Chasidut su Esodo 3:24

We need to explain why out of all the mitzvos of the 613 mitzvos , why there is no Shehechianu blessing on the mitzveh of counting the omer. There is in the writing of the Ariz"l regarding the verse (Shemos 3:12) "You will serve G-d upon this mountain", it is known that when Israel was in Egypt, they were sunken in 49 levels of impurity and The Blessed Holy One, in His Great mercy and kindness, redeemed them from Egypt in order to bring them close, under the wings of The Holy Presence. Because of this, they were required to count 7 cleanings. Without counting the 7 cleanings, it would not be feasible to bring them close under the wings of The Holy Presence, as is known. And the explanation of the verse "You shall serve G-d", is that you will perform the 50 [countings] verbally. We find that there is a constant desire for the counting to be complete and for the closeness to be achieved. There is a constant desire to complete the days of counting. If it was feasible to complete the days of counting in one moment and immediately begin the closeness [with The Holy Presence], how good and pleasant it would be. We therefore find that it is not appropriate to say the blessing of Shehechianu on this [counting due to the desire for the counting to be over with so that we can be close with The Holy Presence].

Because of this, we will only accept people who concern themselves with these matters into our association. Those who know that they do not belong to this category are asked to not join, so that they do not lead themselves and us astray, corrupting the other members of pure heart and clean thoughts. Furthermore, we are not comfortable that such a person should even read this pamphlet, as is possibly alluded to in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Balak 25) that Israel merited redemption from Egypt by virtue of their not "revealing their secrets" (the Hebrew word for "secret," "mistorin," connotes something that was previously hidden). They didn't just keep the secret of "Each woman will ask from her neighbor" (for valuables - the Jewish people were told a year before the exodus that they would be doing this, but didn't speak about it to their Egyptian neighbors); rather, they kept hidden all spiritual matters that are to be kept secret, for it is not appropriate that others should see exposed souls when they are purifying themselves. Contemplate this.

An alternate way of understanding the introductory words: ‎ואתה תצוה את בני ישראל‎, “and you are to command the ‎Children of Israel, etc.” When G’d told Moses in Exodus 3,10: ‎לכה ‏ואשלחך אל פרעה‎, “go and I will send you to Pharaoh,” the Ari ‎z’al finds it strange that G’d had to spell out to Moses that He ‎appointed him as His messenger. Every child reading this ‎paragraph would have understood this without being told that ‎Moses was the messenger. However, we have a rule that anything ‎negative never originates directly from G’d. G’d does not even ‎directly associate His holy name with something destructive, ‎negative. It is even difficult for G’d to directly bring harm on ‎those of His creatures who worship idols. Therefore, when the ‎Torah introduces a chapter that introduces the harm that will ‎befall Pharaoh and his people, G’d wishes to employ a ‎‎“messenger” to be the harbinger of such news. The word ‎לכה‎ ‎therefore is not to be understood as derived from ‎לך‎, meaning: ‎‎“please go,” but as derived from the word ‎לך‎, “for you.” In other ‎words, the primary purpose of Pharaoh’s punishment if and when ‎it will occur, is “for your benefit,” it is not the destruction that ‎is part of the Exodus which is G’d’s primary purpose in what will ‎follow. The secondary meaning is that the destruction when it ‎does occur, will be attributed to Moses who had warned Pharaoh ‎about it, i.e. ‎לכה‎, it will be perceived by him as originating with ‎Moses. Moreover being punished by one of G’d’s creatures, Moses, ‎instead of by the Creator Himself, is demeaning for a great King ‎such as Pharaoh.‎
The considerations that we discussed right now, help us ‎explain a statement in the Talmud that in the distant future, the ‎time of the Messiah, the entire Jewish nation will be worthy to ‎perform the service in the Temple which at this time only the ‎priests are worthy to perform. If G’d has difficulty in bringing ‎harm on any of His creatures however much they may have ‎deserved this, how much more so does He have reservations ‎about initiating what may be perceived as harm for a great part of ‎His people. When Moses is commanded to single out the priests ‎for service in the Temple, the priestly garments, etc., this too He ‎prefers to do through a messenger rather than to exclude the ‎other 99% of the people from such a distinction Himself.‎

This is also how we must understand Exodus 3,7 ‎where G’d tells Moses: “I have marked well the ‎plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their ‎outcry because of their taskmasters, yes, I am mindful ‎of their sufferings.”‎
At first glance this verse is difficult to comprehend, ‎why did G’d insert the line about “I have heard their ‎complaints about their taskmasters;” this line appears ‎to add little to the Israelites’ basic problem. G’d’s ‎Mercy was activated on account of the basic plight of ‎His people in Egypt, not because of their taskmasters. ‎Moreover, the word ‎ידעתי‎, “I am aware (now)” is a word ‎that is usually used when something that had up until ‎then been concealed, hidden, had suddenly become ‎revealed, known. When something had been known to ‎all but had been ignored, the word ‎ראיה‎ “seeing,” is the ‎appropriate way of introduce a new attitude to ‎conditions which had been ignored for so long.‎
Nonetheless, according to what we have said, the ‎fact that G’d “listened” to the outcry of the Israelites is ‎hard to understand seeing that their condition ‎corresponded to something that G’d had already ‎decreed in Genesis 15 when He told Avraham about his ‎future. In order to answer this question, G’d added the ‎words: ‎מפני נוגשיו‎, “on account of its taskmasters.” ‎Slavery for the Israelites had indeed been decreed, but ‎the inhuman treatment that they experienced at the ‎hands of their taskmasters had not been part of that ‎decree; this enabled G’d to intervene in the Israelites’ ‎fate at that time without going back on His decree. The ‎excesses committed by the Egyptians were not part of ‎their fulfilling a decree that G’d had formulated ‎hundreds of years earlier. G’d was now able to bring ‎upon the Egyptians the ten plagues and to thereby ‎demonstrate to the whole civilised world of that time ‎His power, as attested to by Rahav to the spies sent out ‎‎40 years later by Joshua (Joshua 2,9-11) The Egyptians’ ‎behaviour had provided G’d with an opportunity to ‎display His miracles. He could now take pleasure in ‎redeeming His people from slavery to freedom.‎

‎“And Avraham had aged, advanced in years;" the Talmud ‎‎Baba batra 16 understands the word ‎בכל‎ as meaning that ‎Avraham had a “daughter” by the name of ‎בכל‎. Commenting ‎further on this, the Talmud in Chagigah 15 states that a ‎heavenly voice i.e. ‎בת קול‎ [instead of ‎בת כל‎ Ed.] was heard at ‎Mount Sinai calling the Israelites to penance with the exception ‎of Acher, (Elisha ben Avuya) turned apostate.
‎[The text in my edition of the Talmud does not mention the ‎location where this heavenly voice was heard, and it would not ‎make sense that it was Mount Sinai, as the occasion appears to ‎have been at least 50 years after destruction of the second ‎Temple. Ed.]
We need to examine the nature of this “voice” somewhat ‎more closely. Since, according to the Talmud, this ‎בת קול‎ appears ‎to have been a visual manifestation rather than something heard ‎with one’s ears, the statement is enigmatic. Apparently, the ‎Talmud refers to a message that a person hears or is supposed to ‎hear daily as if it were as real as a vision. The true call to do ‎‎teshuvah had originated at Sinai when the people had heard ‎G’d address them directly during the first and second ‎Commandment, until they were so overwhelmed that they feared ‎to die and begged Moses to be their interpreter of G’d’s words. ‎Mount Sinai had been referred to as Mount Chorev in Exodus 3,1 ‎when Moses had his first vision of G’d at the burning bush. On ‎that occasion he had “heard” the voice of G’d. The term ‎בת קול‎ ‎has become the name for a derivative of that first communication ‎to His people through Moses their leader and prophet ever since. ‎At the revelation at Mount Sinai several months later, it had ‎become so real that the people were described as “seeing” the ‎voice rather than as merely “hearing it. (Exodus 20,15) We have ‎explained that the term ‎בן‎ or ‎בת‎ describes the receiving of G’d’s ‎largesse, when it has originated from G’d directly through the ‎merits of the patriarch Avraham. Just as G’d had to “reduce ‎Himself” in terms of His pure spirituality, man has to reduce his ‎‎“physicality,” i.e. his dependence on physical comforts provided ‎by our world somewhat, in order to qualify for receiving these ‎communications from G’d. Each human being desirous of coming ‎closer to G’d by this means has to do so in accordance with the ‎spiritual level he is capable of. The word ‎בת‎ in the language of the ‎‎Mishnah, is the preface used when describing the measure ‎of certain liquids or dry matter that a container can hold. Its use ‎in that sense originates in Ezekiel 45,10. [It may be correct to ‎understand the term ‎בת קול‎ which is usually associated with post ‎Biblical times, when there was no more direct communication ‎with G’d through prophets or even through the urim ‎vetumim on the High Priest’s breast plate, as a prophetic ‎communication from G’d, but at arm’s length. Ed.]‎‎‎

It was in the midst of such anguish when Moshe Rabeynu and Aharon HaCohen came to them, the voice of God calling from them and saying, “I have taken account of you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. I said [therefore that] I will take you up from the Egypt servitude … to a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Shemos, 3:16) Even the cold spirited and weak of faith among them could not have doubted these words, as everyone could see that it was not Moshe who was speaking, but God speaking through him. But just as there are those who are blinded by the sun, groping around at high noon as a man would grope about in the gloom of night, so deep was their depression and so crushed their spirit from the torment of slavery. So in order to reach these poor souls, Moshe and Aharon gave Israel the first sign and the last sign. Thus they all beheld the wonders of God, the God of Avraham, Yitschak, and Yaakov. They all bowed down in admission and acceptance before the God who saw their poverty, descending from the highest heights to save them from the lowest of depths. They spoke to each other, “could it be?” – besides themselves with wonderment and joy.

Jews had, in Mitzrayim, signs who would be the Redeemer etc. [Heb. only: paqódh paqádh'ti (Ex. 3:16: "I have remember-remembered you;" alternately, "a chief I have appointed"?) — he who says to them these terms is the Redeemer. And it is an astounding thing, since all Yisrael knew of this — so then what is this sign? Possibly it was not transmitted except to the elders.] And upon the [Heb. final] Redeemer [Yid. to come] there are certainly signs [Yid. do, here] as well.

Exodus 3,1. “he came to the mountain of G’d, to ‎Chorev.” ‎חכמה‎, “wisdom,” is also known as ‎חרבה‎, a point ‎made by the Raa’vad in his introduction to the Sefer ‎Yetzirah describing G’d’s essence. David, in psalms 111,10 ‎defines the basic ingredient of wisdom as reverence for G’d. This is ‎the deeper meaning of Moses having being afraid to “look” at G’d, ‎as reported in verse 6 of our chapter.‎

In the writings of the Ari, z"l, regarding the secret of the 36 candles of Hanukkah and the connection with the 8 shamashim, behold that makes 44, which corresponds to the name Ehyeh אהי"ה in degrees, that is, א' + א"ה + אה"י + אהי"ה + - which is in gematria 44, and adding the name itself, 45, and behold it is 88 with the kollel (?), which is the first letters of "to light the Hanukkah light"; up to here are his words. And on a general overview it is not understood, what is the idea behind adding those two names to the issue of Hanukah light? I think it can be explained as follows:

Exodus 3,2. “An angel of Hashem appeared to him ‎within the flame of fire, etc.;” whereupon Moses said to ‎himself: “I will turn away to investigate why this bush is not ‎consumed by the fire;” when G’d noticed that Moses had, ‎after all, turned to investigate the phenomenon, He called out ‎to him, warning him not to approach closer while wearing his ‎sandals as the location was holy soil.‎
There is a strange story in Pessachim 57 according to ‎which one of the Kings of the Hasmoneans and his queen had an ‎argument during their meal as to whether meat from a lamb is ‎tastier than meat from a fully grown sheep. When they could not ‎agree, they asked the High Priest to settle the argument, as he ‎had experience from eating the sacrificial meat of both many ‎times. The High Priest upon being consulted, waved with his ‎hand pointing heavenwards: saying: “if the meat of a lamb would ‎be tastier surely the Torah would have commanded that the daily ‎communal offering should consist of a lamb?”‎
The Talmud relating this incident must not be taken at face ‎value, of course, but the argument described concerned the ‎question if the fate of the Jews is influenced by astrological ‎considerations, or if the Jewish people are quite independent of ‎the configurations of the stars. When the High Priest pointed ‎heavenward, he implied that the “Mazzal” of the Jewish ‎people is ‎אין‎, the word describing the essence of G’d. This also ‎explained the statement in the Talmud Shabbat 156 that ‎אין ‏מזל לישראל‎, commonly translated as “the Jewish people’s fate is ‎not determined or influenced by constellation of the zodiac.” The ‎true meaning of the statement is that the celestial force ‎determining the fate of the Jewish people is none other than ‎אין‎, ‎‎“the essence of G’d Himself.” Moreover, the word ‎מזל‎ is closely ‎related to ‎יזל‎ as in ‎יזל מים מדליו‎, ”water flows out of its buckets,” ‎‎(numbers 24,7). This verse alludes to what the queen in above ‎parable had in mind when she said that a lamb tastes better, i.e. ‎she was referring to people who depend on nature, water, etc., for ‎their sustenance, a largesse from G’d which originates in a ‎celestial domain known as ‎האותיות‎ עולם.‎
‎[Heaven, not unlike the physical universe, consists of ‎several layers, one of which is known as ‎עולם האותיות‎, another, ‎‎”lower” layer is better known as ‎עולם האצילות‎, to which the Torah ‎referred when the highest echelon of the Jewish people ‎accompanied Moses immediately prior to his ascending Mount ‎Sinai to receive the Tablets (Exodus 24,9-11) where these people ‎are called for short ‎אצילי בני ישראל‎ .Ed]‎
When G’d warned Moses not to approach the “domain” ‎הלום‎ ‎this refers to the domain of ‎מלכות‎, “Royalty,” a domain which ‎Moses wished to attain. It was not granted to him, i.e. he ‎functioned as Royalty only during the generation of the Israelites ‎who had participated in the Exodus, but did not found a dynasty. ‎The function of a king is to dispatch “spiritual sparks” for them ‎to attach themselves to the Creator, and this is what is meant ‎when the Torah describes the function of a king to wage war. ‎When he succeeds in doing this he is perceived as having been ‎victorious in “war”. Within the parameter of his task, a king ‎sometimes of necessity has to elevate some people’s status, ‎whereas at the same time he will demote others. The king, in ‎order to be successful, has to surround himself with advisers, i.e. ‎he must be part of the people. The function of a prophet is the ‎reverse, he must isolate himself.‎
We have already explained on a previous occasion that when ‎the righteous engages in dispatching “spiritual sparks” ‎ניצוצות‎, ‎heavenward, he may himself “dress up” in these holy thoughts in ‎order that his “holy clothes” carry him with the sparks on their ‎‎“wings.”‎

All prayer and Divine service come before God by way of the name YHVH, which is the secret of the Sefirah of Tiferet, which includes all of the revealed attributes. And all of the praises of God arranged in the first three blessings of the Amidah³⁵⁴The Amidah is the silent standing prayer, and is the centerpiece of the three daily prayers in Orthodox Jewish practice. also allow man to recognize God’s His revealed attributes. Notwithstanding that God is exalted above all attributes, yet still, in prayer, man should not praise God in a way that he does not know Him. This is referred to in the Gemara (Megilah, 25a): A certain man went to lead the prayer service in the presence of Rabbi Hanina and said, “The great, the mighty, the awesome, the majestic, the strong, the powerful God.” Rabbi Hanina said to him: Have you finished the praises of your Master? Even the first three terms of praise³⁵⁵The Amidah prayer begins: “Blessed are You, our G-d and G-d of our forefathers… the great, mighty and awesome G-d,” based upon Moshe’s words in Devarim 10:17. could not be recited, had not Moshe wrote them in the Torah (Devarim, 10:17) and the Men of the Great Assembly came and ordained them (see Nehemia, 9:32), we could not say them. And you say all this! It is as if a man had billions of gold coins and people praised his wealth by saying that he had a thousand. Wouldn’t that insult him? In this episode, the prayer leader actually related to God through these lofty appellations, as is explained by the Rambam.³⁵⁶See Guide for the Perplexed, section One, chapter 59. Rabbi Hanina was saying to him, how can you praise God based upon your perception at this moment? In another moment God may illuminate to you an understanding of awesome heights thoroughly beyond your present perception, as incomparable as gold is to silver. Thus, Rabbi Hanina said to him, “Even the first three terms of praise could not be recited, had not Moshe wrote them in the Torah.” Meaning, that which is written in the Torah contains the entire creation. This is akin to what we quoted from the Zohar as an introduction (see section 4, Zohar Yitro). “And the Men of the Great Assembly came and established them in the prayer,” which means that they clarified the fact that these three attributes³⁵⁷“Great, mighty, and Awesome” or Hesed, Gevurah and Tiferet. These sefirot are the essential qualities of Zeir Anpin, which the author mentions below. are graspable by all Israel. This is as it is said in the Gemara (Yoma, 69b), “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, why were they called men of the Great assembly? It is because they restored the crown to its former glory. Moshe had come and said, The great God, the mighty, and the awesome. Then Yirmiyahu and omitted the attribute, ‘Awesome.’³⁵⁸See Yermiyahu 32:18, “…You are the great and mighty God.” Daniel omitted the word ‘Mighty.’³⁵⁹Daniel 9:4, “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God.” But they returned the crown of Divine attributes to its ancient completeness.”³⁶⁰By opening the Amidah prayer with all three attributes mentioned by Moshe. They made it clear that these were truly His attributes of might, and these were truly His attributes of Awe. That is to say, every Jew can always recognize these attributes.³⁶¹The three attributes of Therefore, all prayers to God are arranged in praise via His recognizable, revealed attributes. They are all included in the attribute of Zeir Anpin, also called Tiferet Yisrael (the splendor of Israel). Even though there are attributes far loftier than these, yet prayer can only be directed to the place where man’s mind can reach. This is why Yermiyahu and Daniel omitted certain attributes. Since they knew that G-d was true, they mentioned only the attributes that God revealed to them in their prophetic experience.³⁶²According to the Talmud, they removed these terms of praise after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem. At that point, they could no longer perceive G-d’s might and awesomeness. However, in the time of the members of the Great Assembly, who had already seen God’s great salvations in the Purim miracle, they identified that these were indeed God’s mighty actions, and these where truly God’s awesome deeds. In this way they restored the crown of God’s attributes to the way it was first perceived by Moshe. Indeed, from this we see that the act of prayer is the mystery of Zeir Anpin, since all of God’s attributes are rooted in God’s great name YHVH, which is the same as the Sefirah of Tiferet³⁶³Tiferet refers to a single sefirah; Zeir Anpin refers to the entire six-sefirah unit from Hesed to Yesod. Since these function as a unit, they are considered here synonymous with Tiferet itself, beings its central focus. and the partsuf of Zeir Anpin.³⁶⁴The ten sefirot each correspond to a different Name of G-d, as derived from the Torah. The sefirah of Tiferet corresponds to the Tetragrammaton, the YHVH, or G-d’s “essential” Name. All of God’s names are included in His great name YHVH. We learn from the Zohar (Vayikra, 10b): All is built from Yud Hei… He is the King to whom all Peace is His, in the mystery of Tiferet. And further in the Zohar (ibid. 11a): Rabbi Elazar said, “All of the ten names of God are written, and we have taught, the name EHYH³⁶⁵G-d’s name as revealed to Moshe at the burning bush (Shemot 3:14), “I will be that which I will be.” is the supernal concealment … Yud Hei, because the Hei comes out of Hokhmah (represented by the Yud).”³⁶⁶The letter yud, of the Tetragrammaton, corresponds to the sefirah of Hokhmah. The first letter hei corresponds to the sefirah of Binah. The letter vav corresponds to the next six sefirot (Zeir Anpin/Tiferet). And the final letter hei corresponds to Malkhut. This passage in the Zohar goes on to say that every name of God finds its root in the name YHVH: The sixth name YHVH is compassion. It is the completion of all, the main point of all, the connection of emunah (faith). It unites all sides (all Sefirot) this is “Tiferet Yisrael” (the splendor of Israel). That is to say, the name YHVH is both the root of Tiferet and its very name.

Blessed is the Holy One, Blessed is the One who gave us Torah. One should ponder on the relevance here of giving the Torah. It appears to me, however, that the letters of the Torah were also in exile in Egypt. And it was on account of the iron furnace that the exiles were able to leave their exile and come to the time of the giving of the Torah. This is what is meant by (Exodus 3:12) "And this shall be the sign (ot)" - meaning the letters (otiot) of the Torah. Now the 27 letters of the Torah are pure, (zach), and each of them consists of all of them. 27 multiplied by 27 is equal to "Pesach, Matzah and Maror." Therefore these are the three things that Rabban Gamliel obligated us to declare on Pesach, in order to show the greatness of using the mouth to express the letters of the Torah which we are commanded to speak.

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.”‎

Exodus 33,23. “You will see My back, but My face is not ‎visible (to any creature).” In addition to the fact that of ‎course, G’d’s “back” is also invisible, as He is not corporeal, the ‎author quotes two verses from Job and Proverbs respectively, ‎which require further clarification. We read in Proverbs 15,20: ‎בן ‏חכם ישמח אב‎, ”a wise son causes joy to the father.” We also read in ‎Job 28,14: ‎והחכמה מאין תמצא‎ “but where does wisdom come ‎from?“ We know that the most important ingredient of wisdom is ‎acquired by man when he looks (with his mental eye) at the ‎concept of ‎אין‎, i.e. the “nothingness” from which the ‎‎(perceptible) phenomena of the universe came into existence, ‎emanated. When man trains himself to cleave ever more to the ‎roots of his life, i.e. to the Creator, this aspect is known as ‎אצל ‏הבורא‎, being next to the Creator, Who Himself is garbed in a ‎‎“garment,” i.e. a protective shield that prevents the powerful ‎rays of light emanating from Him from harming those exposed to ‎this. The prophet Isaiah 23,18 alludes to this when he said: ‎ולמכסה עתיק (יומין)‏‎ “dressed in primeval (of prehistoric origin) ‎garments” (compare Talmud Pessachim 119) This is also the ‎meaning of the allusion in the Talmud Chagigah 7 that ‎Israel provides G’d with His “parnassah,” livelihood, basing ‎itself on the word ‎לבוש‎ being used in that context, so that ‎חכמה‎, ‎‎“wisdom” in many instances refers to the ‎אור חוזר‎, the “reflected ‎light,” emanating from Israel in response to G’d’s largesse, as it ‎requires ‎חכמה‎, “wisdom or ingenuity,” for the original light ‎beamed at His creatures by G’d to be aimed back accurately at its ‎source. This is also referred to by way of allusion in Job 33,32, ‎ואאלפך חכמה‎ “I shall teach you wisdom.” The letters ‎א-ל-פ‎ when ‎reversed spell ‎פלא‎, miracle, something supernatural, as in the ‎word ‎נפלאות‎, and hint at the fact that the ability to reattach ‎oneself to the original source that has given one life is something ‎beyond man’s innate ability, and cannot be achieved without ‎direct Divine intervention. The process by which this is achieved ‎is known as ‎תנועה‎, normally translated as “motion,” meaning in ‎this context that G’d sets in motion some part of the word ‎תנועה‎.‎
‎[I confess that from this point on I have not ‎understood the author’s allusions on this subject based on the ‎meaning of the vowels underneath the consonants. Ed.]‎

Exodus 3,7. Hashem said: “I have surely seen the ‎sorry state of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard ‎their outcry on account of their oppressors.”
Exodus 3,9.“and now, here the outcry of the Children of ‎Israel has come to Me;”‎
It is important for anyone petitioning G’d for help to realize ‎that he must not do so from predominantly egotistical motives, ‎but he must make up his own mind and then convey this to G’d, ‎that the principal reason he is asking for G’d’s help is so that he ‎can become a better servant of the Lord. When he does so, He will ‎be far more likely to find G’d responsive to his needs, or what he ‎thinks are his needs.‎
‎G’d therefore had to perform 2 separate acts of loving ‎kindness for His people. First of all, He had to improve their lot ‎drastically on a mundane level, by redeeming them physically. ‎Secondly, he had to treat them as if their appeal to Him had been ‎based on their desire to serve Him better. This is hinted at when ‎in verse 7 G’d is reported as saying: ‎ראה ראיתי את עני עמי‎, i.e. “I ‎have taken note of the fact that My people wish to be truly My ‎people, something that will entitle them to be called ‘My ‎people’.” Secondly‎‏ ‏‎(verse 9), ‎הנה צעקת בני ישראל באה אלי‎, “the ‎outcry of the Children of Israel has come to me, (arrived at My ‎throne), I am aware that it is their desire to be My people by their ‎wishing to serve Me better.” The verse ends by making the ‎physical suffering endured by the people now appear as a ‎secondary consideration in G’d’s response to them. G’d, so to ‎speak, makes excuses for the people’s low spiritual level as being ‎due to the constant physical pressures they are exposed to in ‎their status as slaves of the lowest human level.‎

Exodus 3,7. Hashem said: “I have surely seen the ‎sorry state of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard ‎their outcry on account of their oppressors.”
Exodus 3,9.“and now, here the outcry of the Children of ‎Israel has come to Me;”‎
It is important for anyone petitioning G’d for help to realize ‎that he must not do so from predominantly egotistical motives, ‎but he must make up his own mind and then convey this to G’d, ‎that the principal reason he is asking for G’d’s help is so that he ‎can become a better servant of the Lord. When he does so, He will ‎be far more likely to find G’d responsive to his needs, or what he ‎thinks are his needs.‎
‎G’d therefore had to perform 2 separate acts of loving ‎kindness for His people. First of all, He had to improve their lot ‎drastically on a mundane level, by redeeming them physically. ‎Secondly, he had to treat them as if their appeal to Him had been ‎based on their desire to serve Him better. This is hinted at when ‎in verse 7 G’d is reported as saying: ‎ראה ראיתי את עני עמי‎, i.e. “I ‎have taken note of the fact that My people wish to be truly My ‎people, something that will entitle them to be called ‘My ‎people’.” Secondly‎‏ ‏‎(verse 9), ‎הנה צעקת בני ישראל באה אלי‎, “the ‎outcry of the Children of Israel has come to me, (arrived at My ‎throne), I am aware that it is their desire to be My people by their ‎wishing to serve Me better.” The verse ends by making the ‎physical suffering endured by the people now appear as a ‎secondary consideration in G’d’s response to them. G’d, so to ‎speak, makes excuses for the people’s low spiritual level as being ‎due to the constant physical pressures they are exposed to in ‎their status as slaves of the lowest human level.‎

Exodus 3,10 “come, therefore I will send you to ‎Pharaoh, etc.;” In order to understand the ensuing ‎developments, i.e. interminably long negotiations between Moses ‎and Pharaoh about the release of the Israelites, the author ‎suggests that we look at psalms 117,1 ‎הללו את ה' כל גוים שבחוהו כל ‏האומים כי גבר עלינו חסדו ואמת ה' לעולם הללויה‎, “praise the Lord all ‎you nations, extol Him, all you peoples; for He is great and ‎steadfast toward us; the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” ‎The Talmud Pessachim 118 appears to understand David’s ‎words as meaning that if the gentiles acknowledge the miracles ‎G’d has performed for them, then they surely must acknowledge ‎and praise the Lord even more for the miracles He has performed ‎for the Jewish people, i.e. ‎וגבר עלינו חסדו‎, “for great is His steadfast ‎love toward us;” at first glance this line is difficult, as we would ‎have expected David to refer to the miracles G’d has performed ‎for us, the Jewish people. According to the Talmud, David meant ‎that the nations are requested to acknowledge the miracles ‎performed by G’d for His people. From this it follows that they ‎must all the more acknowledge the miracles G’d has performed ‎for them.‎
After all, we have proof of this in Deuteronomy 4,34. When ‎Moses there extols the mind-boggling nature of the miracles ‎performed by G’d for us, he compares these miracles to others ‎that G’d, on occasion, has performed even for the gentiles. These ‎mind-boggling miracles performed on behalf of His people have ‎usually been predicted by a prophet announcing time and ‎location of each miracle. They usually took the form of penalizing ‎the enemies or oppressors of the Jewish people at the same time.‎
It is quite out of the question that in psalms 117 or ‎elsewhere, David intended for the gentiles to salute and praise the ‎Lord for miracles He had performed for them.‎
We will try therefore, with G’d’s help to explain what the ‎Talmud had in mind when speaking of miracles G’d performed for ‎the gentiles. In order to do this plausibly, let us remember a ‎statement from the Haggadah shel Pessach, where the ‎author refers to: ‎והכיתי כל בכור בארץ מצרים אני ולא מלאך, אני ה' הוא ‏ולא אחר‎; ”I will smitten every firstborn in the land of Egypt, ‘I and ‎not an angel, I the Lord, it is I and no one else.’” [The ‎author presents a slightly condensed quote, which does not ‎detract from the point under discussion. Ed.]. Why was ‎the killing of the firstborn carried out by Hashem ‎personally, whereas for all the other plagues He employed ‎‎“angels,” i.e. terrestrial phenomena, though all were G’d’s ‎messengers, agents?‎
We must explain however, that harmful phenomena never ‎originate with G’d. Only beneficial phenomena originate with ‎G’d. When our eyes will be opened to see the great troubles that ‎befall the wicked, we will realize that the wicked themselves have ‎been the architects of their problems, or even destruction. If they ‎would be intelligent enough to realize that all of these ‎phenomena are warnings, they would, instead of cursing the day ‎they had been born, turn to G’d in love, grateful to have been ‎given such opportunities to improve their ways. These ‎‎“disciplinary measures” by G’d are designed to lead to His name ‎becoming sanctified and aggrandized throughout the universe, ‎especially the part of it where His name had not been known ‎previously. Not only will His existence be revealed to them by ‎such disciplinary actions, but the fact that He is involved in the ‎personal fates of all His creatures will also be demonstrated by His ‎intervention in the affairs of man by means of miracles. ‎‎[The plagues that the Egyptians were afflicted with had ‎far-reaching consequences, so that 40 years later Rachav, the ‎innkeeper in Jericho told Joshua’s spies that all her friends and ‎acquaintances were still in awe of how G’d had split the sea to ‎allow the Israelites to pass through, while at the same time ‎drowning the pursuing Egyptians in it. (Joshua 2,10) Ed.]‎
An intelligent Jew or gentile, using his brain without ‎prejudice, will, instead of being frustrated by misfortune, use ‎same as a jumping off board to establish closer ties with his G’d, ‎Who had been kind enough to alert him to His existence in ‎heaven by inflicting harsh penalties on him instead of summarily ‎condemning him to eternal perdition without warning. The ‎Jewish people did not realize all this until after the plagues that ‎G’d visited upon the Egyptians, they had not only been spared, ‎but had seen how G’d had elevated them to become His ‎עם סגולה‎, ‎especially precious people.‎
Some leading personalities in our history used this concept to ‎wish for the day when they could demonstrate that they had ‎learned this lesson. The Talmud in B’rachot 61 relates a ‎conversation between Rabbi Akiva (aged 120 at the time) in which ‎the students are quoted as asking their mentor, who at that time ‎was undergoing torture at the hands of the Romans for having ‎publicly violated the decree not to teach Torah, “how long are ‎you going to praise the Lord under such conditions?” He ‎answered them that far from being disheartened, he had been ‎waiting for a lifetime to be able to fulfill the commandment to ‎love G’d ‎בכל נפשך‎, “with your entire life force,” i.e. at the price of ‎a painful death. How could he possibly allow himself to succumb ‎now when finally this opportunity had presented itself for him? ‎Rabbi Akiva’s final lesson to his disciples was to teach them to ‎make use of adversity, even the most painful adversity, to rise to ‎spiritual levels that would have remained in the realm of a ‎potential only, had they not been able to fulfill this ‎commandment publicly.
‎[It is doubtful, in my opinion, that we are obligated to ‎wish ourselves such opportunities as Rabbi Akiva had deliberately ‎invited by public disobedience of Roman decrees, as the sages tell ‎us that when David wished to become one of the patriarchs, G’d ‎warned him that in order to do so one had to successfully cope ‎with difficult temptations. Since David had insisted, he was ‎tempted by the matter of Bat Sheva, and, having been unable to ‎resist the temptation, he did not wind up as one of the patriarchs ‎mentioned in our daily amidah prayer at the very outset. ‎‎(Sanhedrin 107) Ed.]‎‎
To sum up, the principal purpose of our existence on earth is ‎to mobilize all our faculties to serve the Lord in the best way we ‎know how. Fondness of the Lord cannot be better demonstrated ‎than to walk through fire or water when necessary, and to see in ‎this an opportunity to prove to Hashem that we love Him ‎and are convinced that what He has decreed for us is for our ‎ultimate benefit, even if we cannot realize this at the time when ‎we are suffering the afflictions concerned.‎
Expressed slightly differently, we must train ourselves to view ‎trials and tribulations not as “afflictions, attempts to make our ‎lives uncomfortable or even unbearable,” but as medicines ‎designed to cure our ills, especially the ones (like high blood ‎pressure) that we were totally unaware of. Just as none of us ‎would refuse to swallow a bitter tasting medicine prescribed by ‎his favourite physician, so we must not refuse to accept with ‎good cheer the medicine prescribed for us by the “Healer” of the ‎universe, its architect. [The reader may have guessed that ‎I paraphrased some of the author’s words. Ed.]‎
As to the plagues in Egypt, the Jewish people experienced ‎this lesson by watching how G’d dealt with the Egyptians; we ‎learned vicariously, instead of our having to learn this on our own ‎bodies.‎
‎[As the author proceeds to describe the ideal Jew as ‎eagerly looking forward to more yissurim, afflictions, and ‎this editor recalls numerous prayers that include specifically the ‎plea not to elevate us by means of painful yissurim, I will ‎omit part of this chapter, as it is not addressed to the average ‎reader like myself. Ed.]‎
The author, coming back to his original question of why the ‎killing of the firstborn had to be orchestrated by G’d Himself, ‎points to our opening statement that nothing bad ever originates ‎with G’d Himself. If G’d therefore, personally carried out the ‎killing of the firstborn, this too could not have been something ‎bad, something negative, else He would have had to entrust it to ‎one or more of His angels.‎
When G’d concludes with what appears as if a repetition, that ‎it is He and no one else who has done this, He means that by ‎orchestrating this “plague” Himself He achieved that His name ‎became great and well known all over the inhabited parts of the ‎globe. If the death of the Egyptians served the purpose of ‎sanctifying the holy name of the Lord, they themselves had ‎served a holy purpose, though unwittingly.‎

Furthermore, the expression ‎היד הגדולה‎, instead of ‎היד ‏החזקה‎, “the strong, powerful hand,” is what we would ‎have expected, seeing that G’d had told Moses already ‎in Exodus 3,19 that Pharaoh would not release the ‎Israelites until He would intervene with ‎יד חזקה‎, “a ‎strong hand.” In light of our exegesis there is no ‎problem with these verses. G’d performed a great act ‎of loving kindness for the Egyptians who had been ‎allowed to serve as G’d’s instrument to induce faith in ‎the Lord by both the Israelites, and many gentiles who ‎heard about what had transpired at the sea of reeds. ‎‎[Compare Rahav in Joshua 2,9. Ed.] ‎This is what happened at the sea. On the other hand, in ‎Egypt, G’d had used ‎יד חזקה‎, “a strong hand,” i.e. the ‎attribute of Justice in order to discipline the Egyptians. ‎The true sanctification of G’d’s name occurred at the ‎sea of reeds, where His “great” name was sanctified, ‎hence the reference to ‎היד הגדולה‎, instead of ‎היד החזקה‎.‎
When someone has attained an advanced level in ‎his spiritual development, he has no need to watch ‎miracles as proof of G’d’s power in order to strengthen ‎his faith in Him as we have explained on previous ‎occasions. Anyone who possesses an average amount ‎of intelligence is aware of the existence of a Creator ‎who has created this universe. Only people of less than ‎average intelligence require miracles to bring home to ‎them that there is a Creator, who, seeing that the ‎universe is His, is able to wreak havoc with laws of ‎nature, i.e. laws which He Himself had established.‎

And that which appears to me is from that which we say in the prayer of Rosh Hashanah, “And every created being will know, etc. and Your rulership is over all of the dominion (mashalah). And [the last word] is the initials of (Psalms 92:1), “A psalm – a song for the day of Shabbat (Mizmor Shir Leyom HaShabbat).” And likewise is it said (in the Shabbat morning prayers}, “This is the song of praise of the Shabbat day… ‘It is good to praise the Lord (Tov hehodot laShem)’ (Psalms 92:2)” – the explanation of the matter is that these three words are the three names [represented by], “He scatters frost like ashes (kefor ke’effer yifazer)” (Psalms 147:16, see Mekor Mayim Chayim on Baal Shem Tov, Vayigash 6:4): And that is that tov [has a numerical equivalent of] seventeen, which is the name of aleph-hay-vay-hay], the initials of et hashamyim ve’et haaretz (the heavens and the earth), which indicates the past. And the [four-letter] name of the Lord indicates the present. And hodu [has a numerical equivalent of] twenty-one (the name, aleph-hay-yod-hay), which indicates the future, as I have explained about the verse, “I will be what I will be” (Exodus 3:14). And this name indicates the ‘sweetening of harsh judgements’ at their root. And that is that when we observe all of the Creator’s oversight over all of His creatures; such that even if we do not feel the good now, nevertheless, good will come out of it in the future. And one who considers this will take good counsel from it, to accept everything with love – as he will not concentrate on the apparent bad, but rather on the good in the future. And through this, he will ‘bless the bad just like the good,’ and bring the thing back to its root. As above (in its roots), everything is good, such that the matter will automatically be sweetened. And understand this. For, in my humble opinion, this is the intention of Nachum, the man of Gimzo (Taanit 21a; see further, Parashat Tzav, p. 162.). And hence this name is composed of the letters, hey-vav-dalet-vav, an expression of raising, such as “his hand he shall place above (hadah)” (Isaiah 11:8); “voices raised joyfully (hed) on the hills.” For the matter must be raised to its root; and it will automatically be sweetened.

Exodus 3,12. “and this will serve you as a sign (proof) ‎that I have sent you on this mission, etc.” We find in Song ‎of Songs 1,3: ‎לריח שמניך טובים תורק שמך על כן עלמות אהבוך‎, ”for ‎fragrance your oils are good; your name is ointment poured forth; ‎therefore do young maidens love you.” Seeing that all of Song of ‎Songs can only be understood properly by resorting to the ‎allegories employed by its author to convey his message, we hope ‎to explain this verse with the help of G’d by referring to Moses’ ‎question how he should answer the Israelites when they would ‎ask him about the name of the G’d in whose name he would claim ‎to have been sent to them. We first need to explain how to ‎understand G’d’s answer to Moses, i.e. ‎אהיה אשר אהיה (שלחני ‏אליכם)‏‎, “the G’d Who says concerning Himself) I shall be who I ‎shall be” (has sent me to you).‎
The righteous person serving the Creator needs to be ‎conscious at all times, and especially every time he experiences ‎the feeling that he has accomplished something, that there are ‎further challenges to be met and that he cannot rest on his ‎laurels. He must never consider any spiritual accomplishment of ‎his as having attained his target to become perfect. He must ‎remain aware of his relative inadequacy as long as he has not ‎attained the next rung on the ladder to attaining spiritual ‎perfection. This thought is reflected in the words of Eliyahu as ‎quoted in the Pardess Rimonim of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, ‎that one must be aware of one’s lack of knowledge of G’d, no ‎other detail is important other than that He is the Supreme G’d. ‎The desire to continuously ascend spiritually in order to be able ‎to cleave to the Creator is the principal characteristic of the true ‎servant of G’d.‎
The author quotes some remarks on this subject that he ‎personally heard from the well known Tzaddik Yechiel ‎Michel. ‎This Tzaddik interpreted psalms 27,4 ‎אחת שאלתי ‏מאת ה' אותה אבקש שבתי בבית ה' כל ימי חיי לחזות בנועם ה' ‏‎, “one thing ‎I ask of the Lord, only that do I seek; to live in the house of the ‎Lord and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, (constantly) etc.” ‎In this psalm David does not aspire to something static, a goal ‎achieved in order to derive the satisfaction of having scaled these ‎spiritual heights. By emphasizing ‎אותה אבקש‎ in the future mode, ‎instead of ‎אותה אני מבקש‎ in the present mode, the petitioner ‎‎(David) expresses his awareness that there will always be further ‎spiritual heights that beckon to him to be scaled. He expresses ‎confidence that G’d will assist him further in pursuing this path. ‎

Rabbi Yitzchok in Bereshit Rabbah 56,2 comments on ‎this as follows: “the only reason that Avraham was able to keep ‎his promise to the lads that he would return from Mount Moriah ‎‎(alive), is that he prostrated himself there before the Lord, ‎‎[something beyond what the Lord had asked of him when He ‎commanded him to offer his son Yitzchok as a burnt offering.” ‎Ed.] This is why hundreds of years later his descendants were ‎redeemed from Egypt, as G’d explained to Moses in Exodus 3,12 ‎and as the Israelites did in Exodus 4,31. This ‎השתחויה‎, ‎‎“prostration before the Lord,” symbolized that the person doing ‎so abandoned any claim that he might have had to the material ‎benefits that life on earth offers. This is also what enables G’d to ‎‎“sweeten” i.e. remove the sting, of any judgments man is ‎subjected to by the attribute of Justice. Avraham’s example of ‎reducing himself to ‎אין‎ or ‎אפס‎, “nothing,” paved the way for his ‎descendants to emulate him and to be redeemed from the yoke of ‎the Egyptians who had effectively reduced them to a similar state ‎of having to negate the attractions this world offered to others.‎
The Torah itself was only given to the Jewish people because ‎they voluntarily repeated this ‎השתחויה‎, prostrating themselves ‎before the Lord, as we know from Exodus 24,1 where all the elite ‎of the Jewish people are reported as having prostrated themselves ‎some distance away from Mount Sinai. [That chapter, though ‎written after the revelation, describes events that occurred before ‎the revelation, Ed.] The elite negating their claims on the material ‎benefits this world has to offer, made it possible for coming so ‎close to G’d during the revelation that He addressed them as if He ‎were speaking to an equal. In psalms 99,9 when Moses (the ‎author of this psalm) says: ‎רוממו ה' אלוקינו והשתחוו להר קדשו‎, ‎‎“Exalt the Lord our G’d and prostrate yourselves at the Mountain ‎of His holiness;” similar verses are found in Isaiah 27,13, and ‎Samuel I 1,19 where the wording is almost identical. Rabbi ‎Yitzchok concludes by saying that the resurrection when it will ‎occur, does so only in recognition of these voluntary prostrations ‎of the Jewish people on various occasions when they ‎demonstrated their absolute submission to G’d and His will. If we ‎needed proof of this we find in in Isaiah 27,13 where we read ‎והיה ‏ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול ובאו האובדים בארץ אשור והנדכים בארץ ‏מצרים והשתחוו לה' בהר הקודש בירושלים‎, “it will be on that Day, ‎when a great ram’s horn will be sounded, and the strayed who are ‎in the land of Assyria, and the expelled who are in the land of ‎Egypt, shall come and prostrate themselves on the holy Mountain ‎in Jerusalem.”

The truth that service of the Lord by the Jewish people ‎commenced on the lowest of levels is clearly stated in the Torah ‎in Exodus 3,7 when G’d told Moses that He had heard the outcry ‎of the Israelites to Him, and that He kept in mind that it was ‎induced by their terrible state of suppression. The author of the ‎‎haggadah shel Pessach reflects the same sentiment when he ‎writes ‎מתחלה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו במצרים‎, “at the beginning ‎our forefathers were idol worshippers in Egypt, etc.” The author ‎did not mean to say that the Israelites had become ‎indistinguishable from idolaters who believed in the power of the ‎man made deities to whom they offered food, etc; he meant that ‎service of the Lord by the Jewish people did not begin with lofty ‎spiritual ideals, such as a recognition of the all embracing power ‎of G’d and His love for His creatures, but that they were ‎motivated by dreams of relieving their plight, i.e. their worship ‎was interwoven with self-serving interests. By the time the ‎redemption took place, they had already progressed somewhat to ‎the stage of what we called ‎מוחין בקטנות‎, whereas in the interval ‎between then and the revelation at Mount Sinai they could be ‎described as ‎מוחין בגדלות‎. When they proclaimed acceptance of ‎the Torah with the words: ‎נעשה ונשמע‎, “we will do, so let us hear ‎the details,” this proclamation came from the throats of people ‎who served the Lord without concern for personal advantage to ‎be gained through this.‎

Exodus 3:14 let us spend a minute on the principal Name of ‎the Creator which is the name ‎הויה‎, better known to us as ‎י-ה-ו-ה‎ ‎‎(same letters rearranged). One of the remarkable features about ‎this “Name” is that when you multiply any one of its letters by ‎itself, you will find that that letter remains constant. You will ‎always find that the last letter in the resulting sum (when written ‎in Hebrew letters) remains the same, something you do not find ‎when you do this with any letter in the ‎א-ב‎ that is not part of the ‎letters used in the Holy Name of G’d. If you were to multiply a ‎word ending with the letter ‎ב‎ or any other letter, by itself, the ‎last letter in the sum resulting would not be the same as the ‎original letter (number). When you multiply the letter ‎ב‎ by itself ‎the result is a different letter, i.e. .‎ד‎. When you multiply the letter ‎ג‎ by itself, i.e. 3 times 3, the result is the letter ‎ט‎. When you ‎multiply the letter (number) ‎ד‎ by itself the result being 16, the ‎Hebrew equivalent is ‎יו‎. The only letters that remains constant ‎when you perform the same exercise are the letters in the Holy ‎Name of G’d, which when multiplied by themselves result by ‎ending with the identical letter. When you multiply 5 by 5 the ‎result (25) is ‎כה‎ If you were to continue this experiment by now ‎multiplying ‎כה‎ by itself, i.e. 25 times 25, the result is 625, or ‎תרכה‎. ‎If you were to do something similar with the letter (number) 6 (‎ו‎) ‎you would get is 36, i.e. ‎לו‎ in the Hebrew equivalent. [The ‎reader may continue to prove the accuracy of this using his ‎calculator. Ed.].‎

Exodus 13,1. “Hashem said to ‎Moses, saying; sanctify for me every firstborn, ‎etc.”
In order to better understand the ‎subject introduced here by the Torah it is well to go ‎back to Exodus 4,22 where G’d for the first time refers ‎to the Jewish people as: ‎בני בכורי ישראל‎, “My firstborn son, ‎Israel.” [G’d had referred to the Jewish people ‎as “My people,” already in Exodus 3,7, but He had not ‎referred to this people being G’d’s “firstborn.” ‎Ed.]‎
The following parable may help us understand the ‎difference between the two descriptions of the Jewish ‎people. There are people who devote time to the study ‎of Torah and after a certain number of hours of daily ‎study they turn their attention to business in order to ‎earn a living to support their families. This group of ‎people may be divided into 2 separate categories. A ‎member of category one, due to lack of understanding, ‎considers his preoccupation with trade and commerce ‎his principal occupation and purpose, whereas a ‎member of the second category is well aware that ‎preoccupation with the study of Torah, performing its ‎commandments, and performing deeds of loving ‎kindness for his peers, is his principal duty in life, but ‎seeing that he does not want to depend on miracles for ‎supporting his family, he sets aside time to secure his ‎livelihood with G’d’s support, of course, during the ‎time required for this.
The relationship between the gentile nations and ‎the Jewish nation is parallel to the above, in that the ‎gentiles by and large also devote some of their time to ‎duties prescribed by their respective religions. ‎However, except for a minute fraction, who devote ‎their lives to their deities as priests of some type, they ‎consider the demands made upon them by “life” on ‎earth as paramount. Seeing that the entire universe ‎including the gentiles were created in order to ‎somehow serve as an appendix to the Jewish people, ‎this people must not copy the gentiles by seeing in the ‎mundane tasks to be performed daily the essence of ‎their existence. Israel’s destiny is to serve as a holy ‎nation, and anyone wishing to sanctify itself with a ‎mirror like replica of G’d’s holiness, will in the process ‎draw down from the celestial domain not only G’d’s ‎attribute of Mercy, but also His largesse in helping to ‎make the mundane tasks such people have to perform ‎becoming crowned with success. By being accorded the ‎title: ‎בני בכורי‎, “My firstborn son,” G’d brings home to us ‎that we are the principal reason that G’d undertook the ‎creation of the universe. The author suggests that the ‎meaning of the word ‎רחם‎ in ‎פטר כל רחם‎, usually ‎translated as “each first opening of the womb,” should ‎be understood as a reference to the task of the Jewish ‎people to ensure that the source of Mercy, ‎רחמים‎, be ‎opened through the Jewish people’s prayers so that all ‎of mankind will be provided with its needs, be it ‎directly or indirectly through G’d’s largesse. He quotes ‎Proverbs 17,14 ‎פוטר מים ראשית‎, as an allusion to this idea ‎by Solomon. [possibly linked to Reshit ‎Chochmah, Teshuvah 7,14. Ed.]‎ ‎

In explaining this verse we must, of course, assume that ‎Moses told the people what G’d had asked him to tell them. The ‎Torah took it for granted that the reader will understand this. ‎The Torah, however, saw fit to also record some explanatory ‎remarks that Moses made when conveying the law of the sanctity ‎of the firstborn to them. Let us now refer to another verse in our ‎portion (Exodus 3,13) ‎ויאמר משה אל האלוקים הנה אנכי בא וגו'‏‎, ‎‎“Moses said to G’d, here when I come to the Children of Israel, ‎etc., (who shall I say has sent me?)” to which G’d replied ‎אהיה אשר ‏אהיה‎, adding further: ‎ה' אלוקי אבותיכם שלחני אליכם‎. Surely this ‎would be confusing for the Israelites who were aware that the G’d ‎Who had communicated with the patriarchs was known as ‎הויה‎ ‎and not as ‎אהיה‎. It appears that the best way to resolve this ‎‎"confusion" is by reminding the reader that there are two types ‎of redemption. One type of redemption was accompanied by the ‎Israelites receiving the Torah and the good deeds commanded ‎therein, as a result of which the people had become entitled to be ‎redeemed. At that time miracles, i.e. extra terrestrial means, ‎גבורות‎, were needed to bring about their redemption. When Moses ‎came to Egypt to orchestrate the redemption, the Israelites were ‎very far from such a spiritual level, so that G’d had to resort to ‎other means, known as ‎גבורות, חוזק יד, זרועה נטויה‎, “heroic deeds, ‎heavy hand, outstretched arm,” in order to accomplish His ‎objective. G’d did not consider the merits that the Jewish people ‎lacked at that time, but He gave them an “advance” on the merits ‎they would acquire as a result of accepting the Torah at Mount ‎Sinai 49 days after the Exodus.‎
When Moses had enquired what merits the Jews possessed at ‎the time so that they could be entitled to redemption, G’d ‎explained to Moses that they would acquire these merits in the ‎near future, hence He described Himself as the G’d known as: ‎אהיה‎, i.e. looking toward the future. At this time only G’d can ‎foretell the future, i.e. that this people will accept the Torah at ‎Mount Sinai, the spot that Moses was standing on, and they ‎would accept it enthusiastically. G’d assured Moses that what ‎seemed now like a far off future, would shortly be transformed ‎into a present. There had been a time in the past however, when ‎He had been very much the G’d of the present, i.e. during the ‎lives of the patriarchs. It was because of their past, i.e. their roots, ‎that He was able now to extend credit to them so that He could ‎redeem them before they had really deserved it. The word ‎חזק‎, ‎although popularly translated as “strong,” is defined as the ability ‎to control powerful urges and not to allow oneself to become ‎overwhelmed by them. In the parlance of the Mishnah in ‎‎Avot 4,1 ‎איזהו גבור הכובש את יצרו‎, “who is a true hero? He ‎who controls his biological urges.” When we describe G’d in our ‎prayers as a ‎גואל חזק‎ as a powerful Redeemer, we refer to His ‎suppressing His urges, overcoming His natural reactions by doing ‎something that according to the “Book,” should not be done at ‎that time. Doing something that was supposed to be done does ‎not require ”heroism,” so that anything that involved miracles, ‎supernatural input, must by definition be an expression of ‎‎“heroism” i.e. ‎חוזק יד‎. The concept of ‎בעל כרחו‎, against one’s will, ‎i.e. under “duress,” when applied to G’d is called ‎בעל כרחו‎. ‎Whenever G’d has redeemed us in the past, He had done so ‎against His will (attribute of Justice) and He has had to invoke the ‎attribute of Mercy after the attribute of Justice had opposed His ‎plan of action. When we described Him as redeeming us ‎למען שמו‎, ‎‎“for the sake of His name,” this means that only because of His ‎invoking the attribute of Mercy was G’d able to redeem the Jewish ‎people.‎

Exodus 17,16.“for as long as a hand is raised against ‎the throne of G’d, Hashem will continue to wage war ‎against Amalek.” We need to understand why the “war” ‎against Amalek is so extraordinarily difficult and long drawn out ‎for G’d, Who could create the universe with merely 10 verbal ‎directives. This question is also posed by the author of the ‎‎Zohar, when reflecting on the ongoing struggle, ‎מדור ודור‎, ‎‎“from generation to generation. (Zohar II 133)‎
It appears to me that without a doubt the Creator Who had ‎created all the various universes could have disposed of Amalek ‎with a single breath of His mouth. This is especially so, in light of ‎what G’d had already demonstrated at the sea of reeds, when He ‎drowned a far mightier army than was at the disposal of Amalek, ‎in a single hour. The point we must consider is that G’d at all ‎times- even when apparently acting destructively- does in fact act ‎for the good of mankind. The Ari z’al stresses this already in ‎his commentary on Exodus 3,10 when G’d first appointed Moses ‎by saying to him: ‎לכה ואשלחך אל פרעה והוצא את עמי בני ישראל ‏ממצרים‎, “come, I will send you to Pharaoh and you shall free My ‎people the Children of Israel from Egypt.” It is clear from this ‎wording that G’d had hoped to accomplish the Exodus without ‎having to impose judgments on Pharaoh and his people. It is ‎simply not in the nature of G’d to inflict harm even on the gentile ‎peoples of the world, if His purpose can be achieved by avoiding ‎this.‎
If it becomes necessary to perform miracles which at the same ‎time afflict the people who made these miracles necessary so that ‎they suffer from them, it is because G’d sees ultimate good in ‎these very afflictions that He decrees on the victims. The author ‎refers to an article of his on the general subject of miracles where ‎he dealt with this subject.‎
One of the “good results” from such miracles is the fact that ‎some of the people who are the victims will choose of their own ‎free will to convert to Judaism and to become servants of the only ‎G’d. In the case of Amalek, in spite of this people having ‎witnessed the miracles which had so profoundly impressed all the ‎other nations, no such positive outcome as people converting to ‎Judaism resulted. On the contrary, as Rashi had described, ‎the Amalekites decided to put an end to such “repentance ‎movements” among the idolaters by even risking suicide to show ‎that G’d was not invincible and could be opposed. By doing so ‎they threw down a gauntlet to the Creator by daring Him to ‎destroy them immediately and thereby becoming known as a G’d ‎Who was overly cruel to a nation that had not even harmed His ‎people for hundreds of years as had the Egyptians, who had ‎survived, except for their army. [Some of the words are ‎my own, but they reflect the tenor of the words of the author. ‎Ed.] ‎
Amalek’s conduct had shown that regardless of how many ‎more miracles G’d would perform, this would not result in at least ‎some of these people realizing the error of their ways and ‎converting to monotheism after repenting. G’d’s only recourse ‎then was to make the judgment of Amalek look like His avenging ‎Himself. The problem with this was that it would reflect ‎negatively on G’d’s image as the Merciful One.‎
The Ari’zal also writes that when G’d does decide to ‎apply His judgments to such sinners as a form of revenge, He ‎does not do so in a manner that directly involves any of His ‎attributes. He entrusts this tasks to messengers, so that in this ‎instance the first stage was waging war on the battlefield. “War” ‎is always perceived as an action initiated by human beings, not by ‎G’d. This war was to be fought without G’d directly intervening in ‎its outcome, or raining down a hail of stones as in the war for the ‎capture of the land of the Canaanites. (Joshua 10,11) When G’d ‎tells Moses in verse 14 ‎‏ כי מחה אמחה את זכר עמלק‎ “for I will utterly ‎destroy any remembrance of Amalek,” the word ‎מחה‎ has been ‎repeated to tell us that memory of Amalek will not only be wiped ‎out in the lower part of the universe, the area inhabited by man, ‎but also in the celestial regions there will not remain any residue ‎of that nation. This absolute destruction is not found with any ‎other nation concerning which the prophets in the Bible predict ‎disaster at one time or another. Among all the other nations ‎Divine judgments had resulted in some positive developments, so ‎that their continued existence in one form or another could be ‎justified.‎
We have mentioned earlier that when G’d performs overt ‎miracles His 4-lettered name ‎י-ה-ו-ה ‏‎ is involved, whereas here the ‎Torah makes a point of describing Amalek’s provocation as aimed ‎at the throne of ‎י-ה‎, i.e. not at the tetragram, as that name of G’d ‎had not become involved with the fate of that nation. The word ‎יד‎ ‎in that verse, as always when it appears in connection with G’d is ‎an allusion to G’d’s loving kindness. The word ‎כס‎ describes the ‎Divine chariot, or “throne.” While G’d is involved in the ongoing ‎war against Amalek, ‎מלחמה‎, His attribute of ‎חסד‎ remains totally ‎uninvolved. ‎