The Weekly Shtikle - Va'eira

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my father, Reuven Pinchas ben Chaim Yaakov, a"h.

 

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

This past Shabbos marked the beginning of a new cycle of the Mishnah Yomis program which I encourage everyone to try. With two mishnayos per day, the entire shas is covered in under 6 years. There is a beautiful thought on one of the mishnayos this week which, while perhaps better suited for next week's parsha, is certainly appropriate for this week's as well.

The last mishnah of the first perek features the famous passage from R' Elazar ben Azaria which most will at least be familiar with from the hagaddah. "Behold I am like 70 years old and never merited that the exodus from Mitzrayim should be mentioned at night until Ben Zoma interpreted the pasuk…" This begs the question: If R' Elazar had no scriptural reference for his position, what was in fact the reasoning behind it?

Meiri understands that the position of the chachamim is based on the fact that the exodus concluded in the morning when B'nei Yisrael actually left. R' Elazar, however, holds that since the final exodus actually began at night with makas bechoros and the korban Pesach, we should mention it at night as well. It seems that the real message behind R' Elazar's position is that it is not sufficient to simply appreciate the end result of our deliverance from Mitzrayim. It is necessary to appreciate each step and the miracles that HaShem brought in order to finally break us free. In the context of the recitation of Shema, this is confined merely to the events of the night before. But certainly, on a broader scale, beginning with the events of this week's parsha, we must appreciate each component – each plague, each miracle – individually, not just as a means to an end.

Have a good Shabbos and chodesh tov.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

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Dikdukian: Dikdukei Va'eira by Eliyahu Levin

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DailyLeaf:

.י"ד The Most Effective Rebuke

.ט"ו Magic Number 48

 

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