Parshas Va'eira - Let There Be Hope

Parshas Va'eira

Let There Be Hope

By: Daniel Listhaus

“Moshe spoke before Hashem saying, 'Behold, the B'nei Yisroel have not listened to me, so how will Pharoah listen to me? And I have blocked lips!”

-Va'eria 6:12

This week's parsha continues to express the unbelievable conversations that Moshe and Hashem shared. We know that Moshe was the greatest navi to ever live¹, yet it is still incredibly difficult to comprehend the relationship between Moshe – a person, and Hashem. Hashem had commanded Moshe to say to the B'nei Yisroel, “I will bring you to the land about which I have raised My hand to give it to Avraham, Yitachak, and Yaakov; and I shall give it to you as a heritage – I am Hashem.”² However, when Moshe relayed this message to the B'nei Yisroel, the passuk testifies that they refused to listen because of shortness of breath and hard work.³

In the next passuk, Hashem commands Moshe, “Come speak to Pharoah, king of Egypt, that he send the B'nei Yisroel from his land.”⁴ Moshe responds that, “Behold, the B'nei Yisroel have not listened to me, so how will Pharoah listen to me? And I have blocked lips.”⁵ Rashi⁶ comments that this argument that Moshe made to Pharoah, is one of ten kal v'chomeirs⁷ found throughout Tanach. The Mizrachi⁸ explains that Moshe said to Hashem as follows, “If the B'nei Yisroel won't listen to me, and what I am saying is beneficial for them [that they will be able to leave], then certainly Pharoah will refuse to listen because the news I am relaying is bad for him.”

This kal v'chomeir is hard to understand because there is a pircha (flaw in its logic). There is a piece of information that Moshe seems to have conveniently left out. Earlier, when the Torah says that the B'nei Yisroel did not listen to Moshe, it describes that the reason they did not listen was because they were stressed out from their strenuous labor. If so, Moshe did not have a valid reasoning because perhaps the B'nei Yisroel only didn't listen for that reason, but for Pharoah, to whom the excuse of working hard surely did not apply, on what basis could Moshe be so sure that Pharoah would not listen?

The Mizrachi discusses this issue as well and answers that Moshe himself did not know the reason why the B'nei Yisroel refused to listen to him; and that when the Torah was telling us, it was from an omniscient point of view.⁹

Let us take a step back, though, for a minute and examine the situation. The B'nei Yisroel were slaves in Mitzrayim. They had gone through so much at this point – babies thrown into the Nile, hard work, being beaten up, Mitzrayim at that time was no vacation spot for a Jew. Yet, for some reason, when Moshe came to them with a message from Hashem that they were going to be rescued from their horrible living arrangements and be brought into their own land, the B'nei Yisroel seem to have just turned the other way. One would think that if one were a slave and someone would tell him that he would be released to freedom, that he would be jumping for joy. So, why is it that the B'nei Yisroel seemed to be indifferent about staying in Mitzrayim? Did they enjoy doing work all of the sudden?¹⁰ Why did they not listen to Moshe? The passuk says that they did not listen because they were short of breath and tired of hard work. Wouldn't that be exactly the reason why the B'nei Yisroel should listen to Moshe?

In 1965, a scientist names Martin E. P. Seligman performed an interesting experiment¹¹. At that time, everyone knew of Ivan Pavlov's famous experiment with his dogs which demonstrated that if you bring a dog food, and every time it salivates, you ring a bell, then you will observe that at a later time, you could ring the bell, without having food present, and the dog will still salivate. This proved the concept of conditioning. The object of Seligman's experiment was to prove a similar concept by shocking dogs. Seligman had a bunch of dogs which he harmlessly shocked while they were restrained. Then, later, he put the dog in a shuttle-box which had two sides with a low fence dividing the two compartments. They went to the side the dog was in and shocked it, expecting it to utilize its freedom and jump to the other side. However, the dog just stayed put. Seligman showed from here that there is a concept of “learned helplessness”. The restrained dogs had learned to just give up hope without exploring other options. Therefore, even when the opportunity existed for the dogs to escape pain and suffering, they refused to make any such effort.

Unfortunately, Dogs are not the only ones who could be conditioned to feel helpless. People too sometimes experience times of defeat and then give up completely and do not care when a solution is offered in the future. Feeling depressed without hope for a long period of time could dangerously effect the mind to start believing that there is indeed no hope – even when the answer appears later in front of one's face.

Perhaps this was the reason that the B'nei Yisroel refused to listen to Moshe. After being in Mitzrayim for a long time going through so many hardships, evil decrees, and manual labor, the Jews felt hopeless and were unable to accept the message of freedom when it was offered to them.

Hashem, though, proceeded to bring the ten plagues on the Egyptians and clearly differentiated between them and the Jews. It was a time of Hashem showing his pure love for us. A Jew always has hope because we understand that Hashem cares about us and watches over each of us individually, which he does not do for goyim. If we could condition ourselves to constantly be aware that Hashem is always here for us, and does not allow for things to happen that will effect the life and circumstances we are supposed to find ourselves in, then we could live an enhanced life with hope even in the darkest of times. If we do not condition ourselves to think along these lines, then we are truly still slaves in Mitzrayim to our own psychology that when things look grim, we just accept the position we are in and remain depressed over the fact that bad situations do not change.

May Hashem help us condition ourselves to truly believe that everything is in His hands. With this mentality, there is no room for giving up hope.

1The seventh of the “Ani Maamins” which could generally be found in the siddur immediately following shacharis davening.

2Shemos 6:8

3Shemos 6:9

4Shemos 6:11

5Shemos 6:12

6Ibid

7Kal V'chomeir is a fortiori argument based on logic which essentially states that if something applies in a more “kal” situation (where there is less of a reason for it to apply), then certainly it should apply by the “chomeir” – where there is more reason for it to apply.

8Ibid

9The Mizrachi continues to ask: Still, why don't we just throw that pircha into the kal v'chomeir as well (as we do often throughout the Gemara – for example see the beginning of Gemara Kiddushin), and construct the following argument that Moshe was saying: “If B'nei Yisroel won't listen to me and it is beneficial to them, even though they are stressed from the hard work; so certainly Pharoah won't listen to me because the news is detrimental to him, despite the fact that he is not stressed from being in slavery.” The Mizrachi then gives and answer to this question as well.

10The passuk in Shemos 3:7 says that Hashem heard the crying of B'nei Yisroel, so certainly they were unhappy in Egypt.

11Learned Helplessness, by Martin Seligman

Parshas Shemos - Something to Think About

Parshas Shemos

Something to Think About

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. The Torah describes at length the beginning of Moshe's life. He was hidden for three months, put in a basket in the Nile River, adopted by Basya, and raised in the house of Pharoah himself. Moshe certainly had a very different upbringing then Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Why was it necessary for Moshe to grow up in the house of Pharoah?
2. In Parshas Miketz we discussed how thought and speech are man's most unique facets. These two aspects of man are definitely not only a big part of what separates us from animals, but more importantly, what shapes us as a tzelem Elokim (created in the image of Hashem). We discussed that perhaps the mind could be compared to a spiritual writing board where we could understand a large spectrum of things – from dreams to Torah (specifically Torah shel ba'al peh). We then continued to explain that the mouth is used to then shape, define, and interpret how our thoughts and Torah should be expressed in the physical world we live in.

In this week's parsha, we are introduced to Moshe Rabbeinu. The fact that Moshe had a stuttering or some other speaking issue seems to be so trivial a characteristic of such an important character, that it should not be mentioned. Who cares that Moshe had a speech impediment? Yet, we find that this is a stressed fact about Moshe throughout his conversation with Hashem by the s'neh (burning bush.). Isn't it ironic that the single person in history with the mission of bringing Torah into the world and teaching it to an entire nation should have an impediment in an area we understood to be essential to bringing expressions of Torah and Tefillah into this world?

It appears that the two aspects we discussed of thought and speech are achieved, throughout the next few parshiyos, only through only a joint effort between Moshe and Aharon. Why did this have to be the case ? And does this have anything to do with their different roles as “Kohen” and “Levi”?

3. The Torah describes an unbelievable conversation that took place between Hashem and Moshe. Hashem spent several days trying to convince Moshe to lead the b'nei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim and act as a go-between between Hashem and Pharoah. The passuk (Shemos – 3:13) then relates that Moshe started thinking out loud what would happen if he would accept the role: “Behold I will come to the b'nei Yisroel and I will say to them, 'The G-d of your fathers sent me to you'. Then, they will ask me, 'What is His name?'. What should I respond when they ask me that? The passuk says that Hashem replied, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh” - I will be as I will be. However, the passuk then says that Hashem told Moshe that he should say that Ehyeh sent him to the B'nei Yisroel.

Did Hashem forget His name? He had just told Moshe that His name is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh and yet he tells Moshe to only say His name is Ehyeh. What is going on here?

Rashi, citing the Gemara in Berachos (9b), tells us that when Hashem said “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh”, He was hinting that “I will be with you during this tzara (time of distress) and will continue to be with you during your future times of distress while in galus”. Moshe then responded, “How could I mention to them that there will be more times of hardship? It's bad enough what they are going through now! I should hint to them now that there will be future times like this?” To this Hashem responded, “You have spoken well, Moshe. Just tell them my name is Ehyeh – saying that I am with you during this time of slavery.”

We cannot understand the intricate relationship between Hashem and Moshe. Moshe seems, at times, to speak to Hashem in ways we would never dream of. This particular segment of a lengthy conversation between Hashem and Moshe is quite difficult to understand. Even if we could somehow comprehend that Moshe told Hashem to do things differently and not give His full name, how could we understand why Hashem would agree? We know that Hashem is complete and ultimate Truth. So how could He “change his name” just so that people should be less distressed. How could we understand this? Surely the Torah's attitude is not one of “ignorance is bliss”. Instead, does this perhaps shed light on Hashem's balance of Chesed and Emes – two of the thirteen middos, of which chesed comes first between the two?

3. After running away from Mitzrayim, Moshe finds himself by a well in Midyan and also happens to be looking for a wife – what a surprise! Moshe is the third one to find himself by a well in a foreign land looking for a wife. First Eliezer went to a well looking for a wife for Yitzchak. At that point, Rivka was there and she filled up water for Eliezer, his men, and all his camels. Yaakov was the second one to find himself by a well. However, he ran into a slight difficulties as there was a boulder, which the shepherds had put, blocking the well. Now, upon Moshe's arrival at the well. He actually has to rescue the daughters of Yisro from the shepherds who weren't allowing them to get water.

What is the significance of the well? And why does there seem to be a pattern of each experience by a well getting progressively worse

4. Yisro had seven daughters and seven names. What is significant about Yisro and the number seven?

Parshas Vayechi - I Thought That You Thought

Parshas Vayechi

I Thought That You Thought

By: Daniel Listhaus

“And Yosef took the two of them – Ephraim with his right hand, to Yisroel's [Yaakov's] left, and Menasheh, with his left, to Yisroel's right – and he drew close to him. But Yisroel extended his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head though he was younger and his left hand on Menasheh's head. He moved his hands with intelligence, for Menasheh was the first born ”

-Vayechi 48:13-14

The Torah¹ describes in careful detail the way that Yosef came to Yaakov with his sons, Menasheh and Ephraim. Menasheh was the older son and Yosef knew that he would be getting the bigger bracha. Ephraim, on the other hand², was younger and would therefore be secondary. For this reason, Yosef deliberately approached Yaakov with Menasheh on his own left and Ephraim on the right. This way, when they would be facing Yaakov opposite them, they would be in the proper mirror-imaged position, with Menasheh on Yaakov's right and Ephraim on his left.

However, much to Yosef's surprise, Yaakov crossed his hands and put his right hand on Ephraim, who was on his left, and his left hand on Menasheh, the older son, who was on Yaakov's right. At this point in time, as an on-looker, one would think that Yosef would just allow Yaakov to give the brachos according to the way he felt was proper. Yet, as the Torah continues to relate, Yosef's reaction was quite different, and a rather weird conversation erupted between Yaakov and Yosef.

The passuk³ tells us that when Yaakov crossed his hands, Yosef was very displeased and said, “Not so, Father, for this is the firstborn; place your right hand on his head”⁴. While saying so, Yosef actually started to take Yaakov's hand and remove it from Ephraim's head in order to put it on Menasheh's. Yaakov, however, remained steadfast and insisted on his right hand being on Ephraim's head. His response to Yosef was simply, “I know my son, I know.”

This event is very puzzling and hard to understand. First-of-all, Yaakov surely knew what he was doing, so why was Yosef questioning the way that Yaakov was giving the brachos? Second, how did Yaakov explain his actions? Yosef had asked him to switch his hands back the right way, and Yaakov just responded, “I know my son, I know”, but didn't do anything about it. How did this terse response satisfy Yosef's request?

The Rashbam⁵ sheds light on this difficult conversation by explaining as follows. When Yaakov switched his hands and put his right hand on Ephraim's head, Yosef was deeply upset. As the Da'as Zekainim⁶ explains, Yosef was thinking to himself, “My father thinks I am a fool. He thinks that when I came to him with my children that I had Menasheh on my own right and Ephraim on my left, like I usually do since Menasheh is my older son. He does not realize that I thought ahead and specifically came before him with Menasheh on my left and Ephraim on my right in order that when facing Yaakov, they would be in the correct position for Menasheh, the older son, to be the recipient of the right hand.” Yosef therefore spelled this out to Yaakov and said, “Despite the way you think I came to you, with my sons aligned from my perspective, that is not the way I did it. I had the brains to place them in order from your perspective so that they would be properly matched to your hands – with the firstborn adjacent to your right hand.”

To this, Yaakov responded, “I know my son, I know”. The Rashbam continues to explain that the message that Yaakov was conveying to Yosef was the following, “I know, Yosef, that you are a chochom (wise person) and that you came to me with your children in the correct placements with Menasheh on my right and Ephraim on my left, yet, nevertheless, I am purposely placing my right hand on Ephraim.”

Although this Rashbam does clear up many things for us, it is still difficult to comprehend. When Yosef saw Yaakov switch his hands and put his right hand on Ephraim, why did Yosef think that Yaakov thought that he was not smart. Why was it that the first possible explanation that could come to Yosef's mind was that his father considered him incompetent of planing in advance? In the end of the day, that was not the reason that Yaakov had switched his hands. So, why was it that the only reason that Yosef, who had a great relationship with his father even after being separated for many years, could come up with was that Yaakov had reversed his hands because he took Yosef to be a fool? What a strange conclusion for Yosef to draw!

There is a famous article written by Frank Koch, in the U.S Naval Institute Proceedings,⁷ which goes as follows:

“Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.
The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'”

Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees.”
The captain said, “Send: “I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'”
“I'm a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.”
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the flashing light, “I'm a lighthouse.”
We changed course.”

Often-times we enter situations with an idea already in our heads as to how the scenario is supposed to play out. When out at sea, the captain was perhaps expecting to come across some ships in his path, but was not expecting a lighthouse. Therefore when he was communicating with what he thought was an on-coming ship, every possible idea came to mind as to how this 'second-class seaman' could have the audacity to talk back to him. Yet, the possibility that this other ship may be a lighthouse, was not something that he was anticipating and was therefore deemed an impossibility to enter his mind. It took the lighthouse staring him in his face, and its operator telling him that he better listen or he will be a sunk battleship, to finally be convinced that although he was not expecting there to be a lighthouse in his way, it was a reality that now needed to be faced.

We are only privy to our own thoughts and perspectives. It takes a tremendous amount of open-mildness and objectivity to remove ourselves from the various influences that effect us. Every person's history, thought processes, and intentions are so different from each other. The way we perceive others is therefore not based on what they said, did, or thought, but rather what we heard, saw, or thought they thought.

With this understanding, perhaps we could now better grasp Yosef's reasoning. Yosef knew the way that giving brachos worked, or at least he thought he did. Surely a bedtime story favorite of his was when Yaakov would tell him the story of how he had to buy the bechor from Eisav and how he had to deceive Yitzchak, upon Rivka's wishes through ruach HaKodesh, in order to be considered the firstborn and befitting of receiving the brachos. Based on Yosef's comprehension, when he came to Yaakov with Menasheh and Ephraim for their brachos, it was so obvious to him that Yaakov's right hand should go on Menasheh's head. Therefore, when Yaakov cross-crossed his hands, the only possible explanation that Yosef could think of was that his father thought he was a fool. What other explanation could there be for Yaakov reversing his hands other than if Yaakov thought that Yosef had brought Menasheh on Yosef's own right, which would be Yaakov's left. It could not have been that Ephraim was really the one meant to get the bigger bracha, that was an impossibility because that is not the way the “happily ever after” story was supposed to end.

This is something that occurs to us more often than not. It is quite often that after a misunderstanding between two parties, each side finds themselves thinking: “I thought that he thought that I thought”. Imagine how much clearer our eyesight would be if we were able to train ourselves not to think for others.

As hard as it may be, we must admit that we are seeing an entire world through our eyes only. We must realize that we are constantly forcing our definitions and explanations into what others say, think, and do. From each of our vantage points, we consider ourselves like the captain of a ship and that we outrank anyone else's opinions. However, we must realize that as much as we are captains, there are things about others which we just cannot see past the fog that separates us as individuals.

1Beraishis 48:13-14

2Excuse the pun

3Beraishis 48:17

4Beraishis 48:18

5Beraishis 48:17

6Ibid.

7 Koch, Frank. “Pulling Rank”. Proceedings. November 1987. (pg. 81)