Emunah Must be Shared

The Rambam writes in Perek Zayin of Hilchot Chametz U-Matzah, Halacha Bet:

לבנים ואפילו לא שאלו שנאמר והגדת לבנך וכולי. כיצד? היה קטן או טיפש אומר לו: בני, כולנו היינו עבדים כעבד זה במצרים, ובלילה הזה פדה אותנו הקדוש ברוך הוא ויצאנו לחרות. אם היה הבן גדול וחכם מודיע מה שאירע לנו במצרים וניסים שנעשו לנו על ידי משה רבינו לפי דעתו של בן.

Just parenthetically, this is not what we want to focus on, but the Rambam here clearly quoting as the Chazal that we quote in the in the Haggadah כנגד ארבעה בנים דיברה תורה and and the Rambam omits the Ben Rasha. Right, he has the she-aino yodea lishol, the Tam, the Katan ve-tipesh, he has the Ben Chacham, he he omits the Ben Rasha. So le-chora what what one sees from the Rambam is that the response to the Ben Rasha of אף אתה הקהה את שיניו is not a din in sippur yetziat Mitzrayim. Adaraba, he's not he's not interested in in in the sippur and he's not receptive to yetziat Mitzrayim. The response to the other three banim is a din in sippur yetziat Mitzrayim. Okay. But now le-gufo shel inyan as as the Torah she-bikhtav already depicts the Mishnah Pesachim the Rambam le-halacha: there's a mitzvah le-hodeia la-banim and and to be proactive in so doing afilu lo sha'alu. And it's this which which gives rise to the characterization of the Leil Ha-Seder as a night of Masorah, a night of Torah she-be'al peh. And and of course that's all all correct and and a fundamental perspective. But ke-midomeh that there's another perspective. There's an additional perspective here on on the significance of this emphasis of le-hodeia la-banim. And to for that perspective to emerge we need to review a few other instances. Let's begin with the Rambam quoting from Masechet Pesachim in Hilchot Kriat Shema Perek Aleph Halacha Dalet where Chazal explain the background to the fact that we insert Baruch Shem after Pasuk Rishon of Shema. Ha-korei Kriat Shema the Rambam writes in Perek Aleph Halacha Dalet based on on the Sugya Pesachim:

כשגומר פסוק ראשון אומר בלחש ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד וחוזר וקורא כדרכו ואהבת את השם אלקיך עד סופה. ולמה קורין כן? מסורת היא בידינו.

We have a tradition

שבשעה שקיבץ יעקב אבינו את בניו במצרים בשעת מיתתו ציום וזרזם על ייחוד השם ועל דרך השם שהלך בה אברהם ויצחק אביו.

So on his deathbed Yaakov Avinu the living tzava'ah that that he gave to the Shivtei Kah was about Yichud Hashem, Derech Hashem

ושאל אותם ואמר להם: בני, שמא יש בכם פסולת כמי שאינו עומד עמי בייחוד אדון כל העולם? כעניין שאמר לנו משה רבנו פן יש בכם איש או אישה. ענו כולם ואמרו לו שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד. כשם שאין בלבך אלא אחד כך אין בלבנו אלא אחד.

Patach hazaken ve’amar

ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד. לפיכך נהגו כל ישראל לומר שבח זה ששיבח בו ישראל הזקן אחר פסוק זה.

Then there seems to be a little gap, big gap, in this explanation. So when the Shivtei Koh said Shema Yisrael, they were addressing their father. And because he was being addressed and hearing this affirmation of Yichuda d’Hashem, so that was his response of Baruch Shem. But clearly the Rambam isn’t intimating to us that when we say Kriyas Shema, we’re addressing Yaakov Avinu. When we say Shema Yisrael, so we’re not addressing Yaakov Avinu. So how does this, how does the traditional account of Yaakov Avinu, how does that make sense of the Minhag Yisrael to say Baruch Shem? So lichora the simple pshat in the Rambam is, so what taka, so let’s leave aside this masores biyadeinu, this maaseh shehayah. ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד is the Torah’s quintessential formulation of Yichuda d’Hashem. What’s the Shema Yisrael? So clearly when a person is myahed Hashem, it’s not just beino uvein kono, but it’s something which is outer directed. It’s something which the person is projecting. Now it may be the case that that’s always true conceptually, it’s always true ideally. It may be the case befoal he actually has an audience. It may be the case befoal that he doesn’t have an audience, that he sings Shema biyichidus. But when a person is saying Shema Yisrael, a person is being myahed shem Hashem, when a person is affirming Yichuda d’Hashem, he’s being mashmia Yichuda d’Hashem. When we say Shema Yisrael, it may be maybe we’re in the presence of a minyan, maybe there’s a microcosm of Knessis Yisrael, maybe there isn’t. But regardless of who’s there at that moment, the definition, definitionally, when a person is being myahed Hashem, he’s being mashmia Yichuda d’Hashem. Yichuda d’Hashem is something that a person projects. And that’s the pshat Shema Yisrael. What emerges? When a person says Shema, he’s really roleplaying, as it were, two different roles. He’s on the one hand being mashmia, affirming Yichuda d’Hashem, but on the other hand he’s being mashmia to Knessis Yisrael, he’s also the audience. And mameila a person... responds the same way Yaakov Avinu when he was the audience when the affirmation of the Shivtei Kah, yichad Hashem was projected, was directed towards Yaakov Avinu, so he responds with Baruch Shem. So that's how we respond also when a person says Shema, he's both mashmia and shomeia. Yitachen that when the Rambam concludes לפיכך נהגו כל ישראל לומר שבח זה, so again the phrase nahagu kol Yisrael is a very natural phrase. There's nothing about it that's omer darsheni. But yitachen that in this context we're also supposed to see how the same word Yisrael refers to ששיבח בו ישראל הזקן, but the same word also refers to Knesset Yisrael. And that's how the Rambam is intimating that again that just as when the Shivtei Kah said Shema Yisrael, so they were being mashmia yichud Hashem, we're also being mashmia yichud Hashem. Not to Yaakov Avinu but to kol Yisrael. And the one who's being the audience, mimaila we answer Baruch Shem. One mareh makom. A second much more straightforward mareh makom with which you're all familiar just to review. The Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot, Mitzvat Aseh Gimel talking about ahavat Hashem. Uchvar amru Chazal say in the Sifri

שמצוה זו למצות אהבת השם כוללת גם כן שנדרש ונקרא האנשים כולם לעבודתו יתעלה ולהאמין בו. שאם אתה אוהב את השם ואהבת את השם אהבהו על הבריות

keAvraham Avinu shene'emar ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן. Retzonom lomar

כמו שאברהם בעבור שהיה אוהב השם כמו שהעיד הכתוב אברהם אוהבי שהיה גם כן בגודל השגתו דורש האנשים אל האמונה מחוזק אהבתו תדרוש האנשים אליך.

Second mareh makom. The third mareh makom, the mishna in Avos that הלומד על מנת ללמד is מספיקין בידו ללמוד וללמד. When a person learns Torah, a person has to learn al mnas lelamed. And keyadu'a ad kedei kach that lilmod ulelamed together form one single indivisible mitzva. So what emerges rabosai from from this from these three instances? The pattern that emerges is that emuna something that a person is obligated to share. And perhaps in addition to these three halachos that we mentioned, vivid. portrayal of this when the Rambam פרק א הלכות עבודה describes Avraham Avinu's relentless and ultimately successful quest for emes and discovery of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. u'libo mishoteit u'meivin, he was constantly exploring and discerning and incrementally coming closer and closer to the truth until ultimately

עד שהשיג דרך האמת והבין קו הצדק מדעתו הנכונה, פרק א הלכות עבודה זרה הלכה ג, וידע שיש שם אלוה אחד והוא מנהיג הגלגל והוא ברא הכל ואין בכל הנמצא אלוה חוץ ממנו. וידע שכל העם טועה ודבר שגרם להם לטעות זה שעבדו את הכוכבים ואת הצורות עד שאבדה האמת מדעתם.

He recognized Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now let's notice how the Rambam continues here. u'keivan shehikir v'yada, recognized Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Once Avraham Avinu had this clear understanding, hikir v'yada,

התחיל להשיב תשובות על בני אור כשדים ולערוך דין עמהם.

Right away he began to disseminate. The minute Avraham Avinu becomes a ma'amin, that very minute he becomes a mehafitz. Emunah is not something that a person can possess and not share. How do we understand that? What's the mechayev? Which we read, the Rambam in Sefer Hamitzvos, is a mechayev on the adam. Again returning to Sefer Hamitzvos:

כי כשתאהב אדם תשים לבך עליו ותשבחהו ותבקש האנשים לאהבתו.

You read a good book, you get a good car, you got a thrill out of it, so you tell your friends about it. We all do it. It's a natural thing. A person has Ahavas Hashem, it's Ahavas Hashem. K'maduma, it's not the only mechayev. It's interesting that here in Perek Aleph the Rambam clearly associates Avraham Avinu's teaching and dissemination of emunah with his Ahavas Hashem. He doesn't state it explicitly. He doesn't say וכיוון שהכיר וידע ונעשה אוהב השם, but the Rambam is intimating that there's another mechayev as well. I apologize for the technical difficulties. Is the audio coming across now, Rebbe? It is now. It is. Okay, good. Thank you. The Rambam in פרק א הלכות עבודה זרה doesn't explicitly frame Avraham Avinu's teaching in terms of Ahavas Hashem. It seems is mechayev, which is also suggested in Hilchos Krias Shema, that Yichud Hashem is something that a person projects. And and in fact, there are at least two additional mechayvim in why one shares emunah. One is because Yichud Hashem, there are two aspects to Yichud Hashem. One is absolute, immutable. It's a reality. השם אחד אין עוד מלבדו. We play no role in that. It's an absolute, immutable, it's it's not even accurate to describe it as an eternal truth. It's something which transcends, transcends time, the boundaries of time. But there is an aspect of Yichud Hashem, not sort of the objective truth and reality, but the degree to which that reality is perceived and acknowledged and understood. And that's also an aspect of Yichud Hashem. And and there, for us to be mekayem the mitzvah of Yichud Hashem, it's not only a question of recognizing and affirming the objective reality, but it's helping to create the reality in the here and now in terms of people's understanding and people's recognition. And that also is a mechayev of why a person who's ma'amin in Yichud Hashem has to has to project it, has to broadcast it, Shema Yisrael. A second perspective, a second mechayev. The third lechora is as follows. What's the din Halacha Lema'aseh? Let's say, let's say a person, let's say Rachmana Litzlan you have a case where someone is niftar and then his family, let's say the yorshim, one of the yorshim is going through the attic or something and he finds a very, very valuable heirloom. So what's the din? Because he found the heirloom in the attic, he keeps it? No. The heirloom is part of the yerusha. It belongs to all the yorshim. The fact that he happened to be the one who was cleaning up the attic and found it doesn't give him license to hold on to it. It doesn't mean that he's entitled to it as personal property, and he certainly has an obligation to share it with the other yorshim.

כיון שהכיר וידע שיש שם אלוה אחד והוא מנהיג הגלגל והוא בורא הכל,

Avraham Avinu intuited that he has no right to hold on to that emunah for himself and not to share it. Emunah Bashem is something that belongs to everyone. And ממילא כיון שהכיר וידע so right away התחיל להשיב תשובות על בני אור כשדים. Three mechayvim. A mechayev of Ahavas Hashem. A mechayev that Yichud Hashem also, there's a dimension of Yichud Hashem that belongs to everyone. it means that yichud Hashem is recognized in the world. So hence our mitzvah of yichud Hashem is not just recognition and affirmation but also projection. And finally, a person can't keep for himself what belongs to the klal. תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב, a person learns, it has to be al menas lelamed. It's not, it's not one's personal property that one can keep within one's own daled amos. And certainly that's, that's the case for emunah as well.

מצות עשה של תורה פרק ז הלכה א מחמץ ומצה. מצות עשה של תורה לספר בניסים ונפלאות שנעשו לאבותינו במצרים בליל חמישה עשר בניסן שנאמר זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים.

The kiyum of being mesaper benisim veniflaos is to reinforce emunah. Benisim veniflaos of Mitzrayim is

למען תדע כי אני השם אני השם בקרב הארץ כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ.

Okay, now those pesukim are said about the other makkos as well, but all of that is certainly concentrated and compressed into makkas bechoros. So sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is to be mechazek, to reinforce, hopefully not just reinforce, but deepen, broaden, intensify one's emunah. Mimeila, mimeila, in sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, מצוה להודיע לבנים ואפילו לא שאלו. The mitzvas ha-erev is to be mechazek emunah, to be ma'amik emunah through sharing it. Keivan she-hikkir ve-yada, a person has to share it. And here, okay, so we're not Avraham Avinu and the world is not our stage. But the ikar stage in the context of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim are the banim. And that's the lich'ora, a perspective on this mitzvah. It's worth thinking how it translates is not going to be entirely uniform for each of us, but it's worth obviously this yesod which expresses itself in the context of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is not limited to sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. This chiyuv which is paramount leil chamisha asar is not limited to leil chamisha asar. The mitzvah of emunah is that a person should have emunah, but he also should be a source of emunah, and we need to ponder what the implications of that are, what the consequences of that are, and bli neder be-ezras Hashem od chazon lamoed. Have a very good night, a guten Shabbos rabbosai, everyone should be well, be safe be-ezras Hashem.