Musar zu Schemot 34:6

Those who subdue their souls' anger and prevail upon their nature to restrain it, have been described as noble and characterized as exalted. Thus the sage said (Prov. xvi. 32), "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty." This is one of the thirteen attributes ascribed to God, exalted is He, in the passage (Ex. xxxiv. 6), "And the Lord passed by before him," etc. It is said that as scab is a disease of the body, so is wrath a disease of the soul. The moral man must not become wrathful often, because, by reason of his wrath, he is compelled to bear burdens. Thus saith the sage (Prov. xix. 19), "A man of great wrath shall bear punishment."

The one commandment in this portion which comprises all other commandments is the commandment to "walk in G–d's ways." Since man has been created in the image of G–d, it behooves him to emulate G–d to the extent he is able to. He has to see to it that every one of his limbs is in perfect condition, for each limb has been charged with the performance of some commandment. The same applies to our spiritual and emotional faculties. We know that G–d is gracious; hence we too must display this trait in our dealings with other people. Our sages quote G–d as saying: כל זמן שבני עוסקים כסדר הזה, "As long as My children conform to this order (of prayer) they will not leave empty-handed". [The reference is to the recital of the 13 attributes of G–d which He taught Moses in response to his request for knowledge how to assuage His anger. Ed.] We all know how many times we recite the thirteen attributes and nothing seems to happen and our sins do not seem to disappear. This is because we did not heed the wording of the promise. The sages spoke about G–d having demanded that we practice, עוסקים, the attributes of G–d, not merely recite them during a confessional [cf. Alshich and Tzror Hamor on Exodus 34,6. Ed.] והלכת בדרכיו, "and you will walk in His ways." Fulfilling this part of the Torah's blueprint for our relationship with G–d will qualify us to be the מרכבה, the carrier of G–d's Presence on earth. Man, in the way he was originally constructed, was after all the reflection of G–d on earth. Who could better qualify as the מרכבה? We have already described elsewhere how the 7 sections of our body represent the seven parts of the concept בנין. By sanctifying our body we will be able to recapture the lofty niveau Adam possessed and become like the דמות עליון, a replica of the form in the highest regions.

Mercy is a most praiseworthy quality and is one of the thirteen attributes associated with the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written: "Merciful and Gracious" (Exod. 34:6). A man should do as much as he can to conduct himself in this quality. And just as a person desires people to have mercy upon him in the hour of his need, so it is proper for him that he should have mercy upon anyone who is in need, as Scripture says: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18).

And, in truth, how great is this mitzvah in the eyes of the Blessed L-rd, it being written (Michah 6:8): "He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the L-rd requires of you — but to do justice and to love chesed, etc." And Chazal have said (Succah 49b): "'to do justice' — this is din; 'and to love chesed' — this is gemiluth chasadim." And he also fulfills in this the mitzvah of (Devarim 29:9): "And you shall walk in His ways," as we find in Sifrei on the verse (Ibid. 10:12): "'to walk in all His ways' — these are the ways of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Shemoth 34:6): 'Hashem, Hashem, the G-d who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in chesed, etc.'" And Chazal say (Bava Metzia 30b): "R. Yosef taught (Shemoth 18:20): 'And you shall apprise them of the way' — this is gemiluth chasadim."

The symbolisms expressed by the use of בת-אחות-אם "daughter-sister-mother" relationship between G–d and the Jewish people, or the matriarchs and G–d, which we have described on page 137 and later, may be alluded to in the way the Torah divides the number of years Sarah lived into three distinct periods, i.e. "one hundred years, twenty years and seven years" (Genesis 23,1). Bereshit Rabbah 58,1 explains that Sarah was as beautiful at twenty as she had been at seven years of age, whereas she was as free from sin at a hundred years of age as she had been at twenty. The number seven may allegorically be explained as referring to the seven days of Creation (including the Sabbath) before the original light was withdrawn. This association gives Sarah the אם כל חי, "Mother Superior" image. When the Torah was given to the Jewish people and the serpent's pollutant was neutralised, the world was restored to a state when כתנות אור, garments woven of light, could have been worn. The passage dealing with the creation of light in Genesis 1, 3-5, mentions the word אור, light, five times, an allusion to the five Books of Moses, as pointed out in the Midrash. The Zohar sees in the verse commencing with Hashem Hashem in Exodus 34,6 an allusion to the number twenty, i.e. the Ten Commandments and the ten directives by which the universe was created. These complemented each other. When you spell the two letters Yud as words, i.e. יוד, their combined value is also 20. This idea is reflected in the "twenty years" the Torah here speaks of. Although the universe did not actually revert to the condition it had been in prior to withdrawal of the אור בראשית, the original light, the precondition existed, and, but for the sin of the golden calf, Israel would have achieved that status through Torah study and observance, and the original light would have been revealed to them. At the moment the Torah was revealed, the light appeared to them just as it had been during the seven days of Creation. This is the deeper meaning of Proverbs 7,4: אמור לחכמה אחותי את, "Say to wisdom 'you are my sister.'" Israel, due to the Revelation and Torah study, was on the level we have described as אחות. Afterwards, when the people made the golden calf, they ruined even that level of closeness to G–d with the result that the כ in 23,2 became reduced in size. When the Temple, which was one hundred cubits high, was built, this provided some degree of rehabilitation for the opportunity lost through the golden calf. [The Temple the author refers to must be the one of Herod; Solomon's Temple was only thirty cubits high. Ed.] When Bereshit Rabbah 58,1 on our verse next compares Sarah's innocence at one hundred to her innocence at twenty, this is an allusion to the partial rehabilitation during the period of the second Temple. There were public offerings which achieved atonement for the people. Nonetheless, the people were only on the level of בת, (the lowest of the three levels described on pages 137/138). This is why we find Israel referred to as בת ציון, בת ירושלים in Isaiah, Lamentations and elsewhere. The small letter כ in the word ולבכותה is a clear allusion to the aforegoing. When you remove the letter כ completely, you are left with the word לבתה, "to her daughter," i.e. the word בת, daughter. When the Temple was destroyed, the letter ק was also reduced in size, as pointed out by the Baaal Haturim in his commentray on Genesis 27,46 where Rebeccah expressed disdain for her own life if Jacob, too, were to marry a Canaanite girl. The cause of Rebeccah's desperate outcry, according to Baa l Haturim, was that in her mind's eye she saw the destruction of the hundred-cubit high Temple. When the Temple was destroyed the Jewish people forfeited even the status of בת in their relationship with G–d. For some time after that the most they could achieve in the way of direct communication with G–d was the בת קול, an echo of their former relationship. Nowadays, due to our sins, we do not even experience that form of communication with G–d. This situation will not improve until the Messiah will come, hopefully very soon. At such a time, אור חדש will shine over Zion.

When David says in verse 9: ואל ה' אתחנן, this means that he pleaded on behalf of G–d, or the שכינה, Divine Presence, which is forced into exile alongside the Jewish people. When the time for salvation arrives, the שיכנה also experiences salvation, i.e. לה' הישועה על עמך (Psalms 3,9) and Israel experiences חנינה, compassion and favor. Berachot 7a, expresses this idea graphically when we are told that Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha (a High Priest) once entered the Holy of Holies in order to offer the incense offering. While inside, he had a vision of Akatriel (one of the names of G–d) sitting on a throne asking him: "Yishmael My son, bless Me!" The High Priest responded by saying: "May it be Your will to suppress Your anger etc…. and to treat Your children with the attribute of Mercy."