I think we have the Nechunya ben HaKana. Nechunya ben HaKana אומר כל המקבל עליו עול תורה מעבירין ממנו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ וכל הפורק ממנו עול תורה נותנין עליו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ.
ve'ol Torah, chovas halimud. Whenever we, whenever we use the term Torah, it can be used in a narrower sense or a broader sense. It can be used in a narrower sense of Talmud Torah as distinct from mitzvos, kiyum hamitzvos, or it can be used in a broader sense of Torah bikhlalusa, and in that sense Torah includes the mitzvos. So the Rambam says in this context we mean Torah in the narrower of those two senses, chovas halimud. ol malchus: torach hamelech veshidudo. ve'ol derech eretz: torach hazman. אמר כי בשכר התחייבותו לעול תורה יצילהו השם מחובת המלכים ויקל עליו בטורח הזמן.
So kemidomeh that there's a very, very important yesod in this mishna. It's mirrored in the Rambam's lashon, but be'emes it's not really any more meforash in the Rambam than in the mishna itself. And, and maybe what, maybe let's approach it as follows. If you have a Rambam הלכות שמיטה ויובל at the end of Sefer Zeraim, the last halacha in Sefer Zeraim, it's the last halacha in Shmita veYovel, so it's therefore the last halacha in Sefer Zeraim. פרק י"ג הלכה י"ג, yud gimmel, yud gimmel. ולא שבט לוי בלבד. So let's read the halacha twice. Let's read the halacha twice, but only once read it from the, from the screen. The second time we're not going to read it from the screen. Okay. ולא שבט לוי בלבד אלא כל איש ואיש מכל באי העולם אשר נדבה רוחו אותו והבינו מדעו להיבדל לעמוד לפני השם לשרתו ולעובדו לדעת את השם והלך ישר כמו שעשהו האלוהים ופרק מעל צווארו עול החשבונות הרבים אשר ביקשו בני האדם הרי זה נתקדש קודש קודשים ויהיה השם חלקו ונחלתו לעולם ולעולמי עולמים.
Okay, that's number one. Number two. ולא שבט לוי בלבד אלא כל איש ואיש מכל באי העולם אשר נדבה רוחו אותו והבינו מדעו ונבדל ועמד לפני השם ושירתו ועובדו וידע את השם והלך ישר כמו שעשהו האלוהים ופרק מעל צווארו עול החשבונות הרבים אשר ביקשו בני האדם הרי זה נתקדש קודש קודשים ויהיה השם חלקו ונחלתו לעולם ולעולמי עולמים.
Version number one is in the kisvei yad. Version number two is in a ktav yad that is yet to. But why? Notice how the Rambam shifts, right? Vehevino mado lehibbadel and then he says, ve-halakh yashar. So why not continue with the infinitive? I mean, monafshakh, if you like infinitives, you like infinitives, no? So if you like infinitives and it's להבדל לעמוד לשרתו לעבוד לדעת השם וללכת ישר. So what's the difference in mashma'us, rabosai, between version one and version two? Right? So we had in the first perek of Psachim, right? That in the sugia of lamed and al, that lamed is lehaba mashma and al is a question. And clearly contextually that is the case. And Vehevino mado means that lehibbadel means he's making a commitment to do such and such. He's making a commitment, right? Ve-nivdal is describing action. The infinitive lehibbadel is defining a commitment that he makes. To whom? To himself, to the Ribbono Shel Olam. It's not something that needs or should be broadcast. The commitment is להבדל לעמוד לשרתו לעבוד and then in fact he begins to implement that. והלך ישר ופרק מעל צוארו. So that combination, the combination of the commitment, another word or phrase for commitment is to be mikabel ol, right? It's a combination of the commitment with then the implementation of the commitment. So apparently והלך ישר כמו שעשה אלהים. The Rambam's clearly paraphrasing from Koheles, right? אלהים עשה את האדם ישר והמה בקשו חשבונות רבים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu made us yashar and we make ourselves crooked. אלהים עשה את האדם ישר והמה בקשו חשבונות רבים. So apparently והלך ישר כמו שעשה אלהים ופרק מעל צוארו עול החשבונות הרבים שבקשו בני אדם
means something more. There's greater significance to it when it's in the context of a kabbalah להבדל ולעמוד לפני השם לשרתו than if you would have the same halakh yashar, the same farak me'al tzavaro absent that prior kabbalah and absent that context of kabbalah. And the yesod is true that it's different is true on more than one level. It's understandable and true on more than one level. What's the difference between, again this is intended for purposes of illustration, whether or not it's something that makes sense a person has to decide in the context of his own life, his own stage of life, v'khulu. What's a difference between a person starting to learn daf yomi or leaving aside the question of nedarim, let's assume bli neder, or between making a commitment and starting to learn daf yomi? Again, take out daf yomi and substitute any, any, any undertaking, any project, any goal in Talmud Torah. But what's the difference? So on a practical level, on a pragmatic practical level, the difference is the first day the person is very busy with other things, and punkt that day it's a long hard daf and it's late at night and he's tired. If there's a commitment, I have to do it, I made a commitment, I have to do it. It's not something optional, it's not, it doesn't matter what the degree of difficulty is. It has, it has, it has to be done. If it's something I'm doing but not in the context of commitment, okay, you do your best, what can I tell you? It's been a long hard day, no fault of my own, so many unexpected demands on my time, punkt today, okay, lo nora. So practically, pragmatically, there's a crucial difference between whether there's an initial kabbalat ol as opposed to just doing. And again, the initial kabbala is bein adam l'kono. It needn't and shouldn't really go beyond that. That's on a practical and on a practical level. But it's true on a religious level as well, even if it wouldn't be true on a practical level. When a person is mekabel ol, he elevates, he accentuates the dimension of avdut in his avodat Hashem. If a person learns Torah without being mekabel ol Torah, gevaldig, extraordinary, wonderful, indescribably so. But l'ma'aseh, there's something that he hasn't captured which someone who's mekabel ol Torah has, because by being mekabel ol Torah, the person is accentuating, deepening, intensifying the dimension of avdut. And even if that wouldn't translate practically, it does, ayen l'eil. But even if that wouldn't translate practically, just religiously, spiritually, that makes a world of difference. Now, agam that k'midumeh what the Rambam is describing in Shemita V'Yovel is not our It's a different degree, it's a more, it's a greater and higher degree of even of kabbalas ol than our Mishnah is talking about, but lichora it's clear that the yesod for this Rambam, that it's not only what a person does, but it's that context and framework of kabbalas ol that he establishes. The yesod for the Rambam is in our Mishnah, because our Mishnah, the Mishnah doesn't say כל הלומד תורה בהתמדה. Doesn't say kol halomed Torah. I mean, that's clearly what he's doing. If he's מקבל עליו עול תורה, that's what he's doing. Fine, so, you know, talk is cheap and so let's just describe what he's doing, never mind what what the... So lichora what's this? Again on the second difference that we highlighted between whether there's a kabbalah or not, not the practical one, the religious spiritual one. As extraordinary as the talmud Torah is, but absent kabbalas ol Torah, so maybe the pshat in the Mishnah is, I don't know, maybe that person is not going to be zocheh. I don't know, aynuh elav, I don't know, but maybe that person is not going to be zocheh to the מעבירין ממנו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ. Maybe it's only when the person makes the commitment. Not only that he does, but he makes that commitment. When he accentuates the avdus. Oh, you're accentuating the avdus, you're accentuating the avdus shamayim, you're accentuating the malchus shamayim. So then the עול מלכות בשר ודם and the ol derech eretz is going to be diminished, is going to be reduced. The Rambam interprets, the Rambam interprets here ol derech eretz is torach hazman. Here in the notes in the Machon Hamaor edition and translation and addition, so they point out that earlier in פרק ב משנה ב in the Mishnah of רבן גמליאל בנו של רבי יהודה הנשיא אומר יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עון.
So there the Rambam interprets derech eretz כוונתו בדרך ארץ כאן ההתעסקות בפרנסה. So the point of the he'ara is obviously not a stira, and that's why the Rambam himself in everything is so meduyak umedukdak. That's why the Rambam writes there in פרק ב משנה ב כוונתו בדרך ארץ כאן. In this context, that's what derech eretz means. When Dovid Hamelech says to Shlomo, הנני הולך בדרך כל הארץ וחזקת והיית לאיש, he’s not telling him I have a 9:00 business meeting in the office, right? He’s telling him something different. Right? So bederech kol ha'aretz means something different. So clearly that phrase, it's quite clear that, you know, the way of the world. So the way of the world depending upon the context in which it's said is obviously going to admit different meanings. So it's not a question of a stira, but it is the question, so how does the Rambam know in our Mishnah to veer away from that understanding of derech eretz and say that it means torach hazman? So the pshat is again, so what does torach hazman mean? No, you know he's still going to... have he's gonna have a drop. What's torach hazman? I don't know, he's he's not gonna get a flat tire, maybe he won't get any cavities, that would be a gute bracha v'chulu. But the Rambam here doesn't translate derech eretz as parnasa and it could be that that's the Rambam leshitaso and and again that's also what why we how we know that the mekabel ol Torah here doesn't mean to the degree that the Rambam is describing in Hilchos Shmita V'Yovel. So lichora that would be the Rambam leshitaso. פרק ג הלכה יא in Hilchos Talmud Torah if you have a Bais Yosef, gimmel yud-aleph in in Talmud Torah. מעלה גדולה היא למי שהוא מתפרנס ממעשה ידיו ומידת חסידים הראשונים היא ובזה זוכה לכל כבוד וטובה שבעולם הזה ולעולם הבא שנאמר יגיע כפיך כי תאכל אשריך וטוב לך אשריך בעולם הזה וטוב לך לעולם הבא.
That's where the Rambam in earlier in פרק א הלכה ט made a point of saying גדולי חכמי ישראל היו מהן חוטבי עצים ומהן שואבי מים.
They did manual labor and difficult manual labor also, not... I think in today's terms it would be to be a construction worker. חוטבי עצים ומהן שואבי מים. So lichora according to the Rambam, it's clear then that in our Mishna the מעבירין ממנו עול דרך ארץ isn't gonna mean parnasa. No, it's a ma'ala gedola, it's a middas chasidus. Again, unless you're talking about the person who's in Hilchos Shmita V'Yovel, but that's not what we're talking about here. Ol derech eretz here means torach hazman. וכל הפורק ממנו עול תורה נותנין עליו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ. רבי חלפתא איש כפר חנניה אומר עשרה שיושבים ועוסקים בתורה שכינה עמהם שנאמר אלקים נצב בעדת קל ומנין שאפילו חמשה שנאמר ואגדתו על ארץ יסדה. ומנין שאפילו שלשה שנאמר בקרב אלקים ישפוט ומנין שאפילו שנים שנאמר אז נדברו יראי ה' איש אל רעהו ומנין שאפילו אחד שנאמר בכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבוא אליך וברכתיך.
So we already brought in the beginning of Sanhedrin the Rambam says כי עדה אין פחות מעשרה ושם בעינן כי בית דין אין פחות משלושה והם הנקראים אלקים לעניין המשפט.
So I don't know, so according to the Rambam is the Rambam telling us that the way Chazal are reading this phrase in in... So wait, so according to the Rambam, is the Rambam telling us that the way Chazal are reading this phrase in Tehillim of Bekerev Elokim Yishpot, that the Elokim has two meanings, one is kodesh, one is chol? It's chol in the sense that that din requires Beis Din, Beis Din ikruyem Elokim because Elokim beloshon chol is as Rashi al ha-Torah points out ראה נתתיך אלהים לפרעה ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך. What do you mean Elokim le-Pharaoh? I'm making you a god to Pharaoh? No, it means Baal Svarah. What does it mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Elokei ha-Elokim? What do you mean Elokei ha-Elokim? No, that the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, so then the Malachim are conduits, they have no discretionary say in anything, but the Malachim are conduits for for the way that the world is conducted and and governed. So mimeilah you can refer to them as Elokim. So on the one hand, so on the one hand it's chol, but me'idach gisa it's also kodesh, which which indicates that that the din is happening, a it requires Beis Din, who ikruyem Elokim. Ve-higisho adonav, right? By Eved Ivri, right? והגישו אדוניו אל האלהים, right? Which means Beis Din. דצריך להמלך בבית דין. But me'idach gisa it also means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is present as well. Din, there is an equation between din and Talmud Torah. Din is just the Choshen Mishpat, halacha le-ma'aseh. I mean what what is din? Ein hachinami, so Beis Din has to spend time listening to the taynos of the baalei d'varim, and lav davka that that is Talmud Torah, lav davka that you have to make a birchas ha-Torah on listening to the taynos of the baalei d'varim, but certainly when Beis Din is then nosei ve-nosein and and when they're paskening, so the paskening, the psak din is Choshen Mishpat, halacha le-ma'aseh. Continuing in the Rambam, ופירוש אגודה מה שאדם אוגד בידו. וביד יש חמש אצבעות שבהן הוא אוגד,
right? To bundle, to package something. וקובץ חמש האצבעות נקרא גם כן אגודה. Good. Next Mishna. רבי אלעזר בן יהודה איש ברתותא אומר, תן לו משלו שאת ושלך שלו. וכן הוא אומר בדוד, כי ממך הכל ומידך נתנו לך.
The Rambam doesn't comment on this, he he feels that that it's straightforward. You know, sometimes psychologically, which is I don't know, it's it's something I think that we're that we tend to be susceptible to and and and should be aware of, we sort of, not sort of, we do take an awful lot for granted. And and one of the elements of that and one of its expressions, let's say when a person is asked or contemplates giving tzedakah according to his means, not talking about giving tzedakah beyond a person's means, but but according to one's means. So sometimes we experience that as oh, it's hard to give away my money. It's hard it's hard to give away my my hard earned money. And and sometimes we sort of, and again it's not only in money, sometimes it can be you know it's hard to sacrifice my... time to help someone else to attend to this dvar mitzvah. And inevitably you know if we experience life that way and we see life through such a lens so inevitably at some point if not many points we're not going to give as much tzedakah as we should. Again ish k'matnat yado according to a person's means. And we're not going to takeh extend ourselves for other people or for d'vei mitzvah as we should. And that's what רבי אלעזר בן יהודה איש ברתותא is saying we need to undercut that erroneous perspective. When a person gives away in context of mitzvos in context of avodas Hashem he's not giving away. He's just acting as a gizbar and funneling the money to where it's supposed to go. Let's say you're a gabbai tzedakah and you manage a very very large gemach I don't know there's millions and millions of dollars coming in and going out of this gemach. So I don't know does it hurt when again whether the gemach gives loans or whether the gemach gives grants does it hurt? No it doesn't hurt. It's not your money. It never hurts to give someone else's money away. It only hurts me when I give my money away. I've no problem giving your money away. So the gabbai tzedakah he doesn't adaraba. That's what he's supposed to do. It's not his money. He's just here to make the allocation. He's just here to distribute. Let's say when a person is on the job. So his contract involves that he works from nine to five and the boss gives him an assignment. He doesn't sort of he doesn't resent the fact oh so now for the next two hours I'm not going to be able to play solitaire on my computer but I'm going to have to attend to this. The boss is paying me and he's got a right to. It's not my time. The time that I'm on that I'm salaried for is not my time. So then a person takeh the gabbai tzedakah gives out all the money he's supposed to give out and the employee does all the projects that the boss sends his way. Says רבי אלעזר בן יהודה איש ברתותא ten lo mishelo and don't stingy. Do whatever the Shulchan Aruch says is appropriate to the degree that the Shulchan Aruch says is appropriate given a person's resources. Ten lo mishelo. Give of your time give of yourself give of your money. You're not really giving. You're giving the Ribbono Shel Olam what's His. She'at veshelach shelo וכן הוא אומר בדוד כי ממך הכל ומידך נתנו לך.
Rabbi Yaakov omer המהלך בדרך ושונה ומפסיק ממשנתו ואומר מה נאה אילן זה מה נאה ניר זה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו הוא מתחייב בנפשו.
Rabbi Dostoai bar Yannai omer mishum Rabbi Meir כל השוכח דבר אחד ממשנתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו הוא מתחייב בנפשו שנאמר רק השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים. יכול אפילו תקפה עליו משנתו תלמוד לומר ופן יסורו מלבבך. הא אינו מתחייב בנפשו עד שישב לו ויסירם מלבו.
So then this Mishna is at first glance tough to understand. It would seem that on the spectrum there are at least three scenarios. One scenario is what the Mishna calls takpa alav mishnaso. What would takpa alav mishnaso mean? Let's say, right, we know that Rav Yosef at the end of his life due to illness forgot, forgot some of his learning due to illness, and the talmidim would remind him what he himself had taught them. In the beginning of Kesubos you have, you have such a Gemara. So that's takpa alav mishnaso. That's one end of the spectrum. L'chora the middle of the spectrum is what the Mishna begins with of שכח דבר אחד ממשנתו. And then l'chora the opposite end of the spectrum is the yoshev v'yasiram milibo. It's that a person adopts a lifestyle which is antithetical to retaining Torah. So l'chora the Mishna began by saying that even the middle, by addressing the middle case, the Mishna said yachol afilu one end of the spectrum of takpa, and then the Mishna said no, the other end of the spectrum. So it's a shvere Mishna. To ask the same question differently, the lashon hapassuk is pen yasuru milvavcha. Right, the subject is the דברים אשר ראו עיניך. Yasuru, how does that translate? Lest they stray from your thought, from your mind. And then somehow or other Chazal turn around and they use pen yasuru milvavcha as a raya to yasiram milibo. Again, which seems to blur the difference between the what we called the middle of the spectrum and the opposite end of the spectrum. Let's leave the Mishna for a minute. If you have a Rambam rabosai in perek aleph Hilchos Talmud Torah, halacha yud. ועד מתי חייב ללמוד תורה עד יום מותו שנאמר פן יסורו מלבבך כל ימי חייך וכל זמן שלא יעסוק בלימוד הוא שכח.
The Rambam I read an article in a journal about they that they did a study of memory, and in the journal they they... So l'chora it's klar as follows. What the Rambam might mean on halacha yud reflects our Mishna. We asked that the Mishna seems to conflate a simple case of shichacha with yasiram milvavo. So clearly what the Mishnah seems to be saying is that absent due diligence on our part, the default position is that a person forgets. Noch amol, absent due diligence on our part, the default setting of our internal hard drive, the default setting is that a person forgets. Mimaila, pen yasuru and yisirem milvavo are one and the same because effectively a person is meisir milvavo passively. It doesn't require some active "Oh, always preoccupying my mind with shtus, shtussen and milei de'alma for no necessary reason, for no higher noble goal or context." No, just the passivity and the lack of the due diligence automatically, the default setting is וכל זמן שלא יעסוק בלימודו ושכח. When we recognize that equation, so then the difficulties in the Mishnah evaporate, right? We asked, what's the raya from upen yasuru milvavcha to עד שישב ויסירם מלבבו? No, yeshaiv veyisirem milvavo is just by not counteracting what will otherwise be the natural inevitable process of shichcha. And maybe the raya in the Mishnah is like this. יכול אפילו תקפה לו משנתו? תלמוד לומר פן יסורו מלבבך.
The Mishnah's referring to a natural process, not what it's unnatural because of the intrusion of choli or something which is the tziyur or a tziyur of takfa lo mishnaso. No, the Mishnah says רק השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן is the natural process. The natural process of yisirem milvavo, which again, just happens even passively, absent our due diligence. Okay, it's a little bit over time. So bli neder next time im yirtzeh Hashem we'll continue a little bit on this point before we go vaiter to the next. Okay rabosai, everyone should have a very good productive day. Ah gutten Shabbos, be well and stay safe. Thank you Rabbi. Thank you Rabbi. Thank you Rabbi. Can I ask a question? Sure. Who? Who said Dovid? It was... I was wondering, I noticed that... yes, this is Dovid, sorry. The Mishnah about the individual learning. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, I hear you, yes, thanks. The... individual... about individual... The individual who's learning that the Shechina is with him. So in earlier in פרק ג משנה ב we saw there was a similar Mishna that said shnayim sheyoshvim and there are ויש ביניהם דברי תורה שכינה ביניהם but אחד שיושב ועוסק בתורה there are different nuschaos as the Mishna I have says הקדוש ברוך הוא קובע לו שכר I think Rebbe quoted from the Rambam a different different nuscha that he is like מקיים כל התורה כולה but it doesn't say that the Shechina is with him. So is that a sort of machlokes between these mishnayos or how do we understand that? I don't know. I don't know. It's a very important question. I don't know. Obviously there's room to say that it isn't a machlokes and just the Mishna's this one Mishna's making one point מהא חד ומהא חד ולא פליגי but meheicha taysay meaning if back in the earlier Mishna about shnayim it said that I don't know. Your question's a very good question. I don't know. Dovid can go ahead. I'm sorry, Dovid, you had a follow-up? No, it was a separate question. So Emmanuel can go first. Okay, Emmanuel. Yeah, I just had a general question that came up about time and using our time and saying it's not our time. About tzedaka with time and I remember hearing something from Rav Moshe that you also have to give maaser of your time. So how should we balance that? Let's say we have friends or something that we know that maybe learning with him for twenty minutes here and there or a few of them, sort of kiruv opportunities would be helpful for them. How do we balance that? How many of those should we put in? Is there a way to think about how much is our time, not our time, I mean how much is Hashem telling us to funnel through to others? I mean I think you cited the source for it. I think it's in Igros Moshe actually. I think it's a printed teshuva. I don't remember which chelek, but I think it's actually a printed teshuva. You can look it up. So he uses the formula of maaser. is correct. I don't think ma'aser means a tenth of your waking hours. Let's say you sleep eight hours and you're awake sixteen hours, I don't think it means 1.6 hours. I think it would probably mean ma'aser of your learning time. I mean let's say a person he he he's awake sixteen hours a day, but he's also he's also at work eight hours a day. So I don't think he's giving ma'aser of the sixteen hours, I think he's giving ma'aser of his learning time. So that's that's I think, but double check the tshuva and and make sure that that what I'm saying is is right. B depending upon the you know the dynamic and the reality of