Peh Kodesh: Sinai I

The 26th of Iyar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yitzchak ben Chaim of Volozhin (1779-1849 or 1851), the son of, and successor to, Rav Chaim of Volozhin upon the latter’s petira in 1821. He also served as Rav of Volozhin. Rav Yitzchak’s works include Mili D’Avos on Pirkei Avos and a Torah commentary entitled Peh Kadosh. Father-in-law of Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the “Netziv”).

A very wealthy man had a child who was an ignoramus. A Shadchan, Matchmaker, approached the father with a potential match for his son with the daughter of a great scholar. The Shadchan interviewed the son and asked about his Torah knowledge, “I have absolutely none. I only know about sheep.” The father was furious and instructed his son to respond, “I am an expert in Talmud and codes.” When the Shadchan returned for a second round of interviews, the son responded as instructed by his father, “I am an expert…” The matchmaker immediately realized that the young man who was an ignoramus just a week earlier, was simply repeating swords dictated by his father.

So, too, when Moshe hear the Children of Israel reply, “Whatever God says, we shall do,” he immediately understood that these people who were crying and complaining about God just a few days earlier, were obviously being guided by God as to how to respond. This is why the verse says, And Moses returned the words of the people to God,” it means that Moses credited their response to God’s guidance.