Rabbi Benjamin Yudin Discusses the Final Days of Pesach (5786)

Good morning, nachum. Good morning. Good yom tov to everybody. We are beginning this evening the last two days of Pesach. Before we get to this evening, I just want to make one or two quick halachic observations. The first thing we should all be familiar with is the term chametz she'avar al lo ha Pesach, which means chametz that was in the possession of a Jew during the holiday of Pesach and the Jew did not dispose of it properly or he did not sell it to a non-Jew, but rather it was in his possession. So, the rabbis imposed a fine, a knas, and they said that not only the one who had the chametz, but any Jew is not permitted to eat it or get benefit therefrom. So, therefore, even if a supermarket is owned by a non-Jew, but the distributor is Jewish and the distributor had the chametz over Pesach, it would be a problem consuming that chametz after Pesach. It is for that reason that you must consult with your local rabbi and find out from which stores you can purchase chametz after Pesach. Secondly, as we go into the yom tov this evening, we do not recite asher yatzar in conjunction with the last days of Pesach. Women do not recite asher yatzar when they light the yom tov candles and we do not recite the asher yatzar by the kiddush. Please God, we Now, let's talk first about Shvi'i shel Pesach when we celebrate the miraculous deliverance of the splitting of the Red Sea and the way in which the Jewish people were saved from the pursuing Egyptian army. The Meshech Hochmah in his commentary on Shemot in chapter 12 pasuk 16 the Torah there tells us u'veyom harishon mikra kodesh on the first day of the holiday it should be just that, a holy convocation a Yom Tov u'veyom hashvi'i mikra kodesh yihyeh lakhem and the seventh day as well should be a holy convocation. This was told to them in Mitzrayim before they had any clue about a splitting of the Red Sea. Notes the Meshech Hochmah that the Torah therefore tells us about Shvi'i shel Pesach to remind us that we are not celebrating the downfall of the Egyptians. If anything the theme of the Shirah is the miraculous salvation that God performed on our behalf. But to quote the Mishnah from the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot where the Torah that Shmuel haKatan teaches binfol oyivkha al tismah which means when your enemy falls do not be glad u'vikhshlo al yagel libekha and he stumbles, that your heart not be joyous. Penira Hashem verab enav, lest Hashem should see, and this should displease Hashem, veyashiv me'af kapo. Apo, and he turned his wrath from him the enemy, God forbid, to you. So, therefore, on Purim, we don't celebrate on the 13th of Adar, but we fought and defeated our enemies, we celebrate on the 14th, when we rested, when we had the rest, as opposed to their downfall. And similarly, even Shushan Purim is on the 15th of Adar, because they fought as well on the 14th, and we don't celebrate, as for example, in France, they celebrate July 14th as Bastille Day, where they're celebrating the downfall of the enemy, where the prison in the fortress fell in 1789, we have a very different perspective on what we celebrate. And this could be further substantiated by the Gemara in Brakhos kaf alef, whereby we taught that Hanu Biryone, there were certain boors in the neighborhood of Reb Meir that would give him an extremely difficult time. So, Reb Meir was once praying to God for mercy that they should die. His wife Bruriah said to him, "What are you doing? You shouldn't pray that they should die, because after all, you are focusing on, are you not, the verse from Borkhi Nafshi, of yitamu khata'im min ha'aretz, it doesn't say in 104 at the end of that till him verse 35. It doesn't say that sinners should cease from the earth. It says that sins should cease. He said she said to her husband, pray that they should do chuvah and guess what? That's exactly what happened. Remayer heated the wise counsel of his wife Bruriah, prayed for mercy regarding these people and they indeed repented from their wickedness. On the one hand, we have this concept that we do not celebrate the downfall of our enemies. What are we celebrating? We're celebrating on Shvi'i shel Pesach that God's deliverance can come in the most unexpected manner. The rabbis tell us and we can well understand what was happening at the Yam. In front of the Jewish people was the sea. Behind them in hot pursuit was Pharaoh and his army. To the right and to the left was a desert with its wild animals and Bnei Yisrael, if you were to stop and ask any of them, do you believe? Yes. Has God brought 10 plagues upon the Egyptians and did did he take you out of Egypt? Yes. Is he going to deliver you from this predicament? Yes. How is it going to happen? They said, we don't know. Probably nobody would ever have thought that the sea would split. Perhaps well, the Ibn Ezra says it's almost or most unnatural for a slave to be able to raise his hand against his former master which is why they were afraid of the pursuing Egyptians. They were in the majority. God could have literally given them that strength of character to fight their former masters, but no, the salvation came in the most unexpected way, and that's why, interestingly, the Talmud compares both the finding of a wife as well as success in business to the splitting of the Red Sea. We think that we will meet our bashert in one way, but in reality it comes in a most unexpected way. He happened to have been there, she happened to have been there, and the rest turns out to be a beautiful story orchestrated by God. And even in business, people think that they know how they're going to be successful, only to find out that from the most unexpected source, this one who they happen to meet, if they happen to be at the right place at the right time, all this is orchestrated by God coming from the concept of the Red Sea. Now, something which is very, very fascinating. On the last day of Pesach, the Kriyat HaTorah comes from the end of Parshat Sre A. We read this when we recite Yizkor, because Ish K'Matnat Yado, the Torah itself says that each person is to bring with them a gift when they come to the Mikdash, and we bring as well the donation of tzedakah when we recite the prayer of Yizkor. But it's the Haftorah of the last day, this Thursday, please God, that I wish to speak about, namely, the coming of Mashiach. And just as on the seventh day, the Yeshua at the Yam Suf happened in the most unexpected way, the Gemara in Sanhedrin chapter 76 amud aleph, 80 Excuse me, 98a tells us a most fascinating piece of Gemara that Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi met Elijah the Prophet and he said to him, "Tell me, when is Mashiach coming?" Said the prophet to the great scholar, Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi, "Why don't you go and ask him yourself?" So asked Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi over Eliyahu, "Deheicha yosein?" "Where is he sitting? Where is he to be found?" So Eliyahu answered him, "Apischa d'karuta." "At the At the gate of the city." And the Gra, the Vilna Gaon, understands this to mean "Apischa d'Romei." "At the gate of Rome." It doesn't say that he is found in Eretz Yisrael. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh tells us he'll be born in Eretz Yisrael. But where is he? He's in the most unexpected of places. And what's he doing there? Unbelievable, says Eliyahu, "You'll find him among the poor who are afflicted with disease. He sits among those that have tzara'as. He's not found among the elite. He's found literally giving compassion to those who are in that terrible state afflicted with leprosy. And an interesting aside, the Gemara tells us that all the other people untie and tie all their bandages at the same time, but he, the Mashiach, unties and ties his bandages one at a time. Why? Cuz he says, "Dilma min ba'ei eina. Maybe I might be needed at any moment. Any moment God's going to say to the Messiah now is the time for you to come to low e a cave and I don't want because of my bandages, I don't want to be delayed even for a moment. Wow. The Messiah will come. But it will be from the most unexpected of sources and places. Think about it. Moshe of all the people to be the one to lead them out of Mitzrayim. True, he was raised initially in Paro's palace. But 60 years he was away and he's the one who will lead them out of Mitzrayim. Who would have thought that David would be David Melech Yisrael Chai v'kayam a descendant of Ruth, right? Someone regarding whom there was much controversy. What emerges from this very clearly is as the prophet tells us ki lo machsh'vosai machsh'vosaychem. We don't understand. And literally, God's thinking is so different from ours. We would orchestrate it, we would plan it one way and Hakadosh Baruch Hu does it in his own innumerable way. But what comes out from the last days of Pesach is just as we were redeemed in the past, so too we are promised and that's such a strong word. We are promised that there will be a coming of the Messiah and I close with reading to you one or two verses from this haftorah. You know, "Yom ba yom ha hu and it will be on that day Yosif Hashem sheinis yodo Hashem will again show his strength liklos es shar amo to acquire the remnant of his people asher yishayer that will have remained me Ashur u'Mitzrayim mi Pasros mi Kush mi Eilam mi Shinar mi Chamas u'mei iyey hayam." Wherever the Jew will be, God will find him and redeem him. "V'nosa nes lagoyim and he, the Moshiach, will raise a banner for the nations. V'yasaf nidchey Yisrael and assemble the castaways of Israel u'futsos Yehudah y'kabets and the dispersed ones of Judah will he gather in me arba kanfos ha'aretz from the four corners of the earth." Pesach is almost gone, but we're left with this sweet taste of for sure the coming of our Moshiach. Good Yom Tov to all. >> Mhm.