Ari Goldwag - Va'era - Harmony of Fire and Ice

You're listening to the weekly para podcast recorded with Hashem's never ending assistance in Ramapish Israel 5776 2016. This week's para is par. In our para the Torah describes the events that occurred as God decided and sent Mosher sent Moses to redeem the Jewish people to take them out of their bondage of their slavery in Egypt. And part of this amazing feat that God was going to accomplish was that he brought these plagues, these 10 plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt. And our par describes the first seven of those plagues. And the seventh of them is actually the plague that I'd like to focus in on. The seventh was the plague of Bed, which was hail. But this is no ordinary hail. The description of the Torah in describing what was going on there is very interesting. and difficult to understand. This is what it says in chapter 9:22. God says to Moses, "Raise your hand up to the heavens, there will be hail in all of the land of Egypt, on man and beast, and on all of the grass of the fields, the land of Egypt." Verse 23. Again, very interesting. I think it's worth noting that this the PK recognizes or mentions the concept of the heavens. Moses raises up his staff up to the heavens and as a result so God brought thunderous sounds and it rained down hail. Not only was there hail but it was accompanied with fire. Fire fell down towards the earth. And God caused the hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. Next verse and there was hail and there was fire inside of the hail burning inside very heavy. There never was such a thing in all of the land of Egypt from the time that it became a nation. So as we see from the verses themselves the borrowed here the hail was very unusual. It was ice and at the same time there was fire and somehow these two opposites fire and ice were coexisting and this was this massive plague that God brought the seventh plague that Hashem brought upon the Egyptians in Mitzime in Egypt. Now, I'd like to share with you a medish. A number of different pieces in the medish. Again, as we've been doing over the last few weeks or maybe even months, midrashim, these midrashim, you know, you read them and they seem to be separate, distinct pieces within the medush, but the truth is that they are all connected and there's a deeper idea which runs through all of them. Let's see, cuz once again, we're going to see this concept. The verse says that Moses raised up his staff up to the heavens. These plagues, there were 10 plagues. Three of them were done by Aaron, by Aaron. Three of them were done by Moses and three of them were done by God himself. One of them was done by all of them, by all three. The first three plagues, blood, frogs, and lies which were on the earth was the one who did them. As we're reading this, we need to think about the description. And why specifically? Why was it that Aaron did it when it came to the earth, but it was specifically that those that had to do with the earth, the blood, the frogs, and the lice were done by Aram. The three which are the three that are coming up 78 n which are hail locusts and darkness they were done by Moses because these three all had to do with the air. The hail was falling through the air. The locust came through the air from through the winds. The darkness was in the air. It was something that you could feel in the air. So all of these were done by Mosha. Moshe had control power over earth and heaven, heaven and earth when it came to the wild beasts, the death of the animals of Egypt, the livestock of Egypt and the death of the firstborn. This was all done by Hashem himself. This was something that only Hashem himself could do. Only he had power over. Interestingly, when it came to the boils, that was done by all three of them. And we're not going to understand, we're not going to go into the depth of this entire part of the medish. But what we do see here and which is which we will try to explain is that Mosher Rabenu for some reason he had power over the heavens. He had power over Shmayim heavens and earth. It's very interesting because Mosher Rabenu is the one in a certain sense that we see connects heaven and earth. the previous mag there's a there's a piece in the previous message which I won't go into at length but it speaks about the fact that Hashem as it were came down to hari to mount si when he wanted to give the Torah to the Jewish people and Mosheren was to receive the Torah on behalf of the Jewish people he went up on the mountain he went up to heaven so Moshe was the one who had the ability to traverse heaven and earth he had the ability to connect this world to the upper worlds so Mosher Raenu was has power over heaven and earth. So the question over here is what is the significance of this power and why is it necessary here when it comes to the hail when it comes to this specific plague what is the idea here in the hail that Mosha needs to be able to connect heaven and earth what is that idea what is what is the concept now the maj continues with something which seems to be a different thought different idea and God brought this thunderous sound and he brought the hailm whenever in the Torah it says the word and God it says and Hashem brought this thunderous sound etc who obeys the initial whenever you have this language of and God it means that God did it he did it along with someone else because it says and Hashem so who's along with Hashem God and his court his heavenly report. This is something that we find elsewhere. Shane is a verse of the verse refers to the fact that God caused Sarah to conceive. She was very old. She was 90 and Hashem caused her to conceive and it says vah Hashem and Hashem caused her con to conceive. So it was God and his heavenly court. What is the idea of God and his heavenly court? So the eight explains something really interesting. He says that the lash the the name that's used here. So there are many different names of God. Some names the name Yud V the name which we typically use for Hashem refers to the to that concept of God's rahim when God manifests in the world through his mercy. We have the name. The name refers to God's divine strict just justice. And so the when it comes to the name that's a name that's used whenever God is meeting out justice and so so that's the name that should it should be used here in our para but it's not the name is Vashem it uses the name of God which is the name of God's mercy it's very strange why is it using the name of God's mercy when it comes to meeting out the justice to bringing down this hail which is going to cause such great destruction so for that reason the Torah in describing and referring to Hashem Here it says vahashem and God because it wasn't just obviously there was no rahim or it seems that there's no ra no mercy but rather it's the vav the letter vavv the word and is referring to something that came along with it with hashem as it were and that is god's bestin god's heavenly court and so there was a judgment indeed it's very interesting because when it came to s to to senu as well so there was a judgment there what was the judgment so explains that at the time that there was a den there was a judgment on her because she laughed when Hashem revealed to her through the angels that she was to have a child she laughed and she laughed in disbelief. So in a certain sense when it came to the judgment of things mida measure for measure so it could have prevented from having a child because she didn't believe that it could happen so it could have prevented it despite that there was a a mercy that hashem had that indeed allowed her to be able to conceive at that very old age despite the fact that she laughed. So again we have here a very interesting thing which is that this specific plague for some reason when Hashem brought the plague so it was being brought with Hashem's attribute of mercy alongside God's attribute of justice of divine retribution. So what indeed is the understanding of this teaching? What is the idea that you have these two ideas two concepts opposite concepts mercy and and justice at the same time? Why are they appearing right here in in Borut in the plague of hail? I'd like to read you another piece in the which again doesn't seem to be connected but as we try to understand its depths we'll see that it is. It says like this in describing what the verse says trying to get a deeper picture of what was going on. The verse describes the fact that there was this hail coming down and there was burning fire that was inside of the hail. So the metric says that there was a miracle within a miracle. It was obviously a miracle that this this hail was falling and it was a miracle that there was fire falling and the fact that they were falling together greater greater miracle discuss this idea. If you want to understand what this looked like, if you want to imagine it with your mind, think about a the seed of a remon, the seed of a pomegranate. If you look inside, so you have the fruit that's on the outside of each each particular seed. You look, you can see the seed inside. It was the same exact thing when it came to the bored on the outside, you could see the ice. And if you look inside, you could see that there was fire inside of the ice. The second understanding is that no, it was it was more of a mixture. It was like the inside of a lamp where you have water and you have and you have oil and they're they're right next to each other. They're they're as it moves it goes up and down etc. So, so it was the same thing with this fire. What is this comparable to? Says the what's the analogy? It's comparable to two legions, very tough legions of the army. They had fierce competition. They were within the same army. Who is the greater legion? After a few days, it came the time for the war. The king the king brought them all out to war. So even though these legions were in competition with each other, but when it came to war, so the king made peace amongst them. The two legions worked together in order to accomplish what the king wanted. If you think about it, says a majexist because the fire will cause the ice to melt and then as soon as the ice melts, it will put out the fire. Since the time came for the war against Egypt, God made peace between fire and water or fire and ice and together they caused destruction in Egypt. So this is the idea of the hail which contained within it this fire that was burning. Now there's one more piece in this medish which is also important to to point out. It says, Gan that when it came to the land of Gan which was the place of the Jewish people so there was no destruction the destruction only occurred in Egypt proper only where the Egyptians were so the asks why was it saved because it's patron as it were meaning the Jewish people were there because the Jewish people were there they protected the land. This destruction that was caused by the hail the the main thing even though the the verse does refer to the fact that it was going to cause destruction upon people and beasts etc. the verse also tells us that anyone who was a dev anyone who feared God's word amongst the Egyptians if they brought in their animals if the people stayed inside nothing happened to them. So the main destruction was really on the earth and on the crops but for the Jewish people their earth and their crops were protected. Why? because of them, because of the Jews themselves, says the medish. Very interesting point. What is the point? Why why is the magish telling us this? Another interesting thing to that we need to understand that we need to address and it's true throughout the plagues, but it's the Torah mentions explicitly here is that the plague did not affect the Jewish people. Although it affected the Egyptians who were their neighbors who lived across the river or across the street, it didn't affect the Jewish people at all. anywhere where the Jews were, these plagues did not take effect. Now, I want to share with you two more midrashim. The first one is just interesting and will tie into what we're going to say. Now, the last one is going to be the key to everything. So, the first one is actually an earlier medish which is in par in the first sermon in Alf. The medish quotes the verse that that is the command of God. And Hashem says to Moshe to go and warn, go out early in the morning and cut off parro. Don't let him get anywhere. You stop him in his tracks. I want you to warn him of what's about to happen with the borrowed with the hail which I'm going to bring on the Egyptians. So the says this said, this is what the verse says. Behold, God will rise with his power. Who else teaches like God teaches? What does the word hane mean which we we translated as behold? It means it means one in the Greek language. So the word means one that what is the oneness of God that he has the power and he gives power to the righteous to do his will. And this verse which actually is from is from Job 36:32 who is like God as a teacher he shows a person how to repent. This idea which we see in the verse in Job is actually what we see in with Moshe with Moses. Hashem raised up his power gave him power to be able to go and be God's agent. philosopher and to fulfill his command and Mosha was trying to guide Hashem was was giving Mosha the power to teach Pharaoh the evil pharaoh that he should repent. He was trying to show him how to repent. Did not want to bring any of these makers, any of these plagues. He only wanted them really to he wanted him to repent and to give in and say, "Okay, I'll send out the Jewish people." He didn't want to bring the plague. And each time he had Moshe go and warn him so that he would have a chance to repent, to give up, to give in. That's what the verse says. Hashem told Moses, "Get up early in the morning and I want you to get there. Go speak to Pharaoh." And this is all done in order to give him a chance to repent. It's a very interesting thing that these plagues were really not meant to be brought. God didn't really desire to bring these plagues. He really wanted chuva. He really wanted repentance. I want to know I want to understand why is it that the medish is teaching us this idea by bured. This is the seventh of the plagues. Why is he tired teaching us this idea? Hashem says, "Get up early in the morning and go tell him." And that teaches us this idea that Hashem gave him the power to to inspire Pharaoh to do chuba to repent. Why is that being taught here? So now I'd like to share with you the final majors that we've asked. God said to Moses that he should raise up his hand towards the heaven. Measure says this is what it means in the verse verse in Psalms 135:6 all that God desires he does King David in Psalms is telling us even though God made a decree and the decree was very clear the heavens belong to God and the earth belongs to man and the twain shall meet. Heavens, spiritual realms belong to God. Despite the fact that this is the truth, despite that, Hashem if he wants like we said anything Hashem wants to do, he can change he can change the rules. He makes the rules. He can change the rules. Says to you know this is comparable to what's the analogy. It was there was a king and he made a decree. The Roman people the people who live in Rome may not go down to Syria and those who live in Syria are not allowed to come to Rome to Rome. After some time, the king was from Rome. He decided he wanted to marry a woman who lived in Syria. So he wanted the guests to be able to come. He's going to get married. He wants the Syrians to come. He wants the Romans to mix. He wants everyone to come together. So he said that decree that I made earlier that the Romans can't go to Syria and Syrians can't go to Rome. It's over. From here on in, the Syrians and the Romans can mix and I will be the first one to do so. So too when created the world he made he made a decree and he said the heavens belong to God the earth belongs to man never the twain shall meet. So the message continues and tells us about that when Hashem wanted to give the Torah so he broke the rules. He wanted to marry the Jewish people as it were. So he came down to the higher as we mentioned earlier. He came down to the mountain and Mosher and Moses went up on the mountain. He was the one who connected heaven to earth. In a similar way says the medush God made a decree that the waters the the waters cover the places where there's water. The dry earth is where it's meant to be. But when God made a decision that things should be otherwise with the mabble when it came to the to the flood. So the water covered the earth, the dry earth. And when it came to the splitting of the Red Sea, so the the water split and that became dry land. God makes the rules. He can break the rules. Finishing off this thought, the when it came to Egypt, when it came to Moses, he was on the earth. God gave him permission to have rulership power over the works of heaven. That's what God meant when he said, "Moses, raise your hand up towards the heavens and bring down this borrowed this hail from the heavens." Now, what does it mean when Moshe Moses has permission has the power to bring down to connect heaven and earth to bring down this hail? What does it mean that the hail is a mixture of fire and ice? What does it mean that God himself, his mercy is here, but his best in his his justice, all of the the courts up there, they're there at the same time? Why is there this mixture? Why are they both there at the same time? What is the concept? Why is it that side by side as the Egyptians are being plagued, are being destroyed at the same time, the Jewish people are free, nothing is happening to them. What does it mean that just as all of the destruction is happening, people are dying, the the hail is falling, those who listened, their stuff was saved? What does it mean that as Hashem sends this plague at the same exact time as he's about to send the plague, he's giving them a chance to do chuva? He's giving them a chance to repent. What does it mean that here we are in the seventh of the plagues? What is the concept of the number seven? So many times we've spoken about it but the number seven always represents the idea of malus of reflection. We have something here on earth. We have the moon which represents the human being reflecting the light of something up above of something in heaven as it were. We have the connection between heaven and earth which is number seven. Shamayim. What is the concept of shamim of heaven? The word shamayim means ash and mim is water and fire. What does that mean? What is the idea? The idea is that when you get up to shamim in the place in the heavenly spheres, there's no contradictions anymore. You have two things which seem to be opposites, but they can coexist on earth where we live. So when you have two things that are opposites, they can't coexist. You can't be a Russia and a sadic at the same time. You can't be righteous and wicked at the same time. You can't have fire and ice work together at the same time. It's not possible in our realm. But now what happens when Hashem is bringing gula? When Hashem is bringing redemption to the Jewish people as he's about to bring about this exodus. So God is saying that it's not true. Everything you thought is true is not true. Everything that you thought was impossible is possible. All of the rules that you've ever seen, all of the rules are broken. Because when it comes to God, all of the opposites are one. There's only one thing. There's only one Hashem. There's only one God. And that's the root of the power. That's the metric that we said Yazgie. God is one. And his power, he can infuse power into its sadic to bring about the repentance of a Russia. Means I can take someone who's completely wicked. The plague is about to happen and I can prevent it through chuva. Chuva is a returning to essence. It's a returning to oneness. is returning to a place where the evil even though it exists, it coexists with goodness. It's a place where fire and water, opposite powers, opposite forces coexist. And only a sadic, only someone who's like a moherenu who has the be the ability to connect heaven and earth, he has the ability to bring down that place, that exalted place, that transcendent place, that place of chuva, that place of gula, that place of repentance, a place of redemption. He has the ability to touch that place. And so he can bring down the bod the the hail represents the shamayim the aumayim represents the heavens that place where fire and water coexist and bringing it down onto earth. It causes destruction and it causes salvation at the same exact time. There's the mercy of Hashem side by side with the bestin side by side with God's heavenly courts because they're coming together somehow in gula in redemption and specifically here in the seventh aspect in the bored in the hail we see these two opposites that coexist in order to serve Hashem and bring about a a combination a gula what is the gula what is the redemption it's really connecting the heavens and the earth it's showing that even though in the heavens things all the paradoxes are okay and in the earth that can't be possible but even that's possible even that can be resolved even that even that contradiction is not a contradiction that is the idea of gula that is the idea of redemption that is what the Jewish people and the Egyptians were experiencing each of them in their own way for the Egyptians it was a it was a destruction but it was side by side with a gula with redemption for the Jewish people I want to bless you and please bless me Hashem should help us that we should be able to see that we have a chance of redemption. We have a chance of chuva. We have a chance that even though all there's there's so much evil in the world, we can redeem that. There's evil within ourselves, there's wrong acts that we've committed, but we can redeem that as well. That's all we need to do is connect to shamine. We need to connect to the heavens. We need to connect to Hashem's gut is redemption. We need to connect to sadic to someone who's righteous, who has indeed been able to transcend and bring the heavens down onto the earth. By doing this, Hashem should help us indeed to be able to have a real connection with him and indeed be able to experience the final gula, the true redemption of the Jewish people and the entire world. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.argoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari Goldwag. [Music]