Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: The Temple Mount Controversy and the Encampment Arrangement

My birthday tomorrow Okay. Hi everybody. Thank you for coming and I hope uh uh your was uh inspirational and joyous and hashem we're za to accept hashem's Torah with love and enthusiasm and uh it should hopefully carry through uh the entire the entire year. Uh as always uh we're praying for the protection of ami Israel, the lasting unity of the people of Israel which will lead to victory and we pray for all of those whose health has been affected by terror. Uh rafu for leash bas is lassur and haravana. May they have I also want to add uh a special braha uh for a friend of our family uh Dvorra Dvorra Rael Basa Gamra who is notam not sick but is going through a very very difficult time in many many ways and uh I also want to dedicate the debate Torah for her uh and aliatama in memory of Esther Hollander's father Navali bin Alhan Hakohain And in memory of Evelyn Regler Regler Kava Bas Hosa Gabriel by Leakov and sorry Yvid Regler and a good friend of ours for Le Yakov's mother's ninth y site which is Tessai in so again the dritory should be leo nisham you know whenever the um whenever init the second day of yum is shabas you understand that there's going to be a para a disconnect between Laur and Erit Israel because last shabas uh in Erit Israel was the day after Shabbos. So we read the para of the week parao and this coming week is going to be parasal which is the third para in however last Shabbat was the second day of and a yumpt you never read the para of the week. So this week in there's going to be no they're going to be one para behind uh for quite a while. I've always wondered why can't you just fix it the next week two parts but for various reasons we're not going to fix it till almost the end of Bidbbor. So that does create certain problems with travelers during this time because you might wind up missing missing a week. In other words, you might go to America hear a para twice and then you come back here there one ahead. Uh so talk to your local rabbi about how you manage the double para but I'm saying this by reason of an excuse and my excuse is that the vort I want to share with you tonight is largely not exclusively based on para. So if somebody's going to say to me hey that's that was last week's para well I say well it's this coming week's paraets and we uh with YouTube we have an audience init too. So, as a result, I'm giving myself permission to straddle a little bit. Okay, that's kind of a long-winded way of explaining why I might be a little off this week. Now, I I I do promise again that I'm not going to do this all the time, meaning I will try to stay with the para verit is but this week will be maybe a little bit of an exception, although I'll mention something about Baloska as well. Um and that is in paraso uh we have the organizational details. Oh by the way the kadish says before I start the kadish makes a point that paraso is the largest para in the Torah and he says the following. It is almost always read the Shabbat after as it was last week and there's so much Torah in the air that it even gets concretized in the number of verses in the para it's like all of this Torah is in the air so then it kind of condenses into these into these pukin but in paraso we read about the organization of the camps and you'll recall Well, basically, and I'm summarizing what Rashi explains, there are three camps as it were, three concentric circles. In the middle is called the Mahesh Shakina, the camp of the divine presence. What is it? What is Mahesh? The Mishkan and the courtyard around the Mishkan which contains the Msbayak, the altar. Okay, that is called Maheshina. Surrounding Mahina are the Levim. Uh, and that's called as you would expect Mach Levia. And remember that Shvet Levy is divided into three subgroups because Ley had three sons, Gearon, Tahass, and Marari. And uh they had different jobs in the assembly and reassembly or the disassembly and the reassembly and the transport of the Mishkan. Uh Gearon was in charge of what you might call the cloth materials. The tapestries, the skins, and they were transported on wagons. Two wagons uh were given to Geron to transport uh the uh the riots and the the orot and the like. Uh then we had Marari which did the very very heavy lifting of the very heavy beams and sockets and they were given four wagons to transport. And the third group is kahhat and kahhat were in charge of carrying the oracodes and the shulhan and the misbeak and the minora. But here the Torah says they do not use the wagons. They have to carry it on their shoulders. Okay. A voda bakasa because this is so sacred that only the person himself can handle it. Not animals and not the wagons and the like. So around the mishkun on three sides. One side is gear kahas marari. Uh and so that covered uh south, west and north. And to the east, which is actually the side where you enter the Mishkan was the tents of Moshe and Daron. Okay, so you get the idea that in the middle is Mahina. Uh then surrounding them is Mach Levia, Geron, Kahas, and Marari with Moshe and Aon being to the east. And then surrounding Machina Levia on all four sides is Mah Israel, the 12 tribes. And the Torah goes into great detail. So it is significant. You know, sometimes you think ah what's the difference? But obviously the Torah considered the exact placement of the tribes to be very important. To the uh east, in other words, right in front of Moshe and Aaron to the east uh is Mah Ye Yehuda. And um right, so people think, "Oh, gee, that's so nice. The Torah names uh names the that Machina after the shook in." Well, no, you know, it's the it's the opposite idea. Mak Yehuda has three tribes. Uh that is Yehuda is a but Yehuda is the dominant. That's to the east. To the south is the Mah of Ruv which is Ruain Shimon God. Although that's a little difficult to figure out what is God doing there. And to the west is Mah Ephraim which is Ephraim. Now that actually makes sense because those are progyny. Ephraimas from Yose and then to the north is Makan which is Dan Asheri. So again if you visualize this it's really quite a beautiful site. You have the Machina in the middle and it's surrounded by the Mach of Levim and then you have Mach Yehuda and Mak Ruven and Machim and Mach and this is how they camped. Now how they traveled that's a makus in the Gmorra really did they travel in that same formation or did they simply form a line straight line so that that's a big mlo rashi seems to indicate throughout his commentary that they did not travel in their formation they traveled in a line and the line was Yehuda Ruain Ephraim and Dun so Dun would be at the end of the line. There was another opinion though that they did travel in in formation. Uh the point was it wasn't tekker. You couldn't like say if if you're from shitar you couldn't just say well I like to live near my best friend in uh shv ruin. You couldn't you were assigned where you need where you need to be. These are the mach of course during the day I mean you could smoo with somebody that wouldn't be a problem but basically uh where you stayed was determined by a kadesh and each tribe had a flag each tribe had a nasi etc. So this was a big deal and and we talked about uh this I think before the notion that Hashem doesn't want I'm not going to repeat that Hashem doesn't want the undifferentiated homogene homogeneity of a community. He wants every tribe to have its vibrancy have its color have its unique nature. This is the unity not of the melting pot but the unity of the salad bowl. That was we talked about last time. But today I want to talk about something that starts off a bit technical, but I think there's an important message there as well. And that is after the Torah commands how the maka notes are set up, it then gives us a mitzvah of expelling tuma, expelling certain impurity from the mah. And it mentions three categories of impure people who have to be sent out of the camps. One is a mitsura. That's the leprosy that comes from loshinhara. Not to be confused with the modern illness of leprosy. One is the mitsora. One is the zav. The zav is a person that has gorrheal discharge uh know sexually transmitted disease. And the third is a tame met a person who has come in contact with a dead body. They must be expelled from the camps. Again we'll explain this until they undergo the requisite purification process. Now what is the requisite purification process does depends on the tumor that you have. In the case of mitsora uh there's a complicated double body shaving followed by many corbanos. In the case of av depending on how many discharges they may be a corbin or maybe not. It may just be seven days and mikvah. In the case of a tame mace there is no corbin. There is no carbon but there is the sprinkling of the ashes of paradum uh followed by going to the mikvah in seven days. So so the Torah says you expel from the camp people that are tame until they undergo the requisite purification. Now parasu does not tell us what that purification is. Purification rituals are mainly described in vayikra and uh the paraduma ritual is going to be described in parasukas a few weeks from now. In fact, it is interesting. I mean, keep in mind that, and this is an interesting literary question to think about, the Torah presupposes a lot of things that it hasn't yet told us until later in the Torah. The Torah is presupposing. And in fact, it's not just this. In parasala the levim are to be purified with meatas the water of the para even though we haven't been given a description of that yet right so obviously even things that are not written down until later were already part of the oral law refresh points out the that this is a proof that the oral Torah is earlier than the written Torah because things that are written later were obviously being observed in some type of practice. Okay, so now things get a little complicated and uh bear with me a little bit and hopefully uh we'll get to explain this. Rashi understands based on a Gomorrah that different levels of tame are expelled from different camps. Meaning the notion expel the three tim from all of the camps is not quite accurate. We have to differentiate between the mitsra, between the zav and between the tat. And here's how it works. A mitsur is the mostamur of all of the tumos. So a mits is expelled from the entire camp. Not only from the mishkan machina, not only from machna, but even from machnel. is now that doesn't mean you can't visit him. He's not quarantined. There's people people sometimes say the mitsra is quarantined. It's not really a quarantine because people can visit him. His wife and family can go to him, but he lives until the goes away and he undergoes purification. So the mitsyra is expelled from three camps. The zav is expelled from two camps. The zv is expelled from shikina. And if he's a ley, he's expelled from ley for the duration. But a zv is permitted to reside in the Israelite camp. Okay. Now the third category to metat is actually the most lenient. A tame is only expelled from the Mishkan and the courtyard of the Mishkan. A tame is permitted not only in Mak is but is even permitted in Machivia. And effect says not only is a tame met permitted to be in Machivia, a dead body itself can be in Machivia because the raya is that Mosher Rabenu had custody of the bones of Yoseph and Mosher Rabenu lived in the Levite camp and he actually kept the corpse of Yoseph with him. Now this gets into an interesting halak controversy which I I got into a little trouble this week. But uh then the amino rebi came and took it off my shoulders. So they're not bothering me anymore. Somebody bigger got involved. U you know I I I I mentioned the idea and again I wasn't trying to make a big statement that somehow people take it make a big statement with it. I talked about the the controversy of going on the temple mount going on the harabayat and it's no accident that more and more people are going on the harabayats including you know what you call and the like and in terms of things are greatly greatly improved I mean there was a time in which the police would not even let you make a braha if you were drinking a glass of water you had to pretend you were reading a newspaper and they would arrest you if you said any a word of on amazing tragic things have changed a tremendous amount and that is they now have minanim and they now have prayer services now there are times they won't let you in if the Arabs are doing something but but by and large people can go to the mk shakras every day and it's a bit unique I myself have not gone and I I'll discuss the issue but just in terms of the uniqueness of the place uh that when they bow down in the Amida instead of just bending your knee and bowing from the uh from the uh waist there's full body frustration which is even more than we do on yum kipper even on yum kipper we may get on our knees but this is literally stretching out the whole body you can see on YouTube you can actually see pictures of what that looks like so haras has become kind of a popular issue so let me just explain what the what the controversy is all of us all of us today are considered to be tame mets because if we've ever been in a cemetery we've come in because tame met is not only if you touch a dead body uh just if you're under the same roof cemetery so all of us are tame met now for most purposes being tame met is not a disability I can davin I count for a minion you know I I I I lead my life however a tame is not allowed to go in what is called Mahina. Now a T is allowed to go in Mach right that's what he said but a T cannot go into Machina. Now how do those categories translate in the temple mount in the desert? This is fairly simple. Mach levia is where the leies lived. Machina is where the Mishkan was. How does this translate into harabite? So the short answer is and I'll start with the definition of is where the temple building called the was located and that was surrounded by a courtyard that is called the azara. So for a to match to enter the area of the azor or the heal even though the temple is destroyed is an isisa and the punishment is very severe. If you did it on purpose your means death in the hands of heaven and if you did it inadvertently you bring a kba. So a to me is 1,000% not allowed to enter makina. And the problem is because we don't have the paradum there's no way we can be purified of tumasm until the paraduma gets reestablished. So even if the last time you were in a cemetery was 50 years ago it makes no difference. You are to until para aduma. Now the problem is this. The outer part of the harabayat however is not it is the kotel the kotto maravi the western wall of the kotel is not the wall of the basikdash that's for sure and it's not even the wall of the temple courtyard which would have been an inner wall it is a retaining all of the temple mount. So there is no question whatsoever that a tet is permitted to go. Now I'm going to leave a vague term in the outer uh reaches of the haray because at most that is it is not mahina but a tame would not be allowed to go into the area that's mina. So the question becomes how do you map it out? So this is where the controversy is a little a little uh complicated. Many many opinions say see once you know where the keshak dashim is the keshak dashim is at the western end of the basa mikdash and once you know that we have from the mishna the different dimensions going east west north south in which you can reconstruct the temple and the temple quite all you need is one starting point I mean the starting point could be anything it could be the misb other words once you have a point we're able to measure from that point and reconstruct hypothetically where the basikt and the courtyard would be situated. So many opinions take the rule that the dome of the rock is the site of the kodesakashim or it was the site of the keshak dashim and the rock upon which the mosque is built is the evan shia the foundation stone which was in the kotesakashim. Now once you make that assumption and you then take the measurements of how many amots in all directions, you can reconstruct where the heel was and you can reconstruct where the Azor was and then you could mark out a route where you would be able to go even if your tummy met. So the various religious groups that uh sponsor tourists to the Harabayat are very conscientious. Uh they have mapped out a route where although as a tourist you know you can go wherever you want. I mean there they uh I mean the the government only only prosecutes religious activity not non-religious activity. So if you're a tourist you can wander around but if you're going with a group they will specifically tell you only in this area. So in truth, this is perfectly fine. But there is a bit of a controversy. Some some actually say that the Dome of the Rock is not the Keshak Dashim. They have a different location and that's going to change the configuration. Now that is a a a very very important consideration because that would throw off some of the routes that were prepared because it would turn them into the Azor. So I'm not going to give you any practical because this depends on the location of the kotes dashim. But the one thing I can tell you for sure is that the outer rim of the harabayat is mach and it is mutra for a m but there may be some uncertainty when does it turn into so there is controversy and there's a reason to be mak but the statement that the rabbut puts out as you enter the harabayat entering the harabayat is forbidden under Torah law uh is a false statement it's it's just it's Not it's not a true statement. Uh now now let me point out though that even if it's true that the outer rim of the harabayat is machna. So a t can go in but a nida could not go in and a man that had a seinal emission cannot go in uh until he goes to the mikvah and until she counts her seven days and goes to the mikvah. So there are still going to be restrictions but the fact that we're all met is not itself a problem. So whatever I mean I I I again I'm not going to give my sh on the there's another point I want to make but I I mentioned this and all of a sudden I get sent something in orva rabbi you know gives up uh that people can go to the temple mount and I even get lauded for my courage and in which is not a it's not a f these articles are not a favor for me you know uh because when you get praised by one side you get you're going to get knocked by the other side. So it's better not to uh not to be praised but I was praised for my moral my exceptional moral courage. I mean it really was very very funny because I was not trying to make any statements. I was probably talking to 10 people in a room and just learning and going over this. So I was a little worried but then I see the next day that the said the same thing. So now people are bothering him and not me. So I'm happy about happy about that. The point that I do want but again I I I do not retract anything. uh it is absolutely clear that there are portions of the Harabayat that aame is allowed to go to but but once again I don't go because part of it is until you definitively identify the keshakim you don't know how to superimpose a model of the bas mikdash on the harabayat and until you're able to superimpose the model of the mikdash you don't know where the courtyard begins meaning we have numbers once once we know where something is. We know how many amounts to this and how many ammo to that. But you got to know where something is in order to start your measuring. And that I think is is the problem. So it's not the problem people say it is. Uh but it's a different problem. The problem is not being able to know exactly. Now the temple mount folks they they are absolutely certain that Dome of the Rock is the Keshakum and therefore all of their calculations are based on that assumption and they say they claim that is pushut and undisputed unfortunately maybe it's pushet but it is disputed. I mean there are other views about the keshakim and that throws something off that doesn't invalidate the whole route but it invalidates some of the root. You'd have to recalibrate the route. So I'm just thinking I mean I'm not involved in this. I'm just thinking uh why they couldn't devise a a route that would take into account all of the views because even if you take all of the use together there will be areas that you should you should go. So it seems that it makes a lot more sense to make a route that is the diver mutra for me instead of taking a route that is only good if you make a certain assumption regarding the kesh judgment. So again I don't know the details. I don't know why they didn't do that. That seems to be the most logical point. Uh but there's absolutely no reason why the outer mamm outer part of the harabay would be would be any problem whatsoever. Okay. On the other hand, you know, you can also say, well, is there a mitzvah to go there? I mean, listen, uh, given the fact that the only reason you're allowed to go is because it's not the basa mikdash, right? I'm allowed to go because it's not the basa mikdash. So, the question is, so why should I go? Meaning, what am I gaining by going if it's not the basa mikdash? That that's an interesting question. Meaning I guess if people go to the cotel so this is closer to the beta mikdash that might be a spiritual mila but you can't have it both ways meaning some of the proponents say davin at the sight of the basa mikdash well wait a second if you're dabing at the sight of the bas mikdash you wouldn't be allowed to go you're a tame mace the whole of going is you're not dvening on the sight of the bas right so in a way the advocates are kind speaking two opposite things uh at the same time. Okay. But the thought I I really wanted to share with you is is this thought and that is what is the basis of the differentiation. The mitsyra gets sent out of all three camps. The zav which includes nida as well and seinal emission gets sent out of the levite camp and the shrina and the tame is even permitted in the levia and israel and is only expelled from mahina. Why do we have these gradations? So here is what saddak of says a very very nice thought. He says that all of these sources of tuma are symptomatic of certain character flaws. You know uh peravo says the world is built on three pillars. The famous statement of Shiman Hatsadic that the world is built on three pillars. The pillar of Torah study, the pillar of divine service by sacrifice and prayer and loving kindness. And it's a well-known idea that each of the A of us exemplified one of these characteristics. Aram exemplified loving kindness and Yitzk represented prayer and Yakov who spent 14 years in the yeshiva of Sheaman A represented lima Torah. But the same way that there are three positive factors that sustain the world. There are also three negative factors that destroy holiness in the world. And this is a statement of rabbi hakapor and that is hakina kina is jealousy. Vhativa lust for hedenistic pleasure. The desire for glory and ego gratification. They take a person out of the world. They destroy his life. They destroy his life in Habah for sure. And they destroy his life in this world as well. Destroy holiness in life. Destroy the goodness in life. When you're jealous, you don't enjoy what you have. When you're lusting for more and more once again you can't see any seatbook and kavode you'll never a person who seeks kavod will never have enough kavod kav may be the worst of all because you want more kav more covet more covet so here's r saddak says each of the three tim represents a physical manifestation of these bad negative destructive midot the mitsah Ra represents jealousy. The negativity of jealousy. Why is that so? Because we know that the primary sin for which Saras comes is lashenhara saying negative things about people. If we then psychoanalyze it a little bit, what is one of the primary motivations why we want to put people down? Why do we enjoy lush and horror? Part of it is jealousy. That's why specifically we love gossip about people who are distinguished. Whether it's politicians, whether it's athletes, uh whether it's rabbis or gdole Torah, we love to pull people down because that's a way of overcoming a sense of inferiority that we have. as her first points out uh if you're not comfortable that somebody's on a higher level than you, there are two ways you can redress the imbalance. One is by lifting yourself up and the other is by tearing the other guy down and gravity is an easier force to work with. It's easier to drag somebody down than to lift yourself up. So the shyish the roots of lash andhara could be said to be jealousy. So saras is a surrogate for the negative aspect of kina. Again I'll come back and explain why that gets expelled from everything. Now the zav is a garal discharge sexually transmitted disease. It obviously is connected to an overabundance of lust and tya. So the mitsyra is expelled because of kina. The zav is expelled because of tya. Now tame mace the association is a little less obvious but here is the idea. Originally Adam and Kava should have lived forever. Death came into the world because they ate from the eight sadas. And Kava initially was convinced to eat from the eight sadas through the enticement of the snake the what was the snake's primary selling point. So saddak wants to say the snake said to kaba the day you will eat from this fruit you will be like god in total possession of knowledge of good and evil. The sadas was marketed as a god pill whatever that means. Take this and you'll be like god. So really the appeal was not the taste and not the smell and not the color. It was the egotism of wanting to be godlike. Now in truth this is a bit of a difficulty because human beings are made in the image of God. We're now that doesn't mean in a physical way God does not have a nose or whatever. But in terms of autonomy, intelligence, free will, actually power to manipulate nature. We have many many powers that God gave us. We can destroy things. We can build things, destroy things, create things. So we are godlike and precisely because of our intelligence and our godly qualities. We are sometimes prone to hubris and arrogance and ga and thinking that we can replace God. This is the perpetual challenge of man going back to the well goes back to the das and certainly the tower of babel. We don't need god. We have technology. Revit says the tower of babel was a rocket. It was a launching pad for a rocket that would go in outer space. He writes this uh 300 years ago about something that happened thousands of years before that. So death came into the world says Raf Saddok not so much as a punishment but as a reminder that we are not God that God is immortal. We are not. And there's a an irreducible or an unbridgegable gap a chasm between creator and created. So when you come in contact with death that is a reminder of the cavote and the ubris and the arrogance that brought death into the world. Now we'll talk later about paraduma not tonight but that's why paraduma is ashes. Ashes is humility. That's how you get purified from death. Okay, we'll talk about that later. But you see Rab Sodok's basic idea here and that is the mitsira represents jealousy. The zav represents tava themes represents cavote and therefore they are banished from the machut. So with this Rav Saddak then proceeds to explain why each level of tuma is is expelled from a different level of mak. The mitsra is expelled from all three camps. And what that is teaching me is the mid ra that the mitsay represents is so negative and destructive and degenerate that it has no place at all in any part of Jewish society. Not just the mikdash and not just the leies even regular life. Get it out. Jealousy is destructive. Again, easier said than done, of course, but jealousy has no positive feature. Jealousy is negative and that is why it is expelled from all three camps. Not only the camp of the temple, but not only the camp of the Levim, but even the ordinary life ordinary life of Mah Israel. Now you might ask me well is it is it totally true that jealousy is a totally negative trait? There is a famous statement in the Gmorrah that says kinas sofim the jealousy of Torah students increases wisdom. Meaning I see you learning you know an extra hour every day. I don't want you to be better than me. So I learn an extra hour every day. And the Gomorrah actually says that competition in Torah learning can actually increase wisdom. So how can I say that jealousy is totally bad? But the short answer is there are really two types of jealousies. I mean in English we're using the same word but there are two very different types of feelings. If the shot is I see you accomplishing and that encourages me to keep on going, then that might be a positive motivator. But if I see you accomplishing and I want you to fail, there's nothing positive in that. The jealousy which hopes that somebody fails is totally negative. Again, we sometimes have that even subconsciously. Uh they say this is an issue with diets. You know, let's imagine that you have a group of people. They want to lose weight and you know, most of the time the diets don't work and they get off the diets and etc etc etc. So they sit and they commiscerate how difficult it is. So let's imagine one of the group is actually being successful. So there's a whole dynamic. It's more with women than men but it can happen with men too. Uh in which the other group will say to the woman, you are so thin, you're emaciated, you look like a scarecrow. Come on, have some chocolate cake already. I mean, you you have anorexia. What is actually going on, and maybe it's even a subconscious thing, is they're jealous that somebody is succeeding here. Come back to us, fail like us, and then we can be friends and enjoy each other's company. Again, this is a foil of human nature, and I'm not here to judge or be critical of people who succumb to that. I mean, you know, it's it's it's but but but spiritually that is not a positive attribute. You never want somebody to fail and the jealousy that manifests in people failing at what they're doing is so bad that it gets expelled from all three mut. Okay. Now we come to zav which represents tya physical pleasure. Now, our relationship to physical pleasure is a bit more equivocal and maybe a little more complex than our relationship to jealousy. Now, jealousy is a very hard meter, but at least in theory, I could say jealousy totally bad. Yeah, easier said than done, of course, but at least in terms of labeling jealousy bad. Tya is not so simple. I can't automatically say physical indulgence is bad. You have to eat. You have to sleep. There's a mitzvah to get married and including in that mitzvah is sexual relations. And indeed, if you remember, the nazer is considered to be a sinner because the nazer is abstaining from wine. And God says, "If I gave you a legitimate pleasure, why are you rejecting the pleasures that I gave you?" So jealousy, I could say, is all bad in theory. I can't really say physical taiba is all bad. It has a muck in life. But the only thing is as you get spiritually more sensitive you kind of naturally distance yourself from physical because it's like toys just like uh you know when do you stop playing with toys children's toys of course some people say adults have their own toys but so it's not like you make a decision when you're 15 I'm not going to play with it just you know it just happens automatically. So in maturation, as a person gets more connected to Torah, to mitzvah, to spirituality, there's automatically less of a connection to the physical pleasures. So it's not a self-conscious strategy of renunciation. It's just a natural maturation of where you focus your priorities. Hopefully hopefully as you get spiritually more sensitive. So here's what Soduk says. The zv which represents tya does have a place in the Israelite camp because the Israelite camp we'll call normal everyday life. In normal everyday life there's eating and drinking and sexual relations and having a nice house. So the ZV not granted it's an excess for sure but the idea that he represents Tiba has a m in mach is but as you graduate like the ley focuses totally on a vodashem and the mishkan which is the connection to the you kind of graduate away from that and that's why the z is expelled from shina and levia but is allowed in mah Israel. Okay. So that's kind of what Rebuk is saying that Tya has a mcome in life unlike kina which in theory does not have a legitimate mcome in life although obviously it's a difficult meter that we struggle with but it does not have a legitimate mum in life. Now when we come to tame which is the idea of kite this is even more complex. Not only is the tame permitted in the Israelite camp, the tame is even permitted in the ley camp. And what this teaches us is the following. Covote on one hand is a very bad mida. Right? I'll give you a paradox. It is bad being a balgiva, being conceited, being arrogant, having ubris, very very bad. In fact, the Gomorrah says, Hashem says about the bala, the world is not big enough for me and him to live in this world. Agiva is dolashina. Agiva pushes as it were God's legs out of the world. Mosher Rabainu was praised of all of his qualities as humble. managed to bring in something from Balosra that puss in this week's uh para and yet and yet there's a certain paradox that a sense of self-esteem a sense that I matter that I make a difference that I'm not insignificant is one of the most important midos that a person can have so cavode exists Not only as something that is evil and bad and negative, it exists as something that is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth. Because if I have a sense like what is humility? Oh, I'm nothing. I'm dirt. I'm worthless. Well, if I'm worthless, then why would my mitzvah matter? Why would my Torah matter? Why would my prayers matter? Why should I do anything? You see, that's humility coming from the harara. The har tells us, ah, you're no good. You're worthless. You don't count. But that becomes an excuse not to do all of the good that we're capable of doing in the world. So if a tom mace represents cavote, self-esteem, pride, not only does it belong in everyday life of mach is, but even in the spiritual world of the ley, you need it. The only thing is once you're attached to Hashem, the then you can throw it away. In other words, cavote is like the propulsion of a jet of a of a space spaceship. Meaning, you need this initial tremendous power to get it out of the atmosphere. And then when there's no gravity or zero gravity, it can kind of go by itself. Once I'm with God, I don't need ego. But until I have achieved that connection, and maybe in this life, we don't even achieve it. I need to have a healthy self-esteem. Meaning da is bad. Self-esteem is essential. Right? So that's the that's the very very important idea that there's bad cavotees and there's good cavotees. And this is encapsulated in the very very famous mimer of a very fascinating jerbi ravunim of pashiska who was uh the tom of the katskarbi and rabun ra was an interesting person. I mean part of his private life was very interesting. He was actually a pharmacist. Uh and um some say for cababalistic reasons he would sometimes frequent frequent casinos and do gambling but but again they there are all sorts of cababalistic interpretations that he was trying to gather the rashim you know so we don't know but but again he was very very incisive very interesting and raunim says and a lot of people think this is a gari it's not this is raunima the 19th century that a person has to have two ideas in his pockets at all times in one pocket of vafer. I am dirt and ashes. In one pocket, the message is I am nothing without Hashem. But in the other pocket you have to have the idea because of me the whole universe was created. This is now this is from the Mishna but but's idea of putting the two ideas together that's his point. What is Bishi? The Mishna says, "Hashem made many cows and many horses and many dogs and many cats." But he only made one man and one woman. Why didn't he make a lot of people? Why did he make only one man, one woman? So, one of the reasons is, well, one reason is nobody should say I come from a better family than you because we all we're all from Noah. But there is reasonaba. But the other reason that's given is that each person must realize that the whole universe was worthwhile just for one person. Now you see that doesn't create arrogance because the same way that I should feel the world was created just for me, I should feel the world was created just for you. In other words, that's not going to give me arrogance, but that will show me how important and esteemed I am in the eyes of God. I think I don't know if anyone's birthday is is this week, but um Oh, okay. So, I have a nice birthday message for you. Uh Brel said, "Why are birthdays important?" He says that is the day that Hashem decided that the world could not exist without you. That you were needed for the world. That's a lovely a lovely thought. How needed everybody is how important everybody is because you understand if you just take the modesty thing if all you have is then why are you going to why are you going to get out of bed in the morning? Why are you going to learn? why you're going to dive in um every time you you have some project you'd like to start you're going to say I can't do it. So you have to know on the other hand if you only had then it's arrogance and conceit. So you have to know you have to balance you have to carry this balance all the time. I'm a nobody but I'm a great nobody. there's a lot that I can do and if I can do it I must do it right that creates responsibilities that which you're able to do in the good way you have an obligation to do in a good way right so that's a wonderful thing so that's why the tame mess which is kot even has admission in the spiritual world once you're with God you can throw away all of that you don't need anything you're with hashem but as I say maybe only the greatest sadi can achieve that level. Most people may never get to that level, but what we can hope to is to kind of graduate into the Levite class of devoting our lives to ourem. And we still need that cover. The great Balmus, the great Mashk of the Mirhiva in Europe, Rabim Lavitz was one of the great great great Bal Muser. He was a student of the altar of Kelum who was the student of Ri Salanter. In fact, Raulba of Raha uh was one of the last students of Ravim. Ravim died shortly after Raulba came to died before World War II in the 30s and Rev. Rula used to tell over the story when he first came to Mir uh an a with a beard a black beard introduced himself to Raulba and said how old do you think I am? So Rovelba who's just like a teenager said I don't know you look you look like you're 29. So he says no I'm only two years old. He says how can you be two years old? He says it's been 2 years since I met Raim and he gave me a new life. born again born again Jew he gave me a new he gave me a new life and I'm so was very great at building people used to say the person who is not aware of his faults is a fool if I think I'm perfect I'm just stupid uh obviously we have flaws we have faults but the person who is not aware of his greatness is a tragic person because he'll never have the awareness of what he is supposed to accomplish in the world. And that's the great tragedy. The life not lived, the road not taken. I mean to some degree all of us will will face that because none of us have been perfect. But the less we have to face of that, the much better. The more that we can live the life that we're supposed to live and be the people we're supposed to be, the better it will be. And that's why cavote is so important. Uh they have a story with Rebesler, another great bomb master. Leo Destler. Um Rebesler came from Lithuania, but he spent many many years in England. uh a man of amazing energy and then his last years were in Erit Israel. So uh at the Leva of the Khaz the Khaz died in Kashin I believe in 1953 and at the Khaz Leva in Benbra Panovich is in Benra. So the holy yeshiva went to Levaya. So there was a bakr who was crying at the cemetery for the loss of the kazinish. Saves went over to the bakar and said why are you crying over the rav the ga and the sadik who's buried in the ground. He then pointed to the boy, "You should cry over the rav the goon and the sadik that's buried within you because the rav the goon and the sadik that's buried in the ground became the rav the goon and the sadik that he was supposed to become." But how many of us are carrying this hidden treasure and we never really tap into it? we never really open it up. So the idea of inodm again said it perfectly. Of course there has to be humility. Of course there has to be a recognition that whatever we accomplish is from but at the same time a person has to recognize their greatness and potential. And that is why Saddok says the T me is not only in Machel but is even in Machnia which is the world of spiritual uh spiritual uh aspiration. You know the idea that I mentioned before that as you get spiritually mature your attachment to tya kind of just lessens simply because it's more childish. It reminds me of a story you know one of the famous famous gaonim in Lithuania in the time of the vil nagon. He was a little older than the vil nagon was the shagasar. You may have heard of leutensburg one of the great great great in fact the vil nagon said that he felt the shagasari was greater. What did he say? He says in cabala it's me and him and in nigla it's him and me. I mean, he he actually considered the Shagasari great, but you know, who knows if that's true and whatever. Um, but the Shagasar uh, legend has it, this may be a legend, that he died because the bookcase fell upon him and all of the like broke his back, broke his spine. And legend has it it's because he argued on them and he was very independent. So, he would argue with the Rambam and argue. So, the Sarim took their revenge. All right. This is a story that they tell. But as he was dying in his last moments, he asked somebody to hold the Gomorrah over his head and just turn the pages very rapidly so he could learn shas one more time before he died. Like just really just turn the pages. So in Lithuania they were pretty tough. You know, the litaks are, you know, very tough. So one of them said to him, "You know, you're about to die. Now is the time to do vidoy. Confess your sins. What are you learning Gammorra now? Says no do vidi. So the sagasar he said it's not that I'm so righteous I didn't do aos. He said I just didn't have time. I was too busy with other things. So I didn't have time for a I don't he felt I don't have to do voy which is an interesting idea that when you're involved in good things so you're involved you're not involved in bad things you know it's not like I'm a sadic and I'm not going to do bad things you just fill your day with worthwhile activities and that fills up the time fills up the time you know you don't have that much time for for the other stuff and that's the idea that uh tya is legitim it but you become less connected to it as you grow spiritually. So again I apologize for uh doing paraso uh but at least our brethren invar brethren and sisters invar will hear something on the para of the week. Thank you very much. My name is Oh my n