As we read in last week’s parsha, Moshe went to Pharaoh per Hashem's request to ask him to let the Jews leave Egypt. Then ,instead of letting them go, Pharaoh increased their workload, not what Moshe was hoping for. Moshe then turns to Hashem and says למה הרעותה לעם הזה, why did You do harm to this people? Our parsha continues with Hashem's answer, וידבר אלקים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני ה, G-d spoke to Moshe and said to him, I am Hashem. Rashi explains that the word אלקים connotes strict justice; the use of that word shows that Hashem was angry with Moshe. The midrash, which is also brought by Rash, tells us that Hashem said to Moshe, “Woe! For those that are lost and not found, I have good cause to bemoan the death of the forefathers who did not question My actions. You however said, ‘why did You harm this people?’”
The sefer דרכי מוסר ask what was Hashem's comparison? All the times that the Avos didn't question Hashem, regarded personal matters that affected only them. While it is commendable that they didn't question Hashem, how can that be compared to Moshe, who wasn't complaining about personal matters, rather he was complaining for the nation as a faithful shepherd who, because of his intervention, the subjugation got even worse?
He answers that the reason Hashem spoke to Moshe harshly wasn't because Moshe was upset at what happened to the nation. As we see later, after the עגל Moshe cried out to Hashem “why are You angry at Your nation” and Hashem didn't have any problem with that, for a leader must stand up for his people. Hashem was upset that Moshe was questioning the way Hashem governs the world; he was saying that Hashem was doing bad to the people when we know that there is no bad in what Hashem does, for כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד all that Hashem does He does for good. That is the aspect that was being compared to the Avos, that they understood that there was no bad in what Hashem does, whereas Moshe was questioning it.
Rav Sholom Schwadron relates a story that happened at the outset of WW2 where many Jews managed to leave Germany and Austria to go to England. However, once the war started, England would only take English citizens back; if they thought they were Germans, they would drop them off in Australia. On one such boat going to Australia, the captain heard that the Germans were being very successful while the English that were fighting them were on the defensive. In his anger at all the Germans that were on his boat, he took all their luggage and dumped it in the sea. All the passengers, Jew and gentile alike, were very upset that all their possessions were gone.
Thirty years later, a professor in the university in England was telling the students that, when the Germans saw English ships, they would sink them in the middle of the sea. However, one time, they saw a captain throw all the luggage off the boat. When they fished some of it out of the water, they saw that there were German books inside. They figured that the boat was traveling with regular German citizens, so they didn't sink it right away but waited until it let off all the passengers in Australia. Then, when it was on the way back to England, they sank it.
It turns out that the anger all the people had for the captain when he threw their stuff away, was misguided for, in reality, that's what saved their lives. What they thought was a great injustice was what brought about their salvation. Here, too, even though Moshe saw the workload increase, that more oppressive work is what helped them get out one hundred and ninety years earlier than they were supposed to. What looks bad now, might actually be one’s salvation later. As the Steipler Gaon notes, both the name of Hashem that symbolizes justice and the name that symbolizes mercy are in this verse telling us that, what appears as strict justice is, in fact, divine mercy. Let's try to internalize this fact to make it part of us so that we will understand that, no matter what life throws at us and as hard as it is to understand, כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד all that Hashem does is good!
The sefer דרכי מוסר ask what was Hashem's comparison? All the times that the Avos didn't question Hashem, regarded personal matters that affected only them. While it is commendable that they didn't question Hashem, how can that be compared to Moshe, who wasn't complaining about personal matters, rather he was complaining for the nation as a faithful shepherd who, because of his intervention, the subjugation got even worse?
He answers that the reason Hashem spoke to Moshe harshly wasn't because Moshe was upset at what happened to the nation. As we see later, after the עגל Moshe cried out to Hashem “why are You angry at Your nation” and Hashem didn't have any problem with that, for a leader must stand up for his people. Hashem was upset that Moshe was questioning the way Hashem governs the world; he was saying that Hashem was doing bad to the people when we know that there is no bad in what Hashem does, for כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד all that Hashem does He does for good. That is the aspect that was being compared to the Avos, that they understood that there was no bad in what Hashem does, whereas Moshe was questioning it.
Rav Sholom Schwadron relates a story that happened at the outset of WW2 where many Jews managed to leave Germany and Austria to go to England. However, once the war started, England would only take English citizens back; if they thought they were Germans, they would drop them off in Australia. On one such boat going to Australia, the captain heard that the Germans were being very successful while the English that were fighting them were on the defensive. In his anger at all the Germans that were on his boat, he took all their luggage and dumped it in the sea. All the passengers, Jew and gentile alike, were very upset that all their possessions were gone.
Thirty years later, a professor in the university in England was telling the students that, when the Germans saw English ships, they would sink them in the middle of the sea. However, one time, they saw a captain throw all the luggage off the boat. When they fished some of it out of the water, they saw that there were German books inside. They figured that the boat was traveling with regular German citizens, so they didn't sink it right away but waited until it let off all the passengers in Australia. Then, when it was on the way back to England, they sank it.
It turns out that the anger all the people had for the captain when he threw their stuff away, was misguided for, in reality, that's what saved their lives. What they thought was a great injustice was what brought about their salvation. Here, too, even though Moshe saw the workload increase, that more oppressive work is what helped them get out one hundred and ninety years earlier than they were supposed to. What looks bad now, might actually be one’s salvation later. As the Steipler Gaon notes, both the name of Hashem that symbolizes justice and the name that symbolizes mercy are in this verse telling us that, what appears as strict justice is, in fact, divine mercy. Let's try to internalize this fact to make it part of us so that we will understand that, no matter what life throws at us and as hard as it is to understand, כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד all that Hashem does is good!
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