Good morning rabbosai, I hope you're all well. Michtav Chaf-Tes. קשיות עורף המנויה בעל חטא is normally understood as a refusal, a stubbornness in the sense of rejecting tochacha. שגם זה נקרא קשיות עורף כמו שמצינו בכתוב במעשה עגל. אבל קשיות עורף הסמוכה לעזות פנים,
right when we say in the introductory paragraph before the Ashamnu שאין אנו עזי פנים וקשי עורף, so there Rav Hutner says kashyus oref has a different sense. Hi kfirus ha-ashma is denial of guilt ולא העדר קבלת התוכחה, not the lack of accepting words of rebuke. Obviously there is a common denominator and a common root to those two, and it's easy to understand how the same phrase would encapsulate both, both the sense of stubbornness and refusal to hear words of tochacha, as well as denial of guilt in the first place. It's possible that I think Rav Hutner wants us to realize that we're very susceptible to kashyus oref in both of these senses of the term. Both kashyus oref in the sense of denial of guilt, kfirus ha-ashma, as well as in menias kabalas tochacha. And on the one hand that can be attributed to a sense of, I don't know, it can be gaivah that sort of doesn't, that interferes with our being mekabel tochacha or acknowledging fault and guilt. It can be a more subtle form of gaivah in the sense that it's something that basically shakes a person to the core when a person has to acknowledge guilt, when a person has to be mekabel tochacha. And clearly again the midah of kashyus oref is seen very negatively and framed that way. But the midah of kashyus oref it's possible also has another root, a deeper root of the term that Rav Hutner identifies for us about denial of guilt. Kashyus oref means that a person has the capacity to really remain steadfast in what he's doing, to refuse to be deterred, to refuse to be rerouted and steered away from his present course of action. Now that l'ma'aseh, depending upon how it's applied and in what context it plays out, can be a koach l'ra'ah as in the context here when that steadfastness, when that refusal to be influenced results in a person denying guilt and refusing divrei tochacha. But sometimes it's a Klal Yisrael amongst the nations of the world always finds itself in that position. But sometimes that's a koach l'tovah and maybe the pshat is that besides the basic human of kashyus oref again. etcetera, as we just discussed, there's a uniquely Jewish susceptibility to kashyas oref because what's stubbornness, which has a negative association and a negative connotation, becomes the courage of one's convictions in another context. I was wondering, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu after the Cheit Ha'eigel that כי לא אעלה בקרבך כי עם קשה עורף אתה. That ויאמר ה' אל משה אמור לבני ישראל אתם עם קשה עורף.
And as a result, I'm not going up, כי לא אעלה בקרבך כי עם קשה עורף אתה. So clearly the kashyas oref here is an indictment after the Cheit Ha'eigel, is a condemnation. But then there's a pelledike thing. When Moshe Rabbeinu asks for mechila and selicha for Klal Yisrael, so Moshe Rabbeinu invokes that same mida. ויאמר אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך ילך נא ה' בקרבנו כי עם קשה עורף הוא וסלחת לעווננו ולחטאתנו ונחלתנו.
It's as if a person is hauled into court and the police, the prosecutor, tells the judge, Your Honor, this man is a ganef. And then the judge says to the accused, do you have anything to say in your defense? He says, yes, forgive me, I'm a ganef. So how does that same argument turn around? So Ibn Ezra says that despite the fact that we're an am kshei oref, Moshe Rabbeinu says, that notwithstanding, please forgive. The Ibn Ezra himself says, I think the peshat is different, that כי עם קשה עורף means Ribbono Shel Olam, we're being modeh al hacheit, we're acknowledging the cheit. ילך נא ה' בקרבנו וסלחת, why? Because there's a charata, we're doing teshuva, we're acknowledging the fact that we're an am kshei oref, we're acknowledging that fact. I was wondering, maybe the peshat is like this. Maybe the peshat is in his tefilla to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he's saying, it's true that that mida of am kshei oref at times leads to cheit, at times results in cheit when it's not properly channeled, when it's not properly directed. But that same mida of am kshei oref, that's why we're the am hanivchar, because Hakadosh Baruch Hu, You want that quality. That quality played out negatively is something that we describe as gaiva, as stubbornness, as pig-headedness. But for the maisa, that quality, that same stance, correct positive criticism, so that's the kashyas oref that we firm in our faith and remaining unyielding in our commitment. So then that am kshei oref, that same tichuna is a tremendous shvach and that's the reason for the selicha u'mechila. Ribbono Shel Olam, yes, the downside to Knesset Yisrael having this tichuna is that at times, when it's misdirected, not properly channeled, it can lead to cheit, it can lead to denial of guilt, it can lead to ha'eder kabbalas tochacha. because of what it allows us to accomplish when it is properly channeled, when it is correctly directed. And de-emes kemidumeh kemidumeh so according to the note here the Chizkuni here is quoting the Bechor Shor: אתה אמרת כי לא אעלה בקרבך כי עם קשה עורף אתה.
Adaraba says Moshe Rabbeinu, כי על ידי הן שעם קשה עורף הוא אני מבקש שתלך אתה בקרבנו.
That same tchuna gufah Ribbono Shel Olam that's the grounds for my bakasha that you do allow your Shechina to be present with us. Yitachen that's also the pshat. You find that the Gemara says in Beitzah on the beginning of the third perek. So the Gemara says: מפני מה תנא משמיה דרבי מאיר מפני מה ניתנה תורה לישראל מפני שהן עזין.
We have the quality of azzus. Then the Gemara says: היינו דאמר ריש לקיש ג' עזין הן ישראל באומות כלב בחיות תרנגול בעופות.
So clearly a very very negative connotation. Az panim le'gehinom, right? It clearly has a very very negative connotation. In that context, so I think we would probably translate azzus and azzus panim as abrasiveness. But the other side of that same coin, if a person has that capacity for azzus, he has a capacity for tremendous strength in the positive sense. And yitachen that when the Gemara says מפני מה ניתנה תורה לישראל מפני שעזין הן, so on the one hand it clearly means as the Maharsha says, ותורה מתשת כוחו של אדם. So Torah will ameliorate that. Simultaneously it also means that that quality of azzus again is needed, Rachmana litzlan, when it translates not just in terms of vocabulary but in terms of action. It is needed because it's that same am k'sheh oref. So a person needs that, a Jew needs that quality of azzus, but he has to make sure that that azzus is a strength that plays out in the positive sense, not Rachmana litzlan in the form of abrasiveness. And yitachen somehow as am k'sheh oref that we're especially beyond the human susceptibility to kashyus oref, maybe there's a uniquely Jewish susceptibility to kashyus oref because that same tchuna which can when misdirected, when not properly channeled, it can translate very negatively as kashyus oref, can and should translate in a positive term as a stubbornness to remain firm and steadfast in our emuna, firm and steadfast in our way of life. Okay so we'll stop here for now rabosai.