פרשת וארא
Last week’s Parsha described to us how even though Moshe Rabenu was raised in the King’s palace, he did not refrain from going out to the camps where the Jewish people were laboring. Rashi comments on this verse that Moshe left the palace in order to empathize with his brethren and personally witness the difficulties that they were experiencing. The Midrash says further that specifically because of this attribute of empathy with his brethren which Moshe displayed for the Jewish people by leaving his daily affairs to view the Jews’ suffering, he merited in having the Divine Presence appear to him at the bush.
Similarly in this week’s Parsha, we see the same theme repeated. The Shelah Hakadosh makes an intriguing inference on the verse in this week’s Parsha. Regarding all of the tribes, the verse says, “ואלה בני ראובן, ואלה בני שמעון” , yet when the Torah delineates the children of Levi, the verse says, “ואלה שמות בני לוי” . The Shelah explains this apparent discrepancy as follows: We know that Levi was not involved with the work an Egypt. The Egyptians exempted them on account of their elevated spiritual status. Yet Levi wanted to empathize with his brothers’ unimaginable burden. To do this, he named his children, “גרשון, קהת, ומררי” . Gershon – because we are strangers in this land. Kehat – Because their teeth were weakened from such difficult work. And Merari – Because their lives were made bitter by the Egyptians. God was so impressed by the fact that Levi named his children in sympathy with what his brothers were going through, that He added an extra word in the Torah to accentuate this action – “ואלה שמות בני לוי” .
Perhaps we could even add one point to this profound Shelah. When Moshe went out in last week’s Parsha, it was in order to see how he could help his brothers. In this week’s Parsha, Levi had no way to physically or even emotionally aid the other tribes in any way. Yet Levi still took the initiative to at least sympathize with their plight, even though there was nothing he could really do. He even went so far as to give physical expression to the sympathetic pain he was feeling by naming his children on the basis of this pain even though he was unable to help them. This, says the Torah, is still called empathy, and in a certain respect, is even greater then the first way because it is less gratifying.
I found this concept expressed splendidly in the writing of R’ Bergman, the son in law of R’ Shach. R’ Bergman writes that the primary function of empathy is not necessarily expressed in action, but rather in noticing the challenges of the people around us, and truly being able to listen to and identify with our friends’ problems. If one is unable to do this, he will never be able to truly help his friend because he won’t even relate to the fact that his friend has a problem. When one develops himself to the point that he is able to truly feel what the people around him are going through, that is the most effective way to help them. R’ Bergman illustrates this concept by quoting what the Torah says about Moshe Rabenu. When the Jews were fighting the battle with Amalek, Moshe was only willing to sit on a rock. The Gemorah in תענית, דף י”א says that Moshe said to himself, “How could I sit on anything nicer when the Jewish people are in pain”? Even though this didn’t help them in any way, Moshe felt the need to make himself uncomfortable in empathy with his brethren.
I found a book about the Chofetz Chaim which relates that during World War I, when many Jews were forced to give up their lives, the Chofetz Chaim was said to constantly have a worried look on his face. It was as if he had aged ten years overnight. One night, his wife woke up in middle of the night to discover that he was no where to be seen. After an extensive search of the house, she finally found him sleeping on a wooden bench in the living room. When she questioned him about his bizarre behavior, he responded, “How can I sleep in my bed when my brothers are dying of hunger and cold outside”. The Chofetz Chaim clearly felt the pain that the Jewish people were going through even though there was nothing he could do about it.
Truthfully, when one feels this empathy for the Jewish people, he is emulating his creator. We find in many places that when the Jewish people are going through a difficult time, the Shecinah itself is in pain, so to speak. Chazal say that God appeared to Moshe in a thorn bush in order to show that He wasn’t comfortable, so to speak, while His children were slaves to the Egyptians.
Perhaps we can conclude with the Midrash on this week’s Parsha which makes another frightening point. The Midrash says that specifically because Hashem witnessed Moshe leaving the palace to identify with his brothers’ challenges, Hashem’s own pity for his children was aroused and this led to their ultimate redemption. We see from this Midrash that when we identify with the difficulties that the people around us are going through, we give Hashem the ability to help them, so to speak, and the entire Jewish people! This is a very empowering point. Our empathy for someone else actually generates Hashem’s sympathy and aid to that person!
May God help us to develop this crucial attribute of empathy so that He can help the entire Jewish people!