Parshas Mishpatim deals mostly with technical
laws of various sorts. However, at the end of the parshah, the story
surrounding Moshe’s ascent up Har Sinai is explained in detail. The Torah
describes how Moshe and those who escorted him to the foot of the mountain-
Aharon and his sons, Yehoshua, and the Zekeinim- saw a vision of Hashem on top
of the mountain. The pasuk immediately following describes what came next.
“וְאֶל אֲצִילֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ
וַיֶּחֱזוּ אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתּוּ” “And upon the
nobles of the children of Yisrael He (Hashem) did not lay His hand, and they
perceived Hashem, and they ate and drank.” (Shemos 24:11). Rashi explains
that these ‘nobles’ are Moshe’s escorts, who were the greatest men in the
entire nation. He then explains that the pasuk mentions that they ate at the
time they saw Hashem to show they were acting with cockiness, for which they
were later punished.
The Kli Yakar explains how the eating
and drinking they did here was bad. The Torah tells us that for the entire time
Moshe was on Har Sinai, he did not require any physical sustenance; simply
basking in the Shechinah provided everything necessary for his survival. After seeing the Shechinah themselves, the noblemen had the
opportunity to experience this same sustenance. Instead, they indulged in
physical pleasures, which canceled out the potential affect of any spiritual sustenance.
This was the difference between Moshe’s
nevuah and everyone else’s. Moshe was so close to the Shechinah that he had to
refrain from physical pleasures as much as he could. In fact, the gemarah in
Yoma (4b) says that he waited six days before going up on Har Sinai in order
that all the food in his system should be cleared out. Only then could he begin
to accept the sustenance provided by the Shechinah. The nobles, on the other
hand, were not like this. The word “אציל”, which we translate as ‘noble’, also
means ‘increased’. This refers to the fact that the prophetic capabilities of
the nobleman were enhanced through Moshe. The only way they were able to see
Hashem at this time was through the nevuah of Moshe. But while they were able
to connect their minds to Hashem in order to see Him, they could not connect their
physical bodies to Hashem the way that Moshe could.
At different times throughout the Torah,
we see amazing examples of how high a spiritual level Moshe Rabbeinu was
holding on. Even at a time where it’s obvious that Moshe was on a higher level-
he’s about to go up to Har Sinai to get the Torah- there is still an extra
point to come out of it that shows how much greater Moshe really was. How lucky
were Bnei Yisrael to have such a leader!
Shabbat Shalom!
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