In the years following the Holocaust many broken Yidden had lost their material possessions, their families, and every last ounce of emotional strength and sanity. At that time the Belzer Rebbe zt”l arrived in Eretz Yisrael, just before parshas Beshalach. Many of these broken souls gathered around his table. As you can imagine, with an audience that had experienced such pain and witnessed such atrocity, destruction, and carnage, it would have been difficult to see what the Rebbe could say to inspire and uplift them.
The Rebbe’s Message
With all eyes upon him, the Rebbe began by quoting the Rashi which explains the passuk, “az yashir Moshe”. The use of the future tense leads Rashi to comment, “Here we see techiyas ha’mesim in the Torah”. Why, asked the Rebbe, did the Torah allude to techiyas ha’mesim at this juncture?
He offered the following answer. Chazal reveal that only one fifth of Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim; all the other died during the makah of choshech. This meant that every single person lost almost all of his family and friends. They were all yesomim and almonos. This begs the question: how could such a broken and shattered nation, 80% of whom had perished, sing shira in that state?
It is in these desperate circumstances, said the Rebbe, that we see techiyas ha’mesim. Only with the belief that there would be techiyas ha’mesim could the nation sing shira. These words were a lifeline for the broken souls at the Rebbe’s table.
Though they had lost so much they, along with their Rebbe who had also lost his family in the war, gained chizuk from the hope of techiyas ha’mesim. They were each able to reconnect and sing shira to Hashem from the depth of their hearts.
Current Times
Today, we approach Shabbos Shira ‐ a day of song and gratitude to Hashem ‐ amid great pain, uncertainty and astarah shebetoch haastoroys. So many of our brothers and sisters have been killed, captured, injured, or displaced, and with the war still raging, many continue to lose their lives in battle. Within this darkness we find ourselves in a greater darkness and deeper pain with the tragic loss of 21 of our dear brothers, 21 families have been shattered in one instance.
How can we approach the shira? With the “az yashir Moshe”, with techiyas ha’mesim in our minds, we can still hold hope.
Techiyas ha’mesim is, in fact, a common theme of yetzias Mitzrayim, as we will explain.
The Stick of Aharon
“Aharon’s stick was dry, dead piece of wood, yet Hashem performed two miracles with it: He caused it to swallow the other sticks and He brought it to life for a short period. This opened [the eyes of] those who deny techiyas ha’mesim and ask: can a new creation be created from the dead? These fools can come and see the stick in the hand of Aharon that Hashem transformed into a being with a ruach and guf. All the more so [can He transform] bodies that have already been alive and had holy neshamos within, kept the mitzvos, learned the Torah day and night. Hashem buried them in the ground, and certainly when He will renew the world, he will recreate them.” (Zohar 2, 28b)
The Deeper Meaning
The Orach Chaim explains that when Moshe Rabbenu approached Pharaoh and asked him to free Klal Yisrael, his response was, “Give me a siman. You are so deeply entrenched in the evil and tumah of Mitzrayim that you have no way of escaping it. Give me a siman. Prove that you are able to get out.”
In response Hashem told Moshe to take a dead stick and show Pharaoh how He could bring it to life. This was a message that even though Klal Yisrael had reached the lowest levels of tumah, even if they are akin to reshaim who b’chayehem keruyim mesim, Hashem can bring them to life and take them out of Mitzrayim. R’ Ezriel Tauber notes that Pharaoh was not the only one to pose this question about Klal Yisrael: The people had this question about themselves! They were so embedded in the tumah of Mitzrayim that they did not even want to listen to Moshe ‐ they did not believe they could escape the abyss.
Moshe’s simanim demonstrated to them that despite their lowly state Hashem could take them out. Moshe’s hand contracted tzara’as and a metzora is considered a mes. This alluded to Klal Yisrael’s dire state of ruchniyus at that time. However, just as Moshe’s hand returned to good health, so would Klal Yisrael be redeemed from the mire of tumah.
Tu Bishevat
Tu Bishvat generally falls in the week of Parshas Beshalach. People often ask what the connection between the parsha and the day is.
In fact, the timing of Tu Bishvat, the Rosh Hashanah l’Ilanos, seems incongruous. In the parks and gardens the trees are barren, there are no fruit, leaves, buds, or blossoms. Quite frankly they look dead. So why is this the time to celebrate the trees? Why not wait until the spring or summer when they are in full bloom bearing fruit?
With Everything Dead!
The sefer, Ziv Haminhagim, explains that, in fact, this is exactly the lesson of Tu Bishevat. The trees do indeed look dead, as though nothing will ever sprout from them, but deep beneath the surface the sap is beginning to run towards the branches. It is during these months when all looks dead, when Rosh Hashanah occurs. This is the moment when everything starts and begins to happen.
This is true not only of trees but of people. We may know somebody who is feeling down or sad. Perhaps he doesn't have the will to grow, the will to be, or the will to live. He seems to have no “leaves” nor “fruit”. It feels like all is lost. But in reality, these are the times when the sap of life is coming through. If he can only grasp that lifeline and pull through, the buds will soon appear and he will begin to blossom and bloom.
Why Wood?
When Klal Yisrael arrived in Marah they found only bitter water to drink. Hashem instructed Moshe to take a piece of wood and throw it into the water and it would turn sweet. What was the significance of this act and why did Hashem specifically tell Moshe to take a piece of wood, rather than a stone or other substance?
Klal Yisrael numbered several million people in a barren wilderness. Without water they were doomed. At this moment, as the water of Marah was undrinkable, their future looked bleak.
Hashem told them to take a piece of wood that looked dead but had the ability to sprout and grow. Then they were to throw it into the bitter waters to demonstrate that within the bitterness and within the abyss lies a future of promise.
As we continue to live in the bitter galus, as we experience such terrible difficulties and bleak moments, we must not despair. For beneath the surface, the sap is passing through the roots, and the beginnings of a new life of joy and sweetness are already present.
Just For the Animals?
Following makas choshech, Pharaoh was seemingly prepared to heed the call of Hashem and free Klal Yisrael. He agreed to free all of the people, including the elderly and the young, but not the animals. Moshe did not accept the offer and makas bechoros, yetzias Mitzrayim, and krias Yam Suf soon followed. This seems very odd. Hashem does not perform miracles for no reason. Why did He do so just to save the animals?
R’ Shlomo Kluger answers that it was to convey a vital and invaluable lesson that will be needed in the acharis ha’yamim. We will explain this idea in the following paragraphs.
For the end of Days
In the times of Ikvesa d’Meshicha a great deal of yeridas hadoros will occur; people will descend into the very same mem‐tess sha’arey tumah into which Klal Yisrael descended in Mitzrayim. They will feel so low and so lost, and in such a state of yiush that they will not believe that Hashem has the will to take them out of their bitterness, their tumah and their personal Mitzrayim. They will feel more lowly than even the animals.
Specifically for these generations Hashem has an important message: “Regardless of how far you have fallen, regardless of the levels that you have reached, I will come and redeem you all from Mitzrayim.” In fact yetzias Mitzrayim itself, makas bechoros, the rechush gadol, and krias Yam Suf and the myriad miracles that accompanied it, were all wrought in order to redeem the animals.
We may have dropped our levels and descended to lowly places but Hashem is crying out to us to return. In these days of Shovevim He calls to us with open arms: Shuvu banim shovavim. He waits eagerly to redeem us from our Mitzrayim, to revive us and to give us life, even as we feel that we are barely alive.
