Parshas Va'era
10 maamarim of the tzaddikim on this week's reading, each in Hebrew and English with a takeaway.
Lehavas David
Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz ›Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzKnowing Hashem through Kindness, Not Only through JudgmentHardship can wake a person up, but being brought to Hashem only by suffering is the lower path of fear of punishment. The higher path is to let His kindness move us: to see, amid…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzAccepting Judgment as Mercy: Moshe's Two MessagesThe tzaddik accepts everything from Hashem with love, knowing that even what looks like harsh judgment is truly mercy, “first darkness, and afterward light.” Those of us not yet…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzElokim to Moshe, Hashem to the PeopleA tzaddik accepts hardship without questioning Hashem's ways, and Moshe spoke up only out of concern for those who might stumble. Even the judgments we see are mercy at their…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzPrayer for Hashem's Name and the Heavier ExileOur prayers are so often about our own troubles, but a prayer for Hashem's honor and for the pain of the Shechinah is one that no accuser can block. Even when such a prayer seems…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzThe Vengeance of Mercy: Judgment That AwakensHashem's “vengeance” is mercy: like the king who brought the stone-throwing boy into his palace, He showers us with good until we see Whom we have wronged and return. And when…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzCrying Out for Our Father: Freedom to Accept His YokeBnei Yisrael in Egypt were called by the lofty name Yisrael because of what they groaned about: not only the pain of slavery, but that it kept them from accepting Hashem's yoke…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzA Redemption of Body and SoulOur redemption is meant to free both body and soul, and a freedom that leaves the soul enslaved is not the true redemption. In Egypt, Bnei Yisrael's deepest cry was over being…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzPraying for Heaven's Honor Brings RedemptionOur prayers rise highest when their heart is the honor of Heaven and the pain of the Shechinah, and not only our own needs. Because Israel's troubles are the Shechinah's own pain…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzFour Redemptions: Body and Soul, Nation and IndividualA redemption that frees only the body is not complete; the true redeemer speaks of a doubled redemption, of body and soul alike. Besides the exile of the whole nation, each of us…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzAharon's Harsh Words: Remembering Our Father in HeavenThe deepest pain of exile is not the suffering but our distance from our Father in Heaven, and the danger is forgetting Him altogether. When shortness of spirit and hard labor…