In this week’s parsha we have the pasuk: ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים בלטיהם - “And the magicians of Egypt did the same with their magic...” (Shemos 7:22). The Ribbono shel Olam told Moshe Rabbeinu to go before Pharaoh and to impress upon him the fact that he was the Agent of Hashem. “Take you staff and throw it onto the ground and it will turn into a serpent.” (Shemos 4:3) When Pharaoh challenged his sorcerers to match that “trick,” they were able to match it, just like that. The Zohar adds that not only were the Egyptian sorcerers able to do this “trick,” but Pharaoh even called their wives, and the sorcerers’ wives were also able to do this same “trick.” He then called in their children and the children of the magicians, who performed the same “trick” as well. The point of the Zohar is that this act of turning a staff into a serpent was not a particularly impressive sign that Moshe was an Agent of Hashem. It was something even a kindergarten kid could do.
We see this concept by at least some of the other plagues as well—that the Chartumei Mitzrayim [Egyptian Magician’s] were able to replicate them. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky in his Emes L’Yaakov provides a very important explanation about what happened to this power of magic in the world. In other words, we see that this “kishuf ” was a reality in the ancient world, not just “magic” based on sleight of the hand. This was the real thing! Rav Yaakov addresses the issue: How come this stopped? Likewise, in many places the Gemara discusses the power of Sheidim. Closer to our times, there apparently was a reality called a Dybbuk. A Dybbuk was a spirit that entered a body and took it over, controlling the person until he was treated by someone who knew how to exorcise the Dybbuk. What happened to all these things? Why do we not seem to experience (real) magic, Sheidim, or Dybbuk’s today?
Rav Yaakov says (and this is well known, but the application is very important) that there is a concept in hashkofah that is based on the pasuk in Koheles (7:14) : זה לעומת זה עשה אלקים – “G-d has made the one as well as the other”. To put it in layman’s terms, HaKodosh Boruch Hu creates a level playing field. If the true prophets (e.g., Moshe Rabbeinu) were given the power to do these kinds of tricks—to turn a piece of wood into a snake or other types of miracles like that—then it would be nearly impossible to deny the truth of Hashem’s message. Everyone would need to be an observant Jew who keeps the Torah. That would require a mass conversion of the entire planet, because no person or nation could deny the reality of the words of the true prophet. This in effect would take away the phenomenon of free choice.
A person receives reward for choosing the right path in this world when he has the ability to choose the wrong path. If the deck is stacked or the playing field is not level, and only the prophets of Hashem can perform supernatural miracles, theological decisions would become meaningless. There would not be freedom of choice, and there could be no reward and punishment.
Divrei Torah for the Shabbos Table
Therefore, as long as this tremendous ko’ach hakedusha [power of holiness] existed and a tzaddik or navi was gifted with the ability to change nature, there had to be, by virtue of the principle ofזה לעומת זה עשה אלקים, corresponding powers in the nations of the world as well.
Rav Kamenetsky cites in this regard the comment of the Ramban in Parshas Beshalach, that at Krias Yam Suf there was a רוח קדים עזה כל הלילה – “strong east wind blowing all night”. Why was that necessary? The Ramban explains that this enabled Pharaoh to say to himself: “You know why the sea split? It was a natural event, like a tsunami or an earthquake, that caused it to split. Therefore, I can enter the dry land between the parted waters myself.” The Ribbono Shel Olam had to allow him to deceive himself and claim “This was just nature, the result of a strong wind. It was not the Yad Hashem.”
For this reason, as long as we had the power of kedusha [holiness] on our side in the personage of neviim and tzadikim, the nations of the world had to have parallel forces through the ko’ach hatumah [forces of impurity]. We all know the teaching of Chazal regarding Moshe’s role as the greatest of the prophets. Chazal expound: “There never again arose in Yisroel a prophet like Moshe...” (Devorim 34:10) – In Yisroel there never arose such a prophet, but amongst the nations of the world there was such a prophet—Bilaam son of Beor. Bilaam was a degenerate, but he was a prophet. Why? It would not be fair. The nations could claim that if they had a prophet like Moshe, they would have been different. So Hashem gave them such a prophet, but he led them further astray!
This is the point emphasized by the Emes L’Yaakov: As long as there was any power of kedusha in the world, there had to exist a corresponding power of tumah in order to make it even. Once the era of prophecy ceased in Yisroel, such powers of tumah stopped in the world at large as well.
With this principle, the Emes L’Yaakov attempts to answer a very difficult Rambam. The Rambam writes in his Pirush HaMishnayos to Avodah Zorah that Sheidim have no power whatsoever and the entire belief in them is false. The Vilna Gaon in Shulchan Aruch uses strong language against this opinion of the Rambam, which on the face of it is contradicted by many Talmudic and Medrashic sources.
Rav Yaakov explains that in the era of the Tanaim and Amoraim mentioned in the Gemara, when there were in the Jewish world many personalities who were miracle workers, there also existed Sheidim which were powers of impurity that existed in the world to counter-act the power of kedusha given to certain righteous miracle workers who existed in Klal Yisroel. When the Rambam said there are no such things as Sheidim and the like, he was referring to his day and age, when conceivably they no longer existed, just as there no longer existed miracle workers amongst Klal Yisroel.
At the end of Rav Yaakov’s discussion on this topic, he shares something very interesting. There is a famous story whereby the Chofetz Chaim exorcised a Dybbuk from a person. The Chofetz Chaim was not associated with bubbe meises [old wives’ tales] and apocryphal stories. Rav Yaakov writes that at the time of this incident, Rav Elchonon Wasserman commented that this will most likely be the last Dybbuk to ever enter a human body. He elaborated that when there is someone on the level of the Chofetz Chaim, who possesses within himself at least a remnant of the kedushah that once existed in Klal Yisroel, then there can be a Dybbuk. But once the likes of the Chofetz Chaim left the world, there will probably never again be a story with a Dybbuk—unless there would is also a Jewish community with such pure holiness and emunah that their power of kedusha necessitated the presence of a corresponding power of tumah in their midst.
As a rule, however, our level of sanctity is so low and so weak that there is no need for a corresponding force that grants this level of supernatural abilities to the power of tumah. (R’ Frand)
