Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Moshe Rabenu and Aharon had done as Hashem instructed. They had gone to Pharaoh and asked that Bnei Yisroel be permitted to go celebrate with Hashem. Not only does Pharaoh not grant the request, but he adds to the burdens of Bnei Yisroel. Now Bnei Yisroel must not only produce their quota of bricks, they must now also gather the straw to make the bricks. Moshe, obviously distressed at this outcome, confronts Hashem: "... Why have You done evil to this people, why have you sent me?..."
Now our Parshah opens with Hashem appearing to Moshe Rabenu and responding to his anguished cry. "Elokhim spoke [vayidaber] to Moshe Rabenu and said [vayomer] to him, I am Hashem... I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov... but with My Name Hashem I did not make Myself known to them."
Rashi points out that vayidaber/spoke is a harsh, reprimanding tone as opposed to vayomer/said. Why is Hashem "angry" at Moshe, asks Rashi, and why does Hashem then identify Himself as Hashem, the YKVK Name representing compassion? How is Hashem's reply an appropriate response to Moshe's dual complaint? And why does the Torah change mid-verse from Elokhim to Hashem/YKVK?
While it was improper for Moshe Rabenu to speak this way to Hashem writes Rabbi Tuvyah Weiss zt”l citing the Chasam Sofer zt”l, Hashem understood that this tone was coming from pain at the suffering of Bnei Yisroel. This is why Hashem changes His own tone from one of harshness to compassion. This empathy is the hallmark of a true Jewish leader.
Rabbi Shneiur notes a different problem in Moshe's complaint. Moshe Rabenuseems to be attributing power to Pharaoh, as if Hashem is not in complete control of the situation. That hint required the admonition, and Hashem's response was, "I am Hashem; I am controlling the situation, not Pharaoh."
In Yimei Zikaron, Rabbi Soloveitchick zt”l approaches this dialogue from the point of an agent on a mission. Moshe Rabenu is Hashem's agent in meeting Pharaoh. Usually an agent, although he is following his sender's instructions, goes on his mission alone. We are all Hashem's agents, but our success depends on Hashem's will. A builder can be an expert and work diligently, but if Hashem doesn't want the project to succeed, the building will not be built. When we are successful, it is because Hashem was our silent partner, and Hashem wants us to get the credit. Here Hashem specifically told Moshe,"That I will be with you... That I have sent you." It is not Pharaoh who refused your request, but that I, Hashem, have willed it so as part of a greater plan.
What was this greater plan? In Sefer Heoros, Rabbi Zaidel Epstein zt”l explains that the enslavement was meant to last 400 years. In order to redeem Bnei Yisroel sooner, Hashem had to compress the work of 400 years into 210 years to enable the earlier redemption. Therefore it was necessary that Pharaoh increase the workload. It was Hashem, not Pharaoh who controlled the situation. The Elokhim, the harsh judgment, was itself part of Hashem, the compassionate God. In fact, as Rabbi Druck notes in Aish Tomid quoting the Gra zt”l, the cantillation over וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה /They embittered their lives with hard work implies going slowly and speeding up, alluding to the faster pace of the arriving redemption.
We cannot see the big picture. We are constrained by time and space. We are too close to the painting and see only one small piece without seeing how that color, that form interacts with the rest of the painting. But Hashem is a Master Painter with a panoramic canvas. He sees how all the parts interact, writes Rabbi Frand. Hashem is the Master in so many ways. He is the doctor Who prepares the cure before the disease hits, often using the disease itself as a future cure. Who would have thought that in 1492, when Jews whose wealth financed the rise of Spain to a world power with an amazing naval fleet that Columbus' voyage by those ships would hundreds of years later be the salvation of so many Jews? While Ferdinand and Isabelle wanted to rid the world of Jews, the land that Columbus discovered would later serve as a haven for Jews fleeing czarist Russia and even later the Holocaust? Moshe Rabenuand Bnei Yisroel could only see the suffering confronting them at that moment in time. They could not see that this harshness would save them 190 years of enslavement.
As Rabbi Shmulevitz zt”l notes, Jewish history cannot be observed in a moment, but only through the full panorama of history. Jewish history teaches us, writes the Gaon of Vilna, that Jews cry today and laugh tomorrow. [As we sing in Shir Hamaalot on Shabbat, "Who plant in tears will reap in joy." CKS]You cannot enter mid history, as if it were the middle of a movie and expect to understand what is happening. Since Hashem is hidden in the panorama of history, what we perceive as bad may in fact be beneficial, writes Rabbi E. Ch. Cohen in Otzrot Hatorah. We have to believe and integrate that the Hashem/YKVK/rachamim. compassion aspect of God is included within the Elokhim/din/judgment aspect of Hashem, adds Rabbi Chafetz zt”l. Even more profoundly, since everything Hashem does is good, the attribute of strict justice actually is compassion, albeit it is hidden, adds Rabbi Neiman in Mipi Sofrim.
If we believe that everything that Hashem does is for the good, and one of Hashem's names is in fact Rachmana/the compassionate One, we should be able to say the blessing of Hatov vehaMeitiv/ He is good and He causes good [for others]" for everything that happens to us. Instead, when we experience tragedy, we say, "Boruch Dayan ha'emes/ Blessed is the truthful Judge." Although we believe this to be good, actually feeling it is beyond us in this world where Hashem's presence is concealed, writes Rabbi Pincus zt”l. Here and now we cannot grasp both these truths. Although we see the bad, we still believe that in some wondrous way, it is good. Now we are only on the level of believing; in the future, in retrospect, we will see Hatov veHameitiv. This is the basis of emunah, of believing without understanding.
Our faith should include that we can achieve great heights. We limit ourselves by focusing on our limitations. If we truly want growth, we need to daven, for with Hashem's help, we can achieve greatness. We need to go through periods of darkness to go beyond what we consider our "natural" abilities. That is the process we need to go through; that was the purpose of putting Avraham Avinu through those ten challenges, so that he would emerge from that darkness to greater light than he imagined himself capable of, continues Rabbi Pincus. We should try to see the challenges in our lives not as darkness, but as pathways to light.
We look at the world superficially, almost as a child who perceives everything egocentrically and then grows to recognize the world around him, writes Rabbi Lopiansky. As human adults, we tend to see only the world of our senses and experience as reality. The next stage is beyond this world, to recognize that אין עוד מלבדו / Nothing exists except God Himself; we exist as a figment of Hashem's imagination [as the houses that exist only within the snow globe in my hand CKS]. Our perception of reality is אלוקי שמים וארץ, the Elokhim of heaven and earth. But the reality is that Hashem exists on His own, beyond heaven and earth.
Rabbi Lopiansky presents two kinds of narratives. From one story, we can discuss the plot, the characters, all the elements of the story. But when we have finished, the story is done, nothing really remains. The other narrative is a parable. While we may still discuss all the elements, when we are finished, a message remains. Are we the empty plot, or are we a parable with the message of bringing Godliness into the world? We are here to do Hashem's will, not to live a life of emptiness.
Man himself is a composite of everything both in heaven and earth. Every part of an individual parallels something in creation. That is why we have such metaphorical phrases as "the eye of the earth,"[Plague of locusts, Shemos 10: 5], and "The earth opened its mouth [to swallow Korach, Bamidbar 17:32]. Man's thoughts and actions directly affect the universe. Since Man is composed of both heaven and earth, Man's mission is to connect heaven and earth, writes Rabbi Zucker in Illuminating the Day. In the first verse of the Torah, Hashem first created heaven and earth in harmony. But when, in the next verse, earth is separated from heaven, it is tohu vovohu, empty and chaotic, like a body without a soul. By Man being in touch with his soul, he keeps heaven and earth together allowing creation to continue to exist.
Our Patriarchs recognized this connection, and therefore established our prayers as a means of connecting to Hashem, Creator of both heaven and earth. They connected to Hashem, through the name Elokhim. Only later did Hashem reveal Himself to Moshe Rabenuand Bnei Yisroel with the Name YKVK.
Hashem revealed Himself to our Forefathers at Har Moriah, the future site of the Beit Hamikdosh where the connection between heaven and earth would be manifest through the sacrificial offerings. Today, our prayers take the place of these offerings. While tefillah has designated times and places [although one can personally "speak" to Hashem anywhere, anytime], Torah, the greater revelation of Hashem, has neither time nor place restrictions. Because there is no limit to Torah, miraculously, the Aron Kodesh in the Mishkan and the Beit Hamikdosh took up no space. [One can check the dimensions of the structures, then the dimensions of the Aron Kodesh. The dimensions of the area leave no physical space for the Ark that is nevertheless within it.]
The physical world is here only to reveal its spiritual aspect. Therefore, Hashem gave me this land, these trees and this fruit so that I would do the mitzvah, make the brachah. Not that now that I have this land, fruit, etc. I need to make the brachah. The purpose of producing sanctity was the reason for these gifts, not the other way around.
Moshe's questions then take on a different meaning, continues Rabbi Lopiansky. In human perception, Moshe Rabenuasks, "Why was I sent?" The exile is the problem and redemption is the solution. But in Hashem's perception, both the enslavement and the redemption are manifestations of Hashem's presence in the world.
We are capable of doing nothing on our own. Hashem does everything. We can bring only our רצון, our desire to the world. When we bring that desire, we become a צנור, a conduit to bring Hashem's presence and goodness to the world, writes Rabbi Brazile.
How do we get out of our personal mitzrayim? Through the desire to bring goodness to the world. When we say we can't do something, we don't have the time for a half hour of chesed, or we're too tired to go to an evening Torah shiur, it's not that we can't, but that we don't want to enough, writes Rabbi Eisenberger in Mesillot Bilvovom. In every situation we must ask ourselves what Hashem wants of me? Why did Hashem put me here at this moment?
There is a world of Elokhim, of nature and the present, but the higher lever is the world of YKVK, of hayah/the past, hoveh/the present, and yihiyeh/the future which are encompassed in the four lettered Name of Hashem. While we perceive Hashem as we personally experience Him in the world, with faith, we know He exists beyond this world. We pray for the day when He will again reveal Himself, and we will understand and experience everything as truly good.