Ad Heinah
One Word Saves the Jews
הֵנָּה -עַד שָלֵם עֲוֹן הָאֱמֹרִ י, -כִי לֹא וְדוֹר רְ בִיעִי, יָשוּבוּ הֵנָה:
Bereshis 15:16
The One Powerful Word
In BeMidbar chapter 14 verses 12-20, Moshe uses several different defenses requesting HaShem not to kill the Jews after the incident with the Spies.
- What would the Egyptians think?
- What would the other nations think?
- A mini version of the 13 Midos (of G-d’s Mercy)
- ועד הנה and until then
And then HaShem forgives the Jewish nation.
What was the one word that Moshe used that swayed His decision?
The Torah source prior to this point is from the Covenant Between the Pieces. If you look in almost every Chumash, the words appear עד -הנה, written with a hyphen, as to make them one word. Since there is no Trup under the word עד, so it is connected to the word הנה. Thus, to HaShem the two words are one word.
Moshe knew this word was special, because HaShem had used that word. Thus, Moshe used that word עד-הנה as his final defense so that the merit of the forefathers would surely defend the Jews as promised. Moshe was “reminding” HaShem the He could not take only the descendants of Moshe in the land, but He had to take all the children of the forefathers.
We also find the word עד-הנה in a special prayer added to the Shabbos and Yom Tov morning liturgy within the prayer of נשמת כל חי (the soul of every living being). While we are not sure who authored this prayer, it is already mentioned in the Mishnah (Pesachim, Chapter 10, Mishnah 7).
In the middle of this prayer, we say the verse:
הנה עזרונו רחמיך -עד
“until then” Your compassion has helped us
לא עזבני חסדך
And Your kindness has not abandoned us
לקנו -ואל חתטשנו ה' א
So G-d our L-rd never forsake us.
We can see that the tradition understood that עד הנה was a powerful word to save us, and so they used this phrase in this special prayer of praise of HaShem.
Let us translate this verse including the unsaid words within the prayer:
Line 1: Until then [may these words once again, as it did for Moshe after the sin of the Spies] help us to earn Your compassion [because of the merits of our forefathers, who You established with them the everlasting Covenant Between the Pieces]
Line 2: and Your kindness [found within the 13 Midos of mercy “abundant in kindness and truth, preserves kindness for thousands of generations] has not [in the past and so too now will not] abandoned us.
Line 3: so G-d our L-rd never forsake us [as G-d thought to do after the sin of the Spies]
