Parshas Beshalach: Maaminim Bnei Maaminim

ויאמר ה' אל משה מה תצעק עלי דבר אל בני ישראל וישאו- Hashem said to Moshe, “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to the Bnei Yisroel and let them journey ahead.

The Bnai Yisroel had arrived at the Yam Suf. With the Egyptians on one side and the water on the other, there was no place left to run, and nowhere to hide. So what did the Bnai Yisroel do? How does any Jew react in any difficult situation? ויצעקו- and they cried out. תפשו אומנות אבותם- they adopted the craft of their forefathers, namely, prayer.

At that very moment, a conversation between Hashem and Moshe took place which needs to be understood. Moshe and the Bnai Yisroel davened and Hashem tells Moshe, מה תצעק עלי דבר אל בני ישראל וישאו-Hashem said to Moshe, “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to the Bnei Yisroel and let them journey ahead. Rashi explains: Now is not the time for prolonged davening; the People are in distress and immediate action must be taken.

The meforshim all ask the obvious question here: Was there ever a better time to daven than at this very moment? What was Hashem telling Moshe?

Famously the Ohr HaChaim offered that in order for tefillah which is based on rachamim and chesed to take effect and overcome the strict attribute of din, there must be something inside of one’s “bank account”. But at this time, after having served Avoda Zara in Mitzrayim, Bnai Yisroel had taken on the appearance of the Egyptians, and they were “in the red”. So Hashem said that this is not the moment to daven, i.e. it wont really help now. What they should do is defy conventional wisdom; go against their nature and perform an act of emunah by proceeding into the water. The emunah is looked at as tzedakah which would in turn fill up their accounts thus activating Hashem’s rachamim.

The Sforno shares a fascinating approach. Moshe was part of those that were davening. However, his own tefillah was not the same as the others. Hashem had already foretold that the Egyptians would fall and they would never even see their faces again. So the davening of Moshe was not due to fear of Pharoah. Rather, it was a cry of complaint against the Yidden for falling from their lofty levels and doubting Hashem by proclaiming, ”were there no graves in Mitzrayim that we needed to come her to die instead?” To this Hashem responded, “Moshe, you are being חושד בכשרים- accusing “kosher” people! מה תצעק עלי דבר אל בני ישראל וישאו-Speak to them; tell them to travel into the water and you will see that their emunah is as strong as ever- a bedrock of faith!

Digging deeper into this idea, we see that Moshe could not believe how a nation that had just witnessed the makkos and the miraculous escape from Mitzrayim could ask to turn back to Mitzrayim. How had they fallen from such a great high to a desperate low? To this Hashem responded that while it may be true that they are saying such things (“graves in Mitzrayim”), this is not who they are! Test them with an action that has no possible way of explaining other than pure emunah and you shall see who they really are. When they willingly go forward into the sea, you will understand what a Jew is made of.

“My Children,” says Hashem, “are מאמינים בני מאמינים.” Don’t ever think differently about them. Perhaps at times, the emunah needs to be stirred up and aroused, but at their core, emunah is their very essence.

This idea that Hashem looks at His Children in this manner is not only reserved for the greatest tzadikkim and those on high levels. Every person that carries the identity of a Jew has this deep emunah embedded within. At times it may be dormant, but remove a layer and it is right there. This has been proven time and time again throughout our history, in every generation, and again most recently on Simchas Torah. Not just the great tzaddikim but every Jew. To hear the stories of how a girl that gets dragged into captivity in Gaza and suddenly on her own accord decides that she must keep Shabbos and kosher? She begs her captive for a siddur to daven from? “My Children,” says Hashem, “are מאמינים בני מאמינים.”

Rav Chaim Soloveitchik zt”l once pointed out that the Gemara states (Pesachim 25b): if a goy comes to Yid and says, “kill this other Jew or I will kill you”, the halacha is יהרוג ואל יעבר- one must allow themselves to get killed rather than killing another Jew. The logic, says the Gemara is that, “who says your blood is redder than his?” Why do you think that you are more valuable to Hashem than the next Jew? Rav Chaim explained that if the discussion was to kill the greatest tzaddik or get killed, one would of course say, well in this case, sure, the tzaddik takes precedence. After all, how can a regular simple Jew compare to a great lofty tzaddik.

Zogt Rav Chaim Brisker – the Gemara makes no such qualification! In fact, we don’t even need a Gemara to tell us this. The Gemara’s novelty is that even when comparing the simplest Jew, we say this halacha. Why? Because we absolutely have no way of measuring the value of another Jew in Hashem’s “eyes”. The greatness of their Yiddishkeit within may not always be on full display, but it is most definitely always burning, waiting to burst forth. “My Children,” says Hashem, “are מאמינים בני מאמינים.”

Good Shabbos,  מרדכי אפפעל