz, bishrotzim אין היתר של סנפיר וקשקשת. So it's like a type of sheretz that has a snapir vekaskeses. You want, you can look it up. It's a Tosafos in Makos. You saw the kaskeses? Yes, you see the kaskeses. But since it's not bamayim, it's not a fish, so it's not called a fish. It's a worm, and a worm doesn't have a ptur of kaskeses, right? Lechoira. Does he mean to say stam that it's not a fish and therefore it's aser? Or does he mean to say if this same creature would crawl around in the mayim, then it would be mutar; now it's aser? Look up the Tosafos, tezayin. You hear my shaylah? I don't know, dip it into the water. I want to know—no, it's rather not there. I'm saying put it into the water. Maybe it's siman for the water, for the fish, not the worm. Does he mean to say, l'maaseh, it's not found? Does he mean, l'maaseh, it's not found in the water, and therefore—yeah—does he mean that it's not found in the water, and therefore, grad it's not a fish? Or does he mean to say is that those are the breaks. The same thing. Had it not been a water thing, same min. Is he trying to say it's not a min fish, and therefore there's nothing, it's a min sheretz? Is that what he wants? What he meant to say is, l'maaseh, this thing doesn't grow in the water, so l'maaseh, therefore it doesn't have the patur of snapi v'kaskeses. What's the nafka mina? If you learn it has to do with the min, so you come and say it's not a min fish that has a kaskeses. But if you learn that there's a special din on a fish that has a snapir v'kaskeses, so this same thing, this same min, which is not kosher in the ground, had it taka fish, then it would be mutar. Let me ask you a different question. Let's say you would have a fish that has snapir v'kaskeses, and it crawls on the— it goes out of the water and it crawls, and it crawls into the— into the— it crawls on the ground. It's the same min. In the water, it's a fish that— and grad it crawls. What happens then? So the Tziv speaks about it. It would mean that— Yeah, but a worse thing is not snapi v'kaskeses. But lu yitzuyah, you would have such an animal, huh? It's a very big nafkamina. I didn't know. See, that could be different because it drowned, it fell into the water. You can't take a treif animal and throw it into the water. Right? Here. Okay, now, rabosai, I know I'm gribbling a little bit in halacha dike zachin, but I have a reason, meaning I'll stop soon. In two seconds you'll see what I want. Because what I'm trying to get at, that there's something special about snapi v'kaskeses. There's a ma'alah to snapi v'kaskeses, and I'll show you in Chazal one after another the ma'alah of snapi v'kaskeses. You'll see, it's a beautiful, beautiful ... It's a beautiful shiur that I'm giving you today. It says like this. Here. Okay. Okay. He says like this. Well, he says like this. Oh, bamayim...

So, hai b'mayim yoter. He asks the kasha also, mayim is extra; you don't need the word mayim. V'ein lomar lamldeinu afilu nishikah k'shehotzi kasher, which means, l'halan yud-beis. In other words, Rashi's teretz is only answering one mayim, so it doesn't answer both, right? So I told you that the second one is for what? Is for in case it will have, in case it will have. Ela ba lamldeinu that it says a different pshat. Ba lamldeinu, davka k'shenoitel ha'adam ba'mayim, that you take it from the water. Lafukei yatza me'atzmi al ha'aretz, mikri sheretz ha'aretz. The same animal, you hear? If it crawls out into the— if it's that animal that crawls to the ground, ze shoretz al ha'aretz, then it becomes what? Sheretz ha-shoretz al ha'aretz, k'peirush Rashi. So either again he means that it's not a fish anymore; it's not a fish, a crocodile. A crocodile is not a fish; it's a reptile. Or the pshat is, no. Such a fish, had it not been shoretz al ha'aretz, it's— the snapir v'kaskeses would work for it. The fact that it's not a fish, so the snapir v'kaskeses doesn't work for it. No. Again, od pa'am, od pa'am, ... תשמע. אני רוצה לדעת, הסנפיר וקשקשת זה סימן של סוג דג שטהור, that's what it is. או דילמא שהסנפיר וקשקשת עצמו מטהר את הדג, לא כל הבהמות, מטהר את הדג. למה אני אומר את זה? Pashut, I told you over from Rav Chaim Abulafia that any fish that will have is already good enough. I doesn't have. תריץ אבל הסוג של הדג, יש לו בתכונה שלו, המשפחה שלו, יש סנפיר וקשקשת, אז זה מהדגים הכשרים. So that's siman, not sibah, right? אחר כךנו שעכשיו עדיין זה סיבה, שעוד יהיה לו, או היה לו, זה סיבה, okay. אבל רואים שיש אותו פיש, במאחרי, אם היה במים, תוספות אומר, יכולים להגיד, תוספות רק רוצה להגיד שזה לא פיש. סתם theoretical. תוספות doesn't mean הלכה למעשה. תוספות just means it's not in the water, it's in the machreisha, so. Or does he mean to hakah that this same animal, אם היה גדל במים, אם שייך שיחיה מהמחרישה, היום זה מתחיל להיות במים, אז כשזה במים זה כשר? So I show you an interesting Netziv, that the Netziv says that the extra במים is not to teach me, like I told you from Rav Chaim Abulafia, that it will, but what is it coming to teach me? That it's sheretz ha-shoretz, that in case it comes out by itself, that you took it במים. But if it comes out by itself, like a reptile, like a crocodile. There's no ptur. So I'm asking, why? Because it's not a fish? It's a kvar lo dag? Other pshat is, ze dag, aval snapir v'kaskeses rak oved bamayim. So it's a special din, snapir v'kaskeses, sheretz hamayim. The minute it walks out, it happens to also be, also be a sheretz ha'aretz, it's not going to help. I'm not יכולים לפלפל בזה הרבה. אבל מה שאני רוצה להראות לך, שזה לא כל כך פשוט, זה סתם סוג דג. There's something about the snapir v'kaskeses, bamayim, that it's tahor. אז בוא נדבר קצת בדרוש, בהבנה, מה זה הsnapir v'kaskeses? What is it? Kashrus of regular fish is mekushar to the Leviyosan. So you're going to come and tell me, pshat is, chasidishe teirah, רבותי, זה מופיע ברור בראשונים. The Hagahos Ashri in Avodah Zarah, daf lamed tes amud aleph, speaks about a certain fish called...

Barbutya. Barbutya. This barbutya, Rabbeinu Ephraim ate. Rabbeinu Ephraim ate. He said it was a fish that's mutar. Higiu eilav b'chalom. They came to him in a dream, and they showed him that he's eating sheratzim. So he got nivhal. No, goy shashi. It's Rishon. Lo stam sipurei. So they came there and they showed him in a dream that he's eating sheratzim. So he asked them, Mai hai? So they answered, What do you mean? You eat sheratzim. You eat barbutya, so you eat sheratzim. U'me'az, from then on, Rabbeinu Ephraim asar es ha-barbutya. Okay. Continues that goy shashi there: Mi she'ochel barbutya lo yochal mehalevyasan. He's not going to eat from the leviyasan. You eat from barbutya. You eat from this fish, which is not kosher. You don't eat from the leviyasan. So we see that there's a kesher between leviyasan and machlokes tahoros of fish. Kesher. No? You don't see the kesher? Why? What? Stam a thread. Who eats non-beis yosef meat is not going to eat from shor habor. Oh, there's a kesher between this and that. He's trying to threaten people, don't eat this. Even though it's nispashet b'ameinu that it's a mutar thing. Takoneh, takoneh. So ma havdel between sheratzim tamei and barbutya? Oh, מתכוון להגיד שזה לא כשר. That's for sure. That's for sure. You don't think it's a serious thing. You need to say he's not trying to make a kesher between the Levioson, he's just telling you you're not gonna have a chelek l'olam haba because you're eating. You're not gonna have chelek l'olam haba. Everybody's eating, but all of Yoson and the seudah and everything, so you're not gonna be in that party. You're gonna be outside. You like it? You like it? That's what it sounds like to me also. I'm not telling you. You're gonna be... Yeah, I'm not gonna eat from the Levioson. You can... Let's bring out, let's take out. Let's read it inside. ... Lamed tes amud aleph. Okay, so meila, what? What are you asking? So I'm saying, ... Ashmot? ... כן, אבל... Okay. ... Lamed zayin, lamed tes, lamed tes amud aleph. Mi she'ochel... okay, read.

Yo, yo, yo. Here it is. רשבם כסף, בשם רבינו שלמה, והיינו דג תור שקורין בורבוטיא. הא? רשבם. רשבם, שם רבינו שלמה, פירוש. והיהודי חסיד אמר, כל מי שיאכל בורבוטיא לא יזכה לאכול לויתן. Scary. Scary text. Ravina, your ... chassid is not mekubal. Anything ... like that. I don't like it. I believe that there's a ... Here. I believe that there's a ... Okay, let's go weiter. ... זה לא טוב ... זה לא טוב ... אני רוצה להגיד שזה דווקא. ששש. אני רוצה להגיד שזה דווקא. דווקא. זה דווקא. עכשיו, מה המעלה של הלויתן? What's so special about Leviasan? Let's discuss Leviasan. It's a big fish. The Gemara says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu bara zachar u'nekeivah, and He saw that the whole world could get swallowed up by these two big fish. Therefore, He killed the zachar, and He—if I can't—He killed the nekeivah and He castrated the zachar, right? V'shamar es ha'nekeivah la'asid lavoi, seudas Livyasan. Okay? Must be a very, very big fish, no? Big fish. Its strength to destroy the whole world, you would say, is because it's so big. What? I want to tell you another thing. I want to tell you another thing. It's the biggest fish that swallows up all the other fish. As a matter of fact, there's a Chazal that says that when Yonah—Yonah and the whale—so the whale told Yonah, I have to go. I don't have time for you, because today's my day that I'm going to be eaten up by the Leviasan. Right? So if Yonah was swallowed by the whale, right, and the whale gets swallowed up by the Leviasan, right, it must be a real powerful animal, right? So we could say that the koach of the Leviasan to destroy the world is what? Him. It says like this: V'hu pose'ach piv. It does. We're going to talk about that. Amar lei hadag l'Yonah, Ein atah yodea shebo yomi l'ha'chal b'fiv shel Leviasan? You don't know that it's the day that I'm supposed to be eaten up, לאוכל על ידי ... לויתן. אמר ליונה, הוליכנו אצלו. So bring me to the Leviathan. I'd like to see him. אמר ליונה ללויתן, בשלחו ירדתי לראות מקום מדורך. I wanted to see where you live. שאני עתיד ליתן חבל בלשונך, ... ולזבח לסעודה גדולה של צדיקים. And eventually you'll be my supper. וראה לויתן, so the Leviathan saw it, וברח מפני יונה מהלך ב' ימים. It's a perek deRabbi Eliezer, perek deRabbi Eliezer yud. Okay? So maybe the pshat is it's so big, you hear, it's so big that it could destroy the whole world. I don't know if it's that it's so big. I'm not so sure, because the... so the ... what, the ... can't hold a big whale. I don't know. It's that it's a physical thing that's going to destroy the world. Okay. There's an interesting...

Interesting Chazal here. Maybe this Chazal will help you. Vayikra Rabba, tachas issur dagim, leviyasan dag tor. That because the Torah assered certain dagim, so instead of that, we have leviyasan, which is dag tor. Is that good enough for you? That makes more of a connection for you? That just means it's a question. Tachas issur dagim. What does the word tachas mean? So you see that there's a connection. Tachas issur dagim. Instead of the issur dagim, Rabbi Yishmael said, you know what, I'll give you leviyasan. So you see some connection between the leviyasan, right? This is a Vayikra Rabba. This is a Midrash, right? I'm sorry, Bamidbar Rabba—no, Vayikra Rabba, chav-beis. All right. You have to give me the shade. You have to have the... Huh? You don't have to defend me. I need defending. He's a little bit—he's being grouchy today. You see clear that there's a shaychus, tachas, tachas, tachas issur dagim. Tachas issur dagim. Okay. I think that it's pretty established that the leviyasan is such that it has a shaychus to macholos asuros, kosher fish, not kosher fish. All right. Let's discuss the ma'alah. Oh, it's very big. I don't know. That's how it destroys the whole world. There's a gevaldige, gevaldige Vayikra Rabba, Midrash Yud-gimmel gimmel. Who's gonna win the war, the Shar HaBor or the Leviasan? No? Oh, you don't know? Sure you know. You don't know? Who's gonna win? No? It's a pusha medrash. No, who's gonna win? You never read it. It's a Medrash Rabbah. The Medrash Rabbah says, V'noitetz l'beheimos b'sampiraf. Hear? Its fins, the snappir, the snappir v'kaskeses of the Leviasan, that's gonna win. That's gonna... Right, hear? Snappir. Remember I told you there's something about the snappir, something about it which, hear, which gives a special uniqueness to the kashrus of the fish. It's gonna win, says the Medrash, b'sampiraf. So what is the koach of the snappir? What is it? It's just a battle, it has a big fin and it's able to give a whack and kill you? That's what it's about? It becomes a whole, what do you call that, like a movie, what do you call that, like a cartoon. The Shar HaBor and Leviasan like a cartoon. Leviasan man, he comes with one whack of his fin and he's able to kill all the bad guys, all the Shar HaBors. Vas tot zich op do? What's going on here? Rabosai, let me tell you over gevaldige, gevaldige... Are you with me? Are you learning with me? Yeah, unbelievable. Listen to this. The Gemara in Niddah, daf nun aleph amud beis says, Snapir is shayach bli kaskeses. But you can't have kaskeses bli snapir. Any fish, any fish that has kaskeses, any fish that has kaskeses, you know that it's going to have snapir. You know that it's going to have snapir. No, it can have a snapir, but without a kaskeses. But if it has kaskeses, it must have snapir. So if you have a kaskeses, that's enough. Oh, it's enough. Ah, fregt the Gemara. So let's just say kaskeses, you don't need snapir. Yeah, yeah. Fregt the Gemara, asks the Gemara, why does it have to say snapir v'kaskeses? Let it just say what? Kaskeses, without snapir. Answers the Gemara, l'hagdil Torah ul'haadirah. An extra word, an extra word of Torah, and this is l'hagdil Torah. This is to make the Torah greater and better. L'hagdil Torah ul'haadirah. Question is—

Why do you need l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah? This—there's so much Torah, there's so much to be l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Shabbos. This is not negei; it's a word which is completely relevant, because it anyway has to be stopped, and that one word—I put an extra word in—and, punk by a fish, you hear? Punk by a fish. It has to do with l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Pilei plaim, mamash a pele, no? Pilei plaim. What's the l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah? Yeah, an extra word. There's an extra word, and this is l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Why? Because it's an extra word, so you have an extra word in the Torah. Why do you need an extra word in the Torah by a fish that it's not negei anything? Give us an extra thing in the Chumash, an extra pshat in a Rashba. What is l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah, a word that's irrelevant? So Agav, you could come and say, the Torah is teaching us what is l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Even one word which is not negei anything, because anyway it's muvan me'atzmo, that becomes l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Fakert, that's the teach—that's what we learn out from l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah. Milah echad, lo shayach l'shum davar, v'ein bo shum tosefes, v'ein bo shum inyan, v'chol zeh, that's called l'hagdil Torah u'la'adirah, you hear? That's why it says, Kol asher yesh lo, snapi v'kaskeses. Yeah? Put it away. Rabosai, I want to tayn a pshat that the ma'alah of the Leviyasan, you see from Chazal, is the what? The snapi v'kaskeses. And what is it? Is it snapi v'kaskeses, or is it the snapi, right? Now which one is it? If it has kaskeses, Chazal tell us if it has kaskeses, you don't need snapi, and its whole koach is in the snapi. If it has a kaskeses, so the word snapi is irrelevant. V'hakoach shelo ze b'snapir. And what is the koach of it? L'hagdil Torah u'lha'adirah. And that's its koach. I'm going to prove to you the Leviyasan stands for the Torah, and the shor habar stands for beheima. Bor is wild; it's a wild beheima. The ma'alah of the Leviyasan over the shor habar is this nekudah, the Torah. And its koach is b'sanpirav, like Chazal say that it's going to win the shor habar with sanpirav, and that's l'hagdil Torah u'lha'adirah. I want to show you an interesting thing, yeah? What is l'hagdil Torah u'lha'adirah? Where does it matter? You remember, you know where we see l'hagdil Torah ul'haadirah? Ratza HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'zakos es Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos. So He wants to give them zechusim, so He gives them more mitzvos, right? Shenemar, Hashem chafetz l'ma'an tzidko, yagdil Torah v'ya'adir. Now, l'choira, what's yagdil Torah v'ya'adir? We give them more mitzvos, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos. Shenemar—it's mashma it's something about the Torah. L'hagdil Torah ul'haadirah means that the Torah should be bigger. So Ratza HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'zakos es Yisrael, and therefore hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos, that I understand. Torah u'mitzvos. Shenemar, Hashem chafetz l'ma'an tzidko, yagdil Torah v'ya'adir, which means He makes the Torah bigger. I mean, how do you read the words? What? It should be for Klal Yisrael, but it's not going on Klal; it's going on the Torah. Avada, it's the words, l'hagdil Torah. L'hagdil Torah v'ya'adir, no? Huh? Torah. It's going back on the Torah. Make the Torah bigger. L'hagdil the Torah v'ya'adir, to make the Torah stronger. So it should say, Ratza HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'zakos es Yisrael. So I rather think there's a beautiful—

Pshat that we can answer this Chazal with. The Ger Rebbe ta'inas, the remez, the semes, they ta'inu, l'zakeis doesn't mean schus. L'zachos is a loshon of clean, l'zachech. It's to make it zikuch, tahor. HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'zakeh es Yisrael. V'hikach hirba lahem Torah u'mitzvos, that the Torah is l'hagdil Torah u'lhaadir. The koach of the Torah is yagdil Torah v'yaadir, and mimeila when they learn Torah, it's mezachech Klal Yisrael. Now let's go back. The extra word is the snapir on the fish. Chazal tell us that's the extra word, and we find that the snapir is the koach of the Leviasan. And what does it, Chazal say? L'hagdil Torah u'lhaadir. What is the siman taharah? The snapir. The taharah of the snapir is l'hagdil Torah u'lhaadir. That's the kasha between... interesting, interesting. The fish, snapir, because Chazal say the word snapir is irrelevant. You don't need the word snapir. Once it says kaskeses, snapir. Torah says it's an extra word just to have more Torah. What do you mean more Torah? So pick another thing. You want more Torah, so say another pshat in Rashba. What are you referring to? And I'm showing you that the snapir is the koach of the Leviasan. That's what he's going to win the shor habar, Chazal tell us. The Torah says it's the koach of Torah, the koach of Torah, which is l'hagdil Torah, which is mezachech. Which is the tahaira, what HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'zakes, and that's the snapir on the fish, which is the livyasan, the koach of the Torah. Mamish barur, it's clear in the Chazal. Now I want to show you something very interesting. The Gaon in Even Shleimah learns, perek yud alef, os yud alef, that the inyan of the livyasan is daas. When Mashiach comes, u'mala ha'aretz deah es Hashem, the whole world will become to know Hashem. Therefore, the livyasan represents daas. The seudah, a seudah shel livyasan, is daas. Then the Gra says, and that's going to be the simcha. Simcha, at that party, stam Reb Chaim Ozer is going to be there, he'll make it the simcha, but the simple simcha, what is the simple simcha? The daas. Right? So what's the taich in the simcha? The daas. That's what the Gra says. So I want to explain to you gevaldige vort. You know, Torah is called mei hadaas. You know where I know this from? So you'll say I know it from some Kabbalah. No, it's from פירוש הרמבם. The Rambam says at the end of Hilchos Mikvaos, just like a person who goes into a mikvah becomes tahor, so too if someone puts himself into mei hadaas, the water of knowledge, which is Torah, it's also metaher. It's from פירוש הרמבם, Hilchos Mikvaos. The Torah is called mei... Hadas. The waters of daas, yeah? Yam haTalmud, right? Chazal call the lashon yam, so, yam haTalmud, water of daas. The Leviyasan has to do with daas, and where is it? I explained to you, bamayim. It's a din in the waters. You know what's tahor in the waters? Kol asher yesh lo snapir v'kaskeses. Snapir is the siman taharah in the mayim, a lot of water, okay? What makes Leviyasan, what makes— and the answer is, kol asher yesh lo snapir v'kaskeses, bamayim. Mei hadaas. And that's what the Gaon means. The Gaon says that the seudah is going to be the seudah of daas. Eating Leviyasan is the seudah of daas. And what is the simcha? And the simcha is, kudei Hashem yesharim, v'samchei lev, samchei lev. The biggest simcha is the Torah, right? That's why it's asur, it's asur to learn on days that you're not allowed to have simcha. This is the seudas Leviyasan, daas in the mayim, seudas hadaas.

This I want to answer a very good kasha. If you take a look, it says, Ani Hashem, hama'ale eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim, at the end of the macholos asuros. Says Rashi, what does it mean, Ani Hashem, at the end of the macholos asuros? Says Rashi, if it's only for this—go ahead, read the two Rashis. Go ahead, read the Rashis. Good, there's two parts to the Rashi. The first part is, ... elisi eschem. Ani Hashem, in order to make Ani Hashem, I took you out. Davar acher, another pshat. Hama'ale. So why say hama'ale? ... Okay, אילמלי לא יצא, only for this? Okay, no, no, אילמלי, nu. So in other words, I took them out because of this ma'alah, yeah, that they don't eat sheratzim. So that's hama'ale eschem, hama'ale eschem. Tell me something, I thought Hashem took us out so we should מקבל the Torah. I must have missed something, no? Doesn't it say, ... that I took you out for a reason. What was the reason? The reason is that you should be mekayem the Torah. Which really is the first pshat in Rashi, ani Hashem, she's the kabel mitzvosai. So what, only because of sheratzim? Yeah, but what does it mean? I don't mean—I would take you out. What do you mean? If we weren't mekabel Torah, Hashem would have taken us out? Of course not. I mean, what do the words mean? I don't understand. It's a stirah to what it says. Zeh lecha ha'os. This is the reason why I took you out. ... I took you out for Torah, so what's he talking? What does Rashi say? That's the pshat. Sheratzim is a stirah to Torah. Sheratzim is a stirah to Torah. You can't have sheratzim and Torah; it doesn't go together. So the Levioson's koach is in the snapir v'kaskeses, in its koach hataharah. Levioson, which stands for Torah. The Levioson stands for Torah. And that's the pshat again, you hear? Daas, the seudah of daas. It means the seudah of Torah for the tzaddikim l'asid lavo. U'ma la'aretz daas Hashem, Chazal say, and the Rambam brings it l'halachah. What's going to be l'imos haMashiach? Tzaddikim are going to sit—not ... but ... and henemiziv haShechinah, they'll sit and learn. So the Levioson is the seudah of daas. What happens by the seudah of daas? There'll be tremendous simchah. No, the Iggeres tells us that simchah is a chelek mahuti. It's a part of Talmud Torah. That's the simchah of that seudah. Now I'm going to show you a little bit further, you hear? Listen carefully. I'm going to show you Chazal after Chazal, the connection between the Torah and the Livyasan, okay? The Medrash says, it's a Medrash Koheles, it's a few other also, it's a Medrash in Aseres HaDibros, a different type of Midrash. Yom hei, notla HaKadosh Baruch Hu or u'mayim, light and water, light and water, or u'mayim, u'bara מהם לויתן, and He created the Leviathan. So if you want to know what the Leviathan is made of, or u'mayim, yeah? So various, I know a fish that made flesh and blood, or u'mayim. U'bara מהם לויתן, v'ishto, and his wife, the wife of the Leviathan. V'chol dag hayam, v'tala kol ha'olam kulo al סנפיריו, and He put the whole world to stand on the סנפירים, on the fins of the Leviathan. Why the fins? It's exactly what I'm trying to tell you. Remember the fins I tell you is the koach haTorah, al shlosha dvarim ha'olam omeid, and the briach hatichon. What is the Torah? The world stands on Torah.

That's pshat, the world, and that's pshat, ohr u'mayim. What are the two things that Torah is compared to? Nimshalu divrei Torah, nimshalu l... and also ohr, ohr haTorah, the light of Torah. Leviasan stands for Torah, ohr u'mayim. You see clearly in the Chazal. Okay, you ready? If I had to discuss Torah, what would be the two things? I would say mayim. I would say ohr, right? Me'or, meinei chachamim, light, the light of Torah. Give me a third thing that we talk about when we say Torah. There's a third component. Yeah. We just said water, light, and eish, fire. Okay, you think I didn't find that in Chazal like this? Chazal say that the Leviasan, you know how it's gonna win? So I told you one Chazal says with its... Chazal says, kol habehemos menakin Leviasan. All the animals are gonna try to knock the Leviasan, you hear? He's gonna stand alone, and all the animals. It's a Medrash Agadah. How is it gonna win, the Leviasan? V'haLeviasan motzi eish. It's gonna give off like a dragon, you hear? It's gonna give off bursts of fire, and he's gonna burn up all the beheimos. No? Eish haTorah. Huh? It's a Chazal. It's a mamash mefurasha Chazal. You hear what's going on? So if someone asks you which is the first dragon that Hashem created, dragon, and the answer is the Leviasan was the first dragon. Fire. And it's made from ohr u'ma'ayin, no? Am I teaching you good? You see how I learned up the sugya? I have more fear. I have more fear, rabosai. The pirkei d'Rab Eliezer says, okay, I guess I mentioned to you already that the briach hatichon, which means the bolt that holds the whole world, the briach hatichon, the foundation, is the sanpir of the whole world, is on the sanpir of the Leviyasan. Because even though, al shlosha dvarim ha'olam omeid, the mefarshim tell us, but what's the briach hatichon? It's the Torah. The Torah. Okay. There's a Gemara in Bava Basra, daf ayin daled amud beis, that a certain tanna went and saw a tremendous light in the ocean. So he went to ask, What's this light? No, they answered him, Eino shel Leviyasan. The glow, the light, is from the eyes of the Leviyasan. Meir einei chachamim bahalacha. Very interesting, huh? Light. The light of the Leviyasan, from the eyes. Peledik, huh? Mamash a peirush Chazal. Now I'll read you over another Medrash Tanchuma, gevaldig, gevaldig, a Medrash Tanchuma, you ready? Medrash Tanchuma says that Moshe had, Tanchuma, Parashas V'eschanan, Moshe had a debate with the Leviyasan. How did he debate the Leviyasan? He says like this: Ani eved. I'm an eved. U'Leviyasan eved. The Leviyasan is an eved, meaning of Hashem, servant of Hashem. Ani mischanein lefanecha. I beg before You. Hu mischaneh lefanecha, and he begs before you. Techinas Leviyasan shamata. The techinah, the Leviyasan, you heard. V'karas imo bris, you had a treaty with him. V'kiyamta, and you kept him alive. He has a debate with it. Why? Because Hashem wanted to take Moshe away from the world, and Moshe is begging Hashem. Leviyasan, you listen to and you make a treaty with him. What about me? What's going on here? Leviyasan, Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu was the symbol of Torah, so Moshe ta'inas, I have to have kayam l'olam. I have to live forever like Torah lives forever. The Leviyasan also is eved. I'm eved, he's eved. I'm Torah, he's Torah. And what happens? You went and you, with him, made a bris kayam l'olam and not with me, because Leviyasan represents Torah. Torah. Unbelievable. I'm—I hold, offen a Chazal. I'll tell you another Chazal. If you would say Hashem has toys, I think I'm shocked. Can you imagine if I would come and tell you Hashem plays with toys? The Gemara says Hashem plays with toys. It's the first Gemara. Gemara Avodah Zarah, daf gimmel amud beis. It says, Leviyasan zeh yatzarti l'sachek bo. It's the first pasuk in Tehillim. Hashem created the Leviyasan to play with it. Says the Gemara, Reviyos, the fourth hour, Hashem plays with the Leviyasan. He's busy. He has an hour that he plays.

Playful leviasan. Some pshat, Hashem plays with Leviasan? It's a pasuk in Gemara. L'leisa irascha sha'ashuai. What does sha'ashuim mean? Toys. Play. It's a play thing. Mishta'asha, sha'ashuei Torah. Leviasan represents Torah. It's an hour. Kitzur, it says rivi'is, the fourth hour, Hashem what? Plays with the Torah. So this, rabosai, is Chazalin after Chazalin after Chazalin, that what? That it's about, Leviasan is about Torah. Now, with this, rabosai, I want to explain, if I can find my papers together, yeah. Leviasan is the big whale that they're going to eat when Moshiach comes. What is this big whale? What is it about? What, it's a story about the Moby Dick? What is the whale? What is it? It represents the Torah. You see clearly from Chazal. I show you one after another, Chazal after Chazal after Chazal after Chazal. So what's the sandpirah? The sandpirah is the koach of it, which is what I'll explain to you like this. You ready? Everything in gashmiyus, excuse me, in ruchniyus, is represented through gashmiyus. Everything. A healthy person in gashmiyus. is actually a healthy person in ruchnius. You know where we see this from? The Rambam tells us that a navi had to be very strong, had to be handsome, gibor, had to be healthy. Rambam brings it down in halacha. HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't pick a navi unless he's really healthy, physically healthy. Say the Rishonim, why? Because the physical is a mirror to what's going on spiritually inside the person. Now, remember I began with the Ramban that says that the reason why the fish with the scales are good, because they're healthier fish, top of the water. And without scales and fins, the crabs, bottom of the water, so they're unhealthy fish. How could it be? We just said, is the Chumash a health book, right? That's Bar Benel's question. I'm going to show you where the Ramban himself says clearly that it's about ruchnius, not about gashmius. Who wants to look up the Ramban? You hear, Shemos chaf-beis lamed. The Ramban says clearly that all machalei ha'issur is for the nefesh, it's for the soul. You hear? All the machalei ha'issur is for the nefesh. And one of the things that he lists is the dagim, the fish. So wait a minute, I don't understand. Make up your mind. Is it this or is it— which one is it? Ramban, you went out of your way to explain that the kosher fish is because they're healthier, and the non-kosher fish are not healthy. Why would you go and write differently in— go ahead, read it. Look in Shemos chaf-beis lamed. He says it's all about spiritual things. It's all about the spirituality of the person, and in the list he brings fish. Which one is it? Is it spiritual or is it physical? So if you take a look at the Rashbam in this week's parasha, let's read the Rashbam. You have the Rashbam? Read the Rashbam. Vayikra Yud Aleph, Gimmel. Read the Rashbam. It says the Rashbam, what's wrong with all these things, yeah? Yeah, continue, continue. Rashbam, Vayikra Yud Aleph, Gimmel, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, continue. He says that, לפי פשוטו של מקרא... תשובת המינים. כל הבהמות והחיות והעופות והדגים, ומיני הרבה, ושרצים, שאסר הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל, מאוסים הם. They're no good, ma'usim, yeah, they're not good, yeah. ומכללים, ומחממים את הגוף. They make the body hot. They make the body hot, yeah. ולפיכך נקראים טמאים. And that's why they're called tameiim, yeah. ואף רופאים מובהקים אומרים כן. And even the big doctors talk. Now, does he mean physical, spiritual? What is he referring to?

He starts off by saying that all these things make the body hot. That's why they're called tamei, and even the doctors agree. What is it, physical, spirit? What is he referring to? You know what he's referring to? Every food that a person takes into his body can have a physical effect on him and can have a spiritual effect. The physical effect affects the spiritual effect. It's mechamem the guf. You know what happens when a person is mechamem es haguf? Taivas grow. Yetzer hara's grow. Lafikach, says the Rashbam, nikra tamei. It is me'usim. It is mechamem es haguf. It is a physical thing, but the physical thing has its תוצאות in its spiritual. You know where I saw this? The Chinuch writes clearly in mitzvah ayin gimel and in mitzvah kuf nun daled over here in our parsha, Haguf hu hakli lenefesh sheyif'ol. The body is the kli that makes the nefesh work. Ein nefesh bari ela beguf bari. That's the way it works. Body's healthy. If you eat junk food, then you'll think junk thoughts. Old people, tzaddikim, they have a good guf, but... They have a very good guf. Oh, they're very weak. Very weak doesn't mean not good. The person's old, he's weak. But healthy. Sick? No, the opposite. It's they're dying. No, the guf is dying. That's something else. That is a different— that's a whole different thing. When someone is dying, he's dying. I'm talking about not dying. I'm talking about healthy. Young. When you're young and you're healthy, then your neshama is going to be healthy. Food plays a tremendous role. As a matter of fact, in the Chassidishe sefarim it's brought down, in the Sifashalom brings it down, that the taivas achilah actually comes from a good thing, not a bad thing. Sifashalom brings it down. This week's parsha. It comes from a good thing, not a bad. Why? Because food has in it, creates a lot of ruchniyus. So the taiva, the neshama is actually searching for the ruchniyus. The only thing is, the yetzer hara confuses you and starts hacking and trying to look for the bad things. But the yesod of it, he says, very interesting, it comes out that be'etzem the simanei taharah and tumah by the kashrus has to do with the ruchniyus. Okay. But this, I think we can explain gevaldik. You ready? Lehavdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor. Tell me something. Let's give you a mashal. When somebody takes vitamins, yeah, is the maileh of a vitamin that it's just not junk food? Or is the maileh of a vitamin that it has in it healthy components that gives you refuah? No? Healthy, right? Okay. Tell me the opposite now. A cucumber. Is the maileh of a cucumber that it's healthy, or that it's just not junk food? It's just not junk food. There's nothing, there's no minerals or vitamins. It's very shvach. There's nothing in it. It ain't. Okay, that's in your books of history. L'maaseh. Okay, but pashut. Again, of course everything in the long term helps. But I'm just saying that certain foods, it's ma'ilus, it's just not junk food. There are certain foods which are very high antioxidants, with some ma'ases, yeah? It's unbelievable, right? Then there are certain foods which is not healthy, but they're not unhealthy. Yeah, you don't agree that? You don't agree that there are certain foods which are just—huh? No, you're not maskim? I mean, certain foods are just food. It's not—yeah. See, every person's wife's food is mamish meizin. That's what you have to believe, whether it's true or not, right? Well? Okay. Now, that's right, you're saying a good vort. You don't have to believe it, you have to say it. Okay, al kol panim, listen carefully, listen good. Food is lehavdil bein hatamei vein hatahor that has both ma'alos. There's food which is tahor, and there's food which is tamei. The ma'alah of tahordik food is not that it's just not tamei, that it's tahor. There's a ma'alah to tahordik food. I want to tell you something pel…

You know that fish in Zohar is called maichel tzaddikim. It's called the maichel of tzaddikim. You know that? So it's very important. Baburim, uslav, the dog, and Shabbos fish. What's ma... It'll be awesome. There's mailus in fish which has in it simanei taharah. Now I understand the pesukim. It's not about the fish. It's about the snapir v'kaskeses. There's something about the snapir. We saw from the Leviasan that its koach haTorah has to do with the snapir. Now why we have to go into it? There's rather Zohar about it. What's the maila of the snapir, the koach? What is it? I didn't have enough time to research that part. I have to go through it. There's a Zohar about it. But you see that its maila is in the snapir. That's pshat in the pasuk. Kol asher yeish lo snapir v'kaskeses. What does it mean, snapir? That's the tahor. V'chol asher ein lo, that's the chisaron. There's a maila sheyeish lo snapir v'kaskeses, and there's a chisaron ki she'ein lo snapir v'kaskeses. And it's not necessarily a siman, but it's the taharah itself. It's the maila itself. You know, it's interesting. You know, I was explaining to you, food represents, you know, it mirrors the ruchniyus. Tell me, what is the one thing that's called brain food? Does anybody know what's called brain food? Fish. Fish is called brain food. Isn't it unbelievable? Mamash the goyim with the Leviasan, with daas and Torah. It's unbelievable. You see it clearly. It's pili ployim. You see it clearly. The whole shmues, the whole thing from the midrashim, I'm showing you the Leviasan is about daas. It's about, it's about, huh? Malchus Hashem. It's about Torah. The one thing that they say that's poel on the mind more than anything else is the fish. That's the chinuch. I'm saying they extract the omega-3s for the brain. I know, veis men doch, no? That's the pshat, yeah. That's the gevaldik. Mei mei hadas, the leviasan. And that's the kol asher yesh lo snapir, then it's tahor. Kol asher ein lo snapir v'kaskeses. So you want to know, I think we should put out a new product, okay? We should go into business to make omega-3 from what? From the snapir v'kaskeses. Because you never know, maybe if you took that, your mind would open up, mamish with daas and chochmah and Torah. They probably cut it and throw it away. You should walk into the fish store, you know what you should do? Walk into the fish store and ask him, Give me all the leftover snapir v'kaskeses, I want it. Grind it and make you gefilte fish. Tell him, the leviasan, the whole briah hatichon of the world, what do we call it, the bolt, the core, the briah hatichon, the bottom is all on the foundation on the snapir v'kaskeses of the leviasan. And that's the pshat. It doesn't come and say a list what to eat and what—it's the opposite. It's about the snapir v'kaskeses. And the difference is, this is yes to eat and this is not to eat, l'havdil bein hatamei. It's not stam one is the opposite of the other. There's something called tamei food and something called tahor food, and tahor food has an effect on a person and tamei food has the opposite effect on a person. This is the pshat, kol asher ein lo snapir v'kaskeses.