The Golden Calf as an Unfaithful Bride
The Golden Calf as an Unfaithful Bride
Part of Shemot · 20:05
A chassidic reading of the Eigel as a betrayal at Sinai, the Rebbe's lesson on staying silent in the face of insult, and the halachic workaround of pruzbul for Shemittah loans.
Audio Transcript
Yeah, we are holding in ט', סימן ט'. Good, yeah. אמר עולא, עולא said: עלובה כלה שזינתה בתוך חופתה. It's not nice, that's it's terrible, disgusting for a kallah that should be מזנה at the time of the chuppah. What does this go on? This goes on the Yidden, that the Yidden, they were Har Sinai, which was the חתונה. They made the עגל while they were standing by Har Sinai. They haven't left Har Sinai yet. Rashi makes the חשבון, they didn't leave Har Sinai for a long time. So it was 40 days after Matan Torah, but it was still in the place. It was still basically in the middle of the chuppah, or like we would say nowadays, middle of Sheva Berachot, and and she was מזנה. אמר Rav Mari beriah d'vat Shmuel, so Rav Mari, the son of the daughter of Shmuel, this 40 days later, you mean? It's 40 days later, yeah. Said: מאי קרא? Where do we see a פסוק that says that? The פסוק says: עד שהמלך במסבו. 40 days after Yetziat Mitzrayim? No. 49 days after Yetziat Mitzrayim was Matan Torah, yeah. And 40 days later, they made the עגל. They were waiting for Moshe. Moshe said, \"I'm coming down in 40 days,\" and they miscalculated, and he didn't come down. They thought he's supposed to come down today, so they made the עגל, 40 days later. But it was still at Har Sinai. They stayed for Har Sinai after Matan Torah for a long time. And so that was still like in the place of the chuppah. Matan Torah wasn't the the the the ceremony of At the chuppah? Giving the לוחות? Yeah, yeah. No, not giving the לוחות, no. People people think that. The לוחות, he was supposed to People think that by Shavuot, the Eibershter gave the לוחות. He didn't. The the act of Matan Torah. Matan Torah was the Eibershter said עשרת הדברות. Oh, okay. He didn't bring the לוחות until שבעה עשר בתמוז. He saw with the עגל, he broke it. He came down with the לוחות and he broke it. Matan Torah was the Eibershter's Before the לוחות. That's before giving the לוחות, but the Eibershter said said עשרת הדברות. Good. So the pasuk 89 days. Huh? 89 From יציאת מצרים, yeah. But it was 40 days from Matan Torah while they were still by הר סיני. 89 days, 3 months. 3 months. See,
Rashi says, שהרי לא נסעו מסיני עד לאחר הקמת המשכן. They left Sinai after they put the Mishkan up, which was בשנה שניה, the next year, ראש חודש ניסן. They stayed by הר סיני close to a year. Says: ויהי בשנה השנית בחדש השני... ויסעו בני ישראל ממסעיהם מסיני. So while they were at Sinai, the place of the chuppah, they already made the עגל. So it's like a kallah in the time of the chuppah is מזנה. שנאמר, like he's what's the pasuk? Who said this? Rav Mari, the son of the daughter of Shmuel. Why does it say the son of the daughter of Shmuel? Who who was his father? Huh? This is bigger. Who was his father of Mari's? Why does it say this? Rav Mari, the son of the daughter of Shmuel. Huh? No. Whose father's a goy. The father was a goy and had Rav Mari. בת שמואל was נאנס from a goy and had a child, and the child became an אמורא. And his father was a goy. But that's why we call him the son, Rav Mari, the son of who? Of the daughter of Shmuel. From No, no. That's Ben Sira. No. That's Ben Sira from from Yirmiyahu, Yirmiyahu Hanavi. What's the pasuk? The pasuk:
עד שהמלך במסבו: while the מלך is still in his party, נרדי נתן ריחו. So his besamim, his spices, gave gave off a smell. It lost its smell. Yeah, gave off a bad smell, or lost the good smell, and gave off a smell. Rashi says it lost its smell. Yeah, it lost It it left it, and what \"נתן\" is lashon, it left it, and what happened? The Gemara is going to מדייק it. The Torah doesn't say the real words, went sour. אמר רבא, רבא and sour. אמר רבא, רבא is עדיין חביבותא גבן. Even though the Torah the pasuk says it as a complaint against the Yidden, it still shows some kind of love. דכתיב it says \"נתן\" ולא כתיב \"סרח\". It's it says a nice lashon. It took away the good smell, but really what it means is it started stinking. And it doesn't say that lashon. זאגט די Gemara ווייטער, תנו רבנן, די רבנן האבן געלערנט: הנעלבים ואינם עולבים, those people who, even if you embarrass them, they don't embarrass you back. זונה is it's a harsh lashon. What? זונה is a harsh lashon. That's not the pasuk. That's not the pasuk. You're talking about the pasuk. The pasuk just says the מלך. Yeah. הנעלבים, those that get embarrassed, ואינם עולבים, they don't embarrass somebody else back, the same guy. שומעים חרפתם ואינם משיבים, they hear their embarrassment and they don't answer. עושים מאהבה, those Yidden who serve Hashem from love. שמחים ביסורים, those who are happy With yissurim, in other words they don't complain to the Eibershter when He gives them suffering. עליהם הכתוב אומר, on them the pasuk says, ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו, that His beloved ones will be the ones to be there when the sun comes out in its full strength. And when is that? Mashiach will come. Who will be the first ones to be there? These people, who get embarrassed and they don't answer back, and then then they hear their embarrassment, cuz that says hearing an embarrassment and not answering is a very big inyan. Some, some people even would say would hire people to embarrass him, so he should. I had in this שיחות, השבועות I had eppes, I heard a story about this, I forgot which, with a Yid, eppes a big tzadik, that when there was a tzarah, and they asked him for a brachah, he
would go to the mikveh before he would give the brachah. What's the Zwiller, nee, the Zwiller Rebbe takeh, Zvilner Rebbe. He would go to the mikveh. Once something, someone asked him for a brachah, he was going, on the way to the mikveh, in the middle, someone met him, eppes in the middle of the way, guy who didn't like him anyway, and started screaming at him, and I forgot already what he said to him, started insulting him. He didn't answer a word, he just told his gabbai, let's go back, we're going home. So he said, why? He said, I don't have to go to the mikveh. The mikveh is supposed to purify you, this was this was this this did accomplish the job just as much as the mikveh. Cuz that's it's a it's a big inyan. Inyan, huh? Yeah, if you don't answer. Where it's hard, that's a very hard thing to do. Someone insults you, and you're not going to answer? It's a groise zach. Okay, the Gemara says, מאי פרוזבול? It was לפנים משורת הדין. What? We're allowed to answer. Yeah, that makes it even harder not to answer. That's even harder, yeah. So, מאי פרוזבול? We know, but we know what a pruzbul is. A pruzbul is that
because, before Shemitah, you make a shtar that all your documents, that means all the debts that people owe you, you're giving over to the Beit Din, and ממילא שמיטה is not משמט. Like this, when Shemitah comes, you can't claim the the the debt, but if you make such a shtar, you're allowed to. Why is it called a pruzbul? So the גמרא, אמר רב חסדא, פרוז, the word פרוז means there's a takanah, for בולי ובוטי. פרוז בול פרוז בול is for בולי and also בוטי. What's בולי בוטי? בולי, אלו עשירים. Greek Greek words, probably. Still Greek words. It goes for... No, it goes for the bullies! For the bullies, what are the bullies? The bullies are אלו עשירים, the rich people, דכתיב it says, ושברתי את גאון עוזכם, השם said, I will break the the the great, the pride of your עוזכם. What is that? תני רב יוסף: אלו בולאות שביהודה, that means the Eibershter is, on the on the קללות, I'm going to break the rich people. What's פרוז mean here? פרוז means a takana. So פרוזבול means it's a takana for the rich, ובוטי, אלו עניים, the poor, דכתיב it says, העבט תעביטנו, you should lend money. Who do you lend money to? To a poor. Because a פרוזבול helps both: a פרוזבול helps the rich that they get their money back, they don't loose lose the loan; it helps the poor, the poor able to borrow. If the rich people were knowing not getting it back, they wouldn't lend the money, so they don't have where to borrow. Even though it's an aveirah if, the פסוק says, השמר לך פן יהיה דבר בלבבך בליעל, that what? You might say, קרבה שנת השבע שנת השמטה, שמיטה is coming, so I'm not going to lend. If a person doesn't lend money because it's close to shemittah and he's afraid he'll lose the money, Torah it's a לאו, פן! And they call it, Torah calls it, פן יהיה דבר בלבבך בליעל! Nevertheless it's a, but people, how can you do it? A רע עין. רע עין. היתר עסקה? Huh? Same as היתר עסקה? Yeah, same idea, but היתר עסקה came many years later. Yeah, also they should lend. To lend, you're right. It's a takana for the borrowers, a takana for the lend- lenders. They should get... Right, it's the ribbit. But it's a heter for this. Same reason. There is no ribbit. Nein nein, but the but the but the actual loan is lost! Otherwise people won't... But the truth is, the truth is, people even... Otherwise they wouldn't they wouldn't lend. Yeah. But this takana he made, what he, as it says in the Gemara, Shmuel Hillel saw that people are taka doing it, they're not lending when it gets close to shemittah, and there's an interesting thing, it says that they, he saw that people are not lending, and they're עוברים על מה שכתוב בתורה, says השמר לך, that you you have to lend, so the Rebbe is medayek an interesting diyuk here: shemitah in the time of Hillel was already derabbanan only, cuz only time a פרוזבול helps is by שמיטה דרבנן, like now, it's derabbanan, it's in time. Why is it derabbanan? Cuz there was no יובל, and יובל is only when כל יושביה עליה, all Jews are in Eretz Yisrael, so it was derabbanan, and because of derabbanan, he could make this takanah. Did it change now there's more Yidden in Eretz Yisrael than there is in the rest of the world? It doesn't mean that, it doesn't. Say there's בכלל, it's not רוב ישראל, כל ישראל עליה. בית ראשון. Only בית ראשון. But, but l'poel, the לשון הגמרא is interesting. They're over on the Torah? How could you be over on the Torah and being over on the איסור דאורייתא when the whole shemitah is derabbanan? They're over on the pasuk, the Torah, where it says you're not going to lend because of shemitah. Shemitah is derabbanan! Zet men from then that even if a person doesn't do it because of שמיטה דרבנן is over an איסור דאורייתא. Kapeldike zach! You're not lending because of shemitah, and shemitah is derabbanan, and you're not lending because of that is an איסור דאורייתא. Because l'poel, you are doing it because of shemitah. Taka, the Torah didn't make the shemittah, but there is a גדר שמיטה דרבנן made, and that's the reason you're not lending. So you're over on that issur. You're over on de'oraita because you're not lending. I know, but lichora, if mi-de'oraita there is no such thing as shemittah, But you're anyways over on the on on the on the aseh. What aseh? אם כסף תלוה את עמי. That has nothing to do with shemittah. That's that's stam, you're over on the aseh. If you
don't lend, you're over on the aseh, it doesn't have anything to do with shemittah. But there's a special lav that if you don't lend money because of shemittah, you're over on this special lav. If you don't lend money because you're stingy, then you're not over on this lav, you're over on another thing, you're over on the on on mitzvah of giving a loan. But this lav is only because of shemittah. Now the Torah does not recognize this shemittah, there is no שמיטה מדאורייתא. So how could you say that the Torah is saying you're over on a lav that you're not lending because of shemittah? A siman, it's not like that. A siman that even though it's שמיטה דרבנן, the Torah you're over an issur de'oraita. So derech like Tosafos says in Avodah Zarah that if someone is מכשיל somebody else in an איסור דרבנן, כלומר you're מכשיל somebody in an איסור, you're over on on לפני עור לא תתן מכשול. What happens if you're מכשיל somebody in an איסור דרבנן? So Tosafos says you're over on לפני עור דאורייתא. Even though the whole עבירה is only דרבנן, how could you be over on דאורייתא? It's not so pashut. Okay, vayter. Was there a time limit, by the way, before שמיטה during the seven years, like the first six years, was there a certain time limit then about when loans had to be loaned back? No, if you No, it's basically anytime. They can make the loan. זאגט די Gemara ווייטער, אמר רבה, Rabbah said, בהני תלת מילי נחתי בעלי בתים מנכסיהם. With these three things, בעלי בתים Lose their shirt. get punished, lose the money, they lose their נכסים. For certain עבירות: דמפקי עבדיהו לחירות, they free their עבדים, which you're not allowed to, there is a עשה, לעולם בהם תעבודו, you're not allowed to free an עבד כנעני, if an עבד כנעני; ודסיירי נכסייהו בשבתא, and on Shabbos they mix in their mind, they think what should they do for during the week, how to make business, that's the problem; and the third one is דקבעי סעודתייהו בשבתא בעידן בי מדרשא. If they have a seudah, they have a Kiddush club at the time when the Rav says his derashah. That's what the Gemara says. Gemara! Not Rashi, you only get Rashi. That's what Rashi says, I'll read the Rashi: שהחכם דורש דרשה לרבים בשבת והם יושבים בסעודה. Gemara Rashi says, והיה להם להקדים או לאחר. You want a seudah? Do it later, do it before. That's why rich people lose their money. What is the punishment for the poor people? Huh? What is the punishment for the poor people? Maybe they would have gotten richer and they don't. ואמר ר' חייא בר אבא אמר ר' יוחנן. Here's a name, ר' יוחנן. Shabbos. Shabbos, no. It says clearly, I'll read the words: קבעי סעודתייהו בשבתא בעידן בי מדרשא. And I'll read the Rashi again: שהחכם דורש דרשה לרבים בשבת והם יושבים בסעודה. Friday night. Yeah, I mean this Shabbos, yeah, this Shabbos is שתי משפחות. Here it says vayter, אמר ר' יוחנן, שתי משפחות היו בירושלים. There were
two משפחות in ירושלים. אחת קבעה סעודתה בשבת, one made their seudah on Shabbos at the time of the drasha, ואחת קבעה סעודתה בערב שבת. One was even more, they made their seudah Friday night. Why? The main seudah, because they didn't want to make their main seudah on Shabbos because they would miss from the shiur. But still, we know that כבוד שבת יום שבת is greater than כבוד ליל שבת. So they did wrong. So what should they have done? They should have had their seudah in the morning, the עיקר סעודה, and not at the time of the drasha, that's what the מפרשים say. Let's see what Rashi says. You know why people do that in Miami, because they don't want to walk in the בליל שבת ואין כאן כבוד שבת דקיימא לן כבוד יום מכבוד לילה. Why people invite people over on Friday night, because it's not so hot to walk, they don't have to walk in both directions. They drive. It's something else. בכלל, it became, it became in the וועלט בכלל by people, Friday night is a more But today is different. Today, what do you mean by drasha? There is not a drasha said, \"I'm going to talk 8:00 in the evening when everybody sits by סעודת שבת.\" In middle of the seudah, somebody is mechabed to say a few words. No, no, that's talking about Beis Medrash, but this is a Beis Medrash. Yes. No, no, talking about the Beis Medrash, when it says Beis Medrash, when it says, what is the lashon? החכם דורש דרשה לרבים in Beis Medrash, and the people, at that time, go make a seudah. S'iz nisht mitten in der seudah somebody is No, no, no, no, they make a seudah, they plan their seudah in middle of the drasha. So what happened to these two families? שתיהם נעקרו. Both of these families got lost. Is it the majority of people who do this? No, for those people who do it, it's a problem! Those people who do it. No, why am I stressing this? Because this Shabbos sent me to fuss over it. This Shabbos is what? No, this past Shabbos, I spoke about I didn't speak of drasha, I mentioned it. Guys go out, I think I I had I said it years ago, nothing to do I feel comfortable because people might think I'm מכניס זיך for my kavod. It's not for that, because I said this before even anybody ever here had a dream about it. I said when I heard that in other shuln they do this, I said I can't shluchim call me, \"What should we do? This this a meshugas.\" So I said, \"Fight it! Fight it! Don't let it! It's this Think of this, this is a meshugas! In the shuln now it's all over! This kiddush club. Right after Kriat haTorah, they go out and have a kiddush. You come strictly to Musaf, you don't daven Musaf with the minyan, that's besides the point. You don't listen to the haftarah, you don't I mean, it's it's such a bilbul, it's such a meshugas. So, if a person himself does something, יחיד, but this is An organized An
organized crime! This is not crime of a criminal, it's organized crime. And it always bothered me when I heard about other shuln, that never never happened in our shul, so never had to do with it. It always bothered me when I hear in the shul, or shluchim from other places call me, they got And what happens? They have about a Chabad house. A Chabad house is frei from the people coming, they don't know. The moment a few frume people move in, they got a tzarah. These frume people come in and they they that's what starts this. For them passt nisht the drasha, or whatever they, and they can't wait to say lechaim half an hour later, you have to say lechaim, you have to drink mashke now? It's to me, it's mind-boggling. They're missing the drasha. But it's not davening. Here here speaks about a drasha, about the learning. About the learning. About the drasha. כי דבר ה׳ בזה וגו׳. But you mentioned the davening in the same breath. I'm mentioning derech agav, they don't even daven with the minyan, they don't come back for Musaf. Dacht zich besser tzu essen farn davenen. Dacht zich besser tzu essen farn davenen? Ya! Tu ich dakka azoy? Ich hab gezagt gey mir essen farn davenen. Ha? They're not hungry because of drasha, it's davening. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, instead of Musaf. Some people don't listen to Kriat haTorah. No, because they're hungry. They're hungry! Yeah, yeah. No, but they don't even come back to the Musaf! This is upset. It's not Simchat Torah, this is a regular Shabbos! You bunch of Simchas Torah you're talking about? No, Simchas Torah I'm not talking about it. That's a regular Shabbos! Nein, a regular Shabbos they make Simchas Torah. They turn a regular Shabbos into Simchas Torah, that's all. In Russia they come... Yeah? I never heard. Oh, Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem, when I go to shul I never see it. Baruch Hashem, it's still a shul, but not a... דאכט זיך בעסער צו עסן פארן דאווענען? That's not That's not on the חומא. No, we'll stop here. Okay. No, we have to finish up with a good thing. ונסיימה בטוב. So like Davening, eating before Davening, דארף מען מאכן א קידוש? דארף נישט מאכן קיין קידוש. Yeah, yeah, if it's before davening, schon a Kiddush. Okay, we have two more minutes till we begin to daven. I daven to say l'chaim. That's why. Yeah. Yeah. But that that they took a poll about what you did go into with the rights of the רבנים is more that... New thing. A new thing, בין השמשות. Drink mashke right before Shabbos. This this is a sick thing. This is this is this is mamash this is double sick. In Lubavitch עסן פאר תקיעת שופר? Nein. No. When in Lubavitch תקיעת שופר? דריי אזייגער, פיר אזייגער. נאך תקיעת שופר, מ'עסט נישט... ווייסט, מ'עסט פירות. No, no. No, פירות, נישט פשוטע... They don't drink coffee without sugar. So, coffee without sugar, yeah. Coffee without sugar. But not like א שאלה געווארן. עסן פאר מ'זאל פארן דאווענען. פארן דאווענען. אפיציעל? אפיציעל. זיי האבן גרויס? יא. זיי האבן געזאגט פארוואס? מ'זאל קענען דאווענען. מ'זאל קענען דאווענען, נאר פריער ענגעלע טוט דאס נישט, אבער ער האט באקומען פסק ער קען, ער שעמט זיך אבער ער האלט מ'איז יסודות. אייבער הונגעריגטע זיכער נישט דאווענען גוט ווי ס'דארף צו זיין. די זעלבע זאך ווי אויפבלייבן ביינאכט, Shavuos ביינאכט. Shavuos ביינאכט אויפבלייבן, ווער קען דאווענען שחרית? Shavuos אינדערפרי ווער קען דאווענען שחרית? מ'פאלט מ'איז מיד, לייגט מען זיך שלאפן פריער. האלב עולם, Lubavitch... דאווענען פארטאגס, פארמאטערט. Avodah! Avodah! Ya, ya, ya. Why not get sleep? I think because it's avodah, it's difficult. Because it's difficulty, even though he has no kavanah? I don't know. I don't know, I
can't say.