Beshalach: Ratzon

רש"י ד"ה וחמושים אחד מחמישה יצאו וארבעה חלקים מתו בשלושה ימי אפלה. א

staggering, staggering Rashi. Four fifths died during the Makat Choshech because they were, as Rashi said in Parshat Bo, they were reshaim and they didn't want to leave Mitzrayim. Staggering. Imagine you wanted to found a kiruv organization. A kiruv organization that would teach and inculcate yesodos ha'emunah that would give people a foundation for living על פי תורה ומצוות. So mistama you'd want to be misyayetz with the biggest experts in the field. And you'd want that it shouldn't be just intellectual, but it should be experiential. So the Ribbono Shel Olam designed a course in yesodos ha'emunah.

למען תדע כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ. למען תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ.

The Ribbono Shel Olam b'khvodo u'v'atzmo designed and oversaw a course in yesodos ha'emunah, and four fifths didn't take to it. Haitokhen? Meshech Chochmah comments on the pasuk of na'aseh adam b'tzalmenu: ha'tzelem Elokim

הוא הבחירה החופשית בלי טבע מכריח רק מרצון ושכל חופשי.

The tzelem Elokim that we have is the bechirah chofshis, not to be compelled by instinct, by nature to adopt any course of behavior, רק מרצון ושכל חופשי. The Gemara in Berachos: retzonenu la'asos retzonekha. Ultimately, what determines a person's bechirah chofshis and what defines a person is not the sekhel, is not his understanding, but his ratzon. An absolutely remarkable expression of this, that a person is measured, the measure of a person is his ratzon. The Ramban in Parshat Lech Lecha deals with the question—the Rambam, the Ra'avad address it amongst others in Hilkhos Teshuvah—if Avraham Avinu was already told va'avadum v'inu osam in the Bris Bein Habesarim, so how can... Mitzriyim be held accountable for enslaving Klal Yisrael? V'davar Hovei, writes the Ramban,

כי האיש שנכתב ונחתם בראש השנה להריגה לא ינקה הליסטים ההורג אותו בעבור שעשה מה שנגזר עליו הוא רשע בעונו ימות ודמו מיד הרוצח יבוקש.

Says if Hakadosh Baruch Hu seals a person on Rosh Hashanah that he should be killed, and then a listim, bandit, comes, a bandit comes and kills him, the bandit of course is totally unaware and disinterested in Ratzon Hashem. He's doing it for his own nefarious purposes. So he's a rasha and he's chayav misa for this act of bloodshed. אבל כאשר תצא הגזירה על פי נביא, but let's say that what Hakadosh Baruch Hu has decided is made public via the agency of a navi. Says the Ramban, יש באלו אותם דינים. Now already there's a distinction that needs to be drawn. כי אם שמע אותה, if the person hears the nevuah, ורצה לעשות רצון בוראו כנגזר, and the reason he implements the nevuah is to do Ratzon Hashem, so then not only ein alav cheit, not only even if it involves shefichas damim, not only is there no sin, אבל יש לו זכות. Adderaba, it's a merit.

כאשר אמר ביהוא יען אשר הטיבות לעשות הישר בעיני ככל אשר בלבבי עשית לבית אחאב.

So as a reward

בנים רבעים ישבו לך על כסא ישראל. אבל אם שמע המצוה,

let's say a person hears that b'nevuah it's been decreed that he is supposed to kill someone. However,

והרג אותו לשנאה או לשללה, יש עליו העונש כי הוא לחטא נתכוון ועבירה היא לו.

And the Ramban illustrates this most remarkably. He quotes first with Sancheriv and then maybe even more remarkably, v'hinei Nevuchadnezzar shama. Nevuchadnezzar also knew, he heard

כי הנביאים פה אחד קוראים אותו להחריב ירושלים. הוא וכל עמו נצטווה בכך מפי הנביא.

Nevuchadnezzar was aware of that, fully and totally aware of the fact that it had been decreed by Hakadosh Baruch Hu that he should destroy Yerushalayim.

כמו שכתוב הנני שולח ולקחתי את כל משפחות צפון נאם ה' ואל נבוכדראצר מלך בבל עבדי והביאותים על הארץ הזאת ועל יושביה והחרמתים. וכתוב הנני נותן את העיר הזאת ביד הכשדים וביד נבוכדראצר מלך בבל והציתו את העיר באש. ואף על בית המקדש עצמו אמר. והם יודעים כי מצות ה' היא כמו שאמר נבוזראדן לירמיהו: ה' אלוהיך דיבר את הרעה הזאת אל המקום הזה. ואף על פי כן נענשו כולם בסוף. והיה זה מפני שני טעמים. האחד שגם הוא נתכוון להשמיד כל הארץ להגדיל ממשלתו, כמו שכתוב והשבתי גאון זדים וגאות עריצים אשפיל.

So Nevuchadnezzar was punished even though he was knowingly simply carrying out a nevuah, a gezeirah from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And if it was a gezeirah from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it means that he couldn't not do it. That there was no possible scenario in which Nevuchadnezzar would not destroy the Beis HaMikdash. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said it was gonna happen. Barring Teshuva, but there was nothing that he could do to prevent it. The nevuah l'ra doesn't have to happen if there's teshuvah. But there was nothing Nevuchadnetzar could do to prevent it. Nevuchadnetzar was punished because he didn't want, he didn't do it to be mekayem devar Hashem, but he wanted to do it for the self-aggrandizement of being the one who destroyed the Beis Hamikdash. So here the maisim of the person are not masur beyado. The only thing that Nevuchadnetzar could contribute is the ratzon that would accompany, that would inform his maisim. And says the Ramban again, haga atzmecha, Nevuchadnetzar was gonna destroy Yerushalayim, he was gonna destroy the Beis Hamikdash, he was gonna exile Klal Yisrael. Our teshuvah could've prevented it, nothing he could do could prevent it. And yet he was held accountable because he was measured by his ratzon. So it's not what a person knows, and says the Ramban, it's not even what a person does that's the measure of the person. It's his ratzon. In this context, I think we can have an added appreciation for Ramchal's depiction of teshuvah. Here in perek daled of Mesillas Yesharim, Ramchal explains how all the middas hachesed, all the middas harachamim of Hakadosh Baruch Hu don't contradict din. Because din is also a middah of the Ribbono Shel Olam, that they're compatible with din.

ודאי מדת הרחמים היא קיומו של עולם, ואף על פי כן אין מדת הדין לוקה.

If it would be pure middas hadin,

ראוי שהחוטא יענש מיד, וגם שהעונש עצמו יהיה בחרון אף, ושלא יהיה תיקון לחטא כלל.

Punishment Rachmana litzlan would be swift and instantaneous, it would be kavyachol with a fury, and there would be no way to make amends. אמנם מדת הרחמים היא הנותנת היפך השלושה דברים שזכרנו. First of all, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't punish immediately. Secondly, punishment doesn't Rachmana litzlan involve destruction. And finally, שהתשובה תינתן לחוטא בחסד גמור. And what's the essence of teshuvah? שתחשב עקירת הרצון כעקירת המעשה, dehainu

שבהיות השב מכיר את חטאו ומודה בו ומתבונן על רעתו, ושב ומתחרט עליו חרטה גמורה מעיקרא, ומצטער בלבו צער חזק על שכבר נעשה הדבר, ועוזב אותו להבא ובורח ממנו.

So just as by a neder, עקירת הדבר מרצונו יחשב לו כעקירת הנדר, so too by teshuvah, עקירת הרצון כעקירת המעשה. That the way teshuvah works, says Ramchal, is that the remorse that a person feels over his cheit, which uproots the ratzon, not only the ratzon mikan u'lehaba, but the ratzon in the past also, that the ever should've been, he ever should've done the cheit. So the chesed which is compatible with middas hadin is that עקירת רצון כעקירת מעשה. So what's the pshat? Now so, again, in the context that we're reflecting on it, the pshat is very good because the emes is that's what defines the person was the ratzon. And when you think about it, it's דברים פשוטים עד מאוד. Let's say a person got up this morning, davened be'tzibur, came to shul early, a few minutes early, made his hachanos, davened be'tzibur, after eating breakfast, went to the beis medrash. So what does he get schar for? What does he get the schar for? He gets schar for getting up early, for going to davening, for coming to seder. None of that is masur beyado. None of that is masur beyado. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't allow it, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't authorize it, a person can't do anything. A person could have wanted to get up and not been able to get up. A person could have wanted to go to tfila be'tzibur and not been able to go to tfila be'tzibur. A person could have wanted to get to seder and there could have been all kinds of insurmountable obstacles to prevent him, rachmana litzlan. The only thing that a person is a ba'al over was his ratzon to do it. We're all familiar with the expression אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון. So they say from the Gerer Rebbes that what do you mean אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון? That's not true. Everyone knows it's not true. Hachush makchish. Look around. So often we really want to do something and are not able to do it. So they say the pshat אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון is there's never ever any impediment to a person having the ratzon. That's totally masur beyado. Whether or not a person will be able to implement his ratzon, whether or not a person will be able to carry out his ratzon, that ein hachi nami, that's not masur beyado. But אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון, but if the shortcoming was in the ratzon, so that's a person, that's a person's responsibility, because אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון. Again, it's all so intuitive. A doctor tells his patient he has to quit smoking, has to lose weight, and he spells out for him rachel bitcha haktana the potential consequences of not listening. So when the patient thinks that he'd like to light up a cigarette, when he thinks that he wants to eat something which is restricted according to the diet, so what determines whether he complies with the doctor's orders and regimen or whether he violates it? The seichel hachofshi? No, the seichel hachofshi is not going to determine. He understands very, very well what he should do. What's going to determine is how strong the ratzon to comply is. The Ribbono Shel Olam's kiruv of course was intended and therefore did teach in the most powerful and effective way possible the yesodos haemuna. The havana sichlis everyone had, all of Klal Yisrael had. But it was left to every yachid ve'yachid to translate that havana sichlis into a ratzon to act on it, to act accordingly and to implement it. Obviously without chas v'shalom rachmana litzlan equating in any, any, any sense of the term, but obviously in much, much, much more subtle shapes and forms, it's a mistake which still, which still exists. The gap or the disparity between what we know and what we are and who we become is because we underestimate or maybe don't even recognize the need to work on translating what we know into what we want and what we desire. I can and do say תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם every morning, but that doesn't automatically translate into a ratzon that will live accordingly and that will implement it. And ultimately the determining factor is the extent to which a person translates, translates everything he knows and learns about what's true and what's right and what should be into a ratzon to implement it. Halo davar hu that רבי פנחס בן יאיר says the bottom of the ladder in terms of one's aliya in avodas hashem is that a person has to be a zariz, and zrizus both reflects and results from a strong ratzon. All of the havana, all the conviction, all the belief has to be translated into, into a ratzon. What happens mimeila, as we all know from experience, isn't all that powerful. So much of the gap, so much of the disparity between what we know and believe on the one hand and what we implement, what we realize, what we attain on the other hand is because we underestimate the role of, of the ratzon in our lives. Bli neder next week we're going to talk a little bit about some of the, the ways in which we try again to translate what we know and what we believe into, into our ratzon which Closes that gap. Okay.