The Egyptian at the Well

If we would want to properly analyze the subject of doing a mitzvah bein adam lachaveiro, a good deed towards a fellow Jew, it would take quite a long time because there are various components that go into creating a successful mitzvah and each one requires its own study. The perfection of a mitzvah is a very long subject and it would require many nights, many lectures, and even then, there would be a lot left to say.

Tonight however, I’d like to skip over a big part of the subject and speak with you about one of the highest levels of the mitzvah of chessed; one of its most elusive components, something that is quite often overlooked and even disregarded. And that’s the subject of who is the beneficiary of your chessed. A very important part of the mitzvah is who it’s being done to, and I want to take some time now to explain that subject.

Saving the Oppressed

And we’ll begin with an episode, an example from our parsha. When Moshe Rabbeinu fled from Mitzrayim to save his life and he went to Midyan eventually, so the possuk tells us that he arrived there at a certain well, and an incident took place where he helped a few girls. The daughters of Yisro were being harassed by the other shepherds who didn’t allow these girls to water their sheep.

And so Moshe, when he saw this injustice—after all the girls also were waiting in line; it’s their turn, and their flocks should get water too—he wasn’t the type of person who tolerated injustice. And he was a big strong man too. You remember how he gave a punch to the Mitzri taskmaster and right away, there was a funeral. And so ﬠָןƒׁ ֹ̆וַיו ׁ∆ ה ̆מֹ ָם ָּ̃וַי – Moshe drove away the shepherds and he allowed these girls to water their flock (Shemos 2:17).

Yisro’s Chessed

Now when they came home and told their father what happened, יםƒהָרֹע „ַּיƒמָּנוילƒּˆ ƒה יƒר¿ˆ ƒמ ׁ ̆יƒ‡ – “An Egyptian man came along and saved us from the shepherds” (ibid. 18), so Yisro didn't say, “Is that so? That's so nice.” He also didn’t just thank Moshe. He could have given his hand and thanked the ‘Mitzri’ and then he said goodbye and walked into his house again.

Oh no. Yisro said, “What kind of business is this?” He chided his daughters. “Somebody helped you and you just let him pass by? ׁ ̆יƒ‡הָ ̇∆‡ ∆ ןּ ̇¿ﬠֲ זַב ∆הּז לָמָּה – why did you let that man go? That’s how you treat a man who helped you?! לָח∆ ם כַל‡יֹ¿ו ֹלו ∆ן‡ ¿רƒ ̃ – Call in that Egyptian man and let him eat with us! (ibid. 20).”

Reward According to the Recipient

Now, Yisro didn’t know that he was helping Moshe Rabbeinu. “A Mitzri saved us.” That's what the daughters told their father. So he didn’t know who he was inviting to eat. It was an Egyptian, that’s all. But because he was inviting the greatest man in the world, he therefore gained a tremendous reward. Our Sages tell us that Yisro, at that time, earned the zechus that first of all, he gained a son-in-law. Oh ho! It was some son-in-law!

And Yisro’s family became incorporated in the Am Yisroel forever. His descendants were among the greatest sages of our nation later in our history; they sat in the Lishkas HaGazis in Sanhedrin for generations and generations. And all a reward because when he invited someone in to eat, it turned out it was Moshe Rabbeinu. And so he wasn’t just feeding anyone off the street. That’s good too, but it doesn’t compare; you can’t compare feeding a good person with a great person.

Hashem’s Rare Kindness?

And we’ll listen to a Gemara in Mesichta Sukkah that talks about this subject. It’s in Sukkah 49b and the Gemara quotes a possuk in Tehillim: יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ָך¿ּ„ ¿חַ ס ָר ָּ̃י מַה –How precious is your kindness, Hashem (36:8), and the Chachomim put a meaning into it that we ourselves might not say. Yakar means ‘precious’ but it also means ‘rare’ — they’re similar ideas because when something is rare, it’s usually more precious. And so the possuk is saying, ‘How rare is Your kindness, Hashem!’

Now, we know right away that’s not true — Hashem’s kindness to us is not rare at all. Just the opposite. It’s so much, so ubiquitous and unremitting, that we become immune, chas v’shalom, to even noticing it. When your eyes and legs and lungs and heart and liver are functioning so perfectly day and night, day and night, you forget you even have those organs. But that doesn’t mean that Hashem’s chessed is rare; it’s just our own willful blindness of habit.

Our Rare Kindness

And so what does it mean that “Your kindness, Hashem, is so rare”? It means ‘the kindness that we do in Your service, that’s what’s rare.’ Our mitzvos are called kindness to Him. Like we say, ָ̇ בוֹ‡ ≈ י„ ¿חַ ס זו ֹכ≈ר¿ו – Hashem remembers the kindnesses of the Fathers. So we see that when people do deeds of devotion to Hashem, that’s called chessed. And so “How rare is Your chessed, Hashem,” means ‘How rare is it that we are able to do a kindness that Hakadosh Baruch Hu really appreciates.’ יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ָך¿ּ„ ¿חַ ס ָר ָּ̃י מַה – How rare is it that we should be able to succeed in kindliness.

Now, even that is surprising to our ears because we are busy with kindness all the time. We are a nation of chessed. No nation in the world compares with us! And so in what way are we not succeeding?

And so Rashi says it means, יםƒָנּ‚הֻ¿מƒל – for worthy people; that our money and our chessed should go for worthy recipients, to the right people. So you might say, “Well since my kavanah was the same, I wanted to do good, so it’s all the same.” No. It makes a difference who gets your money. That's a big zechus when your money or your effort is expended on better ones. That’s the rare chessed that perfects the mitzvah.

The Best Investment

Now we have to pay good attention to that because the Gemara is telling us that sometimes when we do tzedakah, when we give charity or kindness, you might be investing your money and your actions and emotions in somebody who is not the very best investment. Not everyone is as fortunate as Yisro.

Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give to those who ask. If you give to any kind of a Jew, you give him tzedakah, you’re going to get merit for that, certainly. And you have to give! It’s an investment that you’ll never regret! It’ll pay you big dividends forever and ever!

But suppose you’re able to help somebody who really needs it, somebody who is really deserving. Let’s say if you give tzedakah to a man who has thirteen children and all of them are tzaddikim and his wife is a tzidkonis and they’re living in one room — such a thing exists in Yerushalayim; they’re living in one room — and they’re very much pressed for the most elementary necessaries of life and you give them whatever you give them, you’re actually saving lives. They need bread to eat and so you’re feeding tzaddikim. ָר ̃יָ מַהָך¿ּ„ ¿חַ ס! How rare is Your chessed Hashem! How rare is it that a person merits to hit the bullseye; that all of his efforts are directed in the best direction. That’s an important aspect of making a perfect mitzvah.

Fifty Percent Off

You know, sometimes the man has a driver outside who drives him around to various places and this man comes in and stretches out his hand, and you give him something, so part of that money goes to the driver. That’s the driver’s source of income. Some people don’t know about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you but that’s deducted from the perfection of that mitzvah.

So you’ll say, “Why should it be deducted? I gave ten dollars. My intentions were good. The fact that part of that, 50%, five dollars, went to the driver who does it for business, so do I have to lose out?”

The answer is that there’s a certain perfection that’s beyond the actual doing of the deed. It’s a perfection of doing the deed to the most necessary and worthy person in the most necessary and worthy way. There’s something in that that’s very important. יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ָך¿ּ„ ¿חַ ס ָר ̃יָ מַה – How rare is Your chessed Hashem, that people should do a mitzvah in the right way, with the most deserving people.

A Second Jackpot

Now, in order to better develop this subject we’ll go to another person in this week’s sedrah who hit the jackpot with Moshe Rabbeinu. ﬠַל ıחֹ¿רƒל עֹה¿פַּר ַּ̇ב „∆ר ≈ּ ̇וַֹר‡ ¿הַי – The daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river (ibid. 5). As she was bathing in the river, she saw something bobbing on the waves. “Oh,” she said. “Look. It’s a little basket. Most likely, there’s something inside of it,” and soָּ ה ֲ̇ מָ‡ ̇∆‡ ׁ לַח¿ ּ̆ƒ ̇וַ.

There are two peirushim on that and both are true. First she sent her maidservant, but the maidservant hesitated; she didn’t want to go so deep in the water, or maybe she was afraid because it could be that it was a Jewish child and Pharaoh had made a decree that the Jewish boys should be thrown into the river.

Whatever it is, her maidservant didn’t go in, and the basket was being carried off by the current. So then she said: I couldn’t fulfill the first pshat in the possuk, so I'll fulfill the second.ָּ ה ֲ̇ מָ‡ ̇∆‡ ׁ לַח¿ ּ̆ƒ ̇וַ – She ran forth and stretched out her hand with all her strength and her hand became a little longer. How exactly, I can't tell you—maybe the joints became more limber — but she got the basket.

And it was her good fortune that she seized the right basket! It could have been any baby but it was Moshe Rabbeinu! That same act, it could have been a little boy who would have been one of the least of the Bnei Yisroel. Of course, that’s also a mitzvah, but for the same effort that she invested, she hit the jackpot! Her chessed was directed at Moshe Rabbeinu, and now the daughter of Pharaoh is established in the Torah and in the mouths of the Am Yisroel forever.

The Foreign Holy Name

Do you know how she’s established? Because whenever you hear the name Moshe, it’s an echo of the daughter of Pharaoh. She’s the one who gave him that name. She called him Moshe, “because I drew him forth from the water” (ibid.). Now, Moshe is an Egyptian word. In Hebrew it’s meshisihu – I drew him out of the water. But in Egyptian mo means water. And so the Torah found a word that fits in for Moshe Rabbeinu too. Meshisihu – I drew him out of the water. But actually she gave an Egyptian name. And the Torah kept it!

Now that’s a very queer thing. Others had names given by tzaddikim, sometimes even they’re given by Hashem, beautiful names. And here’s a name given by an Egyptian woman. That’s the name that Moshe Rabbeinu should wear forever? We know he was called Avigdor too; it means ‘the man who fenced in the Jewish nation.’ He’s called other great names. Why call him Moshe?

Avrom was given a new name. Yehoshua was given a new name. Hosheia bin Nun became Yehoshua. Why couldn’t Moshe get a new name? Moshe, our great leader, should forever and ever have the name given by an Egyptian woman?

Hitting the Jackpot

Yes. The name of Moshe is forever. We never changed it! In honor of the daughter of Pharaoh, to memorialize how she hit the jackpot with this little baby, the name she gave remains forever. She’s established forever in the hearts of the Jewish people. Not only with us; she’s established forever with Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the world of eternity because of what she did. Because she did it for the right person! She didn’t know who he was. But the reward for a kindness to somebody who turned out to be very great is tremendous.

And that’s a very valuable lesson that the Torah is teaching with these two incidents of Yisro and bas Pharaoh. We’re beginning to appreciate the usually underappreciated ingredient of a chessed and tzedakah that makes it especially valuable — a very important part of the mitzvah is who it’s being done to!