* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion and Haftorah. Plus Ani Ma'amin - The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith. Parshas Shmos For the week ending 21 Teves 5755 23 & 24 December 1994 =========================================================================== Summary With the death of Yosef, the era of the Avos comes to an end. The Book of Shmos (Exodus) chronicles the creation of the nation of Israel from the descendants of Yaakov. At the start of the Parsha, Pharaoh fears the population explosion of Jews in Egypt, so he enslaves them. However, when their birthrate continues to increase, he orders the Jewish midwives to kill all baby boys. Yocheved gives birth to Moshe and places him in a basket in the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter finds and adopts the baby even though she realizes he is a Hebrew. Miriam, Moshe's older sister, offers to find a nursemaid for Moshe. She arranges for his mother Yocheved to be his nursemaid and help raise him. Years later, Moshe witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and Moshe kills the Egyptian. When Moshe realizes his life is in danger, he flees to Midian where he rescues Tzipporah, whose father Yisro approves their marriage. Moshe witnesses the "burning bush" in Chorev where Hashem commands him to lead the Jewish People from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael, which He has promised to their ancestors. Moshe protests that the Jews in Egypt will doubt that he is Hashem's agent, and Hashem helps Moshe perform three miraculous transformations to boost his credibility in the eyes of the people: his staff into a snake, his healthy hand into a leprous one, and water into blood. When Moshe declares that he is not a good speaker he is told that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman. Aaron greets Moshe on his return to Egypt and they petition Pharaoh to release the Jews. Pharaoh responds with even harsher decrees declaring that the Jews must produce the same quota of bricks as before, but without being given supplies. The people become frustrated, and Hashem assures Moshe that Pharaoh will be forced to let the Hebrews leave. =========================================================================== Commentaries "And these are the names of the Bnei Yisrael" (1:1). Even though the Torah had already enumerated Yaakov's children in their lifetimes, their names are listed here again after their passing from the world, to show how dear they are to Hashem. For a person often repeats something that is dear and highly-prized. The Children of Yisrael are likened to the stars, which Hashem counts and calls by name when they come out, and also again when they pass from the world and are gathered in. We must always remember that since we are compared to the stars, we must emulate the stars, and just as the purpose of the stars is to radiate light even to the darkest and most distant corner of the universe, so it is the job of the Jewish People to radiate spiritual light to the most benighted and spiritually desolate corners of the world. (Based on Rashi, Gur Aryeh and Sfas Emes) "And he (Pharaoh) said to his people -- Behold! The people, the Children of Yisrael are more numerous and stronger than we are. Come let us outsmart him lest he become numerous and it may be that if a war should occur, he, too may join our enemies..." (1:9-10). Three thousand years of anti-semitism echo down to us through these two verses. The words here "than we are" can also be understood to mean "from us" -- in other words, Pharaoh told the Egyptians that the Jews were `get- rich-quick merchants' whose wealth came "from us", through exploiting the famine; and so their wealth really belonged to Egypt. In every land in which they have lived, the Jewish People have become successful and affluent by their own hard work and ingenuity, but the Jew-hater scowls and jeers, "The Jews are ruining the country!" Pharaoh speaks to "his people" -- implying that the Jews, despite having been in Egypt for over a hundred years, are still to be thought of as foreigners, not really `one of us'. Thus, they are an ever-present threat, a `fifth-column' that could at any moment "join our enemies". The Jewish People did not become a people until Sinai; anti-semitism however, apparently preceded the birth of the nation by nearly a hundred years! (Based on Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, Rabbi Y.D. Soleveitchik and Iturei Torah) "It was on the way, in the lodging, that Hashem encountered him and sought to kill him. (Moshe)" (4:24). In his haste to fulfill the mitzvah of redeeming the Jewish People from Egypt, Moshe Rabbeinu failed to perform the mitzvah of bris mila on his son; hence, he was liable for the death penalty. Thus, through his inadvertent neglect of one mitzvah, the redemption of the Jewish People hung precipitously in the cosmic balance. We can learn from this that the precious work of bringing the final redemption of the Jewish People is conditional on the scrupulous performance of every mitzvah in the Torah, and that all plans for redemption, even by the true redeemer, are in deep jeopardy from a failure to keep even one mitzvah properly. (Mayana shel Torah =========================================================================== Haftorah: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23 "To whom shall one teach knowledge, who can be made to understand a message. Those weaned from (mother's) milk, removed from the breasts!" (28:10). "From the day that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed," our Sages teach us, "prophecy was given to fools and infants". When Yisrael dwelled in their holy Land, celestial energy -- both spiritual and material -- descended to its correct landing place. Since the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, however, this energy has gone astray -- the material energy has alighted on desolate lands and the spiritual radiance has descended onto totally unsuitable people -- "fools and infants." This is what the prophet means when he asks whether "those weaned from (mother's) milk" can be "made to understand a message". The holy Zohar predicted that in the year 5600 the "flood gates of wisdom" would be opened. This coresponds to the year 1840 in the secular calendar, the time of the industrial revolution. Since then we have witnessed an ever-accelerating development of science and technology. If the Jewish People had been worthy, this tremendous outpouring of knowledge would have found its proper home in the wisdom of Torah and holiness. Now, since we were not worthy, this diffusion of higher energy has found its way to the superficial wisdoms and precipitated the invention of weapons of mass destruction to humanity's profound loss. (Ahavas Yonason and Rabbi Bunem m'Pschiske) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith Principle #11: "I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, rewards with good those who observe His commandments, and punishes whose who violate His commandments." A truck screeches to halt inches from a small child who has chased his ball into the road. The driver holds his hand down on the horn for several long seconds, rolls down his window, shouts an unintelligible stream of invective at the errant child, rolls up his window and proceeds about his business. Five minutes later, this scene is repeated by a different driver, and some ten minutes later a third truck screeches to a halt narrowly missing the same child. However, this time the driver jumps out of the cab and chases the child, scrambling over trash-cans and fences until he finally catches him. The driver then beats the `living-daylights' out of the child . Why should this driver react so much more violently than the other two drivers? The reason is that this driver happens to be the child's father! The fact that Hashem punishes us is a sign that He cares for us, for if He were indifferent to our actions, we could have no relationship with him, because no relationship can exist on a unilateral basis. He recompenses man with kindness according to his deeds; He gives to the wicked evil according to his wickedness. Yigdal =========================================================================== Can't make it to Israel for the Winter JLE program? THERE IS STILL TIME LEFT TO SIGN UP FOR: The Ohr Somayach WINTER LEARNING RETREAT held in our Monsey New York campus from December 22-29. This FREE program is open to college students who are interested in experiencing a taste of Jewish learning. 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