February 9, 2006 – 11 Sh’vat, 5766, Beshalach
Da’at: Tree of Knowledge, intimacy
Bee-nay: intuitive knowing
There is no G*d of Judgment on the way down: this is the same as in this parsha where there is no water. Is there a G*d in the desert?
“Bo” is “come”: why does it say “come” to Pharaoh rather than “go” to Pharaoh?
Abraham was unable to refrain from serving guests, so he couldn’t see other aspects of G*d.
Pharaoh had three advisors:
Billam: he said to kill the Hebrews, he tried to curse them
Yitro: he said to bless the Hebrews
Job: he remained silent.
Job had to give an offering to the other side: you have to recognize the other side before you can dialogue with it. [Not acknowledging weakness creates weakness.]
Dialogue with the other side, now it, don’t vilify it. Job (Ee-ove) did his avoda only to G*d.
When you come into a shiva house and stay silent, it is the highest form of compassion. Job was silent to Pharaoh. The poison and cure are the same.
The Meshiach comes through Lot and his daughters, Tamar and Yehuda. Both sides, positive and negative, must be there.
Job saw G*d as good and bad. He saw himself as good and bad. He saw his life as good and bad.
Amalak is the fragmenting force. We need to be cognizant of good and evil and use good to change evil.
Amalak comes after they feel abandoned with no water. The Shabbos was given. Shabbos is a dark empty space, malchute, there is no water, no productivity. Malchute of Shabbos. Shabbos is empty of doing.
Washing hands after eating is acknowledging our weaker side. Mi mach ro ne’em, not pretending that we’re angels. We wash off Sodom salt, which is selfishness. The law of Sodom was not to share food. We wash off the part of ourselves that eats like a cow. (This washing refers to the minhag of passing around a little vessel of water to wash our fingertips before benching.)
The case of the two men who find and claim an object, a tallis. What is holy? What is G*d asking us in this situation?
The more the Satan is there, the more the potential for kedusha.
Moshe the water carrier. The new rabbi felt that Moshe might be a “real” person. Moshe was in desperate need, and he prayed for money and found 1,000 rubles in an envelope in the shul. While he was davening his thanks, the widow came in and prayed that the 1,000 rubles which the town had raised for her would be found. He was angry, he said, “Couldn’t you have given me money that hadn’t been lost by the widow?” He said he wasn’t going to daven any more and he wasn’t going to return the money. Then he overcame his yetzar harra (evil inclination). Moshe was celebrating, having a party, dancing on the table, because he had clarified the voices inside of himself.
Bring the devil into the service of G*d.
The Rav said to a new student, “If you want to find G*d, go back to Warsaw. If you want to find yourself, pull up a chair.” Joseph had to find out that he was the cause of his pain before he could find G*d.
The broken tablets signified the broken hearts of the Jewish people. These tablets did not have the word tov. If they had, people would believe that good had ceased among the Jewish people.
Maybe Moshe was mad at himself because he made the Golden Calf: it was his parchment that he had used to raise Joseph’s bones. He had refused, scorned to get any of the reparations from the Egyptians.
Rav Hiyyia doesn’t do mitvote for a reward, so he can’t teach us to honor one’s parents in order to lengthen one’s days on the earth.
The first tablets are written by G*d, they’re too compartmentalized.