As I write this D'var Torah during the aseres y'mei t'shuvah, as a matter of fact on September 11, thoughts of din, judgment, and the merits needed to be sealed in the Book of Life are darting through my mind. Over the past few days I have been studying Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon's sefer Matnas Chayim trying to grasp the special quality of these days. One of the pearls that I have gained from his work can be utilized by all of us to do our share to bring the ge'ulah bimheira v'yameinu, speedily in our days. We can begin to learn about this tool based on a quote from the malachim, the angels, that visit Sodom in our parsha.

In Parshat Vayeitzei, Yaakov Avinu flees to his mother's family because of a fear of Eisav. On his way to Lavan's house, Yaakov goes to sleep. He dreams of a ladder whose top reaches the heavens. On it were angels going up and going down. The Da'as Zkeinim Miba'alei Tosfos explain that the angels going up were being readmitted into heaven after an exile of 135 years. Why were they exiled? The Da'as Zkeinim explains that these were the angels that had visited Abraham and had gone to destroy Sodom. However, while on their mission, as they conveyed the news of the impending destruction to Lot and his family, they said, (Bereishis, Parshat Vayera 19:13) "Ki mashchisim anachnu" - "Because we are going to destroy" Sodom. Since they took false credit for the demolition, taking the focus away from the Divine source of the destruction, they were exiled for all of these years.

Actually, we have a phrase found in Chazal that teaches this lesson with positive reinforcement. Someone who gives credit properly brings redemption from exile. The Mishnah in Avos (6,6) mentions one of the forty-eight prerequisites for acquiring Torah as being, "Anyone who says something in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world." How do we know this? We learn it from Esther. The Megillah describes the plotting of a palace coup by Bigsan and Seresh, guards of Achashveirosh. Then the Megillah relates, "Vatomeir Esther lamelech b'sheim Mordechai" - "And Esther related [news of the plot] to Achashveirosh in the name of Mordechai." In other words, because Esther gave credit to her informant, Mordechai, she merited being the conduit for the salvation of the Jews from Haman's wicked plans.

As I read Rabbi Solomon's sefer, question marks popped up in my mind. Why is this practice so meritorious? No doubt it is the right thing to do. After all, it is ethically improper to take false credit, to plagiarize, or perpetrate any type of deceit or fraud. Does this seemingly ethically elementary behavior cause Esther to deserve to be the conduit for the salvation of the Jewish people from perhaps the greatest threat of all time, Haman?

Rabbi Solomon quotes from the Maharal (Derech Hachayim on Avos). "When G-d brings redemption, G-d wants it known that He causes the redemption. They should not say, 'HaShem wasn't responsible for all of this. It was their wisdom and power.'"

The Maharal continues. We find the same concern with the redemption from Mitzrayim. The possuk says, "V'yadu Mitzrayim ki ani HaShem b'hotzi'i osam mei'erertz mitzrayim" - "The Egyptians should know that I am HaShem when I take them (the Jewish people) from the land of Egypt." The focus of the redemption had to remain solely on G-d.

Therefore, Esther was the perfect person to be a conduit for the redemption. G-d, so to speak, felt very comfortable that His role in the redemption of the Jewish people from Haman's plan would not be obfuscated by a headline grabbing, honor starved figure. Esther, by not grabbing the spotlight and the possible rewards for saving the king's life, but rather, giving credit to Mordechai for revealing Bigsan and Seresh's assassination plot, had proven herself to be worthy of the trust of G-d. G-d could be confidant that credit for the future redemption from Haman's hand would be given properly, to the Master of the Universe and not hoarded by flesh and blood. Therefore, Esther merited being the conduit of the redemption.

In truth, one of the common denominators that we can find among the leaders that G-d has chosen for us to follow at the time of our redemptions is this unselfish dedication to recognizing privately and publicly the Divine hand in our lives. Moshe Rabbeinu, our leader at the ge'ulas mitzrayim is a perfect example.

At the beginning of Sh'mos we are introduced to Moshe Rabbeinu first as a baby then with a few snapshots of his first eighty years. We read about the Jew who he saved by killing the Egyptian. Then we learn about his rebuke to two quarreling Jews. Subsequently, Moshe flees for his life and ends up in Midyan saving the daughters of Yisro from fellow shepherds. When Yisro sees his daughters returning home early he asks, "Why have you hurried home today? They responded, "An Egyptian man saved us from the hands of the shepherds."

"Who was the Egyptian man?" the Medresh inquires. The Medresh offers a parable. A scorpion bit a man. Immediately, he ran to the nearest river to place his foot in the water. As he put his foot in the water, he looked up and saw a young boy drowning in the river. The man hurried and saved the young boy. "Thank you", the boy said, "If it wasn't for you, I would have been dead." The man responded, "I did not save you. Rather, it was the scorpion that bit me that saved you."

So too, the Medresh concludes, the daughters of Yisro thanked Moshe for saving them from the shepherds. Moshe responded, "It was that Egyptian man that I killed - he saved you."

 

Besides seeing the deep humility of Moshe Rabbeinu, we see the deep understanding that Moshe had of hashgachas HaShem, of HaShem's Divine providence. It was now obvious to Moshe that HaShem wanted Moshe to flee Mitzrayim in order to save Yisro's daughters. Now it was clear to Moshe that HaShem had facilitated his viewing the beating of the Jew by the Egyptian. Consequently, Moshe felt the need to intervene to save the Jew by killing the Egyptian. Then the quarrelling Jews tried to have Moshe executed for killing that Egyptian which prompted Moshe to flee to Midyan. Finally, Moshe was in a position to save Yisro's daughters.

Was there anyone better at giving credit where credit is due than Moshe Rabbeinu? Would G-d have to fear that Moshe would try to grab the headlines or beat his chest with pride if he would be the general leading the Jewish people out of Egypt? Of course not! Moshe had proven himself trustworthy of keeping the focus of redemption on its true cause - HaShem. Therefore, it is not surprising to see Moshe Rabbeinu being appointed as G-d's agent for the mission of the redemption from Egypt immediately after this story about Moshe's helping Yisro's daughters.

As I try to integrate these lessons into my being and subsequently into my life, I feel compelled to see the responsibility and opportunity that we are being challenged with right now. As the gedolim have stated, we must be careful not to be caught up in the politics of the confrontation between our brethren in Israel and the Palestinians. America's fight against terrorism shouldn't distract us. We shouldn't be blinded by the threat from Iraq. We must look behind the veil of these threats to the guiding force behind them. We don't want to fall into the trap that the malachim fell into in Sodom - casting HaShem's role into the shadows. Rather, we must recognize G-d's hand in these world events and turn to the gedolim for the messages that we should learn. Then, when we recognize the hand of G-d, as Moshe recognized the Divine providence in his life, we can hope to be the conduits for the next ge'ulah bimheira v'yameinu.