"And He Will See You and Be Glad in His Heart" – Interpersonal Relationships as the Secret of Redemption • Parshat Shemot by Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a
The power of redemption comes from the greatest humility – the esteemed Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a explains in his fascinating lesson on this week's parsha, how Moshe Rabbeinu, due to his great humility, merited to redeem the people of Israel. And how humility is the foundation and gateway to redemption.
In Parshat Shemot, we begin to learn about the topic of the redemption from Egypt, and as is known, Moshe Rabbeinu is the leader chosen to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. When we observe the behavior, thoughts, and attributes of Moshe Rabbeinu, we understand what is required from the leader of the people of Israel and what we can learn from this topic. As is known, when Hashem tells him to go and ask the people of Israel, he resists, and there are several reasons why Moshe resisted going to redeem the people of Israel and being the messenger. One of the reasons, as Rashi writes, in the verse "And he said, 'Is not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart'" [Exodus 4:12], Rashi focuses on this point of why specifically "glad in his heart," and Rashi says a point written in the Midrash that Hashem told Moshe not to think that Aaron your brother will hold a grudge against you for not rising to greatness, rather "he will see you and be glad in his heart," that he will rejoice even in his heart and not just outwardly. And here the Midrash says that one of the reasons Moshe resisted going to redeem the people of Israel was because Aaron was older than him and was already a prophet in Egypt, and Moshe feared that Aaron might be jealous or saddened that Moshe was the one who merited to rise to greatness.
Sensitivity to Hurting a Jew – Even at the Cost of Redemption
We learn from here something very profound, because we are talking about the greatest historical event from the creation of the world until the coming of our righteous Mashiach. To bring the people of Israel out of Egypt and give them the Torah, and all this Moshe Rabbeinu fears for the internal feelings of his brother Aaron, that if Aaron would be saddened by him redeeming the people of Israel, he refuses to redeem them and is willing to forgo all the virtues and all the redemption of the people of Israel, just not to hurt a Jew even slightly. And when Hashem sees this, He reveals to Moshe, do not think that he will be hurt, rather "he will see you and be glad in his heart." He will rejoice even in his heart, and here we see the greatness and sensitivity of Moshe Rabbeinu, that he is not willing to go to redeem the people of Israel if it would hurt even slightly a Jew. This is the conduct and greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu's work on his attributes, but at the same time, we also see Aaron's greatness, as Hashem testifies that he will be glad in his heart with complete joy.
Joy in the Heart and Merit for the High Priesthood
Therefore, Rashi says that he merited the breastplate, which is on the heart, which is the Urim and Thummim that only the High Priest wears with the Urim and Thummim. From here, because he was glad in his heart, he merited to be the High Priest, and all his descendants would be High Priests. From here, we learn another point regarding redemption. Aaron merited the High Priesthood because he was not jealous of Moshe Rabbeinu, and if we contemplate this, Moshe and Aaron, the two great leaders of the people of Israel, what did they merit their leadership for? Because of their work on their attributes – Moshe is careful not to hurt anyone even slightly, and with Aaron, we see that even though his younger brother rises to greatness and is the leader of the people of Israel, Aaron does not envy or feel sorrow even a hair's breadth, and this is what Hashem reveals to Moshe Rabbeinu, "and he will be glad in his heart" that he will have complete joy even in his heart!
Refinement of Attributes as a Condition for Redemption
And from here, we see something profound, how great it is in Hashem's eyes, and all redemption depends on this, in what? In the refinement of attributes. The refinement of interpersonal attributes is so great in Hashem's eyes, all redemption depends on this, and therefore the two leaders of the people of Israel, Moshe and Aaron, who merited to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt and were equal in their level, did not merit what they merited except through the refinement of their attributes.
"Send, I Pray Thee, by the Hand of Whom Thou Wilt Send" – The Depth of Moshe's Humility
Another point we see is that Moshe Rabbeinu resisted going to redeem the people of Israel for an entire week, and the truth is we need to understand why Moshe Rabbeinu resisted going to redeem the people of Israel, and we see another reason. It is written, "And he said, 'O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of whom thou wilt send'" [Exodus 4:13], and the commentators ask, and Rashi also brings this in the name of the Midrash, and the Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel, and the Ramban, and there are several interpretations. The first interpretation is 'send by the hand of the one you are accustomed to sending,' as we said earlier, send by the hand of Aaron. Do not send him; he is greater than me in greatness, etc. Another interpretation says the Targum, send by the hand of Pinchas, it seems Pinchas was alive, and Moshe saw in his holy spirit that he is Elijah, and he will announce the final redemption, and therefore Moshe Rabbeinu says send by the hand of the one you will send at the end of all generations, and the Ramban says I interpret according to the plain meaning of the text, send by the hand of whom you will send, anyone you send in the world will be better than me.
Lowliness and Humility as the Power of Redemption
The Ramban interprets here a very profound interpretation, Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hashem, any person in the world you send will be better than me, Moshe Rabbeinu is not speaking in hyperbole, especially when he is speaking with Hashem. From here, we see how great and encompassing Moshe Rabbeinu's humility is, meaning Moshe Rabbeinu says I am more than any person in the world, it is brought in "Avot de-Rabbi Natan," there were 24 lepers in Jerusalem. Leprosy is not a simple matter, it is lepers, one of the most unpleasant things, the person emits pus and a bad smell, and if the person has the status of leprosy, then anyone who approaches him, he must say to them I am impure, do not come near me, to live like this for several months is the greatest lowliness, therefore "Avot de-Rabbi Natan" says there were twenty-four lepers in Jerusalem and Moshe felt he was worse than the worst leper in the world. We see from here something very profound, to what extent Moshe Rabbeinu's humility reaches, and the interpretation is that Moshe Rabbeinu sees himself, his lowliness, his weakness, what he still needs to correct, and that he is a penitent, and what he has not yet managed to correct and what Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hashem, how do you think a person like me can redeem the people of Israel, I myself need to find the tzaddik who can correct me, I am so far from my correction, and the moment the tzaddik feels such lowliness, then Hashem says to him go redeem the people of Israel. One of the important chassidic books, Pri Haaretz, was a student of the Maggid of Mezritch, for the tzaddik to be able to redeem the people of Israel, it means not only external redemption, to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt but also to remove Egypt from within the people of Israel, because the culture of Egypt was entirely forty-nine gates of impurity and the nakedness of the land and sorcery and idolatry and all the worst things in the world. The leader of the people of Israel is not only to strike Pharaoh, but it is how to remove all the impurity that has taken root within the people of Israel, how to remove it from them, says the Pri Haaretz, to bring the people of Israel out of there, the tzaddik must feel that he is the worst in the people of Israel and has no feeling of greatness or pride or any kind of grudge, because the moment he sees even the worst Jew, he says but I am worse than him, says the Pri Haaretz, with this power of humility and lowliness, the tzaddik connects with love to all the souls of Israel and through this when Hashem sends him, he can redeem the people of Israel because the moment a person feels anger, pride, grudge towards another, how do you behave, who are you at all, and the moment there is this point, it is no longer possible to help the people of Israel, the tzaddik must feel Moshe Rabbeinu's opinion, lower than all the lepers in Jerusalem and all the blemished in attributes and desires and he feels he is worse than all, says the Pri Haaretz, and thanks to this feeling and thanks to this perspective he can connect with all the souls in love, and when he connects, he can elevate all the souls together with him.
The Defect When Not Judging Favorably
And from here we learn that when we look at each other with pride, how he behaves, who he is, or with any grudge and anger towards another. From here we learn the great defect in this because when there is such a defect, the souls separate. And this is the root of the destruction of the Holy Temple, the main work there as Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 282, to find in every Jew the good point, and to find a good point in ourselves, but all this without anger and with the greatest humility and without pride. And on the contrary, if you see a Jew doing something wrong, says Rebbe Nachman, do not be angry with him, on the contrary, pray for him to behave properly. And this we see in our parsha, the essence of working on attributes and the importance of the matter. And it is so internal and so deep that all redemption depends on it. Moshe Rabbeinu merited to redeem the people of Israel only because "the man Moshe was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth," that he had no grudge or pride over any man on the face of the earth. And we see how much Moshe and Aaron between them, if Aaron had even a small grudge, Moshe would not want to go to redeem the people of Israel. In contrast, we see Aaron, how much he works on his attributes, how much he corrects in the deep, deep inner heart of his any point of jealousy, until Hashem testifies about him "he will see you and be glad in his heart," until he merited to be the High Priest, and to redeem with Moshe the people of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom and Blessed!