~ Something to Think About ~
פרשת בא
Parsha Stumpers
By: Daniel Listhaus
- (10:7-11) Pharoah’s advisors told him to let the
men go, and Pharaoh himself was willing to let the men go. If so, why did
he ask Moshe “mi va’mi ha’hol’chim – who is going?” Why not
just tell them at the onset that he as only willing to let the men go?
- (10:17) Why by this makka did Pharaoh ask Moshe
to daven to remove it “from me”?
- (10:22) Rashi writes that during choshech
– the wicked who did not wan to leave mitzrayim were killed. Who
were these wicked who did not want to leave and why would they want to
stay? Why did their wanting to stay warrant labeling them as reshaim?
- (10:26) The Torah is unclear what would have
happened oif Pharaoh would have let the B’nei Yisroel go? Would
they have come back after “they went to serve Hashem”?
- Why didn't Dasan and Aviram die during makkas
choshech ?
- After Pharoah tells Moshe, “Never come back...”,
Moshe says, “You have spoken well, I will never come to you again”. How
could Moshe say this? How did he know that Hashem wouldn't command him to
back to Pharoah?
7.
Throughout the Torah and Gemara we find many examples
where the Hashem or tzadikim go out of the way to ensure that no appearance
will be given off that could mislead others to think erroneously. For example,
when Hashem was going to destroy s'dom, Avraham argued that if there is even
one righteous person, then Hashem must save the whole city because otherwise
people will think that Hashem does not rule with justice. Additionally we find
this concept a few times in this week's parsha. For example, there is a
reference when Pharoah tells Moshe that he sees “ra'ah” will be with them in
the midbar (desert)....later in the Torah by the eigel ha'zahav when Hashem was
going to wipe out klal yisroel, Moshe argued that Hashem could not do that
because then perhaps the Mitzriyim will say that it was “ra'ah” that did it. Also, there is a famous
rashi and gemara berachos regarding Moshe switching the lashon to “כחצות” instead of "בחצות”
to ensure that the mitzriyim would not accuse him of being a liar if the
makas bechoros wouldn't occur precisely at midnight. Another example is the
gemara in shekalim which discuss that the kohanim could not have cuffs on their
pants or have pockets lest them be accused of taking money from the beis
hamikdash. It seems from all these examples that even in extreme circumstances
we are so careful to make sure to give off a proper appearance even when it
means making an exception to dong the right thing. Considering all this, how
will we deal with the following rashi in this week's parsha: Rashi mentions
that by makas bechoros every house had many people who died. Rashi goes so far
as to say that the mitzriyim started saying, “this is not like the other
decrees/makkos of Moshe because here he said that only the bechorim would die
and yet everyone seems to be dying!” Why in this circumstance did Hashem do the
“correct” thing and kill the bechorim despite the fact that it looked
like He was killing random mitzriyim? Why suddenly was He not afraid that Moshe
would be called a liar? When do we use this principle of remaining נקי and when should we put that aside?
- In the introduction to meseches s'machos, R'
Yochanan says that although Hashem “hit” the bechorim of Mitzrayim
at night, they did not really die until the next morning. Where in
davening is there a רמז to this?
- What is significant about the dogs not barking?
- Who killed the bechorim? Why was it necessary to
have something to differentiate between the Jews and mitzriyim more than
by any other makkah?
- How do we know to wear Tefillin on the left hand?
What is the significance of wearing it on the left hand?
- Two of the four parshiyos in out Tefillin could
be found in this week's parsha. What are they? And what is so significant
about them that they should be in the tefillin alongside Shema?
- If the reshayim of Bnei Yisroel died during
makkas choshech, why didn't Dasan and Aviram die then as well?
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