Speaking Forever
Now, another peirush on these words, another room in the fortress we can run into, we should understand as follows: ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ means that everything we do in this world is forever. Hashem says, “I’m going to be what I will be. And because I’m going to be forever, therefore whatever takes place is going to last forever; it’s going to be with Me forever.”
You know, when you speak kind words to other people, so those words live on in the memory of those whom you speak to, sometimes for many years. I can tell you about myself; I’m ashamed to tell you this story but I remember when I was twelve years old, I bumped into a galach. How it happened is a whole story but a galach was speaking to me and he said some words of encouragement to me. He didn't really mean it, but he said it anyhow. And to this day I remember what he said. I remember his words exactly.
It’s a good idea by the way. Let’s say you see a little boy and he’s davening nicely so you shake his hand and tell him so. He'll be so complimented; you'd be surprised - he'll remember it all his life. Words live on in people’s minds.
Alive Forever
But ‘I will be what I will be’ means much more than that; because even the wisest people’s memories go lost sooner or later. With Hakadosh Baruch Hu, however, it’s יםƒ ֹ̃ ל¡‡ רֹּ כ¿זƒי – Elokim remembers; and His remembering is something entirely different. It’s alive within His daas! The act lives on forever!
That act of you shaking hands with a little boy or you saying kind words to your troubled wife, or anything else, remains forever. It’s like a video that never breaks; the tape never wears out.
But a video is only a joke of course; it’s only pictures. Your acts are actually forever. Because once Hashem sees it and He records it, it continues with Him, in His Mind; and just as He lives forever, your deeds will live forever with Him. There’s no such thing as past tense by Hakadosh Baruch Hu; everything is forever and ever. ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ means that there’s nothing that’s done, that’s finished. There's never a stop to any act of a human being. ‘I will be what I will be’ means that ‘I’ll be forever and because I’ll be forever, therefore whatever you said, whatever you did, even what you thought, will be alive in My Mind forever. In My everlasting Mind it’s remembered forever and ever what happened!’
Forever In His Mind
Now that borders a little on kabbalah, but that is the truth of the Torah, that there’s no past. It’s not merely a form of speech. All the things that we think are in the past are actually alive today because to Hakadosh Baruch Hu there’s no past.
How long will it last? Maybe a million years? No, more than that. Maybe billions, trillions? No, that’s nothing. חַˆ∆נָל םָּיַ ̃¿ו „ַﬠָל יַח¿ ךּרוָּב! He lives forever! And we’ll be forever like He is forever. Our maasim and dibbur and machshavos will be forever with Him.
Now, that’s a peirush in Hashem’s name that you can never think about enough. Nothing is temporary! Nothing is fleeting! Whatever you do is forever! Every second of your life in this world becomes eternally valuable because of that name. Everything matters forever because Hashem said, ‘I will be what I will be.’
And that’s a name of Hashem that those who seek righteousness should take refuge in. Of course, you need a lot of emunah to accept that attitude, but that doesn’t make it any less true. It’s a fundamental attitude, a yesod of yehadus, a yesod of emunah, and it’s a fortress that everyone is obligated to seek refuge in. Live in that name, that forever fortress; that you’ll be in His thoughts and His thoughts are forever.
Eternal Promises
Now, included in Hashem’s eternal thoughts are His promises to us. That’s absolutely included in ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ because it’s apparent from Hashem’s reply to Moshe, that the Bnei Yisroel wanted to know whether the Elokei Avosam, the G-d of their Fathers, had altered His love for them.
And so included in Hashem’s response – “Tell them that Ehe-yeh Asher Ehe-yeh sent you” – is that just like I am forever, My principles are forever. ‘I will be what I will be’ means that ‘My love for the Avos and their descendants will always continue unchanged and whatever I promised is going to take place. If I chose you as My nation, I told your ancestor Avraham Avinu that you will be My nation, so you're My nation forever and ever. And the fact that you're in Mitzrayim, a poor enslaved group in the power of a wealthy and domineering nation and they're utilizing you for avodas parech and they look down on you and despise you, that should mean nothing to you because ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡. What I promised that's going to happen; just like I will be forever, you will be with Me forever.’
And so when Hashem told Moshe His name, He was giving a besurah tovah, good tidings, that it was out of the question that He should ever reject us. And the people were fortified by that. When Moshe Rabbeinu reported back to them with this name, they were fortified forever because it’s more than a besurah tovah – it’s an eternal promise that is bound up in the essence of Hashem, in the eternity of Hashem.
Fortified Forever
And so, that name is absolutely a fortress. Because whatever happens, whatever seems to be, the truth is actually that He’s not going to change. The Rambam says that in his Iggeres Teiman. He says there that just as it is impossible that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should stop existing, so it is impossible that we should go lost from the world. It’s included in His existence, in His name.
And the Rambam quotes a possuk in Malachi (3:6): יƒ ̇יƒנָׁ ̆ ‡ֹל 'ה יƒנֲ‡ – I, Hashem, don’t change. ם∆ּ ַ̇‡¿ו ם∆ ̇יƒל¿כ ‡ֹל בֹ ֲ̃ﬠַי י≈נ¿ּב – and you, the children of Yaakov, will not come to an end.
What’s the connection between the first half of the possuk and the second? It means just like I am forever, you are forever. ‘I will forever be what I shall be’ is a declaration that the Am Yisroel is chosen forever because He is forever. When I tell you what I'm going to be, that's what I'm going to be forever.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn’t change His principles. He doesn’t change His loyalty. If He makes a covenant, ̇יƒר¿ּב ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי¿ל ֹ̃ח¿ל בֹ ֲ̃ﬠַי¿ל ָה∆„יƒמֲﬠַּיַו םָלֹעו, then it’s an everlasting covenant.
Escaping the Promise
Now that also needs a peirush because yes, the Am Yisroel is forever, but you must be part of the Am Yisroel. If someone wants to slip out of the Jewish people and get lost, so if they try they’ll succeed. ֹלו יןƒח¿ ֹ̇וּפ ‡≈ּמַט¿ל ‡ָּבַה – Hakadosh Baruch Hu opens a lot of hatches, escape hatches.
A Jew who moves out, far away from Jewish communities – he doesn’t want to be in a Jewish ghetto, he likes to be among goyim – so Hashem says, “Alright, if that’s what you want then ם∆ּ ̇¿„ַבֲ‡ַו םƒיֹוּ‚ַּב – You’ll go lost. You like to live in Hawaii? Alright. You’ll have the same sof as the Hawaiians.” You want to escape from the Jewish people, there are a lot of doors! It’s like a big ship at sea and there are a lot of hatches at the side and when they’re open, anybody who is a little reckless can jump out.
The Forever Nation
But there’s always going to be a Jewish people. Even though ו„≈ב‡ֹיָיך∆ ̃≈ח¿ר ה≈ּנƒה – those who are far off from You, Hashem, will go lost, but Your people that You have chosen and that are loyal to You will go on forever and ever.
Anyone who remains attached to the Torah nation, even though they’ll do sins and they’ll transgress – human beings are human and many times we do things; maybe we have things wrong with us right now too – but Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, ‘Since you are loyal to Me in general, you’re not going to go lost. I will be what I will be; and just like I’ll be forever, you too will never go lost forever and ever and ever.’
That’s a migdal oz if there ever was one! The permanence of Hashem’s principles, that He chose the Avos and will never forsake their children; that we are eternal like Him!
And so the name of Hashem, ה-∆י¿ה∆‡ ר∆ׁ ֲ̆‡ ה-∆י¿ה∆‡, is absolutely a fortress for us to run to. It’s a name that should be reflected on always because it demonstrates so many ideals that perfect a person’s mind when he’s aware of them and thinks about them.
The Treasure Chest Name
Now the peirushim we spoke about tonight are a valuable beginning to the subject. As I said before, these are only simple attitudes of understanding these words. I'm sure that if we had the Rambam here or even the Vilna Gaon they could add deeper commentaries that would take days and days; and of course Moshe Rabbeinu understood it in a way that subsequently nobody was able to understand.
But whatever words we did speak about, they’re absolutely included in what Moshe taught the Bnei Yisroel; which means that we’re thinking along with our forefathers. The same ideals they learned from Moshe Rabbeinu who had received them from Hashem, the thoughts that they were perfecting their minds with, we can do the same thing.
And so, don’t be lazy about it. You didn’t come here just to hear some words, to be entertained. You have some ideas now what to think; it’s a great treasure chest – spend time thinking about them. And once you acquire these thoughts as part of your personality then from time to time in the privacy of your mind you can take out one of these thoughts and think about it. A different time you’ll take out a different thought. And that's how you can spend your life in the migdal oz, the strong fortress, of the sheim Hashem, of Hashem’s name.
