The Strife Factor

Parshas Shemos

Posted on January 3, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Moses did not grow up among the Jewish people, although he bore them a passionate love.

 

During the decrees of infanticide, (the crime of killing a child within a year of its birth) an Egyptian princess had discovered the infant Moses hidden among the bulrushes of the Nile River and reared him as her own.

 

Although surrounded by luxury and opulence, the thought of his people enslaved and oppressed gave Moses no rest. Finally, when he was old enough, he set out to see firsthand the suffering of his people and to find how he could help alleviate it. As he ventured forth, he encountered a sadistic Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish laborer brutally. Overcome with compassion, Moses struck down the Egyptian tormentor and buried the corpse in the sand, unaware that he had been observed by a pair of Jews named Dathan and Abiram.

 

The next day, Moses saw Dathan and Abiram fighting each other.

 

“Villain!” Moses cried. “Why do you strike your fellow Jew?”

 

They turned to Moses with disdain and said, “So what do you propose to do? Will you murder us as you murdered the Egyptian?”

 

Moses was shocked. “Aha, the thing is known,” he cried out.

 

On the surface, it would seem that Moses was shocked at finding out his killing of the Egyptian was no secret. But the Midrash reads a deeper meaning into these words. Aha, Moses was saying, this is why the Jewish people continue to suffer in exile. If they are capable of strife and informing on each other, they are not deserving of redemption.

 

But let us reflect for a moment. Was this the worst of their sins? The Jews had been thoroughly contaminated by Egyptian society. Their behavior were barely distinguishable from that of the Egyptians; their lives were characterized by idolatry and immorality. Nonetheless, in spite of all this dreadful sinfulness, Moses had found the Jewish suffering inexplicable. But now that he saw two Jews fighting, he finally understood the cause of the Jewish exile. How can this be?

 

Furthermore, the Sages tell us the Second Temple was destroyed because of unjustified hatred Jews harbored in their hearts against each other. How are we to understand this? Many other sins incur punishments far more severe that does unjustified hatred. Why then did this particular sin bring on the destruction of the Temple and the removal of the Divine Presence from among the Jewish people for thousands of years?

 

The commentators point out that the revelation of the Divine Presence in this world is really a paradox. How can the ultimate manifestation of spirituality reside in a physical world? It can only be done, they explain, by creating an oasis of spirituality to serve in the physical world, an oasis composed not of physical elements such as bricks and mortar, of soil and grass but of a community of people whose spiritual essence is paramount in their existence. Collectively, these people form an island of transcendent spirituality upon which the Divine Presence descends.

 

But how do we measure if a community is genuinely spiritual? It is in their relationships with others. Materialistic people see others as adversaries and are always jealously protective of their own status and domain. Spiritual people, in tune with eternity, are above these petty concerns; strife and egotism have no place in their world. Therefore, interpersonal relations are the barometer which tell us if the community is worthy of having the Divine Presence in its midst. If the strife factor is low, then the spirituality level is high, and Hashem comes among them. In Egypt and at the end of the Second Temple era, however, the strife factor was high, and the Divine Presence left the Jewish people.

 

Two boys were fighting in school, shouting and pummeling each other until one of the teachers pulled them apart.

 

When tempers cooled, the teacher called the boys to the front of the classroom.

 

“Do you understand what a terrible thing you did?” he asked.

 

“But he started up with me!” said one boy.

 

“Make two fists,” the teacher said to the boy.

 

The boy complied, and the teacher took the two fists in his hands and pounded them against each other.

 

“Ouch!” the boy screamed. “It hurts!”

 

“Exactly,” said the teacher. “When your friend suffers pain, it should also hurt you. When you hit him, it is as if you are hitting yourself!”

 

In our own lives, as we aspire to raise our level of our spirituality through studying the Torah and living by its values and ideals, how can we determine if we are truly connecting with the divine? We can do so by measuring the strife factor in our daily existence. If we live in harmony with other people, appreciating the goodness inherent in all of them, if our lives are essentially free of strife and discord, then we have indeed attained a high level of spirituality and forged an eternal bond with our Father in Heaven.

Never Lose a Holy Curiosity

Parshas Shemos

Posted on January 5, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

Moshe was pasturing the flocks of Yisro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flocks after the free pastureland, and he came to the mountain of G-d, to Horeb. An angel of HASHEM appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed. So, Moshe said, “Let me turn now and see this great spectacle why does the thorn bush not burn up?” HASHEM saw that he had turned to see, and G-d called to him from within the thorn bush, and He said, “Moshe, Moshe!” And he said, “Here I am!” And He said, “Do not draw near here.

 

Take your shoes off your feet, because the place upon which you stand is holy soil.” (Shemos 3:1-5)

 

Why does the Holy Torah begin with the letter Beis and not Alef which is the first letter? Right from the very beginning the Torah and life is riddled with essential questions. Why is that so? Is this world and is the Torah an answer book or a question book?

 

Pardon the “secular” reference but I remember there used to be a game show, called “Jeopardy”. The format, if I remember correctly, was a little odd. One would be given a piece of information and that needed to be assigned to the correct question. Fact: “Elizabeth!” Question: “Who was the last Queen of England?” That’s how it goes!

 

Learning Rashi can be like that very often. He provides some important information and we are left to figure out: “What burning question is Rashi coming to answer?” The assumption is that if everything was clear then he would say nothing.

 

A simple case is the burning bush. Moshe is told to remove his shoes and the reason that is given is because, “the place upon which you stand is holy soil”. Rashi adds here to the words “is holy soil (adama)”: “The place”. Now why is that necessary? The Sifsei Chachamim explains that there seems to be a confusion in the verse. The word for ground – “Adama” is feminine and yet it is referred to with a masculine pronoun – “Hu”. Rashi clarifies that “Hu” is in reference to the “place” and not specifically to the earth in that place.

 

So, it goes with all the phenomena of this world. The universe is filled with myriads of facts and answers. What questions are they coming to answer? Who made this? What does it teach us? What is its purpose? An anonymous philosopher once stated, “There is nothing more irrelevant than the answer to a question that was never asked? Maybe now we can understand why the game was called “Jeopardy”. If we fail to ask the right question then everything in the world is at risk of being rendered irrelevant! If we ask the right questions with enough genuine curiosity then everything has the possibility of becoming ultimately meaningful!

 

It is no mistake, therefore, that the beginning of the exodus, the initiation of the one who would lead the Jewish Nation not just out of Egypt but to Mount Sinai where we would receive the Torah, begins with a test of his inquisitiveness. Moshe notices a burning bush that is blazing with fire but not being consumed by that fire. He is busy with his flock but he pauses to study this phenomenon and asks a simple question, “why does the thorn bush not burn up?” Only when HASHEM sees that his interest is piqued by this visage does He call out to Moshe.

 

The Ramchal writes in Derech Etz Chaim: “A man, most of his years are spent in thinking thoughts on his businesses, business of this temporary world. Why does he not put to heart even one hour also on thinking these other things “What is he? Why did he come to this world?

 

Or what does the King of kings seek from him? What will be the end of his matter? … “What did the early ones, the fathers of the world do that G-d desired in them? What did Moshe Rabeinu do? What did David, the Moshiach Hashem do, and all the Gedolim who lived before us?”

 

Albert Einstein, the icon of secular Jewish genius, said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

 Leadership Qualities

Parshas Shemos

Posted on January 4, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Moses, the chosen messenger of the Master of the Universe, came riding out of the desert into the fabled kingdom of Egypt. With nothing more than the staff in his hand and his brother Aaron at his side, he strode into the royal palace, confronted Pharaoh and demanded, “Let my people go!”

 

Thus began the spectacular story of the Exodus. Time and again, Moses confronted the belligerent Pharaoh, and after each refusal, he visited a shattering new plague onto Egypt until it was beaten into submission, and the enslaved Jewish people were finally free. As for Moses, he has come down to us as the greatest leader of all time, the man who single-handedly took on the might of the entire Egyptian kingdom and prevailed.

 

But let us stop and think for a moment. Wherein exactly lay the greatness of Moses in his mission to Egypt? Every step he took, every word he spoke, every move he made was choreographed by Hashem. Hashem told him exactly when and where to go, exactly what to say, exactly what to do. All Moses had to do was follow his instructions faithfully. He had no personal input into any aspect of his spectacular performance. Why then is Moses considered such a towering figure in the history of the Exodus?

 

The commentators explain that the one critical element that would determine the success or failure of his mission was entirely in Moses’s control. “I want you to know,” Hashem said to him, “that you are going on the condition that you perform my wonders in front of Pharaoh without fearing him.” Without fearing him. This was the key.

 

As Hashem’s chosen messenger, Moses enjoyed full divine protection, and he knew full well that Pharaoh could not harm him. But it is one thing to know this intellectually and quite another to feel it in one’s heart. According to the Midrash, Pharaoh’s throne was surrounded by snarling lions and fierce warriors, and Pharaoh himself was an exceedingly intimidating tyrant.

 

No matter how sure Moses was that he would come to no harm, could he enter such a scenario without a twinge of trepidation in his heart? And yet, if he had exhibited the slightest tremor in his voice, the slightest flutter of his heart, the slightest blink of his eye, he would have compromised his entire mission. Hashem had sent Moses to demonstrate His absolute mastery over Pharaoh, to show that Pharaoh was utterly nothing, putty in the hands of Heaven.

 

Therefore, had Moses felt any fear, he would have acknowledged Pharaoh as an adversary, albeit an infinitely weaker one, and thereby doomed his mission to failure.

 

Here then lay the greatness of Moses. He saw clearly that there is no power in the world other than Hashem, that Pharaoh in contraposition to G-d was a total nonentity, unworthy of even the slightest smidgen of fear. Therefore, when Moses walked fearlessly into Pharaoh’s palace, everyone, Egyptian and Jew alike, knew that Hashem was in absolute control.

 

A great general, who was in the process of mounting an invasion of a neighboring country, called a meeting of his most trusted advisors. “Gentlemen, I have a problem,” the general began. “I had hoped to win fame and glory for our armies during this campaign by thoroughly trouncing the enemy. But wherever my armies appear, the enemy flees. We have still had no opportunity to engage them in battle and destroy them. How can we get the enemy to stand and fight?”

 

“We take hostages,” said one advisor. “That will force them to fight.”

 

“We plan ambushes,” said another. “We cut off their escape routes.”

 

Other advisers suggested yet other ruses to force the enemy to fight.

 

“You are all wrong,” said one old advisor. “If the enemy flees whenever your armies appear, what greater glory can there be?”

 

In our own lives, we often face trials and challenges that strike fear into our hearts. Whether the threat is to our health, financial security, family life or anything else, the effect can be frightening and, indeed, devastating. But if we can find the strength to look at the world in the broader perspective, if we recognize that we are all messengers of Heaven doing his bidding here on the face of the earth, we will discover that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. As long as we connect ourselves to the infinite reality of the Creator, all our worries pale into insignificance.

 

Text Copyright © 2009 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanenbaum Education Center.