Va'eira: The Rambam's View On Why The Egyptians Were Punished If It Was Divinely Decreed ‎

okay good morning everyone we have a special presentation today in honor of the preparation for the R's tonight and today sh is dedicated first we have a uh Robert yadav had a baby girl SAR Rifka shisa La that s went down to and she conducted and that protected all of is this should be a Bastion of K and today sh is dedicated by our dear friend who is a descendant of manties the R so in honor of the the ra should stand up forel and his to continue the Tyra and the legacy of the r okay the Ra was born the year 4,895 we have a tradition from the V that the number of suuk in the T correspond to the years of world history so wouldn't it be interesting if we identified the 4,895 PK in the that's the P that that corresponds to the birth of the r sure enough that PK says explain this T saying so that's clearly a reference to the work of the Rish you imagine the 4,895 I would add as follows you have to look at the beginning of the what does have to do with the r the ram came from why he's a direct descendant of so actually almost all come from because we come from rash and Rashi was from DAV and David was from May in any event the ram was a of his father who was a talid of the remash when the books say that the ramam learned from the reash he did not learn from the he had the from his father from who learned from the the in says that the rambam writes that at 8 years old he kissed the hand of the remash before the remash passed away and that the ram says that he was only Z to what he was to through the kiss that he kissed the hand of the remash I had the to be outside of the cemetery where the remash is buried in Spain we couldn't get in there's no cover for him there's just a sign but I was in the vicinity where the remash and the Riff was buried okay the rivid says about the R Who arose among the like him and there's a famous statement anybody know who said that the said about the now that is the opinion of the that the Ra was the greatest of all the and we mentioned that the disagree the say was the greatest of all the but um the the says just tell you an interesting thing many of the the have the word in it yeah why in the of the he brings from the that the Ra was a gilgal of the in sh is called so therefore the is that many of the perim of the rambam are called Mel now listen to this I believe in 1979 Maran RAB YF was invited to Madrid to inaugurate a b Med and in that context he had the opportunity he was invited to meet with King Juan Carlos King Juan Carlos was a very magnanimous ruler a very wise ruler and R had the following dilemma which is n tomorrow in case you're going to be going to the inauguration that's why I see people are eating a good breakfast just to fuel up um it's going to be cold tomorrow anyway the the on King Juan Carlos who by the way was a king for many years until he abdicated to King Felipe King Juan Carlos Not only was a world leader so held he would make the but he was also a very wise person and thought he should make the he was a brilliant scholar and had do you make two separate braas or do you incorporate the two into one because there's no formulated if you look in in the first to incorporate both into one and he he made a on King juanos now at that historic meeting rabad came in with his wife reiton margarit and it was very very hot and she was white she was famished she was dehydrated and the queen of Spain got out of her throne you know back you know these big uh palacial pal these palaces they have windows that are high up you need to take like a big stick to like open the windows like uh when I learned in back in the day in the med in on Forest Hills they it was in an old building and they had these windows high up in the air and there was this like pole was like the biggest pole you ever saw and and you know sometimes there were disagreements open the window close the window open the window anyway Raj said that when the queen of Spain got out of her throne to service his wife it was the Fulfillment of what the navi says that kings and queens will serve you that was fulfilled at that historic meeting in any event King Juan Carlos says I ask for forgiveness for what our people did to your people 500 years ago and during the times of the Spanish Inquisition but I want you to know many Jews uh fled Spain at the time and they went to Amsterdam where they printed the first Bible and King Juan Carlos opens up a copy of the original Bible that was printed in like 1490 something in Amsterdam and he said I want you to know I study from this Bible every single day and I appreciate the wisdom of the Jewish people whereupon King Juan Carlos asked ysf a stunning question you never heard such a good question in your life it was such a good question in the of R printed the question and the answer you ready for this one we have to like make marus out of this the question is like this King Juan car says how many Jews live in Israel today you said about uh how many did he say at the time maybe a million at the time and he said you know how many are ashim how many are so said you know about half and half and King Wan car said you know what would you characterize thei Jew he says you know a Jew that comes from Spain or Morocco or Tunisia or Egypt or Lebanon or Syria or Iran or Iraq or India or China or some areas of the Soviet Union are called sardam so King Wang car says I don't understand what is doesn't Sardi Sardi means Spaniard a Jew who is in Yemen man since the time of the first Bas of mikdash he doesn't even know there there is a country of Spain his ancestors were never there Jews from Iran some of them have been there from the times of M Jews in the Far East from India they were never in Spain why would they be called Spaniards I mean would you call them that they come from Brooklyn they look you like you're out of your mind Brooklyn what's that what country is that forget about it you know what what are you talking about so why would you call a Jew from Syria a Spaniard I understand Jews who migrated from Spain to these other countries we call themm but why would you call Jews who have been their ancestral homelands for hundreds if not thousands of years why would you call them R said this was a brilliant question nobody ever asked him this question before said the says is different than any other Nation how are they different every Other Nation the defining characteristic of their being a member of that nation is because they have a a Homeland or a land in common but clel has not had a land in common for 2,000 years so what makes a Jew a Jew says is the T makes us a nation basically the who you're associated with with Sears your identity as a Jew who you're associated with who's your who's your r that is what gives you your identity as a Jew the rambam was accepted by the as the preeminent scholar association with the rambam who came from Spain means you're aardi a Jew from Yemen is called thei because Tam Jews accepted the rambam Jews from Iran are because they accept the rambam Jews in India accepted the rambam Jews in Tunisia They didn't accept other like they accepted the ra therefore they're identified as means someone whose patriarch in to is my man the r King uh Juan Carlos was flabbergasted at this understanding of that Judaism is different than any other religion that people are associated by who their are and he's very honored that so many millions of Jews around the world are called Spaniards because they accept the rulings of the greatest scholar from Spain namely the ram okay so that's introduction to today's sh and today's sh just like on chabas we learned about we're going to continue to learn about you know the blin would say that these par we already have a of P we have a feeling of P because the Paras that we read influence the man okay so I want to share with you very interesting uh comments of the ram okay take a look at number 11 on your sheets we know that the MIT are in for it they're they're they're uh going to be very soon punished very severely and the question that the deal with is why would Hashem punish the but didn't Hashem decree didn't decree that that they would enslave us so they're just they're doing their job the MIT are doing their job by the way in the Amman trial the attorney Forman used this argument of the r to defend Amman he said wait a second don't you Jews believe that whatever happens in the world is decreed from God that means god decreed there should be a holocaust so Amman was fulfilling the the decree of God you should reward him not punish him this it's not just a philosophical it was used in the court of law in the trial so we have to understand what the answer is look at number 11 the r asks this is in now what are we going to use this for I'll give you a little bit of the background we spoke out the question onab but we didn't give this part of the answer has astounding the ran paskin that when it comes to mat you need to dip the mat in okay by the way we mentioned on chabas the of based on the that needs to have it needs to be needed thick like cement the rasham says in number seven it has to be you need to grind it well has to be thick you need to put apples in it so it's tart to remember the births of the Jewish people So today we're learning about uh the births of the Jewish ladies it should be that everyone should give birth but they put you have to put apples in the because of the you need to have um egoism walnuts why because of the and also almonds T says you need to have almonds because Shak is a l of diligence Hashem Advanced the coming of the G comes the rambam and the rambam says that when you eat matah you are required to dip matah in you know about this r as don't do that but guess who guess who else doesn't do that any do that no no even though you call yourself that you follow the ram but I don't think you follow this one the ram skins that you must dip mat into how's that going to taste not bad it goes down smoother Goes Down Smooth have yeah but it's expensive cardboard it's um you have to dip the mat in everybody knows that Shakespeare said wherever there's a ram the rivit is not far behind no he never said said that but comes the rivid and the ramb the rid says on the rambam this is nonsense the ri says it's nonsense what I think it was a go it's nonsense to dip the mat in what's the we pointed out on chabas the T says it is mat represents freedom represents the bondage why in the the world would you dip the mat in I understand you dip the Mar in the mar is the bitterness so you dip it inas which represents the bondage but why would you dip matah in so now we're going to come to one of the most important and well-known comments of the rambam in all of his writings the question of why did God punish the Egyptians if they were just fulfilling their the decree of sh look at number 11 says the r God decreed on the Egyptians to do bad so why is Hashem punishing them he decreed they should do it it's like I'm supposed to do it and then I'm going to get punished it's like Nar when he was about to destroy the temple he asked the child you know tell me your so the kid said oh the the says Ed will destroy the mikdash and then God will destroy Ed so Nar said that's not right I have to do God's dirty work and then he's going to wipe his hands with me I'm out of here and so here we have that what's the logic of Hashem decreeing that somebody should do evil and then be punished for it or there's another the nation got up will get up they'll stray After idols hasm decreed on the Jewish people to serve Idols why did hasem punish them so says the ram you know why cuz God never decrees on one person God didn't decree what's a good Egyptian name Ramsey Ramsey ramse Muhammad what's a good God didn't decree on uh sharo the Egyptian that he should uh enslave the Jewish people he decreed Egyptians should enslave the Jewish people when God decreed the Jewish people should stray after aara he didn't say yankle he didn't say Barrel he said Jews so no individual Jew has to be that guy who's going to be serving each one of those individuals that strayed to serve idols if he didn't want to serve Idols he didn't have to right God didn't say you're going to do it says he God only revealed that that's going to happen what is this analogous to imagine if somebody would announce in this nation they'll be righteous and wicked so K Rasha say oh great I'll be the I'll be the wicked one nobody told you to be the wicked one why don't you you be the righteous one nobody's compelling you to be Wicked not because of this can the wicked person say oh it was decreed on me to be a wicked person because God told they'll be Wicked says the ra you know this is analogous to it says in the Torah there'll always be poor people that doesn't mean anyone should say well you know there always be poor poor maybe I should be that guy no you shouldn't be that guy you should be the rich guy nobody told you you should be the poor guy likewise the Egyptians all of each and every Tormentor and individual caused harm if he didn't want to cause evil he had the free choice and the discretion to do the right thing [Applause] it was not decreed on any one person God just notified that his descendants would be subjugated in a land that does not belong to them we've already said that a person does not have the capacity to know we can't understand how God knows the future so the Ram's Kasha is why did God punish the Egyptians if it was decreed that they should harm us the answer is it was not decreed that any individual egypti Egyptian guy should harm us it was decreed that there will be Egyptians that will harm us each one is expected to utilize their free choice and to choose the right path nobody could say they're compelled to do so that's the answer of the rambam the rid goes to to with this answer what do you mean it wasn't decreed if God makes a decree then the Egyptian that jumps up and fulfills the decree what do you mean it wasn't decreed on any individual of course it wasn't decreed on any individual and anyone who wants could fulfill it but anyone who does fulfill it should be rewarded if indeed God decreed there should be people who will torment the Jewish people the the rivit says these are long words this is long winded R there is no spice to it says it I swear I would almost say that it's childish these are some of the more complimentary things that the riid wrote the rivit even says whichever Egyptian will jump up and fulfill it um obviously the riid said this in good chair you know they they had a this was the way they spoke level let's say you have armies one against another they don't they don't choose each you don't have a choice they all have to go down right all Russians all whatever it is right but the how do you how do you it it doesn't seem like every last guy had to be involved in the in the uh in fanticide they drafted doesn't say there was like a draft you know you could have I mean there were still shoe makers and there were still uh guys who milk cows and there were still you know you you could have sold used cars instead of killing Jews so each individual who committed and fanticide the rambam says nobody asked him to do it the rivid said but if there's a decree he should fulfill it so how does the rivid understand why the Egyptians were punished the rivit says it's very simple God just said the Egyptians should enslave us he didn't say they should torture us he didn't say they should kill us so God decreed they should do this and they went overboard so they were punished for going overboard that comes the Creator said said that they should be enslaved they should be tormented and they were they dealt with us with very difficult labor and they killed us and they drowned us like it says in I was angered a little bit and they assisted in the evil they they went overboard therefore they were to be punished by the way just a little bit of a historical note on the rambam the rambam was supported by his brother David who is a businessman and one time David was on a on a boat um off on the on the sea and his boat was lost in sea and uh he he was he died at Sea the rambam was so despondent he writes he literally became bedridden and he could not get out of bed he was so depressed over the death of his brother which changed his whole life because we know the ram was a doctor and uh we have description of his schedule he literally from morning to night was seeing the sultan and and the patience of the of the palace but that was after his brother passed away so he had to uh he had to take on those responsibilities um but the rambam picked himself up he dusted himself off and uh he he the rambam lived a very difficult life he was a fugitive for a very large percent of his life running away from the alahad um in uh Morocco and in uh he had a very difficult uh he was in hiding in Earth Israel okay so how do we understand the rambam why didn't the rambam just answer very simply the r wants to know why are the Egyptians punished cuz nobody told them to be murderers they were just told to enslave us they were told them and they went overboard why doesn't the rambam like the rivet's answer why didn't the rambam give the ri's answer I'm sure he thought of it why didn't the ra give the R's answer soank M says that in order to understand the rambam of why he didn't like the rivet's answer you need to understand the ram of why he holds you dip mat what are the the two have to do with each other we know that the ram as we mentioned says he have to dip M and the riv argues the aderas comes the aderas you know who the aderas was the aderas was elu David rabitz the father-in-law of one of the great of he's buried on har he says that in order to understand the rambam's position on the mitz we have to understand why the Rah holds it's appropriate to dip mat into the rivid gave a very simple answer the reason why the Egyptians were punished is because of the of the difficulty of the shib you know why the ramam doesn't like that answer because ra you have to dip mat what does that mean let's understand what happened at the end of the beginning of so the slowly slowly the M are enslaving the Jewish people and Hashem comes to says m i want you to go to par and tell par let my people go so M says great you know things are going to get much easier now once I go to Paro things are going to start you know moving in the right track we're going to start having breathing room until then um life was miserable SOA says you know I'm going to make things better for my brethren so Misha goes to par par is infuriated what are you what are you wasting my time what are you telling me that they should have a day off want to chabas no you have too much time on your hands from now on I'm not providing the straw until now I gave you the straw you made the bricks from now on you're going to collect the straw and make the bricks and the workload is going to remain the same says I don't understand what happened God told me to try to help out the Jewish people and I went to Paro and I said let my people go and now he makes things much worse so comes to he says the moment I walked into's Palace things have been downhill from there I listen to you God God you told me to go to him the moment I listen to you everything is bad and by the way you know that M was punished for that do you know that he was punished so severely that God said really really that how you talk to me you're going to see what I what I'm going to do to the Egyptians you're going to see what I do to but what you will not see did you know most people don't know this a simple ping you ask most people why did go oh because he hit the rock really that's what does it say in the he didn't go into is because he said God the moment I listen to you things have been downhill from here that's what the P says in fact asks it's a because in it says because he hit the rock and in par it says because he he criticized Hashem so says a great uh a great answer for all you doctors out there you know it says it's you know doctors don't like this it says the best doctors they don't end up in a good place that's why I don't like to go to good doctors go to mediocre doctors but but what is the meaning of so says you know it's not talking about doctors doctors are wonderful people we need them like the r yeah who's the best doctor the best doctor is someone who speaks lanar about you why because he takes away all your sins right says that when somebody speaks lar about you he gets your sins you get so originally was not going to go into because he said God the moment I from the moment I have been listening to you it's been downhill from there and he wasn't go but then came along and he was speaking so now is off the hook was going to go literally K took the sin of M so why didn't M go in oh because then after that he hit the rock you imagine that's a sin he wasn't going to go in because he criticized hem but then then took that sin it it's not a M's bank account anymore what did they say about they they you imagine they said thatu is suspected of infidelity in any event but it's like this so mha is criticized mha is indicted for criticizing Hashem but let's ask ourselves a very simple question what did moshu do wrong he's the leader of the Jewish people the job description of a leader of the Jewish people is to go to God and to fight for the people to say yeah what are the Egyptians going to say if you kill us now the job description of a Jewish leader is to fight for the people so what did M do wrong by saying you know what he did wrong we spoke about this on chabas it looked like that when M came to par things went downhill from there but did they yeah they had to work harder but because they had to work harder they got out earlier so they were supposed to be there 400 years but because they worked harder and they did overtime they got out after 210 actually the says they only really worked 86 years of intense labor they did a fifth they did a fifth of 430 in other words 86 is 1 of 430 because of the intense labor they got out earlier so says well look from the moment I came to Farah you went downhill from there no it wasn't going downhill God was Expediting the Gula so you say okay maybe that's not such a good thing maybe let's take it easy and let's extend the work let's extend the Ava over 430 this way we're not going to be brutalized no we couldn't do that because MIT was not a holy Place MIT was not may it was not it was not um Elite um where's that Yeshiva it was not it was not a holy M it was not benra M was was on the lowest level of Tom had the Jewish people remained in m a bit longer we would have fallen to the point of no return had God not had them intensify the Ava Not only would we have not gotten out then we would not have gotten out period so says what am I supposed to do God says go to par now and tell them let my people go and the moment he goes to par instead of par making things easier he made things much worse and TOA it looked bad but it wasn't bad it was only good because had he not intensified the labor had par not said Gather your own straw Not only would we not have gotten out then we would not have gotten out period so you know the one word thata said that was wrong says in the mha you could fight for the people you could ask God why but one thing you're not a say is why do you do bad bad this is not bad this is the essence of good if we don't do this you ain't ever getting out you're now to say to hasem it's bad nothing bad comes from hasem so in the beginning of this week's par how does the par begin k k you think I'm elim you think I'm no no no no you're got the wrong God you don't know me you you don't know my name let me give you an introduction you think I did bad to the Jewish people from you going to par this was the greatest in the history of the world the bondage and the straw and the labor was not the bitterness that is the Gula that's what created the Gula if not for the T and the bondage there would be no G therefore the ram says when you take your matah which represents Kos don't ever forget where the Kos came from you have to dip it into you have to dip the mat into because the is the the is the the bondage the intense labor is the r coming back to the r the r wanted to know why were the Egyptians punished so the ri says I have a very simple reason they went overboard the ramam says that makes no sense them going overboard was a if not for that we never would have gotten out the rambam cannot use the's answer the r holds that when you you have to dip mat into which means thees is part of the G the bondage is part of the Redemption so you can't hold the Egyptians accountable because they went overboard the overboard was a to us therefore the raham has to come up with a different strategy over here the raham strategy is no individual Egyptian needed to be involved in this process to begin with they should have all each one should have kept their hands clean but uh says theas that the R's opinion that you have to dip is the reason why the RA in does not like the rid who says that they were punished for going overboard because going overboard was the so the Egyptian would say no we did you a favor by going overboard that's one of the reasons why one of the ingredients of is almonds because the which symbolizes the bondage you better get some almonds in there to indicate that the intense bondage expedited our Redemption so this is one of the one of one of the which we say his opinion of Dipping is is is congruous is uh fits very beautifully with his opinion why the Egyptians were punished not because they went overboard but rather because uh they did not have to choose to be involved in the first place in Taman in Yemen when they would say kades they would say Kadesh as follows that's how they said kades which also illustrates like we started with that why would a be called they were never in Spain they've been there since King Solomon's times I don't know if they could find Spain on a map the answer is because they accepted upon themselves the rulings of the red another remes to the ram is found in Le um