9 minute read
Belief in G-D by Rav Moshe Weinberger
From the Fire
Parshas Vaeira Belief in G-d, Belief in One’s Self
By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
The beginning of the parsha is infused with the spirit of Pesach. Hashem assures Moshe that He will take the Jewish people out of Egypt. He promises to redeem them with the four expressions of redemption (Shmos 6:7-8) upon which the mitzvah to drink four cups of wine at the Seder is based. But the Jewish people were not ready to hear it (ibid. at 6:9). They had no room in their hearts for the hope for redemption. So, the pasuk says (ibid. at 6:13): “And Hashem spoke to Moshe and to Aharon and commanded them to regarding the children of Israel and regarding Pharaoh the King of Egypt to take the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt.” In other words, the Jewish people were not ready to hear about the redemption. The time for talking was over. It was time to take them out. But inexplicably, in the very next pesukim (ibid. at 14-16), the Torah interrupts the story of redemption with “These are the heads of the fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuven… the sons of Shimon… And these are the names of the children of Levi…” Why the interruption?
Rashi first gives the simple explanation for the interruption. Because the Torah is about to recount the exodus through Moshe and Aharon, it first tells us their “credentials,” their ancestry from Levi, the son of Yaakov. But it would be disrespectful to Levi’s older brothers Reuven and Shimon if the Torah would have skipped them and began recounting Moshe and Aharon’s ancestry from Levi, so the pesukim begin with Reuven and traces Yaakov’s sons’ ancestry until Levi. But Rashi offers a second explanation. He says, “I saw in Pesikta Rabasi that because Yaakov rebuked these three tribes at the time of his death, the pasuk returns here and traces their lineage alone in order to show that they are of high esteem.” This is beautiful, but why would the Torah emphasize that these three tribes are important here at this point in the story? Yaakov died almost two hundred years earlier!
Perhaps we can understand this by studying the Meshech Chochma on our parsha (“V’yitzavem” and “Vayitaken”). He explains that the Egyptians made the members of the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi taskmasters over the members of the other tribes who were enslaved. The members of those three tribes were not enslaved and lived a relatively easy life in Egypt. Hashem’s providence saw to it that they would not be enslaved for the following two reasons:
The Meshech Chochma first explains that they were disheartened as a group because, rather than blessing them as he did with his other sons, Yaakov Avinu’s last words to them were an expression of sharp rebuke. In addition, none of the three tribes which came from Reuven, Shimon, and Levi inherited a proper portion in Eretz Yisroel. Reuven inherited a portion with a lower level of holiness, the trans-Jordan. Shimon did not inherit a proper portion of the land in fulfillment of Yaakov’s curse (Bereishis 49:7), “I will separate them throughout Yaakov and I will scatter them throughout Yisroel.” And Levi did not inherit the land because his descendants were the kohanim and the levi’im.
The members of the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi were disheartened by their father’s rebuke and lacked the hope for a proper portion in Eretz Yisroel to get them through the suffering of the Egyptian exile. The Meshech Chochma explains that Hashem knew they would not have been able to withstand enslavement like the other tribes because of the rebuke and their inability to cling to the hope for a portion in the land of Israel. Hashem therefore relieved them of the burden of slavery, and they were taskmasters instead.
With the Meshech Chochma’s explanation, we can now understand something that happened somewhat earlier. Following Moshe’s initial meeting with Pharaoh, after which he made the Jewish people’s slavery even more unbearable, the pasuk (Shmos 5:14) says, “And the Jewish taskmasters were beaten…” Soon after that (ibid. at 20), these taskmasters met Moshe and complained to him about their suffering. This affected Moshe deeply, and he approached Hashem (ibid. at 22) with the “complaint,” “Why have you hurt this people?” At first glance, this is somewhat difficult to understand. The Jewish people were unfortunately already accustomed to beatings and hard work. What was the qualitative change that shook Moshe to the core and caused him to complain to Hashem?
Based on the Meshech Chochma, however, we can understand. The taskmasters were from the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi who felt little self-worth because of Yaakov’s rebuke and lacked the hope for the future because they would not inherit regular portions in Eretz Yisroel. In addition, as taskmasters, they were not used to the beatings. When they began to experience the torment to which their brothers were accustomed, they were immediately broken. When they complained to Moshe, he saw this brokenness and asked Hashem, “Why have you hurt this people?!”
This is along the lines of Yirmiya-
hu’s lament (Eicha 4:2), “The precious children of Zion, praised with fine gold, how they are [now] compared to clay pitchers…” It is bad enough when people accustomed to suffering are tormented, but it adds a qualitatively different level of affliction when those who are not used to such treatment are thrust down into the dirt with everyone else.
For human beings, who are sometimes jealous of others who experience better fortunes, it is tempting to relish the suffering of privileged people who are cast down to bear the torment which the lower classes had been experiencing all along. But Hashem and Moshe his servant have mercy on everyone, including the “privileged” who suffer even more than others when they endure trials to which they were not accustomed.
The members of all of the other tribes were at least able to hold onto the hope of redemption and a proper portion in Eretz Yisroel to get through the day-to-day suffering. They may have been able accept Moshe’s promise of redemption. But when the members of the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi heard the four expressions of redemption, they were not consoled. While the other tribes heard the fifth expression of redemption (Shemos 6:8), “And I will bring you to the land,” the members of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi heard a promise for a redemption in which they were not worthy to participate.
How would these tribes receive the encouragement they so desperately needed to survive until the fulfillment of Hashem’s promised redemption? Hashem Himself told them what they needed to hear.
Right after the pesukim tell us that the taskmasters were unable to hear any hope in Moshe’s promise of redemption, Hashem began recounting the impressive ancestry of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi “in order to show that they are of high esteem.” Although justified, their great-grandfather left them without any words of encouragement to help them survive the exile. So Hashem Himself told them, “You are important. You are worthwhile. You are worthy of salvation.” With this, they were able to hold on through the last few minutes of exile.
This is a remarkable concept. A person can survive almost anything if he feels that he is important, valuable, and worthwhile. If he feels that his life and his service of G-d matter, he can endure virtually any external trial, any temptation, and any evil inclination. A person is only too weak to stand up for his spiritual life if he feels deep inside that he doesn’t really matter, that he doesn’t really count. But when a person recognizes that he is a child of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that he possesses a Divine soul, and that Hashem loves him and watches over him and hopes that he will succeed, he can overcome any obstacle or temptation. No computer or smartphone in the world can shake a person who understands that he is important, who believes in himself.
While many people leave the path of Hashem after experiencing serious trauma that can truly break a person, there are others who leave after relatively minor difficulties. For such people, a moderately difficult parent or a tactless rebbe or teacher is enough to bump them off the path. For people who are not accustomed to suffering and have not been infused with the feeling that they matter, even the slightest wind can blow him off course. Those of us over forty or fifty years old remember a time when a person was lucky if he had one rebbe in his entire school career who spoke to his students with sensitivity and respect. It is horrible, but one rebbe of mine in high school called one boy “shoteh, idiot,” and another boy “golem, dumb one” throughout the year. Such behavior is inexcusable but people were raised with more grit, and within a certain range, such things did not break the souls of the students.
In our times, we are like the children of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi. We are not accustomed to suffering and do not appreciate how precious we are to Hashem. We do not know how valuable each of us is to Him. This is one of the major reasons we
have difficulty standing up to spiritual challenges. A person will not feel encouraged by all of the promises of redemption in the world if he does not believe in himself, if he does not recognize how important his life is.
Rebbe Nosson (Sichos Haran 140) relates that when he heard a certain teaching from Rebbe Nachman, he was unable to do anything but stand back, dumbfounded. What did Rebbe Nachman teach him that confounded him to such a great extent? Rebbe Nachman told him, “You may believe [in Hashem], but you do not believe in yourself.” There is no end to what difficulties a person can endure, what challenges and temptations he can overcome, and what he can accomplish in life if he believes in himself and recognizes how important he is to Hashem.
May each of us merit to believe in ourselves these last few minutes before the ultimate redemption in order to hold on until we can greet Moshiach and return to claim our inheritance in Eretz Yisroel with the ultimate salvation, may it come soon in our days.
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
