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by Daneal Weiner
email: daneal@actcom.co.il
This is my bar mitzvah parsha so I got a little carried away. Either that or; one email I received asked me to make my dvar torah longer!!! He said he reads it while the Rabbi speaks and he's still catching the last 10 minutes. Hey, this ones for you! In the last few paragraphs of last weeks dvar Torah it was mentioned that Yaakov established the two sons of Yoseph as two of the tribes. There is a vort on this which I have to share with you. When Yaakov feels his days are drawing near he asks Yoseph to swear to bury him in the Ma'aras Hamachpelah, the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Chevrone. The Torah then says "It was after these things..." meaning that time has past and Yoseph is told that Yaakov is not well. Yoseph grabs his 2 sons and runs to Yaakov. Yaakov bless his grandsons and makes them 2 new members of the Tribes of Israel (48:5). Then he tells Yoseph the reason he didn't bury Rachel in Chevrone was because Hashem wanted her buried along that road (48:7 according to Rashi). This way she would be able to pray with her future children when they are exiled south, out of Yerushalayim and pass her kever. Now Yaakov tells him this??? When Yaakov wanted Yoseph to take his remains from Egypt to Israel and made him swear because he knew Yoseph was going to have a hard time asking Pharoah for permission, then he doesn't say anything. But later, when Yaakov is blessing his grandsons, now it's time to mention about Rachel? The gevaldik answer has to do with a Midrash brought in parshas Vayaitsay when Rachel asks Leah for her dudaim, a gift Reuven just gave her. The sisters make a trade. The Midrash has on this, "Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says, 'She lost and she lost. She gained and she gained. Leah lost the dudaim and gained tribes and burial with Yaakov. Rachel gained the dudaim and lost tribes and burial with Yaakov.'" It's now 50 years later. Yaakov asks Yoseph to be buried in Chevrone. Yoseph knows that his mother lost the right to be buried there. Nothing to say. A later time, just before Yaakov's death, and he tells Yoseph his two sons will be to 2 tribes of Israel. Hey! Rachel just gained a tribe!! Maybe she did deserve to be buried with Yaakov as well?!? Yaakov knows it is now necessary to tell Yoseph he buried his mother where he did for it was Hashem's desire he do so! Maybe not just His desire. As Rav Moshe Shternbach points out, Leah prayed for a husband and she was buried with her husband. Rachel prayed for children and she was buried with her children. The last few words of last weeks parsha was Yoseph being put in a coffin. This weeks <><><><><> Parshas Shmos <><><><><> opens with, "And these are the names..." The Sha'arai Aharon brings Rishonim who say it is from these neighboring verses that we learn to have the deceased's name indicated on their resting place. The whole world may be doing it but they saw it here first! By the way, the Hebrew for coffin is "arone" which is also the word for a closet or cabinet. Just as we use a closet/cabinet for temporary storage of things we will take out again, so to does Hashem use the coffin as a temporary storage for when He takes us out again at the resurrection of the dead! But I digress. 1:8> "And there arose a new king over Egypt that did not know Yoseph." In verse 1:10 Pharoah "says to his people, 'Let us deal wisely with them.'" Rashi explains, being that soon Pharoah is going to try killing the Jewish males through water, that Pharoah knows G-d promised not to destroy the world with a flood. My point is, Pharoah knows about the flood 800 years earlier but he doesn't know about Yoseph from Egypt's own history 60 years earlier?? Perhaps this is what leads Rashi to say on verse 1:8 that Pharoah made himself as if he did not know Yoseph, meaning he owed nothing to the Jews. The whole world may be doing it but they saw it here first. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch has a very interesting explanation for the above verses. He said there was a government takeover. A small, powerful, outside force came in and overthrew the Egyptian government. Rav Hirsch bases his interpretation on the Torah telling us Pharoah "says to his people". This would also explain the verse in the middle (1:9) where Pharoah complains the Jews are grater in number and stronger then they are! This can't be an Egyptian born Pharoah comparing the Jews to his Egyptians. Now the problem is for this self imposed Pharoah to get the Egyptian public on his side so they won't rebel against him. The answer- a scapegoat! Rav Hirsch says this is the first case of classic anti-Semitism. Groundless hatred for political gain. On High, the hatred was not groundless at all. As soon as Yaakov died his descendants feared they would not have the same influence and left their ghetto safe haven of Goshen and began assimilating into Egyptian society. It was only a matter of time before they were worshipping idols. The proof of the assimilation is in Pharaoh's having to say "let us deal wisely with them". Due to our social acceptance, the new Pharoah was going to need a way of sifting us out. Frightening, Rav Hirsch's foreshadowing, since late 19th century German Jewry could not possibly imagine early 20th century's civilized man. A small force, one man. An outside force- a school dropout and a blue color worker- the antithesis of everything educated and cultured which Germany stood for. He overtook the government and he 'dealt wisely' with us. 50 years ago or 3350 years ago, such implausible events could only occur under the specific direction of the Master of the Universe. Pharoah wanted to destroy the Jewish savior, with water. The first thing Pharoah did was to tax the Jews. The word for 'taxes' is 'misim'. Taking out the letter samech from the middle, we're left with mem, yud, mem, 'mayim'- water!! I noticed that myself! Don't ask me what it means but it's too close to leave behind! As for some real Torah, the next thing Pharoah had the Jews do was build cities, Pitom and Ramses. "Pitom" means 'suddenly'. After it would be built, it would suddenly be gone. The Midrash tells us Pitom is from 'Pi Tehom'- the mouth of the deep. And Ramses is from 'mitrases' which I think means 'vibrate' The buildings would suddenly begin to shake and then the ground would swallow them up. The meaning behind these names is Pharoah trying to break the spirit of the Bnei Yisrael by having them fruitlessly build cities which would inevitable collapse before their very eyes. If he succeeded at that it wouldn't matter if the savior was born. I'm sure you all know the little ditty about John Brown's body a smolderin' in the grave. John Brown was an abolitionist from early American history. He managed to seize control of an arsenal in Harpers Ferry,,,,,,Virginia, I think. (It's been a while.) His expectation was that as soon as word was out, slaves would come running from all directions to grab weapons and fight for their freedom. He did not anticipate their broken spirit. Alone he could do very little. John Brown was eventually arrested and hung. But I digress. If you will talk to your local neighborhood land prospector, he will tell you that for your building to stand firm you need a strong dry foundation on which to build. What can cause your building to, pitom, collapse? To high a water content in the foundation. Next Pharoah ordered the midwives to kill the males on the birthing stool. He gave them signs, indications as to whether the fetus was a boy or girl. All thought, technically speaking, the expectant mother's 'water' had broken, Pharoah is still holding true to his instrument of attack. When this failed, all that was left was throwing the male infants into the Nile. This caused Moshe Rabbeinu to be raised in Pharaoh’s very own home! Only the King of kings can take a decree of destruction and turn it into the very salvation of that which is to be destroyed. Blessed are You Hashem Who straightens the bent! There is a remarkable psychological lesson in this weeks parsha. Not that there isn't in every one but this one I know about. When Moshe was born it says that his mother saw he was good and hid him. Rashi says on 'good' that the house was filled with light. The Kli Yakar says the light was the 'Ohr Haganuz'- the Hidden Light which G-d created on day one and hid for the future. When Yocheved, Moshe's mom, sensed the hidden light she took the message to hide her son. The question is, what mother wouldn't hide her son?? Who needs an excuse to protect the lives of one of their children?? Yocheved saw he was good and hid him. And if she saw he was average she would have called the Egyptians to come get him? Of course not! The lesson is how powerful the mind is to even sabotage the actions of even saving ones own child's life. When Yoseph was 22 years in Egypt, before Yaakov come down, everyone asked why he didn't send Yaakov some kind of message? Or try to escape for that matter? Egypt was a remarkable place. A powerful and remarkable place. Yoseph couldn't send a message. He couldn't escape! Alcatraz boasted it but you heard it hear first!!! So when Pharoah sends out a decree that they will kill every male Jew, it's a done deal. This doesn't mean mother's didn't try to hide their children but that their efforts were sabotaged by their belief that no matter what they did it wasn’t going to be successful. Only when Yocheved saw that Moshe was good did she tell herself that THIS one was different. THIS one had to saved at all costs. THIS one broke the helplessness which undermined every other effort! So much so that when the Torah says that she couldn't hide him any more, when she tried absolutely every which way, she still did not give up! She still tried something else!! She put Moshe in a basket and put dropped him in the Nile! Now if you think about that...all over Egypt, Egyptians are coming to the Nile. Not just to kill infants but for every other thing that they used the Nile for. For drinking, fishing, laundering, watering, worshipping...and here comes this little basket floating down stream. "Hey, Sahid. Look at that basket. You think maybe there's a baby in that basket?" "There you go again, Swaheemee! You and your crazy ideas!" This is only just occurring to me as I'm typing. This is what saved Moshe Rabbeinu!?!? What on earth was going on over there? It can certainly be said that the greatest efforts or the most foolish are all meaningless because everything is up to G-d. Still, the Torah doesn't sound like Yocheved tried just any desperate act. It seems she had some specific intention. Ask around. If anyone comes up with something, let me know. I'll do the same. We do know that while Moshe was floating down stream, his sister Miriam followed him from a distance to see (2:4) "mah yai'aseh lo"- what would be with him. The Chasam Sofer says that we are told Miriam's reward for this act was that Bnei Yisrael waited for her in the desert when she had Tsara'as, inaccurately translated as leprosy. A Midrash tells us that another reward was for her to lead the women in song after the splitting of the sea, after Moshe and the men sang "Ahz Yashir". The Chasam Sofer asks, what does one have to do with the other? There is little we know of Hashem's system of reward and punishment. Only what He chooses to reveal to us. We know the idea of 'midah k'neged midah'- measure for measure. We see it all through the Torah. Right here, under my nose, I said that Pharoah wants to get the Jews through water because he thinks G-d's punishment, measure for measure will be hampered by His promise not to flood the earth again. Pharaoh doesn't realize G-d said He wouldn't flood the world. Drowning a nation is doable. Another insight we have is in a number of places including the 10 commandments where it says, (20:5-6) "...a zealous G-d Who visits the sins of the father upon children to the third and fourth generations, for those who hate Me; but Who does kindness for thousands of generations for those who love Me and observe My commandments." There is a general principle that when a plural is mentioned without a number it means 2, the minimum plural number, i.e.: two thousand generations. So we have punishment to the 4th and reward to the 2000th. That's a 1:500 ratio. Punishment is 1 to 1 for sinning and reward is 500 to 1 for the good deed. Now the Chasam Sofer's question is a little bigger. What is the measure for measure of Miriam's reward and where is the 500 to 1? First we have to know what Miriam did. She went/waited to see what would be with Moshe. How long? A Midrash and a Mishnah in Sotah says that she spent 1 hour. We can hear Bnei Yisrael waiting for her when she has tsara'as as a fitting reward. They waited a week. How many hours are in a week? 24 x 7 = 168. Woh! A long way from 500! Good news! Tosofos on the Mishnah in Sotah says that it wasn't a full hour Miriam waited but a small hour. The Chasam Sofer says Tosofos is referring to a myl. A measure of distance and time. It takes a myl of time to walk a myl in distance. He says it is even alluded to in the verse, "Miriam followed him from a distance to see 'mah yai'aseh lo'." The first letters of these three Hebrew words spell out the word myl. So to figure out how much the pay back was when Bnei Yisrael waited, we need to know how many myl are in a day. Good news! A Gemorah in Pesachim says that Bnei Yisrael were able to walk 40 myl a day! 40 x 7 = 280. Woh! Still to small! Good news! Not only did a pillar of cloud lead Bnei Yisrael by day. There was also a pillar of fire leading them by night! So in a 24 hour period they could put in 80 myl!!! Super! 80 x 7 = 560! Darn shame! Good news! Shabbos! Can't travel on Shabbos! Take off a days worth of myl. 560 - 80 = 480! Still in the ball park but not batting 500 yet. Good news! Remember when the brothers left the Viceroy, Yoseph and we said it was Shabbos morning? (Parshas Mikaits) So there is some travel on Shabbos! But as we saw it is limited to the 'techum Shabbos.' How far is allowed? The brothers stopped 2000 amos outside of the city limits but this is actually a Rabbinical injunction. According to the Torah, the 'techum Shabbos' is 12 myl. No one would walk that distance for fear of transgressing Shabbos so 11 myl is the most Bnei Yisrael would go. So 480 + 11 = 491. Man o' schevits! We're 9 short!!! Great news!!! There was a second reward given to Miriam! Leading the women in song. The words of Miriam's song are, (15:21) "Shiru l'Hashem ki gah'oh gah'ah soos v'rochvoh rahmah vayam!" The Hebrew for 'word' is 'mylah'! This song is 9 mylim long!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! going for 500 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....! My Rav, Rav Osher Reich said the Chasam Sofer would think of these things in-between 'aliyahs' of the Torah reading, as the next man would be called to the Torah. This explains how when the Chasam Sofer was asked how he became so great, he answered, "In 5 minutes." He never let a '5 minutes' go by without flipping open a book and learning what ever he could in those few available moments. Speaking of flipping open a book, Rav Wolfson explains that The book of Shmos IS the book of names. "And these are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt..." It was only a week ago that we mentioned these very names!? Why say them again? There is a Gemorah Chullin which asks, where is Moshe alluded to in the Torah? How about the 1000 times it's mentioned outright? They need a hint? The first thing we're hit with in Shmos is the slavery of Bnei Yisrael. Not just servitude but severe oppression! Building buildings with no substance! Innocent babies thrown into the Nile! More killed so Pharoah can bath in their blood!! Being placed into the walls as bricks!!! Who's in charge here?!? Hold these thoughts. 1:15,16 > "The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, the name of one Shifra and the name of the second was Puah. And he said, 'In your assisting...if it is a son you shall kill him..." What's question comes to mind from these two verses? It says, "The king of Egypt said...And he said" Torah suddenly have a stutter? 1:18 > "The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said, 'Why have you done this thing and have kept the boys alive?'" One more time?. "Why have you done this thing AND have kept the boys alive?" Sounds like Pharoah is questioning the midwives on two things!? And it was only a moment ago that we have Pharoah speaking twice! What's the missing ingredient? Both the Chasam Sofer and the Bnei Yissaschar agree that in fact Pharaoh gave two orders!!! The first thing Pharoah commanded was that these two maidservants were to be named ‘Shifra' And 'Puah'! We know them to be Yocheved and Miriam. The wife of the current leader of the Jewish nation and her daughter. Pharoah is calling on the two most righteous woman and asking them to kill Jews? He must be crazy! What Pharoah, the king idolater knows is that everything is a channel for energy, especially a name! A name is the essence of a person. Their purpose on earth. The reason for their existence. Nothing is more dear to the soul then it's name. When someone is, G-d forbid, unconscious or in a coma the doctor shouts out the name to induce a response. Any good sales course will tell the future seller to mention the customers name as often as possible to suck 'em in, I mean to gain rapport. Now there are good names and there are bad names. Every book on child rearing will warn parents not to give their child a 'bad name'. Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Droopy... Do so and be guilty of making the child that which he/she is labeled! The whole world may be conscious of it but they saw it here first. Pharoah knew who he was talking to. And intentionally so! If his plan was to work, he had to have midwives whom the Jews trusted. You hear a maidservant killed the last 50 boys she delivered you'd think twice about calling her up. If its Yocheved and Miriam, who else would you call? But Pharoah had to crack through their shell of sanctity to win them over. The first thing he said was for them to be called by Egyptian names, Shifra and Puah. If your looking to channel some bad energy through a name, I'd say an Egyptian name would deliver more junk for your drachma. After giving these treif names a time to water down the foundation of these two women, then Pharoah calls them again and this second time he said to them to kill the males. The same explanation applies to verse 1:18 and Pharaoh’s words, 'Why have you done this thing AND have kept the boys alive? The first half regarding the names and the second half regarding the obvious. Another thing about names. How is Shimon the Righteous a man who was the High Priest in the Temple for 40 years and, yet, Shimon HaPorets was the head of the Biryonim, Jewish zealots against the Rabbis and the Romans who caused senseless bloodshed before the fall of the second Temple. Two Shimons, and one served the Jews and one killed Jews? If a name defines a person than how are they so different? Now Rav Wolfson introduces the idea of 'tsirufim'- combinations. Although both Shimons have the same letters they have different combinations which describe their individual essence. Like taking the same elements of the periodic table but bonding them together in different ways. A different result each time. The science world discovered it but they saw it here first! Last week we had the names of the tribes of Israel. But those names had the 'tsirufim' of Jews going into exile. Now we have seemingly the same names again but this time their tsirufim make them Jews on the brink of redemption. When Moshe speaks with G-d at the burning bush, he asks G-d, "If they ask Your name, what shall I say?" Which 'tsirufim' of the ineffable letters is taking them out? Is it a temporary redemption or the final one? G-d lets him know cryptically that it is not the final redemption. G-d breaks up His response over a couple verses. If He told Moshe outright the pain would have been to great for him to bear. Another idea about names, the first time a person appears in the blueprint of the universe, the Torah, that is where the roots of their name are planted. Sure the Gemorah knows the first time Moshe's name appears in the Torah but is that where he is rooted? Or is he alluded to anywhere else? The answer is back in Breishis (6:3) "...b'shagam who basar..." 'B'shagam' has the same gematria as 'Moshe'. These words mean, "since he is but flesh." Unlike other religious leaders who have been made into gods, Moshe is but flesh and blood. The end of the sentence? "...his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." The Torah has just introduced us to Noach. 3 verses later is a hint to Moshe. This is where Moshe's roots are. And if you think about it, Noach had trouble with water. Moshe had trouble with water. Noach was saved by an ark. Moshe was saved by an ark. The daughter of Pharoah who pulled Moshe out of the water, her name was Batya, which in Hebrew is the same letters as 'tayva'- ark. G-d willing, in a few weeks, if the Mashiach hasn't come, we'll see how Moshe makes the reparation for Noach's/his soul. And finally the most pressing questions, what about the oppression and all the innocent infants killed? Who's in charge here??? G-d's in charge, of course! "And these are the names of the Children of Israel..." And all these names have there purpose here on earth, even if it is to live but for a few days, hours, moments. The Zohar explains there was a generation of people who were decreed to die by a flood. For some, their sins were so great that one drowning wasn't enough! We have criminals in jail for multiple life sentences, due to their crimes. We can only hope each life sentence adds 15 minutes before they're paroled. G-d's system is a little more accurate. The babies thrown into the Nile were a reincarnation and a final reparation for souls who were killed by Noach's flood. There was a generation of people who banded together to build a tower to do battle with G-d! The Torah says with bricks and mortar they built. All that energy fruitlessly put into building with no substance. That was of their free will. Now in Egypt they fruitlessly build against their will. Also, the Torah tells us, with bricks and mortar. The Midrash says that by this Tower of Bavel, should a brick fall from the scaffold they wept but should a person fall he was easily replaced. Now in Egypt the bricks also have more value then the lives of the builders. More recent of our holy Sages have said that the Jews senselessly killed in the massacres of Tach v'Tat where the souls of those Biryonim who cause the senseless killing of Jews of the second Temple era. "And these are the names of the Children of Israel..." Only since the Holocaust do we have unfortunate Jews with even more unfortunate education asking where was G-d during the Holocaust? As if no evil ever befell the Jewish people before 1940. G-d was where He always was. Going through his Book of Names. The same book which begins with us at the lowest levels of existence, raises us to the level of Mt. Sinai, builds with us the Mishkan, and who's very last words tell of the Presence of Hashem's Shchinah resting in our midst in all our travels. In all our trials. In all our tribulations. And in all our tragedies. As I mentioned last week, the name of this time of the year is Shovevim, spelled by the first letters of the first 6 chapters of the Book of Names. The same 6 chapters which bring us to Mt. Sinai. Shovevim is not just a name. It's an essence. A power implanted in time and space which we can tap into even today. Especially today. Our great grandparents used to take on fasting during this time. Put aside extra time for learning. They would get up early to say Tehillim before davening. The Bnei Yissaschar points out the last letters of the first 5 words of Shmos are the letters which spell 'Tehillim'. I heard Rav Mordechai Isbee say that when the Jews entered Israel, not only did they merit coming in but the present occupants filled their measure of wickedness and deserved to be kicked out. There is no question that our enemies are filling their share of wickedness. We have to fill our share of merit! What better way than to tap into the power of Shovevim and have an awakening Shabbot Shalom. |
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