Geulas Mitzrayim Through Hakaras Hatov: Yosef, Moshe, and the Middah That Builds Emunah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. As we read the parashiyos of Shmos vaEira, Boi, Beshalach, Galus Mitzrayim and the Geulah from Mitzrayim. Galus and Geulah is part of the Klal Yisrael's journey. We have to go through galus and geulah. The Maharal speaks about it b'arichus, that Klal Yisrael is a nation that its completion comes through galus and geulah. Galus, the mefarshim, the sefarim tell us, is there to teach us lessons. And geulah comes when we learn those lessons, when we take those lessons, when we internalize those lessons. Galus is to teach, and geulah comes when we are taught. What is the lessons of Galus Mitzrayim, and that when we learn these lessons, we were zocheh to Geulas Mitzrayim? It's brought down in the sefarim b'arichus that one of the chisronos in Chassidish literature, it's called the klipes, one of the chisronos of Mitzrayim is lack of hakaras hatov, the tumas Mitzrayim. Is there lack of hakaras hatov? We find Paroi. He is the one that represents Mitzrayim. He's the melech of Mitzrayim. We would call him the avi avos of tumas Mitzrayim. Literally and figuratively, he's the avi avos. Torah tells us that what was the flaw? What was the hashchasah of Paroi? Vayakom melech chadash asher lo yada es Yosef. He didn't know who Yosef is. How could you not know Yosef? Yosef did so much. Yosef did for you, and that's how you repay him? Not stam. Not stam, you know, you do bad. Not stam. You don't even know who he is. You make believe he didn't exist. You have no idea who Yosef... This is kefiyas hatov to the ultimate extent. Yosef saved you. If not for Yosef, you understand the rest. And you walk around asher lo yada es Yosef. You don't even know who it is. Who? Yosef. That's the shoresh, the epitome of kefiyas hatov and the tumah of kefiyas hatov. And as a result of this, sefarim say, we understand Paroi's hashchasah and rishus of when he says, Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo. Who is the Eibishter? You don't know the Eibishter. You don't know? What don't you know? Yosef spoke to you, the Eibishter. Vayimanesh loim Paroi. What, you don't know who the Eibishter is? And the answer is kefiyas hatov. And that leads to Mi Hashem, who is the Rabbeinu Shleilam. So the galus of Mitzrayim, of course there's a lot to be spoken of, all the different tumas and klipos of Mitzrayim, and in many sefarim there's different things that come up as tumas Mitzrayim. The one that stands out as a clear chisaron in Mitzrayim, a tumah of Mitzrayim, and that is asher lo yada es Yosef. He doesn't know who Yosef is. Kfiyas hatov. Kfiyas hatov leads to lack of emunah, and therefore the geulah comes when we learn these lessons of hakaras hatov. But I think it's a little bit deeper in the pshat of the pasuk, Vayakom melech chadash asher lo yada es Yosef. Asher lo yada es Yosef means he doesn't know what it is. But he did—he doesn't know what it is. Could be it's even a little bit deeper, rabosai. Yosef's whole maila, Yosef's attribute, was hakaras hatov. I will show you mekoros where we see Yosef.

Was outstanding in the inyan of akaras hatov. There's a Targum. It's based on two Targumim Yonason, Targum Yonason lamed tes chaf, and Targum Yonason mem zayin chaf beis. The Targum says that when Yosef went and he took the fields of the Mitzrim, he confiscated them, taxed the government, says the pasuk, Rak admas hakohanim lo kana. This is in perek mem zayin, pasuk chaf beis: Rak admas hakohanim lo kana, ki chok lakohanim meis Paro, v'ochlu es chukam. There was a stipend that the land of the kohanim, and that is the kohanim, that's the ones that served in the Beis Avodah Zarahs, their land was not confiscated by Yosef, was not confiscated by the government. Says Targum Yonason, this was in direct hakaras hatov because Yosef owed them a lot. When Potiphara came to claim that Yosef was mezaneh, so they went to the kohanim, they went to the kohanim, they went to the priests, and the priests told them, Leave him alone. He's not guilty. The story was fabricated. Azoy zogt the Targum. In essence, they should have let him free. The kohanim paskened. They showed his innocence. Yeah, but it wasn't, as the Medrash says, he was embarrassed to let Yosef go. So for his own honor and for the sake of his wife's honor, he took Yosef and he said that he's guilty, and he put him into jail. To pay back the kohanim, the priests who vindicated him, he did not take their lands. He did not confiscate their lands. And it became a chok. Al kein lo machus admasam. It was a chok. This became the rule of the land. Pshat, I think, Yosef was trying to implement that in the rule of the land, to be mesaken their kvias ha-toiv, that the laws and the structure of the legal system needed to be al karas ha-toiv. Yosef was implementing. Yosef was setting the path that Mitzrayim should reverse its kvias ha-toiv, its bad midah, its klipah of kvias ha-toiv, to be makir toiv. So what did he do? He made the rule of the land, admas ha-kohanim is off limits. Payback, hakaras ha-toiv, because they vindicated him in the story of Potiphara. I also found it interesting, Ralbag. Ralbag speaks about Yosef's koach, his strength in hakaras ha-toiv. He says, if you notice, that what does he tell eishes Potiphara? He tells eishes Potiphara, Eich e'eseh haraah hazos v'chatasi laElokim. How can I do this? I'll be sinning. I'll be terribly wronging my master. Says the Ralbag in Parshas Vayeishev, a lesson from Yosef: hakaras hatov. Yosef's, his whole strength not to do the aveirah, he brought it out through a lesson of hakaras hatov. Notice he didn't say, How could I do this? It's gilui arayos. How could I do this? It's shameful. It's not clean. It's not right. No. Ki eich e'eseh hara hagedolah hazos, l'Adoni. How can I do bad to my master? Hakaras hatov was the predominant issue. Hakaras hatov was, to him, the pressing issue of stopping him from doing this aveirah. To Yosef, everything was about hakaras hatov. It's a moydige Ralbag. Normally you say, You're not going to do the aveirah, of course. It's arayos. It's such a low act of immorality. To Yosef, where was the immorality? Where was the immorality, rabosai? Where was the immorality? Eich e'eseh hara hazos, l'Adoni. How can I wrong my master? He did for me. He took me in. Do I know how?

Oh, Potiphar treated Yosef. I'm not 100% sure; it's not so clear. Was he the best master? Who knows. Af al pi kein, af al pi kein, my master. Af al pi kein, I live in his home. Af al pi kein, I eat off his table. And therefore I owe hakaras hatov. Eich eseh? So the morality of the act wasn't the arayos sheboi. The morality of the act becomes the lack of hakaras hatov. There's another Rav Bag. The Rabbeinu in Parshas Vayigash says, Yaakov Avinu was brought in front of Paroi. Why is Yosef schlepping out the tata, schlepping his father to come in front of Paroi? Let him be. But he needs to see Paroi. I can imagine him, he's עומד, turning away to look at, to הסתכל בפני רשע. Yaakov needs that. What does he need it for? Rav Bag doesn't bring out this point, but this builds up the Rav Bag's message. What's he schlepping Yaakov, making an entire photo op with Paroi? What does he need Paroi for? Just tell Paroi my father's old, he's too sick, he sends you regards, and that's all, and finished. Zogt der Rav Bag, no. Yaakov owes hakaras hatov to Paroi for everything he did for Yosef. And Yosef understands that there's a chiyuv hakaras hatov, so he schleps his father, his old father, the father, the tzaddik, Yaakov Avinu, the bechirah avos, in front of a Paroi rasha, in order he can give him a bracha, in order he can thank him. To show makoros hatov, says the Lubav, the lessons of hakaras hatov are obvious. Yosef understood the importance of hakaras hatov. We could thus say that that's the pshat, Vayakom melech chadash asher lo yada es Yosef. It's not just, it's chas v'shalom, he didn't acknowledge Yosef, but lo yada, he didn't remember Yosef and Yosef's ma'alos. He forgot what Yosef stood for. Yosef was the epitome of hakaras hatov asher lo yada. It doesn't say lo zochar, lo yada. He started to not understand what Yosef was all about. He started to not understand how Yosef elevated the nation, how he saved the nation through his hakaras hatov, through his hashkafah, through his understanding. That's asher lo yada es Yosef, and thus he plummets Paro because he's losing focus on what it means to have hakaras hatov, asher lo yada, not asher lo zochar, asher lo yada. So pashut pshat, asher lo yada means he doesn't even know who he is. It's a lot less than forgetting, right? Sometimes you forget. I don't even know who you are. Who are you? But here, we could come and say, after understanding what the Rishonim and the Targum is telling us, asher lo yada, he forgot. Not forgetting, but yada, the idea of what Yosef is, what Yosef stands for, what he represents, what he symbolizes, what he stood for in Mitzrayim. And how much he tried to uproot the kfiyas hatov, which was the tumah and the klipah and the chisaron of Mitzrayim. I want to tell you over a muyridige Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer in this week's parsha, Parshas Va'eira, says that Moshe Rabbeinu was asking for a day of sacrifice, that Klal Yisrael should go and do zevachim to the Ribono Shel Olam. Vayomer Moshe. So Moshe tells Paro, What are you telling us? Zivchu l'Elokeichem ba'aretz, that we should stay here and do the Yom Zevach, we should give the korbanos to the Eibishter. Here we can't do that. Why? Perek ches, pasuk chaves, Vayomer Moshe, Lo nachon, lo nachon la'asos kein, ki toavas Mitzrayim nizbach laHashem Elokeinu. Hein nizbach es toavas Mitzrayim l'eineihem v'lo yiskelunu. How can we slaughter the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim?

They're gonna come and they're gonna kill us. What's lo nachon? It's an interesting lashon, says the Chasam Sofer. Lo nachon, la'asos kein. Just say, it's not doable. What's lo nachon? Nachon seems to sound like it's not correct to do. It's not the right thing to do, says the Chasam Sofer. Lo nachon taka means it's not nimus. It's not a derech eretz. It's not the proper hanhaga to do this. You'll give us permission. We'll slaughter the animals. First of all, they're gonna feel bad. The goyim are gonna feel very bad. On top of that, they might come and kill us, and we'll have to kill them back, and we'll have to go to war. We can't kill Mitzrayim. Why? Ki ger hayisa b'artzo. We can't kill Mitzrayim. We're gonna talk about this later on in Kriyas Yam Suf. They stood frozen. They didn't respond. And we're gonna learn why. Why did Klal Yisroel not respond? Hakaras hatov. They owed to the Mitzrim. Says the Chasam Sofer, that's the lo nachon. Lo nachon. It's nishrichtik. In Yiddish there's a word, nishrichtik. It's incorrect. It's improper. It's improper to do it. We could get away with it. Oh, that's not the issue. The issue is not if we could do it. We could do it, especially if you give us permission. If you give us permission, avada we could do it. No, but it's lo nachon, pari. It's not the right thing to do. To take the to'evas Mitzrayim and slaughter it l'eineihem. And then what? They're gonna come and, of course, stop us with force. So we're gonna have to fight back. We're gonna have to kill them. We're in a strong position. The Eibishter told us. They will be victorious, and they won't have any shlit over us anymore. Yeah, but what's with that kares ha'tov? Lo nachon. The Chasam Sofer, in a different place, speaks a lot. Why takke did Klal Yisrael not rebel against the Mitzrim? At a certain point, Mitzrayim was falling apart. Why didn't they just rebel? I don't know. It's pashut shaila. What are you waiting and waiting and waiting? Because, you know, people have rebelled for less things. Any mosed knows there's rebellion all the time. Any little thing you do wrong, anything, the oilam is tumbling, and we're out of here. We're not staying. So I don't understand, what are they staying? What are they sitting like, in English press, like sitting ducks? What are they sitting there for? At a certain point, says the Chasam Sofer, they could have definitely had enough strength to make a coup. The Chasam Sofer uses that analogy. He should make a coup and fight Paro and get out of Mitzrayim. So be'emes, there's an interesting Baal HaTurim. In the end of Parshas Vayechi, it says that Yosef made a shvuah. He made Klal Yisrael swear a shvuah. Perek nun, pasuk chof hei: Vayashba Yosef es bnei Yisrael leimor, Pokod yifkod Elokim eschem, v'ha'alisem es atzmosai mizeh. Balaturim. What was this shvuah Vayajba? He made Klal Yisrael swear. So he brings the Medrash, sheshbiyim shelo yidchaku es hakeitz. They should wait out the term of how long Galus Mitzrayim should be, and they shouldn't force their way out of the galus. Yaakov knew when. Yosef knew when, says the Baal HaTurim. He knew when it was time to go. Wait till the time of redemption. Don't force the redemption. Don't make a coup and get out on your own. Pashtus, because that's what the Eibishter wanted. There was a gezeirah. A person can't outsmart gezeiras HaKadosh Baruch Hu. A person can't outmaneuver what the Ribono Shel Olam wants. Ribono Shel Olam had a certain plan. How many years? Don't cut those years. Don't cut the term short. Don't sneak around the gezeirah and get out. The Chasam Sofer learns a little differently. Chasam Sofer says that the shvuah that Yosef was mashbia Klal Yisrael: do not fight to get out of Mitzrayim. Wait till Paro sends you. Hakaras haTov. Nimus, derech eretz. Paro is the king. Paro is the king. He took you into his country. Yes.

It wasn't a pleasant stay. It was quite torturous, the stay. But l'maaseh, the Torah tells us, Ki ger yihyeh b'artz'cha, you're not allowed to do evil to a mitzri because ki ger hayisa b'artzoi. Says the Chasam Sofer, that was the shvuah of Yosef. Wait till Pari sends you. Don't, against Pari, make a war and go out on your own. That's the vayashba. So we see so interesting how there was a shvuah, a shvuah. Pakod yifkod Elokim eschem. The Ribono Shel Olam will take you out, but it's connected to a shvuah. Zeh hakaras hatov. Be a makir tov to Mitzrayim. Such an interesting point in geulas Mitzrayim. Pakod yifkod. The Eibishter will redeem you, but it's with a shvuah that you must wait in order not to be a kofei tov against Pari. It's almost part of the mechanics, part of the actual geulah, was the hakaras hatov that Klal Yisrael had to show. I found this yesod in the Meshech Chochmah. Meshech Chochmah, Yud-Beis, Gimel, in Parshas Bo. We all know that they had to take the seh for the Korban Pesach miba'asar, from the tenth. They were makriv it on the 14th, but Mishchu kulchem, right, was mi'be'asar, on the 10th, on the 10th of the month. And that was only by Pesach Mitzrayim. Korban Pesach regularly needs bikur; you got to check out the korban to make sure there's no mumim. But Korban Pesach Mitzrayim, there was a special halacha mi'be'asar, that it had to be on the 10th of the month. Says the Meshech Chochma, there's many reasons for this, but one could be. One reason, says the Meshech Chochma, I think is ideal, that the Ribbono Shel Olam wanted Klal Yisrael to establish itself. And I quote you the lashon of the Meshech Chochma: Goy metzuyan b'nimusav, a goy outstanding, a nation outstanding in its menschlichkeit, b'nimusav, v'yeiruim l'hanhagah mesudarah u'misnaheges tachas geduleha, in order it should have the, to be able to get this geulah. It's not that the Ribbono Shel Olam could just redeem, ... am kadosh, a goy kadosh. So how did Klal Yisrael reach this goy metzuyan b'nimusav? And the answer is, and he writes the words, discipline. That's the Meshech Chochma; he uses the word discipline. Discipline. Interesting. Discipline. Discipline. Why? He says a marvelous thing. He says when we took the karban Pesach, remember we spoke from the Chasam Sofer that what was Moshe Rabbeinu's cheshbon, that if we take the seh, if we take the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim and we shecht it, then they're going to come and attack us, and then we're going to have to fight back. Says the Meshech Chochmah the same yesod. When we took it miba'asar, what happened? The Mitzrim were asking us, what are we taking the korban Pesach? We started telling them that it's about, on Pesach, the Ribbono Shel Olam is going to kill out all the bechorim, erev Pesach the Ribbono Shel Olam is going to kill out all the bechorim, and we're going to bring the korban Pesach and we're going to smear the blood on top of the doorpost. And then the bechorim are saying, What is it? What did you— sorry, did you say that you're going to kill out all the bechorim? Says the Medrash, the bechorim went and made an upheaval against Paro. They made a coup against Paro, and Paro's guards, Let them out. What are you keeping them? We're going to get killed. And that's pshat, l'make Mitzrayim bi, bi, bivchoreihem. With their bechorim, Mitzrayim got smoten, because the bechorim went—

And the Bechorim fought Pari, says the Meshech Chachma, in that state of affair, that there is an internal war, Bechorim fighting the guards of Pari. Chaos. They could have snuck out. This was their chance to go out. The Rabbeinu Shalom wanted Klal Yisrael to see their opportunity to leave and have discipline. I can't leave. I can't leave. I'll leave when Hashem tells me to go. I'll leave when Pari tells me to go. Vayehi b'shalach Pari. So, it had to be Pari. Why? A menschlichkeit, limudim. You don't just grab what you want, take what you want, when you want it, how you want it. There's hakaras hatov. There's a shvua that Yosef told you you got to make, you got to keep. It's a meshech chachma, yeah? The reason why Pesach Mitzrayim was four days before to be taken for, in order to make this chaos, in order to create this war, which gives the Klal Yisrael the opportunity to go out without anyone saying a word to them, without anyone saying a boo to them. And they had to not leave, because they had to earn, they had to earn goy kadosh. You know, it's interesting, the lashon, goy metzuyan. You know, in the Haggadah we say, melamed shehayu metzuyanim sham. That's what it means. According to the Meshech Chachma, metzuyanim, they stood out. What did they stand out in? Menschlichkeit. They stood out in self-respect, dignity. Dignity, dignity, dignity. We are not Mitzriyim. We are not Mitzrayim. We are not kfuyei tov. We're exalted, respectable people. The shvua was to be makir tov. They had to keep that shvua. You know, it's interesting, today when we talk about shidduchim, they'll say about a certain bachur, he's a Mitzuyan. He's a Mitzuyan. Usually, what are they referring to? His learning and his davening. That's a Mitzuyan. A Mitzuyan, a Mitzuyan. You see from over here that the word Mitzuyan actually means a Mitzuyan in middos, a Mitzuyan in discipline, a Mitzuyan in menschlichkeit, a Mitzuyan in hakaras hatov. That's called a Mitzuyan. Could you imagine, can you tell me about so-and-so bachur? Yes, he's an unbelievable Mitzuyan. Mitzuyan, mamash a Mitzuyan. You still have to ask, and how is he in learning? You have to ask, how is he in davening? You see, Mitzuyan means something completely different. Years ago, I took Rav Scheinberg to say a shiur in Queens. So in the car, we're talking about his kesher with my zeide, Reb Shmuel Dovid Walkin, zicher tzaddik livracha. So I asked him, I see that there was a kesher, there was some connection. What was it? So he told me what his shaychus was with my grandfather. All of a sudden, he tells me, ‘Tezayde.’ He used to talk with a hoarse voice, Reb Shimon. ‘Tezayde, tezayde.’ He was an odom gadol. He was an odom gadol. So I looked at him and I said, ‘Okay, I know he’s a great man, a big rav, but what are you referring to? What do you mean?’ Like, in Yiddish, this expression, ‘Velche inzichtin’—in which area are you referring to? So he told me over a moyridike Rashi. He pointed out that Rashi says that when Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to come into Eretz Yisroel, he said tefillos. He made tefillos, keminyan v’Eschanan. And what did he daven to the Eibishter? ‘Ata achiloso l’haros es avdecha es gadlecha.’ ‘Ribono Shel Olam, You began to show me Your greatness, so I want to see the end of it. This is the beginning. How about the end? I want to see the end.’ Says Rashi, ‘What gadlecha? What’s Hashem’s greatness? If you ask somebody, tell me, what’s Hashem’s greatness? He’ll say His miracles, right? What would you say? His yad chazakah, the makos, Kriyas Yam Suf, yeah? And Moshe Rabbeinu is saying, ‘Hashem, You showed me how great You are.’ Says Rashi, ‘Gadlecha zu midas tuvcha.’ This is Your goodness, Your kindness, Your goodness. Goodlecha is what? Zu midas—the midah of tov, of good.

Those gadlus. That's greatness. That's greatness. That's greatness, you hear? He turns to me, he says, Dayn zeide gave an odom gadol, eygen a guter. He was very good-natured. He was a good person. Meshech Chochma, when we talk about Klal Yisrael's greatness, it's an am gadol v'kadosh. Here the Meshech Chochma is telling us, how did we get out of Mitzrayim? We were metzuyanim b'nimusim, menschlichkeit, in hakaras hatov, in hakaras hatov. Here, rabosai, mechadek, yeah? If someone asks you, Klal Yisrael, Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim. Okay, we understand we were in the mem-tes shaarei tumah. That's already, we have to discuss a different time. But avada it was goy kadosh. It was something, Klal Yisrael. But what was unique about Klal Yisrael? Meshech Chochma tells us clearly: in order to have all the nisim, which was gadlus of the Ribono Shel Olam's hanhaga, they had to be a goy gadol v'kadosh. What made them gadol? Nimusim. And what was their nimusim, their discipline? Paro. They owed Paro hakaras hatov. You know, Klal Yisrael left fully weaponed. The pasuk in Beshalach tells us, Vechamushim alu Bnei Yisrael me'eretz Mitzrayim. Chamushim is mezuyanim. They had full armory. They had the latest weapons, even though there was no United States at the time, but they had somehow their hands on the best weapons, all right? The question is, what did they need it for? The Rabbeinu Shlomo was planning on giving them Kriyas Yam Suf without them lifting a finger, atem tachrishun. What was the point of them going out with so much weaponry? The mefarshim speak about it. The Chasam Sofer's mareh mekomos on it a lot. I always thought that the weaponry was for later, right? There was milchemes Amalek. I mean, there was wars in the Midbar. But the Chasam Sofer doesn't learn like this. The Chasam Sofer says a meyudik chiddush. So, the Chasam Sofer, we needed to go out with weapons so we should be able to defend ourselves and not defend ourselves. If we don't have weapons, so what's the big deal that we didn't defend ourselves? We should be in a situation that we could have defended ourselves, and we didn't. And the reason why we didn't was hakaras hatov to Pari and Mitzrayim. We weren't allowed to touch a Mitzri. He had a chiddush, a meyudik chiddush. If someone can't, of course, what's the big deal that if you can't fight, what's the big deal that you're not fighting? They could have fought, and they could have won. There's an interesting Even Ezra that says they couldn't have fought because their nature was to be avadim. They lacked the self-confidence to go fight the Mitzriyim because they were for so many years suppressed, and an eved in techunah can't stand up against his master. But the Chasam Sofer doesn't learn like this, and many mefarshim speak this nekudah, and that is that what? They needed to go out fully equipped to win the war and yet not do anything. So I always thought the pshat is what, nu? Because they had to have emunah and bitachon. And emunah and bitachon is mechayev that you should just stand by and let the Eibishter take care of everything. Some sefarim says it's actually deeper than that. The geulah had to be through the means of hakaras hatov, which is really the yesod I was telling you. Part of the makeup, the avodah in the geulah, had to be with the shorashim and the yesodos of hakaras hatov. We had to leave Mitzrayim as an am goy gadol v'kadosh, an am hakir tov. So therefore we couldn't leave with a koach fighting Mitzrayim, and even at Kriyas Yam Suf we weren't allowed to fight back. And we had to have weapons which gave us the ability to fight back and still not fight back, because we're makir tov and we're disciplined in hakaras hatov. There's a mayridik sefer, which is the son of the Chasam Sofer. The Ksav Sofer says, Yisro. So Baruch Hashem, we covered all the parshiyos, Shemos, Vaeira, we did Bo, we did Beshalach. How about Yisro? So we got the shovevim. Shovevim is supposed to be a time where we work on inyanei kedushah and taharas halev.

Even Tyrus, sorry, Nayim. Hakaras hatov, let's work on that too. We have in every parsha: Shemos, Vaeira, Bo, Beshalach, and now Yisro. What's Yisro? Yisro comes, yeah? What does he come? Vayishma Yisro, mah shmuah shama uva? He heard Kriyas Yam Suf and milchemes Amalek. All the mefarshim ask why these two things more than anything else. He heard everything. Why are these the two things that moved him to come? Zogt the Ksav Sofer, mayridik. You know, Klal Yisroel, all right, the Eibishter did miracles for them. But in order for me to come, to be misgayer, to become part of Klal Yisroel, Yisroel wanted to hear something special in Klal Yisroel. What kind of people are they? He didn't want to hear about the Eibishter, because he knew about the Eibishter. He wanted to hear about the people. What's a Yid? What's a Klal Yisroel? A Yid is a makir tov. Kriyas Yam Suf. Kriyas Yam Suf showed him how can they fight back against the Mitzriim. That's a Yid. A Jew is able to look the other way and not to fight because he's makir tov to somebody. I mean, but it's your survival. It's your survival. Af al pi kein, a Yid doesn't do that. A Yid is a makir tov. A Yid is not a meshalem ra tachas tova. A Yid, even if it means that he loses from it, is makir tov and looks the other way. Says the Ksav Sofer. When he heard Kriyas Yam Suf, means he heard what happened by Kriyas Yam Suf, not the miracle of Kriyas Yam Suf. He heard how the Jews behaved by Kriyas, the Kiddush Hashem that the Yidden, am kadosh, the way they behaved by Kriyas Yam Suf. They weren't aggressive. They were makir etov. But then he asked himself a simple question: maybe they didn't fight back because they couldn't. Maybe they didn't fight back because they would have lost. Listen, they were a nation that went through a tremendous, so to speak, Holocaust. So who had the koiches to fight? Maybe they just couldn't do it. Then when he heard Milchemes Amalek, ah, Yidden have weapons. Yidden know how to fight. So how come they didn't fight by Kriyas Yam Suf? Oh, because they're makir etov. I'm coming. I want to be a Yid. This is the nation, the goy metzuyan, the special quality of a Yid. I want to be part of it. There's an interesting Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer says, why did the Ribono Shel Olam make that we should take the blood of the Korban Pesach and put it on the mashkof, on the doorposts? Tell me, the Eibishter doesn't know on His own where and when? The Eibishter knows. The Eibishter can figure out which is a Yid'shtub, which is a nisht kein Yid'shtub, zogt the Chasam Sofer. Says the Chasam Sofer, why did the Ribono Shel Olam make it? He wanted the houses of the Mitzriyim should have a davar kadosh on the walls of their houses. The Korban Pesach, the kedushah of their blood, should be on the walls in order that they should remain even afterwards and not fall and destroy. Because of hakaras hatov that we have to have, and that the Rabbeinu Shalom felt Mitzrayim deserved for hosting us all these years. You know, I once was looking at a picture, an aerial shot of Berlin after the World War. There was nothing left. There was not a house standing. They were machriv it mikoil v'koil. They wiped it out completely. Because I'm sorry for saying, technically that's what should have happened to Mitzrayim. So how come Mitzrayim kept on going? Pari even survived. What happened? And the answer is, the Rabbeinu Shalom wanted, says the Chasam Sofer, that Mitzrayim should not fall afterwards, as a payback for hosting the Yidden all the years. Chasam Sofer says it with a little bit of a twist of Chassidus. We know that they went down to Mitzrayim to take the nitzotzos of kedusha, to take the nitzotzos of kedusha. Vayeinatzlu Mitzrayim, right? Like a dag she'ein bo... was nothing left from the kedusha, so then it would collapse. So the Rabbeinu Shalom made dvarim shebikedusha on their houses, in order that they shouldn't fall after Klal Yisrael leaves. That's a moydike raya. The Rabbeinu Shalom made it that there should still be kedusha.

of nitzutzot of kedushah on their walls, in order they should survive and flourish even after Klal Yisroel leaves, in order that it should be a hakaras hatov for hosting Klal Yisroel. I'd like to tell you over a meyudik ma'amar Nevuchim. The Moreh Nevuchim, the Rambam says a meyudik chiddush. Rambam says a meyudik, meyudik chiddush. Zogt the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, chelek gimmel, perek mem-beis: V'zois hamidah tishmorah. You should watch this midah, because it's yesharah me'od. It's straight, it's richtig, it's right. And that is, nesi'as pnei ha'krovim v'heitiv lahem. You need to be kind to relatives. The chachamim are meshabeach, says the Rambam, the person that marries bas achoso, his niece. Why? Mipnei tzarchei ha'shalom. You're helping your family. Family is family. U'kvar disanu haTorah b'zois hamidah haflagah gedolah me'od, and the Torah stresses this very point, says the Rambam. And that is that a person should pay attention and care for his relatives, u'lekarev me'od kol mi sheyesh lo imo achvah, and anyone that he has some relationship with that person. אפילו חטא לו בחמסא. Even if the person wronged him, and he ... the meganev. ואפילו הוי הקרוב, והוא בתכלית ההפסד. And even if it's a bad relationship, you lose from having a kesher with this person. אי אפשר לו מבלתי שישא פנים לקרוביו. There's only one route, and that is to accept, accept, and be good with that relative. אמר יסלה, and what's the raya? Like, תסייעי אדומי. אדומי, they did terrible things to us, Edom, but yet what? They're related to us. כל מי שיצטרך אליו בימיך. Listen to a loshon of Rabbeinu ... Any person who you had to come on to, ומצאהו בעת צרה, and you relied on him in your time of need, even if later he stabs you in the back, אף על פי שהרע לך אחר כן, you're not supposed to remember that he stabbed you in the back. You're supposed to remember what? The good, the original good that he did for you. And that's pshat, like תסייע מצרי כי גר היית בארצו. Yeah, they started off, they gave us a place to stay, but now look what they did afterwards for hundreds of years. You're not supposed to think and focus on what they did after, but what they did for you before. וכבר התפרסם רוב מה שהרעו אותנו המצרים. It's clear what the Mitzrim did for us. Still, re'ei kama midos tovos l'madnu me'eila mitzvos. Look how much we have to learn that the Torah tells us: remember the good and overlook the bad. Yeah, it's a meyridike thing. The Torah, the Torah is teaching. The Torah, nidrashes b'sman, it's mechayev that we should treat a mitzri with hakaras hatov. And how do we do that? Don't look at the bad, only look at the good. Don't look at the bad, just look at the good. Forget all the bad. Forget it. What was Paro? He forgot all the good, and he only remembered the bad. And what's the tikkun? No? What's the tikkun, rabosai? Remember only the good, don't remember the bad. That's how you mesaken. Why? Why? Why is it Mitzrayim the lesson, the platform that we learn hakaras hatov? And the answer is because Mitzrayim is emunah. Emunah can only come through hakaras hatov. It's joined together, and it can't be separated: hakaras hatov, emunah; emunah, hakaras hatov. If you notice, the whole mitzvah of emunah is brought out in the context of hakaras hatov and Mitzrayim.

Anochi Hashem Elokecha. What is Anochi? Asher hotzeiticha me'eretz Mitzrayim. Hakaras hatov, Ramban. And which hakaras hatov? They took you out of Mitzrayim. In the mechanics, in the structure — that's the right word — in the structure of yetzias Mitzrayim was the lesson and the yesod implementing in Klal Yisrael hakaras hatov. And that's because Mitzrayim, the tumah of Mitzrayim, was a lack of hakaras hatov. The tikkun was that we should be makirei tov. It was about emunah, and emunah needs hakaras hatov, and hakaras hatov leads to emunah. I believe that's why we find that it's so intricate, and it's so chiyuvi — for lack of an English term, chiyuvi — that the geulah had to be through acts of hakaras hatov. Like we spoke, the Jews, the Yidden, had to behave in an oifen of hakaras hatov to Paro. Let's talk Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu was told to go and redeem Klal Yisrael. Moshe is told to go. What's the first thing Moshe Rabbeinu does? He goes back to Yisro, and he asks permission from Yisro if he's allowed to go. The mefarshim ask, But I don't understand. Why are you asking Yisro if Hashem told you to go? And the Gemara says, and the Chazal tell us, that Yisro opened up his home to Moshe. He owes — Moshe owes Yisro. There's hakaras hatov. So, but the question is, but the Eibishter told you to go. If the Eibishter tells you to go, don't make your cheshbonos. Don't make your calculations that you need to speak to Yisro. The mefarshim say that Moshe understood that that's what the Ribono Shel Olam meant. Pashut, because akaras hatov is so important, and it's such a basic yesod of Torah that he understood if the Eibishter sent him, it meant to first ask Yisro. Maybe we could say a little bit deeper. Moshe understood that the geulah has to come through akaras hatov. So there is no way for him to be the goel. There is no way for him to go on a shlichus to redeem Klal Yisroel if he's not makir tov. If he doesn't take into account hakaras hatov. If there's hakaras hatov, it's shayach to do the shlichus to be goel Yisroel, because yetzias Mitzrayim, geulas Mitzrayim, needed to come through hakaras hatov. It needed to establish hakaras hatov in Klal Yisroel. If you notice, the makkos were not able to be done through Moshe, many of them. Aharon had to do it. Why? Chazal tell us he wasn't allowed to hit the waters. Why was he not allowed to hit the waters? Hakaras hatov. Why? Because again, in Mitzrayim, in Mitzrayim, in Mitzrayim, hakaras hatov, the geulah needed to come through a tremendous... Tikun, a tremendous avodah of hakaras hatov. What's taka pshat, rabosai? Why is it that emunah is hakaras hatov? I've thought a lot about it, and over the years I've come to understand that when a person is makir tov, that all the things the Eibishter does for him, he appreciates. When you appreciate, then you see the Ribono Shel Olam. When you see the hatovah, then you see there's a meitiv. Then you see that there's someone who's doing that hatovah. Part of the problem is that when you don't see the tov that's done for you, so therefore you don't realize that there's a meitiv on the other end. If a person daily is makir tov every moment and everything that happens to him, he sees that there's a Ribono Shel Olam who's a giver, who's giving him. I just want to end that maybe there's a little bit more to this idea of Moshe Rabbeinu having to—

Work and having to be misaken the inyan of akaras hatov. So I'm telling you pashut, it's because of Galus Mitzrayim. Since he was the goel, he was the redeemer, the redeemer, the geulah had to come through akaras hatov. But rabosai, maybe we could say a little bit with another kneitch. Torah has to be with akaras hatov, because yesoidas haTorah. And Moshe Rabbeinu at this point was not only charged to be the goel, but he was also charged to be the mekabel haTorah and the moser haTorah. Therefore Moshe Rabbeinu needed a shleimus. He needed an avodah of perfection in akaras hatov. I want to tell you an interesting maaseh on this end. I saw in the sefer ha'doros, elef ha'chamishi, they bring from Rabbeinu David HaNogid, who was the grandson of the Rambam. So he brings that his father told him about his father, the Rambam, and that is that he wrote the Rambam ten years. It took him ten years. He never left his room. He sat in his room. He locked himself in his room for ten years. It's brought down in sefer ha'doros. When he finally finished, that night he had a dream. Who came to the Rambam in the dream? His father, Rabbeinu Maimon, right? Rambam is Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon. So Rabbeinu Maimon came to him in a dream with somebody. Who is that somebody? It says in Sefer Devarim, it was Moshe Rabbeinu. It says in his dream he was surprised, Moshe Rabbeinu, what are you doing here? אמר ליה, tells him, באתי לראות מה שעשית. I came to see what you're doing. I came to see your work. This is your Rambam. וכשראה, when he saw the Rambam, אמר, ישר כוחך בן גדולים. Nice maiseh. I thought about this maiseh. Maybe, maybe, maybe, yashar koach is an expression of hakaras hatov. Moshe Rabbeinu is teaching that Torah needs to be appreciated. Torah needs appreciation. Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah needs appreciation, rabosai. We have rabbeim. We have people who are moser nefesh to be mefitz Torah. Do we appreciate? Do we appreciate? Do we appreciate? Torah, part of Torah is to be makir tov, and part of hakaras hatov is v'iamal zogen a yasher koach, zogen a yasher koach. Moshe Rabbeinu, he excelled in hakaras hatov. And the reason why he excelled in hakaras hatov, the reason is because as the goyel he needed it, and as the Moshe Rabbeinu, because Torah, that's the ikar yesod of Torah. So you got to teach Torah. Torah means to teach hakaras hatov. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.