Parshat Vaera

This week is in the merit of my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal. May she have a complete and speedy recovery.


Question:

The letters signify the chiastic structure. What is its' significance?

God spoke to Moses and said to him:
A 'I am Hashem.
B I revealed Myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Kel Shakkai, and did not allow them to know Me by My name Hashem.
C I also made My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, where they lived as foreigners.
D I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant.

Therefore say to the Israelites, 'I am Hashem.
I will take you away from your forced labor in Egypt
And I will free you from their slavery
and I will liberate you with a demonstration of My power, and with great acts of judgment.
I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you as a God. You will know that I am Hashem your G-d,

D the One who is bringing you out from under the Egyptian subjugation.
C I will bring you to the land regarding which I raised My hand, that I would give it to
B Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you as an inheritance.
A I am Hashem.' '
(Exodus 6:2-8)

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The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, stretch forth your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt." And Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt. (Exodus 8:1-2)

Rashi: and the frog came up. Heb. וַךְתַּעַל הַצְפַרְדֵעַ, literally, and the frog came up. It was one frog, and they [the Egyptians] hit it, and it split into many swarms of frogs. This is its midrashic interpretation (Tanchuma, Va’era 14)…


On this midrash, we must ask why the Egyptians kept hitting the frog and splitting it. (Mind you, the Egyptians were extremely smart, to this day we have no idea how they built the pyramids with what they had and I also read somewhere that they even had developed primitive batteries!) Why did they not ketch on and figure out that hitting frogs did not solve anything?


I heard as tape from Rabbi Raymond Beyda where he cited Rav Yeruchum Levovitz zzt"l with an explanation.

He said that it is clear that the Egyptians became quite furious in their unsuccessful attempts to kill the frogs and their anger blinded them to their ever growing problems.


While the Rambam (Hilchos Deot 1:4) advocates balancing our character traits, he later (2:3) says this does not apply to arrogance and anger, both which must be completely eliminated.


King Solomon wrote:

"Rage is cruel and anger is overwhelming and who can withstand the jealous rage?" (Proverbs 27:4).

"He who is in great wrath shall suffer punishments; if you come to his rescue, you merely add aggravation" (Proverbs 19:19).

Rav Hirsch comments "Once a person is caught in the throes of a towering rage, he can hardly be helped anymore; and he will have to bear the consequences, which may pay prove unfortunate. A neighbor may try to save him and his victim by persuasion, but he will only succeed in incensing him more" (From the Wisdom of Mishlé, page 194).

Somebody enraged literally looses their senses and the Ramchal (chapter 11 of Mesillas Yesharim) compares such a person to an animal!


These are all rational reasons, understandable to all, why to keep calm but our tradition gives us even better reasons.


"You tear up your soul in your anger…" (Job 18:4)

Rabbi Beyda understood this to mean that when one gets angry, they loose any level of spirituality that they had achieved. I can attest to this. Any inspiration is replaced with rage and after I calm down, I feel quite far from G-d. I believe this is what the Ramban in his famous letter was alluding to when he said one who gets angry experiences hell in this world. Anger is literally hell and we have good reason to fear getting mad. For me, preserving my soul is the primary motivation for me working on developing patience.

Our sages in Shabbas 105b say regarding a person who got angry "it is as if he worshipped idols"! The common (and in my opinion correct) explanation is that when one gets angry, it is because he is expecting for something to turn out one way and it does not. In truth, there is no basis for this expectation since G-d runs the world but in our arrogance, we forget about Him. Thus, it is comparable to idolatry.



Bottom Line

King Solomon also stated "Do not befriend a quick-tempered person, neither shall you go with a wrathful man lest you learn his ways and ensnare your soul" (Proverbs 22:24-25) and the Rambam decides this as halacha (Hilchos Deos 2:3)!

When we get angry, we need to hold it in and let it go. Eventually, things simply will not bother us.

"The way of the righteous is to be humble without being humbled, not to answer back when disgraced, to do things out of love and to be joyous in suffering" (Rambam: Hilchos Deos 2:3).


Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshat Shemot

This is dedicated to my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal. May she have a complete and speedy recovery.

Question:

"The Children of Israel were fruitful, teemed, increased, and became strong - very, very much so; and the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7).

"Then Hashem said to me, 'The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is very, very great - and the land has been filled with bloodshed and the city has been filled with injustice, for they have said, 'Hashem has forsaken the land' and 'Hashem does not see''" (Ezekiel 9:9).

Note the extreme similarity between the language in these two verses. What is their connection?

Recall how in Parshat VaYigash, G-d appeared to Jacob "in night visions" (Genesis 46:2). In Parshat Vayigash I wrote, "What is the symbolism of 'night visions'? The Artscroll Chumash, basing itself off of the Meshech Chochma (by Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, 1843-1926), answers 'This is the only place where a vision is described in this manner, which implies impending darkness. At this moment, Jacob was poised to leave Eretz Yisrael for a long, long Egyptian exile, and he was right to be afraid of what would happen to his family there. The night of exile, when hope is enveloped in darkness, was about to begin, so God came in night visions to symbolize to him that though Jews would be exiled from their land, they would never be exiled from their God; He would always be with them' (page 257)."

In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, we find the Hebrews in complete darkness. As Nechama Leibowitz describes it "The picture drawn here of Israel is one of unrelieved gloom, characterless and faceless, devoid of personalities and bereft of leadership, a suffering, downtrodden mass with no heroic figures" (New Studies in Shemot, page 17).

At the end of chapter 2, we find that things are about to change:

"A long time then passed , and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were still groaning because of their subjugation. When they cried out because of their slavery, their pleas went up before God. God heard their cries, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God took heed [literally and God knew]" (2:22-25).

Nechama writes "God first appears in the role of object - the target of their groanings and cries. This is followed by four successive references to Him as God in the role of subject. This fourfold repetition of the subject by name rather than by pronominal reference before every predicate is grammatically deviant. It represents a foregrounding of the progressive re-appearance of God as a factor in the life of Israel, the progressive breaking down of barriers and resumption of the link between the upper and lower worlds. God heard, remembered, saw and heeded. The sudden and successive re-appearance of the Divine name in the text signalled the end of the period of His estrangement from the world. No longer would He work from behind the scenes but would act openly in full public view bursting forth into the arena history with a strong hand and outstretched arm" (18-19).

Immediately following this is the burning bush.

"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed" (Exodus 3:2).

What was its symbolism?

Rashi: from within the thorn bush: But not from any other tree, because of "I am with him in distress" (Psalms 91:15).

In other words, G-d cares and feels the Hebrews' pain.

It is here that we find G-d revealing the name "I Will Be Who I Will Be" (Exodus 3:14). Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits writes "It expresses the 'jutting out' of the divine being into time... The correct meaning of the text, therefore, is: I am forever present (for man). The rabbis in the Talmud give it the right interpretation when they remark: 'What is the meaning of ehyeh asher ehyeh? The Hole One said to Moses: Go and tell Israel that as I have been with them in this subjugation so shall I be with them in their future subjugation's by other kingdoms...' Brachot 9b." (God, Man, and History, by R. Dr. Berkovits, page 171).

Why is it so important to know that G-d cares?

When G-d appeared to the king of the Khazars telling the king that his intentions were virtuous but his actions were wrong, the king sought out a philosopher who proceeded to ridicule the whole idea of G-d desiring things.

"There is no favour or dislike in [the nature of ] God because He is above desire and intention. A desire intimates a want in the person who feels it, and not till it is satisfied does he become (so to speak) complete. If it remains unfulfilled, he lacks completion." In other words, if G-d desires, He is not perfect. If G-d is perfect, He does not desire.

However, the king responds by saying that he knows that this cannot be true because G-d told him! As much as the philosopher's position makes sense, G-d said otherwise!

R. Berkovits writes "The foundation of religion is not the affirmation that God is but that God is concerned with man and the world..." (God, Man, and History, page 15).

Thus the message we receive is that (although logically we cannot understand how), G-d cares and is going to act.

(G-d willing, I will elaborate on this on Parshat Yitro.)

Thus, we have a fitting end for our parshah:
"God said to Moses, 'Now you will begin to see what I will do to Pharaoh. He will be forced to let them go. [Not only that, but] he will be forced to drive them out of his land.'" (Exodus 6:1)


Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Question: Explain the significance of this Biblical parallelism:

'Simeon and Levi are a pair;
instruments of crime are their wares.
Let my soul not enter their plot;
let my spirit not unite with their meeting -
for they have killed men with anger,
maimed bulls with will.
Cursed be their rage, for it is fierce,
and their fury, for it is cruel.
I will disperse them in Jacob,
scatter them in Israel. (Genesis 49:5-7)


Parshat Vayechi: A Time to Act
I will summarize a short thought from the Lechem Abiram (Parshat Vayechi has always been a hard parsha for me for making divrei Torah).

"Israel saw Joseph's sons. 'Who are these?' he asked. 'They are the sons that God gave me like this,' replied Joseph to his father" (Genesis 48:8-9)

It is strange that Jacob did not recognize his grandchildren. Rashi explains that Jacob saw through Ruach HaKodesh that evil leaders who would cause Israel to sin would descend from Joseph's sons. Thus, he was fearful of blessing them.

Joseph responds by saying "they are the sons that G-d gave me like this" (a literal translation of Genesis 48:9).

Like this. Do not look into the future. Right now, they are righteous. Bless them. And indeed, Jacob does.

We all make calculations (and don't get me wrong, thinking is important, very important) but the fact is that G-d wants us to do His plain will. There are times when we make calculations and deep down we know we are not doing the right thing. The message for us is to just look to the present and do what we must.

Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshat Vayeshev



Compare and contrast (it is recommended to compare them in Hebrew):

"From there, [Isaac] went up to Beer-sheba. God appeared to him that night and said, 'I am God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and grant you very many descendants because of My servant Abraham.' [Isaac] built an altar there and called in God's name. He set up his tents there, and his servants dug a well in the area." (Genesis 26:23-25)

"Israel began the journey, taking all his possessions, and he arrived in Beer-sheba. He offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in night visions and He said, 'Jacob! Jacob!' 'I am here,' replied [Jacob]. [God] said, 'I am the Omnipotent God of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you into a great nation. I will go to Egypt with you, and I will also bring you back again. Joseph will place his hands on your eyes.'" (Genesis 46:1-4)



Faith in Exile

"Israel began the journey, taking all his possessions, and he arrived in Beer-sheba. He offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in night visions and He said, 'Jacob! Jacob!' 'I am here,' replied [Jacob]. [God] said, 'I am the Omnipotent God of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you into a great nation. I will go to Egypt with you, and I will also bring you back again. Joseph will place his hands on your eyes.'" (Genesis 46:1-4)

What is the symbolism of "night visions"? The Artscroll Chumash, basing itself off of the Meshech Chochma (by Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, 1843-1926), answers "This is the only place where a vision is described in this manner, which implies impending darkness. At this moment, Jacob was poised to leave Eretz Yisrael for a long, long Egyptian exile, and he was right to be afraid of what would happen to his family there. The night of exile, when hope is enveloped in darkness, was about to begin, so God came in night visions to symbolize to him that though Jews would be exiled from their land, they would never be exiled from their God; He would always be with them" (page 257).

This all reminds me the verse in Psalms "To declare in the morning Your kindness and Your faith at night" (42:3). Rashi explains:

"To declare in the morning: Your kindness at the time of the Redemption"

"Your faith at night: And during the distress of the exile, to believe in You that You will keep Your promise, all this is splendid and good."

Before we can strengthen our faith, we must properly understand it. So what is faith? Yona Meir ben Baruch argues that faith is not some "intellectual affirmation" but rather "a personal relationship based on trust" (the News for Jews booklet, page 42).

So, for us in exile (and even in Israel it still is really exile though admittedly, it is quite different from say the US), how do we have faith and maintain this loving relationship with G-d and not assimilate into surrounding cultures? I believe we can find the answer by looking back to the actions of our ancestors.

The verse states "Jacob set out from Beer-sheba [to Egypt]. Israel's sons transported their father..." (Genesis 46:5). The Sforno is bothered by why the Torah refers to Jacobs sons as "the children of Israel." He answers that since they are all heading into Egypt, into exile, the children of Jacob now need to strive and struggle to become the children of Israel. They need to redouble their efforts in the face of the Egyptian society.

This is exactly the approach Yona Meir advocates in News for Jews. Pointing out that at Sinai, we uttered Naase ViNishma "We will do and [only then] we will understand" (Exodus 24:17), he argues that faith "is better described as a process rather than a fixed act. The more we study and think and experience, the more our faith deepens, develops, and expands" (the News for Jews booklet, page 42).

Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

With my parents in Israel, I was out of Yeshiva and had no time to prepare or write anything. However, I am sending a devar Torah I wrote for the Pearlstone Shabbaton last year but which I never gave because the Shabbaton was postponed. Looking back, I see there are things I would change but still, I feel it is a good devar Torah.

Chanukah Sameach [although at the time of this posting, it is no longer Chanukah),
Mordechai


Dreams are very significant in both this week's and last week's Torah portions. Both Joseph and Pharaoh dream two dreams but there are several significant differences between them. A quick summery of the dreams:



Joseph and his brothers are binding sheaves in the field when the brothers' sheaves bowed down to Joseph's sheaf. In the second dream, Joseph sees the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him.



Pharaoh is standing by the Nile when seven healthy cows emerge from the river only to see seven ugly and lean cows come out of the river and gobbled down the healthy cows. Pharaoh told Joseph that after they ate the healthy cows, the lean cows still looked terrible. In his second dream, he sees good ears of grain growing on one stalk but seven think ears of grain popped out of the ground and swallowed up the good ears of grain.



The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, said that these dreams represented two diametrically opposed world views. Joseph's dream begins with an image of labor, as it says

" וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ מְאַלְּמִים אֲלֻמִּים, בְּתוֹךְ הַשָּׂדֶה" "we were binging sheaves in the field." Pharaoh on the other hand is standing on the bank of the Nile when the cows emerge from the water; no effort was involved. Next, Joseph's dreams involve a progression of lower forms to higher forms; first they have individual ears of grain which are tied into bundles and then in the next dream, instead of grain we have celestial objects. Pharaoh goes from healthy cows to sick cows to grain to frail grain. Joseph works and merits more and more Pharaoh who expects everything to be provided watches everything vanish.



We can learn an important lesson from all this. When a person believes that he or she can accomplish something without effort, that person can be sure that this belief comes from our animal soul, our unspiritual side, which is more commonly referred to as the Yetzer HaRah or evil inclination. It is true that one can benefit without labor just as Pharaoh saw the seven healthy cows. However, it is a scientific fact that cows don't grow in rivers; any benefit gained without effort is not real and in the end, all the fake benefits will disappear.



I believe that Chanukah is the celebration of the Jewish world view over the world view of those who answer to their Yetzer HaRah.



It is a historic fact that the Greeks' goal was to Hellenize the Jews and assimilate them into the Greek culture which is why in Al HaNisim, the special liturgical addition for Chanukah, we say that the Greeks rose up against Israel "LiHashkicham Toratecha – to make Israel forget [G-d's] Torah."



But wait a minute! The Greeks appreciated valued the wisdom and beauty of the Torah, so much so that Ptolemy II forced the sages to translate the Torah into Greek. And mind you, it did not just sit on their bookshelf; the Talmud is filled with debates between Rabbis and Philosophers regarding minutiae of the Torah.



The difference between these philosophers and Rabbis is that for the philosophers, everything was intellectual but for the Rabbis, it was a Torat Chaim, a sacred Torah meant to be lived. The Greeks had no problems with Jews studying torah as long as it was not viewed as the Torah, a spiritual document which transforms our souls and an instruction manual for bringing G-d's Presence into the world.



This is why the Greek's defiled the oil rather than simply destroying it. The flames from the Temple's Menorah represent the Torah and it was the Greek's goal to force the Jews to light the Menorah with impure oil. Had the Maccabees lost faith and caused the flames to burn with the defiled oil, they would have corrupted the Torah with unspiritual and unG-dly influences. No longer would the light of the Menorah shine forth brining G-d's Presence into the world. Rather, it would be nothing but a dead and meaningless symbol.

Although today there are many, both outside and sadly even within the Jewish community, who would have us view Torah as a lifeless document, the lights of Chanukah remind us what Torah really is. We must emulate Joseph and work to safeguard the true essence of the Torah just as the Maccabees did 2160 years ago.

[My Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Scott Kahn shlita, gives a good example: the Chanukah song Mi Yomallel Gevurot Yisrael. The song takes phrases and passages from Tanach and rabbinic literature referring to the greatness of G-d and changes and twists them around to make them refer to man. I had always sung this song not realising the unJewish nature of its ideas and its sinister form of composition.]