Ahavat Yisrael

Today we will share one last Ahavat Yisrael thought related to Chanukah. As we mentioned, weread the Nasi'im/princes on Chanukah. One ofthe reasons for this is that right after the 12 Nasi'im comes Parashat Baha'alotcha ,which talks about the Menorah. What's the connection between the lighting ofthe Menorah and the Nasi'im ? Rashi tells us, in the beginning of Baha'alotcha that Aharon HaKohen had what is called Chalishut HaDa'at. He was down.He said, " My tribe is not connected to the 12 Nasi'im offerings? So Hashem said, " Don't feel bad. You have somethingbigger than they have. And that is the miracle of Chanukah ." The questionalways is How is Chanukah the answer to the fact that they have the Nasi'im ? Rabbi Aaron Walkin, in his sefer Aaron Haim, page 301, answers that what bothered Aharon about the Nasi'im was their Achdut . Each one of them brought the same exact offering.No one tried to outdo the other. No onesaid, " I'll do more flowers. I'll have a better wedding. I'll have a biggerparty." Everyone kept tothe same exact program. They didn't try to outdo each other. There was tremendous achdut . They boughtcaravans together- six caravans and they chipped in, two together, to show thatthey weren't trying to steal the wholeMitzvah. Everything about the Nasi'im indicated Achdut . So Aharon felt bad- Where was his tribe ? And the answer was, he would get themiracle of Chanukah. Because, as we mentioned, Chanukah has in it, the aspectof Achdut/unity , as we we discussed this past week- the many hints of unity in the miracle of Chanukah. And he further brings down that it says about the Menorah that there's Kaneh Echad/one main branch which everything comes of, andthat symbolizes the unity of the Jewishpeople. Furthermore, the Menorah cannot be made piecemeal. It has to chiseled out of one block , which was a miracle. And that one block is further symbolism of the oneness ofthe Menorah. So that's what it means that Aharon was told, " Yours will last forever." The Nesi'im's unity was a one-time thing, but Aharon HaKohen has the miracle of Chanukah, which lastsforever. And as we see, Chanukah is a time when families get together. Such is the Achdut aspect Chanukah. Have a wonderful day.

Today we will share a Hanukah related thought from the great Klausenberger Rebbe. The Rebbe points out that the miracle of Hanukah took place during the era of the second Bet Hamikdash, as we know. He says that the issue of Sinat Hinam was already brewing then, and that was part of the reason they got into trouble. Therefore, after the miracle of Hanukah, they strengthened themselves in the area of Achdut/ unity. He says there are two very interesting things about the mitzvah of the Menorah. Number one is that we do it outside. Our other Mitzvot are inside. The Seder is in the house, and Succot is inside the Succah- we don't see what's going on in anyone else’s house. But the menorah is on the outside. Number two is that there are three different levels of kiyum mitzvot of Ner Hanukah There's a regular level- where you light one candle, then there's one per night, then there’s one per person…different levels. We don't find that with other Mitzvot. We don’t get three options of of matzot- grade A grade B or grade C. The Torah has one level of Matzot. Additionally, we don’t have different levels of Megilat Esther. So what is it about Hanukah that has that three levels? He answers both questions with the same point- that since they had perfected their area of unity and they were no longer jealous of each other, it enabled that, firstly, we could put the menorah outside. When jealousy shows up, people think, “ How come he has a silver menorah and I only have copper?” But we don't have to worry about that when it comes to Hanukah. Secondly, I don't have to worry that he thinks he's better than me, because he’s doing a higher level Mitzvah. So whereas people may think- “ What? He eats yashan- he thinks he's better than me? He eats chalav Yisrael, he thinks he's better than me?” we didn't have that problem with Hanukah, because again, there was no jealousy. And with this he explains a Midrash, which is based on the Pasuk from Shir Hashirim, that is difficult to understand: הַֽדּוּדָאִ֣ים נָֽתְנוּ־רֵ֗יחַ וְעַל־פְּתָחֵ֙ינוּ֙ כׇּל־מְגָדִ֔ים literally means, “The Dudaim (a certain type of flower), gave a smell, and on our doorsteps are all kind of delicious delicacies. The Midrash says that the Dudaim gave a smell refers to Reuven, because he was the one that brought the Dudaim to his mother, and he saved Yosef from the pit. And on our doorstep there are delicacies refers to the Ner Hanukah that we put outside on the doorstep. What's the connection? A lot of rabbis speak about the connection between Reuven and the Ner Hanukah.The Klausenberger Rebbe explains, beautifully, that Reuven saved Yosef. As the Gemara in Berachot 7b says, Leah pointed out, “ Look how special my son is. Esav tried to kill Yaakov, and here Reuven is helping his would-be competition, Yosef (who would be the Bechor from Rachel, over the Bechor from Leah). He's helping him; He's uniting with him; He's trying to save him.” This connects to the miracle of Hanukah, when we light outside, because we're no longer worried about jealousy on Hanukah. Again, a beautiful connection between Achdut and the miracle of Hanukah. Have a wonderful day.

Today we have another thought about Ahavat Yisrael in relation to the holiday of Hanukah, which comes from the sefer Akedat Yitzhak Al HaTorah , from one of the Hasidim. He writes that Matityahu was the Sadik HaDor, and the job of the Sadik HaDor is to unite the hearts of Jewish people. That's why Matityahu’s cry was, “ Mi L’Hashem Elai/ Who is to Hashem come to me.” When he gathered together the Maccabim , he was trying to gather Jewish people together. He says that the only reason they won the war was because of their Achdut/unity, which is symbolized by the pach shemen/ vessel of oil. How so? We know that oil rises above water, but only when all the oil is united. If you blend the oil and water, the oil gets mixed into everything else, and you won't see the oil rise to the top. It’s only when the oil is all together that it can rise above. That's what it means that when they Jewish people are B’Achdut/united, they go above all nations and no one can impact them. Just like a bundle of sticks- one single stick can be broken, but when you put them all together, they cannot be broken. Anytime God wants to bring beracha on the Jewish people, there needs to be a vessel to hold the Beracha, and as the Mishna says, God did not find a vessel to hold the Beracha for the Jewish people, only shalom/ peace. Shalom is what brings all of the Beracha on the Jewish people. He quotes the sefer Noam Elimelech, which says on the pasuk, ‘ they graze in the marsh ,’ that it can also mean ‘ the Jewish people graze in tranquility when they're in brotherhood.’ Furthermore, in the same pesukim talking about the dreams of Yosef, it says that the during the time of the Plenty , the cows were fat cows. Rashi says, it's a sign of the good years, that each one looks good to the other one, that “I don't look at you in a tight way .” When there's a famine, they're all thin and each one looks at the other one like they're thin. They can't enjoy the other person's success, because they don't have anything. But when everyone's happy with each other, thar means it's a time of success. That's the simple explanation. But he brings a deeper explanation: He says, when everybody looks good at each other; when everyone has a good eye toward each other, and there's love and brotherhood in the world, that's a sign that there will be satiation in the world- not a sign that it is currently. That good trait of looking at your friend with a good eye, not competing and not being jealous, will bring the Beracha. So when you see a time that everyone's getting along, then you know there will be beracha. We read about Yosef and the brothers reuniting all during the holiday of Hanukah because that's part of the job of Hanukah- to bring that Achdut/togetherness between the brothers. And as we said, we also read about the 12 tribes of the Nesi’im during these days, all to indicate that important brotherhood. Furthermore, the Haftara talks about the uniting of Yehuda and Yosef. B’Ezrat Hashem we will have the Achdut necessary to bring the Beracha to the world.

Moshe Rabbenu, in Shemot 33,16 says וְנִפְלִ֙ינוּ֙ אֲנִ֣י וְעַמְּךָ֔ We ( the Jewish people) should be separated from the rest of the world. And right after that, God introduces the 13 Attributes of Mercy, which is a special covenant called the Covenant of the 13 Attributes that is made specifically for the Jewish people. This is what bothered the Greeks. They were bothered by anything that made the Jewish people stand out, apart from the rest of the world. These 13 attributes are what separate us. The way we describe our keeping the 13 attributes of mercy is to ‘ Go in the ways of God .’ Just like He is Rachum , we have to be be Rachum, just like He is Hanun we have to be Hanun . We must act in those ways, but why? Because of the rule that a son emulates his father. The Jewish people are called children of God, and therefore we are the ones that emulate God. We are the ones that live up to the Tzelem Elokim / image of God. The Tomar Devorah tells us that this why we have to live up to and emulate those 13 traits of God. With this, the sefer Yerach L’Moadim, from Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, the Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood explains a custom brought down by the Magen Avraham, on Shuchan Aruch, brought down by the Mishna Berura and the Kaf HaChaim, that it's customary for young, poor children to go collect money on Hanukah. That's really where the famous Hanukah gelt comes from. Some people want to say it's a Gentile custom, but it's not. It was really for the poor. The custom might have been to just give it as gifts, but there was a concept of giving money to children. Of course, they didn't want to differentiate wealthy and poor when giving money to children. And what's the reason? It’s based on Rambam in Hilchot Matanot Ani’im , chapter 10, Halacha 2, which says, all Jewish people are like brothers, like it says, you are children of God. If we're children of God, we're all brothers. And if a brother doesn't have mercy on his brother, who will have mercy on him? And who are the poor of the Jewish people looking up to? To their Jewish brethren, that are going to help them. Therefore, the Rambam says that the Mitzvah of Sedaka clearly comes from the concept of being children of God, and therefore being brothers to each other. And if the point that the Greeks were trying to obliterate was the fact that we are children of God (and therefore brothers to each other), we must go out of our way and strengthen ourselves in the trait of being brothers and children of Hashem, by specifically giving Sedaka during the holiday of Kislev. That's an important Ahavat Yisrael connection to the holiday of Hanukah. Have a wonderful day.

As we're now in the month of Kislev, we will speak a little bit about Hanukah in order to get ready. The Ben Ish Chai quotes the Arizal that when one says the berachot of the Nerot Hanukah, he says LeHadlik Ner Hanukah, unlike Shabbat when we say LeHadlik Ner Shel Shabbat . He answers with a Kabbalistic reason: Because we want to spell out the letters נחל N a H a L (using the first letters of each word L eHadlik N er H anukah) which means stream . And this stream is a two way stream- One stream stands for N afshenu H ekita L Hashem/Our souls are waiting for God's salvation . So we're hoping to God- that's a Bitachon indicator. The other stream is N otzer H essed L ’Alafim/ God protects and watches over our good deeds for 2000 generations, which are the 8 th and 9 th attributes of the 13 Attributes of God's Mercy ( El Rachum V’Hanun etc). What is the significance of this? He says that on each day of Hanukah, a different one of the 13 attributes is aroused. Day one is El , day two is Rachum , day three, Hanun…. etc . When we hit day eight, it’s Notzer Hessed/God watches our kindness, and L’Alafim is trait nine. Notzer Hessed L’Alafim/God watches the kindness for 2000 generations. Even though it's two separate traits, it's really one unit. And so, with the 8th unit comes down the 9th, the 10th, 11th, the 12th, and the 13th, which is all on the eighth day of Hanukah, and it’s called Zot Hanukah. That's why it's such a special day- because all 13 attributes come down. (Similarly, when we read the sefer Torah on Hanukah there are 13 different readings, so to say. There are the 12 tribes, and there's the also the tribe of the Kohanim, which is the 13th tribe, if you break it up that way. We do one Nasi/prince each day. But on the eighth day we do the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11, 12 th and 13 th , which correspond to the attributes) Our goal is to understand what exactly the connection is, between the 13 attributes and the holiday of Hanukah. And they explain as follows… In the Mishna Masechet Middot (chapter 2, mishna 3) it says that there were different boundaries and gates around the Bet Hamikdash. One of them was called the Soreg , which was only 10 hand-fists high. It didn’t really serve the purpose of a real wall. But it says that there were 13 breaches made there by the Greeks when they came to the Bet Hamikdash (as we sing in Maoz Sur - they made breaches in the walls). Furthermore, it says that when we won the war, we filled in those breaches. The people would go to each breach and bow down in thanks to God that we won the war. So the question is, what exactly is the significance of these 13 breaches in this wall? Rav Gedalia Schorr z’l explains, in his Sefer Or Gedalia , that the purpose of this 10 hand-fist high wall was to designate an area where goyim were not allowed to go. (There were certain areas in the Bet Hamikdash where contaminated people couldn't go, where non-Kohanim couldn’t go, and a certain point where no goyim were allowed to pass). This bothered the Greeks. They felt, with their philosophy, that they were equal to the Jews. So why couldn’t they go past there? They specifically made 13 breaches in those walls, in order to, so to say, break the differentiation between Jew and goy. But there's a deeper significance- Why the number 13, why didn’t they make 11 or 12 breaches? The answer is, because it corresponds to the 13 attributes of mercy that God has for the Jewish people. That's what they were trying to separate. One of the differentiating factors between the Jews and the goyim is that Hashem deals with us with these special 13 attributes of mercy. And that's what happens on Hanukah… We'll continue tomorrow with the significance of Hanukah and its connection to these 13 attributes. But the first thing we have to know is that the 13 attributes have to do with the 13 breaches that the Greeks made in the wall.

We continue with the trait of God called She’erut Nachlato, that God views the Jewish people as relatives, and it hurts God when we're in pain. The Gemara In Masechet Hagiga says When a man is in pain, what does God say? My head hurts. My arm hurts. And that's talking about sinners . So it’s surely so when a Sadik is suffering. Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his Sefer Nefesh HaChaim ( Shaar ב perek יא ) says, “What does it mean, ‘My head hurts and My arm hurts?’ He says, that connects to the tefilin that we wear on our head and arm..” The Gemara in Berachot 6A says just like we wear Tefilin, God, kal v’yachol wears Tefilin . It’s all about connection, the connection between God and the Jewish people. Our tefilin says Hashem Echad , and God’s tefilin says Mi K’Amcha Yisrael, Who is like the Jewish people , Goy Echad who is great like the Jewish people…that are connected to God like relatives. So God's Tefilin are full of praise for the Jewish people. Just like our tefilin praises Him, His Tefilin praises us. Tefilin signifies that connection. Therefore, when a man is in pain, it's as if, kal v’yachol, God's not connected. It means God's head and arm hurts. He doesn't feel the connection to the Jewish people when we're in suffering. And that's why the Benei Yisaschar says in Ma’Amar ה , of Hodesh Av, an unbelievable thought. Why is it that many people have the custom not to wear tefilin on Tisha B’Av? Because that’s the day, that, as if to say, God's not wearing His tefilin either, because if we're in such suffering, obviously there's a disconnection. And therefore, we don't wear the tefilin. This concept, of looking at everyone as our relatives, is talking about a stranger. You have to treat a stranger like a relative. But it's more than that. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 76B says that someone who loves his neighbors, and Mekarev Et K’rovav/brings his relatives close to him, and he lends a poor man at a time of difficulty, on him, it says, ‘You'll call out and God will respond to you.’ This is based on a pasuk in Yeshaya which is talking about what God wants on a fast day. He wants us to give to the poor. He wants to bring the poor into our homes. He wants us to cover the naked. And the words that say what God wants when He is talking about all this kindliness, is Don’t ignore your flesh and blood On that, the Gemara says that you have to put extra emphasis on the relative . Sometimes we're nice to the strangers, but we don't have that same connection to our own relatives. As the saying goes, charity begins in the home. It's not enough to give that stranger money. But the Gemara says, Mekarev Et K’rovav bring your relative close. (Sanhedrin 76B explaining Yeshaya 58, which we actually read on Yom Kippur) A person may wonder- How come my prayers aren't being answered? Well, maybe because you're not being Mekarev Et K’rovav bringing your relatives close. There's a story of a rabbi who had a wife and bunch of young children. He was learning in a Kollel (and he eventually became a Rosh Yeshiva). Every day he would get there at a quarter to 10 when the Kollel started at nine o'clock. And the rabbi in charge of the Kollel said, “ Where are you?” He answered, “ Every day I leave my house, and I'm on my way to get here on time. Then I pass by a house with a widow with six children and I just can't leave. So I go h elp her get the kids ready to go off to school. And I get here to a quarter to 10.” “Oh wow! I'm sorry.” And then the young Kollel rabbi says, “ I want to correct this a little bit. It's actually my wife and her six children, but I can only help a widow? I can't help my own wife? That's the concept Mekarev Et Krovav Have a wonderful day.

We're continuing this concept that the Jewish people are connected to God cause we're related. The pasuk in V’Etchanan 4,7 says כִּ֚י מִי־ג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־ל֥וֹ אֱלֹהִ֖ים קְרֹבִ֣ים אֵלָ֑יו כַּיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ בְּכׇל־קׇרְאֵ֖נוּ אֵלָֽיו Who is a great nation that God is related to? Whenever you call out to Him, He responds. Which means that because we're related, He responds to our prayers. Asks the Brisker Rav on Shemot 33,19, What do you mean? Goyim can also pray and Goyim can do teshuva, as we see in Yonah. And in Melachim א chapter eight, Shlomo Hamelech says, וְגַם֙ אֶל־הַנׇּכְרִ֔י When the goy comes, his prayer is answered. And Yeshaya 56 says, My house is the house of prayer for all nations. So we see that goyim can pray. So what does it mean that ‘O nly we are considered the ones to close to God and related to God and we can pray?’ The Brisker Rav answers that the Gemara in Rosh Hashana, page 18 says, “ This power that responds to us always, is for the Tzibur /group There's a special power of a Tzibur . And when there's a Tzibur praying or doing Teshuva , it's immediately answered. That’s the special power of the Tzibur. He says that only the Jewish people have the power of Tzibur . What does that mean? That means that regarding Goyim, when there are 100 people in a room, it's just 100 individuals in a room. There is no connection because they're not inherently connected. It says their souls come from Olam HaPiud/ the world of separation . However, the Jewish people come from Olam HaAchdut/The world of connection. That's why the Jewish people are symbolized by Reshut Hayachid , private property , and the goyim are Reshut HaRabim/public property. All Jewish people are in one private household. We are one big happy family, whereas the goyim are out in Times Square, with no inherent connection. They’re outside. So only the Jewish people have the power of the Tzibur . And that's the power of the 13 Attributes of Mercy, where it says V’Yaavor Hashem al Panav Va’Yikrah… the Gemara says that Hashem put on a Talet like a Shaliach Tzibur , and showed them the power of the prayer. He says, whenever the Jewish people sin follow this, And I forgive them. Why does the Gemara say that God was a Shaliach Tzibur? To show that this is a power that only works with the Tzibur . That's why we can only say the 13 attributes of mercy with 10 people in the room. If you are stuck at home praying, you have to say it with proper te’amim/cantillation. You can't say it alone, because this is something that is only said by a Tzibur . And like it says about Yaakov Avinu, 60 soul (written in singular) whereas regarding Esav, it says 6 souls , because their souls are individuals. They're not connected. There's no power of a Tzibur . A Tzibur is everyone together. A pneumonic of Tzibur צבור is צ דיק ב נוני ר שע Tz addik, B enoni, R asha, all Jews are together in one Tzibur . When we come to pray on Yom Kippur, we let everyone in. We allow even the sinners to come in, because we need the power of Tzibur . And that is because of the concept of Am Kerovo , We are the ones that have the power of closeness, of relation, as one body, as one soul of the Jewish people. And we have to act like that. We have to treat every Jew like that. Because if we don't act like that, we don't arouse God acting like that as well. Have a wonderful day.

AY 331 We are all Related We're talking about trait number four of God, called L’she’erit Nachlato, which means Hashem considers the Jewish people as His relatives. And regardless of what they're doing or not doing, or what they're deserving of, He can't see their pain and has to alleviate it. How does that apply to us? Says the Tomar Devorah, That's how we have to act with our friends, because we are all connected, our souls are connected. Our bodies might not be connected, but our souls are connected. He says that's why there's a concept in Shevuot 39A, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה We are all responsible for each other. Why? In his words, “ Every person has a piece of his friend inside of him. I have 600,000 pieces inside of me. And therefore, when I sin, I'm impacting all those other 600,000 pieces of my soul that everyone has inside of me. The reason someone else can say kiddush for me if I need to hear it is that he has a little bit of me in him, and I have a little of him in me. We're all connected, we're all related. That's why we're responsible for each other. If I see someone else sinning, I can stop him, because when he sins, it's making a hole in my boat- again, because a little bit of him is inside of me. This is an unbelievable concept. And it’s not just poetic prose; this is real fact. Anytime a rabbi adds the word mamash , it means for real. That means we're not saying this in poetry. We are for real. We are really considered relatives. He says, מפני שממש יש בכל אחד חלק אחד מחבירו For real , each one of us has a portion of our friend in us, and if that's the case, I have to want the benefit of my friend, and my eyes should be good on my friend's respect, as dear as mine. Why? In his powerful words, שהרי הוא – הוא ממש ומטעם זה נצטוינו He is literally me. And that's why V’Ahavta L’Re’echa Kamocha-I have to love my friend like I love myself, because his good is my good and his loss is my loss. Therefore, I want my friend to be successful. I don't want to ever say anything negative about him. Just like God doesn't want to see our degradation, or our pain and negativity, because of the relationship. And that's how we have to treat each other. Again, when we see someone else in pain, וירע לו ממנו כאלו הוא ממש היה שרוי באותו צער או באותה טוב I have to feel like I’m in that same pain, and the opposite, if he’s celebrating, I have to celebrate as well. This are unbelievable concepts that we have to really put into our consciousness. This is not just a flowery way of speaking. If we had eyes to see, we would see the connections, and the feelings that we should have, should be based on that real connection. Have a wonderful day.

We continue in the 13 attributes of mercy, as delineated by Rav Moshe Cordovero in his sefer Tomar Devorah . We are up to trait number four, L‘She’erit Nachlato . She’er means relative, like She’er Besaro , and Nachlato means an inheritance. God looks at us as if we are She’er Basar/ we are related t o Him, and Nachlato , we are His inheritance. And therefore, God says, What should I do to the Jewish people? They're My relatives. As God refers to the Jewish people in Shir Hashirim , They’re My daughter and My sister, My mother. Tehilim 148, 14, calls the Jewish people relatives- ישראל עם קרובו Yisrael Am Kerovo Karovo can mean close to, and Karov is a relative. God says, We're related. And if I'm punishing My relative, it's hurting Me. What am I gaining? The pasuk in Yeshaya 63,9 says בכל צרתם לו צר In all of the Jewish people's pain, there's pain to God. Furthermore, it says in Shoftim , 10,16 ותקצר נפשו בעמל ישראל which Rashi explains as God , kal v’yachol, didn't have space in Hid soul in order to tolerate watching someone else suffer. He didn’t have room for it, so to say. God didn't have the space, even though they were wrong, and even though they deserved it, God couldn't see their suffering and therefore He had to end it. This is an unbelievable concept. We spoke about Savlanut , which was the beginning of this discussion. We have to be Sovel when our friend insults us or hurts us. But when it comes to seeing the Jewish people in pain, in his words, לפי שאינו סובל צערם וקלונם, מפני שהם שארית נחלתו: God cannot tolerate, God cannot hold seeing Jewish pain and disgrace because we're related . Sometimes you just can't watch. Recently, I had to go to a doctor with a male relative, and as he was being checked, I couldn't stand in the room, and not because of any tznuit reasons. I just couldn't bear to see the wound that he was showing to the doctor. It hurt too much. So too, Hashem, kal v’yachol , can't see the pain, but God can't walk out of the room. So what does God have to do? God has to relieve the pain. That is the trait of God called L’She’erit Nachlato. A nd before we apply it, let's just reiterate this concept. In a pasuk in Devarim, 4,7 it says, כִּ֚י מִי־ג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־ל֥וֹ אֱלֹקים קְרֹבִ֣ים אֵלָ֑יו Who is great like the Jewish people, like God, Who is (not close to us, says the midrash, but) related to us . And the Yerushalmi in Masechet Rosh Hashana says, People like to recognize their wealthy, prestigious relatives, not their poor unknown relatives. But Hashem doesn't work that way. He says, Am Kerovo . I don't care where the Jewish people are holding, they're My relatives. They're my close kin . And that's the way we have to deal with all Jewish people. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will apply this to the Jewish people, and develop this concept more at length. Have a wonderful day.

We continue going through the sefer Tomar Devorah, which talks about God's Thirteen attributes of mercy and how we are supposed to emulate them. We are up to the third Middah, which is called the V’Over Al Pesha / He passes over sin. . “ This is a great attribute, ” says the Tomar Devorah, “ because God's forgiveness is not through a messenger. God Himself forgives ," as it says Ki Imcha Haselicha/With You, is forgiveness. And what is the Selicha ? God washes away the dirt of the sin… and he quotes two Pesukim: Yeshaya 4,4, אם רחץ ה׳ את צאת בנות ציון “If God will clean and wash the excrement of the daughters of Sion,” and Yehezkiel 36, 25 says, וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים I will sprinkle upon you purifying waters. And that's what Over Al Pesha means, that God Himself cleanses the sin. When a person sins, it creates negative forces. It creates dirt, smells, odors. It's not something that we can pick up on, but actually, in Parashat Toldot, when Esav came in to Yitzhak, it says he smelled the smell of Gehinom that came in with him. And when Yaakov walks in, he smells the smell of Gan Eden on him. This is because our sins and our Mitzvot produce different forces, different energies. In the Sephardic prayers on Rosh Hashanah, it says, “ My sins, if my friends would smell them, they would run and stay far away.” Sins smell. And not only doesn't God walk away from us, but He, so to say, changes the diapers, which is something that only a mother does. Rav Yitzhak Blazer gives the mashal that if a stranger saw a child that was all soiled, he’d walk out to the other room. He wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Only a mother comes in with love and a hug. Ignoring the smell, she cleans the child in the most delicate of fashions, until he comes out sparkle and clean. And that is , kal v’yachol, what Hashem does for us. He cleans up our mess. Now, what does that have to do with us? Says the Tomar Devorah, That's the way man has to act. He shouldn't say, ‘I have to fix what he messed up?’ No. A person has to say, ‘if God Himself cleans up our mess, we have to clean up the other person's mess.’ That means, practically speaking, that if somebody causes a problem in a business, in a school, etc, you are now going to go and fix up their mess. That takes a tremendous amount of self-control. And sometimes it’s a situation of I told you so. You many find yourself in a situation where you tried to avoid the problem, but the person didn’t listen to you and created a mess. But you are not just going to let them sit there and suffer. You're going to pull them out of their mess. Raising children definitely gives many good opportunities for this Middah. This is one of God's attributes, and the more that we arouse our merciful attributes, the more God arouses His towards us. Have a wonderful day.

We've been talking about the concept of כל העושה עבירה קונה לו קטגור אחד Whoever does a sin buys (or creates) a negative force. But since we don't like to end on a negative, let’s flip to the positive side of this: When a person does a mitzvah, he creates a positive force. As the Mishna says, he gets a defense attorney. As we say in our prayers, “ There should stand up, a defense attorney for us .” An angel that’s a defense attorney is created from our Mitzvot. The Sefer Ya’avetz, from one of the great rabbis that survived the Spanish Inquisition, says Listen to the the story of Masechet Chagiga: There was a man that only knew one tractate- Chagiga, and he reviewed and reviewed it anytime he had an opportunity, his entire life. He never stopped. When he passed away, he was not near his family. So God sent an angel that looked like a lady, and this lady was crying, “ My husband, my husband .” Everyone gathered around as the lady cried so bitterly, and said, “ My husband respected me. He never forsook me my whole life. He treated me properly…bury him with great respect.” They asked her what her name was and she said, “ Chagiga .” An interesting name. They did some research and found out that this was not his wife. They found out that he had been learning Masechet Chagiga his entire life. This man had created an angel from all his Torah learning. And he says, that's what it means that הָעוֹשֶׂה מִצְוָה אַחַת, קוֹנֶה לוֹ פְרַקְלִיט אֶחָד. He who does one Mitzvah, acquires one advocate. The Maharsha points out that the pasuk says, “ Someone who comes to do good, to purify himself, they help him.” He says it should say God helps him. Who is they ? And he explains that when a person thinks of doing a good deed, that in itself creates positive angels. In plural- 2 angels. It says, “ They help him.” How? They help him to continue the act fully. And that is the positive side of our ability to create forces-it may not be directly connected to Ahavat Yisrael, but it’s an important lesson, nevertheless. We should not just focus on the negative angels we create with our Averot , but focus on the positive angels we create with our mitzvot. Have a wonderful day.

We continue in the Sefer Tomar Devorah, discussing the traits of God that we have to emulate. Trait number one was God's level of tolerance and patience, which we call Savlanut . Trait number two is called Noseh Avon , which literally means to carry a sin. The term first shows up when Kayin tells God, “ Is my sin too great to carry?” Simply, it's poetic, But the Tomar Devorah explains that when a person sins, he creates a negative force, like the Mishna in Avot 4,13 says, One who sins (buys or) creates a prosecuting angel. As we have discussed, nothing in this world can remain alive without Somebody , namely God, keeping it alive. So that prosecuting angel goes in front of God and says, “ So-and-so created me, and I need to be sustained. ” Really, God should say, “ I'm not sustaining a negative force that I didn't create. Go to the one that created you, and he will give you sustenance.” Depending on the level of sin, the sustenance of the negative angel might be the person’s arm, leg or whatever is required in order to satisfy this negative angel’s need. But God doesn't do that. Rather, He carries and tolerates the sin, like He does with the rest of the world. He feeds the sin. Angels live off of heavenly food, and this angel that was created by our sin is fed by God. We created him. We created a negative angel, and yet God feeds him. For how long depends on one of three things. He says, -When a person does teshuva, that causes the negative force to disappear, -or the man will suffer in this world -or he will suffer in the next world. We don't want either of those options. We prefer Teshuva. But until that happens, it could be years that God is sustaining this angel. That's what Kayin meant when he said, “ Is my sin too great to carry ?” and the Midrash Tanhuma says on that, “ You're able to carry (sustain) the whole world and my sin is too heavy? You can't take care of it?” What a tremendous amount of tolerance, to continue to sustain the negative force that the person created. So what is the application to man? If someone wronged you, and the person's negativity is still there, nonetheless you continue to allow him to, and sustain him, even though he is working against you. For example, if a worker was stealing from you, and you still payed his paycheck. Of course, that's an extreme example. We will continue to discuss this, but essentially, being Noseh Avon is when someone is doing something negative, and even though he continues to do negative things, you carry him. We might not do this with our workers, but we do it with our children. We will continue to carry a child and sustain him, even when he’s acting in a way that we don't agree with. And that's really a trait of God. Have a wonderful day.

We've been discussing the Middah of Savlanut , which means to tolerate or be patient . Another term for this trait is Ma’avir Al Midotav , which literally means someone who lets his Middot “pass.” Rashi describes it, in Masechet Rosh Hashana 17A, as Not being exacting, not being measure for measure to those that pain him. He lets his middot go, and he just keeps going. He just moves on. And if that is the way the person acts, then God's justice isn't exacting with him, it just keeps moving as well. So Maavir Al Midotav means to move on. You just move on. You don't get stuck. And what's reward for it? Number one is that his sins are forgiven. But there’s another reward: The Gemara in Masechet Chagiga 5A, discusses a person that, for some reason, dies before his time, as the pasuk says, “ Sometimes people go before their times.” The Gemara asks, what do we do with those extra years? And it says, If there is a Talmid Hacham/Torah scholar who is Maavir B’Mileh, (which Rashi says means Maavir B’Midotav ), they give those extra years to him. Unbelievable! Based on this, I saw commentary from the Maharam Shick (a student of the Chatam Sofer) that says that in the Torah, Pinhas is described with his whole lineage- Pinhas ben Elazar, ben Aharon HaKohen. Why do we give this whole lineage? It says, because the tribes were disgracing him, “ Oh, his father, his grandfather, fashioned idols for Avoda Zara…who does he think is?” Everyone was disgracing him, and yet he didn't respond. Here's a man that did the greatest act and saved the world. And yet everyone taunted him. What did he get? Et Briti Shalom . He got the Covenant of Peace, which the Seforno says is Peace from the Angel of Death. That's why Pinhas became Eliyahu, and he’ll live forever. Why was that his reward? The explanation is unbelievable – All of those 24,000 people died before their time because they sinned. They had been allotted a certain amount of years and died early. So what happened with all of those years they lost? We can estimate that was about 20 years x 24,000 lives, That’s tens of thousands of years! Pinhas, the one who was disgraced and didn’t say anything, got all of their years, and that's why he’ll live forever. Unbelievable! What a tremendous incentive to be Ma’avir Al Midotav! Have a wonderful day.

We've been talking about Hashem’s tremendous patience and tolerance, and how even though we sin, God continues to bestow His bounty and blessings upon us. The Hovot Halevavot, in his Shaar Cheshbon HaNefesh section (chapter 3, 6th calculation), says, “ If any of our limbs would not do what they're supposed to do, for example, if the ones that are supposed to be moving would stop, or the ones that are supposed to be stopped would move ( Like we say in Asher Yatzar, if one of them opens, that is supposed to be closed or closes that’s supposed to be open), we would lose our ability to live, and yet the limbs keep going. He says, Really when a person doesn't follow God, then the limbs shouldn't follow him. If he’s not listening to His creator, why should his limbs listen to him? He gives a mashal of a king who commanded some of his servants to carry one of his ministers across a river. He instructed his servants to be very careful as they crossed the river, that the minister shouldn’t get hurt or fall. And while the servants were carrying the minister, the minister also had a responsibility. He had to take a flag and wave it back and forth as they went across the river. The servants followed their part of the deal, they carried the minister across the river very carefully. But the minister was asleep the entire time. He did not do his job. He did not wave the flag. So one of the servants said, Dear minister, you are ignoring the king's command. Why aren't you concerned that we'll do the same thing and also ignore the king's command? His command was that we should watch over you. And just like you're not following, we won't follow. And if we don't follow, you're going to fall into this big river and die a horrible death. Do Teshuva and repent immediately and ask God for forgiveness. And just like we're not ignoring the king's command, neither should you . Says the Hovot Halevavot, that's what’s going on with us. Our limbs continue to follow the rules and regulations, our stomachs digests the food, our eyes see, our ears hear...and so on and so forth. They're following their command. Yet we might not be doing what God told us to do with our eyes. We might not be doing what God told us to do with our ears. We might not be doing what God told us to do with our throats and tongues and so on… That is the tremendous patience that God has, that ultimately He is the one that controls the servants. The servants don't have a mind of their own, the limbs don't have a mind of their own, and yet they continue to follow their command, even though we don't necessarily follow ours. Again, all of this is to teach us how much patience God has, and how we should emulate God's patience.

We are now going through the sefer Tomar Devorah , which talks about God's 13 Attributes, as mentioned by Micha. The first is called Mi El Kamocha/Who is a God like You, the point being that God has tremendous tolerance and patience for His creations. Even though they act in a rebellious way against him, God continues to shower His kindness upon them. We will give some examples of what God does, in order for us to learn to emulate Him. In Beresheet (3,21) it says that after Adam and Chava sinned and realized they were naked, God made for them leather garments, וילבישם V’Yalbishem/And He clothed them with them. It doesn't say He made clothing L’lbosh/ for them to wear , like is used in Bereshit 28, 20, where Yaakov Avinu asks for Beged Lilbosh/ clothing to wear , but rather it says clothing that He actually clothed them in. Hashem made them clothing and clothed them. What is this pasuk trying to say? Rabbenu Bachye explains that God wanted to show not just that He created clothing for them after they sinned against Him- Because God should technically say, Hey, you realized you're naked? You made yourself feel naked! Figure it out yourselves- But No, God went and created clothing, and He did not just create the clothing and put it on the rack- VYalbishem . He actually put the clothing on them, so to say. It was also, as Rabbenu Bachye says, להורות על אהבתו וחמלתו על יצוריו To show God's love and compassion for His creations, שאף על פי שחטאו לא זז מחבבן והוא בעצמו השתדל בתיקונם And even though they sinned He did not stop from showing them endearment. And He Himself, tried to fix the problem that they created. God could have had someone else do it. He goes on to say that this too is the way God acted with Adam HaRishon’s future generations, in the desert, as we mentioned last week. Even after they sinned the sin of the golden calf, God continued to bring the Manna down, and did not stop showing His endearment to them. Furthermore, he says that at the splitting of the sea, the Jewish people went into the sea with an idol! There was an idol called Pessel Micha, as it says in Zechariah 10,11, ועבר בים צרה זה פסל מיכה. צרה זו עבודה זרה In the ocean, passed a Tsara, which literally means a co-wife , which means competition for God. The Midrash explains that it refers to Pessel Micha. And yet God split the sea. And to this point, Daniel said (9,7) לך ה' הצדקה ולנו בושת הפנים: You God, have the act of charity, And we are embarrassed. We are embarrassed because God continues to shower His blessings on us, even when we sin. And again, the main point is to emulate God, and see how we can relate that to people that have wronged us, and continue to act benevolently to them.

We continue to talk about God's tremendous tolerance, patience and acceptance of disgrace. We go back to the pasuk in Nehemiah (chapter 9), where he is giving a speech to the Jewish people and he says the words ואתה מחיה את כלם God gives life to all, and it continues on, as we know in our prayers, with: You are the one that chose Avram and took him out of Ur Kasdim and gave him the name Avraham, made a Brit with him.. and so on. until it says, You split the sea and the enemies were thrown into the deeps like a rock in the waters . That's the end of what we say in our prayers, but the pasuk continues -perek ט pasuk יב - And You guided them with the cloud and a fire at night and You came down on Har Sinai, You gave them the Torah and You gave them Shabbat and You gave them manna from the heavens. and You gave them water from the rock and they didn't want to listen. They did not remember the miracles that You did. They were stiff necked and they wanted to go back to Mitzrayim. But you, God, are a God of mercy, a God that forgives, a God that's Erech Apayim that has patience and takes a long time to get angry, V’Rav Hessed, VLo Azavtam/ and You did not forsake them even though they sinned against You. And now for our powerful pasuk: אַ֗ף כִּֽי־עָשׂ֤וּ לָהֶם֙ עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֔ה וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ זֶ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֶלְךָ֖ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֔וּ נֶאָצ֖וֹת גְּדֹלֽוֹת Even though they made a golden calf, and they said, “This is your God that took you out of Egypt” And yet, with Your great mercy, You did not forsake them in the Midbar. You could have just turned off the a.c. The cloud did not stop from guarding them, and the cloud of fire did not stop at night. Unbelievable! God continued to direct them in the desert, even though they were sinning at that very moment! That is the tremendous level of disgrace that God takes. Rashi in Yehezkiel ( 16, 19) says, The day the Egel was made, the manna came down, and they actually put the manna in front of the golden calf! And even so, God gave them manna the next day Can you believe that? The manna was going to the Egel , and God continued ton give them the manna. Unfathomable! This is how far God's tolerance and patience goes. Not humanly comprehendible. And yet we have to try our best to emulate that…

Today's class is dedicated in memory of my uncle, Albert D. Sutton, Avraham Ben Emma a’h May this class should be an Ilui Nesham for him. We're discussing the trait of God, that He has tremendous tolerance because He’s constantly being disgraced. In his Sefer Shaar Hayirah, on the topic of fear (10th chapter), the Reshit Hochma, (a student of Rav Moshe Cordevero, author of the Tomar Devorah), says that a pious man once said, Don't rebel against your master when he is watching you . The only problem is, God is always watching us- so never rebel. And he says that every breath that we take is really a breath of God. As the pasuk says in Devarim 8,3 כִּ֛י עַל־כׇּל־מוֹצָ֥א פִֽי־יְהֹוָ֖ה יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאָדָֽם׃ Man lives from what emanates from the mouth of God. That means that every second we're living not off the food that we eat, not off the drinks that we drink, but from the fact that God is putting energy into us. That was the lesson of the manna . God is the One that's giving us energy, not anything that we eat or drink. And if that's the case, he says, all of our breathing should be for God. That's what David Hamelech’s final words in Tehilim meant: Kol Ha Neshama TeHallel Ya/ All souls should praise God. The Midrash Raba says that Neshama can be read as Neshima - as in: For every breath we have to thank God. Because every breath that we take is a breath of God. That's the biggest sign of how frail and feeble we are. We are fragile. If we don't breathe for a certain amount of time, we can't survive. But who's putting the oxygen into us? God is breathing oxygen into us. And he goes on and quotes his Rabbi that God is called the God that’s disgraced, for the reason we discussed previously, that God is giving us the energy and we sin with the energy He gives us. He gives a mashal of a king that gives his servant money to buy bread in order to live on. But instead of buying bread, the servant uses the money to buy a stick, and then he hits his master with the stick- the stick that he bought with the money that the master gave him! Is there any servant worse than that? That's God. He gives us our life. He gives us our breath. He gives us our energy to use for ourselves to serve Him and ultimately be rewarded. And instead, we buy a stick with it, and hit Him and work against Him. And yet, with all that being said, God continues to ignore, to have patience and tolerance, and continues to benefit us. And of course, the ultimate lesson is going be that we, who are not a God, who didn't give anybody anything much, should have a level of patience towards those that torment us or go against us.

We've been speaking about the concept of tolerance , to be Sovel . As we mentioned from Rav Wolbe, a lot of this comes from the beautiful sefer Tomar Devorah, by Rav Moshe Cordevero, on the 13 attributes of mercy, based on the pasuk in Micha , Mi El Kamocha. The Pele Yoetz, under the topic of Devekut , says that a person should read the Tomar Devorah once a month, and try his best to live up to these Middot of Hashem. In Arot Elim, another sefer by the Pele Yoetz, he includes a shorter version of these 13 attributes, in order for one to review constantly. Furthermore, Rav Yitzhak Blazer, the great student of Rav Yisrael Salantar, also known as Rav Yitzhak of Peterburg, made a list of kabalot , as many great rabbis do, and on his list of things to work on was to work on his Ahavat Habriot/ loving your fellow people, and he too said that the way to act on this is to constantly review the sefer Tomar Devorah . So if that’s the case, we are going to try to do that; to work on the 13 Attributes of Mercy as they show up in the sefer Tomar Devorah. The first thing Rav Cordevero writes (in what we’ll call the introduction), is that a person is supposed to emulate his Creator, as it says when man was created, “ Let us make man, with our form and our image.” That means, in a sense (and of course it doesn’t really mean this), man is created in the image of God. We can imagine a man up there in the heavens, and there are certain, traits that are symbolized by that. Of course, God is not anything physical or human, but we are , in some way, in our form and our image, like God. But he says that it’s not enough to, so to say, look like. The main thing, he says, is to act like, and that's the job of this pasuk , Mi El Kamocha; to act like God, not just to have the potential that we were, so to say, created in His image. We have to act in that image. We have mentioned this recently, but we're now going to go into it in depth. The first Middah is called Mi El Kamocha / who is like You. This means that Hashem is what he calls Melech Ne’elav, a King that's disgraced, Sovel Elbon/God tolerates disgrace, to a point that's not fathomable. And he makes two points: 1-nothing is ever hidden from God's supervision, without a doubt. 2-there isn't a second that man is not being sustained from the sustenance that God gives him. And therefore, it never happened that man sinned, and at the moment he was sin, God was not giving the ability to sin against Him. God tolerates this and continues to give His bounty and allow the person to move and function. It’s not that God can't stop it at any second, because He can, as we see from the story of Yeravam, who had a sudden stroke. God should technically say, “If you're sinning, sin with your power, not with Mine.” Yet God continues to give His bounty, which is not fathomable. That's why God is called me Mi El Kamocha . The term El means both Baal Hessed and powerful . That means God gives Hessed, and He can take it back, but He doesn't. Before we go further into how a human being is supposed to act, we will expound upon the point of God constantly pumping energy into creation. It's the pasuk in Nehemiah, perek ט that we say every single day. אַתָּה־ה֣וּא ה׳ לְבַדֶּ֒ךָ֒ (את) [אַתָּ֣ה] עָשִׂ֡יתָ אֶֽת־הַשָּׁמַ֩יִם֩ שְׁמֵ֨י הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם וְכׇל־צְבָאָ֗ם הָאָ֜רֶץ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֤ר עָלֶ֙יהָ֙ הַיַּמִּים֙ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּהֶ֔ם You made the heavens and the heavens above the heavens, and all the hosts, the earth and everything that's upon it (lions and tigers, bears), the oceans, and everything that's inside of them ( all the deep sea creatures). And now for the four magical words: וְאַתָּ֖ה מְחַיֶּ֣ה אֶת־כֻּלָּ֑ם And You constantly give life to all of them. וּצְבָ֥א הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לְךָ֥ מִשְׁתַּחֲוִֽים׃ And that’s why the heavenly beings bow to You . Because they know how much You are responsible for creation. In another sefer, Pardes Rimonim, written by Rabbi Cordevero (6 th gate, 8th chapter), he says, that this is the meaning of וּבְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל־יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית God is constantly renewing creation. Because every day, God is pumping energy in for that day. And if God would not decide to rejuvenate creation, everything would stop. Before we go on to how human beings should be tolerant, we're going to further study God's level of tolerance.

We've been talking about the trait of Savlanut/ tolerance . Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shur ( vol 2 page 216), says that first a person has to condition himself to get the idea of tolerating others. But he says, a person also has to learn how to tolerate himself. What does that mean? Sometime a person is trying to work on a trait, such as tolerating people. He decided, “ Hey, that's a great thing to work on. I really need to work on tolerance. I don't have tolerance for people,” and he’s been working on that for the past few days. He is going to see that he is not as strong as he thought he was. You really can't beat this bad trait so quickly. So you might forget about it. You might not be so stable and you'll get Yetzer Hara attacks. So now what? He quotes a midrash, which is also quoted by Rabbenu Yona in Shaar Teshuva ( Shaar 2, אות כו ), explaining the mishna in Pirkei Avot: וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי מָה אֲנִי, כְּשֶׁאֲנִי לִי לְהִשְׁתַּדֵּל לְתַקֵּן נַפְשִׁי בְּכָל כֹּחִי, וַאֲנִי הוֹגֶה בַּחָכְמָה בְּכָל עֵת, מָה אֲנִי, כִּי הַשָּגַת הָאָדָם קְצָרָה וְדַלָּה, וְעִם הַטֹּרַח וְהַתִּקּוּן יַשִּיג מְעַט מִן הַמַּעֲלוֹת. רְאֵה מִי אֲנִי וּמֶה חַיַּי כְּשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי לְהִשְׁתַּדֵּל When am I for myself, what am I? Even when a person tries to fix himself, with all his strength, and is constantly working on myself, still he says, What am I? Because of my abilities are limited. With all the hard work I put in, I'm only going to produce a few good qualities. He gives a mashal of a very low grade field. Even with all the hard work you put in, and all that you do to try to fix it, it’s still only going to produce a very small crop. But if you don't work on it, then it's only going to produce weeds and thorns and thistles. And he says from Avot D’Rebe Natan perek טז on the Pasuk in Tehilim (103,14), where David Hamelech says כִּי הוּא יָדַע יִצְרֵנוּ God knows our Yetzer Hara, that it’s comparable to a king that gives a field to his servants and tells them to guard and watch it, and bring 30 pounds a year. And they work hard but they can only bring five pounds. The king asks,” What's going on? What'd you do? I asked you for 30 pounds!” And they say, “ Our master, the king, the field that you gave us is a very low grade. We tried our hardest, and with all our hard work, this is all we produced.” This is an important concept, says Rav Wolbe This field you gave us, it's low grade. And therefore, he says, “ Woe to someone that doesn't have tolerance with himself, who is very quick to despair from service of God entirely,” someone who says, “ Forget it. I tried to work on tolerance for two weeks and it's not working.” Even if he doesn't despair, when he pushes through, he's going to be depressed. And there's nothing that ruins service of God more than being down and depressed. He says, Human nature, is that when we start serving Hashem, we want fast results, instant gratification. We think, “I heard that you're supposed to pray with kavana, so I’ll just try, and Boom! I'm going to be able to pray all my prayers with kavana from beginning to end. And one by one, I'm going to go through Mesilat Yesharim and knock off every Middah. If I just stick to it by the end of the year I'll be a Gadol Hador.” Then, how despaired and frustrated we become when we don't see it happening. So we have to realize this important rule- that in everything that we're trying to do, slow and steady wins the race. You can't overload, you can't exaggerate. As the Gemara in Kedushin (17A) says, If you try to grab a lot you're not going grab anything. And if you try to get a little bit, you can get that little bit. And even with that little bit that we can do, we're going to stumble and mess up. But don't despair. Keep pushing forward. Now, at the same time, there is a catch: Don't now be overly tolerant with yourself and just accept the situation and become apathetic to change. Don’t say, “ Okay, that's it. I got a garbage field. I'm not working. I'm just going to sit down and throw in the towel.” No, I have to keep working steadily at it and fall and get up. As Mishleh says, (24,16) The Sadik falls seven times and he gets up . And if we stick to it, eventually we will be successful. That is this important rule called Tolerance with yourself. Have a great day.

We continue to discuss the topic of Savlanut , which we translated literally as to carry, to tolerate and to be patient with situation s that not to our liking. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat brings the following braita: Those that are disgraced and don't disgrace back, that hear their disgrace and don't respond, that serve God out of love and are happy with yisurim/suffering. So these are three areas of tolerance; being tolerant of insults, or disgrace or tolerating suffering. And on them, it says the pasuk in Shoftim - And those that love God, it will big will be like the sun in its full shining. We mentioned in the past that the sun is the fullest expression of energy, yet here the person is seemingly not doing anything, he’s being quiet, but that quiet has the greatest of energy. Rabbenu Bachye in Parashat Vayikra (perek א pasuk ב ) explains as follows: He says that, as we know, the sun and moon were originally equal. Then the moon complained and said we can't have two equal kings. So what did God do? God made the moon smaller and the sun bigger. Rabbenu Bachye says that we see from this that the sun didn't respond, and because the sun was quiet while the moon was disgracing, it, the sun was rewarded and the sun shined. Therefore we say of the people that keep quiet, God will reward them with shining. The Chida says something very interesting ( Vayikra 10,13). He quotes from the Mesorah, which is an early Midrash that lists certain times that words show up on a rare occasion, always a theme. The word under discussion is Vayidom , which means to be quiet . The word Vayidom only shows up twice in Tanach - once in Vayidom Aharon, and another in Vayidom HaShemesh. Vayidom Aharon is when, lo alenu, Aharon loses his two sons on the opening day of the Bet HaMikdash, and he's quiet. He doesn't say anything. He just, so to say, tolerates that difficult situation. And Vayidom HaShemesh/ the sun was silent when Yehoshua stopped the sun. Why does it say the sun was silent? Because the sun, just by following its regular orbit, sings praise to God, is praising God. When it stops, the praise stops. So the sun is silent from its praise, so to say. That's the simple explanation. But the Chida has a deeper explanation, and says that the commonality between the two is that just like the sun was silent way back when, in creation, the moon asked how there could be two equal kings (the moon wanted to be in charge, but the sun was quiet), and because of that, the sun ended up shining, so too for Aharon. When he had this great challenge in life, in the words of the Chida, “ Due to his great piousness and humility, he didn't have anything to say. He was just quiet. ” And therefore, Aharon HaKohen ended up shining like the sun. Aharon HaKohen was shining because of the fact that he, like the sun, was Sovel/ tolerant, patient and held onto his difficult feelings. He was tolerant, patient, and held on. We add one more piece, from the Kurazi, written by Rav Yehuda Halevi as a conversation between the king of the Kuzars and a rabbi. In it, the rabbi says that Hashem says, “ I’m proud of the Jewish people.” And the king says, “ How could that be? How could God be proud of people? That doesn't sound right.” And the rabbi explains, “ If someone said, ‘God is proud of the sun,’ would that bother you?” And he says, “ No, that makes sense. Look what the sun does. Look how powerful the sun is. The whole world is living from the sun, the plants…everything needs the sun. Of course God should be proud of the sun.” So the rabbi says that the human beings that are spreading the word of God, the human beings that are acting in greatness, they're greater than the sun. And if God can be proud, so to say, of the sun, he should surely be proud of people. After the Rambam quotes this Gemara in the laws of De’ot, perek ה , he says that a person should be from the people that are insulted and and not respond, etc. And he says on them, the pasuk says, “ You are the Jewish people that I'm proud of. ” So God is proud of the Jews. When is he proud of us? He's proud of us when we're quiet and we tolerate. Have a wonderful day.