Likkutei Sichos by Mayer

In this weeks Parsha, the Jews finally leave Mitzrayim. Before they are able to breathe a sigh of relief, they see that behind them, the Mitzrim are pursuing them with all of their military might. Yet in front of them is the sea. With no signs of a possible rescue, the Torah tells us that the Jews started to yell and scream towards G-D for salvation. In this Shiur we will discuss the nature of that “screaming”. There is a tremendous positive insight from Rashi. Once this is understood, we will see those Jews and all Jews in a completely positive light. From volume 11.

When the Jews were finally freed after hundreds of years of slavery, they immediately began singing one of the greatest, most beautiful songs of all time. The Torah describes how Moshe and the entire Jewish nation sang this song together. Our sages debate as to how exactly this momentous event took place. But what they all do agree on is that Moshe began the song and the Jews proceeded to follow along. In this shiur we will discuss why it is so historically relevant that Moshe was the one that started the song. We will discuss why the unity of the Jews is so dependent on it’s spiritual leader. From volume 31.

Matzah vs. Chometz, Matzah is spelled מצה and Chometz is spelled חמץ. The only difference between them is that one is spelled with a ה and the other with a ח. In this shiur we will learn of the inner meaning and differences of the two letters and their life message. From volume 1.

In the Midrash it states that G-D singled out that this particular plague, the plague of frogs was the exact correct punishment that the Mitzrim deserved and the lesson that we learned from it. From all the plagues, seemingly the plague of frogs was the least damaging and impactful. Especially compared to all the water turning into blood and even more damaging, the death of all the first born Mitzrim. In this shiur we will explore the deep message that we can learn from this plague and from frogs in general. From volume 21.

Moshe was brought up in the lap of luxury in the house of Pharoh. When he grew up, he set out to see how his Jewish brethren were doing. What he saw was the terrible predicaments that the Jews were being plagued with.  At one point he encountered two Jews speaking slander (lashon harah). He was so taken by seeing Jews speak negatively about one another that he proclaimed “I always wondered why the Jews were enslaved and treated worse than any other nation but now I know. In this shiur we will discuss why Jews speaking slander about each other can be so destructive that Moshe, the great redeemer was unfortunately able to see this as a reason for the Jews remaining in exile for so long. From volume 31.

When Yosef finally meets up with his beloved brother Benyamin it states that they were both each crying on each other’s shoulder. Our sages give a deeper insight into this event explaining that each was crying for a future disaster that would plague the other. In this shiur we will explore why each was crying for the other and not for their own pending disaster. We will also explore when crying is beneficial and when it is not. From volume 10.

In this week’s Parsha we learn a great lesson on the significance of the life of every Jew. Even more profound, that every detail that occurs in the life of a Jew is of utmost importance. We will see this through a deeper understanding of the story of the epic battle that Yaakov had with the angel that represented Esav. The angle initially came to kill him, but ended up blessing him. From volume 30.