Close To Torah

After two hundred and nine years of slavery, Moshe Rabbeinu appears to his brethren in Egypt, telling them of their impending freedom. The Torah tells us that they didn’t believe him, due to the hard work the slavery imposed on them. They were so immersed in the idea that they were slaves; they couldn’t break out of the mentality. Why did the whole freedom process take so long? A full year of ten plagues! Hashem is so powerful and he could have freed them with the “blink of an eye” so what is the whole idea of this lengthy process?

Hashem wanted to let the Jews know that he is still here, and that he was there all along, that there is none like him in all the land. This is a process that takes time to digest, especially when dealing with a nation that has been enslaved for such a long period of time. Someone that is born a slave, who has never known freedom a day in their lives, is going to need time adjusting to the idea. There was also as we see, a lack of Emunah (belief) in the people, due to the hard work they had no time for anything else. There were no breaks, it was just work work and more work. The year of the plagues was an adjustment period, and a cocoon in which Klal Yosroel was placed in, in order to reach the level of being able to receive the Torah and finally become a nation. The plagues proved to Egypt and the world at large that Hashem is above nature, and that all beings must answer to him, and to him alone. There are no other gods, for the plagues destroyed them all. The Egyptians were taught that they are not in control of anything, no matter how much they would have liked to think so. They were only able to enslave the Jews because Hashem allowed it to be so, but the second the time came for redemption, nothing would stop their immediate departure. Klal Yisroel took all of this in, realizing that there is a divine providence in this world. It built up their belief system, and brought them to high spiritual levels. Now after having lived and seen a full year of plague in Egypt can they come to the realization that Hashem is in control, and that there is none like him in all the land. They were finally ready to leave, and to become a nation.

There are many times in our lives when things don’t go exactly the way we planned or hoped for them to go. There are situations that are not always the most comfortable to be in. We have to know though, that Hashem is with us in whatever the situation is, and that he is holding our hands, guiding us, doing what is best for us. Even though it may be “dark” there is always the “bright side” somewhere along the way. We just have to work a little to seek it out. Hashem is the one that is in charge of the way things turn out, and we have to put ourselves into his hands, he knows what he is doing. If a person feels that he knows what’s best for him, and he doesn’t need Hashems help, g-d forbid then Hashem will leave that person to “take care of himself”, so to speak. That’s when the real trouble will start. When we realize that we aren’t in control, and we become ready to hand over the wheel to the master driver, can be speed away from the bitter golus (exile) that we are stuck in. We need to find that Emunah (faith) in Hashem that there is none like him in all the land. He is our father and our king, and he wants to bestow upon us the greatest gifts. We just have to let him, and they will come pouring in…………

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Parshas Bo

In this weeks פרשה א:כא the פסוק states That the midwives feared ה’ and he made them houses. What does it mean that ה’ made them houses, and what is the connection between these houses, and the fear of ה’? The פסוקים tell us that פרעה was afraid of the growth of the Jewish nation, and a male that would overturn the country and free the Jews from slavery. He instructed the two Jewish midwives, יוכבד and מרים to kill all the male children the moment they are born, this way preventing the arrival of a male savior. We are told however, that they allowed the boys to live, disregarding direct orders from the king.

There was once a simple craftsman that lived in a small town, and he lived a simple life, through serving the town’s people with his modest services. It happened to be as simple as he was; his work was something special, everything he made, was a pure work of art. He had everything he wanted, except he was married for several years, and they still hadn’t received the blessing of children. It happened to be that the King of our craftsman’s country was seeking an expert craftsman to make the finest and biggest idol in the land, in order to create a national god, to unite his country by having everyone serve one god. The king was told of this craftsman, and sent for him to be brought before him. When the king told him what he wanted of him, the craftsman became fearful, and said to himself how can I go and make an idol for the whole country to start worshipping idols? But on the other hand how can I refuse the king, he will most probably reward me handsomely, and on the other hand if I refuse his majesty, I will surely be hung! So he said to the king that he was just a simple craftsman, and he couldn’t take upon himself such a job. The king’s reply was that he had heard about his work, and he wants him to take the job. The craftsman asked for some time to think about it, and the king agreed. Seeing no other option the craftsman went straight home, packed up his meager belongings, and fled the country with his wife. He was blessed shortly afterward with a child. It is not for us to calculate the ways of g-d, the rewards for good deeds, and the punishments for bad ones. But they say that the reason why he was blessed with a son after so many years was because he didn’t give into the whims of the king, but rather, he feared the king of kings much more. This son eventually grew up to become one of the biggest Talmudic scholars of his day, and he had a great influence on the Jewish people. Our craftsman finally had a real house.

יוכבד and מרים had a fear of פערה, but they feared ה’ much more, and allowed the boys to live. They didn’t care about the consequences of disobeying the king, which were obviously, very grave. They were rewarded for their efforts and ה’ made them houses: The כהנים, לוים, &מלכות would stem from them. If a person disregards the worldly consequences, and stands up straight and tall in order to serve his creator properly, then he will most certainly be rewarded, maybe even with a house………

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Parshas Shemos

In this week’s parshah, Yosef reveals himself to his brothers. The תורה tells us that the brothers were embarrassed, and had nothing to say. But we find something interesting in the behavior of יוסף, instead of becoming naturally angry that he was falsely accused and wronged, he tries to make sure that his brothers don’t feel bad about selling him into slavery. He explains to them that it was for the best this way, and ה’ planned it like this, in order that he should be able to supply the family with food during the years of famine.

“Yossel the delivery man was once driving down one of the busy streets in the Geulah neighborhood of Jerusalem. Although he was not doing anything wrong or out of the ordinary, just on his way to deliver a package, he was stopped by a police officer. The ordeal took a good fifteen minutes, all the while Yossel looking at his watch, urging it to go slower, he had a very important delivery to make by one of their best customers and could not be late. He was wondering in his head, why me? I didn’t even do anything wrong! Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me? After the policeman was done with all his checking, he let Yossel go, hurrying to the place of appointment, only to find out that right by the spot where he should have been, a terrorist attack had occurred, not to long before. The police officer had “saved him” from sure death, and what he thought was a bitter pill turned out to be the best “medicine”.

There are a lot of times where we don’t end up finding out the “end of the story”, we feel that we were wronged in one way or another, and for no good reason, to boot! We have to realize that there is a bigger picture, and although we may not always be able to see it, there is a father in heaven, who is directing all the traffic of the world making sure everything should be running as it should. If he would “blink an eye” for just a split second, by turning away his attention from us, it would be disastrous. It is upon us to make the effort to see the good in every situation even if it is hard for us, its all for the best.

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Parshas Vayigash