It is told about the Imrei Emes’ of Gur, that he had a precious crystal bottle in which he kept the wine for Shabbos. One Shabbos, there was a great crowding, and the table was pushed; the precious bottle fell and shattered into pieces.
When the ‘Imrei Emes’ saw this, he let out a heavy sigh, and it seemed as though he was distressed over the loss of the precious bottle. One of the Chassidim who was present felt sorrow upon seeing his Rebbe’s distress. Therefore, he immediately declared that he would take it upon himself to buy the Rebbe a new bottle, far more beautiful than the previous one, to adorn the Rebbe’s table—just so the Rebbe would not be saddened. The “Imrei Emes” responded and said: “Do you think I am distressed over the loss of the bottle? My sigh was only because it is a sign from Heaven to awaken me, and I fear—what will happen if, chas v’shalom, I do not awaken properly?!”
Bnei Yisrael left Egypt after so many miracles: עיניהם את ישראל בני וישאו’ ‘‘ד אל ויצעקו מאד וייראו אחריהם נוסע מצרים והנה- ‘And the Children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, Egypt was marching after them; and they were very afraid, and they cried out to Hashem.’ (14:10) At first glance, this seems puzzling. Why did Bnei Yisrael cry out? After all the miracles they had witnessed in Egypt and during their exodus, they should have been calm, knowing that surely they would soon see yet another miracle—how Hashem would “deal with” the rebellious Egyptians. So why did they cry out? The answer is: When they saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they feared that there might be an accusation against them and that they needed to repent for their deeds. If they did not repent, they would not be worthy of another miracle. This is the meaning of “they cried out”—they awakened themselves to repent and to pray for their distress.
The Rambam states: ‘It is a positive commandment from the Torah to cry out and sound the trumpets over any calamity that befalls the community... This is part of the ways of repentance, for when a calamity occurs and they cry out and sound the trumpets, everyone will know that their misdeeds caused this misfortune... And this will lead them to remove the calamity from upon them.”
Similarly, Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said that a person was meant to earn a livelihood without hardship, “but I worsened my deeds and thereby diminished my livelihood.” (Kiddushin 82b)
We must understand that repentance is always effective, especially during the holy Shovavim weeks, about which the righteous have said that repentance in these days is even greater than repentance in the days of Elul—because now, it is repentance out of love!
- Tiv HaTorah - Beshalach
