Transcript

I want to talk a little bit with im Hashem today about the bechiras Yisrael. It's a very difficult to exaggerate how how central a concept it is in the Torah, how fundamental it is. There seem to be different approaches amongst the hachmei hamasorah how to understand the the unique status of Klal Yisrael in the world. The mashma'os I think pretty clear in in the Kuzari of Yehuda Halevi, I forgot to bring it in, I'm sorry so I'm not reading from it. The mareh mekomos we're going to mention are representative mareh mekomos, not not comprehensive. One mahalach which seems to be that of Yehuda Halevi and the Maharal is that Klal Yisrael were created differently, were created on a different level than than the rest of the world. Yehuda Halevi traces how amongst all of Adam Harishon's children so initially that special inyan eloki, a which Yehuda Halevi describes as that which allows a person to cling to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and and live a spiritual life, an intuitive grasp of truth. So it initially only Hevel received that inyan eloki. After Hevel was killed, so then Sheis receives it and it's that tekunas hanefesh which characterizes the shalsheles hadoros which the Torah which the which the Torah lists in Parshas Bereishis and Noach, the asarah doros from Adam to Noach and and from Noach to to Avraham Avinu. Maharal in a few places also operates with that understanding. For instance, here in in Tiferes Yisrael in in a few places. So in the very beginning of Tiferes Yisrael in perek aleph, the Maharal writes,

אמנם כל המין מבני אדם אי אפשר שיהיו שווים כולם במעלת נפשם.

Not all of humanity is the same. ואם שכל מין בני אדם שווים בתואר פניהם ובעיניהם. In terms of the physical countenance of humanity, so there is uniformity relatively speaking.

אינם שווים במה שיש חלק מהם יותר אלקי מזולתם כמו שידוע כי הנבואה ורוח הקודש והשכינה היו מיוחדים בזה העם שבחר בו השם יתברך מזולת שאר האומות עכו״ם ואין ספק כי הנבואה הכנה בנפש האדם. ותמצא הכנה הזאת מיוחדת בזה העם שבחר השם יתברך ומזה תראה כי העם הזה היה יותר נפשם אלקית מצד ההכנה הזאת.

A footnote quotes in the notes here a from the Maharal in Gevuros Hashem where the Maharal writes,

כמו שיש למין האנושי מעלה יתירה שיש להם השכל על ידי ההכנה שבהם על שאר בעלי חיים שאין להם השכל. כמו כן כלל ישראל יש הכנה מיוחדת בנפשם.

A capacity for dibuk bashchina and shefa hanevuah. So bechiras Yisrael reflects something which from the very moment of yetzira, a unique quality which Hakadosh Baruch Hu, with which Hakadosh Baruch Hu endowed זרע אברהם יצחק ויעקב. Then that's one lichora, one approach. Ramban in Ha'azinu on the pasuk אמרתי אפאיהם אשביתה מאנוש זכרם, Ramban writes as follows:

השם ברא את האדם בתחתונים שיכיר את בוראו ויודה לשמו.

Right, similar to what he writes at the end of the famous Ramban in Parshas Bo:

השם ברא את האדם בתחתונים שיכיר את בוראו ויודה לשמו, ושם הרשות בידו להרע או להטיב וכאשר חטאו ברצונם וכפרו בו כולם לא נשאר רק העם הזה לשמו, ופרסם בהם באותות ובמופתים כי הוא אלוקי האלוקים ואדוני האדונים ונודע בזה לכל העמים.

So the Ramban seems to be saying that Klal Yisrael earned that unique status, that it wasn't something which had already was already initially present in the very makeup, but that Klal Yisrael earned that status by virtue of the fact that all the other nations were kofer bashem and it was only again זרע אברהם יצחק ויעקב who remained loyal to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Ramchal in Derech Hashem also operates with this approach and elaborates a little bit what probably is implicit in the Ramban and says that it was part of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's master plan that until a certain point in history, so national character was going to be forged. What he calls that there would be a period in history of the formation of shorashim and that subsequently would be anafim, branches. And he said that it was during this tkufa again that זרע אברהם יצחק ויעקב distinguished themselves, and that's why when the national groupings, the shivim umos ha'olam, when their national groupings were formed, so then the character of those different groups was determined by how their progenitors had acted until that point in history, which is basically what's implicit in this Ramban as well, that the din l'doros, the special bechiras Yisrael, the special status of Klal Yisrael was earned, but there was a period during which that determination was going to be made. The Rambam in one place writes... that the whole question of why the Torah was given to one nation, not to all nations of the world, he says is not a question that one looks to answer. The answer is that kach gazra chochmaso or kach ratza Hashem. The mashmaos, it's not mefurash, it doesn't have to be this way, logically it doesn't have to be this way, but the mashmaos is that the Rambam is saying one doesn't have to attribute it to a difference in the beriah, one doesn't have to attribute it to it having been earned. It doesn't the whole question isn't really a question which falls within the borders of human inquiry. There are basic why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu create the world that near the Earth's atmosphere there's gravity? Why did there are basic facts in the beriah. And those basic facts in the beriah is kach gazra chochmaso, kach ratza and this is no difference, says the Rambam. Why are there people and animals? I guess the Rambam didn't go to the zoo in Chol Hamoed, otherwise he would have thought there's a very compelling answer to the question but kach gazra chochmaso, kach ratza. The emes is, ultimately every approach, all three of the approaches that we sort of illustrated representatively and this is true for everything. Ultimately everything comes down to that. The question is at what stage, the question is how much is there supposed to be any understanding or insight that we have until that point? But ultimately everything comes down to that. Everything ultimately everything comes down to kach gazra chochmaso, kach ratza. The question is how many layers of understanding can one access, are we able to access, are we supposed to access before that? But ultimately that's the according to Rabi Yehuda Halevi and the Maharal. So why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu create one nation different than all other nations? According to the Ramban and Ramchal, so why is it that it was during the first 2,000 years or so of the beriah of the world that national character, national identity were going to be formed and that was going to again then have implications subsequently? So even all the approaches ultimately come down, obviously, to kach gazra chochmaso, kach ratza. There are many, many important peratim, follow-up questions to what we're talking about, we're just going to try to give a little bit of a framework today, a little bit of a scheme and maybe bli neder we'll try to follow up on some of them. The Gemara in the fourth perek of Rosh Hashana quotes from Masechet Tamid the shir shel yom that the Leviim used to say each day of the week.

תניא רבי יהודה אומר משום רבי עקיבא בראשון מה היו אומרים

Lashem haaretz umloah. Why this kapittel Tehillim?

על שם שקנה והקנה ושלט בעולמו. בשני מה היו אומרים.

What did they say in Sheni Beshabas?

גדול ה' ומהולל מאד על שם שחילק מעשיו ומלך עליהן.

So on Sheni Beshabas we again say the kapittel with the pasuk of

גדול ה' ומהולל מאד על שם שחילק מעשיו ומלך עליהן.

So what does that mean? So Rashi says:

שחילק מעשיו הבדיל רקיע בין יהי רקיע בתוך המים ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים ונתעלה וישב במרום דוגמת שוכנו בעירו ובהר קודשו.

So that division between the elyonim and tachtonim is a paradigm, is is an analogue to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's bechira and the hasharas Hashchina in Yerushalayim on Har Habayis. So on sheni of Sheshes Yimei Bereishis, so what happened? Chillek ma'asav. Havdala. The the concept of of havdala within within the world bein elyonim letachtonim and Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again, there was havdala in yom rishon bein or l'choshech, but here there's there's an identification as it were of Hakadosh Baruch Hu within that havdala, right? venisaleh veyashav bamrom. So how how is that reflected in the kapittel Tehillim of גדול ה' ומהולל מאוד because that havdala, that association of Hakadosh Baruch Hu with elyonim is the the paradigm for his bechira, for his hasharas Hashchina in Yerushalayim on Har Habayis, which is גדול ה' ומהולל מאוד בעיר אלוהינו הר קודשו, which is that that that that pasuk of the kapittel. So lich'ora you see here from the lashon ha... here the lashon from masechet Tamid of חלק מעשיו ומלך עליהם, that havdala, differentiation, bechira, selection, is a prime expression of malchus. Right? That's what it says. על שם שחלק מעשיו ומלך עליהם. It's the prerogative it's the prerogative of the king to say who's going to be a sar, who's not going to be a sar. Who's going who's who's going to be omed umeshammesh lefanav, who's not going to be omed umeshammesh lefanav. And and that's just a prerogative of the melech. It's it's a again, it's a a core prime expression of malchus. The emess is, in the tefillah every day, the the first beracha lifnei ברכת קריאת שמע של ערבית is a peledike beracha. So what's what's the whole beracha?

אשר בדברו מעריב ערבים בחכמה פותח שערים ובתבונה משנה עתים ומחליף את הזמנים ומסדר את הכוכבים במשמרותיהם ברקיע כרצונו בורא יום ולילה גולל אור מפני חושך וחושך מפני אור מעריב יום ומביא לילה ומבדיל בין יום ובין לילה.

So the whole beracha is about havdala and particularly havdala of yom velaila. Right? So the Rama says you're supposed to mention middas yom balaila, you're supposed to mention middas laila bayom, fine. So then the chasima of the beracha always always reflects what the the content of the beracha is. So אל חי וקיים תמיד ימלוך עלינו לעולם ועד. How does that... it's a total non sequitur. We're talking about there's day and there's night and the day it's and and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is

גולל אור מפני חושך וחושך מפני אור מבדיל בין יום ובין לילה,

so then all of a sudden out of nowhere אל חי וקיים תמיד ימלוך עלינו. But I think my son told me I think he said in one of the Rishonim, I think maybe it's the Abudraham, that taki some don't have this line. And and you understand why you don't. It doesn't fit lich'ora, mamash doesn't fit. L'maiseh we say it and and many do have the line. So what's the pshat? So the pshat is that's gufeh the yesod we're talking about. You're talking about havdala, so havdala is again is one of the the primary expressions of malchus. So this whole beracha, yes, it's been about havdala of yom velaila, but

על שם שחלק מעשיו ומלך עליהם. חלק מעשיו ומלך עליהם,

so the It's been about מבדיל בין יום ובין לילה, but lemaaseh havdala is always, always the underlying theme whenever you're talking about any havdala is malchiyos. So the chasima of the bracha of קל חי וקיים תמיד ימלוך עלינו. In the Shemoneh Esrei of Yamim Noraim, in the third bracha, with the דור ודור המליכו לקל כי לבדו מרום וקדוש and then we have the four uvachein paragraphs. So margala bapumeh, the Rav always used to say that the mishna in Rosh Hashana has a machlokes between רבי יוחנן בן נורי and Rabbi Akiva whether or not malchiyos is inserted into the bracha of Kedushas Hashem, the third bracha of the Shemoneh Esrei, or whether it's inserted, as we do obviously, into the fourth bracha of the Shemoneh Esrei, Kedushas Hayom. What's the, I don't remember whether he said the next part, so not to burden him with it. What's sort of the backdrop to the machlokes? That the emes is that both are brachos of malchiyos. By virtue of the fact that the chasima of HaKel Hakadosh is changed to HaMelech Hakadosh, so the third bracha is a bracha of malchiyos. By virtue of Rav Chaim's yesod, that the Kedushas Hayom of Rosh Hashana is malchiyos, so the bracha of Kedushas Hayom is also a bracha of malchiyos. So mimeila, that's part of the backdrop to the machlokes tannaim, רבי יוחנן בן נורי and Rabbi Akiva of where you integrate malchiyos in the Shemoneh Esrei. Be that as it may, so margala bapumeh, the Rebbe used to say that this Ledor vador and the uvacheins was רבי יוחנן בן נורי's hakdama to malchiyos. Our hakdama to malchiyos in bracha revi'is is Aleinu and Al kein nekaveh. עלינו ועל כן נקוה is originally from the ראש השנה שמונה עשרה and then it was just so beautiful we couldn't limit ourselves to only saying it a couple of times a year, so we say it after every tefilla. We borrowed it from the Shemoneh Esrei. So our introduction to malchiyos is עלינו ועל כן נקוה. רבי יוחנן בן נורי, this, what, this was רבי יוחנן בן נורי's introduction to malchiyos. So if you look carefully, so you can discern, you can learn from this what are the main themes associated with malchiyos. So for instance, uvachein tein pachdacha is that שום תשים עליך מלך שתהא אימתו עליך is that malchiyos is supposed to awaken within a person a sense of profound eima veyira. But very, very prominent within רבי יוחנן בן נורי's hakdama to malchiyos is the

ובכן יתקדש שמך ד' אלקינו על ישראל עמך ועל ירושלים עירך ועל ציון משכן כבודך ועל מלכות בית דוד משיחך ועל מכונך והיכלך, ובכן תן כבוד ד' לעמך תהלה ליראיך ותקוה טובה לדורשיך.

All the bechiras Yisrael is something which is highlighted very, very prominently, is underscored very, very much within malchiyos because that's the yesod, על שם שחילק מעשיו ומלך עליהם, that bechira, havdala is an expression of malchiyos. It's the king's prerogative to be bocher, it's the king's prerogative to be mavdil. In sketching again what seem to be at least three different approaches or conceptualizations of bechiras Yisrael, so we actually touched on a closely related question which is To what degree we conceive of the difference between Yisrael and Umos Ha'olam as just being something which is מצד עצם נפשם ונשמתם. So clearly, clearly again that's where Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi and the Kuzari and then the Maharal that we read clearly have such an understanding. The Gemara in Yevamos on Ayin-Chet Ayin-Tes when it talks about the Gimmel Simanim Ba'uma Zu that there are three defining, identifying characteristics of Jews: Rachmanim, Bayshanim, Gomlei Chasadim. And then the Gemara gives us the pasuk for each of these: Rachmanim Dechsiv Venasam Lecha Rachamim, Bayshanim Dechsiv בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם, Gomlei Chasadim Dechsiv למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו. So I have to figure out exactly in terms of Avoda and Tzedaka what is... not so pashut. Okay anyway. So Al Kol Panim, Rachmanim, Bayshanim, Gomlei Chasadim. There's a very interesting Maharsha. Maharsha says it's meduyak in the psukim:

פירוש הכתוב ונתן לך רחמים דהיינו שיהיה לכם מידת הרחמים שתהיה אתה מרחם על הבריות ולא כן שאר האומות.

Right, you ever wonder why there's so many hospitals that are Beth Israel and Mount Sinai? It's like the Gemara in Yevamos. Le'inyan Habusha, amrinan in Nedarim, בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם, zo habusha. Listen carefully, rabosai:

כי היראה הנכרת בפנים היא הבושה כמו שכתוב בושת פנים לגן עדן והיפך עז פנים.

Now listen:

ולאו לפי מזג וטבע קאמר דהא אמרו בביצה פרק ג' ישראל עז באומות ומפני מה ניתנה תורה לישראל מפני שהן עזין אלא דעל שם זה נקראו ביישנים שהתורה מתשת כוחן ומכנעת ליבם.

So it's pretty clear from the Maharsha that he understands that the siman of rachmanus is something which is lefi teva umizeg, something which is... a Jew is that way naturally. That's in our code. A Jew is that way naturally. He's... again, it's not... a person rachaman, I don't think he can... I mean, mekalkel anything, it doesn't take away bechira, but it's lefi teva umizeg. Ma she'ein kein bayshanim is through Torah. That's the chillek the Maharsha understands and he says it's very meduyak in the psukim. The pasuk for rachmanus is venasam lecha rachamim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's going to implant that within you, the mida of rachmanus. The mida of busha is בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם is through Torah. Ki... how's the pasuk go?

כי בעבור נסות אתכם בא האלהים ובעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו.

It's through Torah, through that encounter with Hakadosh Baruch Hu that a person acquires the mida of busha. It's not 100% clear when you read the rest of the Maharsha how he understands chesed, whether or not chesed also is an outgrowth of hisaskus b'Torah, the gomlei chasadim, or whether that's also embedded in the beriah. But with this Maharsha in mind, so there's a line and a diyuk in the beginning of the Baal HaTanya which resonates. The Baal HaTanya has a lot to say about this question that we're discussing in terms of the source of difference between Yisrael and Umos Ha'olam and he certainly lines up very, very strongly with the view that we illustrated through Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. So he says as follows: he's talking about the Baal HaTanya's talking about how we have two nefashos, we have a Nefash HaBehemis and a Nefash HaSichlis. And again, as he's metzayein, so the source for this is from Rav Chaim Vital from the Arizal. So we have a Nefash HaBehemis and we have a Nefash HaSichlis. Middos are rooted in the Nefash HaBehemis. Middos are rooted in the Nefash HaBehemis. He says:

וגם מדות טובות שבטבע כל ישראל בתולדותם כמו רחמנות וגמילות חסדים באות ממנה.

Listen to this line, Rabosai:

וגם מדות טובות שבטבע כל ישראל בתולדותם כמו רחמנות וגמילות חסדים באות ממנה.

The mimena is the Nefash HaBehemis.

כי בישראל נפש זו דקליפה היא מקליפת נוגה שיש בה גם כן טוב והיא מסוד עץ הדעת טוב ורע.

So the Baal HaTanya says meforash, right? מדות טובות בטבע כל ישראל. But notice how he only mentions rachmanus and gmilus chasadim. Right? Of the ג' סימנים באומה זו of רחמנים ביישנים גומלי חסדים, so the Baal HaTanya only mentions rachmanus and gmilus chasadim. So the mashma'us is, no, he also learns pshat in the Gemara in Yevamos like the Maharsha, that the rachmanus, again, in the Maharsha it wasn't, it's not meforash which way he understands gmilus chasadim. That rachmanus and gmilus chasadim, that's takeh bitivan. That's bitivan. The busha is something which is through the involvement with Torah. Lema'aseh, you see it. You see that even rachmana litzlan, assimilated Jews who, unfortunately, tragically, don't have exposure to Torah, you see the philanthropy, you see the kindness that they have. The origins of labor unions, so the way it came about originally is it was, there used to be sweatshops and laborers used to be terribly, terribly taken advantage of. So the first doros of labor unions, it was simply להציל עשוק מיד עושקו. So many, many of the prominent labor leaders, they were Jewish. What was his name, Samuel Gompers and others. It's a matter of historical record and historical fact that they were Jewish. And we mentioned before philanthropists in terms of hospitals, all disproportionately Jewish. Disproportionately Jewish, and you find it even amongst, unfortunately, tragically, that they are, amongst assimilated Jews. In the Rambam it's hard to tell. When the Rambam quotes this Gemara in Yevamos of רחמנים ביישנים גומלי חסדים, it's hard to tell. But just to clarify one thing, even if one doesn't think that it's mutba in the very nefesh, itochen that it's still b'teva. Itochen that it's still b'teva. And that is, just, I didn't bring it in, okay. Take a look in the Drashos HaRan, in the fifth drasha in the Drashos HaRan. So the Rishonim have a notion, in the notes there they're metzayein the Rambam's medical writings where the Rambam says something, has the same idea that the Ran has there. That there are some mitzvos and aveiros which only leave their imprint on a person's nefesh, and there are other mitzvos and aveiros which leave their imprint also on a person's guf. And those later, that latter category is something which can then, netiyos can then be passed on from parents to children. So the Ran has that idea and again, you'll see there the references the Rambam has it as well. So this question of what there is sort of in the... Just be-teva, be-teva can mean mi-tzad ha-nefesh, or be-teva could also mean again mi-tzad this idea that it's sort of an acquired, implanted teva that is transmitted from one generation to the next. So the Rambam certainly doesn't have this idea of the Ba'al HaTanya. Let's say when we learned a little bit Shemonah Perakim. So the Rambam talks about the nefesh; he doesn't tell you that there's a different nefesh for Yisrael and for umot ha-olam. So the Rambam certainly doesn't have this idea of the Ba'al HaTanya. So when we're asking whether according to the Rambam these things are be-teva or whether they're all a result of involvement with Torah, so we don't mean it: does he have the idea of the Ba'al HaTanya? The question is: does he think that it's be-teva mi-tzad this idea of the Derashot HaRan? Again, which he himself has as well. Okay, so maybe in a future Thursday's bli neder we'll try to continue this topic in some shape.