מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ
Who is like Your people, Israel, a unique nation on earth
כִּי יָדִּ ין ה 'עַמּוֹ וְעַל עֲבָדָיו יִּתְנֶחָם כִּי יִּרְ אֶה כִּי אָזְלַת יָד וְאֶפֶס עָצוּר וְעָזוּב:
וְאָמַר אֵי אֱלֹהֵימוֹ צוּר חָסָיוּ בוֹ: אֲשֶר חֵלֶב זְבָחֵימוֹ יֹאכֵלוּ יִּשְ תּוּ יֵין נְסִּיכָם יָקוּמוּ וְיַעְזְרֻכֶם יְ הִּי עֲלֵיכֶם סִּתְרָה: רְ אוּ עַתָּה כִּי אֲנִּי אֲנִּי הוּא וְאֵין אֱלֹהִּים עִּמָּדִּ י אֲנִּי אָמִּית וַאֲחַיֶה מָחַצְתִּּי וַאֲנִּי אֶרְ פָא וְאֵין מִּיָדִּ י מַצִּיל: (לב:לו-לט)
When Hashem will have judged His people, He shall relent regarding His servants, when He sees that the hand has gone and none is saved or assisted. He will say, “Where is their god, the rock in whom they sought refuge, who would eat the fat of their offerings, who would drink the wine of their libations? Let them stand and help you! Let them be a shelter for you! See now, that I, I am He – and no god is with Me, I put to death and I bring to life, I struck down and I will heal, and there is no rescuer from My hand.” (32:36-39)
Rashi explains: ‘When Hashem will have judged His people – when these judgments shall befall them, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu will reconsider regarding His servants, by changing direction and having mercy on them. When He will see that the hand is gone – when He will see that the hand of the enemy becomes progressively much stronger against them, “and there is none” among them saved or emboldened. He will say – HaKadosh Baruch Hu will say, “Where are their gods whom they worshipped?” The rock in whom they sought refuge – the rock with which they would take cover against the sun and the cold, that is, in whom they trusted to protect them from harm. Let them be a shelter for you – let that rock be a shelter and refuge for you. See, now – understand from the punishment that I brought upon you, and you had no savior, and from the salvation by which I will save you, and there will be none to protest against Me. And there is no rescuer from My hand – those who sin against Me.
It is told about Rebbe Yehonasan Eibshitz, whose brilliance and sharpness made a name for him among the people, the wise of the nations tried to engage him at every opportunity, particularly in matters of faith and religion. Once one of the great Christians engaged him and asked him, “You were not at Har Sinai, and I was not in that generation of Christians who accepted their religion. The ones who gave birth to us many generations later taught us, and we received our religion from our fathers. If so, then how do you know that the Jewish religion is the true religion and not Christianity?” Rebbe Yehonasan answered him, “The Torah of Israel proves it. Our Torah testifies that if we kick it, we will suffer many horrible troubles. There is no nation through the generations who have suffered more than the Jewish nation, for whenever they turn off the path, HaKadosh Baruch Hu punishes them.”
When we consider the posukim before us, we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself demonstrates this sign to Bei Yisrael who doubt His faith. These posukim are after it is explained what will happen if Israel veers off the correct path, rebel against their Creator, and worship idols, for then HaKadosh Baruch Hu will avenge them through the wicked nations. These posukim state that after that His nation will avenge the nations. This is in the wording of the Torah and explained by Rashi, this vengeance will come after the salvation of Israel, and not necessarily after Israel’s complete punishment. Rather, even if they deserve to suffer more because of their deeds, still, if HaKadosh Baruch Hu sees that the hand of the enemy is strong against Israel until ‘there is none among them saved or emboldened’, meaning that they are at a very low level and there is no reason or strength to protect them, then His power and might will be displayed to the nations.
Perhaps you will say HKB”H is lenient?! These posukim come to tell us that the matter is dependent on Teshuva, and this is why HKB”H arouses them to Teshuva and emunah, and this by looking at who is the cause of all the evils that have happened? They answer themselves; this is the result of following the paths of the nations. We argue that Bais Yisrael is like the other nations, and we will follow their fictional faith and their detestable idols. HKB”H wants to show us that there is no substance to the religions of the nations and their gods. This is why He sends us many evil troubles, until we are low. As if one says to us, ‘Where is their god, the rock in whom they sought refuge? Let them stand up and help you! Let them be a shelter for you!’ Bnei Yisrael continue to say to themselves, ‘Now that we realize that there is no substance to their gods’, HKB”H says to His nation, ‘See now, that I, I am He’ – I am emunah dependent on Me [anochi], the true G-d, ‘and no god is with Me.’
Once we understand this and strengthen emunah, surely we will return from the evil ways. Then we can pay back the nations that terrorized us, and we will see with our own eyes that ‘I kill and give life’, and I am the One Who troubled you in the past to arouse you to Teshuva. Now that you have returned, ‘I heal’ and now you will always know that ‘I do not save’ those who sin against Me.
I know a man, yarei shamayim, who survived the horrors of the Shoah, and only after that came closer to Judaism, and accepted on himself to be pure in Torah and mitzvos.
When I was told about him, I became full of wonder. It is well known that the Shoah caused two destructions; one a physical destruction since it caused the death of a large section of Jewish nation. Also, it caused a religious destruction, as many survivors threw off the yoke of Torah from upon them. As for this man, originally, he threw off the yoke, and only now he became closer to Judaism, amazing?!
Once, the right time came, and I entered a conversation with him, and I asked what brought him to this point?
The man was happy to explain, and he began with a mashal: When a little boy speaks in shul in the middle of davening, and he disturbs the people who are davening, it is likely that the congregation will reprimand him. But in general, even if he does not heed the reprimand, no one will harm him. Except one man who goes to the boy and slaps his face with a ringing slap, and that man is not other than the boy’s father. The father will not tolerate the boy’s refusal to stop his chatter, and with no choice, must teach him a lesson.
Of course, the father does not want to hurt his son, and the difference between him and the others who were disturbed, is that he is only looking out for the benefit of the boy. They want their Tefillos to rise properly and the boy’s chatter was stopping this. But the father wanted what was good for the boy, and he could not tolerate the insolence.
“I saw something similar in the death camps, these wicked ones only wanted to do bad to the Jews, and not just the souls of the devout ones, but even those not observant, and even those who had intermingled with the nations and did not even know that they were Jewish, the Nazis ordered to kill and destroy them.
“This made me face the bitter reality, this was beyond the rational, for if they just wanted the souls of the observant, we could understand that their hatred for the religion caused this. But since they also wanted the intermingled, this was a sign from Heaven, that it was not them, only a proof there is a judge and justice. Our merciful Father was fulfilling his Torah (Devorim 8:5) 'כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו ה' אלקיך מייסרך' – ‘Just as a father will chastise his son, so Hashem, your G-d, chastises you’. Who can witness this and not correct his crooked ways?!”
We ask ‘galei kevod malchuscha aleinu’ – ‘reveal the glory of Your kingdom on us’, and our hope is that we earn true Teshuva, which should be the reason to see reveals G-dliness, and lofty glory of Israel. But, since we are still in a bitter exile and we are very low, there is a sign in this for greatness and significance. It is not for nothing we are lower than other nations, this is just a sign that we are G-d’s children, and this is to purify us and correct our ways.
