Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the Torah section of Shemot.
"Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and from the dweller in her house silver and gold objects and garments, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, and you shall empty out Egypt." (3:22).
We find in this week's Torah section the promise that at the time of their departure from Egypt, the Israelites should send the women and the children to borrow clothes, dresses and silver and gold vessels from the neighbors and the Egyptian women, so they would have something to wear and adorn themselves with when they left Egypt. Why did God command only the women and children to borrow dresses and clothes? Why weren’t the men commanded too? They also need clothes. Why was the commandment to borrow clothes only given to the women and children?
Rashi and our holy rabbis explain on the verse, "Your garment did not wear out and your foot did not get swollen for forty years" (Deuteronomy 8:4) that the Israelites’ clothes did not wear out during the time they spent in the wilderness. The clothes they wore were laundered without the Israelites lifting a finger. When a person grew tall his garment grew with him and when he gained weight his garment grew out. This was only with the clothes that the Israelites wore on their bodies. Clothes that were in a box or in a drawer did not grow to their size and were not laundered, but wore out and became unusable. Only the clothes that the Israelites wore remained intact.
The Torah tells us that when Pharaoh and his soldiers chased after the Israelites to the Reed Sea, they took with them clothes, jewelry, silver and gold. Since no women came along to fight, Pharaoh’s army only brought along men’s clothing. So when the sea spewed out the dead Egyptian soldiers, the Israelite men took their clothes and ornaments, and now had quality garments to wear.
God didn’t forget the women and the children. He wanted them to have nice clothes as well, but since the Egyptians weren’t going to bring women's and children's clothes when they chased after the Israelites to the sea, the Israelite women and children had to get them before they left Egypt.
Another reason the Israelites couldn’t ask the Egyptian men for their nice clothes in Egypt was because the Egyptian men wouldn’t agree to lend them to the Israelites. So the clothes stayed with the Egyptians until they drowned in the Reed Sea and then the Israelites got the clothes together with the rest of the booty that washed up on the shore.
We learn from this that everything God promises will be fulfilled just as He said, down to the last detail. Many times a person says: “Here I have done a mitzvah and God has promised that whoever fulfills this mitzvah will get such and such a thing, but it hasn’t yet happened to me and I wasn’t given what He promised in the Torah.” A person has to wait because there is nothing unknown or hidden from God. Everything that the Holy Torah and our holy rabbis promised will happen and a person will receive what he was promised down to the very last thing.
God promised the Israelites that they would leave with great wealth, and that promise included the women too. They went and borrowed clothes before they left Egypt, because there was no opportunity to get it later. The men didn’t have to, because they could get their clothes in the Reed Sea. The Almighty said that all the Israelites would leave with great wealth and that’s exactly what happened, each one at the right time.
We can learn a great lesson from this: many times we do not get a speedy answer. Many times a person has to wait until he sees the fulfillment of promises. A person needs patience in life. He has to know that what his efforts didn’t achieve for him, he will anyway get with time. A person has to wait until the end of the road to see that everything G-d promised and that the Torah promised - everything will come to be exactly as said.
Our holy rabbis teach in the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 5:2) that no one fully understands his teacher's thinking until after forty years. A person has to wait forty years to see how everything unfolds. One has to wait until the moment comes when all the promises will be fulfilled and all the circles will be closed.
And in the meantime?
In the meantime, a person has to work on the trait of patience. A person who has no patience will lose his world. But a person who has patience, will also be rewarded for the time he waited patiently.
With peace of mind, joy and self sacrifice - in the end you get everything.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel