Chasidut su Esodo 15:2
עָזִּ֤י וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֔הּ וַֽיְהִי־לִ֖י לִֽישׁוּעָ֑ה זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ אֱלֹהֵ֥י אָבִ֖י וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ׃
La mia forza ed il (soggetto quindi del) mio canto, egli è Jah; fu egli la mia salvezza. Egli è questo il mio Dio, ed io il celebrerò; è il Dio di mio padre, ed io l’esalterò.
Mevo HaShearim
He even, at times, reveals to them a ‘hands-breadth’510See Talmud Nedarim 20b. description of his spiritual rungs; of how, when he recites ‘from one world to the next You are God,’511Citation of the Sabbath and holiday liturgy. he literally sees the world, and how He fills the world; and when he recites “this is my God and I will glorify Him,”512Exodus 15:2, recited in the daily morning prayers. he feels or sees before him He who speaks to him, and so forth. He also speaks of more lofty matters, above our grasp, all in proportion to the rebbe and the fellowship. They hear not only his words but also feel his soul which emerges as he speaks, until they see something of what he sees, and become aflame from his passion. When they come close together and are connected as described above, the rebbe’s avodah of selfhood begins to affect them, and theirs on him. This is an avodah which cannot be transcribed in a book. Much light which had been concealed within the rebbe is now revealed to himself and to them, as they are all given an effluence of new light. All arise higher and higher each time, till over time they rise to great holiness. Is it possible to capture the effect on the avreikh-hasid when he came to the rebbe and entered this holy fellowship, and how he prayed and sang songs and praises to God, Who is so revealed to their hearts, minds, and entire being along with these servants of God, priests of the Almighty?513See Genesis 15:18.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 21,25. “Avraham rebuked Avimelech on account of the well, etc.” Avimelech rejected the accusation, claiming he had not known about what his servants had done.
Normally, we have a rule that when a tzaddik engages in rebuking someone, he points out that the trespass committed by the wicked concerned was a sin against G’d and His Torah.
In this instance, Avraham accused Avimelech of having committed a wrong when it had been his servants who had stolen the water from Avraham. He reminded Avimelech that G’d created the world, and that He gave us laws by which to conduct ourselves, and that robbery was definitely forbidden. The person violating G’d’s law receives a warning in the form of the tzaddik rebuking him. The letters in the words uttered by the tzaddik when he rebukes the sinner light up in the face of the guilty party, thus affording him an opportunity to immediately do penance.
One of the names of G’d is: מי, as we know when Pharaoh challenged Moses by saying: מי ה'? This is what Avimelech meant when he said to Avraham לא ידעתי מי עשה את הדבר הזה, “I do not know of this מי who has done this;” i.e. “I have never heard of a Creator who has created the universe, hence I do not know of a prohibition to steal or rob.” Another one of G’d’s names is the word זה, as we know from Exodus 15,2 זה א-לי ואנוהו, “זה is my G’d and I will glorify Him.” We also find the word as a reference to one of G’d’s names when Isaiah 25,9 said זה ה' קוינו לו, “we have been hoping for the Lord זה.” Avimelech tells Avraham that he had heard of all this theology only from the mouth of Avraham, he had never previously been informed of this. He adds that even now he has not heard or “seen” the letters that make up the alphabet of the Torah from Avraham’s mouth, i.e. גם אתה לא הגדת לי. The word הגדת, derived from גד, is similar to גד גדוד יגודנה in Genesis 49,19, where it refers to “good fortune,” similar to what Gad’s mother proclaimed בגד, viewing herself as having good fortune seeing that she had born 6 of the twelve tribes. (Genesis 30,11) The word is a simile for good fortune in the sense of מזל טוב. Avimelech had not yet seen the letters that would trigger his doing teshuvah for the wrong he had been guilty of. The word אתה is an allusion to the letters from א to ת in the Hebrew alphabet, the letters of the Holy Tongue.
When Avimelech adds: וגם אנכי לא שמעתי בלתי היום, “and I also have not heard about all this until this day,” he uses the word אנכי, the first word of the Ten Commandments with which G’d revealed Himself at Mount Sinai, as meaning that on this day G’d’s sovereignty was revealed to him, and he could now perceive these letters of the Holy Tongue. On that day Avimelech had learned from Avraham about three aspects of G’d, i.e. מי, זה, אנכי.
Normally, we have a rule that when a tzaddik engages in rebuking someone, he points out that the trespass committed by the wicked concerned was a sin against G’d and His Torah.
In this instance, Avraham accused Avimelech of having committed a wrong when it had been his servants who had stolen the water from Avraham. He reminded Avimelech that G’d created the world, and that He gave us laws by which to conduct ourselves, and that robbery was definitely forbidden. The person violating G’d’s law receives a warning in the form of the tzaddik rebuking him. The letters in the words uttered by the tzaddik when he rebukes the sinner light up in the face of the guilty party, thus affording him an opportunity to immediately do penance.
One of the names of G’d is: מי, as we know when Pharaoh challenged Moses by saying: מי ה'? This is what Avimelech meant when he said to Avraham לא ידעתי מי עשה את הדבר הזה, “I do not know of this מי who has done this;” i.e. “I have never heard of a Creator who has created the universe, hence I do not know of a prohibition to steal or rob.” Another one of G’d’s names is the word זה, as we know from Exodus 15,2 זה א-לי ואנוהו, “זה is my G’d and I will glorify Him.” We also find the word as a reference to one of G’d’s names when Isaiah 25,9 said זה ה' קוינו לו, “we have been hoping for the Lord זה.” Avimelech tells Avraham that he had heard of all this theology only from the mouth of Avraham, he had never previously been informed of this. He adds that even now he has not heard or “seen” the letters that make up the alphabet of the Torah from Avraham’s mouth, i.e. גם אתה לא הגדת לי. The word הגדת, derived from גד, is similar to גד גדוד יגודנה in Genesis 49,19, where it refers to “good fortune,” similar to what Gad’s mother proclaimed בגד, viewing herself as having good fortune seeing that she had born 6 of the twelve tribes. (Genesis 30,11) The word is a simile for good fortune in the sense of מזל טוב. Avimelech had not yet seen the letters that would trigger his doing teshuvah for the wrong he had been guilty of. The word אתה is an allusion to the letters from א to ת in the Hebrew alphabet, the letters of the Holy Tongue.
When Avimelech adds: וגם אנכי לא שמעתי בלתי היום, “and I also have not heard about all this until this day,” he uses the word אנכי, the first word of the Ten Commandments with which G’d revealed Himself at Mount Sinai, as meaning that on this day G’d’s sovereignty was revealed to him, and he could now perceive these letters of the Holy Tongue. On that day Avimelech had learned from Avraham about three aspects of G’d, i.e. מי, זה, אנכי.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 15,2. “The Lord is my strength and might; He has become my deliverance.” Moses describes the process as being that the Children of Israel by dint of their prayers “awakened” the attribute of Mercy including all the largesse that G’d is willing and capable of putting at His creatures’ disposal. We must never lose sight of the fact that even when we carry out G’d’s will and desires, we would never be able to do even this unless we enjoyed a measure of Divine assistance. This is what the Talmud in Kiddushin 30 taught us when it states that without the ongoing assistance by G’d we could never stand up successfully against the evil urge. If this is so, it follows that even our good deeds are the product of Divine assistance, so how can our good deeds and prayers “awaken” the attribute of Mercy?
My revered and saintly teacher Rabbi Dov Baer, has provided us with one of his “pearls” of Torah insights by means of a parable. Let us say that a father is trying to teach his son a difficult lesson. He keeps trying but the son remains unresponsive, does not understand what is expected of him. What does the father do? He provides his son with some clue to the solution of the problem he had posed. Seeing that his father is actively helping him, the son is encouraged and redoubles his efforts to find the missing parts of the puzzle with which this father had confronted him. G’d, our Father in heaven, deals similarly with us. Realising that unless He helps us we might, G’d forbid, become the victims of the evil urge, He furnishes us with clues.
My revered and saintly teacher Rabbi Dov Baer, has provided us with one of his “pearls” of Torah insights by means of a parable. Let us say that a father is trying to teach his son a difficult lesson. He keeps trying but the son remains unresponsive, does not understand what is expected of him. What does the father do? He provides his son with some clue to the solution of the problem he had posed. Seeing that his father is actively helping him, the son is encouraged and redoubles his efforts to find the missing parts of the puzzle with which this father had confronted him. G’d, our Father in heaven, deals similarly with us. Realising that unless He helps us we might, G’d forbid, become the victims of the evil urge, He furnishes us with clues.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 15,3.“The Lord is a man of war, nonetheless His name is Hashem, i.e. the Merciful One.” The author refers to a commentary of his on psalms 90,1 תפלה למשה איש האלוקים, “a prayer by Moses, the man of G’d.” He repeats a theme he has dwelled on repeatedly, that it is the primary effort of the righteous during all of their lives to make their contribution to G’d dispensing the maximum amount of His largesse for His creature. The prayers of the righteous are not concerned with asking for their personal well being, but with asking for the well being of the community within which they live. We perceive of G’d as “garbing” Himself in the mantle woven by the prayers of the righteous. This explains why Moses referred to G’d as איש, “man.” A righteous person in our time is comparable to Moses in his time. The Talmud in Shabbat 101 confirms this by saying that every righteous person in our time may be called “Moses,” hence the commencement of psalm 90 with the words תפלה למשה, do not refer only to the original Moses. The message of the psalm is that the prayers of the righteous in our generation are as effective in their effect on G’d as the prayers of Moses in his time. G’d garbing Himself with the prayers of the righteous is something that is the case only when the result (G’d’s largesse) is to become manifest immediately as beneficial. When G’d responds negatively to our prayers He is never referred to as איש. Hence the meaning of Bileam’s blessing in Numbers 23,19 לא איש א-ל ויכזב, “G’s is not like man who deceives,” teaches that the negative virtue of deceiving is called כזב. We never find the term איש applied to G’d when He is active in His attribute of Justice, decreeing punishment on His people. This remains true even if in answer to the prayers of the righteous He decrees judgment on our adversaries. In such instances He may be referred to as גבור, Warrior, or some other name depicting His attribute of Justice. [This is the difference between G’d as איש מלחמה and elsewhere as גבור מלחמה, (Isaiah 3,2; psalms 24,8) To make the distinction clear, Moses, repeats ה' שמו, His name, predominantly is Hashem, the Merciful One].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy