Thought of the week:
G-d is just. G-d is good.
G-d is just good.
(XK:U OYRBD) „.RBDMB OTMHL OAYCWH OTWA WTANsMW ...WRMAY IP‰
“Lest the land from which they were taken [Egypt] say... or from His hatred of them He took them out to kill them in the desert.” (Devarim 9:28)
Moshe Rabbeinu constantly defended the Jewish People. Time and again, we sinned and rebelled and each time, Moshe sought to have Hashem forgive us. Even if the worst offenders needed to be punished, the nation should continue to exist.
In this Parsha, Moshe recounts various times when he stood up for the Jews, ascending the mountain and not eating for forty days and nights, and pleading on their behalf. He even mentions how he had to save Aharon from Hashem’s wrath. While these stories were certainly true, does it not seem a bit arrogant for Moshe to recall how great he was and all he had done? Certainly, this seems out of character for the “humblest of men.”
In this posuk, Moshe recalls one of his arguments against destroying the Jews. If Hashem had wiped us out in the desert, the people of Egypt would say that Hashem didn’t have the ability to conquer the people in Canaan, and therefore He killed us in the desert so no one would know. This would have been a terrible Chillul Hashem, desecrating Hashem’s name by calling His omnipotence into question, even just to scoff.
Alternatively, the people might have said that even when Hashem took us out of Egypt with miracles and great might, it was only out of hatred, so He could kill us in the desert. This would have undermined all the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Instead of a great show of power to free a holy nation from unjust slavery and mistreatment, it would now appear to be the sinister plan of a petty god to harm people he didn’t like.
This, too, would have been a terrible Chillul Hashem, as Moshe argued. To let people believe that Hashem was like their pantheon of deities who were little more than flawed humans with some supernatural powers, would be a denigration of Hashem’s complete goodness and wholesomeness. Hashem had to save us lest people say He was petty.
But there is another Chillul Hashem here too. Had they said, “Hashem took them out of Egypt because He hates the Jews,” that would have been blasphemous. Hashem’s love and choice of the Jewish People, descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak AND Yaakov, is eternal. He will not trade us for any nation no matter what. It would be a Chillul Hashem to deny His enduring love for us.
That’s what Moshe was doing here in recounting all his efforts to defend the Jews. He wasn’t telling them that he was so great. He was telling the Jews that THEY were great. Hashem’s love for us is unwavering, but if we deny His involvement in our lives, He has to remind us to turn to Him. What a powerful message this is as we leave Tisha B’Av and head towards the days of Elul, Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Hashem will always love us, and we should remember that, and do all we can to be worthy of, and return, that love.
