התחזקות בשעת הסתר
אִמְרִי נָא אֲחֹתִי אָתְ לְמַעַן יִיטַב לִי בַעֲבוּרֵךְ וְחָיְתָה נַפְשִי בִגְלָלֵךְ: וַיְהִי כְבוֹא אַבְרָם מִצְרָיְמָה וַיִרְאוּ הַמִצְרִים אֶת הָאִשָה כִי יָפָה הִוא מְאֹד: (יב:יג-יד)
Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live on account of you. But it occurred, with Avram’s coming to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. (12:13-14)
Rashi explains: That it may go well with me for your sake – they will give me gifts. But it occurred, with Avram’s coming to Egypt – it should have said, ‘with their coming to Egypt’. This teaches us that he hid her in a box, and because the Egyptians claimed taxes, they opened the box and saw her.
A few posukim ago (12:10), the Torah tells us that the reason Avraham went down to Egypt was because of the famine. See Rashi there where he explains that the purpose of the famine was to test Avraham if he would question the words of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Who told him initially to go to the land of Canaan and now He advises him to leave it.
As the narrative continues, we see that aside from the contrasts in the words of Rashi, the test is linked to a distress that was not so simple. On their way to Egypt, Avraham realized that when entering Egypt he would be putting himself in a dangerous situation, for the Egyptians were steeped in immorality and they would not take their eyes off the righteous Sarah. They praised her to Pharoah, and aside from their desire to act immorally with her they also wanted to kill him because he was her husband. They suspected that he would thwart their immorality after he screamed a loud bitter scream if they took his wife, and the king would be greatly embarrassed... All this was encompassed in that bitter test that challenged Avraham Avinu, for he could have complained to Hashem Yisbarach that he came to these distresses as a result of his desire to fulfill His will.
But Avraham withstood the challenge, and his strong faith and trust in Hashem was recognizable in his word and deed. One should pay attention to this, and it should be a sign and an example how a person must think and act when the hester [hidden] surrounds him.
First, Avraham Avinu teaches us that in a time of distress, even if the person has to exert effort on his part, it must be done though faith and trust [emunah and bitachon] in Hashem Yisbarach. He must know that his salvation is only dependent on Yisbarach, and he should not over-exert himself, just enough to fulfill the will of the Creator Baruch Hu. He wants his salvation to be clothed in the natural and not appear as a miracle, and so, even when it is not possible for the person to exert only the minimum effort, if only to cloak the salvation in a natural way, do not look poorly on this. Sometimes, when he puts in the effort, the salvation is not at all dependent on his effort, if his Creator wants, He can salvation through the effort or if He wants, He can send the salvation in another way.
Avraham shows us this by trying to hide Sarah in a box. He understood that if this is the only effort he can muster, do not disparage it, even if his attempt to save her was very weak, for it was almost certain that the Egyptians who wanted their tax would not skip over the box. Still, his obligation was to try to do whatever he could, perhaps HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to cloak his salvation in this effort, and maybe this time the tax collectors would not see the box.
Avraham Avinu also saw to prepare Sarah in the event that his effort would not bear fruit, that is, even in a situation like this a person cannot lose hope, and he must trust in Hashem Yisbarach that He will find salvation for him in His own ways. Even if he sees that his salvation is delayed, he must believe that this delay is for his benefit, even if his situation worsens, he must not give up on mercy, and the more he strengthens his bitachon, Hashem Yisbarach will sense his salvation, and sometimes he will merit to realize at the end of his ordeal, the benefit his distress caused.
Things like this Avraham told his wife Sarah, and in order to understand how the things are apparent from his words, we must examine them and expound them. The Torah relates (12:11) that as Avraham was about to come to Egypt, he told Sarah, 'הנה נא ידעתי כי אשה יפת מראה את' – ‘Behold, now I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance’, he was trying to say that ‘Because of this you are in trouble. Perhaps they will praise you to Pharoah and that wicked one will want to act immorally with you Rachmana litzlan. Aside from you being in trouble, I am also in trouble, for once they desire you, they will want to kill me knowing that I am your husband, and I will not let them act inappropriately. Therefore, I ask of you to please try to save me from their avenging hands and 'אמרי נא אחותי את' – ‘Please say that you are my sister’, and this will benefit me greatly, for then 'ייטב לי בעבורך' – ‘that it may go well with me for your sake’, and Rashi explains: ‘They will give me gifts’ and I will merit 'וחיתה נפשי בגללך' – ‘that I may live on your account’.
It is not possible to say that these words should be taken at face value. It is not possible that the tzaddik of the world would let his spouse know that he was in trouble, and he was trying to hide from his distress. Also, one can ask of him, now he was relying on someone to save him from his distress. It is not logical that Avraham Avinu would turn to Sarah and tell he, ‘You should know, you are in trouble, and I am also in trouble. Have pity on me and say, “He is my brother” and I will be free of my trouble’, without saying anything about her trouble. Even if we say that extenuating circumstances are different [since he saw there was no escape from her trouble, just his], he should not have been so dismissive to say, ‘that I may live on your account’, this shows that at least he would be saved, then why did he add, ‘that it may go well with me for your sake’, that it will work out well? This was not the time to be happy, especially to someone who had no way to be saved... we must also explain ‘that I may live’.
It must be that Avraham told her, “My effort will not change the danger, Hashem Yisbarach will not find salvation for us in another way, and so you will be taken to Pharoah’s house. Do not lose hope in Hashem Yisbarach, since the person does not know how to try, he should do nothing but trust in Hashem.”
Avraham added, “When you will earn true bitachon, you will merit to be saved and you will know the right thing to do and what not to do [since we cannot be saved in a natural way, we could still try to not have Avraham killed]. But if you do not earn true bitachon then you will not have peace of mind and you will think that you can be saved by your own effort by saying that I am your husband, and you are with a married woman. This is not a good approach, for not only will you not be saved, but I will also be killed. Therefore, you must strengthen your bitachon, and then you will have peace of mind and you can say, ‘He is my brother’.”
Once we demonstrate that Avraham’s words were of bitachon, we can also understand what he said, ‘that it may go well with me’, he meant that ‘just as we trust Hashem for the coming salvation, so can we believe with other distress that it is a benefit. Since good can come about because of this, it is possible that all this is so that it may go well with me for your sake. Once we see the purpose of the trouble, we will also merit the salvation from Yisbarach which ultimately happened.
We now have three principles to serve the person when things are hidden: 1. Strengthen trust in Hashem to find salvation. 2. We must try to help ourselves. 3. The faith that all trouble is for good.
