Ari Goldwag - Pesach 2 - Rewards of Challenge

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with hashem's NeverEnding assistance Israel 5776 2016 this shabas so for those who live in outside of Israel it will be the last day of PES those who live in Israel it will be paros but I'm going to speak a little bit about the last day of pesak because everyone both those who live in Israel and those who live outside of Israel are indeed coming in to the last day of pesak now the last day of pesak the seventh day of pesak the celebration part of the reason that it's a yum that it's a holiday is of course because the Torah says so but it also celebrates and commemorates and we relive the Jewish people's descent into yamu into the sea when the sea split the most amazing miraculous event which clearly represents the conclusion of the Exodus it was at that time when the Jews went into the sea they came at on dry land and the mitm the Egyptians followed after them into the sea and they all were plunged to the deaths this represented for the Jewish people the end of The Exodus the end of their servitude to Egypt once and for all the Jews would never again return to Egypt to be slaves and within this amazing Miracle this climax of The Exodus the Jewish people we find that they're singing a song they're singing as Yash mha they have this amazing song they sing celebrating the amazing miracle that God indeed wrought for them but besides for that we also find as the as Rashi tells us and as we seen the Su him that there was a revelation that occurred there of course we know that at Mount Si just 6 weeks after this event we're going to have the receiving of the Torah the Jews are going to have this amazing Revelation as well one and a half million people are going to see this open Revelation but within the yamu itself as they walked through there there were amazing Miracles that were going on there the walls were standing the the water was standing as walls on their right and their left there was fruits there there m that speak about what the many miracles were but one description we find is that the Jews even the lowliest of the Jews even the maid Servants of the Jews experienced a revel a revelation a prophecy greater than that of YZ bzi Ezekiel the son of buzi he was the one who described for us the merova The Chariot The View that each of the prophets would see as they ascended up to the highest Heavens as they prepared themselves for the Revelation that they were to receive the word of God that they were to receive he describes that and our sages tell us that every single Jew from the greatest to the lowest had that same experience or even a greater experience of godliness of revelation of Prophecy at yamu as they walked through with the water on either side of them as they walk through on dry land and when I see this concept when I see this idea the question that always comes up for me is why is it indeed that the Jewish people had to receive or would receive such a revelation in such a place meaning at Mount Si when they received the Torah when they were standing there with an awesome display of lightning and thunder and the sound of a chauffeur Etc when they stood there and they received the Torah and they had a revelation and the heavens opened up for them and they heard God's voice to me that makes sense it makes sense that at an awesome display at an awesome high at a mountain coming down from the mountain theyd hear this amazing voice of God but what is the understanding what's the concept or what is the teaching what is the Torah telling us that at the climax of The Exodus when the Jews leave Egypt and they experience this awesome Revelation where does it happen it happens as the Egyptians are chasing after them it happens as they go down into an area which is a dangerous deathly place if the water just Falls in them they could just die as indeed happens to the Egyptians that's where the Revelation occurs what is the depth of the teaching what is the concept what is the lesson that I'm meant to learn here from this idea so first of want to share with you a mish on this p on the PK that speaks about the Jewish people walking through the yamu walking through the Sea of reeds but then I want to share with you something which I realized I understood from the hag it's important to know that the hag itself also almost in its entirety all of M is a medish the the style of the hag the style of the way it's being given over is all mik it's very similar to the types of midash that we've been looking at so it would be great to look at that look at the in light of the fact that it's mik and try to understand the teaching the depth of the teaching which is easy to miss as in all MIM it's easy to get caught up in the somewhat fantastic way that the M speaks about something that we're not used to hearing it sounds too fantastic for us sometimes but it's important to understand that the teaching the the way that the ha speaks the way that the MIM speak is very specific and opens itself up for a very deep lesson for those who are willing to take the time have the patience to get at what what the sages are trying to teach us now the meas I like to share with you is inos in Exodus chapter 14 verse 30 and I'm going to just back up one verse and read from there it says in in verse 29 the children of Israel walked on the dry land within the Sea and the water was a wall for them on the right and the left verse 30 God saved the Jewish people on that day from the hand of Egypt and the people of Israel saw the Egyptians that they had died and there they were their dead carcasses on the edge of the sea just going to read one more verse the people of Israel saw the great hand that God had done with Egypt the nation feared God they believed in God and in Moses his servant now coming back to the previous verse the M addresses the following question the verse says God saved them on that day from the Egyptians now the it's saying that God saved them from the hand of the Egyptians were the Jewish people at that time still in the hands of the Egyptians they had already left the Egyptians didn't have them in their hand so the me gives an explanation of what's going on here what does it mean that God save him from the hand of the Egyptians when the Jewish people left Egypt usza who's the angel of Egypt every country has its angel that is in charge of it that protects it that guides it so usza is the name of the Angel who's in charge of the Egyptians so he started to ask the following statement said the following statement in front of God said the master of the [Music] world he says this this nation that you're taking out of Egypt I still have a claim to them so usza was speaking on behalf of Egypt and saying that the Jewish people didn't have a right to leave I would like to call into the courtroom mik mik is the Angel who is appointed over the Jewish people I want him to be here with me I want to address my concern at that time God says to the angel M come I want you to be part of this judgment part of the story so was the angel who was in charge of Egypt started to say as follows from the of he said in front of God Master the world you made a decree God that this this nation the nation of Israel is meant to be enslaved to my nation to my Egyptians for 400 years says says they will serve them and they will be afflicted by them for 400 years they've only been enslaved for 86 years from the time that Miriam was born hasn't come the time for them to go out I would like to bring them back I want them to complete the 400 years that was decreed upon them just like you God lasts forever so too if you have sworn something if you have made an oath so your oath lasts forever as well you have to keep your oath you said 400 years it's not the time is not up yet at that time God says to M give him an answer I want you to give him an answer you're in charge of the Jewish people you need to respond the angel Who was appointed over the people of Israel had nothing to say he didn't have a response God himself then responded to uza and said as follows I have a way of finding a merit from my children they can indeed leave right now the reason that my children had even come into a state of needing to be enslaved was because of a word that my beloved one Abraham said he said in front of me how will I know that I will inherit the land that my children will inherit the land of Israel I said to him you will know that your children your great-grandchildren will be strangers in a Strange Land did I ever say anything about being in the land of Egypt I said they'll be the words that I said was that they will be strangers in a land that's not theirs we already know that once Isaac was born they were already strangers it's already been 400 years so you are trying to claim something which is not your you're claiming that the Jews are supposed to be enslaved here for 400 years but they've already been Strangers In a Strange Land from before already from the times of Isaac himself when Isaac was born they were already strangers in the land of Israel itself it did not yet belong to the Jewish people and therefore we can count the 400 years from that time and therefore you can't enslave my children any further Isel and it was at that moment through this conversation that the Jewish people were saved by godar and that's why the verse says that God saved on that day the people of Israel from the hand of Egypt it means it means from the hands of the Angel who was in charge of Egypt Hashem saved the Jewish people from his Claim by saying that no the Jewish people are not going to have to stay any longer they've already fulfilled that which it says that they need to be strangers in a Strange Land for 400 years now as we read this medish so the question that sticks out for me is what is the understanding of the fact that usza calls mza who is the angel of Egypt he calls mikal who's the angel of the Jewish people he States his complaint he States his Tina and then M has no response God has to respond on behalf of the Jewish people God himself as it were responds and says or way out for the Jewish people how come couldn't think of the response of God why it that God himself has to step in on the Jewish people's behalf another question that we can ask is that if we look at the 86 years that the Jewish people were enslaved to Egypt usu's comment usu's statement Us's Tina is really a powerful statement his statement is they've only been really been enslaved for 86 years if you look at the time before that the Jewish people had it good they were really okay as they came down to Egypt for the beginning of this 210 year period they were in Goan they had a beautiful land they were shepherds they had the protection of ysep who was the second in command to Pharaoh so there was a long period of time there was longa where the Jewish people were just fine that's considered the time when it's they will be servants you you go back to Isaac what you know what was happening over there when Isaac was born that that's considered they were enslaved and they were in pain seems very strange the statement of usza the Mal of MIM the angel of Egypt his statement seems to be more accurate and mik who has no response that makes a lot of sense what is indeed the depth of the idea of the response of what hasem is saying that no that we consider the enslavement as if it began when Isaac was born because they were strangers already in a Strange Land what is the idea here what's the depth of what this mes is teaching us so I'd like to bring you back to the ha for a moment and I want to share with you a thought which I think is amazingly powerful and I think is actually the central theme perhaps of the of the Seder night and what we're trying to teach our children throughout this holiday of PES the med which is a says like this blessed is God who keeps his promise the promise that he made to the people of Israel God made a calculation of the ending to do that which he promised to Abraham our forefather in the Covenant between the parts Shar and the quotes the same exact verse which we quoted in the me that we quoted before the verse says God says to ABRA you will know that your children are going to be strangers in a Strange Land they will serve them and they will be afflicted by them for 400 years and the nation that they will serve I will also judge afterwards they will leave with a great amount of wealth and then it continues and this is what stood for our forefathers and for us because there wasn't just one who stood up to try to destroy us in every single generation they stand up to try to destroy us and God Saves us from their hand and I just want to read one last line from the all of these words may be very familiar to you we can see that this is true we can see that this is something that happens constantly from it didn't just happen in Egypt but it happened prior to that in that which laan the aramean tried to do to our forefather Jacob because Pharaoh he just made a decree to kill the firstborns but lean he tried to destroy everything he tried to uproot everything God prevented him from doing doing that now there's a question that we can ask here as we read the and the question is that what does it mean that this is what stood for our forefathers and for us the translation here the P the simple understanding of what's going on is that the promise that God made is what stood for our forefathers and for us but we can ask a question we can give a simple answer and I'd like to say that the question Still Remains despite the simple answer the question that we could ask is that what do you mean it stands for us how does this promise stand for us God promised the Jewish people would go down to Egypt they would be enslaved there for 400 years and then they would leave God fulfilled that promise so it stood for them at that time but how does it stand for us that was a promise for for those 400 years here we are we've been in exile for 2,000 years we've been outside of our land we don't have a temple we don't have the bdash so how does that promise stand for us so the simple explanation is like we said previously in the ha if not for the fact that God had made the promise and took the Jewish people out of Egypt we would still be enslaved to the Egyptians even down till today so that promise stood for our forefathers and it stands for us but I want to say that there's an even deeper understanding of what's going on here this's an even deeper depth that the is trying to teach us and that this specific statement ofu that this statement of that that promise is what stands for our forefathers and for for us what is the depth of This Promise what is the depth of this statement that Hashem is saying to Abraham and if we understand this we will understand the depth of the medish as well we will understand what the medish is trying to say I believe that the depth of what's going on here is that the medish is saying that that in those times and down to today throughout the many generations that in every generation they try to destroy us God Saves us from their hands it doesn't just mean that God Saves us from the fact that there's destruction you know because in every generation they're trying to destroy us Hashem saves us because there's a situation which is difficult Hashem steps in and saves us no there's something much deeper that's going on here I believe that what the m is saying what the is saying with the depth of the men is is that in every single generation Hashem sets it up he creates a situation where there are intense challenges there are intense difficulties there are intense problems not the problem comes and then hem saves USM creates a situation where there's a problem so that he will come and save us and we will have a relationship with him the problem the the difficulty the challenge is a it's an opportunity so that we should be in a difficult State we should call out to God and we should then have a relationship with God as a result of us calling out to him and and him coming and saving us when Hashem promises abrah ainu and he promises Abraham that the Jewish people are going to receive the amazing spiritual war rewards of having the land of Israel he says but it's something that they're going to have to earn it's something that they're going to have to go through difficulties and challenges in order to reach that place says How will I know that they are going to inherit the land whoever inherits the land means that that Nation who's going to inherit the land is going to inherit a relationship with God how does one enter into relationship with with God God is saying that you have to go through difficulties you have to go through challenges but the challenge itself is not a bad thing it looks like a bad thing on the service but in fact the negative situation that one finds oneself in the end of it is afterwards they leave with abundant wealth and the wealth here that we're talking about is of course a spiritual wealth yes it's reflected in a physical wealth they walked out with with silver and gold Etc but it's a reflection of the spiritual wealth which is a relationship with Hashem inheriting the land of Israel is also a reflection of the fact that now we have a relationship with Hashem which is expressed in the special land which God gives to the Jewish people but it's a result of the challenges that they've went through that Hashem has saved them from and that's something which we see in the second half of what it says in go and look what happened when laan tried to destroy Jacob so he comes along he tries to destroy them he runs after them as they're leaving from his place after yob has married his daughters and he has the 11 tribes 12 tribes about to be born and what happens after that encounter where he almost destroys them he tries to destroy them immediately after that they enter into Israel they enter into the land of Israel the Jewish people is formed as a nation but it's the result of the challenges that Jacob went through all the difficulties that he had to endure with all his interactions with laan now we look back at the medish the medish said that the 400 years started when Isaac is born and if we look at the story as the way the Torah describes it as it's detailed in the Torah so we see that there are challenges Abraham has to go through Sarah is kidnapped by a the king of gar and only then does she have a child after that and everyone's laughing at the whole story it seems a little bit funny and then Isaac has to go through challenges he has to interact with yesma his half brother all of the different challenges we see that the the challenges themselves constitute the concept had the same idea of Gus what does it mean that they're in a land which is not there it means that they're in a place which is difficult which is challenging when you're in a place which isn't yours when you're a Stranger in a Strange Land you face off with challenges and difficulties but what the medish is teaching us is that those difficulties themselves constitute and are the same idea they accomplish the same thing which is that they allow a person because of the challenge because of the difficulty to connect to God to earn so to speak that relationship with Hashem the difficulty itself is that which produces the amazing result of the fruit which is the relationship with Hashem and this really explains the conversation of the magish he's the Mal he's the angel of Egypt and he says hey we haven't had them for the full amount of time we're supposed to have them for 400 years and mik doesn't have an answer mik is the Angel of the Jewish people he's not the full he doesn't have the full picture hes who God himself has the full picture and what hasem is saying by not allowing M to answer and by answering it himself is that God is saying that all of the challenges of them just being strangers even when things seem to be okay even when they're living in Goa and they're living in this land which is a nice place they can study the Torah there they have ysep to protect them but still things aren't always so Rosy and perfect not everything about it is great they're not there yet and God is attesting to the fact that through their being challenged through their being in a strange place in a place which is uncomfortable going all the way back to Isaac and then through the generations it wasn't just those 86 years when they were enslaved completely to Egypt that earned them the right to have a relationship with Hashem but Hashem is attesting himself to the fact that all of that time all of the difficulties even the smaller difficulties those are also significant in God's eyes and they also earn a person or relationship with Hashem and that's why I believe that it there's a promise not just to our forefathers about those those 400 years that they were then in Egypt or or even in the land of Israel as strangers but this promise is a promise which is always true that whenever we have difficulties Whenever there are challenges in our lives whatever those challenges may be whether they are great challenges that seem unsurmountable or whether they are even simple small challenges all the challenges that we go through Hashem promises this is what stands for our forefathers and it stands for us it stands in all generations whatever the challenge is whether it's a holocaust or whether it's a lesser challenge the challenges that we go through every single day here in Israel when terrorist attacks go on those challenges are also significant do they pale in comparison to the Holocaust of course they do but are they also significant this is what stands for a forefathers and for us every single challenge that we go through all of the different types of challenges that we go through all of them build our relationship with a after those challenges we always come out with a deeper relation ship with hhm with a great amount of reward so to speak and it's not M that answers it but rather Hashem himself representing the fact that through our difficulties we have earned a relationship with hhm and hem himself as it were stands up for us and speaks on our behalf I want to bless you and please bless me back hasem should help us to get through all of our challenges and we should always be able to see how those challenges have made us into greater people and have deepened our relationship with Hashem thank you so much for listening I hope you enjoy the rest of your pesak have a spiritual uplift and have a great chabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]