HaRav Yechezkel Aurbach Shlit"a Addresses Midrash Shmuel

16-May-10

Yeshivas Midrash Shmuel had the honour of welcoming HaRav Yechezkel Aurbach Shlit”a, Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Sameach, South Africa, who addressed the Yeshiva after Mincha today.

Rabbi Yechezkel told over the recount in the Gemoro, where Moshe Rabbeinu ascends Har Sinai to receive the Torah, and is confronted by the Malochim who start arguing with him:

‘What is a human being doing among us?’ On hearing he had come to receive the Torah, they commence a fiery tirade: ‘You want to take the Torah from us? The Torah that has been kept hidden and safe for hundreds of years before the world was even created?! You’ll ruin it! We won’t let you take it from us!’

At this point, HaShem speaks directly to Moshe and tells him: ‘Answer the Malochim’.

And so Moshe responds: ‘What use is it to you? You have no yetzer horo; you and your environment are not designed to be compatible with the Torah – you could never even keep it! It was always meant for us!’ This dialogue continues.

Now, why on Earth (or wherever) would HaShem require Moshe to give an answer? Needless to say, HaShem was perfectly aware of where the Torah was indeed destined to go, and could have answered any protest of the Malochim better than Moshe!

The truth is that the perfect answer from even the Highest Upon High was not what was necessary here. That is to say, that of course HaShem could have silenced the Malochim in an instant, but that’s not what He wanted. By instructing Moshe to answer, HaShem Yisborach was pointing out that the recipient of the Torah needs to realize that he needs the Torah; that without it he is nothing. It is not enough just to understand that HaShem is giving us a great gift; it is an absolute necessity for our essence on this world and in the next.