Transcript

I think we had seen last time the Gemara in ל"א ל"ב about Yiras Shamayim. Maybe we'll kind of come back to it for a minute. תני רבי יוחנן משום רבי אלעזר about 10 lines before they branch out here.

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא יראת שמיים בלבד שנאמר ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה' אלוקיך. וכתיב ויאמר לאדם הן יראת ה' היא חכמה שכן בלשון יווני קורין לאחת הן.

So what does it mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu only has... what's the idea here? Hakadosh Baruch Hu only has Yiras Shamayim. That's the only... that's all he has in the world. So the Maharal talks baarichus in the Sefer Yiras Shamayim. His basic yesod is that the essence of yira vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruch Hu at any rate, that the essence of yira is the not only awareness but awareness feeling that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the ila and that a person is an olul.

כי זה עצם היראה כאשר האדם הוא עלול אל העילה. כי כבר אמרנו כי עצם היראה מה שהאדם עלול אל העילה והוא אמיתת היראה.

When a person both intellectually recognizes but also feels it's the defining awareness that he has that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the source of everything, is everything, again ila literally translates as cause, and that everything else in terms of our own consciousness, particularly oneself, is nothing more than an olul. That sense of complete that awareness and sense of complete hisbatlus vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's how the Maharal defines Yiras Shamayim. That's how he says pshat in the Gemara in Brachos of ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך the same pasuk that our Gemara is darshening that אטו יראה מלתא זוטרתא היא. If you ask someone to lend you a dollar, so you can say "what am I asking you for? I'm asking for a dollar." You ask someone to lend you a million dollars, you can't say "well, what am I asking for? I'm only asking you to lend me a million dollars." So אטו יראה מלתא זוטרתא היא so the Gemara answers in. לגבי משה מלתא זוטרתא היא and then it says משל לאדם ששואלין ממנו כלי if he has it, it's דומה לו ככלי קטן if he doesn't have it, it's דומה לו ככלי גדול. So the Maharal says what's the pshat. So he gives amplifying, he basically gives the following mashal. Let's say a person goes and ich veis he gets a PhD in physics. Spends a few years studying and he gets a PhD in physics. So that's a very impressive accomplishment. He's mastered a body of knowledge. It's he's acquired that knowledge, he's mastered that field. There's a kinyan there, that he's acquired. Let's say you have someone who rachmana litzlan, rachmana litzlan was a shoteh, he was deranged and then he's restored to health. So he knows that he now knows and I don't mean this to be humorous. He knows that he's not a bird, he knows that he can't fly, he knows that he's been restored to health. So we're not going to say that he has tremendous chochma. The deficiency of not having it, the deficiency of not having that basic threshold of understanding reality and the reality of who and what he is, the deficiency of not having that, if a person doesn't have it, it's domeh k'ikli gadol. There's no greater deficiency that a person can have than lacking that realism and being in touch with reality. But when he has it, we don't view it as his having mastered a body of chochma. So that's what the Maharal says that in this respect, it's not that the Torah is couching things in terms which are only appropriate to Moshe Rabbeinu. That obviously doesn't make any sense because the Torah is intended for all of us, but in this respect, everyone is supposed to be like Moshe Rabbeinu in that having that understanding, having that awareness of v'nachnu mah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the ilah and we're alul and that's what it means מה השם אלהיך שואל מעמך not to be big chachamim, not to master all kinds of fields of knowledge, just to be in touch with reality. So that's why for the Maharal, that's why he says that yirat Hashem more than anything encapsulates what when a person has yirat Hashem, so that encapsulates what the relationship is between our person, between the world and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That more than anything else, again this, again uniquely captures what the relationship is. And that's what it means

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא יראת שמים בלבד

that only to the degree that there's yirat shamayim in the world, so is there any kind of recognition what the world is vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's why yirat shamayim more than anything is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu has in the world because it's that which really expresses, again quintessentially and uniquely, what the relationship is between our person and between Hakadosh Baruch Hu. One of the chachmei umot ha'olam has an expression in describing religious experience that the person has a sense of creatureliness. L'maiseh it seems like b'miktzas he's mechaven to what the Maharal is saying. Maybe segueing a little bit within Yiras, within Yiras Shamayim, within Yiras Hashem. It's something that we struggle with mightily. Who thinks that he has adequate Yiras Shamayim? How does a person try to strengthen, to deepen his Yiras Shamayim? So the Rama in the beginning of Shulchan Aruch quotes from the Rambam

שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני אלוקים. כי אין ישיבת האדם ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לבדו בביתו כישיבתו ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לפני מלך גדול. ולא דיבורו והרחבת פיו כרצונו והוא עם אנשי ביתו וקרוביו כדיבורו במושב המלך. כל שכן כשישים האדם אל לבו שהמלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו כמו שנאמר אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאום ה' מיד יגיע אליו היראה וההכנעה בפחד השם יתברך ובושתו ממנו תמיד.

So the key and telling word here in the Rama quoting from the Rambam here is the word miyad. We spend a lifetime working on Yiras Shamayim and the Rama says מיד יגיע אליו היראה. It's immediate, it's instantaneous. The pshat is that again what the Rama quoting the Rambam is telling us is that in truth Yiras Shamayim is a natural reaction. It's not something that a person has to cultivate within himself. It's really a natural reaction. And the reason according to again the Rama quoting the Rambam here, the reason when a person feels deficient or if that feeling is accurate when a person is deficient in Yiras Shamayim to a large degree it owes to the fact that he's maysiach da'as. That a person has hesach hada'as. Let's say if a person has talk about the yira in the sense of just fear of what can happen. If a person is in a war zone rachmana litzlan and the shells are exploding all around him so he doesn't need to train himself, he doesn't need to The awareness of where he is just naturally awakens that within him because it's just a natural reaction to the reality that he's experiencing, the reality that he's perceiving. So to the degree, say the Rama and the Rambam, to the degree that we're understanding of and remain mindful of the reality of living in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the reality of what the Maharal talks about, many other facets to this reality, so then the yirat shamayim becomes a just natural, instantaneous, that's how natural it is, a natural, instantaneous reaction just to the reality that we encounter, the reality that we live, which means that the real avodah is to work on hesach hadaas. That's the real avodah. The real avodah is to try to overcome hesach hadaas. Could be that that's another possible pshat in that Gemara in Berachos that the Maharal talks about of אין לגבי משה מילתא זוטרתא היא. That one of the qualities that define Moshe Rabbeinu is that which resulted in his being poresh min ha'isha is that he was always on red alert for nevuah as it were. That the one who embodied more than certainly unsurpassed. The Rambam says that the Avos also were always always thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu like Moshe Rabbeinu. That those four were always, no matter what else they were doing, no matter what else or whom else they were involved with, but their minds were always with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So Moshe Rabbeinu represents again the lack of hesach hadaas. And itachen that's another pshat in the Gemara that in, taka מיד יגיע אליו היראה as long as a person doesn't allow himself to be distracted from the ultimate and obviously really only reality of life. We find in, I think the Gemara in Menachos when it talks about that חייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום, so the Gemara associates it also with this pasuk of

ועתה ישראל מה ה׳ אלקיך שואל מעמך. תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר חייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום שנאמר ועתה ישראל מה ה׳ אלקיך שואל מעמך.

So how do you associate the chiyuv meah brachos with the pasuk of ועתה ישראל מה ה׳ אלקיך שואל מעמך? So Rashi says יש מפרשים שזה תוספות דמה עולה באתבש מאה. Different pshatim in the Rishonim. Either way, Rabbi Meir associates the מאה ברכות בכל יום with the pasuk of ואתה ישראל מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך and according to Rashi, mistama the keri bei is a form of the al tikrei. Either way, whatever pshat in the Rishonim you give, so what's the pshat? The pshat lekora is as follows. Rambam writes at the beginning of Hilchos Brachos: נמצאו כל הברכות כולן שלושה מינים. Birkos Hanoah, Birkos Mitzvos,

וברכות הודאה שהן דרך שבח והודאה ובקשה, כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד וליראה ממנו.

So it's an amazing thing. Rambam says what's accomplished by having a chiyuv bracha, by having to say a bracha? He says what's accomplished is that a person, if he says the bracha thoughtfully, it causes him to remember HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And then the Rambam says and if it causes him to remember HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it instills within the person again, it naturally then instills within the person that he has yirah as well. כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד וליראה ממנו. Again, exactly the idea we were talking about in the Remak quoting from the Rambam, that the avoda is lizkor, the avoda is not to be mesiach da'as, and then the veliyirah mimenu is a natural reaction. So now again, whatever the pshat in the Gemara is, Rashi's keri bei meiah, Atbash, whatever the pshat in the Gemara is, gevaldig. So the baraisa associates the chiyuv meiah brachos with the pasuk of ואתה ישראל מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך. What's pshat in the pasuk? Pshat in the pasuk is that a person has to have yiras shamayim. And what's more, the Torah downplays what yiras shamayim is. מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך. What's HaKadosh Baruch Hu asking you? So one pshat was suggesting in the Gemara is that the מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך is that it's not an avoda to have yiras shamayim, the yiras shamayim is מיד יגיע אליו היראה if only a person is not mesiach da'as. If once a person has some level of understanding and then maintains an awareness, so then it's מה ה' אלוהיך שואל ממך. It's מיד יגיע אליו היראה. It's מיד יגיע אליו היראה. But what's the catch? The catch is that the Ve'ata Yisrael requires that a person be זוכר את הבורא תמיד. How did Chazal help us in that effort, how did Chazal structure our days, our lives in that effort, is with chiyuv brachos. And that's pshat that the baraisa associates the חיוב מאה ברכות בכל יום with the pasuk of ואתה ישראל מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך. They tell a story that a chasid once came to the Kotzker Rebbe and said to him, רבנו למדנו אורחות חיים, how does one have yiras shamayim? So the Kotzker said to him, did you ever have the following experience? Or if you didn't, can you try to imagine the following experience? That you're traveling through a forest. alone, without anyone else, and all of a sudden you find yourself surrounded by a band of cutthroat bandits. Or you're traveling through a forest and all of a sudden there's a lion, not a herbivorous lion either, in front of you. So he says, if you've had the experience or if you haven't, can you imagine the person needing someone to instruct him to be afraid? So the point of the story is the same, not that the Kotzker was talking about that that's the only dimension of yira and vechulu, that's not the point of his moshel. The point of his moshel is again that reality inspires and instills yiras Hashem if only we're mindful of reality, if only we're cognizant of reality and not so distracted by everything everything that we're doing or the superficiality of things. One of the themes that we have in those piercing vertlach from the Kotzker Rebbe is this critique of shallowness and superficiality, not living thoughtfully and reflectively. So one of the Kotzker's most famous vertlach is on וירא העם וינועו ויעמדו מרחוק. The Kotzker says you can shuckle and you can shuckle and you can shuckle and still be vayaamdu merachok and still be very distant from things. Okay so the next Gemara here begins with the Mishna of

על שלוש עבירות נשים מתות בשעת לידתן על שאינן זהירות בנדה ובחלה ובהדלקת הנר נידה מאי טעמא רבי יצחק אמר היא קלקלה בחדרי בטנה לפיכך תלקה בחדרי בטנה תינח נדה חלה והדלקת הנר מאי איכא למימר כדדרש ההוא גלילאה עליה דרב חסדא אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ברביעית דם יצרתי אתכם על עסקי דם הזהרתי אתכם ראשית קראתי אתכם על עסקי ראשית הזהרתי אתכם נשמה שנתתי בכם קרויה נר על עסקי נר הזהרתי אתכם אם אתם מקיימים אותם מוטב ואם לאו הריני נוטל נשמתכם ומאי שנא בשעת לידתן אמר רבא נפל תורא חדד לסכינא רש"י נפל תורא לארץ שהוא עומד לשחיטה הכל אומרים חדדו לסכינא עד שלא יקום ויהא טורח להשליכו כך חולה ואיטר מזליה מזומנת פורענותו לבוא.

So when a person is רחמנא ליצלן במקום סכנה, so then he's more vulnerable because of the chatoim shebeyado. אביי אמר תפיש תירס אמתא בחד מחטא. Abaye omar

טפיש טיבות אומצא בחד מכתבא ליהוי טרפי פשחא השפחה לכולן תלקי בחבטא אחת,

that when there's a shas hadin, so Rashi explains in the one on the next Rashis, so childbirth is a shas hadin because it's the meeting out of the בעצבונך והרנך בעצב תלדי בנים, it's the meeting out of din. So beshas hadin again a person is more vulnerable than at other times for chatoim shebyodu. Rava's emphasizing more the shas sakona, Abaye emphasizing more the shas hadin. VeRav Chisda amar שבקיה לרויא דמנפשיה נפיל, like Rashi explains in parshas Nitzavim למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, so rava means saturated. If a person's saturated with drink, he's a shikker, so shavkei leravya you don't have to knock the drunk person over. If he's drunk enough he's gonna fall down by himself, you don't have to knock him over.

שבקיה לרויא לשיכרא אין צריך להפילו שהוא יפול מאליו כך אשה עומדת ללד משנתעברה והיא צריכה לבקש מהקדוש ברוך הוא לפתוח רחמה והוא נמנע והיא מתה מאליה.

There's an amazing thing. So Rav Chisda says that basically every successful childbirth should be viewed as a miracle. That's the correct perspective, that every successful and safe childbirth should be viewed as a miracle, and that's the pshat that when a person is in need of a miracle, again, so then he or she is going to be more vulnerable and held accountable for aveiros shebyodu. Ma'ukva omar

רעיא חגירא ועזי ריהטן אבב חוטרא מילי ואבי דרי חושבנא.

So if the shepherd is lame and then the goats are running, so then when does he catch up with them? So he catches up with them when they're trying to get into the stable, whatever it's called. The

הנמשל כלומר האשה כשהיא בבריאות פעמים שזכויותיה תולין ואין כוח במקטרג להזכיר עונה אבל משהגיע לפתח הסכנה וצריכה לנסים שם מזכירין עונותיה ומעשיה וראויה היא לנס אם לאו.

It seems to be very similar again to the point Rav Chisda was emphasizing, that the significance of childbirth is the need for a miracle. Rav Papa amar

אבב חנוותא נפישי אחי ורחמי אבב בזיוני לא אחי ולא רחמי.

The

הפתח החנות שמחלקים בו מזונות ויש שם עושר הרבה אחים והרבה אוהבים יש.

When you win the lottery you've got you're surrounded by friends and new-found friends and relatives. Abav bazyonei במקום שיש הפסד ועוני rachmana litzlan, a person is destitute, so he's not so surrounded by friends and relatives. Kach beshas hasakona הוא המזל והחשיבות וחדלו פרקליטין שלו, that the paklitin who can advocate for her, her advocates are not able to advocate for her once it's a shas sakona. Again he goes back to emphasizing the shas sakona similar to Rava.