* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion and Haftorah. Plus Ani Ma'amin - The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith. Parshas Vaera For the week ending 28 Teves 5755 30 & 31 December 1994 =========================================================================== This issue is dedicated in the memory of Rebitzin Esther Golda Nusbaum O.B.M. on the Shloshim =========================================================================== Summary Hashem tells Moshe to let the Jewish People know that He is going to take them out of Egypt, but they do not listen. Hashem commands Moshe to go to Pharaoh and ask him to free the Jewish People. Although Aaron shows Pharaoh a sign by turning a staff into a snake, Pharaoh's magicians duplicate this sign, thus emboldening Pharaoh to refuse the request. Hashem punishes the Egyptians by sending plagues of blood and frogs, but the magicians copy the miracles on a smaller scale, again encouraging Pharaoh not to grant Moshe's request. However, after the plague of lice, even Pharaoh's magicians concede that only the One, true G-d could be performing these miracles. Only the Egyptians, and not the Jews in Goshen, suffer during the plagues. The onslaught continues with wild animals, pestilence, boils and fiery hail. However, despite Moshe's offers to end the plagues if Pharaoh will let the Jewish People leave Egypt, Pharaoh continues with a hardened heart, and refuses to let them go. =========================================================================== Commentaries "G-d spoke to Moshe and said to him - I am Hashem. I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov..." (6:2). Only Moshe Rabbeinu achieved a level of prophecy in which he talked to Hashem "face-to-face" -- as via a translucent mirror. Even the Avos -- Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov -- never achieved this degree of clarity, and their contact was comparatively imprecise, like through a cloudy pane of glass. For this reason, Rashi comments that "I appeared to the Avos" -- i.e., the reality of their contact with Hashem was only on the spritual level of appearance; but with Moshe Rabbeinu "G-d spoke and said to him -- I am Hashem," with crystal clarity. (Maskil l'David on the Zohar) "Moshe spoke before Hashem saying -- Behold, the Children of Yisrael have not listened to me, so how should Pharaoh listen to me? And I have sealed lips" (6:12). The power of a spiritual leader flows from the people. In every generation Hashem promises us there will be spiritual leaders, the great Torah Sages, who are granted the ability to advise and direct the nation. But, when the Jewish People refuse to listen to these spiritual giants, and follow after politicians who have no more insight than the rest of us, then our spiritual leaders become powerless to influence or to help the people. Thus, if the Children of Yisrael had listened to Moshe, his mouth and lips would have been opened, and his words would have affected even Pharaoh; but since the Children of Yisrael did not listen -- Moshe's "lips were sealed." (Based on the Sfas Emes) "Pharaoh sent and behold, of the livestock of Yisrael not even one had died, yet Pharaoh's heart became stubborn and he did not send out the people" (9:7). The phrase "not even one had died," can also be translated as "none died except one." In other words, whereas the Egyptian fields were desolate of livestock, the Jewish fields teemed with life with the exception of one natural death. When presented with an obvious miracle, the skeptic will reach for the most improbable explanation to protect his vested interest rather than admit to the more obvious explanation. One can imagine how The Cairo Times might have reported the incident -- Banner headline three inches high -- *------------------------* | JEWISH COW DIES! | | It's no miracle! | | Jews hit by plague... | *------------------------* and buried at the bottom of the back page in tiny print "Egyptian cattle totally wiped out...". "Pharaoh's heart became stubborn and he did not send out the people." The stubborn heart which wants to make itself the center of Creation will always find an excuse to deny Hashem, however implausible that excuse might be. (Heard from Rabbi Moshe Silverberg) =========================================================================== Haftorah: Yechezkel 28:25 - 29:21 "Behold I am over you, Pharaoh...!" (29:3). There once was a butler of large mansion who decided one day to impersonate his master. A guest was due to arrive who had never met the real master. The butler bedecked himself in his master's finest clothes, and greeted the guest in a fake aristocratic manner, ostentatiously showing-off the enormous mansion, its priceless art collection, and the acres of sumptuous gardens. The butler was having a grand time `lording it up' until the real master appeared on the scene and roundly put the butler in his place. Similarly, Pharaoh did not stint from self-aggrandizement, conducting himself as supreme overlord, answerable to none. He even made himself into a god and proclaimed "I did not know Hashem." Therefore Hashem reminds Pharaoh "Behold I am over you, Pharaoh...!" -- "Know that I rule over you, and you are in My hands to do with as I see fit -- you are no more than a usurping butler!" (Based on Kochav m'Yaakov) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith Principle #12: "I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Mashiach, and even though he may delay, nevertheless I anticipate every day that he will come." "Wait for him for he will surely come; he will not delay." Chabakkuk 2:3 Our longing for the arrival of Mashiach must be motivated only by the desire to see the revelation of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven here in our world, as the pasuk says, "Hashem will be King over all the earth." As a result of this revelation, everything in our physical and spiritual existence will achieve its perfection. We must not look forward to the coming of Mashiach, however, only because he will put an end to our troubles, and bring us all to Eretz Yisrael, a land flowing with milk and honey, where we will enjoy all the best. For then we are merely waiting for our own sake. The prophet insists, however, that when we "wait for him" only so that Hashem's glory will be revealed in the world -- then will he come without delay. Just as Chana in her time prayed to Hashem to give her a son who would bring His erring people back to Torah, so must we, in our days of such widespread estrangement from the Torah, await the arrival of Eliyahu and Mashiach when the Kingdom of Heaven will be restored. This must be our sole motivation for waiting; and this will be the intention of the challenge that we will face in the Hereafter: "Did you look forward to salvation?" Chafetz Chaim, Likutei Amarim, Perek 11 "By the End of Days, He will send our Mashiach,to redeem those who wait for His final salvation." 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