Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov, welcome back to פרשה Parsha Perspectives for today, our weekly analysis of the פרשה parsha with an emphasis on the lessons that we can extract for today, for this week. We know there are no coincidences and whatever פרשה parsha we're reading, it's because there are messages embedded within it, not coincidentally for today. That פרשה parsha, that week, are those messages for that day. So that is the framework or the filter through which we analyze the פרשה parsha. This week we have the privilege of learning and studying פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira, page 318 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. We begin as always with gratitude, a thank you to our generous sponsors of this series for the year, Becky and Avi Katz, in loving memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, לעלוי נשמת le'iluy nishmas דוד בן מנחם מעניש David ben Menachem Monish. The שיעור shiur is also dedicated for Daniela Benyamina's birthday. Happy birthday, Daniela. By the Saka family, commemoration of the 50th יארצייט yahrzeit of their father, יוסף בן סלים Yosef ben Salim, on the 23rd of טבת Teves. By Gerald and Suzy Kirshbaum in memory of their father's יארצייט yahrzeit, יוסף בן צבי Yosef ben Tzvi and מרדכי בן אפרים Mordechai ben Ephraim, on the 25th of טבת Teves as well. And though he didn't sponsor, a special shout out to my good friend Mark Gerson who shared with me that he listens to a פרשה שיעור parsha shiur of mine every day of the week. He's on a treadmill somewhere listening to this. So thank you Mark, and you inspire me with your curiosity for learning. It's really something very special.פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira, page 318. We are continuing the narrative, we are continuing the story that has been unfolding, no matter how many times we've read these פרשיות parshios, no matter how familiar we are with the narrative and with the story, no matter how much we know it ends, the suspense is nevertheless gripping. And every year we read it, we're meant to read it as if we don't know the outcome. We don't know what's going to happen. And we're supposed to read it with new glasses, look at it with new pair of eyes to understand what was driving Pharaoh, what's driving Moshe and Aharon, what's in their mind, what's in their thoughts? What are they, what are they thinking about when they come? So let's start at the very beginning, which is always an excellent place to start. וידבר אלקים אל משה Vayidaber Elokim el Moshe, ויאמר אליו אני ה' vayomer eilav Ani Hashem. God spoke to Moshe and he said, I am God. And just on this opening פסוק pasuk, as is often the case I tell you, you could start at the opening פסוק pasuk and get stuck right there, if we do read it with an eye on trying to understand, not just trying to get to the הפטרה haftorah, מוסף musaf, and the קידוש kiddush, then we will be bothered by several questions. This פסוק pasuk is no different. וידבר אלקים אל משה Vayidaber Elokim el Moshe, ויאמר אליו אני vayomer eilav Ani, ה' Hashem. What's the question? שכויח Shkoyach. Why the change? Why the shift? What happened? וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim. God is speaking. God has many names. We use many names for God, and they depict, they reflect different aspects of ה' Hashem. There's the ה' Hashem of justice and the ה' Hashem of compassion. There are different components, different aspects of ה' Hashem. וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim, we begin with אלקים Elokim, מידת הדין midos hadin, the aspect of judgment, of justice, of strictness, the אלקים Elokim of God. ויאמר אליו Vayomer eilav and he introduces and says, אני ה' Ani Hashem. Nice to meet you. I'm ה' Hashem. That name ה' Hashem reflects not justice or judgment, but rather מידת הרחמים midos harachamim. So which God is it? And it's not that God has multiple personalities, חלילה chalilah, he doesn't have a disorder. We know that we also have different components to ourselves, and parents, sometimes a person engages and encounters their parent. Sometimes it's the mother and the father are different, even within the same parent, you could have a different perspective. Sometimes there's overflowing compassion, flexibility, and other times there's justice and there's judgment. So God begins וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim, it's מידת הדין midas hadin, and then when he introduces himself, the continuation of the פסוק pasuk, אני ה' Ani Hashem, מידת הרחמים midas harachamim. From judgment and justice to flexibility and compassion, which is the real God? What is God trying to communicate here? Did this ever bother you before? Is this your very first time reading פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira? So these are the kinds of questions that should bother us. They bothered the ראשונים Rishonim, it bothered the early medieval commentaries, and it bothered the later commentaries, and it's only when we're bothered, when we're agitated, will it be the catalyst to come up with nice explanations and beautiful suggestions. I was with a friend yesterday who came up with a new, a new program for us. He said we should start a program called שטארק Shtark Tank, where people give their חידושים chidushim in front of three רבנים rabbonim, and the רבנים rabbonim decide whether the חידושים chidushim are worthwhile or not, and we'll call it שטארק Shtark Tank. I thought it was a good idea. Anyway, so you have to be bothered by a question to come up with a שטארק shtark suggestion. רב זיידל עפשטיין Rav Zeidel Epstein, we've been quoting רב זיידל עפשטיין Rav Zeidel Epstein, I had never heard of him, but now I love his Torah. רב זיידל עפשטיין Rav Zeidel Epstein, who was the משגיח mashgiach of ישיבת תורה אור Yeshivas Torah Or, he says the following. He says, at the end of the previous פרשה parsha, Moshe says to the ה' Hashem, Moshe says to the רבונו של עולם Ribbono Shel Olam, למה הרעות לעם הזה Lama hare'osa la'am hazeh, למה זה שלחתני lama zeh shlachtani. Why have you done such harsh things? Why are you doing such terrible things to the Jewish people? Why are you harming them? Why do they have to suffer? Why do they have to endure? Why have you sent me? ומאז באתי אל פרעה U'mei'az basi el Paroh, לדבר בשמך הרע לעם הזה ledaber bishmecha hera la'am hazeh, והצל לא הצלת את עמך vehatzel lo hitzalta es amecha. And רש\"י Rashi says, מה איכפת לך ma ichpas lach, קובל אני על ששלחתני kaval ani al sheshlachtani. So Moshe Rabbeinu is complaining to God about two things. Moshe Rabbeinu is resisting his שליחות shlichus, he's complaining to God about two things. Number one, למה הרעות לעם הזה Lama hare'osa la'am hazeh. Why are you being so difficult? Why are you being so, so, practicing such justice with this people? למה הרעות Lama hare'osa, you've brought such evil, you've brought such pain, such suffering upon the people. לא הצלתם lo hitzaltam, it's not just that you haven't saved them, but rather you're living not only with הסתר פנים hester panim, not only are you hiding your face God, but that hiddenness is exposing the people. למה הרעות Lama hare'osa, they're suffering. Moreover, למה נשלחתי לשליחות כזו Lama nishlacha lishlichus kazu, and why did you send me on this mission? You sent me on this kamikaze mission. You sent me right into the lion's den. You sent me right into the palace of iniquity, and you want me to confront Pharaoh, you want me to make these demands of Pharaoh. Why are you doing it? So ה' Hashem answers him, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. לכאורה לא מצינו תשובה על שאלת למה הרעות Lechora lo matzinu tshuva al she'eilas lama hare'osa. So God answers about the שליחות shlichus. God answers, I sent you, you're my agent, you're my messenger, you're my ambassador, you're going to liberate them. We spoke about this past Shabbos. לכה ואשלחך Lecha v'eshlachacha, God says, now go, carry out your שליחות shlichus. We wake up in the morning, there are two types of people. There are those who are takers, there are those who think the world owes them. There are those who feel rights and entitlements. I'm alive, I'm here. Now the world owes me. What are my rights? What are my privileges? What are my entitlements? What comes with this membership called life? What comes with this subscription? What do I get out of it? And then there are others, and that's how we're meant to live, which is not what can I take, what can I extract, not what are my rights and entitlements, but מה חובתו בעולמו ma chovaso b'olamo to quote the רמח\"ל Ramchal at the beginning of מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim. What's my mission? Why am I here? What difference am I meant to make? What am I uniquely positioned to do in this world that no one else can do? What's my שליחות shlichus? What is my mission? What is my mission? So God says to Moshe, לך lecha go, ואשלחך v'eshlachacha, you're on a mission. You're my שליח shliach, you represent me. And when you wake up in the morning with a sense of שליחות shlichus, that I'm here for a mission, that I have something to get done. רבה אמונתך Rabbah emunascha, God, your faith in me is great, and that's why I woke up this morning, and I yet have more to accomplish. I quoted it on Shabbos, but I'll repeat it now because today I think is the אלטער רבי Alter Rebbe's יארצייט yahrzeit. No לובאוויטשערס Lubavitchers here? Hundreds of people, not one. Oh, today is the אלטער רבי Alter Rebbe's יארצייט yahrzeit. So the אלטער רבי Alter Rebbe, a חסיד chassid once came to him and gave a קוויטל kvittel, the names of the family members, and asked for all these ברכות brachos. I need help with פרנסה parnasah, with a livelihood, געזונט gezunt with good health, with נחת nachas from my children, a long list of things. So the אלטער רבי Alter Rebbe turned to the חסיד chassid and he said, you've given a lot of thought and you've worked hard, you've given a lot of thought and a lot of time to what you need. Have you given thought and time to how you're needed? You've given a lot of thought to what you need. Have you given thought and attention to how you are needed? שליחות Shlichus, how are we needed? Why are we needed? For what are we needed? How can we become the people we were meant to be? So שליחות shlichus ה' Hashem answered. But Hashem never seemed to have answered the question of למה הרעות Lama hare'osa. The people are suffering, the people are struggling. Moshe is bothered. It seems to be an injustice. Why? Why? אלא זה גופא התשובה ela zeh gufa ha'tshuva. Said Rav Zeidel Epstein, that itself is the answer. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Avraham at ברית בין הבתרים bris bein habsarim. ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך Yadoa teida ki ger yihyeh zaracha, בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אתם b'eretz lo lahem va'avadum v'inu osam, ארבע מאות שנה arba me'os shanah. נגזר על כלל ישראל להיות בגלות מצרים ד' מאות שנה nigzar al Klal Yisrael liyos b'galus Mitzrayim dalet me'os shanah. למעשה יצאו כעבור מאתיים ועשר שנים lemaaseh yatzu k'avor matayim v'eser shanim. I, God originally ordained that they would be slaves for 400, 400 years. And then God had mercy, and it was only 210. בשעת יציאת מצרים bishas yetzias Mitzrayim היה עליו טענה hayah alav ta'ana. You said 400 years, it's only 210, it's a little more than a half. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, if they would sink any lower, if they would sink any lower into the level of corruption, moral decadence, and decay, they would lose their identity, forget about it. They'd be lost, there'd be no chance. מה יעשה עם הבטחתו mah ya'aseh im havtachaso, שישראל ישתעבדו במצרים ארבע מאות שנה she'Yisrael yishtabdu b'Mitzrayim arba me'os shanah? לכן נקשה השיעבוד כך lachen niksheh hashibud kach. So on the one hand, God is a person of his word. He promised at the ברית בין הבתרים bris bein habsarim that they would be slaves for 400 years. How could they only serve for 210? The answer is that God consolidated the 400 into 210. The intensity, the severity, the pain, the suffering, the קושי koshi of the שיעבוד shibud, the intensity and the suffering of the servitude was consolidated, was condensed, was 400 years in 210. דוקא קושי השיעבוד עצמו dafka koshi hashibud atzmo, היה חלק מתהליך הגאולה hayah chelek mi'tahalich hageulah, וכולו רחמים v'kulo rachamim. So that intensity that they underwent, in fact, was an expression not of justice, was an expression of compassion. If God were just, if God were true to his word, they would have been there for another 190 years. But God out of רחמים rachamim, out of compassion, consolidated and intensified. And that's how Rav Zeidel Epstein is to understanding, וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim is מידת הדין midas hadin, ויאמר אליו אני ה' vayomer eilav Ani Hashem. You wonder, למה הרעות lama hare'osa, you Moshe are bothered, where's the justice? God, how could you do this? The suffering so terribly? You need to know, אני ה' Ani Hashem, I'm the God of רחמים rachamim. What you perceive as strict justice is an expression of compassion. I'm infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, you are finite and mere mortal. You can't see and you don't understand the חשבון cheshbon, you don't understand the equation. But you need to know that from your perspective, what looks like justice, from your perspective, what perspective what looks so unfair is in fact an act of kindness, is an act of kindness. And if I would do the opposite of what you're asking, that would in fact be something which is unkind. And this is the lesson, this is a message we speak about every week in our living with אמונה שיעור emunah shiur, that as we endure life, as we go through life, we want to understand it going forward, but we can only understand it in retrospect, living backwards. And that's what Moshe says to God, not now, later, פרשת כי תשא Parshas Ki Sisa, I want to understand your ways. And God says, you cannot see my face, you can only see the back of my head. You can only understand in retrospect, retroactively. Sometimes things come together, you can make sense of it. But when you're living it in real time, you need to know you're not entitled. I find often people want to understand, we demand to understand, we feel entitled to understand. Where was God and how was God and how could God? And these are legitimate and compelling questions, they're painful questions for people going through a hard time. But we need to know that with the admission, with the belief that there is a God is the belief and the admission and the concession that therefore there are things that we cannot and will not understand. If we demand or feel entitled to understand everything, then we could offer all the lip service in the world to say we believe in God, but we don't. With the belief in God comes the implicit admission or the concession, we have to surrender, that there are things we don't understand. He's infinite and omnipotent, and we're finite and mere mortal, and we don't see from our perspective. Only he sees from his. And that's what Hashem was saying at the opening. וידבר אלקים אל משה Vayidaber Elokim el Moshe, yes, I'm an אלקים Elokim. I practice judgment, I practice justice, there is a מידת הדין midas hadin. But also אני ה' Ani Hashem. Fundamentally under it all, אני ה' Ani Hashem, I am God who's filled with love. That opening sentence of our פרשה parsha is and that what we say to our children all the time? When we hold our own children accountable, when we hold them accountable, because they have not lived up to our rules, they haven't lived within our boundaries, they've made mistakes, or they violated what we ask of them. So on the one hand, וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim, on the one hand, there's justice, on the one hand, there's consequence, on the one hand, there's accountability. That's our job as parents to hold them accountable, to teach them responsibility. But why are we doing that? Punitively? Are we doing that to punish? No, because אני ה' Ani Hashem, the מידת הרחמים midas harachamim. When a person loves their child, they're willing to carry out justice with them. If a person would not love their child, they would not carry out justice. That's why we call it the month of מנחם אב Menachem Av. I've shared many times from the קאצקער Kotzker, מנחם אב Menachem Av, that's a compassionate month of Av, it's the opposite. The month that has תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, the month that is the harshest day on our calendar, with the greatest suffering and the greatest loss throughout the millennia, that's called מנחם Menachem, the compassionate, the answer is yes. Only a parent loves a child enough to hold them accountable. Only a parent loves a child enough to hold them accountable. Sometimes when I have to interact with our children and say, you can't do that, or here's the consequence of something you did, and they say, but my friend's parents let them go, and my friend's parents didn't punish them, my friend's parents. I say, your friend's parents don't love them as much as I love you. I can't tell you that how much I mean that from the bottom of my heart. It's hard to be a parent to hold accountable. It's much easy to be flexible. It's much easier to say, do what you want, and it's fine, I'll let it go, and I'm not going to teach you accountability and responsibility. It's it's painful for the parent to have to hold the child accountable. It's painful to hear the kvetching and the relentless complaining about it and begging, please don't do it. And it's painful because you don't want to see your child lose out on something they want. But I say and I mean from the bottom of my heart. I say, נעבעך Nebach, your friend's parents don't love them as much as I love you. They they'll understand it when they become parents, they'll understand it. They don't right now. But we who are parents, and we bless those who want to be parents, they should be blessed to know what parenting is. But we who are parents can understand what Hashem is saying. וידבר אלקים Vayidaber Elokim. What you perceive as harsh justice, accountability, אני ה' Ani Hashem, it's coming from love. It's coming from מידת הרחמים midas harachamim. It's coming because I love you and I care about you, and that's why I'm trying to teach you this. So this opening פסוק pasuk is a mission statement of all parenting. It's a statement of the relationship that we have with Hashem. We don't always appreciate it or see it or understand it, but that's where he's coming from. וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק ואל יעקב Va'eira el Avraham, el Yitzchak, v'el Yaakov, באל שדי ושמי ה' לא נודעתי להם b'El Shaddai, u'shmi Hashem lo nodati lahem. God continues, he says, I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov as אל שדי El Shaddai. He invokes another of his names right now, how I appeared to him. רש\"י Rashi says, הבטחתי להם הבטחות hiftachtim havtachos, וכולן אמרתי להם אני אל שדי v'kulana amarti lahem Ani El Shaddai. I made them promises and I always told them my name, שדי, שאמרתי לעולמי די Shaddai, sha'amarti l'olami dai, I looked at the world and said, enough. ושמי ה' לא נודעתי להם u'shmi Hashem lo nodati lahem, my name Hashem, I did not make known to, I did not make known to them my name Hashem. So there's a comment of רש\"י Rashi. רש\"י Rashi says, וארא va'eira, I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. And now רש\"י Rashi jumps in, lest you be confused, lest you have forgotten ספר בראשית Sefer Breishis, lest you not remember who Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are. Jumps in רש\"י Rashi with two words, וארא va'eira, I appeared, says רש\"י Rashi, to whom? אל האבות El ha'avos. האבות Ha'avos. אל האבות El ha'avos. רש\"י Rashi, אל האבות el ha'avos. In case you forgot who Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov are, they are the אבות avos. They are the patriarchs. שכויח רש\"י Shkoyach Rashi. That's רש\"י Rashi, the great רש\"י Rashi, the incomparable רש\"י Rashi. That's the great האבות ha'avos. שכויח Shkoyach. What a פירוש peirush. If I'd publish a ספר sefer today, and on the פסוק pasuk, I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and I said, I have an איינפאל einfall, I have a great כאפ chap, I have a great commentary, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, the אבות avos. You you'd be sitting here by myself, nobody would come to a שיעור shiur if that's my I have a דבר תורה dvar Torah. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, those are the אבות avos. What's Rashi adding, אל האבות el ha'avos? What is Rashi adding? Did that bother you? Okay, שכויח shkoyach. You got to ask these questions. So in this beautiful ספר sefer the שפתי עליון Sidchei Elyon that I've been quoting, a collection of different מוסר mussar interpretations on the פרשה parsha, he quotes who I never heard of him, הגאון רב שמאי צאן ha'gaon Rav Shamai Tzon, the ראש ישיבה rosh yeshiva of נצח ישראל Netzach Yisrael in Sunderland. Boruch Hashem, someone did the hard work and collected from people I never heard of. A fault in me, not in him. So he says the following. Apparently he has a ספר sefer called בית שמאי Beis Shamai. בית שמאי Beis Shamai. So in his ספר sefer בית שמאי Beis Shamai he says the following. איך אפשר לבוא בטענה על משה רבינו Eich efshar lavo b'taina al Moshe Rabbeinu, על מה שאינו מדמה לאברהם יצחק ויעקב al mah she'eino misdameh l'Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov, שהם שלא שאלו על הנהגת ה' יתברך she'heim sho lo sha'alu al hanhagas Hashem Yisborach, והאמינו בו בלא שום שאלות v'he'eminu bo b'lo shum she'eilos. What is God basically responding to Moshe? Moshe says, למה הרעות לעם הזה Lama hare'osa la'am hazeh. Moshe says, God, I gave a, I gave a look, I saw what's happening in Egypt. They're suffering. It's horrible. Murder, persecution, suffering, servitude, it's terrible, the oppression. למה הרעות Lama hare'osa, how could you do such a thing? Where are you God? How could you do such a thing? And God says to him, you know, you know, you had grandfathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, they never asked such a thing. They never challenged me in that way. They never had such a problem. Moshe, what's going on over here? So he wants to know Rav Shamai, how could you hold Moshe accountable to live like Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov? הלא משה רבינו לא היה בדרגתן halo Moshe Rabbeinu lo hayah b'dargasan. They're Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. These are the אבות avos, these are the patriarchs. So you're saying, Moshe, how dare you ask, they never asked. Okay, they were them and I'm me. I'm not on that level. That's why Rashi says, וארא אל האבות va'eira el ha'avos. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu amar l'Moshe, אברהם, יצחק ויעקב הם האבות שלך Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov heim ha'avos shelcha, ואתה ירשת מהם את המידה הזו v'atah yarashta mehem es hamidah hazu, של אמונה בשלימות shel emunah b'shleimus, וזה אצלך טבע v'zeh etzlecha teva. איך הקשית לדבר דברים כאלה Eich hikshisa ledaber dvarim ka'eileh. Had the פסוק pasuk, the פסוק pasuk just reads, God says to Moshe, how dare and how could you ask such a thing? Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov never asked. So Moshe could say, okay, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were much greater than I am. So Rashi kicks in and says, you know what God was telling them? These were not three strangers. These were not three people far removed from you. These were not three ancient people that have nothing to do with you. These are the source of your DNA. You inherited their physical and spiritual legacy. If Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov could live and see what they saw, and lean in and believe in me and never doubt, never question, isn't that the legacy they gave you? That's what Rashi is adding. If we're just Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, without any explicit reference or association, what's the relationship with you? So Moshe could say, okay, very nice, they never asked, they're much greater than I am. I have these questions. That's what Rashi is adding. Is that what Hashem is saying is, these are the אבות avos. That's your mother and father, these are your באבע און זיידע Bubby and Zeidy. Don't you follow in their footsteps? Didn't you inherit their legacy? Don't you have their DNA within you? You should have their nature as your second nature. They didn't ask and you shouldn't ask. If it's just that they were separate, independent people, they wouldn't necessarily obligate us. Who's to say we could live on their level? But when we look back at where we come from, when we look back at where we come from, when we understand what we have been bequeathed, when we understand what we have inherited, when we understand the strength and the capacity that is within us, then we have no excuse not to dig deep, not to walk in their footsteps, not to realize that DNA, that potential, and that possibility in us. That's why it's so important to know where we come from, to understand the story of our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents. סתם Stam is interesting. סתם Stam it's fascinating. It's good יחוס yichus for שידוכים shidduchim? Why? Why does it matter? Because when we understand their resiliency and their tenacity, when we understand their faith in, in in front of tremendous adversity, then we know what we have within us, the possibility within us, then we know, they didn't just give us irritable bowel syndrome if you're Ashkenazi. They didn't just give us whatever other Ashkenazi genetics they gave us. They gave us the genetics of אמונה emunah and דביקות dveikus and בטחון bitachon. They gave us the tenacity and the resiliency. And that's what Rashi is adding. These are your אבות avos. It's not סתם stam Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. These are the אבות avos and this is the possibility that you have, and therefore it's פאסט נישט pas nisht. You're capable of such greater, of so much more. Do you know where you're, where you're from? The לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, זכר צדיק לברכה zecher tzaddik l'vracha, it's the אלטער רבי Alter Rebbe's יארצייט yahrzeit, but the לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe used to say, if a Jew said to the לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, they introduced, they got a dollar, they, they introduced themselves, they said, I don't have a background. You know, I'm here, but or describing about somebody, oh, so and so, they don't have, they don't have a Jewish background, they don't have much of a background. He would say, they're not a child of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov? Of Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah? They don't have a background? חלילה Chalilah, God forbid a Jew ever introduces themselves or another Jew by saying they don't have a background. That's רש\"י Rashi, אל האבות el ha'avos. You don't have a background? Are you not a descendant? Are you not the progeny and offspring of אברהם, יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov, of שרה, רבקה, רחל ולאה Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, v'Leah? Do we know who we are and what we have within us? And that's what Hashem was saying. זו היא התביעה והטענה על משה רבינו zeh hi ha'tviah v'ha'taina al Moshe Rabbeinu, שיצטרך להשתמש בכוחות she'yitzarech l'hishtamesh b'koichos, שירש מאבותיו הקדושים she'yarash mei'avosav hakedoshim. This was the טענה taina Hashem had on Moshe. Moshe, you're not סתם stam a person. Do you know your background? Do you know your יחוס yichus? Do you know where you come from? Dig deep Moshe, don't ask these questions. So גם התביעה לכל אחד ואחד מישראל gam ha'tviah l'chol echad v'echad mi'Yisrael, יש לנו ירושה גדולה yesh lanu yerusha gedolah. This is a טענה taina Hashem has on us, because we have a tremendous, tremendous ירושה yerusha. We have this tremendous, tremendous possibility. I'm going to do something I never do now. You know how every week I get annoyed, we get halfway through and I don't get to everything I wanted to do? So the end of last year's שיעור פרשת וארא shiur Parshas Va'eira, all the things I didn't share, we're going to now work to the end of the פרשה parsha and work backwards. I want to get to them. I don't want two years in a row, the same things from last year and work backwards. So we're going to skip ahead in the פרשה parsha. I trust you all know פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira. There were a bunch of מכות makkos, a bunch of plagues. You know the storyline that it's not going to utterly and thoroughly confuse you if we go out of order. So go to פרק ח' פסוק י\"ט Perek Ches, pasuk yud-tes. Top of page 332. Chapter 8, verse 19. And here we have the fourth plague. The fourth plague was, כה אמר ה' שלח עמי ויעבדני Ko amar Hashem shalach ami v'ya'avduni. We have the fourth plague, the swarm of wild beasts. A swarm of wild beasts. So the Torah says here, כי אם אינך משלח את עמי ki im eincha meshaleach es ami, הנני משליח בך ובעבדיך ובעמך ובבתיך את הערב hineni mashliach becha u'va'avadecha u'v'amcha u'v'vatecha es he'arov. This is the plague of ערוב arov. I'm going to send you a bunch of wild beasts. ומלאו בתי מצרים את הערב u'mal'u batei Mitzrayim es he'arov. It's going to fill the houses of Egypt, וגם האדמה אשר הם עליה v'gam ha'adamah asher heim aleha, and the land, the ground that they are on. והפליתי ביום ההוא את ארץ גושן V'hifleisi ba'yom hahu es eretz Goshen, אשר עמי עומד עליה asher ami omed aleha, לבלתי היות שם ערוב l'vilti heyos sham arov. Verse 18, פסוק י\"ח pasuk yud-ches. On that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, upon which my people stands, that there will be no swarm there, so that you will know that I am Hashem in the middle of the land. So what is Moshe? What does God through Moshe say now? He says, I'm going to send these wild beasts, they're going to ravage the land, but Goshen, Monsey Circle, the אידישע Yiddishe ghetto, the little enclave where there's all many vans and bind the במה bema magnets, there there will be no wild beasts. They will be protected from this plague, the little Jewish ghetto, the little Jewish שטעטל shtetl, the little Jewish enclave, that little zip code of all the Honda Odysseys, there will be no wild beasts. Good. Next פסוק pasuk. ושמתי פדות בין עמי ובין עמך v'samti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha, למחר יהיה האות הזה l'machar yihyeh ha'os hazeh. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. Tomorrow, the sign will come about. What did that פסוק pasuk add that the last פסוק pasuk didn't say? The very last פסוק pasuk said, Goshen, where the Jews live, the Jewish zip code, no ערוב arov, no wild beasts. Then the next פסוק pasuk says, oh, and by the way, I'll make this distinction between the Jews and the non-Jews, the Egyptians, and the Jewish people, and you'll know למחר l'machar tomorrow will be this big sign that not everybody's the same. These are my children, the Jewish people. I love them. I protect them. The rest of you are going to be visited by wild beasts, the fourth plague. Hopefully, you're going to finally learn your lesson and let my people go. What does פסוק י\"ט pasuk yud-tes add to פסוק י\"ח pasuk yud-ches? What's new? פסוק י\"ט Pasuk yud-tes over פסוק י\"ח pasuk yud-ches? What's going on over here? What's going on over here? So רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says the following. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says, the following, in the רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik חומש Chumash, says the following. ושמתי פדות בין עמי ובין עמך V'samti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. I will make a distinction, a division between my people and your people. In the הבדלה Havdalah at the close of Shabbos, we bless Hashem who has separated between the holy and the profane, between light and darkness, between the Jewish people and the nations. המבדיל בין קדש לחול בין אור לחשך בין ישראל לעמים Hamavdil bein kodesh l'chol, bein or l'choshech, bein Yisrael la'amim, בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה bein yom hashvi'i l'sheshes yemei hama'aseh. When we analyze these examples of הבדלה havdalah or separation, more closely, we notice a fundamental difference between them. The הבדלה havdalah between light and darkness is clear for all to perceive. It's measurable. If it's light or if it's dark is measurable. It's scientific. Anyone can see. You don't need a high IQ, you don't need a special pair of glasses, you don't need to have an instinct or an intuition. If you look outside, you know if it's light or dark. You can see the difference. Indeed, even animals and plants respond to these stimuli. With the arrival of sunset, flowers close their blossoms. When the sun rises, the blossoms open up to face it. So you don't even have to be the highest level נשמה neshama, a נפש nefesh, the דומם domeim, the plant life, and the animal also respond to the difference between light and dark. The הבדלה havdalah of light and darkness is a הבדלה havdalah that is seen or sensed by all. The הבדלה havdalah between holy and profane, בין קודש לחול bein kodesh l'chol, is much different. The eye cannot perceive this הבדלה havdalah. A person needs to have special intuition to see with his heart, as this separation can only be sensed. After alternately mentioning the clearest of הבדלות havdalos, dark and light, and the most hidden of הבדלות havdalos, between holy and profane, the author of הבדלה Havdalah then poses a third הבדלה havdalah, between ישראל Yisrael and העמים ha'amim. So we have בין אור לחשך bein or l'choshech, that's measurable. It's clear. Everyone and everything understands that. You also have what's not measurable and what's not clear, which is בין קודש לחול bein kodesh l'chol, you need an intuition. You need to have a very sensitive spiritual soul to know the difference between holy and profane. In between them, you have בין ישראל לעמים bein Yisrael la'amim. Are ישראל לעמים Yisrael la'amim, the הבדלה havdalah, the distinction between ישראל לעמים Yisrael la'amim, is that more similar to the difference between אור לחשך or l'choshech, or to the difference between קודש לחול kodesh l'chol? That's the question of רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik. בין ישראל לעמים Bein Yisrael la'amim, the difference between a איד Yid, a Jew, and a non-Jew, is that more similar to the difference between light and dark, or more similar to the difference between holy and profane? That's his question. The havdalah between Jewish people and the nations is sometimes identical with the dichotomy between light and darkness. And at other times with the dichotomy between sacred and profane. When Jews keep the commandments, when they live their lives as a holy nation, the contrast between Israel and the nations becomes evident to all. When the Jew abandons Hashem, however, no longer is there obvious evidence of havdalah. Yet as mired in sin as the Jew may be, deep in the Jewish soul, there remains something holy and mysterious which can neither be erased nor destroyed. The answer Rav Soloveitchik gives is, both. It depends. When the Jew is living the ideal, when we are living with Torah values and Torah ideals and a Torah lifestyle, then the world looks at the Jew compared to the gentile, and the Jew, and the world says that Jew, that Jew is living for holiness, not happiness. That Jew has impeccable, incredible midos. Tomorrow night we're interviewing behind the bema, Coach Steinmetz of the YU Max and its star player Ryan Terrell. 50 game win streak. The NBA, ESPN have taken note and tweeted and complimented. They have the biggest win streak in college basketball. A group of guys with יאמעקעס Yarmulkes who don't play on שבת Shabbos obviously and representing ישיבה יוניברסיטי Yeshiva University. Unbelievable.So we will ask the coach, what distinguishes and what differentiates a basketball team of ישיבה Yeshiva versus any other university, every other college team? What's different? Players wear יאמעקעס Yarmulkes, what else? Is there any other, do you דאווען daven, do you have a דבר תורה dvar Torah? Is there an emphasis on מדות midos? If you ever watch any of the Max play, if you watch any of the games, you'll see, you know, in sports, certainly in professional sports, if there's a collision or the opponent is knocked down, you get up, you show them your back and you walk away. Can't help the enemy. Tough. Tough, you bounce up first and you give them your back and you walk away. You're not going to help the enemy. The YU Max team has an emphasis. Someone fall, you pick up the player on the other team. You help them up. You help them up. מדות Midos. מדות Midos. בֵּן יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעַמִּים Ben Yisrael la'amim. When a Jew wears a יאמעקע Yarmulke, and when a Jew plays with מדות midos, and when a Jew, it it's an altogether different game. It's a different game they're playing. You can distinguish. That's the ישיבה יוניברסיטי Yeshiva University team. It's unbelievable. Jews could dunk? Whoever heard of such a thing? Should be a ברכה bracha that you say or something. I never heard of such a thing. It's unbelievable. He had 51 points in a game. It's ממש mamash. ניסים ונפלאות Nissim v'niflaos. Unbelievable. So בֵּן יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעַמִּים Ben Yisrael la'amim, you should be able to distinguish and see when we're living our ideal, when we're living the best version of who we're meant to be, then the world looks and takes note and says, בֵּן יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעַמִּים Ben Yisrael la'amim. That's unbelievable. When we're not, when we're when we're acting just like them, not that they are bad or evil or categorically wrong, but meaning when we give in to the corrupt, corruption and the moral decay of the world, when we're not as easily discernibly distinguished in our behavior and who we are, there still is something within the Jewish soul that's different.So says רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Saloveitchik, in מצרים Mitzrayim, the Israelites lived in an era when both the Egyptians and the Jews worshiped idols. One could barely perceive a contrast between them. Yet the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam indeed separated between them. He discerned holiness in the soul which was profane and full of sin, and he therefore saved his people. The very word פסח Pesach, Passover, expresses the idea of הבדלה Havdalah when superficially there seems to be no reason to make such a separation. So the רב Rav says, you know what this פסוק pasuk means, וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus, I'll make a separation between my people and the nations of the world. That even when the Jews are not living up to who they're meant to be, even when it's not discernible and distinguishable based on their behavior, there's still something fundamentally and intrinsically different. Says השם Hashem, I will place that different. וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus. I will make that difference. I will make that difference. There's something maybe mysterious, maybe elusive, enigmatic, but there's something holy, something separate, something different about the yearning, about the hope, about the faith of the Jewish soul. What is that difference? What is that difference? So all last year I shared with you from רב דרוק Rav Druk, אש תמיד eish tamid, stories from רב דרוק Rav Druk, דברי תורה divrei Torah from רב דרוק Rav Druk. So I'll tell you, וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. רב דרוק Rav Druk answers our question. רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druk, a great ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael today, is אש תמיד eish tamid. All last year we shared incredible דברי תורה divrei Torah. It's a tremendous תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, beautiful, beautiful דברי תורה divrei Torah. And he has an amazing capacity when you meet him and you go for a ברכה bracha, he has this ability to see things and say things and it's really amazing. I'll tell you just a quick story. I was at an event last week, Ambassador David Friedman. If you haven't signed up yet, January 11th or 9th? Anyone have the weekly? We're hosting a beautiful event, co-sponsored by the Latino Coalition for Israel, a group of non-Jews who are more devoted to Israel than many of the Jewish people. We're having Ambassador David Friedman speak. There's a big group of speakers, it's a beautiful event. So I saw Ambassador Friedman at an event and he said to me, I heard that you are into רב דרוק Rav Druk. I heard that you have a relationship with רב דרוק Rav Druk. Let me tell you an amazing רב דרוק Rav Druk story. So he told me the following story. He said in 2011 he was thinking about making עלייה aliyah, he wanted to move to Israel. So he went to רב דרוק Rav Druk, he gave him his names, he asked for a ברכה bracha. And he said to רב דרוק Rav Druk, I'm thinking about retiring. He said I was of capacity, I could have moved to Israel. I was able to give up my livelihood and retire, my children were positioned in life, I could have moved to Israel. And I thought I want to move to Israel. But רב דרוק Rav Druk poo-pooed it and he went on to talking to me about my children. So he said I went back to רב דרוק Rav Druk and I said, yeah, but my question really is about me. I want to move to Israel, should I move to Israel now? He said at the time he was 53 years old, if I move to Israel now there are things I could do in Israel. If I wait five more years, who knows what will be, I'll be older, what difference will I make? Should I go right now? So רב דרוק Rav Druk turned to him and he said to him, work for five more years, you'll go to Israel in five years and I promise you, you'll be very busy, you'll have what to do. Fast forward five years to the month is when the president asked him to be the ambassador to Israel. Okay, do with it what you want. It's a great רב דרוק Rav Druk story. So רב דרוק Rav Druk says the following. Says the following. וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. He says, you know the proper way to read this פסוק pasuk? וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus, וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus, I will make a distinction between my people and your people. Don't read it וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי בֵּין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami bein amecha, comma, למחר le'machar, tomorrow, יהיה האות הזה yihyeh ha'os hazeh. Tomorrow this distinction will be clear. Don't read it that way. You know what the proper way to read it is? וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha למחר le'machar. I will make a difference between my people and your and the other people. And you know what the difference will be? Whether they live for למחר le'machar or not. Do they see, are they aware of, is there a consciousness of tomorrow?The non-Jew, the עמך amecha, the Egyptian, again not every non-Jew, there are virtuous, wonderful, amazing non-Jews from whom we can learn so much. I always pause because I think it's very important to not create such a paradigm of distinction. They're all terrible, they're all מצרים Mitzrim, they're all פרעה Paro, only the אידן Yidden, only the Jews are good. We don't live in such a world. We don't have such a worldview. But when we talk about what the תורה Torah empowers us, the תורה Torah enables us, what the תורה Torah charges us to live a different consciousness, a different mindfulness, a different a different ethic, a different moral. That's what I mean when we talk about עמי ami and עמך amecha. So says רב דרוק Rav Druk, וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus, you know what the difference is בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ bein ami u'vein amecha? The difference is למחר le'machar. Our attitude to tomorrow. Do we only live for today or are we aware of, are we invested in, do we care about tomorrow? שהחלק בין עם ישראל ומצרים הוא למחר She'ha'cheilek bein Am Yisrael u'Mitzrayim hu le'machar. פרעה עיקרו בהווה Paro ikaro ba'hoveh. אם אתה נח לו הוא רגוע Im ata noach lo hu ragua. ואם אתה קשה לו הוא כועס V'im ata ka'ash lo hu ko'es. כיוון שכל עולם ההסתכלות של גוי היא על הרגע הנוכחי בלבד Keivan she'kol olam ha'histaklus shel goy hi al ha'rega ha'nochechi bilvad. The average secular non-Jew lives for the moment, carpe diem, the right now, the here and now. Am I comfortable? Am I happy? Am I agitated? Am I in pain? Everything about my life is how I'm defined in the moment, in the here and now. ולא איכפת לו עונש של עולם הבא ועתיד שלו V'lo ichpas lo an she'olam haba v'asid shelo. How what I'm doing today impacts tomorrow? Will I be accountable in a world to come? Ah, who cares? Right now this gives me pleasure. Right now this is what I want to do. Right now this makes me happy. אמנם היהודי עיקרו העתיד Omnam ha'Yehudi ikaro ha'asid. But a Jew doesn't live for today. A Jew while they're living today is already aware of tomorrow and is still thinking about yesterday. כיוון שיודע שכל חייו הם כעין פרוזדור לעולם הבא Keivan she'yodea she'kol chayav hem ke'gader prozdor le'olam haba. We know that our entire life is all a hallway to the world to come. וגם אם עתה לא נוח לו כיוון שיודע שמחר יותר טוב לו הרי הוא רגוע V'gam im ata lo noach lo keivan she'yodea she'machar yoser tov lo harei hu ragua. Right now I'm uncomfortable. Right now there's discomfort. Right now it's inconvenient. It's inconvenient to pay day school tuition. Very inconvenient to pay day school tuition. It's expensive, so why do it? You know what kind of car I could drive? You know what kind of home I could live in? You know what kind of Starbucks triple latte caramel whatever I could order every בשכבך ובקומך beshachbecha u'vekumecha? If I didn't have to pay day school, you know what kind of vacations I could take? You know what version of the iPhone I would have? So why pay, why pay ישיבה Yeshiva tuition? Because a Jew lives למחר le'machar. What kind of tomorrow will there be if our, if our קינדערלאך kinderlach don't have a Jewish education? So right now I live without. Right now I go into debt. You know, this generation, even within the Jewish community, we are an assimilated תורה Torah community, so it's so hard. It's a big challenge in day schools, scholarship committees. People say I want to drive this car with the new lease and the latest iPhone and take the vacations. I want the day school tuition but someone else should pay, give me the discount. When I grew up in the מסורה mesorah I have and I'm forever indebted to my amazing parents, they were willing to take out home equity loans and go into debt to pay every penny of that tuition because למחר le'machar, the value of למחר le'machar, you can't put a price tag on למחר le'machar, on tomorrow. Didn't ask anyone else to pay for it. Said, I'll get to it. I'll pay for it. I'll take out another loan, I'll take out more debt, I'll pay for it. Because it's inconvenient, it's uncomfortable. So the vacations were in the back of the station wagon to Wildwood. It wasn't a cruise or a flight to the Bahamas. We didn't come back with the same tan as everybody else. So what? למחר Le'machar, there's a tomorrow. There's a tomorrow. Can you put a price tag on tomorrow? שמתי פדות בין עמי ובין עמך Samti fedusa bein ami u'vein amecha. You know what the difference is between my people and that people? The difference is למחר le'machar. Can you endure inconvenience and discomfort today because you believe in tomorrow? וכן להיפך, אם עתה טוב לו אבל יודע שמחר ירע לו הרי הוא חרד מעתה V'chein le'hephech, im ata tov lo aval yodea she'machar yoreia lo harei hu chared me'ata. And similarly if this would be pleasurable right now but I know that if I indulge this pleasure today, I'm going to pay for it tomorrow. I'm going to pay for it tomorrow if I indulge this pleasure. If I indulge in עולם הזה Olam HaZeh pleasure today, I'm going to pay tomorrow on עולם הבא Olam Haba, then the איד Yid has the power to say no because I live למחר le'machar, I live for tomorrow.פסוקים רבים מורים על כך, שזוהי עצם הגאווה של פרעה בכל המכות Psukim rabim morim al kach, she'zu hi etzem ha'ga'avah shel Paro bechol ha'makos. Says רב דרוק Rav Druk, if you read our פרשיות parshios, read וארא Vaeira, בא Bo, you will see that this is this is פרעה Paro's whole life, his whole lifestyle is to live for today. כאשר שלטה המכה הוא צועק Ka'asher shalta ha'maka hu tzo'ek, look what happens. Every 10 plagues, 10 times, you see this movie plays, 10 sequels. What happens? Each time he's punished, he's suffering, השם הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים Hashem ha'tzadik, v'ani v'ami ha'resha'im. God, you are righteous and I'm wrong and I'm wicked. Please, I beg, I pray, reverse this plague. מוכן לעשות את הכל ובלבד שתסור ממנו המכה Muchan la'asos es ha'kol b'vad she'tasur mimenu ha'maka. פרעה Paro is ready to do whatever it takes, just relieve this pain. אבל כמה שבהווה Aval k'ma she'ba'hoveh, but he only lives for the present. ברגע שהמכה סרה מעליו B'rega she'ha'maka sara me'alav, the moment the מכה maka is reversed, the moment the plague is lifted, and then he זוכר כלל את הייסורים שלנו של העבר zocher klal es ha'isurim shelanu shela'avar. He has amnesia. He instantaneously forgets whatever happened yesterday because all that matters is today. The second the plague is lifted, he goes right back to it. הכל בסדר ואינו מוכן לעשות שום דבר בשביל להציל את המחר Ha'kol b'seder v'eino muchan la'asos shum davar bishvil l'hatzil es ha'machar. He doesn't do anything in order to protect and preserve a tomorrow. ולמה יהודי לא כן U'le'ma Yehudi lo chein. When it comes to a Jew, we're the opposite. מסתכל על העתיד ולא על ההווה Mistakel al ha'asid v'lo al ha'hoveh. We're always living for the future, not for the present. Did our parents who survived and came over and rebuilt, did they live for their present or they lived for their tomorrow, which is our today? Do we not owe it to the next generation to live not for our today but to have an eye on tomorrow, what will be their today? This was the great, זוהי התביעה הגדולה שתובע הנביא ישעיה את ישראל zu hi ha'tviah ha'gedolah she'tovea ha'navi Yeshaya es Yisrael, כאשר הקדוש ברוך הוא קרא לבכי ולמספד ולחגורת שק ka'asher ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu kara le'vecho u'le'misped u'le'chagoras sak, התגובה של בני ישראל הייתה ששון ושמחה ha'teguba shel Bnei Yisrael haisa sason v'simcha. כאשר הם קיבלו את הבשורה שהם הולכים למות Ka'asher im kiblu es ha'besorah she'hem holchim la'mus, התחילו לעסוק בהווה ולנצל את הרגע hischilu la'asok ba'hoveh v'lanatzos ha'rega. This was the the prophets always warned us. They said stop living for today. Don't live like a like a gentile. Don't live only in one dimension, live in three dimensions simultaneously. Live in the past and the present with an eye to the future, all simultaneously, all at once, all at once. And he goes, he has, he goes on and on רב דרוק Rav Druk he has several pages where he talks about this and gives further דברי תורה divrei Torah and further examples of this. וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. You know what the difference is? למחר Le'machar. Whether there's a למחר le'machar. It's a great פשט pshat. I'll give you one last example he gives. This is exactly what goes on between עשיו Esav and יעקב Yaakov. When יעקב Yaakov comes to עשיו Esav, עשיו Esav says, I'm hungry. He says, sell me the birthright. Sell me the birthright. הנה אנכי הולך למות ולמה זה לי בכורה Hinei anochi holeich la'mus v'lama zeh li bechora. So עשיו Esav says, I'm starving, so who cares about it? Right now, I'm hungry. Right? I'll throw it all away for right now because right now I'm hungry. The Jew says, I'll be hungry another day. I'll be hungry another hour. I'm going to throw away tomorrow because I'm a little hungry today? But that wasn't עשיו Esav. כרגע אני הולך למות Karega ani holeich la'mus. מוכרח לאכול שתחזור Muchrach l'echol she'tachzor. And I need to eat. הבכורה היא ענין עתידי Ha'bechora hi inyan asidi. The status of the firstborn, that's a future thing. I don't care about the future. I'm hungry today. I'm hungry right now. I'm hungry right now. And that's what the רמב\"ן Ramban writes. זו סיבת ביזוי הבכורה Zu sibas bizui ha'bechora, כי אין חפץ בכסילים ki ein chafetz b'ksilim, רק שיאכלו וישתו ויעשו חפצם בעיתם ולא יחושו ליום מחר rak she'yochlu v'yishtu v'ya'asu chef'tzam b'itam v'lo yachushu l'yom machar. The רמב\"ן Ramban there writes, that is the way of the foolish who eat and are merry and live for today and don't have an eye on tomorrow.So וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ Vesamti fedus bein ami u'vein amecha. So combine these two insights, רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Saloveitchik's insight, וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת Vesamti fedus, with the insight of רב דרוק Rav Druk, that the holiness of a Jew, the inherent, intrinsic holiness of a Jew is our time consciousness. Is the ability that we live in this timeline, the past, the present, the future, that holiness is that we are aware of and ready to sacrifice for and committed to not only today, but also caring about, also caring about tomorrow. Let's go out of order a little bit. פרק ו פסוק ט Perek Vav, pasuk tes. פרק ו פסוק ט Perek Vav, pasuk tes. Let's go back towards the beginning. Page 319. וידבר משה כן אל בני ישראל Vayidaber Moshe kein el Bnei Yisrael. Before the plagues, משה Moshe comes, God says, I'm going to be with you. I got your back. There's a plan. Just stick with me. The משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, רב מאיר שמחה מדוינסק Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk says, the word דביקות dveikus, we have a מצוה mitzvah from the תורה Torah, ולדבקה בו u'ledavka bo, ואתם הדבקים בהשם v'atem ha'dveikim b'Hashem, we have a מצוה mitzvah called דביקות dveikus. דביקות Dveikus means to cleave, to cling to God. The משך חכמה Meshech Chochma says you're complicating it. Just translate the word. How do you say glue in Hebrew? דבק Devek. God says stick with me. Stick with me, I got your back. Stick with me. You know, you come to work, a new day at work, you've never been to work before, someone you know works there and they say, just stick with me. You got a kid, new kid in school, who has a friend in the school says, just stick with me. All day, just follow me, stick with me, I'll take care of you. דביקות Dveikus is השם Hashem says, stick with me, דבק devek, glue yourself, attach yourself to me, stick with me, it'll all be okay. דביקות Dveikus. So God through משה Moshe tells the people, I got your back, there's a master plan, stick with me. What happens? Do the people hear it? ולא שמעו אל משה V'lo shamu el Moshe. They don't hear it. Why? מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה Mi'kotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kasha. So we've examined this פסוק pasuk many times before. Margolis Aron, if you're listening to like the 60th year in a row, you know that we talk about every year, מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה mi'kotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kasha. I want to give you a new interpretation this year, a new interpretation this year. I got to find it. Sorry, sorry, bear with me. One more moment. They didn't hear משה Moshe, they would reject... someone comes and says, I have a message of hope, of optimism, of positivity, I'm coming to save you, and they say, that's nice, that's lovely, go elsewhere. Go elsewhere. פרק ו פסוק ט Perek Vav, pasuk tes. Okay. There it is. There it is. The רמח\"ל Ramchal writes in מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, זוהי עצת פרעה הרשע שאמר zu hi eitzas Paro ha'rasha she'amar, תכבד העבודה על האנשים tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim, וישעו בדברי שקר v'yishu b'divrei shaker, שמתכוון שלא לבד שלא להניח להם רווח כלל she'mischaven she'lo levad she'lo laniach lahem revach klal, לבל יתנו לב וישימו עצה l'val yitnu lev v'yashimu eitza, אלא שישתדל להפריעם מכל התבוננות בכח התמדת העבודות הבלתי מפסקות ela she'yishtadel l'hafrio me'kol hisbonenus be'koach hasmadas ha'avodos ha'bilti mafsekos. The רמח\"ל Ramchal, מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, the second chapter of מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, we don't usually quote the רמח\"ל Ramchal as an interpretation on the פרשה parsha, on חומש Chumash, but there in מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim the רמח\"ל Ramchal has an insight relevant to this פסוק pasuk. You know what the קוצר רוח ועבודה קשה kotzer ruach v'avodah kasha is? Do you know what is the downfall, the kryptonite? Do you know what ultimately compromises or corrupts a person? When they are mindless. When they are not paying attention. When a person is fragmented and divided. When a person is simply momentum is carrying them through life. When we are mindless, we're not contemplative, we're not thoughtful, we're not thinking, we are simply momentum carrying us through life, that is the end of a person. So says the רמח\"ל Ramchal, פרעה Paro understood that. And פרעה Paro said, I need to keep them busy. I need to occupy them. I need them to be so burdened by the relentless work that they don't have any oxygen to breathe. They have no space or margin to think. They have no room to dream or to hope. That's the way I will bring them down. The רמב\"ן Ramban also writes similarly, כי שנקצה עצמם בהם, עומסם בהם, לא יתנו לב לשמוע דבר לחשוב בו ki she'nuksah eitzam b'hem, osem bahem, lo yitnu lev lishmoa davar lachshov bo. That they were so preoccupied and occupied, they were so burdened and they were so working, there was no margin, there was no space, there was no ability to dream, to think, to believe, to hear a message. So משה Moshe comes and he says, חברה Chevra, great news! I'm here to take you out! חברה Chevra, I have incredible news! You don't have to live this way anymore! You could lose that weight, you can improve your health, you can get that job, you can make that living, you could fix your marriage. I have great news! And they say, get lost, it is what it is, this is how we're stuck, it'll never change. You know what caused them to reject his message? He says, I'm here to save you. I'm going to take you out. I'm here to liberate you. And they say, get lost. Why? קוצר רוח ועבודה קשה Kotzer ruach v'avodah kasha. Because when you deny and deprive someone the margin to think, to dream, to believe, then they don't even believe they're capable of it. They don't even believe they're capable of it. ולפי זה נראה שאין שום תפילה בבני ישראל במה שלא שמעו אל משה Lefiza nireh she'ein shum tfilah b'Bnei Yisrael b'ma she'lo shamu el Moshe. שכיוון במצבים שלא היו מסוגלים להיפנות לבם לשום דברי תנחומים She'kein b'matzavim she'lo hayu mesugalim l'hipanos libam l'shum divrei tanchumim. עקב הלחץ שהמצרים לחצו אותם Eikev ha'lachatz she'ha'Mitzrim lachatzu osam. Sometimes a person is under such pressure, such a burden, they're so pressured, they can't even, they have no space to think, to dream, to believe.אולם בספורנו המשמעות אחרת Ulam ba'Sforno ha'mashma'us acheres. However, the ספורנו Sforno has a very different interpretation. The ספורנו Sforno says on the words ולא שמעו אל משה v'lo shamu el Moshe, להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh. בעניין שיפתחו בישועת הקל יתברך B'inyan she'yiftachu b'yeshuas ha'keil yisbarach, ויחשבם לצדקה כעניין אברהם v'yashaveim l'tzidka ke'inyan Avraham. לכן לא נתקיים בהם ונתתי אותה לכם Lachen lo niska'em bahem v'nasati osah lachem, אבל רק לבניהם aval rak livneihem. So the ספורנו Sforno has an incredible interpretation. Everybody listen carefully because I think this is relevant to the pandemic that we continue to be living through. The ספורנו Sforno says the following. The ספורנו Sforno says to be so pressured that you can't hear a message of hope or optimism, it's excusable, it's explainable. But the ספורנו Sforno says, you know what their problem was? לא שמעו אל משה Lo shamu el Moshe, they didn't listen, להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh. There were so zoomed in on the next brick they had to make, they were so zoomed in on the next piece of data or statistic, they were so zoomed in on the latest guideline of the Egyptian CDC, that they didn't take a moment to sit back and say, what is the message of all of this? What is the deeper meaning of what we're living through? What am I meant to take away or to understand? How am I meant to change? How is the world forever going to be different because of what we're going through right now? They were so knee deep in the details and the data, they were so occupied and preoccupied with their suffering and the struggle, that they failed to ever take a step back and say, what is this really all about? If you don't believe in השם Hashem, if you don't believe in God, if you don't believe in God, if you're an atheist or an agnostic, then there is no deeper meaning and there is no purpose and there is no reason and there is no message. There are simply viruses and bacteria. There are simply pandemics. There are simply rapid and PCR testing. That's all there is because there's nothing more. If you don't believe in God, then you just study history and you realize, which we should have by the way, that apparently pandemics come up once every century or so. Why we were so arrogant to think that it would never happen to us is an indictment maybe of our leaders, maybe of all of us, I don't know. But if you were a student, none of us were students of the history of infectious disease. I shouldn't say none of us. I'm going to guess most of us. We shouldn't have been so arrogant to think. So if you're just a student of the history of infectious disease, you say, yeah, every now and then the world corrects itself, some lab releases it or just happens on its own or someone ate a bat or whatever happened, but it happens every century or so, so this was our turn. But if you're a believing Jew, if you're a believing Jew, if you're a מאמינים בני מאמינים ma'aminim bnei ma'aminim, if we live in a world in which there's a השם Hashem and he controls the world, then COVID and Delta and Omicron, it has meaning. What is the meaning? We don't we don't get, we don't get the benefit of a printout. We don't get the benefit of an email that tells us the deeper meaning. But להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh, that's the word of the ספורנו Sforno. They didn't have they had קוצר רוח ועבודה קשה kotzer ruach v'avodah kasha and they therefore failed להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh. בעניין שיפתחו בישועת הקל יתברך B'inyan she'yiftachu b'yeshuas ha'keil yisbarach. They stopped and they didn't, they didn't think about is God going to save us, what does God want us to do differently, what is השם Hashem's message for us? How am I meant to be different? What am I meant to take away? How am I meant to change from this?Midvar, so from this רב חיים פנחס שיינברג, זצ\"ל Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, zatzal, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of תורה אור Torah Ohr, learned from this, שלמראשה היו להם את כל התירוצים לכך שלא שמעו אל משה she'la'marosha hayu lahem es kol ha'teirutzim l'kach she'lo shamu el Moshe. לאחַר כל העבודה היכה על תכבד העבודה La'achar kol ha'avodah heicha al tichbad ha'avodah. אך שכמעט ניתן להגדירם כאונס רחמנא פטרי Ach she'k'mat nitan l'hagdiram k'oness Rachmana patrei. למרות זה נענשו שלא זכו שיתקיים בהם ונתתי אותה לכם L'maros zeh ne'enshu she'lo zachu she'yiskaiem bahem v'nasati osah lachem, אלא רק בניהם זכו לכניסת ארץ ישראל ela rak b'neihem zachu l'knisas Eretz Yisrael. They were accountable for never stopping to zoom out that lens to answer that question, what's it really all about? What are we meant to take from it? And I think this is a big indictment for us as well, that as much as here and there we give a little דרש drush, we write an article, we talk about, you know, the difference between essential and non-essential and we talk about, you know, we've learned little lessons from this, the distancing and we don't want to be distant from one another and what is a mask and פורים Purim and we've given a lot of דרשות drushes, we've written a lot of articles, but in a sort of global sense, what is this about? And why is it happening? And though we're not God and we can't play God and we don't know why God does what he does, we are meant to learn from it, to radically change from it, to be transformed by it, להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh, to be contemplative about it. I don't think we put in a fraction of the energy that we're tracking and debating, you believe, you don't believe, the mask, the no mask, I'm double vaxxed, I'm triple vaxxed, it's the cold, it's not a cold, it could be much worse, what's the data out of South Africa, what will be the data here, hospitalizations matter, no transmission matter. We spend endless energy discussing, debating, reading, talking, thinking, it's become like our pastime and our hobby and everything else. Do we put in a fraction of that amount of energy and time and discussion, what do you think השם Hashem wants from us? Communally, individually, as families, the way we make our שמחות simchas, שול shul, דאווענען davening, what we take for granted, talking, distancing, there's so many, do we להתבונן בכל זה lehisbonein bechol zeh? Are we מתבונן בכל זה misbonein bechol zeh? Are we thinking about and having those discussions too? I'll tell you one more on this פסוק pasuk, קוצר רוח ועבודה קשה kotzer ruach v'avodah kasha. This new ספר sefer that we picked up. And Mendy, once in a while I buy my own ספרים sfarim. This one I bought. שולחן השבת Shulchan ha'Shabbos with רב נחמן Rav Nachman. A collection of רב נחמן Rav Nachman of Breslov, but organized on the פרשה parsha. He says, מפסוק זה אפשר להבין תמיהה שעולה כי שזוכרים את מצב בני ישראל במדבר mi'pasuk zeh efshar l'havin t'miah she'olah ki she'zokrim es matzav Bnei Yisrael ba'midbar. From this פסוק pasuk you could ask a question of this generation. We know this generation is labeled, חז\"ל Chazal called this generation the דור דעה dor de'ah. They are the most enlightened, they are the most spiritual, they are the most virtuous, they are the most righteous. This is the דור דעה dor de'ah. This is the generation that stood at the base of the mountain and received the תורה Torah. This is the generation that lived through the 10 plagues. This is the generation that experienced greater revelation than any other. So how can it be that they didn't believe in השם Hashem? They're complaining, they're קוועטשן kvetching, they're קראצן krat, the whole ספר במדבר sefer Bamidbar is about that they lacked belief. You might think. He says, דוקא מתוך הכרת גדולתו של השם, חשבו בני אותו הדור שאינם ראויים לזכות ולזכות לחסדו ולניסים שיעשה להם dafka mi'toch ha'karas gedulaso shel Hashem, chashvu bnei oso ha'dor she'einam re'uyim lizkos v'lizakos l'chasdo u'le'nissim she'ya'aseh lahem. This is not a failure to believe in God. It's דוקא dafka because they so believed in God, they thought God is so great and we are so unworthy. הם נפלו בבחינת Hem naflu b'chinas, they fell into what they call in חסידות chassidus מוחין דקטנות mochin de'katnus. מוחין דקטנות Mochin de'katnus means a small mindset. A small mindset. A broken mindset, a weak mindset. ואמרו לעצמם שעם כל חסרונותיהם וחטאיהם V'amru la'atzmam she'im kol chesronoseihem v'chato'eihem, they said, you know what, with all of our shortcomings, with all of our imperfections, we're not ראוי ro'i, we're not worthy for bread and water. We're not worthy for miracles in the desert. So every time they encounter and they engage hardship, where they need and rely on השם Hashem, it's not a failure to believe in Him, it's the opposite. They so believe in Him where they fail to believe is in themselves. רוב כוחם לכך שהם קטנים ושפלים Rov ka'kocha l'kach she'hem ktanim u'shfalim. ולכן מתלוננים על כך שיצאו ממצרים V'lachen mislonenu al kach she'yatzu mi'Mitzrayim. שכבר היה עדיף למות שם She'kevar hayah adif la'mus sham. התלונה שלהם לא נבע מחוסר הכרת גדולת השם Ha'tlunah shelahem lo nava mi'choser ha'karas gedulas Hashem, אלא מהכרת חסרונותיהם ela me'ha'karas chesronoseihem. כך מובא בילקוט ראובני Kach ma'avor b'Yalkut Reuveni. The מדרש Midrash says לא שמעו אל משה מקוצר רוח lo shamu el Moshe mi'kotzer ruach, משום שראו שלא היו בהם מעשים כשרים וטובים mishum she'ra'u she'lo hayu bahem ma'asim kesherim v'tovim. Here the slave nation, משה Moshe comes and he says, I got great news! I'm here to liberate you, I'm here to take you out, I'm here to save you. And they say, ah, get lost, ain't gonna happen. Turn around. Why? Because they didn't believe in God? Says the ילקוט ראובני Yalkut Reuveni, says רב נתן Rav Noson of Breslov, no, because they didn't believe in themselves. They said, we're not worthy of more than this. This is our condition, this is our lot in life, we're meant to suffer, we're meant to be hungry, we're meant to be broken. But such thinking is מוחין דקטנות mochin de'katnus. Such thinking is קוצר רוח kotzer ruach. Such thinking is a shortness of רוח ruach, you have no spirit. Where is your spirit and ambition for greatness? Where is your אמונה amuna, your belief in yourself and what you're capable of? Where is that aspiration? Where are the מוחין דגדלות mochin de'gadlus? Where is that drive for greatness? This relates to what we began with. The שיעור shiur comes full circle. As alas, we have to end. Just like the Bava'tcher Rebbe said, how could you say about a Jew yourself you have no background? You have no background? אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov are not סתם stam three people in a history book. זאת רש\"י, אבות Zot Rashi, Avos. Those are your patriarchs. Those are your fathers. They put that DNA in you. Do you know who you are and what you're capable of? Do you know where you come from and who you could be? They're not סתם stam three people, אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov. אבות Avos. Those are your טאטעס tatas, those are your fathers. You have their DNA in you. But לא שמעו מקוצר רוח lo shamu mi'kotzer ruach. When we don't believe in where we come from, we don't believe where we can go, then we don't hear the message even of a משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, who comes to tell us the good tidings and the good news. Said רב נתן Rav Noson, this פסוק pasuk is a reminder, you got to break out of the מוחין דקטנות mochin de'katnus. get out of that small broken mindset. You got to break free from that mindset. I'm unworthy, I'm incapable, I'm unimportant, it won't happen. into the מוחין דגדלות mochin de'gadlus. Do you know who I come from? The אבות avos, אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. We're בני מלאכים bnei malachim. We are royalty with the children of השם Hashem. כמובן שזו היא בעצם תואר של מקור ביצר הרע K'muvan she'zo hi b'etzem to'ar shel makor b'yetzer hara. פרעה Paroh, the מצרים Mitzrim are an example of the יצר הרע yetzer hara. This is how the יצר הרע yetzer hara continues to try to undermine and sabotage us עד היום הזה ad ha'yom ha'zeh. Until this very day the יצר הרע yetzer hara tries to sabotage us with the מוחין דקטנות mochin de'katnus. You're unworthy, you're nothing, you're incapable. Look how many times you've tried and you've failed, don't bother. קוצר רוח Kotzer ruach. We have no spirit. We have no soul. We have no ambition. But we got to break out of that. The only way we will redeem ourselves and go free, the only way we will transform and make change, is to break free from the מוחין דקטנות mochin de'katnus to מוחין דגדלות mochin de'gadlus, to break out into the vision, the vision of greatness.Okay, at least we got to a few things from the end, but we still only did halfway. What could you do? Tomorrow morning, מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim 8:15, Living with אמונה Emunah 8:45, Going Behind the בימה Bima. I told you with Coach Steinmetz and Ryan Turrell at 9:00 p.m. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
