BS"D
GLORIOUS
GRATITUDE: PARSHAT VOEYRA
Shira Smiles shiur
2021/5782
Adapted by Channie
Koplowitz Stein
Written l'iluy
nishmat Rav Yehudah ben Dov Kelemer zt"l whose first yahrzeit is this
week.)
While
Hashem appointed Moshe to lead Bnei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim in the last
parshah, Parshat Shemos, and indeed Moshe and Aharon had approached Pharaoh to
let Bnei Yisroel go to worship Hashem, the actual process of redemption begins
in Parshat Voeyra with the beginning of the plagues. However, Moshe is not the
one who initiates the first plague, turning the Nile and all the waters of
Egypt into blood. Neither does he initiate the second or third plagues, frogs
and lice. Instead, Aharon, Moshe's brother whom God had appointed as Moshe's
second, brings on these plagues. Our commentators, led by Rashi, all understand
that Moshe's recusal from performing this plague, as well as the two other
plagues stemmed from a feeling of gratitude toward these inanimate objects.
After all, the Nile had hidden and protected Moshe when his mother put the
infant into a waterproofed basket among the reeds in the Nile to avoid Pharaoh
killing him. And the sand had hidden the Egyptian that Moshe had later slain.
In
Let There Be Rain, Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein and Rabbi Shimshon
Finklestein cite Rav Dessler in bringing an additional perspective to our
discussion. The issue facing Moshe was not that he would not be glorifying
Hashem's Name; that would be accomplished even with Aharon initiating the plague.
What was important was the effect these actions would have on the character of
Moshe himself. Our actions affect our emotions, and our emotions deeply affect
the development of our middos/character. As Rabbi Wolbe notes, a refined
person maintains a level of respect for everything he comes in contact with,
whether it is food or his clothing, or the chair he sits on. If we accustom
ourselves to treat inanimate objects with respect, we sensitize ourselves and
are more likely to treat people with respect, whether they are family, friends,
acquaintances or service people.
Everything
in the world has an "angel" hovering over it, an energy, writes R.
Eliyahu Diskin. So even on some incomprehensible level, the object is impacted
by our action and we ourselves are also impacted, either intellectually or
emotionally. That's why our Sages suggest that the topic of becoming a nazir
(one who refrains from wine, etc.) comes right after the topic of seeing an ishah
sotah/faithless woman in her disgrace. On some level, say our Sages, anyone
who witnessed this was impacted subliminally. One can deduce that one must be
proactive in maintaining a proper character, and one must be extremely careful
in interacting with the prevailing culture.
We
are told that Bnei Yisroel merited being redeemed from Egypt because of three
practices that kept them separated and distinct from Egyptian culture: They
kept their Jewish names, their Jewish clothing, and their Jewish language, and
each of these were actually categories of behavior that impacted their
character. As humans, we are wired to be impacted by our surroundings, even if
we are unaware of its impact. Therefore, if we are sensitive to inanimate
objects, we will also become insensitive to humans, and vice versa.
In
Sichot Mordechai, Rabbi Weinberg presents specific examples of how
everything we do impacts our character and our future actions. When one trains
himself to give tzedakah, he becomes more sensitive to the needs of others.
Conversely, if a bus driver who must maintain his schedule closes the bus door
while he sees someone running to catch the bus, he will carry that impatience
and cruelty home with him. [How often do we hear that the boss who fought with
his wife over breakfast, now yells at everyone in the office, and soon the
entire office staff is short tempered. CKS]
Rabbi
Weinberg suggests an interesting connection to support this idea. The Torah
reading of Rosh Hashanah focuses on the birth of Yitzchak and the subsequent
need for Avraham Avinu to send Yishmael and Hagar away. But the reading then
continues with Avraham entering into a pact with Avimelech and giving him
gifts. Rabbi Weinberg suggests that Avraham Avinu wanted to counter the effect
of a seemingly cruel action by being generous and doing a positive action. Just
as Avimelech did not deserve the chesed that Avraham did with him, so do we not
deserve the chesed Hashem does for us. We, too, should carry it forward,
emulate Hashem, and do kindnesses for others even if we think they are
undeserving. Our goal should be not only to connect to Hashem, but to become a
giving person rather than a taker, explains Rabbi Zecharyahu in Omek
Haparshah.
What
is the difference between a grateful person and an ungrateful one? Rav Dessler
explains that an ungrateful person is a taker. He believes he is entitled to
everything, that everything and everyone is there to serve him. He has no need
to return the generosity, and not even to acknowledge it. If he says,
"Thank you," it s with the expectation that sometime in the future he
may receive even more. The giver, on the other hand, in uncomfortable taking
free gifts. At the very least, if he cannot reciprocate, he offers a heartfelt
thank you. Grateful people are givers, while ungrateful ones are takers.
When
we start showing gratitude to others, we then project that gratitude to
Hakodosh Boruch Hu for all that He does for us, writes Rabbi Fryman in Sha'aray
Derech. We must express our appreciation for even small things, for favors
that could be only partially completed. One who isn't working on feeling
gratitude will eventually begin questioning his emunah, his faith in
Hakodosh Boruch Hu. After all, we do not get everything we want, Do we then
negate all the good we've received? Conversely, do we deny the big kindnesses
so that we can ignore the small kindnesses? How did Pharaoh reach the point of
enslaving Bnei Yisroel? He started by choosing to forget all the good that
accrued to Egypt through Yosef and the subsequent arrival of Yaakov and his
family. From that haughty rejection of acknowledging how others had benefited
him and his people, he was able to rewrite history and cast Bnei Yisroel as
interlopers, and worse.
Let
us start by appreciating our parents, continues Rabbi Fryman. After all,
appreciation of our our em/Mother who does everything for us
leads to our emunah/faith and gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch
Hu Who does everything for and gives everything to us. As we are
"guests" in our parents' house, so are we guests in the world,
Hashem's house.
The
Gemarrah differentiates between a good guest and an improper guest. The good
guest appreciates everything he receives from his host, even if it is not
exactly to his taste. On the other hand, the improper guest trivializes
everything his host does for him. He will rationalize that what he has received
at a meal, for example, was just a byproduct of the host cooking for his own
family anyway. All the amenities in the home he is visiting become things he is
entitled to use and enjoy because the host puts them out for his own family.
We
tend to treat Hakodosh Boruch Hu the same way. Why should I as an individual
thank Hashem for the sunshine when He makes the sun rise for the entire world?
He has let crops grow and given mankind the knowledge to cook and bake food?
That's not just for me. Even more egregious is when the guests become squatters
who eject the owner from his own house. Every time we engage in sin, we are
pushing the Ribbonoh shel Olam away from residing in His house. And if we run
into challenges, do we then negate all the good Hashem continually does for us,
even if we cannot understand how this challenge is also for our benefit? Our
mindset must be that of a giver rather than that of a taker.
Herein
lies the absolute difference in character between Moshe Rabbenu and Pharaoh,
writes Rabbi Roberts in Through the Prism of Torah. We all inherited the
ability to be ungrateful from the father of all mankind, from Adam. When Hashem
confronted Adam with having sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam put the
blame on God for having provided him with the gift of a wife who gave him the
fruit. We are tasked with overcoming this character flaw. Pharaoh failed the
challenge, while Moshe passed with flying colors. Moshe repaid the favors of
the Nile and the sand even though they benefited him decades earlier. The
humble are grateful; the arrogant are not. To be a Jew requires the awareness
and constant gratitude for all that Hashem does for us. Our only response is to
fulfill Hashem's mitzvoth with joy.
From
gratitude comes the sense of humility, and that gratitude should not be limited
to just the immediate benefactor, whether person or object. While it was only
the Nile that shielded baby Moshe, it was Aharon and not Moshe whose
outstretched arm turned all the other waters of Egypt into blood as well,
explains Omek Haparshah. Even when the benefit is short lived as it was
with the sand covering the body of the Egyptian Moshe killed, one must still
acknowledge the benefit and act accordingly, write Rabbi Wallerstein and Rabbi
Finklestein.
Animals
too deserve our gratitude. Siftei Chayim notes that we redeem the firstborn of
a donkey to this day because the donkeys carried our spoils and possessions out
of Egypt, and we continue to give dogs our table scraps and non kosher food as
a reward for not barking when death came to the firstborn, even though these
benefits occurred millennia ago.
So
far, we have seen how we must show gratitude not only to people, but also to
animals and to inanimate object. But Rabbi Shmuelevits takes it even one step
further. He teaches us that we must show gratitude even to that which is the
indirect cause of our benefit. When the daughters of Yitro returned home, they
told their father that they returned early because an Egyptian man had saved
them. But Moshe was not Egyptian. Nevertheless, had it not been for the
Egyptian Moshe had killed and for which he had to flee Egypt, he would not have
come to Midian and been there to help Yitro's daughters. Since the Egyptian was
the initial catalyst enabling the rescue, Moshe told the girls, and they
reported to their father, that an Egyptian man saved them. One must acknowledge
every benefactor. This is the will of Hashem.
Everything
and everyone we come in contact with was put in our path with a purpose to
benefit us. We are obligated to them both, to the person and Hakodosh Boruch Hu
for each benefit, particularly for our very souls, writes Rabbi Simcha
Lifschitz in Peninei Chen.
Gan
Naul
points out that Moshe did not benefit directly from the waters of the Nile.
Yocheved, his mother, had actually put him among the reeds close to the shore.
But Pharaoh's daughter had gone down to the waters of the Nile to bathe [some
say to go to a mikvah and convert CKS]. That's when she saw the basket carrying
a baby which she took home and adopted. So Moshe felt beholden to the water
Pharaoh's daughter bathed in for being the catalyst for his salvation.
Rabbi
Kreizer relates an incident when a righteous woman inadvertently cursed her
yard, Rabbi Chaim Palagei gathered a minyan together and had the woman ask
forgiveness from Hashem and from her yard so that the curse would be
transformed into a blessing.
R.
Spero relates that Rabbi Shach, well into his nineties, went to Tiberiah to be menachem
avel Rebbetzin Kook. Why did he make that difficult trip, given his
advanced age and health concerns? Rav Shach was a disciple of the Brisker Rav.
After the Brisker Rav's child began healing from a serious illness, the child
needed to recuperate in the healthful environment of Tiberia. Because this
family had taken the child in and cared for him, the Brisker Rav was able to
remain at the Yeshiva and continue teaching. Rav Shach felt so strongly that he
needed to show his appreciation of the teaching he was able to get from the
Brisker Rav during that trying time. So many years later, he still felt
grateful and needed to express his gratitude.
[I
would be remiss if, in a shiur on hakorat katov, I did not acknowledge
the many acts of kindness Rabbi Yehudah Kelemer zt"l, whose first
yahrtzeit is commemorated this week, did for so many individual members of our
community, including myself, and for West Hempstead as a whole. His sensitive,
loving leadership is a role model for us all. While we continue to feel our
loss, we are forever grateful to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for gifting us with such an
incomparable Morah D'Asra. CKS]
Gratitude
is the essence of Judaism. If we have trouble showing gratitude, we are denying
our very identity, for we are called Yehudim/Those who show gratitude.
May Hashem continue to bless us individually and nationally, and may we have
the wisdom to recognize Hashem's kindness toward us and acknowledge it every
day, many times a day.