Transcript
Good morning boker tov welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. Special welcome to all those who are here for Yeshiva week or Yeshiva weeks as it is these days because everyone has the Yeshiva week that they'll never go to. You know the old joke about the shul I daven at the shul I'd never go to this is the Yeshiva week I observe and the Yeshiva week I would never be caught dead in so now it's Yeshiva weeks. Page 340 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash we have the privilege of continuing the last three of the makkos Parshas Bo our story and saga continue. Our Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman our learning should be l'ilui nishmas דוד בן מנחם מניש. ויאמר השם אל משה Hashem speaks to Moshe and he tells him Bo el Pharaoh come Bo what does Bo mean? Come כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו. Come nu come come to Pharaoh because I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn I fixed it so that I can put these signs of mine in his midst so that למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו ולמען and now Hashem gives a second reason the next pasuk ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים ואת אתתי אשר שמתי בם וידעתם כי אני השם. So Hashem says I hardened Pharaoh's heart nu come let's go back to Mitzrayim it's time to bang home the message again and why am I sending you what's the purpose and goal of this journey so that I can put these signs of mine in his midst and so that you may relate it in the ears of your son your son's son I made a mockery of Egypt that I may place them among them that you may know that I am Hashem. What's going on over here? This is the pasuk where even though we've seen it several times all the meforshim jump in. What does it mean Hashem hardened Pharaoh's heart? If he took away his free will didn't he take away his autonomy he took away his accountability? If a person doesn't have free will what are they responsible for? And why do we have a second reason which is said here as well? What is going on? So we'll start today with the Ach Pri Tvu'ah the Ach Pri Tvu'ah was the Liska Rav. The Liska Rav was the rebbe of Reb Shayla of Kerestir the heilige Liska Rav Reb Tzvi Hirsch of Liska and he says the following in his Ach Pri Tvu'ah הנה כל המפרשים עמדו על זה היך יתכן שהשם יתברך יעשה כך להכביד את לבו ואת לב עבדיו ולשלח עליו עשר מכות והוא נראה כהולל חס ושלום. What's going on why did Hashem harden Pharaoh's heart? Why is that fair? That's not playing fair. He hardened Pharaoh's heart he gave Pharaoh no choice Pharaoh was stubborn and obstinate Pharaoh refused to give in and indulge let my people go. V'hinei haRambam the haRambam in הלכות תשובה פרק ו writes דעל שהרשיע כל כך עד שראוי לכך שיסכרו בעדו דלתי התשובה ולא יניחו אותו לשוב. In fact Pharaoh was so wicked so evil he had forfeited his very humanity he had forfeited his godly soul he lost his free will. He was so evil he had so given in to the other side so to say that he lost his very humanity he lost his very godliness he lost his very godly soul and therefore he had no opportunity to come back teshuva was not an option. ובזה שמעתי גם כן מחכם אחד שאמר על הפסוק כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים לא אשים עליך כי אני השם רפאך. We'll read later in a few weeks Hashem says that the illness that I visited upon Egypt I won't give to you why? כי אני השם רפאך I am God the great healer I am God the great arbiter of health and what I visited upon Egypt I will protect you from. What is that a reference to? What's the machala? What is this illness the malady that Egypt suffered from that Jews are protected from? What is the machala? So maybe we'll get into it more when we arrive at that Parsha שמות פרק טו but says the Ach Pri Tvu'ah according to chacham echad דהיינו שהשם יתברך הבטיח לעם ישראל שלא יעשה להם כמו שעשה למצרים. What Hashem was promising is I will not do to you what I did to Egypt. Egypt were so morally corrupt Egypt had so lost their soul and lost their way that I took away any possibility of teshuva. They had forfeited they had given in they had given up any way to return D'hi makka gedola. When God gives up on us could there be a greater makka in the world than God says you're hopeless and helpless I give up I give in you're irredeemable you're irreparable you cannot repent you cannot recover you're a lost soul and you're gone you're done. Is there a harsher thing that a parent can say to a child? Sometimes a parent has to practice tough love sometimes there's an intervention sometimes there's an addiction or a rock bottom but for a parent to tell a child you're irredeemable you're irreparable you're a lost cause I give up. done, I write you off. I'm writing off my losses. That's what the Ribbono shel Olam said about Paroh and Mitzrayim. That's how low they had sunk. Those are the evil wicked people of our time who breached the great free state of Florida just last week. I published an article late last night about, you may have seen the news of four, five, six of the most notorious online anti-Semites of our time who came to Florida earlier this week, went to a club in Miami Beach, and then requested, and the club acquiesced, and they sang and danced to a song by Kanye called \"Hail Hitler\" while they sang and danced to a genocide and annihilation, extermination of our people. And you know what the people in the club did? They were so outraged? They pulled the plug, they turned it off, they yelled and protested, they walked out. They didn't do any of that. They sang and they danced or they stood by silently while people sang and danced making signs of \"Hail Hitler\" to the lyrics of \"Hail Hitler\". That's who the Rambam's talking about. People who've sunk so low, so evil, so wicked, so filled with hate, they've forfeited any godliness in them. Who am I and what am I to say that about such people? I don't think it takes any courage and I don't think you have to be an adam gadol at all to say such a thing about people whose name I don't even want to say in front of an Aron Kodesh. Shem mish-shem yikov. Do makka gedola דהשם יתברך חפץ בתשובתם של ישראל because Hashem loves us. Not only the Jewish people, all of his children, all of humanity are his children and he waits and he longs and he welcomes and he wants us to return and repair and become who we're meant to be, except those who have sunk so low, those who have lost, they've become so morally corrupt. וזה כי אני השם רופאך אדרבה השם יתברך מכוון לישראל לרפואה עד כאן. Ani Hashem rofecha. I am your healer, I'm your redeemer, I always believe in you. There's always a way back. It's never too late to become who you were meant to be. Ani Hashem rofecha and therefore כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים, this machala of being hopeless and helpless, this machala of being irredeemable, lo asim alecha. I'll never see you that way. It's a very beautiful insight by the Ach Pri Tevuah and it made me remember, it reminded me, when did Hashem already do that earlier? Where do we have a precedent for this in the Torah? When did Hashem wipe someone out, a generation, and say hopeless and helpless and irredeemable and time for a hard reboot, factory reset, we're going to try this again from the start because they are hopeless. The Dor HaMabul, the generation of the flood, and Hashem did a hard reboot on the entire world. And when he did, he made a promise. And we, when we see a rainbow, which is a remembrance of the promise, and it's not such a good thing. In fact, the Shulchan Aruch records the halacha you're not supposed to tell people check out the rainbow and send the picture of a rainbow and post the rainbow, and it's hard because it's often very beautiful, the rainbow. But the rainbow is a reminder that in that moment Hashem says I want to press reboot so badly. You're almost a lost cause, you're failing so badly. But he holds back because he made a promise and a covenant and he puts a rainbow in the sky to remind us. So Hashem earlier had a precedent and in a sense this is a repeat of it where Hashem says, I've hardened Paroh's heart and Mitzrayim and they're so evil and they're so wicked and they're so hopeless, but that machala that I've written them off, I won't do to you because Ani Hashem rofecha. Omnam continues the Ach Pri Tevuah לפי עניות דעתי נראה לפרש דבוודאי השם יתברך לא הכביד את לבו שלא יוכל לשוב מצד בחירתו. Hashem wasn't hardening Paroh's heart. So that was all the chacham echad, he's quoting somebody else. But now Rav Tzvi Hirsch Liska, he says his own interpretation and he says, what did Hashem harden Paroh's heart to? This is the classic question. The Ramban addresses it, the Rambam addresses it. What does it mean God hardened Paroh's heart? He took away his free will. If he made him a puppet, then how could he punish him? If he takes away someone's free will and they're a robot, they're preprogrammed to behave that way, how can you hold them accountable? How can you punish them later? That's not fair. That doesn't go according to the rules. That's not equitable, that's not fair. So says Rav Tzvi Hirsch Liska, says the Ach Pri Tevuah, Hashem did not harden his heart from free will. וודאי בחירה היא חופשית because to be alive is to have free will. To be alive, to have a soul, to have consciousness is to have the capacity to elect, to determine our own future. So what does it mean that he said hichbaditi es libo, I hardened his heart? רק שהשם יתברך הכביד את לבו שלא ישוב על ידי המופתים האלה. Whereas all these plagues and all these miracles would have made any normal minded person say whoa, something unusual is going on here. Something extraordinary is happening. There's a sign for me, I've got to change my behavior, I've got to wake up, I've got to live differently. Paro saw it and said, eh, I'm not impressed. Eh, could be it's natural, could be it's a coincidence, could be it's random, could be my magicians and sorcerers could do it too, could be you could explain it away. These signs and symbols that would have made any other person stop and say what's the message for me, I've got to radically transform, for Paro, eh, they made no impression at all. That's what He hardened Paro's heart to, He hardened his heart specifically to not react to the Makos, but his free will was still intact. Overall, his free will was still there. שאין רצונו יתברך להכניס האומות תחת כנפי השכינה בעל כרחם כמו שמתנהג עם ישראל בניו שהוא מכריח אותם. אבל לא כן לכל גוי. When it comes to the nations of the world, they have to want it. The Jewish people, He gives a little nudge. He sets us in the right direction. He makes miracles that open our eyes. ובפרט מה שמצינו לגבי יונה הנביא שלא רצה ללכת בשלוחו של מקום אשר אומות קרובי תשובה הם שלא יהיה קטרוג על ישראל חס ושלום. וזה שאמר השם יתברך בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו למען שיתי אותותי אלה בקרבו וידעתם כי אני השם היינו שישראל דוקא יכירו שמו יתברך אבל לא אומות. And that's why there's two parts. I hardened Paro's heart, come with me because I want to place these signs of mine in his midst. I want it to be undeniable. There's a curriculum, there's a lesson that I am transmitting to Paro, the Mitzrim, the Jewish people and the world. That same Paro we spoke about last week, the same Paro who says לא ידעתי את השם, I never heard who's God? I never heard of him. I never met him. I don't see him, I don't hear him. Hashem says, oh you don't know me? You never heard from me or saw me? Let me introduce myself. דם צפרדע כנים ערוב. Last week I told you look in the Rabbi Sacks Chumash because there he elaborates very beautifully on Rabbi Yehuda. Detzach Adash Beachav the three groupings of the Makos, it's a three-part curriculum. The God of creation and the God of nature, the God who interacts with each of us. Three-part curriculum. שישראל דוקא יכירו שמו לא אומות. אבל אם היו רוצים ברצון נפשם לשוב ודאי לא היה מונעם בהם. If people on their own out of their own free will, the Egyptians, said you know what, there's something here, there's something to this. I want to explore it, I want to see it, I want to understand it, I want to change my life and embrace God, that wasn't denied, they weren't deprived of their free will. What Hashem suspended was their free will as a reaction to these plagues, but the free will in general was still entirely in place. It's another answer to that age-old question, how could you punish Paro if you took away his free will? Says the Aish Kodesh because Hashem didn't take his free will. All he took is his free will from the Makos, but his free will in a general sense was still in place, and that's what Paro was accountable for, that's what he's punished about, that he could have and should have responded to. I want to share with you the insight of the great Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, the great רב שאול אלתר שליט\"א. And on these opening two Pesukim of the Torah he tells us the following. Hashem tells Moshe to come to Paro. But if you notice, if you look at the Pesukim carefully you'll see, what's the message? ויאמר השם אל משה בא אל פרעה. Come, come. We ask every year the famous question, it should say Leich. It should say go to Paro. Why does it say Bo, come to Paro? Many answers are given. I find the most meaningful and powerful because Hashem wasn't sending Moshe, you go. Hashem says any mission I ask you to do, I am alongside. Any mission you have in your life, I am your partner. I am by your side. We are in it together. You're never ever alone. We're there together. So therefore the language is precise. Hashem doesn't say to Moshe Leich, you go. Go, good luck, hope it goes well, let me know. You know you've now seen out of Israel and recently out of America with the capture of Maduro and others that, you know, you see the picture of the President, maybe his cabinet, and they're watching live on a screen because the commandos who are doing the mission, they're wearing cameras, and the President and the higher-up generals, they're all watching from a distance. They say Leich, Leich. Go. You go. I was reading Yossi Cohen's new book, the former head of the Mossad, about when they went into Iran and took all the paperwork and that mission and what it took. And all these missions are extraordinary. From the beeper operation, they're happening every day we don't even know it. I'm sure they're happening as we speak in Iran and its insurrection. I'm sure it's encouraged let's say. I have no doubt. They're heroic. So ordinarily we say Leich, you go, you have a mission. We'll be watching from here. From the safety of the situation room, we'll be watching. Make some popcorn, we'll pour a nice tall Diet Peach Snapple, and we'll follow on the big screen how your mission's going. Leich, you go risk your life, you go do it, we'll be watching from here. Hashem doesn't say Leich. Hashem says Nu, come, Bo. You're on a mission, I've asked you to do something. You have you... have a role to play, bo, I'll be there with with you, come, come, come, I'm coming with you. It's such a beautiful, beautiful image for all of us in our lives. Whatever our mission is, wherever we're going, wherever we're meant to be, Hashem is by our side. He didn't send us and we report back to him, he didn't send us and he's watching on a big screen. He sent us and he's coming with us and he's right next to us. And so when we feel scared or anxious or alone, know he's right there and lean on him. Not lech, but bo. But if you look, so it says good, ויאמר ה' אל משה, nu, bo, let's go. I hardened his heart, I want to be able to reveal my presence in his midst, and I want you to tell the story for generations to come. But what's the mission? What's the message he's supposed to relay to Paroh? Hashem never tells Moshe about the maka of Arbe. I never noticed this in all my years. If you look, unlike the other plagues that Hashem told Moshe, okay, here's the next one. We got the next one on deck. Go warn about it. Here's the next one that's coming. When it comes to Arbe, locusts, Hashem never tells Moshe what's coming. There are no coming attractions for Arbe. He merely tells him he'll make signs in Mitzrayim. Why not? So Shlott of the Gerasheva quotes the Rebbe Reb Bunim who explains, the Rebbe Reb Bunim in his Kol Simcha explains, Hashem wanted Bnei Yisrael to realize that the Makos were intended to benefit them. To demonstrate he left it to Moshe to choose whichever maka he thought was best. Says Moshe, here's a smorg of Makos. Here's my table of contents, here are the options. Here are the options. Moshe, you choose the maka. And Moshe, not Hashem, isn't this wild? Moshe, you see you come to the parsha class every week you're going to hear something you never knew. You say I could skip this week, Bo, not only do I hear it every week on Parshas Bo, then I live Pesach, then I go to the seder twice, I could skip this week. Don't skip any week. Not because of me, I don't say anything original, but I share with you what I find and it's often a radically different way of looking at the things that we've heard our whole life. So here, the Rebbe Reb Bunim says, the reason it doesn't spell out the maka of Arbe is because Hashem never told Moshe it was coming. He said to Moshe, you choose. There's a world of plagues that you could bring and give. You could give a ten-minute WhatsApp voice note, you could give, that's also a plague. You could have to go to Orlando for Yeshiva week and stand on lines in Disney. There's all kinds of plagues, you choose. You choose. You could have a colonoscopy prep, there's all kinds of plagues that you could choose. And what did Moshe choose? He chose Arbe. Now why did he choose Arbe? Says the Rebbe Reb Bunim, you know why he chose Arbe? It was mida k'neged mida. Who can come up with why was it mida k'neged mida? When Paroh enslaved the Jewish people, he did so, I left out one. He could have chosen the Egyptians all have to eat always for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, kale. Just give me my list of Makos, what would be considered Makos. Okay, anyway back to the regular scheduled program. So Moshe got to choose the next maka and he chooses the maka of Arbe, which is locust, and he does so because it's mida k'neged mida. He is giving measure for measure. He is giving the Egyptians back in their face what they tried to do. Why is Arbe mida k'neged mida? When Paroh enslaved the Jewish people and he tried to prevent them from multiplying, what word does the Torah use? pen yirbeh. pen yirbeh. So Moshe chose locust as a symbol of exponential growth. The multiplication, the locust, the word itself Arbe is like yirbeh. And the Zohar HaKadosh tells us that all the Makos were meant to afflict the Egyptians and simultaneously while they afflicted the Egyptians, they healed the Jewish people. So Moshe chose Arbe because while it attacked the Egyptians with its multitudes, at the same time it healed the Jewish people because what they were prevented from, pen yirbeh, it now opened up the world to unlimited growth, to unlimited growth. That's what the Rebbe Reb Bunim says. Shlott adds, he expands on it, and he says grasshoppers, Moshe wanted to give a gift to Klal Yisrael because Mishlei, the pasuk in Mishlei tells, מלך אין לארבה ויצא חצץ כלו. It's a pasuk in Mishlei in Proverbs, פרק ל פסוק כז. Melech ein la'Arbe, there is no king of the locusts, vayeitzei chotzeitz kulo, they go out in a single swarm. Shlomo HaMelech the wisest of all men in Mishlei notes, he also knew the animal kingdom, the animal world, even knew how to communicate with all of animals, and he observed, you'll have to learn Mishlei to understand its context, but Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei observes Melech ein la'Arbe. They have no king. Vayeitzei chotzeitz kulo. They don't have a leader, a general, a king. They swarm a single swarm. The power of the locust is the swarm. A swarm is not just a group of individuals, it's a unit. A single locust can be crushed under your foot, but what happens when they swarm together, when they attack as a swarm, when they come as a unit, then nothing can stand in their way. So Paro decreed against Klal Yisrael, lo tosifun, do not continue. Says Rav David of Lalov, the word lo tosifun is asifa. Paro forbade Bnei Yisrael from coming together. No asifa. An asifa's a gathering. A Siyum HaShas, a Seudas Hodaya, a simcha, a bar mitzvah, an anniversary, a major birthday, asifa, a gathering. Said Paro, lo tosifun. You cannot gather. Bnei Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to heal them from this terrible decree. How did he heal them? Because he brought Arbeh, locusts. He restored the ability to gather. He gave back the power of a unit, of a swarm, of a tzibur. What forms an assembly? This is not about gathering for mundane purposes. It's about connecting for meaning, for purpose, to be a klal, to be a tzibur. So Arbeh, Moshe chose it, you learn something new. Hashem never tells him what's coming, because he didn't command Arbeh. He told Moshe, you choose. And what did Moshe choose? From all the options I gave, they didn't bother him, he chose Arbeh. And he chose Arbeh why? Midah keneged midah. Lo yerba, because Paro was afraid you would multiply. Lo tosifun, the Arbeh davka have no king, they come in a swarm, a swarm is a tzibur. He was not only punishing the Egyptians, but he was signaling to the Jewish people, it's safe to gather again. And our strength comes in our unity. Our strength comes in gathering, in being a kehila, in being united, in being together, in being one. Eina domeh, you can't compare listening to the parsha class streaming it online, or listening to it later, and if you can't come in person, certainly that's better than nothing, but being in a room and feeling the energy, and laughing, and crying, and responding, and being inspired, all of us together, that's a kehila, that's a swarm, that's a unit, we're together. Umalu. And then he continues, we've skipped pasuk vav. These Arbeh come, they cover ein ha-aretz, לא יוכל לראות את הארץ, couldn't even see the land, that's how many they were. They were everywhere, they're eating everything. אכלת כל עץ הצמח לכם מן השדה. Pasuk vav. ומלאו בתיך ובתי כל עבדיך ובתי כל מצרים, and they fill your house, the house of all your servants, the house of all of Egypt, house of all of Egypt. I lost the place. אשר לא ראו אבתיך ואבות אבתיך, nobody saw this before. מיום היותם על האדמה עד היום הזה. ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה. Such as your fathers, your grandfathers have never seen such a thing. From the day they came onto the earth until this day. And he turned, va-yifen, Moshe turned, ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה. He turned and he left. Why does the pasuk mention Paro? Here come the Arbeh, and they're going to be everywhere, and they're going to eat everything, and they are going to be so covering the land you won't even be able to see the land, and this is something you've never seen, your parents have never seen, your Bubby and your Zeidy have never seen, nobody before... Who cares about your ancestors? All Paro cares about is right now, the impact in the here and now. Why is Moshe here invoking you haven't seen it, your grandparents didn't see it, great grandparents, what are we going back in time to ancestors for? Says the Sfas Emes, heilige Sfas Emes's yahrtzeit I believe is Thursday night-Friday. Says the holy Sfas Emes, during the makkos, Hashem brought the Mitzri's ancestors to life. It's an amazing Sfas Emes. Here's number two thing you never heard before in your life. During the makkos, you really want to punish someone, you don't only make their life miserable, you bring back all their ancestors to watch and witness how bad they are and how much they need to be punished. The opposite of nachas. The exact opposite of nachas. Say, Paro, come here, mom and dad of Paro. Come here, Sabba and Savta of Paro. Ooh, come here, great-grandparents of Paro. I want you to see, nachas nebach, your son, your grandson, your great-grandson, the Ribono Shel Olam Himself wrote him off, hardened his heart. He's gone, irredeemable, irreparable, no repentance possible. Come. Part of the punishment is we all know, Hashem, the Ribono Shel Olam, the Eibeshter designed a world that when we give nachas to those before us, there's no greater joy in the world. And when we disappoint and fail the people who came before us, there's nothing more painful in the world. So part of the punishment to Paro was that his ancestors came back to life who would see how Paro failed them. Conversely, conversely, said the Sfas Emes, yahrtzeit's coming up, when there's a Yiddishe simcha, we have a masorah that when a Jew makes a simcha, Hashem brings their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents back to life, they're part of the baalei simcha. Come, come you're here. There's a Zohar that says it explicitly. It's not just a nice thing that rabbis are trained to say under the chuppah. Those who are here physically and those who are from the next world are So much so that we have a tradition. I went a couple years ago, my grandparents are buried in Elizabeth and I stopped, flew into Newark, I stopped to see them, and on top of my grandparents' matzeva was a pile. Like, \"Who left papers on top of the matzeva of my grandparents?\" You know, all my cousins in Lakewood, every time they made a simcha, Baruch Hashem they make many, they go to the cemetery and on top of the matzeva they put an invitation. Now, now that we've moved to the Evite, I don't know what you do. I don't know how you add your ancestors to the—I don't know what their email address is, you know, on the Evite. Print out the Evite and bring it to the cemetery and put it on the matzeva because it's real. This is not some heebee-jeebee, this is not just a rabbi speech under a chuppah. Says the heilige Sfas Emes, this is what we believe. If it's true that during the makkos, the Egyptian ancestors, that's why the pasuk, that's why steht in the pasuk, that's why it says Moshe tells them explicitly, לא ראו אבותיך ואבות אבותיך. And if you don't believe me, ask them, because they're here. Your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, they're all here. Hashem brought them back to life. Hashem brought them to see how miserable lowlife reject oisvarp you are, how much he's punishing you, and they're all here to see it. It's the opposite of nachas. Compounding your pain is knowing what a disappointment and what a failure you are to all the people who came before you. And that's true, for our enemy he brings them back, says the Sfas Emes. For us Yidden, for the Jewish people, for our simcha, all the ancestors come back and they shep nachas. And it's geshmak, it's gevaldige. They're not just there to witness the simcha. Says the Sfas Emes, says the Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, the presence of the avos at the simcha is the connection between the avos and the bonim. The merit of the ancestors lends deep strength to the children. How'd we get to the simcha? Why'd we arrive here? Why are we celebrating? Why do we consider it a simcha? Why is a bar mitzvah, a bat mitzvah, why is this wedding, why are these sheva brachos, why is this aufruf? Why are we doing these things? In the zechus avos, because of who came before us, because of who inspired us, because who set us on this path. That's who we are and why we're here. So you're not just coming as spectators, you're not just coming to sit in the bleachers, you're not the Muppets looking down offering commentary on everything that's happening. You're coming because it's in your merit, it's in your zechus, that's why you're here. We walk in the ways of the avos. We walk in the ways of the avos, that's what it's really all, all about. So an amazing, why does the pasuk say parents, grandparents, great-grandparents? Because they came to see the punishment. And conversely, our grandparents, parents, great-grandparents, they come to see the reward, to see and to celebrate and to be part of the holy simcha. Perek yud. Let's go back. Perek yud, pasuk beis, the second pasuk again. ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך. Here we have the word tesaper. We're talking about the word tesaper. Our first Rabbi Sacks of the day, Rabbi Sacks' Chumash. Rabbi Sacks says the following: parshas Bo introduces the institution of storytelling. Storytelling—this is a very powerful pedagogic idea. If you want to transmit something, if you want others to hear it, receive it, absorb it, be transformed by it, then you tell it in a story. I could tell you as a rabbi, the most powerful means of communication is not the dvar Torah, it's the story, it's the story. Watch any TED talk and you'll see they're trained, they're scripted, that they're all about—they open with a story. The power of the story to inspire. It's all about, it's all about the story. It's all about the story. I forgot who said it, you know, about a rabbi. If, if you told a great, if you told a great joke, you can't use that joke again for, for three years. If you told a great story, you can't use the story again for five years. You told a great dvar Torah, you could repeat it in the same dvar Torah, nobody'll notice. Nobody will notice. Why is that? The dvar Torah was nice, maybe they hold on to it for a couple minutes. By an hour from now, \"The parsha shiur was great this week, the rabbi said a great dvar Torah from so-and-so.\" \"What was it?\" \"I don't remember, but it was great.\" It was great. But the story? You'll tell the story verbatim—names, places, dates, you'll remember every part of it. The power of a story, it paints an imagery. I can tell you in fundraising, the most powerful thing is a story. Let me tell you a story that if you give we'll have the ability, more people like the little boy, the girl, like the world we change, like the life we impacted. The power of a story. Where does that come from? Parshas Bo. The institution of storytelling is a fundamental religious duty, recalling and reenacting the events of the Exodus every year, and in particular making children central to the story. So my kids would say, Abba, why are you so obsessed with? We're obsessed with this story. Every day we remember leaving Egypt. Every Shabbos commemorates leaving Egypt. Pesach we tell the story explicitly. Every night with Shema, we remember leaving... we are obsessed with the story. Why? Because the story is synonymous with our identity. As long as we know and tell the story, we know who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. We can't forget the story. Cultures are shaped by the range of stories to which they give rise. And Rabbi Sacks elaborates, but I want to bring you to Leman Tisaper, and that's why the Torah explicitly tells us, Hashem says \"I'm now revealing... why? Why such pomp and circumstance? Why the ten plagues?\" Like Hashem is flexing, showing off a little bit here? He could have done it with one. If Hashem wanted, He could have liberated us, emancipated, redeemed us. We could have been out with one. He had to flex? Okay, we get it, we got it. You control the world, You created the world, we get it. Ten plagues? Writes Rabbi Sacks, for the first time the full significance of the plagues is made clear. It's not limited to Egypt or to that time. That there exists a power greater than the mightiest empire in the ancient world is a proposition to have resonance far beyond the boundaries of Egypt. And in our Pasuk, we learn it will provide a lesson beyond its time. It would be a story to be handed on across the generations as it has been from the days of Moshe until today. Those who forget how freedom was won eventually lose it. Those who lived through these events died long ago, but their story never will. That was part of the divine plan from the outset, to tell a story about liberation of slaves that would lead eventually to a civilization based on freedom, justice, and human rights. Because we know and remember and invoke and tell that story over and over and over, we also know that the story continues. We also know that we're the next chapter in it. So you look around this world and we need to hear this so so much right now. You look around that nightclub, don't literally look around, but you look around that story in that nightclub from this week, and you look around at what's happening with podcasters and politicians, and you look around at even the best friends Israel and the Jewish people have ever had, have had in a long time, are now welcoming bizarrely people into the White House and having lunch with those who seek our demise, adding to peace groups those who are coordinating our elimination. And you say, who's left? Even our friends I can't make heads or tails of what they're doing. And it feels hopeless and helpless, and maybe it's coming to an end. And then you say, no, this story continues. It looked like that many, many times before. That's how the Jews in Egypt felt. And Hashem did all this to show us and tell us that our story is far from over. And the next chapters are being written. And when you're ready to give up, just read and tell the story. That's the Smichas Geula Letefila. We've shared many times an insight of Rav Wolbe. The Gemara says Hasomech Geula Letefila. If you finish Ga'al Yisrael and begin Shmoneh Esreh, the Amida right away, ooh-wah what you're promised, you get to see into Gan Eden. Really? Such a big deal? Is that so hard to do? You didn't stop and have a conversation between Ga'al Yisrael and your three steps forward in the Amida. Ooh-wah, you deserve such a reward for that. That's so impressive, you didn't go outside and have a coffee between Ga'al Yisrael and the Amida. For that you deserve such a reward. Says Rav Wolbe, the idea of the Smichas Geula Letefila is Ga'al Yisrael means God is the redeemer in the past, and now I take my three steps forward and I ask for the things I need in the future. How do I know, where do I gain the confidence and clarity, why should I believe that He can answer and provide what I need now? Because Ga'al Yisrael then. If He answered then, He can and will answer now. And it's with that strength, with that courage, with that clarity, with that conviction, we take our three steps forward and we begin our Amida. So this story, Leman Tisaper, this is a story that we tell, and the storytelling is a religious duty. And don't think that when the Rebbe interrupts the shiur to tell a story, it's bitul Torah, get back to the dvar Torah, Rabbi. Why, don't think in a drasha when you tell a story, oh, he's just an am ha'aretz, he doesn't have enough divrei Torah, he went to the story. Storytelling is a religious duty. And telling our story to our children is critical, critical. Stories, stories, by the way, proven by science or research, not only the story of our success, the stories of our failures, the oscillating stories of our ups and downs. And when you share that story, you give strength to our children when they're going through a hard time, when they wonder where's their way out, how will they get out of their Mitzrayim? So you know, I used to be like you. I once struggled in school, I struggled with friends, I struggled in my job, I struggled in shidduchim, in a relationship. Don't manufacture, make up stories, but I think all of us have real ones to tell. And when we tell them, and we tell the good, the bad, and the ugly of them, we give strength, we give strength to those who need to hear them. That's part of the religious experience. So back to pasuk vav. We said that Moshe tells Paroh, ooh-wah, boy am I gonna smack you around. I get to choose this plague, arbeh, and I choose arbeh and it's gonna cover the whole land and you won't even see the land and it's something the likes of which you never saw, your parents never saw, your grandparents never saw, your great-grandparents never saw, and he finishes and I love this image. Moshe gives this little speech. Moshe, the כבד פה וכבד לשון, Moshe, the person who says I don't have the power of speech delivers an incredibly powerful speech and then this is the original mic drop. ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה. He tells Paroh, Paroh, I'm gonna smack you around, my choice, my call, Hashem left this one up to me, I choose arbeh, you won't be able to even see the land, it's gonna eat everything in sight, this is something you, your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents never saw. Mic drop. ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה. He turns and he leaves. And Rabbi Sacks has an amazing insight and I love it when parsha perspectives and siddur snippets come together. There are few greater joys in the world than when Hashem brings them together. So you say what does parsha and siddur snippets have to do? Writes Rabbi Sacks, it is one of the customs of absolute rulers, one does not turn their back on them. You leave still facing them, bowing and walking backwards. You can't turn out of the Oval Office, you don't turn your back and walk out. You don't leave a king and turn your back and walk out. You walk back, you bow, you walk backwards and you exit with a little bit of reverence, respect, honor. The fact that Moshe turned and exited meant he was not obeying this protocol and by implication showing he believed that Paroh's authority no longer commanded in one respect. For the first time in the next pasuk, Paroh's own officials will tell him his policy is failed. Egypt is being destroyed, much better to let the people leave than to allow their succession of disasters to continue. Tragically, tyrants are held captive by their hate and they lead their own people to destruction. In the closing stages of the Second World War, Hitler diverted trains from the Russian front in order to accelerate the transportation of Jews to Auschwitz. He endangered his own war efforts for the sake of continuing his genocidal program against the Jews. This was evil for evil's sake. The law of history articulated in this chapter continues to hold true. Hate destroys the hater. Evil has two faces. The first turned towards the outside is what it does to the victim. The second turned within is what it does to the perpetrator. Evil traps the evildoer in its mesh, slowly but surely he or she loses freedom and becomes not evil's master, but its slave. Powerful. You're seeing it unfold right now in Iran. Powerful. People in their hate will bring about their own demise, sabotage their own future, accelerate their own destruction. The hate originates outward and ends up destroying inward themselves. And that's what happens here. How do Paroh's advisors know that it's time to give up on Paroh? Time to impeach him, time to take him down, that Paroh should no longer be in charge? Where do they get the courage to confront him? Until now they're living in fear of him and now they have the courage to tell him that your policy is failed. Let the people go, it's enough already. Why? Because vayifen. Because Moshe, Moshe violated protocol, turned around and showed his back to Paroh. When do you do that? When you're not worried there'll be a consequence. When you feel you're on top of the world. When the regime is about to be toppled, vayifen, you could turn your back and walk away. What does that have to do with siddur snippets? In siddur snippets we're learning we're up to the very last line of the Amida. Oseh Shalom Bimromav, the three steps that we take backwards and the Gemara says if you don't take three steps back at the end of the Amida, Gemara in Yoma, if you don't take the three steps back properly, which is what we're learning. What is properly? Start with your left foot or your right foot? Big steps or small steps? Full steps or half steps? Do you bow first to your left or to your right? Do you bow and then take the steps back or take the steps back and then bow? Do you say Oseh Shalom Bimromav while you're walking back or first walk back and then say Oseh Shalom Bimromav? You thought you knew what to do but right now you're asking yourself you don't even remember what you do and if you're doing it right. That's why we're learning it together. So you can listen to siddur snippets. But we said why do we do this Oseh Shalom Bimromav? What does the Gemara mean that if you don't do it and you don't do it properly, it's as if you didn't even say the Amida? Really? I just spent a good four, five, six minutes saying the Amida, turning to Hashem, surrendering to him for all my needs and if I don't say it properly it's like I didn't say it? So we said the answer is when you walk away with humility and modesty and humbly and the recognition I need you and I humbly ask you and please help me, then Hashem listens. But if you turn your back on Hashem and you just say this was just on my checklist of things, gotta go to work, gotta go to the doctor, gotta do all the things I do and I had to say this thing, this template, this script that's in this book to you and now I turn my back and I leave. So then it undoes everything that you said. Everything. things about the way that you leave. How do you walk away from the Kotel? Or the Kosel, whichever one you went to? How do you walk away? Our tradition, our minhag is that we don't turn our back. We walk back. We walk back. Hashem, it kills me, I hate to have to leave. I had a visit, I'm coming back again, but we walk away, we don't turn our back. Rav Hutner, I was told this, I never saw it, supposedly had a button under his desk that released the door in his office. And if a talmid turned their back, the door stayed locked. It was only when a talmid walked away properly. Not because chas v'shalom of Rav Hutner, but it was kevod haTorah. He was trying to communicate kevod haTorah, the honor to Torah, the proper way that you take leave of a Rosh Yeshiva, of a Rebbe, of a talmid chacham. There's a proper way. So we leave Shemoneh Esrei by taking three steps back. And there's a protocol, we learn that the King of Kings, from the proper protocol when you leave a king. And Moshe for the first time is vayeifen. He's not following protocol. He feels no longer bound by protocol. This Pharaoh has lost his power. He's lost his prominence, his prestige. He's no longer the Pharaoh who demands that honor and respect. Now he has, Moshe feels vayeifen, he can turn his back. And when the advisors see, \"Uh-oh, this is the beginning of the end. When they're not even treating you like the king, when they're no longer observing protocol, this is the beginning of the end. You've lost our confidence.\" It's a vote of no confidence. Need to take Pharaoh and his government down because his policies are a failure and that's what you see now unfold. Perek Yud Pasuk Chaf-Aleph. The penultimate plague, I say that just because I love that word, penultimate, is the plague of the ninth plague is darkness, choshech. Perek Yud Pasuk Chaf-Aleph, Chapter 10, verse 21. Top of page 344. ויאמר ה' אל משה God tells Moshe, נטה ידך על השמים ויהי חשך על ארץ מצרים. Stretch forth your hand towards the heavens, and there will be darkness on the land of Egypt, vayamash choshech. And the darkness, this darkness is so deep, so thick, mamashus. The darkness is tangible. ויט משה את ידו על השמים ויהי חשך אפלה בכל ארץ מצרים שלשת ימים. There was such a thick darkness for three days. לא ראו איש את אחיו ולא קמו איש מתחתיו שלשת ימים. The darkness was so thick you couldn't even see someone standing right next to you for three days. Total eclipse for three days. ולכל בני ישראל היה אור במושבתם. And this plague that affected the Egyptians had no impact, there was immunity for the Jewish people, there was light in all their dwelling places. And Pharaoh calls Moshe and he says, \"That's it, go, wherever you need to go, take whatever you need to take.\" Rabbi Sacks talks on the plague of darkness. The ninth plague seems out of sequence. So far, there've been eight plagues, and they've become steadily more serious. You know how to remember that there's three plagues in Bo? Beis and Aleph. Two and one is three. Three plagues in Bo: Arbeh, Choshech, and Makkas Bechoros. So the penultimate, the ninth plague of choshech seems out of sequence. They've been steadily becoming more serious. The first two seem more like omens than anything else, Dam and Tzefardea. Third and fourth caused worry, not crisis. The fifth affected animals, not human beings. The sixth, boils, was again a discomfort, no longer an external issue but a bodily affliction. Seventh and eighth destroyed Egyptians' grain, grain, which is sustenance. Now there's no food. Still to come is the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn. So we would expect the ninth plague, in between the eighth and the tenth, if we're increasing in the intensity and severity, you'd think the ninth would be a whopper. But instead, what is it? A blackout. We've lived through blackouts. Not pleasant, not fun. You manage, you navigate. And that's the ninth plague? Doesn't take human life, it seems like it's anticlimactic. Darkness is a nuisance, but no more. The answer lies in a line from Dayenu, says Rabbi Sacks, the song we sing in the Haggadah. \"If Hashem had executed judgment against them, the Mitzrim, but had not done so against their gods, it would have been sufficient.\" Not all the plagues are directed against the Egyptians. Some are intended to show them the powerlessness of their gods in which they believed. We saw this the first two, right? Where'd they happen? The Nile. Destroy the Nile, which is exactly the god of the Egyptians. Unlike all the other plagues, the significance of the tenth is disclosed to Moshe. Tell Pharaoh, \"Israel is my son, my firstborn,\" and so on. Tenth is to be an enactment of retribution, justice. The first nine are a prelude. We now understand the significance of the ninth. And this is the insight I wanted to share for with you from Rabbi Sacks. Choshech is significant. It's not just a blackout. The greatest god in the Egyptian pantheos was Ra, the sun god. The name of the Pharaoh often associated with the Exodus, Ramses II, means, as we've seen, Messes, son of Ra. Ramesses is Meses, son of Ra, Ramesses. Egypt so its people believed was ruled by the sun. Its human ruler was semi-divine, the child of the sun god. In the beginning of time according to Egyptian myth, the sun god ruled together with Nun the primeval waters. Eventually, there were many deities. Ra then created human beings from his tears. Seeing, however, that they were deceitful, he sent the goddess Hathor to destroy them, only a few survived. The obliteration of the sun in the ninth plague signals that there is a power greater than Ra. Yet it signified less the power of God over the sun than the rejection by God of a civilization that turned one man into an absolute ruler. When God tells Moses to tell Paro that Bnei Yisrael, Bni Bechori Yisrael, they're my firstborn, he is saying, I'm the God who cares for his children, not one who kills his children. The ninth plague is a divine act of communication that says, there's not only physical darkness but also moral darkness. The best test of a civilization is to see how it treats children, its own and others. That is Rabbi Sacks, that Choshech is significant, it's an attack not on the land, not on the animals, not discomfort on the Egyptians, but it's a takedown of the Egyptian god. If the Egyptian god is the sun, eclipsing the sun and bringing darkness is a statement of taking down the Egyptian god. That is Rabbi Sacks. Others give other interpretations here to what it means. So Rashi tells us that this sun, this darkness is Vayamosh, quotes a Medrash, it was doubled and redoubled and thick, so much so it had Mamash, it had substance, it was. Some say it was a cataract, this was ophthalmological. This happened in their eyes, the darkness, three days. Everybody went blind. Everybody got macular degeneration. Everybody needed cataract surgery. Everybody for three days couldn't see anything. It wasn't in the atmosphere, and that's why the Jewish people still had plenty of light. It was in the eyes of the Egyptians. Chidushei Harim, the first Gerrer Rebbe says, what was Choshech? Beautiful insight. Choshech is, Torah tells us, לא ראו איש את אחיו ולא קמו איש מתחתיו שלשת ימים. No one could see another, nor could anyone move from their place for three days. You know what the darkness of Egypt is? When you can't even see another. When a person's life is so self-consumed, so egocentric, when a person is so absorbed with themselves, they're living in darkness. They're living in darkness, it's a very dark existence. It's a dark, dark place. We even use that in our vernacular, we describe someone's in a dark place. Someone who's so consumed, so self-absorbed, who can't even see others is living in darkness, living in darkness. And the Jewish people were spared this darkness, we had light, the light that came. So if according to the Chidushei Harim, if the darkness is לא ראו איש את אחיו, you couldn't even see another, then what was the light that the Jewish people still had? It was the light of caring about one another. And we know the Medrash tells us that it was in the Zechut, it was in the Zechut of Chessed. The Jewish people continued to do loving-kindness for one another. Maybe they had lost so much of their way and they had been so affected and assimilated with the Egyptians in many ways, but loving-kindness, care and concern for others, they kept. That's light. So if you're feeling that you're in the darkness, the answer is to see others. And the way to step out into the light is to care and concern to notice other people. And this too has been proven by research. Research today says that people who suffer and struggle from depression should volunteer. Depression is equated with darkness. Somebody's in a bad place, in a dark place, in a depressed place. And among the treatment is volunteer, give, do something good for another. I saw a video circulate, I'll try to put it in the Parsha, last week I told you about Rabbi Pelchovszki's video, I put it in the Parsha group. If you don't belong to the Parsha WhatsApp groups, you're missing bonus material, you're missing a schedule, you're missing more. So make sure you join the WhatsApp groups. So I saw a video, somebody walked around Israel and they went up to random people and they said, either I give you a hundred Shekel or I give two hundred Shekel to someone else. And one hundred percent of the people asked said, give the two hundred Shekel to somebody else. It was unbelievable, the neighborhood he was in and the reaction of the people, assume it wasn't scripted, and to see it was absolutely incredible. You see people stop, they think, and they realize, double the amount and someone else gets it? Why? Because it's more joyous and more joyful to care about another than to care about ourselves. That's what it means to step out into the light. To be consumed with ourselves is dark, is to be in a dark place, and to care and see and be concerned for another. I love to quote the Rambam, we're now Chodesh Shvat, almost at Adar, almost at Purim. See how I got there? So the Rambam says, if you have a limited amount of money and you can spend it either on Mishloach Manot or Matanot La'evyonim, spend it on Matanot La'evyonim, you can either give it to the poor. But you thought the reason was because you should care about the poor. And listen to what the Rambam writes. He says you know why if you've limited money you should spend more on giving it to others? Because after all, the mitzvah of Purim is to be happy, and nothing will give you more happiness than giving to others. You think that the happiness will be a fancier bottle of wine, a big meat board, the happiness is going to come because you have impressive fleish and steak and seuda? You think your happiness is going to come from impressing people with just how elaborate your mishloach manot theme was this year? No. The more matanot l'evyonim, the more you give to others, the happier you will be and since the holiday's all about happiness, give more to others. Nebach on people who don't know the joy of giving. And there are many. Nebach, I feel bad and I feel sad. I do a lot of fundraising. We just had our fundraiser for our Jewish education scholarship fund and Tomchei Shabbos Chesed need money very badly. And we're going to be participating in the community-wide Hatzalah campaign. How many people here have called that Hatzalah hotline since it opened the last few years and lives have been saved or improved because someone familiar came and helped? Hatzalah needs our help and we're going to be— we do a lot of fundraising. And a lot of people say no and I feel bad. My heart breaks. Not for me because we have more work to do, but for them. If you don't know the joy of giving, then you're— you're living under a dark cloud. And when you understand the happiness that comes from caring about others, you stepped out into the light. So says the Chiddushei HaRim, do you know the severity? It is a severe plague, the penultimate plague. Choshech is severe. You know why? Because to live in a place of לא ראו איש את אחיו, to live in a way that you can't see others, that's dark, that's a plague. And the Jewish people haya or be-moshvostam, to live in a place of light is to build a community around chesed, to build a community around volunteering, to build a community around giving, to build a community around caring. פרק יב פסוק כח. Chapter 12, verse 28. Skipping all the way to page 356. וילכו ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה ה' את משה ואהרן כן עשו. At the core and a long part of our parsha is the Korban Pesach, set aside the animal four days before it's slaughtered, and then we shecht the animal, the korban, sprinkle the blood on the doorway. You have to eat the Korban Pesach, you can't leave the house. There's a lot here, much of the parsha is Korban Pesach, and the Korban Pesach— the charge and command— this section of Korban Pesach ends with the words: וילכו ויעשו בני ישראל, the Jewish people went and did as Hashem commanded Moshe and Aaron, ken asu. As was commanded, thus so did they do, so did they do. This is somewhat peculiar. Rashi says: Vayelchu Vaya'asu. Says Rashi: Vachi kvar asu? What are you talking about? When did this— when did Hashem tell Moshe and when did Moshe tell the people? Bring a Korban Pesach, and the whole formula, prescription for the Korban Pesach, for the sacrifice. When did he tell them? Before the tenth plague. And when did they do? They hadn't done it yet. ויהי בחצי הלילה וה' הכה כל בכור. So how can you say ken asu? Vayelchu Vaya'asu? Fregt Rashi: Vachi kvar asu? Did they do it already? הלא מראש חודש נאמר להם? The command was already given from Rosh Chodesh. אלא מכיוון שקיבלו עליהם מעלה עליהם הכתוב כאילו עשו. Wow, what a Rashi. What a Rashi. When the Jewish people were asked to do it, even though the command came long before they were capable of fulfilling it, because of their reaction, because of their response when they were asked to do it, it's as if they already did it. It's as if they already did it. When my wife says, \"I'm taking the kids to Orlando for a few days and here are the things to do: the garbage is going to need to be taken out, gotta meet the exterminator who's coming, don't forget to take care of this thing, don't forget the other thing.\" You could say, \"Okay, whatever, just text me, remind me, tell me later.\" So that does not get a ken asu. But if you say, \"Absolutely! I'm on it. I got it. Consider it done. I'm so glad you asked me to do it. I feel honored and privileged. Frankly, I was hoping you were going to ask before you left.\" So when a person responds with enthusiasm and energy, when a person responds with that level of commitment and conviction, then it's already ken asu. Says Rashi, it's as if you did it already. Writes Rav Wolbe in Shiurei Parsha, Shiurei Chumash: משמע שזו קבלה אחרת מקבלה שאנו רגילים. אנו יכולים לקבל על עצמנו ואחר עשר דקות כבר שכחנו את הקבלה. You know there are different ways that you can say, \"I'm in, I got it.\" You could take upon yourself something and you forget ten minutes later you ever said you'd do it. אבל הם קיבלו עליהם קבלה כזאת חזקה שלא היה ספק שיעשו את זה. But you could sometimes say, \"Yes! I got it! I'm in! I'm on it!\" in such a way that there is no doubt. There is complete certainty that you're going to fulfill it and you're going to complete it. אז נחשב להם כאילו כבר עשו. הקבלה היא דבר כל כך גדול שאדם מקבל עליו קבלה חזקה שיחזיק למעשה זה נחשב כאילו כבר עשה. And this is a *Gemara* in *Brachos*. The *Gemara Brachos* *daf vav* tells us the following: חשב לעשות מצווה ונאנס מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו עשאה. A person had a plan, a *mitzvah* I was going to do, and then something happened. So someone goes on vacation, *yeshiva week*, and they say I'm going to go to *minyan*, I charted it all out, I saw that amazing flyer *BRS* produced, all the *minyanim* and the *Reb Shayele's* cafe and all the *shiurim* and the Wi-Fi and the playground and the... I'm going to *BRS*. And they mapped it out, timing, which *minyan*, had the whole plan. And they wake up in the morning, they start the car, the car doesn't start. And they're not walking distance from the *minyan*, they're staying far away. So *HaKadosh Baruch Hu* says the *Gemara*: מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו עשאה. Hashem says, I count that you went to *minyan*. But I never got to *shul*! I didn't answer *Kaddish* and *Kedushah*! I didn't *daven* in a *minyan*! What do you mean Hashem counts it like I made *minyan*? Because the answer is if a person takes something upon themselves with such strength, such enthusiasm, such energy, such conviction, and something else beyond their control prevented them from doing it, Hashem says as far as I'm concerned, you're good to go. You're good to go. So let's say something happened with the garbage, you weren't able to take it out, but the way you responded to your wife with joy, with enthusiasm, and you meant it, and you meant it. I got it, I want you to enjoy, don't worry about it, I know it's important to you, I know you want to come home to empty garbage cans, I got it. And then *ne'enas*, and then something happened and you couldn't do it. She knows you meant it. *HaKadosh Baruch Hu* knows that we mean it. And that's the *Mishnah* in *Avos* says *Rav Wolbe*: כל שמעשיו מרובים מחכמתו חכמתו מתקיימת. שאל רבינו יונה איך אפשר להיות שיעשה מעשה שלא למד לעשותם? And *Ravenu Yonah* answers: שזו המשנה דיברה לפי עצה טובה ונעם מקובלת שיש לו למי שאינו יודע שיעבד נפשו שיקבל עליו לעשות כל דברים שיגידו לו החכמים ולא יסור מהם ימין ושמאל. Because sometimes without knowing exactly what to do before it's spelled out, here are the details, but the energy, the enthusiasm, the response, the reaction we have when someone says could you please do, when Hashem says I've got a *mitzvah* for you, how do we react? How do we hear? How do we feel? Everything needs that reaction. And that you see from this *parsha*, that even though the commandment for the *Korban Pesach* came long before they fulfilled it, the *Torah* says they did exactly what was told. What do you mean they did exactly what was told? They're not going to do it until later. No, no, no, but you see from the way they reacted, you see from the way they accepted it, that they were all in. And since they were all in, even if something would happen later they couldn't do it, Hashem treats it as if it's done. This is our attitude towards *Torah* and *mitzvos*. אשרי איש שישמע למצוותיך. We should hear the *mitzvah* calling your name. We say every morning in *davening*: אשרי איש שישמע למצוותיך. Wow, you say it, we didn't know what it meant. *Siddur* Snippets we covered it many moons ago. But to *yashmi'a l'mitzvosecha*, do you know the *mitzvah*'s there's something to listen to? They're calling your name. A *mitzvah*'s calling your name. And the chance and the opportunity to go do it and fulfill it is not something you should be reluctant or hesitant or feel like a burden or be miserable or try to get out of. But when someone says a *mitzvah*'s calling your name, you say, I'm in! I got it! I can't wait for it! I'm all over it! I'm all over it! מכיוון שקיבלו עליהם מעלה עליו הכתוב. Rashi's language is *mikeivan she-kiblu*. To be *mekabbel*. The way we accept, the way we receive, the way we're *mekabbel*. So *Rav Wolbe* writes: שבת מתחילה עם קבלת שבת. You can't have *Shabbos* without *kabbalas Shabbos*. *Teshuvah* begins with a *kabbalah*. A *ta'anis*, if a person is fasting, they have *ta'anis yachid*, they have to make a *kabbalah* at *Mincha* before. All good things in life are all about the *kabbalah*. You have to make a *kabbalah*. Think about *kabbalas Shabbos*. *Shabbos* doesn't just descend upon you, *Shabbos* doesn't smack you in the face. A person properly, let's turn Friday into *erev Shabbos* here a little bit, maybe we'll do this on Friday, you'll save this and do this on Friday, you have to have a *kabbalas Shabbos*. You have to be *mekabbel*. Not, oh *Shabbos* again, I got to cook again, here we go again, it's another *Shabbos*. No, it's *Shabbos*! I'm enthusiastic, I'm energized, I'm excited. I feel privileged, I feel honored, it's a *kabbalah*. All good things have to happen and they only happen when we do them with a sense of *kabbalah*. So for the last two years I wanted to get to the end of the *parsha*, קדש לי כל בכור, and I have the notes of exactly *Rav Wolbe*, *Rav Soloveitchik*, *Maseches Taharos*. And now this will be the third year in a row that I'm not getting to it. So *Parshas Bo* next year all of us please God in *Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh*, but wherever we are next year when we're learning *Parshas Bo* together, please remind me: start with קדש לי כל בכור. Start with the very end of the *parsha* and then come back. Let's do one more. We'll end with one more. Hold on one more second, little bonus. *Perek yud gimmel*, *pasuk ches*. This is a cute little... A little bonus. Perek Yod Gimmel, Pasuk Ches. This is a cute Imrei Chaim. והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא. This is prep for the Seder. Hope you've been taking notes cause I'm giving you all your Divrei Torah for the Pesach Seder. והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא. Torah tells us chapter 13, verse 8, page 362. והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא, tell your children on that day, בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי ממצרים, it is because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when we left. What's והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא, on that day? Hahu says the Imrei Chaim, the Vizhnitzer, is hahu is gematria, tov. יגיד ויספר לבנך מה טוב ומה מתוק היום הזה. Tell your children, you know what's good? Hayom hazeh. Today, every day is good. How is every day good? Cause you woke up, cause you're alive. It's a good day. Today's a good day cause you're here. Every day that you're alive is a good day. Hagadata lashon hamshacha, hahu begematria tov, אין טוב אלא תורה, המשיכה בנך לתורה הקדושה. והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא, tell them שלא ידאגו דאגת מחר. Vehigadta levincha, what should you tell your children? I'll end with this. Vehigadta levincha, what should you tell your children? ביום ההוא שלא ידאגו דאגת מחר, don't worry about tomorrow. אלא יראו כאילו רק אותו יום, all you have is today. Live today. Stop worrying, stop being anxious, stop being afraid of tomorrow. What's the Vehigadta levincha, what is it you should tell your children? Bayom hahu, embrace today. Many people embrace the present because they're so worried about the future. Don't forfeit the present. Embrace the present. Vehigadta levincha, what should you tell your children? Tell them bayom hahu. So on this very good day, if you're here, our BRS Global is not taking place until later, for a few weeks, but this is a preview already to it, the tickets for our incredible raffle. If you're here in person, do not leave. We may block the door and not let you leave until you do your part. If you're a BRS member, you're already doing your part. If you're a non-BRS member and you enjoy this Parsha Shiur, if it enriches your life at all, if you bring its Divrei Torah to the Shabbos table, how could you not help us do more? So please do your part. Thank you everyone. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy. See you next time.
