Breishis

בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ. Rashi quotes from Chazal later the pasuk says ביום עשות ה׳ אלוקים ארץ ושמים, that kaveyachol

בתחילה עלה במחשבה לברא את העולם במידת הדין, ראה שאין העולם מתקיים, שיתף עמו מידת הרחמים.

So obviously by Hakadosh Baruch Hu there's no hava amina and maskana. There's no plans don't have to be amended or refined. So why do Chazal have in mind with this metaphor of betchila ala bamachshava? So itachain as follows. Machshava represents an ideal. Say when we're talking about a person, machshava is what a person would like to do. It represents an ideal. And then ma'aseh represents the actual, which often falls short of realizing that ideal. Bereshit bara Elokim, as it were, the ideal is that the world should function according to midat hadin. What does that mean? That a person should strive, he should know that the ideal is that we should justify ourselves, our existence, על פי מידת הדין. If the Torah would have initially said בראשית ברא ה׳ אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ, so we would have thought, okay, so a person is supposed to gear himself towards this blending of rachamim and din. A person should strive to get a 90. So on Rosh Hashanah he should strive to get a 90 in the

בית דין של מעלה. בראשית ברא אלוקים במחשבה, עלה במחשבה לברא את העולם,

again, so what machshava represents is the ideal. It's important for us to know, avada Hakadosh Baruch Hu rachmana litzlan le'choteh, avada Hakadosh Baruch Hu extends a midat harachamim and ימינו פשוטה לקבל שבים. But there shouldn't be a complacency mitzidenu about that midat harachamim. That midat harachamim is not something that a person is supposed to bank on lechatchila. It's something he's supposed to be aware that exists, but he's supposed to know that the machshava is, again, machshava being a metaphor for the ideal to which a person should strive, is לברא את העולם במידת הדין. I think the Sfas Emes says something very similar to this. And that's the progression from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippurim. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ready to have a Yom Kippurim, a day where the emphasis is rachamim, albeit with an element of din berachamim in contradistinction to Rosh Hashanah where the emphasis is on din, albeit with an element of rachamim bedin, so let's skip over the Rosh Hashanah, let's fast-forward to the Yom Kippurim. The teretz is no, because a person is supposed to strive not to be a beinoni who will be the beneficiary of the rachamim on Yom Kippur. A person should strive to matzdik es atzmo on Rosh Hashanah, בתחילה עלה במחשבה לברא את העולם במידת הדין. This understanding of what the metaphor of machshava is as opposed to ma'aseh, Tosafot in Rosh Hashanah suggests a kasuv hashlishi in the machlokes between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, whether or not beTishrei nivra ha'olam or beNissan nivra ha'olam. So Tosafot suggests a kasuv hashlishi, that beTishrei is עלה במחשבה לברא את העולם, and actually Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world beNissan. Again, besides the obvious... is hechrech that that we have in in in our maimar Chazal here that that there's no that the machshavah was in in Tishrei and and the the maaseh was in Nissan. Why the why the delay and what does it mean that the machshavah was in Tishrei if time was created with the world? There was no time beforehand. So what does it mean that the machshavah was in Tishrei? אלא הם הם הדברים. What does Tishrei represent? Tishrei represents din. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Hadin. Nissan represents hischadshus. Hischadshus that a person can a person can reconstitute himself after cheit. A person can rebound, can recreate himself. Nissan is עולת חודש בחדשו be-hischadesh when the new terumas ha-lishkah when chodesh ha-aviv when when the crops are emerging it's a time of hischadshus. Tishrei is a time of din. Tishrei represents din. So batchilah the machshavah Hakadosh Baruch Hu had was in in Tishrei, dehainu the ideal to which we have to aspire is not to bank on Hakadosh Baruch Hu's infinite chessed ve-rachamim. Avada it's there and avada it's available but that's not what our aspiration should be. Our she'ifah is the machshavah is that olam was nivra in Tishrei. Tishrei din, accountability. That should be our our she'ifah. Lemaaseh avada Hakadosh Baruch Hu שיתף עמו מדת הרחמים. Be that as it may, whatever the pshat is, whether it's the pshat we just said in שיתף עמו מדת הרחמים, there were other pshatim as well. It's quite clear that it's that it doesn't mean that again it doesn't mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu really wanted to create the world with middas hadin and bediavad had to be mashitiv on middas harachamim. It's quite clear that's not what it means. Again it's that we should know that this is that this should be our ideal. So clearly what it means is that the world was created and the world exists through middas harachamim. Without middas harachamim there is no briah. So pasuk Olam chessed yibaneh. The briah doesn't exist without a middas hachessed. In other words brias ha-olam למען רצונו של הקדוש ברוך הוא was an act of chessed. Our very existence is rooted in middas hachessed and memeila memeila our relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in the context of middas hachessed. Middas hachessed is is the source of our existence and memeila that's the framework that's the context of our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So how meduyak is the famous maamar Chazal in the Gemara in Avodah Zarah when the Gemara says that כל העוסק בתורה בלבד a person's only osek in Torah and it's clear in context in the Gemara that it means to the exclusion of chessed but כל העוסק בתורה בלבד is דומה כמי שאין לו אלוה. So lefi ha-nayl it's just so incredibly precise incredibly meduyak. Because our very existence the fact that that we're here with בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ is only because of middas hachessed. If in my world if in my universe there's no chessed so such a universe Hakadosh Baruch Hu isn't present in such a universe. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created a world על פי מדת החסד. no matter no matter how long a Shmone Esrei I stand, no matter how much hasmada I have in learning, and no matter how medakdek I am in other areas. The Torah repeats the the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav several times. The Chofetz Chaim has a he'ara at the end of the psicha to Ahavas Chessed as follows. Let's just read a few lines together rabbosai. אגב אבאר שלשה פסוקים שיש בענין זה sheztrichen havana.

והנה בתחלת פרשת עקב כתיב ושמרת את מצות ה' אלהיך ללכת בדרכיו וליראה אתו. הנה כתוב הליכה בדרכיו קודם יראה.

Okay, so in the beginning of parshas Eikev is halicha bidrachav and then yiras Hashem. Uvechamishi in parshas Eikev

כתיב ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שאל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה' אלהיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו.

So here the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav is placed in between yirah and ahava. Yirah comes first, then comes vehalachta bidrachav, then ahava. שינתה התורה לכתוב הליכה בדרכיו אחר יראה וקודם אהבה. Ubishvi'i kesiv in parshas Eikev

כי אם שמר תשמרן את כל המצוה הזאת וגומר לאהבה את ה' אלהיכם ללכת בכל דרכיו ולדבקה בו.

Here already halicha bidrachav is not mentioned until after ahavas Hashem but before dveikus. הרי דכתבה הליכה בדרכיו אחר האהבה וקודם הדביקות. He says:

ונראה דיש שלש מדרגות בעבודת ה' אחד היראה ולמעלה מזה האהבה ולמעלה מזה הדביקות בהשם.

Three, three levels in ascending order: there's yirah, there's ahava, there's dveikus. There's, he goes on to explain that dveikus implies a constancy and consistency which ahava doesn't yet reflect. Ahava there can be a moment, there can be peaks and dveikus is a constant state. ועתה יבא הכל על נכון בעזרת השם. Listen rabbosai to these words of the Chofetz Chaim: דהתורה מלמדתנו שהאדם אינו זוכה לשום מדריגה. Not zocheh leshum madrega, all appearances notwithstanding, says the Chofetz Chaim.

האדם אינו זוכה לשום מדריגה עד שירגיל נפשו מתחלה ללכת בדרכי טובו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.

And what are those drachos?

מה הוא רחום מה הוא חנון להיות רחום וחנון וגומל חסד. ולזה כתב בתחלת עקב ללכת בדרכיו וליראה אתו.

Leharos, to teach us דלהשיג מדריגת היראה צריך שיקדמנה המדה הטובה הזו. A person has to have vehalachta bidrachav, and again the vehalachta bidrachav, the emphasis is on the middos harachamim, middos harachamim, rachum vechanun. Without that a person won't even come to yirah.

אחר כך גילה לנו הכתוב עוד בפרשה חמישית דאפילו אחר שהשיג יראת השם,

so let's see it first how the Chofetz Chaim says and then we'll see an additional mahalach.

לא יחשוב בנפשו עתה ראוי לי להיות מתבונן כל ימי חיי בעניני היראה ורוממות השם וללמוד תורתו הקדושה ולא להסתכל כלל בעניני טובת זולתי.

Now I'm a baal madrega, I'm already a yarei shamayim, I'm already a baal madrega, so now already I should, I should be, I shouldn't look outside of my daled amos, I shouldn't look outside of outside of my Gemara.

ולא להסתכל כלל בעניני טובת זולתי ולזה בא הכתוב ואמר בפרשה חמישית ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שאל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה'.

And now already I should be, I shouldn't look outside of my daled amos, I shouldn't look outside of my gemara.

ולא להסתכל כלל בענייני תאוות זולתו ולזה בא הכתוב ואמר בפרשת חמישי ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה' אלוקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה ולהורות.

If you want to progress from yira to ahava, halicha bidrachav

דאף מי שזוכה ליראת ה' וצריך לעלות למדרגה היותר גבוהה מזו והיינו האהבה. ומסתמא האיש ההוא נבדל מענייני העולם.

Like the Rambam says about ahavas Hashem a person has to not have any independent interests. So he's a person who in terms of his own interests is basically nivdal me'inyanei ha'olam again as anything which is an end or interest unto itself,

אף על פי כן לא יזכה למדרגת האהבה עד שיקיים עתה גם כן ללכת בכל דרכיו, היינו להיות רחום וגומל חסד כדפירש רש"י בסוף עקב.

And the Chofetz Chaim goes on to explain that the same is true when the person wants to transition from ahava to dveikus again, it's impossible, it can't happen unless there's an involvement with halicha bidrachav which manifests itself, which plays itself out in the realm of bein adam lachaveiro. But the emes is as powerful and yesodistik as divrei hakadosh the Chofetz Chaim are, yitachen a little bit differently. Same diyuk in the pesukim and that's for the following. We learn in Berachos in shlosha she'achalu, din of shlosha she'achalu talking about the dinim of zimum. Shlosha she'achalu ke'echad, so two of them finished eating, one of them has not yet finished eating. So the Gemara says the din is that the echad is mafsik for the shnayim. So he has to stop to answer even though he's the way we hold, he just stops to answer and then after bracha rishona he continues eating. But אין שנים מפסיקים לאחד. But if one person finishes, so then two don't stop for him. Gemara tells a story where shnayim were mafsik for echad. The Gemara says no, that was lifnim mishuras hadin. And the Mordechai, they weren't mechuyav to do that, they were doing lifnim mishuras hadin. Okay. The Gemara is so critical because it reminds us of something that I think, I don't know if it was always like that but in our generation it is. Whether it was like this in every dor, Hashem yishmor. The concept or according to the Smak, the chiyuv of lifnim mishuras hadin is not only bein adam lamakon. Lifnim mishuras hadin, that there's a room, that there's an inyan, that there's a chiyuv to be mehader, to do more and more and more is not only true bein adam lamakon. It's not only true in how a person's avoda expresses itself bein adam lamakon. It's not only true in how a person is makpid and medakdek in mitzvos bein adam lamakon, but it's also true in how a person is mehader, how a person is medakdek, how a person is mekayeim mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro. There's also lifnim mishuras hadin here as well. Yitachen to explain the Chofetz Chaim's diyuk, yitachen as follows: Kidvrei hakadosh to progress from yira to ahava, the Torah says clearly you need a halicha bidrachav. But maybe the chidush is not only that a person has to persist in halicha bidrachav,

מה הוא נקרא חנון ורחום אף אתה היה חנון ורחום מה הוא גומל חסדים אף אתה גומל חסדים,

not only that a person has to persist, but he has to be mehader, has to be ma'amik. The level of halicha bidrachav which brings a person to yiras Hashem, that's not enough if he now wants to build on that to attain ahavas Hashem. And the same is true, the same is true when a person wants to advance from that incredibly lofty station of ahavas Hashem to deveikus baHashem, again, the halicha bederachav it's not just persisting, it's not the same, it's being ma'amik, being mehadder, being machmir in מה הוא חנון מה הוא רחום. Hayotzei midevareinu, mah iti if I look in the mirror? The line on my kippah is half a millimeter off the center. If I look in the mirror and I see, yeah, you know, I think I'm growing in bein adam lamakom. I'm munnach in this, I'm more makpid in this, I'm more medakdek on that. And maybe not only in things which are me'ikar hadin, maybe, maybe I'll even see or think I'm seeing things which go beyond shuras hadin, ikar hadin. But when I look in the mirror I don't see a comparable growth in being mehadder in my bein adam lachaveiro, in my concern for other people, in my effort to help other people, in my effort to take initiative in doing chesed, and not just being passive and responding when confronted and requested to do a chesed. If I don't see a growth in my kibbud av va'em. So even before we discussed anything tonight, I think we should have recognized that there's an imbalance there. There's an imbalance there. Just as the two luchos are going to be able to stand, only when the two sides have to be balanced. If one side is much weightier than the other in either direction, same is true if everything is bein adam lachaveiro or bein adam lamakom, it's also an imbalance and also a distortion. It works in both directions. There has to be a balance. According to what the Chofetz Chaim tells us, it's not only that when I look in the mirror and I see or I think I see being mehadder, being medakdek, being makpid beyond shuras hadin, beyond ikar hadin in bein adam lamakom, but I don't see comparable hiddur, dikduk, lifnim mishuras hadin in bein adam lachaveiro. So yitachen according to the Chofetz Chaim that it's one of these, you know, they have I think in children's museums, one of these mirrors that makes you look this big, this small. Whenever I look in the mirror, it always makes me look this wide, I don't know, but whatever, then those are the mirrors I have. Kitzur hama'aseh, so yitachen, yitachen that the growth I think I see in bein adam lamakom is illusory because if, if

התורה מלמדנו שהאדם אינו זוכה לשום מדריגה עד שירגיל נפשו מתחילה ללכת בדרכי טובו של הקדוש ברוך הוא,

and if If what we're suggesting is correct, that the halikha bidrakhav again is not just to maintain the status quo, to persist, but to grow in that halikha bidrakhav. So I don't know, so maybe I'm kidding myself about what my ben adam l'makom represents if it's not matched by my ben adam l'chaveiro. And maybe if I don't have to every, to every correct, desirable, wonderful, new hiddur, dikduk in קיום המצוות בין אדם למקום, I don't have an equally beautiful, desirable, wonderful, new hiddur or dikduk in מצוות בין אדם לחברו, at the very least there's an imbalance, and it's not clear to what extent the mirror is even showing me things accurately when I think I have all these hasaggim in my ben adam l'makom. It's something, something which needs a lot of meduma, something which needs a lot of thought and a lot of reflection to liknot, to acquire, to internalize this idea, and B, a lot of thought and reflection again as how to implement it, how to implement it. I think we have a much better and much better developed sense of לפנים משורת הדין בין אדם למקום than we have ben adam l'chaveiro. And it's well worth the investment of time and mental energy in terms of reflection to develop a comparable, an equally acute, refined sense for being mehader in the whole gamut of ben adam l'chaveiro, kvod chaveirim, kvod habriyos, kibud av v'eim, a sense of achrayos for others, for the klal.