Finding the Animal Qualities Inside of Us | Parshas Tazria/Metzora – Parsha Preview

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, welcome back to Parsha Preview. Thank you for being here. So I was thinking, Tezri Mitsara, I don't know if they're ever separated. Do you know if they're ever separated? I don't know. I don't know if they're ever separated. I think they're you they're almost usually read. They're almost usually they're usually read together. And I was thinking that we talk about the Parsha Tazri Mitsara. So it's famous for the discussion about the laws of Nigan, the laws of tsuras, which manifests itself on the person's skin, or on a person's clothing, or on a person's home. So just a point on the skin, it's known like that there are millions of holes, pores and follicles. There's millions of holes in the skin, and we're porous beings, but I never I never really read until this week and uh like uh perspective on why on that. So this is what I found in the Svasemis on partial sitezria. And the Svasemis says like this the Svasemis says, right, because we know the the Sras manifests itself, like we said, the or on a person's skin. But if I just said the word or you might think I'm talking about light, because r can mean with an iron, or maybe if you say it in the real like all, I mean yeah, all or something like that. Exactly. Do you know what I say? Yeah, okay. So right, there's or there's r. But we know there are any word that even sounds the same. Rehearsh talks about this and many others, people who go through the words that there's a linkage and a connection. So even like by the times of um Adam Arisha, and when Adam and Chava were given kusnos are, it can be read as skin, but it's also as a special, there's a certain light. And what's fascinating is that there's, and this is how this is what I understood, this is what I gleaned from this Fazemis. He says, Achar chat adam, that after Adam sinned, so he was clothed kusnos r. So now he had this skin covering. What was that covering? It was covering something. There was something spiritual that was there was a light, there was an R with an Aleph that was emanating forth, and that anytime somebody sins, that becomes somewhat darkened, somewhat, somewhat covered up. But what does Hashem do? In the every single person, the skin, the R with an iron, is has holes, it's porous, because it's supposed to be a use the word a chalon, it's a window, right? A window for what? Well, there's a there's an R with an olive inside the R with an iron that's trying to shine forth, that's always expressing itself, that's always manifesting itself and connecting. It's the what we could call it different things. We call it the khela kalokai mal, we could call it the nishama, we call it that aspect of r, that aspect of light inside of us, which is trying to unleash itself. But the r, the skin covers it, but but the skin has holes because what at the end of the day we're trying to allow for that or with an olive to come out and to um be productive and to manifest itself in in the world. And so it's just an interesting thing regarding the dots and on the on the person. So all of Shoknar starts off with an animal. It begins right the famous Shoknar, Yeskaber Kari, to be strong like a lion. And it it begs the question, first of all, how come though we know that one of the big differences between Jews and non-Jews is the way we start our day? A Jews day, like tonight, right? Is Rosh Kodesh tonight, right? So it's already Rosh Kodesh, I Roshaj tomorrow. Yeah, but by erev, there's evening and there's morning one day. I mean, our day starts from night. It's an amazing concept. But you would think, right, as opposed to the Najus, where you start the day, the new day starts, right? It's no, it's not whatever day English day, the new one's gonna start tomorrow after 12 a.m. So it's interesting, is that the way Shnar begins is in the morning. Yeskabar Khari. You would think it should start with the laws of Maier or something, or the first thing of the night. This is a question that is asked. I've never really seen uh such a like such a good answer, but I've thought about this, and it was a thought I had, um, which is a little bit of a point that I want to get at, is that at the end of the day, it's true, meaning from a halachic standpoint, the halachic day starts at night. But from the so important is the battle that we have with our Yitzahara. That's like the bread and butter, that's like why we were put here to bat how Shem could have let our Nishama sit up there in the butt next to the throne of glory, basking in the divine, but he didn't do that. He put us down here, but like the Ramchal talks about in the first paragraph of Sulishama, he put us down here bimulhama, right? He put us down, it's a constant battle of good and bad, of R and Kheshak, of R with an eye and against R with an Aleph. And it's this constant battle back and forth. Are we gonna let the light shine through those pores or are we gonna just conceal it and put clothing on clothing and clothing and and and not? So this becomes, it's true, the halachically the day begins at night. So but the but the way Shochunar begins is Yeskabar Kari, the moment you wake up in the morning, the har is at full battle, full throttle, and you have to be prepared. And and what's interesting is specifically about um an R an R a lion, is that when like scientifically, lions or physical, whatever, lions sleep like 20 hours a day. So it's it's a funny thing that when we're talking about how you wake up to be to be like a lion which sleeps for most of the day. So that actually that point is addressed. And number one, it's true they sleep a lot, but the Libushe Surad says, Yiskabur Kari means Hakavana Shemiyad Beniuro, right away when you wake up, Mishnah so Yalkuma gets up. So it's true it sleeps for most of the day, but when a lion wakes up, wakes up and wakes up with a roar and a passion and ready to do its thing. It doesn't really matter all the amount of hours that it slept, it's how it woke up. That's one idea. Um, but the other one is the Taz. The Taz, the very first Taz in all of Shochnarch says that Iker Gavura Knegar Hitzahara. So this is kind of to my point that the whole Shochnagh starts off, even though it's a code of Jewish law, but part of the code of Jewish law is how to fight your Itzahara. So we don't begin by night, we begin by day, which is the first moment that you're introduced to your Itzahara of that day. Ikr gvura canegar hitzahara. The primary um fight fight, the primary primary strength is against the har, like the Mishnah Purgyava says, Izah Gibor doesn't mean someone who could lift a lion, it means somebody who's koyvish as it's so that's the ikhar givura. Sha'amura iza gibor, the amarkari why a lion. He says, Kitevahari, the nature of a lion is Ashur Yura is Shumbria. It's not afraid of any other creature. A person shouldn't fear the itzahara, afshahu taketh mi menu, even though it's stronger than him. So this Taz is fascinating because he's telling us two things. He's telling us the Itara actually is stronger than you. Um and it's like the juice and the time is actually stronger, but it's it's not really about what's stronger, it's who has greater willpower. And the the idea of a lion is that in lo Yira Mishumbria, it's true the African elephant is stronger than a lion, but it's still not going to necessarily start up with a lion because the lion is fearless. And that is an actual element that when you bring to the table of a fight, it means something. It's not just about who's str what's stronger, it's about who has a greater willpower. And the it and what we're being taught in the very first thing is iscabr Kari to use this power of the lion to channel the power of the lion, not just to wake up with a with a roar, but to wake up with a sense that nothing can stop me, that with a sense of fearlessness, that's the first thing that a yid needs to know, to be like a lion to be fearless. But how far do we take this idea? I was bringing up this point of iscabarkari, because the first thing in Shochanarach is to be like an animal, which is it's funny because there's different levels of the brilla of the creation. We start low by the domain, which is the lifeless rock and twigs or whatever, and then you go up to Somah, which is the vegetation and the sprouting of the at the vegetation and the plants, mind you, over we at our office, um, we have uh we have a beautiful plant. It's meant for like offices and for over anyway. I just noticed yesterday, it's like, come on, almost dying. And but we weren't because I forgot to to feed it over of pesach. So I gave it a lot of deer park water. I did it instead of tap water, I thought that would be the right thing to do. Because at the end of the day, you have to most show man didn't hit the Nile, he had a cars a toe for inanimate things, so I didn't go to Fiji, but I did do deer park water and I fed the, I thought that was nice and I saw that on that. So an animal though is an animal. So you have the domain, the rock, the vegetation, the chai, chai, right? The animals, and then above that is Medaber, the speaker, which is the human beings, which is very relevant to this week's parasha, because the very which is talking about Saras, which is a a mistake in that realm of what humans, what separates us from the previous, um, the previous stage, which was animals. What makes us human is the fact that we can speak, and somebody who abuses that and misuses that, hence gossiping lash and hara, which is what's manifests through um saras, it's it's a mistake in that. And how does the how does the parsha begin? Parsha tazriya? The Tara begins. It says, Isha took first talks about childbirth. It talks about childbirth in the laws of Tumma, uh, how long the woman is is is Tameh after a boy or a girl. But before the intro, before the whole Tsaras and the Midaber, the whole all of that is Isha Kisa Zriav Yodazakar, and she gives birth, says Rashi, Amar Ravsmalai, Ravsmalai says, Kishem Shaitsi Raso Shaladam Akar Kolbehema, just like the creation, the formation of man was after the animals and the Chaiva'if and the birds. How was Bemisaberatius in creation, right? Because the animals were created on day five, or and the humans were created on day six, I think, or at the beginning of yeah, five and six, I believe. Um, either way, we were humans were created after everything else, right? Before Shabbos, obviously. Kah tairoso, so too their taira, so too the taira, meaning the laws of human impurity and purity, which is discussed in our parsha, Isha Kisa, and the gun, achar tairas behind, it's discussed after the laws of animals. So the end of Lastic's Parsha was Parsha Shmini, where it talks about kashras, and these lists of animals is kosher. Khosher, the kosher. This list of animals is kosher and this is tummy. So it mimics the creation, just like creation, you have animals, then humans, so too, in regards to the taira, in regards to the laws of the purity and impurity, we humans come after the animals. So it's interesting. Humans come after the animals, right? We're we're further along the stage. We're the madhabr, so we're we're one we're one step further along. And it has its pros and its cons. On one level, right, it says Akhar Bikhedim Sartani, that the Bhasag and Tilum says that you're first, last, you formed me first and last. Akhar Akhar Bikedim, la Akhar means last, we're further along, and kedim means first, and it's talking about the formation of man. So which one was man? Was man formed first or last? And the answer is both, because, like we just said, in terms of the physical creation, man was last. His physical guf was created after all the animals. But we know that the nishamah of ayid was created already before Maysabraish, or if some say when the Pasik says ruach alakimar a khafest, it's talking about Ruchhushal Mashiach or the Ru'ah of Adamarisha, the Nishamah comes before. So man is in the realm of both. His guh is in the realm of Akhar, later on in creation, and his but and his Nishamah is in the realm of Kedem. And Kedem represents, means the east, but it also references Hakarishbar, who is called Kadmonushal Ulam. Um, just a question I was thinking about, um, just to ponder, I don't have an answer, is sometimes Hashem is referred to as Kedem the East, like Kadmonushal Ulam, right? It says Lot traveled mi Kedem, because Rashi says he traveled away, mi Kadmonu Shalam. On the other hand, we have the Shinah, which is the divine presence, which is we Shah Khazal say is Shairab and Mayor in the West. So you have both of these aspects where Hashem is the east and the west. So it's interesting in terms of directions. I'll just point something out. Um, the Balatanya kind of brings this idea that the Shina is Sharia in the west. And you know what else is Shar in the West? All of the heavenly bodies, the Sya bodies. The sun, we all know, sets in the west. And from night to night, the moon and the stars, they they glide towards westward. So what's Peshat that the heavenly bodies do that? They're all going west. Is it random? Of course not. So the Balatanya, uh, it's in like the 42nd or 43rd chapter. I just read it. Uh I don't know the little Tanya Bahara, I just read it like this week. So the Balatanya says because that the heavenly bodies, they are in complete servitude. They're self-nullified towards their creator, towards their origin, towards their source. So the Shrina is Shaira bin Mayrav in the West. So the way that all the heavenly bodies move is towards the west. That's how they set their, it's a way that he calls a Shtachavaya. They're prostrating themselves and bowing towards Hashem. And us, the stargazers, the onlookers, we're supposed to look at, it's a he gives it's like the mushal, or if somebody walks into a king's court and you don't see the king yet, but you see everybody bowing down, so you know where the king is, you know the direction of where he is. So in the heavenly court, right, all of the thus you bodies are bowing, beset in the west. They're where the Shrina is Shaira, reminding us to, hey, you know what, maybe I should also do that. I should self-nullify or be a little bit more subjugated in where's my where are my loyalties at? It's just an interesting thing that parallels how the world actually functions as a lesson, as a lesson for us. But we can start to understand, I don't know if I phrase that as a question, but the Shuknah is Iscabakari like a lion. I understand. A lion is it's an animal. That's our thing to be like a lion. I get it, the qualities of a lion. But how far are we going to take the qualities of a lion? So this is crazy because um I saw that there's a safer from Chaim Minz called Sefer Aitz Hakhaim, which is no longer in print, but I printed it out from Oitza Chachma. I even texted Yitziloi from Shapsi's and he said they're working on another print. He's alive. Anyway, so he has a safer called um Eitz Hachhaim, but he talks about this Rashi that we just referenced, that Kishem Shik is just like man is created after Behema and after the animals, so too. Um too is his law as the tyr talking about animal, uh humans after an animal. But how far are we going to stretch this idea of the animals and the human relationship, the human human connection? So I don't remember if he pointed out this halacha of Yisgabri Kari, but it's it's known in right, we know that the Mishnah and Pirgyelva says, um, or the in Mishlay says, uh an ant to learn about not being uh lazy. And we kalkanesher, right? And this fat fat like swift like an eagle, and what's the other um uh kalkanesher? Uh if there's other ones, what is it? Say it again?

unknown 15:43

I don't remember. Leopardos.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Like a leopard, right? A whole bunch of that. I have it right here. Ratzk, rutzka tsvi, right, all these things to be like an animal. So is it just a qualitative thing? Like, yeah, okay, so uh a tzve, a deer runs really quickly, so we're supposed to be quick in terms of running towards mitzvos. An ari, it has gavuros, so we're supposed to mimic that like the the like the Taz says, and be fearless. So it's true, we are meant to mimic these qualities, but it's much deeper than that. The fact that the humans were created after everything else, have taught us that the human being is comprised not just of the qualities, but the human actually has components of these animals. Which means that the part when the Mishnah says, or when Alakha says Iscaba Kari to be strong like a lion, that means again, because the human was created after all the animals, so all of the Priya went into the creation of man. And therefore, the man has an element of an ari inside of him. It's not just us trying to mimic something that's there. There's an actual element of an a lion inside of me. And when the Mishti tells us to be swift like an eagle, there's a part of me that's that has the the, I don't know if it's DNA, it's probably not DNA, but there's a there's there's a part of me that's an eagle, and there's a part of me, there's all these different parts of me. And and therefore I am the the medabra, the human who's above all this, and now I have a choice. Either I can akharvit the vikeda, meaning either I could choose to be at the back of creation, either I could choose to be haughty and realize, okay, I'm above it, and then the medjush says, you know what, you think you're all great, the yitosh, the mosquito was created before you, don't be so haughty. Or a person can take these animalistic, what we call the Nefesha Bahamas, and you take the animal qualities and guide them, channel them towards, you know, let them right setting in the like just like the heavenly bodies set in the west to guide all of these um parts of us, the Ari, and be miscabre. Right, and the all of Shulfanach begins with this. It's not like a it it answers the question why would we begin being like an animal? Because every human being has a Nefesha Bahamas. We all have these animalistic features that we are meant to now channel. And this is really this time period of Sirus Aimir, which we start with um, it's called Maichel Behema, which is the barley, and then over time by Shibuis, we got to have the She'alachan, which is bread, which is Maichl Adam. So it's not that we're running away from those animal things. We're not we're not running away from animalism or the because it's just it sounds almost wrong to say the animalistic parts of us are the are the parts of us that that are that are needed for us to thrive and to exist and and to live on this world as human beings, because we are humans, we're not we're not angels, we're we're humans. And the whole process here is this is to connect these animal qualities and now and and show how are we going to bring that out in our Buddhist Hashem. And all of the Shoknach begins, he's gaberkari. Take that animal inside me, take that ari inside and use that gavura, channel that, be fearless, take that swiftness like an eagle, and and be swift, like that, that quickness, like a like a like a deer, and be quick, have zrizas, and be like a uh an like an ant, to be leichangala, to be not not to be lazy like an ant, to take these animalistic qualities and and guide them to something bigger and something better. That's that's the that's the idea over there. And I was thinking, where is it? I was thinking like this, that you know, when we say that when we say that, so people people often think, okay, the the gavurah, the gavura aspect means, you know, how I mentioned this before, how much you could lift or how much uh against against me against somebody else, but what what it becomes is it becomes an individualistic based Avody S Hashem, where my level in wherever I am, it's not it's not based on wherever anyone else is, it's based on where I'm at, according to where I was yesterday and according to where I can't where where I can be. There's this concept of in muktum, um ukr batara, that there's no such thing as first or last, right? There's no meaning, there's no chronological order. This one, in muktum, um ukr. Those two words probably sound familiar because we quoted the possibility that says that man was created um ukr-vakedem. Akhar vakedem Tsartani were formed first and last. So first, like we mentioned, Anashem was created first, uh Shabbat Tchila, right? The Nishama was created, Hashem had that in mind, and that's our spiritual essence, the Nishamah, but then there's a part of us that's ukr, that's the animal part of us, or even less than an animal, and our job is to kind of fuse the two. And chazal tells us, ein muktam um ukrbatira, there's no such thing as there's no there's no chronological order when it comes to placement. Sometimes the storylines are out of place. And I think there's a lesson in that phrase, theology of chhazal, ein muktimum um ukurbatira, that a person, ein muktimu ukra, meaning a person is supposed to be one, they're supposed to infuse those two things, to be one with that animal part and the godly part and to make it a human being. Like the Ramadan tells us, we say the brahama fli la sais by ashuryatsar, it's a it's a pella that a dava ruhani, a spiritual thing, can be contained in a davargashmi. But that's who we are, we're human beings. We are we are an infusion of both. Um right, what does she say? Um I always forget which one. Um forget if it's Sarah or Rachel, who had um yeah, Isa Vinyakov, the two. I always forget the name. I think it's um Rachli Mena, I sound like uh Rahli Meno. Yeah, Rahli Meno. Rahli Meno, right? Yeah, Rahli Meno had no Rifka. See, I told you, I gotta tell you, I always forget Rifka, right? So she had this struggle inside. She didn't know MK Lomuzanich, which one am I? And and on a certain level, the answer is both. The answer is Akhar Bekedim Tsartani. The answer is both. There's a part of A7, there's part of Yaakov, and it's the two together when when they're when they're ser when they're serving them each other. And working, we're working together. That's the Nersham and the Gov working together. Which one am I? The answer is it you it's like almost like a mixture of both. That's the human condition. People who have conditions, right? People try to run away, or or or if somebody has a condition, they don't know, they are dyslexic or something like that, and they and they don't they don't deal with it, so then they're not gonna be able to read. But maybe if they realize, okay, this is my condition, and now they get the right glasses, or you know, the right so once you embrace the condition, you can deal with whatever situation you have. And I think a lot of people, unfortunately, they don't they don't embrace the human condition. I mean, it's okay, I either have to be perfect or I'm either a a bozo and I I can't do anything right. But no, no, no, Vaisursa Bara Makirba, we have two parts of us. We have the part that's running, we have the part that's achr, we have the part that's Aesab, and the part that's that's calm and cool and collected, the part that's Yaqu'a Vino inside of us. And the idea is to fuse the two together and to create something uh meaningful and amazing. And in Hashem, we should be zeich to do that through the counting of the sphere. It's an interesting thing. Counting the sphere, we often think of counting up, which we are counting up because we go one, two, three. I'm not gonna say tonight, because I haven't count yet, but we're we are going up, but what happens at the end is very interesting. So the tire tells us to keep to count 50 days, but we don't count 50 days, we only count 49. The last day we don't count. So it's almost as if we're counting towards not counting. And while it almost sounds counterintuitive, it's really not because Pesach was a moment of divine inspiration where it was this great Issaarusa de la Ela, where there's this great uh Pesach is in the realm of Shabbos. Pesach is not right, Shabbos is a matana taiva. It's nothing that we did, it's something that he gave us. Hashem took us out, not because of any merits per se that we had, but because he promised he was going to take us out, and because it was this great divine divine inspiration. That was that was Pesach. The very next day we start counting the aimer. And what happens? It's almost like we we lost that great divine energy and we're trying to get it back. We're trying to earn it back. So the counting up of the aimer is actually to get back to what we had by by Pesach. It's to get back to a state of Shabbos, it's to get back to zero. So the counting is to that 50th day, which is zero. It's the last day you're not counting. So the whole point of the counting is to get to a level of not counting. Not counting is the most spiritual thing, because not count anything that's counted, you could count everything that's on this table and thereby it's limited, right? You could count even though there's a lot, but it has a count, it's 160, right? And okay, I mean it's double ply, so you should multiply that by two. But it's always it's always going to be limited because you count it. Clayusol, the tari tells us, loyuster, they're not countable, right? When you have a minion, it's such an interesting thing. You're not allowed to count. What's the big deal of counting? Because clayusol is beyond counting. Anything that can be counted is limited. Anything that can be counted is is finite. We're beyond counting. That's zero is the number beyond counting, every number you could count. Zero is the only one you can't count. So the pre-Boracious, pre-bisa baratious, when the Nishama was created, pre-that, when there was Shabbas, pre-that, when it was just Mahshava Tachida, pre-that when Hashem's Histakabara and Bar Alame created the world, that was all zero. Klayusel is in that realm, below you suffer, we're not countable. So the entire journey of Svirus Aimer on some level, again, this is based off um what the Lakutia Alakas of Nasan Braslov says in one of his pieces in Pesach. I hope I'm saying it right, but it's it's this idea that you're counting, counting, counting until you don't count anymore. Because that's really the point to get to back to a level of zero. We mentioned from the Babich Rabbah that there's this idea that the world was created Yesh May Ayan. Hashem took not from nothing and created Yesh. But the the the which Rebba, one of them says, our job is to revert it back, to take the yesh, to take the physical of this world and revert it back to ain, to go back to zero. Because again, zero is not, it's not bad. Zero is ever zero is everything, zero is uncountable, zero is spiritual, zero is is that is that part that that's us, that that nishama, that part uh that that's godly, that part that rests in the west, and that the celestial bodies set to and and and and bowed to. And we're meant to look at those things and do the same in our lives to take the animalistic parts of us that are real, the the the the lion in us and the tiger, not whatever, the lion, the leopard, the all these different different animals, and channel that towards towards the ultimate goal of connecting to our creator, and ultimately that's going to manifest itself by national revelation by when we get the Torah, because the Torah is really the only way that we can do that, meaning all human beings can have these different aspects and facets. All human beings are in the realm of middaber, but the kuzari says there's another level. After Domin, Sumeach, Chai, Middaber, there's another level, it's called Yisrael, it's called the Jewish people. And each one is a different Mitsia, it's a different realm. And I don't think it's a Khusari, but I've heard I heard this once that there's even another level over that. After Yisra, there's um, I think I call it Lumdi Torah. People who who actually, not just Yisrael, but the but the Jewish people who connect to their Torah. And it's they're they're on a whole nother level, a whole nother Mitsia, because it's those people who can take all of the all of the different um animals from Parsha's Shmini, and now they could go through Parsha Tezria and they could be introduced to human beings, they could take all the animals, animalistic parts, and now channel it towards uh towards something bigger and better and holier. We should always have that to do that. Shukar, thank you for coming.