Can't We Just IGNORE The Rabbis?

1:32Yom Kippur is a tikkun for that year. But to have the Shechinah, we can do teshuva every day, on the spot. We can know what Hashem wants every day, on the spot. We can fix everything every day, on the spot. Why? Because we have the Beit HaMikdash, the Shechinah is here. It's such a big day that Yom Kippur could, theoretically, be skipped this year. That was Da'at Torah. And the people had an uncomfortable time listening to this Da'as Torah because it was so far. So, in order to fulfill his own words, where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that He makes the righteous... Right among the public. Meaning, if the Chachamim say something, even if that something is wrong, Hashem will make it right. Hashem will make it right. I'll give you an example. It's actually one of the things I wanted to discuss.

2:42where you'll understand what is Da'at Torah, because that's actually one of the problems that we have today, is that people think that if, let's say, Rav Kanievsky says something, or the Steipler Gaon's father said something when he was alive, or Rav Wasserman said something, or when he said something, or someone that's even alive today but is a he said something, you can just say, I don't have to listen to him. I can maybe listen to somebody else. Like the doctor said, everybody has to wear a mask. Rav Kanievsky said that you don't have to wear a mask if you're learning Torah. said something, or when he was speaking, or someone that's even alive today, but when this particular individual said something, you can just say, I don't have to listen to him. I can maybe listen to somebody else. Like when the doctor said everybody has to wear a mask. But Rav Chaim Kanievsky said that you don't have to wear a mask if you're learning Torah. learned in the yeshiva, the specific people he was talking to don't have to wear a mask. No, but Rav Kanievsky knew more than doctors. No one knows more than Rav Kanievsky, so people have a misunderstanding of Rav Kanievsky and doctors. Why do they think that the doctor knows better than Rav Kanievsky? Only because he's a doctor.

3:56The mistake is that people compare the Torah to secular subjects, and this is also part of the reason why many people, particularly in the modern Orthodox world and the general secular world, find it impossible to connect with Hashem in the way He desires. but rather customize the Torah to fit their own life. You know, they accept Shabbat, but whatever they feel like it. They accept Kashrut, but their own standards, not Da'at Torah standards. Why? Because they don't think that Da'at Torah, that the opinion of the Torah, the opinion of the Chachamim, It's really a, you know, firm opinion of Hashem. They think, He is human, I am human. The Rambam is human, I am human. So, why should I listen to him? That's the mistake. Now, to take it even deeper, before we get to the answer, the Gemara in Masechet Eruvin, daf 13, says there's a machloket between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. There are over 300 machlokot between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel in the Talmud. Something around 360 machlokot between them. Most of them, Halacha goes like Beit Hillel. Most of them. The chachamim say that in the next world it goes like Beit Shammai. After Mashiach comes, Beit Shammai. Most of them. But needless to say...

5:13It says there's a machloket between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. There are over 300 machlokot between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel in the Shas – something around 360 machlokot. In most of them, halacha follows Beit Hillel. However, the chachamim say that in the next world, after Mashiach comes, it will follow Beit Shammai. But needless to say, The Gemara here says that Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel had a machloket. Halacha is like Beit Hillel in this particular machloket, but zeh v’zeh divrei Elokim chayim. Both this and this are the words of the living G-d. So this is confusing. Why?

6:14If they're both words of the living God, why is he right? Shouldn't it be like both of them? If they're both the words of Hashem, why is there this question? This question was asked over 700 years ago by the Ritva. The Ritva comments on this Gemara. It says, where the Gemara says that both of these words are the words of the living God. So the question is, how can both be? the words of the living God. If the halakha is like one of them, whether it's Hillel or Shammai, it doesn't make a difference, but how can they both be the words of the living God? And the Ritva answers one of the most important questions and answers that we have to understand in Judaism and the right ideology. Hashem left certain judgments open for the Chachamim to conclude and paskin.

7:40To become to the point where there's a rule of meaning that there are certain laws that we do not learn from precedent, but rather we only derive directly and have to rely on the specific interpretations of the Chachamim on this issue. because HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not give us the Torah complete. Rather, He left certain parts of it open for interpretation by Moshe Rabbeinu and by the Chachamim until this day, to make us partners in the Torah. So much so, that there are certain things that happen in the Gemara, and a bat kol says, this is what the halacha is. And Chachamim said, no, we don't learn from bat kol. We learn from the rules that Hashem gave us at Mount Sinai of how we pasken halacha.

8:45So we don't learn the Torah from heaven this way. We learn it based on the principles that Hashem gave us on Mount Sinai of how to pasken halacha. And unless there's something that's black and white that we already know from Moshe miSinai, that we know, there are certain things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu left open for interpretation by the Chachamim that are using these rules in order to pasken. So much so, the Ritva continues. that once the Chachamim rule here, this becomes the Halakha in Shamayim. Meaning, if, let's say, the Halakha in Shamayim that Hashem left for interpretation, but obviously Hashem knows what the Halakha is. Let's say He picked red. He picked red in Shamayim, but He left it for interpretation by the Chachamim here. And the Chachamim use the tools that they have, which HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us, And they arrived at "Techelet." They arrived, and the halacha is "Techelet." At that moment, HaKadosh Baruch Hu changes the halacha in Shamayim. Why? That's the rule. That's the rule that He instilled into the world. Now, to give an example of this, to give an example of this,

10:14The Midrash comments on the verse in the book of Psalms, chapter 57, verse 3: "I will call upon God, Most High, to God who fulfills for me." The Midrash says that... This verse is where HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells us that when you call upon Him, you honor Him, you fulfill His Torah, you learn, and you toil in it. It is God who fulfills for me, meaning that Hashem agrees with the Chachamim regarding their Pesach, even if His Pesach originally was left for us for interpretation. Even if his Pesach is different, he fulfills our words. Meaning he now re-Paskens in Beit Shammai because of what the Chachamim did over here. And the Midrash provides an example. There's a rule in the Gemara that says that if a little girl has an accident or gets raped before the age of three years old,

11:39and obviously, this breaks the hymen. Now, the Gemara says, the Chachamim concluded that if it's before three years old, the hymen reconstructs and comes back as if nothing ever happened. However, if it obviously stops, it doesn't continue again after three. If, let's say, it happens before three years old, Hashem built the world in such a way that the hymen will reconstruct when she is younger, as if nothing happened. But if it happens after three years old, if the hymen is broken after three years old, that's it, it remains broken. It remains broken. So then the Chachamim ask, okay, but what about a Shana Me'uberes, a leap year? Leap year. Why? Because in a leap year, it's when we have Adar Sheni. The Chachamim add, seven times every 19 years, a second Adar. Two Adars. There's one Adar, but they add an Adar Bet. Now, who decides this? The Rabbis, the sages decide it.

12:53Not Hashem. Hashem left it for us, and the sages decided. Hillel the Second put a mathematical calculation until Mashiach comes, so we already know ahead of time every year that's going to have two Adars. But back in the times of the Gemara, they used to decide this based on their own calculations in real time. Now we already have it known until Mashiach comes. But at that time, they used to conclude when the month began and when the month ended, based on the moon, based on the renewal of the moon. But that also means that the Sanhedrin would decide which year they would add a 13th month. And this would happen seven times every 19 years. You see all the details of this in the discussions of Rosh Chodesh. Now, the question is, when it pertains to this rule, it's a physical rule. Meaning, there's a physical aspect here. There's a girl, and something physical happened—a trauma or an accident of some kind that broke her hymen. But you're saying that if she's below three years old, it reconstructs. If she's above three, it doesn't reconstruct. So what happens on the day of her birthday, as the Midrash says, the day she turns three?

14:15The Sanhedrin p'sak is no. We are going to have a second Adar. We're going to add, at that moment, a 13th month. So technically, technically, she's three years old, but she's considered less than three years old for another month. She's still technically in her twos. So does the haman take that into consideration? The Midrash says, absolutely. Hashem changes nature and will reconstruct this girl physically for the sake of showing that the Chachamim are right. That's how valuable Da'at Torah is in the eyes of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's of utmost significance. So when we observe that Am Yisrael is attached to Hashem, what does that signify, being attached to Hashem? It means you're attached to Da'at Torah.

15:29People who think they can just connect to Hashem and ignore the Chachamim, listening to them only when they want and not listening when they don't want, have no idea what they're talking about. There is no such thing as an intermediary in Judaism, but the Chachamim are not intermediaries. The Chachamim are simply conveying what Hashem said. Because you don't know what he said. Because you did not toil over the Torah for all of the decades that they have. You cannot interpret the Torah like they can. And that's the reality. If you think you can, then ego is your problem. Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is willing to change nature for the Chachamim. He's not necessarily willing to change nature for some average Joe. Because those Chachamim, they're His representatives. They're the ones that He relies on to give the message to the rest of us. And they find such favor in His eyes. He loves the Chachamim so much that He literally changes the world for them.

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