In this Issue...

• Parsha Perspectives.
• Parsha Pointers.
• Parsha at a Glance
• Partner Talk
• Hey I never knew that; Amazing insights on the Parsha.
• Table Talk - Topics for discussion around the Shabbos Table
• Look who made Partner!

Parsha Perspectives

By Ozer Alport

And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery, for with a strong hand Hashem took you out from here.”

During his travels, Rav Yisroel Salanter once entered an inn at which he had stayed several times previously. He noticed that the innkeeper had significantly deteriorated in his level of religious observance since Rav Yisroel’s most recent visit. The innkeeper explained that the change was due to an atheist who had recently lodged there.

The guest spent several days sharing his philosophies about the lack of a Divine system of reward and punishment. Finally, to prove his case, he took out a sandwich filled with non-kosher meat and announced that if he’s wrong, he should choke on the sandwich and die an agonizing death. The man proceeded to consume the entire sandwich with no apparent consequences, and ever since, the innkeeper’s religious belief and observance had slowly weakened.

Rav Yisroel didn’t respond to the story, but chose to wait for the right opportunity, which wasn’t long in coming. Later that day, the innkeeper’s young daughter returned home from school, glowing and excited about receiving her diploma, with especially good marks in the areas of singing and mathematics. Rav Yisroel asked her to sing for him so that he could judge her talents for himself, but she grew bashful and refused. He then went to inform the innkeeper that his brazen daughter refused to sing for their respected guest.

Upon being summoned and an explanation demanded, the girl told her father that the entire purpose of her diploma was to prove and demonstrate her talent once and for all, and it was in fact their guest who was being unreasonable in demanding that she perform according to his whims just because he refused to believe in her established record.

At this, Rav Yisroel explained to the innkeeper that two of the great early commentators – the Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 21) and Ramban (Exodus 13:16) write that the reason the Torah contains so many mitzvos זכר ליציאת מצרים – as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt – is because it was in Egypt that Hashem proved His power and providence through the numerous miracles he performed for the Jewish people once and for all.

Rav Yisroel concluded by pointing out that just as the innkeeper’s daughter rightfully refused to lower herself and perform on demand for whoever may doubt her diploma, so too Hashem already established Himself for all time through the events of the Exodus and has no further need to prove Himself to every doubter who comes along throughout the generations.

Given the everlasting impact that the Exodus from Egypt was meant to have on the mind and heart of every Jew, it is now no longer such a mystery why the events recorded in these Torah portions are not only supposed to be recalled, but literally relived during the Passover seder. In every generation a person has to look at him or herself as if he/she left Egypt. Throughout the year as well, we should be ever-conscious of the special Divine Providence in our lives. return to top
Ozer Alpert can be reached at ozer@partnersintorah.org

With gratitude to Donna Dubowsky, my kallah of 10 years.
Hatzlachah and Mazel Tov to my telepartner, Moshe Feuer of Edison, NJ
From Telepartner Peter Dubowsky, Esq. of Las Vegas, NV

talking points - parshas BO

Rabbi Elazar Meisels

1. The Key To Repentance?

“Moshe and Aaron came before Pharaoh and said to him, ‘So said Hashem, G-d of the Hebrews: Until when will you stubbornly refuse to be humbled before Me? Send out My nation so that they may serve Me.’” 10:3

• Until When - Through the plagues, you have witnessed My total control of elements and the atmosphere, but you maintain your obstinacy. Reason, seemingly, has no effect on you. Therefore, the only way to penetrate your intransigence may be through slow destruction, by subjecting you to a series of plagues. Until when, therefore, will you refuse to submit? – Sforno
• To Be Humbled Before Me – Repentance is impossible without submission to Hashem. Pharaoh’s haughtiness and insistence that he was a deity, prevented him from seeing that Hashem was the master of the universe. This led to his unwillingness to accede to Hashem’s request that he free the Jewish people. – Rabbeinu Bachya

Haughtiness is an impenetrable barrier to recognizing Hashem’s presence and until it is corrected, one will pursue sin. Had Pharaoh accepted Hashem's dominion early on, the entire nation would have been spared the anguish and devastation of the plagues. Ironically, rather than being debilitating, this form of submission propels a person to the heights of spiritual greatness. Pharaoh’s counterpart, Moshe Rabbeinu, excelled in precisely this sphere as the Torah writes, “Moshe, was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.” [Devarim 12:3]

2. What Will It Take To Convince You?

“Moses said [to Pharaoh] ‘So said Hashem, Around midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt. Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die…’” 11:4-5

• Our Sages explained that Moshe used a word which implies at about midnight, either slightly before or after, and he did not say at midnight, lest Pharaoh's stargazers make a mistake [in calculating the exact time] and say, "Moshe is a liar!" But Hashem, who knows exact times and moments, actually said, "At midnight." - Rashi

Moshe knew the Egyptians and their capacity to deny the obvious all too well. Therefore, he deliberately left the exact time of the Plague of the Firstborn slightly vague, knowing that the Egyptians might well attribute the sudden passing of every firstborn in Egypt[!] to a mere coincidence. They would never for a moment consider the possibility that they had erred in their calculations of the exact moment of midnight. Man’s capacity to reject the obvious is so strong that when he wishes to do so, no amount of proof can ever suffice.

3. Down But Never Out

Parshas Bo

Hashem threatens Pharaoh that Egypt will be devastated by the worst plague of locusts the world has ever seen. Pharaoh agrees to let the men go, but the children must remain. He angrily dismisses Moshe and Aharon. Clouds of locusts consume everything edible left after the hail.

The next plague is a palpable darkness which halts all movement. Pharaoh agrees to let the Jews go, but without their cattle. Moshe replies that not only will Bnai Yisroel go with the animals, but that Pharaoh will give them additional animals. Pharaoh is furious, and tells Moshe not to come to the palace again.

Hashem requests that the Jews ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver in preparation for leaving Egypt. Moshe is instructed concerning the mitzvah of the New Moon and Korban Pesach offering. The blood of the Korban will be sprinkled on the doorsteps and the lintel. The flesh will be roasted and eaten on the night of the 15th of Nisan, the Seder night, together with matzos and bitter herbs. On this night, the Jews will remain indoors, ready to depart from Egypt. While they will be celebrating, Hashem will slay every first-born Egyptian. Moshe teaches Bnai Yisroel the laws of the Pesach, the requirement for matzoh, and the prohibitions of using or owning chametz during Pesach.

On the night of the 15th of Nisan, a great outcry fills Egypt. No Egyptian home is spared. Pharaoh begs Moshe to take all the Jews from his land. In broad daylight, laden with the wealth of Egypt, pressed on them by Egyptians anxious to see them go, 600,000 men between the ages of 20 and 60 leave Egypt together with their wives, their elders, and their children. Many Egyptians decide to join them. Their only food is a supply of dough which they prepare hurriedly as unleavened matzos. It is 430 years to the day since Hashem told Avrohom that his children would endure a period of servitude from which they would emerge a wealthy nation.

The parshah concludes with the mitzvah of redeeming the first-born sons and first-born cattle as a reminder of the miraculous manner in which our ancestors were spared the destruction of their own first-born. The tefillin also are mentioned here as a further reminder of Hashem’s outstretched arm which redeemed us from Egypt. return to top

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A Seder on Tu B'Shvat

Dear Rabbi:
When I attended university, every Tu Bishvat our Hillel House held a Tu Bishvat seder. Yet, when I asked my study partner about it, she knew nothing about it. Is this a legitimate practice, and if yes, why don’t more Jews observe this custom?
Thanks, Mira.

Mira, Thank you for your wonderful question. In order to explain why the Tu B’Shvat Seder is not common practice, I must first explain its origins.

The very first Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah introduces Tu B’shvat, or the 15th of Shvat (the tenth month in the Jewish calendar) as the Rosh Hashanah for trees. This agricultural holiday marks the beginning and end of the annual tithing cycle for fruits of the tree and the laws of Orlah. Following the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the exile of the Jews from Eretz Yisrael, Tu B’shvat became largely irrelevant to Jewish life, since tithing laws only apply in the Land of Israel and few Jews were left there to practice them. Tu B’shvat was a day with legal significance; it was never celebrated as Jewish holiday in the manner of Succos or Pesach.

Throughout the centuries, however, the Baalei Kabalah [mystics] have focused on the Torah’s comparison of man to a tree [Devarim 20:19], and on how the tree serves as a metaphor to understand Hashem's relationship to the spiritual and physical worlds. Harav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his Sefer Derech Hashem [The Way of God], teaches that the higher spiritual realms are roots that ultimately manifest their influence through branches and leaves in the lower realms. Throughout the Mishnah and Talmud, comparisons of mankind to trees abound and there is much to be gleaned from studying them.

Noting Tu B’shvat’s prominence in the Jewish calendar, an emphasis was placed on using the day to seek insight into living and personal growth, particularly through the world of trees and fruit. The Mishnah Brurah [131:31] mentions an Ashkenazic custom to consume varieties of fruit on this day, and some even have a custom to partake of fifteen varieties corresponding to the day of the month that Tu B’shvat occurs on.

In the 16th century, the Baalei Kabalah of Tzfas compiled a Tu B'Shvat "seder," that vaguely resembles the Pesach seder. It involves enjoying the fruits of the tree, particularly those native to Eretz Yisroel, and discussing philosophical and Kabbalistic concepts associated with the day. A great emphasis was placed on appreciating the bounty that we so often take for granted, and learning how food consumption can be a spiritual experience.

The fact that the first sin committed by Adam and Chava entailed consuming the fruit of the Etz HaDaas is an area of particular emphasis. In fact, Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote, "My teacher [the holy Ariza”l] used to say that one must intend while eating the fruits [at the Tu B'Shvat Seder] to repair the sin of Adam who erred by eating fruit from the tree."

Although there is no question that this custom has its roots in prominent sources, it has not met widespread acceptance in traditional Jewish communities. In fact, many scrupulously observant Jews have never even heard of its existence. There are some who do celebrate, however, and each person should follow his/her custom.

More recently, this custom has been re-defined by some as a celebration of ecology, Israeli culture, or family values, in a manner that barely resembles its hallowed origins. Each group creates a pseudo “seder” that draws its inspiration from beliefs and values that are inconsistent with those of the the Kabbalists who sought to focus a person on the opportunity to draw oneself closer to Hashem through nature. Absent this dimension, it’s difficult to perceive how a celebration can be framed in the context of Tu B’shvat. return to top

Rabbi Elazar Meisels can be reached at rabbimeisels@partnersintorah.org

Hey, I never knew that!

Amazing Insights About the Weekly Parsha 
By Ozer Alport

1) Q: At the conclusion of most of the plagues, the source of the plague simply disappeared. Why did Hashem cause a strong west wind to carry the locusts into the Reed Sea (10:19) instead of simply eliminating them completely?
A: The Paneiach Raza explains that Hashem specifically sent the locusts into the Reed Sea so that when Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursued the Jews, the locusts emerged to attack them once again!

2) Q: Most of the laws pertaining to the Passover sacrifice which the Jews brought in Egypt also apply to the Passover sacrifice which was brought in the Mishkan or Temple by future generations. One exception is that the initial sacrifice had to be eaten hastily, a requirement unique to the first Passover. Why is this so?
A: Rav Tzaddok HaKohen of Lublin (Tzidkos HaTzaddik, 1) explains that whenever one wishes to begin a new undertaking, it must be done quickly. A person is naturally drawn after his habits, and in order to break from them he needs to seize upon his moment of inspiration and act immediately. Once he has successfully done so and is squarely on the new path he has chosen, he may continue to progress in small increments until he reaches his target. When the Jews were at the 49th level of impurity in Egypt, on the night they were to be transferred from being Pharaoh’s slaves to being Hashem’s servants, they were required to consume the Passover sacrifice – a symbol of the immoral idolatry of their Egyptian masters – with great alacrity. Once they were freed and had accepted the Torah, binding them to their new mission as Hashem’s chosen people, they were able to continue their growth in a more gradual and feasible manner.

3) Q: Hashem told Moses to command the Jewish people to place the blood from their Passover sacrifices on their doorposts. The blood was to serve as a sign indicating a Jewish house, so that during the killing of the firstborn Hashem would pass over the Jewish homes and not harm their occupants. Hashem is omniscient; He clearly knew who was in each house. What, then, was the purpose of this sign?
A: Rabbeinu Bechaye posits, that the blood symbolically demonstrated the Jews’ faith and trust that Hashem will protect and redeem them, to the point that they were willing to sacrifice one of the deities (a sheep) of their Egyptian masters and publicly display it. It was this unequivocal demonstration of faith which provided the merit for their protection and salvation. return to top

Ozer Alport can be reached at ozer@partnersintorah.org

Parsha Talk: For discussion around the Shabbos Table

If you or your guests come up with an original answer, please forward it to parsha@partnersintorah.org
1) If Hashem knew that Pharaoh wouldn’t allow the Jews to go free until after the final plague – the slaying of the firstborn – why didn’t He bring that plague at the very beginning, thereby saving the Egyptians much suffering and allowing the Jews to be freed and receive the Torah that much sooner?
2) In this week’s Torah portion the Jews were given the mitzvah of sanctifying the new month based upon the testimony of witnesses about the sighting of the new moon. This was the very first mitzvah which was given to the collective Jewish nation, to the point that Rashi (Genesis 1:1) even questions why the Torah begins with the Creation of the universe and not with this commandment. What deeper symbolic message is there in this mitzvah which made it the first one that Hashem gave to His newly-chosen people
return to top

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