Galus Mitzrayim: Hakaras HaTov, Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart, and the Path to Geulah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This week's parsha, I would say it's these week's parshiyas, Shemos vaEira Bo Beshalach, is actually one sugya. It's one big parsha, and that's the parsha of Galus Mitzrayim and the Geulah from Mitzrayim. The galus and the geulah. What is it, Galus Mitzrayim? What is it, Geulas Mitzrayim? And how does it pertain? How does it affect? What is the l'maaseh for us today? How are we supposed to take out from the lessons of Mitzrayim? The Ramban tells us from the big nissim, one comes to be modeh, to admit, and to recognize, and to understand the small nissim. We live, we don't necessarily see the big nissim like it happened in Mitzrayim. We don't see Kriyas Yam Suf, but we have daily small miracles, so to speak, that happen to us. And true, Galus and Geulas Mitzrayim was about big miracles, but it's a lesson to the small miracles, the daily life miracles. I'm going to discuss, im yirtzeh Hashem, today. In the light of the Baal HaMussar, what does Galus Mitzrayim mean to us, and what is Geulas Mitzrayim supposed to mean to us? How do we bring it into our daily lives? How do we take Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, the entire history of Geulas Mitzrayim and everything that happened there, which we know is the yesod of ha'emunah? Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim, mi'beis avadim. Hashem tells us He is, and the proof and the reason that He gives is because He took us out of Mitzrayim. So Yetzias Mitzrayim obviously is yesod ha'emunah. It's the yesod of emunah. We all know that Yetzias Mitzrayim represents hashgacha pratis. What is hashgacha pratis? Hashem created the world. It seems that that was pretty obvious. But Pari came with a shita, avodah zarah, that he runs Mitzrayim, that he's the boss. So Hashem created the world, but He doesn't manhig. He doesn't rule on a daily basis. So Yetzias Mitzrayim was supposed to teach us hashgacha pratis, and that's Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. We've spoken in the past about this. Emunah is learned, derived. Taught through Yetzias Mitzrayim. And that's one whole area of lesson that Yetzias Mitzrayim is supposed to teach us, emunah. But the truth is, there's an entire parsha, an entire sugya, a whole different avenue, a whole different sugya that Yetzias Mitzrayim is supposed to teach us. And maybe they're even connected. And that is hakaras hatov. Yetzias Mitzrayim is, in Yiddish, gevekt. It's soaked, soaked on every angle that you turn. The galus and the geulah revolves around hakaras hatov, as we will explain in today's shiur, and the lessons that we have to take from that. You ask anybody, he'll tell you, Yetzias Mitzrayim, Hashem, the world, emunah, emunah, Hashem, Hashem is the manhig, it's true. But if someone would tell you, is Yetzias Mitzrayim supposed to teach us yesodei ha'emunah...

About akaras hatov, you wouldn't see that so much. That's what's going to be on our agenda for today, to show that possibly the root of it is actually akaras hatov, maybe emunah also. Not emunah and also akaras hatov. Maybe akaras hatov and also emunah, as we will explain. If someone would ask, what is the tumas Mitzrayim? We know that Mitzrayim is tamei. Torah refers to Mitzrayim as tumah, tumah, tumah. Hamala eschem mitumas Mitzrayim. What was the tumah in Mitzrayim? Is it the kishuf? We saw there was a lot of kishuf in Mitzrayim, chartumim, like you have in the Arab world, mulas. In Mitzrayim, hot min chartumim. The chachamim and the chartumim, those were the cabinets, those were the chashuvim, the chartumim. So it's kishuf. Maybe that's tumah. Kishuf, we know, has a lot of connection to kochos hatumah. Could be, could be. I'm going to tell you today a yesod, and this yesod I heard from my grandfather many times, b'shem his rabbeim and all the baalei mussar of... Yesteryear, that Tumas Mitzrayim is not about avodah zarah per se. It's not about kishuf, even though it's maybe connected, but that's not the main reason why we talk about it's tumah. Tumas Mitzrayim, and if you notice, we say that Klal Yisrael was in the mem-tes shaarei tumah. What's mem-tes? Forty-eight shaarei tumah? What? There are forty-eight levels of avodah zarah? What's forty-eight levels? What does it mean? Forty-eight mem-tes shaarei tumah. What does it mean? Rabosai, you want to know what Mitzrayim stood for? You want to know what the tumas Mitzrayim? In the sefarim we call it klipas Mitzrayim, the klipah of Mitzrayim. You know what it was? It was kefiyas hatov. It was denying good. I'll explain to you. You know, Paro, the Ribono Shel Olam did him a very big favor, tremendous favor. Came to him in a dream, ne'ema chalom, about the hunger that's supposed to come, and they saved him, saved him and his nation. Yosef comes and he says, Bil'adai, Elokim ya'aneh shlom Paro. And Paro is thrilled. He was saved. Hashem is saving Paro, hashgachah pratis, so to speak. Imagine the Ribono Shel Olam comes to a dream to Paroi. That's teaching him, teaching him here, that I'm going to give you an advance, a heads up to save you. And then he appoints Yosef, and Yosef talks about Hashem all day. We mentioned this in the previous parshiyos. Eighteen times we find Yosef talks, and every time the first word out of his mouth, so to speak, it's always about Elokim, Elokim, Elokim, Elokim. It's all the Eibishter. It's all HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Then, fast forward years later, Moshe Rabbeinu comes with a message again from Hashem. Again, this was the same Hashem. Hashem sent you a message to save you. Fast forward, Hashem sends a messenger to give you a message, and what do you say? Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, leadati es Hashem? Not only mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, leadati, I don't even know what it is. You don't know what it is? What are you talking about? The ultimate kefiyas hatov, the ultimate lack of hakaras hatov. You don't know who saved you? Imagine a person went, yeah.

And he ran into a burning building to save somebody. And it was in all the papers: the hero, the hero. Yeah? And then what do you do? You send him cards, thank you, thank you, you're my hero. Two, three years later, this hero comes to you and he says, I need a favor from you. Who? Who are you? What are you? I've never heard of you. Never heard of you. ... It's a crazy story. I don't... I don't know. Yeah, he doesn't know. Not only, Mi Hashem asher eshma b'kolo, lo yadati mi hu. I don't even know what it is. Don't even know who Hashem... Never heard of him. I want to show you more. How much did Yosef do for them? How much did Yosef do for Paro? If you notice, the pasuk even stresses this. וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ חָדָשׁ עַל מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַע אֶת יוֹסֵף. Says Rashi, עשה עצמו כאלו לא ידע. He was a kafui tov. He may believe he never heard of Yosef. Yosef? What did you say his name was? Yo... Yosh... Yishmael? I don't know who you're talking about. He was the ultimate kafui tov. I'm going to show you something interesting. You know, avodah zarah is eitz, even. Why would someone worship eitz va'even? Why? So you could come and say there's a taiva for it. Could be. You know, it's something that Hashem was matbia in the fabric of the briah, so to speak, that there should be taiva for avodah zarah. The Gemara in the end of Brachos says we may not even understand it. Menashe said, if you were in my days, you'd run, you'd pick up your coat. Menashe HaMelech said, Don't talk about me. It's taiva. It doesn't have to make sense. But isn't it interesting that it's not eitz va'even in Mitzrayim? You know what the avodah zarah in Mitzrayim is? The Nile. The Nile is the avodah zarah. So it's not eitz va'even anymore. Why the Nile? The Nile was the ultimate tov that Hashem gave them. Mitzrayim was prosperous. Mitzrayim was the metropolitan of the world because of the Nile. So if you were a makir tov, you would thank the Eibishter for this beautiful Nile that made you the superpower of the world. A kofui tov denies the tov. You know what the avodah zarah was? The avodah zarah is the ultimate kefiyas hatov. You know, they talk about avodah zarah money. Money is not avodah zarah. Money is power. Money is power. Avodah zarah of money. Chazal, I think, writes that the avodah zarah of today is money. Who gave you the money? The Ribono Shel Olam. So instead of thanking the Ribono Shel Olam for giving you the money, you worship George Washington on the money. Imagine a guy goes, imagine someone says, You know, I'm very, very poor. I'm suffering. Okay, I'll give you $500. So instead of saying thank you to the guy who gave you the money, you take the $500 and give him a kiss. You're great. You're unbelievable. I love you. You're tremendous. You should be doing this to the one who gave you the money, not the money. A kafi toiv forgets who gave it, and ultimately he worships what he has from it. It's the money. That's what he has. So the Nile, which was the ultimate toiv that the Eibishter gave them, the avodah zarah was to worship the Nile, and not the Ribono Shel Olam. That's avodah zarah. You worship a tree. You know, pshat, you worship a tree. The tree was given to you. We make a bracha on a tree. We go to the—

The tree, and we say, You gave us אילנות טובות ליהנות בהם בני אדם. So instead of thanking Hashem for the tree, I thank the tree. That's avodah zarah. Avodah zarah is the ultimate kafui tov, to take the Nile and say, You know how much of the story of Mitzrayim revolves around the Nile? It's unbelievable. First of all, the dream that he had with the seven cows, they came from the Nile. So what is Hashem telling him? I'm the Baal habos of the Nile. I'm sending you a dream that the cows are coming from the Nile. What do you do? You say, Lehadatia Hashem, and then you go to the Nile and you worship the Nile. You forget Elokim behind the Nile that gave you the Nile, and you worship the Nile. That's why whenever there was makkas, where was Paro? Hinei yotze hamaymah. It's always around the Nile, that the Eibishter talks to him. You know, there's a pasuk in this past week's haftorah, in Parshas Va'eira, Li ye'ori v'ani asisini. The pasuk says, Hashem says, Why am I destroying Mitzrayim? It's clear, it's an open pasuk in the haftorah. I believe it's in Yechezkel. It says, Why is Mitzrayim shemamah? Why am I going to destroy Mitzrayim? Because Omarit said, Li oyri, the y'or, the Nile is mine, ani asisי, I made it. You see that it revolves around the Nile, which means what was Mitzrayim's power, what was Mitzrayim's greatness? Hashem's saying, I gave it to you, and Mitzrayim was saying, Li oyri, you didn't give it to me. Mine, ani asisי, I made it. Pari keeps on going to the Nile. It's his Nile. He's the king. He's the melech. The Nile, the Nile, the Nile, because what is it? It's hakoras hatov versus, I'm sorry, kefiyas hatov versus what he should be makir tov. That's the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim. This is tumas Mitzrayim, tumas Mitzrayim, and we will explain it over and over from different points in the parsha, that the machlah, the disease, if I may say the cancer that Pari had, was kefiyas hatov. It was a cancer by him, to the point that he couldn't do teshuvah, as we will soon see, and to the point that he led his entire nation into drowning in an ocean because he was a kafui tov. He was a kafui tov. Now I'm going to show you a little further. You know, Pari... Pari. What was his fear? Vatimalei ha'aretz osam. Klal Yisrael was getting big. The whole land was getting full of Yidden. Hava nischakmah lo, pen yirbeh, v'haya ki tikrena milchamah, v'nosaf gam hu al soneinu. He's going to join our enemies, and he'll kick us out. Isn't that kefiyas hatov? Isn't that also a tremendous... I mean, someone takes you in. The Muslims do this. This is a Muslim custom. You take them in, and then they say that they own your land and they kick you out. They'll murder you and kick you out. That's a way of thinking. But does a normal person think that way? No. Why did Pari think that the Jews would do that? There's a very famous rule in the Gemara, kol haposel, b'mumo posel. For example, when someone is a ganef, he always thinks, Oh, that guy, oh, he must be stealing. A person who's not a thief never thinks that way. If you're not a thief, you think, Why would he steal? You walk over to a tzaddik, you'd say, Why would he do that? I remember I used to hang around big tzaddikim like Rav Pam, zichrono livracha, these type of people. You know what they would like? They wouldn't believe.

Why should he do it? Why should he do it? The par doesn't understand why someone should do bad things, because he's so removed from it, right? But if you're a ganef, yeah, everything a guy does—ooh, ooh, ooh, he's... Why does Pari think that Klal Yisroel will go, make war with him, and throw him out, and with his people? Pen yirbeh milchamah, right? V'nosaf gam hu al soneeinu, v'nilcham banu v'aleinu v'alah min ha'aretz. And you know what the answer is? Because that's what he would do. Pari was an ultimate kavod. See, he viewed Klal Yisroel—he didn't realize, why would Klal Yisroel do a thing like that? It's their country. I'm gonna tell you a big chiddush. Klal Yisroel also erred in kfiyas hatov. And I'll show it to you. I'll show it to you clearly. What was the arrangement, in Hebrew we call it heskem, between Pari and Klal Yisroel when they came originally to Mitzrayim? If you look at the end of Vayechi, it says, Kol ha'aretz lifanecha. He tells Yaakov, the whole land is in front of you. But he uses a very interesting, you know, underneath, whenever they give you a big— all you'll get underneath, you have to read the fine print. You know what the fine print in Parshas Vayechi, in that pasuk is? Rak b'eretz Goshen teishav. It says clearly in the pasuk. Kol ha'aretz lifanecha, b'meitav ha'aretz... Pari's talking, you can have whatever you want. Rak l'eretz Goshen teishev. Give me five seconds, go on here. The real, what do you call it, the real understanding between Paro, Yosef, and Klal Yisrael was that they would remain in Goshen. Not Paro wanted the Yidden to be in Mitzrayim. Not Yosef wanted it. All of a sudden it says, Uvnei Yisrael paru vayishretzu vayirbu vaya'atzmu, vatimalei ha'aretz osam. What? Ha'aretz osam. We should say vatimalei aretz, the land, ha, the land. Says the Ibn Ezra, ha'aretz, Goshen. Whenever we say ha, the, the means Goshen, because they were supposed to be in Goshen. Makes sense? That's what they agreed with Paro. But Chazal seem to say a little different. Chazal seem to say, vatimalei ha'aretz, all of Eretz Mitzrayim became full with them. All of Mitzrayim became full with them. Says that they would walk in the streets, and the people would say, Ech, the whole street is full of Jewish people. What's going on here? Shvakim u'rechovos, the streets, the Mitzriim have their streets. The Mitzriim have their rechovos, forty-seventh and forty-second, or whatever their streets are in Manhattan, whatever they're busy with over there. And all of a sudden, wherever I have to—well, the Yidden are there, wherever I look. That wasn't what the agreement was. Wasn't that this? Sometimes you come to a country. You respect the agreement, so to speak, of the country. Have a mispallel b'shlom malchus. In Europe, they were very careful about this. Keep the rules. You're a guest, not a baal habos in galus. They came to Mitzrayim. They started to what? To show that they were a little bit, hey, I come, I go, I run, I'm also. The melo para in reverse says, Pektikra milchama v'naisav gam hu al sineinu v'nilcham banu. Possibly, if Klal Yisrael would have remained in Mitzrayim under, and showing that they were under the Mitzriyim, it wouldn't have been a problem in the first place. That wasn't the agreement, wasn't that the agreement. The agreement was you stay in Goshen. What are you doing out of Goshen? What is everybody—why is everybody going in the shanchelize, you know, in Paris? You have the main street where all the goyim go there; only the chashuv goyim are allowed over there. The French, they know. They're just guests in the country there. They're very careful not to antagonize the goy, not to be seen, not to make tumult.

It's not your land, it's not your country. They don't look at us as we're the baal habatim, that we're the owners, so maybe they'll kick us out one day. Moshe Rabbeinu didn't understand, Chazal say he didn't understand why Klal Yisrael was in galus. What did they do wrong? What was it that caused Klal Yisrael to suffer? Why are they different than anybody else? It's a question that everybody asks. Moshe Rabbeinu himself asked this question. He says, Till then I couldn't understand why. What did they do? So Chazal say that the minute he saw shnei anashim ivrim nitzim, and one said to the other—I'm sorry, one said to Moshe Rabbeinu, You want to hit me like you hit the Mitzri? Kasha rakta es haMitzri. Oh, dalturim hein. Moserim lamalchus. Tell me something. Who was the ish Mitzri that was being makeh ish Yehudi? Who was the ish Yehudi? It was he himself. It's a peldige thing. I don't think you understand the story. The day before, Dosan and Aviram was outside, which one was Dosan and which one was Aviram? One of them. Which one? I'm telling you which one was Dosan. One of them. It was Dosan, right? Okay. So the Mitzri went to kill the Dasan, and Moshe Rabbeinu saved him. So what should have been the response? Moshe, you're my hero. Moshe, you're my king. The next day, no, but the next day he tells Moshe Rabbeinu, You want to kill me too? I go to the malchus. He went and told the malchus. What are you, a kafui? You're completely not normal, kafui tov. And Moshe Rabbeinu says, Oh, oh, now I understand why they're in galus. The ma'aseh of kefiyas hatov. Someone learned that's daas Torah. The Moshe, the fact that you gave it over to the malchus, that's not so clear. That's it. That's the reason why there's a galus. It's deeper than that. It's the fact that I did you a favor. I did you a chesed. Who would do it for you? I put myself in danger for you. I put myself on the line for you. And I saved you the previous one day. You forgot already one day, from one day to the next. Kefiyas hatov. Kefiyas hatov. When you're a kafui tov, Moshe Rabbeinu says, now I understand. Now I understand. You know, Chazal tell us, Lo shinu shmam, leshonam, malbusham. They walked around looking like Yidden. They called each other Yankel mit Berel, mit Duvid, or Chaim. Or Ben Hayim, or Ben Shalom, and Ben Tov, whatever the names are. Yaakov Yosef, whatever the names are, all right? It doesn't have to be Chassidim, anybody. They called themselves Jewish names, right? They looked like Yidden. But Moshe Rabbeinu says, now I understand why they're in golus. You know why? Because you could look like a Yid and sound like a Yid, but if you're a kafui tov, you're not a Yid. You're mufrach l'gamri. Pircha. Mufrach l'gamri, to the point that now the golus makes sense to Moshe Rabbeinu. This is kefiyas hatov. Now let me show you how the geulah was essential, that it should be based on hakaras hatov. In order to undo MiMitzrayim ge'altanu, MiBeis avadim p'disanu, there was two redemptions in Mitzrayim. One was MiBeis avadim, the slavery. That's pidyon, podeh. But then there was more. MiMitzrayim, from Mitzrayim itself, we needed geulah. We were in the mem-tes shaarei tumah of Mitzrayim. We needed to get redeemed from that. We needed to be—

Cheirus Olam. So what did we need to have geulah from? From kfiyas hatov. You notice it says, like I told you in the beginning, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim, mibeis avadim. So some Rishonim learn emunah, hashgacha pratis, in this pasuk. See, I run the world. It's not just I created the world. Asher hotzeisicha. Look what happened in Mitzrayim. While other Rishonim learn hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov? I took you out of Mitzrayim. You owe me. You owe me. So the geulah of Mitzrayim is based on hakaras hatov. And the reason for this is because since the golus of Mitzrayim, meaning, A, what Mitzrayim stood for in golus, and why we were there was kfiyas hatov. It was about that we weren't makir tov. So the geulah, the redemption, had to be hakaras hatov. This answers to me a tremendous question. We find in this week's parsha that Moshe Rabbeinu, before he goes and does makkas dam and makkas tzfardea, kinim, he asks Aaron. I think it's actually dam and kinim. He asks Aaron, why should Aaron hit? So Rashi brings down not Moshe because it did him a favor. The yor, the Nile, did Moshe Rabbeinu a favor. It saved him. And so too by kinim, it hid the mitzri. When he buried the mitzri, so therefore it did a chesed. And because of this chesed, Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't allowed to hit, not the ground and not the water. Everybody asks the question, well, if it's just a domem, it's just a physical thing, why do you think it knows the difference if you hit it or you don't hit it? So the truth is, in Kabbalah, and even if you're not a big baal mekubal, you could know this. Even objects have ruchniyut in it. They have some spiritual components of life, so to speak. I mean, the ore moves. What makes it move? There's chiyus in every object. In every object, there's some chiyus there. You know, we find the stones by Yaakov Avinu. They were talking to each other. Alai yaniach tzaddik es rosho. Someone told you, I heard the rocks talking. Lock them up, I'm meshugah. You know, they used to have pet rocks when I grew up. Only in America they could fool you to buying a rock and that's a pet. Pet rock, they used to have it, you remember? You don't remember, before your times. Pet rock. They took rocks and they made a whole... used to buy it for big money, because it's not a rock, it's a pet. Now that it's a pet, it's worth a lot of money. Yeah? So only in America people could, you know, have conversations with rocks and say it's his pet and he has company with pets and rocks, a place, I don't know. But normal people, if they came and they told you that they spoke to a rock... You tell him, there's something wrong in there. You got some rocks, missing a few rocks, as they say in English, right? Something's wrong with you. So what's l'maaseh? Teretz is, you see that there's some ruchni, there's something there that the rocks were able to talk to each other when it came to ruchnius. You know, the sari shel yam, so to speak, the Yam Suf. The Yam Suf was upset by Mitzrayim after Kriyas Yam Suf, because Hashem wanted that he should spit out the Mitzrayim, to show the Yidden that they died, because the Yidden were scared maybe they didn't die, they're coming up on the other side of the ocean. So they were angry, so to speak. They were... in Yiddish, zachten baveld. It was taken away from them, this delicious lunch steak. It was steaks. The Mitzrim were delicious lunches, steaks. Where are you gonna get steak like that? So much. The ocean was upset. We want to eat them, we want to eat up the Mitzrim. So Hashem paid them back. Years later, by Nachal Kishon, in the times of the Tanach, so you see clearly that they're asking.

They want me to see there's some something, right? So you can't come and say inanimate objects have nothing, and they're just like doymem, doymem without anything in it. I told you over many times that I heard a story from the source itself. I heard it directly from the source, that this person was speaking to Rav Shiskal, Rav Moshe Feinstein's son-in-law. He was talking to him, learning in the mountains. And sometimes when people talk in learning, they're preoccupied, they break a branch, you know, next to a tree, they crack a small twig. Rav Shiskal was a ma'idi k'tzadik, and he turns around to this person whose name was Daniel. He says, Reb Daniel, tchalepetike zach, it's alive. How can you break a twig? It's alive. It has chiyus, it has some life to it. You ever see something called a live tree and a dead tree, live wood, dead wood? So you see the word live. It has something. The ocean is alive. Water is alive. You know, rabosai, tzaddikim have such a sensitive way of looking at the world that even a twig has life. Even a twig has meaning. Could you imagine if we felt that way about objects, how we would feel and act towards people? The problem is even by people today, we have no problem just cracking it half and going weiter. He's in my way. I push him aside, throw him into the snow, and I go further, right? The sensitivity of bal chai, something's alive. If you have it for a twig, a twig, if you have it for a branch, if you have it for a Nile water, could you imagine how much more so you'll have it for an animal, and how much more so you'll have it for even a goy, who's higher than an animal, and how much more so would you have it for a Yid, who's even higher than a goy, and how much more so would you have it for a father or a mother, sister, brother, child? You see, it starts from the shorashim, from the bottom. If you're able to appreciate a twig, see, it's a shasheres, of course, that's what it is. That's, unfortunately, today we cut away the whole shasheres, and even to the top. We have no chashivus, no erech, no value. Moshe Rabbeinu was told by HaKadosh Baruch Hu, value the yor; you had chesed from it. Don't come and say, Oh, it's an object. Not an object. This is my way of explaining it. I've heard in the past that others, great gedolim, baalei mussar, have also mentioned such a point. רבי ירוחם, זכר צדיק לברכה, in the sefer learns a little different. Rabbi Yerucham learns that it's not so much for the yor; it's not so much for the water. Moshe Rabbeinu... Had to treat the yor with hakaras hatov, mitzad him. For him, not so much for the yor. The yor is an object. It has no feeling. It has no... At the end of the day, you had from it, so you have to train yourself to appreciate tov. That's how Rabbi Yerucham in the sefer explains it. He even asks a beautiful question. Wait a minute. The makkas Kiddush Shem Shamayim. What do you think the makkas? Makkas was the yesod of emunah. You know how much veyadatem ki ani Hashem bchol aretz. The makkas was to prove that Hashem exists. Could you have any more Kiddush Shem Shamayim? Could you have any more zechus for the water, that the water is used for this? The water was probably telling Moshe Rabbeinu, Hit me, hit me twice. What are you talking about? I'm going to be the first makka. I'm going to be the vehicle to bring the Kiddush Shem Shamayim of the first makka. How much the water for surely should have been happy and would have begged Moshe Rabbeinu to hit him. And yet he wasn't allowed to, says Rabbi Yerucham. Why? Because Moshe Rabbeinu, forget the water. You're right. Mitzad the water, either A, he doesn't feel, and even...

Exactly what wanted, because that's what he's created. What's water created? To do what? To be drunk by a goy. He'd rather be drank by a goy, by an Egyptian, when he's thirsty after doing chayei murderous sports than he did in Mitzrayim. He'd rather do this, right? He'd rather be the vehicle of Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. And yet Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't allowed to do it, because he had to learn hakaras hatov. And there's a lot of lessons in this, rabosai. You see that even if it means Kiddush Hashem Shamayim, hakaras hatov takes precedence. If it means to be a coffee toiv, then it's not Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. You know, a lot of times people, they run away from one rebbe, one yeshiva, because they feel they could gain more in another yeshiva. Sometimes maybe it's kedai to think how many people they're hurting and how much pain they're causing to the rebbe who they're leaving, to the yeshiva that they're leaving, and it has to be weighed properly. You're right, aliyah in ruchni. The water also, aliyah ruchni. Tremendous aliyah ruchni to be hit and to be the vehicle for the makah. But hakaras hatov, you see hakaras hatov outweighs that. Unless you could say maybe it's not approved, because anyway it was going to get hit and anyway it was going to turn into dam, because anyway Aharon would do it. The question is, does Moshe have to be the one to do it? Meaning, if no one was going to be there to do it, so maybe Moshe would do it, even though there was hakaras hatov. But since it could be done through Aharon, so then why does it have to be done through Moshe? Better not Moshe. It's not a proof from the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't hit the water because of hakaras hatov, that hakaras hatov takes precedence over everything. I don't know if it's such a big proof. It could be. It could be, and possibly it needs to be. In halacha we say a din halachti; it has to be dealt with by a gadol. And I'm just pointing it out. All I'm trying to say is the sensitivity has to be there, and you have to take that into account. And when a person says, Ah, for me, for my ruchniyus it's better, wait a minute. How much hakaras hatov do you need for the people who brought you till here? And maybe you have to make sure that that's satisfied. It's a sugya that needs to be dealt with, and I'm saying it's not necessarily such a big raya from here, because either way it would have been hit. Rabosai, I want to tell you a third pshat in why Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't allowed to hit the water. And it's not so much because Moshe needs to learn hakaras hatov, but it's actually because Moshe needed to be makir tov to the water. It's true, Reb Yerucham and other baalei mussar say it's not for the water. It's true. They say it's for Moshe, that Moshe should learn to be a makir tov. I'm thinking that maybe it's not only for Moshe Rabbeinu, but it's really for the water too. Who is the water? Who's the water? The water is Hashem. Hashem put the water there. Hashem created the waters, and it's meant to save and protect them, v'chulei v'chulei. Who made the earth? Hashem made the earth, and the earth was tovah Hashem to bury a meis. So when I'm makir tov to the water, it's not the water. I'm makir tov to the Eibishter for the water. Who made the water? So the question was, the yaar feels nothing. Of course it feels. It's not about the yaar. It's not about the yaar. It's about the One who created the yaar. Who made the yaar? The Ribono Shel Olam made the yaar. So the hakaras hatov is to the Ribono Shel Olam, appreciating the yaar that He made. I've said this many years ago. I've said it here actually many years ago as well. This year I was zoche to see in Rav Shach's sefer. Someone pointed it out to me, and I looked over there, that Rav Shach, zecher tzaddik v'vracha, learns this pshat.

In this Rashi, in this Chazal, that Hakaras HaTov is not to the water, nor is it for you to learn Hakaras HaTov per se, like Rabbi Yerucham. It might be true, but it's even more than that, and that is, it's Hakaras HaTov to the Ribono Shel Olam, appreciating the water that He put there to save me. And I have a proof. I'd like to bring a proof to this yesod, to this concept. A story. And the story is not in the books. The story is in a book that was written many, many years ago. The name of the book is the Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi in Trumos, perek vav, Chazal tell us a story of a person who was machnis orch, a very big talmid chacham. The talmid chacham is sitting at the head of the table. Talmid chacham, so you put him at the head of the table. And all of a sudden, the balabat brings out a dog, a dog, and he sits him next to the rav, next to the talmid chacham. Talmid chacham was looking. You trying to be mevazeh me? You know, there's a story from the Malbim, that the Malbim, he used to write a lot against Haskalah. In his era, there was a lot of Haskalah. The maskilim bothered him, and a lot of his writings was to prove the truth in Tanach, the real pshat. So the maskilim used to bother him all the time. So the story goes that on Purim, one of the maskilim in his town sent him a cake. In the tzurah of a dog, with a pig or a dog, yeah, and he painted a picture of a pig and a dog, whatever, and he sent it to him. He was trying to hurt the Malbim. The Malbim was brilliant, so the Malbim went and sent him back a picture of himself. He said, You sent me a picture of you. I'll send you a picture of me. It's only fair in shalach manos. We'll switch. You sent me a picture of you for Purim, I'll send you a picture of me. And the talmid chacham's looking, Put a dog next to me? What are you trying to tell me? I'm a dog? Is that what you're trying to tell me? What are you doing? So the Malbim says, No, no, no, you don't understand. Many years ago, a robber came into my house, and he was putting in danger my wife and my children. He was a very bad robber, a dangerous thief. The dog caught on, he whiffed and he caught what happened. He ran after the guy, and he ripped him to pieces. Chazal say over there, he was mesares him. No idea what he did to the guy. So ever since then, I'm makir tov to the dog, and whenever I have the meal, I sit him at the head of the table. You Yerushalmi, rabosai, in Trumos, perek vav. Yerushalmi. It's a Chazal, it's a Gemara. You want to appreciate the dog? Feed him dog food. Buy him Purina. Why don't you call the Heinz dog food? Give him the special. You know what? Every day you buy real dog food that's fit for dogs. Buy him today a special steak dog food. The kelev doesn't אפילו give him steaks. What are you doing? You want to be mechabed a dog? You want to be mechabed a dog? What's the point of being mechabed a dog? What are you doing? Rabosai, you know what the pshat is? The pshat is like this. This person wanted to make sure that he always recognizes that it's not the dog. Hashem sent to him a dog at that moment to save him. This is the yad Hashem. It's the hand of Hashem. And since it's the hand of Hashem, so I give it the kavod, because it's not about makir tov, but it's makir tov respecting Hashem who gave it to me. Meileh, I'm mechabed. I have kavod for it also. You know, Yaakov Avinu, Yaakov Avinu was chozer al pachim ketanim. He went back for small jugs. Everybody asks, why did he go back for small jugs? He was very rich. More than that, he put himself in danger.

Vayivaser Yaakov levado. Yaakov was left alone. There's a halachic issues in this. People, mefarshim discuss, how could you be alone at night, Talmud chacham? Yet we see he put himself in sakana for these small jugs. Why? Say Baal HaMusar, because he recognized that it was given to him from Hashem. A person could look at a cup and see a cup. A person could look at a cup and see matnat Elokim. It's a present from Hashem. A person could look at a table. It's a table. So then you're right, it has very little value. How much is a table? Twenty dollars, you buy yourself a table, thirty dollars. But if you look at it, Hashem gave me this table. Hashem gave me this table. It was given to me because Hashem cares about me, and Hashem created a world l'henef bnei adam, for my good, for my benefit. So hamachshiv, I have respect. I have erech. I have proper evaluation for the domem, for the domem. Yeah, that's the pshat over here too. It's true, kiddush shem shamayim, but this is also kiddush shem shamayim. It's appreciating that the Ribono Shel Olam made the or. He made it. The Ribono Shel Olam is protecting people with the or. He fed the whole Mitzrayim through this or. So the Kiddush Hashem Shamayim could be by not hitting the Yor. The Kiddush Hashem Shamayim is by respecting the Yor, appreciating the Yor because it's Hashem. While Paroi was li ye'ori v'ani asisini, he took the toiv in the Yor, and he was a kafui toiv. And now understand maybe even more why Moshe Rabbeinu particularly had to be careful not to hit the water, because since it was about geulah miMitzrayim, since the idea of the makkas was to redeem Klal Yisrael from Mitzrayim and its tumah, what was Mitzrayim's tumah? To look at the Yor and be a kafui toiv, to look at the Yor and say, Li ye'ori, ani asisini. So therefore, in the makkas he had to be careful not to hit the Yor, had to be machshiv it, that it's Hashem's Yor. The anecdote, the refuah. What was the makor, rabosai? The makor was kvias hatoiv. That was Mitzrayim. That was the tumah of Mitzrayim. That was the golus of Mitzrayim. So what is the geulah from Mitzrayim? What is the redemption? The makkas is the beginning, that's chol of the geulah, it's the anecdote. And the answer is hakaras hatov, to show that the Yor is Ribono Shel Olam, He put it there. Borei Shleil made the or, and therefore, a marich and machshiv, and I appreciate the or that the Ribono Shel Olam put. I had hana'ah, I had chesed from it, so it's the Ribono Shel Olam who gave it to me, and therefore I don't hit it. The argument, the argument of hakaras hatov, it was specific here, because it had to be an anti-Mitzrayim. It had to be the anti-galus. It had to be the geulah from the galus. The makkas had to come to heal the disease of Mitzrayim and the galus, and therefore it had to be done in a way of what? Hakaras hatov, and not kefiyas hatov. I want to show you more. Had Paro not been sick in kefiyas hatov, Paro wouldn't have ended up lost at the end, avud, shmama, like the pasuk says, destroyed. He would have, right away in the beginning, done teshuvah and said—

Not close, but I'll show you what I mean. It says in the parsha, V'ani akshes leiv Paro. Parshas Va'eira, and in the beginning of Parshas Bo it says, Bo el Paro ki ani hichbadti es libo. So Hashem made his heart hard. V'ani akshes libo. We know that that meant that he couldn't do teshuva, which means he was so hardened that he was stuck in the matzav and he couldn't get out of it. He couldn't do teshuva. Rashi learns on the pasuk V'ani akshes libo, I think it's perek vav, pasuk zayin, says Rashi, because anyway by the umos ha'olam, I couldn't care less about their teshuva. It doesn't really mean that much to me. So if he's going to be so mean and so wicked, okay, so I'll take away his ability to do teshuva. I don't care so much if he does teshuva. Loshon of the Chazal, Rashi quotes, I don't have a nachas ruach. You want to read the Rashi? Go ahead, vav. V'ani akshes leiv Paro. How about zayin? Zayin, V'ani akshes leiv Paro, perek zayin. Perek zayin, V'ani akshes leiv Paro. Which pasuk is it? Gimel. Zayin gimel. Okay, read. Vani akshes lei Paroi. Me'achashirshiav, v'hitris. I make the, the goy, the punish, and אין נחת רוח. Nachas ruach. I don't care about it. It doesn't mean anything if they do teshuva to me. So forget it. You know, you're a bad guy. If you were a good guy, okay, so I'll help you do teshuva. I don't care anyway about your teshuva. Forget it. From Rashi's mashma that it's only by a goy. You see that this Vani akshes, it's only by goyim. Because since by umos ha'olam I don't care about their teshuva anyway, by a Yid Hashem does care. Teshuva banim shovavim. Hashem waits for the person to do teshuva. So it's mashma, the implication from Rashi is that a Jew has nothing to worry about this Vani akshes. It can't happen to any Yid. A Yid will always be able to do teshuva. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva, perek vav, seems to say not like that. The Rambam says that this is a disease that can happen to anybody, a goy and a Yid alike. It's not only a din in a goy. And he brings a raya from the nevi'ei ha-Baal, the times of Eliyahu. So this is a basic machlokes, and it's very important to know, because according to the Rambam, this can happen to anybody. It can happen to anybody. My question to you, rabosai: what does it mean that Hashem hardens the heart to the point that he can't do teshuva? What does that mean, he can't do teshuva? Rashi learns it's only by a goy. But the Rambam says it can happen to anybody. So what does it mean? We have to know what it is, right? So there's two mahalchim, there's two pshatim in the Rishonim. Some Rishonim learn that even if he wants to do teshuva, and he actually does the teshuva, still Hashem doesn't accept the teshuva. If a person is a rasha, says the Rambam, if, for example, he does a chet gadol, or chata'im harbeh, many sins, we don't accept the teshuva. What does that mean? So many Rishonim learn, if you look at the Ramban on the pasuk, V'ani aksheh es lev Paro, says the Ramban that ninal daltei ha-teshuva, we lock the doors of the teshuva. You know, the Chazal tell us the same language by tefila, ninalu sharei tefila. You know what the ninalu sharei tefila means? Gam ki aspalel va-ashavea, asosam tefilasi, that even if you do pray, even if you do daven, it's ninal. The gates of teshuva are closed. So it's talking about that he's doing tefila, and still it doesn't work. Many learn that the same thing is this halacha in the Rambam.

I mean, the Rambam and the Rishonim, v'ani aksus loi paroi, that if a person, a Jew as well as a goy, it doesn't have to be dafka a goy, it doesn't have to be only a pari, it could be anybody, that if he does a sin, or he does many sins, he take away teshuva means he can't do the teshuva even if he does it. It's ninal, it's locked. The gates of teshuva are locked. In the Rambam, the implication, the mashma'us, the diyuk is that actually, if he wants to do teshuva, he could do teshuva. So what does the Rambam mean that we close the teshuva? We don't help him to do teshuva. The Ikrim learns like this. The Chofetz Chaim al haTorah brings it down, that the pshat in the Rambam is we just don't help him to do teshuva. But if he wants to do teshuva, he could do teshuva. Right, there's no siyua. We don't help him to do the teshuva. This is the Chofetz Chaim al haTorah, and many others learn pshat in the Rambam, and the raya is because the next halacha, the Rambam says that Dovid HaMelech was mispallel that he shouldn't fall into this situation where they take away the teshuva. But Dovid HaMelech was afraid that he couldn't do teshuva. So if you look, the wording of the Rambam is, siyua, that Hashem helps the one, the choteh, and there's a certain siyata dishmaya. There's a siyata dishmaya, so we take that away. But if he wants to do teshuva, he can do teshuva. Habosai, I want to come and say a third pshat. Moiridike chiddush, moiridike chiddush here. The Gemara in Yuma, it's a Mishnah. Pehei, Yuma. Ha'omer, Echta v'ashuv, echta v'ashuv, ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuva. What does it mean, ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuva? What does it mean? Someone says, I'll do a sin, and I'll do teshuva. We don't let it—we don't give him the chance to do teshuva. Says the Meiri, he could do teshuva, but we take away the chances from him to do the teshuva. For example, could you imagine a person thinks to himself, You know what? I'm going to go to a certain rav, I'll do teshuva. He'll help me. And his car breaks down. You know what? If this and this happens, I'll have a few time free. I'll start thinking about doing teshuva. You know, I have time free. The time won't be free for you, like by learning, the Gemara says. Ha'omer, one that says, L'k'she'efneh, lo esipaneh, it's not going to work, right? Same thing if a person says, Echta, I will sin v'ashuv and I'll do teshuva. So what we say is, ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuva. We don't give you the chance, the chance to do teshuva. Does that mean that we don't let you do the teshuva? No, but we won't give you the chance. You know, the lashon of Rambam is interesting: Ein nosin lo reshus. Ein nosin lo reshus. We don't give him permission. It's interesting—he's a child in school, permission? He needs permission to do teshuva? Could be it means this, that we don't give you the chance. So I was thinking to myself an unbelievable thing. I believe that Paroi wanted to do teshuva all along. I believe Paroi wanted to get the Yidden out of Mitzrayim all along, because it had to be. He's got to be crazy not to. He's got to be crazy not to keep the people. It wasn't happening. It wasn't needed. But they were monea from him. They took away from him the chance to do teshuva. Yechol. What do I mean by yechol? I'll explain to you what I mean. You know, it reminds me of a mashal, then the olam will understand it better. You know, in America there's a system that before the president speaks, or somebody in the Congress or the Senate, he gives out the speech in advance. They give it to you in advance, and you can actually read it in advance. I don't really know what the big chacham is that he gets up, Oh, you heard, he spoke so great. It's a written speech. You don't need the guy. You can read it by— Okay, but this is what it is in America, you know, the shaytim in America. So let's say they gave out the speech in Mitzrayim. Paroi calls together all the people. Big address from the president, from the Oval Office of Paroi's Beis HaMelech. They're all reading. You know what it says over there? It says that—

Rabosai, I don't have to worry, rabosai is there. But it says, Chartumai v'chachamai, my friends, my chartumim, we can't take anymore. Avdu Mitzrayim, this is, it's finished. Let them go. They're a pega ra. They were always a pega ra. Out! Out! Get out of here! And everybody assembles in the room in Mitzrayim. Shh, the melech is here. He comes in, and they're ready with the paper, they have it, and they're ready to read that he's throwing out the Jews from Mitzrayim. That's it, finished. He's doing teshuva. And guess what comes out of his mouth? We're gonna keep them, and we're gonna fight, and who's Hashem? And everybody's looking. I thought you said you're gonna get rid of them. What happened? Nobody claps because they're like, something's wrong. He goes out after he finishes the speech, and he looks in the mirror and he goes, I don't understand. I wanted to say, Get out of here! I don't want you anymore. What came out of my mouth? Something completely different. Ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuva means we don't give you a chance, the ability to do teshuva. Paroh wanted—he was saying, I want them out of here, I can't take it anymore. It came l'maaseh. That's not what came out of his mouth. You know, in English there's something called alcoholic anonymous. When a person is a shikker and he can't control himself, can't control himself, and he walks around, No, no, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna drink, I'm not gonna drink. He passes by the shtaps. What happens? He controls himself. He has to. And then afterwards he goes, I said no, no. Pari did the same thing. I can't control myself. I want them out of here. He gets up. They're gonna stay. They're gonna fight. They're gonna be here. You know, Pari must have went to anti-Semitism anonymous. Hi, Pari. My name is Pari. Hello, Pari. You know, you get up, you have to say your name. Hello, my name is... Hello, my name is Pari. Hi, Pari. I can't control myself. I can't. I'm trying my best to get rid of Klal Yisrael. It doesn't come out. That's called ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuvah. They don't let you do teshuvah. Even if you want to do teshuvah. Now with this, I think it answers a tremendous question. Rav Shmuel Birnbaum, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the Mir Rosh Yeshiva, has a very nice question on the parsha. Beautiful question. If Hashem wants Klal Yisrael to leave Mitzrayim, and also He wants to prove that He's the Baal HaBayis, He's the boss, He's the melech, ignore Pari and just take them out, and that's all, and finished. Ignore Pari. Take them out, finished. What are you busy with it? Why are you busy with Pari? It's like back and forth. Yeah, Pari, nisht; Pari, yeah; Pari, not Pari. Forget Pari. Who's Pari? You want to show Pari is insignificant? Is he relevant? Ignore him and take him out. Let him scream, You're not going to leave. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, You're leaving. That's all. Finished. Neged retzono. Do it against his will. You want to show you're the melech, so you show that he's nothing and you're something. Why does he need Pari? He's busy with Pari. So, Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel Birnbaum zichrono livracha has a whole mahalach. I would like to say pshat like this. The way I explain ein maspikin b'yado la'asos teshuvah means that a person could say, I want to do teshuvah. He could go to do the teshuvah, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu stops it, ein nosnin lo reshus, to the point that that's not what comes out. So tell me, if a person can't do what he wants to do, if a person's not even a baal habayit, he's not even the boss over himself, what does that tell you? Pari came to say, I'm the melech and I'm the boss, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu, I don't know who you are. You know what HaKadosh Baruch Hu will tell you? You know who I am? Come, I'll show you who I am.

Try to talk. It doesn't come out. Even on yourself, you're not a baal habayit. The Eibishter is telling you, I'm baal habayit even on your thoughts, even on your words, and even on your actions. You came to say that you're the boss. I'm going to show the world that if the Eibishter wants, what you think is not going to happen, what you say is never going to happen, and what you're going to plan to do is not going to happen, because I'm the baal habas. Ein maspikin b'yado, says teshuva. The way I want it to be, that's the way it's going to be, even on your own thoughts, and even on your own words, and even on your own actions. I found in the Chasam Sofer the yesod of these words. Beautiful Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer in this week's parsha brings the Rambam, where the Rambam says that if a person does aveiros, we take away the teshuva. Says Chasam Sofer, I believe the pshat is, echtev Ashur. He brings the Chazal of Echtev Ashur, like I told you, ein maspikin b'yado. Says the Chasam Sofer, that's why it says in the pasuk by onesh, Ani Hashem. Whenever it says you'll get an onesh, it says Ani Hashem. So why does it have to say Ani Hashem by an onesh? He says because every person thinks to himself, I'll do the aveira, but I'll be smarter than the system because I'll do teshuva before I do it. So the Ribono Shel Olam is saying, no, no, no, Ani Hashem. You won't do teshuva. You'll get the onesh. A person thinks that he's a baal bechira. It's a beautiful Chasam Sofer. A person thinks he's a baal bechira. That he's smart enough to beat the system. In English we call it to beat the system. He's a baal bechirah. He's smart. He'll beat the system, zogt Chasam Sofer, he thinks. Rebbosai, the Chasam tells him, baal bechirah? I'll show you how you won't beat the system. Echta v'ashuv. Hey, my speaking beyado la'asos teshuvah. You're gonna think you want to do teshuvah. I do ma'aseh teshuvah at the end? Yeah, because then he didn't do it al techta v'ashuv. At the end he did teshuvah. Why? Because he really did the teshuvah. He didn't do the teshuvah to beat the system, echta v'ashuv. When you do the teshuvah, echta v'ashuv, and then I'll do the aveirah again, meaning so I can be able to get away from the onesh, that's no way. But if you really do the teshuvah, at the end Paroh came and he realized now it's teshuvah for real teshuvah. It's not teshuvah to beat the system, so to speak. And that's why after every makkah, Yeah, I'm doing teshuvah, I'm doing teshuvah. Do the aveirah again. It's called echta v'ashuv. Echta v'ashuv, you'll get the punishment. You'll see, you'll end up eating the punishment. This, rabosai, is a third pshat in how it works that we take away from the choteh, from the sinner, his ability to do teshuvah. Now I'm gonna tell you a fourth pshat, right? Pshat number one is we close the doors that even if he does teshuvah, it doesn't work, the Ramban. Pshat number two, the Rambam afterwards. The first pshat is the Ramban that we say— We lock up the teshuva, which means even if you do it, we don't accept it. The second pshat is the Rambam, that we don't help you to do the teshuva, the siyata d... if you do it, you do it. The third pshat is, Echtav ashuv, and therefore, eima speakim, which means we don't give you the ability to do the teshuva. The situation comes and you're going to want to do the teshuva, something will happen. It's not going to come out. It's not going to happen. Now I'm going to tell you a fourth pshat. This pshat is from the Alter from Slabodka, based on his idea and theme and havanah, what went wrong in Parah? How could he not do teshuva? So if you look, the Rishonim ask this for a question. He got such bad makkas, which crazy person doesn't do teshuva? So the Rishonim, some say that Hashem hardened his heart that he should be able to be sovel the makkas. Hashem made him numb. Atshas libo means I made him numb. He was supported and others learned, He made him numb that he should be able to accept the makkas, because who can accept, who can continue going on with such so much pain? The Alter says a mechudikah vort. He says teshuva cannot be done force. Teshuva cannot be done when you think that the other person is trying to hurt you. Teshuva can only be done from ahavah, from love. Parah looked at the makkas as an onesh.

Impossible. Therefore, the midah, the onesh went away. He went back to his—the midah, the makkeh went away. He went back. He says, Ani hatzadik—I'm sorry—Hashem hatzadik, va'ani v'ami הרשעים. That's not how to do teshuvah, he says. It's not about rasha, tzaddik, right, wrong. It's not about right and wrong. It's Hashem, You love me, I want to do teshuvah. Says the Alter from Slabodka, chelek beis, ohr hatzafun, he didn't have the ability to realize the chasdei Hashem in the makkos, the tremendous chesed in the makkos, as we will soon explain. He couldn't see it, and mimeila he didn't accept the makkos. Rabosai, it sounds very familiar, right? He was a kafui tov. He was a kafui tov, Paro. Paro was a kafui tov. He couldn't accept the tov in anything. So if he couldn't accept the tov that Yosef gave him, which was real tov, open tov, how do you expect him to accept the tov in the beard of makkos? Rabosai, Hashem is hitting him, so we'll soon say there was tov in it, but he's a kafui tov. That's what I am saying. If you learn the baalei mussar in light of their words, you see that the whole Mitzrayim is based on kafui tov. You know, rabosai, let me explain to you hakaras hatov. You can have hakaras hatov when somebody does something very special for you. He goes out of his way and he does you a big favor. Most people, they'll make it pretty much, pretty much. I don't know if they'll continue being makir tov; maybe after a few days they'll forget, but on the spot they're more or less. Reb Yerucham says maybe not even. Okay, he says that that's why a person thanks, because he wants to be patur from the chov that he owes him, from the achrayus that he owes him a favor. Back in return, he wants him to say thank you. But more or less, a person can be a makir tov on something which is obvious, right? A guy saves you from a burning building, you can be a makir tov. A little more difficult becomes a makir tov when it's not tov. But when it's good for you, for example, does anybody walk over to his friend and say, I'm makir tov that you're my friend? No. If my friend goes out of his way and he does me a big favor, I'm makir tov. But the truth is, you should be makir tov for a friend because you need a friend. A wife, same thing. When are you makir tov? When she does something special for your birthday. The truth is, you should be makir tov for what you need, for what you need, right? I once said a pshat. It says under the chuppah they would ask the chassan, matza ishah matza tov, or motza ani es ha'ishah mar mimaves. Which one is it? Is it matza, motza? Why under the chuppah? They ask him, what's it? First of all, what's it their business? Tell me, is it their business? I don't understand. You walk over to the chassan and say, You really like her? What's it your business? Your business? She's really good. Why? What's it your... Under the chuppah, yeah. As they're going. Can you imagine as they're going with the candles? Chayim. She's good, she's good, she's good, good life, she's a nice wife. What's it your business to bother the guy under the chuppah? What are you bothering him for? The teretz, rabosai, is it's a message, it's a lesson. We're telling him that there's two ways that you could go with this. There's two views that you could take. Matza ishah. If you're looking for an ishah, then it's matza tov. If you're looking, motza ani es ha'ishah mar mimaves, then if it's about you, then it's mar mimaves. If you're looking what great things you have from this, forget it. Matza ishah, you're looking for a wife. How many times you hear shalom bayis, a wife screams at her husband, I'm not your slave, I'm your wife. She's right. The Gemara tells us that what's a wife? If they're shomer, they protect you from the aveira, and they've watched the children, it's good enough. That's all you need in a wife. That's it? Chazal are saying something. Chazal say, understand what a wife is, and understand the basic necessity of matza ishah matza tov. What do you need? Hakaras hatov sometimes is not for the ultimate special deluxe. Hakaras hatov is what I need. I need a wife. I need a friend. I need a yeshiva. I need a this. This becomes hakaras hatov. Yeah? Chazal tell us—well, actually, it's a pasuk, really, it's based on a pasuk—Lo sisayev Mitzri. Don't hate a Mitzri. Why? Ki ger hayisa b'artzo. You were a ger in his land. So you have to not hate a Mitzri. But he did terrible things to us. Lo sisayev Mitzri. It's a whole halacha question. Maybe we should say lo sisayev...

In Germany, maybe we should hate a German. We lived in their country. We hate the German. We don't buy their goods. It's a discussion. I don't want to get into it right now, but it's an interesting shailah on the actual pasuk. What are you saying, lo sisa'ev Mitzri? Yeah, but the Mitzri did terrible things to us. Ger hayisa b'artzo. And what do you see from here? You needed to be ger hayisa b'artzo. You needed it. You're right, there wasn't too much more there. If anything, it was horrible over there. But it served the purpose that you needed, to ger yeh zaracha b'eretz lo lahem. You needed that. That's what you got from them. So the Torah is teaching me hakaras hatov. Why? Because that's a chelek of the geulah of Mitzrayim. To leave Mitzrayim, you were supposed to leave the kfiyas hatov behind. Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. So therefore, you're supposed to take with you lo sisa'ev Mitzri. Be makir tov for what you got in Mitzrayim, because Mitzrayim is all about kfiyas hatov. So the geulah in Mitzrayim is all about hakaras hatov. Someone once asked me a question, and I know that they discuss it: I have to thank Hashem for taking me out of Mitzrayim? He put me there in the first place. Why do I have to thank Him? Don't put me there. You know the famous thing. My zeide used to say about a certain group of people, they're very into bikur cholim. It was a group that was a... My zeide would say, Ah, you see these people, first they put you in the hospital, and then they come to be mevaker cholim you. Don't put them in the hospital in the first place, and don't come to be mevaker cholim. Same thing, don't put me in Mitzrayim, don't redeem me. And the teretz, of course, is we had to be in Mitzrayim. So kofi toiv looks at it and he says, Who told you to put me there? A makir toiv recognizes from the ra that it was for my benefit, and he's makir toiv for that. And that's the pshat Pari had lacked that yesod. Pari lacked the yesod that from the ra, from the makos, he should have realized the benefit that he was getting from it. The Ribono Shel Olam was really, really caring for him every step of the way, and I'll prove it to you. You know, just to take the first three makos. You know, we could be here all day discussing all the makos, the first three, four makos. First one was dam. You notice the Chatum were able to do the dam. Tzfardea, they were able to do the tzfardea. By the kinim they couldn't do it. Why not? So Rashi says because it was less than a kadasha, so they couldn't do it, right? They can't do kishuf on less than a certain amount. It has to be chal, and the afar, the kinim, was less than a adasha bean. Ramban learns differently. Ramban learns that the reason why they couldn't do kinim was because it was a yesh me'ayin. Till now, the water was there, turned to blood. You know, by the way, blood itself is chatzi water, right? Most of blood is water anyway. The tzfardea, there was one left. By the way, they all say it's a big frog. They all talk about the big frog and hitting—I don't know anywhere Chazal where it says it was a big frog. It says it was one. For some reason they think that it was a big frog. Pashut pshat, Rabosai, it was cloning. They cloned the frog, which means one produced many without having birth, without having reproduction. Cloning—they clone. Every time they hit it, they cloned another one that was big. They all—the pictures here, a big frog. I haven't found it anywhere in Chazal. Okay, maybe I'm not baki in all the Midrashim, but I'm pretty close to it, so therefore I haven't found it, okay? I don't know where Chazal like this. It was one frog, but all this is yesh me'ayin. Kinim, says the Ramban—I'm sorry, it was yesh mi-yesh. It was yesh mi-yesh. Kinim was the first makkah, yesh me'ayin. What's the pshat? The pshat is that the Ribono Shel Olam was teaching them every step of the way new lessons. Why? Dam—ah, the chartumim did the same thing, okay. Tzfardea is a little more complicated. You know why? Because you're not taking the thing and switching. Today, chemically, it's much easier to switch. Years ago they had this idea of changing dam to this. Even today they take the sewer water and they chemically alter it, and it becomes clean water. I mean, there's—cloning is later. Cloning is the next step. Tzfardea—oh, I'm going to teach you a new chiddush: cloning. But then you come and say, ah, but yesh me'yesh, chartumim were able to do that also, because we all know that in science they could do yesh me'yesh. What's the one thing they claim they can't do? Yesh me'ayin.

They can't make a life from scratch. So they came and said after ... yesh me'ayin. So you know what the Rabbeinu Shalom says? Okay, here comes makas kinim, and makas kinim is yesh me'ayin. Good. Which means every step of the way, the Rabbeinu Shalom was teaching. Tell me something. Why did they say kinim was not real? Why did they— they couldn't do it. So it says in the pasuk, they came and they said, Etzba Elokim hi. So the Rishonim say, what's pshat Etzba Elokim? The Gemara in Kesubos daf hei says that Hashem created the world with His fingers, etzba'osecha. First it says the hand, and then it says shamayim was created with the fingers. Etzba— it's Hashem's creation, because they couldn't create it. But it's an act of God. Hashem makes plagues in the world. There's catastrophes in the world. So the Rishonim say, the Ibn Ezra and others, they say, Etzba Elokim hi. Maybe also the Rashbam learns makas medinah, it happens. It's an act of God, yeah? So you know what the Rabbeinu Shalom says? Aha, I give you dam from water, that you're saying science, you're able to do that, okay. I give you tzfardea— ooh, that's not switching, that's cloning. Oh, you say you can do that also, okay. So I'll give you a briah yesh me'ayin. Oh, you say it's a makas medinah, okay. So I'll give you arov. You know what arov was? Who knows what arov was? So arov, people think, was animals, wild animals, okay. So I'm gonna tell you a chiddush, rabosai: it was actually wild people, like in the Bronx. Oh yeah. The whole Bronx moved into Mitzrayim. What does that mean? You ready? It was actually wild people. What were wild people? The Medrash says there were twelve different animals. The Gra brings down that actually there's an animal which looks like a person, and this stays in the sadeh, stays in the field, and his cord is attached to the sadeh, like an umbilical cord, yeah? Because you look at the pasuk, it says Hashem brought the animals, v'es ha'adamah asher tachteihem, with the earth. So pashut they learn with the inhabitants, that somehow the Eibishter—it's a polar bear. A polar bear needs cold, so how could the polar bear come to Mitzrayim? So Hashem gave with him the adamah asher—He gave him ice cold, yeah? The snake, he needs warm, right? He needs desert. So the desert came with him. Azoi zogt the Rishonim. That's pshat v'es ha'adamah. The Gra learns it's going on this wild person. You know what this wild person's name is? It's called ish hasadeh. It's a Mishnah in Kilayim. In Kilayim, perek ches, Mishnah hei, the Mishnah discusses what is this ish ha'adamah. Is it a person? Is it an animal? Is it a vegetable? What is it? So the Gemara says that it's min chayah, type of animal. If you look at the Rashi, the Rambam, and peirush Mishnayos there, they explain that it's a very bizarre thing what it is. People think they know what it is. It looks like a person, it behaves like a person. But he comes to the basketball court. His umbilical cord is attached to the basketball court. He looks like a person, yeah. That's why in the White House, ... in a basketball court, because, you know, because his umbilical... that's adam asher tachtel, yeah? So the Rambam says clearly that this was like a person. You know, the Ribono Shel Olam says, Okay, you tell me science? How about this one for a little teaser, as they say. I'm going to bring to you something called ish hasadeh. Ish hasadeh does not function at all among human beings. So you can't call it a makkas medinah anymore. Could it be a makkas medinah? How can it be a makkas medinah? I mean, how does—tell me, if I sent Martians to Earth, you would call that what? A makkas medinah? In which book do you see that there's a catastrophe called Martians to Earth? I'll send you Martians to Earth. I can send you animals, because that's arai. Animals is arai, wild animals, that could happen. I'm going to show you that whatever you claim, I'll say the opposite, and I'll show you the opposite. That's called siyata dishmaya from Hashem to do teshuvah. Hashem was teaching Parah every step of the way, every step of the way.

Every step of the way, Hashem is teaching Paroi. And if he was a makir tov, you know what he would realize? It hurts, but look how Hashem cares about me. You know, I always say, you have two types of teachers. You have one teacher that never teaches anything, so you like him during the year. Yeah, big deal, he doesn't care about anything. Years later, you look back and say, What a crazy teacher he was. What did I have from him? But the teacher that was moser nefesh to teach me and teach me and work with me and help me, and every time I made a mistake, he was there to teach me, you look back and you go, Ooh, he was a real good teacher, right? The Ribono Shel Olam did this to Paroi. He could have said like the nachash, Go jump in the lake. I have nothing to do with you. Who cares what you... right? He didn't do that. He took Paroi and he taught him. And every time he made a mistake, science? Okay, I also can do the science. So what does the Eibishter say? Okay, I'll show you. What, you tell me you can't do... Okay, I'll show you. I'll show you not cloning. I'll show you kinim, which is yesh me'ayin. You tell me it's a makhshavah... okay, I'll show you it's not a makhshavah. Every step of the way. And the reason why he didn't take the lesson, like the Alter says, because he was a kofui tov. He was a kofui tov. If he couldn't be makir b'chasdei HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And that's why everything fits. I told you there's two ways to look at Mitzrayim. We can look at Mitzrayim and say, Emunah, emunah, emunah. True. That's part of what the lesson of Mitzrayim is, where the galus and the tumas Mitzrayim was avodah zarah. Kishuf, kishuf was about avodah zarah, not believing in Hashem. But it could be the underlying current was kfiyas haטוב, kfiyas haטוב, kfiyas haטוב, and the tikkun was hakaras haטוב. So everything in these parshas revolves around being makir the tov, makir. You know, I was thinking an interesting thing. Parai. Moshe Rabbeinu says, Vayitzavem el Parai melech Mitzrayim, l'hotzi es Bnei Yisrael me'eretz Mitzrayim. Says Rashi, tzivu lahem sheyachlik lo kavod, that they should give kavod to Parai. Why? Why? What is the special thing? You know what the answer is? Hakaras haטוב. Hakaras haטוב, you know, to geri היית בזרעך. You want to be goel Klal Yisrael, it's not going to work if it's going to be done through not hakaras haטוב. Lo sisayev Mitzri, ger היית בזרעך. You have to behave in an oifen which is of hakaras haטוב, hakaras haטוב, hakaras haטוב. This is the lesson of galus and geulas Mitzrayim. You know, rabosai, galus doesn't have to be only that we physically have galus. Galus can be from within. You know, the galus from within that we have today, we lack hakaras haטוב, we lack hakaras haטוב, and m'meila we're never makir in any of the tov, therefore we suffer. Why there's so much suffering today? That's the galus, the inner, the inner galus. What is the inner galus? No different than what it was years ago in Mitzrayim, kfiyas haטוב. And when you're a kafui tov, and everything around you is not tov, m'meila you suffer. Meileh you suffer, meileh. You know, I always say this: there's a spiritual galus, and maybe there's something called an emotional galus, an emotional galus, an emotional galus. The emotional galus, rabosai, is where you suffer from within, and you're not happy. Where does that come from? Lack of hakaras hatov. And that's why Mimitzrayim ge'altanu, u'meibeis avadim pidisanu, that the geulah had to be, all the inyanim have to be based on hakaras hatov. Let's take the lessons of hakaras hatov and be nigal. Geulahs — the lashon is cheirus olam, cheirus olam. And b'ezras Hashem we should be zoche to the final geulah. Tzeisi v'hitzalti v'ga'alti v'lakachti v'heiveisi. Hashem should bring us back to Eretz Yisrael b'meheirah b'yameinu. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.