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Nasso: Truth from the Heart · A Thought for the Week

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to.
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  Speaker 2: Have you here with us.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Hi, everybody, hope you had a meaningful and beautiful
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  Speaker 1: Shavu what and that because Shavu what the second day
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  Speaker 1: was on Shabbat. So we in Kutzlawritz, where I'm living,
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  Speaker 1: is we're a week behind in the parsha reading we
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  Speaker 1: and we're going to be behind for a few weeks
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  Speaker 1: till we do a double parsha and we will follow
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  Speaker 1: the Kutzlarwit schedule here because that's just the way it is.
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  Speaker 1: So for I apologize for those to be living in
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  Speaker 1: Israel and hopefully this will be a next review of
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  Speaker 1: last week's parsha, and for those living outside of visual
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  Speaker 1: hopefully enjoyed it.
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  Speaker 2: You prepare for this week. It's partia.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's get started. It is very hard to admit
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  Speaker 1: that we did something wrong. Man has a difficulty doing
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  Speaker 1: such a thing even if we know we did something wrong,
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  Speaker 1: and that itself is very hard. We are, as we
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  Speaker 1: say at dom karobs Lotsmo, we are close to ourselves
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  Speaker 1: and we don't admit we did something wrong. We always
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  Speaker 1: are biased that what we did is right. But occasionally
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  Speaker 1: we know we did things that are wrong. We still
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  Speaker 1: don't like to admit it. That's why you hear sometimes
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  Speaker 1: the apologies that people make, politicians other when they're forced
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  Speaker 1: to make apologies, they're really non apologies half the time,
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  Speaker 1: or more than half the time. It's hard, and it's
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  Speaker 1: precisely because it's so hard to admit that it's what
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  Speaker 1: we did is wrong. It's so important to do so,
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  Speaker 1: and that's why V do We. Confession ad meaning our
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  Speaker 1: sins is so crucial in the Tuba process and the
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  Speaker 1: process of repentance. It's really, in many ways the central
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  Speaker 1: feature of Tuba and that we do on Young Kipper
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  Speaker 1: and you know, saying all the al hades, but that's
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  Speaker 1: just to stimulate us to admit to our you know,
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  Speaker 1: the actual sins that we may have done. And many
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  Speaker 1: of our commentaries argue that the mitsva of repentance is
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  Speaker 1: not so much repentance like resolving not to do something
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  Speaker 1: again is obviously that is crucial, but it's doing V
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  Speaker 1: do we. It's the central features to admit our sins.
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  Speaker 1: If we repent, I e. We we regret what we did,
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  Speaker 1: and we resolved not to do it, but we don't
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  Speaker 1: admit it, chances are will become repeat offender's. Chances are
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  Speaker 1: it's not going to work so well. And if we
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  Speaker 1: do v do, if we admit it, even if we
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  Speaker 1: don't actually consciously resolve not to do again, chances are
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  Speaker 1: that articulation will help prevent us doing it again. That's
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  Speaker 1: why it's so crucial. Now, why am I talking about Vidhuy?
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's just it's a young kipper, Okay, So
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  Speaker 1: you can say after Shavut the Torah that we broke
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  Speaker 1: four days day kipper.
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  Speaker 2: That's all true, but that's not why.
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  Speaker 1: It's because the mitzvah of v Dowi is in Parsha Nassos,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit surprising, but it's found where the tour
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  Speaker 1: tells us. There's a lot going on in Parsha nas
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  Speaker 1: here and so calling beautiful things. So we often miss
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  Speaker 1: this kind of law that the tour tells us, where
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  Speaker 1: the tour says, is ohah man or woman, he does
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  Speaker 1: any sin of man or. As we will see, it's
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  Speaker 1: really two men lim mal basham. They're trespassing, doing a
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  Speaker 1: terrible thing to God. When we sin to man, that's
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  Speaker 1: a terrible sin against God. Man, of course created the
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  Speaker 1: image of God bash man. That fashion, the person is
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  Speaker 1: sin and the tour continues dhitsher asu. They must admit,
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  Speaker 1: confess to the sins that they did, return the object,
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  Speaker 1: return return what they stole, and add a fifth as
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  Speaker 1: a punishment if they admit when they admit it, so
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  Speaker 1: as the tour is clear, as the ssuki mark clear.
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  Speaker 1: We're talking about someone who stole money, and if he
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  Speaker 1: is doesn't admit it, it gets caught, then he has to
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  Speaker 1: pay double. But if the person that's truva, he admits
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  Speaker 1: he sins, then he has to add one fifth. Now
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting. The tour could have used Shabbat, cash rut,
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  Speaker 1: anyone of hundreds of other meats foot where it put
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  Speaker 1: the idea that we have to confess our sins, but
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  Speaker 1: of course it didn't do that. It chose to do
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  Speaker 1: it by by stealing. The tour is like angry, it's
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  Speaker 1: al vashem. It's a trespass against God. It's even interesting
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  Speaker 1: the expression is shishak kiyasus. From all the sins of man,
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  Speaker 1: it can be understood that when you steal that's like,
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  Speaker 1: that's equivalent to all the sins of all the sins
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  Speaker 1: of man are encompassed. When we steal from another person,
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  Speaker 1: it's a total violation of the person. It's a total uh.
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  Speaker 1: It undermines everything the to to stands for. It's very
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  Speaker 1: interesting that the word dumb, which means blood. The rabbis
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps the tour itself often refers to uses it
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  Speaker 1: in reference to money. Low tamodel doriaka do not stand
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  Speaker 1: by the blood of your neighbor. Help somebody in need
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  Speaker 1: also means you have to save money from if a
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  Speaker 1: person is going to have a monetary loss. That's actually
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  Speaker 1: one of the times we're allowed to say lashan harat
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  Speaker 1: to say negative things about someone who may cheat you
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  Speaker 1: because we have to.
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  Speaker 2: We can't.
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  Speaker 1: We cannot let your blood i your money be damaged
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  Speaker 1: because money is the lifeblood of a person. A person
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  Speaker 1: feels violated if somebody breaks into their homes. The Tamud
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  Speaker 1: says in Pabo mazia hukshu milvey re beat the we
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  Speaker 1: compare those who lend money with interest to murderers. We're
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  Speaker 1: talking about, of course usuriaus interest, exorbitant interest, and in
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  Speaker 1: the Tora time, you weren't allowed to lend interest. But
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  Speaker 1: that means doing something that is morally abhorrent, lending at
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  Speaker 1: horrendous interest rates. Think of loan sharks, Mame lonely tell
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  Speaker 1: nishev on the same way that murderers. And when the
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  Speaker 1: person murders, you can't bring the person to life. So too,
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  Speaker 1: when you lend with interest, you can't return it. What
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  Speaker 1: do you mean you can return it, but you violated
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  Speaker 1: the person. That Mara is comparing it to murder. It's
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  Speaker 1: a very harsh. Obviously it's not literal. Obviously murder is worse,
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  Speaker 1: but the idea nothing. Where I was trying to tell us, stealing,
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  Speaker 1: even legal stealing, so to speak, high interest is comparable
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  Speaker 1: to murdered, dumb dum meime. And that's where the Tora
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  Speaker 1: puts the mitzvah that we have to confess.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's not just any stealing.
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  Speaker 1: I mean it is any stealing, but it's specifically the
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  Speaker 1: Torah here is referring to stealing from a gear, stealing
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  Speaker 1: from a convert That's why the tour continues. If the
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  Speaker 1: next verse is if there is no air, this person
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  Speaker 1: dies without airs?
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  Speaker 2: What you dies without airs? I e.
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  Speaker 1: A convert. The money would go to the cohunting. Very interesting,
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  Speaker 1: but we know over and over and over and over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over again, thirty six times maybe more,
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  Speaker 1: the Tori tells us.
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  Speaker 2: Do not oppress the gear, do not oppress the.
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  Speaker 1: Convert the stranger, while in this particular instance, and the
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  Speaker 1: gear of course refers to a convert a gear also
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  Speaker 1: and this sort of meaning of the verse, the broader
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  Speaker 1: meaning of the verse, of course, is any stranger to
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  Speaker 1: steal from a convert. A stranger is of course much worse,
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  Speaker 1: as we all understand, and of course a stranger, and
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  Speaker 1: in general, stealing from a non Jew is actually much
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  Speaker 1: worse than sealing.
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  Speaker 2: From a Jew.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, people, somehow many people have this total misconception, not
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  Speaker 1: that you're allowed to steal from a nonjo those sort
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  Speaker 1: of a midgy camera.
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  Speaker 2: It's not as bad. It's much much worse. It's a sham.
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  Speaker 2: Of course.
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  Speaker 1: It makes people get mad at Judaism and say, oh,
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  Speaker 1: those Jews a bunch of cheats, et cetera, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: And many of the Talmudic stories referring to stealing always
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  Speaker 1: for non juice. It's very interesting because the tum we
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  Speaker 1: want to uses examples how terrible it is to steal
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  Speaker 1: from anybody, but especially non cho. I mean, it ruins
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  Speaker 1: our character. It's the impact on the other end, the
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  Speaker 1: impact on ourselves. And I'll just tell one story. I
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  Speaker 1: guess in the spirit of Shavu, what a little bit
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  Speaker 1: the Talmudic passage at the end of Makut that they're
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirteen meets foot. So the tum goes
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  Speaker 1: on to say there it just requires, of course, another
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  Speaker 1: talk that David Rammella came and took those six hundred
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  Speaker 1: and thirteen meets foot and they summarized them in eleven
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  Speaker 1: meets what and mind you all eleven meets footer meets.
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  Speaker 2: What Between that and matt not one means between man
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  Speaker 2: of God.
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  Speaker 1: And one of those meets, for that encapsulates the essence
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  Speaker 1: of Torah is douvere emmett bilvevo, a person who speaks
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  Speaker 1: truth from the heart, dover emmet not just truth from
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  Speaker 1: the heart.
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  Speaker 2: So that mar says what it is.
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  Speaker 1: I mean Cougon rough suffra like rough suffer and Namara
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  Speaker 1: doesn't explain what that is. But Rushi quotes from the
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  Speaker 1: shilto de Shilta. It is an eighth century work by
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  Speaker 1: Rev Achai got On got On. It's the first rabbinic
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  Speaker 1: work after the closing of the Tamud, and he tells
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  Speaker 1: the story there and it's interesting. Obviously sort happened before
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  Speaker 1: Reshi's quoting the story that that's there, that ref Suffer
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  Speaker 1: was once saying shma, and somebody wanted to buy something
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  Speaker 1: from him, and ref Suffer didn't answer. And the person
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  Speaker 1: presumably a non Jew. Of course it would be by
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  Speaker 1: a Jew too, but presumed that the guy didn't know
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  Speaker 1: what he's doing.
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  Speaker 2: You didn't know he's saying shma. So he kept upping
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  Speaker 2: his offer.
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  Speaker 1: One hundred dollars, no answer, two hundred dollars, now three hundred,
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  Speaker 1: four hundred, five hundred dollars, Suffer saying along kreashma and
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  Speaker 1: u and he finishes. So the guy assumed, okay, now
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  Speaker 1: he'll take my you know, take my offer. Finished rough
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  Speaker 1: Suffer says, I'll take one hundred dollars. When you said
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  Speaker 1: one hundred dollars, I accepted in my mind that I
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  Speaker 1: would accept it in my heart. Over Milo, and even
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  Speaker 1: though you would gladly pay five hundred dollars, I'm only
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  Speaker 1: going to charge you hundred dollars. That's the example. That's
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  Speaker 1: the essence of Torah. That's how we can bring down
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirteen meets foot to eleven. And the
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  Speaker 1: story has lots of other fascinating implications. I think it's
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  Speaker 1: very fascinating that suffer kind of admitted. You know he's
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  Speaker 1: saying shmah, but you know he's listening to a business
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  Speaker 1: deal on the side too. But that's just another the
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  Speaker 1: human aspect of the talmud so v do. A confession
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  Speaker 1: applies to all meets foot. Of course, the example of
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  Speaker 1: the torah is by a by a gear, by stealing
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  Speaker 1: from a convert. But there is a fundamental difference when
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  Speaker 1: we steal between man and man, or confession when we do.
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  Speaker 1: There is a fundamental difference between confession of sins to
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  Speaker 1: another human being and sins to God. The rambam in
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  Speaker 1: Hilkhotshuva writes that scheva gadol leshov shiva deva umpin, it's
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  Speaker 1: great praise to somebody who wants to repent, to admit
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  Speaker 1: his sins and public that's going to help your trouva.
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  Speaker 1: That's really admittance when you have to admit it in public,
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  Speaker 1: and you know you have to admit it in public.
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  Speaker 1: You surely don't want to do this again. And that's
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  Speaker 1: of course, it is a little degrading, a little a
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  Speaker 1: little humiliating, but unfortunately necessary. That it's worse to sin
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  Speaker 1: against the fellow being. And the Rambam says, you have
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  Speaker 1: to get up and through all. I sinned, I did this,
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  Speaker 1: I did this to that person, and I'm very sorry.
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  Speaker 1: And one who wants to hide, as the rem says, Meeta, eh,
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  Speaker 1: he's arrogant. They know Moda. He doesn't want to let
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  Speaker 1: people know. He hides his sins. Ain't Shuba talk more.
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  Speaker 1: It cannot be complete Truva. You will not have a
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  Speaker 1: complete repentance. You're going to sin again. And then the
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  Speaker 1: Ramm says, that's only regarding sins between man and man,
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  Speaker 1: but when we sin with God, it's a zoot penny.
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  Speaker 1: It's arrogance to admit. It's a very fascinating distinction. Our
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  Speaker 1: religious what we call quote unquote our religious life, that's
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  Speaker 1: between man and God. Cush root shop is that that's
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  Speaker 1: that's nobody's business what we do.
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  Speaker 2: And we sin.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps admitting it would help too, but better not. That's already.
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  Speaker 1: Don't get up there. What you sind me true Man
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  Speaker 1: and God. But obviously sinning to another man, that's what
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  Speaker 1: we have to admit, and we have to be public.
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  Speaker 2: And we know how hard.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how often have you seen somebody do that.
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  Speaker 1: It's not an easy thing to do. Man, of course
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  Speaker 1: has created in the image of God, of course, as
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  Speaker 1: we say all the time, but we have to sing
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  Speaker 1: it all the time. Sinning against man is sinning against God.
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  Speaker 1: So we have to be more careful when we sin
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  Speaker 1: against man and sinning against God. And we have to
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  Speaker 1: be more careful lest we sin with non jewice, do
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  Speaker 1: we sin against Jews. It's an important message all year
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  Speaker 1: round Russia Shanyam Kipper after Chebus in fifty two weeks
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  Speaker 1: a year.
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  Speaker 2: Sure you love.
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• 12:53
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• 13:22
  Speaker 1: looking forward to learning with you next week.