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ומשלם לשנאיו על פניו להאבידו לא יאחר לשנאו אל פניו ישלם לו

But He repays each of His enemies to his face to make him perish; He will not delay for His enemy to his face He will repay him. (7:10)

Rashi explains that even the wicked who act appropriately and carry out good deeds will be rewarded. Hashem does not deprive anyone of his rightful reward. There is one difference, however; the wicked will be rewarded in this world. Olam Habba, the World To Come, is not their domain. They will not access their reward in the Eternal World. Their reward will be received in the here and now. The righteous, however, will enjoy the deep-rooted spiritual pleasure that is Olam Habba. Why should the rasha, wicked person, not receive his reward in Olam Habba? Is it reserved only for…

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ושננתם לבניך ודברת בם

You shall teach them thoroughly to your children. (6:7)

In his Taam V’Daas, Horav Moshe Shternbach, Shlita, quotes a powerful observation from Horav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, zl. Chazal teach that anyone who recites Krias Shema while not wearing Tefillin is considered as if he is offering false testimony. The parsha of Krias Shema includes the pasuk U’keshartem l’os al yadecha v’hayu l’totafos bein einecha, “Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be as ornaments between your eyes” (Devarim 6:8). How can one recite the mitzvah of wearing Tefillin when he himself is not wearing them? Accordingly, one who does not educate his children in the…

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ושננתם לבניך ודברת בם

You shall teach them thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them. (6:7)

Rashi teaches that banecha, your sons, eilu ha’talmidim, applies equally to one’s talmidim, students. In Nitzotzos, Rav Yitzchak Herskowitz, Shlita, relates a story he heard from a Rosh Yeshivah, who is one of today’s more successful marbitzei Torah, disseminators of Torah, in Eretz Yisrael. Apparently, Torah was not always this individual’s primary interest. As a young, teenage student attending Yeshivas Ohr Yisrael in Petach Tikvah, he was involved in a lot of things, most of which were not Torah-related. Running with a group of like-minded students, he presented a constant challenge for the patience of the yeshivah’s Mashgiach, ethical supervisor….

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אנכי ד' אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים

I am Hashem, your G-d, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery. (5:6)

A well-known question was posed by Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (Kuzari 1:25): Since the first mitzvah of the Aseres HaDibros, Ten Commandments, is the enjoinment to believe in Hashem, why not mention that Hashem created Heaven and earth? Why does our liberation from Egypt play such a critical role in our hashkafah, philosophy/outlook. He explains that, while the creation of the world is the penultimate experience, no one was around to see it.  Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Exodus, was witnessed by millions. There is no question that something witnessed is something remembered. Yetzias Mitzrayim left a lasting influence on the psyche of…

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לא תספו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם ולא תגרעו ממנו

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you subtract from it. (4:2)

The Torah is Divinely authored and, as such, it is perfect. To add or subtract from the written word of G-d is to imply that it lacks perfection and is somehow not applicable in all venues or under all circumstances. When Hashem commands that Tefillin have four parshios, He does not mean that four is a minimum, allowing for us to add a fifth parsha at will. Every number that Hashem gives us is the requisite for this mitzvah. To add or subtract is to distort and demean the pristine nature of the Torah. To do so is to deny…

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הירא את דבר ד' מעבדי פרעה הניס את עבדיו ואת מקנהו אל הבתים

Whoever among the servants of Pharaoh feared the word of Hashem chased his servants and his livestock to the houses. (9:20)

What is the meaning of avdei Pharaoh, the servants of Pharaoh? What about the citizens of Egypt? What did they do? The Meshech Chochmah explains that, when word went out from Moshe Rabbeinu that all Egyptians should take their animals inside, the immediate reaction was to comply. After all, Moshe seemed to have a powerful track record. It would be suicide to defy his warning. Pharaoh, however, would not allow his people to cave in to Moshe. He dispatched his servants throughout the land with an order to actively disregard Moshe’s warning. The Egyptian citizen was now in a quandary:…

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ונתתי את ידי במצרים והוצאתי את צבאתי את עמי בני ישראל מארץ מצרים בשפטים גדלים

And I shall put My hand upon Egypt; and I shall take out My legions – My People Bnei Yisrael – from the Land of Egypt. (7:4)

Hashem promised to take the Jewish People out of Egypt, dealing with the Egyptians and punishing them for mistreating the Jews. There is no question that the Egyptians deserved a very strong punishment – one which they would remember for all time. They persecuted and murdered an innocent people who had done nothing to them. Now, they would pay not only with their material bounty, but with their own blood. They would suffer as we suffered. While this is all understandable and unquestionably deserved by the Egyptians, did it have to occur before the Jews could be redeemed from Egypt?…

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ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם והייתי לכם לאלקים

I shall take you to Me for a people, and I will be a G-d to you. (6:7)

The election of Klal Yisrael as the nation upon whom Hashem confers His Name is a concept about which every ben Torah, every observant Jew and Jewess, is acutely aware. Sadly, the term “observant” in this case is more than a mere adjective. It defines those who believe in Klal Yisrael as the am ha’nivchar, “chosen people.” We choose to be chosen, and only we are willing to aspire to be worthy of the mission of “choseness.” Of the millions who carry the name Jewish to define race, only those who are knowledgeable and committed to this mission understand its…

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והוצאתי אתכם מתחת סבלת מצרים והצלתי אתכם מעבדתם וגאלתי אתכם בזרוע נטויה ובשפטים גדלים

And I shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. (6:6)

The above pasuk contains therein the four different expressions of redemption, which represent four progressive stages of the redemption with which Hashem liberated Klal Yisrael from Egypt. These three are followed by V’lakachti eschem Li l’am, “I shall take you to Me for a people,” referring to the Giving of the Torah, our acceptance of which made us Hashem’s nation. The Chidushei HaRim wonders about the sequence of the expressions, of placing V’hotzeisi, “And I shall take you out” before V’hitzalti, “And I shall rescue you from their service.” One would assume that, in the sequence of redemption, cessation of…

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ופתח אהל מועד תשבו יומם ולילה שבעת ימים ושמרתם את משמרת ד' ולא תמותו

At the entrance of the Ohel Moed shall you dwell day and night for a seven day period, and you shall protect Hashem’s charge so that you will not die. (8:35)

The Chasam Sofer, as cited by U’masuk Ha’or, interprets this pasuk homiletically to teach us a lesson concerning man’s true focus in life. If a person lives his life in such a manner that he “dwells” in front of the Ohel Moed it means that he never forgets the most important principle of existence in this world: life does not go on forever. One day, each and every one of us will return “home,” from whence we came. If this awareness accompanies our every life’s endeavor, then we will merit to “protect Hashem’s charge, so that you (we) will not…

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