Chasidut su Esodo 32:10

Deuteronomy 24:3, You have begun to show Your servant, ‎etc,” According to Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 32,10 ‎where G’d tried to forestall Moses’ prayer on behalf of his people, ‎this had been an indication that basically G’d is very interested in ‎our prayers. In light of Rashi’s comment there, why did ‎Moses refer to “Your greatness, etc.; at this point?” The answer is ‎that that by having said on that occasion “Leave Me be,” G’d had ‎indicated that He normally longed for the prayers of the ‎righteous, prayers which are capable of reversing potentially ‎harmful decrees into beneficial ones. When Moses referred here to ‎G’d having displayed that very greatness, the occasion had been ‎his own readiness to pray and to reverse His decree. It was ‎therefore appropriate now that he now do the same on his own ‎behalf.‎

‎Genesis 7,1 ‎“For I have seen you ‎being righteous before Me in this generation;” these words ‎must be understood according to the Zohar I, 67. The ‎author of the Zohar contrasts Moses’ reaction to G’d’s ‎threat to annihilate the Jewish people and to substitute him for ‎the Jewish people (Exodus 32,10) with Noach’s silence. Moses, had ‎immediately responded to this threat by saying: “erase me from ‎Your Book, rather than make me the founder of a new Jewish ‎people. Moses was willing to give up his life if he could thereby ‎save his people”. When G’d (7,4) used the same expression ‎ומחיתי ‏את כל היקום‎, “I will erase all breathing living creatures,” He ‎elicited no response from Noach, just as He had not elicited a ‎response from him in 6,13, or in 6,17. Moses, by offering his own ‎life on behalf of his people during the episode of the golden calf, ‎atoned for Noach’s insensitivity at this time. Moses is viewed by ‎the Zohar as possessing a soul composed of all the souls destroyed ‎in the deluge. This is why our prophets refer to the deluge as ‎מי ‏נח‎, “the waters of Noach,” since Noach had not intervened on ‎behalf of his contemporaries. (Isaiah 54,9). The prophet appears ‎to imply that Noach had been remiss by associating the deluge ‎with Noach (himself) instead of with the sinners.‎
It is known that Moses was considered a tzaddik, ‎righteous person. When our sages state that all the prophets’ ‎prophecies began with the word ‎כה‎, whereas Moses’ prophecy on ‎occasion commenced with the word ‎זה‎, “this,” they meant to ‎compare Moses to Noach of whom G’d had said ‎אותך ראיתי צדיק ‏לפני בדור הזה‎, “I have seen you that you are a tzaddik before ‎Me in this generation”. G’d implied that Noach would be restored ‎posthumously to this stature when Moses, a reincarnation of his ‎soul, would make up for his omission at this time. The words ‎בדור ‏הזה‎, are understood as a hint that in Moses’ time another ‎‎tzaddik would compensate for the sin of omission in Noach’s ‎generation. ‎

Another way of understanding the words ‎ונתתם חמשית לפרעה‎, ‎‎“if you give one fifth to Pharaoh,” is based on the well known ‎interpretation of psalms 145,19 by my sainted teacher Rabbi Dov ‎Baer. On the words: ‎רצון יראיו יעשה‎, “He fulfills the wishes of those ‎who fear Him,” my teacher explained that the subject here is first ‎and foremost G’d. He does things for the tzaddikim that ‎they appreciate, (‎רצון‎) so that they in turn are encouraged to ‎request further favours from Him. When G’d feels that the time is ‎appropriate for Him to shower His people with His largesse, He ‎first gives some indication to those who fear Him that He is well ‎disposed to His people at that time. This will trigger the ‎appropriate prayers requesting G’d’s largesse. Bearing this in ‎mind, we are dealing here with two separate aspects, ‎בחינות‎, of ‎how G’d deals with His creatures. 1) An initiative by G’d; 2) a ‎response by G’d to an initiative by His people. This is hinted at by ‎the Talmud in Yevamot 34 where it is stated that a woman ‎does not become pregnant from the first time she has marital ‎relations with her husband as the Hebrew word ‎ביאה‎ for such ‎relations is derived from ‎התחברות‎, a mutual joining together. The ‎Jewish people, by definition are similar to the wife, i.e. they are at ‎the receiving end, do not initiate. In their relations to G’d, the ‎Jewish people is similarly always perceived as female, i.e. as a ‎כלה‎, ‎bride, or similarly in the parlance of our prophets, a “wife”. G’d’s ‎שפע‎, “largesse,” is similarly perceived as female, seeing that it is a ‎gift, something received. When G’d is desirous of canceling an ‎unwelcome decree, He must be placed in the position of ‎responding to an appropriate request originating from the ‎victims. He cannot do more than allude to this by a hint, else He ‎will be perceived as initiating rather than responding. As an ‎example of G’d “hinting” that He wished a tzaddik to ‎intervene on behalf of the Jewish people by prayer, the author ‎quotes Exodus 32,10 when immediately after informing Moses ‎that the people had made a golden calf and had worshipped it, G’d ‎says to Moses: ‎ועתה הניחה לי ויחר אפי בהם ואכלם ואעשה אותך לגוי גדול‎ ‎‎“and now, Leave Me be, so that I can get angry and destroy them ‎and make you into a great nation.” According to Rashi this ‎whole line was a broad hint to Moses to intervene on behalf of the ‎people by praying for their survival. We find this same ‎interpretation of that verse (earlier) in Midrash Tanchuma as ‎well as in Targum Yonatan ben Uzziel.‎
The two ‎בחינות‎ of the G’d-Israel, or Israel-G’d relationship we ‎have mentioned on page 239, are known respectively as the ‎יראה‎ ‎or ‎אהבה‎ relationship. Each of these relationships consists of two ‎elements. We have explained earlier that the largesse when it ‎comes also comes in two different ways, depending on whether ‎the recipients are the gentiles or the Jewish people. When it is ‎granted to the gentiles it is immediately recognizable as such, ‎whereas when it is bestowed on the Jewish people it is not always ‎recognisable as such immediately. When Joseph speaks of ‎ארבע ‏הידות‎ [instead of ‎ידות‎ without the letter ‎ה‎ alluding to G’d. Ed.] he ‎alludes to these four different manifestations of G’d’s largesse. ‎The word ‎לאכלכם‎ in the same verse (page 239,23) is an alternate ‎for the word ‎לטובה‎, i.e. beneficially. ‎