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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Ladies, good evening. Chodesh Tov. Almost Chodesh Tov.
[00:00:04] I am very excited to be learning together tonight we are going to be learning Yom Shilishi, the third day of creation.
[00:00:15] It is always a pleasure and really an honor to be able to share with Msura Baltimore. Definitely a real favorite speaking opportunity in this amazing, amazing community.
[00:00:25] Okay, that sounds. Source sheet is up in front. Can everybody see it? Might need to be made a little bit larger, maybe only up to. Only on my screen possibly is everyone able to see the source sheet. Okay, amazing.
[00:00:38] We actually going to start with these pictures here that are at the top of the sheet. And these are pictures, I think one of them I took the other couple I found on the Internet. When I first trained to become a tour guide.
[00:00:53] One of the highlights of the training was that we got to experience different parts of Erit Yisrael. We'd be taken on trips all around Eret Israel and we'd be led by different experts in their fields, learning about the different parts of the country, different geological formations, really top to bottom archaeologists. And it was actually one of our first trips that we were taken to the area of the Dead Sea.
[00:01:16] And we were led round by a geologist whose really his life work for the last four, 45 years. And he is really an expert in his field, Dr. Eliraz, on the geology of the area around the Dead Sea. And one of the things that he has spent a lifetime studying since, well, it's not such a lifetime, but since 1981, where they first appeared were the sinkholes that appear around the Dead Sea. And these are three pictures at the top of the page over here are images of these sinkholes. I don't know if anyone can picture that drive. As you drive from Yerushalayim, first you drive east along Route 1 and then you make that sharp turn along Route 90 and you start driving down all the way. It's the most beautiful, beautiful drive. You're driving with the mountains of the Mitbara Yehuda, the Judean mountains on your right side and the jutting out right next to the stark white, beautiful mountains. And on your left side you have the sparkling blue Yamamelak that accompanies you.
[00:02:20] I'm sure many people remember how close up to the road the Yamhamelach used to be and now how far out it actually goes. Now it's receded enormously.
[00:02:28] But if you can picture that drive, and maybe next time you take that drive, take a look out and you'll notice appearing in the road are These on the side of the road, I'm sorry, hundreds and hundreds of these sinkholes.
[00:02:42] Now, what happens is, and I'm not a geologist, but I'll very quickly share what seems to have happened is as the Dead Seas receded and the sweet water, the regular water that comes running off the mountains and actually underneath the mountains, comes running off underneath the mountains. It's hitting the ground, it's hitting the rock underneath, and it's starting to dissolve the rock underneath on the shore of the Dead Sea.
[00:03:06] And the salt rock, which is mostly salt rock, is slowly dissolving, leaving a layer of top rock on top.
[00:03:14] Now, this top rock is not all that thick.
[00:03:18] And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this top rock can suddenly collapse in on itself, and it leaves you with this massive, gaping sinkhole. And since 1981, these sinkholes have steadily been appearing.
[00:03:30] And our guide, the expert Eliraz, was telling us about his own personal experiences as geologists in this area, really marking up and trying to understand what these sinkholes were. And he said on one occasion, he, who's really an expert in this area certainly matches up with Parshas Karach, that's for sure. But he said he was out one day, and he said I was foolish. I didn't take proper precautions. And, you know, even though I felt I was an expert in the area, he was walking out in the desert. He had a small bottle of water with him, some pen and some paper, and he was out for a day of work, just marking off where he was starting to see cracks forming so that he could report back to the government. And all of a sudden, he's walking on a flat piece of land and the ground completely caved in under him, and he found himself falling many, many feet into one of these sinkholes. Of course, he had no idea that there was a sinkhole under here. What to him felt like firm land that he was walking on turned out to be just a very thin layer of earth on top of a sinkhole. And he found himself trapped in that sinkhole without a phone in the middle of the desert for over 12 hours until he was discovered. So he said he was very ashamed of himself, that he hadn't taken the proper precautions. But this, I think, is an unbelievable, unbelievable message.
[00:04:42] We are about to learn Yom Shlishi, the third day of creation. And we're going to start by going through the Pasukim, and we're going to see the two things that are created on this day. We'll lamp shaft first, and then we'll Take a little bit of a deeper look into trying to understand what are the messages for us today of these things that were created on Am Yom Shlishlisi. So we can start by going through the pasukim on the sheet over here.
[00:05:08] Let's see if I can make it bigger for myself. For some reason I can't seem to be able to.
[00:05:13] Is everyone able to? Oh, oh, there we go. Okay. Is everyone able to see it?
[00:05:17] Yeah. Okay. Amazing. So we'll start with the Vayomer Elokim and Hakadish Baruch Hu said Yikavu Hamayim. Let the waters gather under the heavens to one place that the dry lands may appear.
[00:05:35] And it was so.
[00:05:36] So what we have over here is that the waters that were on Earth, that were covering Earth, we know on day two, Hakadosh Baruch had already split the waters into the higher waters and the lower waters. And now on day three, we have the lower waters are being separated or rather gathered into one place, so the dry land might appear. Vayikra Elokim Next pass the Kakados. Baruch calls that La Ya Basha to the dry land. And he gives it a name, Eret.
[00:06:00] And to this gathering of water, Karayamim he calls it sees Vayar Elokim Ki Tov and Hakadosh Baruch Hu saw that it was good.
[00:06:10] Okay, Beautiful. By the way, this is very noticeable, Kitov that it was good because yesterday on Yom Shanei, on day two of creation, there was no Vayar Elokim. Kitov does not say at all that Akadosh Baruch Hu saw that it was good. So this is a fasting that we have created. On this day we have the waters are given their area and the land is given its area. And the Pasukin continued. The day continues. I'm sorry to shift up a little. Yeah. Thank you. Vayomer Elokem and Hakadish Baruch Hu says to Dashe ha' Arad Desha. Let this now, this earth that we now have bring forth. Esav Mazria Zerah seed bearing plants, 8th Paris trees, fruit trees of every kind.
[00:06:53] Every kind of zarabo whose seed is in it. Allah aret upon the lands Vayehi chayn. And it was so.
[00:07:01] And now the earth brings forth its vegetation. Esav Mazri Azera seed bearing plants, each one of its kind, Veet osepri and trees of every kind with their fruit. Ashazarabo whose seeds are in it. The lumino of their kind, Bayar Elokim Kitov and Hakadosh Baruch who sees that it's good. Oh my gosh, Pa' am Kitov. Tuesday has two Kitovs on it. We'll have to understand a little bit later what again the messages of there being two times the word Kitov is mentioned on this day. Vayihi erev vayihi voker yom shlici. It was evening and it was daytime. And this completes the third day of creation. So we see very clearly two massive things have been created. The waters have been gathered into their area, the land has risen up and we now have dry land. On that dry land, Hakadosh Baruch Huzzah commanded to bring forth see fruit bearing trees and plants and vegetation. And this all takes place and it is key to twice.
[00:07:59] Okay, let us go back into part one of the day and understand exactly what the messages are of dry lands being created.
[00:08:12] And we'll start with a pirke of Derebi, Eliezer, a really, really early, early source and early Medrash, probably written by Velazar Ben Hyrkanus, who was a tall mother of Yohan and Ben Zakai and one of the main rebbes of Rabbi Akiva. He writes this beautiful, beautiful, very, very early Medrash. We're not going to read through the whole medish, but he tells us, and he reminds us that has already been that.
[00:08:39] Okay, well we'll go through the medish together.
[00:08:43] He's going to describe that on the third day all of the earth was flat like a plain and the waters covered the entire surface of the earth.
[00:08:54] Water covering the entire surface of the earth.
[00:09:00] Commands goes forth.
[00:09:02] Let the waters be gathered.
[00:09:11] The mountains and the hills rose from all over and, and they rose up and they allowed the waters then to gather together into their areas.
[00:09:21] And they made these deep areas altocha aret in the midst of the land. And it's galgalu hamayim vanikavula'. Amakim. The water sort of rolls into it and it's gathered. The waters are gathered in this valley, as it says on these gatherings of water. It was called seas.
[00:09:41] So this is really what takes place. I'm actually going to read the rest of it in English because part one says pericate de revealeaza. It's actually two stages of the forming of dry lands. Stage one is that you have a world that is completely covered in water. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu now tells the water, gather yourself into one area and in order for it to do so, the world has to start forming mountains and hills, and the water itself begins to gather into its specific areas. And those that become those are called the seas. But there's another part to it says Perk Durabiliesa, and that is that naturally water should continue to flow past its boundaries.
[00:10:27] Water is gathered in the areas. But who says the water should stop and stay in that own, its own area?
[00:10:32] The water, by its nature flows everywhere. And therefore, part two of forming dry lands and water is that Akadosh Baruch Hu makes basically boundaries. He makes a seashore where he sort of makes his boundary and gavule that he doesn't allow the water to pass by its borders. So part one, Akadosh Baruch Hu has the waters gathered into one place to be called seas. And the dry land becomes, you know, becomes apparent. We have dry land now and the water has its position. And part two, though, is that Akadosh Baruch Hunter sets up boundaries that as much as the water might want to completely continue to cover and to flow and do what water does best, which is flow. Hakadish Baruch Hu put into place sandbanks. Hakodesh Baruch Hu puts into place seashores, preventing the water from continuing to flow.
[00:11:23] Let's take a little bit of a deeper look to the messages of exactly what was going on over here.
[00:11:31] The Ramban tells us, if you continue down the source sheet, we're going to see the Ramban points out something incredible. And it's something that we completely take for granted. And again, it's something that will go back to the story that I shared at the beginning.
[00:11:43] We completely take for granted that I'm walking on dry land and I assume the land is firm underfoot. And yet, says the Ramban, I think you have to keep going a little bit more on the source sheet. Thank you so, so much for doing this.
[00:11:59] We're not going to go through the whole of the Ramban because the Ramban has a slightly different opinion at the beginning as to exactly how the dry lands. Thank you. Was created. But we'll go with the second part of the Ramban. If you can find from the words.
[00:12:13] Sorry. Yeah, there we go. You got it.
[00:12:15] If we go from the words.
[00:12:19] And these were 2 degrees and these are 2 decrees. Sorry. Were done by the will of Hashem and they were completely opposite of their nature because we have to understand for it fitting that dirt to honor the dirt and degrade the water. What does he mean? He means that if you would take in a science experiment, if you would take water and if you would take earth and you put them into one jug together, you put them into one ball together, which one is going to naturally rise to the bottom and which one is going to rise to the top?
[00:12:49] Of course the clump of earth is going to rise, it's going to sink to the bottom and of course the water is going to rise to the top. And yet what did Hakadah Sparruch Hu do when he created the world? He completely reversed it. Hakadish Baruch Hu allowed this massive clump of earth called dry land to sit on top of a layer of water.
[00:13:07] And again, we completely take for granted when I put my foot down on the ground that there's not going to be water there, that I'm not going to put my foot down, I'm squelch going to find myself on water. Rather, Hakadosh Baruch Hu allowed that there will be dry lands completely against its nature sitting on top a layer of water. And if you continue down the saw sheet, we will see something amazing. We actually reference this every single day.
[00:13:37] It was. First of all we should we. It's one of the Kilianum Hastos. We say this in. It's in Tehilan 136 Pasak Vav Laroka Aretz AL Hamayim Hakadosh Baruch Hu who spreads the earth over the water. Kiliolam Hasdo. It's a sign of his steadfast love for us. It's a sign of his eternal taking care of us. And the radat there says it so beautifully. Rav David Kimchi says olam. This is a throwback, a memory of Briasa olamukhla. It's a complete and absolute chesed of Akadish Baruch Huto shabatel tevahamayim. That Akadish Baruch Hu allowed nature, the nature of water to be mevat al. The nature of water would have been to flow on top.
[00:14:20] The nature of water would have been to go completely on top of the land as it was in the beginning, before Hakadosh Baruch Hu allowed the dry land to come forth.
[00:14:30] It's in his complete kindness set the waters up in one place and made the land there. And apparently we can see that life could and vegetation could live on top of the land. And again we reference this every single day.
[00:14:49] If you continue going on with the source sheet, we know that in the morning, in our morning brachos.
[00:14:56] Oh, maybe not yet, sorry. In our morning Brahms, we wake up and we say and we have this beautiful list of brachas that Chazal set up for us now. Now, truthfully, we only said at a point where we're ready and we're dressed and we're starting our day, or if person's going to shul, they'll say it in shul. But actually, the way Chazal set these brachos up is that they are meant to be said in the orders that we are experiencing them. So if we very quickly go through it, a person is lying in their beds and all of a sudden they have that moment where they finally feel their brain coming back to work. Sudden awareness is taking place at that moment. Really, a person should turn around and say, bari olam. Thank you for my brain. And that's the bracha of wow. I have a brain that works. When a person does that and their eyes flicker open in the morning. Whoa. Poke.
[00:15:42] I have eyes that can see. You become aware that you're wrapped in some clothing. You're wearing something. Wow. Malbish Arumim. You move around in your bed. You're aware that you have the ability to move. Matirasurayim. You sit up in your bed.
[00:15:56] I have a back that is straight. I can move my spine and is working. And you put your feet down on the ground.
[00:16:06] We reference this Hakadush Baruch Hu. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I take it for granted that I put my feet down on the ground beneath. My feet are solid. It doesn't make sense that it's like that. And every morning and I was thinking about how unbelievable it is a bracha that I certainly speed through. It's not a bracha that I feel deeply connected to because of course I take it for granted. But can you imagine if we had every moment a second of awareness? This makes no sense. Ki li oylam hasta rabbonishalam. That I could put my feet on the ground and that I'm not afraid that my feet are going to sink into the ground. And it doesn't make sense that dry land should go on top of water. Another moment of feeding. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's hug.
[00:16:47] I'm here. I am.
[00:16:52] I'm constantly, every moment recreating and ensuring that creation is taking place.
[00:16:59] So this really is stage one of what it means with the of what happens on day three and how we really tap back into that moment of creation of day three. And Akadosh Baruch Hud made this nais reversing nature.
[00:17:15] And we feel it every single day.
[00:17:17] But of course, it goes much deeper than that. Okay. We all remember, I'm sure, the different Amatsu tsunamis that have taken place. I actually can't remember the year it was a year it happens. 2004, maybe five, six. Around that time, I think, was the last really catastrophic tsunami that took place, I think, in Indonesia area where many, I really think in the hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
[00:17:45] Now, we take it for granted. We go to a beach. I'm sure everybody here goes to a beach and enjoys sitting there and enjoys watching the waves sort of rolling in and the loud sounds of the waves. And the waves come in and they go out again. It's actually a very, very soothing sound. The very soothing feeling of watching the waves coming, crashing into the shore and then sort of trickling right back out again.
[00:18:12] And the Safer Labocarena tells us something so beautiful that what is it that is so deeply satisfying that feels so good about watching the crashing waves on the seashore? It's a sense that usually, and yes, there are tsunamis where it breaks nature. And every time there's a tsunami and it breaks, and we realize this isn't like water does want to flow everywhere, but we again take it for granted that the water flows in and flows back out again. Flows back in and flows back out. And so the La Boque arena tells us that the reason it's so satisfying to watch that is because we.
[00:18:46] We have this inner feeling of how Kaddish Baruch will set up the world with boundaries.
[00:18:51] We understand that we. On a normal day, we can expect the waves to come in and then the waves to go right back out again. And there's a good feeling inside of us that with all the bedlam of Balagan that sometimes goes on in the world, we know there's a creator and he's set up in the world boundaries. And again, that was part two. If we go back to what Pirke de Rabelieza said first, our conch Baruch was separated the water out that there'd be a dry land and a. And an area of water. Barakadosh Baruch Hu also set into place boundaries that the water doesn't just flow everywhere, even though it makes sense that it should. So part two of day two, sorry, of day three, Message two of day three and message two. That's very meaningful for us, is that we remember and we're grateful to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for setting up boundaries in the world and how necessary these boundaries are in nature and how necessary these boundaries are in our Own lives set up in teva boundaries. We too are supposed to set up boundaries in our own lives. Also.
[00:19:53] There was one time. No, sorry. There are three times in safer.
[00:20:00] Are they all.
[00:20:02] No, there are three times in the Torah. Okay, going to say safer bracious. But it's not just in safer. There are three times in the Torah where we sense that this balance of water staying, it's where it's meant to stay. And dry land doing its thing somehow gets changed over.
[00:20:21] There are three times we sort of unpick this moment of the third day of creation.
[00:20:27] One of them very obviously is going to be the marble.
[00:20:31] The second one is going to obviously be kriyas yamsif, splitting of the yamsif. The third one, which is a little more subtle is this last source on the page where Yaakov Avinu, where he's giving a bracha to Ephraim and Manasha. He says Avraham vizha. We're more interested in the last few words. He says.
[00:20:59] They should multiply, they should become in their many. But we obviously know the word vayudgu is a reference to fish. Fish.
[00:21:06] They should become like fish bekerev ha' aret in the midst of the land, which doesn't really make so much sense because as far as I know, fish don't live in the land at all. Fish live in the water. So again, here we have this very subtle moment of where water and dry land, the. The creation of day three becomes a little bit off.
[00:21:27] So let's go in order and try and understand what. What these three things are supposed to teach us. The smubble, the splitting of the yamsuf and Vayitz Gula wrote the Kerr for Art. The message Yahuwah was giving not just Ephraim and Manasseh, but every single Jew who's like an Ephraim and Menashe, who grows up in a gullahs and lives in a gullus, how to be like a fish, a water animal living on dry land. So let's go back by describing a little bit this concept. It's a little bit more deep, the idea of there being four elements in the world. Hakadosh Baruch hu set up the world with four elements. There's fire, wind, earth and water.
[00:22:07] And each of these really represent different Midos.
[00:22:13] And a person is meant to ute a person. And again, there's a beautiful safer mishkan evner which goes into detail how a person, each of us are somehow more connected to one of these different elements. And how we are supposed to. Within each of these elements, there's a very, very positive side and also a very, very negative side. So I'm going to just talk about water. That's our topic tonight.
[00:22:38] The element of water is connected to the character trait of being full of taiva, full of desire.
[00:22:46] Now, taiva is a beautiful, wonderful thing. Without taiver, the world wouldn't go round.
[00:22:52] We know that at one point Chazal davened for a taiver to be lessened in the world for Gilara. And it wasn't very useful. There was no chickens, there were no eggs. Taiver is a very, very important and necessary ingredient to the world. But taiver, like water, goes everywhere. There has to be reined in. There has to be boundaries put in place. With Taiver, it's necessary, it's life giving. But boundaries have to be put in place.
[00:23:18] There was one time or a period of time where the world had lost its boundaries, Legumre. Where the entire world had become so corrupt that even the animals were doing the most immoral things. There was tyre filling every single corner of the earth. Ironically, there was one species of animal that was not affected by that at all, and that was the fish who do not die out. But the marble comes along to destroy the world. When the world has stopped putting into place boundaries to deal with water, to deal with taiver. So that's the first time we experience water being used to destroy the world. When water, when taiver hasn't been put into place.
[00:24:02] Let's go to the Kriyas Yamsu. And again, I'm sure everybody can imagine where we're going with this. We have amnestral standing at the yam. And the yam has no intention of splitting. Why would I split? In fact, the yam turns around to Moshe, Rabbeinu is like, you're telling me to split. It's a great, great, great medrash. The yam says to Moshe, you're telling me what to do, My friend, you were created on day six, I was created on day three. Let me do my thing. You do your thing, I'll do my thing. I'm not splitting.
[00:24:27] And then, says the Gemara, what happens? The yam sees the arono shall Yosef, the coffin of Yosef. And the yam says, oh, oh, I'll split for that. Why? Vayar hayam vayanas. Why did the sea split? Because there was a man called Yosef who was filled with taiva, Healthy, normal taiva.
[00:24:50] And day after day after day, there was a woman who came enticed him, and day after day, he held himself back. We only remember that last day when he pulled himself away. But this was ongoing for years in Potiphar's house, that he held himself in check and he put his boundaries in place.
[00:25:08] And the sea says, for a person that can put boundaries in place like that and not give in to their taiver, I will do what seas don't do. I will split. It's in his zuchus. I will stop flowing. And the merit of the person who knew how to put personal boundaries in place, that's time number two, where the sea didn't do its thing because of the Mida of Taiba.
[00:25:30] How do we understand? And I think this third idea is exceptionally beautiful because it really resonates with us today. Day.
[00:25:38] What does it mean? What was Yakov Ovinu saying to Ephraim and Manasseh? And like I said, essentially to every single Jew who grows up in gullus and lives their life in gullus, I want you to be like a fish on dry land.
[00:25:54] There are two parallel worlds. There's the world of the yam and there's the world of the aretz. There's the world of the dry land, and there's the world of the water and the Gemara. And Chilen tells us it's over there at the bottom of the page, ton of Rabban. And our rabbis teach kolshi yesh bay, yabasha yesh bayam. They're literally two parallel worlds that exist. Everything that you find on dry land, you also find in the water. But what's the difference between dry land and water?
[00:26:19] Dry land, everything is obvious. It's a revealed world. The water world is a hidden world.
[00:26:26] It's a world where fish can exist. It's a world where ayin hara fish have no ayin hara on them. It's a world where everything is under. You're sort of in secret, covered over, not, not revealed.
[00:26:41] The life of a Jew really is a life of an. Should really be a life of a fish underwater. In fact, it's very reminiscent of that fabulous gemara where Papa Ben Yehuda turns around to Rabbi Akiva and says to him, akiva, what are you doing? Teaching Torah. You're going to get killed for this. And Rabia Kiva says, I know, but Tori is my life. And Papa Ben Yehuda says, but don't you know where this is going to take you? You're going to get killed for teaching Torah. I'm telling you, stop it. Rabbi Akiva turns around and says, I thought you were a smart man, but let me tell you, a mushle, it's a mushroom of fox and a fish. And a fox is walking by the river, and he sees a little fishy swimming. And he says, fishy, fishy. Why are you swimming all the time? You look like you're so desperate. And the fish says, yes, of course I'm desperate. I'm desperately swimming away from the fisherman's net. And the fox says, I put fish. Come, let me just scoop you out of the water and you can come and live on dry land with me and you'll be very safe. When the fish says, you still eat fox, I thought you were a smart creature. It's true. If I were on dry land, I won't be caught by the fishermen, but I'll be dead because fish need water to live. I won't survive for one moment out of the water. And Rabiakiva says, papa's Ben your hood. It's true, if I stop teaching Torah, I might not get caught by the Romans. But Torah is my life. I'm a fish. I need to swim in the world of the world of Torah. So really, a Jew would like to exist swimming in the underground, the hidden world, the world of kulotova kulotoyra, you know, no eyes on us, just, no, we're not being sholaked by Ayin hara. But that's not reality.
[00:28:06] That's not reality. A Jew has to learn how to maintain their bubble of Torah and maintain their bubble of Yiddishkeit, but at the same time manage to live in the world outside, to live on dry land.
[00:28:23] Experienced that for one moment, if you remember. And this goes up on the source above us. When we crossed the Yamsa, we had that moment. And it's so beautiful when you see it in the Pasukim there, it's right on the sheet. Thank you. Where Moshe Rabbeinu stretches out his hands and we see the end of the positive. Vayasama sayam lakharava. And the wind, the strong wind is gone. And the sea becomes like dry land. By Yibaku Hamayim. And the waters were split enter into this water.
[00:28:53] On dry lands they were, says Chazal, at that moment, like a fish on dry land, they were in the water.
[00:29:04] They were experiencing what it means to be a bubble of clal Yisrael living outside of Mitzrayim completely at that moment, untainted, uninfluenced, but yet living on dry land.
[00:29:14] And this is really what Yaakov Avinu is giving abrachat to Ephraim and Manasshat Vayudsgula aretzra. Can you be like fish?
[00:29:26] Can you maintain that bubble of tyra, a world of spirituality untainted and unaffected by the world around you? But can you do it by Bakarev living on dry lands amongst the world?
[00:29:40] Now, that is harder work. And that is a bracha that Yaakov gave to Ephraim and Menashe. And it's really a bracha that we have as well. So these are three instances where we see that the Yom Shlishlishi, the third day of Creation, the dry land and the water gets a little bit muddled over.
[00:29:57] And we understand that the messages.
[00:30:00] Let's keep going.
[00:30:05] This has really covered us with day one.
[00:30:13] Maybe I'll add one. Just one last thought for a second.
[00:30:17] There is one day a week, one day a week where we sort of enter into our.
[00:30:23] We detach, so to speak, from the world around us as much as we can. And of course, that is Shabbos. And there is an Inyan dag badag. We try to eat fish on Yom Dalit gimel on the seventh day. And there is an idea, I think Ari Strum brings us down in his beautiful book about fish and water, that on Shabbos we do enter into this, like, fishbowl, like status of pure spirituality. And that's why eating fish on Shabbos is more than just something delicious for the first course.
[00:30:55] Okay, let's move into part two of day three of creation. Now that we have our dry lands and our waters in their right places, what does Hakadish Baruch Hu create on that dry land? And maybe we'll just fly back. I'm sorry to do this to you, but if you want to go back to the beginning of the page and we can look at the pasukim again.
[00:31:14] Thank you.
[00:31:17] Make you do all the hard work.
[00:31:19] Okay, a little bit higher. Go. Keep going. A little bit higher. I'm sorry.
[00:31:25] All the way. All the way to the top again of the page.
[00:31:29] Keep going, keep going.
[00:31:32] A little bit more to the pasikim.
[00:31:39] Almost there.
[00:31:41] Oh, okay. Thank you. Perfect.
[00:31:49] The earth sprout vegetation Asev mazri aera seed bearing plants, eight peri o separi fruit trees of every kind. Let me know. Of every kind. A Shazaraba whose seed are in it Al haaret on the land vay hi khain. And it was so Hakadish. Baruch hu says, let greenery come forth. Let there be Plants that come forth and very beautiful and very specific over here, these plants should have their seeds in them and let the fruit trees come forth. And over here we're going to read Rashi in a minute. These fruit trees were meant to be fruit trees where the tree and the fruit both tasted the same. And here too again, their seed should be in it. And it was. So I'm going to pause for a moment and just share some beautiful thoughts and what it means that there are seeds, seeds contained. Hakaddesh Baruch Hu is saying there is seed, there is potential contained within every single blade of grass, within every single fruit or ace of vegetation that comes forth. So I think we're familiar with Reva Vigdor Miller is so much of his teaching, so much of it is about really becoming so much more aware of the godless, of the beauty of nature all around us. And I think in one of his examples he talks about taking an apple and just meditating on this beautiful apple and imagine and cutting open the apple and seeing all of those seeds that are placed inside of the apple and the unbelievable potential that's inside each of these seeds. Akada Spark Hus you know, given each apple, many, many apples that can come forth from each of these seeds and really many, many orchards that can come forth from every single apple.
[00:33:37] Just take a moment, do a little tour guiding piece. But in Eret Israel, again people familiar, if you've been we know that much of Eret Israel is covered. Not much, but there are large parts of Eretisral that are covered in JNF forests, Karankayem Al Israel forests. I think we can all picture them. The Harno forest, for example, the Eshtaol forest outside of Beit Shemesh area.
[00:34:02] Go further north.
[00:34:03] The forests all around Svasna Mehrone area, all of these forested area and there are many, many more. The Benjamin forests. All these are planted forests. These are jnf Karin Kayemel Israel planted forests. And if you remember, many of them are planted with pine trees.
[00:34:22] Okay.
[00:34:23] Beautiful scented pine trees. Very, very, you know, we think of Eritrea. We also know that very often there are forest fires in Eretisrael. And when you hear about a forest fire in Eretisrael, you know that within minutes, literally within minutes, large, large tracts of land are burnt down. I want to tell you the backstory a little bit as to why and how Karen Kayem Al Israel planted up these pine forests. And that really goes back to the 1920s when the British mandate was enforced in Eretisrael.
[00:34:55] And at that time, they had already started buying up tracts of land. Sometimes it was individuals who, who'd been able to get over to sometimes Lebanese landowners, people from Lebanon, Arabs from Lebanon who owned large parts of land in Eret, Israel. And they were happy to sell off over this land to wealthy Jews. And at some point, Karen Khaled Yemel Israel basically took over lots and lots of this land. But the British Mandate was in control in Eret Israel, and they made the rule, unless you can prove within three years that you're cultivating the land that you're buying, if you can't, you have to return the land back to us British people. The British Brits loved land. They loved owning land. So they said, look, it's very nice that you own land. You've bought this land carrying cavalry straw. But if you can't prove to us you've done something with it, within three years that land is going to become ours. So what were they going to do?
[00:35:46] There weren't that many people living in Eretz Israel. There weren't enough yet to fill all this land at the time. And of course, the British Mandate had already placed, you know, the aliyah wasn't massive. People weren't coming to live in the country. How were they going to prove that the land was being used? And they decided that they were going to plant pine trees. They actually are not native to Eretis Ral these pine trees, these are European pine trees. They imported them, they brought them into Eretisrael and they started planting them up. Why do they choose pine trees? Because pine trees grow almost with no effort. You plant them and they're basically good to go.
[00:36:21] Now, one thing, unfortunately, that they didn't maybe take into consideration or they'd forgotten or they knew, but it wasn't a big deal for them, is that when you plant up pine trees, almost nothing else can exist in the same area because the pine trees drop their needle and create a pine desert underneath and very, very little else grows. You've got massive, gorgeous pine forest with very, very little else growing in that vicinity.
[00:36:43] The other thing that they maybe forgot, didn't know or knew, but didn't care, is is that the pine trees contain pine cones which has a pine nut inside of it. If a spark of light fire catches onto a pine cone, it explodes. The pine cone, because the pine nut contains oil inside, it explodes, and it causes the tree to explode very quickly and set fire. And basically it spreads very, very fast. And that is why very quickly, when a small fire catches in a pine Forest, you have a huge forest fire very fast.
[00:37:16] And that's why large chunks of forests in Eret Yisrael tend to burn down quite quickly.
[00:37:24] But the most amazing part is that in a forest fire, inside this pine cone is also seeds. And as the seeds, as the pine nut explodes and causes the tree to go on fire, it at the same time drops the seed into the pine needles underneath. And within a couple of years you have rejuvenating the pine forest all over again with almost no intervention. And you'll see there'll be a forest fire and sometimes they'll clear up some of the ashes and they'll take away some of the debris, but they don't try replanting because very quickly the forest will just start to grow again. And I always think, this is the story of Amistral. This is the story of Amistral how generation after generation, they'll try to burn us down and try to get rid of us, but we just keep growing. We have Si', ata, the shmaya, and we just keep coming back. And again, this is really again from third day of creation. Hakadish Baruch Hu says, ESAV Mazri Azera, you are a nation. Your seed is in you.
[00:38:22] Each tree, each plant has the potential to bring forth more and more life.
[00:38:28] Day 2 I'm sorry. Part 2 of that pasak is sorry. Go back up again.
[00:38:35] Thank you.
[00:38:39] So the earth brought forth vegetation.
[00:38:41] Esav Mazri Azera seed bearing plants, each one of its kind. Veet Osepri and trees of every kind bearing fruit. Ashezarobo again, whose seeds were in it? Each of its kind. Bayar Elokim Kitov. And again over here at Kadish Baruch, who saw that it was good. But what you don't see over here, it doesn't quite look. It doesn't quite match up with the posse beforehand, Hakadish Baruch Hu had specifically told the trees, you should be eights pre o se pri, you should be fruit trees. And Rashi there tells us the trees didn't listen. The trees were supposed to taste the bark of the tree was supposed to taste like the tree itself.
[00:39:23] But they didn't listen. And the bark doesn't taste anything like the tree, except, by the way, for the srog. Okay, the S rog tree does taste like an esrog. And I'm going to admit and tell you that I actually did sample this once.
[00:39:38] I was giving a series of Shi' urim on the Arba Minim many, many years ago. I Was teaching in Madrasa or Chavachaya many years ago and I took my children to beautiful area. Its name has just escaped me.
[00:39:54] I'm sorry.
[00:39:56] Well worth putting on anyone's to do list. If you're in Eret Israel, it's a magnificent nature reserve where you can go through beautiful trails and see plantations of the different Shivas Haminim. And they also have an Arba Minim trail and they also have sukkahs, a trail where you can see every different type of kosher Sukkah. It's a fabulous, fabulous place. But in Ut Kudum I took my children there and I had just been learning about the Pre8 Hadar that the Esrug was the only tree that listens to Hakaddish Baruch hu's commands. And that the tree, the bark of the tree was supposed to taste like the fruit itself. And I asked permission if my children and I, I believe in experiential education, could take a little bit of the bark off the Esrog tree and taste it. And it is unbelievable. It tastes asrogy, it tastes citrusy, the bark of the tree. But this was not the case of any of the other trees. All the other trees did not listen to Akkadish Baruch Hu. And they taste like bark or inedible and the fruit tastes like it's fruit. But if you see at the end of the posse, Vayare Elokim Kitov, Hakadish Baruch Husset. It's all good.
[00:40:59] So what is the message? What exactly is going on over here?
[00:41:02] First of all, the Gemara tells us, Rashi says, quotes the Gemara that the tree, the earth. And it's interesting, it's not the trees who are blamed, it's the earth who are blamed. Because the earth was meant to bring forth these trees that tasted like the fruit. The earth is punished at the same time the Adam Chava and the snake are punished. Remember, the earth is punished, that it's going to have thorns and thistles coming forth from it. And this was a punishment for the earth, not Kaviyakhal listening to Hakaddish Baruch Hu. But at the same time we see it Kitov that it was a good thing.
[00:41:32] So what is Kitov about it? And of course, the Ahaf didn't not listen to Hakaddish Baraku. I'm not going to get into how Chazal understands all of that. Clearly. This is where Hakadish Baruch hu set up the world that it didn't the earth didn't listen to Hakadish Baruch Hashem made it like that. But what was Kitov about it?
[00:41:49] And I think this is magnificent.
[00:41:52] And we really all tap into this specifically around the time of the Yamim narayim. If you go back down again. Thank you. To the end of the source sheet, we'll see that we say over the Yamam narayim. Specifically we remind Hakadish Baruch hu Zachar ki' a far anu. Remember Hakadosh Baruch. Hurry.
[00:42:13] Oh, here we go.
[00:42:17] For he knows his how we were formed. Zakhar ki afar Nachman is mindful that we come from the dust. And again in Sefer Vayikra, Hakadish Baruch hu says.
[00:42:36] I'll remember. I'll remember the land. What's going on over here? We know Adam Yisodel me afar vas.
[00:42:42] We say that on the Sanatoka. Why are we Kadish Baruch? Why are we telling Hakadish Baruch hu give Yahel that we come from dust and we're returning to dust. We are telling Hakadish Baraku I am a man, I'm a human. Do you know what my where I come from? I come from the grounds. I come from a ground that already was not listening to you, that already had done something wrong in your eyes.
[00:43:02] I come from that ground. I can't be held accountable for my average. Not that I'm not, you know, not that I'm not that I can't take responsibility for my various but by my nature I come from the grounds and the grounds had already sinned. The grounds had already so Kavayochel gone against you, and therefore you can't blame me as much.
[00:43:20] Remember where we come from, Hakadosh Baruch hu, I'm from the grounds and the grounds that already messed up. So forgive me on that account.
[00:43:28] And that is one of the reasons, says the Aptarav, says the Oheb Yisrael, that we say, because ultimately it will be tov for us that this ground didn't quite listen to our Kadish baruch hu and the fruit trees didn't quite produce how they were meant to produce. It was kitov for us that we sinned, but only because we come from the ground and the grant had already sinned before us, and therefore we're not fully held accountable.
[00:43:58] One last thought on this and this idea of Pa' ma ki tov because we said before that on yom hashlisi, on yom Shlishi, I'm sorry, on the third day, it is a pa'm kitove day, we say twice the word kitov.
[00:44:17] Before I do that, I'll share one last thought that the SFAs Emma says, and I think this is a little bit of a harder one to swallow because would make our lives easier in a sense, if the tree had did sort of follow through. The earth had followed through. Because as fast Emma said, what was Hakadosh Baruch hu really instructing? What was really Hakadish Baruch was saying, we all do mitzvahs and we all know that the end result of the mitzvah, the scharf of the mitzvah, is worth it. We do it because it's worth it. We know it's the right thing. Again, that's not the reason we're meant to do it, but we know it's worth it.
[00:44:50] We wish that the asiyas ha mitzvah of every mitzvah tasted as delicious as the results would taste.
[00:44:59] We wish that we could sense the geshmak in the doing of the mitzvah. And sometimes we do. And there are mitzvahs that are geshmak as we're doing them. We enjoy and we feel connected and we feel good. But there are many, many mitzvahs that we do that we don't necessarily, as we are doing it, feel unbelievable. Geshmak from we know that the end result is worth it. The paros of that fruit, the paris of that mitzvah, are wonderful. And we will, pero say in haba, will eventually experience the reward for it.
[00:45:25] But what was really supposed to perhaps happen, says this fast Emma, is that we were meant to live in a world where the asiya samitv, every time we did any mitzvah, we felt as geshmak. We felt amazing as we were doing it, as we knew the end result would be. And that becomes our life work, correct, as someone, right, that becomes our life work. That, as we do the mitzvah, our life work. And really that's what I gave us when he taught us the Zohar, right? When he gave over some of the more deeper teachings, is that there is a way to feel, feel if we're cognizant, if we work on it, we can feel and taste and experience the taste of the bark, the taste of the tree, the geshmak of the mitzvah, as much as the end result. But it's not true with every mitzvah, unfortunately. And it becomes a life work. And what should have been so easy for us to experience, unfortunately is not there for us just to end again with this idea of it being Pa' Amayim Kitov.
[00:46:16] And this is a beautiful idea that I heard from a rabbi friend. He quotes a sefer called the Shemon Hatov. He teaches us that really Hakadish Baruch Hu did not write Kitov on Yom Sheni on the second day of Creation because his work was not complete. And it wasn't that Hakadosh Baruch Hur couldn't be bothered Chas Hashem or didn't manage to get the work done in time. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to complete the job on Tuesday. So really the Pamaim Ki tov the twice. And we know of course that Tuesday becomes a great day for hasnas and for many good things happening because it's a Pamayim Kitov has the word Kitov twice on it. But Hakadah shbar, the first Kitov is because Hakadosh Baruch was finishing up Kiviyakal Monday's work. And the second Kitov is because of all the work that got completed on Tuesday. But the Sheman Hatov tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is giving us a great message here. Also that sometimes we start something and we don't necessarily see the end result automatically. And we don't necessarily experience and see the Kitov right away of the hard work that we're putting in. Hold on tight. Sometimes that keto will be experienced at a later stage in life, and perhaps not even in this life.
[00:47:24] But our job is to do the work.
[00:47:26] And sometimes we don't see and sometimes we do see the Ki tov automatically. So this is why there is a double Ki tov on Tuesday.
[00:47:35] One for the ends of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's work on the Yom Sheni and one for Yom Shilishi itself. So just to sum up the different messages of this amazing, amazing day, where on a pshat just based on what we learned, inside the dry land is formed, the water goes and takes its place, and the fruit trees come forth bearing their seeds. And the messages are, first of all, the amazing Hakkar Satob we should have to Hakaddosh Baruch Hu as we place our foot down on dry land every day, we take for granted we're standing on firm ground not to be taken for granted. This is the opposite of how nature works. It's a chesed. Every single moment we take a step we reminded of the gift of boundaries. Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not allow the water to flow. Even though water's teva is to flow, it doesn't flow. Everyone wrote, we are thankful and grateful and darven for boundaries in our own lives.
[00:48:25] We are reminded of the message of how to live like fish on dry lands, how to manage to be absorbed in the world of Torah, the world of the fish, the world of the water, but still exist on dry land by Yidgularov Bakarev Haret and we with the trees. We remember the message of the seeds being within the trees and the rejuvenation of palisra generation after generation, the mussoorie that we're passing on and that we'd rejuvenate ourselves as well.
[00:48:56] And we daven also that we should taste and experience the sweetness of the mitzvahs as we do them, and not just have to wait for the emperors. And we are aware and appreciate that life is hard work. And sometimes we experience the Kitov automatically and sometimes we have to wait a while to enjoy the kitove moments.
[00:49:16] And that is really some of the messages of Yom Shlishi, the third day of Creation. Thank you ladies for listening.
[00:49:25] And Chodesh Tov.
[00:49:27] Thank you very much. Essie, that was very informative. Thank you.
[00:49:31] Thank you very much.
[00:49:36] Of course, everybody.
[00:49:41] Thank you. Thank you, ladies. If anyone has any thoughts to add, I'd love to hear.
[00:49:46] It's beautiful.
[00:49:54] Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining. Everyone should have a beautiful, beautiful, meaningful Chodesh Kamas. Amen.
