THE SONG OF THE RAVEN
The raven sings of Hashem’s unconditional mercy in providing food for the neglected and helpless.
[Song 44] Raven (Ch. 4)
עוֹרֵב אוֹמֵר. מִי יָכִין לָעֹרֵב צֵידוֹ כִּי יְלָדָיו אֶל אֵל יְשַׁוֵּעוּ: (איוב לח מא)
The Raven is saying, “Who prepares food for the raven, when his young ones cry out to Hashem?”
Commentary
The raven
is infamous for being unmerciful. The raven is starkly black, yet its young
are born white. When they are born it suspects them to be the progeny of another father
and neglects them until they darken. Until then, Hashem provides the chicks with
parasitic fleas for them to feed on.
The merciless raven sings a song of Divine mercy.
No being is abandoned by Hashem, even chicks whose feeding ought to be the
responsibility of the parents that bore them. Even the smallest and most helpless of
creatures are not left without food.
Where human mercy ends, the mercy of the Creator continues. We should strive to
emulate Hashem and practice compassionate kindness, even when the pitiful
situation is the fault of another’s failed responsibility. We should be particularly
careful how we treat the poor, since Hashem hears their plaintive pleas no less than
those of raven chicks, and He will take up their cause. When we open our hearts
and hands to the poor and their helpless families, we are giving voice to the song
of the raven.
LIVING WITH THE SONG
Out of the little we know about Hashem, we know in great detail the thirteen attributes of mercy with which He
maintains His imperfect world until it will be rectified into eternal perfection.
No matter how undeserving one is, if he calls out from his heart to the God of Mercy he will not be ignored. This
is the way that the raven chicks call out for food and Hashem provides for them. This is even though they ought
to be their parents’ responsibility and even though they too will be callous towards their young in the future. In
this can and even in less deserving situations, mercy is an emotion that is not dependent upon logic.
When someone is in need we shouldn’t start analyzing how much it is their fault but should at least to some extent
go with the flow of the natural divinely trait of mercy. Even if we conclude that it is not fitting that we give charity
to him we should do so with mercy. If one has to close his hand he does not have to close his heart too. The
Mitzvah to give charity and the Mitzvah not to harden one’s heart are two separate Mitzvos.
Opportunities for being compassionate abound. Whether giving a coin to a beggar he does not know or feeding
one’s own child with a slice of bread, whenever we exercise human mercy we arouse parallel Heavenly mercy of
Heavenly proportion. If the poor man seems clearly undeserving of our charity yet we do not block the cries of
his young from our ears we give voice to the song of the raven.
Inspirational commentary By Shmuel Ben-Tzion Kraines author of
The Song of Existence.