Dvar Torah for Parshat VaEira

I suppose it's true every week, but I was never astute enough to notice till now that the weather matches the events of the parshah. Here in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) we had snow and hail one day - with thunder and lightning at the same time - and incredibly thick fog the next. My conclusion is that Yerushalayim is beautiful no matter what she wears, green, white or gray. (Red? No.)

Weathermen give us advice by making predictions. Choosing to ignore their advice is not very risky. Ordinarily, the worst thing that happens is one schlepped his umbrella unnecessarily or got soaked by the rain.

Ignoring the predictions and advice of tzaddikim, on the other hand, can be very dangerous. First, tzaddikim are a lot more accurate than weathermen. Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) told Pharaoh when the plagues would start, where and how–all with 100% accuracy. Pharaoh chose to ignore Moshe Rabbeinu's predictions and as a result the Egyptians suffered terribly.

Unfortunately, since the destruction of the Temple we don't have the luxury of asking a prophet for advice, as Shaul (Saul) did when he was looking for his father's lost donkeys (1 Samuel 9). However, there are people imbued with the wisdom of Torah who can offer sage advice. (Pun fully intended.) A sage is superior to a prophet because with his intellect he knows many things that the ordinary human mind cannot grasp (Bava Batra 12a, according to Ritva).

"When one needs advice he should a tzaddik, the disciple of a tzaddik, or, at the very least, the child of a tzaddik. This sweetens all the judgements and one merits being saved from every sort of suffering. And even if, God forbid, he does suffer, he will find a way to accept the suffering with love and joy, seeing in it a revelation of God, how He is enclothed within the suffering. Through this the suffering leads him to tremendous good and great kindness" (Tzaddik #575).

Rebbe Nachman accurately predicted the future in many cases (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #186). Furthermore, the Rebbe said that people who study his Likutey Moharan well enough can know the future (ibid. #196). Even if we do not reach that level of study, there is much to be gained in the effort. At the very least, we will maintain our sanity for, "Ignoring the wise can cause insanity" (ibid. #67).

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!