Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: Change the World by Learning Torah and Doing Mitzvot

Okay, well, thank you. Hello. Thank you for coming even in this weather and um our sponsorship is again the Aliyah Neshama of Binyamin Yisrael ben Halevi uh zichrono livracha Tzivia bas Dovid zichrono livracha Menashe ben Chaim whose yahrzeit is the 12th of Tevet and he is the father of Chaim Cheskus. Uh in addition uh we are are dedicating the shiur for a refuah shleimah to Michal bas Sarah, Yitzchak Yishayahu ben Sarah, Miriam bas Sarah and really all of those who are ill whether it's COVID-related or non-COVID-related, inoculated or uninoculated uh and those who are b'racham healthy should should remain so. Uh uh in addition Yibaneh is launching its end-of-the-year uh fundraising uh campaign. Uh Yibaneh as I've said before is a wonderful organization. They don't only sponsor my shiur but they sponsor many other wonderful shiurim uh also many programs of chesed in the community uh whether it's a Tu B'Shvat seder or Pesach seder and actually helping uh various uh tzedakos in Yerushalayim and it's very very worthwhile. Uh al shlosha dvarim olam omed the world world stands on three pillars Torah avodah u'gemilus chasadim. Yibaneh at least does two of them. I'm not sure if you have any organized uh davening but whatever. Not yet but that's coming down the down the pike. And uh you can uh if you look at um the uh on the website Yibaneh's website you'll be able to scroll down and find how uh you can contribute. You can do it online and I am told it is tax deductible in most countries uh but uh obviously check with your financial advisor for the uh for the details. Is that uh everything? Okay. So, hi everybody. Again, glad that you came. Uh I'm going to uh speak about what we just went through today we just completed the fast of the 10th of Tevet and although now it's the 11th of Tevet I'm going to take the liberty to speak about some messages that we can take away from the fast that we just uh went uh went through. Uh it's yedu'a very very famous uh theoretical halacha that the Beit Yosef brings in the name of the Avudraham that if Asara B'Tevet were to fall out on Shabbat you would even fast on Shabbat because then when the navi Yechezkel describes the fast of Asara B'Tevet he uses the lashon b'etzem hayom hazeh on that very day Nevuchadnetzar began the siege against Yerushalayim and those very same words b'etzem hayom hazeh are used in connection with Yom Kippur in the Torah. So, the Avudraham suggests a gezeirah shavah which is which is quite unique uh because normally gezeirah shavahs are not made beyond the Tana'im really but nevertheless the Avudraham says uh just as b'etzem hayom hazeh by Yom Kippur meant it overrides the Shabbat uh Asara B'Tevet will also override Shabbat. Now, l'ma'aseh this is an untestable proposition because under the present Jewish calendar the 10th of Tevet can never be on Shabbat so we don't really know what would happen but we do know that Asara B'Tevet can be on Friday. And when it is on Friday we actually fast the whole day until Shabbat until after Ma'ariv which is quite an unusual situation because normally there's a concept that just as you're not allowed to fast on Shabbat because that gives you physical discomfort and that's inconsistent with the joy of Shabbat you're actually not even supposed to fast on Erev Shabbat. You're supposed to eat less because you want to enter Shabbat uh hungry with enthusiasm but you're not supposed to fast on Erev Shabbat. For example, if Taanis Esther falls out on Friday, you know, we we move the fast over to Thursday. Uh uh but the concept here is that uh Asara B'Tevet if it's doche Shabbat it would certainly be doche Erev Shabbat. So, perhaps that's a little bit of a makor to the Avudraham's halacha. Uh but the point I want to make is really a modest point but I think uh once you explore it there's a lot of interesting implications. And that is the event that Asara B'Tevet is connected to is limited to the first Beit Hamikdash and not the second Beit Hamikdash. Meaning to say what happened on the 10th of Tevet? Nevuchadnetzar or his army began their siege against Yerushalayim which culminated a few years later in the Churban Beit Hamikdash. This is the beginning of a siege. Nobody died. No Jews died that day. It's the beginning of the siege. But it's like the beginning of a cancer that eventually spread. But as far as I know there is no linkage of Asara B'Tevet to any event of the Mikdash Sheini when the Romans destroyed the Mikdash. For example, the 17th of Tammuz uh is linked to the fact that that is the day that the Romans broke through the wall of Yerushalayim eventually being able to destroy the Mikdash three weeks later on the 9th of Av. In terms of when the Babylonians broke through the wall that was on the 9th of Tammuz and the war in Taanis says in reality we should have fasted both on the 9th and on the 17th but the Chachamim didn't want to make two fasts in such proximity so they only did it 17. So, it turns out Asara B'Tevet is b'davka Mikdash Rishon. Shiva Asar B'Tammuz putting aside chet ha'egel and other things but in terms of the Beit Hamikdash is b'davka Mikdash Sheini. Tisha B'Av is of course the common date for both the destruction of the first Mikdash and the second Mikdash exactly 490 years apart day to day because you have the 70 years of the Babylonian exile and the 420 years that the Temple stood. And finally Tzom Gedaliah which was the assassination or the murder of Gedaliah ben Achikam who was the Jewish governor that Nevuchadnetzar appointed in charge of the remnants of the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael and when he died just less than two months after the Churban that was the nail in the coffin that the Churban was final that too is only connected to the Mikdash Rishon. So, of the four fast days connected to the Churban 10th of Tevet is first Mikdash, Shiva Asar B'Tammuz is second Mikdash, Tisha B'Av is both and Tzom Gedaliah is also first Beit Hamikdash. Now, you might say okay, that's an observation but what is particularly important or interesting about it? I think there's something that is actually very very significant and that is the following. The Rambam writes and the Mishna Berurah brings the Rambam as actually halacha what is the purpose of fasting over the Beit Hamikdash? Right? We fast, we commemorate galus and churban and and and all of the things that the Jewish people have undergone. Is it just weeping? Is it just crying? What exactly is the tachlis of all of this commemoration, all of this memory? So, the Rambam understands that the tachlis is that when we contemplate the churban we think about the sins that caused the destruction of the Temple and then we resolve in our own lives to try to be mesaken, to try to rectify those aveiros and in that way if enough of us do it we will undo the root causes for the Churban Beit Hamikdash and then we will be zocheh to redemption, to Mashiach, to geulah. Again, I mean that's that's not obvious point that when we pray for the Beit Hamikdash we're not praying for the restoration of a building. A building is a building and you know, uh we have nice buildings even even now. But we're praying for the restoration of the divine presence, the restoration of a relationship with God the restoration of prophecy which is again is the highest level of intimacy uh with Hashem. So, we talk about something that's a little misleading. You know, when we say Yibaneh Beit Hamikdash which we sometimes focus oh we want that building. You know, as they say a lot of people call the bells Beit Haknesset they call it the Beit Hamikdash because uh it resembles the Beit Hamikdash in a physical way. But we're really talking about uh b'sechazena eineinu b'shuvcha l'Tzion b'rachamim. Let our eyes see when your divine presence returns to Zion, returns to Zion. Baruch atah Hashem hamachazir Shechinato l'Tzion. That is what praying for the Beit Hamikdash is is all about. But the Rambam's point is that prayer is a precursor to introspection to teshuvah to looking into the factors that were gorem the churban and trying to rectify. That's why it's interesting. What do you wish a person on a fast? So, the common uh greeting at least in Israel the common bracha is tzom kal. Have an easy fast. Well, is a fast supposed to be easy? You know, maybe not. Maybe we're supposed to suffer. That's what a fast is. So, the new thing that they say it's not that so new it's been around for a few years but it's a nice uh it resonates well is have a meaningful fast. Fasts are supposed to be meaningful. And in a sense tzom kal is appropriate because I shouldn't spend the whole day thinking about when am I going to have my coffee and cake? You know what I mean? If you're too obsessed with hunger in a fast then there's something wrong with that, too. Because in a sense, I kind of stay away from physical pleasures like eating and drinking in order to give me the ability, the space to kind of get involved in introspection and reflection. Okay, so this is an important issue, although halachically, if I were to simply go to sleep after Shacharis on a fast day and sleep until Mincha, I would be yotzei the taanis. I was yotzei, I didn't eat. But I would be missing the point a little bit. I need to think about this. So, based on this, here's the question that I want to share with you. The Gemara in Yoma, very, very famous Gemara that all of you have heard of, all of you have learned, is that there's a difference between the reasons for the destruction of the first Mikdash and the second Mikdash. The first Mikdash was destroyed because of the worst of aveiros in the Torah, avodah zarah, idol worship, giluy arayos, sexual immorality, whether it's adultery or rape or incest, and finally shfichas dam and murder. And these are the biggest aveiros, the worst aveiros in the Torah. These are the only three aveiros that a person must be willing to die before they transgress. When it comes to Shabbos and kashrus and Yom Kippur, if my life is in danger, I'm supposed to violate. In fact, it's not even a violation. I'm supposed to do what would normally be a transgression. When it comes to avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shfichas dam, yeihorag v'al yaavor. I got to let myself die. I'm mechuyav to let myself die. And these were the aveiros that were gorem the churban Bayis Rishon. How do we know this? How did Chazal know this? They know this because unlike many of us, they learned Tanach. They knew Nach. That's what the Nevi'im talk about. The Nevi'im talk about avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shfichas dam. Those were the aveiros that Now, this is really part of a longer talk. It doesn't mean that most of the Jews were doing these three aveiros. Absolutely not. In fact, most of the Jews were not that bad. But there were In fact, I would I couldn't imagine living in a society where most of the population is engaged in murder. That would be kind of a scary a scary place to live. But it was a significant enough minority of the community that Hakadosh Baruchu held that the whole community was responsible. I mean, the Gemara in Shabbos even says that Hakadosh Baruchu was ma'anish much of that generation because they could have protested in various ways, and they were not mocha. Okay. So, be it as it may, that was the first churban, avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shfichas dam. But the Mikdash Sheini, 490 years later under the Romans, the Gemara says most of the Jews were keeping mitzvos. They They put on tefillin, they davened, they kept kosher, they kept Shabbos. They were frum. Why was there such a churban? So, the Gemara says, famous, famous Gemara, that what caused the churban Bayis Sheini was sinas chinam, groundless, irrational hatred, hatred between Jews. And that includes polarization, division, kind of looking down at different people. The Netziv writes, the Netziv, the great 19th century Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin, writes in his hakdamah to the book of Devarim that the sinas chinam of the Bayis Sheini was a form of religious self-righteousness in which there were many, many different movements. Some of them were like stukim, some of them were kfirah, but even within the religious world, there were many different movements. And each movement looked down at the other as if to say, anyone to the right of me is a fanatic, and anyone to the left of me is an apikorus. It's only where I am that is the right place. And the Netziv says, when Jews are marginalizing other Jews or demonizing other Jews, that is called sinas chinam. And the interesting thing about interesting thing about sinas chinam is nobody ever says they hate for no reason. I mean, you know, obviously, if I hate somebody or hate I have a reason. So, it's not sinas chinam. So, obviously, the answer is even when you have reasons, you know, they're not reasons. Meaning, something is sinas chinam even if in your mind there's a reason. By the way, the Netziv, who obviously was writing calling for tolerance, acceptance, looking at other Jews in a generous spirit, trying to see the good in people even if they're not fully doing everything that you think they should be doing, the Netziv himself was severely criticized for that attitude. He was accused of being a of of compromising, of being too meikel. And in a sense, the very criticism that the Netziv suffered was a confirmation of his very point. It was a proof of his very point. It reminds me, when when I think Pope Benedict made a speech criticizing the violent tendencies in within Islam, so he was met with violent protests who were very much opposed to his remarks. Well, you know, they're violently protesting his statement that Islam has violent tendencies. Kind of, you know, it's a bit of a proof to the very point. Baruch Hashem, our Yidden did not resort to resort to violence, at least in that particular case, but the Netziv's point was very much there. Josephus, who was Josephus was a Jew, and Josephus was in fact a a student of Tana'im, and he was a general, a Jewish general. And then, how did a kohen become a general? That's an interesting question. Kohanim are normally not supposed to fight in military wars, but nevertheless, Josephus went over to the other side, and you know, his motives are still not very clear. He claims Josephus claims that he did it to help the Jewish people, you know, and there's there there there may be a little bit of truth in this because in his book about the Jewish war against the Romans that culminated in the churban Bayis Hamikdash, Josephus says over and over again that he was always pushing the idea that the war against Rome was not supported by a majority of the population, and it was not supported by the Chachamim, and that's 100% true. The Gemara in Gittin says that. The Chachamim were very, very critical of the crazy people, the fanatics that were leading this war. And Josephus basically said it was the Kanna'im or the Biryonim that were doing all of this. So, in that way, Josephus is actually echoing exactly what Chazal say. So, Josephus was actually turned out to be very friendly with Titus, with Titus HaRasha. In fact, he stayed in his house in Rome. And Josephus quotes Titus as saying, obviously, he whitewashes Titus. He doesn't make him out to be the rasha that that we know he was. But he says Titus, he says, really wasn't sure should he destroy Yerushalayim or the Bayis Hamikdash. And he said to himself, Josephus quotes him as saying, you know, maybe if I just wait long enough, the Jews will destroy it themselves. And the truth of the matter is, I think that quote has the ring of truth around it. Because that mirrors Chazal's statement of the sinas chinam within Klal Yisrael. And Josephus even gives us a scene. It's It's a It's really an unforgettable scene of there were different groups of Jews in Yerushalayim who were vying for control. They were fighting for control. And he he portrays a scene that in the Bayis Hamikdash, one group was shooting arrows at the other group. So, you have a barrage of arrows coming from both directions, and the Kohanim are ducking under the arrows to be able to bring korbanos. This was before the 17th of Tammuz when the korban tamid was discontinued. So, this actually portrays something a bit more dramatic than the Netziv. The Netziv understands the sinas chinam on the political, theological, religious way. Josephus actually says it was physically attacking each other. But be it as it may, the Gemara then says in Maseches Yoma, Bo ure'ei, come and see how chamor is the sin of sinas chinam. Because the churban Bayis Hamikdash that happened because of avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shfichas dam only lasted 70 years. But the churban that lasted because of sinas chinam, we are still suffering. And that was 1,500 years ago when the Gemara Add another 1,500 years, we are still suffering. It's an obvious point that even those of us that have the great, great, great zechus to live in Eretz Yisrael and to be in Yerushalayim especially, we have to remember we are still in galus. There is no Bayis Hamikdash. There is no Mashiach that is here yet. We live in a polarized, divisive society. So, the truth of the matter is, even here, and maybe especially here, we have to be very, very cognizant of the fact that the geulah is not here yet. We're still in a matzav of galus. When we look at those beautiful pictures of the Golden Dome on the Temple Mount, let's remember what we are looking at. We are looking at a mosque. We are not looking at the Bayis Hamikdash as as pretty as the picture as the picture might might be. So, here is my question. If the idea of a fast day is introspection vis-a-vis the causes of the churban, so let's take Tisha B'Av. So, Tisha B'Av, where I connect not only to the Bayis Rishon, but also to the Bayis Sheini, so my introspection will focus on sinas chinam and how to build ahavas Israel and how to create bridges between Jews and how to see the good in people. And again, I've mentioned this positive many times of America's great great teaching in Mishlei. Come I am upon him upon him came life Adam the Adam as water reflects the face you show it. So the heart of one human being reflects that which is it is shown and the Vilna Gaon explains, when I look at a pool of water and it reflects back to my face the face that I show it is what I will see. I smile at the water, I see a smiling face. I frown at the water, I see a frowning face. So too, the heart of a human being will reflect back that which I show that human being. I show the human being love and respect for what they do, they will love and respect what I do. I show them disdain, I show I I I convey to them that they're worthless, that they're garnished, they're going to feel that way about me. Okay, and that's why in many many ways the religious secular conflicts in Israel never really move in positive directions because the instinctive reaction on both sides is demonization. So if I look at the people in the Israeli government and I say, oh they're epicures and or they're Amalek has to show them, then they're going to feel that way about me. I mean, they won't call me Amalek, they'll call me a parasite or they'll call me some something or something else. So, maybe I'm not sure how much of it is religious secular how much of it is Israeli Middle East personality, but the concept is you don't agree with me, then you're crazy and you're evil and you're stupid and everything else. Well, HaMelech tells us ahead of time that that's a recipe that's guaranteed to produce failure. I think you're stupid and evil, you you'll think I'm stupid and evil. If on the other hand, I look at the other person with Zachus and I recognize that even if people might be misguided based on my understanding, that doesn't mean they're evil, that doesn't mean they're bad and I can appreciate the good of what they're doing, then they will appreciate the good of what I'm doing as well. Come I am upon him upon him came life Adam the Adam. This is such a beautiful and important positive. It's one of those things people should put on their refrigerator doors. It's almost like a motto. It's see the good in people. I look at someone in the army, religious or not, and I can see that these are people that are sacrificing for Am Israel. You know, maybe they know Torah, maybe they don't, but they've made a decision or maybe they've been forced but even if they've been forced to do the decision because of the draft to kind of do something for the Jewish people and the land of Israel. And that's something that I can be grateful for even if I personally feel that the front people shouldn't go to the army or whatever whatever my opinion is on that ideological issue. That's an important issue. I'm not saying that these are not important issues to debate, but it doesn't have to be in the context of everybody's a Russia. I mean, if who's the Minister of Religion? Moshe Kahlon. I mean, if he wants to I mean, he's talking about reforms in the area of Kashrus and Geor. Yeah, we can criticize I don't want to get into it too much. We can criticize the various steps that he's taking, but but to criticize his motives, he happens to be he happens to be an Orthodox Jew. He is a Frum Jew. He's he's a caring Jew. He cares about Torah. The fact that it's not necessarily consistent with Haredi mainline values is a point of debate and discussion, but it's not something to condemn somebody for on a personal level. Come I am upon him upon him. Okay. So, when it comes to thinking about how I can connect to the Averos of the Second Temple, it's unfortunately it's pretty easy. Sinat Chinam is all pervasive. It is a cancer that is still within us that we have to try to uproot. Okay? So in a way, it's easy to understand what I have to work on when the Tainis is connected to the Second Mikdash. Easy to understand, not easy to fix. Not easy to fix, but easy to understand that that's a problem. In fact, I remember hearing years ago that they often conduct surveys, what are the number one problem that Israel faces? And unfortunately, our country faces many many our country and our people face many many problems ranging from Islamic fundamentalism, the threat of nuclear war, terrorism, uh sometimes some years lack of water, water shortages, uh price of housing, uh cottage cheese and butter shortages and inflation, right? There these were also big issues. I think last year there was a big butter shortage for some reason for a long time. Uh but the number one problem that all the surveys indicated and and this is true whether the respondents were Haredi, Dati Leumi, or Chilonee was lack of Ahavat Chinam Israel because there was a sense that when there's Ahavat Chinam, Hashem gives us a Siyata Dishmaya. And when there's no Ahavat Chinam, we're very vulnerable. We're very very very vulnerable. So, all of that is really Pashut, meaning this is something all of us see and all of us know is a problem. But my conscious like this, what do I think about on the fast of Asara B'Tevet? Asara B'Tevet is not connected to the Bayit Sheini. Asara B'Tevet is connected to the Bayit Rishon. Now the sin of the Bayit Rishon was Avodah Zarah, Giluy Arayot, Shfichut Damim. I'm not that bad. When it comes to Sinat Chinam, okay, I can I can obviously work on Ahavat Israel. Even if I don't throw rocks, do I care enough about Jews? Do I see their good? Do I build people up? Okay, that's a Cheshbon HaNefesh. But gee, Avodah Zarah, Giluy Arayot, Shfichut Damim, I didn't do any of that. So the question is, when you have a Tainis that's connected not to the Mikdash Sheini, but that's connected to the Mikdash Rishon, what is your Avodah of Cheshbon HaNefesh with respect to those Averos? So there are a few answers you can give. Answer number one might be that maybe you're being too subtle here, meaning we don't really care Mikdash Rishon, Mikdash Sheini, we think about Korban Bayit HaMikdash and when we think about Korban Bayit HaMikdash, we think about the Averos that were going with the Korban and if the relevant Averah to me is Sinat Chinam, I think about Sinat Chinam. Meaning to say, I don't have to be so precise and correlate my Cheshbon HaNefesh to the particular Mikdash that is connected. The Bayit HaMikdash is a generic idea. I would also add one thing about Asara B'Tevet. I think I mentioned last week that the great Gaon, Rav Fisher, Zichrono L'Vracha, who mamesh just was Nifter uh two two or three weeks ago and I I call him the the greatest Godol that you may not have heard of, meaning he was not so well known outside of Talmidei Chachamim, but he he was not involved in politics of any sort whatsoever, but he was a Gaon Otzum not only in Kol Torah, not only in Shas and Poskim, but also in Kabbalah and in philosophy and in science. He really was a master of of of everything. And he has various Rayos that the Cheit of Mechirat Yosef occurred on Asara B'Tevet, which of course would create a link to Sinat Chinam even on Asara B'Tevet because of the Cheit of Mechirat Yosef. So it's interesting that the Taanisim are connected to a primeval sin. Asara B'Tevet is Mechirat Yosef. Shiva Asar B'Tammuz was the day that Moshe smashed the Luchos because of the Cheit HaEgel and Tisha B'Av is connected to the Cheit of the Meraglim. Uh I'm not aware of a Well, actually what about Tzom Gedaliah? So so according to many Rishonim, I was going to say I'm not aware of a primeval precursor Cheit for Tzom Gedaliah, but as I think about it, something comes to me. Many Rishonim say Gedaliah was actually killed on Rosh Hashanah, but we delay the fast to the third day of Tishrei because you're not allowed to fast on a Yom Tov, so we delay the fast to the first open day where you could fast, which is Gemar Tishrei. Now if Gedaliah was killed on Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah is indeed the origin of all sin. Rosh Hashanah was the day of the Cheit of the Eitz HaDa'at. Adam HaRishon was created on Rosh Hashanah, which was a Friday, although Rosh Hashanah cannot be on Friday in our present calendar, and on that very day that he was created, he and Chavah ate from the Eitz HaDa'at. So it turns out Asara B'Tevet, Mechirat Yosef, Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, Cheit HaEgel, Tisha B'Av, Cheit HaMeraglim, Tzom Gedaliah, Cheit of the Eitz HaDa'at itself. Okay. So so one answer So again, so one So my question is, what Cheshbon HaNefesh can I make about Avodah Zarah, Giluy Arayot, Shfichut Damim if those are not my Averos? And for most of us, those are not our Averos. So answer number one is you don't got it you don't have to tie it to those Averos, you tie it to the Bayit HaMikdash generally. Answer number two, so I'll give you a total of four answers to this. Uh answer number two is that Chazal actually identify a number of Averos as equivalent to Avodah Zarah, Giluy Arayot, Shfichut Damim. For example, uh the Gemara says in Nedarim, anyone that is angry, anyone that has kaas is ki ilu avodah avodah zarah. So, okay. I don't bow down to an idol. But do I have anger? Anger is equivalent to avodah zarah. By the way, one might ask a question, just generally, why I understand anger is an awful character trait, it's an awfully bad midah, but why would it be avodah zarah? It's not avodah zarah. So, there actually is an explanation from the Baal HaTanya, the Alter Rebbe. And the Alter Rebbe says that what what why does a person get angry? A person gets angry because they have a sense of entitlement. Something that should have been given to them was not given to them, whether it was money, whether whether it was a job, whether it was recognition or honor. I should have gotten it and I didn't get it. Or the vice versa, something negative happened to me that I think shouldn't have happened. You had no right to insult me. You had no right. So, I'm angry at you because you took something away from me or you got something that should have gone to me or you did something bad to me. Now, if a person truly believes in Hashem, they believe that every single thing that happens in their life was because Hakadosh Baruch Hu decreed that it's supposed to happen. Now, granted, this is the great mystery. On one hand, the bad people who do bad things have free will. And God does not make them do the bad thing. On the other hand, as the Chovos HaLevavos states, actually some disagree with the Chovos HaLevavos, but the Baal HaTanya is going with the Chovos HaLevavos as all the Chassidim did, that there is nothing that happens to you that is not God's will. This is the Baal Shem Tov's view of Hashgacha Pratis. And the not Orach Chaim. Not not like the Orach Chaim and not like the Rambam, okay? But but what what has happened is that that has become uh by influence of Kabbalah and Chassidus the primary understanding that we have of Hashgacha Pratis. Again, this is a really a massive talk for another time is that God decrees everything. And indeed, we can see this from David HaMelech. If you remember, when David HaMelech is running away, uh this is the Chovos HaLevavos is Raya, uh from Avshalom who wants to kill him, his own son who wants to kill him, so he encounters a fellow Shimi ben Gera who is of Shaul's family. And Shimi ben Gera curses him and throws stones at him and says, "You're getting what you deserve because you deposed Shaul from being king, etc." And Yoav ben Tzeruyah, David's uh general who was very sword-happy, so he he was like, "I'll kill the guy, you know, he's more than HaMelech." So, David HaMelech said, "If Hashem did not want me to be cursed, he would not have let Shimi ben Gera curse me." Everything comes from Hashem. By the way, that's a whole other kasha because on David's deathbed, he tells It's interesting that David is so forbearing and so patient and so mekabel, but later he gets Shimi killed. But okay, that that's a that's another kasha. But the point that the Baal HaTanya makes about anger is, if I truly believe everything comes from God, how can I be angry at you for doing something to me? El em I, in the moment of my anger, I don't believe Hashem is running the world. That's a form of avodah zarah when you take away Hakadosh Baruch Hu's absolute control over the world. Okay, so going back to the main point, Chazal identify anger with idolatry. They identify humiliating somebody publicly with murder because you can murder people in different ways. I can murder a person with a gun and a knife. I can murder a person by crushing their spirit by humiliating them. So, it's not so at least for two of the three, it's not so pashut. What What What teshuvah do I need to do over avodah zarah? Well, the answer is, if I have kaas, that's avodah zarah. I never murdered anybody. Well, is that true? Did we humiliate people? Remember the Gemara says in Sota that Tamar would have gone to her death in a fiery furnace and she would not have revealed that Yehudah was the one that made her pregnant. And if not Yehudah coming forward when she said the man that gave me the staff and the and the money belt. Right? It's better to go to a kivshan ohr aish. V'al y'alel ben panav v'ero b'rabim. There is a machlokes Rishonim if that particular statement is a halacha, meaning if God forbid a person were confronted, "Humiliate that person or I'll kill you." Some Rishonim say l'maaseh, you can save your life. Others they actually do not take the statement to be a halacha l'maaseh in the way it's formulated. But nevertheless, the fact that Chazal did formulate it that way shows you how chomer this is. And what about gilyui arayos? Okay, so even if a person didn't commit rape or incest or adultery or even premarital relations, but Chazal say hirhurei averah, sexual thoughts and fantasies can be as bad or worse than the actual maaseh averah. And in the super-saturated sexual society that we live in, hirhurei averah, pornography, whatever it be, could be something that that could grab a person in very powerful ways. So, the answer number one is that even if we as individuals did not do actual avodah zarah, actual gilyui arayos, actual shfichas damim, we could have been connected to averos that Chazal consider them to be the equivalent. Whether it's anger, which is equivalent to avodah zarah, whether it's embarrassing someone, which is equivalent to murder, or whether it's hirhurei averah, which is considered to be as chomer as gilyui arayos. So, we do have a connection to those averos. That would be answer number one to this. Answer number two, I want to share with you a story about the Beis Yosef. The Beis Yosef is Rabbi Yosef Caro. Everyone knows Rabbi Yosef Caro. Uh the author of the Shulchan Aruch. Uh Rabbi Yosef Caro was born in Spain and in fact, uh he was a four-year-old child at the time of the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492. It's an amazing thing. Uh at the head of the procession was the Abarbanel, Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel, who had been finance minister for Ferdinand and Isabella and he was given permission to stay because they needed his acumen and he was even given permission to be a religious Jew. But he said he will go with his people, so he was the head of the procession. At the very end of the procession, there was a mother with a little child. Nobody paid attention in particular. A mother with a little child. That little child was Rabbi Yosef Caro who grew up to be the gadol hador and the like. By the way, it is recorded Rabbi Yoki told records a tradition. I Unfortunately, in the Sefer HaTodah, which is a wonderful wonderful book, they never give any sources for anything. So, he says all sorts of stories and observations and he you know, you have no idea where he gets the gets it from. So, I don't know where he got it from. But he records a story that many say, although historians question this, that the final expulsion occurred on the 9th of Av. Although historically it's not so clear, but this is kind of a mesorah. And the Abarbanel, who was kind of the leader and even the posek for the Jews, actually paskened that they should play musical instruments on Tisha B'Av in that procession. And there were two reasons, two two two two very interesting reasons for this. Reason number one is that the Abarbanel held it was almost a matter of pikuach nefesh. People were so tzebrochen, their spirits were so broken, they were so depressed, they didn't have a sense they would ever be able to rebuild their lives. And this was an exceptional situation where people just needed their spirits picked up to give them hope. So, that was one reason, kind of we might call it spiritual pikuach nefesh. The other reason he says is is very interesting, the opposite. He didn't want Yidden to equate leaving Spain with a galus. He says, "Okay, you were comfortable in Spain, you were wealthy, you were politically well-connected, but you were still in galus. So, don't make a big deal. Don't treat it like this is a korban Beis HaMikdash." In other words, he did it so people shouldn't make such a big deal about this tzar because this was not your ultimate place anyway, kind of the opposite idea. Don't be so tzebrochen. You're just going from one galus to another galus. It's going to be okay. But be that as it may, Rabbi Yosef Caro eventually found his way to Turkey, Constantinople. And from Constantinople, eventually he came to Eretz Yisrael and he became the rav in Tzfas. And Tzfas during the time of the Beis Yosef was a remarkable amazing city, much more so than even Yerushalayim. At the time, uh you had the Rabbi Yosef Caro who was already in his 60s, 70s. He was the rav of the city. Rabbi Alkabetz, the mechaber of Lecha Dodi, was the chazan. The Alshich, Rabbi Moshe Alshich, was the darshan. Uh Rabbi Yisrael Najara wrote K'Ribon Olam. Again, we know him for one thing, but these were these were great great people. Sefer Chareidim. You had Rabbi Moshe Cordovero who opened up the secrets of Kabbalah. And when Rabbi Cordovero was niftar, you had the Ari z"l and Rabbi Chaim Vital, the Ari z"l and his talmidim. The Ari z"l came to Safed at the age of 37 and he died at the age of 39. The Ari was in Safed only for 2 years. He died very young. Rabbi Yosef Caro gave the hesped at the levaya of the Arizal. So, Rabbi Yosef Caro was very close to the Arizal. We don't realize Rabbi Yosef Caro himself was a very great mekubal. Maybe to some degree his mastery of halakha overshadowed that aspect or maybe the Arizal overshadowed him or whatever it would be, but Rabbi Yosef Caro himself was a great great mystic, a great great mekubal. Uh and he said that he would go to the Ari The Ari gave a shiur on Shabbos. Mention this. And he would go to the Arizal's shiur although the Ari was 30 years younger than him. And he would always fall asleep at the shiur. And the Arizal told him it was nigzar in shamayim that it's not lefi kavodkha your honor that you should learn Torah from me. So, Hashem makes you fall asleep so I shouldn't be the one that teaches you uh Kabbalah. Uh maybe the Ari was just being nice, you know, who knows, but whatever it would be. Uh but here's the story. Rabbi Yosef Caro had a chavruta. That's a very unusual chavruta. He had a chavruta with an angel. He had a malakh that he would learn Torah with. And this malakh was called his magid, his preacher. And Rabbi Yosef Caro kept a diary of the learning that he had with the malakh. And we actually have the diary. It's called Magid Meisharim, the preacher of uprightness. Uh you can actually get it for free on hebrewbooks.org, Magid Meisharim, and it's available in swarm stores. I I'm not sure. I don't think there's a translation of it. I don't think it's ever been translated, but it's literally a diary, a private diary. He didn't write it to be published. A private diary of his uh interactions with the malakh. So, in the Magid Meisharim he tells the following story. I'm not sure if all my details are accurate, but this is the basic story. That once he was learning a sugia in Gemara that he found very very difficult. And he worked and he worked and he worked as they used to say in Yiddish, he harvard a maylis betaira, worked. And finally after 2 weeks he had an upshot. If Rabbi Yosef Caro had to work on the sugia for 2 weeks and he was the gadol hador, one can understand how difficult it must have been. But he finally worked it out. And he was very very happy. And he's walking in the alleyways of Safed and you can go through those alleyways even today, the actual alleyways that he walked in. And he overhears a shoemaker learning that same passage with his 7-year-old son. And his son asks his father the very question that Rabbi Yosef Caro was working on for 2 weeks. So, Rabbi Yosef Caro doesn't want to eavesdrop on people, but he kind of had to hear what's going on here. And the father was a little annoyed and said to his son, "I knew this was too hard for you. Uh your question is such a simple question. And the answer is a very simple answer." And he gave the answer that it took Rabbi Yosef Caro 2 weeks to figure out. And the father was annoyed that the 7-year-old didn't figure it out on his own. So, Rabbi Yosef Caro was devastated because he figured if this was such an obvious point that even a 7-year-old is expected to understand it then if I didn't get it it must be Hakadosh Baruch Hu is withholding from me the wisdom of the Torah because of my sins. What sin do I have that I couldn't get a simple obvious point that even a child is expected to know? Well, he had someone to ask. He asked the malakh, "What was my sin? What do I have to do teshuvah for?" And the malakh told him a very interesting thing. The malakh said, "You have no aveira at all. It's the other way around. Your understanding was a deep profound understanding. And it was so deep and so elevated and so holy that the world was not ready for it. It was something that was not accessible to this world. But through your work and through your effort you brought it You pulled it down from the highest levels of shamayim into earth. And once you pulled it down it becomes accessible to everybody, even a kid. Now, the pashutus a story like this makes no sense at all. What do you mean he brought it into the earth? If he would have taught We understand if I if a if a rebbe works on something and finally understands it and communicates it to his talmidim, so essentially they can even without all the work because he brought it into the world and he's able to communicate it. But Rabbi Yosef Caro didn't teach this didn't teach this. He didn't communicate it. He didn't write it down. It was a private thing that he achieved with his own learning. What does it mean it's available now for other people? So, you see from here an idea that is ultimately a mystical idea. It's not necessarily a rational idea at all. And that is when we learn Torah when we do mitzvahs we bring holiness into the world. The world itself gets elevated and transformed by what we do. Even if they don't know about it. Even if they're unaware about it. Even if it's you know, people say sometimes, "Oh, you're sitting in your yeshiva, you're learning Torah. What do you do What are you giving to the world?" So, putting aside the fact that be'ezrat Hashem many of these people will become the rabbis, the teachers, the poskim and they'll be giving plenty to the world. But even the solitary learning of Torah itself is not just benefiting you. It's making the world a better place. Now, it could very well be that it's so imperceptible because of all of the negative things that are going on, but even so, if the negatives are pulling the world down the positives are pulling the world up. So, even if there's a net descent the descent is not as much as it would have been. It would have gone 100 uh miles under, if it only goes 99 it's because somebody was pulling in the other direction. That's why the Gemara Sanhedrin says that if a person says, "What do the rabbis do for the world with all their learning of Torah?" That is the one of the definitions of an apikorus. Even if you're frum and you keep mitzvahs, if you say, "Mai hanu le'rabbanan? What do the rabbis do for the world?" That's a big big big mistake. It's considered heresy. The Chofetz Chaim is said to have remarked, although again I I question if he would have said it this way. It doesn't sound like a Chofetz Chaim remark, but uh he's quoted as saying that the intensity of the learning in Radin affects the length of the skirt length in Paris. Meaning Torah and mitzvahs is like a nuclear bomb. When you have a bomb, you have ground zero. So, ground zero, the radiation is so intense. A thousand miles away, it's a little less, but it's still there. 2,000, 3,000, 5,000, even 5,000 miles away there's going to be radiation there. So, Radin would be an example of a ground zero, intense full devotion to Torah learning. As it gets further and further from that center, the influence is going to be weaker, but it's still going to be there. By the time it gets to Paris, maybe nobody will be learning because of the Radin influence. But maybe the skirt will be a an eighth of an inch lower than it otherwise would have been. So, we have to understand. You know, the anti-Semites are right. Don't quote me. Uh in fact, I hope they don't see this uh YouTube. Uh and that is they blame the Jews for everything. Everything bad in the world is the fault of the Jews. I hate to say it. But in some ways they are correct. They are correct. Because with our Torah and our mitzvahs the world can be elevated. And if the world is not elevated, if the world is debased, it's because we haven't done enough. So, therefore, let's go back to avodah zarah, gilui arayot, shfichut damim. Maybe I'm not guilty of avodah zarah. And maybe I'm not guilty of shfichut damim. And maybe I'm not guilty of gilui arayot. But one thing is for sure, I live in a world that is filled with shfichut damim. Not only embarrassing, but murder mamash. I live in a world of violence and murder. Whether it's terrorism, war, crime. Just murder. I live in a world of gilui arayot, that much is for sure. And avodah zarah we have to explain. I mean, there are idol worshipers in the world, but the truth of the matter is money could be idolatry. Idolatry could take many many forms. Man worshipping himself, etc. So, the point is this. I become a co-conspirator and a participant and an accessory to the avodah zarah, gilui arayot, and shfichut damim that exist in the world. So, yeah. Maybe I'm Maybe I'm not guilty. Maybe I'm not guilty. But I cannot deny that I live in a world that has this. And if I live in a world that has this, I have an achrayus. Which means the well the well-known statement Kol Yisrael arevin zeh lazeh. Every Jew is responsible for another Jew is actually broadened to even include responsibility for what the ummah to Adam is are as well. That we can make the world a better place. And if we can make the world a better place, we have a responsibility to try to make it a better place. Okay, it's a very frightening idea, but it's also a very encouraging idea that you make the world a better place not only by what you actively do vis-a-vis other people, but even by the private learning and davening and chessed and ahavas Yisrael that may be on a one-to-one basis or, you know, raising your children in a good way is having ripple is having ripple effects on the world as a whole. Granted, any one individual, the effect is is going to be tiny, but once again, you magnify the effects by more and more people doing this, and the world can be significantly changed and modified. Right, we have to be aware of our power. And power is both an opportunity and a responsibility. Right, I think what is the word in the Chinese character for um challenge is the same word as opportunity. Uh I think I have that right. Uh what you look at as difficult challenges is opportunity. Opportunity for something great. So, that's answer number two. So, answer number one is I might be guilty of avodah zarah via anger and uh gilui gilui arayos vis-a-vis hirhurim of avodah zarah and shfichas damim by embarrassing. That's answer one. Answer two is even if I'm not guilty of these aveiros because I live in a world that do have those aveiros, then by definition, I did not generate enough holiness to counteract the tumah that exists in the world. Uh answer number three, which kind of overlaps, but it is a distinct mahalach, is offered by Rav Tzadok of Lublin. The great Rav Tzadok posits that avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim uh they are aveiros, but they are also symptoms of character flaws. In the same way, you can have a disease and be asymptomatic. We know this from COVID, right? A person could uh be totally fine, but he might still be a carrier of a disease that could spread to other people. Right, that's called an asymptomatic carrier. So, the same thing is true with this. If avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim are symptoms of underlying character flaws, I might be in possession of those underlying character flaws even if I don't have the symptoms. So, what are these symptoms of? So, Rav Tzadok suggests that these are the three negative forces that are described in Pirkei Avos. Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says, "Ha kinah, ha ta'avah, v'ha kavod motzi'in es ha adam min ha olam." What does that mean? Kinah is jealousy and envy. Ta'avah is excessive lust for hedonistic and materialistic pleasures. And kavod is the desire for ego, self-gratification, self-aggrandizement. I need to be fed. My ego needs to be fed that I'm a great guy, etc. So, what does Rabbi Elazar HaKappar say? These three negative factors take a person out of the world. What does that mean? So, number one, you lose your world to come by those types of behaviors. And number two, it even makes your life in this world very miserable because when a person is consumed with jealousy and the need for kavod and ta'avah, he doesn't appreciate the great great kindnesses of his own life because he's never appreciating his own life because he's always jealous or always wants more. And kavod, of course, will never be satisfied. As Rav Yisrael Salanter used to say, a person who constantly needs kavod is worse than a beggar who's begging for money. Like every little encounter, you know, is going like to hurt him because he's not getting the ego gratification that he needs. And of course, it's well known psychologists have said over and over again that uh arrogance and insecurity walk hand in hand. And in many many ways, a desire for kavod is actually linked with very very low self-esteem. It's it's they're they're connected in that in that way. Okay. So, here's Rav Tzadok's interesting correlation. He suggests that jealousy, when carried to an extreme, will result in murder. I even begrudge your existence. And the truth of the matter is statistically, this is true. If you factor out the murders of war and terrorism, which unfortunately in Israel, we are very aware of, most routine murders, if there's such a such a phrase, come from jealousy. You know, like a gang member in the US will kill somebody because they want their sneakers, they want their iPad, they want something. Uh or somebody is with their girlfriend or with their wife. Again, that's not correct, obviously, but but still, that doesn't justify killing somebody. Right, so a lot of jealousy turns into such a rage that it culminates in shfichas damim. Right, so the underlying shairesh of shfichas damim, the root, is jealousy in many cases. Ta'avah, obviously, excessive lust can culminate in gilui arayos. Right, so in other words, gilui arayos is the final symptom of that expression, but the root cause comes from lust, from ta'avah. Now, avodah zarah, he wants to connect to kavod. Now, this is a bit more abstract, but he once again says that, you know, we don't have the yetzer hara today to bow down to idols. And we don't even understand what was that great attraction to bow down to idols, the sun and the moon. But the Gemara tells us in Maseches Yoma that Ezra and the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah prayed to God to take away that yetzer hara for avodah zarah. That's an extraordinary move because the one thing God does not like to remove is free will. The whole purpose of life is to struggle with the yetzer hara and to make the right decisions. So, to simply ask God, "Hey God, can you take away my inclination to that sin so I won't sin?" That's kind of defeating the purpose. The purpose of life is you have these struggles and you surmount them. But at whatever it was, it was felt that this was too much of a challenge. So, it was actually taken away from us. So, we don't understand what the yetzer hara was. We don't have it anymore. In fact, the Gemara says, "When the were talking about the Menasheh the Melech who was a rasha, oved avodah zarah, machti es ha rabim, and they say, 'Oh, this guy does not have a share in olam haba. He's the worst of the worst.'" He came to them in a dream. And he said, "You think you guys are so big? Ask me anything in the Torah that you don't understand." And every single thing every question they had, he knew. He knew kol ha Torah kulah. He knew everything. So, they asked him, "How could a man like you fall for avodah zarah? What's going on?" He said to them, "If you would have lived in my generation, you would have cut your legs and ripped your clothing going through thorns and weasel barbed wire to get to the nearest idol. You have no idea what that yetzer hara was." So, we don't know what it is. But things get transmuted. And that is sometimes a person can make himself his own idol. Because avodah zarah, in a more abstract way, is any system of values that replaces God's glory with something else. It could be money, could be power, could be ego. And when my life is devoted to my glory and my honor, I have made myself into a god because all of my efforts are directed to looking after number one. And therefore, Rav Tzadok says, the shairesh of avodah zarah as as we would have it today is kavod. Therefore, uh going back to the question, how do I connect to avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim? The answer is by looking at the root causes of kinah, ta'avah, kavod. And that is why when we think about the sins of the Churban Beis HaMikdash, we don't only think about the aveiros of the Bais Sheini, which are sinas chinam, which obviously we have to do a lot of thinking about that, but even those aveiros of avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim have a relevance uh to our lives. Uh let me just end with one final thought. Uh in addition to the Gemara in Yoma by avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim, the Gemara in Nedarim gives another aveirah that caused the Churban of the first Beis HaMikdash, not the second one. And it says, "They didn't make brachos over the Torah." And again, we don't have time to go into the proof, but it's absolutely clear from the Gemara that is the first Beis HaMikdash, not the second Beis HaMikdash. And the Ran explains, "They were learning Torah, but the Torah was not important enough uh for that it would make a bracha. There was a lack of a sense of chashivus haTorah." Now, the question is, "How do we understand that Gemara? I mean, yes, there's a chiyuv to make birchas haTorah, and if you don't make birchas haTorah, you're doing an aveirah, but why do you come on to that? If they were guilty of avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichas damim, then why do you need to come up with a lesser offense of lo berchu baTorah techilah?" So, there's a beautiful hesber from the from Rav Elyahu Lopian, one of the last great great Bali Musser of the 20th century. And Ravilio Lapian says, It's a double partial as Chazal say in Maseches Yoma, that the first base of Migdash was destroyed because of Avodah Zarah, Gila Raish, V'Shfichas Damim. Those were the causes of the Korban. But Chazal had a problem. If they were learning Torah, why didn't the Torah elevate them? Why didn't it protect them from cheit? It's like saying, somebody learns in morning seder in yeshiva, you have a nice morning seder, chevrusa learning be'in, then you have a 2-hour lunch break. So, you go to town, you do a a murder, a rape, and a bank robbery, and then you get you get back in time for second seder. There seems to be a disconnect there. Shouldn't the Torah elevate me? Shouldn't the Torah transform me? Shouldn't it make me a better person? The problem was, how could you do Avodah Zarah, Gila Raish, V'Shfichas Damim, if you're learning Torah? Why doesn't the Torah protect you from that? Why doesn't it change you? And the answer to that is, because they weren't machshiv it enough. In other words, and I'll explain I'll explain exactly what that means. Meaning, it's not that the Korban happened because of the sin of not making Birchas HaTorah. That wouldn't have been enough of a sin to cause the Korban. The Korban happened because of Avodah Zarah, Gila Raish, V'Shfichas Damim. But, the Torah didn't elevate them. Because they didn't regard it with enough importance. And Ravilio brings, if you remember the beginning of the book of Malachim, Dovid HaMelech is cold, he's shivering, and he's covered up with garments and blankets, and the blankets don't help. And Chazal say the reason it doesn't help is because if you treat garments with disrespect, eventually they will not give you their benefit. And he had cut a piece of Shaul's garments. He was mevaza the garments, even though it's not the same garment. Apparently, garments communicate with each other. So, the right, it was his cousin, right? This blanket's cousin was the one that was cut, so it's not going to give you warmth. So, what do you see from that Gemara? That when you don't treat something with proper respect, it doesn't give you what it's designed to give you. So, Ravilio wants to say, the same way, if you treat garments with disrespect, the garments don't help you, if you're not machshiv Torah, the Torah is not going to elevate you. The Torah is not going to elevate you if you look at it like a bother, like an imposition, like an inconvenience. And therefore, yes, a person could have a morning seder and then do rape and pillage and and and and and steal and murder, because the Torah is not going to change a person if you don't appreciate its holiness and its greatness. And that's something again to be a little, you know, a little concerned about. Because sometimes we do mean no Baruch Hashem, if we do mitzvahs and we learn Torah, but we look at it like a little bit of an inconvenience, a little bit of a trouble, a little bit of a tircha. Someone once described that sometimes our attitude towards mitzvahs is, Hashem gave us 613 problems that I got to work around. So, you have all these problems. Meaning, I have a life. My life is what I want to do. But, never I got these mitzvahs that limit me in some way. So, the role of my life is to figure out how to get around these impediments that are stopping me from doing what I really want to do with my life. Well, I will say right off the bat that that's better than not doing the mitzvahs. Yeah, granted. No, no, do the mitzvahs even without attitude. But, that attitude also means that the Torah is not going to be a transformative factor in your life, changing you, elevating you, purifying you. Because just like you're mevaza sabagadim, you don't get the benefit from the begadim, mevaza Torah, the Torah is not going to elevate you. And that's the meaning of lo birchu baTorah techila feeds into Avodah Zarah, Gila Raish, V'Shfichas Damim. So again, thank you for coming, and if people want to raise any questions, I'm happy to