Chasidut su Esodo 14:10
וּפַרְעֹ֖ה הִקְרִ֑יב וַיִּשְׂאוּ֩ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל אֶת־עֵינֵיהֶ֜ם וְהִנֵּ֥ה מִצְרַ֣יִם ׀ נֹסֵ֣עַ אַחֲרֵיהֶ֗ם וַיִּֽירְאוּ֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַיִּצְעֲק֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶל־יְהוָֽה׃
E tosto che Faraone fu vicino, i figli d’Israel, alzati gli occhi e veduti gli Egizi marcianti dietro di loro, temettero oltremodo, e sclamarono al Signore.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 21,17. “then Israel sang this song: ‘come up, well sing to it- the well which chieftains dug which the nobles of the people started, etc;’” We need to understand why the song that the people under the leadership of Moses sang after the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea, were words that we could easily understand, whereas this song is shrouded in mystical allusions none of which are easy to decipher.
The answer to this question may lie in the fact that at the sea of Reeds, Moses had seen revelations by G’d in what is known as אספקלריא המאירה, “a clear vision” (compare Yevamot 49) so that he could announce his prophecies without having to resort to allusions.
The song we read here was not composed by Moses, but the Torah wrote: “then Israel sung, etc.” In other words, the people had been divinely inspired, but being only people, not Moses, they had seen prophetic insights only through the prism of אספקלריא שאיננה מאירה, a vision which was distorted through reflections. Rashi on 21,20 already asks the question why the name of Moses is not mentioned in this paragraph. He answers that the reason is that on account of this well, or rather its having failed after Miriam’s death having caused him to be punished, it would not have been fitting to associate his name when singing the praises of this well.
Let us now proceed to explain the allusions contained in this poetic song extolling the well.
Sometimes G’d will perform a miracle for the Israelites in response to their cry to Him for help, and this is the manner in which He responds to their outcry. The splitting of the sea of Reeds at the time was an example of G’d’s responding by means of an impressive miracle. We have read in Exodus 14,10: ויצעקו בני ישראל וגו', “the Israelites cried out, etc,” The splitting of the sea was G’d’s response to that outcry.
On other occasions G’d performs a miracle for the people without their being in need, i.e. according to their perception. The people had not even been aware at that time that deadly danger was near them. When wondering why G’d had performed a miracle for them, they investigated what danger could have lurked near them without their having been aware of it. This was the case in the paragraph above where the people only belatedly became aware of the Canaanites that G’d had killed.
We are entitled to ask what prompted G’d to reveal these details in the Torah which Rashi describes as the Canaanites having been hidden in clefts of rock overhanging the Arnon river that were invisible to people passing underneath along its banks. In the kedushah formula according to the Sefardi nussach which begins with the word: כתר, we encounter the line הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית, “see I will redeem you in the future just as I have redeemed you in the past.” At first glance this does not seem much of a promise; we had surely hoped that the ultimate redemption will be something far superior to the partial redemptions we have experienced from time to time! In light of that why would the author of this line link the final redemption to previous redemptions? Who has ever heard of the major event being linked to the minor event?
Did not our sages (Tannah de bey Eliyahu 14) state that the meaning of the opening word of the Torah, בראשית is בשביל ראשית, “on account of the people of Israel who are called ראשית, the Lord created heaven and earth?” If all parts of the universe were created on account of the Jewish people, this surely means that there is a constant injection of additional essence of life into the earth itself, on account of the pre-eminence of the Jewish people? It would follow that the earth is therefore obligated to conform to the expressed will of the Jewish people, since its very existence hinges on the well being of the Jewish people. Keeping the universe in a condition that ensures its continued existence, i.e. תקון העולם is the earth’s self interest.
It is true that only after the final stage of the universe’s creation had been revealed, i.e. the earth and its inhabitants, had it become clear what had been in the mind of the Creator from the moment He had contemplated creating a universe. At that time all could see that the intervening stages of creation had all been leading up to the creation of the Jewish people as the crowning achievement. This is what the author of the line we quoted from the kedushah had in mind when he wrote: אתכם אחרית כראשית, “you in the end as at the beginning.” Only after the final redemption will G’d’s plan for the Jewish people become revealed as having been His plan from the earliest moment of the creative process.
As long as Jewish history on this earth has not yet come to its successful conclusion (history in the sense of development) G’d’s original intentions could not have become manifest to one and all. During the period leading up to this point in Jewish history miracles have to be performed at the request of the Jewish people. Once that period has passed successfully, miracles will be performed by nature on behalf of the Jewish people without their having to ask for them. The day (not literally) prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai, when the design of G’d that the Jewish people are the objective of His creation of the universe had become manifest, this had not yet been common knowledge. This is why we read in Exodus 14,10 when Pharaoh had caught up with the Israelites, that ויצעקו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel cried out,” i.e. asked to be saved by means of a miracle. Now at the time of or after the giving of the Torah when G’d’s original plan that His people would be the Jewish people had become well known, there was no need for them to cry out even if the enemy had lain in ambush. At this time and subsequently, the earth, for reasons of self preservation, would not allow fatal harm to befall Israel as it would suffer the consequences itself. Calling on the source of water to arise, i.e. to become manifest, was therefore a command directed at the earth rather than to G’d.
The Israelites reminded the earth of its self-interest in providing the Jewish people with a source of water for their needs in the desert. This is what Rashi had in mind when he commented on the words ענו לה, (verse 14-15) that the mountain addressed was part of Eretz Yisrael. The song was in recognition of what the earth had done, (performed miracles) on behalf of the Jewish people without having been asked to do so.
The answer to this question may lie in the fact that at the sea of Reeds, Moses had seen revelations by G’d in what is known as אספקלריא המאירה, “a clear vision” (compare Yevamot 49) so that he could announce his prophecies without having to resort to allusions.
The song we read here was not composed by Moses, but the Torah wrote: “then Israel sung, etc.” In other words, the people had been divinely inspired, but being only people, not Moses, they had seen prophetic insights only through the prism of אספקלריא שאיננה מאירה, a vision which was distorted through reflections. Rashi on 21,20 already asks the question why the name of Moses is not mentioned in this paragraph. He answers that the reason is that on account of this well, or rather its having failed after Miriam’s death having caused him to be punished, it would not have been fitting to associate his name when singing the praises of this well.
Let us now proceed to explain the allusions contained in this poetic song extolling the well.
Sometimes G’d will perform a miracle for the Israelites in response to their cry to Him for help, and this is the manner in which He responds to their outcry. The splitting of the sea of Reeds at the time was an example of G’d’s responding by means of an impressive miracle. We have read in Exodus 14,10: ויצעקו בני ישראל וגו', “the Israelites cried out, etc,” The splitting of the sea was G’d’s response to that outcry.
On other occasions G’d performs a miracle for the people without their being in need, i.e. according to their perception. The people had not even been aware at that time that deadly danger was near them. When wondering why G’d had performed a miracle for them, they investigated what danger could have lurked near them without their having been aware of it. This was the case in the paragraph above where the people only belatedly became aware of the Canaanites that G’d had killed.
We are entitled to ask what prompted G’d to reveal these details in the Torah which Rashi describes as the Canaanites having been hidden in clefts of rock overhanging the Arnon river that were invisible to people passing underneath along its banks. In the kedushah formula according to the Sefardi nussach which begins with the word: כתר, we encounter the line הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית, “see I will redeem you in the future just as I have redeemed you in the past.” At first glance this does not seem much of a promise; we had surely hoped that the ultimate redemption will be something far superior to the partial redemptions we have experienced from time to time! In light of that why would the author of this line link the final redemption to previous redemptions? Who has ever heard of the major event being linked to the minor event?
Did not our sages (Tannah de bey Eliyahu 14) state that the meaning of the opening word of the Torah, בראשית is בשביל ראשית, “on account of the people of Israel who are called ראשית, the Lord created heaven and earth?” If all parts of the universe were created on account of the Jewish people, this surely means that there is a constant injection of additional essence of life into the earth itself, on account of the pre-eminence of the Jewish people? It would follow that the earth is therefore obligated to conform to the expressed will of the Jewish people, since its very existence hinges on the well being of the Jewish people. Keeping the universe in a condition that ensures its continued existence, i.e. תקון העולם is the earth’s self interest.
It is true that only after the final stage of the universe’s creation had been revealed, i.e. the earth and its inhabitants, had it become clear what had been in the mind of the Creator from the moment He had contemplated creating a universe. At that time all could see that the intervening stages of creation had all been leading up to the creation of the Jewish people as the crowning achievement. This is what the author of the line we quoted from the kedushah had in mind when he wrote: אתכם אחרית כראשית, “you in the end as at the beginning.” Only after the final redemption will G’d’s plan for the Jewish people become revealed as having been His plan from the earliest moment of the creative process.
As long as Jewish history on this earth has not yet come to its successful conclusion (history in the sense of development) G’d’s original intentions could not have become manifest to one and all. During the period leading up to this point in Jewish history miracles have to be performed at the request of the Jewish people. Once that period has passed successfully, miracles will be performed by nature on behalf of the Jewish people without their having to ask for them. The day (not literally) prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai, when the design of G’d that the Jewish people are the objective of His creation of the universe had become manifest, this had not yet been common knowledge. This is why we read in Exodus 14,10 when Pharaoh had caught up with the Israelites, that ויצעקו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel cried out,” i.e. asked to be saved by means of a miracle. Now at the time of or after the giving of the Torah when G’d’s original plan that His people would be the Jewish people had become well known, there was no need for them to cry out even if the enemy had lain in ambush. At this time and subsequently, the earth, for reasons of self preservation, would not allow fatal harm to befall Israel as it would suffer the consequences itself. Calling on the source of water to arise, i.e. to become manifest, was therefore a command directed at the earth rather than to G’d.
The Israelites reminded the earth of its self-interest in providing the Jewish people with a source of water for their needs in the desert. This is what Rashi had in mind when he commented on the words ענו לה, (verse 14-15) that the mountain addressed was part of Eretz Yisrael. The song was in recognition of what the earth had done, (performed miracles) on behalf of the Jewish people without having been asked to do so.
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