Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov. It should be a good morning and אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem it should be a בוקר טוב boker tov, a בשורה besorah day filled with בשורות טובות besoros tovos. We should hear good news from ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. Please God our hostages should be brought home, our soldiers should have a sweeping victory, they should return to their families. We should hear only good things. Want to thank our generous פרשה parsha series sponsors, Becky and Avi Kats and family in memory of Becky's father, לעילוי נשמת l'iluy nishmas דוד בן מנחם מנש Dovid ben Menachem Manash, David Grossman. This morning's also sponsored by my dear friends Rabbi Akiva and Dr. Rachel Walkin in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrzeit for רביצן Rebbetzin Annette Walk, עליה השלום aleha hashalom, נשמתה שתהיה בעליה nishmasah sh't'hiyeh b'aliyah. By Judith Rosen in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrzeit of רב ימלך ברוך רוזן Rav Yemelech Baruch Rosen, Marvin Rosen, we remember well. By Naftali and Etya Weiss לעילוי נשמת l'iluy nishmas אהרן בן נפתלי הרצל Aaron ben Naftali Hertzel. And it should be a רפואה שלמה refuah shleima for רחל בת מרים Rochel bas Miriam who's undergoing a procedure today. She should have a speedy, painless, and complete רפואה שלמה refuah shleima.One housekeeping note, we will not have שיעור shiur the next two weeks. It's okay, it's okay, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. It's okay. We're going we're going to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem, we're going to Israel. And you can listen to plenty of previous year שיעורים shiurim online, and plenty of other people give שיעור shiur as well. So we are taking a break over the next two weeks. פרשת בא Parshas Bo, page 340 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. ויאמר השם אל משה Vayomer Hashem el Moshe. You ready? Here we go. השם Hashem said to משה Moshe, בא אל פרעה bo el Paroh, כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו ki ani hichbadeti es libo v'es lev avadav, l'ma'an shisi ososai eileh b'kirbo. We find ourselves in the midst of the מכות makkos, the unfolding of this incredible drama in מצרים Mitzrayim, even though we know the way the story goes, we live it. The פרשה parsha. We know these פרשיות parshios, we know them well. Not only do we read them through ספר שמות Sefer Shmos, we live them through the two סדרים sedarim, through the holiday of פסח Pesach, and despite that, despite knowing where the story's going and how the story ends, there's a drama, there's anticipation, it unfolds, and there's always something new. And there's always something relevant, דווקא davka for the time in which we are living, there are lessons for today. So let's start out with a well-known idea. We've shared it before, but it's shared now in a new ספר sefer, in a new context. Rav Druk, Rav Yisrael Meir Druk שליט\"א shlita, his ספר sefer להבות אש l'havos eis, he's coming February 5th to our community, looking forward. השם Hashem says to משה Moshe, בא אל פרעה bo el Paroh. צריך להבין את הלשון שנאמר כאן בא אל פרעה Tzarich l'havin es halashon sh'ne'emar kan bo el Paroh. לכאורה L'chora מדוקדק יותר היה אילו נאמר medukdak yoser hayah ilu ne'emar, לך אל פרעה lech el Paroh. Everybody knows this. Torah should have said, השם Hashem should have said, משה Moshe, go. Go deliver the message, go confront פרעה Paroh, go storm the palace, go speak truth to power. Go, לך אל פרעה lech el Paroh. Instead he says, בא אל פרעה bo el Paroh. Come with me. שכן הקדוש ברוך הוא שולח את משה אל פרעה ולא קורא אותו אליו Sh'kein Hakadosh Baruch Hu sholeach es Moshe el Paroh v'lo korei oso eilav. He's sending פרעה Paroh, he's not calling him to him. So בא bo means come here, where I am. לך Lech means go, go where your mission is. What does he say בא bo? The פשט pshat, as they're all לומר l'omar, כשהקדוש ברוך הוא אמר למשה רבנו בתחילת שליחותו k'Hakadosh Baruch Hu omar l'Moshe Rabbeinu b'tchilas shlichuso, ואתה לך ואנכי אהיה עם פיך והוריתיך את אשר תדבר v'atah lech v'anochi ehyeh im picha v'horeisicha es asher t'daber. אם כן, בכל עת שהוא הולך אל פרעה, הקדוש ברוך הוא נמצא עם פיו im kein, b'chol eis she'hu holeich el Paroh, Hakadosh Baruch Hu nimtza im piv. When הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu first recruited משה Moshe, he said to him, \"Don't worry. You feel that you have a speech impediment, you have a stammer, you have a stutter? Don't worry. I will put the words in your mouth. Don't worry. I will give you the סיעתא דשמיא siyata d'Shmaya.\" We spoke about it this past שבת Shabbos. I don't want to go backwards a פרשה parsha, but when השם Hashem וארא אל אברהם va'eira el Avraham, he says, \"I appeared previously אל אברהם, אל יצחק, ואל יעקב el Avraham, el Yitzchak, v'el Yaakov,\" and רש\"י Rashi says, \"אל האבות El ha'avos.\" As if we don't know who אברהם, יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are, רש\"י Rashi tells us, in case you forgot, those are the originals, OG, those are the אבות avos. As if you forgot who אברהם, יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are, so we shared several interpretations. But one of them, Rav Shmuel Berenbaum's תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel said—I didn't get the new תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel by Tuesday, I don't have it yet. They send the newsletter on email on Thursday. So for שבת Shabbos I have תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel, but for Tuesday we do not yet have ספר שמות Sefer Shmos out. So תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel, Rav Shmuel Berenbaum זצ\"ל zatzal says, אל האבות El ha'avos means אברהם, יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, they were great, they were inherently very holy people. But their whole greatness came because הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave them סיעתא דשמיא siyata d'Shmaya עד מאוד ad me'od. Once he designated them אבות avos, once they were designated leaders, a mouthpiece, an ambassador of עם ישראל Am Yisrael, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu elevated them, he gave them a סיעתא דשמיא siyata d'Shmaya. And says the תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel, in our home, in our family, in our community, in עם ישראל Am Yisrael, in כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, in whatever capacity, the moment we accept upon ourselves leadership, we are willing to speak up, to speak truth, then we merit the same סיעתא דשמיא siyata d'Shmaya. So they were great not only because inherently, intrinsically they were great. אל האבות El ha'avos, because once they were designated the אבות avos, they merited a סיעתא דשמיא siyata d'Shmaya. And משה Moshe was the same. That's what השם Hashem was telling משה Moshe. \"You're worried? You're reluctant? You're hesitant? You don't think you have what it takes? You don't have the courage? You don't have the conviction? Don't worry. Go and speak up and I will give you the words, I will give you the courage, I'll give you the courage.\" Was coming back on Sunday, my son had his התחלת גמרא haschalas Gemara. I was in one car with my son, my wife was driving in another car with my שווער shver, with my father-in-law. And for the first time, this was actually a little bit scary. We have on each of our cars, we have the flags that we gave out, a thousand Israeli flags, American flags, צה\"ל Tzahal flags, on the car. Driving on Palmetto Park Road and some maniac, first he cut me off and he was cursing and he gave me the one-finger salute and he had not nice things to say about Israel and about the flags. Fine, I just avoided eye contact, I tried to take a little video so I could report him. Then he fell back and he did the same thing to my wife's, to יוכבד Yocheved. He cut off the car. So I called יוכבד Yocheved. I said, \"First of all, obviously, avoid him, don't escalate.\" She said, \"You won't believe it.\" I said, \"What?\" She said, \"My father lowered the window and he's giving it back to.\" I said, \"Your father? My father…\" I didn't know my father-in-law had that in him. Who knew? אל האבות El ha'avos, אל השווער el ha'shver. Who knew? When you're in that moment of truth and you need to speak up and you need to find your voice, you need to confront an enemy, you find the voice, or the appropriate gestures, or whatever you need to reciprocate to the car that's confronting you, that's coming by. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to משה Moshe, \"Don't worry. You're worried? You think you have a speech impediment? You're worried and you say, 'What if someone cuts me off? What if they're cursing out my flags? What will I do?'\" הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \"Don't worry. I'll put the words in your mouth, I'll put the courage in your fingertips, I'll give you what you'll need in order to speak up in that moment.\" אם כן Im kein, מה שאמר לו בא אל פרעה ma she'omar lo bo el Paroh, הטעם הוא שכביכול אמר לו hatam hu she'k'viyachol amar lo, בא עמי bo imi, ונלך יחד אל פרעה v'neileich yachad el Paroh. What we have to know and we have to feel in our קישקעס kishkes, wherever we're going, whomever we have to confront, we're not alone. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu puts his arm around us and he comes and says, \"נו Nu, come, let's go. We're going to the hospital to visit someone, we're going to the שבעה shiva home to pay a tough שבעה shiva call. Come. We're going to have a difficult conversation, resolve a conflict, we're going to negotiate a complicated business matter. Come, we're going to an office of Congress to speak up and to speak out.\" הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't say, \"לך Lech, go, good luck, let me know how it goes.\" הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu puts his arm around us and he says, \"נו Nu, בא bo, come, we're going together.\" It's not just a ווארט vort. This is palpably what we're meant to feel. With every שליחות shlichus of our lives, with every mission that we're on, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is putting his arm around us and he says, \"בא Bo.\" באופן נוסף יש לבאר B'ofen nosaf yeish l'vasar. That's classic and everybody knows that, we've said it a million times. But Rav Druk adds, אמנם בלשון בני אדם שהוא אומר לחברו לשון כזו, לך, כי זה מורה על כך שהוא הולך ומתרחק ממנו omnam b'lashon bnei adam she'hu omer l'chavero lashon k'zu, lech, ki zeh moreh al kach she'hu holeich u'misrachek mimenu. You could say to someone, \"נו Nu, go.\" Every morning we find ourselves saying to our kid, \"Go to school.\" ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, my girls live a 30-second walk to school. I don't have to drive them, carpool, there's no bus. \"נו Nu, go already, it's getting late, go!\" What does go mean? I'm staying here, get away from me, go over there. That's what go means, not to our children, we love them, but they have to go to school. \"Go. Go to work. Go to school. Go where you're meant to go. Go. I'm here, you go there, and there's some distance between us.\" אמנם מאצלו של הקדוש ברוך הוא לא שייך לומר לך Omnam me'etzlo shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu lo shayach lomar lech. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, לך lech, go, suggests, implies that you're going somewhere that I'm not there. הרי הקדוש ברוך הוא מלא כל הארץ כבודו Harei Hakadosh Baruch Hu melo chol ha'aretz kvodo. But the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam is, in the words of Uncle Moishy, here, there, and everywhere. ואם כן משה רבנו אינו הולך ומתרחק מהקדוש ברוך הוא, אלא נמצא יחד עמו בקרבתו V'im kein Moshe Rabbeinu eino holeich u'misrachek me'Hakadosh Baruch Hu, ela nimtza yachad imo b'kirvaso. So when we wonder, \"Why does it say בא bo, it should say לך lech?\" says Rav Druk, it's a קלאץ קשיא kletz kasha. You can't say לך lech with הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because you could never leave him. לך Lech means leave me and go where you're meant to go. But when it comes to the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, when it comes to the Almighty, you could never leave, he goes with you wherever you go because he's here, there, and everywhere, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu fills the entire world. לכך אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה בלשון זו, בא אל פרעה, ורמז בזה שלא יפחד ולא יחשוש מפרעה L'kach amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'Moshe b'lashon zo, bo el Paroh, v'ramaz b'zeh she'lo yifached v'lo yachshosh miParoh. Don't be afraid, and don't worry, and don't be intimidated and don't be overwhelmed. כי הרי השכינה נמצאת עמו בכל מקום Ki harei haShechinah nimtzes ito b'chol makom. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \"I am with you wherever you are.\" אפילו בביתו של פרעה הרשע Afilu b'beiso shel Paroh harasha. Wherever you are, even in the palace of פרעה Paroh, לעולם אינו מתרחק l'olam eino misrachek. I'm not at a distance, you didn't leave me behind. I didn't just give you talking points and send you on your on your way. ואינו יכול להרחק אלא תמיד רק מתקרב עוד ועוד V'eino yachol l'hakeas ela tamid rak miskarev od v'od. ובהיותו כך, מורה הלשון בא אל פרעה U've'yot u've'akein moreh halashon bo el Paroh, says Rav Druk, that's why it's בא bo. We always ask, \"Ah, it should be לך lech, why is it בא bo?\" Everyone gives the ווארט vort, because השם Hashem says I'm going with you. But he says it's not because השם Hashem's going with you. You can't say לך lech by הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You can never leave him behind. Wherever we go, whatever we're doing, whatever we have to overcome, whatever we have to navigate in our lives, he is by our side, he is with us by definition. By definition. So all there is, the only thing we can say is, is בא bo. Continuing right along. למען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים L'ma'an t'saper b'oznei vincha u'ven bincha es asher hisalalti b'Mitzrayim. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \"So that you may relate in the ears of your son, your son's son, that I made a joke of מצרים Mitzrayim, my signs that I placed among them, that you may know that I am השם Hashem.\" For whom are the מכות makkos? We make the mistake of thinking the מכות makkos were directed at the מצרים Mitzrim, the Egyptians. We make a mistake of thinking it's a פאַטש אין פּנים patch and ponem to פרעה Paroh. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is giving a smack to פרעה Paroh. \"You don't know who I am?\" משה Moshe says, \"I'd like to introduce you. Here's the card, here's who I represent. I'm here on behalf of the Almighty God.\" And פרעה Paroh says, \"לא ידעתי Lo yadati, I don't know such a God. I don't know such a God.\" So the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam says, \"Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. דם, צפרדע, כינים, ערוב, דבר, שחין Dam, tzefardeya, kinim, arov, dever, shechin. שלום עליכם Shalom aleichem, nice to meet you.\" And the מפרשים meforshim explain how that's what רבי יהודה Rabi Yehuda was saying, דצ\"ך עד\"ש באח\"ב detzach adash b'achav. They were three parts to the curriculum. Three parts to the curriculum, פרעה Paroh in three ways, \"I never heard of you, and even if you exist, do you have anything to do with me?\" So there were three ways that פרעה Paroh rejected the notion of God, and God responds with a three-part curriculum. But here in this פסוק pasuk, השם Hashem is revealing why is he hardening פרעה Paroh's heart? And why is he performing these miracles, intervening and interceding in nature, something השם Hashem does not like to do. Why is he doing it? For whom? To whom is it directed? תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך T'saper b'oznei vincha u'ven bincha, it's for us to never doubt, to always look back that when we're going through a war in תשפ\"ד Taf Shin Pey Daled, we know whatever גלות galus, whatever harshness, wherever we find ourselves, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu can make miracles. He can intervene and intercede, he could bring us out כהרף עין k'heref ayin. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the source. And you'll say, \"Well, who says? Maybe he created a world and he moved on. Maybe it's all over.\" The answer is, look at מצרים Mitzrayim. יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim permeates our תפילה tefillah, our שבת Shabbos, our קידוש Kiddush, קריאת שמע Krias Shema, every morning, every night. We're constantly tapping in, we're constantly turning back, we're constantly reminding ourselves of what happened in the Exodus. Why? Is השם Hashem so egomaniac, egotistical, he needs us to review over and over and over again how great he is, how great what he did is? No. He wants to reassure us that whatever we are going through, just as he redeemed then, he can redeem now. That's the פשט pshat in being סומך גאולה לתפילה somech geulah l'tefillah. Spoke about this in סידור siddur snippets, but we're already now finishing תקע בשופר Teka b'shofar. But when you finish גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael, the גמרא Gemara makes a promise. Whoever סומך גאולה לתפילה somech geulah l'tefillah, if you simply recite גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael and immediately, adjacently go right into the עמידה Amidah, don't be distracted, don't look around, don't read Lord Jonathan Sacks's פרשה parsha sheet, don't talk to the guy who just walked into שול shul late, don't set up the קידוש kiddush. גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael, you know what you merit? You merit the world to come, גן עדן Gan Eden. And the מפרשים meforshim, רב וואלבע Rav Volbe wonders, \"Really? Because you just went from גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael into the עמידה Amidah with no interruption, no matter what else you did in this world, you merit?\" So he says, \"You know what the פשט pshat is? To be מסמיך masmich, to be סומך גאולה לתפילה somech geulah l'tefillah means, you start the עמידה Amidah and you say to yourself, 'אתה חונן לאדם דעת Atah chonen l'adam daas,' but who says? 'Can you really make me wise and smart? Are you really going to give make me heal and recover or give a full recovery to the person I love who's going through an illness? Are you really the one who could bring redemption of ראה בענינו Re'eh v'onyeinu? Are you going to gather the exiles? Are you going to bring justice? Are you going to…' all the עמידה Amidah. 'Why am I wasting my time? Why am I saying this? Who says he's interested? Who says he's involved? Who says he's aware? Who says he cares? Who says he intervenes?' You know what the answer is? היה סומך גאולה לתפילה Be somech geulah l'tefillah. Remember and recall the past גאולה geulah, גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael, right before you say the עמידה Amidah. If someone ever once did you a favor, then when you go in to ask them for the next favor, you find the courage and you find the will and you find the words because you say, 'You know, last time I had a problem, I called them, and they took care of me, and I'm sure they can and they will do it again.' And that's why we're סומך גאולה לתפילה somech geulah l'tefillah, because we maintain that theme, we remember that. And that's what this פסוק pasuk is telling us. Tell your children, tell your grandchildren, the mockery I made of מצרים Mitzrayim, whatever מצרים Mitzrayim, whatever מיצר meitzar, whatever constricted, restricted place when you feel the walls are closing in, the ceiling is caving in, when you feel the the sky is falling on you, your מצרים Mitzrayim and a מיצר קראתי יה meitzar karasi ka, your מצרים Mitzrayim, היה סומך גאולה לתפילה be somech geulah l'tefillah. Remember גאל ישראל Ga'al Yisrael then because I can be גואל ישראל Goel Yisrael today. I can be גואל ישראל Goel Yisrael today. A little preview of tonight's סידור siddur snippet. מקבץ נדחי עמו ישראל Mekabeitz nidchei amo Yisrael. מקבץ Mekabeitz is in הווה hoveh. It's in the present tense. Why don't we say in the future, 'You will'? It's hopeful. It's aspirational, 'You will.' So רב שוואב Rav Schwab, preview for tonight's סידור siddur snippet. רב שוואב Rav Schwab says it's in לשון הווה lashon hoveh, השם Hashem is constantly redeeming and bringing redemption. It happens in stages and increments, the ד' אמות של גאולה daled avos shiyrus of geulah. So, to whom and for whom is it directed? It's for us. Yes, פרעה Paroh and מצרים Mitzrim, yes, the whole world got a curriculum. They got an education. But you know who needs that education most importantly? We do. We need to wake up every day and know he is involved in our lives. He didn't create and move on. He is intimately involved. And that's why the כוזרי Kuzari quotes the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra's question and the כוזרי Kuzari answers. Why does השם Hashem introduce himself with the עשרת הדברות aseres hadibros, \"I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt,\" not the most impressive thing on his resume. Everyone knows the interview, start with the most impressive thing on your resume. Meet the שדכן shadchan, start with the most impressive thing on your שידוך shidduch resume. Everyone knows you start with the most impressive thing. Why does he go to number two, \"I took them out of Egypt\"? Big deal, you created the whole world. Start with the fact that you created the whole world. The כוזרי Kuzari says, \"You know why? First of all, no one was there to see that. But our ancestors experienced מצרים Mitzrayim and they told us, they told their children, who told their children, who told their children, who told their children, who are our parents and who told us. It was handed and transmitted to us person after person. But moreover, says the כוזרי Kuzari, you know why? Because maybe you created the world, impressive, ex nihilo, something from nothing, יש מאין yesh me'ayin, incredible. Can never be duplicated, replicated. You created something from nothing. But who says you didn't do that and then move on to another project? Who says you didn't do that and then retire? How do we know you're still involved? יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim. And the purpose of the עשרת הדברות aseres hadibros, the purpose of our relationship with you is not to be impressed, not to be overwhelmed, not to be intimidated, but to be supported and loved, to know that you have our back, to know that you're involved in our lives. That's why all these מכות makkos, that's why everything that he did. Skip to פסוק ז' pasuk zayin. פסוק ז' Pasuk zayin. ויאמרו עבדי פרעה אליו עד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש Vayomer avdei Paroh eilav, ad mosai yihyeh zeh lanu l'mokeish. We're now in the eighth plague, the plague of locusts, the plague of ארבה arbeh. And the servants of פרעה Paroh turn to פרעה Paroh right now. This question never bothered me before. I said we read the same פרשה parsha every year, but you discover new questions, new answers, new insights. It's amazing. It's amazing. So the slaves of פרעה Paroh turn to him and they say, \"נו Nu, גענוג שיין genug shein.\" They spoke Yiddish. They said, \"Enough, enough. How long are you going to let this go on? שלח את האנשים ויעבדו את השם אלהיהם Shalach es ha'anashim v'ya'avdu es Hashem Elokeihem. Send them out, let them go, let them go worship.\" Your stubbornness, your obstinacy, your ego, your arrogance, you're bringing plagues literally upon our heads. It's enough. This is number eight. How many times? How many? Hurricanes and tsunamis and tornadoes and snowstorms and disasters, enough, enough. הטרם תדע כי אבדה מצרים Ha'terem teida ki avdah Mitzrayim? Do you not yet know that מצרים Mitzrayim is lost? You can't hold on, it can't stay the same. Enough, enough. And wonder is Rav Druk for as רש\"י Rashi says, \"הטרם תדע Ha'terem teida? העוד לא ידעת כי אבדה מצרים Ha'od lo yadata ki avdah Mitzrayim?\" Do you not yet know? Do you not see the writing on the wall? Can you not read the room? Have you not read what the what the pundits are saying? You've lost it. You've lost, it's over. It's over. So why are you clinging in such a way that the next plague is being brought upon us? It's cruel. Enough. יש כאן שאלה גדולה Yeish kan she'eilah gedolah. Asks Rav Druk in his להבות אש l'havos eish, there's a big question. What's the question? We read this פרשה parsha every year, and we sing and count the מכות makkos at the סדר Seder every year. Did it ever occur to you? Are they out of their minds? Who are they to storm into פרעה Paroh and to talk to him with such a חוצפה chutzpah? Such a brazenness? כיצד העיזו עבדי פרעה להחיץ פנים כל כך כלפי פרעה, להוכיח אותו ולהטיף לו מוסר Keitzad he'izu avdei Paroh l'hachitz panim kol kein klalei Paroh l'hochiyach oso u'l'hatif lo musar. Where you're contradicting פרעה Paroh, you're giving him מוסר musar? Even when you want to advise the president, the prime minister, the king, gently, softly, \"Have you considered? Have you thought about?\" Put in the briefing booklet. But you yell at him, and you put a finger in his face and you say, \"Do you know what you're doing to us? It's enough, it's over. Let it go.\" עד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש Ad mosai yihyeh zeh lanu l'mokeish? Yeish lahem ביקורת על מדיניותו bikores al mediniyuso, they're questioning his judgment, his decision-making. They're demanding, \"שלח את האנשים Shalach es ha'anashim,\" send them out. They're declaring, they're declaring, \"כי אבדה מצרים Ki avdah Mitzrayim,\" you've lost מצרים Mitzrayim. It's the חוצפה chutzpah, the brazenness. Where'd they get that from? Where'd they get that from? לא כל כך שמנו לב על זה, אבל צריכים להבין שבמושגים של הזמן ההוא, כלפי מלך שהיה אז, האמירה בסגנון הזה תמוהה ביותר ואין לה מקום כלל Lo kol kach samnu lev al zeh, aval tzrichim l'havin sh'b'musagim shel ha'zman ha'hu, klapai melech she'hayah so az, ha'amira b'signon ha'zeh, t'muha b'yoser v'ein lah makom klal. You have to understand that in that time, to speak to a king in that way, the king would declare off with your head. He'd simply kill you. So how could they talk to him in such חוצפה chutzpah? מי הוא זה איפוא שיעריב ורוחו בנפשו לדבר כך אל המלך Mi hu zeh eifo she'ya'ariv v'rucho b'nafsho l'daber kacha el ha'melech? כולם היו עבדיו Kulam hayu avadav, they're all his servants, they're all his slaves. Where do they where do they get this חוצפה chutzpah? Listen to what he says. Listen to what Rav Druk's insight. מבואר בזה יסוד עצום M'vuar b'zeh yesod atzum. It's an incredible, incredible principle here. כמה יש לסביבה השפעה על האדם Kamah yeish l'svivah hashpa'ah al ha'adam. You see the impact of our surroundings on us. Who we hang out with, to whom we expose ourselves, our environment, the culture, you see how quickly it impacts. לעתים אפילו אינו מרגיש באופן ישיר בכך שהוא הושפע על ידי אחרים L'itim afilu eino marchish b'ofen yashir b'kach she'hu hushpa al yedei acherim. Sometimes we're not even aware of it. We don't even see it or notice it. We can't even measure it. But it's contagious and through osmosis and through peer pressure and environment, a culture, it changes, it shapes, it molds. גם אם הוא מעריץ מישהו מסוים בהערצה אין סופית, ומפחד ממנו פחד מוות, מכל מקום, אם יראה אנשים אחרים מתייחסים אליו בזלזול, ובעין מורא, ממילא זה ישפיע גם עליו Gam im hu ma'aritz mishehu מסוים b'artzah ein sofit, u'mefached mimenu pachad maves, m'kol makom, im yireh anashim acherim misyachasim eilav b'zilzul, u've'ein moreh, m'meilah zeh yashpia gam alav. So what happens? Even if the culture until now was, everyone was afraid, they walked on eggshells, they dissented. But one person broke that barrier, one person pierced that ceiling, one person showed, you know, you could push back a little bit. You could show a little bit of חוצפה chutzpah. You can challenge and survive. כאשר ראו עבדי פרעה כיצד משה ואהרן מעיזים פנים אל פרעה ונותנים לו הוראות לשלח את ישראל Ka'asher ra'u avdei Paroh keitzad Moshe v'Aharon me'izin panim el Paroh v'nosnim lo horo'os l'shalach es Yisrael, מה ימלו בעונשים קשים Mah imlu b'onshim kashim. When they saw that משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon had no problem marching in the palace, had no problem pointing a finger in his face, had no problem demanding of פרעה Paroh, \"Let my people go!\" all of a sudden they said, \"Hmm.\" They didn't do it consciously. They didn't sit around and have a meeting and say, \"Well, I guess we're allowed to now talk that way. Update, we're allowed to talk that way.\" They just, you see the impact of peer pressure, you see the impact of a culture. ממילא זה גרם להם להעז ביחס אל המלך M'meilah zeh garam l'hem l'hiskarev b'yachas el ha'melech. What happened was there was a fear, there was a fire, and all of a sudden, they splashed cold water on it. משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon poured cold water on that fear and on that fire. They broke through that invisible wall, and now everyone could walk through it, including עבדי פרעה avdei Paroh, including his advisors. יסוד אמיתי זה Yesod amiti zeh, he says, Rav Druk, we find this concept elsewhere too. המן הרשע Haman harasha. המן הרשע Haman harasha had the whole world bowing down to him, everybody. A little preview, I know it's not ט\"ו בשבט Tu B'Shvat, a little preview to פורים Purim. זרש אשתו Zeresh ishto, מספר להם את פור או, ורוב בניו ואת כל העושר והכבוד אשר גדולו המלך על כל השרים misaper lahem es Pur oh, v'rov banav v'es kol ha'osher v'ha'kavod asher gedalo ha'melech al kol hasarim. המן Haman's got it all. המן Haman's got it all. He's elevated, he's distinguished, he's prominent, fame and fortune, power. וכל זה איננו שווה לי V'chol zeh einenu shoveh li. בכל עת אשר אני רואה את מרדכי היהודי יושב בשער המלך B'chol eis asher ani ro'eh es Mordechai haYehudi yoshev b'sha'ar ha'melech, but it's all not worth anything to me. As long as I see מרדכי Mordechai sitting there, and I walk by and he doesn't bow. I don't care that everyone else bows. I don't care that I have fame and fortune. I don't care that I'm the biggest influencer and I have all the power. But that one little Jew who I walk by and he won't look at me, he doesn't bow to me, he doesn't defer to me. So כל זה איננו שווה לי kol zeh einenu shoveh li. It all doesn't matter, it all doesn't mean anything to me because I don't have that. The קושיא גדולה kushya gedolah is, הרי לא היה אדם נכבד כמוהו בכל העולם כולו harei lo hayah adam nichbad kamoso b'chol ha'olam kulo. Nobody had the fame, nobody had the fortune, nobody had the influence, nobody had the power. And yet, he says, \"None of it's worth anything to me.\" He throws it all away? It clouds his whole judgment. This one little Jew, this old man who won't bow down, who cares? Who cares? So listen to what he says. And moreover, by the way, and so what does he do? They build the gallows and I'm going to hang המן Haman. I'm going to hang מרדכי Mordechai rather. And wonders Rav Druk, \"What do you have to make a special death, a special murder for for מרדכי Mordechai? You already have a plan to exterminate all the Jews, and מרדכי Mordechai is one of the Jews. So this lowly Jew is bothering you, when you exterminate all the rest of the Jews of שושן Shushan, there goes מרדכי Mordechai too. You need to separate him out and hang him on a gallow, hang him on a tree? Let him die with everybody else. Why do you have to waste your time, spend your time and your resources? Why do you have to come up with your whole plan just for him?\" And the answer is, he spells it out a lot longer, but I want to get further in the פרשה parsha. עיקר חששו של המן היה שכל ענין גדולתו ייהרס על ידי כך שיראו הכל את מרדכי Ikar chashasho shel Haman hayah shekol inyan gedulaso yihareis al yedei kein she'yiru ha'kol es Mordechai. Such a brilliant insight. You know what המן Haman was really worried about? Yes, I have it all. Yes, everyone else bows down. Yes, I have fame and fortune. But do you know how fragile that is? Do you know how much it could disappear at any moment? You know why? Because all it takes to turn everything is one person realizing, \"You know, that מרדכי Mordechai sits there and doesn't bow, why are we bowing? That מרדכי Mordechai doesn't get up, why do we get up? That מרדכי Mordechai doesn't submit and surrender, why do we have to surrender?\" And the presence of one person is the kryptonite that could bring it all down. And המן Haman understood, \"כל זה איננו שווה לי Kol zeh einenu shoveh li.\" It's not all of it's not worth something to me because it could all disappear at any moment. He is threatened by the presence even of the one, he has to be eliminated. He has to be eliminated. And where did המן Haman learn this יסוד yesod from? Because many years before, his ancestors, who were from whom does המן Haman descend? Same as חמאס Hamas, from עמלק Amalek. שהמן הוא מצאצאיו SheHaman hu mitzitzav, בא ונלחם עם בני ישראל בדרך בצאתם ממצרים ba v'nilcham im bnei Yisrael b'derech b'tzeisam m'Mitzrayim. עמלק Amalek come and they attack the Jewish people on our way out of מצרים Mitzrayim. We'll read it next week. The Torah tells us what's their reason, what's their rationale, what's their mission. Why do עמלק Amalek attack? אשר קרך בדרך Asher karcha ba'derech. זאגט רש\"י Zogter Rashi, אשר קרך בדרך asher karcha ba'derech. What's the טייטש taich? What's the translation of the word קרך karcha? לשון קור וחום Lashon kor v'chom. ציננך והפשירך מרתיחתך Sananan v'hafshircha mi'resichasecha. שהיה כל העולם יראים להלחם בכם She'hayah kol ha'olam y're'im l'hilachem bachem. We were on fire. When I was a kid there was a video game, and if you hit three shots in a row in the NBA video game, you were on fire. And then your your player became like bigger and there was like rings around them, they were on fire, they couldn't miss. None of you know what I'm talking about. They were on fire. On fire. כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael was on fire. There were just ten plagues and a splitting of a sea, all for them. They were untouchable. They were on fire. No one could go near them. No one could go near them. My parents described that after the Six-Day War, a Jew walked around and to every non-Jew, every Jew was 10 feet tall. The world was afraid of the Jewish people, what Israel accomplished in the six in the first six hours of the Six-Day War. There was a fear on fire, nobody dare, nobody dare. Antisemites went into hiding. Nobody dare. But what happens? The עמלקים Amaleks of this world come along, and you know what they do? They splash cold water on your fire. They attack. And when they attack, they open the door for everyone. It's exactly what we're seeing right now. Because it became in vogue and in fashion to be an anti-Semite. There were always anti-Semites the last 75 years too, but it wasn't it wasn't in vogue, it wasn't in fashion. You couldn't speak out, you couldn't pull up and cut somebody off and curse out their flag. But now, now that ceiling's been broken, that cold water's been splashed on our fire. It's what עמלק Amalek did, it's what המן Haman feared מרדכי Mordechai not bowing would do, it's what משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon accomplished that enabled and allowed the advisors, the עבדי פרעה avdei Paroh to turn to him and say, \"עד מתי יהיה לנו למוקש Ad mosai yihyeh lanu l'mokeish?\" demand, \"שלח את האנשים Shalach es ha'anashim,\" declare, \"כי אבדה מצרים Ki avdah Mitzrayim.\" Where did they get that brazenness? Where do they get that חוצפה chutzpah? The answer is because משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon spoke that way, so they did too. So there's a big יסוד yesod, a big יסוד yesod. Again, he has a long essay, he goes on a lot further. סוף דבר יש לומר, כי בעצם היסוד הזה כבר מונח בפרשתנו Sof davar yeish lomar, ki b'etzem ha'yesod ha'zeh kvar munach b'parshaseinu. שאוטונו של פרעה מצרים היה ללא עוררין She'otono shel Paroh Mitzrayim hayah l'lo orerim. הכל יראו ממנו יראה גדולה ופחדו ממנו Ha'kol yiru mimenu yirah gedolah u'fachdu mimenu. Nobody would dare challenge פרעה Paroh. פרעה Paroh was an emperor, he ruled with an iron fist. He could do whatever he wants. But when משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon came and they popped that balloon, they put a hole, when they opened that door, כאשר נכנסו ויצאו, הימום עליו ומכה ועוד מכה ka'asher nichnesu v'yatzu, hayam v'alav v'makah v'od makah, and they smacked him with one plague after another, all of a sudden everyone found their voice. And now they were able to push back. And there's a powerful message, a powerful message in this insight. פרק י', פסוק ט' Perek yud, pasuk tes. Turning the page, 342. Here you have this conversation now. פרעה Paroh is ready to send them out and he's ready to let them go, a brief sojourn. ויושב את משה ואת אהרן אל פרעה, ויאמר אליהם לכו ועבדו את השם אלהיכם V'yushav es Moshe v'es Aharon el Paroh, v'yomer aleihem l'chu v'ivdu es Hashem Elokeihem. So משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon were returned to פרעה Paroh, and he said to them, \"Go and serve your God.\" Frekt פרעה Paroh. פרעה Paroh asks them, \"מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim?\" נו Nu, who's going? Fine, fine, you're going to do an עבודה avodah. You have a ritual, you have a ceremony, you have a religious rite you need to perform. No problem. מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim? Give me the roster, give me the itinerary. I'm going to need passport numbers, the תעודת זהות tudat zehut, social security numbers. You're going, you're getting a little break. מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim? Who's going? And what does משה Moshe answer, peculiarly? ויאמר משה V'yomer Moshe, בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך, בבנינו ובבנותינו, בצאננו ובבקרנו, כי חג השם לנו b'na'areinu u'vizkeineinu neileich, b'vaneinu u'vivnoseinu, b'tzonenu u'vivkareinu, ki chag Hashem lanu. You know who's going? Our youngsters and our elders, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our cattle. You know why? It's a חג chag, it's a יום טוב yom tov. It's געשמאק geshmak. What kind of an answer is that to פרעה Paroh's question? What's going on over here in this conversation? What's going on over here in this in this conversation? So, we'll start with the אמרות טהורות Amros Tehoros. Rav Rachmiel Schreiber Rebbe. He quotes the דעת משה Das Moshe, לכו ועבדו את השם אלהיכם, מי ומי ההולכים? ויאמר משה, בנערינו ובזקנינו l'chu v'ivdu es Hashem Elokeihem, mi va'mi ha'holchim? V'yomer Moshe, b'na'areinu u'vizkeineinu. הנה פרעה שאל מי ומי ההולכים, וכונתו היה כפי שהוא שמע בדברי משה שכל העם ילכו לעבוד את השם Hinei Paroh sha'al mi va'mi ha'holchim, v'kavanaso hayah k'fi she'hu shama b'divrei Moshe she'kol ha'am yeilchu l'avod es Hashem. פרעה Paroh understood from משה Moshe everybody's going. ועל זה תמה ואמר מי ומי יש להם זכות ללכת ממצרים לעבוד את השם V'al zeh tamah v'amar mi u'mi yesh lahem zechus laleches m'Mitzrayim l'avod es Hashem. מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim meant, who's worthy? I know your people and they've been influenced by us. They're assimilated. They're in the מ\"ט שערי טומאה Mem Tet Shaarei Tumah. They're all such great צדיקים tzadikim, they're all going to the בית מדרש beis medrash? They're all going to שול shul? They're all going to פארברענגען farbrengen with Rav Weinberger? מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim, I know them. I've seen their לשון הרע lashon hara, I see the way they talk in דאווענען davening, I see the way they dress, I see where they go, I see how they fill out their taxes. I know them, they're not such great צדיקים tzadikim. I know them. I know, I have their browser history. I have their Netflix account access. I know. So מי ומי ההולכים mi va'mi ha'holchim, who's so holy that who's going out to do this thing you call עבודת השם avodas Hashem? Who are the עבדי השם avdei Hashem? Who are the big צדיקים tzadikim? מי ומי Mi va'mi? לצאת ממצרים צריך איזה זכות Latzes m'Mitzrayim tzarich eizeh zechus, because to get out of the muck, to get out of the misery, to get out of the impurity of מצרים Mitzrayim, you need זכות zechus. וגם שהיו צדיקים בבני ישראל, אך לא היו ביניהם גם אנשים שאומרים ללכת לעבוד את השם V'gam shehayu tzadikim b'Vnei Yisrael, ach lo hayu beineihem gam anashim she'omrim lalech l'avod es Hashem. True there were a few, so מי ומי mi va'mi? Who? Who are the ל\"ו lamed vav of this generation, asked פרעה Paroh? Who are the distinguished? Who are the מצויינים metzuyanim? Who are the excellent? Who are the righteous? מי ומי Mi va'mi, give me the list and I'll let them go. I know it's not more than that. על כן שאל פרעה ואמר מי ומי יזכה לצאת לעבוד את השם יתברך Al ken sha'al Paroh v'amar mi va'mi yizkeh latzeis l'avod es Hashem yisborach. ועל זה השיב משה V'al zeh heishiv Moshe, and you know what משה Moshe's answer was?בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך B'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu neileich. בין אלו הקרוים נערינו, שכבר הסכימו לעבוד את השם בנעוריהם, בין הנקראים זקנינו, אלו שרק עתה לעת זקנותם הסכימו לעבוד את השם, כולם יצאו ויכלו לעבוד את השם יתברך Bein eilu ha'kruyim na'areinu, she'kvar hiskimu l'avod es Hashem b'neurohem, bein ha'nikraim zekeineinu, eilu she'rak ata l'eis ziknasam hiskimu l'avod es Hashem, kulam yetzu v'yachlu l'avod es Hashem yisborach.Judaism doesn't see age. We're blind to age. We don't care about a person's age. Whether you've been righteous since your youth, whether you first discovered השם Hashem now, today, and you're turning over a new leaf this morning. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Turns משה Moshe to פרעה Paroh and he says, בנערינו ובזקנינו, בבנינו ובבנותינו b'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu, b'vaneinu u'v'vnoseinu. It doesn't matter. Men and women, young and old, whether they've always been righteous or whether just this moment they've decided they want to try to live a new life. Everybody in יידישקייט Yiddishkeit, we're all equal, we're all even. We're all one and the same. And all of us have a right, and all of us have access, and השם Hashem loves each and every one of us. We don't delegate our religious rights and ceremonies and rituals to clergy, to pastors, to priests, to rabbis, to others. מי ומי ההולכים Mi va'mi ha'holchim? Not just צדיקים וצדקניות tzadikim v'tzidkaniyos. וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים v'amech kulam tzadikim. Everybody's a big צדיק tzadik. Everybody's a big צדיק tzadik, from the קאַפּל kappel to their פיצעלעך fitzelach. Everybody, every ייד Yid's a big צדיק tzadik. Every ייד Yid's a big צדיק tzadik. Every ייד Yid's a big צדיק tzadik. That's what משה Moshe's telling פרעה Paroh. You know who all the, every ייד Yid's a big צדיק tzadik. בנערינו B'na'areinu. Some 80 and 90-year-olds have been a צדיק tzadik since they were 10. ובזקנינו U'v'zkeineinu, some 15-year-olds just decided at 15 to be a צדיק tzadik. First 14 years of their life, they were little צאצקעלעך tzatzkelech, now at 15 they're going to be a צדיק tzadik. בנערינו ובזקנינו B'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu doesn't mean young or old chronologically in age, it means stage and frame of mind. Some have always been a holy צדיק tzadik, and some just discovered that they too can be a צדיק tzadik. But you don't have to have a full long resume of צדקות tzidkus to be able to be an עבד השם eved Hashem. To be an עבד השם eved Hashem, בנערינו ובזקנינו b'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu. It doesn't matter whether you've always been or whether you're just starting to be now, all of us can be a big צדיק tzadik. That's what the דרך משיבקה Derech Meshivke says was the conversation between משה Moshe and פרעה Paroh.Back to our friend Rav Druck, שליט\"א Shlita. Rav Druck understands differently. יש כאן דיכוח בין משה ובין פרעה וצריך להבינו Yesh kan di'kuach bein Moshe u'vein Paroh v'tzarich l'havino. So there's a debate, a dialogue going on, you have to understand it. משה דורש בנערינו ובזקנינו, הוא מבקש שיחרור שכולם יצאו מן הכלל Moshe doresh b'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu, hu mevakesh shichrur she'kulam yetzu min ha'klal. He wants everyone out. Full emancipation. אילו פרעה נאות לשחרר רק את הגברים Ilu Paroh na'os l'shachrer rak es ha'gvarim. פרעה Paroh says not only the men. אך משה אינו מקבל זאת Ach Moshe eino mekabel zos. משה Moshe doesn't accept it. או כולם או כלום o kulam o klum. Either everyone or nobody. We're all going together. No way. ועלינו להבין מה יסוד הדין בדבריהם ביניהם V'aleinu l'havin mah yesod ha'din b'divreihem beineihem. What's going on in this conversation? הנראה בביאור הנידון, אם נדקדק בלשון דבריו של פרעה בכל הפרשה, נראה כי חוזר עניין העבודה Ha'nir'eh b'vei'ur ha'nidon, im nedakdek b'lashon divrav shel Paroh b'chol ha'parshah, nir'eh ki chozer inyan ha'avodah. If you think about this conversation with פרעה Paroh, you'll see the word that repeats itself over and over again is the word עבודה avodah. שאמרו לו עבדיו She'amru lo avadav, what did the servants and slaves just say a moment ago? I told you the last insight. They demanded with the חצפה chutzpah they learned they were allowed to have from משה ואהרן Moshe v'Aharon. משה ואהרן Moshe v'Aharon gave them license to speak that way to פרעה Paroh. And what did they say? שלח את האנשים ויעבדו את השם אלוקיהם Shalach es ha'anashim v'ya'avdu es Hashem Elokeihem. Send them out, ויעבדו את השם אלוקיהם v'ya'avdu es Hashem Elokeihem, and let them go worship their gods. Means, they understood what was the purpose and goal? ויעבדו V'ya'avdu. עבודה Avodah. פרעה Paroh himself says, לכו עבדו lechu ivdu. Go and worship, go and serve. לכו נא הגברים ועבדו את השם Lechu na ha'gvarim v'ivdu es Hashem. והנה שהטענה של פרעה מאחר והתכלית יציאתם אינה אלא בכדי לעבוד את השם להקריב לפניו קרבנות V'hineh she'ha'ta'anah shel Paroh mei'achar v'ha'tachlis yetziasam eina ela b'chdei l'avod es Hashem l'hakriv l'fanav korbanos. When we think of עבודה avodah, what is עבודה avodah? The עבודה avodah? קרבנות Korbanos. Sacrifices, ritual. So פרעה Paroh says, who does the ritual? Men. Clergy, priests, religious leaders. רק הגברים האלו עובדים, מקריבים קרבנות, לא הטף והנשים Rak ha'gvarim ha'eilu ovdim, makrivim korbanos, lo ha'taf v'ha'nashim. Not children, not women, not the simple people. אם כן מה לכם צורך בהם בשביל העבודה Im kein mah lachem tzorech bahem bishvil ha'avodah? So if the whole reason פרעה Paroh's willing to let them go is you've got some crazy religious practice, you want and you're after me for your religious freedom, fine. No problem. Take a day, go where you need to go, go do your religious thing, and then we'll resume, then come back. Who's going? משה Moshe says, who's going? We're all going. פרעה Paroh says, you're not all going. To do your religious thing, you only need the religious leaders. The priests, the clergy. And משה Moshe says no, that's not our religion. Our religion, בנערינו ובזקנינו, בבנינו ובבנותינו, בצוננו ובבקרנו b'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu, b'vaneinu u'v'vnoseinu, b'tzoneinu u'v'vkareinu. Our religion, young and old, boys and girls, men and women, everyone, everything. Why? כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. Our religion is not just עבודה avodah, bringing קרבנות korbanos, making sacrifices. Our עבודה avodah doesn't end at the door of the שול shul. When you're done דאווענען davening, the עבודה שבלב זו תפילה avodah she'b'leiv zu tefillah, the עבודה avodah in the heart, what we do today, we don't have a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, we don't have קרבנות korbanos. What is our עבודה avodah today? Our עבודה avodah today is תפילה tefillah, is דאווענען davening. So you don't leave השם Hashem behind. כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. It's a געשמאק geshmak to be a ייד Yid. השם Hashem comes with us, to the mall, and to work, to the gym, and to the supermarket. He comes with us back into our house, to the kitchen and the living room. He comes with us everywhere. כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. Because to be a ייד Yid, it's a געשמאק geshmak to be a ייד Yid. It's a געוואלדיק gevaldik, it's a יום טוב yom tov. All of life in every day is one big... it's one big party with השם Hashem. It's one big party. And therefore, unlike other religions, you think this was just ancient? Even today, other religions, they have priests and pastors and clergy, and the religious and the righteous life is for them. They practice celibacy, they practice abstinence, they have to practice rituals, they have to show up regularly. And the simple person in other religions comes once a year, comes once a week, nothing really asked or demanded of them. They can have concessions to give in and indulge their human desires. That's not our religion. I'll tell you a little secret. I'll tell you a little secret. The rabbi, this one or any other, the גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael of any generation, the מועצת Moetzes, they don't have a different שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch than you. They're no more bound by הלכה halacha than you. They have no greater obligation, they have no different religious practices, they don't have different הלכות halachos. We're all the same. We're all exactly the same.בנערינו ובזקנינו, בבנינו ובבנותינו, בצוננו ובבקרנו, כי חג השם לנו B'na'areinu u'v'zkeineinu, b'vaneinu u'v'vnoseinu, b'tzoneinu u'v'vkareinu, ki chag Hashem lanu. כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. That's what it's all, that's what it's all about. And that's what's going on in this conversation. That's what's going on in this dialogue. פרעה Paroh, like every other religion says, you need the clergy, you need the priests. But משה Moshe is responding, that's not what יידישקייט Yiddishkeit's going to be. And and sadly, even within יידישקייט Yiddishkeit too many have made it that. Oh the rabbi is the one who have to raise their children a certain way. They have to dress or be careful where they go or what they do or what they watch. They're the ones who have to show up to שול shul on time and not talk and make it till the end before they take off their תפילין tefillin. Oh it's for the rabbis. The rebbetzin, the rebbetzin has to and her children have to. But we... that's not our religion. כי חג השם לנו Ki chag Hashem lanu. It's not some religious ritual or service, it's not some burden, it's not some... it's a חג chag, it's געשמאק geshmak, it's amazing. And therefore it is inviting and open to all.Moving along. Turn the פרק perek. פרק י\"א פסוק ב' Perek Yud Aleph, Pasuk Beis. Page 346. The warning of the final plague. ויאמר השם אל משה עוד נגע אחד אביא על פרעה ועל מצרים אחרי כן ישלח אתכם מזה כשַׁלְּחוֹ כָּלָה, גָּרֵשׁ יְגָרֵשׁ אֶתְכֶם מִזֶּה. Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, od nega echad avi al Paroh v'al Mitzrayim, acharei chein yishalach eschem mizeh, k'shalcho kalah, gareish yegareish eschem mizeh. השם Hashem says to משה Moshe, one more plague I'm going to bring upon פרעה Paroh and Egypt. A whopper. We saved the best for last. Number 10. Number 10, we've built up to the 10th. And after that he's going to send you out. And when he sends you forth, it shall be complete. He will drive you out of here. He will drive you out of here. By the way, what does משה Moshe keep saying to פרעה Paroh? Let my people go. משה Moshe doesn't chant 'bring them home'. He says, let them go. The hostages, the chant is not 'bring them home' because as if there's someone not doesn't want to bring them home? The government, the IDF, anyone. We all want to bring them home and if we had that option, we would. The burden and the pressure should not be on the Israeli government or on us, 'bring them home'. The chant has to be, let my people go, let my people go, let my people go. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am. And now we have a little interruption to our story. Before that 10th plague is visited, before משה Moshe for the final time will say, let my people go, השם Hashem tells him דבר נא באזני העם daber na b'oznei ha'am, speak in the ears of the people, וישאלו איש מאת רעהו ואישה מאת רעותה v'yish'alu ish mei'eis re'eihu v'isha mei'eis re'usah, they need to borrow from their רעה re'ah, כלי כסף וכלי זהב klei chesef u'chlei zahav. Silver vessels and gold vessels. Speak in their ear and they need to and they need to borrow. We're not going to repeat the דבר תורה dvar Torah we've shared so many times that I love from the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. אין רעך Ein re'echa... who's רעך re'echa? You're going to call the Egyptian that you're going to, first of all, you're not borrowing, you're taking it. Number two, the Egyptian all of a sudden became your רעה re'ah, your friend? Not פרעה Paroh nor the Egyptians. The Nazis, of course, were the primary actors of the Holocaust, but too many of the Polish were happy to be their accomplices. חמאס Chamas with the primary evil wicked ימח שמם וזכרם yimach shmam v'zichram terrorists who perpetrated and are perpetrating this war, and too many of the Gazans are their accomplices. So that's רעך re'echa? Go borrow מאת רעהו מאת רעותה mei'eis re'eihu mei'eis re'usah? That's רעך re'echa?So the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim had a whole new reading of this פסוק pasuk that in fact it's not talking about the מצרים Mitzrim whatsoever. This was an instruction to the Jews, lend and borrow from one another before you can go out, you need to first practice חסד chesed. You need to learn and practice חסד chesed. You have so little, but what you do have you could lend and you can borrow and you can set up גמ\"חים gemachim. You need to create the גמ\"ח gemach of מצרים Mitzrayim. And only after you establish a גמ\"ח gemach of מצרים Mitzrayim, can you merit to go. And that's the פשט pshat, נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת nachisa b'chasdecha am zu ga'alta. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu only takes us out, we say it every day in אז ישיר Az Yashir. Says the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת nachisa b'chasdecha am zu ga'alta, only when we first practice חסד chesed was he willing to take us out. But that's the דבר תורה dvar Torah I'm not telling you this year. That's the one I'm not telling you this year even though I love it. Let's go back to the classic and simple understanding of this פסוק pasuk. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am, that השם Hashem is talking to, telling משה Moshe to talk to בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. וישאלו V'yish'alu, they should... רש\"י Rashi says the word שאלה she'eilah can mean to borrow or to take. So it shouldn't bother us that it means borrow. Elsewhere in תנ\"ך Tanach, sometimes that same word doesn't mean to borrow, it means to take. And here it means to take. Take from your מצרי Mitzri neighbor, כלי כסף וכלי זהב klei chesef u'chlei zahav. זכתי רש\"י בשם Zochti Rashi b'shem... So the... זכתי רחמי השם Zochti Rachmei Hashem from the עמרות טהרות Amaros Tehoros. דבר נא באזני העם Daber na b'oznei ha'am, the גמרא Gemara says אין נא אלא לשון בקשה ein na ela lashon bakasha. בבקשה מכם הזהירם על כך שלא יאמר אותו צדיק ועבדום ועינו אותם קיים בהם, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קיים בהם B'vakasha mikem hazhirem al kach shelo yomar oso tzadik, 'v'avadum v'inu osam' kayem bahem, 'v'acharei chein yetzu b'rchush gadol' lo kayem bahem. The מדרש Medrash, גמרא ברכות דף ט' Gemara Brachos Daf Tes tells us, אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu had a discussion with השם Hashem. The ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein ha'besarim, השם Hashem told אברהם Avraham your children are going to be slaves in מצרים Mitzrayim for how many years? 400 years. Again, a סידור siddur tip that we spoke about. רכוש גדול R'chush gadol we say, 'v'saneis l'kabeitz', we use the word מהרה meheira, נוסח ספרד nusach Sefard, not אשכנז Ashkenaz, מהרה meheira, quickly because it was accelerated, was accelerated. That's why קדמה ואזלה kadma v'azla under, under ויאמרו חיים Vayomru Chayim, קדמה ואזלה kadma v'azla because it went faster. רביעי M'nach revi'i, we're suffering now through in the fourth exile. It was added, those years were tacked on, we're suffering through it. But in any case, in any case, 400 years השם Hashem tells אברהם Avraham in the ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein ha'besarim, 400 years they're going to be slaves and what will happen when they leave? ויצאו V'yetzu, they're going to leave with רכוש גדול r'chush gadol, with great wealth. Wah! They're going to leave with great wealth. So, the גמרא Gemara tells us why now does השם Hashem say, משה Moshe tell them, go collect the wealth? Because I don't want אברהם Avraham or his children to have a טענה taina on me. You fulfilled the part of backbreaking labor, you fulfilled the part of centuries of slavery, but the part of leaving with great wealth you forgot, you left out. So to fulfill it, go take gold and silver from your neighbors, grab it on your way out. How did הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu keep up the promised he made? If then, why does he say it so that he shouldn't say... The only reason השם Hashem fulfilled his pledge, his promise was so that אברהם Avraham can't have a טענה taina later? It's a funny גמרא Gemara. ברכות דף ט' Brachos Daf Tes. השם Hashem says, oh yeah, you know what, I knew... I had that reminder set. Before you leave, everyone take gold and silver, and why? So that אברהם Avraham can't have a טענה taina that I told him you're going to be slaves, but you're also going to leave with great wealth. I got to make sure to fulfill the second half of leaving with great wealth. That's the only reason that he fulfills his word, otherwise he wouldn't have fulfilled his word, that's the only reason? אזוי פרעגט די עמרות טהרות Azoy fregt di Amaros Tehoros, the רחמי השם Rachmei Hashem Rebbe. ומבאר דבאמת כשפטך הקדוש ברוך הוא לאברהם אבינו ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול U'meva'er d'be'emes k'she'hiftiach HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'Avraham Avinu 'v'acharei chein yetzu b'rchush gadol', ודאי הבין אברהם אבינו שהכוונה על אסיפת הניצוצות הקדושים ממצרים ולקבלת התורה vadai hevin Avraham Avinu she'hakavana al asifas ha'nitzotzos ha'kedoshim m'Mitzrayim u'l'kabbalas haTorah. Because when השם Hashem told אברהם Avraham you're going to leave with רכוש גדול r'chush gadol, he wasn't talking about gold and silver. You know what he was talking about? The greatest wealth that we can have is not what's in our bank account, it's not what we can deposit in a safe. That's not the great wealth that השם Hashem was promising. You know what he was promising was the אסיפת ניצוצות הקדושים ממצרים וקבלת התורה asifas nitzotzos ha'kedoshim m'Mitzrayim v'kabbalas haTorah, to collect the holy sparks, to collect the holy energies, to collect the holy מצוות mitzvos, to collect the holy חסד chesed, to collect the holy children. אזוי זאָגט דער ראשון בשם Azoy zogt der Rishon b'shem... that for silver and gold, ודאי לא היה שום חשיבות אצל אברהם אבינו vadai lo haya shum chashivus eitzel Avraham Avinu. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu could care less about stock market and real estate, about the cars, and about the gold and silver bars. It's not what he cared about. הרי כל ממונו נתן לכבוד השם יתברך Harei kol mamono nasan l'chvod Hashem yisborach, because whatever he had, great or small, was all devoted and dedicated to the service of השם Hashem. וְאִי יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ מָסַר לַעֲקֵידָה לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת הַשֵׁם v'i Yitzchak b'no masar la'akeidah l'kayem mitzvas Hashem. If he was willing to sacrifice his son, certainly he was willing to sacrifice his gold and silver. אם כן מה יחשב אצלו רכוש כסף וזהב Im kein mah yechashev eitzlo r'chush kesef v'zahav. אלא ודאי משמעות רכוש גדול לאסיפת הניצוצות והמעמד קבלת התורה Ela vadai mashma'us r'chush gadol l'asifas ha'nitzotzos v'ha'ma'amad kabbalas haTorah. It was the collection of the חסד chesed, of the מצוות mitzvos, of putting the דם dam on the doorpost, which we're going to get to momentarily. That's what the רכוש גדול r'chush gadol, the great wealth a person has. I forgot where I said this recently, which שיעור shiur. Incredible מלבי\"ם Malbim. It's definitely סמיכת חברים smichas chaverim, did I say it somewhere else? כי לא במותו יקח הכל, לא ירד אחריו כבודו Ki lo b'moso yikach ha'kol, lo yeireid acharav k'vodo. The פסוק pasuk in תהילים Tehillim, it's a beautiful song we sing, is that you can't take it all with you. There's never a U-Haul attached to the back of a hearse. The תכריכים tachrichim don't come with packets. Because you can't take any of it with you. Can't take any of it with you. I don't care how many cars, how many watches, how much gold, how much silver, how much jewelry, doesn't matter how big your portfolio or what appears in your bank account, you can't take any of it with you. So why does the פסוק pasuk say, why did דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech sing, כי לא במותו יקח הכל ki lo b'moso yikach ha'kol? He should have said, it's not that in death you can't take it all, in death you can't take anything. So why does he say you can't take it all? Says the מלבי\"ם Malbim, because you can take some things. Ah. What can you take? We can slip something into the ארון aron. You're going to put something into the coffin? You can still take something with you? No. You can't take anything physical, but you can take all that you collected spiritually, the ניצוצות nitzotzos, you can take. The מצוות mitzvos and the מעשים טובים ma'asim tovim you can take. And I told the story, I'll repeat it quickly here, that Rothschild was once was once asked by someone, what's your net worth? It's a rude question, I don't think you're supposed to ask it. But what's... he couldn't Google it at the time. Today you just Google it, you wouldn't ask the person directly. But what's your net worth? What are you worth? So he told his secretary, his assistant, bring me my charity ledger, bring me my צדקה tzedakah book. And he said, well, you know, I named this building, I set up this כולל kolel, I gave to this מקוה mikvah, I donated to the soldiers in the army in Israel... So they... I know it was before Israel, I understand. So the man said, I asked you your net worth, not not what you gave away, I asked you what you're worth. And listen to what Rothschild answered. He said, you know, what I have could disappear any moment. The stock market could crash, the real estate market could implode, what I have could be stolen, could disappear, the banks could go under. What I have, I don't really own, it could disappear. But what I gave away, no one can ever take from me. All that we ironically, paradoxically ever ever have is what we gave away. What we hold on to, we don't really have and certainly we won't have forever. But what we gave away, no one can take from us. That's what we'll always have, and that's what comes with us in the next world. And therefore our new campus expansion... Sorry, I got distracted for a moment. And therefore, if anyone would like to talk about being able to take it to the next world and therefore giving it to us, I'd be more than happy to entertain that conversation. But that's what דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech was saying, כי לא במותו יקח הכל ki lo b'moso yikach ha'kol. What you have, you can't take with you. But what you gave away, you can. What you gave away is exactly what you take with you. So don't hold on so it's so tight. Don't hold on to it so tight. The tighter you hold on to something, the less you own it. And the less, the lighter you hold on to it, the more willing and eager you are to give, the more that you really ever have. נֶבֶּך nebach on the people who cling so tight. נֶבֶּך nebach on them. נֶבֶּך nebach because they think they're holding on, they think they really have it. All that you really have is what you gave away. So that's the רכוש גדול r'chush gadol. When השם Hashem was telling אברהם Avraham, the great wealth is the ניצוצות nitzotzos, the חסדים chasadim, the מעשים טובים ma'asim tovim, קבלת התורה kabbalas haTorah. However בני ישראל לא הבינו זה Bnei Yisrael lo he'vinu zeh. But בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael didn't understand that. After all, they were still on this lowly level, this slave mentality. They thought רכוש גדול r'chush gadol was פשוטו כמשמעו p'shuto k'mashmao. They thought רכוש גדול r'chush gadol was the powerball. They thought רכוש גדול r'chush gadol was the lottery. They thought רכוש גדול r'chush gadol was gold and silver. So הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu had to say, בבקשה מכם נא, אין נא אלא לשון בקשה b'vakasha mikem na, ein na ela lashon bakasha. בבקשה דבר אל בני ישראל B'vakasha daber el Bnei Yisrael. And you know, שלא יאמר אותו צדיק ועבדום ועינו אותם קיים she'lo yomar oso tzadik, 'v'avadum v'inu osam' kayem. That he fulfilled, קיים kayem, he fulfilled. יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קיים 'yetzu b'rchush gadol' lo kayem. So therefore, from the perspective of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, not because הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu would ever himself going to renege on it.רב קוק Rav Kook has a different insight. Says רב קוק Rav Kook. רב קוק Rav Kook has a different insight. My friend, Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider, in his beautiful new book Torah United, brings down this רב קוק Rav Kook. What's the פשט pshat? So one approach is רבנו חננאל והחזקוני Rabbeinu Chananel v'ha'Chizkuni, that this constituted reparations. First example of reparations in the תורה Torah. Is, were they stealing when they said, can we borrow some gold and silver? It was reparations. 210 years of unpaid slavery, this was time to pay up. Compensation, reparations, according to רבנו חננאל והחזקוני Rabbeinu Chananel v'ha'Chizkuni. Centuries of forced labor, it was reparations. We all know the debate between Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, should we allow Germany to pay reparations after the Holocaust? Ben-Gurion said we are a brand new country, we have no resources, we have nothing, we're not in a position to say no. It doesn't mean they're exonerated or forgiven, let them at least give us buses and taxis. Yes. Menachem Begin said absolutely not, and he gave a fiery speech in the כנסת Knesset and he said don't let them feel that they've cleaned their... absolved of their guilt because they wrote a check for our buses and our cabs and our taxis. It didn't go Begin's way. Of course you see the Mercedes all over Israel, and Germany paid reparations. It was a great debate. But here רבנו חננאל והחזקוני Rabbeinu Chananel v'ha'Chizkuni say, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu voted in this case, and he פסק'ן paskened, reparations. וישאלו V'yish'alu, go borrow one from the other. It was an object lesson in justice. In the fullness of time, השם Hashem punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. It further reinforced the theological lessons of the מכות makos, that השם Hashem's invisible hand moving around wealth as he saw fit. And that's what השם Hashem does. Ultimately, it's a... it's a גלגל galgal, it's a cycle, economic cycle. One on top today is on the bottom tomorrow. השם Hashem moves around that wealth. He moves around that wealth. That's why the wealth... money is called... it moves. It moves. The זוזים zuzim or זוז zaz. The Hebrew word for money is זוז zuz because it זוז zaz. A currency, not only because the currency moves because that same dollar moves throughout circulation, but it means wealth transfers hands. But still, even if that were the reason reparations, you know how many times the תורה Torah mentions this? No less than four times. Four times that השם Hashem to tell us.So רב קוק Rav Kook suggests a different approach based on a גמרא Gemara. The גמרא Gemara tells us the following, ברכות דף ט' Brachos Daf Tes. השם Hashem asked the Jewish people for a favor, please ask Egypt for gold and silver so אברהם Avraham will not have this claim, the גמרא Gemara we just learned. What is so significant about this aspect of השם Hashem's promise to אברהם Avraham that he was concerned that he would complain and why was this phrased as a request? So רב קוק Rav Kook answers in a commentary he wrote, עיקר הכוונה העליונה Ikar ha'kavana ha'elyona. It appears in his עין איה Ein Ayah. רב קוק Rav Kook wrote a commentary on some of the Agadic sections of ש\"ס Shas, ברכות Brachos, שבת Shabbos, and others. And this appears in the עין איה Ein Ayah on ברכות Brachos. עיקר הכוונה העליונה של יציאה ברכוש גדול היה שצריך כדי לרומם את רוח העם שניצל בשפל מצב העבדות שנים רבות. בטבע אדם השפל אינו מבקש גדולות. על כן רואי להרגל נפשו בבקשות גדולות, כדי שיבוא מזה גם כן לשאוף לגדולות במעלות הנפשות והמידות העליונות. Ikar ha'kavana ha'elyona shel yetziah b'rchush gadol haya she'tzarich k'dei l'romem es ruach ha'am she'nitzal b'shefel matzav ha'avdus shanim rabos. B'teva adam ha'shafel eino mevakesh gedolos. Al ken ra'ui l'hargel nafsho b'vakashos gedolos, k'dei she'yavo mizeh gam kein lish'of l'gedolos b'ma'alos ha'nefashos v'ha'midos ha'elyonos. I'll tell you in English. Slavery, says רב קוק Rav Kook, crushes the body. We know that. They couldn't hear משה Moshe מִקֹּצֶר רוּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה m'kotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kashah. Back-breaking labor as its name suggests, breaks one's back. It's physically grueling and crushing, but it only doesn't only crush the body, it also crushes the spirit, the soul. And after 210 years of grueling, relentless laboring for others, Jewish slaves needed to begin thinking of themselves as masters of their own destiny. They needed to break out of that slave mentality. In the early stages of the redemption, תורה Torah tells us that the Israelites had difficulty accepting משה's Moshe's message of hope, why? Because the smallness, קוצר רוח kotzer ruach, of their spirit. It was necessary to make something unimaginable very real in order to break them out of their small-mindedness, to expand their focus beyond the day's toil and gruel. The sudden acquisition of precious metals would serve to awaken their sense of self-worth, to bolster their ambition. Bedecked in gold and silver, their spirits could not help but be raised. השם Hashem phrased this as a request to demonstrate to them this wealth was the means and not the end. Enriching the people allowed them to broaden their horizons enough to bring spiritual greatness into their field of view. You slave mentality, who dressed and looked and surrendered like slaves, put on this gold and jewelry and see yourselves as princes and princesses. Have ambition and goals and drives. See yourselves as royalty and carry yourselves as royalty. So that's why four times this is mentioned, not just as reparations according to רב קוק Rav Kook, because הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu was trying to transform the mentality. If we see ourselves as victims, if we walk around in life as victims and martyrs, we'll never ever make a change. We'll never have ambition and aspiration. We'll simply be victims throughout our lives. Before we ever left מצרים Mitzrayim, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, here's a wardrobe, go get dressed. Because dress for the job that you want, not the job that you have. Have ambition, have aspiration, have goals, have vision. Don't see yourself as a victim. Don't be complacent or apathetic. Don't be a passive spectator to your own destiny. Put on this gold, put on this silver, put on this uniform, put on what you think right now for you is a costume, but let it ultimately be a precursor to who you're going to be. Broaden your horizon, have vision, be the arbiter of your own destiny, don't just be a victim, don't just be a victim.And that is why it's repeated four times, and that is why it was so critical, and that is why השם Hashem told משה Moshe, דבר נא daber na, please, this is so critical if you're going to break out of the slave mentality, this is what will be necessary. וְהָיָה הַדָּם V'hayah ha'dam, פרק י\"ב פסוק י\"ג Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Yud Gimmel. Moving along. הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם Hachodesh hazeh lachem, the first מצוה mitzvah in the תורה Torah is our ability to control time. A slave doesn't control their own time. To be a free person is to be in control of your own time. And if you live with Jewish time, i.e., you're late to everything, if you're not punctual, you are a slave. If you want to be free, then be in control of your own time. Be in control of your own time. That's why the first מצוה mitzvah in the תורה Torah, first thing a slave needs to hear is you're no longer controlled by others. If you feel I have no time, I'm not in control of time, I'm overwhelmed by time, then you are a slave. You're a slave to whatever it is that's controlling your time. Whatever makes you lazy or procrastinator or late, whatever is filling your time, which is not what you want it to be with, you have to practice greater essentialism in your life. To be free is to be in control of your own time. פרק י\"ב פסוק י\"ג Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Yud Gimmel, page 352. Before השם Hashem is willing to take them out, he gives them the challenge to tie up the animal to the bedpost, slaughter it, take the blood, sprinkle it on the doorpost. פרק י\"ב פסוק י\"ג Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Yud Gimmel. וְהָיָה הַדָּם לָכֶם לְאֹת עַל-הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם שָׁם V'hayah ha'dam lachem l'os al ha'batim asher atem sham, and the blood will be a sign on the homes that you're there, וְרָאִיתִי אֶת-הַדָּם וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם v'ra'isi es ha'dam u'fasachti aleichem, and I'll see the blood and, now the name of the holiday, פסחתי pasachti, I will skip over them, וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה בָכֶם נֶגֶף לְמַשְׁחִית בְּהַכֹּתִי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם v'lo yihyeh bachem negef l'mashchis b'hakosi b'eretz Mitzrayim, there will not be a plague of destruction upon you when I will strike in the land of Egypt.Says Rav Volbe. Says Rav Volbe in his שיעורי חומש Shiurei Chumash. Says Rav Volbe in his שיעורי חומש Shiurei Chumash. We'll end with two if we can quickly, Rav Volbe's. בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael are given two מצוות mitzvos to do before the redemption from מצרים Mitzrayim. ברית מילה Bris milah and קרבן פסח Korban Pesach. And in ברית מילה bris milah is sprinkled the blood. And the question is, and what's the reason? It's given by the תורה Torah itself, you don't have to... you don't have to guess. What's the reason? To identify the home. השם Hashem has to know which ones to skip over. And of course Rav Volbe is bothered the question that we all are, does השם Hashem really need a sign? Tie a ribbon around the tree? Put a note on the front door? Put a מזוזה mezuzah on the doorpost? Sprinkle some blood so he knows which house to skip over? He doesn't know? 10 plagues he could bring, but knowing which is a Jewish house, that he doesn't know? That he doesn't know? It's easy. The ones that have a minivan in the driveway. What do you have to sprinkle blood? Just check who has a minivan. Check who has a minivan or a Range Rover. So רש\"י Rashi citing חז\"ל Chazal explains, everything is revealed before השם Hashem, and yet השם Hashem said I'll put my eyes upon you, so says רש\"י Rashi, what's the רש\"י Rashi here? I'll only do it... רש\"י Rashi, וראיתי את הדם v'ra'isi es ha'dam. הכל גלוי לפניך hakol galui l'fanecha, הכל גלוי לפניו hakol galui l'fanav. אלא אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא נותן אני את עיני לראות שאתם עסוקים במצוותיי ופוסח אני עליכם ela amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu, nosen ani es einai lir'os she'atem asukim b'mitzvosai v'foseiach ani aleichem. What am I looking for? What am I looking for to see? Whether you do my מצוות mitzvos. I'm giving you one command, sprinkle blood. If you do it, I know it's the right house and I'll skip it. If you don't, it's not the right house, and then I'm not skipping it. Then you are going to get what the others are getting too. רואים כאן את עניין המצוות Ro'im kan es inyan ha'mitzvos, says Rav Volbe, you see in this רש\"י Rashi the whole idea of מצוות mitzvos. אילו היו אוכלים את הפסח בלא ציווי על כך, לא היו ניצולים Ilu hayu ochlim es ha'Pesach b'lo tzivui al kach, lo hayu nitzolim. אלא יצטרכו לעשות זאת דרך דילוג ופסיחה. אילו לא... Sorry I'm reading the wrong... wrong one. Reading the wrong one. What does he say? Says Rav Volbe. Says Rav Volbe, you see from here, חז\"ל Chazal are enlightening us to the spiritual mechanics of מצוות mitzvos. Had בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael not placed the door on their doorpost, they would have perished along with the Egyptians. Even though השם Hashem has no problem, he's omnipotent, he's infinite, he certainly knows which house is a Jewish house. The point of asking them to do it was not really so he would know. The point was for us to have skin in the game. Are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to compromise? Are we willing to make an effort? Are we willing to also add? Relationships have to be reciprocal. Don't sit back and wait for the other to do for you. What are we you willing to do? How do you demonstrate your love? How do you demonstrate your service, your acts of service? הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't need our מצוות mitzvos. It's not for him, but he wants us to see that we have skin in the game, that we're invested in the relationship, that we're willing to give, to go, to do, to sacrifice. Every מצווה mitzvah we perform and every ברכה bracha we recite brings ברכה bracha and bounty to the world. And before השם Hashem was willing to skip over the house, first he wanted to see us do a מצווה mitzvah. And the same is true with every מצווה mitzvah. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu has שפע ברכה shefa bracha. He has all kinds of ברכה bracha waiting to give to us, but first he gives a little look and he says, נו nu, are they doing מצוות mitzvos? Am I in this relationship one way? Because I don't want to be in a one-way relationship. All the expectations are on me? I got to do all the lifting in this relationship? Not interested. I'll be in a relationship if it's on both sides. I'll be on the relationship if it's two ways. How does השם Hashem know what our needs are, what our wants are? It's not hard, it's not a secret. We tell them all the time. We ask him, we protest, we object, we beg, we plead, we're angry. He knows what we want. How do we know what his needs are? It's also easy. There's no guesswork. How do you know his needs? There's 613 of them. They're called מצוות mitzvos. So השם Hashem says, I'm all ears. I'm happy to listen to what your needs are, and I'm happy to provide them. But I'd like you to pay attention to my needs. And my needs aren't even for me, my needs are also for you, but I've spelled it out for you. So, therefore, therefore when you do מצוות mitzvos, I skip on that house. This רש\"י Rashi is so fundamental, says ר' וולבה Reb Volbe. We miss it, we skip over it, like the house, we skip over the רש\"י Rashi. But רש\"י Rashi is telling us the whole purpose of מצוות mitzvos. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לא עשה אני להודיעני אלא כדי שתהיו עסוקים במצותי ופוסח אני עליכם Amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu lo asa ani l'hodiani ela k'dei shetihiyu asukim b'mitzvosai u'poseach ani aleichem. Don't do it for me. I can, I know which is a Jewish house even if you don't do it. Do it for you because a relationship has to be reciprocal, a relationship has to be two ways. Only then is it a real, is it a real relationship. There was a beautiful רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik also on this, why do we need to sprinkle the blood, but we are overtime, so we'll end here. We'll start next שיעור shiur with this beautiful רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik. Please remain to finish a whole ספר תהילים Sefer Tehillim. Take just a few minutes, we divide into 30 parts. We'll take just a few minutes. Please remain to finish the whole ספר תהילים Sefer Tehillim. Remember, no שיעור shiur for the next two weeks, we'll resume in two in three weeks from now. If you're not on the WhatsApp group, join the פרשה parsha perspective WhatsApp group. You'll get the write-up, you get bonus דברי תורה divrei Torah, you'll be reminded of the schedule. Join it and get on board. שנשמע בשורות טובות She'nishmah besoros tovos.
