Show Notes
Sponsored in memory of Fay and Nathan Holzman.
View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Okay. Hi, everybody. Wow. Nice.
A good Chodesh. Kodesh Tov to everybody.
You know, it's interesting because when you think about Rosh Kodesh in general, there seems to be some sort of identity crisis when it comes to Rosh Chodesh.
It's a special day. We know for sure it's the first mitzvah given to CL as a nation before they left Mitsrayim. But it's not quite a hag, right? It's not quite a chag. It's not quite regular. In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, they brought a carbon Musaf, but yet its status is something nebulous today, would you say?
Actually, in the time of the Neviim, Rosh Chodesh had a very elevated status. If you look in source number one, this is actually. We read Mahar Chodesh yesterday, the Rosh Chodesh, the special when Shabbos happens the day before Rosh Chodesh. When Rosh Chodesh comes out on Sunday, we read the Haftorah of Machar Chodesh and a few Psokim before we actually start the Haftorah. In Sefer Shmuel, we see that David is getting nervous because he's nervous that Sha has designs against him. So he says.
He says, tomorrow is a special day. It is Rosh Chodesh, and I will be sitting with the king and eating with him in the special Sudan. If I'm not there, I'm there. He's going to suspect me of something. Then later on we start the haftar and say, so that's one proof that we see, or one example that we see them in the time of the Nevim, Rosh Chodesh really had a very heightened status. Furthermore, in source number two, with the story of the Isha shunamis, when she's running to get Elisha Vayomer Madua Shalom. So they're asking her, why are you running to see the navi? It's not Rosh Chodesh, which means that in the time of the Neviim there was some sort of custom where on Rosh Chodesh they would go to see the navi. So there was, you know, some. Some status. There was definitely a very elevated status. Seems even more so than today because we had the Karbon mus'up and people would go to see the navi, et cetera. But today we don't refrain from work on Rosh Chodesh. True. There's a. There's Maybe a minhug that some women don't do laundry or whatever. But believe it or not, there's something else that's very unusual about Rosh Kodesh and that is saying of Hallel on Rosh Chodesh was not always a given and it was a subject of debate.
Saying Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is actually a Minhag, a very, very strong Minhag, a very, very longstanding minhag that developed in the time of Bavim. And the reason is that the halacha states that we say Hallel on days that are a moed or on days that are a Chag, or on days that were designated as a day of national victory. And the Gemara actually lists 18 days on which we say Hallel, none of which is Rosh Chodesh. So it mentions the Sholosh Regalim, it mentions Hanukkah, it mentions Hanukkah and the Sholosh Regalim, basically. And it doesn't mention Rosh Chodesh. Very, very curious, right? So the question is, why do we say Challah on Rosh Chodesh? Is it a chag? Was there a national victory on every Rosh Chodesh that we don't know about? Are we trying to give Rosh Chodesh some sort of qualities of a chag? There seems to be an identity question relating to Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, so much so that there is a halachic question of whether or not a bracha should be said on quote, unquote, what we call today Hatzi Hallel on Rosh Chodesh since it is said as a result of a long standing minhug only. And if there's any spardom in our audience. Are there any spardim in the audience?
I can't say. All I see is like a strip on top this spardim. Do not say abracha from what I understand on Hallel on Rosh Chodesh because of the various questions that surround the saying of Hallow. And they pask it according to the Shulchan Arach and there's a whole shak Levitaria and I don't profess to even know even a smidgen of it. I've listened to Shioram on it just for this preparation and I've read a lot, but it's a very, very fascinating, fascinating question.
In any case, there's a very interesting Gemara that says that sort of proves our point. And really this is where the idea of quote, unquote, Hatzi Hallel came from. It's obviously a slightly slight misnomer. It's not half of Hallel. It's actually a few from two of the prockim that we say in Hallel are omitted. But the Gemara relates, and the Gemara of Tanis says that the Amora Rav went to Babel and he was very, very upset when he saw that there was a kehila in Babel that began saying Halal after the repetition of Shimona Esrei. And he was about to interrupt them. He was very, very upset because who says Hallel on Rosh Chodesh? But when he noticed that the Kehila were skip. Was skipping parts of the Hallel, then presumably similar to what we do today, right. He chose not to interrupt them. And he said, I see that they are observing a custom of their fathers, Minhag avosem bim. Interesting. Right, so meaning that L'chathilah Hallel was not said on Rosh Chodesh. And the reason is, as we said, that Hallel is typically said on days constituting a moed or a national salvation, since Rosh Chodesh is neither of them. Halal really is not seb. And it is a minhag that developed a long time ago in Bavel. And because of that, there are a number of questions about whether or not to say publicly. And if you say privately, do you say Abrach? And we'll get into that in a second. This is just a preamble to the conceptual ideas around Halal, but I just wanted to give you some sort of introduction. It's interesting that there are a number of reasons that are offered by the Rishonim as to how and why the minhug of saying part of Hallel has become accepted practice for so many generations, since the time of Dulles Babel. And I'm not going. If you look at source number three, I'll read a little bit of it. There's an arrow in the second paragraph in source number three. This is from the commentary on the sitter called Nasibina by Rabbi Yisacher Yakovson. And he tells us some of the reasons possibly that this minhag was developed. And what he says is the second line in the second paragraph.
It could be that it was done, that we say partial Hallel, that they started saying Hallel in Bavel as a zeche for Kiddush achodesh, meaning that in Eretz Yisrael they could do the mitzvah of Kiddush haudesh. They can publicize it. They can look at the New Moon, they can have the Adim. But when they were in Bavel, they didn't have such a thing. And therefore they said the Halal to remind them as a Kiddush Hakodesh that they had back in Eretz Yisrael or Oshi is Parsema devarshehu Rosh Chodesh or was simply to publicize the fact that it was Rosh Chodesh. It's a way of publicizing it, therefore, in the very beginning. But only the people in Babel said Rosh Chodesh have said Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, not the people in Eretz Yisrael because they didn't need to, because they had that Kiddush hakodesh. It's interesting. And there and then he continues to say that later on it developed, the practice developed that even those in Eretz Yisrael, the minhug was adopted to say Hallel on Rosh Chodesh as well. So it seems that including Hallel on Rosh Chodesh may have been, for practical reasons, to connect those in Chutzla Aretz with those in Eretz Yisrael and Rosh Chodesh that Rosh Chodesh is here, despite that we're. Despite the fact that we're not in Eretz Yisrael. And another interesting thing that I found out was that that sort of dovetails with the question or leads to the question of, well, Hallel was said in Babel to remind them of Kirishachodesh and Eret Yisrael and to publicize the fact that it was Rosh Chodesh. Therefore, it was said b'far Hesia, meaning it was said with a group, with a minion. So then what happens if you're davening at home? What happens if you're not davening with a minion? So there's all kinds of questions. Well, do you say Hallelujah? If you do, do you say with the bracha? A lot? A lot, a lot of questions. But the point is that Hallel was taken on as a minhug, and it was taken on as half hallow, quote, unquote, partial halal, because Lamaisa, it's not a mitzvah de Rabbanan. It's not something that was, but there was. It's not a takana from the Rabanan was sort of adopted as a minhug, and therefore, to differentiate its status, only partial halal was said. Okay, so that's sort of the technical background of Hallelujah in a nutshell. There's obviously a Lot more to talk about. But it's interesting that the Argedalia references the Bal Haturim. And he says on a conceptual level that just as each of the shoeless Golem represents each of the Avos, meaning Pesach connects to Avram, Avinu Shavuos connects to Yitzchak, and Sukkos connects to Yaakov, So too the 12 months of the year represent the 12 shvativ. Just as each of the regolim have a koach from the avos, so does each of the months have a koach of each of the shvatim. Right? And therefore that hashbah really is sort of inculcated in the Hashbab. Each of the Shvatim is inculcated in each of the chadashem on Rosh Chodesh. But this Hashba was diminished, he says, because of.
And it will be restored the Acharis Hayom, okay, which is why the women have this minhug. Some women have a minhug not to do laundry or whatever it is on Rosh Chodesh, because the women didn't participate in.
But meanwhile, what we see from all this, that there is a special status Rosh Chodesh is. Is obviously a special day, but it's not quite a chag. It's not quite.
Furthermore, says the Orgadalia, the Rosh Chodesh, which is determined by the moon, by the new moon, the moon was diminished at Massa Bereshish and La aside Lavo, the moon will be restored to its former light, just as Klal Yisrael's status amongst the nations will be restored as well. Therefore, says the Arkadalia, the power of Rosh Chodesh is the power of his chachot. So we're in Rosh Chodesh Kislev today. We have the power of his chachots, the power to renew ourselves, the desire to reconnect and establish a connection with Hashem, and the encouraging thought that Rosh Chodesh la aside, will one day be some sort of challenge, one sort of whatever that means, the challah, therefore, on Rosh Chodesh is to connect us to the Hiskhach by one reliving the Nisim of Yitziah Mitzrayim and the other Nisim within our history to accomplish. Recall that Akadash Baruch hu can change or Bimachadesh the Teva. And we remember that every Rosh Chodesh, and we sing this hallel with the future of Mashiach in mind, when we will Emir to Hashem sing this halal with a whole new understanding and a whole new level of simcha Hallel is called Hallel Hamitzri. According to Chazal Hallel Hamitzri, the Egyptian Hallelujah, due to the themes of Yitziah Mitzrayim embedded within the Tehillim. And any salvation or hispadshots that occurs throughout history is really an offshoot of Yitziah Mitzrayim. And let's not forget that Yitzia Smithrayim was the seminal event in our history. It transformed us into a nation under the banner of Hashem. And we recall that every time, every day in Arch Philos. And what was the very first mitzvah that was given to Kal Yisrael as a preamble to Yitziah Mitzrayim? It was the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh, right? So the connection between Hallel Yitzias Mitzrayim and Rosh Chodesh then becomes more obvious because Rosh Chodesh transformed us from a people whose time was owned by his master, says Esporno famously, to being able to be the master of his own time. And Rosh Chodesh reminds us that the first mitzvah that we had, this was the first Mitzvah that we had as a priest, precursor to Yitzias Mitzrayim.
And additionally, saying Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is to recall the renewal that can occur every month and recall that we await the ultimate renewal in the time of Mashiach, when Rosh Chodesh will take on a higher status. Is everybody with me so far?
Okay, Any questions so far? I feel like I just gave a lot of information, but if anybody has any questions, feel free. Okay, now we know that Hallel constitutes a group of propkim Kuf Yud Gimel through Kuf Yorhes, right into Hillim. And it was originally, it was said in the Beis Hamikdash in a choir format. There were parts that were said as a chorus, parts that were said by the Shalia Tzibor, parts that were responsive, okay?
The Hallel really, in all of its glory, when set in the Beit Ham Mikdash during the Sholosh regalum, let's say, was likely like some sort of symphony, right? Ensemble. It was a dramatic recitation of these beautiful words of poetry, of imagery, all praises to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what I want to do is I want to focus on the last parrot of the Hallel, which is, you know, really, it starts Kas, which on your Last page, I have the this page here.
You can refer back, back and forth to it, or you can take a sitter, whatever is easier for you. I'm going to be going back and forth, but just so you have the text there. I know you know, all know the text, but it's good to look at it. So this is Kuf Yud Ches.
It's really, really breathtaking in all of its many layers. It seems to so sum up everything that was referenced in the beginning of Halal, whether it's Hashgah, protest, Hashem's dominion over the Elyonim and Tachtonim, the world that is not left to chance.
So, and this is really a parrot. This is a parach that according to Hazal, may have been said by Kiskiyahu after his miraculous salvation from San Harab. So if you want to read it according to that, you can superimpose the story of Kiskiyahu. The Red said it was said by Chiskiyahu after he was healed. And still others attribute all this all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu, right at the Yamsuk, to Yehoshua. It was sung in the Beis Hamikdash on the Shalosh Regalin. Okay, so it's panoramic, right?
You can superimpose different stories, different periods of time into these words. A number of sources. It's very interesting to talk a little bit about the technical or the linguistic aspects of the Halal before we go into the conceptual ideas, because I think that that also just brings it more to life, and that is that I've seen a number of sources cite Rashi in the Gemara and Sukkah, that within the words of Parakuf Yurches, which is actually divided, subdivided, right? As when we incorporate them as part of Tefillah, there is a constant repetition and sort of mirror images from. From one Pasuk to the next. So when we focus on this incredible structure of the Parik and all of its poetry and layers, it just becomes more alive when we realize that, you know, that symmetry and the repetition and the beautiful poetry, it becomes more breathtaking because it's just another aspect of the godliness of the words and the rhythm that was inspired by Ruach, Hakodesh or Navuah. Furthermore, some of these may have been said responsibly, right? The Shaliach, Tzibor or the Kohen, as Amalbum states at the end of our parachute would say one line, then the Tibor would respond. So it would be like the Shalia, Seymour proclaiming something and the tibor agreeing and adding more. Like for example, it's better to trust in hashem than to trust in man. And then repeat.
It's true, but it's better to trust in man than to trust in dignitaries. So there was like a give and take. It was a very, very interactive kind of experience. That was what the hala. And if you look at it and you'll see these repetitions. So the first four sukim are obvious because here we have all the kilio, lam, hastos, hodul, Hashem, Ki, Tov, Kili, Lam, Hasto, YomarniIsrael, Kilom, Chasto, Yom, etc, first four psukim are the repetition. And then if you skip tev, we see I underlined each couple or couplet and I alternated it with highlighting it. So you see, like the pairs. So vav, enzyin, hashem, lilo, ira, ma, yasali, adam, hashem, li benir, ebbe. You see the repetition and then we have, then we have, etc. I'm saying it quickly, but I think you get the idea that it's repeating. But then says Rashi, what happens when you get to, you get to ch aleph, there's no repetition anymore. It's just old, right? From the actual text of. I'm not talking about tefillah now, I'm talking about the parrot, right? There's no repetition. So says Rashi. What do we do? We repeat it ourselves when we daven, right? That's why we say, do you ever wonder why we repeat those words? Right. So now we know why we repeat the words old, fakir, sunny, bat, old, hakani, sunny. Because before those, at the beginning, at the rest of parakuf, yoches had inherent repetitions. From chuf aleph on, there are no inherent repetitions and therefore we repeat them. So I found that very, very interesting when I was preparing for this year and I wanted to share it with you because tomorrow when you say, you'll know why we repeat it because it's mimicking the rest of the parent. Everybody with me. Okay, Hopefully.
So now let's get into the meat of the parent.
These words roll off of our lips and of course are associated with good tidings, with success, with coming out of challenges whole. It's the moon that seems all but gone, but rejuvenates. It's the Jewish slave looking at his first mitzvah commanded to him. It's the Jew at the the oppressed escaping his captors. Hodul, hashem, ki tov praise. We are praising Hashem because the olam hasto his kindness is everlasting. So the head of the choir, the Shalia, sings this line and all answer responsibly. Who answers and echoes this sentiment?
So the Yisrael, that group of people, the general population, says, yes, kilo lamchasto. It's the Beis aron Yomuna, Beis aharon Kili lamchasto. It's that group of people, the Shayvet Levi, whom we know is famous for their singing and leading everybody in song in the beis hamikdash. And now then it's Yomuna yirei hashem ki lesto. The next group of people is it's the uray hashem, a group of hashem.
And if you think about it this, as I was saying it today, I realized this has echoes to another part of Hallel, right? What do we say? Yevarek es Beis Yisrael, Yevarech es Beis Aaron, Yevarech yirei hashem. That's us sort of saying that all of these groups of people, the base Yisrael, the base aro, the yoray hashem should be blessed. And then what happens? Then they praise those same groups that we just blessed are now in our parrot, they're saying, yom ru na Yisrael kili olam chase. Every one of those people of all those groups are now saying that hashem's kindness is everlasting. So again you see that unbelievable parallel that the echoes that we see from one parent to another. The Svarno explains that all of these groups represent a breadth and span of time. Yom runa Yisrael is the period of time of the first bais hamikdash says the far no yamruna Beisaron is the second beis hamikdash. And yurei hashem is the time of mashiach. So it spans past, present and future. All answer the call to say hodu la hashem hitov helio lam hasto. Our parek begins with hodul hashem ki to.
And the very last pasuk ends with hodula hashem ki tov kili olam has. They are bookends. They are bookends to what we are going to say. And if we look at the body of what comes after these Kelio Lampostos, we see that some of the statements don't seem to be very uplifting or very happy statements. They're statements that are kind of scary.
I'm calling out from the depths of my constraints, from my constraints on the Hashem Hoshina, Hashem saved me.
All of my. All the nations surrounded me. It's not very uplifting. It's kind of scary, right? And that's sort of sandwiched in between the Kili olam Chasto. Right. But if you look at these statements as pieces of the story behind the whole Hashem Ki Tov, we're simply retelling a story. Do you know why we are saying Hodu Hashem Ki tov Ki li olam Chastov? Because I had called out to God in the past, answered me. I was in fear for my life, and I was saved. Like David Hamelech was saved from his enemies or was saved, or the Jews saved from the Yavanim. Whatever period of time it was, I was surrounded. I was in a predicament. I could. Couldn't even fathom that Hashem could bestow so much kindness on me. Right? It's. It was. But what happened?
His kindness is forever. And the truth is that even when I am in this predicament and I Min hamaitzar Karasika, I'm calling out to Hashem, and I can't even fathom that Hashem can do kindness to me. Why can't I fathom it? Because La Alam also has the connotation of, as Reverse says, hidden in the midst of a holocaust, in the midst of terrorist kidnapping and torture. Right?
Hashem's kindness is everlasting, but it's also sometimes hidden from me.
It's hidden from us. Additionally, the olam has echoes to the olam, right? The olam everlasting. It's forever. And it's the world. Hashem created the world. And each time something was created. What does Hashem pronounce? Ki tov Hodul Hashem Ki tov. Right. It's the pronouncement of Ki Tov. It's Ki Tov in all of its layers. Hashem created the world that Hashem called Tov. Hashem created the solar system and Teva. And what happens on Rosh Chodesh, we are tapping into that Teva in action as the new month is determined by that slightly liver of the moon. And the seasons and the climates are all dependent on the moon's position on the gravitational pull. It's created his world that's full of kindness. And his kindness is L'olam. It is forever because of the Teva that was placed in the Bria.
But also we know that Hashem created Teva. And with that Hashem can suspend the laws of Tevah and bring incredible and breathtaking Yeshuas for all of Clau Yisrael, which is what Hallel is about. Rosh Chodesh. There is a His in the Teva, and there can be his, there can be renewal in ourselves, there could be renewal in our attitudes. Whether it's a challenging month, a sad month, a happy month, or yet another month where we keep hoping for the G to arrive.
I know that Hashem's kindness is continuous, it's everlasting, and that Rosh Chodesh makes me think about the His Chachotz, about the fact that even though we may be looking forward and we're waiting for that, we know that Hashem's chesed is everlasting. Look at Pasake.
We begin to retell the story. Why are we saying Kili olam Chasto? As we said, we're telling what happened. We're telling everybody what happened. It's a retrospective. It's looking back at the challenging times. Minhamed sar Karasika. Notice how, despite the fact that this was sung by the masses in large groups, it is a very personal story as well. Karasi K Right. I called out to Hashem because even if there is a collective challenge, everyone experiences, and everybody experiences a challenge differently. Whatever time period this may be, whether it's the Jews in Mitzrayim, Minham literally, Mitzrayim comes from the word Mazar, from the Mazar, or the Jews in the Inquisition, or David fleeing from his enemies, or the hostages that are held in these dark, horrible tunnels. It's the collective expression and it's a personal expression.
Right? Every challenge is experienced individually. Every hostage is experiencing the terror of being held hostage, some with other hostages, but even so, each one is completely alone because each one misses his or her own, his or her particular family. Each one is being challenged with an illness that the other may not have. Each one has different reactions, each one has different pain tolerances. Each one has varied emotional reserves. Each one will react to the conditions that they have in such vastly different ways. Some are old, some are young, some are frat, emotionally fragile, some are innately strong. Everybody's experiencing the challenge differently. So therefore, it's a global Hallel. But we're looking back at a retrospective of people that were suffering, that they have been suffering, but each one has their own personal suffering.
And why am I celebrating? It's the celebration that I called out to you, but I didn't know how Hashem would respond. I know that Hashem listens to my tefilos. But our tefilos always answered in the way in which we want it, in the way in which we fantasize happily ever after, right? We all are very, very, you know, juvenile and immature way to think. Like there's a happily ever after. We dive in and we have a laundry list of things. And Hashem answers us. Puff, right? It's. It's so much deeper than that feel. It changes us, right? We don't know how it impacts the world, how it impacts our family. We just don't know Hashem. And to try to think that we know a Kaddish Baraku is also kind of, you know, very, very, I think, very, very shallow. But so what is the celebration of Hallel? It's the celebration that I didn't know how I would be answered or if I would be answered. But Hashem answered me and has given me more than I ever could have imagined. This is the Hallel. It's the halo Hamitzri. It's the hallow of people that have been taken out of their misery.
Hashem didn't just answer me. Hashem answered me with a tremendous expense of things that I never could have imagined. And the Mayam Lois gives an example. If a person is in prison, he doesn't wish for anything more than freedom, just to release into the world. He's not thinking that he wants to go on vacation. He's not thinking that he wants to buy a yacht. He's asking for the basics. Hashem didn't answer me with just the basics.
We weren't just simply refugees that were released from Mitzrayim. We were answered by Merachab with an incredible expanse. We became a Mamlechetz kohan in Vigo Fedosh. We were freed. We were not controlled by our masters anymore, and we became masters of time with the Mitzvah of Kiddush Chachodesh, right? Anani b'merchavka. And then we move on to Pasuk Vav and Zion. Hashem le.
I'm sorry.
Hashem is mine. And therefore I will not fear. Because after all, what can man do to me if I know that Hashem is mine? And Hashem Libo is right. Hashem is mine with all of the messengers and all of his helpers.
Therefore, I face my enemies. Or I can look at my enemies, or I could see something in my enemies. Hashem is mine. Command due to me. Hashem understands me. He knows me. He knows my pain. He knows my fears and my challenges. Maya Saliadam. What can man do to me? It's a rhetorical question, but the truth is that I can ask the question back and we can all ask the question back. What can man do to me? Haven't we seen what man can do to us? Right? Haven't we seen that? Haven't we seen that man can kidnap and man can torture and man can wreak havoc and bring massacres. We see it very clear. What do you mean?
Right? Well, on a surface level, this means that whatever happens, we know that Akadash Barkha will.
Something good will come out of it. And therefore whatever man does to me, I know that something better will come out of it. But I think that when we ask this question, what can man do to me? You know, we see that man can be cool. Of course man can do something to us, right? Man we saw very well on October 7th. We see this whole year during the war. We saw it during the Holocaust, right? And in everyday, not so dramatic terms, we live amongst men. We live in a society where we encounter challenges all of the time that are created by our fellow man, right?
They can cheat, they can steal, they can be dishonest, they can be insensitive, they can fire us, they can hire us. So what kind of question is Maya saliadam? Man really could harm us.
But I think that we can say, whatever challenges come my way, I hold on to Hashem as my God. And then man can act towards me or be the vehicle for my predicament. However, we have the ability to hold on to the lead, to the me. He can never take away our identities or change who I really am.
What could he really do to the inner essence? To my inner essence? My outer body may change with battle scars. My bank account may be depleted. My family lo alenu may be ripped away from me.
But what can. What, What. What can man really do to the lee to my inner essence? If I rely on Hashem and all of my reactions are determined by the lens of Hakadosh, Baruch hu, then Maya Sali, Adam. What can man really do to me? He can't take away my humanity, no matter how hard he tries.
We know that soldiers who have been maimed during this war, Ma ya Sali, they literally have lost limbs, horrific, horrific injuries. And what we see, the li coming out of them, they can't. They're their lead. Their essence can't be taken away. And they're asking incredible shyness because of their being maimed. How do I do tefillin? How do I do this? Right? They're taking on Mitzvahs after losing so much. Right? That's the li maya sali Adam man can't take my inner essence, my humanity away from me, despite what they do to me.
If I rely on Hashem, Hashem Lee, if Hashem is mine, then the man cannot take away my humanity.
I'll be able to face my enemies. I'll be able to look at my enemies and see in the future the downfall of my enemies and that they cannot break who I am. Anir Ebisanai, ever hear of Holocaust survivors saying that their biggest revenge is their survival and their families and the dore doras that they bring after that, Right? That's what you're looking at the enemies and saying, look, I'm looking at you. I'm going to see revenge in my enemies. The revenge is that I am still here and my essence has not been removed. During our current situations in Eretz Yisrael, you look at the chaylim that are taking a beating. They enter into a war zone. They may end their tour of duty, get relieved from their post, only to volunteer once again.
Hashem liba ozrai v'nir eb sonai maya salia dam. You can spew hatred and rockets and bullets, but I will do everything in my power to maintain my identity. And in the age of cancel culture, I think this is a timely message, isn't it? Where reality is transformed and distorted. Maya Sally, hold on to the lead.
Hold on to our heritage. Hold on to our personal stories. Hold on to our family stories, to our masorah. You know, sometimes my kids laugh because I may tell over the same stories over and over again of my parents, Alayhi shalom. Of my grandparents. The same way that I used to sort of roll my eyes at my parents when they told stories about their grandparents. I didn't know my maternal grandfather. I feel like I knew him because I heard so many stories about him. But those stories that you hear over and over again and we insist on repeating is the li. It's the essence of who we are. It's the essence of our personal and national heritage. And it will stay with our children so that they will pass it on to the next generation. It's the Torah, it's the masorah, it's the stories of our avos and imahos.
But unfortunately, sometimes that li, our identity is clouded by assimilation and lack of education.
But the lee, the identity surfaces for so many non affiliated Jews. We saw this, this whole year. It surfaces. We saw it surface after October 7, where people that were completely unaffiliated, were taking on mitzvahs, were taking on fila. We're taking on different things because you know, what? They can try to take and hurt me, but Maya sell liadom. What is? What is. What can they do to me? What can. They can't take away the essence of me, even if it's deeply hidden. There's a story that Rabbi Ginsburg tells of Yossila, the Jew, who is known to be a dishonest swindler and a thief. And he was rounded up with the rest of his village in Krakow during the Holocaust.
And he was uneducated, he wasn't well versed, and he wasn't particularly religious. And he was known to be a thief and a swindler. Very low regard. Everybody had very low regard with him. But he was rounded up with the rest of the townspeople. And the Germans made the people in the town step and trample and dance on top of sifre Torah from the shoal. They were spread out and they were forced at gunpoint to trample and desecrate the sifre Torah. And the people, unfortunately, had no recourse but to do as they were told. And here, Yossila the swindler refused to comply with the desecration of the Torah. And the Germans put butt of their. Of his gun. One of the Germans put the butt of his gun at the chest of Yassaleh and said, dance now or I shoot you now. And Yasselah refused. He opened up his shirt to reveal his chest, and he said, you could shoot right here, but I will not trample upon God's Torah. The rub of the town instructed the chevron to bury Yassala in the area reserved for rabbanim. And he said, what an honor it would be for me to be able to rest eternally beside someone who died. Al kiddush hashem.
We move on to Adam. Tov la chem.
It's better to rely on hashem than rely on man. It's better to rely on hashem than relying on dignitaries, because others may feign friendship, they may ally themselves with us, they may seem to want to help us because it seems politically expedient, but they will turn their backs on us at the very next moment. We know at the end of the day, we cannot rely on man or alliances or promises from other countries or other dignitaries.
Right? We saw that during the Holocaust. We see that today where the United States is, you know, you know, sort of teetering.
But what we do is what we say is the enemies we rely on, right? And even if we look at the next Pasuk kol goyim sabavuni. All of the nations are surrounding me.
I call out of the name of Hashem and I will cut them down with the name of Hashem.
This is three times we say it.
They can surround me and they can surround me like bees. The enemies that may be far away, the enemies that may fight us from the comforts of their chair in front of their computers, spewing misinformation and blood libels, or controlling drones or incendiary devices. Or they may surround me up close like bees Savuni kidavo rim right on top of me and threaten bodily harm directly with knives, with fires, as we saw Lowellenu saw. Or the enemy doesn't care about their own welfare and is only focused on attacking us like a bee that dies after it stings. We know all too well the suicide terrorists and those that use their own families, their children, as human shields, right? There's no regard for their own lives, let alone our lives. How do we fight such an enemy? How do we combat such an enemy? The shame Hashem with the shame of Hashem. Like we combat that enemy with knowing that whatever we do, it is v'shein Hashem. This is what we sing about. We sing about the enemies of David's past. We sing about our past victories. We're in the cross hairs and we transport ourselves and relive the nightmares. We relive it and we also relive the victories. D'chode chisani lin po, the Hashem Azarani and Pasaku gimel. We thought that we would be falling. We were pushed and we thought there would be nothing left of us. We were pushed into the abyss of hopelessness. We thought we could never come out. We thought we would never see the nachos. We thought we would never find a shira for our children. We thought we would never find the refua or the right school or the right job. We felt helpless with sleepless nights. So this is the hallel of national victories. But it's also we can superimpose our own personal victories, right? Because some of these words were said by David Hamelech, by Fizkiyahu, some say by Daniel after being thrown into the lion's den. It's our national hallel. And when we think about our past victories, we can personalize it and think about our own victories.
Azivism.
What is our response? Our response is that we sing, right? We sing at times of Joy.
And we take that joy and that song and we channel it and we focus that song not in a haphazard and not in a random manner where we might lose maybe some of ourselves or some decorum and lose some of our discipline, but we take that song and we sing where? Baahalay Sadiqim. In the tents of the righteous, we create an environment of an oh hell of a tent that protects us through the influence, through the teachings, through the models of our sadikim. And didn't we just read in this week's Parsha, Parshas told us about Yaakov. How is Yaakov described? How was Yaakovina described? He was described as in Ishtam Yosem, right? He sat in the tents. And Rashi explains that it means that he dwelt dwelled in the tents of shame the aver. He learned from shame the aver. And similarly we may have learned, we learned from Yaakov that although we may move from place to place in our Golas and we need to pitch many, many tents in one place or another place, right? We know that dwelling in the oh hell of Torah is what really gives us our continuity. It is the oh hell that allows us to remain a distinct people. That's the secret of our survival. That even though the oh hell that we are in, it seems to be temporary. And throughout the generations the Jews had to move from one place to another. There wasn't stability. What gave them that stability. The oho was temporary, but within that ohel was the Torah. It was the Kol Kol Yaakov, right? It was that Kol Yaakov which leads to Kolrinav Yeshua ba Sadiqim. The model that we see in this week's Parasha was Yakovinu, who was an Ishtan Yosem. And then we move to.
I don't want to die. I'm not going to die. Hashem said saved me because in death I can't praise, right? It's not up to me.
This is really our battle cry because we have a regard for human life. It's not up to me to determine when someone's life is viable or not. It's not up to me to determine when Chas v'sholem a life can be terminated because of what we perceive as non productive lives. It's not up to medical councils or insurance companies to decide.
It's up to Hakadosh. Baruch Hu gave us a life. The chahim, right? The chem. And we see this in this Week's par. Also, what did Yitzcha do right before his death?
What does he do? He plans for the continuity of the Jewish people. And I saw this idea by Rabbi Rosner. He plans for the continuity of the Jewish people. That's what he does when he's contemplating death and moving to the olam hammers. What does Esav do when he thinks he's going to die? Right.
Why do I want this bechorah? Right. The end of Yitzchak's life was filled with purpose and passing on the masorah. The end of Ace, of what Asaph thought was the end of his life was his last fling. Let me get my last licks. As Jews, we know that is how we go about life, that even though we know we go into the olam hams, right, in olama ms, we won't be able to say in death, we can't really praise Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But the truth is that sadikim Astam, Misasam, Karim Chaim, that sadiqim who leave live a legacy when they die, they are also called living. And while they can't physically praise Hashem, they can't physically do mitzvahs. The legacy that they leave is really the praise that they are giving. Ha.
This song continues and it seems to be, we're coming to the crescendo to the high point, and we go to Pak. We're going to skip to Pasakyotes.
So if we imagine a celebration, we imagine an entourage of the king, perhaps and his people coming up to the base Hamikdash, as the Malbob contends. Right. You can imagine imagine going up to the base Hamikdash singing the song, and then he gets to the gates and he says, open up the gates of Sharetzedek of. Of the right. The gates of the justice, representing the gates of Yerushalayim, which is known as an ir, the gates of the right. Open up the gate so I can praise Hashem. And then perhaps responsibly, yes, this is a.
And sadikim come in and come out. They're constantly coming. Open up the gates. Right? What is a Sha? A is a portal. It's a place of transition that connects us from one entity to another. Right? So we, the Sha is that shah where we are connecting. Perhaps we are connecting Olam Hazel with olam Habak. We are connecting Gashmius with Rukhniyas. Everything we do in this world is we can use to elevate. We can use everything physical in this world to serve Hakadosh, Baruch Hul. It's a transition. A Sha is a transition to move from one place to the next. And even if we don't have the physical gates to go through to the Beis Hamikdash, we know that we all build a mikdash within ourselves, within our families, our shuls, our mikdash.
Let our gates be open and accepting of the messages of Hallel, accepting the messages of our tzadikim. Let our tzadikim right Zehashar la hashem tzadikim Yavo uvo. Let our tzadikim the stories and the legacies of our forefathers Yavo UVO come and come again. And now we say, I thank you, Hashem, that you have answered me and that I have had a salvation. Or there's another very beautiful explanation by the Malvim is I thank you. Anissani literally means to answer. But it could also mean affliction, like lechemoni, right? So the Malvin says, I thank you even though any sunny you have afflicted me, because that very affliction has brought me to a salvation, right? Even though you have afflicted me, those challenges brought me to a better place.
Sometimes I see the logic and the reasons, and honestly, most times we don't. But I know that challenges can bring something better. It changes me, it challenges me, it strengthens me somehow, says David Hamelech. This is the song of the future, right? This is the song of the time of Mashiach. When we say right, Sheer hamalz peshuva sheva shiva tzion hayinu kecholmim. We'll look back at all of the trials that we had and it will be as if we had just had a dream.
David is an example. He was chased and ostracized and suspected by his own family. Yet those challenges made him who he was. It contributed to his humility. It made him worthy of being David Melech Yisrael. And it brought us safer to Hillim. And then we moved. We're going to skip to.
No, we're not actually skipping, going to Rosh Pina, that stone that was rejected, that was mistaken for garbage. Whether it was David Hamelch who was rejected by his own family, but then accepted. And I have that source for you, beautiful Midrash and source number five. But I'm not going to read it inside. If you'd like, you can look at it. David was old, was rejected. He was out in the field. No one Ever fought for a second second that he could be king. And yet he was. He was anointed by Shmuel. And then everybody had to agree and everybody had to acknowledge, wow, Evan Lasso. This is the stone that we rejected. And now not only is he accepted, but he is the Rosh Pina. He's the cornerstone. Or it represents all of Claude, who the world wants nothing more than to eradicate us. That Evan. And that's we. That's sourced in the red Doc, but in interest of time, I'm not going to read it. It's in source 6 that even not only were we considered not worthy of being part of the internal structure, right? We. They didn't even want us to be part of, like, the, you know, the basic wall, right? They didn't want us at all. But what will happen?
Not only are we going to be part of the actual structure of that building, but we will be the Rosh Pina. We will be elevated, right? What does the posse tell us? What does Beratious Bara Elohim? Why is the world created voracious? It's for Claudius, Ralph. And what's going to happen in the time of Mashiach? That all the nations will realize that we are racist. We are evin that even that was rejected. We will now be the Rosh Pina.
And we move to the end of Hallel, where we say again, it's the closure of the Halal. We opened up with Hodu lashem k Tov. And we end with Hodu lashem Ki tov ki leolam hasto. We end off where we began. It's the final pasak of rejoicing, of Hashem's salvation. It's Hashem. It's bringing the carbon to. Right, Kaylee?
It's bringing the carbon to. Hallel is the great symphony, right? It's the panoramic view of Claudia's history. It's the past, present, and future. It's a celebration of what was. It's a celebration of who we are, right? Of what our identity is. And it's a celebration and a peek into the future when we will be rejoicing during the time of Mashiach. And I want to end by reading to you. It's a beautiful piece by the Orgadalia in Source number seven. And he says, remember, we began with this idea that he says, in the future, Rosh Chodesh will be a had. And he says so beautifully in the middle. I underlined it for you.
This is why he says, we say Hallel and We skip it, right? The dilug. We skip, skip it on Rosh Chodesh Shebanei, Israel this is so beautiful. Yeis lahem hakoach ledaleg al haasid. Because we have the ability to skip and look into the future. Isn't that what we do? When we look at the moon, we see a sliver, but we know that beyond that sliver is the full moon, right?
Why do we say Hallel? This is a conceptual idea. It's not a halachic idea that even though it's not Yontif, she has.
Because the Yontif of Rosh Chodesh, he says, will be in the future.
What do we do? We are drawing in that light from the future, and we're tapping in to that future light now, today on Rosh Chodesh, Kislev Zahim Omrim Hallel. And that's with this koach, we say Hallelujah because for basic, there is a difference between the future and present, right? We can't meld the two.
But with respect to a Kadish, Baruch Hashem looks at past, present, future. It's one entity, right? It's not past, it's not present future. It's. It is, right? That's what Hashem is, right? That's the Shem Havaya, that everything is connected, right?
Therefore, we have. We tap into some of it, right? We get. It's almost like there's some rays and we can feel or we can tap into some of it on Rosh Potter, some of that power of the future of Rosh Chodesh in the now, in the present.
Because remember, we referenced that minhug that we skip part of Rosh Chodesh and we do it for Halachak reasons. But he's saying, again, it's an ideological reason, even though Rosh Chodesh is not a Yontif. But. And according to the Ichor Hadin, we don't say Hallelujah.
We're talking about the sanctity or the. We're tapping into the nefesh of man.
We can tap into them some of that power from. In the future.
And with this we are able to say Hallel. So Emirates Hashem, may we really to see the moon restored to its former glory. We will be able to see Claudius Garden as the racist, as the. The pinnacle of creation. And may the words of that we said today come to fruition.
May Hashem establish a new Mizbeach v'rosh Chodesh na alela so that we could bring a carbon For Rosh Chodesh on this Mizbeah and it continues.
May we be able to go up to Yerushalayim in song that we be able to go up to Yerushalayim with Simcha and we should be able to say.
I'm stepping back.
That we should be able to hear those songs. Those songs, those praises of hallel that David Hamelech wrote. May we be able to hear them sung in the streets of Yerushalayim so that we can bring the Karba Musaf on the Mizbeach and Amir to Hashem. May we see the fruition of all of this. May all of you have a Chodesh Tov and may we see much Yeshuos for all of Claudia. Have a good evening and a Kodesh Tov.
[00:56:03] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Aviva. Just before I open it up, there was one question. I don't know if you saw it on the chat.
[00:56:09] Speaker A: I did not know.
[00:56:10] Speaker B: Okay. Does why is Base Aaron specifically associated with bias? Shaney.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: So I think that has to do with the Hashmonaim. That's what the Svarno says. I think it has to do with the Hashmaim. I'm going to look it up. If you want, I can respond to you, but I'm pretty sure that's what what the Svarno says because of the Hashmonaim during the second Beis Hamikdash.
I'm going to look it up for you. Hold on. If you want to give me a minute, I can look up the full. I believe that's what the Sparno says. Any other questions?
[00:56:42] Speaker B: Okay. Any other questions? Nothing on the chat.
[00:56:48] Speaker A: I have a question, actually. I hope I can answer.
[00:56:52] Speaker C: I'm sure you can. First of all, it's very good to see you. And I miss that. Used to give Von Kellum on Zoom.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: Oh, thank you.
[00:57:00] Speaker C: So one is, I think of when someone would build an arch in the Middle east, it comes to a. An arch and then there's a stone.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: A keystone, which is put on a keystone. Yes, exactly.
[00:57:16] Speaker C: And that stone keeps it holy. If you remove that stone, the whole thing would fall down. Which is the idea of Evan Mosel, by the way.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: That's exactly what Radak says, actually. Yeah. Oh, okay.
[00:57:27] Speaker C: So the comment has nothing to do with this. I notice it says, well, when we say Adon Aram, we say Hashem leave a loira of learning. What is the connection that this particular part of Hale is one of the first things that we say in the morning from Adon Alam and I don't know if you have any information about that. And if not, where would I look?
[00:57:50] Speaker A: I don't know. But there's a lot of echoes. I mean, there's echoes of as yashir in the Halal too, right? There's, I mean the, I mean, not much, much of Tehillam. You see echoes in different parts of Tanakh. So it's not unusual. It's one of the ikriya muna and embedded within the, the, the psukim of Tehillim are different concepts that we see throughout Tanakh.
[00:58:08] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: Any other questions?
[00:58:15] Speaker B: Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Aviva and Chodesh Tov to yes, everybody. And some new, new insights into saying hello on Rosh Chodesh.
[00:58:26] Speaker A: Yep. Thank you so much, Aviva. It's always inspirational. Take care. Have a good fodish, everybody. All the.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: Good night, everybody.
[00:58:42] Speaker C: Thank you so much. Andrea. Beautiful.
Thank you.
