Parshas Shemos: Moshe’s Courage to Act and Save the Oppressed Rather Than Stand By

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. In the parashat Shemos, we learn how Moshe Rabbeinu, though growing up as the son of Paro in the palace of Paro, is drawn to leave the palace, to go out to see the way the Bnei Yisrael, his brothers, Klal Yisrael, is being tortured to work. Pasuk says, Vayigdal Moshe, perek beis, pasuk yud aleph, Vayehi bayamim hahem, vayigdal Moshe, vayeitze el echav, vayar b'sivlosam, vayar ish Mitzri makeh ish Ivri me'echav. So this is the Chazal call yetziah, yom aleph, yetziah rishonah, the first yetziah, because there was a second yetziah, Vayeitze, vayom ha'sheni, that he went out the second day, and there he comes across two people fighting, and he gives the musar, Rasha, lamah sakeh re'echa. So these two events are connected in the Medrash, Vayeitze bayom harishon, Vayeitze bayom ha'sheni, and it would seem from the Medrash and the Rishonim that they're connected. In an underlying midah, which means that they both—the first day, what Moshe did on the first day when he left, and on Vayeitzei on the second day, Vayeitzei bayom ha'sheni, and what he did on that day—is all from the same midah and shoresh. Which means the fact that he goes out on the first day and he kills the Mitzri, and the fact that he went out on the second day and he gives mussar to the Jew who's hitting the other Jew, it's a connected event. It's two days, connected events, the same story. You look at the mefarshim. The mefarshim actually connect the third story, and that is that when he comes to the Bnei Yisroel and he sees that they're being tortured, that the Bnei Yisroel are being picked on, Vayakom Moshe vayoshi'an. Moshe gets up and he saves them. And the mefarshim say this too is connected. These are three events which bring out who Moshe Rabbeinu was. The first day, the fact that he went out and he kills the Mitzri. The second day, that he confronts the one who's hitting his friend. And the third event of Vayakom vayoshi'an is all one. It's actually all one midah, one shoresh. The pshat in all three stories are the same. What is the connection between these three stories? What is the connection? What is these three stories the shoresh of? What is it proving? What med is it based on? So if you look at the Rambam, the Rambam seems to learn that this is all about tzedek. Moshe Rabbeinu was truthful. He was honest. Mishpat, judgment. What's right is right, what's wrong is wrong. And in all three cases, he couldn't take avlah, something that's being done wrong. The Mitzri hitting the Yid, it's wrong. The Jew hitting the Jew, it's wrong. The people who are hitting and bothering the Bnei Yisrael, it's wrong. And it's in levels. A person could say, you know, the Mitzri hitting the Jew, that's really wrong. That's terribly wrong. Terribly wrong. The Jew hitting the other Jew, I mean, they're both reshaim. Rashi says they were both reshaim, to the point that the mefarshim ask, so where was the Rasha, lama sakreiacha? The Rambam paskens you're not hit a rasha. And if Rashi, the way he brings from Chazal, that it was rasha kemoisoi, it was a rasha like—

So there was no issur to hit, yet Moshe Rabbeinu felt that it was wrong, and he mixed in. He got involved. Mishpat, tzedek. Vayakom Moshe vayoshian is a third story where here it's even more interesting, where it's a goy who is bothering a gentile, another goy. What are you mixing in? What does that have to do with you? Two strangers, what does that have nothing to do with you? And yet, mishpat, judgment, having discerned something, having bad feelings against wrong, evil, avlah, Moshe Rabbeinu gets involved. So these are three stories of tzedek and not being able to be sovel avlah on three different levels. The first level, I mean, it's yeshiv, not b'chamitzri hitting a Jew, an innocent Jew. The second, both are not so innocent, but they're Jews. And the third is they're not even Jews. A goy with a goy, whether you don't know who they are, what they, you know, you know the history behind it, who knows? What are you mixing in? What's your business? Where do I know this from? The Rambam. I know this from two places. The Rambam in Hilchos Sanhedrin says that a dayan needs to have the attribute of anchi chayil. Chayil means that he stands up to war, so to speak. He's a soldier. He's a fighter. What does that mean? That means that he goes with a gun. That means that he shoots every guy that comes and does something wrong. What does it mean? So the Rambam explains that he tries with all his strength to save the neshak miyad oishkai, someone who's being robbed, someone who's being be'aveled, avlah, from those that do a mavel. He protects, like it says, Vayakom Moshe vayoshie. He brings our story of Moshe Rabbeinu. So you see that the Rambam learned that it was the quality of a dayan. Anshei chayil. It has to do with tzedek u'mishpat. It has to do with the ability of a dayan to stand for truth. Because if it has to do with good middos, so what does that do? Dayan, every Jew, every person. Why do you bring it in as a halachah in dayan, and then you bring a raya from Moshe Rabbeinu? Obviously he learned it has to do with mishpat, not being able to stand something which is not truthful. It's not right. It's an avlah. And his raya is from Vayakom Moshe vayoshie. So I learned from this Rambam that the Rambam understood that what Moshe Rabbeinu was doing here was standing for the truth, for justice. In English we would say justice. A dayan stands for justice. Another proof I have, the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, perek mem-hei. Says that every navi, before he ascends to the level of nevuah, he's tested to see if he does something very big, an action which stands out to be something very special. And he says, for example, if you would save an innocent, a chassid, from the hands of reshaim, because he has to be proven. He has to prove himself that he's roi l'gedulah, for greatness. Says the Rambam, this is what we see by Moshe Rabbeinu, that before he became a navi, he too did a great act. And which act did he do? The Rambam doesn't bring the first story that he kills the Mitzri. The Rambam doesn't bring the third story, like he brings in halacha of yad chazakah, that he saved the Bnos Yisroel. But he brings the second story, that he gets mixed in between the two people who are fighting, and he tells the choteh, How could you sin? What are you sinning for? He gives a mussar. So the Rambam deduces from this that the act of courage, of gevurah, of standing up against the choteh, against the sinner, is the act that brought Moshe to nevuah.

Now, he calls it, Ner Shakanoishik. He discusses that concept for those that were being taken advantage of. The Rambam seems to learn, like I explained to you, that it's about justice, that he can't take seeing something that's wrong. The story of the chaita was not saving the innocent. He's not saving him. He's giving mussar for a person who would want to hit another person. The other person might even deserve it; he was a rasha, like I tell you. It was more about the avlah, the injustice, and the fact that he stands for justice is what led him to be a navi. So l'choira, we have from the Rambam that the Rambam learns it's all about tzedek and not being able to be sovel an avlah. We find that actually Yaakov Avinu had this midah. In the beginning of Parshas Vayeitzei, Yaakov Avinu comes to Charan, and he also gets involved in a business that's not nogea to him. Hey, no, a gadol gives the mussar, and the meforshim ask, What are you getting involved? It's your business. What are you— your business is to come to a new place and start giving people tochachah when they should close their jobs and how long they should stay, and how long they should stay? And the answer is, says the Seforno, Yaakov was midas emes, and because he had midas emes, he couldn't stand injustice, avlah. It was wrong. That it was wrong. Yaakov had to stand up against it. This, l'choira, is what the Rambam understood in Moshe Rabbeinu in these three stories also. Vayigdal Moshe, vayeitzei el echav. He went out, and then all of a sudden he sees injustice. Here a Mitzri is hitting an innocent person. Here another Jew is hitting his friend. Here this rasha is beating up the Bnei Yisrael. Moshe Rabbeinu stands up with courage, and he protests to the injustice. This is actually the middah of Yaakov Avinu, like the Siforno. Maybe we could say that's the pshat, that when Yisroel tells his daughters, Call him into the house, Moshe Rabbeinu. Lamah azavtem es ha'ish? says Rashi. What do you mean, azavtem es ha'ish? Makir ani, I recognize him. He is mizera Yaakov. Rashi says he's a grandchild of Yaakov. Why do we bring him out as a grandchild of Yaakov? What do you mean, you recognize him as a grandchild of Yaakov? How do you recognize him? And the answer is because just like Yaakov Avinu stood up and protested against the injustice, this is the middah of zera Yaakov and lineage of Yaakov. You want to talk about a Yid who's a rachman, say zera Avraham. Usually when we talk about rachmanus, we say he's a grandchild of Avraham, or say zera Yisrael, he's a Jew. Zera Yaakov. Why Yaakov? And the answer is, the way we understand from the Rambam, that this is about standing with courage against injustice. Yisroel says, Wow, I know that story. I read that in the papers. You know what I read in the papers about Yaakov Avinu? Yaakov did the same thing. Yeah. You think a story like Yaakov Avinu didn't get around? People would talk, Wow, Yaakov Avinu, look at him, look how he stood up, look how he stood. This was the talk of town, as they say, and people would speak about it. And that's the pshat in Zera Yaakov, which means that Yaakov Avinu already was this midah of standing for justice. It is. Okay. This is one way to understand the story, the three events that led to Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah and greatness and leadership. The Medrash, on the other hand, talks about a little sheep. Not working. The Medrash talks about a little sheep. See, here what we're learning, the mefarshim all discuss what was Moshe Rabbeinu before he became the leader. What brought out his greatness, Vayigdal Moshe, what was his greatness? So what are you saying? You can learn his greatness, according to the understanding of the Rambam, is—

Tzedek, emes, to stand up as an anshi chayil, as a warrior for justice. Okay. The Medrash seems to talk about a little sheep, that he ran after a sheep, and the Ribono Shel Olam said, if someone could be so caring for a sheep, he'll be very caring for my people. Rachmanus. Now let's go back to see if all these three stories are also rachmanus, maybe. Maybe in light of the middah of rachmanus that the Medrash talks about, that's what this story is. Why? The concept of saving the neshak, the one who's being robbed, the one who's being be'avled, from those that are be'aveling, could be rachmanus also, could be chesed. True, it could be justice, but could it also come from a shoresh of rachmanus, kindness? You know, it's interesting. It says that Moshe Rabbeinu went out. Vayigdal, vayeitze el echav. Why did he go out? So Rashi learns, Vayigdal, Moshe, vayar b'sivlosam, nasa einav v'libo lihyos meitzar aleihem. Is that why he went out? Did he go out from the palace in order to be meitzar? The Ramban doesn't learn like that. The Ramban learns that he went out, curiosity. Vayiga Moshe vayetze el echav. Says the Ramban, someone told him he's a Jew. Who? We don't know. Ramban doesn't say who. But that's what the Ramban says: someone told him he's a Jew, so curiosity to go out. Curiosity. Vayar b'sivlosam. Once he was out, says the Ramban, then he saw all their torture, all the difficulty they had. Maybe we could come and say, Vayiga Moshe vayetze el echav is actually connected to the vayar b'sivlosam. He went out to be vayar b'sivlosam. He heard he was a Jew, and he decided to go out. You know why? To see, to see. And that's what Rashi means: nasan einav v'libo, which means that he went out to look, to see. Why couldn't he stay in the palace and do that? I'm sure there were plenty of beautiful balconies in the palace that went up and look with the binoculars. You know, today you have binoculars. You can look, who knows, for 25 cents, you put in a quarter, stam by inflation with today's standards it's a dollar fifty already. But in my times, when we went to look through those little—there was a quarter. It's not a quarter anymore, huh? So the Rishonim—so the question is, the question is, how come Moshe Rabbeinu went out? He could have done the same thing from the palace. So I always say pshat: in order to see the tzar of another person. He can't see it from the comfort of your own home. A person who sits home, a person sits home, and he's warm and comfortable, he can't identify with the other person's problem. We saw many times from the Chofetz Chaim, who went collecting by a rich person for a poor person's home to heat, needed heat, needed wood. So the Chofetz Chaim would knock on the door, and the richer person who he knocked by tells the Chofetz Chaim to come in, come in. The Chofetz Chaim says, No, I want to talk to you right here by the door. Why? Come in, come in. No, Rebbe, I have a beautiful warm couch. He said, That's the problem. If we're going to sit on the couch in the warm, you're not going to feel. You have to go out in the cold. This is why Moshe Rabbeinu, Vayetze, he went out. Why did he go out? Because he understood to sit in the palace of the king, to sit in the palace of the king and say, Ah, look, you're not going to feel anything. Vayetze, he went out into the field. He went out to where they were working, b'yarbesiv loisam. That's what it means, nasan einav v'libo. He paid attention that he should feel it, otherwise...

So we can learn either like the Ramban, that it's two things. Vayeitzei, he went out for curiosity. Vayar b'sivlosam. Or we can learn, Vayeitzei, he went out to see the sivlos, because that's the only way that you could feel it. Or maybe we could say a third pshat, rabosai, and that is that who says it's enough to just be meitzar? You know, a person tells you that he has a tzarah. It's a tzarah. So you know, ah, nebach, terrible, I feel so bad. What does that guy have from you that you feel bad? Nothing. I'm not saying fully nothing. You know, at least that, at least you show compassion. But at the end of the day, you're not really resolving anything for the guy. It's not enough just to stay home and say, Ah, I feel bad. You got to do something. That's what maybe Moshe Rabbeinu was doing. Vayeitzei el echav, so he could do something. It's not enough just to stay home and feel the pain. You got to do. And in fact, the Medrash says that he carried each brick. He did something. He hit the Mitzri. He did something. He reacted. He didn't just sit by and say, Ah, I feel terrible. Ah, Hashem ya'azor. You know, a person... I once saw another person go to a choleh, a sick person. That sick person was so, so weak. And all the person was telling him, Hashem yazor, Hashem yazor, and I'm thinking, Hashem yazor. It's very easy for you to say Hashem yazor. Got to do a little bit better than Hashem yazor. You got to do a little bit more than just lihyos meitzar, to feel bad. Hayetzei. He went out, he did something. And I found the mekor for this. The chelek of Chofetz Chaim in the hakdamah to Ahavas Chesed learns, what's the pshat in lihyos meitzar, says the Chofetz Chaim, lihyos meitzar, and therefore you have to go out of your way to do something. Lihyos meitzar means not just to be meitzar. In the beginning of Ahavas Chesed, the Chofetz Chaim seems to be pointing this point out. He's trying to break the same point that we're making, that it's not enough to just feel bad. Feel bad and do something. Rabbeinu Yonah, in Shaar Gimmel, I've read this to you many times, the lashon of Rabbeinu Yonah: part of chesed is not just to do chesed when it comes to you, but it's to sit and think, how I could, kum v'aseh, find ways of doing chesed and helping others. You know, a person gets chesed, he feels that it came to his door and he's got to do it. But does he go out to search the chesed? Maybe that's vayetzei. He went out to search the chesed. He went out to search to help. It's not enough to come and say, All right, let me see if it comes to me, I'll do it. Vayeitzei. You have to go out and think of ways, mechadesh chidushim, mechadesh chidushim, on how to do and help others. That's the Vayeitzei Elechov. He went out, vayar b'sivlosam, lihyos meitzar aleihem, nosan einav, which means he proactively, proactively, he went to do the chesed, to help, to save. And this, rabosai, is to be neshak me'aroishik, to save the oppressed from those that oppress, and proactively to get involved. This was the midah of Moshe when he hits the Mitzri. This is also when he, lamah rasha, lamah sakarei'echa. This is also Vayakom Moshe Vayoshi'en, like the Rambam, it's justice. But the way we're learning based on the Medrash, it's goodness, it's rachmanus. It's to not swallow the pain of the other person and not feel cold, ach zar, that he's zar to the pain of the other person and say, You know what? I wish I could help. That's standing on the sidelines doesn't mean you helped the person. You have to go and do something. Kazar. You got to kazar.

Zar means that a person is zarut, strange, fremd. In Yiddish we say fremd. You have to be able to be—that's like you. The story happened to you, not to the other person. Tell me, if a person would have a tzarah, would he say, Hashem yazor? No, he would. He would be mishtadel to do something, to come and say, Ah, I feel bad. That's not called taking care of a problem. You don't think you wouldn't say, I feel bad. You would be mispallel and do whatever you could do. This is Vayeitzei eilecha vayar b'sivlotam. And I want to tell you more. You know, Moshe Rabbeinu, his name was Moshe. What does Moshe mean? Ki min hamayim meshisihu. So there's an unbelievable sipur that says that why are we so busy with ki min hamayim meshisihu, what Bas Paro, what she did? Why is that so important? So many baalei mussar speak about hakaras hatov, that since she did such good to Moshe Rabbeinu, that name remained, Moshe. She did good life, no? The sipur learns that actually this was the tchunah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe means Moshia, to save. Moshe, his life began with an act of hoshiah, of saving, in order that this should be a siman for the rest of his life that he should be a Moshia, a savior. Ki min hamayim meshisihu, meshisihu means I saved him from the water. Moshiach, says the Sippurna, and that was the rest of his life already ingrained in his mahus. And that's why his life began with it. His life began with an act of hoshia, because that was going to be his life's mission. And he says, the Sippurna, that actually Moshe is two things: Moshe, that they took him out of the water, and Moshe, that one day he'll take Klal Yisrael out of the water by Kriyas Yam Suf. And it's interesting, his real name was actually Moshe Moshe. You know that? If you look at the parsha, we'll find that Moshe Rabbeinu was called by the Ribono Shel Olam, Moshe, Moshe, al tikrav halom, don't come, don't come that close. So the mefarshim point out that whenever it says two names, Avram, Avram, Yaakov, Yaakov, Shmuel, Shmuel, it's an asnachta, there's a stop in the middle. Avram, Avraham, it stops in the middle. Moshe is Moshe Moshe without a stop. Why? Says the Chasam Sofer, a me'oiridik pshat. He says that the Maharash Kinah, the Kadmonim, it's brought down, that Moshe's name wasn't Moshe, it was actually Moshe Moshe. That was his real name. By Avraham, it was Avram, and the Ribono Shel Olam, mitoch chibah, calls him twice, Avram, Avram. Yaakov, Yaakov. Shmuel, Shmuel. But his name was Shmuel. Moshe's name was Moshe Moshe. Why? According to the Sippurna, I believe the pshat is very beautiful. Moshe, he was taken out of the water, and Moshe eventually he will take out. His name was Moshe in the past, and that Moshe will be in the future. It's two different stories. He's named after two different things. He's named after Moshe that he was taken out of the water in the beginning, and that Moshe of the future, you will take Klal Yisrael out of the water. So his name was Moshe, Moshe, and that's why he's being told here now, when he's being taken to the Sneh and he's being charged to go do the shlichus, Moshe, Moshe. It's not enough, the old Moshe. It's not only that you were Moshe from the water in the past, but now you have to do the second part of the Moshe. You have to go to Mitzrayim and be the manhig and take Klal Yisrael out of Mitzrayim and out of the water. Now, when he's being told that he's the manhig, that he's the leader, that he has to go to Mitzrayim b'shlichus, he's told, Moshe, Moshe. Your name is Moshe, Moshe. There's a beautiful Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer quotes the Daas Zekeinim Baalei HaTosafos that bring a Medrash that when the Eibishter said, Moshe, Moshe, what did he answer? Hineni.

Year 1780. So the Rebbeinu tells him, Al tikrav halom. What does al tikrav halom mean? Don't come this close. Don't reach till here. Don't get—why? Because he was wearing his shoes. Says the Baal HaTosafos, no. Al tikrav halom, you still didn't reach Avraham. You think you're like Avraham? When I said Avraham, Avraham, he answered, Hineni. He answered, Hineni. When I said Yaakov, Yaakov, they answered, Hineni. You, I say Moshe, don't answer Hineni. You're not holding there yet. Hineni, you're not holding there yet. Huh? That's right. So Hashem tells him, Al tikrav halom. You haven't reached that Hineni yet. You haven't reached—Al tikrav halom—you haven't reached the Hineni yet. Why not? Ask the Chasam Sofer, why not? Answers the Chasam Sofer, because by Avraham, the double word Avraham, Avraham, is chibah, that Hashem shows love. Moshe, you think it's the same thing because I said Moshe, Moshe. No. By you it's because that's your name. Avraham, Avraham, that wasn't his name, so it's chibah, Rashi says, it's love. Oh, Hineni. Don't think you're like Avraham. So I never understood, where is Hineni, I'm like Avraham? How does Hineni mean like I'm like Avraham? So I want to say pshat like this. Why is Avraham called Avraham? Because he did his tafkid with the hei, Avraham, right? Avraham, he's finished. Moshe Rabbeinu thought that he was finished already, Moshe. And therefore when he says, Moshe, Moshe, it's chibah. And what does he say? Hineni, I'm here. So the Ribono Shel Olam says, Hineni, you're not here yet. You're not reaching yet. You didn't reach yet. You still have the Moshe, Moshe. You still have the second part. That's what it means. Why does Moshe Rabbeinu come and say, Moshe, Moshe, hineni, I'm here? No, you're not there yet. I'll take you by the line. You haven't reached it yet, because you still have to do what? Moshe, Kriyas Yam Suf. That's the pshat. Because I don't understand what is the... I hear the pshat of the Chasam Sofer, but what's he saying? And this is the pshat, I think. The pshat is, I'll take you by the line. You haven't reached yet. Avraham finished his... when he did that akeidah already. This is after the akeidah. By Avraham it was after the akeidah. After the akeidah, Avraham, hineni, I'm here. I finished my tafkid. Moshe, Moshe, hineni. No, you're not here, hineni. No, no, no. You still have Moshe, Moshe, the second part. You still have to do the whole second part of the tafkid of your life. Hineni is not ready yet. Moshe was about saving Moshia, Vayakom vayoshian, and that was his greatness. Vayigdal Moshe, vayeitze el echav, because he had the middah of saving, of helping. You know, the mefarshim ask, what already did Moshe Rabbeinu gain by helping the one Jew? What do you have from it? You think if you help one person it's going to help anything? Huh? What is Moshe Rabbeinu gain by helping one person? One person. He helps the guy with the brick. You're talking about 600,000 people working. What's the... Another question. What did you gain by hitting the Mitzri? Please, it's a whole country of Mitzrayim. What do you have from it? Baal HaMussar even asked him even better. Wasn't it more effective and smarter and wiser? He shouldn't kill the Mitzri. Stay in the palace and help the Yiddishe people through the palace. He's karov l'malchus. He's close to the king. He has connections in the government, so to speak. He's the son of the king. He's a prince. Stay home and help them from within. What are you ruining it for? What are you killing it over one story with the Mitzri? What are you doing? So the pshat was he thought he would get away with it. Nobody would know. Ach eino yodea davar. It's mashma he expected to get away with it. He didn't think the Jewish people would say anything. So he thought he would get away with it. Okay, pashut. Or maybe we could come and say, Moshe Rabbeinu's techunah was Moshiach, you save. Vayakom Moshe. You don't make cheshbonos. Ooh, you know.

So sometimes when you make a cheshbon that I could be better off doing something, helping you a different way, it's because you really don't want to do anything. You know, when you see a guy get stuck on the road or he gets hurt, you know what most people do? I call the police. You know why they like to call? It looks good for them. It looks like they're helping. But you know what the real story is? They don't want to stop to help. They don't want to stop to help. So they give it a thing, I'll call the police. The police could really, they could do better. But if you really cared, you'd stop the car and get out and do something. Moshe Rabbeinu stopped the car, got out and did something. He couldn't stand by idly and watch it. He needed to go do something. He needed to go do something. Because to stand by and watch, it is smart. You see, when a person is busy being too smart all the time, he gets nothing done. Sometimes making cheshbonos, yeah, about how you think you could always help the guy better by doing this and doing that, you do nothing. A lot of people, all day long, they're busy trying to figure out how to help the other guy. And l'maaseh, they do nothing. They're thinking all day long. They're thinking, thinking all day long. So sometimes it's good. Most of the time it's an excuse because you don't really want to do anything. I'll think about it. You ever see, I'll think, I'll think about it. You know why? Because you don't want to do anything. Moshe Rabbeinu did. Moshe Rabbeinu did. Moshe Rabbeinu did. Maaseh. Vayoshia, Moshia, to help, to save, to save the underdog. Moshia, Moshia, to save the underdog. And that's the pshat, Moshe, Moshe. His techunah and his tafkid was to be a moshia, to save. This, rabosai, is the Vayar elechov, went out and he did something, Vayar b'sivlosam, and he kills the Egyptian. He kills the Egyptian. And now I want to tell you something even deeper. Moshe Rabbeinu was distraught that no one else stood up for the Yid. Moshe Rabbeinu was b'tzaar that nobody else stood up. If you look at the pasuk, it says, Vayar b'sivlosam, Vayar ish Mitzri, Vayifen ko vacho, Vayar ki ein ish. Where's the nobody? So Rashi explains that nobody's going to come from him. Nobody's going to come from him. That's how Rashi says. Nobody's going to come out of him. Vayar ki ein ish, that nobody's going to come out of him. Biskarav explains, what do you care? What do you need it for? And the answer is because he killed him b'shem hameforesh. It was misa bidei Shamayim, and therefore we had to make a cheshbon if he really had somebody coming out of him or not coming out of him. If he had somebody coming out of him, then we wouldn't kill him. Lo megayer, we wouldn't kill him. Biskarav, famous, famous Torah, why we had to look in the future. My real diskin learns the pshat in the pasuk peshuto, and memeila it's a medrash really; it's based on a medrash. Vayifen ko vacho, Vayar ki ein ish, that there was nobody who stood up to save the Yid. That's Vayar ki ein ish. He saw nobody. Yidden זכותs, anginu mefad the Yid. Why did anyone not stand up? Why did anyone not stand up? Vayar. A real discan explains that the pshat is the lashon of the pasuk, Vayar ki ein ish. It says in the pshat—sorry—Vayar, it says ish Mitzri. Who's ish Mitzri? One. Ish, one. That's why it says ish. Why did he call him ish? Ish to teach me that it was only one. Makeh ish Ivri me'echav. Who's the echav? So pashut pshat, it goes back on Moshe, echav, his brothers. He saw an ish Mitzri hitting one of his brothers because Moshe felt that he was a Yid now. Moshe looked at himself as a Jew. A real discan explains me'echav means from others, there were other people standing around, who were watching. Moshe Rabbeinu says, What? How could they sit there and watch this? What's going on here? He couldn't take it. That's what was bothering him. Vayifen ko vacho, he looks around. Vayar, because Moshe Rabbeinu's מידה is to stand up and do something. Why is nobody doing anything? And I'd like to add, there's a me'oridik pshat from the Bina LeItim. The Bina LeItim was the Reb Shlomo Figu, he lived in the 1600s. It's a beautiful sefer, Bina LeItim. So Bina LeItim, he explains.

That that's actually the next day also. The next day Moshe Rabbeinu goes out. The next day Moshe Rabbeinu goes out, you hear? And he sees that the two Jews are fighting. Then it says, Achi noida davar. So the mefarshim learn, Achi noida davar, why they're in golus. Because the Medrash says Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't understand why they're in golus. And the answer is, Achi noida davar, because dalturim, someone snitched. Binu Leitim learns a little differently. He liked the pshat of the Aril Diskin. What was bothering Moshe Rabbeinu was that the two Jews are fighting and nobody stood up to save the Jew. I'm sorry, not the two Jews. The Mitzri was beating up the Jew and nobody stood up to save him. Says Binu Leitim, so Moshe Rabbeinu thought to himself maybe they didn't have the strength emotionally to stand up against the Mitzri. Don't forget, in the Holocaust we had the same thing. But then he goes out the next day and he sees that the two Jews are fighting between themselves. Ah, so you do have strength. You do have koach to fight. So why the day before didn't you stick up for your Yid? If you're able to fight, you're able to... You see you have the fight in you. Why didn't you use this fight? Why didn't you use this fight to stand up yesterday? Achi noida davar. Now, says Binu Leitim, that's what Moshe Rabbeinu... now I know why they're in golus. If a Yid can't stand up to save another Yid, if a Jew cannot stand up to protect another, now I know why they're in golus. Unbelievable, unbelievable. That the first and the second and the third was all about Vayoshian. So it comes out a mefurash pshat now. Even the second case, which Moshe gives mussar, למה ..., it's also about why didn't you go and save your brother? Yeah, but they're both reshaim. Where's the saving? And the answer is, if you could fight between yourselves, what happened to the day before? So actually it's both. The stories are connected. The first story, that the Mitzri hits the Jew, and the second story that the Jews were hitting each other and Moshe Rabbeinu gives mussar, is one story now. That it's the story, how come yesterday you didn't have the koach? You couldn't stick up. You couldn't fight back, and all of a sudden here you're able to fight back. So the choitah was not so much the avlah, the halachah of hitting one the other. It was the neshak and oyshik. Where's your sense of sticking up for the underdog? Between yourselves you're able to fight, and yesterday you couldn't stick up for a guy who was getting beaten up, a Jew, a brother. Vayakom Moshe, Vayoshian. The inyan of Vayoshian, to save Klal Yisrael. Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't swallow, and that was Moshe's greatness. Moshe's greatness was this inyan of Moshia, that he was able to save Klal Yisrael. Why what? The same thing, because of the Vayoshian, to save the underdog, neshak and oyshik. When somebody is downtrodden, when somebody sees that a person is drowning, so to speak. Save that person. As a matter of fact, it's interesting. The Medrash actually says that they tried to drown the Bnei Yisrael. I don't know if you know that. It's an interesting Medrash. Yeah, the Medrash says clearly that the Medrash says that they went and they were trying to drown the Bnei Yisrael. And again, Moshe Rabbeinu saves from drowning, from water. Ki min hamayim mishisihu. Moshe is saving a lot of people from the water. Yeah, a lot of people from the water. Ki min hamayim mishisihu. Saving, drowning. The point being, when someone is drowning, don't stand by idle and watch. And it doesn't have to be literally drowning. It can be drowning in pain, drowning in yissurim, drowning in difficulty and parnassah. This becomes Vayakom Moshe layoshian, and this is the maila of neshak an oshek. Moshe ki min hamayim mishisihu. This is the lesson that we should... You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.