Musar zu Schemot 15:2

HONOR: Our sages, of blessed memory, have already exhorted us on the honor and dignity of a mitzva. They expounded (Shabbat 133b): "'this is my G-d, and I will beautify Him' (Shemot 15:2) - beautify yourself before Him in [the fulfillment of] mitzvot. Thus, make beautiful Tzitzit, beautiful Tefilin, a beautiful Sukkah, a beautiful Torah scroll, [and write it with fine ink, a fine reed, and a skilled penman, and wrap it about with beautiful silks]...". They also said: "A person should spend an extra third to beautify a Mitzvah. Up to this extra third, is on him. Above a third, the Holy One, blessed be He, returns the money to him (in this world)" (Bava Kama 9b). Thus, the intent of their words is quite clearly spoken, that the performance of the mitzva by itself is not enough. Rather, one must also honor and beautify it.

For instance, the Torah commanded us: "you shall surely rebuke your fellow" (Vayikra 19:17). Very often a person attempts to rebuke sinners at a place or time when his words will not be heeded and he causes them to breach even further in their wickedness, to desecrate the Name of G-d, and to add transgression to their sin. In such cases, the only Chasidut is to keep silent. Thus, our sages, of blessed memory, said: "just like it is a mitzva to say what will be heeded, so too it is a mitzva to not say what will not be heeded" (Yevamot 65b).

Behold, a man is obligated to guard all of the mitzvot in all of their fine details, doing so before any person, whoever it may be, and not be afraid or ashamed before him. Likewise, it is written: "I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed" (Tehilim 119:46). And we also learned "be brazen as a leopard..." (Avot 5:2).

When we keep this in mind we can understand the Midrash Rabbah 3,1 on Song of Songs 3,9 אפריון עשה לו המלך שלמה, that "King Solomon made for himself a canopy," as referring to the construction of the Tabernacle. Rabbi Yehudah bar Ulla explains this by means of the following parable: A king had a young daughter. As long as she did not reach the age of puberty, he would meet her in public and speak with her both in public and private. Once she reached the age of puberty the king said to himself that it was no longer seemly that he should converse with his daughter in public. He therefore constructed a pavilion for her so that whenever he felt the need to converse with his daughter he could do so within this pavilion. We find an allusion to this in Hoseah 11,1: "For when Israel was still a child I fell in love with Israel." As long as the people of Israel were in their national infancy in Egypt, they saw manifestations of G–d all around them such as when G–d smote the Egyptians both in Egypt and later on when He drowned them in the sea. This was a public manifestation as testified to in Exodus 14,31: "Israel saw the great hand of the Lord and what He did to Egypt". Even infants would point with their fingers declaring "This is my G–d I shall glorify Him" (Exodus 15,2). At Sinai they beheld G–d "face to face," as we know from Deuteronomy 33,2: "He (Moses) said The Lord came from Sinai, He shone upon them from Se-ir; He appeared from Mount Paran." At that point Israel received the Torah and declared כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע, "All that the Lord has said, we shall do and hear." As a consequence Israel became G–d's nation in the fullest meaning of the word. G–d next said Himself that it was no longer seemly that He should speak to them in public, without the benefit of privacy, so He instructed them to build a Tabernacle so that whenever He wished to speak to them, He would do so from the interior of the Tabernacle. This is the meaning of Numbers 7,89: "Whenever Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the voice of G–d addressing him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Covenant between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him." Thus far the statement of Rabbi Yehudah bar Ulla.

The letters of the Ineffable Name spelled in words יוד-הי-ויו-הי, total 72 in numerical value, as does a different kind of spelling called גלגול י-ה-ו-ה י-ה-ו י-ה י. This combination too totals 72. In that combination the first name symbolizes the original Existence, the mystery of G–d's Essence, the second three-lettered name which totals 21 symbolises that G–d created the universe out of "nothing," and the fact that He existed independent of such a universe. The name א-ה-י-ה which also totals 21, being a form of the future tense, tells us that in the future G–d will reveal Himself. The name י-ה, is also used in the past tense in Job 17,6 "ותפת לפנים אהיה," "I have become like Tophet of old." This means that the name א-ה-י-ה i.e. the "three-lettered name י-ה-ו," is a development of the original four-lettered name. The name י-ה is employed to remind us of how G–d guides history and the fate of man through the system of reward and punishment. A typical example is Psalm 130,3: אם עונות תשמר י-ה מי יעמוד? "If You keep account of sins, O Lord, Lord who will survive?" Another well known example of the use of that two-lettered name of G–d is Psalms 118,18: יסר יסרני י-ה ולמות לא נתנני, "The Lord punished me severely, but did not hand me over to death." On the other hand, the same name is used when discussing man's reward, such as in acknowledging Israel's salvation from the pursuit of the Egyptians in Exodus 15,2: עזי וזמרת י-ה ויהי לי לישועה, "The Lord is my strength and might; He is become my deliverance." Another example is Psalms 118,5: מן המצר קראתי י-ה ענני במרחב י-ה, "In distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and brought me relief."