Yisro: Experiencing Matan Torah, Seeing the Kolos, and Yiras Haromemus

Transcript

Parshas Yisro. We find Yisro comes to Moshe Rabbeinu to the Midbar. Moshe Rabbeinu greets Yisro, and he begins to tell him an entire speech, an entire geshichte, a story, everything that happened to Klal Yisroel. Vayesaper Moshe l'chosno — this is in perek yud ches, pasuk ches — that Moshe Rabbeinu says over, says over to Yisro everything that happened to Klal Yisroel. Vayesaper Moshe l'chosno, es kol asher asah Hashem l'Paroh ul'Mitzrayim al odos Yisrael, es kol hatla'ah asher metzasam baderech, vayatzilem Hashem. What exactly did he tell him? It says in the pasuk, es kol asher asah Hashem — everything, everything. What's called everything? Ma kavana, everything. It's a very big statement. I tell you everything. So what does a person say when you say that? But tell me, tell me what. So just don't say everything. How long? A long time. So what does the person say? How long? It doesn't say in the pasuk. So Rashi says, Eiz kol hatla, Shal hayam v'Shal Amalek. Rashi says that he taught him, and he told him about Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. That's what he told him. This is how Rashi learns: Eiz kol hashaos Hashem lepara u'leMitzrayim. He taught him about Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. Why is Moshe Rabbeinu telling him this? So Rashi says, limshoch es libo l'karvo l'Torah. This was to draw him, draw him to Torah, to mekarev him. So he told him, Oh, everything that happened, pooh, and this was supposed to move him and excite him, to mekarev him to Torah. The Brisker Rav says a different pshat, a yisaper Moshe because there's a mitzvah. What's the mitzvah? The mitzvah is, sipru b'chol nifla'osav, that you have to say over Hashem's miracles, and that's a form of thanking Hashem. How do you thank Hashem for a miracle? By praising Him for that miracle. So how is Moshe Rabbeinu going to be mekayem sipru kol nifla'osav? Everybody was there; they all saw it. So he found somebody who wasn't there, who didn't see it, Yisro. So right away, so to speak in English, unleashed on him the entire story of Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. So these are two pshatim. or what the kavanah was to say over the praises of Hashem. It's interesting, there's a machlokes when Yisro came. According to one man d'amar in the Gemara, Yisro came before Matan Torah. According to one other man d'amar, Yisro came after Matan Torah. Says the Ramban, perek yud ches, pasuk aleph, if you learn that Yisro came before Matan Torah, so that's why Moshe Rabbeinu didn't tell him over about Matan Torah. But if you learn that Yisro came after Matan Torah, so Yisro didn't see Matan Torah, so why does Moshe Rabbeinu not tell him the miracles of Matan Torah? This is the Ramban's question. According to the man d'amar, according to the opinion in the Gemara that Yisro came after Matan Torah, so he never saw the whole story of Matan Torah. Why didn't he tell him that story, he asks the Ramban. So the Ramban says that could be he did.

Because it says in the pasuk, it says in the pasuk that Yisro went, el hamidbar asher hu choneh sham. Yikach Yisro... The lashon of the pasuk over there. Here. Lama lo amar sheshama ma she'asah l'Moshe l'Yisrael b'matan Torah? And he answers, here, lama lo ksiv lo matan Torah? He says that actually the pasuk, the pasuk, el hamidbar asher hu choneh sham, what is he trying to say? This is going back on Har Sinai, and the answer is that this is what Moshe was telling him. Vayishlach Moshe es chosno, vayelech el artzo. He was trying to tell him, taka, the story about Har Sinai. Okay. Here it's really. Ki me'eilu Har Sinai, me'eilu Har Sinai, v'sifra kasuv sheba el hamidbar asher hu choneh sham, hu midbar Har Elokim Choreivo, vehizkir zeh l'shvach Yisro, she'az azav artzo uva el hamidbar asher hu sham, vavu sheyada shehu Har Elokim. So it's trying to say that actually Yisro was moved by Matan Torah, because it says he went to the midbar, to the desert, asher hu choneh sham, har Elokim, that the mountain of Hashem is there. So obviously he came for what reason? Because he was moved by Har Sinai. But that still doesn't explain the second part of the question: why didn't Moshe tell it to him? Why did Moshe not specifically tell him all this? Understand the question? Let me repeat it again. I wasn't so clear, so I'll repeat it one more time. What did Yisro hear, and what did Yisro get information told from Moshe Rabbeinu? So it says clearly, Vayishma Yisro. What did he hear? He heard Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. The Ramban wants to know if he came after Matan Torah, why doesn't it say that he also heard about Matan Torah? Second of all, why does Moshe Rabbeinu not tell him about Matan Torah? So the Ramban says, you know what? The pasuk says that Yisro went, el hamakom asher choneh sham har Elokim. So obviously part of what he heard, why he came, was har Elokim asher hu choneh sham. But the Ramban doesn't answer: why is it that Moshe doesn't tell him that? Why does Moshe Rabbeinu only tell him about Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek? Now the truth is, there is a little bit of a Rashi that has to be learnt, where Rashi implies that actually Moshe Rabbeinu did tell him. About Matan Torah. Why? Because it says Moshe spoke to him, and right afterwards it says, Vayichad Yisro. Pasuk tes. Yisro became hurt. According to one man d'amar, it means happy. One pshat, according to pshat, means happy. But according to what Rashi says, na'aseh b'saro chidudin chidudin, gave him a little bit of a sharp, sharp edge. What's kol ha'tovah? They heard all the goods, like Rashi: tovas haman, v'habe'er. What's the next word in Rashi? V'haToros. You see clearly that Vayichad Yisro was about Matan Torah. Something about Torah. I don't know if it's mamash Matan Torah, but something about Torah. And this is right after Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to him. Stama, he spoke to him about what? About the Torah as well. You see the Rashi, very interesting Rashi. Surprisingly, the Ramban doesn't bring this Rashi. I don't know why. He may believe there's no such Rashi. There's a Rashi, no? Okay. You want to hear again? Okay, I don't mind telling you again. Ready? Mr. Geico, thank you. You should be gebentched. You should be blessed. Listen carefully.

There's two things that have to be addressed: what did Yisro hear, and what did Moshe Rabbeinu tell him? We find that Yisro was moved on his own. He was moved. Vayishma Yisro, he was moved, and he comes. What did he hear that moved him and he came? Secondly, we have to see, what did Moshe tell him? And Rashi explains it was for what reason? To move him. What was Yisro told by Moshe to be moved? What? So in both places Rashi says it was Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. In both places Rashi says. My question to you is, says the Ramban, if he came after Matan Torah, according to the sheetah in the Gemara that he came after Matan Torah, so that means he never saw Matan Torah. That means he never was told by Moshe Rabbeinu—I'm sorry, it comes out that he himself didn't know Matan Torah. So why doesn't it say by Vayishma Yisro about Matan Torah? He wasn't there. He didn't see it. This was after. And why is Moshe Rabbeinu not telling him about Matan Torah? So the Ramban says he did hear about Matan Torah, maybe, maybe, and he did come and he was moved because of Matan Torah, maybe, because the pasuk says that he came to this place, the Midbar, asher har Elokim chorevah, Hashem's mountain. Which refers to Har Sinai, Har Elokim. So you see that had something to do with what? With Matan Torah that he came. But the Ramban doesn't answer or address the second problem. So why was Moshe not telling him that? He came for Kriyas Yam Suf. He came for מלחמת עמלק, and still Moshe felt that he must repeat over that story. How come Matan Torah Moshe Rabbeinu didn't feel that he has to tell him over? That is the question. Another point that has to be addressed: be'emes, if you look at Rashi on the pasuk Vayichad Yisro, which means that after Moshe speaks to him, either he was happy or he was what? Chidudim, something hurted, right? Rashi goes and says that what was it? Al kol hatov, all the good that happened. This is going back on mon and Torah. So you see that either Yisro knew about the Matan Torah, and even more specific, it's implied in the pasuk that this is what Moshe told him, because it's mashma Vayichad Yisro is the result of Moshe discussing with him. Moshe speaks to him. The reading of the pasuk is Vayichad Yisro, that because of this, as a result of this, continuation of this is that he felt something, either happy or hurt. And on this Rashi says, Torah. So then you see that Moshe must have said something about it, according to Rashi, because he says clearly that that's what the Vayichad Yisro was. Unless you say that there's a difference between Torah and— Matan Torah. Notice, toivas haman isn't the way the man was given; it's the thing itself, the good of the object. Habe'er is the good of the well. It doesn't say the nes; it says the toiv, the fact that Hashem did them favors. So Torah in itself is good, but it still doesn't mean that He told them over the miraculous story of Matan Torah. That's probably why the Ramban doesn't say—well, you see, Rashi learns that Moshe told them about Matan Torah, because he didn't say Matan Torah; it says what? Torah. You want to see what I just did for you? I just learned with you the pesukim. I read with you, that most people don't bother reading the words in the text. This is the text of the Chumash. Matan Torah is not part of the essay, part of the speech that Moshe gives to Yisro. Why not? The Ramban doesn't answer it. The Ramban tries from this to prove, kanireh, that this would be a proof to the shitas that ... before Matan Torah, and therefore he saw it on his own.

Okay. I was thinking of a little bit of a different answer to start with, just to be mezakeh b'derech efshar, and then I'm going to tell you what I really think is a beautiful emesdike pshat, why Moshe Rabbeinu is not telling Klal Yisroel—excuse me, Yisro—excuse me, not telling Yisro about Matan Torah. The first answer I would say is, according to the Brisker Rav, that he was saying it over not so much to be mekarev, not so much to be mekarev Yisroel, but he was doing it, saying it over to thank Hashem for the nissim. Al derech, on the derech of what? On the derech of sipur kol niflaosav, that a person has to praise Hashem by repeating and discussing the miracles that He did. I could say an interesting chiluk between the miracles of Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek over the miracles of Matan Torah. The miracles of Milchemes Amalek and Kriyas Yam Suf were for the good of Klal Yisroel, to save them. Hashem gave the miracles of Matan Torah. The point of it was not to save or to bring a yeshuah to Klal Yisroel. It was, as the pasuk we'll soon learn tells us, in order to bring fear, in order to build up Matan Torah. So maybe those miracles don't have a chiyuv sipur b'kol niflaosav. There's no chiyuv. The chiyuv is, Hashem did me a favor, so how do I thank Him? By speaking over those miracles. Here, think about it. How could a person—now let's learn what it says here. How could a person thank Hashem? Hashem needs your thank you. Hashem needs your thank you. The answer is, the only thing Hashem could have from you is that you could recognize that He did it. There's nothing that you could repay Hashem with. The only thing that you could do to bring a nachas ruach to Hashem, who gave you—I'm going to go one step further, you'll hear a little bit deeper now—is not even the appreciation, but the hakarah that it was, and I'll explain to you why. Because why is Hashem doing all these toivos? So the Ramchal tells me, Hashem is doing all this is because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is rav tov. He's trying to give. He's trying to do you chesed, ki chafetz chesed Hu. Hashem enjoys, so to speak, quote unquote, whatever that means, but al kol panim, in a simple sense, He appreciates to give. When is it giving? When the person, the recipient, understands that he's getting. Otherwise, the person himself doesn't appreciate the good that he got, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu should appreciate that He gave him that good. Think about it. Why does Hashem need you to say thank you? Why does He need it for? And the answer is, there's something inherent in the kedushas haborei. Ki chofetz chesed, that He wants to do. He wants to give. He wants to make the other person have pleasure. Rav Chaim tells us that's why we're even here in the first place, that we should earn our own Olam Haba. So what does HaKadosh Baruch Hu have when He gives chesed? The fact that you got, that you were neheneh, that you enjoyed from HaKadosh Baruch Hu's chesed. That itself is what HaKadosh Baruch Hu appreciates. But if you don't appreciate, so that means you don't have hana'ah. Because someone who takes things for granted doesn't appreciate. פירוש, he doesn't have hana'ah. He doesn't really enjoy. The only time you enjoy is when you don't take the thing for granted. Do you enjoy the fact that you're here? No, because you take it for granted that you're here. Ultimately, you enjoy. But do you have a ta'anug from the fact that you're here? No. The moment you realize that it's not a given, and you don't take it for granted, then you say, Wow, I hear. The Ribbono Shel Olam wants to hear, Wow, I hear. So the appreciation of the thing that Hashem has given you, that...

Itself is what Hashem appreciates, because He's a rav chesed. He wants to do chesed to the world. So by saying over the miracles, I'm showing that I appreciate it. That's the pshat. Maybe by something that Hashem ischar mei for my benefit, a yeshuah, a chesed. But it could be where Hashem does miracles not specifically for my gain and benefit. Maybe that I gain from it. Matan Torah, l'ba'avur yityeh yir'oso al pneichem. Of course it was for our benefit, but it wasn't for our salvation, our yeshuah. Those miracles don't need sifru b'chol nifl'osav to show that we appreciate. And mimeila, according to the pshat of the Brisker Rav, I could hear why he didn't tell him about Matan Torah's miracles, but rather about Kriyas Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. Did everyone just understand what I said? Daniel, do you agree with what I said? Yeah, I guess. I mean, there's something. You think. You have to analyze it again. Okay, I'm going to say it even one more time, because I want you to hear it, because, rabosai, listen carefully. The yesodos of hashgachah are very much intertwined in the words I've just said. It's part of the yesod of what Yehudi is. We know Yehudi is that he's able to praise Hashem, hodaah, that everybody knows. I'm sure every person sitting here heard it a thousand times. But I want you to understand that it's inherent in why we are Yehudim, that we understand the vital role Hodaah plays in who we are, in our metzius. Ratz HaKadosh Baruch Hu lezakos es Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos. Hashem has given us mitzvos. Hashem has given us Torah. For what reason? Hashem has given it to us because lezakos es Yisrael. He wants to give to Klal Yisrael. It's for our merit, our benefit. Yehudi is not just that we're able to praise Hashem. It's that we accepted His Torah in a way that we understand that we gain from it. Hodaah is not just a side element of quality, that we're able to be modeh. It's that we took Hashem's Torah and we appreciate it. We realize the zechus that we have. Ashreinu mah tov chelkeinu, u'ma na'im goralenu, u'ma yafah yerushaseinu. And that's Yehudi. Yehudi is not that we're people that thank Hashem. You know, many people say, Thank God, everything, Thank God, thank God. You know the famous story with Stalin. You see, over that Stalin trained the people in Russia to say, Thank the Father, the Führer. You always had to thank, whatever happened, you had to thank the Führer, Father, the Führer. And then you always had to thank Mother Russia, Mother Russia and Father Führer. That's the way it was. So Stalin supposedly did one of his fluff jobs, his PR jobs, and he went into a classroom, trained the kids to say, Thank the Führer and thank Mother Russia. So he said to a little child, What happens if Father Führer Stalin comes and gives you a bicycle? What would you say? The kid raises his hand. I would say, Thank the Führer. What happens if you got a tremendous, a house, you bought a house? What are you supposed to say? You're supposed to say, Thank the Führer. Everything is thank the Führer. And the kids were answering the way they're supposed to answer. Then he asked them, What happens if Father Führer dies? מיד, a kid got up and said, Then I'll thank the...

How's ... get to ...? Who? The fury was with Stalin. Stalin forced the Jews. Maybe you guys don't know, Stalin used to force that everything had to be him. You have to thank him, the father. You know, it's interesting. Every dictator, every dictator has this machlah. They said about Saddam Hussein — I don't want to say ... — it's probably ... that he was put away, put out of business, euthanized. He used to ask people, Tell me, if I give you something, you'll appreciate it? And he would take away from one and give to the other, right in front, like a doll. He would just see a kid with a doll, he'd grab it and say, Here, it's for you. What do you say? Say, Thank you, Saddam. He had to hear, Thank you, Saddam. It's a davar pashut, but they said it was on the news when he was killed. Some lady who it happened to her said over this story. She said that he used to confuse people. On one hand, you knew he was a ruthless dictator, rasha, rotzeach, but he was able to get you to say thank you to him because he did you favors that you would want to say thank you to him. It's a davar pashut pele. A Yehudi isn't just that he's able to say thank you. It's deeper. It's that he appreciates. Appreciates. He appreciates the Torah. He appreciates that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave him the Torah, and we're soon going to see that this is the taich in Yadus. It's not just that we say thank you. Goyim also know how to say thank you. Thank God. They say thank God on every little thing. But is it a pshat that they believe, Ashreinu, mah tov chelkeinu, u'ma na'im goraleinu, u'ma yafah yerushaseinu? That's something else. That's what it means that a Jew is a Yehudi, because he realizes, he appreciates what he has. And this, rabosai, is to be modeh that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is looking for. He's not looking for the external thank you and the kavod that comes from the thank you. He's looking for the appreciation of it. And this is sipru b'chol nifl'osav. The question is going to be, maybe the chiyuv sipru b'chol nifl'osav could be by miracles which are for our yeshuah. Stam, to say over Hashem's miracles of Matan Torah, maybe that's not the chiyuv of sipru b'chol nifl'osav. Maybe, according to Rashi, that he was doing it to be mekarev, he was talking to Yisro to be mekarev Yisro. What greater way to be mekarev Yisroi, tell him about Matan Torah? The opposite. If the whole inyan of Matan Torah is to make the ma'aminim of ma'aminim Har Sinai, HaKadosh Baruch Hu and Torah and so on, so what, you have to tell him about Amalek? Better tell him about Ma'amad Har Sinai. They're tell him about Matan Torah than to tell him about Amalek. If your kavanah is to be mekarev, tell me, in the seminars, do they talk about the greatness of Torah and Matan Torah, or do they talk about Amalek? I just want to know. What? When you want to be mekarev somebody, what do you tell them? By the way, Hashem with Amalek, you would talk about Amalek? I want to know. Anybody here runs a seminar? You run a seminar? Is one of the topics, Amalek, to discuss the miracles Hashem did to us in Amalek? I never heard that. I would say, talk about Torah, talk about Matan Torah. Especially that there's a chiyuv not to forget Maimer Har Sinai. It's one of the chiyuvim. One of the chiyuvim is to teach the future generations Maimer Har Sinai. And the reason for that is because Maimer Har Sinai does play a vital role in our respect for Torah, our want to be an oved Hashem and a lomeid Torah. So if he wants to be mekarev him, that should have been the first thing. The first and main thing to tell him would be about Maimer Har Sinai. Let me tell you what I think the real teretz is. I'll tell you what I think the real teretz is. Maimer Har Sinai cannot be a discussion, a story told to you.

Had to visually experience it yourself. Yes. I'm telling you, in other words, let me tell you what I'm doing. What I'm doing is I'm trying to understand: why is he not telling him about Ma'amad Har Sinai? According to Rashi, the kavanah is lekarev him. Bishlama according to the Brisker Rav, maybe sefer ... is a din in yeshudik in Yisrael. According to Rashi, once you mekarev him, Ma'amad Har Sinai is it. That's it. What brings yiras Shamayim? Ma'amad Har Sinai. You want to mekarev someone, talk to him about Ma'amad Har Sinai. From generation to generation, mechuyav to teach Ma'amad Har Sinai. You should not forget, vzacharta es hayom asher amadta lifnei Hashem Elokecha bChorev. You have to remember that ma'amad. So say it over to Yisrael; he wasn't there. And the answer is, certain things you have to be there. It's not enough to give it over. Now you can ask me a question: so then how come there's a mitzvah to give it over to your children; they weren't there? I want you to know a few things. First thing is, Chazal tell us every nefesh in Klal Yisrael was actually there. And I never understood, why does it have to be? Why does it have to be that every nefesh is there? It's not a story that can be told to you in a Broadway play. It has to be an experience. All of vzachartas in the Torah, by the way, is a reminder of something that you know. Vzacharta cannot be something taught to you. You know this? You know that the word vezochart is not teaching. Vezochart is a reminder. I'll give you an example. There's a mitzvah called Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim. Then there's a mitzvah called Zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim. You know the difference? When we get closer to Pesach, we'll talk. Reb Chaim Brisker and Reb Brisker Rav and all the Acharonim discuss the difference. There's one simple pshat that most of the mefarshim say. Sippur is once a year, the night of Pesach, teaching. Every night is zechirah. It's a reminder, a quick chazarah on what you learned the night of Pesach. The word zechirah is a reminder. Tizkor is to remember. When a person experiences Ma'amad Har Sinai, he can be reminded, and his father can remind his son because his son was also there. But for somebody who was not there, for someone who was not there, you cannot go and tell it to him. You cannot go and give him a story of Ma'amad Har Sinai, because it's not going to have the effect. Miracles, yeah. You want to get a guy? Yeah, you want to excite a guy? You talk to him about miracles. Miracle, get excited. Ma'amad Har Sinai doesn't work that way. You had to see it. And when you saw it and you experienced it, it had an effect on you. Yisro was not there. Agav, there's a famous Gra that says that even the neshamos of the gerim were there. The Gra says, why is the ger forced from within? There's something, an inner feeling that forces him to become a Jew. I've seen gerim, I spoke to about this, that they would give up their lives if they couldn't become the ger. If you didn't accept them, they were ready to not live. They couldn't live this way. And that's one of the signs that a rav accepts a ger. You're not supposed to accept gerim unless you see they're sincere. One of the signs of sincerity is that they say to you, I'm not ready to live on like this. I'm finished. Either you accept me or my life is over. What's the inner calling? The Goyen says that their nefesh was also on Har Sinai. Their neshamos were also on Har Sinai. There's another piece to the Goyen, that there's many, many people amongst the nations who wanted to accept the Torah. When Hashem came to the Goyen and said, Accept the Torah, you think everybody said no? Some that said yes. Those that said yes later on come back. But the Goyen also says that the neshamos of the gerim were on Har Sinai. What about Yisro? Was Yisro's neshama on Har Sinai?

But that's a little different. It's tricky. Why? Because Yisro was still alive. So you would have to say some kind of spooky asmosis, that Yisro, on one hand, his nefesh was in him, but at the same time, a trip to some other... I'm a little nervous. For the mekubalim, for the mekubalim, you'll have a field day. This is a field day for the mekubalim. But I'm not into that shetach. That's not my expertise. But I'm just telling you, it's interesting. Yisro was not by Ma'amad Har Sinai, and because he wasn't by Ma'amad Har Sinai, there was no way to give him to see Ma'amad Har Sinai. There was no way to even repeat him the entire story with all its details and have him be tofes to understand Ma'amad Har Sinai. Therefore he tells the miracles: Yam Suf, and all good. Matan Torah remains, so to speak, a mystery. It's not for Yisro. Not the story. So Torah, that's what I'm telling you. He told him about the Torah. Told him there was a good thing, Klal Yisroel got a Torah. But to come and explain to him Ma'amad Har Sinai, you can't. You can't give it over. Now I'm going to show you that I'm 100% right, because we're going to discuss what was Ma'amad Har Sinai. Was it realistic? Was it really there, or was it virtual? You know, in English we have something called a virtual reality. It's an interesting shaylah, no? You ever thought about it? Of course it happened, right? I'm going to show you that many Rishonim learned that it never happened, and even that it did happen, it didn't happen the way you think it happened, that you saw it with your own two eyes. Are you asking me a kasha that the pasuk says clearly that they saw? It says clearly, Vayechsu es Elokim. The end of the Mishpatim, it says they saw! I'm going to show you that not everything that you see at first is what it really is. That's not necessarily the pshat in the pasuk. We're going to discuss it right now. If you take a look, the pasuk, perek chaf, pasuk tes-vav, after Aseres HaDibros, it says, Vechol ha'am ro'im es hakolos. Perek chaf, pasuk tes-vav. You see it? Vechol ha'am ro'im es hakolos v'es halapidim. Do you know anybody who could see a sound? I'm not sure how that works. Do you know anybody, huh? They saw, but it says that it's a sound, kol. You know how to see sound? It's interesting. Do you know anybody who can see sound? You know such a thing? So Rashi discusses. It says, Rashi, how could you see sound? Says Rashi, ro'im es hanishma, they saw sound. She'efshar liros b'makom acher. You're right. This is something that can't be done any other time or place. You look at the Rishonim, it was a miracle. It's a nes. It's a miracle that they saw. They saw. Can I ask you a question? Why would they need to tremble? What's wrong if they heard? What do you have to see for? What's wrong if you hear what's being said? You have to see what's being said. My grandfather, zecher tzaddik v'bracha, the sefer, brings this question. He says, What's the...? Hamefareshim hitrichu. They have big difficulty to understand why would Hashem make a miracle like this. What's the point of this miracle? So he wants to say that ein adoina re'iyah l'shmiah. When you see something, it has more of an effect on you than to hear it. And he brings from the Ari HaKadosh that when you do hagbah, you're supposed to look at the words and see, to read the words from the letters themselves. You know, yeshiva guys, they stand there putting their face into the Sefer Torah because they have to read the words and see it. That comes from the Ari HaKadosh. Why? Says the Ari HaKadosh, because the words give off a light, a certain ohr, and it's not enough just to view it, but you got to really see it till you read it. And that will give off ohr haTorah, v'chulei v'chulei. You can spend some time on it. You're free to look it up in the Ari HaKadosh. I was thinking to myself, there's a whole shaila if there's a hefsed on kriyah of Kriyas HaTorah. Al be'etzem—what are you laughing for?—be'etzem it's not...

It is the sefer Chazonish, she takes off his glasses. Why? Because since there's a kriah and the glasses mafsik, it separates the eye from the... and you want that it should get direct ohr to be mashpia on the eyes. You like it, huh? The white hatters are coming down. Chassidim. The white hatters with the carpets are coming out. Glasses. His glasses, consider that. Chazonish. We once saw this inside, that in the Chazonish sefarim it's written that not to wear glasses. So maybe according to the Ari HaKadosh also hagbah. So it's not enough, you should stand there and put your face into the Sefer Torah, but if you don't see well, you should get your face right onto the oisiyos to see the ohr. You're laughing. It's all nice stuff. Good shailas. Good shaila. Okay. It says, my grandfather al kol panim, this will answer: why did they have to see the koilos? And the answer is because the ohr, the light, the hashpaah that came from the koilos, you have much more if you saw it than if you heard it. Interesting. And how they saw the kol? I'm going to soon show you that this koilos that they actually heard was the words of Hashem saying the Aseres HaDibros. Why are you saying like it's so pashut? It's not so pashut. Most Rishonim don't learn like that. To him it's pashut. It's a big shaila. We're going to get there. It's a machlokes. A machlokes learns that what is these koilos? These koilos are the words of Hashem. It came through as lightning and thunder, and it went on to the scroll, so to speak, the chomer of the Aseres HaDibros. So the re'iyas hakolos is to see what? Amish, the words of the Torah. Where does the Mechilta know this from? Kol Hashem chotzev lahavos eish. The kol of Hashem came forth as eish, as fire. Torah is called eish, thus. Says the Mechilta that these kolos are the words of Hashem, which came as fire, and it carved out onto the Aseres HaDibros, the actual Aseres HaDibros of the Torah, v'chulei v'chulei. So to see the kolos, I understand now, is very similar to seeing the words of the Torah of Hakbah, that my grandfather compares to what the Ari said that you're supposed to what? See the actual words. But we're going to have to discuss this a little bit more. What are these kolos? What are they? Before we get to this, I want to ask you a bunch of questions to show you that if you think you understood it by just saying over the Mechilta, kolos, arizal, you're very far from the truth, and I'll explain to you what I mean. If you take a look, if you notice, where does it say that they saw the kolos? Before Matan Torah? Before the Torah was given? During Matan Torah or after the Torah was given? They may not pashut reading the pesukim. Chapter, to double shel Pele. Nobody notices this. It's something you should notice. It doesn't say during Matan Torah they saw the kolos. It says it where? It says it afterwards. Many Rishonim learn. The Ramban, the Abarbanel speaks about it. That actually this is nothing new. This was the old story, but the Torah somehow felt to stop in the middle with Aseres HaDibros, then it goes back to the original, Kol am ro'im es hakolos. It's like ein מוקדם ומאוחר; it's like a continuing that you should know, and now I'm going to keep on telling you the story. We'll take a little break. I'll give you the Aseres HaDibros, and now I'll continue with what really happened before Matan Torah. Interesting, huh? Comes out, so really, ein מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה. It's interesting. The whole thing is not— it was Matan Torah, Aseres HaDibros, then we go back to our Matan Torah. By the way, I want to give you a little more information. Baalei haTosafos disagree with this, and they say parshah zu pesuchah. It starts with an open parshah, Kol am ro'im es hakolos. Why? Because it's a new parshah, and this was actually after Matan Torah. After Matan Torah, v'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos. This is not the kolos of Matan Torah. Nothing. That's the question. It's very interesting. Something's wrong. If you're not talking about Matan Torah and it's a whole new story, v'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos...

Right, then it says further, oh, ... So what happened? Something's not right here. Something is not mesudar here. The Baalei HaTosafos say this pasuk happened after Matan Torah. What happened here? Good, but that's to learn that this happened before. But according to the Baalei HaTosafos, this happened after. Parshah zu... You can't make it up here. Baalei HaTosafos. I read it for you. I read it for you here. Rabbeinu Bariches, he brings two shitos, famous, famous Torah. Says the Eliyah Rabbah... Yeah, yeah, you listening to this? Listen to unbelievable stuff. ... Parshah zu pesuchah, ki hi ma'aseh bifnei atzmah. After, you would have dibros. It's a new story after Aseres HaDibros. What's he saying? I don't understand. What's the... And the answer is, Hashem made a miracle that you could. So whatever it is, when did it happen? My friend, you ask a good kasha. You know who asks this kasha? Rashi. Rashi says, How could you hear sound? And the answer is, You're right, you can't hear. They were able to hear sound. ... It was a nes. My grandfather wants, what do you need the nes? The answer is, if I see it, it's more than I hear. Okay, but when did this happen? This didn't happen before Matan Torah. Good. Now. Can I ask you another question? If you take a look at perek yud tes, pasuk tes. Does anybody like to read and then say to himself, well, there's a very big contradiction going on over here. Yeah? No? Yes! What? Bagur! Yishma ha'am bedabri. Oh, bagur yishma bedabri. They heard? I thought you said they saw. Why would the pasuk say that they would hear? Say bagur yiru, they should see. I mean, if you're teaching me that they saw, no? The answer is—I'm sorry, before the answer, the question is, so why would you say that they saw? Say, no, say that they—I'm sorry, so why do you say that they heard? You should say that they saw. The answer could be, the way we're learning is gargeshmak, right? Because this was before Matan Torah. This was after Matan Torah. Two different stories. Before Matan Torah, they heard. After Matan Torah, they saw. And to throw into the mix, I'll tell you over a gevaldige pshat from the Brisker Rav, which is mamash muchach in the pesukim: bagur yishma ha'am bedabri imach. When I speak to you, they should hear. But then afterwards they complain. Klal Yisrael said, Retzoneinu lirois es Malkeinu. Why are you talking to Moshe? Moshe speak to us. We don't need no shlichim. Talk to us directly. And what does Hashem say? Fine, I'll talk to you directly. If you notice, when does it say, Lech vigalta es ha'am? Where does it say it? When Hashem originally tells him that He's going to talk to him, or afterwards? When was the chiyuv hagbalah and the chiyuv to be poresh min ha'isha and all these halachos? The second time. Why? says the Brisker, because the first time was only, Vayishma ha'am bedabri imach. They're going to hear as I talk to you. They complained; they didn't want that. So Hashem says, Oh, you want Me to talk to you directly? Oh, it's a whole new set of rules. There's a chiyuv hagbalah, and then there's a chiyuv hachanah for mikveh. There's a chiyuv perishah min ha'isha. There's many halachos. When you are in the presence of Hashem, that He is talking directly to you, it's a different set of laws. So originally it was only, Vayishma ha'am bedabri imach. Like Dilma, or we could say, Gargeshmak, that originally it was yishma, and ro'inas hakolos was there yishma. He spoke to Moshe and they saw? No. This is not shemiah. This was not intent.

It was intended for shmiah that became re'iyah. Let's start again. The way the Brisker Rav learns, originally the plan was Hashem will talk to Moshe. Klal Yisroel will overhear the conversation. They were upset. Tzeneinu liros malkeinu, Chazal tell us they complained, talked to us directly. Daber atah imanu v'nishma. We want to hear directly from You. Hashem says, Oh, in that case, oh, special halachos. Says the Brisker Rav, that's the re'iyah. That's the chelek of seeing. According to this comes out gargeshmak, right? So it's not a contradiction that it says yishma and later it says re'iyah, because it's two different scenarios. Dilma all we could say, and this I hold is true and we'll explain it to you in great depth, it was shmiah. Not only it was shmiah, physically it was shmiah. Spiritually it was re'iyah. You ask me a question: how could it be? How could the senses of eye see sound? And the teretz is, who said it's with senses? With senses it was shmiah. In ruchniyus it was re'iyah, and I'll explain to you. I'm not finished yet, but I'll prove it to you first, you'll realize that I'm 100% right. You notice that when a slave wants to stay by his master, we pierce something. You know what we pierce? His ear. Why the ear? Says Rashi, ozen sheshama al Har Sinai. Oh, is this Shama Har Sinai? I thought you just said that ro'in es hakolos. The Mechilta just told me that they were able to see it, so why ro'in? Why shmiah? Why ozen? Okay, so the answer is, I just told you that according to the man d'amar that the kolos uvrakim—I'm sorry, the kolos. Okay, so let me tell you a piece of information. Maybe I didn't get in order. Tell me what these kolos are, ro'in es hakolos. What are they? So it's a machlokes, the Rishonim. Rashi learns they heard hadibros yotzos m'pi HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Go ahead, look it up. I'm not making it up. Ro'in es hakolos, says Rashi. No? What does Rashi say they are? That's the first Rashi. The second one, no? Third Rashi. This is the piece, the next line, the next two words, no? Could you read me the Rashi? Ro'in es hanishma. Go ahead, no? Hayotzim m'pi hagevurah. The kolos that came from Hashem, they came directly. They heard Aseres HaDibros. The Mechilta is just telling me that those Aseres HaDibros came as bombs, came as torpedoes, fireballs, because Hashem is fire and His word is fire. But they heard the dibros. The Rashbam learns, it's talking about the kolos uvrakim, thunders and lightnings and fire. It has nothing to do with the Aseres HaDibros. Look at the Rashbam. Read the Rashbam. Habarad v'habarad, the stones, the hail, it was fire, it was noise, it was shofar, it was— It was a loud situation, but had nothing to do with Aseres HaDibros. But according to Rashi, it was the Aseres HaDibros. If they saw the kolos, Rashi says it was the Aseres HaDibros, so why is it, Oyzeshishama al Har Sinai? It should be the eyes that saw Har Sinai. So someone's going to say, Yeah, what do you want, to pierce his eyes? I don't know. Maybe because an ear, you can pierce. But that's not what the Rashi says. Rashi says it's because the ear that heard it. Today, believe me, they'll come up with an eitzah how to pierce eyes. They have ear piercings, the eyelids. Okay, okay, so I see you know too much pekius. Tell me, Daniel, you don't like my kashya? Who asked the kashya? I take the Chazal and I choke it. I'm choking the Chazal. What are you saying? What are you telling me? You tell me they saw it. On the other hand, and you tell me, because it's not enough to hear it, you got to see it. So how could Chazal turn around? Rashi brings it down. Rashi brings down, Oyzeshishama. Let me tell you over a little bit Rishonim on what Ro'inas HaKolos mean. Maybe it'll give us a little more understanding to be meyashev the kashya. The Tur says, Ro'inas HaKolos...

What are you talking about? Who sees kolos? And the answer is that shmia and re'iyah is interchangeable, but you don't mean much. Lav davka. You know, it's not, I experienced it. Yeah, I heard it, I saw it. He says sometimes, Re'u ki Hashem nasan... I see. What do you mean, see? I heard. I'm telling you, I'm talking to you. Sometimes it becomes interchangeable. The Chizkuni says when you hear something, and it's not just you heard it, but you accepted and you know it for a fact, we could use a stronger language as re'u. Chalam, re'inas hakol. It's not just they heard it, but they heard it and saw it. They saw it? No, but they heard it. It's so clear and it was so barur, ad sheyecholim l'hasig es zeh b'milim shel... lichtov es zeh b'milim shel yedia. I saw another pshat in the Rishonim. When you want to talk about hearing, you use the word shmia. When you want to talk about understanding, you use the word re'u, re'iyah. Re'u ki Hashem nasan lachem es haShabbos. Can't see the Shabbos. You can hear that I'm telling you that, right? So when I say shimu, I mean literally to hear. When I say re'u, I mean to comprehend. It's a deeper hearing. Famous pshat that everybody says, Vayishma Yisro... mashmua shamu uva. It's not enough to hear, but it's to hear and comprehend and to be moved. When you want to talk about... I understand. That's by Yisro, it says Vayishma, because there it's not that he... He heard. It's not important. The point is, whenever you want to discuss havanah, you don't just say shmiah; you say re'iyah. You discuss re'iyah. I want to show you what bothers me here in the pasuk, and then you'll see how beautiful this pshat of the Rishonim is. Vechol ha'am ro'im es hakolos. What's the chiddush of the chol ha'am? Just to say the people, ha'am ro'eh — what's the chol, all the people? So Rashi says a nice drashah: even the ones who were blind were able to see. Wait a sec. Even the ones who were blind were able to see. You're talking about a physical seeing, and that's the whole pshat in the pasuk then. According to Rashi, it would come out that the vechol means blind people, that even though they were blind, they were able to see because they became seeing; they became healthy. But you're anyway not talking about the physical things that happened there. You're talking about Daseres HaDibros. So what's the vechol ha'am? Now I want to tell you further: actually, it's not learned from that pasuk. Look at this, look at the Rishonim. It's not learned from the vechol ha'am ro'im es hakolos, that the blind were able to see; it's learned from a different pasuk. You have it? You have it? The ... asks a kashya? Here. Here. Here. Oh, af al gav. Here. We learned out from this pasuk. Who wants to look at Yud Tes Yud Aleph? Look at Yud Tes Yud Aleph, the Rashi. Go ahead, look at the Rashi. Yud Tes Yud Aleph. No? Yeah. La'einei kolam. So we already learned it. It says clearly that by Matan Torah, la'einei kolam. What does la'einei kolam mean? You say it, la'einei kolam, lamed, lahaya bahem suma. Sorry, I want you to, like, that result to get it into your mind. What's la'einei kolam? So Rashi already said it. Rashi, here it's gevaldig kasha, beautiful. Rashi already taught me la'einei kolam, that they weren't blind. Let me ask you another kasha. It says, Vayar kolam. They saw all the koilos. Does Rashi say only the blind got healed? Even ones that were limping, and even the ones that had this disease or that disease, everybody got healed. How does that have to do with vayar kolam? It's hakoilos. What, what?

To come and say that they saw, what does it mean that they all became healthy? I'm going to tell you what I think the pashut pshat is. I want to know what was this seeing? Was it reality? Did they see a realistic thing? Or it was a nevuah? The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim and the Barbenel, big discussions. Was it muchshi or was it medumeh? Was this really happening? Because someone stood there and he would look. You know, I once went to a park with my kids a year ago, and they had this virtual thing. You ever see the way? And you hear them screaming and yelling, and everybody's looking at them like, Meshugaim. You know who was mechadesh that ride? The Torah by Ma'amad Har Sinai. It says that everybody was, Vayaras hakolos, Vayanu, Vayamdu meirachok. They were shaking, and everybody's looking at them. These guys are just crazy. What are they shaking for? There's nothing there. There's nothing there. Originally, the kolos, was it l'einei kol Yisrael that they saw? Originally, was it l'einei kol Yisrael? Yeah. So assuming we're able to see, that's a chiddush, l'einei kol Yisrael, physical. This Vayaras hakolos is something completely different. This was deep. They saw something else. This was nevuah. Could a person who is a chiger have nevuah? No. This has nothing to do with sight. Vechol ha'am ro'im es hakolos has to do with nevuah. Meileh it's a chiddush. Vechol ha'am. Even what? Even those that were sick and broken, everybody got healed. Why is that stopping the... Why? Because that's halacha. The Rambam brings it down that Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu shoreh al kli shavur. You have to be complete. That's one. Yes, that's a whole perek in the Rambam. That's halacha l'maaseh in the Rambam. Who says perek? I want to know, because then you haven't heard this. It's gevaldik. You see the Rashi. I showed you an open Rashi. Rashi says two places the same thing. What does he say? We already learned that the blind saw. We learned this already. We learned in the beginning, Le'einei kol Yisrael, yud tes, in the beginning, not here, b'Cholam. And the answer is, Vecholam ro'ines hakolos. Shmua. How can you be a navi if you're blind, if you're this, if you're that? The answer is, Ribono Shel Olam healed them. That's Vecholam. Chiddush is everybody was able to see. They all became neviim. Everybody at Har Sinai became a navi. Now we have a pshat here. Vecholam ro'ines hakolos. It wasn't just what... Let me ask you a question. A navi gets a vision. Does he see it? No. Is it there? No, it's in his head. But does he see it? He sees it. Of course. Imagination. Of course. Virtually he sees it. Virtually. What does a navi see that's there, at the same time it's not there? Physically. Huh? An image. Does anybody remember the gal shel atzamos, which Yechezkel—remember the story? Was it there? What? Of course. It was there. Of course it was. He came to the valley and—he saw it. I don't know, so I'm— They said, yeah. Now, they didn't see it. So why would everybody say that if that's not what it says in the pasuk? So I think that they were there. They were there. Yeah. Let me tell you something. There are things that are there that we're just not on the madreigah to see. There are things that are there, and we're not on the madreigah to see. The navi is able to see, to see, but normal eyes can't see. It's possible that we can't see sound because we're not ro'ui to see sound. I'll tell you a mashal. Is sound a physical thing? Does anybody know if sound is physical? The sound barrier. We all know that, right? It's—what do you call that? Currents that go against the walls, the—right? The waves, sound waves. They're not there? They're there.

We can't see it. They want a certain darga. They were able to see sound. This was the koach of a navi, to see sound, to see something which is there, but the eye can't necessarily pick it up. So of course it's oyzes shema. It is oyzes shema in the physical world, especially to the person who's not keeping the Torah. This is what I'm trying to get at. When was the Vayares Hakolos? When was this? And the answer is, Vayares Hakolos after they experienced Matan Torah. You can't take a ma'amar Har Sinai and give it to a person to understand. It's like explaining color to a blind man. You cannot take color and explain it to someone who never saw it. Ma'amar Har Sinai, it's the same thing, because it's a spiritual ma'amar. So either you experience it or you don't. It can't be explained. Can I explain to you a spiritual thing? There's nothing. Either you see it or you don't. Once you see it, then we can talk about it. What am I going to tell you? Fireballs. What am I going to tell you? It was skies and boomings. Okay, Broadway plays have the same thing. You're right. What kind of play? It was unbelievable, and the Wizard of Oz, and cave, and blowing up. Okay, very good. Now, that's not what this is about. This was a spiritual chizayon that cannot be told to Yisrael. Yisrael couldn't have been explained. It's like giving a blind man to understand colors. But when did this happen? This happened after Ma'amad Har Sinai. Vayares hakolos v'es halapidim v'es ha'esh bo'er. They were only able to see it after Aseres HaDibros, after they said Naaseh v'Nishma. That's the pshat. We ask, why all of a sudden do you stop, and then vayares hakolos? Vayanu vayamdu meirachok. They were far away. That's why the pasuk continues. They were far away. Does that mean that they didn't see it? They saw. You could see very far away. The pasuk is stressing that it wasn't a physical seeing. Otherwise, what's vayamdu meirachok? What are you trying to say, that they far away? See, this is from a busy ... with this yesod, vayamdu meirachok, that as close as they got, they realized how far they really are. All right, I'm not saying it's nice Torah. It's truthfully, in pshat, it's gevaldig. They saw regardless of how far they were, because it wasn't about their physical eye seeing. I want to show you over a few kashas that the Abarbanel asks. It's also misyaashev with this. The Abarbanel asks, why do we have to talk about es hakolos, es halapidim? Why don't you talk about that they saw Hashem? V'hinei Yisrael mehakol Elokim pachdu. They heard Hashem's voice, so they were afraid of Hashem. Daber atah v'nishma; you speak to us or we're going to die. So why does it say that they got scared of what? Of the thunders, the lightnings. You hear the Abarbanel's kasha? So according to the Mechilta... It's beautiful, because the kailos ubrakim was what? It was the dvar Hashem. Second question. It says in the pasuk, Ki levavur na'sos eschem ba Elokim, that Manah from Sinai was to test you. What kind of test could it be? What's this test? What does Manah from Sinai have to do with a test? Beautiful question. You ever think about it? Ki levavur na'sos eschem ba Elokim. Hashem came to you on Har Sinai to test you. Okay, Mishlei, by the mon, it's a test. We know the test, the test of parnassah. When He's looking at it, you never knew pshat in the pasuk. What's pshat in the pasuk? So he learns, lenasos, it's to test you. What's the kind of test? Then he says a gevaldige zach. What was it? The pasuk says clearly, it says in the pasuk, Ki ma... what was the nisayon? Lenasos eschem ba Elokim, that you should have fear from Him. Uvavur tihyeh yiraso. You should have fear. And then the pasuk turns around, No, al tiru. Moshe says, Don't be afraid. Hashem is making this whole thing that they should be afraid, and then what does Moshe Rabbeinu tell them? Al tiru, don't be afraid. Hashem is just testing you.

Guys, I look at that barber, I love him, I love him, I love him. The barber asks you questions, and something's wrong here. Hashem is doing this to test you so you should be afraid. He's telling you that. Don't worry about it. Don't be afraid. Repeat the pasuk. These guys think I just made it up. Read it, read it. No, read the pasuk. No, no, not Nissan. Just because you're not sitting in your regular seat doesn't mean your job is finished. You still have the same job. Pasuk yud-zayin. Chof yud-zayin. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Why? Hashem is coming to test you in order that you should have His fear on His face and you shouldn't sin. So He's telling you not to be afraid. Let me teach you a few things. Gal einai. Open up my eyes. Ve'abita nifla'ot miToratecha. There's a pasuk: Open my eyes that I should view wonders from Your Torah. What is it referring to? Does anybody know what the pasuk is referring to? And the answer is, there are certain things which aren't physical, spiritual experiences that are in the Torah. Gal einai. Notice the words. It doesn't say, open up my mind, open my eyes, that I should vision wonders from your Torah. I'm going to discuss something with you which is somewhat controversial, and I'll show you the importance of understanding this. You know, there's a whole business called the codes. It's a good moneymaker. When you read the codes, is it bad? I don't know. It's not a question of bad or good. That is not what goyrel hagra is all about, because that's what a computer can do. A computer is able to make codes. Goyrel hagra, unfortunately, there are many who believe that anybody that has a Chumash and knows math is able to make goyrel hagra. That's not true. Goyrel hagra is a spiritual calculation given to a spiritual person, who is a person who has Torah soaked into his whole mahut, that he's able to see in the Torah asidos, niflaos, spiritual situations from the Torah. It's clear, all the Acharonim write that goyrel hagra is not— What you did, it's chudas. Goyrel hagra is not just take pasuk aleph and pasuk zayin, you put a ches, and you have over there Rabin's death. That's not what goyrel hagra is about. Gal einai, Dovid HaMelech is saying. Tell me, you don't think if the great geniuses of today's times were able to figure out things in Chumash, Dovid HaMelech wasn't on that level? Why does he have to be mispallel, Gal einai? V'abita niflaos miTorasecha. The answer is, it takes a tremendous siyata dishmaya, tremendous siyata dishmaya, an opening of the eye, to be able to see what's not written, what's able to learn from the Torah realities which are not out clear in front of you. Gal einai, v'abita niflaos miTorasecha. What is fear? When is a person afraid of something? Let's discuss fear. There's something called yirah.

Fear of heaven. What are you afraid of when you're afraid of heaven? Anybody know what you're afraid of exactly? So you can have yiras ha'onesh. Okay, I understand, you're afraid the boo-boo hurts. That's not when we talk yirah. We don't mean that. We talk yiras haromemus. Fear of Hashem's greatness. What are you afraid of? Now let me tell you something. Chazal tell us, lo nivra berakah vera'am, thunders and lightnings, what are they created? They created l'yasher akmumiyus shebalev, to straighten the crookedness of the heart. Gemara in Brachos, brought in halacha. How does that do that? So many want to say it's fear. You get a burst of thunder and lightning, ooh, that was scary. Ooh, that scared me. Ooh, now I'm scared. That straightened me out. Tell me, you know anybody that did teshuvah because they heard a lightning? I don't know one person. You know anybody that said, Why don't you move from teshuvah when I heard a lightning and really got it? I just want to know, if you find that person, I'd like to meet him. You know such a person? Ah, you know what my shiur is supposed to mean, so why it's the same thing. That's what I'm getting. People think that a lightning's scary. That's for a little kid. A little kid gets scared when he's four years old, he gets scared of lightning. When he reaches six or seven, he ain't scared of nothing. Believe me, the only thing that's scary is that when he behaves like lightning and runs around like lightning, and the parents are scared. That's the only fear of lightning that he has to do with lightning. What is the future? What does kumi yesha balev? Let me explain. A person in this world feels his destiny is in his own hands. The moment he's confronted with supernatural, the moment he's confronted with something which is beyond his regular realm, he gets frightened. Why? Because he realizes that there's something bigger, something more than him and his destiny. A person's security is that he has his destiny in his own hands. The moment he sees something which is greater and bigger than him, it frightens him. The word kumiya is a very interesting word. Kumiya is the crookedness of the heart. Man lives with the inner peace that he is in control. And to straighten that out is straightening out kumiya shebalev, to believe that there's something bigger and there's something more that's running this world. When Hashem personifies Himself in a way which is different than the regular, strong strength, kolos ubrak. You ever think about it? Why would it be that Matan Torah needed kolos ubrak? What's the poshup shot? A wise man told—what is it? A TV show, it has to be with, what do they call that, with—what? Special effects. Special effects, bombings and noises and kol shofar. The matziv is such that it's beyond the regular, for the regular daily. Something different. The special effects is special. It's not the effects, it's the special effects, that it's different, that it's something unique, something happening. It's out of the ordinary. The fear is not a physical fear, but then there's a fear that Hashem runs the world. That's a different type of fear. But Moshe Rabbeinu is saying to them like this: Hayom Mosham, al tiro. Don't be physically afraid of what's happening.

Ki levavur na'aseis eschem boleikim. Hashem is testing. What is He testing? Famous lashon of the pasuk: Im yesh Hashem b'kirbeinu. The test, the greatest test to a person is realizing and accepting that there's a higher being. That's pshat, boleikim. Ki levavur na'aseis eschem boleikim, u'vavur tihye yirasoi al pneichem. Not yirah, yirasoi al pneichem. It's a different fear. It's the fear of Hashem. It's not afraid of what's there. It's afraid of the smallness of the person, and that there's a bigger being that's above. And that's the nisayon. That's the test. Huh? You have no control of anything. You have no control of it. The world is not revolved in its normal... That's the biggest fear that a person can have. You should know, people are afraid of the end of the world. You know what they're afraid of? What are they afraid of? You'll die anyway, so what's the... loss of control. The world is coming to an end. You don't agree? If a person is a real ma'amin... But this itself is already fear. You don't have to feel the word fear. I didn't want the word feel. That's what I'm teaching you, and it's not about feelings. It's not in the hergesh; it's in the ma'aseh. It's in the cheftza. There's an act of yirah. You know, they all ask the kasha: yirah b'tachan, it's not a stirah, klal not a stirah. It's awe. It's something completely different. It's inspired from awe and not fear. That's what the pasuk is saying: don't be afraid. Not fear, not the emotion of fear. It's the havanah: vayares ha'koilos, ves habrakim, ves halapidim. When a person is gal einai, eyes open up and he sees, niflo'os miTorasecha. You know how you can do that? Only after experiencing Matan Torah. It's only after hearing Aseres HaDibros. Otherwise, it's beautiful. How does the Ramban say nisim come and nisim go? You can't get anybody with nisim, you know that? You can tell them the most miraculous, spectacular things, and it goes in one ear and comes out the other. He's moved emotionally from the miracles, but the toichen ha'adam doesn't get moved by the miracle. It's a hakarah. It's a vayares ha'koilos, ves habrakim, ves halapidim. Havanah. It's understanding, and that havanah only comes after, after a person learns and internalizes Torah. And I want to show you this with this aleph. If you take a look. Spoke about this many times. Torah is gevaldik, and Torah is oysher, happiness. Tell it to a guy, thinks you're crazy. Crazy. The whole—speak to him in Torah, ... Okay, so what do you want? So what? Okay, it's a ... okay, it's a pshat ... but now what? What do you want? Simcha, nishmat, gevaldik. I want to show you something interesting. Nobody knows here. Maybe some know, but not everybody knows. The Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir is very, very sick. Reb Shmuel Birnbaum is very, very sick. You tell it to somebody, you know, he's his first—what are you talking about? We just saw him, he's saying shiurim. There's a picture of him saying a shiur by Chassan. Starts saying shiurim by the chassan. He goes to the chassan, after the chuppah he sits down, Rabosai, let's go say shiur. He sits. Last week's paper, there was a picture of him saying a shiur by a chassan. It's a new thing. Nice, a shiur by the chassan. You'd never know that he's deathly ill. Why? He's not living in the same realm that we live in. By him, Torah is the greatest chaim that there could be. You look at him, and the answer is you will never understand it. Taamu u're'u ki tov Hashem. It's very interesting. Teima is what?

It's taste. Ra'u. Sight. So what's taamu? Taamu v'taidu. Taamu u're'u, ki tov Hashem. It should say, Taamu v'taidu, and you'll know. And the answer is re'iyah. There's a certain sight which comes from once you're within, that you're learning and you're davening, you'll see things that most people don't see. Ra'u ki tov Hashem. The Mishnah says, Eizehu derech yesharah — I'm sorry, not eizehu derech — pas bamelach tochal, u'mayim b'mesurah tishteh. She'im atah oseh kein, if you do it, ashrecha, v'tov lach, l'olam haba. Why does it mean if you do it? It should just say, It's good to do. So, Rabbi, and all the mashgichim, they say once you do it, you'll see, tov lach l'olam hazeh v'olam haba. It'll be good. But you have to do it. The only way you could see the tov of it is when you're in it and you do it and you experience it. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't convey to Yisro. As a matter of fact, Yisro couldn't stay. Why didn't Yisro stay? Yisro was so moved. He was moved. What happened? He ended up going back. Why did he go back? If he came after Matan Torah, that's a different shmooze. But if he came before Matan Torah, it makes a lot of sense. It couldn't have any hashpa'ah on him because he didn't experience it. That's the pshat. The tzad that he came before, what happened? He didn't experience it. He couldn't experience Matan Torah. Miracles. Okay, very good, miracles. It's exciting, it's moving, but it still doesn't go to become genuinely inside. This is the pshat, ayares hakoileses habrokeh. After Matan Torah, you see a whole new world once you're in the learning. What do I want to get at? I'll tell you what I want to get at. There's this very difficult for me to convey the hergesh that I have, what it means to learn. I try. Every week I come here and I try my best to tell you what it means to learn a Tosfos, and I get frustrated at times where whatever I say, how can I give you to understand this? And I realize that there's no way to do that. The only way is by doing it, and you'll see it yourself. It has to be that you yourself, through the Torah, experience these niflaos and these toivos, the good things. Yisro came to learn. Yisro wanted to learn. Yisro came to hear. He was interested. He took a trip to the Midbar to learn. It didn't last, because he was being given and spoon-fed by Moshe Rabbeinu. It doesn't work. It does not work. Yes, you'll hear, it's nice, it's good, you'll get excited, it's all wonderful. But it's not going to be that you yourself are va'yares hakoileses habrokeh. Kol ha'am, everybody. Everybody was able to see, no matter how big, kolam, kolam is mashma everybody. Do you know that the word am always refers to the Eirev, you know that? I was thinking maybe v'chol ha'am is stressing even the Eirev rav. Even the Eirev rav was able to see, because that's the koach of Torah. The koach of Torah is to straighten out a kmumiyus shebalev. It straightens out all the crookedness of the heart. A person has to, in Yiddish we call it, lig in learning. You gotta be dwelled into the learning to such an extent, the learning, you see things that most people don't see. You understand things that most people don't understand. And there is no way, there is no way that you could discuss it, and there is no way to teach it by showing you or talking to you. It never works. Again, is it bad? No. Will you have from it? Yes. But to understand fully what we're talking about, it's experiencing it itself from the Torah. Gal einai, v'abita nifla'ot miToratecha. I was thinking, it doesn't say Gal einai v'abita nifla'ot b'Toratecha. No? Gal einai v'abita nifla'ot...

Mi, mi Torah secha. It comes from the Torah itself, yeah? מה כתוב? גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות. Mi, mitoratecha. It's the words of the Torah themselves give open—it opens the eyes. Huh? Talks to you. Talks to you. It's teaching. Gives you to see niflaos. Wondrous things that nobody will see. You'll see. Mark my words. Try it. The day that you learn biyun—and I don't mean biyun means you're bochber, that's not what I meant. Biyun means that you delve into it, like ma'ayan ha... that it's mevin, that you go into an understanding. You will deduce from it spiritual hergeshim, guidance in your life. Gal עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך. There is no way to get it by just talk. It's experience. Torah is an experience. I wish you all that you should be zoche to experience ma'ayan Har Sinai. Experience, experience. You will heal. It will heal all the problems. That's what the... will heal all the problems, ma'ayan Har Sinai, because everything is from the experience of Torah. Zochetah. Have a good week. We'll see you.