These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1366 I Don’t Open Bottle Caps on Shabbos, You Do. Can I Ask You to Open My Bottle? Good Shabbos!

The Pharaoh-Moshe Dialog Regarding Who Will Participate in the “Chag L’Hashem Machar“

In this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu warns Pharoah about the impending plague of arbeh (locust). Pharoah initially refuses to budge. His servants protest: “How much longer will this be a snare for us? Send out the men that they may serve Hashem their G-d! Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost?” (Shemos 10:7) Pharaoh then appeared to soften his position. He brought Moshe and Aharon back and asked them to specify “Mi v’mi ha’holchim?” (Who exactly will be leaving?) Moshe famously answered “B’neureinu u’b’zekeineinu neilech (We will go with our youth and our elders), with our sons and daughters, with our flock and with our cattle shall we go, because it is a ‘Chag l’Hashem lanu‘” (Festival to the L-rd for us). (Shemos 10:9) However, Pharoah was not prepared to accept such a universal holiday. “‘Not so, let the men go and serve Hashem, for that is what you have been asking.’ And he chased them out from before Pharoah.” (Shemos 10:11)

There is one glaring question on this pasuk. Pharoah said “Ki oso atem mevakshim” (for that is what you have been asking). Where did Pharoah get the idea that Moshe only asked for the adult men to go out? Pharaoh is making this up. It is fake news. The whole parsha never mentions once that Moshe requested that only the male adults leave! If Pharoah was willing to send out the men, let him present that as his own compromise proposal. It seems like he was claiming that he was conceding to a position previously offered by Moshe!

The answer to this question is based on a Medrash that is equally difficult to understand. The Medrash says that when Pharaoh asked “Mi v’mi ha’holchim,” he was alluding to something else. He was alluding to the fact that in the future, a Jewish leader would also use the expression “Mi v’mi.” Pharoah was alluding to the pesukim “Mi ya’aleh b’har Hashem u’mi yakum b’mkom kodsho? Neki kapayim u’bar leivov asher lo nasa l’shav nafshi v’lo nishba l’mirma.” (Who will ascend the Mountain of the L-rd and who will arise to His holy place? Someone of clean palms and pure heart who has not sworn in vain by My soul, and has not sworn deceitfully.) (Tehillim 24:3-4)

Of course, the Medrash does not mean that Pharaoh knew Sefer Tehillim and that he was actually quoting a pasuk from Dovid Hamelech’s classic composition. Rather, the Medrash is speaking of an allusion to a concept embodied in those pesukim in Tehillim.

The sefer Kometz Hamincha explains the dialog between Moshe Rabbeinu and Pharoah: They had a fundamental difference of opinion about religion. Pharaoh says “Listen here, I am religious myself. But in my religion, religious practice is reserved for the holy people in the nation. Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry is expected to engage in religious practice. And certainly not a bunch of children. It is reserved for people who can understand theology and the concept of a God. Consequently, when you advance a request ‘We want to go out and worship,’ in my mind it means you go out with the adults, with the elders. You go out with those about whom it is stated ‘Who will ascend the mountain of Hashem? (the type of people who are “Neki kapayim u’bar leivov“). Those types of people worship God. But children – what do they know? The rif-raf, the simple people – religion is not for the proletariat. Religion is reserved for the priests, for the kohanim.

Some religions endorse this philosophy until this day!

That is the thrust of Pharoah’s claim “For this is what you asked.” You want to have a religious service – a “Chag l’Hashem lanu?” I know what that means. It means the adults! Pharaoh could not even relate to the concept that children should be involved in the concept of “Chag l’Hashem lanu!” That is Pharaoh’s view of religion.

Moshe responds, “No. We don’t do it like that. We do it ‘b’neureinu u’b’zekeineinu‘” (with our children and with our elders). This statement itself is curious because normally we would place the “elders” before the “children”. However, here, Moshe first emphasizes that we go with the children and then mentions the elders. We know that the only way to perpetuate a religion is to inculcate the children when they are still young.

Unfortunately, people who are not aware of this fundamental principle of chinuch are at high risk for losing their children. There are people who think that maybe we need to deal with a child’s education until he is bar mitzva, but after that, he is on his own! That is not the way it works.

The extent to which we, as a Torah community, do this for our children – especially in this day and age – is incredible. We are very aware of the secret of “we go forth with our children and our elders.” Very few individuals of my age and generation had a “Haschalas Gemara Mesiba” (a party marking the occasion when someone starts learning Talmud). Now, we participate in such occasions when our children and grandchildren begin learning Gemara. The moment is commemorated as a significant educational milestone in the child’s life. Likewise, who of my generation went to a “Rebbe” when he put on Tefillin for the first time? My father taught me how to put on Tefillin at home. I went to shul the next day and I put on Tefillin!

Why do we do all of these things nowadays? We do all of them because we want to inculcate and infuse in our children the beauty and importance of mitzvos and the big deal that they are! Some people even take their children to Eretz Yisrael for hanachas Tefillin. Like everything else in life, it is possible to go over the top. To take a whole family to Eretz Yisrael for a bar mitzva boy’s first hanachas Tefillin is not “nussach Baltimore.”

With many such things, it is possible to “go over the top.” Someone sent me a copy of an invitation to a “Vach nacht.” (I was not personally invited, but someone sent me a copy that he received.) A “Vach nacht” is the night before a child’s bris, when the neighborhood children come and say Krias Shma. The new father gives them “goody bags” and they all have a good time. I saw an invitation for a “Vach nacht” in a hotel! It is easy to view this negatively as yet another over-the-top way to spend money. But there is also a positive perspective that this stems from giving prominence to mitzvos and the chinuch of our children.

At any rate, the underlying idea is true: We go forth with our youth and with our elders – but the emphasis is on the youth. If we want to be successful in giving over the legacy of our heritage, we cannot allow it to just be handled through “zekeineinu.” We always need to include and even put the “dagesh chazak” on neureinu.

The Dilemma of Accepting Reparation Money From the Egyptians

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin comments on a question we discussed recently (and many times in the past) on the pasuk “Please speak in the ears of the people and let each man request of his fellow and each woman of her fellow, vessels of silver and vessels of gold.” (Shemos 11:2). Why is there suddenly a need to preface the instruction to ask for money by the word “Please?” Since when is it necessary to beg people to ask for money?

We are all familiar with the Gemara (Berochos 9b) that Hashem’s request “Please ask them to request the money” was based on His prophecy to Avraham at the Bris Bein Habesarim. The Ribono shel Olam was concerned that Avraham should not complain that Hashem fulfilled His promise that Avraham’s descendants would be slaves for four hundred years but He did not fulfill His promise that “afterwards they would leave with great wealth.”

The obvious question is, would the Ribono shel Olam not have kept His own word if not for Avraham? Rav Zalman Sorotzkin gives an answer which reveals the historical perspective of the era in which he lived. He introduces his remark by stating: “The Chachomim raise this question and do not adequately answer it, until the current events of our time provided an answer.” In other words, this scriptural difficulty existed for thousands of years and could not be adequately understood until our generation.

He was referring to the then-burning issue of whether the State of Israel should accept reparation money from Germany for confiscated Jewish property during World War II. People in Israel were very torn about this issue. There were those who were adamant that “our murderers should not be our benefactors.” They did not want the Germans to feel that they could “pay us off” for the crimes they committed against us. Others felt that practically it was most proper for Germany to offer the money and for Israel to take it. (The former position was fiercely advocated by Menachem Begin, whose “Cherut” party was then the opposition in Knesset and the latter position, which was ultimately adopted, was advocated by Ben Gurion and his Labor Party, which then controlled the government.)

The first time I came to Eretz Yisrael, I noticed that all the taxis were Mercedes. To me – not that I ever contemplated spending $75,000 on a Mercedes – riding in a Mercedes was almost like a ‘yihareg v’al ya’avor” (capital offense). The same applied to riding in a Volkswagen (another brand of German automobile). For those who may have seen documentaries about World War II, Porsche was a fellow who had a factory that made cars. He built the Nazi tanks and contributed heavily to their war machine. I should drive a German car? No way!

And yet, in Eretz Yisrael, every Tom, Dick and Harry was driving a Mercedes. The explanation is that it was all part of the reparations. The automobiles were given to them at either a significantly reduced prices or for free.

This, then, was the debate in Eretz Yisrael: To take reparations or not? Is it a kappara (atonement for the Germans) or is it not a kappara? Do we allow them to get a kappara or do we not allow them to get a kappara? What should we do?

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin noted: We can study this debate to analyze the emotions of our ancestors who were leaving Mitzrayim. The same dispute played out in Mitzrayim three thousand years earlier. Certainly, there were people who could never make peace with the memory that the Mitzrim killed their children. They threw them into the Nile and used them as bricks in building the pyramids. They considered the silver and gold they were supposed to ask the Egyptians to give them to be “blood money.” They protested: “I should accept money for the life of my son who they killed?” Others argued, “No! The Jewish people deserve compensation for all their 210 years of slave labor. It is time for the Mitzrim to pay up!”

Rav Zalman Zorotzkin said that the Ribono shel Olam saw this dilemma. Therefore, he did not give a straight-out command: “Take the money!” He knew that for some people, that would be too difficult. It went against their grain and therefore He did not demand that they take it. Rather, he politely requested: Please take the money… so that Avraham Avinu will not say I did not keep my promise. I understand your dilemma and your hesitation regarding taking the money, but I need to make this request of you because I have a commitment to Avraham Avinu. Even though you are uncomfortable with it, please do Me a favor and take the money.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Edited 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?
• #1622 – The Halachos of Pets on Shabbos

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