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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A man goes to the doctor and tells him that every time he looks in the mirror, he feels nauseous.

The doctor says, “The good news is that you have excellent eyesight!”

ASKING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

Parshas Vaeira begins with G-d’s answer to Moshe’s question from the end of the previous parsha, “Why have You done evil to this nation? Why did You send me?” G-d’s answer is lengthy, “And I appeared to Avrohom, to Yitzchok, and to Yaakov…” six long verses that include numerous subjects; an answer that, at first glance, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Moshe’s questions. All the commentators, led by Rashi, try to respond to this.

The Rebbe, in an amazing sicha, explains the lesson that we learn from this dialogue, both from Moshe’s complaint and from G-d’s response. With ingenious simplicity, the Rebbe explains that Moshe’s complaint was based primarily on his fear that the difficulty of the exile and the servitude would negatively impact the Jewish people’s service, which is why he cries out, “Why have You done evil?” What will result from this? After so much darkness and suffering, there won’t be a single Jew remaining who believes in the Geula, no Jew will look forward to leaving Egypt and Mattan Torah…

Hashem’s response is one word, “Vaeira.” That’s it. The answer doesn’t extend over six verses and dozens of words.

What does this mean? Moshe (in this story) represents “intellect of holiness,” while G-d teaches him here about a higher level which is called “G-dly vision.” G-d is hinting to Moshe that his complaint is justified only if one serves G-d from a place of understanding, when you want to hear and understand; what Chassidus calls “hearing.” For a person who serves G-d from a state of “seeing” – Vaeira, like the Avos – nothing can weaken his service of G-d. Why?

Chassidus explains why vision is greater than hearing, based on the Gemara, “A witness may not become a judge.” When a person himself sees something, it becomes an absolute reality for him and all the questions and proofs in the world won’t be able to undermine what he saw. On the other hand, when someone hears something secondhand, although he understands it, and even if he understands it a hundred percent, it’s still possible that some other person can rebut the truth of the matter with powerful questions and solid reasoning, for which he won’t have an answer.

Therefore, if someone saw something, a witness, he cannot serve as a judge, because he cannot see the accused in a positive light. He himself saw how the accused did the crime. Although a judge hears much testimony about the bad deeds of the accused, and he fully understands the severity of what was done, he still can consider the possibility of his innocence because, after all, he only heard about his crimes and didn’t see them.

EYE-OPENING ANSWER

This is true in the service of G-d too. When a Jew serves G-d on the level of G-dly vision, there is nothing in the world that can subvert his loyalty to G-d, even within the doubled darkness of exile, even within a sea of sorrows, bloody war, dead and tragedies. He serves his Maker all the way, without any pretense. It’s possible that the intellect raises questions, maybe even “intellect of holiness,” but when you see the truth, there are no roadblocks.

There’s another advantage to serving G-d in a way of seeing. Seeing doesn’t take time, while hearing requires a lot of time. Hearing requires an orderly process because it’s not possible to hear two details simultaneously, while one can look at a drawing with numerous details in a second. In the service of G-d, this is expressed in the amount of time required of someone before he can go up a level in his service of Hashem. If he serves G-d with “hearing,” understanding, he needs to work on one thing and only then can he move on to the next thing, and then more time goes by until he reaches the third item on the list.

When serving G-d in a way of seeing, a person can be devoted to all three things at the same time. He can skip over all of the lengthy processes in a second. And when a Jew serves G-d in this way, there is nothing that can stand in his way, not Pharaoh, not Egypt, not exile, and not the difficulties of slavery! This was G-d’s answer to Moshe – you need to rise to the level of “Vaeira,” G-dly vision!

We can also learn a lot just from Moshe’s complaint. A Jew cannot make peace with exile. We cannot accept it as a given: telling ourselves that it’s enough that we learn and pray; it’s enough that we fulfill mitzvos in peace and abundance; it’s enough that we can live in the Holy Land and don’t have to live among the nations and be submissive to their rule, why do we need to ask for the Geula? Why cry out about the exile?

Moshe wasn’t a fool. He knew that the Avos did not question G-d, and yet, he endangered himself to question G-d. Obviously, Moshe did not speak offhandedly, apathetically; he spoke out of anguish, “Why have You done evil to this nation?”

As for us, we need to learn from Moshe’s cries and from G-d’s answer. First of all, to cry out, “How much longer before the end-time for wonders?” Why all the suffering? Where is the promise that we got from the Nasi HaDor that “Ut, ut kumt Moshiach?”

At the same time, we cannot allow the darkness of exile to weaken our faith and anticipation of the Geula. We need to serve G-d energetically, with faith, to the point of “seeing” G-dliness! We get the strength for this from… Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov; from the Avos who saw G-d. They are the ones who give us the strength to see Him too. It is given as a legacy to every Jew. In the laws of inheritance, the state of the heir does not change his right to inherit. A one-day-old baby inherits everything of the testator, which is why every Jew, no matter who, can position himself on a lofty and steadfast spiritual level to the point of seeing G-dliness, because he received the ability to do as an inheritance from the Avos.

This is also alluded to in the name of the parsha, “Vaeira,” and not “Vaeira el Avrohom,” or “Vaeira el ha’Avos.” This is a call, in the singular, to every Jew that he needs to start being – Vaeira – start serving G-d in a way of seeing. And if someone were to ask him – How can you? From where do you have the strength? He answers, “to Avrohom, to Yitzchok and to Yaakov.” You have the holy Avos who paved the way and you are their heir, so their strength is our strength!

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a story about a man who did not allow his terrible situation to change his conduct and it was because of this that he was saved. This is one of the stories told by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov as a parable.

A poor man made a living from digging clay. One time, he dug and found a precious jewel. He took the jewel to an expert to appraise it. The expert told him it was so valuable that there was nobody in the country who could pay him what it was worth and he should go to London where he could sell it.

But the man was poor and he didn’t have the money to go to London. He sold everything he had and went around collecting until he could afford to travel to the sea. When he got to the harbor he had no money left to pay for passage on a ship. He went to the captain of a ship and showed him the jewel. The captain was happy to take him on board and said to him, “I am sure you are a great man,” and he gave him the best cabin as befit a great man like him, which had a porthole.

The poor man was thrilled with his jewel. He enjoyed it mainly as he ate. He would place it before him so he could feast his eyes on it.

One time, as he ate, with the jewel on the table in front of him, he nodded off. In the meantime, the cabin boy came in and took the tablecloth with its crumbs and not realizing there was a jewel on it, he shook it out of the porthole.

When the poor man woke up and realized what happened, he was so distraught he nearly lost his mind. What now? The captain was a dangerous fellow who would kill him for not paying for his trip!

He decided that he would not allow what happened to change his conduct. As they sailed, the captain would speak to him for several hours a day and on this day too, the captain came over to him. The poor man acted as usual so that the captain could not tell that anything had happened.

The captain said, “I know that you are a wise and upstanding person. I want to buy a lot of wheat and sell it in London to make a lot of money, but I’m afraid that they will say that I stole it from the king’s treasury. I’d like the merchandise to be registered under your name and I will pay you well.”

The poor man agreed.

As soon as they arrived in London, the captain died and all the merchandise remained the poor man’s. It was worth much more than the jewel had been worth.

The moral of the story is not to allow circumstances to affect our faith.

Good Shabbos!

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