THE WEEKLY SIDRA- YISRO

Rabbi Moshe Greebel

     The irony of a situation may be defined as an expression of that which is humorous or amusing, because it involves complete opposites.  A few examples might appear as:

“Many Washington officials in secret, believe their policies to be inconsistent.” 

“There were Washington lobbyists who worked against President Bush’s ‘Do Not Call Bill,’ while secretly being signed up for it.”  

The concept that HaShem punishes in the manner of Mida K’neged Mida (measure for measure), which is an irony in itself, has existed in the Torah, long before Sophocles ever employed it in a play.   Consider a few examples of this principle:

Because Cham wanted to prevent his father from having a fourth son (for the sake of a larger inheritance), Noach cursed Cham’s fourth son Canaan.  Because the Egyptians drowned the male B’nai Yisroel babies in the Nile, these same Egyptians were drowned at Kriyas Yam Suf (the ripping apart of the Reed Sea).  Haman, who planned to hang Mordechai from a fifty cubit gallows, found himself ingloriously being hanged from the very same scaffold. 

While the list goes on and on, this week’s Sidra, in which Yisro, the father-in-law of Moshe, praised HaShem for what He did to the Egyptians at the Yam Suf (Reed Sea), illustrates to us a most interesting perspective of the irony of Mida K’neged Mida:

“Now I know that HaShem is greater than all gods; for in the thing where they dealt in a conniving manner, He was above them.”  (Sh’mos 18:11)

Now, what exactly is the meaning of this ‘conniving manner’ of the Egyptians?  To ascertain this information, we turn our attentions to the Chasam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer [Schreiber] 1762- 1839) of blessed memory, in his text Toras Moshe, wherein this question is addressed.

It must at all times be understood that the words that make up LaShon HaKodesh have multiple meanings.  The Chasam Sofer began by citing the Gemarah in Sotah 11a (quoted on this Passuk by Rashi), which gives us an alternate meaning of the word ‘Zadu’ (they dealt in a conniving manner):

“What is the meaning of ‘Asher Zadu’ (that they dealt in a conniving manner)?  In the pot in which they cooked, they were cooked (a very ironic situation).  Where is it learned that ‘Zadu’ means cooking?  Because it is written, ‘And Ya’akov cooked (Vayazed) pottage…..’” (B’raishis 25:29)

Now, being cooked in the very pot in which one was cooking, is very much in the satirical spirit of Mida K’neged Mida, noted the Chasam Sofer.  But, is there a more significant meaning in this culinary perception of Mida K’neged Mida?  There certainly is.

The Chasam Sofer instructs that at the Yam Suf, HaShem technically did not make direct war against the Egyptian cavalry, nor did He personally drown them either by going metaphorically out of His way to bring water on them from another location, or by holding the riders’ and their horses’ heads below the waters of the Yam Suf. 

Rather, He wrought a Nais (miracle), which caused the waters of the Sea to rise from both sides as walls, through which the B’nai Yisroel passed on dry land.  The Pharaoh, through his intemperance and spitefulness, ordered his cavalry to enter the Sea as well on the dry land.  But, as soon as the B’nai Yisroel emerged from the Sea, HaShem removed the strong wind which initially split the waters, and natural law took effect again, thus, causing the walls of water to fall upon the Egyptian cavalry.

Hence, the destruction of the Egyptian cavalry, taught the Chasam Sofer, was more by means of passivity on the part of HaShem, and not through any active deliberate action of destruction.  The Egyptian cavalry was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Now, while this may be a very informative perception, where is the irony of Mida K’neged Mida in this passivity of HaShem, which allowed the Egyptian cavalry to be drowned in this manner? 

The Chasam Sofer responded that the Pharaoh, his ministers, and his generals sinned in this very exact way, when it came to murdering the male B’nai Yisroel babies.

As per the Ramban, the Chasam Sofer explained, the Pharaoh never gave a direct command publicly to drown the male B’nai Yisroel babies.  Genocide would have been completely against Egyptian law, and the Pharaoh would have risked setting off a rebellion against his rule.  Instead, the Pharaoh and his ministers quietly told the Egyptian people that if anyone drowned a B’nai Yisroel baby, no punishment whatsoever would be forthcoming when the father of the drowned child came to the authorities to lodge his complaint.  Having many loyal followers among the Egyptian people who wanted to please the Pharaoh, the drownings went into effect, without a direct command or order from the Pharaoh.

We refer to such strategy as ‘shedding the blood of war in peace,’ which comes from Sefer M’lachim I, wherein Dovid warned his son Shlomo about the deceitfulness of Yoav Ben Tzruya.  Now, while Dovid at this time had an official peace treaty with Avner Ben Ner and Amasha Ben Yeser, both who previously fought against him, Yoav took advantage of that peace treaty to coldly murder both Avner and Amasha in very devious and underhanded manners:

“And also you know what Yoav Ben Tzruya did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the armies of Yisroel, to Avner, the son of Ner, and to Amasha, the son of Yeser, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle around his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.”  (M’lachim I 2:5)    

In other words, because the Pharaoh and his ministers took a passive role in the murdering of the male babies (shedding the blood of war in peace), the Mida K’neged Mida of the punishment of the Egyptians at the Yam Suf, was that HaShem was ironically passive as well, when natural law took over, and the waters of the Yam Suf spilled onto the Egyptian cavalry.

  Concerning ‘In the pot in which they cooked, they were cooked,’ the Chasam Sofer cited the famous Av Bais Din (head magistrate of Bais Din) Rav Mordechai Benet (1753- 1829) of Hungary of blessed memory, who tied together this irony of a passive Mida K’neged Mida and cooking from the Gemarah in B’rachos 56b:

  “If one sees a pot in his dreams, he should rise early and say, ‘HaShem, You will establish peace for us,’ before another verse occurs to him.”

What has the pot to do with peace?  Rav Mordechai answered that if water is simply thrown onto fire, a violent reaction (war of a kind) takes place.  However, when cooking, using the same fire and water, the pot makes peace between the fire and the water, even though the fire still rages, and the water heats- which is another way of ‘shedding the blood of war in peace.’  

  And, that is why, noted the Chasam Sofer in the name of Rav Mordechai, the Gemarah in Sotah 11a used the example of the pot to describe shedding the blood of war in peace, to illustrate how the Pharaoh and his ministers went about drowning the male babies.  Basically, the Pharaoh was cooked in the same pot of shedding the blood of war in peace (passivity), with which he cooked- a very ironic situation throughout.

 May we soon see the G’ulah Sh’laimah in its complete resplendency- and in our times.  Good Shabbos.