In this week’s parsha Moshe repeats the Aseret HaDibrot (the Ten Commandments) to the Jewish people. The first commandment reads:
אָנֹכִי ד’ אֱלֹקיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִ͏ים׃
I am the lord, your G-d, who took you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 5:5)
The commentaries ask why G-d identified himself as the G-d who took them out of Egypt and not as the G-d who created the world? After all, the basis of Hashem’s mastery of the world is the fact that He created it. So why not start at the beginning? Rabbi Zev Leff offers the following answer.
Later on in the parsha the Torah records a discussion between a child and a parent. “When, in time to come, your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, laws, and rules that the Lord our God has enjoined upon you? You shall say to your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; and us He freed from there, that He might take us and give us the land that He had promised on oath to our fathers. Then the LORD commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the LORD our God, for our good for all days and to give us life, as is now the case. It will therefore be to our merit before the LORD our God to observe faithfully this Instruction, as He has commanded us (6:20-25).” Ibn Ezra in his commentary explains the child’s question. Why were we given this great responsibility of mitzvot different from all other peoples? The answer is that God redeemed us from the house of slavery, and He has performed all this good for us. Having already acknowledged that He has been our benefactor we are obliged to revere His name and recognize that observing His mitzvot will be to our benefit to keep us alive — for His commandments are life to those who find them.
The Exodus from Egypt with all its miracles clearly showed us that G-’s intentions for what he does us are for our benefit. As Seforno in his commentary writes on the words, “for our good for all days,” that this means for this lifetime and life in Olam Haba, the World to Come. Therefore Hashem identified himself at Mount Sinai as the G-d who took you out of Egypt because it was through that experience that Hashem showed us that His plans for the Jewish people are all for our good.
This idea is brought out in a comment in the Talmud that points out that Torah starts with chessed (kindness) and ends with chessed. The Torah begins with G-d providing clothing for Adam and Eve which they needed after they sinned by eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The Torah ends with chessed because it was G-d himself who tended to Moshe’s Burial. The point the Talmud is conveying is that if the Torah begins and ends with the Almighty’s kindness, then everything else in between is also His kindness. He has given us the Torah “for our good for all days.” Now, if everything in the Torah is an expression of G-d’s kindness to us, then not only are the Mitzvot of the Torah for our benefit but also all the punishments recorded in the Torah that will befall us for forsaking G-d’s will are for our benefit. However, the clarity of that evades us so long that we remain in the darkness of exile.
This Shabbat, the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, is called Shabbat Nachamu. This is because the Haftorah we read from Isaiah 40:1 begins, “Nachamu, nachamu ami,” which means “Be comforted, be comforted, my people.” Hashem comforts the Jewish people over the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (the Holy Temple) by telling them that they will eventually return to their glory. What lies though in the double wording, “Nachamu, nachamu” – be comforted, be comforted?
Rabbi Leff explains that first they should not give up hope but take comfort in the fact that the ultimate benefit of returning to their glory will be realized. They should also take comfort in an unbelievable benefit they will experience then. At that time Hashem will give us to understand how all the suffering the Jewish people endured throughout their years in exile was, as the parsha states, “for our good for all days.” All our questions about the travails of Jewish History will be answered. We will realize how everything was part of a grand plan to bring us to this ultimate point. That will be the second nachamu, the second source of comfort.
May we receive this double dose of comfort speedily in our days with the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak