ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה…(בא י:ו)

During the year תרט״ו, פרשת בא–1856, a delegation of three respectable Yidden came to Maran the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l. They arrived on Erev Shabbos and shared the terrible suffering of the Russian Yidden under the Czar, asking Maran to daven for a yeshuah, and for the downfall of the rasha. The Sar Shalom was deeply moved and wept with them.

During Mincha and Kabbalas Shabbos, his pain was reflected in his prayers, echoing the intensity of Kol Nidrei, as tears flowed from Maran’s holy eyes. That Friday night, in his Divrei Torah, he spoke about the parsha where Moshe warned of the plague of Arba (locusts), quoting: “ויפן ויצא מעם פרעה.”

Maran explained that usually, when leaving a king, one walks backward out of respect, never turning around. Moshe always left Pharaoh honorably. But when Pharaoh’s arrogance escalated, and he refused to let the Yidden go, Moshe turned around (ויפן)—leaving as he would before an ordinary person—showing that Pharaoh had exceeded all bounds.

After the tish, Maran reflected: “עד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש?”—the rasha thinks he can continue harming the Yidden. No! “שלח את האנשים האלה ויעבדו את ה’ אלהיהם”—this is a yeshuah for Klal Yisrael, that they should be saved from the rasha.

That year, on Purim, the Sar Shalom explained the verse: “והשתיה כדת אין אונס כי כן יסד המלך עלכל רב ביתו לעשות כרצון איש ואיש.” He taught: the foundation of the world is free choice. Just as Mordechai chose to be a tzaddik and Haman a rasha, each person acts according to his will. Yet there is a limit: when a tzaddik completes his mission, he is taken from this world; likewise, when a rasha finishes his evil, he reaches his downfall.

The Czar had already reached the limits of his cruelty, and indeed, by the end of that year, he died, bringing light and joy to the Yidden. Yet at the very end of the year, כ״ז אלול תרט״ו, the Sar Shalom completed his mission and departed from this world.