Parsje Shemos 5770 - Gerard Doustraat

We all came here to day through the snow. What does this teach us?

See iyov 37,6 ו   כִּי לַשֶּׁלֶג, יֹאמַר--    הֱוֵא-אָרֶץ:

Snow is what is there around the kisei hakovod.
The snow is a reflection of hashem see the book Shabbos in my soul 345-346
The whole world is meant to be a reflection of hashem
When the snow falls down we are meant to reflect on our connection with the kisei hakovod.

This Shabbos is a Shabbos of reflection in more ways.

Miriam asked her parents to reflect:
Rashi shemos 2,1

he went after his daughter’s advice that she said to him, Your decree is harsher than פַּרְעֹה . Whereas Pharaoh issued a decree [only] against the males, you [issued a decree] against the females as well [for none will be born].

Moshe reflected: and he saw that there was no man: [I.e., he saw that] there was no man destined to be descended from him [the Egyptian] who would become a proselyte [i.e., a convert].

And moshe was asked to reflect when he was at mount Sinai [Concerning] what you asked, “what merit do the Israelites have that they should go out of Egypt ?” I have a great thing [dependent] on this Exodus, for at the end of three months from their Exodus from Egypt they are destined to receive the Torah on this mountain

And pharao did not or refused to reflect because he wanted to ignore that once there had been a Yosef who had saved the Egyptians from famine

Hashem wants us to reflect

Hashem wants us to reflect upon what goes on around us us and with us in this world.

There is one more point of reflection when we walk home through the icy weather.
טז הַנֹּתֵן שֶׁלֶג כַּצָּמֶר;    כְּפוֹר, כָּאֵפֶר יְפַזֵּר.
יז   מַשְׁלִיךְ קַרְחוֹ כְפִתִּים;    לִפְנֵי קָרָתוֹ, מִי יַעֲמֹד.
יח   יִשְׁלַח דְּבָרוֹ וְיַמְסֵם;    יַשֵּׁב רוּחוֹ, יִזְּלוּ-מָיִם.
יט   מַגִּיד דְּבָרָו לְיַעֲקֹב;    חֻקָּיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו, לְיִשְׂרָאֵל.
כ   לֹא עָשָׂה כֵן, לְכָל-גּוֹי--    וּמִשְׁפָּטִים בַּל-יְדָעוּם:
הַלְלוּ-יָהּ

This shabbat there is no eruv around Amsterdam
Usually there is water and the water symbolises tora. The eruv works when we are surrounded by tora, otherwise not.

But we are not lost.
We take koach from the words in tehillim 147.
Indeed sometimes it is dark and cold.

But this cold and ice is a message that the tora will come because as soon that the iice and snow turn into water then there is the word of hashem.

This is also the way the jewish world works. After the cold and ice of the winter comes the spring with its yomim tovim which are all connected to the tora

Lets go for the tora