Parshat Bo 5784 (2024) by Rabbi Baruch Taub

okay good evening okay thank you David aliser for getting me back on the screen okay uh good evening everybody uh welcome back some of you have not been here for some time U last week we just started but it's good to see everyone although now I don't see everybody got me You' got me in the middle okay so par I have chosen actually three pieces from um my Hebrew safer K Yona and I've taken them taken it right off the um right out of the safer I there I think they're they're interesting pieces that we chose that we chose for the safer also but it's not my it's not me it's the safer so let's start with um Mak number one on the sheet is um the the plague of Darkness now part of this I might have done many many years ago that's why it's in the saer but not all of it so let's see what we have here God says to Moshe lift up your hand to the heaven we actually quoted this P last week and there was Darkness in so what does the darkness mean has a number of um different suggestions of what the word means Rashi says it means felt you could feel the it was it was tangible you could feel the darkness um M he quotes the he disagrees with um the tumas who says it means to remove but but he he he says but one of the ideas that he brings is based on a medish according to the med the word M the word m real reality meaning what it's coming to teach the darkness that struck Egypt haash it was tangible it was tangible gas Mish it was thick it was you know we talk about the darkness is thick the clouds a thick Darkness but this was literally physically in a physic sense the darkness was was physical now based on this we have a torima sa T he brings all the on on the but he sometimes he has some controversial commentaries the torim was the son of the or who was the POS the authority of um of Lita 200 years ago and um great 150 200 he was a great go and his son the torima was a tremendous T but he was actually a businessman he was a banker he even lived in New York for some time and went back to Lithuania now his Tor we've quoted the Tor but here's here's a really unusual statement that he's going to make he brings the which is a med on the tah they couldn't sit they couldn't stand if they were standing they couldn't sit if they were sitting they couldn't stand that's the M the reality the phys IAL reality of the darkness in addition literature what was the thickness of this Darkness it was the thickness of a a dinar of a coin let's say a silver dollar what 50 cent piece a quarter it was was thickness of a of a coin right based on this med he wants to answer a question and this whole idea that the the darkness was was a different kind of Darkness a physical Darkness he says it would appear bringing on this new physical reality a new creation a darkness that was thick and all over mitan the thickness of a coin was something that really um contradicted the promise that God made to Noah and his children after the FL the world will continue to you can plant it will grow there'll be C there'll be heat there'll be summer and winter day and night and day and night will not cease in other words the order of creation the world was created a certain way and that order of creation will not change now it's interesting there's a beautiful seoro in this aside I should say why does he say why is Noah promised that there'll be winter there'll be summer there'll be day at night because uh the world the world was a a perfect a perfect world it was almost like I guess you could say like San Francisco weather and um and the reason why the ronam brought back this the original plan of nature is that because we did not appreciate we did not app appreciate the world that was created by having a change in Seasons we appreciate what the ronam is doing and we recognize that there's someone behind the curtain right but in any case the world was created with a certain order so how do you get this all of a sudden darkness which was created as night right is all of a sudden changed to something of a physical reality the thickness the thickness of a coin you do that how does that happen so he based on that he says that's not what happened so he says something very very creative based on he wanted to suggest it was a kind of real physical physicality Darkness like a cataract there was a physical physical something that was in the eyes of the Egyptians like a cataract right Shalom which blinded them kir he puts in i i ra put in bra must have surrounded their entire body based on the that they couldn't move from a sitting position to a standing position a standing this is a very unusual creative uh interpretation so the day and night was not changed there was day there was night everything went on normally but the Egyptians were not given the the the pleasure the ability to enjoy the light of day because of this cataract kind of thing which was on their eye an unusual interpretation and that's what he says but now let's move on to the second page um or actually I think it mua where are we yeah page two number two Shalom more on Darkness Darkness and peace okay what does Darkness have to do with peace we'll see the normal understanding that people have of Darkness Darkness does not have any any reality to it Ella either or darkness is the absence of light you take away light you have Darkness but Darkness has no independent reality of itself Darkness can be defined as the absence of light right that's what most people view dark but however but the proves otherwise from the blessing we say every single morning inak the dark Ness is a new kind of creation what do we say in the God created light and he created Darkness so Darkness has reality to it right Darkness was created was a physical reality called darkness which was created it's not merely the absence of light and light is not the absence of Darkness the continues we say know shom he makes peace he creates everything now what is the Nexus between peace and the creation of light and the creation of Darkness right shom immediately after God commanded he creates the light and he creates the only immediately after he creates these these serious Polar Opposites or light and darkness Shalom only then can you make peace what does that mean we spoke about last week about sh sh is the creation of asan M we were talking about the plague of borad the unique unusual plague of hail which was a mixture of Fire and Water there was fire inside the hail which is water which was a miraculous plague came from the shamayim and we discuss that at Great length last week we're not going to go into it but we have similarily we have a and May Fire and Water B Shalom bam God made peace miraculously God makes peace between fire and and water and that's why the heavens is we are we're alive today we're standing today because God miraculously made peace between fire and water in the heavens in other words he created a third creation he took fire he took water and he created a third entity called sham sham right similar similarly to the darkness and and and light day and night he made peace he made a day a yum an entire day a a union of night of two differences two distinctive differences m now we can understand the definition of Peace what we mean when we say peace what is real peace Shalom I use the fancy modern Hebrew word here it's not Dominion here Shalom is not Dominion one side has power over the other side that's not peace right that's not peace um you know um this is reminition of something that I might have quoted many years ago also to you R cook has a purish on the sitter called Olas and in that purish on the at the end of shakas mus we say the Bria we say we do a little learning and um and we speak about the Torah Scholars bring peace to the world so asks in his commentary have you ever gone into a Yesa any of us have learned in Yesa some of us are still learning Kusa so you have Kus learning together with each other and if you walk into a Yesa based matter the noise is deafening people are screaming at each other the are yelling at each other you have to you don't understand the gamor this is what the gamar is saying back and forth back and forth right where 's the piece of right what what is the piece right so the gor says that that the tum don't leave the Yesa until they make shom they make peace with each other in other words peace is not what does peace mean peace does not mean you have to agree with me right you twist somebody's arm until he says uncle right that's not peace okay I agree with you I agree with you that's not peace that's not peace the two people people you for somebody peace means that you recognize you recognize there are difference of opinion that everybody has a right to their own opinion and peace means listening there's a certain discourse and you hear what the other person is saying something that our our society today is completely lost completely the whole the whole Dei a world today where incredibly the entire world who with the student World University world who who simply take take the side of mass murderers and rapist and Killers worse than certain regard certain worse than the Nazis right they take that we are we are because there's either a victim or a Victor in the world right Jews are victims so whatever they apply to any other minority doesn't apply to Jews right Insanity absolute Insanity right but an intelligent person person understands that there are different opinions so you listen to each other's opinion and you decide what's right and what's wrong right sholom means that not that I force you to agree with me sholom means there peace when there are different opinions that can live together that can live together I'm talking about real opinions not insane opinions right that we're dealing with today right um that's not how you come to peace we have a vote and okay I win right no when there's a possibility of of of have different opinions to discuss shom then you can speak about when there's two sides to the to the argument two sides to the discussion when the two different sides join for join together in one picture and they work together so each side actually you know gives something to the other side and you create that third entity that sometimes the truth is somewhere in it's not black or white it's some kind of shade of gray no he says something very nice very very powerful psychologically um shom theor says someone who's not married does not live with peace there's no peace what do you mean there's no peace right no one's telling him what to do right no one's bothering him take out the garbage do this do that do this do that right someone who's by himself it's not gonna have any arguments who's he gonna argue with but if someone lives with someone else right there's going to be disagreement different opinions you can't have peace if there's only you that's not peace only when there's two people involved two people involved one is different than the other Shalom you can reach the level of Shalom you something Shalom is something you have to achieve you have to create shom is that third entity right is that third entity y right that is Created from Darkness and Light from day and night shamay which is Created from a and may shom can only be created when two two forces join together right it creates a synthesis so that's po po is a reality and it was a cre it was created separately y was created separately but the two of them come together to create that 24hour period it's interesting that there's there an agreement that what that what is y what is y yum has two meanings in the Torah by right but he created y y is daytime but also Y is Darkness and Light is also yum entire synthesis of day and night is called day because there's something positive about the darkness if it's if it's fused together and merged together with light there's something very positive there's something very Yi there's something very daylight about about Darkness okay go to uh the third and final page actually it's the bottom of page two a Mitzvah what is the first Mitzvah that was given to the Jewish people to CLA Israel as a whole right we know there were Mitzvah Chev mitv no there were seven Mitzvah that were given to B no right by the way those mitz B no like bris for example which was given to Abu was also Ben Noah in that sense for the Torah we keep those Mitzvah a very famous R in the the R Points out that we keep those Mitzvah not because they were given toov and Ben Noah but because they became incorporated into the Torah itself we keep those seven mitzah because they're part of the Torah but in any case so there were several mitzah but we have in this week's par this month niss is the head of the months the first it's the right it's the first of the months it's a welln the first Rashi in what does Rashi say the Torah really did not have to tell the stories of the a the Torah essentially the Torah is a way to live how we live our lives with with the Torah mitv how do we live our lives so really the Torah should have begun with the first because it's really the first Mitzvah that the Jewish people as a whole was given this was the first Mitzvah that the Jewish people were given KES establishing the calendar now what is the midst of Kes before we have our commercial calendar that we have today in the idilic times Witnesses would come to the in the mikdash and they would say when the moon where the position of the Moon they would give testimony and it would be decided when roses is in other words the Jewish people through bezdan decided the calendar it wasn't a printed calendar that we go by automatically that's not an ideal situation right now it's a temporary situation right now why is that the first mits in the Tah why is that the first mitah fascinating Mitzvah but why is it the first Mitzvah in the Torah right um you know uh Russia actually a Russia in the par speaking about something else but he says Rashi comments Rishon is Ken when something is first talking about in the par Russ is talking about peson a of PES really so Rashi says you think rishan should be the first of the seven days of PES why is rishan called a of PES so Rashi says something very prolific really he says when something is first when someone is first we say a man is ahead of his time right the a real leader of men is someone who's ahead of his time he thinks out of the box right that's Rashi words you know some someone something that someone that's first something that's first is is out of the box box it's uh first before the system right invent he invents something right he's M up right that's Rashi a Rashi so now what is unique and first and out of the box and different about the calendar about who revealed himself to a he gave the MIT of however truth be told the first Mitzvah which was given to the Jewish people as a people the basis of the the Jewish calendar right now we go to the third page M now we we ask that question this is our question m why in fact is this the first MIT given to the Jewish people as a people what is so unique about this mitvah why is it different that certain misss that we would imagine are much more are much more basic right these seem to be for us fundamentals to society to life spirituality right you learning to what's so we're going to suggest a reason would appear perhaps we can explain this gar rash fascinating gamor difference of opinion about the calendar the great rabbis in the in the [Applause] town it was between in the M actually and it spills into the of establishing and there was Aus between the two of them when R actually fell Rua did not accept the position of raan gam he demanded commanded of to do something very dramatic he sent to him a message I command you that you come to me you walk to me with your staff and your wallet I want you to bring your your your briefcase your carry whatever you carry oner according to your according to your calculation on your y Kipper I want you to come to me and carry and walk to me in the public domain right in other words I want you to transgress the Torah according to your calculation because I say this is this is not y this day that you're going to come to me sorry Raba was in pain from what was going on he said to him I want to tell you something whatever says is a done deal established the calendar this way it's a done deal Shar the Torah says these are the the festivals the of God Mikes the holy which you call you Call we the we establish the days of Y whether they're the right time or they're the wrong time these are the so in other words theoretically theoretically ladies you'll forgive me for using the p word but if the bezan would establish pesak right in the middle of vacation time in July in August it would be PESA right and we would be commanded by raban gamil to bring our pots and our pant and put everything away and start right in other words the calendar the calendar is in the hands of the Jewish people via bz established there's a dramatic distinction between the Mitzvah and all of the other Mitzvah in the Torah what is that concerning all the the Commandments of [Music] the Mitzvah the parameters and the perimeters of the Mitzvah depend on our job is to follow what dictates that we have to do all 612 mitv are in the hand of Theon on the other side of the coin maybe the Torah coin not only is the obligation to perform the Mitzvah to follow suit to do the Mitzvah is upon us Ella something else much more dram IC much more extraordinary the ability to create to create the mitvah to create the Jewish calendar we determine when Kusa happens and when sanctity kadha does not happen it's in our hands to create all of the Mitzvah via the calendar this this accomplishment what we do the Jewish people through the Avenue of bzden who represent us we have the ability to change reality to change reality right much the same as you know for some reason you know the world changes the clock in certain parts of the country they just changed the right but that that's the ability that we have now only to change the clock twice a year an hour forward you know or an hour back but we have the ability to change to completely turn the world upside down in terms of Holiness and to have to have power over the Heavens to this this is our relationship between God gives us this ability therefore this is the reason why we are suggesting that kishes is the first Mitzvah given to the Jewish people because in actuality it is the only Mitzvah that is given in a totally different dramatic way to the Jewish people Mish not only to do but to create and from this Mitzvah comes all of the other mitzvas which through the calendar we create that we are to follow the Mitzvah of okay that's the theory that I'm putting forth here and let me give you an example we can explain thisan we can give an example of this in a real estate a commercial real estate venture and nadlan is a a real estate dealer in Hebrew right not soy a real estate deal when you want to sell a a house to someone this idea by the way is used many time more in a commercial real estate than a regular but it doesn't matter you want to sell somebody house sometimes how do you do it you sign a contract you shake a hand but there's other time is right you give the key you give the the key to the new owner right it's a it's a key uh deal right um I forget what it's called there's a there's a ter a turnkey operation it's a turnkey operation right that's what a turnkey operation means you give the key over to the guy right he that's it the deal's done when God gave us the power of the Mitzvah of the calendar it was a turnkey operation Bor who gave us the keys to his kingdom this Mitzvah represents the keys to the kingdom of kadus of clel in this world who established a calendar which opens up the windows and the doors to all the mitzvah that we perform to but we establish it it's the turnkey operation we are in charge of Y we are in charge of all of of all MIT and Torah the entire Jewish year all of the Mitzvah and the the the the dos and the don'ts and all of this depends upon the Jewish calendar okay there you have it okay a few more minutes let me let me tell you something over that's not on the sheets um we have a few uh some of the actually the majority of of the um we have we have some of the makot some of the plagues in this week's par right we're closing down the the makot in this week's par right so something very interesting something very strange in terms of mosha rain who at relating to parro right so you have at the end of you have you have uh arba you have the Locust right so um mosha threatens parro again the Bon's going to bring Ara gon to bring Locust all over right so parro's advisers tell them listen parro let them go let them go they just want to go out let them leave a little bit they want to get out a little bit right let them go so uh he says okay you can go and worship your God so um but then mosha REA tells him no we want to go not just us we want to take our cattle with us right a spiritual PR we need to eat we take our cattle there's nothing doing the men can go you want to deal with you can go but you can't take the cattle mosenu argues with him he doesn't agree so MOS he angrily throws him out of the palace next this repeats itself by Kos and of course it comes ARA comes it bads to get rid of it he still hardens his heart then the next AR dark which we talked about at the beginning of this year comes and parro summons mosha and AR and he says listen you can go out of the city okay you can go he says but leave the cattle so Mo say no not only are we going to take the cattle but you're going to give us cattle not only ARG you're going to give us cattle right and he argues with par right and um again parro AR with he throws him out of the palace again he he he chickens out right what's going on here har really wants to listen to the Rabon he wants to let them go but there's something telling me he just he wants to be in charge he doesn't want finally says no right listen do what Mets the Mets in the yut Shimon it's a met about um a bunch of animals a lion and a fox and all the animals of the Jungle are on a ship and the ship comes to a dock and the dock Master is a aore the lowest a donkey right and theore demands that the lion ship pays the toll to get in to come into the harbor and the fox fox says you're an idiot youah right the Lion's the king of the jungle you're going to charge the king to pay a toll how can you do such a thing it's a he argues with him no I only do this I'm collecting this for the king's treasury I'm in charge I collect for the King right at this point the lion asks the ship to be close brought closer jumps over and he leaps off the ship and kills theor right so the medish concludes very strange M says the donkey theor is parro right and um of course the lion the king of the jungles is so what does this mean it's a matter hard to understand what is what what is the what is how power the and the lion is Ison what so what is that there was a king who once came to a toll in his kingdom there was a toll road right and he paid the toll and people asked him why are you paying the toll if I don't set an example no one's going to pay let them see that even the king pays the toll it's very important to pay the toll there's no you know just because I'm whatever I am everybody has to pay the toll right otherwise people won't they won't want to pay it right in essence the king pays the toll so wh why did the lion kill why did the lion Theon the king kill theor marrow right because most arguments are about control well there's a mlus it's it's really about power right you have you know in marital disputes husband and wife have issues there are issues sometimes they say it's religion it's not religion it's not about religion it's there's there's a power struggle who's in charge here who's in charge because because there has to be sholom which we discussed at the beginning where people start to listen to each other and it's no longer about power but where there's where there's endless disputes it's all about power and that's what was going on here theor the theor he's in charge you know I'm working for the I'm in charge here you're not in charge you think you're the king you're not in charge finally the the the lion says you're not in charge just the you're not in charge and he kills him parro that was parro parro had this back and forth in his mind he knew the power of Theon there was a certain religiosity to par he knew what Theon was capable but he couldn't help himself that's another discussion what it means that his heart was hardened he he at a point he was at a point that he it was no turning back right but it was all about power that he wanted to be in charge until the very end even at the end he starts chasing them out after makus borus will'll see next week right in in in bishah right so that's that's what's going on here it's an issue of power it's an issue of power that's the whole issue between parro and the Rabon that he wanted to defeat Theon okay just the thought that's it for today thank you all Richie I want to mention something to you not this week this week's Hala we're doing um what did I say we're doing alternative medicine alternative medicine thank you David alternative medicine in haloka but the following week I'm going to be doing a subject where you'll find very interesting I'm not gonna say why and I'm not gonna uh reveal the reason at the time either but you'll find it interesting okay have a nice evening everybody keeping for our holy holy Jews who are suffering the hostages and the and the people who have been taken from their homes let's D for end to this this terrible terrible travesty of