Posts tagged ‘Aharon | Aaron’

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January 20, 2012

The Ten Plagues

by Digital Maggid

Hashem brought ten plagues upon Pharaoh and his people. He knew that of the plagues, from the first to last of them, it would be the last plague, the plague of the first-born, that would have Pharaoh immediately letting the Jews leave his country. Yet because Hashem wanted to punish the Egyptian people with much punishment and show the people of the world his power and his might, he did not bring the plague of the first-born to begin with, but started out with lighter plagues and from time to time pressed them so that they suffered more and more until they submitted fully and sent the Jews out of their land.

The ten plagues that came upon the Egyptians were like a serious war that is waged between a powerful king and his people who have disobeyed him. This is comparable to a flesh-and-blood king who has an uprising leveled against him. First, he sends his army to surround the state and stop up the water wells. After that he frightens the rebels with shofar (horn) blasts and the shooting of arrows at them. If they don’t give up, the king comes at the head of a great and powerful army and kills  their animals, pours scalding matter on them, throws heavy stones at them, fights with them with a powerful army, detains and jails them until he orders the capture of the main rebels and kills them.

The moral of this is: Hashem Yisboroch (Gd), the great king, set out to humble the Egyptians, the people who did not listen to his orders. In the beginning Gd transformed the waters in Egypt to blood. In the plague of the frogs, he made them hear powerful and frightening voices.   The plague of lice was like stabbing arrows. The plague of wild animals and the plague of pestilence killed off the animals of Egypt. The plague of boils burned them like kerosene. The plague of locusts was like soldiers who obliterated the fields and gardens. The plague of darkness was like captives being locked up in jail. And finally the plague of the first-born, which had the most significant impact of all.  Pharaoh, who was a first-born, was afraid that he would be killed and therefore quickly sought out Moshe and Aharon and begged them to leave his land along with all the Jews.

 

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא | Leave a Comment »

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January 19, 2012

Signs and Wonders for Pharaoh

by Digital Maggid

In order to show Moshe and Aharon that in his land there were greater sages than they, the king, Pharaoh, sent for the magician Bil’am and all the magicians of Egypt. Bil’am, who had heard that Moshe and Aharon had entered the Pharaoh’s palace and that the ferocious beasts had not attacked them, thought that the brothers were magicians too, and he said to Pharaoh, let’s call on them to prove their powers of magic.

Moshe and Aharon came into the Pharaoh’s palace holding their wonderful staffs. Also this time, they entered the palace accompanied by Gd’s angel and none of the guards who saw them standing by the entrance of the palace succeeded in detaining them.

Moshe and Aharon stood before the king, before his important noblemen, and before Bil’am, the greatest of magicians, and they cried out loud and strong: “When a friend comes as the guest of his fellow, he generally merits a being treated well. The people of our nation, the Israelites, came here many years ago as good friends. Your ancestors treated them beautifully. As opposed to you, who works them at crushing labor, and you make slaves out of wealthy and honored men. Therefore, our Gd has sworn to bring upon you trouble and plagues like he has never before brought upon any nation of the world. You, who calls yourself “crocodile” and “almighty,” you should know that you will be humiliated and beaten to the ground.”

The king was not frightened by the words of Moshe and Aharon and said to them: “So that I might believe you, give me a sign that Gd has sent you.” Aharon threw his staff on the ground and it transformed into a snake.

The king laughed and said mockingly: “You think that such a sign will frighten me? Does such a sign demonstrate the power of your Gd? Even Egyptian school children can do that for me, making a staff become a snake!”

The king immediately ordered his magicians to do what Aharon had done, and they threw their staffs which they were holding, and all of them became snakes.

When Moshe saw this he said to the king: “I have seen what your learned ones have done. I mock you not, nor do I mock them. But I say to you that what men can do cannot be compared to what Gd can do.” Aharon’s staff, which was lying on the ground in the form of a snake, immediately sprang up and gobbled up the snakes that the magicians had made with their magic. Bil’am the magician said to Moshe: “Your snake has indeed gobbled up our snakes, but that’s nothing special because it is usual for snakes and crocodiles to eat one another. Let us see if you are able to transform the snake you made back into a staff, and we will transform the snakes into staffs also, and then we will see if your staff is able to gobble up our staffs. Moshe agreed. Aharon’s snake became an ordinary staff and the snakes of the magicians also became staffs. Gd did a miracle and Aharon’s staff gobbled up all the staffs and remained in its previous form without any change. Seeing this wonder, the king got frightened and feared that the staff might gobble him up along with the throne he sat on. But the evil Bil’am did not give up and was not afraid. He promised the king that he would protect him from the Gd of the Jews and make sure that he would not have to free the Jews or let them leave Egypt.

 

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא | Leave a Comment »

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January 18, 2012

Moshe Brings the Jews’ Complaints before Gd

by Digital Maggid

Moshe, who saw how much the Jews were suffering, said to Gd: “Since the time I first came to the Jews and brought the news of the redemption, not only haven’t I helped them, but on the contrary, their days have become difficult and terrible. I know and believe that in the future, they will rejoice, but meanwhile, many of them are dying under the stones and the walls that they are forced to build.”

Moshe’s words were not pleasing in the eyes of Gd and he said to Moshe: “Avrom, Yitzik and Yakev, your holy fathers, did not question my actions even when they did not see their logic.” Avrom Avinu (Abraham our Father) had to buy a plot in order to bury his wife Sarah, and he did not argue with Hashem (Gd) that the entire land was promised to him, that it was his, and why must he pay money for a little tiny plot? When the shepherds of the king of Gerar stopped up the wells that Yitzik Avinu (Isaac our Father) had dug, neither did he say to Gd  that in the land that belonged entirely to him according to Gd’s pledge, he had not even one well to drink from. Likewise, Yakev Avinu (Jacob our Father), when he had no place to pitch his tent until he bought a small plot, did not even mention to the Creator the pledge he had promised to him in Haran that the whole land on which he lay was his forever, and why should he have to buy a plot on which to pitch a tent for himself and his family?.

Contrary to them, Moshe Rabeinu (Moses our Teacher), who was worthy of a revelation through the burning bush, immediately started with questions: What is the name of Hashem Yisboroch (Gd)? Why were the Jews worthy of leaving Egypt? How would they exist in the desolate wilderness? And finally, when he agreed to announce the news to the Israelites about their pending liberation, he comes to Gd with complaints and says that the Jews’ situation is worse than it was before he came to them. Nevertheless, Hashem Yisboroch did not get annoyed with him and again promised to take the Jews out of Egypt with a mighty hand, bring them to the wilderness, give them the Holy Torah and do miracles and wonders for them on the merit of their holy fathers to whom he promised that their children would be like the sands of the sea.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Avrom | Abraham, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא, Yakev | Yaakov | Jacob, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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January 17, 2012

Moshe and Aharon Stand before the Pharaoh, part II

by Digital Maggid

Hashem Yisboroch (Gd) heard the apostatical words of Pharaoh and said: “Because the king of Egypt has spoke such audacious words against me, there will come a day when he will call out to his people: ‘Gd is righteous and I am wicked!’ and on that day the king will beg Moshe to leave his land together with the Israelites.”

Every time that Hashem wanted to appear to his prophets and speak to them, he would do so in a pure place where there was avoda-zorah (idol worship), but in the case of the evil Pharaoh who would not acknowledge the existence of Gd and that the Oybershter (Gd) is all-capable, Hashem told the angels that he was going down to speak to Moshe in Egypt even though the land was impure and full of idol-worship, so that Pharaoh and his servants could see the greatness of Moshe and the greatness of the Gd of Moshe, Hashem Yisboroch.

To what can the Jews in Egypt be compared? To a precious thing left with a guardian. When the owner comes to retrieve the item, the guardian doesn’t want to give it back. The owner gets angry and punishes him and overpowers him and takes his possession back. Likewise did Hashem do — he gave his people, Israel, over into the hands of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. When the years of slavery ended, he wanted Pharaoh to liberate the Jews from his land. And when Pharaoh didn’t want to, he got severely punished and Jews fled Egypt with a mighty hand.

The end.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא | Leave a Comment »

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January 16, 2012

Moshe and Aharon Stand before the Pharaoh, part I

by Digital Maggid

Pharaoh sat on his glorious royal throne and around him were 70 wise men who spoke 70 languages. A great fear fell upon the wise men of the king as they saw Moshe and Aharon, who had the appearance of angels. They had grown as tall as cedar trees, their eyes shone like stars and their faces were as bright as the sun. Moshe held his wonderful staff in his hand, on which was engraved the name of Gd and from which flickered a flaming fire. The magnificent appearance frightened the noblemen and everything they held in their hands fell to the ground and they bent down and bowed to Moshe and Aharon.

The king was very angry about the honor that the noblemen showed to the two men who had entered the palace with chutzpah and without permission. He asked Moshe and Aharon with great excitement: “Who are you and who sent you?”

The brothers replied: “Gd of the Jews sent us to you, and he wants you to liberate the Jews to go out into the midbar (wilderness) so that they can make sacrifices to their Gd, because for many years they have been in your land and have not served their Gd.” Pharaoh answered them: “I do not agree to this desire and I will not send the Israelites from my land.”

Moshe and Aharon said to him: “Send them for your own good and do the will of our Gd before he gets angry brings troubles and suffering on your people.”

Pharaoh was angry and said: “Who is Gd that I should obey him? I know him not, nor have I ever heard his name. It is enough that he has not sent me a gift for my birthday, but now he comes to me with demands and orders. I will not listen to him. When he has begged me for a couple of days to free a portion of my slaves I will do so, but for a numerous people that works day and night for me, I will never free them to leave my land.”

The king saw that the two brothers were not frightened by his words, but on the contrary, they opposed him immediately with bright faces, the king became frightened and told them that he was going to his library to look up the name of their Gd, because there in the library there was written the names of the gods of all the nations. The king descended his throne and looked in all the books for the name of the Gd of Israel amongst the names of the wooden and stone gods of the nations. Moshe said to Pharaoh: “I knew that you would not find the name of our Gd in your books because he is not like the other gods. He is the Gd of Truth and the King of the World, and it would not be to his glory for him to be mentioned with the gods of nothingness and foolishness.”

Pharaoh asked the brothers: “What does your Gd look like? is he young or old? how many countries does he rule? with whom has he waged war? whom has he conquered and how many lands has he taken over?

The brothers answered: “The power of our Gd fills the whole world. His voice is heard from one corner of the world to the next. With his voice he can smash mountains and break cliffs. His throne is in heaven and his footstool is the earth. Heaven and earth were created by him with the word of his mouth. He lets the rain fall and he nourishes the earth. He brings death and gives life and there is nothing higher than him.”

Hearing this, Pharaoh became angry and shouted at them: “You are liars! I am the lord of the world. I created the Nile and there is none greater than me!”

 

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא | Leave a Comment »

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June 24, 2011

His Staff Flowered

by Digital Maggid

Although it is wonderful to examine and unpack these verses of Torah and to study the wisdom of our Masters’ commentaries, it is also important to look at their work (and ours) from a bit broader perspective. There is significance not only in their interpretations of verses, but also in what they chose to make comments about.

In looking through this treasury, it is surprising to note that the bulk of the commentary is devoted to the first two words of the parsha. As mentioned previously, there are 36 comments on “Korach took.” There are a few comments on the exchange between Korach and Moshe, a few about the events leading up to the gathering of the staffs, and surprisingly, only one commentary  in 44 (in this particular book) that deals with the flowering of Aaron’s staff.

By my way of thinking, the flowering of the staff should be getting much more air time. Afterall, that was the miracle that the entire parsha is there to set up. Why isn’t it more significant in the minds of our Masters? Or perhaps it was merely the choice of R’ Kirshenbaum, who compiled this collection, to focus so strongly on “Korach took” and barely mention the flowering of the staff. And on top of that, the one commentary that does deal with the flowering staff is not terribly insightful as far as I can see. So what does this say about this whole story?

In any case, we do have one commentary on the staff flowering, and this is it:

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Posted in Aharon | Aaron, honesty, humility, Korach, piety | 2 Comments »

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June 7, 2011

Yid HaKadosh on Beha’alot’cha

by Digital Maggid

My chevrusa (study partner) and I did not quite come to full agreement on the translation of this one. But we got close. And it’s a nice teaching from our Master of the Week. So I will attempt to give both renditions and you can decide for yourselves which way you want to go with it. Afterall, the tradition teaches that each word of Torah has 70 to the 70th power meanings, and that each person must receive the revelation according to his or her own level. So, there are no wrong answers. So here goes:

”להיגיד שבחו של אהרן שלא שינה“ (ספרי)
(Sifrei — Rashi on Numbers 8:3)

“.Sing Aaron’s praises, for he did not change”

וואָס פֿאר רבוסא איז דאָס.

.me: What a remarkable thing this is
?chevrusa: What’s so remarkable about that

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Posted in Aharon | Aaron, Beha'alot'cha, Master of the Week, Midos (Virtues, Pos. attributes), The Parshas (Torah portions), Yid HaKadosh | 1 Comment »

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June 6, 2011

Parshas Beha’alot’cha — בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ

by Digital Maggid

Numbers 8:1 – 12:16

There’s a lot going on in the parsha this week. I haven’t gotten to all of it yet, and maybe you haven’t either. If you’d like a good brief synopsis, I refer you to Parsha in a Nutshell. Or the full interlinear Hebrew-English text.

What caught my eye in just perusing the synopsis though was that the parsha starts out with Aharon being instructed to kindle the flames of the menorah. (Mind you, this is not the little Chanukiah on the window sill. This is the big kahuna seven-branched symbol of spiritual illumination whose purpose was to light our path and both spiritual and physically, for all time.) And this was the inaugural lighting — big stuff, right? Well yeah, but…

In typical fashion, as soon as we blow out the candles on our cake we start grousing about what we didn’t get for our birthday. We are no longer content with the miraculous blessing of manna, dammit, we want meat! And by the end of the parsha, Miriam (Moses’ and Aaron’s sister) bad-mouths Moses, gets leprosy, and is banished from the camp until she is physically healed and ritually purified. We are Jews behaving badly.

So, in Beha’alot’cha, we are taken on a spiritual roll-coaster ride of highs and lows. But the parsha itself takes its name from the place of illumination. God says to Moses, tell Aaron, “When you light  . . . the lamps shall give light . . .” and that’s where we are asked to focus this week — on lighting and giving light.

Posted in Introduction, The Parshas (Torah portions) | Leave a Comment »

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