Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan - Parshat Shemot 2

foreign [Music] and as well as the Kings because you have it married um someone from the tribe of Yehuda and from her eventually kings came from the the descendants of David Miller now there is another interpretation because midwives feared God he made them houses who is he Paro because he saw the midwives fear God too much and they're not killing the Jews therefore Paro came up with another um trick and he made them houses he put the midwives on their house arrest and he said I'm not going to let you protect the Jewish people and he sent Egyptian midwives to oversee killing of the babies another interpretation is that yes Paro made houses for whom not for the midwives but rather for the Jewish ladies who are going to give birth he forbade the Jews to give birth at home he created birthing centers caparo was the first one who created hospitals and he said it is illegal because it's unsafe to give birth at home he was the first innovator of Public Safety of course for the wrong reason and surprisingly every other child in that hospital died and surprisingly they were all boys now turn to page 297. a new command comes out Paro commanded his entire people saying every son that will be born into the river shall you throw him and every daughter shall you keep alive some say that this command was even to Egyptians as it says Paro commanded his entire people that even Egyptians were not allowed to keep their babies why because his astrologist told him that we see in the stars that around now a baby boy is going to be born who is going to take the Jewish people out and he's going to cause a lot of trouble for you so until now Pardo just tried to kill Jewish babies because they shouldn't multiply but now his astrologers are telling him we're not sure who this baby is going to be we've seen the stars that he's going to be from the Jews but at the same time we see in the stars that he's going to be Egyptian we're confused so Paro said in such a case I'm gonna kill all the boys that are born in this time Jewish and non-jewish and therefore even Egyptians threw all their babies into the Nile River and of course the astrologers were confused because Moshe was both he was Jewish but he was raised in paro's house and he was taught all the Egyptian culture and philosophy um and now we learn about moshe's birth chapter 2 verse one a man whose name was amram went from the house of Levy and took a daughter of Levi the woman conceived and gave birth to a son she gave birth prematurely at six months and therefore she saw that he was good he was able to survive even though he was a preemie and she hid him for three months she took a risk and she said the Egyptians know when I got married and therefore they're going to come in nine months which is in another three months let me enjoy my baby for three months she could not hide him any longer so she took for him a basket place the boy into it and placed the basket among the Reeds at the bank of the River Nile she said Egyptians are now going to come check for the baby they'll find him and kill him I would rather give him to God let him be in the river and let God take care of him and protect him his sister Miriam stationed herself at the distance to know what would be done with him and now by the way if they just got married and this is their first baby where is his sister coming from and the answer is this is their remarriage they were already married and they already had Miriam and aharon but then because of this harsh decree they got divorced because they said what's the point of being married if we're not allowed to have children and of course the midrash tells us the story that Miriam convinced her father to marry again because she said at least you might have daughters and let them live or maybe Paro will cancel his decree by the time you have the baby so Miriam is walking along the river and watching how the basket is Flowing slowly between the reeds verse 5 paro's daughter who we know her name is bitia went down to bathe by the river and her maidens her servant girls walked along the river while paro's daughter was inside the river they were on the bank protecting her she saw the basket among the Reeds and she sent her maidservant and she took it she opened it and saw a boy a youth was crying she took pity on him and she realized that this is a Hebrew boy and the midrash tells us that that she tried to feed him she asked one of her maidservants and mosho would not take and he was still crying so she realized yes he's hungry why is he not eating and one by one she tried many many Egyptian ladies and Marshall would refuse to drink and at that moment verse 7 his sister said to paro's daughter shall I go and summon for you a wet nurse from the Hebrew women let me invite a Jewish lady this boy is Jewish maybe he'll drink from a Jewish lady para's daughter said go the girl went and summoned the boy's mother and now the baby and the mother reunite paro's daughter said to her take this boy and nurse him for me and I will give your pay and imagine now moshe's mother is feeding her own baby and she's getting paid for it so the woman took the boy and nursed him the boy grew up after two years and she brought him to the daughter of Paro and he was a son to her so for the first two years of his life Moshe lived in his Jewish Family sopato's daughter called his name Moshe for because she said the word Moshe means drawn out for I drew him from the water so what was moshe's original name his name was tuvia his Jewish name was tuvia his Egyptian name was Moshe now we're in page 299 when Moshe grew up he went out to take a look at his people he knew he was Jewish he was raised well and he believed in one God he identified as a Jew and therefore he liked to visit the Jews and observe them he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man he looked around to make sure nobody is watching and he struck down the Egyptian and when he killed him he hid him in sand the next day he he went out again and he saw two Jewish men fighting he said to the wicked one meaning the one that was the guilty one why would you strike your fellow and that Jew got upset and he said who appointed you a judge over us are you going to kill me also like you killed that Egyptian and Moshe realized that someone did see motion knew that someone saw because the Jewish people were there the Egyptian was hitting a Jew and Moshe saved the Jew from the Egyptian but now he realized that these these Jews who were fighting they're not good people that's why they were fighting each other and he realized that they will inform Egyptians of what Moshe did and therefore he became scared but he didn't do anything yet he decided to wait and power heard about this matter yes these Jews and they were those that caused a lot of problems to Moshe they right away informed Paro and Paro tried to kill Moshe and midrash explains how he actually caught him and how he sentenced him to death and was not an easy decision because he was the son of his beloved daughter adopted son and as the Executioner um swung his sword moshe's neck turned to Marble and the sword bounced off and killed the Executioner and many miracles happen and Moshe ran away from Egypt and he settled in median and he said by a well now midrash also tells us that many many events happened in moshe's life between he's leaving Egypt and he's coming to median and that is because Moshe left Egypt when he was 12 years old and he came back to Egypt when he was 80. The Exodus was when he was 80. which means he came to Egypt when he was 79. what was Moshe doing from 12 until 79. uh so midrash speaks a lot about it but the Torah tells us briefly he ended up in Midian he is about 77 years old he's not married yet he said by the by a well the minister of median had seven daughters and they came to water their father's ship sheep verse 17 the Shepherds came and drove them away they um did not treat the girls properly they took advantage of them so Moshe got up and saved them he chased the Shepherds away and watered their sheep so when they went back to their father the father was appreciative to Moshe and he invited him and he even gave his daughter sipporah to Moshe as a wife we're on page 301 she gave birth to her son and he named him Gershon so let us assume that Moshe is now 78 years old for he said why named gershom I have been stranger in a foreign land gear means a stranger sham means there during those many days it happened that the king of Egypt died again from the age of 12 now Moshe is 78 79 many years passed the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel grown because of the work and they cried out because the new power came and he was no better so they lost their hope until now power was old they thought he's gonna die we're gonna have it better now the new power came and it got even worse they are outcry because of the work went up to God God heard their money and God remembered his Covenant with the forefathers now verse 3. Moshe was chapter three Moshe was shepherding the Sheep of Heathrow and eventually he arrived at the Mountain of God toward horev this was harsinai Mount Sinai which eventually is going to be called the Mountain of God an angel of Hashem appeared to him in a blaze of fire from amid the bush sometimes in a desert there is spontaneous fire so Moshe saw and behold the Bush was burning in the fire but unlike a normal Bush that's burning in the desert this bush was not consumed he was just burning and burning he realized this is not Earthly fire Moshe thought I will turn aside and look at this great site why is the bush not burnt and God called out to him and said Moshe Moshe and he said here I am and he said don't come closer take off your shoes because the ground is Holy page 303 and he and God said I'm the god of your forefathers emotion hid his face Hashem said I have indeed seen the Affliction of my people that is in Egypt verse 10. and now go and I shall dispatch you to Paro and you shall take my people the children of Israel out of Egypt so God appoints Moshe as the savior is very humble he doesn't believe that he can do it doesn't believe that he is worthy so he says who am I that I should go to Paro that I should take the Jewish people out of Egypt and Hashem says yeah you're right maybe you're not so great you're not all powerful but I shall be with you page 305. verse 13. Moshe again argues and says when I come to the children of Israel and they tell me what is God's name as a proof what should I say sashem and samosa I shall be as I shall be which means this is the name that you will tell them it's a secret name that the Jewish people know and they will believe you I shall be has sent me to you you should say to them God whose name is I shall be which means god is eternal he will always be sent me Hashem the god of your forefathers has dispatched me to you this is my name forever and this is my remembrance from generation to generation now we turn to page 307. Hashem warns Moshe in verse 19 I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go except through a strong hand I shall stretch out my hand and I shall strike Egypt and eventually you will leave and you will not go empty-handed you will empty out Egypt chapter 4 Marshall continues arguing the midrash says that he they argued like this for seven days but they will not believe me Hashem said what's in your hand oh a staff throw it down Marshall through it on the ground and it turned into a snake Hashem said stretch your hand and grasp it motion grasp the hair the snake and it turned into the stick again now on page 309 Hashem said put your hand under your jacket and as soon as Moshe took it out it was white white like the like my shirt and mosho put his hand in again and it came out normal and Hashem said take the I will give you one more sign take water from the river and when you pour it on the ground of Egypt it will turn into the blood so God said I will give you number one my name my holy secret name that will be the code word and if they don't believe you perform three Miracles with the staff turning into a snake with your hand becoming white and with water turning to blood and Moshe again argues I'm heavy of mouth and heavy of speech and Hashem again reassures him I shall be with your mouth and teach you what you should say and again Moshe argues please my Lord send through whomever you will send just send someone else and now for the wrath of Hashem burned against motion he said is there not Aaron your brother the levite I know that he will surely speak don't argue anymore just go and I will be with you and Aaron will be with you you don't want to talk don't talk I'll send Aaron to speak on your behalf but you have to be there you will stand in front of Paro and Aaron is going to talk behold he's going out to meet you I appear to him in a prophetic vision and Aaron is now on his way out of Egypt to meet you now we're on page 311 verse 16. Aaron shall speak for you to the people and he will be your mouth and you will be his leader verse 18. mosho returned to he draw his father-in-law and said to him let me go now back to my brothers who are in Egypt and you trust said go in peace that's a good question someone is asking when Moshe said to Paro I'm heavy of speech why didn't he just say God I'm happy of speech if you heal me I'll go why didn't Moshe ask Hashem to fix his speech uh Ah that's a good question one of the answers that's given in um our in our sources is that Hashem wanted Moshe to have speech impediment Hashem wanted Moshe to have hard time speaking because he said throughout history there will always be people who will be good orators who will convince many to follow them just because of their Charisma and I don't want people to say that motion was just like that I want everyone to know that the reason people listen to Moshe was because Moshe was saying words that everyone recognized were from God not because he was able to weave Beautiful Stories and impress people and hypnotize people no he couldn't talk normally uh so the the speech impediment actually added to the strength of moshe's Prophecy and Leadership now the first one you Moshe took his wife and his sons we didn't hear about his second son but apparently his second son was just born and he wasn't circumcised yet and he returned to the land of Egypt and Hashem said to Moshe I shall strengthen paro's heart and he will not send out the people if and eventually after all the Miracles I shall kill firstborn son and tell him that and here Hashem said to Moshe famous words tell Paro that Jewish people are my first born child beneath Israel Hashem loves the Jewish people and he calls us out of all the nations of the world we are his firstborn baby now verse 24 it was on the way in the lodging that Hashem encountered Moshe and tried to kill him why because he didn't circumcise his child because Moshe said I have a command from God to go and save the Jewish people they're suffering at the same time I have a Mitzvah to circumcise my son on Eighth Day what should I do if I circumcise him I will not be able to travel for three days I will be delayed so you know what I'm not gonna circumcise him and Hashem said no you should have circumcised him and left him with his mother and brother in median you I didn't tell you to bring him realize what's happening she took a sharp Stone and cut off the foreskin of her son someone is asking a question did Moshe know that he was born in circumcision that doesn't matter because we're talking about moshe's son um Moshe himself was circumcised when he was born but that was 79 years earlier and uh now when sippora took the foreskin and she touched moshe's feet with it so he released him there was a snake that was swallowing Moshe and as soon as the foreskin touched Marshall's feet the snake withdrew okay saved the life of Moshe Hashem said to Aaron go meet Moshe so Aaron went and encountered him at the Mountain of God which means Moshe went to Heathrow to ask permission and then Moshe traveled back to the mountain that he saw God at and as he was passing it Aaron met him there and Aaron told Moshe don't bring your family to Egypt send them back and that's what Moshe did verse 29 Moshe comes to Egypt they gather all the Elders of the Jewish people and Aaron spoke to them about what Hashem told Moshe and he performed the signs in the sight of the people he performed the Miracles and the people believed chapter 5 afterwards Moshe and Aaron came to Paro and said send out my people that they may celebrate for me in the wilderness we only need to go for three days to serve God and we'll come back since they knew that it will be a challenge a test the power will not be able to pass if they tell him let us go forever so they presented him with a smaller test just let us go for three days and Paro still refused Paro replied who is Hashem that I should be headed to his voice to send out Israel I do not know God I do not know Hashem nor will I send out Israel now we're on page 315. verse 6 on that day Paro ordered the task Masters over the people you shall no longer give straw to the people to manufacture the bricks let them go and gather straw for themselves but the quota of bricks that they were making yesterday and before yesterday you shall impose upon them do not reduce it because they're lazy that's why they're crying to say saying let us go and bring offerings to our God let the word be heavier upon the the men and let them engage in it and let them not pay attention two false words one way to remove spiritual thoughts from a person's mind is to occupy him with physical labor with a lot of worry with pressure if a person wants to be spiritual means he's not working enough and the opposite if you want to become spiritual you have to limit your physical involvement with the world if you work less you will be able to learn more and pray more so verse 12 the people spread out throughout the entire land of Egypt to gather straw and the test masks Masters pressing complete your work the four men of the children of Israel whom paro's task Masters had appointed over them were beaten which means the Jewish people who were supervisors over other Jewish people they themselves were bitten by Egyptians saying why did you not complete your requirement to make bricks the the Jewish um four men were merciful and they didn't push the Jewish people so much and because of that they got bitten by Egyptians verse 15 the four men of the children of Israel came and cried out to Paro the leaders of the Jewish people came and they said to