We're now up to the song of the raven in Perek Shira. The raven
sings a song from Iyov 38,41.
מִי יָכִין לָעֹרֵב צֵידוֹ
כִּי יְלָדָיו אֶל אֵל יְשַׁוֵּעוּ: (איוב לח מא)
(God tells Iyov) Who prepares the food for the raven? The
children of the raven cry out to God (because they're lost without food).
What does that mean? The Midrash Tanhuma (Ekev perek ב ) tells us that the raven is cruel to its
children. Why? Because the raven, which is black, gives birth to baby birds
that are white, so the parents get disgusted, thinking there was an act of
infidelity and they therefore abandon
the baby. Because of this, Hashem causes
worms to grow in the dung of the raven, and that's what the baby raven eats. This is a miracle that Hashem does
for the raven to survive.
This ties all the way back to the days of Noah, where the Gemara tells us there were three creatures that sinned on the Teva: Ham, the raven
and the dog.
There's a rule that when anyone that casts dispersion on someone, it's because
deep down he has that problem. So the raven is suspicious of the white
baby ravens, because he himself
sinned. The Gemara also says that when the raven was sent out by
Noah, the raven said, "You're sending
me out because you want to sin with my wife." What kind of crazy thing is
that to say? But because the raven itself had sinned, he thinks others are
sinners as well.
The dove, on the other hand, is a symbol of loyalty, and he was ready
to go out of the Teva, because he was loyal. He didn't suspect anyone. So this
raven is suspicious and that is built into his nature forever, to the extent
that he doesn't feed his children because he doesn't think they are his children! But Hashem
makes a miracle to take care of the ravens.
The Ramban adds that this raven is an Ohf Tameh. It's not at
all a nice bird. And despite this, Hashem, takes care of them, and keeps them
going.
These are lessons of bitachon for us. The raven is telling us: "Hey,
I'm a raven. I'm not the best of characters. I'm not the highest
on the totem pole, so to say. And yet
Hashem goes out of his way to miraculously feed me."
Furthermore, Pirkei D'Rav Eliezer perek 21 cites another pasuk
that says, Hashem gives bread to the animals, and to the children of the raven
that calls out. And the Pirkei D'Rav
Eliezer says that when the raven cries out, Hashem brings rain, to take care of
it. Unbelievable! The raven cries out to God and the God listens. So the raven
is giving us that lesson. I'm all
alone. My parents despise me. I've been abandoned. I'm that illegitimate child,
so to say. And yet Hashem takes care of me."
This is a lesson for human beings. The Gemara in Bava
Batra 8A says that Rebbi opened his treasure houses in the time of famine
and said, I want to allow Talmidei
Chachamim to be first. They have the first rights. But a certain Rabbi Yonatan didn't want to benefit
from being a Talmud Chacham, so he came in and pretended he was Am HaAretz, so they sent him to
the end of the line. And he said, "Take care of me like you take care of the
raven."
The Yad Ramah asks, Why did
he say, "Give me like a raven," when what he meant to say is that 'Just
like Hashem takes care of the Raven, you should take care of me.'The Maharsha
brings it back to the Teva, where, like we said, even though the raven
sinned, Hashem still took care of them, So every person can have bitachon
and say, Even though I sinned, take care of me like a raven.
Finally, the Chida in his sefer Petach Enayim has a
tremendous hiddush.
The rule is, if you have mercy, Hashem has mercy. But the raven is
cruel to his children. It would seem that for animals or beings that are cruel,
God should also be cruel to them. And yet although this Raven is not a merciful
creature, Hashem still has mercy on it.
