The Weekly Shtikle - Bo

This week's shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas Dovid Pesach ben Tzvi Hirsh HaLevi whose 5^th yahrtzeit is this coming Tuesday, 6 Shevat.

There is much discussion regarding the exact methodology and pattern behind the ten plagues - what the plagues represented individually and as a whole and why they were in their specific order. I would like to focus on a specific subset of the ten plagues. In four out of the ten plagues, Egypt was invaded by animals. This animal invasion seems to have a theme of its own. Rashi (Bereishis 1:26) writes that man was created to rule over the fish, the birds and the animals. However, if man is not worthy, he will become subservient to the animals. This four-pronged attack from the animal kingdom served to prove that the Egyptians had reached that level of unworthiness and they needed to be shown that they were no longer in charge.

The first animal invasion was that of frogs. Although the frogs invaded the land, there is very specific mention of their emergence from the water and their subsequent return to the water after the plague was over. The Nile, which the Egyptians worshipped as a deity of sorts, was completely out of their control.

The invasion of lice came from the ground beneath the feet of the people. The attack of the wild beasts symbolized the Egyptians' defeat above ground as well as being invaded from the outside. Finally, the locusts represented the animal kingdom's establishing aerial supremacy, as it were, over Egypt. The four animal infiltrations together symbolized Egypt's loss of power and ultimate subservience to the animals in all physical realms of our world.

 

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

 

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: Talented Locusts

Dikdukian: Better not Butcher This One

AstroTorah: Korban Pesach in the Sky by R' Ari Storch

AstroTorah: The Death Star (Ra'ah) the classic by R' Ari Storch

 

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The Weekly Shtikle - Va'eira

The first aliyah of this week's parsha contains the famous 4 terms of redemption that are a prominent theme on the seder night. There is an intriguing nuance between the first and last of the four terms, discussed by R' Yoseif Salant in Be'er Yoseif. We are told (6:6) "vehotzeisi eschem mitachas sivlos Mitzrayim," I will extricate you from the hardships of Egypt. In the very next pasuk, we are told following the fourth term, "velakachti," that we will know that it is HaShem who took us out "mitachas sivlos Mitzrayim." The repetition of this phrase in the adjacent pasuk is odd enough on its own. But it is made even more curious by the fact that the first sivlos is written without a vuv, while the second is with a vuv.

R' Yoseif explains that there are two types of hardships. The unending back-breaking toil was a very clear and present physical strain. At the same time, we as a nation suffered significant spiritual damage by the centuries spent in the loathsome empire of Mitzrayim. These are much more difficult to feel and identify and may not be immediately apparent. When HaShem facilitated our exodus – the first of the four steps – only one form of hardship was clearly removed. Therefore, sivlos is written without a vuv, as if it were singular – sivlas. Velakachti refers to the giving of the Torah after the 49-day cleansing process leading up to that monumental event. Only after that would we truly appreciate and understand the duality of the hardships from which we were rescued. So the phrase is repeated and with the vuv in sivlos, to indicate this new realization.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

 

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Plurals and Singulars

Dikdukian: Netziv and the Missing Yud

Dikdukian: The Strange thing about Frogs

Dikdukian: Dikdukei Va'eira by Eliyahu Levin

Dikdukian: Leshon Yachid veRabbim by Eliayhu Levin

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The Weekly Shtikle - Shemos

A special Weekly Shtikle mazal tov to my niece Rachelle (Levy) on her marriage this week to Binyamin Zev Bausk. Mazal tov to the extended Levy, Bulka and Bausk mishpachos.

As sefer Shemos begins, before Moshe Rabbeinu is even born, we are told of the great heroism of Shifrah and Puah who defy Paroah's orders to abort all newborn boys. When confronted by Paroah, they manage to escape retribution with a believable alibi. After this, we are told (1:20) that HaShem did good for the midwives and the nation multiplied and increased greatly. What is the good that HaShem provided to the midwives? We are likely familiar with Rashi's interpretation. The reward is spoken about only in the next pasuk – "vaya'as lahem batim." But the obvious difficulty with this is that the two phrases are separated. If the expounding of vayeitev is vaya'as, why aren't the two phrases next to each other?

Malbim explains simply that Shifrah and Puah put themselves in grave danger of personal harm and Paroah even understood they were not being completely honest with him. Nevertheless, HaShem did good to them that Paroah decided not to punish them in any way.

Ohr HaChayim, however, provides an understanding that works with the flow of the pesukim. When we toil and put all of our efforts into a specific task, sometimes the success of that task is the greatest reward we can get. Therefore, vayirev ha'am, the great growth and thriving of the nation, which was a direct result of their efforts, was itself a great reward.

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: Nothing to See but Fear Itself

Dikduian: Bas Paroah
Dikduian: From the Children of the Hebrews
Dikduian: The Strange Thing about Straw
Dikduian: Affliction
Dikduian: Raamseis

Dikduian: Dikduk Observations on Shemos by Eliyahu Levin

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The Weekly Shtikle - Vayechi

This past Sunday, 5 Teves, was the 47^th yahrtzeit  of my wife's grandfather, Rabbi Dr Israel Frankel, a"h. This week's shtikle, a most appropriate one, is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Yisroel Aryeh ben Asher Yeshayahu.

This coming Sunday, 12 Teves, is the 17^th yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph Schechter of Ner Yisrael. This week's shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Yoseif ben Eliezer Z'ev.

Two geography notes:

When Yaakov blesses Yoseif and his children before he blesses all his sons together, he tells Yoseif (48:22), "I have given you an additional shechem, more than that of your brothers." Rashi offers two interpretations of the word "shechem." He explains, not without adequate support from other pesukim in Tanach, that the word "shechem" means portion. In halachah, the first-born son receives a double portion of the inheritance. Instead of Reuvein being the beneficiary of that privilege, it was granted to Yoseif as both his sons received a portion in Eretz Yisrael. The other explanation offered by Rashi is that this is a reference to the city of Shechem. In reward for his toil in assuring his father a proper burial, Yaakov granted the city of Shechem to Yoseif for burial and as an extra portion of land for the inheritance of his descendants.

In sefer Yehoshua (21), we are given an exhaustive list of the different cities that were designated for Kohanim and Levi'im. Among the cities designated for Levi'im was Shechem. Additionally, we are told in the previous perek that Shechem was a city of refuge for accidental killers. That being so, of what significance is this gift to Yoseif if his descendants would not ultimately settle in that city?

The gemara (Makkos 10a) presents a similar difficulty with a different city. Chevron was another city that was designated for Kohanim as well as a city of refuge. However, we are told (Shofetim 1:20) that Chevron was given to Caleiv ben Yefuneh as decreed by Moshe Rabbeinu. Abbayei's answer is a single word, parvadaha, the origin of which is the subject of some discussion. The essence of his response seems to be that the fields and courtyards around the city were given to Calev. Perhaps this answers the above question as well. Although Yoseif's descendants may never have settled in Shechem itself, the fields and courtyards were available to them and this was indeed a significant gift for Yoseif.  (Unfortunately, today, the inhabitants of that city are not descendants of Yoseif by any means.)

 

 

When Yaakov's sons bring him back to Eretz Canaan to be buried (50:10), they reach "Goren HaAtad asher be'eiver haYardein." The term eiver haYardein in most cases refers to the eastern side of the Yardein. Also, since the word eiver implies a crossing over, and they started off to the West of the Yardein, "eiver haYardein" would seem to imply the Eastern side. This is hard to understand for there is a rather direct route from Mitzrayim straight up to Chevron without encountering the Yardein. Why would the brothers end up on the other side of the Yardein?

The easiest answer to this question is that of the Chizkuni, that here "eiver haYardein" refers to the western side, as it does in Devarim 11:30. However, the most interesting answer is that of Rabbeinu Meyuchas, that in bringing Yaakov to be buried, the sons went around Eretz Yisrael in the same manner that B'nei Yisrael did when they left Mitzrayim. The sefer Torah Sheleimah quotes from an obscure source that this is the meaning of the pasuk (Tehilim 114:3) "hayam ra'ah vayanos," for the ark of Yosef, "haYardein yisov le'achor," for the ark of Yaakov, that the sons of Yaakov had the Yardein split for them at the same point that it split for B'nei Yisrael. So, suggests Rabbeinu Meyuchas, they were indeed on the eastern side of the Yardein as part of their journey and that place, "Avel Mitzrayim," was indeed "Avel haShitim" where B'nei Yisrael cried for Moshe Rabeinu.

Chazak, Chazak, veNischazeik!

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka

WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: You Make the Call: Aveil Mitzrayim

Dikdukian: Efrasah – what is your real name?

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com

The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

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