Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
AI-Generated Summary (AI can be inaccurate. Check important information):
1. *Strategic Seder preparation* — One of the most effective ways to prepare for *Lail HaSeder* is to select one specific *meforesh* on *Tanakh* and follow their perspective through the entire story of *Yetziat Mitzrayim* to build a consistent personal *emunah* perspective.
2. *Three pillars of faith* — The ten *makkot* were not random punishments; they were divided into three groups (simplified by the acronyms *DeTzaKh*, *Adash*, and *Be’AchaV*) to establish three specific *ikarei emunah* (principles of faith).
3. *Existence of Hashem* — The first three plagues (*Dam*, *Tzfardea*, *Kinim*) were intended to prove *metziut Hashem*—that *Hashem* exists—countering the Egyptian belief that the Nile was the ultimate power.
4. *Divine Providence* — The second group (*Arov*, *Dever*, *Shchin*) demonstrates *hashgacha pratit*, proving that *Hashem* is intimately involved in the world and distinguishes specifically between the righteous and the wicked.
5. *Absolute Sovereignty* — The final plagues demonstrate that *ein kamoni b’chol ha’aretz*—that *Hashem* is all-powerful and there are no other independent powers or "off-duty" moments where a person is not under His authority.
6. *The non-Jewish catalyst* — Sometimes a "prophecy" is fulfilled before our eyes, but we require an outsider—like the *Chartumim* or even a modern-day observer—to point out the miracle before we acknowledge it ourselves.
7. *Shema and the Seder* — The three sections of the *makkot* parallel the declaration of *Shema Yisrael*: acknowledging *Hashem*’s existence, His unique relationship as *Elokeinu*, and His status as *Echad* (unique and absolute).
8. *True freedom through servitude* — The goal of *Yetziat Mitzrayim* was to transform us into an *eved Hashem*. Only after imbuing these three principles of faith were the Jewish people "fitting vessels" (*kelim na’im*) to receive the *Torah*.
Enjoyed? Your feedback means a lot to us. Click here to email us: https://tinyurl.com/thanksEN
We're in the second last week of the זמן zman, five great months of learning תורה Torah, creating friendships, building ourselves as בני תורה bnei Torah. And we're getting ready for פסח Pesach. And someone asked me yesterday, how do you prepare for פסח Pesach? How are you supposed to prepare for פסח Pesach? Specifically, how do you prepare for ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder? So I said that one of the best ways to prepare for ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder is each year, in תשפ\"ו Tashpav, you choose one of the מפרשים meforshim on תנ\"ך Tanakh, going through ספר Sefer the story of יציאת מצרים Yetziat Mitzrayim. And you follow him through the whole story. Take the רמב\"ן Ramban one year, you take the משך חכמה Meshekh Chokhmah one year, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra one year, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar one year, the מלב\"ים Malbim one year. And you see their way that they viewed the entire story. And specifically pick out the principles of אמונה emunah that are to be learned. Because the goal of ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder for you and for those who you're going to be speaking with is to imbue within yourselves the אמונה emunah that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Barukh Hu came to give us from the night of ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder then and for the future. When you read הגדה של פסח Haggadah shel Pesach that come out, then there are many, many good וורטלך vurtlach and they can help with the insight. But you can build your own by going through the פסוקים pesukim themselves and in seeing the whole story through the perspective of each one of the ראשונים rishonim or the אחרונים acharonim whose words we live by. And then you can build your own אמונה emunah perspective as it comes straight from the פסוקים pesukim. And it's always best to start from the source, because the פסוקים pesukim themselves, that's the source of where it comes from. That's God's words. You can, if you're reading like later, later, later opinions and they're giving all their ideas, it's also very nice. They're also תורה Torah ideas. But if we're saying like this is supposed to be the night of אמונה emunah, then go back to what השם Hashem said and what His principle was. So when you go through, you're going to see many insights from the different ראשונים rishonim that are very impactful. But there's one special, special one that I wanted to share. Which is, I meant to photocopy, I didn't get a chance, but I'll tell you where it is. You can look it up yourself afterwards. It's the כלי יקר Kli Yakar on שמות Shemot, פרק ז' Perek Zayin, פסוק י\"ז Pasuk Yod Zayin. This is potentially one of the most essential sources that appear preparing for ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder, understanding what the purpose of all of יציאת מצרים Yetziat Mitzrayim was, what the אמונה emunah principles that are supposed to come out of יציאת מצרים Yetziat Mitzrayim were. It's potentially one of the most important sources to see. We're talking here about the beginning of the ten plagues. And the פסוק pasuk says, כה אמר השם Koh amar Hashem, בזאת תדע כי אני השם b'zot teda ki ani Hashem, הנה אנכי מכה במטה hinei anokhi makeh bamateh et cetera. Now it's interesting that there are, as is well known, three sets of the ten plagues. And the first three and each of them start with a תדע teda, you should know something. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Barukh Hu had a specific message principle that He wanted to teach the Egyptians and more importantly the עם ישראל Am Yisrael to take with us for life. This is the birth of the Jewish nation. What is our calling? What are our עיקרי אמונה ikarei emunah, our major principles of faith? What is the message of ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder supposed to be? Right? If you're supposed to be either leading the ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder or being inspired by the ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder, what's the takeaways? What are you supposed to be taking away as the main message of ליל הסדר Lail HaSeder? So God tells us directly in the תורה Torah, תדע teda, this is what you need to know. And the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, he spells it out more clearly and it's a phenomenal insight and it's very worthwhile having seen inside. So, כה אמר השם בזאת תדע כי אני השם Koh amar Hashem b'zot teda ki ani Hashem. לשון זה נאמר במכה ראשונה על סדר דצ\"ך Lashon zeh ne'emar b'makah rishonah al seder detzakh. This language that God says, with this you will know that I am God, is the beginning of the first three, דם צפרדע כנים Dam Tzfardeah Kinim. וכן במכה ראשונה של סדר עד\"ש Vekhein b'makah rishonah shel seder adash, and if you pay attention later on in פרק ח' פסוק י\"ח Perek Chet Pasuk Yod Chet when it starts the next three, again השם Hashem says for this you will know but something different. למען תדע כי אני השם בקרב הארץ L'ma'an teda ki ani Hashem b'kerev ha'aretz. So when it starts the second grouping of three, it says the first three were for you to know that I am השם Hashem. The second three are for you to know that I am God in the land. And the last three or four, וכן במכה ראשונה Vekhein b'makah rishonah when it begins the last four, that's פרק ט' פסוק י\"ד Perek Tet Pasuk Yod Dalet, it says in the beginning of ברד barad, בעבור תדע ba'avur teda, this is a specific message that you need to take out of these four plagues. There again it says בעבור תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ ba'avor tedei ki ein kamoni b'chol ha'aretz. The אברבנאל Abarbanel, he had a פירוש peirush on this, and he explained his way. And then the כלי יקר Kli Yakar he says, \"I want to take his idea as a basis and elaborate on it more and expound on it.\" The אברבנאל Abarbanel was the first one to notice this. ופירש u'peirash, and the אברבנאל Abarbanel explains: פרעה Paroh argued on the three principles of Jewish faith. האחד ha'echad מציאות השם יתברך metzius Hashem yisbarach. פרעה Paroh denied that השם Hashem existed. כי כחש בהשם ואמר לא הוא ki kichash b'Hashem v'amar lo hu ולא ידעתי את השם v'lo yadati es Hashem. פרעה Paroh's first principle was who says that I have to listen to God to begin with? He doesn't exist. I don't believe in him. And therefore, the first three plagues, the goal of them was בזאת תדע b'zos tedei, the first three plagues so that you will know כי אני השם ki ani Hashem. That's it, just to know that God exists. השנייה ha'shniya, the second principle of faith that פרעה Paroh didn't believe in and that the Jewish people's formation, our birth, was to bring this message to the world: אם תמצא לומר שיש השם im timtza lomar she'yesh Hashem מכל מקום אינו משגיח mikol makom eino mashgiach. השם Hashem's not interested in the world. He doesn't care about us. We're not unique to him. And that's why the second grouping of the three plagues was כי אני השם בקרב הארץ ki ani Hashem b'kerev ha'aretz. I'm involved in the world. And the third thing that פרעה Paroh didn't believe in and the purpose of the Jewish nation being formed was to bring this message to the world was אין כמוני בכל הארץ ein kamoni b'chol ha'aretz. יכול לפעול כחפצו yachol lifol k'cheftzo. השם Hashem can do whatever he wants. He's all-powerful, he's involved in the world. Not only is he involved in the world, but he has his will and he's bringing a message, a principle to the world that no one else in the world can prevent or stop, he's bringing his message to the world. That was the אברבנאל Abarbanel. Now says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, \"I want to elaborate on these and show how each מכה maka did that and what the takeaway for us is.\" ואמר אני להוסיף ביאור על דבריו להכניס כל שלוש מכות תחת סוג אחד כי שלוש מכות ראשונות באו לאמת מציאות השם יתברך לפי שהמצרים אמרו שהיאור אלוהיהם ואין עוד מלבדו v'omer ani l'hosif be'ur al d'varav l'hachnis kol shalosh makos tachas sug echad ki shalosh makos rishonos ba'u l'ameis metzius Hashem yisbarach lefi she'ha'mitzrim amru she'hay'or eloheihem v'ein od milvado. The Egyptians, they believed that the Nile, that's the real god that they worshipped. There's nothing else apart from that. על כן עשה השם שפטים באלוהיהם al kein asa Hashem shfatim b'eloheihem. So when the פסוק pasuk says that God says he will do שפטים באלוהיהם shfatim b'eloheihem, that God will do punishment to their gods, he starts with the Nile, because that's what they believed in and הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to show them he's the God. וכן מסיק בבראשית רבה v'chen masik b'Bereishis Rabbah: הרשעים מתקיימים על אלוהיהם ha'reshaim miskaymim al eloheihem, as the פסוק pasuk says: הנה עומד על היאור hinei omeid al hay'or. The non-Jews, they are above their gods because for them a god is something that they use to get what they want. For us, a God is something we subjugate ourselves to. For them, a god is something which they want to have their way, so they create a being which they can then use that being as an excuse to do whatever they want. That's why it says עומד על היאור omeid al hay'or. על כן נאמר ביאור al kein ne'emar bay'or, and therefore דווקא davka by that first plague it said בזאת תדע כי אני השם b'zos tedei ki ani Hashem. There's only השם Hashem. ובעניין הצפרדעים u'v'inyan ha'tzfardei'im הורה שגם היאור ישרוץ דברים המאמתים מציאות השם hora she'gam hay'or yishrotz d'varim ha'me'amtim metzius Hashem. Coming out of what they thought was their god will come הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu showing that he's in charge. כי פרעה היה מחלל השם ואמר לא ידעתי את השם ki Paroh haya mechaleil Hashem v'amar lo yadati es Hashem, and therefore his god, the יאור ye'or, came to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. How to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem? The צפרדעים tzfardei'im, the מדרש Midrash says that they would jump into the fire. And from them, חנניה מישאל ועזריה Chananya Mishael v'Azarya learned that there's a principle of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, that one must give up his life. We learned that that's where they learned it from, from the frogs. ולפיכך לא מתו אותם שבתנורים u'l'fichach lo mesu osam she'ba'tanurim. The ones who were in the ovens, they didn't die, as a נס neis. And the כינים kinim, the third one, the Egyptians then admitted and they recognized אצבע אלוקים היא etzba Elokim hi. So there was a תהליך tahalich, there was a process. It started off by them saying the Nile is the god, and then they said, \"Wait one second, the Nile's turned to blood, our god has died.\" Then it said that well okay, but maybe he's died but he's still the only god that there was. No, no. God is in control. Out of there is coming the צפרדע tzfardei'a. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu's running the world and teaching that there is מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh for the sake of השם Hashem. And if we need them to admit it, okay, they will admit it. אצבע אלוקים היא etzba Elokim hi. They admit that that's הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. גם החרטומים שהמליכו שמו יתברך לומר שמכה כזו והודאת בעל דין כמאה עדים דמי gam ha'chartumim she'himlichu shemo yisbarach lomar she'maka kazo v'hoda'as ba'al din k'meia eidim dami. The fact that they were testifying \"this is the hand of השם Hashem,\" that brought them and also us to the recognition that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists. I know this is a bit of a harsh statement to say, but it's not clear to me that everyone who's religious knows that השם Hashem exists. Meaning, they'll say it because it's the right thing to say, but to know that השם Hashem exists honestly, like that you live your life by that? That you need ליל הסדר Leil HaSeder for that. You need one time a year where you're re-imbuing within yourself the faith. I know I say this the whole time but what does that mean practically? Does that mean that I have מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh for the sake of הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Does that mean I'm willing to The frogs taught us that principle. The non-Jews teach us that principle. Sometimes it takes a non-Jew to show us what's actually happening. There's a famous story that I heard from a tour guide. If I've told it before it's worth hearing again. Cause I don't know at this point of the year what I've told and what I haven't. But there was—I think I maybe told it even like last week—but there was a Chinese professor of Middle Eastern studies that came to Israel to tour and see what he was teaching in his university. And he took a religious tour guide. And he said he wants to see the Jewish sites that appear in the תנ\"ך Tanach. So he said okay, so he's taking him around שילה Shilo and he's taking him around like all the places where תנ\"ך Tanach things happened and showing them what happened. And they got to שילה Shilo and the tour guide says okay this is where we believe that שילה Shilo was and he showed him all the proofs about the mountain and the bones and all the reasons why they think this is the place where it was. And then he says what's that over there? So he says that's modern day שילה Shilo. You want to go see it? They go and see it. So then they go to see modern שילה Shilo and there's a שול shul there which was built in the same dimensions as the Tabernacle and showing him where the משכן Mishkan was. And the Chinese professor started getting very very very excited. He was getting very excited. And the tour guide who had done this tour tens if not hundreds of times was like you know saying all his script that he knew about this is where this is why we know it. But like he didn't think someone would get so excited about like this is where I live you know? This is the שילה Shilo where like people here today live. And the professor started getting very very excited and he said, don't you see this is the prophecy coming true? Don't you see this is the prophecy in the Bible coming alive? This is the Jewish people returning to their homeland. This is amazing. They died here and the Philistines took away the ark and it seemed like this place of שילה Shilo had come to an end and now you're telling me that the Jewish people are living again on the mountain. And he was getting very—the Chinese professor was getting very very excited. And the tour guide was getting excited along with him because he was so used to saying it again and again but suddenly it's coming alive before his very eyes. Someone else who was in the same group who is watching this whole thing going on, so he said, מתקיים נבואה מול עינינו mitkayem nevuah mul einenu. There's another נבואה nevuah being fulfilled in front of our eyes. So then they both looked at—what are you talking about? He said it says explicitly in שיר המעלות Shir Hama'alot that we say— what do we say? אז יאמרו בגוים הגדיל השם לעשות עם אלה Az yomru vagoyim higdil Hashem la'asot im eleh. And then the next line, הגדיל השם לעשות עמנו Higdil Hashem la'asot imanu. What's going on? Sometimes the Jews don't even appreciate all the miracles that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu does for us. And the non-Jews they come and they say this is amazing, look what God has done for you. And the Jews then say, this is amazing, look at this, this is what השם Hashem is doing for us. So that other person said this is a prophecy coming true before our eyes. This Chinese professor he's saying הגדיל השם לעשות עם אלה Higdil Hashem la'asot im eleh, השם Hashem has done great things with these people. And then the Jews reflect and they say you're right הגדיל השם לעשות עמנו היינו כשמחים Higdil Hashem la'asot imanu hayinu kesmeichim. Until then we didn't even realize it. So we needed the חרטומים Chartumim to come and say אצבע אלוקים הוא Etzba Elokim hu, this is the hand of God. And then the Jews can acknowledge there is השם Hashem. השם Hashem does exist. And that was stage number one and that was the purpose of the first three מכות makkot to recognize הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. ובסדר עד\"ש u'veseder Adash the next three, ערוב דבר שחין arov dever shchin, there was a new message that had to come to the world. We couldn't stop there with just knowing that השם Hashem existed. The second major principle of faith that the Jews needed to imbue that השם Hashem taught us through the ten מכות makkos—שהוא יתברך משגיח למטה בכל פרטי האישים she'Hu yitbarach mashgiach lemata bechol pratei ha'ishim. השם Hashem is involved in everything in our lives. להוציא מלב האומרים שאין הקדוש ברוך הוא משגיח אם על הכללות המין ולא בפרטיות על כל דרכי איש lehotzi milev ha'omrim she'ein Hakadosh Baruch Hu mashgiach im al haklalot hamin velo bapratiyut al kol darkei ish. Now I'm going to go back to what I said beforehand. I said before maybe a כפירה kefirah statement but I have to say it, that I'm not sure that all Jews believe in השם Hashem. I'm not sure. Even religious Jews I'm not sure they all believe in השם Hashem. Meaning they're born into a religious family so they go through the motions. But have they actually asked themselves, like do they live their lives according to the will of השם Hashem in their inner world, in their אמונה emunah world, or only in their external practicing world? So if that was true for the first principle, it's very true for the next principle. Is השם Hashem actually involved in my life? Is השם Hashem watching what I'm doing? Does He care? Do I do things in private which I—if I would know that השם Hashem was with me that I wouldn't do? Do I act in business in a way that's honest or not really because השם Hashem is not actually with me and guiding my life? Do I have אמונה emunah with my day to day activities knowing that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is behind me and if I do the right thing I'm never going to fail? הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always going to support me. So this next principle I think many people do believe and they speak about but it's a question of how deeply we believe it that we're willing to act on it. And therefore the second principle of faith which הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is teaching the... the Jewish people through the מכות Makot. Well I am involved in your lives, I care about you, live your life according to this principle that you know that I'm directly involved in your lives. And this is a principle that we need to know as much as the Egyptians needed to figure out. ולפי דבריהם הכל נכנס בערבוביה אין הבדל בין איש לחבירו Ul'fi divreihem hakol nichnas b'irvuvya ein hevdel bein ish l'chaveiro. According to the non-Jewish mindset, Hashem doesn't care specifically about the Jewish people. He's not involved in our lives uniquely. We're not a chosen nation that Hashem takes care of us and that according to how much we believe in Him He's going to take care of us. Everyone's the same, people die in car accidents, there are wars for everyone, people get sick, it's across the board. על כן בא להם הערוב בערבוביה Al kein ba lahem ha'arov b'irvuvya. And therefore came the ערוב arov initially all mixed up, like they said everything's mixed up. But then what happens? והפליתי ביום ההוא את ארץ גושן אשר עמי עומד עליה לבלתי היות שם ערוב V'hifleti bayom hahu et eretz goshen asher ami omed aleha l'vilti heyot sham arov. Wait a second. While the animals don't distinguish between someone who has a ברית מילה bris milah and someone who doesn't have a ברית מילה bris milah, why were they avoiding the Jews and going and killing the Egyptians? Why were they doing that? For the Egyptians and the Jews to know that we have a special השגחה hashgacha. That's a second principle of faith. Not only does Hashem exist, but עם ישראל Am Yisrael have a unique השגחה hashgacha. Wouldn't this have come up from the earlier מכות Makot like דם dam for example? Were they attacking the Jews? If not, you can get the same concept. It's true that we could, but there was something unique that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu did here is that they went through ארץ גושן Eretz Goshen, avoided all the Jews, and then hit the Egyptians. So it's true that with even מכת דם maka dam, the Jews had water and the Egyptians didn't have water. Like they could see that when they were drinking from the same cup and out of this straw came red and out of this straw came clear. They could see that. But here this was the whole purpose of the plague, to go through גושן Goshen first, where logically you would attack the Jews, but leave them alone and then go and attack the Egyptians. So the other ones, the attack was on the Egyptians for the sake of destroying the Egyptians. Here it was to show the difference. Starting off in גושן Goshen, avoiding the Jews and then going and attacking them. So you're right, they could tell that principle there, but it was much more distinct over here. And God says this is why He did it. This is the פסוק Pasuk saying והפליתי ביום ההוא את ארץ גושן אשר עמי עומד עליה לבלתי היות שם ערוב וזה מופת חותך שיש הבדל בין צדיק ורשע V'hifleti bayom hahu et eretz goshen asher ami omed aleha l'vilti heyot sham arov v'zeh mofet chotech sheyesh hevdel bein tzaddik v'rasha. And that's so clear. There's צדיקים tzaddikim and רשעים reshaim and הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu's on the side of the צדיקים tzaddikim. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu משגיח על כל פרטי אישים mashgiach al kol pratei ishim. And that's why the second grouping of three says, למען תדע כי אני השם בקרב הארץ L'maan teda ki ani Hashem b'kerev ha'aretz לומר שהשגחתי הפרטית גם בתחתונים Lomar she'hashgachati hapratit gam batachtonim. And also in דבר dever, Hashem says it again. והפלה השם V'hifla Hashem. It doesn't say the word והפלה v'hifla by the earlier ones in the תורה Torah. So maybe they did differentiate but the תורה Torah says that's not the purpose. Here it says this is the purpose. והפלה השם בין מקנה ישראל ובין מקנה מצרים V'hifla Hashem bein mikne Yisrael uvein mikne Mitzrayim. It says that was the goal, to differentiate between-- now they were in the same fields, they were in the same place exactly. They were in the שדה sadeh, the פסוק Pasuk says. They were in the שדה sadeh, the Jewish ones and the non-Jewish ones were in the שדה sadeh. And they fell and died and the Jews didn't fall and die. So there was no difference in the air, there was no difference in the food, they were all in the same place. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu was showing the difference. וכן בשחין שהיה אבק פורח בכל ארץ מצרים V'chein b'shchin shehaya avak poreach bechol eretz Mitzrayim. When he threw it up so the earth went everywhere, the אבק avak was spreading all over Egypt. אין הבדל ein hevdel. And there shouldn't be a difference between the Jews and the non-Jews. ולפיכך לא יכלו החרטומים לעמוד לפני משה U'lefikach lo yachlu hachartumim la'amod lifnei Moshe שלא יכלו לעמוד בויכוח Shelo yachlu la'amod b'vikuach. It doesn't mean they couldn't stand up because it was hurting them, it means they couldn't stand up before משה Moshe because they couldn't argue with him because it was so clearly true לפני השחין כי כל מכה נתנו סיבה Lifnei hashchin ki kol maka natnu siba. And that's why הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave reasons behind each one. חוץ מזו שלא יכלו לתת סיבה Chutz mizo shelo yachlu latet siba. They couldn't explain it. כי כל המכות באו בפעם אחת על כל מצרים והחרטומים היו בכלל המכה ומכת שחין באה תחילה על החרטומים Ki kol hamakot bau b'faam achat al kol Mitzrayim v'hachartumim hayu bichlal hamaka u'makat shchin ba'a techila al hachartumim. Here, חז\"ל Chazal tell us that it happened first on the חרטומים Chartumim and after the חרטומים Chartumim then the שחין shchin developed, it spread and it went to the rest of the people too, as the פסוק Pasuk says, כי היה השחין בחרטומים ובכל מצרים Ki haya hashchin bachartumim u'vechol Mitzrayim. וחז\"ל דרשו V'Chazal darshu. Why did it say it like that? Why did it say ובחרטומים u'vachartumim? Aren't they part of the rest of מצרים Mitzrayim too? No, it started with them. And that's showing a negative השגחה hashgacha. Not only is Hashem showing that He's protecting the Jews but He's showing He's first getting the רשעים reshaim. The חרטומים Chartumim had the שחין shchin first and then the rest of מצרים Mitzrayim. And that's why they couldn't stand up to him, it doesn't mean they couldn't stand physically, they couldn't stand in the ויכוח vikuach to argue with him because they saw that Hashem attacked them specifically first. There's a special השגחה hashgacha. That's the second grouping, Hashem showing His השגחה hashgacha. And the third grouping, ובסדר באחב u'veseder b'a'ch'v'. אברבנאל Abarbanel says שבאו לאמת יכולת השם יתברך sheba'u l'amet yacholet Hashem Yisbarach. That's his interpretation. ולי נראה U'li nireh, and the כלי יקר Kli Yakar takes it a bit of a different approach. פרעה טען שתי רשויות הן Paroh ta'an shtei reshuyot hen. Paroh may have agreed, okay there is a God, but there's also other gods. I can believe in Hashem and still do my own thing at the same time. Many people who are religious have that philosophy too. They say, I do believe in השם Hashem, and I will come to שול shul, and I will דאוון daven, and I will learn תורה Torah, and I'll do all the right things, and I believe that השם Hashem is involved in my life. I do. But there are times where I need time to myself. You know, like where I'm off-duty, where I can just do my own thing for a little bit. I believe in השם Hashem, I do, I do, I do. There's the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash and there's בעל Ba'al. So I have times where I give the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash his time and there's time where I'm my own boss. I'm my own boss, I'm the בעל ba'al of myself. I have my own time where I do my own thing. It's not that I don't believe in השם Hashem, I do, I just need it. So פרעה Paroh had got to the point where he believed in הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, he couldn't deny it, but he still wanted to say: על כן נאמר במכה ראשונה Al ken ne'emar bamakah rishonah of the באח\"ב Be'achav, למען תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ lema'an teda ki ein kamoni bechol ha'aretz. אין עוד מלבדו Ein od milvado, apart from הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. איזה רשות אחר Eizeh reshuth acher? There's nothing else, nothing else, nothing else. מכלל שפרעה טען שיש עוד Miklal sheParoh ta'an sheyesh od. Pharaoh thought there was something else too. And that's why: ונראים דברים שטען זה על מזל טלה והשמש Venirim devarim sheta'an zeh al mazal taleh vehashemesh. That was their god: the טלה taleh and the שמש shemesh. ששלשה מכות היו מונעים אור השמש ומזלות Sheshlosha makot hayu monim or hashemesh umazalot. All of these three blocked the sun. הברד Habarad, מסתמא היו שמים מתקדרים בעבים mistama hayu shamayim mitkaderim be'avim. Right, if there was ברד barad then it came from the clouds, it had to come down. It must have made the area dark. And they couldn't see the שמש shemesh. In the ארבה arbeh, it says explicitly in the תורה Torah: ויכס את עין הארץ Vayechas et ein ha'aretz, היינו השמש hainu hashemesh, which is the עין ein of the הארץ ha'aretz. לפיכך תחשך הארץ Lefikach techshach ha'aretz. And חושך choshech is חושך choshech, that's obvious. וכן מכת בכורות Vechen makat bechorot was at night time when it happened, it was night time. So all of those three where there was no שמש shemesh. וכל זה ראיה שטען פרעה על השמש ומזל טלה שכחם גם כן גדול Vechol zeh re'ayah sheta'an Paroh al hashemesh umazal taleh shekocham gam ken gadol. He thought that's the sun, there's the טלה taleh, which is מכת בכורות makat bechorot. על כן נאמר בברד Al ken ne'emar bebarad: אשר לא היה כמוהו asher lo hayah kamohu. And also by ארבה arbeh it says: לא היה כן הרבה כמוהו lo hayah chen arbeh kamohu. Why? Because all of the purpose of these four מכות makot was: אין כמוני ein kamoni. There's nothing else apart from הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. ומכת בכורים Umakat bechorim, בכורות bechorot, was the סימן להכנעת מזל טלה siman lehachna'at mazal taleh. ודבר זה מחובר יותר Vedavar zeh mechubar yoter, and I think this is a bit of a better פירוש peirush, he says, than the אברבנאל Abarbanel's, because it elaborates more and it explains what the third grouping is, because השם Hashem says: למען תדע שאין כמוני Lema'an teda she'ein kamoni. There's nothing else apart from me. So I want to summarize what we just said. There are ווארטלאך vortlach you say לליל הסדר le-leil ha-seder which fit in beautifully to this way or that way or this גימטריה gematria or that גימטריה gematria. And there's some דברי תורה divrei Torah where that's really what the essence of the day is. It's really what the principle is. The goal of ליל הסדר leil ha-seder is imbuing ourselves with אמונה emunah in הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the עשר מכות eser makot, the goal of them is to show the three major principles of אמונה emunah. Point number one, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists. Point number two, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is intimately involved in our lives. And point number three, there's nothing else in the world but השם Hashem. There's no off time. There's no having a break. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is fully, fully with you all the time and you're fully with him the whole time. These three align with the פסוק pasuk that we say twice a day, שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael. שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael is our declaration of faith. It has four, it has six words: two, two, and two. שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. And you can align those three phrases with these principles. Or maybe say it differently. שמע ישראל ה' Shema Yisrael Hashem. Never mind שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael. ה' אלקינו ה' אחד Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael, we need to hear these principles: that השם Hashem exists, that he's our אלקינו Elokeinu and that he's intimately involved in our lives, and that השם אחד Hashem echad, there's nothing else apart from השם Hashem. And I just want to say one more דבר תורה dvar Torah and then come back to that point and say it as a finale. There's a song which is a little bit misleading. We sing the song אחד מי יודע Echad Mi Yodea, שנים מי יודע shenayim mi yodea, שלשה מי יודע shlosha mi yodea, and it's a little bit misleading because when we're going through all the numbers, the numbers sound like they're a number as opposed to another number. How many אבות avot? Three, not two, not four. How many אמהות imahot? Four, not three, not five. How many לוחות luchot? Two, not one, not three. How many השמ'ס Hashems? One, not two. That's what it sounds like according to the song. But when we say השם אחד Hashem echad, we don't mean only that there's only one God. And when we say over here there's only one God, we're not just saying there's only one God as opposed to two. But rather we're saying הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is unique, a different league, a different category. There's nothing else like him. אין כמוני Ein kamoni. There's nothing else in that category at all. So we're not just saying it happens to be one and not two. We're saying the fact that it's one means that it's unique. אחד ומיוחד Echad umeyuchad. There's nothing else like him. It's a different category entirely, it's something else in a different world. And just like we, just like הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is one and unique, we're supposed to emulate הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu and identify what our unique contribution to the world is. Because if you were made and הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu put you in this world, you're supposed to emulate הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, just like he's unique, you're supposed to be bringing out your unique mission to this world. So when we say that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is one, we don't just mean השם Hashem is one and not two. That would be, that is a principle of faith but it's not like the big, you know, the big reason why we came to this world to declare that. As I was saying הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu has a special unique mission for this world which is nothing like anything else in the world at all. So שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael, hear the Jewish nation, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists, אלוקינו Elokeinu, he’s intimately involved in our lives. אלוקינו Elokeinu, that’s a bit presumptuous to say אלוקינו Elokeinu, like he’s not the God of the whole world? No, he’s אלוקינו Elokeinu. Ha! How dare you say that? How dare... shouldn’t you say מלך העולם Melech Ha'olam? How dare you say אלוקינו Elokeinu? No, he’s our God. What, you have possession of him? Yes! השם Hashem chose us, אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים Asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim. השם Hashem chose us and he said that he’s uniquely revealing himself over עם ישראל Am Yisrael, and that was what happened at מעמד הר סיני Ma'amad Har Sinai. So it’s אלוקינו Elokeinu, we have a unique relationship with him. השם אחד Hashem Echad. And that’s the exact parallel to those three, that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu said the reason why he brought the first three מכות makkos was אני השם Ani Hashem, למען תדע כי אני השם Lema'an teda ki ani Hashem. And why did he bring the next three groupings which is the differentiation between the Jews and the non-Jews? אלוקינו Elokeinu. אין כמוני בארץ Ein kamoni ba'aretz, בארץ ba'aretz, אני השם בקרב הארץ Ani Hashem bekerev ha'aretz. I’m involved in this world. And maybe you think okay, you’re השם Hashem, בסדר beseder, but I can do my own thing as well. Yes השם Hashem, you exist. Yes השם Hashem, you love the Jewish people, but I can do my own thing. Maybe there’s other areas to be as well? No, השם Hashem is nothing else apart from הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The world is the המקום Makom. השם Hashem’s name is the המקום Makom. There’s nothing else in the world apart from הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, because it’s not that השם Hashem is in this world, the world is in השם Hashem. משל למה הדבר דומה Mashal lema hadavar domeh, if you would imagine there was someone who’s having a dream, and in his dream there’s an entire world happening right now. Entire world of people and countries and nations and flights and... flights? Everything going on in הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s mind. And then that person wakes up and ah, it was all a dream! Meaning it was a full world, but it was all in that person’s thoughts. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu has made this entire world, but it’s all in השם Hashem’s thoughts, כביכול kivayachol. It’s all existing within הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. These are the three major principles of faith that the כלי יקר Kli Yakar shows how they come out of the פסוקים pesukim that השם Hashem said. למען תדע Lema'an teda, they’re in the פסוקים pesukim. It’s not like a וורט vort, it’s the תורה Torah says this directly. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar is just helping you see how it fits into the different מכות makkos. And if the goal of the ליל הסדר Leil Haseder is for us to deepen our אמונה emunah and imbue אמונה emunah, then these are three major principles that have to be spoken about at ליל הסדר Leil Haseder, but more importantly, like I alluded to along the way, you have to ask yourself how real are these principles for me, honestly. Honestly. Like how do I live my life? Do I honestly live my life with the recognition that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose me and then he loves me and then he’s got a mission for me and then I have a vision for the world and it’s הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s vision and I’m leading my life and there’s nothing else, it’s only השם Hashem? Once you’ve got to stage three, then you’re a full עבד השם eved Hashem and you’ve fulfilled the purpose of what the whole goal of יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim was for. That’s why immediately leaving יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim we could go and receive the תורה Torah. We had to first imbue these three principles of faith. Once we knew הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists and that he loves us uniquely and there’s nothing else in the world apart from השם Hashem, then we were fitting, כלים נאים kelim na'im, we were appropriate כלים kelim to be able to then go and receive the תורה Torah because we’re going to be dedicated our lives to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But without these three principles we wouldn’t be able to do it. So that was the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, פרק ז Perek Zayin, פסוק יז Pasuk Yud Zayin, a must-read before ליל הסדר Leil Haseder in order to imbue yourselves with the faith that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu intended through the ten מכות makkos. יישר כוח Yashar koach. I wish everyone a חג כשר ושמח chag kasher vesameach. Tomorrow is בין הזמנים bein hazmanim and there may or may not be מוסר mussar, but I’m not sure there will be. But on Thursday morning we’re having a יום עיון yom iyun preparing for פסח Pesach, if anyone’s still around, and then we might do another one on Sunday as well if there’s more people around. So there will be more שיעורים shiurim in the context of preparing for פורים Purim, בעזרת השם bezras Hashem in the coming days. Stay tuned. יישר כוח Yashar koach.