Parshas
Va’eira
By HaRav Eliezer Berland, shlit”a
“And they did not listen to Moshe because
of [their] shortness of breath and harsh labor.” (Shmos 6:9)
The whole
world is mistaken; people think that in order to merit salvation and sweeten
the judgment, they must fast and do strenuous labor…
When Moshe
Rabenu came to Mitzrayim, he announced to the people, “My friends! Hashem has
revealed Himself to me! There is soon going to be redemption. Be happy,
rejoice, sing and play music, this is a time for dancing and singing, bring a
band, bring some violins and start singing about the news of the upcoming
redemption!” Yet, “And the people did not listen to Moshe because of shortness
of breath and harsh labor.” Rabbenu says (Tora 86), “They had very little
emunah (faith), in the aspect of ‘from shortness of breath’… Since the Jews
were in the aspect of “from shortness of breath” and had very little emunah,
they had to fast and work hard. Those that are in the aspect of “shortness of
breath”, who lack the shleimus (completeness) of emunah have a tendency
to take upon themselves sigufim (self affliction of suffering) and
fasting. The Noam Elimelech said that this was the argument Moshe had with the
tzadikim of that generation; Moshe said, ‘Stop with the fasting and sigufim,
stop with all the arduous labor! Start rejoicing, play music, sing!” Indeed,
since they were sent into slavery, Am Yisrael and the tzadikim did not remain
silent for even one moment; they fasted, wept and sat upon the ground [in
mourning]. Day by day, they watched how children were being thrown into the
Nile, how babies were being slaughtered; the Egyptians used them to build their
walls. Paroh bathed in the blood of the babies! Not one person remained silent;
they fasted, mourned and wept in order to bring about the redemption. Moshe
came and said to them, “Rabosay! This is not the way! This is a mistake!
You want to fast? So fast! But that will not bring the redemption. You cannot
bring about the redemption via sigufim and fasting. The redemption can
only be brought through simcha! They replied, “What?! You are suggesting to us
a different way of serving Hashem? You want to take away our fasting and
sigufim after we have been doing this for years upon years?” They did not pay
attention to Moshe ‘from a shortness of breath’ and ‘from their harsh labor’ –i.e.
from despair and frustration. They were so involved in their harsh labor, they
could not release their feelings of despair and gain emunah that there was hope
and that they may be redeemed. Moshe declared, ‘it is time to start serving
Hashem with simcha, from tremendous joy! Only simcha can
surrender the klipa (outer spiritual peel of impurity and depression); only simcha
can bring about the redemption.’ The
Noam Elimelech explains that the tzaddikim who take upon themselves
fasting and harsh labor have a very high neshama, not just any simple neshama,
but they don’t see what greater tzaddikim, the likes of Moshe Rabenu see;
because the tzadik ha’emes (the True Tzaddik) easily nullifies judgment
and harsh decrees. He doesn’t require any effort at all; no sigufim, no
fasting, he nullifies the decrees with pure simcha, with music and song.
The world is mistaken; people think that in order to merit salvation and to
sweeten the harsh judgment they must work strenuously and fast, etc. As a
matter of fact, the Baal Shem Tov already cancelled the whole matter of fasting
and harsh labor and this is what Rabbenu is referring to when he says that “the
world doesn’t believe that one can merit salvation and mitigate the harsh judgment
purely through simcha”.
There are
several levels of Tzelem Elokim (the Image of Hashem). There is the
first level, where the person lives in the present and is happy with the
present. He’s always happy. That is the first level of Tzelem Elokim. Then
there is a higher level, where one must know Torah and mitzvos and laws. First
the person must attain the first level – he must start understanding what is
the present; start learning how to live in the now, how to rejoice now,
how to be happy every minute and every second, to sense the present and only
the present and not think about anything else beyond. He shouldn’t worry
himself at all with the future. You are here, now, alive, breathing and well,
so be happy! Don’t worry yourself about what was or what will be. That is the
aspect of “Who is wealthy? He who is happy with his portion.” The person must
be happy every moment and every second. No one is beating you; you have a nice cup
of tea, what more do you need? What do you lack? You’re thirsty? Go drink!
You’re hungry? Go make yourself a sandwich and you’ll feel better! Feel happy,
rejoice! Don’t fret about what was in the past or what will be in the future;
be as happy as you possibly can! That’s how you should see everything – with
joy. When a person focuses on living the present, he is fulfilling, “Who is
wealthy? He who is happy with his portion.” Through this simcha, man can
achieve everything; every kind of salvation he needs. He can reach the highest
levels in the world.
The nissayon
(test) of a Jew is to always remain happy. That is the biggest test because
every single person must go through nissyonos, ups and downs, throughout
his entire lifetime. The most important time to strengthen ourselves in simcha
is when we have fallen. In the midst of the nissayon, he must strengthen
himself in simcha and have faith that this, too, will pass. There is a remarkable
story in “Kochvei Or” about a man who was digging in the ground when he
suddenly discovered a diamond worth a million dollars. He thought it was just a
piece of glass, at first, but when he showed it to another man, the latter
confirmed that that it was most certainly a real diamond! “It’s worth a
fortune,” he said, “but you won’t find anyone in this village, or even in this
land that can afford to buy it.” So he decided to travel to London. He sold his
house and everything he owned; his broken furniture and torn clothes, but the
money he earned afforded him only the ride to the harbor. At the harbor he ran
into the captain of a boat who inquired what he was his business there? The man
pulled the diamond out of his pocket and showed it to the captain. “I have a
precious diamond,” he replied. The captain’s eyes popped out greedily. “With
such a diamond you may come aboard my ship. You don’t have to pay me for the
ride now.” The captain set him up in a comfortable room and gave him three good
meals a day. One day, the man was sitting at his table, eating his meal when he
suddenly decided to examine his precious diamond. He took it out and looked it
over with glee. Feeling very tired then, he placed the diamond on the table and
soon fell fast asleep. Meanwhile, the waiter entered into his room to clean up
after the meal. Without paying any attention to the contents on the table, the
waiter picked up the cloth with all the leftovers and diamond inside and shook
it out of the window, into the sea. When the man awoke, you can imagine his
horrible shock when he saw that the diamond was missing. He nearly fainted, his
heart almost stopped beating. He knew that if the captain were to discover what
had happened he would surely throw him into the sea to join his long lost
diamond. The man decided that he had no choice but to be strong and remain
happy. Using supernatural powers, he put a smile on his face and forced himself
to appear happy. A few minutes later the captain came by to visit. The Yid gave
him such a warm smile and began to dance about the room, laughing and
rejoicing. The captain had never seen him so happy. Truthfully, though, the Yid
knew that this burst of joy would not last long; soon his heart would start
beating furiously once more. When the captain saw what a happy man he was, he
said to him, “Let’s make a deal, you and I. Everyone thinks I am a pirate. When
I arrive in London, everyone will inquire from where I have received the
merchandise aboard my ship. You are a merciful Jew, please have mercy on me.
Let’s sign a deal and put this entire ship, including all of the gold and
diamonds in your name. I trust you. You are a great merchant, you are very
successful, and you’ve got that huge diamond…” The captain then signed
everything over to the Yid. Then, as the boat approached the harbor, the
captain suddenly got a stroke and died. Now, the entire ship, with all of its
priceless merchandise belonged to the Jew.
Rabbenu
introduced the world to a completely new revelation: ‘You should know that
there is no despair in the world at all.’ There is no such a thing as despair,
even in the most difficult times, even with the greatest disasters. If the
person would hold on to simcha for even five minutes, dance and sing, he would
see how everything would turn around for the best. One must always come home
with a smile on his face, always come home happy! At home, your family doesn’t
need to know about your troubles and that you are going through hard times. If
you can’t bring yourself to smiling and being happy, sit outside in the
stairwell and practice forcefully smiling. Practice all sorts of gestures of
happiness and when you’re ready, go inside with a happy face. If the person
would remain strong and stay happy he could merit the most wondrous miracles in
the world. The entire avodah (work) of a person is to remain happy, no
matter what. He must constantly say, “Everything is for the best”. That is the
main nissayon. If the person would say, “everything is for the best”
about everything, he would find his way out of every type of suffering and
difficulty in the world. He’ll see wonders and miracles. A person must be
happy, sing and thank Hashem at all times, before the troubles befall him.
Don’t wait around for the troubles to come and then have to work hard to get
out of them. Then, when your troubles are over you’ll be forced to give thanks,
sing and offer a korban Todah. We should just always be happy, always
sing to Hashem and recognize the greatness of Hashem. “Every neshama shall
praise Hashem”, with every breath we should praise Hashem. You’re breathing? Be
happy! One must sing for every breath he breathes. Don’t wait around for the troubles
to come. If you’ll be happy, sing to Hashem and thank Him constantly, the
troubles won’t need to come at all.
The main avodah
is to not be sad for even one second, because there is no reason at all to be
sad or depressed. We must believe that every person has the chance to have
everything good, materialistically and spiritually, to succeed in every aspect
of his life. We should be happy that Hashem did not make us goyim, that he made
us Jews: Baruch Hashem I merited keeping Shabbos, I merited putting on Tefillin…
Be happy that you merited praying; it’s as though you found a diamond worth
millions! One must constantly draw upon himself simcha, endless simcha.
If you don’t know what to be happy about then be happy that Hashem created us
as G-dly creations; that is the greatest joy! “Yisrael shall be happy with He
who made them, the children of Tzion shall rejoice in their King.” We should be
happy with Hashem, that He created us; “We are His nation and the sheep of His
flock.” Hashem created us for His honor: “Blessed is He, our G-d, Who created
us for His honor, and separated us from the wrongdoers.” We should rejoice in
the fact that Hashem created us for His honor; so that we should learn and
daven, so that the whole world will see - all the nations will see that the greatest
weapon of the Jewish people is Torah and Tefilla, since Hashem sees that we
have true simcha. He sees that we are happy with Him and will therefore
nullify all the decrees and all the troubles. So, what is left for you to do?
Start rejoicing in Hashem, be happy with Hashem, only Hashem, with Him you can
be happy! He is the Omnipotent, Hashem is for all eternity, He loves you, He
created you, Hashem believes in you, Hashem believes in your teshuva. He will
never ever leave you and He will give you everything you need.
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