[Avodah] Korach Question

[Zvi Lampel]

R' Micha Berger Thu,8 Jul 2010  wrote:
> Ah, but doesn't RZL write:
>>  The Rambam all along was talking about the trust in the authenticity of   
>>  Moshe's prophecies that is /forever enduring/, not a belief that lasts   
>>  for only a short while...

> If this was the emunah caused at Qerias Yam Suf, then how does it differ
> from that gained *and demonstrated* during the actual night of yetzi'as
> Mitzrayim?

The Rambam (Moreh 1:63) holds that over the galus of Mitzrayim, most
of the bnei Yisroel lost allegiance to the belief in One Creator, and
adapted the philosophy of the gentiles that the universe always existed,
and was ruled by unsupervised natural forces. At the Burning Bush,
Hashem provided Moshe Rabbeynu with the arguments proving the existence
of Hashem, and miraculous signs to prove that He spoke to Moshe and --
for the first time -- communicated commandments to man through man.
(The prophetic commandments given to the Ahvos were commandments to them
alone. They taught others, however, not on the authority of conveying
Hashem's commandments, but through logical persuasion.) These arguments
and signs, however, the Rambam holds, Hashem told Moshe to present only
to the Zekeinim, the intellectual elite of the people.

The night of yetzi'as Mitzrayim, culminating the Ten Plagues, the entire
nation displayed its rejection of the Egyptian gods and acceptance of
Hashem as the Ruler of the Universe, by publicly killing and eating the
Egyptian lambs (Moreh 1:66).

At the splitting of the Yam Suf, the Midrash teaches that entire nation
witnessed the vision of Ezekiel and the prophetic perception of Hashem.

But it was only at Mattan Torah that the entire nation itself
prophetically experienced Hashem giving commandments, and prophetically
heard Hashem Himself declare that Moshe Rabbeynu was to be thereon
believed forever as accurately reporting the word of Hashem.

Zvi Lampel