Parshas Bahaloscha 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר וכו' בהעלתך את הנרת אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות ... (ח-א,ב)
The Ibn Ezra says that there was a dibbur - "וידבר" - preceding the parsha of the Menorah to teach us that Hashem also spoke to Moshe at night, when “light” was necessary. The Ramban asks: Elsewhere, the Medrash states that Hashem spoke to Moshe only during the day? (Rashi throughout Chumash also says this.)
In העמק דבר, the Netziv answers: The Menorah, he posits, refers to the תורה שבעל פה, whereas the Aron HaKodesh represents תורה שבכתב. Moshe Rabbeinu would learn the d’var Hashem during the day and review it at night. He, as do we all, needed סייעתא דשמיא. Hence this dibbur wasn’t a regular one, rather it symbolized the "סיוע" - that heavenly assistance, he needed to learn at night. That is pshat in the Ibn Ezra. But why learn at night though? Was he simply too busy during the day?
I heard R’ Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlita quote another Netziv that can shed light on this. The Netziv offers a mashal of two men who were invited to the king’s palace. One had been there before and knew his way around the palace. The other lost his bearings several times, and kept entering the wrong rooms, finally reaching the king’s inner chamber. So while it may have taken him longer to arrive, he inadvertently “toured” the palace and saw it in all its vast glory. So it is when learning Torah. At times the going is not so easy; we may get stuck here or lost there, till we successfully, בס"ד, illuminate the elusive maskana.
But, we are fortunate that along the way we get to see many other sites; another Gemara, a Rashi, a Tosfos, a Rashba or a Rambam - Hashem’s “Written Palace” in all its vast glory! Thus, Moshe learned תורה שבעל פה at night conveying this idea.
Chazal say, "אין אדם לומד רוב תורתו אלא בלילה". Much of one’s success in learning is at night. Perhaps this is metaphoric that his success in learning is when he gets lost in the dark and struggles to find his true path, basking in Torah’s ethereal radiance. יה"ר that all our toilings in תורה ועבודת ה' ultimately enable us to see the light of Yiddishkeit, and bring us closer to הקב"ה.