בס”ד בא

The month of שבט is מסוגל for התחדשות in Torah, since Moshe began a new revelation of משנה תורה, beginning on ר”ח שבט, and preparing the yidden for their entry into א”י. In פרשת בא, the yidden become a nation, an independent entity, revealing בני בכורי ישראל, at the same time that the first born of the Egyptians are dying. Rav Tzadok among others, say that that three plagues of Parshas Bo, are on a completely different level than the seven we had inפרשת וארא . These three represent the three powers of the intellect,- חכמה בינה ודעת associated with the future, whereas the seven in the previous Parsha- וארא, represent the emotions, connected to this world, a world of תיקון המדות. In the future, the promise made to Avraham, that he will have ten lands, will be complete with the final three lands of עמון מואב ואדום, which will take place in ימות המשיח – – משיח=358=בא+פרעה. Just as all the exiles are rooted in גלות מצרים, so to all redemptions are rooted in יציאת מצרים. The plague of ארבה is the only one that Hashem didn’t inform Moshe on what the מכה was. The פ and the ע, are the two letters needing rectification during the ימי השובבים. They represent תיקון הפה and תיקון עינים- the two שמירות, that we spoke of, that are so crucial during these weeks. Rav Shimshon Astropolia, quoted by the חתם סופר says if you exchange this פ and ע, from the name of פרעה, with two letters coming from the same part of the mouth – that is the פ with a ב, and the ע with an א, then פרעה becomes ארבה. This is maybe how Moshe deduced the plague of locusts, w/o being told.

ארבה is the eighth plague, and each מכה was another revelation of שם הויה- ארבה =208 which is eight times twenty six- הויה. Being that the eighth of the ספירות is בינה, Moshe used his power of intellect to deduce this מכה. This was the first time since שעבוד מצרים when there was a revelation of Torah in that the first mitzva was given which was החדש הזה לכם. The experts of עבור חודש was יששכר the יודע בינה. According to the opinion of the יערת דבשthe month of שבט corresponds to יששכר. The end of the Parsha speaks of the mitzva of tefillin, consisting of תפילין של ראש and תפילין של יד both containing four פרשיות, equaling eight. There was a revelation of the future light by מכת ארבה, and so משה received the name of this plague through this הארה.

The קדושת לוי said that מכת ארבה took place on טו בשבט, as all the plagues began in the middle of the month. Therefore מכת חשך was on שושן פורים, where it says ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה, and by מכת חשך it says ולכל ישראל היה אור במושבתם. The תיקון of שובבים brings light, where lacking in this תיקון brings darkness- תקון שובבים=916= ולכל בני ישראל היה אור. This is the only plague that is split in two periods of three days each, maybe hinting to us that אדר is sometimes מעוברת – doubled, and sometimes there is a פורים משולש of three days. The Rokeach says that Haman was happy when the lot fell in Adar, since so many yidden died (80%), during מכת חשך. Some say that the Bracha given to Avraham, by the Akeida that ארבה את זרעך, that is Hashem will increase your children, was what פרעה had wished to prevent from happening, and so he was inflicted with ארבה. This increase- רבוי will come in the merit of Yitzchak –ארבה=208=יצחק.

The month of שבט is a month that is מסוגל for פרנסה, especially one who is careful in the ברית and in their speech. פרנסה is the letters רסן פה- that is one has to put a harness (has the letters ressen in it) on his mouth and.. מילה=85=פה. When we rectify the פשע, we merit the שפע, or divine abundance. Also in the month of שבט, we read פרשת המן, a known סגולה for Parnassa- מלכא משיחא=450=שפע

In the benching after eating a meal we say כי הוא קל זן ומפרנס לכל, ending with הזן את הכל. The כל represents the שמירת היסוד, as it lists the ספירות in ויברך דויד in Pesukei Dezimra- ולך הויה הגדלה והגבורה והתפארת והנצח וההוד כי כל, where יסוד=80=כי כל which, when rectified brings a blessing in livelihood. Only one who is careful with these בריתות are considered alive- ומשביע לכל חי רצון, and only they can truly praise Hashem, since their mouths are clean and are therefore a כלי שרת. The ארי הקדוש says the month of שבט is אשר of whom it says מאשר שמנה לחמה, and פרנסה=395=שמנה. Of all the שבטי י-ה, Asher had success in פרנסה, and the food that came from his portion was fat and greasy.

The plague of locusts completely destroyed the livelihood of the מצריים, as it says ולא נותר כל ירק בעץ ובעשב השדה. Pharoh refers to this plague as death ויסר מעלי רק את המות הזה. The ארבה actually didn’t kill anyone, but an עני, a poor person is considered like a dead person – כפרת פשע=1150=ויעל הארבה על כל ארץ מצרים which we say in מוסף ר”ח, when there’s two Adars. פרעה who was פה רע did not merit פרנסה, whereas the yidden merited the שפע and to יציאת מצרים, since they fixed up the פגם of speech, the original cause of the גלות, as it says אכן נודע הדבר- (הדיבור) that is their speech caused the exile.

Pharoh sees the red star of Mars, which is a sign of blood and death- רשי י:י, as it says ראה כי רעה נגד פניכם, which the בעל הטורים says is ס”ת הדם. Really what he saw, in the stars, was the red, דם מילה as Rashi says that Hashem was הפך את הדם לדם מילה שמל יהושע אותם. This took place on יא ניסן, after the yidden entered א”י. This date refers to the month of שבט, as it says, that the first twelve days of ניסן represent ר”ח of the twelve months of the year. The נשיא that brought the קרבנות on יא” ניסן was פגעיאל בן עכרן from אשר. This hints to us that even a בן עכרן, someone ugly in his deeds, can come close to Hashem- פגעי-אל and ירושלם – ירושלם=586=פגעיאל בן עכרן

Bris Mila was the eighth מצוה given, and is performed on the eighth day, which fits well here, in the eighth plague of ארבה, which as we said, is equal to 8 x 26- שם הויה. By these last three plagues, there was a הארה of the future, associated to the number eight. In the future there is ראיה, where in the זוהר it’s written תא חזי, come and see, as opposed to this world, which is a “בח of שמיעה, as is written in Gemorra- תא שמע. In the future, it says לא ילמדו עוד איש אל רעהו, when we will reach the level of Avraham, who was משיג the Torah on his own. So to here, Moshe was משיג the מכה of ארבה on his own.

The נשמה of אליהו הנביא, who comes to every Bris, was seen or felt by Pharoh- אליהו התשבי=769=ראו כי רעה נגד פניכם. What פרעה really saw was the blood of מילה as we say by each Bris-ארבה=208=בדמיך חיי בדמיך חיי. The eighth plague, which corresponds to מילה, is the דם of חיים, and not that which Pharoh perceived as דם of מות. By this plague it says לא נותר כל ירק, which we said meant no more פרנסה for the מצריים. As for the yidden, there was שפע, since they were all מתוקן with regards to שמירת הברית ירק=קרי. The yidden were pure- לא נותר כל ירק . A שובב is someone who strays in this area- שובבים=360=כל ירק. The מצריים were פגום in the area of ברית, as they descend from חם, who was the only human that was שמש בתיבה. This resulted in the curse of לקה בעורו, where their skins turn black.

The Egyptians then, were similar to the ישמעאלים in this area, as it says of Yishmael- ידו בכל ויד כל בו. Pharoh didn’t want to send the children -the טף, (the root of טפות), as he was a פוגם ברית. He wanted to prevent the תקון היסוד. It says in פסוק י:י- אשלח אתכם ואת טפכם – ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ=1356=אשלח אתכם ואת טפכם The מצוה of מילה involves removing the ערלה, the רע. Even Pharoh feels this and says שא נא חטאתי אך הפעם, where in no other plague, does Pharoh ask for forgiveness of his sin. The Gemorra says ששון is מילה, as it says שש אנכי על אמרתך, where – הנני מביא מחר ארבה בגבלך=681=שש אנכיthat is, ארבה is the גילוי of מילה. One of the שם עב which is associated with תקון הברית isחבו , hinted in אשלח=339=חיל בלע ויקיאונו At the beginning of the Parsha, the זוהר brings אשרי העם יודע תרועה. What’s the connection? The תרועה reminds us of the שופר of יובל. The ימי השובבים as we said already, is one long יה”כ- – בעשור בחודש=926=תיקון שובבים and on יה”כ we blow תרועה. On יה”כ של יובל there is a מצוה תורה to blow the תרועה, and all slaves go free – שער הנון=681=תרועה=681=הנני מביא מחר ארבה בגבלך. When the plague of ארבה began כלל ישראל was זוכה to the Yovel- –

משם יקבצך יהוה אלהיך ומשם יקחך=1218=בשנת היובל הזאת=1218=ואת אתתי

In the first Pasuk of the Parsha it says למען שתי אתתי אלה. Why אתתי in plural as this is just one מכה? The reason is that there are others אותות here beside מכת ארבה. We have מילה, where it says היה לאות ברית, and at the end of the Parsha we have the מצוה of תפילין, of which is written והיה לאות על ידכה where לאות is ר”ת of ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, and the טוטפת are בין עיניך. Rashi says טוטפת is a לשון of speech. Tefillin is a sign of גאולה, and so on ט” באב we don’t wear תפילין. These three מכות correspond to the three weeks of mourning, that will be a י”ט in the future, ending with ט” באב, being the birth of Mashiach- נחמו נחמו=208=ארבה. The plague of locusts, which brought a light from the future, gave us the אות of מילה, and the אות of תפילין. The תפילין של ראש helps us to purify our מחשבה, whose root is שובב=310=חשב. Using the מחשבה in the wrong way leads to one becoming a שובב.

By יציאת מצרים, we were זוכה to the humbling of the dog, לא יחרץ כלב. The בני יששכר says in the month of טבת, there is a שליטה of 944 dogs. It says of the dog that he is a עזי נפש and לא ידע שובע. With regards to פרנסה it says ואכלת ושבעת, that when one doesn’t have פרנסה, he could never be satisfied. The כלי יקר says that the locusts ate so much, because they couldn’t see what they were eating. A blind person is never satisfied. The dog, similar to חם was also שמש בתיבה, and because the yidden were pure in this area לא יחרץ כלב- – שובבים=360=יחרץ כלב. When a yid perfects himself, he returns to his roots and experiences יובל, and the dog is silent.

תשבו איש אל אחזתו=1472=ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו. It says of the one who speaks לשון הרע that לכלב תשליח אותו. The brothers of Yosef sent dogs after him, since they held he was a בעל לשון הרע, however יוסף was מכניע the dogs, as he was the perfection of כל – יסוד, and בכל is כלב.

In פרשת בא, the yidden are leaving Egypt, but the Parsha is called בא or come? The more we leave the טומאה of מצרים, the more we enter the קדושה of י”ם. The Zohar says that whenever it says מלך in תנ”ך, it refers to Hashem, representing Hashem’s מלכות in the world, and so בא אל פרעה means come to Hashem, to the קדושה. The Torah is being revealed here. The Mitzvos of החודש הזה לכם, and פסח, and פדיון הבן, and תפילין are all the introduction to מתן תורה. With the three מכות mentioned in the Parsha, כלל ישראל experienced the אור of משיח. When the משיח comes, the לבנה will be equal to the חמה and so the first mitzva is- משיח בן דוד=424=החדש הזה לכם. This is the fifteenth Parsha in חומש, which represents the full moon, the way it will be in the future.

There are many differences with the plague of ארבה, and the seven in פרשת וארא We already said that Hashem did not inform Moshe of what this plague would be, and so he had to deduce which plague was coming. There was no warning given here, as the first Rashi has to say והתרה בו. In פסוק ו it says ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה, that Moshe turned his back to Pharoh when leaving, a clear sign of disrespect. Also in פסוק ז, this is the first time the servants of Pharoh are speaking up, also lack of respect, when they saidעד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש. Also Pharoh says first here, go עבדו את ה” where פרעה would never say עבדו to anyone but himself. Theמלכות of פרעהis crumbling, and so there is no need for respect. As we said, according to the קדושת לוי, the מכה of ארבה took place in שבט, which is the month connected with משיח and מלכות. Billam said וקם שבט מישראל, where Unkelos, and also the רמב”ם in הלכות מלכים פרק יא, both say that שבט refers to משיח. In תחלים מה which speaks of משיח, it’s written שבט מישר שבט מלכותך. The entire month of שבט is שובבים. The אמרי נועם says that in the months of שובבים, the yidden became Hashem’s first-born- טבת שבט=722=קדש לי כל בכור.

It says in ירמיהו the pasuk שובו בנים שובבים ארפה משובתכם, where ארפה is written with a ה. Exchanging the ע (letter associated with טבת and the seventy nations) of פרעה, for an א- makes ארפה. The ימי שובבים is a time of רפואה, healing us from our spiritual defects – חטאים. Of the twelve middle Brachos in שמנה עשרה, besides in the חתימה of השיבה שופטינו, the Bracha of רפואה is the only one that has the word מלך, as it says כי אל מלך רופא נאמן. The Bracha of אשר יצר has no mention of מלך – why not? The מפורשים say that אשר יצר is a רפואה בדרך הטבע, which includes the goyim and involves doctors-רופא כל בשר , as opposed to רופא חולי עמו ישראל, which applies only to yidden, and is a רפואה למעלה מן הטבע. As it says in מגילה: יז that רפואה בשמינית is connected to the future world. Only a king has the power to pardon someone. The מכת ארבה, being the eighth plague, and ארבה equaling 8 x 26, שם ה”, brought the רפואה from לעתיד לבא.

The מלכות of כלל ישראל develops by מכת ארבה. The whole purpose of יציאת מצרים was to serve only Hashem. The ירושלמי says that an עבד is not permitted to say שמע, because since he has another master, he can’t say ה” אחד. The epitome of submission to the will of Hashem begins here in פרשת בא with יציאת מצרים and when the yidden said the famous words נעשה ונשמע. This is why Moshe walks away from Pharoh with no respect, demonstrating that only the מלכות of Hashem is now prevalent-נעשה ונשמע=891=יציאת מצרים .

The שבולי הלקט in the בת יוסף says the twelve הללויה in the last פרק תהלים, refer to the twelve months of the year, consecutively beginning with ניסן. Therefore the eleventh one, הללוהו בצלצלי תרועה refers to the month of שבט (later poskim). It says in the beginning of ספר דברים that in the eleventh month, הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת that Moshe began teaching the Torah in seventy languages. There are also seventy פנים לתורה The fifth ספר of דברים, is considered תורה שבעל פה, compared to the other four books, and so Moshe had to figure the מכת ארבה out, using the laws of תורה שבעל פה. The word תרועה is תורה ע, that is the Torah of seventy (שבעים פנים). The sound of the תרועה, which as we said represents the month of שבט is the concept of יובל from where we learn the laws of the שופר on ר”ה. The תרועה on יה”כ of יובלhas the power to emancipate slaves- הנני מביא מחר ארבה בגבלך=681=תרועה. The plague of ארבה was brought about through a רוח קדים, symbolizing a רוח from קדם, the future world. Targum translates בראשית as בקדמין, the source of everything in this world-

ויה–וה נהג רוח קדים בארץ כל היום ההוא וכל הלילה=1015=הללוהו בצלצלי תרועה

In פרשת בא, the קריאה is מעורר the זמן of פסח, when the כלל ישראל were leaving the טומאה of מצרים, theטומאה of חמורים. Leaving Egypt was synonymous to the exchange of the חמור for the שה, the חמור representing the טומאת מצרים while the שה represents the קדושת י”ם. This is all hinted in the last מצוה of the Parsha- פטר חמור. We take the שה into י”ם for the קרבן פסח. This fits well with the combination of חודש שבט being המר ימירנו והיה הוא, the תמורה being the שה for the חמור. The word תרועה also means to break oneself, that is to humble oneself זבחי תרועה, the sound of שברון לב. It also is a language of joy, the goal of coming back to Hashem. The plague of the locusts brought the מלכות of Hashem to Egypt. Inל:כז משלי it says מלך אין לארבה that is locusts have no king, revealing here that from מכת ארבה, the מלכות of Pharoh fell, and everyone recognized that only Hashem is king מלך אין לארבה=389=בא אל פרעה.

In the beginning of the Parsha, the Zohar brings the מדרש- אשרי העם ידעי תרועה a pasuk in תהלים: פט The first apparent question is, why should someone be fortunate just because he knows how to blow the שופר? What it really means is, fortunate is the one who knows how to transform the מדת הדין to מדת הרחמים (מדרש ). The word אשרי means someone that has rectified himself. אשרי is the first word of ספר תהלים . By saying many פרקי תהלים, as we said is extremely effective during the ימי השובבים, we can rectify the חטאים, especially in the area of עין and פה. We take the דם מילה and דם פסח and transform them into מצוות, from דין to רחמים. The blood that פרעה- פה רע saw, was the blood of פגם הברית but what he didn’t see is that this blood was נתהפך to דם מילה on the eleventh of ניסן. This is the power of שובבים mostly being in the month of שבט, the month that the eleventh of ניסן represents.

Tehillim has 147 chapters, (there are three sets of פרקים that are considered one each and so there are 147 as opposed to 150) so says the ירושלמי in שבת, quoted by Tosefos in פסחים: קיז. The number 147 is equal to the years of יעקב אבינו. If we subtract 147 from פרעה that is 355-147=208, the gematria of ארבה. If we switch the פ and the ע, (the פגמים of פרעה- פה ועין), and replace it with a ב and an א, with the power of Tehillim, we can מבטל פרעה, and we get ארבה, which is eight (the future) times 26 -שם ה” . The ארבה came because of the רוח קדים, where קדים is קדם and תשובה is קדמה לעולם as it says חדש ימינו כקדם, and so even פרעה is doing תשובה, and asking for

forgiveness. The רוח of משיח is felt with the coming of the eighth מכה of locusts- מלך המשיח=458=ויה–וה נהג רוח קדים.

After מכת ארבה came the first mitzva that was given to us as a nation- קדוש החודש. This mitzva is referred to as theחכמה ובינה of כלל ישראל as it says in ואתחנן – היא חכמתכם ובנתכם לעיני העמים כי. The Gemorra in שבת:עה says that this is the חכמה of תקופות ומזלות which שבט יששכר excelled in. This is our true wisdom in the eyes of the nations that the yidden are the masters over time. In the ירושלמי in כתובות says that even a בתולה that lost her בתולה because she was twelve years and one day, if the חכמים decided to מעבר the month, her בתולים returns. חז”ל have the power to change nature- טבע. We are above the star-gazing powers למעלה מן הזמן-. All this began here with the mitzva of החודש הזה לכם. This is why it’s exactly by מכת ארבה and not before that Pharoh is looking into his star- gazers. The mitzvah of קדוש החודש is the first mitzva -before פסח, תפילין, פדיון הבן and קדש בכורות all in Parshas בא, to demonstrate that the yidden are above time, and with the כח התורה we could משנה זמן. This happens after the eighth מכה, eight representing למעלה מן הטבע. This מכה is bringing the בח” of שמיני ( the mitzva of מילה) to מצרים.

הנני מביא מחר ארבה בגבלך=681=רק עם חכם ונבון הגוי הגדול הזה

Torah SheBeal Pe is developing now, which requires the yidden to use their powers of חידוש. Maybe this is why Hashem did not tell Moshe what this מכה was, since he had to figure it out on his own.

The last three plagues of ארבה חשך ומכת בכורות are כנגד the ג מוחים of כתר חכמה בינה. In these מכות the power of the intellect of כלל ישראל is forming. It’s תורה שבעל פה that sets the yidden apart from the goyim-

כי היא חכמתכם ובנתכם=1098=תורה שבעל פה.