Musar su Esodo 33:19

The twelfth: "Which You swore to our fathers" - there are people that are not proper, and the Holy One, blessed be He, has mercy on all of them. And they explained in the Gemara (Berakhot 7a), "and I will give grace to the one that I give grace" (Exodus 33:19) - "The Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'This storehouse is for those that are not proper.'" There is a storehouse of those given grace that the Holy One, blessed be He, graces and gives them [as] a free present. As the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Behold, they have the merit of the fathers - I swore to the fathers. Therefore, even if they are not proper, they shall merit because they are from the seed of the fathers to whom I swore. Hence, I will lead them and guide them until they are refined."

In order to answer this difficulty Rabbi Avin quoted his second parable, i.e. a postscript, not an alternative explanation. Rabbi Avin goes on record in his first parable that even though the angels are recompensed for their service to G–d, this is not related to their having overcome an evil urge. The reason they receive a reward at all, says G–d, is כי אני ה', "I G–d am gracious," I do something over and beyond what anyone has the right to expect of Me. The nature of the reward received by the angels is spiritual, similar to the concept of שכר מצוה מצוה, that the reward for performing a מצוה is the continued ability to perform מצות (Avot 4,2). Israel, whose מצוה performance is the result of overcoming great handicaps, receives two kinds of reward.

Rabbi Yochanan concentrates on the other -Noach-like- aspect of serving G–d, i.e. waiting till one is inspired by G–d. He uses a metaphor describing input from above, i.e. the gaze of a shepherd on his flock. This always originates from a higher vantage point but is benevolent at the same time, much as when G–d said in Exodus 33,19: "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." This means that the recipients did not have a claim on G–d's grace. The very fact that Rabbi Yochanan uses dumb animals as the subjects in his metaphor shows that he speaks of a lower class of spiritual motivation.

We also have a statement by our sages explaining the two different introductions of the Psalms with ,לדוד מזמור or מזמור לדוד. In the former, the holy spirit came to David only after he had commenced to play the harp, whereas the words מזמור לדוד indicate that the holy spirit overcame David even before he commenced playing the harp (Pesachim 117). לדוד מזמור represented the highest spiritual achievement of man, seeing that he initiated his spiritual achievement. If man only responds to an "injection" of holy spirit the achievement is of a lower order. Malachi 3,7 exclaims: "Turn back to Me and I will turn back to you;" He asks Israel to initiate repentance. He urges us not to wait for G–d to initiate the Redemption since it would then be merely an act of love and mercy. When G–d says in Exodus 33,19 וחנותי את אשר אחון, ורחמתי את אשר ארחם, "I will be gracious to whom I choose, and I will be merciful to whoever I shall be merciful to," Shemot Rabbah 45,6 on this verse describes G–d as showing Moses all the rewards that he had stored up in His treasure chambers for the righteous. When Moses inquired who all these treasures were for, G–d answered that those people who possessed merit would receive some as a reward due them, whereas those who did not have any merits would receive a free gift from Him. Obviously, the amount of the handouts granted by G–d as unearned gifts is smaller than those gifts in store for the righteous.

He refers to this lack of confidence that G–d will have to listen to our prayers by stating that – as distinct from Joshua – who relied on his worthiness, we do not rely on our worthiness, לא על צדקותינו אנחנו מפילים תחנוניו לפניך, "we do not submit our pleas before You because we rely on our righteousness." Instead we rely only on G–d's grace since the Torah mentions (Exodus 33,19) that G–d reserves the right to show grace and mercy to those whom He chooses (even if they do not deserve it). I have already explained the string of expressions commencing with the repeated use of the word מה.