Rabbi's Blog

I recently started playing a board game which I have not played in a very long time: the game of chess. In the past, I defeated children my age and adults five times my age. Whether or not I truly had this incredible skill to win the game against adults or they were just being nice to a little kid is something I will never know. Whichever one it is, though, I learned to love the game. For those who are unfamiliar with chess, it is a game that makes you think and create strategies in order to force your opponent's king into submission.

We struggle on a daily basis maneuvering around life's challenges. We try to stay on top of our game but sometimes succumb to losing something that is either irrelevant or very critical to our survival. We often feel like pawns in a game in which we have no control. We sometimes look at our jobs, work, family, or even purpose in life and feel as though we are getting nowhere. The blame for 'not getting anywhere' or for 'spinning our wheels' can be attributed to our own failings or to sabotaging from others. Unfortunately, these feelings tend to be all too true and are reflected when playing chess Sometimes the opponent is superior; no matter what I do, I lose. At other times I make poor or wrong moves, and the results are devastating. Whatever the case may be, in chess and in real life situations, we all need to keep focused and concentrate on the King.

When searching for ideas about chess, I came across an incredible idiom about life. A person of authority was accused of manipulating people and placing them in situations which they felt were unfair. They felt like pieces on a chess board being moved around from above. The authoritarian responded in a classic way: "I don't move the pieces, I move the board!" L'Havdil, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not actually moving us, but rather He moves the world around us; we then must determine our own destiny by making the correct choices.

There is an eerie similarity between chess and this week's Parshas Vaera. A showdown is described between Moshe, representing the King of Kings, and Pharoah. Pharoah is used as the title given to the king of Egypt. The work pharaoh, however, originally referred to the palace, later taking on the symbol of the king, the person who occupied the palace. In a series of moves, Hashem outmaneuvers Pharoah by 'checking' him over a series of blows, namely the makkos - seven of the plagues listed in this week's parsha. In chess, quite often a direct result of a difficult or incorrect move, the king will lose one of even more of his pieces (men). So too with Pharoah. Despite the fact that he manages to wiggle out (by begging for mercy, of course) of the 'check', a huge toll is placed upon the Egyptian people, the land, and the economy.

The comparison of kings is highlighted in Shemos 7:15: "Leich el Parah BaBoker, Hinei Yotzey HaMaiymah V'Nitzavta Likraso Al Sfas HaYior, V'Hamateh Asher Nehpach L'Nachash Tikach B'Yadecha". "Go to Pharaoh in the morning - behold! He goes out to the water - and you shall stand opposite him at the river's bank, and the staff that was turned into a snake you shall take in your hand". Rashi explains: Hashem told Moshe to find Pharoah at the Nile River early in the morning. Since Pharoah was viewed by his people - and by himself - to be a god, he literally had to sneak to the Nile in the early morning to relieve himself. The Midrash Tanchuma 14 explains the distinction between Hashem and an ordinary king. An ordinary king needs to attack his enemy by surprise, while Hashem warned Pharoah time and time again before each and every plague, perhaps in order to offer Pharaoh an opportunity to repent and spare himself and his people from further destruction. The commentary Eitz Yosaif adds that Hashem sent Moshe to the Nile to catch Pharaoh in his cover-up and to expose his humanity, seeing that they are both mortal human beings and that Pharaoh is Not a god. The commentary in the Midrash Rabbah 9:8 expounds that Moshe went out to see Pharoah at the time when his actions display that he is not a real Pharaoh; once you take on the cloak of being king, you cannot convince people you are a god.

Midrash Lekach Tov says that Hashem told Moshe to find Pharaoh at the river because Pharaoh kept pushing Moshe away, not allowing him access at the palace. Therefore, Moshe goes to the river and literally stands 'opposite him' (puts him in 'check'), cornering him so he cannot escape. No other people (or pieces) could interfere or block Moshe from confronting Pharaoh at the Nile. This time Moshe, the messenger of God, the Kings of Kings, is able to 'checkmate' the king of mere flesh and blood.

One final observation: In chess, after 'checkmate' is announced, the game is simply over. In reality, in order to actually win the game, you need to knock or remove the king from the board. However, most times the game ends with the call of checkmate. No one bothers to actually remove the king piece. Interestingly, even after the tenth plague of Makkas Bechoros (of which Pharoah was a first-born), Pharoah was not killed. He was figuratively left to remain on the board.

The key to success in the game of chess is to always be on the offensive while remaining very cautious in every move. So too, in life, we should not just sit around and wait for things to happen. Instead, we should become the initiators of creating a better life for ourselves and our families. Be proactive in starting a chessed group or in organizing a group to learn or to say Tehilim. The rule in life should be "Get up and start doing things before being asked to do them". Success of a personal religious chess game requires the need to bring out the 'king' within each of us and to focus on the King of Kings - Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Keeping all this in mind after one hundred twenty years on this earth, we will defeat our opponents, physically and spiritually, with a clear, unalterable 'checkmate'!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky