Shemos: What Does It Take to Make a Moshe? Six Women!

Okay, I want to welcome everybody. We have also we are very very privileged to have with us a very special guest and uh she's going to speak a little later during the Shia a mother of one of the hostages whose son is in captivity with kamas Uri Danino Schlita. May he return home to his family and to the Jewish people very soon together with all of the hostages and together with all of the soldiers. And his mother is here with us. She came from and uh I'm extremely and uh a little later in this year we want to uh I want to we want to dive in together for his son and for all of the c hostages and also ask her to share something with Tadada. Okay, a special thanks. Today's class is dedicated by uh a very dear and beloved friend Rabyakov Schweki and his family in loving memory of his mom who passed away a few months ago. Rahul Schwakis a colonel of Raa Rahul Bas Esther Ala I asked him yesterday what was her father's name he said by us we do the mother's name I said the usually got it right so Rahul Basster alweki was born in the DP camps in Germany following the holocaust her parents come from Vishnit Holocaust survivors and then they moved to Israel and then the United States of America And Ryakov told me that every Yiddish song that he grew up with and he loved, he made his mother translate every single word of those songs. So he could really master them because it's not easy to master a lot of the Yiddish songs unless you come from Vishnets or uh good oldetle in Eastern Europe where his mother came where his mother's family came from. and she really dedicated her life to her family and to rebuilding after the the war years. And may your mom remain an eternal source of light and love and inspiration and amuna and oneness and empowerment uh to you and to the entire family and to the entire community and to all of Kalis. And as he wrote to me, my mother is one of those testimonies of uh the miracle of the Jewish people. We are a miracle. I'm not going to sing it. I do my thing. I'll let you do your thing. But yeah, we are a miracle. So, thank you very much. It's also dedicated by an an by an anonymous student with prayerful wishes for Msiah and Amen. and forma for Mala Basa for a complete and speedy recovery. Thank you. Amen. There are three stories in Paris that tell us about Mosher Rabenu before he's chosen to be a leader. There's always a question why did Hashem choose Mosher Rabenu and Parish to be the first and greatest Jewish leader. There's no clear explanation in the Tyra. It doesn't say Moshe did Moshe did this and this like for Nyak for example, Hashem tells Noah, I see you're righteous in a very corrupt generation and therefore I'm choosing you to save the world. Build a TA and save the world. When you choose somebody for a mission, you want to know the context. How did they end up there? Why did they end up thereu? There's no clear explanation why he was chosen. It just says he was shephering one day and he was at a burning he was in in the desert and he saw the burning bush and the rest is history. But the terra does give us a clue how before he was chosen. It tells us three stories about him. It tells us three stories and those are the only three stories we know about Mushabenu before he became a leader after his birth and his miraculous salvation through the daughter of Pyro in the Nile River retrieving him and bringing him to the palace and raising him as a son as an adopted son. He grows up and there's three stories the Tyra tells about him. Those are the only three stories we know about Mosha's youth. And after those three stories, at some point he's chosen by the creator of the world to redeem the Jewish people from their bondage. What are these three stories? And they're very important because they give us a clue. They give us a hint, an insight why Mosher Rabenu from all people was nominated for this position. The first story, you know, maybe uh can lock the door. Thank you. The first story about Mosher Rabenu is when he grows up, he goes out and he sees an Egyptian commander or an Egyptian uh officer beating a Jew. And what does Mosha do? He turns here. He turns there. He sees there's nobody. There's no man. He strikes the Egyptian. He kills him. and he buries him in the sand. That's the first story. Story number two happens. He goes out on the second day. The terror says what happens now? He sees two Jews quarreling with each other. They're they'reim fighting fighting with each other. And Mosha speaks to one of them. He says to one of them, "Why would you strike? Why would you beat your friend, your fellow? And the person responds, who do you think you are? Who made you a judge? Who made you a ruler? Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian? That's the second story. Misha is forced to run away cuz Pyro finds out about what he did. And he wants to kill him. So Mosha runs away. So now we come to the third story. The third story happens out of Egypt. It happens in Midon. Mish Rabenu goes to the well. The well was always a place where people would meet because everybody had to come to the well in order to retrieve water to get water to feed to irrigate themselves, their children, their livestock, anything you need water for. And uh there are seven girls, there are seven young women there who came to irrigate the sheep of their father who's Jethro. And what happens is the male shepherds come and expel, chase away these young women. And here there's a third story Moshe rises. He stands up and he saves these girls. He confronts the male shepherds who are harassing them and he does the job for them. He irrigates he irrigates their flock. And we all know the story. What happens afterwards is they come home. They tell their father what happened. He said, "Why did you let him go? Why don't you bring him in? Let him eat." And ultimately it works so nicely. The meal apparently worked so well because he decides to give one of his daughters to him as a wife and Mosha marries. Those are the three stories. After that story, he's shephering his father-in-law's flock. And one day in the deserts, he has he and one day the desert he had or the wilderness, the midbar invision of the burning bush, which Hashem reveals himself to him and appoints him to become the redeemer of the Jewish people to go back to Mitzim, to go back to Egypt and persuade or compel the pharaoh parro to let my people go. Those are the three stories about Masher Rabenu. As I said, the only ones that we know. Obviously, they're told in order to give us context, to give us appreciation, in order to understand who this person is. Why is this so important? Because the real question is, what are the qualifications of a Jewish leader? This is the first human being, the first Jew to be appointed as the leader of the Jewish people who will teach them, mentor them, shepherd them literally and conceptually throughout the beginning, the genesis of their history, turn them into a nation, free them from bondage, bondage, emancipate them from slavery and from the concentration camp of Egypt. Turn them into a divine people and then lead them 40 years through the wilderness until they would ultimately enter into the promised land. What are the qualifications of a leader? Why is he chosen from all people? In fact, it would be counterintuitive because he wasn't even raised among Jews. He may have never been at a shalom zar. He may have never been at an upshern at a vaknak. He may not even know what potato coug looked like or or kalopus or I don't know sponge cake or jalapo herring. How can you be a Jewish leader? You know in America we have a rule that uh you have to be uh you have to be born on the soil of United States of America to be a president. Why? You got to be a homegrown uh potato or a homegrown tomato, right? Between Trump and Obama. That was one of the biggest dramas if you recall the not so ancient history. Trump accused Obama that he wasn't born here and uh became quite ledic. So, uh Mosher Rabenu, right, so to speak, he he he he grew up in a palace. He didn't grow up he didn't grow up among the Jews. He grew up in a very privileged environment as a grandson, adopted grandson of the king of Egypt. So this even begs more the question, you know, what are the qualifications of a leader? Why is Mosha Rabenu chosen? And it's obvious that these three stories give the very very acute and powerful answer of the Tyra. And what are the three stories? They all have something in common. And that is Mosha stands up. Mosha stands up to injustice. Mosha stands up to evil. Mosha stands up to darkness. He mixes in into three affairs that are not his. He could easily close his eyes and move on and continue his journey. And you can't blame him. He's not even part of this society. He may sigh. He may send a check. He may pray. But Mabenu can easily just ignore it and move on and nobody would even notice. And yet in all three cases, Mosha intervenes and does something that is actually difficult and challenging. In the first case, he stands up. The second case, he stands up. The third case he stands up, but they're different. In the first case, he stands up to a gentile who's trying to murder and beat a Jew. So, he's standing up really for his brothers because it says he went out to his brothers. He knew that he was Jewish or he found out that he was Jewish. So he stood up for one of his brothers trying to save him from an Egyptian commander officer who was trying to beat him, trying to kill him and he killed him. Okay, so that's great. The second day it's two Jews. It's not an enemy of the It's not a non-Jew against a Jew. It's two Jews fighting here. Again, Moses Rabenu mixes in. And then in the third case, it's not even people of his own nation. It's not a Jew against a Jew, a non-Jew against a Jew. It's non-Jews against non-Jews. This is really not his turf. It's not his nation. It's not his people. He's a fugitive. He's a refugee. He's not anymore the privileged grandson of Par. You see the You see the evolution of the story. Sometimes it's it's easy to miss the point. It's actually in the ancient world, males against females. People think that the protection of women was invented in the United States of America by a few feminists. But the first opening story about the first Jewish leader is in an ancient world where I don't have to tell you the nature of how females generally were treated and their status and their class in society. The first thing we know about the first Jewish leader is he stands up for them and they're not his daughters, they're not his cousins, they're not his people, they're not even his country women. They're complete complete strangers and he expels he saves them from the shepherds. It's interesting that his response each time is different. The first time it says he kills, he strikes the Egyptian dead. The second time he speaks to the Jew. And the third time it says stands up and saves them. There's a time to kill. There's a time to speak. And there's a time to stand up with courage and resilience and fight. And Mosa doesn't confuse the three. There's a time vay. There's a murderer who's trying to murder a Jew. He kills him. That's number one. The second case is two Jews fighting. He speaks. This is your friend. He's your brother. Why do you want to hit him? This is a way of a Russia. This is not how you're supposed to behave. He speaks to him. And the third time, it doesn't even say he says a word. He stands up. He rises, which doesn't only mean physically. I mean, he was sitting. It says he was sitting. So he may have also physically stood up, but the idea is that he stood up showing conviction, strength, resilience, resolve, and decisiveness in order to be able to save these young women. And it's these three stories, these three qualities, this clear decisiveness and leadership and empathy and caring of Rabenu in all of these three cases which are very different that turns him into the human being that says you're the man. You are literally the man. Those are the three stories and each one has its unique flavor again because in the first case he's saving a Jew from death, from murder. The second case it's two Jews, right? Yeah. Jews fight, they argue. No, he'll mix in again. And in the third case, it's like it's not even your issue and he mixes in again. And something that was unpopular, he sends the men away and he protects these young women. Of course, at that moment, he didn't know that one of them would uh be his wife. Maybe he didn't know but certainly at the surface he's just protecting these female shepherds and that's what makes him a leader. Now I want to ask another question. How did Mosha develop this trait? How did Mosha develop this quality? What helped him become this type of human being? Well, you say he had a gifted soul. He was a great man. When he was born, the house filled up with light. Kazal say and that's certainly true but if you look at parishes there is a a what you might call a subplot and it's not so sub that gives us a deeper element or maybe underground it gives us something deeper a subplot in this entire entire story so that when we're introduced to Mosha we can appreciate the qualities they weren't born in a vacuum. They didn't come out of out of nowhere. But it's clear, you would think when the TA wants to introduce this great Jewish leader, maybe talk about his knowledge, his brilliance. Obviously, Mosha was a brilliant man, his genius, his creativity, right? Which are all important, but that those are not the three stories about Mosha. About the story, he's a sadic. He's a righteous person. He's a good person, very important. That's why he was saved. But Mushenu, the only three stories we know is that when he sees innocent people suffering, he stands up to the criminals and will do whatever it takes to save the individual or individuals from their suffering. Observing innocent people being exploited, he will not remain silent. That's what it is. That's the man. That's the story of the making of Mosher Rabenu. That's the person. That's what makes him who he is. That's why he gives the Tyra. That's why he could turn the Jewish people into God's people. That's why he becomes the greatest teacher, mentor, leader, and shepherd of Isl of the Jewish people for all of eternity. And we say and in each case he employs a different method, but the result and the common denominator is the same. Okay. At the surface when you read parishes it's about two prot two two people two protagonists two great characters if you read maybe open is a story of two people confronting each other Mosha and par and that will continue in paras paras and Paras Bashal. They have two distinct philosophies. Parro is the great anti-semite who wants to oppress and persecute and creates the first plan for genocide. And Mosha is the redeemer. He is the counterpart who confronts Par and will bring him down and his empire down as an emissary of Hashem. Those are, you would say, the two main characters. Of course there's a lot of other like in every situation you know there's all the side characters supporting characters but those are the two main but that's only at the surface. If you take a deeper look, you see that the entire story of Schmis is really the incredible story of six people. And they all happen to be women, six women. And they constitute the backbone of the entire story of Gulos and Mitsay, the exile into Egypt and the Exodus. I was once at a lecture in England and there was an interesting crowd and a woman stood up and said she has a problem with the Tyra because the entire Tyra is written the entire Tyra is about the main focus of T is all about men. Men are the ones who do everything. They're the only ones who make the choices. They're the only ones who call the shots. They're responsible for everything. Their story is always elaborated upon like women are almost invisible there. And that's why she uh has a very very hard time with this document called the Tyra. It was a was a big lecture. It was a called encounter. It was a very big crowd. It's a huge auditorium. I don't remember like a thousand people, a few thousand. It was a huge auditorium. And she raised her hand and she asked this question. So I looked at I said, "Listen, I don't know which Bible you're reading. I don't know which Tyra you're reading, but I'll tell you the one that I read. I don't see it that way. I see it very differently. And I said the famous joke that there was a couple that came to the rabbi and the husband said, "Things are not working out the way I thought they would." The rabbi says, "What's the issue?" Says, "Before we got married, I made up with my bride that all the big decisions I'll make and all the small decisions she'll make." And she agreed. She said, "Absolutely. You make the big decisions I won't mix in. I'll make the small decisions and you don't mix in." And we both agreed. It seemed like a great recipe for shalom bayas. And 15, 20 years later, it's not working out the way she made up. She makes she makes all the big decision. Doesn't even ask me. So the rabbi turns to her and said, "What's the deal?" She says, "Yeah, I was very loyal to my stipulation to my deal." He said, "Is that what you made up with him?" She said, "Yeah." And I meant it literally. All the big decisions I wanted him to take care of. For example, what should we do with Iran? What should we do with Afghanistan? Right? What should we do about global warming? What do we do about climate change? Those are very, very big decisions. You know, what do we do about global anti-semitism? Those decisions I want my husband to make completely on his own. You know, what's going to be the future of America? What's going to be the future of the world? I won't mix in. I don't have the mind for it. I don't have the wisdom for it. These are his decisions. He can all the small small decisions. For example, where we live, right? what schools we send our children to, what camps we send our children to, how much money we spend a month on this, where we go here, what do we do here, how we run the house. Small little decisions about our own little domesticated life. Those decisions I make and I do not I do not even ask my husband for his advice because he's busy with the big decisions. So I told this woman, I said, "If you want to understand, you have to know this story." Okay? The men make all the small decisions. The women make all the big decisions. For example, who decided that Adam should eat from the tree of knowledge. That was a pretty big decision. Like it or not, it was cataclysmic. Who decided? We know who decided. It was not a man. It was a woman. And who decided, for example, that Yeshal should be expelled from Aram's Ainu's home because there's no way you can have a Palestinian state near Israel because Yeshal wants it instead of Israel. Who decided Yeshal has to leave the house? It was not Abram. We know who it was. It was Sarah. And who decided that Yakov, if not Asov, should be receiving the blessings? It was not Yitzk. It was Rifka. And who decided that Yehuda should have relations with Tamar of whom pirates and Zarak were born and ultimately Malik? Who decided that? It was not Yehuda. It was Tamar. And who decided that Yisim should be thrown into prison? It was Pifer's wife who accused him and that's how he became the prime minister of Egypt. And then I said, "And who decided that Le and his daughters should be together which ultimately brought Roose and again and Mashiach and all that? It was light's daughters. It was not light. So if you're looking through Saferas, the small decisions are made by men. the big ones that impact history, eternity step by step made by women. If you think that's true about Berius, it's only a promo of what happens in one par of there are six women. It's easy to gloss over how the Tyra is structured because it looks like the main story is confronting par but it's really a story about six women and each of these women create the backdrop and the backbone and the foundation the tashit as you would say for Mosher Rabenu's achievements. The name of these six women are Shiffra, Pua, Yehabed, Miriam, Batya, and Chipora. One moment. [Music] So the first the first two shifua how are they introduced in parishes? They're introduced as maldois usually translated as the Hebrew midwives. Maldos are midwives Hebrew midwives. There's a medish medish tache and a barbanel who don't say it's the Hebrew midwives. They say it's the midwives of the Hebrews, meaning Egyptian midwives who tended to the Jews. That's how they explain how par even thought they would be involved in genocide of Jewish children to call two Jewish women and tell them murder every Jewish baby that's born, every male. You got to be a lunatic to think they're going to listen to you. So the barbanell says it must have been two Egyptian women. Now not everybody agrees with that. One interpretation as you just said is that Shifra and Pu are actually uh code names for Yeh and Miriam and that's what Rashi brings. Also the Barbanel and Amedish Medish Tach they say no they weren't even Jewish women. The Abenezar also debates were they Jewish women and not Jewish women. So it's really two different interpretations. Either way, the terra chooses to call them shiframpu by that name. So when you're looking at the surface, when you're reading the pukim, you're talking about two people. It's not clear if they're Jewish. They're Hebrew midwives or maldri is their midwives of the Hebrews, meaning two Egyptian women who were helping the Jewish woman give birth. And what happens is pari summons them and says every boy who's born should be killed immediately without the mother even knowing before she figures out what happened. The moment when the baby comes out the head comes out par gave them the mechanism of how to eliminate the child and then you just tell the mother sorry still born if it's a girl you could let her live. What does the tyrus say? They did not listen to par. They did not listen to they gave birth to these children. They helped them live. They helped comfort the mothers. They helped sustain the mothers. And uh they refused to carry out the order. When Paris summons them, what happened? What do they say? They say these Jews, they give birth like animals. They don't need anybody. They're so vigorous. They're so powerful. Before we come to help them, the baby is out. So what can we do? We can't just kill the baby afterwards. Says they're like means they have the power of animals who just give birth on their own. They don't have midwives. Pre had no reply. What is he supposed to tell them? But I want you to think about this. Think about this because this is the first recorded instance in history of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience means the idea that there is something more powerful than the law of the land. It would take 3,000 years for this statement of the midwives, for this notion of the midwives to become enshrined in international law. And that would happen in 1946 during the Nuremberg trial. Many of the senior Nazis said Hitler was elected democratically. German people elected him. The government gives orders just like par. You're the king. We have to follow. You say, "But it's immoral. This is a real government and the government told us what to do." Is that an excuse? Aishman during the trial in Israel 1961 said, "I was following orders. I killed 6 million people and I was following orders. What do you want from me? Go to Hitler. Go to the chancellor. What do you want from me? I'm a good citizen. I'm a good subject. I would have been punished if I didn't do my job. I'm just a bureaucrat. Is that a fair response? So in 1946, it became international law that there is something above the law of the government because the law of the government could become corrupt even if you call it democracy like in the case of Nazi Germany or in the case the first case is Shiff Rampa. Shiframpua stood up to a tyrant and they knew it says they feared God which means there is a moral law above the law of par. So they're the first ones to teach humanity the moral limits of power. You could never become an accomplice of evil even in the presence of such pressure and the justification. I'm following the king. The king wants me to do it. Doesn't have to do with me. I would never do it on my own. But you got to follow orders. They knew that's not an excuse. Follow orders when the orders are justified. You know, somebody once said, he said to a he was being very obnoxious to a prisoner and the prisoner, why are you doing it? I'm just doing my job. He said, calling it your job doesn't make it moral. Calling it your job doesn't make it moral. I'm just doing my job. Yeah. It's a corrupt job. It's a stupid job. It's an evil job. Get rid of the job. Then you have of course YV and Miriam the two next two women afterwards YV's story we all know Yv's story remarries her husband gives birth to a baby boy despite the decree of P that every male boy should be cast into the river and after three months of hiding him she places him in a box in a tava in the Nile delta She doesn't surrender to the spear and just let the child be killed. The Egyptians would come and take the child. What is she supposed to do? She doesn't do that. She will do anything in her power to save her little angelic adorable baby. That's but she's assisted by her six-year-old daughter whose name of course is Miriam. And the Gmorrah says in that Miriam Mosa played a role in the very remarage of her parents because Amram her father separated from his wife because he said how can we be together when all of the children we give birth to will be killed. It's not fear. It's not doesn't make sense. And since Amram was the he was the leader of the generation. Everybody followed suit. So all the men divorced their wives or separated from their wives. We can't be together anymore. And it was Miriam who stood up to her father and said Tati in many ways you're worse than par. Now that's interesting to hear from a six-year-old girl. Your decree is kash par it's worse than par more heinous than par. Par decreed on the males and you're decreeing on the females too. Par is a human mortal evil king whose power will be depleted one day and therefore it will seize. But you are speaking in the name of morality. So your decree will endure. And number three, Pari wants to kill them in this world and you're taking away their life even in the next world. No Jew can be born. There's no future to the Jewish people. And to his credit, instead of Amram saying, "It's not how you speak to your father," what did he do? He said, "You're right." And he remarried his wife and they gave birth to Moshe. Y gave birth to Moshe. Now after 3 months when the Egyptians were coming searching for Maita and they had to hide Mosha in the Nile Delta the motherhood says Amram again came to Miriam and said I guess you weren't right. I guess you weren't right. What happened? Because Miriam said not only should you remarry my mother is going to have a baby who's going to save the Jewish people. Where's that baby? He's going to be killed. And the says what happens when his her mother puts him in the river? Miriam stands a little far away to see what's going to happen. What is she supposed to do? She's six years old. What's going to happen? An Egyptian comes, capsizes the basket, takes the baby, throws it into the Nile. They know why the baby is there. What are you going to do? What's a six-year-old going to do? Fight Egyptian troops? But Miriam stands there. She doesn't know how it's going to work out. But she had a prophecy. Her son is going to her brother is going to save the Jewish people. She stands there. She waits which also means not what's going to happen to him. What's going to happen to her own experience her visual prophecy of what's going to happen to Rabenu? That's Miriam's story. So not her mother and not her especially not her surrender to the spear but they're present. Then you have woman number five. Who's woman number five? maybe the greatest hero heroine in this entire story and the most unexpected one and that is the daughter of par the doesn't identify her by a name which is interesting later in she's called bisa or batya the medr says this was a name given by hashem bata you saved my child my son and therefore you're going to be called my daughter batya but here in it doesn't say her name not because she didn't have a But because the Tyra is very very meticulous about how it describes people because if you want to understand her story, it's more important to understand whose daughter she is. The name can only be a distraction. Her name ultimately becomes Bit Batya. But the real story is she's the daughter of Par. And we all understand the story because she's one of the most unexpected heroes in the entire Tanakh. Without her on a natural level, Mosha might have not lived. This means the entire story of Exodus would have been different and the entire story of the Jewish people may not have come to be. So whenever you think about Mosha, the Tyra, Exodus of Egypt, the Jewish people, there's always one woman to remember and that is not even a Jewish woman. It's the daughter of Par. She's not an Israelite. She has nothing to gain by doing what she does. She has everything to lose. There's not even a sentimental connection of family or community. She is completely from a different culture and not just a different culture, the culture of the enemy of the Jewish people. And yet we don't see any hesitation, any doubt, any misgivings, any ambivalence, any fear which we would expect. rather it's like parro decided to kill all the Jewish male children and another member of his family decides to do everything exactly in the opposite direction to save Mosher Rabeno and she becomes the person who saves the future she brings hope to the world to Mitraim and that is of course Par's daughter now in order to appreciate This to really appreciate this we have to remember one very interesting detail and that is when she comes par has decreed that every male child who is born from Jewish mother must be killed. So when y has a baby boy after 3 months she has to place him in the Nile delta. Now what did she think is going to happen? What's going to happen there? So she hoped against hope that somebody might see him and take pity on him. Who knows? But she's not just going to let him die and drown by one of the Egyptian troops. Now, when Par's daughter comes to bathe in the Nile, the Tyra says that she was coming with Narel with her young maids who came to escort her when she went she went to to bathe in the Nile. She sees the box in in in the river and what does it say? She sends her her maidervant to fetch to fetch the box. She sees the child. He's crying and it says love. She has compassion for him. She has compassion for him. And what does she say? She says, "This is a Hebrew child." And she retrieves him. And she raises him as a son. Of course, that's when Miriam comes to the rescue. Miriam says, "Should I bring you a Hebrew wet nurse to feed to to to nurse the baby?" And she says, "Yeah." And Miriam of course knows who to bring her own mother. So mother and baby are reunited even though it's not official. I assume just as a parenthesis that Pyre's daughter was no stupid person and this little girl who happened to be there and say should I bring a woman? It was probably she may have known very well who this woman is. But officially I don't know you, you don't know me. I just pay you for nursing this baby. And this was an incredible moment where again Miriam, this little girl rises to the occasion and saves the day. But he's officially an adopted son of the daughter of Pra. On this there's a very strange gamar and medish. It's very well known. And that is it says she sends her maid. Usually the garra says it says also means amma. The word amma is a cubit which is basically around a foot and a half or two feet. And it's the it's the amma represents the entire length of the arm all the way from the shoulder all the way down till the edge. So it could be a foot, a foot and a half, two feet approximately. Depends on somebody's length, but around between a foot and a half say give or take. It's called ammo. says a very interesting interpretation. Some people say it means she sent her hand. She fetched him with the hand or with her maidervant her say. So so one of the opinions in is that she was her hand but her hand couldn't reach the basket. So her hand extended many ammo that's why the size of her hand so to speak was enlarged and her hand extended to reach this baby. That's the very famous story and everybody grows up with the story her hand extended to reach the baby. The question we have to ask on this is it seems a little strange. Why would the rabbis and the medish and the garra put in this story? The toyra doesn't make any reference of it. Okay, you have a question why it says or not. So let's find an answer. But to create a story, the Torah doesn't make any mention of this. And even even if they had a tradition, this is what happened. Why did you even need this miracle? I mean, let's say it was 30 yards away. Let's say it was 50 feet away, 100 ft away. Okay, you're the queen. You're the princess. So let one of the maids servants go swim and get it or bring somebody to fetch it or go swimming and fetch it. Even if this is what happened, why why was there a need for why was there a need for such a miracle? And I would ask even more. It seems even to take away from the story, you know, sometimes, right, what do they say? Truth is stranger than fiction. I would say here the natural story is more powerful than the miracle story. Here is Par's daughter saving a baby who's Jewish and she knows it and she brings him to the palace. Wow, that's an incredible story. The story of extending the arm doesn't even seem to be as powerful as a natural story. And then if you'll forgive me, I want to ask this story. If you went to the Nile River or to any beach, you went there and you're hanging out there and you're enjoying yourself and you see a strange box and you stretch out your arm and suddenly your arm extends 100 ft. What would you do? Tell me the truth. One thing I know you would do is you would get out of there very very very fast and tell your husband call Hatsah right now or miss or I don't know whatever but get me out of this place fast we tell the story it's a beautiful story but how how are we supposed to understand it but the truth is here you see and this is very important to understand all the madrashim are not here to contradict the text they're here to bring out the depth of the text. What this medish is telling us is not some superimposed story to make it, you know, more interesting because the story itself can't get more interesting. You don't need to add drama or fanfare. They're actually bringing out the depth of the story. And here you have to understand the depth of how our sages communicate an idea. There are things in life that are within reach. There are things in life that are beyond reach. If I were to ask you a simple question, if the daughter of par came to consult with you or with somebody else. You're a Jewish woman, so let's scratch that. But let's say she came to consult with a very wise man and say, "Listen, I have this dream. Okay, there's a Jewish kid there in the basket, a baby. I want to make him my own son. I want to raise him in the palace by parro. You think this goal is within reach?" And what would most people tell her? Right? This misha, you're a good person, but you're misha. You're crazy. Just substitute it for par's daughter to Hitler's daughter. Just substituted to Hitler's dinner. You understand the story? Even if you first of all, why are you feeling bad for him? You're Pre's daughter. There's a royal command to kill this baby. So, you're now betraying your father. You know who's going to get killed here? You and the baby. He'll kill both of you. This guy's a scrupulous an unscrupulous murderer who can kill little babies. He'll kill his daughter and he'll kill the baby too. Even Even if you want to have compassion, you're such a nice woman, find some family and give it up to them. Let them save him. Even if you want to bring him to the palace, the only way is if you can somehow concoct a story that he is absolutely not Jewish, which nobody will believe you. Just give him back to a Jewish family and that's it. or you know what, finish bathing and let's go to the spa. There's still a lot to do today. In fact, the Gamarra says that that's exactly what her maidervants told her. Par's daughter, this is insanity. Insanity. First of all, why are you having compassion on these kids? They're not even they're subhuman. That's what your father taught us all. Remember, the whole society became involved in genocide. So, you lose compassion. The Torah says she had compassion and she said this is what kazal are saying. This was not a goal that's within reach. Some goals are not within reach. You have to be practical. I could take something that's on this table. I could retrieve it. If it's further, I could send somebody to bring it. If it's in another country, I could send an emissary. But somebody tells me now to go to planet Mars and retrieve something from there. There's certain goals that you have to let go of and that's what she should have done here. This whole mindset was completely strange. But what did she do instead? She extends her arm. And what happens? Her arm extends far beyond her natural reach. What Kazal are trying to say here is that there is an invisible arm that connected to her arm and that invisible arm made it happen. What happened? She saved Mosha. She raised him in the palace. He became an adult. She raved raised him under Par's nose. She succeeded. In other words, the greatness of Par's daughter was that she never said this is completely beyond me and gave up. She extended her arm and when you extend your arm, my arm is physically limited. There's often an invisible arm. The divine arm is not limited. That attached itself to her arm and the impossible happened. So when the med says this story, it's really describing the essence of the story. It's bringing out the music of the story. Try to understand and put yourself in Par's daughter's shoes when she faced that reality. People face realities and it's insurmountable. There's nothing to do. You're overwhelmed with doubt, despair, darkness. Par's daughter says there are invisible arms, but you have to extend your arm. I'll take the plunge. I'll retrieve the I'll extend my arm. The result of that, that's not your dig. Don't worry about that. Look what happened. Mosha was saved. Pyro did not kill her. She got it done. That's why it's interesting whenever you see Mim is discussed, it's always says it happened with a strong hand and extended arm. Right? Like we always said, we say in the why an extended arm. I mean, it's it's a metaphor obviously. Sh doesn't have a physical arm. Why is that the metaphor? It's the metaphor. You know why? Because of the story where it all began. Because Pyra's daughter extended her arm. Vatish. And what happened? Suddenly, she experienced an arm extending beyond reach. It's not physically necessarily her arm physically extended. In Medri, things could be metaphoric as the maral explains, but it represents the concept in life. I sometimes feel I need a control. I need to know the results. I have to figure it all out. If I could figure it out, great. But often she couldn't figure it out. Now the question is, do I quit and surrender and give up? She wouldn't do that. It's fine. I'm fine. Okay. Thank you. She doesn't do that. What does she do? She does what she can do. And in every person's life, you have those situations. Batya Baspare thus becomes the fifth woman who's literally responsible not only for saving this boy's life and for raising him but really for everything that will come in the future history. Now we can understand why Hashem calls her Basy Basa the daughter of God. [Music] Thank you. And then you have the sixth woman after Shifraua Miriam and Bastia all in one para six powerful people in one portion. It's a lot to deal with. You have the sixth person who's Sepra. People underestimate the depth and the presence of Sepra. But the truth is, imagine what she did. Her silence and often invisible identity throughout the Tyra represents actually tells us who she was. Mosher Rabenu would become the most famous person in history literally. And in the among the Jewish world, obviously he's our greatest teacher and greatest reb there was a person who created a private space for him to come home to and that was Tip. That was her greatness. That's what allowed Mosher Rabenu to be connected and anchored in a way that gave Mosha something we may never know because this was not part of the public persona of Mosha. And even though you're talking about Mosher Abenu and Mosher Rabenu is I is alikim but the fact is that Sepra in her unique uh leadership and her unique qualities and characteristics the greatest leader of history occupied day and night with his people has also a space that is very intimate that is very very private beyond the eyes of anybody who will perceive it. And according to Kazal that Mosha at some point separated from yet nobody knew about it. In other words, it wasn't public. Even Miriam didn't know about it. She found about it out about it only later because of his prophecy all the time. This means even more that was home. So separated the way husband and wife in terms of certain elements as kazal say. But Sepra created that let's call it safe haven or very sacred space for Rabenu where we see this about is already right in the beginning of the story at the end of there's a story that on the way back to Egypt they're in a hotel and suddenly Mosha is confronted by an adversary and it's a very cryptic story some Malik comes and tries to killer Rabenu and that's when Sepra circumcises her son her newborn son Eleazar and she saves the day and Sepra says you know you almost died but now you're alive it's a very mysterious story at the end of the mafaram struggle with this what exactly happened why did it happen why was Mosha about to be killed what did he do it's a very cryptic story the Rajbam Rashi's grandson the Rajbam writes in commentary in parish and he says when Mosha was at the burning bush and Hashem was pleading with him to go redeem the Jewish people he didn't want to go he was reluctant he was very resistant he kept on saying who am I why me they're not going to believe me uh it's not going to work send somebody else he kept on saying I do not want to go finally Hashem convinced him he got upset at him and he said go I'll be with you you're going to be successful your brother's going to be happy it looks Looks like Mosha agreed but the Rajbam says that he actually didn't agree. Mosher Rabenu still wanted to run away from him from this mission. And he compares it to Yakov. The Rajbam says that night when Yakov remained alone and again an adversary came to attack him, Yakov also wanted to run away. He didn't want to confront Asov just like Mosa didn't conf want to confront Pare. And we have to appreciate where they're coming from. Yakov to confront Asov was a very difficult moment and Mosha to go to frontront power is a very difficult moment and the question that real humble people ask about themselves is am I really made for this job do I have the skill do I have the power is this my mission is this my task I can't confront such darkness can I run away and retreat into a more intimate and private space and there I could serve God so the rashbam says this adversary came to bring yak back and said, "No, confront Asaf." And in Mosher Rabenu's case was the same thing. Mosher Rabenu wanted to run away and he says, "You can't run away. This is your mission." Mosha was such a humble man. He was such a spiritual person. Once again, what Pra's daughter confronted, Mosa confronted. You want me an adopted grandson of parro make a revolution, bring down this entire empire and liberate the Jewish people and believe that Pari is going to listen to me, his baby adopted grandson. People don't realize this is impossible. This is literally impossible. And because of that, Mosha was forfeiting forfeiting the mission. And it was at that moment that Sira rose out of the shadows. You don't expect her to do it. And she takes initiative. And she introduces Mosher Rabenu to the covenant of the bris Miller at 8 days old which represents a covenant a bris that is far beyond rational calculations. The child is not even the age where he or she can where he can understand it. And the Gmorra says command a Jewish girl or woman is born already like after a bris like a covenant. The male needs the covenant needs the bris. The female says command is already in that covenant of covenant of and that mitzvah that she does literally protects. It al almost demonstrates to Hashem may still be hesitant but he has a wife. She somehow uses this blood that was supposed to be spilled for the bris of the son. Rashi Rashi discusses and she saves him. And indeed silently becomes the backbone that allows Rabenu to fulfill his mission even though she's not the official person who does the work. Behind every successful powerful man is able. Yes. Behind every successful and powerful man there is a woman. So when the Gomorrah says in it was in the merit of the women that the Jewish people were redeemed. People say how did the garra know this? How did they know this? How would they know this? The answer is they studied parish. They studied parish. They see the whole has a story of six women. Rapa, ye Miriam, Batya, and Sip. They stood up to evil. They saved the day. All of them had a common denominator. They did not know how it's going to work out. They didn't have a clear strategic mathematical plan based on physics or science or political science to know this is exactly how it's going to work out. In other words, it all made sense. When something makes sense, then people can jump into it. It's not so hard. Show me a plan, it makes sense, it works. You get investors. That's not what they did. These were six extraordinary people who refused to bow their heads to what seemed like the inevitable. That which seemed like it's for sure. There's no way around it. It's not going to happen. You're doing the impossible. There was a general, I think General Montgomery said, "The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer." The impossible takes a little longer. My my father shared with me a story in 1956. Those who know the geography in Brooklyn a little bit before the communities developed. So they used to many communities did tashik at the Brooklyn botanical gardens. You know the Brooklyn botanic they're very very beautiful gardens near Prospect Park. So every year the labavat Shereba from Crown Heights would walk I don't know it's 25 minutes down Eastern Parkway from Eastern Parkway and Kingston or Brooklyn all the way down to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens over there there was a pond there's still a pond with fish and they would do tashl there and it was then Crown Heights was filled with Jews before the mass migration almost everybody lived there uh it was filled tens of shab my mother told me shabas you would walk on the island there and all the neighborhoods all the way till Bronzeville and Bedford for Styver and both ways it was filled filled filled with Jews mostly secular Jews and they would on the island Shabas afternoon they would walk around it was a different different the 1950s so he would lead a would lead a procession to Tashik and hundreds or thousands of them would go Jews would come out just to watch and they would sing the way there and the way back they would sing Jewish songs and it was very it was very it was very emotional it was moving every day every year one year 1956 I think 195 56. It was pouring, but not just pouring. It was, you know, those one of those downpours that uh it's like if you're sane, you don't go outside. It's not just pouring or drizzling or raining. Even the umbrella, the best umbrella can't protect it. Just one of these mobles, these floods, these downpours, you just stay inside and you sit at the window and you marvel at the power of the rain. So uh the person in botanical gardens the non-Jew was running it did not think that any human being who was sane would come to t would come visit Brooklyn botanical gardens on that day. So what do you do? You go home early, right? So he locked up and he went home early because nobody's coming to spend time in gardens with such a flood. But it was risha. So the babeba went for tashik and hundreds of them went and they came there. My father told me he was there and uh there was no way of getting in. If you know there was kind of those huge black gates, tall black gates everything was locked. Usually it was open. It was the afternoon. It was open probably till 5 6. But the guy went home. So what do you do in such a moment? The Reb wasn't such a young man. and he was already in his 50s and this so okay what do you do you know you say tash from far you'll do tash tomorrow you find another place so he said the rebba gave a sida to somebody and he started to climb he started to climb the gate and he went jumped over and everybody saw him doing it everybody did it people in their 70s 80s n anybody they all jumped the gate hundreds of people they did tashlik and they went back home there's a certain certain attitude. There's a certain attitude that's represented by these six people. Yra could have said, "Sorry, there's no way we can do this. Either we die or they die." Especially if they're not Jewish women even could say, "Sorry, this doesn't make sense. Miriam, you're six years old. It's not going to happen." And the daughter of Par, this is mamish. Pure certified insanity. Purtos and Sepra as well encouraging her husband to go into the lion's den. You have a beautiful life in Midian suburbia. He's a shepherd. He comes home at night. Misha's life with Separ would quiet nice. Nobody would have known about them. They would have enjoyed the life to encourage your husband to go into the lion's den. And we know it changed all of Mait's history. What do I need it for? Each of these women stood up to what seemed like the inevitable and not by figurating it all out. So how did they do it? This is the power of faith. This is the power of amuna. The power of faith is I. People sometimes think that faith is passive. God runs the world. I just surrender. That's not what ama is. Par's daughter wasn't a passive woman. Miriam wasn't passive. Y wasn't passive. Shifra wasn't passive. Pua wasn't passive and Sapora wasn't passive. You could mistake them for being passive, but that's only because you don't see. They were very active. Paris's daughter did what she did. But she understood that when I extend my arm and show up, there is another arm that attaches itself to my arm, to your arm, and does the impossible. Extends beyond your imagination. But it doesn't make sense. It does not make sense. This kid is doomed to die. Let go. Go back home to your father. You'll have a nice relationship with your father. You'll be maybe the next queen of Egypt. The next Cleopatro, Cleopatra. What makes Batya Batya the daughter of God is she shows up fully with her power, her creativity, her ingenuity, her courage. She extends her arm. She says, "I will do what I need to do here to show up as the ambassador of Hashem to bring light, love, truth, authenticity in this place." How it's going to materialize? There's an infinite arm that can achieve things beyond anybody's imagination and it will attach itself to my physical short arm. That's how amuna works. And what did all of them achieve? They were all successful. Every one of them achieved their goals. Ah so now when we come to the story of Misha the three stories of Misha I asked who taught Misha who made Misha Rabenu when you read through paris you see that the role models who molded crafted mentored Mosha they taught him how to live how to think how to respond how to function either consciously or unconsciously they infused it in his DNA or through mentorship and education and through both on all levels it was these people especially if you say shifra and miriam so you have his mother and his sister and his stepmother and ultimately his wife so the whole story of moa can also be traced back to six other people women that's why I tell you the small decisions are made by the I rest my case. The big decisions, the underlying decisions that create the trajectory and drive history are made by the women. It's not only true in the whole sacious, it's much more true or at least equally and even more potent in parishes. So the three stories about Mosha that make him suitable to become the quintessential Jewish leader are really stories inspired, if I could say this, by all the women in his life. All the women who influenced Moshe in his life, they all created this story. Just like our mothers to this very day, our wives to this very day, I'm talking to the men, our daughters to this very day. Those powerful relationships, our educators, our mentors to this very day, they help Mosha become the person who would change history literally for eternity and stand up to tyranny in every generation. Fight it. bring it down knowing that this world was designed not for evil and violence but for love and light and redemption. So Mosher Rabenu could stand up to an Egyptian officer killing a Jew. Even though that may jeopardize his life, it almost does. Par almost killed him. He'll stand up. He stands up to a Jew fighting another Jew. He also stands up for the innocent girls in Midian being tormented by shepherds. It's these six people who made Moshe into Mishu. Masha is and I want to turn the attention to a person who's sitting in this class in the back row very modestly. [Music] And as I mentioned in the beginning, we have the unique privilege of having her with us today. And it's a it's a very very bigus to have a nav ephrat danino with us. Her h her son Uri is in Gaza in captivity. Uh onra he was abducted by the kamasim. He was at the music festival near the kibuts of Rahim in southern Israel at the border of Gaza, the Noam music festival. And Uri, who's 24 years old, Uri Danino actually got out. He he managed to extract himself. He was safe. He was with a friend Tomare. They were safe. But he decided he has to go back to rescue those who were escaping, who were trying to escape. and he went back to rescue and he was abducted by the terrorists and uh taken to Gaza where he's been since I heard an interview with uh Enav's other son Yitzk an older brother they interviewed him and he spoke about his brother Uri and he said that it's not surprising he was so filled with kindness and love and and and and generosity of spirit. He went back to rescue people that he didn't know. He said it was friends that he made that night for the first time in his life. The friends that he knew, they already gone, but he went to rescue. He didn't know, friends that he made that night at the festival. He went back to rescue them. He wanted to bring them into his car and take them away. And uh one of his friends said he was with me in the car. We were already getting out. We were safe. And suddenly I see he disappeared. He ran back to rescue them. And uh his mother is here now. She came from Israel. Enav is here with us. for There's shall [Music] we shall call foresh. for Adam. for pagasha. is Fore the eloen. foreign maza maza is maza maza amu. Israeli. for call staff. for everybody understands Hebrew. I have to translate. Huh? [Music] Do should I translate or everyone knows Hebrew? Okay. Okay. Hello. [Music] Okay. foreign. [Music] Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough said she wanted to thank Yakov and Janine Schweki who enveloped her with so much compassion and love since her arrival here and uh there's so many good people and it was very very difficult for her to come from Israel now in this situation but she's very grateful that she came and she's very thankful there's so many good people and she feels so much love and I've said that she doesn't have questions she doesn't ask why this happened to me and why this happened to our family. She does wake up in the morning and say thank you to Hashem every single morning. And she's thankful for the fact that Hashem chose her for this situation. Okay. [Music] And she wants to tell the story of she wants to tell a story about her son. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! for your team. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. We speak for forch. Fore speech. for auditory. Call for them. Come up here, kid. [Music] Uri Benavves al that's mom's name and Uri Aliv last name is Danino. So uh Anav just shared that Uri went to the music festival and uh he was completely out. He was liberated. He was he he made it out in the morning. But then there were friends that he met that night and he knew that they were stuck in the hands of the terrorists. So he went back and he retrieved them but they didn't manage to get out. They were kidnapped but he was separated from them. So they didn't see him or hear from him since. And um Anav says that uh she doesn't live with complaints and questions and uh criticism. Uh she knows that Hashem is her father and a father never hurts a child. So she doesn't understand and she doesn't know what the purpose is. But uh she wakes up in the morning and she thanks Hashem for choosing her. My Wow. She says it's a that Hashem chose her. He believes in her that she can go through this test and trial. So she's very thankful that she has that relationship that he trusts her so much and he gave her this test and she feels it as a privilege and she doesn't ask any questions even though she doesn't know any purpose in it but she knows that a father doesn't ever want to hurt a child and uh she is jealous of mothers who can wake up in the morning and embrace their children and put their children to night and embrace them and all the years she just took it for granted. She woke up in the morning and she could communicate with her children. Now she doesn't take it for granted and she knows that nobody could take anything for granted. Even the fact that one wakes up in the morning and can see their child or hug their child or express love to their child. And uh she wants to tell all the mothers never to take these things for granted and uh she's blessed enough said that she is blessed with a power of tremendous amuna and it never leaves her for a moment. And uh I asked her afterwards where did it come from this amuna. She said it was always there but now it became much stronger and uh it became much stronger and she feels and knows that Uri is going to come back and she trusts Hashem and she tells to Hashem every morning just as you allowed him to be taken. You took him bring him back just like you did the first thing do also the second thing. And she also thanked everybody. She said she feels a lot of love here. Tremendous love and uh caring and empathy and she feels like enveloped enveloped in an envelope and of of of of love and and compassion and people who care so much for her and she's very very grateful for that. And seeing that connection and love here and in other places is giving her a lot of strength and a lot of during this very difficult time. What' you say? Anybody wants to ask anything? Go ahead. She's she said yeah. So talk to her after. Any other questions? Anybody wants to ask anything? That doesn't happen just [Music] Come on. [Music] for [Music] Fore speech. [Music] Fore. [Music] I'm going to translate that one. Uri on the way to his bait was in a terrible car accident and uh the fact that he survived they later realized was an absolute miracle. So since that moment she realized that his life was given to him as a miracle and it only strengthened her faith and amuna that his journey is unique and everybody's journey is unique and uh enough says that uh she works very hard on her amuna and uh you have to remind me what else did she say I just beautiful words that greatness so much greatness here that we can't get She feels more right. She said right she said that she always had amuna but with this story with this event with this tragedy this horrific story she feels her amuna became much more powerful and much stronger because she really feels deep down that a father doesn't want to hurt his child. So what Hashem is putting her through and the family through and the Jewish people through, there's some meaning in it. There's some purpose in it even if she doesn't know it. And and she thank and she thanks him for it. She thanks Hashem for it. And she thanks him for choosing her because she realizes there's some here. There's some mission here. And she also said that she feels that now she also has a mission and she's representing the Jewish people. And when she travels and she's strengthens other people even if only one person is strengthened from her she feels that it's part of her mission and she embraces it wholeheartedly and she says thank you for that too. She said this is a test on this that is not simple. It's it's it's really really not easy and this is a mission that's not easy and this whole journey is is is so excruciatingly painful. But from the first moment she has absolute amuna in the creator of the world that this is her mission. This is her schlus and she was chosen for this and she's going to get through it and that uri is going to come back peacefully. Amen. Anybody wants we'll take one more question if anybody wants to ask. Yeah. [Music] feel worry Lana is asking what we in America can do for Uri for all the cap all the all the Jewish people in captivity and all their families and she says that we love Uri like he's our own son and our own family. So she wants to know what we which what we what Anav would like us how we can help. [Music] as the [Music] she wants. She's speaking on behalf of herself. If she would like when people wake up in the morning the first thing is they should say thank you to Hashem and uh say also thank you for all their gifts because she doesn't take for granted anymore the fact that she can't speak to her child she can't hear her child all this time and uh she feels that gratitude is what would mean the most So let's just we'll conclude with saying a few uh chapters of tahillum just for Uri uri benavat for a complete redemption and complete gula and all of those who are in captivity. Yeahuri. Okay. Okay. So, Anav asked we should say cuz that has his name in item. And she asked that we should say, you know why? Cuz that's Ms. That's the song of gratitude. So we'll say Zion and then capitalap in honor and in the merit of Ben a and all those who are in captivity and all of their families and all the soldiers and all their families and all the wounded and all their families and all the families of the slain and all of our brothers and sisters init and the world over. So we'll say together for Fore! Foreign! Foreign! for the cave. And now cap the song of gratitude. Kof 100. We say it also in the morning after The fun of the last capital of also gratitude. The last one. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelujah. Two things just number one next week I'm in London so next week there's no class on Tuesday we will resume the week after so if you have a family or friend who comes please tell them next week we're we're taking a break and then the next week we will resume I just want to conclude with a blessing to Anav and of course to Uri and all of our brothers and sisters we should see And we should see a complete victory over our bloodthirsty enemies. And the main thing is we should experience a complete redemption. Take it from me. Amen. Thank you very very much. Have a beautiful week. Anavaza. No. Do you need this? Oh, okay. Thank you. Yes. You going back to deal now? Yeah. Stop in Brooklyn.