Bo: Shepherd Your Flock

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual drasha. This week we have the incredible privilege of paras bo and the para continues with a dramatic story of the makos the plagues which ultimately culminate in makos's death of the firstborn and then hashem the event that we've been waiting for since the beginning of safmos exodus the Jewish nation goes free after 210 years of backbreaking barbaric servitude emancipation freedom and the ability to embrace u majestic and holy destiny one which is still unfolding in front of us to this very today. What's always struck me as fascinating in these parios is the amount of detail that the Torah shares with us regarding the dialogue between parro and Moshe there's so much back and forth and remember the Torah is not a story book and as such every single piece of information which is included in the Torah is there because it has some type of contemporary life relevance for us. Allow me to draw your attention to one of these conversations. So this takes place immediately after the Mak of Kosh after the plague of darkness. Now understand all the makos brought Egypt to its knees in different ways but it's clear from the text that kosh really brought parro to the to the brink of like just breakage. He was done. He was done. This was a paraly literally a physically paralyzing plague that plunged Egypt into darkness for multiple days. Parro summons Moshe and he says Moshe here is the deal. This is paral 24 Moshe. says to Moshe, "Go serve your God. However, you could take your women, you could take your children, you could take them, you could take anyone you want, but your animals, your livestock, your flocks have to stay here." So, it's interesting because what you see is parro is willing to kind of let the Jews go on a little bit of like a sbatical. You know, you you can go worship your god, but I need to know you're coming back. How do I ensure that you're coming back? your livestock is going to stay here. Mosha's response, Moshe says, essentially, not only are we taking our stuff, but before this story is over, you're going to be giving us your animals. We're going to be taking your livestock with us. We're going to be taking your sheep, your cattle, everything you have is going to come with us when we leave Egypt as well. And then Mosha says the following statement. This is inv 26. We are taking our all of our herds, all of our herds, all of our flocks. Literally, we will not no hoof left behind. We're not leaving behind one animal because we have to take everything in order to serve Hashem, our God. For we do not know what we will need to serve Hashem until we get there. And on a most basic level, what Mosha was expressing to parro is we have to take our livestock. Thank thank you for the offer of letting us go and thank you for allowing the men, the women, the children, but we have to take our livestock. The reason we need to take our livestock is because we don't know what God is going to demand of us. Mosha already understood that sacrificial service was going to play a prominent role in the lives of the Jewish people. But we don't know what what is a sacrifice what isn't a sacrifice how many carbonos do you have to give to our so because we simply don't know the nature and the volume of sacrificial service by definition we have to take everything with us there was just something about this pekk that I don't know felt felt like that mosher abu was trying to convey something even deeper than just the stated message yes moan We're not leaving no hoof left behind. We're not leaving behind any livestock. We're taking our stuff. By the way, we're going to end up taking your stuff also because we don't know what God is going to require of us until we get there. I was thinking about this that perhaps Moshab was also teaching us an additional lesson in life. Life is filled with all types of events and circumstances. Things happen to us in life and there are different buckets of life events. You know, sometimes things happen and it's so clear what the purpose is, what the purpose was. And by the way, this is sometimes good things happen. And I said, "Oh, this good thing happened so that I could go on and do this." And sometimes something negative happens. Something hurtful or harmful happens, but still I have clarity why it happened. Sometimes there are traumatic events that occur and I I know even when the event is unfolding or after the event has unfolded that that event was given to me by given to me by Hashem because I need to reroute and I I even know what the rerouting is. I know exact this this patch this difficulty this this overwhelming circumstance was there to push me in a different trajectory and I know so many times in life there are things we know we need to change but again you know man is made of matter and matter is naturally in a state of rest until it is acted upon so there are changes I need to make in life but I'm just not doing it and then visits circumstances upon me and they push me and I see as they're unfolding this is going to be the event that pushes me in the direction I wouldn't have got I knew that I had to make the change I knew that I had to pivot I wasn't doing it on my own and now this event that has occurred to me which is hurtful which may be terrible which may be traumatic and tragic is going to be the thing that pushes me in the direction that I always know I needed to go life circumstances like that and then there's a whole other bucket of life circumstances where things occur and I have absolutely no idea why this is happening. I don't know. I I I I I I don't get it. I don't get it. Not only do I not get it, I don't even see how there's any silver lining in all of this. I I I don't even see how how this, you know, sometimes something happens and you're like, "Okay, I can see how kind of some events occur in life." Like, I I I don't see anything positive that could be from this. I don't see anything good that could come from this. I don't know how this is going to make me into a better person. I don't know how it's going to give me a better life. I have no idea how these difficult circumstances in front of me are somehow going to shape me into the person I need to be. And listen to what Moshau says to Mosha says, you know what life is about? In life, you have to take everything with you. Every experience we have in life, every event that we we experience, every situation that is foisted upon us, you have to take with you. It's part and it's part of who and what you are. Because everything that we endure and experience in this life somehow is like a it's like a it's like a building. It's it's a brick. is a piece of building material to allow us to serve our I but I don't see it. I don't see it. I don't understand it. And dear friends, we all have things like this in life. I try to be positive. I try to be upbeat. I try to be optimistic. I try to look for the silver lining. But then there's stuff that occurs that I'm like, "Come on, God. Come on. There's nothing good that's going to come from this. There's nothing positive. There's no pivot. There's no silver lining." And Mosha says, "Deep breath. Life is all about taking all of your experiences, the ones you understand, the ones you love, and the ones that hurt, and the ones that you can't comprehend, and you take them all. But you know, all of us, you you thought you weren't like a shepherd or a farmer. You're like, I don't have a herd. Yes, you do. You have a herd. You have a flock. It's just not of sheep or not of cattle. But you have a herd and flock of life experiences. and your avula in life is understand they're all purposeful. They're all necessary. That's your flock. You're a shepherd. Each of us is a shepherd. I'm a shepherd over the flock and herd of my life circumstances. And the shepherd has one job. What's his job? To keep the herd, to keep the flock together and to keep it intact and to get them from point A to point B. What's my job as a personalistic shepherd? to take all of my life experiences and understand that somehow someway they're all necessary. Why? Because some way somehow all of my life experiences and circumstances are all necessary for me to serve Hashem. You can't become a complete oid Hashem without the traumas and you can't become a complete servant of God without the adversities. Brhus are wonderful but brus by themselves blessings by themselves do not forge an identity. It's only when the blessings come together with the rest of the herd of life experiences and now I have this composite flock that's what will allow me ultimately to actualize into a true servant of God. So Mosha whispers in our ear take the totality of your life circumstances because some way somehow they're all going to be necessary for you to serve. menu from that combined life herd of all of your circumstances all of your situations all of your realities the good the bad and the ugly all of it together that's what combines together to allow you to become a servant and says but yet and a lot of times in life you're going to look at your situational life flock your situational life herd And you're going to say, "I have absolutely no idea how these circumstances are helpful." Cuz they don't feel helpful. They don't feel good. They feel like a million pound weight that's sitting on my heart, sitting on my soul, dragging me, dragging me perpetually downward into an abyss of sadness, of hopelessness. I don't see any good. Emotion says it's okay. That's how life works a lot. that sometimes you look at your herd, you look at your life herd, you look at your life flock and you're like, okay, I see that that braha that's great. I see that adversity and I understand that, but then I look at this, I look at that, I look at this, I have no idea why you visited this upon me and I have no idea ultimately again why this is happening to me and I can't see the good in it. And says that's okay. Sometimes you don't understand how the individual parts of your life herd or your life flock combine to create the tapestry of your self-actualization. But one day what happens? The day will come where you will arrive at a destination where the comp the the the composition of your flock will make sense to you. Because dear friends, one, there is a day that comes and maybe it's in this world, maybe it's in the next world. I'd like to think that it's always in this world where a day that comes and you look at your life and you're like, "Ah, I get it. I get it. I see how all of these circumstances, situations, and realities have combined to create the real me. And I understand how my life would not be what it is without all of the members of the herd. I understand now that all of this is necessary. It might not all be pleasant. It might not all be enjoyable, but I understand how it's all necessary for my self-actualization, for my growth, for my ability to become inevit. And so it turns out that in this dialogue which seems to be a pretty straightforward dialogue between Mosha and Mosha saying we got to take everything with us. Why? Because we don't know what we're going to need in order to serve. And Moshe says and we're not going to know what we need until we get to that destination till we get Shama to that place. We all have the Shama. Shama is that moment in life where things click, where things gel. Shama is that moment in life where now I look at my herd. That herd which is the composite of my life realities, life experiences. That herd which represents the totality of my braus, of the difficult things, of the things I understand, the things that make no sense, the things that I understand why Hashem gave them to me and the things that keep me up and I wondering why did God visit these realities on me? We all have that shama and that shama is when you look at your composite life hurting. You're like, "Ah, I got it. I got it. I understand now how everything does really combine to create the complete tapestry of my personal self-actualization. Now I understand it. That's that shama moment. But Moshinu says we don't know when that shama moment comes. I don't know when I get there to that moment where everything clicks and everything makes a bit more sense. Not that everything is all happy and okay, but that it makes more sense. But the avod is until you get to that shama moment what do you do says you got to take everything with you and you have to believe you have to believe that at the end of the day all the things that happen to us in life nothing is random nothing is haphazard and not only is it not random and not haphazard but the events of our life are specifically curated curated for us by the shaol because The events of my life are what I need to become the best version of me. I don't understand it. I don't see it. I will when I get to my shama moment in life. Right now, I'm just not seeing it. Says it's okay. Is you got to take you got to take all of your life experiences. Why? Because you have to believe you have to believe that some you're going to need it all. You're going to need it all to become a complete recognizing you. It might not make sense to you for a very long time. You might not understand the why, the how, the what, but ultimately the moment will come when everything clicks. But until that moment, live life with the amuno. live life with the belief that all of my circumstances are specifically and uniquely curated curated for me by the shaolm. The ones that I love, the ones that I despise, the ones that are beautiful, and the ones that may feel terrible, the ones that are enjoyable, and the ones that may cause me so much pain. Each and every one of them curated by my father. curated by the somehow someway for my benefit. Take your herd, collect your herd, keep it together, operate with that amuna and know that one day you will reach sh you will reach that place where everything becomes abundantly clear to be trustworthy and good and reliable shepherds to the flock of our life circumstances. And may we to reach that place to reach that shama when we have clarity and truly understand the shaolm's will desire and plan for us. Wishing everyone a good ner of shabas and a beautiful shabis kesh.