Special Features 2000 HYPE The secular year 2000 should have been dealt with the same "excitement" as the changing of the odometer in a car from 9999 to 10000. Not much more than that. Besides the fact that 2000 is L'MINYANAM, according to THEIR counting (yes, we use it too, but only for convenience), it isn't the beginning of a millenium, century, or even decade. The year 2000 is the last year of the decade of the 90s (the 1990s, that is), the last year of the 20th century, and the last year of the 2nd millenium - of the common era (as it is known). Counting begins with ONE, the first "counting" number. The first year is over at the end of year #1. The first decade is over at the conclusion of 10 years. Same for centuries, same for millennia. Yes, of course, there have been four-digit years beginning with a 1 for the last 1000 years. And that is over. We have the first year with four-digits that begins with a 2. But the last day of the 90s, the last day of the 20th century, and the last day of the millenium, is December 31, 2000. And remember: 240 years or so left to OUR current millenium. On another note... Something made the rounds on the internet this past week pertaining to this past Shabbat, 23 Tevet, a.k.a. January 1, '00. Take the phrase: YOM KAF-GIMMEL TEVET SH'NAT TAV-SHIN-SAMACH (23rd day of Tevet, in the year '760). If you calculate the G'matriya of those words, it comes to 2000. Try it; it works. CUTE, no? Just for your information, whenever 23 Tevet is January 1st, it will work, as in 1951, 1970, 2008, 2046. (Thank you CAS for pointing that out). Foithermore (as is said in Brooklyn), when 18 Tevet is January 1st, the G'matriya will work if you start with HAYOM. Try it for 1975, 1994, 2070. And if 21 Tevet is January 1st, it will work for KAF-ALEF B'TEVET (1951, 2054). And for 16 Tevet, use HAYOM TET-ZAYIN B'TEVET and it will work (1964, 1983, 2059, 2078). And there are probably other ways to play the phrase in such a way that the G'matriya will work out the "secular" year. In other words, the G'matriya we started with above is just cute. Not one thing more. It isn't unique, it isn't amazing, it doesn't say anything - except, "Look at me; I'm cute".
Where is his Free Will? In the sedras of Sh'mot, Va'era, Bo, and B'Shalach, the Torah makes repeated references to G-d "hardening Par'o's heart". The well-known question on this concept is whether this constitutes a contradiction to the concept of Free Will. Did G-d deprive Par'o of the Free Will that every person is "entitled" to? There are two opposite approaches to answer this question. In theory, a person's free will "accompanies him" throughout his lifetime, and only ceases at death. (In reality, a person's ability to exercise his free will is restricted at different times during his life, due to such things as illness and injury, advanced age, and circumstances.) In Par'o's case, his free will was suspended by G-d so that the Plagues would continue to their originally prophesied conclusion, namely, the "smiting of the first-born". These plagues were not only punishment for the Egyptians - had they been only that, Par'o might have been completely free to "let the People go", if he so chose, to spare himself further punishment. But the ten plagues were also miracles performed for the People of Israel, to teach them and the rest of the world exactly Who G-d is. They confirmed G-d's creation of the world by reversing the laws of nature. The answer then to the question is "yes", we do have a contradiction to the concept of Free Will, but other factors determined this unusual situation. One might even say that Par'o was like a living corpse from the moment his Free Will was revoked, no longer having one of the main features of a human being - Free Will. The other approach considers the hardening of Par'o's heart as the necessary "equalizer" to guarantee that Par'o will still possess free will. If a child is given a "choice" of an ice cream cone or a spanking, he will obviously choose the former. Is this really an exercise of free will? If Par'o has been subjected to the devastating effects of several plagues and the pressure of his advisers and people to acquiesce to Moshe's demands, can it be considered an exercise of free will if he lets the People go upon threat of yet another plague? By hardening his heart, G-d is permitting Par'o to make an actual "free will decision". The Chafetz Chaim takes a different view of the situation. He explains that a person who sins sometimes can be, and is, helped by G-d, so to speak, to repent. To be sure, the individual must expend much effort to repent his ways. But "Heaven's Help" is invaluable, and makes the "job" much easier. When a person sins so much, or if the kind of sins are particularly heinous, then G-d refuses to help. In the language of the Rambam, the path to T'shuva is blocked. Repentance is still not impossible, but it is extremely difficult to achieve. This is what happened to Par'o, says the Chafetz Chaim. He had gone so far in his wickedness against the People of Israel that G-d withheld all help from him. Even if Par'o would have wanted to repent, he would have had a very hard time of it. When G-d withdrew this Divine help, the burden on Par'o increased greatly. One might say that his heart got heavier. This explanation is particularly appropriate for the term L'HACH-BID- to make the heart heavy. (In contrast to L'CHAZEIK - to strengthen the heart, which would fit better with the second explanation above.) The Chafetz Chaim says that Par'o still had his Free Will, but it would have been a practically insurmountable task to change his behavior.
Chronology of Slavery Years are A.M. (from Creation) 1948 - Avraham Avinu is born 2018 - Brit Bein HaB'tarim - Avraham is 70 years old. He is told that his descendants will be oppressed for 400 years. 2048 - Yitzchak Avinu is born. Avraham is 100 years old. 2108 - Yaakov Avinu is born. Yitzchak is 60 years old. 2194 - Levi is born. He outlived all his brothers. 2238 - Yaakov and family go to Egypt. Yaakov is 130 years old. 2255 - Yaakov Avinu dies at 147. As long as he was alive, the family lives in luxury and peace in Egypt. With his death, the people were "prisoners" in Egypt, but not yet enslaved. 2331 - Levi dies. When Yosef and his brothers had all died, a "new" regime came into power in Egypt and they enslaved and oppressed the people. 2368 - Moshe Rabeinu born 2448 - Y'tzirat Mitzrayim - the Exodus
OBSERVATION Notice that each set of three plagues has the same sequence, as follows: (1) Go to Par'o at the river and warn him... (2) Go to his palace and warn him... and (3) just bring the next plague. Furthermore, each set of three brought a different message to Par'o and his people and each set operated in a different realm. The first 3 on ground level (river, from the river to land, land). The second 3 operated on those that inhabit the Earth (animals, animals, people). The third set had to do with the heavens. There are other ways to explain the partitioning of the plagues into sets of three. One of the Hagada commentaries says that the "signs" that Rabbi Yehuda gave for the plagues, namely, D'Tza"Ch, ADa"Sh, B'ACha"V was meant to show us the 3 sets of 3 plagues each.
A Special Rosh Chodesh The Torah tells us in the beginning of the book of D'varim, that the People of Israel arrived at their final place of encampment before entering Eretz Yisrael, on the first day of the eleventh month (in the 40th year of wandering) - Rosh Chodesh Shvat. There, in Arvot Moav, Moshe Rabeinu spent the last 37 days of his life in this world, teaching the People, reviewing the mitzvot, and renewing the covenant with the new generation that was preparing itself for its new life in Israel. As such, Rosh Chodesh Shvat is like Shavuot in that both days represent the receiving of the Torah (and a bit like Yom Kippur, for the same reason). Sefer HaToda'a says that it is appropriate for us to rededicate ourselves to Torah study (and practice) on Rosh Chodesh Shvat. Let us each find at least a few extra minutes a day for Torah study, a few hours a week to attend some more shiurim (at the Israel Center or elsewhere).
A Siddur Tidbit: HODU right after Baruch She'amar in Nusach Ashkenaz or right before Baruch She'amar in Nusach S'fard does not have definite Chazan-stops. There are different customs as to what, if anything, the Chazan says out loud in Hodu. Shulchan Aruch addresses one pasuk (of 51 p'sukim in Hodu, 29 from Divrei HaYamim Alef 16:8-36, and 22 p'sukim from T'hilim, one, two, or three p'sukim at a time) and teaches us how to say it properly. KI KOL ELOHEI HA'AMIM ELILIM (for all the gods of the nations are idols) - pause here - VA'DO'NAI SHAMAYIM ASA (And G-d made the Heavens). In addition to the pause to distinguish between G-d and (l'havdil) pagan gods, there are three other pauses mentioned in Mishna B'rura for grammatical reasons. KI (pause) KOL... This pause is based on the trup (cantillation notes) and "allows" the KAF of KOL to retain its DAGESH (that's the dot in the middle). Otherwise, it would be read KI CHOL... And then there are two pauses to prevent the swallowing of a letter. HA'AMIM pause ELILIM, so it should not sound like HA'AMIMELILIM, and SHAMAYIM pause ASA, so it should not sound like SHAMAYIMASA. I am fairly sure that this pasuk has become a Chazan-says-out-loud pasuk because the congregation needed to hear a knowledgeable davener say this pasuk correctly, so that they would be able to say it properly. And why am I "bothering" you about one little pasuk? Because the message in all of the above is that we should be careful in our davening, pronounce words clearly and properly, and - of course - understand and mean what we are saying. This goes for this pasuk and it goes for all of the p'sukim and prayers which we utter daily. We can make progress in this regard if we slow down a bit and pay more attention.
G'MATRIYA by R. Yaakov Auerbach z"l And G-d spoke to Moshe VAYOMER EILAV ANI HASHEM = 391. "And G-d said to him: I Am HaShem" is unique to Moshe Rabeinu. It is the ultimate in direct, face to face (so to speak) speech between G-d and Moshe. Face to face is PANIM EL PANIM, which also has 391 as its G'matriya. [The Vaeira Homepage]
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