Rabbi Mansour 2010

Shabbat Morning class

פרשת בשלח

This weeks Parasha coincides with the holiday of Tu Beshvat. Tu Beshvat is a

very significant day, as it marks an end to the difficult period of דינים that span the

month of Tevet and the first half of the month of Shevat. From Tu Beshvat onwards we

end the period of Din and enter the period of kindness-Hesed. This is hinted in the

formation of Hashem’s name of the month of Shevat. (The 4 letters of Hashem’s name

of הויה can be reconfigured 12 different ways. These 12 configurations represent the 12

months of the year; each month has its own configuration.) The configuration for the

month of Shevat is הי-וה . The first two letters of this name- the הי - are

"backwards"(since Hashem’s name really begins with י -ה ), but the second half- the

letters וה - are "straight" and in order (since Hashem’s name does indeed end in .(ו'ה

This shows us that in the first half of the month we are not under Hashem’s "straight"

kindness, as signified by the first half of the letters of this month’s configuration - the ה'י

- being "backwards", but in the second half of the month we are under Hashem’s direct

kindness as signified by the second half of the configuration- ו'ה - being in the proper

formation.

Tu Beshvat is like the "magnet" that connects us to the holiday of Purim, which

in turn connects us to the holiday of Pesah. Since 30 days before a holiday we have a

"magnetic" pull towards the holiday and a connection to it. From Tu Beshvat on, we are

already being drawn to the happy and holy times of Purim and Pesah.

אז ישיר

The portion of אז ישיר is one of the only portions of the Torah that we recite in our

daily Tefilot. This shows us the importance of אז ישיר . It is written, that if one recites the

אז ישיר with the proper כונה - concentration he will merit to be spared of any difficulty

that he is experiencing. Since אז ישיר is the song about being saved from the גלות

מצרים , and everyone’s personal " גלות " – exile- is called מצרים .מצרים is from the word

מצר , which means constriction or difficulty. The Jews rejoiced and sang about being

saved from the turbulent waters of the ocean, and when a Jew recites אז ישיר with the

proper concentration, he too is saved from his personal "turbulent waters" of life.

אז ישיר משה" " Rashi explains " אז כשראה הנם עלה בלבו שישיר שירה "- "then, when he

saw the miracle, it came upon his heart to sing a song". There are several

interpretations to the depth behind Rashi’s comments. Firstly, the eyes represent the

physical and the heart represents the spiritual. Since the eyes can only see something

that is before them. However the heart can sense things that are "above" the physical,

that are not visible to the eyes. The qualities of the eyes and heart- the physical and

spiritual-are both inherent in the Torah. The Torah was given on Mount Sinai and at

that time the world was in danger of being destroyed, since if the Jews had refused to

accept the Torah Hashem would not have let the world continue to exist. Once the

Jews accepted the Torah, they saved the world from destruction and therefore

technically the world now "belongs" to them. The physical world is only in existence

because of the Torah, therefore the Torah possess physical benefits- benefits

represented by the eyes. Even so, we study the Torah for its spiritual benefits, to

become closer to Hashem, which corresponds to the "heart" element of the Torah.

These 2 qualities of the Torah- eyes and heart- are hinted to in the last words of the

Torah. The Torah ends with the words; לעיני כל ישראל -"in front of the eyes of the Jews".

The last letter of the Torah is a ל , and the first letter in the Torah is the ב of .בראשית

The ב and ל spell לב – heart. Thus, we see the mention of both eyes and heart in the

final words (and opening word) of the Torah.

The Jewish people actually had two redemptions, the first redemption was six

months before the splitting of the sea, and that was when the labor ceased. The

difficult backbreaking torture that the Egyptians inflicted on the Jews stopped six

months earlier with the onset of the first plague. The second redemption was when the

Jews actually crossed the sea and were finally free from the Egyptians, to enter the

desert and accept the Torah. This second redemption was the main redemption.

Since, what good is freedom if we have nothing to do with our lives?! The second

redemption is the one that represents our freedom to accept the Torah and is the

reason for our existence in this world! This is alluded to in the Hagadah where we

celebrate and read about יציאת מצרים -the leaving of Egypt, we read וכל המרבה לספר

ביציאת מצרים הרי זה משובח "whoever expounds on the leaving of Egypt is

praiseworthy" The Haggadah praises one who speaks of the Jews leaving Egypt, not

just the stoppage of work! He is praised since he focuses on the spiritual - which is

represented by the leaving of Egypt - rather than the physical – which is represented

by the stoppage of work. We are supposed to speak about this and praise Hashem

the night of Passover until sleep overtakes us (interestingly, on Shavuot many of us

stay up all night even though this is a Minhag, but on Pesah we go to sleep

immediately after the Seder when we have a Misvah from the Torah to stay up and

speak about the exodus!). Moshe Rabeinu was praising Hashem for this freedom to

accept and live by the Torah - which as mentioned represent the eyes and heart. This

is what Rashi was hinting to us, כשראה - when he saw the miracle, עלה בלבו שישיר - it

came on his heart to sing, Rashi mentions the eyes and the heart. Even so, we see

that Moshe actually sang from his heart- בלבו שישיר , since that is the most important

quality of the Torah, - its ability to bring us close to our G-d.

It is written that Moshe was "created" from the heart of Abraham Avinu. (not that he

was physically created from Abraham‘s heart, this is to be taken in a spiritual sense).

This is hinted to in our daily prayers in ויברך דוד we say the words "ושמת שמו אברהם

ומצאת אל לבבו נאמן לפנך" - "you found Abraham’s heart trustworthy in front of you". It is

written about Moshe; בכל ביתי נאמן הוא ; this shows us the connection between the heart

of Abraham ( לבבו ), and Moshe ( נאמן ). Moshe shared the same quality as Abraham,

namely, מסירות נפש - to sacrifice for Hashem, as seen by Abraham’s sacrificing his

beloved son (whom he waited all his life for), on the alter without questioning G-d at all.

And Moshe, when he was told by Hashem that he would be the start of a new nation

and that everyone would be destroyed, he responded "destroy me with them"! Like a

true leader, Moshe was willing to sacrifice everything - even having his name

mentioned in the Torah- as it says: " מחני נא מספרך "- all for the sake of the Jewish

people. Where did Moshe get this strength from? From Abraham, and this is what is

meant when it says that Moshe was from the heart of Abraham.

When it speaks about Abraham’s preparing for the sacrifice of Yishak, the Torah

says; ויבקע עצי עולה - "he split the logs of wood" (for the alter). They needed to be split in

order that Abraham could inspect them to insure that they did not contain any worms.

In the merit of the splitting of the wood by Abraham, the sea split for his children to

cross. This is what Rashi is hinting to when he says; עלה בלבו - it came to his heart to

sing, the heart represents Moshe’s connection to Abraham and to Abraham’s act of

slicing the wood, in which merit the sea had split.

We say in the Shaharit of Shabbat; לגזר ים סוף לגזרים , which literally means;

Hashem split the sea into sections. Twelve sections for the twelve tribes.

Another explanation of these words are: לגזר ים סוף - Hashem split the sea- לגזרים - for

those who performed the Brit Milah (the word גזר means; to cut, referring to the cutting

of the Brit Milah). In the merit of the Brit Milah the sea split (even though in the

previous answer we said that it was in the merit of Abraham splitting the wood- the

Torah has many facets and all the explanations are true).

What is the special significance of the Misvah of Brit Milah that the sea split

because of it?

When Moshe approached the sea and commanded it to split, the sea refused. The

"argument" of the sea was that the sea was created by Hashem on the third day and

man was created on the sixth day. So the sea was "telling" Moshe I am older than you!

Therefore I do not have to listen to you. This argument is rebuffed by the Brit Milah,

since the Brit Milah signifies the fact that when we were born we were not "complete",

and we still needed something to be done to our bodies in order to make us holy. We

are actually on a higher level a few days after we are born- after the Brit Milah. This

shows us the concept that sometimes later is better than earlier (since the Brit Milah is

performed a few days after birth). This showed the sea that just because you came

into existence before us, does not mean that we have to listen to you!

This idea is also illustrated in a story in the Gemarah about Rabbi Akivah. Rabbi

Akivah was asked by Turnus Rufus which is better, what Hashem does or what we do?

Rabbi Akivah responded; what we do. Since for example, when Hashem makes the

wheat grow it indeed is a miracle. However what are we supposed to do with stalks of

wheat?! However after man processes the wheat he ends up with a delicious jelly

doughnut! Rabbi Akivah was explaining that actions which happen later are more

valuable.

This is what it means when Moshe was asking Hashem to choose someone else to

lead the Jews out of Egypt: שלח נא ביד תשלח - "send them with whom you will send

them". He was really referring to Rabbi Akivah, since Rabbi Akivah represented this

concept that "later is better" and he would be able to answer the sea’s claim, however

Moshe was born מהול (he was born with his Brit Milah already done). In his case there

was no situation of a Milah showing later is better, since Moshe did not need a Brit

Milah on the eighth day- since he was born with it already done. In the end, the sea

saw the Brit Milah of all the people לגזר ים סוף לגזרים - and in that זכות it split.

The word in the Torah that describes the Misvah of Brit Milah in וימל and the אונקלוס

(Aramaic translation) for וימל is וגזר (and he cut). The word וגזר hints to the fact that the

sea split in the merit of Milah. The first two letters are ' ו and ' ו' .ג is 6 and ' ג is 3 ,this

hints to the confrontation between what was created on the 3rd day- the sea- and what

was created on the 6th day- man. When the sea saw the Brit Milah, it split and we sang

אז ישיר . The last letters of אז ישיר are ' ז and ' ר. These are the last two letters of .וגזר

The אונקלוס is hinting to fact that the sea split in the merit of the Mitzvah of Brit Milah.

"את השירה הזאת"

The word זאת alludes to a deep message. It says in Tehilim "איש בער לא ידע וכסיל לא

יבין את זאת" - "the foolish one doesn’t understand this". What is meant by the word -זאת

this? The ' ז of זאת is 7, the number seven represents טבע - nature, the 7 days of the

week etc… The letters א-ת of זאת represent the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet א

thru ת. Hashem created the world with these letters, for example, to create the sun,

Hashem "took" a ' ש then a ' מ than another ' ש,- that spell שמש -put them together and

created a sun. The same way with all of creation. The את of the word זאת represents

Hashem creating and controlling everything in the world. That is why David Hamelech

wrote וכסיל לא יבין את זאת - the fool doesn’t understand the את from the word זאת , he

thinks that everything is nature and not being controlled by Hashem ח''ו . He only knows

of the ' ז- nature, not the את . By the splitting of the sea, Hashem’s glory and control of

every element in the world was so clear that the Pasuk says את השירה הזאת ; the את

was clearly part of the זאת . The fact that Hashem runs the world and that he is

controlling nature was crystal clear when the sea split.

את השירה הזאת the word שירה is feminine לשון , why did the Torah use a feminine

term rather than the word שיר which is the masculine term that is normally used ? One

answer is that feminine terminology is like a female which reproduces so it’s a

recurring term, since אז ישיר is recurring in that we say it every day; the Torah chooses

a לשון of .נקבה

On a deeper level the Torah specifically chose the word שירה instead of שיר since it

wanted to teach us the reason why we left Egypt. It says in the Pasuk " "להנחיל אהבי יש

"Hashem has in store for his beloved one’s" the Rabbis explain from this Pasuk that in

the future every Sadik will receive 310 "worlds"- שי עולמות - as a reward for serving

Hashem. Since שי ( which equals 310) is the same letters as יש . Why do the Rabbis

refer to the amount of worlds as שי עולמות ? Why not use the same terminology as the

Pasuk and call them ?יש עולמות

The Rabbis are hinting to the method that the 310 worlds are acquired.

The Pasuk says " כי נר מצוה ותורה אור " this Pasuk speaks about the value of תורה and

מצות . The last 2 letters of נר מצוה are ר-ה .The last two letters of תורה אור are ה-ר (the

same letters as ר-ה just reversed). The ' ר is spelled ריש and the ' ה is spelled הי . The

last letters of ריש and הי are ' י'-ש . We now notice a certain "interchangeability" between

the letters רה and יש , in the same respect we also find the letters הר (last letters of תורה

אור ) interchangeable with יש (since the last letter of הי is ' י and the last letter of ריש is ' .(ש

The last letters of נר מצוה ותורה אור is now like שי -הר . The Rabbis specifically said שי

עולמות instead of יש because they wanted to hint to the Pasuk of נר מצוה ותורה אור

since נר מצוה is like the letters שי . Only through תורה ומצות can a Jew reach the level to

receive 310 worlds.

The word שירה contains these four letters שי-רה which as spelled, allude to the first

two words of the Pasuk נר מצוה ותורה אור , (since there last letters- רה - are synonymous

with שי ; spelling שירה ) .The word שירה backwards is הריש , which alludes to the last 2

words of the Pasuk; תורה אור , (since הר is synonymous with .(יש

The Torah specifically uses the word שירה to give us the secret of how to obtain

these special 310 worlds and to show us the reason why were freed from Egypt; to

serve Hashem through Torah and Misvot.