Ha'azinu: What's Wrong With a Little Shtick?

Hi, this is Dov Odolensky with the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes we try to give you a little insight into the Parsha. This week, Ha'azinu. It's a Shira. We talked about this a few years ago. What What it means to have a Shira, what it means to have a song. But I want to focus on one pasuk. Yeah. Perek Lamed Beis, pasuk Hey. It's talking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Tomim Pa'olo, called Ruach of Mishpat. God is good. God is honest. Shicheis Lo Lo Banav. If there's something wrong, don't blame God. He doesn't do anything wrong. Banav Mumam. You are the ones who have the mum, who have the disfiguration. Dor Ikesh U'fitaltol. That's how we describe the generation. Ikesh, bent. Says Rashi. Akum U'me'ukar. Bent. Twisted. U'fitaltol. K'patil hazeh she'godlin osah, makivin osah saviv. It means uh twisted. Twisted. You read the story of Ha'azinu. And it tells us about the suffering of the Jewish people. And says, "Don't blame God. You are bent and twisted." What does that mean? There was people had this sort of way of trying to make money. I don't remember what it was. Something to do with tickets or something. I I don't remember the whole story. But uh somebody asked it to Reb Moshe Shapiro, and he says, "You know, this is a shtick that the people do." He says, "Mah HaTorah Koreh Isor d'Oraisa, atem korim shtick. >> [laughter] >> What the Torah says is forbidden cuz it's dishonest, you call it a shtick. Twisted. Twisted way of looking, twisted way of thinking. And you ever see when you say he's yosher. What do I mean yosher? He's straight. What's the opposite of that? Ikkesh u'metalteil. You're bent and you're twisted. And when you start twisting, that's when things get messed up. The Mesillas Yesharim says, I wrote this sefer to teach people how to go on a straight path through this world to be able to achieve what they need to achieve. Yosher. Be straight. Without any chachmas, without any tachbulas, without any tricks. Cuz that's what brings korban. People say, yeah, I came up with this shtick, I came up with this, I came out I figured some kind of way. When a person had a uh din Torah and they would go to a Scheinberg, if the person was a ben Torah, he would always say, what would the Chofetz Chaim do? Don't you want to be the Chofetz Chaim? There are gemaras that talks about Mishnas Chassidus. Uh amazing concept. This guy had these workers and they broke his barrel his barrels of wine. Lost all his wine. So, uh he brings them to din Torah and he says, yeah, they don't have to pay. And he says, is that the halacha? He says, Mishnas Chassidus. You want to be a big rabbi? You want to be a holy person? So, these guys are like, "Yeah, but we also didn't get paid." "Who's getting paid? For what? For breaking all my wine?" He says, "Pay them." He says, "Is that the halacha?" "Mishnas Chassidus." Be straight. Be honest. You'll never go wrong by being honest. When someone wants to take advantage of you, understand he can't take advantage of you. He can't do anything to you that Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want. David Hamelech's son is coming to kill him, and he's running away. And Shimei ben Gera comes out. Now, David still has some of his troops with him and some of his people. And he comes out cursing him and throwing rocks at him. And they say, "David, you you're still the king. Kill this guy." He says, "You think he's doing this? It's coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu." You be straight. You be honest. Because when Hashem has to turn around and say that you're dishonest, that you're twisted, and you're not straight, that's a terrible thing. We have to be yashar. Good Shabbos.