Geshmake Question & Readers Answers
Last week’s Geshmake Question:
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This Week’s Geshmake Question:
The makkah of darkness caused the Mitzrim not to be able to move for three days. How did they survive without food?
The Netziv says it was because Klal Yisroel is a nation of kindness, and they fed them food.
Question: Why is this a kindness? Shouldn’t they have let them die of hunger? Klal Yisroel fed people who were killers?!
On the outside, Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim looked terrible. They were on the 49th level of impurity. But Hashem knew that Klal Yisrael was holy on the inside and didn’t give up on them.
Every Yid is holy inside and good now; help others see it, but first believe it about yourself as well.
The Vishnitzer Rebbe zt”l, the Imrei Chaim, was getting older. One Shabbos, his feet were hurting so much that he couldn’t really walk. Even though the Rebbe’s house was very close to the shul it was still too far to walk. The Rebbe was lifted on a chair and carried to shul.
The Rebbe noticed a chassid that looked very sad. The Rebbe stopped him and asked, “What’s wrong?” The chassid said, “How can I see the Rebbe like this?”
The Rebbe said, “Ahh, that’s what bothered you?” The Rebbe smiled and said, “I can’t stop thanking Hashem that the sign of old age is starting in my feet. And it’s not starting in my head.”
That’s the lesson! In life, focus on what you have, not on what you don’t have.
R’ Zecharia Wallerstein zt”l said he had ADHD. It was very hard for him to just sit and listen to a shiur, but he still pushed himself to go. He would play with foam cups and break them into small pieces. That was the only way he could focus on the magid shiur.
Even when he had to prepare his own shiur, he would prepare for half an hour and had to take a break. It was very hard for him to concentrate on one thing. He had so many things on his mind. It is not easy to learn with ADHD, but try your best.
But R’ Wallerstein said this was also his success. He said that because he had ADHD, he was able to be part of many organizations and open new schools.
Everything in life can be used for good. Focus on the good you have in life. Use it, change all those around you and change the world.
This Connects To This Week’s Parsha:
Klal Yisroel is about to leave Mitzrayim, and Moshe Rabbeinu tells Klal Yisroel to remember “they left in the month of the spring.”
Question: Why was “the month of the spring” mentioned? Just say they left in the month of Nissan, the first Jewish month!
Answer: R’ Avigdor Miller zt”l said that because Moshe wanted us to realize and focus on how good Hashem was, he didn’t take us out in the winter when it’s freezing; Hashem, in His kindness, took us out when it was spring and beautiful weather.
In life, there are many things we wish we had, but we must really learn to focus on the good that we do have. We must work on guarding our eyes from looking at what others have, and only focus on what we have and celebrate all the blessings we have.
Easier said than done, but we can try our best.
Trouble In School. Focus On The Good In Life.
There was a boy, Avrumi, who had a lot of energy and always got into trouble at school.
He was sitting at the head table at his bar mitzvah, and whenever someone spoke, they kept saying that Avrumi had amazing older brothers as role models. And Avrumi should look up to them.
They said Avrumi has such great potential, and if he uses it, he will also become amazing.
R’ Dovid Trenk zt”l was at this bar mitzvah and saw that Avrumi was a little hurt. No one spoke about how good he was now. They only spoke about how good he could become.
Later, R’ Trenk went outside and found Avrumi and said, “I wish they would have called me to speak. I would have shared how good you are now, how nice you are to your friends, and how you always look out for others.”
That’s the lesson! Every Yid is good.
One just needs to know how to see others correctly. True, we may need to become better, but we’re also good now.
This Connects To This Week’s Parsha:
Q. & A. Answers: Because they had so much anger, they weren’t thinking. Like what Chazal say that anger is like serving avodah zarah. That a lesson.
Avrumi F. from Monsey Answers: Because they wanted to get revenge and when they saw more frogs coming out they got even angrier and hit again.
Dovi Schwartz from Lakewood Answers: They didn’t think before they hit it. If they would of, then could the frogs would of not come out and then they will not have this makkah so extreme.
Yishai Meier Answers: They were selfish and each mitzri thought that “I would be the one to succeed.”
S. S. Tauber Answers: The Mitzrim were burning with such anger that they weren’t even thinking—don’t be like them.
Avigdor Safir Answers & S. S. Answers: One loses their ability to think when they get mad.
Avi Goldenberg Answers: The Steipler Gaon explains that this shows us how people react when they get angry; they don’t think clearly.
The Midrash says that by the makkos of the frog, a very big frog came, and the mitzrayim kept hitting it. The more they hit, the more frogs came out of this frog.
Question: Why did they then keep hitting it?
