Yisro

The Jews arrive in Midbar Sinai, the Sinai desert, three months after they left Egypt. Moshe goes up the mountain where Hashem gives him the conversation he should have with the Jews before they will receive the Torah: how He took us out of Egypt & how the Jews were going to be the chosen nation. Hashem starts by saying כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל , so shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell to the sons of Israel.

Rashi tells us that בית יעקב refers to the women while בני ישראל refers to the men.  ‎מהר"ם שפירא מלובלין asks ‎why doesn't it refer to the women as בנות יעקב which would be a consistent terminology with the men as בני ישראל? 

The Bais Halevi & others ask another question here. Why did the women merit to be told about kabbalas Hatorah before the men? 

The Midrash Rabba explains that women do mitzvos with zrizus, alacrity, so they merited being mentioned first. The פרקי דר"א ‎says that it's natural for men to follow after the wants of the women, so if the women want the Torah, the men will too. 

Rabbeinu  Bachya has a different reason. He says it's because the woman has the power to influence her sons to make them want to go to learn; she's the one who is home with them, the one who gives them all sorts of things to influence them to learn Torah. He adds, that's why a woman should pray for her children when she lights candles Friday night, for it’s her mitzva to influence her children to be illuminated with Torah.  Prayers are more accepted when doing a mitzvah, so at her mitzva of lighting the candles, she prays that her children be illuminated with the light of Torah. 

The daughter of the Chafetz Chaim ‎reported that when the Chafetz Chaim's mother was getting on in years & it was becoming known throughout the world that her son was the Gadol Hador, she was asked by some family members what merit she had that her son was so great. She answered them, “don't ask me; I don't know that I did anything significant that would merit this “. 

They kept asking that there had to be something. She kept saying, “no, no. nothing that I can think of.” They didn't let her alone so she said, “all I can tell you is what my mother told me right before I got married. She said ‘my daughter, we were commanded to raise our children to Torah & Yiras Shomaim. Therefore, I'm asking you for one thing. Whenever you have free time, take this siddur that I'm giving you now & daven to Hashem that you should merit to raise your children to Torah & Yiras shomaim. Don't forget to cry tears when you daven’. Then she handed me a siddur with tehillim. That's it; that's all I did” continued the mother of the Chafetz Chaim, “whenever I had a spare moment, when I finished the house work or waiting for the potatoes to cook, I took out my siddur & cried to Hashem that my son should grow up to be a Talmid Chacham & Yirei Shomaim”.

This demonstrates the power of a mother’s te‎ars & prayers. When a mother davens for her child, the sky is the limit.  That's why the Torah calls the women בית יעקב for the women set the tone for the house; the purity of the house starts with the woman; if the woman ensures that the home is an oasis for purity then the men will follow her lead.  When she davens for her children, they will follow too. This shows us how important the woman's role is in Judaism.  We must take this message to heart and not forsake this opportunity to strengthen our own commitment to Torah & Tefila,  thereby meriting  to bring our children closer to Hashem! 

Beshalach

In order to ‎lure Pharaoh into chasing after the Jews, Hashem commands them to turn back, thus giving the impression that they were trapped in the wilderness and therefore were vulnerable. This causes Pharaoh to say מה זאת עשינו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו, what is this that we have done that we sent away Israel from serving us?

Just reading those words makes one wonder, says Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky. How foolish could the Egyptians be‎? Did they really think that they were the ones that sent the Jews out of Egypt?  Wasn’t it the ten plagues, ending with the death of the firstborn, that pretty much destroyed Egypt that forced them to send out the Jews? Why the regret? It wasn't their choice anyway.

Also, Hashem tells Moshe ואמר פרעה לבני ישראל נבכים הם בארץ , and Pharaoh will say to the Bnei Yisrael, they are confined in the land, the wilderness has locked them in. This causes Pharaoh to chase them to the Yam Suf where Hashem then performs the great miracle of splitting the sea. 

However, if you look at the Posuk, the wording seems strange. The wording states that pharaoh says to the Bnei Yisrael.. Now, if the Jews had already left Egypt, what Bnei Yisrael is he talking to? Rashi addresses this problem and says that it doesn't mean to the Jewish people it means about the Jewish people. Pharaoh spoke to his nation about the Jews. 

However, the Targum Yonasan says explicitly וימר פרעה לדתן ולאבירם , that Pharaoh spoke to Dasan & Aviram. The Targum is telling us that there were still Jews in Egypt after the Jews left; Jews that didn't want to leave, namely Dasan & Aviram. Since we know that Dasan & Aviram were sinners who didn't even want to leave Egypt, why didn't they die in the plague of darkness with the rest of the reshaim that didn't want to leave?

The מהרי''ל דיסקין answers that Dasan & Aviram were from the Jewish Taskmasters in Egypt who suffered the blows of the Egyptians. When the people couldn't finish their quota & didn't get all the work done, the Taskmasters, Dasan & Aveiram included, would take the beating for them. They would get hit instead of the Jewish people. Therefore, says the מהרי''ל ‎a person that suffers for another Jew, one who really feels another Jew’s pain, can be hurt by nothing; the powers of destruction are powerless against him. In the eyes of Hashem one who feels the pain of another & does something about it can do no wrong & is protected by Hashem . 

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This shows us how important it is to feel the pain of other people. There was a story told by ר' שלמה זלמן אוירבך about the ברוך טעם who had made a shidduch with a very wealthy family. At the same time, the water carrier took ill & the ‎ברוך טעם was very distraught over it; he couldn't eat & he davened for him to get better. One day, the future in laws came over & saw that he looked all upset. When they asked what's wrong, the family told them that it's because the water carrier is very sick. The woman went into him & said, "Rabbi, what is going on? I understand that you want to daven for him but to be so distraught over the water carrier?" When the ברוך טעם heard that, he‎ immediately broke up the shidduch. He said, if this woman has no compassion & can't join in another's pain, we cannot marry into that family. 

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How do we train ourselves to feel another’s pain & not just hear it say, 'how sad' and keep doing whatever we were doing?

Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky answered his previous question by explaining that we see how strong the power of bias is; that the power of want could manipulate the intellect. So much so, that they were able to block out the plagues and forget the death of their firstborn that just happened a few days earlier. Their psychological denial was so strong, that they already were saying, ‘we sent out the Jews’. 

Perhaps, on some level, this is what we do too. As long as something bad didn’t happen to us, we psychologically block it out. We know that the power for good can always overcome the bad so we must make a conscious decision to become more aware of the people around us; what's going on with them. If we train ourselves to be more attentive to the suffering around us & really feel for other people, then we, too, will be protected by Hashem Himself & will know no harm!  ‎

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Bo

After Hashem had already brought eight plagues on the Egyptians, the time has arrived for the ninth plague, the plague of darkness. The posuk tells us that Moshe stretched out his hand, ויהי חשך אפלה בכל ארץ מצרים and there was a darkness of gloom throughout the land of Egypt. ‏

The Midrash ‎explains that ‏when the posuk says שלח חושך ויחשיך ולא מרו את דברו  ‏ , He sent darkness & made it dark and they did not defy His word, it's talking about the plague of darkness. The commentators disagree on whom the pronoun “they” refers to. Some say it refers to the Egyptians while others say it's talking about the Jews. The Chasam Sofer asks, how can one say it's going on the Jews? It's puzzling, for what kind of praise is it to the Jews that they didn't rebel by the plague of darkness?

He answers that during the last three days of the darkness, the Egyptians were stuck in their places & couldn't move. In this situation, it would have been easy for the Jews to go attack all the Egyptians, take revenge on them, kill them & then be able to leave Egypt with no one stopping them. Why didn't they? Yosef had made them swear that they would not try to hasten the redemption but would wait until it was the time to go out. The posuk is telling us that even though the plague of darkness provided the opportunity for the Jews to leave Egypt still they didn't rebel & go against what they swore to Yosef.

‎The question we can ask is that we know that really this wasn't the time that they were supposed to leave. It was one hundred & ninety years early, so how did they leave a little while later? it was still not the time. What happened to their promise?

The Dubno Maggid explains with a mashal. There was a guest staying at a hotel who went out to tour the city. He returned a little after noon & asked the cook to serve him lunch. The food is not ready yet, apologized the cook; it's still too early.  However, the man was insistent that he be served, so the food was brought out to him. When the man started to eat the food, he wasn't too happy with the taste because it was all undercooked.

He went to complain to the cook who said, “I told you it was too early, but you insisted so you got food but it was no good.”    
‎The next day, recognizing the guest’s habits, the cook started to cook lunch early so that the food would be ready for this man who liked to eat earlier than everyone else. This time, when the man came and insisted on eating early, the food was delicious. He asked the cook, “I don't understand. Yesterday you told me that if I eat before the scheduled time, the food wouldn’t be ready, yet today it was perfect even early?” “The difference,” said the cook, “is when you rushed me,  I wasn't ready, so the food wasn't good. Today, however, I rushed myself & therefore the food was ready & good.”

The Dubno Maggid continued that when the people want to rush the redemption before Hashem is ready, it won't be good, so He made them swear not to do so. However, when He wants to hurry the redemption, there is no better time than that so it will be good.  
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The Chasam Sofer’s statement of the reason the Jews didn't try to take revenge on Egypt during the days of darkness helps support the אדמו"ר מסטמאר who explains the end of that Midrash. It says that all the angels agreed to bring this plague on the Egyptians, even the angel of Egypt, whereas by the other plagues not all the angels agreed. What was different about the plague of darkness?

This plague was different, for in it was a great challenge for the Jews.  They now had it in their power to take revenge for all those years of slavery; they had their captors right where they wanted them. They could easily have overpowered them & leave.  However, had they done that, it would have been terrible for them, for they were sworn not to try to get out on their own early, but to wait for the right time.

This is why the angel of Mitzraim agreed to the plague, for he was betting that the Jews would mess up; that after so many years of subjugation, this would be too great a test to bear & they would avenge themselves & lose it all.

However, he was wrong; the Jews didn't rebel, teaching us not to push the envelope. If it's not the right time, whatever we do, will only hurt us, but when the time is right, things will fall into place & everything will work out!

Va'eira

The time had come for the Jewish people to be taken out of Egypt, so Hashem tells Moshe to go to the Jewish people & tell them that he has come to take them out. Moshe tells this to the people, ולא שמעו אל משה מקצר רוח ומעבדה קשה who refuse to listen to him because of the overbearing work load that was upon them. 

Then Hashem tells Moshe to go to Pharaoh to tell him to send the Jewish people out of his land. Moshe incredulously asks Hashem, “if the Jewish people, for whom this is beneficial, wouldn't listen to me then how would Pharaoh, to whom it's detrimental, listen to me?

All the commentators ask “the Torah had just given us a reason why the Jewish people didn't listen - because of קצר רוח ועבדה קשה‏, shortness of breath & hard work; now that doesn't apply to Pharaoh so what was Moshe's argument that just as the Jews wouldn't listen, Pharaoh wouldn't either. Maybe he would? He didn't have the Jews’ reason not to. 

The sefer Har Sinai ‎answers that we know there are two types of trials that a person could face to see if they fear Hashem. One is the test of poverty, for if a person is tested with poverty, ל"ע  then it's much harder for him to learn Torah & do mitzvos properly.  His mind is totally consumed with what he is missing & how he will put food on the table. 

On the other extreme, there is the test of wealth. If a person is blessed with much wealth, then he has the opportunity to take part in the world's pleasures; the more one indulges in worldly pleasures, the more he can become totally entrenched until he goes off the proper path ל"ע  ‎to try to satisfy every pleasure. 

Now, if we ask anyone which of these tests is more difficult, he will tell you the test of poverty. No one wants to be tested like that. However, according to Moshe's argument to Hashem, we see the opposite is true, for the Jewish people had the test of poverty - it doesn't get much worse than doing forced slave labor-  yet they still didn't listen to Moshe.

Surely, Pharaoh, who had the test of wealth, wouldn't listen so you see that the test of wealth is much harder when it comes to the fear of Hashem. Now Moshe’s argument makes sense. 

In our day, we have both of these tests. Some have the test of poverty while others have the test of wealth. How do we each make sure to pass the test‎?

Sometimes when it comes to getting closer to Hashem we have to use arguments that don't seem to make sense at first, but once we understand, it helps us to get closer to Hashem. 

There was a town in Poland that was full of uncouth & unlearned people that wanted to appoint a Rav over the town. They went from Rabbi to Rabbi but to no avail. Every time, when they got to the next rabbi, they implored him by trying to make the town sound better than it was. They would tell him that in their town many great rabbis were buried, like the Taz, the Magen Avraham & Reb Akiva Eiger. It should be an honor to be appointed Rav over this town. 

After a little investigating, the Rav found out that none of these great rabbis were buried in this town, so he called back the delegation & ask‎ed, “what's going on; you come to me & tell me unabashed lies? 

They answered as follows, “our words are very true; for in Levov they learn the Taz so, in reality, he's not buried there; in Kalish, the Maken Avraham’s teachings are taught in the Beis Medrash while, in Pozne, they still learn Rebbi Akiva Eiger’s teachings. As Chazal say, “when you repeat over someone's teaching, it's like they are still here living”, so over there they are not buried but in our town where there is no one who can learn & no one opens their seforim, here these great rabbis are truly buried.” 

Now their argument makes sense; sometimes, in order to‎ get closer to Hashem, we have to use irrational arguments to get the desired result. Therefore, whether your test is through poverty or through wealth, if you see that your faith is starting to waiver, come up with some kind of argument, whether it makes sense or not, to help keep you on the right path.  Then, no matter what the challenge, we will come out ahead!

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Shemos

Sefer Shemos starts out with the death of Yosef & his generation and the beginning of the Jewish people’s gradual enslavement. The posuk tells us וימת מלך מצרים ויאנחו בני ישראל מן העבדה ויזעקו , and the king of Egypt died and the Jewish people groaned because of the work & they cried out to Hashem. The Jewish people were in a very harsh exile.

Currently, however, the exile isn't so harsh, for, generally speaking, the Jews are in countries that allow them to live freely ‎& have the same rights as everyone else. Why did Hashem change the way golus works in the later generation?

The מלבים explains with a parable.  A king had an only child, a son, who was constantly getting into trouble, heading in a path of destruction. The king felt he had no choice but send the son to a faraway city where he was subjugated  ‎to harsh labor.

When his captors would torment him & force him to work hard, he sent his father letters pleading with him to take him back home promising to mend his evil ways saying he would no longer anger the king. After a while, the king was compassionate & brought the son back home. After a few years, the son forgot all about his captors & torments and once again headed down the wrong road, getting into all sorts of trouble. Once again, the king sent him away & once again, when he was being tormented, he would write letters to his father begging him to take him back home. This time, the father thought the only reason he wants to come home is because of the hard labor. Once he's home, he'll go back to his old ways. Therefore, the father decided to test him to see if he was really remorseful or if it was just because of the work. So he came up with a plan.  He secretly had the son released from his captives, got him some money so he could live, but didn't let the son know that it was from him. The king wanted to see if, now, the son would be able to live peacefully; will he still want to come home; will the letters begging to come home still come?

This is how Hashem is treating us in this Galus. He is checking to see why we pray for the redemption; why do we beg Hashem to take us home?  Is it because we want to stand in the face of the Shechina? Do we want Hashem’s glory revealed to the world or is it just because we are suffering & we want the suffering to end? So, today, when we have it good, will we still cry out to Hashem to bring us home? If so, then Hashem knows that it's for the true good that we want to come back & not just to alleviate our own personal suffering.  

The posuk itself proves that the only reason they cried was because of the harsh work. Says Reb - the posuk says that Hashem heard their cry, but it doesn't say that Hashem was going to save them because they cried out; rather, the posuk says Hashem remembered the promise He made to the Avos that He would take them out of slavery.

We all have to ask ourselves why do we want the redemption?  ‎Is it just to alleviate our personal suffering or do we care that the world should recognize Hashem? We have to want the redemption for Hashem & not just to ease our suffering. If we could develop this mindset, then, before we know it, we will be welcoming the moshiach very soon!