Lesson for Keriat Yam Suf / 7th Day of Pesach
Yet again we draw lessons from the story of Gideon:
As we have mentioned, an angel was waiting under the elm tree for Gideon.
Why? Radak gives us two reasons. The first was for the angel show that he was there, ready to save Gideon.
The second reason, related to the first, is that the angel was waiting until he found a zechut/ merit to earn the reward, for Gideon.
Very often, an angel is there ready to save us. We just need the zechut. Hashem is saying, “I’m ready but you need the merit to earn it.”
We find that this is what happened with Lot in Sedom. Ramban says the angels came to him in order to give him the zechut of inviting guests. Lot invited them in, but that wasn’t enough to save him. They declined his offer and he had to plead with them to come in. Ramban says they made it more difficult for him because he needed a greater zechut.
Sometimes we try to do a mitzvah and the angels make it difficult for us because we need an extra zechut.
This is a principle always.
At the Yam Suf it’s mentioned that the Angel of Hashem separated the Jews from the Egyptians.
We have angels protecting and helping us but we need to arouse the zechut to save us.
This works for everything. It works for parnassah, as it brought down that earning daily parnassah is as difficult as splitting of the sea (Gemara in Masechet Sotah, Pesachim ). Why does it say this? To depress us?
The Rashbam says it’s to show us that just as G-d made miracles then, he can make miracles now. You have to ask for it and earn it just like at the Yam Suf. This is clear in the Torah.
The reason G-d uses angels is because we simply can not imagine or conceptualize G-d doing every single for us every second. So G-d sends His angels for us as His messengers.
Yaakov had a dream when he was leaving Laban’s house, after Laban tried to swindle him 100 times by changing the terms of the deal with the sheep. An angel of Hashem came to Yaakov in a dream to tell him how he had switched the sheep each time Laban changed the deal, from checkered to spotted, etc. The angel was helping Yaakov. We have angels working for us. We just don’t see them.
Rabbi Ginsberg once said to imagine that you’ve lost your cell phone in a cab when it slipped into the crease of the seat. The next three passengers don’t notice it. Then the fourth passenger is a religious Jew who sees your phone sticking out, looks you up and returns it to you. Why was this man able to see it when the others weren’t? Because an angel pulled it out of the crease for the Jewish man to find.
We believe in angels. There are forces out there that we don’t see, that do things for us. The trick is that we need a merit to gain their help.
What was the greatest zechut at Yam Suf? It says they were all idol worshippers- the Jews and the Mitzrim. So why did the Egyptians get killed while the Jews got saved? What was their merit? It was that they travelled straight into the sea to show their Bitachon. The Or Hachaim Hakadosh says Moshe was praying, but it wasn’t the time for prayer. They needed something stronger. What’s stronger than prayer? Bitachon. They forged right into the ocean and relied on G-d. They didn’t care that they walking into a sea.
Reliance on Hashem is the most powerful zechut. Sometimes we have challenges. Often they are there as opportunities for us to exercise our Bitachon to earn the zechut we need.
BeH, Hashem will see that we are working on our Bitachon every day, listening to these classes and developing it.