Iran’s Attack on Israel
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In this week’s Torah portion, Moshe warns Pharaoh that there will be yet another plague – the Plague of Locusts – whereby all the produce not destroyed in the previous plague of hail would be destroyed. In the midst of this warning, Moshe suddenly leaves Pharaoh’s presence, as it says, “And he turned and he left Pharaoh.”1 The Midrash wonders why this is the only plague where Moshe abruptly leaves Pharaoh in this way.
The Midrash explains, “because he [Moshe] saw that they [the Egyptians] were turning one to another and were believing his words, so he [Moshe] left where he was in order to persuade them to repent.”2 This means that finally at this point in the plagues, Moshe sensed that the Egyptians were starting to repent, and he therefore immediately left Pharaoh in order to speak to them.
The Chiddushei Lev3 poses an interesting question on this Midrash. He notes that right in the beginning of the Parsha, God informs Moshe that He has hardened the heart of the Egyptians so that they will not do teshuva, repentance, and thereby He can demonstrate His power through the miracles that will take place to force them to release the Jews from Egypt. This will be a tremendous Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name) and the Jewish people will reach the level of ‘knowing God’.4 This means that Moshe was aware that the fact that the Egyptians would not do teshuva would enable the Jewish people to reach this level. Accordingly, this begs the question – why did Moshe try to influence the Egyptians to do teshuva when it would seemingly be to the detriment of the Jewish people?
The Chiddushei Lev answers that we must deduce from here that Moshe felt that the correct course of action was to try to positively influence the Egyptians to do repent even if it meant that all the future generations would not see the tremendous Kiddush Hashem that would take place when all the Egyptians refuse to repent. The Chiddushei Lev concludes that we learn from here the importance of performing kindness for one’s fellow men, even wicked people such as the Egyptians, and even when it could be at the expense of one’s own spiritual level.
The Chiddushei Lev continues that one must likewise give up on potential spiritual growth when it could cause pain to someone else. He proves this from the episode in Exodus when God instructed Moshe to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moshe continually refused, primarily because he did not want to assume the leadership ahead of his older brother, Aaron, who was a Navi and up to that point, led the Jewish people. Moshe was concerned that were he to become the leader, Aaron would feel a small amount of pain, therefore Moshe demurred from God’s request until God assured him that Aaron was totally happy about the situation. The Chiddushei Lev points out that we know the unparalleled levels of greatness that Moshe achieved through leading the Jewish people, and yet Moshe was still willing to give up on all of that because of the risk of causing any slight pain to his brother.
The same concept applies to Rachel’s giving over of the signs to Leah in order to spare Leah the embarrassment of being passed over as Yaakov’s wife. This meant that Rachel was giving up on the opportunity to marry Yaakov and it wasn’t obvious that she would marry him at a later time. Again, this was because it was more important to refrain from causing pain to someone than even immense personal gain.
Torah Sages have emulated Moshe in their extreme aversion to causing pain even at an expense. Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach epitomized this approach in both his guidance to others and his own actions. On one occasion, one of his students was offered an attractive position as a teacher and he asked Rabbi Shach whether he should take the post, assuming that Rabbi Shach would acquiesce. However, to his surprise, Rabbi Shach recommended that he refuse the offer - the reason – that the previous person who had been the Maggid Shiur had been unfairly dismissed, and even though it was inevitable that someone else would at some point assume his position, Rabbi Shach recommended to his student not to be the one to take it as it would inevitably cause the previous teacher pain. This was the case even though the student would do nothing wrong in taking the job – nevertheless, Rabbi Shach explained, it’s not worth causing pain to a fellow Jew.5
On another occasion Rav Shach was displeased with a certain Rosh Yeshiva from America in a very significant matter. When this Rosh Yeshiva was once visiting Israel, Rabbi Shach, at an old age, decided it was important enough to travel a long distance to speak to the Rosh Yeshiva and rebuke him. However, when he arrived, he only stayed for a short time, and then left, without making any mention of the matter at hand. Rabbi Shach explained that the Rosh Yeshiva’s wife was present the whole time, and he could not rebuke a husband in front of his wife. This was despite the evident importance he attached to the issue.6
We have seen how the great Jewish leaders, from Moshe through to Rabbi Shach, were extraordinarily careful to avoid causing an iota of pain to their fellow, and strove to positively help their fellow, even if it seemed to come at the expense of something important. It is self-evident that in the long-term, that since their actions were correct, their consequences were only positive.
