Chasidut על במדבר 11:36
Mevo HaShearim
The prophets, mouthpieces of God on the earth, were not satisfied with correcting the peoples’ ways, that the people [merely] desist from robbing and stealing and committing abominations. Rather, they aspired to make them into a people of God, a nation of prophets. Moses our Teacher said, “Who would grant that all of God’s people could be prophets,”214Numbers 11:29. and his generation was called the ‘generation of knowledge.’215For the notion that the generation of the desert narratives was imbued with higher levels of knowledge and understanding, see e.g. Zohar Hadash, Hukkat. See the Zohar (Shlach 168b) regarding them, that there has never been in the world a generation as lofty as this one, nor will there be until King Messiah comes...and in the future the Holy One will prepare a place for them to come to when they are the first resurrected. “The generation of Hezekiah were all filled with Torah, even the children.” (Sanhedrin 104)
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Mevo HaShearim
And yet: even this act of filling of the world with holiness was done for the sake of Israel. For only exceptional individuals are able to stand apart [l’hitboded] and remove themselves from the world, becoming sanctified and prophetic despite the materiality of the world. Only to Moses did God say ‘but you, remain here with Me.’219Deuteronomy 5:28. This is not so of the rest of the nation, who could become prophets while yet ensconced in the world (something Moses desired when he said ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets,’220Numbers 11:29. small and great alike according to their stature). This is only possible when both the world in which they exist and their very bodies are sanctified by the influence of prophecy. For how could it be possible that the prophets, windows of the heavens, could bring down portions of Beriyah and Yetzirah to this world [Note: See the Zohar, Vayetzeh 149, and in M’M there, and other places in the Zohar; cf. Shaarei Kedushah 3:6,221This entire section (as well as those surrounding it) of Vital’s Shaarei Kedushah analyzes the nature of prophecy. In the passage referenced, Vital states that only Moses prophesized on the unmitigated level of Atzilut. All the other prophets prophesized on the lower, filtered levels of Beriyah and Yetzirah. that the holy prophets received their prophecy from the worlds of Beriyah and Yetzirah.] and to the people in it, without the world and the very bodies of the people in it rising in turn?
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Pri HaAretz
The passuk reads " The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving...they cried for their families"
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 6,3. Hashem.” We need to understand where and when G’d “appeared” to the patriarchs in His capacity as the G’d of Shaddai. We do not find the word וירא, “Shaddai appeared,” in connection with G’d’s addressing any of the patriarchs. Moreover, why did G’d speak of ידיעה, a form of intimate knowledge, in connection with His communicating with Moses and the Israelites at this time?
We have learned in Sifri, Mattot, 2 that all the prophetic revelations that subsequent prophets experienced were due to the residue of Moses’ prophetic experiences who had preceded them in this. In other words, no prophet was granted a type of vision that had not already been granted to Moses before him. Elaborating on that subject, we read in Yevamot 49, that all the subsequent prophets were only granted blurred visions whereas Moses had been granted clear visions.
It is not possible to absorb “clear” visions of the Creator unless the Creator had first garbed Himself in garments that diffuse the powerful light that emanates from Him. [Prophets of lesser stature than Moses would become too blinded by being exposed to G’d before he had thus screened Himself. Ed.] G’d “garbs” Himself in accordance to whom He dispenses His blessings, the most minimal of these “screens” within which He garbs Himself is known in the language of our sages as מאירה, literally, “illuminating” but in the sense of hiding the minimum possible. It is this “minimal” screen that hid G’d’s essence from Moses when He communicated with him. All the other prophets received their visions as derivatives of the visions which Moses had received. Although Moses himself “dispersed” some of his prophetic powers, [notably when the 70 elders were chosen to assist him, and he “dispersed” some of his holy spirit to them. (Numbers 11,17) Ed.]
We have learned in Sifri, Mattot, 2 that all the prophetic revelations that subsequent prophets experienced were due to the residue of Moses’ prophetic experiences who had preceded them in this. In other words, no prophet was granted a type of vision that had not already been granted to Moses before him. Elaborating on that subject, we read in Yevamot 49, that all the subsequent prophets were only granted blurred visions whereas Moses had been granted clear visions.
It is not possible to absorb “clear” visions of the Creator unless the Creator had first garbed Himself in garments that diffuse the powerful light that emanates from Him. [Prophets of lesser stature than Moses would become too blinded by being exposed to G’d before he had thus screened Himself. Ed.] G’d “garbs” Himself in accordance to whom He dispenses His blessings, the most minimal of these “screens” within which He garbs Himself is known in the language of our sages as מאירה, literally, “illuminating” but in the sense of hiding the minimum possible. It is this “minimal” screen that hid G’d’s essence from Moses when He communicated with him. All the other prophets received their visions as derivatives of the visions which Moses had received. Although Moses himself “dispersed” some of his prophetic powers, [notably when the 70 elders were chosen to assist him, and he “dispersed” some of his holy spirit to them. (Numbers 11,17) Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,4. “who will feed us meat?” “we remember the fish diet etc.” When looking at this verse superficially, we wonder why the subject of the fish the Israelites claimed to have eaten in Egypt was relevant to their present craving for meat.
Let us revert to what we learned in the Talmud (Yuma 75) that when the people received the manna, it possessed the ability to assume the taste of any food the party consuming it fancied. However, this ability was limited to the taste of any food the party wishing to taste had personal experience of. If someone who had never tasted meat wanted his manna to taste like meat this did not work, as even if it would taste like meat how would the individual eating it recognize it as such?
None of the Israelites had ever tasted a kosher slaughtered animal after its blood had been removed and it had been salted, etc., as required by halachah. While it was presumably true that the Israelites had eaten some meat while in Egypt, that meat had since become forbidden food for them after their stay at Mount Sinai. When they therefore asked: מי יאכילנו בשר, “who fill feed us meat?”, the question was quite legitimate as they felt that the Torah legislation had made it impossible for them to taste meat when eating manna. They mentioned that they had been able to recapture the taste of the fish they had eaten in Egypt as these fish had all had fins and scales, and thus had remained permitted to be eaten after the Torah had been given. Our sages promised us that in the future, G’d Himself will invite the tzaddikim to a meal where both leviathan (fish) and the shor habor (meat), as well as wine saved for the occasion from gan eden will be served. What the sages wished to convey by their promise is that at that time the Jewish people will eat heavenly food, i.e. manna, and that at that time even the tastes that they had not experienced while on their journey in the desert will be enjoyed by them. At that time also the waters they drank in the desert due to the merit of Miriam, will assume the taste of any liquid they will fancy.
Let us revert to what we learned in the Talmud (Yuma 75) that when the people received the manna, it possessed the ability to assume the taste of any food the party consuming it fancied. However, this ability was limited to the taste of any food the party wishing to taste had personal experience of. If someone who had never tasted meat wanted his manna to taste like meat this did not work, as even if it would taste like meat how would the individual eating it recognize it as such?
None of the Israelites had ever tasted a kosher slaughtered animal after its blood had been removed and it had been salted, etc., as required by halachah. While it was presumably true that the Israelites had eaten some meat while in Egypt, that meat had since become forbidden food for them after their stay at Mount Sinai. When they therefore asked: מי יאכילנו בשר, “who fill feed us meat?”, the question was quite legitimate as they felt that the Torah legislation had made it impossible for them to taste meat when eating manna. They mentioned that they had been able to recapture the taste of the fish they had eaten in Egypt as these fish had all had fins and scales, and thus had remained permitted to be eaten after the Torah had been given. Our sages promised us that in the future, G’d Himself will invite the tzaddikim to a meal where both leviathan (fish) and the shor habor (meat), as well as wine saved for the occasion from gan eden will be served. What the sages wished to convey by their promise is that at that time the Jewish people will eat heavenly food, i.e. manna, and that at that time even the tastes that they had not experienced while on their journey in the desert will be enjoyed by them. At that time also the waters they drank in the desert due to the merit of Miriam, will assume the taste of any liquid they will fancy.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,4. “who will feed us meat?” “we remember the fish diet etc.” When looking at this verse superficially, we wonder why the subject of the fish the Israelites claimed to have eaten in Egypt was relevant to their present craving for meat.
Let us revert to what we learned in the Talmud (Yuma 75) that when the people received the manna, it possessed the ability to assume the taste of any food the party consuming it fancied. However, this ability was limited to the taste of any food the party wishing to taste had personal experience of. If someone who had never tasted meat wanted his manna to taste like meat this did not work, as even if it would taste like meat how would the individual eating it recognize it as such?
None of the Israelites had ever tasted a kosher slaughtered animal after its blood had been removed and it had been salted, etc., as required by halachah. While it was presumably true that the Israelites had eaten some meat while in Egypt, that meat had since become forbidden food for them after their stay at Mount Sinai. When they therefore asked: מי יאכילנו בשר, “who fill feed us meat?”, the question was quite legitimate as they felt that the Torah legislation had made it impossible for them to taste meat when eating manna. They mentioned that they had been able to recapture the taste of the fish they had eaten in Egypt as these fish had all had fins and scales, and thus had remained permitted to be eaten after the Torah had been given. Our sages promised us that in the future, G’d Himself will invite the tzaddikim to a meal where both leviathan (fish) and the shor habor (meat), as well as wine saved for the occasion from gan eden will be served. What the sages wished to convey by their promise is that at that time the Jewish people will eat heavenly food, i.e. manna, and that at that time even the tastes that they had not experienced while on their journey in the desert will be enjoyed by them. At that time also the waters they drank in the desert due to the merit of Miriam, will assume the taste of any liquid they will fancy.
Let us revert to what we learned in the Talmud (Yuma 75) that when the people received the manna, it possessed the ability to assume the taste of any food the party consuming it fancied. However, this ability was limited to the taste of any food the party wishing to taste had personal experience of. If someone who had never tasted meat wanted his manna to taste like meat this did not work, as even if it would taste like meat how would the individual eating it recognize it as such?
None of the Israelites had ever tasted a kosher slaughtered animal after its blood had been removed and it had been salted, etc., as required by halachah. While it was presumably true that the Israelites had eaten some meat while in Egypt, that meat had since become forbidden food for them after their stay at Mount Sinai. When they therefore asked: מי יאכילנו בשר, “who fill feed us meat?”, the question was quite legitimate as they felt that the Torah legislation had made it impossible for them to taste meat when eating manna. They mentioned that they had been able to recapture the taste of the fish they had eaten in Egypt as these fish had all had fins and scales, and thus had remained permitted to be eaten after the Torah had been given. Our sages promised us that in the future, G’d Himself will invite the tzaddikim to a meal where both leviathan (fish) and the shor habor (meat), as well as wine saved for the occasion from gan eden will be served. What the sages wished to convey by their promise is that at that time the Jewish people will eat heavenly food, i.e. manna, and that at that time even the tastes that they had not experienced while on their journey in the desert will be enjoyed by them. At that time also the waters they drank in the desert due to the merit of Miriam, will assume the taste of any liquid they will fancy.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,7. “and the manna was like coriander seed;” when a person gives charity to a poor person he is turned into a משפיע, a dispenser of largesse. Our sages in Vayikra Rabbah 34,8 have taught that contrary to common belief, the recipient of the handout does more for the donor than the donor has done for him. If this is true, the poor man himself is also a dispenser of largesse, as he bestows spiritual merit whereas the wealthy man giving him a handout had only provided physical sustenance.
This parable while true, does not hold true when the dispenser of the manna is the Creator, Who by His very nature dispenses spiritual food at the same time as He hands out the manna. Doing tzedakah, performing charitable deeds, is equivalent to planting a seed in the ground which will provide others with sustenance in the future, something that we already learned from Avraham in Genesis 22,33 when he planted an orchard.
This parable while true, does not hold true when the dispenser of the manna is the Creator, Who by His very nature dispenses spiritual food at the same time as He hands out the manna. Doing tzedakah, performing charitable deeds, is equivalent to planting a seed in the ground which will provide others with sustenance in the future, something that we already learned from Avraham in Genesis 22,33 when he planted an orchard.
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Mevo HaShearim
When I search for the model of such a fellowship in the Torah, I discover it in the ‘students of the prophets,’ which includes the prophets of each generation, those whose words were not recorded. Even regarding the supernal sefirot, each can only receive in accordance to its influence on the sefirah below it. When Moses our Rabbi, father of the prophets, saw how Israel had fallen from their yearning and supernal cleaving, as they requested meat for pleasure, he said to the Holy Blessed One: “If You would deal thus with me, [kill me rather]...and let me see no more my wretchedness;” and He said to him, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders...and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it on them…”504Numbers 11: 15-16. God chose seventy men to be with him for the reason we have explained: because Israel could not receive greatness, a casting of light and continuous prophecy, as before, which is why Moses called it “my wretchedness”—that is, a deficiency which affects the giver as well. Therefore, and from then on in, He would give to the seventy elders—“and I will draw upon the spirit which is on you and put it on them.” That is, through them [i.e. the elders,] Moses too could receive [prophecy], or reveal that which he had already received. And through them, they and Moses spiritually influenced all of Israel.505So too, the rebbe himself can only sustain his spiritual level through the support and influence of his devoted hasidim, members of the fellowship.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,12. “did I conceive, etc.......’?, “did I bear them? ….. As a nurse carries an infant on the soil. ….From where am I going to produce meat?” The words על האדמה, “on the soil,” present a difficulty here. What do they add to Moses’ complaint? If they belonged at all, the Torah should have written: אל האדמה, as then the purpose of nursing such an infant until he could live as an adult in the Holy Land might have been easier to understand. Furthermore, the word אדמה does not relate to the request of the people for meat.
We must remember that it was always Moses’ function and desire to be a dispenser of largesse and loving kindness. It had never been Moses’ nature to restrict this largesse available to the Israelites. The fact that the manna was able to taste according to the imagination of the person consuming it is proof of that, especially when we consider that according to the Talmud in Taanit 9, the manna was granted to the Jewish people through the merit accumulated by Moses. If the Israelites demanded meat at this juncture this indicates that they felt somehow as already entitled to the צמצום המזון, )intense, concentrated, taste of food), something that is an exclusive to the land of Israel. This was something beyond Moses’ ability, and this is why he referred to על האדמה, “on the soil of the earth,” meaning the soil of the land of Israel.
We must remember that it was always Moses’ function and desire to be a dispenser of largesse and loving kindness. It had never been Moses’ nature to restrict this largesse available to the Israelites. The fact that the manna was able to taste according to the imagination of the person consuming it is proof of that, especially when we consider that according to the Talmud in Taanit 9, the manna was granted to the Jewish people through the merit accumulated by Moses. If the Israelites demanded meat at this juncture this indicates that they felt somehow as already entitled to the צמצום המזון, )intense, concentrated, taste of food), something that is an exclusive to the land of Israel. This was something beyond Moses’ ability, and this is why he referred to על האדמה, “on the soil of the earth,” meaning the soil of the land of Israel.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,28. he said: “my lord Moses lock them up!” To this Moses responded by saying: (11,29), “I wish that the entire people of G’d would be filled with prophetic insights!”,
Whereas we know that the righteous are able to bring about a cancellation of Divine decrees that would negatively affect our people, this rule holds true only as long as the decrees in question have not been written down by the prophet who had announced them. Once the decree has been committed to writing, it is beyond the ability of the righteous to bring about its reversal.
If this is so, surely we must ask ourselves how it is possible to cancel the prophecies about the disasters that will befall us during the period described in the Talmud as the חבלי משיח, “the birth pangs of the messianic age?” If you would question why in light of this the prophets committed these decrees to writing in the first place, the answer is that unless they had been written down people would deny that such prophecies had existed and would claim that had they known of them they surely would have taken them to heart and would have done teshuvah, repentance. Not only that, but people would have claimed that the fact that these dire prophecies did not come true was not due to repentance, but that they were the words of false prophets in the first place.
Maimonides in the sefer Hamadda as well as in hilchot melachim (chapter 12,2) writes that what the prophets wrote does not describe the period immediately preceding the coming of the messiah; from this it follows that we cannot pray for cancellation of decrees of which we have no knowledge. When the messiah will come he will also explain to us writings of the prophets which we were unable to understand until then.
Even if it were true that the prophets’ writings did describe the period preceding the coming of the messiah, seeing that when the messiah comes all of the Jewish people will possess intimate knowledge of G’d, just as did the prophets of old, as we know from Joel 3,1ונבאו בניכם ובנותיכם זקניכם חלומות יחלמו בחוריכם חזיונות יראו, “your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your elders will dream dreams, and your youngsters will experience visions.” At that time, when all the Jewish people are on the level of prophets, no one will accuse the prophets of having prophesied falsely, so that there is no need to record their visions in writing. They will then realize that the righteous that lived shortly before the advent of the messiah had been able to cancel these decrees so that their non occurrence is no proof of their having been falsehoods.
When Joshua told Moses to lock up Eldod and Meydod for having prophesied his death and Joshua’s becoming his successor, this prophecy could no longer have been cancelled as it has been recorded in the Torah. [actually it was not spelled out. Ed.] Moses, by saying that he wished that all the Jews could prophesy already meant, that if that were the case the prophecy of Eldod and Meydod could become void then without their being called false prophets. The righteous of his time would then be able to override that decree although it had been recorded in writing. In other words, even when prophets have been told of certain decrees G’d has issued Himself, it is within the power of the righteous to bring about an annulment. This is the meaning of Devarim Rabbah 3,11 stating when explaining the meaning of Deuteronomy 9,1 when Moses commences to describe Israel as crossing the Jordan with the words: אתה עובר היום את הירדן וגו', “you are about to cross the river Jordan today, etc,” that Moses implied that he himself was not allowed to cross the Jordan, but that he hoped that the intercession of the righteous on his behalf might result in G’d revoking His decree concerning this. To his dismay, the people did not understand the hint Moses gave them in that verse. He had hoped that although he had told them that he was about to die (on the east bank of the Jordan) they would pray for a remission of G’d’s decree. Moses, according to that Midrash was clearly not afraid that if as a result of Israel’s prayers he would be allowed to cross the Jordan, that they would consider him a false prophet, seeing he had told them himself that he would not.
Whereas we know that the righteous are able to bring about a cancellation of Divine decrees that would negatively affect our people, this rule holds true only as long as the decrees in question have not been written down by the prophet who had announced them. Once the decree has been committed to writing, it is beyond the ability of the righteous to bring about its reversal.
If this is so, surely we must ask ourselves how it is possible to cancel the prophecies about the disasters that will befall us during the period described in the Talmud as the חבלי משיח, “the birth pangs of the messianic age?” If you would question why in light of this the prophets committed these decrees to writing in the first place, the answer is that unless they had been written down people would deny that such prophecies had existed and would claim that had they known of them they surely would have taken them to heart and would have done teshuvah, repentance. Not only that, but people would have claimed that the fact that these dire prophecies did not come true was not due to repentance, but that they were the words of false prophets in the first place.
Maimonides in the sefer Hamadda as well as in hilchot melachim (chapter 12,2) writes that what the prophets wrote does not describe the period immediately preceding the coming of the messiah; from this it follows that we cannot pray for cancellation of decrees of which we have no knowledge. When the messiah will come he will also explain to us writings of the prophets which we were unable to understand until then.
Even if it were true that the prophets’ writings did describe the period preceding the coming of the messiah, seeing that when the messiah comes all of the Jewish people will possess intimate knowledge of G’d, just as did the prophets of old, as we know from Joel 3,1ונבאו בניכם ובנותיכם זקניכם חלומות יחלמו בחוריכם חזיונות יראו, “your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your elders will dream dreams, and your youngsters will experience visions.” At that time, when all the Jewish people are on the level of prophets, no one will accuse the prophets of having prophesied falsely, so that there is no need to record their visions in writing. They will then realize that the righteous that lived shortly before the advent of the messiah had been able to cancel these decrees so that their non occurrence is no proof of their having been falsehoods.
When Joshua told Moses to lock up Eldod and Meydod for having prophesied his death and Joshua’s becoming his successor, this prophecy could no longer have been cancelled as it has been recorded in the Torah. [actually it was not spelled out. Ed.] Moses, by saying that he wished that all the Jews could prophesy already meant, that if that were the case the prophecy of Eldod and Meydod could become void then without their being called false prophets. The righteous of his time would then be able to override that decree although it had been recorded in writing. In other words, even when prophets have been told of certain decrees G’d has issued Himself, it is within the power of the righteous to bring about an annulment. This is the meaning of Devarim Rabbah 3,11 stating when explaining the meaning of Deuteronomy 9,1 when Moses commences to describe Israel as crossing the Jordan with the words: אתה עובר היום את הירדן וגו', “you are about to cross the river Jordan today, etc,” that Moses implied that he himself was not allowed to cross the Jordan, but that he hoped that the intercession of the righteous on his behalf might result in G’d revoking His decree concerning this. To his dismay, the people did not understand the hint Moses gave them in that verse. He had hoped that although he had told them that he was about to die (on the east bank of the Jordan) they would pray for a remission of G’d’s decree. Moses, according to that Midrash was clearly not afraid that if as a result of Israel’s prayers he would be allowed to cross the Jordan, that they would consider him a false prophet, seeing he had told them himself that he would not.
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Kedushat Levi
Another way of understanding the line: אנכי ארד עמך מצרימה ואנכי אעלך גם עלה will be appreciated when we first examine the meaning of Numbers 11,21 שש מאות אלף רגלי אשר אנכי בקרבו, “I am an integral part (בקרבו) of 600,000 foot soldiers, etc.” According to the Talmud Makkot. 24, this peculiar expression for Moses needs to be understood as follows: The first two of the Ten Commandments were addressed by G’d directly to the whole people, whereas the remaining 8 Commandments spoken by G’d at the revelation at Mount Sinai, were spoken to the people by Moses after he had been chosen by them to act as their interpreter. [The word תורה has a numerical value of 611, i.e. the number of Commandments Moses taught the people, the remaining two G’d having taught them directly. Ed.] Seeing that the people heard the first two commandments directly from G’d’s mouth, these are more deeply engraved upon their hearts than the others. Moses is overwhelmed that a people, i.e. comprising 600,000 foot soldiers who had been privileged to hear the Lord speak to them could face such a fate. While G’d had told Moses that He would meet their demand and give them meat, He had also predicted that many of the people in their greed for meat would die as a result of eating too much of it for too long. (Compare Rashi on Numbers 11,22) Moses was aghast to hear from G’d’s lips that a people who had attained such a level of spiritual excellence would be killed instead of being given an appropriate reward.)
If we understand the word אנכי as an oblique allusion to the Redemption and subsequent giving to the people of the Torah, and we apply this to our verse here, G’d would be explaining to Yaakov that although the present stage of his life, and his descendants appears to herald negative experiences ahead in Egypt, this would prove to be only a temporary situation leading up to the redemption and G’d revealing Himself personally to the entire people with the words אנכי ...אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים” I am the Lord your G’d Who has brought you out of Egypt, etc.”
If we understand the word אנכי as an oblique allusion to the Redemption and subsequent giving to the people of the Torah, and we apply this to our verse here, G’d would be explaining to Yaakov that although the present stage of his life, and his descendants appears to herald negative experiences ahead in Egypt, this would prove to be only a temporary situation leading up to the redemption and G’d revealing Himself personally to the entire people with the words אנכי ...אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים” I am the Lord your G’d Who has brought you out of Egypt, etc.”
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Kedushat Levi
Another way of understanding the line: אנכי ארד עמך מצרימה ואנכי אעלך גם עלה will be appreciated when we first examine the meaning of Numbers 11,21 שש מאות אלף רגלי אשר אנכי בקרבו, “I am an integral part (בקרבו) of 600,000 foot soldiers, etc.” According to the Talmud Makkot. 24, this peculiar expression for Moses needs to be understood as follows: The first two of the Ten Commandments were addressed by G’d directly to the whole people, whereas the remaining 8 Commandments spoken by G’d at the revelation at Mount Sinai, were spoken to the people by Moses after he had been chosen by them to act as their interpreter. [The word תורה has a numerical value of 611, i.e. the number of Commandments Moses taught the people, the remaining two G’d having taught them directly. Ed.] Seeing that the people heard the first two commandments directly from G’d’s mouth, these are more deeply engraved upon their hearts than the others. Moses is overwhelmed that a people, i.e. comprising 600,000 foot soldiers who had been privileged to hear the Lord speak to them could face such a fate. While G’d had told Moses that He would meet their demand and give them meat, He had also predicted that many of the people in their greed for meat would die as a result of eating too much of it for too long. (Compare Rashi on Numbers 11,22) Moses was aghast to hear from G’d’s lips that a people who had attained such a level of spiritual excellence would be killed instead of being given an appropriate reward.)
If we understand the word אנכי as an oblique allusion to the Redemption and subsequent giving to the people of the Torah, and we apply this to our verse here, G’d would be explaining to Yaakov that although the present stage of his life, and his descendants appears to herald negative experiences ahead in Egypt, this would prove to be only a temporary situation leading up to the redemption and G’d revealing Himself personally to the entire people with the words אנכי ...אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים” I am the Lord your G’d Who has brought you out of Egypt, etc.”
If we understand the word אנכי as an oblique allusion to the Redemption and subsequent giving to the people of the Torah, and we apply this to our verse here, G’d would be explaining to Yaakov that although the present stage of his life, and his descendants appears to herald negative experiences ahead in Egypt, this would prove to be only a temporary situation leading up to the redemption and G’d revealing Himself personally to the entire people with the words אנכי ...אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים” I am the Lord your G’d Who has brought you out of Egypt, etc.”
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Hakhsharat HaAvrekhim
I truly believe that only God exists, that all of the worlds and all of existence are an illumination of Godliness, that He brought forth319See Bamidbar, 11:17. “He’etsil,” means bringing forth anything from the source, where the source is not in any way lacking when it gives from itself, just as a candle can light any number of other candles without loosing any of its own fire, or a wise man could teach any number of students without depleting his own knowledge. The Kabbalists call this, “atsilut,” or the emenation of light from the light of the Infinite (Ayn Sof). and created them all, managing them down to the last detail320Hashgacha pratis. under His careful scrutiny and according to His good desire.
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Kedushat Levi
Yet another approach to the above verse. In this verse the Torah speaks of the performance of righteousness preceding the performance of justice, i.e. לעשות צדקה ומשפט, whereas elsewhere we find the reverse order of עושה משפט וצדקה. [Actually, in connection with G’d we do not find that order anywhere, we only find the sequence of עושה חסד, משפט וצדקה,“performing deeds of loving kindness, justice and righteousness,” in that order. David, on the other hand is described as :ויהי דוד עושה משפט וצדקה, “David used to mete out justice and righteousness.” Ed.] It is a rule that G’d always dispenses His largesse to the Jewish people, this being His only pleasure. The fact that the Jewish people are the recipients of His goodness gives Him satisfaction. Our sages in Pessachim 112 phrased it thus: “the mother cow is more desirous of suckling her calf than the calf is anxious to drink her milk.” [I am omitting the balance of this paragraph, as I have not understood it. Ed.]
We know that Yitzchok personified the characteristic/virtue of גבורה, steadfast bravery in face of overwhelming odds. We also know that G’d in His love for the Jewish people, arranged for the “cure” before the onset of the disease. (Megillah 13) (Compare Rashi who describes the period of the Jews’ exile and bondage as having commenced with the birth of Yitzchok. Exodus 12,40) The Torah’s describing the birth of Moav and Ammon, even before the birth of Yitzchok, is another example of the redemption being prepared by G’d even before the onset of exile, seeing that the messiah will be a descendant of Moav, Ruth in David’s maternal ancestry.
We know that Yitzchok personified the characteristic/virtue of גבורה, steadfast bravery in face of overwhelming odds. We also know that G’d in His love for the Jewish people, arranged for the “cure” before the onset of the disease. (Megillah 13) (Compare Rashi who describes the period of the Jews’ exile and bondage as having commenced with the birth of Yitzchok. Exodus 12,40) The Torah’s describing the birth of Moav and Ammon, even before the birth of Yitzchok, is another example of the redemption being prepared by G’d even before the onset of exile, seeing that the messiah will be a descendant of Moav, Ruth in David’s maternal ancestry.
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