Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: To Be A King or Self Destruct

You my birthday. >> Okay. Hi everybody, thanks for coming. Um, as always, our shar is dedicated praying for the protection of AmIrael, the lasting unity of AmIrael, which will eventually lead to victory and for all of those whose health has been affected by uh terror. Rafu Schma Bas Israel Sura and Tarav Dove Benosana and Aliat Shama Binyam Israel Ben Schlommoi on his fifth site on Thursday yud Tamos dedicated by his parents Carol and Ronald Ger again all all of us remember Byam we davined for him and uh I know that he's in a wonderful place in Olaba and we appreciate uh your sponsorship ship and may may it be an additional zukus for his nishama. And finally, a maz to Barbara and David Kaplan. You're in the wrong seats. I didn't know where you were, but on the birth of a granddaughter to Isa Kaplan may be much much. Okay. So uh we are once again we still have the discontinuity between and Israel. So I apologize to whoever init uh is listening uh because you're one para uh behind. Uh but the para we're reading in Israel is parasal and uh once again this is occurring in the 40th year. Again you have to have a sense of when this is happening. This is shortly before. No, Aaron already died. Miriam already died. Moshe is going to die in a few months. Uh, and right before we enter Erit Israel, we have this very strange encounter with uh, a man called Bam. But the para is not called Bum. It's called Balok because Bullock is the king of Moab who hires Bam. And he's mentioned first. Now Moav, again, you have to remember the nations here. Moav as well as Ammon are the descendants of Lot. You know, after the destruction of Saddam, uh Lot's daughters got him drunk. Uh they slept with their father and he impregnated them. And the older daughter's son was called Moav, which means from daddy, from father, and the other is Ammon, from my nation. And these were the ancestors of the nations of Ammon and Moav. And their territory was east of the Jordan River, east of the Jordan, uh southeast, kind of southeast, imagine the Dead Sea. And south and slightly east of the Dead Sea is the land of Moab. And uh in the book of Devarim, we actually read that the Jewish people wanted to ask permission from Moab to cut through their land. Now again, the Torah gives you one story and not another story. Meaning the Torah records in last week's para that we first requested the As to go through their lands and Asup said no. However, we know from the book of Judges that we made a similar request to the Moabites to go through their land and they also said no and God said you shall not wage war against the Moab. So we had to go around. That's how we wound up but because otherwise you might ask a very obvious question. We crossed into Erat Israel from the east. We went from the east and we crossed the Ardane into the west. Now, if you're coming from Egypt, you know, why would you be east of the Jordan River? The answer is because we had to circle around the Moabitete and the Edomite territory till we were north of them. And that put us opposite Jericho. Jericho was on the west and we are on the east. And when Moshe dies, we're going to cross the Ardane right where Eureko is or near where Eureko is. So this gives rise to a question. We were actually commanded not to wage war with the Moabites. And if the Moabites don't authorize us to go through their lands, >> we don't go through it. Unlike Seon, the king of Amori, when he said not to go and he started a war, we fought and we conquered that territory. And that territory became the land of the two and a half tribes, Ruven and God and half of Manasha. But with Moab, don't touch them. So this gives rise to a very difficult question. The kish begins. Balak the king of Moab was very very frightened of the Jewish people and he said this nation shall lap us up shall eat us up the way an ox eats up all of the grass of the field. We got to do something about it. We have to disable them. We have to take away their power. And as a result, he hires Bum. And we'll talk about Bum shortly, but I want to start off with a preliminary question. Given the fact that the Jewish people were commanded not to wage war with Moab and they were commanded not to go through their land, which is exactly why we are where we are. What is Bolo afraid of that he has to hire Bum to somehow curse Ben Israel? What is the pad? What is the mo? There's a commandment. do not wage war against the Moabites because they are the descendants of Lot and at least until Mashiach comes Lot's property is going to be in violic authors gives a beautiful beautiful interpretation. Balac is not afraid that the Jews are going to invade his country. He knows they're not going to do that. Balak is simply afraid of the Jews reaching Erit Israel. And the purpose of the curse is not to protect his nation but is to prevent the Jewish people from coming to Erit Israel. Why is Balak afraid of the Jewish people coming to Erat Israel if they do not if they do not pose a military or security threat to him? The answer says the Sha Mish rests on an idea that we've already discussed a number of times in other contexts. So certain ideas come up again and again and that is the difference between the spiritual life of the Jewish people in the desert and the spiritual life that they're going to have once they cross the yard and they're living in Arit Israel. The desert was truly a glorified spiritual cocoon. We were living a supernatural miraculous existence. The man was coming down Minashamayim. There was a traveling source of water. The well uh temporarily stopped when Miriam died, but then Moshe got it back again. Albeit by the sin of hitting the rock, but nevertheless, we got it back. The clouds of glory we also lost temporarily when Aaron died, but we got them back as well. Everything is supernatural. It's going back to Mitraim and Cassamsov and Mimei and the 40 years of the desert. So God's presence was open, perceptible, obvious. The Jewish people did not really have any physical needs that were not being met. Even they're traveling you know on one hand we say well they traveled in the desert after the sin of the spies for 38 and a2 years but Rashi points out at the end when at the last para bidbbor when it enumerates the different stops basically it's not like they were traveling every day there were stops in which they stayed for 20 years there were comparatively few uh movements throughout the 38 years of so-called wandering most of the time we were in place. So the midbar represents the type of existence which is totally spiritual devoid of any physicality or gashmas that could distract you from your mission. Now that sometimes became uncomfortable. The Jewish people rebelled and they were punished. But one of the things you notice in the midbar is how immediate is cause and effect. You do an aa 14,000 people die. You make one misstep because when you're in the presence of God in an open and revealed way then all curtains are removed. There's immediate reward immediate punishment. Even the man the man was a daily report card. You know this idea the teaching of that um where your man fell every morning was a function of your spiritual level. If you were a righteous person the day before you found your man right outside your door. If you were not so righteous you're looking around and looking around and you don't know where to go and you keep on wandering around till you find it. So I always ask the question well so take somebody else's money. I mean uh the mun is not by my door. So why can't they take your mun? So my answer is you didn't see it. Mun is such a spiritual food. You only saw what you were supposed to take. So if you were not if you did not merit to have your man next to you, you didn't see it. So you're walking around miles and miles and miles till you find the M. It was a daily report card. How righteous were you? By the way, I once heard a Roshiva was talking about the uh custom that guys in yeshiva, you know, for good good reason. They like to eat out, right? Yeshiva food is normally not so good. So they go to this restaurant, that restaurant, etc. That's a feature. So he said he compared it to the man that sadikim their man is right where they are, right? So the saddic, you know, eats in yeshiva, the food is right there. He says, you got to go looking looking for your food other places. So he compared it compared it to the m but okay but be it as it may that's the life of the desert pure pure spirituality the presence of god is open revealed obvious we come to Israel life is going to be very very different of course visit eric israel certainly is filled with the unique divine providence of the almighty but as compared to the desert It's going to be a much more natural life. You're not going to have a traveling well. You're going to have to dig for your water. Uh you're not going to have clouds of glory. You're going to need an army. Uh you're not going to have the mud falling from heaven. You're going to have to dig ditches and plant and harvest and thresh and build cities and build plumbing systems. you know to use more modern analogies meaning to say once you come to Erit Israel you're going to be living a much more materialistic existence and that's going to create unique challenges because that makes it much easier to forget about Hashem. The Torah itself warned us a number of times that when you come to the land and you achieve such success, you will say it is my strength and my might. Right? The Torah warns us, do not be arrogant. In fact, although we're not, none of us can make statements about this. But I remember after the six- day war 1967. So there were two different reactions in Israeli society. Some people said only God could have done such a miraculous victory. And that actually was the foundation of the chuva movement. Both Osamehatra, they all started basically in relative proximity to the six- day war because the six- day war created a massive return to Chuva in one way or the other simply because the Yad Hashem was so obvious that there must be a God. That's reaction number one. But do you know there was a reaction number two and the reaction number two is hey we are so tough and we are so good that anybody who messes with us is going to get their well I I want to be polite they're going to get it whooped one way one way or the other. Uh now some say and again I I'm a little reluctant to say it because it sounds like I'm being a prophet here but some had said that the kipper war which was 1973 relatively few years after the six- day war and we know that the kipper war unfortunately had many many casualties for Israel and uh it was not as successful as prior wars had been. uh some say it was kind of reminding us that when we attribute all of our success to us then Hashem shows us that we're not so capable. Now this fast forward you know 50 years or whatever and uh we find a little bit a little bit of the same type of of issue uh with Iran. And I don't want to be too overtly political, but we kind of thought, you know, Iran, we're going to finish them off and there'll be regime change and we will finally eliminate them as a threat in the Middle East because we have the technology and we have the army and we have the military strategy and we have the security systems and we have, of course, the great support of the United States of America and the president who did so much for Israel. And then all of a sudden, you know, all of a sudden, Mamesher, like over like a 24-h hour period, all of a sudden there is this wimpy agreement memorandum of understanding, which kind of goes back to what Obama and Biden had negotiated, might even be worse in some ways, which Trump had spoken out against all the time. Again, I I I am absolutely no expert in this and I'm sure many of you can give a better analysis than than me, but it just highlights in in a general way the idea that when we become arrogant and we become overconfident shows us that without his dishaya everything can fall apart in a mo in a moment in a minute like for no reason at all no logical reason at all just just falls apart. Okay. The point I'm making is the midbar once again God's presence is obvious and ever perceptible in Eric Israel there is the of that we might attribute as the Torah warns the Torah warns us more than once do not attribute your success in life as a nation to your abilities and your talents in fact even October 7 itself I mean people still under and we don't have a good answer. Israeli military intelligence is the really the best in the world. How did October 7 happen? How did kamas get through security fences and have whatever it is 6 hours uh before the army even even arrives? How did it happen? It actually is impossible. I mean in some ways I mean we don't we don't want to use the word miracle for that but in some ways it's a negative miracle almost that such a thing uh could happen once again this is kind of the conse consequence of that okay but be as it may although Eric Israel therefore creates a great trial it is also a great opportunity and the great opportunity is to take the physical and material material world and elevate it and sanctify it. That holiness is not only when you disengage from physicality. Holiness is when you can take the creation of a state, the creation of a society, the creation of a country, the farms, the industries and you follow them. Alp the Torah in an ideal world which we're we're not in of course. So that is even a higher level of kaduca because instead of sanctifying the spirituality by withdrawing from the material you're taking the gashmas gashmas is the material and you're elevating it and consecrating it. That is a tougher job. That is a hard harder job. But that becomes a greater job in that way. You're mad. Anyone who studies knows that actually one of the great themes of is the notion of aodashm sanctifying even the physical and material aspects of life. So says the shame is this is balak's fear. Bullock is perfectly happy to let the Jews stay in the desert because that's not going to be a rebuke to the immorality of his society because they'll say, "Yeah, the Jews serve God, but they don't have the normal problems of life. They don't have fields. They don't have to have political alliances. They don't have to have armies, so to speak. So yeah, they can serve God, but God cannot expect us to become his because we have real problems in a real world. But what is bubb afraid of? Once the Jews come to Erit Israel and theoretically they create a society which is still predicated on the Torah. At that point they become a rebuke. They become a muser to all the nations of the world who can no longer make the excuse. Well, they can serve Hashem because they don't have the problems of ordinary life. But what does Hashem expect of us? Well, if they come to Israel, they show what Hashem expects. So therefore, the Sheamishes is that Bolak is not afraid that the Jewish people will conquer him. They're not allowed to do that. Bulock is afraid that a Torah society will be established in Erit Israel which would be a rebuke and a to the um Saul who live by degenerate who lived by degenerate standards. Now this the shemov is actually answers another question that the mafor asked and that is if bullock is afraid why does he hire somebody to curse the Jews shouldn't he hire somebody to bless his people like why focus on cursing the other side get a bra for victory so the says kind of a simple answer. The way operate is they always look at the negative. Meaning instead of looking for the benefit for them, they want to destroy the other person. That's what the says. But like the we have another answer. Balak doesn't need a braha because balak is not afraid anything's going to happen to him. Bulock's whole point is the Jewish people should not reach Israel. So he needs to get them cursed, right? He needs to pull them down because the whole idea is to pull them down. That would be Mash of Dasha. Okay. So this explains Balak's strategy or Balak's concern. So what does Balo do? So Balak hires a very famous person apparently. The person's name is Bum. And bum is known as have curse will travel uh for various ways. He was given and we'll talk about this a little bit more a power to curse. Actually Balok says he also has a power to bless. Whoever you bless is blessed. Whoever you curse is cursed. But again Balok is interested in the cursing aspect more than the blessing aspect. And he's willing he wants to hire bum for a considerable price. We don't know exactly what the price was, but the Torah indicates it was considerable that bum should curse the Jewish people and as a result they would either be destroyed or they would at least not enter Erit Erit Israel. First of all, Bam is a very very interesting character. Some suggest what what nation does he come from? We really don't know. We know that Bolock is the king of Moab. And we know that the Midionites were collaborating with the Moabites. And again, just to put things in perspective, the Moabites are the descendants from Lot. The Midionites, Mosher Rabenu's own wife was a Midionite. Yes. Uh is descended from Aram directly. After Sora died, Ara took a wife whose name was Cura. According to Kazal Coutur is none other than Hagar who became a righteous woman and among the Benet Coutura is Mijan. Okay. So it is interesting that both Moab and Mijan are connected to the Jewish people. Moav via Lo and Mijan via Coutura who was Ara's wife Benura. Mij um so we know Moab we know Mijan but where does Bum come from? Bam is not from Moab and Bum is not from Mijan. The Torah just describes that uh he was in a city called Pour, but we don't know where where that is really. And uh after he finished it, well, he he didn't complete his job, but after he recognized he was not going to be successful, he went back to his city. But the Torah specifically does not tell us where he's from. Some have said that the word bum actually is a contraction for biom. He had no nation. He was a hired hand. He used his power to whomever paid him the big the best price. Had Moshe hired him. Okay, that's unthinkable. But had Moshe hired him to curse Balak, Bum would have cursed Balak. Had Bulock hired him to curse Ben Israel, he'll curse Ben Israel. Bleam, they use the expression for lawyers. Again, I I guess I could say this because I'm a lawyer, too. Uh lawyers are hired hands, right? Uh although they don't have to be a hired hand, but uh they'll represent anybody no matter no matter what it is. Uh and Bum was a hired hand, right? By Kazal also say that Bum had tremendous powers of prophecy. that were akin to those of Mosha Rabenu. Rashi brings a medish that the nations of the world would have complained to God and they would have said, "If you would have given us a prophet as great as Moshe, we too would have been righteous. We too would have been good." How can you blame us for not living up to standards of holiness if we never had a prophet as great as Mosher Rabenu? So to forestall that Tina that argument Hashem gave them a prophet who was as great as Mosher Rabenu and the prophet is none other than Bum. Bam is considered to be in a sense shakosh. Now this medish though is very perplexing. If the nations of the world are going to make the arguments, hey, it's not fair. If you would have given us a ni like Mosher Raenu, we wouldn't sin. So, Hashem gives them a prophet Baham. So, they could still say, "You gave us Bum. You didn't give us Moshe. What is the point? We still have our our whatever question they have is still there. If you would have given us a righteous person, we wouldn't sin. So, Hashem is getting out of that problem by giving him a Russia. Hold that question because I'm going I'm going to come back to it. Just something to think about. The greatness of bum, the greatness of bum that gets perverted, twisted, destroyed. It's going to be somewhat similar to our discussion of korak. You know, we'll use the word Greek tragedy. You know, the notion of Greek tragedy, which is really borrowed from Aristotle's definition of tragedy. Uh, tragedy is not stam when bad things happen to a person. If a building collapses and a mother and her 10 children are killed, we'll commonly call that a tragedy, but not in the aristoilian sense. That's a very sad event. Certainly, tragedy as Aristotle defined it. Now again, this is not but the word we're talking about a Greek tragedy. Aristotle defined tragedy is when a person is destroyed by a negative force that is within them. So if you're destroyed by an outside force, that's sad. But tragedy is when there's greatness and side by side with that greatness, there is a flaw that destroys you from within. That is tragic because there was so much greatness There was so much potential in some ways. We're going to see Bum is a tragic figure. Let's go back to the question I just raised. The umosam say if you would have given us a prophet like Mosher Rabenu, we would be righteous. And Hashem gave them Bum who in prophecy was as great as Mosher Rabenu. So the question is well they can still say if you would have given us a righteous prophet we would have been righteous. The answer is Bam and Moshe started the same way. Hashem didn't give the Jewish people a righteous prophet and give the nations of the world an evil prophet. He gave us Moshe who could have used his powers in good ways or bad ways, but Moshe chose to use them in good ways. And he gave the same powers to Bum who could have used them in good ways or bad. So it's not Hashem's fault at this point. Meaning they can't go back to Hashem and say, "If you would have given us a righteous prophet, we would say this. I gave you the same thing I gave the Jews. I gave you supremely gifted people. One person chose to use his talents only for kaduca and the other chose to use his talents for tuma. God can honestly say not my fault. I gave bum and Moshe. They are the same. Which is a different perspective. the idea that Bum himself might have been the Mosher Abenu of the nations of the world in a positive sense but it got perverted and we'll come back to this. Now Bam initially doesn't want to go without God's permission and God in fact tells him don't go but they keep on upping the ante. So Bum asks God again, can I go? So God sees where Bam is and he says, you can go, but only say what I tell you to say. And three different times, Bum tries to curse the Jewish people. Three different times. And he keeps on moving from here to there to there to there, figuring maybe the place will be different. And each time Hashem turns the blessing, the curse of Bum into a blessing. And then finally, Bum gives a fourth speech where he just praises the Jewish people in the famous verse mu to this very day. Uh in every sitter, this is the first thing. I mean, most people don't say it today, but it is the first thing that one is supposed to say when they walk into shvu. Mishka Israel, how beautiful are your tents and your dwelling places, Israel. Those are the words of Bum, right? Those are the words of Bum in which he saw the goodness of the Jewish people. Three times he tried to curse us. Hashem changed it to a bra. Now there is a garanos that says what was bum's talent why why was he able to curse people and it was so effective so the garan braos says there is a fraction of a little second every day where god has tremendous anger on the world this is called a moment Moment of anger. A moment of anger. And how long is that moment? The amount. It's a rea. The amount of time it says to say the word reggga, right? Reggga is a two-cllable word. You can take your stopwatch. Reggga. That is the amount of time. And if you curse in that moment of risk, the curse will be effective. It's like pushing. It's like your finger on the nuclear nuclear button. Bum knew exactly and that changed from day to day. Bum knew exactly when the Eden risk was so he could time his curses to be effective exactly at the moment of the Edon risk. That's the lion of the garanus. Bum knew exactly the right moment to curse. The Gomorrah says that there actually is a visual sign and that is for that brief less than a second the red comb of a rooster turns white. just red white clothes. So the gummor gives a story that Rabbi Mayor had enemies that he wanted to curse and Rabbi Mayor wanted the curse to be effective. So he tied a rooster to the bed post of his bed and he kept his eyes open watching the rooster to see when the comb would change color. Now the truth is I don't understand the Gumar because if you're blinking you might miss it. I mean uh you know okay but he figured maybe it'll happen when he's not blinking and at some point he fell asleep. So he missed it and then he recognized that this is not the way God wants us to behave. God does not want us to curse people. In fact was known in a positive way. His brahos were the brahos of it and his curses were effective too. Sadic goes there. And there were times when people would ask the to curse and the says I only do I don't do I'll bless the Jewish people. I'm not going to curse anybody. He said I'm not going to curse people. This is not the um ness. This is not the job of a Jew to curse people. It is the job of you to bless people. And if you bless people, so those who try to hurt us automatically are not going to have the power. Okay, we'll talk more about that next week. But Bum was able to push that button. Now, let's analyze this passage a little bit. Number one, what is the concept of why there would be this moment of severe divine anger? My god gets angry let's say a half a second a day well why why does he lose it that half second of a day so sure brings from different that that little fraction of divine anger is what creates the notion of fear of evil right sometimes a person wants to do something that but the fear of God may stop them. Now granted the Rambam writes if a person does mitzvos or or refrains from a veros because they're afraid of punishment that's an inferior spiritual level to be sure it is inferior but nevertheless it's very very effective and how vi we would have that as low as it is I remember myself I can give you an example it's it's a trivial example although wasn't a trivial at the time uh when I was in law school quite a long time ago. So, you know, law typical law school classes, they don't give exams until the end of the semester. Like there's nothing. So, I figured as long as I study the material, I I don't have to go to class, you know, etc. So, I took off uh for from um Yam Kipper to Laughter Sukus. I didn't go to classoid, whatever it is, uh which I could have done or before even, but I didn't. I figured I'll just keep up with the assignments. Little did I know that this particular professor was assigning like daily assignments for that whole period of time. So when I got back uh to where to law school, I noticed there were 20 letters from this professor uh in my mailbox. Each letter was progressively a little more severe in warning me about the consequences of uh like the first one was, you know, you're late on your assignment. Please turn it in tomorrow. But since I was gone for three weeks, so the last letter, I'll skip the intermediate letters, but the last letter basically said, if you do not respond within 12 hours, I will initiate disciplinary proceedings uh that will result in your possible expulsion from the school. Well, I I was scared to be sure, you know. I went uh I went to the guy said, "Well, you know, we have these Jewish holiday." The professor happened to be Jewish. So he pulled out a Jewish calendar and said, "Well, I see yum kipper and I see two days of sukus. What about before, you know, between yum kiper and sukus? What about kal?" I said, "Well, you know, okay, whatever." So I have to say that uh my highest law school grade was in that course and the mo was income tax and the motivation was entirely fear. I was so afraid that I was going to get kicked out of law school to my eternal disgrace that I still dream about it sometimes that not really that it motivated me. So going back to the rnas here fear of God I know it's not popular to talk about today you know we like to talk about loving hashem we like to talk about higher madreos yeah and that's true we should aspire to the higher levels but the truth is plain and simple fear of god can keep people away from a lot of bad behaviors okay so how does a person feel fear of god because there's That one fraction of a second in the day in which God's anger comes into the world and the nishama feels it and that's enough. That one little second is enough to fuel fear of God for the whole day. So that's the of the it creates fear of God. Not just among Jews, even among the nations of the world, there is not always, but at least there is a concept called fear of God. Okay. But now let's ask another question about the Eden risk. And that is the Eden risk is so short. What curse could you possibly pronounce in the risk? You tell me Bum's curses is good because he curses in the Eden. By the time he says anything, it's already finished. Toss to that bum knows the risk and therefore he's able to curse. What curse could you say in the Eden risk? So Tossos gives two answers. Answer number one is the way it works is as long as you begin your curse on time. Like it's getting into the bank, right? As long as you get into the bank building before closing, they they they will service you, you know, even after closing. But you got to be in the building, right? They'll lock the door at 1:00, whatever it is. If you're in the building, you're okay. If you're not in the building, so the same thing here, as long as you got the beginning of your curse in, it's going to be effective. By the way, brings that some use this. It's kind of crazy, but they use it as a justification for missing zaneshma and zuman. You know, one of the big criticisms of some some groups is that the Torah gives says you have to read the schma of the morning by a certain time, the first fourth of the day. And the davening should be um I'm sorry, the first three hour. Yeah, the first fourth of the day. And dabing should be within the first third of the day 4 hours right chakras and among many uh they might they might read the schma after and they might even after sometimes even after the middle of the day which is your absolute last time to denis and what's the heter of that so the partial justification they gave although it's not it's not really a complete answer is as long as you begin on time. Because if we see that even for a curse, as long as you begin your curse on time, you can finish it. When it comes to a mitzvah, God is going to be more generous. And if you begin it on time, you'll be allowed to finish it. But that's only an answer if you began. I mean, that's an answer. If I began schma before this month expired and then it expired, that's not going to be an answer if I began after this month. The truth is uh there is a shi that says what is this is whenever the sadik so there there actually is a mei that supports the idea that sadik can make their own zant okay uh but be it as it may that's first answer as long as you begin the curse within the risk you can finish it. But Tossmos gives a second answer that Bum could get in a curse in the Eden itself and his curse was lame. Destroy them. Is the same number of syllables as the word. If the Eden risk is reggaem can be said in the time that it says to say rea. So bum's curse would have been that that's how it would have worked. So these are the two answers of toos. How could bum curse in the risk? One is once he begins he could finish it. The other is his curse is khaleim. Theam cipher says a beautiful explanation or commentary on what is the curse of kalem. Khalem means destroy them. But what's the significance of it? And he says in many many ways let's go back to bum again. Bam is a very very tragic figure. Bam is great in wisdom, great in prophecy, great in insight. But Bum is destroyed by the flaws within, the jealousy, the greed, the lust, the tya, the power. All of you know the famous saying of Lord Actton, a British political scientist, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's hard for us to understand, but if you think about this, if you think about this, great prophecy can potentially be a corrupting influence. I mean, imagine Bum has all this power. Bum can destroy nations. He can bless nations. He can go to your head Now, Bum is smart enough to understand that he's like a train wreck. Meaning a man of supreme gifts who is being destroyed bit by bit by his jealousies, by his rages, by his arrogance, by his tya. Bum did not even have the gift of obliviousness. Bum knew exactly who he was. That made it more tragic. Right? If Bum just thought he was great, that's fine. But Bum is living with the agony of a potential greatness that is eluding him because of the person he became by his choices. So says theam when bum wants to curse a nation the biggest curse he could give them is may you be like me. May you live the tortured life of never having an inner peace because there's this constant pull between your greatness and your loneliness. So says theam cipher, this idea of bum's tragedy is alluded to in the word calm because khalem destroy them could be read as an abbreviation. The kuff the cuff is caveed the liver. The lame is the le the heart and the mem is the moak the brain. What's the association here? At least in Kazal's anatomy the caved the liver was a source of all sorts of desires and for pleasure. The life are the emotions negative and positive. So anger, lust, power, jealousy, they are attributes of the heart coming in the bad bad heart. The moak is the intellectual and moral sense of a person. So calm is when the mem the moak is subordinated to the emotions the lusts and the tyus. You use your mind to further the baser instincts within you and that's called destruction. Destruction is when you take the moch, the greatest and the most noble part of yourself and you use it to advance the clot or the ket and the life. Think about for example, you know, uh let's think about the entertainment industry for a moment. We have billions maybe trillions I don't know at least billions of dollars are spent in devising all sorts of entertainments and filled with drugs and sex and and all sorts of things. Now the people who do these things are absolutely brilliant people. They are so smart. They figure out how to do all of these different things. But they've taken their minds and they've taken their brains and they use them to serve the baser instincts of human beings. That's called khalem. The ked and the le rule over the moak. And therefore, Bum's curse of Talem is effectively cursing the nation. Be like me. Now the opposite of Khale just reverse the letters says theam so is melik. A melik is a king. What is a king? So the truth is a true king is not a person who rules over other people. A true king is one who rules over himself. Peravo says a zu gibbor who is a mighty person not one who controls other people but a kovesh esit. He conquers himself and this is really a mish fact the grass says that the source of the Mishna Navos is a mish he who rules over his spirit is greater than the one who has conquered a And theavos brings a mush that a general was coming back from a very successful military campaign and there was a big parade to honor him and a wise man whispered to him and said you have come back from the small war now you must fight the big war the big war is the war within yourself so that's a melik Moak the moral and intellectual sense is number one and that directs the le the emotions and the tyas. So instead of khalem where the intellectual sense of a person is subordinated to the emotions and the lust in mo in melik the moak directs. Now again I I do want to make it clear that this is not suggesting that you know a a inevit Hashem should be an automatan a robot devoid of emotion. When I say the mind rules over the emotion, remember in the Tanya there is a famous phrase that the alterb uses a number of times shlet alv. The mind must control the heart. That's melik. But what does again I think I think that that expression could be misunderstood a little bit. What do we mean when we say the mind should control the heart? Sometimes people view that in only a negative suppressing way. Meaning, I have feelings, I have emotions, but if they're against the Torah, I just control myself. That's one way of reading it. In other words, you look at emotions as wild as a wild uncontrollable animal that has to be chained because it's dangerous. But I actually do not think the alterb means that the alterbi is dealing with a much deeper idea and maybe even a more difficult idea. Not that the moch, the intellectual and moral sense, chains and holds back the emotion, but rather the emotions themselves are educated and directive directed by the thoughts. In other words, you're not suppressing. In other words, what is the goal here? The Torah says, I you know, I shouldn't tr people, right? So here's the goal that I walk by you and even though I'd love to strangle you, I just hold myself back. Well, that is a madrega. I would give credit to that. But that's not the ultimate goal here. The ultimate goal is that my mind should channel my feelings and emotions. So the feelings and emotions are going to be positive rather than negative. Now, we sometimes think that's impossible. We sometimes think well you can't change your feelings maybe you can control yourself but how do you change your feelings but the truth is we don't accept that and even modern psychology recognizes that the mental reframing of a situation this is this is part of what is done in good therapy the mental reframing of a situation can change your emotional feeling and the Torah has said this all the Okay. So I would suggest that there are two different meanings in the lower meaning is the intellectual and moral sense controls and restrains negative emotions. We'll call that the lower level of the statement. The higher level of the statement is the moak redefineses the emotions so that the emotions themselves are working in accordance with God's will. So you want to do the good thing and you can train yourself in various ways, right? Um I mean you see this all the time in human relationships, right? I'm so angry at somebody because I feel that they treated me with disrespect, they insulted me, they hurt me and even though I'm a sadic, so I'm not going to express my anger, but it's burning inside of me. That is a madrega. I'm not disparaging that madrega too. But then you have to ask yourself, is there another way of looking at it? Can I perhaps view their actions in a different way? Can I analyze why am I reacting in that way? Could I be reacting? Right? So the point is the idea that emotions are not educable, that emotions cannot be transformed, I believe is an idea that even modern psychology has has rejected. You know, Freud kind of did work with the idea. If you go all the way back to the beginnings of modern psychology, Freud kind of said, you're kind of stuck, right? You're stuck with what you are, then we got to figure out uh the best way to to work with it, etc. So you don't go around being a mass murderer. Uh but I think as psychology has matured, there is really an insight that indeed one can change one's whole perspective about life. And all I can tell you is that maybe modern psychology has gotten here fairly recently, but this is indeed the authentic view of the Torah going all the way all the way back uh from the very beginning. And that's what a mel. So the point I want to underscore is the statement that the mind controls the heart is not meant only in the negative way of controlling it, holding it back, but in redefining it and re-educating it. And that's why we find that much of Bum's braos have the word melik in it because theam says the tyra lion is god reversed bum's curse to abra. So it's beautiful bum would curse with the word calm and hashem changed the curse to the word melik. That's the meaning of changing Bum's curse from a kala to a uh to a to a braha. So again though when you contemplate this you see tragedy the tragedy of a great person that has a serious flaw. I mean you see this in the political world other world you see this in the rabbitical world sometimes again I don't want to uh be mar but but we've seen it even among spiritual leaders that these things can sometimes happen and it's a tragedy it's not only a tragedy for victims it's a tragedy for the perpetrator himself that there was something so good that just got destroyed from within truly a Greek a Greek tragedy so that's the story of Bum. Now I just want to point out that um there was a there was a an approach in many many Rishim that much of Bum's prophecies are not just general blessings but they are messianic in nature that they are referring to the days of Mashiach remember in one of Bum's prophecies he talks about a star has arisen from Yakov and it shall smite the corners of Moab uh and it shall defeat the Adommites. Well, remember that when Shiman Ben Kuziva was uh we call them but but it was was leading a revolt against the Romans after the destruction of the second basikt. Rabi Yaka gave Shiman Ben Kuziva the name Bar Kohba that's a nickname the son of a star because Rabi Akiva thought Bara was Mashiach and he applied to Barba whose name was Shimon Benuza the pukov. Okay. So it was well understood that bum and that's why bum says I see them and not now. I gaze at them but it's not the immediate of all of that is messianic messianic prophecies. Now the issue of barok revolt that that itself is a fascinating issue. We're actually approaching uh destruction of the base of mikas 3 weeks etc. Uh well, you have to say that the Barba revolt which ended in 135 uh around uh 65 years after the destruction of the second temple was more catastrophic for the Jewish people at least in terms of numbers than even the destruction of the temple itself. The Barma revolt was utterly catastrophic. I mean the Gammorra gives you numbers which are probably an exaggeration but tens of millions it probably was not that much but that is how devastating the tragedy was perceived and you know even after the temple was destroyed Jews were allowed to do mitzvos and teach Torah after the bar revolt all of the anti-Roman legislation anti- rather Torah legislation was promagated that's when Rabi Akiva was tortured to death that's after Barba and Jews were banned from Jerusalem for almost 200 years. That was after Barma Alia Capalina. So one of the questions that really really bothers people and maybe it's too delicate to even bring up is well is Rabi Aka responsible for this? Rabbi Aka backed the wrong guy. Rabbi Aka said Bara was Mashiach and he lent his tremendous prestige to the Barba revolt which resulted in catastrophic devastating losses that were even greater than the Ba Mikdash and gazeros against religious life that didn't even happen after the BA mikdash. So what do we say about exactly? So this is a a difficult issue. But one of the ways that this is sometimes explained is that barba indeed was a potential mashiach. He was not a false messiah. He was a failed mashiach. And there's a very big difference between a false messianic figure and a person that is a messianic figure but the generation was not worthy or whatever it would be. Meaning the fact that Barba was killed and the fact that the Barba revolt resulted in such a massive catastrophe does not disprove what the potential might have been. It doesn't prove it. I'm asking him to that. We have to give Rabbi a benefit of the doubt here that indeed barba might have been see unlike let's say Jesus right Jesus was will describe as a false mashiach barba was a failed msiach and that is a very false mashiach but barba was could have been the real thing but you also need the generation to be worthy the generation to be deserving of it and things can go wrong which is a little scary because that suggests the idea that even if Mashiach shows up, there's no guarantee it'll be a success because you're telling me now that Mashiach could could fail in his mission. Well, I don't want to leave people depressed, but that that might be one reading of the Barba the Barba story. And as I say this barba was prophesied in bam nua as the dak of makov the star of Jacob shall shall arise we are in the month of tamas we are approaching 17th of tamas we're approaching the three weeks uh this is a time when we should be thinking about the basis the whole year but especially this is the period of time where we're especially focused on it uh May it be Hashem's will that we should be indeed to the mikdashu. May we see the may we see shalom Israel and shalom and the whole in the whole world. You see your tomorrow