In this week’s parashah, we can gain a wonderful insight into the tremendous love Hashem has for Klal Yisrael.
Hashem tells the nation: הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָךְ לְפָנֶיךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בַּדָּרֶךְ וְלַהֲבִיאֲךָ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הֲכִנֹתִי, הִשָּׁמֶר מִפָּנָיו וּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ אַל תַּמֵּר בּוֹ כִּי לֹא יִשָּׂא לְפִשְׁעֲכֶם כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ, כִּי אִם שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ וְעָשִׂיתָ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר אֲדַבֵּר וְאָיַבְתִּי אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְצַרְתִּי אֶת־צֹרְרֶיךָ, I am sending an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place that I had prepared. Be careful of him and heed his word, do not rebel against him, for he will not tolerate your sins, for My Name is within him. But if you will heed his word and fulfill what I will say, then I will make your enemies my enemies and I will torment your tormentors (23:20-22).
Rashi explains that Hashem is speaking of the time after the Jews worshipped the Eigel, when Hashem has removed His Presence from their midst and has sent an angel instead.
The malach is there to guard and lead them, and the angel, who has no tolerance for sin, will immediately react to their misdeeds. It appears that Hashem will have no direct interest in the nation.
This passuk teaches us that although He seems to have abandoned Klal Yisrael, Hashem remains with them in the background – מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן הַחֲלֹּנוֹת מֵצִיץ מִן הַחֲרַכִּים, watching from the window, glimpsing through the cracks, as it were – waiting for them to heed His Word. As soon as they do – even as he remains away, with the malach in place – He takes on their cause and fights their enemies: וְאָיַבְתִּי אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְצַרְתִּי אֶת־צֹרְרֶיךָ, I will make your enemies My enemies and I will torment your tormentors. The malach is what they see and is the one who exacts retribution when they sin, but it is Hashem himself who protects them as soon as they listen.
Wherever we are and whatever happens, Hashem is with us. If we follow His Word, He will protect us and fend for us, because even when He chooses to remain invisible, He continues to be our Loving and Compassionate Father.
May we be zocheh that He reveal His love for us to all, with the geulah sheleimah b'mheirah.
Gut Shabbos.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
A quick thought -- Parashas Beshalach
In this week’s parashah, we find that as the Bnei Yisrael left Egypt they were joined by the erev rav, a “great mixture,” (12:38) a large contingent of people of other nations who had now converted.
Throughout the Jew’s 40-year sojourn in the Wilderness, we find that this group was responsible for taking the lead role in a number of sins and insurrections (see, for example, Rashi Shemos 32:4, Bamidbar 11:1, 11:4) .
Were these people sincere? Why was their leaving with the Jews so significant that the Torah found it necessary to mention it here?
Perhaps they were sincere, but they were lacking something very important in their attitude. And the Torah mentions their presence immediately at Yetzias Mitzrayim so that we can gain an understanding into why we, as a nation, had to undergo the experience of Egyptian bondage.
The Jewish nation had endured 116 years of slavery (see Sifsei Chamaim 6:16 for the calculation). They had been completely subjugated to the mastery of Pharaoh. They knew what it meant to be a slave. And when they said “Naaseh venishmah” they fully committed themselves to be servants of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
The erev rav, on the other hand, had been free citizens. Though under Pharaoh’s rule, they did not comprehend what it meant to truly be a servant. Yes, they felt ready to be “good Jews”, but they could not fathom the concept of fully relinquishing their freedom or desires. This is what led them to rebel.
The mishnah (Avos 3:5) teaches us כל המקבל עליו על תורה, מעבירין ממנו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ, וכל הפורק ממנו עול תורה, נותנין עליו על מלכות ועול דרך ארץ, Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities will be removed from him; and whoever shirks the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities will be placed upon him.
We can now understand this teaching not only as an issue of reward and punishment, nor even as one of being offered more opportunity to do mitzvos (see Rambam Hil. Teshuvah 9:1). A lesson of this Mishnah is that the purpose of the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities is to train us how to serve Hashem. When we accept upon ourselves the yoke of Torah, we willingly surrender ourselves to Hashem’s Will, and there is no need for us to be subjected to those other burdens. When we fail, we need to be taught the lesson.
The Mishnah reminds us to do it the more pleasant way.
May we be granted the siyata d’Shmaya to willingly accept and do Hashem’s Will, and thus achieve shleimus, open the gates of brachah, and merit the geulah bimheirah b’yameinu.
Gut Shabbos!
Throughout the Jew’s 40-year sojourn in the Wilderness, we find that this group was responsible for taking the lead role in a number of sins and insurrections (see, for example, Rashi Shemos 32:4, Bamidbar 11:1, 11:4) .
Were these people sincere? Why was their leaving with the Jews so significant that the Torah found it necessary to mention it here?
Perhaps they were sincere, but they were lacking something very important in their attitude. And the Torah mentions their presence immediately at Yetzias Mitzrayim so that we can gain an understanding into why we, as a nation, had to undergo the experience of Egyptian bondage.
The Jewish nation had endured 116 years of slavery (see Sifsei Chamaim 6:16 for the calculation). They had been completely subjugated to the mastery of Pharaoh. They knew what it meant to be a slave. And when they said “Naaseh venishmah” they fully committed themselves to be servants of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
The erev rav, on the other hand, had been free citizens. Though under Pharaoh’s rule, they did not comprehend what it meant to truly be a servant. Yes, they felt ready to be “good Jews”, but they could not fathom the concept of fully relinquishing their freedom or desires. This is what led them to rebel.
The mishnah (Avos 3:5) teaches us כל המקבל עליו על תורה, מעבירין ממנו עול מלכות ועול דרך ארץ, וכל הפורק ממנו עול תורה, נותנין עליו על מלכות ועול דרך ארץ, Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities will be removed from him; and whoever shirks the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities will be placed upon him.
We can now understand this teaching not only as an issue of reward and punishment, nor even as one of being offered more opportunity to do mitzvos (see Rambam Hil. Teshuvah 9:1). A lesson of this Mishnah is that the purpose of the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly responsibilities is to train us how to serve Hashem. When we accept upon ourselves the yoke of Torah, we willingly surrender ourselves to Hashem’s Will, and there is no need for us to be subjected to those other burdens. When we fail, we need to be taught the lesson.
The Mishnah reminds us to do it the more pleasant way.
May we be granted the siyata d’Shmaya to willingly accept and do Hashem’s Will, and thus achieve shleimus, open the gates of brachah, and merit the geulah bimheirah b’yameinu.
Gut Shabbos!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Today's vort being written after a busy week, while I'm on a plane, so it'll be even shorter than usual.
As Mitzrayim was struck by Makkos Bechoros, the ultimate of the plagues, the Torah tells us "Vayakam Pharaoh, Pharaoh rose" to search for Moshe. Rashi comments: "mimitaso, from his bed."
Many have observed the irony of Pharaoh, himself a bechor, going to bed on the night Moshe predicted the firstborn would die.
There is an important lesson to every person in this episode:
Moshe had effected 9 makkos, each of which was executed with surgical precision. They started and ended just when Moshe said they would; they had destroyed Egypt even as they spared the Jews among them. Pharaoh's own people had told him "haterem teida ki avda Mitzrayim?! Don't you know that Egypt had been doomed by your refusal to let the Jews free?!"
Yet Pharaoh was undeterred.
The passuk tells us "Vegam es zeh leumas zeh bara Elokim, Hashem created this and its opposite." As great as the potential is to do bad, there is equal and opposite potential to do good.
Pharaoh teaches us that when challenges confront us, we still have the ability to do the right thing, so long as we are committed to doing so.
And we also see that, despite their being smitten again and again, the Egyptians did not rise up in revolt. Mitzrayim was being destroyed, as they said, but why did they sit idly by?
Rav Yisroel Salanter commented that although flasehood cannot survive (sheker ein lo raglayim) those perpetrating the sheker may succeed by didn't of the emes of their beliefs.
A committed leader can inspire his nation to endanger their survival. And if we can do good with that fervor, we will doubtless inspire all those around us.
Gut Shabbos!
As Mitzrayim was struck by Makkos Bechoros, the ultimate of the plagues, the Torah tells us "Vayakam Pharaoh, Pharaoh rose" to search for Moshe. Rashi comments: "mimitaso, from his bed."
Many have observed the irony of Pharaoh, himself a bechor, going to bed on the night Moshe predicted the firstborn would die.
There is an important lesson to every person in this episode:
Moshe had effected 9 makkos, each of which was executed with surgical precision. They started and ended just when Moshe said they would; they had destroyed Egypt even as they spared the Jews among them. Pharaoh's own people had told him "haterem teida ki avda Mitzrayim?! Don't you know that Egypt had been doomed by your refusal to let the Jews free?!"
Yet Pharaoh was undeterred.
The passuk tells us "Vegam es zeh leumas zeh bara Elokim, Hashem created this and its opposite." As great as the potential is to do bad, there is equal and opposite potential to do good.
Pharaoh teaches us that when challenges confront us, we still have the ability to do the right thing, so long as we are committed to doing so.
And we also see that, despite their being smitten again and again, the Egyptians did not rise up in revolt. Mitzrayim was being destroyed, as they said, but why did they sit idly by?
Rav Yisroel Salanter commented that although flasehood cannot survive (sheker ein lo raglayim) those perpetrating the sheker may succeed by didn't of the emes of their beliefs.
A committed leader can inspire his nation to endanger their survival. And if we can do good with that fervor, we will doubtless inspire all those around us.
Gut Shabbos!
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