These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1322 Chodesh Issues: Women and Kiddush Levana; Getting Married in Last Half of Chodesh? Good Shabbos!

At the beginning of Parshas Bo, Moshe and Aharon tell Pharaoh “…For if you refuse to send forth My people, behold, tomorrow I shall bring arbeh (a locust swarm) into your border. It will cover the eye of the land so that he will not be able to see the land; and it will consume the remaining residue that was left to you by the hail, and it will consume all the trees that grow for you from the field. They will fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all Egypt, such as your fathers and your grandfathers have not seen from the day they came onto the earth until this day.” (Shemos 10:4-6).

The Sefas Emes derives an inference from this last pasuk: The pasuk says that the parents and grandparents of the Egyptians never saw such a plague of locust until this day. The Sefas Emes says that the Ribono shel Olam brought back their parents and grandparents who already died, in order that they should be able to witness the plague of arbeh. They never saw such a locust plague until this day, but today they did see such a plague!

We thus have an instance of techiyas hameisim (resurrection of the dead), not for tzadikim (righteous people), but for resha’im (wicked people), in order that they witness this terrible plague that befell their children and grandchildren. The Sefas Emes further references an oft-quoted passage from the Zohar in Parshas Pinchas which states that when a person makes a simcha (e.g. – a chassanah, a bar mitzvah, etc.), the neshamos (souls) of the parents and grandparents who are no longer in this world, come, in some sense, to the simcha to witness and ‘participate in’ the joyous family occasion.

The Sefas Emes makes the interesting observation: The Ribono shel Olam takes the neshamos of the parents and grandparents of Yiden from Gan Eden and brings them to the simcha so that they should be able to witness the joyous event of their descendants. On the other hand, the Ribono shel Olam took the resha’im – the parents and grandparents of the Egyptians, who also made Klal Yisrael suffer so much, not in order that they should see and enjoy the simcha of their children and grandchildren, but so that they should see and ‘participate in’ the suffering of their children and grandchildren.

The Sefas Emes explains “how this works”: Regarding Klal Yisrael, the Almighty is “metzaref machshava tova l’maaseh.” (Hashem links our good intentions with actions.) He considers a good thought as having been consummated, even though in reality, it was never accomplished. However, with the goyim, Hashem is “metzaref” their “machshava ra’ah l’maaseh“. He holds them responsible for having acted wickedly, even for their evil plans that were never executed.

The Sefas Emes says: When a person makes a chassanah and he takes his children down to the chuppah k’das Moshe v’Yisroel (according to Jewish law and custom) and the parents are good and the children are good – part of the credit is due to the ‘machshavos tovos‘ (good thoughts) that the parents and the grandparents invested into their children. The Ribono shel Olam says “They have a part in this chassanah. The reason this next generation is able to bring their dear children down to the chuppah is because of all of the ‘machshavos tovos‘ that the parents and grandparents implanted in their children. Even if those thoughts and aspirations were not all fully fulfilled, the “machshava tova” was there, HaKadosh Baruch Hu joins a “machshava tova” to action even if the action was never fully consummated.

The reverse is true regarding the goyim. The Egyptians and their ancestors were all part of this evil plot to destroy Klal Yisrael. Their “machshava ra’ah” (evil thought) was a cause of this suffering. The Ribono shel Olam says: You caused this to happen? You implanted these wicked tendencies in your children? You are going to see the “nachas” of them suffering from the arbeh.

File This Away For Your Next Seder

I saw the following thought in Rav Avraham Buxbaum’s sefer. This is a beautiful insight and something to remember for the Pesach Seder. In describing the instructions given to Bnei Yisrael to be carried out during their last night in Mitzrayim, the pasuk says: “You shall take a bundle of hyssop and dip it into the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood that is in the basin, and as for you, you shall not leave the entrance of the house until morning.” (Shemos 12:22). No one was allowed to leave their house the entire night, not until the next morning.

Our Seder is basically a reenactment of Yetzias Mitzrayim. We try to do everything like they did the night before they left Mitzrayim. However, there is one anomaly. We do one thing at our Seder that was not done at that first Seder! When we say the paragraph “Sh’foch chamoscha…” (Pour out your wrath upon the nations who did not know you), we open the door.

Why do we open the door if we are trying to re-enact the first Pesach Seder? We should say “Don’t open the door! Keep that door closed. Nobody leaves here until morning!”

Rav Buxbaum says that we know from many different sources that Klal Yisrael was not worthy of leaving Mitzraim based on their own zechus (merit). “These people worship Avodah Zarah and these people worship Avodah Zarah!” The reason the Ribono shel Olam brought about Yetzias Mitzrayim was in the zechus of the Avos and in the zechus of Moshe and Aharon – but not in the zechus of the Jewish masses.

The Zohar writes that when Lot and his family were saved from the city of S’dom, they were warned: “Don’t look back! ” The reason they were not permitted to look back is because when the midas hadin (attribute of judgement) is rampant, only people who are righteous and are therefore “zoche ba’din” (merit salvation based on judgment) are saved. However, even though Lot was the best of the people of S’dom, Chazal say that he was guilty of many of the same moral shortcomings as the other inhabitants of S’dom. The Angels warned him not to look back because if he would look back, he would be caught up in the decree of judgment along with everyone else. In fact, the Zohar lists three times in Chumash when people were not supposed to look because they were not zoche ba’din: (1) Noach in the teivah was told to not look out; (2) Lot could not look back at the destruction of S’dom, and (3) the Jews in Mitzrayim could not go out during the night of Makas Bechoros (the Plague of the First-Born Sons). Klal Yisrael were not permitted to go out that night because they too lacked the personal zechus to escape that decree. The midas hadin ruled in Mitzrayim that night and undeserving Jewish firstborns could have been killed as well had they “looked.”

A person who is not worthy of a miracle or salvation should not look. The reason why we open the door during our Seder is in the hope that, G-d Willing, we will be zoche to salvation ba’din during the future geulah (redemption)! Therefore, when we conduct our Seder, we anticipate being zoche to personally witness the Divine wrath poured out upon the goyim. The Sefas Emes in fact says that in the pasuk “And you shall not go out from the doorway of your homes ad boker” (until morning), the term ad boker is an allusion to the future redemption, when we will hopefully be fully zoche to witness that salvation.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Technical Assistance by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Bo is provided below:

• # 040 Amirah L’Akum: The “Shabbos Goy”
• # 083 The Burning Issue of Smoking
• # 131 Sephardic vs. Ashkenazic Pronunciation Is There a Correct Way?
• # 178 Tefillin and Long Hair
• # 224 Kiddush Levanah
• # 268 The Consequence of Dropping Tefillin or a Sefer Torah
• # 314 Chumros in Halacha
• # 358 Mezzuzah-What Is a Door?
• # 402 Doing Work on Rosh Chodesh
• # 446 The Dog In Halacha
• # 490 The Lefty and Tefilin
• # 534 Rashi & Rabbeinu Ta’am’s Tefillin
• # 578 Tefilin on Chol Hamoed
• # 622 Ya’ale V’Yovo
• # 666 Dishwashers on Shabbos
• # 710 Checking Teffilin by Computer
• # 754 Cholent on Pesach – Why Not?
• # 798 Kiddush Lavanah – Moonshine on Purim
• # 842 What Should It Be? Hello or Shalom?
• # 886 Women and Kiddush Lavana
• # 930 Eating Matzo An Entire Pesach – A Mitzvah?
• # 973 Yaaleh Ve’yavoh
• #1017 Kiddush Levana on a Cloudy Night
• #1061 Rosh Chodesh Bentching (Bircas Ha’chodesh)
• #1104 How Long Must You Wear Your Tefillin?
• #1147 Hashgacha Pratis – Divine Providence – Does It Apply To Everyone?
• #1190 Kiddush Levana Issues
• #1234 Can Your Wife Put Your Tefilin on You?
• #1278 Oy Vey! My Tephillin Have Been Pasul Since My Bar Mitzvah
• #1322 Chodesh Issues: Women and Kiddush Levana; Getting Married in Last Half of Chodesh?
• #1366 I Don’t Open Bottle Caps on Shabbos, You Do. Can I Ask You to Open My Bottle?
• #1410 Saying U’Le’Chaporas Pesha In Musaf Rosh Chodesh In a Leap Year
• #1454 Why Don’t We Wear Tephillin at Mincha?
• #1498 What Should You Write January 21 2022 or 1-21-22 Or Neither?
• #1541 I Forgot to Turn on Air Conditioner Before Shabbos: Can I Ask a Non-Jew To Turn It On?
• #1584 Can Your Non Jewish Maid Push Your Baby Carriage on Shabbos For You?

A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.