Bo 5631 First Ma'amar

The Chiddushei HaRim asks why it was necessary for God to bring specifically ten plagues upon the Egyptians.  God could have achieved His purpose with any number of plagues or with no plagues at all.  Why ten?  The Chiddushei HaRim answers that the ten plagues removed God’s concealment from the ten commands with which the world was created and changed them from עֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת/ten commands to עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת/Ten Commandments.

The Sfas Emes explains this enigmatic answer.  God created the world with עֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת/ten commands.  These are stated clearly in the first chapter of Breishis.  God constructed the Creation mechanism so that when He uttered the words of creation, the words themselves gave their creations existence.  So, for example, when God said, “Let there be light,” (Breishis 1:3) those words gave existence to light.  The life force behind everything in this world is the letters in the beginning of the Torah which describe the Creation.  The letters are the means through which God extends His will to create and continue the existence of the entire creation.  This is a crucial concept.  The Creation was not a one time act.  It is continuous. 

Looking around us, though, it is not clear that the life force that gives everything existence is in the letters of these very commands.  In fact, it is not obvious that there is a spiritual life force at all.  The Godly life force in Creation is hidden.  The purpose of the plagues that God wrought upon Egypt was to clearly reveal that the physical Creation owes its continuing existence to a Godly life force.  It was to make it known that there is more to the world around us than our eyes perceive.  Each plague revealed God in one aspect of the Creation.  Each plague removed a barrier preventing us from being aware of God in that aspect of nature referred to in one Creation מַאֲמַר/command.  This is why God brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians; one plague for each of the ten commands by which God created the world.

What does the Chiddushei HaRim mean, though, when he says that each מַאֲמַר/command changed to a דִבּוּר/utterance?  The Chiddushei HaRim is using a play on words.  Although in Hebrew the root דַבָר/DBR means speech, in Aramaic it means leader.  The Zohar uses this same play on words when it explains, “וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם/You will speak about them.”  The Zohar explains this as, “You will guide your actions according to the word of God.”[1]  דִבּוּר/Leadership symbolizes the revelation of God in the world.  In the exile God’s truth is hidden.  The Zohar describes this as the aspect of דִבּוּר/leadership being in exile.[2]  At the time the Torah was given the aspect of דִבּוּר/leadership was revealed.  This is why right before the Ten Commandments we find, “וַיְדַבֵּר אֱ-לֹהִים אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה .../God spoke all these words …” (Shmos 20:1)  God’s leadership was no longer in exile.  It was clear for all to see.

We find this concept regarding Moshe Rabbeinu’s speech impediment as well.  When God asked Moshe Rabbeinu to return to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh and begin the redemption process, he responds, “לֹא אִישׁ דְּבָרִים אָנֹכִי/I am not a man of words.” (Shmos 4:10)  After the Torah was given, however, the pasuk says, “אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר מִשֶׁה .../These are the words that Moshe spoke …” (Devarim 1:1)  How did Moshe change from a man with a speech impediment to one who could speak and explain the entire Torah to the nation?  The Midrash teaches us that after he merited receiving the Torah he was healed.[3]  In the exile Moshe Rabbeinu was not a man of words.  Moshe Rabbeinu understood that in the exile God’s influence was far from apparent.  But at the giving of the Torah, God’s leadership was clear for all to see.  It follows that Moshe Rabbeinu’s speech impediment, which symbolized God’s concealment, was healed. 

As we’ve said, the ten plagues removed God’s concealment from theעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת/ten commands with which the world was created.  As we and the Egyptians became more aware of God with each plague, each aspect of nature represented by one of the ten commands was changed to an aspect of God’s דִבּוּר/leadership.  Finally, they were aware of God in all aspects of nature.  This is why the Chiddushei HaRim said that the ten commands which created the world changed to עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת/ten aspects of (God’s) leadership.

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[1] Zohar 3:269a

[2] Zohar 2:25b

[3] Devarim R. 1:1

VaEira 5632 Second Ma'amar

"ואני אקשה את לב פרעה והרביתי את אותותי ואת מופתי בארץ מצרים/I will harden Pharaoh's heart and I will multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt." (Shmos 7:3)  God is benevolent.  He accepts those who have sinned and wish to return to Him. Why did God treat Pharaoh differently?

Rashi on this pasuk explains.  God knew that Pharaoh, even if he did return to God would not do so with a complete heart.  Pharaoh would surely rebel given the opportunity.  God therefore prevented him from returning so that He could reveal Himself through the tribulations He would bring upon Pharaoh.

Rashi is teaching us the importance of intent.  In the case of Pharaoh, it was more important that the actual deed.  We can infer from this that the opposite is certainly true[1].  If one wants with all his heart to serve God and to not be swayed from this goal, even if he doesn't succeed in bringing this desire to fruition God will nevertheless help him.  It's the desire that counts.

God knows that the children of Israel want to serve God.  He knows that it does not give us pleasure to swerve from doing His will.  Therefore, just as He prevented Pharaoh from returning to Him because Pharaoh did not truly desire to do so, He strengthens our hearts and helps turn our hearts towards Him because He knows it's what we really want.

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[1] מדה טובה מרובה ממדת פורעניות, Yoma 76a

Shmos 5631 Fourth Ma'amar

This week’s parsha relates a dialog between God and Moshe Rabbeinu wherein God commands Moshe to return to Egypt in order to end the exile and save the nation.  Moshe Rabbeinu asks God by what name will He be known to the nation.  God tells Moshe, "... כה תאמר לבני ישראל א-היה שלחני אליכם/… So shall you say to the children of Israel, 'I will be' sent me to you." (Shmos 3:14)  This is the only place in the entire Torah where God is revealed with this name.  Why?  Why did God not tell Moshe to reveal His ineffable name, the Tetregramaton – YHVH?

The Sfas Emes explains.  Both names are forms of the verb, "to be".  The difference between them is one of tense.  The name, "א-היה/I will be" is in the future tense whereas the ineffable name implies always present.  God is outside of time.  He created time.  For God everything is always in the present.  Time means change and God does not change, "... אני ה' לא שניתי .../… I am God, I have not changed …" (Mal'achi 3:6)

Since God never changes, His enlightenment is always revealed even during exile.  The reason that we experience exile is because we are not on a high enough level to see through the mirage of exile to the truth – that God is always with us.  Moshe Rabbeinu was on that level.  Chazal[1] imply this when, comparing the level of Moshe Rabbeinu's prophecy to that of the other prophets, say that his was like a clear lens.  There was no barrier.  Exile did not hide God from Moshe Rabbeinu.

The nation of Israel, though, was on a much lower level at the time of the exile in Egypt.  The people experienced the travails of the exile and believed that God was hidden from them.  They would not have been able to accept God's ineffable name that implies continuous revelation.  Therefore God told Moshe to reveal the name, "א-היה/I will be."  This name was intended to give the people much needed encouragement.  They understood that although they were experiencing God's concealment, there would be redemption and they would experience His revelation.

The jump from a level of "א-היה/I will be" to the level of experiencing God through His ineffable name is in fact recorded in the Torah itself.  After the nation left Egypt, watching the Egyptian army destroyed in the Red Sea the Torah tells us, "ויאמינו בה' ../They believed in God (YHVH) …" (Shmos 14:31)  Even more clearly, in the Song of the Sea they sang, "... ה' שמו/… God (YHVH) is His name." (Shmos 15:3)  They reached a level on which they recognized God's constant revelation. May we merit it as well!

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[1] Yevamos 49b

VaYechi 5631 Third Ma'amar

After Ya’akov blesses each of his children the Torah tells us, “כָּל-אֵלֶּה שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר וְזֹאת אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֵּר לָהֶם אֲבִיהֶם וַיְבָרֶךְ אוֹתָם .../All these are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them and he blessed them …” (Breishis 49:28)  Since this entire pasuk does not seem to be adding anything that we do not already know, what is it teaching us?

The Sfas Emes understands the whole pasuk homiletically.  The Sfas Emes explains that this pasuk alludes to advice that Ya’akov Avinu gave his children to help them live their lives in the service of God.  The Sfas Emes understands that the appearance of the words, אֵלֶּה/these and זֹאת/this, in the pasuk is particularly significant.  The Zohar teaches that זֹאת/this represents the singular Godly life force which unites all.[1]  אֵלֶּה/These, on the other hand, is plural and represents differentiation.  Even though the material world consists of multitudes of separate creations, the Godly life force that underlies all is singular.  The word, דִּבֵּר/he spoke, as well, has a particular significance.  In Aramaic the root דַבָר means to lead.

According to the Sfas Emes, Ya’akov Avinu is teaching his children that although the physical world to all appearances consists of many separate things, they should lead their lives and manage their affairs with an understanding that underlying everything physical is a point of inner spirituality.  He wanted them to understand that the spiritual point, because it gives existence to the physical, is the main thing.  Contemplating the spiritual underpinnings of whatever activity is before them will lead them to fulfill the will of God.

 

The pasuk, therefore, starts with אֵלֶּה/these, representing the way the world appears and ends with זֹאת/this, representing the way things are in reality.  We, as well, can benefit from Ya’akov Avinu’s advice by recognizing the spiritual that is the basis for the material world including our very actions.  It is the merit of this recognition that helps us to fulfill God’s will.

     

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[1] Zohar 1:184a

VaYigash 5632 First Ma'amar

Many times we find ourselves in situations that appear bleak.  We search for a solution, a way out but fail to find one.  We are stuck.  What can we do?  Chazal[1] understand the story of Yehuda’s meeting with Yosef as just such a situation.  We can learn from Yehuda what to do.

Chazal base their understanding on a pasuk in Mishlei (6:1-3), “בני אם ערבת לרעך תקעת לזר כפיך: נוקשת באמרי פיך ... עשה זאת אפוא בני והנצל ... לך התרפס ורהב רעיך:/My son, if you have been a guarantor for your friend, if you have given your handshake to a stranger, you have been trapped by the words of your mouth … Do this, therefore, my son, and be rescued ... Go humble yourself before him, and placate your fellow.”

Chazal understand this pasuk metaphorically as referring to Yehuda.  He made himself a guarantor for Binyamin.  He promised his father that he would bring Binyamin back.  He was in a situation in which this looked like an impossible task.  The viceroy of the most powerful country in the world was about to take Binyamin for a slave.  What could he do?  The Midrash tells us, “Go humble yourself before Him …”  Humble yourself before God.

The Sfas Emes teaches that man was created in order to bring the entire Creation closer to God.  In the garden of Eden, this was obvious to Adam.  It was obvious that the purpose was to connect with God.  However, after his sin and banishment from Gan Eden, this fact became much less obvious.  It is not at all obvious to most of us.  In the words of the pasuk, “We have given our handshake to a stranger.”  This refers to the desire and lust to become involved in things that are not good, that distance us from God.  These desires color our perception.  We find this clearly in a pasuk in Iyov (34:11), “כי פועל אדם ישלם לו .../For He repays a man according to his deeds …”

A classic example of this was the sale of Yosef.  When the brothers sold Yosef, they distanced themselves from brotherly love.  As a result, when they met Yosef in Egypt, he seemed to them to be an enemy.  Yet, he was just Yosef, their brother.  They were living with a false perception resulting from their own actions.  There was no way they could see the truth – that Yosef was standing before them, not an enemy – until they fixed the underlying cause of this false perception.

The only thing to do, Chazal teach, is to acknowledge and accept God.  This is what Yehuda did.  The first pasuk of our parsha is, “ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדוני .../Yehuda approached him and said, please my master …”  Chazal understand that this pasuk is referring not only to Yehuda approaching Yosef.  On a deeper level, it is referring to Yehuda approaching God.  Yehuda realized that the only way out of this terrible situation was to acknowledge God in it.  He did this to the extent that he was ready to sacrifice his own life to save Binyamin.

The result was, “ולא יכול יוסף להתאפק .../Yosef could not contain himself …”  The plain meaning is that Yosef was unable to continue the charade.  He was forced to reveal himself.  However, on a deeper level, Yosef represents the hidden spirituality within everything[2].  That spirituality is hidden in this world.  The physical that hides it seems to have a separate, autonomous existence, God forbid.  By acknowledging and accepting that this is not the case but rather that God is truly here with us and in every thing and every action, we merit a deeper perception of the truth.  “Yosef” is automatically revealed.

Yehuda had no idea from where salvation would come.  He just knew that he had to acknowledge God in the situation.  This is true for every single situation in which we find ourselves.  We give the physical world around us a reality that it does not deserve and then find ourselves in situations of our own making.  They are essentially self-created illusions. We no longer see the truth but rather a projection of what we think is the truth.

Chazal advise us to acknowledge God in everything and the truth will automatically be revealed to us.  May we merit it!

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[1] Breishis R. 93:1

[2] The Zohar teaches that Yosef is the “keeper of the covenant.”  He represents the bris which is hidden by the orlah.  He is the Tzadik Yesod Olam and the kabalists teach us that Yosef is represented by the sefira of Yesod which also represents the bris milah.