Baalei mussar write that just as a person must know his weak points, where the yetzer hara is likely to catch him, it is even more important for a person to recognize his strengths. If he doesn't know his strength, he can be compared to a craftsman who doesn't know the tools he has at his disposal.
I heard from a member of our chaburah, a tzaddik and yirei Shamayim, who was recently in Argentina, where a wealthy member of the community took him for a visit at the local zoo. Over there, he saw something shocking. He saw visitors walk up to loose lions and hand-feed them. The lions were docile and treated the humans with respect. The shocked visitor asked his host, "These lions act like young, peaceful children. How is this possible? Lions are ferocious, dangerous animals! How do people get so close, and why don't the lions attack?"
His host answered, "When these lions are born, they are raised together with dogs and fed all that they need. They never discovered that they are lions and that they possess mighty strength. They think they are dogs..."
It is said that elephants and camels also make this mistake. They have immense strength, but they aren't aware of it.
Most people also make the same error. They don’t recognize their potential and strengths and are convinced that nothing much will come from them. Especially when surrounded by people who don’t accomplish much, they think they won't be different from their peers. The truth is that everyone has amazing strengths, and when one devotes himself to Hashem's service, he can accomplish a lot.
Reb Tzadok HaKohen (Tzidkas HaTzaddik 154)
writes: “Just as one must believe in Hashem, one must also believe in himself. This means to believe that Hashem is interested in him. He must believe that his soul comes from Above, and Hashem has pleasure from him and has enjoyment when he does Hashem's will. This is the meaning of the pasuk (Shmos 14:31) עבדו ובמשה 'בה ויאמינו, 'And they believed in Hashem and in Moshe...' Moshe represents the six-hundred-thousand Yidden of that generation. They believed that Hashem desires them and derives pleasure from them and from the good that's in them."
Imperfection in Creation
The next pasuk contains the words of kiddush that we say Friday night, צבאם וכל והארץ השמים ויכלו. Chazal say that when one recites kiddush Friday night, he becomes a partner with Hashem in creation. Why does he receive this great reward? The answer is that if you can pick yourself up after falling, you deserve to be rewarded immensely.
It is hard for people to believe that Hashem wants them because they know their faults. However, faults and errors are part of the creation of the world. This shouldn't prevent us from believing that Hashem wants us.
Let us go through the six days of creation and study what can be viewed as faults in every day:
- On the first day of creation, Hashem created a special light, and then Hashem hid it, as Chazal tell us, because it was too good. Hashem didn’t want the resha'im to benefit from it.
- On the second day of creation, the waters were split, and the lower waters cried, "Why can't we reside in the heavens? Why do we need to be on the lowly earth?"
- On the third day of creation, Hashem commanded that the trees themselves should have the taste of their fruit, but the trees didn't obey, and the taste of the tree wasn't like its fruit.
- On the fourth day of creation, the moon complained, saying there shouldn't be two prominent luminaries in the sky. Hashem told the moon to become smaller.
- On the fifth day of creation, Hashem created the fish, and the female levyason was killed and salted because if it lived and multiplied, the world couldn't exist.
- On the sixth day of creation, the aveirah of Adam HaRishon and Chava was committed, and they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.
From the very essence of creation, a pattern of imperfection emerged. Yet after all of that, it states (Bereishis 1:31) מאוד טוב והנה עשה אשר כל את אלקים וירא, "And Hashem saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good."
This is what Hashem calls good. It is because of imperfections that Hashem created the world. Hashem has pleasure when we overcome the struggles, downfalls, blockades, and hardships and do His will.
So, you can believe in yourself, even if you are imperfect. In fact, your imperfections are the purpose of the entire creation. This trait enables you to bring a nachas ruach to Hashem more than all the malachim in heaven.
The Value of Human Praise
Chazal teach: "Reb Eliezer HaGadol said, I testify that whoever studies Perek Shirah every day is a ben Olam HaBa. He will be saved from damages, the yetzer hara, punishment, the Satan, and all types of mazikim (demons)."
All of creation praises Hashem, and Perek Shirah cites the pasukim that each species sings in praise of Hashem. The one who says it daily is a ben Olam HaBa.
Rebbe Bunim of Pshischa zy"a asks: Aren’t the praises which humans sing greater? So why doesn’t Chazal also say, "Whoever says Az Yashir every day is a ben Olam HaBa"? Az Yashir is a praise that humans sang, so it should be more special.
Rebbe Bunim answers that when one sins, he falls to the level of the animals. He becomes like the birds, animals, rodents, and insects of the world. If one continues to praise Hashem even then, its praise is very precious to Hashem.
In Az Yashir, we say (15:12) ארץ תבלעמו, "The earth swallowed them up." Rashi writes that we learn from these words that the Mitzrim were brought to burial. They earned this right when Pharaoh said (Shemos 9:27, by makas Barad) הרשעים ועמי ואני הצדיק 'ה, "Hashem is the righteous One and I and my nation are resha'im." The Pnei Menachem zt'l said, "Pharoah said הצדיק 'ה only once, and it was because he was afraid for his life. Soon afterward, he changed his mind. Yet he was rewarded that his nation merited to have a burial. We can, therefore, be certain that we will be rewarded immensely for every good deed we do."
If even the rasha Pharaoh was rewarded for a moment of goodness, we can be confident that we will earn immense rewards for the many mitzvos we perform.
The Value of a Moment of Emunah
It states (14:4), ...אחריהם ורדף פרעה לב את וחזקתי 'ה אני כי מצרים וידעו, "I will strengthen Pharaoh's heart and he will chase after them... and Mitzrayim will know that I am Hashem." We understand from this pasuk that the purpose of kriyas Yam Suf was so the Mitzrim should know Hashem. The question is, which Mitzrim is the pasuk referring to? If it refers to the Egyptians who were in Mitzrayim when the sea split, behold, they didn't see kriyas Yam Suf! If it refers to the Egyptians who saw kriyas Yam Suf, they died a few moments later! So, when it states that the miracles of kriyas Yam Suf happened so the Egyptians would know Hashem, which Egyptians is it referring to?
The Ibn Ezra replies that it is both. The Egyptians in Mitzrayim would hear about the miracles of kriyas Yam Suf and know Hashem. And the Egyptians who died in the Yam Suf would know Hashem a moment before they perish.
We see from the Ibn Ezra that even a moment of emunah is precious. The Mitzrim at the Yam Suf couldn’t even tell others what they saw, but for a moment, they recognized Hashem, which was sufficient. For that moment of emunah, Hashem split the sea.
With these ideas, we can understand our greatness. Even for the few moments of good deeds that we do, it is for them that Hashem created the world, and we can believe that we are very precious to Hashem.
Belief in Ourselves
It states (Tehillim 106:7) סוף בים ים על וימרו, "They sinned by the sea, by the Yam Suf." Rashi (Tehillim ibid.) writes, "They were at a low level in emunah. They said, 'Just as we are coming out of the Yam Suf from one side, the Egyptians will also come up from the Yam Suf from another side, and they will chase after us. So, Hakadosh Baruch Hu hinted to the sea that it should throw out the Mitzrim onto dry land. And then (Shemos 15:30) הים שפת על מת מצרים את ישראל וירא, 'Yisrael saw the Mitzrim dead on the seashore,' and therefore 'בה ויאמינו, they believed in Hashem. But before they saw this, they didn't believe."
Rebbe Moshe Mordechai of Lelov zt'l asks that after the Yidden saw the miracles that Hashem performed for them at kriyas Yam Suf, how could they rebel against Hashem at this time? Rashi (Tehillim 106:7) writes אמונה מקטני היו, their emunah was weak. But how was that possible at such a time? They witnessed so many miracles by the Splitting of the Sea! Pirkei Avos teaches: "Ten miracles happened to our fathers in Mitzrayim, and ten miracles occurred at the sea..." The Ra"v Bartenurah lists the many miracles: The sea split into twelve paths so each tribe could pass individually. The walls turned to ice but were transparent so they could see one other. The bottom dried up, making it easy to walk upon. When one wanted to drink, sweet water came from the walls; when they finished drinking, the water immediately froze, and so on.
So how could they have been rebellious, even while walking through the Yam Suf? At this point, their emunah should have been perfect!
Rebbe Moshe Mordechai replied that they believed in Hashem but didn't believe in themselves. They didn't believe that they were worthy for Hashem to save them and kill the Mitzrim. It was hard for them to accept that they were so special to Hashem, more than all the nations of the world.
Hashem wanted to redeem us from Mitzrayim, but we lacked merits, so Hashem gave us the mitzvah of milah. But there were several Yidden who didn’t want to circumcise themselves. As the Midrash (Shemos Rabba 19) tells us, “Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to redeem the Jewish nation [from Mitzrayim], but they didn’t have merits. What did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He told Moshe, 'Go circumcise them'... But many people refused to be circumcised. Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Moshe to bring a korban Pesach. When Moshe brought the korban Pesach, Hakadosh Baruch Hu had the four winds of the world blow from Gan Eden, and [they brought the scent of Gan Eden on] Moshe's korban. The good fragrance radiated to a forty-day distance radius. People gathered around Moshe and said, "Please let us eat from your korban Pesach."
"Moshe replied, 'You may not eat it without a bris milah...' They immediately agreed to have a milah. The blood of the Pesach mixed with the blood of milah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu went, took each Yid, kissed him, and blessed him. As it states (Yechezkel 16:6) ואמר בדמיך מתבוססת ואראך עליך ואעבר חיי בדמייך לך ואמר חיי בדמייך לך, "I passed you and saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you, 'With your blood you shall live. I said to you, with your blood you shall live.'"
Notice how quickly their status changed. Only a few moments before, they didn’t want the bris milah. Soon afterward, Hashem came to each Yid, blessing him and kissing him. This is because the essence of each Yid is pure and good, but it is concealed and needs to be stimulated. This time, the scent of Gan Eden wafting from Moshe's korban aroused their desire for spirituality, and they immediately changed their ways.
Just a week before kriyas Yam Suf (when the nation was still in Egypt), they were on the 49th level of impurity. How did they rise so quickly to the prophetic levels they attained at kriyas Yam Suf? How did they rise from the 49th gate of impurity to the level of receiving prophecy within a week?
Furthermore, when the Yidden saw the Egyptians chasing after them, they said horrible words to Moshe. They said, "Why did you take us out of Egypt?... We prefer to die in Mitzrayim than to die in the desert." (see Shemos 14:11-12). These words were spoken only a few hours before the sea split, and then they rose to the highest levels. Chazal say, "At the Yam Suf, the maidservants saw more than Yechezkel ben Buzi." How did they rise to these levels so quickly?
The Sfas Emes explains that this demonstrates the uniqueness of the Jewish nation. They can fall, err, and reach the 49th gate, but when their good shines through, they immediately rise to the highest levels (Sfas Emes, Pesach year 5632).
