Welcome back to our lessons on
Perek Shira. We are now up to the song of the Sheratzim, the song of
the Rodents. These are not the
most beautiful or aesthetic of creatures. The Gemara mentions snails and moles,
and all kinds of crawly creatures, such as cockroaches and the like. Their song is a pasuk
from Tehilim 149,22
שְׁרָצִים אוֹמְרִים. יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו בְּנֵי
צִיּוֹן יָגִילוּ בְמַלְכָּם: (תהילים קמט ב)
Let Yisrael (the Jewish
people) rejoice in his maker (referring to Hashem) the children of
Sion will exult in their King.
Why is this the song of the Sheratzim? Why are they singing and
happy that Hashem created them, even
though they don't have the nicest of
looks, as we said. Everything has a
purpose, and them being in the world is part of the purpose. As the Seforno says, all creatures have a reason to rejoice,
but Klal Yisrael has special cause to rejoice, because they are
the chosen people. They are the Am Segula. The Sheratzim's
ministering angel is singing, "Yes, all creatures, even us, sing a song because
we know Hashem made us for a reason." Like the story with David Hamelech, who asked why
certain things were created, and Hashem showed him there's a reason for
everything.
But the angel of the Sheratzim is saying. "There are
creatures, specifically Klal Yisrael, that have reason to be even more happy, because
they're the chosen nation." Their song is telling the Jewish people that this is not a
world where everything is exactly equal. Are all men are created equal? Are all creatures are created equal? No. They aren't.The Song of
the Sheratzim is saying, Even though we're down here, we're not claiming, everyone's created equal. No, we
understand there are creatures that are on a higher level of the hierarchy-
the Jewish people. And that's
יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיוThe Jewish people have a special happiness with their Creator.
The Sefer Yismach Yehuda on Perek Shira explains
this, based on a beautiful midrash Tehilim 18,12 that says Eliyahu HaNavi met the great Tanna Rav Nehorai, and he asked him, Why did God
create these crawling creatures? He
answered, Because when Hashem sees that the people are sinning, He could look
down and say, Why am I keeping these people going? They're sinners. There's
no purpose for them. They're not helping the world. But then God looks at
the Sheratzim and says, Well, I'm
keeping these rodents alive, and I'm
keeping these cockroaches alive, and they have no needs. The Jewish people, might be sinners now but will
eventually turn around and do teshuva, so for sure I should keep them going
until they come about and have something special come out of them.
So the Sheratzim cause God to have mercy and patience with
the Jewish people. That's why the Chida writes that it's so important to stay away from eating
bugs. Because if you eat bugs, then that whole claim disappears. If you say bugs
do serve a purpose, if you eat them and benefit
from them, then there's a reason for them.
So the more we stay away from bugs, the more we're reiterating the
concept that there's no needs for bugs to be there. What are they doing for us?
They're not doing anything. So why does Hashem keep them there? To keepsomething that has no need.
The Sefer Yismach Yehuda says that is song that the bugs are
telling us.
יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו בְּנֵי צִיּוֹן יָגִילוּ
בְמַלְכָּם:
Jewish people, be happy with your Creator. Look how far Hashem goes
to keep you alive, even though you're sinners. Look at us and see, He created
an entire world of Sheratzim just to be able to say, Of I'm keeping them going,
surely I should keep the Jewish people going. That's
the second message of the song of the Sheratzim.
The Sefer Yismach Yehuda has another beautiful explanation. He says
that Hashem gave us certain Mitzvot that He really didn't have to give
us. For example, Hashem said, Don't eat a cockroach. Don't eat blood.
Why does Hashem have to say that? Who's eating blood?
Do you know why Hashem gave
us these Mitzvot? In order to give us more opportunity for zechuyot.
We don't like these things; we have no
interest in eating them. And the Gemara says we're not supposed to say, I don't want to eat it
any anyway. We're supposed to say, I would eat it, but Hashem told me not to. Hashem
wanted to give us more opportunities for zechut.
Going back to our bugs, Maybe I wouldn't mind eating them. Maybe I
wouldn't check the lettuce. But Hashem gave us more opportunities for zechut;
He made more things Asur, so that
we have more opportunities for merit.
The sheratzim are saying,
יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו בְּנֵי צִיּוֹן יָגִילוּ
בְמַלְכָּם:
We're only here for you
Jewish people to get more merit, and
therefore be happy.
The message is that the Jewish people should be happy either
because
- by not eating us, you're getting a merit.
- of the fact that we're only here so that Hashem should say, if the Sheratzim are alive, surely I should keep the Jewish
people alive.
- generally speaking, if every creature has to be happy,
surely you Jewish people have to be happy.
All these messages are the same. The Sheratzim are singing the song,
Jewish people, be happy!
