Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
Hi, this is David Wolpe with the Parsha
in 5 where we take 5 minutes to give you
a little insight in the Parsha.
This week is Beshalach
and we're it's action packed. The Jews
come out of Egypt. We have Krias Yam
Suf. We have the mun. We have
the the water the bitter waters. We have
the May Mariva. We have at the very end
of the Parsha Amalek attacks.
And
Moshe tells Yehoshua go out and fight
Amalek and I will
do my part and he goes up
onto the mountain nearby and lifts his
hands up into the air.
And Aaron holds one hand and Hur holds
the other hand.
And as long as Bnei Yisrael looked at
the hands of Moshe, it reminded them to
look up to heaven and Hashem would save
them. And if they looked away, then they
started to lose the battle.
This is not the first time that we find
this concept. The Mishna in Rosh
Hashanah says there's another one.
And that's in Parshas Chukas when we got
attacked by the fiery snakes. So, Moshe
made a copper snake and put it on a pole
and hung it and stood up to it. And it
said when the Jews looked at the
at the snake, so it reminded them to
look up to Shamayim.
And when they weren't looking at the
snake to remind them to look up to
Hashem, to look up to heaven, then they
they died from the snakes.
So,
the question is obvious. Why didn't he
just use his hands again?
Worked the first time.
He says because in Parshas Chukas,
Hur was killed. You know, Hur was killed
by the Egel when they wanted him to
build the Egel. They they murdered Hur
and forced Aaron to do it.
And Aaron dies in the beginning of
Parshas Chukas.
He does not have Aaron and Hur anymore
to hold his hands straight.
Because Hur's job was
din.
Yirah.
Or
and Aaron was Ahava, love, Rachamim,
mercy. He made peace between people.
And so, you need that combination for
your hands to be straight.
You need the din on the one hand and you
need the Rachamim on the other side.
If you have too much mercy,
then you end up becoming an enabler.
And if you have too much din,
then you end up judging people and it
becomes too harsh and you can't have an
existence. And that's why Yehoshua came
back with the spies and said what you
people are doing is evil. And Caleb
said, "Well,
I'm with you guys." He pretended to be
part of them in order to be able to, you
know, win them over to his side and then
he was able to undo their evil plans.
But this is what happens. You always
need someone who's there to give the
mercy and someone who's there to give
the din.
I heard an interesting story once. I
think it was Yisrael Chaim.
He once was talking about this
particular kanoi, this guy who likes to
fight.
So, he says,
"Let me tell you what this guy is like.
When there's a mouse in the house,
both the cat and the housewife want to
get rid of the mouse.
But the cat's glad it's there so he can
catch it and play with it. And the
housewife wishes it was never there."
And I said this to a guy who was being a
kanoi once and he said to me, "That's
true, but you also need cats."
>> [laughter]
>> Well, I don't know if you want to be the
cat or if you want to be the housewife.
I don't know if you're going to be Hur
or you're going to be Aaron. I don't
know if you're going to be Yehoshua or
you're going to be Caleb. But understand
there has to be somebody who's going to
work with the people and someone who
says this is wrong, Rabbi Yishai.
Have a good Shabbos.
