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Vaeira 2 "I, too, have heard the suffering of Bnei Yisrael from the slavery that the Egyptians have enslaved them, and I remembered my covenant." (6:5) A merchant once asked R' Moshe Sofer (the "Chatam Sofer") for a blessing, explaining that business had been very bad recently. "I have heard," answered R' Moshe, "that your brother is very poor, and you are not helping him." "But I just told you," said the merchant, "that my business is not doing as well as it used to." "Let me ask you," responded R' Moshe, "what is meant by the verse, 'I, too, have heard the suffering of Bnei Yisrael.'? What is added by the word, 'too'? "The answer is," continued the Chatam Sofer, "that even though each one of Bnei Yisrael was undergoing great suffering, each one noticed the suffering of his friend, and it pained him. In just that merit, Hashem too heard their suffering." (Al Hatorah) "...and the staff of Aaron swallowed their staffs..." (7:12) When Aaron's staff swallowed the staffs of the Egyptian sorcerers in front of the king, it became clear who was authentic and who was not. Jewish history has been plagued by other movements purporting to be the Real Judaism. The most successful of these is undoubtedly Christianity, but there have been many others who have tried to authenticate themselves as the `real' Judaism. Some break away from normative Judaism and change their name, and some try to usurp the authority of the Torah sages and call their beliefs `Judaism.' During the Ottoman Empire, the Karaites attempted to gain recognition for themselves as the `authentic Jews.' They approached the sultan, wanting to be recognized as the legitimate `People of Israel,' and that the Jewish People should be disenfranchised as being fakes. The sultan summoned both a rabbi and a representative of the Karaites to appear in front of him at the royal palace. After hearing both their cases, he would decide who was the authentic "People of the Book." Of course, as was the custom of the East, both the Karaite and the rabbi were required to remove their shoes before appearing in front of the Sultan. The Karaite removed his shoes and left them by the entrance to the throne room. The rabbi also removed his shoes, but then he picked them up and carried them with him into the audience with the sultan. When the sultan looked down from his throne, he was struck by the somewhat strange sight of the rabbi holding a pair of shoes, and he demanded an explanation. "Your Majesty," began the rabbi, "as you know, when the Holy One, may His Name be blessed, appeared to our teacher Moses, peace be upon him, at the site of the burning bush, G-d told Moses "Take off your shoes from on your feet!" "We have a tradition," said the rabbi, "that while Moses was speaking to the Holy One, a Karaite came and stole his shoes! "So, now, whenever we are in the company of Karaites, we make sure to hold onto our shoes!" The Karaite turned to the rabbi and blustered: "That's nonsense! Everyone knows that at the time of Moses, there were no Karaites!" The rabbi allowed time for what the Karaite had said to sink in and then quietly added: "Your Majesty, I don't believe there is a need for more to be said..." The Gemara (Pesachim 53b) asks: How did Chananya, Mishael, and Azaryah conclude that they must throw themselves into a burning furnace for the sanctification of Hashem's name (see Daniel, ch.3)? They said, "If the frogs in Egypt, who were not given the Mitzvah of sanctifying Hashem's name, willingly entered the Egyptians' ovens (Sh'mot 7:28), certainly we, who were given that Mitzvah, are obligated to do so." Many commentaries ask: Didn't Hashem in effect command the frogs to enter the Egyptian oven when He told Moshe about the upcoming plague? The answer is that unlike the Mitzvah of sanctifying Hashem's name, which is incumbent upon every Jew, no specific frog was commanded to infest a specific part of Egypt. Each frog could have said, "Let some other frog infest the burning furnaces." Nevertheless, each frog rushed to die for Hashem's honor, and this was the lesson that Chananya, Mishael, and Azaryah learned. (R' Yehonatan Eyebschutz, when he was eight years old) |
