HaRav Sholom's son, HaRav Yitzchok, told us that this
shmuess was the focus of his father's main Pesach
Torah, that he repeated to the family every year at their
Seder.
A Tremendous Revelation
In recounting the story of yetzias Mitzrayim on
seder night we mention the posuk, "I multiplied
you like the vegetation of the field and you grew and
developed and came of age . . . and you were uncovered and
bare" (Yechezkel 16:7). The Medrash (Shemos Rabbah
1:35) comments, " `and you were uncovered and bare' --
without good deeds."
Chazal (Sotah 11) tell us that this posuk
refers to the Jewish children who were born under apple
trees in Egypt. After Pharaoh promulgated his decree that,
"you shall cast any son born into the river" (Shemos
1:22), Jewish mothers could not risk giving birth in
their homes and they would go out into the fields to bear
their children. Without anyone to tend to the babies there
and provide them with sustenance, their fate must have been
the same as Pharaoh wished for, had the children not been
miraculously cared for. In the merit of their parents' faith
that Hakodosh Boruch Hu would protect them, this was
what indeed happened.
The gemora relates that Hashem sent an agent from on
high who cleaned them up and straightened their limbs, "like
a wild animal that sets its newborn in order." The
gemora quotes a posuk (ibid. 4) that lists the
things that are usually done for a newborn, that were here
done miraculously: ". . . and your birth, on the day you were
born, your cord was not cut and you were not washed in water
to smooth you, . . ." This agent gathered two round objects
for them, one with oil and the other with honey, as the
posuk (Devorim 32:13) says, ". . . and he suckled them
with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty boulder."
Bnei Yisroel then, experienced tremendous miracles,
with Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself sustaining and
providing for them. How then, can the first posuk, "
`and you were uncovered and bare' -- without good deeds" also
have applied to them? If they had no merits, how did such
miracles come to be wrought for them? The posuk even
describes their attainment of stature: "And you grew and
developed and came of age." How did this happen without any
good deeds?
Chazal conclude that when Hashem revealed Himself to bnei
Yisroel at Yam Suf, these children were the first
to recognize Him, inferring this from the posuk, "This
is my G-d and I will praise Him" (Shemos 15:2). As
Rashi explains, " `This is my G-d' -- Whom I have
already encountered [i.e. in Mitzrayim]." These
children were very close to Hashem and they had an incredibly
great spiritual revelation that exceeded even that of the
prophets. Chazal tell us, "A maidservant saw more at Yam
Suf than Yechezkel ben Buzi saw" in his vision of
Hashem's glory which is known as Maaseh Merkovoh.
The Level of Yechezkel's Vision
Let us consider this vision for a moment, if only to have
some idea of its sublime level, for we have no clear
knowledge of what it really means. The gemora in
Chagigah (14) says, "Rabbi Yochonon ben Zakai was once
riding a donkey and Rabbi Elozor ben Aroch was going behind
him.
"He said, `Rebbi, teach me something from Maaseh Merkovoh!
. . .Allow me to say something that you taught me!'
"He said, `Speak!'
"Rabbi Yochonon ben Zakai immediately descended from the
donkey, draped [his garment over] his head and sat on a
stone.
"Rabbi Elozor said, `Rebbi, why did you get off the
donkey?'
"He said, `How can I sit on a donkey while you explain
Maaseh Merkovoh and the Shechinah is with us
and ministering angels accompany us?'
"Rabbi Elozor immediately started speaking about Maaseh
Merkovoh and expounding on it and a fire came down from
Heaven and encircled all the trees in the field and they all
broke into song . . . and a mal'ach spoke from the
fire and said, `This is truly the Maaseh Merkovoh!'
"
The Greatness of Earlier Generations
Rabbi Yochonon ben Zakai was the least among the talmidim
of Hillel Hazokein, as the gemora tells us in
Succah (28): "Hillel Hazokein had eighty
talmidim. Thirty of them deserved to have the
Shechinah rest upon them as [it did upon] Moshe
Rabbenu. Thirty were deserving of having the sun stand still
in the sky for them as it did for Yehoshua bin Nun. And there
were twenty intermediate ones. The greatest among them was
Yonoson ben Uziel. The least among them was Rabbon Yochonon
ben Zakai. It was said that Rabbon Yochonon ben Zakai omitted
studying neither Written Torah nor Mishnah, neither
gemora nor halochos . . . [omitting] neither a
great thing nor a minor one. `A great thing' is the Maaseh
Merkovoh. `A minor thing' means the inquiries of Abaye
and Rovo. The extent of the knowledge he amassed is in
fulfillment of the posuk, `[I have plenty goodness] to
convey to those who love Me and I shall fill their
storehouses' (Mishlei 8:21).
"If such was the stature of the least among them, the
greatest was certainly so. It was said that while Yonoson ben
Uziel was occupied in Torah study, any bird that flew over
him was immediately burned."
Let us think for a moment. If his talmidim were such
great men, Hillel's own greatness must have been tremendous,
and that of Shmaya and Avtalyon, from whom Hillel and Shammai
received the Torah traditions, must have been even more so.
The Anshei Knesses Hagedoloh who transmitted Torah to the
first pair of leaders were thus even greater and the prophets
themselves were on such a level that if a woman saw one of
them during the time of her impurity she would die straight
away.
Our question now assumes its full proportion. The generation
that left Egypt experienced greater revelation of the
Shechinah than the prophet Yechezkel, yet the
posuk refers to this very generation as having been
"uncovered and bare," lacking mitzvos to provide them with
merit. [How can this be?]
The Two Practical Merits
From this it becomes apparent that an individual's greatness
is not a function of his wisdom but of the deeds that he has
managed to amass. The mishnah says, "When a person's
deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom will endure" (Ovos
3:17). Although maidservants indeed witnessed more at the
Yam Suf than Yechezkel did in the vision of the Maaseh
Merkovoh, they remained maidservants. Those who left
Egypt were raised to greatness temporarily. The mekubolim
refer to this as being endowed with `greatness of mind
for a time.' Their greatness was a gift to them from outside,
while they themselves, in terms of their own efforts, were
"bare and uncovered" and bereft of mitzvos.
The previous posuk (Yechezkel 16:6) says, "And I
passed over you and I saw you wallowing in your blood and I
said to you, `You shall yet live in your blood.' " Chazal
comment on this posuk that when bnei Yisroel
made the Pesach offering in Egypt, Hakodosh Boruch
Hu brought a wonderful aroma out of Gan Eden.
Those who had been unwilling to be circumcised came to Moshe
Rabbenu and asked him if they could eat from his
Pesach. He told them that Hashem had forbidden anyone
uncircumcised to eat from the offering. When they heard this,
they had themselves circumcised.
This posuk refers to them: "And I saw you wallowing in
your blood" -- the blood of circumcision and of the
Pesach -- "and I said to you, `You will yet live in
your blood.' " Pesach and Miloh were two
practical mitzvos that they did, in whose merit they were
redeemed from Egypt.
A person's greatness is thus not only measured according to
his wisdom but according to his deeds and the mitzvos that he
has done. It is related that shortly before his
petiroh, the Vilna Gaon wept over the potential of
this world, whereby a person can fulfill the mitzva of
tzitzis, for a few pennies. In Olom Habo,
however, one can no longer fulfill mitzvos, even in exchange
for one's wisdom. This world alone is the place for actions
and deeds.
Learning Practice from Mussar
It is well known that the Chazon Ish esteemed the stories of
the lives of gedolei Torah and of their conduct. He
applied Chazal's teaching about Torah -- "If a person merits
it, it becomes a life-giving elixir to him; if he doesn't
merit it, it becomes poison to him" (Yoma 72) -- to
mussar as well. Mussar is also Torah, as we see
in the posuk, "Hear my son, your father's
mussar and do not abandon your mother's Torah"
(Mishlei 1:8).
A person is successful in learning mussar when he
takes guidance from it about how to correct his traits and
puts himself on the path to a higher and nobler life. If he
chas vesholom uses his mussar just to reprove
others instead of himself, he has not been successful in
learning it.
The Chazon Ish comments that everyone who hears or repeats
mussar teachings of men who achieved greatness in
Torah and yiras Shomayim asks himself, "When will my
conduct reach those levels?" This is what it means to be
successful in learning from mussar (quoted in
She'al Ovicho).
The Chazon Ish expressed his admiration for an article that
was published in Vilna in the Yiddish journal Dos
Vort, that reviewed the life of the gaon Rav
Betzalel Hacohen zt'l, author of ShuT Reishis
Bikkurim, who served as a rov in Vilna. One of the
stories in the article mentioned that at the time of the
controversy surrounding the esrogim from Corfu, Rav
Betzalel travelled to Italy and spent a few months there
thoroughly researching the matter.
The Chazon Ish commented that in his opinion, this story
about the Lithuanian gaon's journey was the most
beautiful one told about him. It demonstrated the devotion of
a talmid chochom, whose time was valuable, to one of
the Torah's mitzvos. He was prepared to undertake a difficult
and prolonged trip in order to investigate the way in which a
single mitzvah was being fulfilled.
Literally hundreds of stories are told about the Chazon Ish's
own dedication to helping others. Whether it involved
sacrificing his own meager physical resources or taking
precious time from his rigorous Torah study, he would guide
and advise both the sick and others who came to him with
their problems.
We Are All Obliged
Here is just one of the many stories about him which I heard
from a great Torah scholar who used to frequent the Chazon
Ish's home: "I once went in to him, together with another
friend. The Chazon Ish turned to us and asked, `What's doing
with ploni?' mentioning the person's name and
remarking that he had long since reached a marriageable age
and that we should help him find a match. This bochur
was also a frequent visitor to the home of the Chazon Ish,
who concerned himself with each individual's welfare and he
wanted to see him find a suitable match. He asked us to help
him. For us, the Chazon Ish's request was holy and we did all
that we could. Within a short time we found a worthy match
for him and he became engaged.
"We went to the Chazon Ish to tell him the news and he was
delighted. He expressed his wish to attend the celebration of
the engagement. He told us that his time was precious and
asked us to call him at the very last moment before the
reading of the teno'im. We promised to do so and at
the specified time, we came to his home to ask him to come to
the engagement. We saw that there were people in his room so
we waited outside. The door of his room was open and we saw a
man and a woman sitting in the room, reading various things
out to him about what would be worthwhile to sell and whether
merchandise could be obtained cheaply and so on. We waited by
the door for an hour-and-a-half while the Chazon Ish replied
patiently to all their questions.
"At last the consultation ended and they stood up. The Chazon
Ish accompanied them as they left and bade them farewell. As
soon as they had left, he donned his hat and came with us to
the engagement. He said to us, `You must be wondering why I
kept you waiting. I realize that the friends and family are
sitting, awaiting my arrival and you must be asking
yourselves how I could keep you so long while I sat with that
couple.
" `Let me explain. They are Holocaust survivors who came to
Eretz Yisroel. They have no livelihood here and they came to
me with their woes. I advised them to open a store and they
returned to consult me about how to run it and what they
should buy and sell and so on. I knew that I would be unable
to offer them financial help for I don't have money, so I
felt obligated to help by advising them. I was unconcerned
about keeping everybody waiting for me because we are all
obliged to assist others. You have fulfilled that mitzvah
simply by your trouble in waiting for me to come.' "
In this story, the Chazon Ish teaches us that the mitzvah is
not confined to the actual deed -- in this case the advice
that he gave to the couple -- but that involvement in it also
extends to the other parties who are indirectly affected.
It is Up to Us
Returning to yetzias Mitzrayim, it is now clear that
the mitzvah of relating what happened is not confined to the
account of the miracles and wonders that Hashem did for us.
[True,] even if we were all sages and savants and we knew the
entire Torah, we would be obligated to recount what happened.
However another aspect of the mitzvah is that we should
absorb the lesson for all generations, that we merited
yetzias Mitzrayim because, "And I passed over you and
I saw you wallowing in your blood," i.e. the actual
performance of those two mitzvos.
A spiritual arousal took place on bnei Yisroel's part,
resulting in their fulfillment of the mitzvos of
Pesach and Miloh, in whose merit they were
redeemed amid miracles, and they also witnessed Hashem's
revelation at Yam Suf. Chazal tell us that the Soton argued
against bnei Yisroel being saved because, "Both these
[i.e. the Egyptians] and these [i.e. bnei Yisroel]
worship idols. Why should You destroy them because of them
[bnei Yisroel]?"
Why indeed were bnei Yisroel saved? The sea split for
them and they merited their subsequent greatness, because of
the spiritual arousal that they made themselves.
The medrash comments on the posuk, ". . . the
voice of my beloved knocks" (Shir Hashirim 5:2):
"Rabbi Yossi said, `Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, "My
children, make me a single opening of repentance like the eye
of a needle and I will make openings for you through which
wagons and carriages can pass." ' "
It is said in the name of the Rebbe of Kotzk ztvk'l
that this "opening of repentance" must, however, be open all
the way, just like a needle's hole goes all the way through
from one side to the other.
I heard my teacher, HaRav Yehuda Leib Chasman zt'l,
point out that, as we know, one of the Torah's principles is
that we should make a negative inference from a positive
statement. If we do not feel that our hearts are open wide
enough for wagons and carriages to pass through, it's a sign
that we haven't yet made an opening in them the size of the
eye of a needle!
At the Seder night, as we sit recounting the miracles
of yetzias Mitzrayim and fulfill the mitzvah of eating
matzoh, we ought to contemplate Hashem's great love
for Klal Yisroel. The holy Zohar states that
Hakodosh Boruch Hu rejoices in Klal Yisroel's
celebration as they praise and laud Him. On Seder
night, we have an opportunity to open our hearts at least to
the size of the eye of a needle.
May the prophecy, "I will show you miracles as the days when
he left Egypt" (Michah 7:15) be fulfilled as expounded
by our teachers, as an allusion to "fifty wonders." Chazal
say, "They were redeemed from Egypt in Nisan and will be
redeemed in the future in Nisan" (Rosh Hashonoh
11a).
May we merit celebrating Pesach in joy and delight, eating
from the sacrifices that will be offered when the Beis
Hamikdosh is rebuilt, may it happen quickly, in our
times, omein!
