PARSHAT VA'ERA - THE FINAL TEST - THE HARDEST TEST

[TorahZionist]

BS"D

YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kreuser SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva

PARSHAT VA'ERA
27 Tevet 5768/4-5 January 2008


THE FINAL TEST - THE HARDEST TEST

“And G-d spoke to Moshe and said to him: I am Hashem. And I appeared to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as E-l Shaddai, but though My Name Hashem I
did not become known to them.”

Rashi writes: Our Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted this as referring to
the matter that Moshe asked: Why did You harm this people? The Holy One,
Blessed Be He, said in response: Woe! For those who are lost and not found!
Many times I revealed Myself to the patriarchs, yet they did not question My
actions. You, however, asked: Why did You harm this people?

And what harm befell the Jewish people? Right at the final moments at
the end of the Egyptian exile, after they heard the good news from Moshe
that the redemption was at hand and they were going to leave Egypt, come the
added intensified hardships and the new decrees from Pharaoh. Pharaoh called
the Egyptian taskmasters and commanded them to stop giving the Jews straw to
make the bricks.

It was during this time that Moshe went back to Midian to return his
wife and children to his father-in-law, and he stayed in Midian for the
following six months. Why did Hashem cause the slavery to be intensified
during the last six months of exile, while Moshe was absent from the Jewish
people? The answer is that during the final stage of the redemption, Hashem
tested the Jewish people. He wanted to determine who the righteous among
them were, and who deserved to be redeemed, and who were the wicked who
would perish during the three days of darkness. Now, during the final
moments, without a leader - Who would give up hope of redemption, and who
would stay steadfast in their belief?

And as the redemption of Egypt goes, so goes our Redemption. “I am the
L-rd, in its time will I hasten it”. The prophet here speaks about the two
paths to the Redemption; one being with miracles, easy and without
hardships, and the other coming in a very natural slow way, but full of
troubles and heartache. This latter one is the path we are on today. The Gra
teaches us that in this path it is necessary to have troubles and heartache,
for without them, the Redemption process cannot move ahead. Rather it is the
hardships that help move the wheels of Redemption forward.

There is, though, a way to shorten the process that we are in today and
to sweeten it, and that is for our fellow Jews to head home and leave the
exile behind them. Take PM Olmert's comment this week that Ma'ale Adumim is
a part of the State of Israel and always will be. Why would he say such a
thing? Certainly, Ma'ale Adumim never was settled before our time, it is not
a biblical city that goes back 3,000 years ago; rather, it is because today
some 30,000 Jews live there. There would never be a way, even for them, to
uproot such a large city. Now just think, if all the other settlements would
be as populated as Ma'ale Adumim there would be no talk of giving anything
away to the hateful Arabs. But this, unfortunately, is not the case. Rather,
most settlements are very scarcely populated, and why? Because the Jews are
elsewhere, busy worshipping the almighty dollar - instead of being in the
Land!

It seems that their punishment will be twofold: For not coming home when
they were supposed to, and for making the Redemption process more painful.

Let them not be as the 80% who stayed behind in Egypt, just to be
destroyed, but let them awaken to the new light that will shine from Zion!

With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen

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