"A good leader creates followers, a great leader creates leaders."
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Former Chief Rabbi of the British Empire
The Bracha for Torah Study: Baruch Atah Ado--nai Elo--henu Melech Ha'Olam, asher kidshanu be'mitzvotav ve'tzivanu, la'asok bi'divray Torah. Blessings to You, Ado-nai, Our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who made us holy with the commandments and instructed us to study words of Torah.
(ט) וַיִּקְרָ֛א יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ אַיֶּֽכָּה׃
(9) And the LORD God called unto the human, and said unto him: ‘Where are you?’
The first communication to Adam and Chava after they eat from the tree in the garden.
(1) Now the LORD said unto Abram: ‘Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto the land that I will show you.
(א) ויאמר ה' אל אברם וגו'...כי להיותו אדם ראשון בקדושה, אשר בעשרה דורות שקדמוהו לא היה אדם שהכיר אלהותו ודבר אתו אלהים, לזה נהג ה' עמו בסדר זה שלא הראה שכינתו אליו עד שבחן אותו אם מקיים גזרותיו, ולאחר שקיים דבריו והלך לו מארצו וכו' אז נגלה אליו דכתיב (פסוק ז) וירא ה' אל אברם, מה שאין כן שאר הנבראים שכבר קדמה ונשתקעה האמונה בלבם מאברהם והושרשו בקדושה היה נגלה להם תחלה. וצא ולמד מאבות ומשה בסנה.
God said to Avram...since he was the first in holiness, that in the ten generations that preceded him there was not a person who recognized God and to whom God spoke, therefore God treated him in this way. God did not reveal God's presence to him until God tested him to see if he would keep God's laws, and after he fulfilled God's words and left his home, then God appeared to him (See 12:7) 'God appeared to Avram', unlike later ones who already had faith absorbed in their hearts from Avraham and were infused with holiness so God appeared to them first...
(טו) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה מַה־תִּצְעַ֖ק אֵלָ֑י דַּבֵּ֥ר אֶל־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וְיִסָּֽעוּ׃
(15) And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Why do you cry unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
*Why did God respond to the people's 'crying out' and hear them in their suffering in Egypt and then not wish to hear it now?
(א) "מה תצעק אלי" - למדנו שהי' משה עומד ומתפלל אמר לו הקב"ה לא עת עתה להאריך בתפלה שישראל נתונין בצרה... (ב) "דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו" - (מכילתא) אין להם אלא ליסע שאין הים עומד בפניהם כדאי זכות אבותיהם והאמונה שהאמינו בי ויצאו לקרוע להם הים
'Why do you cry unto Me?' We learned that Moses was standing and praying. God said to him, 'This is not a time to pray at length. Israel is in trouble!"...'They must move on because the sea is not in their way. The merit of their ancestors and the faith with which they believed in Me when they left Egypt will split the sea for them.'
*Are there moments when it is right to 'pray at length'? Could the juxtaposition here of prayer and walking have been the source of Abraham Joshua Heschel's famous words that he spoke about marching with Dr. King in Selma in 1965, 'I was praying with my feet.'?
אמר רבי יהודה בר' אלעאי: כשעמדו ישראל על הים, היו השבטים מדיינים אלה עם אלה, זה אומר: אני יורד תחלה, וזה אומר: אני יורד תחלה. קפץ נחשון לתוך גלי הים וירד ועליו. אמר דוד (שם סט): הושיעני אלהים כי באו מים עד נפש...
Rabbi Yehudah ben Elai said: When Israel was at the sea, the tribes were arguing with each other. One tribe said: 'I will go down first [into the sea]', and the other tribe said 'I will go down first.' Nachshon jumped first into the waves of the sea and went down, as David said, "Deliver me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck."
*Nachshon ben Aminadav performs an (unfulfilled) act of self-sacrifice. While the mentality of slaves does not generally tend toward self-sacrifice, rather survival, who in the Exodus story already has placed his/her life in danger on behalf of others?
Nehama Leibowitz
Only after the visible miracle [the plagues] did the people have faith in the Lord. But before the waters divided, the people, the undistinguished mass stood dismayed at the sight of "Egypt" bearing down upon them. Admittedly, he children of Israel appealed to God for help, but the people as a whole was seized with fear and dread in the face of its pursuers...If they put their trust in God who brought them out of Egypt, and march forward even before the sea divides, and plunge into its midst, they can be assured that the sea will indeed be divided for them.
שמעיה אומר: שמעיה אומר - ׳אהוב את המלאכה׳ (אבות א:י) וכו׳. רבי טרפון אומר אף הקב״ה לא השרה שכינתו על ישראל עד שעשו את המלאכה, שנאמר ׳ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם׳
Chapter 11 -- Rabbi Tarfon says: Even God does not cause God's Presence to dwell upon Israel until they do the labor [of building the Mishkan], as it says, 'Build me a holy place and [then] I will dwell amongst them.'
Malbim
"God commanded that each individual should build her a sanctuary in the recesses of her heart, that she should prepare herself to be a dwelling place for the Lord and a stronghold for the excellency of God's Presence, as well as an altar on which to offer up every portion of her soul to the Lord, until she lives for God's glory at all times."
Zedah Laderech (Quoted by Nehama Leibowitz)
The use of the plural pronoun "among them" instead of the singular "in it" (referring to the sanctuary) is meant to teach us that:
The Divine presence does not rest in the sanctuary on account of the sanctuary, but on account of Israel, for they constitute the Temple of God.
*In order to constitute the Temple of God, the people must remain loyal to God, stay unified, and strive to keep the covenant by observing God's teachings.
R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
Rabbi Menachem Mendel asked some learned men who were visiting him, “Where is the dwelling place of God?” Laughing, they responded, “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole earth full of God’s glory?”
Menachem Mendel then answered his own question: “God dwells wherever we let God in.”
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (ב) דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כָּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃
(1) And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: (2) ’Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
*Note the similarity with Exodus 14:15, 'Speak to the children of Israel that they go...
(ח) דבר אחר: ויקחו לי תרומה בשעה שאמר הקב"ה למשה על עסקי המשכן, אמר לפניו: רבש"ע! יכולין הם ישראל לעשותו? אמר לו הקב"ה: אפילו אחד מישראל יכול לעשותו, שנאמר (שמות כה): מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו...
Another explanation: 'Take for Me terumah' - When God spoke to Moses about the Mishkan, Moses said: Master of the Universe! Can the Jewish people [really] create it? God said to him: Even one person can create it, as it says, 'From each person whose heart moves him/her...'
*Individual initiative is as significant as national initiative.
R. Avraham of Soch'chov
The indwelling of the Shechinah amongst the Children of Israel that was supposed to come with the Mishkan, it was possible to achieve it through great love and through yearning to cling to God. However, love cannot come as the result of a command. Rather, it comes through good will. Therefore, contributions for the Mishkan came "From each person whose heart was so moved...": From the generosity of heart and not from pushing or pressure.
(ח) וָאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־ק֤וֹל אֲדֹנָי֙ אֹמֵ֔ר אֶת־מִ֥י אֶשְׁלַ֖ח וּמִ֣י יֵֽלֶךְ־לָ֑נוּ וָאֹמַ֖ר הִנְנִ֥י שְׁלָחֵֽנִי׃
(8) And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, And who will go for us? Then I said: ‘Here am I; send me.’
*Contrast Isaiah's response with Moses' response to God, "Please send someone else!"
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Collected Writings, Vol. 4, P. 16
Then did Isaiah hear the voice of God saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" God was in search of a messenger for this mission. Outside the human world, winged servitors are waiting to serve God. But only a being freely able to offer devoted service to God can undertake a mission to man: only man can deliver God's message to man...
R. Adin Steinsaltz, From The Long Shorter Way: Discourses on Chasidic Thought
What is most incredible about all this [the descent of holiness from the Godhead to our world] is the role of man. Placed at the end of the series of contractions, together with gross matter and the evil impulse, man is also the purpose of it all. Having been granted a Divine Soul in a material body, man stands between light and darkness, between good and evil; and in choosing the light and the good, he raises himself to holiness. By doing so he justifies the emanation of all the worlds; he gives the creative process a meaning. Because in themselves, the higher worlds are, to a large degree, totally dependent on God; they are built and are made to function, according to set laws of Divine unfolding. Only man has the freedom to choose and to change the otherwise fixed course of events...We surmise that God has put aside His infinite light and concealed it, so to speak, in the three great contractions that brought forth the knowable worlds; and He did this out of a love for man and in order to bring man to a knowledge of God. Thus, all the contractions and withdrawals were meant to provide a place for man in this world, and he is, therefore, the purpose of it all. For the existence of man is possible only if the Divine light is hidden, because His love transcends all flesh, and we could not survive in its effulgence. It is as though God pushes Himself aside in order to make room for man to exist. So does man, in response, have to go toward God and even to abandon all else in order to cleave to Him...
(יט) הַעִידֹ֨תִי בָכֶ֣ם הַיּוֹם֮ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ֒ הַחַיִּ֤ים וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙ בַּֽחַיִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן תִּחְיֶ֖ה אַתָּ֥ה וְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃
(19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your offspring.
| UF GOZAL - Arik Einsten |
Hagozalim sheli azvu et haken |
My chicks left the nest
spread their wings and flew away
I am an old bird left in the nest
I hope that all will be well
I always knew the day will come
to say good bye
But now when it is here
no wonder I am worried
Chorus:
Fly away chick, cut through the sky
Fly wherever you want to
Just don't forget there is an eagle in the sky
be aware.