Benefitting From Hashem’s Concealment

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

This week’s parsha documents the national tragedy of the sin of the Golden Calf and Moshe’s subsequent breaking of the luchos (the tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were engraved). It is clear 32:19 that seeing Klal Yisrael engaged in sin so soon after Maamad Har Sinai made Moshe Rabbeinu very angry, and it was necessary from him to express this to them publicly. Nevertheless, these luchos were an extraordinary gift from heaven. Chazal say that they were so powerful that they were capable of rectifying the sin of Adam Harishon, and would surely have elevated Klal Yisrael to a much higher level. Why did Moshe see fit to break them?

My great uncle, the Meshech Chachma, begins answering this question by clarifying what exactly was the sin of the Golden Calf:

We have a natural tendency to want to follow what we see with our eyes, and what we don’t see is hard to relate to. This makes it hard to relate to Hashem, because we do not see Him. Even the dor hamidbar, who witnessed many miracles, never saw Hashem, and therefore they too had difficulty clinging to a G-d that they could not see. When they saw Moshe performing miracles, they gave in to this natural urge and viewed Moshe as the source of their salvation. Ultimately, everyone knew that Moshe was Hashem’s shaliach; nevertheless, they felt that they needed some tangible representative of Hashem before them, and seeing Moshe perform miracles misled some of the nation into believing that he possessed powers independent of Hashem. He was their salvation. They therefore concluded that if Moshe was gone, that meant that they had no one upon whom to rely. They needed Moshe and “his” miracles, and therefore sought for themselves an alternate leader.

This, concludes the Meshech Chachma, was their mistake. A tzaddik has no kochos of his own. Hashem gives him everything, and if the tzaddik is not present, Hashem can find other ways to care for His nation.

With this in mind, when Moshe saw that the nation had resorted to idolatry in his absence, he realized that he had no choice but to break the luchos. If people thought that he, a man of flesh and blood, possessed some heavenly power, they would certainly conclude that the luchos, which were written by G-d Himself, also have powers and would begin relying on them. Therefore, he broke the luchos before the stunned eyes of the nation to teach them that they have no recourse other than Hashem. No other “power,” however real it appears, exists independently of Hashem. The only direction to turn to is the Source.

The lesson for us is clear. Each of us has this yetzer hara of wanting to follow visible, tangible sources of success and salvation. We believe in the doctor’s ability to heal, the employer’s ability to sustain us financially, and the tzaddik’s power of bracha to provide us a yeshua. As natural as it may be, this outlook is wrong. This is a tragic error that can lead to denying Hashem’s role as the only power that exists.

Even if a person goes to a doctor, he must believe that this is only a shelichus. The source of salvation is Hashem alone. It is up to us to train ourselves to keep this fundamental principle in mind at all times. When we go to the doctor, the prayer we beg of Hashem for our recovery must be given more importance than the physical hishtadlus we make.

The Slonimer Rebbe adds that there is an even more subtle expression of this yetzer hara. Fine, we say to ourselves, we understand that we will not be able to see Hashem in this world and must recognize that any seeming power is really only an expression of Him. Still, we yearn to perceive Hashem’s righteous hanhaga (direction) of the world. It is hard to have complete emuna in Hashem and cling to Him when we do not understand what He is doing.

This yetzer hara is also addressed in our parsha. Just after atoning for Klal Yisrael’s sin of the golden calf, Moshe suddenly requests of Hashem: “Reveal to me, please, Your glory…” The meforshim ask: How could Moshe have made such a bold request just after Hashem agreed to do forgive the nation’s most terrible sin? Is this the time to ask that Hashem reveal Himself even more?

Rather, explains the Slonimer Rebbe, the sin of the Golden Calf revealed that the nation needed some way to relate to Hashem tangibly. Moshe reasoned that if actually seeing Hashem was not possible, they should at least be able to see tangibly His hanhaga of the world. Moshe felt that this was necessary to strengthen Klal Yisrael’s emuna.

Hashem refused this request, teaching that this is the way our world is supposed to operate. We are here to discover Hashem amidst the hester (hiddenness); not to have a complete picture before us, but to exert ourselves to try to cling to Hashem. The word for “world” in Hebrew (olam) is formed from the root that means hiddenness (he’elem). The reality of our world is that Hashem is hidden (a concept known as “hester panim“), and it is our job to reveal Him.

Rav Aharon Roiteh, author of Shomer Emunim, would explain to people that the hester panim of the world is for our benefit. Its purpose is for us to break through it and come closer to Hashem. When we succeed in breaking through, we merit a tremendous light.

He would say of himself that when he was younger he couldn’t concentrate in Torah study, but he davened for Hashem’s mercy and put in great efforts in learning until he finally broke through this wall of hester. He later testified about himself that he reached a level of concentration that enabled him to learn intently no matter how much commotion was going on around him.

This is the message of Purim, the episode of our history that took place amid total hester. The hester of this period was alluded to in the Torah in Hashem’s warning that if we turn away from Him, He will hide His face from us (“I will hide” in lashon kodesh is  “astir,” spelled with the same letters as the name Esther — Chulin 139b).  The extreme forms of mesirus nefesh practiced by Esther, Mordechai and the Jews of Shushan who fasted and prayed for three consecutive days was what broke through this hester and gained for Klal Yisrael the great light that remains for us to this day in the form of Purim.

A bachur who had previously been learning with great success once approached the Chazon Ish for advice about yissurim he was undergoing that were beyond his control. He felt hester panim in numerous areas of his life and asked what he could do about it.

“If this is what Hashem wants, this means that this is what is good for you,” answered the Chazon Ish. “Try as much as possible to maintain your previous schedule, and in the end you’ll see that from this very hester you’ll gain a lot of Torah.”

May we be zoche to recognize Hashem amidst the hester panim of this world!

Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger’s second volume of “Gedolei Yisrael on the Parsha” is coming soon! If you would like us to inform you as soon as it is published please email office@bircas.org..