Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Va'era
Pharaoh, the enemy of Israel, is the prototype of all later enemies of the Jewish people. No logic or facts can persuade him to abandon his irrational hatred and self-destructive behavior towards the Jews. Even when his closest advisers exclaim to him: "Are you not aware that Egypt is doomed because of your intransigence?" Pharaoh remains unmoved. He is willing to soldier on till the last Egyptian is destroyed in the series of plagues that are visited upon him and them. The hatred of Jews is unreasoning and totally irrational. Yet it remains the constant in world history for millennia on end. Let Gaza be totally destroyed but no one will step back and ask why did we allow this to happen? The spirit and unreasoning stubbornness of Pharaoh lives on in all later haters and murderers of Jews. Moshe engages in negotiations with Pharaoh but Pharaoh never honors the agreements achieved by these negotiations. Pharaoh is already preparing for the next round as soon as the physical pressure of the plague is relaxed. And God tells Moshe in advance that this will be the scenario until the final blow is delivered. Pharaoh will remain Pharaoh until the end, even after the exodus from Egypt takes place. Even though this is completely illogical, the Lord realizes, so to speak, that evil people behave this way and oftentimes cover their evil in the cloak of piety. In any event this week’s parsha illustrates for us once more that the parshiyot of the Torah deal not only with the past but illuminate for us our present situation and our future hopes and triumphs.
Parashat Hashavua Parashat Hashavua: “With a Strong Hand He Will Expel Them from His Land
Harav Shaul Yisraeli – from Siach Shaul, p. 205-6
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
