Bo

• The “Borrowed” Treasures

  Jan 25, 2026 Admin 0 Comments

  Isn't it strange that Hashem is telling Moshe Rabbeinu to ask the nation to go and ask for gifts of silver and gold from the Egyptians?
  
  Parashat Bo, 11:2 it says: "דַּבֶּר־נָ֖א בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ מֵאֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְאִשָּׁה֙ מֵאֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב׃ - Tell the people to borrow, each man from his friend, and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold."
  
  The Sages say that Hashem made a promise to Avraham Avinu, and He wants to keep His word. So, when the Jews ask the Egyptians, they will gladly give. 
  
  But I think there's much more hidden behind these words. So, please allow me to uncover what may be the reason for this odd request.
  
  In Parashat Lech Lecha, when Lot was taken captive, Avraham Avinu assembled a small army and went to free his nephew. After the battle of four against the five kings, Avraham Avinu was on the side of the winners. The victorious king made an offer to Avraham, in Lech Lecha 14:21: "וַיֹּ֥אמֶר מֶֽלֶךְ־סְדֹ֖ם אֶל־אַבְרָ֑ם תֶּן־לִ֣י הַנֶּ֔פֶשׁ וְהָרְכֻ֖שׁ קַֽח־לָֽךְ׃ - Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the possessions for yourself."
  
  To which Avraham Avinu answered in Lech Lecha 14:23: "אִם־מִחוּט֙ וְעַ֣ד שְׂרֽוֹךְ־נַ֔עַל וְאִם־אֶקַּ֖ח מִכׇּל־אֲשֶׁר־לָ֑ךְ וְלֹ֣א תֹאמַ֔ר אֲנִ֖י הֶעֱשַׁ֥רְתִּי אֶת־אַבְרָֽם׃ - I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap of what is yours; you shall not say, It is I who made Avram rich." It seems like Avraham Avinu wants to attribute his success and wealth to only one source—Hashem, but here, I believe—if I may say so—an error was made.
  
  In Parashat Vayera, when the angels visited Avraham Avinu after he had made the Brit, one of the angels said that he had come to execute a judgment against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. When they finished speaking with Avraham, they left and continued on with their task.
  
  In 18:23-33 it says: "וַיִּגַּ֥שׁ אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַיֹּאמַ֑ר הַאַ֣ף תִּסְפֶּ֔ה צַדִּ֖יק עִם־רָשָֽׁע׃ - Avraham came forward and said, Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty? אוּלַ֥י יֵ֛שׁ חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים צַדִּיקִ֖ם בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעִ֑יר הַאַ֤ף תִּסְפֶּה֙ וְלֹא־תִשָּׂ֣א לַמָּק֔וֹם לְמַ֛עַן חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים הַצַּדִּיקִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּקִרְבָּֽהּ׃ - What if there should be fifty innocent people within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the innocent fifty who are in it?" And so Avraham went down in numbers each time lowering it, all the way to 10. Hashem said that He would not destroy if He found ten righteous individuals in that city, and for their sake, he would not destroy other people. On this note, they parted.
  
  This story is located near the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, so many, attribute this conversation to that event, but if I may suggest, let's view this incident from a different angle.
  
  Let's imagine, for a second, that it's not about Sodom and Gomorrah, but rather about the generation that came out of Egypt. Avraham Avinu is a prophet, and he has realized that he made a mistake. When the King of Sodom offered him gold and silver, Avraham declined. But now he has realized that this was a huge mistake. 
  
  In Parashat Lech Lecha 15:13-14, it says: "וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לְאַבְרָ֗ם יָדֹ֨עַ תֵּדַ֜ע כִּי־גֵ֣ר ׀ יִהְיֶ֣ה זַרְעֲךָ֗ בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙ לֹ֣א לָהֶ֔ם וַעֲבָד֖וּם וְעִנּ֣וּ אֹתָ֑ם אַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃  - And [God] said to Avram, "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years; וְגַ֧ם אֶת־הַגּ֛וֹי אֲשֶׁ֥ר יַעֲבֹ֖דוּ דָּ֣ן אָנֹ֑כִי וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵ֥ן יֵצְא֖וּ בִּרְכֻ֥שׁ גָּדֽוֹל׃ - but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth." 
  
  And because Avraham Avinu had declined and did not take the wealth - gold and silver offered by the King of Sodom, which he had earned by fighting in a war, where warriors go through pain, blood, and death, and by the rules of war, the treasures taken from the enemy are called booty or spoils of war and are shared amongst the winners. Declining to take the spoils of war from the King of Sodom led Avraham Avinu's descendants to go down to the unknown land into slavery, and to also experience pain, blood, and death, and then be freed by Hashem, and only then bring out that great promised wealth - or "spoils" from the Land of Egypt. 
  
  Remember the discussion Avraham Avinu had with Hashem, where Hashem agreed to save the city if He found 10 worthy individuals? So, since Avraham Avinu's descendants had to go into exile, and later in Parashat Shelach, when the spies came back from Eretz Yisrael, Hashem didn't find the required 10 people out of the 12 spies to save the "city", since 10 spoke against the Land. Hashem did as He had promised - the fate of the men aged 20-60 in that generation or that "city" was decreed to be buried in the desert. 
  
  So, at this point, you may ask why such a harsh punishment for not taking gold and silver when the King of Sodom offered them to Avraham Avinu?
  
  Because Avraham Avinu was raised by a father who was a craftsman, who made idols from clay, wood, gold, and silver. Every day, he saw the influence the idols had on people who came to his father's store. He should have foreseen the consequences of not taking the gold and should have prevented it by taking the treasures when they were offered to him. Only he was able to raise them to the levels of holiness to serve Hashem, but since he declined them, those treasures were made into idols, which misled the population, and eventually led to the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
  
  That is why Moshe Rabbeinu asked people to get silver and gold from the Egyptians, and to bring the treasures out of Mitzrayim. In the desert, he has raised those treasures to the highest levels of holiness by making them into Holy items, such as the Mizbeakh, Mishkan, Menorah, and other Holy vessels, to serve G-d Almighty. And those objects were built from gold, silver, and other materials that the nation of Israel has earned, and paid for with pain, blood, and death. 
  
  Just like the Gemara in Masechet Berachot 5A says, Three things are acquired through hardship: The Next World, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael. And I will add that the above artifacts of such enormous proportions of holiness under Torah, which can't be acquired merely by money. They require national effort of sacrifice and suffering, and only then will Hashem's presence be found among the nation, when the Nation is molded as if one vessel through hardships, and at the end, together works toward one goal - to serve Hashem in holiness. 
  
  Part 2: The above is the story of how Moshe Rabbeinu elevated the treasures they brought out of Egypt to the level of holiness. However, there were other events throughout our history where gold was "used".
  
  - In Parashat Ki Tisa, people approached Aharon HaCohen and asked him to create for the nation an intermediary between Hashem and the people, because Moshe Rabbenu had delayed his return from the mountain. Aharon HaCohen asked them to bring him the golden earrings from their wives, thus trying to delay the time. When the wives rejected this idea, men wanted to expedite the process; so men gave their earrings - exactly those that they had gotten from the Egyptians, the ones they paid for with pain, suffering, and death - thus contributing to the sin of the Golden Calf and cheapening the national efforts of years of slavery and national sacrifice. 
  
  - Later, King Solomon tries to atone for it, or elevate the gold in the service of Hashem, where Moshe Rabbenu left off, due to the sin of the Golden Calf. We are told in the Book of Melachim 1 that King Solomon covered most of the First Bet Hamikdash with gold, along with most of its vessels. There's an opinion that about 1,086 talents, or about 34 tons of gold, were brought to Jerusalem from Ophir by King Solomon's workers. This amount of gold is estimated to have been about half of the world’s known gold supply at that time. The First Temple was the most beautiful building in the world in its time, as the House of G-d should be. But there was another problem. King Solomon had around 1000 wives, and for each of them, he built a palace that also required gold to make them feel "royally accepted" in society. So, each of the wives' palaces was also looking golden and sparkly. But later in life, due to his age, he lost control over his wives, and they began to worship their idols in each of their palaces, so the vast amount of gold of King Solomon was not elevated in holiness, and gold did not achieve its intended purpose, thus it was not atoned.
  
  So, where do we go from here? 
  
  We got another shot at it, and it is a Third Bet Hamikdash. According to one opinion, when the time comes, we will build the Third Temple under Mashiach's supervision. And this time, we will also use gold, and lots of it too. The Third Bet Hamikdash - The House of G-d will attract people from all over the world, according to Sefer Yeshayahu. It will be a magnificent structure and, most importantly, holy, built according to the Jewish Law. But why use so much gold on it, you may ask? Since the beauty of that scale and aggrandizement of this structure should elevate the Honor and Name of G-d ONLY. Because, if anyone deserves the praise and fanfare of that magnitude, that would be not us - the mere mortals, but only Him alone - Hashem, G-d Almighty!!
  
  So, at the end of the day, Mashiach would have previous experience working with gold and would find a way to atone and elevate the gold in the service of G-d.
  
  Part 3: But what do we do with the other gold? That same gold that Avraham Avinu didn't take as spoils from the King of Sodom. Since Avraham Avinu hasn't taken the spoils of war and others weren't able to atone for the gold, who will take it? Since its balance is there in Hashem's books marked as pending.
  
  This time Hashem will give this to Mashiach, as it says in the Book of Yeshayahu 53:12, "Therefore I shall give him a portion with many, and he shall split a booty with mighty ones. For he exposed himself to death and let himself be counted among the transgressors, whereas he bore the sins of many and prayed for the transgressors."
  
  Here, I should probably bid farewell and call it a day, since I believe the point is made. 
  
  But - this time, Today, let me ask you a question. 
  
  - "And he shall split booty with the mighty ones" - Why would Hashem give the spoils to Mashiach? What does it mean? How did he earn it? 
  
  - "For he exposed himself to death?" What is it talking about? It almost feels like somehow he mimicked Avraham Avinu, but how??
  
  - "...And let himself be counted among the transgressors" - This one is really puzzling...Why would he do that? Plenty of questions here...
  
  - And how about this one - "...He bore the sins of many and prayed for the transgressors" - Why would he pray for the sinners? 
  
  SOS!! Is anyone out there? 
  
  The above and many more missing pieces of the puzzle will be revealed to the selected few on That Day, hopefully sooner, with the help of the Mighty G-d. 
  
  Shmuel Katanov
  January 14, 2024

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• The Pious Sinners

  Oct 28, 2024 Admin 0 Comments

  Each of us lives in the community, and if you look hard enough, you may notice a behavior that many regard as normal. But is it the right thing to do?!
  
  One of the makkot or plagues Hashem brought upon Egypt was the Makkat of Khoshekh, the Plague of Darkness. Torah tells us that it was so dark that no Egyptian could physically move during it. But if you read the Midrash on this, it gets even more interesting. It says that during this plague, around 12 million Jews died, and the sons of Israel went from house to house and buried them under the cover of the darkness so as not to cause shame to the nation. In every plague, it has affected Egyptians, but in this one, we have buried many of our own. 
  
  So, let’s stop here. 
  
  During the three days of darkness, we have buried 8 million people. Some say 12 million or even more, but for this article, I will use the 12 million who were buried; since 20% came out from Egypt, which comes out to 3 million people, we have left behind 80% of the nation within those three days, which in total makes 15 million people were living in Egypt before the plague.
  
  But the amazing thing is, no one screams from the podium about this event; why?? During the Holocaust, we lost 6 million, and we make so much noise about that till today, but 12 million - no noise is made, and not much is said. With your permission, please allow me to shed some light on what might have happened there, or to be the one to make the noise I believe needs to be made. As always, everything that is about to follow is my opinion, which I would like to share with others.
  
  In Parashat Shemot 3:3, when Moshe stood at the burning bush and was instructed by Hashem to go to Egypt to free the nation of Israel, Moshe hesitated, and rightfully so. Two individuals have given Moshe the reason to flee Egypt since they reported him to the authorities when he killed an Egyptian while saving another Jew. Now returning, it was not something Moshe wanted to do besides other reasons; he knew they wouldn’t stop and would continue, and may even outperform and amaze themselves and others at their skill level even more than the previous time. And they did precisely so.
  
  When Moshe Rabbenu went to the pharaoh, he performed miracles and brought or triggered a plague that Hashem had performed. It had the intended effect on the Egyptians, as Hashem wanted, but those two individuals were busy spreading a completely different story to the nation.
  
  When Moshe came to Egypt, he told Aharon HaCohen, his brother, and the elders that G-d sent him. Aharon HaCohen believed Moshe, but the elders believed Aharon HaCohen, since they knew him and not his brother, Moshe. Every time the plague happened, Aharon HaCohen confirmed it as the "Doings of the Almighty." But those two—Dathan and Aviram—had a different plan and a story to tell to others who were willing to listen.
  
  So what did these two tell them? They said that Moshe grew up in the House of Pharaoh and learned to perform those "miracles", with no G-d involved; it was Moshe performing at an advanced level of sorcery. 
  
  But guess what - Dathan and Aviram were not the lazy bunch, and they didn't mind going miles from house to house - since they had no WhatsApp or other technologies we have today to spread slander, they put the time and effort into this "project." So, the elders living far from Aharon HaCohen believed these two since they were persistent and convincing. They walked far and wide and reached 12 million people - the elders and the ordinary folks had believed them that Moshe was not for real, and all of those "miracles" - plagues were just his tricks. Since Aharon HaCohen and the elders loyal to him could convince only 3 million people, Hashem decided to leave the rest of the nation behind, so 80% of the Nation, 12 million people, were buried during the Plague of Darkness.
  
  So, the merit of the deaths of 12 million people belongs to these two individuals - Dathan and Aviram.
  
  - Hashem made Moshe His choice, but these two didn't agree with Him and smeared Moshe, no matter the effort, the time it took, or the consequences it had on the nation—thus challenging G-d's authority and weakening the belief in G-d of the people of that generation and on.
  
  - The nation - those 3 million people - truly believed in Moshe and Hashem later after they crossed the sea, as it says in Parashat Beshalach - Vayaaminu Ba Hashem Uve Moshe Avdo. However, as a result of the actions of Dathan and Aviram, our nation still struggles with faith in Hashem and Moshe to this day. 
  
  - Later in recent history, we have had another similar incident. After thousands of years of following the Derech, or the Way, that Moshe Rabbenu taught us in ancient times, in the early 1800s and on in Europe, new ways to serve G-d were introduced. As a consequence, we lost another 6 million people, and the effects of that are still present today.
  
  As it was, so it will be. The Holy Books tell us of the End of Times. Those past reincarnations will smear the Son of David, and it will be a heavy load. 
  
  But all that is done to test Aharon HaCohen and the Elders of that generation. Whether they will back the one G-d has chosen, side with the ones who smear, or ignore it altogether and go on their way, their actions will determine whether The Nation will leave any of its members behind.
  
  That's why Parashat Korach says, And Korach took but never says what he took. Korach was a bystander who was quietly learning - he had witnessed the performance of The Masters of Defamation - Dathan and Aviram. Korach has taken that "experience" - the knowledge of what the lies can achieve when repeated enough times, and their power to convince and rule the masses, and with that experience, Korach has taken with him the above “experts or the consultants,” and together with other "upstanding scholars", they went against Moshe Rabbenu.
  
  So next time you are out there in public, socializing in the community, look around at those who do the Talking and the Walking and those who quietly stand on the side while gaining that "invaluable experience."
  
  That’s why King David said in the Book of Tehillim 1:1, "Happy is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scorners."
  
  After causing so many terrible problems in the nation and years of accusations of Moshe Rabbenu by Dathan and Aviram, Moshe Rabbenu calls on G-d again to solve this thorny problem once and for all, and goes for the unthinkable.
  
  Parashat Korach 16:28-30 says: "And Moses said, By this, you shall know that it was Hashem who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my devising: If these people’s death is that of all humankind, if their lot is humankind's common fate, it was not Hashem who sent me. But if Hashem brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that those involved have rejected Hashem." 
  
  And so it happened. Dathan, Aviram, Korach, and their families have fallen into the depths. Gemara Bava Batra 74A says that they never died, but they constantly keep on repeating down there deep in the Earth below: Torah is Truth, and Moshe is Truth—a bit too late if you ask me, but they realized that Moshe's doings were directly from G-d. 
  
  The same will be true with the Son of David, who also will do the same per the Will of G-d. Just like Moshe Rabbenu, who has judged Korach and his people, the Son of David will take the judgments to the next level by the sense of smell to root out the Dathans, Avirams, and other pious sinners of his time who have quietly operated for years amongst the nation. 
  
  Shmuel Katanov

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• The Mystery of The Lit Candle

  Apr 11, 2022 Admin 0 Comments

  Have you ever wondered why we light a candle during the Bedikat Chametz, or the Search for the Leavened Bread? This may seem like an ancient ceremony to the outsider, but as always, there may be reasons for it, and we should look into it.
  
  On the night of Bedikat Chametz, we use a candle and look for 10 pieces of bread that we hid before. Also, let me mention that we use a lit candle on Motzeh Shabbat during Havdalah. Why do we do that? Is there a connection between these two candles? There is, so let's examine it closely.
  
  The first time the fire is mentioned is in the Midrash for Parashat Bereshit, when Adam and Chavah left Gan Eden. When the night falls, it says that Adam gets scared since this is the first time he has experienced nighttime. Hashem told him not to worry since it is a normal occurrence. He taught him how to start a fire with stones, which gave Adam peace of mind and calmed him down. But more could be added to this Midrash, or it could be explained from a different angle.

   

  Let's start with a question: how come Adam and Chavah ended up outside of Gan Eden?

   

  In Parashat Bereshit, right after Hashem created the world, Hashem told Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; in turn, Adam told Chavah not to touch the tree. Later, when Adam wasn't around, Chavah was approached by a Nachash, a primordial snake. This is when the snake persuaded her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge by telling her Lashon Hara, or slandering Hashem, and she fell for it. There are several opinions about the tree's fruit - apple, grape, bread, and others... but I strongly believe this tree had ready-to-eat bread growing as fruit. 

   

  So there was Chavah - she took the fruit of that tree - a piece of bread from the Tree of Knowledge, and right before she ate it, the snake placed his poison into it - and Chavah ate the poisoned bread. And at that moment, the Yetzer Hara, or an Evil Inclination, went into her, and then she made Adam eat it as well. There they were, with Yetzer Hara, or Evil Inclination — also known as the bad character traits, such as jealousy, anger, hatred, dishonesty, rudeness, and more — deeply rooted in them and passed on to billions of people throughout the generations until today, all across the world.

   

  Hashem wasn't happy about this. He punished Adam, Chavah, and the snake, but humanity was still infected, and Hashem had to figure out how to somehow cleanse the people from it.

   

  And this is what Hashem did.

   

  Remember the time when Moshe Rabbeinu came to Egypt and took the Jewish nation out of Mitzrayim? In Parashat Beshalach, Hashem has given us manna in the desert—pure bread—food for the angels. It was bread that was digested fully by the body with no waste. There's a reason why Hashem has put millions of people in the desert on this diet—only one reason—to raise the nation spiritually to the level Adam HaRishon was at when he was in Gan Eden. 

   

  But later, when we get to Parashat Shelach, suddenly, the selected few get the idea of spying out the Land. Hashem is not so excited about this idea, but He still lets Moshe send out an expedition, which he does. After forty days, when they come back, what do they do? This time, they slander the Land of Israel. Hashem tried to cleanse the nation from that original sin that happened in Gan Eden, and raise the nation to high spiritual levels by giving them manna, but they fell for the same sin again, and this time by slandering the Land. So, Hashem decided to kill all the males between the ages of 20 and 60 years old of that generation, and only their children went to Israel years later. 

   

  But the Evil Inclination still dwelt in those who went to Eretz Yisrael.

   

  So, in Parashat Bo 12:11 it says, "So shall you eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is a Passover offering to G-d." It continues in 12:34 & 39: "The people picked up its dough before it could become leavened, their leftovers bound up in their garments upon their shoulders. They baked the dough they took out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for they could not be leavened, for they were driven from Egypt, for they could not delay." 

   

  So, for generations, eating unleavened bread—matzah, a pure bread with no chametz—has been set as a holiday of Pesach. 

   

  The Sages teach us to celebrate the night of Pesach and feel as if we are leaving Mitzrayim. But I don't believe that by leaving Mitzrayim, they meant that we should leave any physical location. Our Mitzrayim is our OK with the current situation, our contentment with it, and our will to continue living in it. Because the moment we understand what happened, we realize we have lost—and we have lost BIG.

   

  On Motzeh Shabbat, when we make the blessing for a lit candle, we look at our fingernails, which remind us of Adam HaRishon, since it says in the Midrash that his whole skin was covered by fingernails like skin, but now we have nails only on our fingers and toes. But this is not the only loss; it should remind us of others. It should remind us that we no longer live in the Gan Eden. No longer have ready-to-eat bread growing on the trees, and have to toil daily for a piece of bread. We no longer have a close relationship with Hashem and thus live in the darkness. No Bet Hamikdash, and no Eretz Yisrael, with wars, diseases, hunger, death, conflicts, and a whole lot of troubles across the globe.

   

  Therefore, while we look for chametz with a lit candle and gather the pieces of chametz—the leavened bread —we realize: Chametz, it is because of you that we have lost so much. The life we have, and the life the whole world has is not what Hashem initially intended it to be - and instead, we suffer today because of the poison the snake put into the bread - which is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge - which in turn has infected us, humans, with the Yetzer Hara or Evil Inclination from which we suffer daily. We take that bread and burn it, and with it, we annul all the Chametz that may be in our possession -- thus weakening its influence over us for the next 7 days.

   

  And to all those who think that G-d has abandoned the Jewish nation, should know that He has neither abandoned nor given up on us.

   

  He has commanded us to celebrate the Holiday of Pesach for seven days. And on this holiday, we are commanded to eat unleavened bread—the bread with zero chametz—the matzah. When we eat the matzah, we grow in our belief in G-d, and most importantly, in kedushah - the holiness. And this will eventually lead to the ultimate redemption, Mashiach, and the Third Bet Hamikdash. May this happen speedily in our days. Amen!!

   

  Shmuel Katanov
  
  

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