Parashat Shemot- Earning Compassion Through Compassion
Earning Compassion Through Compassion
When Moshe arrives in Egypt and announces that he is the redeemer sent by God to deliver Benei Yisrael from bondage, he is greeted with great excitement and anticipation: "The nation believed; they heard that Hashem had taken note of Benei Yisrael and has seen their torment, and they kneeled and bowed" (Shemot 4:31).
Very quickly, however, their excitement turned into despair. It was expected that Moshe would demand the slaves' release, God would perform a miracle, and Benei Yisrael would be freed. Of course, this is not what happened. Pharaoh refused to let the slaves free and intensified their workload tenfold, announcing that they would have to collect their own straw for the production of bricks.
Why did Hashem have the events unfold the way they did? Why did He make conditions get worse before making them better?
Rav Eliyahu Lopian (England-Israel, 20th century) explains that God wanted Benei Yisrael to earn His compassion by showing compassion themselves. At the time of the Exodus, Benei Yisrael found themselves on a very low spiritual level, having sunken to the forty-nine "gates of impurity." They had no merits on account of which to merit redemption. The Almighty therefore engineered a situation where Benei Yisrael would have to show compassion for one another, and, "Mida Ke'neged Mida" ("measure for measure"), He would then treat them compassionately.
And so He arranged that the slaves' condition would become intolerable, that they would be unable to meet the demands of the Egyptian supervisors. The Torah tells towards the end of Parashat Shemot (5:14) that the "Shoterim," the Jewish foremen appointed by the Egyptian supervisors, bore the consequences of the slaves' failure to meet the quota of bricks. Rather than beat the slaves, the foremen allowed themselves to be beaten – and many were killed or maimed as a result – out of compassion for their suffering brethren.
Rav Eliyahu Lopian explained that this is a necessary prerequisite for redemption. Before we can earn God's sensitivity and compassion, we must show sensitivity and compassion to our fellow Jews in distress. We must follow the example of the "Shoterim" in Egypt and feel the pain of our brethren who suffer poverty, illness, loneliness and despair.
Unfortunately, many different kinds of crises face the Jewish people today. Besides the troubles confronting the Jews in Israel, Jewish communities worldwide are dealing with unemployment, illness, broken homes, premature death, and problem children. These unfortunate situations should be seen as opportunities for us to earn divine compassion through compassion. If we genuinely feel the pain of others and go out of our way to do what we can to alleviate that pain, then God will, in turn, see our pain and bring us our long-awaited redemption.
Most importantly, we must train our children to carry this Jewish tradition of concern and sensitivity. Children are very perceptive and take note of our reactions to tragedy or illness; they learn from our example of indifference or concern towards the plight of fellow Jews. We have always been described as "Rachamanim Benei Rachamanim," merciful people and the children of merciful people, and it is our duty to perpetuate this tradition and thereby earn the Almighty's compassion.
