Even For The Animals

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Rav Shlomo Kluger pointed out something amazing which took place during Yetziat Mitzrayim . When Moshe Rabbeinu came to warn Phar aoh about Makat Arbeh , Pharaoh was willing to let the adult Jews go. He only refused to let their children go. After Makat Choshech , Phar aoh called to Moshe and said he would let the adults and children go. He only refused to let them take their animals with them. Which means that the entire Makat Bechorot , the final makah , was only necessary for the animals of the Jewish people to be able to leave. Regarding Makat Bechorot , it says that Hashem Himself came down into Mitzrayim . אני ולא מלאך. אני ולא שליח... . And He was the One who hardened Pharaoh’s heart to refuse to let the animals go in the first place. Why would Hashem go to all these lengths, to first hold Pharaoh back from letting the animals go, and then personally coming to rescue them with Makat Bechorot ? The Rabbi answered, Hashem knew in the future, when the time would come for Mashiach to arrive, the Yetzer Hara was going to try and convince that generation that they are unworthy of Mashiach , so that they don't hope for him to come. The Yetzer Hara would say to them, “Your generation is not nearly as great as the previous generations, and all the more so not as great as the generation that left Mitzrayim . Maybe they were worthy of Hashem's miracles, but you definitely are not.” To fight this Yetzer Hara , Hashem prepared the greatest yeshua . He made all the miracles of Makat Bechorot , just to redeem the animals, so that the final generation can say, if Hashem was willing to go into the tuma of Mitzrayim just for the animals, and do all those wonders and miracles, how much more so will He be willing to do them for us. Furthermore, the final generation may not be as great as the previous generations, but the deeds they do, and efforts they make amidst the tests and impurities of the world that surrounds them, makes their efforts so much more valuable and beloved to Hashem. One deed done with self-sacrifice, during such a difficult time to accomplish it, is inestimable. At times, Hashem shows us how much He appreciates those efforts. I read a story that was told by a mashgiach , who was once called to verify a certain kashrut issue regarding wine that was produced in Russia. He flew there with his assistant, and during that winter month that they were called, it was nearly 30 degrees below zero. They rented a fairly new car, and had to drive seven hours to reach their destination. After traveling for about two hours, the engine suddenly stopped running. They figured out that the intense cold outside froze the gas. They decided to dress warmly and find help by foot. They found a convenience store and asked the old lady behind the counter for help. She told them she would get them a car, and within ten minutes a big truck came along, and the driver appeared to be a gentile. His eyes were red from drinking vodka. There was only room for one passenger, and so the mashgiach went. He was afraid to listen to anything this driver would want to listen to, and so he put on his own Hebrew music. Amazingly, the driver heard the words and said he recognized the language. The mashgiach was flabbergasted. He asked the driver how he knew the language. The driver replied that his elderly mother spoke to him in Hebrew. The mashgiach asked if he could meet her, and being that she was in the neighborhood, the driver took him there. The woman told the mashgiach she was a Holocaust survivor and managed to escape with her son, who was then a baby. Her husband and daughter did not survive. The mashgiach asked her why she never remarried. The old woman said, “Because there are no Jews here and I would only marry a Jew.” The mashgiach was amazed at her raising her child alone in a foreign country, coping by herself for decades. The mashgiach then connected her son with a rabbi from a neighboring community, who eventually brought him close to Torah and mitzvot. By the time his mother passed away, her son was fully religious. He gave her a Jewish burial and, at the funeral, stood by her grave with a minyan and said, יתגדל ויתקדש שמיה רבה Look what Hashem did for this woman who sacrificed so much to avoid marrying a non-Jew. He brought a mashgiach from across the world and stopped his car in the neighborhood that she lived in so that he would get her son to be religious and raise her neshama in Gan Eden . Every deed we do is precious and Hashem will most definitely perform great miracles for the final generation that will even outshine the ones He did in Mitzrayim. And b’ezrat Hashem, we hope that day will come very soon.