Daf Yomi: Menachos 110
Guest Author:
Rabbi Asher Vale
Associate Member, Young
Israel Council of Rabbis
After two hundred
and ten years of slavery and suffering, the time for the Jews to leave
Egypt had finally arrived. HaShem sent Moshe and Aaron to speak to Pharoh
and demand that he allow the Hebrew slaves to depart from his country.
However, they were immediately rebuffed. "You are lax, lax!" Pharoh said
of the Jews and he proceeded to increase their workload.
Moshe, under pressure from a now even more frustrated people, turns to the
Creator and asks, "My L-rd, why have You harmed this people, why have You
sent me?" HaShem's response, as recorded in the opening sentence of the
Parshah, is to simply say, "I am HaShem." Rashi reveals to us that what
the Al-Mighty meant was, "I have not sent you in vain. Rather, to fulfill
My words that I spoke to the Avot (the patriarchs) . . . I am faithful to
exact punishment."
HaShem then goes on to give Moshe a brief history lesson. He describes to
him the way in which He had appeared to each of the Avot and established a
covenant with them. Rashi explains that HaShem was saying to Moshe that He
was not known to the Avot in the same active way in which the Jews would
now experience Him. When it came to the Avot, HaShem made promises to them
that they didn't live to see Him fulfill.
Why was it necessary for the Al-Mighty to tell Moshe all this? Didn't the
initial assurance, implied by the words, "I am HaShem," suffice? Perhaps,
one could suggest, the Al-Mighty had a message for Moshe to pass on to the
Jews at this crucial moment in their history. It would not be long before
HaShem would do all kinds of wondrous and miraculous things for them. He
wanted them to understand, however, that a relationship with the Creator
cannot be based solely on what He does for you. A person has to be able to
appreciate HaShem even when He appears, so to speak, to be inactive or
passive.
There are many opportunities for a person to understand HaShem this way.
One example can be found in the section of the Shulchan Aruch (Orach
Chaim, Chapter 151) that contains the laws pertaining to the sanctity of a
synagogue. Certain activities, it points out, may not be done in a shul,
like eating, drinking and sicha batela - idle chatter. A synagogue should
be a place that is reserved exclusively for dovening.
Nevertheless, it may be necessary, from time to time, to enter a shul in
order to call someone out. In such a case, the Shulchan Aruch instructs
the person going in to momentarily study Torah before speaking to the
other party. That way it doesn't appear like he's come into the synagogue
for his own private, mundane purposes. If he doesn't know how to learn,
continues the Shulchan Aruch, he should at the very least "linger for a
short while before leaving, for [just] sitting in [a shul] is a mitzvah,
as it says, 'Fortunate are those who sit in Your house." This is an
example of how a person can enjoy HaShem's presence without anything or
expecting anything from HaShem. Even a seemingly passive relationship with
the Al-Mighty is a mitvah.
Once a year there is a day during which we are expected to relate to
HaShem in this way. It is Shemini Atzeret. The Gemara (Sukkah 55b; cited
by Rashi, Bamidbar 29:35) uses an analogy to explain why this holiday
falls out immediately after Sukkot. A king instructed his servants to
prepare a large banquet. Then, on the last day of the feast, he asked a
loved one to now make another small party "so that I can enjoy you�.
Sukkot is a time when we're busy doing many different mitzvot - living in
the sukkah, taking the lulav and etrog, and bringing offerings on behalf
of the other nations of the world. However, Shemini Atzeret is a holiday
set aside for deriving pleasure from HaShem in a general sense.
When Moshe conveyed HaShem's message to the Jewish people, they did not
listen to him, "because of shortness of spirit and hard work�. Two
centuries of oppression made it difficult for the Jews to appreciate the
greatness of HaShem until He would do something for them.
Most Jews today are fortunate to have a much less stress-filled existence
than our ancestors in Egypt. We should regularly take the time to
contemplate the role that HaShem plays in our day to day lives, even when
it is not that obvious.
