PARSHAT SHMOT - BROTHERLY LOVE

[TorahZionist]

BS"D

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

PARSHAT SHMOT
20 Tevet 5768/28-29 December 2007


BROTHERLY LOVE

Brotherly love - true brotherly love - is not just a snappy phrase, but
something that sometimes comes at a price.

“It happened in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his
brethren and observed their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a
Hebrew man of his brethren.”

The greatness of a Moshe Rabbenu is in the fact that he had everything
going for him in Egypt. He was so different from his Jewish brothers that he
could have easily blended into Egyptian society, forgetting all about his
Jewish roots. All of Egypt was in his hands, as well as wealth and power
second only to king Pharaoh himself, but still, he went out to see his
brothers. This sentence in the Torah is meant to be in praise of Moshe, for
the words “his brethren” are written twice. It was not enough for Moshe to
know that they were his brothers, but he acted upon this knowledge. True
love of Israel is not just a nice motto, but as Moshe proves in our parsha,
it entails great self-sacrifice. Just moments before, Moshe was feared in
the land, but by striking the Egyptian and killing him, he lost everything
and became a fugitive.

This is the way of the Jewish people: To feel the pain of another. The
Talmud teaches us: “In a time of distress to the Jewish people, if one
should leave the community and say, I will go home, eat, drink - what do I
care about what is going on, the angels say about him that whoever acts in
this fashion will not see the relief and comfort of his people.”

We also find that this is the case by Abraham, when he heard that his
nephew Lot was taken prisoner: “And Abraham heard that his brother was taken
prisoner”. He did not hesitate for a moment, but immediately went out to do
battle against the mighty four kings, in spite of the personal danger to
himself. So, too, with Joseph: “And Joseph went after his brothers”,
notwithstanding the fact that his brothers hated him.

This, though, is not true with brothers other than the Jewish people, as
we find with Cain and Abel: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Or by Ishmael and
Isaac: “And they went out to the field and Ishmael would shot arrows at
Isaac to kill him, saying, we are just playing.” By Jacob and Esau, our
Rabbis teach us that it is a law that Esau hates Jacob.

Kept within the confines of the Jewish people, this love is a wonderful
thing - true love of Israel, with a willingness to back up the nice words
with deeds. But misused with the nations of the world, this love can have
disasterous results. Take, for example, the case of Ahab, King of Israel,
when he was attacked by Ben-Hadad, king of Assyria, who had threatened to
wipe out Israel. After a miraculous victory, Ben-Hadad is captured and
brought before King Ahab. But instead of putting him to a well-deserved
death, Ahab cries out: “Is he still alive? He is my brother”. Justly so, the
prophet informed King Ahab: "Because you released him, your life shall be in
place of his life and your people instead of his people.”

It is so unfortunate, then, that today our leaders have mixed up
brotherly love, reserved for the Jewish people, with the nations and have
gone in the way of King Ahab, spreading love to people who only want to see
our destruction. For this reason, the Kohen of war would address the people
before they went out to war, saying: “Hear, O Israel, You are going out to
war against your enemy. On your enemy, and not your brothers, not Yehuda on
Shimon, and not Shimon on Binyamin. For if you fall into their hands, they
will take pity on you, but you are battling your enemies - if you fall into
their hands, they will not have mercy on you”.

So let us learn the lesson of brotherly love – giving it to whom it
should be given. And to our enemies: No love - only blood: Theirs!

With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen



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