I want to see that Ramban first in the beginning of Parshas Vayishlach. There's a little introductory paragraph in Parshas Vayishlach. Not sure if it's connected to a particular passuk and if you can look it up in the computer. There's an introductory paragraph here in Parshas Vayishlach. You see it over there? Next on Parsha Hazos? Yeah next on Parsha Hazos. What's it under? Mem beis daled? Mem beis daled. It's towards the bottom of the parsha. Next on Parsha Hazos, Parshas Vayishlach, והודיע כי הציל הקדוש ברוך הוא את עבדו יעקב אבינו וגאלו מיד חזק ממנו וישלח מלאך ויצילהו וישועת הקדוש ברוך הוא וללמדנו עוד שהוא לא בטח בצדקתו והשתדל בהצלה בכל יכולתו.
So each of those statements is important, but the combination is remarkable. Right? That yes, of course the hatzala came from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But in no way did that an iota detract from the hishtadlus that Yaakov Avinu made. ויש פה עוד רמז לדורות כי כל אשר אירע לאבינו עם עשו אחיו יארע לנו תמיד עם בני עשו.
The lives of the Avos serve as paradigms for and indicate the patterns of all of Jewish history. So the same way Yaakov Avinu had this encounter with Eisav, so too יארע לנו תמיד עם בני עשו וראוי לנו לאחוז בדרכו של צדיק.
Shenazmin atzmeinu, we should prepare ourselves, לשלושת הדברים שהזמין הוא את עצמו, litfila, uledoron, and on the negotiation or whatever the analogue of doron is in contemporary metziyus, ולהצלה בדרך מלחמה לברוח ולהינצל. וכבר ראו אבותינו הרמז הזה מן הפרשה הזאת כאשר נסקה.
Take a look in Bamidbar פרק א פסוק מה, במדבר א מה. It's towards I don't know, two thirds, three quarters of the way through the Ramban, veyitachen shenomar od. You see that, Rosso? Veyitachen shenomar od. Veyitachen shenomar od כי היה זה כדרך שהמלכות עושה בבואם למלחמה. The census that was taken מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה כל יוצא צבא בישראל was כדרך שהמלכות עושה בבואם למלחמה. Ki ata, again before the cheit hameraglim, so in Parshas Bamidbar, so they're on the threshold of entering Eretz Yisrael. כי עתה היו מזומנים להיכנס לארץ. כל יוצא צבא במלחמה עם מלכי האמורי אשר בעבר הירדן ועם השאר כולם כמו שאמר נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום אשר אמר השם.
And Moshe Rabbeinu tells Yisrael what we're imminent with, we're right now, we're about to leave. והיו משה והנשיאים צריכים לדעת מספר חלוצי צבא המלחמה. You have to know how many chayalim you have available, you have to know what forces you have available when one has to wage war. וכן מספר כל שבט ושבט ומה יפקד עליו בבואת מועד במערכות המלחמה כי התורה לא תסמוך על הנס שירדוף אחד אלף.
And זה טעם כל יוצא צבא בישראל. That's why the Torah describes and defines the significance of age 20 as that's the age of yotzei tzava כי המניין מפני צבא המלחמה. And let's take a look further, take a look in Devarim פרק כ פסוק א and then pasuk Tes. פרק כ פסוק א in Devarim, Rabosai. כי תצא למלחמה וראית סוס ורכב. Zo mitzvah mechudeshes. So as we commented previously, what the Ramban means by that is that he said in the hakdamah that most of Mishneh Torah, which gives its name, is reinforcing or maybe elaborating, but not giving us entirely new mitzvos, but only most of Sefer Devarim. There are some mitzvos which are mitzvos mechudashos. Ramban says this parsha is one of those, contains one of those mitzvos mechudashos. זו מצווה מחודשת אמר להם אף בבואם במלחמות. וטעם, v'ta'am, right, the pasuk says כי השם אלוקיכם ההולך עמכם להילחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם. יזהירם שלא ירך לבבם ולא ייראו מן האויבים. ויאמר שלא יבטחו בזה בגבורתם לחשוב בלבם גיבורים אנחנו ואנשי חיל למלחמה. רק שישיבו לבם אל השם ויבטחו בישועתו.
So the reason for lo tira meihem is not because oh you're such accomplished mighty warriors. No, the reason for lo tira meihem is כי השם אלוקיכם ההולך עמכם להילחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם. רק שישיבו לבם אל השם ויבטחו בישועתו ויחשבו כי לא בגבורת הסוס יחפץ ולא בשוקי האיש ירצה כי רוצה השם את יראיו את המייחלים לחסדו.
Skipping a few lines, Ramban has, you take a look at the psukim to appreciate the beauty of the pshat that the Ramban is saying in the psukim. Here in the psukim, so the Torah goes back and forth between what the Kohen Mashuach Milchamah says and what the shotrim say in this parsha. Ramban says if you look at sort of which which lines, as it were, are assigned to the Kohen and which lines are assigned to the shotrim. והנה הכהן שהוא עובד השם יזהירם ביראתו ויבטיחם. The Kohen whose life is consecrated to Mikdash, so the Kohen, he's the one who talks about, he gives the havtachah. אבל השוטרים ידברו בנוהג שבעולם פן ימות במלחמה. But the shotrim are the ones who talk about what happens on a natural level, on the on the natural plane. In the natural plane, rachmana litzlan, there are casualties in a war. כי בדרך הארץ בכל המלחמות ימותו אנשים גם מכת הנוצחים.
Even the winning side has casualties. Now take a look at the Ramban pasuk Tes. So on the one hand the Torah says לא תירא מהם כי השם אלוקיך עמך. להילחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם.
And then the Torah says after this, so here this mussar shmuess. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one who's waging war, and obviously against Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so everything is כאין וכאפס כאין וכאפס ותוהו. And then what's the final word? The final word is you have to appoint commanding officers. ופקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם. Says the Ramban כי התורה תצוה בדרך הארץ. Mitzvos HaTorah, halacha operates on the natural plane. That's why the havtachah notwithstanding of ה' אלקיכם ההולך עמכם, so there's a chiyuv to have, there's a chiyuv to have the army, which is why in the beginning of Parshas Bamidbar the Ramban explains why they needed to know how many men there were who were וכל יוצא צבא בישראל. And that's why here in Parshas Shoftim ופקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם כי התורה תצוה בדרך הארץ ותעשה הנסים עם יראיה בהסתר.
So if and when we operate on the natural plane the way we're supposed to, so then we provide cover for Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and that's the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to perform nissim. Ve'ein hachefetz lefanav לשנות טבעו של עולם. That we should vanquish our enemies without having a first-class army is לשנות טבעו של עולם. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want to do it and he doesn't do it because he doesn't want to do it. Ve'ein hachefetz lefanav לשנות טבעו של עולם זולתי כאשר אין שם דרך בהצלה אחרת.
Or the other alternative for when Hakadosh Baruch Hu will make a nes nigleh which diverges from the normal derech hateva fashion in the way things operate. או להודיע שמו לצורף לעיתים כאשר היה בקריעת ים סוף וכיוצא בו.
There are moments when Hakadosh Baruch Hu chooses to reveal himself to the world, to the skeptics, to the deniers, to the... but the standard modus operandi is that ve'ein hachefetz lefanav לשנות טבעו של עולם. So it's absolutely crucial to understand Torah, to project Torah, to live Torah. It's absolutely crucial to understand two things, and if we only understand one of the two, we distort Torah. Is there a special hashgacha for Klal Yisrael? Of course there is. Are the triumphs that we enjoy attributable to כי ה' אלקיכם ההולך עמכם להילחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם?
Of course. ולא בגבורת הסוס יחפץ ולא בשוקי האיש ירצה רוצה ה' את יראיו את המיחלים לחסדו.
Me'idach gisa, the Torah תצוה בדרך הארץ ולא תסמוך דינה על הנס. Me'idach gisa, halacha operates on the natural plane. And it's not only in dinei milchama one sees it, one sees it in dinei pikuach nefesh and so on. In dinei pikuach nefesh, rachmana litzlan if there's a safek sakana on Shabbos, so if a person stops to ask a shaila if it's clear that it's a safek sakana and he stops to ask a shaila, so the Yerushalmi says הרי זה שופך דמים because halacha operates on the natural plane. If a person knows one of these yesodos alone... If a person says that when you have an army or you make other forms of hishtadlus, that that's kochi ve'otzem yadi, that's also a wholesale distortion of Torah. You know, the same way they say of the Kotzker, you know, in a very different context, that in one pocket a person should have a piece of paper that says Anochi afar va'eifer and in the other one he should have a piece of paper that says Bishvili nivra ha'olam. So the same thing is true about these two yesodos. One without the other is a wholesale distortion. To think that it's kochi ve'otzem yadi, of course that's terrible. But to think that the fact that one has an army, the fact that one makes political hishtadlus through a rally, that that's evidence of kochi ve'otzem yadi and that that goes against bitachon is equally a wholesale distortion of not one particular halacha of the entire system of halacha. Halacha operates on a natural plane. Halacha operates on a natural plane. כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים, but it doesn't count if you don't show up to work. You get fired, you get a pink slip, you get fired, and the mezonos which are ketzuvim don't come to the person because Hakadosh Baruch Hu אין החפץ בידו לשנות טבעו של עולם. Teva she'olam is that a person has parnassa because he has a job which brings in a paycheck, unless his family happens to be wealthy and he doesn't need to have a paycheck. Hakadosh Baruch Hu operates on the providential metaphysical level only when we operate on the natural human level because אין החפץ לפניו לשנות טבעו של עולם. So that means that in order for yeshua to come, so we require both. We require that Hatzolah drives on Shabbos, does melacha on Shabbos as needed to get the person to the hospital ASAP. Now is that going to make the difference? So the answer is yes and no. It's going to make the difference because if we don't make the hishtadlus, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't intervene. So on that level the answer is yes, that makes the difference. On another level, does that make the difference in the sense that they are the ones who can ensure and create and generate results? Of course not. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is rofei cholim, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu wills that it's a cooperative effort. That it's a cooperative effort. And therefore התורה תצווה בדרך הארץ. But I understand that we needed to perform hishtadlus to have hashgacha from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but why does that need to look like within nature? Why can't it be that if we put enough hishtadlus, why can't Hashem then perform an open miracle once we put in enough hishtadlus? Why does that hashgacha need to be covered in nature? I don't think we can ask why. I mean there are certain sort of we're in a position to understand what some of the axioms of hashgacha are, what some of the facts of hashgacha are. I think it was Saadia Gaon says, you know, there's a point at which a person, you know, can give reasons and then there are just certain just basic facts. And why do we have five fingers? You know, there's so much you can do with five fingers, imagine if we had seven fingers, gevaldig. I mean there are certain I think it was Saadia Gaon gives either that example or something along those lines. So at a certain point there are just axioms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's briyah, there are axioms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's briyah in the physical world and there are axioms of how hashgacha operates and I don't think we can ask why. In other words we can recognize the what. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created a natural world. He didn't create a world where you know every day it's a coin toss, you know, is the sun going to? People bet on everything so we'll... Is the sun going to rise in the east, north, west, or south? So many opportunities to lose your money. HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose to חוק נתן ולא יעבור. HaKadosh Baruch Hu willed that there should be a natural world. There is a natural world. In conjunction with that ratzon, so HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants a natural world. So part of wanting that natural world is that He wants רובא דרובא דרובא that His hashgacha should operate within that natural system. So when there's a tzahal and when there are chayalim who are moser nefesh to go to war, so then, then within that natural world, HaKadosh Baruch Hu performs miracles and HaKadosh Baruch Hu within the natural world, that's what the ratzon Hashem is. It's not a question of why. It's a question of what. In the same way, without hatzala, without hatzala the person dies. Does that mean that it's kochi ve-otzem yadi? Of course not. But it means that HaKadosh Baruch Hu willed that there's a natural world and that His hashgacha, His involvement is within that natural system. So that means that to open the door for His involvement, there has to be hatzala, the same way there has to be, has to be tzahal. The same way, given the reality, the geopolitical realities bazman hazeh, given the fact that lema'aseh for tzahal to operate they need American arms, so it's very important for the politicians to know that the Jews are very concerned with medinat yisrael and that how the vote is going to go in Florida and how the vote is going to go in New York where there are large blocks of Jewish vote, they should know that we want that arms should be sold to eretz yisrael. And if the way to communicate that is through a rally, so avada, that's what Yaakov Avinu did. Yaakov Avinu wasn't lacking in bitachon and he wasn't practicing kochi ve-otzem yadi. Did the view of our hishtadlus become even more important within the perspective of the Rambam in terms of hashgacha? I don't know that there's any difference in terms of the klal. I think those differences of opinion are when you talk about a yachid. But, but yeah, yes and no, because even according to the Rambam, אין החפץ לפניו לשנות טבעו של עולם. So that means that if the metzius is that this is the circumstance and רובא דרובא דרובא דרובא, that is the case, that אין הקדוש ברוך הוא חפץ על השנוי טבע של עולם,
then He won't. So you can't get more than that. I understand, but you understand also. It illustrates, and this is true in every context as well, but this is a very powerful illustration. You know, a person can read and quote verbatim, he can be reading from Nefesh HaChaim, he can be reading Kodesh Kodashim, he can be reading from Nefesh HaChaim, and if a person overextends by insinuation, over-applies by insinuation, so a person can be reading verbatim from Nefesh HaChaim and be distorting Torah. A person can be reading verbatim from the Rambam and be distorting Torah. A person can be quoting a ma'amar chazal and distorting Torah because there isn't one... Torah consists of, it consists of kol hatorah kula. And משפטי ה' אמת צדקו יחדיו כשמתחברים together, so then. And what the system of halacha is and how the Torah wants us to operate. But if I cherry-pick one maimer and I don't keep it in the broader context of the entirety of Torah, the entirety of halacha where it belongs, so then that one maimer can, by my insinuation, be used to distort and to misrepresent. Okay, we'll continue on 125 today.