We are not meant to crush Egypt with sticks but to find a voice of leadership and confront even the biggest snake. Then the opposition itself willingly helps the redemption. * As the world rapidly changes, the Rebbe’s innovative leadership changes on a dime.
The Mitzvah of Pidyon HaBen-Redemption of the First-Born requires a father to give five sh’kalim-silver coins to a Kohen 30 days after the birth of a first-born son.
habbos, Parsha Bo, is the Shabbos before Yud Shvat, and everyone is preparing themselves accordingly. IN the Farbrengen on 19 Kislev 5738 the Rebbe says that , when celebrating a Yom Tov, once should first focus on the general theme of the Yom Tov and then focus on the specialty of that year.
At the end of last week’s parsha, the Torah relates that the first seven plagues had no effect on Pharaoh. His heart was hardened and he refused to let the Jewish people go.
The Ten Plagues are divided in the Torah over two segments. Seven of them were described in last week’s parsha and the final three are in this week’s parsha.
This Shabbos – Parshas Bo – is the Shabbos before Yud Shvat. While there are many special things that happened on Yud Shvat (histalkus of Rebbetzin Rivka, histalkus of the Frierdike Rebbe, and the Kabbalas HaNesius of the Rebbe), our main focus needs to be on our connection with the Nasi – the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach – today in 5776.
The eighth plague, the locusts, was arguably the most devastating plague of all, after the plague of the firstborn. When an agrarian society has its crops consumed by locusts, it faces mass starvation with deadly results. No other plague had the potential to wipe out as many people as this one.
We now clearly see that in addition to the fact that Jews are “hachein kulchem” for the redemption, standing ready to greet Moshiach, even the Gentiles stand “hachein kulchem,” ready for Jews to finally get out of exile and go to Eretz Yisroel, in the true and complete redemption.
In the Egyptian exile there was no alternative other than to nullify or crush the opposition, which was accomplished by the Plagues against Egypt. In that case there was no choice, as it were, but to use severe force. But apart from that scenario, where possible, we strive to confront opposition specifically with pleasant and peaceful means. * From Chapter Seven of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the compiler’s emphasis.)
“Speech is simultaneously the poorest and richest of all of our faculties. On one hand, Malchus or speech is represented by the metaphor of the moon, which has no light of its own. It is utterly poor. Words on their own are just scratches on a piece of paper or mere sounds created by a mechanical movement of our vocal chords. But speech also is a medium that can carry the richest ideas and sentiments and transmit them to others. Speech, like the moon which reflects radiant sunlight, can reflect profound wisdom and powerful emotions.”
The Ten Plagues have traditionally been understood as G-d’s way of punishing Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their enslavement of the Jews. However, if that was the only objective, then why did G-d have to stretch it out, plague after plague, until there were Ten Plagues in all? Why didn’t He just bring one devastating and convincing plague to punish the Egyptians and compel them to liberate the Jewish people?
… why it was necessary for the miracle of the non-barking dogs to prove this point? Wouldn’t it have sufficed for the dogs simply not to attack the Jews? Furthermore, the mere fact that the Jewish people did not suffer any of the earlier plagues should have amply demonstrated that the Jews were worthy of being spared. Why the need for this unusual miracle of keeping the dogs silent?
January 20, 2021