Friday, December 31, 2010

Parshas Vaeira

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, R' Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel. . .

In perek zayin posuk chaf ches, Hashem told Moshe to tell Pharaoh that if he does not free Klal Yisroel, "V'sharatz hayior tzifardim, v'alu u'vau bi'veisecha u'bichadar mishkavcha v'al mitasecha ubi'veis avodecha uvi'amecha uvi'tanurecha uvi'misharosecha."  "The river shall swarm with frogs and they shall ascend and come into your palace and your bedroom and your bed, and into the house of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls."

Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman Ztl explains that this is where Chananya Mishoel and Azariah figured out that the correct thing for them to do was jump into the fire to die "al kiddush Hashem." They said, "If the frogs gave up their lives and jumped into the ovens, then kal v'chomer we should."
However, Rav Neiman asks that this kal v'chomer seems a little puzzling since the frogs were commanded to go into the ovens but Chananya Mishoel and Azariah were not.  He explains that although the frogs were commanded to go into the ovens, each one could have stayed far away from the ovens and said, "I'm not going in there!  I'll go somewhere else and I'll let the other frogs go into the burning ovens."  They could have said this but they didn't and that is why Chananya Mishoel and Azariah were able to make the Kal V'chomer because the frogs did not look for a way out the jumped into the flames to do what Hashem commanded.

We can learn from here how important it is to take advantage of situations where we can do a mitzva or do a chessed.  Many times its so much simpler just to pass it on and say "Let someone else do it", but if we work on ourselves we can be michazek ourselves in this inyan and take advantage of opportunities that come our way.
Good Shabbos

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