Хасидус к Шмот 5:22

In the midrash (Shemot Rabbah 5:6) " and I turned to see… that which he already did…” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). For a person should know that every action affects his essence in a place so high that a person’s understanding cannot reach there at all. And because of this, it is necessary that all the intellect and all the desires are nullified to the will of Hashem. Similarly, I heard from my father, my master, my teacher and mentor, the righteous one who should be remembered for life in the World to Come, about what the midrash says, that if Reuven had known that the Torah had written about him “in order to save him” (Genesis 37:22), he would have carried Yosef on his shoulders back to his father (Rus Rabbah 5:6, Vayikra Rabbah 34:8). God forbid that he would have done this because of the honor that the verse would attest to him, but if he had known that the matter affected so much that the verse would write… Until here are the words of my father. And every action of a person is already decreed in heaven. And that is what the verse means, “that which he already did” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). Because on high, every action that a person will do is already decreed before Hashem; if so, it is not pertinent to question Him. And certainly it seemed obvious to King Solomon that his heart would not be led astray. But a person's actions affect that which is above his ability to understand. And consequently, there can be a change in the essence of a person. And if so, a person cannot know this at all. And it is written (Shemot Rabbah 5:6) that the letter yud in the word “yirbeh” (increase) went up before Hashem and said, Solomon is nullifying me! And is it true that someone who performs a sin nullifies a letter? But certainly through sin a person is cut off from clinging. But King Solomon knew that through the power of the Torah that was in him and the life force of Hashem which he was connected to without separation, he said “I will increase and not be led astray [and that's what the verse says, “God is with me and I will prevail” (Proverbs 30:1)]. And therefore, the yud, which signifies thought [which is the essence, as we say “the end is action, the beginning is thought” (Friday night prayers)], went up and said… And similarly by Moshe. He said, “Why did You do evil to Your nation?" (Exodus 5:22). Certainly he was not able to depict, God forbid, the evil of Israel. And Hashem responded to Him, “I am God” (Exodus 6:2), that all existences are through My will; if so, questions and challenges are not pertinent. And He also commanded him to say to the children of Israel, “I am Hashem” (Exodus 6:6), so that they will know that even the exile of Egypt was only through the life force of Hashem, because all existences are from Him. “And they didn’t listen to Moshe because of shortness of breath” (Exodus 6:9), because when they were in exile, this matter was not revealed [the meaning of “shortness of breath” is the life force of Hashem that is in a person, as it is written “and He blew into his nostrils a breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). And in exile the clinging to the essence of the life force is halted] and that is what is written in the midrash, that everything is from the Torah, He established in it positive commandments and negative commandments… (Shemot Rabbah 6:1), meaning that every action of a person of Israel has a life force in Torah and mitzvos that are dependent on action. And therefore the action of a person affects that which is above, and it draws from the life force of Hashem. And similarly what is written about the holy Sabbath, “that Hashem created to make” (Genesis 2:3), meaning that which is done even now through the desire of Hashem at the time of the creation, and on the Sabbath the children of Israel testify about this, that the truth was made clear. And this is what is written “and you should honor it from doing your desires…” (Isaiah 58:13), the Sages explained that all your work should be done. We can say as we said above, that one should know that also that which a person is doing is already done through the will of Hashem, as it is written “a person only injures a finger below if they decree so about him on high” (Chullin 7b), and that is what is written “that which was already done” (Ecclesiastes 2:12), as we said above. And on the Sabbath it is the aspect of nullification and the acceptance of the yoke of heaven, to nullify oneself to the essence of life. And through this, every action is drawn after its essence in heaven. Because it is written, “He did wonders” (Psalms 98:1). And the Rama in Orach Chaim explained “and does wondrous things” (Blessing of Asher Yatzar), that the action has in it an aspect of wonder, (see the Magen Avraham there, Orach Chaim 6:1). And also the wisdom of a person needs to be nullified to the aspect of the essence of wisdom, as it is written “from where is it found…” (Job 28:12). Because a person knows that when he grows and becomes wiser, he sees that that which he did not consider to be a sin beforehand was a mistake, and so too afterwards even more. If so, for true wisdom there is no measure, and all knowledge must be nullified to the word of Hashem, and everything will be drawn to the essence, as we said above.

This is what is in Sh’mot (5:22), that Moses complained – why did You make things worse for this people and why did You send me? He feared that maybe he had been mistaken with his words because they had failed to bring trust to them through his words as is explained elsewhere (above in Parashat Sh’mot). God replied, “Now you will see…that with a strong arm he will send them out…”

Exodus 5,22. “Moses said to G’d: ‘what is the purpose ‎of Your having brought harm to this people, etc;?”, ‎ויאמר ‏ה' אל משה עתה תראה כי ביד חזקה וגו'‏‎ , “G’d said to Moses: ‎‎‘now you will see that with a strong hand, etc.’”‎
We do not only need to understand what Moses meant by ‎adopting what sounds like accusatory attitude vis a vis G’d, but ‎that far from this being the case, he alluded to a very important ‎aspect of Judaism with his wanting to know G’d’s purpose in the ‎details of how He guides the fortunes of the Jewish people. [After ‎the sin of the golden calf, Moses again persists in his desire to be ‎taken into G’d’s confidence. [Compare Exodus Exodus ‎‎33,13-16 Ed.]‎
In our daily prayers in the amidah we pray for ‎‎Hashem to redeem us, justifying our request by the ‎conviction that it is within His power to do so by saying: ‎כי גואל ‏חזק אתה‎, “for You are a powerful redeemer.” Why did the sages ‎who formulated this prayer find it necessary to add the adjective ‎חזק‎, “powerful,” after the word ‎גואל‎, “Redeemer?” The very idea ‎of G’d “requiring” to resort to ‎התחזקות‎, “strengthening Himself,” ‎is strange, seeing that we perceive of Him as the personification ‎of “Strength.”
Let us first explain another verse in Exodus 13,2: ‎וידבר ה' אל ‏משה קדש לי כל בכור פטר כל רחם וגו'‏‎, ‎Hashem said to Moses: ‎‎‘sanctify unto me every first born male produced by the womb of ‎a Jewish mother, etc.’” In an apparent response to this ‎commandment, the Torah quotes Moses as saying (verse 3) ‎ויאמר ‏משה אל העם זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים...כי בחוזק יד הוציא ה' ‏אתכם מזה‎, “Moses said to the people to remember this day when ‎you left Egypt, for Hashem took you out from here using ‎the “strength of His hand.” Moses appears to have departed ‎materially from what G’d had told him to tell the people in His ‎name. Instead of telling the people to sanctify their male ‎firstborns, both of man and beast (in most instances) he tells ‎them to remember the day that they left Egypt!‎‎