Transcript

This is section Gimel. וגם עכשיו אנו עומדים בימי טרופים, troubled times, yemei za’am u’metzukah. Nego’ei pera’ot, afflicted by pogroms, u’limudei yissurim anu.

במשך חמש עשרה השנים האחרונות התייסרנו בעינויים שאין כמותם בתולדות אלפיים שנות גלות עמנו בשמיה.

Whether with Churban Bayis Rishon as well as Churban Bayis Sheni, with the pogroms, with the Chmielnicki massacres, all of that notwithstanding, the Holocaust was unprecedented in Jewish history. Every Gadol Yisrael who lived at that tekufah similarly affirmed that.

פרשת הסבל לא נחתמה בייסודה של מדינת ישראל. כיום הזה עוד שרויה מדינה זו במשבר ובסכנה וכולנו מלאי פחד וחרדה לגורלו של היישוב.

The derasha which was later written up as Kol Dodi Dofek was given in 1956. So in 1956 in particular there was I think it was the crisis with the Suez Canal with Egypt that it looked again that they were on the verge of full-blown war, chas v’shalom, it was a time of existential crisis for Medinat Yisrael.

עדי ראייה אנו לתפיחה של רשעים העולה ולזיפות הדין הבין-לאומי מתוך אדישות לעקרוני הצדק והיושר על ידי מדינות המערב.

We're eyewitnesses, the star of the reshaim is ascending and the international injustice out of a sense of complete disregard, apathy, of principles of justice. See, in the past couple of years, unfortunately, we've had an increasing number of reminders, but on so many different levels. Part of being a Jew is having a sense of history. It's obviously fundamental and defining as to who we are because we live based on mesorah. But one of the perspectives that a sense for Jewish history provides is the constant of anti-Semitism. There are occasional lulls. That there was a Golden Age in Spain. That there was a while here in the United States where anti-Semitism was subterranean. But any Jew with a sense of history knows that even if today it's not on the surface, it's lurking beneath the surface. In the next line, the Rav speaks of the hypocrisy: הכל מחניפים למנדינו ושונאינו ומתרפסים. They grovel before them behachna'ah uvetzvi'ut nimzeh. This disgusting hypocrisy. It's a constant. And there's nothing more painful when one hears of or sees Jews who ally themselves with non-Jews in criticizing Medinat Yisrael. Their non-Jewish allies, many of them would cooperate in a resurgence of anti-Semitism, and Medinat Yisrael would be their haven. The Rambam writes in Hilchot Matnot Aniyim:

הוא אומר בפרק י' מהלכות מתנות עניים חייבין אנו להיזהר במצוות צדקה יתר מכל מצוות עשה שהצדקה סימן לצדיק זרע אברהם אבינו שנאמר כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצווה.

Skipping to halacha bet:

ולעולם אין אדם מעני מן הצדקה ואין דבר רע ולא היזק נגבה בשביל הצדקה. כל המרחם מרחמים עליו.

Again skipping a little bit:

כל ישראל והנלווה עליהם כאחים הם שנאמר בנים אתם לה' אלוהיכם. אם לא ירחם האח על אחיו מי ירחם עליו ולמי עניי ישראל נושאים עיניהם על הגויים ששונאים אותם ורודפים אחריהם הא עיניהם תלויות אלא לאחיהם.

So that perspective is... is... So that perspective is very important not only in the context of hilchos Shabbos.

צפה ועלתה התמיהה המטפיזית הידועה והסובל שואל למה תרעימו ועל מה תקציב רשע מכתיר את הצדיק על כן יצא משפט מעוקל. אכן כפי שהדגשנו לעיל אין האלוקים נזדקק לשאלה כזו ואין האדם נענה לה. משארת היא סתומה וחתומה מחוץ לרשותו של ההיגיון. כי לא יוכל לראות את פניו כי לא יראני האדם וחי. כשיצר הסקרנות השכלית תוקף על האדם אינו אלא להתחזק באמונתו בבורא עולם ולהצדיק את הדין ולהודות בתום פועלו. הצור תמים פועלו כי כל דרכיו משפט. אם יפה לנו להעמיק שאלה בשעת סיוטי בלהות

nightmares nightmares of terrors I forget the exact English phrase for it.

אז עלינו להציעה בצורה הלכתית ולשאול מהי חובת האדם הסובל הנולדת מתוך הסבל. מהי בת קול הציווי המתפרצת מתוך הייסורים? לשאלה זו יש לפרשנות רבנו מענה ופתרון והוא מתבטא בפסק הלכה פשוט.

Yeah the choice of words is very interesting right? You wouldn't think that a question has an answer. The Rav writes a question has a solution. So the pshat is clear. There are two types of questions. Some questions are abstract theoretical speculative and some questions are existential questions. How does a person keep his head above water given what's happening in his life? That's not a theoretical abstract question. That's a question that goes to the core. So the first type of question needs an answer, the second type of question needs a solution. אין צורך בספקולציה מטפיזית metaphysical speculation כדי לברר את הלכות תיקון הרע. Lo bashamayim hi.

אם נצליח לנסח תורה זו מבלי לטפל בשאלת הסיבות והתכלית

the why question

נזכה לישועה שלמה ויתקיים בנו המקרא שכתוב וסר צור המצוקה וסר הלוט הלוט על פני כל העמים. אז ורק אז נעלה מתוך מעמקי השואה בעלי שיעור קומה רוחנית מוגדלת ועטורי תפארת היסטורית מוגברת כמו שנאמר ויוסף השם את כל אשר לאיוב למשנה פי שנים בכמות ובאיכות.

Since as the Rav explained earlier the response to yisurim is לתקן את הפגום באישיותו של האדם so mimeila it means that a person if he responds correctly to adversity not only survives but comes out improved comes out better comes out elevated from the experience. The goal is not to survive the yisurim but if a person responds appropriately he comes out בעל שיעור קומה רוחנית מוגדלת and his stature, his spiritual stature has been increased, has grown. Yisurim come in different shapes and forms, they're not always so dramatic or draconian as what the Rav is focusing on here in this ma'amar. But the yesodos are all true for the less dramatic but still very real types of adversity and challenges and difficulties that individuals often face in their daily lives. It's the same, maybe it's a difficult family relationship. Yisurim come in, maybe it's financial difficulty. Yisurim come in different, different shapes and forms and again, lav davka that anyone else knows about what a person's difficulties, challenges, adversities are. It's the same, but it's the same yesod, the same yesod. In Os Hei, the Rav continues, כשנס אינו מוצא את הדו הרצוי במעשים ממשים, when the miracle doesn't reverberate by our responding with concrete actions, so then חזון נעלם מתנוון ומתמזמז things wither. U'midas hadin starts to katreig on ba'al haness, kfuy hatodah. The one who was the beneficiary of the miracle who's an ingrate.

ביקש הקדוש ברוך הוא לעשות חזקיהו משיח וסנחריב גוג ומגוג אמרה מידת הדין חזקיהו שעשית לו כל הנסים הללו ולא אמר שירה לפניך תעשהו משיח.

Az ba'ah hametzukah, sha'at hayisurim. Right, this is what we saw earlier, that sometimes the progression is that first Hakadosh Baruch Hu looks to elicit the reaction from us by shefa bracha and if rachmana litzlan we don't react to that stimulus, to that impetus, so then it comes through the yisurim. הסבל הוא ההתראה האחרונה. It's the last warning שההשגחה העליונה מסרה באדם l'orer hargashat hatodah. L'kruz ha'acharon, the last call. When you're in the airport, right? So you hear, this is the last call for flight whatever it is, they're about to close the boarding doors. L'kruz ha'acharon, the last call, ha'oleh mitokh hayisurim muchrakhim lehagiv bitkifah and to respond

ולענות לקולו של אלוקים הקורא לאדם איכה. היהדות הקפידה מאד על איסור חימוץ השעה. בת תודעת זמן רגישה היא.

Yahadut is very sensitive in its awareness of time, שהיא נחשבת על ידה לפשע. The slightest delay can be reckoned a sin. האדם מפסיד לפעמים את עולמו בשעה אחת. A person can lose his world because of the cheit of vayismame'a. Rav goes on to illustrate, nosar means a person if a person eats the בשר קדשים מן התורה a second before amud hashachar he's mekayeim mitzvas asei. If he eats it a second, two seconds later after amud hashachar it's an issur kareis. Chillul Shabbos, a few seconds before Shabbos the melakhah is mutares, a few seconds later it's all right, bein hashmashos, it's a safek sekilah. Then the Rav continues with a contrast between David and Shaul.

שני מלכי ישראל משיחי ה' וגיבורי האומה חטאו שבו בתשובה שלמה והתוודו. ואחד לא נמחל העוון מיד ולשני נתרצה הקדוש ברוך הוא וסלח לו תוך כדי דיבור ווידויו. עם שאול נהג הקדוש ברוך הוא במידת הדין וכרת הממלכה ממנו. ביחס לדוד עירב דין ברחמים ומלכותו לא נפקעה מזרעו. מדוע החמיר הקדוש ברוך הוא בשאול וחינן את דוד? שאלה זו אינה צריכה לפנים לפנינו. התשובה פשוטה מאוד. דוד לא החמיץ את השעה הרצויה והתוודה מיד על עוון.

Shaul hitmahmeha kzat,

ובשל פיגור זה ניטלה המלכות ממנו. כשנתן הנביא בא אל דוד והשמיע צעקת אתה האיש, פתח דוד בוידוי ולא השהה את תחינתו לאלוהים אפילו כהרף עין. ויאמר דוד אל נתן חטאתי לה'. שאול בזבז רגע אחד. ויאמר שאול אל שמואל אשר שמעתי בקול ה' ואלך בדרך אשר שלחני ה'.

So that momentary delay made the difference between Shaul holding onto melocha or Shaul losing the melocha. So how do we sort of, how do we sort of understand, how do we process this? We sort of think of, I don't know, you do something now, you do something five minutes from now, it's basically the same action. So how can it be that? And yet clearly it isn't. I think Rav Hutner has somewhere in Pachad Yitzchok, he has a very beautiful he'arah. I think it's his, I don't think he's quoting it from the Maharal or something, I think it's his he'arah, if I recall.

ושמרתם את המצות, אל תקרי את המצות אלא את המצוות, כשם שאין מחמיצין את המצה כך אין מחמיצין את המצווה.

But rather mitzvah habah liyadcha, you do right away. Don't procrastinate when it comes to doing mitzvos. So Rav Hutner says very well. He says if you procrastinate with an issur, like you mix the water and the flour, then you procrastinate, so what happens? It's the same result but five minutes later? No, it's the difference between matzah and chametz. It's not the same result at all. It's not that you get the same result but okay so I'm five minutes late. No, it's not five minutes late. It makes the difference between matzah and chametz. It's a totally, it's totally transformed. And Chazal say keshem kach. Sounds like that when a person hesitates, when a person procrastinates a mitzvah, it's not the same ma'aseh albeit okay so five minutes later. I went to shul but I showed up five minutes late. No, it's qualitatively different. The chiddush, it's still a mitzvah. And here, so how do we understand that the five minutes, the one minute doesn't just represent a delay of one minute but means that qualitatively what's done is totally different? So in the context of mitzvos, again that's the context of the ma'amar Chazal, not the Rav's context here. So perhaps the pshat is as follows. Every now and then you hear in the news that there was some blip in some computer program and some airline is is posting, I don't know, tickets to wherever for under a hundred dollars. You fly to, you fly from here to Eretz Yisrael round trip for a hundred dollars. And so when people become aware of it, what do they do? So right away they run to the computer... As fast as possible to try to book the ticket before the airline realizes the mistake and fixes it. You drop what you're doing. You drop everything you're doing. Why? Because it's such an unbelievable opportunity. Such an unbelievable opportunity. What if the supermarket has Tropicana orange juice marked down 25 cents this week? The half gallon is 25 cents off. I'm not sure you drop your pizza and you run with reckless abandon to, maybe they'll sell out and I won't save that 25 cents on my Tropicana. It's not such an opportunity. Okay, it's a good thing. If I can cash in, why not? But it's not. If a mitzvah can just be put on a to-do list, it's not the same mitzvah as if I have the zechus, I have the opportunity to do a mitzvah. It's not the same mitzvah. It's machmitz. It's not that the mitzvah happens five minutes later. It's a different maiseh. What about in terms of the example with Shaul and Dovid? Why is Shaul's one minute, one minute of denial so incredibly significant that it made all the difference in the world as to, it had repercussions throughout the doros? See footnote 16. So what happens? Let's say you don't realize that a pot just came out of the oven. It had just been in the oven for 45 minutes, the oven was on 400. And you put your hand out and you hold on, you grip the handle of the pot. So clearly a mistake, clearly a mistake. So what do you do? You dig in for a minute and say, I'm not going to let go, now I'm going to, maybe I can, or you recoil as fast as you possibly can? The significance of Dovid's immediate admission of ויאמר דוד אל נתן חטאתי לה' is that it points to the fact that the cheit was an aberration. And the raya? Immediately, as fast as a person possibly can, he's turning away. He's looking to be shov teshuvah, to distance himself from the cheit as fast as he can. That frames what the cheit is. If a person is sufficiently comfortable to remain with the cheit, so then it wasn't such an aberration. If it wasn't such an aberration, it's not so easy, in quotation marks, kavyachol, for it to be forgiven. So again, the minute or two, it's not the minute or two, it's what the minute or two reflects. The minute or two is telling. It's not the minute or two per se. It's it's what it reflects. How do we understand this? How do we... I think we spoke I forget when it was some time ago about the... oh yeah, just just recently in in a footnote here in the Rambam in Perek Bais of Hilchos Teshuva, about the machlokes the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah, it's certainly a meforash machlokes, the Chinuch and Rabbeinu Yonah, but we understood it to be a machlokes between the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah what the timeframe for mitzvas teshuva is. It's clear from the beginning of Shaarei Teshuva that as soon as there's a yedi'as hachet, so the a person has a chiyuv teshuva. And we understood the Rambam to be saying that no, a person has until Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur which is קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל, so then that becomes the deadline after which a person obviously can and still should do teshuva, but he would have been mivatel the mitzva. The same way if the father isn't mal the son by yom hashmini, that's a bitul hamitzva but obviously he can and should turn around and mal him on yom hateshi'i. So nicha that we see that Shaul is held accountable for ובשל פיגור זה נטלה המלכות ממנו because the chiyuv teshuva is for right away. But how do we understand this according to the Rambam? See, itachen that the answer is that the machlokes of the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah is when a person comes to the yedi'as hachet on his own. When a person is confronted by a navi, be it Nasan HaNavi, be it Shmuel HaNavi, and is given tochacha, so then even the Rambam will agree that that's a michayiv to do teshuva right away. And itachen that that's part of the again, the Rav extending this idea, the line that we read earlier in the first paragraph here of os hay, like kruz ha'acharon, right, the last call, right, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's last call as it were, העולה מתוך היסורים מוכרחים להגיד בתקיפה. As ein hachi nami, teshuva in general, so as the Rambam says, the Torah does cut us some slack. When it's one's own yedi'as hachet, so the Torah says no, the deadline is Yom Kippur. But when but when our feet are being held to the fire, either literally by a navi as was the case with both Dovid and Shaul, or or not with an actual navi but by events which are so transparently ordained by the hashgacha, so then that's a michayiv of, then the Rambam will be modeh in those circumstances to Rabbeinu Yonah. Okay, we'll stop here.