Parsha Perspectives - Ki Savo

Good morning Booker Toll. Welcome back to para perspectives for today. After a very difficult day for KL Israel yesterday, we'd certainly dive and we continue to dive in for the families of those who lost loved ones, for those who were injured, they should have a speedy recovery, the families of the soldiers who were lost in Gaza. As difficult as a day was yesterday, just got news. Israel eliminated some kamas leadership in Qatar and Doha. Finally, about time. must have gotten a green light to let our enemies know wherever they are, they are fair targets and it should just continue, please God, to bring about a return of the hostages and a lasting peace. Our para series is generously sponsored by Becky and Aviatz and family in memory of David Gmanu Nishmas, Becky's father, David Benes, whose nama should have an aliyah. We're on page 1068 in the art scroll stone kish and this morning we have the privilege of learning paras kavo. We are well well on our way in our march towards the completion of Kish of Toras Moshe of the five books of Moshe as we continue his soliloquis monologue his message to the people on the cusp of entering the land. It will be when you will enter the land which Moshe must have uttered those words each and every time with a little bit of a sense of bitter sweetness when you enter the land you and not me. the fulfillment of all of his dreams, of all of his ambition, of all of his career, of all of their purpose, of our mission here is Moshe says when you enter the land, not me. But in any case, that God gives you as your inheritance, you'll possess it and you'll dwell in it. You conquer it, you'll live in it, and you'll possess it. is called Priyad. And when you conquer land, you're going to need to eat. How did you eat then? You didn't go to the supermarket. You didn't order Uber Eats. How did you eat then? You farmed. It was an agriculture agrarian society. You set up and opened up fields. You plowed and you planted. You harvested and you ate. So, since you are new to the land, it'll be your first time doing it. Moshe says there's a law associated with the firsts. And what is the law associated with firsts? You'll take the first of your few fruit that you bring from your land that God gave you. Put it in a basket and you'll take that basket with that first fruit to the place that God will designate. Interesting. Very ambiguous. Doesn't give us coordinates. No. What address should you put in ways? What address do you put in Google Maps? How do you know where to go? Interestingly, the Torah leaves it as a mystery. You're gonna take the first fruit. You're gonna bring it to the place that God has chosen for him to dwell, to be accessible, to be most intensely felt. Where is that? We know the answer. It's mikdash. But why is it missing from the text? We've spoken about that in the past. You'll come to the co in that time and you'll say I came to the land God promised my forefathers. He'll take the basket from your hands. He'll take it and wave it in front of the altar. You will answer and you will call out before God. A passage we're all familiar with from say night from the Hagod from Pes from Passover. There was an Aramian who tried to destroy my father. Who is this Aramean? Lov Jacob's father-in-law, cousin Yakov tried, Lavan tried to destroy our people. There's only one problem. Flip back four books. Go to bracius. Point to the that tells me love tried to obliterate our people. We say in the he wanted to uproot it all. He wanted to reboot. He wanted to set us all the way back. Where does it say that? Did he trick Yakov? Absolutely. He took advantage. He was conniving. He tricked him. He was manipulative. 100%. He tried to destroy us. Where? When? Why do we accuse him of that? Why do we say he was worse than parro? Parro wanted to get rid of the males. Love and wanted to get rid of everyone. Therefore, he's the worst. Where does it say that? We talked about that in the past. And the mitzv aggravated us. They gave us tremendous work. We cried out to God. He heard our cries, our pleas, our work, the pressure we were under. He took us out of Egypt with an outstretched hand. All of this we recite many years later when we're delivering the first fruit to the Cohen in the Ba Mdash in the holy temple. He brought us to this place, a land filled and flowing with milk and honey. And now here I am. Here I am telling you this whole story, this whole background. All to tell you, I'm delivering you my first fruit. A little fig. I tied a ribbon around the first fig that was growing. I made sure to save it. I took at great expense and great effort and great risk to bring it to you. I placed it before God. I bow down. Now the farmer is told, "Rejoice in all the good that God has given you. you in your house, you the ley and the stranger ash who are in your midst. Let's start out with who is the please tell me you haven't forgotten since last week I introduced you to the who was the sh of lisk one of the places I visited this summer I told you I bought all this forum the pre of the founder of satar the he says the following there's one word superfluous in this p we should read the text very carefully mindfully and ask ourselves every vowel, every letter, every word is anything extra? Why is it there? What is it telling me? Take from the first of all of your fruit. Take from the first of all the fruit of the ground. The first of every fruit art translates it. Word all coal is extra. Says we have an obligation. One has to separate and give different parts tithe different amounts of their produce directed towards different people. Myishon 10% goes to the ley truma depending on your level of generosity. There's some flexibility here. either a 40th, a 50th or 60th goes to the cohen. Then there's my sheni is brought to you depending on the year. Otherwise ani it goes to a poor person meaning not everything that we harvest not all of our income is ours. Hashem who is the senior partner and everything we take in says you keep most of it but I got to take care of my other children. So I'll tell you what instead of giving me my part even though I'm the senior partner and all the success is because of me I'm going to tell you how to allocate really what I should get and it's minimal compared to what you get to keep Mr. Farmer so you or Mrs. farmer. You farmer who get to harvest your field and bring in your income, sell it, live off of it, know you have it, a little bit bit of it, make sure the people around you are taken care of, too. Your teachers, the Kanam and the Levim didn't have their own territory. They didn't have their own farm. They had no source of income. They were the designated community. Kal, they were the teachers of the community. So, what did they live off of? It wasn't a financial stipen. They shopped in the supermarket. As we said in those days, there were no supermarkets. So what did you do? You gave a tithe and they took a little from each person. They were sustained so they could be dedicated exclusively entirely focused on teaching. So you gave away a tithe. And our rabbis tell us the say that when a person properly tithes, then they actually not only did a mitzvah, not only the part they separated and gave did they elevate, but they actually elevate everything they keep. They give purpose and meaning. They designate sanctity to not only what they gave but now everything they keep has a whole other meaning. Go back to the book of Exodus on the parak says God says take from me a donation. It should say give. Why did it say take? We studied this then says because when you give properly, you've taken something for yourself. You know how good it feels? You know how meaningful and fulfilling? You know what purpose you give to all of your possessions, all of your material wealth, all of your resources, all of your possessions, they take on new meaning when you designate and you give, when you allocate part of them to make a difference. So when you gave, you did indeed give, but you also simultaneously you took. And that's why it's and for that you merit tremendous blessing says that's what it means when you take when you take from your first fruit because you're not taking the first fruit. What are you doing with it? You're giving. So why does it say taking? The farmer harvests a whole field a lot. I'm not a farmer. I don't even know what example to give you as a measure of what he harvests. A dunam. In Israel, you'd say a dunam. In America, you'd say several acres. I don't know how you translate to how many silos, how many truckloads, how many I have no idea how to measure what a farmer harvests. That's how pathetic I am. But whatever he brought in, he gives away part. And in this case, we're talking about bikurim. The first fruit is brought to God. Why? Because we know we're most connected. We're most attached to the first. What we poured our heart into. And the first harvest, the first thing we take, we love it. And the willingness to give it away is the recognition that none of it belongs to me. Any and all of its success in getting it is only the graciousness and the goodness of God. So God the first belongs to you. I recognize I recognize the first belongs to you. I don't tape the first dollar on the wall. I take the first fruit and give it to you. And what happens when someone does that? Says the when you take the first fruit and you recognize Hashem, everything I harvest, all of my income, all that I have is only because of you. All the blessing in my life is because of you. So I designate the first. I dedicate it to you. I've now transformed everything that I keep and everything that I have. So yes, I gave something small, but I got so much more because I've elevated everything I've held on to. They're not physical possessions. They're not mere material things, but they all are gifts from you, God. And they're all part of my mission to serve you, God. And they're all ways I transform and elevate myself in the way I interact with them. It says the says when you come when bring the same letters as our forefathers in this merit we inherited the land. The the first of the nations is Malik. Amalik attacks and goes after our sense of first. What are they attacking going at? What are you designating anything to God? What did he have to do with what you have? What you have is because you worked hard. Either what you have is you deserve the credit or what you have is just a coincidence. It's random. You happen to pick the right stock so you did well. You have a good portfolio. or because you're smart and you joined Congress where there are no rules, so you had inside information and you became very wealthy and you deserve the credit. But what are you giving your first to God? What does God have to do with anything? Either you deserve the credit or it was random. But who's God? What's God? That's a Malik. A Malik attacks our sense of first. And that's why the end of last week's para was a Malik. The beginning of this week's para is bikurim. Our antidote, our answer to a malik is we are a people of firsts. Racious. We're nicer races. The Jewish people are called races. We're called his first. We're his bore. We're his eldest children. He loves us. And we're a people who designate the ra the first. We give it to God and we recognize. He continues, "I want to spend all day on the I fell in love with because I went to the middle of nowhere to his kever." So you attach, you feel connected. When you do that, you bring people back to life or you recognize they never ever died. They're still very much alive. When you hold this safer and it's on the same partial that you're learning 150 years later, you realize they never died. It's amazing. It's amazing. The says the world belongs to God. Everything in it. And yet another verse says the heavens belong to God. of Adam and he gave the earth to man. So which is it? Do the earth and everything in it belong to God or are the heavens God and the earth he gave to man? Says the not a contradiction. Before you make a blessing the earth and everything in it belongs to God. But once you make the blessing that is the currency with which you pay God that now you bought it now it's yours. When we make a blessing on the food we eat, we can't walk out of Publix without paying. Can't walk out of the Grove of Ama Casey. I don't want to get in trouble. You can't walk out without paying at the cash register. You're a thief. You've stolen. You have to pay in order for it to be yours in order to benefit, in order to have the pleasure of it. And this world is God's. And if you want to enjoy the currency with which you pay, God is a blessing. He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your things. What he wants is a connection, is a relationship. And how does we get it? How does he get it? When we make a blessing, when you hold up that cup of coffee, when you hold up that cup of water, when you hold up that diet and you say, "This world and everything in it, it all belongs to you. Thank you for this coffee. The coffee bean. The farmer who plowed and planted it. The one who harvested it. The one who collected it. The one who shipped and trucked those beans. Whoever ground it, the one who packaged it, the one who put it in a pod, the one who put it in this cup of coffee, and the one who's giving me life from it. All that's in the shahak varo. That's why in our munish we have merch. Our caffeinate with kavana cups. I make a my first cup of coffee every day is in a caffeinate with kavana cup. It has caffeinate with kavana. It reminds you be mindful shak everything. You're alive. You're awake. You can drink. You get the aroma, the steam, the emotional connection. It awakens. Everything about it. I could speak romantically about a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee. If you think you don't need it, tishabove yum kipper is coming up. See what a person who needs a cup of coffee looks like if they don't get it. The withdrawal from it. That's a shahako. So the gar says it's not a contradiction. The whole world and everything in it is God's. And until you pay with the currency of only with the does it become yours can be similar if I make a blessing on the good then the good is considered to be me to be mine and that's the says When is it yours? When can you derive benefit? When you make a when you make the blessing on says the so when a person realizes it's all yours and I'm here to serve you and this is just by allowance. It's what I need to fulfill my mission. When a person travels for business, there's an allocation for their meals. Why? Because there's an understanding if you're going to fulfill the p purpose of your business trip, you need to nourish, you need to nurture, you need to eat, you need to fuel up. So if I recognize that food is the fuel so I serve Hashem, it is a means and not an ends. Then I've transformed everything that I have. So that's I may be giving my first fruit, but it's really I've taken something. What I've taken is I've transformed everything that I have and everything that I am. And then what do we say? This farmer answers and proclaims before God. He goes back in time and back in history. Let's quickly go through three of the and he says the following. We don't only have the mitzvah to bring the first fruit but parallel and along with it we have a mitzvah of what's the mitzvah of I don't just deliver my first fruit to the cohen in Jerusalem in your shim. I have a whole recitation, a whole proclamation. I've got a whole text I have to recite when I deliver it. And what's the story I tell? Let's go back to the beginning of time. History of the world, part three. Let's go back to the beginning. There was an Aramine. He tried to kill my father, but I survived. And here I am. And God took me out of Egypt and he brought me to the land and I planted this farm and I and I was able to harvest this fig, this fruit and here it just say here's the fruit. Why do I have a home? In order to give gratitude for the fact that we survived Lavan, we survived Egypt. We inherited the land. We conquered it successfully. We divided it. We inhabited it. All the goodness until now. I got a farm. It rained. I grew things. I have okay. I got it. And is one of the things we say every morning in our ding is that you have to bring. There's no she there's no minimum measure. Whatever it is, you bring it. So what do I need? This whole recitation, this whole pomp and circumstance, this whole story, this whole text, this whole history of the world, what do I need it for? Just come and deliver the first fruit and say, "Thank you, God. Even though I'm emotionally connected and attached to the first, here it is. I'll give it to you." It's amazing because I've told you the story diff different context. It's amazing how the the memories of our youth stick with us and what things our parents did for us or with us leave such indelible impressions. But I remember as a kid, my father worked hard, wasn't around that much, but I still remember Sundays, he took upon himself, we planted a tomato vine in our backyard. For some reason, he became determined to grow tomatoes. And in the Sundays when he was around, you know, as it grew, we we tied it to a a rod in the ground so it would grow up. And we checked on it and we made sure there were no bugs that were And I still remember the first tomato that he plucked that he plucked. And I remember he brought it to the Shabbas table. Became part of our Shabas meal. That first tomato, it was tiny. It grew. It was green. It changed to red. Brought it to the table with love, affection, care, concerned. Now, if we were in Israel at a time of mikdash, that's exactly what he would have had to bring to you because it was the first the most connected with the return on all that investment, all that effort, all that toil. It's also a lesson. The other context I've quoted it in is the notion of love. That love doesn't come from getting. Love comes from giving. And that's why we don't only love people. We can love things that are an extension of us. And that's why we just read the three who are exempt from war. The person who built a new home and didn't live in it. One who married a woman but hasn't had a year with her. And the person who grew a vineyard but didn't yet harvest the grapes and produce wine. What are we likening? Marriage. A woman a spouse is now like a house or a grape. Of course not. God forbid. What we're saying is the love of having invested, having taken risk, having given and yet not getting the return on it yet. So in any case here in Bikur, so just take that first tomato FedEx to the Coen Sher move on with life. You have to go to your you have to say this whole recitation, this whole proclamation, this whole parade, this whole basket, this whole poppin circumstance. What is going on over here? Says the following. Because the Jewish notion of gratitude is not only zoomed in on this moment. This is a lesson, a message about gratitude. I love it. Gratitude is not only about this moment right now, this fruit. Gratitude demands that we zoom out the lens with scope and perspective of everything it took to get here. There was a bar mitzvah in our last week and the father grandfather of the bar mitzvah boy I just want you to think about the miracle that is you. Do you know and do you understand what it took for you to be here? that your parents met, fell in love, they chose to have you and it worked. There was conception, there was gestation, you're healthy, you're alive, all the part works, and that you're here. But not only that, he said, "Do you understand what the miracle it is that you're Jewish?" I actually tried to prepare for this morning with my friend Chachi BT. I asked to figure out the probability that a Jew in 2025 using matrinal descent, what is the probability that you'd be Jewish? Meaning going back many dozens of generations that not one person would have married out. There was no intermarriage, not at least one woman in the change that determines Jewish identity would have made the choice not to marry or the choice not to have children. What was the problem of formulas and further questions and which century and where because the odd statist I said forget about it. Forget about it. The point is the message of this zeda to the bar mitzvah boy his grandson was in this moment that you just became a Jewish man a god b is let us not worry about the logo on the yarmaka and the food at the buffet and talk let's just for a moment pause and recognize the miracle that is you you have parents and they have parents and they had parents and each of them had to meet each other each of them had to be determined to marry a Jew each of them had to want to have children and each of them God had to decide to answer yes and give them a child and all of that went into you into you being here. It was such a powerful message. It was a short but powerful speech of a he just wanted his grandson to understand you are a walking miracle. This day and this moment is a miracle. What had to go into it and that's what Barabbam says is what Mikra Bikuram is all about. Farmer didn't just FedEx the tomato. It wouldn't have been a tomato because only applies to the seven fruit of the land of Israel. It only applies to the seven fruit. So it would have been a tomato but a fig. You don't just fed X the fig to you go there and you present it and you say, "Hashem, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't let my great za Yakov overcome his miserable father-in-law love. I wouldn't be here. Thank you for that. And our people then were subjugated servitude in Egypt 210 years and you took us out. Thank you for that. And you brought us to this land, a land that you promised us and we conquered the seven Canaanite nations. Thank you for that. And you divided it and my family got this portion and I got a field and thank you for that. And I planted that field and what I plowed and what I planted it took. There wasn't pestilence. There wasn't a plague. There wasn't a famine. There wasn't a drought. There was enough rain. Not too much rain, there wasn't flooding and everything grew. And thank you for that. And I was able to harvest it. And by the way, I was able to travel here because the airlines were open, country wasn't shut down. There weren't misses falling and I was there wasn't a COVID that kept me away. I was able to travel here and bring this fruit today. And by the way, thank you for that. Everything about this moment is not just this fruit. It's about everything it took to get here. And that is what mikrauram is about. Gratitude. And you see that at simas. You see that at simas very often the grandfather, a father, a mother, they get up and they talk about not just the bar mitzvah, the b mitzvah girl, the chevraas. They talk about I want to tell you about your grandparents. What did my grandparents have to do with this bris? Grandparents have been gone for many years. Great-grandparents. What does it have to do with it? Do you know what they survived? Do you know how they persevered? Do you know their resilience? Do you know their courage and conviction? Do you know their faith? Do you understand that our family, why we're on this path is only because of them? Yes, it's a bris. It's a chevraas, it's a bach mitzvah, it's an anniversary, it's a birthday, whatever it is. But each of those opportunities of gratitude is an invitation to zoom out the lens and remember the big picture of everything it took to get here. And that is the Jewish definition of gratitude. the big picture, not in a debilitating way. Right? So when I return the cup of sugar I borrowed, I don't have to thank you. Thank you you were born. Thank you that your parents raised you. Thank you you chose to be my neighbor. Thank you that we developed a friendship. Thank you. Here's your cup of sugar. That'd also be beautiful. But not I don't think the Torah is demanding it. But gratitude in general means not just this moment but zoom out the lens to see so much more the many many many steps that went into it and that brought us to this moment. You have to go back to the beginning to go back to the yeah there was an exodus. Wow. Look at all the good and look at where I am and look at how that likely didn't have to happen. By the way, when you do that, you also probably gain perspective and you find more happiness because in thanking you for the little fig. I remember, oh yeah, my grandparents survived the Holocaust. I'm probably not going to complain that my fig is smaller than that guy's fig. We're all in the base me. We're all in the B mdish lining up bringing our first fig. Maybe I'm miserable my fig is smaller than his fig. He's got more influencers when he posts a picture of his fig than I have for my fig and I'm going to be miserable and depressed and complain and negative and woe is me and why is me. But when I deliver my fig, I say, "Yeah, my grandparents survived the Holocaust. Maybe I don't have to get so upset about whose fig is bigger. Maybe I should be more grateful for whatever I have and the miracle that I am here." It's a brilliant prescription for happiness, for gratitude which is the secrets for a life of serenity and meaning and meaning and that is he has a lot more but I want to keep going. So that is number one. Number one. And this by the way makes it way he says into benching. Every time we eat bread we say the grace after meals. When you ate and you're satiated you bench. So benching could be thanks for the grub. Thank you God. And go on. Why do we have this long benching? Some people don't eat bread because they have this fear of vengeance. They don't want to bench. If they actually say every word, it's going to take a few minutes. I want to move on. So, I never eat bread. I avoid bread altogether. Fear of bread syndrome. Other people like Mr. Senders who just passed away. Our beloved Mr. Senders, I mentioned this recently. He didn't bench because he ate bread. Every day he made sure to eat bed so he could bench. And why do you want to bench? Because it's filled with all these messages. But what do I need? All these paragraphs. And if you look at benching, it also talks about took us out of Egypt and we inherited the land and what a good land it is and thank you for the land. And by the way, you also bris and and there's also a kingdom of David of David Aamelik and build Jerusalem. All these ideas and concepts are going back to the history of the world in the beginning of time. Just say God, yeah, it was a pretty good sandwich. Thanks, God. The pizza it was like the way I like it. It's well done. Thin crust, sweet sauce. It's the way I like it. Thank you, God. Like one sentence, move on with life. I got to go back to the history of the world saysam it's the same idea because the ability to have access to the sandwich, pay for the sandwich, make the sandwich, shop for the sandwich, chew the sandwich, digest the sandwich. If you don't have lactose intolerance, be grateful it was a dairy sandwich. If you don't have celiac, be grateful you could have a wheat sandwich. There's a billion things that half the world can't eat the sandwich you just ate. Can't eat the sandwich you just ate. You have the teeth to bite into the sandwich. you have the tools to make the sandwich, you can afford the Have you seen what a sandwich costs today? You can afford the sandwich. There's like a million reasons you shouldn't be able to have that sandwich. So, when you say, "Thank you for the sandwich." Yeah. You zoom out the lens, you go back to the history of the world, and you say, "Thank you I have good teeth. Thank you I could pay. Thank you I could shop and that I could make it. Thank you I could digest it. Thank you it didn't send me into anaphylactic shock and to the hospital and make me drop dead from the sandwich." Yeah. You thank God for everything from the beginning of time and the beginning of history. That's the idea of when you express gratitude, the famous salant who when he traveled and he asked for a cup of coffee and he got the bill and he said, "I don't understand. I'm staying in the hotel. When I make the coffee at home, it costs three cents. Why was it $6.58 for the same cup of black coffee?" So they explain because you're not just paying for the coffee, you're paying for the atmosphere, you're paying for the environment, right? That if you go in Manhattan to a kosher restaurant versus somewhere, all of a sudden your bill is double and triple. Unclear why. Same piece of meat, same distributor, same grill it was made on. Why is this? Oh, you're paying for the atmosphere, you're paying for the environment, you're paying what's it called? You're paying for the >> the ambiance. Thank the word ambia said. So when he got the bill for the cup of coffee at the nice hotel, he realized Hashem, I'm not just thanking you for the cup of coffee. I'm thanking you for the ambiance that is your world. Thank you. There's air conditioning. It's cool in here while I drink this cup of coffee because if it was hot, I couldn't drink this half a cup of coffee. And if I couldn't have the hot cup of coffee, you couldn't talk to me. But if having a hot cup of coffee meant I was going to sweat my guts out. So thank you for the ambiance. It's not just on a cup of coffee. The shahak is on everything. It's on so much more. I have a third, but we're going to keep going because I don't want to I want to get to other things. Rabbi Sachs, I believe the local Quran store got in the Rabbi Saksh and I believe they sold out of the I don't get any royalty from it. Maybe I should because we highly recommend it. Could go Bookerone Synagogue. Not to me. The ceremony of the first fruits right there by sachs paras begins the ceremony bringing the first fruits. The mission gives a detailed account of what happened. Those who were near brought fresh figs and grapes. Those who were far away brought dried figs and raisins. Before them went the ox, its horns overlain with gold with a root of olives, leaves on its head. The flute was played until they came near Jerusalem. When they were near Shalim, they sent messengers bedck their first fruits. Bed. You understand? You had to buy your fig, a nice necklace, a ring, earrings. Your fig, a fig was bed. The rulers and the prefects and the treasures of the temple went forth to meet them. All the craftsmen of your used to rise up and greet them. This is the mission of Bikuram. You made a g parade, an entire entourage bed decorated. You bring in Bikuram. You had to hire a party planner. They probably made cookies with your logo. It was a whole whole thing. It was a magnificent celebration, rightax. Its most significant aspect was the declaration, the mikra we've just been talking about. Each individual made my ancestor was a wandering Arabian. Here for the first time, the retelling of the nation's past became an obligation for every citizen of the nation. The passage known as Vid Burim, the confession made over the first fruit was simple and elemental. It is the entire history of the nation in summary form. Most importantly, it's written in the first person. It's brilliant insight. Rabbi Saxs, my ancestor. My ancestor. The Lord brought us out of Egypt. History is transformed into memory. And the Rabbi Sak Haga, he points out, he says, "What's the difference between history and memory?" History is his story. Memory begins with me. history that you study or that you tell over. History is his story. It's someone else's story. It's in a book. It's academic. But when you take history and it becomes memory, it's me. It's mine. So here, every citizen of the nation didn't tell history. They shared memory. My ancestor took us out of Egypt. This is not a detached tale of some disembodied past. It is the story of where I came from, who I am, which led the sages of the Mishna to say in every generation, every person person should see himself as if he came out of Egypt. It is impossible to overestimate the impact had on the Jewish people from then to now. Identity is not just a matter of who my parents were. It's a matter of what they remembered and handed on to me. Identity is shaped by memory. telling the story regularly as a religious duty sustained Jewish identity across the centuries even on the absence of all the normal accompiments of nationhood land geographical proximity independence self-determination when we missed everything else that defined a nation what did we keep memory so that little children growing up in a little called bokeh because of pes because of yontiff because of shabas because of para they have memory this is their story. It's their memory. To know who we are is in large part to understand which story or stories we are apart. That is what makes Jewish identity so rich and resonant. In an age in which computer memories have grown while human memories have become forcehortened, this remains an important message not just to Jews, but also to humanity. Stop anyone and ask them their own phone number they don't remember. Because why would they need to? Now they tell their phone, "Call m everyone's things are going to start doing things if I say this out loud. Call mom. Call wife, call right, you now. So you don't have to remember anything. The more memory our devices have, the less memory we have. There was an article in the Atlantic many years ago called, "Is technology making us stupid?" And the answer was yes. We no longer have a sense of directions because we put the coordinates in ways and stop paying attention. We no longer can remember anything because technology does it for us. Sort of saxs is pointing out as technology has greater memory terabyte I don't even know what the next it has it's going to soon have unlimited memory as its memory gets greater ours gets more diminished is smaller but we can't lose our memory because our memory is part of identity our memory is what makes us us maybe you can delegate history to computers looking it up when you need it but you cannot delegate memory memory is inherently inescapably p personal it is what makes us who we are if you seek To sustain identity, you have to renew memory regularly. Teach it to the next generation. Those who tell the story of their past have already begun to build their children's future. Beautiful, beautiful insight. Okay, then he gets into first fruit, but we're going to keep on moving. Okay, moving right along. So, we have the rest of Mikurim and the rest of the confession of the tithes. We've studied in the past. I'm not going to answer it now. It's a very funny confession. What's this confession? The farmer says, "I didn't violate anything." I didn't leave anything out. I heard everything God said. I did everything according to God's will. It's like my coming home today and saying, "I have to make a confession. Sit down. I need to confess." She starts to worry. Oh boy. What's this confession? What did you do? What did you do now? I said, 'N no, listen to my confession. My confession is I have to confess. I'm perfect. I have to confess. I did everything right. I heard what you said. I got it done. I've done everything right. I I confess. And yet, this is called viser the confession. What kind of confession is this? We've discussed it in the past. We don't have time now. God and the Jewish people are inseparable. We have a new brisk, a new covenant, a new commitment. Chapter 27, page 1072. Godam Moshe and the elders commanded the people shamur observe this mitzvah that I'm commanding you today. On the day you cross the Jordan and you enter the land, I want you to put up two big stones, an enormous monument as he enter the land. It's a beautiful image on the Jordan River. Before you enter the land, before you go in, you're going to encounter, I want you to place huge stones and layer them with with cement the so that you can inscribe and write on them coldos. I want you to inscribe the Torah on them. We've studied this too in the past and we've seen some commentators likening it too. Just like a doorway has a muza, before you enter a room or a home, the land has an enormous muza. One of my favorite parts of landing in Israel. When you go down that ramp, sadly and tragically still has pictures of too many hostages. But before you get to customs, there's this huge muza. It's like my height on the wall. It's a huge muza. And it's like screaming, "You're in the Jewish land. Welcome home." You're entering Israel before you go to customs and stamp your passport. walk by and kiss, touch this muza. This is a place that's informed by what's in this muza. So the commentators here explain that these huge stones were like the muza of the land. Anyone who would visit, any Jew who came home, you'd walk by and you'd see this billboard that captured the motto, the mission statement of the Jewish people. So in this write, so when you enter the land that God gave you, the land flowing of milk and like your God your father commanded to LA. Listen to what Rabbi Saxs writes on this. Senator Rabbi Saxs, whenever I visit Washington DC, I make a point of going to see the presidential memorials. Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln's each carries inscriptions taken from their words. Jefferson's, we hold these truths to be self-evident. Roosevelts, the only thing we have to fear, fear itself. Lincoln's Gettysburg address and a second inaugural. with malice toward none, with charity for all. London has no equivalent that I know of. There are memorials and statues everywhere, each with a brief inscription saying who the statue represents, but no speeches, no quotations, no sound bites. Even the statue of Churchill, whose speeches rivaled Lincoln's in power, carry only one word, Churchill. This phenomenon is of a piece with the fact that the clubs and gathering places of Britain's governing elite have no signs or name plates. You only know where they are if someone in the no shows you. It is as if you have to ask, you don't belong. Knowledge that in America is publicly displayed is in Britain, tacit and taken for granted. Those who need to know know. America tells national stories. Britain doesn't. By the way, only Rabbi Saxs could rank on Britain. This is his words, not mine. So, Mosha Labra lacks. The reason is that the two nations have different political cultures. America is based on covenant, Britain on hierarchy and tradition. Telling the story is the heart of covenantal politics. It sustains identity and creates a sense of collective belonging. It binds the generations, reminds us of where the nation came from and is going to. It locates national identity in a set of historic events. Speaking of the values for which those who came before us fought and of which we are the guardians for the sake of the future. It must be an inclusive narrative capable of being owned by newcomers as well as by those whose families have been there for many generations. Storytelling can bind without dividing. Narrative politics telling the story can be egalitarian without being confrontational. At the border of the land of Israel is to stand not a gatekeeper but a set of boulders engraved with a summary of the law. according to or the full text of Torah from braces bar according to Ramban. This will display to all comers that though we are a dispar collection of tribes and individuals this covenant this shared code accessible to all makes us together who we are. What a beautiful description of what the purpose of that billboard of what those boulders of why they are there and what they're meant to communicate. Beautiful point by Moshe said these which shall stand to bless the people on when you pass over the Jordan you encounter these two mountains haral we divide the nations six of the tribes stand on this mountain six of the tribes stand on that mountain in between stand the levim and they proclaim the set of blessing the set of curses And the nation surround sound. This is the origin of surround sound. Six tribes on this mountain, six tribes on that. With surround sound, they all answer a wonders. When it comes to the blessing, it's written in the singular. So, bless the nation. But with the kala it says the man blessing bless the people curse curse the person. Why did we go from the plural to the singular from the nation to the individual says wondrous insight. This is the kindness of God. If one person does the right thing, they can earn a merit of a blessing for many. One person doing the right thing can bring blessing to themselves, but to the community, to the people, to the nation. But that's not true when it comes to a curse. The curse God only holds accountable the person himself. If there weren't other accompllices who supported who egged on who partnered in that mistake in that in that sin God only punishes the individual says based on this insight we should be inspired to realize the power of the right thing that we do. One good decision one right decision one merit we can impact the many the many. I spoke yesterday to the middle school at one of our local schools and I told them yesterday on such a difficult day for Kairo we lost 10 holy precious innocent souls yesterday in one day the six in Ramote and four soldiers in Gaza and to be a Jew is to feel the pain is to feel united we're learning in sitter snippets the last of the shalom bless us our father when does God bless us as a father when we're united as a And what does it mean to be united is to feel the pain of another. So you'll say, "What difference does it make? I'm here in Bokeh." The answer is how we act in Bokeh protects our brothers and sisters in how they act in your protects us here in Bokeh. A Jew has an opportunity to do the right thing to make a difference in the merit. We can impact and bring blessing to the entire Jewish people. But the opposite, if we make a mistake, Hashem only holds us accountable. He would never punish the many. And you see that from the change in the tense points out. Now we get to the bulk of the harsh rebuke that God Moshe threatens. Now for the second time we saw it in Par and now twice this speech is repeated. If we're disobedient, if we're not observant, if we're not compliant, then there are consequences. These aren't just feel good. They're not suggestions from God. This is the way of life we're meant to live and Hashem has something to say if we don't. So it says do another first in the blessings before he gets to the curses. He has the blessings. Chapter 28 verse 6 in the list of blessings. Do the right thing. If you do the right thing, blessing is going to pursue you. Your life will be filled with blessing and you're going to have you're going to see it, feel it, acquire it. Blessed when you come in. You'll be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. What does that mean to be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out? says that you'll leave this world as innocent and pure and sin-free as the way that you came into this world. Says, "I get why it's a blessing to have lived a life that's sinree that you leave the world innocent and pure and sinfree." But what's the blessing of? Of course, you came into the world sin free. We all start from neutral. We all start a blank slate. So, what's the blessing of In that way says there are two ways to be free of sin. You could either be tempted by it but each time try to overcome it or transform yourself into such a person that you don't even have any desire or drive for it. Meaning you could have some really juicy good lush and har gossip about someone else. You so badly want to share it. You so badly want to tell it over. Such good gossip. and you don't, you hold back. You really want to and they deserve it, but you don't because you're worried lightning is going to strike. Whatever reason you don't or you could be the kind of person that loves every Jew, you c you're incapable of saying something bad about them. You're incapable of gossiping about them because you love every Jew. So says, "The blessing is that the reason you're not telling the same way when you were born, you had no animist towards any Jew, you couldn't gossip about them. Let your being gossip-free be because of the way you came into the world that you're love every Jew. You're not even tempted to say gossip. That's the comparison. Leave this world the way you came into it the same way. What do we do next? We've not yet learned how to slow down time. I have a lot to say on in the God says, "You know why this will all be visited on you? You know when you're going to be accountable? You know when you need a big patch? When page 1080 verse 47 because you did not serve Hashem with joy and joy in your heart when everything was abundant. If you choose to walk around miserable and fissen and complaining and negative and resentful and angry and down and depressed, not clinical depression, which we have no judgment of, clinical depression deserves our support, treatment, and so on. Not grieving, somebody who's sustained a terrible loss and is in a state of a veil of grief. talking about the average person on the average day. If you're gonna walk around miserable and angry and negative and pessimistic and resentful and bitter, then Hashem says, "Oh, here comes the for you because we have to be." And I have a lot to share on that, including someone just gifted me this book, someone maybe from this year, practical guidance from the Reb for living and serving Hashem with happiness. So I happened to look at it this morning because of this PK and he has a whole chapter on this PK. We're commanded to observe the Torah in a way of joy and gladness of the heart. As the PK says, serve Hashem with joy and gladness of the heart above all. What does that mean and why? And that's it. The whole to everything that gets visited upon you is because you didn't have a smile. You didn't choose to be happy. Really? Where does it say you have to be happy? Who says that's a mitzvah? So that's what I wanted to talk to you about, but we won't have time. I'll just tell you one part of it is because I my my son's bar mitzvah is in six or seven weeks. Everybody's invited Noah. I hope you got the shul. Everybody's invited Noah. So in preparing, not preparing him, preparing with him. So what's the first mitzvah mitzvah boy should do on his three stars come out the night of his birthday? He turns 13. He goes from being a child to a man. What's the first mitzvah? Goes from volunteering to do mitzvah to being obligated in them. What's the first mitzvah he should do? So many say take the yoke of heaven, express faith in God. And the first mitzvah is belief in God. Belief in God. The rebal in the summer and he told my son that you know when you host guests When you have a guest in your home, they walk in the door, what's the first thing you say to them? Can I get you? Something to eat or drink. So when the when you when your body now welcomes and is going to host this new soul, this new gul this new soul called an adult, the first thing you should offer is something to eat. And what does the soul eat? Torah. So he said when the clock turns three stars when it's your when you become an adult let the new soul enter you welcome the guest feed him Torah let him find you learning Torah be learning Torah that night at that moment and welcome the guest by feeding Torah but theam gives a third answer we could spend all our time on the different answers says you know what is the first mitzvah the baritzvah boy should do that night by the same notion a girl who turns 12 she becomes a gdola obligated mitzvah should do that night of her bo you know what she should do be choose happiness the first mitzvah to do as an adult be happy don't worry be happy that's the first mitzvah wow where does it say it's a mitzvah how do you fulfill that mitzvah what if you don't feel like doing that mitzvah you don't feel like you're happy is a decision not an emotion a lot more to say in it but we don't have the time. We don't have the time right now. Instead, I want to focus in our last few minutes on another go back page 1078 verse 28. One of the things it says will strike you with madness, with blindness. Madness, we know people have gone mad. They've gone crazy. Blindness, sadly, we know. But what is the third threat? Translate the words. You could cheat. What does the say? Confounding of the heart. Anyone here suffer from confounding of the heart? What is bewilderment? What is bewilderment? What is bewilderment? What is confounding of the heart? What is it? What is it? So the altar of Kelm points us to Rashi. Rashi says, "But what's the ceiling, the closing of the heart? What does that mean?" So the author of Kelum says the following and this appears in the final vid. We say yum kipper this mot we start it's unavoidable the season is upon us trust me I'm feeling it in a big way and the final that we say is the what is it comes from our para the I don't even remember doing it why am I apologizing for it what is it sim comes from your says the clogging of the heart. Just like cholesterol can clog your arteries and you get heart disease, apathy clogs the spiritual arteries and you get hard-heartedness and that's a curse. And that's what the author of Kelm said. He said the following sim I'll read it to you in the English because we're almost out of time. Simon is the closing off of the heart as if a deep sleep overwhelms the person. It's similar to when a person is put to sleep with anesthesia for purposes of an operation on one of the limbs. While he is submerged in a deep sleep, he feels nothing when they cut his flesh. So too, when a person's heart has been struck with the clogging of the heart, he is stuck in a deep sleep and doesn't wake up even if his life is in danger. What is simh? It's living a mindless life, coasting through life, letting momentum carry you through life. It is living a life in which you're not paying attention. You're not present. You're not conscious. You're not conscientious. You're just coasting through life. You're not mindful and you're not present. Simon, the clogging of the heart. You're not feeling. You're not awake. You're not alive. You're not present. You're not engaged. You're not experiencing. You're not moved. You're not listening. You're not being influenced as we spoke about this past being open to influence. You see that in the end of our para. Our para ends fulfill all of it. And here the Torah gives us the reason for all of Torah and mitzvah. You ready? Keep everything. Do everything. Why? What's the whole purpose of Torah and mitzvos? Why does God care? Which shoe I put on? How I tie my shoelaces? What blessing I say on different foods, which jelly bean I take on chabas, the good from the bad, the one I want from the one I don't. All these whether I wear wool and linen. Why does God care? What is the point and purpose of it all? Says the Torah is so that you will succeed in all that you're doing. Okay. How does that lead to success? [Applause] So you have success. So if I put my shoes on in the right order, my stock portfolio goes up. If I take the jelly beans the right way. If I sneak chill on Friday night observing all the laws of how to take chill and still put it back. If I keep shabas and kosher and shottness and blessings, I have a good m I I have success. What does that mean? So the shami translates the word differently. Listen to how the translates it. You guard the words of the Torah. Why? So that his bonus so that you're contemplative in all that you do. If you keep the laws of kosher, you're going to be mindful with everything you put in your mouth. If you keep the laws of gossip and speaking, you'll be mindful of everything that comes out of your mouth. If you keep the laws of business ethics, you'll be mindful of how you conduct yourself with integrity and honesty and all the business that you do. If you are insured to pray shakus before the last time in the right time, everything in the right time, you're going to have a time awareness. You're going to be mindful of time. All the laws, the laws of family purity are going to be make you mindful of relationships with your spouse. The laws of Nia make you mindful of touch. The laws of Mser make you mindful of income. is all about how to live a mindful, present, contemplative life. And that is what it means to be alive. Many or most are sleepwalking. They're sleep even while they're ostensibly awake. They're sleepwalking through life. Sleepwalking through life. How many times do you drive and you follow whatever ways or Google Maps tells you that you don't even remember once stepping on the gas or break? You don't remember once taking a turn. All you do is pull up and say, "How did I get here?" Now, that's a very good thing in some ways. It's an efficiency that we now are able to do. You talked on the phone, you listened to a sheir, you spent time with someone in the car, and you didn't have to designate effort to where you were. Maybe that's a blessing. But if all of your life is led so mindlessly, your whole life is you get to the end of the day and you have no idea how you got there, the end of the week, the end of the year, the end of your life, and you don't remember how you got there. What kind of life is that? You got to the end of the bag of potato chips and you don't remember how you got there. You finished the plate, you don't remember how you got there. Then that's not a life. So that's what it means. A clogged heart means you're not living a mindful, contemplative, present, conscious life. And the curse is male. And the Hashem, I'm so sorry. I was mindless. I was asleep even while I was awake. I was a creature and a victim of just momentum carrying me. That's And we did do it. Moments of mindlessness. And instead we pro promise and pledge to be mindful to be present to be thinking about everything in our mouth everything out of our heart time intimacy touch finances this whole world to live this world one of the many books one of my many books that you've not yet read because it's not yet written but one of my many books that's been it's already printed it's a bestseller in my head because it's so popular today the notion of mindfulness it was taken it comes from Torah and I wanted to write a book about mindfulness. The first chapter is defining and what it is modern mindfulness the science of mindfulness but every chapter would then be how the Torah is a prescription and formula for a mindful life. So a chapter on eating laws of kashras laws of blessings the laws of all of all of the laws surrounding eating are making you mindful about eating. And as I was just telling you about time, about touch, about resources. Each of the laws that govern each of these things, does God really care about which shoe you put on first? Yes. There is a notion to the right and the left and there are mystical and beautiful ideas. But more than that, he wants you to be awake from the moment you're putting on your shoes. And if you don't remember and you're not paying attention to which one you put on first, then you're asleep even while you're awake. So even which shoe you put on first, the right, then the left, and you tie the left, then the right, by the way, is the proper way to do it. If you're not paying attention to how you put on your shoes, then you're not awake. See, even something seemingly petty and insign your shoes is part of the prescription for a mindful life. And that's what all Torah is, a platform for a mindful life. Not because mindfulness is the ends, but mindfulness is the means to a purposeful life. And that's what mindfulness is. a lot more to say about it and much else. Remind me next year to talk about sim and joy and tas why it would be just because of this. How could it be? Maybe we'll get into it tomorrow at the amunes. Since I didn't sneak it in here, I got to get it out. So maybe tomorrow at the amunashir. I hope by the end of this year it began with their taking out some of kamasan da. I hope we gave the IDF an hour. Mossad an hour. I hope by the end of this year we'll now learn they took out the rest of the leadership. May the hostages come home. Our soldiers be safe that we have only bes remain to say if we divide all of it I'll take just a few minutes to say all of them in that great merit