[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parsha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Kohn, and I hope you are well.
[00:00:07] Back to the regular mic. I hope the quality is up to standards and I didn't lose you from last week's episode where there's a little technical glitch.
[00:00:16] But before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at Rabbi shlomokon
[email protected].
[00:00:26] i'd love to hear from you.
[00:00:28] This week's parsha is Parshas Behar Bechu Kosay. It's a double parsha. And aside from being a double parsha, it's also Shabbos Chazak.
[00:00:38] That means that we're finishing the third of the five books of the Torah. We're going to say at the end of Parshas Bechucosa Chazak Chazak Vnisch Chazayk, that we should be strengthened to continue on.
[00:00:52] But before I jump into the parsha this week, I always like to make this podcast as personal as possible. And I share with you different things that happen to me in my week. And that's actually part of the reason why I feel like I wouldn't be able to do this podcast on a Sunday, a Monday.
[00:01:12] Because you live the weekly parsha. I feel like a lot of what I say on a weekly basis is, you know, maybe reflects the different things that I, you know, have gone through in that week. Because you live with the parsha.
[00:01:26] So maybe this is tied into the parasha, maybe not. We'll have to see. But I think actually it does a little story that happened to me. And I think the lesson, you know, certainly taught me a big lesson and hopefully it could be beneficial for all of you.
[00:01:41] So where do I begin?
[00:01:42] Just to give a little background. So, as as many of you know, a few months ago, thank God, my wife and I, we had another child. Thank God, if you know, higher mathematics. We have a minivan. Minivan seats 8. Thank God my family is larger than that.
[00:02:00] So let's just say we were squishing into the minivan when we're going on family trips. So I knew in my mind at a certain point, I'm going to have to get a bigger family vehicle for the whole mishpacha.
[00:02:15] Now, at the same time, I have a car for myself which I take to work every day. It's a old car, a, ah, 99 Mazda Protege with 197,000 miles great car.
[00:02:26] And you know, in Pennsylvania you have to have state inspections.
[00:02:31] And for different reasons. I just didn't get around to getting an inspection. Maybe I was busy, maybe I just thought that this car is never going to pass inspection. But either way, I didn't have an inspection.
[00:02:43] And two weeks ago I got pulled over by a police officer and he noticed my inspection was expired. And he was very nice. He said, you know, I noticed your inspection's expired. And it was really expired. It wasn't like a month, two months, three months. It was a lot. And he's like, I'm going to give you a ticket. But you just get the inspection and you show it to us and we'll take it off. I'm uh, like, that's fair. I'll take care of it. So I bring the car to our mechanic who we know for many years, we trust, and she tells us that's a she, an orthodox Jewish woman mechanic. She's a great mechanic, Orna.
[00:03:25] And she calls me up, she's like, shlomo, it's time for a new car. And she tells me it's a lot of different work, but the capper on the whole thing was the brake line for the car was rotting out. And really that means no brakes, no stopping. It's not a good combination. So at that point I knew I would have to buy another car. And I thought practically, okay, I'll just take the minivan and I'll look for a bigger vehicle for my family, a 12 passenger van. And I really, really didn't want to do this right now. I wanted to wait for a later date, like all, uh, good purchases. But the point is, at this point I was being forced. I thought I would need to do this. And the best way to make the next step was to get this type of van.
[00:04:04] So fast forward a little bit. I was having some issues with my other car and the van, um, and I could tell there was something wrong again. And I was sort of dreading bringing it to the mechanic because I knew probably would be a nice bill. Obviously not because of the mechanic. I know they do good work and I know my mechanic, she's 100% trustworthy. Uh, you know how we are when we know we're going to have to do a repair on something and it's going to cost us a decent amount of money. So sometimes we push things off. But I said to myself, I can't push this off. My family is riding on this car. I need to bring it to the mechanic. I bring it to Orna. And Orna, when I'm there, we're talking about getting a van. And I've been looking into these vans. They're extremely expensive.
[00:04:44] I'm thinking, how am I going to do this? Exactly?
[00:04:47] I said to Orna, do you know anybody who has a van? She's like, let me ask my customer. One of my customers might be selling when I come back to pick up my van, which had this big repair.
[00:04:57] I mentioned to her, did you.
[00:04:58] Did you, uh, speak to your customer who possibly had this van?
[00:05:04] And he's like, I forgot. She said, and she's like, I forgot. Let me text him right now. She texts him and he responds on the spot. He's like, I have an appointment tomorrow morning to trade the van into the dealership for X amount of dollars. It was a very good deal.
[00:05:19] And could you match me? So on the spot, I'm like, I'll come look at the van right now. Where are you located? You know, he's like, I'm not home right now. I can't.
[00:05:28] I can't, um, you know, you can't look at the van. I'm like, so we're like, where do you work?
[00:05:33] So where. Where he worked, whereas is where I lived. That was the Hashkacha, the divine providence. So we went back quickly, quickly went back to my, you know, my house. My wife met me over there. We drove the van around. A beautiful van. Thank God for my family to enjoy.
[00:05:49] So what's the message here? What is the message that we could take out of the story? I'm not trying to bore you, but I'm trying to take something out of this is what I took out of it.
[00:05:57] The lesson is, is that if the quote unquote, the bad thing that happened to me, me getting pulled over by this cop, which could have maybe even saved my life, you know, for this whole thing of me bringing it to the mechanic to see that the brake lines are rotted aside from that, which is important. But the things that I thought would be bad for me, the getting pulled over and. And the car being not able to run anymore and my van having this big repair, that in itself was the cause of the salvation that Hashem, uh, was able to give me this van for an amazing price at exactly the right time. Meaning if I wouldn't have, uh, been looking for a van now, and I wouldn't have been if I had, if I didn't have to go to the mechanic, I wouldn't have been looking for a van now. And if I didn't Bring my car to the mechanic at that day. If I would have brought it earlier, he wouldn't have been ready to sell. And if I would have brought it later, he. It would have been gone already.
[00:06:45] So if I wouldn't have brought it at that moment, it wouldn't have come to me. So the point is, is that everything that Hashem does is for the good.
[00:06:55] And at times, the bad things that Hashem does to us, quote, unquote, bad things, that is in his way. It's his way of bringing about the good things to us. Meaning to say the bad is the good. That's his way of bringing about the good to us.
[00:07:09] Just to tie it into this week's parsha, and we'll jump right into this, you know, the ideas of this week's Parsha.
[00:07:15] The Parshas Bechukosai talks about the curses, the admonition that if we, you know, if we follow the Torah, Hashem listens to us. And if we don't follow the Torah, Hashem, you know, unfortunately, he's going to have to give us punishments. And the Torah describes these here raising punishments. So we think of these things. The Chavzhayim tells us that there are people who used to run out of the shoes. They didn't want to hear these things or the Balkore would skip them. He says it's incorrect, we have to hear it.
[00:07:41] And he gives a different reasoning. Because a person goes on a journey in life, they have to know the pitfalls of what not to do. But, uh, I want to add on one point.
[00:07:51] Sometimes the challenges we face, they are in itself the cause of our successes, the cause of our salvation. So we look at the curses. This is Parasha again, we.
[00:08:01] We want the blessings of Hashem to come to us in a revealed good in a way that's clearly good to us. And we don't want to fall. We want to do what's right. But the point is that Hashem, uh, put these curses in play to keep us in line. He doesn't want to lose us as a people. He wants to keep us whole. So therefore, he put these in the system, meaning to say, in order to keep us and preserve us, put these curses into action. So it comes out that the. The quote unquote, bad is really, you know, in a sense, good. And I think this ties in to my little spiel over here. Now, just to jump into the parsha. So Parshas Bahara, the first idea that I want to talk about from Parshas Bahar is that The Chavatz Chayim brings down in this week's Parsha, it says as follows.
[00:08:50] After the Torah describes about a Jewish man who was sold as a slave to a non Jewish person and the different halachos, the laws that are relevant. The Torah at the end of Bahar reads as follows.
[00:09:03] It says, M.
[00:09:21] You shall not make idols for yourselves, and you shall not erect for yourselves a statue or a pillar. And in your land you shall not place a flooring stone upon which to prostrate oneself. For I am Hashem, your God, my Sabbath you shall observe, and my sanctuary you shall revere. I am Hashem. And if you look at Rashi, and also in the Midrash, it says as follows.
[00:09:44] This. You know, these, um, commandments that Hashem is giving at the end of Bahar, which is after the discussion about a Jewish man who sells himself to a non Jewish master, it's placed here on purpose.
[00:10:00] This is place. This. You know, the placement of these verses about not doing idol worship and remembering about Hashem is here on purpose. Shlo yama hoyo v'rebi migala ra' y soy. That the slave might say to himself, he's sold to a non Jewish master. He said, oh, my master doesn't follow any of these halachas of immorality. I'll just get myself involved in it as well.
[00:10:25] Hm.
[00:10:26] Just like my master is serving idols, I'll also serve idols.
[00:10:31] Uh, so just like my master doesn't keep Shabbos, I'll also not keep Shabbos Halalu. Right? So therefore it says these verses to remind him that he's still a Jew and he still has to observe the mitzvahs. So the Chavitz Chaim comments on this verse. It's amazing.
[00:10:51] We learn out from this how much, you know, the Torah and Hashem, uh, cares about the actions of each and every single Jew.
[00:11:04] Think about this person for a minute. You know, the Torah is very clear about the person who got himself into the situation of being sold to a non Jewish master.
[00:11:14] He didn't do the correct things. He's not a person of, you know, high caliber that he got himself in this situation to begin with. Because the Torah delineates for us the different stages of what's going to happen to a person if they don't do certain things. And this is the reason why it talks about, you know, a person selling himself as a slave after Shemitah is to tell us that if a person, you know, doesn't follow Shmitah and so on and so forth. All these bad things will happen. So we're not talking about somebody who is necessarily the most observant person. But still, Hashem, uh, is giving this commandment to be Mechazikim to strengthen him, that even if he's in a situation where, you know, no one's doing anything, we still care. We still want you to do the mitzvahs. Hashem still wants you to do what you can.
[00:12:01] And he's still obligated in the mitzvos.
[00:12:04] He still. He didn't give up his status of being a part of Clay Yisrael, part of the Jewish nation. And he still has an obligation to do the mitzvahs. He still has a responsibility to perform the mitzvahs. He can't just give in. You can't just give in and say, oh, uh, this is a situation that I find myself in. He still has to be strong.
[00:12:21] And Hashem cares and loves him.
[00:12:26] And the mitzvos that he does are very near and dear to Hashem because. And the reason that this is mentioned again here, it says because we know that B' Nai Yisrael, the Jewish people are avadim, uh, they're slaves to Hashem.
[00:12:40] Now, the Chavitz Chaim brings out from this that if this is how far we go, if the Torah goes so far for this individual, he's so far, and yet we're still so caring of his actions.
[00:12:52] So all the more so.
[00:12:54] What about the way we look at our own, you know, mitzvah observance? The way that we look at our connection with Hashem?
[00:13:03] Do we just, like, throw things away?
[00:13:06] We're for sure better off than this person who is enslaved by a non Jewish master. So all the more so does Hashem, uh, care about the mitzvahs that we do, even the small mitzvahs and even the small things that we do? How valuable are they to Hashem? How precious are they to him? And I think this is an important idea for us to remember no matter where we are and how far or close we feel.
[00:13:36] Because if for, uh, even for the person who's very, very far, whatever that means, this slave, this Jewish slave, Hashem cares about his mitzvahs all the more so everyone else. How much does Hashem care about your actions, care about your mitzvahs? You know, uh, it's very clear from the psukim, and not just here, that Hashem never gives up on us.
[00:14:03] So if Hashem, uh, never gives up on us, how can we give up on ourselves?
[00:14:08] Maybe everyone else in the world can give up on us.
[00:14:11] But if Hashem, uh, doesn't give up on us, if G D himself doesn't relinquish hope for us, so then we have no right to do that either. And I think this is, uh, tied into this idea from this week's Parasha. The next idea I want to share with you takes us to Parsha's Bechu Kosay. So, as I mentioned earlier, Parshas Bechu Kosay really primarily deals with the blessings and the curses. If we do what Hashem commands us, things will be good for us. We'll receive all the blessings.
[00:14:39] But if, God forbid, we stray, we don't do what we're supposed to do, then these here raising curses, you know, are awaiting God forbid.
[00:14:51] Now, the first verse of the posseq of Parshas Bilchuchosai reads as.
[00:15:01] If you will follow my decrees and observe my commandments and perform them.
[00:15:08] Now, the way that I read it is, uh, if you will follow my decrees. If you look at the verse more literally, right, if the word teleich means to follow, to go, it means it symbolizes movement. And I saw brought down from Rabbunima Pshischa, and Rabbi Twersky brings them down, that what makes us different than angels, what makes us different than angels is that an angel has no choice, just wants to do good. There's no pull of evil to do something wrong. There's no physical urges, and therefore it just does good. But a human being, we have this pull for good and evil. We have an evil inclination. And Yetzer Tovah Yitzhara, we have the good inclination and the bad inclination. And there's this constant battle.
[00:15:58] And the point is that a malak, an angel, is static, but a human being, we have to have movement.
[00:16:12] If we're moving.
[00:16:18] Right, if we're moving in our Yiddishkeit, we're not static.
[00:16:23] So then things will be good for us. That's how the next verses delineate for us, how all the blessings we're going to receive. You know, and I always talk about this. We know that serving God is something which takes a lifetime now. And we always aspire to do all the mitzvahs in the best way possible.
[00:16:45] At the same time, though, steps, baby steps.
[00:16:49] But the question is that we need to ask ourselves very honestly, and this is really for any person, no matter what their background is and what type of yarmulke they wear or where they affiliate, uh, themselves with, we all have to ask ourselves, are we moving?
[00:17:09] That's in a way, a more important question to be asked than where are we? The question is, are we moving and are we going in the right direction? If you ask somebody who works in analytics, it's not necessarily where the point is on the graph. It's what's the trend?
[00:17:27] They're always looking for trends.
[00:17:30] Um, a market analyst, any type of analyst. It's always the trends. Which direction is the trend going?
[00:17:36] So, sure, we fall, but the point is, where are we trending to? Are we trending up? Are we moving?
[00:17:44] And that's what the pustic is teaching us. One of the ideas that from the great Hasidic master Rabuna Pshisha vasiza maisam, that if, uh, you follow my decrees, you're moving in them, there's movement. You're not staying in one place.
[00:18:02] You know, you're growing in your Yiddishkei, you're growing in your service of hashem. Maybe we're not, you know, maybe we're not doing everything yet, but we're on our way, right?
[00:18:11] And if we are doing everything, we're not doing everything perfect, but we're on our way to doing it better. And, uh, these are things we need to constantly evaluate ourselves.
[00:18:19] Can we do better? Where can we improve?
[00:18:22] You know, what did I learn from yesterday that I could implement into my life today? And everything is with steps, and everything's with sechel, with understanding and knowledge and not doing things too fast or rash. But the point is, where is the trend? Is there movement? And that's a beautiful idea for next week's Parasha. Another idea from this verse that the chavatz chaim brings down is that.
[00:18:47] And if you look at Rashi, Rashi explains shitiyu amelim, uh, batoya, that when it says it's teaching us a very important idea that not just doing the mitzvahs, but are we being amul? Are we toiling in tyranny? And from this Rashi, we learn that the main, um, way of going in the chuchas ha Torah and the ways of the Torah is through toiling. And that's what we're commanding. I think this really ties into our first idea because the Chavitz chaim M explains on this. There's a. At the end of every tractate, at the end of every mesekhta, when we finish, there's a special prayer that we recite. It's the hadron. And in the hadron there's a. This wording is very interesting.
[00:19:37] We say we're contrasting ourselves with everyone Else in the world, we say we are toiling and they toil. I mean everyone else, we toil and receive a word.
[00:19:54] And everyone else who's out in the world, the physical world, they also toil, but they don't receive a reward.
[00:20:00] Now the question that's asked by the Chavitz Chaim is what does it mean in this hadron? In the Hadron prayer, when we say, you know, we toil and receive schar, we toil and receive reward. But everyone else in the world, they toil and don't receive a reward. What does that mean? You know, if you person who works hard, they get paid good money. How much does a CEO get paid? Maybe they work, uh, you know, 100 hour weeks, but they're making good money.
[00:20:28] People work hard and they get paid well. So what does it mean in the Hajran, in the special prayer that we say that a person who learns Torah, he, uh, works hard and he gets reward. And a person who just works in the physical world, he works hard and doesn't get reward. How do we understand that? Of course people work hard and get rewarded. That is how the capitalist system works.
[00:20:50] You work hard and you get rewarded.
[00:20:53] So Chavitz Chaim answers with something very profound. I think this gives us an insight into this idea of bechukaisay tei lechu, that we should be amelim b', Torah, that we should toil in Torah.
[00:21:05] Now, this person who works hard in the physical world, if he works all day long but uh, is not successful in what he's doing, he doesn't produce results, does he get rewarded? Fine, maybe he'll get this paycheck. But if he doesn't continue, you know, if things continue the way they are, they're going to fire him. If there are no tangible results, then that's it. A person is not going to be rewarded. If a person works, even if he worked very hard, he worked all day long, he put his effort in, but there's no results.
[00:21:39] That's it. They're going to, you know, he's going to get laid off or fired by the end of the week, by end of the month, whenever it is.
[00:21:46] Now, this is not so. When it comes to Torah study, when it comes to Torah study, it's all about the toiling.
[00:21:54] It's all about, you know, the effort that's put into it.
[00:21:58] And the Chavitz Chaim brings down something very beautiful because a person can think to himself, I don't fully understand this. I work so hard on this. It's so hard for me to learn. I can't grasp all the concepts.
[00:22:11] And he says, no, that is part of the, you know, the avodah, that's part of the service and part of the process of toiling in Torah. Because at first you're not necessarily going to have that success.
[00:22:26] You have to fall first. You have to not have that success. And I think to myself, there was different tractates or different parts of Torah, some mishnah that were challenging. I remember, like, telling my Rebbe, my rabbi in yeshiva, he's like, I don't really understand what's going on. He's like, you know, you continue, continue doing. You're going to see that even if you don't get it the first time this time, you'll get it again next time. And he was right. He was right. The point is, is that it's not about the outcome of, like, did you, you know, did you master this tractate? No. Sure, we're going to master it. But the point is, it's about the effort. It's about putting in the effort. I think this ties very well into the first idea because it's about where you're going. It's not about where you are, it's about which direction you're going. It all ties in very beautifully because this is what it's a. This is what it means to be serving Hashem. You know, it's not all where you're at, it's where you're going. It's not about the result, it's about the effort. It's a very beautiful thought. It's something we should keep in mind to give strength to ourselves.
[00:23:29] Maybe we're down on ourselves sometimes. We should be doing better.
[00:23:34] Maybe we're not so happy with the learning that we're doing.
[00:23:38] We should remember we have to put an effort, and we should always strive.
[00:23:42] Don't settle for mediocrity. But we have to remember it's not about where you're at, it's where you're going. It's not about the results, it's about the effort. I think that's a very beautiful idea from this week's parsha. So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. I hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an
[email protected] have a great day.
