Midrash Says Pdf

[Fairy Dawdy]

Themidrash says : the narrative of the weekly torah-portion in the perspective of our sages The Book of Beraishis, Shmos, Vayikra, Bamidbar, Devarim, Five Volume Slipcased Set & The Weekly Haftaros

by Rabbi Weissman, Moshe, Benei Yakov Publications

Our Rabbi's taught, at the time that the king Mashiach comes, he will stand on the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and will say to all Israel: "Humble people, it has reached the time of your redemption."(my translation)

This question is dealt with explicitly in the talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe published in the kuntress titled, B'Inyan Mikdash Me'at Zeh Beit Rabbeinu she'b'Bavel on the 28th of MarCheshvan 5752, page 419. See note 38 for details.

The essence of this is that the roof mentioned in the midrash is referring to the area that is not Kodesh and thus alludes to the Temple outside of Israel. This is the synagogue of the leader of generation.

Like Moshe, the most distinguishing characteristic of Moshiach is his level of humility. This humility is the primary quality of the Jewish King. That in spite of being head and shoulders above everyone in the nation, he is completely subservient to his subjects in preserving and protecting their well being.

This last idea is one of the inner meanings behind the wording of the prayer said on the three Festivals after reciting the 13 attributes of Mercy before bringing out the Sefer Torah. That G-d should "fulfill in us the text that His Spirit should rest upon him..." is a reference from Navi to Moshiach specifically.

Sarah, the first of the four Matriarchs, has come to symbolize motherhood for the entire world. The midrash presents her as a prophet and a righteous woman whose actions are worthy of emulation; she converted Gentiles and drew them into the bosom of Judaism. The changing of her name from Sarai was her reward for her good deeds and attests to her designation as a Sarah (i.e., one of the ruling ones) not only for her own people, but for all the peoples of the world. By merit of her good deeds, the people of Israel would merit certain boons; thus, for example, Israel received the manna in the wilderness by merit of the cakes that Sarah prepared for the angels.

The Rabbis are lavish in their description of the beauty of Sarah, who was one of the four most exquisite women in the world and was regarded as the fairest, even in comparison with all the women in the nearby lands. Her barrenness was not perceived by the Rabbis as a punishment, and her pregnancy at the age of ninety was a reward for her good deeds. The Rabbis include in this wondrous occurrence additional miracles that she experienced when God remembered her: He formed a womb for her, and her entire body was restored to youthfulness. When God remembered her, all the crippled and deformed were healed, and all infertile women became pregnant. When she nursed, she could have done so for all the infants of the nations of the world, without wanting for milk; in the wake of this nursing, many Gentiles entered Judaism.

One tradition has Sarah being born to Haran when he was only eight years old, but others dispute this calculation (BT Sanhedrin 69b; see also Lit. "order." The regimen of rituals, songs and textual readings performed in a specific order on the first two nights (in Israel, on the first night) of Passover.Seder Olam Rabbah 2).

The midrash presents Abraham as one who cherishes his wife and is not willing to part with her. Abraham is willing to pay any amount of money to keep Sarah. Sarah, in turn, is portrayed as someone whose value is greater than all the money in the world. The light that she radiates when the chest is opened graphically illustrates that she is worth more than all the pearls in the world.

According to yet a third understanding, both Abraham and Sarah were infertile; they were tumtumin (with underdeveloped genitals), and God had to hew sexual organs for them so that they could procreate. According to yet another view, however, Sarah was not a tumtumit, but an ailonit (a woman incapable of procreation), and even lacked a womb (BT Yevamot 64b). The purpose of these midrashim is to magnify the dimensions of the miracle that was performed for Abraham and Sarah when their prayer was answered. Not only did they bear a child after many years of infertility, and at an advanced age; God opened their sexual organs, or even formed a womb for Sarah. Her womb was fashioned especially for the birth of Isaac, who would be the progenitor of the entire people of Israel.

Sarah was buried in Kiriath-Arba, which was so named, as the Rabbis explain, because the four [arba] matriarchs were buried there: Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah (Gen. Rabbah 58:4). Another etymology explains that it was given this name on account of the four couples interred there: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah (BT Eruvin 53a).

And let us not forget that the year 2000 has been a long-anticipated repeat engagement of the founding member of the Christian religion. Right now, they are building hotels all around Jerusalem (though tourism is at its lowest), to house the tens of thousands of faithful that have already begun strolling in. That promises to add confusion to confusion over the next year-and-a-half. Will we see false messiahs on every corner proclaiming their personal kingdom of Heaven on earth?

Furthermore, there is the tension building up on both sides of the ocean among the various factions of the Jewish people over issues such as marriage, divorce, and conversion to Judaism. We have to remember that, when the sanctity of the Jewish people is reduced, so too is that of ALL of creation, as the Talmud teaches:

Would they have wanted to? The Midrash says no. In fact, the Midrash says that G-d even asked the nations if they wanted the Torah, and none wanted to commit themselves to the mitzvos, especially those that undermined their way of life (Sifri). If not, then to what is the Midrash referring? To answer this question, we need to understand the anti-Semite himself, and the quintessential anti-Semite is Amalek-

Why? Because they had been attacked by Amalek, which had been a very humbling experience. And the ironic thing was that humility was crucial for receiving Torah from G-d, as we have mentioned before. For, humility is indicative of objectivity, and without objectivity, it is impossible to receive Torah without distorting it. There is no comparison between Torah that is viewed through the eyes of the Yetzer Tov (Good Inclination), and Torah that is learned through the eyes of the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination).

First Aliya - 17 p'sukim (1:1-17)Sh'mot begins with the conjunctive VAV to link the birth of the Jewish Nation with the foundation laid by the Patriarchs in the book of B'reishit. The sons of Yaakov are lovingly enumerated once again. The starting number of "70 souls" is repeated to impress upon us the tremendous growth of the people even under the oppression of Egypt.

[SDT] The opening words of the sedra/book of Shmot form the initial letters of V'chayav Adam Lilmod Sh'nayim Mikra V'echad Targum - And a person is obligated to review the Torah text twice and once in translation. Baal HaTurim extends this acronym to the next two words. His whole statement is: "One who learns the sedra2+1, singing it pleasantly, shall merit long life."

[SDT] The final letters of the opening words (sofei teivot) rearrange to spell the word T'HILIM. When the People of Israel are in trouble (a play-on- words of the name for Egypt - MITZRAYIM), they shall use T'hilim to help them focus their prayers to G-d, thereby meriting redemption.

[SDT] Our first exile was associated with the number 70, the number assigned the members of Yaakov's family who went down to Egypt. The exile following the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash lasted 70 years. The termination of the final exile will be associated with our dominance over, or recognition and respect by the 70 nations of the world.

A new king "who does not know Yosef" considers the Jewish people a threat and takes measures to enslave and demoralize them. (Interestingly, he is the first one to refer to us as a nation - "Am Bnei Yisrael", has a nice ring, no?) He even instructs the midwives to kill the baby boys at birth to prevent the development of his "potential enemies" (or to kill off the potential redeemer of the People). They refuse to do his bidding and save the lives of the boys.

[SDT] Va't'chayena et HaY'ladim ...and they gave life to the boys". The Midrash says that not only did the midwives defy Par'o by not killing the boys, they also were responsible for saving those that might have died during childbirth.

It is natural that some babies do not survive birth. The midwives were concerned that if they happened to deliver a stillborn, it should not appear as if they had carried out Par'o's orders. Their prayers were answered, and miraculously none of the babies died. Thus they are credited, not just with assisting the births, but also with giving life to some of the babies.

There is a parallel idea re the night of the Exodus. It is said that even the normal deaths that might be expected in a large population did not occur on the night of the Exodus, lest it detract from the miraculous nature of the Night.

[sdt] AND THEY EMBITTERED THEIR LIVES... The trup (Torah notes) on these words seem unduly happy for such sad words. The Vilna Gaon points out the "happy" result of the unusually harsh oppression of the Egyptians, namely, that G-d reacted to Egypt's excesses by cutting down our time in bondage to 210 years from the original prophecy of 400 years. This was done by counting from the birth of Yitzchak, rather than from Yaakov's descent into Egypt. This can be seen as the sweet Charoset on the Bitter Maror.

[About 3500 years later, another Egyptian ruler announced that he was willing to sacrifice a million of his people in order to destroy Israel and push the Jews into the sea. We must never underestimate the irrational extent to which our enemies will go in their attempt to destroy us.]

3a8082e126