Rishus, rabonim chashuvim, six weeks ago tonight, this community was cast into darkness. And for a series of hours, for days, and for some as many as a week, people sat in the dark without lights, without heat. And then slowly, as time progressed, the lights went on and most of us have found some clarity in our lives since then. There are of course people who are sitting in this room at this time, Susan and Zahava and other members of the Musaffi and Kraus family who are still waiting for the lights to go on. When tragedy strikes a community, when tragedy strikes a family, an individual, so of course the traditional Jewish response is stika, silence. As we read a few weeks ago and as we alluded to again this morning at the time that Aharon HaKohen experienced the tragic death of his two sons, so the Torah tells us his heroic reaction, vayeedom Aharon, that Aaron was silent. And so therefore, I suppose it would be appropriate for some to wonder why we are here this evening. If after all we are encouraged to a certain extent embrace and try to emulate the extraordinary gvura of Aaron at such a time to remain silent, so why are we here to talk about the response of a community to a tragedy? And the answer I believe is contained within that very parsha, because although the Torah tells us vayeedom Aharon, Aaron was silent, just a few psukim later, וידבר השם אל אהרן לאמר יין ושכר אל תשת, Hakadosh Baruch Hu then goes on to instruct Aaron and Moshe and Klal Yisrael in very specific terms, halacha l'maaseh, where we go from here. Because it's true that when we look back we can say nothing and the only appropriate response is vayeedom. But looking forward, the Jew is required, halacha l'maaseh, and I just want to stress those two words, halacha l'maaseh, to change. That we need to walk away different. And we are here this evening to discuss just that. That the true total response from a Torah perspective is first to reflect and to submit ourselves with complete silence, which reflects not only defeat but reflects emuna, but at the same time to understand that we need to move in a practical way. I heard years ago from Rabbi Lamm, a pshat from Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on the pasuk, אלי אלי למה עזבתני, that it doesn't mean why, God, have You abandoned me, but l'mah, for what purpose? And it's for that we are here this evening. It's a tremendous kovod for the community and to the families and to all those who are present that we welcome someone who is so important and so revered in our community, Rav Meir Twersky, who is one among perhaps the many few that all of the leaders and representatives of this community felt would be an appropriate individual to help guide us and lead us in thoughts of reflection and appropriate introspection at such a time. Reshus harabanim, mori verabbosai. Baruch Hashem, this is not the first time I have this zchus of coming to speak in this very distinguished community. And yet tonight Tonight is different, very different for me, for the simple reason that I didn't come to speak to you. I'd like to just explain briefly by way of introduction what I mean by that. Rabbi Rothwax articulated so cogently and so forcefully the need for reflection in the aftermath of tragedy rachmana litzlan when tragedy strikes a community. I would just add to that Teaneck-Bergenfield community is an ir va'em beyisrael. Almost, I'm not sure exactly what the appropriate term is, but a type of capital city, one of the capital cities of a much, much broader community. Your distinguished rabbanim, their sphere of influence extends far beyond the dalet amos, the four cubits of Teaneck and Bergenfield. And as a result, I think many, many of us who don't reside within the legal boundaries of Teaneck and Bergenfield identify with the community and what Rabbi Rothwax said is true not only of those who pay taxes in Teaneck and Bergenfield, but of a much broader segment of klal yisrael as well. So I came not to speak to you but to reflect with you. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone, to speak to anyone in such a context, מי אני ומה אני, but perhaps we can reflect together and I hope be'ezras hashem I'm going to try to draw on torah sources, what other source is there for reflection, but at the end of the day, clearly I don't claim any authoritativeness nor comprehensiveness for the reflections, they're personal reflections. I hope be'ezras hashem that they'll be deemed worthy of your reflection and can help us all know how to respond. The etiology, the cause of tragedy and suffering rachmana litzlan, the rav teaches, is often shrouded in mystery. But the teleology of tragedy and suffering, its goal, its purpose, is abundantly clear. Tragedy, suffering rachmana litzlan, comes to elevate us, it challenges us to improve, to elevate ourselves, to elevate our avodas hashem. Halacha, the rav continues, bypasses the metaphysical question of why and instead focuses on the practical question of what do I do, what do we do to improve, how do I improve, how can we improve? But where does one begin to look for answers, perspectives, guidance on this? There are so many different possible avenues of inquiry. Navi Yeshayahu addresses the question, words that will resonate from the haftarah of Yom Kippur morning. Klal yisrael asks, almost challenges hakadosh baruch hu as it were, למה צמנו ולא ראית. How is it that we've fasted, we've repented, and you hakadosh baruch hu, as it were, you haven't taken notice? הכזה יהיה צום אבחרהו, here is hakadosh baruch hu's answer. Is this the type of fast, is this the type of repentance that I desire? הלכוף כאגמון ראשו ושק ואפר יציע הלזה תקרא צום ויום רצון לה'.
Can such be a fast I choose, a day when a man merely afflicts himself? Can it be merely... bowing one's head, spreading a mattress of sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a day of favor to Hashem? הלוא זה צום אבחרהו? Surely this, Hakadosh Baruch Hu continues, this is the fast that I choose: פתח חרצובות רשע התר אגודות מוטה ושלח רצוצים חופשים וכל מוטה תנתקו הלוא פרוס לרעב לחמך ועניים מרודים תביא בית כי תראה ערום וכיסיתו ומבשרך לא תתעלם.
In other words, the Navi Yeshayahu says that whenever we engage on a communal level in a cheshbon hanefesh, in introspection, whenever we engage communally, look again for areas of improvement, look for practical, concrete ways in which we can improve, it has to begin with bein adam lachaveiro. It doesn't end there and I hope we'll have a few minutes to spend beyond that as well, but the Navi says it has to begin with bein adam lachaveiro. And so in Shulchan Aruch, based on a Gemara in Maseches Taanis, codified by the Rambam as well, בכל יום תענית שגוזרים על הציבור מפני הצרות, whenever there was a fast day that was decreed on a community because of because of suffering, בית דין והזקנים יושבים בבית הכנסת, Beis Din and the elders would gather in the shul ובודקים במעשי אנשי העיר and they would review, they would scrutinize with a fine-tooth comb the actions of the people. מחצי תפילת שחרית עד חצי היום. The first half of the day was devoted to this, ומזהירים ודורשים וחוקרים על בעלי חמס ועבירות ומפרישים אותם ועל בעלי זרוע ומשפילים אותם וכיוצא בדברים אלו.
The focus was bein adam lachaveiro. So that's where we have to begin. Not because I think for a moment that the more dramatic type of infractions bein adam lachaveiro that the Navi Yeshayahu or even this seifer in Shulchan Aruch reference are relevant, I'm not aware of it, but perhaps more subtle, more subtle matters within the realm of bein adam lachaveiro. Some further insight into why we have to begin with bein adam lachaveiro is provided by a very stunning, stunning discussion in the Meshech Chochma. Meshech Chochma comments and says when you look at how the Torah relates, there's a certain paradox to the Torah's approach. Hitbonenus b'darchei haTorah, we see that the Torah legislates, God forbid a person engages in idolatry, in idol worship, is guilty of incestuous relationship, of adultery, so the Torah penalizes the person with capital punishment. If not beydei adam, if not skila, then kares. Machlokes, interpersonal strife, lashon hara and rechilus are not actionable beydei adam. Beis Din is... there is no penalty which the Torah legislates for Beis Din to give. And yet, Chazal tell us that not only is sinas chinam shkulah keneged avoda zara, giluy arayos, and shfichus damim, but the Gemara Yoma has a discussion, the Meshech Chochma references it here, which was the greater tragedy... What's that? The destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash or the second Beis HaMikdash? The Gemara says, well, birascha tochiach, look and see. The first Beis HaMikdash where we were punished, where we were indicted, again, for this idolatry, adultery, incest, after 70 years the Beis HaMikdash was restored. The second Beis HaMikdash where we were indicted, where we were punished for sinas chinam has yet to be restored. So on the one hand, on the one hand, the Torah again, the capital punishment is reserved for such offenses as avodah zarah. And yet, in terms of the catastrophic toll which it takes upon us, it's the shortcomings bein adam l'chaveiro. How is that? So basically what Reb Meir Simcha explains is HaKadosh Baruch Hu has an extra measure of tolerance and forbearance for the tzibbur. For a community, for Klal Yisrael as a macrocosm or the various microcosms of Klal Yisrael, HaKadosh Baruch Hu has an extra measure, many extra measures of tolerance and forbearance. As long as we remain not only in word but in deed a tzibbur, a community, cohesive, so then HaKadosh Baruch Hu again, he's not mevater, but there's an extra measure of tolerance and forbearance. But God forbid, if those bonds which hold us together as a tzibbur erode, if they corrode, so then without the merit of being part of a tzibbur, it's not good. So the Meshech Chochma gives us some added insight. The reason our collective cheshbon hanefesh, the reason the first area to look to for improvement is bein adam l'chaveiro, is because the shortcomings bein adam l'chaveiro most immediately threaten and jeopardize our relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. השוכן אתם בתוך טומאתם, as long as we remain a tzibbur, HaKadosh Baruch Hu dwells with us, again, despite our shortcomings, despite our tumah. But that's only true as long as we all belong to a tzibbur. Fragmented, set apart by divisiveness, so then we lose that merit and we forfeit the השוכן אתם בתוך טומאתם. Let's try to, again, just a little bit more understanding into why bein adam l'chaveiro is so crucial. There is a famous passage in the Ba'al HaMaor in a halachic context where the Ba'al HaMaor relates to the question: why is there no Shehecheyanu when we count the first night of Sefiras HaOmer? Twenty-five nights ago, why was there no Sefiras HaOmer? And the Ba'al HaMaor answers very famously that the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer is לאגמת נפשנו לחורבן בית מאוויינו. That the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer reminds us in a very painful way of churban Beis HaMikdash. We only have the mitzvah of counting Sefiras HaOmer m'derabbanan bazman hazeh. The mitzvah min HaTorah is linked to bringing the Minchas HaOmer, the flour offering of the Omer on the second day of Pesach. We've lost that mitzvah, we don't have the real mitzvah, we don't have the mitzvah b'shleimus. And thus, beginning the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer is not an occasion of simcha which would warrant a Shehecheyanu, but it arouses within us feelings of agmas nefesh, of pain, of anguish, because we're reminded of the churban. So according to the Ba'al HaMaor, the Ba'al HaMaor has a different perspective on the period of Sefiras HaOmer. Where our orientation generally is, based on the Sefer HaChinuch, Sefiras HaOmer is a time of hachana, preparation for Kabbalas HaTorah, it's the link, it's the bridge between Yetzias Mitzrayim and Kabbalas HaTorah. Comes the Ba'al HaMaor and says, no, it's a time to be reminded— nightly, daily of the void, the vacuum in our lives because of Churban Habayis, because of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. But in truth this isn't really an alternate competing or even parallel focus. Churban Habayis again most recently by Sheini was brought about because of sinas chinam. Mourning in halacha always involves teshuvah. Aveilus and teshuvah are inseparable. If we mourn Churban Habayis, so it means that we seek to address the sinas chinam. In preparing for Kabbalas HaTorah, the sine qua non for Kabbalas HaTorah, כאיש אחד בלב אחד, that sense of achdus of unity. So that merges, converges with the period of Churban Habayis. The Chofetz Chaim in in his in more than one place in his sefarim quotes the derashos Chazal ויהי בישורון מלך בהתאסף ראשי עם יחד שבטי ישראל. When is Hakadosh Baruch Hu melech biyishurun? Melech involved melech connoting Hakadosh Baruch Hu reveals himself, Hakadosh Baruch Hu as it were in a way that we experience is favorable, that's favorably involved in our lives, emasi hu melech when it's yachad shivtei yisrael. So that's why the navi Yeshayahu tells us that we have to begin our thinking of how we can improve by looking first bein adam lachaveiro and then from there continuing to bein adam lamakom. The bonds which hold a tzibbur together are formed by respect, concern, love, those mutual reciprocal feelings. When there's any type of divisiveness, pettiness, lashon hara, so that weakens rachmana litzlan the bonds of tzibbur. What what perspectives do we try to internalize to cement those bonds? So let's just mention two again not not comprehensive. One offered by the Rambam, the other by the Reishis Chochma. Both of them in their discussions of this morning's krias hatorah of לא תקם ולא תטר. So the Rambam says that in telling us that it's assur to take revenge, it's assur, it's prohibited to harbor a grudge, so the Rambam says the Torah is trying to impart to us a message that what usually, almost always, 99 plus percent of the time precipitates revenge or grudge are things שאינם כדאי לנקום עליהם. Things that there's just am not don't justify it, they're not they're not important. Hashileini magalcha, I ask a person for for a favor. So that that justifies my taking revenge? That justifies my bearing a grudge? The Rambam says the Torah is telling us אינם כדאי לנקום עליהם. It's petty, it's trifle. The less pettiness a person has, the less pettiness a person has, the less room there is for discord with others. But sometimes it would seem that it is worth taking revenge. Sometimes we feel that we have legitimate gripes against others. Sometimes we feel that that person did figuratively stab me in the back. So the Reshit Chochmah has an amazing, amazing comment. It's in Shaar HaAnavah in his discussion of humility. He says one of the places in which you see that the Torah obligates a person to have a sense of humility, how do we know, how do we know, there's the famous passage in the SMaG, the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol where he compiled a list of the 613 mitzvot and was feeling this tremendous sense of accomplishment and then he says he had a dream and he was told in the dream very nice but you forgot the most important mitzvah. Doesn't say anywhere in your sefer where the prohibition to be a baal gaavah and where the chiyuv to be humble is. Says the Reshit Chochmah, you know one of the contexts in which the Torah tells us that it's absolutely imperative that we have a sense of anavah, Torah says לא תקם ולא תטר. Torah says לא תקם ולא תטר. What does that mean? It means that sometimes I can in quotation marks justifiably feel like I have a gripe against someone. Sometimes again in quotation marks I can justifiably feel that I have a tainah for the person. And the only way, says the Reshit Chochmah, that it's possible and plausible to measure up to the Torah's expectations in terms of not taking revenge, not feeling a grudge, not bearing, not harboring a grudge is if a person has a sense of anavah, sense of humility. How so? So the humility that he's talking about isn't a psychological sense of lowliness. When we talk about shiflut we're not describing a psychological feeling or state of mind but we're talking about an ontological feeling or state of mind, something which has to do with a state of being. And maybe let's see if the following mashal helps us see that. Imagine you're standing in a bank. Very, very long line. 40, 50 people in front of you. Looks like it's going to be at least an hour's wait. Someone comes in, how was he able to do this, don't know, cuts the whole line, goes right up to the teller, right up to the window and he's taken care of. People are outraged. Everyone's busy, everyone's lunch hour has long ended, they're all late for getting back to work. What kind of business? Who is he? What is he? To be cutting the line? There's one person standing in the line, he's not saying anything. Everyone else is up in arms and everyone is very vociferous about how outraged they are. There's one person he's not saying anything. Someone says to him, how's it possible? You've been waiting here as long as anyone else. How come you're not all worked up about it? How come you're not so upset about it? And he answers, well if you promise not to tell anyone, he secures that commitment. Says you see, I'm not even a citizen here. Don't even have my green card, I'm an illegal alien. I don't feel, I think what that person did was wrong, but I don't feel like I have the standing to call anyone else onto the carpet for anything they're doing because I know that I have no standing here. So no, I don't think what the person did was right. I recognize what's right and what's wrong. And I think what that person did is wrong, but I have no standing to call him or anyone else on the carpet for that. כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי says Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The nimshal applies to all of us. The nimshal applies to all of us. That sense of who am I, what am I, my existence isn't mine, my abilities are not mine, every breath of life. isn't mine, so who am I to have a gripe against someone else? Who am I to seek revenge against someone else? I'm no different, I'm less than the illegal alien in the moshul. That doesn't mean again we're not talking about a psychological sense of shiflus. A person can have all the self-confidence and self-esteem that he should have to do, to be productive, to maximize the gifts that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has given a person. But if we would have this ontological sense of shiflus, כי גרים ותושבים אנחנו עמדי, sojourners, passing through, no standing to have a gripe. I have no standing to have gripes, to have tainos against other people. I have no, no, no, I'm no better on that level. A person can't be superior to anyone. The sense of superiority which, again, it's subtle but which can underlie, which is often the impetus for Loshon Hora, also goes away. If somehow or other we could reinforce that again, that ontological sense of shiflus. That's what the Reshis Chochma says. You know how it's possible? Even if seemingly, objectively, legitimately, justifiably there would seem to be grounds to have a gripe, because the same way the guy standing in line in the bank has all those grounds. The objective grounds exist, and yet he realizes that it's not for him to act on it. It's not for him to feel like he has a taina. How does one make the transition? Rabbi Rothwachs said halacha l'maaseh that any idea that we're looking to act upon, we have to figure out how do we put it into action. So this is an idea, it's an outlook, it's a perspective. But how do I see to it that when I'm going to react, how do I see to it that I'm going to view everything through this lens, that I'm going to act and react accordingly? I know it, but there's so much, there's often a gap, there's often a dichotomy between what I know and what I do and what I feel. So the answer which is provided by many sefarim, Ramchal has it in Mesillas Yesharim, others as well, and there's a fundamental perspective, again, one which can, which should affect the way I live, the way I act, the way I react. A person has to just keep reinforcing it until it becomes internalized. Again, day in, day out. In our tefilla, we have a head start on that. In the לעולם יהא אדם ירא שמים in the mornings where we borrow from Neilah, מה אנו מה חיינו. That's exactly what we're expressing. This again, this idea of the ontological shiflus which makes possible, which is the foundation of tzibbur. It's what lets us let go, again, of any ill will, it preempts the kind of discord. מה אנו מה חיינו. So the siddur works it into our schedule once a day, but we need to remind ourselves of it. Carry around an index card and remind ourselves periodically over the course of the day. that we don't have the standing to have gripes. We have a neshama tahora to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to do mitzvos, to do chesed, to accomplish tremendous things. vatichasreihu me'at me'elokim, but at the same time כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. We have no more claim, no more basis for having gripes than the illegal alien standing in line in the bank. Perhaps we'll take just a few more moments and discuss one or two things within the realm of bein adam lamakom. The Rav in that same essay of Kol Dodi Dofek where he talks about how halacha bypasses the metaphysical question of why and focuses on the practical question of what, says that generically there's one thing we can say. Without addressing again the why in specifics, Chazal have accepted the view, or the Rishonim have accepted for within the discussion in Chazal of אין יסורים בלא חטא, that the general background is that there's this, there's some, some sin that we have to correct. What's the most general antidote to cheit? What's the most general antidote to cheit? So the Torah tells us: בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו. The impediment to cheit is yirat shamayim. That's what it says in the Torah: בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו. So if we're looking to, to elevate ourselves, we're looking to eliminate what shouldn't be in our lives, so that means we have to look to try to deepen, to cultivate, to intensify our yirat shamayim. Now clearly, clearly there's so much to talk about together, there's so much to reflect on, but one perhaps seemingly simplistic, but not, approach maybe to think about. Chazal in the Gemara Menachos associate with the pasuk ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה,
what does Hakadosh Baruch Hu ask of you? Just to have yirat shamayim. That we should have some sense, some fear of heaven. Chazal associate with that, with that pasuk the chiyuv, the obligation to say מאה ברכות בכל יום, to say a hundred brachos daily. How exactly Chazal see it in, in the pasuk, the Rishonim discuss. One approach apparently runs as follows: yirat shamayim, a yirat shamayim which inhibits us from cheit and energizes us to do what's good and to do what's right and to maximize our abilities and opportunities Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us, yirat shamayim comes naturally and almost automatically if only, if only we can remember that we live in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. What's the function of saying brachos? So the Rambam tells us in פרק א' מהלכות ברכות, the function of saying brachos is lizkor haborei tamid. If wherever I turn there's an occasion to say a bracha, so that's a constant reminder. Whenever I want to take a drink, whenever I want to eat something, constantly, constantly I'm being reminded to, I have to say a bracha, constant built-in reminder of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But there's one catch. One catch that Chazal can't guarantee. That depends on us, and how we say the bracha. When we say the berachah, or I don't know we say berachah, sometimes I sort of mumble my way through berachos. When I mumble a berachah, it doesn't remind me of anything. It's just something which I've trained myself habitually to do, doesn't have any impact. Doesn't remind me of anything. Doesn't keep my focus. Doesn't make me aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I'm not sure that when I say that, I'm not even sure whether it really discharges my obligation to say a berachah. Doesn't take that much to say a berachah properly, doesn't take that much. Chazal says if every berachah which I made, the hundred, we probably exceed it on many days. The hundred berachos I said, if I would say the berachah with just a modicum of kavanah, just not walk around while I'm saying the berachah as the poskim taka talk about, not be doing something else, not be motioning, gesturing, but just saying the berachah. How long does it take to say a berachah? Ten seconds, 15 seconds? How long does it take to say a berachah? So then that would serve as the remind כדי לזכור את בורא עולם. If I remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu constantly, so the Torah says בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו. The Torah tells us what the eitzah is. בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם. I would have enhanced yiras shamayim. A person doesn't cheat on Hakadosh Baruch Hu when he feels, when he's aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. One or two other reflections to share with you. The storm, such as that which we experienced six weeks ago, reminds us of the vulnerability and reminds us of again of transience. The Sforno comments on this morning's krias hatorah kedoshim tihiyu. Sforno says kedoshim tihiyu based on a Gemara in Sanhedrin consistently throughout his peirush on Chumash. Sforno says you should be nitzchiim, you should be eternal. A Jew's calling in life is to live in such a way that he'll merit, he, she will merit eternal life. ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says this is the deal to Klal Yisrael. If you'll accept the Torah, you know what it is? It's a mandate to be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, a holy nation. What does it mean to be a goy kadosh? Says the Sforno, to be nitzchi. To live in such a way that we'll merit eternal life. When shaken by such a natural, the sheer force and power of such a natural event, so one is reminded of how vulnerable and transient the material and physical are. And I know I ask myself, to what extent is my life geared and oriented towards that challenge, towards that mandate, towards that berachah of being part of a goy kadosh? And to what extent do I get distracted? How much of my life, my habits, what I do with the blessings Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives me, blessings in all different areas, how much of that do I marshal towards the again the mandate, the berachah of being a goy kadosh? Goy Kadosh and how much of the time do I get distracted from that mandate and from that bracha? תניא רבי יוסי אומר אוי להם לבריות שרואות ואינן יודעות מה רואות עומדות ואינן יודעות על מה הן עומדות.
And woe unto people, says Rabbi Yosi, who see but don't know what they see, who stand, who live in a world and don't know what the foundation of the world is. הארץ על מה עומדת? al ha'amudim, the pillars. amudim al hamayim, the pillars stand on water. mayim al heharim, water stands on on mountains. harim beruach, the mountains depend upon ruach, ruach bese'ara and the ruach depends upon se'ara שנאמר רוח סערה עושה דברו. סערה תלויה בזרועו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.
The storm is in the hand of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What what's going on in the Gemara? Different interpretations. Maharsha says as follows, just excerpting the part that's most relevant to us now. Ruach represents the neshama of a person, nefesh ruach neshama. Ruach is the neshama of a person. The world stands on ruach, on the neshama of a person in the sense that when the neshama exercises its bechira chofshit, its free will to do good, to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, then that determines the destiny, the fate of the world. הארץ על מה עומדת? al ruach. In other words, Chazal say as follows. The ruach, Hakadosh Baruch Hu releases ruach into the world. The ruach, rachmana litzlan, can be a destructive wind, but the ruach can be an even more powerful force than that. Far far more powerful than the strongest wind imaginable is the ruach ish, the ruach of a person. The ability, the ability to do good, the ability to improve, the ability to do chesed, the ability to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that ruach, that irresistible force is stronger than any other ruach. And when that ruach is exercised, all other ruchot are quieted. The bracha that we make on natural expressions of of force, שכוחו וגבורתו מלא עולם. Koach, as as we're familiar with in every context, refers to physical might. What about gvura? What does it mean when we say that gvura is one of the midot, one of the attributes which we glimpse in Hakadosh Baruch Hu in terms of how he interacts with the world? So the sforim explain as follows. When do we, how do we use it colloquially? When someone does a, when someone, that was a gevura on his part. When we say that colloquially, what does it mean it was a gevura on his part? It means that the person, as it were, had overcome something. He rose to a challenge. Kavyachol, kavyachol the sforim say when we talk about middas hagevura by hakadosh baruch hu, what it means is that when we see a middas hadin in the world, what we see, what we experience, again, a strict attribute of justice in the world, it's a gevura of hakadosh baruch hu because really hakadosh baruch hu is kulo chesed. And what that means is that what underlies every gevura, there is an underlying chesed. The gevura again is that kavyachol, kavyachol the midda of gevura, that's phenomenologically what we see, sort of comparable, analogous to when a parent, when a parent has to discipline a beloved child, it's a gevura. It's a gevura because again a parent is acting seemingly harshly, but the gevura is that really the chesed is still there, the chesed is underlying it. So when we make a bracha כחו וגבורתו מלא עולם, there is an underlying chesed. An underlying chesed that את אשר יאהב ה. It's only because hakadosh baruch hu loves does hakadosh baruch hu challenge, and only when hakadosh baruch hu knows that we can respond does he challenge us. And he gives us the resources, the kochos hanefesh to be able to respond, and hopefully bezras hashem we'll take advantage of those kochos hanefesh.