Yom Tov Kiddush: Asher Bachar Banu, Mo’adim L’Simcha, and Giving Nachas Ruach to Hashem

Transcript

Maybe we could say a little bit more. If you notice, by Klal Yisroel, Hashem gave us the Torah over other nations, because the other nations also were offered, and they declined. So we were chosen from among other nations to get the Torah. There was a bechira, even though truthfully, did Hashem choose us, or did we choose Him? Interesting. L'choira, asher bachar banu, in the context of Torah, it's a little bit wrong, because it's asher bacharnu boi. We chose Hashem. Hashem came to all the nations, Chazal say, and said, Would you like the Torah? And they all turned it down. So actually, who chose who? But that's, I guess, let's not get into the details. But the point is, there was a choosing from among other nations. You know that if a goy learns Torah, you know he's chayav misa. What? Goy, akum shelamad Torah is chayav misa. It's Gemara in Sanhedrin. Chayav mita? Avada, of course. You don't know that a goy who learns Torah is chayav misa? According to many Rishonim, you know why he's chayav misa? No. A, because Torah is so special, and it was given to Klal Yisroel. Wait, it was given to Klal Yisroel, so a goy, it's like as if he would walk into the Beis Hamikdash and take the holiest of holy. According to many other Rishonim, it's simply because of stealing. Since it was given to Klal Yisrael, it's mine. Hashem gave us the Torah, v'nasan lanu. You gezel. And the halacha is that when a goy steals, he's chayav misah. It's in the furish Gemara, and the Rishonim interpret it that way. So, asher bachar banu mikol am, we're emphasizing that it's given to us and to nobody else. Thus, I follow with this the logic and say, wait a minute, by Shabbos we find the exact same thing. Halacha is, Hashem gave us the Shabbos, and we even say it in the tefillah: V'lo nasata ... l'goyei ha'aratzos, v'lo nachalta ... l'ovdei pesilim, v'gam b'menuchaso lo yishkenu arelim. Us, we emphasize that a goy is not allowed, right? It's only unique for us. And the halacha is as well: goy sheShavas, a goy rests, he's also chayav misah. Again, the same concept, either because he has no right to put himself into the holiest day of the year. Let us just say Yom Kippur might be, but we see Yom Kippur is only karet. Shabbos is chiyuv mita. But Shabbos is holy, holy, holy, Shabbos, Shabbos, the holy Shabbos, or because he's stealing. Hashem gave it to us. Hashem gave us the Shabbos. Don't steal. And if a goy steals any of the sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach, mita, he's chayav mita. So we could say that there's a unique emphasis on the idea of birchas haTorah, Torah, and Shabbos, that what? That it's only asher bachar banu mikol amim. Now the question is, what about Yontif? Because we don't say on Shabbos, asher bachar banu. And Hashem chose the goy; but us over the goy, we don't speak by Shabbos. We say it in the tefillah, v'nosata imenu l'goy arotzot, but we don't use the lashon asher bachar banu. So my question is, and I leave this as a question, I need to go into this a little bit further. When we say goy sheShabbos is only Shabbos, or goy sheShabbos would be even on Yontif? I don't know. If a goy would keep Yontif, is he stealing? Is it like Shabbos? Because Shabbos ikri moed, and moed ikri Shabbos. We'll find that they interchange in halacha. It's very much that whenever it says Shabbos, it can mean Yontif; whenever it says Yontif, it can mean Shabbos. So I want to know, halacha l'maaseh, that if a goy would go and keep Yontif, does he go against akum sheShabbos and he's chayav misa? And that's why we emphasize by the Torah and by Yontif, asher bachar banu, because it's specific. No, I'm asking maybe by Yontif it's the same. Like this, because if it's not unique that a goy who keeps Yontif is chayav misa, so then we don't have an answer of why we speak about asher bachar banu mikol am by Yontif. I'm trying to explain why do we speak about two places, asher bachar...

By Torah, Birchas HaTorah, and by Yontif, by the Kiddush. Why these two places specifically? The answer might be because these are given to us. Vatiten lanu, Hashem Elokeinu b'ahavah. Hashem gives us the holiday. Vatiten lanu was given to us. So maybe, just like vatiten lanu es Torah, nasan lanu es haTorah, Hashem gave us Torah, and it's because asher bachar banu from other nations, so too Yontif is vatiten lanu, and it's also what? Asher bachar banu mikol am. This would be the simple pshat. I'm going to go a little bit deeper and deeper and deeper. We keep on going deeper and deeper. Soon. But first get the question. I like that you should know the facts, all right? The Yontif, I believe, is in the words of the Kiddush. If you need to understand about Yontif, it's said in the words of the Kiddush. That's the yesod of the Yontif. So we begin with the first part of the Kiddush: asher bachar banu mikol am. Hashem, You chose us. Why is this so critical to Yontif, that He chose us? All the mitzvahs, Hashem chose us, right? It's all mitzvahs. Tell me any mitzvah you can come and say, not asher bachar banu. When we make tekias shofar, do we make a bracha, asher bachar banu mikol am v'nasan lanu es hatekiah shofar? Why don't we say that? What's wrong? When you sit in a sukkah, do we come and say, asher bachar banu mikol am, and we sit in the sukkah? We say it by keeping the holidays, that we celebrate holidays, and also we say it by one other place, Birchas HaTorah. So I have to explain this, right? You don't feel the need to explain it to us. You see a unique thing. A, the emphasis on the Hashabachar banu by a holiday, and the parallel, the same by Birchas HaTorah. There's got to be a reason. So I start to think, wait a minute. All the nations were offered the Torah, but we got it. Asher bachar banu. There is a little bit of a question that by the Torah, we chose the Torah. Not Hashem chose us, but I guess Hashem chose us, kaf alayim har kegigis. You know, sometimes we make, when there's a marriage, we could come and say, You agree, knowing that what? That it's already pre-planned, right? So it's true, Hashem went to all other nations, but we chose it. Yeah, but Hashem knew, you know, He was already twisting our arm in the back, and He already had all the plans already, already, that we're going to accept. So let's say that that's not a question. It's not that Hashem, that we chose, but Hashem chose us, and He gave us the Torah. Okay. Oh, let's discuss now, interesting: akum sheloymed Torah chayav misah. Oh, why? Because he's stealing my present. Hashem gave it to me. What are you stealing? A goy who steals is chayav misah. Interesting, by Shabbos, the same thing. We emphasize Hashem, You didn't give it l'goy ha'aratzos. We speak about it by Mincha: Atah echad v'shimcha echad, u'mi k'amcha Yisrael goy echad ba'aretz. V'nasachta l'goyei ha'aratzos, v'loy nachalta malkeinu l'ovdei pesilim, v'gam b'nuchosecha lo yishk'lu arelim. Ki l'Yisrael amcha nasata. You gave it only to Klal Yisrael, huh? Akum sheShavas, asur chayav misa. So it's unique to a Jew. What about Vatitein lanu Yom Tov? We stressed Hashem gave it to us. Ah, maybe that same thing. It's given to us, and that's asher bachar banu, like by Torah. And then I have a question: is it possible that akum sheShavas is even akum sheShavas al moed, which means that if he keeps the holidays, the holiday Shabbos is the same thing, would he be chayav misa? I need to research this a little bit more. Let's go a little bit further. In the Kiddush, after asher bachar banu, we say v'romemanu... No. Mikol lashon, from every vernacular, from every lashon. What does that mean? You should say v'romemanu mikol adam, bachar banu mikol am, and v'romemanu, He elevated us from every talk, every tongue, kind of expression, every speech. What does it mean? What does it mean, v'romemanu mikol lashon? I once heard a pshat.

And later I found it in the sefarim of this particular Rosh Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva is the son of the Rav of Brisk, Rav Dovid, Rav Shmuel Dovid Soloveitchik, Brisker Rosh Yeshiva today in Eretz Yisrael. It says a beautiful pshat. He says like this: We know that every creation falls into four categories. We have domem, a rock. It is. That's all it is. It is what it is, domem. Then we have tzomeach, growth, right? Things that could grow. Chai. Then we have animals, which are on a higher level than just, right? If you can't kill a plant, kill an animal, right? It's chai, it's alive. And then there's medaber, speech, which is adam. Adam is the highest level. Man is on a higher level than just a rock and just a—I mean, not today, depends who you speak to. If you speak to the naturalists, the preserve the nature, they think that a rock is more important than a person, and a flower in the park is more important than a human being. But all right, that's neither here nor there, because they themselves are domem. Since they're not adam, so therefore they don't understand the domem. They look at themselves, who are domem and tzomeach, more than medaber, because they themselves are that, not too much more. But all right, point being, medaber is the highest level, right? Baruch... Hashem, You made us greater than all the medaber, the lashon, all those that speak. Very nice, huh? It's another level, a Jew. What do you say? Beautiful, Rav Dovid. Then what, huh? Then what? Baruch... mikol lashon. Huh? Fine, okay. Mitz Hashem, we can say another pshat, another havanah. Why does it say, Veromemamnu mikal lashon? Let's go to the next part of the Kiddush. So, so far we have to explain, asher bachar banu. We've tried a little bit, but we said we'll say a little bit more. Then we have to explain, veromemamnu mikal lashon. We tried, we gave one pshat, but we have to say a little bit more. Now we're going to explain, vkidishanu bmitzvosav. Vkidishanu bmitzvosav. L'choira, why didn't we mention vnasan lanu es haTorah? If you talk about the maalos of Klal Yisrael, asher bachar banu. If someone asks you, what is the maalah of Klal Yisrael? And by Torah we even said asher bachar banu, because then He gave us the Torah. So let's mention the Kiddush: asher bachar banu mikol am, veromemanu mikal lashon, yeah, vkidishanu bmitzvosav, vnasan lanu es haTorah. By Lubavitch they have it? They mention the Torah? They do, they mention. No, I mean to say, is in the Kiddush. Oh, in the Kiddush. Come on, in the Kiddush. No, for Yom Tov. If you talk, you have Torah, read it for me. I don't know, the Ashkenaz doesn't have it. Let me see. Nobody knows from my life. I can't know your Kiddush. Asher bachar— oh, no, same thing. What are you talking about? There's no Torah. It doesn't mention Torah. It's a tremendous question. If you want to talk about the greatness of Klal Yisrael, asher bachar banu mikal am, vromemanu mikal lashon, vkidishanu bmitzvosav. What happened to Torah? Tremendous question. Tzaysora, Reb Meishe Shmuel Shapiro, zecher tzaddik livrachah, loshon shivi, just passed away a year ago. He was a tremendous talmid chacham. He says a gevaldige pshat. He says, V'romemanu mikol lashon is going on Torah. Hashem elevated us. Why? He says Torah is words that elevate. You know, a guy talks and talks and talks, talks about nonsense. You know, the talk shows, they could talk three hours about nothing. What? Hillary lied, Hillary didn't lie. She lied, she didn't lie. She lied and she didn't lie. And Barack Obama, he's a racist, he's not a racist. Hour after hour, that's what they talk about, right? Od sha'ot medabrim al zeh. This is called pusta language. In Yiddish it's pust, empty, empty, hevel havalim. Lashon, it's a mashu chashuv. V'romemanu, Hashem, You elevated us mikol lashon. Now, he doesn't exactly say it the way I say it, because I add a little flavor. The teacher says V'romemanu is going on Torah, but I'm explaining how it goes on Torah, because lashon, the words, are elevating. Limud haTorah. Yeah, the words of Torah, he proves the word romemanu has to...

Listen to his raya. He has a beautiful proof. Rabbi Yosef, b'yoyma d'Atzeresa amri, avdi li igla tiltai. On Shavuos, make me a big steak, igla tiltai, a calf, the third, meaning third of what? The best, the best, yeah? Why? Because ilav hayoma, because if not for the day of Shavuos that Hashem gave us the Torah, kama Yosef ika b'shuka. I would be like any other Yosef. I'd be like a talkshahos Yosef. What makes me different than Yosef Limbo or Yosef the Tanna, right? What makes me the difference? Yosef Obama or Yosef the Tanna? What makes me the difference? And the answer is the day of Torah, right? The day of Shavuos. Says Rashi, says Rashi, ilav hahu yoma, if not for that day, shelomadti Torah, v'nisroimamti. I elevated myself. There would be many Yosefs b'shuk. Says Rav Moshe Shmuel zecher tzaddik livracha, Torah elevates a person, and he shouldn't just be the regular Yosef b'shuka, any other Joe in the street. You know, maybe that's where they got the expression, Yosef is Joe, any other Joe in the street. That's pashut in the Gemara maybe. Kama Yosef ika b'shuka. It's a pashut. Joe Schmo, that's what it is, it comes from the Gemara. Any other Joe. Yeah, that's right. It'd be any other Joe, Joseph in the street, Joe in the street, you hear? Maybe that's where it comes from. Okay, but the point is, nisroimamti! V'romemanu, v'romemanu. We're talking about in the kiddush. In the kiddush, when you want to discuss, it's a tremendous question, when you want to speak about the greatness of Klal Yisrael, asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim, speak about Torah. And the answer is, says Rav Moshe, ... because we ask, what does it mean, ...? So Rabbi Soloveitchik says pshat. Because there's medaber, and we're one step higher. Rav Moshe Shmuel Sapiro wants to say, V'romamanu mikol lashon means Torah. We're going to have another pshat. Why do we emphasize, after Asher bachar banu, we emphasize V'romamtanu mikol lashon, v'kidishanu b'mitzvosav? Why don't we mention Torah? I'm going to try to answer all three questions, okay, with my own concept, my own idea. So again, you hear the question? The Kiddush teaches us that Yom Tov represents Asher bachar banu mikol am, v'romamtanu mikol lashon, v'kidishanu b'mitzvosav. Why these three things? How does the Yom Tov represent, how does the Yom Tov bring out these three lofty things, Asher bachar banu, and why only these three? Why not Torah? Why don't we say Torah, Torah, Torah? Atah chosenu Hashem Elokeinu b'ahavah. Shabbosois, if it's Shabbos, Shabbosois limnuchah u'mo'adim l'simchah. Why is Shabbos menuchah, mo'ed simchah? What, you're not supposed to be happy on Shabbos? And you're not supposed to rest on Yom Tov? Do you rest on Yom Tov? Why not? Yom Tov is a very restful, peaceful day, right? Shabbasos limnuchah, u'mo'adim l'simchah. It's mashma, menuchah is for Shabbos, simchah is not for Shabbos but for... Yandef, it's not true. Not true. How do I know this? Uveyom simchatchem uvemo'adeichem, right? Uviskatem bechatzotrot al oloteichem. What is Yom Simchatchem uvemo'adeichem? What's the difference between the Yom Simcha and uvemo'adeichem? So what is it? So obviously it's not moed. Then what day of simcha is it? What, the day that you won the lottery? What day are we referring to? What's Yom Simcha? What day is it? Come on, you read the pasuk. It's parshas Baaloscha. Uveyom simchatchem uvemo'adeichem. It says that—what? It says, Uveyom simchatchem u—uvemo'adeichem. So what's Yom Simchatchem? Says the Sifri: Shabbos. Yom Simchatchem is Shabbos. Tell me, you ever read this Midrash? You ever seen this Midrash? Oneg vegam simcha, right? Baruch Kel Elyon.

Oneg, became simcha, heim l'mashcha. Yismichu b'malchuscha, shomrei Shabbos, v'nocha v'simcha, ar layehudim. Echol b'simcha lachmecha, ki kvar. You read the whole zemiros, it's all Shabbos is simcha. So why is it by Shabbos we tell everybody, Good Shabbos, Good Shabbos. When it comes to Yom Tov we say, Moadim l'simcha. Almost, I became a rock and I say, Moadim l'simcha. What? That's the Americans who know nothing. I'm talking about the real Jews, the Moroccans. They say, Moadim l'simcha. Sefardim say, Moadim l'simcha. If you're not Sefardi, I'm Sefardi. When you're Ashkenazi, what are you? Moadim l'simcha. What about Shabbos? Shabbos is also... Tzrichim l'hagid, vadai b'Shabbos yesh simcha. To say Shabbos definitely has simcha, you can't say this zemiros. Obviously we need something else. There's simcha, and then there's simcha. What's the difference? You see, when you're a Brisker, you say there's simcha, and there's simcha. What is it? Yesh simcha v'yesh simcha. Someone once said that there was once a husband. There was once a husband, his name was Simcha. By Ashkenazim, it's a boy's name. By the Sefardim, Simcha is a girl's name. Yeah. It's mixed. Someone came and said, Ein me'arvin simcha b'simcha. Ein me'arvin simcha b'simcha. Okay, point B, you hear? Point B. There's simcha and there's simcha. What does that mean? עכשיו נסביר את זה. What is מועדים לשמחה? וַתִּתֶּן לָנוּ ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ, right? שַׁבָּתות למנוחה, ומועדים לשמחה. What's the difference? ... מועדים לשמחה. Okay. What does it mean, שבתות למנוחה, מועדים לשמחה? Four. The word le always means for. You know what it should have said? שבתות מנוחה, rest days of menucha. Hashem gave us the Shabbat, which is Shabbos menucha. Shabbos, right? Menuchas ahavah v'nadavah. What's שבתות למנוחה? Now I saw a ... בחינוך, in mitzvah taf-pei-ches, says, you know why we have Shabbos l'menucha, מועדים לשמחה? A person needs to eat. Yeah, of course, right? Does a person need to rest? Yeah. Does a person need to be happy from time to time? He says, לפרקים, לפרקים. So Hashem knows, just like you need to eat, so Hashem gave us Shabbos to rest. Hashem gave us Yom Tov to be happy, because you need it. I read this and I go, Huh? That's all it's about? This is simply a mid-season break? That's all it is? Siesta time. Siesta. What is he saying? What is the Chinuch talking about? What is he saying? But the truth is, we say that: שבתות... מועדים ל. The Shabbos is for the rest. מועדים ל. Four. That's what it is. It's for happiness, it's for rest. I can hear the Shabbos is rest. מועד, בעצם שמחה. It's a day of simcha, but it's for — that's the purpose of it, that's all what it's about. אפילו... לכן נראה לעניות דעתי, that we don't understand what it means, מועדים ל, ל, לשמחה. It can't mean literally days of moed just to be happy. זהו, זה מובן לך? שיום טוב ניתן כדי שנשמח. זהו. כמו שאנחנו חייבים לאכול עוף וצ'ולנט, חייבים גם לשמוח, אז זה מועדים ל, לשמחה. אבל בחינוך כתוב את זה, ובאמת מדויק מהלשון, מועדים ל, לשמחה. לכן נראה שצריכים להגיד שהיסוד של המנוחה והשמחה בשבת ויום טוב זה משהו אחר. עכשיו נסביר את זה. What is the מנוחה? שייך ל...

The simcha, shezeh שייך למועד. If you notice the hemshech of the kiddush: חגים וזמנים לששון. What's the difference? מועדים לשמחה, חגים וזמנים לששון. Tell me, you know the difference? מועדים לשמחה, חגים וזמנים לששון. Why are you repeating the same thing twice? You're saying the same thing, no? What's the difference between מועד and חג? What's the difference between שמחה and ששון? Now the truth is, usually it goes together. Usually it goes together, right? ששון ושמחה ימצאו בה. So we could say it's different expressions of happiness. לפעמים כופלים כשרוצים להגיד, when we want to say something that it is and it's abundance of, זה ריבוי של הדבר, so we say it double lashon, right? קודש קודשים, right? There's קודש and there's קודש קודשים, holy of holies. So ששון ושמחה is כאילו happiness of happiness. קול ששון, קול שמחה. There we separate it, right? קול ששון וקול שמחה. And which one comes first? The ששון and then the שמחה. And here the שמחה comes first and then the ששון. So what's the difference? Also, you wouldn't repeat it as two different things. You wouldn't say מועדים לשמחה and then say חגים וזמנים לששון. You would say מועדים לשמחה וששון. If you meant happy of happy and different expressions, different ביטויים של שמחה, so what would you say? ששון ושמחה, or שמחה וששון. The fact that we separated moedim l'simcha, chagim u'zmanim l'sasson. And also that we speak about that the moed is l'simcha, and we bring the simcha first. Usually the sasson v'simcha yimatzi. It's always sasson v'simcha yimatzi, v'hodaah, v'kol zimrah, kol sasson v'kol simcha. And all of a sudden over here, the simcha comes and then the sasson. Why? Rabosai, there's a Gra. The Gra learns that sasson is on the past. Sasson is on the past. Simcha is on the future. Smeichim b'tzeisam u'vvo'am is sasson. That's how the Gra learns. Sasson is on something that happened in the past. Simcha is something that happens in the future. So let's learn over here. Let's learn. How does it work out over here? Moadim l'simcha, for the future. Chagim u'zmanim l'sasson, on the avar, maybe. Moadim, for the future simcha. Chagim u'zmanim to be mesameach on the avar. Are we taka mesameach on the avar? Is Yom Tov about avar? The mefarshim tell us not like that. What are you tainaing, Ariel? Ariel, Ariel, chacham Ariel. Huh? Ah, they want to know who it is. Nu! Who has a kasha? Who cares this kasha? ... Smeichim b'tzeisam ... b'vo'am ... b'tzeisam ... kvar ba'u, so how can now ... Smeichim b'tzeitam, al ha'yetziah mah sheyihyeh ba'atid. ... Bilbul tovalbel. B'tzeitam, kesheyotzim, when they leave, there's smeichim to get out. What's coming ahead of that? And the sasim when it passed already. This is the gra. You don't like the Gra, you could write a letter to Vilna. In Vilna they have the kever haGra, and you could ask mechilah from the Gra. What should I tell you? What do you want from me? This is the Gra. So sasim b'smeichim b'tzeisam, v'sasim b'vo'am. So the pshat over here also might be what, mayadim l'simcha in the future. Chagim u'zmanim l'sasson about what happened to us in the past. Maybe, maybe. I want to say a little bit different. The chiluk between smeichim b'moed and sasson for chagim u'zmanim, and why smeichim first and sasson afterwards, when normally it's sasson v'simcha the other way. In the Haggadah, by birchas hagoel, v'lanu...

We end the last bracha in the Haggadah, when we end the Haggadah we say, Smeichim b'vinyan irecha, v'sasim ba'avodasecha. So here again, the simcha comes first. Smeichim b'vinyan irecha. Hashem, You bring us l'atid to Yerushalayim, smeichim, that we should be happy b'vinyan irecha, and sasim ba'avodasecha. Simcha for the binyan ha'ir, and sason for the avodah. Ma zeh shayach? Why is it that way? You say, Asher galanu v'ga'al es avoseinu, at the end of the Haggadah, Smeichim b'vinyan irecha v'sasim ba'avodasecha. So why is binyan ha'ir shayach l'simcha, v'ha'avodah shayach l'sason? Tefillas Rosh Hashanah, what do we say? Simcha l'artzecha v'sason... What did we just say? Smeichim b'vinyan ir Yerushalayim, and by Rosh Hashanah we say the opposite, sason l'irecha. So you know what I'm getting the picture? End seder. Lefamim omrim sason, lefamim simcha, lefamim ir, lefamim avodah. It's all over the place. You remember such a lashon? Smeichim, simcha l'artzecha, v'sason l'irecha. So sason, make up your mind. Is it simcha l'irecha? Is it sason l'irecha? Which one is it? What's the chiluk between simcha and sason? And why sometimes for irecha we use a lashon of simcha and sometimes we use a lashon of... Sason, okay. So there's a gevaldige Brisker Rav, very, very, very nice Brisker Rav. You know, bikurim. Bikurim comes from where? Artzecha. We bring it from all over Eretz Yisrael. We bring it to Yerushalayim. When do you bring bikurim? Bizman simcha, in the time of happiness. That's what Chazal say. When is the time of happiness? Between Pesach and Shavuos. Why? Because that's when everybody is melaket the tevuah, right? And parnassah brings happiness, right? Does bikurim begin with the counting of the Omer? No, one has nothing to do with the other. It has to do with the time, the time period between Pesach—what? Shavuos. But there's a bikurim that's mentioned in a single... That's something else, that's something else. The bikurim, the fruits of the land, to bring to Yerushalayim is only bizman asifah, in the time that they gather the fruits, because it has to be simcha, the time of happiness. The pasuk says, In the time of happiness you bring the bikurim. Says the Brisker Rav, that's pshat, Simcha le'artzecha. We ask Hashem that there should be simcha in the land, referring to the mitzvah of bikurim. Sason li'irecha, u'sa'fta mayim. V'sason, nisucha mayim. Simcha le'artzecha, v'sason li'irecha, that there should be zman sason, legabei u'sa'fta mayim v'sason. Rav David, the son of the Brisker Rav, was mosif in the tefillah of Shemoneh Esrei, we say, V'ha've'einu l'Tzion ircha... Berina. What rina are we referring to? So he says that's also the pshat that they sang when they brought the bikurim. The Mishnah tells us the Rambam brings the halacha that when you bring the bikurim, hachalil hayah makeh lefanav, there was a whole orchestra. So that's the pshat, berina, berina. Bring us to Tzion. So it's all referring to which mitzvahs? The mitzvahs of bikurim and the mitzvahs of nisuch hayayin, simcha v'sason. Okay. Nisuch hamayim. Okay. Now, I want to say a little bit different. I want to say a little bit different. The simcha l'artzecha. What is the simcha l'artzecha? What is the simcha b'vinyan irecha? What is all this simcha about Eretz Yisrael, about building the aretz? What is it all about? You notice that we say in the tefillos Musaf, Bnei Beischa kevatchilah, v'chonen mikdashcha al mechono, v'har'einu b'vinyano, v'samcheinu b'sikuno. What does that mean? Hashem should show us the binyan, v'samcheinu, and He should make us happy b'tikuno. What is it, what's He referring to? What does it mean, v'samcheinu b-

So I saw gevaldige pshat from Rav David Soloveitchik, ah, hafla v'fela. He says like this: The Beis HaMikdash HaShlishi, who's gonna build it? You know who's gonna build the Beis HaMikdash HaShlishi? So it'll come down from Shamayim. In pashut, it's gonna come from the sky with fire. Except for one thing. No. The gates. So the Maril Diskin, if you look in the sefer HaGra learns, v'samcheinu b'sikunoi is what we're gonna fix. What are we gonna fix? We're gonna fix the doors, the dalsois. That's what it says in the Chazal. And what would be the reason for that? Because we're gonna feel very bad that we didn't have the mitzvah of building. So which part is gonna make us happy, says the Maril Diskin? The doors. V'samcheinu, Hashem make us happy b'tikunah, because that's what we're gonna do. You know, it's, you're never happy, Hashem built it. Okay, but if you put a little bit effort, you do a little bit. Comes along Rav David. He doesn't bring this Maril Diskin, but it's a famous Maril Diskin. Rav David says a little differently. He says, and he brings rayas that the mizbeach is going to be built by us. The mizbeach. Which mizbeach? Let me, I'll read for you inside. Which mizbeach? Which mizbeach? Which mizbeach? Which mizbeach, which mizbeach. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. Here it is. He says like this. Oh. V'hareinu b'vinyanoi, hainu Beis HaMikdash atzmoi. Binyanoi. So that's v'hareinu. Hashem will show us. Why? Because Hashem is going to build it, so all we're going to do is look at it. V'hareinu, show us. V'hareinu b'vinyanoi, all we're going to do is see it. What's v'samcheinu? Tikunoi, ayr alamizbeach sheyibaneh bidei adam. V'mizbach avanim ta'aseh li. V'kasav Rashi b'shem haMechilta d'hu chovah. The mizbeach has to be built by human hand. Yeah? It says which one, the mizbeach avanim. Okay. So that's pshat, v'hareinu b'vinyanoi v'samcheinu b'tikunoi. Tikunoi is the mizbeach that's going to be built. What's tikunoi? So what does it mean, tikunoi? Al yeridas ha'esh min haShamayim, because that's the completion. We're going to build the mizbeach, and Hashem is going to bring the fire from Shamayim, and that's the pshat v'samcheinu. Hashem will make us happy. Why? Because if you take a look, it says in the pasuk that when the fire came down, Vataitzei eish milifnei Hashem, vatochal al hamizbeach, vayar kol ha'am. Vayaronu. It's gevaldik. Reb Dovid, they just know how to learn Chumash. You don't understand how they learn. They learn Chumash. Vayaronu, says the Targum, it's a lashon of praise and happiness, of shevach, you hear? And he says, if you take a look also, k'shiyored ha'esh b'Beis HaMikdash shel Shlomo, when the fire came down, also it says over there, simcha gedolah. That's Shabbos, Samcheinu b'sikhoneinu, okay? So the simcha is when the fire comes down. V'hareinu b'vinyanai, Hashem, I ask You, show me, show me, show me, v'hareinu b'vinyanai, because that You're going to build. So all I'm going to do is see it. V'samcheinu b'sikhonei, that's referring to the mizbeach and the fire that's coming down, and that's going to make us happy, like it says that when the fire came down to eat the korban, vayaronu kol ha'am. But why? Why does that make us so happy? He doesn't say, right? So what did I do? I said, I have to get down to the bottom of this. What do you mean? You're leaving me hanging over here. You tell me a very nice pshat, that when the fire comes from heaven, everybody's happy. But you don't explain why is everybody happy. So I looked and I looked.

I find that he says the same type of pshat, inyan hasimcha. He goes on the pasuk, V'aveinu l'Tzion ircha b'rinah. I'm sorry, on the words, V'aveinu l'Tzion ircha b'rinah, u'Yerushalayim beis mikdashcha b'simchas olam. He says, What's simchas olam? Simcha. Oh, give a wrist. What's simchas olam? What's a simchas olam? Simcha, right? Simcha. Simchas olam zu gilui Shechinah. Whenever the Ribono Shel Olam is with us, there's simcha. So we're asking Hashem, He should reveal His Shechinah in the Beis HaMikdash, and that's going to be called simchas olam. V'inyan hasimcha hu, mishum d'heichan sheyesh hisgalus haShechinah, sham shruyah simcha. You want to know what simcha is? When Hashem is there. Wherever Hashem is, when Hashem is open, reveals Himself, there's a tremendous simcha. And then he brings this pasuk and the same vort that he says in this further shiur. He says like this. It says, Vayarka lahem vayir'onu, vayiplu al pneihem. And the Targum says, V'chaza kol ama v'shabchu. Why? Because there was a hisgalus haShechinah with the fire. The fire came from heaven. So it gave her manifestation that Hashem exists. Lefikach vayarka lahem, d'haysa simcha gedolah b'hisgalus haShechinah, when Hashem revealed Himself. V'kivan d'la asid HaKadosh Baruch Hu levado yigaleinu, and since when Mashiach comes, Hashem will Himself redeem us, so the hisgalus will be תמידית. That's it. We're not going to see Him a little bit by a miracle and then He'll disappear again. When Moshiach comes, he'll be there all the time, constant, constant hisgalus haShechinah. Therefore, simcha. It's beautiful stuff. That's good stuff. Tomer Brisk is good stuff, huh? Okay, so listen what we have. Listen what we've come to. You hear what we've come to? Simcha means hisgalus haShechinah. That's what it means. That's what we've come to, a final analysis, that whenever we use the word simcha, we don't mean having a good time in the ball game, or being happy that we got a good meal. We don't mean that. We mean simcha means hisgalus haShechinah, right? And that's pshat when we refer to simcha every time in the pasuk, simcha, simcha, simcha, yeah? Simchas olam. V'reinu b'vinyanah v'samcheinu b'sikunah. It's referring to what? It's referring to the hisgalus haShechinah, right? When the fire came down on the— which is true, if you think about it. What was the happiness? They built a building by Shlomo, and all of a sudden the fire came down. What does the fire represent? Hashem. It's a manifestation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Oh, by Yeronu, everybody gets very happy. Do you know what is the yesod of the chag, v'samachta lifnei Hashem Elokecha? You should be happy where? In front of Hashem. Interesting, hisgalus haShechinah. When a person is in contact... He faces the Shechina, simcha. You should. That's right. And an anocha nami, there are people. You know who's happy every day? Those that live lifnei Hashem. They have shivisi. Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid. They're very happy. But Yontif is a manifestation. Now, what is the word moed? Does anybody know what the word moed means? Moed means to— No? The shoresh of the word moed is va'ad. Confess. No, that's vidui. I'll give you one more chance, and then one struck out. No. Va'ad is appointment. It's a gathering. You have an appointment. That's moed. Moed l'chol chai, it's an appointment. Litva'ed is to join, is to be together. It's together. An appointment means me and you have a rendezvous. We get together. It's a meeting. No. Nope. The source of the word moed is va'ida. Va'ida means an appointment, a time of the year where we join together, where we meet together.

Mo'adim. That we join together, we meet with HaKadosh Baruch Hu is for what purpose? Mo'adim l'simcha. Now I understand. It's once we're mo'adim. Mo'adim is l'simcha. Okay. This, rabosai, is the pshat: Simcha artzecha, smeichim b'vinyan irecha, uliYerushalayim beis mikdashcha, b'simchas olam. What is this all about? HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Hisgalus haShechinah. We ask simcha. We don't ask for artzecha so we could go touring in the Kinneret, that we should go, what do you call it, jet skiing in the Kinneret. That's not what simcha artzecha means, right? It doesn't mean— You see already what I like to do. I want to go jet skiing in the Kinneret. You know how I know about jet skiing in the Kinneret? Last week they had a box of tapes and videos of shiurim. You saw that they were throwing out the whole box? So they had over there from Rav Eliyahu Taubbaum, who was niftar last—remember Rav Eliyahu Taubbaum? So he had Stay Chemed. He had a camp called Stay Chemed. So he has a thing, the way he took his camp touring all over Eretz Yisrael, yeah? Touring all over Eretz Yisrael. So they have the way the kids go to the Kever Rachel and to the Kosel, and then they have by the Kinneret, they have the jet skiing. So I was thinking to myself, you know, for some reason... I like the ... I'm saying, to me it made more sense than the Torah. The ... the ... and then they have the jet skiing. All right, that I can be mevatel on, you know, I can do without that also. But ... Simcha l'artzecha. Simcha l'artzecha is not the jet skiing, the kineret. Simcha l'artzecha, and the sason, and the happiness of the binyan irecha, and Yerushalayim beis mikdashcha. It's all about Hashem. We ask Hashem, make us happy. Come back, begalui Yourself, bimherah, ... Eretz Yisrael. That's simcha l'artzecha. Sason ... So what's sason? So if simcha means simcha, so what's sason? I want to just tell you, it's a gevaldige piece of Brisker Rav, beautiful, beautiful Brisker Rav, beautiful. Vasi'einu Hashem Elokeinu es birchas moadecha lchayim ulshalom, kasher amarta levarcheinu. Like you said, you'll ... What is the birchas moadecha? What is it? Where does it say, Vamarta levarcheinu? Where does it say? You look through the entire Torah, it doesn't say one word that Hashem benches us. Birchas hamoed. There's birchas kohanim, but no birchas hamoed. You know, you're going to say it in the Amidah: Vasi'einu Hashem Elokeinu. Hashem, You grant us as birchas moadecha, the blessing of Your holiday. Mr. Kaykov, do you say this? You say this? Vasi'einu Hashem Elokeinu es birchas moadecha? ... Lchayim ulshalom, lsimcha ulsason. Kasher ratzita vamarta levarcheinu. Where? What? Tremendous question. You say it, you don't know what you're talking about. You know where you say V'amarta lifnei Hashem Elokecha, you know? Don't believe me, huh? You could say it all your life and no one pay attention to one word that you said. V'asienu Hashem Elokeinu... says the Brisker Rav, oh yes, we say it. It says, V'hayita ach sameach, says the Brisker Rav, it's not a tzivui. Rashi, quotes a Rashi, it's not a tzivui. What is it? It's a bracha. V'hayita ach sameach. It's a blessing that you should be happy on the Yom Tov, no? So, V'asienu Hashem Elokeinu es birkas moyadecha. What is the birkas moyadecha? V'hayita ach sameach, that you'll be happy. Huh? V'hayita, and you should be, not chiyuv. I'm telling you, V'amarta lifnei Hashem, in the pasuk, V'hayita ach sameach. What's the... V'asienu Hashem Elokeinu es birkas moyadecha. What is the birkas moyadecha?

L'simcha, that we should be happy, because the pasuk taka says, Vayita. Everybody thinks Vayita ... because it's tzivui, that you have to be happy. It's a bracha. And what is this bracha of happiness? It's called the birchas moadecha. You hear? Asi'einu Hashem Elokecha es birchas moadecha. Moadecha. Asi'einu Hashem Elokecha es birchas moadecha. What do you mean, birchas moadecha? Moadeinu. What do you mean, moadecha? Who are you talking—again, you're talking to Hashem? Yes, it's His moed or my moed? Who's Yom Tov, it's His or mine? It's a pashut you have to say, because He was metzaveh, because Hashem was the one who commanded us, so we say it's, you know, the Yom Tov that you wanted, I guess. Very coarse way of saying it, no? Would you say it that way? Asi'einu Hashem Elokeinu es birchas moadeinu. It's our moed. Moadecha—yours, yours, it's yours. You think you talk to your mother and father that way? You don't talk to Hashem that way. Your supper, your—what, your? The supper that you gave me. Not me, you don't talk about Him. And what's the answer? Hashem joins together with Klal Yisrael, and that's the bracha of moadecha, the appointment with you. You like it? Should say moadeinu. Moadecha, our appointment with You. It's the bracha that comes from the appointment with Hashem. Simcha. L'sason ul'simcha. Well, ad decha. I love this, I love it. This is mine. The Brisker Rav just says, Birchas moadim is l'sason ul'simcha, and I'm explaining, with this I understand the language of birchas moadecha. It should say birchas moadeinu! What's the pshat? ... ma she'anachnu mo'ed imcha. This, that we join together with You. Mitvadim imcha. So, ha-birchas hamo'ed, shema? With simcha ul'sason. So what's sason? Simcha we just finished explaining. So I'll tell you what I think sason is. Simcha is together with Hashem, okay. Sason, sason is a physical pleasure, a physical happiness. It's the eating and the drinking. So the moadim is l'simcha, chagim u'zmanim is l'sason. How do I know it? I'll tell you how I know it. Kol sason v'kol simcha. Which one comes first? The sason. In marriage, that's the way it works. Sason, first you physically enjoy, and then simcha, you spiritually enjoy. So that's kol sason, and then which leads to kol simcha. The lower madrega is sason, then the higher madrega is simcha. By Yontif, we go directly moadim l'simcha. Again, U'zmanim le... so kach nira l'aniyas da'ati, yeah? The Kiddush. We're just starting, rabosai. We're going to go through the whole Kiddush now. I'm going to explain to you the Kiddush. So now we've at least come to an understanding, yeah? We've come to an understanding, the inyan of mo'adim l'simcha. So when you tell a person mo'adim l'simcha, you know what you're telling him? Spiritual simcha, hitchaber with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, true happiness, which comes from moed, that you're being vaad, you're having a joining, a meeting, a rendezvous, as they say in French, with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Okay? All right. Now, rabosai, we have to go back to explain: why do we speak about Asher bachar banu mikol am, why do we speak about v'romamanu mikol lashon, why do we speak about v'kidishanu b'mitzvosav? Why those three things? Why are those essential? Why are those specific emphases in the idea of Yom Tov? Mo'adim l'simcha here. So let's discuss. Rabosai, to me, when you read the Kiddush, it sounds like a lot of the boys I teach here, and that is that they repeat.

themselves a hundred times, and they say the same thing that they could have said in three words, they say it in a hundred words. There's only one problem. It's called nusach hakavua l'kiddush: Asher bachar banu mikol am, v'romemanu mikol lashon. And then all of a sudden we go back: Ki vanu vacharta, v'osanu kidashta, u'medekadesh Yisrael v'hazemanim. It's like a broken record player. Something's wrong here, no? You repeat the same thing twice, the whole thing. You say it and then you repeat it again. Remember the kiddush cup. Look at the kiddush. Tell me, what's the difference between the beginning and the end? It's the same thing repeating itself over again, no? Asher bachar banu mikol am, ki vanu vacharta, v'osanu kidashta, v'hinchaltanu b'simcha v'sasson. Okay, we got that point from the beginning. That's what you said, no? So the truth is, there's halacha in Hilchos Brachos: chatimah me'ein p'tichah. Whenever you come to a conclusion, you don't come to a short stop and just Baruch Atah Hashem. You repeat over again the theme of the beginning. I don't know, but it's the same thing. I mean, you have to know, because if there's nothing in the middle, it's just the same thing, then you're repeating yourself again. It's called p'tichah—I'm sorry, it's called gemirah me'ein p'tichah. Yeah? Sium me'ein p'tichah. That when you end, you know, whenever you make a synopsis, you know, and then whenever you give a speech, you make a synopsis at the end. So too in Hilchot Brachot, you're supposed to have chasimah, right, me'ein p'tichah. What do you say, Rafi? That could be a pshat here. It's a little strange. Can't be, right? Because it's the same thing over and over again, right? It's right next to each other. So what, you try and have a good kasha. Why didn't you ask this kasha? He asked. He didn't ask. You saw it on his face that he wasn't saying, Yeah, I always... You shouldn't be bothered by such a question. How many times can you say that? You're repeating over the exact same thing twice. The Kiddush is, And Hashem chose us, and Hashem chose... You said that. And He picked us up, and He picked us up, and He gave me kedushah with the mitzvahs. You just said that. You just said it. I don't understand. You're repeating, and then you're repeating it again. What are you repeating? Rabosai. It's the same thing when they take out Israel. They say the morning prayers all the time, you know. Yeah, but you don't say one after another the same thing. You don't repeat the same thing one and then again the same thing right afterwards. You can repeat it in different themes all over the place, but it doesn't... Imagine if I came and I told you, By the way, I'm the chosen nation. Oh, by the way, I'm the chosen nation. Yeah, you said that. I mean, what are you saying? What are you talking about? Rafi, you don't hear the... Hello, peeling plyim! Let me tell you what I think. There's two differences between the beginning of Kiddush... And the end of Kiddush, and that is the word b'ahavah. You notice that at the end of Kiddush, we stick in the word b'ahavah only for Shabbos. If it's Shabbos, we put in the word b'ahavah. B'ahavah mikra kodesh, only for Shabbos. Says the Levush, there's a reason, because only by Shabbos was ahavah. Why? The Gemara in Sanhedrin, daf nun-vav amud beis, tells us that Klal Yisrael accepted Shabbos b'morah, b'ahavah, with love. They accepted with love. Yom Tov, Yom Tov they didn't accept. Yom Tov was kafah aleihem har k'gigis, like all other mitzvos. Says Levush in siman taf-pei-zayin, Shabbos b'ahavah; Yom Tov is not b'ahavah. Levush, you know, besides that— Yeah, why don't you talk about, in the beginning of the Kiddush, you talk about Yom Tov, and there you do say b'ahavah. Atah ... b'ahavah. I don't see it. You just said that the word ... b'ahavah is only for Shabbos because only Shabbos was with love, says the Levush in Shulchan Aruch. Yeah, but I don't understand. It says in my Kiddush of—

Yontif, Hashem, You gave us the... In the beginning of the Kiddush we say, b'ahavah. That's not by Shabbos, so what is he referring to? Also, if you notice, the wording is a little different. Vatiten lanu. Does anybody know what vatiten means? Hashem, You gave. And then when we talk about b'simchah uv'sasson, hinchaltanu, nachlah. Does anybody know the difference between nesinah and nachlah? When you want to connotate a matanah, you use the word nesinah, right? When you want to talk about something which is yours, kinyan, you use the word hinchaltanu. So why in the beginning do we use the word vatiten lanu, and at the end we use the word... Come, come. Okay, listen, it's very good, but I... Okay, also I need some fresh air, okay? It's the eish haTorah here from the talmidim is so strong that it's choking me. I can't breathe. No, it gives you life. You hear the question? You don't hear the question? Come here. B'ahavah. B'ahavah, only Shabbos. Why? Because only Shabbat kibalnu b'ahavah. But it's not true. We say b'ahavah on Yontif. He forgot the beginning of Kiddush. What happened to the... The Levush doesn't know the... Huh? What's the difference? L'maaseh, Hashem, You gave us b'ahavah. You gave us... Ah, so wait a minute. So now I hold it's saying a gevaldige thing. This Levush is opening up a big door over here, that possibly the beginning is what Hashem... And the second part of the Kiddush is about us. Ah, now you see. I asked you a kasha: how can you repeat in the Kiddush the same thing twice? The way the levush is l'choira learning, you see from the levush, otherwise he wants his kasha: ahava, only Shabbos, but he says by Yom Tov also. And also vatitein lanu, and then it says hinchaltanu. Let me explain this to you. There's a machlokes yesodi in the literature of the Chassidim and the Litvish. B'sfarim hashkafos ha'litaim, we take on that Hashem does not need not our tefillah, not our Torah, not our maasim tovim. It's all about l'zachosenu us; it's for us. Hashem is perfect. Hashem is non-needing. Part of the concept of Hashem is that He doesn't have to come on to anything, right? Here, sir, you daven? Does Hashem need you davening? He needs you. We need Him. That's what it says in the Mabit and in all the sifrei hashkafah. B'sfarim Chassidim, it's not that way. The yesod is the opposite. The Eibishter is mitaveh the tefillasan shel tzaddikim. Hashem needs the avodah. Hashem wants, He needs it, the avodah of Klal Yisrael. I want to read to you a piece of Kedushas Levi. Beautiful. In Kedushah Shlishis, he says, Ikar brias ha'olam — what's the ikar of the briah? — l'shashea ba'yumaso. Ki k'she'adam mispalel — this is a piyut in Shacharis of Rosh Hashanah — ki k'she'adam mispalel v'lo meva'eves ha'boire. אז יש להקדוש ברוך הוא שמחה גדולה, כשבן אדם מתפלל, ולומד, ועושה מצוות, להקדוש ברוך הוא יש שמחה גדולה. He was very happy, and he brings a raya. The Gemara says in Zevachim, לשם שישה דברים הזבח נזבח. You shecht a korban for six things. Reiach, nichoach is one of them. It says Rashi, what is reiach nichoach? שנחת רוח לפניו, שאמר ונעשה רצונו. Hashem appreciates. There's a nachas ruach, a happiness, a contentment, content, nachas ruach. It's unbelievable. That's what he's saying through Slabodka. You see from here that Hashem has nachas ruach, שאמר, that He said, and that we did what He wanted. ובזה עיקר עבודתנו. And this is the ikar of our avodah, לעשות נחת רוח לבורא ברוך הוא יתברך. Chassidim are very makpid that before they do any mitzvah, they use these words, לעשות נחת רוח ליוצרנו. Sefardim also.

To make happiness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He says that that's the pshat in the pasuk in Yeshaya: Sois asis baShem, tagel nafshi bElokai. What does sois asis baShem mean? Happy, I will be happy in Hashem. So it's a double lashon, right? You ever hear that lashon, sois asis baShem, tagel nafshi bElokai? So the Litvisher gevaldik, you know, they have to make everything with a little bit, you know, bechiyah, with a little bit, you know, lema'et. So they learn sois asis baShem is going on the tshuas Hashem. Tagel nafshi bElokai — Elokai is a lashon of din. So just like sois asis baShem, tagel nafshi bElokai, because k'shem shemevarchim al hatov, kach mevarchim al hara. That's how they learn pshat in this pasuk. Sois asis baShem — when everything is rachamim, when it's good, sois asis. Tagel nafshi bElokai — even if it's Elokai, even if it's midas hadin, tagel nafshi, k'shem shemevarchim al hatov, kach mevarchim al hara. Chassidim say a little different. Sois asis — what's the double lashon? And the answer is, sois, I'm happy that it's asis baShem, that I brought happiness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Sois, I'm happy. Asis baShem, when I give happiness to Hashem. I'll read it to you inside. V'zeh...