Kaisipang Hudyo sa Mga Awit 91:11: Akeidat Yitzchak & Derush Chiddushei HaLevanah

Even angels, though in some ways superior to man, inasmuch as G-d employs them to convey messages to man to protect him or execute retribution on G-d’s behalf, are clearly defined as servants of the Lord whose function it is to assure the well being of man. It is similar to the sheep being more important than the shepherd, since the latter owes his existence or vocation to the existence of the former. This line of reasoning has its limitations, as it would reduce the value of the teacher vis a vis the student and that of the prophet vis a vis the nation. Clearly then the subordinate position of the shepherd stems from his allotted task. The same applies to the position of the teacher or prophet. From the point of view of personal characteristics, the shepherd, being a human being, clearly possesses superior faculties to those of the sheep entrusted to his care. Similarly, the teacher possesses faculties superior to those of his students, and the prophet possesses faculties not shared by the other members of his nation. Angels do possess faculties which man is not privy to, and in that respect they are superior to man. On the other hand, all statements denigrating the worth of man refer only to his inferior physical shell, not to his comprehensive potential. We must also never lose sight of the fact that the entire universe was created primarily for the greater glory of G-d, and in this respect the angels, of course, possess tremendous worth, quite independent of their function in connection with man.

Besides, he asks "what good is my taking the Israelites out of Egypt when You are not telling me that I will bring them to the holy land?" G-d answered him in the order of his queries. A) "I shall be with you," do not worry about your life being in danger. B) "This is a sign for you", those who want to kill you are already dead. Concerning the purpose of redemption, the Jewish people will accept the Torah at this Mountain. Concerning their fitness for redemption, this has been discussed in the introduction to the book of Exodus. (6) When Moses seemed to have obtained confirmation of his fears that his mission did not include aliyah, entry into the holy land, he raised numerous objections suggesting that the ultimate redeemer, the one who would complete the task should take over this task immediately. All these objections were couched in diplomatic language, in order to sway G-d. However, Hashem, on His part persevered in trying to persuade Moses to accept the mission offered. Since G-d had identified Himself only in respect to Abraham, Isaac and jacob, not with the name hashem, Moses found reason to question in which way he should identify G-d to the people. So G-d said to him "you may identify Me as "Ehyeh,” the Eternal. This type of identification was to be reserved for the elders, who would understand the double meaning involved. (I exist, though I am not part of existence as commonly perceived) Moses admitted that this would suffice to identify the "sender," but felt that the "messenger" needed further identification to achieve credibility. He was told not to go beyond the identification offered. G-d refused to incorporate aliyah la-aretz, immigration to the holy land in the definition of "Sender." This was not to be revealed to the people at this stage, though it was part of G-ds plan. G-d said to Moses that He did not refuse to let him use the identification Of "G-d of Abraham etc.," but that He was right in that there should remain a mystique beyond that connected with His name. He instructed Moses to describe that mystique in the words "this is My name forever, and this is My memorial for all generations." (7) At this point, G-d turned to the nature of the mission. Since it is possible that the elders are aware that G-d exists and that redemption will occur, they would need to be convinced that Moses was the man who would be the instrument, that he was not a charlatan. They would need convincing that the encounter Moses claimed to have had with G-d, had indeed taken place. Therefore, Moses argued they will not believe me, but they will believe You, but they will argue that You did not appear to me. The elders do know that the gift of prophecy exists for those who are deserving, but how do they know that I am deserving? For this reason G-d gave Moses the miracles to establish his credibility with the elders of Israel. G-d then turns to Moses telling him that his request from Pharaoh should be only that the Israelites would leave Egypt. Although the whole redemption syndrome traditionally embraces also return to the land of Israel, Moses’s mission was restricted to the first part of that process, the departure from Egypt. In this way too, the obstinacy of Pharaoh would be demonstrated more dearly, since he refused even such a relatively minor request. The refusal to make any concession to Moses, in fact to enact new and harsher decrees, would serve as the legitimisation for subjecting Pharaoh to the plagues. (9) G-d implied that if Moses would ask Pharaoh, revealing the extent of his plans, Pharaoh would certainly not grant permission. Since even by using subterfuge, Pharaoh did not make the concession of allowing the people a brief holiday of three days duration, the penalty of the plagues would be more than justified. Had the Jewish people left Egypt for only a few days, as originally requested, borrowing valuable trinkets without arousing suspicions of the owners would hardly have been possible. Under the circumstances, however, the Egyptians would be happy to see the Israelites depart and would compensate them for the real estate they left behind by a few trinkets. This would not appear to them as a bad trade at all. The expression venitzaltem, commonly translated as "you will empty," can also mean "you will have ample excuse." In the event that anyone considers your taking these items as "stealing," let them remember what you left behind in Egypt. Alternatively, these trinkets can be considered as a goodwill offering on the part of the Egyptians, seeing that this is the spirit in which these items will be offered to you. (10) G-d tells Moses all this already at this stage, though the time for executing all these plans was still some time away; however, once knowing what had been planned, would give the Jewish people a chance to observe where the Egyptians kept their valuables. Since Moses still argued that the Jewish people would not believe him, G-d provided him with three miracles to help him identify himself. Miracles can come in three different forms: A) Something which seems impossible according to the laws of physics, such as turning iron into wool. B) Something that could conceivably be converted, given enough time, happening instead instantaneously; a piece of rotten wood will eventually disintegrate into dust; the dust may eventually serve as a breeding place for a serpent. Telescoping this process into something instantaneous, would be a miracle. C) The simultaneous existence side by side of two elements that are incompatible, such as ice and fire. The least impressive of these three kinds of miracles is number two. Turning wood into a serpent is remarkable only because of the instantaneous nature of the conversion. Should this kind of miracle not suffice to convince the elders, miracle number three, the more impressive one, would be produced. The existence side by side of normal tissue with tzo-ra-at, a form of leprosy, is against all known laws of physics and chemistry. Lastly, the completely unbelievable transformation of water into blood, would be convincing in the event the first two miracles failed to convince the onlookers. G-d was quite right then in emphasizing the progressive nature of these miracles. The Israelites would be impressed by the cumulative effect of what they were watching. Possibly, Moses had to prove three points to his people. A) G-d had chosen him as the instrument of their deliverance. This was proved by turning dead matter, wood, into living matter, a serpent. Who else but a prophet had such power? B) He had to prove that the people would be liberated; this was proved by healing that which was beyond known medical cures, i.e. the itzora-at. C) He had to prove that G-d would punish the Egyptians for their treatment of the Jewish people. This was demonstrated by smiting their source of life, their water supply. In this manner all three parts of the message Moses was to deliver to the people in the name of G-d became credible. (11) After it had become obvious to Moses that his mission would be lengthy, that it would encounter many obstacles, he said to G-d that his inadequacies in speech dated back to his birth already, but he had not mentioned same as long as he did not think that such an impediment would become relevant to discharging his mission successfully. Now that G-d Himself had revealed that Moses’s mission would be time consuming, extend over weeks or even months, he thought it was appropriate to mention this shortcoming of his. It could complicate the success of his mission further. (13) G-d answered Moses that if he had thought that his impediment was due to some other power, he should have appealed to that power. If, on the other hand, he was aware that his handicap emanated from G-d, it should be obvious that if G-d did not think the handicap was relevant to his being appointed, it should not really concern him either. Should Moses’s mission fail, on account of that defect, the blame would surely not be placed on Moses, but on G-d. Therefore, G-d would assist Moses in whatever he would say by providing a spokesman for him. In this way, everyone would be aware that all Moses’s utterances stemmed from G-d, since he himself did not possess the natural ability or fluency to present the case of the Jewish people. For this very reason, G-d did not remove Moses’s handicap. (12) Moses said "send the one who will be that intermediary." He had understood G-ds words "I shall be with your mouth," that not G-d Himself would assist him, but an intermediary. Since Moses himself was a shaliach, intermediary, he suggested that the other intermediary might as well carry out the whole assignment. Moses considered himself as only incidental to that other prophet, who he thought would also complete the part of the mission that called for the Jewish people to return to the land of their ancestors. (13) G-d became angry at hearing this, and He told Moses that the other prophet in question was Aaron, whose function would be to serve as Moses’s mouthpiece. Moses was reprimanded about feeling that the presence of another prophet would detract from his own glory. He was told that that very other prophet, his older brother, was already on the way to meet Moses, and would rejoice at the fact that Moses had been chosen as the redeemer. The unselfish nature of Aaron is stressed.

Similarly, Ramban in his commentary on the passage under discussion, comments on the verse mentioning the sovereignty of the sun and the moon,⁴²See Ramban’s commentary to Bereishis 1:18. and explains that naming the celestial beings distinguishes and defines the nature of their power. Thus, it is written:⁴³Tehillim 147:4. “He counts the sum of the stars, naming them all,” and “He calls them all by name.”⁴⁴Yeshayahu 40:26. Similarly, in the present context, calling the righteous by the moon’s name reflects their nature. In particular, these two – Yaakov and David – are described as small because of their humility and the difficulties that they underwent. Thus, Yaakov declared,⁴⁵Bereishis 47:9. “The days of the years of my sojourning… were few and aggravating.” Indeed, the narratives concerning Yaakov related in the Torah confirm this statement. In the same vein, David was continually beset by many wearisome troubles, as reflected in the stories concerning him. This theme is also expressed in his psalms. Similarly, both Yaakov and David experienced continuous ascents and descents, and were beset by hardships. This reflects the pattern of the moon, which sometimes shines and sometimes is hidden. By identifying the moon with the righteous, God granted it a significant honor, for according to the tradition we have received, the level of the righteous exceeds that of the angels,⁴⁶See Sanhedrin 93a. and certainly that of the celestial beings and their hosts.⁴⁷For the level of the celestial beings is lower than that of the angels. See Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 3:9. Therefore, by identifying the righteous with the moon – causing them to share the moon’s nature, with the moon resembling them and them it – God granted the moon a significant honor, praiseworthy quality, and exaltation.