By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — Is lack of faith our fault or God’s fault? This week I discovered two commentaries on parashat B’shallach with radically different points of view.
When the Sea of Reeds blocked the escape of the Children of Israel from Egypt, they thought they were doomed. As Pharaoh’s chariots closed in they complained to Moses: “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?” (Ex. 14:11-12)
Moses at the Red Sea Moses turned to God and prayed on behalf of the people. God’s response? “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward!” (Ex. 14:15). God told Moses there is a time for prayer and a time for action. Now is the time for action. Nachshon ben Amminadav charged forward. As soon as his foot touched the water, the sea split and the Israelites walked triumphantly through.
The following is a Chassidic story based on God’s reprimand to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me?”:
Rabbi Ya’akov David of Koznitz once paid a visit to the Rabbi of Kotzk. Rabbi Ya’akov was a student of Rabbi Shlomo Leib of Lantshana.
The Rabbi of Kotzk asked Rabbi Ya’akov: “How is Rabbi Shlomo Leib? I love him dearly, but I am troubled that he is always crying out to God to send the Messiah. Why doesn’t he cry out to the Jews instead and demand that they change their ways and do teshuva? After all, this is what God said to Moses,’ “Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the Israelites [instead].'”
The Rabbi of Kotzk did not believe that the sorry, sad, and diminished state of Jewish people was because God had failed to help them. Rather, Israel suffered because of its misdeeds and sinfulness. Instead of asking God for deliverance, the Jewish people should clean up their own deeds first.
The other commentary I read is based on the introductory lines of the Song of the Sea, the epic poem recited by the Israelites after they crossed in safety and watched their enemies drown: “And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith in the Lord and His servant Moses.” (Ex. 14:31)
In his book, “Orot Yisrael,” the Rabbi of Sadigura writes that the Torah says: “It is only after they saw all of the miracles that God performed in Egypt that the Children of Israel ‘had faith in the Lord.’ I believe that if God performed the same kinds of wonders and miracles for us today, Jews would also return to God in fear and awe.”
The Kotzker Rebbe claims that it is the Jews’ fault that God does produce miracles for them. The Sadigura Rav says that the absence of miracles leads Jews to disbelief.
Who is correct? I disagree with both. I don’t believe that God rewards good behavior with miracles, nor do I believe that God needs to earn our faith through the performance of miracles.
What have you done for me lately? Faith implies an “I-Thou” relationship with the other, a relationship that is informed by trust rather than material reward. A faith that is based on “what have you done for me lately?” is bound to fail because it presupposes a quid pro quo rather than unconditional love and responsibility.”
If this is true in the human arena, how much more so when it comes to our relationship with God?
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted via leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com