Rav Yisrael Salanter’s Observation Sheds Light on the Ibn Ezra’s Novel Interpretation
The following insight from later in the parsha also comes from Rav Eliyahu Baruch Finkel.
By the laws of "Eglah Arufah" (the decapitated calf), the Torah records the declaration of the Beis Din who proclaim: "Kaper l'amcha Yisrael asher padeesa." (Atone for Your nation Israel that you redeemed) What exactly is the nuance of the expression "asher padeesa"? The simple understanding is that the expression refers to all of Klal Yisrael in all generations. The Ribono shel Olam took us out of Mitzrayim (m'beis avadim pedeesanu...) therefore we (in all generations) are the nation of the Almighty, whom He has redeemed!
The Ibn Ezra interprets differently. He says that Kaper l'amcha Yisrael asher padeesa is not referring to Jews in general. It is referring specifically to that generation of Jews who were redeemed from Mitzrayim. The Beis Din proclaims: Grant atonement now to that generation of Jews that You took out from Mitzrayim then!
However, this pasuk is referring to a time that was hundreds of years after Yetzias Mitzrayim. What does the Ibn Ezra mean? Why do Klal Yisrael who came out of Mitzrayim need atonement for the finding of a dead body in the time of the Shoftim or in the time of the Melachim? What did they do?
Rav Finkel cites a very famous incident involving Rav Yisrael Salanter. There was once a poor shoemaker in Vilna. As fate would have it, the fellow made the right investments and he turned into a very wealthy individual. After his change in fortune, he made a wedding for his son and chose to make it at the fanciest wedding hall in all of Vilna.
There was another wealthy Jew in Vilna who could not stomach the fact that this one-time pauper was now marrying off his son in such a lavish setting. "This shoemaker, suddenly thinks he is 'one of us' and can make a chassanah in this hall!" As the father of the groom was walking his son down to the chuppah, this other wealthy Jew took off his shoe and showed it to the father and asked, "How much does it cost to repair the sole of this shoe?" In other words, he was trying to tell him, "You are still nothing more than a simple shoemaker."
When Rav Yisrael Salanter heard about this incident he commented, "What a hashchasa of midos!" (disgusting example of basic human behavior). He noted that such a hashchasa of midos did not just start yesterday. This rot existed for maybe hundreds of years. As is the case with decay, rot grows over time. Perhaps it started out in Vilna generations ago that someone breached a minor matter of etiquette, a small lack of "dikdook b'midos," that has now evolved and metastasized into this horrible event.
Rav Yisrael Salanter said that the gedolim and the leaders of the community three hundred years earlier who saw that original infraction of proper etiquette and did not object, are now being held accountable for not objecting then when someone did something which was not 100% correct. Therefore, they need atonement now!
That is what the Ibn Ezra means. Someone was murdered and it is not known who smote him. This could now be hundreds of years post Yetzias Mitzrayim. But the generation of the exodus did not correct something that they should have corrected at that time. Therefore, says the Ibn Ezra, this is what the pasuk means: Atone for your nation Israel asher padeesa (whom you redeemed) – meaning the generation of the Wilderness! They need a kappara because if this can happen that a person is murdered hundreds of years later, it is because something went wrong way back then, and they were responsible.
Such things don't happen overnight. They grow as a malignancy, and their source must be traced to many generations before the actual despicable event.
