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Biography of Yehuda Katz | Archives | This Week's Parsha

SHAMOS

" She opened it and saw him, the child..................."(2:6)

The daughter of Pharoah finds a floating basket containing a child, this child was none other than Moses. She has mercy on the child and allows the child to live,even though a decree is in effect that all male babes of the Isralites are to be cast into the Nile......................................

In Tractate Sotah 12b, the Talmud askes why does the verse say : "she saw him ,the child"; it should have said "she saw the child"? (him is extra) Therefore , Rabbi Yose b. Chanina said, that the "him" in the verse is refering to the Schehina (G-ds Devine Presence)......As a result the verse should read as follows:"She saw Him (G-ds Presence) with the child". We can, Bezrat Hashem, learn a very important lesson from this verse in how we can perhapes better our interpersonal relationships with one another. Every person is endowed by G-d with a soul that has a spark of G-dliness. We all carry within all of us the "Devine Presence"...............When Pharohs daughter saw Moses, she saw beyond the mere physicality of the crying Hebrew child;she saw his soul.

In essence, she had a glimpse into the Devine,and thus her mercy was aroused.............. However, when we view another person, What do we see? If we could only get a glimpse into the Devine essence of another person for just a moment, perhapes our whole perspective towards one another could be altered for the better? An original parable might better explain this concept fully: Two friends are walking along a very exclusive and wealthy boulevard, when all for a sudden they approach a Jewelry boutique with the most stunning display of Jewelry inside a glass partition. One friend says to other, How magnificent? The glitter,the craftsmanship.......................,while the other friend merely says, "what are you talking about , all I see is glass".While one friend sees the Jewels, the other is primarily stuck at the glass partition................ Let us all open our minds and eyes to the " Devine Presence" in all of us, and thus act respectfully to one another........Have a good Shabbos......

 


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