Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Hashem And The Tzaddik

"I believe in Hashem and in my Rebbe".

Can one make such a radical statement declaring in one breath his belief in Hashem the Creator of the Universe and a mere mortal of flesh and blood who gets tired when he doesn't sleep enough and gets hungry after not eating for long enough??

"Definitely not!" I hear people crying out. "Blasphemy! Avoda Zarah!"

Remember we discussed humility and allowing for the fact that we don't know everything. So let's see.

After the sea split the pasuk says ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו - the Jews believed in Hashem and Moshe His servant. One breath. Hashem and Moshe. [If I am not mistaken this pasuk is the only time Moshe's name is mentioned in the hagada.]

Today we don't have Moshe anymore. When a Rabbi in the gemara would say something wise the gemara says משה שפיר קאמרת - Moshe you spoke well. A tzaddik and a chochom is our Moshe for the generation. Each generation and their Moshe. So maybe it's not so farfetched to equate belief in Hashem with belief in a tzaddik.

It goes without saying that all of a tzaddik's abilities and power derive from Hashem and he is completely subservient to Him.

ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו - Moshe His servant.

PS - I recall an essay on the topic in the Nesivos Shalom Parshas Beshalach עיין שם!