Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wake-up Calls
11:43 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav
Moshe Sternbuch
WAKE-UP CALLS
“And so
that you may relate in the ears of your son and grandson how I made a mockery
of the Egyptians” (10:2)
Paroh
made himself into a laughingstock amongst the members of his own nation by
shouting "Hashem is the righteous one and I and the nation are wicked” one
moment, and then, as soon as the plague stopped declaring: "Who is Hashem
that I should listen to him?"
Similarly,
in times of distress, or on occasions such as Yom Kippur, we are quick to pray with
great sincerity to Hashem, making all sorts of vows if we are saved from our woes,
and then, once they disappear, forgetting about the vows, or diluting them with
various rationalizations. Even if we stick to our promises, we tend to go back
to our daily routine as if nothing has happened, until the next misfortune strikes
rachmono litzlon, and so on and so forth in a never-ending cycle.
The
Torah tells us that we have a duty to tell our children about this fickleness
on the part of Paroh and to stress to them the importance of making fundamental
and lasting changes in our lives following divine wake-up calls, lest we become
guilty of the same pattern of behavior as Paroh.
redemption
“There
was total darkness in the entire land of Egypt” (10:22)
Rashi at the beginning of parashas
Beshalach (13:18) says that 4/5 of the Jews died during the three days of
darkness. Since 600,000 men left Egypt, this means that 2 million Jews died
during the plague of darkness, and this figure does not include women and
children, so that an estimated 10 million people died altogether.
How could so many yidden
have failed to reach the required spiritual levels after having witnessed eight
unprecedented supernatural plagues during which the Egyptians received so much
retribution? One would have thought that these must have made a profound
impression on them.
In a period of open miracles
Hashem demands much more from us. The people who died were not outright
heretical resho’im, but they failed to sufficiently internalize Hashem’s
Providence, so that in light of the miracles they had experienced they were
judged strictly and found worthy of being punished.
By contrast, in periods when Hashem’s
Providence is less apparent and the wicked appear to flourish, the reward for
those who remain strong in their faith is multiplied manifold. The Arizal states
that during such periods of hester ponim levels of avodas Hashem,
which in previous generations could only be attained with great effort, can be
attained much more easily.
Chazal tell us that in the future and final
redemption, we will experience miracles surpassing even those we experienced in
Egypt. Hence, people assume that even completely wicked people will repent
during that time. However, the Brisker Rov zt”l
told Rav Sternbuch this is not the case, and only those who constantly
contemplate the wonders of Hashem now will be able to recognize then that He is
the Creator, because the evil inclination acts in tandem with the miracles, and
it requires effort on our part to overcome it.
Spiritual treasure
“Speak,
please in the ears of the people, and let each man borrow from his friend” (11:2).
Rashi: I ask you to warn them about
this, so that the righteous man, Avrohom, will not say He fulfilled His promise
“and they will enslave them and oppress them”, but He did not fulfill with regard
to them “afterwards they will go forth with great possessions”.
This chazal quoted by Rashi
is difficult to understand. If Hashem promised Avrohom that they will go forth
with great possessions then surely He would keep this promise irrespective of
what Avrohom will say.
"Great possessions" in
the plain sense refers to material wealth, but, in truth, material possessions
are not a blessing, but the reverse, as Moshe told Hashem: "because of the
gold and silver which you heaped upon them, they made the Golden Calf” (see Masseches
Berochos 5b). Hashem, to Whom
everything is revealed, was going to give them a great spiritual treasure instead,
namely the Torah and mitzvos, which are of eternal value, but so
that Avrohom and his followers would not say that Hashem did not literally
fulfill His promise that they will go forth with great possessions, Hashem said
that each man should borrow gold and silver from his Egyptian neighbor, so that
His promise would also be fulfilled in the literal sense.
discrediting the righteous
“About
the time of midnight” (11:4). Rashi: “About midnight, either
[slightly] before or after, and he did not say ‘at midnight’ lest Paroh's astrologers
make a mistake and say, ‘Moshe is a liar’!"
By this
stage Moshe Rabbeinu had already overturned nature no less than nine
times by means of the plagues throughout Egypt, and yet Moshe was still
concerned that if the plague of the firstborn would appear to commence one
moment before or after the designated time, Paroh would say triumphantly that
Moshe was a liar and all the previous miracles were one big hoax. In the middle
of all their anguish and the death of the firstborns, Moshe was worried that
they would still not lose the opportunity of "discrediting" him and
Hashem.
Deep
inside, the wicked recognize the truth and the vacuousness of their idol
worship and materialism. However, in order to grant legitimacy to their way of
life, when faced with a holy righteous personality whose entire life is devoted
to Hashem, they endeavor to find even a miniscule alleged defect in order to
magnify it and declare that person and everything he stands for to be a lie.
It was
the same with Homon. The possuk says “Yet all this is worth nothing to
me, so long as I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate". Given
that all the other king's servants were bowing down to him, one would think
that Homon would be totally unconcerned about the actions of an insignificant
Jew, so what is the meaning of this possuk? Homon knew that all the
obsequiousness demonstrated by the others was completely false, and that the
only man of truth was Mordechai. Hence he was afraid of him, and felt that all the
"honor" accorded to him was completely valueless as long as there was
someone representing the truth. That was the cause of his fury, which led him
to attempt to destroy the whole nation to whom Mordechai belonged. Following
nine plagues, the Egyptians too had no doubts that Hashem controlled the world,
and that all their idol worship was false. They were therefore likely to go out
of their way to attempt to prove that Moshe was a liar.
Toras Eretz Yisroel
“This
month shall be reckoned to you as the beginning of months” (12:2)
The
Ramban says that the names of our months (Nisan, Iyar etc.) originated in the
Babylonian exile, and we continued using them upon our return to Eretz
Yisroel. Why did we, in fact, continue
using these non-Jewish names?
Some
heretics in golus argued that all or some of the mitzvos only
needed to be observed in Eretz Yisroel. Zionists, on the other hand,
argued that the observance of the Torah was restricted to chutz looretz serving
as a bulwark against assimilation, whereas here in our homeland we should
forget our “galuti” past, and simply adopt nationalism. By contrast, the
holy chachomim at the end of the Babylonian exile knew that the period
of the second Bais Hamikdosh would not yet constitute the final
redemption, and we would still have to undergo a further period of exile.
They
therefore wanted to create a link between the period of exile and the period of
our return to Eretz Yisroel, so that the masses should not think that
now that we had returned to our homeland, anything had changed in terms of our
connection to Torah, and all the takonos enacted in Bovel, and, of
course, subsequently, the Babylonian Talmud, are of central importance for all
generations both in chutz lo’oretz and in Eretz Yisroel.
private acts of Kiddush
Hashem
“The
blood will be for you as a sign on the houses” (12:13).
Rashi: “’As a sign to you’ but not as a sign to others [Mechilta].
Blood
signifies mesirus nefesh (dedication and self-sacrifice). This Mechilta
does not mean to exclude acts of mesirus nefesh performed in front of
others, but should rather be taken as an injunction to also perform private
acts of Kiddush Hashem on a
day-to-day basis within the confines of our own homes to which no one is
witness, which the Rambam talks about (Yesodei Hatorah 5:10).
This takes place every time we overcome our evil
inclination by refraining from sin, performing a mitzvah, or performing it with fervor, and when we set
aside regular times for learning Torah and educating our children properly. In
other words, the sign, which is situated outside as it were, should always be
before us inside too, serving as a constant reminder of our duty to serve
Hashem with dedication and to refrain from sinning.
Eternal nation
“And it
will come to pass if your children say to you, ‘What is this service to you’?
You shall say, ‘It is the Pesach-offering to Hashem… And the people kneeled and
prostrated themselves’” (12:26-27). Mechilta: “the Jews
received evil tidings at this time, namely that the Torah would be forgotten
amongst the Jews in the future. Others state that they received good tidings,
namely that they would merit to see children and grandchildren.
According
to the Mechilta cited by Rashi below (13:5) the descendants in question refer
to wicked descendants, so how can these be termed good tidings?
The bad
tidings of which the Jews were informed were that there would be heretics in
every generation, and the good tidings were that that there would nevertheless be
continuity to the Jewish nation, with children and grandchildren continuing in
the path of Torah who would say this is the Pesach-offering to Hashem.
Throughout
the generations some of our erring brethren have attempted to disconnect the
link connecting the generations. They sought to "modernize" fellow
Jews by doing their utmost to estrange them from their parents and from the
values of previous generations for the sake of more "progressive"
values, such as the belief that we are better than our ancestors and that divine
values are subject to current philosophical, social or other theories.
It is only
logical that such attitudes will stem, in part, from the theory that our
ancestors were apes, instead of the holy beings, which they actually were. We
know that the further removed we are from ma’amad Har Sinai, the less
close we are to our original elevated spiritual status, but if one believes
merely in science and technology, then each succeeding generation will look
with disdain at their predecessors.
The
Torah is telling us that even if such aberrant views would be held by the
majority of the nation, they would still not succeed in uprooting its eternal
sanctity, which remains incapable of being contaminated. When the nation heard
these tidings, the people kneeled and prostrated themselves.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Internalizing the Makkos
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
TSimtsum
“I revealed
Myself to Avraham, to Yitzchok, and to Yaakov as e-l sha-dai, but My Name Hashem
[adnus] I did not make known to them” (6:3)
The
name Sha-day refers to Hashem's restriction of His greatness in this world which
enables us to recognize Him. Kabbalistic and chassidic books discuss the
concept of tsimtsum at great
length, but for us it is sufficient to know that neither mortal beings, nor
even angels, can comprehend Hashem's greatness. Even our forefathers, who
attained supreme levels, were only capable of grasping the Creator’s greatness
on the basis of what He in His wisdom allows a human being to understand.
Moshe Rabbenu, with whom Hashem spoke pe el pe, had the merit of
communicating with Hashem and recognizing Him on a level that was less clouded
by tsimtsum. Hashem taught Moshe that the main aspect of
Hashem's greatness is to be found in the shem havayo, which teaches
us that He wishes to suppress His anger and conduct the world with the trait of
mercy. Of course, not even Moshe Rabbenu could truly understand Hashem's greatness
- he could only see His back and not His “face” - but whatever he did
comprehend, on the basis of the middos taught to him by Hashem, surpassed the
levels of understanding attained by our forefathers.
TOrah and Eretz Yisroel
“I will
bring you to the land… and I will give it to you as a heritage” (6:8)
The
only other time the same word (morosho) is used in the Torah is in connection
with Torah: “The Torah that Moshe commanded us
is a heritage for the congregation of Yaakov”. Torah and Eretz
Yisroel are interdependent, because our right
to Eretz Yisroel is dependent on
complete observance of the mitzvos of the Torah.
Chazal say that whoever does not
mention bris and Torah in bentshing has not fulfilled his duty. Therefore, in the second brocho we thank
Hashem for the covenant which He has sealed in our flesh, and the Torah, which
He has taught us, and we conclude the brocho by blessing Hashem for the good
land which He has given us. This clearly shows that our rights to Eretz Yisroel are
dependent on observance of the bris and the Torah in general.
The reference to a covenant may also
be taken as an indication that Hashem concluded an agreement with us: if we
stick to our part of the bargain by observing the Torah, Hashem will ensure
that Eretz Yisroel will remain ours.
Yichus
“These are
the heads of the fathers' houses” (6:14)
The
young son of a Rebbe once lost a piece of paper containing his family tree,
which was packed with famous names, and he started crying. His mother comforted
him: "don't worry, your yichus will start with you!" In another
incident two friends were having an argument. One told the other: "You might
be a big talmid chachom, but I have an illustrious lineage”. His friend
retorted: "The difference between us is that your yichus ends with you, whereas mine, with the help
of Hashem, begins with me!
The heads of the
tribes did not consider it sufficient to be the descendants of the ovos hakedoshim, but wanted to become righteous in their own right. Similarly, every Jew
must know that although he traces his lineage back to Avrohom, Yitzchok and
Yaakov, it is up to him to become the head of a household in his own right, so
that his descendants will be proud to stem from him, as Yaakov said: "let
my name be named on them”.
Two different types of leaders
“That is
Aharon and Moshe”. Rashi: “In some places the Torah places Aharon before Moshe,
and in other places it places Moshe before Aharon, to tell us that they were
equal”. (6:26)
The
Torah states explicitly that Moshe was the greatest of prophets, so Rashi cannot
be referring to the level of prophecy. What Rashi rather means is that they
were equal in the sense that each one fulfilled the specific task which Hashem
had designated for him, and each one was equally indispensable and worthy of
hearing the Word of Hashem.
Aharon
was more closely connected with the nation, because he was involved in making
peace between fellow Jews, whereas the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu was
epitomized by the level of prophecy he attained, which was not matched before
or after his time. Similarly, in every generation we need leaders to
disseminate Torah, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, we also need leaders
who are able to fight battles to defend the Torah and to take care of all the needs
of the nation.
Maintaining free choice
“The
sorcerers of Egypt also did likewise with their magic art” (7:11)
The
chartumim managed to turn a stick into a snake and water into blood using
kishuf. We do not encounter the ability to perform such actions either before
or after this generation of yetzias mitzrayim. How was it possible?
During
periods of hester ponim (Hashem hiding His face from us, as it were) our
challenge is to see through the veneer of nature and recognize that Hashem runs
it, but when revealed miracles are prevalent and exceptional holy individuals such
as Moshe and Aharon are in our midst, Hashem grants great powers to the forces
of tumoh, such as the sorcerers
in Egypt and Bilom with his prophecies, in order to maintain the required
balance of free choice.
People
can then either choose to be misled by such forces or contemplate the actions
and writings of the righteous individuals of the generation who explain the
difference between the forces of holiness and those of tumoh, whose only
goals are to fulfill the desires of their hearts.
The power of One person
“And
the frogs came up” (8:2). Rashi: It was one frog, and they hit it, and
it split into many swarms of frogs.
When
a dog barks, others join in with him, and the croaking of one frog was probably
enough to trigger off a whole cacophony of discordant noises in Egypt. Just
like one frog can arouse countless others, so too are people able to arouse
others to shout senseless things together with them. Take the case of Hitler, one
unknown painter, who single-handedly used his rabble-rousing drivel to
brainwash a supposedly cultured and sophisticated nation.
Lehavdil,
both the Baal Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon, each of them working on
their own, had a revolutionary impact on Jewish life for all future generations.
Once again, although Hashem clearly guides historical phenomena, there is
always room for free choice, even on the national level.
HAsHgocho Protis
“So that
you will know that I am Hashem in the midst of the earth” (8:18)
The
first idol worshippers and philosophers throughout the generations argued that
although Hashem did create the world, He does not get involved with events on
earth. In Egypt this fallacy was put to rest for good.
The
Kiddush we recite on Friday night is not only a declaration that Hashem is
creator of the world (zecher lema’ase bereishis) but also that He
controls it with individual divine providence and is intensely involved in our
world: zecher liyetzias mitzrayim. By recollecting the Egyptian
experiences we reinforce our belief in hashgocho protis and by
refraining from work on Shabbos we demonstrate our belief that Hashem's
providence showers us with enough sustenance if we work only for six days, and
whatever has been set aside for us will reach us irrespective of when or how
much we work.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The Eternity of the Jewish Nation
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
History repeats itself
"A new king
arose over Egypt” (1:8) Rashi: “Rav and Shmuel: one says he was
really new, and the other one says: His decrees were new”
According to
the latter opinion, if these edicts were renewed, what were the contents of the
original edicts?
Initially,
Paroh wanted his Jewish subjects to become totally assimilated and he was
opposed to the territory of Goshen becoming a semi-autonomous kingdom. Thus, he
had suggested to “appoint them livestock officers over my cattle” (Bereishis
47:6). In other words: “Let us all become one nation and let them serve our
religion.” When this attempt failed, and our ancestors refused to change their
names, language or clothing, Paroh decided to enact laws that denied them any
rights as citizens, and emphasized that they were nothing more than slaves who
had nothing in common with their host nation. From our viewpoint, the initial
policy was no less a decree than the new one. It may have been sugarcoated, but
the policy was identical: to destroy our religious identity.
This scenario
repeated itself in Western Europe. When the ghetto walls were removed, large
numbers were enticed into assimilating into the surrounding non-Jewish culture
by being offered equal rights and opportunities. Unfortunately, this strategy
succeeded only too well in many countries, and after more than a century, the
country, which up to that time in many ways epitomized everything that Western
culture had to offer, renewed its edicts. Within a very short period, these new
laws resulted in crimes which by common consent outdid even the terrible
misdeeds of Paroh’s compatriots.
Gratitude
“Who did not know Yoseph” (ibid)
Paroh
did of course know about Yoseph. According to the second opinion, he knew him
personally, and even according to the first opinion, he must have heard about
everything he did for the benefit of the nation. However, when someone lacks
gratitude he pretends that his benefactor never did anything worthy in the
first place, in order to soothe his conscience. The medrash says that
someone who is ungrateful to a human benefactor will also deny that he is a
recipient of blessings from the Creator, and will eventually deny His very
existence, just like Paroh did.
By
contrast, we are enjoined not to despise the Egyptian since we were strangers
in his country (Devorim 23:8). Notwithstanding their persecutions, we are
still meant to feel gratitude towards them for hosting us in times of trouble
(Rashi ibid). The Torah puts such great emphasis on feeling gratitude
for others, so that we may come to feel gratitude towards the Creator, whose
kindness is limitless.
Protesting injustice
“Let us deal shrewdly with them” (1:10)
Chazal
tell us (Masseches Soto 11a) that Bilom who advised Paroh to kill the
Jews was punished by death at the sword, whereas Iyov, who kept quiet, was
punished by having to endure terrible suffering. Why did his mere silence
warrant such a severe punishment?
This
teaches us what a serious sin it is to hear about plans to commit mass murder
and remain silent and indifferent as if this matter is of no concern to him. They
say in the name of the Brisker Rov zt”l
that Iyov was punished measure for measure: he kept quiet thinking that
protesting would not help anyway, in return for which he suffered afflictions
which made him cry out even though he knew that his cries would not alleviate
his suffering.
When
a fellow Jew is suffering spiritually or materially, and we are able to
protest, but do not care enough to do so, being concerned solely with ourselves
and those closest to us, we must realize that this is a serious transgression. Similarly,
when decrees are enacted endangering our spiritual or material welfare we are
duty-bound to at least cry out and object to such measures, in order to show
that we care. Even if our protests are not crowned with success, we will at
least have done our bit.
expecting the redemption
“And his sister stood from afar, to see what would happen
to him” (2:4)
Chazal
say that because she waited here, Miriam was rewarded by having the whole
nation wait for her when she became a meztora after she spoke negatively
about Moshe Rabbeinu. On the face of it, she did little more than satisfy her
natural curiosity to see what would transpire with her baby brother, so why did
this act deserve such a great reward?
The first
thing we will be asked when we are judged is whether we expected (tzipisa)
the redemption. Rav Yechezkel Abramsky zt”l
noted that it does not say “kivisa leyeshuah,” because every believing
Jew hopes for the redemption. The question we will be asked is whether we
expected it the same way that we expect someone to arrive for an appointment at
a prearranged time. We don't hope that the person will arrive. We expect
him to. Hashem has not revealed a prearranged date for Moshiach to come,
but we are meant to hope and wait for him in eager anticipation and expectation
bechol yom sheyavo.
Similarly,
Miriam waited with the conviction that the yeshuah would come for her
brother. She did not know exactly how, but she harbored no doubts that he would
be saved, and merely waited to see what form the salvation would take.
Qualities of true leaders
“He struck the Egyptian” (2:12)
Rashi on the previous possuk states
that Paroh had appointed Moshe over his house, and yet when Moshe saw one Jew
hit another, he did not keep quiet and rationalize that his job was to deal
only with lofty royal matters and not with a dispute between two private Jews.
Instead, he risked his own life when he saw one Jew raise his hand at another.
No matter how
busy they are with public matters, our gedolim have always been
concerned for each and every individual. That is why they are called our
"shepherds", and why Moshe Rabbeinu and Dovid Hamelech practiced this profession. Each and every
sheep is equally dear in their eyes.
Rav Sternbuch once met someone who, when he
became a rov, went to see Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzhinsky zt”l.
Rav Chaim Ozer asked him what he felt
to be the duties of a communal rov. He answered with a whole list of tasks such
as maintaining appropriate kashrus standards. Rav Chaim Ozer responded that he
had forgotten the main thing: a rov must take care of widows and orphans.
Education
“Moshe consented to stay with the man, and he gave his
daughter Zipporah to Moshe” (2:21)
Chazal tell us
that Yisro agreed that Moshe would marry Zipporah on the condition that the
first son produced by their marriage would be handed over to idol-worship and Moshe
agreed. Moshe was punished for consenting to this when his grandson Micho
served idol worship.
The Gerer
Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel zt”l, explained that Yisro’s request is not to be understood literally. He
rather argued that it would not be feasible for Moshe to bring up all his sons
in an insular Torah-only environment. At least one son should be exposed to the
philosophy of idol worship, so that he would be able to refute it. Moshe
Rabbeinu was punished for agreeing to this request, because, as we saw
last week, it is a parent’s job to ensure that his children receive an
intensive Torah education. There will always be enough people to engage in da
me shetoshiv outreach activities, and it is not a parent’s job to educate
their children by exposing them to non-Jewish or anti-Torah material.
Eternal nation
“The thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush
was not being consumed” (3:2)
Throughout
history, our foes have endeavored to destroy us physically or spiritually, and
when they witness our suffering they imagined that this nation, which is such a
thorn in their eyes, was finally going up in flames. However, we are a nation
that defies any laws of nature or history, so that even when the bush is
burning it never becomes consumed, and since we enjoy special Divine
Providence, we will remain an eternal nation.
UtiliZing the potential of the Shovevim
Period
“Now [ve’atah], behold, the cry of the Bnei Yisroel has
come to Me” (3:9)
What
is the meaning of ve’atah in this posuk? Perhaps
the prayers of the nation in Egypt had not been recited with sufficient
outpouring of emotion, but Hashem, taking into account their dire situation and
suffering, said He would nevertheless be willing to accept their prayers
"now" even though they had not sufficiently repented, because of the state
of the generation. We too should plead with Hashem to have regard to the
condition of our generation and hasten our redemption.
We
have entered the period of Shovavim, and the commentaries make a
distinction between superior [illa’a] and inferior [tata’a]
repentance, saying that although, strictly speaking, in order for repentance to
be effective the sinner must want to repent due to a feeling of awe before the
greatness of Hashem (yiras haromemus), in our situation today in this
bitter exile, when tumah is so pervasive to such an unprecedented scale,
Hashem listens to the cry of the Bnei Yisroel and makes do with "low-grade” repentance, which is motivated by yiras haonesh (fear of punishment). The main thing is to regret the past and remove
any trace of tumah from our homes. If we do so, Hashem will
surely have pity on us and listen to our prayers.
HAshem awaits
“Hashem said to Moshe, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh”[I will be
what I will be]” (3:14)
The
more that we let Hashem into our lives and make Him part of it, the greater
will be the Divine Providence that we enjoy, as it says: "Let Your mercy,
O Hashem, be upon us, to the extent that we have waited for You" (Tehillim
33:22). Similarly, says the Kotzker Rebbe zt”l,
Hashem tells us: "I will be wherever I will be”, i.e. wherever someone lets
Me in and wants Me to be there.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Subjugation and Redemption
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
SPiritual decline
“Yaakov lived
in the land of Egypt seventeen years” (47:28). Rashi: Why is this
section closed? Because, as soon as Yaakov Ovinu passed away, the eyes and the
heart of the Jews were “closed” because of the misery of the slavery, for they [the
Egyptians] started to subjugate them.
After Yaakov’s
death Yoseph still remained king, and, what is more, at the beginning of parashas
Shmos the Torah relates that it was only when Yoseph, his brothers and all
that generation had died, that the subjugation began. Why then, the commentators
wonder, does the medrash here identify the death of Yaakov Ovinu as the start of the Egyptian exile?
As long as
Yaakov was still alive, he served as a unifying force for his descendants to
remain true to their religion and values. Once he had passed away, the spiritual
subjugation started. The Jews no longer remained within the safe spiritual
confines of Goshen, and started settling all over Egypt. They became closer to
the host culture and assumed that it would welcome them, but, as has happened throughout
history, the closer they became to non-Jewish culture, the greater was the
animosity felt towards them by their hosts.
The eyes and the
heart of the Jews were “closed”: they were unaware of the process of which had set
in upon the death of Yaakov. Spiritual declines which go unnoticed are the most
dangerous. In this case our spiritual subjugation was the forerunner of our physical
subjugation, which commenced upon the death of all the tribes.
unforetold EXILE
Rashi (ibid): Another explanation:
That he [Yaakov] attempted to reveal the End to his sons, but it was “closed
off” [concealed] from him
The great gaon
and tzaddik Rav Mordechai Pogramansky, who endured a veritable hell
during the Second World War and survived, only to die a few years afterwards, noted
that although we find allusions to the various exiles in history either in tenach or in chazal,
our sources contain no hint that there will come a time when non-observant and
anti-religious Jews will rule Eretz Yisroel itself. This exile amongst
Jews is not talked about in our sources.
Rav Pogramansky suggested
that Yaakov ovinu was indeed told about this situation, and attempted to
tell his sons about it, but was prevented from doing so, because had it been
foretold to us, it would have caused unbearable despair. According to this
explanation, the "End" referred to by the medrash cited by
Rashi, is the end of the exile, but not yet the beginning of the geulo.
homes as havens
“He [Yaakov]
said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Yisroel prostrated himself on
the head of the bed” (47:31) Rashi: none of his offspring was wicked as
is evidenced by the fact that Yoseph was a king, and furthermore, that [even
though] he was in captivity among the heathens, he remained steadfast in his
righteousness.
Yosef, the
second most powerful man in Egypt, was asked by his father to take an oath.
Someone else in Yosef’s position would have been likely to get angry that his
father did not trust him to fulfill his request after having told him “I will
do as you say”, but Yosef subjugated himself completely to his father and,
without saying anything, unhesitatingly took an oath without further ado. When
Yaakov Ovinu saw this response and realized the extent of the kibbud av
vo’em exhibited even by Yosef, who had spent so much time in the
Egyptian environment and had become a powerful figure there, he was satisfied
that his bed was indeed perfect.
Yaakov blessed Efraim and Menashe that they should
be “called by my name”. Kibbud av vo’em is a critical component in the
education of our children. With us it is a given that the closer a person is to
maamad har Sinai the more do we look up to him. By contrast,
according to the non-Jewish or secular attitude as technology, science, and
medicine progress so do we, and the further a person is removed from these
advances the more is he they looked down upon. As a corollary to this approach,
the relationship between parents and children has become almost egalitarian. Unfortunately,
elements of this attitude have seeped through to us so that some parents have
become more lax in insisting that their children observe all the details of kibbud
av vo’em.
On the other hand, the aim of kibbud av v’oem
is not merely to induce children to honor and respect their parents but also to
forge a close association with them. In fact, a warm relationship between father
and son is the surest recipe for ensuring that the son will remain on the
proper path and impervious to the many detrimental aspects of the outside world
as long as he is in his parents’ household and beyond. Making our homes into
havens for every child must be made into a top priority in our day and age.
WHat is a jew
“I
will make you into a congregation of peoples” (48:4)
Rav Yaakov
Yechiel Weinberg, the Seridei Esh zt”l, told Rav Sternbuch about a
meeting of academics that took place in Berlin for the purpose of establishing
the definition of a Jew. Should it be argued that being Jewish is a matter of
religion, that cannot hold water, because an apostate is also considered
Jewish. On the other hand, being Jewish could not be a matter of nationality
either, because many Jews are descendants of converts.
As they were
discussing this matter a simple Jew entered the room and offered his solution
for this conundrum: “a yid is a yid”. Rav Weinberg heard this suggestion and
told his fellow participants that this Jew had hit the hammer on the nail! Being
Jewish was neither a matter of religion only, nor merely a matter of
nationality, but something that cannot be defined in conventional terms. Jews
are sui generis, they are a “congregation of peoples” who defy
any definition.
Family Harmony
“And
he blessed them on that day saying: "Through you shall the Jews bless
saying; 'May Hashem make you like Ephraim and Menasheh and he placed Ephraim
ahead of Menasheh” (48:20)
The greatest
blessing a person could hope for is to be blessed with sons who are talmidei
chachomim. In the merit of such a son the father will live forever. Efraim was
the one who spent all his time in Goshen, learning Torah with his grandfather
Yaakov. Goshen contained none of the allure of city life, since all its
inhabitants were shepherds, who were abhorred by the Egyptians. Menashe spent
his time helping out his father with his royal duties.
Efraim was
placed ahead of his older brother, as he was the one who learnt Torah from
Yaakov, in order to teach us that the foremost priority of any father must be
to educate his son to become a godol beyisroel and dedicate his life to
Torah. The alternative is to educate our sons to be like Menashe, who learnt
from Yosef how to behave like a ben Torah in every situation in life,
and to set aside regular times for Torah learning, but this must remain only
the second-best option.
By referring to Ephraim
and Menasheh when blessing
our children we also pray for harmony between our children, just like there was
between Ephraim and Menasheh when Menasheh was not upset and did not
envy his younger brother for being mentioned first by Yaakov.
Why are dogmas only implied
“Until Shiloh
comes” (49:10). Rashi: This refers to the King Moshiach, to whom the
kingdom belongs [shelo]
We find that
concepts such as the coming of moshiach and the resurrection of the
dead, are only hinted at in the tenach. Why are these fundamental principles,
which are listed amongst the articles of faith of the Rambam not stated
explicitly?
Something stated
explicitly in the Torah bears greater weight than something derived by applying
one of the principles by which the Torah is expounded [midos shehatorah nidreshes
bohem]. Similarly, if these fundamental articles of faith had been stated
explicitly in the Torah, the punishment for disregarding them would have been
too difficult for us to bear. Hence, Hashem in His kindness, only hinted at
these concepts in His Torah. In any case, we must realize that the stronger our
faith is in the coming of moshiach, the more will we this hasten his
coming and our final redemption.
feeding the poor
“As
for Osher, his bread will shall be fat, and he will yield regal delicacies” (49:20).
This means that
Osher limits his expenses, and only buys fat and healthy bread whereas he provides
others with delicacies fit for a king. He is not interested in deriving
pleasures from this world, preferring to wait the rewards of the world to come,
but is very generous when it comes to taking care of others’ material desires.
As Rav Yisroel Salanter zt”l said:
"My friend’s material needs are my spiritual needs”. This is indeed a high
level to strive for, and the halocho also directs us to provide a poor
person with the best food available in the house.
REDEMPTION
“Hashem will
surely remember you [pokod yifkod] and take you up out of this land” (50:24)
Rav Meir Shapira
zt”l noted that the double phrase pokod
yifkod refers to both a spiritual and a material redemption. The geulo
cannot take place if there is a material redemption unaccompanied by a
spiritual one, and all the more so if material success is accompanied by
spiritual decline, such as took place in the period following the founding of
the State. So far from being a sign of redemption, such a situation is
unfortunately merely a desecration of the Divine Name. Let us pray that this
stage of the exile, which Rav Programansky talked about, will be brought to a
speedy conclusion, and the final redemption ushered in.
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