BREATHLESS IN EGYPT

Parashat Va’era

Shevat 3, 5784 / January 12-13, 2024

Torah Reading : Exodus 6:2 - 9:35

Haftarah: Ezekiel 28:25 - 29:21

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of all the victims of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. Y’hi zikhronam liv’rakhah – May their memories be a blessing. And may the memory of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah and all their supporters be forever erased.

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On Monday, January 15, we'll be at BT Shabbat 121a, page 197 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1 –  "...ת'ר מעשה ונפלה דליקה"  - "Our Rabbis taught that a fire once broke out ....”

Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at:

https://hebrewbooks.org/9630   

A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:

https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents  

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Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/ 

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Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you should read at: 

https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com 

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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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BREATHLESS IN EGYPT

 
"And Moses spoke thus (as God had instructed him) to the Children of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of breath (mikotzer ruach) and hard work." Exodus 6:9

Rashi: Whoever is troubled, his wind and his breathing are short, and he cannot breathe a long breath.
 
Sforno: Their spirit prevented them from having faith in God, and they did not focus their hearts to understand.

 
Moses, following God's directions, has told the Israelites that they will be redeemed by God. But they ignore Moses, apparently because they are physically worn out - they are out of breath from being worked so hard by the Egyptians. 
 
The 16th-century commentator, Sforno, says “no”. (Note: the text says "shortness of breath AND hard work." {Emphasis added}) He understands kotzer ruach to mean a shortness of spirit (ruach can mean breath or spirit). He suggests that they were spiritually weak, unfocused, and consequently, they were punished by not being taken to the Promised Land - only their children, who had not had their spirits broken, would enter the land of Israel.
 
This seems rather harsh, somewhat like blaming the victim. But it is just the beginning of a pattern. No matter what God promises or does for the Israelites, before and after the exodus from Egypt, they never really believe - they never have faith. Even after all of the miracles, as we shall see in a few weeks, the Israelites create a golden calf to worship.
 
We often believe we are entitled to be redeemed simply because we have suffered. But we should also know that, just as one cannot recover from alcoholism (an insidious slavery) without working through the necessary steps, and just as one cannot firm up flabby muscles without physical exercise, one cannot be spiritually healed without doing spiritual work. We have to exercise our spiritual muscles the same way we work out at the gym - study Torah, pray, work at finding God, meditate, practice and live Judaism. You can get a spiritual rush - if you get pumped up!
 
Feel the burn - have a great Shabbat workout!
 
Shabbat Shalom!
 

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier

הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם

Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.

Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1

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INHUMANE HUMANITARIANS

Parashat Sh'mot

Tevet 25, 5784 / January 5-6, 2024

Torah: Exodus 1:1 - 6:1

Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22-23 (Ashkenazim); Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 (Sephardim)

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This d’var torah is offered in memory of long-time TBH member Ann Signett, who passed away on Wednesday, January 3. Funeral and shivah arrangements are pending.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of all the victims of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. Y’hi zikhronam liv’rakhah – May their memories be a blessing. And may the memory of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah and all their supporters be forever erased.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On Monday, January 8, we'll be at BT Shabbat 121a, page 197 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1 –  "...ת'ר מעשה ונפלה דליקה"  - "Our Rabbis taught that a fire once broke out ....”

Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at:

https://hebrewbooks.org/9630   

A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:

https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents  

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/ 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you should read at: 

https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com 

------------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

INHUMANE HUMANITARIANS

“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian man smiting a Hebrew man, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and buried him in the sand.” Exodus 2:11-12

Here is a cautionary and totally relevant for today explanation of these verses from The Rav, Yosef Ber Soloveitchik, z'l (1903-1993), as found in the English-language version of “Itturei Torah”: 

‘There were Jews in Egypt who deluded themselves into believing that there were Liberal Egyptians, who were first and foremost humanitarians. These assimilationists believed that the Jews had, first and foremost, to be “people”, without any special mark identifying them as Jews – that all had to assimilate and adapt to the environment. Yet here Moses saw an Egyptian “man”, a “liberal” – whenever the Torah uses the word “man”, it refers to a lofty individual – beating a person. And whom? A Hebrew “man”, one of his brethren, one of the assimilated Jews who had removed all signs of his Jewishness and had remained only a “man”. Nevertheless this was “a Hebrew man, one of his brethren” – when it came to being beaten, the man was one of his brothers, without the Egyptian differentiating between the loyal Jew and the assimilationist. “And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no man” – he realized that when the liberal deals with the Jews, the humanitarian feeling suddenly disappears. Therefore, Moses “slew the Egyptian” – we are not told “the Egyptian man”, but just “the Egyptian”, a heathen like all the heathens.’

This is not easy to read, for it contains a kernel of truth that many of us do not wish to acknowledge. I do not fully agree with The Rav – I believe one can adapt without fully assimilating; I believe one can (and must) maintain liberal values and practices even when one is shunned by other “liberals” (a position he does not explicitly reject) – but, to be honest, I do feel quite abandoned by “humanitarian” liberals and liberal institutions amidst their increasing tolerance and actual expressions of antisemitism. How about you?

Something to ponder. Your mileage may vary.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier

הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם

Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.

Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1

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Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!): 

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, and receive Cyber Torah every week in your mailbox, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 

Send requests for dedications of Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 

To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net