Beshalach: 5783 - Rabbi *Shimon Zonnenfeld* from Nachal'ah with a wonderful insight for Parshas Beshalach: Hashem to the ministering angels: "The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?" - 'the work of My hands' applies…

00:00 Speaker 1 When the ministering angels came to sing, Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to them, “The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you come to sing?” So they did not sing. There are two very difficult questions here. First, if it was impossible to sing, then why does it say, “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang”? Why were Moshe and the children of Israel able to sing? After all, you cannot sing because the work of My hands is drowning in the sea. The second question is also very difficult. “The work of My hands, in whom I take pride” is said about the Jewish people. Are the Egyptians called the work of My hands? It is true that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the whole world and every creature, but who is given the title “the work of My hands”? The Jewish people. So what do the Egyptians have to do with it? Since when are the Egyptians called the work of My hands?

00:51 Speaker 2 Right, yes.

00:53 Speaker 1 I heard an answer, a very beautiful explanation, that addresses both questions. I heard it from Reb Levi Pressman, a"h. He said the following: It says in Tanach that when Sancheriv, king of Assyria, came up against Jerusalem, he had a vast army, a very powerful force. King Chizkiyahu said, “I cannot fight such a large army. I cannot fight. I will lie in my bed, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will fight for them.” And so it was. Tanach relates that an angel came and struck down 180,000. There is an opinion that the 180,000 were only the commanders. How did the angel kill 180,000 with a single blow?

01:38 Speaker 2 Well, he was an angel.

01:39 Speaker 1 Yes, but 180,000 with one blow—how did he do it? The commentators explain that the heavens opened, they heard the ministering angels singing, and their souls departed. They could not withstand such a revelation; their souls departed. The same thing was about to happen now, when the Egyptians were fighting the Jewish people. The ministering angels came to sing, and through their song all the Egyptians would die. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to them, “The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you come to sing?” Hakadosh Boruch Hu acts measure for measure. What was the Egyptians’ gravest sin? They took the children of the Jewish people and threw them into the Nile. So, “The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you come to sing?” This addresses both questions. “The work of My hands” really does refer to the Jewish children, to the Jewish people. And then there is measure for measure. It also addresses the other question: the Jewish people could certainly sing; there is no problem with singing. The issue was that the punishment had to be measure for measure.

02:49 Speaker 2 Beautiful, beautiful.