At the end of Parshas Bo, there’s a very, very important and fundamental Ramban that describes how the principle beliefs of our emunah were revealed at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Every single Yid must know what are the yesodos of our emunah. The term we as a yeshiva developed to remember what we believe in is: ח.י.ה.
There is a fellow in Eretz Yisrael who is the editor of the Hebrew Yated Ne’eman. His name is Yisrael Friedman. He was extremely close with Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman. He was in his house many times. One day, eighteen years before Rav Aharon Leib was niftar, the phone rings by Yisrael Friedman. He picks up the phone – it’s the rosh yeshivah. Rav Aharon Leib is calling. Rav Aharon Leib tells him, “I have to speak to you right now…”
Yesterday, we spoke about the power of the yetzer hara, where he comes and he challenges each and every one of us, and presents us with new things. He has innovations. He offers us opportunities for new, imaginary horizons. And people succumb to his tricks. He gets into our minds, and messes with us, and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Today, I want to discuss an interesting question that was posed to me. It is something that I experience quite often when meeting people. The question is: “What is the level of Yiddishkeit, of frumkeit, of religion that Hashem expects of me? Does Hashem expect everybody to be committed to the same degree?” It would be very difficult to imagine that Hashem would expect from a little fellow from Chicago the same that He would want from a fellow from Lakewood or Meah Shearim
One of the great tovos that Hashem did with me is that He guided me to learn by my great rebbi, Rav Meir Halevi Soloveitchik, the son of none other than Rav Yitzchak Ze’ev Halevi Soloveitchik, the last Brisker Rav.
Rabosai, what we’re about to share with you today is a subject which is a subject that sits in darkness. It’s shrouded in a lot of obscurity. Everybody feels he’s entitled to weigh in on this subject based on his emotions or based on what he heard from his mother’s emotions or his grandmother’s emotions.
here’s a famous medrash that Rashi brings on the meaning of the word וַיֵּשֶׁב יַעֲקֹב, namely, that the term vayeishev insinuates that Yaakov Avinu wanted rest (Bereishis 37:2). He wanted מרגוע (restfulness). He had been in galus for many years, and was coming back to settle in Eretz Yisrael, the land of his forefathers. The medrash says…
We live in a generation where the darkness is such a darkness and people have accustomed themselves to the darkness that they actually perceive as light. The passuk says, “Hashem placed the world under choshech and it became night” (Tehillim 104:20).
In this week’s parshah we encounter an episode of unimaginable proportions. It’s a ma’aseh that we can’t imagine doing. We can’t even fathom it. But we all descend from the person who is the ba’alas hama’aseh.
“These are the children of Yitzchak ben Avraham. Avraham fathered Yitzchak” (Bereishis 25:19). The question is, after the Torah mentions that Yitzchak was ben Avraham, why does it need to say after that Avraham fathered Yitzchak? If I tell you Yitzchak is ben Avraham, most geniuses, even simple folks like me and you, could figure out that Avraham fathered Yitzchak.
