Parshas Beshalach (Shira) 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Jan 28
- 2 min read
וירא ישראל את היד הגדלה אשר עשה ה' במצרים וייראו העם את ה' ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו ... (יד-לא)
Chazal teach us that even the maidservants “saw” the Shechina at Krias Yam Suf. A surreal revelation of K’vod Shomayim. Yet the Baalei Mussar teach us that these servants remained at the same spiritual level; nothing materialized from this astounding revelation they experienced. How were they not motivated to improve? The simple explanation is that the flame of a mere momentary stimulus with no immediate concrete action to solidify said inspiration will have no lasting fire.
But perhaps we can offer another pshat with a relevant machshava בס"ד. There’s a Gemara cited a few times in Shas. שמעון העמסוני had an uncanny ability to expound on and darshan all the "את" in the Torah. That was until he reached the posuk "את ה' אלקיך תירא" and he abruptly stopped as he felt nothing could be a tafel to הקב"ה.
The Maharsha (Pesachim 22b), asks: Why wasn’t he troubled with an earlier posuk in this week’s sedra. It says "וייראו העם את ה'", the nation feared Hashem. What could he learn out from that "את"? He quotes the מהרא"ש מפראג: Here it says they feared Hashem, using the שם הרחמים. But what stopped him was "את ה' אלקיך תירא", even through the שם מדת הדין. In other words, it’s much easier to attain fear when the going is good. The “kuntz” is when it’s din, when it’s challenging, to still see and fear Hashem with complacency. Additionally, the posuk says, "וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה" - They saw the open hand of Hashem. When one sees open miracles so vividly it’s barely a “kuntz” to believe. Hence, שמעון העמסוני only dwelled on "את ה' אלקיך תירא".
Thus, when without any follow-up effort the maidservants saw the Yad Hashem, the spark fizzled - unlike the נביאים who attained their lofty levels through avodas Hashem and unyielding determination. That is everlasting.
As the saying goes; no pain, no gain. May we be zoche to מדריגות of yiras Hashem in all life’s situations.