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Our pasuk for this week's parsha, Parshas Ekev, comes from perek ches pasuk tes zayin.
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And in this context, Moshe is speaking to the Bnei Yisrael and warning them that when they get to the land, they shouldn't forget that Hashem is the one who has supported them, who has brought them to this moment and given them this opportunity, given them the land.
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And he expands the historical context.
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This is Hashem who took care of you all those years in the Midbar, and he says, "Hame'achilcha man baMidbar," who fed you man in the wilderness, "asher lo avoseicha," that your forefathers did not know, right? This was unprecedented, the man.
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"Leman anoscha uleman nasoseicha," so that Hashem could afflict you and in order to test you.
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"L'hitivcha be'achariseca," so that would ultimately be good for you.
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And I chose this pasuk firstly because it's so beautiful.
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There's something about Devarim that's actually in a certain sense hard to darshan, I find it's hard to write drashos on Sefer Devarim because everything is foregrounded.
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Moshe does all the work for you.
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The peshat p'shat, the simple reading of the pasuk is so just inherently and obviously profound.
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And I think that there's so much here to dig our teeth into.
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And Moshe just lays it out there.
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This was a really hard experience, but it was good for you, and ultimately this was for the best for you.
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So gentlemen, what do you have? Rabbi Block has a rabena bachaya that he's very excited about.
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Ah, see, now, Rav Finkel, you're letting people in on our pre-podcast conversation, which you're not really supposed to do.
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But it is remarkable that Moshe refers to the man as suffering and affliction here, even if it is l'hitivcha be'acharisecha, ultimately for your good.
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We've seen throughout the Torah that Bnei Yisrael themselves are complaining about the man, and that complaint is thrown back in their faces, and they are told that they are ungrateful for the gifts that Hashem has given them.
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But it seems from here that they've been vindicated, that actually their complaints are legitimate.
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Not only that, but in the previous Aliyah, at the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah refers to the man again or earlier and says, Vayaancha vayarevecha," Hashem caused you to suffer and caused you to be hungry.
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"Vayachilcha saman asher lo yadata."
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And as a response to that hunger, as a response to that affliction, that suffering, God gave you the man.
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So at the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah refers to the man both as a response to affliction and in itself as affliction, which is really quite remarkable.
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The man is just kind of an enigma throughout the Torah.
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We don't know, is it good? Is it bad? Is it a compromise? Is it insufficient? Is it an abundance? We just don't really know what to make of the man.
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Kishmo keinhu man, which means what is it, right? We don't even know what it is.
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So, Rav Yissocher Ber Hillel has a comment on this passage which I think is so, instructive and so illustrative of just the human condition and how we encounter abundance and sustenance in general.
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Rav Yissocher Ber Hillel wonders why the Torah refers to the man as an affliction.
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«U’ma shekara hakatuv achilat haman inui ve’amar lam’an anotcha.»
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The reason why the Torah describes the man coming from Shamayim as suffering and the people who eat it as enduring an affliction, ba lelamed, it comes to teach us, «Shekol mi she’ein mazon lefanav lizman meruba ela devar yom bi yomo,» 'cause it comes to teach us that anyone who does not have a food supply for a number of days and is only eating day by day, is only living meal to meal, paycheck to paycheck Osa achilah inui hilo.
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That consumption of food that a person has on that day when they don't know what they will be eating tomorrow, even if the meal which they have in front of them is a meal of abundance and plenty, it is nonetheless a form of affliction.
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Because while they're eating today, they don't know what there will be tomorrow.
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Kevan sheeino roeh hamazon lefanav.
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Since they can't see the food beyond what's before them, they don't really, really take full pleasure and benefit in the food that they're eating.
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There's a certain comfort, a certain security that a person has, not just in the food they're eating now, but in the food that they'll be eating tomorrow.
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The man by its very nature, its very essence was devar yom b'yomo.
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HaKadosh Baruch Hu granted us the man today, but we really didn't know what was gonna be tomorrow other than the faith, the emunah, in Hashem that he would send the man once again tomorrow.
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And this was, in many ways, an inui, a serious discomfort.
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The Rabbeinu Bechaye goes on to compare it to a sumah, a blind person who can't see the food that they're eating.
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It's kind of an inui also.
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Even though they could put it in their mouth, they could touch it, they could taste it.
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If a sumah, a blind person, can't see the food that they're eating, that is a form of affliction.
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Even though they are receiving the sustenance, even though they are being fed and nourished by the food that they're eating, there's a certain security that the person has.
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And Rabbeinu Bechaye, I think maybe is alluding to what we often look at as a feature of the man, but actually might be a bug.
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The idea that the man didn't really look like anything and didn't really taste like anything.
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It could taste like whatever we wanted it to taste like.
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That wasn't really necessarily a good thing because it was amorphous.
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It was abstract.
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We couldn't see, like the blind person, of the food in front of them.
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We couldn't really see what we were eating, and that is a form of affliction.
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Life abundance, sustenance, tarnasa, these are all things which are very fleeting, and the Torah here is validating the notion that the lack of security and, The lack of certitude in tomorrow, the lack of knowledge and awareness of what tomorrow will bring is a form of affliction.
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And it may very well be that this form of affliction is lehi tivcha be'acharischa.
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It's good to have a little lack of clarity.
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A lack of clarity is not a bad thing.
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It increases our emunah.
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We know, we believe, the emunah shlema that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will send the man tomorrow, and that might be a good thing because it increases our reliance and our closeness and connection with Hashem, which is precisely the thing that Moshe Rabbeinu was warning us against here in the pesukim, as Rabbi Goldberg mentioned earlier.
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But nonetheless, it can be looked at as an einui, as a form of affliction because of the fleetingness and the lack of certitude that we have.
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And I think the man, even though we don't have the man anymore to eat, nonetheless the human condition, the midah, the character trait, maybe even the character flaw, but the very valid one that the pasuk is speaking to here is very much alive and well today.
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And listening to what you were saying, it reminded me that even though Yisrael graduate from this existence, that they no longer have to eat the manna for 40 years, live by the manna for 40 years, in that state of uncertainty Nevertheless, Yisrael is described not as the opposite extreme.
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Mitzrayim is the place that the Torah describes as a place of security the abundance that provides a sense of security and stability vayishkisa beraglcha k'gan hayarak.
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That to irrigate fields around the Nile was quite easy and effortless, as opposed to living in Israel, and where it says that we live by the rain from heaven, that, we're dependent, and sometimes the rain comes, and sometimes the rain doesn't.
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And Chazal's analysis of that is in order to promote the Jewish people always looking to Shamayim, as it were, for their sustenance to the Ribono shel Olam to create a certain tolerable level of uncertainty, one that is enough to motivate one to serve Hashem but not so much so that it returns you back to the suffering of the desert experience.
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And Rabbi Rosner, I've heard him say this numerous times, I think it's also in his Sefer Shalom Rav.
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He talks about the punishment for the Nachash is that he not only goes on his stomach- Hmm but that he eats the dust of the earth.
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Now, dust of the earth is nothing if not abundant.
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It's a nice thing.
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If I could get by on just the dust of the earth, it wouldn't be too bad.
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But Rabbi Rosner, perhaps quoting somebody, but I'm, it's escaping me if indeed he quotes somebody, but he says that that Hashem said, "Take your dirt and go.
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I don't want a relationship with you."
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Hmm.
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You'll have all that you need.
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Hmm.
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It's like, a parent says I'm putting $10 million in your bank account.
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I never want to speak to you again."
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It's a rejection, right? So in the guise of a gift, it's really a rejection.
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And so that balance in, in our lives is, it's very easy to say.
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It's very hard, right? Meaning nobody wishes they had less in their pantry.
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Nobody wishes they had less in their bank account.
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But at the same time there's also the challenge of abundance.
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And there's the way in which abundance removes us from Hashem in just a very concrete way.
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And I'd like to think that when the pasuk says that this will be good for you, lehitivcha be'achrisecha, that it will be ultimately good for you, that, that has a long expiration date on it, that it's not just that the generation that lived eating the man would then be able to conquer the land with the faith that was inculcated, but maybe that the Jewish people have in our DNA.
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I think we have such an idea that experiences that happen in Tanakh are imprinted on our DNA, that ultimately this experience was formative And the Jewish people have within ourselves this experience and we can draw on that reservoir of emunah that we have because of this experience in the midbar.
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I saw a similar idea in this posek by way of the Sforno.
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Because I think the Sforno captures the nuance of this posek in two phrases.
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L'maan anoscha u'l'maan nasosecha.
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Because l'maan anoscha, in order to afflict you, the Sforno explains that it means that, Hashem wants to see or wants to teach us what it means to, to live a religious life from a perspective of lack from not having enough, right? Can we have enough bitachon, trust in Hashem, and emunah, and faith even when we feel like we don't have? And ulmaan nasosecha in order to test you, «Im taaseh retzonhu vesito parnascha, parnasascha.»
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Will you continue to fulfill his will once you have been given your parnasa your sustenance? And I think in putting both of those in that pasuk it seems like The Sforno sees both of those concepts in this pasuk and that both of them are a test, right? To to not have enough is a challenge but to have abundance is also a challenge.
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And the nuanced message, I don't think there's any chiddush here, I think we've talked about it before is that there isn't necessarily an, an ideal.
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There isn't necessarily a state of being in which there isn't some kind of spiritual challenge.
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When a person doesn't have enough it's almost like Hashem understands that it'll be difficult to put one's faith in God when one has to struggle so much.
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Where are all the blessings that the Torah promised me if I fulfill the mitzvahs, if I follow the Torah? At the same time, abundance is also a challenge, right? «Vayishman yishrun vayivat,» it says at the end of the Torah, that when we grow fat, we kick and we rebel.
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I, I, I-- you don't have to go to the end of the Torah, go to the next pasuk, right? «Viamarta bilvavecha kochi ve'otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh.»
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When you're able to thrive, then you start to think "Yeah, I did it on my own."
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It's like the famous anecdote, joke, whatever, the person who asks God for a parking spot or whatever, and then one opens up and says, "Oh, God, never mind, I found one," right? When a person has, that also creates a challenge of self-reliance.
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And and so I think the lesson ultimately from the Sforno is that no matter where we find ourselves on the economic spectrum, it comes with its nir enemy, it comes with its challenge.
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And we have to recognize that.
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And more importantly than that, I think, is that- We have to recognize that about ourselves and the other.
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Meaning, for those of us who have we have to be very cognizant of those who don't and the challenges it puts them in.
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O- on the other hand, for those of us who have, we have to recognize the challenge of that also.
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Not just Kocham v'Otzem Yadi, right? Not just that, "Oh, I'm self-reliant.
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I don't need Hashem," whatever.
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No.
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There are other challenges when it comes to when it comes to when it comes to abundance.
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And that-- I don't know, do I really wanna talk about this again? Anyways, I don't know.
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Yeah.
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And that is, what was the word I was trying to look for? The oth- the other challenge of The other challenge of abundance is to recognize that you may not necessarily deserve what you have, or you shouldn't treat what you have like you deserve it.
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That even if you earned it and you worked hard, nonetheless, if you are blessed to experience abundance, that, that creates responsibility not reward.
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Yeah.
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It- it's a cliche to talk about the fact that, when you ha- e- even having money has, comes with challenges, 'cause everyone's like, "Yeah, but I'll take those challenges."
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Yeah, exactly.
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We all know the studies around lottery winners and how often, that l- leads to ruin in people's lives, but people still en masse play the lottery 'cause they're like, "You know what? I think I can handle it.
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I think I'd prefer it to my current challenges."
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But the fact is that the challenges of abundance are very real.
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I was once speaking with somebody in the community who I love.
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If they put it together that I'm talking about them, I love you.
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I was...
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I just said "What's your Mount Everest? What are you still trying to climb at this point in your life, having accomplished so much?" And he said, "If I achieve this," like he told me like the next step in his life, he's "Then I'll achieve really generational wealth."
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And I was reflecting on that conversation.
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I said, "Do you really think it's a gift to give your chil- like, to gift your children whatever the, the number is that would be considered generational wealth? Is that a gift?" I would think it's really just the opposite.
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We wanna provide for our kids, we want them to be safe, we want them to have what, their needs met.
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But to just hand your child "Oh, you're ex- you have everything on a silver platter," is that a...
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Would I want that life for myself? Maybe superficially I'd want that life, but if I think about it, would I want a life where I would never have to lift a finger in order to have every abundance? I don't think that's a good life.
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I think part of a good life is working hard is being aspirational is feeling that you've accomplished something for yourself, that you're a champion for your family.
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I think that's actually a vital part of life.
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And I just think, having that conversation is so valuable.
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There is a real...
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Again, these are the challenges that people want, I understand that, but we shouldn't poo-poo the fact that it's a real challenge for how you have so much and not actually end up harming your family more than helping them.
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It's a...
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I think there's, I think there's plenty of both anecdotal and scientific evidence of- of the lack of success of those who are just given and don't have to work for it.
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It's- And happiness.
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Lack of happiness.
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Yeah, 100%.
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I'm sure we all know second generation wealthy people who have had a hard time.
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Maybe we don't, but they're certainly out there who ha- don't have that grit and that work ethic and haven't been able to put the pieces together and live a very difficult life.
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It's the test, it was the first test of Avraham Avinu.
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Lech lecha me'artzecha ve'mis'chol avi'cha v'migot lo'shemecha.
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Hashem tells him, "Go, I'm gonna make you into the wealthiest man in the world, and you're gonna have va- ve'gad lo sh'mecha.
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You're gonna have generational wealth, Avraham.
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Your children are gonna be..."
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And what's the test? That's the test.
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The test is can you live a meaningful life with the knowledge that you will never have to worry about anything? Mm-hmm.
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And it was the test of really Yitzchak Avinu in a sense as well, right? Which is- Mm to be the second in a extremely illustrious family.
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And how do you navigate that, that second generation, right? Mm-hmm.
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As one person in the community says "First generation builds and the second generation destroys."
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Which is not always the narrative, but it's a danger.
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It's something to be aware of, and it's something to think about what is a blessing that we give our children and what is actually, more of a challenge.
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Yeah.
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Mi halev har Hashem u'mi yakum b'mirkamo kacho, right? Who can ascend the mountain of God? That's the first challenge.
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Then the second challenge is to stay there.
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Okay, so I just wanna circle one piece of this pasuk which I think is fascinating it says, asher lo yada un avosecha, that your forefathers didn't know.
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And this is actually something that comes up in the pasuk that you referenced earlier.
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When Moshe is describing the man, he often puts in this notion that your forefathers didn't know this.
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So why is that somehow a theme, an important part of the man experience that it was unprecedented in some way? And I think it also ties actually to something you gestured at, you referenced earlier on, Rabbi Block.
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You said man.
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Literally the name man means what is it? There's something about the fact that this was unprecedented that your parents didn't have this.
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The fact that makes it totally, in a sense, unknowable.
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When a little child, like a two-year-old bumps their head or falls, a lot of times they'll look at the parents, and if the parents are like, "Are you okay?" Then the child will start to cry 'cause they'll process "Oh, this was bad."
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And they don't know what it is until the parents tell them.
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And we have a mesorah for so many things in our lives that part of the job of a parent is "This berry is poisonous, and this is edible, and this is good, and this is bad."
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And we have like a scale and a metric for so many things 'cause our parents basically tell us, "This is a good thing, the bad thing."
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And the part of the test of the man was that nobody told the Bnei Yisrael, "Is this the greatest thing that ever happened to any human being, or is this the most difficult challenge?" And man, what is it? And what does it taste like? It could taste like anything.
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I actually think that the idea that it could taste like anything is exactly the point, which is the part of the test of the man is that it was up to the Jewish people to decide.
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It was a question mark.
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Man hu? What is it? So you're gonna decide, is this the greatest gift Hashem ever bestowed on a people, that you have this heavenly lechem hakl kel thing that falls from the sky six days a week and twice on Friday? Or is this the worst thing about which you are going to complain? And we're all gesturing at the fact that it's both, right? It has both these elements, but I think the idea that we don't have a mesorah, that the Torah keeps saying your parents didn't have this, it's like I gave this to you, and you got to write the story.
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Part of the test was, Bnei Yisrael, you write the story.
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Is this the greatest thing or the worst thing? You can choose 'cause you can construe it in one way or the other.
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I think that's really a deep aspect of the man.
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It's that it was a question mark, and it was up to the Jewish people to decide whether they were going to feel this as the greatest blessing or the greatest challenge.
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It reminds me of a quote which I realize now listening to you what's so problematic about it.
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There's a famous quote from Oscar Wilde "When the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers."
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Mm.
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That, if we're given what we want then it comes with those challenges.
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But what's so problematic about that, and the reason why it's cynical and people describe this quote as cynical, is because it's not a punishment, right? It, this is a feature of life that comes with a certain challenge, like many features of life, and challenges and opportunities.
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To call it a punishment is to just ignore the potential and the opportunity and that's why it's so cynical, and that's why I love Torah, 'cause it gives you such a healthier, more nuanced message.
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Beautiful.
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Okay.
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So, shalom.
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Shalom, everyone.
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Our pasuk for this week's parsha, Parshas Ekev, comes from perek ches pasuk tes zayin.
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And in this context, Moshe is speaking to the Bnei Yisrael and warning them that when they get to the land, they shouldn't forget that Hashem is the one who has supported them, who has brought them to this moment and given them this opportunity, given them the land.
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And he expands the historical context.
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This is Hashem who took care of you all those years in the Midbar, and he says, "Hame'achilcha man baMidbar," who fed you man in the wilderness, "asher lo avoseicha," that your forefathers did not know, right? This was unprecedented, the man.
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"Leman anoscha uleman nasoseicha," so that Hashem could afflict you and in order to test you.
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"L'hitivcha be'achariseca," so that would ultimately be good for you.
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And I chose this pasuk firstly because it's so beautiful.
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There's something about Devarim that's actually in a certain sense hard to darshan, I find it's hard to write drashos on Sefer Devarim because everything is foregrounded.
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Moshe does all the work for you.
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The peshat p'shat, the simple reading of the pasuk is so just inherently and obviously profound.
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And I think that there's so much here to dig our teeth into.
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And Moshe just lays it out there.
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This was a really hard experience, but it was good for you, and ultimately this was for the best for you.
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So gentlemen, what do you have? Rabbi Block has a rabena bachaya that he's very excited about.
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Ah, see, now, Rav Finkel, you're letting people in on our pre-podcast conversation, which you're not really supposed to do.
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But it is remarkable that Moshe refers to the man as suffering and affliction here, even if it is l'hitivcha be'acharisecha, ultimately for your good.
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We've seen throughout the Torah that Bnei Yisrael themselves are complaining about the man, and that complaint is thrown back in their faces, and they are told that they are ungrateful for the gifts that Hashem has given them.
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But it seems from here that they've been vindicated, that actually their complaints are legitimate.
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Not only that, but in the previous Aliyah, at the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah refers to the man again or earlier and says, Vayaancha vayarevecha," Hashem caused you to suffer and caused you to be hungry.
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"Vayachilcha saman asher lo yadata."
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And as a response to that hunger, as a response to that affliction, that suffering, God gave you the man.
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So at the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah refers to the man both as a response to affliction and in itself as affliction, which is really quite remarkable.
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The man is just kind of an enigma throughout the Torah.
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We don't know, is it good? Is it bad? Is it a compromise? Is it insufficient? Is it an abundance? We just don't really know what to make of the man.
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Kishmo keinhu man, which means what is it, right? We don't even know what it is.
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So, Rav Yissocher Ber Hillel has a comment on this passage which I think is so, instructive and so illustrative of just the human condition and how we encounter abundance and sustenance in general.
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Rav Yissocher Ber Hillel wonders why the Torah refers to the man as an affliction.
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«U’ma shekara hakatuv achilat haman inui ve’amar lam’an anotcha.»
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The reason why the Torah describes the man coming from Shamayim as suffering and the people who eat it as enduring an affliction, ba lelamed, it comes to teach us, «Shekol mi she’ein mazon lefanav lizman meruba ela devar yom bi yomo,» 'cause it comes to teach us that anyone who does not have a food supply for a number of days and is only eating day by day, is only living meal to meal, paycheck to paycheck Osa achilah inui hilo.
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That consumption of food that a person has on that day when they don't know what they will be eating tomorrow, even if the meal which they have in front of them is a meal of abundance and plenty, it is nonetheless a form of affliction.
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Because while they're eating today, they don't know what there will be tomorrow.
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Kevan sheeino roeh hamazon lefanav.
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Since they can't see the food beyond what's before them, they don't really, really take full pleasure and benefit in the food that they're eating.
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There's a certain comfort, a certain security that a person has, not just in the food they're eating now, but in the food that they'll be eating tomorrow.
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The man by its very nature, its very essence was devar yom b'yomo.
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HaKadosh Baruch Hu granted us the man today, but we really didn't know what was gonna be tomorrow other than the faith, the emunah, in Hashem that he would send the man once again tomorrow.
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And this was, in many ways, an inui, a serious discomfort.
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The Rabbeinu Bechaye goes on to compare it to a sumah, a blind person who can't see the food that they're eating.
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It's kind of an inui also.
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Even though they could put it in their mouth, they could touch it, they could taste it.
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If a sumah, a blind person, can't see the food that they're eating, that is a form of affliction.
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Even though they are receiving the sustenance, even though they are being fed and nourished by the food that they're eating, there's a certain security that the person has.
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And Rabbeinu Bechaye, I think maybe is alluding to what we often look at as a feature of the man, but actually might be a bug.
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The idea that the man didn't really look like anything and didn't really taste like anything.
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It could taste like whatever we wanted it to taste like.
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That wasn't really necessarily a good thing because it was amorphous.
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It was abstract.
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We couldn't see, like the blind person, of the food in front of them.
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We couldn't really see what we were eating, and that is a form of affliction.
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Life abundance, sustenance, tarnasa, these are all things which are very fleeting, and the Torah here is validating the notion that the lack of security and, The lack of certitude in tomorrow, the lack of knowledge and awareness of what tomorrow will bring is a form of affliction.
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And it may very well be that this form of affliction is lehi tivcha be'acharischa.
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It's good to have a little lack of clarity.
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A lack of clarity is not a bad thing.
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It increases our emunah.
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We know, we believe, the emunah shlema that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will send the man tomorrow, and that might be a good thing because it increases our reliance and our closeness and connection with Hashem, which is precisely the thing that Moshe Rabbeinu was warning us against here in the pesukim, as Rabbi Goldberg mentioned earlier.
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But nonetheless, it can be looked at as an einui, as a form of affliction because of the fleetingness and the lack of certitude that we have.
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And I think the man, even though we don't have the man anymore to eat, nonetheless the human condition, the midah, the character trait, maybe even the character flaw, but the very valid one that the pasuk is speaking to here is very much alive and well today.
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And listening to what you were saying, it reminded me that even though Yisrael graduate from this existence, that they no longer have to eat the manna for 40 years, live by the manna for 40 years, in that state of uncertainty Nevertheless, Yisrael is described not as the opposite extreme.
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Mitzrayim is the place that the Torah describes as a place of security the abundance that provides a sense of security and stability vayishkisa beraglcha k'gan hayarak.
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That to irrigate fields around the Nile was quite easy and effortless, as opposed to living in Israel, and where it says that we live by the rain from heaven, that, we're dependent, and sometimes the rain comes, and sometimes the rain doesn't.
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And Chazal's analysis of that is in order to promote the Jewish people always looking to Shamayim, as it were, for their sustenance to the Ribono shel Olam to create a certain tolerable level of uncertainty, one that is enough to motivate one to serve Hashem but not so much so that it returns you back to the suffering of the desert experience.
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And Rabbi Rosner, I've heard him say this numerous times, I think it's also in his Sefer Shalom Rav.
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He talks about the punishment for the Nachash is that he not only goes on his stomach- Hmm but that he eats the dust of the earth.
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Now, dust of the earth is nothing if not abundant.
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It's a nice thing.
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If I could get by on just the dust of the earth, it wouldn't be too bad.
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But Rabbi Rosner, perhaps quoting somebody, but I'm, it's escaping me if indeed he quotes somebody, but he says that that Hashem said, "Take your dirt and go.
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I don't want a relationship with you."
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Hmm.
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You'll have all that you need.
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Hmm.
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It's like, a parent says I'm putting $10 million in your bank account.
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I never want to speak to you again."
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It's a rejection, right? So in the guise of a gift, it's really a rejection.
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And so that balance in, in our lives is, it's very easy to say.
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It's very hard, right? Meaning nobody wishes they had less in their pantry.
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Nobody wishes they had less in their bank account.
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But at the same time there's also the challenge of abundance.
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And there's the way in which abundance removes us from Hashem in just a very concrete way.
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And I'd like to think that when the pasuk says that this will be good for you, lehitivcha be'achrisecha, that it will be ultimately good for you, that, that has a long expiration date on it, that it's not just that the generation that lived eating the man would then be able to conquer the land with the faith that was inculcated, but maybe that the Jewish people have in our DNA.
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I think we have such an idea that experiences that happen in Tanakh are imprinted on our DNA, that ultimately this experience was formative And the Jewish people have within ourselves this experience and we can draw on that reservoir of emunah that we have because of this experience in the midbar.
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I saw a similar idea in this posek by way of the Sforno.
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Because I think the Sforno captures the nuance of this posek in two phrases.
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L'maan anoscha u'l'maan nasosecha.
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Because l'maan anoscha, in order to afflict you, the Sforno explains that it means that, Hashem wants to see or wants to teach us what it means to, to live a religious life from a perspective of lack from not having enough, right? Can we have enough bitachon, trust in Hashem, and emunah, and faith even when we feel like we don't have? And ulmaan nasosecha in order to test you, «Im taaseh retzonhu vesito parnascha, parnasascha.»
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Will you continue to fulfill his will once you have been given your parnasa your sustenance? And I think in putting both of those in that pasuk it seems like The Sforno sees both of those concepts in this pasuk and that both of them are a test, right? To to not have enough is a challenge but to have abundance is also a challenge.
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And the nuanced message, I don't think there's any chiddush here, I think we've talked about it before is that there isn't necessarily an, an ideal.
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There isn't necessarily a state of being in which there isn't some kind of spiritual challenge.
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When a person doesn't have enough it's almost like Hashem understands that it'll be difficult to put one's faith in God when one has to struggle so much.
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Where are all the blessings that the Torah promised me if I fulfill the mitzvahs, if I follow the Torah? At the same time, abundance is also a challenge, right? «Vayishman yishrun vayivat,» it says at the end of the Torah, that when we grow fat, we kick and we rebel.
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I, I, I-- you don't have to go to the end of the Torah, go to the next pasuk, right? «Viamarta bilvavecha kochi ve'otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh.»
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When you're able to thrive, then you start to think "Yeah, I did it on my own."
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It's like the famous anecdote, joke, whatever, the person who asks God for a parking spot or whatever, and then one opens up and says, "Oh, God, never mind, I found one," right? When a person has, that also creates a challenge of self-reliance.
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And and so I think the lesson ultimately from the Sforno is that no matter where we find ourselves on the economic spectrum, it comes with its nir enemy, it comes with its challenge.
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And we have to recognize that.
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And more importantly than that, I think, is that- We have to recognize that about ourselves and the other.
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Meaning, for those of us who have we have to be very cognizant of those who don't and the challenges it puts them in.
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O- on the other hand, for those of us who have, we have to recognize the challenge of that also.
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Not just Kocham v'Otzem Yadi, right? Not just that, "Oh, I'm self-reliant.
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I don't need Hashem," whatever.
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No.
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There are other challenges when it comes to when it comes to when it comes to abundance.
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And that-- I don't know, do I really wanna talk about this again? Anyways, I don't know.
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Yeah.
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And that is, what was the word I was trying to look for? The oth- the other challenge of The other challenge of abundance is to recognize that you may not necessarily deserve what you have, or you shouldn't treat what you have like you deserve it.
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That even if you earned it and you worked hard, nonetheless, if you are blessed to experience abundance, that, that creates responsibility not reward.
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Yeah.
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It- it's a cliche to talk about the fact that, when you ha- e- even having money has, comes with challenges, 'cause everyone's like, "Yeah, but I'll take those challenges."
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Yeah, exactly.
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We all know the studies around lottery winners and how often, that l- leads to ruin in people's lives, but people still en masse play the lottery 'cause they're like, "You know what? I think I can handle it.
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I think I'd prefer it to my current challenges."
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But the fact is that the challenges of abundance are very real.
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I was once speaking with somebody in the community who I love.
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If they put it together that I'm talking about them, I love you.
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I was...
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I just said "What's your Mount Everest? What are you still trying to climb at this point in your life, having accomplished so much?" And he said, "If I achieve this," like he told me like the next step in his life, he's "Then I'll achieve really generational wealth."
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And I was reflecting on that conversation.
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I said, "Do you really think it's a gift to give your chil- like, to gift your children whatever the, the number is that would be considered generational wealth? Is that a gift?" I would think it's really just the opposite.
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We wanna provide for our kids, we want them to be safe, we want them to have what, their needs met.
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But to just hand your child "Oh, you're ex- you have everything on a silver platter," is that a...
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Would I want that life for myself? Maybe superficially I'd want that life, but if I think about it, would I want a life where I would never have to lift a finger in order to have every abundance? I don't think that's a good life.
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I think part of a good life is working hard is being aspirational is feeling that you've accomplished something for yourself, that you're a champion for your family.
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I think that's actually a vital part of life.
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And I just think, having that conversation is so valuable.
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There is a real...
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Again, these are the challenges that people want, I understand that, but we shouldn't poo-poo the fact that it's a real challenge for how you have so much and not actually end up harming your family more than helping them.
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It's a...
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I think there's, I think there's plenty of both anecdotal and scientific evidence of- of the lack of success of those who are just given and don't have to work for it.
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It's- And happiness.
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Lack of happiness.
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Yeah, 100%.
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I'm sure we all know second generation wealthy people who have had a hard time.
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Maybe we don't, but they're certainly out there who ha- don't have that grit and that work ethic and haven't been able to put the pieces together and live a very difficult life.
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It's the test, it was the first test of Avraham Avinu.
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Lech lecha me'artzecha ve'mis'chol avi'cha v'migot lo'shemecha.
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Hashem tells him, "Go, I'm gonna make you into the wealthiest man in the world, and you're gonna have va- ve'gad lo sh'mecha.
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You're gonna have generational wealth, Avraham.
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Your children are gonna be..."
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And what's the test? That's the test.
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The test is can you live a meaningful life with the knowledge that you will never have to worry about anything? Mm-hmm.
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And it was the test of really Yitzchak Avinu in a sense as well, right? Which is- Mm to be the second in a extremely illustrious family.
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And how do you navigate that, that second generation, right? Mm-hmm.
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As one person in the community says "First generation builds and the second generation destroys."
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Which is not always the narrative, but it's a danger.
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It's something to be aware of, and it's something to think about what is a blessing that we give our children and what is actually, more of a challenge.
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Yeah.
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Mi halev har Hashem u'mi yakum b'mirkamo kacho, right? Who can ascend the mountain of God? That's the first challenge.
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Then the second challenge is to stay there.
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Okay, so I just wanna circle one piece of this pasuk which I think is fascinating it says, asher lo yada un avosecha, that your forefathers didn't know.
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And this is actually something that comes up in the pasuk that you referenced earlier.
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When Moshe is describing the man, he often puts in this notion that your forefathers didn't know this.
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So why is that somehow a theme, an important part of the man experience that it was unprecedented in some way? And I think it also ties actually to something you gestured at, you referenced earlier on, Rabbi Block.
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You said man.
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Literally the name man means what is it? There's something about the fact that this was unprecedented that your parents didn't have this.
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The fact that makes it totally, in a sense, unknowable.
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When a little child, like a two-year-old bumps their head or falls, a lot of times they'll look at the parents, and if the parents are like, "Are you okay?" Then the child will start to cry 'cause they'll process "Oh, this was bad."
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And they don't know what it is until the parents tell them.
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And we have a mesorah for so many things in our lives that part of the job of a parent is "This berry is poisonous, and this is edible, and this is good, and this is bad."
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And we have like a scale and a metric for so many things 'cause our parents basically tell us, "This is a good thing, the bad thing."
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And the part of the test of the man was that nobody told the Bnei Yisrael, "Is this the greatest thing that ever happened to any human being, or is this the most difficult challenge?" And man, what is it? And what does it taste like? It could taste like anything.
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I actually think that the idea that it could taste like anything is exactly the point, which is the part of the test of the man is that it was up to the Jewish people to decide.
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It was a question mark.
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Man hu? What is it? So you're gonna decide, is this the greatest gift Hashem ever bestowed on a people, that you have this heavenly lechem hakl kel thing that falls from the sky six days a week and twice on Friday? Or is this the worst thing about which you are going to complain? And we're all gesturing at the fact that it's both, right? It has both these elements, but I think the idea that we don't have a mesorah, that the Torah keeps saying your parents didn't have this, it's like I gave this to you, and you got to write the story.
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Part of the test was, Bnei Yisrael, you write the story.
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Is this the greatest thing or the worst thing? You can choose 'cause you can construe it in one way or the other.
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I think that's really a deep aspect of the man.
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It's that it was a question mark, and it was up to the Jewish people to decide whether they were going to feel this as the greatest blessing or the greatest challenge.
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It reminds me of a quote which I realize now listening to you what's so problematic about it.
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There's a famous quote from Oscar Wilde "When the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers."
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Mm.
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That, if we're given what we want then it comes with those challenges.
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But what's so problematic about that, and the reason why it's cynical and people describe this quote as cynical, is because it's not a punishment, right? It, this is a feature of life that comes with a certain challenge, like many features of life, and challenges and opportunities.
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To call it a punishment is to just ignore the potential and the opportunity and that's why it's so cynical, and that's why I love Torah, 'cause it gives you such a healthier, more nuanced message.
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Beautiful.
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Okay.
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So, shalom.
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Shalom, everyone.
