2022/5782
No, this isn’t the classic Dvar Torah about Nachshon Ben Aminadav jumping into the water and from here we need to learn to jump into Torah. There is another place in this week's Parashah where we learn to jump into things. As Paroh and his chariots were darting towards Bnei Yisroel, the Torah says that “VaYetz’aku Bnei Yisrael El Hashem,” “Bnei Yisrael looked up and cried out to Hashem” (Shemot 14:10). Rashi on that Pasuk writes that “Tafsu UManut Avotam,” “they followed the art of their forefathers,” and cried out to Hashem. The Maharal in Gur Aryeh explains that Bnei Yisrael did not fully understand what it meant to Daven to Hashem, but they did what their parents and what their grandparents and what their great grandparents always did in times of trouble; they looked up to Hashem for help. To them, this was something they did perhaps by rote or by tradition, but they did not understand the true meaning of Tefillah, just yet.
With this in mind, Rav Naftali Ropshitzer, the great Chassidic master and author of the Sefer Zerah Kodesh, explains the deeper meaning of this story and how it relates to each and every Yid in his Avodat Hashem. The Rophsitzer writes that when doing one’s Avodat Hashem there is a necessity to sometimes perform Mitzvot just to perform them. He writes that it’s impossible for one to understand the depth of each Mitzvah to the point of performing them with much passion, fire and connection. A person needs to begin on a very basic level and work their way up to being able to serve Hashem with Ahava and Yirah, but the beginnings must often almost be done just because this is what my parents, grandparents and great grandparents did. After you have become accustomed to the performance of Mitzvot, one could then be able to perform them with great passion and sincerity.
This idea is of utmost importance. Oftentimes we think, I need to learn more about the Mitzvot to start them, or a person may think that they need to be inspired first and then I can perform the Mitzvot with passion. The Ropshitzer is teaching us that the only way I can get into a Mitzvah with great passion is by first entering into the world of Mitzvot in the most basic way. Our job is to then grow from level to level developing our understanding of the Mitzvah while also performing it. This idea is also found from the receiving of the Torah itself. Klal Yisrael said Na’aseh before Nishma, alluding to the idea that we will perform the Mitzvot without first understanding them on condition that throughout the rest of our lives we will continue to work at becoming inspired.
A second practical lesson we can gain from this is that oftentimes, throughout different points of the year our Avodat Hashem can become stale and routine. That is part of life, there are moments of inspiration and times of routine. If we were to perform Mitzvot only at moments of inspiration, we neglect so many Mitzvot that can be done during the course of our lives. The ideas here are teaching us that in order to be inspired, you need to be in it. Additionally, we should not wait only for the moments of inspiration, but rather perform the Mitzvot whenever we get the chance to and of course always strive to understand more, be more inspired, and perform the Mitzvot with passion!