אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, מאי דכתיב? What is the meaning of the pasuk where it says, וזאת התורה אשר שם משה? This is the Torah that Moshe put. Means like this: the word שם could also be read סם. A ש and a ס are together, I mean interchange. Now, סם doesn't mean necessarily poison. סם המוות is poison. סם חיים is a medicine. That's what he says: זכה נעשית לו סם חיים, if you're זוכה it becomes סם חיים, it becomes a medicine to give you life. לא זכה, if you're not זוכה, נעשית לו סם מיתה, it becomes poison. That's the word שם, it's it's it's סם, whichever way you're going to go. היינו דאמר רבא, this is what Rava said, דאומן לה, סמא דחיי, דלא דאומן לה, סמא דמותא. If a person is doing it properly and learning it the proper way, he's ירא שמים, then it becomes סם חיים, סמא דחיי, and if not, it becomes סם המוות, becomes poison. אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said, רבי יונתן רמי, Rabbi Yonatan asked a contradiction. כתיב, one pasuk says: פקודי ה' ישרים משמחי לב. The Torah of Hashem, the commandments of Hashem are straight, they make a person's heart happy. This is one of the reasons why on Tisha B'Av you're not allowed to learn, because on Tisha B'Av you're not allowed to have simcha, and Torah makes you happy. This is the reason why an avel is not allowed to learn, because it's משמחי לב. Which by the way not negated this, it says in ספרים of חסידות you're allowed to learn. Why? Because the whole reason you're not allowed to learn because Torah is משמחי לב, but בנגע פנימיות התורה, רזי דתורה, the Gemara says: אין מוסרין רזי תורה אלא למי שלבו דואג בקרבו. Okay, there you have to be very serious, it's not fun. So really, you are allowed to learn anyway. You can learn יורה דעה, you can learn the story, you can learn and hear that, on תשעה באב, תוכה, whatever. Yeah, yeah, same with regular things. But it says here that the words of Hashem make you happy. כתיב, another פסוק says: אמרת ה' צרופה. צרופה means that it's it's lighted, it's purified, refined, but it means like when you put something in fire, metal in fire, and Refined. Refined, so that that it hurts, it's it's not pashut, it's it's צער.

Here it says that it's simcha, here it says that it's צער. So the answer is, depends. זכה, משמחתו. If you're zocheh, then the Torah makes you happy. לא זכה, צורפתו למיתה. If not, it purifies you and it will make you die. And again, like the whole time when it says zachah doesn't only mean if you have a זכות. If you work on it, you're מזכך yourself, you're purified yourself, if you're refined. Yehoshua ben Levi אמר, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish אמר: מגופיה דקרא נפקא. You don't have to come on to tell us these two sides because of a contradiction between two פסוקים. This פסוק itself, the word צרף, מצרף, צרופה, could have two opposite meanings. זכה, צורפתו לחיים. צורפתו means just refines you. It could refine you and make you live better. לא זכה, also צורפתו למיתה. It refines you, works on you, and it burns you, and it makes you die. This חיים is עולם הבא? Huh? סם חיים, not after, in עולם הבא, this world also. In this world. Doesn't have to be The other The other צרופה is גיהנם. Yeah. פסוק says: יראת ה' טהורה עומדת לעד. יראת ה', fear of Hashem, טהורה, which is pure, lasts forever.

אמר רבי חנינא, רבי חנינא says: זה הלומד תורה בטהרה. First a person learns תורה בטהרה, pure. מאי היא? What would mean you learn Torah with purity? נושא אשה ואחר כך לומד תורה. You learn Torah after you get married, so then you don't have all these מחשבות and all these things that could come up. What about all the Torah before you got married? Huh? What about all the Torah you learned before you got married? A lower kinyan. Huh? A lower madregah. That's why it says you should get married young. Yeah. They say someone came, they say, the Satmar Rebbe, and he asked, \"Why don't you get married? Doesn't that say בן שמונה עשרה לחופה? You know, 18.\" \"Ah, שמונה עשרה? I stay too long for שמונה עשרה. I'm standing too long for שמונה עשרה.\" So he says to him, \"You know what happens if you stand too long for שמונה עשרה? You skip kedushah.\" That's if you miss kedushah. He did, the Rosh Yeshiva. Who did you call him? Satmar Rebbe, they say, yeah. If you stand too long for שמונה עשרה, you miss kedushah. And that's the vort here, if you stand too long for שמונה עשרה, you'll you don't have to tie it in. עדות השם נאמנה מחכימת פתי, he says. The עדות of Hashem, again, which is the Torah, נאמנה is trustworthy. מחכימת מחכימת פתי. It makes someone who's foolish, makes him smart. אמר Rabbi Chiya bar Abba. Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said, what it means, what does נאמנה? Trustworthy. Trustworthy for what? נאמנה היא להעיד בבעליה. The Torah is trustworthy. The Torah will testify. When it comes יום הדין, the Torah itself is going to testify, did this guy learn me, or did this guy not learn me? Okay, זאגט די

Gemara ווייטער, כהן גדול משמש בשמונה כלים. The כהן גדול, when he does the avodah, he has to wear eight garments. וההדיוט בדלת. And a regular כהן, ordinary Kohen, four. Okay. Then the Mishnah says, ואלו נשאלין באורים ותומים. It says certain things you ask the Urim VeTumim. The Kohen had Kohen Gadol had a Choshen, and the Choshen had Urim VeTumim. A she'elah of what the Urim VeTumim is. If the Urim VeTumim, the עצם חושן, or the Urim VeTumim refers to a the כתב, שם המפורש, which was put into the fold. Because it was a What was Urim What was it? It was a piece of cloth, this big, let's say, folded over, and the stones were set in here. And he wore it like this. But in the fold, he put in the שם המפורש, and that made it work. So, so the question is if the שם המפורש is, it's called all Urim VeTumim? So really in the second בית המקדש there wasn't no Urim VeTumim according to that. Right. And the Rambam holds not. The Rambam holds that the עצם חושן is called Urim VeTumim. That's what the Rambam says, that you can't say it He says clearly, you can't say it didn't have Urim VeTumim because it's missing one of the בגדים. Right. So it says it had it, but it didn't work. I mean it didn't answer. Right, well it didn't have the שכינה. But according to Rashi, it takkeh didn't have the Urim VeTumim, because Urim VeTumim does not refer to the בגד, to the Choshen, it refers to the שם. Right. Huh? Like the battery, yeah. Yeah. Now, אין נשאלין בהן להדיוט. If a stam a person will ask a question by Urim VeTumim, it won't answer. אלא למלך ולאב בית דין, to the king, or to the head of the סנהדרין, the head of the בית דין. ולמי שצורך הציבור בו, or somebody who is needed for the whole community. General. Okay, general. זאגט די גמרא, תנו רבנן, and the רבנן have learned, כיצד שואלין? How did you ask?

השואל פניו כלפי הנשאל, the one that's asking, let's say the מלך, who comes to ask, stands facing the one you're asking. The Kohen Gadol is there standing, and he's facing the Kohen Gadol. והנשאל פניו כלפי שכינה, and the one that's being asked, his face is facing the Urim. How is he? He's looking down at the Urim v'Tumim. Huh? What do you mean direction? The thing was put on him. No. The Urim v'Tumim is is representing the Shechinah. השואל אומר, the one that's asking asks, ארדוף אחרי הגדוד הזה? Should I chase after this army? Should I go to war with this army? והנשאל אומר: רדוף. So the one that's asked will answer him, רדוף, yeah, go. כה אמר השם, go, עלה והצלח, go and you will matzliach. Okay. רבי יהודה says, לא היה צריך לומר: כה אמר השם. He didn't have to answer, this is what Hashem said, go up and you'll be matzliach. אלא עלה והצלח, just these words, because obviously it's from Hashem. Just say, go and you'll be matzliach. Then he says, אין שואלין בקול. You didn't ask with a lot with a voice. שנאמר, it says: ושאל לו. You ask him as if as you're speaking to yourself, okay? ולא יהרהר בלבו. But on the other hand, it's not enough if you just think about it in your mind. שנאמר, it says: ושאל לו. Says it's two things, it says ושאל means you have to ask. לו means to yourself. So how is it? אלא כדרך שדיברה חנה בתפלתה, like Chana spoke when she davent. שנאמר, it says: וחנה היא מדברת על לבה. She spoke to herself. It means you have to pronounce the words, not enough to think the words in your mind. You have to pronounce it, but you don't have to say it loud, you can say it quietly. The only time they used the Urim v'Tumim to ask question, it was for צורך הציבור? Like nothing else? Or the melech, when he had his thing, but Nothing else? People didn't just come in? No, no, not private things, not private. Was there any time that they did it or or Never? It always was for that? Yeah. ואין שואלין שני דברים כאחד. You couldn't ask two things together. In other words, if you have two questions to ask, ask one, wait for the answer, and then you'll ask the second one. But don't ask them together. ואם שאל, if you did ask, אין מחזירין לו אלא אחד. They'll only you only get an answer for one. ואין מחזירין לו אלא לראשון. And you'll only get the answer for the first. שנאמר, a re'ayah, and the re'ayah actually is not only for the first inyan, that they only answer once, because Dovid asked: היסגירוני בעלי קעילה בידו?

When David is running away from Shaul, he came across those So he asked the Urim VeTumim, will the בעלי, the people from קעילה, give me over to his hand? And then he said: הירד שאול כאשר שמע עבדך השם אלקי ישראל? Will Shaul be there? הגד נא נא לעבדך, say it, answer, will Shaul go to a certain place? ויאמר ה', the answer was ירד, he'll go. But he asked two questions: will the בעלי קעילה come and then will will Shaul come? He only asked one, he only answered the second question. פרעגט די Gemara, why how come it didn't say מחזירין לו ראשון? It's one part you get a good raaya that you don't answer both, but we said the answer is the first. Here, he answered the second. אלא, the answer is like this, David asked twice: שאל דוד שאל שלא כסדר, דוד asked not in the right order because first he had to ask, will Shaul be there? And if he'll be there, will they give me over in his hand? He asked פארקערט, will the people give me over? And then he asked, will will he go there? So, mimeila, therefore since it was שלא כסדר, that's why they didn't answer on the first. The problem wasn't only that he asked two questions instead of one, he asked them in the wrong order. So they answered on the first. The first question would answer the second question. Once you answered the first, you would answer, he doesn't have to go down there. Or he can go down there. The seder is that you answer first will he come. If he asked this question, you answer first you have to know if he'll come. So what happens, he answered the first. Then he wouldn't even have to ask the second once the first was answered anyway. Yes, he would. Then will they give me over in his hand? Only if Shaul was going to come. So they asked if Shaul will come and he say yes, then the next question is do I take a risk? So he asked they asked in a wrong order, they answered in the second question, כיוון שידע ששאל שלא כסדר, he realized that he didn't ask in the proper order, חזר ושאל כסדר, so now he turned around and asked כסדר. שנאמר, it says ויאמר דוד היסגירו בעלי קעילה אותי ואת ואת אנשיי ביד שאול? But after he had got that answer, he asked again, the first question he asked before, he reasked, and he asked, will the אנשי קעילה give me over in his hand? ויאמר ה' יסגירו, ה' said, \"Yes.\" Okay. Then he says, אם הוצרך הדבר לשניים, if needs two answers. It's like an emergency, you need right away two answers because like we said, you'll ask each one separately. מחזירין לו לשניים, yes, then if it's an emergency and they need both, they'll answer both. שנאמר, it says וישאל דוד בה' לאמר, when David asked ה', that's through the אורים ותומים, ארדוף אחרי הגדוד הזה, אשיגנו? Should I chase after him, and will I get them? Two questions. ויאמר לו, the and the answer was רדוף כי השג תשיג והצל תציל. Yes. Run after him and you'll catch him. Okay. It's one inyan when you think about it. It's one inyan, but it's two questions. Right. Then the Gemara says like, ואף על פי שגזירת נביא חוזרת, when a navi makes an said a gezeirah, it could change, גזירת אורים ותומים אינה חוזרת. Don't change if the Urim v'Tumim said that, nah? Now, here it doesn't say, Rashi just says the example, what do you see גזירת נביא חוזרת? כענין בננוה. Yeah, but isn't a date that they didn't do teshuvah? No, that's what the Gemara says, they didn't do complete teshuvah. Teshuvah But it changed. The gezeirah was that the the Nineveh will be turned over, and they changed. But גזירת אורים ותומים אינה חוזרת. Even if it's a is פורענות. No, if it Urim v'Tumim, obviously not, yeah. But if it's פורענות, could could be in nevuah if it's נבואת פורענות so it's always, you always go back, The Rambam says in other places. Der Bashefer will change His mind only from something bad, but meaning good, you'll never He never changes His mind. Even though sometimes it says He did change from good. It says that when Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, they were really supposed to go to the גאולה שלמה. דאלמלא חטאו ישראל, they would've had right away the בית המקדש של שלמה. It was. Right away? No, but that was the השם דיבר דיבר אל אברהם השם at the מעמד בין הבתרים, the Bashefer promised that they will Yeah, but he didn't go back from that, he delayed it. No, he said it will be now. Right. He said it was going to be now, and it wasn't. But we do find certain places. Best re'ayah is, the Bashefer promised Yaakov Avinu he'll protect him from from Lavan and Esav. And what did he do? קטונתי מכל החסדים So, what did he say, why did he have to davenen again by Esav? But Rashi says אולי נתלכלכתי בחטא. Maybe you got נתלכלך בחטא, the Bashefer promised. Right. Shema mina that through chet, the Bashefer could change His mind even for something good. Because b'chet how could he change? So it's not so pashut. No, but it's really a nevuah also. It's not a that's that's פרט of נבואה. But, it's not it's already a promise. They're talking about when the Rambam talks about the הלכות נביאים, so he says that the נבואה only if if the that נבואה could actually could change, that's what the Rambam says, correct? Yeah, a good נבואה So, why the Rambam says that, because he's talking about specifically a נביא that he's not doing the נבואה, not talking about Yaakov. Not through the נבואה here, right? He know, like he he's now doing a נבואה. Yeah. So, what say what's the, so, that's what he said, he says that it's a halacha. So, this whole Yaakov Avinu is a Was a נבואה. Was a נבואה, yeah, I agree. Was a נבואה to Yaakov Avinu, it's not a נבואה פרט. When he's in a פרט, there is a an הלכה פרט, so how, when When you get through the one that's a נביא, and he It's a נבואה to Yaakov. A promise was in a נבואה to Yaakov. You say not a promise, on the נבואה really. It came in a נבואה. How did the promise come? So, Why the Rambam says that's an... I'm saying generally it's like that. There is an exception. Except for... no, no, I'm saying it's not pshat. Generally it's like that. Where do we see that the גזירה of Urim veTumim doesn't change? שנאמר, it says: במשפט האורים. So it called it משפט. What's called משפט? משפט is halacha! It's a halacha, isn't it? Can't change. Halacha doesn't change, so this doesn't change. And and also: ולמה נקרא שמם אורים ותומים, why are they called אורים ותומים? אורים שמאירין את דבריהם, shines up the words, and ותומים שמשלימין את דבריהם. תומים, it finishes off, it comes, it happens, it's not gonna change. לשון תום? תום, complete, it completes it. ואם תאמר, you might ask, דגבעת בנימין מפני מה לא השלימו? Now, huh? No appeals. No appeals, not by the Urim VeTumim. No. It's already the Supreme Court. Yeah. Yeah. דגבעת בנימין, that's when they had this whole war against Benjamin. And they asked the Urim VeTumim, the שבטים who were gonna go to war against Benjamin asked: Should we go to war or not? And the Eibershter said: Go. And what happened? They all lost the war. That first two days, they got killed. They all lost, they lost the war. So the שאלה is: מפני מה לא השלימו? Why didn't it finish? Why didn't it, if he said go to war, a סימן that the Eibershter like said go ahead, it's gonna be good. And then towards it wasn't! We just finished saying ומשלימין את דבריהם, that Urim VeTumim says what it says, it happens, and here it didn't happen. It said go and then they lost. ענטפערט די Gemara: הם שלא שלא ביחנו אם לנצח אם לא לנצח. The reason is pashut. Had they asked, will we be menatzeach or not, the Eibershter would have answered no. They asked the question: Should we go? Yes, the Eibershter said go. Now, מאחרינה later, ביחנו שביחנו, they did ask should we, will we be matzliach? הסכימו. Then takeh they, were מסכים that you will be matzliach, and that takeh didn't change. שנאמר, it says: ופינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן עומד לפניו בימים ההם לאמר He's standing there saying: האוסיף עוד לצאת למלחמה עם בני בנימין אחי? He said, asked: Should I continue going to war with בני בנימין? אם אחדל? חדל, will I the opposite of success, what's it called, will I fail, okay, will I fail? ויאמר ה' עלו כי מחר אתננו בידך. Says go, because I will give them I'll give them in your hand. So later when they asked, will I fail or will I be matzliach, they answered, but the first time all they asked: Should we go? Said go. And that's takeh came true. What wasn't there something to do with the stones lit up? Well, the Gemara is gonna ask: כיצד נעשית? How did it happen, how did you get an answer? When the Eibershter said, well how did he say it? רבי יוחנן אומר, he said: בולטות.

They'd come the words, the letters would stick out. In other words the letter, if the answer was yes, ken, a כ and a ן would stick out. If the answer was no, Most of the answers are are quite long, if you think... So, עלו. ע, ל, ו. No, but the whole thing about I've given it in your hand... It's a whole long answer, not only that. I don't know if that's really the words of the answer. This is a peirush on what the answer was. Maybe the answer was עלו ותצליח. Also, they didn't come out, you know, they were mixed up, you know, the Kohen had to create the words. Oh, that's, that's what we're gonna see in a second. What was אותיות בולטות, what does it mean? Shteist nisht? Oisgeshtakht. And like that. But, according to this peshat, the letters stayed in their place, and the Kohen had to figure out what the words meant. You have to make sure that the Ephod only had one of each letter. Okay, so we'll see, they weren't one of each, maybe it went twice. Reish Lakish... ריש לקיש אומר: מצטרפות, they would move. It would pashut move together and form a word. So it's easier. Who said מצטרפות? Yeah. Fregt di Gemara: הלא לא כתיב צדיק? There's a צדיק missing. אמר רב... אמר שמואל בר רב יצחק: אברהם יצחק ויעקב כתיב שם. They also wrote the words אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב. Fregt di Gemara: הלא לא כתיב טית? Isn't there a טית? אמר רב אחא בר יעקב: שבטי ישורון כתיב. It said the words שבטי ישורון. Then the Gemara asks: מיתיבי, I have a kashya. כל כהן שאינו מדבר ברוח הקודש ואין שכינה שרויה עליו אין שואלין בו. If a Kohen speaks with ruach hakodesh and the Shechinah is on him, you could ask through him. שהרי שאול שאל בצדוק ולא... ושאל באביתר ולא עלה לו. They once asked, צדוק הכהן asked, got an answer, אביתר didn't get an answer. שנאמר, it says: ויעל אביתר. So it's a kashya. Before we said that the stones, they're the answer, has nothing to do with the Kohen's ruach hakodesh. All of a sudden we're saying it's the Kohen's ruach hakodesh that does it. Entfert di Gemara: דמסייע סיועי. It helped. In other words, when does the when did the the letters answer? If the kohen was a yerei shamayim, if the kohen was a tzadik, had Shechinah. I

guess this was pashut, I mean they had to first go and lose and then With his Ruach Hakodesh he could read it, otherwise it wouldn't be legible, they wouldn't understand. Could be, which is probably also true.