Polar Opposite: Stop Being Too Extreme (Chukas/Balak)
Chevra, I want to bring your attention to children eating food. You ever notice how children, when they eat food, their face always gets dirty? Kimma, always gets dirty. And I was trying to think about this. Why? And I think it's such a push and answer. And it's such a good chiz for us. Hear me up. The reason why kids' faces get dirty, generally speaking, when they eat, is because they're always going for the middle bite, right? If they're going for pizza, it's the middle bite. PBJ, which stands for peanut butter and jelly, but you probably knew that. They're going for the middle of the bite, right? Kids are always asking to remove the crust. Kids don't like the edges, they don't like extremes. They know where the good stuff is at. The most flavorable part of a pizza, of a sandwich, whatever it is, the most flavor is in the middle. It's in the center. And that's what they go for. So this is not like a chinach thing. Oh, should you remove the crust? Should you not? Are you building resilient kids by saying, no, eat the crust, life has struggles. That's not this conversation. I think if the kid doesn't want crust, just remove the crust. Don't make such a big deal. But you might disagree with me on that. Be that as it may, I think maybe you'd agree with me on this. The kids go for the middle bite because the middle bite is the most geschmacked, it's the most flavorful. And we can learn a lesson from here to cut the crust of life, to cut away the edges, not to be on the fringe, the hinge, not to focus, not to be on the extreme, but to be in the middle, because that's the where the most flavor is. The Rambam famously teaches us in Hochazdais what's the path, what's the golden path when it comes to character traits and development? It's the Derech and Sa'as, it's the middle of the road. Then this week's parasha, we read about the path of the king. But derekha melech nail, and perhaps that's part of the idea. The path of the king, the path of royalty towards success, towards life of great Devaikis and connection to Kurdish Barak, who is a path where we're nailh, where we're going. In an extreme mindset, when a person is living extreme, it's tight. Extreme is tight. There's no room to go. It's just you're stuck, right? You're stuck. Nelech represents flowing, represents going. You know, Eritral, it's an amazing thing. Eritusral is called the center of the world. It's called the Paskin Cheskal refers to it in chapter 38 as the tabur arts, as the navel, the belly button of the planet. Isn't that interesting? says the Radak, just like the navel, just like the belly is the center of the human being. Aratistral is the center of the world. Desire, in fact, tells us straight up. Desire in Parshish says, Aura Kadisha and Tsa'is Daomah, the holy land, is the center of the world. The Medrankuma and Parshis Kudishim says, Artistral, Yeshevisbe and T'es shalom, Aretistral is at the center of the world, Ushalim is at the center of it, Besamikdash is at the center of that, Hechal is at the center of the Besamikdash, Arn is at the center of that, and from the Avanjasiya in the dead center, that's where the world comes to be. It's interesting. The imagery we're given of Artistral is the tabur art, it's the center, because perhaps it's the spiritual geographic location of being in the middle, right? Of being at the center in contrast to the two poles, the polar opposites. You've heard that term polar opposites? Well, this is where it comes from. It comes from the North and South Pole. Pole represents these points on the axis, the opposite fringe on the hinge, right? There's the North Pole, the South Pole, the Arctic, the Antarctica. Yes, there's narwhals, there's penguins, there's polar bears, and a select fruit few of government researchers. But besides for them, people don't live, there's not people don't live in the North and South Pole. If you look on a map, if you look on a globe, those areas are white, it's lifeless. That's not where humanity thrives. Humanity thrives in the center. Humanity thrives in the middle. And perhaps Artus Saul being referred to as the middle, as the center, it perhaps it's a limud. It's it's it's a lesson about what this Rambah teaches us. To find the Dara Khamamutra, to find the middle path. Don't be too extreme. Don't live in the North Pole or South Pole. Don't live in this, don't be so polarized. Don't be too extreme. But be normal, be regular, be mainstream, maintain the stream, okay? And and be flowing, right? The land of flowing with milk and honey. Erzavaschaladvash, that's a land that's flowing, right? And one of the, well, Billam tried to curse the Jewish people, but he said he ended up giving us blessings. And a few amazing things that he touched on about the Jewish people was our connection with Mayam with water. Can a chalom ni tell you stretching out like brooks? Ka Rosum Ali Mayam like cedars by the water. Yizal Mayamidal water shall flow from his wells. The zarab Mayam Rabim, the roots have abundance of water. Our success comes from tapping into our likeness of water. Specifically, water in Mayyam alator. You know, there's three states of water: there's vapor, there's water, and there's ice. The vapor represents the most spiritual, ice represents the most physical. But ayyid is supposed to be in the middle to synthesize the two, to find the middle path, to connect to the Artistra, to the center of the world, not to live in Antarctica or the Arctic, not to be too extreme, because in those two extremes, it's just cold, it's freezing, right? Kairach is Karach. Kairach, the same letter spells Karach ice. What's the connection? Says Rashi. Rashi doesn't make the connection directly, but I'm sharing with you an idea. Karach was extreme on his level. He took himself to one side. Litzad Echar. If you're taking yourself to one side, that means you're living in the realm of extremism, right? The Lakutayalach ibn Asan of Breslav teaches us that Kharach had this extreme mindset. Kahrach viewed himself that, hey, I could you could peak, you could hit the top. We're all holy. You could reach the top, and then there's no more beyond that. But it wasn't true because as much as you think you made it, there's always higher levels to achieve. And Kairach says that the Lukuti Allah, he also felt the opposite extreme. A person can hit be so low where there is no possible way out. Person can mamish reach be reach the rock, rock bottom and be stuck there. He looked at the world as a tsad echar in extremes. You you you you could peek and you could fall and you could be stuck in either of those places. You're frozen in either of those places. You made it to the top, no more, no more room to go. You're at the bottom, there's nowhere, there's no place to find their going to Shalem. That's Antarctica, that's the Arctic, that's polar opposites, that's North and South Pole. There's no life there. That's Karach, that's Karach. But we're supposed to tap into the essence of water to be Mayim, to be flowing in Mayim, Elatirah, to be flowing to connect to the center, the geographic center of the world, the MCusa, the Darahamamutsa, the middle path, Artisra, the Tabur arts, the navel, that's what, right? The belly, that's what that's connected, that's what's connected when a person is growing, a fetus in his womb. That's what's connected to the mother, that's the source. We want to be connected to our source, connected to the barnish one. We have to be connected to the tabur arts, connected to our tusral, connected to the tairah. That's how we're going to be growing. That's how we're going to be flowing. Bidarach and Melech, nail, constantly going and yearning and striving for more, knowing that however high we made it, there's still more room to go. And however low we are, says the Kutia Lachas, you could still find a Qurish Barakhu there. We're never fully lost, we're never fully stuck, we're never really meant to be frozen, we're never kairach, we're never karach. We're always flowing like water. You know, the beginning of Parsha's Chukas tells us, Zois Chukas Tara. This is the chuik of the tira. And it's a reference to the Para Duma, but why is it called Chukas Hatira? It should be Zoy Schukas a Paraduma or something like that, right? Because we know Paraduma is a quintessential chuk. It's one of the most unexplainable, it's like the classic unexplainable law. But why are we saying the tirah is that? Zhou's chukas hatira, the Mafarship pointed out this question. One answer that's given is unbelievable. It's that, yes, the Paraduma is the quintessential chuk. But don't forget, all of Tyra is really one big chuk. Because everything we don't understand, we don't understand. And everything we think we understand, we really don't understand, right? Meaning to say there's always more levels of depth and meaning and profundity and nuance, and we never really quite peaked. We never can cap out, we never can ultimately get to the top, right? We're always striving. The yidin we receive the taira, we're but taqhthis har at the foot of the mountain. We're not at the top, we're at the foot, always looking towards, always striving for more, always growing and accomplishing and striving to reach higher places. So this khukasatara tells us it's not just the Parabduma that was a chuck, but satarah, all of Tarah is really a khuk. Takhla Sayyadiyya says the Rabbi Nachman, Taklis Ayyadiya, the point of knowledge is to get to a point, ashalone, is to get to get to a point of not knowing. That's the Takhlis. What was the mistake that got us there? What is the mistake that got us to do the sin of the Aegel, right? It was the people who were so sure. It was knowledge, right? The Jewish people, what did they say? Vadae mes moshe. Moshe is dead, Moshe is dead, right? They were shown the Mita, they were shown in the sky. The Malchemavis painted a picture which was fabricated, it was a lie. And they thought Moshe died. They thought, but they were so sure, they were so convinced, and they said, Vadae mes moshe, Moses is surely dead. You're so sure, you're so convinced. You need the paraduma, you need a chok, you need something that's unexplainable, something that you can admit, I don't know, right? That's going to be the antidote to Vaday Mes Moshe. The mistake which got us into this problem was the fact that we were so sure. It was a mistake of too much knowledge. And the way to get out of it is really taking a step back and saying, I don't know. There's a lot that I don't know. There's more for me to do. A person who reaches a state of kairach, state of karak, they're in the realm of knowledge. They, I know, I made it to the top, and that's it. I'm at the bottom, I'm a failure, I'm a loser, and that's it. Either way, I'm stuck. I'm frozen in the polar opposite of the geographic Antarctic and the Arctic, Antarctic, and the Arctic North and South Pole. I'm stuck. But that's not where life is at. Life is not where those narwhales are, where those polar birds are. We want to live. But Taburhar, it's at the navel, by the belly, by the by the spiritual geographic place, by the center of the world, by Artisrael, by what Artisra represents, by where the Besamikdash represents, what the Arn represents, the Avnashasia, the Makam, the place of Tyra, what Tyre represents, Tara is Mayan, Tara's flowing. We are meant to be on that middle path, not too extreme. So, my friends, you know, the next time you see a kid eating and biting right at the middle of a sandwich, or the next time you see a kid asking to remove the crust, think about it. And think about what crust you can remove in your life. Where in your life there are might be things that are too extreme. And where you can find the middle path. Because kids know this. The most flavor is in the middle. And we want to have the most flavor, the most time, the most, the greatest experience in our life. So we gotta focus on the middle. The Darachamutsa, the middle path, the land, the land that's flowing with milk and honey, the land of Aretistral, with a focus on meaning, I just saw as a representation for what life should look like, for what life should be, a place of vitality and growth, to live as Torah Yudhina, as Torah Jews, to be flowing, and not to feel like I'm stuck, not to feel like I capped and I can no longer grow, and not to feel like I made it so to so low and therefore and there's nothing, there's no hope. I'm lost. No. A person is always there's always more to do, and you always can be connected to their bonus. Let's realize that, let's be maker that and Ritashem. But we should all be Zoha to tap into this lesson. Wishing you an amazing rest of your day and a beautiful Shabbos.
