Transcript

Good morning, Rabbeim. Pasuk Chaf Tes.

תחת כי שנאו דעת ויראת השם לא בחרו. תחת כי שנאו דעת הוא נגד ארבעה עניינים שאמר מתחילה עד הנה.

Here in Perek Alef, up until this point, there have been four, not sure what the right word is, four areas that the, that various chot'im have been depicted, the various chot'im who have been depicted have rejected. Ve-hainu miladas chochma from beginning pasuk bet, this series of pesukim, amar she-inyan hasefer, the content and the focus of the sefer,

הוא לדעת ולדעה דרך הטוב והחיים, שהיא ידיעת כלל הטוב.

I don't know what the double lashon of lada'at velade'ah is, tzarich iyun. Ve-miyiras Hashem, pasuk zayin and onwards, אמר שיראת השם ראשית הכל. Reishis means first, of course, but it often has the then the connotation of of the foundation of everything. When you build a building, you can't build the the top floor first, you have to you have to build, you have to begin with with a foundation. Yiras Hashem is reishis hakol as we had the pasuk earlier that yiras Hashem is reishis da'at. U-mibni im yefatucha from pasuk yud, היא עצה טובה ונכונה להזהר מפיתויי היצר הרע והרשעים. The way Shlomo Hamelech has depicted, the way he's highlighted for us the just how the the falsity, the falsehood and the how what the yetzer hara promises is illusory.

ומבאר דרכו שלא טוב ורומות מרמתו. והתורה לכן על ההיפך זה.

So the Torah not only identifies for us what's right and wrong, but the Torah's also mechazeik us and also looks to persuade and cajole and urge us to do what's right. It's not only the Torah says this is the right and this is the wrong, it also counteracts the pituy hayetzer hara. I mean you have that consistently throughout throughout the Chumash where where the exhortations of u-shmartem es mitzvosai. But then it's striking, even have some examples where the Torah just strategizes for us. Rashi understands that in parshas Ki Seitzei, when the Torah says זכור את אשר עשה השם אלקיך למרים, the Torah's telling us and if you want to know how you can maintain vigilance against against lashon hara, hishamer b'nega hatzara'as. If you want to know how to remain vigilant, so here's a strategy. Now Rashi doesn't understand that as... So the same way the yetzer hara is mefateh, so lehavdil the Torah is hepech zeh. ve'achar kach ad mosai pesayim, pasuk chaf-beis, hi tochecha. Vezehu, so the Torah provides the content, the substance of לדעת ולהעיד את דרך הטוב והחיים, the cultivation of yiras Hashem, the recognition of the pitu yetzer hara for what it is, and being receptive to tochacha. And here the pasuk explains that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's reaction of ani be'aidchem es-chak and אז יקראנני ולא אענה is because that's in exchange for תחת עין תחת עין, it's in exchange for the fact that all four areas have been rejected. וזהו תחת כי שנאו דעת, hu neged lada'as chochmah. ויראת ה לא בחרו, the second half of our pasuk, hu neged מה שכתוב למעלה שיראת ה מיססת דעת, vehi ikar hakol. Right? It's the foundation of everything. ולהם לא היתה אפילו בחינת בחירה. And not only, again, the chotim who are being depicted, not only did they not proactively pursue in the sense of looking to cultivate yiras Hashem, but they didn't even choose. What does that mean? כעניין סרנו ממצותיך וממשפטיך הטובים ולא שוה לנו. So when we say that in the vidu, what does it mean that lo shava lanu? lo shava lanu means that it had no value to us, tahinu. Not only did we not, again, pursue, not only was it not uvemizvosecha tirdof nafshi, and ואחרי מצותיך תרדוף נפשי, but even when it was presented to us on an as an option, it was lo shava lanu. It wasn't something that we deemed worthwhile and it wasn't something that we took advantage of.

כי לא די שאינם רודפים אחר זה שהיא עיקר הכל,

yiras Hashem, אלא אפילו אם היו שניהם לפניהם לא בחרו בזה. Ki milas bechira, the connotation says the Gra, of the word bechira היא אם יש שני דברים לפניו. Right? I can't choose if you offer me a choice of do I want chicken or meat, so then I can choose because both options are in front of me. So that's the connotation of bechira. Kemo shene'emar, that's what we find it used in Chumash as well, ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה. es hachayim, excuse me, maybe he's quoting from later in Devarim,

ראה אנכי נותן לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע.

So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says both options are being presented to you, uvacharta bachayim. Vezehu lo bacharu. Okay, maybe just one more pasuk here: lo avu la'atzasi, they didn't want, they didn't desire my eitza, my counsel, no'atzu kol tochachti, they spurned my rebuke, all my rebuke. lo avu la'atzasi hu neged בני אם יפתחוך שהיא עצה טובה ונכונה. no'atzu kol tochachti hu neged עד מתי פתאים שהיא תוכחה. There are two ways to try to influence someone. Two ways to try to help steer someone along the right path. And which of the two is appropriate, you know, it is determined circumstantially. One is an eitzah. It's given as, again, in both in terms of the substance as well as in terms of the tone of the presentation, be-torat eitzah. Then there's also an approach of tochachah. Obviously, clearly striking a very different tone and a very different approach. And again, circumstances determine which of the two is the more appropriate one in context, but you spurn both. These classes of people spurn both. לא אבו לעצתי נאצו כל תוכחתי. Okay, we'll stop here. Bli neder, im yirtzeh Hashem, we'll continue at 12:30 with Pesachim and Nasso I should say. Have a very good morning. Everyone should be well, be safe.