פרשת בשלח
This week’s Parsha tells us that as the Jews were exiting Egypt, Moshe himself fulfilled the oath of locating the remains of Yosef in order to exhume them and rebury them in the land of Israel. The Midrash comments on the extraordinary effort which Moshe put into meeting the terms of this oath. The Midrash explains that Moshe had to search for Yosef’s remains for three days before he finally got some clue as to where to look from Serach the daughter of Asher. Additionally, when Moshe finally located Yosef’s coffin at the bottom of the Nile, he had to pray to God for mercy, being that there was nothing he could physically do to remove it at which point the coffin miraculously floated to the river bed and Moshe personally carried it on his shoulders. During this time, the Jews were busy gathering gold and silver from the Egyptians as God commanded them to do in lieu of the 210 years of service to the Egyptians. The Midrash concludes by praising Moshe’s actions with the apt verse, “The wise one will acquire Mitzvos”.
However this Midrash is inherently difficult. Why does the Midrash praise Moshe’s actions specifically? The Jews were also performing God’s will by collecting the gold and silver as they were commanded. Yet the Midrash seems to imply that their actions were not as praiseworthy as Moshe’s. The answer to this difficulty is obvious. Although it is certainly true that the repossession of the Egyptian’s property was a Mitzvah, it was not the choicest of Mitzvos at that time. The Mizvah of collecting the booty from Egypt was an easy Mitzvah to perform, laden with personal gain and pleasure. Moshe’s Mitzvah was solely to obey the word of God, with no personal gain involved and in fact, was fraught with great personal sacrifice and toil as we mentioned.
For most of us today, this Midrash offers two very powerful lessons. Very few people disobey God openly. But most of us choose to do the Mitzvos which are convenient and pleasant, not really willing to exert too much energy in pleasing God. Yet we see from Moshe Rabenu that this is not the correct attitude. We must perform the Mitzvos based on an objective analysis of what is the greatest good we can accomplish, regardless of the physical discomfort that this might result in. And secondly, when we are in the process of performing a difficult Mizvah, we have a tendency to give up quickly, claiming that God would not expect us to work so hard, whereas if the same effort were to be required in business, we would not hesitate to ‘do what it takes’ for monetary gain. The Torah is teaching us that we must recalibrate our values and based on that understanding, act accordingly.
Furthermore, we find an interesting discrepancy in the verses. When Yosef commanded his children to bring his remains into Israel, he used the phrase “אתכם” – “Take my body with you”, yet when Moshe actually fulfilled his ancestor’s words, the Torah says that he took Yosef’s bones “עמו” with an ע . This anomaly can be understood as follows: Yosef only expected his descendants to bring his bier into Israel as a tertiary agenda, convinced that the Jews would not have much time to deal with this seemingly insignificant task in the midst of their monumental preparations for entering into the land of Israel. Yet Moshe took it upon himself to make this Mitzvah a primary goal in the extraction of the Jews from Egypt paying every possible respect to this holy task. Hence the word עמו , which implies that Yosef’s posthumous exhumation was of utmost importance to Moshe. Indeed, we find that at Moshe’s behest, Yosef’s coffin traveled next to the Holy Arc at all times (סוטה י”ג) . From here we see how seriously Moshe took each Mitzvah and with what care and attention to detail we must attempt to fulfill God’s will.
Truthfully, this concept of how seriously a person takes his Mitzvah observance is an integral factor in determining his level of service of God. The Gemorah in ברכות, דף ל”ה: says that the earlier generations are not like the later generations. In the earlier times, the people used to bring their produce in from the fields in such a way that their produce would be obligated in tithes so that they could perform this holy Mitzvah. Whereas the later generations would bring the fruits through the windows in such a fashion that they would be exempt from tithing. Although the later generations were very stringent about Mitzvah observance and what they did was technically permitted, and they would never dream of doing anything against the letter of the law, the Gemorah still refers to them in a derogatory manner because of their attempt to exempt themselves from a Mitzvah.
Similarly, the Gemorah in עבודה זרה, דף ב’ says that in the future, the non-Jews will complain that had they been given a chance, they would have also kept the Torah. God will then humor them by giving them the Mitzvah of Succah at which point they will all construct their Sucahs. However, it will be a very hot Succos and the non-Jews will leave their Succahs, kicking them over on their way out from frustration. The Gemoras asks, however, this does not prove anything since even Jews are exempt from the Mitzvah of Sucah on such a hot day. The Gemorah answers that while it is true that the Jews would also be exempt, but they won’t kick over their Succahs due to their appreciation and respect for the holy Mitzvah and in fact, they will feel anguish over their lack of ability to do God’s will. From here we see how a small change in attitude can make all the difference in the world.
Perhaps we could conclude with a story that the Brisker Rav used to tell over every year in his Sucah. There was once a Jew in a small town who worked as the local water carrier. He was paid a small sum to deliver water to the people of the town from the nearby well. Now in those times, purchasing an Esrog was so expensive, that the entire town would pool their resources to acquire one for the local Rabbi, and everyone would take turns using it. Well this simple water carrier decided together with his wife that he wanted to purchase an Esrog that year. But when they checked their finances, they realized that the only way they could afford an Esrog would be to sell their house and move into a shack. Still, his wife encouraged him to go ahead and do it. However, even after selling their house, he found that he had to save up for six months in order to purchase the Esrog. Finally around Ellul time, he had all the funds allocated and he went to procure his Esrog. People came from far and wide to have a look at this simple man’s flawless Esrog during that month before Succos. Shortly before Succos, one man came from out of town to our water carrier’s house in order to catch a glimpse of the ‘famous’ Esrog. The man’s wife let him in and as he was handling it, the coveted Esrog fell to the ground, knocking of its stem, rendering it invalid. The water carrier’s wife was devastated, but was more nervous about how her husband would take the news. So she asked the local doctor to be present when he came home from work. She began by breaking the news to him slowly. When she finally came out with it, he gave a long sigh and commented, “Nu, it seems that Hashem didn’t want me to do the Mitzvah of Esrog this year”.
We can learn from this astonishing story a number of points. Firstly, as our Rosh Yeshiva says often, observing the Mitzvos is nothing more then doing God’s will. If God doesn’t want us to observe them, then we won’t. But additionally we see how beloved a Mitzvah must be to Jew and what attitude a Jew must have when relating to the precious nature of a Mitzvah.
May God help us to develop a proper understanding of the value of His Mitzvos!