Thought for the Week Chukas Yud Beis Tammuz The Well That Never Runs Dry, Rabbi Yaakov Winner 5784

How are you? I hope everyone is I hope everyone is strong, healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. Today is the from the previous he was arrested and put into prison and then he was redeemed and it's a very very big holiday. It's also head of and today we're going to talk about a certain approach a certain attitude which I don't believe we have too many examples of this idea probably we spoke about it before but it's very relevant to the daytoday life of a Jew in exile as usual start with charity should come now then we're going to say a prayer and this is a prayer about the redemption And this is the balance that we're going to talk about today. And what we learn from we say speedily cause the sign of David your servant to flourish and increase his power by your salvation. For we hope for your salvation all day. The Reb would speak about it many times that is the reason why will be Hashem sees how important it is for us. We're crying out take us out of exile please and that causes the Msiah should come earlier because Hashem sees how much it comes from the depth of our hearts this cry for Mashiach. In this week's para I got a message. I'm always listening to the messages trying to look for the messages and the message that I got from paras was water water everywhere. First is a story with the solution the formula which causes the cleansing for the tums is mixed with fire. So we have living waters. Then comes the story of Miriam where even though the verse doesn't say it but it's explained that when Miriam passed away which this para talks about the passing of Miriam also the passing of Aaron. This para is a very happening para there's lots of stuff going on. So we'll read the verse where it says that when Miriam passed away the well that was in the merit of Miriam also left and then the start of complaining with water and then comes the disaster of Moshenu stroking the rock which is connected to the Bim but wait there's more that's a second reference to water but then there's a miracle that happens later on at the end of the para And with the I'm not going to get into you have to look at yourself. It says another song connected to waters. Okay. So there's a third reference to water in the par. So obviously to me it was a sign. We have to talk about the water. So let's talk about Miriam. It says in the Miriam passed away and also Rashi says she passed away. She passed away with through a kiss a kiss of Hashem. explains why the verse doesn't state it explicitly. See, and then right afterwards after it says then it says there was no water for the assembly and says all the 40 years when they had the well. So the question is what's the connection to water and miriam but before we start with that there's a p there's a p in which is a very important and that says that says I took you out of I redeemed you from a house of slavery the and I sent before you. Now, it's not within the scope of this year to get into the whole story and it's very very late right now. I'm not going to do justice. I feel so terrible that I really can't get to a subject properly because these short Fridays over here in Melbourne. In any case, it seems that there are three providers, three essential components to the nurturance, to the survival of the y and the midbar. There was the clouds of glory that came in the merit of there was the m that came in the merit of and there was the water which came in the honor of Miriam. What siblings we have over here and Miriam? And even though obviously Mosha is the greatest, he's the leader, but it seems like Miriam and Aaron are like partners in italics colleagues, three big prophets that work together to nurture the and just like we have a mel in the times of there was there's different roles and at the time of we had we have talks all about how one is one role and the other one's but we don't speak so often about the role of Miriam. So let's talk about Miriam today and what lesson we take from Miriam and though much of what I'm going to tell you now is already discussed and I don't want to get into chapter and verse I want to bring out what the Reb says and he spoke about B which I'm sure I spoke about it before because I love it so much. So let's start at the beginning. This pro says there were three people. In other words, Hashem sent three um leaders that we needed all three contributions in order to take the out of exile. So what's Mim's role? So number one is the idea of amuna. She's older than Mosha. Guess what? The whole existence of Mosha is through Miriam. Wow. So that's the famous medish where it's brought down. Rashi brings it down. Also after par decreed that all the boys will die divorced himself from and said what's the point of having children if they're going to have to be exterminated and Miriam I don't know how old she was then maybe three. She told her father your decree is worse than par's decree. Par only decreed on the boys on the males and your decree where getting divorced and not having any children is a decree also on the females and these words touched very very much and he got back together with and so to all those that followed Amram's ways also went back to their wives. So Miriam is responsible for the birth of Moshe. But wait, there's more. She had an ava that they would have a child that will be the savior of where is that? So the inab which I'm going to take the message in from this is the primary point I want to bring out. But before he gets to that, he mentions a an idea. Now just to talk quickly before we get to the inside over here. Miriam is also a name which is connected to Mido's melancholy. She felt in a more acute way the exile, the pain and the suffering of Kalis. And that's why she was called Miriam. She was born when the oppression was really really starting to get severe. And Miriam means melancholy. Now the Reb brings that there's a medish that says that Miriam she was the one the sister of Aarin she connecting the fact that she made this song when when there was together with something that happened before because she already had a prophecy. She was a child. Before even was born, my mother is going to give birth to a child which is going to redeem the yidden. But then when the decree came out when Moshu was born and they had to send him to the throw him into the Nile was to protect him. But still that's not the ideal thing to take a child and put him in the Nile like you have to hide him. And turned to to Miriam and said where's your prophecy? So this is what it means that she stood by the Nile watching Moshe. It wasn't only she was watching Mosha. She was watching what's going to happen right now. In other words, in her mind, the birth of Mosha was connected to the whole redemption. And now there's a situation where there's a decree. So she's looking protecting Mosha to make sure nothing's going to happen to him but also in her mind are these thoughts what is going to happen over here like with the future and since is the redeemer he represents the future of the redemption the she was thinking what's going to happen to that she had that will be the one that's going to be the redeemer from the non other words she's looking towards with a yearning all the days from then doesn't happen till another 80 years when will her prophecy become fulfilled And the more go was going on. It was like what's going on over here? She's in a constant state of of of frustration that the Jewish people are suffering and that the Nvida didn't actualize yet. And therefore, that's her name because she represented Miriam, someone who is in a very acute state of frustration that a Jew is in exile because it's not where a Jew belongs. Okay. So therefore, that's one source that says why she got to be starting from the beginning when she was a small child standing in the Nile looking and over there still having the faith that the prophecy is going to happen but just having a question when will it happen. So from that story with water in her marriage she got the it also says that in the no there's a medish also says why did she get the well next story with later after but before they got to because they didn't go into the desert yet they just had So since she said another story with water told them we have to stop singing singing and therefore and from here we see clearly that that story that happens later on in the par that's really like the same even though the stopped after Miriam passed away but that era becomes revived so to speak. It's still doing something in this story of of Ali that she that they gave that was also it's clear from this medish. Okay. Now let's talk about Miriam. Let's rewind for a second. I want to speak about two things connected to Miriam which makes her special. But really, you know what I think it first starts with? There's a thing brought down and the brings in a couple of places and that is that brings down that women have more faith than men. This is the which is brought down. Women have more faith than men. And that's why it says the women did not want to give their jewelry to the men when it came to making the eagle. So in other words and brings different examples. So strong faith is connected to women and therefore in the story where decided not to have any more children. It was a woman, Miriam, who said, "What do you mean? We got to have the faith. We got to do what we got to do, and then Hashem will do what he has to do." And she's still in the faith the whole time, regardless of all the years of oppression and persecution. She is longing and yearning for the actualization of the she didn't give a pope. So, it starts with that one idea from the three Aaron, Moshe, Miriam. Miriam represents the concept of the woman with a murup. Number one. Number two, and this is connected to Bas in particular, and it could be we spoke about it before, but we're not going to speak about it at length, the story of Shifra and Pu, the two maid servants that were delivering Jewish babies. And the P clearly says in the beginning of that they defied par. I think that's the first example of somebody in a regime, an evil regime, the empire of the world. I don't know if Abram going against Nimr is the same thing. We could talk about the differences, but Egypt was definitely the greatest empire at that time. And it's not only about Nimr, so to speak. It's a it's a it's it's a mighty army. It's a mighty country. And over here, Shif and Pu are living under Par's nose and they're defying his orders. Wow. And this used to say about the that the message we learn from the lesson we learn from the is that one person can fight a superpower. There's a government. There's a tyrant. There's a dictator. There's a government that their objective is to erase eradicate Judaism totally. And one man the defied them and he he galvanated and he aroused all sin to do the same thing. But really when you read the story and I urge you to read the story there's many books about it. The freed knew was going on in every single village and city throughout the entire country. It's so unbelievable what's going on in Minsk Neville Nikolia you name it. What's going on with the mikvah? What's going on with the who's there? and he's running this whole campaign single-handedly together within but it was him who stood up against the entire Russian government and it's similar to we learn from Miriam and this is the idea of the one lesson we take and the connection between Miriam and the about defying a superpower but now comes the main point that oh one second oh and which says says, "Even though the P calls her Pua, there was Pua and Shifra and Pu is Miriam." And the says like this, "Pu, why was this?" Says, she would. It's a sound, a soft sound, a comforting sound that she would make as she was delivering the baby. I can't copy it. My I'm not a woman. But that's what the women mothers they know how to soothe calm a baby day old as they're being born the first seconds of life. She lived with this that we mentioned before. It wasn't no one thing that she had this nu and then her father asked to what happened to your nu. It seems like she would constantly be saying Mashiach on the way etc etc. Anytime a person's called by a certain name the name identifies the person. Who is she? She's the one who's constantly saying Msiah's on the way. She had a and she kept on saying it. So, so far we have two things that we learned from Miriam. Number one, faith. Three things. Number one, faith. Number two, that she not only takes care of someone in need, but it's a whole different level. A mother's loving care, soothing, couping. And then she lived with this with this with this which goes together with what happened. We spoke of this Rash see there that Rashi says the whole they took out the tambourines and they started singing why do they have tambourines and Rashi says they were sure even after they were nuked the Egyptians were nuked 10 times they were still sure that bigger miracles were on the way and that's why they had the tamarines with them so who was the one who had this connected with this and living with the living with the fact there's going to be better times you ain't seen nothing yet mir see Rashi over there by the story of Kams and in general it's explained why did she sing by Sam and that's another story with mentioned before was because since she felt the pain of gullis more than the men because the mother feels more about what's going on with the children etc with the decrees so therefore the joy was greater according to the measure of the pain so was the measure of the joy and the joy of the women was greater than the joy of the And now I want to bring out the main point of the Reb and then we'll get to one more vert that talks about in the that I mentioned before with the the Reb brings out something which I find very very important. It has to do also with giml. I find in my humble opinion is that people sometimes have an extreme reaction or attitude or approach to a certain situation. Sometimes somebody's going through a situation. Let's say it's a it's a challenge. One approach is forget it. We lost. It's over. Defeatism. We missed it. We're not we're not finding favor in Hashem's eyes. The reality proves that. God forbid. So that's one approach like throwing the towel defeated him. And the other approach is, oh, let's be positive. It's all good. It's all good. Ain't it ain't whatever Hashem does is feel good. But that's also not right because if it's all good, you're not even asking for Msiah. And you have to cry out with pain. And here we see from Miriam the exact balance of what you're meant to have. And this the Rebbit learns from Miriam. The words is a paradox, a fusion of opposites. See the boy the last he says that a the particular lesson that we take concerning that on the one hand we have to know that just like they were even though they knew that on one hand they knew they were they felt guaranteed certainty that they would have miracles and therefore they took out the tambourines so too it's with the coming of Messiah We have to live with the certainty that Msiah is coming immediately. But the Reb says clearly but together with that there has to be the prayer the request the demand that Hashem should bring Msiah straight away which that's out of a feeling of pain and bitterness. means bitterness, melancholy on the length of gulos and this manifests itself. This is what the says over here. But at the same time that cry of itself has to be permeated with joy with a great joy that manifests itself in singing because of the great that we have that he may coming. So here we see the balance. It's not a defeist attitude where it goes because the miracles are coming. But at the same time, we're not just only dancing. We have to feel the pain. That's why if you're not going to feel the pain of exile, you're not going to really be yearning for it properly. We must have both sides. One side alone is wrong. And this where we take this lesson from we have a we have to have but at the same time we have to have all also a feeling of crying out from time to time this is not the place of a Jew like Miriam her longing with together with the also causes her to her name to be Miriam and I think it's a very important point and we should remember this source because in not too many places it explains so beautifully as the Reb explains in tin I want to finish with one more V because The purpose of these is to talk about and you might be able to look it up in sources. There is a memor that start we say at night. We say which means I entrust my spirit into your hands and is a well. And the meaning of that according to this is that the well could be deep deep down in the ground but it doesn't cover up on the water. It doesn't block it. On the contrary even though it's deep deep down nevertheless it's still vibrant and still alive. It's still and this is what it means. What does it mean? What does it mean that every one of us has this? Well, means that we're very conscious of the that I I I long for Hashem. I entrust my soul, my spirit into Hashem, which means, for lack of a better word, called surrender. But but but it's not really surrender. It's trust. I entrust my to you. We say it every night, which means we know that Hashem is looking after. We know that we're getting reinvigorated. We know that we're getting reunited. We know we're getting stronger. That's what it means that we trust Hashem. We go to sleep dead, tired, and we get up totally like a miraculously new person. But it also means that at the end of the day, that's the what the I want to talk about. As we say, we we we stand before Hashem, here I am. I wasn't perfect. I tried my best. I made some mistakes, but you're going to take care of me. It represents a great love and yearning for Hashem. And this also is connected with the idea of Miriam is she fosters, she nurtures that well which is in every single one of us. Like a mother nur the child and pa she coups to the baby. Miriam brings out that that steady love that a yid has in himself. That well which the waters are constantly flowing and is rising rising. It rises even though we're in this world and even though there's a lot of concealments and even though there's a lot of challenges nevertheless we are still connected and one with Hashem yearning and connecting always. So the should help we should take all these messages coming especially from giml which also we have to have this sort of approach there's a giml but we're still but we feel the pain of golas and similarly when it comes to tamas we learn from to be full of defiance what it means to stand up against a superpower but in general situation in golas on the one hand it's getting more bitter by the day to a certain extent but it doesn't dent doesn't make a diminishing of our by one iota and they should help just like this should be we should come to take posting from your man in Melbourne.