The Truth Pharaoh Didn’t Want Exposed | Parsha Perspectives | Va'era 5786

Good morning. Welcome back to para perspectives for today. Great to be together and learn para's the continuation of our new story. The curtain came down on the birth of our family. We've begun the story of the birth of our nation. We continue to grow and to be formed as a nation to find a way to feel unity and aus and to be on this journey of redemption together as a nation. And the stories the parishes that we're reading are not only pieces and lessons of history. We're not simply recalling part of the past. It is a blueprint for the present and this is the formula to be able to forge a future together. As we continue to navigate this gullis and long for a gula, this story is the story of how. As always, we begin with gratitude. Thank our para perspective series sponsors Beck and Aviatz and family in memory of David Gman Ali sponsored by the Shrier family for the upcoming yearightes of their parents grandparents and great-grandparents Maxine and Bernard Sullivan and a memory of uncle Lester Friedman for the fua of Albas ya Fredo have a complete refu and feldman commemoration of her mother's 47th year at St. Miriam Yehuda should have an aliyah and we'll also dedicate our learning there are many yites today notably among them today is theite we'll try to quote some Torah from the yardite they all share the same today so we'll see if we get into it page 318 in the earth scroll stone and let's begin and it should and jump out to you from the opening. Who spoke to Moshe? Elohim, the name for God of Elohim. And what did he say? Hashem. The shift from Elohim to Hashem. We know Elohim represents Mid and Hashem is said two different names, different names or different descriptions, different aspects of Hashem. Why the shift and why the change in these names? What's going on? And then what does he reveal? And he lets Moshe know that I appeared previously to but my name which name I did not make myself known to them. Why so negative? Hashem wants to let Moshe know that he revealed previously to the others. But why say I held back? There's an aspect of me they didn't know. There's something they weren't exposed to. And I also uh have I established my covenant with them. What's going on here in the So let's start with Rav Saxs in his sax writes the following. He says the knew God by the four-letter name the Lord Yke. It occurs 165 times in braces. In an earlier comment, I am the Lord. We discussed Rashi's decoding of the PK. The patriarchs knew the God of promise. The Jewish people were now about to see the God who delivers on a national scale. Note that the word, we mentioned this last week, that when Hashem says to know, knowledge, it doesn't mean intellectual, doesn't mean cognitive. Knowledge means an intimate connection. Knowledge is the intimacy that is the result of access, exposure, connection. Emotional intimacy is when you let someone into your inner world. When you share your fears, your dreams, your aspirations, your disappointments, your failures. When you let someone in where you don't let anyone else. When someone has access and exposure to the most private thing in you that yields emotional intimacy, physical intimacy, true intimacy, not just a external physical act, but an act that yields an intimacy is when it's reserved. when it's something that's not shared by the masses or by many or by any other but when it's exclusive and it's reserved and that knowledge that's the biblical definition of that that Adam knew his wife knew biblically knew physically it means to know in a way that nobody else knows I mentioned last week that our world has lost that people share and overshare they share their bodies they share their emotions they share their experiences they share their lives with no filter and nothing reserved and no bound boundaries and the result is a world of people struggling and suffering from no intimacy struggling to find emotional connection intimacy physical intimacy and connection that lasts. So that's true even in the intimacy with Hashem. That's what Rabbi Sax notes that here loat in Hebrew does not mean to know in a purely cognitive sense. It means to have direct and immediate experience of something. All those knew that Hashem would fulfill his promises, but they did not live to see the full realization of the covenant. In the ancient world, the idea of God who promises would not have made sense outside of Israel. The Lord is not a natural force as in polytheism or even the totality of natural forces. For this we have the word God. The Lord is the concept of a God who places himself under moral obligation to the future. Hence God who acts in history who says I will be who I will be. But Hashem told Abraham I am the Lord. And the vision in which he revealed to him that his descendants would be strangers in the land not their own where they would be enslaved and mistreated. The repetition of these words to Mosheir creates a vast temporal arch between Aram and Moshe. The first and last scenes of exile. And with this sax continues with another comment. We have now the dal the shonos of gula the four expressions of redemption. We commemorate these four expressions where the pes how four cups of wine that commemorates the four expressions. There really is a fifth hashem promises to bring us into and indeed fulfilled that promise so much so we've spoken in the past's uh suggestion with the founding of the state of Israel the modern state that we introduce a fifth cup at the seder it was rejected because we don't yet have ga we don't yet have a ban mikdash we don't yet have a we know we continue to suffer and struggle it was rejected but there is that fifth expression but on the first four rabbi sax continues what is revolutionary ary in Judaism is not simply the concept of monotheism that the universe is not a blind clash of conflicting powers but the result of a single creative will. It is that Hashem is involved in his creation. God is not simply the force that brought the universe into being. Nor is he reached only in the private recesses of the soul. At a certain point he intervenes in history to rescue his people from slavery and set them on the path to freedom. This is the revolution at once political and intellectual. Judaism is the escape into history. the unique attempt to endow events with meaning. To see in the Chronicles of Mankind something more than a mere succession of happenings. To see history as nothing less than a drama of redemption in which the fate of a nation reflects its loyalty or otherwise to a covenant of Hashem. Some 3,300 years ago, Hashem tells Moshe he will intervene in the arena of time, not only though primarily to rescue the Jewish people, but also to have my name known throughout the land. The script of history will bear the mark of a hand not human but divine. And it begins with these words. Therefore say to the Jewish people, I am the Lord and I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians. says Rabbi Sax and we'll see this more echoed in many of the other commentaries including the Gashivita and others that the curriculum that was the makos these 10 plagues and the experience of taking us out of and what we will commemorate at the Pes is not simply a piece of history but rather it is a description and a prescription for our destiny. It is to be able to reinforce within us that Hashem didn't create a world and move on from there. He didn't set the world in motion and then move and pivot to another project. Hashem maintains and continues an intimate connection with us. The Ibenezar quotes the author of the Kuzari. The Kuzari he writes himself that why why do the Aseras begin that I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt? Why start why does Hashem introduce himself? I am Hashem who took you out of Egypt. What's more impressive? That Hashem took us out of Egypt or that he created the world. Always put on the top of your resume, we're looking now for a new controller, our finance office. If you know of anyone who's excellent in accounting to manage our bookkeeper and reconcile our finances, we're in the market full-time on campus. Going to be fantastic. So, we're getting resumes. That was a way you saw what I just did there. It's called networking. I'm trying to find somebody. So if you know somebody seriously send them. But as we collect resumes, so if you look on the top of the resume, you launch, you start with what? Your most impressive thing. What's more impressive about Hashem that he took us out of Egypt or created the world? By far creating the world is the most impressive thing in all of history. More impressive than the splitting of the sea or 10 plagues. More impressive than any miracles is creation itself. X Neilos, something from nothing. There's the atheist. the story of the atheist who challenged God. Big deal. You created, I could also create. So God says, "Okay, let's see." So he goes to Home Depot or Lowe's and he gets the ingredients and he puts them together and he builds this robot and he introduces AI and he creates a golem and he programs it to speak and to feel and to think and to act and he says, "You see God?" So God looks at him and he says, "Get your own materials. [laughter] Eneo the something from nothing. All of our creation starts from something. We build a house, we have the materials. We build a person, procreation, conception, which is a great miracle and the ultimate imitation of Hashem. He gives us the ingredients and we rely on him for the mixture of the two actually resulting in conception. But to create exneil something from nothing, we have no conception. We have no experience. We cannot imitate that something from nothing. So wonders are bud and the kuzari. So that's the most impressive thing that Hashem ever did. Why not start with that? Why not launch? Why not have on the top of the resume, Hashem created something from nothing? Why does it create with UTS? You know why? Because despite how old we look, despite the white hair that we have, someone complimented my wife yesterday. She deserves it. How she hasn't changed a bit in 25 years. often that's followed up with your husband looks much older, but you you haven't changed that. I don't know why that's necessary. Can't they just offer her the compliment and the other part is obvious to everybody? It doesn't need to be said out loud. So, even though some of us look like we were there at creation, we weren't. We weren't. Nobody was there at creation. No one's there. So, does it mean anything to us? Not necessarily, because none of us were there. And it could be God created a world and then the same way the same way that the painter painted the painting and moved on to the next project has nothing to do with you just because you own the painting or have it hanging in your home. The same way the architect or the builder they design, they build the building and they move on to the next project. They don't maintain a relationship. So the fact that God created a world wouldn't tell us anything about his ongoing relationship with us. What tells us, I am the Lord your God. And the same way I took your ancestors out of Egypt, I'm going to take you out of the Egypt of your life. the exile in your life, the dark moments in your life, the feeling that the ceiling is caving in, that the walls are closing in, that you're in a constricted place mit when you're going through your gullus, your mitzim, the same way I took your grandparents and great-grandparents and great great grandparents. I took them out. I took them out of Avitz and I took them out of the Inquisition. I took them out of expulsions and I took them out of and I'm going to take you out, too. That's experience that's familiar to us. That's a story that's been told to us. That's not history where Rabach says history is his story. That's memory that begins with me. That's our collective memory and our collective conscience is that our ancestors have ingrained in us those stories of having taken us out and he's taking us out now. And therefore, therefore the four languages of gula, they matter. And that's what God says to our aos. Hashem made a lot of promises. But he says, "I spoke to them. There was revelation. They knew me in the sense that they communed and conversed with me, but I didn't reveal myself in history." Hashem hadn't yet moved mounds of history. Only now he's telling Moshe, "You're about to see I'm about to rock Parro's world." That's a loose translation of what Hashem says. I'm about to reveal myself in unprecedented and unparalleled ways. And therefore, what I didn't reveal to them, what they didn't know me in that way, you're going to get to know me. And my dear friends, we've gotten to know Hashem. the miracles we've seen over the last two years. I would argue if you see them accurately and my good friend Rab Pachowski, if you didn't see his viral video, he actually enumerates and goes through the miracles of these two years based on intelligence sources based on facts, not conjecture, not fantasy. He enumerates, maybe we'll post it in the WhatsApp group, our partial WhatsApp group, so you can see it. But he enumerates the miracles of these two years from the Beeper episode and countless others which to us seem natural and sure the Mossad and the Shabbach. And to us we we give them such credit that nothing surprises us anymore. But we should see it for the miracle that it is no less miraculous than what we're reading now. And what our ancestors didn't get to know God in that way because they didn't see it. We are we can know Hashem in that way. Not an intellectual cognitive knowledge but an experiential one. He's choosing to give us access to reveal himself to allow us to know him in that way. Here's a famous question. I think we may have discussed it in the past. Our par begins that Hashem says to Moshe, I previously revealed myself to to a tok and to Yakov. First of all, I could just say a vak. Why? Two aim, two, two Yakov. That seems unnecessary. Number one. Number two, Rashi. Rash's great brilliant comment comment says Rashi. In case you're confused, Vira says Rashi. Elos. I spoke to the patriarchs, the Aos. Yeah, we know by now who Arak and Yakov are. Thank you, Rashi. Rashi often opens our eyes when we don't know what the Torah is talking about. It's unfamiliar. It's not we don't understand exa. So Rashi comes in and brilliantly offers insight and his commentary lets us have understanding. What is Rashi getting at here? Hashem says to Moshe, "I revealed myself previously to Jacob and says,"Rashi, in case you forgot, in case you're confused, in case you skipped the whole first book and went right to the sequel, I just fill you in that are theos." They're theos. Yeah, I got that. I know. I've been following. What is Rashi adding with those two words? asked is a question the whole world asks. Do we not all know that already? Says, "Hashem here is coming to give. He's coming to strengthen and give courage and conviction to Moshe. Moshe demured when Hashem came to recruit Mosha to be the leader, the mouthpiece, the spokesperson. What did Moshe say? Absolutely. I always wanted to be an influencer. Will I have the most followers? Will I get free stuff in the mail? Will everybody will everybody retweet? Will I go viral? No, that's not what Moshe said. Moshe said, "No, thank you. No interest. I just want to influence the world. I don't want to be an influencer of the world. He demured. He hesitated. He was very humble and modest. Who am I to go and how will I get them out? So that's Oos says Hashem to Moshe. You think and Jacob wanted to be influencers. No, they had the same humility and modesty. They asked the same question. Who are we? What are we? How will we? It'll never happen. But you know what? I told them and I'm telling you, you're an of they were of us. You have leadership. You are the beginning because they saw and accepted that leadership role because they understood that responsibility. You know we think we make the mistake of thinking if we start if we begin and we rise then we become we merit that but it's the opposite. when we take on a role or responsibility when we're willing to play a position then gives us when we say how will I will we I don't have the skill I don't have the time I don't have the resources I can't then you don't but when you say I don't think I have any of that but if that's what the moment demands if that's my mission if that's my purpose if that's what's needed if this is where there's a vacuum I'm in then we merit says that the what is telling Moshe is the same Yakov who all thought that they were unworthy inadequate who none of them signed up to be influencers but the moment they took the responsibility they carried they grabbed the of the moment and therefore they merited same with you you have all these questions just take the responsibility and I'll be by your side and we'll get this done together similarly told Moshe You think that you're going to merit because you wonder, you keep saying, "Who am I? What am I? How will I?" You're right. You don't and you can't and you don't deserve. But you know what? in the merit of the people that you're leading. When you take responsibility to be a manig, whatever deficiencies or faults, whatever shortcomings you have are more than made up for by the people that you are representing and leading, by those you're taking responsibility for in the in the merit of the community of the kahila of therefore Hashem gives you all kinds of kos, all kinds of competency and power and capacity you never dreamt or you never knew or you never thought you could. Some people say, "How am I going to be a mother? How am I going to be a father? Who am I? What am I? Will I succeed? I don't know." Hashem says, "First of all, read books and learn and ask and go to Avad and don't just assume that you know how to do it. But also, if you bring a child into the world, says Hashem, if you're my partner in bringing someone into this world, in merit of taking that and that responsibility, you will have what you need to succeed. It's true for a rav a rebi, a teacher, a mother, a father. Don't wait and then you'll do. Start doing and then Hashem will provide what we need in order to succeed in order to play that role. And that says what Rashu is getting at Elos. El they weren't aos before they started. They started and they led and they fulfilled their mission. And because of that, therefore they became they became as Dr. There are other answers to this question. Says something else. See, Hashem comes to Moshe and he says, "Moshe, you want to know how will you do it? Who are you to do it? I revealed myself previously to now Moshe easily could have said to himself or to Hashem, yeah, but they're they're the greats. They're the goats. They're the Hall of Famers. Who am I? What am I? How do I measure up to them? What do I have to do with them? How are you reassuring me? Because you previously revealed yourself to them. What does that have to do with me? Comes Rashi and says, "Elaos, what Hashem is telling Moshe is, do you know where you come from? Do you know who you are? Do you know what DNA you have? Do you know from whom you descend? They're your AOS. They're your patriarchs. These are your parents. This is what you come from. You think you don't have the resilience, the tenacity, the conviction. You don't have what it takes to be this leader to rise to this moment. I revealed myself previously to Abra and Jacob and they are not they're not random people of history. They're not just people who are part of a past. They're your aos. They're where you come from. They're who you are. They're what's in your kishkas. You have this in you too. And that's elos says of alter aos Moshe. Don't think these are just three great but they have nothing to do with you. These are three greats and they're inside you. Asma says every day when we dab three times a day a hashem you shield a it doesn't just mean you protected a in the past. It means you protect the aim in me. In me that when I doubt myself, when I feel uncertain, when I feel unworthy, when I feel insecure, I remember a hashem, you preserve an a in me. I have that courage and conviction. I have that capacity. I have an a in me. That's my DNA. That's from whom I descend. That's where I come from. That's who I am. And that's what Rashi meant. Elos may premish has another answer. Number three says, "What is Elavos?" What is Rashi adding aos? We know who are by now. We said the we quoted the record we quoted the the premos means the following might have thought you know what my father was was so great. Who am I and what am I? What will I add to him? I'm just a role player. He's an av and I'm a Ben. He's a father. I'm a child. He's an av. And in the world of Shabas, in the world of nikin, you'd say he's an a and I'm a I'm a toa. He's primary and I'm secondary. He's the core and I'm and I'm an offshoot. He's the father and I'm a child. He's the great one and I you read I am by definition I am less but didn't say that a was an a and says I'm an a and Jacob says I'm an aos in plural a introduces and introduces a and introduces ms and tora and none of them said I can't measure up to who came before I'll just see myself as a toa as a Ben, as an offshoot, as a child, each said, "I'm an A. I can introduce. I can initiate. I can contribute. I have something." And that's why it's a lac. Even though it would have been more concise to say why because each separate and apart, certainly they shared a relationship with Hashem, but simultaneously they forged their own destiny. They forged their own path. They made their own difference in their own way. Aram and also made his own difference and Jacob made his own difference. And that's what Hashem is telling Moshe make your difference and every one of us I said under I spoke under Sunday and I said both this and I said to the and I say to all of you and all of us whatever stage or age of life that that combination means we see ourselves as both. First of all, elavos know where we come from. If we doubt ourselves, no are not just hall of famers that we study about in the past. They are inside all of us. It's who we come from. It's what we have inside us. But lest we only think that we're offspring. Lest we only think that we're offshoots. Also means that we are progenitors of the next generation. That we are the obos of the toos who will follow us. that we have what to add and contribute and who to be to be the of us of who will come after us as well. Moving right along, we have the four expressions of the four cups of wine that correspond women too. We said last week, I will take them for me as a nation. be a god to them and they will know. You should know I am the Lord your God. Who? What tense says hami? Who takes you out? And why is it takes you out in the present? Because it's true today. In our own Egypt, in our own exile, he took us out in the past and he's taking us out today. from underloim from under the mit from underneath the burdens of we shared in the past a beautiful is from the language of savlanut civil means suffering and it's the same word as patience why because to show patience is to be willing to suffer I can endure the suffering the sufferance that is patience. I can't, which is why I'm not going to Orlando for yeshiva week. But those who can suffer on those long lines and that's suffering. I can't endure it and that's why I don't go. But the suffering so the says means hashem is going to take you out from under the burden from under the suffering. And the way to do that is because you need to grow impatient. We have been too patient for too long for things we should be impatient about. And that's what Hashem says. Stop being patient for the things you should be impatient about. Martin Luther King I think day is coming up. He said in one of his famous speeches that we have to become maladjusted. Never be adjusted. He said it then against about racism. We say it today about anti-semitism. No matter what's happening in the world around us, don't adjust. Remain maladjusted. Don't become patient. Be impatient for injustice. That's But I want to share with you a different Torah tells us later invar that we have an obligation to remember. Remember the day we left Egypt all the days of our lives. Why? Why does so much center around our leaving Egypt? All the holidays center around leaving Egypt. Every day schma centers around leaving Egypt. Shabas. One of the two primary themes of Shabas is in Kdesh. Every part of Dining, every part of Shabas is that we left. What's this obsession with leaving Egypt? Okay, we got it. It was impressive. Move on. Why are we so obsessed with leaving Egypt? So obsessed. So one answer that's given is gratitude. Because we're never done saying thank you. If you think when you said thank you, you discharged your debt of gratitude. You fulfilled your obligation and you're done. That wasn't real gratitude. A real gratitude is endless and boundless. If someone saved your life, you had a heart attack, you were saved from a burning car, someone rescued you, saved your life, would not every single time you saw them for the rest of your life, you say, "And by the way, I just want to thank you again. I just want to thank you again." You wouldn't be like, "I thanked you once. I I said thank you once. I wrote you a card. Give you a bottle of wine. Leave me alone. Why do I have to bring it up again? If somebody did a CPR and saved your life, if someone rescued you from a dire circumstance, every time you saw them for the rest of your life, you'd say thank you. So, we are still saying thank you to Hashem for taking us out of time. That's one approach. That's the approach of the second approach was taken by the and he says we're not just trying to recall cognitively, intellectually a piece of history. We're trying to internalize it. We're trying to live it and to feel it inside us. Listen to what this writes. Amazing. This is what this writes. He says, "The word that repeats itself over and over and over again is God says, you know why I'm doing all this and you know why I'm doing it so dramatically? You know why I'm doing it with such pomp and circumstance? You know why I'm doing it in this way? Because I want you to do to know. Vidim vada va. I want you to know. I want par to know. I want the Egyptians to know. I want the world to know. And we just said, what is knowledge? Knowledge is not what you see in a book. Knowledge is what you experience in your heart, in your life. Knowledge is what you feel. Knowledge is what you went through. Knowledge is the intimate experience. Says Hashem, I'm doing it so dramatically. I'm doing it so extraordinarily, so supernaturally, so there is no doubt whatsoever, not a shadow of doubt. I'm involved in your life. I know what's going on. I'm intimately connected. I care. And nothing that happens is random or chance. It is all carefully curated and choreographed from above. All of Hashem's plan. What do you think? He's flexing. He's showing off? No. He wants us to know he took us out writes for all of us there are moments of Egypt of every day when we're down and out helpless and hopeless when we're despondent and depressed every time we think we want to give up Hashem says remember I took you out remember it's never hopeless or helpless Never give up. I don't give up. I'm here and I'm there for you. I didn't build a world and move on. And I didn't bring you into this world and pull back. I'm aware of I'm involved in and I care intimately and deeply about everything in your life. I took them out then and I can take you out now. And the more we know and remember, the more we live and feel that he is and can take us out, the less we are in that place of constriction. It's when we forget. It's when we start to believe the hype. It's when we start to think, I'm independent. I'm a part. I take care of myself. I take credit. God, God, who? I don't need him. It's my ingenuity. my entrepreneurship, my hard work, my effort, my success. When we forget, that's when Hashem says, "Oh, really? It's all about you. You think you exist on your own. You think you're independent. You think you came to be without me. You think you can have anything without my partnership? It's time to remind you. It's time to put you back in. It's time to put you in a mus." So that first historic leaving Egypt became the precedent in perpetuity forever [snorts] for all of us to look back to and turn back to to inspire and remind ourselves that wherever we are and whatever we're going through, he took us out then he could take us out now. The more that we remember, the more we don't need to go through our own. The more that we invoke it, the more that we're involved in it, the more that we remember it and relive it, the less we need to go through it again. And Hashem said, "Tell them this in Egypt because they're crying out from the pain. And then he should know what's going to happen afterwards. All of this is in the beautiful beautiful the word mitim comes from the word for straight for narrow place m which is also the same root pain says everybody has their moments I'm taking you out quotes beautiful insight from the holy of says we say in chabas in chabas kdesh we say the words mikesh says the memory of calls us to holiness. How do we get out of Egypt and get into a place of holiness the way to get to a holy place is to always remember who took us out. That we don't live on our own. We're not independent. There's a Hashem. He's involved in our life. We love him. We care about him. We feel him. We turn to him. We surrender and submit to him. And the more that we know that and feel that kesh the path to mccry kesh the way to holiness is to remember to remember the to get out of my friend raider in his beautiful united quotes this and then he adds on about the alterba who zite is today once shared anecdote of and he said the following about what it means to taste hashem the idea that when we get out of our own mim we can feel the presence of Hashem tangibly. When the teachings of were first being heard throughout Russia and Latvia, the reba of Leadi the Balta once passed through the city of Schlov. Schlov was then famous for its antagonism toidus and for the rigorous hold exerted by the misnag. He went to the Beimma and in a singular melodious tune translated a from Tahillum into Yiddish. What did I sorry he said this was my Allah shalom's favorite even at the end of our life lying in her hospital bedem taste and you will see that a god is good these soothing words have emanated from his pure truthful heart pierced the hearts of his listeners scores of young people ran after him they began to learn the teachings ofus soon they became prominent personalities in the community the expressed the profound idea in a simple uncomplicated way one can taste intimately feel God's presence that's what it means to know is to taste God's presence not academic not intellectual not conceptual not distant and apart but to know taste and you will see experience Hashem talk to him feel him lean on him rely on him experience him taste and you will see that Hashem is good that's why we're reading these parasim that's what this is all Now it's getting out of our own. It's finding our own way in this story. Moving right along. Mosha de Mure is the mission and its benefits. Mosha tries to get out of it again. Who am I? The people couldn't listen. How will parro listen? Even though it's not really a good, why did the people not listen? Why' the people not listen? The Torah tells us, you know why they didn't listen? They were overwhelmed by the work. Rashi says means shortness of breath. When someone's out of breath, they can't hear. Someone's running and racing and caught up in the hamster wheel of life and they're out of breath and they have no margin, no space. They can't think. What are you going to come paint a picture of the life they could have? They could barely survive. They're treading water just to stay above, just to breathe. And you're going to come paint a picture, give them a vision of what could be, says Rashi. You know why they couldn't hear? They couldn't breathe. Says doesn't mean they couldn't breathe. doesn't mean breath as in the ability physically to breathe. Means they had no vision. They were so down and out. You go to somebody and you say, you know, just take control of your life. Come, let's go for a walk every day. Let's take on your health and wellness. Let's take on your emotional well-being. Let's study Torah. And they say, ah, it's all far foul and it's too late for me. It's never going to happen. It can never change. Nothing good's going to come of it. They have no ru. There's no breath to their vision. They can't see. They can't imagine. They can't dream. Because when there's so much noise and we're so overwhelmed and there feels like there's so much work then how could we breathe how could we have a vision says parro understood that you know who else understands that this world the technology overwhelms us there is constant noise relentless information activity we don't have time to think and when you can't think you can't dream you can't picture you don't have a vision of who you could be you don't know how you're going to get there. So when we're addicted and when we're obsessed and we're consumed and when there's noise always being pumped into our lives, our heads, we can't dream. We have no vision. So the people had a very good reason why they couldn't hear. Could you imagine Moshe comes and he says to them, "I know you're suffering. I know you're persecuted, but I have good news. Hashem sent me almost. We're getting out." And they say, "Ah, get lost. We don't have time for you. We got we got we got bricks we got to make. Get lost. He goes back to Hashem. He says, "I tried. What could I do?" So now Hashem says, "Okay, I'll tell you what. Go to parro and tell him to let them out." He says, "The people can't won't listen to me. Certainly parro is not going to listen to me." And Rashu quotes this is one of the kakomers in the Torah. Kavakoma means an aorti, I think, whatever the Latin is in the sansino translation of uh of the gumar. How do you translate not in Latin? If this then certainly that it's one of the arguments of logic. If this certainly that so the world asked what kind of kr is that? The people didn't listen. Why? Because they were suffering. They couldn't breathe and they were hard worked sitting back in the lap of luxury of the palace. He should listen. So they it's a question. It's a question. I'll leave it for you as a question. But moving along. So, so what happens now? We give the lineage. It's time for the two stars to rise. Moshe and Aaron, the mouthpiece spokespeople of Hashem. It's time for them to bang down the door of the palace and come and make that famous demand to let let my people go. So, first we remind everyone who they are, where they come from, what is their lineage. And it concludes who are talking about we're on page 322 chapter 6 verse 26 says this was Moshe to whom Hashem said take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their legions says by Saxon and Moshe the names are given here in the chronological order who's older >> Aron by how Three. >> Three years. Aaron's three years older. How old is Aaron here? >> 83. >> Moshe is 80. Aon's 83. If you're in your 80s, no, you're just getting started on your mission. I'm not I'm I'm dead serious. If you're in your 80s or approaching it, no, you're not retired. You may be retired from your profession, but you're just getting started in your calling, in your mission. Because this is the beginning of Aaron and Moshe on their mission. And there's so much redemption the world needs. There's so much leadership the world needs. And the same way Aaron and Moshe's leadership first got started at 80 and 83, your leadership, what we need could first be getting started at 80 or 83. You're allowed to also if you're, you know, 38. You don't have to wait till 83. But know and find in the fact that Aaron and Mosha are 80 and 83. You could just be getting started at 80 and 83. So here the Torah is giving the names in what order? Chronological as opposed to their leadership positions where they're given in what order? Mosha and Aaron. Sometimes Mosha Aon sometimes Mosha the Berlin suggests that in this which speaks about the Jewish people Aaron takes priority. Why? He is more wellknown and beloved by the people. Aaron is more of a people person than Moshe. Moshe is the leader from a distance. Aaron is the peacemaker. Aaron knows the people. Aaron gives the hug after minion. Aaron knows everybody by name. Aaron makes peace between the people. And Moshe is this academic, this giant, this great Moshe who spent much of his life in the Egyptian palace and in Midyan. So Moshe is relatively unknown to them. The next PK, however, look at the next P is when they come to par. So when it's talking about speaking to the Jewish people, the P says when it comes to the next points out Rabbi Sax quoting when it's speaking to the people who are Mosha because Aaron's more familiar Aram's more beloved when it comes to speaking to P who goes first who Moshe var because here Moshe takes precedence he is well known to the court and respected for his Egyptian ways. Khazal cited by Rashi comment the Torah is emphasizing both brothers were equal in their worthiness in their stature in their rank. This again signals the end of the sibling rivalry that preoccupied much of the book of gracious. It's an incredible moment who two brothers separated by three years who each have their own greatness. Moshe is the greater leader of the people. Aaron is the priest, the Coen. And Moshe really wanted to be the Cohen. And you know what? They're not jealous and they're not envious, and they're not resentful, and they have no rivalry. All there is is love and happiness and excitement for one another. One of the things we didn't get to last week's paras last week's para, it says that Aaron will be happy for Moshe. Moshe is happy for Aaron. They have this incredible capacity to feel no we usually translate no is to feel empathy when someone's going through something bad. But there's a Jewish concept almost uniquely Jewish. I say that because it has a Yiddish word that doesn't appear in any other language to which modern Hebrew has learen. What does it mean to faren? Learen is to be happy for someone to be happy. The author of Kelm points out is it is it easier to feel sad and feel the pain with someone or to be happy with someone. The author of Kelm writes it's easier to feel the pain with someone. You know why? Because when someone's suffering, when someone's going through something hard, you say I'll make a meal. I'll say to him, I'll cry with them. I feel bad for them. You know why? I'm just thankful it's not me. Thank God it's not me. I feel so bad for them. I'll feel for them and with them. But when someone goes through a good time, when someone has a success, you say, "Why isn't it me? Why isn't it me?" It's harder to be happy for them because you say, "Why isn't it me?" But the same way there's a concept no say to carry the burden with a friend, to feel the pain of a friend. There's a concept of to to be happy for someone, to be joyous, to dance with them like it's your to Moshe and Aaron are the ones who introduced that concept. And here the rivalry of safe bracious Mosha Aron demonstrate they continue what a frame and manasha had which is brotherly love and the capacity to not be jealous or envious to not have a rivalry but to be able to feel a happiness how could rash say who are mosha whom Mosha and Aron we switch the order because they're equal in greatness that they're equal how are they equal in my 13 principles of faith one of the principles of faith is to know that there's nobody as great as Moshe. How can you say they're equal? We've mentioned this in the passage of Mosha Feinstein says equal doesn't mean they're on the equal level. Equal means each achieved their potential. We all have different and separate potentials and Moshe had the greatest potential of any human being. Aram was equal to him in that he fulfilled his potential as much as Moshe. And we need to know that we are role players and we each have different roles and the roles are equal. One perhaps is more prominent and one is more quieter and behind the scenes, but they're equal roles as long as each is equally fulfilling who they're meant to be, what they're meant to be. We got to move a little quicker to cover a little bit more ground. Page 326 because as always, we're running out of time. Hem says to Mosh, "Go to parro in the morning. Where will you find him?" He's out by the river. Which river? The Jordan, the be waiting for him there on the bank of the river. And that staff that you had turned into a snake, take it with you. Bring it, carry it in your in your hand, says the quoting Rash, why is Moshe meant to go find him near the river? Why is parro at the river? Why is that where he's going to find him? Why is he at the river? Because parro sees himself and wants to practice himself that he is a deity. Parro acts like he's a god. He's a deity. And that's what he convinces the Egyptians. Worship me. I'm powerful. I'm great. I'm God's gift to the world. So instead of having a bathroom in the palace, he sneaks out to the river to relieve himself. So no one will know that what he's human. Because what is the great equalizer of all of humanity? I don't care who you are and I don't care if you are the leader of Dubai and you go on a golden toilet but you need a toilet. It doesn't matter who you are. The great equalizer of all humanity is that you got to go when you got to go. When nature is calling, God is calling to remind you that you're human. So thinks that he can pull the wool over the Egyptians eyes. I'm a god. And God says no you're not because gods don't have to go and you've got to go. So he goes to the river and says he'd wake up before anyone else was up and he'd go to the river where no one would see and there was before satellite imagery and cameras and paparazzi and stalkers and he would take care of his business. Listen to this insight. Okay. Is God not going to punish Pyro enough with these 10 plagues, blood and frogs and everything? He's got to really humiliate him and embarrass him. He's got to go catch him at the river relieving himself. Can't Moshe at least approach if [snorts] not parro the person but the position with dignity and honor and respect. Go set up a meeting in the palace like a proper person. Just like those who meet with a king, go set up a proper meeting in the palace. You got to go meet him and find him in a place where you could humiliate him and embarrass him. Before he was going to plant the seeds of faith and belief in Mitzim, he first had to uproot he first had to uproot the doubt and uncertainty, the idolatry and the heresy of the Nile River. The Nile was the source of idolatry of the Egyptians. They all believed in it. They all turned to it. They all sought to be blessed by it. How would he do that? by going and exposing that parro exposes himself and relieves himself in the Nile. When I saw this comment this morning, I thought to myself, is this not exactly what we need to do right now? The way to confront our enemies is to delegitimize the delegitimizers. Moshe goes to the Nile because step one before even bringing the first plague, step one is delegitimize the delegitimizers. reveal, expose, pull the cover off of and show who these people are. The the grifters and the gripers. Show [snorts] who these people are and why they're doing what they're doing. Delegitimize the delegitimizers. Didn't have that language because he didn't need it then. But we have it now. And that's our mission and purpose now. And that's essentially what he's answering. The reason he had to go to the Nile was if the Nile was the place of I'm just asking questions. Par's at the Nile saying, "I'm just asking questions. you know delegitimize the delegitimizers go to the place where that heresy is happening to begin with. Um, with this you will again what word does say with this plague the first plague now the plague of blood you will you will know I am this is all that's going to happen you'll know I'm turning it into blood says Rabbi Saxs about these plagues. You know what? Actually, I'm skipping this. The three aims. Look for yourself. Page 425 is a beautiful idea. The curriculum of the macos. The macos aren't just random 10. He doesn't say this outright. Maybe he does. I don't think he does. You know, when you come to the pes and you sing the macos 10 macos mac 10 and you dip your blood, your finger in the wine, you take it out, you get your props and your toys. You wake the kids back up. This is the exciting part. And then afterwards say Yehuda Yehuda he divided the plagues into three. He divided into three. He gave acronyms and divided into three. Okay. What did he add? The fact that you could take the 10 plagues and divide them into three and divide them into three in such a way you could give them an an acronym. What was he adding? What was he saying? We have Rabbi Sax Kish in the back in a bookcase. Page 425. Look inside and you'll see he outlines that there was a curriculum, three aims. There were three classes, three lessons that Moshe, Hashem through Moshe was trying to teach parro by extension the Egyptian people and by the extension all of us. And they can be grouped into three things. Three of them are given at the river. Three of them are given in the palace. You'll see exactly the way they're grouped. And that's what this was a reference for. And that's what he was showing him. And look at it on your own. Sorry, little teaser there. Top page 328. If you listen to nothing else today, I want you to hear this because this is what paras are all about. This is what these first few paras are all about. And this is what our lives are all about. The necromancers of Egypt, parro's magicians did the same thing by means of their incantations. So Par's heart was strong and he didn't listen and Hashem that Hashem had spoken. What did he do? He turned away and he just went home. He went back to the palace. Why? Losas libo gamos. Translate those words. Third line, page 329. He did not take this to heart either. Losas libo. He didn't place his heart. He didn't take to heart. He didn't listen. He didn't care. He didn't heed. He turned around and he went straight home. Why did he go home? By the way, in his says, who cares? Why does it need to tell us he went home? Just tell us his magicians imitated what Mosha had done. Therefore, he didn't heed the message. He went home. Okay, that doesn't seem so relevant, so necessary. Says says, you know what it's telling us? He quotes a beautiful mesh. The Makkah of Dam, the plague of blood did not impact the palace. It impacted outside the palace. But the flow of water or the bodies of water, the vessels of water inside the palace were not affected as blood. Why not? This is a theme we saw with other makos. Why not? Who grew up in the palace? Moshe. So in gratitude to the palace for having hosted Moshe, it wasn't impacted by the plague of blood. Good. That's a medish that we know. says the Messma. Now we understand the significance of the Torah telling us that par went home. When Moshe who grew up in the palace saw the suffering of his people, where did he go? Lero, he leaves the palace to be with his people because he can't bear that they're going to suffer and he won't be with them. Parro in contradistiction sees the people suffering and where does he go? into the protection and security of the palace. Exactly the opposite of Moshe. Moshe, Moshe leaves the palace to go empathize, sympathize, feel the pain and the suffering of his people. Parro leaves the suffering and pain of his people to go hide in the protection of the palace. That's why the Torah is filling us in to draw that contrast to tell us the difference between parro and Moshe. the same in his next also says what's going on here in this and he quotes says parro didn't see the bigger picture said okay the beeper episode ah they pulled it off it was technology they had a big idea somehow they got it done they all these coincidences when a person doesn't zoom out the lens and look at the big picture and contemplate and think and meditate and focus and analyze and absorb. Then they miss the big picture here. A plague fell on Parro's head and on his house. And instead of getting the message lobo shibo, the message we in our lives, what we're meant to live, the way we're meant to live, the whole para of next week's para bo the 10 plagues altogether were a curriculum in thee. Hashem says you don't know. It's interesting by the way last week's para last week's para we spoke about it there was no parrose he didn't know Yoseph he didn't continue to feel gratitude to Yseph and the commentaries say it began with not knowing Yseph and that led to not knowing God in fact when Mosha first knock on the door of the palace they say shalom we're here on behalf of God we're not here to collect money we're just here to collect our people and let the people No. And par says, "I'm sorry. Who are you? Do you have a laminated card? Are you endorsed? Does it say where you from? Who are you?" They say, "We're here on behalf of the God Almighty, Hashem." And Par says, "Hashem, I don't know God. I don't know God." Par says, "You don't know me. Let me introduce myself." God says, "Let me introduce myself." And if you look at that comment by Rabbi Saxs, you'll see it's a three-part curriculum and how you can get to know me. First, I created the world. Second, I continue to interact with the world. I interact through nature, through history. Read and you'll see what is that curriculum that he's teaching. That's why the emphasis is over and over again. That word know. Oh, parro, you don't know. The Egyptian people, you don't know. The Jewish people, you have no margin and no space. You can't think to get to know me. Let me introduce myself to the world. To the world. And that's what's going on over here. And power doesn't pick up on the message. Why? He's not picking up the message. He's not paying attention. He's not thinking. He's not feeling. Later in we say it every day in Hem says, "I gave you the Torah and I appear to you and I reveal myself to you." Why? So that you can know today. Know me. Know me to know is to have an intimate ongoing connection and relationship and relationship. So let me finish let me finish with this a beautiful altar. Let me finish with this. That's for this repetition. Hashem says loco the frogs. There's seven of the 10 macos appear in our para seven of the 10. But the alos are not broken up by the macos. Instead they each stop and end. If you look, pay careful attention as you do Mikra this week and I'll make another plug for the Florida campaign for Schneay. I'm reviewing the para twice every week with Unlas or Rashi and if you sign up on this new campaign, you join the WhatsApp group, they'll send you for free ears just perked up. They'll send you for free a copy of Arts Scrolls new with the logo of the free state of Florida on the cover. So sign up and you get that beautiful free. So if you look as you're doing or wait till the shabas and listen carefully that the alos are not broken up by the makos they each stop and end with a lesson frogs ends with the word. So you know there's none like God ends the magician preach said to par this is the finger of God but parro's heart stiffened and he wouldn't heed ends in order that my fame resound throughout the world says the we end each aliyah on the thought so it gets etched into our consciousness it's embedded in our heart and mind this This is how we read the story. These aren't natural occurrences. These aren't ordinary events. These aren't headlines and news reports and alerts. Each one is Hashem showing his hand. So every aliyah ends with and God made himself know so that you will know so that it will spread. So that you will see. That's the reason he did this. And parro fails and he fails miserably. And it's exactly where he goes wrong. The para itself ends off. Parro's heart became hard. He was callous and distracted and disconnected. How does the para endo's heart was hard was stiffened and he didn't let the people go just as Hashem told Moshe and that's what's happening around us. It's easy to live and look around and say it's happening in Iran and we don't know in the para class itself maybe the regime fell. Every day we wake up and the world is changing and what it takes for it to happen. All the things and variables that have to come together. And you can look at it and you can read it and you could get the headlines and say chance, random coincidence. It's the effort of people, the American military who captured Maduro, the Israeli brilliance and genius. It's the Americans and Israelis who probably are helping the end of the regime fall. or you can and should do what parro didn't and missed out on, which is to see the hand of Hashem. He is allowing and inviting us to intimately know him through the world events that are unfolding. And much of, if not most of my life was ordinary. You went to school, you went to work, you lived life. We're living extraordinary times where every day, every week, every month of these last couple years, Hashem is inviting us to see his hand in the unfolding of history. Don't be like parro and fail to pick up on the message. Don't fail. Don't not put your heart. Don't not pay attention. See it. We say every morning in our person should always be fear of God privately and openly publicly. Admit the truth. Why does it say just say why do we start says because one can never rely only on the inspiration from yesterday means every day find inspiration every day search and seek the hand of hashem every day every day be a person of your and your hashem and search and feel and see and you will find he failed to see and that's he says parro's mistake and failure and for too many of us ours as well is all captured in those three words he didn't pay attention pay attention be contemplative be thoughtful look interpret seek understand pay attention be somebody who shs see his hand. We're out of time. We'll pick up with next week. Anything more to announce on for the next couple weeks. If you're here for Yeshiva week or you're coming down for Yeshiva week, BRS is your home. Mñan Shila Cafe Bush, Wi-Fi, slushies and pastries, Pure Class, Amuna, Tanya, and more. Till next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.