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Home -> 5779 -> Vaeira

לך אל פרעה בבקר הנה יצאה המימה

Sruly Schnair
In Vaeira, 5779

Go to Pharaoh in the morning – behold! He goes out to the water. (7:15)

Rashi explains the purpose of Pharaoh’s daily jaunt to the Nile as going to the place in which he regularly relieved himself. Pharaoh pretended to be a god, and he would say that he has no need to relieve himself – as humans do. He would, therefore, arise early in the morning, go out to the Nile River and secretly tend to his body’s needs. We derive from here, comments Horav Gamliel Rabinowitz, Shlita, the strength of the power of the yetzer hora, evil inclination. Pharaoh lied to his entire country. He sold the lie that he was a god…

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Home -> 5779 -> Vaeira

אמר אל אהרן קח מטך ונטה ידך על מימי מצרים

Sruly Schnair
In Vaeira, 5779

Say to Aharon, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt.” (7:19)

So begins the Ten Plagues that shook up the underpinnings of Egyptian arrogance and obstinacy. Hashem instructed Aharon to strike the waters; later, he struck the water from which emerged the frogs and then the earth which produced the lice. Why Aharon, and not Moshe? Chazal explain that the Nile River had protected Moshe Rabbeinu when he was an infant. It would have been wrong for him to serve as the instrument to inflict a plague on it. Likewise, the earth concealed the Egyptian that Moshe had slain. The Torah considers it wrong to show ingratitude even to an inanimate…

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Home -> 5779 -> Vaeira

וימתו הצפרדעים מן הבתים מן החצרת ומן השדת... ויסר הערב מפרעה מעבדיו ומעמו לא נשאר אחד

Sruly Schnair
In Vaeira, 5779

The frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the field… He removed the swarm of wild beasts from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people – not one remained. (8:9,27)

The frogs (most of them) died. The arov, wild beasts, and arbeh, locust, did not. Kli Yakar explains that Hashem sought to teach that one who gives himself up for Kiddush Hashem, to sanctify Hashem’s Name, will be saved. Thus, those frogs that climbed into the burning hot ovens belonging to the Egyptians – lived. The other frogs, who did not enter the ovens, but rather “chose” to invade the country, the fields, the homes – died. The ones that risked death for the glory of Hashem were spared; the others were not. It was this lesson that Chananyah, Mishael…

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Home -> Shemos -> 5779

ויקם מלך חדש אשר לא ידע את יוסף

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Shemos

And there arose a new king who did not know Yosef. (1:8)

Galus, exile, is interpreted to mean displacement. A person in exile is a displaced person. A person in exile is no longer himself; as he is an expatriate from his home, his self-image is distorted. A Jew in galus is a galus Jew who is devoid of the treasures and qualities that had been a part of his life prior to his forced emigration from Yerushalayim – or, at least, he should feel that way. The fact that we no longer feel (or ever really felt) that we are missing our “home” is, in and of itself, another and –…

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Home -> Shemos -> 5779

ויהי כי יראו המילדות את האלקים ויעש להם בתים

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Shemos

Because the midwives feared G-d, He gave them houses. (1:21)

Rashi explains that these houses were the houses of Kehunah, Leviyah and Malchus. Horav Yisrael Belsky, zl, expounds on Rashi, demonstrating that what appears to be a homiletic interpretation (bayis/house is a structure of wood and stone – not a family. Thus, one must apply an interpretive approach in order to translate bayis to be a family) is actually the definitive meaning of the word. The Torah here defines bayis as the continuation/extension of the family unit: Bais Aharon barchu es Hashem, “House of Aharon, bless Hashem.” When we say this, we are expressing the fundamental nature of the descendants…

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Home -> Shemos -> 5779

ותרא אתו כי טוב הוא ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Shemos

She saw that he was good, and she hid him for three months. (2:2)

Yocheved conceived and gave birth to Moshe Rabbeinu. The Torah informs us that the infant Moshe remained with his mother for three months. Interestingly, the Torah does not mention his mother giving him a name. One would think that over the three-month period, Yocheved would have named her son. Horav Mordechai Gifter, zl, offers an insightful explanation. A name is far more than just a title of reference. A name represents its bearer, his very essence, character and abilities. A name defines a person. This, however, can only be said of the average person who, by excelling in certain areas…

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Home -> Shemos -> 5779

ותשלח את אמתה ותקחה

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Shemos

And she sent her maidservant and she took it. (2:5)

The Midrash translates amasah as “her arm” (not “her maidservant”). Thus (since she was not close to the basket), she stretched out her arm to reach the basket, and her arm miraculously became sufficiently elongated to reach the basket. The Kotzker Rebbe, zl, derives from this episode that one should do whatever possible, to never give up, to never say, “I cannot do it. It is impossible.” One should make the attempt; perhaps he will achieve success. Bisyah was distant from the basket. She tried to reach it, and Hashem enabled her. Never say “never,” because everything is in Hashem’s…

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Home -> Shemos -> 5779

ותפתח ותראהו את הילד והנה נער בכה ותמחל עליו ותאמר מילדי העברים זה

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Shemos

She opened it and saw him, and behold! A youth was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.” (2:6)

Rashi explains the transformation in the description of the child in the basket from yeled, boy (infant, young child), to naar, youth (implying that he was far from infancy), by asserting that while the child was an infant, his voice was that of a youth. Why did Hashem change the tenor of the infant’s voice to make it seem as if it were emanating from someone much older? The commentators offer a number of explanations, many of which have appeared over the years on these pages. Horav Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, zl, who was Rav in London’s West End over a…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5779

ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Vayechi

And do kindness and truth with me. (47:29)

Rashi explains that the kindness performed towards the dead is the kindness of truth, altruistic kindness. Every act of loving kindness carries with it the possibility of reciprocity or of some form of recompense. When one performs kindness for the deceased he has no hope for any return. This is pure altruism, ie, truth. Rashi seems to be describing the acts of chesed as consisting of two levels: plain chesed; and chesed infused with emes. Yaakov Avinu was asking Yosef to commit to an act of kindness which reflected truth, an extraordinary act of kindness, unlike any other: kindness characterized…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5779

ראובן בכורי אתה... פחז כמים אל תותר

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Vayechi

Reuven, you are my firstborn… water-like impetuosity – you cannot be foremost. (49:3,4)

The Midrash (Yalkut Shemoni Mishlei 15, remez 953) teaches, “Because Reuven, Shimon and Levi accepted the rebuke of their father, Yaakov Avinu, they merited to have their lineage enumerated together with that of Moshe and Aharon” (Shemos 6:14). The first three sons of Yaakov achieved an enviable pinnacle of spiritual merit by accepting their father’s rebuke. The fact that Hashem rewarded them indicates that accepting rebuke is a challenging feat, a battle which they won, and one that apparently from which others not as strong as they might not have successfully emerged. There is no question that no one looks forward…

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