Two Attempts at Redemption
Student Summaries of Sichot of the Roshei Yeshiva
Yeshivat
Har Etzion
This
shiur is dedicated in memory of Arthur Merdinger, z"l, of
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PARASHAT
VAERA
SICHA OF HARAV YEHUDA AMITAL SHLIT"A
Two
Attempts at Redemption
Summarized
by Matan Glidai
Translated
by Kaeren Fish
Last
week's parasha ended with Moshe's complaint to God:
Lord,
why have You done evil to this nation; why, indeed, did You send me? For since I
came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, things have become worse for this nation;
You have not delivered Your nation at all! (Shemot
5:22-23)
Ramban
expresses surprise at Moshe's reaction, for God had told Moshe explicitly that
redemption would not come about quickly:
I
know that the king of
Ramban
contends that when Moshe complained to God, much time had passed since he had
originally been sent to Pharaoh. Moshe understands that redemption takes time,
but at some stage he begins to feel that it is taking too long, and questions
why he was sent at all if his mission is completely fruitless. Ramban bases this
opinion on the midrash:
"The
taskmasters of the nation and their officers went out [and told the nation,
'Thus says Pharaoh: I shall not give you straw']" (Shemot 5:10) When
[Pharaoh] decreed thus, Moshe went to Midian and spent six months there, while
Aharon remained in
According
to the midrash, six months passed between Moshe's first mission to Pharaoh and
his complaint to God. Thus, Moshe's second mission to Pharaoh with which our
parasha opens - took place about half a year after the
first.
In
this context, Ramban quotes a different midrash:
"My
beloved is like a gazelle" just as a gazelle is visible, [then disappears,]
and then is seen again, so the first redeemer came into sight, then was
concealed from them, and then became visible again." (Shir ha-Shirim
Rabba 2, 22)
This
redemption, then, is supposed to come about in stages, with a period of
"concealment" in between each stage and the next. The Maharal (Gevurot
Hashem, chapter 30) likewise speaks of two stages of redemption, with a
lengthy period of the "concealment of God's face" in between, and he connects
this to the dual expression, "pakod yifkod," "God shall surely remember
you" (Bereishit 50:25).
This
concept requires some explanation. Why does redemption come in two stages? Why
did the first attempt at redemption not bear any fruit, while the second was
crowned with success?
We
may point to the difference between the two attempts at redemption on the basis
of God's words at the beginning of the parasha:
I
appeared to Avraham, to Yitzhak, and to Yaakov as "E-l Sha-dai," but My
Name Hashem (YKVK) I did not make known to them (6:3)
Ramban
(ad loc.) explains the difference between these two Names:
What
the text means to say is that God appeared to the forefathers with a name
signifying that He rules the systems of heavenly bodies and that He performed
great miracles for them that did not nullify the laws of nature: during famine
He delivered them from starvation; during war He spared them from the sword, and
He gave them wealth and honor and all manner of good. Like all the outcomes promised by the
Torah, blessings and curses, these came about through a miracle, for a person
could never receive goodness as reward for fulfilling a commandment, nor evil as
punishment for a transgression, except via a miracle
yet these miracles appear
to those who witness them as the way of the world; yet in truth, for the person
concerned, these are reward and punishment. Here God tells Moshe: I appeared to
the forefathers via the power of My Hand, by which I rule the constellations and
help My chosen ones. But My Name of Hashem, by which all of existence came into
being, I did not make known to them to create new phenomena for them by
changing nature
.
Thus
far, God had been revealed to the forefathers through the attribute of "E-l
Sha-dai," which is the Divine attribute of guiding the world via concealed
miracles. On the basis of this guidance, God helped the forefathers with
whatever they needed, without changing the order of the world and deviating from
the laws of nature. This is precisely the Divine guidance behind the system of
reward and punishment: the Torah promises, for example, that "if you will
diligently listen to My commandments," then "I shall give rain to your land at
its time" even though there is no natural connection between man's actions and
the weather. The connection between observance of commandments or committing
transgressions, on one hand, and the weather, on the other, is a "concealed
miracle;" it represents covert involvement by God in the world. Likewise the
entire system of reward and punishment. The attribute of "Hashem," on the other
hand, means God's exercising providence via revealed miracles and changes in the
order of the world.
Hence,
God is telling Moshe that until now He has guided the world by means of hidden
Divine providence, while from now on He will utilize revealed miracles: "Say
unto Bnei Yisrael: I am Hashem" (verse 6).
We
can also understand why the first attempt at redemption was unsuccessful. The
problem, obviously, did not lie with God, but rather with Am Yisrael. Divine
guidance by means of hidden miracles is such that it is dependent on human
action: "If you will walk in My statutes
I shall give your rains at their
times" (Vayikra 26:3-4). The Holy One wanted to redeem
In
fact, this is described explicitly in Sefer
Yechezkel:
On
that day that I lifted My hand for them to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
to a land that I had spied out for them flowing with milk and honey, an
adornment for all lands. And I said to them: "Let every man cast away the
abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of
The
Holy One wanted to redeem
Beyond
contributing to a better understanding of what happened in
(This
sicha was delivered on leil Shabbat Parashat Vaera 5756
[1996].)