Elevating our Sacrifice and Commitment, by Rav Dovid Gottlieb
The soldiers are committed to the mission above all else - how can we make ourselves worthy of their commitment this Rosh Hashana?
KMTT - the Torah Podcast
Elevating our Sacrifice and Commitment
It seems surreal To be standing or you about to start sleekoast kind of officially Certainly I would say psychologically For those who aren't in the middle of an Elel's mind in Shiva Inaugurating gumming the writing season together When it dawns on us that we are a year From the nightmare It was last in Hasara. I Actually, I keep my notes on my computer because it has a much better memory than I do So just a few minutes ago. I opened up the file from what I said at sleekoast last year I already learned the lesson to know that no one remembers But it's not so much that I expected you to remember as much as I'm almost embarrassed In hindsight in light of the year. We just experienced it. It's so banal It was so not ready for the moment so pedestrian You know, and you think it if I obviously I didn't know but you know, what would I have said if I did know what was coming down the pike? I don't know but it's just scary to think that Not that the same thing got to happen this year, but that actual phenomenon which we were forced to kind of think about and contemplate At least I was tonight It's actually true every year We have no idea what the year is gonna bring and We reflexively assume More of the same or previous years, you know, this was pretty good. So that should be pretty good and You know every year is really a surprise every year is a surprise, but I don't do that's that's not how we experience it experience most of life is predictable and Every now and then I'm gonna let's law and there's a shock that's bad in our family Someone gets sick out of nowhere Someone got up a dies out of nowhere Every now and then there are shocks that are good But most of life is somewhat predictable within the margins There's a little change, but basically our lives are somewhat set or so we think And in real really really each year should be as much as a surprise and each year is as much open for determination As we now realize last year was just so we don't think about it. So to me, it's just like I said surreal, but it's maybe more than that. It's maybe terrifying To consider that, you know, we feel that we're in a relatively solidified place now We've kind of gotten accustomed to where the years gone Over Shabbos it was a pleasant surprise But the truth is that none of us have any idea what's coming next There's actually nothing that's predictable in life It's all because they have shed So why are we here? Why are we here? Why are we here? Dafka tonight? So we know that the minagashkanas Is not to do a whole 40 days vs. Slicos We always begin slippers on a mozzie shabbos that has its own reasons why it's dafka mozzie shabbos But there's also a numeric issue The tour in the shokunah bring down the nashkanasim always say Slicos minimum of four days before rasashana So some say there are some years rasashana comes out in the beginning of the week We have to start over a week before But if on a year like this for rasashana comes out at the end of the week So then we just start on the immediately preceding wasa shabbos But why what is so important about this? Minimal where did the four days come from? So the misha bura actually brings two opinions The first opinion which I think is less well known and frankly it's harder to accept But it's possible because with manhagim things don't have to make a hundred percent sense The misha bura brings down that there were people who used to fast For all of Slicos not just on yum kippur they're fast the whole week of Slicos But you can't fast all of Slicos Because there's at least four days I think oh before we every day of the sashmachuvah But you can't pass every day of the sashmachuvah because there's at least four days you can't fast We postkin some a flokest but we postkin you can't fast on rasashana. That's two days and There's shabboshuvah. That's a third day. And then there's the one day a year. We're according to most There's actually a mitzvah the orisa to eat and if yum kippur so because of the four days that you can't fast So the minute evolved to have Slicos at least four days to sort of speak to Kapara on the four days you didn't fast It's at least a little bit to be desired Even if you had them, I know it's hard to understand why we need you to Slicos and So if none of us have that minute, I'll get really it's not going to be relevant to our lives The more intriguing and potentially relevant if we can understand it Then we're intriguing idea is a second idea brought down by the mission of a row and he says that if for those who are familiar When we want to bring a carbon At the time of the base of a gush so you need to make sure that there were no disqualifying moomin blemishes in the carbon and the Halacha is learned the details of how this learned are not important all tonight But the Halacha is learned as a magician sifre That you have to do what's called beacore Sort of examination of the animal you when you set aside the animal you can't just bring it right away You have to watch that animal for four days. That's the halacha four days To make sure that you've been able to see if you discover any moomin if any moomin develop If that's a four days you can still give the animal a clean bill of health Well, then you could kill it. That's kind of ironic for the animal, but that's how it works for us So says the mission of ruin and I will quote now the lamé this minogue of St Sleece was at least four days comes a teacher's sheber Rosh Hashanah Yassa Adam oxmoke you macribus oxmoke We should view ourselves and Rosh Hashanah as if we are a carbon But we are potentially offering ourselves up As a sacrifice before our Shem and therefore since we ourselves are the carbon on Rosh Hashanah Kabu arba yomim levakir komu mecha tasau Ula shuv a leham we want to make sure that we're a proper carbon We want to have our telos our sacrifice that we're offering the garsh bar cool our commitment We're going to offer Rosh Hashanah. We want to make sure that it is going to be accepted We owe the rock zone and therefore we can't have any moomin Therefore, we do at least four days of Sleece goes in order to make sure that we can remove the movement. It's a form of Bikor carbon With you and me as the actual carbon This is the second very intriguing idea of the Misht of a room. The question of course is what does it mean? What does that mean to see ourselves as a carbon? What does that mean to do a Bikor as kind of self-examination to make sure we don't have a moom? What exactly is goes on? So I want to I'm sure there are many answers out there. It says it's an intriguing idea I'm sure it has attracted the attention of Darshan and and probably much over the years But I want to suggest a possible idea Based on a topic which I believe in other contexts in an earlier previous years I think I've given a full shear on the topic so now I think I did for the women I think I may have done it in other contexts in the shul I mean that is the famous try to understand the famous Gomara and the rambam that talk about the famous three books The famous teaching in the south of Rosh Hashanah That's a sign of obeys in the name of Robert crucified. I Get there are three books. They're opened up on Rosh Hashanah three books of judgment and every human being will be inscribed in Sephreja the book of Taddikim Gomorim They are signed and sealed already on Rosh Hashanah for hyen The Roshan Gomorim Signed in sealed already on Rosh Hashanah I'm on a little slant for death. Then there's the book of the Bain and him It says the Gomara The judgment of the Bain and him is totally involved in it suspended And he's not fully judged he or she was a Bain and he until the Home Kipper And it really will depend on their behavior from Rosh Hashanah through your Kipper if says the Gomara Zocha If the person will do some kind of a mitzvah have some kind of extra schwuss in that 10 days Then by Rosh Hashanah, they won't be Bain and me anymore. It won't be 50/50. They'll tip the scales in the benefit of their merits. But if they don't If they aren't Zocha and they remain a Bain and he let alone it's god forbid they go into Minus Then they too like a Russia will be put in the Sephreja mise Now many questions one could ask on this Gomara And one doesn't have to be a skeptic or god forbid a heretic To notice that there's gonna be many people who are Roshayim who live from year to year There's a question ready that we're showing him ask That's not our topic that really would require the full shear But the question I want to focus on which is also intriguing It's like when the rambam brings down this Gomara He does almost a complete again to use the Israeli expression copy paste Except for he changes in one word and one word changes everything Because the rambam when he brings down the Gomara Instead of saying about this Bain and he whose judgment is hanging from Rosh Hashanah and Kipper Im Zocha if he did one thing And he hits but it took the scales inside Zocha's rambam says im also chuva Then he gets put in the book of light he didn't do chuva He gets put in the book of mason Now already the lecha michina asked the obvious question You can ask why limit his options Have a person is 50/50 So presumably when the Gomara said im Zocha, it's because any zochos any mitzvah would tilt the scales Chuva's is close, but so is Lord and Torah so is big or holland so is sadaka a lot of things are as a close The point is you don't want to be 50/50. You want to tilt the scale in the right direction the Gomara seems to be Meduya And the rambam goes out of his way. It seems not something was added different gears, sir But it would still beg the question on the gear sir. What's the logic in requiring the Bain and the Chuva? If we're understanding correctly the Bain, he really is 50/50 So why would he have to do chuva? There's already question asked by the lecha michina So some give an answer include the lecha michina himself There's just a game of very simple mathematics There's a mitzvah to do chuva If you don't do chuva, that's already a demerit. That's an avera Even if the person will be a chuva An eyebrow chuva And say I just have to do one extra mitzvah on a surface of a chuva that'll tilt the scale Problem is if you do one extra mitzvah, but you didn't do chuva That negates the one extra mitzvah and you're back to being it's ground zero in the same place you started 50/50 So We need to get a better answer. So a better one better answer is offered by a vitz like blazr Maybe arguably the tom and muhawk of extra salanter And he explains this answer, but he he changed it in a way that It's almost unrecognizable from the first original version in a way that makes a lot of sense He points out that chuva during assessment chuva is in stam Chuva during assessment chuva is not just a mitzvah and if you did do it great, they're not We know the many of the Bali makshava speak about Based on the possuk in the navi of dear shwa shambi hematou That our shamb is particularly close to us the gamara itself applies that possuk to this time of year And may the Bali makshava point out based on the gamara, but in their own very Graphic way in many ways Karish barf was closer to us these 10 days a year than any other time of the year Many many if not all of you are familiar with what has become an extremely popular expression, which was originated by the Bali Tanya the alta lebabra charebi hamelach basa death Right that was that has become a brand And certainly the day the world in many communities is very much embraced but the originator of that expression Was the alta reba and the idea was that usually most of the year that comes up in the castle So you could go visit if you're lucky you can get in But certain times of the our shamb goes out to be with the people hamelach basa death So says if it's the la blazer not quoting the reba don't worry But he says same idea. It's like carish barfool this time of year. He's hematou He came out to see you Right but be bad enough and certainly to be insulting if you didn't you know I don't know there was a young man told him and you could have had an opportunity to go home to your parents And you chose not to be with the family over you on this So depending on the certain context certain the parents might be insulted But you know what's a million times worse If your parents came to you to try to spend your time with you and it's no more interested That is oh good man. That's much more insulting So it's one thing all year round you did go to Hashem to say i'm sorry. I didn't do it. Okay, it's not a good thing But dear Shashami matou in these 10 days because we're almost coming to you Hashem is not the other door to you. Hashem is offering out his hand to you And you still didn't take it you still didn't do chuva. So to not do chuva now is i don't know what to put a number on it But that's an atomic bomb virus There's no the man that i had these schools that you would do during the week You can't make up for an afternoon chuva. Let's bring around mom said it most of chuva That this could be something we would meditate on for a whole hour just this idea very profound With many many ramifications, but i want to use my remaining minutes to get back to the car bun And i want to share with you a different answer Which again i think i think different contexts have shared in the shul in the past But now i want to use it to connect us back to slihos And this is an idea which i have quoted to you i'm sure in the past From rishul kodner in the pakah jigsaw And of all my favorite of all my wonderful pieces that i love in that safer Series, this is probably my number one favorite And he points out That you really have to have a more sophisticated approach what it means to be asotic a rush or a bayony Now i'm not blaming anybody Not least of which myself for presenting it the way i did until now because you read the gamari read rashi even when you do the rambam The simple reading is the way it seems like it's a big camp. There's a big accountant in the sky And he counts up the numbers of the various lambda tose And it comes out that there's a guy who's a bayony Who's 50 50 or if i said it's impossible If i would have took it up taking a poll 15 minutes ago who here thinks that it's sada who thinks that our russia who thinks that there is a bayony so The people who said they were in russia i made one or two of you would have First of all, i know you're not and be you just be trying to pretend you're from by saying you're russia I wouldn't believe you no one would believe the two or three people who said they're exotic You need help everyone else would have said i'm a bayony Is it can i me too? Is it conceivable cuz of hunter that everyone's exactly 50 50 Right that's better than the odds that the house gets a base Is it not because it's conceivable? Plus he says let's say person is relatively close He wakes up in the morning and he was on the bad side of the ledger But he went to minion So he got at a few points now all of a sudden he went from being russia to exotic But then he was rude to someone on his way to work now. He's a russia But then he bench with kavana. He's exotic Says he can't yo-yo. These are terms. It seems that if these terms have any meaning It shouldn't be so easy to go back and forth. There are two ways of asking the same question Which is what in the world's going on with this a gamara let alone the rhomba And there was a hundred we've misunderstood It's not a new miracle calculation Rather he says in this not that not that our chef doesn't add up mitzvos and avaros He doesn't deny that nor would i not so shallow there's star bonus on every mitzvone area there A chef is the ultimate accountant But in this context says our footner he terms are referring to not a cumulative accounting of mitzvos or avaros rather what he calls a meet-up on that dish Basic core character definition. Who are you? How are you defined? It says our footner. This is so powerful for us to consider. We are defined By in our kishkis and our deepest inner selves Who do we really want to be? All of us have layers All of us show certain sides of ourselves in different contexts Which may be partial truths but not the whole truth Very few people know who we really are The saddest thing is that most people don't know who they really are let alone other people don't know But a chef knows a chef knows Cesar hoodner a person who's exotic in this context i.e. who deserves another shot who deserves another year That's a person who's genuinely committed to doing good Not that he pretends not that he think about a chef knows extra vision. He really means a good person He doesn't always do good. He falls short But a chef says okay, you're gonna work on your performance But your commitment is there you deserve So that kind of commitment i give you another year What's a rush i've got more There are people It's hard for us to acknowledge and bark a chef they're not really in our world There are people in the world who are genuinely bad Not that they can't get out of their own way and always making mistakes Not that nebokh to had a hard life and the way they're dealing with all their pain and unresolved issues Is they lash out because they really don't know how to deal with that that that's up we are familiar with But a genuine russia Someone who believes so to speak it being bad it was committed to being bad Like many of our enemies but she's too bad It says For her that's a russia And it could be they also do good things But does it change the fact that they're a russia that committed to bad So what's a bayonini? The bayonini is a person Has no commitment They do plenty of good things they make plenty of bad things some years maybe it's more good some years is more bad but morally They're swiss Morally they're swiss they're not committed And we have seen Time and time again not only in the last 12 months, but certainly in the last 12 months If you're not if you're on the fence About what's good and right what's good and bad what's good and evil if you're on the fence It doesn't take much to fall to the wrong side As a putner with the ramam is teaching us in life. You have to be committed You can't be on the fence. It can be poserh hasha sifim We have to be committed to being good A bayonini is poserh hasha sifim as the Navi says You go this way you go that way depends on how he feels one morning how he feels one year But there's no real commitment in either direction That's a fatal flaw The ramam is explaining you can't just do another mitzvah. It's not about how many mitzvahs you did This this bayonini have thousands of mitzvahs But he's not committed to good if she's not committed to good That's a fundamental flaw and only you could change your fundamental flaw is to change yourself Not change your behavior, but change from you are that's called the shooter Also a lot more to say about this But let's conclude by bringing this back now to how we started Why four days so the second explanation from mission burro because we are a carbon We're offering ourselves and like every carbon we need a beaker So what does that mean? What did it mean? What what are the words mean even? So perhaps perhaps this is one explanation We're using these days To really examine ourselves Not to in four days get rid of every of area we ever did Hala vibes if they do perfect juva the next few days more power to you, but that's not necessarily the mission We're willing we're willing to go into russia shana We're willing to go into seismate chuva and hopefully coming on yum kippur Or there's still some avaris on the kajban That's why we're gonna do the chuva on a seismate chuva And that's why we're hopefully gonna get a kapara on yum kippur But we need to make sure that when we go into russia shana when we go into our seismate chuva That's any avaris that we have any moon that we have They're just a moon over They're not really part of us You can have all sorts of surface level problems Good people also have some blocky skin Good people could also have a little bit of a problem, but it's gonna go away A moon over is not post ala carbo A moon kavua is post ala carbo To be a there's nobody i'm not even worried there's nobody in the room or who listens recording no one's Is a russia gumlo we don't know people like that barca shep But a lot of us a lot of us are baymane not because we're the one in a million who is 50 50 but because We're on autopilot And thankfully we live in a world live in a community or part of a broader community Which being an autopilot means doing a lot of good things Because we're in a community where a lot of the things are expected of us So we go to shul we go to minium we go to shura when we do chassan and we dress sunuva all those things like kids Go to the right she was in the right schools and the the But are we really committed? Is it part of who we are? Is it part of our kisses? If yes, then we can walk into russia shana a sars me chuva with whatever various we've done in the past year But we can know that they don't define us It's just a moon kavua that i have to deal with I have to do chuva on those things But if we're not community If we're not really really sure in our heart of hearts and our kishnas what's really important to us What's really defining us who are we truly? That god forbid we don't have if we can't answer that answer that question unequivocally So then we're not a russia russia god forbid If we might be but we might be a baby And it's not that much better. It's not the same thing But says our footner is a fundamental flaw What sleekos are about Are about with the next four days and the next ten days are about Is not just what we do or what we say Far more important than both of those are who we are Shuvah is about who we become not just what we do or don't do like so many things Our role models and this for this year at least are the chayaleen the vukba missima Much more important than how well you can shoot and how fast you can run They are committed to the mission And they are we know how committed they are Because they're willing to risk everything rachmana. Let's long I know a soldier Who was enjoying life after having it a very very hard year last year Was sitting in learning because that is this particular soldier is all that person wanted to do Just to be able to sit and learn And knew that in a few months probably get called back up again And was even talking about how hard that was going to be and I don't know can I do it? I don't know. It's been so hard. My last year was messed up. I can't even Wednesday Got it south shona That's an emergency call it. That's not me louis And even though this soldier was six thousand miles away in an instant without blinking Got himself on a plane. There's all the lebanon border now And there are thousands and thousands like that soldier Because they are committed to the mission We owe it to them nothing less How dare we how dare we Go into this You may I rock zone if we are any less committed to our mission Then they are to theirs. No one is asking you known as asking me to Sacrifice the way they are We have a different role at the stage of our lives But we have a role and God forbid Rahmana let slan and shame on us and shame on you and shame on me If we take it with any less seriousness and commitment Then they are taking their commitment Hall of ai Hall of ai these next four days and ten days we come together with ava ava Reyes love for each other and love for our community Love for our carish borkel and we commit ourselves each of us and all of us collectively To being devook by missima Committed to our mission to building ourselves to building our community Alpietora api rotson Hashem with all of the things that that entails Hall of ai Hall of ai that'll be as first for us for our children For the chaileem and then emirza Hashem this coming year. We should only know shalom Emhera the amin