We לייען this as מפתיר by מנחה on יו''כ.
יונה’s mother was from שבט אשר and his father was from זבולן. It says in ברכת יעקב, "זבולן לכוך ימים"- lived by the shore. When יונה ran away, he took a boat.
אליהו הנביא went away and he stayed at the אשה מצרפת. Her son died and אליהו revived him- this son was יונה.
He was from the עשרת השבטים.
אברבנל What is the general intention of this נבואה? What ה' wants to happen will happen- "עצת ה' לעולם תעמוד". We learn this out from the מעשה of יונה- he didn’t want to give נבואה because he knew what אשור was going to do to ב''י in the future. Because of this, his נשמה desired that אשור and ננוה should be destroyed until it’s broken. He ran away because he didn’t want to give the נבואה. ה' caused wind to come until the point that יונה had to be thrown off the boat. The fish that swallowed him watched him until he did תשובה. After he davened to ה', he left the fish and went on with his שליחות. Nothing is too wonderous for ה' to do. Everything is in His hands- like material in the hands of a designer.
משנה ברורה Why do we read this on יו''כ? A person often dispairs and says that he can’t fix himself up, and anyway if ה' wants him to die, then he’ll die. It says in פרקי אבות- "אל תהי רשע בפני עצמך". The רמב''ם says that he’ll end up going to תרבות רעה. This is a terrible mistake- in the end, everything that ה' wants from his נפש he will have to fix up, and he’ll have to come back to עוה''ז again and again. The ראי': We learn from יונה. ה' wanted him to go and give נבואה, he refused and ran away to the water so that he wouldn’t be able to get נבואה anymore. He drowned and was swallowed by a fish- it seemed that what ה' wanted wouldn’t happen through יונה. But in the end, we see that the רצון ה' was fulfilled. "ואל יבטחך יצרך שהשאל בית מנוס לך שע''כ אתה נוצר..."- don’t let your יצה''ר convince you that your grave is going to be an escape, because what ה' wants is going to happen. יונה came out of the fish- it was like he had a rebirth and what ה' wanted from his was fulfilled.
רד''ק א Why is ספר יונה written in כתבי הקדוש if it’s all about גויים and there is no mention of כלל ישראל?
1. It was written as מוסר for ב''י- a goyish nation was so close to תשובה and the first time they received מוסר, they listened. ב''י get נבואה again and again but they still don’t do תשובה.
2. To show the amazing miracles that ה' did with יונה- he was in the fish for three days and lived, the fish spit him out. We see from here the פלאות that ה' does in order to fulfill his עצה. This is a lesson for כלל ישראל.
It says his father’s name to show that he was a נביא בן נביא.
Why were the people of ננוה worthy of נבואת ה'?
1. At the end of פרשת נח is דור הפלגה. נמרד was trying to get everyone to rebel against ה'. A man named אשור didn’t like this. He saw that his sons were being influenced, so he took them away and built the city of ננוה. Because of this, they were זוכה that a נביא ה' should get them to do תשובה.
2. רד''ק ב- ה' is משגיח, even on the goyim when their wickedness with חמס becomes great. Usually, they don’t get such השגחה, but when they get so bad, ה' “pays more attention” to them. ה' pays more attention to us because we have an עתיד. גויים are so bad and the worse that they get, they are left alone by ה' to die out alone because he doesn’t care. But for us, if we act bad, we get punished. ה' isn’t משגיח a lot on the גויים except if there is חמס because חמס destroys the foundations of the world. ה' said in עמוס, "רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונותיכם"- ה' loves us the most so He is משגיח on us. The גויים don’t have such a relationship with ה' and only get disciplined when there is חמס.
3. מלבי''ם ב- ה' was משגיח on ננוה because they would be the שבט אף of ה' to rule over ב''י with. ה' was providing a salvation for them so that they wouldn’t die, therefore they had to stop with חמס, so that they won’t die and could be גולה ב''י. Besides for keeping them alive, ה' also wanted to make them be זכאי over ב''י because it would be embarrassing if ב''י were disciplined by despicable people. We see from here that even גלות and יסורים are brought about with ה'’s רחמנות. ה' is always watching to make it good for us- מציץ מן החרכים. This proves that ה'’s entire reason for bringing us into גלות is His רחמנות. We were always taken into גלות by a world power- ה' did this so that we shouldn’t be embarrassed.
מלבי''ם In this פסוק, we see almost the same words as in ג:ב, but over there it says the words "וקרא אליה את הקריאה אשר אנכי דור לפניך", while we see that here it just says, “"וקרא עליה. Why? The first time, ה' didn’t give specific instructions, only the second time. Had יונה not listened the second time, he would be considered a נביא הכובש נבואתו"- a נביא who ignores נבואה, and he would have been חייב מיתה. But the first time, he wasn’t חייב מיתה. We see here that יונה wasn’t a פורק עול, he just couldn’t bring himself to do this. He ran away so that he wouldn’t get a second נבואה because that one he couldn’t ignore.
It says מלפני ה' and not מפני ה'- it says in תהלים, "ואנה מפניך אברח"- where can you run away from ה'? It doesn’t say מפני because you can’t run away from ה', but you can run away מלפני- from right before ה'.
יונה defends כלל ישראל- "תבע כבוד הבן ולא כבוד האב". His devotion to them didn’t let him save אשור. He was מוסר נפש both his physical and spiritual life. He knew that what he was doing wasn’t good, but he couldn’t bring himself to do this to ב''י.
אברבנל Rather then save the people of אשור, he would rather choke himself to death in the ים. His intentions were רצוות, but his actions weren’t.
ג יפו is a port city.
רד''ק באה תרשיש- the טעם is under the א, which means that this word is מלרע. מלרע shows הווה. But he was in יפו, so how could he see a boat coming to תרשיש- He couldn’t see it coming to תרשיש, he could only see it leaving יפו! The boat was ready to leave יפו and come to תרשיש- it’s a process.
מלבי''ם באה תרשיש- he now found a boat that was arriving from תרשיש. יונה came to יפו and as he came, he saw a boat that was arriving from תרשיש. It would have docked, but יונה paid the fare for a full boat. Why?
1. He was in a hurry.
2. He knew that the boat was at risk and he didn’t want to endanger any more people than necessary. When יונה left, it wasn’t a מרידה against ה' and it wasn’t because he was on a רוחניותדיק low- it was just something that he couldn’t do.
It says שכרה and not שכרו- he paid the fare for the full boat. We learn out from here that נבואה only rests on a rich man.
Two ways that יונה made sure not to get נבואה:
1. He left א''י.
2. He went by boat because those that travel by route of sea have a certain lack of מנוחת הנפש.
3. לבוא עמהם- he specifically travelled with עכו''ם because the שכינה doesn’t rest with them.
פרקי דרבי They saw that all the boats were going peacefully and there was a certain השגחה with their boat.
מלבי''ם ה' stirred up the sea, but only around this boat.
רש''י חשבה להשבר- appeared as if it were breaking.
רד''ק חשבה להשבר- it’s an expression. The people on the boat thought that the boat would break.
ה מלחים- ל' of מלח because they go in salty waters.
רש''י איש קל אלוהיו- there was a representation from all seventy nations and each one called out to his god.
מלבי''ם First they made a רוחניותדיק השתדלות- they called out to their gods, then they did the physical השתדלות of throwing everything off of the boat.
אברבנל Included in what they threw over was their ע''ז.
ספינה- מל' ספון= צפון. It means covered or hidden. יונה went to the bottom, covered part of the boat. He went there so that if the boat flooded, he would be the first to drown and everyone else will be saved.
יתעשת= think. Maybe ה' will think of us for good.
מלבי''ם ז Whoever the lot falls on is either guilty or knows who is guilty. They cast many lots- if it falls out on a different person every time then we’re all guilty, but if it always falls out on the same person, he is the guilty party or knows who’s guilty. The פסוק switches to use a ל' of יחיד because it always fell on יונה.
ח They asked him four questions:
1. What is your business?
2. From where do you come?
3. What is your land?
4. Which nation are you from?
אברבנל If someone does something wrong, either what he did was bad or who he did it to was bad. They asked him four question:
1. What is your business- because maybe you have done something bad.
2. From where do you come- maybe you are carrying a חטא from your ancestors.
3. What is your land- maybe you wronged your land.
4. Which nation are you from- maybe you did something wrong to your nation.
ט He told them that it has nothing to do with anyone else- ה' did this and I am being held responsible to Him.
עברי- uses this ל' to show that he was עובר על פי ה'.
י יראה גדולה- they had יראת שמים, which was brought about when they saw what ה' did.
מלבי''ם יא They wanted to help יונה do תשובה, so they asked him if they should bring him to א''י or to ננוה and you’ll do תשובה?
מלבי''ם יב The sailors were afraid that ה' brought the storm because of them also because they had been transporting יונה, who was doing wrong. יונה reassured them that ה' wasn’t angry with them.
יג They still tried to continue going and they plowed through the water with oars because they wanted to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t.
מלבי''ם They wanted to bring יונה back to א''י against his will, even though he told them to dump him into the sea. But they couldn’t because ה' didn’t quiet the storm because יונה still didn’t do תשובה.
יד The sailors tried so hard not to find fault in יונה and to stop the storm. At this point though, there was nothing left for them to do. So they davened to ה' that:
1. Not to be found guilty and die because of יונה.
2. Not to be considered guilty of spilling innocent blood.
מלבי''ם "כי אתה ה' חפצת עשית"- it’s Your doing if יונה dies because we’re only doing this because You brought the storm and we had no choice but to do this. We know that every action that someone does to another, they are the שליח but it’s coming from ה'. However, the שליח is still held accountable. But here, they tried so many things so that they wouldn’t have to come to doing this. So it’s really like they were forced. It’s all in Your hands, ה', because You are forcing us to do this- it’s not our responsibility.
פרקי דרבי Why does the פסוק say "וישאו" and not just "ויטלהו"? First, they were מטיל him part of the way and the ים stopped, so they picked him back up, but the storm began again. This happened again and again- till his knee, neck and shoulders. After this, they couldn’t take him back up again because it was already three times- חזקה. Finally, they threw him completely in and the storm permanently stopped.
רד''ל Why does it say "עומד מזאפו" and not "מסערו" if in the rest of the פסוקים it says סער? It says in תהלים, "יקם סערה לדממה ויחשו גליהם וישמחו כי ישתקו" (קז: כט-ל). After a storm stops, the waves quiet down, the sea is finally quiet and the sailors are happy. Here, the storm stopped instantly, which is not בדרך הטבע.
ט''ז The sailors now had real יראת שמים. They brought קרבנות to ה' and were מנדר נדרים.
רד''ל This פסוק really happened at the end of פרק ב, but it was put here because we’re talking about the sailors.
It was a three step process:
1. פסוק ה- "וייראו"
2. פסוק י- "וייראו... יראה גדולה"
3. פסוק טז- "וייראו... יראה גדולה"
Why is there a double לשון- "ויזבחו זבח"? Because you could explain it in two ways:
1. Brought קרבנות.
2. Were מקבל to make ברית.
Why is there a double לשון- "וינדרו נדרים"? Because you could explain it in three ways:
1. To give money to the poor.
2. To be מתגיר.
3. They promised that they and their families would come to יונה’s ה' . Story- שמעון בן שטח returned a pearl to make a קדוש ה', the גויים said, "ברוך ה' אלקי שמעון בן שטח". If we make people say this about us, they may want to become followers of our ה'.
רד''ל Even though יונה was trying to run away from ה', he really made a קדוש ה' when he admitted to them what he did and asked to be thrown off so that the rest of the boat could be saved and proved to them that ה' sees your חטאים. He caused a קדוש ה' to the point that they became גרי צדק and יונה had the זכות of being the one who caused it. These are the famous, eternally mentioned גרים in "על הצדיקים... ועל גרי הצדק".
שיחות מוסר יונה was sent on שליחות to ננוה to give נבואה that they would be destroyed. He ran away from ה' to חו''ל because the שכינה doesn’t rest there- when he left, he went down in מדרגה so the שכינה couldn’t rest on him. For יונה to give up נבואה is tremendous מסירת נפש because נבואה is the ultimate closeness to ה'. And he did all this just so that he shouldn’t be קטרוג against ב''י! Even after the fish swallowed him he didn’t daven. Only when he was in the female fish that was expecting and the physical suffering was impossible to tolerate did he daven- he was so willing to suffer just so that he shouldn’t be קטרג. The whole chain of events was unbelievable נסים. After all this, why did ה' let him remain a נביא? Because he ran away and was willing to give up his high מדרגה and his life just so that he shouldn’t be קטרוג against ב''י. This elevated him to an even higher מדרגה and he became extremely endeared to ה'. Therefore, ה' insisted that he remain a נביא- he earned this position because of his devotion to ה'. If this is what happens to someone who tries to prevent prosecution and was עובר on what ה' wanted from him, imagine someone who does something right and gives כלל ישראל merits, can you imagine how dear he is to ה'?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
דינים- א
We don’t need reasons for מצות to compel us to do them- it’s enough that we were מצוה. Though there are some חוקים that we don’t understand at all, we know most of the reasons for the מצוות. It’s not up to us to decide what the main reason is and what the secondary reason is. It doesn’t matter what the reason is and we don’t base the מצוה on the reason that we’re doing it. The רמב''ם states that it is best for us to try to understand the reason because it does help with קיום המצוות.
The פסוק says not to contaminate your נפש with creepy crawlies that are אסור because I am ה' who took you out of מצרים. From here, חז''ל come out with the אסור of eating things that aren’t good for our נפש. The פסוק writes the word "ונטמתם" without an א- it’s a רמז to something stuffed and clogged. The אבן עזרא says that if a person eats מאכלים אסורות, it clogs and stuffs up his heart in a way that רוחניות can’t penetrate.
ה' combined a גשמיות body with a רוחניותדיק נפש. ה' created the נפש with the גוף as a משרת to help it fulfill its goal in this גשמיות world. Therefore, the גוף must be subservient to the נפש. If the roles reverse, the גוף will force the נפש to do what it wants, thereby distancing the נפש from his goal in this world, which is עבודת ה'.
Your body develops according to the foods that you eat and digest become a part of your body. It’s important to make your body strong, but it shouldn’t have strong נטיעות that are negative because then the נפש won’t be able to control it. Only if the גוף is not domineering can the נפש control it. So don’t eat foods that give you bad נטיעות.
There is nothing that grows naturally that’s אסור to eat. All these things are צנוע and don’t have aggressive characteristics and therefore won’t have an overbearing affect on the נפש. Some animals have very overbearing and negative characteristics. If these characteristics enter our body, our גוף would be very overbearing. The animals that we are allowed to eat feast on grass and other natural things. We don’t eat prey animals because they have a certain measure of מדת האכזריות. The animals that we eat don’t have this מידה of אכזריות and what they eat is פשוט and צנוע. Even amongst the animals that eat grass, we can only eat the ones that have split hooves and chew their cud. Birds and fish must have other סימנים. Fish must have fins and scales. Certain birds we know through קבלה that we can eat since we aren’t experts in the הלכות of the סימנים.
Even kosher animals can’t be eaten right away. They must have a כשר שחיטה. Fish does not require שחיטה. There are certain מומים that would hasten the death of the animal. If you שחט the animal before it dies from its wounds, it’s treif and you can’t eat it. These מומים are usually found after the animal is שחטed. A נבלה is an animal that was found dead- you can’t eat it. When an animal is שחטed, certain organs must be checked. One of these organs is the lungs. Some of the blemishes on the lungs can be מתירed, but glatt meat means that the lungs are smooth. If an animal is treif, they will sell it to a goyish market. When you buy meat, you only buy a piece of it, so it’s really up to the slaughterhouse to check it properly.
Chicken is checked in the slaughterhouse for perforated lungs and other blemishes, but some things may be overlooked. You may find your chicken has a broken bone. If the bone was broken before שחיטה it will be very red around it because the chicken bled. By the wing, if the bone closer to the body is broken, it’s a שאילה because it could have perforated the lung. If you see something odd with the chicken that you are handling, ask!! Sometimes, the bottom of the drumstick is broken because the chicken was hung from there in the slaughterhouse. Ask a רב because he will be able to tell you if the bone was broken in the slaughterhouse or not. Just because something has a good הכשר doesn’t mean that you could assume that it has no problems.
There are certain parts of the animal that must be removed before eating it:
1. גיד הנשה
2. Other גידים. ניקור is the removal of גידים.
3. חלב
4. Blood
הלכות בשר וחלב-
א It says in the תורה, "לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו". It says this three times:
1. אסור בישול- you can’t cook.
2. אסור אכילה
3. איסור הנאה
The אסור דאורית is only if the two were cooked together. This even applies to pet food- if it’s made of milk and meat together, you can’t feed it to your pet.
ב גדי is referring to the category that a גדי comes from- it’s a domestic, kosher animal. חלב אמו is talking about the milk of a kosher, domestic animal. The meat or milk of a non- kosher animal is not included in the אסור דאוריתא. דאוריתא, you would be allowed to eat, cook and have הנאה from anything that doesn’t fall into the category of גדי or חלב אמו. חז''ל gave us an איסור דרבנן of eating kosher things that aren’t בהמות in milk. Cooking the two together is אסור because of מראת עין. To cook fish in milk doesn’t fall under any איסור. There are some people though, that are מקפיד not to eat fish together with meat. Any combination of milk and meat aside from בשר בהמה טהורה cooked with חלב בהמה טהורה you can have הנאה from.
ג בישול is only when you physically cook the two together. If the two just touched each other, it’s only איסור דרבנן. Any meat that absorbed milk or milk that absorbed meat is אסור דרבנן. If one falls into the other, you must ask a שאילה. What causes absorption? Two foods that are hot or one hot thing. Contact with heat and moisture will cause immediate absorption. Cold, wet contact doesn’t cause absorption, but if it’s left there מעת לעת- twenty-four hours, absorption will occur. Absorption goes from both כלי to food and from food to כלי. Sharp foods under certain circumstances will have immediate absorption. Any absorption that doesn’t happen through בישול is only an איסור דרבנן.
ד The איסור דאוריתא is only the cooking of a בהמה טהורה in the milk of a בהמה טהורה. Anything else would be an איסור דרבנן. Included in this is the cooking of a bird, חיה, or not kosher animal in milk (because of מראת עין).
ה Certain גדרים were made so that milk and meat don’t come together- you shouldn’t eat meat and then milk. Additionally, they made an איסור not to have both milk and meat on the same table. If you’re eating milk, don’t put a cold cut platter within arms reach because the person could forget and taste what’s on the platter. If two people are eating together, it shouldn’t be that one is eating milchig and one fleishig. If you have something that you can make a היקר with, it’s ok. If you don’t know the other party at the table or you do know them but you are not close, you can share a table. You can put an odd object between the two of you to make a סימן. As a היקר, one should rip open his bag and put it underneath his food like a placemat. If you’re eating two different things, make sure not to drink the same drink and make sure not to eat from the same פת or bite into anything that they bit into. These הלכות apply to עוף and חיה
even though they are only דרבנן.
ו it’s not only that you can’t eat milk after meat. It says in the גמרא, "אכל בשר אסור לאכל גבינה". מר עוקבא explains that you can’t eat cheese with meat- you must wait until סעודה אחרת. What is the meaning of סעודה אחרת? Why do we need a הפסק?
ז סעודה אחרת:
1. Six hours- that’s how long they waited between lunch and supper.
2. Literally within the סעודה you can’t eat both. You must make a ברכה אחרונה in between to finish off the סעודה. Then, you must eat a bulky solid to cleanse your mouth. You must drink something to rinse your mouth and then wait one hour.
ח The ספרדים wait the six hour שיעור and the אשכנזים wait a shorter שיעור. The six hour שיעור has spread almost everywhere. If you don’t know your שיעור, wait six hours. You only use the shorter שיעור if you have בקבלה to do less, like Holland- they wait one hour. Some wait three or four hours- they go according to the שיטה of waiting the amount of hours in between meals. If your מנהגis six hours, you can’t go and change- going against "אל תטש תורת אמך".
ט If someone has to eat milk and meat closer together for specific reasons such as ulcers, he could hold the one hour שיטה because he has the need. This would also apply to a nursing mother who needs more dairy products. Someone using this שיטה should make sure to clean their mouth out very well before eating milk.
A קטן up to nine years old who either needs more milk, or insists on having something milchig can eat it before the complete number hours are finished, but with the cleansing process. A child under three years old doesn’t need to wait at all. Between the ages of three and six, one should train their child in this ענין by slowly increasing the number of hours between fleishigs and milchigs.
Someone who made a ברכה on something milchig before the six hours are up- if it’s after one hour, he can take a bite. If it’s before one hour though, he must allow it to become a ברכה לבטלה.
י Two reasons that we wait:
1. It leaves fatty residue in your mouth for up to six hours. You can’t eat milchigs because you will be having the טעם of milk and meat together.
2. There may be tiny particles of meat stuck between your teeth. After six hours though, the meat has been broken down by the enzymes in your mouth, and it’s no longer considered meat.
יא It makes a difference why you are waiting the six hours. If it’s because of the fatty residue, if you only chewed the meat but didn’t swallow it, you have no טעם שומן so it’s no problem. But the second explanation presents a problem because you might still have meat between your teeth. Also, if after six hours you find particles of meat in your teeth, the second שיטה doesn’t find it a problem but the first one doesn’t specify whether it’s a problem.
יב If you bit into meat, even if you didn’t swallow it your mouth is fleishig for six hours. If you have to taste it, just put it on your tongue. If you have a particle of meat in your teeth and it’s after six hours, you must wash you mouth out and then you can have milchigs. If you swallow the particle though, you must wait another six hours. By doing this, you are being מחמיר for both טעמים.
יג If you eat something that has no meat in it- it’s pareve on its own, but it was cooked together with meat, even if it’s clear and won’t leave residue between your teeth or a fatty residue, you must wait six hours.
יד if the pareve food was cooked in a clean, fleishig pot do we have to wait six hours after eating it? No.
טו Even if the pot wasn’t one hundred percent clean, your not fleishig, but you can’t eat something milchig with it. If the כלי is a בן יומו meaning it has absorbed the fleishigs within the past twenty- four hours, the טעם is still in it so it could affect the food you eat from that כלי. If it’s not a בן יומו it is stillטעם נותן, but it’s a טעם פגום and will not enhance the food like a בן יומו- the טעם is משבח it. לכתחילה, you shouldn’t cook pareve food in a fleishig pot with the intention to eat it with milchigs. But even בדיעוד, בני אשכנז are מחמיר that even if you already cooked pareve in a fleishig pot, you shouldn’t eat it with milchigs if it’s a בן יומו. However, it it’s not a בן יומו, then you could eat it with milchigs. Why? Because of טעם of a non בן יומו is פגום so it won’t make the food אסור to eat with milchigs. But this is only בדיעוד, after you have already cooked the food. Don’t do this לכתחילה. There are situations in which you can do this לכתחילה- if you have no other pot, you can cook the pareve in a fleishig pot to eat with milchigs as long as it’s not a בן יומו. If you had a pareve food that you planned on using for fleishig and you cooked it in a fleishig בן יומו and someone put milchigs into it, you should eat it so as not to do בעל תשחית, but this is not an optimal situation.
טז When we deal with sharp foods- בן יומו applies to mild foods. Sharp foods such as radishes, onions, garlic, horseradish, acidic fruits, pickled herring and other pickled things have a fresh, active taste. This enhances the dormant flavor and draws out the טעם from the כלי. It now has to be treated as a בן יומו, even if it hasn’t been used in the past twenty- four hours.
יז Specifically a knife, because it is used this way, but it could be something else. You press a knife into the food and it causes a transfer of flavor. If you are cutting a cold, baked apple, the flavor doesn’t transfer. But if you are cutting a cold onion, because of its sharp flavor and the pressure, there will be a transfer of flavor. If you cut an onion with a fleishig knife, you can’t eat it with milchigs. If you take a sour pickle out of a container with a fleishig fork, you can’t eat it with milchigs because there is immediate absorption with sharp foods. Even though the knife may not be a בן יומו, by sharp foods everything is considered a בן יומו.
יח You must wait six hours between milchigs and fleishigs after eating hard, aged and cured cheeses. After soft cheeses, you must wash your hands, rinse your mouth out with a liquid and clean it out with a solid. By a liquid, don’t touch it so that you don’t have to wash your hands. According to some, you must make a ברכה אחרונה in between and other hold you must wait a half hour.
יט Since aged cheeses have a strong flavor and the fatty taste remains, you must wait six hours. Most cheeses aren’t aged.
כ With bread, חז''ל are מקפיד that you shouldn’t use a milchig knife to cut bread that you want to eat with fleishigs. You must be מקפיד because bread is something that is eaten together with the milchigs or fleishigs and there might be something left over on the knife. If you only have one knife, you do נעיצה בקרקע- stick the knife in the ground ten times, in ten different spots. This only works for a smooth knife- not one with a serrated blade. Some people are מדקדק to have separate bread knives. When you buy dishes and cutlery, you should buy different kinds for milchigs and fleishigs. If you have two of something, you should make a mark on the milchig one. Why? So that it’s universal- if anyone finds something marked, they will know that it’s milchig.
כא They used to use dipping כלים for salt- must have separate ones for milchigs and fleishigs. Why? Because when you dip something milchig in, there is a שארים of milchigs. Now, we use salt shakers. It is highly unlikely that something will go into the salt shaker, but nevertheless people have separate ones because when you handle it, there might be a bit of residue on your hands or steam may go into it. The same applies to ketchup bottles- you don’t have to have separate ketchup bottles. If it isn’t handled carefully though, it is commendable to have two.
כב You can’t use the same tablecloth for milchigs and then fleishigs. Also, bread that’s left over after a fleishig meal you can’t eat with milchigs. Why not? Because you aren’t careful with it to make sure that it’s not touched by fleishig hands. If you slice bread for liver, the part that you sliced is considered fleishig. Most hold however, that the rest of the bread isn’t considered fleishigs because you were careful with it. If you know that you weren’t careful with it, don’t eat it with milchigs. It’s better not to put something pareve down at a milchig meal if it was previously served at a fleishig meal.
כג In an oven, you can’t cook milchigs and fleishigs uncovered at the same time because the טעם and ריח of one may go into the other. If you are baking something fleishig that’s uncovered and something pareve that’s uncovered at the same time, don’t eat the pareve thing with milchigs, but it doesn’t make you fleishigs for six hours. If you use the oven for dry, fleishig foods, you can cook dry, milchig foods after as long as the oven is clean and there is no שארים of meat. Theoretically, if you cover them well enough, you can cook milchigs and fleishigs at the same time because there is no transfer of flavor.
כד What we mentioned above applies to a solid, but not to a liquid that’s uncovered because liquid gives off vapor or steam, the steam has the same דין as the food itself. Should you cook something fleishig where the steam will rise and hit the top of the oven and then cook a milchig, wet food and the steam will reach the top of the oven too, there’s a חשש that if there’s a lot of steam, the treif steam will drip back down into the food. If first you cook something wet and fleishig and then something pareve, you can’t eat the pareve thing with milchigs.
כה This only applies to steamy foods. If the second food is covered well enough or it’s dry, you won’t have this problem.
כו You should make your oven what you make most often. If you always make milchigs, be מיחד your oven for milchigs. If you want to use it for fleishigs, you can either cook a dry food if the oven is clean, or cover the food. Don’t bake one open and one closed together or just the fleishigs alone, uncovered if it’s steamy and you have previously baked a steamy milchig dish. Another way to keep the clean so that you can do this is to line the racks with foil just in case it drips.
כז If your milchig oven turns fleishig, you should ask your רב how to כשר the oven. According to some, you would have to clean out the even well, wait twenty- four hours so that the טעם is a טעם פגום and put the oven on high for an hour. Self cleaning does the same job as this whole process.
כח A microwave is much more חמור than an oven in some ways because it’s much smaller and closer to the food. Some people use their microwave for both milchigs and fleishigs and cover both. You can really use it for both if one is uncovered as long as the other one is always covered. You can’t use the same plate for both. In order to כשר your microwave, you must clean it, wait twenty- four hours and boil a cup of water in it.
כט One should refrain from hanging utensils close to the stove top because hot steam from the cooking foods will rise and hit the כלים. It really depends on how close the כלים are hanging. For פסח, you must cover the hood of your stove. Usually steam doesn’t hit it, but it may come in contact and drip down- during the year it would be בטול. But on פסח, חמץ is never בטול so you must cover it.
ל חצובה- the metal grates over the burners. They don’t have to be separated for milchigs and fleishigs because you’re not putting food on it, and even if something would spill over into the grate, it’s constantly cleaning itself out. If you see something like milk on the surface, you must clean it off before putting a fleishig pot on it. Some people do have separate grates or stovetops, but this is not necessary.
לא חז''ל made a גזירה that unless certain הלכות are met, you can’t make milchig or fleishig bread because bread is something that is eaten together with other foods. If you made a mistake and made milchig bread, the bread is אסור to be eaten, even by itself.
לב if you made an amount that you had in mind to finish that same day, חז''ל were חושש that you won’t forget so you can use those milchig rolls. If you made too many, but thought that they would all be finished on that same day, since they were made בהטר, you can eat them.
לג if you want to bake in advance, you must make the shape different so that you will immediately be aware that this bread is different. If you can see visible milchigs or fleishigs on it, such as cheese, it’s ok too.
לד חז''ל didn’t make an אסור on pastries because they aren’t usually eaten with the meal. You can make milchig pastries, but be sure to label them.
לה When does bread that is איסור actually become אסור? The איסור takes place as soon as it is baked. Once baked, you can’t be מתיר it.
לו If you use a fleishig כלי in something milchig- if it’s not hot, you can wash it off in cold water. Don’t wash it with hot water because that would cause a בלי'. Both the כלי and the food are fine. If you use a fleishig knife to cut a milchig block of cheese if they are both cold and the cheese is not spicy- hard cheese leaves a milchig film of grease. You can clean it off by doing נעיצה בקרקע. נעיצה בקרקע never כשרs a כלי- it just rubs off the surface. If you have cold, wet contact for twenty- four hours or more, there was probably absorption and you must ask a שאילה about the כלי and the food.
לז It is preferable not to use one sink for milchigs and fleishigs. But if you only have one:
1. Never place anything into the sink itself.
2. Have separate milchig and fleishig sink racks. Be careful when you put the silverware on the rack that it doesn’t slip through into the sink.
The פסוק says not to contaminate your נפש with creepy crawlies that are אסור because I am ה' who took you out of מצרים. From here, חז''ל come out with the אסור of eating things that aren’t good for our נפש. The פסוק writes the word "ונטמתם" without an א- it’s a רמז to something stuffed and clogged. The אבן עזרא says that if a person eats מאכלים אסורות, it clogs and stuffs up his heart in a way that רוחניות can’t penetrate.
ה' combined a גשמיות body with a רוחניותדיק נפש. ה' created the נפש with the גוף as a משרת to help it fulfill its goal in this גשמיות world. Therefore, the גוף must be subservient to the נפש. If the roles reverse, the גוף will force the נפש to do what it wants, thereby distancing the נפש from his goal in this world, which is עבודת ה'.
Your body develops according to the foods that you eat and digest become a part of your body. It’s important to make your body strong, but it shouldn’t have strong נטיעות that are negative because then the נפש won’t be able to control it. Only if the גוף is not domineering can the נפש control it. So don’t eat foods that give you bad נטיעות.
There is nothing that grows naturally that’s אסור to eat. All these things are צנוע and don’t have aggressive characteristics and therefore won’t have an overbearing affect on the נפש. Some animals have very overbearing and negative characteristics. If these characteristics enter our body, our גוף would be very overbearing. The animals that we are allowed to eat feast on grass and other natural things. We don’t eat prey animals because they have a certain measure of מדת האכזריות. The animals that we eat don’t have this מידה of אכזריות and what they eat is פשוט and צנוע. Even amongst the animals that eat grass, we can only eat the ones that have split hooves and chew their cud. Birds and fish must have other סימנים. Fish must have fins and scales. Certain birds we know through קבלה that we can eat since we aren’t experts in the הלכות of the סימנים.
Even kosher animals can’t be eaten right away. They must have a כשר שחיטה. Fish does not require שחיטה. There are certain מומים that would hasten the death of the animal. If you שחט the animal before it dies from its wounds, it’s treif and you can’t eat it. These מומים are usually found after the animal is שחטed. A נבלה is an animal that was found dead- you can’t eat it. When an animal is שחטed, certain organs must be checked. One of these organs is the lungs. Some of the blemishes on the lungs can be מתירed, but glatt meat means that the lungs are smooth. If an animal is treif, they will sell it to a goyish market. When you buy meat, you only buy a piece of it, so it’s really up to the slaughterhouse to check it properly.
Chicken is checked in the slaughterhouse for perforated lungs and other blemishes, but some things may be overlooked. You may find your chicken has a broken bone. If the bone was broken before שחיטה it will be very red around it because the chicken bled. By the wing, if the bone closer to the body is broken, it’s a שאילה because it could have perforated the lung. If you see something odd with the chicken that you are handling, ask!! Sometimes, the bottom of the drumstick is broken because the chicken was hung from there in the slaughterhouse. Ask a רב because he will be able to tell you if the bone was broken in the slaughterhouse or not. Just because something has a good הכשר doesn’t mean that you could assume that it has no problems.
There are certain parts of the animal that must be removed before eating it:
1. גיד הנשה
2. Other גידים. ניקור is the removal of גידים.
3. חלב
4. Blood
הלכות בשר וחלב-
א It says in the תורה, "לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו". It says this three times:
1. אסור בישול- you can’t cook.
2. אסור אכילה
3. איסור הנאה
The אסור דאורית is only if the two were cooked together. This even applies to pet food- if it’s made of milk and meat together, you can’t feed it to your pet.
ב גדי is referring to the category that a גדי comes from- it’s a domestic, kosher animal. חלב אמו is talking about the milk of a kosher, domestic animal. The meat or milk of a non- kosher animal is not included in the אסור דאוריתא. דאוריתא, you would be allowed to eat, cook and have הנאה from anything that doesn’t fall into the category of גדי or חלב אמו. חז''ל gave us an איסור דרבנן of eating kosher things that aren’t בהמות in milk. Cooking the two together is אסור because of מראת עין. To cook fish in milk doesn’t fall under any איסור. There are some people though, that are מקפיד not to eat fish together with meat. Any combination of milk and meat aside from בשר בהמה טהורה cooked with חלב בהמה טהורה you can have הנאה from.
ג בישול is only when you physically cook the two together. If the two just touched each other, it’s only איסור דרבנן. Any meat that absorbed milk or milk that absorbed meat is אסור דרבנן. If one falls into the other, you must ask a שאילה. What causes absorption? Two foods that are hot or one hot thing. Contact with heat and moisture will cause immediate absorption. Cold, wet contact doesn’t cause absorption, but if it’s left there מעת לעת- twenty-four hours, absorption will occur. Absorption goes from both כלי to food and from food to כלי. Sharp foods under certain circumstances will have immediate absorption. Any absorption that doesn’t happen through בישול is only an איסור דרבנן.
ד The איסור דאוריתא is only the cooking of a בהמה טהורה in the milk of a בהמה טהורה. Anything else would be an איסור דרבנן. Included in this is the cooking of a bird, חיה, or not kosher animal in milk (because of מראת עין).
ה Certain גדרים were made so that milk and meat don’t come together- you shouldn’t eat meat and then milk. Additionally, they made an איסור not to have both milk and meat on the same table. If you’re eating milk, don’t put a cold cut platter within arms reach because the person could forget and taste what’s on the platter. If two people are eating together, it shouldn’t be that one is eating milchig and one fleishig. If you have something that you can make a היקר with, it’s ok. If you don’t know the other party at the table or you do know them but you are not close, you can share a table. You can put an odd object between the two of you to make a סימן. As a היקר, one should rip open his bag and put it underneath his food like a placemat. If you’re eating two different things, make sure not to drink the same drink and make sure not to eat from the same פת or bite into anything that they bit into. These הלכות apply to עוף and חיה
even though they are only דרבנן.
ו it’s not only that you can’t eat milk after meat. It says in the גמרא, "אכל בשר אסור לאכל גבינה". מר עוקבא explains that you can’t eat cheese with meat- you must wait until סעודה אחרת. What is the meaning of סעודה אחרת? Why do we need a הפסק?
ז סעודה אחרת:
1. Six hours- that’s how long they waited between lunch and supper.
2. Literally within the סעודה you can’t eat both. You must make a ברכה אחרונה in between to finish off the סעודה. Then, you must eat a bulky solid to cleanse your mouth. You must drink something to rinse your mouth and then wait one hour.
ח The ספרדים wait the six hour שיעור and the אשכנזים wait a shorter שיעור. The six hour שיעור has spread almost everywhere. If you don’t know your שיעור, wait six hours. You only use the shorter שיעור if you have בקבלה to do less, like Holland- they wait one hour. Some wait three or four hours- they go according to the שיטה of waiting the amount of hours in between meals. If your מנהגis six hours, you can’t go and change- going against "אל תטש תורת אמך".
ט If someone has to eat milk and meat closer together for specific reasons such as ulcers, he could hold the one hour שיטה because he has the need. This would also apply to a nursing mother who needs more dairy products. Someone using this שיטה should make sure to clean their mouth out very well before eating milk.
A קטן up to nine years old who either needs more milk, or insists on having something milchig can eat it before the complete number hours are finished, but with the cleansing process. A child under three years old doesn’t need to wait at all. Between the ages of three and six, one should train their child in this ענין by slowly increasing the number of hours between fleishigs and milchigs.
Someone who made a ברכה on something milchig before the six hours are up- if it’s after one hour, he can take a bite. If it’s before one hour though, he must allow it to become a ברכה לבטלה.
י Two reasons that we wait:
1. It leaves fatty residue in your mouth for up to six hours. You can’t eat milchigs because you will be having the טעם of milk and meat together.
2. There may be tiny particles of meat stuck between your teeth. After six hours though, the meat has been broken down by the enzymes in your mouth, and it’s no longer considered meat.
יא It makes a difference why you are waiting the six hours. If it’s because of the fatty residue, if you only chewed the meat but didn’t swallow it, you have no טעם שומן so it’s no problem. But the second explanation presents a problem because you might still have meat between your teeth. Also, if after six hours you find particles of meat in your teeth, the second שיטה doesn’t find it a problem but the first one doesn’t specify whether it’s a problem.
יב If you bit into meat, even if you didn’t swallow it your mouth is fleishig for six hours. If you have to taste it, just put it on your tongue. If you have a particle of meat in your teeth and it’s after six hours, you must wash you mouth out and then you can have milchigs. If you swallow the particle though, you must wait another six hours. By doing this, you are being מחמיר for both טעמים.
יג If you eat something that has no meat in it- it’s pareve on its own, but it was cooked together with meat, even if it’s clear and won’t leave residue between your teeth or a fatty residue, you must wait six hours.
יד if the pareve food was cooked in a clean, fleishig pot do we have to wait six hours after eating it? No.
טו Even if the pot wasn’t one hundred percent clean, your not fleishig, but you can’t eat something milchig with it. If the כלי is a בן יומו meaning it has absorbed the fleishigs within the past twenty- four hours, the טעם is still in it so it could affect the food you eat from that כלי. If it’s not a בן יומו it is stillטעם נותן, but it’s a טעם פגום and will not enhance the food like a בן יומו- the טעם is משבח it. לכתחילה, you shouldn’t cook pareve food in a fleishig pot with the intention to eat it with milchigs. But even בדיעוד, בני אשכנז are מחמיר that even if you already cooked pareve in a fleishig pot, you shouldn’t eat it with milchigs if it’s a בן יומו. However, it it’s not a בן יומו, then you could eat it with milchigs. Why? Because of טעם of a non בן יומו is פגום so it won’t make the food אסור to eat with milchigs. But this is only בדיעוד, after you have already cooked the food. Don’t do this לכתחילה. There are situations in which you can do this לכתחילה- if you have no other pot, you can cook the pareve in a fleishig pot to eat with milchigs as long as it’s not a בן יומו. If you had a pareve food that you planned on using for fleishig and you cooked it in a fleishig בן יומו and someone put milchigs into it, you should eat it so as not to do בעל תשחית, but this is not an optimal situation.
טז When we deal with sharp foods- בן יומו applies to mild foods. Sharp foods such as radishes, onions, garlic, horseradish, acidic fruits, pickled herring and other pickled things have a fresh, active taste. This enhances the dormant flavor and draws out the טעם from the כלי. It now has to be treated as a בן יומו, even if it hasn’t been used in the past twenty- four hours.
יז Specifically a knife, because it is used this way, but it could be something else. You press a knife into the food and it causes a transfer of flavor. If you are cutting a cold, baked apple, the flavor doesn’t transfer. But if you are cutting a cold onion, because of its sharp flavor and the pressure, there will be a transfer of flavor. If you cut an onion with a fleishig knife, you can’t eat it with milchigs. If you take a sour pickle out of a container with a fleishig fork, you can’t eat it with milchigs because there is immediate absorption with sharp foods. Even though the knife may not be a בן יומו, by sharp foods everything is considered a בן יומו.
יח You must wait six hours between milchigs and fleishigs after eating hard, aged and cured cheeses. After soft cheeses, you must wash your hands, rinse your mouth out with a liquid and clean it out with a solid. By a liquid, don’t touch it so that you don’t have to wash your hands. According to some, you must make a ברכה אחרונה in between and other hold you must wait a half hour.
יט Since aged cheeses have a strong flavor and the fatty taste remains, you must wait six hours. Most cheeses aren’t aged.
כ With bread, חז''ל are מקפיד that you shouldn’t use a milchig knife to cut bread that you want to eat with fleishigs. You must be מקפיד because bread is something that is eaten together with the milchigs or fleishigs and there might be something left over on the knife. If you only have one knife, you do נעיצה בקרקע- stick the knife in the ground ten times, in ten different spots. This only works for a smooth knife- not one with a serrated blade. Some people are מדקדק to have separate bread knives. When you buy dishes and cutlery, you should buy different kinds for milchigs and fleishigs. If you have two of something, you should make a mark on the milchig one. Why? So that it’s universal- if anyone finds something marked, they will know that it’s milchig.
כא They used to use dipping כלים for salt- must have separate ones for milchigs and fleishigs. Why? Because when you dip something milchig in, there is a שארים of milchigs. Now, we use salt shakers. It is highly unlikely that something will go into the salt shaker, but nevertheless people have separate ones because when you handle it, there might be a bit of residue on your hands or steam may go into it. The same applies to ketchup bottles- you don’t have to have separate ketchup bottles. If it isn’t handled carefully though, it is commendable to have two.
כב You can’t use the same tablecloth for milchigs and then fleishigs. Also, bread that’s left over after a fleishig meal you can’t eat with milchigs. Why not? Because you aren’t careful with it to make sure that it’s not touched by fleishig hands. If you slice bread for liver, the part that you sliced is considered fleishig. Most hold however, that the rest of the bread isn’t considered fleishigs because you were careful with it. If you know that you weren’t careful with it, don’t eat it with milchigs. It’s better not to put something pareve down at a milchig meal if it was previously served at a fleishig meal.
כג In an oven, you can’t cook milchigs and fleishigs uncovered at the same time because the טעם and ריח of one may go into the other. If you are baking something fleishig that’s uncovered and something pareve that’s uncovered at the same time, don’t eat the pareve thing with milchigs, but it doesn’t make you fleishigs for six hours. If you use the oven for dry, fleishig foods, you can cook dry, milchig foods after as long as the oven is clean and there is no שארים of meat. Theoretically, if you cover them well enough, you can cook milchigs and fleishigs at the same time because there is no transfer of flavor.
כד What we mentioned above applies to a solid, but not to a liquid that’s uncovered because liquid gives off vapor or steam, the steam has the same דין as the food itself. Should you cook something fleishig where the steam will rise and hit the top of the oven and then cook a milchig, wet food and the steam will reach the top of the oven too, there’s a חשש that if there’s a lot of steam, the treif steam will drip back down into the food. If first you cook something wet and fleishig and then something pareve, you can’t eat the pareve thing with milchigs.
כה This only applies to steamy foods. If the second food is covered well enough or it’s dry, you won’t have this problem.
כו You should make your oven what you make most often. If you always make milchigs, be מיחד your oven for milchigs. If you want to use it for fleishigs, you can either cook a dry food if the oven is clean, or cover the food. Don’t bake one open and one closed together or just the fleishigs alone, uncovered if it’s steamy and you have previously baked a steamy milchig dish. Another way to keep the clean so that you can do this is to line the racks with foil just in case it drips.
כז If your milchig oven turns fleishig, you should ask your רב how to כשר the oven. According to some, you would have to clean out the even well, wait twenty- four hours so that the טעם is a טעם פגום and put the oven on high for an hour. Self cleaning does the same job as this whole process.
כח A microwave is much more חמור than an oven in some ways because it’s much smaller and closer to the food. Some people use their microwave for both milchigs and fleishigs and cover both. You can really use it for both if one is uncovered as long as the other one is always covered. You can’t use the same plate for both. In order to כשר your microwave, you must clean it, wait twenty- four hours and boil a cup of water in it.
כט One should refrain from hanging utensils close to the stove top because hot steam from the cooking foods will rise and hit the כלים. It really depends on how close the כלים are hanging. For פסח, you must cover the hood of your stove. Usually steam doesn’t hit it, but it may come in contact and drip down- during the year it would be בטול. But on פסח, חמץ is never בטול so you must cover it.
ל חצובה- the metal grates over the burners. They don’t have to be separated for milchigs and fleishigs because you’re not putting food on it, and even if something would spill over into the grate, it’s constantly cleaning itself out. If you see something like milk on the surface, you must clean it off before putting a fleishig pot on it. Some people do have separate grates or stovetops, but this is not necessary.
לא חז''ל made a גזירה that unless certain הלכות are met, you can’t make milchig or fleishig bread because bread is something that is eaten together with other foods. If you made a mistake and made milchig bread, the bread is אסור to be eaten, even by itself.
לב if you made an amount that you had in mind to finish that same day, חז''ל were חושש that you won’t forget so you can use those milchig rolls. If you made too many, but thought that they would all be finished on that same day, since they were made בהטר, you can eat them.
לג if you want to bake in advance, you must make the shape different so that you will immediately be aware that this bread is different. If you can see visible milchigs or fleishigs on it, such as cheese, it’s ok too.
לד חז''ל didn’t make an אסור on pastries because they aren’t usually eaten with the meal. You can make milchig pastries, but be sure to label them.
לה When does bread that is איסור actually become אסור? The איסור takes place as soon as it is baked. Once baked, you can’t be מתיר it.
לו If you use a fleishig כלי in something milchig- if it’s not hot, you can wash it off in cold water. Don’t wash it with hot water because that would cause a בלי'. Both the כלי and the food are fine. If you use a fleishig knife to cut a milchig block of cheese if they are both cold and the cheese is not spicy- hard cheese leaves a milchig film of grease. You can clean it off by doing נעיצה בקרקע. נעיצה בקרקע never כשרs a כלי- it just rubs off the surface. If you have cold, wet contact for twenty- four hours or more, there was probably absorption and you must ask a שאילה about the כלי and the food.
לז It is preferable not to use one sink for milchigs and fleishigs. But if you only have one:
1. Never place anything into the sink itself.
2. Have separate milchig and fleishig sink racks. Be careful when you put the silverware on the rack that it doesn’t slip through into the sink.
תהילים- עג
Sometimes, it appears that רשעים get טוב, but צדיקים have hard lives.
The רמב'ם lived in a difficult time- ב''י faced many difficulties. He had a student who was near death. The רמב''ם came to visit his תלמיד and told him that he has questions and he wants the תלמיד to come back to this world after he dies with answers. The רמב''ם gave him an amulet and told him that it would get him into all the chambers of שמים. The boy died shortly after. The רמב''ם saw the דמיון of this boy and the boy said that it’s great in עוה''ב. The רמב''ם asked if he had answers for him and the boy said that in עוה''ב, everything is so clear and there are no questions. In this world, we lack the clarity to be able to understand the big picture.
מדרש sheet 1. "נתת שמך בלבי"- put happiness into my heart. The גויים have seven מצוות. How does ה' repay them? He gives them their שכר in this world. We have 613 מצוות and are repaid in עוה''ב. משל- king makes a party but tells everyone to stay in the courtyard. The people see dogs coming out of the ballroom with חשוב fowl in their mouths- ראשי עגלות and heads of fattened livestock. The guests think that if these are the scraps, can you imagine the actual סעודה? נמשל- גויים are compared to dogs- "והכלבים עזי נפש". If this is what the גויים are getting, imagine what it waiting for us in עוה''ב.
2. רשעיםget good in this world. From this we can project the good that we’ll get in עוה''ב- "מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליריאך".
רמב''ם sheet There is something that pains the heart and saddens the thoughts. Many people because of this thing have led to כפירה גדולה. What is this thing? The appearance in this world of crooked justice. The רשעים get good and the צדיקים get lost. This is the root of rebellion against ה'. We see many who had this same question- it is an ancient question:
1. משה- "הודיעני נא את דרכיך"
2. ירמיהו- "מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה"
3. חבקוק- "כי רשע מכתיר את הצדיק"
4. דוד- "הנה אלא רשעים ושלוי עולם השגו חיל"
The whole ספר איוב discusses this. Who was איוב? Some say he’s just a משל while others say that he was a great צדיק who lost all of his money and all of his children. ה' appeared to איוב in a storm wind and said, "איפה היית ביסדי ארץ הגד אם ידעת בינה"- where were you when I placed the רוחניותדיק foundations of the world? Do you have the בינה to understand?איוב answered, "לכן הגדתי ןלא אבין נפלאות ממני ולא אדע"- now I see that I don’t have the שכל to understand the secrets of Your ways. On a שאילה אלוקית we can’t give a תשובה אנושית because the שכל of man is limited, but ה'’s דעת is "ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מיני ים".
מורה נבוכים The purpose of ספר איוב is to teach the יסוד that one shouldn’t make the mistake of attempting to imagine that ה' has the kind of ידיעה, שכל, חכמה, כונה, השגחהor הנהגה as us. ה'’s דרכים can never be understood by us. When we accept this, we can be מקבל all יסורים in a דרך קלה- whether we understand it or not and we’ll be מוסיף upon ourselves אהבה as it is said about צדיקים, "עושים מאהבה ושומחים ביסורים". We have to attain this אמונה.
רע''ב "אמר ר' ינאי: אין בידינו לא משלות הרשעים ואף לא מיסורי הצדיקים"- it’s not known to us why ה' gives יסורים to צדיקים and הצלחה to רשעים.
ר' יונה Our ידיעה is not able to be משיג this- there’s truly a טעינה here but it’s just because we’re not משיג it.
רמב''ן In שער הגמול, he writes, "יש בעסוק בענין זה משום ידיעת ה' ואהבתו"- we have to have אהבה for ה' and in order to do so we need ידיעת ה' so we’ll see how great He is. So if we see just a glimpse with our limited שכל and sight, we can gain אהבת ה' and be מקיים"ואהבת את ה'".
ר' שך There’s a contrast between עוה''ז and עוה''ב. עוה''ב is the עולם האמת and עוה''ז is the עלמא דשקרא. When there is an instance of צדיק ורע לו: the אש of עוה''ז is one- sixtieth of גיהנום. ענש in this world is קל in comparison to the ענש of עוה''ב, which is חמור. When we see a case of רשע וטוב לו: the הנאה in עוה''ז has no נצחיות, but in עוה''ב the שכר is forever. We never talk about how great the שכר in עוה''ב is because we have nothing to compare it to in our minds. If you would talk all the הנאה גשמי you ever had and the הנאה of your whole family and of the entire population since the beginning of the world, all that would not be able to equal to the הנאה of עוה''ב. It’s unfathomable to us. Therefore, צדיק ורע לו is really ה'’s מדת הרחמים- because he’ll get the good שכר and easy עונש. רשע וטוב לו is really מדת הדין because he gets the harder punishment and fleeting, impermanent reward. Why would anyone pick to be a רשע? "כל אדם מעמיד את עצמו למשפט כפי מעשיו". You have the choice. If you decide to be a רשע, that’s how you’ll get paid back- "הנה נתתי לפניך את החיים ואת המות ובחרת בחיים".
גמרא פסחים In גלות, we say the ברכה of הטוב והמיטב on the good and ברכת דין האמת on the bad. But when משיח comes, we’ll say the same ברכה on both good and bad- הטוב והמיטב, because we’ll see that everything is really four our good. It will be so clear to us, "ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' כמים לים מכסים". There are certain things that are universally accepted as good and certain things that are universally accepted as bad. But, "כל מה דאביד רחמנא לטב אביד"- everything that ה' does is for the good. People are myopic- they only see the here and now. We see things as bad, but ultimately it’s for our good. Even the bad that ה' does is really good.
Sheet A broken man cam to ר' שך. He had lost all of his fortune in a bad business deal and he couldn’t deal with the “bad”. ר' שך was trying to comfort him and he said that a person in nearsighted, and doesn’t really know what’s good. When a mother puts her baby in the bath, it screams because it doesn’t recognize that it’s for its good. He told the man a story- he was learning in סלוצק as a בחור. He was considered a good בחור. Goodבחורים were sought after and were offered big apartments and handsome dowries. When the boys would get engaged, they would share with each other what they had received. R’ Issur Zalman Meltzer proposed a shidduch for ר' שך with his niece, but there was no dowry or apartment. They married and he shared the room that R’ Issur Zalman gave to his son-in-law, R’ Ahron. He didn’t mind this, but the other בחורים pitied him- they all had apartments and all he had was a half bedroom that didn’t even belong to him. When WWII broke out, the Nazis captured Poland and the Russians invaded Lithuania. Anyone who could leave fled. The people with apartments didn’t want to leave, and then it was too late. But ר' שך left and went to Vilna and then א'י. The apartment was an obstacle for many people, but his situation saved him. What seems like רע is really for good.
Sheet How do we work in life to find the good in difficult situations? ח''ח- the פסוק in תהלים says, "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו יחדיו"- all the מדת הדין of ה' is צדק, אמת and ישר. The ח''ח explains this to mean "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו, יחדיו"- when you perceive everything that happens with the viewpoint of עוה''ז and עוה''ב together, then you can see that "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו "-the viewpoint of עוה''ז is the צרה and of עוה''ב is that it’s all for the good in the bigger picture.
It says "שבענו מטובך"- a person who sees will be more satiated than a blind man after eating the same menu because seeing of the good satiates you. We ask ה' to show us his good so that we can be satiated.
חז''ל spoke a lot about the מעלות of יסורים that it cleanses a person. ה' once brought an עונש נורא on an אמורא for a חטא קל. ר' נחמן בר יצחק commented, "בריך רחמנא דכספי' לאבדן בראי עלמא"- blessed is ה' who humiliated אבדן with heavy punishment in this world that he’s זוכה to come to עוה''ב cleansed from חטא. Though we shouldn’t daven for it, when it comes it’s for our good.
עב: כב The last פסוק of פרק עב says, "כלו תפילות דוד". How could it be that this is the last פרק if it’s only 72/ 150?
רש''י כלו תפילות דוד- this was the last פרק that he said, but ספר תהלים isn’t written in chronological order. "כלו" is a נוטריקון for כל אילו- that דוד really wrote down all the פרקי תהלים, even the ones that others were מחבר in order to make it נוגע for דורות.
רד''ק כלו- תפילות means בקשות. This was the last מזמור that he wrote and in it he discusses appointing שלמה under him and he has כונות to mean the ultimate מלכות ofמלך המשיח. The בקשות are now stopping, but not the שירות ותשבחות- "אין אנחנו מספיקים להודות".
רד''ק א לאסף- who is אסף talking to? He was talking to himself and to those who are confused. It says מדבר על לשונו- something on his mind. He talks because he is in a confused state. He had a ספק in אמונה and ה' sent him on a שליחות to talk about it. We learn from here that even great people have ספקות- אסף was a לוי, ת''ח and the ראש המנגנים. Any person can strike a ספק in אמונה (was on the verge of falling off the edge of the cliff) and אסף is telling us how to deal with it. When דוד wrote over this מזמור, he made it applicable to every single Yid throughout all the generations- was מדבר על לב כל נבוך.
Some say that he was one of קרח’s three sons. Most of the פרקים that they wrote, they wrote together, but אסף was so great and such a ת''ח that he wrote twelve מזמורים by himself.
רש''י אך טוב לישראל- אך means אע''פ. Even though he sees that good people are suffering, he knows that ה' is good to ב''י and through His good, He brings צער so that they can be זוכה to חיי עוה''ב.
מ''ד לברי- their hearts are pure. The מדרש שוחר טוב says that it means that they are בריאים in רוחניות and have אמונה.
רד''ק אך טוב לישראל- אך means אמת. It is true that in גלות, there are צדיקים who have רע, but it’sטוב לישראל- it’s for their good because it’s מטהר them.
ב כמעט- עוד מעט
נטויו רגלי- היו רגלי נטוים
like nothingכאין- כמו אין-
washed awayשפכו- נשפכו-
my footsteps אשרי- צעדי-
רש''י ואני- before I put it on my heart that everything that ה' does is for good, I was in such a bad mode in רוחניות that I was closer to leaving than coming.
ר' הירש אשרי- purposeful, directed footsteps. This happens when a person knows "מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך". Here, אסף is saying that like liquid he became affected by outside circumstances and his directed footsteps started getting washed away. He started seeing רשעים who had good and this caused ספיקות in his אמונה.
ג קנאה קנאתי- הרגשתי
רש''י כי קנאתי בהוללים- they confuse their path in life. They make the עיקר into טפל and טפל into the עיקר. The רד''ק says that it’s a ל' הוללות וסכלות. הוללות- looseness, פריקת עול. This is a result of foolishness.
מדרש תנחמא הוללים- means חוללים= corpses. רשעים are murderers.
הוללים- ל' יללה= cry. The רשע inflicts pain on his victim until he cries out in pain and suffering.
ד חרצבות- קשרים
ובריא אולם- הם מתים בריא וחזקים כמו מבצר
דרש אולם- it’s a reference to the אולם of the בהמ''ק. It symbolized חוזק גדול- was forty אמות high and twenty אמות wide.
רש''י כי אין חרצבות למותם- it seems to us that they have no restraints. דרש: It’s a נוטריקון- they’re not חרידין ועצבין from the יום המיתה. We look at it in a superficiallight, but רש''י shows us the true light- they’re not sad or scared to die like ourחכמים were. The גר''א held onto his ציצית before he died because in this world, it is an easy מצוה that you can buy for a few cents, but in the next world you can no longer acquire מצוות. We must chap what we can while we are still here.
ה ועמל- ביגיעת
אנוש- שאר בני אדם
ועם אדם- עם יתר בני אדם
לא ינגעו- הם לא מנוגעים
A person is under the spell of "בזיעת אפיך..."- it’s a toil. A רשע gets his פרנסה so easily and it’s not fair. Everyone suffers from illness and pain, but they don’t.
אונקלוס During the course of their life, they’re robbed of:
1. תורה
2. יסורים- they cleanse a person.
You see this as good, but really you’re misinterpreting it.
ו לכן- בגלל שלומ
ענקתמו גאוה- הגוה מסבבת צארו
The Steipler says that גאוה is the יסוד of all ספקות in אמונה.
רשעים are so conceited that גאוה spreads all over them and it rests on their neck like a necklace. "ותלכנה נטויות גרון"- their hole posture expresses their גאוה.
In אגרת הרמב''ם, the רמב''ם says, "כל דבריך יהיו בנחת... ראך כפוף עניך יביטו למטה לארץ ןלבך למעלה ואל תביט אדם בדברך עמו וכל אדם יהי' גדול ממך בעיניך"
יעטף- הוא מכסה את עצמו במסתר
שית- לשים את עצמו על בני אדם- לארוב על אנשים
חמס- לגזול מהם
למו- לקח לעצמו
מאירי שיס- יסוד. The wicked man wraps the foundations of his life on violence. His whole יסוד is רשעות and חמס.
ז יצא- בולטות
מחלב- מרוב שומן
עינמו- עיניהם של הרשע
עברו- עלתה הצלחתם
משכוות לבב- יותר מעל כל דמיונות לבם
ח meltימוקו- ימסו לבם של בני אדם בפחד-
ברע- ברשעות
עושק- על גזל
ממרום ידבר- 1) בגאווה הם מדברים 2) כנגד ה' היושב במרומים הם מדברים
רש''י ממרום ידברו-
1. –פרעה"מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו", "יאור לי ואני עשיתי".
2. סנחרב- he was conquering all the countries. When he came close to ירושלים he said, "מי בכל אלהי הארצות האלה אר הצילו את ארצם מידי כי יציל ה' את ירושלים מידי".
3. נ''נ- "אעלה על במתי עב אדמה לעליון"- I’ll ascend to a high cloud and then I’ll be compared to ה', who sits on high.
4. חירם- "אל אני"- I am a god.
ט שתו בשמים פיהם- שמו את פיהם כנגד ה' היושב במים
פיהם- לשונם
ולשונם- והם הרשעים ופיהם
תהלך בארץ- הולכים כאן בתחתונים ואינם יודעים על מעשה העליונים ומעזים פנים לדבר על העליונים
גמרא This פסוק is an example of the way of the מספרי ל''ה. In this פסוק, we see the cause- "ולשונם תהלך בארץ", and the affect- "שתו בשמים פיהם". The מספר ל''ה is speaking about the כשרי הארץ and this causes that he’ll speak against ה', Who’s in the שמים.
רמב''ם A לץ= רשע.
1. They talk empty, hollow talk. שלמה המלך tells us that you can tell a fool- "קול כסיל ברוב דברים".
2. Start talking negatively about צדיקים and חכמים.
3. They start to slander נביאים.
4. They hit rock bottom- they’re כופר בעיקר.
The שיחת הרשעים is דברי ביטול- they gather together in street corners and gatherings of empty people. They gather in bars and talk empty talk. But the conversations of כשרי ישראל are conversations of טוחן.
י לכן- בגלל צלחת הרשעים
ישוב- כאילו אתה ה' השיב
עמו- חלק מעמו= קטני אמונה
הלם- פה
His complaints have now reached a crescendo and he will soon reach a point of despair. He’s accusing ה'- he was almost כופר בעיקר. When a person is lonely, he becomes irrational. He said that because of ה'’s crookedness, He’s turning the קטני אמונה away- they want to be רשעים so that they’ll get good.
ומי מלא- והתורה שהיתה לפני כן כמים של פלג מלא
trickling - ימצו- מים מצוצית
Before their ספק, this חלק of קטני אמונה viewed תורה as a דבר של כבוד and now they view it as a דבר של זלזול.
למו- להם
יא This is what איוב meant when he said that this leads to כפירה גמורה.
איכה ידע קל- איך יכול להיות שה' יודע מעשי בני אדם
ויש דעה בעליון- יכול להיות דעת בה' יושב עליון
רד''ק He questions אמיתת התורה- it says in the תורה, "כל דרכיו אמת" and this is a gross injustice.
יב הנה אלא רשעים- הנה אלו בני אדם הולכים ברשעות
ושלוי עולם- הם חיים בשלוה תמידית
מלבי''ם There is a difference between שלום and שלוה- שלום is peace from the outside world and שלוה is inner contentment.
השגו- הגדילו
חיל- עשרם
חז''ל said that it seems that the more they grow in their wicked ways, the richer they get.
יג אך ריק- אך לחינם
זכיתי- טהרתי
לבבי- מחשבתי
וארחץ- ולחינם רחצתי
בנקיון כפי- בנקיות ידי
For no reason, I was עוסק in תשובה in מחשבה and מעשה.
יד ואהי- והייתי
נגוע- מנגע
כל היום- כל הזמן
ותוכחתי- ונתיסרתי
לבקרים- מידי כל בוקר מחדש
The result of תשובה- I got צער and יסורים every day.
טו Speaks על כל לבו and to every מנהיג of every דור.
אם- אילו
אמרתי- החלטתי
אספרה- לספר ברבים
כמו- בספקות כמו שהם
הנה- דור בניך- 1) דורות העתידים 2) המאמינים בך
בגדתי- היו בוגדים בך
It’s teaching us the great danger of listening to ספיקות in אמונה. It has such far reaching effects for those who believe in you or it effects future generations. חז''ל tell us that we must also be sure to watch our eyes from such things.
טז ואחשבה- וחשבתי בשכלי
לדעת- להבין
זאת- צדיק ורע לו רשע וטוב לו
wrongdoing and injusticeעמל- 1) יגיעה רבה לחינם 2) עולה-
בעיני- לפי השגתי
His ספק remained intact when he invested thought ע''פ שכל.
יז עד אבוא אל מקדשי קל- עד שבאתי למקום המקדש לכהנים וחכמים הלומדים את התורה
He was put onto the right track because he tapped into דעת תורה. When we have a ספק, we too must tap into דעת תורה.
אבינה לאחריתם- הבנתי לאחרים הרשעים
רשע וטוב לו is a temporary thing and it leads to evil.
מקדשי קל- the מקדש in my heart. The כוזרי says that every person is a מקדש מעט- his heart is the ארון, his lungs are the כרובים and the air that we breathe is the אש הקודש.
יח אך- בא למעט טוב הרשע
in slippery slopeבחלקות- במדרון חלק-
תשית- תשים
למו- אותו= רשע
The מציאות of the רשע’s טוב- he’s placed on a smooth track and he plummets.
הפלתם- להפילם
bewildermentלמשואות- חשך הצרות- 1) גיהנום 2) שואה- חורבן 3) ישתאה-
Everyone who looks at them, even a person with a ספק in אמונה will be bewildered by the change of events:
1. He will have all good in this world, but bad in עוה''ב.
2. In עוה''ז, his wheel of fortune will turn for the bad.
3. He’ll have intense good, but his children will have intense bad.
יט אך היו לשמה- איך נהפכו לשממה
כרגע- כהרף עין
ספו- סוף
תמו- כלו, נגמרו
מן בלהות- מבהלה
כ כחלום- כמו חלום
1. מהקיץ- מאין קץ- כשינה שאין לה קץ
בעיר- ירושלים
צלמם- דמותם
תבזה- שמת לבזיון
He’s speaking from רוח הקודש about סנחרב- he was the epitome of רשע וטוב לו. He was out to capture the whole world, and all that he had left was ירושלים. He and his army were camping outside and they had sweet dreams of victory. In the middle of the night, "ויצא מלאך ה' ויך במחנה אשור"- caused a fire that burnt all of the soldiers. Only סנחרב remained. The dream stopped in mid-air- it went from good directly to bad.
2. מהקיץ- בשעת הקיצה
בעיר- בהעיר את המתים
צלמם- את הדמות של הרשעים
תבזה- תשים לבזיון
Maybe the רשע will have good in this world, but by תחית המתים everyone will get up. "אלה לחיי עולם ואלה לחרפות ולדראון עולם"- the צדיקים will have good, but the רשעים will be bopped back down and they will be humiliated forever- their good doesn’t last forever.
The רמב'ם lived in a difficult time- ב''י faced many difficulties. He had a student who was near death. The רמב''ם came to visit his תלמיד and told him that he has questions and he wants the תלמיד to come back to this world after he dies with answers. The רמב''ם gave him an amulet and told him that it would get him into all the chambers of שמים. The boy died shortly after. The רמב''ם saw the דמיון of this boy and the boy said that it’s great in עוה''ב. The רמב''ם asked if he had answers for him and the boy said that in עוה''ב, everything is so clear and there are no questions. In this world, we lack the clarity to be able to understand the big picture.
מדרש sheet 1. "נתת שמך בלבי"- put happiness into my heart. The גויים have seven מצוות. How does ה' repay them? He gives them their שכר in this world. We have 613 מצוות and are repaid in עוה''ב. משל- king makes a party but tells everyone to stay in the courtyard. The people see dogs coming out of the ballroom with חשוב fowl in their mouths- ראשי עגלות and heads of fattened livestock. The guests think that if these are the scraps, can you imagine the actual סעודה? נמשל- גויים are compared to dogs- "והכלבים עזי נפש". If this is what the גויים are getting, imagine what it waiting for us in עוה''ב.
2. רשעיםget good in this world. From this we can project the good that we’ll get in עוה''ב- "מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליריאך".
רמב''ם sheet There is something that pains the heart and saddens the thoughts. Many people because of this thing have led to כפירה גדולה. What is this thing? The appearance in this world of crooked justice. The רשעים get good and the צדיקים get lost. This is the root of rebellion against ה'. We see many who had this same question- it is an ancient question:
1. משה- "הודיעני נא את דרכיך"
2. ירמיהו- "מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה"
3. חבקוק- "כי רשע מכתיר את הצדיק"
4. דוד- "הנה אלא רשעים ושלוי עולם השגו חיל"
The whole ספר איוב discusses this. Who was איוב? Some say he’s just a משל while others say that he was a great צדיק who lost all of his money and all of his children. ה' appeared to איוב in a storm wind and said, "איפה היית ביסדי ארץ הגד אם ידעת בינה"- where were you when I placed the רוחניותדיק foundations of the world? Do you have the בינה to understand?איוב answered, "לכן הגדתי ןלא אבין נפלאות ממני ולא אדע"- now I see that I don’t have the שכל to understand the secrets of Your ways. On a שאילה אלוקית we can’t give a תשובה אנושית because the שכל of man is limited, but ה'’s דעת is "ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מיני ים".
מורה נבוכים The purpose of ספר איוב is to teach the יסוד that one shouldn’t make the mistake of attempting to imagine that ה' has the kind of ידיעה, שכל, חכמה, כונה, השגחהor הנהגה as us. ה'’s דרכים can never be understood by us. When we accept this, we can be מקבל all יסורים in a דרך קלה- whether we understand it or not and we’ll be מוסיף upon ourselves אהבה as it is said about צדיקים, "עושים מאהבה ושומחים ביסורים". We have to attain this אמונה.
רע''ב "אמר ר' ינאי: אין בידינו לא משלות הרשעים ואף לא מיסורי הצדיקים"- it’s not known to us why ה' gives יסורים to צדיקים and הצלחה to רשעים.
ר' יונה Our ידיעה is not able to be משיג this- there’s truly a טעינה here but it’s just because we’re not משיג it.
רמב''ן In שער הגמול, he writes, "יש בעסוק בענין זה משום ידיעת ה' ואהבתו"- we have to have אהבה for ה' and in order to do so we need ידיעת ה' so we’ll see how great He is. So if we see just a glimpse with our limited שכל and sight, we can gain אהבת ה' and be מקיים"ואהבת את ה'".
ר' שך There’s a contrast between עוה''ז and עוה''ב. עוה''ב is the עולם האמת and עוה''ז is the עלמא דשקרא. When there is an instance of צדיק ורע לו: the אש of עוה''ז is one- sixtieth of גיהנום. ענש in this world is קל in comparison to the ענש of עוה''ב, which is חמור. When we see a case of רשע וטוב לו: the הנאה in עוה''ז has no נצחיות, but in עוה''ב the שכר is forever. We never talk about how great the שכר in עוה''ב is because we have nothing to compare it to in our minds. If you would talk all the הנאה גשמי you ever had and the הנאה of your whole family and of the entire population since the beginning of the world, all that would not be able to equal to the הנאה of עוה''ב. It’s unfathomable to us. Therefore, צדיק ורע לו is really ה'’s מדת הרחמים- because he’ll get the good שכר and easy עונש. רשע וטוב לו is really מדת הדין because he gets the harder punishment and fleeting, impermanent reward. Why would anyone pick to be a רשע? "כל אדם מעמיד את עצמו למשפט כפי מעשיו". You have the choice. If you decide to be a רשע, that’s how you’ll get paid back- "הנה נתתי לפניך את החיים ואת המות ובחרת בחיים".
גמרא פסחים In גלות, we say the ברכה of הטוב והמיטב on the good and ברכת דין האמת on the bad. But when משיח comes, we’ll say the same ברכה on both good and bad- הטוב והמיטב, because we’ll see that everything is really four our good. It will be so clear to us, "ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' כמים לים מכסים". There are certain things that are universally accepted as good and certain things that are universally accepted as bad. But, "כל מה דאביד רחמנא לטב אביד"- everything that ה' does is for the good. People are myopic- they only see the here and now. We see things as bad, but ultimately it’s for our good. Even the bad that ה' does is really good.
Sheet A broken man cam to ר' שך. He had lost all of his fortune in a bad business deal and he couldn’t deal with the “bad”. ר' שך was trying to comfort him and he said that a person in nearsighted, and doesn’t really know what’s good. When a mother puts her baby in the bath, it screams because it doesn’t recognize that it’s for its good. He told the man a story- he was learning in סלוצק as a בחור. He was considered a good בחור. Goodבחורים were sought after and were offered big apartments and handsome dowries. When the boys would get engaged, they would share with each other what they had received. R’ Issur Zalman Meltzer proposed a shidduch for ר' שך with his niece, but there was no dowry or apartment. They married and he shared the room that R’ Issur Zalman gave to his son-in-law, R’ Ahron. He didn’t mind this, but the other בחורים pitied him- they all had apartments and all he had was a half bedroom that didn’t even belong to him. When WWII broke out, the Nazis captured Poland and the Russians invaded Lithuania. Anyone who could leave fled. The people with apartments didn’t want to leave, and then it was too late. But ר' שך left and went to Vilna and then א'י. The apartment was an obstacle for many people, but his situation saved him. What seems like רע is really for good.
Sheet How do we work in life to find the good in difficult situations? ח''ח- the פסוק in תהלים says, "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו יחדיו"- all the מדת הדין of ה' is צדק, אמת and ישר. The ח''ח explains this to mean "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו, יחדיו"- when you perceive everything that happens with the viewpoint of עוה''ז and עוה''ב together, then you can see that "משפטי ה' אמת צדקו "-the viewpoint of עוה''ז is the צרה and of עוה''ב is that it’s all for the good in the bigger picture.
It says "שבענו מטובך"- a person who sees will be more satiated than a blind man after eating the same menu because seeing of the good satiates you. We ask ה' to show us his good so that we can be satiated.
חז''ל spoke a lot about the מעלות of יסורים that it cleanses a person. ה' once brought an עונש נורא on an אמורא for a חטא קל. ר' נחמן בר יצחק commented, "בריך רחמנא דכספי' לאבדן בראי עלמא"- blessed is ה' who humiliated אבדן with heavy punishment in this world that he’s זוכה to come to עוה''ב cleansed from חטא. Though we shouldn’t daven for it, when it comes it’s for our good.
עב: כב The last פסוק of פרק עב says, "כלו תפילות דוד". How could it be that this is the last פרק if it’s only 72/ 150?
רש''י כלו תפילות דוד- this was the last פרק that he said, but ספר תהלים isn’t written in chronological order. "כלו" is a נוטריקון for כל אילו- that דוד really wrote down all the פרקי תהלים, even the ones that others were מחבר in order to make it נוגע for דורות.
רד''ק כלו- תפילות means בקשות. This was the last מזמור that he wrote and in it he discusses appointing שלמה under him and he has כונות to mean the ultimate מלכות ofמלך המשיח. The בקשות are now stopping, but not the שירות ותשבחות- "אין אנחנו מספיקים להודות".
רד''ק א לאסף- who is אסף talking to? He was talking to himself and to those who are confused. It says מדבר על לשונו- something on his mind. He talks because he is in a confused state. He had a ספק in אמונה and ה' sent him on a שליחות to talk about it. We learn from here that even great people have ספקות- אסף was a לוי, ת''ח and the ראש המנגנים. Any person can strike a ספק in אמונה (was on the verge of falling off the edge of the cliff) and אסף is telling us how to deal with it. When דוד wrote over this מזמור, he made it applicable to every single Yid throughout all the generations- was מדבר על לב כל נבוך.
Some say that he was one of קרח’s three sons. Most of the פרקים that they wrote, they wrote together, but אסף was so great and such a ת''ח that he wrote twelve מזמורים by himself.
רש''י אך טוב לישראל- אך means אע''פ. Even though he sees that good people are suffering, he knows that ה' is good to ב''י and through His good, He brings צער so that they can be זוכה to חיי עוה''ב.
מ''ד לברי- their hearts are pure. The מדרש שוחר טוב says that it means that they are בריאים in רוחניות and have אמונה.
רד''ק אך טוב לישראל- אך means אמת. It is true that in גלות, there are צדיקים who have רע, but it’sטוב לישראל- it’s for their good because it’s מטהר them.
ב כמעט- עוד מעט
נטויו רגלי- היו רגלי נטוים
like nothingכאין- כמו אין-
washed awayשפכו- נשפכו-
my footsteps אשרי- צעדי-
רש''י ואני- before I put it on my heart that everything that ה' does is for good, I was in such a bad mode in רוחניות that I was closer to leaving than coming.
ר' הירש אשרי- purposeful, directed footsteps. This happens when a person knows "מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך". Here, אסף is saying that like liquid he became affected by outside circumstances and his directed footsteps started getting washed away. He started seeing רשעים who had good and this caused ספיקות in his אמונה.
ג קנאה קנאתי- הרגשתי
רש''י כי קנאתי בהוללים- they confuse their path in life. They make the עיקר into טפל and טפל into the עיקר. The רד''ק says that it’s a ל' הוללות וסכלות. הוללות- looseness, פריקת עול. This is a result of foolishness.
מדרש תנחמא הוללים- means חוללים= corpses. רשעים are murderers.
הוללים- ל' יללה= cry. The רשע inflicts pain on his victim until he cries out in pain and suffering.
ד חרצבות- קשרים
ובריא אולם- הם מתים בריא וחזקים כמו מבצר
דרש אולם- it’s a reference to the אולם of the בהמ''ק. It symbolized חוזק גדול- was forty אמות high and twenty אמות wide.
רש''י כי אין חרצבות למותם- it seems to us that they have no restraints. דרש: It’s a נוטריקון- they’re not חרידין ועצבין from the יום המיתה. We look at it in a superficiallight, but רש''י shows us the true light- they’re not sad or scared to die like ourחכמים were. The גר''א held onto his ציצית before he died because in this world, it is an easy מצוה that you can buy for a few cents, but in the next world you can no longer acquire מצוות. We must chap what we can while we are still here.
ה ועמל- ביגיעת
אנוש- שאר בני אדם
ועם אדם- עם יתר בני אדם
לא ינגעו- הם לא מנוגעים
A person is under the spell of "בזיעת אפיך..."- it’s a toil. A רשע gets his פרנסה so easily and it’s not fair. Everyone suffers from illness and pain, but they don’t.
אונקלוס During the course of their life, they’re robbed of:
1. תורה
2. יסורים- they cleanse a person.
You see this as good, but really you’re misinterpreting it.
ו לכן- בגלל שלומ
ענקתמו גאוה- הגוה מסבבת צארו
The Steipler says that גאוה is the יסוד of all ספקות in אמונה.
רשעים are so conceited that גאוה spreads all over them and it rests on their neck like a necklace. "ותלכנה נטויות גרון"- their hole posture expresses their גאוה.
In אגרת הרמב''ם, the רמב''ם says, "כל דבריך יהיו בנחת... ראך כפוף עניך יביטו למטה לארץ ןלבך למעלה ואל תביט אדם בדברך עמו וכל אדם יהי' גדול ממך בעיניך"
יעטף- הוא מכסה את עצמו במסתר
שית- לשים את עצמו על בני אדם- לארוב על אנשים
חמס- לגזול מהם
למו- לקח לעצמו
מאירי שיס- יסוד. The wicked man wraps the foundations of his life on violence. His whole יסוד is רשעות and חמס.
ז יצא- בולטות
מחלב- מרוב שומן
עינמו- עיניהם של הרשע
עברו- עלתה הצלחתם
משכוות לבב- יותר מעל כל דמיונות לבם
ח meltימוקו- ימסו לבם של בני אדם בפחד-
ברע- ברשעות
עושק- על גזל
ממרום ידבר- 1) בגאווה הם מדברים 2) כנגד ה' היושב במרומים הם מדברים
רש''י ממרום ידברו-
1. –פרעה"מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו", "יאור לי ואני עשיתי".
2. סנחרב- he was conquering all the countries. When he came close to ירושלים he said, "מי בכל אלהי הארצות האלה אר הצילו את ארצם מידי כי יציל ה' את ירושלים מידי".
3. נ''נ- "אעלה על במתי עב אדמה לעליון"- I’ll ascend to a high cloud and then I’ll be compared to ה', who sits on high.
4. חירם- "אל אני"- I am a god.
ט שתו בשמים פיהם- שמו את פיהם כנגד ה' היושב במים
פיהם- לשונם
ולשונם- והם הרשעים ופיהם
תהלך בארץ- הולכים כאן בתחתונים ואינם יודעים על מעשה העליונים ומעזים פנים לדבר על העליונים
גמרא This פסוק is an example of the way of the מספרי ל''ה. In this פסוק, we see the cause- "ולשונם תהלך בארץ", and the affect- "שתו בשמים פיהם". The מספר ל''ה is speaking about the כשרי הארץ and this causes that he’ll speak against ה', Who’s in the שמים.
רמב''ם A לץ= רשע.
1. They talk empty, hollow talk. שלמה המלך tells us that you can tell a fool- "קול כסיל ברוב דברים".
2. Start talking negatively about צדיקים and חכמים.
3. They start to slander נביאים.
4. They hit rock bottom- they’re כופר בעיקר.
The שיחת הרשעים is דברי ביטול- they gather together in street corners and gatherings of empty people. They gather in bars and talk empty talk. But the conversations of כשרי ישראל are conversations of טוחן.
י לכן- בגלל צלחת הרשעים
ישוב- כאילו אתה ה' השיב
עמו- חלק מעמו= קטני אמונה
הלם- פה
His complaints have now reached a crescendo and he will soon reach a point of despair. He’s accusing ה'- he was almost כופר בעיקר. When a person is lonely, he becomes irrational. He said that because of ה'’s crookedness, He’s turning the קטני אמונה away- they want to be רשעים so that they’ll get good.
ומי מלא- והתורה שהיתה לפני כן כמים של פלג מלא
trickling - ימצו- מים מצוצית
Before their ספק, this חלק of קטני אמונה viewed תורה as a דבר של כבוד and now they view it as a דבר של זלזול.
למו- להם
יא This is what איוב meant when he said that this leads to כפירה גמורה.
איכה ידע קל- איך יכול להיות שה' יודע מעשי בני אדם
ויש דעה בעליון- יכול להיות דעת בה' יושב עליון
רד''ק He questions אמיתת התורה- it says in the תורה, "כל דרכיו אמת" and this is a gross injustice.
יב הנה אלא רשעים- הנה אלו בני אדם הולכים ברשעות
ושלוי עולם- הם חיים בשלוה תמידית
מלבי''ם There is a difference between שלום and שלוה- שלום is peace from the outside world and שלוה is inner contentment.
השגו- הגדילו
חיל- עשרם
חז''ל said that it seems that the more they grow in their wicked ways, the richer they get.
יג אך ריק- אך לחינם
זכיתי- טהרתי
לבבי- מחשבתי
וארחץ- ולחינם רחצתי
בנקיון כפי- בנקיות ידי
For no reason, I was עוסק in תשובה in מחשבה and מעשה.
יד ואהי- והייתי
נגוע- מנגע
כל היום- כל הזמן
ותוכחתי- ונתיסרתי
לבקרים- מידי כל בוקר מחדש
The result of תשובה- I got צער and יסורים every day.
טו Speaks על כל לבו and to every מנהיג of every דור.
אם- אילו
אמרתי- החלטתי
אספרה- לספר ברבים
כמו- בספקות כמו שהם
הנה- דור בניך- 1) דורות העתידים 2) המאמינים בך
בגדתי- היו בוגדים בך
It’s teaching us the great danger of listening to ספיקות in אמונה. It has such far reaching effects for those who believe in you or it effects future generations. חז''ל tell us that we must also be sure to watch our eyes from such things.
טז ואחשבה- וחשבתי בשכלי
לדעת- להבין
זאת- צדיק ורע לו רשע וטוב לו
wrongdoing and injusticeעמל- 1) יגיעה רבה לחינם 2) עולה-
בעיני- לפי השגתי
His ספק remained intact when he invested thought ע''פ שכל.
יז עד אבוא אל מקדשי קל- עד שבאתי למקום המקדש לכהנים וחכמים הלומדים את התורה
He was put onto the right track because he tapped into דעת תורה. When we have a ספק, we too must tap into דעת תורה.
אבינה לאחריתם- הבנתי לאחרים הרשעים
רשע וטוב לו is a temporary thing and it leads to evil.
מקדשי קל- the מקדש in my heart. The כוזרי says that every person is a מקדש מעט- his heart is the ארון, his lungs are the כרובים and the air that we breathe is the אש הקודש.
יח אך- בא למעט טוב הרשע
in slippery slopeבחלקות- במדרון חלק-
תשית- תשים
למו- אותו= רשע
The מציאות of the רשע’s טוב- he’s placed on a smooth track and he plummets.
הפלתם- להפילם
bewildermentלמשואות- חשך הצרות- 1) גיהנום 2) שואה- חורבן 3) ישתאה-
Everyone who looks at them, even a person with a ספק in אמונה will be bewildered by the change of events:
1. He will have all good in this world, but bad in עוה''ב.
2. In עוה''ז, his wheel of fortune will turn for the bad.
3. He’ll have intense good, but his children will have intense bad.
יט אך היו לשמה- איך נהפכו לשממה
כרגע- כהרף עין
ספו- סוף
תמו- כלו, נגמרו
מן בלהות- מבהלה
כ כחלום- כמו חלום
1. מהקיץ- מאין קץ- כשינה שאין לה קץ
בעיר- ירושלים
צלמם- דמותם
תבזה- שמת לבזיון
He’s speaking from רוח הקודש about סנחרב- he was the epitome of רשע וטוב לו. He was out to capture the whole world, and all that he had left was ירושלים. He and his army were camping outside and they had sweet dreams of victory. In the middle of the night, "ויצא מלאך ה' ויך במחנה אשור"- caused a fire that burnt all of the soldiers. Only סנחרב remained. The dream stopped in mid-air- it went from good directly to bad.
2. מהקיץ- בשעת הקיצה
בעיר- בהעיר את המתים
צלמם- את הדמות של הרשעים
תבזה- תשים לבזיון
Maybe the רשע will have good in this world, but by תחית המתים everyone will get up. "אלה לחיי עולם ואלה לחרפות ולדראון עולם"- the צדיקים will have good, but the רשעים will be bopped back down and they will be humiliated forever- their good doesn’t last forever.
Monday, November 8, 2010
תהילים- לב
The גמרא says that דוד was "מקים עולה של תשובה"- he lifted the burden of תשובה. How? He taught us that תשובה is קרובה מאד. It says in פרשת נצבים, "כי קרוב עליך הדבר". The רמב''ן says that it’s talking about תשובה. Our חכמים tell us that "אין דבר עומד בפני התשובה".
תשובה= repentance-
1. To grieve for sins committed.
2. To feel extreme regret for what one has forgotten.
When was the last time we felt any of these feelings when we did something wrong? We can’t do proper תשובה until we feel these הרגשות.
גר''א This מזמור was established to be the שיר של יום of יו''כ because it’s the day that is the pinnacle of סליחה and מחילה. In נוסח אשכנז, this is the שיר של יום of שבת שובה.
This מזמור was written by דוד.
רש''י א לדוד משכיל- when it uses the לשון of משכיל, it means that it was given over to a מתורגמן to explain it.
מ''ד משכיל- the שרש of שכל. דוד was נותן כל to ב''י about תשובה.
רד''ק משכיל- it means a musical instrument. "כהנים לעבודתם ולויים לשירם ולזמרם"- the כהנים would to their עבודה and the לויים would sing שירה. It had two parts:
1. שירות ותשבחות
2. ניגון- instruments. Every song was sung with a different instrument. Each instrument had a specific sound.
Music has the power to be מעורר the נפש and the שכלso they played it in the בית המקדש because it caused דביקות בה'.
גמרא פסחים Whenever it says משכיל, it means that דוד was enlightened through רוח הקודש.
In this פסוק, דוד praises the כח of תשובה. ה' created תשובה before He created the world. Why?
1. Because the world can’t exist without תשובה.
2. רמח''ל- תשובה is למעלה מחוקי הטבע. עקרת הרצון כעקרת המעשה – by doing תשובה, the עבירה is wiped out.
א אשרי- ברוך הוא האדם שחזר בתשובה שלמה
נשוי פשע- שהקב''ה מוחל את כל פשעו
כסוי חטאה- הקב''ה מוחל חטא שלו
A פשע is the worst type of עבירה because it’s done להכעיס. A חטא is בשוגג.
מלבי''ם If a person doesn’t take responsibility and covers up his שגגה, it upgrades into a פשע. However, when the person does תשובה, ה' is מוחל.
ב לא יחשב ה' לא עון- ל' חשבון- הקב''ה אפילו אינה מעלה בחשבונו העבירה שהוא עושה
ואין ברוחו רמי'- שאין בדעתו שום מחשבות מרמה כנגד ה'
ה' doesn’t even put the עבירה in his חשבון . Why not? "ואין ברוחו רמי'".
Anעון is a חטא במזיד.
רש''י ולא יחשב ה' לא עון- he has such a definite עזיבת החטא that he has no interest in going back to his חטא- he and the עבירה are eternally severed. He doesn’t even get it as a speck to ruing his ספר הזכרונות. (vomit-(קיאו
מ''ד ואין ברוחו רמי'- there are some people who do good things and do תשובה only in front of other people- this is רמי'. We’re not talking about someone like this- he does תשובה with a לב שלם.
מלבי''ם There’s a מחלוקת in חז''ל: Who’s on a greater level- a בעל תשובה or צדיקים? We know that "במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורים יכולים לעמוד". However, the מלבי''ם uses this פסוק to say that a צדיק is greater- blessed is the person who never thought bad thoughts and his דעת is שלם עם ה'. How did he do this? By always eradicating any רמי'.
ג החרשתי- כאשר שתקתי
they’ve rottedבלו- נרקבו-
He’s talking about how he felt before he did תשובה- he felt numb.
cry from the מעמקיםשאגתי- בצעקתי מתוך אנחה-
כל היום- כל הזמן
He was all encompassed with worry.
Why was דוד quiet?
רש''י כי החרשתי - he was quiet. He didn’t say ודוי, he was upset about it instead. He worried until it led to חולי הגוף.
מ''ד כי החרשתי - he was quiet מתוך התבוננות over all of his חטאים and he worried instead.
ר' חיים ולזין One עבירה causes a תקלה that is greater than the חורבן of טיטוס and נ''נ.
"דאגה בלב איש ישחנה ודר טוב ישמחנה" (משלי יב:כה)- worry weighs down a person’s heart. It’s good to find שמחה in the midst of worry.
גמרא סוטה How does one handle worry to find the דבר טוב?
1. Speak to his own heart.
2. Speak to a mentor.
ד כי יומם לילה- כל עת
תכבד עלי ידך- מידך הכבדה של עונש המגיע עלי
נהפך- נהפכה
my vitality לשדי- לחלוחית שבי-
בחרבני קיץ- ליובש החום
You must add the word "דאגתי" before the word "תכבד".
What was דוד worried about? מלבי''ם- maybe the עונשים that he had weren’t enough and he will come to the עולם האמת still dirty from his חטא.
ה Now, he is telling us what to do.
חטאתי- החטא שלי
אודיעך- אתודה לפניך
ועוני- המזדים
לא כסיתי- לא אסתיר אותם ממך
אמרתי- חשבתי
אודה- אתודה
עלי- על
פשעי- העבירות מתוך להכעיס למרוד נגד ה'
ואתה- ה'
נשאת- תשא- תמחול
"נשאת" is said in ל' עבר because he had tremendous belief in the כוח התשובה.
עון חטאתי- he expressing רוב עונותיו, therefore he uses a כפה ל'.
בית הלוי It says in פסוק ה- "ועוני לא כסיתי". In פסוק א it says "כסוי חטאה". In life, which way should a person go- should he talk about his עבירה or should he cover it up?The reason for a person’s existence is to be מרבה כבוד שמים through our every action and reaction. If a person is in a difficult situation and he is anאדם ישר, he should discuss with those who are close to him what he feels the טעם for the עונש is and what חטאים he has on his hands because by doing so, he’ll be מרבה כבוד שמים. If no one knows about the עונש, he shouldn’t talk about it. It should be a הנהגה of כסוי חטאה because when he tells people what he did, they will become desensitized (like עמלק, that they cooled off the bathtub for other nations to fight against ב''י). By doing this, he too will be מקדש ש''ש.
ו על זאת- לכן (רד''ק)
חסיד- אדם ישר
אליך- לך ה'
לעת- לזמן
מצא- 1) שאתה ה' מצוי 2) שלב האדם מצוי
לשטף- מבול
מים רבים- מים של פורענות- 1) עונש רב 2) שונאים רבים
רד''ק על זאת- because of this. Because You answered my תפילה and therefore I accomplished תשובה, people will do the same and when they need to do תשובה, they will daven also. A person doesn’t achieve תשובה on his own. He must daven to ה' for ס''ד.
רש''י לעת מצוא- when ה' is מצוי.
אבן עזרא לעת מצוא- when ה' is close- א' אלול through יו''כ. But we know that ה' is really always close- "קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו...".
רש''י לעת מצוא- when ה' is accessible.
מ''ד לעת מצוא- when a person finds himself in a sincere mode.
The second תפילה that דוד said and taught the עם- ה' shouldn’t heap עונש onto a person because it will crush him. It says in פרשת האזינו, "הצור תמים פעלו". רש''י says on these words that when ה' brings strong עונש on a person, he does it with perfection that the person will be able to withstand it.
רד''ק Why is a חסיד a candidate for a שטף of עונש and why does he have to daven for it- he’s an אדם ישר who constantly davening and doing תשובה? It’s talking about a world catastrophe. He should daven that if there is a world catastrophe, it shouldn’t affect him.
ז This is the third תפילה:
אתה סתר לי- אתה ה' המקלט בשבילי
מ''ד אתה סתר לי- sometimes, a צרה destroys a person spiritually and then physically. We must daven that when we have a צרה, only ה' can get you through it.
מצור- מן האויב
תצריני- תשמרני
רני- רינה, שירה
פלט- של הצלה
encircles/ surrounds meתסובבני- יקפוני-
סלה- לעולם
מ''ד רני- I constantly encircle myself with a שירה של הצלחה. Anעונש comes, then goes, then comes and goes. When it finally leaves me, I must sing a song of refuge.
A Yid must daven when ה' gives him a צרה that he should be able to get through it. When it goes away, sing a שירה of הצלחה. When does the צרה leave? When you are מקבל it.
משל- a boy’s father hits him and the boy runs to seek comfort in his father’s arms. נמשל- we must realize that עונש comes from someone who loves us- "את אשר יאהב יוכיח". ר' שלמה אבן גבירול says, "אם תפקיד עוני אברח ממך עליך".
ח דוד encourages the עם.
אשכילך- אלמדך שכל
ואורך- ואדריכך
בדרך זו= דרך של תשובה
איעצה- אתן לך עצה
עיני- כפי משראו עוני תנסיון חיי
רש''י איעצה- winking of the eye. דוד says that he’ll guide ב''י with any possible and necessary needs- "בכל אמצעי הנדרש". Sometimes, רמיזה is better than words. But דוד will use whatever it takes- words or רמיזה to guide ב''י.
ט אל תהיו- על תתנהגו
muleכפרד-
אין הבין- שהם חרי בינה
מ''ד כסוס כפרד- they clogged their spiritual arteries so that they can no longer absorb, like an animal- reached the level of a סוס and פרד.
במתג- במחסום
bridleורסן- ברצועות-
2) פיוadornmentעדיו- 1) קשטו-
לבלום- לסגור
בל- שלא
קרוב- יתקרב
to bite you -אליך- לנשך
מ''ד במסג ורסן- when he’s adorned, he must close his mouth so as not to bite. You are clamping him, but it’s for his good. If he would be a hazard, he’ll be shot. An animal can’t discern between good and bad for himself because he has no דעת or הבחנה- "אם דעת אין הבדלה מנין?". We shouldn’t be like this- when we get יסורים, we should recognize that it’s for our good and not reject them. Why are they good? "יסורים ממרקים עונותיהם של אדם".
רש''י אל תהיו כסוס כפרד- when you clamp his mouth, he thinks that you are feeding him- it’s רעה but the animal thinks that it’s good. When you scrape and scratch his fur to groom him, he thinks that it’s bad, but really it’s good. Before grooming him, you must make sure that he is muzzled so that he doesn’t bite you.
מלבי''ם According to nature, you can’t have two opposites at once- you either have dark or light. There is one יוצא מן הכלל- אדם. Man is a wonder because he has a נפש הבהמי and נפש הרוחני. These are two opposites, but together they make a man. A person’s obligation in this world is to make his נפש רוחני override his נפש הבהמי. The סוס is a משל to the נפש הבהמי and the rider is a משל to the נפש הרוחני- the rider controls the animal. But if the horse overthrows the rider, it needs יסורים to restrain it so that it won’t hurt the rider. So to, if a person’s יצה''ר takes over him, ה' gives him יסורים to cap his נפש הבהמי so that it won’t overtake him and kill him.
י מכאובים- כואבים
לרשע- המתנהג ברשעות
יסובבנו- יקיפנו
מ''ד רבים- Why? A רשע who rejects will get many כואבים, but someone who’s a בוטח בה' and realizes that they’re really good for him, חסד יסובבנו. What’s the חסד? They’ll go away and he’ll be נקי.
ח''ח An אתנחתא signifies a pause- there is one after בה'. If you read it like this, רשעים and בוטחים בה' both get כואבים- life wasn’t meant to be so easy. There’s a lot of suffering for both of them, but it’s all in the perspective. The בוטח בה' is מבין דעת and realizes that יסורים are really "חסד יסובבנו". משל- pills used to be made with a bitter taste, but now they are sugar coated. נמשל- the רשע keeps getting a bad taste because he rejects the יסורים. For the בוטח בה' though, the יסורים taste sweet because he recognizes that they are for his good.
רד''ק רבים- the רשע puts his בטחון in his wealth and he doesn’t even look at ה'. He doesn’t have דעת, בינה or הבחנה. There’s no one who can save him because he places his trust in his money. But a person who leans on ה', חסד יסובבנו and his יסורים will be removed.
בטחון- unequivocal reliance on ה'. דוד says, "כגמול עלי אמו כגמול עלי נפשי"- just like an infant is totally reliant on its mother, so to someone whose נפש is totally בוטח upon ה'- he must do his השתדלות, but he knows that ה' will take care of him.
ר' חיים "פשוט מאד כשיהודי מאמין ובוטח בה' בענין מסוים אכן לא יאונה לו רע באותו ענין"- it’s very simple: when you trust and believe in ה' in a specific ענין, he doesn’t receive bad in that area. If something bad happens in that area, you no that it’s not really bad.
יא שמחו- תשמחו
וגילו- ועלזו
והרנינו- והשמיעו קול רינה
those that live with straightness ישרי לב-
רד''ק שמחו- Reasons for שמחה, רינה and גילה:
1. בטחון בה'- when a Yid lives with בטחון, he becomes a כלי קבול of ה'’s חסד and טובה, but only if you’re happy.
2. When a Yid lives with בטחון, his נפש is מקבל סיפוק רוחני which is the root of שמחה.
מלבי''ם Who’s on a greater מדרגה- a צדיק or ישרי לב? צדיקים do very righteous מעשים, but ישרי לב were victorious over their יצר so that their לב, שכל and יצר are harmonious in the same דרך.
תשובה= repentance-
1. To grieve for sins committed.
2. To feel extreme regret for what one has forgotten.
When was the last time we felt any of these feelings when we did something wrong? We can’t do proper תשובה until we feel these הרגשות.
גר''א This מזמור was established to be the שיר של יום of יו''כ because it’s the day that is the pinnacle of סליחה and מחילה. In נוסח אשכנז, this is the שיר של יום of שבת שובה.
This מזמור was written by דוד.
רש''י א לדוד משכיל- when it uses the לשון of משכיל, it means that it was given over to a מתורגמן to explain it.
מ''ד משכיל- the שרש of שכל. דוד was נותן כל to ב''י about תשובה.
רד''ק משכיל- it means a musical instrument. "כהנים לעבודתם ולויים לשירם ולזמרם"- the כהנים would to their עבודה and the לויים would sing שירה. It had two parts:
1. שירות ותשבחות
2. ניגון- instruments. Every song was sung with a different instrument. Each instrument had a specific sound.
Music has the power to be מעורר the נפש and the שכלso they played it in the בית המקדש because it caused דביקות בה'.
גמרא פסחים Whenever it says משכיל, it means that דוד was enlightened through רוח הקודש.
In this פסוק, דוד praises the כח of תשובה. ה' created תשובה before He created the world. Why?
1. Because the world can’t exist without תשובה.
2. רמח''ל- תשובה is למעלה מחוקי הטבע. עקרת הרצון כעקרת המעשה – by doing תשובה, the עבירה is wiped out.
א אשרי- ברוך הוא האדם שחזר בתשובה שלמה
נשוי פשע- שהקב''ה מוחל את כל פשעו
כסוי חטאה- הקב''ה מוחל חטא שלו
A פשע is the worst type of עבירה because it’s done להכעיס. A חטא is בשוגג.
מלבי''ם If a person doesn’t take responsibility and covers up his שגגה, it upgrades into a פשע. However, when the person does תשובה, ה' is מוחל.
ב לא יחשב ה' לא עון- ל' חשבון- הקב''ה אפילו אינה מעלה בחשבונו העבירה שהוא עושה
ואין ברוחו רמי'- שאין בדעתו שום מחשבות מרמה כנגד ה'
ה' doesn’t even put the עבירה in his חשבון . Why not? "ואין ברוחו רמי'".
Anעון is a חטא במזיד.
רש''י ולא יחשב ה' לא עון- he has such a definite עזיבת החטא that he has no interest in going back to his חטא- he and the עבירה are eternally severed. He doesn’t even get it as a speck to ruing his ספר הזכרונות. (vomit-(קיאו
מ''ד ואין ברוחו רמי'- there are some people who do good things and do תשובה only in front of other people- this is רמי'. We’re not talking about someone like this- he does תשובה with a לב שלם.
מלבי''ם There’s a מחלוקת in חז''ל: Who’s on a greater level- a בעל תשובה or צדיקים? We know that "במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורים יכולים לעמוד". However, the מלבי''ם uses this פסוק to say that a צדיק is greater- blessed is the person who never thought bad thoughts and his דעת is שלם עם ה'. How did he do this? By always eradicating any רמי'.
ג החרשתי- כאשר שתקתי
they’ve rottedבלו- נרקבו-
He’s talking about how he felt before he did תשובה- he felt numb.
cry from the מעמקיםשאגתי- בצעקתי מתוך אנחה-
כל היום- כל הזמן
He was all encompassed with worry.
Why was דוד quiet?
רש''י כי החרשתי - he was quiet. He didn’t say ודוי, he was upset about it instead. He worried until it led to חולי הגוף.
מ''ד כי החרשתי - he was quiet מתוך התבוננות over all of his חטאים and he worried instead.
ר' חיים ולזין One עבירה causes a תקלה that is greater than the חורבן of טיטוס and נ''נ.
"דאגה בלב איש ישחנה ודר טוב ישמחנה" (משלי יב:כה)- worry weighs down a person’s heart. It’s good to find שמחה in the midst of worry.
גמרא סוטה How does one handle worry to find the דבר טוב?
1. Speak to his own heart.
2. Speak to a mentor.
ד כי יומם לילה- כל עת
תכבד עלי ידך- מידך הכבדה של עונש המגיע עלי
נהפך- נהפכה
my vitality לשדי- לחלוחית שבי-
בחרבני קיץ- ליובש החום
You must add the word "דאגתי" before the word "תכבד".
What was דוד worried about? מלבי''ם- maybe the עונשים that he had weren’t enough and he will come to the עולם האמת still dirty from his חטא.
ה Now, he is telling us what to do.
חטאתי- החטא שלי
אודיעך- אתודה לפניך
ועוני- המזדים
לא כסיתי- לא אסתיר אותם ממך
אמרתי- חשבתי
אודה- אתודה
עלי- על
פשעי- העבירות מתוך להכעיס למרוד נגד ה'
ואתה- ה'
נשאת- תשא- תמחול
"נשאת" is said in ל' עבר because he had tremendous belief in the כוח התשובה.
עון חטאתי- he expressing רוב עונותיו, therefore he uses a כפה ל'.
בית הלוי It says in פסוק ה- "ועוני לא כסיתי". In פסוק א it says "כסוי חטאה". In life, which way should a person go- should he talk about his עבירה or should he cover it up?The reason for a person’s existence is to be מרבה כבוד שמים through our every action and reaction. If a person is in a difficult situation and he is anאדם ישר, he should discuss with those who are close to him what he feels the טעם for the עונש is and what חטאים he has on his hands because by doing so, he’ll be מרבה כבוד שמים. If no one knows about the עונש, he shouldn’t talk about it. It should be a הנהגה of כסוי חטאה because when he tells people what he did, they will become desensitized (like עמלק, that they cooled off the bathtub for other nations to fight against ב''י). By doing this, he too will be מקדש ש''ש.
ו על זאת- לכן (רד''ק)
חסיד- אדם ישר
אליך- לך ה'
לעת- לזמן
מצא- 1) שאתה ה' מצוי 2) שלב האדם מצוי
לשטף- מבול
מים רבים- מים של פורענות- 1) עונש רב 2) שונאים רבים
רד''ק על זאת- because of this. Because You answered my תפילה and therefore I accomplished תשובה, people will do the same and when they need to do תשובה, they will daven also. A person doesn’t achieve תשובה on his own. He must daven to ה' for ס''ד.
רש''י לעת מצוא- when ה' is מצוי.
אבן עזרא לעת מצוא- when ה' is close- א' אלול through יו''כ. But we know that ה' is really always close- "קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו...".
רש''י לעת מצוא- when ה' is accessible.
מ''ד לעת מצוא- when a person finds himself in a sincere mode.
The second תפילה that דוד said and taught the עם- ה' shouldn’t heap עונש onto a person because it will crush him. It says in פרשת האזינו, "הצור תמים פעלו". רש''י says on these words that when ה' brings strong עונש on a person, he does it with perfection that the person will be able to withstand it.
רד''ק Why is a חסיד a candidate for a שטף of עונש and why does he have to daven for it- he’s an אדם ישר who constantly davening and doing תשובה? It’s talking about a world catastrophe. He should daven that if there is a world catastrophe, it shouldn’t affect him.
ז This is the third תפילה:
אתה סתר לי- אתה ה' המקלט בשבילי
מ''ד אתה סתר לי- sometimes, a צרה destroys a person spiritually and then physically. We must daven that when we have a צרה, only ה' can get you through it.
מצור- מן האויב
תצריני- תשמרני
רני- רינה, שירה
פלט- של הצלה
encircles/ surrounds meתסובבני- יקפוני-
סלה- לעולם
מ''ד רני- I constantly encircle myself with a שירה של הצלחה. Anעונש comes, then goes, then comes and goes. When it finally leaves me, I must sing a song of refuge.
A Yid must daven when ה' gives him a צרה that he should be able to get through it. When it goes away, sing a שירה of הצלחה. When does the צרה leave? When you are מקבל it.
משל- a boy’s father hits him and the boy runs to seek comfort in his father’s arms. נמשל- we must realize that עונש comes from someone who loves us- "את אשר יאהב יוכיח". ר' שלמה אבן גבירול says, "אם תפקיד עוני אברח ממך עליך".
ח דוד encourages the עם.
אשכילך- אלמדך שכל
ואורך- ואדריכך
בדרך זו= דרך של תשובה
איעצה- אתן לך עצה
עיני- כפי משראו עוני תנסיון חיי
רש''י איעצה- winking of the eye. דוד says that he’ll guide ב''י with any possible and necessary needs- "בכל אמצעי הנדרש". Sometimes, רמיזה is better than words. But דוד will use whatever it takes- words or רמיזה to guide ב''י.
ט אל תהיו- על תתנהגו
muleכפרד-
אין הבין- שהם חרי בינה
מ''ד כסוס כפרד- they clogged their spiritual arteries so that they can no longer absorb, like an animal- reached the level of a סוס and פרד.
במתג- במחסום
bridleורסן- ברצועות-
2) פיוadornmentעדיו- 1) קשטו-
לבלום- לסגור
בל- שלא
קרוב- יתקרב
to bite you -אליך- לנשך
מ''ד במסג ורסן- when he’s adorned, he must close his mouth so as not to bite. You are clamping him, but it’s for his good. If he would be a hazard, he’ll be shot. An animal can’t discern between good and bad for himself because he has no דעת or הבחנה- "אם דעת אין הבדלה מנין?". We shouldn’t be like this- when we get יסורים, we should recognize that it’s for our good and not reject them. Why are they good? "יסורים ממרקים עונותיהם של אדם".
רש''י אל תהיו כסוס כפרד- when you clamp his mouth, he thinks that you are feeding him- it’s רעה but the animal thinks that it’s good. When you scrape and scratch his fur to groom him, he thinks that it’s bad, but really it’s good. Before grooming him, you must make sure that he is muzzled so that he doesn’t bite you.
מלבי''ם According to nature, you can’t have two opposites at once- you either have dark or light. There is one יוצא מן הכלל- אדם. Man is a wonder because he has a נפש הבהמי and נפש הרוחני. These are two opposites, but together they make a man. A person’s obligation in this world is to make his נפש רוחני override his נפש הבהמי. The סוס is a משל to the נפש הבהמי and the rider is a משל to the נפש הרוחני- the rider controls the animal. But if the horse overthrows the rider, it needs יסורים to restrain it so that it won’t hurt the rider. So to, if a person’s יצה''ר takes over him, ה' gives him יסורים to cap his נפש הבהמי so that it won’t overtake him and kill him.
י מכאובים- כואבים
לרשע- המתנהג ברשעות
יסובבנו- יקיפנו
מ''ד רבים- Why? A רשע who rejects will get many כואבים, but someone who’s a בוטח בה' and realizes that they’re really good for him, חסד יסובבנו. What’s the חסד? They’ll go away and he’ll be נקי.
ח''ח An אתנחתא signifies a pause- there is one after בה'. If you read it like this, רשעים and בוטחים בה' both get כואבים- life wasn’t meant to be so easy. There’s a lot of suffering for both of them, but it’s all in the perspective. The בוטח בה' is מבין דעת and realizes that יסורים are really "חסד יסובבנו". משל- pills used to be made with a bitter taste, but now they are sugar coated. נמשל- the רשע keeps getting a bad taste because he rejects the יסורים. For the בוטח בה' though, the יסורים taste sweet because he recognizes that they are for his good.
רד''ק רבים- the רשע puts his בטחון in his wealth and he doesn’t even look at ה'. He doesn’t have דעת, בינה or הבחנה. There’s no one who can save him because he places his trust in his money. But a person who leans on ה', חסד יסובבנו and his יסורים will be removed.
בטחון- unequivocal reliance on ה'. דוד says, "כגמול עלי אמו כגמול עלי נפשי"- just like an infant is totally reliant on its mother, so to someone whose נפש is totally בוטח upon ה'- he must do his השתדלות, but he knows that ה' will take care of him.
ר' חיים "פשוט מאד כשיהודי מאמין ובוטח בה' בענין מסוים אכן לא יאונה לו רע באותו ענין"- it’s very simple: when you trust and believe in ה' in a specific ענין, he doesn’t receive bad in that area. If something bad happens in that area, you no that it’s not really bad.
יא שמחו- תשמחו
וגילו- ועלזו
והרנינו- והשמיעו קול רינה
those that live with straightness ישרי לב-
רד''ק שמחו- Reasons for שמחה, רינה and גילה:
1. בטחון בה'- when a Yid lives with בטחון, he becomes a כלי קבול of ה'’s חסד and טובה, but only if you’re happy.
2. When a Yid lives with בטחון, his נפש is מקבל סיפוק רוחני which is the root of שמחה.
מלבי''ם Who’s on a greater מדרגה- a צדיק or ישרי לב? צדיקים do very righteous מעשים, but ישרי לב were victorious over their יצר so that their לב, שכל and יצר are harmonious in the same דרך.
דקדוק- פ' נ
פ' נ
פ' נ – פעלים where the פ' הפועל is a נ.
When the פ' הפועל is a נ with a שוא נח under it, the נ falls and the ע' הפועל gets a דגש חזק.
When do we use פ' נ?
1. קל-
a. אפעֹל- עתיד
b. אפעַל- עתיד and צווי. By צווי the נ falls, but no דגש is inserted unless the following letter is בגד כפת.
2. נפעל- עבר and הווה.
3. הפעיל and הפעל- all the זמנים.
פעלים where the פ' is a נ and the ע' is an אות גרונית- על דרך שלמים nothing happens- don’t put a דגש!
The שרש of נתן has a special form in קל and נפעל- see page 118.
The following שרשים are שלמים:
1. נבח- bark.
2. נבט- sprout.
3. נבר-search, burrow.
4. נגב- dry.
5. נזפ- reprove.
6. נמק- give reason.
7. נסר- saw wood.
8. נצח- win.
9. נקד- vocalize.
10. נקט- grasp.
In the following שרשים, you can either keep the נ or drop it:
1. נגד
2. נגס
3. נצר
4. נקפ
5. נשמ
6. נשפ
By the שרש of לקח in קל- עתיד and צווי, you follow the rules of נ פ'.
פ' נ – פעלים where the פ' הפועל is a נ.
When the פ' הפועל is a נ with a שוא נח under it, the נ falls and the ע' הפועל gets a דגש חזק.
When do we use פ' נ?
1. קל-
a. אפעֹל- עתיד
b. אפעַל- עתיד and צווי. By צווי the נ falls, but no דגש is inserted unless the following letter is בגד כפת.
2. נפעל- עבר and הווה.
3. הפעיל and הפעל- all the זמנים.
פעלים where the פ' is a נ and the ע' is an אות גרונית- על דרך שלמים nothing happens- don’t put a דגש!
The שרש of נתן has a special form in קל and נפעל- see page 118.
The following שרשים are שלמים:
1. נבח- bark.
2. נבט- sprout.
3. נבר-search, burrow.
4. נגב- dry.
5. נזפ- reprove.
6. נמק- give reason.
7. נסר- saw wood.
8. נצח- win.
9. נקד- vocalize.
10. נקט- grasp.
In the following שרשים, you can either keep the נ or drop it:
1. נגד
2. נגס
3. נצר
4. נקפ
5. נשמ
6. נשפ
By the שרש of לקח in קל- עתיד and צווי, you follow the rules of נ פ'.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Misilas Yesharim
What is מסילת ישרים? R’ Sarna says on מסילת ישרים, "מה שלקט הרמב''ם במשנה תורה יד חזקה עשה הרמח''ל במסילת ישרים"- the רמב'ם took all of the הלכות and divided them amongst subject matter, so too the רמח''ל collected various thoughts in מוסר and divided them according to the ברייתא of ר' פנחס בן יאיר.
The פסוק says, "נעשה אדם בצלמינו כדמותינו". רש''י says that ה' consulted with the מלאכים. The שפת אמת says that He was talking to אדם- ה' can make you, but you won’t be perfected until you work on yourself. In order to be a mentsch, you must work together with ה' and be His partner. How do we do this? We need to accept ה' over ourselves. ר' יונה says that it’s easy to be ממליך ה' on the world, but it’s much harder to be ממליך ה' over ourselves. So how can we do this? The אריז''ל says that when you make a ברכה, you raise that thing from mundane to a דבר שבקדושה. But this only happens if you are מתבונן in the ברכה. Really, ה' wants us to be מורגל to do מצוות, however it shouldn’t be a מצות אנשים מלומדה. ר' שלמה וואלבה says that when you are מתבונן, it totally changes what you are doing. You are elevating it and it brings a light into the world, which chases away the darkness. One should think before he does anything and never do something without a reason.
תפילה is one such area where we must have התבוננות. The word להתפלל is התפעל- doing to yourself. Its שרש is פלל. We see this when יעקב told יוסף, "ראות פניך לא פללתי"- I didn’t think that I would see you again. We see פלל means to think or judge. We aren’t ordering ה', we’re inspiring ourselves about Him. This is what we do by פסוקי דזמרה- we thank ה' in order that we should make ourselves realize his greatness (this is why every תפילה has הודי' and שבח) - we are judging ourselves and making ourselves think internally. The ספר עקרים asks why do we daven to ה' if he made a גזירה anyway? Because through davening, you elevate yourself and you change yourself so you are a new person and therefore have a new גזירה. It was quoted by someone, “How do you know when your תפילה is answered? When you have changed.” תפילה is so difficult, but it is an opportunity for growth.
הקדת המחבר-
The רמח''ל lived a very difficult life and died at the age of forty. At a very young age, he began learning נסתר. At one point in his life, he wrote מסילת ישרים and something else. R’ Sarna says that it’s amazing that someone who had such a deep knowledge could write a מוסר ספר that speaks to everyone. This ספר is a classic מוסר ספר.
In his modesty, he said that he didn’t write this ספר because the people don’t know the concepts. He wrote it to remind people of the things we all know- just to make them away. Everyone knows these concepts, but since this knowledge is so widespread, it’s not actually found in concept. There is no point in learning this ספר once because there are no חדושים- the תועלת is in reviewing this ספר to have a constant reminder of how to live. We need this reminder because we don’t stop to think. If we would discern what is important and what is really unimportant, we would be happier people, more complete people and people who are always doing the right thing. Doing the right thing doesn’t take the שמחה out of your life. Often, we see people with צרעות in their lives who are perpetually happy because they are doing the right things and true שמחה comes from doing the right thing.
People with who have clear minds and are bright usually put their intelligence towards different חכמות- science, technology… Some are even putting their minds towards הלכה and מדרש. But very few people put their minds to the עבודה of becoming closer to ה'. Why? They do think that it’s important, but they don’t bother to learn it because they feel that it is so obvious and don’t realize that it requires intense studying. It ends up that only the people who are not so smart are left to learn מוסר. Because of this, people’s attitude toward learning מוסר is that if someone is learning מוסר, he must not be so smart. This is a terrible attitude, because this means that no one will know what it’s really about and it will cause people to have the wrong idea of what חסידות really is. People will have no clue what it entails because they have no experience with it and מלתא דלא רמיא עלה דאינש לאו אדעתה. No one has it in their nature this מדה of חסידות and to do the right thing. We won’t sense a need to implement it into ourselves; therefore we must work to implement it within ourselves. How? By learning מוסר. Everyone knows deep down within that we must perfect our עבודת ה'. What will we answer by the יום הדין if we were weak in our עבודת ה' and didn’t learn about it?
When we realize the truth to this, we’ll work on it and teach it to others. The פסוק says, "אם תבקשנה ככסף וכמטונים תחפשנה"- one must search for יראת ה' the same way he searches for money. Just like you put yourself all out to attain money and you must look for it and dig deep down for it, so to יראת ה'. Is it enough to satisfy ourselves with the חנוך that we get in our parents’ home? It won’t come by itself even then. We must set aside time to learn about יראת ה'. It says, "הן יראת ה' היא חכמה"- הן means אחת in Greek. The only true חכמה is יראת ה'. In order to acquire it though, you must concentrate and learn.
The פסוק in דברים tells us the five things that ה' asks of us:
1. יראה- you must have יראת הרוממות. You must fear ה' like one fears a king and therefore act with respect when you’re davening or learning.
2. הליכה בדרכיו- you should follow in ה'’s footsteps and try to emulate His מדות. The תורה starts with ה' dressing אדם to show us His מדות. Everything that you do should be תפארת לעושי' ותפארת לו מן האדם- must result in חזוק התורה and affecting the community.
3. האהבה- you should show Him love like you show love to your parents to the point that you want to do His will and it pains you if you or someone else fails to do so.
4. שלמות הלב- your עבודה should not have any ulterior motives. You should only serve ה' because you have a sincere desire to do so. Also, your עבודה should be complete and not like פוסח על שתי הסעיפים- straddling on two sides of the fence. Included in this is doing a מצות אנשים מלומדה.
5. שמירת המצוות- keep all the מצוות according to all their פרטים and details.
In order to attain these five things, you need the proper מדות, as it is said by ר' פנחס בן יאיר that תורה brings to זהירות → זריזות →נקיות → פרישות →טהרה →חסידות →ענוה →יראת החטא →קדושה →רוח הקודש → תחית המתים. This ספר is based on this. The רמח''ל says, "ללמד לעצמי ולהזכיר לאחירים"- this shows his ענוה.
Each of these מדות has three פרקים:
1. Defining it.
2. Acquiring it.
3. Guarding ones self against being מפסיד it.
By learning this ספר, you’ll learn to be a יראי שמים and you won’t forget your חובה to ה'. You’ll try to remove the חמריות for yourself and we’ll be מקיים what דוד המלך said, "הוריני ה' דרכיך אהלך באמתך יחד לבבי ליראה שמך".
באור חובת האדם בעולמו-
The foundation of חסידות and the root of perfect עבודה is that one should clarify what is his חובה in this world. It says "בעולמו"- in his world. Each person has his own world because everyone has different תפקידים, different כוחות and a different situation. It’s the most important thing to know and develop.
Once you have the foundation, you can build around its parameters. Once you have a יסוד of חסידות, you can spend your life building on this foundation. Once you know your חובה, you can keep on growing and building your character higher and greater. Everyone has different things that fit on his building- so whatever חסידות is conducive to your growing, take it in. Your foundation has been built by your חנוך, but it’s up to you to acquire חסידות.
The שרש is the root- the נשמה given to you. In order to keep your root alive, you must keep on nourishing it with your עבודה. Our עבודת ה' is constantly refined as we nourish these roots. You already have it, but you need to work to improve it. How do you build on the יסוד and שרש? A person must clarify and verify for himself what his חובה is in this world. Each person has his own worlds- every person was born with different qualities and he must see in what he should put his outlook and goal with everything that he does. Everything you do should be with reason- don’t do anything without a reason. Sometimes, you do something which you think is so insignificant but you don’t realize what a difference it makes. Ex. If אהרן would have known that the תורה would mention "וראך ושמח בלבו", he would have come out to meet משה with תופים ומחולות. For everything you do, no matter how small it seems, you must know the positive reasoning for it and fit into the goal of life. Even if you think that it is not so major, it could make such a difference. Life has to be meaningful and we must constantly be growing.
We were created only to be מתענג by being close to ה' and to get עדון from the זיו השכינה in עוה''ב, which has been prepared for this purpose. But we can only get there if we prepare for it here, in עוה''ז- this is the only place where you can accumulate זכותים. עוה''ז is like the hallway that is leading you to the ballroom- עוה''ב. But even in עוה''ז, the more you allow yourself to get close to ה', the happier you will be. Even though you are not yet in עוה''ב, you will feel the closeness to ה'. But in עוה''ב, you will really be נהנה from the זיו השכינה.
Proof that this is the way the world runs:
1. "קרבת אלקים לי טוב"- the only thing that’ll be for me good is קרבת ה'.
2. "אחת שאלתי... שבתי בבית ה'"- I ask only for one thing- to have קרבת ה', everything else is הבל. How can you attain this? By doing מצוות.
However much we try to be good, that how close to ה' we will get. The more you give in to your תאוות, the more you are distancing yourself from ה'. Everything in life is a נסיון. All around you are תאוות. If you win over them, you will be an אדם שלם and you’ll be זוכה to enter the טרקלין, maybe even in this world.
Everything in this world was created for our sake. If we do good, we raise the balance of the world. If we do bad, we ruin ourselves and the world. So, the world is benefitted by צדיקים. That’s why ה' made such a thing as a light for צדיקים, which enhances the entire world. By the story of the rocks under יעקב’s head- each one wanted to be under his head because he would enhance it. When ה' created the world, he showed it to אדם, but told him not to ruin it. Our עבירות ruin it.
We see that the point of our existence is what will be in עוה''ב and not what is in עוה''ז:
1. "העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור"
2. "היום לעשותם ומחר לקבל שכרם"
3. "מי שטרח בערב שבת אוכל בשבת"
4. "העוה''ז דומה ליבשה והעוה''ב דומה לים"– because you need to get together your equipment for your journey, otherwise it is too late.
A single בעל שכל can not think that the purpose for our creation is עוה''ז because we see that our lives here are so short and so מלא צרה, so obviously עוה''ז is not the goal. Additionally, why would you have a נשמה if you תכלית is עוה''ז- your נשמה doesn’t appreciate עוה''ז, so why bring it here? Because the תכלית is עוה''ב. משל- עירוני who married a princess. נמשל- our נשמה hates being in this world.
דברי תורה-
ר''ה and יו''כ:
• Why do we say "שמע קולנו", and not "שמע תפילותינו"? We have the idea of קול. We see this same idea by the שופר- have the קול שופר. A שופר is so powerful because it is a crying voice that we want to connect to ה'. So too in our תפילות- the calling out to ה' is what is really important.
• Rabbi Yaakov Reisman- on ר''ה, we are ממליך ה' over ourselves. When we forge the הוספה of "המלך הקדוש" we must go back and not by any of the other הוספות. Why? Because the most important thing is המכלת ה'.
• The עבודה of יו''כ has in it the שני השאירים- two identical goats that stand at the פתח to the אהל מועד. Early in the day, the כהן does a raffle on them. One gets לה' חטאת. This goat is שחטed and its blood is sprinkled in front of the פרוכת seven times and then the כהן sprinkles the blood towards the ארון and on the posts of the מזבח הזהב to be מכפר. Next, the כהן goes out to the other goat, puts his hands on its head and admits all of ב''י’s חטאים that were בשוגג and throws it down a cliff. ר' שמשון רפאל הירש explains that because he is outside of the בהמ''ק, he has חטאים upon him that he is responsible for and although it was בשוגג, he is held accountable because you have to go into the בהמ''ק, where you become closer to ה'. Before the גורל, these two goats were identical, but one rose so high and one didn’t. This must be applied to our lives- if we commit ourselves, we can go until לפני ולפנים.
פרשת בראשית:
• The earth was created, but grass didn’t grow "כי אדם אין לעבוד את האדמה". רש''י says there was no one to daven for it to grow. Without תפילה, nothing would be here for man.
• ר' שמשון רפאל הירש- we have the מצוה of פרו ורבו. This לשון seems to be redundant, but it’s not. פרו- to have children. ורבו- it’s מל' רובה קשת- to direct them at a goal. It is not enough just to have children, you must raise them and teach them the right ways.
• When אדם and חוה were חוטא, they got an עונש. The purpose of punishment is not to hurt you, it’s to make you a better person. חוה’s punishment was "הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרונך" and אדם got the punishment of "בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם בעצבון תאכלנה". ר' שמשון רפאל הירש says that בעצבון (with pain) can be translated as בעזבון- forgo. You can only have פרנסה if you forgo your desires, for example you must get up in the morning even though you may be tired. This was מכ''מ to their חטא because their חטא was giving in to their desires and now he must forgo it. Women must have עזבון all the time- they forgo their needs for their children’s needs. This makes us closer to גן עדן than men.
סוכות:
• The קריאת התורה for סוכות mentions "ושמחת" three times. This applies only to סוכות. Why?
1. גשמיות- the harvest is in.
2. רוחניות- we got a כפרה, therefore we are on a high.
פרשת נח:
• נח was told to build a תיבה and was told, "צוהר תעשה לתיבה". A צוהר is either a window or a gem that gives off light. The בעש''ט and שפת אמת teach that תיבה means a word also. So "צוהר תעשה לתיבה"- make the words you say have a light and enlighten you. This is referring to your תפילות- they should lighten up your day.
פרשת לך לך:
• After the מבול, people still reverted back to their old ways. Decency started really with the אבות only. א''א married שרה- was called יסכה:
1. שכסה ברוח הקודש- she was overflowing with רוח הקודש.
2. שהכל סוכין ביפי'- everyone was impressed with her beauty.
When she was seven, she realized that her dazzling beauty was not something to walk around with and it should be covered up. She covered herself with royalty and majesty (שרי- מל' שר) in a way that people won’t know of her beauty. This was the case, except for מצרים because they were so immoral. The וולנא גאון says that a woman working on צניעות is equal to a man who’s learning and working on his התמדה- they are both an עבודה.
• "הנה באהל"- this shows her צניעות and she set the precedent for woman being in the tent, especially when guests come. עמון and מואב are not allowed to marry a Jew because they didn’t give to ב''י in their time of need. But the עמוני and מואבי women were in their tents, so they are not included in this גזירה- from them we have רות.
פרשת וירא:
• The source for צניעות is"הצנע לכת עם אלוקיך" and "אל הצנועים חכמה". רש''י quotes תרגום for הצנע לכת, which explains it as having יראת ה'. The פסוק in מיכה talks about three things that ה' wants from you:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. הצנע לכת
מיכה encapsulates all מצוות into these three things. דוד encapsulates it all into פרק טו in תהלים- עשות משפט and אהבת חסד represent באל''ח and באל''מ. הצנע לכת represents doing what ה' wants of you. צניעות applies to all different aspects of your life. When we don’t act with צניעות, we are מכשיל men. If we would treasure the femininity that we have, we wouldn’t want to use it in the wrong way. The more precious something is, the more we cover it up.
פרשת חיי שרה:
• When יצחק brought רבקה into his mother’s tent, everything returned like it was by שרה and he was comforted:
1. ברכה בעיסה
2. נרות דולקות
3. ענן
רמב''ן- In the בהמ''ק, there were also these three things- ה' copied it and put it into the :
בהמ''ק:
1. נרות- symbolizes the learning of תורה. By licht benching, we daven for our children’s תורה. We must see that everything in our house is על פי תורה.
2. עיסה- symbolizes the שלחן in the בהמ''ק, which symbolizes our גשמיות, פרנסה and money. It all must be על פי תורה- whatever we do with גשמיות must be with the correct standard. You don’t just have to use your money for חסד and צדקה. You are supposed to use it for גשמיות, but you must use it correctly.
3. שכינה- we re responsible for the קדושה and טהורה in our homes. We must be careful with what comes into our homes and what goes on inside of our houses.
• When רבקה saw יצחק, "ותסכס"- she was covered. Meaning, she was covered because it was such an automatic response when she covered herself that she just found herself covered.
The פסוק says, "נעשה אדם בצלמינו כדמותינו". רש''י says that ה' consulted with the מלאכים. The שפת אמת says that He was talking to אדם- ה' can make you, but you won’t be perfected until you work on yourself. In order to be a mentsch, you must work together with ה' and be His partner. How do we do this? We need to accept ה' over ourselves. ר' יונה says that it’s easy to be ממליך ה' on the world, but it’s much harder to be ממליך ה' over ourselves. So how can we do this? The אריז''ל says that when you make a ברכה, you raise that thing from mundane to a דבר שבקדושה. But this only happens if you are מתבונן in the ברכה. Really, ה' wants us to be מורגל to do מצוות, however it shouldn’t be a מצות אנשים מלומדה. ר' שלמה וואלבה says that when you are מתבונן, it totally changes what you are doing. You are elevating it and it brings a light into the world, which chases away the darkness. One should think before he does anything and never do something without a reason.
תפילה is one such area where we must have התבוננות. The word להתפלל is התפעל- doing to yourself. Its שרש is פלל. We see this when יעקב told יוסף, "ראות פניך לא פללתי"- I didn’t think that I would see you again. We see פלל means to think or judge. We aren’t ordering ה', we’re inspiring ourselves about Him. This is what we do by פסוקי דזמרה- we thank ה' in order that we should make ourselves realize his greatness (this is why every תפילה has הודי' and שבח) - we are judging ourselves and making ourselves think internally. The ספר עקרים asks why do we daven to ה' if he made a גזירה anyway? Because through davening, you elevate yourself and you change yourself so you are a new person and therefore have a new גזירה. It was quoted by someone, “How do you know when your תפילה is answered? When you have changed.” תפילה is so difficult, but it is an opportunity for growth.
הקדת המחבר-
The רמח''ל lived a very difficult life and died at the age of forty. At a very young age, he began learning נסתר. At one point in his life, he wrote מסילת ישרים and something else. R’ Sarna says that it’s amazing that someone who had such a deep knowledge could write a מוסר ספר that speaks to everyone. This ספר is a classic מוסר ספר.
In his modesty, he said that he didn’t write this ספר because the people don’t know the concepts. He wrote it to remind people of the things we all know- just to make them away. Everyone knows these concepts, but since this knowledge is so widespread, it’s not actually found in concept. There is no point in learning this ספר once because there are no חדושים- the תועלת is in reviewing this ספר to have a constant reminder of how to live. We need this reminder because we don’t stop to think. If we would discern what is important and what is really unimportant, we would be happier people, more complete people and people who are always doing the right thing. Doing the right thing doesn’t take the שמחה out of your life. Often, we see people with צרעות in their lives who are perpetually happy because they are doing the right things and true שמחה comes from doing the right thing.
People with who have clear minds and are bright usually put their intelligence towards different חכמות- science, technology… Some are even putting their minds towards הלכה and מדרש. But very few people put their minds to the עבודה of becoming closer to ה'. Why? They do think that it’s important, but they don’t bother to learn it because they feel that it is so obvious and don’t realize that it requires intense studying. It ends up that only the people who are not so smart are left to learn מוסר. Because of this, people’s attitude toward learning מוסר is that if someone is learning מוסר, he must not be so smart. This is a terrible attitude, because this means that no one will know what it’s really about and it will cause people to have the wrong idea of what חסידות really is. People will have no clue what it entails because they have no experience with it and מלתא דלא רמיא עלה דאינש לאו אדעתה. No one has it in their nature this מדה of חסידות and to do the right thing. We won’t sense a need to implement it into ourselves; therefore we must work to implement it within ourselves. How? By learning מוסר. Everyone knows deep down within that we must perfect our עבודת ה'. What will we answer by the יום הדין if we were weak in our עבודת ה' and didn’t learn about it?
When we realize the truth to this, we’ll work on it and teach it to others. The פסוק says, "אם תבקשנה ככסף וכמטונים תחפשנה"- one must search for יראת ה' the same way he searches for money. Just like you put yourself all out to attain money and you must look for it and dig deep down for it, so to יראת ה'. Is it enough to satisfy ourselves with the חנוך that we get in our parents’ home? It won’t come by itself even then. We must set aside time to learn about יראת ה'. It says, "הן יראת ה' היא חכמה"- הן means אחת in Greek. The only true חכמה is יראת ה'. In order to acquire it though, you must concentrate and learn.
The פסוק in דברים tells us the five things that ה' asks of us:
1. יראה- you must have יראת הרוממות. You must fear ה' like one fears a king and therefore act with respect when you’re davening or learning.
2. הליכה בדרכיו- you should follow in ה'’s footsteps and try to emulate His מדות. The תורה starts with ה' dressing אדם to show us His מדות. Everything that you do should be תפארת לעושי' ותפארת לו מן האדם- must result in חזוק התורה and affecting the community.
3. האהבה- you should show Him love like you show love to your parents to the point that you want to do His will and it pains you if you or someone else fails to do so.
4. שלמות הלב- your עבודה should not have any ulterior motives. You should only serve ה' because you have a sincere desire to do so. Also, your עבודה should be complete and not like פוסח על שתי הסעיפים- straddling on two sides of the fence. Included in this is doing a מצות אנשים מלומדה.
5. שמירת המצוות- keep all the מצוות according to all their פרטים and details.
In order to attain these five things, you need the proper מדות, as it is said by ר' פנחס בן יאיר that תורה brings to זהירות → זריזות →נקיות → פרישות →טהרה →חסידות →ענוה →יראת החטא →קדושה →רוח הקודש → תחית המתים. This ספר is based on this. The רמח''ל says, "ללמד לעצמי ולהזכיר לאחירים"- this shows his ענוה.
Each of these מדות has three פרקים:
1. Defining it.
2. Acquiring it.
3. Guarding ones self against being מפסיד it.
By learning this ספר, you’ll learn to be a יראי שמים and you won’t forget your חובה to ה'. You’ll try to remove the חמריות for yourself and we’ll be מקיים what דוד המלך said, "הוריני ה' דרכיך אהלך באמתך יחד לבבי ליראה שמך".
באור חובת האדם בעולמו-
The foundation of חסידות and the root of perfect עבודה is that one should clarify what is his חובה in this world. It says "בעולמו"- in his world. Each person has his own world because everyone has different תפקידים, different כוחות and a different situation. It’s the most important thing to know and develop.
Once you have the foundation, you can build around its parameters. Once you have a יסוד of חסידות, you can spend your life building on this foundation. Once you know your חובה, you can keep on growing and building your character higher and greater. Everyone has different things that fit on his building- so whatever חסידות is conducive to your growing, take it in. Your foundation has been built by your חנוך, but it’s up to you to acquire חסידות.
The שרש is the root- the נשמה given to you. In order to keep your root alive, you must keep on nourishing it with your עבודה. Our עבודת ה' is constantly refined as we nourish these roots. You already have it, but you need to work to improve it. How do you build on the יסוד and שרש? A person must clarify and verify for himself what his חובה is in this world. Each person has his own worlds- every person was born with different qualities and he must see in what he should put his outlook and goal with everything that he does. Everything you do should be with reason- don’t do anything without a reason. Sometimes, you do something which you think is so insignificant but you don’t realize what a difference it makes. Ex. If אהרן would have known that the תורה would mention "וראך ושמח בלבו", he would have come out to meet משה with תופים ומחולות. For everything you do, no matter how small it seems, you must know the positive reasoning for it and fit into the goal of life. Even if you think that it is not so major, it could make such a difference. Life has to be meaningful and we must constantly be growing.
We were created only to be מתענג by being close to ה' and to get עדון from the זיו השכינה in עוה''ב, which has been prepared for this purpose. But we can only get there if we prepare for it here, in עוה''ז- this is the only place where you can accumulate זכותים. עוה''ז is like the hallway that is leading you to the ballroom- עוה''ב. But even in עוה''ז, the more you allow yourself to get close to ה', the happier you will be. Even though you are not yet in עוה''ב, you will feel the closeness to ה'. But in עוה''ב, you will really be נהנה from the זיו השכינה.
Proof that this is the way the world runs:
1. "קרבת אלקים לי טוב"- the only thing that’ll be for me good is קרבת ה'.
2. "אחת שאלתי... שבתי בבית ה'"- I ask only for one thing- to have קרבת ה', everything else is הבל. How can you attain this? By doing מצוות.
However much we try to be good, that how close to ה' we will get. The more you give in to your תאוות, the more you are distancing yourself from ה'. Everything in life is a נסיון. All around you are תאוות. If you win over them, you will be an אדם שלם and you’ll be זוכה to enter the טרקלין, maybe even in this world.
Everything in this world was created for our sake. If we do good, we raise the balance of the world. If we do bad, we ruin ourselves and the world. So, the world is benefitted by צדיקים. That’s why ה' made such a thing as a light for צדיקים, which enhances the entire world. By the story of the rocks under יעקב’s head- each one wanted to be under his head because he would enhance it. When ה' created the world, he showed it to אדם, but told him not to ruin it. Our עבירות ruin it.
We see that the point of our existence is what will be in עוה''ב and not what is in עוה''ז:
1. "העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור"
2. "היום לעשותם ומחר לקבל שכרם"
3. "מי שטרח בערב שבת אוכל בשבת"
4. "העוה''ז דומה ליבשה והעוה''ב דומה לים"– because you need to get together your equipment for your journey, otherwise it is too late.
A single בעל שכל can not think that the purpose for our creation is עוה''ז because we see that our lives here are so short and so מלא צרה, so obviously עוה''ז is not the goal. Additionally, why would you have a נשמה if you תכלית is עוה''ז- your נשמה doesn’t appreciate עוה''ז, so why bring it here? Because the תכלית is עוה''ב. משל- עירוני who married a princess. נמשל- our נשמה hates being in this world.
דברי תורה-
ר''ה and יו''כ:
• Why do we say "שמע קולנו", and not "שמע תפילותינו"? We have the idea of קול. We see this same idea by the שופר- have the קול שופר. A שופר is so powerful because it is a crying voice that we want to connect to ה'. So too in our תפילות- the calling out to ה' is what is really important.
• Rabbi Yaakov Reisman- on ר''ה, we are ממליך ה' over ourselves. When we forge the הוספה of "המלך הקדוש" we must go back and not by any of the other הוספות. Why? Because the most important thing is המכלת ה'.
• The עבודה of יו''כ has in it the שני השאירים- two identical goats that stand at the פתח to the אהל מועד. Early in the day, the כהן does a raffle on them. One gets לה' חטאת. This goat is שחטed and its blood is sprinkled in front of the פרוכת seven times and then the כהן sprinkles the blood towards the ארון and on the posts of the מזבח הזהב to be מכפר. Next, the כהן goes out to the other goat, puts his hands on its head and admits all of ב''י’s חטאים that were בשוגג and throws it down a cliff. ר' שמשון רפאל הירש explains that because he is outside of the בהמ''ק, he has חטאים upon him that he is responsible for and although it was בשוגג, he is held accountable because you have to go into the בהמ''ק, where you become closer to ה'. Before the גורל, these two goats were identical, but one rose so high and one didn’t. This must be applied to our lives- if we commit ourselves, we can go until לפני ולפנים.
פרשת בראשית:
• The earth was created, but grass didn’t grow "כי אדם אין לעבוד את האדמה". רש''י says there was no one to daven for it to grow. Without תפילה, nothing would be here for man.
• ר' שמשון רפאל הירש- we have the מצוה of פרו ורבו. This לשון seems to be redundant, but it’s not. פרו- to have children. ורבו- it’s מל' רובה קשת- to direct them at a goal. It is not enough just to have children, you must raise them and teach them the right ways.
• When אדם and חוה were חוטא, they got an עונש. The purpose of punishment is not to hurt you, it’s to make you a better person. חוה’s punishment was "הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרונך" and אדם got the punishment of "בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם בעצבון תאכלנה". ר' שמשון רפאל הירש says that בעצבון (with pain) can be translated as בעזבון- forgo. You can only have פרנסה if you forgo your desires, for example you must get up in the morning even though you may be tired. This was מכ''מ to their חטא because their חטא was giving in to their desires and now he must forgo it. Women must have עזבון all the time- they forgo their needs for their children’s needs. This makes us closer to גן עדן than men.
סוכות:
• The קריאת התורה for סוכות mentions "ושמחת" three times. This applies only to סוכות. Why?
1. גשמיות- the harvest is in.
2. רוחניות- we got a כפרה, therefore we are on a high.
פרשת נח:
• נח was told to build a תיבה and was told, "צוהר תעשה לתיבה". A צוהר is either a window or a gem that gives off light. The בעש''ט and שפת אמת teach that תיבה means a word also. So "צוהר תעשה לתיבה"- make the words you say have a light and enlighten you. This is referring to your תפילות- they should lighten up your day.
פרשת לך לך:
• After the מבול, people still reverted back to their old ways. Decency started really with the אבות only. א''א married שרה- was called יסכה:
1. שכסה ברוח הקודש- she was overflowing with רוח הקודש.
2. שהכל סוכין ביפי'- everyone was impressed with her beauty.
When she was seven, she realized that her dazzling beauty was not something to walk around with and it should be covered up. She covered herself with royalty and majesty (שרי- מל' שר) in a way that people won’t know of her beauty. This was the case, except for מצרים because they were so immoral. The וולנא גאון says that a woman working on צניעות is equal to a man who’s learning and working on his התמדה- they are both an עבודה.
• "הנה באהל"- this shows her צניעות and she set the precedent for woman being in the tent, especially when guests come. עמון and מואב are not allowed to marry a Jew because they didn’t give to ב''י in their time of need. But the עמוני and מואבי women were in their tents, so they are not included in this גזירה- from them we have רות.
פרשת וירא:
• The source for צניעות is"הצנע לכת עם אלוקיך" and "אל הצנועים חכמה". רש''י quotes תרגום for הצנע לכת, which explains it as having יראת ה'. The פסוק in מיכה talks about three things that ה' wants from you:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. הצנע לכת
מיכה encapsulates all מצוות into these three things. דוד encapsulates it all into פרק טו in תהלים- עשות משפט and אהבת חסד represent באל''ח and באל''מ. הצנע לכת represents doing what ה' wants of you. צניעות applies to all different aspects of your life. When we don’t act with צניעות, we are מכשיל men. If we would treasure the femininity that we have, we wouldn’t want to use it in the wrong way. The more precious something is, the more we cover it up.
פרשת חיי שרה:
• When יצחק brought רבקה into his mother’s tent, everything returned like it was by שרה and he was comforted:
1. ברכה בעיסה
2. נרות דולקות
3. ענן
רמב''ן- In the בהמ''ק, there were also these three things- ה' copied it and put it into the :
בהמ''ק:
1. נרות- symbolizes the learning of תורה. By licht benching, we daven for our children’s תורה. We must see that everything in our house is על פי תורה.
2. עיסה- symbolizes the שלחן in the בהמ''ק, which symbolizes our גשמיות, פרנסה and money. It all must be על פי תורה- whatever we do with גשמיות must be with the correct standard. You don’t just have to use your money for חסד and צדקה. You are supposed to use it for גשמיות, but you must use it correctly.
3. שכינה- we re responsible for the קדושה and טהורה in our homes. We must be careful with what comes into our homes and what goes on inside of our houses.
• When רבקה saw יצחק, "ותסכס"- she was covered. Meaning, she was covered because it was such an automatic response when she covered herself that she just found herself covered.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Chemistry Quiz- 1
Sorry the pictures are missing...
Chemistry is the study of matter.
Matter is anything that:
1. Takes up space- volume.
2. Has weight- mass.
There are different forms of matter. Everything in this world is made up of matter. The smallest ingredient of matter is an atom. Elements are different types of atoms. There are 103 different types of elements. Different combinations of elements make up the many different things in this world.
Compound- group of two or more atoms put together. The atoms stay bound as a compound forever. Only a chemical reaction can break them apart. Elements, however, never change no matter what you do to them.
Examples of chemical reactions:
1. If you burn a piece of wood-
2. Piece of toast- the toaster burns the outside of the bread and it detaches. The burnt part is made up of carbon.
3. If someone would eat sugar and then be active, the sugar would come out when the person breathes as carbon and water.
A mixture is when to different things are physically touching each other. There are two different types of mixtures:
1. Heterogeneous- not a perfect mixture. Example: salt and sand.
2. Homogeneous- a perfect mixture, where everything gets evenly distributed. The only way to achieve such a mixture is with water- aqueous mixture.
The only way to make a mixture is by physically putting it together. Physical separation is the only way to separate a mixture.
1. Salt and sand- sift.
2. Mix of different vegetables- by hand.
3. Water and salt- evaporate the water. The changing of phases is a physical change because the compound doesn’t change.
Energy- the ability to do work.
There are many different forms of energy:
1. Kinetic energy- how fast something is moving. This is based solely on temperature- the greater the temperature, the more kinetic energy.
2. Solar energy- from the sun.
3. Potential energy- anything with energy stored in it. Example: sugar, batteries…
4. Nuclear energy
5. Electric energy
6. Heat energy
7. Hydro energy
8. Light energy
9. Chemical bond energy
Law of conservation of energy- energy is never created and energy is never lost. Energy is transferred.
There are two types of reactions:
1. Absorbs or needs energy to work.
2. Gives off energy.
Endothermic reaction- takes in heat in order to work.
Example: as ice cubes are absorbing heat,
and therefore melting, an endothermic
reaction is taking place.
Exothermic reaction- releases heat.
Example: When placed in a freezer,
a cup of warm water gets colder and
colder because the heat is released.
When an endothermic reaction takes place, an exothermic reaction occurs, too.
Example: an endothermic reaction
is occurring to the ice cube and the
an exothermic reaction is occurring
to the water.
Endothermic reaction: A+B+ heat→ C, H2O(s) +heat→ H2O (l)
Exothermic reaction: X+Y→ Z+ heat, H2O (l) → H2O(s) +heat
Hint: By an endothermic reaction, when heat is absorbed in, you write “heat” inside the arrow. By an exothermic reaction, when heat is released out, you write “heat” outside of the arrow.
A thermometer is used to measure heat. The scale used is that of degrees.
Example: if a thermometer would be put into
a freezer, the thermometer would be the
hotter object. As heat is released from it, the
mercury begins to move slower and slower and
it takes up less room. If the thermometer would
be the colder object, it would absorb heat and the
mercury would take up more and more space.
They wanted that the thermometer should be the same for everyone, so they marked freezing point and boiling point. Freezing point is 0°C and 32°F. Boiling point is 100°C and 212°F.
Kelvin Scale- felt that 0° isn’t a low number. Negative numbers are much lower. But having so many negative numbers isn’t good as it complicates things. Absolute zero is a point on the Kelvin scale where theoretically, gas takes up no volume. This point is at 273°C. This is only theoretical because when it really gets that cold, gas changes phases. On the Kelvin scale, Absolute zero is 0°. Freezing point is 273° and boiling point is 373°.
The degrees in Celsius and Kelvin both move at the same interval.
Calorimeter- an enclosed container which measures how many calories are absorbed or released by a chemical reaction.
Example: the water measures 25°C. A reaction
vessel is inserted into the water. After the
reaction occurs, the thermometer measures
19°C. The reactive vessel was absorbing heat
and an endothermic reaction occurred.
A calorie is a measurement of how much energy we get from something. One calorie is how much energy is needed to raised one gram of water by 1°C.
Calorie= grams of water x change in temperature.
100 grams, 50°→ 60° 10 X 100= 1000 calories.
200 grams, 30°→ 25° 5 X 200= 1000 calories are absorbed.
1 calorie= 4.18 (4.2) joules.
J= grams of water x change in temperature x 4.2, J= mass x ΔH x 4.2
Heating curve- shows how a substance changes phases.
Water at -50° is at a sub zero level and is freezing. It begins to heat up and it gets warmer and warmer. It is absorbing energy. At 0°, the molecules can start separating and they are at the right temperature to break apart and melt. However, there is an attraction holding these molecules together and before they can separate, the force has to be broken. It breaks by the absorption of energy. The water keeps absorbing and absorbing (but it is not getting warmer), and then the molecules break apart and the water begins to melt. Once it hits a liquid form, it gets warmer and warmer until it hits 100°. When the water hits 100°, the water is hot enough to start turning into a gas, but the attractive force doesn’t let. (Water never gets hotter than 100°.) It absorbs energy to break the attractive force and when enough energy is absorbed, it changes phases. This phase change from a liquid to a gas is called vaporization. The actual pot of water is at 100° and all the energy is causing water to jump out of the pot. Once the gas is out of the pot, with a source underneath it, the temperature can rise.
How much energy is needed to cause something to melt? 334 J/g. Melting is known as fusion. The heat of fusion is 334 J/g. The heat of vaporization is 2260 J/g.
Cooling curve-
At 100°, gas begins to condense. It has too much energy though, and has to loose the extra energy that it gained. It has to lose 2260 J/g. When all the energy is released, it is a liquid. The water gets colder until it hits 0°- freezing point. The water loses 334 J/g and only then it can freeze.
Sublimation- when a substance goes from a solid directly to a gas and skips the liquid phase. Why does this happen? Because the substance is forced into the solid form. As soon as it is released, it goes back to a gas. Examples:
1. Dry ice- CO2(s)- when carbon dioxide is frozen so cold and put under tremendous pressure, the molecules slow down and go together and it becomes a solid.
2. Iodine crystal- I2(s)
Chemistry is the study of matter.
Matter is anything that:
1. Takes up space- volume.
2. Has weight- mass.
There are different forms of matter. Everything in this world is made up of matter. The smallest ingredient of matter is an atom. Elements are different types of atoms. There are 103 different types of elements. Different combinations of elements make up the many different things in this world.
Compound- group of two or more atoms put together. The atoms stay bound as a compound forever. Only a chemical reaction can break them apart. Elements, however, never change no matter what you do to them.
Examples of chemical reactions:
1. If you burn a piece of wood-
2. Piece of toast- the toaster burns the outside of the bread and it detaches. The burnt part is made up of carbon.
3. If someone would eat sugar and then be active, the sugar would come out when the person breathes as carbon and water.
A mixture is when to different things are physically touching each other. There are two different types of mixtures:
1. Heterogeneous- not a perfect mixture. Example: salt and sand.
2. Homogeneous- a perfect mixture, where everything gets evenly distributed. The only way to achieve such a mixture is with water- aqueous mixture.
The only way to make a mixture is by physically putting it together. Physical separation is the only way to separate a mixture.
1. Salt and sand- sift.
2. Mix of different vegetables- by hand.
3. Water and salt- evaporate the water. The changing of phases is a physical change because the compound doesn’t change.
Energy- the ability to do work.
There are many different forms of energy:
1. Kinetic energy- how fast something is moving. This is based solely on temperature- the greater the temperature, the more kinetic energy.
2. Solar energy- from the sun.
3. Potential energy- anything with energy stored in it. Example: sugar, batteries…
4. Nuclear energy
5. Electric energy
6. Heat energy
7. Hydro energy
8. Light energy
9. Chemical bond energy
Law of conservation of energy- energy is never created and energy is never lost. Energy is transferred.
There are two types of reactions:
1. Absorbs or needs energy to work.
2. Gives off energy.
Endothermic reaction- takes in heat in order to work.
Example: as ice cubes are absorbing heat,
and therefore melting, an endothermic
reaction is taking place.
Exothermic reaction- releases heat.
Example: When placed in a freezer,
a cup of warm water gets colder and
colder because the heat is released.
When an endothermic reaction takes place, an exothermic reaction occurs, too.
Example: an endothermic reaction
is occurring to the ice cube and the
an exothermic reaction is occurring
to the water.
Endothermic reaction: A+B+ heat→ C, H2O(s) +heat→ H2O (l)
Exothermic reaction: X+Y→ Z+ heat, H2O (l) → H2O(s) +heat
Hint: By an endothermic reaction, when heat is absorbed in, you write “heat” inside the arrow. By an exothermic reaction, when heat is released out, you write “heat” outside of the arrow.
A thermometer is used to measure heat. The scale used is that of degrees.
Example: if a thermometer would be put into
a freezer, the thermometer would be the
hotter object. As heat is released from it, the
mercury begins to move slower and slower and
it takes up less room. If the thermometer would
be the colder object, it would absorb heat and the
mercury would take up more and more space.
They wanted that the thermometer should be the same for everyone, so they marked freezing point and boiling point. Freezing point is 0°C and 32°F. Boiling point is 100°C and 212°F.
Kelvin Scale- felt that 0° isn’t a low number. Negative numbers are much lower. But having so many negative numbers isn’t good as it complicates things. Absolute zero is a point on the Kelvin scale where theoretically, gas takes up no volume. This point is at 273°C. This is only theoretical because when it really gets that cold, gas changes phases. On the Kelvin scale, Absolute zero is 0°. Freezing point is 273° and boiling point is 373°.
The degrees in Celsius and Kelvin both move at the same interval.
Calorimeter- an enclosed container which measures how many calories are absorbed or released by a chemical reaction.
Example: the water measures 25°C. A reaction
vessel is inserted into the water. After the
reaction occurs, the thermometer measures
19°C. The reactive vessel was absorbing heat
and an endothermic reaction occurred.
A calorie is a measurement of how much energy we get from something. One calorie is how much energy is needed to raised one gram of water by 1°C.
Calorie= grams of water x change in temperature.
100 grams, 50°→ 60° 10 X 100= 1000 calories.
200 grams, 30°→ 25° 5 X 200= 1000 calories are absorbed.
1 calorie= 4.18 (4.2) joules.
J= grams of water x change in temperature x 4.2, J= mass x ΔH x 4.2
Heating curve- shows how a substance changes phases.
Water at -50° is at a sub zero level and is freezing. It begins to heat up and it gets warmer and warmer. It is absorbing energy. At 0°, the molecules can start separating and they are at the right temperature to break apart and melt. However, there is an attraction holding these molecules together and before they can separate, the force has to be broken. It breaks by the absorption of energy. The water keeps absorbing and absorbing (but it is not getting warmer), and then the molecules break apart and the water begins to melt. Once it hits a liquid form, it gets warmer and warmer until it hits 100°. When the water hits 100°, the water is hot enough to start turning into a gas, but the attractive force doesn’t let. (Water never gets hotter than 100°.) It absorbs energy to break the attractive force and when enough energy is absorbed, it changes phases. This phase change from a liquid to a gas is called vaporization. The actual pot of water is at 100° and all the energy is causing water to jump out of the pot. Once the gas is out of the pot, with a source underneath it, the temperature can rise.
How much energy is needed to cause something to melt? 334 J/g. Melting is known as fusion. The heat of fusion is 334 J/g. The heat of vaporization is 2260 J/g.
Cooling curve-
At 100°, gas begins to condense. It has too much energy though, and has to loose the extra energy that it gained. It has to lose 2260 J/g. When all the energy is released, it is a liquid. The water gets colder until it hits 0°- freezing point. The water loses 334 J/g and only then it can freeze.
Sublimation- when a substance goes from a solid directly to a gas and skips the liquid phase. Why does this happen? Because the substance is forced into the solid form. As soon as it is released, it goes back to a gas. Examples:
1. Dry ice- CO2(s)- when carbon dioxide is frozen so cold and put under tremendous pressure, the molecules slow down and go together and it becomes a solid.
2. Iodine crystal- I2(s)
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