We continue in Pesukei Bitachon and as we mentioned, there are very few that actually show up in the Torah. One of them is the Pasuk where Moshe Rabbenu is talking to Hashem after the Jewish people complained (Bamidbar 11) that they wanted to have meat.
Moshe says to Hashem, I don't have meat for them. Where am I going to get meat for them? I can't handle this.
Hashem says to Moshe, ‘They're not going to eat for one day. They're not going to eat for two days. They're not gonna eat for five days, for 10 days, for 20 days. They're going to eat meat for a month until it comes out of their noses.’
And Moshe says, 600,000 people are going to have meat for a month? If you slaughter the sheep and the cattle and you get the fish together, there's still not going to be enough for them, to which Hashem says,
“היד ה׳ תקצר/Is the hand of Hashem short?
Hayad Hashem Tiksar?
That's all you have to know, those three words. “And you'll see,” Hashem tells Moshe, “If what I say will happen or not.”
The question is, obviously Moshe Rabbenu knows God's abilities. Is he saying that Hashem can’t do this?
The Maharal explains that Moshe Rabbenu thought Hashem wouldn't do a miracle if it meant causing the Jewish people to sin. And more so, they were actually sinners at the moment, so would He commit a miracle for sinners? The answer is obviously yes.
The Ramban explains that Moshe thought that Hashem was not going to do a miracle, and so, could this happen in a non-miraculous way? And God says to Moshe, “You'll see I can make things happen in a non-miraculous way, even the most improbable thing like, a wind comes from God and brings the quail. It wasn't something supernatural, it wasn't a crazy wind. There are things that God can bring about in a natural way. When you think you need a miracle, God says, you don't need a miracle. That's the Ramban’s lesson of Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar.
There are situations in life where you think, Only a miracle will save me. And Hashem says, You don't think I can’t take care of you in a natural way? Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar?
This is an important lesson- number one, that God doesn't need miracles. Lesson two, the Ramban’s son says, in his Sefer Hamaspik L’Ovdeh Hashem, is a lesson in Hashem's involvement and knowledge in everybody's individual daily lives. Even within nature, Hashem's hand is what makes things happen, although it looks like natural events, because as he says, God doesn't work directly. God has causes, intermediaries and intermediaries after intermediaries to bring things about. And when Moshe says to Hashem, Can this happen?
God's answer is, Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar Is My hand too Short ? My ability extends to everything in every detail of every person's life. Hashem is involved. That's what it means, Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar
I'm not limited. I'm not limited. And I have all of nature at my disposal in the most odd ways that thing can happen.
There's a story in the Gemara (Nedarim 41 A) where a rabbi sees a scorpion walking quickly to a river.
And seemingly, scorpions don’t swim, so it isn’t going to get it across the river. But just then a turtle comes by and the scorpion jumpes on the back of the turtle. The turtle then goes across the river with the scorpion on his back. The scorpion jumps off and stings somebody, and they die. When Shmuel saw this, he said, “They're all your servants.”
What does that have to do with our story? The Ran says that when something is supposed to happen, all of creation are God servants. Therefore, that scorpion, or that turtle will make it happen.
This wasn't a miracle, this was nature. But, Hayad Hashem Tiksar?
We'll find that terrorist wherever he is.
Another example the Gemara brings is Kayin. The Gemara says, “Once a man's time comes…”
Kayin said, “Whoever finds me will kill me.” He was afraid. He was Hayav Mitah. He had a death warrant. So God put a sign on Kayin to protect him from the animals. But in the end, says the Maharsha, how does Kayin get killed? He doesn't get killed by an animal. He gets killed by a blind man shooting, with his son is directing him. The son thinks that he's an animal, and he gets shot by his own descendant, a blind man! So Kayan could run, could be protected from all the animals, but when your time comes, a blind man will shoot you.
Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar
God says, I have no shortage of ways to do things in the most natural of ways. I don't need miracles.
That's this lesson of Ha’Yad Hashem Tiksar.