Today’s class has been dedicated in memory of Aharon ben Esther - Harry I. Shalom, by the Shalom family
As we get closer to Tisha B’Av, we are going to talk about the haftara of Yishayah HaNavi.
For the past two weeks we have been talking about the first two readings of the haftaras, which come from Yirmiah HaNavi, but today we are going to talk about Yishaya, who was also a Navi in those times.
We are introduced to him in chapter one of the Yishaya, where is says,
(ב) שִׁמְעוּ שָׁמַיִם וְהַאֲזִינִי אֶרֶץ כִּי ה' דִּבֵּר
The heavens and earth should hear me Because Hashem spoke (saying)
בָּנִים גִּדַּלְתִּי וְרוֹמַמְתִּי וְהֵם פָּשְׁעוּ בִי:
I raised children, I uplifted children, and they rebelled against Me
G-d is bemoaning the fact that He raises and uplifts us, His children, and we rebelled. What was the source of that rebellion?
The Navi continues, and this is an important line that we will discuss today:
יָדַע שׁוֹר קֹנֵהוּ וַחֲמוֹר אֵבוּס בְּעָלָיו
A cow knows his owner and a donkey knows the trough of its owner.
In other words, the cow is little bit more sophisticated than the donkey. The cow knows who owns him, whereas the donkey only knows what feeds him.
יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יָדַע עַמִּי לֹא הִתְבּוֹנָן:
But the Jewish people don’t even know that they didn’t analyze, think of contemplate)
The key to everything is to think. להתבונן means to think
Rav Wolbe said that the word בינה, binah to understand, is the same root as the word בונה boneh to build.
You build yourself by your understanding. Understanding is something that you do on your own. בינה Binah, understanding, is not the same as חכמהHochma, knowledge.
We have binah, Hochma, (and also דעת which is a higher level which we won’t go into).
Binah means to analyze and figure things out on your own; not just to acquire wisdom from the outside. It takes thought.
The Hovot HaLevavot in Shaar Bechinah, talks about finding G-d in creation. He says that when a person thinks and contemplates the wisdom of creation, and finds the indicators of a Creator, then he is greater than an animal. If he ignores the indicators of G-d in creation, he is not only not like an animal, he is actually lower than an animal as the pasuk, says יָדַע שׁוֹר קֹנֵהוּ …. עַמִּי לֹא הִתְבּוֹנָן
The cow knows his owner…they didn’t think
Rav Chatzkel Levenstein says that the chiddush here is that there are certain things that animals have naturally. The animal naturally has certain instincts. Dog is man’s best friend. He didn’t work on it, it’s natural. Human beings aren’t like that. If humans don’t think and contemplate, they don’t get those natural understandings. That’s what the Navi is telling us. Don’t think it’ll just come naturally. These things must be worked on. We aren’t like the animal kingdom which has certain instincts and understandings. Like it says in the Pasuk in Tehillim,
הכפירים שואגים לטרף לבקש מא-ל אכלם
The lions roar for their food to ask G-d for their sustenance.
That means there is an animal instinct that knows the G-d gives them their food, and they cry out to G-d.
People don’t have that. They consider themselves responsible for their success. As it says, כחי ועצם ידי
My strength and my power made this
That’s because we are not animals.
I once heard, many years ago, Rav Shmuel Auerbach, Zichrono Lebracha, a great Rosh Yeshiva and Gadol from Yerushalayim, ask a question- why do we have perek shira, where all the animals sing their songs? Why isn’t there a song of man?
He said that animals have songs because it’s their natural song, of their living- they don’t work in it. But the human being has to work on it. He has to write his own song. That’s what we are supposed to be doing.
Rabbi Miller wrote his own song- on the apple, on the banana, on the watermelon... Everyone has to write their own song. We can’t just take it as a given and accept it from the outside. That is what the Navi is telling us, from G-d: That the source of all the problems is that we don’t think. That’s what Mesilat Yesharim says as well. The Mesilat Yesharim says that the Yetzer Hara’s main goal is to stop us from thinking, because he knows that once we start thinking, the war is over, and we win. Rav Wolbe used to say that the Yetzer Hara will stop you from thinking even by telling yo to go to a class or learn- just don’t think! People fear thinking. That’s why the yetzer hara steals all of our time. Even if we are free, taking a walk, we talk on the phone, listen to music, or even listen to o a class or the daf yomi. The Yetzer Hara doesn’t want to let us be alone, because that’s when we think.
But that’s what we have to do.
The Hovot HaLevavot, in another spot, in Shaar Avodat Elokim, Perek ג, tells us that every person, depending on how much good he gets from G-d, has more responsibility to reciprocate, and more service to G-d, because he gets more favors from G-d. He uses the Kohanim to prove this. The kohanim have more responsibilities, because Hashem gave them more gifts.
Therefore, the more you understand and grasp, the more you have to thank Hashem. You have been chosen, for your individual abilities, and you have to continue to thank Hashem for that; for how He singled you out, from everybody else. When you realize that, He will continue to bless you, with even more.
The Hovot HaLevavot lists many levels of people- the world at large, the nation, the community, the family, and the individual. At each level, the amount of acceptance of G-d’s goodness causes a certain amount of need to reciprocate.
“I’m a human being,” All humans have to reciprocate...
“I am from the Jewish nation,”
“I am from a special community”
“I have a special family”
“I’m special”
Each one of those things should cause a person to feel a debt of gratitude to G-d, to want to do more.
But the person that doesn’t focus on his extras and ignores the fact that he has certain special qualities will eventually not see his family’s extras, and then his community’s extras or his nation’s extra. He will then forget the Torah, which is a great benefit of the Jewish people.
Eventually, he will stop using his - his mind. He won’t even be logical-Like those evolutionists and heretics who aren’t even using their logic. Logic dictates there’s a G-d. Plan and purpose in the world says that there’s a G-d. Billions of galaxies says there’s a G-d. But ignoring that and thinking that everything came from a big bang is not using your שכל, brain. Eventually, when you stop using your mind, you not only stoop to the level of an animal but become less than animal. The animal knows his owner.
He quotes our pasuk from Yeshaya,
יָדַע שׁוֹר קֹנֵהוּ
A cow knows his owner
The beginning and end of everything is taking time out to think -התבוננות
Three weeks, nine days, restrictions, mourning, and with all that we still have to find some time to think.
BeEzrat Hashem we will continue with this...