Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Va'era
I think the same type of message is communicated to us in the Torah reading of this week. We are told of plague after plague that was visited upon the Egyptians, to force them to free the people of Israel from bondage and slavery. Why so many plagues? The Lord could certainly have accomplished the same result with one plague, especially the last and final plague of the death of the Egyptian firstborn. Why go through the exercise of the first nine plagues, that apparently were unsuccessful in achieving the desired goal of Jewish freedom, when one major blow apparently would have been sufficient to achieve the emancipation of the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage?
One can easily say in response to this question that it was the cumulative effect of all the plagues that brought about the decision by Pharaoh and the Egyptians to free the Jewish slaves. Nevertheless, from a literal reading of the Torah text itself there is little proof that we are speaking about a cumulative effect, but rather the one, main blow – death of the firstborn Egyptians – that brought about Jewish freedom and the Exodus from Egypt.
A hard-won victory is more meaningful than an easy instantaneous triumph of success. A process that requires patience, with the ability to absorb disappointments and frustrations, all on the road to ultimate success, is something that is enormously valuable and lasting. It is not only the Egyptians that have to experience the process of the ten plagues visited upon them, but it is also the Jewish slaves that must experience the frustration and disappointment that each plague brought with it.
It is obvious from the Torah that Moshe expected a quick victory, and, that he had a feeling of resentment and had complaints that things apparently became worse and not better when he embarked on his mission to free the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. The Lord reminds him of the behavior of the founders of the Jewish people Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who exhibited patience and fortitude, in their ultimate triumph in creating the Jewish people. This had a lasting and eternal quality to it. Easy victories are usually squandered away.
The universe that was created with ten utterances has much more meaning than one created with one statement. An Exodus and emancipation achieved by a process of plagues, of ups and downs of emotion and faith, of challenges and tenacity, remains an eternal guide for all generations of the Jewish people.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
