KMTT - the Torah Podcast
KMTT - Avodat Hashem #06
KMTT - Avodat Hashem #06, by Rav Moshe Taragin
Tuesday, yud sivan, today's shuyu is the shuyu of habab moshataragan, the essentials of avodata sham. And you are listening to KMTT, kimit seyon te tsei tovar, the tovar podcast, tovar broadcasts by mishiwat habatsyan. Having already targeted the first two foundations of khased, of kindness and charity and why a person performs khased, we will now investigate the third source of khased. The first source, vie hafta le recha kamaha, the paasak in parashas kidoshim, implies a khased based on fulfilling and servicing the need of the sufferer, of the deprived. The second source, vin azai source, the paasak in bracious parake, ze, sefere told al-sadaam, portrays ahased based on recognizing as well as replenishing the divine image, human dignity, which suffering and challenge perhaps as eroded. However, there is a third source. The gamaran shabbas source daf kuflamid gimul amudbaze describes the great experience at the amsof. Perhaps the first moment of mass revelation, a precursor to Harsini, till this moment ahkarish bahu had appeared to individuals, but had yet to appear at the mass level which was experienced at the amsof. To capture the democratic spread of prophecy and encounter with ahkarish bahu, which characterized Kriyas yamsa, hazal talas rah shivha al-hayam, ma shilohra yaheskil bin buti miyamah. A simple handmaiden was exposed to more of ahkarish bahu's revelation at this epiphenius moment than yaheskil himself, whose celestial visions far outweigh, far surpasses any human apprehension of ahkarish bahu's heavenly presence. And yet at the Kriyas yamsa of every single Jew, aristocrat and commoner was exposed to a surpassing encounter with ahkarish bahu. Perhaps the phrase inshir asayamen as yashia, which best captures the pitch of the prophetic experience, is the passek zekayli vianvayhu, zekayli. Only the term zes reserved in the tara, for a moment in which an experience or an object is so palpable and so tangible that it can be pointed to. Hazal talas, that when the term zes employed, the speaker is actually pointing, visemaisam minara. Kriyas barhu displayed a minara for mocha and pointed out the dimensions and the architecture. Kriyas barhu was invisible and intangible, was so accessible at that moment to a national audience that the term zes was employed to describe that presence. But the challenge of religious experience exists in the descent from prophecy. The pitch of prophetic experience, it is rather, it's certainly more when Hashem's presence is more visible, religious experience and religious success is less complicated. On top of Harsinai, everyone is a believer, everyone is a believer. During the intense moments of Yom Kippur, who doesn't feel the presence of a Kriyas barhu? Sometimes the greatest challenges in religion lay in the moments after religious intensity, walking down from Harsinai and facing the challenge of the aegil, concluding Yom Kippur and facing the challenge of the day-to-day routine, departing from Kriyas Yamsof and attempting to incorporate those very ecstatic euphoric moments within a daily context. So the question becomes how, how does a person maintain the intensity, the passion, captured by the phrase zekayli, expressed and experienced at the Yom Kippur? Well, that, of course, is the function of the word after the phrase zekayli, zekayli vianvejo, which is a strange and uncommon word, and has all imputed various meanings to the term vianvejo and various manners in which this term can function to sustain the religious intensity of Yom Kippur. But the Yom Kippur and Shabbos, and dafkaflam, and Gimmel offers one opinion. Dittanya, zekayli vianvejo, abashol omer, vianvejo is a conjugation. The word is comprised of two words, vianvejo anihu, the attempt of a human being to fashion his own moral experience upon the image of God. Have a domeleau, liken yourself to him, mahou khanon verachom af ata hejhanon verachom. The manner in which Hazal suggests incorporating Hashem's presence on a daily basis, is by fashioning the moral lifestyle of the human being upon the image of Akaraj Bachu, if he is merciful, then we should be merciful, if he is compassionate, then we should be compassionate, mahou khanon af ata hejhanon, mahou rachom af ata rachom, known in Latin as the principle of imitatio dei, to imitate the creator, mahou af ata. A parallel Gimmara insulta suggests the same, but a slightly different terminology, citing a pasoq, which dictates that we walk in the way of Akaraj Bachu, al-Karash, em-lok-hejem-telejkul, the Gimmara questions, is it possible to follow, so to speak, in the wake of the Rabana Shalom, the old consuming fire, the Gimmara resolves this pasoq as referring to moral limitation, to duplicating our own set of standards and moral lifestyle upon the image of Akaraj Bachu. La a la acha amidos acha la karaj Bachu. To follow, to imitate, acha amis meidos, mahou mahou bi sharumim, acha ame, clothes, those who don't have, af ata haal bi sharumim, acha karaj Bachu bi kar cholim, dehsev, fa'yere la vashim, melani mamari, god visited afrahm when he was ill, af ata bakir cholim, acha amni hema veilim, god, consoles those who were grieving for lost relatives, af ata nifa meveilim, acha karaj Bachu kavarmason, acha karaj Bachu buries the dead, buried mosh urabhenu, af ata kavarmason. There are slight differences between the Gimmara and selta, daf u dalad, and the Gimmara and shabbis, ku flamen gimmel. The Rab's ephratsadak live raha, once noted, that the Gimmara and selta refers to activities, clothing, bearing, visiting, consoling, whereas the Gimmara and shabbis, ku flamen gimmel refers to character traits, which express themselves, in the aforementioned activities of kindness. But perhaps the Gimmara and shabbis lodges a demand or a mission, which is even more challenging, not just to perform the acts of kindness, but to integrate and internalize those very traits. Perhaps even in the absence of those internal traits a person should be capable of performing the activities. But certainly the ideal is not just to be malbish, arumim, or korve mason, but to be rachum, and echanum. But either way, these two Gimmars establish a third paradigm for Khassid. Khassid is not only intended to serve the needs of the deprived, or to acknowledge and rejuvenate human dignity, but to fashion our own moral character, in the image of Akrajibarukul. It has, as it were, a reflexive, almost egocentric purpose. As it were, an individual who performs Khassid is not only supplying to the other or polishing a tarnished divine image, he is improving his own moral conduct, his own integrity. The Gimmarian Baba Bhasar cites a very interesting dialogue, which took place between Rebiaquiva and Ternas Rufus, a Roman general philosopher. Ternas Rufus pos a very famous question to Rebiaquiva. If Akrajibaruk truly desired the provision of food to poor people, to hungry people, other acts of Khassid, if that is truly Akrajibarukul's will, why didn't he just perform those acts on his own, why didn't he just provide food, assistance, why does Hashem create need? And effectively, Rebiaquiva answered, "Because without need, we couldn't develop into finer moral human beings." Rebiaquiva's exact response is language-wise, "Kedesha nitzel anubahin, mediena shalkehenum." So that we can perform these activities, we can develop refined, advanced moral character. Now certainly from a philosophical standpoint, that question still leaves a lot to be answered. It may seem unjust, it may seem unfair to create need and suffering merely to fulfill the needs of another provider, the moral needs. Rebiaquiva certainly sensed the reflexive impact of Khassid in morality, and argued this point in the defense of Khassid. "Ma'u rachum afatah rachum." Khassid is not just driven by the needs of the sufferer, but by the moral development of the provider. Being in Mitatseo Dei as the source of Jewish Khassid, or as a source of Jewish Khassid, provides some very, very interesting consequences. First of all, Khassid has objective and absolute standards. One may have suggested that the standards of Khassid may be impacted by social norms, by social realities. Viewing Khassid as a responsibility which stems from an absolute and objective attempt to model our own moral character in the shape of a Kurdish bahrachu, suggests that the standards shouldn't be relative, but absolute. If other human beings fail to perform that Khassid, if perhaps society no longer expects that Khassid, or not just Khassid, but that morality, a Jew is not acquitted from those responsibilities, because he is facing an objective, almost divine mission, to transcend human or mortal limitations, and to model his own behavior upon the image of his creator, and that image is in no way vulnerable to the changing tides of human convention and of moral norms. Second of all, of course, the seat of Jewish morality is a Kurdish bahrachu's image and a Kurdish bahrachu's will. Perhaps a Kurdish bahrachu commanded or requested certain behaviors because they are independently or inherently moral, but ultimately, their morality is a function of the divine imprimatur of the divine stamp. If a Kurdish bahrachu commands them by definition, it's moral, because our morality is an attempt to build our own lives in the image of a Kurdish bahrachu's model, and if a Kurdish bahrachu legislates against, even though, through the human heart, it may seem moral, not only is it forbidden from a religious perspective, but it is in a moral act. When a Kurdish bahrachu commands a haphraham to perform the unimaginable, to sacrifice his only child, it's Khok, the child that he had been promised, his only child that he shared with Sarah, to the human eye, to the human heart, it seemed like an immoral request, murder, ruthless, but in the grand sweep of history, those moments, the top of harem aria, the celebrated moments of a kid as it's Khok, were essential, were irreplaceable in building Jewish history. We invoke those moments in a yearly basis, asking our Kurdish bahrachu to parlay those merits and that faith into our own requests, and the fulfillment of those requests. A vahrham standing on top of harem aria, a balance to sacrifice his Khok is not just a display of religious faith and commitment suppressing morality, and allowing you in being to act immoral in the name of God, but that activity, in that decision, is the moral mandate of the moment, because it is a Kurdish bahrachu's will. And precisely where arahms succeeds, Sarah, extraordinarily, shawl fails. Vigamar Anyoma describes shawl, questioning a Kurdish bahrachu's decree to eliminate the entire populace of Amalek, men, women, children, elderly, animals. These are innocent people. Why should they be disposed of? And certainly to the human heart, this charge, this mission, is very strident, it's max of genocide. But in the grand sweep of history, which only a Kurdish bahrachu can appreciate, Amalek's presence constitutes a significant, significant compromise of akarish bahrachu's presence in our world. Kiyat al-Keska, mil kamal al-Shambamalek dar-Lidar, the final bsokimim in Bishalach. And in the moment, it may seem immoral to execute a gag, but one day a gag's grandchild is descendant will threaten the very survival of the Jewish people. And in retrospect, equipped with hindsight, twenty-twenty vision of hindsight, murdering a Hitler, in the 1920s or early thirties before he rose to power, would certainly have been a moral act that would have spared civilization and less endless suffering. Of course, the human being has never equipped with that foreknowledge, but a Kurdish bahr who is. He succeeds precisely in the area that Sha'ul fails, and Sha'ul's failure produces very dire consequences. He sees his monarchy suspended, where's Avraham's faith and not just faith to the suppression of morality, but understanding that the source of the seed of morality is a Kurdish bahrachu's will, allows him to proceed with his heroic act and this heroic decision, which builds a future for an entire nation. Avraham's ability to appreciate, to distill the morality sensed in his creator in a Kurdish bahrachu, was the hallmark of his career. The ovals face the challenge of discovering a Kurdish bahrachu, a building relationship with a Kurdish bahrachu, without the elaborate system of legislative terror delivered at Harsini. For sure, they kept some primordial form of Tara of Mitzvos, a religious ritual, but it certainly was not as elaborate as detailed as finally contoured as Tara at Mitzvos in the Masara, which was hand delivered at Harsini. The madrich tells us that Avraham discovered a Kurdish bahrachu, because he looked around his world, and he noticed that Avira Dolakis, the madrich tells us in Pasha's Lechlecha, "Shayah u vermimakum le makum vera bira akhaz dolakis." He saw a city which was illuminated. Ammar, he said, "Toomer Shabirazu below manhek, could it be possible that there is no leader, no creator, no craftsman." Hitsitsa love bahrachu, the architect of our universe, noticed that finally someone had detected his presence, Ammar lo anihu bahrachu. Avraham didn't merely detect the organization, the efficiency, the natural order, the science, as it were, of his world, and traced that scientific natural order back to akhazh bahrachu. Avraham detected in this world a moral spirit, in nature, in science, in the universe, Avraham detected the morality of akhazh bahrachu. Every day when we recite in Shmon Hestre the second brahacham makhal ke al qayim and bahr said, makhayi maysim bahracham imrabim, so mekhnoflim vera fihole mumatirazuirim makhayim and wa naseuli shani ha'far. We are not merely assessing akhurj bahrachu's power, authority, the efficient and reliable manner in which our world responds and is dictated by the system of natural laws which they are bonnish lo and imposed, but we are detecting thekhazh said, the kindness which underwrites this entire system, olam khasid y bonneh, as the pasekinti ha'lims says, thekhazh said, which akhurj bahrachu employed to create our world, and subsequently, which he uses to sustain our world. There is a great moral lesson which nature delivers, beyond just the scientific, sterile message. In Averham sense this message, for Averham the city was illuminated, was radiant, not just with a mechanized system providing need, but it glowed with the luster of moral care, of justice, of compassion, and Averham sensed the presence of akhurj bahrachu to the moral fabric of nature. Indeed, to Ha'lim Parakov-Dalid celebrates the presence, the glory, the majesty of nature. Parachinachia sashm, ashm melokai gedalta miyod, hog vidarla vastra glory and beauty, ota arcasama light and radiance, the efficiency, the beauty and splendor of the natural order, the economy of nature, the delicate fabric of the ecological system, these are all elements which allow us to trace nature back to akhurj bahrachu. Nature either veils its creator or it displaces creator, and for the religious heart it is on great it is a vehicle to display akhurj bahrachu s presence. But Averham noticed more than just the efficiency, more than just the economy of nature. He noticed the morality as to hill and paracalamid gimmel describes kihasad hashm, malaharats, the world bristles, not just with efficiency and economy, both kindness and sensitivity, and generosity. It has that paracalamid gimmel ends having assessed khasad in the world around us, we petition, yihasad hashm, alinu, khasad hushar yuhamun lakhat, that khasad should extend to our own personal and national experience. And when Hashem rationalizes his decision to consult with Averham before obliterating stone, the Torah writes kihid active in parashas vayi rashm, says hashm narrates because I know, lemana shar yitzava es banav vies beso akharav, vishamru dera hashm, la assos stakomishvat, lemana viyashm, malahvarham esa shar divaralav, his selection, his prominence. The fact that a Krsubarghu, bhakvodo viyatsmok, consults with Averham as it were before divinely interceding in the history of stone, because of Averham's unique accomplishments of knowing Hashem, but not just knowing him, knowing him through morality and nature, and by training his family, beginning and launching the legacy of morality of ethics, which is characterized not just the Jewish tradition, of course, but all traditions which stem from Averham. Lemana shar yitzava es banav vies beso akharav, Averham did not wear two separate hats. One hat is the great philosopher in the discoverer of monotheism, the great man of faith, and one hat is the great man of Hashem, who in the third day of his brismila, in the steam bath of Eloni Mamre chazed down, straggling visitors to offer them kindness. Averham's chasset was the source of his faith, and without implementing that chasset in his own moral experience, his faith would have been empty. It is only because he taught his children, the chasset, which he saw pervading the earth, the chasset, the chambunga arith, that he was chosen as the spiritual leader of his civilization. Chasset, which stems from a karajebaruhu's behavior, which stems from a karajebaruhu's midos, as it were, transforms chasset from a personal, interactive experience, from a communal opportunity into a theological mission. When Moshe stands at Harsina and pleads with Hashem, "Hair ainina eskivodecha, ho di ainina es durahecha," Hashem tells him, "Ani avir kultu the al-panecha, vikarasi bishaym ashem le fonecha." Hashem responds, "That I will teach you my ways, I will teach you my essence as it were, my character traits." Which traits does Hashem demonstrate to Moshe, kultu vie, skynus, his chasset, his yurghimomidos, Hashem, Hashem, ke'al rachum, vikhanun, arachapayim, brephasset, viemus, natsirhaset, le fenlesse avon, bafeshah, vikhato avenake. As the gamaran was Hashem shanon dafyud zain claims, Hashem promised Moshe, and by extension promised the Jewish people that at any moment of crisis, of personal, national need, yazu le fonecha, saedirhaset, let them execute this saedir of yurghimomidos, Obriskusa, and I guarantee shanon hazu's rachum, that their prayers will be answered. Hashem does not request that the Jewish people should recite these 13 midos, yomru le fonecha, saedirhaset, rather yazu le fonecha, saedirhaset, they should exercise these traits, they should internalize these moral goals and moral values, treat each other with kindness and chasset, and by fashioning and sculpting their own identity in the image of Akhaj barhu, the moral caliber of their lifestyle rises, and they are more worthy for Akhaj barhu's grace. Yazu le fonecha, saedirhaset, in paraktes, when yurmiyya decries wealth, strength, wisdom, kohamaar ashem, alis alil hahamehahma sao, vialis alil hagibar big vuraso, alis alil asir bi ashro, paraktes, pasakkhav baiz, strong person, a wealthy person, a wise person, upbeat and gloat in their own God-given traits, kiyim bezos y isalel ha missalel, however, the one trait, the one character feature, which may justify some degree of personal satisfaction, ascale via dawasi, those who become knowers of God who seek the knowledge of Akhaj barhu, how does one seek knowledge of Akhaj barhu, kiyani ashem, alis alil hagibarhaset, umishvat, rhaset, mishvat, ustahqah barhuats, I am the God of justice, of kindness, of compassion, kibe el-hefatsti, nurmashim, these are the actions, these are the behaviors that I desire, and by performing those activities, a person has reason for confidence, for personal satisfaction, and is determined as someone who is hascale via dawasi, someone who knows me, very similar sentence structure, very similar imagery is developed in hachayah. Hachayah writes, kihaset, khafatsti, philoseva, hachashim says, I desire your haset in place of korbanos, vedassa lukimiolos, the knowledge of God is more desirable to me than korbanos, fushirim earlier, I quoted the avastir of nasana, who interprets this pasak in hachayah, as an assertion of the value of tara, and understanding God, but certainly the literal translation of the pasak, kihaset, khafatsti, philoseva, vedassa lukimiolos, points to khaset, as a second access point, to know God, to train your character in his image, or as the alkurts writes in Parshas, verse rannam, very interesting letterish, very haunting proposition. Nafihah, khayavadam lomar, imasayaguimasay, kimasayavamisraqiyaka, of the alkurtsimoni in Parshas, vesrannam, remis, taftaflamid, person should not only compare himself to his contemporaries, but should strive to equal the level attained by his predecessors, by his ancestors, ancestors, and by evanisraqiyaka, of sometimes comparing ourselves only to our colleagues and our colleagues and contemporaries, can invite mediocrity, relative to other peoples on their performance, sometimes we value our own limited achievements, we inflate their value. Person should always question imasayaguimasay, kimasayavalsay. Nafihah, the matterish continues, khayavadam lomar bishviliinivra'olam, carry the weight, not just a personal religious excellence, but of the impact which that excellence may have upon the world, bhameah konah adam li aviv shabashamayim, the matterish writes how does a person acquire a khayavadam li aviv shabashamayim, be maisin tovim vitamatara, through acts of hasad and through tamatara, netarish which would seem to equate tamatara and hasad as co-equal portals towards the acquisition of a khayavadam. This khayavadam, or these two khayavadamas, this tandem of khayavadamas and sotah and inshavas, provides the third cornerstone for hasad. Hasad should be a multilayered, colorful experience. The more motives, the more sources which are introduced, the deeper, the more fervent, the greater, perhaps the sacrifice, the deeper the identification, the richer the very experience, alternatively perhaps there are moments in our hasad opportunities and hasad challenges when one motive may seem more compelling than another, and multiple motives and multiple sources don't just enable depth or lend intensity to our experience, but they also lend our hasad experience versatility and greater chances for success. Hasad were to be perched solely on one theme, perhaps during moments in which that theme seemed less compelling, hasad would be less successful, but the tara provides a multilayered landscape upon which to sow the world of hasad, and those multiple opportunities should allow for a fervent and sustained, disciplined and passionate lifetime of hasad. You have been listening to our Baphmo Shataragan, Yeshua and Essentials al-Abudat Hashem, and this is Ezra Beck, and today's havahayomit, we're continuing with the tahranun. On Mondays and Thursdays, the minagiz, ochihilat, minagiz to say tahranun longer, before the actual tahranun, before the nifilat apayim, the part of tahranun that said syvangor falling, you say a series of paragraphs that begin with the hula kon. This is a very, very ancient minag mentioned in the earliest we show name. And it's basis is viewing Mondays and Thursdays as being special days. Mondays and Thursdays have two different, related but different characteristics. On the one hand, they're defined as ye mate din. Ye mate din means, first of all, that the courts, the actual courts in Jewish communities. The gamma ray says would sit on Mondays and Thursdays, but this itself is presumably based on a deeper point mentioned in the gamma ray, that, but take din sha'on mada, the heavenly courts, sit on yeom bet and yeom hei on Mondays and Thursdays. So there's something, it's hard to say what the exact basis is, but there is something spiritual that these are the days which are for din, for judgment, for the courts to meet. And therefore, that itself would be a reason to have longer tahranun, and longer beseeching because ye were presumably being yourself standing before the heavenly courts in judgment, the mishpat. A closely related concept found in gamma ray is that Mondays and Thursdays are ye mate ratsan. It's difficult to translate ratsan into English, the usual translation uses the word grace, which I think suffers from its Christological associations. Days of grace, meaning days of good grace, days of acceptance. Through the ratsan imre phi, my word should be acceptable to you. So days of ratsan are days when we are accepted before God. This is based on the explanation that the grammar gives, that says the Moshe Oweino went up to house denied, to ask for forgiveness for the Jews on Thursday, and he received the luchot as niyot, he received the second luchot, the second tablets, and basically received God's forgiveness on a Monday. And since then, Mondays and Thursdays are days of ratsan. The two concepts are very closely related, on the one hand you're being judged, being judged by God our Father, and therefore there are also days when one is accepted to God. You're judged, but you're presumably judged, hopefully judged, judged favorably. And therefore the minigurizes have a much, much longer tahranunim, after smanase on these days, and there are more pascans based on the tradition of khachme ashkhanas, that racham should be said standing. In samsi dawim it even says, racham should be said standing, ver parets kadir yinashrinun nakhash, and he who makes a hole in offense, in other words he who goes against the custom, the quotation from Seifr Khorarit, a snake, a serpent, shall bite him. In other words, it's a minigur and you really should keep this minigur, the exact reason for the minig, is not at all clear, it's just a very ancient and apparently serious, the one of them attacks, but it's seriously an ancient tradition. So you have ruacham, it's said standing, when ruacham is algra in normal minhag ashkhanas, the original minhag ashkhanas, tahranun, if you later pay him, it's said after ruacham. In nahashk staradim and nahashk starad, so the order is different, you say tahranun and minhag ashkhanas say, and ruacham is added, is added, is added afterwards. We will talk about the tahranun itself, in the filat, a payam, in tomorrow's, in tomorrow's ada hai yumet. And that's all for today, you've been listening to KMTT, Shirota Rataragan on Tuesdays and essentials of ada hai sham, followed by the ada hai yumet, tomorrow's shirota will be in hilkhot brahot, ada hai yumet, agadar, we give in by myself, azubik. And until then, wishing you coltuv, vivakata toramitzion, this is KMTT, the total podcast of vivakata ration, broadcasting from a longsword in gushition, coltuv, and you'll be hearing from us in nahashkhan, tomorrow. [BLANK_AUDIO]