Transcript
Good morning, boker tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. As always, we begin with gratitude. Thank you to our generous sponsors for the Parsha series for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family, in memory of David Grossman, Becky's father, לילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש le'ilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manes. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by Deborah and Daniel Scheinman in commemoration of the yahrzeit of Deborah's father, אריה לייב בן שלום Aryeh Leib ben Shalom, בבא יום bo bayom, may his נשמתה תעלה עליה nishmasa ta'aleh aliyah. Thank you so much. And by the שרייער Schreier family, for the memory of דב בער בן אהרן הלוי Dov Ber ben Aaron HaLevi, Bernard Selvin, his yahrzeit is this coming שבת Shabbos, the 28th of Teves, and a רפואה שלמה refuah shleima of דוד בער בן איידל David Ber ben Eidel, דוב בער בן איידל Dov Ber ben Eidel, he should have a complete רפואה שלמה refuah shleima. Thank you so much to all those who have sponsored.בוקר טוב Boker tov, good morning to you in person and live. Great to see you and be together, and virtually, online, live or later, great to be with you. We are reading פרשת בא Parshas Bo. This Shabbos, we have the privilege of learning פרשת בא Parshas Bo, page 340 in the ארטסקרול סטון חומש Artscroll Stone Chumash, and to continue the story, the story of the plagues, the story of the מכות makkos. פרעה Pharaoh remains obstinate and stubborn. פרעה Pharaoh continues to refuse to let Moshe's people, Hashem's people, go. The plagues continue to be visited upon him. And as I said, I think last week, no matter how many times you've read the story, and we know the way it ends, there are so many things to discover, so many curious ways that the פסוקים psukim are worded, so much to learn and so much to glean. So we'll begin with a familiar teaching, and that is the opening words of the parsha. We've shared this before, but it bears repeating. ויאמר ה' אל משה בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו למען שיתי אתתי אלה בקרבו Vayomer Hashem el Moshe bo el Pharaoh ki ani hichbadeti es libo v'es lev avadav lema'an shisi ososai eileh b'kirbo. Hashem says to Moshe, נו nu, come. בא אל פרעה Bo el Pharaoh, let's go. We're going to Pharaoh. Why are we going? כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו Ki ani hichbadeti es libo v'es lev avadav, I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, למען שיתי אתתי אלה בקרבו lema'an shisi ososai eileh b'kirbo, so that I could put these signs of mine in their midst. Here in this opening pasuk, Hashem devolves to us exactly why He orchestrates events the way he does. Because there is this overarching question: Why the pomp and circumstance? Is Hashem trying to impress? And the answer is, yes. He's not trying to impress for his own ego, he's trying to impress upon us his presence, his existence for generations to come, for us to turn back and say that he did those events then so we would know then and forever that he didn't create a world and move on, he didn't leave it behind, he didn't become distracted and turn his attention to other things. He remains intimately involved in our lives. So he specifically violated his rules to reveal himself then in the way he did, so that we would continue to draw upon it until today, which we do. Every Shabbos, זכר ליציאת מצרים zecher l'Yetziyas Mitzrayim. Every day we read שמע Shema, זכר ליציאת מצרים zecher l'Yetziyas Mitzrayim. Any day that we live and we wonder why? Why am I going through what I'm going through? Is it all random? Is it all chance? Is it all happenstance? Where is God? We read the parsha, and we'd say שמע Shema, and we kiss our ציצית tzitzis, and we make קידוש kiddush on Shabbos, and we remember that just like he was involved then, he's involved now. That he didn't move on, he didn't leave us behind. He's not a creator who created and then turns his attention to the next project. He continues to be acutely aware of and invested in every aspect of our lives. And that's why he did it. He doesn't want to. He's a קל מסתתר Keil mistater. God prefers to be hidden. He prefers to be in the background. He prefers and wishes he were not in the limelight. He'd rather blend in. He'd rather do his thing. He'd rather we have to search to discover him. Whenever he reveals himself, it's going against his inclination, it's going against what he prefers to do. So why did he do it in the greatest and most public way ever, unprecedented and unparalleled? He tells us the very reason: למען שיתי אתתי אלה בקרבו lema'an shisi ososai eileh b'kirbo, so that he could put these signs in their midst, in our midst. It was a curriculum for the Egyptians and for us. But the curious word in this opening pasuk is the word בא bo. God turns to Moshe and he says, בא אל פרעה Bo el Pharaoh, נו nu, let's go. Let's head out. As my father-in-law likes to say, געגאנגען gegangen, נו nu, Moshe, let's go. We got places to be, things to do. Let's go. What should the word be? Not בא bo, but לך lech. I got an assignment. I've got a mission. נו Nu, I'm staying here, you go. You're late. Get going. You got something to do.So Rav Soloveitchik in the beautiful או יאיר O Yair by Rabbi Soloveitchik on the חומש Chumash writes the following: When Hashem chooses Moshe, he was very reluctant to accept the mission. He argued with Hashem, according to our tradition, the מדרש שמות רבה Midrash Shmos Rabbah, for seven full days. He considered himself unqualified to be the leader of the people and to confront Pharaoh, too modest, too humble. מי אנכי Mi anochi, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Who am I to be worthy of being the redeemer? Hashem answered him, I will be with you. Go because I will be with you. That's the answer. Hashem promised Moshe he would never desert him. He would participate in the implementation of the mission. Together they would enter Pharaoh's chambers. Therefore, when Hashem instructed Moshe to appear before Pharaoh, he used the imperative of בא bo instead of לך lech. When Moshe addresses Pharaoh, God will be present. When he raises the staff, Hashem will be with him. בא Bo, in effect, Rav Soloveitchik encourages us to reread the opening pasuk. It's not בא אל פרעה bo el Pharaoh, that's not the name of the parsha. בא עמדי אל פרעה Bo imadi el Pharaoh. Hashem is saying, come with me, come with me. And Rav Soloveitchik now, in a classic Brisker fashion, says there's a halachic principle involved here. The הלכה halacha knows of two kinds of שליחות shlichus, two types of power of attorney, two types of acting by proxy. One type of שליחות shlichus is a purely formal juristic assignment given to a person. The other is personalistic and experiential. Rav Soloveitchik, by the way, didn't learn English till he was an adult and came to America. Just in case you want to feel bad about yourself today. The former is a practical institution designed simply to perform legal transactions by proxy. Quite often one cannot attend to business personally. The הלכה halacha provides the opportunity to act through a proxy, to ask someone to finalize or sanction certain obligations or certain deeds or agreements. This type of acting through proxy is always associated with the absence of the real owner. So אברהם Avraham sends אליעזר Eliezer, go betroth a wife for יצחק Yitzchak. You can send someone to do a business deal. We can send someone as a שליח shliach to give a גט get. There is a notion, there is an institution of שליחות shlichus, of agency, of proxy, of power of attorney. The whole reason I make you my proxy is because I don't want to go to the HOA meeting and vote. That's the whole reason I sign a proxy, which we should do responsibly and know what we're signing and understand its consequences, not just because someone knocked on our door and said, \"Close your eyes and sign here.\" But the whole reason we sign is because I don't want to go. So when you sign a proxy, power of attorney, it is in lieu, in your stead. The second kind of שליחות shlichus is personalistic. It's a relationship between two people who are united by a bond of friendship, two people committed to the same destiny, two people sharing in each other's travails and joys, two people working for the same cause and confiding in each other, two people living in an open, frank existence. These two people achieve a common identity from the viewpoint of a הלכה halacha. Each of them may act in certain areas on behalf of the other, even though the latter is right there and is capable of performing the same deed on their own. Essentially, the שליחות shlichus is a merge of identity. One acts on behalf of the other in the other person's presence. The שליחות shlichus entrusted to a prophet belongs to the second category. Man unites with Hashem, cleaves to Hashem, loves Hashem with a great passion. He feels the hot breath of eternity upon his cold face. He feels the Almighty. He experiences the great sweetness and exalted engendered by the touch of infinity. That is what Hashem is saying. בא אל פרעה Bo el Pharaoh. It is not the formal שליחות shlichus wherein I accent myself and you do what I've told you to do. It is the personalistic שליחות shlichus where there is a union between me and you. My thoughts will become your thoughts, my speech will break through you. Therefore, Moshe, you are qualified because I am qualified, and I will be right beside you. בא עמדי אל פרעה Bo imadi el Pharaoh. I will walk with you. I will be there when you enter the palace. I will not leave you on your own. You are the שליח ציבור shliach tzibbur, I am the ציבור tzibbur. I am united with you. We'll walk together, arm in arm, so to speak. Man can come close to the Almighty that he and the Almighty are united one voice, one feeling, one experience. Finitude somehow embraced by infinity and yet not disappearing. Beautifully written, most poetically written by Rav Soloveitchik. And I share that with you because it's a theme I've been coming back to a lot lately. It's a theme I'm thinking about a lot lately, is this notion of the בא bo, not לך lech, that when we stand up and we show leadership, when we feel we're on a mission, when we're trying to make a difference, there's risk involved. And there's exposure involved and vulnerability involved. And it's easier. It's easier not to lead a mission-driven life. It's easier to not to try to bring change or create redemption or repair a world. It's easier to stay in the background. It's easier to be indifferent. It's easier to take a pass. But a person has to remember that Hashem doesn't say לך lech, go and good luck to you. He says בא bo, come, come with me. I'll be by your side advocating and lobbying that person or standing up for that reason. I'll be by your side defending the vulnerable and the people who need to be defended and speaking the truth. I'll be by your side. So, this is a theme, שמות, וארא, בא Shmos, Vaeira, Bo, I gave almost two drashos in a row the last two weeks. Either no one noticed or you were all too kind to say anything. But the theme of שליחות shlichus that Hashem is saying to us, you've got a job, you've got a mission. Don't wake up and think it's what I can take, it's what I can give. Why are we here? What difference were we meant to make? And it doesn't matter if you're in the prime of your career or even arguably more when you are retired and have more free time and flexibility and margin and space to think what's my legacy and what am I doing with the remainder of my years and what difference do I want to make within my family, within my personal עבודה avodah, as an example to others, and within the community at large. And whenever we hesitate or pause, whenever we're afraid or anxious, whenever we feel we've placed a target on our back, we should remember it's בא עמדי אל פרעה Bo imadi el Pharaoh. Hashem is not just sending us out, abandoning us, good luck, go on your own. It's come together, together as one. That's Rav Soloveitchik. I want to take you now to the קאצקער Kotsker. We've been learning אמת ואמונה Emes v'Emunah, a new collection of קאצקער תורה Kotsker Torah. בא אל פרעה Bo el Pharaoh, כתיב בא ולא כתיב לך k'siv bo v'lo k'siv lech. Everybody asks the same question. You, I'm sorry to say, you didn't discover this one today. Everybody asks, why is it בא bo? It should be לך lech. But the Kotsker gives a different answer. כיוון שאצל הקדוש ברוך הוא לא שייך לך, כי מלא כל הארץ כבודו Keivan she'eitzel HaKadosh Baruch Hu lo shayach lech, ki melo chol ha'aretz kevodo. לך Lech means, I'm standing here, and זיי געזונט zai gezunt, go. You will now be without me. I will remain here and you will go and be there. But הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, with the ריבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, with the Almighty, he's מלא כל הארץ כבודו melo chol ha'aretz kevodo, he's everywhere. There is no go where you've left him behind. Wherever you go, he will be there. Wherever you go, he will be there by your side. Now, it happens to be that in the footnote, the בית ישראל Beis Yisrael of Ger and others say there are several times in the Torah where Hashem says לך lech. So what happened to מלא כל הארץ כבודו melo chol ha'aretz kevodo? What happened to מלא כל הארץ כבודו melo chol ha'aretz kevodo? מכת דם Makkas Dam is one example. He's going to the יאור Ye'or. No, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that's where Pharaoh relieved himself. He didn't want to be there. All kinds of תירוצים terutzim. But then he says there's more places than just that. So why specifically here? קשה, הלא כמה פעמים כתיב לך. הכוונה בדברי הרבי מקאצק, כי דייקא פה שמבואר היה צריך לומר בא. כי למשה רבנו היה פחד ללכת לבית של פרעה, לכך אמר השם יתברך בא, אני עמך לא תפחד Kasha, halo kama pe'amim k'siv lech. Ha'kavanah b'divrei haRebbe miKotsk, ki davka po she'mevoar haya tzarich lomar bo. Ki l'Moshe Rabbeinu haya pachad laleches l'beis shel Pharaoh, l'chach amar Hashem Yisborach bo, ani imcha lo tifchad. You're going to the palace? You're going into the right into the heart? You're going right into the, right into the place of power? You could hesitate. You could be concerned, you're cautious. Specifically here, Hashem says, מלא כל הארץ כבודו melo chol ha'aretz kevodo. Don't worry. I'm in the halls of Congress and the Oval Office. I'm in the voting booth. I'm in the board room. I'm in the courtroom. I'm in the operating room. There's nowhere you can go that I'm not there. So wherever you go to fulfill whatever mission you have, do it with a sense of בא bo, not לך lech. Not, I'm sending you out and now good luck on your own, hope the operation goes well, hope the closing arguments go well, hope the business deal goes well, hope the lobbying meeting goes well. It's not good luck, you go, I'll be here, but rather בא bo, wherever you go, I will be, because מלא כל הארץ כבודו melo chol ha'aretz kevodo. A beautiful, beautiful קאצקער תורה Kotsker Torah. Okay, moving right along to the next pasuk. ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים ואת אתתי אשר שמתי בם וידעתם כי אני ה' U'lema'an tesaper b'oznei vincha u'ven bincha es asher his'alalti b'Mitzrayim v'es ososai asher samti vam, vi'da'tem ki ani Hashem. So, why am I doing all this pomp and circumstance? Why am I suspending and reversing my normal rule of not revealing myself so explicitly to the world? Because I want the world to see my signs and symbols. I want you to forever look back and remember, even hundreds of years or millennia later, that I remain intimately involved in every one of your lives. And I want you to tell, למען תספר lema'an tesaper. I want you to tell באזני בנך ובן בנך b'oznei vincha u'ven bincha, in the ears of your children and of your grandchildren, את אשר התעללתי במצרים es asher his'alalti b'Mitzrayim. I want you to tell them the story of when I made a mockery, when I made a joke out of Egypt, ואת אתתי אשר שמתי בם v'es ososai asher samti vam, and the signs, the symbols, the plagues that I did there, וידעתם vi'da'tem, then they will know כי אני ה' ki ani Hashem. Okay, there's a lot of, a lot to unpack here on this pasuk. We could spend the next week on the pasuk. We won't. We could. But we won't. We will. We won't. למען תספר באזני בנך Lema'an tesaper b'oznei vincha. So, why does it say באזני בנך b'oznei vincha? Let's start with that. What could the pasuk have said? למען תספר לבנך Lema'an tesaper l'vincha. If I have, let's say one of my children, I said, Yocheved, go tell. I don't say, go tell in the ear of one of my children. Go, go scream in their ear. I say, go tell them. So why here is it לספר באזני בנך l'saper b'oznei vincha? Go tell them in their ear. So the פוניבז' רב Ponevezher Rav, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, said the following. He said, בזמנים רגילים, די אם אדם מספר לבנו כדיבר איש אל רעהו B'zmanim regilim, dai im adam mesaper l'vno k'daber ish el rei'eihu. Omnam, ka'asher yeshnam ra'ashim chazakim, yesh l'hazmia el ha'ozen pnima, she'ken bli zeh ha'dvarim lo yishame'u אמנם כאשר ישנם רעשים חזקים, יש להזמיע אל האוזן פנימה, שכן בלי זה הדברים לא ישמעו. There are two types of conversations that we have. We have casual conversations. We have conversations where, did you hear what happened today? Let me tell you what I had for lunch. Let me tell you, so I met, you know, you'll never believe who I ran into in the parsha shiur. Okay, it's important to be good listeners and to validate, make the other person feel heard. But on the other hand, it's okay to remain superficial type of hearing, it's casual conversation. And then there are important things, really deep, really powerful, really, really important things where you want to capture a person's attention. We say, listen up, listen carefully, stop doing what you're doing, put your phone away, pay attention. We have all kinds of language we'll use to alert someone or get their attention so that this is really important. I want to make sure that you get this. I want to make sure that you hear this. So, דוקא במצרים, יש רעש כה גדול של כחי ועוצם ידי. הפך האמונה. שם מדגישה התורה, למען תספר באזני בנך. ספר את הדברים אל תוך אוזנו Davka b'Mitzrayim, yesh ra'ash ko gadol shel kochi v'otzem yadi. Hefech ha'emunah. Sham madgisha haTorah, l'ma'an tesaper b'oznei vincha. Saper es ha'dvarim el toch ozno. Says the Ponevezher Rav, specifically here and now, Mitzrayim is a culture which promotes the sense of arrogance and independence and ego. I am responsible. I did. All about me. So here right now, press pause. Tell your children, time out. Come here, gather around. Do you see what just happened? Do you understand what's going on in the world? Has this penetrated your eardrum and your heart and your soul and your head? Saper es ha'dvarim el toch ozno ספר את הדברים אל תוך אוזנו. shma es ha'davar v'yachnis es ha'dvarim l'libo l'mrot kol avirah ha'hafucha she'nimtzes b'rechov שמע את הדבר... ויכניס את הדברים ללבו למרות כל אווירה הפוכה שנמצאת ברחוב. All over and all around us is a superficial listening. We have to know, we have to let our children know when it's critically important for them to be active listeners. Listen actively, listen carefully. Shut off all the output and only turn on the input and absorb what you're seeing and what you're hearing. You can't do that all the time. You can't do it too often. A person can't live at that level of listening. But there are critical times, critical junctures, critical experiences where we say, \"Put that down.\" At שמחות smachos, there are moments of incredible unbridled joy. And if you look, you're watching the event through the screens of all the people in front of you. There are moments of a vacation, there are moments of a natural wonder, where everyone's struggling with the filter and the angle and the selfie and the put it down. Experience it, be present, let it transform you, imbibe and absorb it. That joyful moment or that natural event or that scene or that whatever it is. But באזני בנך למען תספר b'oznei vincha l'ma'an tesaper. This is a message, a critical message to parents that למען תספר l'ma'an tesaper, we're talking here to לדורות l'doros, and I don't only mean biological parents, there are those longing still to have children, we bless you should have children, but I mean to the דור dor responsible of transmitting to the next generation, that we can't get absorbed ourselves into the culture of just superficial relationship, that you're always preoccupied and distracted and only half listening to the other. But there are precious moments, precious experiences, and precious messages that stop and דבר באזני בנך daber b'oznei vincha. Make it clear that I'm talking not just casually right now, but this is really important to hear. This is really important to hear. Now the next question is, the next question is, the next question is, why does the pasuk end, וידעתם כי אני ה' vi'da'tem ki ani Hashem? How did the pasuk begin? למען תספר באזני בנך lema'an tesaper b'oznei vincha, נו nu, call your children and your grandchildren around and tell them directly in their ear everything I did in Egypt, the joke I made of Egypt. Why? וידעתם כי אני ה' vi'da'tem ki ani Hashem. And they will know that I am Hashem. It should have said, וידעו v'yad'u. וידעתם vi'da'tem means and you, meaning your children and you, will all know that I'm God. But you already know that I'm God, that's why you are communicating and transmitting it to your children and grandchildren. Should have, should have said, call your kids around, have a seder table, tell them the story, and then they'll know, then they'll know. Last week we spoke about Rashi, אל אבות el avos. Know where you come from. Know there's an Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov inside you. Don't ever say I don't have a background. Because if you know where you come from, you know where you're going. If you know where you come from, you know the strength, the potential, the capacity you have inside you. And I mentioned, and I believe we should all know our story. It's a responsibility to tell that story of, a person should know their grandparents, their great-grandparents, where they came from, what they endured, their resiliency, how they got here. We should know it, we should know it to, history is important, we should know it because it's our story. It's our story. Rabbi Sacks, זכרונו לברכה zichrono livracha, in his הגדה Haggadah, talks about the difference between history and memory. History begins with his, it's his story. You learn history about somebody else, you open a history book, and it's his story. Memory begins with me. Memory is an active memory that I continue to carry. It's a live. When we give the story of Pesach Mitzrayim, when we tell our children what parents and grandparents endured in the Holocaust, or when they came over to this country, or how they had to sacrifice in order to rebuild Torah, we're not just sharing a piece of history. We are not a people of history. We are a people of memory. A people of memory. So I know the story. It's a memory that I'm transmitting and sharing. So it should say וידעו v'yad'u, and then they will know. And now they can tell their children. Why does it say וידעתם vi'da'tem? Listen to this insight of Rav Yechezkel Abramsky. See what I did there? But I just told you, listen. Listen. So, practicing what we preach. Rav Yechezkel Abramsky, the חזון יחזקאל Chazon Yechezkel, says, וידעתם vi'da'tem. He has a tremendous insight into אמונה emunah. יש להעיר, לכאורה היה צריך לומר וידעו כי אני ה', שבנך ובן בנך ידעו. למה כתיב וידעתם? ... היה צריך לומר וידעו Yesh l'ha'ir, lichora haya tzarich lomar v'yad'u ki ani Hashem, she'bincha u'ven bincha yed'u. Lama k'siv vi'da'tem? ... haya tzarich lomar v'yad'u. Says the חזון יחזקאל Chazon Yechezkel, בזכות שיספרו, ישרישו משה ואהרן בעצמם את אמונה יותר. גם יתברר להם כשמש בצהריים B'zchus she'yesapru, yashrishu Moshe v'Aharon b'atzmam es emunah yoser. Gam yisbarer lahem ka'shemesh b'tzohorayim. Says, you know, when you tell the story of Hashem's role in your life, you could be telling that story for the thousandth time. The thousandth time. And many of us do tell the same stories for the thousandth time. How do you know? Because if you watch our spouse, their lips are moving as we tell the story, they know exactly where we're going next, they know exactly where. My חתן chosson, one of my amazing sons-in-law, the other day, texted me live while I was up on behind the bima, and something came up, and someone said something, and it triggered me to tell a story. And before I said the story, he said, \"You're about to tell the story.\" He's married for a year and a half. He already knows my stories. It's נבך nebach. I need new stories already that predictable. So you might have told the story a thousand times already, but when you tell it the thousand and first, your אמונה emunah becomes even stronger. In other words, why do we tell the story? One might have thought you're telling it for the listener, for the recipient, for the one who hears the story. But we're telling it for ourselves. We're telling it because our אמונה emunah grows the more we talk about Hashem. The more we tell the story of his role in our life, the more we have the השגחה פרטית hashgacha pratis WhatsApp group of our family, the more we point and identify this is where he was in my life today and every day. And the more we repeat and the more we tell, the more we believe, the more we live, the more alive that we are. And this is what the Ramban at the end of פרשת בא Parshas Bo, למען תדע כי להשם הארץ. להורות על החידוש... כי אם שלא שברא מעין ואפס... בבעבור תדע שאין כמוני בכל הארץ. להורות על יכולת שהוא שולט בכל, ואין מעכב בידו Lema'an teida ki l'Hashem ha'aretz. L'horos al ha'chidush... ki im shelo sh'bara mei'ayin v'efes... b'avur teida she'ein kamoni b'chol ha'aretz. L'horos al yecholaso she'hu sholet b'kol, v'ein me'akeiv b'yado. So the אותות והמופתים osos v'hamofsim, these incredible wonders, are so that we can tell a story over and over and over again. האמנתי כי אדבר He'emanti ki adaber. We say in Hallel, we said yesterday, yesterday? האמנתי כי אדבר He'emanti ki adaber. דוד המלך אומר, האמנתי כי אדבר. החסידישע ספרים אומרים, האמנתם? כי אדבר. אתה יודע מתי יש לך אמונה? כשמדברים על אמונה Dovid HaMelech omer... He'emanti ki adaber. Ha'chasidishe sforim omrim, he'emantem? Ki adaber. Ata yode'a masai yesh l'cha emunah? K'she'medabrim al emunah. When you talk about emunah, when you tell stories about emunah, when you describe Hashem's role in your life, when you stop and you say, did you see him in that sunset, in that sunrise? Did you see what just happened? We've been circling the parking lot, and a spot open punkt in front of the restaurant, in front of the doctor's office. Thank you, Hashem. האמנתי כי אדבר He'emanti ki adaber. The more we talk about Hashem, the more emunah we have. And therefore, the result of למען תספר באזני בנך l'ma'an tesaper b'oznei vincha is not וידעו v'yad'u, they'll know. It's וידעתם vi'da'tem. When you create an environment, a conversation around Hashem, all of you are lifted as a result, all of you will see Hashem more as a result. Now, we're still in the same pasuk. למען תספר באזני בנך lema'an tesaper b'oznei vincha, what are you supposed to whisper and what are you supposed to tell your children? את אשר התעללתי במצרים es asher his'alalti b'Mitzrayim. התעללתי במצרים His'alalti b'Mitzrayim. You can almost see Hashem smirk in this pasuk. What does the word התעללתי his'alalti mean? שחקתי, כמו כי התעללתי בי, כאשר התעלל בהם Sichakti, k'mo ki his'alalti bi, ka'asher his'alel bahem. I made a mockery. I made them a joke, Rashi. I made them a joke. I made a mockery. I'm laughing at them. We're laughing at them. They became the laughing stock. That's התעללתי alalti. Others say, רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya and the Rashbam, say the word התעללתי alalti comes from עילה ilah, which means, עילה ilah, he's the first cause. I used them to demonstrate that I am the source of all power. But go to Rashi's understanding. And within Rashi's understanding, within Rashi's understanding, so, I made a mockery? What's going on? הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu could have taken us out with the blink of an eye. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu could have taken us out with no fanfare, with no attention. Wait, he's making a mockery? ולאור זה נבין את כל המהלך, שמשה ואהרן באים בשם ה' ומבקשים מפרעה U'l'or zeh navin es kol ha'mahalach, she'Moshe v'Aharon ba'im b'shem Hashem u'mevakshim mi'Pharaoh. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu could have just blinked his eye, could have been an earthquake, the Jews could have run for their lives, been liberated, attained freedom. Instead, instead, Rav Dessler says, the מכתב מאליהו Michtav M'Eliyahu, why did Hashem structure it that the whole leaving of Egypt took place in this facade, in this joke, that Moshe and Aharon would go to Pharaoh and ask for permission? Who did they have behind them? The infinite, omnipotent, omniscient being, source, ruler, controller of the universe, who if he wanted to, without anyone's permission, certainly, could have liberated the Jewish people. So why are you going through this whole, what's the word I'm looking for? Not just the rigmarole, it's an illusion. You're living through this whole illusion. You're going through this whole, charade, thank you. Who said that? That was a chesed. Thank you for that chesed. There's nothing worse, there are worse things, but it's miserable getting stuck looking for that word. So, charade, that was a, shkoyach. So why go through the charade, \"Hi Pharaoh, we're here, Hashem sent us. By the way, he controls the universe, you're not you, and we all know you go to the bathroom at the Nile, right? So, but, but can we have permission to take the people out?\" What's with the charade? What's with the joke? So he says, Rav Dessler, he says, he says, ופרעה גם הוא אומר הלא ראו כי קל זה אינו יכול אלא לבוא אליי ולבקש רשות... ומצרים הולכת ונאבדת... כשראה שהקדוש ברוך הוא מבקש ממנו, כנראה בלי הסכמתו לא יוכל U'Pharaoh gam hu omer halo ra'u ki Keil zeh eino yachol ela lavo eilai u'l'vakeish reshus... u'Mitzrayim holeches v'ne'evedes... k'she'ra'ah she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu mevakeish mimenu, kanireh bli haskamato lo yuchal. Pharaoh thinks to himself, \"Oh, God needs my permission?\" God needs my permission. God needs my permission. זה לימוד לדורות... פרעה הוא היצר הרע... הוא נותן את התחושה באדם שהוא בעל בחירה... ולמראות רצון השם הוא יכול לעשות כרצונו. ומלמדנו התורה שכל זה הוא בגדר שחקתי, התעללתי Zeh limud l'doros... Pharaoh hu ha'yeitzer hara... hu nosei'a es ha'tchusha ba'adam she'hu ba'al bechirah... u'l'mros rtzon Hashem hu yachol la'asos kirtzono. U'melamdeinu haTorah she'kol zeh hu b'geder sichakti, his'alalti. שכן אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה, מה שיקחו רשות מלמעלה She'ken ein adam nokeif etzba'o milemata, ma she'yikchu reshus milemala. Just like Hashem was playing a joke on Pharaoh. What was the joke on Pharaoh? Pharaoh, we're going to go through a charade as if you are in charge. Ha, jokes on you. I'm playing a joke on you. I'm giving you the impression, I'm giving the illusion, we're going the charade as if you are in charge. I think it's the kids in the playground. As if you are in charge. It's a charade. Jokes on you. So says Rav Dessler, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu was showing us that the Pharaoh in us is the יצר הרע yetzer hara. And the יצר הרע yetzer hara in us says, you think you have such בחירה חפשית bechira chofshis, you think you have such free will, you think you're able to make choices, you have autonomy for yourself, I'm in charge. And just like we played a joke on Pharaoh to give the illusion, the charade he was in charge, he goes also through, he has an illusion, he plays the joke on us as if we are in charge, but equally, we are not in charge. We are no more in charge than Pharaoh was in charge. Okay, moving right along. פרק י\"א פסוק ב' Perek Yud Aleph Pasuk Beis. Turn the page. פרק י\"א פסוק ב' Perek Yud Aleph Pasuk Beis. ויאמר ה' אל משה עוד נגע אחד אביא על פרעה ועל מצרים אחרי כן ישלח אתכם מזה Vayomer Hashem el Moshe od nega echad avi al Pharaoh v'al Mitzrayim acharei kein yeshalach eschem mi'zeh, I'm going to bring one more plague, it's going to send you out. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am. Before I bring the next plague, דבר נא באזני העם daber na b'oznei ha'am, speak in the ears of the people, וישאלו איש מאת רעהו ואשה מאת רעותה כלי כסף וכלי זהב v'yish'alu ish mei'es rei'eihu v'ishah mei'es re'usah klei kesef u'chlei zahav. And people should request of his fellow and a woman from her fellow silver vessels and gold vessels. ויתן ה' את חן העם בעיני מצרים Vayiten Hashem es chein ha'am b'einei Mitzrayim, and the people will find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, גם האיש משה גדול מאד בארץ מצרים gam ha'ish Moshe gadol me'od b'eretz Mitzrayim, Moshe had gained esteem, בעיני עבדי פרעה ובעיני העם b'einei avdei Pharaoh u'v'einei ha'am, in the eyes of all. דבר נא Daber na, please speak. איש מאת רעהו Ish mei'es rei'eihu, and you're going to borrow great wealth to leave. We've shared previously, I'm not going to review right now, the insight of the Vilna Gaon and Chofetz Chaim. The classic understanding, the simple understanding, the correct, pashut pshat understanding is, from whom are Jews meant to be borrowing this great wealth? From the Egyptians. From the Egyptians. However, the Gra proves that really it's not the Egyptians, it's Jews borrowing from fellow Jews. First of all, why are they doing this here and now, not later at the end of all the plagues? Why, the Gra says, does it use the word נא na, please? If you're taking from the Egyptians, why would you say please? You've been a slave for 210 years, you deserve to be compensated. You don't have to say please, it's not a favor they're doing for you. Moreover, if it were the Egyptians, why would it be מאת רעהו mei'es rei'eihu? רעהו Rei'eihu, in the Torah, חז\"ל Chazal always understand to mean somebody who's among you, Torah u'mitzvos, somebody who has קדושת ישראל kedushas Yisrael. You're not from the Egyptian. So therefore the Gra says, this was an instruction to the Jews. You want to be redeemed? You're in the heart of Egypt. You're in a culture of selfishness. If you want to be redeemed, you need to practice selflessness. to be redeemed, you need to demonstrate חסד chesed. So how do you do חסד chesed when you are a generation of slaves, 210 years of slavery? You have nothing. You're not gonna organize big. How do you, how do you do חסד chesed? What's the חסד chesed that you could do? You can't write big checks. What חסד chesed are you gonna do? Whatever little you have, everybody lend to the other. Whatever little you have, you lend to the other, and you create an environment and a culture and a movement of חסד chesed. And as a result, you will be redeemed. Says the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, that's what we say in אז ישיר Az Yashir every day. עם זו גאלת בחסדך Am zu ga'alta b'chasdecha, עם זו גאלת am zu ga'alta. The classic understanding נחית בחסדך nachisa b'chasdecha is השם Hashem, your חסד chesed. Says the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, נחית בחסדך nachisa b'chasdecha, עם זו גאלת am zu ga'alta. We were only redeemed in the merit of the חסד chesed we showed one another. We could be on the lowest level of the 49 levels of טומאה tumah. But as long as we remembered that life is not only about us, we were able to see others and do חסד chesed for them, we were redeemable. We were redeemable. So right now השם Hashem says, let me see if you are redeemable. Are you willing to see outside yourselves? Are you willing to see outside yourselves or not? This is what the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says, the מכת חושך makat choshech, the plague of darkness, the penultimate plague. If we believe the plagues ascended in intensity, then why is darkness? We've all lived through blackouts. Why is that such a bad plague? Again, we've quoted this חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim before. The plague of darkness was the plague of selfishness, turning inward, unable and incapable and unwilling to see people around you, unwilling to bring them relief, unwilling to show them empathy, unwilling to stand up with them, unwilling to lend or give or care. That's living in darkness. A person who's self-centered, a person who is driven by their ego, is living in the cloak of darkness. If you want to walk out and step out into the light, then see others and care about others. That's what it means that the Mitzrim, it wasn't environmentally it became dark. It was they all became very dark in a mental state of darkness, but it didn't affect the Jews. Why? Because we continued to lend to one another. That is the הגר\"א Gra, the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. But I want to share with you another insight. The מדרש Medrash says, the מדרש Medrash says, אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה בבקשה ממך, לך אמור לבני ישראל בבקשה מכם, שאלו ממצרים Amar lei Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'Moshe b'vakasha mimcha, lech emor l'Yisrael b'vakasha mimchem, sha'alu m'Mitzrayim. The מדרש Medrash, the גמרא ברכות דף ט Gemara Brachos daf tes, the מדרש Medrash tell us, השם Hashem says to משה Moshe, do me a favor. I want you to go to the Jews and ask the Jews to ask the Egyptians to borrow their wealth. Why? Why was there such a favor? Why did השם Hashem ask that way? What did השם Hashem need or want from it? שלא יאמר אותו צדיק, ועבדום וענו אותם קיים, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קיים בהם Shelo yomar oso tzaddik, v'avdum v'inusam kiyeim, v'acharei chen yeitzu bir'chush gadol lo kiyeim bahem. השם Hashem says, I'm worried. I made a promise to a certain צדיק tzaddik. And I don't want that צדיק tzaddik to come back now and throw in my face that slavery I made good on, but leaving with great wealth I didn't. Who was the great צדיק tzaddik? אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, where? The ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim. השם Hashem told אברהם Avram, you're gonna have children and this is good is gonna happen, but then they're gonna go down to Egypt and they're gonna be in slavery and they're gonna be in servitude and then they're gonna leave with great wealth. So השם Hashem says, do me a favor משה Moshe. Help me make good on my promise. Help me look good. Slavery, check, done. And believe me, אברהם Avram will remind me I fulfilled that promise. Now I need to fulfill the other promise, which is that you leave with great wealth. Help me make good on that promise. Ask them to all leave with great wealth. Ask them to leave with great wealth. The question is, was אברהם Avram really gonna challenge השם Hashem? אברהם Avram the אב המון גוים av hamon goyim, אברהם Avram who was the beginner of the Jewish story, אברהם Avram, was really gonna challenge God? The גמרא Gemara says in ברכות Brachos, כל דיבור שיצא מהקדוש ברוך הוא לטובה אפילו על תנאי לא חזר בו kol de'evar she'yotze mei'Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'tova af al tenai lo chazar bo. Moreover, why דבר נא daber na? So many explanations were given, but the ספר לזכרון עולם Sefer L'Sichron Olam quotes from the founding Rosh Yeshiva of נר ישראל Ner Yisrael in Baltimore, Rav Ruderman, who said the following. The גמרא Gemara says in קידושין Kiddushin, אמר רבי יעקב amar Rabbi Yaakov. שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא S'char mitzvah b'hai alma leka. We do not get reward in this world. When we do good deeds, when we live obedient to השם Hashem's will, our reward is waiting for us in the world to come. וכתיב בתורה למען ייטב לך והארכת ימים, הכוונה עולם הבא שכולו טוב V'dichsiv b'Torah l'maan yitav lach v'ha'arachta yamim, hakavanah Olam Haba shekulo tov. Ah, the Torah has several places where it describes you'll live a long life, you'll have longevity, you'll have good days. שלוח הקן, כיבוד אב ואם Shiluach haken, kibbud av v'em, we know the places. So what does it mean? If it's true, שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא s'char mitzvah b'hai alma leka that we don't have reward in this world and it's all reserved and waiting for the world to come, then what does it mean when the Torah tells us you'll have a long life and live a good life? So the answer is, whenever it says long life and good life, it's talking about in the world to come. It's never talking about in this world because שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא s'char mitzvah b'hai alma leka. And you know who knew that? כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in Egypt. They knew that רכוש גדול r'chush gadol did not mean in this world. They were prepared to leave Egypt with their pockets empty. רכוש גדול R'chush gadol, that promise that was given to אברהם Avram all the way back at ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein HaBesarim, the Jewish people understood to mean not that their portfolios and their 401k and the real estate market would all be high and up. They understood it to mean in their עולם הבא Olam Haba, in the world to come, they would have a great life, a long life. מבט יהודי אמיתי שהמונין בשכר נצחי Mabat Yehudi amiti she'munyan b'schar nitzchi. The outlook of a Jew is, I don't do it for reward in this world. I don't say where is my reward? Why השם Hashem I did all the right things, I volunteer on this committee, and I gave to that cause, and I did my daf today, and I learned, and I said my Tehillim, where's my reward? How come I'm going through this? Because a Jew knows my reward is waiting in the world to come. I don't do it for the here and now. I'm not like an עבד שלא על מנת לקבל פרס eved shelo al menat l'kabel pras. I don't serve so that I get payment or compensation. It's all in the world to come. זה כוונת חז\"ל Ze kavanos Chazal said Rav Ruderman. שלא יאמר אותו צדיק, ועבדום וענו אותם קיים, היינו בגופם המגשמי בעולם הזה, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קיים בהם בגופם אלא בעולם הבא Shelo yomar oso tzaddik, v'avdum v'inusam kiyeim, haina b'gufam hamagashmi b'olam hazeh, v'acharei chen yeitzu bir'chush gadol, lo kiyeim bahem b'gufam ela b'Olam Haba. אברהם Avram would never have had a טענה taina on השם Hashem, but אברהם Avram was going to ask a great בריסקער קשיא brisk'er kashe. If the first half of the promise was a physical promise and a this-world promise, then how could the second half of the promise be a next-world promise? לכן ביקש הקדוש ברוך הוא מכלל ישראל, ישאלו כלי כסף ויקויים בהם אחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, גם בגופם בעולם הזה למען שהספקתה של הקדוש ברוך הוא L'chein bikesh Hakadosh Baruch Hu mi'Klal Yisrael, yish'alu klei kesef v'yikuyeim bahem acharei chen yeitzu b'rchush gadol, gam b'gufam ba'olam hazeh l'maar she'tzvei'a avtachas Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It wasn't השם Hashem's promise, but השם Hashem said, what if someone will challenge that the slavery was in this world? Where is the reward? First half of the promise was with the body, second half of the promise is with the soul. So therefore he said, make me look good to have all the promises be consistent. Let the שכר s'char be in this world too, רכוש גדול r'chush gadol, let it be with great wealth. Let it be with great wealth. Our friend Rav Zaidel Epstein understands differently. He has a sefer הערות Ha'aros. I'm grateful to his grandson who gave me the two-volume הערות Ha'aros on חומש Chumash. Rav Zaidel, I'm grateful to have discovered Rav Zaidel Epstein because he has fantastic insights into the פרשה parsha and Torah. He says the הקדוש ברוך הוא if he הבטיח אברהם אבינו בברית בין הבתרים אחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול Hakadosh Baruch Hu if he hivtiach Avraham Avinu b'Bris Bein HaBesarim acharei chen yeitzu bir'chush gadol. צריך להבין Tzarich l'havin. הוא ניתן בעין יפה הוא נותן Hu nitan b'ayin yafah hu nosein. למה אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא רק לשאול Lama amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu rak l'shoel? When a person gives, they should give generously. השם Hashem made a promise, I'm going to make you great wealthy. So why does he say when you leave Egypt, how should we get the wealth? Borrow the gold and silver from your neighbor. Borrow. By the way, this is the borrow like, can I borrow a tissue? There's a certain borrow which there is no intent to return. Can I borrow a tissue? Can I borrow a dollar? There's some borrow that there is never going to be a return on that borrow. You're using the word borrow, but you mean can I take, can you give? So here, the money was never gonna go back. Parenthetically, the גמרא Gemara talks about years later in Alexandria, Egypt, there was a great court that convened and tried to sue the Jewish people with interest. Said, you left Egypt, you took our gold and silver, you claimed you were borrowing it, you never gave it back. Do you know how many years ago? Multiply times interest, inflation, you owe four billion dollars. And what was the answer? By the way, this this was also brought by an Egyptian university professor about 25 years ago. He tried a lawsuit like this again. He wasn't from, he only read the חומש Chumash. He didn't know the תורה שבעל פה Torah Sheb'al Peh that this was tried and failed. What was the answer then? That's the answer now. Okay, let's do the math. You claim we borrowed and didn't return, inflation, no problem. Now let's talk about the work we did. How many hours, how many years, how much we should have been paid, and what the interest and what inflation is. You came out ahead. Lawsuit dropped. Lawsuit dismissed. So it was set up as borrow on your way out of Egypt, וישאלו איש מאת רעהו v'yish'alu ish mei'es rei'eihu. Ask to borrow, ask to borrow. Okay. We know השם Hashem didn't mean borrow. We mean השם Hashem meant take and keep. And that's a fulfillment of the promise, ברכוש גדול bir'chush gadol, which then begs the question, so why did he say borrow? If השם Hashem knew and we knew it didn't mean borrow, it meant keep, then why did השם Hashem say borrow on the way out? So Rav Zaidel Epstein in his הערות Ha'aros says the following. מה כוונה רכוש גדול Ma kavana r'chush gadol? What does it mean great wealth? יש מפרשים שהכוונה לרכוש רוחני עד קבלתם התורה Yesh m'farshim shehakavanah l'rchush ruchani ad kabalasam haTorah. That the great wealth here did not mean physical wealth. The great wealth here was spiritual wealth. What is spiritual wealth? Having a happy life, a serene life, a life filled with faith, a life filled with optimism. One can be wealthy spiritually. There's a great expression, one of my favorite quotes. They say about somebody, נבך nebach, he's so poor that all he has is money. נבך Nebach, he's so poor all he has is money. There are all kinds of other wealth other than money. There are people who are financially poor but extraordinarily wealthy. And there are people who are financially extremely well off and in every other measure are living in poverty. There's a spiritual and emotional and a mental wealth. And that's what רכוש גדול r'chush gadol meant. היאוש אין בכך ראיה כי הפשטות מסתבר שהכוונה גם לכסף ממש Hayush ein b'kach re'iyah ki hap'shitus mistaber shehakavanah gam l'kesef mamash. So how do you reconcile on the one hand this cute drush that רכוש גדול r'chush gadol means spiritual, emotional wealth, and on the other hand that the פשט p'shat, the simple understanding of the verse, that it means the physical wealth. How do you reconcile the two interpretations? Listen to Rav Zaidel. He says, הרי אם נתבונן נראה שכל מבטנו של עולם בנוי על יסודו, בעינינו אדם עשיר הוא אדם שיש לו הרבה כסף, שיכול לחיות סביב בעולם הזה בשלווה Harei im nisbonein nireh shekol mabateinu shel olam banoi al yesodo. B'eineinu adam ashir hu adam sheyesh lo harbei kesef, sheyachol l'hiyos s'vivah ba'olam hazeh b'shalva. We think that the person with a lot of money can live with peace and tranquility in this world. But חז\"ל Chazal say, מי שיש לו מנה רוצה מאתיים mi sheyesh lo maneh rotzeh masayim. It's actually the opposite. When you taste wealth, you know what you want? More. A person who has a hundred wants two hundred. Two hundred wants four hundred. The person who's struggling to get by just wants to pay their bills, to put food on the table, of course, craves and wants more. But you know what? Finds a lot of satisfaction at the end of a week that the bills are paid and there's food in the fridge. But the person who's number 400 on the Forbes 400, I spoke about this last week in a different shiur. I was reading, I like to read the Forbes 400 every year, it's fun. And this year, I think to qualify to make it on the Forbes 400, you had to be worth north of two billion dollars. That means that there's some someone somewhere who has one point nine billion dollars and נבך nebach he's poor. Means נבך nebach he didn't make it. It means נבך nebach he said, hide my assets, I don't want anyone to know, but then he framed the Forbes 400, sent it out to his whole family previous years, and this year didn't make the list. נבך Nebach. Because I promise you, whoever was number 401 and didn't make the list wants to be number one. יש לו מנה רוצה מאתיים Yesh lo maneh rotzeh masayim. The lifestyle is no different between number 401 and number one. I think number one's like 200 billion dollars, the Tesla guy these days. I was wondering, is there any difference in your life if you have 200 billion, 20 billion, 1 billion, 100 million? Where's the cutoff where your actual life is different? How we should get an answer. So, so why? So why when you're number 401 are you bothered? Your life and your children's life and every descendant you will ever have's lives are all set for good, assuming you do the right things with it. You're set. So what, why do you need to go to number one if you're 401? Why do you need to move up into the 300s or 200s? חז\"ל Chazal told us, because there's an insatiable appetite. Go back before חז\"ל Chazal, שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech told us. אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף Ohev kesef lo yisba kesef. A person who has a craving and an appetite for money, for more, if you live with a sense of more, a craving for more, then you never have enough. יש לו מנה רוצה מאתיים Yesh lo maneh rotzeh masayim. You have one billion, you want two billion. You have two billion, you want 200 billion. I bet you the guy number one with 200 billion wants to be the first to a trillion. He wants to be the first one to break through the trillion trillion mark. Because יש לו מנה רוצה מאתיים yesh lo maneh rotzeh masayim. So therefore says Rav Zaidel, listen to this pshat. Listen to this pshat. מי הוא עשיר אמיתי? השמח בחלקו. אחד שחי בהכרה שמה שיש לו, זה טוב, גם הוא קצת דחוק Mi hu ha'ashir ha'amiti? Ha'sameach b'chelko. Echad she'chai b'hakarah she'mah she'yesh lo, zeh tov. Gam im hu k'tzas dochuk. Who's the wealthy one? Not the one on the Forbes 400 who has one billion but wants two. Who's the wealthy one? The one who says I have what I need, I'm satisfied with my lot. So דוקא ביציאת מצרים, מהכנה לקבלת התורה davka b'yetzias Mitzrayim, m'hachanah l'kabalas haTorah, when we left Egypt, השם Hashem was getting us ready, putting us in the right frame of mind, getting us set with the right perspective so we could receive the Torah. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה, שקיום הבטחת רכוש גדול תהיה דרך של שאילה ולא נתינה Amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'Moshe, she'kiyum havtachas r'chush gadol t'hiyeh derech shel she'ilah v'lo nesinah. He said, I'm going to set it up as you're borrowing, but you don't own. Because when you own, you think I'm wealthy, but now I want more wealth. But if you've borrowed and you don't ever believe it's yours permanently, then you'll be spared from the craving for more. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu specifically set it up בדרך שאילה b'derech she'ilah, as borrowing, to preserve the right רוחני ruchni perspective. Because רכוש גדול r'chush gadol meant you're gonna leave Egypt wealthy, physically wealthy or spiritually wealthy? Both. How can you be spiritually and and materially wealthy? When you realize that that which you own is only borrowed, it's never owned. When you go through life realizing, whatever I have, it's on loan from God, it's not part of a permanent collection. It's not permanent. There's nothing permanent. There's nothing entirely or absolutely secure. And therefore our attitude and mentality through life should be, it's on loan. I've borrowed it from God. And that's why, says Rav Zaidel, that's why specifically it was structured in this way. רבי נחמן מברסלב Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, I told you this new sefer I got. שולחן שבת של רבי נחמן Shulchan Shabbos shel Rebbe Nachman. collected teachings of רב נחמן Reb Nachman elsewhere, but organized on Shabbos. משה Moshe says, go borrow, so that you leave with great wealth. באמת יצאנו ממצרים B'emes yatzanu m'Mitzrayim? Have we really left Egypt? Have we left? We think so. But למעשה, שיעבוד מצרים הוא לא רק אירוע היסטורי, שהיה לפני אלפי שנים L'ma'aseh, shibud Mitzrayim hu lo rak eirua histori she'hayah lifnei alfei shanim. Being in Egypt, being slaves to Egypt, is not just something historically that happened thousands of years ago. חלק מאיתנו עדיין נמצאים במצרים גם בימינו Chelek meitanu adayin nimtzaim b'Mitzrayim gam b'yameinu. There's a piece of us that's still in Egypt. What does it mean to still be in Egypt? We're still stuck and captured by the קליפות klipos of מצרים Mitzrayim, by the mentality, by the moral decadence, by the moral corruption, by the we're we're still, we're still living in it. ר' נתן Reb Noson writes in ליקוטי הלכות, עבודת אלילים Likkutei Halachos, Avodas Elilim, פרעה ומצרים מסמלים את כח הדמיון Paroh u'Mitzrayim m'samlim es koach hadimyon. פרעה Paroh and Egypt are living in the world of imagination, of imagery, of desire, of longing. ולפעמים הם מצליחים להשתלט על ישראל, שהוא השכל, וללכוד אותו בדמיונות שווא V'lifamim heim matzlichim l'hishtaleit al Yisrael, shehu ha'sechel, v'lilkod oso b'dimyonos shav. And sometimes it captures us. We have aspirations or dreams, we have images, we have desires or longings, which are foreign, which don't belong, which are Egyptian, they're morally corrupt and bankrupt. Morally corrupt and bankrupt. They have us working עובדים כל ימים בפרך, רדפים אחרי הכסף בלי הפסקה oivdim kol yamim b'farech, rodfim acharei ha'kesef b'li hafsakah. ממש עובדים בחומר ובלבנים כדי לבנות לעצמם בנינים גדולים Mamash oivdim b'chomer u'vilveinim k'dei livnos l'atzmam binyanim g'dolim. Are we not still building פיתום ורעמסס Pithom v'Raamses? Are we not still chasing the mighty dollar so we could knock down a house and build a bigger one than our neighbor? Are we not still pursuing? Are we not still consumed by the pursuit of more and more and more and more? Are we, even the Torah community, not still struggling with consumerism and materialism? The very frum magazine that we get every week, and I love the articles and they're inspiring and it's beautiful, and the back page of last week's issue was an ad for a Cartier watch. That was the whole back page of it was an ad for a Cartier watch and jewelry. Nothing wrong with a Cartier watch if you're wearing one, טב עליכם ברכה tov aleichem bracha. I there's nothing wrong with it. I can appreciate a nice watch. I received and I love and I'm grateful for a nice watch. That's the back page of a of a of a Torah Hashkafa magazine? That's what we want when it's flipped over on the counter, the children should see, what do I live for? Cartier. What do I live for? That's what we live for. I'm not gonna break into my editorial now about the chasan watches and the Rolexes and kids who haven't earned a penny in their life. They're not even allowed to have a plan how they will one day earn a penny in their life. That's already a strike against them to have a plan. But they're walking around in what others worked their entire life to be able to earn as a luxury. Okay, I'll leave that at though. I'm not going to talk about it. Not gonna talk about it. But Rav Noson writes, he points out, have we really left Egypt? Have we left Egypt? If what we hang on our wall is the Cartier ad, is have we left Egypt? Again, there's nothing wrong with enjoying fine things. I enjoy fine things. Does it define us? Is it who we are and our aspiration? Is it what we talk about and what we teach? Is it what we model? Is it what we're consumed by? Does it influence our priorities? Then we haven't left Egypt. We're still building פיתום ורעמסס Pithom v'Raamses. We're still building פיתום ורעמסס Pithom v'Raamses. We're still trying to build, accumulate, amass more and more so we could have more and more and bigger and better than those around us. We're still in מצרים Mitzrayim. How do you get out? איך יוצאים מזה Eich yotzim mi'zeh? How do you get out of מצרים Mitzrayim? So you know what רבי נחמן Rebbe Nachman says? When you lend someone else what you have. How do you prove that what you have doesn't define you? When you can part with it. When you can part with it. There's nothing wrong with enjoying and having the finest things, but do you give generously? Do you lend generously? Do you share generously? If you have a closed fist, if you're stingy, if you're not running to give, let alone giving when you're asked, then you're not entitled to have because it is defining you and you're still in מצרים Mitzrayim. You're a slave to פיתום ורעמסס Pithom v'Raamses. You're a slave. So דבר באזני העם daber b'oznei ha'am. השם Hashem says I'm about to set you free, but I want you to know what real freedom is. You know what real freedom is? Real freedom is when you share and you give what you have with others. That's why we start the Pesach seder that way. The, we start the Pesach seder, הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya. The very first thing we do at the seder is we say, I want to prove I'm free. You know how I'm going to prove I'm free? Anyone who needs, come and enjoy. I, the door is closed, the window is closed, nobody hears you. It's the most disingenuous invitation of all time. You mumble into your kiddush cup, anyone who's hungry come and eat. Okay, let's start. It's the most disingenuous invitation. Doesn't matter, it's a declaration. It's a declaration. You know what freedom is? All this, my silver, and my four billion dollar matzahs, and my fancy schmancy fine schmeker wine, and my everything, all this, all this, whoever wants, come. Come. It's not just for me. Come, enjoy, take, participate. It gives me more joy when you enjoy it together with me. That's freedom. That's freedom. That's שמחה simcha, that's Purim. Spend more on מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim than you do on משלוח מנות mishloach manos or סעודה seuda. When you share what you have, you show your real freedom. That's why דבר נא באזני העם daber na b'oznei ha'am. Now is the time he says, speak, please. נא Na, please. Please tell the people that freedom is not because they have more than anyone else. That's not freedom. Your freedom is defined by how much you give, not how much you have. By how much you share, not how much you hold on to. Are you free or are you enslaved is measured not by what's in your bank account, but what you've given from it elsewhere. That's freedom. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am. Give and share, says Rav Nachman through his talmid Rav Noson. That's why. That's why have we really left, have we really left מצרים Mitzrayim? Okay, next. כחצות הלילה פרק י\"א פסוק ד K'chatzos halailah, Perek Yud Aleph, Pasuk Daled. ויאמר משה כה אמר ה' כחצות הלילה אני יוצא בתוך מצרים Vayomer Moshe koh amar Hashem k'chatzos halailah ani yotzei b'soch Mitzrayim. Moshe says, at about midnight, I'm going out of Egypt. We're gonna go out of Egypt at about midnight. Why כחצות לילה k'chatzos lailah? About, about, about midnight. כחצות K'chatzos. roughly, approximately, about midnight. Rashi has a comment. כחצות K'chatzos. כחצי הלילה חצותו בעלות k'chelek halailah chitzuso b'aloso. דבר של חצי Davar shel chetzi. שבא בחצי הלילה She'ba b'chatzi halailah. סמוך לו או אחורו ולא בחצות Samuch lo o achorei v'lo b'chatzos. שמא יטעו אצטגניני פרעה ויאמרו משה בדאי הוא Shema yit'u istagninei Paroh v'yomru Moshe badai hu. What's gonna happen? There's always a smart aleck. Always a smart aleck. And Paroh has amongst his cabinet the greatest of the smart alecks. So here they're nine plagues in, and and the tenth plague is gonna come. And had Moshe said, בחצות b'chatzos, not כחצות k'chatzos. Had Moshe said, בחצות b'chatzos, Paroh, midnight, here it comes. By the way, nine plagues in and Paroh still doesn't believe it. Why not? So the pasuk says because Hashem hardened his heart, but a good friend of mine told me what he thought was a great vort. Nine plagues in and Paroh still wasn't ready to listen. You know why? He didn't think it was nine plagues. He thought it was still one plague with nine variants. My friend Ari told me a gishmak vort. They found 10 cases of a new variant past Omicron. I'm not joking, we're up to the next variant after Omicron. 10 cases of the next variant. I forgot the name already. ימח שמו Yemach shmo. Who wants to remember the name? So Paroh didn't listen. It was one plague, just 10 variants. Just 10 variants. So, so why does it say כחצות k'chatzos? Had Moshe said בחצות b'chatzos, be ready, because at midnight, sayonara, goodbye all firstborns, including you, Paroh. Had he said at midnight, what would have happened? One of Paroh's advisors, a Paroh himself would have looked at the clock and said, it wasn't midnight, it was 11:59 and 58 seconds. It wasn't midnight. It was 12 o'clock and four seconds. So clearly it wasn't Hashem. So out of that fear, anticipating that cynical reaction, Moshe doesn't say בחצות b'chatzos, at midnight, what does he say? Approximately at midnight to avoid, to avoid that conclusion of, you know, it wasn't exactly, he was four milliseconds off, my watch has a different, my Rolex, I got from my wife, has a different than your. No, to avoid that, it doesn't say בחצות b'chatzos, he says כחצות k'chatzos. Rashi, brings the Gemara Brachos. Brings the Gemara Brachos. To avoid the cynical, אצטגניני פרעה istagninei Paroh. Good. By Dvarmud, I'm reading from the נגד יוסף Neged Yosef by Rav Yosef Yehuda Leib Sarotzkin, Rav shiva in Telshe, whose son is my neighbor on Haliach, who leads our community, my dear friend Eli Sarotzkin. His father visited, gave me his set of sfarim, wonderful, נגד יוסף על התורה Neged Yosef al haTorah. And he says the following. He says, the דברים תמוהים d'varim t'muhim. הרי בתשע מכות, הקודמות, משה הוכיח שדיבר ה' בפיו Harei b'tisha makkos, ha'kodmos, Moshe hochiach she'diber Hashem b'fiv. וכאשר יאמר כן יהיה בין בעצם המכה בין בסילוקה V'ka'asher yomar kein yihyeh bein b'etzem hamakah bein b'silukah. אף כאן בעצם, ראו הם, שמכת בכורות מגיעה כפי שאמר משה. אל שפי החשבון הרגיני פרעה אם בדיוק חצות Af kan b'etzem, ro'im heim she'makas bechoros magiah k'fi she'amar Moshe. Ela sh'fi ha'cheshbon ha'istagninei Paroh im b'diyuk chatzos. He says, I don't understand. Nine times in a row, Moshe came, they warned, we're going to suspend and supersede the rules of nature. Something extraordinary is going to happen. Nine out of nine times, something extraordinary happened. Are you telling me on the tenth time, when he predicts something extraordinary is going to happen, and then it's off by a few milliseconds, you're gonna say, ah, it wasn't him. It wasn't God. Nothing to see here, nothing to believe here, nothing to look at here. How could it be? איך יכול לבוא על דעת, מפני שכך משה בדאי הוא Heich yachol l'vo al da'as, mipnei she'kach Moshe badai hu? You're going to say nine out of nine times Moshe was on the money. He predicted something extraordinary, supernatural, and it happened. But the tenth time he was off by a millisecond, Moshe's a clown. Moshe's a clown, he's a fool. So Even Ezra writes, ידע כי אין יכולות בוחם ליידע רגע חצי היום Yedua ki ein yecholos b'kocham l'da'at rega chatzi hayom. כי עם תורח גדול בכלים גדולים של נחושת, אף כי חצי הלילה יותר קשה. יותר מסתבר לומר שהשעונים שלנו Yoser mistaber l'omar shehash'onim shelanu. הם היו מדויקים בשעון שלהם heim hayu m'duyakim b'sha'on shelahem. כמעט אי אפשר לדעת בזה, אם כן מדוע שיעלה על הדעת שמשה בדאי הוא k'me'at i efshar l'da'as b'zeh, im kein madu'a she'ya'aleh al ha'da'as she'Moshe badai hu? They didn't have solar clocks, sonic clocks. They didn't have perfect timepieces. So, more likely, Pharaoh's advisors would say, yeah, it was off by a few milliseconds, our watch is probably wrong. Because if now 10 out of 10 times what he warned happened, I'm going to go with our watch is off. So what is Rashi talking about? What is the Gemara talking about that this is going to be Pharaoh's reaction? אומנם נראה, את היצר מתקיפו ומשולט באדם הוא יצר להיות צדיק Omnam nireh, et ha'yetzer matkifo u'mesholet b'adam hu ha'yetzer l'hiyos tzodeik. I love this insight he has here. He says, says Rav Sarotzkin, which is the harshest of all of the plagues? The harshest of all the plagues is the 11th plague. He say 11th plague? It's news to me. I thought there were only 10 plagues. I only take out 10 drops of water, of wine. What's the 11th plague? Says Rav Sarotzkin, among the strongest יצר הרע yetzer haras, the hardest יצר הרע yetzer haras that we have to fight is the יצר הרע yetzer hara to be צדיק tzodeik. The יצר הרע yetzer hara to be right. We want to be right. We struggle with admitting we were wrong. Even when we're proving wrong, no, I didn't really say that. I said that if this then that, but my thing then happens, I'm not really wrong. We struggle. Everyone wants to be right all the time. See that in the last two years, scientists and medicine and life and agencies and nobody ever wants to say I was wrong. I miscalculated. I came to the best conclusion with the information I had at the time, but I was wrong. Nobody ever wants to be wrong. We have an enormous and overwhelming יצר הרע yetzer hara to be right. To be right. Why is יהודה Yehuda the גדולה שבאחיו gedolah she'b'achav? יהודה Yehuda is the father of monarchy. Why? צדקה ממני Tzadkah mimeni. Because he overcame that יצר הרע yetzer hara and he looked at Tamar and he said, I was wrong, you were right. I'm willing to say I'm wrong and you are right. And he became, זכה מפני שכן להעמיד מלכים מישראל zachah mipnei she'chein l'ha'amid melachim m'Yisrael. אם כן, לא בנכל מלך רשע כפרעה יודע, שהוא עומד בראש מלכות רשע, שהיחס ליהודים משך מאות שנים הוא בגדר פשע לאנושות Im kein, lo b'nakel melech rasha k'Paroh yode'a, shehu omeid b'rosh malchus rasha, she'hayachas l'Yehudim meshech me'os shanim hu b'geder pesha l'enoshus. At the end of 210 years, not all of which he was alive for, but at the end of an entire reign in which he has oppressed and persecuted and tortured, for him to look back and say, I have performed the greatest crime against humanity. You know how hard it is for a dictator, a despot, a corrupt. Instead, at his deathbed, he wrote a note, a suicide note. Paroh, I was right and the rest of you drove me to this. A narcissistic, evil, psychotic person to be willing to say, I was wrong. And I owe you the apology, and I owe victims. Paroh couldn't do it. להמנע מכך ניתן לומר אפילו שמשה בדאי. הקושי להודות שחטא יכול להוביל גם לאמנם הוכחות כמאסו בדאי L'himana m'kach nitan l'omar afilu she'Moshe badai. Ha'koshi l'hodos she'chatah yachol l'hovil gam l'emuna b'hochachos k'ma'aseh badai. He says, this is the hardest plague. העונש הכי קשה ביציאת מצרים, ניתן לומר המכה האחת עשרה Ha'onesh hakasha b'yetzias Mitzrayim, nitan l'omar hamakah ha'achas esrei. שסוף דבר נאלצו להודות על האמת She'sof davar ne'eltzu l'hodos al ha'emes. The 11th plague was he had to admit the truth. Moshe said to Paroh, פרק י\"א פסוק ז Perek Yud Aleph, Pasuk Zayin, Moshe says, למען תדעון l'maan tei'dun. That that's the goal of מכת בכורות makkas bechoros. You've been unwilling to admit you're wrong. You're unwilling to admit you're wrong. You insist you're right. So the tenth plague is going to be so powerful, so strong, you will have no choice but to admit it. And the ירושלמי Yerushalmi in פסחים Pesachim says, אמר ר' לוי Amar Reb Levi, כשם שניתן כח בקולו של משה, כך ניתן כח בקולו של פרעה k'shem she'nitan koach b'kolo shel Moshe, kach nitan koach b'kolo shel Paroh. ומה היה אומר, קום צאו מתוך עמי u'mah hayah omar, kum tze'u mi'toch ami. לשעבר הייתם עבדי פרעה, מכאן ואילך אתם עבדי ה' l'she'avar hayisem avdei Paroh, mikan v'eilach atem avdei Hashem. Paroh ultimately says, you're no longer my slaves. I'm done. I admit I was wrong. Go, you're free to go.כריעת ים סוף Krias Yam Suf it says, וידעו מצרים כי אני ה' v'yadu Mitzrayim ki ani Hashem. Paroh, מי כמוך נהדר בקודש mi kamocha ne'edar bakodesh. So he had to, he was forced להודות על האמת l'hodos al ha'emes. That was the 11th plague. The harshest and the most severe, the most punitive and the worst plague was, he was positioned and forced to have to admit he was wrong. And for Paroh that's the hardest plague of it all. He'd lose his own firstborn son before he'd admit he was wrong. It was less severe a plague to lose his own son than to admit his wrong. The harshest plague is the 11th plague. And that's a plague in our lives. כחצות הלילה kachatzos halayla. So says Rav Sorotzkin, it's true not only Paroh, true of Paroh, it's true for ourselves, that the יצר הרע yetzer hara is that ability and that power, it fools ourselves, it fools us into, into being able to manipulate our thinking and distort our thinking and cloud our judgment and thinking. I was off by a few milliseconds. It probably wasn't Hashem, he doesn't really care, does it really matter? That's the power of the ego, the power of arrogance, the power of the inertia against a willingness to admit that we are wrong. So much so that Moshe has to warn him, כחצות kachatzos, not ב ba, כחצות הלילה kachatzos halayla, he has to go so far. Okay, we got through about half of what I wanted to say. Half, literal, literally half. Literally half. Should we do one more? Okay, one more, last one because it's a רב זיידל Reb Zaidl and I'm on a רב זיידל Reb Zaidl kick. פרק י\"ב פסוק כ\"ז Perek yud beis, pasuk kaf zayin. Last one. We're already overtime, indulge me one more moment. פרק י\"ב פסוק כ\"ז Perek yud beis, pasuk kaf zayin.Page 356. ואמרתם זבח פסח הוא לה' אשר פסח על בתי בני ישראל במצרים בנגפו את מצרים ואת בתינו הציל v'amartem zevach pesach hu l'Hashem asher pasach al batei v'nei Yisrael b'Mitzrayim b'nogpo es Mitzrayim v'es bateinu hitzil. We have that all your children are going to ask, here's what you're going to answer, and ויקוד העם וישתחוו vayikod ha'am vayishtachavu. Moshe heard this and he bowed down. The people heard and they bowed down. Now the famous question on the people heard and they bowed down is, ויקוד העם וישתחוו vayikod ha'am vayishtachavu is, what are they bowing down again? Is this good news or bad news? What was the question that that's being asked here? Go back a פסוק pasuk. והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבודה הזאת לכם v'haya ki yomru aleichem bneichem ma ha'avodah hazos lachem, when your children will ask you, what is this all about that you're doing, לכם ולא לו lachem v'lo lo, I'm not doing, I'm not involved, I don't buy it, but what is all of this nonsense that you're doing? And the people, ויקוד העם vayikod ha'am, ah, it's the best thing in the world. They bow down. Thank you, Hashem. I have such a child. Everybody asks, whose question is that? Of the four sons, that's the question of the רשע rasha. ויקוד העם וישתחוו vayikod ha'am vayishtachavu. Thank you, Hashem, that I have a child who's a רשע rasha? It's a question everybody asks. There's a great answer, but it's not what I want to share with you. I want to share with you a different one. Rashi says, ויקוד העם וישתחוו vayikod ha'am vayishtachavu, they bowed down, why? על בשורת הגאולה, על בשורת הארץ ועל בשורת הבנים Al b'soras ha'geulah, al b'soras ha'aretz v'al b'soras habanim. They bowed down for the three pieces of good news. When God said you will have a child who will ask this question and this is the answer you should give. He said, in the answer we're supposed to give, Hashem, you just revealed to us three pieces of great news. There'll be a redemption, we're going to inherit a land, and we're going to have children. You've given us three pieces of, of great news. Three pieces of great news. So says רב זיידל Reb Zaidl, why are you thinking about the children right now? I understand that you'll be redeemed because right now you're in slavery. So that will be a major change, you'll be redeemed. I understand you'll have land, right now you live in Egypt, you're going to go into Israel. But על בשורת al b'soras on the news that you're going to have children, you have children right now. That's not new news. Where's the news there? They multiplied in Egypt like never before, so where's the news there? Why is that good news there? So the answer is, you know what you see from here? You're right, that's not new news. But when you experience new good news, and you're now obligated to thank, you don't only thank for the new news, you thank for everything good going on in your life. And that's what רב זיידל Reb Zaidl told the following story. When he was learning in the Mir in Poland, once a בחור bochur had an intestinal disease that was life threatening. So they took him to Warsaw, from Mir they took him to Warsaw for surgery. The בני ישיבה דאגו והתפללו על כל רפואתו Bnei Yeshiva da'agu v'hitpalelu al kol refuaso. So the yeshiva students davened, they did זכיות zechuyos, they did מצוות mitzvos, they gave צדקה tzedaka, their, their friend, their חבר chaver, needed this emergency surgery, could have died, they davened with all their heart. A few days later, somebody came back from Warsaw with four pieces of great news. ברוך השם הניתוח הצליח Baruch Hashem ha'nituach hitzliach. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, the surgery was successful. A week later, the משגיח mashgiach of the Mir, Reb Yeruchom, got up and he said the following. He said, בכל פעם כשאנו מברכים ברכת אשר יצר, צריכים להודות עם אותה שמחה ורגש לקדוש ברוך הוא שהניתוח הצליח B'chol paam k'she'anu m'varchim birkas asher yatzar, tzrichim l'hodos im osah simcha v'regesh laKadosh Baruch Hu she'hanituach hitzliach. Every time you say an אשר יצר asher yatzar, you should say it with the same fervor, the same passion, the same excitement, as with those four words, the surgery was successful. Every time one relieves themselves, it is as miraculous, is its success should be celebrated and appreciated as much as when the surgery happened. When something happens that we're grateful for, it should inspire us to see the things that we've taken for granted that we should be grateful for too. The capacity to relieve oneself in a healthy way is no less miraculous or deserving of our gratitude and celebration than a surgery. Each time, each time. I'm not saying you have to make a קידוש kiddush every time you go to the bathroom. But the fervor of the אשר יצר asher yatzar should be filled with just as much joy. So that's פשט pshat, על בשורת הבנים al b'soras habanim. You're right, you have children right now. But while we're rattling off all the pieces of good news, you're going to be redeemed, you're going to be in the land, and isn't it amazing you have children. You're right that's not new. But when something new does happen that we're grateful for, it should also cause us to reflect on that which we've taken for granted that we should be grateful for and pile on the gratitude as well. Another great רב זיידל Reb Zaidl I'm grateful for. Have a fantastic day. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy. Tomorrow morning, מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, and then Living with אמונה Emunah. Tomorrow night, we go behind the בימה bima with Nissan Black, 9 o'clock tomorrow night.
