Shemini: 5786 - "And Moshe heard, and it was good in his eyes." Rashi explains that this is Moshe's greatness, that he was not ashamed to say "I did not hear." An additional wonderful explanation from the Rabbi of Jerusalem

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:01 Speaker 2 The weekly parsha: “Moshe heard, and it was good in his eyes.” The simple explanation, according to Rashi, is that Moshe Rabbeinu was upset with Aharon and his sons over the sin offering. Why had they burned it? Then it says, “Aharon spoke to Moshe,” and explained to him that there is a difference between offerings prescribed for that particular occasion and offerings prescribed for all generations. “Moshe heard, and it was good in his eyes.” He admitted it and was not ashamed: “I forgot. You’re right; that is the halachah.” He acknowledged it. That is the simple explanation. There is another explanation of “Moshe heard, and it was good in his eyes.” Usually, Moshe was always the one speaking. “Moshe would speak, and G-d would answer him in a voice.” Moshe spoke everything he had received from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Moshe was always speaking. Here, “Moshe heard”: Aharon speaks and Moshe is silent. He does not speak. “And it was good in his eyes.” He saw that, through silence, something even more important was achieved.

01:10 Speaker 1 Amen.

01:11 Speaker 2 And we have many sayings of our Sages that speak highly of silence. “Silence is a safeguard for wisdom.”

01:21 Speaker 1 “I have found nothing better for the body

01:23 Speaker 2 than silence.” Right? “A word is worth a sela; silence is worth two.” Silence has a great virtue, and this connects with the parsha—with Egypt. It says regarding the Exodus from Egypt—and this is a very interesting and beautiful saying from the rabbi of Jerusalem—that when they left Egypt, “Not a dog wagged its tongue against the children of Israel.” Usually, when a dog sees strangers, it barks; it cannot help itself. But when the Jewish people left Egypt, “Not a dog wagged its tongue.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not withhold the reward due to any creature, and He rewarded the dogs. What was their reward? It says, “You shall not eat flesh torn in the field; you shall throw it to the dog.” Why? Because they did not bark when the Jewish people left Egypt. So he asked a question. It says that during the plague of frogs, the frogs were everywhere, even in your kneading bowls. They jumped into the ovens. Mesirus nefesh—they jumped into the ovens! It does not say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu would reward them. Why did He not reward the frogs? They showed such mesirus nefesh, jumping into the ovens. From this, he said, we learn that sometimes it is much harder to keep quiet than to jump into a fire. Because when it comes to keeping quiet, sometimes a person has an urge that he simply has to... And we can connect this as well to Pesach. I saw it said in the name of great sages: We say, “You shall not make molten gods for yourself. You shall observe the Festival of Matzos.” What is the connection between the two? “You shall observe the Festival of Matzos”—but “You shall not make molten gods for yourself.” What are molten gods? It says that anyone who becomes angry is considered as though he worships idols. It is a form of idol worship. His anger is more serious than his chametz. When a person becomes angry, then yes, “You shall observe the Festival of Matzos,” but also, “You shall not make molten gods for yourself.” That is why getting angry, shouting, insulting someone, and hurting someone

03:51 Speaker 2 is much more serious, much worse. “You shall not make molten gods for yourself.” And here we see: “Moshe heard, and it was good in his eyes.” When he listened and remained silent, “it was good in his eyes.” May we have a peaceful and blessed Shabbos.