A new sefer came out recently containing the
writings of HaRav Simcha Zissel Broide zt"l on
Chumash Shemos. Shom Derech is a collection of the
Rosh Yeshiva's shiurim on the Ramban's commentary on
the Torah. We have picked several excerpts which deal with
topical issues.
How To Approach Calamities In Our Times
We can only comprehend the meaning of periods in history by
having a complete overview of the whole of history. A
contemporary onlooker of events can never understand!
The Baalei Hatosfos (on Shemos 1:5) explain why the
Torah repeats the enumeration of the Jewish people at the
beginning of Shemos, even though they were already
counted at the end of Chumash Bereishis when they
went down to Egypt: "They were counted again here, even
though they had already been counted in their lifetime,
because it says afterwards, `and they multiplied and became
exceedingly strong,' in order to tell you that only seventy
people became strong and multiplied into six hundred
thousand members."
We are being taught a fundamental point here: If we want to
understand the ways of divine providence in the world, we
must consider events in all their details together, for by
considering only part of them, it is quite impossible to
know and comprehend their divine purpose. Therefore, if a
person stands in one place at a certain time, he is not in a
position to fathom all the details and the processes of
divine providence.
The complete purpose of Hashem's providence in the world
becomes clear only after many years, and sometimes the
picture only becomes totally intelligible in a time to come.
This principle is well-known and elaborated upon, especially
in Derech Hashem and Daas Tevunos of the
Ramchal. It is a major obligation incumbent upon all of us
to become familiar with and delve into this principle, which
is a most fundamental one.
A person standing in a particular period, witnessing
contemporary events, can never get to the bottom of the
divine design. We very often see with our own eyes how
things which seem good and beneficial turn out after a while
to have been bad and harmful, and how, on the other hand, in
many cases, events which seem like terrible misfortunes
Hashem shows us to have been for the good.
I heard an example of this once from the Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav
Moshe Mordechai Epstein zt"l, who spoke about the
fact that in the same year that the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain took place, Spaniards (led by Columbus)
discovered America. Rav Moshe Mordechai said that Jews at
the time must have been convinced that, having been expelled
suddenly in such a cruel way, after having contributed so
much to the Spanish kingdom, Hashem would surely pay Spain
back for this iniquitous expulsion by destroying its kingdom
as a punishment for all the evil this nation had committed
against Hashem's people. However, at the time it seemed that
not only were they not punished, but they actually became
stronger and wealthier as a result of the discovery of
America, which put many natural resources and various trade
possibilities at their disposal. Jews at the time must have
found it difficult to comprehend Hashem's purpose in all of
this.
Only after many years were we able to see how Hashem had
planned that the discovery of America would play a part in
the salvation of the Jewish people, when American assistance
during the Holocaust years was responsible for saving the
lives of the shearis hapleito during World War Two.
It became clear in retrospect that when America was
discovered and then developed and populated, the Spanish
were, with their own hands, preparing the ground for a place
of safety and refuge for the Jewish nation to this very day,
so many years later. Hashem had planned that the discovery
of America and its development would serve the purpose of
saving the Jewish nation. It became clear to everybody that
the only thing left to remind us of the defunct Spanish
Empire [persecutor of the Jews] was the discovery of America
[savior of the Jews].
Based on this, Rav Moshe Mordechai zt"l explained
Dovid Hamelech's words (Tehillim 28:5), "Because they
give no heed to the works of Hashem, nor to the operation of
His hands, He will destroy them and not build them up." In
other words, when we consider each of Hashem's acts
separately, we cannot understand His behavior, which seems
"destructive." Only when all events are considered together,
do we begin to see how Hashem builds up.
This is the same point we are making: that in order to
understand Hashem's hashgocho in the world, we have
to consider all the details and events together, because it
is impossible to unravel the meaning of Hashem's behavior by
considering only one detail or event.
We must have a similar outlook regarding the
destruction of European Jewry. Some six million of our
people perished, including men, women, children, giants of
Torah, and cheder boys Hy"d. We ask ourselves
why Hashem got so upset with His chosen nation and firstborn
son. The gemora says (Yevomos 47a), that the
Jewish people "at the present time is persecuted and
oppressed, despised, harassed and overcome by afflictions."
It frequently happened during periods of persecution in this
golus that we wanted to know the purpose of our
sufferings.
The solution to this mystery is that Hashem leads His world
over a period of six thousand years towards perfection [of
Creation], and we cannot, from the perspective of one
localized moment in time, perceive the total picture of
divine providence. Sometimes several generations pass before
Hashem's purpose becomes apparent, and sometimes this
remains unclear until the world reaches its completion in
the time to come.
Similarly, when the Jewish people in Egypt were faced with
the decree of "every son that is born you shall cast into
the river" (Shemos 1:22) and Pharaoh bathed himself
in the blood of slaughtered Jewish children (Shemos
Rabbo 1,34, quoted in Rashi 2:23), and even more
poignantly, when Hashem promised to redeem them and sent
Moshe Rabbeinu but their situation actually became worse and
they were forced to gather straw for themselves without
diminishing from the number of bricks, the Jews at the time
must have been bewildered and mystified about Hashem's
intentions, and wondered what happened to His hashgocho,
chas vesholom.
Only afterwards did everyone understand the direction of the
hashgocho when it became evident how all the events
were a part of the shibud culminating in the
redemption which was the fulfillment of Hashem's promise:
"And he said to Avrom, `You must know that your seed shall
be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve
them; and they shall afflict them for four hundred years;
and also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge;
and afterwards shall they come out with great substance."
This is the point the Baalei Hatosfos are making when
explaining that the Torah repeated the enumeration of the
Jewish people "in order to tell you that only seventy people
became strong and multiplied into six hundred thousand
members." The Torah wanted to teach us that to get an
insight into divine providence we have to consider the
details and aspects of events in their entirety. Therefore,
at the beginning of the narration of the Egyptian bondage
and exile, the number of Jewish people who went down to
Egypt was enumerated once more in order to illustrate the
marvelous hashgocho of "only seventy people becoming
strong and multiplying into six hundred thousand members"
despite the extent of the bondage and persecutions. The
entire series of events, from the stage of "seventy souls"
until "six hundred thousand" has to be surveyed together.
This principle is also contained in Moshe Rabbeinu's words
in Parshas Ha'azinu, "Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations." This is a general
commandment relating to our philosophy of history, to
consider all world events since Creation in all their
distinct parts as forming one complete picture representing
the divine hashgocho.
Humanism?
Without Torah ethics, the slope is extremely steep, and no
other ethical system can serve to curb [human instincts and
desires]. How far man can deteriorate without Torah
ethics!
"Come, let us deal wisely with them" (Shemos
1:10).
The Ramban says, "Pharaoh and his advisers did not consider
it appropriate to hit them with the sword, for it would be a
grave betrayal to strike without cause a nation which had
come to Egypt at the behest of the previous king. The
general population too, whose advice he took into account,
would not permit the king to commit such an injustice. The
Jewish people were large and powerful and they would wage
war against them, but he said that they should behave in a
cunning way, by hiding their malevolent intentions from the
Jews. He therefore imposed a tax on them, because it was
natural for a king's subjects to pay him a tax, as was the
case with Shlomo (Melochim Alef 9,21). Afterwards, he
gave a secret order to the midwives to kill the males on the
birthstool, without even the mothers knowing what was
happening.
"He then commanded his whole nation to throw all the newborn
sons into the river. He did not want to instruct his own
executioners to kill them with the king's sword or order
them to throw the babies into the river, preferring to tell
the people that whenever they came across a Jewish child,
they should throw him into the river, and if the father of
the child should complain to the king or the local Minister,
he would be told to bring witnesses and the guilty parties
would be punished. Eventually, these murderous crimes were
practiced openly, and the Egyptians searched Jewish houses,
entering them at night and taking children out of them. That
is why it says, `And when she could no longer hide him'
(2:3)."
The Ramban concludes, "All these measures were taken with a
view to hiding their misdeeds. This is what they meant when
they said to Moshe Rabbeinu, `Because you have made us
become odious in the eyes of Pharaoh -- to put a sword in
their hand to slay us.' (5:21), because they will now hate
us more, and find an excuse for slaying us openly, saying
that we are rebelling against the king, and they will no
longer need to act deceitfully."
We see from the Ramban's explanation that the Egyptians
realized that their decrees were unjust and a grave
betrayal, and they consequently did their utmost to act
secretly, cunningly and deceitfully, recognizing the
immorality and indecency of their contemptible behavior
against the Jews.
This illustrates how perverse and corrupt people can become
when they are guided by non-Torah ethics. Morality of this
nature is external and not firmly rooted in a man's
character. Its end result is persecution and murder hidden
in cunning and deceitful ways to prevent injustices being
publicized. When people behave in this distorted way, the
gradual disintegration of all moral values is a foregone
conclusion. That is what happened in Egypt: at first, they
only imposed taxes and did not harm anybody, then they gave
a secret order to the midwives to kill the babies on the
birthstool, and anybody who "came across a Jewish child,
should throw him into the river." Finally, murder was fully
legalized and practiced openly.
Let Us Be Like All the Nations
Israeli secularism today is pervaded with the attitude, "Let
us be like all the nations." The "moralists" are leading the
nation to disaster. "A nation that shall dwell alone." The
honor of the Jewish nation!
"They set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their
burdens--and the Egyptians imposed tasks upon the Jewish
people ruthlessly" (Shemos 1:11,13).
The Ramban says, "Chazal said that they were servants for
kings and not servants for servants. If so, `and the
Egyptians imposed' is a reference to Pharaoh's taskmasters."
This teaches us how important and great is the honor of the
Jewish people, Hashem's chosen nation: even in this bitter
exile Hashem made sure that they would be in bondage only to
kings and not to servants. This is what the gemora
means when it says, "Whoever harasses the Jewish nation
becomes head." Consider this matter carefully and you will
understand it.
We can see how distinguished the Jewish nation is from the
following gemora: "Whoever returns a lost object to a
non-Jew, to him applies the posuk, `that the watered
be swept away with the dry' (Devorim 29:18). Rashi
(ibid.) writes, "[This person] has put the Jew and the non-
Jew on an equal footing, and has demonstrated that the
divine commandment of returning a lost object is not
important to him, by returning the object to a non-Jew which
he has not been commanded to do. `The watered' are the non-
Jews, who are full and do not thirst for their Creator. `The
dried' refers to the Jewish nation, which is thirsty and
hungry for the fear of its Creator and to fulfill His
commandments." Similarly, Rashi writes in Kesuvos 15b
(dibbur hamaschil lehachzir lo aveido), "He has
equated the importance of Egypt with that of the Jewish
nation, and it says, `Hashem will not be willing to forgive
him.' "
We see clearly that somebody who returns a lost object to a
non-Jew, thereby putting the latter on the same footing as
the former, denies the superiority of the Jewish people and
repudiates the fact of the divine nation having been chosen
amongst all others. This sin is so great, that "Hashem will
not be willing to forgive him." We do not find such a severe
punishment in the rest of the Torah, and this demonstrates
the built-in, deep-seated nature of the Jewish nation's
distinction. We must make ourselves aware of this
distinction, especially in our generation, when those
"moralists" with bleeding hearts want to equate the eminence
of the Jewish nation with that of the other nations.
[This of course does not mean that we are allowed to steal
from non-Jews or not follow their laws when we live among
them. It only refers to returning a lost object where he is
not otherwise obligated to do so.]
Drafting Yeshiva students
The anti-religious left does not understand what Pharaoh
horosho understood: without yeshivos and people
learning Torah, the Jewish nation cannot exist. Shevet
Levi, then and now.
"And the king of Egypt said to them, `Why do you, Moshe and
Aharon, disturb the people from their work, go and see to
your burdens' " (5:4). Rashi says, "To your burdens," to
your work in your houses, but the tribe of Levi was not
subjected to slave labor" [see Shemos Rabbo 5:16]. We
see this from the fact that Moshe and Aharon were free to
come in and out [of Pharaoh's palace].
The Ramban writes on Rashi's explanation, "This is correct,
because sevel refers to any work in the house or
field (see Melochim Alef 11:28). Every nation has the
custom that its sages teach the nation's laws, and that is
why Pharaoh left the tribe of Levi alone, since it was made
up of the nation's chachomim and zekeinim.
Hashem was supervising events carefully. "
Even Pharaoh horosho understood that the vitality, in
fact the very existence of a nation is dependent on the
activity of its sages and judges, this being the "custom of
every nation." Pharaoh, despite his evil and cruel nature,
realized that even a nation of slaves is in need of its
sages and judges.
In our times, we are faced with the embarrassing and
shameful situation where the people in power and their
supporters do not understand and have no feeling whatsoever
for the value of yeshivos and the study of Torah, and the
extent to which these are essential to the nation's
existence, something which even Pharaoh recognized and
understood.
About the Book
This new book, Shom Derech, containing explanations
and articles on the Torah and the Ramban's commentary,
follows the first two volumes in the series on Chumash
Bereishis. This volume too consists of two sections: a
section of short explanations according to the order of
pesukim, and a section of in-depth articles. In
addition, this volume, at the end, includes a subject index
arranged according to the Ramban's commentary on the
Torah.
In his lifetime HaRav Simcha Zissel Broide zt"l felt
a heavy responsibility before handing over manuscripts of
his chiddushim to be printed. His great efforts,
intensive study, and attention to the smallest details were
well- known. Before they were printed, he would go over all
his manuscripts and write many new comments, corrections and
references on the side. He managed to prepare for print the
first part of this volume (up to parshas Yisro), and
from there onwards the shiurim are taken from his
writings, using exactly the same format which he used during
his lifetime.
The editor of this volume, Rav Yaakov Silberlicht, a student
of the Rosh Yeshiva zt"l, deserves a lot of credit
for eternalizing the Torah of his rov.
