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?