Parshat Vaera

And also i myself have heard the groaning of the Israelites

whom the egyptians enslave and i do remember my covenant.

(shemot 6:5)

 

And I appeared to Abraham - Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moshe: 'Alas for those who are gone and no more to be found! For how many times did I reveal Myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, and they did not question my character, nor say to Me, What is Thy name? I said to Abraham, Arise, walk through the land in the length of it, and in the breadth of it,' for I will give it unto thee: yet when he sought a place to bury Sarah, he did not find one, but had to purchase it for four hundred silver shekels; and still he did not question My character. I said to Isaac, Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee. yet his servants sought water to drink, and did not find it without its being disputed, as it is said, And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen saying, The water is ours; still he did not question My character. I said to Jacob, The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed: yet he sought a place to pitch his tent and did not find one until he purchased it for an hundred kesitah;³¹ nevertheless he did not question My character; nor did they say to me, What is Thy name? Yet you, the beginning of my mission, say to me "What is Thy name", and later you said "And since I have come to Pharaoh" and regarding this it is written "And I fulfilled My covenant which was given to them", just as I told them that I will give them the land and they did not doubt me " and also I have heard the groaning of the Children of Israel", because they did not doubt me and also even though Israel in that generation did not behave properly, I heard their groaning because of the covenant I cut with their fathers, as is written (Shemot 6) "I do remember My covenant".

(Midrash Rabba Shemot 6:4)

 

This was the argument of Moshe our teacher, of blessed memory, "Why have you done harm to this people" - this is to say that they are at the level of people, which is a lowly and deficient level, and they do not consider arousing themselves to repentance, and this is the meaning of "Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people", harm has sprouted for them, and "You surely have not rescued Your people", that is to say that no salvation has come of this, and the Holy One answered him that such is not the case as he described it, because you hear only the external voices of ‘people' but the Holy One hears the internal voice of their hearts from those portions of Yaakov which are inside every Israelite, and this is the meaning of "and I have heard the groaning of the Children of Israel"- in addition to the cry which you hear, I hear a different groaning from the depths of their hearts and from the part of Yaakov which is within them, which is called the groaning of the Children of Israel.

(Rabbi Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak of Alexander: Yismach Yisrael - Parashat Shemot)

 

 

I will be with him in distress;

I will rescue him and make him honored

Yael Levin

Said R. Yannai: [This may be compared to] Two twins, if one has a headache, the other feels the same. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, said: "I am with him in distress" (Psalms 91:15), and it says in Isaiah (63:9) "In all their troubles, He was troubled". Said the Holy One to him: If you do not sense that I am in sorrow, just as Israel is in sorrow, know you from the place from where I speak with you, from among the thorns, as it were, that I am a partner to their distress - "And the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush." (Shemot 3:2) (Shemot Rabba, Shinaan edition, 2 5(1) p. 110).

Two passages in the Book of Psalms begin with descriptions of a person in distress, followed by his delivery as a result of his turning to God and crying out to him. One reads: "Call upon Me in time of trouble; I will rescue you, and you shall honor Me" (50:15), and the second: "When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored" (91:15). The passages contain thematic and literarily similarities, but there are also differences.

The passage in Psalm 50 is an invitation from God to Man to turn to Him and call to Him in time of distress. God offers His hand (an anthropomorphism) and turns to man while there is still time, looking ahead, and reminding him that in the event that he is endangered, there exists for him an anchor of rescue and an opening of escape from his grief. In consequence of the person's appeal to Him, the Lord will deliver him from his distress, and following this Man will honor Him. It is not entirely clear whether the intent of the passage is that the honoring of God after delivery from distress will develop as a natural reaction, coming from the grateful man's inner self, or whether the Psalmist is describing an acquired reaction, a demand on God's part that Man show gratitude, even when it does come from the heart.

The parallel in Psalm 91 is a statement, written in the third person, teaching that when a person falls into a state of distress and calls out to God, his prayer will be answered. God feels communality of fate with the suffering person, and He will free him of his trouble, and He will even come to respect the person. God cannot remain apathetic to Man and to all that befalls him, to the power of the experience with which Man has been tested. And after He has freed him of his distress, He becomes filled with appreciation and admiration of him, holds him dear and respects him, and - as it were - salutes him and lowers His head before him.

The two scriptures reflect opposite views about the relation between God and Man. Psalm 50 presents a more one-directional picture of Man's duty toward the Lord. The delivery of Man from his distress creates an obligation to show gratitude towards God, as indicated by the words "Call upon me" and "you will honor Me". The passage "When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored" refers, ostensibly, to a one-directional participation by God in Man's fate. The Holy One, blessed be He, identifies with suffering Man, and, yet more, after His deliverance of Man, He personally honors him.

It is, however, not absolutely necessary to read these two passages as reflecting opposing and conflicting views; we can join them together and relate to them as complementary texts serving as two expressions of a single experience. Man's turning to God in his distress results in God's willingness to answer Man's cries and release him from his predicament, and creates an intimate experience which brings them together in a constructive relationship. Contrary to what we might have thought at first, this connection creates mutual, not one-directional, commitment. Man must do his part; he must show gratitude and show respect and appreciation to He who answered him, but the Holy One, blessed be He himself values Man's suffering, He respects him and blesses him.

This being so, latent in the experience of suffering and the extraction there from is the opportunity for establishing a renewed covenant between Man and his Creator, one of mutuality and of respect and gratitude, an everlasting covenant that can never again be violated. The covenant is mutual, but from Man's point of view, his being in distress perpetuates the possibility that Man will come closer to his Maker, and the endorsement and recognition which the Holy One grants the person liberated from distress have the potential for serving as an impetus to renewed growth and personality empowerment.

It should be further noted that the idea that one delivered from distress should feel everlasting respect for his deliverer is expressed also in Psalm 30: "I called to you, Lord, to my Lord I made appeal. What is to be gained from my death, from my descent into the pit? Can dust praise You? Can it declare Your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; O Lord, be my help!" (9-11).

The suffering which was Man's portion and from which he was delivered, has the potential for establishing reciprocal relations and mutuality between Man and his Creator, mutuality which can serve as the framework in which similarly the two passages from Song of Songs can abide alongside each other: "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" (6:3) and "My beloved is mine and I am his" (2:16)

It seems that one of the greatest and most important challenges facing a person who has merited deliverance by God is the ability to properly contain the intimate relations which were woven between himself and his Creator in such special circumstances. This is the ability to know how to further the personal dialogue and tie which were created between himself and his deliverer, to be attuned to this dialogue, to exalt and intensify it, to perpetually make sure to breath into it new vitality. This is so as not to lose and irretrievably miss the moment of opportunity which has arisen, in the sense of "But my beloved had turned and gone" (Ibid. 5:6).

Thus, the experience of suffering which affects Man and his deliverance resulting from his answering the Creator's invitation to turn to Him, presents Man with a fitting opportunity, one whose worth cannot be measured in gold, for continual and constant proximity to the Lord, if Man will only be wise enough to fulfill his part in the renewed set of mutual relations which has been woven between himself and his liberator, and will be worthy of this closeness.

Dr. Yael Levin is, among other things, editor of a recently-published compilation of prayers "Sim Shalom", prayers for peace in the world, an anthology from "Likkutei Tefillot", published by "Magid" (Koren), Yerushalayim).

 

"And God hardened the heart of Pharaoh" - What is free choice?

The Hebrew vernacular attributes everything directly to God's action; of the barren woman we say "The Lord closed her womb", on a fatal accident caused unintentionally we say "God made it befall him" [...] everything that has multiple causes, and those causes have causes, and so on ad infinitum, and according to the Israelite view, the cause of all causes is the will of God, creator and manager of the world [...] therefore the expression "I will harden his heart" is no different from a statement like "His heart will be hard".

(Prof. David Cassuto's commentary on Shemot 4:21, quoted in "Studies in the Book of Shemot", Nechama Leibowitz)

 

Pharaoh's natural hard-heartedness left him and he could no longer bear the weight of the affliction, and because of his soul's agony and his heart's cowardice he was forced to send off the people, but God did not want this, so He therefore miraculously hardened his heart so that he not collapse from all troubles afflicting him, until God would bring upon him all His terrible punishments, as decreed by His superior wisdom, giving measure for measure, and this is the meaning of the root ch'z'k' ["strong"] when used in the reflexive mode, such as in "and it is in your hand to elevate and it is in your power [lit. "hand"] to make anyone great and strong".

(Yitzchak Shmuel Reggio, Italian scholar, Shemot 9:12)

 

R. Pinchas HaCohen ben R. Hama said with regard to that which is written, "But the impious in heart become enraged; They do not cry for help when He afflicts them" (Job 36:13): After the Holy One, blessed be He, waits for the wicked to repent but they do not do so, even through they may want to, He finally takes away their heart so that they cannot repent. And what is "the impious in heart"? [Trans. note: The original Hebrew is chanfu = were obsequious] Those who do not come and flatter in their hearts at first, in the end they bring upon themselves the rage

And what is the meaning of "They do not cry for help when He afflicts them" (ibid.)? Even though they desire to return to the Holy One, blessed be He, and indulge in prayer, they cannot. Why? Because "He afflicts [ties] them". So Pharaoh wanted to pray, and the Holy One said to Moshe: Not before he goes out to you and you stand before him.

(Shemot Rabba (Vilna) Parasha 11:1)

 

But did not Resh Lakish state: The wicked do not repent even at the gate of Gehenna, for it is said: And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men, that rebel against me etc"!? It was not said: that have rebelled", but "that rebel" implying that they go on rebelling forever.

(Bavli, Eruvin 19a)

 

Subjugation of the subjugators

Why did He bring upon the Egyptians the frogs? Because they had subjugated the Israelites, ordering them "Bring us abominations and crawling things." Therefore He brought upon them frogs, and when they would pour into their glasses, they would fill up with frogs.

(Shemot Rabba 10:4)

 

If we examine the places which were disturbed so disrespectfully by the frogs, we find reference to all the instances in which the Egyptian masters embittered the lives of their Jewish slaves. As slaves, our fathers had no homes, no private family rooms, no sleep, no proper bread (our own lechem oni - "bread of affliction" reminds us of this), in all these places these timid creatures promenaded and showed the Egyptians what it means not to be able to quietly enjoy one's house, one's bed, one's bread, without having to fear every moment disturbance by annoying entries.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Shemot 7:28)

 

"And when you leave, do not leave empty-handed" Emancipation With Conciliation

The name "Egyptian", in the heart of the Israelite, was bound up with memories most bitter. It would not surprise us if the son of Israel was to hate the Egyptian as the enslaver of the fathers of the nation, and was he to consider it a privilege not to behave towards the Egyptian as we are commanded to act towards the stranger. How can I? Can I feel love for the Egyptian, as I was charged with respect to the stranger "Love him as yourself" ? Were not my ancestors enslaved in Egypt?! But the Torah says: In the end, they sent you off as friends, with gifts of silver and gold vessels, and they behaved towards you just as you were commanded to behave towards a Hebrew slave "You shall not release him empty-handed". Therefore, "Do not abominate the Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land." And since the Egyptian was not far-sighted enough to lend articles on his own initiative, Israel was commanded to encourage them, saying to them: "Let us leave you as friends, we ask a gift at this hour of parting."

(From an article by R.Benno Yaakov, quoted in translation by N. Leibowitz, "New Studies in the Book of Shemot")

 

" God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, and charged them to the Children of Israel. . ." - He said to them, know you that they are the children of rebellious (parents) and they are a nuisance, but despite this you must accept upon yourselves (the fact) that they will curse you and stone you with rocks.           

(Yalkut Shimoni, Bemidbar 11, 735)

 

Here we have a warning to all those who are sent to be leaders of the Israelite nation - including those motivated by their desire and inclinations - to be psychologically constituted, capable of tolerating all the bother and distress involved with leading the stubborn Jewish nation. If they are not, they are not suited to this task.

(Leibowitz, Seven Years of Discussions of the Weekly Parasha, p. 217)

 

How Many Left Egypt? How Many Entered the Land of Canaan?

"And the Children of Israel went up chamushim" (Translator's note: Meaning of chamushim is uncertain. Although usually translated "armed", the midrash reads it as related to the number 5, chamesh) - One out of 5; some say one out of 50; some say one out of 500. Rabbi Nehorai...one out of 5000. And when did they [all the rest] die? In the days of darkness, when the Israelites buried their dead, and the Egyptians sat in the dark, Israel praised and thanked God that their enemies could not see and rejoice in their misfortune.

(Tanchuma, Parashat Beshalach 1)

 

Rabbi Simai said: it is written "I will take you for me as a people" and it is written "and I will bring you", we deduce their exodus from Egypt from their entry into the Land: just as upon entry into the Land, they numbered two out of 600,000, so at their exodus from Egypt, two out of 600,000. Raba said: And so will it be in the days of the Messiah, as is written (Hoshea 2) "There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt."

 (Bavli, Sanhedrin 111a)

 

The meaning of this exaggerated discussion is that all the signs and portents and acts of judgment which He brought upon the Egyptians in the ten plagues and with the crossing of the Reed Sea were justified even if they made possible only the bringing of two out of 600,000 to the divine goal... these miracles were performed in the sight of all, but only very few were able to perceive and understand the message of morality, justice, and pure faith.

(Meshech Chochma, Shemot 6:7)

 

These words provide material for deep contemplation. The Rav (Meshech Chochma) deals at length with this, finding in it something symbolic regarding the recognition of the Lord and of man's fate forever bound up with this recognition...

These words have great value for understanding the subject of prophecy in Israel during those many generations of Biblical history, when Israel was supported by emissaries of God who spoke the words of the Shechina. Their words, however, are understood only by the exceptional few in each generation. From the words of the Rav we understand that the truth of recognition of God is not at all contingent upon the number of persons who are fortunate to attain it. Enough that there are a few exceptional persons, such as two out of 600,000.

(Y. Leibowitz: Seven :Years of Discussion of the Weekly Parasha, p. 214)

 

 

 

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