Mishpatim: Ahavas HaTorah, the Bris of Sinai, and Drawing Close to Hashem Through Learning

Transcript

At the top, with Sneihem. These are the mishpatim, rules, laws, that should put before the Bnei Yisrael. What are these laws? These are legal laws, bein ish uvein re'eihu mamonos. Most of mishpatim is the laws of legalities of money. Says Rashi, Ve'eleh. What's the vav? It should say, Eileh hamishpatim. These are the laws, and these are the laws. Says Rashi, because the vav is mechaber. Vav attaches it to the previous parsha. Kol makom shene'emar eileh, pasal es harishonim, ve'eileh mosif al harishonim. When we say pasal, we don't mean pasal, פסול. We mean that it disattaches this, and this is not part of; this is a different rule, a different list. That's what pasal means. It doesn't mean pasal, that we are ruining or destroying the previous list, but rather pasal means that it is separating the list. This, and this list has nothing to do with that, which means this doesn't go, the previous list, into this list. But ve'eleh, the vav is mosif al harishonim. It adds to the previous. So what's he trying to add mishpatim here to the previous parsha, to the previous ones that are learned in the previous parsha? To teach me, Ma harishonim miSinai, af eilu miSinai, that just like the previous halachos were given from Sinai. These halachos are also given from Sinai. Rabosai, what's the chiddush? We know Torah was given from Sinai. Why would I think differently, that I need a special vav in the Torah to attach the two parshiyos, that the mishpatim from here and the mitzvos from before are actually all from Sinai? So of course, peshutei, the answer is because all this is legalities of money. I would say legalities of money is Moshe Rabbeinu decided, you know, how to make dinei mamonos. Dinei mamonos is Sinai. Why does it have to be from Sinai? What's wrong if, you know, zechu ha-yasher dictates how money legality should work? The laws of money, you don't have to have a special spiritual, a special divine laws. Halachos of yayin yayin, of mamonos, bein ish bein ishto, bein... excuse me, bein ish uvein re'eihu. Forgive me, the slip of the tongue, dinei mamonos bein ish uvein ishto. Oy vey. That's also true. There's plenty of dinei mamonos bein ish uvein ishto. It was a slip of the tongue, but maybe it was a Freudian slip of the tongue. Akol panim, the yesod is miSinai. Dinei mamonos is also miSinai. Dinei mamonos is also divine, given from the Ribono Shel Olam, just like Shabbos. Shabbos is a spiritual thing. It's divine. Mamonos is money. I mean, you know, if you break a guy's car, I need eibishter to teach me how to pay if I break someone's car? Yeah. Afeilu miSinai. I was thinking of another mahalach, another pshat. What's the chiddush, and what's the idea of bringing out that the Mishpatim is Misinai just like the other mitzvos? What is the af elu Misinai? So of course, it's maybe not the pashut pshat, because the pshat I just told you, but it's also a pshat, and it has much significance and much yesod. There's a medrash on these words, V'eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. Lifneihem, Rashi brings down, what's lifneihem? Lifneihem, and not lifnei ovdei kochavim, that the mishpatim were given to Klal Yisrael and not to ovdei kochavim. So Rashi continues that you can't go to a goyishe court. That's what Rashi brings down, evenu pleilim, that even though the goyishe courts have the same maybe rules that we have, you're not allowed to go there. We once spoke about the barichus, why not? If halacha is the same in both courts, who cares? Rashi's mashma it's a certain bizayon for the Torah, you're holding that they are more chashuv, that they have more seichel, so to speak, than the Torah has. You have to run to their laws. Hagam in halacha it might come out the same, we've spoken about this in length, this Rashi. What exactly is the chesaron to go to our courts, to goyishe courts, even...

The Rashi speaks out that you know that they pasken the same as the Torah. Okay, that's a different discussion. But I want to point out the Medrash on this lifneihem brings in pasuk. What's the pasuk? Magid dvarav l'Yaakov, chukav u'mishpatav l'Yisrael, which is what it says here, that the chukim and mishpatim is l'Yisrael. V'lo asa chein — he didn't do so — l'chol goy, to all other goyim, all other nations. He didn't do so. This is the pasuk, the very famous pasuk, meaning here on the pasuk, v'eileh hamishpatim, magid dvarav l'Yaakov. Everybody knows that this is the two pesukim are, like, so to speak, connected. What is the lashon, lo asa chein l'chol goy? Magid means he spoke, he told, he taught. So what's lo asa chein l'chol goy? He didn't give them the mitzvahs. What did he do? What do you mean do? Where is the doing in the teaching of mitzvahs? HaKadosh Baruch Hu taught us mitzvahs and chukim u'mishpatim. Lo asa chein — he didn't do so. It should say, lo limed kein, lo amar kein, lo masar kein. He didn't give them over. Why are we discussing Hashem's doing? It's not Hashem's doing. The point is you didn't get it; I got it. Here, for example, I give you a matanah and I didn't give it to you, so what, I didn't do so to you? No, you didn't get, or I didn't give you. It's not a question of doing. ... You know who asks the she'eilah? The Sfas Emes asks the shailah. ... Beautiful Sfas Emes. And I'm going to build up the Sfas Emes, because there's going to be an argument to him a little bit, so I want you to know that I don't dis—I'm not disrespecting in any way the Sfas Emes. Beautiful, beautiful Sfas Emes. But I have a different taich. Let's first see the kasha. The kasha is gold. V'asachein, he didn't do so. It's not a question of doing. It's a question you got Klal Yisrael and the goy didn't get. So he didn't give. Not he didn't do. It's not a question of doing. You didn't receive, or I didn't give you, but it's not doing something. Lo imar, he didn't give, or lo amar, or lo kibel. What's he didn't do so? Says the Sfas Emes, a meyusidike, meyusidike derech. If you look at the Daas Zekeinim Baalei HaTosafos on this pasuk, he brings an interesting story. Maaseh b'unkelus hager, the story with Unkelus the ger, ben achosoi, the nephew of Andrinus Caesar. Shebikesh lisgayer, he wanted to become a ger. V'haya misyarei medodo, he was afraid of his uncle. So you hear what's going on here? He was afraid of his uncle. מסתמא because the uncle was the Caesar. I don't know if he's supposed to be afraid of the uncle, right? He was afraid of his uncle, I guess because he was the king. All right. Amar lo, ani mevakesh laasos s'chorah. I'm trying to make business. I want business. I want business. Amar lo, so he told him, shema chaser ata kesef v'zahav? Are you missing money? V'harei ha'otzarosai lefanecha. Come to my thing and you'll get as much money as you want. Over here we plant money and it grows on trees, so take as much as you need. Amar lo, mevakesh ani latzeis lchutz ulischakek. I don't want money. I'm trying to make a difference, a different business. I want wisdom. Give me a good advice, which business I should go into that I'll be able to ... wisdom. You know, I don't want a low-class business. I want something, you know, intellectual. Something which is a fallen business, grab it. You know, when something goes out of business, they take it. What's it called in English when the— no, no, it has— it's not a— you're missing— for example, our job is that, huh? I don't know if it's that. It's an English— closeout. You look for a closeout, you know what I mean? And you take over the business. No, no, no, no. When something closes and a guy comes in and just takes it over, okay. Also, now I see a shlacha businessman. All right. ... Something which could be built up, and then you'll make your good money from it. He went to Eretz Yisroel. He went to Eretz Yisroel. He asked machachamim lilmod Torah. He took his advice. He went to Eretz Yisroel and he started to learn Torah. What? But he started to learn Torah before he had bris milah.

So they told him, Listen, uncle, I know you're learning over here, Reb Gai, listen to me. You can't hang around the yeshiva here and learn when being a guy. It doesn't work that way. You know, we have over here the cleaning guy. That's the chayni, he's a ben Torah, he's a talmid chacham, the cleaning guy. Baruch Hashem, and ... and the Torah is the best. Uncle is hanging around doing the same thing. So they told him, ask Uncle. It doesn't work that way. You have to have a bris milah if you want to learn Torah. So he told him, Healach u'mal v'lamad Torah harbeh. So he went, he had bris milah, and he learned a lot of Torah. U'matzu Reb Eliezer, Reb Yehoshua, v'ra'u panav meshunos. Reb Eliezer and Reb Yehoshua found him, and they saw his face is different. Amru zeh lazeh. So they said one to another, Uncle is limei Torah. There's a change on the person. He's a different person. Uncle must have been learning Torah. B'yatcho b'eslam, hischil l'sho'eil, he started to ask a lot of questions. You know, when you start out, you ask a lot, a lot of questions. You know, okay. Halach eitzel Andrinus dodei. Kitzi, he went back to Andrinus, his uncle. Amru lei, lama panecha meshunos? Even the guy saw the difference. His uncle said, What's wrong with you? You look completely different. I mean, the fact that I went without a beard and payos and I came back with a long beard and long payos, I mean, that gave it away? No, obviously he doesn't mean that. He means meshunos, he saw a change in the happiness of the face, different change. Panecha meshunos. Amar lo, shelamadti Torah. I learned Torah. Can you imagine the heart attack he was going to get? Yeah? What? And not only that, I have a second thing, a second whammy. What do they call that? Double... A double dose, you ready? Vayai, now he got El Shamalti. I just בשביל. Could you imagine? אמר לו, ומי יצליח על כך? Who gave you this idea? I'm gonna go kill him. What's wrong with you? What, your father? Your rocker? Look what happened to you. אמר לו, אתה. It was you. You gave me this idea, yeah? So that's beautiful maskana, you hear? It was your idea. What do you want from me? Why? So למעשה, you told me, I strike the pact, Matya, go get involved in a business and a foola, which has dropped, which has fallen, which is, you know, there's no— it had a crash. It crashed. Which is— but at the end it's gonna go up. וחזרתי על כל אומה ואומה, and I went to all the nations, ולא מצאתי אומה שנפלה לישראל. I didn't find one nation which has crashed and which is banged up, which is down in the pits, that's completely bankrupt in the world. I don't mean bankrupt morally, but I'm saying, but look, call yourself— it's destined to go up. כמו שנאמר, ישעיה, קומי אורי... ...הקטן והקצר... הפסוק, היכה אותך. Gave him a whack across his face. What, are you crazy? ואמר לו, למה עשית כן? How could you? What's wrong with you? His worst nightmare. Could you imagine? He come home, and they say that a guy comes home and he has a Yiddish boyfriend. The worst nightmare. The worst. This is who you chose. This is what you came back with. אמר לו, שביקשתי ללמוד תורה. I wanted to learn Torah. I'm sorry, I had no choice. I had no choice. I had to learn Torah. Okay, listen, you want to learn Torah, you can do it that way style. We have a different style. The Yevanim, how you can learn Torah, but v'lo yilmod. What are you making bris milah for? Amar lei, ein yecholin lilmod b'lo milah. You can't learn Torah without milah. Shenemar, magid devarav l'Yaakov, this pasuk, chukav u'mishpatav l'Yisrael. L'mi shehu mal, ki Yaakov. You have to have a bris milah like Yaakov. That's when you can learn Torah. U'chsiv, lo asa chein l'chol goy, u'mishpatim bal yeda'um. To the goy, it can't be. Bal. What's lo asa chein l'chol goy u'mishpatim bal? What's bal? Very interesting lashon. Bal means you can't. It should say lo yeda'um. Says the Daas Zekeinim, bal is a drash, and yecholin lilmod Torah shematcheles b'beis u'mesayemes b'lamed. It says bal. You hear? Lo asa chein l'chol goy. Hashem didn't do this to the goy. Bal yeda'um. They can't learn Torah. What's the bal? It should say lo yeda'um. What's bal? It's an interesting expression. It also means no, but it's a funny way of saying it. There's a limud in it. It says the Daas Zekeinim, bal, beis lamed. The Torah starts with beis and ends with lamed. Shematcheles beis u'mesayemes lamed, eini kol Yisrael.

Says the Sfas Emes, ish maket. And I want you to know, it's kim'at mefurash in the Daas Zekeinim miBaalei Tosafos. Lo yatzachein, he didn't make the guy a person who's able to learn Torah. That's what it says here. A Yid has a bris milah, so he can learn Torah. A goy can't learn because of who he is. He's not a nimol; he's an arel. And that's what it says, lo yatzachein l'chol goy. He didn't make the goy capable to do. It's not a question he didn't teach them Torah, because the issue is not the teaching, because even if he would teach them, it wouldn't work. Why? They are not capable. They weren't made in a way that they could learn Torah. That is what, lo asachein l'chol goy. He didn't make them that way. Rabosai, this is a gevaldige beautiful Sfas Emes, and kim'at is open in the Daas Zekeinim. But I want to say a little bit of different pshat, a little different nekudah here, and maybe more al derech hapshat. What's the lo asachein l'chol goy? Because according to the Sfas Emes, you have to say he didn't make the goy. Lo asachein l'chol goy. He didn't make the goy. I want to pshat it k'pshuto, and then we'll understand the lo asachein with the question of the Sfas Emes. Rabosai, when you come to a bris milah, everybody gives a scream out, K'shem shenichnas l'bris, kein yikanes l'Torah, l'chuppah, ul'maasim tovim. This is based on a Gemara, in Rav Elazar d'milah, that when a person brings his child to a bris milah, everybody screams out, K'shem shenichnas. The same way he went into bris, kein yikanes l'Torah, l'chuppah, ul'maasim tovim. The Rambam has a different girsa. The Rambam's girsa is, K'shem shehichnashto. Some of the sefarim say it that way, because the Mechaber brings down this Rambam, but you don't say k'sheim shenichnas. You say, k'sheim sheichnasta, you, father, the same way you brought in the child. The Torah, you should bring him in for—I'm sorry, for bris, you should bring him in Torah and bris and—I'm sorry, Torah and chuppah, maasim tovim. What's this k'sheim sheichnasta? Because that is the mitzvah of the father, right? The mitzvah of bris is the father. So why is it Torah, chuppah, maasim tovim? So the Beis Yosef says, gishmak, mamash gishmak, because these are all the mitzvos that the father is mechuyav to do to the child. Beautiful Beis Yosef. Since it's k'sheim sheichnasta, we're giving the bracha to the father who brought his child to milah, which is his responsibility, so we give him the bracha for also Torah, because the father is mechuyav to teach his child Torah; chuppah, the father is mechuyav to marry off his child. And I don't want to get into a big discussion about what that means. In certain communities it means that the father is the deciding factor who he marries. That's not true in halacha. What it's supposed to mean is the father pays for the wedding, but we won't get into that. In some communities that's taboo. Al kol panim, the father is mechuyav, and then the word is taboo in English. You don't know what the word taboo means? You'll take care of that after the shiur. Okay, it's a word in English. Yes, the Beis Yosef talks about it. You'll get to that. Yes? Yes, he does. Beautiful Beis Yosef. And maasim tovim. What's shat maasim tovim? Because the father is mechuyav to be mechanech his kid. In mitzvahs as well, the mitzvah of chinuch. So, k'sheim shehichnasta to the bris, so too you should be machnis him to Torah, which is your responsibility, to chuppah, which is your responsibility, to maasim tovim, which is your responsibility. Now the question is, why order this way? Says the Beis Yosef, gargishmach, because first Torah. That's the first thing you do is Torah. Le'olam yilmad adam Torah v'achar kach yisa ishah. The next thing is you're supposed to get married. So what about maasim tovim? Maasim tovim you're supposed to do first, before marriage, especially if you want to get married. A lot of people do the maasim tovim only to get married. Some people, they behave very nicely, have a good name, you know. They say, 'Wat is l'shmah,' for her name. They say they learn Torah for her name, to make a good shidduch, Torah l'shmah. Al kol panim, avadei, so why? You don't learn Torah, you don't learn Torah. So you don't keep mitzvahs before you get married? What's maasim tovim? He says, 'Moyedik a taich.' Chinuch before thirteen, mitzvahs bar mitzvah, yom hacho... Ointshim is from esrim. So actually maasim tovim comes after the learning and the chuppah. What's the chap? According to the Beis Yosef, they got married before they were twenty. Torah, chuppah, maasim...

Because shalosh, till twenty, and not a bar onshin. You don't get punished for it. So the order is, Pakkes says the Beis Yosef: Torah, chuppah, and maasim tovim. Now, Beis Yosef, today, I don't know what the order should be. I'll say it again as many times as you want till you understand it. Again, the first thing you should know, the Gemara says, k'sheim shenichnas. K'sheim shenichnas means the same way he went into the bris, so too you should go into Torah, chuppah, and maasim tovim. The Rambam changes the girsa to k'sheim sheichnasti. Look on the bach on the side; it says, av. Because obviously they're learning it's the father. Now, fine. The question is, so why these three mitzvahs? And then after we know why these three mitzvahs, why this order? Okay. So the first of all, these three mitzvahs says the Beis Yosef, since we're saying ichnasta, which means the Rambam l'shitaso, because the Beis Yosef is the Shulchan Aruch which follows the Rambam, and it's sheichnasta, so therefore we're going to give him the bracha of all the things that he is mechuyav to bring his child into: Torah, chuppah, and maasim tovim. He's mechuyav to mechanech his child for all three. Okay. And like I said, chuppah is a klal. A person is mechuyav to teach his child to, or miss, and he's supposed to find him a wife. And I don't want to get into the details of that, because it doesn't mean literally it's up to the father who you marry, because the Shulchan Aruch says clearly you're not mechuyav to list to your father when you want to marry somebody else. Okay, but al kol panim, you're mechuyav to help him. You got to pay for his dates, all right? It's your job. What? What's wrong? Teach you how to be married. Okay, that could be eipsha, but that's not the pashut pshat. The pashut is mechuyiv to marry a mores. He's mechuyiv to marry a mores. You have to know it's a shmuyes for itself. Okay, fine. Let's move along. Now, so meila, this is the hachnasah. Question is, it's all strange. What? Maisin toiv, after you get married? I said some people, some people, they only start behaving after you get married, you know. In their younger years they were chayis running around, and the maisin toiv come after. I don't know. But that's of course not pashut pshat, and not even eipsha. So what's pshat in the maisin toiv after chuppah? The Pnei Yehoshua says the Beis Yosef is because when are you actually a baal mitzvah fully? No, because at twenty you still have to clean your slate, meaning, you know, we give you an extra few years till you're responsible. And at twenty, which is a chiddush, coming because a maisi mechuyiv mitzvah before also. For some reason the Beis Yosef felt that's already enough to say that you're a maisin toiv come at twenty. That's why. That's the order. So I'm just pointing out, means because according to him they get married when they were fifteen. I mean, that's the cheshbon. First came Torah, then came chuppah when they were eighteen, because it says shmonah esrei l'chuppah, and then at twenty. But today they get married much later. So I'm just telling you, bichlal the whole order is mixed up. Maybe the Torah comes after the chuppah, and the chuppah comes first, or the chuppah—there's no seder anymore. So I don't know, maybe you could say whatever you want today. Al kol panim, that's what it says in the Gemara, all right? This is if you learn nichnasta, but if you learn k'sheim shenichnas, why these three? That's good according to the Rambam's girsa, which the Beis Yosef is following, k'sheim shenichnasta. But according to the girsa k'sheim shenichnas, why these three? Why these three? And bemis... He just went according to the twenty-year-old boy, not according to the father. He did go according to the boy. He didn't go according to the father. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Yeah, I see it. You want to know, his kash is so much better than the whole pshat, because we're not talking about the chinuch of the father. The chinuch of the father actually started way, way long ago. The only thing is it's not called mitzvahs till later, and it's a very big chiddush. I mean, I'd rather have a whole pilpul on this. I mean, you know what? Since you brought it up, I'll tell you the pilpul. You have to clarify, when a katan does mitzvahs, could be it's not even a ma'aseh mitzvah. There's a whole shailah when a katan does mitzvahs, is it bichlal a mitzvah? Could be the whole thing is the father is mechuyav to train him, but what he does, that's not even called a mitzvah at all. So according to that, and the Chinuch, even the chinuch that the father is mechuyav to give, it's not called ma'aseh tovim. So somehow you have to mechanech him before that he should do ma'aseh tovim later. That's the way it works. So therefore, but the only problem is that the twenty and the thirteen is a shvera. It's a shvera. L'maaseh he's mechuyav at thirteen, but I'm not coming to argue with the Beis Yosef. This is the Beis Yosef, all right? As they say in English, take it or leave it. Now, but if you learn that k'sheim shenichnas, which Grada, the Shach brings down that the girsa is takke k'sheim shenichnas, the Shach in siman reish samach hei, sif katan gimmel, and the Taz comes and says an interesting chiluk. If you're near the father...

You should give the bracha k'sheim shichnasta. But not if everybody's next to the father, right, by the bris milah, right, by staring at Papa the guy and then looking at him. So they stand in the back and say k'sheim shenichnas. This is the Taz, which to me I also don't understand so well. I mean, what's wrong if you give a bracha long distance? I don't know, but the bracha has to be directly to the guy's face. Why can't I be 20 feet away and scream k'sheim shichnasta? The good rebbes know how to do that via email. You know, they give a bracha in his gate, you know, it's just, you know. By the rebbes, even Git Shabbos, you don't say Git Shabbos by the Rebbe. The Rebbe goes around the room like this. You ever see it with the hand? Shabbos, Git Shabbos, and it's chal on the whole tzibbur, Git Shabbos. You want to know, I'll tell you even more. By Birchas Kohanim, you hear? What happens by Birchas Kohanim? By Birchas Kohanim, the kohen stands. You have a big shul, and the bracha is, even am shebasados, the bracha goes all the way to the field. So what's, right? The Gemara says even am shebasados has Birchas Kohanim. So what, if you're far away from the father, you can't say k'sheim shichnasta? I don't understand the Taz. Somebody give chiddush the Taz. I mean, what's wrong if from far away you give him a bracha, k'sheim shichnasta? I know, I just said it. That's the whole shiur. You with me? I know, that's the shita of the Shulchan Aruch. I mean, the Shulchan Aruch doesn't even have k'sheim shichnas. I'm telling you this, the chaver follows the Rambam, k'sheim shichnasta. Look at this, k'sheim shichnasta. Okay, halacha l'maaseh, ... sent us a live, a live dugma. All right, you hear? The shaila is al dei sai. The shaila is al dei sai, according to the nusach of k'sheim shichnas. So why that seider? To beish according to the Taz, you can come and say that the Taz really didn't have the k'sheim shenichnas. Actually, it's k'sheim shechnasta. But since you're far away, so then the bracha is what? Just the same, but k'sheim shenichnas. Maybe. I'm saying, I hear a little bit where the seder comes. You're not going to make two different brachos. You say it this way. Can you imagine some people say this sort of seder and some people say k'sheim shenichnas, the different seder? No one would say anything, right? You'll have a Yavneh bilbul on the dayus, and then you're not going to know what seder. So they gave one straight set kavuadike seder. Again, it's a doichek, but I'm just trying to understand k'sheim shenichnas for this seder. But according to the Shach, it's anyway this, k'sheim shenichnas. So why are you only giving a bracha for chuppah, maasim tovim? I don't say, well, there's so many mitzvahs, there's so much. I mean, what's the seder? Torah and chuppah. What happened over here? So let me tell you what I think the pshat is. I heard from Rav Delsky, shlita, meiri dike vort. I always had this shaylah, yeshiva. I mean, every time I come to bris milah, what's chuppah? Torah, maasim tovim? Okay, so chuppah is included in that. I don't know what, and the seder. I heard from Rav Delsky, meiri dike vort. Delsky said like this: the emes, the three things that we tell him to be zoche to are all bris. K'sheim shenichnas l'bris, which is the bris. We all know in bris Yitzis, the bris milah is a bris. Torah is a bris. Chuppah is a bris. And maasim tovim is a bris. That's where the three things come from. How do we know all this? First of all, chuppah. It says clearly in the Gemara, Ein isha konehes b'ris ella mi she'asaah kli. First the Gemara. The Gemara says clearly that the krisas bris—there's a bris between a husband and a wife. It's a treaty. Maybe it's a peace treaty, or maybe, I don't know, or maybe he takes after the war there's a treaty. Chai akol panim, akol panim, it's a bris. There's a bris between a husband and a wife to be married. That's one of the bris, right? Ein isha konehes b'ris ella mi she'asaah kli. So that's pshat mechupah. What's Torah? Rabosai, I need a Chumash Veschanan, Devarim. Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip. No, I don't have it in front of me. Oh, Devarim. Okay, I have it, I have it, I have it. Okay. You should know, Devarim ... must be. I always say anybody that has diabetes should be careful with this Devarim because it can really level the sugar very high. First ... yeah? It says like this. Yeah. Statement pasuk: Ki shamru vochem. Devarim daled, pasuk chaf-gimmel. Ki shamru vochem.

תשכחו את ברית ה' אלוקיכם. ברית. Yeah? אשר כרת עמכם. What? And you'll make a pesel תמונת כל. What bris are we referring to? Says Rashi, we're referring to the Aseres HaDibros. Pasuk chaf-gimmel. Yeah, where is it? Here. No, it's not here. It's another pasuk, but it's a few times here in Va'eschanan that we're referring to the bris. What's the bris? The bris is Aseres HaDibros, the mitzvos. Kairo, also, it's referred to as bris. It says over here like this: ה' מעון, שחת להאיריס. Here. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Here it is. פסיקת החדברים, חושך קלברים. One second. כי שם נולדים. אתה ה' תודה. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, לא יסף ... את הברית הזאת. It says, ויגד לכם את בריתו. Oh, this is the pasuk I was looking for. About to give a different pasuk. I was looking for this pasuk. ויגד לכם את בריתו. Hashem told you His bris, אשר ציווה אתכם לעשות. No? Hashem told you His bris that He commanded you to do. Ateres haדברים. Vayichtovem al shnei luchos avanim. So what do we see? He told you his bris that he wants you to do. Maaseh Tovim. The mitzvos, the mitzvos are the bris that Hashem wants you to do, as they state in pasuk. And then it says, Heishameru lachem. Maybe that's what he was referring to. Heishameru lachem pen tishkach es bris Hashem Elokecha asher karas imachem is becherev. Matan Torah was bris, Torah. Maaseh Tovim is bris. Chuppah is bris. So we give a bracha, k'shem shenichnas l'bris, the same way he went into the bris of milah, he should go into the other brisin: Torah, chuppah, and maasim tovim. You know, it's interesting, by Matan Torah, I'd like to add a Sforno's vort, by Matan Torah it was called a chuppah. You know, it was called a chuppah. As a matter of fact, kaf aleihem har kegigis, that's the canopy. Chazal and the Rishonim learn out all hilchos chuppah from Matan Torah. Kallah, the Ramban brings it down, that Klal Yisrael became mekudeshes to the Ribbono Shel Olam, like a kallah with a chassan, the Ribbono Shel Olam came out to greet Klal Yisrael. This is like the chassan coming out to greet the kallah. It's all based on Ma'amad Har Sinai, bris. That's the inyan I held of chuppah. What's the chuppah? Is the chuppah by Klal Yisrael? Eretz Yisrael, it's a bris. And chuppah is a bris, and Torah is a bris, and maasim tovim is a bris. And that's when we give the bracha, k'shem shenichnas l'bris, kein tikanes l'Torah, l'chuppah, u'l'maasim tovim. What is the bris by Torah and mitzvos? What is it? How is it a bris? What is the word bris in practical terms? By Maaseh Tov. The pasuk, you say that the Ribono Shel Olam is our Father. We are am hanivchar, and the chibur, what connects us, the treaty that connects us, is the kiyum of Torah and Maasim Tovim. I'd like to add to this a little bit more. I'd like to give you a little more insight in how the Torah and the mitzvahs is bris, so to speak, a treaty between the Ribono Shel Olam and Klal Yisrael. What is it? How do we practically define the word bris when it comes to Torah and mitzvahs? Yeah, I mean, peshuta, you could just say, yeah, of course, it's a connection between me and the Ribono Shel Olam, and this is like a kesubah between us. Many Rishonim use such a nusach. The Torah becomes a kesubah. Matter of fact, that's where we learn kesubah from, according to many Rishonim. You know that? Where does kesubah come from? It comes from the Torah. The Torah is, eizi sefer bris asher karati imachem. The pasuk in Tanach says that, Where is the kesubah that I gave your mother? Which means Hashem tells Klal Yisrael, you did aveiros, I don't remember any kesubah. I don't know what you're talking about. What's the kesubah? The Torah. The Torah is the kesubah of Klal Yisrael. That's the peshut. I want to go a little bit further to give you a little more understanding of this. You know, Rabosai, there's an inyan in Torah called ahavas haTorah.

Ahavas haTorah. I speak about it all the time. For me, ahavas haTorah is the ikar of a ben Torah. Ahavas haTorah. What is ahavas haTorah? Let's discuss it. Where does it come from? So then this is a pasuk. There's a pasuk in Mishlei: Im tevakshenah kakesef. If you search Torah like money, u'kematmonim techapsenah, and you will seek it out like diamonds, az tavin yiras Hashem, then you will be able to reach madreges understanding Torah. What are the two things here? Im tevakshenah kakesef, you search it like money, and u'kematmonim techapsenah, the same thing, saying it over twice, right? Searching money and searching diamonds. But some people like money more than diamonds. I mean, ladies like diamonds and men like money. I mean, what's the two leshonos here? Im tevakshenah kakesef u'kematmonim techapsenah. So the Brisker Rav says, gevaldik. Gevaldik, rabosai, Brisker Rav, right on the money, as they say. Talking about money here. And to me this is money. What do you want from my life? Let me tell you something. If you don't hold with me that Torah is the diamonds of the world, you got to go to someone else's shiur. I can't help it. I talk about money. I talk about money. I don't talk about money, okay? I talk about Torah, and Torah to me is money, yeah? The biggest diamond. Listen carefully, listen. Says the Brisker Rav like this, yeah: By Torah there's yegati u'matzasi. If you yagea, you'll find. Says the Gra, you have to put in your effort. You'll find. You'll find the Torah. You're not going to be able to get the Torah. Hashem has to give it to you as a finding. You ever look in the streets for a metzia? They have people walk around with those metal detectors on the beach looking for coins, you know. Tell me, you know normal people do that stuff? It's not meant for the normal people, right? Normal people. Normal people. What are you laughing? I'm not right? That's probably why I'm laughing. You're probably right. Okay. So the normal ones, right, go to work and make money. The not normal ones walk around looking for a good, you know, good to win the lottery. They spend the whole day looking to win a metzia, right? By Torah, you have to know it works both ways. You'll gota, but it's the matzasa. It'll come to you as a finding because Hashem has to give it to you. Hashem has to open up and, you know, throw into your head all the Torah as a matana. ... money you have to work for. So Torah you have to be mevakesh b'kesef. But u'k'matzainim techapsena. Like matzainim, like diamonds, no one goes to look for diamonds. You have to find. You find the diamonds. So you'll find it techapsena, which means you have to search it out like someone who looks for a diamond. How do you look for a diamond? The Ribono Shel Olam will give it to you if you put enough koach, you'll get it. That's your gota, tevakshenu kakesef. When you make money, you have to put your effort into it, right? But then there's something called, I found a diamond, I found something. Torah has to be also the second madreigah, u'k'matzainim techapsena, which means it'll come to you. I do my thing and I'll find it like a diamond. The Ribono Shel Olam will give it to me. Okay, he's about to brisker. Shein afort, shein, zeh shein. Okay, I want to say a little bit different. There's a Gemara in Menachos. The Gemara in Menachos says a maiseh that a certain Tanna, I think Rabbi Asi it was, he forgot Masechtes Menachos. He forgot it. He wanted to go, I asked it to Reb Zeira. The Gemara, daf zayin amud aleph. Because while I'm talking, if someone could get the Gemara, it would be even better. Al kol panim, someone go get this Gemara, and find the Gemara. Says the Gemara like this, that he wanted to go ask Reb Zeira to learn the Gemara Menachos. He was thinking, should he ask Reb Zeira to come to him? He says, no. I'm going to go to Reb Zeira and learn it by him. Why? The extra tircha, the extra work which I'm going to put into going, this will give me the zechus that I should be able to know Menachos. Why? Because yagata u'matzasa. If I put in effort, I'll find. Now, I don't understand this part. Never understood this part. This effort that he's putting is not the effort of learning; it's the effort of traveling to learn. That's also part of yagata u'matzasa. What's the pshat? If you toil hard in Torah, and you sit and you work out the sugya and it's hard and it's...

It's cold and it's bothering, and the chavrusa and the ... You got them. But the traveling is also. You see from here that the traveling was part of yagata. How does that help into the matzah? So the teretz is, ... Yagata means you toil, you'll get. But then there's another thing. If you show ahavas haTorah, you show that you care about the Torah, matzasa, you'll find. That's also part of the yagata matzasa. The traveling, the effort that you put not only in the learning, but to get the learning, is also part of the yagata matzasa. And I think this is what it's trying to say: Im ta'rachta u'matzasa. If you search it out like money, that's the effort that you put in the business itself. U'kematzmonim techapsena, the searching of it. You hear? The actual chippus, that you go and you search it. Not only that while I'm learning I put in yegiah. To get to the learning I put in yegiah, I put effort. Then kemechapsena u'kematzmonim, you'll have it. And I hold Rabbeinu Yonah says this klal. I read you Rabbeinu Yonah on the pasuk, techapsena u'kakasef, says Rabbeinu Yonah, u'kematzmonim, this is ma'alah chamishis. This is the fifth ma'alah of how a person can get Torah. He goes through all the pesukim that there's five ma'alos a person needs in order to be koneh Torah. One of them is, shetis'arev lenafshei hachochmah. The chochmah should become sweet, areiv. It should be so sweet to him, v'lo yiheh alav iska litorach meirov hahavah. A guy wants something. Here, tell a lady a diamond. There's nothing that could stand in her way. Her husband's a shunat, right? You ever see when a wife wants something, there's a... why? Because the ahavah for it is so strong that the chippus... I go from one store to the other store. I think to yourself, okay, didn't work out. I mean, you think to yourself, okay, you went to the store, they didn't have it, so buy whatever they have, right? Because you don't care about the thing, the diamond or the dress doesn't mean anything to you. But if someone means something to them, yeah? You know how many times a person wants a certain car? He goes to this dealer and to that dealer and to this and here and there, because to you, the car, you need a certain car. So all the effort is nothing. It means nothing. This is mamish... You hear? Listen to the lashon. What is tichapsenu kimatmonim? One is yafti mevakesh it like kesef. It's hard to make money, so it's hard to learn Torah. That's what Rebbeinu is saying. That's in the avodah of learning. Then there's another thing: how to get to the learning. The effort that's put in till you get to the learning, that's a hard job, yeah? So he wants that it should be, shetis'ariv lenafshoi. It should be sweet like a diamond. V'lo yihyeh lo istakel haTorah, and therefore it won't be difficult, meirov hahavah. Heinyan shene'emar, like it says by Yaakov Avinu, Vayehi b'einav k'yamim achadim. Yeah? It was like a few days. Could you imagine when people start saying, This zman is so long. Oy vey, this zman is so long. Uh-oh, we're in trouble. You know why? That means that if you're not having a gishmak in it, it's not to chapsenu k'matmonim. Yankel v'Vinu worked seven years and was k'yam machadim b'avasa oysa. When you love something, it's nothing is long, nothing is difficult. You know, Yankel v'Vinu — Rabbeinu Yonah, I didn't make it up, Rabbeinu Yonah — t'chapsenu k'matmonim. Torah has to be a diamond to you. Torah has to be a diamond. And if it's a diamond, nothing is difficult. Nothing. It's all worth it. And you don't even realize that. Not only that it's difficult — it's too late already. It's over the Gemara, twenty minutes. Hakoponim, you hear? Avinu. Thank you. Avinu, forgive me, Rabbeinu Shalom, help me that I should remember even the names of the Tannaim ... I'm sorry, I haven't seen the Gemara in years. Hakoponim, you listening? You hear? T'chapsenu k'matmonim. I hope the Rabbeinu Yonah is for teaching it's two different degiyos. Tirakshenu kakesef is what, the effort I put in it. Then there's a chipus. I search it. That's the effort I put to get to it. I search it. So whatever difficult — coming to yeshiva with the car and it's not working out — this is all part of what? Your gata u'matzasa, because you have to have such ahavas haTorah like it's a diamond.

Chabrosai, with this, I want to explain where the ahavah comes from. Where does the ahavas haTorah come from? You need ahavas haTorah. Yomim achadim, it should be like Yankel Avinu worked for Rachel. Fine. Where does it come from? I mean, how does a person take a book, so to speak, and have a ahavah to a book? When it's inborn. A lot of people in yeshiva, taivah is inborn. I don't know, what should I tell you? I don't know. I'm not so convinced about that. I think if there's a cheshbon to the ahavas haTorah, it's not just a natural metzius that a person has. In derech Hashem, Ramchal tells us that Torah is the vehicle to see the Ribbono Shel Olam. In order to see the Ribbono Shel Olam in this world, there's only one vehicle. There's one emtzai to get to that: Torah. The more Torah you learn, the more hashpa'ah you have from the Ribbono Shel Olam. And I have מרמז a raya to this I'd like to bring to you. In Shir HaShirim we say, Heviani haMelech chadarav. The King brought us where? Into His inner chambers. Heviani haMelech chadarav. Nogilah v'nismecha bach. What is bach? In it. Nismecha bach. Hashem, You took us into Your heart, so to speak, into Your home. How do I have v'nismecha bach? V'nismecha bach, beis chaf, with the osiyos of the Torah. So first one we see simcha, yeah? Torah, nismecha bach. So what is it? But it's heviani ha-melech chadarav. What's happening? Something, is there explosions? Just take a look here. Heviani ha-melech chadarav. Menachem, what are you looking for in life? Heviani ha-melech chadarav. That's what you're looking for, no? You're looking to be mekushar to Ribono Shel Olam, to be in these inner chambers, lamid davuk to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Chazal say, how does that work, nogilah v'nismecha bach? Through the Torah. That's this Ramchal, that only through Torah can a person reach this kirvas Elokim, this closeness to the Eibishter. There's a gevaldige Beis Halevi. Beis Halevi says, what were the keruvim supposed to symbolize? Ahavas Hashem to Klal Yisrael, the love between Klal Yisrael and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, panim el panim, face to face, right? We know that when HaKadosh Baruch Hu was angry at Klal Yisrael, the face turned the other way, right? This was supposed to symbolize ahavas Hashem, the love, the closeness. They were hovering over one another, Klal Yisrael hovering over together with the Ribono Shel Olam. Says the Beis Halevi, you know it says that the keruvim on the kapores was mechaper for the eigel. Why? Why was the keruvim mechaper for the eigel? He says, gar gevaldig, because the keruvim was what? Was the kesher, eigel was the avodah zarah. The keruvim was mechaper. What's wrong? ... Tanya, ... Tanya, Rabbi Yoisi ben Chanina ... kapayros ... avosha l'egel. The kapayros mechaper for the egel. Why? Because we know the egel was ... separating Klal Yisroel from the Ribono Shel Olam, and the kapayros was Klal Yisroel and the Ribono Shel Olam, דרך בשם. Why did it have to be on the kapayros? Why did it have to be on the aron? Why did it have to be on top of the aron? Says the Beis Halevi, because the only way you can get to the Ribono Shel Olam is through the heilige Torah. This is the vehicle of how to get deveikus by HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Lefi zeh, rabosai, I believe that this is the taich that Torah is a bris. What's that Torah is a bris? Because bris means two parties coming together, connecting. That's a bris. Torah is the bris with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The only way you can connect with HaKadosh Baruch Hu is through Torah. And with this, rabosai, I understand where ahavas haTorah comes from, and also where the taanug comes from. And this is also mefurash in the Rambam. The Rambam writes in mitzvah gimmel that how does a person have ahavas Hashem? How does ahavas Hashem...

This is how a person gets it. Says the Rambam, kishenisboinen b'midosav u'mamarav. If a person will be misbonein in the actions of Hashem, u'v'mamarav, in His sayings, which is His Torah, says the Rambam, you'll come to ahavas Hashem. So this is meiridik, which means, and could be we could say it on a realistic base, on a simple level. Sometimes you look at your kesubah and you read it. What does it bring out? It brings out feelings of, oh, my chasunah, I'm מדריך, married, you know. Good rabbi, every now and then you should look at your kesubah. It's not such a bad read, as they say in English. You look at the Torah, mamarav, and you ma'ayin, you see the beauty of it. What does it bring out? It brings out ahavas Hashem. Peirush Rambam. You have a mitzvah called ahavas Hashem. It's a mitzvah. How do you get ahavas Hashem? How could you love? Why? I love. Why? Who? Why? I love. You don't even know what you love. Says the Rambam, there's only one way to do it: look at the world and see its beauty, ahavas Hashem. Mamarav, says the Rambam. Look at the Ribbono Shel Olam's Torah, His sayings, peirush Rambam, and that brings out the love of Hashem. This is Torah bris. And where does the hana'ah come from? So the Rambam continues. The Rambam says, v'neheneh b'hasagaso. The hasagah of the Ribbono Shel Olam is the hana'ah. The fact that you're getting the Ribbono Shel Olam, and you're getting close to Hashem through this Torah, that's the hana'ah. This is ahavas haTorah. You love the Torah. What do you love the Torah? You know, they say over a very famous thing, that a guy once sat there eating fish. Stop eating. They ask him, Rabbi, take it easy. Probably stomach is showing the herring up. They tell him, Rabbi, what are you eating so the herring? Other people eat. He says, I love herring. The guy says, Love herring. If you love herring, you wouldn't eat it. If you love yourself, then therefore you eat the herring. You love herring. How is that? You love the Torah. But what is it that you love? And the answer is, you're loving the Ribono Shel Olam. That's connecting to you through the Torah. The nehena b'hasagaso, the tachlis hana'ah. The closeness with the Eibishter brings out tremendous pleasure, tremendous love. Now you'll ask me, why is there love when you connect to the Eibishter? I don't know. There's probably a shmooze for itself. But you see that man, when it comes to ahavah, has tremendous hana'ah. It could be also shechinah beineihem. Between ish v'ishah, there's a shechinah beineihem, right? If there's shalom, there's shechinah. It's all tied into the inyan of bris, chuppah, Torah, maasim tovim. A person can connect to the Eibishter through a chuppah also. Ish v'ishah, shalom beineihem, shechinah beineihem. So through chuppah also what? A person connects to the Eibishter. It could be that's the hana'ah of a shidduch also, maybe. What does a person say? Let me tell you something. You think it's so easy to be married? You think after ten years of marriage, ask a guy, tell me, is this package enjoyable as you thought it was going to be, or they say it is going to be, or they say it's not going to be? They're telling you it's not enjoyable. So why isn't it enjoyable? You never know, because that's the shleimus ha'adam, and that's how a person becomes mekushar to the Ribono Shel Olam, and that's a part of the hana'ah. You never know what is it in Chuppah that brings out hana'ah, and it could be the Eibishter, it could be the Shechinah shruyah beineihem. Very possible, because it's all aifanim of bris, of treaty with the Rabbeinu Shalom. Torah, Chuppah, and maasim tovim. Oy, bazoi, let's get back to answering the kashas. Haboisai, listen carefully. I asked you a kasha: why does it have to say, Af eilu miSinai, that all these halachos are from Sinai? And the answer is Yishmak. When you learn Hilchos Dinei Mamonos, you're mekushar to the Eibishter. You learn Bava Kama, Bava Metzia. What are you learning? You're learning about shor shenagach es haparah. No. Could you imagine, ask a guy, what do you do in yeshiva all day? I learn about an ox who gored a cow. Yeah, I mean, where's the religion part then? What is that? You're a school of religion or you're a school of animals? You're an animal farm? What are you? And the answer is, shor shenagach es haparah is ruchniyus, and it's chelek of the bris of Sinai.

Sinai was a bris with the Eibishter. It was a treaty. What was the treaty? That through Torah I can come to be married to the Ribono Shel Olam. Through Torah I can be misdabek with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Af evel b'Sinai. The chiddush is that this was also Sinai. Sinai mamish is part of the chuppah. It's part of the bris of Sinai. Just like Sinai was called bris, that through it a person is mischaber to the Ribono Shel Olam, is misdabek to the Ribono Shel Olam, this is the same thing, and that's the pshat, lo asachein l'chol goy. I asked you a kasha by Torah, lo asachein, and the answer is it's going on the bris. He didn't make this bris with a goy. That's the pshat, lo asachein. The pasuk says it should say He didn't teach them Torah. We're not talking about the actual Torah. We're talking about the bris. Chukim u'mishpatim, the Ribono Shel Olam made a bris with us, a treaty, and He gave us Torah. Lo asachein, He didn't do this bris l'chol goy. And that's the taytch by אונקלוס. You could learn and learn and learn. It doesn't have the same effect. And even, that's what Chazal are saying, even if you know the halachos are the same, yeah, but it's not the same thing because it doesn't have the bris, Torah. You don't have this treaty. The treaty was not made with you. Imagine the guy's gonna come home, yeah, and there'll be a lady there that's gonna cook for him and clean for him, maybe his mother, I don't know, but al kol panim, you hear, someone's gonna sit and do all—she's gonna sit and do all the things that a wife is supposed to do. Tell me, is he married to her? She might want to switch his wife for this lady. That could be. But al kol panim, he's definitely not married to this lady. Why? Because there's no kesubah, there's no contract between the two of you. A guy that sits and learns is like a wife, a woman without a kesubah, without a priz. Like, asah chen lechol. What's the limud hamussar that we're supposed to take? We're privileged to learn Torah, privileged. Hashem made a tree with us. And the second nekudah is that you have to learn ahavas haTorah. Ahavas haTorah. Rabosai, listen to me, I'm begging you. Drop all your narishkeit. Part of the things that bother you on a daily basis, because you're not having the proper ahavas haTorah. Vayehiu b'einecha kiamim achadim. The Rabbeinu Yonah wants it should be to you like Yaakov Avinu's yamim achadim. You know when a chassan is supposed to get married, those two, three months, unless the kallah is making him crazy and there's problems, he's in cloud nine, yeah? I called up my cousin recently, two, three days ago, and I tell him, he just got engaged, he's still in cloud nine. You hear what nusach he tells me? If it was possible to be a cloud on top of that, I'm there. You hear the nusach? Cloud nine, yeah? Plus. So therefore, if you're cloud nine plus, you go for the apartments and you go here, and everything is wonderful. There's all the tirches in the world mean nothing, doesn't mean anything. You know how much work a person puts into a chasunah? It's unbelievable amount of work. Does he feel? No, it's a mechayeh to prepare for a chasunah. If you looked at the Torah as a chasunah with the Rabbeinu... And you love the Torah. Ki yamim achadim, Yankel Wiener says it, metzta'ek for seven years. Seven years, metzta'ek. That's ahavas haTorah. All your problems and all your ma'asim, it won't bother you. It won't bother you. All the things that you come up with, this is ahavas haTorah. And the third thing I want you to learn from all this, because the shoresh of ahavas haTorah is deveikus baHashem. You love the Torah because you love Hashem. And the simcha that comes from it is because, nagila v'nismecha bach, I get attached to the Eibishter through the Torah. That's the simcha of Torah. I don't know how many other words to say it. This is the ikker of all ikkarim: ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah, and im yirtzeh Hashem one day we'll speak ahavas habriyos and ahavas Yisrael. Because if you have a ahavah, then all the issues fall away. Everything, all the problems. When you love something, you don't have problems. You don't have problems. You know, a person can be married to the worst wife, yeah? If he loves her, he doesn't see any problem. Nothing. Everything is wonderful. If you have a ahavah, no problem, no problem. The minute you don't have a ahavah, the Gemara says, when there was a ahavah, we were able to stand on the sword, on the two edges of the sword, says the Gemara. Notice that the Gemara compares a marriage to a sword. But hakoponim, you hear? Sharp sword. Two edges of the sword.

When there was no ahava, says the Gemara, even the biggest room, there wasn't enough room. There will always be difficulties if there's no ahava. The steam and the heat and the ... and the why, because there's no ahava. What do you want? I don't like the chavrusa better. If there's ahava, nothing stands in the way. Nothing. What, you disagree with this? Let me hear why. I'm ready to hear. No, no, let's have it out. I'm ready to have it out with you. Go ahead. It's an important element, but it has to be just doing. Everybody talks about, I love my children. It still needs skill. I love, I'm a Jew in my heart. You need skill. Whether you like it or not, you need skill. Love is very nice, but it's certainly not everything. You need tachlis. You need skills. You need learning. It's important, but it doesn't throw away everything. No. Did I come and say throw away everything? I said the ikker. It is the most important thing. I didn't say the most important. That's my point. No, no, you need to— okay. You know, let me rephrase my statement. I didn't mean ikker and tafel. I didn't mean that. I meant the trick. That's what I meant. The key. The key. Because somebody could not love it. They could be dynamite. They learn because they learn how to love Hashem. They don't love Torah, but they know they love Hashem. They gotta learn. There could be somebody who loves it and doesn't put in that meilos, doesn't put in the— I'm trying to explain to you that it doesn't work that way. If you love Torah because you love Hashem, it has to go hand in hand. And if you don't love Hashem, you won't love His Torah. It's not disconnected one from the other. It can't be. That's what I'm trying to show you. The Rambam is telling me what is ahavas Hashem through mamorim, and that is the nehena. That's the enjoyment. Every time you understand the Tosafos, you're understanding the Rabbeinu Shalom's Torah. You're getting closer to the Rabbeinu Shalom through the taisis, knowingly or not knowingly, but that's what's happening. I'm connecting to the Eibishter because the Eibishter said this taisis. Listen, the Eibishter said this taisis. So if He said this taisis and I understand the taisis, that makes me connect to Him that way. That's mamorah. I understand the Rabbeinu Shalom through His Torah. I understand the Rabbeinu Shalom through His briah. Which part don't you agree? I know it's bothering you because it sounds very lofty without the l'maaseh, but I wasn't referring ikkar in Tafel. What I'm trying to tell you is that in the doings, you must get to the core of a havanah. And when there's a havanah, all the side problems fall away. You know, you have struggles no matter what. That's how life goes. You have to do it anyway. I just sat in a shiur with, you know, there's good days and there's bad days. What was the difference with Yisro? He did it. Everybody else, they were hot and they were cold. They went... Can I ask you a question? What happened to Yisro? I'd like to know what happened to Yisro. Yisro, unlike the rest of the world, he went back to teach to Mekariv his people. Tell me, why couldn't he stay? Because he said he had a responsibility. Yeah, and let me ask you another question. Responsibility. Tell me, what happened to those geirim that he made? I'd like to know what happened to them. You know? Probably, I don't know. Probably. So I'll tell you what happened to them. Nothing happened to them. Yisro, Yisro was not supposed to go. There was a default on Yisro's part. As much as he convinced himself that he had an achrayus to go, it was a weakness in Yisro that he couldn't stay. Yisro came and left. A lot of people walk into bais medrash, they hear the shiur and they're out of here. That's it. He couldn't stay for long. You know why? Because, like you said, it wasn't the ahavas. It wasn't. You can't. It was lacking the ahavah. It was lacking. You have to say that he did it, he came, hakaras, and you're right, and Yisro ... parashah. But tell you, this is all true. But I'm telling you, you want it to last, you want it to be complete, you want it to be that the person is in love with the Ribono Shel Olam and married with this love through the Torah. That's the way it works. Yes. Correct. That's right. That's right. That's exactly what you heard in the shiur. And it's possible, listen to me carefully, that it's not even in front of you, meaning you don't have to sit there and love Hashem and therefore I learn. It's mimeila. You don't realize it. It's your subconscious. It's your neshama that's saying, I'm attached to...

The Rabbeinu Shlolam. I can't believe it. I'm attached to Hashem. Li kirvas Elokim li tov. A Yid is attached to the Rabbeinu Shlolam through his Torah. So even b'lo yediah, even if it's not in conscious, it's subconscious. His neshama, his neshama has unbelievable taanug, unbelievable happiness. This is ahavas haTorah. And you must, you must work towards that madreigah. Otherwise you'll be washed up in this world. Again, unless you're a person—I think there are certain people which are so obedient that they're able to do it just because it's a chiyuv. I'm asking, there are certain people like that. The point is the whole last shiur, that life, that's how life goes. You're going to feel amazing, the biggest and the closest one day, and another day you're going to feel like... Right. But what dragged me back up? What dragged me back up? What makes me wake up the next morning and say, yesterday... I'm not crying. It's a responsibility. To you, to some people it's different. And not as low level—I don't even want to say it's a low level. Not everybody feels like it all the time. That's human nature. Listen to me. You're right, so you should do it because of achrayus. But I'm teaching you, I'm teaching you that if you want a better method, if you want a method which will be easy for you, and the answer is ahavas haTorah. Ahavas haTorah. Then you won't have, first of all, so many ups and downs, that's for sure. And even the downs, what do you mean? They only realize it. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Vayehi kiyamim achadim b'ahavaso— all the ups and downs won't mean anything to you, because l'maaseh, I don't realize nothing at all about getting the Torah. Could you imagine a guy goes out on date, twenty dates to get a girl, yeah? Tell me, and he gets the girl, right? Tell me, well, how does he think about those 20 days? There was pain in the neck, and he had to rent a car, and he had to go, and he had to sit, and he had to stand. But if he likes the girl, he doesn't see the problem in the day, you know? Right, but later on, when you're married for 20 years, some days are good and some days are bad. You stick it out because that's how it goes. That's life. But I'm telling you, listen to me. But if you had the love, you wouldn't have to come and say, It's my chrayis, stick it out. You wouldn't even realize. There's nothing wrong with you. The love is not complete. That's human being. That's right. That's how it goes. Anybody, what's wrong? You want to know something? Can I be honest with you? Can I be honest with you? Listen to me carefully. Listen to me. I'm going to be very dead honest with you. You know, I never do this. This is the first time I ever did a thing like this, right? I ask questions and answers, seminar. This is not my speed. I'll do anything to instill in your heart avodas Hashem. If it means I have to dance on a table to do it, I'll do it. Whatever it takes. Because I'm telling you, you want to be an ish shalem or a ben Torah shalem, I don't know how to drive it into your heart. This is what it is, and that's where I feel that this is where the chisaron. I see it more and more every day. The chisaron in the yeshiva is you lack the havkarah of what avodas Hashem. You lack it. You're not marichim properly. You're not marichim properly. What's marich? Marich means you don't have the right evaluation of what it means, what you're doing. You don't know who you are and what you're doing, because you don't understand it. You are close to the Ribono Shel Olam b'tachlis hadeveikus. Havei ani Hamelech hador. You're in the inner chambers. You're standing with the king all day, and that's through negilah v'nismecha bach, and it's moidig, v'negilah v'nismecha. You see that the simcha comes, and that's this Rambam. If you go back and you read the Mar Mekaimos and just don't take it as a speech, you'll see that it's mamash everything that I said is in the words of the Chazal. That's why asa chein. What's why asa chein? The guy also just to learn Shas, so what's the difference? But he didn't do the treating with him. He walks away with the knowledge, but not with the connecting with Hashem. He doesn't have that because it's—I'll give you the best example. You can have a woman who cleans and she's your servant. You want—if a woman comes and brings you the—stacking Yiddish, you call—stackschich, slippers. Slippers. She brings you slippers. She brings you a coffee. What is that? That's a servant. It's a servant. And if your wife does it, if your wife does it, it's a chiddush, it's also marriage. I'm saying, think about it. If someone else does it, it's a slave. And if your wife does it, what is it? It's the same thing and even more. What's the difference? There's no love, there's no kesher, there's no—she's a servant, you know. The guy who—

Torah is like the service. Yeah, very nice. He did the same pe'ulos. So what's the lo asah chein? He didn't do the treaty. It's going back on the treaty, lo asah chein l'chol goy. And this treaty, rabosai, connects you to the Ribono Shel Olam. And this is ahavas haTorah and chaptzenu k'matmonim. You gotta search it. Not only bikush when you learn. You gotta search it all day and all night. You gotta look, look for the Torah. You gotta look for it more and more and more Torah. It'll come. And if you don't feel that it's there, it will come. Listen to me. Trust me. It will come if you let it come. If you don't make all the cheshbonos, just let the heart feel the ahavas haTorah. It will come. It will come. It will come. Because like I explained to you, why does a person love a wife? That's the way the Ribono Shel Olam creates the briah. And like I said, could be because it's all shechina shruyah beineihem. It's all getting close to the Ribono Shel Olam. That's the bris of chuppah also. That's the bris of chuppah, also with the Eibishter. A person gets the kushya to the Eibishter through shechina shruyah beineihem of a chuppah, through maasim tovim. Every time you do a mitzvah, you get close to the Ribono Shel Olam. That's only a Yid. Only a Yid can. Here, a Shabbos, start talking to the guy Shabbos, how are you, how are you, you know, that's the emes. If you think about it, that's what the Christian did. What did the Christian do? He cut away the mitzvahs, which—what's the point of it, right? What's the point of it? Tell me something. When you have a marriage, right, is the wife supposed to tell the husband—what's the point? I don't understand the point of it. Or is she supposed to tell the husband, since it makes you happy, I'll do it. What's the mahalach? The mahalach is, since it makes you happy, and since you want it, and the fact that you do it because I want it, that's the ikar, the main ahavah. Not everything in a marriage makes sense. Not everything is on paper. Why do you want this? It makes more sense you shouldn't want it. Yeah, but I want it, and since you do it because I want it, it makes me happy. The guy didn't understand all this. He cut it all out of the Torah. He just said, Shatness. What's shatness? What's the point of it? Yeah, we know it's a bris. The Ribono Shel Olam said we should do it, and we're Klal Yisroel, we accept it. We accept it. That's it, because You asked us to do it. Bris. This is not the treaty that he has with the guy. Listen to me, I beg you, work on this. Work on this. Work on this in לימוד, this inyan. You'll see the world will be a different world. A whole different world. A world of Torah, עולם התורה. You'll have hana'ah, you'll have taanug, you'll have everything you could search for in life. Just let it happen. Don't make cheshbonos. Let the heart feel the ruchniyus that comes from the Torah, and you'll feel it. זוכה, ahavas haTorah, ahavas Hashem. You should be zocheh, like the keruvim. HaKadosh Baruch Hu should show us His love, and we should be zocheh to...