Monday, January 14, 2013
Internalizing the Makkos
11:20 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
TSimtsum
“I revealed
Myself to Avraham, to Yitzchok, and to Yaakov as e-l sha-dai, but My Name Hashem
[adnus] I did not make known to them” (6:3)
The
name Sha-day refers to Hashem's restriction of His greatness in this world which
enables us to recognize Him. Kabbalistic and chassidic books discuss the
concept of tsimtsum at great
length, but for us it is sufficient to know that neither mortal beings, nor
even angels, can comprehend Hashem's greatness. Even our forefathers, who
attained supreme levels, were only capable of grasping the Creator’s greatness
on the basis of what He in His wisdom allows a human being to understand.
Moshe Rabbenu, with whom Hashem spoke pe el pe, had the merit of
communicating with Hashem and recognizing Him on a level that was less clouded
by tsimtsum. Hashem taught Moshe that the main aspect of
Hashem's greatness is to be found in the shem havayo, which teaches
us that He wishes to suppress His anger and conduct the world with the trait of
mercy. Of course, not even Moshe Rabbenu could truly understand Hashem's greatness
- he could only see His back and not His “face” - but whatever he did
comprehend, on the basis of the middos taught to him by Hashem, surpassed the
levels of understanding attained by our forefathers.
TOrah and Eretz Yisroel
“I will
bring you to the land… and I will give it to you as a heritage” (6:8)
The
only other time the same word (morosho) is used in the Torah is in connection
with Torah: “The Torah that Moshe commanded us
is a heritage for the congregation of Yaakov”. Torah and Eretz
Yisroel are interdependent, because our right
to Eretz Yisroel is dependent on
complete observance of the mitzvos of the Torah.
Chazal say that whoever does not
mention bris and Torah in bentshing has not fulfilled his duty. Therefore, in the second brocho we thank
Hashem for the covenant which He has sealed in our flesh, and the Torah, which
He has taught us, and we conclude the brocho by blessing Hashem for the good
land which He has given us. This clearly shows that our rights to Eretz Yisroel are
dependent on observance of the bris and the Torah in general.
The reference to a covenant may also
be taken as an indication that Hashem concluded an agreement with us: if we
stick to our part of the bargain by observing the Torah, Hashem will ensure
that Eretz Yisroel will remain ours.
Yichus
“These are
the heads of the fathers' houses” (6:14)
The
young son of a Rebbe once lost a piece of paper containing his family tree,
which was packed with famous names, and he started crying. His mother comforted
him: "don't worry, your yichus will start with you!" In another
incident two friends were having an argument. One told the other: "You might
be a big talmid chachom, but I have an illustrious lineage”. His friend
retorted: "The difference between us is that your yichus ends with you, whereas mine, with the help
of Hashem, begins with me!
The heads of the
tribes did not consider it sufficient to be the descendants of the ovos hakedoshim, but wanted to become righteous in their own right. Similarly, every Jew
must know that although he traces his lineage back to Avrohom, Yitzchok and
Yaakov, it is up to him to become the head of a household in his own right, so
that his descendants will be proud to stem from him, as Yaakov said: "let
my name be named on them”.
Two different types of leaders
“That is
Aharon and Moshe”. Rashi: “In some places the Torah places Aharon before Moshe,
and in other places it places Moshe before Aharon, to tell us that they were
equal”. (6:26)
The
Torah states explicitly that Moshe was the greatest of prophets, so Rashi cannot
be referring to the level of prophecy. What Rashi rather means is that they
were equal in the sense that each one fulfilled the specific task which Hashem
had designated for him, and each one was equally indispensable and worthy of
hearing the Word of Hashem.
Aharon
was more closely connected with the nation, because he was involved in making
peace between fellow Jews, whereas the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu was
epitomized by the level of prophecy he attained, which was not matched before
or after his time. Similarly, in every generation we need leaders to
disseminate Torah, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, we also need leaders
who are able to fight battles to defend the Torah and to take care of all the needs
of the nation.
Maintaining free choice
“The
sorcerers of Egypt also did likewise with their magic art” (7:11)
The
chartumim managed to turn a stick into a snake and water into blood using
kishuf. We do not encounter the ability to perform such actions either before
or after this generation of yetzias mitzrayim. How was it possible?
During
periods of hester ponim (Hashem hiding His face from us, as it were) our
challenge is to see through the veneer of nature and recognize that Hashem runs
it, but when revealed miracles are prevalent and exceptional holy individuals such
as Moshe and Aharon are in our midst, Hashem grants great powers to the forces
of tumoh, such as the sorcerers
in Egypt and Bilom with his prophecies, in order to maintain the required
balance of free choice.
People
can then either choose to be misled by such forces or contemplate the actions
and writings of the righteous individuals of the generation who explain the
difference between the forces of holiness and those of tumoh, whose only
goals are to fulfill the desires of their hearts.
The power of One person
“And
the frogs came up” (8:2). Rashi: It was one frog, and they hit it, and
it split into many swarms of frogs.
When
a dog barks, others join in with him, and the croaking of one frog was probably
enough to trigger off a whole cacophony of discordant noises in Egypt. Just
like one frog can arouse countless others, so too are people able to arouse
others to shout senseless things together with them. Take the case of Hitler, one
unknown painter, who single-handedly used his rabble-rousing drivel to
brainwash a supposedly cultured and sophisticated nation.
Lehavdil,
both the Baal Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon, each of them working on
their own, had a revolutionary impact on Jewish life for all future generations.
Once again, although Hashem clearly guides historical phenomena, there is
always room for free choice, even on the national level.
HAsHgocho Protis
“So that
you will know that I am Hashem in the midst of the earth” (8:18)
The
first idol worshippers and philosophers throughout the generations argued that
although Hashem did create the world, He does not get involved with events on
earth. In Egypt this fallacy was put to rest for good.
The
Kiddush we recite on Friday night is not only a declaration that Hashem is
creator of the world (zecher lema’ase bereishis) but also that He
controls it with individual divine providence and is intensely involved in our
world: zecher liyetzias mitzrayim. By recollecting the Egyptian
experiences we reinforce our belief in hashgocho protis and by
refraining from work on Shabbos we demonstrate our belief that Hashem's
providence showers us with enough sustenance if we work only for six days, and
whatever has been set aside for us will reach us irrespective of when or how
much we work.
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