Posted on 01/06/22
Moshe and Paroh negotiate over the details of Yetzias Mitzrayim throughout the Parshiyos of Va’era and Bo. Little by little, Paroh shows a willingness to let the Jewish people go, but each time he insists on holding on to some of the Bnei Yisrael or their possessions to ensure that Bnei Yisrael return.
Finally, in Shemos 10:14, Paroh says to Moshe- ‘You can go, your whole family, even the small children; just leave your cattle here.’ Moshe responds- ‘No, the cattle need to come as well because- וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּ לֹֽא־נֵדַ֗ע מַֽה־נַּעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֔ה עַד־בֹּאֵ֖נוּ שָֽׁמָּה — we do not know how we are going to serve Hashem until we get there.’
The recurrence of these three words, וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּ לֹֽא־נֵדַ֗ע, indicate that they convey something significant. In Divrei Hayamim II, before a major war with Amon and Moav, Yehoshafat davens to Hashem and says, ‘ואנחנו לא נדע מה נעשה כי עליך עינינו- We do not know what to do because our eyes are on you.’ As we know, we include this pasuk in our Tachanun terfila. Interestingly, we have the custom to say ואנחנו לא נדע sitting down and then מה נעשה standing up. What is the significance of this minhag?
The phrase וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּ לֹֽא־נֵדַ֗ע expresses our recognition that we do not know what the future holds. We like to think that we look towards Hashem because we do not know what is going to happen, but the pasuk actually presents it in the opposite direction. We do not know what is going to happen because we look to Hashem- because we know that the future is in His hands. All we know is that we are following Hashem; we are dependent on whatever He decides.
We remember this attitude of total commitment from Avraham Avinu. Both the first nisayon at the beginning of Parshat Lech Lecha and the climactic one at the end of Parshat Vayera include Avraham being sent to the unknown place that ‘Hashem will show him’. He does not know where he’s going; the test is his willingness to go there anyway. We declare the same commitment to Hashem in Hallel. ‘Anah, Hashem — To where are we headed, ki ani avdecha.’ The sign of a true commitment to Hashem is the willingness to follow Him anywhere. We have our bitachon in Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He’ll lead us in the direction that we need to go, even though we do not know what to expect there. Rav Yechezkel Weinfeld Shlit”a explains the curious Tachanun minhag with this idea. ואנחנו לא נדע — Though we do not know which way Hashem will be leading us, we are ready to stand up and act. Our bitachon does not paralyze us, Our realization that Hashem controls the future does not make us passive. To the contrary- it emboldens us to get up and act with the faith that Hashem will integrate our actions into a meaningful future. This message is particularly relevant to our lives almost two years into the Corona pandemic. We have experienced months of the unknown. When the pandemic took hold in the US and Israel in Adar, 5780, how many of us thought that we would still be struggling with it in Shevat, 5782? How many times did we think it was winding down? Vaccines were administered, numbers went down, variants were weathered, but we continue facing challenges of many sorts. Dealing with the pandemic and general life ‘realistically’ means realizing not only that we lack control over the future, but also that we are unable to truly predict it. We know that it is in Hashem’s hands and that He is leading it in the direction it needs to go in. We confidently act and do our part in trying to serve Him. Let’s remind ourselves and our children this Shabbos that- ואנחנו לא נדע מה נעשה כי עליך עינינו.
Written up by Adina Lev