Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. I want to begin by thanking, as always, our very generous sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman. Our learning is לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנוש le'ilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manosh. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored anonymously, לעילוי נשמת אסתר מלכה בת צבי le'ilui nishmas Esther Malka bas Tzvi. Thank you for your generosity. And the נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah.We are, our schedule was a little off. I wasn't supposed to give שיעור shiur this morning. We are giving it. If you want to know, are we on? Are we off? Where can I find the link? How can I listen? Where is bonus material? How can I get the write-up of the Parsha Perspective? Join the WhatsApp group. It's all in there. You'll know exactly what's going on. You can join the WhatsApp group at rabbiephraimgoldberg.org/whatsapp. Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg.org/whatsapp, and you'll be able to be kept up to date about everything. This week we have the privilege of learning and reading פרשת בשלח Parshas Beshalach, page 366 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. ויהי בשלח פרעה את העם ולא נחם אלקים דרך ארץ פלשתים כי קרוב הוא Vayehi beshalach Paro es ha'am v'lo nacham Elokim derech eretz Plishtim ki karov hu. כי אמר אלקים פן ינחם העם בראתם מלחמה ושבו מצרימה Ki amar Elokim pen y'nachem ha'am bir'osam milchama v'shavu Mitzrayma. When Pharaoh sent out the Jewish people, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the פלשתים Plishtim. It was near, it was too close, כי קרוב הוא ki karov hu. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Almighty was worried the Jewish people will panic, they'll be afraid, and they will return, they'll reconsider, and they will return to מצרים Mitzrayim. It's a beautiful observation of רבי יחזקאל אברמסקי Reb Y'chezkel Abramsky. רבי יחזקאל אברמסקי Reb Y'chezkel Abramsky has the following insight or observation. We know we've discussed previously and at length, we won't now, but קשה זיווגן כקריעת ים סוף kasha zivugan k'krias Yam Suf. The גמרא Gemara at the beginning of סוטה Sotah tells us that making a שידוך shidduch, bringing a boy and a girl, a man and a woman, a husband and a wife together and living in harmony and being able to build a beautiful home, built in שלום בית shalom bayis, is as difficult as קריעת ים סוף krias Yam Suf. It's incredibly challenging. How do you bring them together? And why that משל mashal? Why not compare that challenge to another miracle, to one of the other of the ten plagues, to standing at הר סיני Har Sinai, to some other extraordinary event in our Torah, in history. Why specifically קריעת ים סוף k'krias Yam Suf? The מהר״ל Maharal gives his interpretation, his answer, we've quoted it many times, and there are others that are given. But רבי יחזקאל אברמסקי Reb Y'chezkel Abramsky says what's going on here at this פסוק pasuk? הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says he took them out, he did not lead them the most direct way. We know that the shortest and straightest journey between any two points is a straight line. He took them in a circuitous route. Why in a circuitous route? Because we were afraid we're going to go back. So, he says, רבי יחזקאל אברמסקי Reb Y'chezkel Abramsky points out, לו אדם לא היה מסבך עם חשבונות רבים, שלא היה ענין הולך בקל, אלא אדם מקלקל. וזהו קשה זיווגו של אדם כקריעת ים סוף Lu adam lo haya mesabech im cheshbonos rabim, shelo haya inyan holech b'kal, ela adam mekalkel. V'zehu kasha zivugo shel adam k'krias Yam Suf. We came to ים סוף Yam Suf in a circuitous route, we didn't go the most direct path. And in the world of שידוכים shidduchim, people don't go the simple, most direct path. They make it unnecessarily complicated. They add layers of complication, layers of challenges and questions, they compound the issue, and we take a circuitous route instead of the most direct route. הלוואי halevai, we would have taken the most direct route, we'd get there a lot faster. We get there a lot faster. So ויהי בשלח פרעה Vayehi beshalach Paro, Pharaoh sends out, Pharaoh sends out the Jewish people. ולא נחם אלקים v'lo nacham Elokim.He sends out the the Jewish people. And what happens? ויסב אלקים את העם דרך המדבר ים סוף וחמשים עלו בני ישראל מארץ מצרים Vayasev Elokim es ha'am derech hamidbar Yam Suf vachamushim alu Bnei Yisrael mei'eretz Mitzrayim. ויסב Vayasev, Hashem turns the people towards the way of the wilderness. The Jewish people were חמושים chamushim. What does חמושים chamushim mean? Rashi quotes two interpretations. Either it means that we were armed, or it means חמושים chamushim, only 20% left. 80% died in מכת חושך makas choshech. 80% panicked that, 80% did not want to leave. They were used to, they were accustomed to that life and even though there was a much better life waiting for us, that is the human psyche. We get so habituated by what we know, we're afraid of change and something new, we will tolerate and we will live with something oppressive and bad because it's what we know, more than turning to something that we don't know. So חמושים chamushim, חמושים chamushim died. I got a call late last night from a nephew who panicked. He was trying to fall asleep at night and he was thinking about the פרשה parsha he learned in school and he said what will happen when משיח Mashiach comes? Will 80% of his friends not come to Israel and they're going to die here in America? Uncle Ephraim needed to clarify. So I said, no, when משיח Mashiach comes, everyone's going to want to go, nobody's going to stay behind, it's going to be great for everybody. Don't worry, your friends are all coming with you. You don't have to worry you're going to lose 80% of your friends. What children think about while they fall asleep. The פרשה parsha. הלוואי Halevai. וחמושים עלו בני ישראל מארץ מצרים Vachamushim alu Bnei Yisrael mei'eretz Mitzrayim. So, רבי יוסף דוב הלוי סולובייצ'יק Reb Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk, there are many named after the בית הלוי Beis Halevi, but he says that וחמושים v'chamushim, the word חמושים chamushim, the fact that we were armed, what's the next פסוק pasuk? ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף עמו Vayikach Moshe es atzmos Yosef imo. Moshe fulfilled his promise. Moshe had promised Yosef, we won't leave you. You will not languish, you will not be buried in Egypt in perpetuity, we're going to take you with us. Moshe took not only עצמות יוסף atzmos Yosef, we've learned previously, עצמות יוסף atzmus Yosef. More important than they carried the bones, they carried the essence, the lesson of Yosef. Yosef's tenacity, Yosef's resilience, Yosef's faith, Yosef's fearlessness. Yosef, who though he was in מצרים Mitzrayim, a foreign land, never became corrupt and never became assimilated. They carried not only עצמות atzmos, the bones of Yosef, they carried the עצמות atzmus, they carried the essence of Yosef with them. So he says, that's what it means, חמושים chamushim. חמושים Chamushim, what were they armed with? Where did they get the weapons? Where did they, what were they armed with? You know what they were armed with? עצמות יוסף Atzmos Yosef. The Jewish people's survival throughout our history against all odds and against systematic attempts to eliminate us, we've been armed at times. No, no time more armed than we are today. Our holy and our sacred IDF, our soldiers who protect Jews around the world. We've never been armed better than we are armed today. And certainly, that's important, and we דאווען daven for צה״ל Tzahal all the time. But what is the greatest weapon the Jewish people have? In what way are we the most armed? חמושים Chamushim, with עצמות יוסף atzmos Yosef. The fact that we carry the legacy of our ancestors, the fact that we have the זכות zechus of those who come before us, the fact that we walk in their way and we follow in their footsteps and we embrace their legacy, that is the greatest way we're armed. If we were to abandon Torah, if we were to abandon our ancestors, if we would abandon our מסורה mesorah, we could have all the weapons in the world, we would never survive. We would never be here, we'd never triumph. What is the secret of our survival? How are we חמושים chamushim? Because ויקח vayikach, we take עצמות atzmos, עצמות יוסף atzmus Yosef. We have to always remember who we are and where we come from. That is the source of our strength. That is the source of our strength. That is the source of our resilience. That is the source of of who we are, of who we are. So the Jewish people are, are leaving. And what happens? Let's go to פרק י״ג Perek Yud Gimmel, or פרק י״ד Perek Yud Daled, rather, פסוק ג Pasuk Gimmel. Turn the page. וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמר דבר אל בני ישראל וישובו ויחנו לפני פי החירות בין מגדל ובין הים לפני בעל צפון Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yashuvu v'yachanu lifnei Pi Hachiros bein Migdol uvein hayam lifnei Baal Tzafon. Hashem says, speak to the children, let them turn back and encamp in this specific place. ואמר פרעה לבני ישראל נבכים הם בארץ סגר עליהם המדבר V'amar Paro l'Vnei Yisrael nevuchim heim ba'aretz sagar aleihem hamidbar. Pharaoh says, they're imprisoned in the land, the wilderness will lock them in. The wilderness will lock them in. וחיזקתי את לב פרעה ורדף אחריהם V'chizakti es lev Paro v'radaf achareihem. We're not done with Pharaoh's heart becoming hardened. And foolishly, after suffering endlessly, he still thinks he could turn it around. So he pursues the Jewish people. ואכבדה בפרעה ובכל חילו וידעו מצרים כי אני ה׳ ויעשו כן V'ikavda b'Paro uv'chol cheilo v'yad'u Mitzrayim ki Ani Hashem vaya'asu chein. Hashem is not done yet. He says, you think I'm finished? You think I'm done? You've not seen nothing yet. Wait till you see what I still have in store. So he hardens Pharaoh's heart, and he hardens the heart of the Egyptians, and they pursue. ורדף אחריהם V'radaf achareihem, they pursue. ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם ויהפך לבב פרעה ועבדיו אל העם Vayugad l'melech Mitzrayim ki varach ha'am vayehafech leivav Paro v'avadav el ha'am, and they say what did we do? מה עשינו Ma asinu? מה זאת עשינו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו Ma zos asinu ki shilachnu es Yisrael mei'avdeinu? So what do they do? ויאסר את רכבו ואת עמו לקח עמו Vayesor es richbo v'es amo lakach imo. They get their chariot, they get their army, ויקח vayikach and they take this huge amount, ויחזק ה׳ את לב פרעה מלך מצרים וירדף אחרי v'yichazek Hashem es lev Paro melech Mitzrayim vayirdof acharei, and they pursue. וירדפו מצרים אחריהם Vayirdefu Mitzrayim achareihem. And now, who is pursuing the Jews? It doesn't say וירדפו המצרים vayirdefu haMitzrim. What does it say? וירדפו מצרים Vayirdefu Mitzrayim. I would like to humbly suggest an original thought, that maybe the Torah is telling us וירדפו מצרים vayirdefu Mitzrayim, it's not the מצרים Mitzrim. You see, the Jewish people at this point are fleeing from two things: the actual Egyptians, the physical Egyptians, their persecutors, their oppressors, whom they are afraid are still running after them. They're worried they're not yet done. But they also have a slave mentality. They're a slave nation. And they've spent 400 years, if you count all the way back from the first arrival, but 210 years of slavery, and they've become assimilated in their values. They're in the 49th level of טומאה tumah of מצרים Mitzrayim. They've become corrupt and contaminated, they've lost their identity and their way. So what are they running away from? Not only the physical Egyptians, they're running away not only from the מצרים Mitzrim, they're running away from מצרים Mitzrayim. They're running away from the culture and the attitude and the ideology and the philosophy. They're not only trying to flee from the מצרים Mitzrim, they're trying to flee from מצרים Mitzrayim. וירדפו מצרים Vayirdefu Mitzrayim. It's not only Egypt running after them, it's מצרים Mitzrayim. We, we don't have physical oppressors. Sure, there's a rise of anti-Semitism. On February 12th, we're going to have a fascinating live debate between Ben Shapiro and Yair Rosenberg on the subject of anti-Semitism, coming from different angles. Surely we have to address anti-Semitism and what's going on. However, we are physically free. ברוך ה׳ Baruch Hashem, בלי עין הרע bli ayin hara, we're not persecuted and oppressed. But you know what? וירדפו Vayirdefu America. וירדפו Vayirdefu the Western world. We are observant, assimilated Jews. And we have to worry, we have to fear, even those who are fully observant are assimilated in so many ways and so many of our values, our priorities, our lives, and our lifestyles. And the ostentationness or some of the, or some of the the way that we're living, some of the superstition, we'll come back to. I don't know how many of you have yet today, today is Tuesday, יום שלישי Yom Shlishi. How many have said פרשת המן parshas ha'man today? How many emails did you get that if you want פרנסה parnassah, say פרשת המן parshas ha'man today? You should all be at work, not at the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. If you want a סגולה segulah for פרנסה parnassah, you should be at work. You're retired, it's okay if you're here, you're retired. If you're working, I don't know if your boss knows that you're here or not. So, סגולות segulos, following silly, I'm not saying it's a silly superstition, we'll go through it in a moment, but embracing silly superstitions is not our philosophy, it's not our way. That's וירדפו מצרים vayirdefu Mitzrayim. Hashem took us out of Egypt. Egypt was a place of magic, sorcery, and superstition. We don't believe in red bendels, that's דרכי אמורי darchei Emori, that's silly superstition. We don't believe in נרישקייט narishkeit. We believe in the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, we believe in the אייבישטער Aibishter, we believe in הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we lean and we surrender and we submit exclusively to him. He gave us, we are an עם סגולה am segulah. We'll read next week. We're an עם סגולה am segulah. We are a nation of סגולות segulos. What does that mean? What does it mean to be a nation of סגולות segulos? Things that you get in emails? We have 613 סגולות segulos. I saw yesterday on the highway, I was driving, you know the billboard announces the the Mega Millions. I don't know if it changed already, but the billboard on the highway, the Mega Millions, at least yesterday was 613. A יִיד'ס Yid's got to win it. 613 million dollars. It says on the billboard. Mega Millions. Mega Millions is 613. 613 million dollars. Whoever you are, whenever you win, Boker Tzion Synagogue, Yeshiva of South Florida, don't forget. 613. But we have 613 סגולות segulos. 613, we're an עם סגולה am segulah. Not 613 red strings. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out of מצרים Mitzrayim. And yet, וירדפו vayirdefu, not only are the מצרים Mitzrim running after us, וירדפו מצרים vayirdefu Mitzrayim. The mentality of superstition, the mentality of assimilation, of culture, of a foreign culture. We're running and we're fleeing from both. But let's go back. Let's go back to פסוק ג Pasuk Gimmel. ואמר פרעה V'amar Paro, Pharaoh says to whom? ואמר פרעה ל... V'amar Paro l'... לבני ישראל l'Vnei Yisrael. ואמר פרעה לבני ישראל V'amar Paro l'Vnei Yisrael. What's funny about that? They're not there. What do you mean, Pharaoh speaking to the Jewish people? Jewish people are out, they're gone. So this bothered Rashi. ואמר פרעה כשישמע שהם שבים לאחריהם לבני ישראל V'amar Paro k'sheyishma shehem shavim l'achareihem, l'Vnei Yisrael. Says Rashi, not לבני ישראל l'Vnei Yisrael, Pharaoh is not speaking to the Jewish people. ל Lamed can sometimes mean על בני ישראל al Bnei Yisrael. Pharaoh is speaking about the Jewish people. Rashi explains not to, because they've left Egypt. But לבני ישראל l'Vnei Yisrael is talking about the Jewish people. But look at the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan. תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan translates differently. And says, Pharaoh is speaking not about, he's speaking to. How could you speak to people who are already gone? They're not there. So the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan פשט'ס p'shats, לבני ישראל l'Vnei Yisrael, there were two Jews who were left in Egypt. The 80% died, they were buried in מכת חושך makas choshech. There were two living Jews left behind. Who were they? דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram refused to leave with the rest of עם ישראל Am Yisrael. These two had a long history of rebelliousness, a long history of taking the other side on any issue. We have four examples of דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram being contentious, being adversarial, always taking the other side. So when the Jewish people left, they said, זײַ געזונט zei gezunt, enjoy, we're staying back. Where are the four examples? When two Jews were fighting in the beginning of פרשת שמות Parshas Shemos, and Moshe says, רשע, למה תכה רעך rasha, lama sakeh rei'echa. These were the two Jews, דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. They were the ones who revealed that Moshe had killed the מצרי Mitzri. Number two, two people who left מן man for the next day, who were trying to prove that you can save, you can leave over. They were antagonizing Hashem and Moshe. Who were they? דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. Number three, מרגלים meraglim came back with the report on ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. It says ויאמר איש אל אחיו נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרימה Vayomer ish el achiv, nitna rosh v'nashuva Mitzrayma. Who are the איש אל אחיו ish el achiv, you got it, who are they? דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. And when Korach begins his rebellion against Moshe and the Jewish people, who are the first to join? דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. So, we know, דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, some of the stories I just mentioned happened where? In the desert. If they stayed back, so much so that Pharaoh is speaking to them in our פרשה parsha, how did they get out? So the answer is, says the מהר״ל דיסקין Maharal Diskin in our פרשה parsha. Thank you to Rabbi Eliada for sharing it. The מהר״ל דיסקין Maharal Diskin in our פרשה parsha says, how did the Jews survive מכת חושך makas choshech? If they weren't going to leave, if they were such antagonist and adversaries, such cynics and rebellious, why didn't they die in מכת חושך makas choshech? And if they stayed back, how did they escape? How did they get up? How did they catch up? How did they find themselves in the מדבר midbar with the rest of בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael? Isn't it amazing we read the same פרשה parsha and every year there's something new to learn? So much that you didn't know, you didn't see. I'm going to share with you wild stuff today. From our אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah. I'm going to share with you great stuff. So the מהר״ל דיסקין Maharal Diskin says, you know why they didn't die? He says there's a fifth story of דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. There's a fifth story. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram were the police officers who supervised the work of the Jews in מצרים Mitzrayim. Because they were such outliers, they were selected, they were chosen, they were recruited by Pharaoh and his men to essentially be the kapos. They were the Jewish policemen who supervised the Jewish people. And when Moshe and Aharon told Pharaoh, let our people go, and Pharaoh doubled down on the work, and he increased and he intensified the torture, and he told דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, anyone who doesn't match up, anyone who doesn't do their workload, you have to beat them. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram refused. They said, look, we might be cynics and scoffers, we might run the breakaway, we might be the rebellious ones, you know, but to raise a hand against a fellow Jew, we draw the line there. We would never raise a hand against a fellow Jew. Never. So דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram look at Pharaoh and say, no chance. Maybe you look at us as the outliers, the outsiders because we've positioned ourselves as a cynical adversaries. We're anti-establishment, anti-authority, and we are, but that doesn't mean we'd ever raise a hand against a fellow Jew. So when push came to shove, דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram had the Jewish people's back. They would not allow the Jewish people to be hurt, they would not hurt them. Says the מהר״ל דיסקין Maharal Diskin, in that merit, despite the other four stories, despite the other terrible things they did, the fact that they drew a line and refused to raise their hand against a fellow Jew, they did not perish, they did not die in מכת בכורות makas bechoros. Why? Because they practiced the key Jewish attribute and trait. They were נושא בעול עם חברו nosei b'ol im chaveiro, they had empathy. They they were aggravators and agitators, but they also were empathetic to the plight of the Jewish people. Okay, so we know they survived מכת חושך makas choshech, how did they get out? How did they catch up? How did they find themselves in the desert? So the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim says one step further. He says, there was a second splitting of the sea. It's מדוייק meduyak in the פסוקים psukim. The sea didn't only split once for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. For two more people who were left behind, it split a second time. It says, first, ויבאו בני ישראל בתוך הים ביבשה Vayavo'u Bnei Yisrael b'soch hayam bayabasha. פרק י״ד פסוק כ״ב Perek Yud Daled, Pasuk Chaf Beis. The Jews entered the ים סוף Yam Suf when it was still a sea. And only later did it become a יבשה yabasha when it split. ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים U'Vnei Yisrael halchu bayabasha b'soch hayam. That's referring to דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram who entered the sea when it was still dry land. So the Jews entered it when it was a sea, it split and it was dry land, and then it says they entered again when it was dry land. Who entered the second time when it was dry land? That was דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. That was דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram. So you see a very powerful message. Even no matter how poorly behaved one is, no matter how far they've fallen, when you have a line, when push comes to shove, you have the back of a fellow Jew, you stand up for a brother, you refuse to not only hurt them but to allow them to be hurt, when you feel the pain of a fellow Jew, then you are still redeemable. When is a Jew irredeemable? When they can hurt a fellow Jew, when they can stand idly by while a fellow Jew is being hurt. At that point, they've become irredeemable. But דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram remain redeemable and what makes them still redeemable, says the מהר״ל דיסקין Maharal Diskin, is because they drew that line and they refused to be accomplices to Pharaoh and to hurt or allow the Jewish people to be hurt.Okay, פרק י״ד פסוק י״ג Perek Yud Daled, Pasuk Yud Gimmel. I want to get a lot in, so let's go. Let's move. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu assures, ויאמר משה אל העם אל תיראו התיצבו וראו את ישועת ה׳ אשר יעשה לכם היום כי אשר ראיתם את מצרים היום לא תסיפו לראותם עוד עד עולם Vayomer Moshe el ha'am al tirau hityatzvu u'r'u es yeshuas Hashem asher ya'aseh lachem hayom, ki asher r'isem es Mitzrayim hayom, lo sosifu lir'osam od ad olam. You ready for this אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah? Grab onto your seatbelt. First we have כי אשר ראיתם את מצרים היום לא תסיפו לראותם עוד עד עולם ki asher r'isem es Mitzrayim hayom, lo sosifu lir'osam od ad olam. So we know from this פסוק pasuk, what you're seeing right now in Egypt, you will not see again. You will not see again. What is the pasuk telling us? Don't fear, stand fast. You're about to see Hashem come through for you today. As you have seen Egypt today, you will not see them ever again. The Torah in three places says you're not allowed to live in Egypt. We spoke about this last week, לא תסיפו לראותם עוד את מצרים lo sosifu lir'osam od es Mitzrayim. I'm going to tell you an amazing פשט p'shat. So the ספר כפתור ופרח Sefer Kaftor Vaferach, רבי אשתורי הפרחי Reb Ishtori HaParchi, he says something נפלא nifla. He quotes that he heard מפי רבי שמואל m'pi Rebbi Shmuel, the grandson of the Rambam, how is it that the Rambam went back and lived in Egypt? How could it be? Torah in three places says you're not allowed to go back to Egypt. And here the Torah is telling us why. You can't go back and live in Egypt because what you've seen today, you're not going to see again. You're done. You should never have to look into the face of an Egyptian again, never live in Egypt again. So how is it, his זֵיידֶע zeide, that the Rambam lived in Egypt? And he quotes, this is the Rambam's אייניקל ainekel, his grandson quotes, that the Rambam used to sign off his letters, he would say הכותב העובר בכל יום שלשה לאוין HaKosev, ha'over b'chol yom shlosha lavin. The author who every day violates three biblical prohibitions. Torah in three places says you can't live in Egypt. The Rambam lived in Egypt. He saw, what a signature. Wow. What a signature. So the the כפתור ופרח Kaftor Vaferach says to this רבי שמואל Rebbi Shmuel, the grandson, אפשר שהרמב״ם לא עבר על איסור כלל במה שהיה במצרים, מכח שני טעמים efshar shehaRambam lo avar al issur klal b'mah shehaya b'Mitzrayim, mikoch shnei te'amim. The Rambam didn't violate anything by living in מצרים Mitzrayim. First of all, he was אנוס anus. He had to live there. He was a doctor, a consultant of the sultan. He had no choice, he couldn't get up and leave, he had to live there. Number two, the Torah, and this is one of the התירים heterim. We once gave a שבת הגדול דרשה Shabbos Hagadol drasha about this. If you email me, I'll send you several dozen pages of מראה מקומות mareh mekomos of exactly this question. The Rambam is not the only one. As recently as רב עובדיה יוסף Rav Ovadia Yosef. רב עובדיה Rav Ovadia sat on the בית דין beis din of Cairo, of מצרים Mitzrayim. How did רב עובדיה Rav Ovadia live in מצרים Mitzrayim? How did the בית יוסף Beis Yosef live in מצרים Mitzrayim? How did the Rambam live in מצרים Mitzrayim? What happened to the prohibition, you're not allowed to live in מצרים Mitzrayim? So some גדולים gedolim say you're allowed to go back to Egypt if you're not going to live, if you're going for business. Some say you're allowed to live in Egypt if you're going for a holy reason, you're serving the community, you're doing outreach, you're a Jew, you're allowed to live outside, you can go in Egypt. But one of the answers they give is, when the Torah says you're not allowed to go, לשוב בדרך הזה lashuv baderech hazeh, לחזור למצרים דרך מדבר ים סוף lachzor l'Mitzrayim derech Midbar Yam Suf. Hashem says, here's the circuitous route I took you out, don't ever take this route to go back. But if you go a different route, you're allowed to return. So specifically the prohibition is to this route, if you took another route, you'd be allowed to go back. Now, as it happens to be, we have no evidence the Rambam actually signed a letter that way. We have original letters of the Rambam, we have no evidence that he actually signed a letter. There's the tradition. The tradition itself is meaningful because it tells us that the Rambam grappled, he felt a tension. How could he live there when the Torah says don't live there? But did he really sign his letters that way or not? It seems that he didn't. This is a much bigger topic about living. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah has a long, long essay, a long entry specifically about this. Why did the אלכסנדריה של מצרים Alexandria shel Mitzrayim, Alexandria, did it suffer because Jews returned, they shouldn't have returned? How did that happen? What happened? There's a lot in here about about that. פרק י״ד פסוק כ״א Perek Yud Daled, Pasuk Chaf Alef. Turn the page, 372. The Torah tells us ויט משה את ידו על הים ויולך ה׳ את הים ברוח קדים עזה כל הלילה וישם את הים לחרבה ויבקעו המים Vayet Moshe es yado al hayam vayolech Hashem es hayam b'ruach kadim aza kol halaila, vayasem es hayam l'charava vayibak'u hamayim. Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea, Hashem moved the sea with a strong east wind all night, he turned the sea to damp land, and the water split. ויבקעו המים Vayibak'u hamayim. The water split. רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye. רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye, רבנו בחיי אבן פקודה Rabbeinu Bechaye ibn Pakuda, the great Spanish 12th century commentator, in his hakdama, in his introduction to our parsha, he says דבר נפלא davar nifla, he says something wild. לא נבקע הים לפניהם בפעם אחת בשביל אורך מתחילת הים ועד סופו אלא מעט מעט Lo nivka hayam lifneihem b'fa'am achas bishvil orech m'tchilas hayam v'ad sofo, ela me'at me'at. If you were responsible, today we have incredible technology. So let's say someone tasked you, design or if you have the skills, engineer and build 3D, put on those goggles, and let's live like we were a member of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. Can you live through קריעת ים סוף krias Yam Suf? I saw last week משפחה Mishpacha magazine had an article that a group of חרדי Chareidi women from Israel went to Auschwitz for the first time ever closed down for three days to allow them to video. They've never allowed a video crew in. And they videoed, not 3D, what do they call it? Virtual reality. So in posterity, people will be able to take a virtual reality tour walking through Auschwitz. Survivors took that tour and it was so real, they experienced trauma from it. They identified the barrack, I remember standing there, I remember this happening there. So imagine someone could create a virtual 3D tour, and we would be able to experience קריעת ים סוף krias Yam Suf. How would you design it? What would it be like? How did the water split? All at once, slowly, one wall, two walls, how many paths through, how many times? You'd have to learn up the סוגיא sugya. You'd have to go through our פרשה parsha and go through it well to know what happened. So רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye says something wild. He says, you know how the sea split? You took a step, it withdrew. Took another step, it withdrew more. It didn't split and you saw the clear path all the way through to the end. You didn't get to see the light coming out the tunnel on the other side. For every courageous step כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael took, it withdrew and it split one more step. You ever hear that before? I never heard that. I never knew that. I'm glad I came today. רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye says, והים היה נס מפני בני ישראל, ובתוך כדי עברם היו רואים את הים נס לפניהם v'hayam haya nas mipnei Bnei Yisrael, u'v'soch kdei avram hayu ro'im es hayam nas lifneihem. As they took a step, they saw it split. וכן אמר דוד V'chein amar David, David in תהלים Tehillim, פרק קיד Perek Kuf Yud Daled, הים ראה וינוס hayam ra'ah vayanos. שהים רואה עליהם ונס מפניהם לאט לאט she'hayam ro'eh aleihem v'nas mipneihem l'at l'at, כעודם הנס מחבירו k'odam hanas me'chaveiro. Just like a person flees from someone else, the sea split, the sea fled, the sea ran with each step the Jews took, the sea ran away from the Jews in its path. So רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye says, why did הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu do it this way? Why did he do it this way? Because if you didn't do it this way, it took incredible, it took extraordinary faith to take the first step. But once you took the first step and you saw the clear path, how much faith did it take? But if every step, you didn't know that it was going to continue to split, then each step took enormous continued faith. מעט מעט me'at me'at, כענין המן שלא ירד להם בפעם אחת לחדש אחד k'inyan haman shelo yarad lahem b'fa'am achas l'chodesh echad. Just like the מן man didn't fall a week at a time, a month at a time, a Costco size at a time, but it fell just that day for that day at a time. Just that day for that day at a time, all you knew was you had a meal for today. What will you eat tomorrow? I don't know. I just know my meal for today. So similarly, the sea split one step at a time. So if you're designing the virtual reality 3D, and whoever runs with the idea, I don't need a commission, I'm good to go, I'm happy you're doing it, go run with it. Whoever runs with the idea. But according to, you're going to have to have different versions. Press one for רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye. And that will be as you walk with your virtual reality, the sea splits as you go. שפתי כהן Sifsei Kohen on the Torah, however, writes, disagrees with רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye and says it split entirely all at once, כדי שלא יפחדו בני ישראל שמא יטבעו במים kedei shelo yif'chedu Bnei Yisrael shema yitb'u bamayim. Now, if it split one step at a time, what would you be afraid every step you took? It's going to come crashing on my head. We're going to drown. There's no way out. This is not going to work. I'm not going to get all the way to the end. What happens if I see a path only to get halfway through, and then I turn around and now it's closed in behind me, we're done. We're going to drown. Didn't want כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael to be afraid and fear, so therefore, שפתי כהן Sifsei Kohen disagrees and says it was open all the way. I was thinking, this מחלוקת machlokes, these different views, are really relevant to our lives. Sometimes הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates the clear path. I understand what I need to do, where I need to go, how I'm going to get there. Thank you, Hashem. And sometimes הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, take one step at a time. I know you don't see the path. I know you don't see how you get there. I know you don't see this coming to an end. But do what you have to do today. Just today. Today's treatment, take today's treatment. Today's doctor's visit today. Today's fun... doing a campaign? $18 million, you have no idea how you're going to get there. Today's meetings, today's donation, today's commitment, each day. Sometimes whatever it is in life, whatever challenge, whatever opportunity, whatever you're going through in life, sometimes you have the clear path. If you win the 613 million dollars, you got the clear path. You know exactly how you're going to get there in the campaign. And sometimes, לאט לאט l'at l'at, you take a step, and Hashem makes the water go back. You take another step, He makes the water go back. Sometimes the מן man falls all at once, you win the lottery, and sometimes the מן man falls day by day. I don't know how this ends, I don't know where this goes. I'm going to work on my relationship today. I'm going to work on פרנסה parnassah today. I'm going to work on the health today. Sometimes it's רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bechaye, and sometimes it's the שפתי כהן Sifsei Kohen. Sometimes you see all the way through, sometimes it's step-by-step. These are two different פשט'ים p'shatim, they don't necessarily disagree, but these two interpretations correlate with the two types of experiences we have in life. He then goes on and quotes, we're not going to go through this. But the sea actually split not only two times, he quotes דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, but he quotes it split three times. Maybe a third time the sea split. We're not going to go through this right now. He quotes that we know exactly where it split. The מדרש Midrash has a חידוש chiddush. The תלמיד talmid of the רמ״ע מפאנו Ramah m'Pano, ר' אלעזר נחמן פועה Reb Elazar Nachman Puah, who was a תלמיד talmid of the רמ״ע מפאנו Ramah m'Pano writes דבר נפלא davar nifla. שמקום נבקע הים לבני ישראל עדיין ניכר עד היום She'makom nivka hayam l'Vnei Yisrael adayin nikar ad hayom. The exact spot that the sea split, we still know where that is, and we can identify it until today. The רבן של בעלז Rebbe of Belz says not only is that place known. responsible. But you know when כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael came into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, and we passed over the ירדן Yardain, the ירדן Yardain split. The sea split into two walls, or maybe 12 walls, a lane for each tribe. But the ירדן Yardain only split into one wall. Just split entirely. One side, but it also split for us to cross into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. We put the two stones that had the whole תורה Torah on them. We'll read later in the תורה Torah. So, the רבן בעלז Raban Belz writes that we not only know where the sea split, the ים סוף Yam Suf, we also know where the ירדן Yardain split. Those are miraculous places, a person would make a ברכה bracha if they visited there today, but we're not going through that.פרק י\"ד פסוק כ\"ח Perek Yud Daled Pasuk Chaf Ches. 374. We are flying today.So what's going on? The salvation. וַיָּשֻׁבוּ הַמַּיִם וַיְכַסּוּ אֶת-הָרֶכֶב וְאֶת-הַפָּרָשִׁים, לְכֹל חֵיל פַּרְעֹה הַבָּאִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם בַּיָּם; לֹא-נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד-אֶחָד Vayashuvu hamayim vayechasu es harechev ve'es haparashim lechol cheil Paro haba'im achareihem bayam, lo nish'ar bahem ad echad. We made our way through the sea, כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael miraculously made it to the other side, and what happened to the waters? They came crashing down. And who survived? לֹא נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד אֶחָד Lo nish'ar bahem ad echad. לֹא נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד אֶחָד Lo nish'ar bahem ad echad. There remained not a one of them. It sounds like from the פסוק pasuk, who survived? גארנישט Gurnisht. Sounds like nobody survived. Not one, nobody survived. I'm going to tell you something unbelievable. עד אחד Ad echad. עד אחד Ad echad. The מדרש אגדה Medrash Agadah here says, you ready? It's a good thing you're all sitting down. If you're driving and you're listening live, pull over. לֹא נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד אֶחָד, זֶה פַּרְעֹה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר מֵהֶם וְלֹא מֵת, כְּדֵי לְסַפֵּר גְּדוּלָתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא Lo nishar bahem ad echad, zeh Paro, shene'emar meihem velo meis, kedei lesaper gedulaso shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It sounds like nobody survived, but the מדרש Medrash interprets עד אחד ad echad to mean, except for one. And who was the one who survived? פרעה Paro. Now that you've heard. פרעה Paro survived. And why did פרעה Paro survive? It's sort of his punishment. There are some people so bad that it would actually be kind to execute them. We're going to make you live and we're going to make you suffer. And you're going to suffer the rest of your life. You're going to suffer in solitude, solitary confinement, you're going to suffer in punishment where you're going to suffer simply by watching the people that you tried to exterminate and extinguish, watch them blossom and flourish. Hitler killed himself, ימח שמו וזכרו yemach shmo v'zichro. But had he survived, it could be that the greater punishment to executing him would have been to make him sit and watch and subscribe to Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, to watch all the patents and technology, to see Israel survive and thrive and blossom. Maybe that would have been a bigger punishment. So the תורה Torah says עד אחד ad echad. Sounds like not one survived, but there was one, says the מדרש Medrash, the one was פרעה Paro. Why? לְסַפֵּר גְּדוּלָתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא Lesaper gedulaso shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Let him tell the story of השם's Hashem's greatness. That משה Moshe said let my people go, say I refused, and I learned the lesson. It all began, he says, אָנֹכִי לֹא יָדַעְתִּי anochi lo yadati. When the story begins, he says, I don't know a God. By the end, he'll become God's spokesman. Oh, I came to learn God, I was introduced to God. And the דעת זקנים מבעלי התוספות daas zekeinim mibaalei hatosfos, לֹא נִשְׁאַר עַד אֶחָד. אֶחָד נִשְׁאַר וְהוּא פַּרְעֹה. אֶחָד מֵהֶם לֹא נוֹתַר מִכָּל עַמּוֹ Lo nishar ad echad. Echad nishar vehu Paro. Echad meihem lo nosar mikol amo. Of the rest of the nation but פרעה Paro survived. That you heard. That you don't have to be sitting down for. But the פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer goes further. You ready? Not the פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, sorry. פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer says, so he survived, good. What happened to him? Where did he go? What do we hear about him? What happened to פרעה Paro? רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנָה אוֹמֵר, תֵּדַע לְךָ כֹּחַ הַתְּשׁוּבָה. בֹּא וּרְאֵה מִפַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, שֶׁמָּרַד בְּצוּר עֶלְיוֹן הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד. מִי ה' אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ. וּבְאוֹתוֹ לָשׁוֹן שֶׁחָטָא, בּוֹ בַּלָּשׁוֹן עָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah omer: Teda lecha koach ha'tshuva. Bo u'reh mi'Paro melech Mitzrayim, shemarad b'tzur elyon harbei me'od. Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo. U'v'oso lashon shechata, bo b'lashon asa tshuva. פרעה Paro did תשובה tshuva. Even פרעה Paro. פרעה Paro, a heinous tyrant, an evil, wicked oppressor of the Jewish people who led a genocide against our people, he did תשובה tshuva. And he did תשובה tshuva with the very same לשון lashon that he had originally sinned. He began the story by saying, מִי ה' אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, Who's God? Why do I have to listen to his voice? Who's God that I should listen to him? And he ends by saying מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם ה' Mi chamocha ba'elim Hashem. וְהִצִּילוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִבֵּין הַמֵּתִים V'hitzilo Hakadosh Baruch Hu mibein hameisim, and השם Hashem saved him from the corpses. He survived. He survived the ים סוף Yam Suf. וּמִנַּיִן שֶׁלֹּא מֵת U'minayin shelo meis? כִּי עַתָּה שָׁלַחְתִּי אֶת יָדִי וָאַךְ אֹתְךָ Ki ata sholachti es yadi v'ach oscha. וְהֶעֱמִידוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִבֵּין הַמֵּתִים לְסַפֵּר כֹּחַ גְּבוּרָתוֹ V'he'emido Hakadosh Baruch Hu mibein hameisim lesaper koach gevuraso. וְהָלַךְ וּמָלַךְ בְּנִינְוֵה V'halach u'malach b'Ninveh. Where did he go next, פרעה Paro? He couldn't go back to מצרים Mitzrayim. He went and he became the king of ננוה Ninveh. וְהָיוּ אַנְשֵׁי נִינְוֵה כּוֹסְבִין כַּסְפֵּי עֲמָלָם, וְגוֹזְלִין אִישׁ מֵרֵעֵהוּ, וְעוֹשִׂין מַעֲשֵׂי זִמָּה, וְכָאֵלּוּ מַעֲשִׂים רָעִים V'hayu anshei Ninveh kosvin kispei amalam, v'gozlin ish me'rei'eihu, v'osim ma'asei zimah, u'che'eilu ma'asim ra'im. And the people of ננוה Ninveh were evil. We know they were evil. ננוה Ninveh was an evil place. וּכְשֶׁשָּׁלַח הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת יוֹנָה לְהִנָּבֵא עָלֶיהָ לְחֻרְבָּה, שָׁמַע פַּרְעֹה וְעוֹמֵד מִכִּסְאוֹ וְקוֹרֵעַ בְּגָדָיו וַיִּלְבַּשׁ שַׂק וָאֵפֶר, וַיַּכְרֵז בְּכָל עַמּוֹ שֶׁיָּצוּמוּ כָּל עַמּוֹ שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים, וְכָל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה הַדָּבָר יִשָּׂרֵף בָּאֵשׁ U'ch'she'shalach Hakadosh Baruch Hu es Yonah lehinavei aleha l'churvah, shama Paro v'omeid mikiso v'korea b'gadav v'yilbash sak va'efer, v'yachriz b'chol amo sheyatzumu kol amo shlosha yamim, v'chol mi she'eino oseh hadavar yisareif ba'eish. פרעה Paro was in ננוה Ninveh when יונה Yonah came to prophesize the doom and gloom that would be visited upon them, פרעה Paro, whose heart was no longer being hardened, now his softened heart heard the message, פרעה Paro led this movement of תשובה tshuva, of repentance, said whoever does not return in their ways should be executed. And that's the story of פרעה Paro in ננוה Ninveh. שֶׁפַּרְעֹה הָלַךְ לְנִינְוֵה וּמָלַךְ שָׁם She'Paro halach l'Ninveh u'malach sham. The מדרש שוחר טוב Medrash Shocher Tov, שֶׁמַּלְאַךְ חִלֵּץ פַּרְעֹה מִן הַיָּם וְהוֹלִיכוֹ לְנִינְוֵה כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּסַפֵּר כֹּחַ גְּבוּרָתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְיִתְחַלֵּל שְׁמוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם she'malach cheletz Paro min hayam v'holicho l'Ninveh kedei she'yisaper koach gevuraso shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu v'yischalel shmo yisbarach b'chol ha'olam. וּמָלַךְ שָׁם פַּרְעֹה U'malach sham Paro. פרעה Paro was a מלך melech there for 410 years. דברי הימים של משה רבינו, כך של המלך Divrei hayamim shel Moshe Rabbeinu, kach shel hamelech, he was a king there for many many years. You ready for this? Not that, we're not done yet. It's not just that עד אחד ad echad means that פרעה Paro survived. It's not just that פרעה Paro survived, he did תשובה tshuva, he became the king of ננוה Ninveh, and when יונה Yonah came to tell ננוה Ninveh to change their ways, he heard and led this movement. The שפתי כהן על התורה פרשת כי תצא Sifsei Cohen al haTorah Parshas Ki Seitzei writes דבר חידוש ופלא davar chidush u'fele. שֶׁמָּצָא כָּתוּב שֶׁאַחַר שֶׁמָּלַךְ פַּרְעֹה עַל נִינְוֵה וּבָא יוֹנָה עַל נִינְוֵה, עָשָׂה פַּרְעֹה תְּשׁוּבָה וְנִתְגַּיֵּר Shematza kasuv she'achar she'malach Paro al Ninveh u'va Yonah al Ninveh, asa Paro tshuva v'nisgayer. פרעה Paro became Jewish. He converted and became a Jew. You ready? So when the תורה Torah says in three places לֹא תְתַעֵב מִצְרִי, כִּי גֵר הָיִיתָ בְאַרְצוֹ Lo sesa'ev Mitzri, ki ger hayisa v'artzo. פֵּרוּשׁ, לֹא יִהְיֶה מְסֹאָב בְּעֵינֶיךָ פַּרְעֹה הַמִּצְרִי כִּי גֵר הָיִיתָ בְּאַרְצוֹ Peirush, lo yihiyeh mesu'av b'einecha Paro haMitzri ki ger hayisa v'artzo. Don't hate the מצרי Mitzri, כִּי גֵר הָיִיתָ בְאַרְצוֹ ki ger hayisa v'artzo, because ultimately פרעה Paro became a גר ger in his new land of ננוה Ninveh. Is that wild? Wild. Wild stuff. Don't tell my nephew, I don't know what how we'll deal with that, what he'll wake up, his nightmares, how he'll process that. I need a little time to process that. Not only did פרעה Paro survive, not only did פרעה Paro do תשובה tshuva, פרעה Paro became a גר ger and joined the Jewish people. And that's why it says, לֹא תְתַעֵב מִצְרִי בְּלָשׁוֹן יָחִיד Lo sesa'ev Mitzri b'lashon yachid. Not לֹא תְתַעֵב מִצְרִים lo sesa'ev Mitzrim. לֹא תְתַעֵב מִצְרִי Lo sesa'ev Mitzri. The שבת הגדול דרשה Shabbos Hagadol drasha. כִּי גֵר הָיִיתָ בְאַרְצוֹ ki ger hayisa v'artzo. Who is that מצרי Mitzri, the one singular מצרי Mitzri who survived, who became a גר ger? It's פרעה Paro. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Now, in that שבת הגדול דרשה Shabbos Hagadol drasha I spoke about, as I said, I'm happy to share the מראי מקומות marei mekomos, but a תשובה tshuva. The head of a בית דין beis din, it wasn't in Tel Aviv, but in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, the head of a בית דין beis din had a שאלה shailah. So in the 1950s or 60s and a Nazi came and wanted to convert to Judaism. A repentant Nazi. Someone who had admittedly was a member of the Nazi party and had functioned as a Nazi and had participated in the heinous crimes of the Nazis, then came and wanted to convert to the Jewish people. And he writes a whole תשובה tshuva. What's the הלכה halacha? We understand that instinctively, intuitively, morally, we're repulsed by the idea that someone with blood on their hands could we forgive them? Could we wipe their slate clean? Could we erase their past to allow them to not only be granted forgiveness, but עד כדי כך ad k'dei kach to convert and join the Jewish people? But are there grounds to refuse? Maybe instinctively, morally we're repulsed, but are there הלכתי halachic grounds? Are there sources to refuse? He doesn't, I don't believe he quotes this, but this is fascinating towards in that conversation, that maybe פרעה Paro himself converted. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.Now, פרק י\"ד פסוק ל\"א Perek Yud Daled Pasuk Lamed Alef. וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה ה' בְּמִצְרַיִם, וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת ה', וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּה' וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ Vayar Yisrael es hayad hagedolah asher asa Hashem b'Mitzrayim, vayir'u ha'am es Hashem, vaya'aminu b'Hashem uv'Moshe avdo. We say this every day in our דאווענען davening, that the Jewish people saw the יד הגדולה yad hagedolah that השם Hashem did in מצרים Mitzrayim, וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם v'yir'u ha'am, the people revered השם Hashem, they had faith in השם Hashem and וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ uv'Moshe avdo. So there are a few troubling parts of this פסוק pasuk which we're not going to get into now. One is, what do you mean וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ uv'Moshe avdo? The פסוק pasuk is equating faith in השם Hashem and faith in משה Moshe? וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּה' וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ Vaya'aminu b'Hashem uv'Moshe avdo? Had the תורה Torah not said it, it almost sounds heretical. עד כדי כך Ad k'dei kach such a level of faith? We have faith in people? We don't believe in that. Last week we spoke about, all people are equal. Even though משה Moshe is the אב הנביאים av ha'nevi'im and one of the י\"ג yud gimmel, one of the 13 principles of faith, is to believe in משה's Moshe's superiority in some ways, but ultimately he's human and fallible. We do not ascribe Godly qualities to any human being. So what do you mean they had faith in השם Hashem and faith in משה Moshe? So there are some who say that this is the ערב רב Erev Rav. That in fact the ערב רב Erev Rav misplaced their faith in people. And we see this too, today. צדיקים Tzadikim, גדולים Gedolim, רביס Rebbes, רביצינס Rebbetzins, we believe in the power of holy people as role models, as inspiration, the power of their ברכה bracha. There's a long precedent and we believe in it. But the moment we deify them, the moment we דאווען daven to them, to put a picture of them in our סידור siddur, in our טלית tallis bag in front of us while we דאווען daven, that's the work, that's the act of an ערב רב Erev Rav. We don't believe in that. That's heretical. They are to help us. They are the lawyer who has greater connection and familiarity and friendship with the judge, so we invoke their relationship to help us. But we're not דאווענען davening to them. Ultimately, they're not the judge. So חלילה chalila. So some say, וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּה' וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ v'yaminu b'Hashem v'Moshe avdo, the משה עבדו Moshe avdo, who are the ones who equated them? This is the work of the ערב רב Erev Rav. Other say no, of משה עבדו Moshe avdo means that משה Moshe, it's not וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּה' וּבְמֹשֶׁה vayaminu b'Hashem uv'Moshe. What do we have faith in? בְּמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ B'Moshe avdo. Our faith is that משה Moshe was a loyal, faithful, trustworthy, reliable עבד השם eved Hashem. That משה Moshe in fact was the עבד השם eved Hashem. But there's another question on this פסוק pasuk that I'm not going to give an answer to. But discuss. וַיּוֹשַׁע ה' בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל Vayosha Hashem bayom hahu es Yisrael. וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם Vayar Yisrael es Mitzrayim meis al sfas hayam. וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל Vayar Yisrael, וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם vayir'u ha'am, וַיַּאֲמִינוּ vayaminu. What came first? וַיַּאֲמִינוּ Vayaminu or וַיּוֹשַׁע vayosha? וַיּוֹשַׁע Vayosha. Shouldn't וַיַּאֲמִינוּ vayaminu come first? Shouldn't you have faith in God and then God saves you? Or is it you wait for God to save you and then that gives you your faith? Similarly to me, a little bit out of order. That one I'll leave you as a, as a question. As a question. וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת ה' Vayir'u ha'am es Hashem. Who came back? וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל Vayar Yisrael. So the זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh on our פרשה parsha, זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh says something amazing. הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הֶעֱלָה אֶת יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ מִקִּבְרוֹ, לִרְאוֹת בְּגוּלַת בָּנָיו בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם Hakadosh Baruch Hu he'ela es Yaakov Avinu mikivro, liros b'gulas bonav b'eretz Mitzrayim. Did you ever hear the rabbi under the חופה chuppah? I'm on the rabbi team. The rabbi under the חופה chuppah, you know, in a place where the rabbi says a few words, there are places where חס ושלום chas v'shalom, חלילה chalila, no speeches. Need more time for the singers to sing, the concert, can't have the rabbi speak. So, but in a place where the rabbi says a few words, the beginning of the חופה chuppah or under the חופה chuppah, so the rabbi will say, you know, we're not only here surrounded by your parents who love you, but the grandparents, the נשמות neshamos have come down, they're here, they're present, they're felt. For a long time we didn't know what that meant. You're either at the wedding or you're not at the wedding. But then Corona came, and we had all kinds of weddings that had a מנין minyan of people there, and your parents and your grandparents, they're present even though they're not physically here, on Zoom. On Zoom. So, we got a much more better understanding of what it means. Someone could be there even when they're not physically there. Corona exposed us to a much more relatable expression of what it means that you could be there even if you're not there. But I want you to know when the rabbi says that, it's not fluff, it's not rabbinic hyperbole, the rabbi's not just digging deep to come up with something, that you should know, your parent who passed away, your grandparent, they're here even though they're not here. The זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh says it. The זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh explicitly says it. That when a person makes a שמחה simcha, their loved ones, the נשמה neshama comes down from שמים shamayim, and the נשמה neshama is there. The נשמה neshama is there. Where did the זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh get it from? Our פסוק pasuk. Our פרשה parsha. Why does it say וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה vayar Yisrael es hayad hagedolah? It should say וַיַּרְא בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל vayar Bnei Yisrael. Who's ישראל Yisrael? יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. So the זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh says, our פרשה parsha, דף נ\"ג עמוד א' daf nun gimmel amud alef. זאָגט Zogt the זוהר Zohar, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought יעקב Yaakov out of the grave. He woke יעקב Yaakov up from his sleep. No, he didn't have to do that 'cause יעקב אבינו לא מת Yaakov Avinu lo meis, יעקב Yaakov never died, ישראל Yisrael never died. Okay, leave that aside for now. He woke up יעקב Yaakov מִקִּבְרוֹ mikivro from his grave to come to the שמחה simcha of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. Come, come, you gotta check out this שמחה simcha. The sea's going to split, they're going to stand under the חופה chuppah called הר סיני Har Sinai. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים שֶׁלֹּא רַק יַעֲקֹב עָלָה אֶלָּא גַּם אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק V'yesh omrim shelo rak Yaakov ala, ela gam Avraham v'Yitzchak. וּמְבָאֵר זוֹהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בְּזוֹס הַפָּסוּק הַזֶּה וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל, זֶה כֹּחַ יִשְׂרָאֵל סָבָא U'meva'er Zohar Kadosh b'zos hapasuk hazeh vayar Yisrael, zeh koyach Yisrael Saba. It's not ישראל Yisrael the Jewish people, then it would say בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. Who is it? Who's present? Who did he go get? Who saw the miracles? Who's celebrating the salvation? ישראל Yisrael is יעקב סבא Yaakov Saba. The זיידע zeide, the אלטער alter, it's יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. And once יעקב Yaakov came, נו nu, אברהם Avraham and יצחק Yitzchak, שרה Sarah, רבקה Rivka, רחל Rachel, ולאה v'Leah, נו nu, the באָבעס bubbes and the זיידעס zeides, come, come to the חופה chuppah. Time to wake up. And as זוהר Zohar says לשיטת פרשת פנחס l'shitas Parshas Pinchas, שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עוֹקֵר אֶת הַהוֹרִים מִגַּן עֵדֶן וּמְבִיאִים אִתָּם לְשִׂמְחַת צֶאֱצָאֵיהֶם she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu oker es hahorim mi'Gan Eden, u'mevi'im itom l'simchas tze'etza'eihem. זוהר Zohar on פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas. וְלֹא הָיָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל עִדַּן דְּחֶדְוָתָא כְּמוֹ אָז שֶׁרָאוּ בְּמַפְּלוֹתָם שֶׁל שׂוֹנְאֵיהֶם V'la ha'Yisrael eiden d'chedvasa k'mo az she'ro'u b'mafalosam shel son'eihem. We need to know that. It's not rabbinic hyperbole, it's not exaggeration, it's not דרוש drush. We stand under a חופה chuppah and a young person who lost a parent at a young age, a person who desperately wants their grandparents to be there needs to know they are there. It's not כאילו k'ilu they're there. It's not, oh, they're there because we remember them, they're there because they have the טלית tallis that's embedded in the חופה chuppah. It's not we're there because you're wearing their special piece of jewelry. They're there. Says the זוהר Zohar, the נשמה neshama is there. If you don't believe that, you don't believe in the immortality of the soul. People don't die, bodies die. People aren't buried, their body is buried. The soul is immortal. And if הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants the soul to take a trip back down for certain occasions, he can and they can. Says the זוהר Zohar on פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, they do. And where do we get that from? Our פרשה parsha. וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל Vayar Yisrael. It wasn't just בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael, it was ישראל Yisrael. פרק ט\"ו פסוק כ\"ה Perek Tes Vov Pasuk Chaf Hei.Now we have אז ישיר Az Yashir, a רמז לתחיית המתים remez l'Techiyas Hameisim. אז Az, זה קלי ואנוהו Zeh Keili v'Anveihu, we've spoken a lot about this. I want to get to the end of the פרשה parsha we often don't get to. וַיִּמְתְּקוּ הַמָּיִם V'yimteku hamayim. פרק ט\"ו פסוק כ\"ה Perek Tes Vov pasuk chaf hei. Next episode. It's not two minutes after we come out of these miracles, 10 plagues, splitting of a sea, a באָבעס bubbes and זיידעס zeides came back down to celebrate with us, and what happens? All of a sudden, the תורה Torah turns, pivots right here. It's gonna get really bad in במדבר Bamidbar, but it begins to pivot. וַיָּבֹאוּ אֵילִמָה, וְשָׁם שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה עֵינֹת מַיִם וְשִׁבְעִים תְּמָרִים וַיַּחֲנוּ שָׁם עַל הַמָּיִם Vayavo'u Eilima, v'sham shteim esrei einos mayim v'shivim temarim, vayachanu sham al hamayim. We get to אילם Eilim, and what happens there? Fast forward, the מן mun falls from שמים Shamayim. And then what happens? פרק ט\"ו פסוק כ\"ה Perek Tes Vov pasuk chaf hei. Sorry, before the מן mun. I went too far. What happens to the Jewish people here? וְלֹא מָצְאוּ מַיִם V'lo matzu mayim. Before they get to אילם Eilim, I'm sorry. אז ישיר Az Yashir, מרים Miriam, where'd she get the instruments? She brought them out. Why would you bring instruments out? You're being pursued by the oppressor. The sea's in front of you. You're stuck between the rock and a hard place. Why would you bring out instruments if you're only on your way to die? Because they had בטחון bitachon. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, the נשים צדקניות nashim tzidkaniyos, they always got it. They get it here, and מרים Miriam leads the women in singing. Good. They go, ויתעו מדבר שור vayit'u midbar Shur, they go three days. וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים בַּמִּדְבָּר וְלֹא מָצְאוּ מַיִם Vayelchu shloshes yamim bamidbar v'lo matzu mayim. Three days they don't find water. We say you can't go three days without תורה Torah. You can't go three days without learning תורה Torah. No three days without learning תורה Torah. By the way, you can't go three days without תורה Torah, the אלטער מקלם Alter of Kelm says, not just you can't go three days without תורה Torah because spiritually we would dehydrate, malnourish, just like you can't go three days without water, but rather he says, if a person would go three days physically without תורה Torah, physically they would fall, they'd be compromised. So three days. וַיָּבֹאוּ מָרָתָה Vayavo'u Marasa, וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לִשְׁתֹּת מַיִם מִמָּרָה כִּי מָרִים הֵם v'lo yachlu lishtos mayim mi'Marah ki marim heim. And we couldn't drink the water there because the water was bitter. עַל כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ מָרָה Al kein kara shma Marah. וַיִּלֹּנוּ הָעָם עַל מֹשֶׁה Vayilonu ha'am al Moshe. So here we go. Here's where it pivots. We go from a slave nation who taste freedom, who live and experience miracles, and all of a sudden when we're out and we have miracles, what happens right away? We complain. וַיִּלֹּנוּ הָעָם עַל מֹשֶׁה Vayilonu ha'am al Moshe. מַה נִּשְׁתֶּה Mah nishteh? What are you gonna drink? A minute ago you were making bricks, building pyramids. A minute ago you were suffering a genocide. Now, what are we going to drink? וַיִּצְעַק אֶל ה' וַיּוֹרֵהוּ ה' עֵץ וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ אֶל הַמָּיִם Vayitzak el Hashem vayoreihu Hashem eitz vayashlech el hamayim. So they cried to השם Hashem, השם Hashem showed him a tree, he threw it into the water, וַיִּמְתְּקוּ הַמָּיִם vayimteku hamayim, the water became sweet. שָׁם שָׂם לוֹ חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט וְשָׁם נִסָּהוּ Sham sam lo chok u'mishpat, v'sham nisahu. And there at מרה Marah, השם Hashem gave a round of מצוות mitzvos. He gave חודש Chodesh. Now he gave כיבוד אב ואם kibud av v'eim, a little מחלוקת machlokes exactly what he gave, but he gave a certain small round of מצוות mitzvos, שָׁם שָׂם לוֹ חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט sham sam lo chok u'mishpat, here in מרה Marah he gave him מצוות mitzvos. And he said good, if you listen, everything's gonna be good. כָּל הַמַּחֲלָה אֲשֶׁר שַׂמְתִּי בְמִצְרַיִם לֹא אָשִׂים עָלֶיךָ Kol hamachala asher samti v'Mitzrayim lo asim alecha. The small preview of מצוות mitzvos that I gave you, do them all, be good and well, and I will not visit upon you all the things I gave in Egypt, כִּי אֲנִי ה' רֹפְאֶךָ ki ani Hashem rofecha, because I am השם Hashem, your רופא rofe. What's going on over here? So I want to tell you something I've told you before and I want to tell you something I never knew or saw ever before. The thing I saw before that I love telling you every year, it's one of my favorites, is the קאצקער Kotzker. The word כִּי מָרִים הֵם ki marim heim. They were bitter. They is a pronoun. What was bitter? Simple understanding of the of the text is, what was bitter? The water. They got to מרה Marah, they drank the water, it was bitter, they complained. But the קאצקער Kotzker says כִּי מָרִים הֵם ki marim heim, הם heim is not talking about the water. What is הם heim talking about? בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. They were bitter. When you're bitter, everything tastes bitter. When you're sweet, everything tastes sweet. But if you see the world through bitter glasses, if you're bitter and miserable and פאַרביסן farbisene, then everything will make you bitter, then you'll taste and you'll see everything is bitter. We wrote about recently in the weekly, the missing tile syndrome. The missing tile syndrome is that there is a psychological a psychological propensity that we walk into a room, and all the ceiling tiles are there, and they're all clean and they're all beautiful and they're all perfectly arranged, and one tile is missing. So we are naturally drawn, our eyes, not to all the tiles, the mosaic that is there, our eyes are naturally drawn to the tile that is missing. And what's true physically for what our eyes are drawn to, is true metaphysically and spiritually and emotionally, we tend to be drawn to the thing and complain about it. Instead of commenting and praising and expressing gratitude for all the tiles that are in place, instead, what do we do? We complain for all the missing tiles that are not there. We tend to complain for the missing tiles. כִּי מָרִים הֵם Kim marim heim, they were bitter. What was bitter? The people, not the water. That is the קאצקער Kotzker. We've shared the קאצקער Kotzker many times before. But now I want to tell you, not a קאצקער Kotzker, now I want to tell you אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pilos haTorah quotes another interpretation, and I never saw this before. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pilos haTorah has another interpretation. It says the following. The זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh says, פרשת נשא Parshas Nasso. דבר פלא Davar pele, everything in here he writes is a דבר פלא davar pele, because it is a דבר פלא davar pele. It's wondrous, it's wild, it's amazing. המצרים הממו על בני ישראל שנולדו מהם HaMitzrim homemu al Bnei Yisrael she'noldu meihem. You know, the last thing the Egyptians did to destroy the Jewish people on their way out of Egypt was to plant a seed into the men's minds. You escaped, you got out, you're on your own, you've been freed and liberated. Good, enjoy, but just know that your children aren't yours, they're ours. That we had adulterous affairs with your wives and that your children are not yours, they're ours. הם בני זנונים ולא ראויה תשרה עליהם שכינה Heim bnei znunim v'lo ro'uya tishreh aleihem shechina. God will never dwell upon you, you'll never build a holy sacred nation, you'll never be worthy to stand at הר סיני Har Sinai, because you need to know that while you were busy baking the bricks, we were with your wives and the children you think are yours are not yours, they're ours. That's what the זוהר הקדוש Zohar Kadosh says. טאקע Taka, that might be the most heinous thing that they did. Could there be anything worse? Almost as bad as physically assaulting and beating would be to plant that in the mind of the Jew on their way out. מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא Mah asa Hakadosh Baruch Hu? I never saw this. This is a magnificent interpretation of the פסוקים psukim we just read. What happens here? The water is bitter, משה Moshe throws something, an ingredient into the water, they drink the water and everything's okay. Does that remind you of anything? Does the תורה Torah give us something where there's suspicion, you make a mixture with water, you put something in the water, and when you drink it, it reveals and it resolves to let you know the truth and that everything's okay? What does that remind you of? The סוטה Sotah. מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהַשְׁתִּיק אֶת הַמְקַטְרְגִים Mah asa Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'hashtik es ham'katregim? הֵבִיאוּ אוֹתָם לְמָרָה, בִּכְדֵי לִבְדֹּק אוֹתָם כְּסוֹטוֹת Hevi'u osam l'Marah, b'chdei livdok osam k'sotos. וְאָמַר מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ, יִכְתֹּב שֵׁם הֲוָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְיַשְׁלֵךְ אֶל הַמַּיִם שֶׁיִּמָּחֶה כְּעֵין מְגִלַּת סוֹטָה, וְיִבָּדְקוּ כָּל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הַגְּבָרִים וְהַנָּשִׁים V'amar Moshe Rabbeinu, yichtov shem Havaya Hakadosh Baruch Hu, v'yashlech el hamayim she'yimche k'ein megillas Sotah, v'yivdeku kol Bnei Yisrael hagvarim v'hanashim. מִיָּד הִשְׁלִיךְ מֹשֶׁה לַמַּיִם אֶת ה', וְשָׁם נִבְדְּקוּ כֻּלָּם, וְנִמְצְאוּ כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל טְהוֹרִים מִן טֻמְאַת עֲרָיוֹת, שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה אֶחָד מֵהַגְּבָרִים שֶׁנִּטְמָא בִּנְשׁוֹתֵיהֶם שֶׁל הַמִּצְרִים. וְלֹא הָיְתָה אַחַת מִנְּשׁוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּטְמְאָה מִמִּצְרִי Miyad hishlach Moshe l'mayim es Hashem, v'sham nivdeku kulam, v'nimtze'u kol Yisrael tehorim min tumas arayos, she'lo haya echad mehagvarim she'nitma b'nishoseihem shel haMitzrim. V'lo haysa achas min'shos Yisrael she'nitma mi'Mitzri. וְהָיוּ כֻּלָּם קְדוֹשִׁים וּטְהוֹרִים וּרְאוּיִים שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה עֲלֵיהֶם V'hayu kulam kedoshim u'tehorim u're'uyim she'tishreh shechina aleihem. It's a whole new way of rereading this entire episode. It's not that they were bitter and they complained. Why did הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu have to deprive them of decent drinking water? He got them this far, why did he make them dehydrate? No, no, no, no. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu did a favor. He created a circumstance, this is the very first episode of the of the מי סוטה Mei Sotah, the המים הארורים HaMayim Ha'Arurim, the bitter water. Why? Because הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to exonerate husbands and wives towards each others, towards each other, beyond a shadow of a doubt. So there would be no doubt. There would be no doubt. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is willing to allow his own name, his holy, ineffable name to be erased so that there can be שלום בית shalom bayis between a husband and wife. So a whole new way of reading these פסוקים psukim which were alluded to, it's מדויק meduyak in the פסוקים psukim. משה Moshe throws something in, there's an ingredient, it's a mixture, it's with water, it's bitter, and now it resolves something. Is that amazing? Isn't that a beautiful new interpretation? Okay, you're not as impressed as I am. כָּל הַמַּחֲלָה Kol hamachala, what is this מחלה machala that I'm not gonna place on מצרים Mitzrayim? פרק ט\"ו פסוק כ\"ו Perek Tes Vov pasuk chaf vov. Keep this smattering of מצוות mitzvos, this preview of מצוות mitzvos, obey them, follow them, listen to them and do them, and I will not visit you with a מחלה machala. What was the מחלה machala? The מחלה machala was a hardened heart and a lack of אמונה emunah in השם Hashem. We tend to think that the מחלה machala, what is the מחלה machala? The 10 plagues, the suffering. But it's not. The worst מחלה machala that the מצרים Mitzrim suffered is to live in a cloud and cloak of darkness, to not know or see השם Hashem, to live without a feeling of השם Hashem in their life, and that is what he was avoiding. Okay. Now the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pilos haTorah has a whole section on the מן mun. Because the פרשה parsha goes there, they didn't have anything to eat, they're in the מדבר midbar. הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם וְיָצָא הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ לְמַעַן אֲנַסֶּנּוּ הֲיֵלֵךְ בְּתוֹרָתִי אִם לֹא Hineni mamtir lachem lechem min hashamayim, v'yatza ha'am v'lak'tu dvar yom b'yomo l'maan anasenu hayelech b'sorasi im lo. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes the מן mun fall from heaven daily, no supply, no knowledge where your next meal, it fell daily. Why? To build a resilience and to build a faith. So, is there a מנהג minag to say this דוקא dafka יום שלישי yom shlishi, Tuesday? Is there such a סגולה segulah? Is there such a סגולה segulah to say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun יום שלישי yom shlishi on on Tuesday? So, a young תלמיד חכם talmid chacham named Aryeh Minkov, who put together an essay on the subject, and he found the following. There is no מקור makor. There is no מקור makor. It's traced back to רב מנחם מענדל מרימנוב Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov. Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov is the source, but even that we don't have a source that he said that דוקא dafka you should say it on Tuesday. ספר פרשת המן, לא נמצא מקור מוסמך למנהג זה Sefer parshas ha'mun, lo nimtza makor musmach l'minhag zeh. There is no reliable source for specifically saying it on the יום שלישי yom shlishi. Now, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch does say to say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun. שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch writes, טוב לומר פרשת עקידה, פרשת המן, עשרת הדברות, בכל יום tov lomar parshas Akeidah, parshas ha'mun, aseres hadibros, b'chol yom. The שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes to say these sections: the עקידה Akeidah, the מן mun, and עשרת הדברות aseres hadibros, which are not instituted as part of דאווענען davening, שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes worthwhile to say them every day. And the משנה in אורח חיים סימן א' Orach Chaim siman alef. The משנה ברורה סעיף קטן י\"ג Mishnah Berurah seif katan yud gimmel brings, the מקור makor for this is the ירושלמי Yerushalmi. It says פרשת המן parshas ha'mun, if you say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun, לֹא יחסרו מזונותיו lo yismatu m'zonosov. You're not going to be diminished, you won't be lacking in your פרנסה parnasa. Now I would argue, what does the משנה ברורה Mishnah Berurah mean, what does the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch saying? It's not a סגולה segulah, חבר'ה chevra, if you're מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos and you're בעל עריות ba'al arayos and you're cheating in business and you're a מנוול menuvel, but you mumble פרשת המן parshas ha'mun every day, your פרנסה parnasa is going to flow? You think if you're an atheist or an agnostic, you're a כופר kofer, you're a רשע מרושע rasha merusha, but you mumble the פרשת המן parshas ha'mun every day from a קלף klaph, with a ניגון nign, with שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום shnayim mikra v'echad targum? You think that your פרנסה parnasa is going to flow? No, what the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch means is if you say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun every day, you're going to remember every day that כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael didn't know where it was going to come from. Ah, lo and behold, it fell from שמים Shamayim. So too I'm nervous, I don't know where my next client, where my next deal, where my next transaction will come from. It's gonna fall from שמים Shamayim just like the מן mun. Reading פרשת המן parshas ha'mun is not an ends, it is a means of אמונה emunah and בטחון bitachon and דבקות dveikus. What will earn the פרנסה parnasa is the genuine אמונה emunah, דבקות dveikus and and and בטחון bitachon. You can't leave that part out. You can't say פטום הקטורת pittum ha'ketores from a קלף klaph, you can't say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun from a קלף klaph, you can't do these, you can't put a key in your חלה challah and think, oh, פרנסה parnasa is now going to flow. I could do and be whoever I want, I'll be ruthless in business, I'll cheat and steal in business, I'll knock a out of the equation in business, I'll have no אמונה emunah and בטחון bitachon, but I put a key in my חלה challah, but I said פרשת המן parshas ha'mun. Now it's going to flow. Of course not. It's ridiculous. It's not at all. Not at all. The whole custom to say it, that does trace to the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, though it's associated with רב מנחם מענדל מרימנוב Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, we have no source for doing it on Tuesday specifically. The שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun every day, so when you panic and when you're afraid, where's my פרנסה parnasa, where's my next meal gonna come from? No, you're not the first who felt that way, others did and it falls from שמים Shamayim, it comes from השם Hashem. Now, we do have a ספר נוהג כצאן יוסף sefer Noheg K'Tzon Yosef that does quote to say it שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום shnayim mikra v'echad targum. You, like me, probably got a hundred people in your WhatsApp, in your email, sent you a PDF, שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום פרשת המן shnayim mikra v'echad targum parshas ha'mun. There is a source, it claims to quote it going all the way back to ספר הישר לרבינו תם Sefer HaYashar l'Rabbeinu Tam. Though, we have no ראשונים Rishonim who acknowledge that, and in our version of the ספר הישר לרבינו תם Sefer HaYashar l'Rabbeinu Tam, he never said it. Did he say it, did he not say it? It doesn't matter. Say the פרשת המן parshas ha'mun. Say it today, Tuesday. Say it yesterday, Monday, say it tomorrow, Wednesday. Say it this week פרשת בשלח parshas Beshalach. Say it next week פרשת משפטים parshas Mishpatim. Say it. Say it over and over again. יתרו, משפטים Yisro, Mishpatim. Say it over and over again. Say it every week. But the goal of saying it is not an end unto itself. The goal of saying it is to see and feel השם Hashem in our life because that's what's going to make the difference. Okay, let's see a couple quick ideas on פרשת המן parshas ha'mun on the מן mun, and then we will call it a day. So everyone can go say פרשת המן parshas ha'mun. From a קלף klaph, with שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום shnayim mikra v'echad targum. He's got great stuff. You got to imagine those are פלאות התורה Plaos HaTorah is going to have fun stuff on the mon. So, let rapid fire. Let's do some some quick ones.The ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni wants the following: הנהני ממטיר לכם לחם מן השמים Hineni mamtir lachem lechem min hashamayim. It says, I'm going to make לחם lechem fall from שמים shamayim. What word is extra in that פסוק pasuk? Again, פרק טז פסוק ד perek tes zayin pasuk daled, top of page 384. ויאמר ה' אל משה הנהני ממטיר לכם לחם מן השמים Vayomer Hashem el Moshe hineni mamtir lachem lechem min hashamayim. I'm going to make it rain for you bread from the heaven. What word is extra? לכם Lachem. What do I need the word לכם lachem? הנהני ממטיר לחם מן השמים Hineni mamtir lechem min hashamayim. I'm going to make it rain from heaven. So the ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni learns from here, you know what? לכם נותן ולא לכל אומה ולשון Lachem notein v'lo l'chol uma v'lashon. שהתכנסו כל האומות לבקש מן המן, אפילו משהו, אינן יכולין She'nitkanssu kol ha'umos l'vakesh min haman, afilu mashehu, einan yecholin. If the non-Jewish people would try to gather the מן man, they couldn't. And the מדרש תנחומא Medrash Tanchuma adds, if the Jews tasted from the מן man, what did it taste like? Anything they wanted. If a non-Jew tasted from it, what did it taste like? Kale.Doesn't say that, but I'm being מדמה medameh. אומות העולם לא יכולין לטעום טעם המן Umos ha'olam lo yecholin litom ta'am haman. אם טעמו את המן, היה בפיהם כגידין מרין Im ta'amu es haman, haya b'fihem k'gidin marin. It tasted like kale. It tasted like a bitter, coarse, poor texture, miserable punishment of a food. Tasted like kale.Where did he learn that from? This extra word. הנהני ממטיר לכם לחם Hineni mamtir lachem lechem. The מן man is a gift for the Jewish people, not for everyone else. You know what fell with the מן man? פרק טז פסוק כב Perek tes zayin pasuk kaf beis, the next פסוק pasuk. ויהי ביום השישי... והכינו את אשר יביאו, והיה משנה על אשר ילקטו יום יום Vayehi bayom hashishi... v'hechinu es asher yavi'u, v'haya mishneh al asher yilketu yom yom. So the גמרא Gemara in יומא דף עה Yoma daf ayin-hey says, you know what fell with the מן man? תכשיטי נשים ואבנים טובות ומרגליות Tachshitei nashim v'avanim tovos u'margalios. A שבת Shabbos robe.שבת Shabbos robe fell with the מן man. What else were the women going to wear Friday night when they read משפחה mishpacha while the husbands were in שול shul? So you know what fell with the מן man every Friday? A new שבת Shabbos robe. A new jewelry. A new tie. A new טיש בעקיטשע tish bekishe. Every Friday fell מלבושים malbushim. מלבושים Malbushim fell. Not during the week. During the week was the miracle that it never got old, it never got ruined, it never, they never grew out of it. That was what we read later in ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, the miracle that it grew with them. But for שבת Shabbos, just like a double portion of מן man fell for שבת Shabbos, the גמרא Gemara, the מדרש Medrash say, special שבת Shabbos clothing. A Jew has to have special clothing for שבת Shabbos. משנה ברורה Mishna Berura quotes עד כדי כך ad kedei kach a different belt, different shoes, different טלית talis than you normally wear, different suits, שבת Shabbos suits. We don't wear the weekday clothing, בגדי חול bigdei chol, clothing on שבת Shabbos. And where do you see that? Because for שבת Shabbos different clothing fell together with the מן man.Another question. What ברכה bracha did they say on the מן man? What ברכה bracha? So ספר חסידים Sefer Chassidim, the רבי יהודה החסיד Rav Yehuda HaChassid, על המן היו מברכין הנותן לחם מן השמים al haman hayu mevorchin ha'notein lechem min hashamayim. They made a ברכה bracha before they ate the מן man. Instead of המוציא לחם מן הארץ hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz, הנותן לחם מן השמים ha'notein lechem min hashamayim. That was the ברכה bracha. But the בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar, the הייליגע בני יששכר heilige Bnei Yissaschar says when they ate the מן man, they did not make a ברכה bracha. כתב בשם רבינו מנחם מפאנו Kasav b'shem Rabbeinu Menachem mi'Pano, שלעתיד לבוא בסעודת של לויתן she'l'asid lavo b'seudas shel livyasan, אין סעודה בלא לחם ein seudah b'lo lechem. And we too will not make a ברכה bracha. They didn't make a ברכה bracha. It was not food from the ground. It wasn't ordinary food. They didn't make an ordinary ברכה bracha.But there are many opinions about this. ספר חסידים Sefer Chassidim we said, הנותן לחם מן השמים ha'notein lechem min hashamayim. The מרכבת המשנה Merkeves HaMishna on the מכילתא Mechilta, they would make a ברכה bracha based on, it's a ברכה של המאכל שעליו חשב bracha shel ha'ma'achal she'alav chashav. Depends what you ate. If you ate steak, you made a שהכל shehakol. If you ate a sandwich, you made a המוציא hamotzi. If you had kale, you made a הגומל Hagomel, אשר יצר asher yatzar, whatever you made. On kale. If you had an apple, you had in mind that it should be an apple, that's how I really feel, a בורא פרי העץ borei pri ha'eitz. So מרכבת המשנה Merkeves HaMishna said the ברכה bracha corresponded with what you wanted it to taste like. חיים פלאג'י Chaim Palagi in his ספר נפש חיים sefer Nefesh Chaim writes, היה כצפיחית בדבש hayah k'tzapichis b'dvash, the ברכה bracha was מיני מזונות minei mezonos. But nevertheless, if you were קובע סעודה kovea seudah, it was המוציא hamotzi. בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar said, no ברכה bracha. The בן איש חי Ben Ish Chai, ממטיר לכם מן השמים mamtir lachem min hashamayim. The חמדת ישראל Chemdas Yisrael quotes the ספורנו Sforno, בורא פרי האדמה Borei pri ha'adama. All kinds of questions. What ברכה bracha do you say? And is there a נפקא מינה nafka mina for us?Where'd they make a מלוה מלכה melava malka from? There's a חיוב chiyuv of מלוה מלכה melava malka. So where'd they make a מלוה מלכה melava malka from? What happened? Could you make the, what if you wanted the מן man to taste like pork? You've always been curious about bacon. So you'll have in mind you want the מן man to taste like bacon. Couldn't. The מן man could taste like anything you wanted. Could it taste like bacon? So the שו\"ת אפרקסתא דעניא Tshuvas Apirkasah d'Anya, his topic of דרך דרוש וקבל שכר derech drush v'kabel schar, can it taste like בשר בחלב basar b'chalav? They were in Egypt and they watched the Egyptians have cheeseburgers. The מן man fell, and finally this was their chance. They were curious, what does a cheeseburger taste like? So he says, אפשר שמן השמים לא היו מתאימין טעם האיסור efshar she'min hashamayim lo hayu mat'imin ta'am ha'isur. שמצד הסברא דבר פשוט דמותר She'mitzrad ha'svara davar pashut d'mutar. איסור טעם כעיקר לא שייך רק היכא דאיכא, מה שאין כן היכא דליכא העיקר כלל Isur ta'am k'ikar lo shayach rak heicha d'ika, ma she'ein kein heicha d'leika ha'ikar klal. There is no איסור בשר בחלב isur basar b'chalav if there's no בשר בחלב basar b'chalav. You could think about whatever you wanted to think about, as long as it is not there, you're okay. And we find this elsewhere because the גמרא Gemara says in חולין Chullin, אלטא Alta was the wife of a great sage, said whatever we have in a prohibited state, we have a permissible version of it. בשר בחלב Basar b'chalav is אסור assur, but you're allowed to eat the udder of the cow. And the udder of the cow is so saturated with milk that even though you eat it, it's כאילו k'ilu you had בשר בחלב basar b'chalav. We eat פרוה pareve cheeseburgers, right? פרוה Pareve cheese. We have all kinds of, we have, what are they called? Impossible burgers. They're not bad. We have impossible burgers. The עיוני הש\"ס Iyunei HaShas disagrees. So could it taste like something else or could it not taste like something else? What about שבת Shabbos? He says here, the גמרא Gemara in יומא Yuma says, כל טעם שחשב אדם טועם באכילתו kol ta'am she'chashav adam to'eim b'achilaso. The חיד\"א Chida says, מי שרצה לטעום באכילת המן בשבת איזה טעם, היה צריך לחשוב כן לפני יום השבת, לקיים והכינו את אשר יביאו mi she'ratza litom b'achilas haman b'Shabbos eizeh ta'am, hayah tzarich lachshov kein lifnei yom ha'Shabbos, l'kayem v'hechinu es asher yavi'u. Just like the double portion fell on Friday, you're not allowed to cook on שבת Shabbos. This was your food. You had to decide what you wanted to taste like on Friday. You couldn't decide on שבת Shabbos, says the חיד\"א Chida. אסור לחשוב בשבת קודש משום איסור מתקן Assur lachshov b'Shabbos kodesh mishum isur mesaken. It was a violation of the איסור מתקן isur mesaken to fix the מן man according to what you wanted to taste like on שבת Shabbos. You had to think about it beforehand. Was the מן man a solid or a liquid? If it was a solid, how did you get your Starbucks fill? Could you make the solid taste like a liquid by thinking about a liquid? Who thinks about any of these things? אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah. He has a lot more. We're out of time. Tomorrow morning, 10 minutes of meaning. Living with אמונה emunah. We're on for all of our שיעורים shiurim this week. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy, and stay happy.
