Masei Part 3 Weekly Torah Portion according to the Kli Yakar Numbers 33 verse 4 5776

Good evening. We're in ch in paras that's 33 in dur in numbers. Uh verse 4. And the Egyptians were burying those among whom Hashem had struck every firstborn. And on their gods Hashem had inflicted punishments. So the clear begins by telling us that when the Jewish people left, they left in the eyes. They left in front of all these Egyptians at the time they were in the middle of burying a right whom Hashem had struck. So we're talking about the firstborn were being buried. So it was the next day when the we already know when the Jewish people left it was it was the next day when we left it was bright. We went out with yadra. We went out with uplifted spirit. But guess what? The Egyptians couldn't do anything chaos. The the their teeth were stuck. They were uh they couldn't talk below O. Not only that, Hashem had struck or inflicted punishments on their gods at the same time. And even though nevertheless, guess what happened? They couldn't do anything. They couldn't bark. They couldn't even open their mouths to inflict their tongue on the Jewish people at that time. Mashamar. And the very fact that it says these words, those among them whom Hashem had struck every firstborn. What's going on here? There's an amazing thing. So some say just like the med says on this verse, the verse you'll find in Psalms 136:E 10. to whom? To him who smoke Egypt through their through their firstborn. You understand that God used the Egyptians first born to create a revolution to create a civil war. They were the ones that that fought and killed out most of the Egyptians that the Egyptian firstborn killed their own fathers. And how do we know? Sashi mentions that they killed their own first their own they killed their own fathers as a result of their being quite upset that the Jewish people that obvious, right? They they demanded they leave earlier and their own parents kept them around right through Pharaoh as well. Then they this impetus this idea of the Maka the plague of the firstborn was going to come on them. As soon as it was announced it was going to come on them. They revolted because they said enough. I I can't believe you guys still have these people around. And that's totally understood for the word with by way of their first born through their firstborn. That's how Hashem smoked them. Meaning to say with the firstborn, he struck the Egyptians, right? The firstborn themselves was either the rod or the staff of anger of God's anger as it right. That's why it says it was God that struck them all the firstborn meaning the firstborns were the um the rod of God's anger and this is the proper way to understand the the grammar as well and it says in verse seven that they journeyed from and it turned back to Pak which is before Baf that's what we're going to focus on which is before Bafon and they encamp before Mikdar says why does it say this here we already saw also another place in this teaches us this reminds us this was their only idol that remained all their idols were crushed. This was the last one. It's called Bafon, right? Baltafhone is means north. Bal is another name for a god. They're northernly god. in order to confuse them and make them even make further mistakes. If you look in Job 37:22, it we understood from the verse that gold comes from the north or the northern sunshine. So this god was appointed on the gold which comes from the north. That's why we see it's related to money and therefore they would say this is exactly why our god or this god remained remember their original way of gathering all that money was it's not really wasn't really theirs it was collected and all the profits came from the Jewish slave labor but nevertheless ready for this he mentioned questions here. If you look over there, the clear explains that why is it that the it's specifically this northernly remember we only believe in one god, one power, but other powers do exist under Hashem's guidance. These powers actually have abilities, but they're not independent of God. Now, they believed in this God. And why did Hashem allow this one God to remain behind, ready for this? They were pretty broken. The Jewish people left with all their money. And if they were basically ready to give up, but all of a sudden they went, "Whoa, our God of gold is still around. We have a chance of getting our gold back. So, let's continue to chase after the Jewish people." See, they never would have ended up dying in the splitting of the sea, which went ended up coming back if they hadn't pursued. So, this was a trick. This was to get them. Well, everyone has free will, but they used it in the wrong fashion, but Hashem set them up by allowing this idol to remain to give them hope of getting their money back because that's what they believed in. They believed in their money and not in God. Okay. If you look in verse 9, it says, now the interesting thing is it says, right? They travel, they journey from Mara and it doesn't say meaning that they didn't say that they encamped. We know this is where they encamped. So why doesn't it use the word vanu? They encamped. It just says they arrived. So he says it doesn't say that why first answer is since it was a very short journey. So that's the foundation of his answer he's going to build on this. It was such a short journey they didn't have intent to to make any kind of camp there. However, You know what they found there? They found 12 beautiful springs of water, very delicious in the desert. And the brings down that this relates these 12 springs relate to the idea they that there were there are 12 tribes. So it was like calling them Hashem, Israel, Yash, right? Hashem himself brought them to this place to help them drink to give them them water to drink to and not just drink but also food. There were 70 palm trees there and this related to the idea that there were 70 zucanim. So you have 12 tribes, 70 zucanium, 70 elders. We know that zucchanium is always represented by palm trees because it says in in Psalms 92:13, a righteous person, a righteous man will flourish like a day. Therefore they said instead of just moving on they said similus. So there was an obvious sign that they should make there an encampment that also the name of the place right is taught not the name Alsette that yes the name itself e alimen represents something to do with a number. We can take the number of the name alim and it comes out. You have mem is 40, lament is 30, yud is 10 and the olive is one and the word itself and you get 82 you get 82 with the word. So it's another words 81 in gamachia and a lot of times you count the word the hu that's the exact same as the 70s and the tribes you have 70 + 12 is 82 so to the word aim is mob the actual word represents strength and strong people if you look in Ezekiel 17 verse 13 it says here means strength. He took away the strength of the land. And all this they took as a sign that they should rest there and they made a ha and because this is the beginning of the three week of the nine days. I just wanted to mention that through ma, you realize that Hashem has really well, he showed kindness to us and he really took care of us with the mud from heaven and the water from the and the water from the rock and our feet. We didn't have to change our shoes. We didn't have to change our clothes. We didn't sweat. We didn't have to relieve ourselves. We were really living in an intimate way with God. And for those who have had troubles in their lives, and the truth is we've all had troubles in our lives throughout our lives many times, some more than others. There's a great analogy that um has been told over. And if we think about it, I'm sure you've all heard it. And this really relates to what we've been talking about all along tonight. You've heard the story of this man. He has an intimate relationship with God and he's walking and he says every time I see my whole life I as if it's like a serif as if it's a movie before me and I noticed that ever whenever things were really good there were always two footprints in the sand meaning you were with me but whenever things were tough I always noticed or seemed to have noticed that it was just one set of footprints why is that you know he had an opportunity to ask God, the ultimate question. So, what do you think God's response was? It's a famous response. Hashem said, "That's because I was there carrying you." So, we have this opportunity to really reflect even in the toughest of times. We know that Hashem is with us. We know that he's carrying us. As we mentioned earlier on tonight about the um Hashem carries us on the wings of eagles. And that was another way of expressing how much he really wants to help us in our journey and carry us through. And all we have to do is really just let him get out of the way and allow Hashem to do his work. With that, may we see the rebuilding of the temple and the in gathering of the exiles and the crowning of Msiahu. Soon in our days, Mashia should come and we should have the in gathering of the exiles. Amen.