Thursday, January 16, 2020

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shemos

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

Rabbi Frand first said a vort discussing Hashem's direction to Moshe to return to Egypt as it states in Shemos 4:19 - וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֶל־משֶׁה֙ בְּמִדְיָ֔ן לֵ֖ךְ שֻׁ֣ב מִצְרָ֑יִם כִּי־מֵ֨תוּ֙ כָּל־הָ֣אֲנָשִׁ֔ים הַֽמְבַקְשִׁ֖ים אֶת־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ - Moshe was commanded to go back to Egypt because the people who wanted to kill him have died.

R' Frand quoted the Da'as Zekeinim M'Ba'alei HaTosafos which cites a gemara in Avodah Zarah which states that the people who wanted to kill Moshe were Dasan and Aviram. But they were not dead? The gemara explains that they must have become poor, because a poor person is considered like dead (Ani Nechshav C'Meis).

The Da'as Zekeinim then asks - how do we know that they were poor? After all, there are four categories of people who are considered like dead - the Metzora, the person without children, a blind person and a poor person. The Da'as Zekeinim then proves that Dasan and Aviram could not fit into the other categories, as they could not have been Metzoraim as they would have been sent outside the camp and there is no indication that this occurred. It cannot be that they had no children, as in Parshas Korach there is a mention of their children being punished with them. Similarly, it cannot be that they were blind, as there is a mention of being blinded in Parshas Korach.

R' Frand then asked - but why could they not have been blind at the time and healed at Har Sinai when all those with ailments were healed? He answered that everyone who was healed at Har Sinai saw their affliction return after the sin of the Egel.

R' Frand then quoted R' Baruch Sorotzkin who asked - why were these people punished when others seemingly were not? After all, the people who had been miraculously healed saw their ailments return, but no one else was sickened?

R' Sorotzkin answered that the people who were miraculously healed were obligated to change the way they lived their life, because they were healed. When those people sat back and did not react when the people sinned with the Egel, they were punished as they proved themselves as unworthy of the miracle when they did not stand up and protest.

R' Frand said a second vort in connection to the reunion of Moshe and Aaron at Har HaElokim which was the same mountain that the Torah would be given on later - Har Sinai. He noted that in Parshas Yisro the Torah states in Shemos 19:2  וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר - they encamped but the Torah uses singular form. The meforshim explain that they were like one man with one heart.

Rashi explains that this was the one and only time that the Jews encamped without infighting or bickering.

What was unique here? R' Frand quoted a sefer called Toras Hashem (whose author was unknown to him) who uses the principle Ma'seh Avos - Siman L'Banim - the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children. When Moshe and Aaron met - there was incredible love and selflessness, as Moshe had protested that Aaron should lead and Aaron was pious and genuinely happy that his younger brother was the leader.

This sense of achdus was infused into the location, so that years later when the Jews came to Har Sinai, they too felt like one.

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