Megillah 19
My buddy
Shmully was an excellent rabbi. He is
learned, charismatic, caring and all-round great guy. Sadly, the emphasis is on the word ‘was.’ After getting his semicha (ordination) he
went to work for a couple of years in a big synagogue under a tough senior
rabbi. The personality clashes were too
much for Shmully and he decided to leave the rabbinate.
Shmully had
the good fortune of marrying a girl from a well-to-do family and Shmully’s
parents also do okay. Left with a poor
taste in his mouth, Shmully decided to go to law school and today he is a
successful lawyer. Good for him. But is it good for Klal Yisrael (our people)?
The Bible records two instances of our greatest
prophets who requested to see G-d reveal Himself to them. In both cases, G-d does not do so, since “a
man shall not see Me and live.”
Nevertheless, G-d “passes by” Moses and Elijah, protecting them in a
cave or rock cleft as He does, so that they can catch a glimpse of the Divine
light.
In the first story, Moses asks G-d to forgive
the Children of Israel for worshipping the Golden Calf. Having accomplished this goal, Moses decides
to capitalize on the opportunity of Divine favour and asks G-d to reveal
Himself to Him, as described in the Book of Exodus:
“And he (Moses)
said: Please show me Your glory. And He (G-d) said: I will make all My goodness
pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the L-rd before you; and I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. And He said: You cannot not
see My face, for man shall not see Me and live. And the L-rd said: Behold, there is a place by
Me, and you shall stand upon the rock. And it shall come to pass, while My glory
passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with
My hand until I have passed by. And I
will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be
seen.”
In the second story, Elijah flees for his life
from the wrath of King Ahab. In the
desert, he finds a cave where G-d appears to him, as described in the Book of I
Kings:
“And he
(Elijah) came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the
L-rd came to him, and He said unto him: What are you doing here, Elijah? And he said: I have been very jealous for the
L-rd, the G-d of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant,
thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And He said: Go forth, and stand upon the
mount before the L-rd. And, behold, the
L-rd passed by.”
Rabbi Chiya bar Aba quoted Rabbi Yochanan: Had
an opening the size of a fine needle remained in the cave where Moses and
Elijah stood, they would not have been able to stand due to the [Divine] light.
Nahmanides explains: Imagine a king passing through a crowded
street. Before him walk his bodyguards
who clear the way for him, pushing and shoving the people out of the way. You want to make sure that you are out of harm’s
way, because they will have no mercy on any obstacle in their way. Similarly, when G-d in all His glory passes
by, as He did for the final plague in Egypt and as He did it when He revealed
Himself to Moses and Elijah, it is dangerous to be around. G-d is ‘accompanied’ by fiery angels who
destroy any obstacle in the way of His path.
By placing Moses and Elijah in a tight space in
the cleft of the rock or cave, no Divine light was able to enter and they were protected
from any danger posed by the Almighty’s ‘entourage.’
Imagine how
Moses and Elijah must have felt in the tight spaces of their respective
cave/rock clefts! The space was so
tight, says Rabbi Yochanan, that there was not so much as a needlepoint’s space
left for the Divine light to enter. Physically,
it must have been pretty uncomfortable! But
of course they understood that the tightness was there for their
protection. They were able to
experience the Divine light passing by, but not be harmed by the fiery angels.
Have you
ever felt stressed out by the constrictions of life? Maybe you felt you were in a very tight financial
spot and you wondered how G-d could do that to you. Rabbi Yochanan teaches us that sometimes G-d
places us in a tight spot in order to show us His light and at the same time
protect us. Sometimes we can only achieve
our potential when we are constricted.
Take my
buddy, Shmully, bless him. He had some
issues in the rabbinate and so he went into law. He’s still an active volunteer in his
community, but imagine if he’d stayed the course and dedicated his life
full-time to serving G-d and man! But he
had family money to fall back on and so he failed to reach his potential. If money had been tight, he would have had to
bite his tongue and figure things out in the rabbinate, either by subordinating
himself to the senior rabbi or finding another pulpit. But since things weren’t tight, Klal Yisrael lost out on Shmully.
Next time
you feel like G-d has placed you in a tight spot, just think, ‘How can I grow
from this challenge? What is G-d forcing
me to do with my life?’ Maybe He’s
protecting you. Maybe He’s placing you
in exactly the right spot to see the Divine light. Don’t fight it, embrace it and work with
it. The Almighty has incredible plans
for you in life!
