Vayikra: The Korban Mincha—Bitachon, Menuchas HaNefesh, and Repairing the Middos

Transcript

This shiur is brought to you by the Lev Aaron Foundation. For more, visit levaaronlibrary.com. In previous years, we spoke about the korban olah, parshas hakorbanos. This year, I'd like to talk about the mincha. I want to talk about the mincha. It says the pasuk, perek beis, pasuk aleph, V'nefesh ki sakriv korban mincha laShem, solet yehyeh korbano. Korban mincha. As the pesukim continue, it tells us four types of korban mincha. See, the first one is minchas solet. The second one would be pasuk daled, korban mincha mafeh tanur. The third one is mincha al hamachavas, and then minchas marcheshes. Four types of korban mincha. And then later on, we learn that the kohen gadol would have to bring every day also a minchas chavitin. So these are the basic categories, basic types of mincha. What is a korban mincha, and what does it represent and resemble? What is the yesod of the korban mincha that it is brought for? So I begin with the pasuk, V'nefesh. V'nefesh ki sakriv. No other korban talks about nefesh, the nefesh that will be makriv a korban mincha. Why here by korban mincha does it say nefesh, says Rashi, lo ne'emar nefesh b'chol hakorbanos nedavah. Any time that you have to bring a nedavah, if any time you give a present, it doesn't say the word nefesh. By chatos it does, v'nefesh ki secheta. But by nedavah, when you're giving a voluntary korban to Hashem, it doesn't say the word nefesh. So why here does it say nefesh? Only by mincha, says Rashi, mi darko lisnadev mincha, because whose way is to give a mincha? The mincha is flour. Flour is cheap. Who gives the flour? Who doesn't bring an animal, which is expensive? And the answer is the ani, the poor man. Amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu, ma'aleh ani alav k'ilu hikriv nafsho. I consider it as if, as if he gives his nefesh, gives his whole soul. This is a Rashi based on the Gemara Menachos, daf kuf daled amud beis. The Ibn Ezra, though, gives a different pshat. Why by mincha does he use the word nefesh? Says the Ibn Ezra, nefesh adam, nefesh of man, v'hizkir nefesh. So why talk about the nefesh? Why are we using the word nefesh in the context of mincha? Shehamincha nedavah. The mincha is given with a present. Gam hanefesh tikarei nedivah. The nefesh is also called a nadiv. Give me a good word for nadiv. It's a volunteering. It's to give. To be able to give comes from the heart. The ruach nediva tismecheni. Like it says, the ruach, meaning the spirit of the nefesh, nediva, to give, tismecheni, you should support me. Which means that the word nefesh has to do with nedava, and nedava has to do with mincha. What does it mean? It sounds a little bit in the air, a little bit more, you know, nothing more concrete. What are you saying, that the nefesh is nadiv, is the giver? Since mincha is a giving, therefore it uses the word nefesh. Difficult. It's a difficult pshat, unless he means plain and simple, that when one wants to be menadev, one wants to give a present, it's the giving of the nefesh. But he doesn't really say those words, because v'hizkar nefesh hamincha nedava, gam hanefesh tikarei nediva. If he meant to say that the nedivus, the giving, comes from the nefesh, then let him say, v'hanedava ba mehanefesh. Why does he use a lashon that the nefesh is called, the nefesh is called nediva?

Here, it's a very nice question. Again, Rashi says simply the pshat is because the oni is giving his whole nefesh, because it costs him so much money, so he's giving his entire nefesh. Okay. The Even Ezra says a little differently. The Even Ezra says because since the mincha comes with a nedavah as a present, so what he should have said was, nedavah has come from the nefesh, because it's the heart that gives, the nefesh that gives. Excuse me, the nefesh that gives. He doesn't say it. V'hanefesh kari, it's called nedivah, and therefore it uses a lashon of nefesh when it comes to mincha, which is a nedavah. What does that mean? I'd like to also point out an interesting question from the Aruch HaShulchan HaKadosh. The Aruch HaShulchan HaKadosh says that the word v'nefesh is a very interesting word. Why? Because it's written as a ribui and a miut. It includes and excludes at the same time. Why? So if you look at the Aruch HaShulchan, he writes like this. He brings from the Toras Kohanim, darsha yitur v'nefesh. Chazal tell us that the word v'nefesh is a yitur, a miut, and a ribui. It's a miut, it excludes, and it adds. Why? Miut, nefesh lashon yachid. It doesn't say nefashos; it says nefesh, one, one singular. So v'nefesh, it doesn't say v'nefashos, those that; it says v'nefesh, the one that, the one nefesh that sins. So that's l'ma'it b'tzibur. That comes to exclude that the tzibur can never bring a korban mincha. Shelo yaviu minchas nedavah. They don't bring a mincha present. Ribui. What's the ribui? What's the extra? Because it doesn't say nefesh, it says, v'nefesh. Havav l'rabos yachid. Yeah? Vav l'rabos. Nefesh l'ma'et. Vav l'rabos. Peirush, ribui b'yisrona, vav l'rabos yachid she'eino meivi mincha al tumas Mikdash v'kodashav. To teach me that he doesn't bring a korban mincha on the tumas Mikdash v'kodashav, in case he does unsanctity of the Beis HaMikdash. In case he causes unsanctity, there's a certain mincha, and that mincha is not him, but rather the kohanim, and therefore the yachid, the individual, doesn't bring that, right? Shehu kohen mashiach shemeivi minchas nedavah, because he brings it. The kohen haMashiach has to bring it. Now, says the Aruch HaShulchan, why would it be that the Torah uses one word to be marbeh and to be mema'et, to include and to exclude? V'nefesh is singular. Vav is adding, adding and subtracting at the same time. So the Aruch HaShulchan gives a halachic reason according to the Torah's kohanim. I would like to, in the progress of today's shiur, give a drush. I would like to give a raayon, a thought, in why it's nefesh, singular, and vav l'rabos, the mi'ut and the ribui together. Why is it brought as a, what's the word, a paradox, ribui u'mi'ut together, putting them both together, adding and subtracting? Okay. I also would like to point out an interesting detail of the pasuk. If you notice, it says, V'nefesh ki sakriv korban minchah laShem, soles yihyeh korbano, v'yatzak aleha v'nasan aleha levonah. What form is that? Korbano, yatzak, direct. We're talking directly to him. Korbano, right? V'yatzak, he. V'nasan, he. Like korban olah, for example. Let's look at korban olah. Does it say he, or does it say third person? Let's take a look. It says like this: Adam ki yakriv mikem. From you. Zachar tamim.

Yakrivenu. Yakriv oto. Who are we talking to? The third person to tell the individual. I'm telling you, adam ki yakriv mikem korban, right? What does it say? It says here, V'shachat oso. Who is v'shachat? Who's that talking to? Who? All the pesukim. Look at all the pesukim again. Beginning. Takrivu mikem korban laShem, right? Yeah, the beginning. Takrivu es korbanchem. Im olah korbano, min habakar. So who are we talking? We're talking to the people. If somebody among you, and I'm telling you that he should, the mincha is talked directly to the person. The mincha is, the nefesh ki sakriv, soyles yeh korbano, v'yatzak aleha shemen. He should, the owner. Right. Mashinkin and oilah, it's not like that. No. By oilah is you're telling him that, you're telling them that he should do it. Don't say, V'nefesh ki sakriv mikem korban minchah. We're talking to the person. V'nefesh ki sakriv minchah, soles yihyeh korbano, his korban, v'yatzak aleha, and he should. V'yatzak, he should. I'm not talking to the person. Lo tachik aleha. I'm not telling you, you will put; a he shall put the oil on it. So it's also— How else would you say it, though? In other words, by— No, one second. Let's see again. Let's see again. Adam ki yakriv mikem. So again, that's clear right away. You see the difference. Adam ki yakriv mikem. Are we saying v'nefesh ki sakriv or adam ki yakriv mikem? That's the question. The question is, why by the korban olah, nefesh ki yakriv mikem, from with you? So which means I'm telling the peoples, one of you, if. Mashenkin by the minchah, it's directed to who? To the person. V'nefesh ki sakriv. Why? It's a nice question, huh? Rafi, could you explain him the question? I understand, but Hashem is talking to Moshe. Hashem is telling Moshe, Adam ki yakriv mikem, which means one of you. Yeah, anybody. But by the minchah it doesn't say adam ki yakriv; it says v'nefesh ki sakriv, to the person. It's not third party, one of you. It's the person. And if there will be a person, v'nefesh ki sakriv, if there will be a person... The mincha is directed to the person, while the olah is directed to the peoples and one animal. So I would say very simple, because the mincha is not to the tzibur; the mincha is to the yachid. Korban olah is shayach b'tzibur, but korban mincha, we just learned from the Arachayim, from the Torahs Kohanim, that it's not applicable to tzibur. It says, Adam ki yakriv mikem. What does mikem mean? From among you, mikem. What does mikem mean? It means from among a group. If one of among the group—so we're talking to a group of people. If I have twenty—tell me, if I'm talking directly to a person, tell me, if I'm talking to him, can I say, Adam ki yakriv mikem? Can I say such a thing? No. So I have to be talking to a group of people. But when I talk about v'nefesh ki sakriv, I could talk to him and say, v'nefesh ki sakriv. So the question is, why is this addressed mikem, and this is addressed nefesh? And the answer is because possibly the Torahs Kohanim teaches me that a mincha—

It's not to the tzibur, it's not to the congregation. It's only a yachid, only an individual. So we took the individual, the nefesh, ki sachta. But korban olah, which is shayach to the tzibur, so the nefesh Yaakov mi can from among you a korban olah. We're going to say a different pshat as the shiur progresses. Why is the mincha addressed to the individual? That's the question. Another question. There's a rule that the Torah writes by the mincha, and when you read the pesukim, you would think that it's only applicable to the mincha, but it's not so. And actually, the reading of the pasuk also connotes that. It says in the pasuk as follows. Here. Pasuk, everybody take a look at pasuk yud aleph. Kol ha-mincha asher takrivu laShem. All korban mincha that you bring to Hashem, lo se'aseh chametz. It may not be chametz, ki chol se'or, because every leaven and all dvash and every honey, lo sachtiru mimenu isheh laShem. So you're not allowed to put chametz, which is se'or, and you're not allowed to put dvash, lo sachtiru mimenu isheh laShem. So this, l'choira, is to mincha, right? You're talking about kol ha-mincha. But the pasuk itself says, lo sachtiru mimenu isheh laShem, anything. Tell me, are you allowed to put in the ketores, soren dvash? Of course not. It has nothing to do with the mincha. It has to do with lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem, anything. So why is it brought down by the mincha? It's not only mincha; it's everything. Kol hamincha. It's not every mincha; it's any korban. Do you know we say, V'lama ein me'arvin bo dvash? Mipnei shehaTorah amrah, ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo taktiru mimenu isheh laShem. You know what it's talking about? The ketores. So this pasuk is talking about the ketores. As a matter of fact, could be that's the pshat in the braisa. Why does the braisa have to go out of its way and say, And you know why we don't put honey? Because the truth is the pasuk is by mincha. That's probably the pashut pshat in the braisa. You ever find a pasuk—I know why we don't by chol Shabbos—Ki haTorah amrah lo sechallel Shabbos. I need a braisa, right? If it says it, it says it. What I need—you say korbanos every morning? V'lama lo me'arvin bo dvash? Why don't we put dvash into—Mipnei shehaTorah amrah. Yeah, it's a pasuk. Why? Because the pasuk says. You know what the answer probably is? Ki pshutei, because the Torah said it by mincha. But the context of the pasuk is lo taktiru mimenu isheh laShem, any fire. U'meila, Torah amrah therefore it applies even to the what? To the ketores as well. Mishmak, no? Mishmak. Zeh shein, huh? Zeh shein, huh? Then the question becomes, so why does it say by mincha if it's everywhere? Why kol hamincha? I have raayos, but it's not a halacha shiur, so I'm not going to tell you all my raayos. But there's two dinim. There's one din that you're not allowed to have sourdough on any korban. And then there's another din specific for the mincha, that the mincha can't have sourdough. All right, raayos. Rambam, it's a big arichus, but there's two dinim in kol sour v'chol dvash. One is taka kol hamincha. One is a din in the korban mincha, and the other one is a din in the mizbeach: Lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem. For you, it's good enough to see it in the pasuk. Forget about the raayos; it's arichus, kashas, the Rambam. It's not nigeia right now. But this is the yesod, that mincha has a din, ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktiru, and mizbeach, korban bichlal has a din of lo saktiru mimenu. Question: If there's any way a din of lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem, so why does the mincha have its own special, unique halacha, specific, totally specifically for mincha? If anyway, anyway you can't bring any korban which is ki chol se'or v'chol dvash, so why kol hamincha? Why attach it, link it directly to the mincha?

We're going to answer this question as the shiur progresses as well. Final and last question. The next pasuk tells me, Korban reishis takrivu osam laShem, then v'chol korban minchascha bamelach timlach. You should salt it. Kol korban minchascha. Your every korban mincha. Tell me, salting was only unique to the korban mincha? Al kol korbancha takriv melach. So again, we're finding an interesting halacha, that even though it's נוגע to all korbanos, the Torah links it to the mincha. There's two types of minchas. Two types. You don't need. Al kol panim, v'chol korban minchascha takriv melach, bamelach timlach. So why only korban mincha? Every korban has salt. מה תירוץ לכל השאלות האלו? So let me repeat the question one more time. Like this you'll see that we're not only saying a nice pshat in mincha to understand it, but we see that the pesukim are read and understood properly with this yesod. Let me show you again the questions. Question number one, rabosai, follow with me. V'nefesh. Why does it say v'nefesh only by a korban mincha? And the Ibn Ezra explains because the nefesh is called nedivah. It's called nedivah. And therefore, the diva, nefesh, korban minchas nedavah, it says the word nefesh. What does that mean? It's called nedivah. You want to say that the nefesh is the nadiv. It's okay to say that the nedavah comes from the nefesh. Question number two: Why the nefesh, the vav is l'rabos, and the nefesh is the l'ma'et, and the Aruch HaShulchan brings from the Torah's Kohen that the Gemara already asks this for a question, that there's a ribui umi'ut in the same word, nefesh. Third question: Minchah is spoken directly to the person, while korban olah is what? To the tzibur, nefesh mikem. Why is it that the korban of minchah is spoken, the nefesh directly to the person? Third question—actually, fourth question: Ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem is by every korban. Why are you making it unique to korban chaschah? Last question, the fifth question: Why is it that by minchah does it say, takriv melach? Salt. Every korban has salt. V'yesh lomar. Translate for me the word korban minchah. What is a korban minchah? Minchah means a present. The Ksav V'Kabbalah, the Taka learns that the word minchah means present. Okay, I'm sorry. Korban minchah. You know where we find the word minchah? By Esav. Minchah l'adoni l'Esav. Mincha is a present. Well, it makes sense, since it's b'nedavah, since it's a nedivus, so it's a present. I found that the Chovos HaLevavos, the Chasam Sofer quotes it in this week's parashah, these pesukim, that the word mincha actually comes from menuchah. It's a carbon of rest, menuchah. Not mincha, but menuchah, rest. Why? Says the Chovos HaLevavos, Bitachon baHashem. When you attach yourself, you trust in Hashem, then comes menuchah, then comes rest. A person is relaxed, peace. He is not afraid because he has bitachon baHashem. So he says, the Chasam Sofer, that the korban mincha is about menuchah because the person is dependent, showing that he's dependent on Hashem. A person can work and a person can do, and he thinks he's building and doing and getting and making, and he's... But you know what? He's under constant stress. You know why? Who says tomorrow will be like today? Who says I'll achieve tomorrow? So what if he brings a korban mincha?

And he davel Hashem, and he says, Ribono Shel Olam, You're going to take good care of me. This is bitachon, and that's mincha menuchah. With this, once we understand what the idea of a korban mincha is, I'd like to share with you a Netziv, which is beautiful, and also to be explained according to this chovos halevavos. The Netziv in Haamek Davar asks a question: Why does he use the word nefesh? Remember we asked this question? Lashon nefesh melamedeinu deminchah ba'ah l'ratzos al hanefesh. It's coming to what? To be meratzeh on the nefesh. You understand? It's coming for a ritzui, a kaparah, for something about the nefesh. Ritzui, merutzeh, korban l'ratzos, it's coming to forgive, it's coming to fix. V'nefesh, says the Netziv, if it says the word nefesh, you see that the mincha wants something to fix, to do for the nefesh. What does it do for the nefesh? He says an unbelievable thing. Nefesh, because it's coming l'hasig kaparah v'ritzui al hashchasas hanefesh b'midos. Very interesting. The word nefesh is midos, the midos of the heart. And the korban mincha is coming to fix— He's coming l'ratzois, l'saken, to fix. May I read it again? V'nirah mi'sugya d'krai. It's mashma from the pesukim, sheba l'hasig kaparah v'ritzui. It's coming to forgive for what? Al hashchasas hanefesh b'middos. U'mishum hachi, and that's why he says, David says to Shaul, Im Hashem yesitcha bi, yerech minchah. Shaul made a mistake. What was his mistake? It's clear that Shaul's mistake was in middos. Says the Netziv, peirush, hisitcha bi al yedei machlokes shel middas ha'itzuvim v'kaas. So therefore, yerech minchah l'hasir machlokes u'minchah. A person has anger, he would bring a korban minchah. You know this stuff? This is such interesting stuff. The minchah is coming to fix the traits of the nefesh, says the Netziv: anger. And then he says that actually there's four minchos. You know why? Because there's actually four bad traits that come from the nefesh. One is marah shechorah, depression. Two, when a person is overly giddy. Three, taivah. Four, kaas. Therefore we have four korban minchos. It's beautiful, the Netziv. It's very interesting stuff. And he says that's why the Kohen Gadol brought a korban every day. And in his korban, it included all the four ingredients of all the other menachos, because he had to work on all of it in one shot every day. Every day the Kohen had to work on the nefesh, the purity of his soul, of his nefesh, which is bad middos. Are you listening to this? Do you hear what's going on here? What does it mean, a nefesh? We always think the soul. No, no, no. It's the nefesh, the middos, the traits. And man can have four flaws in traits, which result from the nefesh and the korban mincha, the four of them come to fix, come to fix those things. He said too much. Giddy. Hailus. Hailulis. Hailulis. As a matter of fact, he even goes into detail, and he says that if you notice that the senses, the frankincenses that you put into the mincha cause, those herbs cause these things. Wait a minute. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna talk.

Herbilism. What do you call it? Herbals. Okay? How do you speak? I'm gonna say it. It says like this. It says like this. Look what he says. Levaina. You know what levaina causes? It causes tzihuv. It causes the, I guess the liver, tzihuv. It's yellow, yellow. And simchiyesera. Tzahevet and simchiyesera. Yeroika. Yeroika causes taiva. Aduma, molidah kas. What? There's interesting stuff. To make a long story short, anybody who wants to become a herbalist should come and learn this nitziv. Hakmi doesn't have over here what valerian and different—what other herbs they eat today. Okay. A person brings a karbon mincha, and this is tikun. This is kaporah for bad traits. Depression. Tell me, is depression a bad trait? I think so. A lot of people excuse it. No, it's a bad middah. If you don't want—well, we're gonna talk about... Now you know where I'm getting at? Now you know why you're sitting in my shiur? Now you understand what's so beautiful about our shiurim? I'm not—it's all ties back to... and the Chovos HaLevavos, karbon mincha. You want to know how it fixes it? I'll tell you how it fixes it. Okay, you have to be quiet for a minute. Pay attention, because I just answered you, and I'm gonna answer you again. I did answer. It's a kaporah because it fixes the problem. What was yesterday, but he's still continuing to do. If a person is mechazek his bitachon... Which the Karban Mincha is therefore like the chovos, halvavos, and the Chasam Sofer teach me, mimeila these four bad traits will fall away. If a person learns שער הביטחון, he's not going to have these four bad traits. But let's see them again. Depression. Yeah? What, depression? I mean, it's not my fault. It's not my fault. I'll tell you a nice story. Reb Shmuel Birnbaum shlita, I heard this story from my sister, who heard it from the daughter of Reb Shmuel Birnbaum shlita, is sick. He's not well. And before he started his chemotherapy treatments a few weeks ago, the doctors asked him, you know, a bunch of medical questions about his medical history. So they asked him if he suffers from depression. So he turned around to his daughter and he asked, What's this? She doesn't know what it is. She doesn't know what it is. So she started explaining to him that it's a person who's in a bad mood and therefore they can't function. That doesn't nifsha mi. This is not for me. That's something that's not, you know, not for me. You hear what he was saying? He looked at it, it's like a bad... What do you want to know if I'm a bal gaivah? What's your question exactly? It's not for me. That's not my... You hear? Not my department. It's not that. That doesn't nifsha mi. I'll do without it. Moiridik, huh? It's a beautiful story. You hear? This is itzavon. It's a bad midah. Depression. It's a bad midah. The second bad midah, says the Netziv... Simcha yeseira, too much. Guys laughing, joking. He can't take anything serious. Yeroyko? Taiva, lust. The fourth one is kaas. Mishum hachi yesh daled menachos. U'vimei HaMikdash. But how does a guy know? How does a guy know which mincha did he have to bring? And the answer is, in the times of the Beis HaMikdash, they knew themselves, and they knew which mincha would fix which problem. U'vimei HaMikdash yadu eizeh mincha moyil l'fi oifen hashchasah shebenefesh. You went to a spiritual doctor, and he would say, I give you a recipe. Let me write it down. Bring a korban mincha, machvas, al machavas. Go ahead, that's it. That's your recipe. That's your, what do they call that?

Yeah. Prescription. They would give you a prescription in the times of the Beis Hamikdash. Yeah? Today they would stuck you with herbals, ... They would give you a valerian with, with, with—what's the other herbals over there, huh? With seaweed and horsetails, okay? But in the times of the Beis Hamikdash, they would tell you, Listen, you got this bad midah, go bring this korban. And this is the korban mincha. Rabosai, watch the taich. The taich is gevaldik. A person who doesn't have bitachon, what he has is kaas. What he has is depression. What he has is taiva. Like we found the Even Ezra says, How could a person not lost what he lost? He likes, he wants, says the Even Ezra, v'ad yireisim Elokecha, that if you trust in Hashem, you know this is not given to you; it was given to Him. It has nothing to do with you, so you won't lust. Taiva, kaas. Kaas is an avodah zarah. You know why? You're getting angry. What are you getting angry about? What are you getting angry? Hashem sent this matzav to you. What are you getting so angry about? Kaas. All these things, if a person had full bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it's from Hashem, why would I have to— The korban mincha brought out menuchah, because the greatest menuchah, rabosai, is bitachon, bitachon, and the nitzul, the perfection from these bad middos. A person has taiva, it makes him crazy. A person has gaiva, has kinah, there's no menuchah. There's no—he's never happy, because it's more and more and more. He doesn't have a still moment. He doesn't have a moment of menuchas hanefesh for one second. This is the taich, Korban Mincha, which is coming to what? Fix these bad traits. Because the word mincha says the chovos halevavos, bitachon baShem. That's what the korban mincha was about, bitachon. And the building the faith in Hashem brought about the tikkun of the hashchasas hanefesh. And I'll prove it to you. There's two things I want to show you. You never speak minucha. We have by Shabbos, right? You want to bring a raya from minucha, you talk about Shabbos. Shabbos is Yom Menucha, a day of rest. What do we say by mincha? Avram, Yagel, Yitzchok, Yiraneh, right? Minuchas emes, ve'emunah. Minuchas shalom v'shalva, v'hashket vavetach. Minucha shleimah she'ata rotzeh bah. And then we have minuchas ahavah v'nedavah, right? Could you explain to me how many different forms of minucha are we saying over here? Minuchas emes ve'emunah, minuchas shalom v'shalva, minuchas ahavah v'nedavah. What does it mean? What does it mean? Minucha is minucha, no? The rest is your rest. You know what the answer is? There's minuchas emes. When a person reaches truth, when a person sees truth, there's a certain menucha. Ein simcha k'hataras hasfeikos. There's a certain menucha when you see the truth. Menuchas emes ve'emunah, bitachon. When a person sees Hashem, there's also menucha. There's also menuchah of shalom. Peace. Peace. There's also menuchas ahavah u'nedavah, of giving. The middahs, the traits. You like this? Part of it I saw in the Michtav MeEliyahu. The Michtav MeEliyahu, chelek gimmel, page 70, he explains menuchas ahavah u'nedavah. He explains this part, and from that I got the rest of it. Ki bli nidvas halev v'ahavas habriyos b'maaseh, if you don't have the giving, you don't love people, but rather what are you? You're jealous. And you're angry. Ein menuchah amitis. You're not going to have menuchah. A person who's constantly jealous and constantly angry and constantly hateful and spiteful will never be restful. There's no rest. You listening? It's ... What are you adding? What are you adding? I know. We're going to talk about menuchah Shabbos. We're going to get to the minchah. We're going to get— You think I'm not— You think I don't have a beautiful shiur prepared for you guys? So a handful of files really going to change it? Yes.

teaches a person to come to the Beis HaMikdash and say, Ribono Shel Olam, I'm in Your hands. We're going to discuss this, but let's move on. Let's move on. Menuchas ava nedavah, you hear? And listen to the last line. This is the key line: Ein menuchah. It's a quote. I think we should make this into big quotes. Ein menuchah ela achar akiras shaifus hanetilah. Menuchah can only come after you take away the lust to have, to grab, and to take. Repeat, rabosai, listen again. Ein menuchah ela achar akiras shaifus hanetilah. You want, I have to get, I must have, I need it, I gotta fight with this guy, I gotta go. You don't need anything. You don't want anything. Everything's fine. You have menuchah. Peace. You're at peace. Why are you... You hear what's going on? You know, there's certain quotes which are foundations of mussar and avodah. You know, the Chazon Ish has a meor dike quote. Many put it up on the walls. I've told this to you many times. Ein etzav baolam. There's no depression in this world, l'mi shemakir ohr haemes. Someone who finds the light of truth. You know, he has a cousin, that line. There's a cousin to that line. It's this line: Ein menuchah ela achar akiras shaifus hanetilah. Rest. Peace is when you're not searching for things constantly. It's the same yesod. Ki ein etzev, there's no depression when you're makir the truth. Menuchas emes. Truth. Emunah. Truth. When you see the truth, there is nothing that makes you unhappy. Unhappiness is a chisaron in not seeing the truth, which brings to wanting and searching, and I'm not happy with myself. I'm not happy with what I have. Bameila is no menuchah. These are cousin states. Cousin states. You see? Beautiful. With this, we can go back and explain nefesh. I asked the question in the beginning of the shiur: why does he use the word nefesh? Why nefesh? Tell me, where is menuchah? Menuchas hanefesh, we always say, huh? Menuchas hanefesh. Menuchah is in the nefesh. Why? Because, like the ... is telling us, because the ikar menuchah is by fixing, by purifying the nefesh from its bad traits. Its kinah, its taavah, its gaavah. When you purify it, you have menuchah. Menuchas hanefesh. Notice that Shabbos, which is about menuchah, how do we know that it has to do with nefesh? Does anybody know? Vayinafash. Vayav danefesh. People call it the neshama, you say. It's not what the pasuk says. The pasuk says nefesh. Nefesh, you say, right? Va yinafash. Va'avdo nefesh. There's an extra nefesh on Shabbos. It says it, va'yinafash. Nefesh, nofesh, yeah? Menucha. Menucha and nefesh go together. You ever see the zemiros? You say zemiros, you sing it over there. So we say, Ashkenazim say, you guys probably sing it, right? Nefesh, menucha. Hashomer Shabbos, right? Nefesh, menucha. Nefesh, va'yinafash is all about the nefesh. And since korban mincha is about menucha, I believe, me'ahuz, pshat amiti, the real pshat is nefesh. L'saker korban mincha has to do with the nefesh. Now I understand also what the Even Ezra was saying. The Even Ezra says, hanefesh is kori nediva. It's called nediva. What does that mean, it's called? Giving is from the nefesh. He doesn't mean that giving is from the nefesh. The nefesh is called nediva, which means the nefesh is the purification, and it's only pure when it's nadiv, menuchas ahava v'nedava. Nefesh, which is the pure state of the nefesh.

The ultimate nefesh, the purity of the nefesh, the perfection of nefesh, is nedivah, which means it doesn't need. It's not a noitel, but it's a nodiv. She'ifas ha-netilah. It doesn't have shifas ha-netilah. What does it have? Nedivah. Kari nedivah. No? Fits? Works? Beautiful, eh? I ask you, why is the nefesh called nedivah? What does it mean it's called nedivah? And the answer is, you know what nefesh is? Nefesh is the opposite of netilah, the purification and completion of nefesh. What is a pure and complete nefesh? When it's not, not. When it's a giving and not a taking. It's not looking for anything. It doesn't need to take from you. It's looking to give and give and give. Because when you give and give and give, you're a giver. You don't have the chisronos. The chisronos, you have nefesh. Mimeila you have menuchas hanefesh. The nadiv has menuchas hanefesh. He has calm of the nefesh, peace of the nefesh. He has menuchas ahavah, menuchah, menuchas emes, emunah, menuchah, shalem v'shalvah, hashket u'vetach. It's all tied together, the giving, the davah of giving. It's not the taker, it's the giver. And this is, kori, the nefesh is kori nedivah. And that's why it says, v'nefesh, tisaker korban minchah. With this, we can explain the ribui and the miut. The nefesh, ribui and miut. Tell me, by you getting more, by you taking more, are you happier? Or by you making less and taking less, are you happier? So someone's saying, the more I take, the happier I'll get, right? And the answer is, we see that it doesn't work that way. You're shopping and shopping and shopping and trying and getting and building and doing, and you're still not happy. As a matter of fact, marbeh... the more you take, the more you're a noitel, the more you need the she'ifah of taking and taking, the more taavah, the less happy you are. What's the real sameach? What's the real happiness? When he is at peace, no? When he's fulfilled, when he's happy with what he has. The nefesh, the Rambam uses a lashon, bitul haguf is tikun hanefesh. You know, it works that way, that when a person takes less, he's happy. So the ribui and the miut is the same thing, actually. There's a miut of nefesh. The miut of the nefesh, which means the ratzonos, the things that the nefesh seeks. He seeks, he wants this and he wants that. The miut of it is the ribui of it. The same thing. There's a ribui and a miut in nefesh. The more you want, the more you give into the need to have and to take and to give for yourself, to take for yourself, the more the nefesh is suffering. You're drowning the nefesh with things that it doesn't need. You're overburdening the nefesh with things that it doesn't need. Masha'en kein, the miut is the ribui. It's not kedush, but it's a nice piece of drush. With this, I want to continue and say like this: Ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu isheh laShem. Avad, it's a din in every korban, but it's specific to the korban mincha. What is se'or and what is dvash? Se'or is for gaivah. Se'or is for kaas. Dvash is for taavah. It's masikus. You know who says this? The Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer writes clearly, Ki chol se'or v'chol dvash, it refers to the taavah and the gaivah and the kaas. Se'or is leven, it's gaivah. Chametz, we're going to learn this soon, chametz, right?

And to put in fruit, to put in sweet, is taiva, right? Lechem oni, nahama d'hemnusa, right? What is the matzah called? The bread of emunah. Why is the matzah called bread of emunah? We spoke about this in years past, because it doesn't have two things: it doesn't have gaiva, and it doesn't have taiva. It has nothing in it. Emunah. It's about Hashem. When you're with Hashem, the matzah, and it tastes good. It tastes good. It's clean. It's pure. It's naki. It's naki from gaiva, taiva. Ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu ishe laShem is dafka by the korban mincha, because the korban mincha was supposed to alleviate the person from the taiva and the gaiva. I borrowed this line from a further sefer. V'chol korban, ki hakinah v'hataiva v'hakavod, shloshtam gru'im me'od. These are terrible things, kinah, taiva, and kavod. And he says that that's what, v'al kein, kol se'or haroimez l'gaiva v'kavod, v'chol dvash haromez l'taiva lo yisakrivu mimenu klal, afilu achas ketzas. So he's stam talking about all korbanos. That's stam sefer by all korbanos. He says it here, but he says it's b'chalalos. He's going on the regular din that you're not allowed to bring leven and honey to the mizbeach. I'm saying it's unique to the korban mincha now, because the whole idea of the korban mincha, like that it explains to me, is to what? Is to cut away, is to heal us from the gaiva and the taiva. Meileh it says clearly by mincha, specific, unique link to mincha: ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktir mimenu ishe laShem. What about salt? I think salt is bedavka, yes, by the mincha. And that's why, even though every korban needed salt, it links it directly and specifically to the mincha. Let me explain to you salt, something very unique about salt. You know, when you want to bring flavor into meat, into food, so you could go two opposite extremes. You could go chamitz; you can make it sharp. Sor is bitter; it's sharp. You could go dvash. And then you could go melach. You can go salt. Salt is not only the middle, but it's also the me'ulah, and I'll explain to you why. The Gemara says that we salt every meat. You notice we have to salt every meat. The Gemara also says, K'shem sheha-melach, just like salt is machshir, kashers, it purifies the flesh, so too yisurim purifies. The Gemara in Brachos. Just like salt, so too yisurim purify the person. Salt is pure. Salt is the purification of basar. Machshir, use the lashon of machshir, kosher. The idea is, and it's interesting also, salt is a maflit. Salt takes things out. It draws. Do you know something very interesting also? Sor dvash, chometz and dvash, a person of taint, I don't know if you know that. In science, man absorbs the carbohydrates, which is the sor and the dvash. The melach is the opposite; it's a maflit. Sodium takes out. That's why it raises the blood pressure also, because it draws the blood. It's a maflit. Maflit means it takes out. That's why we salt the meat, to take the blood out. Melach is unique to the korban mincha, because it's not sor and it's not dvash. It's the opposite. It's to be machshir. It's to purify. It's to cleanse. K'sheim shehamelach machshir u'marek, cleans, it koshers, so too the yesurim. It's a cleansing process. It cleans you from the external one. You know, when a person goes through a difficult situation, he's not interested in taivah, he's not interested in gaivah, he's not interested, because the yesurim clean it out, gives him a good cleaning.

Mitzrayim was called kur habarzel, kur habarzel, cleaning process. Salt is a cleaning process. Gives a cleaning. You don't want gaiva, you don't want, you don't want anything. Bris melach. This is unique, unique for the korban mincha. V'chol korban minchascha bamelach takriv. Don't bring se'or and don't bring dvash, which absorbs honey and taivin, gaiva, but rather melach, which what? Is maflit, takes out the blood, it takes out the bad, it's memarek, it cleans, it koshers. With this, I want to say a me'oiridik vort. The Shlah says that something interesting: korban mincha is parallel to Yitzchak Avinu. Notice that Yitzchak Avinu, Yitzchak Avinu was meyased mincha. He made mincha. Mincha davening was made by Yitzchak. He was moser nefesh, says the Shlah, nefesh, and that's b'nefesh, ki sakiv korban mincha. It's referring to Yitzchak. Nefesh, nefesh, mesiras nefesh, ki sakiv korban mincha, Yitzchak made korban mincha. I want to explain that. Sounds very, you know, very nice: Yitzchak, mincha, nefesh. What does it mean? Okay. I want to tell you something very interesting. Yitzchak was a karban olah. Yitzchak was a karban olah. He was a karban laShem. He ended up living. So actually, he wasn't a karban olah. He was brought on the mizbeach, but he never became an olah. You know, he wasn't allowed to leave Eretz Yisrael. Chazal tell us why, because he had a din of karban olah. So the Brisker Rav speaks, what do you mean? He wasn't an olah, what are you talking about? And the teretz is, he had a din of olah mechayim. He had a din of olah, a karban mechayim, okay? Which means, I guess in broader terms, he didn't die as a karban olah, but he lived as a karban olah. Because of that, I believe that his avodah was completely different than the others. You notice that Avraham Avinu had to go to Galus, to Mitzrayim, and then he had nisyonos, and then ten tests. Yaakov Avinu also. He went down to the house of Lavan, and he came, and Eisav, and tests and tests. Tell me, what was Yitzchak? Nothing. Nothing. Problems with the be'eros. The be'eros were small. Nothing compared. Nothing compared. You can say the nisyonos. He sat in his house. He sat in his house. Yitzchak's avodah. Was not to have. You know, Avraham was very rich. Avraham obtained a lot of money. Yankiv was very rich. Does it say anywhere that Yitzchak made money? Huh? ... right, it says that he became rich. Did it come through nisyonos? Hashem just gave it to him. If you look through the life of Yitzchak, pay attention. Where did the other Avos get it, that it wasn't like that? The other Avos had difficulties to get the money. Yankiv had to work for it. He worked for it. ... the last ten, six years. Vayehi Yitzchak... it says clearly in the pasuk, I worked day and night. ... I didn't sleep for a minute. It's clear in the pasuk. ... He says, the Gemara even says, you want to be a po'el, learn from Yankiv Avinu. Avadti... seven years and seven years. What are you talking about? I'm trying to bring out a yesod. Listen to me carefully. We can sit and argue with this and that.

Bottom line is, Yitzchak was the avodah of menuchah. And what I mean by that, he was the avodah of menuchah. Peace. His peace was that he had nothing, and he did nothing, and he didn't go for anything. He didn't have to work. He stood home. I'll tell you even more. You notice that Yitzchak became blind. Chazal tell us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was mashriach his name on Yitzchak. Even when he was alive, HaGamdirboinish was never mashriach the name, his name, on a person when he's alive. Why? Because since he was a suma, he was blind, therefore, a suma is like meis, and since he's like meis, therefore what? Therefore Hashem was able to mashriach. What does the Chazal tell us? He didn't have a yetzer hara. That's what Chazal are telling us. Chazal are telling us that Yitzchak Avinu lived as a suma. He lived in his house, and he didn't have a yetzer hara. That's what it says. I hold that that's why he became blind. The avodah of Yitzchak was, when he was a suma, that suma doesn't have cheshek, he doesn't know ratzon, there's no yetzer hara. Yitzchak takke didn't have the redifah, these inyanim, because he was olah. He was a korban mechayim. He was kadosh mechayim. He didn't have the ratzonos. He didn't have it. He didn't have to deal with it. He didn't have the nisyonos of it. Why? Because Yitzchak Avinu was a korban laShem. This I understand is korban mincha. What's the idea of the korban mincha? Does anybody know what a korban mincha is? It's a very interesting thing. I'm sorry, tefilas mincha. Tefilas mincha is very interesting. I always think about it. In the morning a person davens. You know what he's davening? That the day should go well. A person davens at night, thanking Hashem for the day that went well. What's the pshat that in the middle of the day, the middle of the day, not before the work and after the work, in the work, to stop and to daven mincha? That's קשה. It was a hefsek in the avodah. I'm telling HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The idea of mincha is that in the middle of the day, if you're working, you take a stop and you say, It's not me, it's the Ribono Shel Olam. And that's where menuchah comes from. The word mincha, menuchah, the Shlah is telling us, is the same word. The Shlah is saying that the korban mincha that we have has to do with mincha Yitzchak, that he was mesaken mincha. Mincha of the day is to teach a person this yesod. In the morning, he's not working yet. At night, he's finished working. But to stop in the middle of the work and say, Baruch Atah Hashem, it's You, Ribono Shel Olam. What's the lashon over there? No, hashivah shofteinu kvarishonah, not hashivah shofteinu kvarishonah. Baruch aleinu, give us. I know it's from You, Ribono Shel Olam. That is called menuchah. You know, in English we have break. Guy takes a break in the middle of the work, right? Guy takes a, what do they call it in English? Huh? Lunch break. Lunch break, right? We have something called a mincha break. A mincha break, which means that a person takes a break from the middle of his trying to achieve and trying to get and trying to... and he says, you know what? It's not for me. It's from the Ribono Shel Olam. That's a menucha. That's a break. It's a mincha break in the middle of the day. It's a menucha in the middle of the day. And this is what Yitzchak came and taught us. This is v'chol karban minchascha, bamelach timlach. What's the lesson for us? The lesson for us is very simple, Rabbi Yisrael. True happiness is when a person realizes he's in the hands of Hashem. Because if not, you won't be able to make it. Life storms our way, all the difficult problems, and if you start contemplating and thinking ahead what's going to be with this and what's going to be with that, you won't be able to make it because it's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. You know, Chazal tell us that, Reb Meir, I think it was, that said, Al kol gal vegal sheba l'nesi Roshi, that the storms of the waters were coming.

As the storm came, I bowed my head. Who was it? It was Rameir who was shutanah, was it? Kol gal vagal, neisi es roshi. I bent my head down, and Rameir, if you know surfing, anybody know surfing? The first surfer was Rameir. You know how to surf. That's what it is. That's what Chazal are telling us, that as the waves came up, he put his head down, and he knew how to surf. You think only the surfers in Los Angeles? Look in Chazal, it's all in there. That's what it says. Kol gal... the chachma behind surfing is in the Gemara, no? You think the Gemara is trying to teach us surfing? I bowed my head. What do you mean, I bowed my head? What does that mean? Yitein la'afar pi. Chazal—it's a pasuk in Eicha. I put my head into the ground. What does it mean, I put my head into the ground? Which means I don't do anything. I trust you. I bow my head and accept, and things—the waves just go over. If you want to tackle the waves head on, you're not going to win. The way to do it is to bow your head, be nichna. Hashem, You're sending the wave, okay, I bow my head, I accept. It's not a physical lesson in surfing. It's telling you a concept in how to accept. I accept. I'm not a shayaf to get, but the Ribono Shel Olam, whatever it is, You give me, and I accept it. And that brings out menucha, the ability to function and to cope and to tackle every problem in life. The person brought the korban mincha, took this, the davar, the dibbus laShem, not to take, but to give to Hashem. He was able to survive. He was able to have bitachon. This is the lesson of the korban mincha.