Rabbi Brazil
Hashem
tells Moshe that Pharaoh will request כי
יאמר לך פרעה לאמר תנו לכם מופת ,
give yourselves a proof that Hashem is capable of redeeming His
people. The Rebbe from Ropshitz asks the following two obvious
questions. What is the meaning and purpose of the word לאמר
“to
say”, in this context? The message would have been clearly
understood even if the word לאמר
was
omitted. Secondly, the word לכם
is
inappropriate. If Pharaoh is addressing Moshe and Ahron then the text
should have read תנו
לי מופת that
Pharoah is asking from them to demonstrate for him a proof and not as
it reads seemingly incorrectly show yourselves
a proof?
He answers with the well known Ari Hakadosh that says that during the period of Galus Mitzrayim, theדיבור of Am Yisrael was in galus. This is the reason why the Yom Tov of the geulah is called פה סח which translates the mouth speaks and is out of galus. To understand this concept in a deeper way we will explain as follows. Man alone was G-d gifted with the power of speech. That is why he possesses the highest category of all four levels of creation called מדבר. Speech was a result of Hashem blowing within Man a neshamah. This indicates that the purpose of speech is to enhance the neshama by its praising of Hashem, davening, learning, speaking only emes, and the performance of acts of chesed through this special gift. If dibbur is not utilized or if it is improperly used and abused, then man loses this special dimension of G-dliness within him.
When there is healthy dibbur, then Am Yisrael is alien to the nature of galus, for then they live their lives primarily connected to their neshama which cannot be subjugated by others. However, when Am Yisrael misuses this special crown, then they fall to “body language” and the physical body can yes be subjected to a galus.
Am Yisrael sunk to a state of spiritual poverty by assimilating into the Egyptian culture which was driven by the gratification of physical pleasures. The Chazal tell us that a slave would never escape from Mitzrayim. Rav Dessler ztl interprets this to mean, not that they posted guards in watchtowers by the borders observing if there are any slaves attempting to escape. Rather the accessibility and addiction of pleasure gratification was so, that even a slave did not desire to escape for “fear of missing out” any pleasurable experience, a condition known through its acronym of FOMO. In contrast to animals, the head of the human being towers upwards towards not to the earth. If Man places his focus on earthly pursuits then he has lowered his status of his regal Adam, and he has been infected by a killer virus.
With Hashem’s breath of neshama into Man he endowed him with creative powers not just in the realm of nature but also in building spiritual worlds with his speech. For this reason Man is called Tzelem Elokim, a concept that the Nefesh Hachayim expounds upon at the beginning of his sefer. This gift however, is enabled only when Man’s speech is connected to neshama when then he can even have the power of צדיק גוזר וה' מקיים the tzadik decrees and Hashem fulfills his wishes. Pharaoh did not believe that this higher level of speech is applicable to Am Yisrael anymore. After all they have been in galus Mitzrayim more than two hundred years. If anything, their ongoing speech has deteriorated even more, distancing itself from any semblance of neshama. Therefore, they are fitting to be in bondage and slavery.
This is hinted in the words of the Onkelos. The Chizkuni writes (Bereishis 1,24) that in Maaseh Bereishis there were four creations of nefesh chaya: בהמה, רמש, חיתו ארץ, אדם. Adam was the fourth and the highest. The Targum Onkeles writes on the nefesh Chaya of Adam that he was a creation capable of dibbur. So the fourth nefesh Chaya of creation is Man the Medabair. The “trop” musical notes on the words וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה is קדמא ואזלא רביעי translated as that the fourth proceeded to leave. We suggest that this is referring to the fourth level of nefesh Chaya which is Man. The dimensions of the Tzelem Elokim the power of speech has left Bnei Yisrael. It is therefore that they can be subjected to galus of their bodies וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה .
In truth Bnei Yisrael never ever lost it. For deep down there always remains the Pinteleh Yid that can never be subjugated and from where the geulah comes from. However, if it is only the pintelleh Yid that possesses this connection to neshama, then the body can still be enslaved. Only when the pintelleh has come out of its hiding and influences the body with its spirit, the body cannot be enslaved.
Pharaoh will test Moshe and Ahron with their power of speech to demonstrate that Am Yisrael still retained a connection with their neshamos. Pharoah will demand לאמר - to say, through dibbur show me that your speech is connected to neshamah. תנו לכם מופת the proof of speech is for you to show me that your speech has not lost its creative powers and you are worthy of redemption. It is at that moment that Ahron will throw his staff down on the ground. It will not yet turn into a snake. It is only when he will command יהי לתנין turn into a snake, will this miracle occur (see Baal Haturim who makes the same point). So in fact Moshe and Ahron demonstrated that the dibbur of Yisrael has not yet lost its touch and capabilities. Deep down we are still connected to the state of geulah and we are asking for your permission to leave.
This demonstration for Pharaoh was done with a staff and a snake. The passuk compares Pharaoh to a snake (Yechezkail 29,3). However, this matter is much deeper. The Nachash in Gan Eden strove to cause Adam to compromise his stature as a מדבר. This is alluded to by examining the neighboring letters of מדבר which are נהגש the gematriah of נחש. The Nachash also had the power of speech which he utilized to diminish Man’s spiritual dimensions so that there should remain in the world only Nachash Speech. When the Nachash was punished the Torah tells us that Hashem removed his legs על גחונך תלך. Interestingly, we do not find that the speech of the Nachash was also taken away. Science has yet to record a species of serpents that speak. It may be suggested that the Torah did not write that speech was taken away from the Nachash because it wasn’t entirely removed. The snake itself cannot speak but his speech is communicated through his followers. We can view the Nachash after the chait as a spectacular ventriloquist. One cannot detect any lip movement with the perfect ventriloquist but nevertheless he communicates totally with perfect speech from a source outside of himself. So too the Nachash lost speech communication of himself, however, as the perfect ventriloquist, he communicates his poisonous message through others such as the Pharaohs of each civilization and generation. His amplifiers are the newspapers, magazines, movies, media, internet, inappropriate social gatherings etc. The Nachach’s email blast has never stopped pumping, running 24/7, always striving to acquire new followers for the pursuit of bodily pleasures at the expense of one’s neshama. It is the same communication and message that began broadcasting in Gan Eden 5776 years ago, it’s only the packaging that constantly changes from year to year, month to month and even from day to day.
One might erroneously say that he cannot change that he or she is too far gone and will forever remain in the clutches of the Nachash. Moshe and Ahron demonstrated that falling prey to the Nachash depends upon the direction of one’s dibbur. You can create the Nachash to be the nurturer of your lives or remove it by the power and investment of one’s speech. If we use it for Torah and mitzvos then we create the staff of Hashem to lean upon. If it is used to receive and identify with Nachash Communications Inc. then you create the Nachash with the ability to take over your life. The dibbur of Torah is creative enough that when you invest in it, you will be able to free yourself from the shackles of the Nachash and all his cohorts.
In the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim Pharoah asked תנו לכם מופת give yourself a proof to show you are ready for geulah. So too, all the tumah serpents that surround us ask from us to give a proof that we are ready for the geulah. Can we show to the world our koach of dibbur, our connection to Neshamah, to give them sufficient reason to release us from their clutches? If not, then we must undergo serious introspection to redirect our dibbur so that we can become theמדבר that Hashem intended us to be.
It is not anymore an issue of talking in shul. It is an issue of whether we retain the crown of מדבר or not. Do we realize that all our culture and all its luring glitter is talking the talk of the Nachash. Imagine the advertisement to dress immodestly. It is really suggesting to you that you deserve to look beautiful and surround your body with this elegant stunning 20 foot long python that will squeeze the daylights out every ounce of neshama that has influenced your body up until now. It is very scary even though we don’t feel its big squeeze. The immodest dress is the Nachash speaking and doing what he knows best and that is being the Evil Ventriloquist.
Let us just remember that the letters that follow מדבר adds up to be gematriah נחש but it also adds up to be משיח. It is within our hands that we can bring Moshiach with every bechirah we make to reconstruct our title of medabair.
