Yisro Parshah Thoughts
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Your Name And You
Yisro came out to the with Moshe’s wife and two children. One was called Gershom, named so for Moshe was a stranger in a foreign land, and the other Eliezer, for Hashem had been to his aid, saving him from Paroh’s sword.
Why are reasons behind the names referenced here?
An exiled man can set up a temporary existence, marry and bear children, but these children are not his. He does not intend to raise them. He expects to return home at some point, for he belongs with his own people. These children are their mother’s, not their father’s.
What characterizes such children? Their names. They have local names, for they will stay here, living their lives as natives.
Ordinarily Yisro would not have brought Moshe his family. He would have understood that the marriage was temporary, lasting only while Moshe was in Midyan. But Moshe had called his children Jewish names, specifically names that recalled his being a stranger and a fugitive from Paroh. Those names implied that Moshe wanted these children, that they belonged with him.
So when he brought the family back together the Torah points out their names, and why they were called so. These kids belonged.
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The Power Of A Niggun
Why did Yisro join the Jews in the desert? ‘Because he heard all that Hashem had done to Moshe Rabbenu and the Jews’. Rashi explains this refers to krias Yam Suf and the war with Amalek. Upon his arrival, Moshe related ‘all the trouble that befell them, and how Hashem saved them’ Rashi explains to mean the Yam Suf and Amalek.
But that was exactly why he had come! What did Moshe add??
Perhaps he had heard it before, but he heard it all wrong. He heard how vicious Hashem was; how He ripped Egypt apart and crushed amalek. Moshe re-educated him. He told Yisro how loving and protecting Hashem was. How He saved them time and again.
It’s all in the niggun! The facts were the same, but what they meant was 360 degrees different! Like everything, how you look at it makes all the difference.
Get used to saying “Its a Zchus”. When the house is a mess, say quietly to yourself “Its a zchus to raise a family” And it is. Those words can change your life. Because its all in the niggun…
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Do Not Covet!
The Ibn Ezra asks how can Torah command emotion. If I want my friend’s house, can I simply decide and stop wanting??
The Sefer Hachinuch retorts; Utter nonsense!! (“Only wicked fools or sinners believe that…!”). ‘For a man’s heart is in his own hands; he can turn it as he wishes’. Thoughts and drives are play-dough – he can shape them at will.
What a vast argument!
[Comment: do they disagree about if willpower can contain drives or if the Torah mandates such heroics?]
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein z”l commented on this question that jealousy is a function of small-mindedness. We are bothered by our friend’s new car only because a new car is an important and worthwhile thing in our eyes. Let us broaden our scope, let us understand what is really important and worthwhile in this world and what is not, and new cars will not even arouse a flicker of interest in our hearts. We will think of them as we think of trash! (If our jealousies are of another’s worthwhile qualities, all the better, that is fine. That jealousy is in fact encouraged) The Rambam expresses similar thoughts about revenge.
Practical parameters of Jealousy:
Jealously buying the same type of dress someone else has is not Lo Tachmod, because you did not take the owner’s object from them. [However if one would take the other’s dress, it is considered Jealousy, even if one pays]
Jealousy applies to material objects, not secrets or ideas (Mechilta).
What about someone who offers another a huge amount for his house because its next to his Rebbe, or because he wants to build there? What about asking a Gadol or celebrity to phone a wealthy man and pressure him to donate? What about the MC or Gabbai who puts a congregant on the spot by publicly asking him what he is donating? What about kids who nag brothers to share Shabbos Party with them?
The Chinuch’s rule of thumb; Lo Tachmod is even if you pay, but you force the exchange. [‘Force’ meaning pressure; the Rambam includes getting friends to ask him for you.] By this yardstick offering a huge amount of money is not Lo Tachmod, but getting a Gadol to call or putting him on the spot publicly is. So too may be the kid nagging his brother – although that might depend on how susceptible the brother is to pressure.
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Do We Really Matter?
Some people are astonished, and disbelieving, that Hashem, infinitely great and important, takes such rapt interest in the goings-on in our world. We are oh-so-puny and insignificant. We are less than a dust-speck in the universe, virtually non-existent. And important? We are wanting in intellect, of low moral stature. Can we be the center of Hashem’s attentions?
[Some use this as rational proof that religion is bunk. I think this presupposes we understand Hashem. It says, were I Hashem, I would not pay attention to the world. Or it says: the world is so much bigger than Earth. Why would Hashem make the entire world if the Earth is His focus. Again, trying to think in His shoes. Problem is that we are not Him. Why would He think like us??]
And yet Hashem gave us the Torah, indicating that our actions are consequential and meaningful. How indeed?
Every city has its mayor. A city of fifty million people has only one mayor. One in fifty million is certainly a very small percent, yet that .01% of the population in the city leads the lot of it, and determines its style. That particular person becomes very important, not because of his or her personal qualities, but because of this person’s enormous influence.
Small as we may seem, thousands of galaxies hang in our everyday decisions. The Torah concept is that we determine the destiny of the universe, of the spiritual worlds behind the temporal ones, extending to the Angels, Seraphim and all. This enormous prerogative saddles us with the greatest opportunity and responsibility. Our deeds are for real and do matter in a colossal way.
Hashem exhibits interest us, for although small and foolish, we control the universe. Even the greatest angels cannot do that.
Keep this in mind: we count for lots. There is great meaning in our deeds.
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Three Shabboses
All Yomtov prayers are the same; Ata Bechartanu. Shabbos prayers, however, is different for every davening: Friday night we say “Ata kidashta”, in the morning we say “Yismach moshe” and at Mincha we say “Ata echad”. The Tashbetz HaKatan (the sefer written from what Maharam MiRuthenburg said in prison) suggests that each of the t’fillos on shabbos is said about another shabbos; Friday night refers to Shabbos Bereshis, the Shabbos when Hashem created the world. That’s why it talks abut Hashem finishing His actions on the seventh day. The next prayer talks of Shabbos Matan Torah, for the Torah was given on Shabbos. That’s why it talks of the luchos. Mincha refers to the Future Shabbos, the great lasting “Shabbos” to come, when Hashem will be One and His name will be One, as we say in that prayer.
The Torah was given on a Shabbos, but so what? Could it not have been given on Wednesday? What significance does Shabbos play?
The three Shabboses symbolize three levels of completion. The world was a complete entity on the seventh day of creation, yet had no mandate. In that sense it was yet incomplete, for it had no goal-value. At Matan Torah the world received a mandate, a reason for being and a charter. Would we keep our mandate? Would we do mitzvos? Perhaps there would be no conclusion, no schar or reward. Perhaps the word will fail. The great “Shabbos”, the World to Come, is the realization of the world’s purpose. The world will be complete at every level.
Three Shabboses are three completions this world needs and has; the world as an object, the world having a mission, and that mission reaching completion.
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Revelation at Sinai
Hashem told Moshe that the sign that He has sent him is the Jews serving Him on this mountain (-Sinai). The other signs – water turning to blood, his stick turning to a snake and his hand becoming white – notwithstanding, the TRUE sign is this. Why?
The Torah records a pattern: 1. Moshe performed the signs to the Jews in Egypt and they believed in him (4:31). Paroh retaliated by doubling the workload, and they told Moshe “May Hashem punish you for harming us!” (5:21).
2. Witnessing ten plagues, the Jews certainly believed – they followed Moshe’s directives and borrowed clothes and vessels from their Egyptian neighbors. Yet at the Yam Suf they claimed that Moshe, not Hashem, had taken them out of Egypt (14:11/12).
3. Seeing the splitting of the Sea the Torah bears witness: “they believed in Hashem, and in Moshe, His servant” (14:31) Until when? Until they got hungry. They then confronted Moshe and claimed that Hashem did not take them out, Moshe had done so on his own (16:3). Moshe replied (16:6) “This very evening you will know that indeed Hashem took you out…”
4. Until the very end of the past parsha, – B’shalach – the Jews still were unsure of “whether Hashem is in our mist or not”! (17:7)
Why was this??
The Jews saw signs that Hashem was there, and then saw signs that He was not. When times grew rough they reasoned “Can it be that Hashem orchestrated all this if we are now dying of thirst!?” They wobbled back and forth between faith and un-faith, pushed by the conflicting signs.
Har Sinai was final clarity. They did not see INDICATIONS that Hashem was there, – a sign – but Him Himself, and they heard His voice. All doubts were put to rest. Their faith was absolute and lasting.
[Man believes what he wishes. Korach was able to cast doubt anyhow. But someone who wanted to now could establish his faith]
Hashem was saying; the final determinant that I have sent you will be when they actually see Me. After that, no real doubting. (Remarkably, at the Meraglim crisis the Jews said “Why did Hashem take us….?” – they knew it was Hashem’s doing!)
P.s. It seems that only with utmost resistance Hashem reveals Himself in this world. The very essence of the universe does not allow for it. “You are a hiding G-d indeed!!” (Yeshaya 45:15)
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Did We Need To Receive The Ten Commandments Personally?
Why was the Ten Commandments given to the entire nation? Why wasn’t it given to Moshe alone, and he would teach it to the rest of the nation, as he did with the rest of the Torah?
Simple question, the Torah itself addresses it. Strangely, with at least four different answers:
1. In Devarim the Torah challenges the Jews “Has any other nation heard the voice of a living G-d as you have, yet survived?!” (I once heard that there is a sect that claims mass revelation as we do – the dream of any religion – but claim that all witnesses dropped dead as a result, so unfortunately there is no one to verify the story. The Torah knew this was coming and added the words “And survived!” at the end…) This means that Matan Torah is direct verification of Hashem and the truth of Judaism. Obviously we could not do without that. Most people talk of indirect proof of G-d, such as that we see His miracles or His handiwork in creating this world. By contrast, the Jewish people talk of direct knowledge; we have seen Him, we have heard Him. We have actual experience of G-d. (An atheist recently wrote me ‘You are Jewish only because you were born Jewish, had you been born Moslem you would be a Moslem!’ I wrote back ‘Yes, it’s true that had I been born Moslem I would probably be a Moslem today. But that’s not the issue; we Jews claim direct empirical knowledge of G-d, something difficult to forge and not only never duplicated, but never even attempted.’) So here is reason one why it was necessary for us to experience Hashem directly, not through Moshe.2. In our Parsha it states ‘Behold I shall come speak to you from within the fog so that the people hear as I speak to you, and also they will believe you forever’ This really represents two reasons; A. That we hear Hashem B. That we believe in Moshe. The second reason is echoed earlier when Moshe tried to shrug off the mission to Egypt saying ‘The nation will not listen to me; they will say “G-d has not appeared to him”’. Hashem answered ‘and the [true] sign that I have sent you will be that after you take the Jews out of Egypt they will serve Me on this mountain’. So reason two for Sinai was to establish Moshe as prophet.3. After the Jews heard the first couple of Commandments they panicked, saying to Moshe ‘You speak with Hashem, and we will listen to you. But let Hashem not talk to us lest we die’. Moshe answered ‘It is for your greatness that Hashem has spoken to you, and so that you will fear Hashem steadfastly, and not sin’ Rashi explains this to be two reasons; 1. Talking with Hashem is not something anyone else has done. It is to our honor and prestige that we had. 2. Experiencing Hashem directly will keep us on the straight and narrow, away from sin. So reason three and four: we are better people for having interacted with Hashem directly, and it is to our credit.
Question; we have here four reasons why Hashem needed to speak with us directly. Why do the reasons change? Why aren’t they all given wherever the question is addressed?
One thought is that after Matan Torah Moshe needed to say something reassuring to the Jews, something diplomatic. Saying that the reason they went through this ordeal was so that they believe in him may not have gone over too well! Instead he chose to focus on what they gained from it. (That’s not my p’shat, by the way, it’s a mechilta!) However there were other reasons too.
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What’s Your Connection?
Torah: ‘You have seen how I spoke to you from the Heavens. Do not make gods of gold or silver!’ What is the connection?
We suggested, (Netziv) that you have seen Hashem communicate with you directly. He needs no go-between. If you need help, appeal to Him directly; do not waste your time with idols.
He is accessible, interested in you and listening. Always remember that!
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