17 Shevat 5768 – Parshas Yisro 23 January 2008

Yeshaya Perokim 16 - 22

Hi Everyone –

For all of you, still hanging on to Yeshaya through all these chapters of ‘Massaos’ – of visions about the destruction of the various kingdoms around Eretz Yisrael – well done. It is a vey hard part, and possibly the least interesting for us, in the whole of Sefer Yeshaya.

Please G-d, by Shabbos, I hope to send you a structure of Sefer Yeshaya – and then you will see that the ‘Massaos’ do not go on forever – by Monday, life will change (as will Yeshaya’s focus.)

Fantastic response from some of you guys – please keep the e-mails coming, if you have a question, or a cool idea – or you disagree with what I have said.

I want to focus on two short topics:

1) At the end of Perek 19, and the whole of Perek 20, we find repetitious mention of Egypt and Assyria – Mitzrayim and Ashur. The reason for the ‘picking’ on these countries, is because they were the superpowers in the times of Yeshaya and Chizkiyahu – therefore the prophecy (19:23) “On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Ashur, the Assyrian will come to Egypt, and the Egyptian to Assyria – and Egypt, together with Assyria, shall worship (Hashem)” – The two superpowers, Ashur of the North, and Mitzrayim in the South, will come to a recognition of Hashem.

Eretz Yisrael, as one sees on the map, has Syria to its North, and Egypt to its South. The same setup existed then, except that everything north of Israel belonged to Assyria and everything south of Israel (or a lot of it) belonged to Egypt. Israel was the highway, on which armies marched to attack and conquer the other army/empire.

[INCIDENTALLY: If you remember from Sefer Melachim, Yoshiyahu HaMelech, who was killed at Meggido (age 31) in a fight with Egypt, did not allow Egypt to pass through Israel to attack Ashur. Yoshiyahu thought that the Jewish people were on such a high spiritual level, that the prophecy of “Lo Sa’avor Cherev BeArtzechem” – “A sword shall not pass through your land” would be fulfilled – and without consulting the navi, he waged war to prevent Egypt simply passing through the land.]

A famous passuk in next week’s Yeshaya: (27:13) which we say on Rosh Hashana “Vehaya BaYom HaHu YiToka Beshofar Gadol, Uvau HaOvdim Be’Eretz Ashur VeHanidachim BeEretz Mitzraim…..” – “And it will be on that day, a great shofar will sound, and those who are lost in ASHUR (rashi: 10 lost tribes, taken by Sancheriv the king of Ashur), as well as those who are dispersed in MITZRAYIM will come and will bow to Hashem in the holy mountain of Yerushalayim.” [Compare it to the passuk we quoted earlier in 19:23 – tell me what u think…] Interesting, Mitzrayim and Ashur are highlighted… again.

I heard the most wonderful p’shat, but I don’t know where from – an extra doughnut for anyone who can find me a source – but the word “Ashur” also connotes ‘wealth’ (Ashirus=wealth), while “Mitzrayim” implies ‘narrow’ (tzar=narrow). Klal Yisrael, throughout Galus, has faced two difficulties – the first, is one of hardship; in the shtetl, no money, no food… and this existed for the majority of our galuyos, a test of poverty and destitution. The second test in galus is that of affluence, of ashirus – a test during bayis sheini, in Spain, in Germany, now in America and England. The nevuah of Yeshaya is telling us that in the future, those lost in Ashur, in wealth, as well as those lost through oppression (maybe ‘tzaddik veRa lo’) will come back to serve Hashem in Yerushalayim. [Maybe that is the p’shat in the passuk in 19:23 – that Ashur, together with Egypt is serving Hashem.]

[A little advanced thought: On seder night, we have the first kezayis of matzah at the beginning of the evening (motzi-matzah) – and the last kezayis of matzah at the end of the evening by afikoman. There is a machlokes between the Rambam and Ra’avad, as to whether the first or last kezayis is the main mitzvah min hatorah. The Rambam holds that the first one is, and the Ra’avad holds that the last one is. We know that the rules are that the first kezayis has to be eaten BETEAVON – with appetite – and the last kezayis has to be eaten AL HASOVAH – when satiated. It was suggested by R’ Issac Bernstein zt”l that maybe these two approaches are the two tests that klal yisrael face – our Emunah (Matzah is called “The food of Emunah” by the Zohar) is confronted by being hungry (poverty), and by being satiated (affluence). ]

Someone who is becoming frum made to me the following comment: “Life is so much easier now than it was for the past 2000 years of Jewish history.” She was comparing the ease with which we can keep mitzvos nowadays. I answered her that I think it is much harder to keep mitzvos nowadays as in those days, you were a Jew and you lived within the Jewish community and it was very tough. People died of disease etc. Nowadays, every day, and in every corner we are confronted with the question of “are you going to stay faithful to Judaism or not?” “What is Judaism?” “How does your Jewish life compare to this alternative that we are offering?” The promise is that one day, all of us will see with heightened clarity that both the Mitzrayim and the Ashur are means (or tests) to ensure that we come closer to Hashem, that we can sense Him.

May we all live to see that “BaYom HaHu Yitoka BeShofar Gadol’.

2) The second point is homework – for you to think about, ask, discuss, and let me know your conclusions:

24:23 – (In the future) “The Moon shall be ashamed, and the Sun embarrassed… (of Hashem)”

30:26 – (In the future) “The light of the Moon will be like the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun will be seven-times-seven times the seven days (Rashi: 7 x 7 x 7 = 343)…”

The Gemara in Sanhedrin (91b) asks that these 2 verses conflict – first it sounds like the sun and moon in the future will be darker, and then it sounds like the sun and the moon will be tremendously bright, much brighter than anything we can imagine.

The gemara responds; one is referring to yemos hamashiach (rashi: the more bright one), and one is referring to Olam Haba (rashi: the less bright one, because the light of the sun and moon will be eclipsed by the light of the Tzaddikim…) – and according to Shmuel, one is talking about the camp of tzaddikim in Olam Haba, and one is referring to the machine shechina….

WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS MEAN? Surely we know nothing about Olam Haba, we definitely know (or think) that Olam Haba is not physical in our sense of the word physical…. What does the sun being dimed in Olam Haba mean, what does it mean that Yemos HaMashiach is going to be so bright?

Ask someone, and let me know. Thanks.

By R’ Shmuel Kimche

shmuelkimche@hotmail.com