Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Va'era Volume XV, No. 14 3 Shevat 5761 January 27, 2001 Sponsored by Martin and Michelle Swartz on the yahrzeit of Martin's grandmother, Elise Hofmann a"h Sam and Marion Markovitz in memory of his mother, Sarah bat Meir Natan a"h Today's Learning: Ketubot 4:2-3 Orach Chaim 366:6-8 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Sotah 37 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Shevuot 33 The parashah opens with Hashem revealing Himself to Moshe by His Four-Letter Name, a name by which He had never made Himself known to the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. (Each of Hashem's names reflects a different aspect of His management of the world.) Yet, Rashi indicates that Hashem is rebuking Moshe in the parashah's opening verses for having questioned Him (at the end of last week's parashah). Why, at this very moment, does Hashem choose to reveal a new aspect of His glory to Moshe? R' Levi Yitzchak Gruenwald z"l (the "Tzelemer Rav" in Brooklyn) explains with a parable attributed to the Ba'al Shem Tov. A king once was passing through a village on the fringes of his realm when a villager threw a stone at the royal carriage. The king's soldiers wanted to execute the man, but the king realized that the villager had not meant any harm. Rather, the villager simply did not appreciate the majesty of the king and the respect due him. What did the king do? He took the villager back to the palace and appointed him to be a courtier. In this way, the villager would learn the proper respect that is due a king. Similarly, Hashem knew that Moshe had not intended any disrespect. Rather, man questions Hashem's ways only because he does not know Hashem well enough. R' Sa'adiah Gaon z"l (Iraq; 9th century) used to repent every day for the inadequacy of his service on the day before. He explained that as his knowledge of Hashem grew every day, so did G-d's expectations of him; thus, the prior day's level of service was no longer good enough when a new day came. (Quoted in Otzrot Tzaddikei U'geonei Ha'dorot) ******** "Moshe spoke to Hashem saying, 'Behold, Bnei Yisrael have not listened to me, so how will Pharaoh listen to me -- and I have sealed lips'?" (6:12) R' Eliezer Ashkenazi z"l (1513-1585; Turkey, Egypt and Poland) writes: Many commentators have suggested that Moshe's argument was not logical. (In Talmudic language, it was a "kalva'chomer pricha".) After all, Bnei Yisrael had a reason for not listening to Moshe, as we read two verses earlier, "They did not heed Moshe because of shortness of breath and hard work." These reasons did not apply to Pharaoh, so maybe he would listen to Moshe! The correct understanding of Moshe's argument is as follows, writes R' Ashkenazi: True, verse 10 stated that Bnei Yisrael did not heed Moshe because of shortness of breath and hard work. This was after Moshe had appeared before Pharaoh and Pharaoh had reacted by increasing Bnei Yisrael's workload. However, even earlier, before Moshe first appeared before Pharaoh, Bnei Yisrael had not listened to Moshe. On that occasion, Bnei Yisrael did not have the same reason for not listening to Moshe, and they did not listen nevertheless. When was that other occasion? We read (Shmot 4:30-31), "Aharon spoke all the words that Hashem had spoken to Moshe . . . And the people believed, and they heard that Hashem had remembered Bnei Yisrael and that He saw their affliction." Why, asks R' Ashkenazi, does the verse add that Bnei Yisrael "heard that Hashem had remembered Bnei Yisrael and that He saw their affliction"? The Torah just stated that "Aharon spoke all the words that Hashem had spoken to Moshe," which obviously includes that fact that Hashem had remembered Bnei Yisrael! The answer is as follows: The Torah's intention is to indicate that Bnei Yisrael believed Moshe and Aharon, but only to the extent of hearing that Hashem had remembered Bnei Yisrael. They did not believe that Moshe would be the one to redeem them because, as Moshe pointed out in our verse, Moshe had "sealed lips." Bnei Yisrael expected to be redeemed by a more heroic figure than Moshe, and certainly Pharaoh would expect Bnei Yisrael to be redeemed by a physically perfect specimen. (Ma'asei Hashem) ******** "This was the Aharon and Moshe to whom Hashem said, 'Take Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt according to their legions'." (6:26) R' Shmuel de Uzeda z"l (Eretz Yisrael; late 16th century) writes: The preceding verses recorded the lineage of Moshe and Aharon, who came from Yaakov's third son, Levi. As a tribute to the greatness of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah lengthened the description by also recording the descendants of Yaakov's two eldest sons, Reuven and Shimon. In this light, the verse quoted above may be understood as follows: "This was the Aharon and Moshe to whom Hashem said," - look at their greatness, that they were chosen to be the messengers of G-d. Messengers to do what? To "take Bnei Yisrael - the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov - out . . ." From where? From "Egypt," a harsh land from which no slave ever escaped. How? "According to their legions" - not in small groups as Pharaoh suggested (see Shmot 10:8, 11), but all the Jewish people, with great pomp. (Derashot Rabbi Shmuel de Uzeda Al Ha'Torah) ******** "And the staff of Aharon swallowed their staffs." (7:12) The midrash states: "A great miracle happened, that even though Aharon's staff swallowed all those staffs - enough to make ten columns - it did not become thick." R' Avraham Mordechai Alter z"l (the "Gerrer Rebbe"; died 1948) explains: The Torah (Devarim 32:15) uses "becoming thick" as a reference to becoming focused on material rather than spiritual matters, for just as a healthy body extracts the nutrients from food and discards the rest, so a healthy person extracts the spirituality from the material world and discards the rest. This is what Aharon's staff did - it extracted the sparks of holiness from the Egyptians' staffs and discarded the waste; therefore, it did not become thick. This miracle was an allusion to Bnei Yisrael's state in Egypt - they did not become "thick," enmeshed in the materialism of Egypt, but rather, they extracted all that Egypt had to offer spiritually and they discarded the rest. (Haggadah Shel Pesach Imrei Emmes p. 90) ******** "These are the ten plagues which the Holy One, Blessed Is He, brought on the Egyptians in Egypt, ve'elu hain / and these are they." (From the Pesach Haggadah) What is added by the phrase, "ve'elu hain / and these are they"? R' Yehoshua Deutsch z"l (mid-20th century rabbi of the Katamon neighborhood of Yerushalayim) explains: We read (Bemidbar 23:9), "Hain / Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude and will not be reckoned among the nations." The word "hain" ("heh-hun") actually signifies this solitude, for it is made up of the two letters in the Hebrew alphabet that have no pair. (Aleph plus tet make 10, bet plus chet make 10, etc. Heh [5] and nun [50] have no pair.) The Sages say that Bnei Yisrael merited the redemption in four ways, all of which were manifestations of Bnei Yisrael's solitude among the nations: they retained their language, they retained their distinctive names, they retained their distinctive clothing, and they did not report each other's sins to the outside world. It follows that the ten plagues were brought on the Egyptians in the merit of this solitude, and that is why the Haggadah uses the phrase, "ve'elu hain." (Haggadah Shel Pesach Kol Yeshuah p. 143) ******** Introductions . . . In this feature, we present excerpts from the introductions to famous (and not so famous) works. This week, we continue with the introduction to Rambam's Mishneh Torah, which we began last week. Rabbenu Hakadosh / "Our Holy Master" [i.e., Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabban Shimon] composed the Mishnah. From the days of Moshe Rabbenu until Rabbenu Hakadosh, [the Sages] did not compose any written work that was used to teach the Torah She'be'al Peh / "Oral Law" publicly. Rather, in each generation, the head of the bet din or the prophet who was in that generation wrote notes to himself to remember what he had heard from his teachers, but he would teach the multitudes by heart. Likewise, every person wrote for himself (to the extent he was able) the explanations of the Torah and its laws which he had heard. The same applies to laws that were not learned through the oral tradition but which were innovated in each generation using the 13 principles by which the Torah is expounded and were agreed to by the Great Bet Din. So it always was until Rabbenu Hakadosh -- he gathered all the traditions, laws, and explanations that they [i.e., the Sages throughout the generations] had heard from Moshe Rabbenu and which the bet din in each generation had taught, and from all of these, he composed the Mishnah. This was reviewed with the multitudes by the Sages, and it was revealed to all of Israel, and they wrote it down and disseminated it so that the Torah She'be'al Peh would not be forgotten. Why did Rabbenu Hakadosh do this and not leave things as they were? Because he saw that the number of students was decreasing and troubles were increasing. [He saw] that the Roman Empire was asserting its might over the world and becoming stronger, while Israel was being diminished. Therefore, he composed one work that would be in everyone's hands so that they would study it and it would not be forgotten quickly. All of his days, Rabbenu Hakadosh sat with his bet din and taught the Mishnah in public. These are the greatest of the Sages who were in Rabbenu Hakadosh's bet din and who received the tradition from him: His sons, Shimon and Gamliel; Rabbi Afas; Rabbi Chaninah ben Chama; Rabbi Chiya; Rav; Rabbi Yannai; Bar Kapparah; Shmuel; Rabbi Yochanan; and R' Hoshayah. These are the greatest of the Sages who received the tradition from him, and with them were thousands or tens of thousands of others.