וַיַּ֨רְא יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַיָּ֣ד הַגְּדֹלָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֤ה יְהוָה֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וַיִּֽירְא֥וּ הָעָ֖ם אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה וַיַּֽאֲמִ֙ינוּ֙ בַּֽיהוָ֔ה וּבְמֹשֶׁ֖ה עַבְדּֽוֹ׃ (פ)
Israel melihat kuasa tangan yang besar yang dilakukan Yang Mahakekal terhadap orang Mesir. Bangsa itu pun takut akan Yang Mahakekal, dan mereka percaya kepada Yang Mahakekal dan kepada Musa, hamba-Nya.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 5,21. “may the Lord make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the Lord causes your thigh to sag, etc.;”
We need to pay close attention to the word יתן which normally means “he will give,” or “may he give,” being used here when introducing a curse. Moreover, the line יתן ה' אותך לאלה, “may Hashem make you a curse, etc.,” seems to contradict a fundamental principle in Judaism that nothing negative ever originates from Hashem, and here the priest appears to invoke precisely this!
We may have to look at the following in order to understand what is written here. When G’d exacts judgment from sinners this may take two forms. 1) By doing so, He at the same time sanctifies His holy name. 2) He is not concerned with sanctifying His holy name through the manner in which he executes this judgment. When G’d’s name becomes sanctified while He exacts retribution from the sinner, this is an act of Kindness on His part, as the victim of the judgment exacted simultaneously became the instrument through which G’d’s name was sanctified. The victim’s soul experiences a spiritual elevation as a result of having been instrumental in sanctifying G’d’s name.
We find an allusion to this in Exodus 14,31 where the Torah writes: וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה אשר עשה ה' במצרים, “Israel saw the great hand of the Lord that He brought to bear on Egypt, etc.;” the expression יד הגדולה, always is an allusion to G’d’s attribute of loving kindness. If you were to ask how we can possibly see G’d’s “kindness” when He is busy drowning the mighty armies of the Egyptians, the answer appears immediately afterwards where the Torah describes that as a result of witnessing G’d’s great hand the Israelites were in awe of G’d as never before, i.e. וייראו העם את ה' ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו, so that “they feared the Lord and believed in Him as well as in His servant Moses.” Some of the “credit” for the Jewish people’s faith could be attributed to the Egyptians in their role as G’d’s victims, which resulted in His name being sanctified. G’d’s intervention in the affairs of the Sotah, and her jealous husband similarly is bound to result in the people observing the results having greater respect for G’d and His name.
We need to pay close attention to the word יתן which normally means “he will give,” or “may he give,” being used here when introducing a curse. Moreover, the line יתן ה' אותך לאלה, “may Hashem make you a curse, etc.,” seems to contradict a fundamental principle in Judaism that nothing negative ever originates from Hashem, and here the priest appears to invoke precisely this!
We may have to look at the following in order to understand what is written here. When G’d exacts judgment from sinners this may take two forms. 1) By doing so, He at the same time sanctifies His holy name. 2) He is not concerned with sanctifying His holy name through the manner in which he executes this judgment. When G’d’s name becomes sanctified while He exacts retribution from the sinner, this is an act of Kindness on His part, as the victim of the judgment exacted simultaneously became the instrument through which G’d’s name was sanctified. The victim’s soul experiences a spiritual elevation as a result of having been instrumental in sanctifying G’d’s name.
We find an allusion to this in Exodus 14,31 where the Torah writes: וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה אשר עשה ה' במצרים, “Israel saw the great hand of the Lord that He brought to bear on Egypt, etc.;” the expression יד הגדולה, always is an allusion to G’d’s attribute of loving kindness. If you were to ask how we can possibly see G’d’s “kindness” when He is busy drowning the mighty armies of the Egyptians, the answer appears immediately afterwards where the Torah describes that as a result of witnessing G’d’s great hand the Israelites were in awe of G’d as never before, i.e. וייראו העם את ה' ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו, so that “they feared the Lord and believed in Him as well as in His servant Moses.” Some of the “credit” for the Jewish people’s faith could be attributed to the Egyptians in their role as G’d’s victims, which resulted in His name being sanctified. G’d’s intervention in the affairs of the Sotah, and her jealous husband similarly is bound to result in the people observing the results having greater respect for G’d and His name.
Mevo HaShearim
In the end of the Noam Elimelekh, in the ‘holy Epistle,’ it says that his son, the holy and righteous R. Elazar, inquired of him regarding the liturgical change which the hasidim made, from the Ashkenazic rite to that of the Sefaradim.456On this shift in liturgical rite, see Biale et al, 91 and 172. His father replied that the sefaradic rite is a lofty one, with a light so great the world is unfit to use it. Therefore, the Beit Yosef457R. Yosef Karo, in his commentary on the Arba Turim code. established the Ashkenazic rite in its stead, for it is equally usable by all of our stature. But certainly it was not his intention that the righteous who had washed themselves of their filth and were as punctilious with themselves as a thread of hair,458A talmudic idiom; see Talmud Bava Kamma 50a.cease from praying with this rite.459The Sephardic rite is therefore presented as the more authentic one, with the Ashkenazic rite an innovative, second-tier substitute for the average folk. Rather than themselves instituting a change in rite, as charged, the story casts the hasidism as the tradionalists, holding fast to the sacred and original Sephardic rite. Now, you might challenge me [by pointing out] that there are some people who are not on this level and yet pray with this rite. [I would retort that t]his is because they are connected to the lofty hasidim and thus they too are called hasidim. The Noam Elimelekh continues on to explain, citing the verse “and they believed in God and in Moses His servant,”460Exodus 14:31. that Moses had sanctified himself until the level of prophecy, and ascended Above and brought the Torah down to Israel. Yet all of Israel were unable to come to his level and receive the Torah from the level of prophecy; it was on account of their belief in Moses that they tied and bound themselves to him, and he caused the Holy Spirit to flow onto them so that it was as if they too were on this level. Thus, they were all able to receive the Torah, through their being united and bound to Moses.461Comparably, even the simple hasidism are capable of attaching themselves to the divine and to divine inspiration, via their connection with the rebbe. This is a summary of his words there.
Be'er Mayim Chaim
And the Lord did according to Moses' word; the frogs died away, from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields: Meaning, that since the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to fulfill the word of His servant and the faithful prophet to His [people], Moses, they therefore died in this order, first from the houses, afterward from the courtyards, and afterward from the fields. For Pharaoh's request was like this, since he said, that He may remove the frogs from me, and from my people (Exodus 8:4), meaning first from me and afterward from my people, that the removal be in order of the closest first. And likewise did Moses promise him and say, the frogs shall depart from you and your servants [and your people], etc. (Exodus 8:7). And hence in order to fulfill Moses' word, He did so: the frogs died away, from the houses, from the courtyards, etc.. This would not have been so had the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them back to the Nile. It would not have been in this order. For the closer ones would return to the Nile first, and those are the ones from the fields, and afterwards the ones from the houses. And even though Moses said to Pharaoh, only in the Nile shall they remain, its understanding is not that they would return to the Nile, but rather that they would all die. And the only ones that would remain are the ones that had stayed in the Nile, like the statement of the sages, may their memory be blessed (Shemot Rabbah 10:5). And the Holy One, blessed be He, did it to sanctify His great and holy name — that nothing should be missing from that which Moses said, and they would trust the Lord and Moses His servant (alluding to Exodus 14:31).