From an email...
Shallllooooom swweeeeetest friends!!!!!
This dvar Torah is dedicated to the now many donors to the upcoming sefer that I am publishing in honor of my son's bar mitzva and daughter's engagement. And to my beloved friend Moshe Yehuda ben Pesah Dina for EVERYTHING GOOD.
The pasuk says ויספר משה לחותנו את כל אשר עשה השם וכו' ויאמר יתרו ברוך ה' אשר הציל - Moshe told [ויספר] his father in law all that Hashem did etc. and Yisro blessed Hashem for saving the Jews from the Egyptians.
From here the gemara learns that one makes a bracha upon coming to a place where a miracle happened to him. The problem is - Yisro didn't witness the miracle, so how could he make the bracha [see Brachos 54, the Torah Shleima here in the name of the Meiri]?
The word ויספר can also mean ספיר - a saphirre, with a super shine and great clarity. Since Yisro heard everything with such clarity he could make a bracha on the miracle. It was as if he saw it with his own eyes. [Imrei Emes]
This is a huuuuge lesson for us when we try to educate our children [and ourselves!]. We must use the כח הציור - the power of imagination. We must make history come ALIVE. It must be clear like a picture or a movie [a kosher movie:-)]. That is the mitzva on seder night of "sippur yitzias mitzraim". The story must be like a saphirre, shining like a jewel.
If history doesn't remain in the abstract, we have a chance to battle the world of the media which shows graphic violence and other images which contaminate the soul. מדה טובה מרובה. The good of picturing Hashem's miracles and chesed will overcome.
Love and blessings for a sweet Shabbos,
Me
