In the aftermath of the Sin of the Golden Calf we find what could be described as the most powerful single request ever made of a human being to Hashem. Moshe requests of Hashem, “Show me now Your glory”. Moshe wished to further his perception of Hashem.
According to the Talmud ,Moshe had asked Hashem the old-aged question, “why do the righteous suffer, and the wicked prosper?” According to the RaMBaN this question goes to the very root of our faith. It’s not surprising therefore that many commentators say that the entire Book of Job was written to tackle this very issue. In light of Moshe being the first to articulate this question – in this week’s Parshah – it’s not surprising to find an opinion that Moshe was the one who wrote The Book of Job! In conclusion to this request Moshe concludes, “Show me now Your glory”. If fortune seems to smile or frown at people in an absolutely random, haphazard way, we can see nothing glorious about a Supreme Ruler who apparently permits or sanctions this.
The question I would like to deal with is the timing of Moshe’s request. In the aftermath of the terrible sin of the Golden Calf – a sin with consequences that we are still reeling from to this day – Moshe steps forward and requests such an audacious present. When one wants to ask a favour off one’s parents one waits for the opportune moment. Surely one would not request something only moments after having a fight with one’s parents? The Divine Wrath had only just subsided and immediately we find Moshe stepping forward to ask.
Rashi is seemingly bothered by the timing and comments, “Moshe saw that it was a time of favourable disposition and that his words were being accepted so he went on to request that the vision of His glory be shown to him”. I.e. since Moshe’s first two requests – which were directly related to the state of the Jews after their sin – were accepted, he decided to ask further, on matters that had no apparent connection to the matter at hand.
Rav Dessler – in a letter written in 1948 – quotes from more Kabbalistic sources that Moshe’s request at this juncture is because immediately following a moment of Divine wrath is a time of favourable disposition – that is even greater than had there not been the moment of anger. Rabbi Dr Gerber explained with an idea from the Kotzker Rebbe. In Psalms we say “Hashem cloaks Himself in grandeur”. The ways in which Hashem acts are but clothes to Him – His essence though is unchanged. Similarly Hashem may don the cloak of anger as he did after the Sin of the Golden Calf but no sooner had He arranged the suitable punishment for the Jews, He returned to His essence and hence the major Divine Mercy that gave Moshe the window of opportunity to make his requests.
As Dr Gerber so eloquently put it “when you have been what you are not, you become even more what you are”. Imagine a mother who has to smack a child for doing something dangerous, no sooner has she done so, she then picks up the child and hugs him more than ever. This is exactly why there was an influx of Divine Mercy immediately following the Sin of the Golden Calf.
Rav Dessler writing in 1948 continues: that which we are witnessing, the return of Jews en masse to Eretz Yisroel and to have an independent country for Jews to live in, is a true display of this concept. Only three years earlier the terrible Divine Wrath that was the Holocaust, and now from one extreme to the other is surely the hug of affection that Hashem gives us after having sent us the Holocaust. Said Dr Gerber, “How amazing that you can read a verse in Parshas Ki Siso and you can understand world history some 3000 years later!”
This trait of Hashem is actually one of the traits that we use to describe Hashem’s actions in the prayer of Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah afternoon. We say “He does not eternally hold His anger”. Hashem does not continually push us through more and more suffering until we repent. Rather He removes His anger and allows His essence to flow. It is from these moments (years of prosperity and tranquillity post the holocaust) that we are supposed to feel the hug of Hashem and come closer to him, through His love and not through His punishments. My mentor Rav Mandelbaum would beg us to make the most of this time while it lasts, because undoubtedly it is beginning to wane, he warned!
Let us finish with a practical application of how we can emulate this trait of Hashem. There are times when we are supposed to be angry towards the sins that we see in our fellow Jews – “Lovers of Hashem, despise evil”. For example we are told, “If you see the donkey of someone you hate crouching under its burden” – “are you allowed to hate someone?” asks the Talmud. What the verse is referring to is someone who you saw do a sin – you should hate him for this. But nevertheless the verse continues, “you shall repeatedly help him” – leave behind the feelings of hatred in your heart and draw him near to you with love. This is exactly the way Hashem does it. Even though we have done wrong and we have deservingly been sent suffering, but Hashem does not hold on to it – He switches to His natural mode of showering us with love. Can we not emulate His ways and do the same to our fellow Jew. Drop our harbourings of hatred – even justified hatred but all the more so unjustified hatred – and with that may we merit to prolong the period of Divine Mercy that started after the war because as we behave to our fellow Jew so too Hashem behaves towards us.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov
