Vayakhel: Chacham Lev, Wisdom of the Heart, and the Middos Behind True Torah

Transcript

Parshas Vayakhel. Many times, the Torah uses the word chacham with lev. Chacham with lev. Nedivut, we know, is balev. A person who gives, donates, is balev; it's with the heart. He's moved with the heart to donate. Chochmah, chacham, lev. If you look at the pesukim, it says, Vechol ishah, perek lamed hei, pasuk chaf hei, vechol ishah chachmas lev. Chachmas lev. You look further, pasuk lamed hei, Milei osam chochmas lev. You look further, oh, in pasuk aleph, lamed vav aleph, correct, lamed vav, right, Va'asam etzav, vechol ish chachmas lev. So again, chochmah and lev. What does it mean to be a chacham lev? Simply, chochmah is in the mind. It's wisdom. A wise man is wise in the mind. Here the Torah calls wise, wise in the heart. What does it mean to be a chacham lev? Also, if you look at the psukim, there's a lot of redundancy here. It keeps on repeating it. Look at pasuk beis. It's unbelievable. It just keeps on repeating itself again and again. The people who have chacham lev, who Hashem gave chochmah. Let's say you want to say that someone is a chacham lev. Okay, so you say it in one sentence. V'asa Betzalel v'Oholiav v'chol ish chacham lev asher nasan Hashem chochmah uvinah... Look at pasuk beis. It's unbelievable. Then when you call them, it has to be again the same speech: Vayikra Moshe el Betzalel v'el Oholiav v'el kol ish chacham lev. And not only that they're chacham lev, but why are they chachamim? Asher nasan Hashem, that Hashem gave them. Tell me, is it possible to have wisdom that Hashem doesn't give? And that's a funny expression here in the psukim. Kasha, pele. You read it, it screams. Ta'un biur. It needs interpretation. Why the repetition? Besides what it means to be a chacham lev, the repetition of it, and also that Hashem gave wisdom in their heart. Who else? Is there any other way to get wisdom? So the truth is, this last question we can answer, that it's taka one thing, wisdom that Hashem gave. Vayikra Moshe el Betzalel, ואל כל איש חכם לב, אשר נתן ה' חכמה בליבו. It's actually one thing. The wise one, that Hashem gave him that wisdom. It won't answer why we have to stress it. Why do we have to speak it out clearly? That, meantime, we don't have an answer for. But the simple pshat is it's going back on the same wisdom. The wisdom that they have is what Hashem gave them. You'll see in perek lamed aleph, pasuk vav, that that's not the pshat. That actually it's a two-step. It's a two-step wisdom. It's wisdom, and now that they have the wisdom, Hashem gives them more wisdom. Let's take a look at perek lamed aleph, pasuk vav. V'ani, hineh nasati ito es Oholiav ben Achisamach, l'mateh Dan, uv'lev kol chacham lev. Nasati — I give chochmah. He's a chacham lev.

And nosati, I give. So Hashem is talking about someone who is a chacham lev, that that chacham lev, I give chochmah. So again, we could try to say actually the same thing. A wise man, I've given him wisdom. But that Hashem Himself should repeat that, strange. Because if you're saying about a person that he's wise and Hashem gave him wisdom, it's repetitious, but at least it could be said. There's no pshat in the pasuk. Wait, all the wise men, I've given them wisdom. What does it mean? So Chazal actually tell us in Brachos daf samech hei amud aleph that it's two things: that the person is a wise man, and the wise man, Hashem gives him wisdom. And there's a pasuk in Daniel. The pasuk in Daniel, perek beis, pasuk chaf: Yahev chochmta lechachimin. Hashem has given wisdom to the wise. So the Chazal in Brachos daf samech hei amud aleph teach us that wise men, if you're wise, you will get from heaven, you'll get from Shamayim wisdom. And that's what they darshen the pasuk: Uvalev kol chacham lev, if someone is a chacham lev, nosati chochmah, I added, I've given him more, extra portion of what? Of wisdom. What is this wiseness of the heart? A, like I asked you, and B, how does one get that without getting it first from Hashem? What does it mean? If someone is wise at heart, then Hashem gives him wisdom. So there's levels, obviously, and the first level is chacham lev, and the chacham lev is the person who gets what? Who gets more wisdom. It's a very big question. What does it mean to be a chacham lev? You know, Shlomo HaMelech, Hashem asked him what he wanted. He answered very wisely. He answered that he wanted wisdom, and therefore Hashem gave him more wisdom. Hashem nosan chochmah liShlomo. Hashem gave him wisdom. Was he wise to begin with? And the answer is, he was very wise. His answer showed tremendous wisdom, tremendous insight, tremendous keen, and therefore what did Hashem do? He gave him extra portions of wisdom. And that's what this pasuk is saying: U'leve chacham lev nosati chochmah. So we have to identify what's the first step. What is chacham lev, the first step, that on top of that Hashem gives chochmah? What is this chochmah? What is it? Okay. Oh. Lev. So I saw an interesting Rabbeinu Bechaye. Rabbeinu Bechaye wants to be mechadesh that there's 32 shvilei chochmah balev. Thirty-two roads of wisdom, shvilim are roads. Thirty-two. That's what he says. Lamed-beis. Probably, probably that's why lev is called lev. If you see Rabbeinu Bechaye like this, the Rabbeinu Bechaye is translating the word lev is parallel to the lamed-beis shvilei chochmah, that it inherently is found in the lev. I didn't know the word lamed-beis shvilim. What does that mean? Does it mean there's thirty-two wisdoms? I know of eight wisdoms. The Menorah has eight kanim. Seven, excuse me. I was thinking about the Chanukah menorah, forgive me. The seven kanim, forgive me, because there are seven chochmos, the seven wisdoms of the world, as they say in English, right? The seven wisdoms of the world. What is the lamed-beis shvilei chochmah? What is it? Now, I'm sure in Kabbalah there's a lot to do about this. I don't know. I don't know. Kabbalah is not my field. And the little bit that it is my field, which it really is a little bit, but not to the extent that I can explain to you the lamed-beis shvilim. I have never come across that in my literature reading of Kabbalah. Okay, so what is the lamed-

Beis Shmuel, what is it? Let me explain to you what I believe pshat is the lamed beis shvilim, and with this we'll understand what it means to be a chacham lev. And with this we'll understand how chacham lev is the introduction to further, to further what? Further wisdom. And then we'll try to understand how it applies to us. I know we're all brilliant. Ask any guy, he'll tell you. Ask the guys themselves, they'll tell you. All geonim, chachamim. What lesson are we to take from being a chacham lev, a betzalel? What's the point? And how is it so relevant to the building of the Mishkan? If you notice that there's an emphasis on the chacham lev, step one, which brings the chacham, step two, which is relevant for the building of the Mishkan, because it's repeated so many times by the men, by the women, Aliyah. What is its significance? What role does it play in the binyan haMishkan? This is a legitimate, pashut pshat question. So far I've told you learning. I learned with you the pesukim. Now we're going to come to explain a little bit, a little bit hesber. Which chachma are we referring to when we call you a chacham lev? Which chachma are you referring to? Rav Chaim Volozhin, and the Netziv, learn that we're talking about yiras Shamayim. Hein chachma, yiras Elokim, the greatest chachma. Is the fear of Hashem. Remember such a pasuk? Hein chachmah yiras Hashem. Pasuk in Mishlei. So the yirah, Hashem, is chachmah, and that's the Chacham Lev that this pasuk is talking about. How does this have to do with Yoav, chachmah lachachamim, that Hashem adds wisdom to chachamim? And the answer is because yiras Shamayim protects, protects. It's called an oitzer, the silo that protects wisdom. Therefore, Yoav, Hashem gives chachmaso lechachimon yiras Shamayim. If you're wise, and therefore Hashem adds to you chachmah. Hashem gives you the chachmah. And I guess we have to fix a little bit, because protecting and giving means if Hashem knows it'll be protected, He gives it to you. Maybe we could say something like that, because there's a little bit of a jump. Oitzer means it protects it, and not on the pasuk that Reb Chaim Volozhin is sticking it back into is what? Is giving. So the pshat is, since Hashem sees that it's protected, what does He do? He gives it to you. That's what it means. Hashem gives it in a protected way to you. I guess we have to, each to his own, how he wants to, you know, fine-tune this pshat. But that's Reb Chaim Volozhin's touch. Okay. I'd like to go through the Netziv with you, because the Netziv just doesn't say this. He says a little bit more, and I thought it was very interesting, because the Netziv, after saying this pshat... He questions, so why is it called leiv? Why is it called leiv? Chacham, yira Shamayim, true. But why is it called chacham leiv? So let me read with you the Netziv. Heilige, heilige Netziv. Listen carefully. It says in Netziv as follows. He brings the Gemara that Hashem aids chachma. He brings the pasuk in Daniel. Va'kavanah b'zeh. Now we're going to learn what it means, va'kavanah b'zeh. Shoresh chachmah, shoresh chachmah, misparesh al shtei hairois. There's two types of wisdom. There's two types of wisdom. One is seichel v'charitz, common sense, wit, sharpness, on the ball, guy thinks good, strong-minded. Beis, limudiyus u'mada'im, knowing knowledge, school. For example, you can go to school and learn all the knowledge in the world, which is chachma, but you can still be what, excuse the expression, a raving idiot, right? The biggest proof—you know what the biggest proof is? Go into the colleges, you'll see it. They can get a hundred on the test.

And they can still be fools, idiots, grand admiration, okay? Not as stupid as you can expect. What do you mean? They're very wise. A PhD, PhD. And the answer is there's two wisdoms. There's wisdom, knowledge, and there's wisdom, common sense. This is what the Netziv says, okay? V'zehu peirush ha-mikra b'mishlei: reishis chochmah knei chochmah. The beginning of wisdom is to obtain wisdom. U'vechol kinyanecha knei binah, which means, reishis seichel la'adam. The first wisdom is to behave according to the knowledge you obtain. Demitchilah yikneh chochmas acheirim. First you learn, go to school, you get knowledge, right? You learn the wisdoms that others have brought, given to the world. And then, v'achar kach, u'vechol kinyanecha knei binah. And from that, you learn how to behave and how to think and how to get ahead in life. So there's knowledge, book knowledge, and then there's what? Street smarts, as they say in English. And this is what he says the Gemara means, ligmar inish v'hadar lisbar. First a person should learn, and then he should explain, he should have sevara. Why? First you learn the text, and then from that you deduce knowledge, daily, daily knowledge. You know, I once had a rebbe that used to say, I went to college. Everything I know, I learned in college. The college of life, that's what he used to say. Life is one big college. And he says, he pissed — he used to say, he pissed, he got a PhD in the college of life. That's what he used to tell certain Rosh Yeshiva of mine. I thought it was a wise thing to say. You could learn and study and still be not too bright. Then you could learn and study and take from that, learn from that, deduce from that the wisdoms of daily life. Kitzur, u'lemi hu mesayea v'yov madoin lechachim, פירוש למי שהוא בר שכל. So what does Hashem say? In order to give you knowledge, book smart, first you have to be seichel smart. Hashem is not going to go and take a fool and make him, ah, you know what, here, be a genius. That's pshat, yahiv chachmisa l'chachimin. First you got to be wise. You can't be an idiot. If you act like an idiot, Hashem says, listen, I'm not giving you any wisdom. פירוש למי שהוא בר שכל ויודע לשמור סודיו שלא יגלה למקום שאינו ראוי. אבל עדיין קשה. So you see in the first pshat he's saying something very interesting. Yahiv chachim l'chachimin is talking about world smarts. But even in world smarts, even in world smarts, what? First you have to be a baal seichel. Hashem — you know, I'll give you like Reb Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, I saw, he writes so beautiful, very nice. Reb Shamshon — I'm a chassid of Reb Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, what should I tell you, I'm a chassid. Even though I'm a Litvak, he's a German, and the two of us have nothing to do with Chassidus. I'm a chassid, because you know what he was talking about. You know what he says? He says, Torah despises the concept of sudden... you know, he got a revelation. The idiot, the shmoiger, the guy, the homeless guy became... he became... It's so brilliantly brought out, I believe, in the Goyish world. That's all the fantasy, the Disney world. All of a sudden, the pauper, all he got is an enlightenment, and he became this enlightened, brilliant... I guess in broader sense, he was referring to a certain Messiah that they have, you know, that a mamzer all of a sudden got this enlightenment. You know, it's interesting. I heard a, I guess we could say a program on the BBC radio that they were discussing what happens—this was a few people discussing—what happens if God would come to you and say, By the way, you're the Messiah. Would you take on the role? Would you take on the mission? Each one over there would say, Nah, you turn it down. He wouldn't want it. It's not for him. Not for him.

So I was thinking of an interesting thing. What do we see from this? That in their concept of Messiah, you could be a nobody. You could be an alcoholic. You could be a radio talk show which is a lie and a farce and the whole thing is a joke. And you could get a revelation that, what, that you are the Messiah. It's not a contradiction. And that echoed to me when I read the words of Reb Shamshon Raphael Hirsch. What he's saying is, Yov chachimo l'chachmos... Yov chachmos l'chachimin. You have to be big to get added. Hashem nasan chochmah l'Shlomo is because he was taka very big Shlomo. He was taka a big person. And then Hashem could come and have a revelation. Here, a navi, he writes. I believe he brings this mashal. A navi didn't just get a revelation. You know who a navi was? Till he became a navi, you know how big he was, you know how worked out he was. That's Yov chachimo l'chachmos. But still, it's wisdom. But Hashem gives wisdom only to the wise. Says Reb Tzvi, but then why is it called lev? It should be chacham. Kol chacham nasati chochmah. For all wise, I give a wisdom. Why lev? I'm ladaiin kashya, says Reb Tzvi. It's still difficult. My pshat is not still 100 percent. Because it's true that only the wise get wisdom. It's true that you have to have seichel to get wisdom. Nevertheless, nevertheless, the word lev, the word lev, casts doubt if that's the real pshat, because then it has nothing to do with lev. Varei koach haseichel eino balev. The wisdom is not in the heart, ela mishkano b'moach; it's in the mind. You're not a wise heart; you're a wise mind. So why is it lev? Here the Netziv is asking our question. I love this. Yeh, yeh! You're right. Only the wise get wisdom. But why is it that we use the word lev? Why does the pasuk refer to the chacham of the lev? Ela chacham lev yesh od shnei mashma'os. Therefore, he says there's two other meanings to chacham lev because the word lev connotates that. Chada, chochmah yiras Hashem. We're talking about yiras Shamayim. Yiras Shamayim, that's the chochmah, she'reishis chochmah u'mishkano. And where is this found? Where is the dwelling place of this chochmah? And the answer is b'lev; it's in the heart. Sheinis, the second wisdom, b'koach habitachon, security, confidence. Sheyechkan b'melachah zu af al gav shelo limdo. How does Betzalel build the Mishkan? You know how old Betzalel was, right? We all know, 13-year-old little boy. And on top of that, he was not a contractor; he had no experience. He was cast into a role which was way beyond his capabilities. So he needed security. This security came because Hashem said, You can do it. That's yirah and bitachon, which is where? Lev. It's in the heart. Bitachon is also balev. It's also bach. You're listening? Listening to a netziv, rabosai. U'balev kol chacham lev. If a person has yiras Shamayim, if a person has bitachon, what is he going to have? He's going to have wisdom. Hashem will pile on him, Hashem will pile on him extra portions of wisdom. You hear? You hear the pshat? You hear? You're listening? You're supposed to be born like what? How can you be born? That's what I'm trying to say. I hope pshat is explaining. You have to get it on your own. I'm trying to answer this question. Chacham lev. Hashem didn't give you the chacham lev and the answer is no. That's guf what I'm trying to answer. He doesn't say this, the Netziv. He just says, what's the chacham lev? Why lev? And the answer is, we're talking about yiras Shamayim. We're talking about bitachon, which is balev. Yiras Shamayim, bitachon. He's saying a marvelous gevart: the confidence to go into something new and build and do, after relying on HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that You're the leader, and if You tell me to do it, then I do it, whether or not I know what I'm doing or I feel secure I've never done it before. Lev. U'balev kol chacham lev.

Lev. Nosati chochma. Reb Tzadok HaKohen says it's referring to Torah. Chochmas halev means Torah. I'm going to read you the lashon. Reb Tzadok HaKohen says, Ikar kinyano of Torah is balev. The chochmah of the goyim is min hasafa ulechutz. There's inner wisdom and there's external wisdom, says Reb Tzadok. So the chochmas lev is referring to Torah, that it's in, that Reb Chaim Volozhin is learning that it's referring to—by the way, the Reb Chaim Volozhin is in Nefesh HaChaim, Shaar Daled, perek hei, he's learning that it's talking about Yiras Shamayim, that it's in, it's referring to what? Bitachon as well as Yiras Shamayim. Okay, it's all part of Yiras Shamayim. Reb Tzadok HaKohen is learning that means Torah. Chochmas halev is Torah. The kinyan is balev. It's kinyanim of the heart, kinyanei halev. It's inner wisdom. Ma she'ein kein, says Reb Tzadok, the goyim are wise, brilliant, as smart as they come, but it's not internal, it's external. You see that it doesn't affect them internally, in their mahut, who they are. They're smart. This is chacham lev. And when you're a chacham lev, nosati chochma, nosati chochma. Says Reb Tzadok, that's the pshat in the Gemara: chochma bagoyim taamin, Torah bagoyim al taamin. Their wisdom is only external; it's not internal. Why is it beleif? So the truth is, according to Reb Tzadik, it's very pashut why it's beleif. Why? Because the kinyan of Torah seeps deep into the lev. It's internal. That's what he means. The word lev is a metaphor. It's a metaphor for what? For inner, inner. According to the Netziv and Reb Chaim Volozhiner, the lev is what? The lev is, because Yiras Shamayim is balev. What does he mean by that? So I want to add Reb Elchanan Wasserman, the famous Reb Elchanan that we speak all the time: V'lo sasuru acharei levavchem v'acharei eineichem. Don't follow your heart. Follow my heart. Chazal say it's tumah avodah zarah, minus. Kefirah, kefirah is in the heart; kefirah is in the mind. The mind believes or thinks or is mistaken. Why is it called what? Balev, in the heart. Why balev? Why in the heart? Yeah? Says Reb Elchanan, it has to do with the lev. If the lev is not pure, then the mind is corrupted. Otherwise, the mind thinks without the heart, then the mind will know that there's Hashem. There's no question about it. There's no fear of kefirah. There is no fear of kefirah if a person follows his mind. The problem is, lo sasuru acharei levavchem v'acharei eineichem. It's the heart, the bad middos. The corrupt, that cloud, cloud the mind from seeing the truth. So maybe that's what it means, chacham lei. That's what I want to say, pshat. According to the Netziv, it's referring to yiras Shamayim. It's true it's referring to yiras Shamayim. That is a true thing. It's referring to bitachon, which is in the heart. What does that mean? It means because it's the heart that produces real chochmah. We're soon going to learn this from the Mikhtav MeEliyahu. The Mikhtav MeEliyahu says a very interesting pshat. We'll get to it a little bit later as well, but maybe I'll tell it to you now too. A person with his mind could know that this is right and this is wrong. But the moment that the heart is the boss, so to speak, and is in control, then the minute he wants something, he forgets all the chochmah and he runs after the yetzer hara, after the taiva. The brain could come and tell me that this is not good, it's taiva, it's not. But the moment the heart wants, and the heart is in control, then everything falls out by the wayside, falls away by the—

All the wisdom goes out, goes away. See, he wants that the heart, the chochmah, is about the lev. This, rabosai, is tu pshat, okay? Let's discuss this a little further. You ready? You ready? Yiras Shamayim is the chacham lev according to Netziv. According to Reb Tzadok, hakayim, it's referring to Torah. And the diyuk of the pasuk is, chacham lev, that that actually comes from the person. How is that from the person? Now I understand why it's from the person. Why? Because yiras Shamayim, Chazal tell us that hakol bidei Shamayim chutz miyiras Shamayim. So who obtains chacham lev? If chacham lev means yiras Shamayim, you. If it means Torah, yagata u'matzasa. So the first thing is you have to toil, and then Hashem gives you. So the first step of the chachmah, which is the chacham lev, that's you. U'vlev kol chacham lev nasati chochmah. Okay? So we put everything together. We try to understand what is the chacham lev. What is it? We're going to get back to Rabbeinu Bechaye in the 32 shvilim. We still have to explain what are the 32 roads of wisdom. We didn't get there yet. But at least we understand what the pasuk is saying. You know what the pasuk is saying? U'valev kol chacham lev. Either according to Netziv it means a yarei Shamayim, or according to Reb Tzadok HaKohen it means a person who's koneh Torah, Hashem gives. So why is it balev? So we explained, because the lev is the shoresh of all the chochmah when it comes to yiras Shamayim. If you have the lev, if the lev is pure, then the chochmah stays. We also explained that Torah is an internal wisdom, so it's also balev. So we explained lev. Now what also would explain why the pasuk says and implies that it's you. Why is it you? Hashem doesn't give it and the answer is no. In the beginning it's what? It's you. On top of that, Hashem gives what? Uki girsa, siyata dishmaya. Hashem gives you. Agata, if you work on it, matzasa, Hashem gives you a present. Yoy chachmah lachakim. On the Chovos HaLevavos used to say that if you see big things in avodah, big madreges, that you're looking, I want to do that, but it's beyond your kochos. Don't worry about it. You start. Yoy chachimah lachmos. Hashem gives you the capabilities. A person looks at the Gemara, it's too much for me. I can't, I can't get there. Start learning, start learning, and Hashem will aid and give it to you. Chofetz Chaim says all avodas Hashem, in all areas and issues of avodas, is the same thing. If the thing is way beyond your reach, do it anyway, because Hashem gives the capability to accomplish. Yahiv chochmah l'chachima. All right? What do I learn from this? I learn from this something very interesting. Yagata u'matzasa. By the yegiah, do you have to obtain anything? Let's say a person toils all day and knows nothing. Is that still yotzei? Does that still suffice for yagata u'matzasa? A person is meyagea. Or, no, the first levels and steps of it you have to do yourself. The first levels and steps of it you have to do yourself, and then Hashem aids. So at least the first levels and steps you have to do yourself. Or even if you do nothing, but you work at it, that's good enough. Chorei yagata u'matzasa is what? Is even if you obtain nothing at first, you just put in the effort.

Effort. Anu ameilim v'heim ameilim, anu ameilim u'mekablim schar. You ever finish a masechta? We say this. Chofetz Chaim used to say, I remember, Rafi, I had an issue with you about this. We discussed it, but the Chofetz Chaim says it, that just for the ameilus alone, yagata, just for putting in the effort, you get an A for effort, you did good. If you got an A for effort, you did good. Yagata u'matzasa. Anu ameilim, just by ameilus, right? The famous mashal of the Chofetz Chaim, that for the shoes, that if you went into a shoemaker and you didn't finish the job, you're not going to get paid for it. I tried. I did halfway. I couldn't. I just tried. Sorry, no cigar. Get an A, as they say in English, get an A for effort, but you get an F on the test, right? We don't have that by Klal Yisrael. Anu ameilim u'mekablim schar, and A for effort is an A. So the question is, why is that called chacham lev? Yeah, it's a nice... Bishloima if you learn, that's referring to yiras Shamayim. I guess you have to obtain a little bit of yiras Shamayim, and once you get yiras Shamayim, Hashem gives you wisdom. But in Chochmas haTorah, according to Reb Tzadok, chacham lev means Torah, and you start and Hashem ends. That's what it means. You start, it could even be a gil. Why is that called chacham lev? Can a person who just learns day and night be called a chacham lev? You like my horror? Pashut pshat, I want to know, papi, we're reading. Come here, I'm going to tickle, I'm going to grab you by the necks. Listen to me. What does chacham lev mean? Why is it heart? What does it mean? So according to the Netziv, Reb Chaim Volozhin means what? Yiras Shamayim. According to Reb Tzadok, it means learning Torah. So what is the pasuk telling me? That if you start on your own, Hashem gives. He gives you. Na'asan. Hashem gives it to you. Now by yiras Shamayim, you have to have a little bit yiras Shamayim. You can't say, I have no yiras Shamayim, I worked on it. I don't—there's such a thing. But what about by Torah, I'm asking? Maybe not. Maybe a little bit you have to get on your own. I don't think so. I think if you get nothing on your own, it's also good enough. So then why is he called a chacham lev? And the answer is, you see, you can be called in Torah chacham lev even with knowing nothing, as long as you tried and you were myagea, you worked, you toiled, you worked hard, you are called a what? A chacham lev. What's the pshat? You like it. You like it. You hear me? You hear me? Do you hear me? Simple question. What is chacham lev? And Hashem gives. So if it's yiras Shamayim, so you have to get a little bit. A little bit yiras Shamayim is a chacham lev, fine. What about in Torah? A little bit. But that's not what's mashma. It means if you learn nothing, if you got nothing out of it, you tried, Hashem gives you wisdom. Why is it called a chacham lev? Let me ask you further. I'm going to tell you now a third pshat in chacham lev, Alter from Kelm, in Chochmah UMusar. Explains, Chacham lev, midos toivos. Lev, heart, midos. The start of chochmah is midos toivos. You like it? Al pi zeh mevuar heitev, and I'm soon going to tell you his proofs. Yiras Shamayim is the fear of Hashem. Midos toivos is something else, good traits. He's a nice person, he's a caring person, he doesn't have kaas, he doesn't have gaavah. That's what we're going to learn soon. He talks about Bilam. He talks about Bilam. Who is the smartest guy in the guy? Bilam. Ein chacham bagoyim k'mo Bilam. Bilam was the wise man. Who's the most foolish idiot in the Torah? Bilam. The same wise man was the biggest idiot at the same time. Same thing. He's talking to donkeys and he's living with donkeys. It's unbelievable stuff that's going on here. You listening? The smartest man is the biggest fool. You know what the difference is? Gaavah. Bilam was a tremendous baal gaavah. That's it. All the wisdom...

Disintegrates, dissipates. What's the word in English? Dissipates. It dissipates. When? When the middos are no good. Al pi ze nevuah, hete. Ki ein adam nikra chacham rak b'hiyoso ba'al middos tovos. Says the Alter from Kelm in Chochmah U'Mussar, chelek aleph, page shin tes. V'yavin, v'az tanuach hachochmah etzlo. That's when the chochmah will stay by him, and he'll be able to do with the chochmah, and it'll retain it, and he'll understand, v'chulei v'chulei. He says, kemo shenishtagea chacham echad. Take out the craziest guy in the world was Bilam. What happened? He wanted to be mosi yesharim. You notice he says, Tomos nafshi mos yesharim. He says it. I want to die like the avos. Remember he said a thing like that? Tomos nafshi... It's one of the things Bilam says in his nevuah. And a minute later he gives what? An eitzah to go and destroy Klal Yisrael by having multiple, multiple znus. He has znus b'rabim, in the multitudes. I thought you want mos yesharim. I don't understand. You said you wanted something, Tomos nafshi mos yesharim. Hakol bishvil kesef, and this was all because of money. What happened to his wisdom? And the answer is, hakol bishvil gasuso v'chemdaso nishlama meno chachmaso. Bad middos take away what? Chachmah. Ki ha-shochad ye'aver einei pikchim. Wise men, they have a chemdas hamamon, they have a chemdas hamamon, and because of their chemdas hamamon, what happens? All the wisdom, pichus goes out the window. He brings very interesting raayos over here, very interesting, very interesting stuff he brings over here. Oh, he says like this, take a look. I thought it very, very nice, because I once heard this mashal from Rav Shalom Schwadron, but I see it's actually an alter. I always thought it was his, but it's actually an alter from Kelm. He brings a very nice story here, that there was once a guy, shh, there was once a guy that went into a crazy home, went into a crazy home, and he sees a guy sitting there. Didn't look too crazy to him. So he went over to him, he started talking to him. Didn't sound crazy either. As a matter of fact, they sat for over an hour and had intelligent conversation. Intelligent conversation, unbelievable. He's thinking the whole time, why is this guy here? He seems to be so normal. At the end of the conversation, he gives him his hand to say goodbye to him, and the crazy guy officially goes and gives him a whack across the face. What was that for? And they say, Crazy, you better believe it. I'm here for a reason. Pshat: normal, normal, normal, but one thing, short circuit. I read you how the alter from Kelm brings it down. Hu l'maze daima? It's beautiful, Rabbi. You don't know what you're missing here. You don't understand the wisdom behind these books. There's so much wisdom in these sefarim here. V'hu l'maze daima. Why does this compare to l'mashal shemati maaseh? You heard a story: b'ish echad sheshama le'ashu ish chasar daas. They said about a certain guy, he's a kook. He's a crazy guy. He's a kook. Okay? You know, it's very interesting. You ever see the ballplayers? The littlest thing sparked them off, they become kook. You ever saw that? A guy in the stand could scream something, he'll go into the stand, he'll start punching and kicking. He's supposed to be an up-class citizen. What happened? He lost it. Usually it's the parents that go nuts. Huh? Usually it's the parents that go nuts. Oh, with the kids, it's also another thing. Now, here it says like this: Maaseh b'ish echad sheshama le'ashu ish chasar daas, v'halach l'boiker. He went to check out, who's this crazy guy? V'shamu mimenu ki daber b'haskel v'daas. And he sees these guys making a lot of sense. He's talking. V'achar kach bikesh oso chasidei lovo el beiso l'hishtachev imo. He tells him, you know what, maybe can I come and visit you? V'halach imo. So he went with him. K'sheba l'beiso, hischil l'chanko. He started to choke him to death. You should know, all the mass murderers, they act very normal in the street. I don't know if you know that. They talk, they're very polite, they open the door for...

Ladies, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something just, something snaps out of nowhere. They'll kill you. They'll start choking you. It's unbelievable. Lashlicha chutza, he's ready to throw him out the window. I'm like, ma zeis? What are you talking? Why are you doing this? Heishiv lo, megeit by ha'ish meshuga, azreik ki ha'emes ma sheshama lev. In other words, this is it. That's the crazy man. The crazy man is normal, brilliant, smart, and all of a sudden, kuku. Billo was smart, normal, but he had President Clinton. We spoke about him, the idiot, yeah? Talks brilliant, chachma, taiva. Taiva makes the smartest of men the most foolish people in the world. So this is Chacham leiv, the middos. Okay, so we have either it means yiras Shamayim, either it means Torah, or it means what? Middos. So when is middos called a chachma? Now it's interesting, all the mussar talks about chochmah mussar, daas chochmah. Maybe because he talks about yiras Shamayim, or maybe he talks about middos, because middos is also chachma. There's a particular wisdom, a wisdom in middos. See, I'm trying to understand if Chacham leiv means middos, so Baal Middos is called a what? A Chacham leiv. So he explains why, because the chachma could not bring anything if he doesn't have middos, which means he doesn't—all his wisdom's worth nothing unless he has middos. So actually, it's not the middos which is the chachma. But it's the middos which is the retainer of the chachmah. You understand what I'm trying to get at? I'm trying to understand how is middos a wisdom? How is middos chochmah? The way he's learning the Alter from Kelm means like this: since you can only retain the wisdom, since you can only utilize the wisdom if you have middos, otherwise a person could say and do the craziest things. So, like the bottle, the kufsa, the keilim that the chachmah comes in is the middos. O dilma, or maybe actual middos is chachmah. How is middos chachmah? So we could say because it takes a tremendous amount of wisdom to fix the middos. That's another way to say it, right? I believe that actually it's none of the above. It's a third thing. Middos is a tremendous wisdom, and it's not just the wisdom; it's the wisdom of the heart. I believe this as a yesod, that throughout my life I've established this as a yesod mutzak. Middos is a wisdom for itself, and it's not the wisdom of the mind as much as the wisdom of the heart. And this is the point of today's shiur. I repeat again, just the last nekudah, because it's important to hear clearly what I'm getting. Then itiv learns, chacham lev is what? Yiras Shamayim. Why b'lev? So I explained to you because Yiras Shamayim is b'lev, or like Reb Elchanan explains, if the lev is no good, right, because it makes it sound Yiras Shamayim is b'lev. That's the way he says it. I'm just saying maybe according to Reb Elchanan that the heart has to be pure to protect the Yiras Shamayim, so then that's why it's b'lev. Reb Tzadik learns that it means Torah. It's an internal wisdom. But if a person just learns and he didn't achieve anything yet, that's already called a chacham lev. The alter from Kelm is learning that what's called a chacham lev? Middos tovos. So he said the way he explains it, why? Because if a person has middos tovos, it protects his wisdom that it shouldn't disintegrate, it shouldn't lose his wisdom. Then I said, or maybe we could say that since it is the kli, lehachzik, it is the keli, it is the utensils that hold the wisdom, so therefore it's called a chacham. Or we could say that it takes wisdom to work on the middos, maybe. There's a wisdom on attaining, obtaining middos. You understand? It's either the middos protect the wisdom, like what's mashma from the Alter from Kelm, or the middos...

Is the kli. Well, that's the same thing. I'm sorry. The midas is the kli we're saying is daas. Excuse me. Or takes chochmah to obtain midas. Or I believe the third pshat is the most true of them all. The final pshat, I believe, is there's a wisdom of the heart, which is midas. There's wisdom of the mind, and there's wisdom of the heart. The wisdom of the heart is midas, and I'm going to explain it. You hear what I'm saying? U'lev kol chacham lev. The wisdom of the heart is midos tovos. What does that mean? Many people believe that if you think with your mind and you disconnect your emotions and your feelings, that's called true intellect, pure intellect. You don't follow intuition; you follow intellect. Anything which can be proven by a theory of A plus B equals C, it's nothing. It's called dry intellect. There's a whole world like that that believes that if a person separates his emotions from his thinking, he is a wise man. That's the shoresh of all chachamim, that they're able to dissipate the wisdom, to detach, dislodge the wisdom from the heart. By Torah, it's not that way. The chochmas haTorah... Requires to join together the emotions and the chachmah of the heart, of the mind. It is the mizug. It is the—give me a good word in English. A mizug. Huh? It's not a—better word. A mizug is when you embroider, when you combine and you embroider together two things. Integration of the two things together. A mizug of what? Intergate. The mind and the heart together. That's the wisdom of Chochmas HaTorah. You know, there are many gedolim. They have no idea what's flying in the outside world. They never read books. They never read books. They never read sciences, but newspapers, nothing. And still, they give tremendous eitzot with keen insight. And the answer is because they have something which is called Chochmas HaTorah, which is the mind and the heart in combination, which produces a certain chochmah, produces an unbelievable wisdom. And it's like an intuition. It's a gut feeling of the heart, if you use such an expression, the gut feeling. The heart is talking. The heart is talking. The emotions are talking. And those emotions are also a chacham leiv. U'valev kol chacham leiv. Hashem says, Nosati chochmah, I gave him wisdom. I want to say over something that I saw from the Mikhtav MeEliyahu. Which I think is the raya to what I'm saying. Michtav Eliyahu in Chelek Gimmel, page 296. Yiras Hashem hi chochmah. We just said that yiras Hashem is a wisdom. What is the wisdom of yiras Hashem? What does it mean? It's a wisdom? It's a chochmah? It's a wisdom? I fear Hashem. Wow, wisdom. Oh, brilliant. A brilliant person, he fears Hashem. Says the Michtav Eliyahu something very interesting. A person who's intelligent will not listen to a pilpul. You know what a pilpul is? Pilpul is when a guy, it's a whole speech, this and that. No point. Talk to the point. What are you talking? And not an intelligent person, there's no difference. Ooh, he gets very excited. Wow, wow, look at him, he's throwing around all these things, but it's humbug. It's nothing, right? If the guy's intelligent, he listens and he goes, Wait a minute, that's a lot of nothing. I mean, you said a lot of things, but it doesn't make sense what you're saying, right? Chochmas hateva, those that are wise in science, also don't like theories that can't be proven. No matter how brilliant the theory is.

But it's just a theory if you can't prove it, right? She'efshar levarer al yedei hachush. If you can't prove a theory, so the scientist who's intelligent says, Who cares? Who cares what you have to say? It doesn't mean anything to me, right? The simpleton, Wow, look at that, the air, the balloons. So what? It doesn't mean anything, right? So too, Chochmah she'einenu balev, eina chochmah klal. Wisdom which doesn't penetrate into the heart is not really wisdom, sheharei einenu b'metzius. It's not real. What is it? It's just dimyon. You're right, it's knowledge, but it's not reality. There's nothing reality about it. The most wise man, when he talks his lifestyle, and then you don't listen to what he has to say, you know why? It's nothing. It's just talk. It's speeches. It doesn't mean anything. So they have a new thing. You know, they have a new thing in America. They like to divide it. All these darshanim and all these preachers and all these talk shows, you know what they tell you? Don't look at my personal life. What do you want from me? Look at the merit of my words. If what I'm saying makes sense, what's the difference who's saying it? In America they used to say, Look at the message and not the messenger. Right? That's the big lumbus that they came up with. Why? Because they're talking, but their life doesn't back up behind the words anything. So therefore what do they tell you? So they tell you, Don't look at the metzius, look at the dimyon. You should know the entire movie. Industry is based on that. The entire intellect of the guy is based on that. You know, the college, the professor, he's sitting there and he's darshening, he's wearing his tie. This same professor, if he walks into his house and you would live with him for a week, you would respect the person. You would say, this is a beheima. And America doesn't care. It doesn't make a difference. You know why it doesn't make a difference? Because it's not about the metzius, it's about the outwardly wisdom, the chachma. So what's the difference? A paper quota says it. Who cares? Let a paper quota say it. It's who you are, not what you are. That's right. It's what you say, not who you are. The idea, the idea of chachma is blave. It has to be in the heart. So what do I understand from this? I understand the ... There's wise person. There's a brilliant mind and a wise person. You understand the difference? There's a brilliant mind, but it doesn't mean he's a wise person. The mahut of the person is not wisdom. Klapei chutz, you're right. A plus B equals C, theories and books that he's writing. But the hergeshim of the person, the emotions of the person, are not wise ones. Put it together, the chachma and the wise man. You know what you have? You have Gedolei Torah, and that's what it means. Yahiv chachima l'chachimasa. Hashem takes the chacham lev. Hashem takes the chacham lev, and what does He do with him? The chacham lev is the wisdom of the middos, of the emotion, of the person, of his ergesh, and He says, You know what? You, I'm going to give extra knowledge. Yahiv chochma l'chakimin. Now I'm going to show you something most beautiful that I saw on Shabbos. There was a Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. He learned in the Mir. His name was Reb Chaim Kamil. He was a tzaddik. He was a beautiful, beautiful person, really a real special talmid chacham. I think he learned by Reb Nachum, if I'm not mistaken, or together with Reb Nachum. He says something very beautiful. He brings a Gemara in Sanhedrin. Tanu Rabbanan. Listen to an interesting Gemara, rabosai, you'll be shocked. Tanu Rabbanan, Sanhedrin daf tzadik beis amud beis. B'sha'ah shehipil Nevuchadnetzar rasha es Chananyah, Mishael, va'Azaryah l'kivshan ha'esh. At the time that Nevuchadnetzar threw Chananyah, Mishael, va'Azaryah into the fire, amar laKadosh Baruch Hu lYecheskel. HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells Yecheskel, Leich...

Hachiyei meisim b'bikas Dura. Gobi mechayei meisim in the valley of Dura. Kivan shehechya osam, once he revived those bones, right, the famous story with Daniel, they revived the bones—I'm sorry, Yechezkel, they revived the bones, excuse me, not Daniel, Yechezkel—bo atzmois v'tafku loi l'oserosh al panav. So those bones came and hit Nevuchadnetzar on his mouth. Peirush Rashi, sheme'osan atzamos shel meisim b'bikas Dura asu keilim l'Nevuchadnetzar. So they went and they made cups, utensils from those bones. U'v'sha'ah shehechya Yechezkel es ha'atzamos, heim bo'u v'tafku al piv k'sherotzo lishtos mei. Amar, matimun sheleihu. So Yechezkel said, What are these? Mechayei meisim b'bikas Dura. He said that these are bones that were mechayei meisim. Pasach v'amar—so then Nevuchadnetzar started to say praise to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He started saying a shirah. What was the shirah that he said? Atohi, kamu ravravin—how great is the mofsim, the osos. Atohi, kamu ravravin v'tamoi kamu tekifin, and His wonders, how strong they are. U'malchusei malchus olam, and His kingdom is the kingdom of v'shaltonei, and His shlita over the world is dor vador. These are mefurash pesukim in Daniel. Amar Rabbi Yitzchak. Says Reb Yitzchok, Yutzak zahav roteach l'toch piv shel oiso rasha. He should have a tremendous klalah, tremendous curse. Gold, hot gold should go into the mouth of this rasha. Why? Because if not for the malach that came and punched him in the mouth, bikesh l'ganos kol shiros v'sishbachos she'amar David HaMelech b'Sefer Tehillim. He was ready to come and make embarrassment of all the shiros v'sishbachos that David HaMelech said in Tehillim. Yeah? So the malach came and punched him in the mouth and stopped him, put him in his place. Otherwise, he would have mamish made a mockery of David HaMelech's shiros v'sishbachos. Says Rashi, What? Why would he do this? What does this mean? Sha'tam she'hinuchanetza ol l'ganos shiros v'sishbachos she'amar David HaMelech. How is this to be, says Rashi? Mishum she'haya mesader shvachos no'os yoser miDavid. Because what he was saying was nicer than what David HaMelech was saying. Nevuchadnetzar's praises to Hashem, says Rashi, in interpretation of the Gemara, was more beautiful, more eloquent than what David HaMelech said in Tehillim. Says the Maharsha, Better than Tehillim? How could it have been better than Tehillim? What? What could a person say more eloquent, more beautiful than Tehillim? Says Maharsha, Because David HaMelech spoke in general. Then you have to interpret through Rashi, through the mefarshim. Nevuchadnetzar was going to be mefaret. He was going to, what do you say, detail, detail all the praises of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Had he not been stopped by who? By the... says the Rashash, I can't accept that. Can't accept that. More beautiful than David HaMelech? Hashem would have liked that? That's the lashon of the Maharsha. The Maharsha says had Nevuchadnetzar said it, we wouldn't have Tehillim. We would have shiros Nevuchadnetzar. Hashem would have chosen that over David HaMelech, says the Maharsha. Asks the Rashash, what? What? See, he wants to say it doesn't mean literally Hashem would have chosen it, and it doesn't mean literally that it was nicer, but in the eyes of the people who would read it, they would find it nicer. Because chas v'shalom, you can't come and say. So what's, Nevuchadnetzar's Tehillim would be more than David's Tehillim? What are you saying, Maharsha? Because, l'gadlus kol shirah she'amru David, the hamon am would think that way, but not chas v'shalom it would be that way. The Maharsha says not like that. The Maharsha says not like that.

The answer is, the mashon, the Rashash, are actually saying the same thing. Externally, externally, Nevuchadnetzar's was more poetic. It was more beautiful, and it was nicer, and that was external. David HaMelech's was more beautiful internal. Chaim Kamil, huh? Tzadik. These are the words of a tzaddik. This is the words of someone who learned his whole life. You hear what he's saying? It's true, yes, it's true that eloquence and poetically and literarily, Nevuchadnetzar would be way past David HaMelech's literature. Mark Twain was also tremendously... and who was the other, other, other, other chay, somebody that wrote books? Mark Twain and who else? And Shakespeare, yeah. Yeah, but we know it was misafal achur. It was wisdom of the pen, not wisdom of the heart. David HaMelech's was what? Shivchi kamayim libeich, nochach פני ה'. Heart. Shivchi kamayim libeich. It was something of the heart. It was the wisdom that poured from his heart through his pen to the paper. Of course Hashem accepted that much more. And he brings another raya, I'd like to say it over, and then he brings up something from Chaim Shmulevitz, a brilliant thing. He brings that in Parshas Noach, perek yud, pasuk tes, it says about Nimrod, hu hayah gibor tzayid lifnei Hashem. He was a tremendous hunter. You know, Nimrod? Nimrod was a big hunter. But what kind of hunter was he? A hunter lifnei Hashem. What does that mean? I mean, everything's lifnei Hashem. What is it? He was a hunter in front of Hashem. What, he was a hunter in a different place? Of course it was lifnei Hashem. So that Ezra learns it was lifnei Hashem, like the mizbeach, like the Beis Hamikdash, lifnei Hashem, that he used to bring korbanos. He used to build mizbeach and be makriv korbanos. Yeah, he was a gibor tzayid lifnei Hashem. Says the Ramban, What? Ezra, how dare you write this? What are you telling me, that Nimrod was a tzaddik? You hear? How dare you say this? How are you saying that Nimrod was a tzaddik? This doesn't make any sense. You're making the rasha. Don't tzaddik. You're saying the other rasha, the Kabbalah. Our Chazal tell us there was no bigger rasha than Nimrod. What are you talking about? What did the Ibn Ezra say? You know what the answer is? Says Rav Chaim Kamil, of course he was makriv korbanos. So what? Shakespeare wrote beautiful literature. So what? What does one have to do with the other? Outwardly, the outer actions of a man say nothing about his inner soul, his inner person. Nimrod was the biggest rasha. He was makriv korbanos. It looked good. Looks good. Ooh, Nimrod, again, he brought another korban. Ooh, very nice. That was only lifnei, chutz. Lifnei Hashem. It was only outwardly. He behaved like that. He was a tremendous hunter. He was makriv korbanos. He was fooling the public, and maybe he even meant it. But on an outwardly, inwardly it meant nothing. You know, you like it? יפה. It says over, Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, some beautiful things, zecher tzaddik kadosh livrachah. He says people make a big mistake when they give a hesped on a tzaddik. They say, Oh, he did this and he did that. The big acts of greatness of the tzaddik. Says Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, the acts of the tzaddik, that's not what's great about him. They're acts. It's the tzaddik who made the acts great. I repeat you the words: Ein hama'asim meromemes ha'adam. It's not the actions that make the man big, ela ha'adam meromem es hama'asim. It's the man that makes the actions big. You can put on tefillin. You know, two people put on tefillin. Big thing to put on tefillin. One guy puts on tefillin and he has kavanah and yiras Shamayim; it elevates the maaseh. And the other one, what?

The other one put on tefillin. You know the story of eating apple. ... used to say it over. You know the story? You know? He said over from one of the big rebbes that he cut open an apple, and he made a bracha, and he ate it. The chassid is looking. He tells him, Tell me something. You know the difference between me and you? He says, No, I mean, I can say a lot of things, but what are you referring to? He says, Take an apple. Took the apple, made a bracha, and he ate it. He said, Let me tell you the difference. The difference is, you make the bracha so you can eat the apple. I eat the apple so I can make the bracha. It's the same act of eating apples, but there's a difference. Sure there's a difference. The kavanah, the intentions, the soul and feelings that one puts into the maiseh make it a completely different maiseh. It looks like they're both eating apples. It looks like, outwardly, it looks like Nimrod is being makriv korbanos. It looks like that. But you can't compare it to what Avraham Avinu was makriv korbanos, to what Nimrod is makriv korbanos, right? The person creates the maiseh. Now let's get back to what I want. The lev, the heart, the feelings, the emotions, create the chochmah. The heart makes the wisdom, the emotions, the feelings, the caring, I'll prove it to you, and then we'll sum it all up. Moshe Rabbeinu, while everybody was busy taking gold and silver from Mitzrayim, right, what was Moshe Rabbeinu involved with? You know what the Chachamim define Moshe Rabbeinu's act? They use a pasuk to describe Moshe Rabbeinu. Remember the pasuk? Chacham lev yikach mitzvos. This you'll see the beauty of Rabbi Wolbe's Torah. Here you'll see where it comes to, where it shines through. Interesting pasuk: Chacham lev yikach mitzvos. Tell me, it wasn't a mitzvah to take the klei kesef and klei zahav; it was also a mitzvah. Sure it was. I don't understand. Hashem told everybody to do what? Take the gold and silver. So while everybody was busy with the gold and silver, he was doing this. So don't say, Chacham lev yikach mitzvos. Second of all, what does it mean, yikach mitzvos? Chacham lev of what? Where is the wisdom involved? What does chacham lev mean? You know what the answer is? You can have a mitzvah where it's all about you. You're right, it's a mitzvah, but it's all about you. To get the money from Mitzrayim is you. But then there's a mitzvah where a person is not about him, and it's about a regesh, the heart, atzmus Yosef. The choice of what you do in mitzvos. It has to do a lot with the regesh. It has to do with the feelings. Intellect, mai hai mihai. What's the difference this mitzvah, that mitzvah? Chacham lev, the wisdom, the chachmah which comes from the lev, dictates what? Atzmius Yosef. You hear it? You have this mitzvah and you have this mitzvah. What's the difference? They're both a mitzvah. That's intellect. Intellect tells you a mitzvah is a mitzvah. Ki ein atah yodea matan secharan shel mitzvos. Hevizar b'mitzvah kallah k'vachamurah. She'i atah yodea matan secharan shel mitzvos. You can't intellectually, intellectually, differentiate between mitzvos. Ein atah yodea matan secharan shel mitzvos. Tell me something. If there's an almana who needs money, and then there's a mitzvah to put on tefillin, which one comes first? Who told you? Hashem first.

If someone is sitting and learning, and the children are crying, and his wife is bursting from pressure, should he take out the Shulchan Aruch and say, Wait a minute. Shulchan Aruch, it says Talmud Torah keneged kulam, and this is a mitzvah, and that's a mitzvah, and there's a mitzvah to help my wife, and there's a mitzvah, and Talmud Torah, and there's a mitzvah, chadesh yaatz... Should he do all that? She's the buyer. She's the source of everything. What do you think? You don't think anything, because you're confused on the topic. But you hear what I'm talking about? I'm not saying anything is pashut, but I'm trying to tell you is that chacham lev yikach mitzvos. That's what Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu had two mitzvos in front of him. There's certain wisdom of the heart. There's a certain wisdom to choose. There's a wisdom to the heart as well. Understand? Chacham lev yikach mitzvos. You'll know what's more important. When someone is bleeding and you have to look into a Shulchan Aruch, what does the Shulchan Aruch say? You remember such a Shulchan Aruch? What does the Shulchan Aruch say? If someone is bleeding and he comes to ask a she'eilah, what is he called? Rotzeach, in Hilchos Shabbos. What do you mean? Everybody should always ask a shayla. I mean, you should always ask a shayla. It's such a davar pashut? It's not 100% of bitachon nefesh. Maybe it's not 100% of pikuach nefesh. And the answer is, it's a safek pikuach nefesh. I would like to introduce to you, chacham lev yikach mitzvos. Think about it. There are certain things which the heart, the chochmas halev, knows what's right and what's wrong. You can't accept them, because it's hard for you to live that way. Like Iggy. Who? Iggy. Iggy. I didn't say that you should follow the wrong thing with the heart. You know what the answer is? Okay, I'll tell you the answer. Chacham lev is a dargah. You have to go to someone who's a chacham lev. You're right, and a chacham. The hamon am, the regular person, the regular person might not know this. But the chacham lev will know, and nosati chochmah, Hashem adds to this wisdom, Hashem will add chochmah. Why is this important to the Mishkan? And let's end. The answer is, I believe strongly that the architect of the Mishkan... Was the same thing. There was an external building, butochoi ratzuf ahavah, mibnos Yerushalayim. It brought out feelings. There was lev in everything that was done in the Mishkan. And I don't mean lev just like a get-well card. I'm talking about deep yesodos of lev. Tochoi ratzuf ahavah. I'm saying it was this. These were the measurements. You're right, the external measurements were this, this, and that. But you needed a chochmas lev to create the true Mishkan. There's an external and an internal Mishkan. And the emotions, that's what Reb Chaim Shmulevitz is saying: Loi hamaaseh meroymem es ha'adam, ela adam meromem. It's what you put into the maaseh that creates. What you put into the maaseh that creates the maaseh. The chochmas lev, the great feelings and emotions, the hergeshin that they had when they built the Mishkan, they put into the Mishkan. It gave it its source of power. As a matter of fact, Chazal tell us that the Mishkan that Moshe Rabbeinu built could never...

Look how destroyed. Because they are hava vaKadosh Baruch Hu, and the ahavah to Klal Yisrael can get destroyed. They made an external building based on internal things, which can never be extinguished. Toicho yiratzu v'havu mimnois Yerushalayim. Chacham lev, chacham lev yikach mitzvos. You must put your whole mahus and heart into a mitzvah, and when you do that, you create a beautiful mitzvah. This, rabosai, is chacham lev. This, rabosai, is its significance to the Mishkan. How much heart you put into something is what it is. You know, cute thing. They used to say over that when the grandmother made food, there was a secret recipe. What's the secret? She told you: to take cinnamon, salt, pepper, whatever, cumin, love she put into it. There's a hidden ingredient, like we have Shabbos is a hidden ingredient. There's also what? Hergesh, regesh. Comes out differently. I don't know what it is. And guy, you want the same thing. I once told you over from Altus Slabodka, told you a maaseh. Altus Slabodka used to have somebody who used to bring him porridge every day. Every day he brought him porridge, and he made it a certain way, farina, kitzur. The person had this bochur had to leave yeshiva, so he asked a different guy to take care of it. This guy wanted to outdo the first guy, so he made it with a little more sugar, put a little more butter. He made it more, you know, schmaltzy, as they say, a little more misolet u'mishamna. He made it a little more, you know. He puts it down in front of the altar. The altar gives a whiff, takes a bite, and he starts to yell, Treif! Chazer! Blech! Everybody came running. What'd you put into the Rebbe's soup? What'd you do there? He said, Nothing. I made it with farina, butter, and milk. I don't know, what did I put in there? Maybe let's check the milk. They checked the milk, it's good. They checked the butter. Everything was 100% kosher. So he asked the altar, What are we—? Gaiva! You put gaiva into the farina. You tried to outshow the other guy, yeah? Love also can be put into chfetzim. Love can be put into mitzvahs. Yechacham lev yikach mitzvos. Motion. It shouldn't be mitzvos ha'anashi bli limudah, and that was necessary, particular, bedavka for what? For the Mishkan. Let's learn. Chacham lev, midah. Yiras Shamayim. Internal chochmah. Try not to be external. Try to be internal. Real people, real. There's a whole world of not real. Here in this yeshiva, we're going to work on being real. Pure, inside, good, caring, feelings. Chacham lev yikach mitzvos. Have a good week. Oh, Rabbi Chaim, I didn't finish. He's right, Rabbi Chaim. I'm sorry, the lamed-beis nesivos. Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Okay, so let me tell you what I think. You want to hear what I wanted to tell you? I'll tell you what I wanted to tell you. Lev is the middah that gets attached to— To the interpretations of the wisdom. A lot of middos. Maybe there's lamed-beis of them: kinah, taivah, gaivah, anavah. There's maybe shvilim of the lev, of how to get to the chochmah. That's the shvilim. The lamed-beis shvilim in lev. Lev has maybe 32 paths in how to reach the chochmah. You can look through kinah, you can look through anavah, you can look through gaivah, you can look through taivah. There's so many different shvilim that a person could look and reach the chochmah through. Those are the what Chochmas Lev, the lamed-beis shvilim of the heart. Have a nice day.