Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov, welcome back to פרשה Parsha Perspectives for today. As always we begin with our attitude of gratitude with our thanks to those who sponsored the שיעור shier. The series sponsors for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman. Our learning is לעילוי נשמת le'ilui nishmas דוד בן מנחם מניס David ben Menachem Manis. This morning's שיעור shier is also sponsored by Debra and Daniel Scheinbaum on the 65th יארצייט yahrzeit, בו ביום Bo BaYom, of her father Lawrence Hertzberg, אריה ליב בן שלום Aryeh Leib ben Sholom, הנשמה שתהיה לה עליה ha'neshama she'tihye lah aliyah. By משה כהן Moshe Cohen in honor of his dear friend Mikey Pearl, my son-in-law, on his birthday this week. It's a good reminder, it's his birthday this week. May he live long and happy and healthy years. I love משה כהן Moshe Cohen, he's the best and I love Mikey Pearl, so thank you. And by Hensha Gansburg in memory of her father Irving Stone. We benefit by using the חומש Chumash he dedicated each and every week. We always announce the page in the Stone חומש Chumash in his tribute. Thank you to Hensha for sponsoring in his memory. Also a reminder, there is no שיעור shier next week, I'll be traveling, so there's no פרשה שיעור parsha shier next week. The good news is there are many previous year שיעורים shierim available online. You could get together here in this room and listen together, watch together, talk together, learn together, but we will, I will not be here together. So no שיעור shier next week. And also one other housekeeping announcement before we dive right in, in addition to a reminder to turn your phones off, is the latest episode of Out of the Shadows. We started a new mental health podcast in order to take away the stigma, the shame, the שאַנדאַ Shanda of mental health issues. Last night we released episode number three on the topic of trauma. It's well worth listening whether you yourself have experienced trauma or you know somebody who has. The next episode will be about OCD, but you can listen, you can find it now online on YouTube or any podcast player, Out of the Shadows. Stone חומש Chumash, page 340, the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash in memory of Irving Stone. פרק י, פסוק א Perek Yud, Pasuk Aleph, ויאמר ה' אל משה בא אל פרעה Va'yomer Hashem el Moshe, bo el Paro, כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו ki ani hichbadeti es libo v'es lev avadav, למען שיתי אתתי אלה בקרבו lemaan shisi ososei eileh b'kirbo. ה' Hashem says to משה Moshe, נו Nu, come, we're heading out, we're going to פרעה Paro. It's time, I've hardened his heart again and the heart of his servants so that I can continue to show these signs. In other words, five plagues have now been visited upon the Egyptian people, and understandably they would cave, they would fold. Enough is enough. Any rational person would not continue to self-sabotage. They would let the people go. They would meet this this request. פרעה Paro does not. Why? Because ה' Hashem hardens פרעה'ס Paro's heart. And there are many, many questions, we're not going to dive into them, we've spoken about them before. What are the ethics of hardening someone's heart? What happened to free will? Where is the free will if you harden someone's heart? Why is that fair to פרעה Paro? פרעה Paro then suffers the consequence, he's punished because his heart is hardened, but really if his free will was suspended, is it really his fault? And the many approaches there are to this question. Also, why does it say בא Bo? What should it say? לך Lech, go to פרעה Paro. What does ה' Hashem mean come? משה Moshe, go to פרעה Paro. We say this every year, because ה' Hashem is telling us, not only משה Moshe, each and every one of us, whatever our mission, whatever our שליחות shlichus, wherever we go, ה' Hashem doesn't say I'm gonna sit back under the palm tree sipping a piña colada and you go. You take the risk, you make yourself vulnerable, you go fulfill the mission. He doesn't say לך Lech, go. The רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam puts his arm around us and he says בא Bo, נו Nu, come. Come. Let's go pay a hospital visit. Come, let's go make a meal for someone. Come, let's all be on time for שול Shul. Come, let's go to the פרשה Parsha class. Come, whatever our mission, whatever our mandate, wherever we're meant to be, ה' Hashem doesn't say go, he says come. ה' Hashem is right by our side. He is right there with us. He's more than assisting, he's the senior partner in our in our success. ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים ואת אתתי אשר שמתי בם U'lemaan tesaper b'oznei vincha u'ven bincha es asher his'alalti b'Mitzrayim v'es ososei asher samti vam, וידעתם כי אני ה' v'yidatem ki ani Hashem. And now we have an interruption, go tell your children why I'm doing this such pomp and circumstance. Again, we've reviewed all of this. So let's fast forward past the eighth plague, seventh plagues have been done already. ארבה Arbeh. Why before this plague? I'll I've gotten in the habit of posing questions to you, I don't give an answer, so that you have some homework on your own. But why before specifically this eighth plague of ארבה Arbeh? Why is it now that משה Moshe offers this curriculum and says we're going to gather, we're going to celebrate what we're experiencing right now forever, we're going to transmit it to the next generation? Why not after the first plague? Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh? Why not when it's all done after the tenth? Why the interruption here specifically before the eighth plague, משה Moshe says, just know we're going to one day celebrate this together. What is it about the eighth plague? Why here and why now? Again, I leave you for that to consider on your own. But we're going to fast forward the ninth plague of חושך Choshech. We've also discussed previously the plagues supposedly build in intensity. דם Dam, as horrific as it would be for us for all of our water sources to turn to blood, that was considered the most mild. מכת בכורות Makkas Bechoros, the death of the firstborn, of course, was the most severe. Everything in between is building an intensity, is building an intensity. So חושך Choshech, darkness. Never experienced a blackout? Never gone in the dark? Why is חושך Choshech, why is darkness considered this plague? It's already the ninth plague, the penultimate plague. It's considered the second to worst, second to most severe. Why? What's so severe? You can't survive in a blackout? What really went on? אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah has pages and pages and pages, different descriptions of the thickness of this darkness. Darkness wasn't just the absence of light. This darkness was a thick darkness. Some say it wasn't a darkness in the atmosphere, it was cataracts, macular degeneration. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu created an ophthalmological, was that right? Ophthalmological illness, disease. They were all struck with simultaneously and there weren't enough ophthalmologist retina specialists to deal with everybody at once. So nobody could see, it was darkness. There are other opinions of אלבג Albag, he quotes all these, the תורה תמימה Torah Temimah. Maybe it wasn't actually darkness, it was a severe light. Sometimes a bright light can blind you. So maybe the darkness was actually a bright light, not a darkness at all. But darkness can be debilitating and paralyzing. It's a beautiful חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. This is all what I'm not telling you. It's a beautiful חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim who says what was the מכה של חושך makkah of Choshech? Look at the פסוק pasuk. What happens? ויהי חשך על ארץ מצרים va'yehi choshech al eretz Mitzrayim for three days, לא ראו איש את אחיו lo ra'u ish es achiv. You know what the darkness was? When you have a egocentric, narcissistic, self-centered society, לא ראו איש את אחיו lo ra'u ish es achiv and nobody can see anyone else, there is no greater darkness than that. The darkness was not in the atmosphere and the darkness was not in their eyes. The darkness was socially, interpersonally. People only cared about themselves. In a world, a society where לא ראו איש את אחיו lo ra'u ish es achiv, where people don't see anyone else, they don't extend themselves, they don't care, then there is no greater sense of a darkness in the world than that. So you have, you have darkness, this penultimate plague, what was so terrible about it? Again, I refer you to the אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah, long, long essays about what was so terrible about this plague of of darkness. What do we know happened during darkness? רש\"י Rashi here tells us. Why did הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu bring darkness? Who else experienced their demise? Who else suffered a plague? Were the Jews who were not destined to leave. There were Jews who were cowards, they weren't courageous. There were Jews who preferred the slave mentality, this fatalistic life, who felt in the מיצר meitzar of מצרים Mitzrayim, we spoke about this past Shabbos. They were living in these boundaries, they couldn't break free, they couldn't imagine something different, this self-imposed prison in addition to the oppression and persecution of the Egyptians, the מיצר meitzar of מצרים Mitzrayim. And they preferred to stay than to ever leave. They couldn't bring themselves to leave. So they died under the cloak of darkness. Why? רש\"י Rashi tells us why. Why did they die under the cloak of darkness? Because ה' Hashem did not want the Egyptians to see what? To see their downfall, to see their death. Where is this? Which רש\"י Rashi? I can't see. Not because of darkness, because I'm getting old. חושך Choshech, ויהי חשך vayomer Moshe. כ\"א, כ\"ה Kaf-aleph, Kaf-hei. We're getting many other numbers. Scream out a number. This is like bingo over here, lottery over here. רש\"י Rashi quotes from חז\"ל Chazal that they died. We know this later, וחמושים עלו בני ישראל מארץ מצרים chamushim alu Bnei Yisrael m'eretz Mitzrayim. And the two translations of the word חמושים chamushim, either it means armed or the alternative interpretation, not armed but one fifth. Four fifths, 80% perished where? In Egypt. So the מגן יוסף Meigein Yosef, and this is question number three I'm not going to answer today. He wonders, how did darkness help? You think when the darkness cleared and the light came back on, you think the Egyptians didn't notice that 80% of the Jews were no longer there? How obtuse were they? What did it help? Why did ה' Hashem do it under the cloak of darkness? As soon as the light came back on, they would notice. And he does the calculations. How many millions of Jews there would be because we know how they proliferated, we know the Jews, the population explosion that took place. So 80%, you're talking about four, five, six million people died during the plague of darkness, Jews. Four, five, six million Jewish graves and Jewish cemeteries were filled. Four, five, six million fewer Jewish slaves. The Egyptians didn't notice? Hey, something's going on here. So what did it help to do it under the cloak of darkness? Why did ה' Hashem do it that way? Check out the מגן יוסף Meigein Yosef. He has an answer to that question. But we're going to get started today, not only with questions, providing some answers. פרק י\"א, פסוק ד' Perek Yud Aleph, Pasuk Dalet. ויאמר משה Va'yomer Moshe, עוד נגע אחד אביא על פרעה Od nega echad avi al Paro. ה' Hashem tells משה Moshe, I got one more. I got one more that I'm going to smack him with. פרעה Paro and מצרים Mitzrayim. אחר כן ישלח אתכם מזה Achar kein yeshalach eschem mizeh. And after that, it's time to go. כשלחו כלה גרש יגרש אתכם מזה k'shalcho kala garesh yegaresh eschem mizeh. And after that, we'll get out of here. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am. I'm speak to the people וישאלו איש מאת רעהו ואשה מאת רעותה כלי כסף וכלי זהב v'yishalu ish me'es re'eihu v'isha me'es re'usah klei kesef u'klei zahav. Please speak in the ears of the people and have them borrow one from the other. We've also spoken about this before. I'll throw one more question in. We've answered it previously. You got to see the גאון מוילנא Gra on this פסוק pasuk. דבר Daber נא na. נא na is לשון בקשה lashon bakasha. נא na means please. Please speak. Why would you have to say please? וישאלו איש מאת רעהו v'yishalu ish me'es re'eihu. What does רעהו re'eihu mean? אין רעהו אלא ישראל ein re'eihu ela Yisrael. רעהו במצוות re'eihu b'mitzvos. רעהו re'eihu means speak to your friend, means a fellow Jew. So it sounds like it's saying go borrow from כלי כסף וכלי זהב klei kesef u'klei zahav from the Egyptians. Borrow, because you're not really returning. When someone says can I borrow a tissue, you hope they don't return it. That's the kind of borrow the Jews were doing here. Can we borrow some כלי כסף וכלי זהב klei kesef u'klei zahav on our way out? We have no commodities, no resources, we have nothing to work with. Can we borrow some on the way out? They had no intent to return. Isn't that called, another name for that is stealing. Where are the ethics of their taking it? The answer of course is they had hundreds of years of compensation, of back pay, of restitution. The Egyptians owed the Jews. So they weren't in fact stealing, they were taking what they were due, what was theirs. But why would you call the Egyptians רעהו re'eihu? They're not your friend, they're not your peer, they're not your comrade. And why would you say נא na, please? So the גאון מוילנא Gra has a different interpretation here that this was an instruction to Jews. The little that you have, lend to one another. You need to do חסד chesed with one another. It's only in the merit of not living in חושך choshech, it's only in the merit of a willingness to see one another, to care about, to extend to one another, to lend to one another. It's only in a חסד chesed community, a חסד chesed society, we'll come back to that, that you can have redemption, that you can have freedom. So before you can go free and break free, you need to establish your own freedom by demonstrating the freedom of caring and loving and creating community where you lend to one another. The first חסד chesed committee, the first חסד chesed society, וישאלו איש מאת רעהו v'yishalu ish me'es re'eihu. נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת nachisa b'chasdecha am zu ga'alta, says the גאון Gaon, the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim based on this גאון Gaon, says the חפץ חיים על התורה Chofetz Chaim al HaTorah, that's why we say in אז ישיר Az Yashir, נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת nachisa b'chasdecha am zu ga'alta. The normal we usually translate it as נחית בחסדך nachisa b'chasdecha, ה' Hashem, your חסד chesed, your loving, your loving kindness, you brought us out, you took us out. But the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim based on this גאון Gaon reinterprets. No, נחית בחסדך nachisa b'chasdecha means, ה' Hashem says to us, in the merit of your חסד chesed that you demonstrated with one another, that you were not self-centered, you didn't retreat into your own world caring only about your survival, you were willing to care for one another, it's in that merit that you were redeemed. It's because of that that you were redeemed. Now פסוק ד' pasuk dalet. ויאמר משה כה אמר ה' Va'yomer Moshe ko amar Hashem. So now Moshe says to פרעה Paro, כחצות הלילה ka'chatzos ha'layla אני יוצא בתוך מצרים ani yotzei b'soch Mitzrayim, at about midnight. And here we start with a beautiful insight of of רב חיים דב אלטוסקי Rav Chaim Dov Altusky who was the ראש ישיבה של תורה אור Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Ohr, based on רש\"י Rashi. רש\"י Rashi notes the word says כחצות ka'chatzos which means at around midnight, right, a Jewish notion of time. Around, approximately. Around, this is not a יקה'שע Yekkesha רש\"י Rashi over here. משה אמר כחצות Moshe amar ka'chatzos שזה כחצי הלילה she'zeh k'chatzi ha'layla דמשמע סמוך לו או לפניו או לאחריו d'mashma samuch lo o l'fanav o l'acharav. A minute before, a minute after, approximately, about, around. Tomorrow night we have the בבא סאלי Baba Sali הילולא Hilula of the ספרדים S'fardim. I don't even know what time it starts, but I would not come at that time. You might be in a room all by yourself. The בבא סאלי Baba Sali will not, his נשמה neshama will not even be there yet. So כחצות ka'chatzos, there are those who live with a mentality, approximately around, we were invited to a ספרדי S'fardi wedding years ago and we came intentionally a little bit late based on what it said on the invitation. We got there, mamash nobody there. So we called the family, I called one of the siblings of the חתן chosson. He said, yeah, we're at home getting ready, we haven't even left yet. It's mamash another time. Anyway, כחצות ka'chatzos, כחצות ka'chatzos, at about, at approximately, at around. Now that's true for a more heimish attitude to the Jewish notion of time, which is not an a proper attitude. We believe in seder, we don't believe in the Jewish notion of time, that's wrong. We believe that if you're early you're on time, if you're on time you're late, if you're late, don't come. We believe in the the proper notion of time. So the Ribono shel Olam, the Almighty certainly knows exactly time. He knows time. He's got better than an atomic clock from Costco. He knows exactly the right time. So why not חצות chatzos, בחצות ba'chatzos, at midnight. מכת בכורות makkas bechoros, this final plague is going to strike at midnight. Why approximately, a little before, a little after? He didn't say בחצות ba'chatzos, says רש\"י Rashi, שמא יטעו אצטגניני פרעה shema yit'u astagninei Paro ויאמרו משה בדאי הוא v'yomru Moshe badai hu. Because you know what will happen? פרעה'ס Paro's advisors, פרעה'ס Paro's astrologers, פרעה'ס Paro's cabinet will say this wasn't God. משה Moshe came before and he warned you what would happen, but he told you it would happen at midnight. And you know, according to our atomic clock, according to my Apple Watch, says פרעה'ס Paro's advisor, it was 11:59 and 58 seconds. It was 12:01. So this wasn't God. This wasn't. But הקדוש ברוך הוא יודע עתיו ורגעיו אמר בחצות HaKadosh Baruch Hu yodeia itav v'rigav amar ba'chatzos. So ה' Hashem refers to it as בחצות ba'chatzos, at midnight, but when משה Moshe communicates it, in order to build some margin, some some room for error, he says at about midnight. And you're just blown away by this רש\"י Rashi. You should be blown away by this רש\"י Rashi. הלא מכת בכורות היתה מכה עשירית Halomakas bechoros hayesah makkah asiris ואחר שהמצרים כבר ספגו תשע מכות נוראות v'achar she Mitzrim kvar sofgu tesha makkos noros. This didn't come out of nowhere. משה Moshe doesn't introduce himself at the 10th plague and say, I'm משה Moshe, nice to meet you. God's about to strike you at about midnight because I don't want you to think it wasn't him, it was just a coincidence. When did this plague come? After nine times that משה Moshe says, the rules of nature are going to be suspended and interfered with. Nine extraordinary things are going to happen to you and all of them you will suffer through. And now the tenth one, there's still room for cynicism and skepticism. The tenth one, פרעה Paro or his advisors might still say because it was 12 minutes and three seconds or 11:59 and 52 seconds, that's enough error for them to say it didn't come from above. What's going on over here? How's that possible? הלא אחר מכת כינים Halachar makkas kinim כבר הודו חרטומיו kvar hodu chartumav ואמרו אצבע אלהים היא v'amru etzba Elokim hi. After the מכה של כינים makkah of kinim, even פרעה'ס Paro's advisors pointed and said, this is enough. Too many coincidences. This isn't random. This coordinated, incredible interference of nature, that's above, that's God. And then he said ה' הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים Hashem hatzadik v'ani v'ami har'shaim. Even פרעה Paro after ברד barad said, you know, God's in charge, he's in control, I yield, I surrender to him. I can't compete. So now after the 10th plague, after the חרטומים chartumim already conceded, after פרעה Paro already forfeited, now after the 10th plague is when we're worried that the cynicism is going to kick in. Nah, it was a little off, it wasn't God. Is that what's going on? So, רב אלטוסקי Rav Altusky, the ראש ישיבה של תורה אור Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Ohr says כח זה הוא מכחות הנפש של אדם koach zeh hu m'kochos ha'nefesh shel adam שגם אם רואה תשע מכות she'gam im ro'eh tesha makkos ומכיר בחוש שזה מאת ה' u'makir b'chush she'zeh m'eis Hashem, אם יש לו אחיזה באיזה תירוץ דחוק im yesh lo achizah b'eizeh terutz dachuk וחולה שזה לא מעשה ה' v'choleh she'zeh lo ma'aseh Hashem, זה כבר מטשטש אצלו את האמת zeh kvar mitash'tesh etzlo es ha'emes להיאחז בכל תירוץ l'heyochez b'chol terutz ובוודאי שלא להגיע למצב שמחויב ועומדים מול תפיסת האמת u'b'vadai shelo l'hagia l'matzav she'mechuyav v'omdim mul tifis ha'emes. This is the human psyche. We so desperately don't want to admit the truth. We so desperately have an aversion to taking ownership or responsibility that if we can find 0.000000001% chance that this is not something that would then bear responsibility on us, we'll go with it. Ah, the chances are so beyond unlikely. Doesn't matter. As long as we can find any possibility of any chance, the human psyche so manipulates our thinking that we will in an effort to not have to take responsibility, come up with the most creative, imaginable way to not bear responsibility. So sometimes we don't want to see the hand of ה' Hashem in our life. We want to be able to say, nah, that's just chance, it's just random, it wasn't ה' Hashem. And even though it's so far-fetched and nearly impossible to reach that conclusion. Where do you see that? You see that essentially with every atheist and agnostic. The evidence of ה' Hashem's existence is so overwhelming that it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a believer. When you examine the evidence, it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does a believer. You can read Rabbi Kelman's permission to believe, permission to receive. You could read countless, you could read Dr. Schroeder's Genesis and the Big Bang. You could read many beautiful works that have compiled the evidence of ה' Hashem's existence. You could learn the רמב\"ן Ramban in our פרשה parsha we've spoken about before, that there's no such thing as nature, that it's all miracles. Like like what was his name? Michaels, the great announcer in the Olympics, do you believe in miracles? That's what the פרשה parsha and that's what this world and this life are screaming out to us. What was his name? Al Michaels. Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in, I didn't watch it. I wasn't old enough. I don't even know if I was alive. What year was it? And you're all looking at me with blank stares like you don't know what I'm talking about. It's the great American miracle. I was alive, but I wasn't watching it. But I wasn't watching it. You know the miracle on ice when the Americans beat the Russians. Do you believe in miracles in those final seconds? Do you believe in miracles? That's iconic words, one of the greatest sports calls of all time, which he was screaming at all of us. Like the רמב\"ן Ramban, he didn't know it, he was channeling the רמב\"ן Ramban. Do you believe in miracles? There's no nature. There's no great coaching, great team because they only had the you know they didn't have a name on the back of their jersey. They only played for the logo on the front of their jersey. All the drashas that have been given about that iconic call and that moment in sports. But it's all the רמב\"ן Ramban on our פרשה parsha, the רמב\"ן על פרשת בא Ramban al Parshas Bo. If you know one רמב\"ן Ramban on the entire Torah, that's the רמב\"ן Ramban you have to know. Because the רמב\"ן Ramban writes that a person has no, a person has no חלק בתורה chelek b'Torah. The רמב\"ן Ramban writes, you have no portion in Torah if you don't recognize that big and small, everything is a miracle from ה' Hashem. There's no nature. When you drop this bottle, and gravity makes it fall, and thank God the cap was on, that's not gravity, it's not physics, it's not nature, that's ה' Hashem. Everything, every leaf that falls, that changes colors, everything is ה' Hashem big and small. And that's why ה' Hashem did all these miracles and pomp and circumstance in order to teach us and to show us that a world where we see him pulling the strings behind the curtain. That's what's going on everywhere. That's what's happening. So when you examine the evidence, it's overwhelmingly conclusive. There is no absolute proof because there's no absolute proof of anything in this world. There's no absolute proof that you could drink this bottle of water, it's not been poisoned and tainted, you won't drop dead. There's no proof that when you got in your car, you would get here alive. And yet, every decision we make, we compile the evidence and if it's persuasive, compelling, overwhelming, we go with it. To be willing to get in the airplane, to be willing to get in the car, to be willing to drink the water, to be willing to take the medicine from the pharmacy. There's no proof of any decision we make in our lives. Every decision that we make, we make because we have weighed the evidence. And the evidence that ה' Hashem exists is at least as compelling as the evidence you can get in a car on 95 in South Florida and that you'll get there alive. At least as compelling. So it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a believer. I, so why are there atheists and agnostics left? Because there's a huge consequence to becoming a believer. You have to radically change your life, your lifestyle, your choices, your focus, your faith, everything about you if you believe. So the mind has a way even though it's 0.0001% chance that there is no God, that it's all random, that it's the result of a big bang, but I'll go with that because that allows me to make the choices that I want and not have to yield to a higher power. So that's what he says is going on כחצות הלילה ka'chatzos ha'layla. Why did he have to, why did he have to build in what the cynic might say? Because the cynic is inside each and every one of us. We too run that risk and that possibility. פרק יא פסוק ז Perek Yud Aleph, pasuk zayin. So what happened on that night? There was a צעקה גדולה בכל ארץ מצרים tz'aka gedola b'chol eretz Mitzrayim, a great scream אשר כמוהו לא נהייתה וכמוהו לא תוסיף asher kamohu lo nihyesa v'chamohu lo sosif. There never was before, there never will be again, the kind of shriek, the kind of scream, the kind of reaction to what happened. פסוק ז pasuk zayin ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו u'l'chol Bnei Yisrael lo yecheratz kelev leshono למאיש ועד בהמה l'me'ish v'ad behemah. But against all the children of Israel, no dog shall wet its tongue against either man nor beast, למען תדעון אשר יפלה ה' בין מצרים ובין ישראל lemaan teidun asher yafleh Hashem bein Mitzrayim u'vein Yisrael. So that ה' Hashem, so that you shall know that ה' Hashem will have differentiated between Israel and between the Jewish people and between the Egyptians. A miracle that night. And what was the miracle of that night? לא יחרץ כלב לשונו lo yecheratz kelev leshono. The dogs were quiet. They didn't bark, they didn't howl, the dogs were quiet. The dogs were quiet. Who kept the dogs in? The dogs were quiet. The dogs were quiet. So what's the greatness of that miracle? So first of all, I'm going to show you a חסידיש תורה chassidish Torah. The אמרי פנחס Imrei Pinchas, רבי פנחס Rebbe Pinchas of קוריץ Koritz, listen to what he says. This is such a חסידיש תורה chassidish Torah. ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו U'l'chol Bnei Yisrael lo yecheratz kelev leshono. He says שאל לו לצדיק מורנו הרב sha'al lo l'tzaddik moreinu ha'rav מה יאמר בפסוק זה על דרך עבודה mah yomar b'pasuk zeh al derech avodah. What, why do we need to know that? No dog barked. Okay. ה' Hashem made a miracle, no dog barked, differentiate the Jewish people and the Egyptians. This is what the רבי פנחס Rebbe Pinchas of קוריץ Koritz answers. לא יחרץ lo yecheratz. לא יחרץ lo yecheratz doesn't only mean to bark, אדם לא יהיה חרוץ adam lo yiyeh charutz, חרוץ charutz means חלוק לשנים chaluk lishnayim, to be broken or divided into two. רק כלב rak kelev, כלב k'lev יהא לשונו yehei leshono, לא אחד בפה ואחד בלב lo echad b'peh v'echad b'lev. A whole new way of reading the פסוק pasuk. Not לא יחרץ כלב lo yecheratz kelev, לא יחרץ כלב יהא lo yecheratz k'lev yehei. Don't be broken, we say one thing and you do another. כלב k'lev, don't be אחד בפה ואחד בלב echad b'peh v'echad b'lev, be consistent, follow through, that's what he says is going on. But that's not what the פסוק pasuk means. So what does the פסוק pasuk mean? And here the אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah, we don't have time to examine all of it. If you are a dog lover, a pet lover, you have a dog, you know who you are, and you've told all of us, so you'll love this. He has pages and pages and pages of the Jewish relationship with dogs, with pets, and so on. He says, what's the big deal, שלא לא יחרץ כלב לשונו she'lo yecheratz kelev leshono. מהו גדול הריבוסא בנז זה שלא חרצו הכלבים mah hu gadol ha'ribusa b'nez zeh shelo chartzu ha'klavim. I got it, first born all died. I got it, all the water turned to blood. Frogs or crocodiles, alligators roamed all over Egypt. That's a big deal. The dogs were all quiet that night. Okay, that's such a big miracle? That was so important to ה' Hashem? וכי הכלבים צועקים ונובחים תמיד בכל עת v'chi ha'klavim tzo'akim v'novchim tamid b'chol eis? הלא גם בפי דרך הטבע לפעמים הכלבים אינם נובחים ha'lo gam b'fi derech ha'teva lifamim ha'klavim einam novchim. Sometimes dogs are quiet. Sometimes. So that's a revealed miracle of ה' Hashem? כתבו מפרשים שלכלבים היו סיבות מיוחדות לחרוץ לשונם kassvu m'farshim she'la'klavim hayu sibos m'yuchados lach'rotz leshonam, ויד הגבר לנס הוא בכל זאת לא חרצו v'yad ha'gever l'nes hu b'chol zos lo chartzu, ועבורם ה' יתברך, איזה אות שיתברך v'avoram Hashem misborach, aizeh oise sh'misborach. He says dogs had every reason that night especially to bark. The fact that they didn't bark is not the anomaly. It's that they had every reason to bark and yet they didn't. And then he goes through many, many reasons. We'll just share a few of them. פירוש הטור על התורה Perush HaTur al HaTorah, כמה סיבות kama sibos. ראשית Reishis, שהיתה העיר מלאה נבילות ממכת בכורות she'hayah ha'ir m'leiah nevelos m'makkas bechoros. There were corpses, there were dead bodies all over Egypt. ודרך הכלבים לנבוח על נבילות v'derech ha'klavim linboach al nevelos. Dogs like dead bodies. Dogs like dead things, dead animals, dead people. Number two, שדרך הכלבים לנבוח כשיוצא בני אדם בלילות she'derech ha'klavim linboach k'she'yotze bnei adam b'leilos. Dogs bark when people go out at night. When a dog sees, senses a person walking, roaming at night, they bark. וכל שכן שהדבר בעיר ועוד אומרים שהכלבים צועקים כשמלאך המות בעיר v'kol she'ken she'ha'dever b'ir v'od omrim she'ha'klavim tzo'akim k'she'malach hamaves ba'ir. When the מלאך המות malach ha'maves comes, the dogs somehow perceive that and that's another reason the dog barks. So three reasons the dog should have barked and didn't, that was the miracle. And he says, the ריב\"א Riva, quotes the ריב\"א Riva next, gives several reasons. ככה תאכלו את המכה בידכם k'cha tochlu es ha'makkah b'yadchem, אף לזה דרך הכלבים לנבוח ולצעוק כשרואים אנשים עומדים עם מקל בידם af l'zeh derech ha'klavim linboach v'l'tzo'ek k'she'ro'im anashim omdim im makkal b'yadam. The people were there with their staff in their hands, dog bark when they see people with sta, with sticks. אף על פי כן לא נבחו כשראו צאן מקל בידם af al pi chen lo novchu k'she'ro'u tzon makkal b'yadam, they didn't bark. The חזקוני Chizkuni, מנהג הכלבים לנבוח אחר חצות minhag ha'klavim linboach achar chatzos. Dogs bark after midnight. שהוא כשמר תמים she'hu k'she'mar tamim, because they're watchdogs. They've been trained to bark after midnight, yet they didn't bark. The הדר זקנים Hadar Zekeinim מבית מדרשו m'Beis Midrasho, כתב הקבלה kasav ha'Kabbalah. ותהי צעקה גדולה בכל ארץ מצרים va'tehi tze'aka gedola b'chol Eretz Mitzrayim. He says you have to read it as a continuation of the פסוק pasuk that came before. We just described this enormous scream, this huge reaction, unprecedented, unparalleled. You can imagine that if the people shrieked and screamed, the dogs would likely respond and react by barking, yet they didn't. That was a miracle. The ספר אגרא דכלה Sefer Agra D'Kallah brings the מסורה mesorah. Two times it says לכל בני ישראל l'chol Bnei Yisrael. לכל בני ישראל היה אור במושבותם l'chol Bnei Yisrael hayah or b'moshvosam, even when there was darkness, the Jewish people had light. לכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו l'chol Bnei Yisrael lo yecheratz kelev leshono. For the Jewish people, no dog barked. שמכת חשך she'makkas choshech and מכת בכורות makkas bechoros נלמדים זה מזה nilmadim zeh mi'zeh. So we have this sort of גזירה שווה gzera shava, לכל בני ישראל l'chol Bnei Yisrael. All the Jewish people were not affected by darkness and all the Jewish people no dog barked. Why? שבמכת חשך היה אור במושבות בני ישראל she'b'makkas choshech hayah or b'moshvos bnei Yisrael, כן במכת בכורות היה הלילה מאיר להם כיום תקופת תמוז ken b'makkas bechoros hayah ha'layla me'ir lahem k'yom tkufas Tammuz. It never got dark the night of מכת בכורות makkas bechoros. Not only did the Jewish firstborn not die, but also it never got dark that night. And we're learning that from the parallel of לכל בני ישראל l'chol Bnei Yisrael. What do the dogs get as a reward? What's the reward for the dogs that the Jewish dogs didn't bark that night to differentiate from the מצרים Mitzrim? שפתי כהן Sifsei Kohen writes שמשהיה הנס ראוי לכלבים לחרוץ she'm'shehayah ha'nes ro'ui l'klavim lachrotz, ולא חרצו v'lo chartzu, קיבלו שכר בכמה דברים kiblu schar b'kama dvarim. Number one, ובשר בשדה טריפה לא תאכלו לכלב תשליכון אותו u'vasar b'sadeh treifah lo socheilu la'kelev tashlichun oso. You can't eat a נבילה neveila. We don't eat something that was killed other than through שחיטה shchita. So roadkill, something that died of natural causes, what do we do with it? The פסוק pasuk specifically tells us, you give it to the dog to eat. Throw it to the dogs to eat. We reward them, we give them the food that which we can't eat, our שיריים shirayim. הכלבים זכו לומר שירה להקדוש ברוך הוא בכל יום Ha'klavim zochu lomar shira l'HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'chol yom. Number two, dogs bark שירה shira to ה' Hashem every day. Number three, זכו הכלבים שמשחמים אורות zochu ha'klavim she'm'shachmim oros מצותם matzvasam כתובים במתפילין, מזוזות וספרי תורה k'tuvim b'm'tefillin, mezuzos v'sifrei Torah. These be ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni. He gives many, many reasons what are the rewards of the of the dogs, of the dogs. Because of this, the בן איש חי Ben Ish Chai says a דבר פלא davar pele. We continue to reward dogs today and how do we do it on פסח Pesach night? אין מכים את הכלבים בחג הפסח ein makim es ha'klavim b'chag ha'Pesach. You can't hit a dog on פסח Pesach. Specifically ביום הראשון וביום השני של פסח b'yom ha'rishon u'v'yom ha'sheini shel Pesach שבהם מספרים מיציאת מצרים she'bahem m'saprim m'yetzias Mitzrayim. So I don't think you should hit a dog anytime. PETA, save your letters. But to someone who has to train a dog, no training where striking a dog on פסח Pesach because that's the holiday that we appreciate our dogs and we don't hit our dogs. dogs, and we keep our dogs. And while we talk about dogs, Rabbeinu Yuda HaChasid writes אל יכה איש את הכלב בשינה al yakeh ish es hakelev b'sheina, and don't hit a dog that's sleeping, only a woken dog.Okay. Moshe called the Mitzrim, the צור המור Tzur HaMor says the דבר פלא Davar Pella, פסוק נאמר משה רבינו דברי פרעה pasuk ne'emar Moshe Rabbeinu divrei Paro, אל תוסף ראות פני כי ביום ראותך פני תמות Al tosef re'ot panai ki b'yom re'otcha panai tamus. ויחר אף משה על דברי פרעה Vayichar af Moshe al divrei Paro. Moshe gets very upset. ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו u'lechol Bnei Yisrael lo yecheratz kelev leshono, קרא כלב לכל המצרים kara kelev l'chol haMitzrim. So the צור המור Tzur HaMor says Mosha was calling all the Egyptians dogs. The Egyptians, he was calling them dogs that night.Okay. There's another Medrash in Tehillim says something wild. שבצאת ישראל ממצרים, הלך כל אחד ואחד מישראל כלב She'b'tzeit Yisrael m'Mitzrayim, halach kol echad v'echad m'Yisrael kelev. Wow. To someone who thinks Jews don't have dogs, the Medrash Tehillim, מזמור קפב Mizmor kuf peh beis, says that when the Jews left Egypt, everyone had a dog. Everyone took a dog. Okay. Why would they need dogs? אולי יש לפרש פמ\"א ד\"ש במדרש Ulai yesh l'faresh pma d'sh b'midrash, שאחר שהרג קין את הבל אחיו, הזירו מיערות חמה מחיתו טרף שהרגו כל נחשול חטאו ונתן לו הקדוש ברוך הוא כלב שישמרו מהם she'achar sheharag Kayin es Hevel achiv, heziru m'ya'arot chama m'chayto teref shehargu kol nechshol chato'o, v'nasan lo haKadosh Baruch Hu kelev she'yishmoro meihem. After Kayin killed Hevel, and Kadosh Baruch Hu told him he had to wander, he was vulnerable, he was fragile, there was going to be someone who would avenge Hevel's blood, Hashem gave him a dog to take him, that would be his protection. The dog would be his security, the dog would watch. So maybe according to this, the Jews who still had a fear of the Mitzrim, when they left, they each had a dog, they were protected. The dog was a watchdog, the dog was protected. Where'd they get dogs from?בני ישראל ירשו את הכלבים מיעקב אבינו Bnei Yisrael yarshu es ha'klavim m'Yaakov Avinu. They got the dogs, they inherited the dogs from Yaakov. As the Medrash says in Bereishis Rabba, שהיה ליעקב ששים ריבוא כלבים שומרי הצאן shehaya l'Yaakov shishim ribo klavim shomrei hatzon. Yaakov had 60,000 dogs that watched over his enormous estate of flock. ויש אומרים מאה ועשרים ריבוא כלבים V'yesh omrim meah v'esrim ribo klavim. אין דברי מדרש מפרשים כפשוטם Ein divrei midrash mefarshim k'pshutam. Did he really have dogs? Did he not have dogs? Anyway, he has pages and pages and pages, he dug up every Medrash and everything there is to say about a dog. Many dogs. Why do non-Jews call Jews dogs? הטעם שקראו אומות העולם ליהודים בשם כלבים Ha'ta'am she'karu umos ha'olam la'Yehudim b'shem klavim. לפי שנאמר בנים אתם להשם אלוקיכם l'fi shene'emar banim atem l'Hashem Elokeichem. בנים Banim is בגמטריא כלבים b'gematria klavim. Because בנים banim, Kadosh Baruch Hu says בנים אתם להשם אלוקיכם banim atem l'Hashem Elokeichem. We are Hashem's children. But בנים banim, children, is the same gematria as כלבים klavim, dogs. So then we see ourselves as בנים banim, but the non-Jews see us as כלבים klavim. Right here in Palm Beach County. Do you know how many country clubs had a sign that said, \"No Jews, no blacks, and no dogs\"? Jews and Jews are are considered, were considered, once again are being considered, dogs. וגם כתוב כי לי בני ישראל, ראשי תיבות כלבי v'gam kasuv ki li Bnei Yisrael, rashei teivos Kalbi. כי לי בני ישראל, כף למד בית יוד Ki li Bnei Yisrael, chaf lamed beis yud, my dog. Non-Jews refer to Jews as dog. I don't want to go on and on on this, we have much more inspiring דברי תורה divrei Torah to share. But fascinating discussion. You gotta love the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah. Pages and pages and pages on the Jewish view, the Jewish history, the Jewish connection. But who knew? Every Jew left Egypt with a dog? יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu bequeathed to his children all these dogs. We reward the dog, don't hit the dog. The Ben Ish Chai says don't hit a dog on Pesach night. Why would you be hitting a dog if you didn't have a dog? So the Ben Ish Chai obviously is assuming that people had dogs. Anyway, fascinating.פרק יא פסוק ח Perek yud alef, pasuk ches. Turn the page. וירדו כל עבדיך אלה אלי והשתחוו לי לאמר V'yardu chol avadecha eileh elai v'hishtachavu li lemor, and all tell all your servants to come down to me and bow down to me, saying צא אתה וכל העם אשר ברגלך Tzei ata v'chol ha'am asher b'raglecha, go out, ואחר כן אצא ויצא מעם פרעה בחרי אף v'achar ken etzei, vayetzei me'im Paro b'chori af. Moshe took leave of Paro after he warns him about מכת בכורות makas bechoros, he takes leave of Paro בחרי אף b'chori af, with great anger. What is he angry or frustrated about? Why בחרי אף b'chori af? What's Moshe upset about? What did he think Paro was going to do? Give him a גרויסע ישר כוח groiseh yashar koach? What did he think, a דאַנק dank? What did he say, thank you? What did he think he was going to say to Moshe? So of course he's frustrated with the way Paro interacted with him, but what did he expect? Rav Zeidel Epstein, the Mashgiach of Torah Or, gives a מאירת עיניים me'iras einayim answer. He says the following. He says, we learned before, we studied last week, that Moshe had an amazing sense of הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov. He wouldn't strike the water, he wouldn't strike the sand because they were both good to him. Gratitude is not for the recipient. Gratitude is how we condition ourselves to be willing to be humble enough to say, I needed you, I depended on you, מודה לי, מודה על modeh li, modeh al. Moshe is the paradigm of gratitude. Moshe's whole life is characterized by gratitude. עד כדי כך Ad k'dei kach that even here, even here, his הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov goes so far that he's grateful to Paro. As horrific and heinous as Paro was, he also grew up in Paro's palace. Paro gave him room and board. Paro took care of him. Paro, he grew up in Paro's palace. יחסו של משה לפרעה היה מורכב לשניים Yachaso shel Moshe l'Paro haya murkav lishnayim. ודאי ידע גודל רשעותו V'adai yada godel rishuso. Certainly he knew Paro's wickedness and evil. ומאידך חש כלפיו וכלפי ביתו רגשי הכרת הטוב גדולים U'me'idach chash klapav v'chlapei beiso rigshei hakaras hatov gedolim. But he also felt a gratitude. שכן שם גדל בניגוד לגזירותיו הוא וביושרו שם הצילו אותו She'kein sham gadol b'nigud l'gzeirosov hu u'v'yoshro sham hitzilo oso. That is where, while his brothers and sisters were suffering outside, he was spared, he was saved, he grew up in the lap of luxury and prosperity. אפשר להעריך במשך כל ימי המכות, הייתה למשה רבינו תקווה בסיסרי ליבו, שהמכות יביאו אותו אלא להכרתו של פרעה, וריבוי אמונתו, וממכה למכה חיכה לראות איזה שינוי אצלו לטובה Efshar l'ha'arich b'meshech kol yemei ha'makos, hayta l'Moshe Rabbeinu tikva b'siseirei libo, she'ha'makos yavi'u oso ela l'hakaroso shel Paro, v'ribui emunaso, u'mi'maka l'maka chika lirot eize shinui etzlo l'tova. Every makkah, it's a beautiful depiction Rav Zeidel offers. With every makkah, Paro, Moshe comes back to Paro and he hopes beyond all hope that maybe this callous, cruel person, his heart will soften. That maybe, just maybe, he will accept Hashem, feel regret and remorse, take responsibility, show Moshe some affection like he did when Moshe was a baby being raised in the palace. But what happened? ויחזק השם את לב פרעה והוא לא נכנע Vayechazek Hashem es lev Paro, v'hu lo nichna. But Paro only became more strident, Paro became more stubborn, Paro became more callous and more cruel, and Moshe was devastated. He held out beyond all hope, but it didn't become a reality. And that's the source of חרי אף chori af. He was disappointed. He walked away disappointed after all that hope. But he maintained הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov because the reality was that as much as Paro had done wrong, he also did right. We collectively practice that too. We spoke about it Shabbos HaGadol, I think two years ago. The pasuk says לא תתעב מצרי lo tisa'ev Mitzri. You're not allowed to aggravate, aggrieve an Egyptian. How does that express itself? לא תתעב מצרי Lo tisa'ev Mitzri in הלכה halacha, you can't essentially bear a grudge against the Egyptians. Can't bear a grudge? They did a genocide against our people. They turned our little boys into bricks, cast them in the Nile, killed, oppressed, murdered, enslaved for hundreds of years, and we can't bear a grudge? The Torah says yes, because before they did that, the Jews had a golden age in Egypt. Before that happened, when the economy of the world collapsed and the Jews were hungry, where did Yaakov and his sons go? They came to Egypt. Don't ever forget the good that was done, even if it was layered over by evil and wickedness. Hashem says, I'll hold them accountable, I'll hold them responsible. Can't marry, we don't marry an Egyptian for several generations, but לא תתעב מצרי lo tisa'ev Mitzri. You also have to remember the good. So what is that relationship that we have? We spoke about it on Shabbos HaGadol after the war with Ukraine broke out. Because we spoke about what is the Jewish attitude to the countries that have hosted us, both in good times and bad? What is our approach to those countries? You know, there is a supposed חרם cherem that a Jew cannot live in Spain. It is said that the Abarbanel, when he was exiled, instituted a חרם cherem that a Jew can't live in Spain. There's a lot of תשובות tshuvos, there's a lot of הלכתית halachic literature, can Jews go back and live in Spain? Torah tells us you're not allowed to go back and live in Egypt. That's the balance, the tension. On the one hand, Torah in three places tells us a Jew is not allowed to go live in Egypt. הלכתית Halachically, we don't go back to Egypt. We don't go back to Egypt psychologically, we don't go back to Egypt spiritually, metaphysically, and we don't go back to Egypt geographically, physically. A Jew is not meant to live in Egypt. On the other hand, לא תתעב מצרי lo tisa'ev Mitzri. Don't bear a grudge, don't aggrieve the Egyptian. So which is it? You know, the Ukrainians, Jews have been living in Ukraine, but there are many Jews who lived in Ukraine who will tell you, our recent speaker at the JNF weekend, a refusenik will tell you, that every Ukrainian grew up in their mother's milk with hating a Jew. That the Ukrainians were greater accomplices to the Nazis than anyone else. They were glad to play that role. What's our relationship? What's our relationship to Germany and to Germans, and to German products, and to German reparations? The great debate between Begin and Ben-Gurion. So it all stems from the Torah. None of these feelings or reactions or conversations, when a war breaks out with Ukraine, should we feel empathy, sympathy, send aid, not only to the Jews, but to Ukrainians? Do we remember what they did and we bear a grudge, and we don't ever help or don't ever feel in our heart? We don't just pontificate, and we don't rely on the pundits, but we have a תורה הקדושה Torah HaKdosha to turn to that has this attitude. So Rav Zeidel says Moshe Rabbeinu interacts with Paro חרי אף chori af because he still had הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov. He simultaneously lived with that tension. On the one hand, this Paro is the cruel despot and dictator who is torturing our people. On the other hand, it's his palace I grew up in. It's his palace I lived in. We took our trip to Poland several summers ago, first day, the first place we went in Warsaw was the Jewish Museum in Warsaw. And there you can trace and track hundreds of years of Jewish renaissance in Poland. Before the war. If you didn't know the way the story ended, you'd say, wow, what an amazing country, what a great and illustrious history we have here. Our history is complicated. And how do we react to that complication? What should we feel? It's all from the Torah and there is a great example of it. פרק יב פסוק ב Perek yud beis, pasuk beis.ויאמר השם אל משה Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, now we interrupt our story to bring the first mitzvah in the Torah. Our story becomes interrupted for the first official mitzvah in the Torah. ויאמר השם אל משה ואל אהרן בארץ מצרים לאמר, החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים. ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה Vayomer Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon b'eretz Mitzrayim lemor, Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodoshim, rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashanah. This is your month, Nisan, the first month for you for the months of the year. Many תשובות tshuvos bring down, is a Jew allowed to write one, what's today, 25th, 26th, whatever day it is, 24th, is a Jew allowed to write 1/24/23, the date? There are תשובות tshuvos that bring down, absolutely not. The Munkatcher Rebbe and the Minchas Elazar was very opposed to it. On מצבות matzeivos, certainly, but even on documents. How could you call January the first month? Nisan is the first month. החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodoshim, rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashanah. So you write out the word January, don't write the number one, because that's not the first month of the year. Others say, yeah, you don't mean it's the first month in any religious sense. You're simply using the numbers the way society does in documents and in contracts and the like. So there's a lot of הלכתית halachic literature on this question, can we count according to the months and according to the years? I gave a shiur on this recently at the yeshiva on New Year's, because that was the question. What is New Year's? The Ramah quotes the Trumas HaDeshen. It was censored out of the, out of the Trumas HaDeshen. It was censored out of the Trumas HaDeshen and it was censored out of the Ramah. But the Ramah in הלכות עבודת כוכבים hilchos avodas kochavim, when it's talking about idolatry, refers to ניטל Nittel. Nittel's the 25th of December. It is the birthday of that Jew, ישו הנוצרי Yeshu HaNotzri. And eight days later, it was his bris was the 1st of January. So if you mark those days and use that calendar, and 2023 is since what year, so if you're using those dates, are you implicitly acknowledging and are you implicitly practicing idolatrous? Now the truth is the dates don't work out. Rav Ovadia in Yabia Omer has a whole tshuva, those dates don't even work out, so you're probably not. Even if it were something prohibited, but it's inaccurate to begin with those dates, they don't even work out the way they do. So it's fascinating הלכתית halachic literature, can you use the number one, can you use the year? Are you allowed to, not allowed to? Outside of Israel, we don't really have the choice. But it all comes from this pasuk because it says החודש הזה לכם hachodesh hazeh lachem because Nissan is ראש חודש, ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה rosh chodesh, rishon hu lachem l'chodshei hashanah. It's the first month of the year, Nissan. So the first mitzvah the Torah gives us, really the Torah should have started from here. Everything that came earlier is to teach us דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה derech eretz kadma l'Torah. Who are we, why are we here, what are we meant to be, how are we meant to live, and then we can get to the mitzvos. But this is the first mitzvah of החודש הזה לכם hachodesh hazeh lachem. Why is it the first mitzvah? We control, we manipulate the calendar. It's not imposed on us. Count six days, every seventh day is Shabbos, like it or not, here it comes. But when it comes to Rosh Chodesh, when it comes to the calendar, we control it. Today, because of Hillel Hazaken, we have a fixed calendar. But in the times of the Talmud, we controlled the calendar. Witnesses came and testified, they saw a new moon, we controlled the calendar. But we didn't just passively control the calendar based on receiving testimony, we were אתם אפילו שוגגים, אתם אפילו מזידים atem afilu shogegim, atem afilu mezidim. We were allowed to manipulate the calendar. Ooh, if this is Rosh Chodesh, Pesach is going to fall out on inconvenient days. Get out of here witnesses, we're not hearing you, let's get the next witnesses, we'll say it's the next day. We were allowed to manipulate and control the calendar even to our advantage. Why did Hashem give us that power? And why is this the first mitzvah that's given in the Torah? The Sfas Emes writes, you know why it's the first mitzvah in the Torah? Because the Jewish people are about to be set free. They're about to be redeemed and celebrate freedom. And do you know what is the sign of freedom? Whether you control your time. A slave has no control over time. They serve their master. Whatever the master tells them where they need to be, when they need to be, how they need to be, they have to surrender to their master. A free person controls time. So if we have no management of our own time, come back to Jewish time. If you're always late, you're a slave. If you're free, you control time. You manage time. Time serves you, you don't feel enslaved to it. That's why it's the first mitzvah offered here in the Torah. But Rav Chaim Volozhiner has a different reason. You know why it's the first mitzvah in the Torah? For another reason. החודש הזה לכם Hachodesh hazeh lachem. Rav Chaim Volozhiner Nefesh HaChaim Shaar Alef Perek Beis, he says, אנשי כנסת הגדולה Anshei Knesses HaGedolah put into our davening in Birchas Krias Shema המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית ha'mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid ma'aseh Bereishis. Kadosh Baruch Hu renews, המחדש ha'mechadesh, בטובו b'tuvo, in Hashem's goodness and out of his kindness, he renews creation every day. Not just every day, תמיד tamid, every moment, every second, every millisecond. It means how long does the world's contract last before it needs to be renewed? A fraction of a millisecond. The world's contract, our contract, our existence, is constantly in a state of renewal. תמיד Tamid, over and over and over again. Why? Hashem has nothing else or better to do? We don't earn or deserve a longer contract? So Rav Chaim Volozhiner says there's something so powerful. You know why? החודש הזה לכם Hachodesh hazeh lachem, החידוש הזה לכם hachidush hazeh lachem. A Jew is never stuck. We're never fixed. We're never finished. We're never done. If Hashem is renewing the world every moment, we are renewing ourselves every moment. Just because that's who I was a moment ago doesn't mean that's who I have to be right now. Every second, every millisecond, every moment, we can redefine our lives. We can start again over and over and over again. The first mitzvah we were given when we were set free, there is the most empowering mitzvah there is, is not just החודש הזה לכם hachodesh hazeh lachem, the month is yours. Rav Gedalia Schorr in Or Gedalyahu writes this. Don't read it החודש hachodesh, read it החדש hachadash. Not החודש hachodesh, החדש hachadash, חדש chadash, newness, freshness, renewal, new beginning, new opportunity, fresh start. That is a gift given to us. We don't ever have to feel we're fixed. We're never done. We don't have to ever be fatalistic. This is not who we are or how we have to live. המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית Ha'mechadesh b'tuvo b'chol yom tamid ma'aseh Bereishis. Like Hashem, emulating Hashem, we too can be מחדש בכל יום תמיד mechadesh b'chol yom tamid. We can renew and redefine and recreate ourselves every day. No matter what age, no matter what stage of life, we look out and we say, I'm not satisfied with what kind of mother or father I've been, husband or wife, עבד השם eved Hashem, community member. You're not done, you're not fixed. חידוש Chidush, החודש הזה לכם hachodesh hazeh lachem. That power, that capacity for renewal, for starting again, Hashem gave it to us. He gave it to us. It's pregnant with possibility. It's filled with opportunity. The new moon. Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh. If you went out last night, what do you see in the sky? Next to nothing. You'd think that the holiday that celebrates the moon, you'd see a full, beautiful, magnificent, bright moon, but you see nothing. When do you see the full moon? Halfway through, only on the 15th. That's when you see the full, that's when you see the full moon. Rabbi Josh Weinberger gave a shiur the other night and he quoted his אלטע זיידע alte zeide, the Bnei Yisaschar. The הייליגע בני יששכר heilige Bnei Yisaschar says, we have a מחלוקת machlokes with Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai. This is a little bonus d'var Torah for you, not directly connected to the parsha. But we're now in the month of Shvat, שנשמע בשורות טובות she'nishmah b'vsoros tovos, that we should hear good news and good tidings. So you have a מחלוקת machlokes with Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. We know this is the month of blossom, of the Rosh Hashanah for the trees. When is it, the 1st of Shvat or the 15th of Shvat? What are they arguing about? Not time-wise, not the מציאות metzius, they're not arguing about when does the first root take place underground. What they're arguing about, Beis Hillel say, you know when there's blossoming, when there's growth, when there's possibility, when you can see what there is yet ahead, when you go earn and you go get, that's Beis Shammai. Beis Hillel say the 15th of the month, when there's a full moon, when it's bright, when it's full, when we've inherited that fullness, when we can build upon it, when we can build upon it. That's the machlokes, and there's truth to both. The idea is, even in the darkness of the cold and frigid winter, somewhere, even when it feels like everything around us is dead because of the dark, cold, frigid winter, even when the iguanas are frozen and not moving, under the ground, there's the beginning of movement. And we should know inside ourselves that even when it feels like I'm stuck, my life is cold and frigid and dark and gloomy, inside there's some movement, there's some change, there's some growth, there's possibility. It's Rosh Hashanah L'ilanos, there's a Tu B'Shvat coming. There's החודש הזה לכם hachodesh hazeh lachem, החדש הזה לכם hachadash hazeh lachem. פרק יב פסוק ג Perek yud beis, pasuk gimmel.דברו אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר, בעשור לחודש הזה ויקחו להם איש שה לבית אבות, שה לבית Dabru el kol adas Bnei Yisrael lemor, b'asor l'chodesh hazeh v'yikchu lahem ish seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. Oh. דברו Dabru. Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, we got a great Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz. Says Rashi, והכי אהרן v'hechi Aharon who's speaking here? Who's speaking? Who's about to say what's said next? Hashem speaks to Moshe and Aharon and then Moshe is the one who says it. So Rashi says, והלא אהרן מדבר? והלא כבר נאמר אתה תדבר v'halo Aharon medaber? V'halo k'var ne'emar ata tedaber. Hashem is speaking to Moshe and he says in the singular אתה ata, you speak. So why דברו dabru? Why in the plural? אלא חלקו כבוד זה לזה ואמרו זה לזה, למדני והדיבור יוצא מפיהם כאילו שניהם מדברים Ela chalku kavod zeh l'zeh v'amru zeh l'zeh, lamdeini v'hadibur yotzei m'pihem k'ilu shneihem medabrim. Moshe and Aharon are communicating together and they're showing deference and honor and respect to one another to communicate and transmit this in collaboration together. But the מציאות metzius is that Moshe is the only one who spoke. Moshe is the one who's transmitted Hashem's word. So nothing came from Aharon. So what, what are we gaining here? So Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz brought from the Mashgiach Rav Yeruchem. התורה מלמדת אותנו לימוד באהבת אחים, ובהנהגה בין אדם לחברו ומפלאה של משה ואהרן HaTorah melamdes oso limud b'ahavas achim, u'v'hanhaga bein adam l'chavero u'm'pala shel Moshe v'Aharon. The Torah is teaching us when brothers love each other and they don't compete with one another. And this is a big principle that we see throughout. וראך ושמח בליבו V'ra'acha v'samach b'libo. Don't worry, Aharon's not going to be jealous Moshe. Moshe's proud of Aharon, Aharon's proud of Moshe. They take pride and joy and satisfaction in each other's success. They celebrate each other's success. They experience each other's success as an extension of their own. They're not competing. Such a problem of sibling rivalry. Of that inability to פאַרגינען fargin, to be happy, to celebrate someone else's success. Moshe and Aharon celebrate one another's success. נכון אומנם שהלימוד הראשון יוצא מפיו של משה רבינו, שרק אליו היה דיבור השם Nachon omnam she'ha'limud harishon yotzei m'piv shel Moshe Rabbeinu, she'rak elav haya dibur Hashem. It's true that the first thing communicated was just from Moshe. Hashem alone spoke to Moshe, ולכן הוא פתח בדיבור v'lachen hu pasach b'dibur. He was the first one to speak. אבל באו, ברגע שנסתיים הדיבור שיצא מפי השם, ויכל אהרן להסביר דבריו aval bo, b'rega she'nistayem ha'dibur she'yotza m'pi Hashem, v'yachol Aharon l'hasbir d'varav, but as soon as Moshe finished and Aharon had the ability to explain, to elaborate, to extrapolate, Moshe said, please, Aharon, you do a better job, take over. And when Aharon was done explaining, there was the next point to teach, he said, נו, משה nu, Moshe, pick it up from here. Sometimes you see people and they're competing for who could speak the most. They're shouting over one another. Nobody's actually talking. They're all just waiting, taking turns till it's their turn to speak louder than the next person. Moshe and Aharon were not so. So the pasuk attributes דברו dabru, they spoke together, even though they didn't, it was in sequence because of the respect they had in an ability to really communicate, one at a time, to really speak one to the other.So the pasuk says, ויקחו להם איש שה לבית אבות, שה לבית v'yikchu lahem ish seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. And this is what I really want to get to, so now we're ready to start. On the 10th of this month, they should take for themselves each man a lamb or a kid for each father's house, a lamb or a kid for their household. שה לבית אבות, שה לבית Seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. שה לבית אבות, שה לבית Seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. So, what's going on over here? Go take, שה לבית אבות, שה לבית seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. ואם ימעט הבית מהיות משה V'im yimat ha'bayis miheyos mi'seh, next pasuk. If the household will not will be too small for a lamb or a kid, ולקח הוא ושכינו הקרוב אל ביתו במכסת נפשות v'lakach hu u'shcheino ha'karov el beiso b'michsas nefashos. So you don't have enough to eat all that shawarma in your house, so get the whole block together, combine a few houses together, collaborate, איש לפי אכלו תכסו על השה ish l'fi ochlo tachosu al ha'seh. And everyone according to what he eats shall be counted for a lamb or for a kid. Collaborate, connect, combine, and you will be able to experience the korban Pesach together. This is the instruction of the korban Pesach, of the korban Pesach. The korban Pesach is the featured way that we celebrate Pesach. Now today we don't bring a korban Pesach, we have the זרוע zeroa at the seder table to commemorate the korban Pesach, but we don't eat it דוקא dafka to show that we're not consuming, we don't have a Beis Hamikdash, should be built speedily in our days, ממש mamash, but we don't have a korban Pesach today. However, it is represented. But the Chazon Ish instituted several practices to ensure that we keep it alive. Before you even go to the seder table, there's a מנהג minhag to recite the korban Pesach. לשלם נשמה פרים שפתינו L'shalem neshama parim s'faseinu. We can't bring it, but when we read about it, it's as if we brought it. And we have שני תבשילין shnei tavshilin. We have a roasted bone and a roasted egg, represent the way it was brought in the Beis Hamikdash. כורך Korech, the way Hillel ate it as a sandwich, was to commemorate, זכר למקדש zecher l'Mikdash, the korban Pesach. אפיקומן Afikoman is זכר למקדש zecher l'Mikdash. We have regular references throughout the seder for the Beis Hamikdash. So even though we don't have it today, we do have it. It is present, it is represented, it is at the seder table. This korban Pesach, which is the whole way we celebrate Pesach, which is this pasuk, שה לבית אבות, שה לבית seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis, is a very unusual korban. It's a very unusual korban. In איזהו מקומן eizehu mekoman, if you're on time, you read it every day. If you're on time and you can keep up, you read איזהו מקומן eizehu mekoman every day. In איזהו מקומן eizehu mekoman it says הבכור והמעשר והפסח קדשי קלים ha'b'chor v'ha'ma'aser v'ha'Pesach kodshei kalim, שחיטתן בכל מקום בעזרה shchitasan b'chol makom b'azarah וכולי וכולי v'chulei v'chulei. It lists Pesach separately. It lists Pesach independently as a korban. And the Rambam introduces הלכות קרבן פסח hilchos korban Pesach by telling us there are 15 unique aspects to the halachos of a korban Pesach different than all other korbanos. This is a unique, this is a distinct, this is a different korban than all others. Where is it eaten? קדשי קדשים Kodshei kodashim can't be removed from the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash. קדשים קלים Kodshim kalim are disqualified if taken out of Yerushalayim. קרבן פסח Korban Pesach, where are the boundaries of the korban Pesach? In the parsha here, korban Pesach, the boundaries are the walls of the house. What does the pasuk say? פרק יב, פסוק מו Perek yud beis, pasuk mem vav. Turn the page now continuing still with the korban Pesach. Page 354 in the Artscroll stone חומש chumash. ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל ויאמר אליהם משכו וקחו לכם צאן למשפחותיכם, ולקחתם אגודת איזוב וטבלתם בדם אשר בסף והגעתם אל המשקוף ואל שתי המזוזות Vayikra Moshe l'chol ziknei Yisrael vayomer aleihem mishchu u'kchu lachem tzon l'mishpichoseichem, u'lkachtem agudas ezov u'tvaltem b'dam asher b'saf v'higa'tem el ha'mashkof v'el sh'tei ha'mezuzos. ואתם לא תצאו איש מפתח ביתו עד הבקר V'atem lo seitzu ish m'pesach beiso ad ha'boker. You can't take it outside the walls of the house until the morning, until the morning. Rav Druck in his Aish Tamid on that pasuk says, פשוט נראה כי איסור יציאה מפתח ביתו עד בוקר, הוא משום סכנת המשחית Pashut nir'eh ki isur yetziah m'pesach beiso ad boker hu mishum sakanas ha'mashchis. Why could they not leave the house until the morning? Simple understanding why they shouldn't go out is, dangerous. The angel of death, and it wasn't an angel, אני ולא מלאך ani v'lo malach, Hashem himself traveled throughout Egypt that night, מכת בכורות makas bechoros, in order to strike and wipe out the Egyptians. But it's dangerous. כיון שניתן רשות למשחית, אינו מבחין בין צדיק לרשע Kivan she'nitan reshus la'mashchis, eino mavchin bein tzadik l'rasha. Because once permission is given, it's dangerous, get out of the way. Stay home that night. ואם יצאו V'im yeitz'u, it can be dangerous. ואם כן, הוא שייך דווקא לאותו הלילה, בו אז ניתן רשות למשחית V'im ken, hu shayach davka l'oso ha'layla, bo az nitan reshus l'mashchis. However, we find in the Mishna, מה בין פסח מצרים לפסח דורות? Ma bein Pesach Mitzrayim l'Pesach Doros? פסח מצרים, מקחו בעשור וטעון הזאה באגודת איזוב על המשקוף וכן הלאה. פסח דורות נוהג כל שבעה Pesach Mitzrayim, mekach b'asor v'ta'un haza'ah b'agudas ezov al ha'mashkof v'chein ha'la. Pesach Doros noheig kol shiva. Tosefta says Pesach Mitzrayim, ואתם לא תצאו איש מפתח ביתו עד הבוקר, מה שאין כן בפסח דורות atem lo seitz'u ish m'pesach beiso ad ha'boker, ma she'ein ken b'Pesach Doros. So you saw it, so one of the differences between the Pesach in Mitzrayim and the korban Pesach in perpetuity was this notion you had to stay home. Now you had to stay home not only because of concern, because of danger, you had to stay home because there was something special about the korban Pesach and being at home in Mitzrayim. And what was it? There's something very special about the home. You find in fact this phrase used so many times, so many times. בית Bayis. You know how many times it's used in this parsha? The word בית bayis is used 14 times in parshas Bo, in this parsha. שה לבית אבות, שה לבית, פסח הבית, איש מפתח ביתו seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis, Pesach ha'bayis, ish m'pesach beiso. The word בית bayis, the word home, house, is used no less than 14 times. You know why? Everything revolves around the בית bayis. Everything revolves around the בית bayis. Where is the blood sprinkled? On the doorway. Where is the meat eaten? In the house. Who do you eat it with? Preferably members of your household. You can't leave your house that entire night. with many reasons which are given why you can't leave your house that night. The Chizkuni writes on on perek beis. Chizkuni writes, בבית אחד יאכל לא תוציא מן הבית מן הבשר חוצה b'bayis echad ye'achel lo sotzi min habayis min habasar chutza. You have to eat it in one house, you can't take the meat out of that house. Chizkuni writes, לפי הפשט, בבית שבו שוחטים את הפסח אוכל, ולא ישלח מנו מנה לרעהו שאין דרך חיפזון. דרך בני אדם הגון הסעודה L'fi ha'pshat, b'bayis she'bo shochtim es ha'Pesach ochal, v'lo yishlach meno manah l're'ehu she'ein derech chipazon. Derech bnei adam hagun ha'seuda. He writes, according to the plain meaning, it means that the Pesach korban Pesach must be consumed in the house of the owner. No parts of it may be sent to friends. You can't say, oh, my neighbor loves this piece of meat, I'll send it to them. When one consumes something in a hurry, you don't have time to attend to such niceties. Since the whole way we left was בחיפזון b'chipazon, you don't start sharing the leftovers. My neighbor loves the way I make the pastrami, loves my corned beef, loves my flanken, loves my tongue, they love the tongue. But uh, לכלב תשליכון אותו l'kelev tashlichun oso. They love the tongue. Don't, don't eat anything that tastes you back. So uh, so you bring it to the neighbor. So the Chizkuni says, that's something that free people with all the time in the world do, but if you're leaving בחיפזון b'chipazon, you don't have time to do it. That's the Chizkuni. But the Abarbanel has a different take. I wish I had more time now. Abarbanel says, העם תמיד נמצא במעשה ובדרך גדון ha'am tamid nimtza b'ma'aseh u'v'derech gidon. He's here, the Chizkuni, the Abarbanel gives a different reason. He says safety, it's not safe to go out. But the Meshech Chochma says, you know why you don't leave the house? Because being part of family, being part of community, being part of a חבורה chabura is part of the answer to idolatry. The paganism, the idolatry, the attitude that is pervasive and permeating all around you in Egypt, the חושך, לא ראו איש את אחיו choshech, lo ra'u ish es achiv. That selfishness, that self-centeredness, that egocentric life, our answer is to eat בחבורה b'chabura, to eat as a family. We believe in the unit of the family. The idea, our first Beis Hamikdash, the first Beis Hamikdash was not the Beis Hamikdash, the first Beis Hamikdash was not the Mishkan. The very first Beis Hamikdash the Jewish people had was our home, our home. All the sprinkling of the blood, where you could eat it, you can't take it out, all of these halachos of the korban Pesach from our parsha about the home parallel exactly the halachos of the korbanos in the Beis Hamikdash proper. And this exactly is what this story is all about. Mosha talks to Pharaoh and he says, give us three days. And Pharaoh says, מי ומי הולכים Mi v'mi ha'holchim, who's going? Says, who's going? מי ומי הולכים Mi v'mi ha'holchim? Who's going? בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך B'naareinu u'v'zikneinu neilech. We're all going. כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. This is a party. We're all going. The elderly, the young, men and women, it's gonna be געשמאַק geshmak, it's going to be געוואלדיג gevaldig, it's gonna be unbelievable. What was Pharaoh asking, מי ומי הולכים mi v'mi ha'holchim? Moshe, you supposedly want to go in order to offer sacrifices in the desert. So who are the priests? Give me the list of the clergy, and I'll get them a pass. You can go for three days. Moshe says, that's not how we operate. That's not how we go. Our religion is not delegated to the priests and the clergy and everyone else is absolved. In our religion, בנערינו ובזקנינו b'naareinu u'v'zikneinu. You know, sometimes people say to me, Rabbi, I understand why you have to do that. You're the rabbi. You have to be stricter, you have to keep that הלכה halacha, or you have to display that level of יראת שמים yiras shamayim, or that's on you. In our religion, there's no הלכה halacha that applies to the rabbi that doesn't apply to every single other person. Nobody has greater responsibility. Maybe we live more under a microscope, maybe people expect more or demand more. But in the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, there's no section for, here's the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch for בעלי בתים baalei batim, here's the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch for רבנים rabbanim. There's no separate שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch.מי ומי הולכים Mi v'mi holchim presupposed that clergy and and and pastors and priests, they're the ones going because those are the ones who lead religion. Not in our religion. In our religion, we are all equal. It's incumbent and obligated on all of us. We all bear the same level of responsibility and accountability. Why? Because if religion is a burden and a pressure, if religion is a responsibility only, so it's delegated to the priest, to the pastor, to the clergy. But חג השם לנו chag Hashem lanu. Moshe Rabbeinu says, it's a party. It's a חג chag. It's געשמאַק geshmak. We're not depriving the kids and the men and the women and the young and the old. It's for everybody. We're all going. We're all going. Because where is our religion practiced? Our religion is practiced in the בית bayis, 14 times in our פרשה parsha. The בית bayis is the first בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. That's why the blood that's usually sprinkled in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash is sprinkled on the doorway of the home. The walls of the home took on the status of the walls of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. That night, they were the boundary and the border of that קדשים קלים kodeshim kalim. The conclusion of שמות Shemos, the glory of Hashem rests in בית ישראל Bais Yisroel. Where is the Jewish people's central place of religious experience? is in the Jewish home. is in the Jewish home. And that's a beautiful, tell you an incredible insight. We say והביאותים אל הר קדשי ושמחתים בבית תפלתי עולתיהם וזבחיהם לרצון על מזבחי כי ביתי בית תפלה יקרא לכל העמים v'haviyoisim el har kadshi v'simachtim b'veis tfilasi oliseihem v'zivcheihem l'ratzon al mizbechi ki beisi beis tfila yikarei l'chol ha'amim. כי ביתי Ki beisi Hashem says my house is a בית תפילה לכל העמים beis tfila l'chol ha'amim. So I'll tell you a beautiful געשמאַק geshmak ווארט vort on those words. A beautiful ווארט vort from Rav Aaron Levin. He says, who was the the רב rav of of ריישא Reisha. He says, ביתו של גוי זה פאר והדר baiso shel goy zeh pe'er v'hadar. כשהגוי יכניס לבית יהודי, מה הוא רואה? k'she'hagoy yikanes l'bais yehudi, ma hu ro'eh? ספרים, שולחן, שטענדער, תמונות של גדולי ישראל. דמידמה לו שזה בית הכנסת d'midmeh lo shezeh beis haknesses. He says, you know, a non-Jew, the church, the mosque, that's the place of religious activity and the home is the place of purely secular activity. When you walk into a Jewish home, it looks like it's a שול shul. There's ספרים sfarim, there's סידורים siddurim, there's a שטענדער shtender, there's מזוזות mezuzos, there's religious articles and religious art and religious items that adorn every wall of a Jewish home. From the moment you walk into that Jewish home, you see the practice that is permeating that home. So that's the פשט pshat he says in the פסוק pasuk. כי ביתי בית תפילה יקרא לכל העמים Ki beisi beis tfila yikarei l'chol ha'amim. הבית היהודי נראה להם כבית תפילה, אבל באמת כך צריך להיות Habayis hayehudi nir'eh lahem k'veis tfila, aval be'emes kach tzrich lihiyos, that a Jewish home looks like for them a synagogue or a temple. That's the level of activity taking home. כי ביתי בית תפילה יקרא לכל העמים Ki beisi beis tfila yikarei l'chol ha'amim. A Jewish home should look like. So the Jewish home is the first place of of Jewish activity. The גמרא Gemara says in פסחים פח Pesachim peh ches that Yaakov described the Beis Hamikdash differently than his father and his grandfather. Avram called it a הר har. בהר ה' יראה B'har Hashem yera'eh. Avram called it a mountain. And Yitzchak called it a שדה sadeh. ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה Vayeitzei Yitzchak lasuach basadeh. But Yaakov called it a בית bayis, בית אלקים Beis Elokim. אין זה כי אם בית אלקים Ein zeh ki im Beis Elokim. And who was the most accurate, the most correct, the גמרא Gemara says? Yaakov. Why is calling it a house more correct than calling it a field or a mountain? So a lot to say about it, but Rav Hirsch says when we turn our בית bayis into a בית אלקים Beis Elokim, when our house is a place of virtue and nobility and honesty and integrity and חסד chesed and תורה Torah learning and יראת שמים yiras shamayim, of generosity, הכנסת אורחים hachnasas orchim, then we've created from our house the greatest שער השמים shaar hashamayim. The biggest gate to heaven is from our house. אין זה כי אם בית אלקים וזה שער השמים Ein zeh ki im Beis Elokim v'zeh shaar hashamayim. Yaakov calls it a בית bayis. So, the שול shul is important. It's not the holiest place in the community. The holiest place in the whole community, it's not the שול shul, it's not even the מקוה mikvah. The holiest place in the Jewish community is the Jewish home. Is the Jewish home. בית אלקים Beis Elokim. From a Jewish home, we create a שער השמים shaar hashamayim. So from our inception, from our birth, from when the Jewish people began, how did it begin? שה לבית אבות, שה לבית seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. It's all about the home. It's all about the connection. It's all about being together. That's what it's all about. And you see this demonstrated, we're out of time, in the קרבן פסח korban Pesach that has to be eaten בחבורה b'chabura, the notion of the home. And then the next concentric circle, the primary circle, the center circle is the nuclear circle, the home, the family. What's the next circle? It's eaten בחבורה b'chabura. You have to have community. The next concentric circle, the ציבור tzibbur. קרבן פסח Korban Pesach is a funny קרבן korban. It's not really a קרבן יחיד korban yachid or a קרבן ציבור korban tzibbur, it's somewhere in between. It's unique. It's distinct. And all of this is embedding within it these values of freedom that we share. We don't have a freedom so that we can go live on our own and satisfy our own hedonistic pleasure and pursue our own happiness. Freedom is translated into connection to community, to family. שה לבית אבות שה לבית Seh l'veis avos, seh l'bayis. חבורה Chabura, friendship, ציבור Tzibbur, community, עם Am, and being a nation. Those concentric circles are really what our freedom are all meant to produce, they're really what they are all about. It's a lot more to say about this. No שיעור shiur next week, but we still, tomorrow morning, 10 minutes with מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim. Living with אמונה emunah tomorrow night. We're going behind the בימה bima with Yehuda Cohn, who is the great צדיק tzaddik, the father of the thousands who have lived in בית אלעזרקי Beit Elazraki. He's an amazing individual. Tomorrow night behind the בימה bima. Listen to the newest podcast, Out of the Shadows, that just came out last night on trauma. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy.
