says that there were 13 שערים, 13 gates in the Beit HaMikdash. 12 gates were for the 12 שבטים, and one was for those who didn't know their שבט. No, no, no, no, no. Could be a 100% kasher Jew, but he doesn't know his שבט. Or for instance, a ger, a convert. Convert doesn't have any שבט, and he's just as good as a Jew as anybody else, not in anyway less. As a matter of fact, the Rambam says that a ger has a greater yichus. There's a famous Rambam that there was a great chacham in the time of the Rambam, his name was Rabbeinu Ovadiah HaGer. So he wrote a letter to the Rambam saying that he he's upset whenever he remembers he's a ger, he feels bad. Why? He says, \"I think of all my other all other Jews, they're מיוחס to Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and I'm not, so I feel bad.\" So the Rambam says, \"Why you feel bad? We are מיוחס to Avraham, Yitzchak, veYaakov. You are מיוחס למי שאמר והיה העולם. You're מיוחס directly to Hashem. So what what's your problem?\" Saying so in one way they're even greater. But nevertheless they can't say they belong to a certain שבט because they don't. So there'll be a special group which won't have. So then Mashiach might say that I don't know exactly I can't say how it's going to be, \"These people belong to this this group.\" Now whether it's because it's from a family that was ממזרים. Well a ממזר is a שבט, that's no problem, but an עבד. So you don't know if he's an עבד or he's a he's a ger, or could be it's an עבד משוחרר. Those days an עבד when he was freed, he became a Jew automatically. So he was like a regular ger, so that's what it's going to be. But

I'm saying this is all part of what נטמע נטמע that when they got mixed in, it stays, and it's an elevation of certain families even without conversion. Conversion is also an elevation. You take a goy and you change him, but there at least he's not a goy anymore. In other words, there was a clear cut. It says גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד. A גר שנתגייר, it's like a child is born. So it's a new person, so it's cut. Here, the goy stayed a goy and nevertheless he's elevated and became part of Klal Yisrael. That's an elevation which is similar to elevating food. No. And we don't know? Or we do know? No, if we don't know, then it's included in this din. Even if he didn't convert at all. If you do know, then it's a problem. If you know that he was converted שלא כהלכה, then he has to go through conversion. That could happen at that time. We start, just for a few moments, the next halacha. The

next halacha the Rambam says is like this: לא נתאוו החכמים והנביאים ימות המשיח The sages, the chachamim, and the prophets did not yearn for the days of משיח, לא כדי שישלטו על כל העולם. It wasn't the reason they yearned was not in order to have control over the whole world, ולא כדי שירדו בעכו\"ם, and not that they should rule over the goyim. You don't have that, another page? All right. ולא כדי שינשאו אותם העמים, and also not that they should be elevated, held in high esteem, by the goyim. ולא כדי לאכול ולשתות ולשמוח, and not in order for them to eat and drink and to be happy. In other words, this is going to happen then. When Mashiach will come, this is going to happen. We're going to control the world, we're going to control the goyim, going to rule over the goyim, the goyim will hold us in highest of esteem, we're going to have everything we want to eat, everything to drink, we're going to have we're going to be happy. So one might think we know from the Gemara, from the Tanach that they were waiting for Mashiach, everything they said was \"Mashiach, Mashiach, Mashiach\", maybe this was the reason. So he says, \"No, not for

this.\" אלא כדי שיהיו פנויים בתורה וחכמתה, only so they should be free, they should have free time to involve themselves in study of תורה and the wisdom of תורה, ולא יהיה להם נוגש ומבטל, and they shouldn't have any pressures and any disturbances. They should be able to learn תורה without any problems, כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא, so they should merit olam haba, the life in the world to come, כמו שביארנו בהלכות תשובה, as the Rambam explained in Hilchot Teshuva. In Hilchot Teshuva, and actually I thought we would get there so I actually brought the Rambam Hilchot Teshuva, it just took longer than I thought, the Rambam explains that the ultimate goal of everything is olam haba, the world to come. And the schar, the reward for the mitzvot and for the תורה that you learn is olam haba. So the chachamim and the nevi'im wanted Mashiach because then they will be free to learn תורה without any disturbances and they will get olam haba. Because one thing is true, it is very hard to learn and to do mitzvot if you don't have enough food, if you don't have enough money, or if you're sick. All that is a disturbance, it takes away. So the reason they were waiting for Mashiach, for a time when everything will be 100% and we'll have everything we need, why? So that will make give them the enough time and the koach and the strength to learn Torah, do all the mitzvot, so they will get olam haba. So the Rambam writes in certain places that a person a בעל יסורים, a person with יסורים, cannot learn properly. He can't concentrate. There's a famous letter written by the Mezeritcher Maggid to his son. His son was he was known as the malach. Why was he called the malach? Because he was so holy, he was so detached from gashmiyut, he was like a malach, like an angel. He used to fast and didn't eat. So his father writes him a letter. It's a printed letter, it was found in the חסידישע גניזה, anyway it's a printed. He writes to him, \"My son, do not fast. I order you not to fast. I order you to take care of your health.\" In Yiddish he writes to him, and then he writes to him like this: \"Visn, a kleyne lechele in guf iz a groyse lach in neshome.\" A small hole in the body is a big hole in the neshama. If you have a hole in your body, which means you're sick, then your neshama suffers because you can't learn, you can't daven. So, in order to be able to learn, you have to have everything. So that's what they were waiting in the time of Mashiach. Because the main important thing is like the Rambam said in the beginning, Mashiach will come, he's going to, what's his accomplishment mainly? He's going to bring back the Torah and mitzvot, we'll have all the mitzvot and we'll have be able to learn Torah. But in order to do that, we'll have to have all the free things, all the free time and all the things, that's what's going to happen. And the most important thing is the mitzvot. They

say a story, one of the big chasidim that used to fast, fast many, many days and weeks and many years he fasted. The day before he passed away, he says to his students, he says, \"I tell you one thing: I really regret all the days that I fasted all those years.\" They said, \"Why?\" He said, \"I assume had I fasted less, I would have probably lived another day or two. You know what would have happened? I would be able to put on tefillin once more. So it's worth for me more to put on tefillin once in my lifetime, one more time, than to fast 30 years.\" But the chasidim, when they heard that, said, \"In order to feel that way, you have to fast 30 years. You have to go through that to get that feeling, to know, to appreciate what what mitzvot mean.\" That's by the way. What I'm saying, but the most important thing is the mitzvot. But if you're sick, you can't do mitzvot. So that's why the chachamim were waiting. Actually the Rambam says, I'll just and with this I'll finish, the Rambam says like this, not here in a different place, in Hilchot Teshuva actually, the Rambam asks a question. He says we find in Chumash it says, \"אם בחקתי תלכו,\" if you'll go in My ways, you'll learn Torah, you'll do mitzvot, Hashem promises, \"ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם,\" I'll give you rain, and I'll give you food, and I'll give you money, and I'll give you everything. So he

asks the question, \"First of all, don't we know a rule שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא, there is no reward for mitzvot in this world? Because the reward comes in the world to come. Here we have פסוקים that will give us reward. It's one problem. Another problem, he doesn't ask the question, but there's another problem: does it make sense that we'll get reward for mitzvot, we'll have food? Usually reward is always more than the effort. A person will invest a certain amount of money, and he'll get back less than he invested, what's the purpose? You invest a dollar, you make 100. So, when you work you want to get something that's worth more. What's worth more? Doing a mitzvah or eating food? Doing a mitzvah is ruchniyus, it's connecting to Hashem. So you'll have food, you'll have money. So how does it make sense that the pasuk says if you learn Torah and do mitzvot, I'll give you money, I'll give you rain?\" So the Rambam says like this: the pasuk does not mean reward. The reward will come in the world to come, the pasuk doesn't even talk about it. What Hashem is saying, \"If you learn Torah and do mitzvot, that means you'll cooperate with Me, I'll cooperate with you. That means I'll give you everything you need so you should be able to do more mitzvot. Because you could say, 'How could I, I want to do mitzvot, but I don't have money.' Hashem says, 'You know what? If you try your best to do your the mitzvot, I'll make it possible for you to do even more. Because if you don't have the geshem, the rain, and you don't have the food, you don't have the money, you can't do mitzvot. If you don't have money, you can't give tzedakah, you can't buy a nice pair of tefillin, you can't send your your children to to to a good school to have a good Jewish education. I mean you have to have, if you're sick you can't learn, you I mean all these things. So the פסוק אם בחקתי תלכו, if you're going to go, I'll give you health, I'll give you everything you need. But that's not reward. That's I'll give you everything that it should be possible for you to continue.\" And that's what the Rambam says here, that the chachamim waited for Mashiach Not for all the gashmiyus that they'll get. They did wait for the gashmiyus, but not for the purpose of the gashmiyus. They waited for all the good gashmiyus, for the food and for all the things, that is if they have that, then they'll be able to learn Torah better. And what'll happen, the result will be they'll be able to have olam haba. And in this there's a lot to explain in this concept of olam haba, and that's to be continued next week, אם ירצה השם. or during the week in between, should you also be dipping your bread in honey? Well, there is a machloket. Some say that since the main focus of dipping your bread in honey is to bring about a sweet new year, that's done specifically on the days where there's judgment: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, הושענא רבה, שמחת תורה.

But the days in between, why would you dip your bread in honey? And according to those poskim, you don't dip your bread in honey on chol hamoed, or on Shabbatot, or during the week in between. However, the accepted minhag by most Jews is that you do dip your bread in honey during chol hamoed and the other days as well, because once you establish the concept of having sweet bread to invoke a sweet year, it applies for the entire season. So therefore, according to the accepted minhag, whenever you eat bread during this time period, you dip it in honey. You're going to come with a with a with a big package? Or you're not going to come with a big package? How big is your package going to be? When we come after 120, and we come to the world of truth, how big of a package do we have? What's the weight? What's the volume of all the good deeds that we did, of all the mesirut nefesh that we had for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, for Torah? How big is that package? It could be we come with an enormous package, and it could be it could be a little envelope. It could be smaller than an envelope. Depends on each person. How much did you pack into your life? And what did you pack into your life? You know, the world over here, it's very deceiving, because you see everyone driving by with fancy cars, you see everyone in very big, beautiful homes, you see this guy's dressed nice, this woman has the most beautiful jewelry, and this one has... Okay, and what does it say, though, by HaKadosh Baruch Hu? How does HaKadosh Baruch Hu judge a person? How does the upper court judge someone? Hashem says, \"כי לא אשר יראה האדם כי האדם יראה לעינים וה׳ יראה ללבב.\" A person, a human being, they see with their eyes. All they see is the external. What does this person have on the outside? What does his car look like? What does his house look like? What does his bank account look like? What does his status in this world look like? That's how people view this world, the superficiality of it all. But Hashem says, \"וה׳ יראה ללבב.\" Hashem sees right through to the heart. Hashem wants to know who you really are on the inside, not who you show the world you are on the outside. Who are you on the inside? Are you a good person? Are you an honest person? Are you a person who has empathy towards others? Are you a person who's willing to give up of yourself for someone else? Who are you on the inside? That's what Hashem wants to know. Because at the end of the day, when a person's life comes to an end, what do we take with us? You take your car with you? You take your house with you? You take your bank account with you? The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot says, \"בשעת פטירתו של אדם אין מלווין לו לאדם לא כסף ולא זהב ולא אבנים טובות ומרגליות אלא תורה ומעשים טובים בלבד.\" At the time of a person's passing from this world, nothing goes with him. No silver, no gold, no precious stones, no pearls, only Torah and good deeds. That's it. That's all that goes with a person. So what are we working for? What are we putting all our energy into? Are we putting our energy into things that are temporary, things that are going to disappear in the blink of an eye? Or are we putting our energy into things that are eternal, things that are going to remain with us forever and ever? That's the question every single one of us has to ask ourselves every single day. What am I doing today that's eternal? What am I doing today that's going to go into that package, that package that I'm going to bring before the Almighty after 120? Let's make sure that that package is full. [Non-speech audio] [Non-speech audio] [Non-speech audio] The Mishnah continues the theme, bringing down various halachot that are permissible on חול המועד. מערבין חצרות, and we permit it on חול המועד, even though that which you're making the עירוב חצרות for is not going to take effect until Shabbos, which could be after the Yom Tov. Even though you are preparing on חול המועד for Shabbos, which normally we don't prepare from Yom Tov to Shabbos except with an Eruv Tavshilin, but an עירוב חצרות you're allowed to make, and we explain why. And then we learn in the Mishnah that if Yom Tov falls out on Erev Shabbos, Beit Shammai say that you daven eight brachot, and Beit Hillel say that you daven seven. The Gemara goes through different versions of how you would daven eight, and how you would daven seven. And the maskana is that Beit Shammai hold that you daven eight, meaning you say Shabbos by itself and Yom Tov by itself, and Beit Hillel hold you daven seven, meaning you combine Shabbos and Yom Tov together. The reason why Beit Shammai hold that you daven eight is because you cannot combine Shabbos and Yom Tov into one bracha, because Shabbos and Yom Tov are two separate kedushot. And then we bring down a machloket between Rabbi and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, whether you can חותם בשתים, whether you can conclude a bracha with two different themes. Rabbi holds that you cannot חותם בשתים, and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds that you can חותם בשתים. And the Gemara asks: but don't we say על הארץ ועל המזון, which is two things: the land and the food? And the Gemara answers that that's considered one theme, because it's the land that produces the food. And the Gemara asks: what about בונה ברחמיו ירושלים, which is building Yerushalayim and having rachamim? And the Gemara answers that that's also considered one theme, because building Yerushalayim is an act of rachamim. And the Gemara asks: what about מקדש ישראל וראשי חדשים, which is two things: Israel and ראשי חדשים? And the Gemara answers that that's also considered one theme, because it's Israel that sanctifies ראשי חדשים. And the Gemara asks: what about מקדש השבת וישראל והזמנים, which is Shabbos, and Israel, and זמנים? And the Gemara answers that that's a מחלוקת תנאים, and the Gemara concludes that the halacha is like Rava, that you say מקדש השבת וישראל והזמנים. Then the Gemara goes into the question whether the issur of melacha on Chol Hamoed is de'oraita or derabbanan. The Gemara brings down different pesukim to prove that it is de'oraita, and the Gemara pushes each one off, and says that it is an asmachta, and that the Torah gave it over to the chachamim to decide which melachot are permitted and which melachot are forbidden. And that's why there are certain melachot that are permitted, like דבר האבד, and other melachot are forbidden. And then the Gemara brings down that כל המבזה את המועדות, anyone who degrades Chol Hamoed, it's as if he worships avodah zarah. And the Gemara brings down from the Mishnah in Avot that המבזה את המועדות, someone who degrades the מועד, has no חלק in olam haba, even if he has Torah and maasim tovim. And where do we see that it's like avodah zarah? Because the pasuk says: \"אלהי מסכה לא תעשה לך\", don't make molten gods, and right next to it it says: \"את חג המצות תשמור\", to teach you that if you degrade Chol Hamoed, it's as if you worship avodah zarah. And then the Gemara brings that Rabbi Akiva says that someone who does מלאכה on Chol Hamoed is חייב מיתה, and we learn that from a gezeirah shavah from Shabbos. And the Gemara asks: if so, maybe he gets סקילה like Shabbos? And the Gemara answers: no, מיתה ולא סקילה, which means מיתה בידי שמים. And then the Gemara brings down another braisa that learns from the pasuk \"ששת ימים תאכל מצות וביום השביעי עצרת\" that just like on the seventh day eating matzot is רשות, so too on the first six days eating matzot is רשות, except for the first night of Pesach, where the pasuk says \"בערב תאכלו מצות\", which established it as a חיוב. How do you like that? So we don't have to keep separate pots for beef and for chicken. Why don't you have to have separate pots for beef and chicken? Because this is Tosafos's question. Tosafos asks, how come if a person takes milk and cooks it in a fleishige pot, how come it's mutar? Why isn't it נותן טעם לשבח? Even if it's אינו בן יומו, it should be אסור מדרבנן! Tosafos says no, because we hold noten taam lifgam mutar. And even if you hold נותן טעם לפגם אסור, by