Hashgachahh Pratis in the Sefarim Hakedoshim
In Parshas Shemos we learn about how Moshe was saved from Pharaoh’s decree to throw all newborn Jewish male babies into the Nile. Moshe was placed in a box, and the box was placed among the reeds by the banks of the Nile. His sister Miriam stood and watched from afar: “And his sister stood from afar to know what would happen to him.” In Maseches Sotah (9b) it says: As a reward for this, Miriam merited that Klal Yisrael waited for her when she was stricken with leprosy.
Rav Gershon Libman zt”l asked: What greatness is there in the fact that she waited to see what would happen to her younger brother who was in a box on the Nile river? Anyone would have done the same! (see Degel Mussar, Yerushalayim 5764)
He answered that even Amram, who was the gadol hador, had despaired of the situation, as it says in Maseches Sotah (13a): Once they put him into the Nile, her father rapped her on the head and said, “My daughter, what of your prophecy?” For Miriam had prophesied, “My mother will bear a son who will save Am Yisrael.” What happened to your prophesy?!
But Miriam’s faith was strong and she did not despair. She went only to see “what would happen to him,” meaning that she wanted to see how he would be saved. This bitachon is what brought about the yeshuah, and Pharoah’s daughter herself came to guard him. In the merit of Miriam’s strong bitachon, Am Yisrael was redeemed through Moshe.
This story is a lesson for all of us: Hashem tries us with difficult trials, very difficult tests. If we pass these tests and do not despair in any situation, but rather the opposite – we strengthen ourselves in bitachon, then through this bitachon we will see a yeshuah.
Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Yehuda Mandel shlit”a from Lakewood
