B"H
Tuesday, Shevat 2, 5780 / January 28, 2020
Between last week’s Parsha, Va’eira, and this week’s Parsha, Bo, the Torah describes the ten plagues with which G-d punished the Egyptians for enslaving the Jewish people.
Q. G-d punishes measure for measure. How do the Ten Plagues “measure up,” measure for measure, for what the Egyptians did to the Jewish people?
A.1. “Blood” - The waters of Egypt turned to blood in punishment for Pharaoh's decree, "Every male born shall be thrown into the river."
2. “Frogs”- This served a lesson to Pharaoh for saying, "Who is the L-rd thatI shall listen to His voice to let Israel go? By sending the frogs, who came from the cold waters of the river, into the hot ovens to fulfill G-d's command, G-d proved to Pharaoh that He is the L-rd and all of creation must listen to His commands.
3. “Lice”- When the Egyptians enslaved the Jews, they caused them to suffer from lice, as a result of their constant sweat. The Egyptians were now punished measure-for-measure, to suffer a similar fate.
4. “Wild beasts”- Yaakov, in his blessings to his children before his passing, compares their qualities to those of various animals. G-d punished the Egyptians measure-for-measure, with wild beasts.
5. “Pestilence”- This plague killed the animals in the fields and the shepherds attending to them. When Yaakov and his family came to Egypt, they told Pharaoh: "Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors." Pestilence was a punishment for taking them away from attending to their flock.
6. “Boils” - Pharaoh's excuse for enslaving the Israelites was because, "The children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and the land was filled with them." Pharaoh wanted to restrict their "multiplying and being fruitful". The plague of Boils on their bodies prevented the Egyptians from marital relations and prevented them from having children.
7. “Hail”- The Torah describes this plague, "And the L-rd sent thunder and hail and there was fire flashing amidst the hail." The unbearable noise of the mighty thundering and hail was a punishment, measure-for-measure, for Pharaoh's claiming, "Who is the L-rd that I shall listen to His voice."
8. “Locust” – In Hebrew is “Arbeh” which also means to “multiply.” This plague was also a punishment for preventing the people of Israel from multiplying.
9. “Darkness” – Due to Pharaoh’s decree that the Jewish males be killed, the mothers would have to hide their babies after giving birth. Many of them were hidden in the ground where they survived miraculously. Thus, the plague of darkness was measure for measure for the darkness they caused the Jewish children.
10. “Death of the first born” – G-d told Moshe to go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Israel is My first-born son… and you refused to let him go, behold I will slay your first born son.” The plague of the first-born was measure for measure for enslaving the Jewish people who are called, G-d’s first-born son.”
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
B"H
Monday, Shevat 8, 5780 / February 3, 2020
This week’s Parsha, B’Shalach, is about some of the great miracles which G-d performed for the Jewish people after leaving Egypt. One of them was the story of the splitting of The Sea.
The water stood like a wall, while the People of Israel crossed through it. When Pharaoh and his army chased after them into The Sea, the water rushed back to its original form and they drowned.
After witnessing this great miracle, Moshe and the People of Israel, sang a song of praise to G-d, called The Shira, praising G-d for this great miracle. Moshe’s sister, Miriam, took a tambourine and led all the women in song and dance praising G-d for the miracle.
Q. How many days after the Exodus, did the splitting of The Sea take place?
A. On the seventh day after the Exodus.
Q. Passover we celebrate the miracle of the Exodus. Is there a special celebration for the crossing of The Sea?
A. The first day of Passover is a day when work is prohibited (in the Diaspora the first two days), to celebrate the miracle of the Exodus. The seventh day of Passover is again a day when work is prohibited (in the Diaspora the seventh and eighth day). This is to celebrate the miracle of the splitting of The Sea, which took place on the seventh day after leaving Egypt.
Q. Did everyone come out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus?
A. Our sages say that only one fifth came out of Egypt. The other four fifths didn’t want to leave Egypt. G-d punished them and they died during the plague of darkness and were buried then. The reason G-d punished them during the plague of darkness was so that the Egyptians should not witness it.
Q. Why did Pharaoh chase after them after he himself chased them out of Egypt?
A. Originally, Moshe and Aaron asked Pharaoh to let the people go for three days, in order to pray and serve G-d in the desert. Pharaoh was sure that after three days they would return. However, when he realized that they were not coming back, he chased after them.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
In memory of Jeno Zoldan, Yitzchak Issac Yehuda Ben Aharon, who is now gone from us 22 years. Yartzeit was Shevat 5. In our thoughts and hearts everyday. May the Neshamah have an aliya.
Andre, Esther, Zachary, Benjamin, Jonah
B"H
Tuesday, Shevat 9, 5780 / February 4, 2020
This Shabbat we will read Parshat B'Shalach. In last week’s Parsha, Bo, we read about the Exodus from Egypt. In this week’s Parsha we read about the splitting of The Sea and how the Jewish people crossed through it on dry land, while the Egyptians, who were chasing after them, drowned.
The Torah tells us that after letting them go, "The heart of Pharaoh and his servants changed toward the people, and they said: 'What have we done, that we have let the people go?'"
Pharaoh and his men pursued the Jewish people and caught up to them by The Sea. Trapped between The Sea and Pharaoh's army, the Torah states, "The Children of Israel lifted up their eyes and, behold the Egyptians were marching after them; and they feared exceedingly, and the Children of Israel cried out to G-d."
G-d responded, "Tell the Children of Israel to go forward. Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over The Sea, and divide it, and they shall go into The Sea on the dry land."
After crossing through The Sea and witnessing their enemies drown, their faith was greatly strengthened. The Torah says, "And Israel saw the great hand which G-d brought upon the Egyptians and the people feared G-d; and they believed in G-d and in Moshe his servant.”
The Exodus from Egypt wasn't complete until they were rid of the Egyptians, which occurred only after they crossed The Sea. Thus, the splitting of The Sea was the final stage of the Exodus.
Moshe and the people sang a special song praising G-d for this great miracle, which begins, "Az Yashir." Our sages incorporated this song into our daily morning prayers, to be recited every day.
Q. What is the significance of reciting the Az Yashir each day, a song which the Jewish people sang for the miracle of the splitting of The Sea, which took place over three thousand years ago?
A. The Jewish peoples’ crossing through The Sea represents the final phase of the Exodus. The Torah commands us, "Remember the Exodus each day of your life." By reciting the Az Yashir, we fulfill the mitzvah of remembering the Exodus each day.
Another reason: Reciting the "Az Yashir" each day teaches us an important daily lesson. The splitting of The Sea occurred as Jews couldn't see any way out of their grave situation. The last thing they would think of doing was going into The Sea. Yet, that is what G-d chose for their salvation. The Az Yashir is a daily reminder that no matter how difficult things may seem, even when one doesn’t see any practical solution, one must not give up. We should continuously have faith in G-d. G-d’s help is not limited to the laws of nature. It can occur from a most unexpected place.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
B"H
Wednesday, Shevat 10, 5780 / February 5, 2020
Today, the 10th day of Shevat, is the 70th yartzeit of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, zt”l. It is also the day in which Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt”l, took over the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch. May their merit and memory be a blessing to us all. One of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s directives was that each day of the week we should study the section of the Parsha of the week as pertaining to that day and realize the lessons we can take from it.
Here are a few lessons from this week’s Parsha, B'Shalach. After expelling the Jewish people from Egypt Pharaoh had a change of heart and chased after them in order to force them to return. When the people saw Pharaoh and his army they were frightened and complained to Moshe, "Were there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the wilderness? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? It is far better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
“Were there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the wilderness?” When G-d took the Jewish people out of Egypt, He intended to bring them into the Promised Land. However, a year later, after they sent spies to scout the land and then refused go into the land, every man who was over twenty years old at the Exodus, ended up dying and being buried in the desert.
Lesson: The Midrash states that from this story we learn that a person must be very careful to use only positive expressions. Unfortunately, their words, "You took us out to die in the wilderness," were prophetically fulfilled, as mentioned before, and most of that generation died in the desert.
In this Parsha we read how G-d provided the people with manna - bread from heaven, when their provisions which they took out with them from Egypt ended. They had nothing to eat and complained. G-d told Moshe, "I will cause it to rain bread from heaven; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion each day, that I may test them to see whether they will follow my laws or not".
The manna came down each morning and they were to gather a measurement of one omer per person. If someone collected more or less, when they brought it home it was still exactly one omer.
Lesson: Our sages tell us that our sustenance is determined from Heaven. We have to do our part and our effort, but in the end, no matter how much a person will try, they cannot make more than has been ordained from Heaven. Thus, a person should make time to pray and study Torah each day. The time spent on prayer and study will not diminish from one’s income.
Q. How do we commemorate today the miracle of the manna?
A. Each Friday they received a double portion of manna, one for Friday and one for Shabbat. The two Challot we place on the Shabbat table commemorate the double portion of manna which came in honor of Shabbat.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
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