Every morning we recite the beracha of פוקח עורים that Hashem opens up the eyes of the blind. When we say that beracha what are we thinking about and to whom does it concern. Are we thanking Hashem for miracles of making blind people suddenly see? Does it refer to us that since while we were sleeping it is as if we were blind? No I don’t think so! How about that it concerns one who took bribery on which the Torah says כי השוחד יעור עיני חכמים that bribery blinds even a smart person. In this scenario Hashem brings him to the insight to recognize that his opinion is being swayed because of the bribe! This pshatdoesn’t make us at full ease. Maybe it is talking about a person who needs advice and he is stuck which way to choose. He is also called blind as the passuk says לפני עור לא תתן מכשול before a blind person don’t place a stumbling block, upon which Chazal interpret to mean don’t intentionally give him bad advice. So Hashem is פוקח עורים when He places in his mind to go get advice from a person who will direct him properly on the right path. With this interpretation we are definitely getting warmer to a comfortable pshat.
However let us suggest an interpretation that applies to everyone, every day, and which is found in this week’s parsha. With the episode of Moshe with the rock that he was to speak to it but instead hit it, the Torah says (20,8) ודברת אל הסלע לעיניהם ונתן מימיו והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע speak to the rock to their eyes and it will give its waters and you will bring out to them water from the rock. What does it mean it will give its waters? Secondly, the word לעיניהם to their eyes seems to be a little awkward. Rather it should have said לפניהם speak in front of them?
The Sfas Emes brings (תרנט) the Medrash in Parshas Vayeirah when Hagar and Yishmael were in the desert without water, that Hashem opened up her eyes and behold she saw a well in front of her. From here we learn הכל בחזקת סומין עד שהקב”ה מאיר עיניהם we are all blind until Hashem opens up our eyes. The truth was that the well was in the desert right in front of her the entire time but she was not capable of seeing it until Hashem revealed it to her. The same applies with our Parsha. The water was all stored in the rock. When Hashem desires so, he will reveal its insides and one will see that it was there the whole time unseen to him. That is why the passuk says that that the rock will give “its” waters which conveys it had the unending waters (similar to Babi Sali’s miraculous wine decanter) already stored inside. Had they merited and not complained they would have seen it with their eyes לעיניהם as the passuk says.
This phenomenon is told to us at the episode of the Akaidah. The passuk says that Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw the designated mountain from a distance. Chazal interpret this to mean that Avraham saw a cloud tied to the mountain. He asked Yitzchak what he saw and he answered a cloud. Avraham then asked Yishmael and Eliezer what they saw and they answered nothing unusual. Avraham said to them you stay here with the donkey while me and Yitzchok will continue our ascent. The cloud was there the whole time but only two members of the party merited to see it.
The same concept applies to Torah as Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillimגל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתיך reveal my eyes enabling them to see the wonders from the Torah. The wonder and secrets are all there. It is just a matter of Hashem revealing one’s eyes to see it. Even the mule of Bilam saw the malach standing in front of it with a sword in his hand yet Bilam saw nothing until Hashem opened up his eyes.
We find in shidduchim many times that a bachur dates so many girls and at the end he marries a local girl that lives merely one block away from his house. She was there the entire time of his life but no one merited to see each other as the correct shidduch until Hashem opened up their eyes.
Let me share a personal story with you where one can see hashgachas Hashem beyond any doubt where the yeshuah was orchestrated to come to both parties at once. Two days before Purim a man who I met before approached me and asked if I could collect money in the yeshiva to help him marry off his daughter since a couple months before he married off his son. I agreed and he told me the date of his chasunah which was before Pesach. I told him I am going with my family to Eretz Yisrael for Pesach and I could bring the collected money and deliver it personally to him. I collected the money and placed it in an envelope and carried it in the pocket of my frock and forgot about it.
We rented an apartment for Yom Tov and when we landed in Eretz Yisrael we took a taxi van directly there to unload the luggage. The family was excited and we went to the Kosel Maaravi. It was then that I realized that I was carrying the tzedakah money from this Yid to help him make his chasunah. The problem was that I drew a blank of his name and his address. I thought I wrote it down on the envelope which had the money in it but that was only my imagination and wishful thinking. What was I going to do? I remembered that he was making
the chasunah someday soon after we arrived but how was I going to give him the money when I did not remember to whom. I just said to myself EretzYisrael is the land of ה’ אלקיך בה Hashem’s hashgacha. At this point I had no other alternative.
We all decided to walk back to the apartment taking the family through Meah Shearim. As we walked through the narrow main street all of a sudden a speeding car which nearly ran us over comes to a screeching halt in front of us. Out jumps the passenger and screams Rav Shmuel! I don’t believe the sight in front of my eyes. He was the Yid for whom I collected the chasunah money. After we embraced, I said Wow, this was some hashgacha. What were the chances that we should meet at this time in Meah Shearim? What if we took a cab instead of walking. What if you didn’t come here at that very second before we took a left turn to our apartment. I gratefully reached into my pocket and pulled out the envelope and handed it to him with a grin of glee, Mazal Tov. As he took the envelope he exclaimed with this money I planned to pay the caterer and the band. What a relief. As he was returning to the car he exclaimed the chasunah is tomorrow in Bnei Brak at his particular hall and I hope to see you there to join our simcha. I screamed back of course I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My Israeli friend didn’t know what I knew. We were both needy of a yehshuah, me to deliver the money to an identity whom I forgot, and for him to pay tomorrow for the chasunah but was missing the money for it. Yet Hashem revealed to us both in this encounter that both yeshuos were standing right in front of our eyes on Rechov Meah Shearim. My Rebbetzin reminded me what I said after he left. In Chutz Laaretz one has to look in order to find the Hashgacha of Hashem. In Eretz Yisrael one has to be utterly blind not to see it.
Gut Shabbos
Rav Brazil
