Time Between Pesach & Shavuos

Time to talk a little bit tonight, a little bit Meinyana Deyoma, T’kufeh between Pesach and Shavuos, and in so doing, integrate some, both some of the things we spoke about in the beginning of the year in terms of Kedushas Shabbos, as well as a little bit touching on some of the topics which came up in the Yesodos Ha’emunah, Ikkarei Hadass. Pesach in the Amidah, so we refer to Chag HaMatzos as Zman Cheiruseinu. Zman Cheiruseinu. What exactly is the Cheirus of Pesach, given the fact that in Perek Kinyan Torah, we’re told אין לך בן חורין אלא העוסק בתורה when Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim, so they had to wait six, seven weeks until there would be Kabbalas HaTorah. So what was the Cheirus that was immediately felt and immediately experienced? Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi concludes the Kuzari, the Chaver tells the king that he’s moving to Eretz Yisrael. He’s going on Aliyah. And so the king says to him, I don’t understand. He says, my impression from all our talks is that you’re a person who, so why are you going to Eretz Yisrael? So he tells him because there are so many Mitzvos which are Tluyos Ba’aretz that you can do in Eretz Yisrael that you can’t do in Chutz La’aretz. And even the Mitzvos you can do in Chutz La’aretz is Eino Domeh the Mitzvah that a person does in Eretz Yisrael to a Mitzvah that he does in Chutz La’aretz. So the king says to him, I don’t understand. He says, my impression is from all our talks over this period of time that you’re a person who cherishes his freedom. So why are you looking for more Mitzvos? Why are you looking for more obligations? Why are you looking for more Shibudim? So the Chaver answers the Melech and says, no, the real Cheirus is to be Eved Hashem, is to do Mitzvos. That’s the real Cheirus. So if that’s the real Cheirus, so what was the Cheirus that Avoseinu had when they left Mitzrayim until six weeks, seven weeks later when they stood at the foot of Har Sinai? Now, the question is not only a historical one. The question is also a very practical one Halacha Lema’aseh, because in Yomim Tovim, what happened at that time historically always gives us a clue as to what the Segula of the Zman is and what the special Avodah of that Zman is. So when Pesach represents that Klal Yisrael demonstrated Emunah, so again, it’s not just something which gives us historical insight, but that then also tells us, that then clues us in into what the Avodah of Chag HaMatzos is and what the Segula of the Zman is to develop and to deepen and to cultivate our Emunah. So the question we’re asking in terms of how did the Cheirus of Avoseinu when they left Mitzrayim until they had Kabbalas HaTorah, what did it consist of is a question Halacha Lema’aseh for us as well. Now clearly part of the answer for them was that some Mitzvos, ten Mitzvos were Nitztavu Bemarah, but that’s clearly not the entire answer. Okay, let’s come back to something we discussed quite a while ago. Parshas Va’eschanan, the Torah connects Shabbos with Yetzias Mitzrayim: וזכרת כי עבד היית בארץ מצרים. We saw then the Rambam, the Ramban. The Rambam says that there are two different reasons for Shabbos, two different associations. Shabbos is עדות על מעשה בראשית and Shabbos is also Zecher Liyetzias Mitzrayim. Two independent reasons. How was Shabbos Zecher Liyetzias Mitzrayim? An Eved doesn’t have the luxury of taking a day off. He works twenty-four seven. So the fact that we’re able to take a day off and be Shoves Mikol Melacha, that itself reminds us that once upon a time we didn’t have the luxury to do so: וזכרת כי עבד היית בארץ מצרים. Ramban doesn’t like that there are two totally different reasons, so the Ramban coordinates the two and the Ramban says no, the Ramban says Shabbos is מעיד על בריאת העולם and Yetzias Mitzrayim is also מעיד על בריאת העולם. Again the same point which the Ramban emphasizes in Anochi. is zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. It's basically the same reason as Shabbos being a zikaron lema'aseh bereishis because yetzias Mitzrayim itself, lest the person wonder, well, should I be keeping Shabbos, did the Ribbono Shel Olam create the world? So the answer is that to remember yetzias Mitzrayim and that's the os on Shabbos. Shabbos is the os on yetzias Mitzrayim. That's what the Ramban says. So it's really it's really one and the same reason. It's two sides of a coin. Let's perhaps explore yet a third understanding of how Shabbos is zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. Yetzias Mitzrayim again provided us with our cheirus, z'man cheirusenu. So what's what's the definition of cheirus? What's the definition of cheirus? So we sort of instinctively think that cheirus means that when someone tells you what to do, when someone bosses you around, when someone commands, when someone when someone has has the the right to tell you what to do, so then the shibud there's a servitude and cheirus means that no one can tell you what to do, to be your own boss. And that's an idea in American society, right? To be your own boss, that no one can tell you no one can tell you what to do. You can be as foolish and squander your life as much as you want, but no one says anything and that's that's the ideal of life. Now clearly there is some truth to that definition that that cheirus means that that no one's telling you what to do, but there is a another dimension as well. And that is that what cheirus means and we'll see indications of this, we'll see we'll see reflections of this in a minute im yirtzeh Hashem. Cheirus means the eved because he's meshubad to the adon, because he's oved, lives a life of chomriyus. He lives a life of gashmiyus. Cheirus means to rise above the chomriyus, the gashmiyus, to be free of of the again the chains, the bonds of of chomriyus and gashmiyus. With this in mind, so you see something something remarkable. Halo davar hu. The Torah says

ששת ימים תעבד ועשית כל מלאכתך. ויום השביעי שבת להשם אלקיך.

Of all the words which the Torah the Torah wants to say, the Torah has other phrases indicating doing melacha like the second half of the pasuk ve'asisa kol melachtecha. Torah says at the beginning of the pasuk sheishes yamim ta'avod. So what's the pshat? The pshat is like this. The pshat is according to what we were saying that the definition of cheirus again means to להתרומם ולהתנשא מעל החומריות מעל הגשמיות. So the emes is that there's an element of avdus during sheishes yemei ma'aseh. Because after all during sheishes yemei ma'aseh

בזעת אפך תאכל לחם. ששת ימים תעבד ועשית כל מלאכתך.

There's an element of avdus. When is the cheirus of Mitzrayim fully realized and fully expressed? Davka on Shabbos on יום השביעי שבת להשם אלקיך when when there's no involvement with the with the gashmiyus. And that's and that's perhaps yet another understanding of what it means that Shabbos is zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. Yetzias Mitzrayim is cheirus. Cheirus means what? Means to transcend, not to be not to be mired, not to be weighed down and shaku'a b'chomriyus, b'chomer u'levanim, not to be shaku'a b'chomer. So that one day when that's fully realized when you have that cheirus to the utmost is Shabbos. So mi'meila. זכרת כי עבד היית, שבת is zecher liyetziat mitzrayim, because shabbos is the day be-hei ha-yediah is the day of cheirus. Perhaps it's for this reason that we have a mitzvah of kovod v'oneg shabbos. Kovod v'oneg shabbos, what kovod v'oneg shabbos accomplishes is that it means even the achila ushtiya of shabbos, because it's אכילה ושתיה של מצוה, because a person is being mekayeim a mitzvah of oneg shabbos, so even that chomriyos is elevated and transformed. And perhaps that's part of the pshat in the difficult Rashi in Beitzah where Rashi defines neshama yeseira that a person has, Rashi says neshama yeseira means rachavut lev. And not only that, even after the extra piece of kugel, he can have a piece of cake for dessert. Not a verbatim quote from Rashi, but a bit of a paraphrase. So what's pshat? That's what the neshama yeseira, neshama yeseira should mean, that he should have hassagos of all kinds of capacity for, a person should be given special keilim for ruchanios on shabbos. That's what neshama yeseira is. No, ella mai, heim heim hadvarim. That's perhaps part of what Rashi is saying is, that is the definition of the neshama yeseira, that a person has this ability again to be totally free on shabbos, to be totally free on shabbos, why? Because he's transcending the chomrus. What do you mean he's transcending the chomrus? Yeah, because the neshama yeseira in conjunction with מצוות כבוד ועונג שבת elevates even the achila ushtiya to a different level. And that of course fits very well with the Gemara in Berachos, so so basic to any understanding of shabbos. Shabbos is me'ein olam haba because whatever understanding of olam haba you have, whether it's the Rambam's understanding, whether that of the Ra'avad, the Rama, the other Rishonim, but everyone agrees. The Gemara says that עולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, etc., that olam haba again, whether it's guf v'neshama or whether it's only neshamos, but olam haba is not a chomrusdike existence. And shabbos, shabbos is the day in olam hazeh when we come the closest to experiencing that. And that's why shabbos is the day of cheirus, again par excellence, be-hei ha-yediah. That's what it means that shabbos is zecher liyetziat mitzrayim. So lichora we have the beginning of an answer to our question of what cheirus was attained even before kabbalas hatorah. To transcend the chomrus, the gashmius, but lichora there's more to it. When we were discussing anochi and lo yihyeh lecha, so we saw the Ramban both in Sefer Hamitzvos and in Parshas Yisro quotes a Mechilta.

לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני. למה נאמר? לפי שהוא אומר אנכי ה' אלהיך. משל למלך שנכנס למדינה. אמרו לו עבדיו גזור עלינו גזירות. אמר להם לאו. כשתקבלו מלכותי אגזור עליכם גזירות. שאם מלכותי אינכם מקבלים גזירותי היכן אתם מקיימים?

The precondition, the tnai kodem lema'aseh for a melech to be gozeir gezeiros, for a melech to legislate, is that first, first the subjects have to recognize themselves as such and they have to recognize the kingship, the sovereignty. Kach amar, listen carefully rabosai. Kach amar, this is the Ramban quoting the Mechilta.

כך אמר המקום לישראל אנכי ה' אלהיך לא יהיה לך אני הוא שקבלתם מלכותי עליכם במצרים.

So do you recognize... Do you reaffirm that I'm the one שקיבלתי מלכותי עליכם במצרים? So what happened in Mitzrayim? קבלת עול מלכות שמים. קבלת עול מלכות שמים. What what is קבלת עול מלכות שמים mean? So from the Mishna in the beginning of of of Haya Korei, you see that קבלת עול מלכות שמים doesn't simply mean that since Hashem is is the Melech Haolam, you have to listen to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You have to do what he says, because the Mishna clearly distinguishes קבלת עול מלכות שמים from Kabbalas Ol Mitzvos.

למה קדמה פרשת שמע לוהיה אם שמוע כדי שיקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים תחילה ואחר כך עול מצות.

So first a person has to be mekabel Ol Malchus Shamayim, then Ol Mitzvos. So what is קבלת עול מלכות שמים as distinct from from Ol Mitzvos? What what is the yoke of Malchus Shamayim consist of if not Ol Mitzvos, if not what the Melech says? And yet that's clear here in the Mechilta as well as right as well. The קבלת עול מלכות שמים isn't an accepting the gezeiros, it's in the recognition of Melech Haolam. So on basic elementary level, it means recognizing Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, the world is his, umalchuso bechol mashala. And and that's certainly one level of of what קבלת עול מלכות שמים is. There is a a deeper level, and probably infinite infinite levels to קבלת עול מלכות שמים, but at least one that that maybe we can we can glimpse. In Birkas Krias Shema we say that the קבלת עול מלכות שמים of Yetzias Mitzrayim reached its its peak, its its crescendo at Krias Yam Suf. ומלכותו ברצון קיבלו עליהם. That happened at Krias Yam Suf. What happened at Krias Yam Suf? So the Midrash says as follows.

בא וראה אמר רבי ברכיה בא וראה כמה גדולים יורדי הים. משה כמה נתכבד ונתחנן לפני המקום עד שראה את הדמות שנאמר הראני נא את כבודך. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא לא תוכל לראות את פני ובסוף הראה לו בסימן שנאמר והיה בעבור כבודי. החיות הנושאות את הכסא ומלאכים שהם ממש תחת כסא הכבוד אינן מכירות את הדמות ובשעה שמגיע זמנן לומר שירה הן אומרות באיזה מקום הוא איננו יודעים איננו יודעות אם כאן הוא אם במקום אחר הוא אלא בכל מקום שהוא ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו. ועולי הים כל אחד ואחד מראה באצבעו ואומר זה קלי ואנוהו.

So what what does this Midrash mean? What does it mean that the Chayos don't know and and the Yordei Hayam do know? And what does it mean? And what does it mean? Again, obviously that's an anthropomorphism of מראה באצבעו ואומר זה קלי ואנוהו. Hakadosh Baruch Hu eino guf. You can't you can't point to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what what what does the Midrash mean? So my son told me that Rav Zelig Epstein said that the pshat in in the Midrash is as follows. The deeper understanding of all the nissim v'niflaos which happened in Mitzrayim, the deeper understanding is not just to recognize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the boss, Hakadosh Baruch Hu does what he wants, but the deeper understanding is to recognize Ein Od Milvado. That the emes is, the emes is that nothing exists in the world other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Nothing else really exists. And ultimately, ultimately, what exists in this world is the ratzon Hashem. I, our bechira chofshis, משל למה הדבר דומה, משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you have, you have a schoolyard. It's recess. So the teacher takes the kids out to play in the schoolyard. Okay. So they play, playing ball, whatever they're doing. So ostensibly, they feel that they're doing what they want to do. This one wants to play punchball, he's playing punchball, this one's running a relay race. That's what he wants to do. Everyone and everyone has a sense of that my ratzon is determinant. The emes is that when the teacher wants, either he tells this kid you just lost your recess, and ein moche beyado, there's no one who can second-guess him, there's no one who can question. If the teacher is so inclined, all of recess ends. Or if the teacher is so inclined, so maybe then recess is extended. So the kids running around sense that it's their ratzon. But on a deeper level, it's only their ratzon to the extent that the teacher wants them to be able to to exercise that ratzon. But there's no ultimate, there's no real in terms of reality, if if we'll ask, if we'll ask whose ratzon counts here in the schoolyard, what happens in the schoolyard is the ratzon of the teacher. That's clear. We all understand that. The kids in the schoolyard may not understand it. If if he's not being heavy-handed, the kids running around in the schoolyard so so they don't understand it. But we understand that very clearly, we understand it very clearly. A deeper understanding of קבלת עול מלכות שמים is not only to know, but to experience the whole world in terms of ein od milvado. To understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence permeates the world and ultimately, ultimately, ratzon Hashem prevails in the world. Not just to know it, but to feel it and to experience it. To feel it and experience it so vividly that the only way we can describe it is that it's as vivid to me as as this, as this, as this table is. The same way, the same way you can point, you can touch the table, that's how vivid and clear it is. So that's the clarity and the vividness with which one understands that ein od milvado. So that's the

קבלת עול מלכות שמים. אני הוא שקיבלתי מלכותי עליכם במצרים.

In Mitzrayim again is yes to understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was Borei, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is chafetz, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has the yekholas and more than that, that zeh Keli veanvehu, that ein od milvado. It's interesting the Gemara in Megilla, Avigail tells David HaMelech that he can't be dan Naval as a mored bemalchus because לא יצא טיבעך בעולם. Right, literally your coin hasn't been minted. When a melech would ascend to the throne, so then he would mint his own currency. And that was an expression, a manifestation of his having consolidated power. So even though you've already been nimshach, but לא יצא טיבעך בעולם. So therefore, your malchus hasn't been established. So malchus means kabbalas ol malchus... shamayim means when there's a recognition when there's a gilluy. קבלת עול מלכות שמים again is to understand not only Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Borei, not only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can do whatever he wants, but to understand that zeh Keli veanveihu that ein od milvado. Whether the children in the schoolyard realize it or not is ein od milvado. The devotion, the dedication that's necessary for kabbalas ol mitzvos at Maamad Har Sinai has to be built upon a foundation of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. For a person to devote כל לבבו כל נפשו וכל מאודו, he has to recognize because ein od milvado. That's why I devote כל לבבי וכל נפשי וכל מאודי. Hacheirus, hacheirus which avoseinu experienced, which we work on in anticipation of kabbalas HaTorah is a cheirus, a cheirus where a person is misromem and מתנשא מעל גבי החומריות. And the way he's מרומם ומתנשא מעל גבי החומריות is by recognizing, by recognizing Hakadosh Baruch Hu whose presence permeates everything. And recognizing and understanding and trying his best to internalize and to live accordingly that ein od milvado. It's interesting, the other than a shanah meuberet, so Parshas Shemini is the Shabbos after Pesach. At the end of Parshas Shemini, after all the dinim of maachalos asuros,

כי אני ה' אלוהיכם והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני ולא תטמאו את נפשותיכם בכל השרץ הרומש על הארץ כי אני ה' המעלה אתכם מארץ מצרים להיות לכם לאלהים והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני.

All of the dinim of maachalos asuros is about kedushah. And of course kedushah is a major theme of these coming parshiyos. What does it mean to be kadosh? So we're all familiar with Rashi and the Ramban in Parshas Kedoshim: perushim tihiyu. Perushim tihiyu taka corresponds to what we were talking about in terms of the cheirus, especially the way the Ramban says it. Again, to practice a degree of abstinence. But the Sforno consistently where you have kedushah always interprets and defines kedushah: והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני כדי שתהיו קדושים ונצחיים. The mitzvah to be kadosh according to the Sforno is to be nitzchi. Is to live life in such a way that a person earns nitzchius. The Maharsha says the same thing. The Maharsha says the same thing in Berachos in daf yud. The Gemara quotes tefillas Channah: אין קדוש כהשם כי אין בלתך. So the Gemara says אל תקרי אין בלתך ela ein levaloscha that no one outlasts Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So the Maharsha says what's the basis for the al tikrei, what's the pshat here in the Gemara? So the Maharsha says that at first glance, the pasuk is the. The second half of the pasuk doesn't add anything. Ein kadosh k'Hashem means HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you're unique in kedusha. Why? ki ein biltecha, because there's no one other than you who's kadosh like you. So that's just repetitious. So says the, says the Maharsha, what what the Gemara's telling us is that ki ein biltecha is explaining what kedusha is. How do we understand, if we'll understand what kedusha is, then we'll, we'll appreciate what it means ein kadosh k'Hashem. What does kedusha mean? That ein livolosecha because you, because you exist lenetzach netzachim. The same, same idea as the Seforno, that the pshat in kedusha means nitzchiyus. Nitzchiyus. The Maharsha, the Maharsha refers mistama, I don't remember if the Seforno refers to this, but mistama he, he has this in mind as well to the Gemara in Sanhedrin in perek Chelek, where the Gemara says this on tzadi beis in Chelek, that מה קדוש קיים לעולם, that kadosh means to, to exist forever. Kedusha means nitzchiyus. Kedusha means nitzchiyus is not at odds with Rashi and the Ramban's pshat of perushim. Perushim is the, is the means. Rashi and the Ramban are telling us the means. The Seforno's telling us the goal. To be nitzchi. Something which is chomrius is, is not nitzchi. What's physical decays and ends. The more shakuah a person is in, in chomrius, so then the farther away he is, he is from the nitzchiyus. Perushim tihyu, so that kedusha for nitzchiyus. And the emes is that this theme of kedusha is what the pasuk says, right? This theme of kedusha is what yetzias mitzrayim was geared towards. Yetzias mitzrayim is cheirus. Again, what's the pshat in cheirus? That cheirus means cheirus means to rise above the chomrius, which is why during sheshes yemei ma'aseh there is an element of avdus. It is sheshes yamim ta'avod to rise above the avdus, to rise above the avdus to the chomrius and to recognize and to recognize that be'emes is ein od milvado. A person has that recognition and a person creates that connection with the Ribbono Shel Olam, so then it results in vehiskadishtem veheyissem kedoshim. And that's what yetzias mitzrayim was intended to accomplish. And the, and the avoda in in these days, the avoda in these days, a, that a person has to try to rise above chomrius. We live in, in an age, certainly in in recent history. I don't know, maybe if you go back to, to classical times they were as, as crazy. But, but we live, we live in an age with such a insane obsession with with gashmius and with taiva and and with chomrius. And we make a big mistake if we think that the fact that we don't go to the extremes that the culture surrounding us goes to, means that we're unaffected. Too often we succumb to the tendency of defining what's moderate and what's normal and average by the extremes we see around us. So when we live in a culture where the extremes are just indescribably vulgar, so no, do we go to those extremes? Rachmana litzlan, we don't. But our definition of what it means to be moderate, our definition of what it means to be mistapek b'muat is, is sometimes tainted, Rachmana litzlan. This is a time to be misbonen on that. To be misbonen on on our involvement with gashmius, with chomrius. Are we shakuah? And it's also a time, also a time to be misbonen on malchus shomayim, malchus shomayim on both levels. Malchus shomayim on the basic level, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the Borei Olam. The world belongs to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but also malchus shomayim on a deeper level, to understand and to recognize, as in, as in the schoolyard analogy. The zman that we have now, these weeks, as we count the days of Sefiras HaOmer, is especially conducive, is a segulah for working on these inyanim, and by working on them, so we hope to be able to be mekayem vehiskadishtem viheyisem kedoshim.