Parshas Va'era: Commercial Breaks and Erroneous Deification

When a man will take the stage, make himself comfortable at the podium and endeavor to give a public speech that will inspire the congregation in synagogue on Shabbos, and he should open his mouth and begin the talk with an Innocent, it says in this week's parasha. Or Perhaps Even more damning to the talk would be, it says in last week's parasha. These phrases act like Five milligrams of melatonin on the audience. It makes them uninterested. The opening seems bland and I'll have to whim them back With inspiring them as the talk goes, which is easier said than done. But if that same speaker should begin with Now, there was a great man and he walked into that holy shul in 1908 and you're not going to believe what he saw Well then he may have a better shot In delivering his message. Why? What's the difference? Because he began with a story. Stories make great public speeches Openers Because they're relatable, they're magically captivating. Stories are gripping. I Still haven't exactly figured out why it is that we all love stories so much, but we all know that you can lose yourself inside of a well-told, very graphic story, and storytellers are Also tasked With giving over a story that creates tension in the audience as the rising action, the Opening of the story should make the audience want to hear more. And, following the classic story arc that every book, tv show, movie, any great story pretty much ever follows, that there's the opening and you're supposed to build Anxiety and uncertainty, and there's good versus evil, and there's the tzadik, there's a Russia, it seems like good is going to lose, there's no way that our hero was going to be able to overcome. And as you take the audience through different twists and turns, unforeseen circumstances that all make the audience doubt the chance of the hero Proving triumphant. When all hope seems to be lost, the tension is at its peak. You then hit the climax, a dramatic turning point, something surprising that the audience didn't see coming, where the hero Does something different, unforeseen, and the audience Is calmed. The tension is replaced by a feeling of satisfaction. Is that this great confrontation of the antagonist and the protagonist, good versus evil? Good one, and now there's peace. And now there's peace, the issue has been solved, there is closure and there is victory. And perhaps this all followed practice of telling stories pretty standard, was all taken and borrowed from the greatest story ever told by the Most supreme storyteller. God is powerful. Scripture to know is the greatest story ever told. We pick up our story here, really, as it's about to hit its climax. All of of Rahm of venus work Seems to be about lost, as the Jewish people are stuck in the belly of Egypt. The enslavement is torturous. There is no hero in sight. It's a shame really that we know the end of the story, because just imagine if we didn't know of a parshas bow, if we were Reading the story like Kindergarteners for the very first time, thinking what's gonna be. Are the Jewish people gonna make it out alive? I Don't see how. And the Torah? It opens us up to the hero, the chosen one, moshe Rabbeinu, with the great happening and the vision of Akkadosh Baruch who revealing himself and the burning bush. So now there's a little ember of hope. But now Moshe Rabbeinu seems to doubt himself. More uncertainty, more ambiguity. Moshe doesn't feel right for the job. The hero seems to be Not very confident in his mission. Akkadosh Baruch wants him to go, but the hero says no one's gonna listen to me. Moshe Rabbeinu Complains of a stutter. He's the stammerer. There's no hope. Why will pyro listen to me? And Indeed, the very first time that the hero attempts To overcome evil and win the day, he just made things worse. Pyro's response to the first Marching into his castle by Moshe Rabbeinu was let's keep the same quota of bricks, but let's increase the torture, let's increase the arduous, back breaking, cumbersome labor on the Jewish people, so that when Moshe Rabbeinu leaves pyros palace, you can imagine that the already present feeling of uncertainty, of Not feeling ready for the job, only got worse when he saw 600,000 innocent Hebrews being worked that much harder because of him. Perhaps they were throwing tomatoes. You're not making anything better, you're just making it worse. You sure you saw a burning bush? Are you sure you're supposed to be coming in here? One can't help but think that this may very well be the end of the Jewish people. What hope is there? But then the pieces seem to come together and Parshah's Vair, at the end of the first Aliyah Hashem, takes a different approach towards Moshe. It's no longer Please, moshe, go and rescue the people. It's Vahedabir Hashem el Moshe Leymour, with a very harsh way of speaking I'm no longer Requesting, but I'm telling Tzaveim a commandment go with our own and free the Jewish people. Enough is enough. And this is about to be that climax. The story arc is about to hit their crescendo. Had Kaddish Baruch, who was about to make an example of the Egyptians, and you can kind of feel how all of the tension will be relieved as the roller coasters To the very top of this story arc. And you remember that Moshe Rabbeinu in fact grew up in the house of pyro. So ironic, so iconic. Here we go, but the very next Pasek. It's hardly anything dramatic or exciting. It is a genealogical table, an oddly placed, seems to be unseemly poorly timed commercial break about the pedigree and background of Moshe's family. To begin it all, it's really Ruvane, the 12 tribes and Ruvane's children, moshe Rabbeinu's aunt and uncle, all of his brothers and sisters, the cousins, and Shimon had these as children. We meet people named Khanokh, hufaluch, hatzron and V'charm'i. Okay, that's Ruvane's family. Not very exciting. And why now, in reverse, also points out, probably bargering from the Rishonim that asked this and Rashi asked this. Well, at least, if you're going to tell us the lineage of Moshe Rabbeinu, give us all 12 brothers, all 12 tribes. We just get Ruvane, shimon and Levi. One can't help but also feel that we already know Moshe Rabbeinu's ancestry, we know his descent, and if the great storyteller decides that we should know it again right now, well then tell us, it would feel like the right thing to do all of the 12 tribes, not just three of them. It really just bothersome when you find it inside and you'll look right at the very end of this graph, this table of Moshe's ancestry, his heritage, the right after it the story continues and you get that epic conclusion. You get all the smiting of the Egyptians and you see Ya'kodesh Baruch's epic miracles and those decimating plagues, but not before this chart. Why here? Why now? And in the first edition of the Hirsh Chumish, I was translated from Old German to English by a descendant of Hirsh, isaac Levi. He gives over the following prime and chief idea in all caps, in caps lock, which definitely speaks to the importance of the idea and the ideas as follows If the story should end here, not much may be thought of Moshe and Aaron, for the situation for the Jewish people has only gotten worse and there is no miraculous salvation in sight. But in the forthcoming psokem, we are about to see how Moshe and Aaron were the conduits to carry out some of the greatest miracles that have ever been performed and that will ever be performed. They are about to be the leaders of the highest of high missions, and Hirsh tells us that that may lead onlookers towards a mistake. Our human beings have a way of crowning other human beings, lauding them Sometimes too much. We love superstars, we love heroes and the very beginning of some other mistakes, even other religions, were somebody doing something pretty cool, or at least preaching that he did something cool, and then the rest of mankind erroneously deifying them, saying, oh, he does have some God-like powers, he is some form of a God, but no, all that is false. There is only one God. So it must be put down crystal clear that Moshe and Aaron are not gods. They are of original human DNA. They are humans and to prove that, we give over right here, right now, before the story, their family background. We meet Moshe's uncle, uncles, brothers, sisters, aunts, the family that proves. Look, they're humans just like us. Moshe and Aaron are not gods, so that no mistakes should be made. But this is the only reason to inspire us all that much more. For Akadishbara, who selects certain humans to be the chosen ones. Akadishbara who chose to reveal himself in this way to not anyone else other than Moshe. He chose Moshe as the leader, a man with uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters. It should be stated very clearly that, while Moshe is a man, hashem only revealed himself or chose to reveal himself to Moshe because of the status that a human being elevated himself to, for the Ram Bomb tells us in his halachos of Yisai Dehathira, that Yisai Dehathira, that God prophesies to people, god only prophesies to a great Chacham. He has to be very strong in his Midoz. He's constantly dominating the Satan. He's got an open and widespread mind. It is very straight-eyed, but it's Moshe Rabbeinu that is memulah, the whole Midoz of Ailu filled perfectly to the brim with perfect Midoz, shalom Begufo, perfect in his guf, because he encounters the pardes, he enters into the vineyards, he enters the pardes, he elevates himself so that this human being, not a God, has become something that is so great that Hashem reveals himself and Nevua, and that is Moshe, the greatest Adam to ever live. I don't want to God forbid, speak in a way that's confusing, to God forbid, pull away from Moshe's godless. Moshe was the greatest man to ever live and the fact that he is being shown here to be a man because of this commercial break, of showing us this genealogical table, it only brings out his greatness all that much more, and sometimes it can even feel like the lessons of all of the great ofos, en jimajos, avra, mitzchak, yaakov, the foremothers. It can feel like their stories are unrelatable and uninspiring because we can't really feel compared to them. Because that's Raheli Menu. She was willing to give it all up, to forego her husband, her greatness, but I can't relate and feel inspired to also forego and be Mavater in my things because she's different, she's God like. But when we understand that these people are not gods, they are people. They have a heartbeat, they have human DNA, torso, legs, they're people, that makes these lessons relatable and galvanizing, because it makes one hear about the Akeda and Avrum's total subservience and obedience to Hakadish Baruchu, that he's willing to give everything up as a human being who loves his only son, or the son with everything that he has, but he's still willing to have the level of Atayodati Kyorye. Like him, atah Valeh Hasachto as Bin Chesyeh, chid Chahashirahavto, acting God like, although they are humans and this is Moshe, the greatest human. The spirit of God is the spirit of God. It chooses Chachomim, nveinim, g'daylim, the leaders. They are not weaklings or simpletons. Only the most suitable Shalukhim are chosen. Indeed, this also answers why the Torah did not continue to elaborate on the different lineage, that is, of the Yisachar and Zavulin and the other tribes, because while there was the search for the perfect man, there was maybe it's in Ruvvayn, maybe it's in Shim'on the telling of that. They are all regular mortal men. These are Moshe's cousins, but once we find our man, and we have found the chosen one, well then, the need to prove Moshe's worth is godless, while also his human origin has been sufficiently proven and there's no need to continue. And that's how the genealogical table concludes. It was Moshe and Arun people that stood there and spoke before Paro. And now the story continues the climax, the falling action and the Egyptian annihilation, all carried out by humans, bringing forth the G'vurah of Akhadash Baruchu. We have learned that through enough godless and striving, one can become like Moshe. Moshe was bashful, he was obedient, he was an Anavmiko'l Adam and he was a flesh and blood, a buzzer of a dumb hand, selected fully, ripe, fresh and ready to carry out the ultimate salvation. This idea from of Hirsch allows us to look at the Torah with new eyes and to hear the lessons from the Giants, to understand that the fact that these G'dylem and our Ovos any most our people, does not detract from their godless, from their greatness, but only doubles it Because look what they accomplished With a heartbeat just like you and I. We witness here what levels mankind can achieve. You can have a cottage bar who reveal himself to you. This little commercial break Is what sets the tone going forward. Now it's time for all Gehenem to break loose and the hail will rain and Egypt will be decimated. And the story can continue, because there really is nothing like a good story. And now good defeats evil. It is the protagonist against the antagonist. The tension is calmed, closure has had. It was all brought about by the chosen one, the greatest man to ever live.