Ashalam everyone from Beta Vikai and thank you for joining me in the study of Parashat Bihar B-Hukoti, the last parasha, really the last two parashat of this sefer, and then we will start Sefer Bamidbao. So when you look at the first statement in Parashat B-Khotai, the first Pasuk in Parashat Bhukottai, we see something that obviously calls for our attention. If you will walk with my laws, and you will keep my commandments, and you will practice them. So to practice the mitzvot, I think we can all understand what does it mean? We need to practice the mitzvot. You keep it by doing them. But what does it mean in Bekukotai Telehu, the beginning of the Pasuk? What does it mean to walk with the laws and what kind of laws are we talking about? We have Chukim and we have mitzvot. What is the definition of a chok and how can you walk with it? What does it mean? So let's see some of the commentators and their insight into this pasuk, and obviously we will try to derive some very modern and relevant lessons. If you will walk with my laws, that's what it says in Psalms in Tehilim, Kishafti Dirachai, the Ashiva Raglay El-Edotecha. What does that mean? I would think about my path, I would think about the way I will choose to walk on, and then I will quote unquote return my feetha to your testimonies. That's what David, King David, says in Psalms. But what does it mean? So David says to Hashem, Beholiom vayoma it maki, ulevedira ploni taniolech. He says every morning I would think, okay, you know what, today I'm going to go here and I'm going to go there, and that was the plan for the day. However, I always will find myself somehow in a synagogue, in a shool, in a study hall, in a beit midrash. Hada udihtiv, that's what it means. Which means, according to this midrash, according to our sages, the interpretation of Imbechukottai Telehu, it's very similar to what King David said. Which means you have a plan, you want to go here and you want to go there. At the end of the day, somehow you find yourself back where? In the house of God. It might be a synagogue, a shoulder, or a bet midrash, a study hall. But what is really the lesson or the meaning that this midrash is trying to convey to us? And I would like to suggest that it doesn't mean that you always need to be in the shool or in the study hall all day long. If you can, you might. But it doesn't mean that you can do other things. The thing is that this that wherever you go, whatever your plan for the day, you somehow will find yourself back in the shool, in the study hall, in the Bet Midrash, in a holy place. Which means, has a tremendous meaning to us. We are empowered to do many different things that are quote unquote outside of the holy place of a synagogue or a study hall, a Bet Midrash or Betknesset. But wherever we go, we need to do two things. A to carry with us the atmosphere, the lessons, the meaning of a shul and a study hall with us to wherever we do. You can be a doctor, a lawyer, a high-tech, whatever you do, you need to carry it with you. And at the end of the day, at the end of your work day, you need to find yourself back in that atmosphere. Literally, find yourself back in shul or a study hall for a class to grow your spirituality and your knowledge, or alternatively, even if you go home. Set times that you are connected to a Bet Midrash, to a study hall, or to a synagogue. So the idea of Ibkukotai telechu is obviously more metaphoric rather than something that it's literally that ibhukotai telehu. It means wherever you go, whatever you do, you need to carry those laws with you and be connected and be attached to a holy place. Which, by the way, is very important to us as modern people who are obviously engaged and immersed in the external world, we don't sit only and learn. We need to know that even our behavior, whatever we do, the way we approach things, can still definitely have the atmosphere, the environment, the meaning of a shul and a bait midrash. So that's one perspective. An additional perspective is being brought in Midrash Ton Khumah in a different midrash, which is a bit of a late midrash. So there the Torah begins with Imbechukotai telechu, if you will follow my commandments, or if you will walk really with my laws and you will keep my commandments and you will practice them, then Hashem gives us promises. He will give us rain in its time, he will give us safety and security. Which means in this pasha of Bekukotai, we have something very interesting. We have the reward and the punishment. If you will do A, you will get B. If you're not going to do A, you will not get B, and you will get C, and the C is really for punishment. So how do we explain it? How should we approach it? Let's see the Midrash. If you will walk with my laws, I will give the rain in its season. And if you will not listen, I will not give you any rain, I will basically transform the sky to iron, and no rain will come down. So basically it says that if Am Israel, if the Jewish people do not walk with the laws and do not practice them, he will have no reign. So here there is something very interesting, which is obviously an idea and a theology that was developed a little bit later around the 7th, 8th century, is that because of Israel, all the plenty of the world comes as a result of Am Israel, of the people of Israel practicing the Torah and the commandments. To the extent that if we don't do it, we don't only affect us, but we affect the entire universe. Everyone suffers if we do not keep the Torah and the mitzvot. And therefore, the midra says if the other nations would know that it's really because of the people of Israel that they get the rain and they get their plenty, they will, in a way, appoint two people for each Jew to make sure that this Jew is practicing Jew. He's doing everything that he's supposed to do, as it says in the Torah. And why? Because then we will get the reward and the award and they will get it as well. It says the other nations don't understand it, and not only that they don't try to encourage us to do mitzvot, they are discouraging us from doing mitzvot and basically cause what? Not only harm to us, to the Jewish people, but also to all the other nations. And if the Jewish people do not sin, the entire world is being blessed through them. Which obviously brings us back to the promise to Abraham. In a way, we are not only a source of blessing to ourselves, but also a blessing to the other nations, which I think has a twofold meaning. The one that the Midrash tried to present was that the other nations need to really recognize and internalize the fact that through Am Israel, that through the people of Israel, they will be blessed. And therefore they need to help us to have the best conditions to fulfill and to do and to practice all the mitzvo that are in the Torah. But that there is a flip side to it. There is a second side to it, which is that we Amish needs to understand the responsibility we have. We don't do things only for ourselves. We always have this dual mission. On one hand, to establish a nation, a moral, ethical, a nation that walks in the path of God. However, we have an additional mission, equally important, to be a light unto the nations. Not only to teach, to teach, to inspire morality and ethics among other nations, but it's also to understand that we need to do it not only for ourselves, but in order to inspire them and in order to also give them the plenty that comes from the blessings we receive. So this dual mission is something that we need to have in mind when we ourselves keep the Torah and the mitzvot. In another midrash, which is really a late midrash around the 11th century, it says, In Bekukotaitelehu, if you will walk in my laws, so it says some kind of a direction or even a commandment for us to be a melin batorah. What does it mean to be a mel baturah? It's to really work hard in learning Torah, in studying Torah, and also to practice it. Sometimes it's not easy. Some mitzvah are, in a way, easy, beautiful, meaningful, but some of them are hard, difficult, sometimes even challenging. And it's all hinted in the word chok. Hok means not just a commandment, but mostly a commandment without a reason behind it. Something that even sometimes does not make any sense. Like para aduma, the red heifer. Or shaatnez, kilaim, linen and wool together. Things that are really it's almost impossible to understand, but you still need to do it, and you need to be a male, you need to walk hard to try to understand it, and to try to do it, to basically overcome the simple and natural inclination of saying, if I don't understand it, I'm just not doing it. So the Lekartov is in a way dividing the first verse in two. One, that you need to overcome your, in a way, your cognitive abilities that are limited and to still continue to do it. So this is in a way somewhat of an inner struggle, and then it mitzvotay tishmeru to create this fear, this awe from God, and to keep the mitzvot. Now, how is that relevant to us? The first perspective was really about the idea that you take the shul and the bet midrash with you wherever you go, which means there is no place that it's not holy. You can create the holiness in every place you go. The second midrash talked about this duality that Am Israel has between him and himself, and him and the other nations, and the other nations towards Israel. The third midrash basically tried to guide us back to ourselves, but with a new perspective. It's not only that we need to keep them its vote to practice them, we need to walk how to do it. In both places, in the study hall, in immersing ourselves in learning and really walking hard to understand. And the second perspective is the idea of when you don't understand, to be able to, in a way, to submit yourself to this law and to practice it. In the Talmud, in the Babylonian Talmud in the Tractat Abu Dazara, page 5a, it says the following. The verse, the Pasuk, starts with im, if. What does it mean if? If there is a commandment, it's not if, it's you should, you must, you are obligated. The word if, im, it's really a language of petition. In a way, Hashem is almost like begging us, please, walk in my laws, practice my mitzvot. And then he brings a pasuk that proves it. If my people would listen to me. Now, what is the meaning of this paragraph in the Talmud? And I think that despite everything we said, the idea of caring to shive where you go, the duality with the other nations, the idea of overcoming and immersing yourself in study and in practicing the mitzvot, and sometimes even in a way overcoming your natural inclination of not listening because it makes no sense. There is something here that it's called prirakhovshit. Free choice, free will. We have the ability to choose. And therefore, despite everything that God can tell us, at the end of the day, it's our decision. And God, in a way, is asking us, encouraging us. In a way, maybe even petitioning us, petitioning us, asking us, please do it. I would love to give you all this plenty. And I'm asking you to choose it. I can't force you. I can obviously use different punishments to encourage you, but I can't force you. At the end of the day, it's you, me, her, who making that cognitive decision. If I would like to walk on this divine path. The Barbanel, Rabit Ragdona Barbanel, one of the greatest scholars of the 15th century in Spain, is bringing a very interesting question. He says, The Barbanel is now taking us to a totally different realm. There is a paradigm shift now in our commentators, and the Barbanel is asking one of the questions that I assume all of us ask. When you look at the award and the rewards that the Torah promises when we keep the Torah, it's all about Ullama Z, this world. What about the afterlife? What about Ulamaba? What kind of a reward do I get after I'm not here and I did all this mitzvot? The rain? The plenty? I'm not going to enjoy it. So says a barbanel and says the following. Meaning the question is, why does the Torah basically try to hide or not to discuss the reward after death? And he says, He says, in another book that I wrote, I brought many proofs from the Torah and from the prophets and Viktuvim and from the writings, from the Tanakh, that teaches us, that guides us to their conclusion. That after a person dies, his nishama, his soul enjoys some kind of satisfaction and pleasure. So he says there is definitely life after death, as I prove, says the Barbanel. And therefore my question, says the Barbanel, now is becoming even stronger. So if there is life after death, so what kind of life is it? And how the mitzvot that I did here affects my status or my enjoyment, my satisfaction, my joy, my pleasure in the next world to come. He says, but when we look at this apasha, there is nothing, nothing about spiritual reward. It's all about physical. Really, that we all need to ask. We talk about keeping the mitzvot, we are talking about immersing ourselves in the Torah study, we are talking about implementation of holiness everywhere we go. And yes, we do it and it helps us in this world. But at the end of the day, we know when we do a mitzvah, it's uncomprehendable that the reward for the mitzvah, which is also spiritual, will be only physical. So why is it that the Torah does not discuss that issue at all? The Barbanel gives many answers. And I want to focus on this one. He suggested that the spiritual reward for our commandments is something that our cognitive abilities are limited to understand because we are connected to a physical body. It's like says the barbanek mushaloya siga sumai nyana marim Kena Fashot beauty magashmim loya siguimaruchanim. It says it's like trying to explain to a blind person who was blind from birth about the different colours in the rainbow. If you don't see it, it's hard to explain. Or to try to explain to someone who is deaf the beauty of harmony, of a concert of music. You can try, but it's hard for him or her to imagine it, to feel it, to sense it. It says the same thing with the soul and the Shama that we have in our body. We are physical beings, and for us it will be very hard to fathom, very hard to imagine a spiritual reward. And the Torah was given to everyone, not only for the scholars, but only for also for us, simple people who are not that knowledgeable. He says, and because of that, because the Torah is for everyone, if the Torah will try to portray a spiritual reward, people who are not that sophisticated will look at that and say, you tell me that I need to keep all this mitzvot so I will get some kind of joy in the afterlife, that I will study Torah with God and my Nishamah will be fulfilled. What does it mean? But if I tell you, if you will say bracha on this water, if you will keep this commandment or the other, and you will get rain, you will get plenty, you will get your harvest, you will have family, everything will be okay. Ah, okay, I'll do it. Says that Baba Deb, but the scholars, the true scholars, they know that when they do mitzvot, yes, there is reward in this world, but the real one, the real reward, in the next world to come. Now, why was that important for us to know and how is that connected to really to our discussion? This Pasok, this verse that was the opening. Statement of Parashat the Hukotai carries tremendous amount of meaning. The first meaning that we discussed was the idea of what does it mean to walk with the laws. Then the second part of our class talks about, okay, so if I do that, quote unquote, what do I get? And first and foremost, we need to understand the Torah does not deny the idea of reward. It's exactly the opposite. We are trying to encourage us to do and to practice commandments, not because of the reward, but if there was no reward whatsoever, people will naturally will just not do it. They will not be motivated to do things. So there is a difference between I do it because of that, or I do it this, I do it because I want to do it, but also I have in my mind that I would love to get some reward for it. But then the Barbanel asks, okay, so you want to tell me that all this spiritual divine wisdom that was in a way encapsulated in the Torah, it's only for rain and some plenty and some wealth and health in this world, and that's it. Obviously, there is a spiritual reward. So why does the Torah not discuss it? Answer, the Torah is for everyone. And when I talk about everyone, I'm talking about the lowest, in a way, lowest common denominator, which is ulama's a physical world, wealth, health, rain, plenty. But you need to know that every mitzvah carries, in a way, also some kind of a duality. On one hand, it addresses the physical world, on the other hand, it addresses also the heavenly spiritual realms. So that's what the Abarbanel suggested. Rabbiovadias Fono in the 16th century in Italy adds another component or dimension to our discussion. And it says the following laws and mzerot melech. Those are like kingly decrees, divine decrees. And you just walk with it. In a way, the sword to understand it is just submit yourself. Which means it says mitzvah commandments you need to keep. Keeping them is obviously doing them, but the way you do it, and that you understand that each one of these mitzvot has a meaning to you. So then you will achieve this wholesomeness, this completeness. Meaning the Sforno says there is some kind of an evolution. You start with submitting your cognitive abilities, that's the chok, that's the divine decree, and you walk with it. Then you practice them mitzvah, you keep them mitzvah by what? By learning what to do and why you're doing it. And after you go through these two stages, you get to the third stage, implementation. But how? Because I do it with this understanding, this attachment to them its vote. I don't do that just because I'm afraid that God is going to strike me with the thunder. I'm doing it because I know that A, I'm fulfilling God's will, and B, I know it's beneficial for me. And it will encourage me to do more. So this pono is taking the Pasuk, the verse, and he takes three stages. Use your cognitive abilities in order to understand what God wants from you and also why. And then implementation. But the implementation is in a way that it's not only because of fear, it's because of understanding and love. The Urachaim bin Attau says the following. Says the Ochhaim, it was purposely done like that. Because everything that you walk hard for, it becomes yours. So, how many times we learn the same thing and we forget and then we revisit it? And when we revisit it, not only that we learn it again, we understand a new dimension of it. Think about your life. We read the same parsha every year. And every year we find something else, find something new. Even if we go back to the same subject, we find new dimensions because we changed. Not only cognitively, our life experience changed. We know more, we think more. So the idea of the Torah is really eternal. In Bekukutai telehu, you will keep going, you will keep walking, you will keep learning. Basically says, to keep the Torah, to learn Torah, is telehu. You walk slowly. We need to know, and this is so relevant to us, especially in life and in times that everything is so quick. Everything we it's so instant. You just click and you get it. When you come to learn Torah, it's not like that. It's frustrating, it's challenging. There are certain concepts that we don't understand. There are certain language that it's hard to understand, it's aramit. Some of the concepts are foreign, are complicated. Sometimes when you learn Talmud, there is a deviation to a different subject and then you go back. It's complicated. So when you achieve it, you achieve it slowly and you build yourself up. And this is something that I would like to address because in such a world that everything goes so quickly, we think that our spiritual growth also will be grow so quickly. But it doesn't work like that. If you want to build your spiritual growth, you need to immerse yourself in that world and to understand that you are just walking, you are not running, you are not speeding. It takes time. It takes time to acquire the tools to study and then the implementation. Raf Salovajik basically looks at our pasha and says the following. This is the subject of our pasha, signified by the fact that the blessing and curses in this pasha are addressed in the plural. There is also a second covenant that is based on each individual's personal kedusha, holiness, a covenant detailed in Parashat Kitavo, which took place in Mo'av. The wording of this covenant is in the singular. We need both covenants because we are chosen in two distinct ways. So he talks about our Parsha, Parashat the Khukottai. There are blessings and curses in a plural language, and in Kitavo, there is in singular. One aspect of our chosenness relates to being the progany of Avraham. And it is for this aspect which we recite the blessing who has not made me a Gentile. A second chosenness comes through the study of Torah reflected in the blessing who has chosen us from among the nations. This chosen involves a higher sanctification than is afforded through simple lineage. What Prophet Sallovachik says, and I think this is an incredible summary of our book. It's about kdusha, it's about holiness. Our holiness is derived from two different sources. From the fact that we are chosen because we are Abraham's children and because we studied Torah, because we stood on Mount Sinai. These two sources create this qdusha that we have, the holiness that we have, vis-a-vis ourselves as individuals, vis-a-vis us and our nation, and vis-à-vis our nation towards other nations. The idea of creating a Mishkan, a tabernacle, a holy place for God to dwell, is on the individual level. God dwells in each one of us. God dwells in our cities, God dwells in the Bet Migdash. And we need to take this Kdusha and take it out to the entire world. How do we do that? With the idea of inbehukotai telechu. We start slow. We start building brick by brick until we create the first floor and then we build up. When we do that, whatever we do, whatever we are involved with, we always take with us this spirit of Dusha that is in these holy places. Shul, Bet Midrash, Bet Migdash, Synagogue, Study Hall, Temple. The idea of Gdusha of what Sefervaikry is trying to teach us is that Gdusha is not limited only to a holy place, as designated as a holy place. You, me, her, she, he, we create holy places wherever we go. So Bihar Bahottai, the last two parashauts of Sefer Vaikra in a way, gives it its flavor. If we started with Vaikra, with all the laws of Korbanot and Kohanim and priests, that in a way maybe Kdusha holiness belongs only to them, no, they might lead it. But it's upon each one of us to bring this Kdusha everywhere we go, to repair this broken world by bringing and by revealing God's name and presence everywhere we go. Thank you.