Self Mutilation vis-à-vis Self Exaltation

Fortunate is the man who is always afraid,
but he who hardens his heart will fall into evil (Mishlei 28:14).

Pharoa decided not to send the Jews out of Egypt.
He hardened his heart.

Question: Pharoa's self destruction was unprecedented. He was shooting himself in the foot. He destroyed his empire. He could have let them go and salvaged the remainder of his Kingdom.

Rabbeinu Bechaye points out the reason why Pharoa did not send them out is because he was cruel. The midah of achzorius cruelty that he possessed was so much a part of him that he could not overcome it.

It seems that this trait is what led about to his personal downfall.

Pharoa hardened his own heart the first five times he was smitten by plagues. This led to him being cruel to his own self. Cruel to his own people. Cruel to his own country.


Mitzvos and Midos Tovos have the opposite effect on people.
They change who we are. They change our essence.
They make our decisions in life different decisions.
Purer Decisions. Holier Decisions.

Midos Tovos leads to Avodas Hashem.

"Im lo litakein es haMidos lamah li chaim"

רמב"ן דברים פרק ו

ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני ה' - על דרך הפשט יאמר תשמרו מצות השם ועדותיו וחקותיו ותכוין בעשייתן לעשות הטוב והישר בעיניו בלבד. ולמען ייטב לך - הבטחה, יאמר כי בעשותך הטוב בעיניו ייטב לך, כי השם מטיב לטובים ולישרים בלבותם...

Redemption....

Why did we merit leaving Egypt?

There are four different reasons cited:

a) The children of Yaakov did not change their names, clothing or language

b) They prayed to G-d

c) Righteous Women adorned themselves to ensure continuity of the People

d) Blood of Milah and Blood of Pesach

It seems that these four reasons are complementary,

as opposed to being exclusive of one another.

What can we do to merit redemption from our exile?

Maaseh Avos Siman liBanim would dictate that these approaches would help us achieve our goal.

What would be a good parallel in today's day and age?

Shabbat and the Exodus

There seems to be a connection between Shabbat and the Exodus. The question is why is it that part of kiddush mentions that Shabbat is zecher liyitziat mitzrayim, when the other part of kiddush says that Shabbos is "zikaron limaaseh bereishis" (in memory of the acts of Creation)?

Should the focus of Shabbat be remembering Creation
[G-d as Creator] or the Exodus [G-d as Redeemer (Director)]?

Friday evening:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, has desired us, and has given us, in love and good will, His holy Shabbat as a heritage, in remembrance of the work of Creation; the first of the holy festivals, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us and sanctified us from among all the nations, and with love and good will given us Your holy Shabbat as a heritage. Blessed are You, Lord, who sanctifies the Shabbat.

Shabbat day:

Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is Shabbat for the LORD your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, and your cattle, and the stranger who is in your gates. For [in] six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Shabbat day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11))

Objectifying Life: Overcoming Stress

וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה כֵּן, אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, מִקֹּצֶר רוּחַ, וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה

And Moses spoke so unto the children of Israel; but they hearkened not unto Moses for impatience of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

Rashi explains:
"Whoever is under stress, his wind and his breath are short, and he cannot take a deep breath."

But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, "Behold, the children of Israel did not hearken to me. How then will Pharaoh hearken to me, seeing that I am of closed lips?"

Rashi explains: How then will Pharaoh hearken to me This is one of the ten kal vachomer inferences mentioned in the Torah. — [I.e., inferences from major to minor, such as in this case. I.e., if, because of my speech impediment, the children of Israel, who have everything to gain by listening to me, did not listen to me, Pharaoh, who has everything to lose by listening to me, will surely not listen to me.]

Think about this kal vachomer. It makes no sense: Paroh was not under the same physical stress that the Jews were under, therefore why did Moshe say he would not listen to him?

Chazal say that the reason the Jews would not listen to Moshe was because they were spiritually stressed. They were Oved Avodah Zara. Therefore they were not open to hearing Moshe's word. So for sure, Paroh who considered himself a god, an idol, is spiritually closed off from listening to Moshe's spiritual messages.

Consider:

Some people are physically stressed.
Some people are mentally stressed.
Some people are emotionally stressed.
Some people are spiritually stressed.

We may find ourselves in a narrow, constrictive, constrained place. Places like that limit our ability to hear and listen to spiritual messages.

Recognizing that it is not we who are incapable of hearing the message, but rather the circumstance will help us transcend our circumstances.

The Goal is to objectify our place in life. Our place in relationships.


Relating to Ourselves...

Relating to Others...

&

Relating to Hashem...

Oral Torah I

"Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe Leimor"

The most common Pasuk in all of Chumash.

Rabbeinu Bechayeh points out:

Vayidaber - Torah Shebiksav

Leimor - Torah Shel Baal Peh

Every conversation Moshe had with Hashem is split into two parts.

Part of it was written down and forms the Written Torah.

The other part is relayed orally and becomes a part of Oral Torah.

A fraction of what Hashem told Moshe is actually written down.

But it is all Torah.

And it was all told to Moshe...

Who taught it to Yehoshua and the Zekeinim [elders]...

Who taught it to the Elders to the Prophets...

Who taught it to and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly...

Who Taught it to...

Who Taught it to... [70x]

Who Taught it to ME and YOU.

PS Feel free to email me and I will send you a list of transmission...

Environmental Influence

דרך ברייתו של אדם להיות נמשך בדעותיו ובמעשיו אחר ריעיו וחביריו ונוהג כמנהג אנשי מדינתו לפיכך צריך אדם להתחבר לצדיקים ולישב אצל החכמים תמיד כדי שילמוד ממעשיהם ויתרחק מן הרשעים ההולכים בחשך כדי שלא ילמוד ממעשיהם

The Rambam famously states (Hilchos Deos 6:1) that a fundamental aspect of human nature is to be drawn after the mores and behaviors of the prevailing culture. As such, one must exercise extreme care and thought when choosing an environment to reside in, for it is a critical element in influencing his values and lifestyle. Therefore, choosing to reside among righteous and wise individuals will aid one in his pursuit of all that is worthy and good, and distancing himself from those that are evil will help him avoid the pitfalls that come from such an environment.

Consider the following:

A. Noach among the people of his entire generation.

B. Avraham Avinu among the people of Ur Kasdim

C. Yosef HaTzadik among the people of Mitzrayim

D. Moshe Rabbeinu among the people of the house of Pharaoh


Question to ponder:

At which point - if ever - does the environment one finds himself in cease to exist as a magnetic force, ever attracting and ever goading an individual to conform to its behaviors, only to then transform into a repelling force, guiding the individual away from the prevailing norms and strengthening one's opposing convictions ever more?

Belief in the Individual

וְשָׁמְעוּ, לְקֹלֶךָ; וּבָאתָ אַתָּה וְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל-מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, וַאֲמַרְתֶּם אֵלָיו יְ-וָה אֱלֹ-ֵי הָעִבְרִיִּים נִקְרָה עָלֵינוּ, וְעַתָּה נֵלְכָה-נָּא דֶּרֶךְ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְנִזְבְּחָה לַי-וָה אֱלֹ-ֵינוּ.

And they will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, 'The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now, let us go for a three days' journey in the desert and offer up sacrifices to the L-rd, our G-d.'

הָעִבְרִיִּים- The Jews. The Hebrews.
Avraham was called Avraham haIvri.

His children are called Ivrim.

Notice that Ivrim here is spelled with 2 yuds.

Every single Jew represents the entire nation. Each one of us has the courage to uphold and carry on the nation's mission - alone, against then whole world.

Moshe is telling Pharao:

The spirit that lives in me,
that moves me to speak,
lives in each member of the nation.

Down to the last man.

The spirit, the courage, and the determination of the whole are reflected in each and every one of its members.

See Rav Hirsch for an elaboration of this theme.

G-d's Empathy

And Hashem said,

"I have surely seen [rao raisi] the pain of my people who are in Egypt..."

Sympathy and Empathy. 2 visions. Hashem sees 2 separate things.

Sympathy is seeing and feeling bad. Empathy is feeling what you are seeing.

Seeing with eyes of another. Hearing with the ears of another.
Feeling with the heart of another.

Hashem saw. He sympathized. And He empathized. He heard the cries of their hearts.
He saw their physical pain and "felt" their emotional pain.

"Vihalachta Bedrachaiv."

Let us Walk in His Ways!

[Based on Ibn Ezra]

"Of Burning Bushes and the IDF"

"And the Angel of Hashem appeared to Moshe in th flame of fire that was burning the Bush; and he saw that the bush was not being consumed by the fire."
[Parshas Shemos 3:2]

Rashi points out that the burning bush was a burning bush. G-d appeared to Moshe from a burning bush. If I were writing the Torah I would have had G-d appear from a burning Sequoya or a burning Cyprus tree.

Why a measly little bush?

Chizkuni explains that metaphorically speaking, the bush encircled by fire is representative of the Jewish people who were within the land of Egypt, enslaved by the Egyptian people. But they were not consumed by the flame of the enemy.

Alternatively, Sforno says the angel of Hashem represents the tzadikim, the righteous Jews, encircled by the bush, namely, the wicked Egyptians. The bush was burning. The Egyptians will suffer through ten plagues. The Righteous Jews will be unaffected by the fire of the plagues. They will not be consumed.

Hashem appears in a bush, for when His people are suffering, he cries with us. He "lowers" His own "Self" to join us here on Earth. He meets us here.

I pray that the righteous Jews of today, encircled by the flame that is the Arab countries, not be consumed.

Maaseh Avos Siman Libanim

The Role of the Shepherd: Introspection versus AntiSocial[ization]?

"UMoshe Haya Roeh Tzon."

There seems to be a notion of shepherding being the vocation of choice amongst our ancestors.

Hevel. Avraham. Yitzchak. Yaakov. The Shivtei Kah. Moshe. Shmuel. Shaul. Dovid.

They were all Shepherds.

"UMoshe Haya Roeh Tzon."
Moshe was a shepherd of sheep.

Rabbeinu Bachyeh explains the phenomenon.

There are two distinct advantages of living apart form the community.

Firstly, the danger of living amongst other people is exposing oneself to a plethora of iniquity.

Lashon Hara. Rechilus. Hatred. Jealousy. Revenge.

Many sins need a community to commit them.

On the other hand, there is a positive way of looking at living in the desert with the sheep.

One is not distracted by the physicality of society. The opportunity for meditation, concentration and "hisbodidus" is ripe. Thinking about Hashem. Thinking about one's self in relation to Hashem. Thinking about one's self in relation to one's role in the world.

Thinking. Just thinking.

Who has a chance to think anymore?

Will the Real Me Please Stand UP?

One of the more commonly asked questions about the notion of institutionalized prayer is -

Isn't Tefila a personal expression between me and Hashem? Why pray from a Siddur?

Rashi and Rav Hirsch point out a foundational truth about the nature of Tefila.

פלל is one of the words used in Yaakov's blessing to Yosef.

There are 2 types of mixtures. לערב is to mix in a way that the 2 substances mix with each other and appear to be one new creation. However, the compound may be split back into its original 2 forms via a process. Contrast בלל [like בלבול] is a mixture that once formed creates a new substance that cannot be separated. פלל and בלל are interchangeable.

One of the terms for prayer is להתפלל. The idea is that when I pray I am not expressing a prayer of a personal nature. The "Direction of Influence" is actually one of an external to internal direction. Prayer, specifically, the prayer of the siddur, holds the keys to the eternal truths that exist outside of us. When I pray, I am actually changing myself by ingesting these truths. This change is one that is more of a mixture that changes the essence of who I am. It is not a facade of 1 element that is in truth 2 separate entities.

It is the New Me.

Life or Death? Vayechi II

There are 2 parshios that really are about death. Both of them have the term Chaim or life in its title.

Parshas Chayei Sarah is about her death.

Parshas VaYechi is about Yaakov's farewell to his family. Again, it is about his leaving the world and not living in it....

Why is this so?

Hint: Think about when life has value and what constitutes REAL life...

What do you think?

Vayechi

Yakov blesses Yosef's children: "May (God) bless the boys, and let them carry my name, along with the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. May they increase like fish in the land." [Gen. 48:16]

3 Questions about this blessing.

(1) Since when do angels bless people? Is not Hashem the source of all blessing?

[note that the verse previous to this one references Hashem]

(2) Fish lay thousands of eggs during their lifespan. Rodents and insects do as well. What is the significance of fish? Why were Joseph's children blessed to be like fish?

(3) The phrase "increase like fish in the land" is odd. Fish live in water and not on the land? What kind of blessing is this?

see http://www.ravkooktorah.org/VAYEHI59.htm for 1 approach to these questions.

See also Rav Hirsch [Chumash] who shares significant ideas to help solve these questions.