Lech Lecha: Avraham’s War to Save Lot, Chinuch of Eliezer, and Kiddush Hashem

Transcript

Find that Avraham Avinu goes to war, goes to milchamah, to save Lot, save his brother's son Lot. It says like this: Vayehi bimei Amrafel melech Shinar, Arיoch melech Elasar, Kedarlaomer melech Eilam, tid'al melech Goyim, bimei milchamah, it's dom, amora, ashinah. Later, later. Kol eileh chavru el Emek HaSidim, hu Yam HaMelach. Shteim esrei shanah, each one was a servant. Yeah, the whole history, very nice. Yud-daled. Kitzur, it says like this: Vayikchu et kol rechush Sdom, yeah? They captured Sdom. Yeah, they went to war. Pasuk yud, it says like this: V'Emek HaSidim be'erot be'erot chemar, vayanusu melech Sdom va'Amora, vayiplu shamah. Sdom fell, and the king of Sdom had to run away, and he fell into a pit of tar, right? He got stuck over there. V'hanish'arim, and the rest of the people, hera nasu. They ran away to the mountains. Nope, Sdom is open now, right? They captured Sdom. So it says in the pasuk: Vayikchu et kol rechush Sdom va'Amora, v'et kol achlam, vayelechu. Yeah? They took all the rechush, all the wealth of Sdom, and all the food, and they left. Vayikchu et Lot, et rechusho, ben achi Avram, vayelechu, v'hu yoshev biSdom. And he is sitting in Sdom. Meaning what? That they captured Lot. They captured Lot. There's a very interesting question in this pasuk. If you take a look, it says, Vayikchu et Lot ve'et rechusho ben achi Avram. Technically, in dikduk hapasuk, it should have said the opposite: Vayikchu et Lot ben achi Avram ve'et rechusho. Vayikchu et Lot. They took Lot. Pasuk yud bet, right? Perek yud daled. Vayikchu et Lot ve'et rechusho ben achi Avram. Where should be the ben achi Avram? Where should it be written? After Lot, right? The rechusho was not Lot, then achi Avram. What's the pshat, Vayikchu et Lot ve'et rechusho ben achi Avram vayelechu? It should be separate. It should be all separate. No, I mean to say it shouldn't have been rechusho and then ben achi Avram; it should be Lot, ben achi Avram, and they took Lot, who was ben achi Avram, and all rechusho. Vayikchu et Lot ben achi Avram. Lot was ben achi Avram, not rechusho ben achi Avram. So this question I saw many people ask. I saw the Torat Tmimah ask this question. He has a sefer, the Torat Tmimah, a separate sefer called Chosefet Bracha. He asks this for a question, and then he has pages of rayot, שככה כתוב בתורה. He says he'll show me maybe hundreds of examples. He goes page after page of examples, Kidarko HaKodesh. He had a big bekiut. The Torat Tmimah had a tremendous bekiut in Chumash, Tanach, and Gemarot. So he shows from all over that this is not a question. Question. This is the way the Torah writes, because they took Lot, ben achi Avram. So even though it should say Lot ben achi Avram, in the dikduk it's not a question. The truth is, Rav Gifter has a very nice sefer, Gifter, Hashem yarich yamav, sheyehaveh b'for shleimah. This is a very nice musar vort. This is a very nice al pi musar. He says what happened. Originally it says, Vayikach Lot, right? Originally, who was Lot? Lot was ben achi Avram, right? After Lot went to Sdom, who was Lot? Lot was Lot ben Korachusha. He was a different Lot already. Originally, Lot was what? Ben achi Avram. That's who Lot was. When you talk to Lot, you know what you would hear from Lot? My uncle Avram, my uncle Avram Avinu, my uncle Avram Avinu said like this, my uncle... He was a ben Torah. What happened? Chazal tell us that he went to Sdom. Why did he go to Sdom? Because he was piresh me'Avram Avinu, right? And then he started becoming the mayor of Sdom, and he started money and manyanim, manyanim, vayter. What happened? Right? Why did he pick Sdom? Chazal tell us also because he saw kol arei hakikar, and it was gan mashkeh, it was full of money, right? So now who was Lot, says Rav Gifter? That's pshat. Lot ben Korachusha, and ben achi Avram was like a second thing, you know? You want to know who Lot is? It was Lot ben Korachusha. That's Lot's second name. First he was...

Sheba guy now is called Lot the businessman, yes. That's giftus. It's a mussar. It's only a mussar, huh? Teretz meinah asked the question, but it's an unbelievable question. We'll say the kash, say the teretz. It's Tosafot bracha. He became money, money. That's what happens when you start getting involved with money, you become a different type of person. Become a businessman. So that's pshat. First it was Lot. Originally it was what? He took Lot. Who was Lot? Lot was ben achi Avram, right? Like it says in the pasuk in the beginning. The beginning of the Torah says, yeah, the Torah says like this: Vayikach Avram et Sarai ishto, ve'et Lot ben achiv. Originally who was Lot? Lot was called ben achiv, his relative. Later on, what was Lot called? Lot was called Lot ben Korachusha. That was his last name, so to speak. Mostly, he was ben achi Avram. Lot ben achiv, but here it says ben Korachusha, and then it says... This, rabosai, is Rav Gifta, but it's only a drush. I'm asking this question because I hold, I hold that this is a very important question. There's a big yesod that we see in this pasuk, we'll soon get to. Anyways, continue with the next. We'll get back to the sum. We'll continue with the next pasuk. It says like this: Vayavo... vayikchu et Lot, they took Lot. Vayavo palit. Who is the palit? Og melech haBashan. Why was he called palit? Sheniflat miDor haMabul. He was saved. Ha-palit, the saved one. Vayavo ha-palit. The palit comes. What? Why was he saved? This message, this message. He keeps tells Avram that... Now, all it was just a person who knew the news. He was a broadcaster. He knew what's going on. He told, man, he looked around, he saw what was going on over there. Vayavo haPalit. The palit came, vayaged l'Avram haIvri. And he went and he told Avram the Ivri. Let's go back to come. This is not for now. Vayavo haPalit, vayaged l'Avram haIvri. V'hu shochen b'Elonei Mamre haEmori, achi Eshkol v'achi Aner, v'hem ba'alei brit Avram. Now, the palit comes and he tells Avram, ki nishba achiv. Now, my question to you is like this: Why was he called Ivri? Why over here does it say, Vayavo haPalit, vayaged l'Avram haIvri? Why does that say Avram haIvri? Vayavo haPalit, vayaged l'Avram. Why over here are we calling him Ivri? So Rashi explains. So Rashi explains, pshat number one, sheba me'ever hanahar. So why over here? You want to know Avram is called an Ivri. You know, we spoke about Avram so many times till now. Why over here? Yes. If he just means that he came from a different, a certain country, sheba me'ever hanahar, which means he came from the south. He came from overseas. What does it show? I don't know. Shalom aleichem, vayavo, he came, he knocks on the door, can I speak to Avram haIvri? I mean, what happened over here? This is the first time we mention Avram. This is the first time we mention Avram that here the Torah has to teach me Avram haIvri. It's not a question of knowing him. He comes and he tells Avram. So the Torah tells me Avram is called Ivri. Why does the Torah have to teach me here that Avram is called Ivri? Teach it to me somewhere else. What? Slow, slow, that's right. So what's that פירוש Ivri? What is Ivri? Ivri means he comes from ever hanahar. You know the word translate? Ivri, just explain. Ivri means he comes from overseas, ba me'ever hanahar. Why over here? Yeah, so what do you want from me? Why, what do you want? I have to have a shiur, I can't. This is not a question and answer of the Gemara. Halacha, we'll have to learn something. Come. Second. LaAvram haIvri, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Nechemia, v'Rabbanan. Rashi brings down only one pshat why he was called an Ivri. What? He comes from ever hanahar. The truth is there's other pshatim in the Midrash why he was called Ivri. Rabbi Yehuda omer, kol ha'olam kulo me'ever echad, v'hu me'ever echad. The whole world was on one side, and he was on the other side. This is Rabbi Yehuda. Still, I didn't answer the question, understand? The question, why over here, right? It's a simple answer. This is what it says. Why was he called Ivri? He was called Ivri because kulo me'ever echad.

Hu meEver echad. Reb Nechemya omer shehu mibnei banav shel Ever. He was from the grandchildren, mibnei banav shel Ever. Shem, Ever, right? So he was a grandson. So Ever is not where he came from, but Ever is what? It's like last name. He was a grandson. The Rabbanan amri, the Rabbanan say, shehu meEver haNahar. He was what? MeEver haNahar. And shehu mashiach belashon Ivri. Shehu mashiach belashon Ivri. What does that mean, shehu mashiach belashon Ivri? Mashiach medaber. He speaks. Mashiach, he speaks belashon Ivri. He speaks belashon Ivri. He came from Ever haNahar, yeah? Not only that he comes from Ever haNahar, that's what he spoke? No, he spoke Ivri. He spoke Ivri, whatever Ivri is. What's going on over here? Something's wrong over here. Over here the palit comes and he tells Ever haNahar. What happened over here? You have to know what language—it's important to know over here what language Avraham Avinu speaks. It's important to know shehu meEver echad v'hem meEver haSheni. What's the pshat in this medrash? I want to ask another question. Who is the palit? The palit is—why do you see so interested in telling Avraham Avinu that Lot was captured? Because he wants to marry his wife. He wanted to get killed and marry his wife. Why did he think that Avraham Avinu would run to save Lot? Why should he think, bichlal, that Avraham Avinu should run to save Lot? Oh, so we have to speak about this. Listen carefully, yeah? Slow. We have to speak about this. Why would he think that he's going to come and save— Why should he come and say? So there's a very interesting Siforno. Siforno explains, why would we think here, well, Vayaged l'Avram haIvri, lo sheyada Lot sheAvram karov l'Lot. It's not because the palit thought that Avram and Lot were related. Unbelievable Siforno, yeah? How should you learn that it was his nephew? Says Siforno, no, no, nothing to do with that. Lo sheyada palit sheAvram karov l'Lot, rak yada shehaya machzik b'de'ot ever kamohu. Yeah? He knew that Lot behaved like Avram, like Ever, meaning there was a certain, yeah, a certain way how Ever behaved, right, and hanhagah that they had, and they knew that Lot was part of that, so to speak, part of that chaburah, and they understood that Lot, that he would go and save him. What? What is he? He's like this. Pashut, we come and we say that they were related, right? The question is, says the Siforno, lechora this question: why over here does it have to say Ivri? Meaning what? The Siforno is bothered by the question that we're asking. Why is it important to say over here that the palit told Avram haIvri? The answer is because Ivri means what? He came from Ever, or he came from Ever Nahar, whatever it is, Lot behaved the same way. Lot behaved like Avram, yeah? Rak yada shehaya machzik b'de'ot Ever kamohu. People knew that Lot was a strange guy, yeah? Lot was a strange guy. What was strange about Lot? He behaved like an Ivri. You hear? What's that? Ivri. Behaysan Ivri. I have an idea. You know what? I'm going to go tell this other Ivri guy, right, when one Spaniol misbehaves, what do you say? You know what? I'll tell another Spaniol. The stam, he'll care that the Spaniol got a problem, right? Not that they're related. Don't have to be brother, sister, uncle, right? That's what it says, Ivri. See, what is the Seforno doing? The Seforno is trying to answer, A, why the palit thought that Avraham Avinu would be interested in saving Lot, and also why it says Ivri. The answer is by Avraham, palit, by El Avram haIvri. It says it bedavka here, because that's why he told him. He came and he told him, knowing that he was an Ivri, Lot was also an Ivri. And the stam, you're going to want to save Lot. This is, l'choira, according to the Seforno. Now, boysai, this is very nice. The problem with this, that my grandfather is me'orer in the sefer, that in the Medrash itself we see not that way. Meaning, the Seforno is a very nice pshat. The Seforno is trying to explain a teretz to this question, right? Why over here does it say Ivri, and the answer is because that's why Avram went to save him, or at least that's why the palit thought that he went to save. Let's take a look why he really went. So if you take a look, it says like this: What's the pshat...

Ki nishba achiv. What's the pshat, ki nishba achiv? It says like this: Shehaya zivug kunis shelo domeh, right? You want to give me the, well, the blue sefer. What's his kavanah of the palit l'shem shamayim? Says the Medrash, Mem beis. Hu lo nitkaven l'shem shamayim. That's not what happened. No, that's not what happened. Hu lo nitkaven l'shem shamayim, ela amar, Avraham zeh kunyan hu. Avraham zeh kunyan hu, v'achshav ani omer lo, nishba ben achicha, hu yatza l'milchamah v'neherag, v'ani notel es Sarah ishto. Avraham and Lot looked very much alike, meaning they were related. So if I come and I tell him that his ben achiv, listen, your ben achiv was captured, for sure he'll go out and he'll fight, he'll get killed, and what's going to happen? I could have his wife Sarah. ... because he went and walked Avraham Avinu to tell him, d'atid notil, ... b'olam, he'll have a lot of years, you hear? Who killed? Who killed Moshe Rabbeinu? He lived all the way to Moshe Rabbeinu's time. What do we see? Even though it's not l'shem shamayim, it's enough to what Hashem to pay back his rasha in this world. But what do you see from this Medrash clearly? What do you see from this Medrash? What do you see from this Medrash? You see clearly from the Medrash that he came to tell him for what reason? Because he knew. That he was related to who? Related to? Sahakidah, the Sipurna come and go against an open medrash. That's my grandfather's question. Again, the medrash, the Sipurna comes to answer the question, Ivri. So he explains, you know pshat, Ivri. Ivri is because Lot behaved like an Ivri and Avram behaved like an Ivri, so מסתמא they have something to do with each other, and he would care about an Ivri, right? But not that they were related or in any way. The medrash says clearly not that way. The medrash says clearly that Lot looked like Avram and that he was ben achiv, and therefore what happened? He decided that he's going to tell him like this, he'll run for his brother, for his nephew, and he'll save him. So I have a very poshut question. Besides my grandfather's question that the Sipurna is a stira, I don't understand another nekudah. Why is it important to say that they looked alike? If I come and I tell you that my nephew was captured, and I care about my nephew, I don't care about only because he looks like me. Avram only cares—what, rabosai? Avram only cares because of what? Because zivi kunin, they look alike. What did Lot think? Oh, you know what? Avram looks just like Lot. מסתמא he's going to want to save him. What's the pshat? He says like this: כולן נתכוונו לשם שמים, אלא אמר, אברהם זה קונידו. Meaning what? Avram is like his twin. They're very much alike. ועכשיו אני אומר לו, נשבה בן אחיך, so when I come and I tell him that your nephew was captured, for sure he'll go to milchama. What's that have to do with looking alike? מה זה שייך למה שהם נראים יחד, right? You read in the medrash, right? He looks just like—yeah. Now you're talking. Now you're saying good. But just wait. Again, it's not clear yet. We still don't have a clear picture what's going on. Again, I asked you a few questions. The first question I asked you was, why does it say— Light, rechusha, and then ben achi Avraham. The second question I ask you is, why is the Ivri over here? Hey, man, oh wait, who cares where he comes from, right? So the Beis HaLevi asks this question. The Beis HaLevi answers, it's nogea to tell me why he thought that Avram would run to him. The Medrash says not like that. The Medrash says the reason is because he knew he's related. Not mamash not like the Siforno. Siforno is a Rishon; you're not going to Gemara. The Gemara says that you have to keep Shabbat, lamed tes melachos, ein Siforno lo tzarich. You can ask such a thing. You can't have a Siforno argument in Gemara. It's a problem, right? But either way, huh? Either way, either way, the Medrash is also pelah. Let's be told then why? Because it was related to him. So it has nothing to do with tikunim. It has nothing to do with what they look like. That's davar shel peleh. What does that have to do with what they look like? Yeah? Oh yeah, so say it's the same pashut, right? Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, no.

He took Eliezer. Why did he take Eliezer? ויקח אליעזר. וירק את חניכיו. Yeah, וירק את חניכיו. ילידי ביתו, שמונה עשר ושלוש מאות, וירדוף עד דן. Who? וירק means he fastened the belts. וירק means he put on the armory. ויחלק, yeah, ויחלק. Who was ילידי ביתו? ילידי ביתו, the people of his house. What's חניכיו? So what are the חניכיו? חנוך כתיב, זה אליעזר, שחנכו למצוות. Eliezer, because he wanted—well, Eliezer, that he was mechanech him in mitzvot. והוא לשון התחלת קניית האדם או לקנין אומנות שהוא עתיד לעמוד בה, וכן לחנוך לנער. In other words, he wanted to mechanech him. He was being mechanech Eliezer with mitzvot. I want mitzvah, we're referring to over here. What exactly? Oh, this guy reads Medrash says it. I'm telling you half the Medrash says, right? I'll tell you, there's a very big problem with that. I don't know if it's there, but that's where you got it from. No. I'll tell you, it's just thoughts, so you're very good. So listen carefully again. L'choira over here, when it says that Eliezer was taken, why did he take Eliezer? He took Eliezer because what? לחנכו במצוות. Now, does he mean Eliezer, who he normally was mechanech b'mitzvot? No, he means that. He wants mechanech Eliezer now to do mitzvot. That's what it says. חנוך כתיב, זה אליעזר שחנכו למצוות. Oh, so it means all over, in general, in past. So if it's in past, why does he bring it over here? Again, again, if it means what in general Eliezer was the person who he was mechanech in mitzvot, what's Eliezer called? Give me another name for Eliezer. Eliezer, give me another name for Eliezer. Chanicha, right? That's what it says over here: Vayara es Chanicha. Who is Chanicha? Ze Eliezer, Rashi says. Why? Because Avraham used mechanech him for mitzvot. So why over here? I mean, that's the only time it mentions Eliezer. And more than that—yes. But that's what you say. But Rashi says differently. Rashi says that he took what, Eliezer? Eliezer, that he was mechanech him with mitzvot. Now, it doesn't mean that he was mechanech him all over; it means obviously over here, which means he took him to be mechanech him with a mitzvah. What mitzvah are we referring to when we say that he took him to be mechanech him in mitzvot? What mitzvah? What mitzvah are we referring to? To save Lot. Choveret, to save Lot. Now, let me tell you what the problem with the saving Lot is. Lot, l'choira, was a guy. Lot, l'choira, was a guy. Let's say Avram also. Do goyim have a mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa? Do goyim have a mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa? Now let me explain to you what I'm referring to. L'choira, the reason why Avram went pashtus is because of pidyon shvuyim. Pashtus because of pidyon shvuyim. We all know in halacha, the Rama brings it down, that in pidyon shvuyim, who do you have to save more, your relatives or your non-relatives? Your relatives. You have to save your relatives, right? Pursh halacha, siman reish nun gimel, reish nun aleph, right? So mimeila, Avram, being alts pidyon shvuyim, had a halacha to go and save Lot. So there was a mitzvah involved, so he takes Eliezer l'chanchei b'mitzvos. He takes Eliezer l'chanchei b'mitzvos. The problem with this is that you have to understand that l'churah, Lot was a guy. L'churah, Lot was a guy. And Minchas Chinuch says clearly that goyim don't have the issur of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa. You, let's say, are in the street, and you see another Jew fall away, and you look away. What's your halacha? The issur of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa. Don't stand and watch your brother's blood spill. Don't watch your brother's blood spill. This is only a Jew to a Jew. A goy has no problem. And you want to know something? They mekayem this very, very well, because if a goy would fall in the street, half the goyim would look away like nothing happened. You know that in Forest Hills, there's a very famous story. There was a woman that was being killed. Right here, Forest Hills, by the tennis courts. Yeah, maybe it's not the—whatever. She was killed, right? She was—there's a famous story. She was knocking on the doors. She was banging on the doors that they should let her in because the guy's running after her. Nobody even bothered calling the police. No one bothered answering the doors. They didn't want to get involved. Everybody got afraid. Okay, good. So they mekayem the mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa, that they're not mechuyav in it. They're being zahir in not being mekayem the mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa, and they're not mechuyav. According to the Minchas Chinuch, they're not mechuyav. So they ask the question: l'churah, you have a problem if Lot was a guy, so there was no lo sa'amod al dam re'echa anyway. So why is it that Avraham Avinu goes to a war—

He fought a war. You know, the war he fought. He fought a war of nations and kings just to save Lot. Who cares about Lot? It's not a mitzvah, huh? He went to get back Lot. You know, the war he had to fight—five kings, four kings. He turned everything upside down. What? For which halacha? Because pidyon shvuyim. That's how. He had to win the war. He had to win the war, no? This is, ... mitzvas chinuch ... mitzvah ... that a guy doesn't have ... So what's the pshat? So they say over from a Berel. I heard this from Brisker Rav's son, ... they said over that Reb Berel had a very nice diyuk, a very nice diyuk, in the beginning of this week's parsha. If you take a look, originally it says in the pasuk, Vayelech Avram ka'asher diber eilav Hashem, vayelech ito Lot. Lot went with him. The next pasuk it says, Vayikach Avram et sarai ishto v'et Lot ben achiv. First it says vayelech, that Lot went, and then it says what? Vayikach, he took. One pasuk after another, right? The first pasuk, Vayelech Avram, vayelech ito Lot. What does vayelech mean? That Avram didn't really want to take him. Who really wanted to go? So Chazal tell us, why did Lot want to go? Money, money. He was listening over. Yeah, he heard, Ooh, this guy Avram, there's a big future for this guy Avram. I sit over here, you know what I'm busy with? I'm busy going to the store for my father and my mother, right? I have to buy avocados every Shabbat for him, right, and make the shopping and make... I go with this guy Avram, I become a rich guy, and that's what happened. V'gam laLot haholech et Avram. Ooh, he made him very rich, Lot. Why did he become rich? Only because of Avram, right? So this is vayelech ito Lot. So why the next pasuk it says, Vayikach Avram et Lot? So Reb El used to say a very nice pshat. It's like this: Halachah is in geirus that you don't, you push away. When somebody comes for geirus, you have to push him away. So originally when Lot wanted to go, Vayelech ... Avram pushed him away and told him, What? I'm not taking you. And Lot forced himself. He said, I'm going anyway. Once he went with Avraham Avinu anyway, meaning he was mekabel even though he was pushed away, Avram took him. Avram was not—Avram was mekabel on himself. He was ivri. He was mekabel himself to become a Jew. She says that's the two pshatim: Vayelech Avram, Vayelech ... because Avram didn't want to take him. Then after he already forced himself, he said, Af al pi kein. Once a ger pushes himself and he says he really wants to become a ger anyway, then you have to accept him. So that's the vayikach. Then he took him with him. So Reb El used to say that's the teretz. Be'emes, that he was mekabel geirus. So then he used to ask the kasha, but then what happened by Sdom? It says clearly that he went off. He went back, chazar l'suro, right? Pasuk yud-gimmel. What does it say in pasuk yud-gimmel? Oh, so he spoke this word. Reb El tried to prove. Ah, so that's how ... he came and he slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, pasuk yud-gimmel. Here we go. Yud-daled. If you have a ... yud-gimmel, pasuk yud-daled. Vayichal lot et kol kikar haYarden, vayisa Lot miKedem, vayipardu ish me'al achiv. They separated, ish me'al achiv. So what does Rashi say? Rashi says that they went away. What happened? He went away. One second. He says, Vayet miKedem. He went miKedem. What is miKedem? Nasa me'eitzel Avram. Midrash Aggadah: hesia atzmo miKadmono shel olam. He pushed—he took himself away from Hashem. Amar, אי אפשי לא באברם ולא באלוהיו. I don't want—not Avraham and not ... not interested. Not for me. Not for me, the whole business. And he went on his own. So says Reb El, Ah, you see, he was chozer. Teretz is because it was a real geirus, and he makes a chiluk between ger that's mekabel geirus—the Brisker Rav says—but a ger, there's two types of ger. There's a ger toshav. And the ger emet. What's a ger toshav? When a person comes into Eretz Yisrael, a goy who wants to live in Israel and he wants to accept sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach, the halacha is he has a din of a ger. So the halacha is, says the Brisker Rav, that this gerus he could accept and unaccept. The Brisker Rav in the sefer, he writes, because since the whole thing is תליא on kabbalah, meaning why — the Brisker was a very nice vort — it doesn't change the guf. Why does a ger toshav have to keep? Because he accepted, not because he is anything different. He himself is not a ger; he accepted. So once he unaccepts it, he becomes back to being a regular goy. Mashenkin by Lot, even though he was partush, it was like a ger that's partush, and once the halacha when a ger goes off, still a ger. It'll make a difference. So he says that's pshat why Avraham Avinu ran after Lot. Pidyon shvuyim. Avraham Avinu — pidyon shvuyim. I have a very big problem with this halacha. You listening? You with me? Yeah. Again, rabosai.

Hi, let's go back a second. We're trying to explain why Avraham Avinu went to save Lot. Why did he go save Lot? He made a whole war, a whole fight, a whole save Lot. Okay, so I'm showing you from Rashi that he took Eliezer. Why did he take Eliezer? Lichancho b'mitzvot. Obviously there was a mitzvah involved. Which mitzvah could be involved with saving Lot? You have to say the mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim, right? Save a guy who was shavui. So we ask a question: A, there's no pidyon shvuyim by a guy. So we have a whole teretz from Brisker Rav's son that he had a din of a Jew because he was a ger. Lo tamar al dam rei'echa, but now that he was Ivri, that they're both mekabel the mitzvot, so now they have a din of pidyon shvuyim back and forth. Fine. So that's lichancho b'mitzvot. And, rabosai, let me ask you a question: Are you mechuyav to put yourself in a sakanah for pidyon shvuyim? No. No. Are you mechuyav to put yourself in a sakanah for pidyon shvuyim? Oh, so let's see the halachah inside. The Pitchei Teshuvah in siman reish nun bet brings down like this: Iyun b'teshuvat Yad Eliyahu, siman mem gimel, im mechuyav adam lachnis atzmo b'safek sakanat nefashot k'dei l'hatzil chaveiro. If a person is mechuyav to put himself in safek sakanat nefashot k'dei l'hatzil chaveiro, bevadai, or eino mechuyav. Aval klapanim, rashai la'asot ken, im rotzeh m'midat chasidut, o me'ahavat chaveiro, o eino rishai l'saken atzmo. Heishiv, and he answered, that Beit Yosef b'Choshen Mishpat, siman tav chavav, katav b'shem haGa'ot Maimon: tzarich l'saken atzmo bishvil chaveiro. It is halachah that you have to put yourself in sakanah; there's a safek. This is vadai. This is safek, and this is a vadai. Meaning, I'm a safek sakanas nefashos, but I'm definitely saving him. So the Beit Yosef paskens, when I'm a safek sakanas nefashos and vadai saving him, right, then it's this safek versus this vadai, and I have to go fight to save the guy. Now, he says like this: Ach yesh lefakpek ladun al zeh. He says, Kesef Mishneh, and even though Maran Beit Yosef says like this, it's not so pashut. Why? Veha'la, im shneihem shavim b'ma'alah, כגון שניהם תלמידי חכמים או עם הארץ, u'mikol sheken, im hamatzil תלמיד חכם והניצל עם הארץ, אין הרשאי להכניס עצמו אפילו בספק הצלה ודאי. אך אם המציל אינו תלמיד חכם... And he... Oh, that's my answer. There you go. News, I'm asking good? Am I asking good? Good. This Pitchei Teshuvah brings down that even the Beit Yosef that says that you're mechuyav to put yourself in a sakanah to make pidyon shvuyim, that's only when you're an am ha'aretz who's trying to save a talmid chacham. But a talmid chacham who's trying to save an am ha'aretz is not to put himself, what, in sakanah. So I come along and I ask you, my dear talmidim, what do you do with Avraham Avinu? It's a big problem. Slow, slow, slow. Ah! Ah, this is everything. Lot was not pikuach. What was Lot already? Lot was an am ha'aretz, a pikuach. Huh? Okay, so I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what we're going to do. Let me show you, let me show you. What was so sure that you're going to save? You see, what does the Pitchei Teshuva talk about? Where you're for sure it could save, but it's a sakana for you; you might not make it. He'll make it, but you won't make it. How was Avraham so sure? Maybe in this case, Lot won't make it either. Maybe Lot will get killed too. That's another machlokes. The Mishneh Lamelech—I'm sorry, the Kesef Mishneh—in Hilchos Rotzeach, perek aleph, halacha yud-daled, writes clearly that even on a safek matzil, even if you're not sure you'll be able to save the guy, you might be able to save, not 100% sure, you might, still you have to bring yourself in a sakana to save. Comes the Bach, and he's medayek from the Rambam that that's not true. The Bach in Choshen Mishpat says clearly, siman chaf-vav, that if a person is not 100% sure he's going to save the guy, he's not allowed to put himself in a sakana either. So now we have a second problem. A, how could a safek sakana of a talmid chacham to save life, that's not la halacha? Second of all, you don't even have a vadai saving life; you have only a safek saving life. Then we have a question: mitzad sheini, what right did Avraham Avinu have to save Lot? You with me? Let's hear again the kasha. Say it again. Bring me the Shulchan Aruch, chaf-vav. Bring me Kesef Mishneh. I want to see it all inside. What do you do? Lot! The guy to save Lot. What's saving Lot? Who's going to get Lot?

That's right. That's right. That's right, because the sakana, danger and everything he's in. So who's lot? What's lot? Forget about lot. What can you do? He was the one who had to do it to capture Lot. So what should I do? What's Lot? Yeah, retzeach. First of all, yeah, you're with me? Explain the question. Yeah, explain the question. Go. Tav-chaf-vav, b'shem Hagahot Maimon. Give me a Tur. You have a Tur? A Tur also. Tav-chaf-vav. Why is it, why is it that Avraham Avinu puts himself in a sakana to go save Lot? Answer is what? Lichancho b'mitzvot. It's mashma there was a mitzvah here from Eliezer taking Eliezer, we see that it was a mitzvah. What mitzvah? Pidyon shvuyim. I asked you, pidyon shvuyim, goyim, ... bris Torah, he was a Jew. Okay. But l'maaseh, I don't understand. It's not true l'halacha, the whole thing. Read the Pitchei Teshuvah. Right, start. Oh, are you chav to put yourself in a sakana for pidyon shvuyim? That's the question. Right? No? Rishai, you hear? Chasidut. Could a person, A, does he have to? And B, now that we maybe not have to, maybe not even allowed to. Person maybe you don't have to. Now that you don't have to, now we can even ask, maybe not even allowed to. That's the question. Do you have to or don't? And even if you don't... Not even allowed. Go ahead. Hey, Shiv, what do you answer? Is that safek? Is that vadai? Meaning when this is safek and this is vadai, you're mechuyav. Meaning you may be, maybe might not make it, but he's definitely going to make it. But he's definitely going to make it. What happens? Continue. Next case. Cool. What, what, what, what? Lepakpek, yeah? Oh, that's only where they're shavim b'maalah. They're both butchers. They're both fruit men. They're both shoemakers. If one of them is gadol hador and the other one is a garbage man, what happens? No. I amaretz. No, not you. That's the translation, yeah. Oh, no. Sayashi, kasha. If this is true, and he brings from the Chavot Yair big poskim teshuva, sayashi, if this is true, what right did Avraham Avinu have to what? No, say no. Yeah, Yaakov's teshuva. Such a teshuva, but this is a talmid chacham, tzaddik, gaon. This is, look, what's look? Look, nobody. Maybe he will be. Look, he's badvadjo man. What's look? Even if he keeps mitzvot, so what's look? Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu got what? Avot. Who yeto mechacham? It doesn't say imi heyeto mechacham. It says, עכשיו. We take a look and we say, you, you wearing green sanitation suit, you wearing black abalim suit, right? You wearing green, right? So we say you. Ah, halachah is halachah. Why? He didn't know that he was Avraham Avinu. He didn't know. A person would come and say, you know what, halachah is a talmid chacham, you know, you have to stand up for him. Yeah, but this person doesn't even know he's a talmid chacham, so I won't stand up for him. Halachah is halachah. Halachah is halachah. Okay, now, second of all, yeah, second of all, that's question number one. Question number two is, let's take a look. What about—who's reading next? Eliezer got my... No, let him read. Kesef Mishneh, bring... No, he got my... Go ahead. So the Rambam's lashon is, kol hayachol latzil. Whoever could be matzil. Go ahead. Right. Should you come, you'll case, you see a guy drowning.

Lo ta'amod al dam re'echa. Go ahead. Nu, v'hamehacha nafka? V'mehacha nafka, mehacha nafka, avedat gufo minayin? Talmud lomar v'lo ta'amod al dam re'echa. There's nothing to do with lo ta'amod. It has to do with what? It has to do with hashavas aveidah. Who says we learn from the pasuk lo ta'amod, we should learn out from what? From hashavas aveidah. Go ahead. You have to do it. Who says I have to spend money? Lo ta'amod al dam re'echa. Go ahead, continue. You have to pay him back. Now that I pay money for pidyon shvuyim, you have to pay me back. Fine, okay, good. Oh, let's say this guy has money and he doesn't want to pay, so I'm not mechuyav to pay for my money. Use the guy's money. Tell the guy, listen, you want me to pay, right? You want me to get pidyon shvuyim? Give me a bank account number. I'll take out the money from the bank and I'll get it paid. Not from my bank account, from your bank account. If he doesn't have, then I'm mechuyav. Go ahead. This is nothing. This is pidyon shvuyim. I want to be podeh, but I have to use whose money? No? Okay. Oh, shh. This week we're a lot about money. A lot. Go ahead, nu. Even if he machnis atzmo b'safek sakanah, yeah? Meaning, the question is not that you're vadai and he's a safek. The question is you're also a safek. What happens? So you have a nirah. Oh, if he's a vadai and you're a safek, then the halacha is what? You do it. You look at the Bach. Now who's reading the Bach? Eliyahu, go ahead. So even though they're goyt maimoni and the Beis Yosef is right, what? The Gemara's mashma that a safek, meaning he's a safek, safek that he's going to die or live. It doesn't. Saying the opposite. Only if you're a vadai. Only if you're a vadai. That's right. That's what the Bach said. What was the last three words? Okay, that's the end, that's the whole thing. Okay, so we have a machlokes over here, right? If a person is mechuyiv to put himself in a safek, even if the other guy is a vadai. The Bach says that even to put yourself in a sakanah, you're not חייב, which yachol להצילו, which means I know that I could get the job done. If I'm going to end up dying from this, not mechuyiv. So my question is, how did Avraham Avinu put himself in a sakanah? A, Lot was am haaretz, and B, bichlal, you don't put yourself in a sakanah going for the Bach. You don't put yourself in a sakanah. That's my question. If we had a tam chacham and we have an am haaretz dying right next to him and there's no one around, can the tam chacham say this line? No, if the tam chacham is going to die. Question: Could the tamachacham put himself in a sakana for another person? The answer is no. But a regular person should put himself in a sakana if he knows he can save that person. No, let's say you know for sure. Let's say you have connections. Does everybody understand the question? Does everybody understand the question? Again, an interesting Medrash, Peldik Medrash, Peldik Medrash. What happens, it says over here, it says like this: Vayarak es Chanichav. Yeah. Yelidei beiso, shmoneh asar u'shlosh me'os ish, vayirdof ad Dan. He went till Dan. Okay, so it says like this. If you look at the Medrash, the Medrash Rabbah brings down that the people with Avraham Avinu didn't want to go with him. They didn't want to go with him. It says like this. No, no, no, no, no, no. It says like this. Atah zeh, now you're talking. Listen to what it says in the Medrash. Vayishma Avram, vanishbachiv. Ada hu d'chsiv, Otim oznam mishmo adamah. Certain people don't hear. What's the question? Why say Vayishma Avram? I mean, look, told him. Yeah. I'm talking. You heard me?

What's the question, right? So why is that to say, Lo oktolzen, and Avraham heard, Vayishma Avraham. He says the answer is, a lot of people are told, they don't hear. You can talk to a guy and tell him that there's a guy dying in the street. What? What time is it? What'd you say? I said what? You're hungry? You don't hear what the guy is saying, says the Medrash, that's what it means. Oytim ozno mishmoa damim. A lot of people, when it comes to—there's a very nice story, very, very nice story. I think it's a beautiful story. Kapishnitzer Rebbe, he passed away young. There was a very big dynasty, Chassidus, called Kapishnitz. It's very close to Stoln, something like Stoln, that type of Chassidus, very Litvish Chassidus. You know, not like the Strymel, not that type, but Kapishnitz is a very nice Chassidus. The father died and the son died very young after, and he had a brain—big pop in his brain, an aneurysm. Anyways, they were very fine, very chashuv Chassidus, very honorable. What happened to the dynasty? It fell apart. It's a shul now in Borough Park, in Flatbush. The kids, so what happened? This is the end of the maiseh. So they say over a story that the Kapishnitzer Rebbe once went to a guy in Manhattan, to his office, to collect money for stuff. Nope. So the guy sits down there. Rebbe, Kapishnitzer Rebbe lets him in. Rebbe, what can I do? No problem, not a big deal. Tell me— No. The Rebbe says, Wait a second. I just want to tell you more about the people. He starts going on again, and he starts telling him about the achmanus and this problem and the suffering. The guy says, Rebbe, you don't have to do this. Just tell me the amount. It's not a big deal. There's a big balabusta, this guy. So he tells him, starts again, again the same story, more mamish. Rebbe, I don't have time. You don't listen. In America, time is money, you know. Just give me the amount, I'll give it to you. I have no problem giving tzedakah. So he tells him, make it out the biggest check you ever made. So he thinks the biggest check was a half a million, three hundred thousand dollars, four hundred thousand. It's fine, no problem. Puts it down. He says, Rebbe, who should I make the check out to? Another Rebbe said to him, Make it out to your brother. You hear the story? Make it out to your brother. This guy gave all the tzedakahs in the world, yeah? All the tzedakahs in the world, except to his brother. But that he didn't hear. He didn't even realize that his brother needed tzedakah. That's pshat. A lot of people, you could talk to them, yeah? They'll hear everything in the world. Talk to them about, let's say, they're a cousin or a brother or somebody who needs tzedakah, they don't hear. Why is that? It's oblivious. It's oblivious. They don't pay attention. Let me tell you where you're talking. You're talking from a young, young, and behind people care about their families. Regular people in the streets, I care more about strangers than they care about their own relatives. You should know that. A regular person in the street, right? You tell him his friend needs a dollar or they'll run for him. Tell him that his brother is dying from... probably ever shows up to visit. That's the nature of people, the nature of people. So the Rebbe tried to wake him up and say, he's suffering. He wanted the guy should hear, so he didn't tell him the name. Like this, he listened, he listened, he listened. Okay, I'll give, I'll give. Make it out to your brother. You're so blind. This is what it says: Vayishma — a lot of people don't hear. Oytim ozno, mishmoa damim. Vayarak et Chanichav. What's Vayarak et Chanichav? That Yehuda v'haMelchemya. Yehuda אומר, הן הוריקו פנים כנגד אברהם. They answered chutzpah to Avraham, the people in Avraham's house. Avraham said, Guys, let's go. Talmidim, we're going to fight. You know what they said? Are you crazy? Are you kidding me? You're going to fight? We're staying home. We're not going anywhere. Fight who? Fight what? Malachim? We're not going nowhere. Who's going to be able to win this war? You gotta be crazy. You gotta be crazy to fight this. Says the Gemara, and Mechamya omer, Mechamya says, Avraham hoyrich panim kenegdam. Avraham spoke back to them. Not that they spoke to Avraham that we ain't going, but Avraham had what to answer them. Avraham said to them what? Eitzeh, I will go, ve'epol, and I will fall, al kiddush shmo shel Makom, al kiddush Hashem. Ah, it's my kasha to you. Ay, ay, ay, what is the Medrash telling us over here? Where is the kiddush Hashem? I thought it was Pidyon Shvuyim. Ah, so I know what I'm talking about. If it is kiddush Hashem, he's going to go housing... the world's going to see... No, yeah, I'm ready to die for kiddush Hashem, because they're going to know that Avraham came and started fighting and then... Now let me tell you what the pshat. You hear my kasha? It says kiddush Hashem. I need... I'm kiddush Hashem. What's pshat? What is kiddush Hashem saving life? We were talking about, he's trying to save life. Where is kiddush Hashem in saving life? Where is the kiddush Hashem?

Pidyon shvuyim. My boy, so the answer is as follows. What, what, what, what, what are you saying? What are you saying? The halacha is you're not mechuyav to die for pidyon shvuyim. My boy, my boy, listen to me carefully. You know, you can't make up and say, and achanami, you don't sell everything for pidyon shvuyim. You know the Maram M'Rutenberg died in jail? Yeah. You know why? Why did the Maram M'Rutenberg die in jail? They asked for too much money. They asked for too much money, and he said, You're not allowed to spend too much money. Yeah. Yeah. That was the greatest, the Maram M'Rutenberg. The kehillah wanted to pay to get him out. Halacha is halacha. Halacha is halacha. How can you leave now? You're in the middle of mamash here, the heart. We're in the heart. We went for the operation, we're opening up, we're now in the heart, right? We're holding, and then all of a sudden, kaifa is busy, he has to leave. Imagine a doctor making an operation here, and he cuts and he cuts and he cuts and he finally gets to the heart. I'm sorry, I'll be back later because I'm busy now. Not you. You make a heart operation for somebody else. You are making for somebody else. Okay, so what do we have over here, Rabosai? Kiddush Hashem. What's the Kiddush Hashem? Rabosai, I think the machlokes is very simple. They ta'ined, what did the people of Avraham's house ta'ine? Pidyon shvuyim, I'm mechuyav to save, to catch yourself a sakana for. What, are you kidding me? We're going to go fight melachim and stories? It's vadai misa. It's not even safek sakana pashut. It's vadai sakana nefashos. Are you mechuyav to put yourself in vadai sakana nefashos for pidyon shvuyim? No. Because they understood that it was pidyon shvuyim. Pidyon shvuyim. Yes. That's the whole din of Kiddush Hashem. What did Avraham hold? The answer is, listen carefully. Rabosai, I think there's two ways we can learn over here. One way we learn like he read, the Medrash says. Can't argue with the Medrash says. The Netziv says—he mustama got it from the Netziv. Netziv says a very nice diyuk over here. Netziv says, what's the pshat? Remember the original kasha I asked you: how come it says ben achiv, it says rechusho, and then it says ben achiv? It should say it the opposite. So the Netziv says a mairige vort. Listen to the Netziv. Oh, the Netziv. If you knew how great the Netziv was. Grandpa, Grandpa. No, no, it's not better. It's just nice. It's the same thing, but nicer. Here. Shane, listen to what it says over here. Listen to what it says. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here it goes. It says like this, Vayikchu et Lot ve'et kol rechusho, ben achi Avram, vayelechu, והוא יושב בסדם. Says the emek davar, the Netziv, the whole pasuk is extra. Who cares he was sitting in Sdom? We know that Lot was in Sdom. I mean, that's the story. Lot was in Sdom, and they captured him. Why does the pasuk have to say it? ללמדנו שלא תאמר דלוט היה אז במלחמה. First of all, you have to know, says the Netziv, Lot wasn't part of this war. Lot had nothing to do with this war. When you go take captives, usually you take from the soldiers, you take captives. Lot was not part of that. And still, b'shovvu. They still went. They went to Sdom, and they took it. Lo kein, el yoshvos b'Sdom, u'mikom makom lakchu oto. Af al gav shelo hochlu l'Sdom lavos. If you take a look, it doesn't say that they went to take people from Sdom. It says they took the money from Sdom. They took the food. And then it says they took Lot. Why'd they take Lot? Huh? Prevention of what? Or revenge on who? Says the Netziv like this. It's such— the Netziv was beautiful. You know, the Netziv used to— what is the hanhagah? You know what the hanhagah is? The Netziv used to give chumash shiur before his regular shiur. Like we do, Learn Mesilas Yesharim, he used to give chumash shiur. This was his chumash shiur. He says like this: B'kol makom, bishvil zeh, b'yichud, halchu l'Sdom v'lakchu oto. U'mizeh nevu'ar d'kavanasam hayta al hizdakkut Avraham. They were out to get Avraham. They took Lot because they wanted Avraham, you see? That's the pshat. They took Lot and all rechusho. When it says ben achi Avram, it's not to tell me who Lot is. It's to tell me what they took. First of all, they took Lot. They took all his money, and they took ben achi Avram, meaning that was a separate reason why they took him. They took him because he was ben achi Avram. They were trying to get back at Avram. Now why were they trying to get back at Avram? Because Avram was fighting milchemet Hashem. Avraham Avinu is fighting milchemet Hashem.

So, the people who are fighting against Doim said, you know what? Let's get back at this Avram. Let's show Avram a lesson. He's making baalei teshuva. He's spreading Yiddishkeit all over the world. Ah, I'm going to get this Avram Avinu guy. We'll take, who we'll take? Lot. So it's not pshat Lot, who was ben achi Avram. We don't have to tell me who Lot was. We don't know who Lot was. Vayikchu et Lot. They took Lot. They took his money. Why? Because he was ben achi Avram. That's why they took. You see? That's what the Netziv says. Now, Vayavo ha-palit. Very good. Vayavo ha-palit, comes the palit, and what does the palit say? Palit says, Vayagid l'Avram ha-Ivri. Now we have a teretz. Vayagid l'Avram ha-Ivri. He was telling him because he was also an Ivri. The reason why they took Lot, because he was an Ivri. And that's why I'm coming to tell you, because I'm sure you're going to want to fight the war, not because he's your brother, like the Seforno says. Because he believes. Because he's like you. And that's what the Medrash means, hikunu. They looked alike. Meaning they were both, they should both showed Hashem in this world. That's the pshat hikunu. That's what it means. It doesn't mean that they looked the face, oh, nice nose he got there. Looks just like Avram Avinu. Ah. You understand? Not half. You understand? Cold. Maybe cold. It's cold. Yeah, what? A little slower? Yes. No, so let's just go back again. Again. The Netziv tells me that when they took Lot, you know who they were really going after? They were going after Avram Avinu. They're trying to hurt Avram Avinu. Vayikchu et Lot et rechusho because he was ben achi Avram. Pshat who Lot was, we know who Lot was. And that's Vayavo ha-palit. The palit comes, I mean it's not the Netziv, it's we're saying it. Vayavo ha-palit, Vayaged l'Avram ha-Ivri. He's telling him not because of Lot, like the Seforno says, because he wanted to save his nephew. That's what he went to save. That's the whole, the whole parsha is that he went to save his nephew. Ah. Says the Siforno, it means is he went to save because he was also an Ivri, because he behaved like one of the Bnei Ivri, because he behaved also like a Jew in this world. And that's what pshat in the Medrash. It's not a stirah anymore. It's not a contradiction anymore to the Medrash that says because ikunim, ikunim, they looked alike. What do they looked alike? It's not because they were mishpachah. That's not what it means. It means they behaved the same way. He was a copy of Avraham Avinu. As we find in Sdom, who behaved like Avraham Avinu? Right, he brings in the orchim, right, he brings all... Lot walked around like chassidishe guy in Sdom. Imagine Harlem, the other guy with peyos. That's what Lot looked like. Lot was a guy in Harlem, yeah. Yeah. They show Lot like Noach with the... That's what he looked like. All the blacks in the middle, all the blacks, they have a light over there, who's walking around doing mitzvahs, chesed, ... So they took him to get back at Avraham. So Avraham held the milchamah was what? Wasn't pidyon shvuyim. They held the milchamah was pidyon shvuyim. So what did they say? Sakanat nefashot. What happens? Who's going to go involved in sakanat nefashot? Avraham Avinu held that what? ... I'm going. They, the students felt, the students held that it was pikuach. I'm going to go save my—I'm going to go put myself in sakana for Lot. I'm saving the talmidim, all the people he went with. He went with a bunch of people, so Chazal said they didn't want to go. Avraham Avinu incedam, I'm ready to die for Kiddush Hashem. So you have to do it sakanah vadai. That's halachah, Kiddush Hashem. Yeah, what is it? The people were forced to save. Avraham said, You're going anyway. He paid them. He made them crazy. They ended up going because Avraham made them go, but they didn't want to go. But Avraham said, I'm going anyway, even though... Even though it's a sakana, why? Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Nothing to do with Lot, huh? Because since it was a war against Ivri, it was a war against Avram spreading Hashem in the world, so the milchama that he fought back was to fight back against Ivri. That's what he was fighting for. So he says, I'm ready to die on Kiddush Hashem. That's what I'm ready to die for. That's the teretz that Avram is answering him. What's? Kiddush Hashem. That's it, no. Let me just help him out. The truth is, you want, I'll answer even better. The kesef Mishneh brings down in zman shemad, in the time that the goyim are trying to change what the Jews look like, even on arking and a sani, on the string of what they wear. For example, the Jews wear black shoelaces, and the goyim wear red ones, and the goyim want you to wear red shoelaces. The kesef Mishneh brings down, the Ramba says, kesef Mishneh brings down, you go on Kiddush Hashem. This is what happened over here. They were trying to change Ivri. See, they were trying to undo the Ivri. Avraham Avinu said, arki v'nasani, I'm ready to die for Kiddush Hashem even on Ivri. Don't start off with the kinuyim, with what Lot looked like. You see, Ivri. That's the pshat. What? That's the halacha, because they're trying to—it's not so much the thing, it's they're trying to change the Yad. The Yiddishkeit. They're trying to change Yad.

They're trying to change over Hashem what it's supposed to look like. The minute you touch avodas Hashem and yahadus, there's a mitzvah of yahareg v'al ya'avor. There's a mitzvah to go to war, right? That's what he was teaching Eliyahu. That's what Chanchanim mitzvahs. He was mechanech him in this inyan called kiddush Hashem Shamayim. This is what he was mechanech. Hashem could save him by Himself. It's always that. Any kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Why go to war? Hashem could take care of it by Himself, and that's the mitzvah. The mitzvahs you should fight for, that's the mitzvah. That's the mitzvah. That's the mitzvah. Okay, with this we're going to answer Mordechai. You ready? Most of it. There's still more. There's still plenty more. Beautiful, no? That's emes. You know, the whole thing is, once you hear the whole thing, you see what I'm coming... You see what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to learn the parashah. Now, with this I want to answer another kashya. Ready? I'm going to answer another kashya. You with me? I'm going to answer another kashya. I don't understand one nekudah. There's one thing I don't understand. If you take a look, it says, Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. It wasn't achiv. It was ben achiv. Why is it pshat, Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv? Even you could come and say that it doesn't mean achiv, achiv doesn't—lav davka, it means ben achiv. It means relative. He was taken captive. Say it's lav davka. He said the same thing about his sister. Huh? Achotia. Okay, same thing with the sister. Achiv means brother. Lot. But he wasn't achiv, he was ben achiv, right? You have to say achivas doesn't mean achiva means? I think there's a ma'ordik in the heker in the whole parsha. There's a ma'ordik in the whole pshat over here. It's very deep. Listen carefully. Yes. Good, so that's the simple answer. I'll tell you a different nekudah. Listen to what I'll tell you. I'll tell you a different nekudah. When a person does a mitzvah, why should a person do bein adam l'chaveiro? Because it's a mitzvah? Should a person do bein adam l'chaveiro because it's a mitzvah, or a person should do bein adam l'chaveiro because a person is supposed to be a good person? Both. Both. So you say both. Now, you say avodas Hashem, and you say both. Okay. Do you know that we don't make a bracha before we give tzedakah? Baruch Atah Hashem... asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu... laasos chesed. Have you ever seen such a bracha? Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha'olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'chabed av aviv. Baruch Atah Hashem... What'd he say? What, what, what? It depends on the other... Good teretz. Because it depends on the other... That's what the Rashba answers. The Rashba in the teshuvos answers, you know why we don't make such a bracha? Because who said the guy's gonna take it? Baruch Atah Hashem... asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu... tzedakah. I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want it. Yeah. So what's gonna happen? He's gonna force the guy to become poor. He's gonna rob him. So he should be an ani, so he can be mekayem the mitzvah, should be a bracha levatalah. They sell it with the briskers, they sell it. Kiddush Hashem, happiness, no bracha, Kiddush Hashem. By the way, some hold there is. But אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו לקדש שם שמים. They say because there'd be briskers, that the goyim come over to them and say, Yeah, I want to bow down to Jesus over there, whatever. Chatzi shalom, Baruch Atah Hashem... al Kiddush Hashem. And the guys are looking and go, Huh? It wasn't planned on killing him anyway. It wasn't planned on killing; he changed his mind. So he's gonna go, Mm-mm-mm. Waiting, mm-mm. Hefsek, hefsek. Kill me, hefsek, hefsek. Wait, too much time, too much. That's a joke. Everything that's a joke, usually it's a good joke, there's a good pshat to it. There's a good pshat. What's the good pshat to it? What the Gemara is trying to teach you is, it's not telling you. I mean, if somebody else is just gonna change his mind at the last minute, you're not gonna have a— what's supposed to happen? Baruch doesn't want it stuck. What, are you standing there without him? Change his mind. Anything which is b'daas acher, anything which is תלוי in somebody else.

There's no limit. That's a different answer. That's a different answer. ... one limit stuck in the meilah. Yesh omrim, yesh omrim. Okay. ... there's no limit, no bracha. Beautiful, very nice. That's what we want to answer. The answer, I think, also is very simple. You know what the answer is about? Once you say, Asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu, what are you saying? What, you're an animal, and if Hashem tells me to behave, I'll behave? Really, I don't want to give. I wouldn't give tzedakah if Hashem ... v'tzivanu, because, okay, You told me to do it, I give tzedakah? Be a mensch. Be a mensch. Be a person. You would know it anyway. You would know it anyway. That's right. But the fact that you're giving it shouldn't be giving it because you were told to give it. The fact that you're giving it is because a person should give. Yes. That was yourself, else yourself. A person should want to be a good person. Now, you're gonna ask me, you're gonna ask me, where did I get this yesod from? I believe it's more the second than the first. So you're gonna ask me, where did I get this yesod from, that a person who does chesed, he shouldn't do chesed because it says it in the Torah, but he should do chesed because a person should be a baal chesed, should be a good person. Sounds very nice, nicely, but where did I get it from? It's a very famous story. The Alter from Stavart, I heard this from my grandfather a thousand times, and I said it over already a thousand times. Unbelievable story. There was an avreich that was running around Erev Shabbos from store to store to buy food, to buy food for Shabbos. So the Alter sees him running, the Alter sees him running, yeah? He says to him, Avreich, efo ata ratz? Where are you running? What are you running? The person says, I'm running to go and buy for Shabbat. Kemo shekatuv b'Gemara Kiddushin. Like the Gemara Kiddushin says, Rav machrich reisha. Rav himself, he cleaned the head of the fish, and Rav, even though he had many servants, he did it himself, right? Second perek of Kiddushin, that even though you can send a shliach, mitzvah bo yoter mibishlucho. Yeah? The disciple—you know, the disciple used to do for Shabbat. He walked in Friday afternoon in the disciple's home. What do you think you see the disciple doing? Do you wish he was frying fish? What do you think he was doing? Cleaning. What? Learning. He was on the floor doing sponging. You know, the Israeli do sponging? Clean the floors. He would clean the floors. He would sit there, mop the floor for Shabbat. Yeah, he was on the floor, on the floor, cleaning, rubbing the floors for Shabbat. Yeah? Before Shabbat. Before Shabbat. That's what they say. That's what I heard. The disciple—people went in, I heard this from people who said they went in Friday afternoon, and they would find every Friday afternoon, he'd be on the floor cleaning the floors. Yeah? What was he? He cooked. So listen what happened. Listen carefully. So did the guy say a good answer or a bad answer? Was the guy—was Abrech's answer a good answer or a bad answer? Good answer. Good answer, right? No, but why? Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, the Alter from Slabodka, the tzaddik, the kadosh, the vrachah, screamed at him, 'Afrech, that's how you answer me? Afrech, that's what you—you're a bad person.' Got very angry at him. What did he say that's so wrong? He says, 'What are you telling me, that you have to help your wife or your mother, whatever it is? What, because it says in the Gemara Kiddushin? That's the reason to help? Kemo shekatuv in the Gemara Kiddushin? If it wouldn't say it in Gemara Kiddushin, you wouldn't know that you have to do it anyway.' Don't do it because it says it in the Gemara Kiddushin. Do it because a person has to be a ben adam. A person has to be a person. If you're walking through a place that smells like chazir, and you say, I want to eat it, and you're not eating because Hashem says not to. Chazir is not bein adam l'chaveiro. Chazir is not bein adam l'chaveiro. Chazir is not bein adam l'chaveiro. ... I'm telling you, the way a person is supposed to behave is, he's supposed to be a mensch because you have to be a mensch. Be a mensch. Be a mensch. Oh. Now let's go back. Let's go back to the entire sugya. That's true. But now that you're a mensch, you shouldn't be doing it because katuv baTorah, and not l'shem yichud, and not brachot, and not asher kid'shanu. This is what it is. Why does it say in the Gemara? The Gemara is just telling me that they used to do it. Who taught them? Nobody. They do it on their own. That's what the Gemara says. Take the story and listen to it, because you're just ruining it. The more questions you ask on the story, the worse you're making it, because the story is gold. It's a brilliant—it's a yesod. It's a yesod Nora v'Nifla. It's a yesod Nora v'Nifla. Okay. Now. Yes. Okay, so I'm answering you.

We are very, very, very weak people. But, but once we understand that a person has to do chesed, don't go around saying, I'm a religious Jew and I'm doing chesed, because you have to be the first, that's all. You have to be an adam, to be a normal person, normal people who do nice things for other people. A person has to be a ben adam. Once—yeah, I'll give you an example. I'll give you a very simple example, a very simple example. A lot of people, they don't speak lashon hara. Why? Katuv bSefer Chafetz Chaim. That's very nice. It's very good. But the ultimate, le'eila mikol brachah, that hanhagah is to get out of Chafetz Chaim. Why? You're a person. A ben adam speaks lashon hara, another person. There are many people who didn't see one word in shmiras halashon, and they're nizhar in shmiras halashon. You know why? Because they themselves are good people. They're anashim tohorim, anashim tohorim. No, nobody's born perfect. They worked on being good. In other words, avada the Torah teaches us what's called good. But now you have to do it not because katuv baTorah, unless you are a... Some people have very bad middot, so at least let them do it because of katuv baTorah. Should a person be an anav because the Torah says so, or a person should be be'etzem anav? Should a person come and say, I have to be an anav because the Torah says be anav, or a person should be an anav, that you're nothing. It should become your nature that you're nothing. A person should be an anav by nature. An anav should be a nature. A hundred percent, no. It's not—now that the Torah tells us that this is what tov means, man was created, mikoach haTorah, could reach that by... from within. Yeah, I'm not saying without the Torah, yeah. The goyim, when the goyim do chesed, yeah, it's outside. It's not real. I'm not telling you, that's not real because it's not Torah. But once the Torah—the Torah is not teaching me, do, tzivanu, that you should be commanded. Torah wants that you become part of who you are, to be mahut. That's what you should do. You should be a good person. You should be in each talk. Now, now listen carefully. Let's go back now. Let's go back now, back all the way to the beginning. What was the cheshbon over here with Avram? What happened? I believe there's a big yesod. What was Avram's midah? Chesed. What's the pshat chesed? What does it mean, chesed? Huh? Chesed means that the person himself was mischased im anashim, right? Meaning Avram was ohev chesed. He ran to do, he loved chesed. His shleimus was chesed. That was his shleimus. It's—again, let's start slower. We're not holding. His shleimus was chesed. When he had to go fight for Lot, if he wouldn't fight for Lot, what would it be? It would be a stirah to the entire shita, the entire Torah that he was teaching. Avraham Avinu, who was chesed, he was teaching chesed in Torah. That's what he was teaching. Yitzchak taught avodah in Torah, and Yaakov taught the Torah in Torah, right? What does that mean? Each one was teaching, and not only representing, he was teaching in the world this nekudah, a yesod. Avraham was going around and saying, Rabosai, part of being in this world as a person under Hashem, under Torah, chesed, lifnim mishuras hadin, that's what he was teaching. Mimeila, when Lot was nishba, if Avraham wouldn't go, if Avraham wouldn't go to save Lot, that would be a stirah to the avodas Hashem of Avraham. That would be a complete stirah to the avodas Hashem of Avraham. Mimeila, he had to go al kiddush Hashem to do this. Avraham had to go because this was his shita. This is what he was teaching. That's what I'm explaining to you, but he was teaching which part of chesed. Avraham was teaching the chesed, meaning in Torah and avodah, he was teaching the chesed shebo. So he was mechuyav, and I'll prove it to you. Why did Avraham Avinu not want to make a bris? It says he had to ask under eshkol and Mamre to make a bris. Why? Since I'm teaching chesed to the world, and here I turn around, I'm chovel. No, before Hashem said. No. Under eshkol and Mamre is even after Hashem said to do it. So the mefarshim say, b'Rabim b'tzina. He should do it, but no one should know about it. So under eshkol and Mamre told him he should do it b'Rabim, the people should know about it. The end of this week's parsha, it says that Avraham was, v'hu yoshev petach ha'ohel. Where was he? He was in Elonei Mamre. Says Rashi, why Mamre? Because hu natan lo eitzah lamilah. He was the one who taught him and told him an eitzah, go make the milah. So the mefarshim go, what? Hashem tells you to make milah. What's your question? What's your question? The what? Asking advice for, you hear? Oh, there's a beautiful pshat from Rav Shach. Ooh, I can tell it to you over. Very nice. Okay, wait. I have to try to remember if it's Nehaviah, there's something unbelievable. Avraham...

Let's go through it here. Avraham Avinu, you hear? You listening? Avraham Avinu, here, had to get advice, and the parsha has advice. Hashem tells you to go make Bris Milah, you need advice. And the mefarshim explain, the question was, should he do it where people would hear about it, or should nobody should know about it? Why? So the mefarshim explain, because Avraham Avinu's whole shita was to teach people chesed, chesed, chesed, chesed. And here he goes and he cuts himself, and he cuts up his children. It's against the whole concept of chesed. People are going to say, Oh, Avram, you're a liar. So what happened? So meila what? So meila, mamrei told him, do it b'rabim, and that's why Hashem came to Avram in the ohel mamrei. That's one thing. We also find by the nisayon of that akeidah. Yeah, yeah. What was the nisayon of that akeidah? To go against his nature. Against his nature. The mefarshim explain, you know what bothered Avraham Avinu more than anything else? One of the goyim are going to come and say, All my life I'm teaching chesed, chesed, chesed, and here they see me take my son and kill him. He kicked out Yishmael also because against his nature. This is the nekudah. Avraham Avinu was chesed. For him to go and save Lot or not save Lot would be a shailah of kiddush Hashem or chilul Hashem. Meila, I think the pshat is very poshut over here. If you're running around doing chesed and here, Lot, here Lot, your own is caught, go fight for him. Go fight for him. Where's your chesed, right? This is the pshat: Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. Which halacha did he go for? The answer was because he heard achiv. Once he heard that achiv, that his brother was caught—sleepy, everybody sleepy—chesed. No, so I'm listening, I'm listening. The nekudah was the achiv shelo. That was the nekudah. When he heard ki nishba Achiv, v'meila his chesed was mitzad himself to go and do it. And that's why he was even moser nefesh for it. He had to be moser nefesh on the nekudah of chesed, because that was the whole point of his Torah and avodah in this world. Huh? Same thing, the brit milah, pshat was it was a stirah. The world would look and say, This is your chesed? This is your chesed? Where's your chesed? You take children, babies, and you cut them. Where's your chesed, right? It's immoral. It's immoral. The goyim, a lot of goyim say brit milah is immoral. You cut a baby... Now they're scientifically... Immoral means it's wrong, it's bad. Okay, so this is the pshat over here very פשוט. Again, Avraham Avinu, Avraham Avinu what? Avraham Avinu understands, listen, my tafkid, my avodah is chesed. But why chesed? Avraham Avinu didn't do chesed because it says in the Torah chesed. Avraham Avinu did chesed because that was his chinuch. Huh? That was his chinuch. You see, I'll tell you the truth, I've spoken about this many times. The Steipler speaks about a lot, the Chazon Ish speaks a lot. A person's nature teaches him what is avodas Hashem. A person was born, let's say, a kasa. Kas is a bad middah. What should you do with this? Kanot. A person who has a bad middah, or a good middah, it's the same thing. That is the pshat, Hashem gives you that to show you what your avodas Hashem is supposed to be. It's very good, you're a tzaddik, what do you mean? You have to do chesed to people. Kanot. Kanot. Pinchas. Kas. Kanot kineiti, Pinchas was kas. So what do you think it is? What do you think it was? Huh? Yeah. What do you think? No, it's used for the reshaim, no? You're not reshaim today. No, the thing is, you're a tzaddik. That's what it is. You don't see any reshaim. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. You're a big tzaddik. Let me tell you something. Okay, so, you know what? Let me answer you. I'll answer. There's a very big machlokes. I know there's a very big machlokes between the Chazon Ish and also today the poskim. What do I mean? The Chazon Ish held that 99.9% of the Russian Jews are tinok shenishba, not reshaim. Famous psak he brings, the Chazon Ish. It's a Chazon Ish psak, what? That today everybody is tinok shenishba. People today are tinok shenishba, which means it was not their fault that they're not religious. Today the poskim are starting to backtrack. Why? Because a lot, a lot of the Russian Jews were brought to yeshivot, and they were brought to batei knessiyot, and people worked with them. How many hundreds of boys were in this yeshiva, and they did hear about Hashem, and they were learning Torah, and then they went off. So why are you telling me tinok shenishba?

So they say the poskim in Bnei Brak today don't believe that it's so true that it's tinok shenishba. Today everybody is able or adheres about the Torah. In Russia it was possible that a Jew never even heard of Yiddishkeit, especially in White Russia by the Ashkenazi Russians. The Jews never even heard that there's such a thing called a God. Today it's not true. Everybody hears there's God, and everybody knows what a Jew is. That's not so sure at all. That's not so sure. What's the other shita? The other shita is even though they know, but after so many years that it was stuffed into their head, it's impossible to change, and maybe they can change. But it's a very big machlokes. And you know where it's nogea l'maaseh, where it's nogea l'maaseh? Atzolah. Atzolah is a very big problem. Very, very big problem. What's the problem? You're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a Jew. You're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a goy. Why? Because if you don't be mechalel Shabbos for the goy, they're not going to do it for us. Tell a goy in the street, Go ahead, Atzolah, keep the call. That's all right, you'll go die. Try to go the next day to an emergency, no doctor will take care of you. So mishum eivah, because it will come out that Jews will be in sakanah, you're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a goy too. That's halachah l'maaseh. The question is, what about for a Russian Jew who doesn't keep Torah and mitzvos? That's where the problem is. You don't talk about Ashkenazi Russian Jews, like, you know, the peres. They never had it. The old people never had it. The younger generation were brought to shuls, and they were brought to battei knessios. Not old, not old. It's because it's a big shailah. You'll be surprised. You'll be surprised. It's a big shailah. So I'll tell you, Bnei Brak, they're posek, Bnei Brak, they're posek, they're not tinok shenishba. You know, I'll go say... But what happened? Listen. I don't want to get involved in halachah l'maaseh because it's a very dangerous halachah. You should know that there was a posek that got up, very chashuv posek, that got up in the Stoliner yeshiva. The non-Goyim, either. The non-Goyim, and the— I mean, the Jews who don't keep mitzvos. He has a halachah of a goy, but he doesn't have the halachah you go b'mechalel Shabbosim because he might not save you. There's no eivah. There's no problem of eivah in such a case. There's eivah because he's not going to save you when you need it also. You can't start up with America. You're going to start— you're going to tell Americans you don't save Americans? You're not going to be able to go into a hospital after that. So there was a posek that got up in Stolin, in the Stoliner yeshiva. They have the shiurim. They have a lot of different shiurim. Those who live in Boro Park know. They have shiurim from different rabbanim. And he got up and he said these words. He said that the tinok shenishba— and you should know, the people got up and started throwing chairs at him in the middle of the shiur. Chair? I don't believe it. I heard it from somebody. You know who I heard it from? The people who run the Chamas Yisroel. You know the guy with the long beard, the son-in-law of the guy with the long beard? He told me that. What happened? The one with the long beard, Frieden son-in-law. The one that works by Avraham Alevi, together with Avraham Alevi, in the Sfarm store. What happened? He told me that they took chairs and they threw at him. He said that— ... not allowed to say ... on Shabbos. ... The people at the shiur itself started throwing chairs at him. No, they— What do you mean? They held you wrong. Tinok shenishba is not a teretz. Believe me, there's plenty of resha'im out there. Plenty of resha'im out there. Okay, let's get back— shh, get back to my position. Okay, can we get back to l'maaseh? If, if, if, if, if they went to yeshiva, yeah, ... A lot of them like that. I had Robert Streiser. Obviously, she was religious too. She went to Yeshiva of Brooklyn. She was religious too, as a child. Yes, and a chanami, and Sal would not be able to say Rosh Hashanah. I'm just giving you an example of Russian because it's a big crowd that's still here. The American Jews that are not religious, we don't see them. They're in California, you know, we don't know that they're Jewish at all. So you have to ask them how they pass in such a thing. You have to ask them how they pass. Okay, getting back to Lomazin, getting back to Lomazin. I think the pshat is very poshut. Vayishma Avram, yeah? Vayishma Avram, yeah? Almost there. One second, one second. This is what I think the pshat over here is, yeah? Why is it important to say that he was shochen b'Eilonei Mamrei, achi Eshkol v'achi Aner, v'heima ba'alei bris Avram? Why over here is it important to tell me also where Avram was? Hu shochen b'Eilonei Mamrei, who cares? I'm saying, you see, over there by the bris, I understand why he tells me where Avram lived, Mamrei, eitz... okay. Why over here, hu shochen b'Eilonei Mamrei, haMori, achi Eshkol v'achi Aner, v'heim ba'alei bris Avram? What's the... therefore he—

Wasn't in Sukkah. What do you want? I don't know what he wants here. Maybe how far it was. I don't know what he wants. The heim Baalei Bris Avram, you have to tell him the heim Baalei Bris Avram over here. Huh? The heim, ... Mamre. ... The pasuk says like this: Vayavo ha-palit, vayaged l'Avram ha-Ivri. Where was he? Where was Avram? He was in Elonei Mamre, shochein with Baalei Bris Avram, with his... Does that have anything to do with the story? I don't know. Tell me. I mean, it's a pashut question. And then the pasuk says, Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. What happened? Vayishma Avram, only Avram heard, but the others, they didn't hear. They didn't even move. Only he went because of his chesed, because of his middah, only he went. I think this is what's going on. I think there's a nekudah over here. What's the pshat, the Baalei Bris Avram? The Baalei Bris Avram, their nekudah was to be meya'etz Avram with his chesed. That's the nekudah. He was sitting, b'Elonei Mamre, Achi Eshkol, Achi Aner. They were Baalei Bris Avram around him. They were already okay. So how was he mefarsim? How was he going to show to the rest of the world? That's why Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv, that he had to go there to save. Also, that's the pshat. He was sitting b'Elonei Mamre, Achi Eshkol, Achi Aner, and Baalei Bris Avram. They knew already. Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv, mameila he had to go there. He had to go out, and he went with the people. I think it has some pshat. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it has some pshat. Otherwise, who cares? Okay, bottom line, let's finish. I have to finish. I can't do anymore. I'm tired. Now, he only had to tell him that he should know that he has to go to war. I'm not sure I understand your question. All I said was that we don't need to know where Avram was living when ... who cares? And more than that, you have to tell me that Avram lived by ... because they were baalei bris Avram? What does that have to do with it? The Midrash comes and says this: Could you speak to Pinchas that lives in the apartment building 2B because his uncle sold it to him? Is that how I talk to you? No. What apartment? What apartment? 2E. I was close, yeah, 2E, okay? Now, how'd you get the apartment? How'd you get the apartment? 2B. That's good. So, could you speak to Pinchas who lives in 2B because he got it from the ... apartment? Just tell me, ... by Avraham ... and hu yoshev b'eilonei Mamrei, Eshkol, Aner, Mamrei baalei bris Avram. What? I don't understand the whole question. Humbling question, huh? I think it has to do with this nekudah. He was living by ... Mamrei. ... there was no problem. They ain't baalei bris Avram. The thing was, and what about to go out to show the world? That's pshat by Yishma Avram, ki nishba achiv. Now is another chance for kiddush Hashem. Now is another chance to show I go out to do chesed. I go out to put myself in sakana for a brother, not for a brother. It doesn't mean ach literally ach; it means ach, ach, for brotherly love. That's the pshat by Yishma Avram, ki nishba achiv. Oh, that's pshat. Now it's time to show the world what one person does chesed for another person, even for sakana for a brother. I think that's the pshat. What? No, we spoke that it's not against halacha. We spoke ... So we spoke that it was kiddush Hashem. It wasn't so much the actual pidyon shvuyim, but it was a kiddush Hashem of showing. Chesed. Avraham stood for chesed, and he tried to show chesed, and they were trying to bother Avraham. He went out, vayishma. It's not heter; it becomes Kiddush Hashem. It's a different thing now. I told you, even for peshutah, this rabosai is the pshat in the Onkelos, mamre, and the whole parsha. B'ezras Hashem, we'll see it tomorrow. What time? 12:30, no? Yeah, 12:25. 12:25. We'll see it in ... Huh? What is kinui? What is kinui? Oh, kanai. Kanai means he was a ... zeal. Zeal. Zealous. I'll give you the page.