Shnayim Yomi - Bo - D'var Torah

[Music] i want to share a final reflection that pulls together the entire parches bow and really kind of culminates all the previous partios that we've been learning up until this point and that is that we are told that on saturday night when we recreate this entire experience we are told that it has to be done within the structure of masking beginners we have to begin with the pain and the tragedy and the consternation of slavery and servitude um and we have to culminate with the regal excitement and enthusiasm and passion of redemption that it's not a story that all's well that ends well and it's not a story because ultimately it lands with redemption that the moment that we immortalize in the consciousness of our people and in the ritual expression of these ideals throughout the year throughout pesach is just a story of success but rather the elements and dimensions of pain and tragedy are part and parcel of that memory that's part of we have to immortalize and that's so different and so distinct from the way the rest of the world tries to internalize the narratives of their life who wants to walk around all day conjuring up all of the pain and challenge and difficulties that we've experienced in life we want to hold on to the memories of success to the memories of nachus we sit around the table with our with our families and just hey let's remember when everything went wrong and spiraled out of control no we want our family narrative to be one of ambition to be one of positivity of hope why is it that matril beginus so i want to share with you a beautiful insight from of salvation he points out that the gemaranyavamis tells us that if someone wants to join the jewish people right we don't recruit uh people to join army sorel but sometimes people look around and they see a nation that is living with such a sense of meaning and purpose and maybe other dimensions of success that they're interested in and somebody wants to join the jewish people so the gemara tells us in yavamas and this is the someone walks into the show and they say rabbi i want to join amir i want to join the jewish people what's the first thing you're supposed to say you want to join the jewish people have you opened the new york times have you seen the way the world treats us have you walked into the u.n hundreds of countries violating human rights what's the only country that they're constantly after the country of israel hundreds of countries in the world who do nothing but focus on themselves one little country in the middle east a building falls down immediately they put a group of people on a plane to go help them hundreds of countries in the world live inconsistent and not aligned with the value system that they celebrate one country community this is what you want look at the anti-semitism look at the history of the jewish people look at the lacrimos nature that the world has dealt with us and the manner in which we've experienced our own families our own lives our own communities holocaust programs crusades bombings this is what you want to be a part of so the prospective gear the prospective convert if they say to us yes i'm all in i'm all in so then we accept them into the program and we start working with them to become jewish the question that rob asks is i mean this is like the worst marketing plan in the history of the world this is what you want you want that all the prospective people who are seeking to become jewish they should walk around and they should know that we carry in our consciousness this like heaviness and this sense of persecution is part of our identity what would why would this be part of the gay risk process okay you want to make sure they don't feel like it's a bait and switch that they know there's gonna be a stickle of challenges being a jew okay but yeah you have to like mamish trash jewish history and the whole jewish people in order to get people to profess the sense of authenticity that you're looking for that they want to become jewish sir salvation explains that when a person becomes jewish there are two dimensions to what it means to be part of the jewish people one happens through kabbalah mitzvos and is expressed in the quintessential story of the convert that we know mcgillis russ russ tells naomi i'm with you my nation is your nation your god is my god your nation is my nation your god is my god so it says thereof one part of becoming jewish is elokay is to accept akareshparahu to accept our value system to accept the expectations of torah to be mekabo mitzvos this is why there's so much controversy around gerus how much acceptance of mitzvos is required should be required but fundamentally we all agree explicit in the rampant you have to accept the mitzvos hashem but says thereof there's another part of becoming jewish and that is not to just become part of the value system of the jewish people but to become part of our story to become part of our narrative to become part of our journey and if you want to be part of our journey you can't just be part of the journey that we experience at the high points you don't get to just join the jewish people of the six day war or of the building of torah in the in the next generation you don't get to just join the jewish people in terms of connecting to the experience of isis mitzrayim you want to join the jewish people you have to be part of the entire story because the entire story is what makes us who we are because our resilience and our growth that emerge from facing the challenges that we face with strength faith and fortitude is part of what makes us the nation we are we are not amnestrel without yet see us mitzrayim but you know what we're also not omnisoil without sheba mitzrayim because it is within the constricting realities and the oppressive realities of mitzrayim that we discover the inner greatness the inner passion the inner commitment that can only come forth when it's being challenged and when there's when there's difficulty when you can summon from within yourself that sense of resolve that you're going to transcend this reality and reshape it towards something aspirational our story is not a whitewashing of jewish history and pretending that we could chronicle our journey only along the high points of success our story is embracing the totality of the experience knowing that there have been low points struggling points difficult points oppressive traumatic and tragic moments and knowing that part of the godless of amnesty and our connection to akarashbaraku is our ability to not be defined by those realities and move forward not to just embrace i'm part of your nation i'm part of your people i'm part of your story that's parsha's bow parsha's bow which as we discussed in our reflections of the alios begins with the word bow because akashbar was saying to moshe come here come here i'm also at the parallel level i'm also manifest in the paro's palace i'm also sitting with him when you're trying to appeal to him to emancipate the jewish people i'm with you marco begnos shrino bigalusa says rashi a burning thorn bush of consternation and pain krishna who's with us in galas the galas is part of the journey it's part of the experience that the maharao writes that goes doesn't terminate into the launching of gaula gaula is the actualization of everything we were trying to accomplish when we are experiencing godless and this is why every day we dive in baruch hashem bonne yerushalayim it should say yerushalayim that you should build jerusalem it doesn't say that it says bonai yerushalayim which means we're building yusha what do you mean we're building yerushalay we're sitting here in in all over the world outside yerushalayim at this moment sometimes it's even challenging to get to yerushalayim bona ushalaya means even within ghalos even with the in the oppression and the distance of exile we are always working towards the creation of yerushalayim the rebuilding and the restitution of yerushalayim. you're not super you'd see us misray you don't fulfill the commandment of re-experiencing the liberation from egypt if you don't include the descent into the abyss of exile as part of that story and that's really the message of parsha's bow that all of the aspects of our life are part of our mandate and part of aravoda of living a life of torah values and of connection to the rabona shalom and that's perhaps one of the most sensual messages that could emerge from this power show i want to wish everyone a tremendous shabbos and i want to wish everyone incredible in what is a very challenging mitzvah and the reason why shnaya mikra is a challenging mitzvah is because it demands consistency of action in constantly shifting contexts if your life was as ambitious and consistently positive as it was the first day you committed to doing this mitzvah then it wouldn't be difficult you'd wake up every morning what's the big deal the same way we woke up with the same energy and parches voracious and started shining oh here we are in safer schmos apartheid reading uh being marvelous what's the problem that's not life life is macho beginners life is erratic life is chaotic life is unpredictable and life takes us in many different directions and when we can anchor ourselves in the consistency of connecting to talmud torah of connecting to the story of the jewish people of connecting to the ideals and the values of akuresh baraku and allow all of the winds of challenge that blow throughout our day and throughout our weeks and throughout our months not to dislodge us from the entrenchment of that commitment that is a level of connection to torah and mitzvos that is incredibly powerful more powerful than the hagim that come up these like bursts of inspiration that are surrounded by ritual inspiration and experience that motivate us and propel us forward here you're waking up every single day and saying to ourselves no matter what's going on today whether it's an ideal time or it's not an ideal time i am totally committed to advancing my connection with talmud torah and with taurus hashem and with the values of torah i always make time for it it's always a part of my life it is naturally hard if it's not hard for you then you're very blessed because you must have a great life but for most of us it's very very difficult not every day is very difficult but many days are very difficult to remain steadfast in that commitment in that consistency will bring bracha and atlaka in all aspects of your life because it will anchor you to the value of consistency and it's something you'll find you'll be able to cultivate and nurture in all the other areas of your life as well ma shem bless all of us with the continued inspiration motivation and the ability to continue to study his holy torah each and every day and to glean the blessings and the um messages from that torah and live our lives in an incredibly inspired and meaningful manner have a wonderful shabbos [Music] you