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I was zoche to see a beautiful dvar Torah written by my friend Ya'akov Rubin who is currently studying in Sha'alvim for his second year. The verse in Shmot 12:2 states "And he (Moshe) looked here and there and he saw no one and struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand". Ya'akov quotes Rav Bernstein as explaining this passuk on a figurative level. This was a very defining point in Moshe's life. He was torn between his own two sides. On one hand, he was a born Jew. On the other hand, he had been brought up in the house of Paroh. Therefore, Moshe had to look into himself. The Passuk is teaching us that Moshe looked into himself and saw that he was one big contradiction. He saw that he had two different sides. He therefore saw no one. Because Moshe was torn between his Jewish routes and Egyptian uprbriging, he was an undefined person. He therefore looked into himself and realized that he wasn't associated with any one at all. It was at that point that Moshe "struck the Egyptian side of him". Moshe realized that it was time to choose between his two worlds. Destroying his Egyptian side was a necessary step in Moshe's progression as a Jew. - In life, we have to realize that we have to make decision that define us. We can't let our "Egyptian side" of us prevent our sipiritual growth. B'ezras Hashem, we should all be able to realize what we have to do in our lives to grow and succeed spiritually. Have a great SHabbos.
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Moshe was almost swallowed by a snake on the way back to Mitzrayim until Tziporah realized what was happening and gave Bris Mila to their son Gershom. The Michilta says that the reason why Moshe Rabbeinu did not perform a Bris Mila on his son was because he agreed to a deal with Yisro that his first son will be for Avodah Zara.
ReplyDeleteRav Chaim Kanievsky says that we cannot take this Mechilta at face value since Yisro already gave up Avodah Zara and was even excommunicated because of it. Certainly we cannot fathom that Moshe Rabbeinu would agree to such a deal.
Rav Chaim explains that the deal was that first child would not be taught any religion and when he grew up he would choose on his own. Yisro came to the truth on his own and wanted his grandchildren to have the same freedom of choice. He wanted him to find Hashem through an honest search for the truth so as to leave no doubt his mind. To this end there would be no chinuch, and Moshe would not give him a Bris Mila. Moshe was confident that a child that grew up in his house would undoubtedly choose the right path and agreed.
Sounds nice in theory but real life doesn't always work out the way lab tests do. Unfortunately there can be collateral damage from even nice ideas. While Gershom became a great tzaddik, another generation later one of Moshe's descendants became a Komer for Avodah Zara for Pesel Micha.
[ed note- We see that although broadcasting to our children the station of torah to the exclusion of everything else might be viewed by some as brainwashing, it is nevertheless a correct approach. Parents are allowed to espouse to their kids what they want them to hear--- to a point. It is that very point which is sometimes tricky to locate, and since I am not a parent (yet) I cannot really share any personal experience.
An (obvious) idea I feel strongly about though is that the situation and environment one puts himself in can make all the difference in the world. To stick to the positive side of this, when a person puts himself into a situation where the people around share common interests, beliefs, and goals, one guarantees himself a productive, uplifting, and inspiring time. In my life, I have experienced both ends of this. To put it bluntly, when I found myself in a place where everyone was as serious a learner as I was (and most were more serious) than I was forced to act like them, which was good for me. It pushed me. It slowed down the parts of my nature which are less than enviable, because it would not fly in the place that I put myself. [Now it is true, I have an ongoing passion for traveling to places in which the people are less religious than I, and making an impact. Since I am going with the spirit of kiruv and chizik, that is hopefully the emotional atmosphere that I will be engaged in, that particular shabbos or whatever.] The bottom line is that sometimes when we feel like the least religious person in the room, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It means you are probably in a good place.
May we always find ourselves in the right situations for ourselves.
Sometimes, we need to force ourselves to
From Revach.net
YL
Chazal teach us that the word “these” (eleh) has two different
ReplyDeletemeanings depending upon whether there is a vav attached to its
beginning or not. If the Torah tells us “these” to describe a list of
people, for example, then it negates what the Torah described up to
that point. However, if the Torah were to say “and these”, the word
“and” indicates that the upcoming group of people, for example, is
somehow more improved than the previous group. To a logical mind,
this makes sense. But asks Rav Kook, when the Torah begins the new
book of Shemot with the words “And these are the children of Israel
who are coming to Egypt”, what is the Torah trying to teach us? What
exactly could the children of Israel add when we are discussing the
tzadikim of the generation, Abraham, Yitzchak, and Jacob? We must
investigate, says Rav Kook, what advantage the Jews who went down to
Egypt had that the previous generations did not have.
Of course, our forefathers were great tzadikim. The whole book of
Bereshit is the book of the straight. But what is the value of those
who are “straight”? Our Rabbis teach us in the Gemara in Taanis (15a)
that the straight are specifically related to simcha and that the
righteous are matched with the concept of light. What is the
difference, asks Rav Kook? The righteous have chosen their path, make
distinctions between good and bad, and strive much in their fight with
the yetzer hara. Someone who is straight though has not much to think
about. He has chosen Torah and righteousness without calculations.
He is totally free from the war with his yetzer hara. As such, these
are our forefathers. They had a total and complete recognition that
G-d existed, that He was to be served, and that their purpose in life
is one of a higher drive.
But says Rav Kook radically, true redemption can only come about
through exile. We can only choose good when we have an opposing
choice of evil. Therefore, the forefathers’ children had the power of
free will and choice. They had to choose in a total mix in Egypt of
good and evil constantly intersecting paths. While the righteous
Abraham, Yitzchak, and Jacob had established the path by which their
children could endure such trials, it was only through them that the
concept of redemption could come about. While Jacob was promised that
he would descend to exile and come back up, the strength to conquer
evil, with this fight of the yetzer hara, was something that could
only be an inheritance of his children.
In a certain way then, Rav Kook answers, the children are better.
While their forefathers in Bereshit had no choice in their service to
G-d, it was the children who could bring about the descent of exile
and who would determine, to a certain extent, whether that redemption
would come about or not. This powerful lesson should reverberate
throughout our shuls and betei medresh.