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Zeh Keli Veanvehu’

Written by Anonymous

The Gemara in Shabbat 133b quotes a braita where there’s a machloket as to what we learn from the passuk ‘Zeh Alie VeAnvehu – This is my G-d and I will exalt Him’. According to the first opinion in the braita, we derive from the passuk that we should beautify our mitzvot. According to Abba Shaul, we learn from ‘ani ve hu’ (see the letters of ‘veanvehu’) that ani, I should be like Hu, Hashem, that in everything I do, I should resemble the ways of Hashem. E.g. Just as Hashem is merciful, so we should be merciful. I heard from Rabbi Anthony Knopf that Rav Hutner explains that this is not really a machloket, that these 2 sides are built on 1 foundation: This verse is taken from the shira, the song the Jewish people sang after Hashem miraculously took the Jewish people out from Egypt in the best way possible (with splitting of red sea etc). Rav Hutner explains that the verse is teaching us the following: Just as Hashem acts miraculously and in the most beautiful way for the Jewish people, so we should also (like the 1st opinion) act in the most beautiful way possible (like the 2nd opinion), when performing the mitzvot.

Indeed, the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot 5:4 states that ten miracles took place for the Jewish people at the splitting of the Red Sea. The Tosfos Yom Tov on Pirkei Avot explains that some of these miracles, such as the river basin being dry and the canopy being above them as they crossed, were done for their convenience only, and were not at all necessary for saving the Jewish people from the charging Egyptians. It is therefore very fitting that we derive this message of performing mitzvot in the best possible way from this passuk.

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