YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Bo
People who are released from bondage or any other type of incarceration usually find their adjustment to freedom difficult if not even very problematic. More often than not the look on their newly freed faces is one of bewilderment - of being in a dazed condition - rather than one of pure joy. Past unpleasant and painful experiences are not easily forgotten, or sublimated and assigned purely to one’s subconscious. Thus when the Exodus from Egypt finally occurs in this week’s parsha, the Jewish people leave "with a high hand" but with weakness of spirit. They will despair of their future when Pharaoh continues to pursue them to the shores of the Yam Suf sea and throughout their forty year sojourn in the desert of Sinai they are always on the verge of abandoning their special mission and return somehow to the accustomed bondage and servitude of Egypt. In the past generation of our people, many of the survivors of the Holocaust faced enormous challenges after being liberated from Nazi tyranny. The adjustment of most of them to freedom and to their ability to rebuild their lives is a testimony to the greatness and resilience of the Jewish spirit. But it was not an easy journey back to normalcy in a free society. The Jewish people after leaving Egypt would require forty years and a new generation of Jews before they were ready and able to undertake the task of building a free Jewish society in their own land and under their own rule and sovereignty. As the old paraphrase goes "You can take the Jew out of exile and bondage but it is much more difficult to remove the mentality of exile and bondage from within the Jew."
The Torah seems to indicate to us quite clearly that the Lord has the ability to save us from bondage and destruction. Beginning with the Exodus from Egypt throughout the generations, God has performed this miraculous task for us many times over. But it is also clear from the Torah that once that has been accomplished, the Lord intends for us to take over and finish the task. He will supply us with food and water, physical sustenance and spiritual and temporal leadership but what we do with those blessings is purely up to us. We are taught that "when the Lord returns the captivity of Zion we will be as dreamers." A dreamer is in a dazed state of being. But once being awakened we are bidden to act and build and accomplish - to be bold and courageous and of optimistic heart. The great Rav of Ponivezh, Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Kahaneman told me numerous times that "I am a dreamer but I do not allow myself to sleep." The Exodus from Egypt is not the end of the story of the Jewish people or of Moshe. It is only the beginning, for freedom is a never ending challenge fraught with difficulties, naysayers and doomsday pessimists. The Lord took us out of Egypt forcibly for we would have remained there - so do we say every year in the Hagada of the Pesach Seder. But then it was up to us. That remains the same situation in today’s Jewish world as well.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Israel and the Nations A Few Minutes & Many Innovative Ideas on Antisemitism & What to do About It
As we approach the High Holidays, this short lecture (18 minutes) deals with the unfortunate situation of how Israel and the Jewish People stand against antisemitism, analyzing its cause according to Rav Kook, and how to deal with the issue pragmatically & via our prayers.
Ha'azinu PURSUIT is PERFECTION
p. Ha'azinu, Shabbat Shuva
Rav Kook deals with the question of the seemingly hopeless nature of Tshuva. For G-d Himself knows that He created us with free will, which inevitably means we will sometimes make mistakes and choose wrong. This can easily be frustrating, freezing us into inaction and ye'ush (loss of hope). If one sins even once, does he chalila have no choice but suicide?! Moreover, our Godly conscience demands justice, righteousness and perfection, but we all know this is impossible, so what's the solution? Rav Kook's innovative thinking, strongly based on chazal (our sages), offers an inciteful and important aspect to this topic, especially this time of year!
Sukkot Bug-Free Sukkah: Essential Halachic and Practical Schach Guide
How to inspect, clean, and store bamboo mats and palm branches to protect your mitzvah and holiday meals.
