Holy Sparks
This week’s Parsha begins with Hashem telling Moshe to ‘Come to Pharaoh…..’
Why does the passuk say ‘COME to Pharaoh? Shouldn’t it say ‘GO to Pharaoh?’
The Yaaros Dvash quotes the Arizal that one of the purposes of exile is to gather and obtain the ‘netzotzos shel kedusha’ [sparks of holiness] that were scattered throughout the world after the sin of the Eitz Hadaas. Once all of the sparks from a specific area are gathered, Hashem then sends us to the next place to gather all of the sparks in that area.
With the above explanation, we can have a deeper meaning of the Pasuk ‘vayinatzlu es mitzrayim’ [They emptied out Egypt]. The simple explanation is that it is referring to the gold and silver that Bnei Yisrael took from the Egyptians, but based on the Arizal, the Yaaros Dvash offers a deeper explanation. It is referring to all the holy sparks in Egypt that Klal Yisroel gathered and they were therefore redeemed to travel to their next place! This also explains why it is forbidden to go back to Egypt, as all the sparks of holiness in Egypt are gone, hence all that is left there is impurity!
Using this Yaaros Devash, we can now explain our Pasuk. Moshe had the mission to extricate the holiness from Pharaoh, who was the epitome of impurity in Mitzrayim. Hence, Hashem said ‘COME to Pharaoh, My presence is here in the palace and I want you to come extricate that holiness from Pharaoh!’
This explains why afterwards Moshe agreed with Pharaoh that he would no longer see Pharaoh’s face. Once Moshe had succeeded in extricating the kedusha, he was no longer allowed to look at Pharaoh’s face, as now Pharaoh was completely and totally wicked, and it is forbidden to look at the face of a wicked person!
Let us all try to work on sanctifying everything we do here in America, which Rav Chaim Volozhiner, the great student of the Vilna Gaon, said is the last country of exile. Hence, each of us will do our share in gathering all the sparks and then hopefully we will soon merit the Final Redemption.
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