Thursday, January 18, 2024

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bo

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.

R' Frand said two vorts tonight which were predicated on the Ramban on Parshas Bo. The first vort related to Shemos 10:6 where after Moshe tells Pharaoh that the plague of Arbeh was coming, the Torah writes  וַיִּ֥פֶן וַיֵּצֵ֖א מֵעִ֥ם פַּרְעֹֽה. Thereafter, the Torah writes that Pharaoh's slaves try to convince Pharaoh to let the Jews leave and then Moshe and Aharon were brought back to Pharaoh.

The Ramban writes that when Moshe left, it was before receiving a response to his request that the Jews be allowed to leave. The reason for his departure was to allow the Egyptians to confer about his warning. In fact, this occurred each time that Moshe warned the Egyptians that a plague was coming. 

R' Frand quoted R' Simcha Zisil Brody who explained and developed the Ramban. He asked - why did Moshe leave? Shouldn't he have stayed around and been available for questions or to offer advice? He answered that Moshe knew that human nature is to resist being told to do something and that if he stayed and offered advice it would be rejected. So Moshe left and allowed them to come to their own conclusions as to how to proceed. 

R' Frand also quoted R' Brody for the principle that a person has problems seeing his own flaws. How then can we get direction? From our spouse who is not seen as an outsider and who (hopefully) will be able to tell us when we are being an idiot. R' Brody tied this to a Gemara in Yevamos 63a in which R' Elazar says that any man without a wife is not a (complete) man. This is not an exaggeration as we can see from when we make the Beracha Yotzeir HaAdam. It is not said at birth, nor at the bris or at the Bar Mitzvah. Instead it is said under the Chuppah as a man is not a complete man until he is married.

R' Frand also quoted the last Ramban on the parsha which asks - why do we have so many mitzvos which are intended to remind us of being taken out of Egypt? He answers that with Yetzias Mitzrayim, Hashem answered the skeptics who questioned if Hashem existed, or if He is aware of what takes place on earth and if He is in control. By taking the Jews out of Egypt with great open miracles, He showed that He does exist, is aware of what takes place here and does care about what happens.

The Ramban further explains that Hashem does not make open miracles daily and for that reason, people can forget His involvement. Therefore we are given so many Mitzvos that cause us to remember Yetzias Mitzrayim. Because for a person to have a portion in the Torah he needs to be aware that just like there were open miracles, there are also hidden miracles and that what happens here is not simply "nature", it is Hashem's divine acts which are all hidden miracles.

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