Good morning, everyone. I'm Chazak Baruch. Thank you for joining us on this beautiful Monday morning as we enter the month of Nisan. My friends, Nisan is a month of redemption. It's a month of Ge'ula (redemption). All of us want national redemption. We want personal salvation. And how do we go free? How do we become great in life? Our parasha, parasha Vayikra (Leviticus), gives us the answer. The parasha begins. Of course, we know the book of Leviticus, Vayikra. We enter a new book. So it's a new month, a new week, a new book, and a new you. It's a new year. Shana Tova, everyone. Happy New Year. We know we have two new years. Just in case you didn't get it right the first time, you can start over six months later. So here we go. Shana Tova and Happy New Year. The month of Nisan is the first of the months.
Vayikra is a new book. Vayikra deals with many things. It deals with many sacrifices. The Pasuk (verse) says God calls out to Moshe and says, “If a man among you will bring a korban (sacrifice) to God, if it's from animals, from cattle, from flock, if it's an elevation offering, it has to be a male,” etc. It goes on to list all the different types of korbanot (sacrifices). Fascinating parasha. A lot of interesting stuff. A lot of juicy goods.
What's very interesting to note, though, is the first word of how it's all introduced: Adam. When a man sins. Now, that's not the normal way we would write in the Torah. Anytime the Torah wants to write about a person, it doesn't use Adam. What's the word it uses? Ish (man). Ish. As an example, a person wants to be a nazir (Nazirite). A person wants to accept nazirut (Nazirite status). It doesn't say man. Adam. It says ish. Right? If you go to parasha Naso, it says ish or isha (woman). What's Adam? Why is it called that over here? Why is it the introduction and preface to the laws of sacrifices? When a person brings a sacrifice because they committed a sin, why does it preface it with the word Adam?
The answer is very short, but very beautiful. Say lo mar. If you sin like Adam HaRishon, then you have to bring a korban. Be'er Yosef explains that a person sins, and a lot of times when we sin, we don't realize the gravity. We don't realize how dangerous a sin is. We live in a world where we don't see automatic consequences. When a person smokes, they don't immediately see what's going on in their body, in their lungs. When a person drinks, you know, a red dye. A person eats food. A person may say something. We don't always see the consequences. When a person sins, we don't see the spiritual consequences. We don't realize what's going on. But we take a cue from Adam HaRishon. When Adam sinned, just to realize how big the sin is.
Adam HaRishon was in paradise. He was living life. He had a beautiful life. Angels were serving him barbecue every day. They were fanning him. He was literally in paradise. He had the best life ever. If I were to make a joke, I would say he didn't have a mother-in-law. He's living in Gan Eden (Garden of Eden). Well, what happens? He takes a bite from a tree. Famous. A fruit. And look how much he changed the course of history. One bite. One bite changed everything. One sin changed your life forever. Changed history forever. All the death. B'ze'at apecha (By the sweat of your brow). Now we have to work for our bread. Bread used to grow on the tree.
Think about how many problems we go through today because we have to work. How much stress. How much shalom bayit (peace in the home). How many people MIA because they don't get to see their kids because they have to work. How much competition. Think about the Jews in the desert. They lived in bliss. They lived in paradise in the desert. We had the mann (manna). There was no competition. Everyone had their tent. Their tent wasn't facing their neighbor's tent. They didn't look inside to see what kind of sofa they got. Everyone was very happy with their tent. Everyone got the food that they needed. There was no fancy wedding and less fancy wedding. Every wedding was the same.
Think about how much envy goes on today. Competition. Social media. Sadness. Depression. Comparing. People who are wealthy feel poor because there's someone wealthier. People who are pretty feel ugly because there's someone prettier. People who are skinny feel very heavy because there's someone skinnier. How many issues today? How many disorders? How many mental health? Because now we've got to start comparing. Now we've got to start working. Now we've got to start providing. It was very simple. Life was amazing. I have no doubt Adam HaRishon didn't realize how serious eating one fruit was going to be.
You know, a lot of times you play the game with your friends at the Shabbat table: If you could go back to a moment in history, which one would it be? You know, everyone says, “I want to see the splitting of the sea,” or, “I would want to see the plagues,” or whatever you would pick. One guy said, “I would go back to the Garden of Eden. I would tell Adam, ‘Don't do it. Don't eat it. Give me that fruit. It's not worth it, man. A lot of headaches.’” One act. Adam. One act that Adam HaRishon did.
So right here in the book of Vayikra, right in the beginning, as we're about to tell a person about a korban that they have to bring because of a sin they did, the Torah uses that same word, Adam. If you're about to sin, just stop for one second and think: Adam. Not you, man, but Adam, your great-great-grandpa. Think of Adam. Think of him. Try to take a lesson. We say in the Amidah, by the way, in the fourth Beracha (blessing), it's talking about Adam, us, mankind, and it's talking about Adam. Both are true. Adam ki yakriv mikem (When a person among you brings). If you're going to be tempted to sin, just think about Adam. Take a lesson from your grandpa. Realize how big one act can be. You can change the course of history. It's not small.
You think you're doing one sin? Rambam says a person always has to see himself as 50-50. The world is 50-50, and you are 50-50. Your next act is going to tip the scales. It's going to make you good or bad. And then it's going to make the whole world either good or bad. Because sometimes life comes down to one play. Sometimes the whole game comes down to one. One act. We have to realize the seriousness of a moment, of a sin, because no sin is in a vacuum. No sin is isolated. It creates a ripple. Small. But it's Adam. It's got ramifications. And in real time, you won't know it.
The tzaddikim (righteous people) used to live as if every moment was a huge moment. If an ani (poor person) came to them, this was an important moment. You never know it. You may not know what you're doing, who you're changing, what you're affecting. But that's life. Adam. Realize this is a big sin. This is a big opportunity. Remember Beauty and the Beast? The prince's house. He thought it was just a pauper. He didn't realize this was an enchanter. It's a big moment. Don't treat it lightly. It's not just a random poor person. This is a big deal.
And what does she give him? She gives him a simple rose. Then Belle comes along, touches the rose, and a couple of petals fall off. “What's the big deal?” And he says to her, “What's the big deal? These petals are my time clock. It's ticking. Every petal is another few moments in time. You cause a few petals to fall off. You're taking away time.” And I think that was the lesson to the Beast. He was shown that things are very powerful. Things are important. Small things can be very big things. Don't mistreat a rose petal. Don't mistreat a pauper. The way he speaks to this pauper in the beginning of the movie ends up coming back, and he realizes in a full circle how important a small act can be, or a small petal can be. Life is important. Small things are connected to big things. Small actions have big consequences. A tiny decision to eat a fruit changed history.
Maybe we could take this a little further. Yosef HaTzaddik, what did he do? One act. He asked the butler, “How's your morning? Good morning, sir. How are you? You look down today.” It ended up changing history. Good morning. Because then the butler had this bothering dream, and then he gave it to Yosef, and then Yosef interpreted it. Later on, when Paro needed an interpreter, Yosef was the guy. It all started from a good morning. Maybe you're in shul (synagogue) and the guy says good morning to you. “Eh, who cares? Good morning, good morning.” You've got to live life to the max. A single act is a big act. It could change the world.
This tefillah (prayer), this could be the tefillah that's going to give me my shidduch (marriage match). This could be the tefillah that's going to give me a baby. This could be it. You may have heard of the wrong turn that led to World War I. One wrong turn. How many deaths were there in World War I? How many deaths? Anyone know? Say around 20 million people died in World War I. A war that went on for a few years, at the beginning of the 1900s: 1914 to 1918. A four- or five-year time span. 20 million people died.
There was tension between the allies and the central powers, and it started with a wrong turn. It was a wrong turn. Someone tried to assassinate the son of the emperor of Austria. The attempt failed. Someone else was killed instead. So this archduke, the son of the emperor, went to visit the fellow in the hospital. The driver made a wrong turn. All of a sudden, as he makes this wrong turn, it puts him right in front of this assassin. The guy sees right in front of him who he was trying to kill all along, and he ends up killing him. It leads to World War I. The driver makes a wrong turn. Just a wrong turn. He stops right in front of this Serbian nationalist, who sees the opportunity and shoots and kills the archduke. So, a wrong turn. 20 million people die. That's a more recent example of the forbidden fruit of Adam HaRishon. Adam HaRishon. One tree. Millions of people. Millions. For the rest of history. One fruit. So we have to realize the power of small, the importance of small, the importance of one.
Life is made up of small. Today is going to be a small day. It's going to be an average day. Today, my friends, is going to be a regular day. It's a regular Monday, the worst day of the week. By the way, people don't like Monday. It's a regular day today. But you could decide if it's going to be a small day or a big day. There's no such thing as big. All of life is small. All of life is average. Life is just regular moments. Regular people. Regular women. Regular men. Small. Regular. Insignificant. Whether or not life becomes meaningful is up to us.
We can come and say, “This is a big moment.” No girl is going to have a sign for you saying, “I'm your marriage material. I'm your zivug (intended match). I'm your bashert (destined match). I'm your nasib (destiny).” No such thing. Every girl is just a regular girl, an average woman. You want to make it special? You've got to make her special. You've got to go over. You've got to take a ring. You've got to say... Boom. You've just upgraded a normal situation to a huge marriage. That comes down to us. It's in our hands. A tefillah is a regular tefillah. A special tefillah. It's up to you. Life is all about small. Small can be very powerful.
Rosh Hashanah (New Year), like we said, today is also Rosh Hashanah. Yesterday. Six months away is Rosh Hashanah in Tishri. We begin the year with a seder (ritual meal). We sit around the table. We have a seder. Friends and family. We take fruits. We have this interesting custom where we take fruits and different foods. Vegetables. Black-eyed peas. Leeks. Things that you don't have ever in the whole year. And then you say your Yehi Ratzon. Say your prayer. And all of a sudden, boom. This is going to be an omen. This date, if I eat it, I'm going to have an amazing year this year. Interesting thing, no? You're starting off with this odd custom of eating foods that have certain sounds. They don't even sound so aligned, by the way. Tamar. Date. It's a little off, no? Where's the Resh (the letter resh)? I don't know. Either way, you start off with this custom of having a food and then saying a prayer, and then boom, I'm going to have a great year this year.
But what's the explanation? The explanation is very deep. What's a date? I believe I heard this from Charlie Harary, if I'm not mistaken. He says a date—it's nothing. It's just a date. It's a fruit. An average date. Medjool dates, delicious. Put them in the freezer. How you doing? You have this nice, juicy date. It's a regular date, and you have them all year long. But we begin the year and say, “You know what this year I'm going to do? I'm going to take an ordinary date that means nothing, and I'm going to actually say a prayer. I'm going to elevate this experience. I'm going to make this eating, this date—I'm going to make it special.” That's the sign. The sign is not the date. The sign is taking something simple and elevating it. Being able to say, “This year I'm going to make life special. I'm going to make this year a special year. I'm going to take something simple and small and irrelevant and insignificant. I'm going to take a simple pauper. I'm going to make it a special moment. I'm going to realize that this person here who's at my door, she could be a princess. And I'm going to make it special.” And this sin is not a small sin. I can't do it. I can't just treat it like it's a regular sin. It could be a wrong turn that could change my life. This could be it. I've got to be very careful. This could be the one that's going to create that addiction, that pattern. This could be one turn. This is big. Life's big. Life's important.
Avraham Avinu saw three Arabs. You know what he said? “You're not Arabs. You're angels. You're more important. I'm going to make you more important.” Abraham took an Arab and elevated him to an angel. That's what he did. He took something simple. He took a little date and said, “Boom!” He just elevated the date. He elevated the experience. There's no such thing in life as small or big. You decide. Are you small or big? You decide. He elevated every experience.
It's not a simple good morning. This could be my future father-in-law. This could be the guy who's going to get me out of jail. It doesn't matter who. It doesn't matter what. Every person has their moment. I want to be part of it. I'm going to elevate this experience. Live life. Big. Be big today. Be big today. Be big today. Whoever you encounter, leave an impact. Make sure that they'll never forget you. For the good. Do not let them walk away forgetting you.
You're seeing someone at a wedding, at a party, at a kiddush (Kiddush gathering). This is the only conversation that matters: the one you're having. Forget about the people on the other side of the room, because you're not with them right now. Make sure that this person you're speaking to will say, “Wow, I enjoyed talking to that person. I can't wait to see them next time at a wedding.” Big. Live big. Every moment can be big. You've got to make it big. Make sure. You're going to pray. When you take those three steps forward, realize you're stepping into Hashem's house. This is not a random tefillah. This can be Chana's tefillah. I can bring your Shmuel HaNavi into the world right now with this prayer.
That's how you make life. That's how we become great. This is not just a random fruit. This is the fruit of history. To live like that is a different caliber. You're living with purpose now. Now you're living with meaning. Now you're living with greatness. There's no such thing in life as big moments and small moments. It's just moments. Big people make them big moments. For small people, they become small moments. But the moment is just a moment. We have to decide how we want to infuse it.
We should be zoche (merit). Hashem should bless us as we enter the new year of Nisan and become big. To become more. To realize, like Adam, the importance of a moment, the importance of life, the power of an act, the danger of one. To be big. To step up. To look back and say, “That's what Adam could do if he could destroy in one. What could I build with one?” Because the power of building is always more powerful.
So, to live today with zest, to come into every day of the year. Abraham brought the day. Each day he woke up, there was a rejuvenation. “Today's a day. Today's a huge day. Today I'm going to meet that guy. I'm going to meet that person. I'm going to encounter...” And every one of them is that person. You elevate life to something much bigger, something very, very powerful. We should have an amazing year ahead of us. We could take ordinary foods, ordinary dates, and black-eyed peas, lift it all up, and make this year a year of greatness. We'll stop over here. Have a wonderful day. And hopefully we'll see you all tomorrow. Bye bye.