Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua — Parshat Va’eira is being sponsored anonymously dedicated fLilui Nishmas the sponsor’s grandparents Moshe ben Yaakov Hirsch and Chana bat Beryl and dedicated for the safe return of all Chayalim — physically, mentally and spiritually, for the Liberation of all hostages and for Kol Klal Yisrael. To our anonymous sponsor, many thanks for your sponsorship and kindnesses through the years.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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Our Parshat Va’eira opens with Torah relating:
“G’d spoke to Moshe and said to him; ‘I am Hashem. I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov as El Shaddai, but with my name Hashem I did not make Myself known to them. Moreover, I established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their their sojourning [noun: a temporary stay, verb — used without object: to stay for a time in a place; live temporarily], in which they sojourned. Moreover, I have heard the groan of the B’nei Yisrael whom Egypt enslaves and I have remembered [vaw’ezkor] My covenant.'” (Sefer Shemos. Perek 6, posukim 2 -5 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
Two questions here: Which covenant is Hashem referring to? And, does Hashem “forget” His covenant with B’nei Yisrael?
On the first question, Which covenant is Hashem referring to? The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash on Sefer Shemos cites Rashi (page 319) :
“B’riti” — My Covenant. The covenant’s promise of the Land was mentioned in the fourth posuk [“to give them the land of Canaan”]; refers to the portion of that covenant with Avraham in which Hashem pledged to judge and punish the nation that would bring suffering upon [B’nei] Yisrael.
As to the second question: Does Hashem “forget” His covenant with B’nei Yisrael?, The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash notes (ibid) :
Since I made the covenant and acknowledge My obligation to fulfill it, I am ready to do so. The outcry of the Jews proves that the Egyptians [Mitzriyim] overstepped their bounds in carrying out Hashem’s decree that the B’nei Yisrael would be subjugated [verb: to bring under complete control; conquer; master, enslaved] — and thus the outcry has precipitated the beginning of the process of redemption.
The Sapirstein Edition: Torah with Rashi’s Commentary on Sefer Shemos adds (page 56) :
“And I remembered” that covenant — for at the Covenant Between the Parts I said to [Avraham], “And also the nation for whom they shall work I will judge.” (The Sapirstein Edition: Torah with Rashi’s Commentary citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 15, posuk 14) That covenant which is a direct response to Israel’s wailing over their suffering in Egypt, the covenant in which Hashem promised [Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov]; “I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgements.”
This author puzzles at Perek 6, posuk 4, particularly the end of the posuk:
“…the land of Canaan, the land of their sojourning in which they sojourned.”
However, the Artscroll Stone Chumash cites Malbim on Perek 6, posuk 5 (page 319), perhaps giving a hint as to the end of the posuk — “in which they sojourned” :
“The land of their sojourning.” Because the Avos’ attitude toward this world was that they were but temporary sojourners, but their true residence was in the Heavenly world of the spirit, I [Hashem] promised to give them the country on earth that is the most conducive to spiritual greatness.
On the word “Moreover”, the Artscroll Stone Chumash (ibid) notes:
Not only did I [Hashem speaking as El Shaddai] appear to them, I also established a covenant with them to give them the Land (Artscroll Stone Chumash citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 13, posuk 14) — and a covenant, by definition, cannot be altered or abrogated, even it one of the parties becomes undeserving.
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, in his sefer “Unlocking the Torah Text” (Sefer Shemot, pages 51-52) relates that Hashem informed Moshe regarding Pharaoh even before Moshe returns to Mitzrayim:
Even before Moshe’s return to Egypt, Hashem predicts, And I will harden [Pharaoh’s] heart and he will not let the people go. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Shemos, Perek 4, posuk 21) …The Torah states that Hashem makes good on His promise and… “hardens the heart” of the Egyptian king. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Shemos, Perek 9, posuk 12, Perek 10, posukim 1, 20, 27 and Perek 11, posuk 10)
Rabbi Goldin continues (“Unlocking the Torah Text,” Sefer Shemot, page 56) :
The Torah states “and I [Hashem] will harden the heart of Pharaoh.” Because Pharaoh initially sinned of his own volition [noun: the act of willing, choosing, or resolving, a choice or decision made by the will] Divine Judgement was rendered that he be denied the possibility of repentance so that he would pay for his crimes. (Rabbi Goldin citing Rambam’s Mishne Torah, Hilchot Teshuva 6:3)
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch z”l notes that Hashem had the attribute of hiddenness and then comments on the above posukim — indicative of what Hashem could have said to Moshe in long-form (Rabbi Hirsch citing Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 6, posukim 1-3, New Hirsch Chumash pages 79-81):
Hashem… acts in the visible world. He is the One Who, in secret, has directed all that has happened to this point.
Now, however, “I am Hashem” the One Who exercises His Will independent of, and what is more, in complete opposition to existing conditions.
This new revelation of Hashem had been prepared from the very beginning of Jewish history. All the paths of Jewish history have led to this moment. Hashem says: “I was already Hashem when I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov… and did not allow My intended sovereignty as Hashem to become manifest to them in their own lives.”
“You are wondering why things have only become worse, and why your mission has served only to push your misery to the utmost limit. Do you not see that your entire history…to this point has been a downward road? Avraham was a Prince of Hashem among the nations, whereas Yaakov was an unfortunate, hard-working servant who had to toil in order to get himself a wife and then was forced to perform additional labor in order to keep her.” (Rabbi Hirsch citing Hoshea, Perek 12, posuk 23)
“I could have led you on an upward path. Instead of giving Avraham a son on his hundredth year, I could have established for him a family by the time he was seventy… But then this people would not have become Hashem’s people, the people through which Hashem will be revealed… Then this people, like all other peoples, would have been rooted solely in the world of things that can be seen or touched…. This people would have had only physical foundations, and would have sought only material power and material greatness, aspiring to the spiritual and to the moral only… [when] compatible with, and beneficial to its material ambitions.”
“But this people is not to be like the other nations. Unlike the others, this people is to be founded solely upon Hashem and upon the fulfillment of His Will in moral freedom, and is to have an earthly hold and an earthly standing only from and for Hashem and this fulfillment.”
Hence, this people must start where other peoples have stopped. It had to despair of itself; it had to lie prone, about to perish in its own blood (Yechezkel, Perek 16, posukim 5-6), and to rise to nationhood only through the Creator’s call, so that, by its very existence, the people would proclaim to the peoples of the world: “I am Hashem.”
The Sochaczever Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, z”l writes, in his sefer “Shem Mishmuel” on our Parshat Va’eira (pages 118-120) :
It is perfectly clear that the Yetziyot Mitzrayim did not actually require any of… [the plagues] — once Pharaoh refused to allow klal Yisrael to leave his land, Hashem could have simply flattened Egypt with one mighty blow,
annihilating [verb — used with object: to reduce to utter ruin or nonexistence; destroy utterly] them… But… the main aim of the Yetziyot Mitzrayim … was not the destruction of Egypt, but a demonstration of Divine power which left no room for doubt that Hashem controlled the world. The more miracles wrought in Egypt, the greater and clearer the realization that the Holy G’d of Yisrael was in charge of the world. This was the point of the continuous barter with Pharaoh: each step in the destruction of their country led Pharaoh… and his people closer to an appreciation of Hashem’s existence and power.…One great plague would not have convinced the Egyptians as thoroughly of Hashem’s existence as several smaller ones…. This [one great plague] would never have afforded them the possibility of teshuvah [repentance]. As the Egyptians were punished for their wickedness, they had the opportunity to stop and think about their errors and repent. After any of the plagues, having experienced Hashem’s miraculous intervention in their lives, they could have withdrawn their opposition to klal Yisrael and accepted… the Kingship of Hashem, and they would have been forgiven…. This did not happen and will not happen to the nations of the world until the ultimate future, but Hashem nevertheless left the possibility of teshuvah open to the Egyptians during the plagues.
But Pharaoh’s hardened heart, and the successive plagues, were also for the benefit of the Jews to enforce and re-enforce their emunah in Hashem and allegiance to the Will of Hashem as the plagues brought them to their liberation, their “Going Up” from Egypt.
Rabbi Goldin concludes (“Unlocking the Torah Text,” Sefer Shemot, page 65) :
To truly become free, the slaves [the Jews] must witness the total decimation of all that has previously held them in thrall [adjective: subjected to bondage; enslaved]. Only if Egypt, its citizens, its royalty, its sorcerers and its gods are laid low in full view can the participants in the Liberation even begin their journey towards full freedom.
Step by step, the plagues destroy all that the Jews have learned to fear. As the shackles are broken. the promise of freedom begins to emerge.
Might we, Am Yisrael, in our days, be experiencing a similar phenomena due to the War of Simchat Torah against the Islamic wild beasts? May it be that Am Yisrael is finally on the road to real, true national sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael and full freedom from phobias heretofore held regarding all terrorist adversaries, the nations, as well as “two-state solutions
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and returned to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is in his fourth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and has embarked on a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of nine years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5784, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Chodesh Tov and Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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