Transcript
Alright, good morning everyone. I want to thank our sponsor this morning. Rochel Gruen in loving memory of her beloved mother אסתר מלכה בת ישראל Esther Malka bas Yisrael, and Harriet Goldman in memory of the יארצייט yahrzeit of her husband Hilton Goldman, the נשמה neshama should have an עלייה aliyah through our study of the פרשה parsha together.We pick up with פרשת בשלח Parshas Beshalach, the narrative, the story continues to unfold. Every year we read it as if it's for the first time, in suspense, eager to see what's going to be, what's going to happen. Jewish people have left Egypt and they become trapped between the proverbial rock and hard place, the Egyptians in pursuit behind them and the sea threatening before them. And our פרשה parsha begins ויהי בשלח פרעה את העם Vayehi beshalach Paro es ha'am. It was when פרעה Paro sent out the people. We're in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, page 366 for those who are following. חז\"ל Chazal note that the word ויהי vayehi is a, has a negative connotation. ויהי Vayehi is always a term of sorrow, of sadness. Why is there sadness? Jewish people have just left. 210 years of oppressive slavery, of servitude. Finally they're free. What do you mean ויהי vayehi? Where's the sadness?And the answer is in the next two words. ויהי בשלח פרעה Vayehi beshalach Paro. And it was when פרעה Paro sent them out. Let me ask you a question. Did פרעה Paro send them out? Ten times nature was interfered with, divine providence and miracles occurred, revelation of the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam unlike any other time before, and in response, the Jewish people go free. Why would the Torah attribute the freedom to פרעה Paro? בשלח פרעה Beshalach Paro, when פרעה Paro liberated them. פרעה Paro didn't liberate them. The רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam liberated them. And perhaps that's the answer of the ויהי vayehi. See, when the Jewish people first left Egypt, they had been taken out of מצרים Mitzrayim, but מצרים Mitzrayim had not yet been taken out of them. They continued to carry with them the sense of subjugation, of submission to פרעה Paro. They carried פרעה Paro with them. So בשלח פרעה beshalach Paro, פרעה Paro went with them when they left מצרים Mitzrayim. The word בשלח beshalach can mean not sent, but the word בשלח beshalach can mean to accompany. בשלח פרעה את העם Beshalach Paro es ha'am, when the פרעה Paro went with the people. And that's why לא נחם אלוקים lo nacham Elokim, כי קרוב הוא ki karov hu. פן ינחם העם בראותם מלחמה ושבו מצרימה Pen yinachem ha'am bir'osam milchama v'shavu Mitzraima. They still feel beholden to פרעה Paro. They have nostalgia for מצרים Mitzrayim. Maybe because they remained so close, they'll turn around and they'll go back. And we can't understand that. Who would go back to the ghetto, the concentration camp, to מצרים Mitzrayim? What was the fear? What was the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam worried about? But the Jewish people at this point were conducting themselves like an abused spouse who is abused physically, emotionally, verbally, and though they know they deserve to be treated better, and though they're sick and tired of the way they're treated, psychologically somehow they remain imprisoned, and they struggle to liberate and let themselves go. They keep going back and they keep excusing because what they had at least they knew what was, there was a level of comfort. And the Jewish people are the abused people of פרעה Paro in מצרים Mitzrayim, and they carry their abuser with them. בשלח פרעה Beshalach Paro. And that's why it's ויהי vayehi. It's so sad. They weren't yet ready to go free. What is the catalyst, what is the impetus that sets them free? No longer anything that the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam does. When they find themselves stuck in that hard place between the מצרים Mitzrim and the ים סוף Yam Suf, they do what one would think would give הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu tremendous נחת nachas, what would give God joy. What do they do? What are we encouraged to do in any moment of anxiousness or worry? דאווענען Daven. Say תהילים Tehillim. Supposed to דאווענען daven. Isn't that the Jewish answer? Isn't that what God heard originally that precipitated the whole יציאת מצרים Yetziat Mitzrayim? ויזעקו Vayizaku, he heard the cries of the Jewish people. So they say, you know what? That worked once. Let's try it again. Let's דאווענען daven. Everyone stop, take out your phone, open the תהילים Tehillim app, say תהילים Tehillim, and surely השם Hashem will save us. And what's השם Hashem's response? No. השם Hashem's response, go to page 370. ויאמר השם אל משה מה תצעק אלי Vayomer Hashem el Moshe mah titzak elai? As if incredulous, why are the people, what's going on here? Why are they דאווענען davening? What are they saying תהילים Tehillim? דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yisa'u. Tell them to start walking. Tell them to go. What are they doing? Why wouldn't הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu say, a גישמאק geshmak, give the Jewish people a hug. Such נחת nachas, I have such pride. They've been trained so quickly that in a time of need, reach out to me. Instead he says, what are they doing? What are you doing, what are you, what's the תהילים Tehillim rally? What's going on? Get to work, start walking. Why did השם Hashem in מצרים Mitzrayim, it was all his intervention. He brought the מכות makkos, the plagues. Now he says, what do you want from me? דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yisa'u, get started, start walking. I think perhaps הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, God understood that what would liberate them finally from פרעה Paro, what would set them free, what would allow them to believe in a better future and a freer future was not something imposed from without, but when finally from within, they would take action. They would bring about their own redemption. They would do something. You know, prayer takes two forms. We דאווענען daven with our words and we דאווענען daven with our deeds. You can't say, I'm sick, I'm not going to go to the doctor. I am especially righteous, there's a famous רמב\"ם Rambam, there's a whole discussion, but we don't believe in, I'm not going to go to the doctor, I'm not going to take the medicine. If the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam wants me to get better, I'll דאווענען daven and I'll get better. Who needs a doctor, who needs medicine, Scientology, who needs... I'm not going to work. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to read פרשת המן Parshas HaMan. I'm sure everyone got the emails. I won't have a job. I'm going to pay FPL and the water company and the Publix with the פרשת המן Parshas HaMan. I'll sit and I'll say פרשת המן Parshas HaMan, our פרשה parsha, and miraculously, פרנסה parnasa will fall from the heavens. We don't believe in that. We believe you have to take initiative. A person has to show effort, השתדלות hishtadlus. Now the effort is not because the result that comes, and this is a critical point that's lost on most. The result that we achieve is not corresponding with the effort we put in. The result is dependent on הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. God has to bestow the blessing upon us. But the key, the code, the password, the means to access that ברכה bracha that's waiting for us is twofold. You got to דאווענען daven with words and you have to דאווענען daven with deed. You have to show initiative, effort, willingness, sometimes sacrifice, and you have to attribute the success to השם Hashem through the exercise of תפילה tefillah, through דאווענען davening. Jewish people had come too dependent, too reliant. Sitting back on the couch, ויזעקו vayizaku, they דאווענען daven to השם Hashem, make the פרנסה parnasa fall from שמים Shamayim. We're not going to form an army. Everyone's going to sit, השם Hashem wants the Jewish people to continue to exist, who needs the army? No, you need an army. We have הלכות halachos of מלחמת רשות milchemes reshus and מלחמת מצוה milchemes mitzvah, who's conscripted and at what age. Ay, where's the אמונה emunah? Where's the בטחון bitachon? What do you need an army? Of course you need to show initiative. Do we attribute the success to our brave soldiers? Absolutely we do, but their success couldn't come without the consent, the support of השם Hashem. I have a brother-in-law who's a lawyer. He always tells me. He has a wonderful law firm and he's an excellent lawyer, if anyone needs a lawyer in Israel. But he always tells me, he has to put in time to be a rainmaker. You got to make contacts, you got to network, you got to show initiative, you got to produce business. And he always tells me he sees the יד השם Yad Hashem every week because he decides, you know, set aside some time to drum up new business. He'll send 10 emails and make 10 phone calls and make 10 meetings, and then a week later he gets new business that had nothing to do with the initiative he showed. Somebody he wants met, a person he went to camp with, a friend of his father, a friend of his, sent him business, someone he wants to do business with a long time ago. He says, I know that I can't access the new business without my השתדלות hishtadlus. My השתדלות hishtadlus rarely correlates with the new business. So you have to understand, we don't do initiative because it's the initiative which will necessarily bring the success, but because השם Hashem waits for us to show initiative. We can't be passive and complacent and apathetic to our own destiny. We have to show the initiative. But we can't make the mistake of saying כחי ועוצם ידי kochi v'otzem yadi, it's my initiative which brought the success. Never mind God, I got the פרנסה parnasa, I'm good, I don't need you. Never mind, have the children, have the נחת nachas, have the health, thanks, never mind, don't need you. It's that no, I showed the initiative and it was successful only because of you. So השם Hashem says, right now stop דאווענען davening, start walking. Start networking, start making, start, get to the doctor. You got to show initiative. Can't sit back and wait. I once heard this פשט pshat, that's why at the סדר Seder table, why do you get up and open the door for אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi? שפוך חמתך על הגוים Shfoch chamascha al hagoyim, אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi. He can't come down the chimney? He can go to every ברית bris. He can be at every סדר Seder simultaneously. He's got superhuman, supernatural. But he can't walk through walls or climb through the window. You got to get up and open the door? The answer is if you want אליהו Eliyahu as the harbinger of redemption, you want גאולה geulah in your life, you can't sit before four cups of wine, מצה matzah, חרוסת charoses, כורך korach, you can't sit and wait, אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi's going to come redeem you. Get up and open the door. You have to show some initiative. Opening the door is not because אליהו Eliyahu can't come through the chimney, he can. Opening the door is because if you want גאולה geulah, if you want redemption, you've got to show some השתדלות hishtadlus, you have to show some initiative. So how will the Jewish people finally liberate themselves from פרעה Paro, break free from that abusive, oppressive presence in their life? Not when they're passively waiting to be redeemed by others, but when they show the courage themselves. So ויהי vayehi is a לשון lashon of אוי oy, it's a לשון lashon of sadness, because בשלח פרעה beshalach Paro, פרעה Paro went with them out of Egypt. God says this is no good. We don't have a future here. I have a plan for this people. I have to give them the Torah, they have to go into a land, they have to be role models for the world. If פרעה Paro's still in their head, if פרעה Paro's still in their heart, if פרעה Paro still haunts them, I can't fulfill, we can't fulfill this mission. ויהי Vayehi is so sad, בשלח פרעה beshalach Paro, פרעה Paro is still going with them. So what does he do? He orchestrates things that they have to show initiative. נחשון בן עמינדב Nachshon ben Aminadav shows initiative. I've shared with you in the past how there's a תוספתא Tosefta in ברכות Brachos that wonders why is יהודה Yehuda זוכה zocher from מלכות malchus? Why? פרשת ויחי Parshas Vayechi, God gives the promise to each of יעקב Yaakov, excuse me, gives the promise to each of his children, the ברכות brachos, predictions. And he says, לא יסור שבט מיהודה Lo yasur shevet miYehuda, that יהודה Yehuda will have the monarchy. And why did יהודה Yehuda merit the monarchy? So you would have said, oh, יהודה Yehuda because he, you know, he is the one who convinced the brothers, don't kill him, sell him. So the תוספתא Tosefta says, what are you going to reward him because he said don't kill him, sell him? He still didn't say, let's bring him home and work it out. That can't be the reason. Oh, maybe because in the מעשה maiseh, in the story with תמר Tamar, because he said צדקה ממני tzadka mimeni, she is more righteous than I. He was מודה על האמת modeh al ha'emes, יהודה Yehuda. That can't be because still the מעשה maiseh of תמר Tamar was not a positive reflection of יהודה Yehuda. So wonders the תוספתא Tosefta, a third opinion, I think it's רבי עקיבא Rebbe Akiva. מפני מה mipnei mah, why was מלכות malchus given to יהודה Yehuda? Why did יהודה Yehuda have the monarchy? תוספתא Tosefta says, you know why? Because יהודה Yehuda had the quality of leadership ingrained in his DNA to the extent that it was his descendant, it was his progeny that when everyone else stood on the shore, I can like picture it like a, like a שול shul, a Jewish people board meeting. I think that we should do, no, we got to do this. No, you do, you tried that last time. It's like committee, the committee met, Egyptians are coming, the sea's in front of us. The committee is debating, it's your fault, your idea is terrible, my idea, my aunt did... they're having a whole board, a whole fight. And then all of a sudden in the corner of their eye they see נחשון בן עמינדב Nachshon ben Aminadav. He's not talking at the meeting. What does he do? Starts walking. Water goes to his ankles, to his knees, to his hips, to his chest, to his shoulders, to his neck. And at any point does he hesitate, does he stop walking? Keeps walking. He jumps in. Leadership is example. Leadership is jumping in. It's not telling everyone else what to do. I have a great idea for the שול shul leadership what they should do. I have a great idea for a fundraiser for you to run. I have a great idea for a program for you. I have a great idea for you. נחשון Nachshon doesn't say I have a great solution for you. One of you should start walking in, maybe you'll drown, but maybe it'll split, who knows? I have a great idea for you. נחשון בן עמינדב Nachshon ben Aminadav starts walking and so the תוספתא Tosefta concludes יהודה Yehuda got מלכות malchus because leadership is about while everyone else is pointing fingers and offering suggestions and shutting down everyone else's suggestions, leadership is jumping in. One foot in front of the other and to start walking. Now before this, go back a little bit. We're still in our overview of the פרשה parsha, which is becoming to take more and more of the, I've noticed of the class. But if you go back, משה Moshe is ready to leave מצרים Mitzrayim. He goes back for one last thing. What does he go get? It's not the picture albums, it's not the precious jewels. What did he forget? He didn't forget. What did he make sure to go get? ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף עמו Vayikach Moshe es atzmos Yosef imo. כי השבע השביע את בני ישראל לאמר פקד יפקד אלוקים אתכם והעליתם את עצמותי מזה אתכם Ki hashbea hishbia es Bnei Yisrael leimor pakod yifkod Elokim eschem v'haaliseim es atzmosai mizeh itchem. משה Moshe fulfills a promise. יוסף Yosef made his brothers promise that when you leave here someday, get me out of here. Take me out of here. והעליתם V'haaliseim, elevate my bones. והעליתם V'haaliseim, why elevate? מצרים Mitzrayim is the lowest place on earth spiritually and the destination is the highest place on earth, עלייה aliyah. והעליתם V'haaliseim, get my bones out of here. By the way, Boker Tone Synagogue is purchasing a section of the cemetery in Israel in בית שמש Beit Shemesh. People will be able to buy plots. We're going to have a meeting, if you want to learn more about it. You'll see an email, a weekly. והעליתם את עצמותי מזה אתכם Ha'aliseim es atzmosai mizeh itchem, get me out of here. I don't remember if I mentioned it here. I was in Cuba a few weeks ago for the day. Rabbi Smolarsic was with us, and he was born in Cuba, but his family left right away after the revolution. He was never back there. We went to the Jewish cemetery, had the opportunity to be at the grave of his grandfather, for the first and probably only time. The grave of his grandfather, marble, beautiful. He died August 19, what year was the revolution? Okay, got a מחלוקת machlokes here, committee. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. Whatever in the late 50s was the revolution. He died, rather, two months before the revolution. And Rabbi Smolarsic remarked how that August of that year when his grandfather died and buried, 15,000 Jews in Cuba, most of whom had fled from Europe, and they were a thriving Jewish community, with schools and כשר kosher restaurants and food. His grandfather was buried with an ornate marble headstone. Within two months, his family had left Cuba, fled Cuba. His grandmother is buried here in Miami, they're not even side by side. And there's nothing in Cuba today and a very bleak future. And he and I were talking, that's why the only place to be buried in the world where you can be confident that your great-great-grandchildren will visit, will be if not permanent residents, but at least coming through is Israel. In Cuba, they thought, what do you mean? They'll be coming here forever to visit. So, anyway, והעליתם את עצמותי ha'aliseim es atzmosai... I'm doing a little sale for our, a little pre-sale for our cemetery section. A little marketing. So יוסף Yosef made him promise, משה Moshe fulfills the promise. Says רבי סולובייצ'יק Rabbi Soloveitchik in the, in his the חומש Chumash of the רב Rav. On the night the Jews were ready for the triumphant exodus from Egypt, the מדרש Midrash relates that משה Moshe searched for יוסף Yosef's coffin, שמות רבה כ Shmos Rabbah chaf. In this way, משה Moshe acknowledged the importance of יוסף Yosef and his spiritual mission as the paragon of Jewish commitment in exile. יוסף Yosef had demonstrated that one could identify as a Jew and act in accordance with Jewish precepts, both in poverty as a slave and in royal grandeur as the ruler of Egypt. Without his example and his precedent, Jews could not have endured the centuries of enslavement in Egypt. Very beautiful imagery. It's not that משה Moshe, the Torah is telling us משה Moshe remembered, oh yeah, one last thing, let me go back. But משה Moshe made a ceremony of it. משה Moshe made a point of it. We're leaving מצרים Mitzrayim, we're going to transition from slaves to free people. You know who our paradigm is? Our role model is? We're bringing the ארון aron of יוסף Yosef. יוסף Yosef had endured the slavery and when יוסף Yosef became free, did he lose his values he had learned from his father יעקב Yaakov? For יוסף Yosef, freedom didn't mean dropping his values and morals, his teachings in the Torah of his father. He carried it with him. And that's what משה Moshe was communicating. By bringing ארון של יוסף aron shel Yosef, he was telling כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, like יוסף Yosef, when we go from slavery to freedom, we don't change our values and our Torah and who we are. Why was משה Moshe, asks the רב Rav, so dedicated to this task? Commentators suggest it's because he was the grandson of לוי Levi. יוסף Yosef's greatest antagonist, שמעון Shimon and לוי Levi are brothers with their will they hamstringed a bull, פרשת ויחי Parshas Vayechi. לוי Levi was among the greatest of scoffers as יוסף Yosef recounted his dreams. But through his great descendant, משה Moshe, לוי Levi vicariously acknowledged his mistake. The גמרא Gemara in סוטה דף כ עמוד ב Sotah daf chaf amud beis comments that when משה Moshe took עצמות יוסף atzmos Yosef with him, משה Moshe both physically carried יוסף Yosef's coffin and internalized יוסף Yosef's legacy. משה Moshe acknowledged that the entire nation owed their everlasting gratitude to יוסף Yosef, not only for their physical well-being, but perhaps mainly for his spiritual leadership and example as represented in his second dream. The belated recognition constituted the complete fulfillment of the dream, the sun, the moon, the 11 stars. Could there be a more beautiful example of such reconciliation than משה Moshe carrying יוסף Yosef's coffin on his shoulders? יוסף Yosef's spiritual mission on earth was now validated, his second dream fulfilled in its entirety. What a beautiful image. It wasn't a, it wasn't a burden, it wasn't a to-do list. Oh yeah, don't forget the coffin, we got to bring the coffin. Somebody asked us to bring a piece of luggage to Israel, a coffin, יוסף Yosef, you know, you have extra room to bring my bones when you go to Israel. It wasn't, you know, you had to find that extra piece of luggage, it might have been overweight. For משה Moshe, this was a teaching opportunity. He was communicating from slavery to freedom, we are unchanged and unwavering in who we are and the values we hold dear, just like יוסף Yosef. And that יוסף Yosef's vision for the Jewish world is fulfilled by his greatest antagonist, לוי Levi's own grandson, carrying יוסף Yosef not only on his shoulder but carrying him, excuse me, in his heart as well. Okay, continuing. So, now Nachshon ben Aminadav starts walking, sea splits, and afterwards the מצרים Mitzrim follow into the sea at פרעה Paro's urging. They were exhausted. They had plague fatigue. They had been through it all, they were done. But פרעה Paro, this is also such a lesson that when a person is משוגע לדבר אחד meshuga l'davar echad, when a person becomes obsessed, they become self-destructive. פרעה Paro was so obsessed with the Jewish people, cost him everything. He could have turned back to מצרים Mitzrayim, good, they're gone. Let's get back to being the world's greatest empire, with the world's biggest economy. We'll learn to transition, they're gone. But he didn't. He brought about his own demise and the end of his kingdom because he was so obsessed with the Jewish people. And therefore, he forced his army to follow into the sea where the walls of ים סוף Yam Suf came crashing down and destroyed them all. And how did the Jewish people react? They react with a song. They react with a song. Now before the song, וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה אשר עשה השם במצרים Vayar Yisrael es hayad hagedolah asher asa Hashem b'Mitzrayim. ויראו העם את השם Vayir'u ha'am es Hashem, ויאמינו בהשם ובמשה עבדו vayaminu b'Hashem uv'Moshe avdo. Standing there at that moment on the opposite side of the sea, their pressure of 210 years is now drowned, gone. Finally, they're free, free, they've been taken out of Egypt, Egypt has been taken out of them. They've shown necessary initiative, they've learned the value of effort, and they have this now tremendous clarity and life, and they feel profound faith. ויאמינו בהשם Vayaminu b'Hashem. But that's not enough. They not only have faith in השם Hashem, but as well in ובמשה עבדו uv'Moshe avdo. It's very troubling. אמונה Emunah in משה Moshe? Very dangerous, slippery slope. We are to have אמונה emunah in השם Hashem. We equate in the פסוק pasuk ויאמינו בהשם ובמשה עבדו vayaminu b'Hashem uv'Moshe avdo? Their faith was equally in God and in משה Moshe? Say it every day. What is what's your כוונה kavana when you say it? What does that mean? It's very dangerous. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and later the גרא Gra find the, that suggestion so troubling, so untenable, that they reinterpret the פסוק pasuk. ויאמינו בהשם Vayaminu b'Hashem, they had faith in השם Hashem, ובמשה uv'Moshe, and that משה Moshe was עבדו avdo. Their faith was that משה Moshe was a loyal servant of השם Hashem. Lest you think the faith was in משה Moshe. But the אלשיך Alshich has a different פשט pshat. My friend Rabbi Baum shared this with me. The אלשיך Alshich based on the זוהר Zohar reads it literally. Here's what the אלשיך Alshich says, פרשת בשלח Parshas Beshalach. זה על ערב רב Zeh al Erev Rav. אך ישראל לא הוצרכו לכך Ach Yisrael lo hutzrechu l'kach. כי מתחילה יראו את השם ויאמינו בהשם יתברך Ki m'tchila yar'u es Hashem v'yaminu b'Hashem yisbarach. Who are the ones who have this inappropriately placed faith? It was the ערב רב Erev Rav. Of course, we, our faith is that משה עבדו Moshe avdo, like the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and גרא Gra. The faith is that משה Moshe is the loyal servant of השם Hashem. But we only have faith in השם Hashem, we do not have faith in even our greatest leaders. There's a great danger, we've seen it, of charismatic leadership who people believe in them. And then when the person's imperfections come through, sometimes small and sometimes great, a person's faith in everything is shattered because they placed too much faith to begin with in a person when they shouldn't have. There's an amazing דרשות הר\"ן Drashos HaRan. The ר\"ן Ran in his דרשות Drashos writes that משה Moshe had a speech impediment by design. Our greatest leader who had to walk into פרעה Paro and demand to be set free, who had to proclaim the נבואה nevua and the teaching of the Torah, of any deficiency to give him, a speech impediment? Really? השם Hashem knew משה Moshe was going to be the mouthpiece, his mouthpiece to פרעה Paro, his mouthpiece to us. He had to give him a speech impediment. Says the דרשות הר\"ן Drashos HaRan, absolutely, and you know why? So that nobody would hear the Torah and say, ah, there's no truth to it. He was a charismatic, persuasive orator who pulled the wool over their eyes. This charismatic personality had a cult-like following. He was so persuasive and so interesting, so compelling, that he made everybody believe something. השם Hashem says, no, משה Moshe has a horrific speech impediment. He's a terrible orator. But the information, the content is so powerful that it will carry the day. That's the danger of ובמשה עבדו uv'Moshe avdo says the אלשיך Alshich of the ערב רב Erev Rav. Let's keep going. So אז ישיר משה az yashir Moshe. Finally we're up to אז ישיר az yashir. We'll actually, let's finish the overview and we'll come back to אז ישיר az yashir because that's where we're going to continue studying. That's where we last left off last year. Afterwards מרים Miriam grabs her instrument. Why had she have instruments? She found instruments in the desert? How did מרים Miriam have instruments? She knew, she had faith of women. Women have רואה את הנולד ro'eh es hanolad. Women are given the holiday of ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh. Women didn't contribute to the עגל Egel, why? They always see a little bit ahead. They're not caught up in the moment, they have a vision. מרים Miriam had faith they were going to get out. Her instruments were packed and ready to go. She knew there would be an opportunity to play them and to celebrate the redemption they were going to have. It doesn't take long, three days, no water, and already the people are complaining. No water to drink. ויבאו מרתה ולא יכלו לשתות מים ממרה Vayavou Marasa v'lo yachlu lishtos mayim m'Mara. They got to a place called מרה Mara, there was no water to drink. Why? כי מרים הם Ki marim heim. I think I told you this last week. כי מרים הם Ki marim heim. Who is the הם heim? They couldn't drink water because they were bitter. So the simple understanding is they were bitter. What was bitter? The water. Says the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, you know what was bitter? The miserable complainers. They were so, so miserable, so negative. You just got out of מצרים Mitzrayim. You had, you just, there's always something to complain about. כי מרים הם Ki marim heim. The missing tile syndrome. Take people into a room, everyone will say that's a beautiful room, tall ceilings, nice ארון קודש aron kodesh, beautiful נר תמיד ner tamid, stained glass windows. There'll always be someone who says, you know the light bulb's out there. Why is the light bulb out? It's like a psychologist have studied this. It's called the missing tile syndrome. You walk into a room, you see the whole ceiling, you could see an entire, what do you call it when you make it out of tiles? a mosaic, right? So there's the type of personality who see it's a beautiful mosaic, magnificent. You see the person who says to the tour guide, this mosaic which is uh, 2,000 years old, it's missing, I want my money back. The mosaic is missing, count up, three from the right, the little tile's missing.So כי מרים הם Ki merim hem says the כצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. They were bitter, all they saw was bitterness. כי מרים הם Ki merim hem. על כן קרא שמה מרה Al kein kara shma Marah, when you're bitter, you'll see everything is bitter. ויחנו שם Vayachanu sham, they stayed there, they found something to drink. Hashem made a miracle. שם שם לו חוק ומשפט ושם נסהו Sham sam lo chok u'mishpat v'sham nisahu. At מרה Marah, God already began to give to to give the Torah, certain mitzvos. Debate which mitzvos exactly were given at מרה Marah, שבת כיבוד אב ואם Shabbos, kibud av v'em, but certain mitzvos already were given.Fine. They came to אלימה, שם שתים עשרה Elimah, sham shteim esrei עינות מים, שבעים תמרים einos mayim, shivim tmarim. Jewish people began their travels and they're hungry. Where are you gonna find food? There's no Publix in the desert. There's no multiple kosher markets to purchase from in the desert. Where are they going to find food? I have to be politically correct. Where are you gonna find food?הקב\"ה HaKadosh Baruch Hu creates what the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra writes in our פרשה parsha is the biggest miracle. More than the ten plagues, more than the splitting of the sea, you know what the biggest miracle in this episode says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra is? The מן mun. That's the biggest miracle? That's it? We're gonna run out of time, so you'll have to another time we could talk about that. Why would the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra consider the מן mun? And the name of the מן mun is peculiar. What should this divine food that falls from heaven that tastes like anything you want that you're never go hungry, what should we call it? What does מן mun mean? Stuff. You go to Israel, you want a slice of pizza, what do you ask for? בבקשה תן לי Bevakasha ten li מנה manah, מן mun. Can I have a portion of the stuff? It's a portion. This divine food, we couldn't come up with a better name than תן לי מנה Ten li manah. Give me a portion.There was a thing going around, you might have seen it on email, that Donald Trump will bring משיח Mashiach, cause apparently Donald Trump in גמטריא gematria is מלך המשיח Melech Hamashiach. So Rav שמואל אליהו Shmuel Eliyahu, Rav שמואל אליהו Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi, I think of צפת Tzfat, said, \"You know what else is the same גמטריא gematria of מלך המשיח Melech Hamashiach and Donald Trump? חצי מנה פלאפל chatzi manah falafel.\" That's what he said. So before you put such faith, maybe have a half a falafel and משיח Mashiach will come. Before you put such faith in these גמטריות gematrios. So why was it called מן mun? מנה manah, a portion? A little bit. Okay, we're out of time. We can't talk about that now. Fine. שבת Shabbos, water, the rock, complaining, and the פרשה parsha ends with the story of עמלק Amalek. עמלק Amalek attacked the Jewish people and do we defeat them? No. We limp away. עמלק Amalek doesn't defeat us, but neither do we defeat them.ויחלש יהושע כאשר אמר לו משה להלחם בעמלק Vayachalosh Yehoshua ka'asher amar lo Moshe l'hilachem b'Amalek. משה, אהרן וחור עלו ראש הגבעה Moshe, Aharon, v'Chur alu rosh ha'givah. והיה כאשר ירים משה ידו וגבר ישראל, כאשר יניח ידו וגבר עמלק V'haya ka'asher yarim Moshe yado v'gavar Yisrael, ka'asher yaniach yado v'gavar Amalek. Moshe stands there and אהרן וחור Aharon v'Chur on either side, יהושע Yehoshua leads the battle against עמלק Amalek on the bottom of the mountain, Moshe's on top of the mountain, אהרן וחור Aharon v'Chur holding up his hands. When his hands are raised, they win, when they're lowered, they lose. The משנה ראש השנה Mishnah Rosh Hashanah asks, וכי ידיו של משה עושות מלחמה V'chi yadav shel Moshe osos milchama? I think there's a London school boys choir song like this. But the hands of Moshe make you victorious? That's what does it? And the משנה ראש השנה Mishnah Rosh Hashanah says no. And so on. Say no. If when their hands were raised, the people looked כלפי שמיא klapei shmaya, they knew that like we were talking about before, יהושע Yehoshua is down there showing all of his initiative. You're out there fighting. Infantry and paratroopers and intelligence, you're out there fighting. But his hands to the לשמיים l'shamayim makes you remember, that's the initiative, the success comes from above.Why were אהרן וחור Aharon v'Chur the ones chosen to hold up Moshe's hands? I'll tell you a beautiful idea. Rav גדליה שור Rav Gedalia Schorr in his אור גדליהו Or Gedalyahu says, \"Who's חור Chur?\" What do we know from חור Chur? When does חור Chur, how long does חור Chur live? How long do we know חור Chur for? What? חור Chur is killed when? חטא העגל Chet Ha'egel. When the Jewish people are contributing to building the golden calf, and חור Chur is a קנאי kanai, he gets in front of them as a קנאי kanai and he says, \"What are you doing? You're crazy, you can't do this. Absolutely not over my dead body.\" And you know what they say? Okay. And they kill him. And over his dead body, they build the עגל eigel. He dies. חור Chur is a קנאי kanai. אהרן Aharon, what does he do with the עגל eigel? He leads them on to believe he's with them because he's buying time for משה Moshe to come back. Was that the right thing to do, the wrong thing to do? We'll get to it. But אהרן Aharon is the אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ohev shalom v'rodef shalom. Says the אור גדליהו Or Gedalyahu, \"If we want to defeat our enemies, we need the אהרן Aharon and חור Chur working together.\" The, the, the peace now and the zealot, we need the right and the left, we need the אוהב שלום, רודף שלום ohev shalom, rodef shalom together with the קנאי kanai, each holding up Moshe's hands. And when the all sides can get together, get along on the inside, that's when we defeat עמלק Amalek, that's when we win the war, says the אור גדליהו Or Gedalyahu. I wasn't likening אהרן Aharon to peace now, חלילה chalila. But I'm saying the, the, the peace side, the, the side that's pursuing אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ohev shalom v'rodef shalom, and the קנאי kanai of חור Chur, when the two sides work together, hold up Moshe's hands, that's when you have victory.Let's go back. אז ישיר Az Yashir. Let's go back. So, the Midrash tells us on the שירה shirah, we're gonna pick it up where on פרק ט\"ו perek tet-vav, פסוק pasuk ב', ג' beis, gimmel. That's what we, last year we started the שירה shiur and we got all the way through פסוק ב' pasuk beis. Not bad. So this year we put it up, pick it up from פסוק ג' pasuk gimmel. ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. אמן Amen.The שירה shirah. The Midrash says in שמות רבה כ\"ג ד' Shemos Rabbah kaf gimmel daled, מיום שברא הקב\"ה את העולם ועד שעמדו ישראל על הים, לא מצינו אדם שאמר שירה Miyom she'bara haKadosh Baruch Hu es ha'olam v'ad she'amdu Yisrael al hayam, lo matzinu adam she'amar shirah. From the time God created the world till this moment that we're studying, nobody had said שירה shirah. הציל אברהם מכבשן האש ומן המלכים ולא אמר שירה Hitzil Avraham mikivshan ha'eish u'min hamlachim v'lo amar shirah. אברהם Avraham was saved from the fiery furnace, the war with the kings, he was grateful, I'm sure, but he didn't sing שירה shirah. יצחק מן המאכלת Yitzchak min hama'acheles, יצחק Yitzchak is spared in the עקידה Akeidah, no שירה shirah. יעקב מן המלאך ומן עשיו ומן שכם לא אמר שירה Yaakov min ha'malach u'min Eisav u'min Shechem lo amar shirah. We have examples of righteous patriarchs and matriarchs who undoubtedly were grateful for the miracles they experienced, but, says the מדרש Midrash, no שירה shirah. כיוון שבאו ישראל לים ונקרע להם הים מיד אמרו שירה לפני הקב\"ה, שנאמר Keivan she'ba'u Yisrael la'yam v'nikra lahem ha'yam miyad amru shirah lifnei haKadosh Baruch Hu, she'ne'emar, אז ישיר משה Az yashir Moshe. אז Az, אמר הקב\"ה, לאלו הייתי מצפה amar haKadosh Baruch Hu, l'eilu hayisi m'tzapeh. I was waiting. Finally, waiting for someone to sing שירה shirah. אברהם, יצחק, יעקב, שרה, רבקה, רחל, לאה, אדם הראשון, חוה, נח Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rochel, Leah, Adam Harishon, Chavah, Noach, I've been so good to everybody, nobody sings שירה shirah. אז Az, then, now, finally, לאלו הייתי מצפה L'eilu hayisi m'tzapeh. I've been waiting for someone to say שירה shirah. And of course the question is, what do you mean? These were great people, none of them said שירה shirah? How could it be none of them said שירה shirah?There's a magnificent insight of the סלונים רב Slonimer Rebbe in his נתיבות שלום Nesivos Shalom. And he says there's a difference between gratitude and שירה shirah. Gratitude is what you recite for what you've just experienced. So something good happens to you, you receive a ברכה bracha, you got good news, everything is okay, you say thank you. Thank you for right now. שירה Shirah is when everything you went through, pain, suffering, struggle, all that you had endured that made no sense all along, but now brings you to a point where you can look back and make sense of it all. See how it contributed to bringing you where you are now. שירה Shirah is when you're not only grateful for what happened now, but you can retroactively look back and reflect and be grateful even for the things that you thought were miserable as you experienced them. No one had done that until now. And when the Jewish people stand opposite ים סוף Yam Suf, and they understand their destiny, and they see where they've come from, and everything makes sense. It's a complete picture. It's like the difference between you're looking at a painting from here, you see a dot, or you take a few steps back and you see the whole picture. Our life is made up of little dots, most of them hopefully pleasant, some of them terribly unpleasant. And if we're focused on the unpleasant dot, the point in the canvas, then we become כי מרים הם ki merim hem. You become bitter, miserable, ungrateful. But if you take back, take a step back and look at the canvas of your life and you see that even those difficult points contributed to a total picture of who you are and where you are, then you can be filled with שירה shirah to the point of כל עצמותי תאמרנה Kol atzmosai tomarna. שירה Shirah is not just sung with the lips, it's not just intellectually concluded in the head, it's not emotionally felt in the heart, it's כל עצמותי תאמרנה Kol atzmosai tomarna. My whole being is filled with a sense of שירה shirah, an overwhelming sense of gratitude, not just for the here and now, but for everything I've been through.You ready? Here's the kicker, the beautiful part of the סלונים Slonimer. Why did the sea split? In whose merit did it split? The מדרש Midrash tells us. The pasuk describes וירא הים וינוס Vayara ha'yam va'yanos. The sea saw and it split. The מדרש Midrash asks, what did the sea split see, what did the sea see that it split? The מדרש Midrash says, you know what it saw? ארונו של יוסף Arono shel Yosef. What's so special about ארונו של יוסף Arono shel Yosef? Says the מדרש Midrash, וירא הים וינוס Vayara ha'yam va'yanos and what did Yosef do when the wife of פוטפר Potifar came on to him? וינס החוצה Vayanas ha'chutza. He ran outside. וינוס וינס Vayanos, vayanas, the same use of that word, it's in the merit of יוסף הצדיק Yosef HaTzaddik that the sea split. So the simple understanding, פשט pshat is, what? It's just a cute play on words? וינוס, וינס Vayanos, vayanas? The ארון של יוסף aron shel Yosef, the extra piece of luggage is being schlepped through the ים סוף Yam Suf, it deserves to split? What's the connection? Simple understanding is that יוסף's Yosef's natural inclination was to give in to the advances of the wife of פוטפר Potifar. When he resisted the inclination, he exhibited not natural, but supernatural strength. Said the sea, or God to the sea, \"If יוסף Yosef could overcome his nature to live in a supernatural way, in his merit, you should override your nature and split.\" That's the simple understanding.Says the סלונים רב Slonimer Rebbe, an altogether new פשט pshat. No. You know why the sea split? Who is the greatest model, the paradigm of looking back at your whole life with a sense of appreciation of how it got you to where you are now? It's יוסף הצדיק Yosef HaTzaddik. When the brothers come down and they're afraid for their life when יוסף Yosef reveals himself, what does he say? \"You think that I got here because of you? Don't worry. I'm not taking revenge. We're all good. I'm not going to take revenge against you. This was God's plan. I didn't realize it when I sat in the bottom of a pit with snakes and scorpions. I didn't realize it while I languished unjustly in a prison of Egypt. I didn't realize it when 22 years I've been alienated from all of you. But now I understand that all of that was to get to here.\" יוסף Yosef felt such gratitude is the paradigm, so it's in the זכות ארונו של יוסף zchus arono shel Yosef, וינס החוצה Vayanas ha'chutza, in the זכות zchus of a יוסף Yosef who saw how it all came together, the big picture, that the sea split and the Jewish people saw the whole picture. So you'll ask, I wonder at myself, so why is the מדרש Midrash not say that יוסף Yosef sang שירה shirah? Good question. I don't know. Here's the last part of the דבר תורה dvar Torah. Here's the best part. Says the סלונים רב Slonimer Rebbe, דוד המלך Dovid HaMelech describes when the redemption begins and we come back to the land of Israel, what, how, what will it feel like? We sing it every time on Shabbos we eat bread. שיר המעלות Shir Hama'alos. בשוב ה' את שיבת ציון B'shuv Hashem es shivas Tzion, when God brings back שיבת ציון shivas Tzion, היינו כחולמים hayinu k'cholmim. We'll be like dreamers. Says the סלונים רב Slonimer Rebbe, you know what the פשט pshat is? היינו כחולמים Hayinu k'cholmim, היינו כבעל החלומות Hayinu k'baal ha'chalomos. We'll be like the dreamer, יוסף Yosef, that just like יוסף Yosef at that moment, that point in time understood how all of his personal history had led to that moment, when we finally come back to Israel, היינו כחולמים Hayinu k'cholmim, we'll be like the בעל החלומות baal ha'chalomos, like יוסף Yosef, we'll be able to look back at 2,000 years of Jewish history and understand how it brought us to this moment. Isn't that beautiful? In the merit of יוסף Yosef, the sea split, the Jewish people experienced that level of שירה shirah. And therefore חז\"ל Chazal tell us in סנהדרין צ\"א ד' Sanhedrin tzadi-alef daled, that כל האומר שירה בכל יום Kol ha'omer shirah b'chol yom, anyone who says שירה shirah with all their strength every day, זוכה ואומרה לעולם הבא Zocheh v'omra l'olam haba. If you say the שירה shirah with concentration and with joy every day, you're promised a bracha. And we do that. We say אז ישיר Az Yashir. We say it. Now we just have to say it with all of our כח koach. And every day, so here's the imagery for you. You ready? Every day from now on when you say אז ישיר Az Yashir, imagine yourself taking a step back looking at the canvas of your life. Yesterday was a hard day, you're anticipating some difficulties tomorrow. Don't look at the point in time. אז ישיר Az Yashir, like יוסף בעל החלומות Yosef baal ha'chalomos, like בשוב ה' את שיבת ציון B'shuv Hashem es shivas Tzion, like בני ישראל על הים Bnei Yisrael al hayam, take a step back and see the whole picture and be filled with a great sense of שירה shirah. Okay, with ten minutes left, let's start the class.We're on פסוק ג' pasuk gimmel. אז ישיר Az Yashir. Torah describes ה' איש מלחמה Hashem ish milchama, ה' שמו Hashem shmo. God is איש מלחמה ish milchama, ה' שמו Hashem shmo. I was gonna tell you a great Rav Asher Weiss, put that aside for next year. Okay. ה' איש מלחמה, ה' שמו Hashem ish milchama, Hashem shmo. God is described as איש מלחמה ish milchama, which both of those words are peculiar. איש Ish? Why is God described as a person? A, and B, is God this violent, angry, warmongering, it's not a modern word, God? איש מלחמה Ish milchama? Why is he described as an איש ish and why מלחמה milchama? Says רש\"י Rashi, ה' איש מלחמה Hashem ish milchama means בעל מלחמה baal milchama. כמו איש נעמי, וכל איש, ואישיך, מתרגמין בעל k'mo ish Naomi, v'chol ish, v'isheich, metargemin baal. יאיסי לי איש לגבור Ya'isi li ish l'gibor. בעל Baal, איש ish means not that God is a man. That's heresy. Of course God's not a man. In this context, איש ish doesn't mean a human being, flesh and blood. איש Ish means God owns the war. God is the בעל המלחמות baal ha'milchamos. He runs the war, he owns the war. It's his war. Why are we describing him in this way? מלחמה Milchama? So the אור החיים הקדוש Or HaChaim HaKadosh says פירוש peirush, גם במדת הרחמים עושה מלחמה, ולא שישתנה מפני זה חס ושלום, אלא ה' שמו, על דרך כי אני ה' לא שניתי. או ירצה כי בזמן עצמו שעשה מלחמה עם מצרים, בזמן עצמו היה מתנהג במדת הרחמים עם ישראל Gam b'midas harachamim oseh milchama, v'lo she'yishtaneh mipnei zeh chas v'shalom, ela Hashem shmo, al derech ki ani Hashem lo shiniti. O yirtzeh ki b'zman atzmo she'asah milchama im Mitzrim, b'zman atzmo hayah misnaheg b'midas harachamim im Yisrael. What the pasuk means is ה' איש מלחמה, ה' שמו Hashem ish milchama, Hashem shmo. God can exhibit רחמים rachamim through דין din. His compassion for the Jewish people is to be, is to lack compassion to the מצרים Mitzrim. What's the famous quote? \"He who shows mercy to the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the merciful.\" Who said that quote? It's a great quote. He who shows mercy to the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the merciful. ה' Hashem's got it covered. He's the איש מלחמה ish milchama, the בעל מלחמה baal milchama. He knows when to show רחמים rachamim and when to show דין din. And sometimes his showing דין din is the greatest expression of רחמים rachamim. And says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, that's what the pasuk means and that's how the pasuk is all working together.Sforno says similarly, אף על פי שהוא איש מלחמה, ומכרית הרשעים במדת הדין af al pi shehu ish milchama, u'machris ha'resha'im b'midas hadin, even though you know, it's like ה' Hashem is peaceful. By all means, he's the last to go to war. He doesn't want to fight. But if you're gonna pick a fight, you're gonna lose. He's the איש מלחמה ish milchama. So even though ה' Hashem is רחמים rachamim, he is מכרית רשעים machris reshaim, מכל מקום ה' שמו במדת רחמים mikol makom Hashem shmo b'midas rachamim. In other words, he's איש מלחמה ish milchama, אבל ה' שמו aval Hashem shmo. He has the capacity to destroy you, but ה' שמו Hashem shmo, his essence is רחמים rachamim. So on reflecting on what just happened, משה Moshe is singing that don't think ה's Hashem's רחמים rachamim will cloud his דין din. When he has to be cruel, he has it in him. He's the בעל המלחמה baal milchama. He'll take you down. But that's not his essence. At his core, he's ה' שמו Hashem shmo, at his core, he's unwavering as, as with מדת הרחמים midas harachamim.Says רש\"י Rashi, ה' שמו Hashem shmo, מלחמותיו לא בכלי זין milchamosav lo b'chli zayin. You know what ה's Hashem's weapon is? Our weapon of choice is, it's not the tank or the missile launcher, ה' שמו Hashem shmo. It's the name of ה' Hashem which is our greatest weapon. I don't mean kabbalistically if you pronounce the right name in the right moment, the way משה Moshe killed the מצרי Mitzri by invoking one of the names of ה' Hashem. There's an element of that. But I mean much more simply, when we talk about ה' שמו Hashem shmo, that should remind you, what's our mission in life? To create a קידוש ה' kiddush Hashem. What undermines our mission, sets back our mission? What is the worst thing that we can do in this world is instead of קידוש ה' Kiddush Hashem, a חילול ה' chillul Hashem. ה' שמו Hashem shmo. How does ה' Hashem find expression in this world? Through his name, meaning when we talk about ה' Hashem, when we quote ה' Hashem, when we attribute to ה' Hashem, when we do things in ה's Hashem's name, when we invoke ה' Hashem, that's how he finds expression in this world. When we are מקדש ה' mekadesh Hashem, when we represent ה's Hashem's name accurately and well, and contribute positively to his expression in the world, we've made a קידוש ה' kiddush Hashem. And when we do the opposite, a חילול chillul, a חלל chalal, is a vacuum. It's an emptiness, it's a vastness. We have erased ה' Hashem. ה' שמו Hashem shmo, God's expression in this world is through his name. Our mandate is to create a קידוש ה' kiddush Hashem and not חלילה chalila ever a חילול ה' chillul Hashem. ימינך ה' Yemincha Hashem, we're gonna skip ahead a little bit now. I had a lot of things to share here. We're gonna run out of time. So let's skip ahead.פסוק י\"א Pasuk yud-alef. מי כמוך באלים ה', מי כמוך נאדר בקודש, נורא תהילות עשה פלא Mi chamocha ba'elim Hashem, Mi kamocha ne'edar ba'kodesh, Nora sehillos oseh feleh. In describing ה' Hashem we say, who is like you among the most powerful? Who is like you powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praise, performing incredible wonders. That's the part of אז ישיר Az Yashir you start to get back to understanding the Hebrew and having again. מי כמוך באלים ה', מי כמוך Mi chamocha ba'elim Hashem, mi kamocha. Why are we, what do you mean מי כמוך באלים ה' mi chamocha ba'elim Hashem? Is ה' Hashem competing with anyone that we say, there are some powerful people but מי כמוך mi kamocha, you're the most powerful, you win the award? Who is he competing with? רש\"י Rashi says בחזקים וזה אלי הארץ b'chazakim v'zeh eilei ha'aretz, among the strong powers in the world, you surpass them. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says באלים, מלאכי מעלה הקדושים ba'elim, malachei ma'alah ha'kedoshim, בני עלים הכוכבים bnei elim ha'kochavim. The angels, the stars, whatever it is, whatever the source of influence in the world, ה' Hashem, you are the source and greater than all of them. But the כלי יקר Kli Yakar has a different interpretation. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar, one that resonates greatly for me personally this week, says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar in גמרא גיטין נ\"ו Gemara Gittin nun-vav, that we should read it not מי כמוך באלים ה' mi chamocha ba'elim Hashem, but one should read it מי כמוך באלמים mi chamocha ba'ilmim. What's an אילם ilem? What's אלמים ilmim? A mute. בדרך זה רחוק לפרוש באלים כמו באלמים להוסיף מם B'derech zeh rachok l'faresh ba'elim k'mo b'ilmim l'hosif mem. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, because it's close? אלים Elim? אלמים ilmim, just an extra מם mem, because it's close enough? That's why you say don't read it that way, read it this way? Come on. What's really going on? Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, נראה שאין כוונתו להוסיף מם אלא באלים, הוא בחזקים כמו שפירש רש\"י. וכך פירשו כל השומע עלבונו ומתאפק להיות מחריש וכובש את כעסו, הרי הוא חזק ותקיף, כי איזהו גיבור הכובש את יצרו Nireh she'ein kavanaso l'hosif mem ela ba'eilim, hu b'chazakim k'mo she'peireish Rashi. V'chach peirshu, kol ha'shomea elbono u'misapek l'hiyos machrish v'chovesh es ka'aso, harei hu chazak v'takif, ki eizehu gibor ha'kovesh es yitzro. מי כמוך באלים Mi chamocha ba'eilim, the context of that גמרא גיטין Gemara Gittin is, טיטוס הרשע Titus harasha, Titus the wicked comes into the היכל heichal. He pierces the פרוכת paroches with a sword. He does many other things in the קודש הקדשים Kodesh HaKodashim with the ספר תורה sefer Torah, with a זונה zonah. I'm not even comfortable describing what he does. There's מחרף ומגדף mecharef u'megadef, he curses out, he insults, he offends the Almighty, and what does God do? He holds his lip. No response. He could humiliate Titus on the spot, he could destroy him. What does God do? Nothing. Nothing. And that's where the גמרא Gemara learns, מי כמוך באלים ה' Mi chamocha ba'eilim Hashem, מי כמוך באלמים mi chamocha ba'ilmim. You know what the greatest sign of strength is? When you don't lower yourself to stoop to the level of somebody who's acting in an unbecoming way. When you don't match their insults and their vitriol and their rhetoric and their name-calling and their לשון הרע lashon hara and their disgusting behavior, מי כמוך באלים ה' Mi chamocha ba'eilim Hashem, מי כמוך באלמים ה' mi chamocha ba'ilmim Hashem. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, what חז\"ל Chazal are telling us is, you think קריאת ים סוף Kriyas Yam Suf was impressive? You think suspending the rules of nature, splitting the sea, the whole world knowing about it, you think that was impressive? You know what's even more impressive? That God was spat at, insulted, violated, and he was able to stay quiet. That's even more impressive. That takes even greater strength. The גמרא שבת פ\"ח Gemara Shabbos peh-ches says that we should always act, we should always place ourselves among those לעולם יהא אדם מן הנעלבים ולא מן העולבים l'olam yehei adam min ha'ne'elavim v'lo min ha'olvim. We should always be among those who are insulted and who don't insult back. You don't have to match. We don't have to lower ourselves and get in the dirt. That's what we say at the end of the עמידה Amidah every day, ולמקללי נפשי תדום v'lamkalelai nafshi tidom. To those who curse me, let my soul be quiet. Though they're cursing me, give me the strength to be quiet. Where can I find that strength? נפשי Nafshi. I'm a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim. If God is מי כמוך באלים באלמים mi chamocha ba'eilim b'ilmim, if הקב\"ה HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who is כל יכול kol yachol, is all powerful, could have wiped out טיטוס Titus, but stays quiet in the face of that insult, then so too, I can be quiet. למקללי l'makalelai because I'm a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim, I can stay quiet as well. Rav Pam, I'll end with this, Rav Pam said, you know, when a person's undergoing בזיונות bizyonos, מן הנעלבים ולא מן העולבים min ha'ne'elavim v'lo min ha'olvim, when you're among those who are insulted and not those who insult back, he says, and a rebbi of mine told me a story, a rebbi of mine told me a story years ago about not me, told a story in a shiur years ago about this, and I remembered it this week, I reminded him that I remembered it and how much I appreciated the story. That he was on the dinner table with his family, the phone rang, he answers the phone, and his family just sees him, he starts, he's on the phone and he's dancing. He's got a big smile and he's dancing. He hangs up the phone, they ask him, you didn't say anything, there was no conversation, you're dancing, are you feeling okay? What is going on? What in the world is going on? So he explained this Rav Pam. Rav Pam says, you know, in life we undergo יסורים yissurim. Some people have health problems, some people have financial disasters, some people have infertility, some people have no נחת nachas from their children, there's all kinds of יסורים yissurim you could undergo. And says Rav Pam, a מסורה mesorah, that if somebody's insulting you, embarrassing you, embrace it that that's your יסורים yissurin. That's your יסורים yissurim rather. If that's your יסורים yissurin, be grateful that it's in lieu of something more permanent, more painful, more lasting. If that's your יסורים yissurin, says Rav Pam, you should sing and dance that you're getting away with that יסורים yissurin instead of one that's so much greater. So he told his family, some guy called me and he was cursing me out and yelling at me and telling me everything I've done wrong and so he says, I just remembered that Rav Pam and I danced it off. And I danced it off. And that's the מסורה mesorah that we have, מי כמוך באלים ה' Mi chamocha ba'eilim Hashem, מי כמוך באלמים mi chamocha ba'ilmim. The Rav has a beautiful alternative to מי כמוך באלמים mi chamocha ba'ilmim. Rav Soloveitchik got a whole other פשט pshat. The ability to stay silent even when we don't understand. He talks about the notion of תיקו teku. How could you have גמרות Gemaras that end in תיקו teku? What do you mean? What's the conclusion? Sometimes we have questions that don't have answers, and our ability to be satisfied with the silence is an expression of strength and greatness. So, I guess we'll start with this אם ירצה השם im yirtza Hashem next year. Have a wonderful week. Everyone is invited to stay, Rabbi Moskowitz. Tonight.
