A True Leader
There was a story about a king who had a son that he used to get upset at, quite frequently, for good reason. Sometimes, he got so mad he wanted to kill the boy. Except every time he wanted to kill the child, his wife, the queen, convinced him out of it. One day, the queen passed on and left this world. A few days later, the king’s servants witnessed the king crying. They asked the king why he was crying. He told them, “I’m not just crying over my wife, but I’m also crying for my son who my wife prevented me from killing quite a few times.”
The Medrash Tanchuma on this weeks Parsha, uses this Mashul to explain what is happening at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu death. Many times, when Hashem got angry at Klal Yisroel and wanted to wipe the nation out, Moshe Rabbeinu talked Him out of it. Now that Moshe was about to die, the Malachim saw Hakadosh Baruch Hu crying. The Malachim asked why and He told them that He was crying not just for Moshe, but for Kal Yisroel, now they won’t have Moshe to stop Him from punishing them when they deserve.
Friends, Hashem does not want to show us the Midas Hadin, but we consistently go against His word. We leave no choice for the Midas Hadin not to punish us. We need to feel the comfort that Hashem loves us so much, that He is crying when taking away our leader, because he does not want to punish us. Let us not give Him any more reasons to challenge us, let us show our love back to Him.
Good Shabbos,
Zevi