Wrapping Up Yud Shevat

To the right is a photo of our fearless leader, Rabbi Chayim Friedman, courtesy of crownheights.info. I only arrived at Beis Rivka at 10:30 because I had been at 770, where they spoke a foreign language, so I left. Much was said, many Lchaims were said, and this blog now sounds like a typical CH report. Sorry. R. Friedman said a great thing, which in his modesty he attributed to R. Yoel Kahn. Here goes. Let's say you have a hat. It doesn't really matter which brand, but preferably Borsalino. If there are nine papers in there that have an Aleph on 'em, and one that has a Beis, what's the chances that you'll draw an Aleph versus a Beis? Obviously, there's a 9/10 chance that you'll draw an Aleph. The first time you pick, it's a Beis. Incredible. You mix them up again, and the second time? A Beis. The third time? a Beis. The odds are astounding. How about you pick two thousand times, and every single time it's a Beis. The bookies in Las Vegas are having conniptions worthy of a Pharaoh. The 2001 time. What are the chances that baby's gonna be an Aleph? 9/10.
The Rebbe told us that Moshiach is going to come before Maariv. And the next night the Rebbe told us that Moshiach is going to come before Maariv. What's up with that? Our problem is that we think that Moshiach has only a 1/10 chance of coming. Like Rabbi Schapiro told us, before the the fall of Communism, it seemed that the only way the Jews would ever get to leave Russia was if Moshiach would come. It seemed more likely that Moshiach would come then that the Russians would fall. And guess what? The Rebbe was right again. Anyway, as I was saying, the reality is that there's a 9/10 chance that Moshiach is coming before Maariv. And if, CH"V, Moshiach does not come, our disappointment should be genuine. Because the fact is that he's coming, and he's coming now.
I made my way over to 770 at 1:30, and at this point I'd like to give a big Yasher Koach to Lands End, because they're moccasins kept my feet dry in rather bad rain. In 770 I packed in to hear R. Schapiro Farbreng, and he was great, of course, though it beats me as to what he actually said. See, I was nearly killed by the various Dibs and other forms of life who were smashing various parts of my body against various parts of benches and other various things that hang around the various parts of 770. To sleep I went at 4:30. Again. Great Joy.
Since this week is my Bar-Mitzvah Parsha I'd like to write the Dvar Torah that I said on that momentous occasion so many years ago. We know that whenever the Torah says the word "Vayehi" it's prefacing a bad thing for the Jews. So why does this Parsha, Beshalach, begin with a "Vayehi"? After all, the Jews are leaving Egypt, home of all those connipting Pharaohs! The answer is in the words of the Passuk-Vayehi Beshalach Pharaoh, And it was when Pharaoh sent out. The Jews attributed their leaving to Pharaoh, not to Hashem. And that, my friends, is not a good thing. At least they redeemed themselves later in the Parsha, when they believed in Hashem and in Moshe his servant. Want some fun? Ask a Misnaged to explain that one.