From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 1:10
AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Shemos,
5764
Riding
High
By
Rabbi Joshua (stubbornly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
Moshe, after receiving permission from his
father-in-law Yisro to take leave of his home in Midian, takes his wife and
children with him and heads for Egypt, to fulfill his divine mission. The Torah
tells us that he took his wife and children and 'mounted them on the donkey'
(Shemos 4:20). Rashi, noting the reference to the donkey, written with a 'heh
hayediah', cites the midrash as saying it was a special donkey, the same one
that Avrohom used on his way to the akeidah, and the same one that the moshiach
will appear on in the future. What is the common denominator among these three
historical occurrences? Maharal of Prague, in his super-commentary to Rashi, Gur
Aryeh, and, at greater length, in his work Gevuros Hashem, chapter 29, explains
that all three of these individuals were elevated above the mundane, and this
was symbolized by riding atop a donkey The riding itself, he says, is an
indication of their elevation, and, moreover, the donkey - chamor in Hebrew,
similar to the word chomer, meaning material - represents the animal most
representative of the material side of the world. Maharal proceeds to discuss
the special nature of the material aspect of the world represented by the
donkey, but space does not permit a presentation of that aspect of his
presentation. These three Biblical characters, then, argues the Maharal, were
all elevated above the merely physical. This explanation, however, does not
account for the significance of the specific times in which these three
characters demonstrated their elevation above others.
Reb Zadok
HaKohein of Lublin, in his commentary Peri Tzadik, offers a somewhat different
explanation. He also says that the donkey represents the physical, or, more
specifically, the evil inclination. In all three cases, the characters mentioned
as riding on the donkey were harnessing the physical and the evil inclination in
order to attain holiness. Thus, when Avrohom went to offer his son as a
sacrifice, following God's bidding, he overcame the objections of the evil
inclination trying to prevent him from carrying out this act. Moshe, on his way
to Egypt, wanted to make sure that his wife and children would participate in
the giving of the Torah, and therefore wanted to train them in overcoming the
evil inclination. The moshiach, at the end of time, will teach the Jewish people
to overcome the evil inclination, and actually eradicate it. I would like to
offer a variation of Reb Zadok's explanation, based on the teachings of Rav
Kook.
Rav Kook writes that one of the purposes of the akeidah was
to infuse enthusiasm into Avrohom's service of God. Idolaters are full of
excitement when they perform their service, because what they basically do is
worship forces within themselves. They thus utilize their evil inclination for
bad purposes. When Avrohom introduced the belief in the one God, who is both
transcendent and imminent, that feeling of proximity and consequent enthusiasm
in worship was lowered. Through the akeidah, and Avrohom's enthusiasm and
alacrity in fulfilling God's command to bring his son to the mountain, this
element was introduced into the worship of the one God. Thus, through the
akeidah, Avrohom used the enthusiasm of the evil inclination for a positive goal
(see Netvort to Chayei Soroh, 5763, available at Torahheights.com, for more on
this topic).
Moshe, as he prepared to go to Egypt, wanted to
do the same thing that Avrohom did through the akeidah. The rabbis tell us that
the mitzvoh of re-telling the story of the Exodus must be done in a way that
begins with the degraded state of the nation and ends with its elevated state.
There are two opinions regarding what constituted the degraded state. One
opinion is that it was the nation's state of slavery, and the other opinion is
that it was the nation's worship of idolatry. What is the purpose of re-telling
the story in this way? Rav Kook explained that we need to recognize that the
degraded state actually helped generate the elevated state. In regard to the
opinion that the degraded state was that of slavery, we can understand that
becoming habituated to doing service to a human being could prepare the people
to transfer that service to God. However, in what way could the worship of idols
serve a positive purpose? Here, again, Rav Kook explains that the enthusiasm
used to serve idols was later transferred to the service of God. Thus, when
Moshe mounted his wife and children onto the donkey to take them with him to
Egypt, he was, in a symbolic way, preparing to infuse the nation with enthusiasm
in their eventual service of God. Coming from the house of Yisro, who had
originally worshipped idols and then rejected them, Moshe was in a unique
position to accomplish this goal.
We mentioned above that,
according to Reb Zadok, that one of the tasks of moshiach will be to eradicate
the evil inclination. Perhaps, following our application of Rav Kook's
ideas, we can explain that by using the enthusiasm displayed by the evil
inclination for doing evil in a positive way, to serve God with enthusiasm, the
evil aspect has been transformed, and, thus, in a sense, eradicated. Thus, the
chamor, that was symbolically by ridden by Avrohom and Moshe, will, ultimately,
be used by the moshiach as he leads the Jewish people to their final redemption.
Please
address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following
address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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