B"H

Monday, Tevet 16, 5776 / December 28, 2015 – HAKHEL YEAR

This Shabbat we read Parshat Shemot, which begins the second Book of the Torah – Exodus.

The Parsha tells how the Egyptians enslaved the Jewish people and that Pharaoh decreed that every Jewish boy who will be born shall be drowned in the Nile River.

The Parsha also tells about the birth of Moshe and how he was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter and grew up in Pharaoh’s palace. He eventually had to flee Egypt and come to Midyan, where he met his future wife, Tziporah, and became a shepherd for his father-in-law, Yitro.

We read how G-d revealed Himself to Moshe.  The Torah says, "And Moshe was feeding the flock of Yitro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midyan; and he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness and he came to the mountain of G-d, to Horeb.  And G-d’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moshe saw the bush was on fire, but the bush was not consumed.” 

When Moshe came closer, G-d called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moshe, Moshe, remove your shoes from your feet for the place upon which you are standing is holy ground."  G-d then tells Moshe to go to Pharaoh and bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

Q.   The Midrash tells that a gentile once asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha, "Why did your G-d speak to Moshe from the midst of a bush and not from a different tree?"

A.  Rabbi Yehoshua answered, "Had He revealed himself from a carob tree, you would have asked the same question: Why that tree and not another one.  However, now that you asked, I will answer you:  G-d wanted to show Moshe that there was no place where He cannot be found and that He rests not only in the tall trees but also in a low bush.

Q.   But why from a “thorn” bush?

A.  Rashi explains that by revealing Himself from a thorn bush, G-d was saying to Moshe that, just as the Jewish people were suffering,He too, is in pain, which is symbolized by the prickly thorn bush.

Q.   Why from a “burning” thorn bush?

A.   To show Moshe that just as the fire didn't destroy the bush, so too, the Egyptianswillnot be able to destroy the Jewish nation.

For thousands of years the Pharaohs of every generation, to this very day (their names may have changed, but their goals were the same), tried to destroy us. But in G-d’s first revelation to Moshe, He made it clear that, just as the bush was not consumed by the fire, because G-d was there, so too, the Jewish people will not be consumed, for G-d is always with us.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY