Rabbi Mordechai Kraft - Why Didn't Moshe Just Leave the Palace?

okay welcome everybody I'd like to welcome everybody to today's lunch and learn as we say if it's Tuesday I'm Emmett it must be our Lunch and Learn and again like we always say that I welcome everybody's comments and and an insight and anything we discuss and please welcome to feel free to jump in if you're listening live or if you're watching it later online feel free to leave a comment or send me a message and I'll be happy to to respond to it so today we're doing very interesting topic that particularly interests me and it really deals with what the purpose of I guess what the purpose of this world is all about or miss everything in in that respect and I mean by I say that you know we understand that the purpose of life is really to perfect ourselves and to perfect ourselves in a way whereby our Nationals can relate to a chef in other words if we're gonna connect to a xem for eternity which is the purpose of this world then we should earn that place part of that ability to connect depends on how similar we are to assume and other words in the spiritual world similarity allows that allows for their the closeness if a soul is not similar to a Shem the closeness is diminished if a soul can be more godlike then there'll be a greater fusion as it war if we could think in terms of those in that type of language and in fact that's probably the greatest of bits that we have in the total in which is to be to be holy Quadra huff to be go to go in God's ways to resemble a show to act like a show to to transform our personality traits into what a Shem wants us to look like how do we do that so we have to understand what a Shem is who our home he's compassionate we have to be compassion compassion that he's merciful we have to be merciful well Erica pay me slow to anger we have to be slow dying but the huge camel meat out as we speak about and at the same time we have to understand that that the perfection of our personality really depends on how we conduct ourselves in every situation and and that's a refinement of self which isn't just you know in icing on the cake of Torah as it were it's really what the purpose of the Torah is the purpose that are being to work on ourselves to perfect ourselves to refine ourselves and our actions have to demonstrate that in every situation now in sometimes in our lives we know what to do in terms of action because we have a commandment you know we know for example that if it's if it's the night of Pesach we're commanded to be eating matzah or we know that if we're gonna eat thread we're obligated to make a blessing a motorcy document arts or four men were obligating the morning to make sure we put on our to fill in to Davin but there's that great area of life that part of life whereby I have to we have to conduct ourselves in the way that God wants yet it's not explicitly written as what to do it's derived from how the evolved how the emo how much you obey no had the great men of Tanakh conducted themselves and the word we use for that is is Derek Earth's there it means proper conduct and in the Rambam rites and I believe it's a case of mission on the Rambam that says you can't you can't codify proper conduct because every situation is different you can't codify mito personality traits because a personality trait is something which depends on the situation it depends on the moment it depends on what you're trying to achieve you know for example anger is something which obviously is forbidden but there's a time when one needs to express anger at least externally in order to to stand up for justice or whatever it might be you know there's a time when humility is is the right trait where we have to say I don't know and I you decide and there's a time when false humility cause the destruction of Jerusalem as it says that the avenues us so the humility was aquarium and of course destroyed the temple he wouldn't decide what to do he wouldn't Baskin he wouldn't get involved so every personality trait requires a measure it requires thought it requires the ability to - to know and think and analyze is this the right person I trade for the situation and that's why personality traits in the Torah are called me don't you know be dealt the Rambam calls his is part of his section of allah which deals with really i guess we talked about you know human interaction he calls it me don't which from the word manta normal date meaning to to to measure you have to measure it every situation you have to analyze what's the appropriate ingredient what's the measurement for that particular area with that said the way we understand really how to work on this part of ourselves the self perfection in action and those areas of life which don't have explicit hollow heart but but require that thought of how am i supposed to be hey why don't I good luck myself the way we analyze that is we really look and and in the story lines in the hamish or in Tanakh and this is really where shem is is giving us ideas and hints and and saying look see and that's one of the reasons that God actually communicates through stories as safe abrasive seifish Moses is it's so filled with with with stories and part the stories there's hidden ha lockers with in the lockers of of meat out of proper conduct of how to behave in certain situations and the analysis of that I think is extraordinarily fascinating in and it gives us the tools that we need to really perfect our actions and our personalities in every area that that we encounter and that's what what this world is all about to perfect ourselves and to really to take the raw material God gave us and give back a completed product and as a result we rewarded for that and achieve the closeness that we'll be able to achieve because we've made our self more godlike so what that says said by way of introduction I'd like to focus just on one episode that in partial bow and just going to read from the verse for a moment looking at chapter 10 verse 11 and parshas bow in Exodus and schmoes chapter 10 verse 11 so what's happening over here is that we're in the midst of the last three plagues parshas bow as we know is the miracle value of beta stew Aleph is one is three which actually is a hint that there are three plagues in parshas bow and lastly plagues we know our our bet locusts and the kosher darkness and Malthus picaros saying the first point we look at the locusts for a moment or an episode surrounding motion Robinho's interaction with Perot concerning the plague of locusts so what happened it says like this that after the last plague of the barod so perros ministers people of his house they all became nervous it says we go marathi far oh I love these servants of power said to him and my psyche I said not on the mawkish how long will this the ensnare us Sherlock astonishing be arduous at Chemeketa he says sent forth the Jewishness of the nation's send them out of Egypt we have the USHL okay to let their serve their God attempt a turkey Optimates Ryan before mr. Ryan before Egypt is destroyed so what happened it says for you Shabbos moshe of us our own apparel motion aaron were brought back to the palace the yahweh elohim and power said to them look who go into us a sham ghost serve a sham and locating your gods well me will be hosting and then par last and who's going with you the yellow emotion moshus has been a rain abyss nickname known they later we're going with our children and our old people we're all going who but Nana what I was saying or boys and girls but so negative Kirino are sheep and our cabin they look we're all going we're all leaving this is now the prelude to the eighth plague I guess para has experienced enough for most banal let me ask them who's going he said we're all going back kick around anymore Waikiki Shimano because it's a cog version for your life and power says back to Moshe air-crane it should be so ashamed mechanical can God should be with you as I'm sending you this napkin and your and your little ones okay Rodney get Panera man he adds a warning base and you should understand this eel before your eyes it says and then what happens over here power says local pain power retracts he says local pain look Hunan Catherine de do SM cure go let the men go forth and serve Hashem their God in this key oh so attentive action because that's what you're requesting your question devil hogwash Emma some sort of celebration to Hashem so the men should do it in other words Mojo's request was men women children everybody far retracts and he says okay let the men go then there's a pause in the verse and it says something very startling the eageriy show some me a spin a pharaoh and moshe and our own who was with them were expelled from before the face of pharaoh the gun shows some meat a spoon a furrow now that's interesting look at before i focus on just the next person says we go Michela Moshe and then it Shem sister Moshe the taeyeon treloarís lift up your hand on the earth I never Spencer on the land of Earth and land of Egypt the Arda and there's gonna be locusts for Yala oh it's miss Ryan and these locusts went forth on each of the yoga's correlates of arts and they ate up all the trees of the of the earth is cause sure he sho borrowed anything that the anything that they anything that the hell had leftover the locusts went and in a massive swarm something which was never seen before the are banana locust went out but what I'd like to focus on is is little is the sentence that preceded that again what happened in the story Moshe comes to Paro we're going we're at the end of the plague of the hell we're going to the eighth plague just before they've plague one more request let the Jewish people go forth who's going we're all going everybody our men or women are your old people our young people we're taking all our sheep our cattle everyone's going there's legitimate requests hogwash em all going - forth - to serve a sham and then there's a change of heart and power says no I don't want that let the men go the men are the ones that you were requesting from before you want to serve a Shem take the men but the children aren't going of y'all peace the women it's it's only the men there's a pause in the verse the garish of Sami a spinning Perot and it says that Moshe and Aaron were expelled from before the face of power he garish now garish is a very strong word expelled that he garish for example the world we might be familiar with is garrison garrison means a divorce to be garish you know gay garrison is a very sad word garish someone's a garrison in his the idea of somebody I'm really separating off from something gay Russian expelling they were expelled from the house of paralegal shove some me a spoon a far off just looking a trashy for a second in that regard show some ratchet says how he's a lush and cut zone for though purush be a garish doesn't say who the big Irish was who expelled them just that they were expelled from the house of fun oh it's a strong word it implies almost like a a a physical picking up and throwing out it's a very harsh word and it's a very surprising word and this is really where I want to build our discussion on it's a surprising word why is it surprising well it's surprising because faro pharaoh had just seen seven plagues up till now plagues which were absolutely devastating the the for the fact that the water turned to blood plague number one and there was nothing to drink miraculous and you had to buy you had to buy water from from from clients won't forget water only wait again it so far they are the infestation of frogs in in in everything we went through we went through plagues of of of Dever where the animals died we went to place of shrimp boils where the lice you know even the hail which destroyed Egypt has been devastated now seven plagues have been have been enacted on the land and against the people clearly Moshe and Aaron are absolutely in control over here and you know as can be seen really you know by the beginning of the verse also that you know that it says The Beginner's versus said emotion I don't came to the palace the Yahveh motion I don't know power the oh my love call my shell cave him under Simonton eliminate schalke me they have told him when he comes again let my people go they seem to walk into the palace of their own volition of their own strength then the invitation and it shows what type of control he had that they were feared and that's when the servants of Pharaoh turned to if I only said listen let them go how we can't take this anymore and Pharaoh agrees so he tells us certainly you Shabbos mojo is our own so call them back bring them back here he brings in the back and they make the request who's going he says everybody Pharaoh changes his mind and says no only the men and then that very strong language very garish of Sun and motion Aaron are expelled perhaps even bodily from the picked up and thrown out of the palace so how could that be here's the question how can that be that they were expelled in such a way they were clearly in control they were clearly you know had the upper hand they they were they were the fire had seen seven plagues why would motion Aaron allow themselves the indignity the the the disgrace of being thrown out so in order to stand this we're going to jump into the Ritva excuse me the Riva the Riva was one of the Bally toe scoffs the body toast sauce we know worthy basically grandchildren's of Rashi and about the 1200s writing in France parts of Germany and the rethought was one of the pollito scoffs so this is a language that goes back over 800 years and obviously in terms of Jewish scholarship very very authoritative and therefore their insight is something which we value their very much so you know in learning we're always looking backwards that why is that because anyone who is closer to the giving of tartar scene High has a greater connection to the wisdom of Torah and it's more MORE it understands things in a deeper way than we do if we could see things bill easily could we could stand on the shoulders and look ahead but the those who are closer we're always looking that's-- we're always looking backwards what was looking to the generation behind us what did they say well the generation before that say they were closer if they didn't think of it they didn't say something why are we why are we why we're bringing something new that they didn't see so when we have what we call a Rishon one that we show name those who wrote from the year ten hundred to about 1400 again their words are so authoritative because their depth of understanding of Torah was was much greater than ours so the reverse says is this ever since as follows the revolt and it says when the by tells us it says vagary show some and motion Aaron were expelled from the palace so he says Tama because I'm in wonder lobby whoo-hoo cackling saves me a spiral why did they hang around so far why did they delay leaving the house of our own she hoots luckily gar shame that it was necessary to expel them if Pharoah said no what should they have done they should have turned around and walked out why were they in a position where they were delaying that's his question whereby Pharaoh had thick almost like physically have his henchman come and throw them out doesn't say we did it exactly but if you got a she's a strong language of expulsion the yesh Lamar and here's the answer that he gives Shoshanna partially ahahhaha she vain we have to remember the original part of the story how did Moshe and Aaron arrived at the palace to begin with well let's go back for a moment and let's just take a look for a second at the gaining of partials bow as we mentioned it begins after the plague of the hail which motion our own come to the palace and Pharaohs heart was hardened and he wouldn't listen and motion our own make a request and they say that our people leave go serve a sham and it says that Pharaoh refuses so they leave they go out then what happens the people turns of Faroese his servants his ministers and they say this is the land they're destroying us we can't take this anymore let them go and fire it has a change of heart right there and he agrees and listen to what the verse says in verse 8 but you shove as moshav ii as our own affair oh the you shove means and he brought them back new chef he returned them he caused them to come back he invited them back into the palace it's the only time we see that he invited them back in you shove s Moshe was our meaning what does that mean he must have sent his servants go get motion our own and bring them back for you chef he says Rashi tells us who should why they should leave after shower him they were brought back through a messenger that was sent after them they sheba more power when they were brought back to power most about the writ process and what I'm gonna say right now is something I feel was absolutely remarkable the question that the Ritva exuded the Revo is dealing with is why did they allow themselves to be hanging around so low that they needed to be expelled if Pharaoh said no they should have just you know but to their coats turned around says listen it's your funeral yeah it's it's it's your loss we're leaving you know God God will take care of another plague but they didn't do that they stood there and they waited and that's his question why were they standing there and waiting I hope I made the question really clear you know I found in my teaching over the years you know that there's nothing more interesting than the answer to a question that bothers you there's nothing more boring than they answer the question that you never asked so before we give an answer we have to make sure the question is so bothersome so the question bothersome why did the hell how themselves to be thrown out of the palace why didn't they just leave that's the question listen again with the the the reforms the resources said via garish of some Thema lava equal Kukoc that saves me baby power why did they delay so long from leaving the house of Pharaoh sure who struck the garnishing that was necessary to expel them violently or bodily the yesh LA where the answer is Shoshanna partially a classy vain because Paro had sent a messenger to bring the back remember what happened for you chef they had been invited back into the palace our King though luckily part of me Meno arching eaten the hem vicious therefore motion Aaron understood we can't leave the palace unless Pharaoh gives us permission Lowell utterly part to me men watching eating the hem wishes we can't leave until we get permission why is that because improper conduct derech Eretz as we call it there's a whole ah what's the law if you're a guest in someone's home you're not allowed to leave until your host gives you permission that's proper conduct when someone invites you as a guest proper conduct is you just don't leave you have to wait until the host allows you to leave that's refined behavior that's respect for a host motion our felt were bound by that we were invited back to the palace by Pharaoh so in essence the first time he did that he invited us in were his guests as a more if were his guests granted he's changed his mind about what he wants to do it's no longer he's no longer he's no longer agreeing to our request but we're still his guests and therefore we're not allowed to leave unless he gives us permission to leave it would be a violation of proper conduct Victini read he says i'm really now from kedusha halluf which is a a safer written based on the secret and we call - muslim of kind of limits who was my rapping and was the the the the prominent well-known russia shield called sign for 50 years says it's beer at the Volvo so the explanation is as follows check can cash emotional island was a question of motion Aaron it said she possibly adult Arlo hey Venus your party guard shame motion our was such wise people such intelligent people didn't they know that they're gonna stand there too long that par ho is going to violently expel them he came solo no yacht saw a column Sugar Shane so why'd they just leave before they were expelled so surely the shahe really they say even though may album show garish they would have saved themselves the disgrace of being kicked out that way for Terrence's the answers she became in ship our big shun DeVoe since power requested other than that he come ain't semi meters dark era slits a spleen as soon as we're sure so it would be a violation of their Eretz of proper personality traits a proper conduct to leave without his permission but Suri come on a longer and we need to say should there are Earth's Padma by name Yosemite Nia's be on earth that doing having proper personality traits conducting themselves in this refined fashion in this proper way of showing proper respect to a host was more imported in their eyes their own disgrace sure Moshe Arens buck really shy but base power will provide the kind meters their hearts they chose to fulfill this quality and proper personality traits alpha Beijing Yoshi Guardian visor no son you know they know they know where the signal II took they know if they understand there they are going to be embarrassed humiliated insulted expelled Eva what we learnt in this she called Adam kind desire little Colorado we know that a person is always obligated to be so concerned with their own self dignity that's an important concept that we have one's own sense of self is something we don't ignore and believe we've given different classes on it and perhaps reviewed in a class going forward self-respect are our personal dignity it's something crucial because we don't respect ourselves we're not gonna strive for the greatness God wants from us and especially a table holcomb someone who represents Tara someone represents a Shem a sage a great rabbi like motion our own they represent God to do something which causes their humiliation it's not just a violation their own honor they represent the Almighty it's a violation of God's honor so what's happening in their mind they wait all of this our own self-respect God's honor and yet on the other side was how do I conduct myself proper personality traits in motion our and and their brilliance and wisdom two of the greatest of thinkers in human history understood the proper action here is we have to conduct ourselves in a way in which we don't violate this principle of not leaving a host without permission happily the moshe allen she could die them to say sits ozpin the hardly he's lead by ish he hath is he set themselves were obligated me barrel embarrassed bond should low you thought would be the stair carrots rather than violate proper personality traits let's think we could think about think this through just for a moment and see what comes out of this and practically in our lives in this enormous weighing in the situation they're in a situation on the one hand we're gonna be embarrassed it's gonna be humiliating it's gonna reflect badly on God's even because we represent a sham we're his teachers we're his his we communicate through for him which they do and the other hand as well you know we're guests in the house of power because he invited us in to leave without permission would be a violation of what we called their parents the proper personality traits in that situation he went through the mental calculation the way that they analyzed it and they came to conclusion that we cannot violate proper personalities now just that conclusion that they went through indicates to what extent the motion Aaron understood that God values proper conduct how we behave what we do in the smallest of situations what's the correct thing to do how do i elevate myself Who am I supposed to be right now even though I'm gonna be humiliated but I can't violate that proper conduct so in their estimation and their assessment of how important it is to conduct ourselves properly we said which side do you the the lead the lead which side of the line he ended up on so therefore the obligation to work on developing a approach to life what we're asking ourselves the question how I'm what am i doing am i doing the right thing in the situation by conducting myself properly am i behaving properly am I am I saying the right words I'm like am i perfecting my personality to to have the right the right the right mode of expression you know it's very interesting just as a understand misses it says in Pirkei avos it says one thing it says it says to be cobblers condom savor Panem UFOs supposed to greet everybody with a a savor pond in my office with a pleasant countenance as the is the kind of loose translation of it but the Cabo call autumn receive people to savor Paulo murals with a face which is which is pleasant I think people feel good in your presence made them cheer them up it's interesting the word it says is it offers noise inside it says be savor Panem UFOs savor and Hebrew the word savor means for the words for the sunrise for the word this one means logic thought for example person has a good idea to good surah a good piece of logic so our rabbis are communicate silent evaders by using that word the kabocha other than the savor putting your foes before you make your face use your mind to understand what expression I should I should use a happy expression isn't always the proper expression the person might be sad person might be have bothered by something and to come with just a cheerful countenance is it's not what he needs the expression he needs is is it there's a look of concern music you know the word person it's a simple course of joyous occasion oh there's the thought process has to be this person needs they ain't or very happy a happy smile be why because I want to help them feel the joy of their their joyous moment or sometimes a person god forbid might be mourning and you know you have to receive them but within a very dignified way pleasant but but dignified respecting the space so every moment requires thought what has got one for me what's the conduct what what what part of my personality do I need to be developing emotion Aaron understood yeah well one point in their parents when aspect of proper personality traits is I can't leave until my guests my hosts give me permission I'll be humiliated me embarrassed what can I do there's a hollow there's a demand for proper traits that that's another side and we can't violate that you know I remember one time I had I was a merited to have a great uncle great aunt a lot of my german uncles and aunts cable Germany's been in the late 30s and this part this particular uncle and came over and after the war there in England during the war and died date 103 and I always enjoyed watching the way they conducted themselves old-world elegance old-world conduct you know I think my uncle probably never picked up a piece of pizza to eat if that would be in his mind a violation of dignity probably cut it with a fork and knife if he ever ate it and I remember one time I had them in my home they were out of our house and having a meal with us and I never did he just kept staying and staying and staying and and and then finally when I made a move to get up he stopped immediately okay thank you we have to leave and I realized the mistake I made I assumed that because of his age and the way I respect such respect for him he was gonna tell me when he needed to leave I was a young person and he was waiting for me to keep him the signal it's time to leave because he was the guest I was the host that's this difference now I would ask one question on this and this a question that I heard my wish if she too asked and headed limits and the question is like this but wait a minute what's going on over here maybe motion aren't really aren't doing the right thing it's true derech Eretz proper conduct is so important but one does have to be concerned with the honor of God we represent a Shem to disgrace us is to disgrace a chef because of if we're his teachers you know when you disgrace us it doesn't look good for God we can't let God be disgraced so maybe we say granted I would be violating their hearts by leaving and not being thrown out but I have no choice because I have to stand up for the honor of God so I'm never hearing comment and this is saying it must mean it must be that it would be a greater disgrace of God's honor if his teachers violated proper conduct in other words a violation of their hearts would have been the greater disgrace for God than having themselves physically thrown out of the dance and maybe we have to say that otherwise it's not so clear they would have chosen to be thrown out if it meant disgrace in God's name because they represented got the greater violation of God's honor is when those who represent him don't act properly because if one's life is devoted to knowing God and relating to God and understanding what a Shem is all about just as a Shems actions are perfectly and purposely measured with the most beauty everything a chef brings to this world and does if if our actions don't reflect that it speaks badly about the Creator so they realized if we're gonna violate this area of proper conduct that would be the greater disgrace to get then to have ourselves thrown out of the palace so just something I just think we should think about is just may we go forth in our weekend is this idea a little bit of what it means to refine our personality there hurts kid with the turrets as in turkey on us that proper personality traits proper refinements is the prerequisite to to getting to know God studying Torah it's the purpose of life and the prerequisite to to all wisdom to know what a sham once we have to be working in ourselves after working at our humility we have to be working on and developing parts of ourselves with that decay can be more other center to love more fulfilled Commandments like the after the remote but to love if we're not refining ourselves we're not going to have we're not gonna understand what God wants from us and ultimately for not refining ourselves we're not going to be capable of the ultimate gift which God wants us to have which is that closest to him because as we mentioned in the spiritual world closeness is a function of similarity so I wish everybody a wonderful week and to take this message to heart a little bit as we go forth in our weekend to do what we can to to think in every situation am i conducting myself with conduct that's refined and elevated elegant as befits somebody's created in the image of God which everybody good week thank you