Rabbi Frand on Parshas Shemos
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: Tape # 222, Disposal
of Shaimos. Good Shabbos!
Kindness and Truth -- The Sequence Is Critical
The Torah tells us that Pharaoh's daughter went out to bathe in the Nile and
saw a little basket floating among the reeds. She retrieved the basket and
opened it, and saw the crying baby inside. She had pity on him and realized
that it was one of the Hebrews' babies. [Shmos 2:5-6]
The pasuk [verse] describing this incident seems somewhat inverted. The
sequence should be, "she opened the basket and saw the baby and recognized
that it was a Jewish child; she heard that it was crying and had pity on
it". In that way, seeing the baby would have been connected to recognizing
that it was a Jewish child. The pasuk reads, however, that after seeing the
baby, Pharaoh's daughter first hears the crying and has pity. Then she
recognizes that the child is a Jewish child. The identity of the baby came
only after the fact that Pharaoh's daughter had compassion for the child --
not before.
Rav Nissan Alpert shared an insight into this pasuk when he delivered a
hesped [eulogy] at the funeral of his teacher, Rav Moshe Feinstein. Rav
Alpert illustrated this pasuk by explaining one of Rav Feinstein's
philosophies of life.
Rav Alpert recalled that people had a complaint about Rav Moshe Feinstein.
Rav Moshe wrote more approbations on Torah books than we would want to count.
Rav Moshe was known as a "big maskim" since he wrote so many letters of
approval (haskamas) for other people on their Torah literary output. He did
this to an extent that people felt that a letter of approval from Rav Moshe
Feinstein was "cheap". It was as if anyone who could sign his name could get
a 'haskama' from Rav Moshe.
The same was true regarding letters of recommendation or letters attesting
to need, etc. Often, these letters did not have the impact that one would
have expected, because there were so many such letters. Rav Alpert related
that people came to Rav Moshe with the complaint that he was cheapening his
name and his letters by issuing them so freely.
Rav Alpert explained that there are two mutually exclusive concepts --
Chessed [Kindness] and Emes [Truth]. Chessed is performed without thinking
and considering -- it is just a favor, a good deed. Truth is an absolute
quality -- right or wrong, true or false.
It is no coincidence that the word Chessed always precedes the word Emes
wherever the two terms are used together in the Torah. (For example:
Bereshis 24:49; Shmos 34:6; Yehoshua 2:14) If Emes would precede Chessed, we
would never reach Chessed. If our perspective on life would always be
'Truth', then no one would ever be worthy of receiving any Kindness. No
school would receive support, no institution would receive a donation, no
poor person would receive a hand out, nobody would receive an approbation.
No one stands up to the test of Truth. The only approach in life must be
"And do with me Kindness and Truth" [Bereshis 47:29].
Rav Moshe's philosophy in life was that a person's natural reaction must be
Chessed first. It may subsequently be tempered with Emes, but the initial
response must be Chessed.
When Pharaoh's daughter picked up the basket, the first thing she saw was a
baby crying that needed help. If she would have started asking "Who? What?
Where does he come from? Does he deserve help?" the kindness would never
have started. That is what we learn from this pasuk.
The Medrash says that Moshe was called by ten different names, but G-d would
only address him by the name given to him by Basya, daughter of Pharaoh --
in order to emphasize the reward deserved by those who do acts of kindness.
What was Basya's approach, which was so deserving of reward? "You see the
baby crying? -- Have mercy. Ask questions later. Later you can stop to think
'Who is he?' A Hebrew."
That was Basya's spirit and that was the spirit she imbued into Moshe
Rabbeinu. For that is the spirit a Jewish leader must have -- the spirit of
'Chessed' and then 'Emes'. If we allow Emes to come first, we will never
reach Chessed.
The Key To Revelation: Why Doesn't It Get Consumed By The Fire?
Rav Alpert related another insight involving the famous story of Moshe
Rabbeinu and the burning bush. "Let me go look and see this wondrous sight -
- why isn't the bush consumed?" [3:3] Immediately thereafter, a most
historic event took place: G-d first appeared to Moshe.
Herein lies a message -- a message about achieving Belief in G-d (Emunah).
How does one convince himself that there is a Master of the Universe?
This is an age-old question that has bothered man since the beginning of
time -- how does one know there is a G-d? According to the Jewish religion,
every person is obligated to believe that there is a G-d. This applies to
all people, regardless of whether they have tremendous IQs or not,
regardless of whether they are great philosophers or not and regardless of
whether they are of great intellectual standing or not. How does one arrive
at such an awareness?
This verse tells us how Moshe Rabbeinu became convinced that there is a G-d.
Moshe came to this conclusion based on a question that he had. It was not a
complicated question, nor was it a deep question. It was a simple question
that anyone could have asked: Why doesn't the bush burn up? Immediately
after Moshe asked this question, G-d appeared to him.
What is the lesson in this?
The biggest proof that G-d exists is that we are still around. There is a
question -- "Why doesn't the bush burn?" How can one bush experience so
many fires and still not be consumed? The answer to that question is "And
G-d spoke..." -- i.e. -- because there is a G-d.
The story is told that Frederick the Great asked the wise men of his court for
a succinct proof for the existence of G-d. The answer he was given was just
two words -- "the Jews".
Since there exists a G-d and he has a Chosen People whom He protects, we can
understand how it is that the 'bush' -- the Jewish Nation -- is not
consumed.
Today (December 26, 1991) was a historic day. Something occurred today that I
never thought would happen. Today, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
officially went out of business. I don't know what it was like when the
Roman Empire ceased to exist. I don't know if there was a specific date on
the calendar that people could point to and say, "today Rome went out of
business". But we saw the USSR go out of business.
If anyone had told us this 3 years ago, we would not have believed it. If
they had told us even a year ago, we would not have believed it. I grew up
in an era of Sputnik and of Nikita Krushchev yelling "We will bury you".
There was a real bona fide uncertainty and fear that maybe he was right.
The USSR was not only an Evil Empire; it was a Mighty Empire as well. I grew
up in a time when we had to catch up with the Russians. We had to increase
our study of science and math because they were beating us.
To think, after 74 years it literally came apart -- the wheels just came
off! I keep on saying to myself that if Rav Ruderman, zt"l, would have been
alive during this period, it would have been impossible to tear him away
from the radio. He hated the Communists with a passion. The worst thing he
could call a person was a Bolshevik. He would literally be dancing today.
This mighty Empire is now out of business.
So how is it that the 'little bush' was not consumed? We are a tiny little
nation that has been oppressed for thousands of years. We never put up a
Sputnik and we never put a man in space. Why doesn't the bush get consumed?
There is only one answer to that -- because there is a G-d in Heaven. It
requires no great intellect to realize this.
Sources and Personalities
Rav Moshe Feinstein -- (1895-1986) Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivtha Tifereth
Jerusalem, NY. One of contemporary Jewry's foremost
halachic decisors.
Rav Nissan Alpert -- Rav of the Agudah of Long Island in Far Rockaway and
Maggid Shiur at Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchak Elchanan.
Died shortly after Rav Moshe in 1986.
Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman -- (1901-1987) Rosh Yeshiva and founder (1933)
of Ner Israel Rabbinical College; Baltimore.
Chofetz Chaim -- (1838-1933) Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohen of Radin. Author of
basic works in Jewish Law and Jewish values (halacha,
hashkafa, and mussar).
Rabbi Berel Wein -- Noted author and lecturer. Formerly Congregational
Rabbi, head of OU Kashrus and Rosh Yeshiva in Monsey,
NY. Currently resides in Jerusalem.
This write-up was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tape series on the weekly Torah portion.
The complete list of halachic topics covered in this series for Parshas
Shmos are provided below:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
and is available through your local Hebrew book store or from
Project Genesis, 1-410-654-1799.
