Parashat Vaera by Rabbi Baruch Taub

so good morning everybody par I have three pieces two are two sham mmes we've done sham mm over the years the SBA uh was his father the AER and the shamm Beautiful Beautiful um tus hus um I was actually looking in the library here I came a little early and I didn't I didn't see they have cus there but they're missing a lot of things here they have a very good librarian and everything is really in order but they have to order some more Forum anyway let's do the shamish okay on the para after arv after the we have in this week's paraa seven uh plagues right and next week we have three plagues so after arve the wild animals um so parro wants to get rid of he wants he wants MOS to do something about the wild animals you ask me you wanted to go out and offer a sacrifice I'm GNA let you go out right but D for me D for me so the Ezra comments on this has a question uh he should have done it in reverse order do for me and I'll let you go out right right do for me and I'm going to let you go out you've been ask you want to go out why is it in this order right that's thez when the reason for ding for me to remove the plague and then I'll send you out that's thez the ism wants to suggest that in the order is is a proper order because you have to know the mindset of of parro harasha who was very smart and why he put it in this order he was trying to impress mosha rabenu right he was trying to impress mosha rabenu when he put in order since you just came in I'm going to just repeat the question we just started right Sho when after AR I don't do this for everybody right do it for you so so um Paro says please he says I'm going to send you out you want a sacrifice I'm going to send you out but I want you to do for me get rid of the pl so the ezzar asked a question it's it's revers he should say doen for me and then I'll I'll let you go out right so the the shami schm now is going to take this in a different direction that parro was much smarter and very very um conniving and uh he was trying to put put his best foot forward doing it in this order we'll see what he means V he was very careful this was a very um a very carefully designed request that parro made I tell you it says earlier I'm going to harden parro's heart we might talk about that a little bit if we have a time at the end here B soai I'm going to uh you know increase going to harden his heart I'm going to keep increasing the plagues he's going to get harder and harder he's not going to give in but is going to understand that it's all about me Theon says when I when I start up with in other words the truth is should have taken them could have taken them out in one Fell Swoop was some lightning whatever one thing and just take them out or Mak and cut to the chase the last plague and take them out right why did he go through all of this right he went through all this so to drive home the fact to parro that that it's there b in charge here right and if refuses to send them out this what he says he could have just sent one lightning could have destroyed them whatever he'll send one plague but the whole purpose here is was to spread the name of God throughout the world that everyone should hear what's going on here you know everyone's going to pick up the newspaper and see another plague and another plague and another plague right this rebon you know this this God of Israel right each time he refuses 10 times all of his wise men they couldn't really do anything in the end there was no doubt in the world he took us out Hashem elim it was clear that was the whole purpose of the makas okay come on now why each Mak in the order that's a whole other discussion which we're not going to get into but that that's he's just talking about the 10 versus one and yro really proved it because yro became a g there was not one moshe's father-in-law there was not one Idol that he didn't worship he was a he was an expert in uh Western and Eastern religions northern and southern religions as well y knew every single religion right and now says the Torah tells us but now I know that Hashem is is greater than any any other so-called god with a lowercase G and those were some of the things that experienced and saw because of that so so here's what's going on here really The reun Wanted par to Du Chua he gave them 10 chances right gave him 10 chances that would have really been showing the greatness of aim that he forgives par right he gave him opportunity you know um to recognize God and to accept theion of and then he would be king fine come on right therefore if he would say pray for me please pray for me and I'll send you out is that wouldn't be chuva right par wants to put his best foot forward deceptively right I'm going to send you out you know I really he's doing Chua I'm going to send you out and if you can St for me right it's an deception here he's trying he understands what's going on right he's playing the game right right if if you would do it that way it's like a business deal right I'm gonna I'm going to I'm going to let you out um if you pray pray for me and I'll let you out that's a business deal the condition comes before the action D for me you know D for me um you know I'll let you go right if you do for me this I'll do for you right that's not what he said that doesn't appear to be ch right right if he wouldn't remove the plague he's in the same position so Chu is that I recognize my my mistake that's what chu is person has to have the the um the uh emotional and intellectual honesty to admit that I did something wrong right that has to come first that's what parro's saying that's what he's saying I made a mistake go out you want to sacrifice go out and sacrifice to God right I recognize you're God right right he quot you are righteous for everything that happens to us you did everything truthfully everything you did and but we were we sinned so this is really what par was trying to show that he's doing Chua that's why he asked it in this order right it was purposeful right go to the next line V sh that's why says I'll send you out tonight without any condition you're out of here you want to go sacrifice go sacrifice to your god he's a great God even if you don't remove the the animal I'm going to send you out and then only then but by the way if you want you know D for me and get rid of this plague right this was his he says could be that the Ean Ezra is just reading theot here of mikra that's the the way it is in the but but I hold he says the ezar really must agree with me he's just explaining here that what's the order of the of theim okay um he okay so that you got the point okay beautiful idea here's the second sh and this is after the seventh plague of hail right and again the idea of prayer comes up Moshe is going to pray to remove the hail but there's something unique about moshe's prayer his doing where he doens for the removal of the hail that's what he's going to talk about he says Moshe to him okay you want me to get rid of the hell at ear when I go out of the city right whatever the city was it was called Ramses it was called um whatever right at cap I will extend my hands I'll Hashem towards Hashem I'll D for him and everything is going to the the everything is going to disappear right um rashi rashi when I go out of the city me from the city P he didn't DAV in the city again whether it's was ancient Alexandria or whatever it was we don't know right maybe they they do know maybe there are Scholars that do know but because it was full of Idols it was full of idols and he wouldn't doen in the city for Hail right in the City full of Idols by the way I just want a PS I want to tell you um you remember Fiddler on the Roof do you remember that there was a church church bells ringing in Fiddler on the Roof you remember that so people who know anatea say it's a it's it's it's not true that's why this is fiction because anfa did not have a church right so that's that you can check out with historians of uh of Eastern Europe so just that's really a silly aside but but it's an aside there's a Reason by the way by the way that is why at the beginning of the yesim here of Jews coming on Aliah they didn't come toes they went to T Aviv because Tel Aviv has no churches right maybe they do I don't know if but they had that's why the ishua you had all kind of very special G Isel Gus from Lithuanian Community from they all went to um T aiv there were great communities in t Aviv right and that's why okay interesting so here you have mosha rabenu he went outside he wouldn't D in the side Rashi says because he had to go outside to pray for Hail V but I have a question laka well how come by the frogs bya they left parro's presence in the city still in the city over the page if I can get over the page here um MOS he he didn't go out of the city he left the palace but he does we just saw arov I'm going to leave the palace and he answered parro right from yes from the last piece and I'm going to D to hasem and by the AR right the Locust he left the palace and he to in all these other three places he clearly doed to the Ron in the city right um so why what was different about B what was different about the plague of hail that he doed outside the city yeah everybody got a sheet you got you're okay I have two so ah okay you have two oh okay uh there are three sheets to this right you have three you have all three okay good good good okay so why Why by barad by hail was it necessary to get away from the idols to have kind of a stronger more direct right there's something unique about because really he tells he tells him to go do you have to go uh kind of above shamay to d right it's got to be a extra super rashash actually took Renu up above this the Shay to D he M had to go to that place says which is a strange comment because by also by Darkness also you have the same thing in the it says lift up your hands on top of the sh Russia doesn't say that there by he only says it here right so there it means you know just lift them up toward all could be towards the shamay but here Rashi brings a medish that it means he took him all shamay why what was the need for this what was unique about the plague of hail that required this extra right what do we how is it B defined for us there's fire in the water right Rashi so there's a miracle within a miracle one Miracle is that the hail came the other Miracle is that hail is a miracle within a miracle fire and water don't mix but you had the fire and you had the water in the other danger of Hil was that that Duality dialectic of Fire and Water working together which is K it's against nature right the was was water to do the will of God sh so in order to do the will of God right fire and water made peace with each other right where is that notion understood from where do we we know that already this is a this is a power that's this is a something that's beyond nature right so the the tension between fire and water was dissipated Shay that's what shamayim is Shay the rabis Tells in the heaven is made from right sh right that's sh is right theive is not there but that's so you have the heavens are you have the world of of fire and water and they are they they they work in syn right that's the the miracle of that's what shamay is a different world it's beyond the world of nature right they could live together in peace so that's what he says here to him lift up your hand i'm tell H this is where this Maka comes from unlike the other makas the other makas come from nature right if you think about it they're all natural phenomena that that a boru pressed a button and brought them at the wrong time right but they were or the right time for him but they were all natural phenomena right but hail is not a natural phenomenon in the sense that it comes it's a natural phenomena that comes from an unnatural place because it's fire and water coming together Shay the sh itself there's a synthesis between they work together so this clearly was above therefore God says he took him to that place that he should bring hail down but with where it also says Al right a it's not the same idea that's why Russia doesn't comment it there he doesn't say this there this is in other words could also mean lift up your hands towards right so now what about the right had to go out of the city they didn't couldn't D within the city it's full of idols what was that why is that a problem we have for why is that a problem he's asking a question here human waste you have to have a holy encampment right to Mis the Torah when soldiers go to war they have to have right he says if you cover up dirt or you cover up an idol right you can uh you can do in there right you can cover it up it doesn't even if it's there right um I remember once that um you know I think R rash rash in Baltimore n rash he had to be in in in a Catholic Hospital and a Catholic Hospital you know they have a cross on the you can't take it off right so he so he puts he put like um a pillowcase on top of it right nobody said anything to him right nobody started up with him but he put a pillowcase on top of the on top of the Cross right so and you can Dove it right we live today you know not necessarily not us here but he's talking about Jews andar we live amongst all kinds of there's all kinds of go and churches and and it's not to D we can DAV there right even though there's a church in the city here is a wholeo talks about ding even even in a foreign country we can D I'm not going to we skip the even though the city was full of Idols said DAV so what what's going on here the sh this was different Bor when it came to Bor this is a very different Bor because Bor comes from a higher place right an uncommon denominator as we explained where all the Opposites are right IM Mak to remove this Maka which was two opposites working in tandem his had to reach that place so aara would have would have affected made it very difficult for this F aaro would have stand stood in the way because AAR is aod what is AAR aod Zara it's aod it's serving serving God Zara but strange it's the negative side of of right so even if it's not in the house it's in the city it's it's the same we got to get we got to get you have to go the extra mile literally the extra mile go out of town right now he asked a PS there's a PS that's what he says but he as he adds one more Mitzvah where the same thing happens next week's para right the first Mitzvah given to the Jewish people as a whole to establish the calendar that Nissen is the first month you have to establish the calendar that is the first Mitzvah given to the Jewish people why is that the first Mitzvah given to the Jewish people by the way right so we know that Rashi that's the first rashan Kish you know the first rashan Kish says why does the story start at bous go to that's the first Mitzvah given to CLA Israel right but why is it the first Mitzvah so what is the what is the calendar what is the calendar right the calendar is you know in in real estate um particular commercial real estate you can have a turnkey deal you give over the key right and that's like the that's the deal is made right so here you know this is giving over the calendar to CLA is Theon kav giving the keys to the kingdom to CLA Israel we now establish when holy days are we establish everything the whole calendar the whole Jewish life everything is established via the calendar right so that's what he wants to say but that was also he had to go out of town to do for this that's because it's such a big Mitzvah so he says now by that Mitzvah you'll see next week it was in but it wasn't in the city it was full of Idols so that also the was given to them not in that environment this powerful Mitzvah this was this gave new life to the Jewish people I discussed this somewhere else he says other all the reasons that I said that the that is the keys to the to the world right it's the keys to applying Torah to bringing the Torah into the physical world it's the synthesis of Torah the spirituality the r together with the gash via the calendar that's what the is all about okay fin piece final piece uh number three is from iasha we started to take some of the Torah from uh rafol alter the rashash shiv the G rashash Shiva who has become in the last five years a major force in um in Jewish life and in Jewish thought in fact uh uh president Trump has invited the G rashash Shiva to the White House so you know you hear when I've been telling you this for the last few weeks when we use him that I say this I use the term he's a rock star but you see there are many other gdolim and very prominent Jewish leaders right and and and rash Yesa and rebis right but he invited ra alter to come to the White House that's amazing give tell you okay so here's a piece from him on the part uh you have a little patience to see where where the paraa comes in but he's going to get eventually to tarda to the frogs all tudus isomi tudus isomi was a very powerful influential Jew okay in Rome one of the leaders of the Roman Jewish community and he was a very Pious person right a very smart person right could be he was in the Roman Senate I don't know but now you know there's a problem with the Corbin pesak coming up in the next few Paras the Corbin pesak the way the animal was set it was like um like a soldier with ar with armor on it the the the the G the lamb its hands and its feet were tied to the side of it it was like an attention right we're not allowed to do that because it looks like we're giving a corbon outside of the that's why we don't have the right we say right we have a we have to be very careful say p it's in memory of the P it's not the cor PES right but he convinced the Jews in Rome to eat on the Sater night a a actually a a an a lamb that would look like the corbon PES right the rabbi sent him if it's not for the fact that you were we would have put you in you're almost having the Jews eat a sacrifice outside of the B mikdash that which is a Mitzvah really that only applies when there is a b mikdash right so theor say tus was a great person that's why they didn't touch him he was a great person a gav means a holy person right gav Raba is Aramaic for a god a great God right so so which is really a term aav Raba is is usually um is usually used for great rabbis right so he was a g Raba oh balag maybe it was very powerful right so then over the page the gamorra gives there this guy discusses other things then the gor all of a sudden brings him up again tashma rabbi's tau is he taught something else which is very strange because for a long time since that MSA just told he's not referring back to this MSA because the gorah went on to something else it's as if there was something else that he taught right which he's going to mention but this is also listen to what he taught Mar no it's getting closer to the Para famous story right right set up an idol and he made the Jews bow down to it and he forced kanarya holy people to bow down and they refused to bow down we know the story they jumped in to the fire they jumped into the fiery furnace and they were saved right so the gamor asks theor asks mishar what did they see that they actually threw themselves into the fire what was their motivation right they made a from themselves important word from the frogs the frogs are not commanded on right but what does it say about them they were doing God's Duty right what did they do they came they came into your houses your ovens means your kneading bowls in other words when are the kneading bowls next to the oven when the oven's hot so they jumped into the firing furnace they died came they went into the fire that's what the Torah says they were all over the place they jumped into the into the fire they killed themselves so they were not commanded on kesem they're frogs frogs not commanded on Kem right so we who are commanded on kesem we have to do this right that's the medish okay now that's the gamorra now Mar the mar is one of the one of the classic late commentaries in the gor I don't understand this this means an aor argument right like the simple argument right the frog is not commanded and he did it so me I I I am commanded I have to do it right he said I don't understand this it doesn't make sense why true they were not commanded in but also they also don't have the Commandment to live according to we have a Commandment that you live by Torah not die by right you have to we have preserve our lives right we we don't we don't jump into fire right unless it's a kiddish hasem situation but we we're careful right the Torah is given to us to live by the Torah not to die by the Torah right they don't have that Mitzvah either so what's the problem what's the big deal so they so they don't have kesem right to sanctify God's name by jumping in the fire but they also don't have the Mitzvah that they have to live right so they could throw themselves into the fiery furnace they have the Commandment to live you have to live this was not a public thing he put up this Idol and it was not a public display he asked them privately to do this they were not obligated the of if this is in privacy they did not have the obligation to kill themselves right there's that yug yavor to kill rather than transgress is if it's in front of 10 people but if it's not in 10 front of 10 people it's yavar it's transgress and don't die right right so what was the sh where do they learn out from the frogs that they had to do it we also have to understand this is also they say in the name of tudis right before this there are there are things that we don't have in aramor that he said many things that tud said he was a wise man so he was he was well known they would bring many Dres from T right remember the gor said that tudus was a wise person right he was a why da from this gor do you see that tudis was his govern was a God was a brilliant a brilliant spiritual person you have from this you see that go the greatness of what was the depth the profundity of what tudis said that that made this K from the frogs and they jumped in with all the questions of the mar where is the greatness so listen to what he says you have to look carefully at every word of that here they did a in their inner Persona they just didn't say doesn't a lot of times you say they they made a but no with their heart they looked at their heart and their right they look deep into this generally for everybody you know material life our physical life right our our physical life eating drinking sleeping working Etc there are two things there's physical life and then there's the obligation to do R you have right I have to work I have to but also there's that I have to do what the tells me to do they seem to be to cont two side two contradictory things right right my spirituality right and my physical living in the material world living in the spiritual World seem to be you could you could make an argument that they're two separate things right on one hand there's my physical life right on the other hand is right I have to fill refill fill the fulfill the word of but by the frogs we see were they were animals without they didn't have Das they didn't have wisdom right but they did have this physicality right the natural an animal you don't have to be a brain surgeon frog to not jump into a fire right you're you you're you're repelled by fire you protect yourself animals protect themselves right they protect themselves there's a certain t to protect myself I protect my physical self right pardon Instinct right but somehow there was an awareness that this is what God wanted them to do they jumped into theor in words this is against mother nature frogs don't jump into fire they run away from fire right but there must have been something else at play that in their physicality was mixed spirituality as well which by the way we know that the two are together right the fact that I live in a physical world that I go to work and then I go to sh doesn't mean that the two don't come together I have there's a whole section of the called Mish which are the laws of how I work how do I function in society right I function in society my work whatever I do my ethic is based on the on the spiritual part of of my life also the Torah so the two really come together so somehow the two came together even for the Frog right and he went against his human instinct and not his animal Instinct and took a spiritual take and jumped into the fire because really deep deep in nature is that there's nothing else besides your your your laws your Torah protects my spirit now listen to this here's the icing on the cake and he quotes an obscure medish it's a medis you see the short form is don't think in my life I have to I don't think I've ever seen this medish I don't think I've certainly ever opened it but I'm going to look for it now but it is a medish medish right and what does it say in that medish sardaa the Hebrew word Fara DEA a bird of knowledge a bird with now you have to understand this ises you can play around with English can play around with Latin you can't play around withes this is in the Torah right you see in that dea it's sea it had this extra sensory perception intuition spiritual intuition as well as physical intuition it had the real thing and they understood that all of their life their physical life it's all the God God brought me into this world and that's what they they went into the depth of this idea right they did this they went to the source of their lives that the ultimate purpose of God of the world man in this world is to do to do RM to do what God wants that's real life real life is doing doing hashem's will what we refer to as life you know the physical life who it's it's Transit it's it's it's Kaz it's it's how do you translate k um it's not real right it's here today gone tomorrow right right as said right whatever okay so here what he's saying beautiful the end last three lines from this which gives us deep deep the understanding of what life really is all about in this world ra rabu that's why he was called a great man