Dear Reader,
Welcome to the concise, relevant Lelamed Weekly Dvar. If I had a
favorite Dvar, this one might be it. Enjoy...
* * *
Parshat Bo continues with the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians,
and the exodus that followed. We find one interesting event that
happened when Paroh called in Moshe and Aaron to bargain with
them, right after being warned of the upcoming locust plague.
After offering to allow only the men to go, and being rejected,
Paroh kicked Moshe and Aaron out of the palace. The "Riva" wonders
why they waited until they were kicked out of the palace, when
they could have left before it got to that point. The Riva answers
that had Moshe and Aaron left before being told to leave, they
would have shown a lack of respect for Paroh, thereby embarrassing
him. Since it was Paroh that had originally invited them, and
since he was the ruler of the land they were in, they showed him
respect by not leaving until he told them to, despite their
embarrassment.
This amazing lesson in humility is even backed up by the events
surrounding it. Locust, the plague directly following the story,
was started by Moshe stretching his hands on the ground,
symbolizing humility. Each and every single one of us has a
common, ongoing struggle throughout our lives - our ego. If we
simply stopped, thought, and realized about EVERY time we felt
cheated or angry, we'd realize that it's our own ego that's
letting us get angry or feel cheated, and if we learned to set
that ego aside, we would accomplish SO much more, comparable to
the accomplishments of Moshe and Aaron! Our ego will control our
action and reactions, unless we learn to control it!