"Instead of stinging nettle, myrtle will rise" (Isaiah 55:13)
 "Instead of evil, good will rise." (The Malbim's Interpretation)
Myrtle Rising
  • Blog
  • Comments Disabled
    • Privacy Policy
  • Aliyah
    • Mini-Intro
    • General Cultural Insights
    • School Tips
  • Kli Yakar Index
  • Most Popular
  • Contact

The Kli Yakar - Parshat Yitro

28/1/2016

0 Comments

 

The Beautiful Truth about Remarriage

וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ כֹהֵן מִדְיָן, חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה
“And Yitro, the priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moshe, heard….” (18:1)

​Why is it that when Yitro heard about Hashem taking the Jews out of Egypt and splitting the Sea did he decide to take his daughter and grandsons to their husband and father?
The Kli Yakar quotes Sandhedrin 22a:
“Unification [between two people in marriage] is as difficult as the splitting of the Reed Sea”—and this means a second marriage.

And it appears that this second marriage means to bring back his divorcee because the separation and unification resemble the separation and unification of the waters of the Sea because at the beginning, the waters joined in a natural bond.

And when Hashem’s Zealous Wind passed over them [the waters] to enable an expanse between that which was joined together, that makes it difficult to join them together [again].

​Even so, he [Yitro] saw that when Hashem wanted their “rejoining,” their unification came about beautifully.

According to the Kli Yakar, Yitro initially thought that when Moshe sent Tzipporah away with a get, that it was the same as removing a rib:
There is no way to return it to the body as it once was.
​
Up until the parting of the Sea, Yitro assumed that there was no way to, in the words of the Kli Yakar, “dwell in love and friendship as before.”

​But when he heard how the waters split and rejoined in perfect harmony, then he realized that remarriage — with the initial harmony — was also possible.

How Jewish Exile in Egypt, the Exodus & the Splitting Sea Refute Polytheism

אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֱלֹהִים לְמֹשֶׁה וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַמּוֹ
“….about all that God did for Moshe and Yisrael His nation….” (18:1)

But the reason Yitro came in and of himself was because Hashem’s actions proved something to him.

Previously, many people of that time followed Mani, who preached that there were two opposing forces (Good and Evil) in the world represented by two gods.

And the good god can’t do any evil — including to stop or hurt in any way those who persecute his followers — so people felt that there was no point in worshiping the “good” god because the “good” god could not protect them in any meaningful way.

Yet because the bad god cannot do any good, it was also useless to worship him because while he could protect his followers by destroying their persecutors, the bad god could not really do much else for them because he is incapable of doing anything nice that would benefit them.

So the sincere polytheist was stuck.

Then Yitro heard about Hashem, and how Hashem did amazingly good things for Moshe and Yisrael, while doing some pretty bad things to the Egyptians.

He also realized that it wasn’t a matter of a Jewish power merely being stronger than an Egyptian power because Hashem also did some unpleasant things to the Jews (like slavery) and some nice things for the Egyptians (like being a world superpower).

The Kli Yakar explains it more in depth, but in a nutshell, the above is what convinced Yitro that there is only One Source for everything.

The Importance of having a Man in the Home

וַיִּקַּח יִתְרוֹ חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה אֶת-צִפֹּרָה אֵשֶׁת מֹשֶׁה אַחַר שִׁלּוּחֶיהָ
“And Yitro, the father-in-law of Moshe, took Tzipporah the wife of Moshe after he sent her away.” (18:2)

The Kli Yakar starts off by quoting Yitro: “Go out for your wife Tzipporah because ‘a man who wanders from his place is like a bird that wanders from his nest’ (Mishlei 27:8),” adding that Yitro came to remind Moshe of the suffering (tza’ar) of Moshe’s wife all the time she was “wandering” from her house. [This seems to be a metaphorical description of how a loving wife feels when she doesn’t have her husband around — unanchored, per se.]

​Yitro continues, “And if not for her” — and the Kli Yakar interjects, “Because perhaps a person doesn’t feel so much the tza’ar of his wife” — “then go out for the sake of your son....”

​Yitro came to remind Moshe of the “suffering of children who are not seated at the table of their father” [because the father isn’t there].

The Kli Yakar points out that the Torah’s mentioning of the names of Moshe’s wife and sons contains a message: 
….he [Moshe] should come for the sake of his wife, who was like a bird [tzipor] wandering from her nest; because of the anguish she suffered, it is fitting to honor her and go out to meet her.

​And thus, for his son [Gershom] because he [Moshe] was a stranger [ger] in a strange land, and so on for the name Eliezer because in this it is as if he went out at Hashem’s call [because the name Eliezer contains a Name of Hashem—El].

Judicious Judges

Picture
Later, in 18:21, the Kli Yakar goes through all the attributes a judge/dayan must have, which is definitely worth a read, but simply too much to explore in this post.

​Basically, you need to be humble with Hashem and fearful of His Judgement and tough and courageous with people (especially the rich and powerful ones), in addition to being extremely wise and knowledgeable.


Daughter, Sister, Mother — The Different Relationships Possible with Hashem

Then (19:4) the Kli Yakar explores the different levels of relationship Hashem has with the Jewish people as found in Shir Hashirim:
  • My daughter — Hashem loves us like a father loves his daughter, but the relationship is one of Hashem’s dominion over us (which is still pretty nice).
 
  • My sister — Hashem loves us like one loves his sister. Of course, the Kli Yakar points out, the love for a daughter is greater than the love for a sister. But here it implies a certain equality because in a sibling relationship, one does not have authority over the other. This is level implies that we are partners with Hashem. The Kli Yakar notes that tzaddikim reach this level of Hashem’s Love.
 
  • My mother — This is an incredible concept because it implies a dominion on the part of the human being. However, this is the level in which the concept of “A tzaddik decrees and Hashem carries it out”— or as the Kli Yakar describes it, that the Jewish people possesses the potential to be as “….kings for Me, in that I establish a decree and the tzaddik annuls it.”

The Why and How of Communicating Differently based on Gender

וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר
And God spoke all these things, saying….” (20:1)

​The Kli Yakar references 19:3, acknowledging the well-known differentiation between dibur as a harsher form of speaking — as Hashem instructed Moshe speak to the Jewish males—and amira as being a softer form of speaking — as Hashem instructed Moshe to speak to the Jewish females.

The Kli Yakar offers an example of a harsher form of speaking with the statement of Rashi quoting Sifra on Yayikra 20:26: “A person should not say ‘It is not possible for me to eat pork because my soul abhors it,’ but instead, ‘It’s possible, but the Holy One Blessed Be He has made a decree upon me’.”

But then he says,
But nevertheless, for women — who are weak of intellect — it is necessary to explain with soft speech to make known to them the benefit of the mitzvot because every person of intellect accepts upon himself the decrees of Hashem and those of weak intellect need an explanation in order for them [these precepts] to become part of their nature.

The term used here for "those of weak intellect" is not daat kalah, but chalushei haseichel. (Daat kalah refers to something else and has nothing to do with one's intellectual intelligence.)

The translator of the Kli Yakar, Rabbi Elihu Levine notes, “The Kli Yakar is speaking about a time when women in general were ignorant, not at all being educated. Therefore, they were more emotionally driven and less intellectually driven. This is certainly not the case in our time, when women are given opportunities to learn Torah subjects.” [Shemos II, page 53, footnote 245]

However, I also think this could refer to women being more right-brained than left-brained.


In today's world, for example, men still dominate the more left-brained fields of science & technology. And this is despite a decades-long push to encourage women to enter these fields. Scholarships, encouragement, and the active seeking-out of female applicants haven't done much to increase female participation in these areas.

Yes, there are women in these areas, but far less than men.

So I think the Kli Yakar could possibly refer to women's lesser emphasis on the left-brain because he didn't say women are weaker in daat or chachmah (wisdom) or haskalah (education), but seichel — intellect — maybe more of a left-brained intellect.

Internalizing Torah according to Nature

Certainly in my personal experience, encountering religious Jews who are either illiterate or functionally literate but don’t really utilize their literacy, has shown me that such people do indeed tend to be more emotionally driven, regardless of gender, and communication with them is very different than with people who have more scholastic knowledge.

Regarding secular Jews (who are mostly not Torah-knowledgeable), a large part of kiruv is convincing people, not only that there is a God and that He gave us the Torah, but also convincing them of the benefit of actually keeping the Torah.  

But rationally speaking, isn’t the mere fact that there is a God, that there is a Judge and Judgment, and that He commanded us to keep the Torah — isn’t that enough?

But the truth seems to be — no, it’s not.

Even in the FFB community, learning taharat hamishpacha, for example, is usually accompanied by inspiring stories about infertile or quarreling couples who later started keeping taharat hamishpacha and then happily gained a child or shalom bayit. Or stories of couples who, via taharat hamishpacha, managed to produce children of high spiritual stature.

All this despite the fact that a brief glance around will tell you that there are many people who keep this important mitzvah properly and are still infertile, or suffer through an inharmonious marriage, or have children who leave Judaism.

What I mean is that there is a difference between saying, “Hey, we can’t have kids. Maybe Hashem is trying to tell us that we need to look at our observance (or lack thereof) of taharat hamishpacha?” as opposed to expecting, “If I do this, then I’ll get that.”

In short, the difference is to dig down for the message the challenge presented by Hashem while dropping any expectation that keeping this mitzvah will gain you anything in This World beyond a spiritual pleasure.

Within this same discussion, the Kli Yakar explains that when Moshe will later use these same terms at the beginning of Parshat Haazinu, “Listen, O Heavens and I will speak (adabera—dibur) and the land will hear the sayings (imrei—amira) of my mouth, the first part alludes to people of sky-high spiritual stature while the second part alludes to “amei ha’aretz”— people whose knowledge is as low as the “aretz—land.”

Yet the Kli Yakar’s language implies more than mere acquisition of knowledge—the implication is the internalization of Torah knowledge. When discussing above the need to use softer speech with women, he says in Hebrew:
וחלושי השכל צריכין הסברה כדי שיהיו בצביונם
“V’chalushei haseichel tzrichin hasbara kadei sheh yiyu b’tzivyonam.”

B’tzivyonam indicates that the mitzvot need to be part of their nature, part of their actual form — something that can only happen via internalization.
​
(The implications go much deeper, but I’ll stop here.)

Different Strokes for Different Genders

Regardless of the reason, the dictum to speak differently to males and females is a wise one.

I've noticed that when females are repeatedly talked to in a tough manner and issued commands (something along the lines of, "Just do it because that's what you're supposed to do!") as opposed to a gentler approach, it destroys their positive feminine qualities. They can become these non-nurturing hardened scoffing cynics who idealize negative masculine qualities. So they end up internalizing the worst of both worlds.

The above, BTW, is very different than what the Kli Yakar advises. He does not say to try to change women or put the burden of adaptation on them, but rather to adapt and communicate according to the female orientation.

​This is very different than what I have seen in some segments of both the non-Jewish and the frum community in which people expect women to do the adjusting
...with the results that are mentioned above. We can argue and get all offended about whatever we want to argue and get offended about, but Hashem has clearly set things up in a certain way.

When carried out correctly, there is nothing condescending about it.

In the non-Jewish community, it is just a big mess with manipulators and confused people determining contradictory "appropriate" attitudes and modes of conduct.

But in the frum community, the expectation for women to adjust their innate communication style seems to result more from impatient and condescending men (who don't really seem to like the feminine personality or feminine qualities much) combined with self-hating women (who also don't really seem to like the feminine personality or feminine qualities much).
 

On the other hand, throughout my school years, I noticed that best male teachers (often ex-Marines) showed a very tough attitude toward the boys, but treated the girls like ladies — and they never had any discipline problems from either. Furthermore, the gentler approach did not inhibit the girls' ability for scholastic achievement.

In fact, when I was at Bar-Ilan University, there was one frum professor who could switch in an instant. He would act like an impassioned Gemara partner when questioned by a male student, but if a female student interjected, he immediately transformed into an elegant gentlemen, answering her question fully and with great courtesy.

And we female students never felt patronized by this in any way because he was doing this out of respect (and because the Torah told him to), and not out of condescension.

In contrast, when I was in 10th-grade English, the male teacher started off by telling us with great glee how hard he was going to make us work and how much we were going to suffer under his tutelage.

​He went on dramatically like this for around fifteen minutes
, concluding with the idea that if we could make it through his class, we would know our stuff pretty well and have skills that would benefit us for the rest of our lives. (This ended up being true, by the way.)

Some of the boys got really excited and were saying things like, "All riiiiight!" (Other boys looked cynical or bored.) Most of the girls just sat there looking nervous or taken aback, with one or two girls laughing. But even the laughing girls (straight-A students who played competitive sports) didn't express any enthusiasm about his method.

Ultimately, some students did well in his class, but some didn't. The teacher was forced to soften up his method halfway through the year because students were losing motivation and enjoyment of a subject they formerly loved and doing poorly.

But back to treating women more gently than men...

It’s maybe like when a man holds a door open for a woman:

Is it because he thinks she’s a pathetic weakling who can’t even open a door on her own or is it out of respect for her femininity? (Or is he is trying to impress her with his chivalry?)

It depends on the man, of course, but in the vast majority of situations, it is clearly meant as a courtesy (maybe combined with the desire to impress, depending on the guy).

Food for thought…
 
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 

The Hebrew text is courtesy of Machon Mamre.
For a wonderful rendering of the Kli Yakar into English, please see Rabbi Elihu Levine's translation.
0 Comments

The Kli Yakar - Parshat Beshalach

21/1/2016

1 Comment

 
This week's Kli Yakar expounds on:
  • the Erev Rav
  • the role of Jewish women at the Sea and with the manna
  • the woman’s role in the future​

The Essential Link between Desire and Emuna

​“And it was one Pharoah sent out the nation….” (13:17)

“And Hashem took the nation around through the Wilderness, the Reed Sea, and Bnei Yisrael went up armed from the land of Egypt.” (13:18)

The Kli Yakar does not interpret “armed” as bearing physical weapons.

He notes that Jewish wars are not dependent on the strength and quantity of weapons. After all, he says, it doesn’t exactly demonstrate Hashem’s Glory if they march out armed to the teeth (as the word chamush [armed] implies five weapons per man), as opposed to marching out courageously unarmed and relying solely on Hashem.

Furthermore, he notes that at that point, the Jews could not have been skilled at using weapons because they’d been overwhelmed with performing slave labor.

So the Kli Yakar concludes that chamushim [armed] alludes to the Torah, which is called the Chumash because it contains 5 books. (In Hebrew, the number five is chamesh.)

​And because chamushim is synonymous with mezuyanim (armed), the number seven also means something (due to its root, zayin, the 7th letter of the Alef-Bet). And because Tehillim 119:164 states: "Seven times each day have I praised You," the Kli Yakar concludes that the Jewish nation’s true weapons are Torah and prayer.

Thus, the Kli Yakar states:
Immediately upon wanting to go to the Midbar (Wilderness/Desert)—and they didn’t say, "How can we go to the Midbar, an unsown land?"—they acquired emuna.

And with this first acquisition, they were considered as if they were rooted in it [emuna].

Therefore, it says, "And they went up armed (chamushim)"—meaning that at that time, when they went up from the land of Egypt to the Midbar. And their process of acquiring emuna was finalized at the Reed Sea.

Why was this act of desire, this act of "wanting" so powerful?

Well, in the above verses, the Torah uses the word Am, generally translated as "nation." But Am is also a metaphor for different groups of people and therefore contains different meanings. This post will discuss only two of those.

Meaning  #1 (which explains why the very act of wanting and then actually going meant so much for their acquirement of emuna):

The Jewish people were not yet any different than the other nations. Practically speaking, they did not even have their own weapons or any way to defend themselves as normal nations do.
​
Spiritually speaking, they had not yet officially received the Torah and they did not have their unique status as God’s Chosen People, accompanied by their distinctive potential for the perfection unique to those who uphold the Torah’s commandments.

So on all levels, they were totally defenseless.

Yet they still followed Hashem out of Egypt.
Picture
The Sinai Desert
Meaning #2: The Erev Rav.
While the regular Jews would not return to Egypt under any circumstances, Hashem knew that the Erev Rav would run back the moment they faced battle. The circuitous route to the Promised Land was necessary solely because of them.
.…for Bnei Yisrael, this whole circuitous route was not necessary because Bnei Yisrael went up armed with weapons because they are believing sons, the sons of believers and people who trust in Hashem’s Salvation—and that is their weapon. And they would be trustworthy in war.

​But any decrease of trust (bitachon) comes from the Erev Rav….

The Erev Rav

“And the king of Egypt was told that the people (the Am) had escaped….” (14:5)

Here, Pharaoh’s use of Am refers to the Erev Rav again.

Now, contrary to popular belief, Pharaoh did not chase down the nascent Jewish nation with a huge army. According to the Kli Yakar, he didn’t have time to get all the equipment together from all over Egypt.

Furthermore, after the 10 Plagues, there were hardly any animals left with which to equip an army. So he just took what there was from his nation’s capital and set out after the Jewish people.

Why was Pharaoh so confident about recapturing millions of people with such a small army?

Because he relied on the innate faithlessness and cowardice of the Erev Rav.

He was sure that the Erev Rav, upon realizing they were trapped between a wasteland, a sea, and the Egyptian army, would say, "Hashem has turned away from Yisrael" and want to come back to Egypt.
​
The Kli Yakar quotes Pharaoh as saying, 
"….it is certainly the will of the Erev Rav to return Egyptward, except that Yisrael doesn’t allow them to do so. And when they’ll see that we are coming to their aid (l’ezratam), they will rebel against Yisrael and will return to us…." ….And now, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants turned toward the Am [the Erev Rav] and his heart turned from hatred to love, as he said, "Now I need them because without a doubt, they will be a help for me when they see that Hashem has turned away from Yisrael."

(More about the origins of the hatred of the Egyptians for the Erev Rav can be found in Who were The Original Erev Rav?)

Of course, this holds several parallels with the Jewish situation today:
  • The fact that Pharaoh was so certain in his belief that Hashem had abandoned the Jewish people and that the Erev Rav would interpret the situation in that way, too.
  • The fact that Pharaoh saw his pursuit, accompanied by the intent to re-enslave them, as "coming to their aid"—or, in the words of Ronald Reagan: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I’m from the government and I’m here to help!' "
  • And see how Pharaoh hated the Erev Rav, but in their moment of seeming helplessness, he suddenly loved them.

"Aw, look at that," you can imagine the Erev Rav saying. "Pharaoh loves us!"

How touching.

And don’t we see those in our nation today who hanker after the "love" of our enemies?
 
Today, our enemies rely on the disloyalty of the Erev Rav—and with good reason.

Despite claims to the contrary, Israel does not actually need the world’s approval as much as everyone claims. Israel is a nuclear power and one of the prime innovators in a variety of necessary fields: the USB flash drive, micro-irrigation, e-reader technology, weapons technology, intelligence, Intel technology, medical clowns, surgical techniques, and much, much more.

While some wring their hands about the Swedes (or anyone else) boycotting our products, it would be so easy—and much more distressing—for Israel to boycott them or anyone else in the world.
​
(Or at least sell to them at wildly inflated prices.)

And we have seen many times how alleged Jews—even externally frum ones—are willing to not only abandon the Jewish people, but in the words of the Kli Yakar, actually rebel against them—just as Pharaoh expected the Erev Rav to do against Bnei Yisrael. Heartbreakingly, there are many present-day examples of this.

At the time of this writing, the assault on Amona is the only the most recent example.

The Jewish Women at the Crossing of the Sea

“Then Moshe and Bnei Yisrael sang this song (shira) to Hashem….” (15:1)

This blog already discussed the Kli Yakar’s differentiation between the masculine shir (song) and the feminine shira (song) in relation to the suffering inherent in childbirth in Parshat V’zoht Habracha.

Basically, all the songs of This World are called shira because suffering continues even after people are done singing a joyous song.

But in our glorious future, we will all sing shir—because there will be no more suffering after the song is over.

Here, the Kli Yakar explains that not only do women suffer a lot from childbirth—while men don’t—but that a woman only inherits a tenth of her father’s estate "in This World"—while a man inherits it all.
​
In parallel, he writes, Yisrael currently "inherits" from Hashem the territory of only 10% of the nations in This World (7 out of a total of 70 nations).

Yet regarding our glorious future, Tehillim 33:3 says, “Sing to Him a new shir.”

Furthermore, the term used in this verse--yashir—actually means "will sing"—a hint at the Resurrection of the Dead, according to the Kli Yakar.

And then Yisrael will inherit everything, like men do now.
Because in the World to Come, everyone will be shed from the physical, and then males and females will be equal. 

The Kli Yakar sees yet another hint of this future in the Mechilta’s well-known statement: "A maidservant saw at the Sea what Yechezekel never saw" and Yirmeyahu 31:21: "A female tisovev a man."

This word lisovev (its infinitive form) seems open to different interpretations.

Literally, it clearly means "to encircle" or "to go around."

Rashi interprets it as "will go after," as in "to return after the male to request of him that he’ll marry her" (and most of the commentators follow this interpretation), while at the same time acknowledging that Rebbi Yehudah Hadarshan interpreted it as "a woman will go around to become a man."

Rabbi Elihu Levine (who produced the fabulous English rendering of the Kli Yakar) translates it as "should surpass" while acknowledging Rashi's interpretation as "will court" (as in courting someone for marriage).

Yet when our Sages speak of how Hashem is misavev something, it generally means "orchestrates" or "arranges."

The commentaries interpret this verse in a wholly metaphorical manner, while the Kli Yakar (apparently following Rebbi Yehudah Hadarshan) takes it literally.

So I’m not going to translate because I’m not sure how.

(But I’m open to suggestions.)

Furthermore, the Kli Yakar notes that in another 20 verses, it says, "And Miriam replied to them/lahem," which is the masculine form, as opposed to lahen, the feminine form of "to them."

So let’s go there now.
 
“And Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took the drum in her hand and all the women went out after her with drums and dancing. And Miriam replied to them (lahem), ‘Sing to Hashem for He is the Most Exalted'….” (15:20-21)
….because the prophecy started within Miriam and all the women went out following in her footsteps here because they all merited prophecy. And because the Divine Presence cannot rest on anyone unless they are in a state of joy, and because women experience the suffering of childbirth, so she [Miriam] took the drum in her hand and all the women went out after her with drums and dancing so that the holy spirit (ruach hakodesh) would come upon them amidst joy.
PictureThe Reed Sea at the coast of the Sinai Desert
The Kli Yakar notes that Miriam Haneviah addressed the women in masculine form because at the Sea, they merited the same level of prophecy as the men. 

Reading his entire commentary on this event, the Kli Yakar automatically assumes the men’s attainment of this high level of prophecy, while he considers the fact that the women received the same level to be a wondrous thing.

And no, I don’t know why he differentiates in this way when he clearly acknowledges a woman’s ability to attain prophecy on her own, as is seen in his commentary regarding other prophetesses like Sara Imeinu, Rivka Imeinu, Miriam Haneviah, etc.

 
Later, the Kli Yakar explains that macholot (dancing) is related to the word for forgiveness (mechilah). He says that we also learn from Miriam’s dancing that anyone who "utters a song" after a miracle was done for him, "it is known that he [or she!] is forgiven for all their sins."

(This is great advice, by the way.)


Jewish Women and the Manna from Heaven

“And each man said to his brother, ‘What is it?’…..”(16:15)
 
The Kli Yakar notes that in verse 16:31, it says, "the house of Yisrael (beit Yisrael) called it manna."
​
Why doesn’t it say "Bnei Yisrael [children of Israel]"?
….Because “beit Yisrael” means “the women”….the women were the most fond of the manna, so they named it….they wanted its existence because it made the righteousness of the women known….it told who sinned against whom—the husband against his wife or his wife against him.
​
If the manna was found by her father’s house then certainly, her husband sinned against her and vice versa, etc. Therefore, the women were fond of it because it made their righteousness known because the majority of women are wronged (menutzachim) by the men….

(Linguistic note: The word menutzachim comes from the word l'natzeach, which means to conquer or be victorious over. I'm not sure whether "wronged" is the best translation here, but I'm open to suggestions.)

Well, that’s all I can fit in this week. There is a lot more to the Kli Yakar’s commentary on this week’s parsha (regarding physical and spiritual healing, etc.), but this will have to do for now.
1 Comment

The Breslover on a Bicycle: A Love Story

19/1/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
One summer evening, my teenage son and his friends saw a Yerushalmi man in his thirties trying to ride a bicycle.

The bike kept wobbling and falling, but the man seemed cheerfully determined to ride it.

​He noticed the boys watching him and said, "It must seem pretty odd to see a guy learning how to ride a bicycle at my age, eh?"

The boys smiled bashfully and nodded.

The chassid spoke the kind of Hebrew that, while clearly fluent, still indicated that he was more used to speaking Yiddish.

"Well," he said, "I grew up in the Geula-Meah Shearim area of Jerusalem and we weren’t allowed to ride bikes."

He didn’t seem at all resentful about it and added that he really liked how he grew up—"but bicycles just weren’t an acceptable activity in my circles, that's all."

My son nodded. He learns in a Geula yeshiva and is familiar with the different customs of different groups in that area.

"But now," the chassid continued, "I live in Bnei Brak and in order to go to hasadeh (the field) to do hitbodedut (personal prayer), I need a bicycle. It’s too far to walk and the buses don’t really go there."

The boys stared at him without replying.

Hitbodedut? Hasadeh? He could only be Breslov.

But in those boys' world, all Breslovers were Sefardi Israeli baalei teshuvah.

So it was easy for them to forget that Breslov—like every other Chassidus—started out in Eastern Europe among Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews whose descendents ended up in Jerusalem and who wore black pants tucked into white socks just below the knee.

My son also enjoyed how this seemingly typical chalmer (a Chassid born and raised in the Geula-Meah Shearim area) still used Breslov terms like hitbodedut and hasadeh (literally "the field," but Breslovers use it colloquially to indicate a place in nature in which to do hitbodedut).

The boys asked him if he knew Rav Shalom Arush and he said that he had run into Rav Arush b’sadeh ("in the field") a couple of times and had liked him very much, and felt a lot of respect and admiration for all the work Rav Arush was doing.

Then he asked the boys for bicycle-riding tips and they told him he needed to pedal faster to maintain balance, even giving him a personal demonstration.

After watching them do it, he got back on his bicycle and tried pedaling faster. Sure enough, the riding went a lot smoother.

He thanked the boys and, with a cheerful wave, he rode away to keep on practicing.

It was the kind of encounter that only Hashem can orchestrate, the kind that no matter good a parent you try to be, you really need an interaction like this to inculcate certain principles into your child:
​
  • The most mundane objects can be used for kedushah and to increase ahavat Yisrael—even a bicycle.
  • Intimate connection with Hashem via personal prayer is normal enough to mention in casual conversation (as opposed to being something that only tzaddikim or fervent eccentrics do).
  • Hitbodedut is so personally desirable and pleasurable that it compels one to learn a new skill and go out of one’s way to pursue it.
  • Childhood "deprivations" don’t need to be experienced as "deprivation" and can be made up for and even enhanced in adulthood.
  • Jews of different—even wildly different—ethnicities and backgrounds can still really like and appreciate each other.

And there you have it. 

Picture
1 Comment

The Kli Yakar - Parshat Bo

14/1/2016

3 Comments

 
Note #1: This week’s Kli Yakar is full of luscious gems. I separated one elucidation on the last of the Four Sons of the Passover Hagadah and made it its own post called The Silent Son. There were a lot of amazing insights that I wasn’t able to include due to time constraints, but below you’ll still find several 400-years-old insights that are pertinent to our lives right now.

Note #2: Even if I understand a Hebrew term, I don't always know how to best translate it. So the original Hebrew terms are occasionally included below.

Doing True Teshuvah ​

"Hashem said to Moshe, 'Come to Pharoah….' " (10:1)

​The Kli Yakar mentions a running theme through his commentary on the Torah: the importance of improving yourself out of love and a sincere desire to change, and not out of fear.
The teshuvah (repentance) that a person does out of compulsion is not complete teshuvah because when the compulsion is removed, the person will go back to turning away [from the correct path].

The Kli Yakar explains that Moshe Rabbeinu started out by rebuking Pharaoh and asking him to submit because of Hashem’s Word and not because of the plague because if Pharaoh submitted for the right reasons, he would attain a level of righteousness.

This is an incredible example of Moshe Rabbeinu’s exalted spiritual level because Pharaoh was not part of the nascent Jewish nation nor was he remotely a decent person, yet Moshe Rabbeinu still concerned himself with not only getting Pharaoh to do the right thing (which would benefit Moshe Rabbeinu’s people), but to do so for the right reason, which would be for Pharaoh’s benefit.

How to Handle Threatening Stars and Planets

Picture
"And he [Pharaoh] said to them, ‘Hashem will thus be with you when I will end you and your children, see that Evil [Ra’ah] is before your faces’."(10:10)

Rashi, citing a Midrash, explains Ra’ah to be the name of a star that Pharaoh saw via astrology, which was rising toward the Jews in the desert and was a sign of blood and slaughter.

The Kli Yakar concurs, but identifies Ra’ah as Mars.
 
Going according to the Sages in Masechet Shabbat who realized that anyone born under the sign of Mars has a tendency to shed blood, the Kli Yakar cites their recommendation that such a tendency be channeled positively via becoming a shochet (kosher slaughterer) or a surgeon.

Why do we need to channel such things rather than just hope for the best or pray for it to change or be nullified?

The Kli Yakar explains that Hashem does not completely change the natural order with which He created the Universe.

​Instead, Hashem does the following for those who fear Him and think about His Name.

At a time when there is an indication (hora'ah) of anything bad in the star system (ma'aracha), Hashem arranges the constellations (panei hama'aracha) in an advantageous manner toward another thing that is similar for one who keeps the mitzvot.

​Thus, he will not experience anything bad (lo yeda davar ra).

And the laws of the star system are still maintained.

So this, in a nutshell, is what we need to do in the face of threatening stars and planets.
​
(And yes, the parsha gives an example of a star’s potentially harmful astrological influence over people, while not that the star itself astronomically causes harm.
But still. The point is that Hashem is in charge and can move stuff around.)

Heavenly Assassinations: As in Heaven, So on Earth

“Around midnight, I will go forth into the midst of Egypt.” (11:4)

The Kli Yakar notes that here it says that Hashem will go into Egypt, but later, the Torah says, “Every firstborn died in the land of Egypt.”

He explains that here, Egypt (Mitzrayim) refers to the Egyptian nations heavenly representative (sar) or guardian angel.

According to the Kli Yakar, by the time the tenth plague came about, Egypt was already a lost cause; Hashem had already killed its sar in Heaven.

Then the Kli Yakar says that the word used here “yotzeh—go out” indicates that Hashem leaves His Throne of Mercy to go sit on His Throne of Judgment.

Eventually, he explains, Hashem will do as prophesied in Yeshyahu 34:5—“My Sword has drunk its fill in Heaven” and later “it shall descend against Edom.”

The sar of Edom will first be killed in Heaven, and then Hashem’s “Sword” will descend against Edom.

But when that happens, who will know?

​The Egyptians had no idea that their sar was destroyed and that their end had already come. Sure, they had all the plagues as warning, but they didn’t really search for the message behind all the chaos.

Will Edom be any different? It seems not…

More Astrology:
How Hashem Crushed Faith in the Sign of Aries

“This month shall be for you the head of all the months; it shall be the first for you of all the months of the year.” (12:2)

The Kli Yakar explains that the Egyptians believed that Aries (the Ram) was the “shepherd” of all the other constellations, and therefore, the most influential.

​The Hebrew month of Nissan is considered the first month of the year (including by the Egyptians who considered this month to also have added power due to its being “firstborn”) and its astrological sign is Aries.

So Hashem commanded the Jews to slaughter the “paschal lamb” and to do so at the height of Aries’s influence (the tenth of the month) in order to show that this sign truly has no influence and cannot even save its earthly symbol.

Furthermore, the Plague which killed the Firstborns of Egypt also proved Hashem’s Mastery over the world in that the firstborn constellation could not protect its firstborn worshipers.
And through this, they will recognize and they will know that there is a God High Above than anything else considered “high.”
Picture

Future Redemption

“And you shall eat it in haste….” (12:11)

The Kli Yakar notes a significant difference between the Redemption from Egypt and the final future redemption:

Egyptian Redemption: God went out before the Jewish people—“And Hashem went before them” (Parshat Bo 13:21).

Because Egypt was filled with occult symbols and brimming with spiritual impurity, the Shechinah needed to leave as soon as possible and thus the Jewish people needed to leave in haste in order to “catch up,” so to speak, and receive the Divine Presence.

Future Redemption: God will be both in front of AND behind the Jewish people.

​“Therefore,” says the Kli Yakar, “they will not need to go in haste after the Shechinah because that would look as if they are running away from the Shechinah that is behind them.”

He bolsters this opinion by quoting Yeshayahu 52:12: “Because it is not in haste will you go out and in flight you will not go, but Hashem goes before them and the God of Yisrael is your rear guard.”

Uncharacteristically Harsh Words from the Kli Yakar

“And the settlement of Bnei Yisrael that they settled in Egypt 430 years.” (12:40)
“And it was at the end of 430 years….” (12:41)
This is why it says [in the previous verse] “who settled in Egypt,” meaning those of Bnei Yisrael who settled themselves into a permanent settlement as permanent residents of Egypt, were the cause of the 430 years [of Exile].

​Because of them, the End was delayed until, finally, at least one-fifth showed a willingness to leave.

Now before you dismiss me as just another aliyah bully, I just want to point out that the Kli Yakar himself never made aliyah.

(It must be that the Kli Yakar's residence outside of Eretz Yisrael stemmed from a genuine inability to make aliyah, and not from a lack of emuna.)

Yet despite how generous and warm he is throughout his entire commentary and despite the fact that he himself never managed to come to Eretz Yisrael, he comes down very hard on the Jews featured within the Torah itself who showed reluctance about coming to Eretz Yisrael for lack of emuna.

In this verse, he censures the nation as a whole for not wanting to leave earlier.

Again, here it is:

​"...the End was delayed until, finally, at least one-fifth showed a WILLINGNESS to leave."

Here it is in transliterated Hebrew so you can see for yourself:
"...nitarach haketz ad sheh l'vasof, nitratzu latzet chelek chamishi l'fachot."

(In fact, the Kli Yakar censures an entire generation of Jewish men in Parshat Pinchas for this reason.)

Presumably, the Jews wanted their brutal slavery to end, but did they also want to take their spiritual growth to the next level and come to Eretz Yisrael?

The Kli Yakar says no.

​And unless I’m misunderstanding his words, it was only at the end that one-fifth developed a willingness (nitratzu) to take the next step.

The implication here is that the persecution bothered them, but living in Egypt did not.
​
I didn’t really get that until now. 

The Power of Tefillin

Picture
“And it will be as a sign upon your hand….” (13:17)

The Kli Yakar describes the order of tefillin: First, one put tefillin on the hand and then the head.

​But afterwards, the tefillin of the head is removed first and then that of the hand.

This is because there are three instruments of sin:
  • the seeing eye
  • the covetous heart
  • the means or tools by which one carries out the sin

Because the hand is closer to the majority of those instruments of sin (the heart and the hands, which hold the means to carry out the sin), then the tefillin needs to stay on the hand longer than on the head in order to grant it greater protection. 


Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He was served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 

3 Comments

The Silent Son

14/1/2016

0 Comments

 
The Kli Yakar’s elucidation on the Passover Hagadah’s Son Who Does Not Know to Ask was so incredibly instructive and so characteristic of our generation, I made it into its own separate post. (From Parshat Bo 12:26)

(For those who know Hebrew, I occasionally included the original Hebrew phrase for added clarity.)

​Enjoy!

Picture
Of the Four Sons in the Pesach Haggadah, one is deemed "the Son Who Does Not Know to Ask."

(The other Sons are: the Wise Son, the Wicked Son, and the Simple Son.) 

Because he is not even aware that he needs to ask (or because he does not know how), he doesn’t say a word; he is silent.

Fascinatingly, the Kli Yakar does not take this Son’s silence at face value. He asks the Abarbanel’s question: 

"How can it say that the Son is silent because he doesn’t even know to ask?

​Perhaps he is silent because he is completely wicked (rasha gamur) and doesn’t even want to speak about this mitzvah because it so despised (bazuyah) in his eyes?"

Then the Kli Yakar points out that only Hashem can really know a person’s heart.
So how can we know the real reason why someone is silent?

Needless to say, the Silent Son tragically describes the vast majority of Jews today—across all backgrounds and categories.

Some truly don’t know to ask. For one reason or another, they are literally unable to ask.

And some just aren’t interested because they despise the Torah values that don’t fit in with their liberal secular mentality or their unknowingly Esav mindset (i.e. addiction to materialism and wanting to be in control and attributing success solely to one’s own efforts rather than to Hashem).

So how should we handle this type when we can’t truly know what’s going on underneath the surface?

Start Off Soft 'n' Gentle

The Kli Yakar advises:
In order to find your way out of this confusion, go and say to him, "It is because of this that Hashem did for me in my exodus from Egypt."

​Then, no matter what, you have fulfilled your obligation. Because if he is wicked at heart (rasha b’lev), you have set his teeth on edge….and if he is not wicked, and simply does not know how to ask, then say to him this same verse…. because if he had been there, he certainly would have occupied himself with this holy service (avodah) [and merited Redemption].

Picture
Then the Kli Yakar explains how to speak to the Silent Son.

He notes that the word used — l’hagid (to tell) —sometimes indicates gentle speech, but other times, it indicates words “as hard as sinews.”

The Kli Yakar states that if such a person truly doesn’t know to ask, then you should “draw him to the service of Hashem” by using “gentle words that attract the heart of a person.”


If the First Method Doesn't Work, Then Go for the Double-Whammy

Later, the Kli Yakar goes into more detail:
And the Torah’s opinion is to first test the Wicked Son to see whether it’s possible draw him into the service of Hashem, using gentle words (devarim rakim)…..And if he “stiffens his neck” and will not listen to “a voice of whispers—kol melachashim” (indicating a gentle tone in addition to soft, gentle words), then….feed him words as harsh as sinews, which will set his teeth on edge and tell him:
​
"For the sake of this [the worship of Hashem], Hashem did for me"— for me and not for him.
But either way you deal with a Wicked (or secretly wicked) Son, the Kli Yakar reminds us:
The Hagadah says, "Do not be intimidated by the Wicked Son."
And then he emphasizes once again:
"The tipping point is (ikar hadiyuk talui) whether he is a servant of Hashem OR whether he is not servant of His."  

In other words, it comes down to the individual’s basic ratzon—his ultimate desire.

This is an incredible insight and profound advice.
 
In summary, the Kli Yakar is saying that you should give the Silent Son the benefit of the doubt and use “devarim rakim--soft (or gentle) words” and a soft tone of voice. And if he truly doesn’t know, then this approach will draw him closer. But if he is silent out of apathy and loathing, then these soft and gentle words will seem "hard as sinews, which set a person’s teeth on edge."

And that is how you can know exactly who you are dealing with.

Needless to say, this is EXACTLY what is going on in the world today.

Bringing It All Home

Now I’d like to make one final point:

There weren’t really secular Jews in the Kli Yakar’s time — well, very few, anyway.

The Silent Sons of the Kli Yakar’s time would have seemed pretty frum by our standards.

So if I understand this commentary correctly, any Jew — whether secular or frum — could either be silent out of innocent ignorance and the inability to even ask OR silent out of apathy and loathing.

How we respond to soft, gentle words of beautiful Truth reveals everything.

Needless to say, anyone can have a kneejerk hostile reaction upon hearing the Truth for the first time. 

That is actually pretty normal.

There are also people who argue as a way at getting at the truth.

That is also perfectly acceptable.

​But there are definitely people who reject and rebuff such words; they even physically turn away and refuse to listen, and do so consistently, whether they are outwardly frum or not.


Now, taking this one more step further, I couldn’t help thinking about how would I know which Son I am?

After all, being honest with yourself is one of the toughest challenges.

So I want to say that even if you suspect that you might be a seethingly Silent Son (which is basically a Secret Wicked Son), you can always switch over from a seething Silence to a receptive Silence.
 
No physical action needs to be taken; the switch is all in your mind.

If you'd like the Kli Yakar’s entire commentary on the Four Sons as found in Parshat Bo, Shemot I (Shemot, Va’era, Bo, Beshelach) is available in English with a fantastically lucid and well-researched translation by Elihu Levine.
However, the above is mostly my own translation and therefore, any errors are also mine.
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar. 
0 Comments

The Kli Yakar - Parshat Va'era

8/1/2016

4 Comments

 

The Symbolic Importance of the Lesser Staff of Moshe Rabbeinu

כִּי יְדַבֵּר אֲלֵכֶם פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר תְּנוּ לָכֶם מוֹפֵת וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל אַהֲרֹן קַח אֶת מַטְּךָ וְהַשְׁלֵךְ לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה יְהִי לְתַנִּין
"And Pharaoh will speak to you both, saying, 'Provide a sign for yourselves;' And you shall say to Aharon, 'Take your staff, and cast it before Pharaoh; it will become a tanin.' " (Shemot 7:9)
 
The Kli Yakar deduces that Aharon’s staff possessed greater power than Moshe’s staff because Aharon’s staff operated in every place there was water: rivers, streams, ponds, etc.

Furthermore, Aharon’s staff was compared to a tanin, which the Kli Yakar defines as a large serpent whose venom is more lethal than that of a smaller serpent.

This leads to an important lesson as stated by the Kli Yakar:
“….the burning venom of a large snake is greater than that of a regular snake.
Moshe’s staff was not given great burning venom because he also needed to shepherd the Jewish people with it and he needed to behave gently (b’nachat) with them even in an hour of anger.”
Picture

Dealing with Lashon Hara

“Because this time, I am sending all My plagues into your heart and into your servants and into your people, in order that you know that there is none like Me in the entire land.” (9:14)
 

Next, the Kli Yakar discusses the great harm caused by lashon hara. In last week’s parsha, he attributed the root of lashon hara to hatred and envy. In this parsha, he focuses on envy alone as the root.

He names two groups which are harmed by lashon hara:
  • People of prestige and prominence who are attacked by envious people who envy that high status.
 
  • People who stand up "like a stalk" to the speakers of lashon hara and do not submit to being among those who “listen to abuse without replying.” Among this group, the Kli Yakar notes that there are those who react out of pride in their status, feeling especially hurt that someone of their position is being treated in such a way.

He acknowledges that regular people can also be deeply harmed by lashon hara, but the above people are even more harmed by it due to their status and prominence.
 
So how can one be saved from lashon hara?

The Kli Yakar readily acknowledges that one cannot always be totally protected from lashon hara. He describes a slandering tongue as "an arrow that can pass through many walls."

Ultimately, you just can’t control other people’s behavior.

But he also states that one who makes himself like those who are inconspicuous and "don’t make themselves seen" before others are better off than those who confront their slanderers by asserting their own virtues.

He derives this advice from the verse (Yeshaya 26:20) much quoted by the Jews of Eretz Yisrael when under attack from incoming missiles:

"Go, my nation, come into your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourself for a little while until the rage will pass."

He points out that while sitting within "a room within a room" usually protects one from any kind of weapon, one who is the target of lashon hara is not completely protected even if he encloses himself within "the innermost chamber."

However, he points out that a victim of lashon hara can still find some relief if he or she does the following:
  • Do not confront with slanderer by proclaiming your own virtues
  • Do not respond at all
  • Act as if you do not hear and are not taking it to heart
 
I just also want to point out that there is a difference between confronting a slanderer by saying, “How dare you say that about someone of my stature!” and publicly making a halachically necessary statement, such as a factual correction, retraction, or apology.

They are two different situations.

Furthermore, the Kli Yakar himself was a prominent Sage and a dayan, and he lectured at a prominent yeshiva. So obviously, he was not able to completely avoid the spotlight himself.

Simply speaking, I understand his words to mean that one should merely do one’s best not to attract unnecessary attention to oneself.

But if you’re thrust into the position (because you see a need and no one else is filling that lack), such as leading a community (like the Kli Yakar did as a rabbi) or presiding over a rabbinical court (which he did as dayan), or lecturing at a prestigious yeshiva (like he did), or writing Torah thoughts and mussar for the benefit of the Jewish people (like he did in several books), then you do so.

However, you just don’t glorify yourself or spend more time than necessary in the limelight. And that’s a lesson for all of us, regardless of our position in society.

Applying This to the Regular Jew

Taking this down to the personal level of those of us who are just regular Jews and not in the spotlight or of any particular prestige:

Probably, regardless of our status, everyone reading this has been slandered at least once in their life.

And the above is just one way to handle it.

I know that the temptation to defend my own self is overwhelming when it happens, but the fact is that if someone is the type of person who either speaks or accepts lashon hara, despite clear prohibitions against doing so, they probably won’t believe anything I say to defend myself anyway.
 
​

And that's that.

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.  
The Malbim (1809-1879) was Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel who was born in Russia and served as a rabbi all over Eastern Europe. He was bitterly fought by the Reform Movement for most of his adult life, even suffering brief imprisonment over a false accusation in Rumania by wealthy German Reformers. Fortunately, he left us an amazing commentary on the entire Torah among other valuable works he composed.  

This is my own translation and therefore, any errors are also mine.  ​
4 Comments

The Kli Yakar - Parshat Shemot

1/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Note: Many of the words here are translated according to the Malbim's definitions.

The Great Emuna of the Midwives for the Coming Redemption

וַיֹּאמֶר מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת, אֲשֶׁר שֵׁם הָאַחַת שִׁפְרָה, וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית פּוּעָה
וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת, אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, וְלֹא עָשׂוּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶן מֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם; וַתְּחַיֶּיןָ, אֶת-הַיְלָדִים
“And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, the name of one which was Shifra and the name of the second was Puah.” (Shemot/Exodus 1:15)
“And the midwives feared the Lord and didn’t do what the king of Egypt told them and they let the children live.” (1:17)

Regarding the midwives—Shifra/Yocheved and Puah/Miriam—the Kli Yakar first explains their names:
  • "Shifra" comes from a word that means beauty (shufrah). Yocheved returned to her former beauty and youth in order to be able to conceive the Jewish redeemer. He also points out that when this happened, she realized that she would birth the redeemer because Hashem would not cause such a miracle needlessly.
  • "Puah" is a form of impassioned speech and applies to Miriam because she was a prophetess.
And why were their midwife names so important to mention in the Torah?

Because these names indicate their total faith and certainty in Hashem’s redemption of the Jewish people.

The Kli Yakar explains that had these two righteous women any doubts about the future redemption, they might have gone along with the decree against the Jewish boys because "it would have been better for the children to die young than to be born into emptiness and the kind of agitation that causes one to lose his grasp on reality by spending all their days in suffering and slavery."

But instead, they knew with absolute certainty that redemption was on the way.

Furthermore, the Kli Yakar notes that the two women remained silent when Pharaoh first informed them of the ruthless decree. They knew not to carry out the decree and they were afraid that if they'd speak against it, then Pharaoh would find midwives who weren't as courageous and didn't possess their level of emuna, who would carry out the decree. 

The Evil of Verbal Abuse and Lashon Hara

יג וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי, וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי-אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים; וַיֹּאמֶר, לָרָשָׁע, לָמָּה תַכֶּה, רֵעֶךָ

יד וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט, עָלֵינוּ--הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר, כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת-הַמִּצְרִי; וַיִּירָא מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר, אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר
He said to the wicked one, “Why do you strike your fellow?” (2:13)

The Kli Yakar interprets this to mean verbal abuse. He points to the example from Mishlei/Proverbs 12:18—“There is one who speaks like stabbing sword.” The Kli Yakar states, “He who casts aspersion on his friend—there is no greater strike than this.” He goes on to say that both were quarreling and cursing each other, and in the next verse, Moshe Rabbeinu realizes that the two also engaged in lashon hara (forbidden speech).

Moshe was afraid and said, “Surely the matter is known.” (2:14)
The Kli Yakar states: “More than all the rest of the nations, the Jewish people becomes immersed in suffering because of sinful speech…This is because the sin of lashon hara builds up transgressions to the level of occult worship, licentious behavior, and murder."

Then the Kli Yakar reassures us that only these two quarrelers were slanderers and that the rest of the Jewish nation was free from this sin.

In general, the Kli Yakar finds the theme of lashon hara running through this parsha in particular. He says that the burning bush symbolizes the sticking thorns of lashon hara and the quarreling sparked by hatred and envy that cause a “fire.”

Then he explains that the snake represents the degradation to which lashon hara eventually drags us down.

But in grabbing the snake by the tail and turning it into a staff again, it shows that Hashem raises us up to be like the ruler’s staff.

How to Get Your Prayers to Ascend

כג וַיְהִי בַיָּמִים הָרַבִּים הָהֵם, וַיָּמָת מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה, וַיִּזְעָקוּ; וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים, מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה
The children of Israel sighed from the work and shouted out, and their cry for salvation from slavery ascended to Hashem (2:23)

The Kli Yakar explains this verse to refer to two separate groups of Jews:
  • The sighers (sigh – anacha): The righteous Jews who prayed to Hashem from the heart to save them from their terrible suffering as slaves
  • The shouters (shout – tza’akah): The deficient Jews (ha-pachotim) who did not pray to Hashem, but who shouted out as those who challenge Hashem
He concludes by noting that “their cry for salvation” (shavatam), which ascended to Hashem, was that of the righteous “sighers” and not that of the deficient “shouters.”
Picture
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar. 
___________
The Malbim (1809-1879) was Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel who was born in Russia and served as a rabbi all over Eastern Europe. He was bitterly fought by the Reform Movement for most of his adult life, even suffering brief imprisonment over a false accusation in Rumania by wealthy German Reformers. Fortunately, he left us an amazing commentary on the entire Torah among other valuable works he composed.  
This is my own translation and therefore, any errors are also mine. 
0 Comments

Inspiring Thoughts from a Life-Transforming New Book

1/1/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
2 Comments
    Privacy Policy

    Picture
    Please note this is an affiliate link. Meaning, I get a small cut but at NO extra cost to you. If you use it, I'm grateful. If not, you still get a giant mitzvah connected to Eretz Yisrael.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Myrtle Rising

    I'm a middle-aged housewife and mother in Eretz Yisrael who likes to read and write a lot.


    Picture
    Sample Chapters

    Categories

    All
    Aliyah
    Anti Jewish Bigotry
    Anti-jewish-bigotry
    Astronomy
    Book Review
    Books
    Chagim/Holidays
    Chinuch
    Coronavirus
    Dictionaries
    Emuna
    Eretz Yisrael
    Erev Rav
    Gender
    Hitbodedut
    "If The Torah..."
    Jewish Astrology
    Kav Hayashar
    Kli Yakar
    Lashon Hara
    Love
    Me'am Loez
    Minchat Yehudah
    Mishlei/Proverbs
    Netivot Shalom
    Parenting
    Parsha
    Pele Yoetz
    Perek Shira
    Pesach
    Politics
    Prayer
    Purim
    Rav Avigdor Miller
    Rav Itamar Schwartz
    Rav L.Y. Bender
    Recipes
    "Regular" Jews
    Rosh Hashanah
    Society
    Sukkot
    Tammuz
    Technology
    Tehillim/Psalms
    Teshuvah
    The Lost Princess
    Tisha B'Av
    USA Scary Direction
    Women
    Yom Kippur

    Jewish Blogs

    Daf Yomi Review
    Derech Emet
    Going...Habayitah
    Halacha Q&A
    Hava haAharona
    Miriam Adahan
    My Perspective

    Shirat Devorah
    Tomer Devorah
    Toras Avigdor
    True Tzaddikim
    Tznius Blog

    Yeranen Yaakov
    Rabbi Ofer Erez (Hebrew lectures)

    Jewish Current Events

    Hamodia
    Sultan Knish
    Tomer Devorah
    Yeranen Yaakov

    Jewish Health

    People Smarts

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    RSS Feed

    Copyright Notice

    ©2015-2022 Myrtle Rising
    Excerpts and links may be used without express permission as long as a link is provided back to the appropriate Myrtle Rising page.

Home/Blog

Most Popular

Kli Yakar in English

Aliyah

Contact

Copyright © 2023
Photos used under Creative Commons from Brett Jordan, BAMCorp, Terrazzo, Abode of Chaos, Michele Dorsey Walfred, marklordphotography, M.Burak Erbaş, torbakhopper, jhritz, Rina Pitucci (Tilling 67), Svadilfari, kum111, Tim simpson1, FindYourSearch, Giorgio Galeotti, ChrisYunker, Jaykhuang, YourCastlesDecor, bluebirdsandteapots, Natalia Medd, Stefans02, Israel_photo_gallery, Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, BradPerkins, zeevveez, dfarrell07, h.koppdelaney, Edgardo W. Olivera, nafrenkel88, zeevveez, mtchlra, Liz | populational, TraumaAndDissociation, thinboyfatter, garofalo.christina, skpy, Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca, Nerru, Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith, trendingtopics, dolbinator1000, DonkeyHotey, zeevveez, erix!, zeevveez, h.koppdelaney, MAURO CATEB, kevin dooley, keepitsurreal, annikaleigh, bjornmeansbear, publicdomainphotography, Leonard J Matthews, Exile on Ontario St, Nicholas_T, marcoverch, planman, PhilWolff, j_lai, t.kunikuni, zeevveez, Ian W Scott, Brett Jordan, RonAlmog, Bob Linsdell, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, aaron_anderer, ** RCB **, Tony Webster, mypubliclands, AntonStetner, Zachi Evenor, MrJamesBaker, sammydavisdog, Frode Ramone, Wonder woman0731, wrachele, kennethkonica, Skall_Edit, Pleuntje, Rennett Stowe, *S A N D E E P*, symphony of love, AlexanderJonesi, Arya Ziai, ePublicist, Enokson, Tony Webster, Art4TheGlryOfGod, seaternity, Andrew Tarvin, zeevveez, Israel_photo_gallery, Iqbal Osman1, Matt From London, Tribes of the World, Eric Kilby, miracle design, RonAlmog, slgckgc, Kim Scarborough, DonkeyHotey, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, h.koppdelaney, gleonhard, Pedro Travassos, nociveglia, RonAlmog, Israel_photo_gallery, Septemia, Paulann_Egelhoff, Tatiana12, MAD Hippies Life, Neta Bartal, milesgehm, shooting brooklyn, RonAlmog, smilygrl, gospelportals, leighblackall, symensphotographie, zeevveez, Kyknoord, wotashot (taking a break), Tambako the Jaguar, bitmask, Arnie Sacknooson, mattymatt, Rob Swystun, zeevveez, Dun.can, Tim Patterson, timeflicks, garlandcannon, HRYMX, fred_v, Yair Aronshtam, zeevveez, Ron Cogswell, FindYourSearch, Israel_photo_gallery, Serendipity Diamonds, zeevveez, Steve Corey, Dominic's pics, leighklotz, Stefans02, dannyman, RonAlmog, Stephen O, RonAlmog, Tips For Travellers, Futurilla, anomalous4, Bob Linsdell, AndyMcLemore, symphony of love, andydr, sara~, Gamma Man, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, robef, European Southern Observatory, Brett Jordan, Johnny Silvercloud, Israel_photo_gallery, smkybear, --Sam--, Paulann_Egelhoff, Selena Sheridan, D'oh Boy, campbelj45ca, 19melissa68, entirelysubjective, Leimenide, dheera.net, Brett Jordan, HonestReporting.com, Iqbal Osman1, One Way Stock, Jake Waage, picto:graphic, Marcelo Alves, KAZVorpal, Sparkle Motion, Brett Jordan, Ambernectar 13, Howdy, I'm H. Michael Karshis, Steven DuBois, Cristian V., tortuga767, Jake Cvnningham, D'oh Boy, Eric Kilby, quinn.anya, Lenny K Photography, One Way Stock, Bird Eye, ell brown, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Kevin M. Gill, lunar caustic, gerrybuckel, quinn.anya, Kaz Andrew, kodomut, kayugee, jintae kim's photography, Futurilla, terri_bateman, Patty Mooney, Amydeanne, Paulann_Egelhoff, Mulling it Over, Ungry Young Man, Ruth and Dave, yangouyang374, symphony of love, kennethkonica, young@art, Brett Jordan, slgckgc, Celestine Chua, rkimpeljr, Kristoffer Trolle, TooFarNorth, D'oh Boy, Grace to You, LittleStuff.me, Kevin M. Gill, philozopher, traveltipy.com, Alan Cleaver, crazyoctopus, d_vdm, tonynetone, penjelly, TheToch, JohnE777, hello-julie, DaveBleasdale, Michael Candelori Photography, andessurvivor, slgckgc, byzantiumbooks, sasha diamanti