The Secret of Sweetening Judgments: From the Rectification of King Menashe to Pharaoh's Decree

Class No. 251 | Cassette 251 Thursday, Parashas Beha'aloscha, the eve of 20 Sivan 5760 - A class for the lecturers of the Shadarim Kollels in Israel (at the home of the Rav) Monday, Parashas Nasso, 2 Sivan 5760 - Pidyon HaBen (Chen Hall, Kiryat Sanz, Jerusalem)

An in-depth article explaining the connection between the sin of King Chizkiyahu, the soul of Menashe and his wondrous tikkun (rectification), and Pharaoh's decree in Egypt. Through the story of Menashe and the Hebrew children cast into the Nile, the immense power of sweetening judgments is revealed—a power capable of nullifying severe suffering and rectifying blemished souls without the need for reincarnations and the agonies of death.

Revealing the Secret and Losing the Merit

When King Chizkiyahu received the gifts from Merodach-Baladan, the King of Babylon, he was deeply moved and showed his emissaries the Holy of Holies. However, through this act, he lost the merit of having a tzaddik for a son. The question arises: What is the connection between displaying the Holy of Holies and losing the merit of having a righteous son?

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov explains in Torah 61 the verse:

"A talebearer reveals a secret."

When a person gossips, he reveals what should have remained a secret. Merodach-Baladan knew that the Jews cry out to Hashem and are saved, as it is stated:

"For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as Hashem our God is to us whenever we call upon Him?"

He knew that if a Jew cries out to Hashem, Hashem immediately helps him.

But when the emissaries saw the Tablets in the Holy of Holies, they mistakenly thought it was sorcery. They saw the rays of glory and assumed this was the victorious power of the Jewish people. Consequently, Hashem said to Chizkiyahu: "You caused him to lose his faith in the Jewish people and his faith in Hashem; now, you too will lose the merit of having your son be a tzaddik."

The Soul of Menashe and the Depths of Wickedness

As a result, the soul of Menashe descended into the world as the soul of a wicked person, one of the worst souls in all generations. The Gemara in Tractate Sanhedrin describes the magnitude of his wickedness, recounting that he would kill a thousand people in a single day.

Menashe reigned and acted wickedly for 22 years. If we calculate this—365 days a year multiplied by 22 years—it comes to about 8,030 days. Multiplied by a thousand people every day, it turns out that Menashe murdered over eight million people!

The Iron Crucible and Teshuvah (Repentance)

Afterwards, they took him to Babylon and placed him inside a cauldron of boiling fire. In his distress, he began crying out to all the idols in the world, but none of them helped him. Suddenly, he remembered what he had been taught as a little five-year-old boy: that Hashem is God.

He began to scream: "Hashem is God!" Immediately, a wind came, lifted him out of the cauldron, and flew him all the way to Jerusalem.

Menashe did teshuvah (repentance). Out of his 55 years of kingship, he was wicked for 22 years, and for the remaining 33 years, he repented and received the merit to rectify his deeds. There is a dispute as to whether he actually managed to rectify all his blemishes. According to the Gemara in the chapter of 'Chelek', he did not manage to rectify them completely. However, according to the holy Zohar in Parashas Chayei Sarah, Menashe did complete teshuvah, rectified his actions, and he stands at the head of a special heavenly hall for baalei teshuvah (penitents). For 33 years, he rectified everything he had blemished during those years when he killed a thousand people a day.

Reincarnations of Souls and the Decree of the Nile

But in truth, the Chesed LeAvraham explains, a person who murdered so many people should have had to return in reincarnation thousands and millions of times. For every murder, the soul must descend into the world again and undergo the agonies of death in order to atone for its actions.

This understanding sheds light on the decree in Egypt and on the exchange between Miriam and her father, Amram. Miriam said to Amram: "Pharaoh decreed against this world, but you are decreeing against this world and the World to Come."

Why was the decree issued to throw the children into the Nile? Because these were souls that needed to drown a thousand times to atone for murdering a thousand people in previous incarnations. All earthly decrees are, in fact, Heavenly decrees. If a person murdered a thousand people, he must drown a thousand times; if he murdered eight million, he must undergo eight million death agonies, reincarnating each time into a different baby and drowning again and again.

But Miriam revealed a tremendous secret to her father: "Through prayer, you can accomplish their tikkun (rectification) without the suffering. If you are the father of these children, you have the ability to sweeten all the suffering in the world."

The Miracle in the Fields and the Power of Sweetening

And in truth, not a single child drowned in the Nile. All the children who were thrown into the Nile were saved. Angels came and floated them to the other side of the desert, and there they waited until the Jewish people left Egypt. They all emerged whole, as it is stated:

"And you came to be adorned with the finest ornaments."

And when the sea split, all those children recognized Hashem and declared: "This is my God, and I will glorify Him."

Some of the mothers gave birth to their children in the field. The Egyptians saw pregnant women going out to the field and returning empty-handed, and they understood that they were giving birth there. They went to search for the babies, but the children were miraculously swallowed up by the earth. The Gemara says that the Egyptians brought plows and plowed the earth, as it is stated:

"The plowers plowed upon my back; they made their furrows long."

But they did not find them.

This was Miriam's profound message to her father: The children must come into the world. Even if it is decreed that they be thrown into the Nile, through prayer it is possible to sweeten the judgment, to rectify what they damaged in previous incarnations, and to achieve the complete tikkun (rectification) without any suffering.

Part 3 of 3 — Lesson No. 251

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