Sour Milk

Parshas Vaera

Posted on January 13, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha | Level: Beginner

This week Hashem tells Moshe to inform the B’nai Yisrael, that the good times will soon come. “I shall rescue you, I shall redeem you with an out stretched hand, I shall bring you to the land which I have promised your fathers, Abraham Isaac and Jacob” (cf. Exodus 6:6-8).

 

It did not mean much. “The Children of Israel did not listen to Moshe from shortness of breath and hard work” (ibid v.9).

 

Next Hashem tells Moshe to tell Pharaoh to let the Jews out. Moshe responds with a reply filled with deductive reasoning. “Behold the Children of Israel did not listen, so how will Pharaoh listen?” (ibid v.12).

 

Our sages explain that this is one of ten “kal v’chomer” instances in the Torah. It is an example of reasoning used to logically come to halachic conclusions. ( eg. If a weightlifter cannot lift the stone, surely a child cannot!)

 

The problem is, that the reasoning seems flawed. “The Children of Israel did not listen to Moshe from shortness of breath and hard work. ” Pharaoh did not suffer from either of those shortcomings! If the weightlifter with a broken back, can’t lift a stone, it plays no role in telling us whether or not a child can.)

 

So what was Moshe’s logical denial to G-d’s command?

 

Last week, on Thursday 23 Teves, the great Gaon, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter z”l passed away. As a student at the Telshe Yeshiva in Europe he developed a strong relationship with one Europe’s foremost scholars of that era, Rav Mordechai Pogramanski z”l. He used to relate on a story Rav Pogramanski would share with his students.

 

A disheveled man was touring the Louvre with a group of tourists. As they passed Rembrandt’s works the man looked at everyone and yelled, “Sour milk!” Puzzled, everyone thought he was crazy. He repeated it again. “It looks like sour milk!”

 

They moved on and passed the Mona Lisa. Again he screamed, Sour milk!” This went on a few more times until a wise man looked at the fellow. “Let me see your glasses.”

The critical man gave them to him. “What did you have for breakfast?” he asked.

“Why cereal and milk,” he answered.

 

The wise man laughed. Look at your glasses! They are speckled with milk! No wonder everything you look at appears as sour milk!

Moshe knew that Jews inherently believe. However, the suffering of hard work and the evil treatment of Egyptian masters tainted their faith. But hard work alone does not taint faith. It is only when it is exasperated by the torment of the taskmasters, and their cruel taunts. How much more so, he figured, would Pharaoh be inattentive of the command that Hashem is in charge, and the Jews should be let free. If hard work stains the thought process, blocking the beauty of Hashem’s word to filter through, how much more so does the idolatry and heresy of Pharaoh impede them from penetrating!

 

We look at Hashem’s creation. We go to synagogue. We hear mussar. We read the prophets. But somehow it does not get through. The words are beautiful. Those who hear them can be inspired. But so many impediments block our vision and our hearing. Our lifestyles. Our desires. Even our work.

 

If we’d open our eyes we would see so much holiness! But only if their glasses are not tainted with sour milk.

 

Dedicated in memory of A. Milton Brown – Avraham Mordechai ben Benzion – Rosh Chodesh Shevat by Mr. and Mrs. Ben Brown

The Effort Department

Parshas Vaera

Posted on December 27, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

Following the narrative in which G-d elucidated to Moshe (Moses) how he would approach Pharaoh and Pharaoh would ignore him, the Torah states “Moshe was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.” (Shemos/Exodus 7:7) As there are no extraneous letters, no less words or phrases, in the Torah’s text, this verse’s presence is perplexing. The Torah is very clear about Moshe and Aaron’s ages at their death, and that they died in the fortieth year of the travels in the wilderness; why do we need to have their current ages calculated? More so, what is the significance of their age at this time; if Moshe had been sixty-three or seventy-seven, would it change the impact of the narrative? Finally, of all the events at this stage in Jewish history, why does the age need to be told specifically “when they spoke to Pharaoh”?

 

Rabbi Shimon Schwab (1) explains that the Torah emphasized their ages because of their significance to Pharaoh’s own decrees: eighty three years previous Pharaoh instructed the Jewish midwives that all Jewish male children were to be killed immediately after birth, and three years later the order was revised to demand all Jewish male children be thrown into the Nile. These decrees, executed to prevent the existence of a redeemer who would lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, actually spawned Moshe’s elevation to greatness. Without Pharaoh’s command, Moshe would never have been hidden in the basket and cast into the Nile, never have been taken in by Pharaoh’s daughter, never been raised in Pharaoh’s own home and never learned the requisite lessons of leadership. Pharaoh’s efforts to the contrary notwithstanding, the Divine will came to fruition, as it always had and always will.

 

No matter the lessons to be learned from historical experience – whether one’s own experience or the experience of others related by reliable narratives – all human beings, like Pharaoh, want to believe that the events around them are as simple as they appear to one’s own perception.

 

Everyone rationally knows that he cannot possibly fathom the entirety of every scenario into which he enters, but now in that situation, he is forced to absorb the reality and make snap decisions. The “Pharaoh”s of the world have nothing to follow but their limited scope of vision and their feeble intellects to navigate this expansive universe of reality; good fortune to them.

 

But the G-d conscious Jew knows that he is not in control; he understands that his Heavenly Parent is in full control and has addressed every perceptible and imperceptible variable. The Divine will come to fruition, as it always has and always will. The G-d conscious Jew knows that his job is “simple”: forge the bond of love and trust with the Divine Parent by following the timeless instruction offered in the Torah as he makes his best effort to attend to the situation.

As Rabbi Tarfon taught us (Pirkei Avos/Ethics of Our Fathers 2:20-21), “The day is short, the task is abundant…you are not required to complete the task, yet you are not free to withdraw from it.”

 

A parable is told of a man who works in the production department of a large manufacturing concern, who is asked about the health of the company’s sales. The production worker responds that production is as busy as always, so he does not think about sales. “My job is production. My attention and energy are consumed by my focus on my production objectives.

 

Just as the people in sales trust me to produce the product they are selling, I trust them to sell the product I am manufacturing. I do my job and they do theirs.” The G-d conscious Jew knows his production objective is clear: build and strengthen his G-d consciousness by utilizing the direction of the Torah – the manual of Divine “production specifications” – while he expends his best effort to address life’s challenges. He does not worry about the end result because he is fully focused on his job in the “effort department”. Results? That is G-d’s department.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!