Parshas Va'eira - Think Outside the Box

Parshas Va'eira

Think Outside the Box

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל משֶׁה רְאֵה נְתַתִּיךָ אֱלֹהים לְפַרְעֹה וְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ יִהְיֶה נְבִיאֶךָ: אַתָּה תְדַבֵּר אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּךָּ וְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ יְדַבֵּר אֶל פַּרְעֹה וְשִׁלַּח אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאַרְצוֹ: וַאֲנִי אַקְשֶׁה אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה וְהִרְבֵּיתִי אֶת אֹתֹתַי וְאֶת מוֹפְתַי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: וְלֹא יִשְׁמַע אֲלֵכֶם פַּרְעֹה וְנָתַתִּי אֶת יָדִי בְּמִצְרָיִם וְהוֹצֵאתִי אֶת צִבְאֹתַי אֶת עַמִּי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בִּשְׁפָטִים גְּדֹלִים: וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי ה' בִּנְטֹתִי אֶת יָדִי עַל מִצְרָיִם וְהוֹצֵאתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִתּוֹכָם

“Hashem said to Moshe, 'See, I have made you a master over Pharoah and Aharon your brother shall be your speaker. You shall speak everything that I shall command you, and Aharon your brother shall speak to Pharoah, that he should send the B'nei Yisroel from his land. And I shall harden Pharoah's heart and I shall multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharoah will not heed you, and I shall take out My legions – My people the B'nei Yisroel – from the land of Egypt, with great judgments, And Egypt shall know that I am Hashem, when I stretch out My hand over Egypt; and I shall take the B'nei Yisroel out from among them.'”

-Va'eira 7:1-5

After Pharoah not only refused to let the B'nei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim, but even made them work harder than before, Hashem reconvened with Moshe to inform him how things would progress. Hashem told Moshe that He would harden Pharoah's heart and bring many signs and wonders into the world for all to see. Indeed, time after time, no matter what Moshe and Aharon did to try to convince Pharoah to send out the B'nei Yisroel, he stubbornly refused to listen. First, Moshe and Aharon approached Pharoah, and Aharon threw down his staff and it became a serpent. The Medrash¹ describes that Pharoah was completely unmoved by this performance. He mocked them and called over four and five year old children to copy the same trick and throw staffs down and turn them into snakes. He then called over his wife who was able to do the same. Then he called in his master magicians to finish his presentation, demonstrating that Moshe's “convincing miracle” was merely a very simple level of magic, of which everyone in Mitzrayim was capable. However, Aharon's snake then went on to do something extraordinary. It turned back into a staff and then swallowed up all the other staffs. Such a feat, which is impossible to even imagine, certainly should have had the Egyptians in complete shock. Instead, as the passuk (verse)² testifies, Pharoah hardened his heart and attributed the trick to perhaps a slightly different magic, but magic nonetheless.

The Torah³ continues and states that Hashem then commanded Moshe to go to Pharoah and demand that he send out the B'nei Yisroel, or else all the water in Mitzrayim would be turned to blood. Aharon hit the Nile River in front of Pharoah and all his servants, and they all watched as the waters of Mitzrayim instantaneously turned to blood. Yet, once again, Pharoah laughed this off and had his sorcerers conjure the same trick. Rashi⁴ brings an excerpt from the gemara⁵ which relates that Pharoah's chief magicians – Yochani and Mamrei – essentially told Moshe to stop making a fool of himself. They argued that Moshe was coming with a ridiculous demand to free all the slaves, while the only negotiation tools he seemed to have were simple magic tricks that were done at children's birthday parties. They told Moshe that just like it is pointless to import straw to the city of Ofrayim, which is a city with an abundance of straw, so too it is pointless to try to scare the Egyptian government with magic when Egypt was full of master sorcerers.

The B'eir Ba'sadeh⁶ points out that here too, despite the fact that the magicians were able to almost fully mimic what Aharon had done, there was something unique about what Aharon did because he was able to instantaneously change all the water into blood. This was something which really even the proficient magicians were stumped by. Yet, they once again attributed it to some sort of advanced or obscure magic and gave it no second thought or significance. The gemara continues that Moshe responded to Yochani and Mamrei that in fact the exact opposite of what they were saying was true, as he explained: if one wants to sell a product he should bring it to the place where it is known they have an abundance of it, because after all, that is where people from all over the world turn to buy.

Let us focus for a moment on the conversation between Moshe and the chief magicians of Mitzrayim. Moshe's response is certainly true and is something that is easy for us to relate to. After all, if one wants to sell something, for example, online, one could indeed create a personal website. However, unless there is good marketing there will be no traffic to a random site. This is why often a much better approach would be to post the product up for sale on E-bay or Amazon. This method will generally experience a much higher probability of generating sales, or at least more people viewing your product, despite the fact that these large sites consist of many sellers who will be selling plenty of other products which directly compete with yours.

However, as good of advice as this may be, it is hard to understand that Moshe would be taking his time to explain such business principles to Pharoah's advisers. Furthermore, although Moshe's facts may be true, how was it a good response to the challenge of the sorcerers? They were trying to communicate to Moshe that no one will give any significance to his “magic” in Mitzrayim because magic is a normal occurrence there. How did Moshe's response address this?

The Maharsha⁷ explains that the conversation between Moshe and the sorcerers was actually one on a slightly deeper level. The magicians challenged Moshe that just like it was known that the magic of these sorcerers was based on kishuf (magic) and pure sheker (falseness), so too no one would take Moshe's magic seriously because it was no secret in Mitzrayim that magic was based on such sheker. However, Moshe responded that just like in the marketplace not every fruit or vegetable is the same; there are good tomatoes and bad tomatoes, good bananas and bad bananas. So too, Moshe argued, if the Egyptians' “produce” were full of kishuf (magic) and sheker, as they themselves admitted, then Moshe's “produce” was the good produce in the proverbial market and represented something significant – a real miracle from Hashem. The meforshim (commentaries) on the medrash explain slightly more, that Moshe told them that he specifically wanted to perform the miracles of Hashem in the middle of Egypt because Egypt was the world center of magic and they would be able to tell better than anyone else that the miracles Hashem had given Moshe and Aharon to perform were indeed a lot more than even the most sophisticated kishuf.

This Maharsha definitely answers the basic difficulties with the aforementioned gemara. Moshe was telling the magicians the same mantra that Sy Syms, founder of Syms Corporation,⁸ used to declare: “An educated consumer is our best customer”. The Egyptians more than any other nation should have been able to immediately realize the realness of the miracles Moshe and Aharon performed and that they must have come from a super-natural power. However, if so, why was it that the magicians were so stubborn? Were they or were they not able to recognize that Moshe and Aharon's “trick” was something much more?

A certain public speaker and humorist once gave a presentation on what the difference is between normal and weird. If we were to stop and think of this for ourselves we may find this difficult to do. After all, sometimes the lines between weird and normal get so blurred that it becomes confusing what is actually weird and what is normal. For example, this presenter quoted a certain famous psychologist who said, “If there is a bag in your car and a gallon of milk in the bag, it would be normal to say that there is a gallon of milk in your car. But if there is a person in your car and a gallon of blood in a person, it would be strange to conclude that there is a gallon of blood in your car.” There is no logical reason why one should strike us as completely normal and the other as weird other than the fact that one we are used to and one we are not. However, as we perhaps have experienced, it does not take much to take normal things and make them look or sound weird. Have you ever tried to pick out a word and say it over and over again until the word starts to look weird and begins to sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound sound like gibberish? Or have you ever tried to take a random object and start describing it only to realize how weird it really is?

However, it takes a bit more talent to do the reverse and turn something weird into something normal. The reason for this is that when we experience weird things, our brains try to come up with any justification or explanation it could to normalize the weirdness. For example, no matter where we are in the world we always feel like we are standing straight on top of the world, and when we lay down we feel like we are facing up, but imagine for a moment that when you are standing you are glued to the side of planet Earth facing down into space and when you are laying down you are plastered with your back against planet Earth facing straight outwards. It is almost unimaginable and so weird to think about it despite the fact that it is the reality! The idea is that we as humans feel comfortable when things are locked in “boxes” with titles where we could refer to them vaguely as topics such as “gravity”, “magnetic forces”, or “global warming”. These are general topics which contain both the explainable and the unexplainable. When weird things happen in space it is easy to say, “whatever, it's gravity”; and when weird things happen on earth – whether it be sunny in winter, or record cold temperatures, hurricanes, tornadoes, or tsunamis, the response could easily be, “whatever, it's global warming”. However, our challenge in life is to see Hashem as the borei (Creator) and manhig (Director) of the world Who is in complete control of everything and Who created it with an intelligent design. When weird things happen it may be tempting to lock all the unexplainable things in a box and term it something, however our task is to stop and ask ourselves what message is Hashem trying to communicate?

Rashi⁹ writes that it is indeed the way of Hashem to bring punishments upon sinful nations so that B'nei Yisroel should pay attention and fear Hashem and ultimately do teshuva (repent). As we look around the world today, not a day goes by where there is not something absolutely ridiculous going on. Whether it be baseless hatred in the world with the knockout game, or extreme changes in weather, or senseless national and international policies, we must keep in mind that the system of the world is such that everything that happens is meant for B'nei Yisroel to learn from. Our job is to stop putting things in our various boxes, and instead think outside the box about what it is Hashem is trying to communicate to His people and to the world. This was precisely the crux of the debate between Moshe and Aharon and the sorcerers of Mitzrayim. Moshe was telling them that because Mitzrayim was the center of magic, that is exactly where he wanted to be in order to demonstrate to the professionals who should have been able to tell right away that what they were seeing was real. Yet, Pharoah and his stubborn team of sorcerers could not come to terms with there being a super-natural G-d, and instead attributed the miracles as some sort of obscure magic even though they were the masters and had never heard or seen such things.

May Hashem help us understand the messages He sends constantly to the world so that we could better fear Him and prepare properly to greet mashiach soon.

1Shemos Rabbah 9:5-6

2Shemos 7:12 and see Rashi there.

3Shemos 7:14-18

4Shemos 7:22

5Menachos 85a

6Shemos 7:22

7Gemara Menachos 85a

8A chain of retail clothing stores, which is not out of business.

9Shemos 7:3
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From the Archives....

Parshas Va'eira 5773 - Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

Parshas Va'eira 5772 - Let There Be Here

Parshas Shemos - Pull Yourself Together

Parshas Shemos

Pull Yourself Together

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים וַיֹּאמֶר לָרָשָׁע לָמָּה תַכֶּה רֵעֶךָ: וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט עָלֵינוּ הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּירָא משֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר

“He [Moshe] went out the next day and behold! Two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the wicked one, 'Why would you strike your fellow?' He replied, 'Who made you a man, a ruler, a judge over us? Are you saying that you are going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?”

-Shemos 2:13-14

After the death of Yaakov avinu and the shevatim,¹ the situation in Mitzrayim (Egypt) greatly deteriorated. Pharoah was very concerned that the growing number of Jews would create an environment suitable for a revolt.² In order to preempt this possibility, Pharoah decreed that from then on every new-born Jewish boy be killed,³ while the rest of B'nei Yisroel – with the exception of shevet Levi – gradually became slaves to Pharoah.⁴

The Torah tells us that despite Moshe having grown up in the palace of Pharoah, his eyes and heart were with his brothers slaving in the field.⁵ One day while Moshe was walking thorough he fields he witnessed an Egyptian man beating up one of the Jews. Rashi⁶ tells us that this Egyptian man had tricked a woman named Shelomis bas Dibri, who was the wife of this Jew, and had relations with her. Shelomis's husband returned home and realized what had happened. When the Egyptian sensed that he had found out, he began hitting him and threatening him and taunting him throughout the next day. Moshe rabbeinu saw this and could not sit back while one of his brothers was getting beaten up. So, the passuk⁷ (verse) describes that Moshe killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The Torah⁸ continues to relate that the next day when Moshe once again was walking around empathizing with his fellow working Jews, he saw two Jews – Dasan and Aviram – fighting with each other. He turned to the one who had his hand up in the air ready to strike and shouted to him, “Why would you strike your fellow?” The man replied, “Who made you a man, a ruler, a judge over us? Are you saying that you are going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” When Moshe heard this, the passuk⁹ tells us that he suddenly became frightened and thought to himself, “Indeed the matter has become known”.

On a simple level, it would seem that Moshe was afraid that people had found out what he did and out of despair thought, “The matter has become known.” However, Rashi¹⁰ tells us that Moshe had no regrets about what he did, nor was he particularly nervous that people had found out. Rather, Moshe was worried because he realized that there were informers within B'nei Yisroel who were willing to get their fellow brothers in trouble. When Moshe saw this he said, “Until now I was unsure why B'nei Yisroel should deserve to be slaves more than any other nation but now that I see that there are informers, I understand why they are deserving of such a punishment. Not only that, but if they are still willing to sink to such low depths, perhaps they are not fit to be redeemed.” This really scared Moshe.

The question that we must ask though is that Rashi is saying that Moshe wondered why B'nei Yisroel deserved to be slaves more than any other nation. Somehow seeing that there were informers among B'nei Yisroel answered this question. How did that help Moshe understand? Certainly the other nations have informers among them too. So what was it that made Moshe understand why we deserved to be slaves to Pharoah in Mitzrayim? It seems a bit extreme that because there be informers among B'nei Yisroel that we deserve to be slaves to Pharoah.

Later in the parsha, the Torah¹¹ tells us that Pharoah made things harder for the Jews as he stopped giving as many supplies to make the bricks, but never lowered his expectation of the quota he required in number of bricks. He appointed Jewish guards over groups of Jewish slaves and then had his own Egyptian taskmasters to watch over the Jewish guards. Rashi¹² tells us the Jewish guards were filled with mercy and did not want to put the extra pressure on their fellow Jews who were doing the hard labor. Therefore, more often than not, the quota would not be met. Being in managerial positions, these Jewish guards would be blamed for not putting enough pressure on the Jews to reach the quota, and in turn would be whipped by the Egyptian taskmasters. Rashi continues and states that because of the mercy that the Jewish guards had and their willingness to accept lashes instead of putting the extra pressure on the slaving Jews, these Jewish guards merited to be part of the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court).

At this point, we must ask a similar question as before. We know Hashem punishes and rewards midah k'neged midah (measure for measure). So, it must be that for some reason becoming part of the Sanhedrin was the proper reward for these guards who had mercy on the Jewish slaves. How could we understand this? What does having mercy on B'nei Yisroel and the willingness to accept pain for their not finishing their quotas have anything to do with becoming a prominent member of the Sanhedrin?

There is a certain business consultant who gets hired by companies in order to find issues within the company, point them out, and fix them for better performance. One simulation he does while on the job is to call a few executives and managers from the four largest divisions in the company and seats them, by division, by four separate tables. For example, he makes one table table for the accounting division, a table for the marketing team, a table for the finance team, and a table for the human resources team. He then announces to everyone in the room that he is now the new CEO and each table represents a division of the company. He then passes out two cards for each table – one card with an “X” on it and the other with a “Y”. He then gives the following instructions: There will be ten rounds where each team could put out either its “X” card or its “Y” card, but there is to be no communication between the tables; you could only discuss which card to choose with the members at your table. There are five simple rules. If all four divisions put down the “X” card, then each team loses $1. If there are three “X's” and one “Y”, then the three “X's” win $1 each while the team with the “Y” loses $3. If there are two “X's” and two “Y's” then the two “X's” win $2 each and the two “Y's” lose $2 each. If there is one “X” and three “Y's” then the “X” wins $3 while each of the “Y's” lose $1 each. If all four teams put down their “Y” card then each team wins $1.

Inevitably what happens is that each team starts off putting down “X's” for the first couple of rounds, hoping to make the most amount of money, but that of course results in each team losing as all four “X's” are chosen. Then one or two teams try putting down their “Y” cards hoping that others will do the same (remember, no communication between tables), but to no avail. They end up losing as the ones who kept putting down “X's” start tallying up a positive score. This goes on until the consultant goes around after five rounds and congratulates the teams which have been profitable and tells the teams which are carrying a negative balance to shape up fast. He then allows each team to say a message to the whole room. Some agree that everyone should be putting down the “Y” card in order to have consistent gains, but the competition in the air is too much to allow logic once the next round starts up again. After ten rounds, the consultant asks everyone to look at their score cards and points out that even the teams with the highest score has nothing compared to what it could have had with the consistent $1 each turn, let alone the aggregate of the four teams together. He ends with the strong message that oftentimes we allow our egos, emotions, and competitiveness to get the better of us and as a result we end up competing against ourselves without realizing.

Inside each member of B'nei Yisroel is a special neshama (soul) given to us by Hashem. Each shevet (tribe) in Klal Yisroel represents certain things and has unique talents and potential as represented in Birkas Yaakov (Yaakov's blessings to the shevatim), and each individual within each shevet has his or her own talents and potential as well. However, the power of Klal Yisroel does not come from its numbers but rather from its unity. Our task is to achieve the level of k'ish echad b'leiv echad – to become like one person with one heart.

When Moshe rabbeinu saw that Dasan and Aviram had informed to Pharoah about what he did, he realized that Klal Yisroel, as a nation dependent on its oneness and unit, deserved to be enslaved to equalize everyone and demonstrate that that no one was better than the next. Petty fights and competition within B'nei Yisroel does not benefit any individual in the long run and only pulls down the unity of B'nei Yisroel. On the other hand, when there are those such as the Jewish guards who were willing to take the hit for their brothers, people who share the burden of Klal Yisroel and would rather be pained themselves than to be the cause of pain for others, there becomes hope and such people are worthy of becoming part of the Sanhedrin – the rulers of B'nei Yisroel.

As hard as this may be to internalize, it is time that as a people we realize that as members of Klal Yisroel, an individual cannot become greater by pushing everyone else around him down, rather we only become profitable as a nation when we work together and maintain a steady and constant effort towards unity and helping each other. We no longer have leaders like Moshe rabbeinu who represent this idea in its fullest, but it is something that we should at least realize for ourselves.

May Hashem help us realize and prioritize what is important and what is not in order to help us unite as a nation and not remain as separate individuals or teams who are just trying to get the maximum without thinking of what the effect is with the rest of the proverbial company.

1Shemos 1:6

2Shemos 1:10

3Shemos 1:16, and 1:22

4Shemos 1:11

5Rashi Shemos 2:11

6Ibid.

7Shemos 2:12

8Shemos 2:13

9Shemos 2:14

10Rashi ibid.

11Shemos 5:6

12Rashi Shemos 5:14
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Parshas Shemos - Great Minds Think Alike...and Fools Never Differ

http://thoughtsonparsha.blogspot.com/2013/01/parshas-shemos-great-minds-think.html

Parshas Vayechi - What Does The Fox Say?

Parshas Vayechi

What Does the Fox Say?

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֹּאמֶר הִשָּׁבְעָה לִי וַיִּשָּׁבַע לוֹ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל רֹאשׁ הַמִּטָּה

“And he [Yaakov] said, 'Swear to me,' and he [Yosef] swore to him; and Yisroel [i.e – Yaakov] prostrated himself toward the head of the bed.”

-Vayechi 47:31

At 147 years old, Yaakov understood that his time on Earth was running out. The Torah¹ tells us that at this point he became concerned that Pharoah and the Mitzriyim (Egyptians) would give his family trouble when it would come time to taking Yaakov's body out of Mitzrayim (Egypt) to bury in Ma'aras Ha'machpeilah (Cave of Machpeilah).² He therefore called for Yosef who had the ability to act in order to make sure that Yosef would take the responsibility to ensure that there would be no issues.³ The Torah⁴ tells us that after Yosef swore to Yaakov that he would take care of the burial, Yaakov bowed to Yosef. Rashi⁵, quoting the Gemara⁶, comments that when a fox is at his time of greatness, bow to him.

What is the lesson that Rashi here is teaching us? Certainly Rashi is not teaching us that it is okay to “kiss up” to people in high positions. Presumably, such a suggestion would be counter to the Torah's perspective. The Orchos Tzadikkim⁷ writes that usually we are tasked to be humble, however when it comes to standing up to people doing inappropriate things we do not hesitate to firmly stay with the Torah and do whatever it takes to show that we disagree. Furthermore, the Orchos Tzadikkim⁸ writes that to stay silent or to encourage such behavior is a form of horrible flattery and is as if you are condoning the actions done. So, clearly this expression of bowing to the fox at its time of power cannot refer to where the fox is in a position he does not belong or in a case where the fox is doing something improper, for in such scenarios it would not be permissible to humble oneself. So, what is this Rashi telling us? What does Yosef have to do with a fox in a position of power? And why is it at this particular point that Yaakov bows to Yosef, as opposed to when Yosef first enters into the room when Yaakov called for him?

The Gemara⁹ states that Rebbe Meir had 300 parables that he used to say, but now we only have three. Rashi¹⁰ there combines the parables into one big one and describes it as follows: There was once a fox who tricked a wolf into going into the local Jewish community on a Friday and told him to try to help them prepare for Shabbos and then join them for a meal. When the wolf entered the city, the people began throwing sticks at it. The angry wolf returned to the fox ready to kill it. However, the stealthy fox convinced the wolf that he did not mean to set him up. In fact, the fox continued to explain, the sticks being thrown should not be taken personally because the reason why the people tried to hurt the wolf was because of something that one of its ancestors did – that there was once a time when the wolf's father also claimed to try to help out but ended up eating all their food. The wolf asked the fox, “Could it really be that I was beaten up for the sins of my father?” The fox replied, “Yes”, and proceeded to quote a passuk (verse).¹¹ However, the fox continued, “I do know a place where you could get plenty of food.” The fox led the wolf to a well which had two buckets hanging over a beam attached to each other by a rope. The fox jumped into one of the buckets and its weight took him down to the bottom. The wolf called out, “Why did you just go down there?” The fox replied that there was plenty of cheese and meat down in the well and he showed him the reflection of the moon and told him it was a delicious piece of cheese. The fox told the wolf that all he has to do is jump into the bucket that was still hanging at the top of the well. The wolf did so and in doing so its weight carried it down while at the same time lifting the fox's bucket up. The fox then jumped out to safety and while the wolf was screaming from the bottom of the well, “How am I supposed to get out of here?!”, the fox replied, “The righteous one is delivered from trouble and the wicked one comes in his place.”¹²

The Maharsha explains that in the first story the wolf represents a rasha (wicked person) and really, when he went to the city to “help out” on erev Shabbos he too was doing it with the same intention of his father before him who instead of helping out with the preparations and then joining together for the meal on Shabbos, wanted to steal the food early on Friday itself.¹³ This, explains the Maharsha, represents the rasha who would rather benefit from this world – symbolized by Friday, a regular weekday – and not willing to hold back from desires and ultimately get rewarded in olam habbah – symbolized by Shabbos.

Regarding the second story, there is a difficulty which first must be cleared. Why was the fox willing to jump into the bucket and be trapped at the bottom of the well? How could it have been so sure that the wolf would follow? The Maharsha answers that really the fox put a stone that was heavier than himself in the other bucket, and then brought with it a stone of equal amount in its own bucket, this way it would be able to be weighed down. This way, in case the wolf would decide not to come, it would be able to just throw its stone out, making his bucket weigh less than the other and he would be lifted back up to safety. However, indeed once again the wolf lured by pleasures of the world was willing to follow. As the wolf jumped into the bucket, the fox threw away his stone and was raised to the top of the well as the wolf was trapped below. This demonstrates how tzadikkim (righteous people) have a yetzer hara (evil inclination) – symbolized by the rock – which they throw away in this world in order to be able to be rise and enjoy olam habbah. The rasha, though, stays trapped down in the well lured by the physical attractions of olam hazeh.

Rav Hai Gaon is quoted¹⁴ to offer yet another version of the fox parable being referenced by the gemara. He writes that there was once a lion which was about to attack a fox. However. the fox reasoned to the lion, “How full do you think you will be after you eat me? I'm a waste of your energy. Instead, come with me and let me show you a person who you could eat that will satisfy your hunger.” The lion followed but then told the fox that he was too afraid to attack the innocent person because perhaps the person will daven and the lion will be killed. The fox calmed the lion by convincing him that although it is true that the person has the power of tefillah (prayer), in this particular case the tefillos would not affect the lion or the lion's children. Rather, the lion's misdeed would only start to have an effect on the lion's grandchildren. The lion realized that it would indeed take a long time for any suffering to kick in so he decided to go for the kill. As the lion approached the man, it fell into a pit-trap which was camouflage on the ground, covered with leaves and branches. As the fox leaned over to take a look at the captured lion, the lion angrily shouted at it, “I thought you promised that the punishment would only affect my grandson?” The fox answered, “Indeed, what I said was true. You were not captured because of what you just tried to do, but rather for what your grandfather did.” When the lion said back that that was not fair, the fox just retorted that he should have thought about that earlier when he decided that it was okay to do something that would only start to affect generations later. Like the mashal (parable) with the wolf, the lion too demonstrates its selfishness and unwillingness to look into the future.¹⁵

The mishna¹⁶ quotes Rebbe Masya as saying, “Better be a tail to lions, and not be a head to foxes.” The meforshim (commentaries)¹⁷ explain that there is nothing better than to position oneself in the company of great talmidei chochimim where you could learn a tremendous amount from just by being around and watching their actions and listening to the advice they give.¹⁸ One could choose to instead be a leader of foxes, but such a person would be short-selling himself because he cannot advance in his learning. Rather such a person will merely stay the same or drop down to the level of the pack he is leading. As the meforshim explain, at the end of the day, the tail of a lion is a lion, and the head of a fox is a fox. If one is presented with the choice of accepting a leadership position versus staying a student among talmidei chochomim (Torah scholars), it seems that remaining as the recipient of advise is greater than becoming the giver of advice.

At the same time, however, this must be balanced with yet another teaching found in Pirkei Avos. The mishna¹⁹ quotes one of Hillel's many mantra's that in a place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader. As Rashi²⁰ points out, if there are those around us who we could learn from we should do so, but if there are no community leaders or people in niche positions, then certainly one is tasked with filling the role.

What better example of a fox is there than Yosef Ha'Tzaddik. He remained pure despite his years spent as a slave, in jail, and as a ruler of Mitzrayim. He had the opportunity to do aveiros (sins), going down into wells with heavy stones. However, Yosef passed his tests and threw the proverbial stone away and rose back up to safety and greatness, leaving everyone else behind. These qualities of perseverance and recognition of Hashem being behind a master plan is precisely what B'nei Yisroel required to be down in Mitzrayim first in order to set the stage and example of how to raise a frum and kosher home in galus (exile) to the extent of being able to raise children equivalent to shevatim (tribes) in the house of Yaakov avinu!²¹ Yosef demonstrated in full color that despite what is going on outside, the purity of the home and care for the future that parents could have for their children and grandchildren are the only necessary components needed to pass the torch to the next generation. This is what Yaakov realized when discussing with Yosef the plans of bringing his body out of Mitzrayim and into Eretz Yisroel – that because of Yosef setting the foundation in galus, Yaakov is sure of the future geulah (redemption) to Eretz Yisroel.

During our time in galus, it has become more and more difficult for Jews to keep their identity. Even those Jews who had been willing to throw most of religion away except one or two ties to Judasim such as showing up to shul on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, may have thought they were doing themselves a favor, but where are their grandchildren now?

The Gemara²² relates that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva were all once walking through Yerushalayim. When they arrived to where the Beis Hamikdash once stood they witnessed a fox emerging from where the Kodesh Hakadashim (Holy of Holies) used to be. Immediately, three of the tannaim started crying. However, Rabbi Akiva started laughing. They asked Rabbi Akiva, “Why are you laughing?” Rabbi Akiva countered with a question of his own, “Why are you crying?” They answered, “What do you mean why are we crying? Here is a place where if a non-Kohen would walk, he would be put to death, and yet now foxes walk here, and we should not cry?” Rabbi Akiva explained that the reasons he was laughing was because now that he saw that the one nevuah (prophecy) was fulfilled, he was comforted because that means that the other nevuah will come true as well. The nevuah they witnessed was that Yerushalayim will become heaps and the place where the Beis Hamikdash stood will be like a forest.²³ Rabbi Akiva though realized that just as the first nevuah came true, so too will the ones which describe the future happiness we will experience during the era of Mashiach and the third Beis Hamikdash..²⁴ Upon hearing this, the Rabbis told Rabbi Akiva that with these words he had succeeded in comforting them.

It is interesting to point out though that the animal that was used to symbolize the beginning of galus with its promising end of a geulah, is the fox in the Kodesh Hakadashim. Perhaps, with our explanation we could understand that the fox was chosen to represent the minor leaders we are all tasked to be through galus in ensuring that the mesorah (tradition) continues to the next generation.

Perek Shirah²⁵ records that the fox says, “Woe to him that builds his house without righteousness and his attic without justice; he employs his fellow with no wages, and will not pay him his due.”²⁶ Perhaps beyond the conventional explanations offered for this passuk, we could understand another tier of what the fox is saying. The fox stresses the importance of establishing a house with righteousness, and not chasing after desires like the wolf, by using others to inappropriately get benefits. Just as the wolf and the wicked only care about what they want, and are not willing to pay or wait, so too will the wicked not be paid in olam habbah, like the wolf trapped at the bottom of the well.

Asarah b'Teves is no doubt an extremely sad day – the day that Nevuchadnetzar began the siege of Yerushalayim. It was the beginning of what ultimately led to the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash, and we therefore fast even when it comes out on erev Shabbos. However, while it is definitely a time of reflection and mourning, perhaps it is also a time to restart for the future with the lessons of the fox in the Beis Hamikdash that there is another nevuah which promises an incredible and awesome geulah (redemption) in the near future. However, we must ensure that we are properly passing down the mesorah down in a way that is not only for ourselves, but for the generations to come. The job of the fox, as Yosef demonstrated, is to realize that he is in charge of the future. The role model he chooses to be for his family, friends, and community is vital in galus to ensure the continuation of the Jewish people.

May Hashem help us take these ideas to heart and just as we experience Asarah b'Teves leading straight into Shabbos this year, may we very soon experience the galus leading into a time of geulah.

1Beraishis 47:29-30

2 It is referred to the cave of couples because of the several couples which are buried there, This is where Adam and Chava were buried as well as Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka, and Yaakov and Leah.

3See Rashi Beraishis 47:29

4Beraishis 47:31

5Rashi ibid.

6Megillah 16b

7Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar Ha'Gaivah

8Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar Ha'Chanifus

9Sanhedrin 39a

10Ibid.

11Yechezkel 18:2 “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.”

12Mishlei 11:8. See Maharasha who asks that according to Rashi's explanation there seems to be only two parables and not three.

13See Gemara Berachos 7a which discusses that a wicked person is “punished for the sins of his father” when he follows in the same path.

14See Teshuvos Ha'Gaonim by Rabbi Yaakov Musafyah (section 30)

15This is contrary to the fox, who is a wise creature and has the future in mind. Similarly we find in Koheles (2:14) – “The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool goes in the darkness”

16Avos 4:20

17See Rashi, Rambam, Rabbeinu Yonah, and others.

18See also Avos 1:4

19Avos 2:6

20Ibid.

21See Beraishis 48:5 and Rashi there.

22Makkos 24b

23Michah 3:12 See Tosfos Makkos 24b as to why it is referred to the Nevuah of Oriyah if it is in Michah

24Zecharyah 8:1-5

25Perek Shirah Chapter 5

26Yirmiyahu 22:13.