A.
Our parasha tells of the climax of Israel’s liberation from Egypt with dramatic finality. The Makkath Bëchoroth in last week’s reading seemed finally to have broken Pharaoh: ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה ויאמר קומו צאו מתוך עמי גם אתם גם בני ישראל ולכו עבדו את ד' כדברכם: גם צאנכם וגם בקרכם קחו כאשר דברתם ולכו וברכתם גם אתי: ותחזק מצרים על העם למהר לשלחם מן הארץ כי אמרו כלנו מתים: (“And he called to Moshe and Aharon at night and said, 'Get up, get out from amidst my people, both you and the bënei Yisra’él, and go serve Ha-Shem as you have spoken. Take also your ovicaprids and also your cattle, as you have spoken, and go, and you will bless me also.' And Egypt pressed upon the people to hurry to send them out of the country, for they said, 'All of us are dead'”; XII, 31-33).
The last remark was surely no exaggeration: With their livestock dead in the fields and their crops blasted by supernatural hail or eaten by locusts, the Egyptians faced a grim future indeed. Hence, explains the Ha‘améq Davar, אם נפרש "על העם" על ישראל יקשה הלשון "לשלחם" כי ישראל לא היו המשלחים רק המשולחים אבל קאי על אנשי חיל שלהם שיעשו בכח ידיהם (“If we interpret ‘upon the people’ [to mean] ‘upon Israel’, the term ‘to send them out’ becomes difficult, for Israel were not doing the sending out, but were being sent; rather, it refers to the men of their army, that they should act with force of arms”). The Egyptians clearly had had enough.
As a consequence of the military escort, Pharaoh received regular reports of progress of the vast throng as they wended their way eastward. Thus, when Israel doubled back under G-d’s guidance, he learnt of it: ואמר פרעה לבני ישראל נבכים הם בארץ סגר עליהם המדבר (“And Pharaoh said of the bënei Yisra’él, They are confused in the land, the desert has closed upon them”; XIII, 3). It thus appears that Pharaoh still had designs on Israel.
Whereupon. G-d tells Moshe: וחזקתי את לב פרעה ורדף אחריהם ואכבדה בפרעה ובכל חילו וידעו מצרים כי אני ד' וגו' (“And I shall strengthen Pharaoh’s heart and he will chase after them; and I shall weigh upon Pharaoh and all his army, and Egypt will know that I am Ha-Shem....”; v. 4). And then: ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם ויהפך לבב פרעה ועבדיו אל העם ויאמרו מה זאת עשינו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו (“And the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled; and Pharaoh’s and his servants’ heart turned to the people, and they said, What have we done, that we sent Israel from serving us!?”; ibid., 5), setting in motion anything in Egypt that would roll, כל רכב מצרים (“every vehicle of Egypt”; ibid., 7) in hot pursuit.
By the seventh day out, the avenging army had caught up with the slow-moving mass of ex-slaves,וישאו בני ישראל את עיניהם והנה מצרים נסע אחריהם וייראו מאד ויצעקו בני ישראל אל ד': ויאמרו אל משה המבלי אין קברים במצרים לקחתנו למות במדבר כו' הלא זה הדבר אשר דברנו אליך במצרים לאמר חדל ממנו ונעבדה את מצרים כי טוב לנו עבד את מצרים ממתנו במדבר: (“...and the bënei Yisra’él raised their eyes and behold, Egypt was rushing after them; and they became very afraid, and the bënei Yisra’él cried out to Ha-Shem. And they said to Moshe, 'Was there a dearth, no graves in Egypt, to take us to die in the desert?!.... Is this not the thing which we said to you in Egypt: Leave us alone and let us serve Egypt, for serving Egypt is better for us than dying in the desert'”; ibid., 10-12).
B.
At this point, the Talmud picks up the story: ארבע כיתים נעשו אבותינו על הים אחת אומרת נפול לים ואחת אומרת נחזור למצרים ואחת אומרת נעשה עמהן מלחמה ואחת אומרת נצווח כנגדן (“Our forefathers fell into four groups at the sea: One saying, 'Let us fall into the sea'; and one saying, 'Let us return to Egypt'; and one saying, 'Let us make war on them'; and one saying, 'Let us cry out against them'”; ירושלמי תענית פ"ב ה"ה).
To each of these groups, the account continues, the next verses in our parasha constitute a reply: To those contemplating mass suicide in despair, Moshe said: אל תיראו התיצבו וראו את ישועת ד' וגו' (“Be not afraid, stand fast and see the salvation of Ha-Shem...”); to those counseling return to Egypt, he said: כי אשר ראיתם את מצרים היום לא תוסיפו לראותם עוד עד עולם (“...for that you see Egypt today, you will not continue to see Egypt again forever”). To those contemplating a last, desperate stand against the enraged foe, Moshe counseled: ד' ילחם לכם (“Ha-Shem will fight for you”); and finally, to those souls seeking a prayer vigil, Moshe said: ואתם תחרישון, “and you will be silent”; עפ"י תורה תמימה, אבל עיי' גם קרבן העדה שם בירושלמי המפרש בדרך אחרת ).
The first three responses – mass suicide, giving up and returning to servitude, waging a futile and pointless struggle against trained and equipped soldiers – will be seen as desperate acts born of fear; but surely prayer was the most appropriate response to the crisis, as a plethora of references recommend; for instance, King David said: מן המיצר קראתי קה, “From the tight spot I called out to Ha-Shem”; Psalms CXVIII, 5), or the prophet Yona: קראתי מצרה לי, “I cried out from my suffering”; Jonah II, 3). All of Israel had reached the stature of prophets, Hazal tell us: ראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראה יחזקאל בן בוזי בימיו (“A servant girl saw at the sea what the prophet Yëhezqél ben Buzi never saw in his life”; מכילתא בשלח סי' ב'), and הקב"ה מתאוה לתפלתן של צדיקים (“The Holy One, Blessed is He, desires the prayer of tzaddiqim’;ס"ד: יבמות). Why, then, should Moshe order them to be silent?
Several commentators ask this question, and the consensus interpretation seems to be that G-d had already told Moshe what was going to happen; that the Egyptians would be roused once again to headlong, precipitous action, racing after the bënei Yisra’él, but would have their comeuppance; hence, they tell us, what was there to cry out about? To the contrary, as G-d Himself tells Moshe: מה תצעק אלי דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו (“Why should you yell at Me? Speak to the bënei Yisra’él and they will go”; עיי' למשל רמב"ן, ספורנו, ואור החיים על אתר ).
But, as we have already read, the bënei Yisra’él were already calling out to Ha-Shem; what really was the issue? Why should a group of frightened people, seeing their long-time oppressors rushing after them, not cry out to G-d for salvation and help?
C.
If we turn to the Zohar, we find: תא חזי ההוא מלה דנפיק מפומי' דבר נש סלקא ואתער אתערותא לעילא אי לטב אי לביש וכו' הכא דינא ברחמי הוה דחפא עליהון ימא ומיתו ולבתר אפיק לון ימא וקודשא בריך הוא בעא ביקריהון ואתקברו בארעא כו' הה"ד "נטית ימינך תבלעמו ארץ". ובגין דא דינא ברחמי הוה ועל דא לא בעא קדשא בריך הוא דיתערון ישראל מלה בעלמא דאי יתערון ישראל מלה לא יתערון שמא דרחמי ולא יתעביד דינא ברחמי הדא הוא דכתיב "ד' ילחם לכם ואתם תחרישון" (“Come see, that word which leaves a person’s mouth rises and brings about a awakening Above, whether for good or for evil... Here [in the destruction of the Egyptian army] it was a case of judgment through mercy [dina bë-rahmei] that the sea covered them over and they died, and afterward the sea brought them out, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, desired their honor, and they were buried in the earth... as it is written, ‘You stretched forth Your right hand, the earth swallowed them up’ [i.e., after they had drowned; XV, 12]. And because of this, it was dina bë-rahmei, and for this reason the Holy One, Blessed is He did not wish that Israel raise a word in the world, for if Israel would raise a word, it would not awaken the Name of mercy, and a dina bë-rahmei would not be done; hence it is written, ‘Ha-Shem will fight for you, and you be silent”; ח"ב מ"ז:).
Now let us try to digest what we have just learnt.
D.
We established supra that the overriding emotion informing the outcry of the bënei Yisra’él was fear; hence the word in the Holy Language sent aloft with their tëfilloth was יראה, yir’a. As the Zohar tells us, such a word has consequences, setting up a metaphysical counterpart through which the Divine response would resonate in this world. The problem is that a response mediated by rational, wholly justified fear would be one of pure din, pure judgment, and din, as we have learnt elsewhere (cf., e.g., A”z Yashir, Va-Yéra’ and Hayyei Sara earlier this year), din alone is extremely exacting, with painful consequences for any imperfection in this world.
The Divine intent was the fine balance implicit in the Zohar’s phrase dina bë-rahmei, in which both din and rahamim would be applied in proper measure. The pursuing Egyptian army would be destroyed, to be sure, but there were mitigating circumstances: The Egyptians’ rage was, at least in part, driven by the anguish of the mass starvation awaiting them and their families in the wake of the makkoth. The Egyptian people, as the Ha‘améq Davar points out, in contrast to their king, at this stage wanted only that Israel leave by the swiftest route possible, and urged deployment of the army to that end. These mandated at least that the pursuers be brought to proper burial, not left for fish-food at the bottom of the sea. This measure of Divine compassion for the Egyptians is evident from another famous ma’amar Hazal: בקשו מלאכי השרת לומר שירה אמר הקב"ה מעשי ידי טובעין בים ואתם אומרים שירה?! (“The ministering angel sought to sing [at the Egyptians’ downfall]; said the Holy One, Blessed is He, 'The products of My hands are drowning in the sea and you are singing?!'”; מגילה י:). Israel, having suffered at Egyptian hands, were justified in singing of their downfall, but not the mal’achim.
But yir’a had already been launched, with the initial outburst of fearful tëfilla at sight of the Egyptians; left unchanged, the purest din would result, with dire consequences.
So Moshe, the gadol ha-dor, intervened. As we have previously established (cf. A”z Yashir, Noah, 5770), all the phenomena of this world come about and are governed by combinations and permutations of letters of the Holy Alphabet. Note what Moshe told the bënei Yisra’él: אל תיראו התיצבו וראו את ישועת ד', “Fear not, stand fast and see Ha-Shem’s salvation”. יראה, “fear,” had been transmuted into ראי-ה, “sight,” and dina bë-rahmei duly took place, as Israel testified in the song at the sea: מרכבת פרעה וחילו ירה בים ומבחר שלשיו טבעו בים סוף: תהמת יכסימו ירדו במצולות כמו אבן: ימינך ד' נאדרי בכח ימינך ד' תרעץ אויב כו' נטית ימינך תבלעמו ארץ: (“Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He cast into the sea; the choice of his officers were drowned in Yam Suf. Waves covered them; they sank into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Ha-Shem, is glorious in power; Your right hand, Ha-Shem, breaks up an enemy.... You stretched out Your right hand, earth swallows them up”; XV, 4-6, 12; לאחר שכתבתי שורות אלו ראיתי כי הרה"ג בעל הברכת טוב כתב כעין זה בשם אביו הקדוש, עיי"ש בליקוטים. הוא פתח את צנור החכמה וברוך שכיונתי).
Thus does our parasha afford us a glimpse of how human beings interface with Ha-Shem and share in running the world.
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