Transcript
Good morning everyone. I thank our sponsors for the Parsha series for the year, dear friends Becky and Avi Katz in memory of Becky's father David Grossman. Our learning is לילוי נשמת le'iluy nishmas דוד בן מנחם מענדל Dovid ben Menachem Mendel. I also want to thank our sponsors for today. Also dear friends, Lester and Judith Shenker, in commemoration of the יארצייט Yahrzeit of Peggy Wall, פערל בת יהודה ראובן וחיה Pe'erel bas Yehuda Ruvein veChaya, beloved mother, and Mina Shenker, מיכאלה בת נפתלי ושרה Michaela bas Naftali veSarah, beloved mother. And also generously sponsored by Joyce and שלומי Shlomi Lederstein and family in honor of their parents, our dear friends Murray and Fay Eisenberg. Are they here? Oh! שכוח Shkoyach. Thank you very much. Special occasion? Just in your honor. Cause you're wonderful. Every day is a special occasion. Every day. Okay. So happy that you're here. We delve into ספר שמות Sefer Shemos, פרשת שמות Parshas Shemos before we do, a reminder. If your cell phone goes off, it's a hundred eighty dollars to תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos. So if you love תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos, don't touch your phone. If you love your money, find your phone and turn it please to vibrate or off. So, we begin ספר שמות Sefer Shemos, פרשת שמות Parshas Shemos, page 292 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash and with this we begin our journey, our transition from the story of the first family to the story of a nation. And even our book of the story of a nation begins with a reminder of the significance of the story of the first family. The book of ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis as we always describe, is the development from a dysfunctional family hopefully to a functional one. From sibling rivalry to sibling harmony. From how to be able to create a continuity of generations, ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis is the formula to how to live as a family. And we transition and we continue to grow with ספר שמות Sefer Shemos now the development of not the first family, but the first nation. But it begins ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה ve'eileh shemos Bnei Yisrael ha'baim Mitzrayma, the names of the Jewish people who came to מצרים Mitzrayim, as יעקב איש וביתו באו Yaakov ish u'veiso bau. יעקב Yaakov and איש וביתו ish u'veiso, a person and their family and their home, באו bau, they came. We can't begin the rest of the story before remembering where we come from. A very, very significant Jewish trait or attribute. All of our holidays revolve around an act of memory, of knowing where we come from. Not history, but memory. Rabbi Sacks points out in his הגדה Hagaddah. History is his story. Memory begins with me. And the Jewish view of understanding where we come from is not studying history. History is studied academically, conceptually. History is, I am far removed. I can learn the history of other people and the history of other cultures, the history of other nations, and the history of other lands that has nothing to do with me. It's interesting, it's fascinating, can watch the history channel on a JetBlue flight when there's nothing else to watch while I eat my blue chips. That's history, that's someone else's story. Memory begins with me, M E, memory, it's me, it's my story. For us, as we make our way through ספר שמות Sefer Shemos, all of תורה Torah and the celebration of every Jewish holiday, we are not commemorating something from history. This is so critically important to know and understand, we are not commemorating history, we are invoking a memory. These are our collective memories. It's personal, it's individual, it's much more meaningful, it's transformational. And so ספר שמות Sefer Shemos begins the journey, a reminder about our, about our memories. Now רש\"י Rashi here says ואלה שמות בני ישראל ve'eileh shemos Bnei Yisrael, אף על פי שמנאם בחייהם af al pi she'menam be'chayeihem, even though God counted the 70, הבאים מצרימה ha'baim Mitzrayma, these 70 people who came down to Egypt, God counted them in their lifetime, but says רש\"י Rashi, חזר ומנאם במיתתם chazar u'menam be'misasam. He goes back and he counts them again in their death, להודיע חבתם שנמשלו לכוכבים שמוציאם ומכניסם במספר ובשמותם le'hodi'a chibasam she'nimshlu le'kochavim she'motzi'am u'machnisam be'mispar u've'shemosam. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu counts them again, why? In order to express his love, his affection. You count what you love. Some people constantly are looking at their bank account and counting their money. They love their money. Some are looking at their stocks. Some are constantly counting children and grandchildren and קיין עין הרע kein ayin hara, great-grandchildren. Some are counting where their team is in the win-loss column in sports. People count what they love. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says I want my children to know I love them. And to communicate them, even though I'm infinite, omnipotent and I already know how many there are, and even though I've counted them previously already, I'm going to count them yet again. Because of חבתם chibasam. שנאמר המוציא במספר צבאם לכלם בשם יקרא she'ne'emar ha'motzei ve'mispar tzva'am, le'chulam be'shem yikra. The פסוק pasuk in ישעיה Yeshaya could have just as easily quoted a פסוק pasuk from קמ\"ז kuf mem zayin of תהלים Tehillim, what we're learning in cider snippets, מונה מספר לכוכבים לכלם שמות יקרא moneh mispar la'kochavim le'chulam shemos yikra. He counts all the stars and he gives a name to each one. Ask the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, ask the חידושי הרי\"ם Chiddushei HaRim, the Gerer Rebbe, the following, the following question. Says Yehuda Leib of Ger, רש\"י Rashi says הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu was recounting them in order to express his affection and love. To whom is he expressing it? חזר ומנאם chazar u'menam, he reviewed and he counted again, why? להודיע חבתם le'hodi'a chibasam, to make known his חבה chiba, his love and affection, for who? Who didn't know about that love? Says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, for us. This was not a declaration to the nations of the world. This was not for history to record that God loves us. This is for every one of us to know he's intimately involved in our lives. Every one of us is unique. We are singular. We're one of a kind. And he loves us. He knows about us and he gives us each a name. מונה מספר לכוכבים moneh mispar la'kochavim. He counts and he knows. Do you know how many stars there are? In sider snippets we just said this on this פרק perak. The second הללוקה Halleluka after אשרי Ashrei. Anyone know how many stars there are? There are billions and billions of stars in our galaxy and there are tens of billions of galaxies. That's a lot, a lot of zeros of stars. There's an enormous amount of stars. We can't possibly count or know them, but הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is מונה מספר לכוכבים moneh mispar la'kochavim. He counts and he knows them easily, easily. במיספר צבאם be'mispar tzva'am, המוציא במיספר צבאם ha'motzei be'mispar tzva'am, the פסוק pasuk in ישעיה Yeshaya or the פסוק pasuk from David HaMelech. And not only does he know each star but לכלם שמות יקרא le'chulam shemos yikra. It's not a coincidence that our ספר sefer is called שמות Shemos and the Parsha begins ואלה שמות ve'eileh shemos. Because if you want to understand how to find redemption in your life, it begins where? With your name. And why with your name? To know your name represents your essence and who you are. It represents your unique mission and why you're here. And if you want redemption, don't be passive and don't be a spectator and don't be fatalistic, but realize you're here for a reason, you're here for a mission, you're here for a purpose and go make it happen. Go bring about, be that catalyst for redemption. Every one of us is unique. You know, there's a a recent Jewish song which it's a beautiful song and he's a great artist and it's not a comment on him or the composer or the writer, but it's wrong. The song is you're one in a million. You're one in a million. And why is it wrong? And it's the whole song, if you watch the video of this Jewish music song, these kids each say what they want to be when they grow up and there's one kid says I want to be a singer and the kids all laugh at them and the song is you're one in a million. You could be whatever you want to be. You're one in a million. Why is it wrong? So I've told the story before about once on a tour of the Library of Congress several years ago and the the tour guide stopped at a certain major piece, it was behind thick glass, and she described to our group all about the piece. So I said to her, oh wow, this is incredibly rare. And she stopped, she actually looked offended and she said, excuse me, this isn't rare, this is unique. It's one of a kind. There's nothing else like it. And I thought to myself in that moment, really, I didn't mean to offend her. But I thought to myself in that moment, that's the way the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam wants each and every one of us to feel. Not that we're rare, not that we're unusual, but every human being is unique. We're not one in a million and we're not one in a billion and we're not one in a trillion. We're just one. We are unique. There is nothing else like it. I don't know who you write a letter to when there's a song that you think the lyrics are wrong to. But it's not one in a, it's a beautiful song, it's a great artist. We're not one in a million. We are we are one, we're singular, we're unique, we are exclusive. And that's what הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the חבתם chibasam, that love, that affection that he was trying to communicate is not to others, it's not an announcement, it's not recording it in posterity, it's for us. And not only then, it's for us now to know that Hashem counts us over and over. If he counts us over and over, it means we should know that we count. That we count. That we're consequential, that we make a difference, that we're here for a reason, that our name reveals our essence and it's what we're all about. It's part of the theme of this book. We're not going to come into it that much, but a little bit we're going to come into it. Those who've started the new cycle of דף Daf know that the גמרא Gemara in the beginning of ברכות Brachos talks about the נבואה nevuah, the prophecy a parent has when they bestow a name to a child. A name is not just a label, a name is a description. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu endows us with a certain amount of divine inspiration when choosing a name, because that name reveals the essence. That name creates, gives a power. The מפרשים Mefarshim there in the גמרא Gemara wonder, what happened to בחירה חפשית bechira chafshis? What happened to free will? Are you saying that the name you gave your child locked that child into a certain life, certain qualities? So they explained, ראשונים Rishonim explained, no. Just like the גמרא Gemara elsewhere, the רמב\"ם Rambam records this. When a person's born, they're born with certain predispositions, certain limitations, your height, your IQ, your emotional intelligence, your artistic ability, your athleticism. There's a framework of certain predispositions that we have, and that's what the גמרא Gemara says, that when the child is conceived, it's announced how עני ani or עשיר ashir, are you going to be wealthy, are you going to be poor, are you going to be tall, are you going to be short, are you going to be intelligent, are you going to be less than intelligent? But however, it does not say צדיק ורשע tzaddik ve'rasha. What you'll do with all of that, how you'll channel all of that, who you'll become with all of that, that's not predetermined. So similarly, the name provides the framework of a set of qualities or skills or predispositions, but how we channel it and what we do with it, that is up to, that is up to us. Pharaoh understood this. The אימרי חיים Imrei Chaim says just to skip ahead for a second, but the אימרי חיים Imrei Chaim says Pharaoh understood this. אשר שם האחת שפרה ושם השנית פועה asher shem ha'echad Shifra ve'shem ha'sheinis Puah, פרעה שינה להם את שמותם במטרה מיוחדת Pharaoh shina la'hem es shemosam be'matara meyuchedes. Says the ויז'ניצער רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Pharaoh didn't call them their given names. What were their given names? That's not a trick question. Miriam and Yocheved. Yocheved and Miriam. And yet Pharaoh called them Shifra and Puah. Why? Why did he change their names? He had a מטרה מיוחדת matara meyuchedes. He had a specific reason. כי ידע שאם ישארו בשמותם היהודיים ki yadosh im yisharu be'shemosam ha'Yehudiim, יוכבד ומרים Yocheved u'Miriam, if they would maintain their יידישקייט נומען Yiddishkeit numen and their names, תישאר להם המהות היהודית, כי שמה גורם tishaer lahem ha'mahut ha'Yehudis, ki shma garam. Because their Jewish name would connect them to their Jewish identity. It would connect them to the unique Jewish mission in life. They would understand who they are. ולא יוכלו למלא מזימתם הרעה להרוג את הילדים. לכן נתן להם גוי'אישע נומען ve'lo yuchlu le'malei mezimam ha'ra'ah la'harog es ha'yeladim. Lachen nasan lahem goyishe numen. And therefore says the אימרי חיים Imrei Chaim, Pharaoh said if I want to take away their hope and their aspiration, if I want to crush their ambition, if I want to eliminate their sense of a belief in their mission, then the first thing I have to do is take away their name. We know any other enemies who followed in that footstep? Did even worse. They dehumanized us not only by taking away a name, they replaced it with a number. With a number. Our enemies understand that when we tap into our name, we're tapping into our destiny. We're tapping into our essence and who we're meant to be. Pharaoh was the first to employ this strategy and it's been repeated countless times through Jewish history, tragically, where an enemy understands that our kryptonite, you want to weaken the Jewish people, you want to take away their hope and their faith and their mission, change their name or take away the name altogether, because a person should know, that's why names are so significant. Names are redemptive. Names give a mission. It's not a coincidence, you know, today you speak about the בר מצוה Bar Mitzvah boy or the בת מצוה Bas Mitzvah girl, and you tell them, you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, nobody's ever accomplished what you have, even at your young age, you're amazing, we've made a logo for you, you're a brand, you're incredible, we have a party. But in the old days, what used to happen, I'm guilty of this, I'm the chief violator of that. That's the world we live in today. But in the old days, when I was a Bar Mitzvah, nobody talked about how great you were. You know what they told you? Let me tell you about your name and how great you need to become. Let me tell you who you're named after and their great qualities and therefore the mission that you have. Why we gave you that name and what it represents for our hope and our dream for who you will be and the difference you will make. A name, it used to be at a שמחה simcha, you talked about the name. We're now you don't have time for that. You don't have time because you have to talk about the חסד chesed project they did and the learning accomplishment, you have to make the סיום siyum, you have to say their virtues, you have to profess your love to your spouse and how the party never would have happened without them, you have to thank the party planner. There's no time left to talk about the name. But it used to be that the essence of a שמחה simcha was, I have you all together, my holy משפחה mishpacha, let me tell you about where we come from. Let me tell you why you're named. Let me tell you what this name represents. ואלה שמות בני ישראל ve'eileh shemos Bnei Yisrael. לכלם שמות יקרא le'chulam shemos yikra. When you give a name, you're giving a dream, you're giving a destiny, you're giving a sense of mission. When someone removes that name, they're trying to weaken, they're trying to create a sense of hopelessness and of helplessness. So we begin with the שפת אמת Sfas Emes who says when רש\"י Rashi says מפני חבתם mipnei chibasam, there's some sort of a חבה chiba being communicated, to whom is this חבה chiba being communicated? Says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, the Gerer Rebbe, to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, ourselves. Now Rav Soloveitchik has an interesting insight. Rav Soloveitchik points out that this פסוק pasuk, אלה שמות בני ישראל ו... Eileh shemos Bnei Yisrael ve..., starts with the ו' החיבור vav ha'chibur. Not only do we start a sentence with 'and', not only do we start with a פרשה parsha with 'and', we're starting a whole book with 'and'. What publisher would publish a book that you submitted the manuscript and it began with 'and'? Everyone knows you can't start a sentence with 'and'. Okay, I leave that to you to think about. So why is ספר שמות Sefer Shemos begin with ו ve, the ו' החיבור vav ha'chibur, ואלה ve'eileh, and these are the names? Let me just say these are the names. What do you mean and these are the names? What are we connecting with? I leave that to you to think about. But there's another anomaly in the פסוק pasuk. It says אלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה eileh shemos Bnei Yisrael ha'baim Mitzrayma, these are the names of the כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael that come to Mitzrayim. הבאים ha'baim. What does the word הבאים ha'baim mean? What should it have said? Not הבאים ha'baim, it should have said אשר באו asher bau. It should say אשר באו asher bau. These are the names of those who came down to Egypt. Why does it say אשר באים asher ba'im which means they're still coming. Rav Soloveitchik has a tremendous insight, a prescient insight. The מדרש Medrash notes the anomaly and interprets the intent of the phrase הבאים ha'ba'im as if בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael had come that very day. The term הבאים ha'ba'im suggests that the people of Egypt did not consider the Jewish people part of their state, society, and culture. They looked upon them as if they had just entered Egypt. How long must one remain in a country to be considered a citizen? The words of Pharaoh to his advisor suggests he considered בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael as having just arrived. Indeed, the name for the Israelites, עברי Ivri, means completely separated on the bank of a river, everyone else was מעבר me'ever on the other side. Even though כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael came many years earlier, Egypt still viewed them as strangers. And comments the Rav, this belief in the otherness of the Jew repeats itself throughout history. Jews lived in Germany even before the dark ages. During the Middle Ages, the Jews supported Germany from within. They were an integral part of society. Yet many centuries after they arrived, Jews were wiped out in the Holocaust. They were charged with being strangers, not counted among society. The essence of anti-semitic doctrine throughout history was always depicted, always depicted the Jew as a stranger. They charged that we are strangers, עברים Ivrim, we never assimilate ourselves into any community, we are outsiders. And to a degree, they're right, and to a degree, it's ironic or paradoxical, they remind us what we have forgotten. We are to remember this balance of the גר ותושב ger ve'toshav of the Rav's insight with אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu that we've shared countless times, that we are both a citizen and we are a, we are a resident and we are a visitor. We're a citizen and we're a foreigner. We're a גר ותושב ger ve'toshav at the same time. When we remember that, that we are part of and apart from simultaneously, then we live in harmony. And when we forget it, then they come and they remind us. And the מדרש Medrash tells us that it was in the merit of four things that we were redeemed from Egypt. We didn't change our names or our language or our clothing, and we didn't change our God, the מדרש Medrash says. People forget that fourth one. We didn't change our God. When we maintain our distinctness, when we remember our יידישקייט נומען Yiddishkeit numen, our Hebrew name, when we remember, I recently gave a שיעור shiur about birthdays, how many observant, strictly, vigilant, scrupulous Torah Jews don't even know their Hebrew birthday? They don't know their Hebrew anniversary. They don't know what day it is on the Hebrew calendar. I won't test you, how tragic how many Jews in a room can't necessarily even name what Hebrew month we're in. How do we maintain our Jewishness, our distinctness, our calendar, which preserved us if we can't even maintain that identity? And therefore, the Rav says, why does it not say אשר באו asher bau, they came to Egypt, because our enemies remind us הבאים ha'ba'im, you're never fully here. It's as if you just got here. You're not part of us. You're a stranger. You're the other. And when they name us the other, when they position us adversarially as the stranger, it's easy to practice hatred and discrimination against us. Rav Volbe has a beautiful insight. It says, ראובן שמעון לוי Reuven, Shimon, Levi, we now name who it was. יששכר זבולון בנימין Yissachar, Zevulun, Binyamin, because even though we have the vav which links us to בראשית Bereishis, in case you forgot the names of the tribes since last week, we got to review them now. Which is in itself a question we're not going to get into, why we need to review it. But it concludes ויהי כל נפש יצאי ירך יעקב שבעים נפש ויוסף היה במצרים Va'yehi kol nefesh yotzei yerech Yaakov shiv'im nafesh ve'Yosef hayah ve'Mitzrayim. Why does Yosef get a special mention? We listed all the tribes, ראובן שמעון לוי יהודה יששכר זבולון בנימין דן נפתלי גד ואשר Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissachar, Zevulun, Binyamin, Dan, Naftali, Gad, ve'Asher, ויוסף היה במצרים ve'Yosef hayah be'Mitzrayim. And Yosef was in Mitzrayim. And then וימת יוסף וכל אחיו וכל הדור ההוא Va'yamas Yosef ve'chol echav ve'chol ha'dor ha'hu, Yosef dies, oh yeah, and all of his brothers, וכל הדור ההוא ve'chol ha'dor ha'hu, and everyone ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו במאד מאד ותמלא הארץ אתם U'vnei Yisrael paru va'yishretzu va'yirbu va'ya'atzmu bi'me'od me'od va'timalei ha'aretz osam. And we promulgated and spread, ותמלא הארץ אתם va'timalei ha'aretz osam, the land was filled with us. We were everywhere. And then the story begins ויקם מלך חדש Va'yakom melech chadash. But why is Yosef spelled out? So Rav Volbe, the great משגיח Mashgiach in his עלי שור Alei Shor in חלק א' chelek aleph, I'm going to tell you two great Rav Volbes today, one from חלק א' chelek aleph and one from חלק ב' chelek beis. Sorry. This one is from חלק ב chelek beis, חלק א' chelek aleph, yeah. חלק א' Chelek aleph, it's page ס\"ח samech-ches in עלי שור Alei Shor if you want to see the inside, it begins on page ס\"ז samech-zayin. And here the משגיח רב וואלבע Mashgiach Rav Volbe is developing the idea of סדר seder, the significance of order in our lives, punctuality, organization, order. יקה'ס Yekkes perk up. This is for you. סדר Seder, that to be a real Jew, to be a Torah observant Jew, to be an eved Hashem, a ben Aliyah, a bas Aliyah, to be an aspirational Jew, you have to live with סדר seder. You can't say, listen, I keep תורה ומצוות Torah u'mitzvos, שבת Shabbos, כשרות kashrus, לשון הרע lashon hara, שמירת עינים shmiras einayim, אמונות amanus in business. Who cares if my house is a mess? Who cares if my life is a mess? Who cares if I'm always running late? The answer is to be a real Jew, you have to live with סדר seder. And we could talk hours about this which we won't. He has a beautiful essay here on the significance of סדר seder, but at the end of this essay he says this was the secret to Yosef's survival and by extension our survival in מצרים Mitzrayim. This was the secret. He writes, כל מי שהוא בר דעת יוצא מחברו, יותר יציב הוא בהגותיו מחברו kol mi shehu bar daas, yotzei mei'chaveiro, yoser yatziv hu be'hagosav mei'chaveiro. The more a person is settled in their mind, the more strategic, the more thoughtful, the more settled, the more present, the more mindful, the more organized they are. כל הגדול מחברו יותר מסודר בחייו מחברו kol a'gadol mei'chaveiro, yoser mesudar be'chayav mei'chaveiro. If you want to know whether someone's great, go check their home, how well it's organized. I think it was the Alter of Kelm, they tell the story of, he wanted to check on how well his son was doing in ישיבה Yeshiva, he made his way to the ישיבה Yeshiva and he didn't go to the בית מדרש Beis Medrash to see how well his son was doing. Where did he go? His dormitory room. And when he went to the dormitory room and he saw that the bed was made and the shoes were organized and everything was proper, he went home, he didn't bother going to the בית מדרש Beis Medrash. He knew that if there was סדר seder in that part of his life, then it meant that there was harmony, he was settled, he was, he was in a path of growth. A סדר חיים seder chaim, דרך ארץ derech eretz, נקיון הגוף וחדר מגורים בסדר זמני שינה ארוחותיו ועבודה nikayon ha'guf ve'cheder megurim, be'seder zmanei sheina, aruchoso ve'avodah. A סדר seder of חיים chaim, to live a life of order, to live a life of getting things done, to live a life of productivity and efficiency means that we're מסודר mesudar, we're organized in how we speak. There are people who don't know how to articulate, they can't communicate effectively. There's no beginning, middle or end to what they say. They're funfering for words. If you're not מסודר mesudar, there's an epidemic and a plague in our world today. I recently asked an educator if he can address it in school. You cannot talk to a teenager without them using the word 'like' 400 times in one sentence. And if you say to them, say that to me again but without the word 'like', they they start to, you know, break into uh, they can't do it. Really bright, they're killing the SATs, they're getting in honors to beautiful schools and they can't communicate without saying the word 'like' 400 times. If you're not מסודר mesudar in the way you speak, Rav Pam in his day, Rav Pam, it was ישיביש Yeshivish to say what you may call it, you'd forget the word and you'd say what you may call it. And Rav Pam said a בן תורה Ben Torah doesn't say what you may call it. You don't you're not funfering or looking for the words. A בן תורה Ben Torah is מסודר mesudar. You've actually thought about what you're going to say before you say it. So you've organized your thought and it comes out organized. You have to be מסודר mesudar in your life, in your dress, in your appearance, in your, in your punctuality, in your sleep, in your eating, in your everything. He has a whole essay, we're not going to read the whole essay. I just want to get to the part relevant to us and our Parsha. He writes here at the end, בזה נבחן אדם גדול bezeh nivchan adam gadol, that's how you know you're around greatness. The person is great is well-organized. A person who's great is disciplined. Discipline is freedom. ויוסף היה במצרים ve'Yosef hayah be'Mitzrayim writes Rav Volbe, ולאו בנהו בגלל השדים, ומה באו ללמדנו? ve'lav banu be'glal she'dem u'mah ba'u le'lamdeinu. Yosef and his children were among the 70. What is the Torah telling us by giving specific mention to Yosef? ולאו היונו יודעים שהוא היה במצרים? ve'chilo hayinu yodim shehu hayah be'Mitzrayim, and don't we know he was in Mitzrayim? That's where the whole storyline is unfolding, he's in Mitzrayim. Of course we know where he is. אלא להודיע צדקותו של יוסף ela le'hodia tzidkuso shel Yosef, it's telling us his tzidkus. הוא יוסף הרועה את צאן אביו, הוא יוסף שהיה במצרים ונעשה מלך ועומד בצדקו hu Yosef ha'roeh es tzon aviv, hu Yosef she'hayah be'Mitzrayim ve'na'asah melech ve'omed be'tzidko. רש\"י Rashi from the beginning of שמות Shemos tells us, you know what it means when it says יוסף היה במצרים Yosef hayah be'Mitzrayim? Yosef hayah be'Mitzrayim. It was the same Yosef who grew up in the house of Yaakov. It was the same Yosef who lived in Canaan. It was the same Yosef who was the ישיבה בחור Yeshiva bachur Yosef and the same Yosef who went to the camp Yosef, and the same Yosef who was in the youth groups Yosef. And even though he was elevated to the viceroy of Egypt, it was the same Yosef. He was just now in Mitzrayim. He didn't lose at all who he was. He didn't compromise or forfeit or concede or sacrifice his identity. So how did he do that? How did Yosef preserve and maintain who he was even in that circumstance and environment that was entirely antithetical or against him? So writes Rav Volbe, מיסוד הסדר הוא גם כן כשאדם יודע לסדר את עצמו במצבי רוחו השונים, לבל יכפהו היאוש וישטוף כסדר אב הרגילים... ולבל תעפקהו מידו ממידותיו ותיטלה מהלך עבודתו mi'yesod ha'seder hu gam kein ki k'she'adam yode'a le'sader atzmo be'matzavei rucho ha'shonim, lo val yikofehu ha'yeush ve'yishtof keseder av har'gilim... ve'lo val te'apkehu midav mei'midosav u'vetiv lei mahalach avodaso. The organized, the organized person doesn't get rattled. If you know that every day I daven, every day I do the Daf Yomi, every day I've taken on the Nach Yomi, every day I do this, every day I do that, then it doesn't matter whether you're home or you're traveling for business, whether everything's tranquil and quiet or whether you're confronting crisis. It doesn't matter what's going on in your life if you are a מסודר mesudar person, it doesn't impact you, it doesn't compromise you, it doesn't corrupt you, you don't change. Suggests Rav Volbe, the core of Yosef's strength that preserved his integrity, his moral authority, his religious identity even in מצרים Mitzrayim was that Yosef was מסודר mesudar. That was it. וככלות הכל, הרי כל אחד ואחד עומד מספר פעמים בחייו לפני הכרעות גדולות וגורליות אשר במסגרת הסדר העצמי מהלך חייו. אוי לו למי שגולו ושלוחו הכרעות אלו כעיוור באפלה, תוך פזיזות ושיקול סרק. ואשרי היודע לשמור על אור רציפות השתעגות עבודתו U'kechalos ha'kol, harei kol echad ve'echad omed mispar pe'amim be'chayav lifnei achra'os gedolos ve'goraliyos asher be'masgal ha'seder atzmi mahalech chayav. Oy lo le'mi she'golo u'shlucho achra'os eileh ke'iver ba'afeilah, toch pezizus ve'shikul serek ve'ashrei ha'yode'a lishmor al or retzifus hishtahagus ha'avodaso, that you could maintain your order, your organization, your schedule, you can maintain your discipline in any circumstance. If we can cultivate, if we can grow in that sense of discipline, it will serve to help us when we confront whatever life throws at us. That was the story of Yosef. And here Rav Volbe quotes the Alter of Kelm and he says, you know, and and this maybe the יקה Yekke should stop listening, but we don't worship order, time, organization. It's not an end unto itself, it's a means, but it's the most critical means to achieve the ends of the things that matter most. And the Alter of Kelm gave the following beautiful משל mashal. We'll go on in the Parsha because I think we're still on the first pasuk. Then we'll go on. The Alter of Kelm said the following. I stop me if I said this recently, I don't remember. But if you're wearing or you have a pearl necklace, beautiful, expensive pearl necklace. What's the most precious part of the pearl necklace? What is the valuable part of the pearl necklace? The pearls. Each of the pearls are the value. If I ask you, how much does the string cost that's holding the pearl necklace together, it's negligible. It costs nothing. Nobody sees it. It's not even like a gold chain that's hanging a piece of jewelry from it. You can't even see the string. It's negligible. You could use fishing wire. It's nothing. I'm not suggesting that, but it's nothing. It's nothing. And yet, which is the most important part of the necklace? The string. Because if you don't have the string, you don't have a necklace. The string is what holds all the pearls together. So said the Alter of Kelm, time, punctuality, order, organization, discipline, that's not pearls. That's not worth worshipping. That's not of inherent value. What's valuable is דאווענען davening, learning, חסד chesed, time with family, that's what's valuable. But if you don't have the necklace that holds it all together, then the necklace falls apart and the pearls roll away from you all over the floor and you lose them. If we want to have these pearls of our life and not lose them by their running away from us, they need to be organized on a necklace, that necklace is called discipline. יוסף הצדיק Yosef HaTzadik mastered it, and it served him well not only when he was in the comfort of his father's home, but it is what served him well and protected him even when he descended to, down to מצרים Mitzrayim. פרק א' פסוק ט' Perak aleph pasuk tes. Let's fly. ויקם מלך חדש Va'yakom melech chadash, there was a new king who arose אשר לא ידע את יוסף asher lo yada es Yosef, he didn't know Yosef. That was the Jewish people's fault. Some of the ראשונים Rishonim point out, and I mention it every year, the reason it's important to lobby and advocate and not become disillusioned with the disgusting and ugly world of politics is because if we don't maintain relationships, then we are forgotten and our interests become neglected. And the degree to which we invest in and maintain relationships, then we can advocate and advance our interests. ויקם מלך חדש Va'yakom melech chadash, there was a new king אשר לא ידע את יוסף asher lo yada es Yosef. And some of them unfortunately point out, how is it possible Yosef saved the economy of Egypt? How does any ruler rise to that level and not know basic Egyptian history to know who was the one who saved their economy? And they point out it doesn't mean he didn't know the Yosef of the history books. That Yosef he knew. The Yosef on Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica, the Yosef of the history books that you can Google, that Yosef he knew. You know who he didn't know? The offspring of Yosef. He didn't know the living Yosef. He didn't have a relationship. There were not ongoing relationships. And when we lose our ongoing relationships, we lose our influence, we lose our impact and we lose our being able to succeed in our interests. ויאמר אל עמו Va'yomer el amo, so he said to his people, הנה עם בני ישראל רב ועצום ממנו hinei am Bnei Yisrael rav ve'atzum mimenu. This nation of the Jewish people, they are great and they are greater than we. He was threatened. What was he threatened by about this Jewish people? Does the פסוק pasuk itself reveal to us what he was threatened by? So the רוז'ינער רבי Ruzhiner Rebbe, the first Rebbe, רבי ישראל Rebbe Yisrael says the פסוק pasuk itself tells us what he was afraid about. You know what he was afraid of? When are we רב ועצום rav ve'atzum? When are we strong and great? When הנה עם בני ישראל hinei am Bnei Yisrael. When we are united, when we are a people, when we are a nation, when we display fierce loyalty to one another, when we see what we have in common, not what we have different from one another, בשעה שבני ישראל מאוחדים הם, אין ביניהם מחלוקת, וחשיבים כעם אחד be'sha'ah she'Bnei Yisrael me'uchadim heim, ein beineihem machlokes, ve'chashuvim ke'am echad, מיד מרגישים הגוים כי העם זה הוא רב ועצום miyad margishim ha'goyim ki ha'am zeh hu rav ve'atzum. When our enemies see that we are splintered and fragmented and broken, that's when we're vulnerable. That's when they go in to eliminate us. But when they see that we're formidable, and that we're united, and that we stand as one, that's when they view us and perceive us as רב ועצום rav v'atzum.So Pharaoh reacts and he says, הנה hinei, behold, עם בני ישראל am Bnei Yisrael. They're acting as an עם am. Rabbi Soloveitchik points out, the word עם am comes from the word עם im, meaning with. When are we an עם am, when are we really a nation? When are we truly a people? When we see ourselves inextricably linked, connected, עם im, tied together. But if I'm me and you're you, and I wear this yarmulke and you wear that yarmulke, and I vote this way and you vote that way, and we can't coexist and we send our kids to different schools, so therefore we can't be friends or have Shabbos meals. We have to have competing events and competing communities and competing shuls and competing everything. When we're not עם im, and we're not therefore an עם am, then we are not רב ועצום ממנו rav v'atzum mimenu.Which one of our later enemies understood this secret as well? The other kryptonite was המן Haman. Haman takes a look and he says, \"Wow, הן עם מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים hein am mefuzar u'meforad bein ha'amim.\" Look at them. They're scattered, they're fragmented, they're divided, they're spread out. And therefore, it's the time. I'm going to go in for the kill. הנה עם Hinei am, when we act בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael as an עם am, רב ועצום rav v'atzum, that's when we are, that's when we are strong.פסוק י\"ב Pasuk Yud Beis. Keep going. So he says, he's threatened and he says, הבה נתחכמה לו hava nischakma lo. Come, let's outsmart them. פן ירבה pen yirbeh, they're going to grow in number. They're going to be that fifth column. They're going to rebel against us. וישימו עליו שרי מיסים למען ענותו בסבלותם va'yasimu alav sarei misim le'ma'an anoso be'sivlosam. Let's crush them, let's crush their hopes, crush their dreams. Let's create such a burden upon them. וכאשר יענו אותו כן ירבה וכן יפרוץ ויקוצו מפני בני ישראל ve'cha'asher ye'anu oso kein yirbeh ve'chein yifrotz, va'yakutzu mipnei Bnei Yisrael. פסוק י\"ב Pasuk Yud Beis. What does it say? As much as they would afflict, it would increase and spread out. And so they became disgusted, ויקוצו מפני בני ישראל va'yakutzu mipnei Bnei Yisrael. They became disgusted by the Jewish people.Why does wine play such a role in our lives? For a lot of reasons. We have to numb ourselves to the reality of how many people want to kill us. Good. But why is it? Every Jewish event, every שמחה simcha includes wine. There's wine at a ברית bris and wine at a פדיון הבן pidyon ha'ben, and wine at a חופה chuppah and wine on שבת Shabbos and wine on a יום טוב Yom Tov, and wine at... there's always wine. Why is it always wine? Wine represents the Jewish experience. How do you get wine? By squeezing the grape. And when you squeeze it, what you get out is more valuable and more precious and more delicious. And you think you've crushed it and you think you've squeezed it, but in fact, all you've done is produced and generate something even better within it. And כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael have been squeezed and crushed and stepped on, but like a fine wine, we're better with time and age, and what comes out is even sweeter, what comes out is even, is even better. So, they tried to squeeze us and crush us, כאשר יענו אותו ka'asher ye'anu oso, the more they crushed, כן ירבה וכן יפרוץ kein yirbeh ve'chein yifrotz. The better our wine got.And what happened as a result when they saw that? They didn't say, which is what intellectually would have made sense to say, \"Huh, something's unusual here. The more we press, and the more we discriminate, and the more we try to destroy, the stronger they become, the greater they become.\" Instead, ויקוצו va'yakutzu. ויקוצו va'yakutzu, the root of the word ויקוצו va'yakutzu, what does that mean? They're disgusted. ויקוצו va'yakutzu. Like, like בעל תשחית צו bal tashchistu. Is repulsive, disgusted. And what repulsed them? What disgusted them? What does the pasuk say? What disgusted them? It's not a trick question. The words are right there. ויקוצו מפני בני ישראל va'yakutzu mipnei Bnei Yisrael. So listen to the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. Listen to what the Imrei Chaim says. חייהם נמאסו להם מחמת פני ישראל שלא יכלו לסבול היידישע פנים chayeihem nim'asu lahem machmas p'nei Yisrael she'lo yachlu lisbol haYiddishe panim. א ידישע צורה a Yiddishe tzura. You know what they couldn't stand? Was the ידישע פנים Yiddishe panim. מפני mipnei, the word פני p'nei has a double entendre. That's what the Imrei Chaim is tapping into. מפני mipnei can mean they couldn't stand the Jewish people. מפני mipnei, because of the Jewish people. But the word פני p'nei also means a פנים panim. מפני mipnei. Like, פני שבת נקבלה p'nei Shabbos nekab'la. We sing לכה דודי Lecha Dodi. פני שבת נקבלה p'nei Shabbos nekab'la means, what are we putting on? Our שבת פנים Shabbos panim. My וואכענדיגע פנים vochen'dige panim, I'm leaving aside. My all anxious, worried, chaotic, stressed, frustrated, angry, jealous פנים panim, I'm leaving aside. And as I sing לכה דודי, פני שבת נקבלה Lecha Dodi, p'nei Shabbos nekab'la. I'm putting on my שבת פנים Shabbos panim.Well, what could פרעה Paro and מצרים Mitzrayim not be able to stand? ויקוצו va'yakutzu. They were disgusted by what? מפני בני ישראל mipnei Bnei Yisrael. From the פנים panim of a Jew. The פנים panim, the sweetness, and hopefully the purity, and the kindness, and the honesty, and the morality. He writes, \"א ידישע צורה a Yiddishe tzura.\" What was it that saved the Jewish people? The four things that caused us to be redeemed were our identity, our distinctiveness, which were our name and our clothing, our appearance, the פנים panim of a יד Yid, of a Jew. We have a responsibility, we have an obligation, whether it's the way we carry ourselves and the appearance and the demeanor and the disposition that we have, should be identifiable and recognizable that we stand for Torah, that we have a relationship with the ריבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, with השם Hashem, and that's the מפני בני ישראל mipnei Bnei Yisrael. Then he says something in Yiddish which I can't read. But uh, probably a continuation of that theme. So the מפני mipnei doesn't just mean because of the Jewish people. It means because of the פנים panim, because of the face of the Jewish people. You are not nearly as excited about as I am. I like that pshat.Okay, פרק י\"א, פסוק י\"ז Perek Yud Aleph, Pasuk Yud Zayin. Continuing. So, וימררו את חייהם va'yemareru es chayeihem. They made their life even more miserable, בעבודה קשה בחומר ובלבנים be'avodah kashah be'chomer u'vilveinim. ויאמר מלך מצרים va'yomer Melech Mitzrayim, so the king of Egypt turns to whom? למילדות העבריות la'meyaldos ha'Ivrios, to these nameless women, took away their name, took away their power, their essence, יוכבד ומרים Yocheved and Miriam, and named them שפרה ופועה Shifra and Puah. אשר שם האחת שפרה ושם השנית פועה asher shem ha'achas Shifra ve'shem ha'sheinis Puah. ויאמר בילדכן את העבריות וראיתן על האבנים אם בן הוא va'yomer be'yaledchen es ha'Ivriyos u're'isen al ha'ovnayim, im ben hu. And then he gave them the charge, who to kill, who to allow to live, and so on and so forth. פסוק י\"ז Pasuk Yud Zayin. ותיראן המילדות את האלקים ולא עשו כאשר דיבר אליהן מלך מצרים va'tirena ha'meyaldos es ha'Elokim, ve'lo asu ka'asher diber aleihen Melech Mitzrayim. They saw God, and they did not behave the way that they were instructed. ותחיין את הילדים va'techayena es ha'yeladim, and they allowed the children to be able to, to be able to live. And if you fast forward, what was the result or consequence? Because they had the bravery and the courage to stand up and to ignore the instruction of the king, and instead to follow the king of kings, to feel Hashem's presence, they did not carry out his instruction. What is their reward? פסוק כ\"א Pasuk Chaf Aleph, skipped down. ויהי כי יראו המילדות את האלקים ויעש להם בתים va'yehi ki yaru ha'meyaldos es ha'Elokim va'ya'as lahem batim. Pasuk says, when God saw that the meyaldos were God-fearing, He made for them homes. What does it mean He made for them homes? Says רש\"י Rashi, בתי כהונה ולויה ומלכות שקרויה בתים batei kehuna, leviya, u'malchus she'kruya batim. He made for them a home, they were the progenitors of the priestly, כהונה, לויה, and of מלכות malchus, monarchy, as the pasuk says, בית השם ובית המלך beis Hashem u'veis ha'melech. כהונה ולויה מיוכבד ומלכות ממרים כי דאיתא מסכת סוטה kehuna, leviya mi'Yocheved u'malchus mi'Miriam, ki de'isa Maseches Sotah. כי דאיתא מסכת סוטה ki de'isa Maseches Sotah.So here Rav Ober, this is in חלק ב' של עלי שור Chelek Beis shel Alei Shur, in volume two, on page שמ\"א Shin Mem Aleph. And he says the following. What's going on here? Why does יראת שמים yiras shamayim, how do they display יראת שמים yiras shamayim? And what about the יראת שמים yiras shamayim earned them this reward? And how do we understand the relationship of the reward to what they did? Is this some external reward? Is this Hashem said, well, you did, you were a good girl, you were two good little girls, and therefore I'm giving you a nice house with a white picket fence. It's a reward for having behaved in the right way. So listen to what Rav Ober says. Again, I wish I could read to you this whole section, this essay on יראה yirah and יראת שמים yiras shamayim. He says, יראה בונה את האדם yirah bona es ha'adam. יראה yirah is not just a quality that we have, but it is foundational. It forms us. It's how we live our lives. It's who we are. ובבנין חזק כזה שהוא יכול לעמוד בנסיונות u've'vinyan chazak kaze she'hu yachol la'amod be'nisyonos. And when the foundation, when in our core we live with a יראה yirah and a יראת שמים yiras shamayim, we are able to therefore withstand whatever test we face.So here in South Florida, our homes have to be built to a certain code, because the foundation has to be strong. Why? Because every few years we're tested, hopefully just with a warning and a scare, sometimes with a real hurricane, category three, category four, category five. We don't know which נסיונות nisyonos, we don't know what hurricanes are going to face us in our lives and whether they'll be a tropical storm or a category five. But if you want to be prepared and you want to be ready, there's a code by which you build your life. And the foundation and the core and the code by which we build our lives, which prepares us to withstand whatever force hurricane winds will come our way is called יראת שמים yiras shamayim. If you live with a healthy dose and reality of יראת שמים yiras shamayim, that there is a creator, and he's the source of all, and he's involved in my life, and nothing is random or chance, and I turn to him and I live my life with gratitude and appreciation for the gifts, and I turn to him to object and protest at the things I don't like, and I turned to him with a reliance and faith that nothing happened by accident, it's all by design, and even when I don't like it, and even when it doesn't feel pleasant, it's still all for the good. When I spend my life working on יראת שמים yiras shamayim, I have a strong core. I have a strong core. In the world of exercise, which I am far from an expert at, they'll tell you in the gym, people like to work on their arms and their shoulders, and you know, that's where you show off how strong you are, how muscular you are. But what's the most important part for you to work on, that as you'll get older and age that will keep you strong and standing upright is your core. You need a strong core. The core of a Yid, the core of a Jew is יראת שמים yiras shamayim. The foundation of a Jew is יראת שמים yiras shamayim. בנין אדם מסרה באורחות דרך ארץ והמשך בלימוד תורה וקינין מעלותה. גם דרך ארץ של תורה במהותו הוא יראה Gam derech eretz shel Torah be'mahuso hu yirah. Living with דרך ארץ derech eretz is יראה yirah. If you love God, you want to emulate Him. If you fear God, if you live with a ever-present awareness and acute mindfulness that Hashem is with you, that dictates everything, from what you watch and what you do in your entertainment and where you go and what you say and how you behave and what you wear. Hashem is always by our side. That's what יראת שמים yiras shamayim is really all about. And then again, I'm skipping, you should read this, חלק ב', עלי שור, דף שמ\"א Chelek Beis, Alei Shur, daf Shin Mem Aleph. ובאו וראו u'vo'u u're'u, he says of. Come, see. ותראן המילדות את האלקים ולא עשו כאשר דבר אליהן מלך מצרים, ותחיין את הילדים. ויהי כי יראו המילדות את האלקים ויעש להם בתים. היו אלו בתי כהונה ולויה ומלכות, בית מדרשו של משה רבינו והמשכן שבנה בצלאל נכד של מרים. va'tirena ha'meyaldos es ha'Elokim ve'lo asu ka'asher diber aleihen Melech Mitzrayim, va'techayena es ha'yeladim. Va'yehi ki yaru ha'meyaldos es ha'Elokim, va'ya'as lahem batim. Hayu elu batei kehuna u'leviya u'malchus, beis midrasho shel Moshe Rabbeinu ve'ha'Mishkan she'bana Betzalel neched shel Miriam. וידוע הכלל, כי כל שכר בתורה אינו בעד מה שאדם עשה, כמו שנותנים לילד סוכריה בעד מה שעזר בבית. vi'yadua ha'klal, ki kol schar ba'Torah eino be'ad ma she'adam asa, kmo she'nosnim le'yeled sukaria be'ad ma she'azar ba'bayis. אלא, השכר הוא הפרי היוצא מעצם המעשה. ela, ha'schar hu ha'pri ha'yotzei mei'etzem ha'ma'aseh. The שכר schar, the reward is the פרי pri of our labor. The reward is the result of what we did. המילדות עמדו בנסיון קשה מאוד. ha'meyaldos amdu be'nisayon kasheh me'od. These מילדות meyaldos, these what's the translation? I won't say whatchamacallit. What's the translation מילדות meyaldos? Midwives. Thank you. These midwives, they surpassed, they overcame a tremendous נסיון nisayon. Is there a category five? It was a category 10 hurricane. Pharaoh says to them, \"Kill them, or I kill you.\" That's a category 50 hurricane. קשה מאוד כי סיכנו את חייהם בשביל קיום מצוות הפרעה. kasheh me'od ki siknu es chayeihem bishvil kiyum mitzvas Paro. They risked their lives when they ignored Pharaoh's command. הן עמדו בנסיון זה שהיו בנויות ביראת שמים. hein amdu be'nisayon zeh she'hayu bnuyos be'yiras shamayim. And where was, where did they get the courage? From where did they derive the strength to ignore Pharaoh and to risk their lives? Because they had a foundation and a core of יראת שמים yiras shamayim. שהיא חכמת הבנין, ולכן יצא מזה שהשם עשה להם בתים. she'hi chachmas ha'binyan, ve'lachein yatza mize she'Hashem asa lahem batim. Do you understand? Their core, their personal home, their בנין binyan, their lives were founded, were built on יראת שמים yiras shamayim. So the reward is not some external reward. It's not have a candy. It's not here's a gift certificate to Lord & Taylor. It's not some external reward. It's you built a foundation of your life on יראת שמים yiras shamayim, so therefore your progeny will be the homes that promulgate and that represent and that stand for יראת שמים yiras shamayim. ממש מדה כנגד מדה mamash mida k'neged mida. ונמצא אגב כי פרשת המילדות היא שורש כל ספר שמות. ממנה יצא משה רבינו ובית מדרשו והמשכן. ve'nimtza agav ki parshas ha'meyaldos hi shoresh kol Sefer Shmos. Mimena yatza Moshe Rabbeinu u'veis midrasho ve'ha'Mishkan. You have to understand that these few pesukim of the מילדות meyaldos, these few pesukim of the midwives, says Rav Ober, this is the essence of all of ספר שמות Sefer Shmos. Or I'll put it differently. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for these righteous Jewish women. Moshe gets the spotlight. Moshe gets the title. Moshe gets the fanfare. Moshe is forever and perpetuity the רבינו Rabbeinu. There would be no Moshe if there were no יוכבד ומרים, שפרה ופועה Yocheved and Miriam, Shifra and Puah, if there were no מילדות meyaldos who stood up and had the courage. And how did they do that? Because until then they had been working in their lives to have a foundation and a core of יראת שמים yiras shamayim. If they first waited to display יראת שמים yiras shamayim until it was tested, right? The people who are scrambling when the hurricane's coming, oh, let me now reinforce the foundation of my house. Good luck to you. Evacuate. Get out. It's too late. It's too late to reinforce the foundation of your house if you have not prepared it for the storm that's going to come your way. These righteous women had spent a lifetime preparing themselves for the storm that was coming their way, therefore they were able to withstand it, survive it, triumph beyond it. And their reward, which is not external to them, it's not an all-expense paid vacation to wherever. It's not an external reward. The reward meaning is the פרי pri of their effort, the fruit of their effort, namely they had these homes. They are the source of everything. They are the source of everything. And the way that Rebbe put it so beautifully, Rabbi Soloveitchik similarly credits these women, and says something very, very significant. I'll throw it maybe I get kapara for trouble I got in from a parsha shiur a couple of months ago.Listen to what Rabbi Soloveitchik says. ויעש להם בתים va'ya'as lahem batim. These houses represent leadership. God turned the leadership over of Israel over to these midwives. The authority to lead and teach בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael was transferred to them. Chazal indicate the midwives were יוכבד ומרים Yocheved and Miriam. The medrash tells us that Amram the גדול הדור gadol ha'dor, the leader of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, when Pharaoh issued the decree to kill every Jewish man, Amram divorced יוכבד Yocheved. He said, \"Are you kidding? This is the future for Jewish boys? I can't risk bringing a new boy, baby boy in the world.\" So he withdrew and he divorced, he divorced יוכבד Yocheved. So Miriam rebuked Amram, and she said, \"You know, your reaction, your response, your decree, your damage is worse than Pharaoh. Pharaoh only decreed against the male boys that have to die. You have now determined that there won't even be any girl babies.\" So Miriam protested, and with the birth of Moshe, Miriam prophesies that he would become the redeemer of Israel. And when Moshe was placed in the Nile, Amram became enraged with Miriam. You see? How could you have done that? You created this reconciliation between me and your mother, and the result was a little boy, and now look what happened. We're putting him in a Nile. It's exactly my worst fear being realized, says Amram. And Miriam says, \"Wait, not so fast.\" And then what does Miriam do, by the way? She watches. She positions herself to see and to watch because she's so confident with her faith and her hope and her optimism and her sense of prophecy, she knows that she did the right thing and what's going to happen as a result.And therefore the continuity of the Jewish people, this is not apologetics, this is not lip service. This was not written in a time in which we had to be concerned with egalitarianism or women's lib or feminism or what would they say. Chazal were saying this in a time where they owed women nothing and they had no fear of women whatsoever. And you know why they said it? Because it's true. Because it's a core Jewish value. It's not an apologetic and don't dismiss it as a modern day apologetic. Chazal understood the role of נשים צדקניות nashim tzidkaniyos who are behind almost every miracle and every holiday that we have, and the same is true and the same is true here. And the Rav continues with this. ויקח איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי va'yeilech ish mi'beis Levi va'yikach es bas Levi. A man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of the, of Levi. Why are they anonymous? Why aren't their names given here in this context? is a question. But the next pasuk, ותשם va'tasem, and placed in the basket. So what's the ותשם va'tasem? Says the Rav, it's interesting to note that all the verbs used in describing the hiding of Moshe and his later being placed in the basket, they're all in the feminine form. ותרא va'tere, ותצפנהו va'titzpeneihu, יכלה yachla, ותקח va'tikach, ותחמרה va'tachmera, ותשם va'tasem, everything is done with the feminine form. It's not a coincidence, says the Rav. Why? Because it was all done by יוכבד ומרים Yocheved and Miriam. Amram had no say in the matter. The leadership was taken from him. It was given to the righteous midwives. ויעש להם בתים va'ya'as lahem batim. God made Yocheved and Miriam the leaders. Decision making was taken from Amram and turned over to these women, and that's why we are here today, only in their merit, only because of their vision, their optimism, their hope. Of course, we all know that we codified that, so to say. We took the very mirrors that they had used to beautify themselves, became the foundation of the כיור kiyor, when the כהנים kohanim came to be of service to Hashem, they looked in those mirrors and they remembered who was really responsible for our being here, for there even being that משכן Mishkan all together, all together.Okay. פרק ב', פסוק י\"א Perek Beis, Pasuk Yud Aleph. We're moving over. ותרא בת פרעה va'tere bas Paro, so now this little boy is floating in the basket, and the daughter of Pharaoh sees. ותרא בת פרעה va'tere bas Paro, what was her name? בסיה Bisya. בסיה Bisya. לרחוץ על היאור ונערותיה הולכות על יד היאור, ותרא את התיבה בתוך הסוף ותשלח את אמתה ותקחה lirchotz al ha'ye'or ve'na'aroseha holchos al yad ha'ye'or, va'tere es ha'teiva be'soch ha'suf, va'tishlach es amasa va'tikacheha. And she stretches out her hand in order to reach it in order to pull it in. Says רש\"י Rashi, what's the story of stretching out her hand? We all know. רבותינו דרשו אמתה לשון יד, אף על פי שכתוב בלשון הקודש אמה לא יד. Raboseinu darshu amasa lashon yad, af al pi she'kasuv be'lashon ha'kodesh amah lo yad. הם דרשו אמתה לשון יד שנשתרבבה אמתה אמות הרבה. Heim darshu amasa lashon yad, she'nishtar'beva amasa amos harbeh. Her hand, she was like plastic, it stretched, stretched, stretched, stretched longer than anatomically, normally the physiology of the body. Her hand stretched, stretched, stretched, well beyond, it went much further. Now I'll tell you a vort you all know, but it's worth repeating because it's so beautiful. Rebbe Yitzchak Vorka says the following. I don't understand. A miracle happened because Bas Paro is over here, she's busy doing the back float over here, and the basket's floating over there, and it's at such a distance that no one in their right mind would think that they can grab the basket. And yet, a miracle happened, and her arm stretched out, and she grabbed the basket. And Rebbe Yitzchak Vorka asks a very simple question. Why'd she put out her hand? If you're back floating over here, and the basket's floating over there, and you're not near each other, nice that it turned out after the fact the miracle happened, but why'd she put out her hand? How does that make any sense at all? So Rebbe Yitzchak Vorka says, and a friend quoted this, not this Siyum HaShas, but seven and a half, a little over seven and a half years ago now, at the previous Siyum HaShas, and he quoted a great secular poet who put it differently, that that which is, what was the, what was the lashon? Rebbe Yitzchak Vorka answers, you know why she did it? Because you have to reach for that which feels impossible, and then Hashem makes it possible. That which is beyond our reach is not beyond our grasp. Even that which feels beyond our reach is not beyond our grasp. He said it because you start out 2,711 pages of Shas, and at the very beginning you say, \"A siyum haShas, are you kidding?\" Seven and a half years of not missing a day? נח יומי, פרק Nach Yomi, perek of נח Nach, two straight years of not missing a day? Ah, that's beyond my reach. It's impossible. I can never grab onto it. I can never latch onto it. I can never make that happen. But you just have to try. And when you try, Hashem makes that which is beyond our reach, within our grasp. And that's the vort of Rebbe Yitzchak Vorka. He says, why did she reach out? Because she wasn't thinking, is it possible, is it not possible? She was thinking, there's a baby crying in a basket. So she reached. And even that which is feels impossible, when we begin and when we try, we turn the impossible into possible. And that also correlates with another understanding about her, about Bisya. A couple more quick thoughts. Of course, we didn't get to the end, but let me throw a couple more at you, and then we'll, and then we'll wrap up.Pasuk says, ותפתח ותראהו va'tiftach va'tir'eihu. She opens and she sees a baby. והנה נער בוכה ve'hinei na'ar boche. What do you mean נער na'ar? I thought you just said you see a baby. Is it a baby or a נער na'ar? Which is it? So Rashi tells us, it was a baby who had the voice of a נער na'ar. He had a very deep voice. He had a very mature voice. When Moshe cried, he sounded like an adult crying already. But the בעל הטורים Ba'al ha'Turim famously says, \"No, you know who the נער na'ar is? It's not Moshe. Who's the נער na'ar? אהרן Aaron. והנה נער בוכה ve'hinei na'ar boche means Aaron is watching from a distance. I shared this in the shiur that we gave on נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro. נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro means that you can't... Hagar when Yishmael is suffering, can't bear to watch. That's a cruel... when a mother can't bear to watch, that's cruelty. The Jewish view is, I can't bear to look away. I can't look away. Someone I care about, someone I feel empathy toward is suffering, I can't look away. והנה נער בוכה ve'hinei na'ar boche, Aaron can't stop watching. We see that with Hashem. Hashem in our parsha that we're not going to get to, talks to Moshe from the סנה sneh. Why from such a lowly thorn bush? אמו אנכי בצרה imo anochi be'tzara. Because Hashem says, נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro, I'm with you in this suffering. Moshe, his whole life, the מצרים Mitzri and at the well, is אמו אנכי בצרה imo anochi be'tzara. A big theme of our parsha is אמו אנכי בצרה imo anochi be'tzara of נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro, is to try to help another. Last week I gave a shiur in Boynton Beach, anyone here from Boynton? Last week I gave a shiur in Boynton Beach. The other side of the coin of נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro, you could listen online. It'll be in the newsletter on Thursday. The other side of the נושא בעול עם חברו nosei be'ol im chaveiro is to fargen another, to be able to be נושא בעול nosei be'ol means to celebrate the joy of another person. It's harder. Which is harder? To be נושא בעול nosei be'ol to help the suffering of another or to share in the joy of another? So the Alter of Kelm, who's getting a lot of play today, the Alter of Kelm says, you know which one's harder? To share in the joy. When someone else you know, you heard, חלילה chalila has been diagnosed with an illness or undergoes a financial collapse or their relationship is dissolving or they have terrible troubles from a child or a grandchild, you know, you look at them and you say, \"ברוך השם, at least it's not me.\" Now I can help. I'll make a meal, I'll give a ride, I'll do something because I'm so, so grateful at least it's not me. But when someone else is making a שמחה simcha, someone else, there's a שידוך shidduch of their child, someone else else has the stocks that are flying through the stock market, someone else bought a new horn, new house or has a nice car, then you say, why isn't that me? I should have that. And it's hard to share in the joy of another. That too is being נושא בעול nosei be'ol, the capacity to fargen another, to feel the joy and the happiness of another person, is a big theme here.So she opens, and the pasuk describes that Bisyah sees the baby, and only at the end of the same pasuk does it say, מילדי העברים זה mi'yaldei ha'Ivrim zeh. So what happens? She opens it, she looks, she feels pity, ותחמול עליו va'tachmol alav. And then she says מילדי העברים mi'yaldei ha'Ivrim. What's going on over here? So Rav Nissan Alpert, the talmid of Rav Moshe, one of the Roshei Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, in his Limudei Nissan, he says the following. He says, you know what's happening over here is very simple. We have an expression, חסד ואמת chesed ve'emes. We describe Hashem's two attributes, חסד ואמת chesed ve'emes. Why is it in that order חסד ואמת chesed ve'emes? The answer is חסד chesed and אמת emes are opposites. חסד chesed is kindness. חסד chesed is compassion. חסד chesed is flexibility. אמת emes is justice, strict justice and truth. If you're showing חסד chesed, then you're not representing the אמת emes. And if you're executing, if you're practicing strict justice, you have no חסד chesed. And that's why, Rav Nissan Alpert says, the ריבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam is described as חסד ואמת chesed ve'emes. Because his first instinct is חסד chesed, and then he tempers the חסד chesed with some אמת emes. But if the first instinct were אמת emes, it'd be hard to introduce חסד chesed. He says, בסיה בת פרעה Bisya bas Paro had a quality, that first she felt compassion, then she asked questions. ותחמול עליו va'tachmol alav, the first thing she felt was pity. Then, ותאמר va'tomer, then she said, מילדי העברים mi'yaldei ha'Ivrim. Oh, who is this kid? What would have happened if we were the opposite, says Rav Nissan Alpert? Could you imagine she opened the basket and she said, little baby, let me see some ID. Where are you from? Who are you? Is there a label? Is there a tag? What's your name? Oh, you're, you're from a child of these עברים Ivrim? Back in the basket, back out to sea. My father is in the middle of killing your whole people. My tati, my abba, my dad is in the middle of a genocide against your whole people. I'm sending you back out to sea. The only reason we are here is because what did she first feel? Compassion and pity. Her her inherent response, her instinct was ותחמול עליו va'tachmol alav. The first thing she felt was pity. Only then did she ask, who is this baby? And by the time that she felt the pity, asking who is this baby didn't take away. And says Rav Nissan Alpert, that's why what name do we call Moshe from? You know, the medrash in Koheles Rabbah describes that all people are given three names. Everyone has three names. But Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't given three names. How many was he given? Ten names. His father Amram called him יקותיאל Yekusiel. His mother called him יקותיאל Yekusiel. His sister Miriam called him ירד Yered. His brother Aaron called him אבי זנוח Avi Zanoach. His grandfather קהת Kehas called him אבי סוכו Avi Socho. Even Hashem had a name for him, but we don't use any of those names. We don't use Hashem's name, not his mother, not his father, not his brother, not his sister. What name do we use for him? Of the ten names? The name that was given from the Egyptian princess whose father tried to kill our people. That's the name that we always use. You probably never even heard of most of those other names. And we call him universally, we all call him משה Moshe. Why do we call him משה Moshe? says Rav Nissan Alpert? Because of this. Because we are to emulate and imitate בסיה בת פרעה Bisya bas Paro. ותחמול עליו va'tachmol alav, to first feel pity, and then to ask questions. You know, today, sadly, if you see somebody on the side of the road with a flat tire, you'll say, \"Who'd you vote for in the last presidential election?\" Somebody needs a Shabbos meal. Well, which minyan do they daven in? What kind of yarmulke do they wear on their head? Where do their grandchildren go to school? Before I can help them, I have to ask these questions. Do I like them? Do I not like them? Do I have things in common with them? Are they my adversary? Bisya, we call him Moshe because we have to remember, ותחמול עליו va'tachmol alav. First, have some pity, compassion, be kind. Then you want to ask some questions, then you can get into a political debate. But the first thing we do is have pity. Last vort. I saw this this morning. I love this. I got a great חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim for you. I have a great חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim for you. This חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim is worth coming today just for this חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. The pasuk says, we're going to spend a lot more time unpacking, but the pasuk describes that Moshe walks by the סנה sneh, כי סר לראות ki sar lir'os. He stops and he sees. Nobody else sees. Why does nobody else see? There's a bush, it's on fire, but it's not being consumed. There's a bizarre, unusual fire taking place, and nobody else stops to look. You know why? 'Cause everybody else is texting and looking down. They're walking. I'm not I'm not joking. There are phenomena going on all around us as miraculous as this bush. There are miracles, there are extraordinary, exceptional things going on all around us, and we don't even notice them because our head is down and we're looking and texting and reading and following and taking a selfie of and we don't even see it. Moshe sees it. And this becomes the image, the icon of leadership. Why? Because the leader has to always be on fire and never burn out. This is the image of leadership. To try to be on fire and never burn out. It's an unusual image, Hashem recruits Moshe. Moshe demurs. He says, \"I'm not interested.\" Hashem later pays him back for that hesitation. What in the world is Moshe thinking, telling the Almighty no, as if that's even an option. There's a whole discussion. Why does he have to take his shoes off? And why do we continue to take our shoes off on Har haBayis, if you have to take your shoes off, on Yom Kippur we take our shoes off. You can't wear leather shoes. What is the significance of shoes? All we don't have. time for now, but please God another time. But in the context of this פסוק posik in this of this narrative, the פסוק posik says the following. כי המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו Ki hamakom asher atah omed alav. השם Hashem says take your shoes off. Not make yourself more comfortable. Why is he telling him to take his shoes off? אדמת קודש הוא Admas kodesh hu. You're standing on holy consecrated ground.Says the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, listen to this. אל תאמר לכשאפנה אשנה Al tomar l'kshe'efneh eshneh. The משנה mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, the second chapter of אבות Avos says, don't say לכשאפנה אשנה l'kshe'efneh eshneh. You know, you know what I'm going to learn? When I retire and I come to Boca and I play mahjong and hit the early bird special, that's when I'll go to the פרשה parsha class. That's when I'll pick up the דף יומי Daf Yomi. You know when I'm going to start נ״ך יומי Nach Yomi, you know when I'm going to volunteer for חסד chesed, you know when I'll serve on a committee at the שול shul? When I have time, when I retire, and when I have time, that's when I'll live that virtuous life I'm meant to live. When I have time. כי אדם חושב בנפשו לכשיעבור השם את גבולו ויותן מצבו, אז יעסוק בתורה ובמצוות Ki adam choshev b'nafsho l'ksheya'avor Hashem es gvulo v'yutan matzavo, az ya'asok b'Torah u'v'mitzvos. Because you think when I carve some space and I have some margin, when I have some peace and I have some tranquility, that's when I'll do these virtuous activities. אבל לא כן עכשיו כשהוא בצער ובמצוקה Aval lo kein achshav k'shehu b'tzaar u'v'metzuka. But right now I'm trying to pay tuition, and I'm working like a dog to earn a living and put food on my table, and I'm scrambling to get my kids off to school and carpool two ways and fighting kids and there's a million things going on and I'm under enormous, immense pressure, הלחץ ha'lachatz, all this pressure. So I can't do virtuous activity now. You know when I'll have כוונה kavanah when I דאווען daven? You know when I'll say ברכות brachos out loud? You know when I'll make a meal for someone else? When I have time, when I retire. But now I'm so busy there's no room for this virtuous activity. Says the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, לזה אמר הכתוב, המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו, באותו מצב ובאותו שעה, קודש הוא l'zeh amar ha'kasuv, ha'makom asher atah omed alav, b'oso matzav u'v'oso sha'ah, kodesh hu.Every מקום makom that you're standing on, every מצב matzav of your life has the potential for קדושה kedusha. Don't say when I get there, when I get to that place in life, when I get to that time in my life, I'll do it. No. המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו Ha'makom asher atah omed alav, the place that you're standing, meaning the place of life, whatever age, whatever position, whatever the geographical location. המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו Ha'makom asher atah omed alav. A איד Yid has to always live life saying to themselves, the place that I'm in, קודש kodesh. It has the potential for holiness and sanctity. I'm not going to give it up. I'm not forfeiting or conceding. I'm not waiting and saying when will I have קדושה kedusha, some other place, some other time. המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו, אדמת קודש הוא Ha'makom asher atah omed alav, admas kodesh hu. Whatever place you're in in life is rich and pregnant with potential for קדושה kedusha, for holiness. That's what השם Hashem was telling משה Moshe, that's what he's telling us. Have a fantastic.
