Va’eira: Hakaras Hatov, the Makkos, and How Gratitude Leads to Emunah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. In the parshes, by the makkos of Mitzrayim, we find the reoccurring yesod, and that is that Moshe Rabbeinu was careful not to hit the waters, not to hit the ground. By dam he didn't want to hit the water, by kinim he didn't want to hit the ground. Hakaras hatov, because he had to show retribution of gratitude. He had to show gratitude for the earth, the ocean that saved him. The earth saved him when he buried the Mitzri. The ocean saved him when he was put into the nahar. L'choira, this is a simple hakaras hatov dik halacha. Bor sheshasiso bo mayim, al tizrok bo even. If you get benefit even from an object, a domem, a person should show gratitude. A person shouldn't throw a stone into the waters that he drank from. Is it unique, or is it shayach dafka to yetzias Mitzrayim? No. It's in general, everywhere and every time. And the meforshim, the Acharonim, they discuss a domem has no feelings. What does the domem have? He feels a thank you. He feels hakaras hatov. And the mefarshim say that it's not about the object that you're being makir toiv to; it's about the person, that he must have these feelings of hakaras hatov. Azei is the standard grade on the inyan of hakaras hatov that we find here by the makos. I would like to dwell further and say that it's true, avada there's an inyan of hakaras hatov always, everywhere, in every situation. But I also believe that it's unique and specific and neshayach dafka to the makos. It was bedavka here, an emphasis, an hadgasha, that Moshe had to show hakaras hatov, as I will explain. We know that the makos, its tafkid was to lead to the geulah, to lead to the geulas Yisrael. It was also lessons, lessons for Paroi, for Klal Yisrael. What were the lessons that were needed? What was it in Mitzrayim that was needed to be taught? So let's understand the whole Galus Mitzrayim. What is Galus Mitzrayim? You know, of course, every galus has its physical element, which means the actual people that come against us: the Mitzriim, the Bavlonim, the Romaim, the Yevanim. It's the nation against Klal Yisroel. But we know that each nation represents something, and that the galus is actually what the nation stands for. Chanukah, we have so much Torah to understand what Yevanim stand for and the milchamah against the Yevanim. What is Mitzrayim? What is galus Mitzrayim? You know, in Lashon Kodesh, we would find in the sefarim two leshonos. Klipas Mitzrayim, Chassidish sefarim speak the word klipah. The more Litvish sefarim, tumas Mitzrayim, they'll use the word tumah. Mitzrayim is a ra. It's a bad. It stands for bad. So of course the Mitzriyim is the Mitzriyim, the people. But what was behind? What is the galus? What is the spiritual galus in Mitzrayim? We got to understand what klipas Mitzrayim is, what is tumas Mitzrayim, and then we can understand how the makos helped, how the makos were a refuah to the galus, to the galus of the klipah, the tumah of Mitzrayim.

So we find in the Torah, Rabbeisai, that Paro was a tremendous koifer. Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, lo yadati es Hashem. I don't know what Hashem is. As a matter of fact, Chazal tell us he made himself into an avodah zarah. Not stam, he was koifer in the Ribono Shel Olam. He was koifer in a way that he made himself a deity. How does that come about? Kefirah could come from many different things, Rabbeisai. In Mitzrayim, the shoresh of the kefirah was kfiyas hatov. It was from overlooking and denying the good. This is clearly in the words of Chazal. Chazal tell us that from Paro we can learn, Kol hakoifer b'tovaso shel chaveiro, will eventually be koifer b'HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Paro, don't forget, said, Lo yadas Yosef, Yosef who did so much for him, Yosef who did such chesed for Paro. So Paro should have always been thankful. He should have been a debt, owed debt to Yosef. Yet, Lo yadas Yosef. As a result of that, Lo yadas Hashem. So we have over here a clear Chazal that show us that Paro's kefirah, but not just that Paro's kefirah, what the underlying shoresh, the root of his kefirah was. He was a kafui tov v'yesh. So it was a result. It was a result of the fact that he was a kafui tov. Now, rabosai, I want to know this, that a person is a kofer baKadosh Baruch Hu, is the pshat when a person is a kafui tov, so whatever led him to be a kafui tov, that's going to lead him to be a kafui in the tov of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Why? So we could say very simple: the Rabbeinu Shlolam is chesed. If you can't recognize the chesed that your neighbor does for you, so how are you going to recognize the chesed of the Eibishter? But I believe that it's not even so much that if you're a kafui tov, you will be a kafui in the Rabbeinu Shlolam, but that even if you forcefully are forced to not be makir tov, eventually you will come to be a kafui tov, even in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's not that if the person is a kafui tov, so that leads to being a kafui tov in the Rabbeinu Shlolam. It's that if you're not a makir tov, the result—it's a result. Over the years, you will train yourself in a life of kfiyas hatov that you will become a kofer baKadosh Baruch Hu. I'm not sure if you understand exactly what I mean, but I'll bring it out in the following way. You know, it's interesting. We think that lo yadas Yosef because he was an evil king. It's not exactly what Chazal tell us. Chazal tell us that the reason why he was kofer... In the toiv of Yosef, because he was under pressure, under the gun. As a matter of fact, originally he said, We can't do this, because Yosef did us so much chesed. So they said, You know what? Let's get rid of him. Now, Rabosai, when they get rid of a king, you see the way it is in the Middle East. The minute they get rid of their leader, they don't just get rid of him; they get rid of him. They cut him down, they kill him, and that's it. I think Pari was afraid that not just he would be ois melech, and then he could live the rest of his life like an ex-president and make millions of dollars on speeches, on visits to colleges. In Mitzrayim, they send you away; they send you away forever. So what's the problem if he's a kafui tov? What do you expect? Is one mechuyiv? Is one mechuyiv to give up his life? Is one obligated to put himself in a sakana to show hakaras hatov? We're talking against Pari. Look, he's a kafui tov. You know the pressure he was under, the danger he might have been in. Yet we could say—

Maybe, yeah. Maybe. Maybe hakaras hatov means that I'm mechuyiv to put myself in danger. I owe you to the utmost, even if it means that I put myself in a bad situation and even maybe danger. Chazal tell us that Moshe Rabbeinu asked permission to go back to Mitzrayim. Who did he ask? From Yisro, and the Ribbono Shel Olam tells him to go. I can't go yet, tells the Ribbono Shel Olam. I need to get permission from Yisro. So the Chazal say, if Hashem tells you to go, you go. And the answer is, Yisro opened up his doors for him. He opened up the doors of his house. Kol haposeach pischo l'chaveiro, nafsho chayav lo, Chazal say. You even owe him, indebted to him with life. Now maybe it's just an expression. Maybe it's another way of saying, I owe you my life. Nobody really means that. You know, I owe you a lot. You know, so you say it with words that mean utmost. My life depends on it. Literally, maybe not. Baalei mussar say maybe, yeah. Nafsho nischayev lo means the ultimate responsibility and chiyuv. You owe him everything, even life, even to give up your life or put yourself in safek of a matzav of danger. The raya, one of them, Rav Shach in the sefer Machsheves Mussar brings, chelek beis, amud shin lamed daled. We find— Avraham Avinu went to war against the kings to save Lot. Danger. You know what it is for one person to go against such an army? He put himself in danger. And who was he putting himself in danger for? Lot. Why? Because of hakaras hatov. Chazal say he remembered that Lot went with him in the early days, in the early days when nobody wanted to look at Avraham Avinu. Lot believed in Avraham, and he went with him. The Ramban, the Rishonim say he kept him company almost. You know what it is for Avraham to live, to leave everything behind and go alone? Like this, he went with somebody, companion. Therefore, Avraham puts himself in the danger of the war against the kings. So we see from here, hakaras hatov, says Rav Shach, is mechayev, requires that one should put himself in a mesafek sakana to do for the person you have hakaras hatov to. I would like to bring another raya from another episode. We find that Yosef HaTzadik leaves his clothing by Potiphara. Why does he leave his clothing? L'choira, he should have fought with her and take back his clothing. Why? That was the evidence against him. Do you realize that he put himself in tremendous danger? What was at the end? The end was he was in jail. The jail sentence was a reduced sentence. Actually, what was supposed to happen to him, he was supposed to get killed. Targum Yonason says clearly that the koimrim, the heads of the church at the time in Mitzrayim, said, you know, it's not so simple. He was a good guy. Let's give him off. And because of that, they reduced the sentence from death to jail. Targum Yonason says that's why later we find that Yosef gives a, what do you call that, a pis, that the koimrim don't have to pay taxes. The admas hakohanim was free of tax. Why? To pay them back for saving his life, hakaras hatov. You see? Hakaras hatov for saving his life. So the fact that he left the clothing, which was the shred of evidence, was only because it would have brought him death. He should have made a cheshbon: why leave the evidence? It says clearly in the Rishonim the reason why he left it, because of hakaras hatov. You don't want to fight with her. He said, She's my master's wife, so he left and he ran out. Yeah, but you're putting yourself in danger. You're mechuyav to beat her up and move on. What do you mean? Stick up for yourself.

Choyev to leave himself in a compromised situation where he might be taken to the death, to the gallows, only because of hakaras hatov that he asked for Potiphara. It's mamash a peldike thing. It's clear in the Chazal that he didn't want to take it away from her because then he would have to fight with her, and he had hakaras hatov to her. He had respect for her. Respect for who? Hakaras hatov to who? Look what she was trying to do to him. He should have fought with her. He should have punched her back, so to speak, and taken away from her, with force, taken back the clothing. So he left the evidence, putting himself in danger. You're right, he was in jail, which itself is a lot that he gave up to sit in jail for this story. But he technically knew that the laws, he was supposed to get killed. And yet he did it for hakaras hatov. So we see that hakaras hatov means even nafsho mischayev lo. Even it means that you have to give up your life. So we could come and say that Paro should have stood strong. You're right, he had a lot of pressure. It's true that they were trying to take him away from the kingdom, and like we say, that was probably a dangerous endeavor. He wouldn't have survived it. Yet still, hakaras hatov means nafsho mischayev lo. Maybe that's what the ta'ina is. Or maybe we could say that maybe he wasn't at fault for not being makir tov, but it's a result. If you aren't makir tov... You're right. Whatever the reason is, it wasn't your fault. You had a gun to your head. But the result is you'll get used to being a kafui tov, and then eventually you'll be a kafui tov to the Ribono Shel Olam. This, rabosai, is the underlying kfirah, the shoresh of the kfirah, let us call it the klipah, the tumah of Mitzrayim, kefiyas hatov, which leads to kefirah. You know, the pasuk tells us that when Moshe Rabbeinu says, Send out the Jewish people, Hashem said so. Says Paro, Lo yadati es Hashem, v'gam es ha'am lo ashaleach. I don't know who Hashem is, and I also am not going to send the people. Now, I always wondered, you know, Lo yadati es Hashem, it's spelled like the Shem HaKodesh. When it says the pasuk, Lo yadati es Hashem, it's spelled like we say Yud-Kei-Vav, it's spelled like Hashem. What did Paro say? What was actually his words? Lo yadati es ha-what? Lo yadati es maybe Adonus, maybe. Did he say the name of Hashem? What does that mean? V'gam es ha'am lo ashaleach would seem that actually it's a second point. First, Lo yadati es Hashem. I don't know who Hashem is. And v'loi—no, v'gam, and also. Why is the v'gam, and also? It should say, Lo yadati es Hashem, lo ashaleach. I'm not going to send the— You come and tell me, Hashem said. I don't know who Hashem is. I'm not sending the people. It seems like it was two things he was trying to get across to him. The first thing is, Veyadati Hashem. The second thing is, V'gam, and also, lo yashale'ach. Why is he saying that? So I would say a pshat, Rabosai, is as follows. Hashem, we always know, is midas harachamim. It's the midah of Hashem's mercy. Hashem showed tremendous mercy to Paro. Hashem showed tremendous mercy. Hashem went and made that from all the nations that there was no food, Mitzrayim had food. And because of that, Mitzrayim became the metropolitan of the world. It became the malchus ha'olam. Like America is the great power, Mitzrayim also became the great power. It's known that they say that the reason why the American dollar is so strong and so powerful, because on the dollar it says, In God We Trust. You see every dollar, it's the only currency in the world that makes mention of Hashem: In God We Trust. So the baalei mussar say, you could check it.

On every bill. I hope you can check it a million times. You hear? Avadeh. So the pshat is that when a person is makir, it's from the Ribono Shel Olam, his power, his wealth. Paro should have checked this, realized this. He became a superpower through the chesed of the Eibishter, that all the nations came to him for food. What happens? He took that chesed and he turned it around to say how great he is. Instead of taking the chesed of the Eibishter, instead of being makir in the chesed of the Eibishter, he used that chesed to make himself a deity, that he's a big person. I want to show you something interesting. Why did he make himself an avodah zarah? Because the nilus used to come to his feet. The nilus. How did the nilus come to his feet? Rashi tells us clearly in the end of Parshas Vayigash, Vayevarech osi Yaakov, blessed him to that. That was a bracha that was given to him by a tzaddik, Yaakov. The Albag says, why did he get this bracha? It came from Yosef telling Yaakov to give him the bracha. Why? Because of everything he did for Yosef. So Yosef convinced his father that he should give him this bracha. So here he gets a bracha, which is based on hakaras hatov from a tzaddik. So instead of taking that and learning to have hakaras hatov to the tzaddik. And of course, ultimately, to Ribeinu Shel Olam, what does he do? He makes meshalem. I deserve from it. I don't— you don't realize that this was a chesed, this was a present given to you because of hakaras hatov to Yosef, from Yosef, and you turned it around to go against Yosef and to go against the bracha that came from the Eibishter. Lo yadati es Hashem. I don't know midas harachamim. Hashem is midas harachamim, which means all the good that I got, I don't translate it as Hashem rachamim. Lo yadati es Hashem. V'gam, and the second thing I want to tell you is, Yisrael lo ashaleach. I won't be makir tov to Klal Yisrael either. There's two things he's being kofer. The first thing is, lo yadati es Hashem. I'm not a makir tov to Ribeinu Shel Olam. How about being makir tov to Yosef? V'lo gam es am lo ashaleach. I'm not sending out the Jewish people. I'm a kofui tov on both ends. The kfiras hatov of Mitzrayim was a twofold kfiras hatov. It was kfiras hatov to the Ribeinu Shel Olam. It was kfiras hatov to Klal Yisrael. Lo yadati es Hashem. I don't know what Hashem is. Hashem is midas harachamim. I don't know. I don't know. Good things happen to me because I'm a god. I'm a deity. V'gam es Yisrael lo ashaleach. I'm not going to do for the Jewish people either. I don't accept Hashem's rachamim, nor do I accept my chiyuv for Klal Yisroel to do anything for them. I'm a kafui tov b'tovasan shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu uv'tovasan shel Klal Yisroel. Where does this come from? This comes from an inability to see the root of tov. Where does tov come from? A lot of times when you get tov, what you should do is makir the person who gives you the tov. Then we know that there's a person who's a shemanta, avisa, vayishman, yeshurun, vayivat, that you get good and then you buy it. A goy, there's a shvacheh makir tov. A Yid is a moiredik, it's part of the middah of a Yid is to be a makir tov. I want to show you something interesting. The Rishonim, the Rambam, others ask, why is Mitzrayim pointed out to get punished, singled out to get punished for the story of putting Klal Yisroel in shibud? The Ribono Shel Olam wanted it that way. It says clearly.

It says clearly, Ki ger yihyeh zaracha. They deserved it. Someone had to do it. They could come and tell the Ribono Shel Olam, Ribono Shel Olam, I'm doing Your ratzon. For what? What are You punishing me for? I'm doing what You asked of me. Why is Klal Yisrael punished? I'm sorry, why is Mitzrayim punished for doing what the Eibishter wanted? The Eibishter wanted galus Mitzrayim. So the Rambam says a mahalach, yeah, but they overdid it. The Rambam says they overdid it. You're right. V'gam es hagoy asher ya'avodu. Who told you to go and be machmir on the tzivui? The tzivui was to keep them in galus. You're right, but not like this. You overdid it, and you get punished for that. Azoi zogt der Rambam. The Raivid says a different pshat. The Raivid says, What happened to hakaras hatov? Avram. What happened to hakaras hatov? You know, you're right. The Ribono Shel Olam wants v'gam es hagoy, that you should be the... So you know what? Why did the Ribono Shel Olam pick you? You're the first and last person to come and say, I want to do it, and I'll be the one to do it because of hakaras hatov to Yosef, which means inherently. What you did was actually a maaseh, a tov, even for the ratzon Hashem. I think taltaiches azoi: just like Moshe Rabbeinu gets a tzivui Hashem to go to Mitzrayim, yet he can't do it because akaras hatov stands in its way, and therefore he must go to ask Yisro permission to go, because sivui Hashem must include, it must have taken account, the fact that there is akaras hatov. So here too, Mitzrayim. Now, I don't even know if there was a discussion. I'm not telling you that there was a discussion, that the Ribono Shel Olam asks Mitzrayim to do it and they say they can't, they could do it, they can't. That's not—it's automatic that they did it. But what the nucleus of the metzius of the galus was based on a kfiyas hatov. I don't think there was a discussion, Mitzrayim, go do this, and they have a ta'ina, listen, Ribono Shel Olam, I can't. It never came up for a discussion. It happened that they were the ones who did it. But if you unravel the yeshroshim, the yesodos of that galus, it was based on an אי הכרת הטוב. So inherently it couldn't have been unless the tumah and the klipah of Mitzrayim is kfiyas hatov. That's l'choira the lomdus, the pshat, the havanah in the Raivid. So Nachamu Rabbeisei, we see clearly what it means that the klipah, the tumah of Mitzrayim and the galus of Mitzrayim was אי הכרת הטוב. They couldn't come with a ta'ina, I'm doing the ratzon Hashem. Because it meant you'd being a kafui tov, and that's not the ratzon Hashem. So that means you were doing something which is wrong. Das ist der pshat. Inherently, in Mitzrayim, putting them in galus, it was based on the fact that a Mitzriim is a kafui tov, and that leads to lo yadati es Hashem, that he doesn't know who the Eibishter is. This rabbeisai is goy. Why? The goy doesn't see past his pleasures. The more cars, the more he thinks he's great. The more fancy clothing, the more olam hazeh, the more riches. It's his power. It's kochi v'otzem yadi. The Yid has to see from all the objects that he gets, that he's granted as a chesed of the Eibishter, that it's all from the Eibishter. You know, there's a very famous shaila. L'choira, a doymem. What feelings does a doymem have? So we said that maybe the pshat is that it's not so much for the object, but it's for you. True, the nahar, the ground doesn't have a, oh, you know, it's about you. Okay, we said the same thing by the challah. The Gemara said we know the halacha is supposed to...

The challah, when you make kiddush, the challah is going to get insulted. You have to say, I'm sorry to the challah. Let's say by mistake you didn't put the cover over. Maybe you have to call over the challahs and say, Come, I want to say I'm sorry. It's not so much about the challah; it's about you, all right? Rav Shach, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the rosh yeshiva zatzal from Ponevezh, zchus yagen aleinu, אומר, it says that no, no, no, no, it's not about the object, nor is it about you. So then what is it? When you understand that the object is the Ribono Shel Olam put that object there to service you, to help you, so that hakaras hatov is not even to the object. Who is it hakaras hatov to? To the Ribono Shel Olam. Who put the nahar there? Who made the ground over there? The Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam set up the matziv that Moshe Rabbeinu should be able to save himself. So don't look at the ground, don't look at the nahar. It's not hakaras hatov, a thank you to the ground. But what is it? It's what's behind that. Who's the boireh, the creator of this ground? That's the hakaras hatov. So I understood that there's a tremendous insight here. A Yid is a makir tov because he could take the objects that are given to him and see in that, borei olam, that it's a chesed of the Eibishter, while the goy is incapable of seeing past the object, and therefore he becomes a bal gaivah, he becomes haughty, he thinks of himself how great he is, that he has. Look at my wealth. And therefore he becomes like a deity. He decides that he's a god. Ay, it's Hashem who gives it to you, and you don't see that. That's the klipah. That's the kefirah of Mitzrayim. I want to show you something interesting. The meforshim ask, Klal Yisrael is in Mitzrayim. They were upstanding, tzaddik citizens. They didn't do anything wrong. It doesn't say anywhere that Klal Yisrael did something wrong. Yet, Paro comes across with an entire campaign against the Yidden. Let's go and attack them and do and put them in chains. Why? Because maybe there'll be a war and they'll push us out of the land. Tell me, did Klal Yisrael at any point do anything to cause Paro to think that way? I mean, what did they do? They did something? We find that they were speaking against the medinah, speaking against the Mitzrayim, against Paro. They were not loyal. They were very loyal subjects. So the pashut pshat is that's anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is not based on anything. It's just, it is halachah. How did it say? Halachah, Esav sonei l'Yaakov. Say the meforshim, halachah, it's halachah Moshe miSinai. It's just the way it is. You can't change. There's no explanation behind it, except that it's a fact. So here too, sounds like in Nazi Germany, the Jews, the Jews, the Jews. What did the Jews do to you? The Jews did nothing to you. What does it have to do with you? But the truth is, it's a little bit deeper, rabosai. Let me tell you what the pshat is. If you're a kofui tov, which means this is something that you would do, so you think that others would do it as well. There's a very famous expression in Yiddish, af a ganef brent der hittel. Which means a person who's a thief, his hat burns him, which means he's always thinking that the other guy's a thief. When a guy walks around saying, He's probably a thief. Why? A person's not a thief doesn't think that way. I don't steal, so if I don't think everybody's stealing. But if you yourself are stealing, you should know, you'll walk around seeing everybody as a ganav. Same thing here too. Because Pari is a kafui tov, mimeila he walks around—what do they call that? He's—when a person has a phobia, they have a word for it. He's like Saddam Hussein, they say had this machlah, that he was a—trying to get the right word in English—that he always was afraid that the people are trying to get him and they're trying to kill him. You know why? Because that's what he would do. He would kill everybody in his sight. Anybody who came near him got killed. So he was always afraid. Huh? That's what it comes from. It's the same thing. All dictators, you know what it comes—in their head they have a phobia. The word is slipping me now, but it's a phobia, that you're always thinking, Ah. You know why? Because you think that.

Paro, he was a kafui tov, you hear? Meila, he thinks Klal Yisroel will be a kafui tov. You notice that when Moshe Rabbeinu comes and tells Paro that the Yidden, they can't take it anymore. They want to go out to serve Hashem. Ooh, tichbad ha'avodah, let's make it worse for them. What's the point? Vayishu b'divrei shaker. To them, this is all lies. A person who is a thief, you hear, he thinks that way. To him, oh, they're plotting against me. They're broken, they're working. Why can't you see the reality? They could have taken anymore. No, no, no, no, they're plotting against me. This is where it comes from, that when a person is a kafui tov, he sees everybody around him as kfui tov. With this, I think we can explain how Mitzrayim stands for the anti-hakaras hatov. It's the combat. Yetzias Mitzrayim was to take us out from the tumah and the klipah of Mitzrayim, of being a kafui tov, that we should be a makir tov. And this is clear in the pesukim: Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. Why doesn't it say, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, I created the world, I did so much for you? And the answer is, say the Rishonim, asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. I took you out of Mitzrayim. Hakaras hatov, you owe to me. So we see that the Yiddishkeit, Jewish faith in the Rabbeinu Shloilam, is based on the concept of hakaras hatov that He took us out of Mitzrayim. Why? Because the klipah and the tumah of Mitzrayim was kfiyas hatov, which led to lo yadati es Hashem. Since Mitzrayim means I don't know Hashem, is to the point that lo yadati—I'm sorry, I'm makir tov to the point that lo yadati es Hashem. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. Hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov, which leads to emunah and anochi Hashem. Mitzrayim was kfiyas hatov, which leads to lo yadati es Hashem. And therefore, anochi Hashem is asher hotzeisicha is hakaras hatov. Bimakir tov. This is the undoing of the tumah of Mitzrayim. The Chinuch writes that the lesson of Mitzrayim is not just emunah in Hashem. The lesson of Mitzrayim is emunah in hashgachah pratis. Hashem created the world; that's emunah in the Rabbeinu Shloilam, the Creator. What's Mitzrayim? Emunah in Hashem that runs the daily activities of the person. Chinuch explains that people believe, you know, Hashem created the world, but He can't run every detail that happens. Mitzrayim taught us to a T. Exactly, the Rabbeinu Shalom runs the world, and I want to show you something interesting, rabosai. By Makas Tzfardea, Paro can't take it, and he calls Moshe, Hatiru el Hashem, daven to Hashem, get rid of this thing for me. Hatiru is a lashon of tefillah, daven to Hashem. Moshe Rabbeinu responds interestingly. He, Spyer alai. What does Spyer alai mean? I challenge you. He, Spyer. Rashi explains, he, Spyer alai. You think you're gonna undermine me? I'll do something that you can't do. That's he, Spyer alai. Lemasai atir lecha. I'm not just gonna daven for you. You tell me when you want it to go away, and I'll daven then. I'll daven that it should go away at the time that you said. What does Paro tell him? Daven today, it should go away tomorrow. What's going on? Now, if you notice, the word that's used by the prayer here of Moshe Rabbeinu is, Vayitz'ak Moshe. Moshe screams. No other place does it say. It says, Vayetar. It says, Parah's kapov, he pricks his hands up. Here he screamed. So the Sifsei Chachamim says, why is he screaming here?

Because the frogs are making a lot of noise. Halacha is that when you daven, you have to be able to hear yourself. So you had to scream louder than the frogs. So it's a chumra. Ay, Yitzchak, you had to scream. The question is that that's only by Shemoneh Esrei, Shemoneh Esrei, l'aznav. When is this halacha? You're supposed to hear—it's a whole discussion. Which part of prayers should you hear your voice speaking, and it should be louder than the noise that's around? All right, it's a whole discussion, this sifsei chachamim. The point being, it explains the word Vayitzak. Yet, we could say another pshat. You know, Vayitzak, we find that when Moshe Rabbeinu davens for Miriam, it says also the word Vayitzak. He screamed out, Kel na refa na lah. Funny, screamed? What is he screaming about? So the Siforno, the Rishonim explain, Vayitzak is when it hurts you, when it's personal. When it's personal, Vayitzak. The question is, why here Vayitzak? If Vayitzak means that you're screaming because it's personally affecting you, so why here does it say Vayitzak? Oh, so there's a very famous pshat, which I don't 100% understand. Till here, we still don't know that Paro is this big rasha. Maybe he's amazing, you know, he's living in la-la land. He's making big mistakes. So Pari—I'm sorry—so Moshe Rabbeinu still feels empathy towards Pari, feels bad for him. So Vayitzak was hurting Moshe, actually. It was hurting Moshe. Moshe felt, later on he starts to see what kind of a gangster Pari is, he doesn't even care about him. He lost all his feelings for him. I don't like the Torah so much. I would have said the following. I would have said, we find by Eliyahu Hanavi, בהר הכרמל, the navi HaBaal was saying, Eh, there's no God. We'll see who gets answered first. He brought korbanos, the navi HaBaal brought korbanos. ענני ה' ענני. Hashem answer me, שלא יאמרו מעשה כשפים. They shouldn't say that I did it, says Chazal, through kishuf. That's how Chazal say was the intent of the prayer. Answer me, Hashem. Answer me. What should you answer me? Like they'll know it's you and they'll not think it's witchcraft. How is that, ענני, Hashem, ענני? Hashem, You answer me, because the tzaddik takes it personal. You tell him Hashem doesn't exist, you tell him prayer doesn't exist, it becomes a personal thing to him. למה יאמרו הגויים, Dovid HaMelech says, why should the goyim say, איה אלוהיהם? ואלוקינו בשמים. It becomes a personal thing now. You're challenging me that there's no tefillah, because that's the pshat. He'spo'er a lie. I'll show you tefillah. To what type of tefillah? Precise tefillah. You know, you go to a doctor, right? Imagine the doctor gives you medicine. Imagine you tell the doctor, What time tomorrow am I going to feel good? Could the doctor say, 12:03? I mean, it's a joke, right? A week or so, you'll feel better, right? Moshe is crying to say, You know how I know it's not ma'aser ksafim? It's not any power that I have. I'll show you exactly how the tefillah will work. It will work precise. Tell me when, and I'll do it then. Vayitzak, Moshe is screaming out now for him. It's not so much anymore for Pari. Ribono Shel Olam, answer my tefillah in a way that you see that it's my tefillah that did it. You know what the pasuk says? Take out the Chumash. It says clearly, Vayaas Hashem kidvar Moshe. So it says right afterwards, Vayitzak. You know, read it inside. You'll see the beauty of the pesukim, how it's so clear. No other meforsh says this. By all the other meforshim it says, he davened, and Hashem took away the... didn't say Hashem did. Like, I'm reading you the pasuk. It says like this. It says in the pasuk...

Oh, a Yitzhak Moshe, perek ches, pasuk ches. Vayeitzei Moshe me'im Paro, vayitz'ak Moshe el Hashem al dvar hatzfardim asher sam l'Paro. Vayaas Hashem kidvar Moshe. What does it say? Vayamos Hashem min habatim, mechatzros, so vayitzvu es hachamarim. Hashem did kidvar Moshe. Normally, Hashem answers the prayer for Paro. This was more. This was to do dvar Moshe, to show that the prayer is a prayer, that the davening is a davening. You hear? What's the point? Davening is connected to hashgacha pratis. You know what davening is about? We daven about details. Hashem, give me this. Hashem, give me this. Hashem, give me that. Hashem, take, watch me and protect me. The idea and yesod of tefillah is, tefillah is that the Ribono Shel Olam is manhig every detail of my life. You know, over the years, you know, you see the way the goyim pray. They pray very pluralistic, very, very, what do we call that, general. God, this and that. A Yid doesn't do that. A Yid sits there and prays pratyus. Do this, and ... and ... every prat, because we believe Elokei Yisrael on the pratim. Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Hasha'itzei sicho me'eretz Mitzrayim, the pratim, l'machar, when? Precise. The doctor can give you a general, a general statistic when you'll feel better. He'll tell you, you know, according to the statistic, you'll feel better within a month. You know, in the next month you'll feel better. Tefillah is l'machar. It's precise. It's hashgacha pratis. You hear? Tefillah is hashgacha pratis. Mitzrayim is to take away that the chasadim that happen is not from the Rabbeinu Shleilam. You know what that means? Klally not prati. There's a God. There's deities, there's definitely, but there's no deity that gives the prat. You know who gives the prat? The government, the melech. Paro is saying, Where is that Elokus? Where is the God of Mitzrayim? I'm the God of Mitzrayim, because who gives you the food and who grants? It's me. He takes away the prat, the hashgacha pratis, the day-to-day activity, not Hashem, it's the government, it's the malchus. Now you understand why he made himself—what did he need it for? Tell me, do you think it was easy for him to make himself a god? What a headache. He can't go to the bathroom ever. He has to wake up at a certain time. He has to—no one should see him. Poor guy. What happens in the middle of the day? He ate a— Kabasya went and cooked him a meal, and it went sour. She burnt it, and it was no good. It was in his stomach. What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to hold himself in all that? What's he supposed to do? Not worth it. After a certain amount of years, you say to yourself, it's just not worth it. So what's the pshat? The pshat is that he went out of his way, difficult, to be this, because it undermines the malchus. He believed that the way to make the malchus is that the malchus runs the government, runs the life of the person. You know, it's interesting. You know, I always think about it. The Democrats and the Republicans, the Democrats and the Republicans, they're busy fighting more government, less government. Should a person dictate his own wealth, or he should wait for the government to give it, right?

You know, they're both koifer, rabosai. They're both koifer. But you know what the yesod of the kefirah is? They made it modern. They modernized an old kefirah. But if you dig deep in, it's kefirah. One is saying, kochi v'otzem yadi, and the other one's saying, melech Mitzrayim. That's the government that does it for you. You see, rabosai, it's old, old kefirah, rehashed, repainted in a new form, with a new glance, you know, modernized with technology. You come, you give a guy an old telephone with a cup and a wire, he'll say, This is from 300, 500 years ago. We need cell phone, with telephone, with Kleenex phone, with ... phone. You know, you have to modernize every day: an iPhone, D-phone, what's it called, this phone? Samsung 3. Samsung 3. Samsung 3 phone. Every newer, the newer. So let me teach you the old kefirah, new technology, and the answer is Democrats and Republicans. They took an old kefirah, which means that we say it can't be the Rabbeinu Sholeilam; it's kochi v'otzem yadi. That's the Republican. I work, I made, ... my koiches, ah, put in hard days' work, I made. Then you have the Democrat, that's Mitzrayim, that's the kefirah of melech Mitzrayim. This, rabosai, is old kefirah. In a new package. They package it with new modern terms and modern technology. This Havayah is what we call klipas Mitzrayim, and this Havayah is called tumas Mitzrayim. And this is, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. And that's why it's meyuchad to teach me the hashgacha pratis, the details of my private life. Because, avadeh there's a God. I mean, both Democrats and Republicans at their conventions, the first thing is, God, and it's preaching, and thank God, and bless God, and God ahead and God ahead. And the minute the blessings are over, then they get into the fighting. The government gives you life, or we work for our own life. You see? Hashgacha klaliyus. But then there's a new sugya called hashgacha pratis. Mitzrayim tried to take away, Ledaas Hashem. There's no hashgacha pratis. V'hu vazeh, hashgacha pratis. Therefore, the makos, davka the makos. It's not a general thing about hakaras hatov because you have to have hakaras hatov to the Nahar. The makos had to exemplify pure hakaras hatov because it was the anti of the galus of Mitzrayim. It was to heal. It was to bring about the geulah from Mitzrayim. Therefore, Moshe had to do them in an oifen, in a way that exemplifies hakaras hatov. Let me tell you something interesting. Sefarim, it's brought down. The makas dam. Why was the first makah dam? So the pashut pshat is, dam — you made blood. They checked the babies, blood. Sefarim write that there's something, a lesson to be learned from the makah of dam, and that is: water gives life. Yosef gave you life. What do you return instead? You gave him dam. You killed his children. It spoke of the hashchasa. It was supposed to mirror the hashchasa of the tumah of Mitzrayim, where instead of being makir tov for the life, Hashem gives you parnassah. And don't forget the nilus. Where does the nilus give parnassah? That's where they got their — the Nile. That's where they got it. Hashem gives this to you as life, and you used it for what? To kill and to murder and to maim. Says sefarim that the lesson in makas dam was this, and this is the point, because it was trying to uproot — the makkos were there to uproot, to heal, to address the tumah of Mitzrayim, of being a kafui tov in the chesed of the Eibishter. I gave you a nilus. It gave you —

Honey, don't forget Yosef gave you the story for seven years. You had parnassah, and the whole world came to you, and you turned that around to make murder and kill and maim. How could you do that? The makkos, like I explained to you, were a lesson in hakaras hatov. They screamed, You're a kafui tov. They addressed the problem of you being a kafui tov. And so, I add that that's why Moshe Rabbeinu had to do the makkos in such a way that there was pure hakaras hatov and no signs of not hakaras hatov. The pasuk tells us, Lo sisayev Mitzri ki ger hayisa b'artzo. Can't hate a Mitzri. Why? They kept you as a tenant. They kept you. Rashi points out in Devarim chaf-gimmel ches, Achsanya, when b'shaas hadchak. What does Rashi mean, b'shaas hadchak? At a time where you had difficulty, you were achsanya. So pashut, I was thinking b'shaas hadchak means when Yankiv came down to Mitzrayim, you didn't have parnassah, you had hunger, they took you in. Baalei HaTosafos say that it's referring to the time before the shibud. The time before the shibud, they took you in. That's why lo sisayev Mitzri. If you look at Rav Yerucham, it seems Rav Yerucham is learning even during the shibud, they kept you. It's true, they tortured you. He says, the way he speaks it out is, could you imagine such an achsania? This was already the welcome that they gave us. They killed us. They maimed us. But at the end of the day, we were by them. So he's learning that l'sosaiv Mitzri ki ger hayisa b'artzo even later. Baalei haTosafos say it's going on the time before the torturous, murderous shibud that they did to Klal Yisrael. The way I guess Reb Yerucham is saying, sha'as hachak means at the end of the day they were there. And even though it was a difficult period and Klal Yisrael suffered and they were tortured, l'maaseh they were your hosts. You have to be makir tov. What do I learn from this? Hakaras hatov means to delve in deeper, to see the good parts among the bad parts. Hakaras hatov does not mean that when you do good to somebody, that you should say he did good and I owe him. Even though the truth is we are faulty at that also. We can learn great lessons and mussar to be makir tov when the thing is completely tov. Even when the thing is completely good, man has a tendency to be a kafui tov. That's the nature of man. But hakaras hatov, the word hakarah means to recognize, which means sometimes to see from within all the difficult and all the issues that are negative, to see the positive hakaras hatov, to be makir. Mitzrayim, there was 99% negative, yet there's one percent. If you learn it's going on before. The shibud, okay, so they were kind to us. But even means throughout. Yeah, but where was the kindness? And the answer is, at the end of the day, they kept us. And I would go one step further. I would go one step further. There were many nations throughout the years that didn't keep us and just mishabed us. They wanted to kill us. They wanted to annihilate us. So in comparison, this chesed. No, no. They wanted us to stay and more be their slaves for the rest of... The Gemara actually says this. The Gemara says, how do we know you're supposed to say Hallel on Purim? So the Gemara says, Ma dach mishibud l'geulah. Klal Yisrael said shirah, said Hallel, chayav l'maves lakol shekein. By Purim it was death. You see that Mitzrayim was not more than just shibud. You're right. It was torturous shibud. It was shibud with achzarius. It killed us left and right. But the goal, the goal, the ultimate goal was not to annihilate us. Haman was to annihilate us. And so, we were by them.

And we have to marke toiv in that, that there was an element of toiv. This element of toiv is l'sisayev Mitzri kiger yoshav b'artzecha. I believe, Rabosai, that this explains something interesting about the makos themselves. It says clearly that the Bnei Yisroel would sell water to the goyim during the mak of dam. Rashi brings it down that when they would buy the water, it would turn into dam. What were they selling the water? So you could come and say, you know, it was for good businessmen, you know. As little kids, they sold lemonade in the streets, so they got older, they sold water, you know. When there's a need, there's a Yid who figures out how to make a business out of it, yeah? Or maybe the Yidden had a lot of rachmanus, and they tried to feed and tried to help the Mitzriim. I'll tell you where I got this from. The meforshim ask by makas choshech, it's three days. How did they eat for three days? According to some meforshim, the Jewish people went and fed the Mitzriim. I think the Netziv, if I'm not mistaken, I have to look it up again. I don't remember exactly which of the meforshim says, but it's in the meforshim, that the Yidden—and this is by makas bechoros, you're talking about already at the end—they couldn't take them anymore. The Jews couldn't take the Mitzriim anymore after so... a Jew. And you know what the pshat is, Rabosai? At the end of the day, the Jews showed hakaras hatov to the Mitzri. You know, there's a very famous question: how come the Jews didn't fight back at Mitzrayim, at Yam Suf? If every Jew would turn around and attack a Mitzri, they would have won. The numbers were such that the Jews were much stronger, physically and number-wise, more than the Mitzriim. So the Seforno asks this for a kasha, I think, or the Ibn Ezra asks this for a kasha. The Ibn Ezra says their mentality was that of an eved. An eved doesn't know how to fight back. You should know that the Nazi, yimach shemam vezichram, that before he went to kill the Jew, first he put him in the working camps to destroy the morale that they can't even fight back, to the point that you want to die. It's a way of getting to the person to destroy his morale that he shouldn't have the courage to fight back. Mitzrayim was the same idea. Mitzrayim was the same idea, that they couldn't fight back at Yam Suf. Or maybe we could come and say that the hakaras hatov was mechayev that the Jew should not fight back whatsoever. In Mitzrayim, it had to be that they left the opposite, on good terms, not on bad terms. You notice by Paroi—I'm sorry, by Purim—the Jews waged war at the end. At the end, they waged a war. They went, they killed b'shushan habirah, the capital. They killed out tons of people. And an extra day. You know what? Make a cheshbon. You live in Shushan. You live in Shushan. You know what? Make peace. Nothing happened. They didn't kill any Jew. No Jew got killed. Make peace, and that's all. Talman, and finished, and then. So the simple pshat is that they killed only Amalekim. If you look at the Targum, the Targum seems to say, m'debei Hamalek. All the people they killed in Shushan were m'debei Hamalek. Amalek is a mitzvah to kill them. You have to kill Amalek. But the truth is, what about everybody else? It seems like there was a war not only to Haman and his children and his family. Why war? And the answer is, war, we're not makir tov to Achashverosh. Why not? He tried to kill us. Mitzrayim at the end of the day tried to kill us. Ki ger hayisa b'artzo, and therefore we left without picking up a finger to hurt them. Rav Nezer says, why didn't we wage war? And the answer is, that's not what the kavanah was. We weren't supposed to pick up a hand against Mitzrayim, lo sisayev Mitzri. So Rav Nezer learns we couldn't because we were meshubad. We were like slaves. And I'm saying we didn't want to, or Hashem didn't want us to, because He didn't want...

that we should pick up a finger. Why? Because the whole klipah of Mitzrayim was whole gufeh. It was that itself that they were kfuyei tov, so we had to leave Mitzrayim in a way that we're makir tov. Vayehi b'shalach Paroh es ha'am. Paroh sent them away. I didn't know that. Paroh? What kind of Paroh sent them away? The Eibishter took them out. You know what b'shalach means? The Ribono Shel Olam made it that Paroh should have to say, Yes, go. Why? Why? So there's Brisker Torah about it, because it has to do with shiluach avadim. It has to do with the amount of money that you give. You're supposed to give presents when you leave with an eved, but if he runs away and he's not sent away, then you don't give those presents. Haniktaniklei. You're supposed to give an extra gift. So the money we got in Mitzrayim, yam suf, we wouldn't have gotten, because we ran. So it couldn't be that we ran; it had to be that we were freed. That's Brisker Torah. I would say, hakachas ha'tovdike Torah is b'shalach. Almost like Yisro had to grant permission for Moshe to leave to go to Mitzrayim, it required that Paroh should grant permission that we should leave. And I believe that that becomes the yesod of Mitzrayim. Forget Paroh, wipe him away and let the people leave. Why are we busy with Paroh, letting them and Paroh, not letting them, Paroh is letting them, Paroh is not letting them? So the pashut pshat is emunah. Hashem was playing; it's a play. It's all to play out the inyan of fighting with the Eibishter, and the Eibishter shows him how He'll be the boss. Part of it is b'shalach pari. We leave with hakaras hatov that you sent us because you're the melech and we stayed by you. We don't leave by killing you. We don't leave by wiping out Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim we don't wipe out. We do not wipe out Mitzrayim because we have to learn, l'sosayev Mitzri ki ger hayisem b'artzo. Hakaras hatov. I would like to end with the following, my beis. Hakaras hatov, it happened so many years ago. Huh? Why don't you say, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, that I give you food, and I give today. Talk about now. Anochi Hashem, I am Hashem, who today, now. And you know what the answer is? Pashut. Mitzrayim means if Hashem didn't take out my fathers, I would still be there. So really it affects me also, like we say in the Haggadah. אילו הוציא הקדוש ברוך הוא... means I took you out of Mitzrayim. So every year we realize, Anochi Hashem, that He took me out of Mitzrayim. So it's not pissed, or maybe. You know when hakaras hatov becomes complicated? You don't see it, and you don't remember it. For example, someone does you a favor ten years ago. You know what happens? Who? What? What did you... Human nature is, and I'll say it the way it says in the English terms, What'd you do for me today? You know, our parents, we're not makir tov to them. You know why? What'd you do for me now? What'd you do for me today? How about what they did for you 20, 25, 30, whatever, how old you whoever is. I'm not discussing the age of the people here. 20 years ago. What did they do for you 20 years ago, yeah? You forget the diapering and the staying up at night. Hakaras hatov means never to forget. And I'll tell you a story about this, and with this I'll end. And understand this in the context that Pari forgot the past. When Yosef was around, he remembered Yosef. When Yosef was doing him his favors, he remembered Yosef. It's, you know when he forgets Yosef? Years later. What? Yosef pissed him. You know when you realize who's a makir tov? Not the guy who says thank you when you do him a favor. Of course, a guy does you a favor, he says thank you. Are you still saying thank you 10 years, 20 years? Are you makir tov forever and ever and ever and ever, l'dorei doros? I don't have the time now to be marich, but zeh zocheh livrachah in the sefer on Bereishis.

It brings out that people were called Bnei Adam. At the end of the parsha of Bereishis, it says Bnei Adam. Rashi says Bnei Adam, that the children of Adam, who was a kafi toiv. So the Zohar says a yesod, that you see clearly that grandchildren and grandparents can have the same cheshbon of hakaras hatov. You always have to go back to the previous generations. We'll discuss it at a different time. The pine being. Past history becomes past history. That's by a goy. A goy forgets all the chesed that a wife could do. A wife could be a good wife for 15 years. You know what happens after 15 years? She don't look the same. She doesn't look like she used to look 15 years ago. Get rid of her. I actually invested 15 years in you, you piece of garbage. Piece of garbage. She invested 15 years in you, yeah? You don't remember that, because it's for today. That's the goy. Parei's goy is, Parei's tumah, his klipah is, what's today? What's Yosef? Who talks about Yosef? What do you want from Yosef? We wipe the page clean and we move on, yeah? Klal Yisrael is a makir tov. We don't do that. Anochi Hashem asher hotzeisicha. Look at your roots. And I'll answer you. I'll give you a story to bring out this point. When my bobbe, aleha hashalom, passed away, a tzaddekes, all of you know of her. She was a tremendous woman. She was radin. She was chafetz chaim. To a tee. So when she passed away, they wanted to bring out her greatness in a way of saying divrei mussar, nesoyrus, for the women, that they should strengthen themselves in shmiras halashon. We were sent to Rav Rosenblum because Rav Rosenblum is in charge of an asifah, gathering that they make twice a year in Brooklyn for women about shmiras halashon. So maybe they'd make another one in memory of my grandmother, that the women should, you know, be more careful about shmiras halashon. It was at the time where they was fighting with the eruv in Borough Park. The eruv was good, and a lot of lashon hara. There was a lot of, at home, the Shabbos tables were full of talk that was not appropriate. A lot of fighting. So they figured this might be a good opportunity in the memory of my grandmother to discuss chizuk, chizuk in shmiras halashon. I went to Rav Rosenblum. Rav Rosenblum said, Come back to me in two days. I want to think about it. I came back to him. He said, You know, the idea is good, but we can't make an asifah because two a year is, that's it. If you make any more, then it becomes every now and then we make an asifah. It loses its potency, its chashivus. So two a year and that's it. You do something too much, it loses its, you know, okay. But what we could do is we could write a letter signed by all the roshei yeshivas, by all the gedolim, a letter addressed to the people, to the women, to be more careful in shmiras halashon, in memory of... My grandmother, as well as my grandfather, who were such righteous people and tzaddikim, especially in the area of shmiras halashon, that they were very careful not to say degrading things against other Yidden. They were very makpid about kavod Yisrael. Okay. So if this was the plan, this was the eitzah, the advice, I said fine. Reb Rosenblum dictated a letter to me, what we should write, and I wrote it, and he signed it. And then he tells me, go to Reb Shmuel Birnbaum, zecher tzaddik livracha, the Mir Rosh Yeshiva. He'll be the second one to sign it. I brought it to the Rosh Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva read it. He signed it, and he tells me, I think you should go to Rav Paller for the third signature. Rav Paller knows your zaidy, knows your grandfather as well as your grandmother from Shanghai. Shanghai, 50 years before, okay? During the war they went to Shanghai, and from there they came to America, and they were together in Shanghai. I thought it's interesting. He knows my grandfather from Shanghai. I don't know. He probably knows him from here too. I didn't really understand. I also knew that Rav Paller is not the type of person that would sign a letter like this. You know, there are people who are very careful not to sign anything.

They don't want to be in the limelight. They're very makpid. And he's that type of person, very careful, very nervous when he signs and when he gets involved in. But Rav Shmuel Birnbaum sends me there, that I should go to him. He knows my grandfather from Shanghai. I call up the rebbetzin. I'd like to speak to the Rosh Yeshiva. Sure, come over. She's a very friendly, very warm woman. Of course, come over. I quickly came over. This is a story about 15 years ago, 10, 15 years ago. I come quickly running over. I come into the house, I sit down, and I start telling Rav Poller, zecher tzaddik livracha, letters, shmiras halashon, the women, signing. He starts to shake. He used to stutter a lot. When he got nervous, especially when he was nervous, he stuttered even more. I don't do this. I don't sign letters like this. I don't sign. I never signed anything in my life. And I figured, I know this. This is almost—who can ask a signature from— I knew this. I couldn't understand why Rav Shmuel Birnbaum sent me. I couldn't understand. The rebbetzin walks in, and the rebbetzin starts overhearing the conversation, and she sees the way he doesn't want, and nothing, and he refuses to. So she says to him, Why don't you at least let him finish saying what he wants, what he came for? Let him finish talking. You don't even know what it's about. Finish talking. Let's see what it's about. Okay. So I tell him that it's an honor. My Bobby and my Zaydie. He turns to his wife, Could you bring me a pen? Bring me a pen. She goes to get the pen. He turns to me, he says, I'm going to sign the letter. I go, I don't say anything. You just carried on. I'm looking at him like, you just carried on. But worst thing in the world, I could have asked you to sign this letter. What? What? What? I didn't say anything. I just said it. I started saying about my grandmother. Listen to me carefully, he says. When we were in Shanghai, your Zaydie did tremendous favors for all the people there. He helped. They were broken. They were plagued. They were war survivors. No homes, no family, no money. Zaydie was a rav. He took care of everyone's problem over there. When they came to him with an issue, with a request, you know what his response always was? Yes. Now let me hear what it is. When you asked him, before he even knew what it was, he said, What is it? No, he didn't ask you what it is. He would say, Yes, of course I'll do it for you, but tell me now what it is. So in retribution, hakaras hatov, I'm going to sign. Now tell me what it's about. Tell me what it's about. He didn't even know. Before even, you tell me it's for your grandmother, in honor of... Okay. He signs the letter, and then he says, Okay, now tell me what it's about. Fifty years before, you see? Reb Shmuel Birman must have understood that gedolim, when they have hakaras hatov, they don't forget. We turn the page after a few weeks and forget. Big people never forget. They're always indebted. They're always makir tov, those that did them a favor. This is the tumah of Mitzrayim, to forget, asher lo yada es Yosef. The tikkun, the geulah, is to redeem ourselves with hakaras hatov, Anochi Hashem, which leads to emunah. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.