Beshalach: 5784 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld: "The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you are singing (the ministering angels), to say a song." Are the Egyptians the work of Hashem's hands? This is said about a nation…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:03 Speaker 2 We’re at Parshas Beshalach, the parsha of the Song at the Sea. One of the verses in the parsha says, “And one did not come near the other all night.” The Midrash says that “one ... the other” is language used by the ministering angels. In davening, we say, “And one called to the other and said.” How do the ministering angels come into this? The Midrash says that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu was about to drown the Egyptians by returning the waters to their normal state, there was an accusation: “These, too, worship idols.” No, it says that the ministering angels came to sing. It was at the morning watch. At the morning watch, the ministering angels sing. So they came to sing, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to them—

01:06 Speaker 1 My children

01:06 Speaker 2 “My children are drowning in the sea, the work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you come to sing?” They couldn’t sing. The question is: Since when are the Egyptians called “the work of My hands”? “The work of My hands, in whom I glory”—that refers to the Jewish people. True, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the Egyptians too; He created every being. But the description “the work of My hands” refers to the Jewish people. “The work of My hands, in whom I glory.” So why would the Egyptians be called “the work of My hands drowning in the sea”? To explain this, there’s a story about Chizkiyahu, king of Yehudah. When the king of Assyria came against Jerusalem with an army of 180,000 men to conquer it, Chizkiyahu prayed to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He had no army or strength to fight a force like that. He said, “I’ll lie in my bed, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will fight the battle.” He prayed, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu accepted his prayer. It says that an angel of Hashem came and struck down 180,000 men from—the entire Assyrian camp. How did the angel strike down 180,000 in one blow? It says that he, as it were, opened the heavens, and they heard the song of the ministering angels, and their souls departed. They couldn’t withstand such a revelation, such a G-dly revelation of the angels’ song. Their souls departed. With this, we can understand what happened here too. The Jewish people were in the sea, and the Egyptians were pursuing them. The ministering angels came to sing. Just as the entire Assyrian camp had died through the song, the angels now wanted to sing so that the Egyptians would die through their song. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to them, “The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you come to sing?” Hakadosh Boruch Hu deals measure for

03:27 Speaker 2 measure. What was the terrible sin the Egyptians committed against the Jewish people? They took Jewish children and drowned them in the sea. So their punishment also had to be measure for measure. That is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu was saying to the ministering angels. “The work of My hands”—who does that mean? It means the Jewish people, the Jewish children. “The work of My hands is drowning in the sea.” What did the Egyptians do? They drowned them in the sea, and you come to sing? That would not be measure for measure at all. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu returned the sea to its normal state, and the Egyptians did indeed die by water, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu deals measure for measure. So may all the enemies of Hashem, all the enemies of the Jewish people, perish, with Hashem’s help.

04:17 Speaker 3 Amen! May it be so.