Throughout the entire seder on the first night of Pesach (first two for those who live out of Eretz Yisrael) we constantly make it known that Hashem was with us throughout the period of Geulah. We say how it was Him and not an angel or messenger. He was with us throughout our travels to Har Sinai until the sin of the Eigel Hazahav. At that point Hashem left us and instead had an angel who we followed instead of Him.
In parshat Mishpatim the Jews have not yet sinned with the Eigel Hazahav, so why does the Torah (23:20) say "I (Hashem) will send an angel in front of you, to guard you on your way, and bring you to the place that I have made ready"? In fact, Rashi is almost as puzzling as the pasuk itself. Rashi says "This pasuk is a hint to the fact that they will sin in the future as the Torah says later (33:3) "and the Shechina said 'I will not be with out.'"" Then Rashi says that the place where Hashem has designated for them is the Beit Hamikdash, and that Hashem has prepared the Beit Hamikdash Shel Lemala." Hashem then warns the people that as opposed to Him who could forgive them for their sins, the angel will not forgive them for sins they commit. In the next pasuk Hashem tells them that they should be afraid of the angel because His (Hashem's) name is in his name.
The Ramban's understanding of these pasukim are quite revealing. The Ramban says that this angel was not talking about after the sin of the Eigel. Rather Hashem was discussing what will happen when the Jews enter into Eretz Yisrael. The Ramban says that as long as Moshe lived Hashem was always with them and it was only after Moshe's death that an angel began to direct the Jews, while Yehoshua was the leader. This is what the pasuk means when it says that we should be afraid of it's judgment because the sin of one person can effect everyone, and this is exactly what happened by the city of Ei, where many people died because of the sin of one man.
Shir Hashirim (4:6) the Gra explains the pasuk as followed, when Moshe dies and the clouds of glory leave the Jews Hashem will go to Har Hamoriah and Yerushiliam and wait there for Moshe to return.
Rav Brevda in explaining this Gra said that as long as it is not Moshe who builds the Beit Hamikdash it could be destroyed. But when Moshe builds it it will be indestructible. The reason for this is because Moshe will not build the Beit Hamikdash rather he will bring down the Beit Hamikdash She Lemala down to this world.
So in this pasuk Hashem is telling us that He knows the future, and He knows that Moshe will not be the one who brings them in to Eretz Yisrael, and He knows that the Beit Hamikdash will be destroyed because of that. Yet, He will still go there and wait. The pasuk says "the place I have prepared." This means that the everything is ready for Hashem to bring down the Beit Hamikdash, and He has been ready for us to bring it down, but as long as we sin this can never happen.
Hashem has waited hundreds of years for us to make it possible for Him to bring down the Beit Hamikdash to this world. We are the ones who are stopping Him. Even if one of us sins it makes it harder for everyone to get to the final goal.
May we all help bring about the final redemption instead of hindering it's coming.
We will b"H discuss more on this topic in next week's dvar torah.
Have a good Shabbat!
No comments:
Post a Comment