Outside world. As much as possible we have to cut loose from the gentile influence.
Now I can’t enumerate all the ways of cutting loose because that will take an extra lecture, but it’s enough to know that it’s the mixing that is the big problem in our private lives and in our history as a Jewish community; because it means we are absorbing gentile attitudes. The outside world is what causes all kinds of losses, and the biggest loss of all is the loss of the true Torah hashkafa – proper Torah attitudes.
Live Naturally
And therefore, as much as it’s our responsibility – ֹ̇ו ̃¿לƒל יןƒי ו‡¿ר ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי יוָה הָּכַּמַה ֹזו¿ּב; it should have come on us – but it’s the gentiles who are blamed for this great ruination we see in the Jewish street. If the Am Yisroel is forsaking the whole Torah or parts of the Torah it’s squarely on the shoulders of gentiles.
Of course the Jew has bechirah; he has the choice of resisting bad influence. And the one who chooses to follow the bad examples of the gentiles is not exonerated – if he doesn’t stake the warning of Arov then he too will go lost; many of the Bnei Yisroel went lost in Makkas Choshech. But because the source of trouble is them, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu teaches us the lesson on their shoulders.
And that’s why Arov came for the Mitzrim, because they were the biggest source of the trouble. But the biggest beneficiaries of the lesson were the Bnei Yisroel who were watching. “What’s that about?! Animals coming in a confusion, in such an unnatural mixture?” It was very unnatural! But it was a reminder that it’s even more unnatural for Bnei Yisroel to mingle with non-Jews than if wolves and bears would mingle. And when the Bnei Yisroel looked through their windows and they saw these animals trooping by in queer packs that never traveled together before, so they were thinking – they consulted their leaders and it was explained to them: “It really was intended for us because we mixed unnaturally. And therefore we are the ones who were supposed to learn the lesson most.”
Part III. Separating the Mixture
Korban Pesach Secrets
And now we come to the subject of the korban pesach. Because after learning this lesson of Makkas Arov, the nation had to take action. You can’t just sit back in your chair and relax when you learn a lesson like that – something has to change! You have to put your foot down: “I’m done with being a half gentile, or quarter gentile. It’s time to expel these gentile attitudes from my mind.”
And that’s one of the secrets of the mitzvah of korban pesach. (Shemos 12). Because what was the outstanding feature of the korban pesach?
We understand from the words of Moshe Rabbeinu himself what it was. When Moshe heard the mitzvah of korban pesach from Hashem, he was astounded. “You mean to say that we should publicly take a sheep and slaughter it?!”
You know, the sheep was considered kadosh to the Egyptians. It was a god to them. Now, why it was kadosh to them is not my business now to tell you but it’s a well known fact. Moshe Rabeinu said, םƒיַר¿ˆƒמ ַ̇בֲﬠֹו ̇ ̇∆‡ חַּב¿זƒנ ן≈ה נוֻל¿ ̃¿סƒי ‡ֹל¿ו ם∆יה≈ינ≈ﬠ¿ל – “How can we even think of such a thing? If we slaughter their avodah zarah, they’ll massacre us!” (Shemos 8:22).
So you’ll say, “Well, we’ll do it on the sly. We’ll just take the lamb right before the time comes to shecht it, just a minute before the shechitah, that way the goy won’t have a chance to see what we’re doing.”
Potential Pogroms
No, you can’t do that. Hashem says, רֹוׂ ָ̆ﬠ¿ּבƒמ ֹחו¿ ̃ƒמ – On the tenth day of Nissan, long before Pesach, you have to take it. It means it had to be a public demonstration. It wasn’t hidden; everyone could see the Jew pulling the lamb through the street.
So the Mitzri would ask, “Hey, where are you taking that?”
And the Yisroel had to answer, “I’m bringing a zevach, a sacrifice.”
“A what?! You’re going to slaughter a lamb?!”
To the Egyptians, that’s a terrible thing. It’s like the cow in India. The cow is holy; it’s worshiped. I don’t know how it is now, but not so long ago if you kicked a cow in India, that was the last thing you did in your life. And Egypt was no different; only it was the sheep, not the cow.
And so you can be sure that Moshe Rabbeinu was worried about that. נוֻל¿ ̃¿סƒי ‡ֹל¿ו, he said. They’re going to stone us all. It would cause a pogrom. All of Egypt would get up in a rage and massacre the Bnei Yisroel. “Why do we have to make such a demonstration?” Moshe asked.
That’s the Point
So Hakadosh Baruch Hu told him, “That’s exactly it!” That’s the mitzvah of korban pesach! To slaughter what is considered by the umos ha’olam to be so precious! To make an open demonstration that what’s important to them, what’s untouchable to them, what’s impossible for them to think of slaughtering – we go ahead and we disregard it completely.
The only way to remain separate, to not absorb the outside influences, is by reminding ourselves again and again that we disregard completely what is important to the goyim; it’s nothing to us.
Makkas Arov taught the Bnei Yisroel that mixing is unnatural for us – we are different and must remain different – and the korban pesach was a proclamation that we are committed to that way of life. That’s what it means to shecht the avodah zarah of the goyim.
Slaughtering Their Ideals
Not only the lamb; that’s just a symbol. In general, it’s a klal gadol that the Am Yisroel disregards the ideals of the umos ha’olam. It doesn’t mean you tell a goy to his face; you don’t have to insult him. But we can’t hide the truth that we are fundamentally different from the umos ha’olam.
Of course, we’re polite and kindly; we treat everyone with decency and respect. And we’re loyal citizens who follow the laws of the country – we should follow the laws even more than the gentiles do. But we are different; we are fundamentally different from the umos ha’olam. And the korban pesach means that we remain different only because we oppose with a complete disregard all the ways of the umos ha’olam. We disregard their holy feelings. We disregard their worship. We disregard the honor they give to their religion. To us, it’s nothing at all. It’s hevel vorik. ם≈ה∆ׁ ̆ ̃יƒרָו ל∆ב∆ה¿ל יםƒוֲחַּ̇¿ׁ ̆ƒמ – they bow down to nothing. יםƒילƒל¡‡ יםƒּמַﬠָה י≈הֹל¡‡ לָּכ יƒּכ – All of their gods are nothing-gods. We say that all the time.
But not only their religion. All of their ideas and attitudes, their middos and hashkafos and interests and practices, we’re not interested! We have to slaughter the ideals of literature, of drama. It never happened, it’s all false. Now, I understand that people are already accustomed to fiction, to imaginary stories that never happened, but it’s time now to get unaccustomed.
Mock the Movies
You have to slaughter their movies. How could it be that a frum Jew watches gentile movies? What are movies for? To tell you things that never happened. A fool sits down, a wicked man, and writes a book and then they put it into movies and his stupid ideas are being transmitted now to millions of people.
All movies have to do with women, immorality, all stupid things. It’s good for horses in the stables. They're interested in such things; they're interested in female horses. But human beings should understand the difference between a man and a woman is made by heaven; it's a wonderful briah but it’s for a purpose. There's a kedushah in married life. But to take that wonderful invention of Hashem, םָ‡ָר¿ּב הָב≈ ̃¿נּו רָכָז, and to contaminate the world with it? And along comes a Jew and he joins in? Just the opposite! We don’t mix - we show contempt, complete disregard for such things.
Mock the Libraries
Another thing – no libraries. Don’t go into libraries anymore! And chas v’shalom to bring your children into the libraries. Once upon a time a library was a nice place – there were parveh books there – but today it’s no good. No good at all! Libraries are dirt today. They’re all garbage. The world is crazy today. The literature is filthy. Filthy, disgusting ideas.
So you’ll tell me that there are some good books there for your children. Well, suppose an apple fell into a toilet bowl, would you let your child take it out and eat it? It’s a kosher apple, why not? Well, it might be the most beautiful apple, but he’s taking it from a dirty toilet. It’s going to depend on what else is in the toilet. Nobody should let their child play with excrement.
So there might still be certain books in the library that are still readable – I don’t know if that’s true – but you have to know that once you walk in there you immediately smell the odor of tzoah, of excrement. The library today is a foul place more than ever before. And therefore, no matter what, you stay out in order that your garments should not be redolent with the fragrance of the public library.
Fat Americans
Some people are so Americanized that they identify with the American sports scene. A Jew doesn’t have any interest in sports, unless it’s for exercise for himself, for health. Isn’t it stupid to be enthusiastic as people are skating or playing lacrosse or basketball or soccer, whatever it is, and you're watching it? If you could get on the field yourself and kick the ball around, so at least you get exercise. But being an American means you’re sitting on a chair and all you’re doing is getting hemorrhoids from sitting on a hard chair. And if not hemorrhoids, if you’re sitting on your couch, so you’re getting fat. What a stupidity to come and watch other people getting exercise! You’re being victimized.
Even if there’s nothing wrong in a game – that’s what the boys tell me; “But there’s nothing wrong” – but it’s stupid, it’s meaningless. Who cares who wins? And the mere fact that you identify with the herd, that fact that you’re being stampeded by the herd is a tragedy. You’re losing your identity – you’re the Am Hanivchar, the chosen nation; you have different things. You’re not interested in that garbage.
You say it’s not a sin? Certainly it’s a sin to be gentilized! Certainly it’s a sin to mix our ideals. It’s unnatural! And that’s what Makkas Arov comes to tell us. It’s an unnatural mixture because the Am Yisroel was chosen to be the ןֹּכ¿ׁ ̆ƒי „ָ„ָב¿ל םָﬠ ן∆ה. We are alone – separate from all the nations of the world. We are to be entirely different. We are expected to be ןֹּכ¿ׁ ̆ƒי „ָ„ָב¿ל םָﬠ ן∆ה – Behold the nation that dwells alone, בַָּׁ̆ח¿ ̇ƒי ‡ֹל םƒיֹוּ‚ַבּו – and we’re not counted among the goyim. A frum Jew dissociates himself from public amusements.
Exaggerated Extremism?
Now, that’s easy to talk about but it’s not being done. You pass by a yeshivah today, you see things going on. Teiere boys! They’re good frum boys and yet they’re behaving like goyim. I don’t want to say why and how. Their games are goyishe games. Their sports are goyishe sports. Some have haircuts like the goyim; they wear Reeboks or certain goyishe pants. They speak with gentile words, gentile attitudes.
Even when you go to a bar-mitzvah, you see that their dancing is goyishe dancing. It’s all gentile ways. Boruch Hashem, we’re happy with them. I’m happy with them. Kein yirbu! V’chein yigdelu! I love them! But Jews should have other ways of doing things.
Now, I understand that when you go out from here, they’ll tell you that Rabbi Miller is extreme, that it’s exaggerated. But it’s not so. I’m not even saying it the way I should. If I would, you wouldn’t come back here.
Remedying the Error
Now, don’t misunderstand me. It’s a pleasure to see frum Jews today. It’s a pleasure to see people who are shomrei mitzvos. It’s a pleasure to see bnei Torah. It’s a pleasure, mamash a pleasure to see that. It’s a happiness to see frum girls, Beis Yaakov girls. It’s a great happiness to see big Jewish families. And yet you have to know that it’s not what it’s supposed to be. םָﬠ ןֹּכ¿ׁ ̆ƒי „ָ„ָב¿ל means that we have to be set off from the goyim, that we have to beware of identifying with the nations that we live among!
It’s a tremendous error that we are making today. We think we can be frum Jews and still be mixed with the gentile ideas. The Modern Orthodox surely; they think they can assimilate and still be frum. But actually it’s impossible. And therefore, very many of them are going lost, nebach. Very many. Especially their children.
There’s only one solution: You have to de-Americanize! That’s the call of the day! De-Americanize! Of course, you have to be loyal; you have to be a patriot for the country. You have to do what’s right. You have to vote. Be a decent person to everyone. But don’t become one of them.
The Real Plague
And that’s one of the most important lessons of Makkas Arov; it came to tell us that a frum Jew doesn’t mix because mixing is the biggest problem for us. And that’s why the name of the makkah was Arov; because that was the most important lesson. The ‘Mixture’, that’s the plague!
That’s what the Bnei Yisroel were thinking when they watched the wolf and the lion and the crocodile and the bear marching into the villages. That unnatural mixtures are a tremendous danger! Hakadosh Baruch Hu was teaching them that םƒיֹוּ‚ַה ןƒמּנוָילƒּ„¿בƒה, because He wants to ןƒמּנוָילƒּ„¿בƒה יםƒעֹוּטַה. To keep as separate as we can from the umos ha’olam so that we should be separated from all of their mistakes. He made us different and He wants that we should dedicate our lives towards trying to answer this question: What is the true Torah way? What is the true Torah attitude? An attitude free of any adulteration, free from any admixture of ideas of the outside world.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
Let’s Get Practical
Separating and Remaining Separate
Makkas Arov taught us that the greatest plague comes through mixing. Symbiotic relationships are unnatural and there should be no mixing between Yisroel and the nations. Each day during Birchos haTorah this week, as I say “asher bachar banu mikol ho’amim – He has chosen us from among all the nations”, I will bli neder set aside 30 seconds to review this lesson and think of how to apply it practically in my life.
