YITRO "Yisro, the minister of Midian, the father in law of Moses heard." (18:1)
Rashi comments that one of the things Moses heard was the Israelites battle with Amalak. A question can be asked, Why was Israel's battle with Amalek so significant rather than Isreal's victory over Amalek? We are focusing on the battle as to the reason why Yisro came to Moses, not the victory which is a more logical reason. There is something about the battle with Amalek that prompted Yisro to visit Moses, but what? I would like to , Bezrat Hashem, propose the following original answer that might be an answer to this question: Amalek really did not have any tangible reason to attack the Isrealites. The Isrealites were not going to attack them since their land was not promised to the JEWs by G-d. Amalek attacked because they soley wished to diminish the fear of G-d that was prevelent throughout the world due to the great miracles performed for the Jews in Eygpt.
The peoples of the world were trembling out of fear. Amalek wanted to attack the Jews to show the world that its possible to strike a blow to the Jews even after the Exodus.Amalek was in essence raging a war against G-d. This was a war raged by their collective conscious choice to do so, not out of neccesity. They choose this battle out of their own free will. When Yisro saw this battle, it frightened him. It made him think about the "battles" he was personally choosing to fight. Were they battles for G-d's glory, or perhapes to diminish G-d? Yisro did not want to waste his life for nought for he understood what King David expressed in Psalm (90:10) as follows: " The days of our lives are seventy years, and, if exceedingly vigorous, eighty years, and their persistance is but labor and foolishness." Yisro examined the "battes" he was raging, and did not want them to be like the ones fought by Amalek. He, therefore, decided to sanctify G-ds name by associating himself with the Israelites. It is for this reason the Sages emphasized the battle with Amalek as the reason for Yisro's visit, and not the victory.
This is a very significant lesson to be learned. What battles are we personally raging? Are they for G-ds glory, or for our own personal glory? We must realize that the battles we rage are the result of the choices we make just like Amalek chose to make when they decided to battle with Israel.The Chovos Halevovos (Book on Duties of the Heart) brings the following parable to emphasize this point, as follows: "There was once a sage who met a group of soldiers returning victorious from battle. He said to them," You have come back from winning a minor battle; but the big battle is still ahead of you. The battle against your evil inclination and his legions." (Yichud Hamasim,chap5)
Have a good Shabbos
This parsha sheet is being dedicated to my beloved father, Nachman Shimon ben Yehuda Meir Hakohan,Z"L.May it be a merit for his soul.
רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הַקַּפָּר אוֹמֵר: הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם.
The Mishnah in Avos says, ‘jealousy, lust and (the pursuit of) honour remove a person from this world.’
In this week’s parsah we read the Aseres HaDibros, the last of which is Lo Sachmod, do not covet, i.e. no not be jealous of your neighbour for anything that he posses. Being jealously of your friend’s 50p watch when you could easily acquire one for yourself may very well be a negative midda but it will not come under Lo Sachmod. Jealously for the purpose of this prohibition is coveting those objects which are beyond the grasp of the person.
Rabbeinu Bechaye in Kad haKemach says an incredible statement, that this prohibition of jealously by being listed as the last mitzvah in the Aseres haDibros comes to reveal that it is equivalent to all those that proceed it. Rabbeinu Bechaye brings the initial sin of Adam and Chavah as explanation of his statement. Rashi says that when the Torah tells us that Chava gave her husband to eat that she was not content to partake of the food on her own as she feared that she would die leaving her husband alive to remarry. Rav Levenstein in Ohr Yechezkel points out that it wasn’t the fear of her own death which lead to the continuation of her sin but rather the fear that some unknown person would enjoy her husband’s company after her, and this according to Rav Levenstein was too much to bear.
We see that not only is the link now made back into our Mishnah between jealously and death but also that Rabbeinu Bechaye’s message is teaching us that the effects of jealously on a person can poison a person to the extent that they find themselves on a path in which there is no return and then ultimately violate every other commandment.
A person that covets in his heart is really turning around to the Ribbono Shel Olam and saying You got it wrong! I should have had that job, that car! G-d you got it wrong. And what is more if I cannot have it he certainly shouldn’t. This is why according to the Midrash Tanchuma that HaShem’s name isn’t in the last 5 of the Aseres HaDibros, because HaShem doesn’t want to be associated with murderers, thieves and people who are jealous.
Thankfull Meam Lo’ez gives us the antidote to this poison of jealously. He states that the very symbolism of why Sivan was chosen as the month of Torah comes to teach a person how not to be jealous. The mazal for Sivan is Gemini, the twins. The message is clear to all those that wish to see it that in order for Torah to be sustainable Klal Yisroel need to become like twins. Where there is such a love for each other, such a partnership of personalities that each other rejoice at news of the other’s gain. When Klal Yisroel are twins to one another then there is no jealously and Klal Yisroel can avoid the slippery slope to negating all the other mitzvos.
It is interesting to note that the Jews in Egypt were far less assimilated than we are nowadays. Being aware of their spiritual uniqueness, they considered it disgraceful to wear garments whose styles were dictated by a gentile or to give a child a non-Jewish name.
In looking at our own experience as Jews in Europe and then America, we see what happens when the opposite course is followed. In an effort to blend in and be a part of the crowd, Jews rushed to change their clothes and names and thus wound up losing their very identity of who they were. The end result - wide spread assimilation.
Why, in fact, did Yisro leave everything he had to join the Klal Yisrael? Rashi explains the opening words of this week's parsha, "Vayishma Yisro - and Yisro heard," to refer to Yisro's hearing the news of the miraculous splitting of the Red Sea and the victory in the war against Amalek.
One of the most unbelievable aspects about Yisro's decision is that despite all of the well-known miracles that Hashem performed for the Jewish people, he was the only one from Midian who left his insurmountable pleasures to follow Hashem. Everyone around him continued to sin, and only he could not tolerate their behavior any longer. He was able to overcome the influence of the society around him and map out his own course. Through his new relationship with Hashem, he acquired a degree of eternity.
YITRO
This Torah thought is being dedicated to my beloved father NACHMAN SHIMON ben YEHUDA MEIR HAKOHAN, Z'l.
"In the third month from the Exodus..................."(19:1)
The Jewish people are now preparing for the giving of the 10 commandments. There is a very interesting Medrash as follows:" Rabi Yitzchak expounded:Israel, when they left Egypt, were worthy of being given the Torah immediately. However, G-d said: "The radiance of My children is not yet apparent. They have just left the bondage of tar and bricks and they can not receive the Torah immediately." To what can this be compared? To a king whose son recovered from an illness, and his teacher said: "Allow your son to come to my school." The king then said: " My son's radiance has not yet appeared and you say,"Let him come to my school?Rather, let my son find pleasure for 2 or 3 months in food and drink, and regain his health. Then he can go to school."
1)All the better to hear You with :
As Rashi (19:10) points out in our sedra, before Mattan Torah all the members of Bnei Yisrael who suffered from illness, disease, or forms of handicap were cured. Thus, the blind could now see again, the deaf could hear, and the dumb could speak (and think!). This was a great chesed on HaShem’s part, but why did He do it before Mattan Torah; is there any connection between Mattan Torah and such healing? The answer (I think I saw it in the name of Rav Gifter) is that HaShem wanted Bnei Yisrael to wholesomely experience the Divine revelation at Har Sinai. That meant connecting with HaShem, so to speak, with every sense the body has. This is why HaShem had all the illnesses healed - in order that Mattan Torah should be imbued within us to the greatest possible degree
This week's Parsha begins by telling us, "And Yitro heard. . . all that Hashem did for Moses and His nation Israel. . ." (Exodus 18:1), but the Torah does not tell us which of the wonders impressed Yitro the most.What aspect of the Exodus and the ensuing weeks inspired Yitro to join the Jewish people in the desert?
The Talmud(Zevachim 116a) quotes three opinions of what Yitro heard that impressed him so much. The first claims that it was the Jewish people's victory over the nation of Amalek -- essentially a band of slaves defeating a powerful
The Midrash tells us that while in Egypt, the Jewish people clutched onto three aspects of living in an attempt to maintain their identity. They kept their native tongue, speaking the holy Hebrew language, ensuring that Hashem's divine prose would endure. They also retained their style of clothing and their Jewish names. However, this was not a guaranteed recipe for success. When the Jewish people crossed the Red Sea, they took with them merely the tools with which they could identify themselves as Jews. But did they leave Egypt void of any
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