I learned today that my favorite high school teacher, Bernis von zur Muehlin, was related to Schneur Zalman of Liadi! And also to Herb Alpert, a trumpeter whose style I tried to copy in my band days. No WONDER I loved her so!
Bernis had a great talent for finding beauty in "ordinary" people and also in perhaps less-beautiful emotions. I was a shy kid with a terrible self image. She encouraged my writing and took photographs of me in which I was stunned to find myself looking fierce and powerful. I was delighted to also discover she is still exhibiting her photography.
An essay on a Hasidic rabbi who teaches an Israeli immigrant - a dog:
http://petandpractice.blogspot.com/2010/12/yes-miky-there-are-rabbis-in-montana.html
For an amusing lecture on Jewish Marriage, watch Rabbi Yosef Jacobson's The Unlikely Couple on Torahcafe.com. I also liked Dr. Treat's lecture with the same title and have enjoyed everything from Rabbi Manis Friedman. Also Rivke Slonim gave a wonderful lecture on the mitzvah of mikveh. I have two dunkings coming up and needed the inspiration.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Epiphanies on Love
I have been graced with three epiphanies about love recently.
The first, actually a couple of months ago, was an enormous revelation to me. A former Deist, I believed God created the world but was not concerned with the lives of those on it. However, because my love felt so right, I began to wonder if there could be such a thing as a beshert, a soul mate. While studying, I came across the notion that God arranges marriages. I closed the book and my eyes and marveled that my love could have been preordained to marry me before I was even born. This led to the thought that perhaps God was not present in my painful early relationships because I wasn't with my beshert. Perhaps the reason I do not waver now is because God Himself is steadying me. If I am with my beshert, God is a third party in our relationship, invested in our success. Then the epiphany: if besherts are real, then God must indeed care how we live our lives.
My beshert said he also never believed in soul mates before us. There are times when I am overwhelmed by the happiness and satisfaction I see in his eyes. I am grateful and humbled to please him so much. May it always be so!
The second epiphany was related, but took a long time to flesh out. My beshert and I sometimes are amazed that we have been allowed to find each other. My first step towards understanding this spiritually was remembering that we had both lived a secular life for many years. We began going to synagogue, studying, praying and serving - and then we found each other.
The sages said that one's first wife was one's beshert and that one's second was given on merit. If the first wife was not compatible with her husband, even if he were a rabbi who seemed the epitome of perfection, it was because God intended her cross behavior to teach him something. But if he had the opportunity to marry again, he would be given a more loving wife if he merited her.
I didn't want to think the first half of that idea was true; I preferred to think our own poor choices were our own faults because God did not want us to be unhappy. However, I realized tonight that I have learned much by being unhappy and by not wanting to be unhappy anymore. About a year and a half ago, my desire to fix my life was so deep that I, who had been a hermit and stuck in my ways, was ready to take action. I began reading about things Jewish, signed up for classes and did a lot of reflection on my personal relationships.
I had very little experience with love - feeling or receiving it. I had even less with resolving conflicts. I never wanted to talk about anything. But desire to do right overcame habit and fear. That was the reason I merited this love. Not perfection, but true desire.
A few weeks earlier, I told someone it was really uncomfortable to be the guest in a house where the tension between husband and wife is palpable. Tonight I realized that my understanding of love has changed so I don't look at love the same way I did even a few weeks ago. Before meeting my beshert, I did not believe love existed. And then I thought love was rare and that we were very lucky. Now I understand that everyone can experience love.
In the first few weeks, if things weren't pleasant sometimes, my first thought was, "Why is he doing this to me?" I heard myself thinking this and stopped myself because I realized that whatever he was feeling was important, too. This led quickly to realizing I valued his happiness more than my own. (That sound huge, but it wasn't going quite far enough yet. A parent, after all, can put the happiness of a child first without necessarily attempting to understand the child's feelings.) I progressed to knowing that not only did I value his happiness, but that all his feelings had merit and were worthy of respect. And even if I did not currently understand, I could try to understand.
That is the secret - when we are willing and able to trust thoroughly in the other's good intentions, and to overcome our own hurts and insecurities in order to attend to growing the relationship, then we are able to receive love.
So if I am a guest in a home where the tension is thick, instead of my old mantra, "This is miserable. They are miserable and they're making me miserable," I hope I will remember that they are capable of finding deep love if they open themselves up to it fully. This is a much nicer way of reacting to the tension. It allows me not only to give them the benefit of the doubt, but also to rise above it.
Sometimes rabbis seem to have a non stop flow of unhappy people in their offices. Once Rabbi Yitz thanked my beshert and me for bringing light into his day. I thought he had a hard day and was glad we were an enjoyable last appointment for him. I wondered how he could radiate cheer and love despite the stresses of his job.
I realized tonight that not only is romantic love available to all, but so is love in all types of relationships.
A rabbi who thinks "This person is miserable and making me miserable, too" won't last long in his job. Although a good rabbi may sometimes be troubled by what he sees and hears, his faith that God wants us to be happy allows him to help people without being dragged down by them. God wants us to choose happiness. If we open ourselves up to this faith and take the first step towards improving our relationships, He will be there to help us take the second step.
When someone told Rabbi Harold Kushner that kashrut laws were petty restrictions, Kushner answered, "How wonderful it is that God cares what I have for lunch!"
I am beginning to understand.
The first, actually a couple of months ago, was an enormous revelation to me. A former Deist, I believed God created the world but was not concerned with the lives of those on it. However, because my love felt so right, I began to wonder if there could be such a thing as a beshert, a soul mate. While studying, I came across the notion that God arranges marriages. I closed the book and my eyes and marveled that my love could have been preordained to marry me before I was even born. This led to the thought that perhaps God was not present in my painful early relationships because I wasn't with my beshert. Perhaps the reason I do not waver now is because God Himself is steadying me. If I am with my beshert, God is a third party in our relationship, invested in our success. Then the epiphany: if besherts are real, then God must indeed care how we live our lives.
My beshert said he also never believed in soul mates before us. There are times when I am overwhelmed by the happiness and satisfaction I see in his eyes. I am grateful and humbled to please him so much. May it always be so!
The second epiphany was related, but took a long time to flesh out. My beshert and I sometimes are amazed that we have been allowed to find each other. My first step towards understanding this spiritually was remembering that we had both lived a secular life for many years. We began going to synagogue, studying, praying and serving - and then we found each other.
The sages said that one's first wife was one's beshert and that one's second was given on merit. If the first wife was not compatible with her husband, even if he were a rabbi who seemed the epitome of perfection, it was because God intended her cross behavior to teach him something. But if he had the opportunity to marry again, he would be given a more loving wife if he merited her.
I didn't want to think the first half of that idea was true; I preferred to think our own poor choices were our own faults because God did not want us to be unhappy. However, I realized tonight that I have learned much by being unhappy and by not wanting to be unhappy anymore. About a year and a half ago, my desire to fix my life was so deep that I, who had been a hermit and stuck in my ways, was ready to take action. I began reading about things Jewish, signed up for classes and did a lot of reflection on my personal relationships.
I had very little experience with love - feeling or receiving it. I had even less with resolving conflicts. I never wanted to talk about anything. But desire to do right overcame habit and fear. That was the reason I merited this love. Not perfection, but true desire.
A few weeks earlier, I told someone it was really uncomfortable to be the guest in a house where the tension between husband and wife is palpable. Tonight I realized that my understanding of love has changed so I don't look at love the same way I did even a few weeks ago. Before meeting my beshert, I did not believe love existed. And then I thought love was rare and that we were very lucky. Now I understand that everyone can experience love.
In the first few weeks, if things weren't pleasant sometimes, my first thought was, "Why is he doing this to me?" I heard myself thinking this and stopped myself because I realized that whatever he was feeling was important, too. This led quickly to realizing I valued his happiness more than my own. (That sound huge, but it wasn't going quite far enough yet. A parent, after all, can put the happiness of a child first without necessarily attempting to understand the child's feelings.) I progressed to knowing that not only did I value his happiness, but that all his feelings had merit and were worthy of respect. And even if I did not currently understand, I could try to understand.
That is the secret - when we are willing and able to trust thoroughly in the other's good intentions, and to overcome our own hurts and insecurities in order to attend to growing the relationship, then we are able to receive love.
So if I am a guest in a home where the tension is thick, instead of my old mantra, "This is miserable. They are miserable and they're making me miserable," I hope I will remember that they are capable of finding deep love if they open themselves up to it fully. This is a much nicer way of reacting to the tension. It allows me not only to give them the benefit of the doubt, but also to rise above it.
Sometimes rabbis seem to have a non stop flow of unhappy people in their offices. Once Rabbi Yitz thanked my beshert and me for bringing light into his day. I thought he had a hard day and was glad we were an enjoyable last appointment for him. I wondered how he could radiate cheer and love despite the stresses of his job.
I realized tonight that not only is romantic love available to all, but so is love in all types of relationships.
A rabbi who thinks "This person is miserable and making me miserable, too" won't last long in his job. Although a good rabbi may sometimes be troubled by what he sees and hears, his faith that God wants us to be happy allows him to help people without being dragged down by them. God wants us to choose happiness. If we open ourselves up to this faith and take the first step towards improving our relationships, He will be there to help us take the second step.
When someone told Rabbi Harold Kushner that kashrut laws were petty restrictions, Kushner answered, "How wonderful it is that God cares what I have for lunch!"
I am beginning to understand.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Torah Portion Exodus 6.2-9.35
Torah Portion Exodus 6.2-9.35
Study for this parsha includes the JPS Tanakh and the Sh'mos edition of the book The Midrash Says, edited by Rabbi Moshe Weissman. Also I consulted Aish.com's Advanced Parsha pages and several of Chabad.org's devars. I did not attend TBI's Torah Study group this week. A side note: Chabad.org is the site of the most powerful line of Chassidism, the Lubavitch. Aish.org intends to represent Judaism in general.
This parsha begins with God's description of himself in Exodus 6:2: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai..." El is the name for the highest Canaanite god. Shaddai is the word for mountain, so literally, one of God's names for Himself is God of the Mountain. ( There is a "Midianite Theory" that the gods of Moses and Abraham were different. Since Moses first met God in Midian (now Jordan) while staying in the household of Jethro, a priest, the God of Moses was actually a Midianite war and volcano God, NOT the more empathetic God of Abraham who sat down for dinner and a conversation! In support of this theory, Moses' God did not disappear for a few years between visits. Moses' God would not leave Moses alone! The Revelation at Sinai happened in an atmosphere of threatened volcanic eruption: dense clouds of smoke and fire; the mountain even shook violently.)
However, doesn't the opening of this parsha disprove the Midianite theory? Doesn't it make clear that God considered Himself ONE entity, as we proclaim in the Shema ? (Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.) For God continues, "...but I did not make Myself known to them by My name..." followed by the unpronounceable Tetragrammaton, and His confirmation that He promised the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham.
So how shall we reconcile these two "personalities" of God? Kabbalah has a "tree" diagram showing all the Sefirot (attributes of God, using anthropomorphic terms) and explaining not only how He works within those attributes, but how we should attempt to emulate God, climbing the "tree" as far as we are able. Kabbalah calls loving kindness Chesed and severity/strength (tough love?) Gevurah. It appears that God used the attribute of Chesed more with Abraham and Gevurah more with Moses. There are other attributes being used, of course, but I have neither much talent nor much interest (these shortcomings tend to reinforce each other) in esoteric matters. I will leave a detailed description of the Kabbalistic attributes of God to others more talented than I.
Here are my "logical" thoughts: God knows each of His creations far better than we are able to know ourselves. Therefore, He knows how to approach us. Abraham always seemed to me a righteous man, hard working and faithful to God, but wishy washy in affairs of the heart. For instance, although he should have interfered in the squabbling of his wife and concubine, he did not, much to Sarah's displeasure. If God had dealt with Abraham as harshly as He did with Moses, would Abraham have been crushed? Perhaps.
Moses was filled with dread and foreboding. His "Egyptian insider" status, which no doubt was an advantage in this matter, increased his reluctance to act. If God had appeared as a friend or forgiving parent, would Moses have dilly dallied or not accepted his assignment at all?
Moreover, God gave Himself a name that is easy to understand, God of the Mountain, to Abraham, but a name that could never be understood, unpronounceable and meaning something like "I am what I am" to Moses. When as I child I demanded logical reasons for tasks my father expected me to do, he sometimes gave a similar answer! I didn't need to understand. I just needed to do.
This parsha contains one of my favorite understatements: "I am the Lord... I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements." (ex 6:6) (This second sentence also contains the alternate title for Maimonides' Mishnah Torah. After initial publication, some people advised Maimonides that calling his work "The Second Torah" sounded egotistical, so Maimonides gave it Sefer Yad haHazaka, Book of the Outstretched Arm, as an alternate title.)
Moses, as instructed, told the Israelites that God heard their cries and was ready to free them and take them into the Promised Land. However, the Israelites were literally made hope-less by their sufferings and did not believe Moses.
When God instructed Moses to ask Pharaoh for the release of His people, Moses protested that if the Israelites would not listen to a man with a speech impediment, why should Pharaoh? (Do all people, even our greatest prophets, share the trait of exaggerating a small fault to the point where it impedes necessary brave actions? I struggle with this myself. Words come easily to paper but poorly to my mouth. I shall have to remember the struggles of Moses - and his ability to rise above them.) God accepted the fears of Moses and included Aaron in his instructions.
There is an intermission here for an accounting of the descendants of many of Jacob's progeny. You may decide to go to the lobby and get a big bucket of popcorn or you may stay and wonder the significance of this break. (I noted that one of the sons of Simeon is named Zohar, the name later chosen for the most important book of Kabbalah. Zohar means "splendor". I find this very interesting because Simeon ben Yohai, often called only Rabbi Simeon, is the assumed author (father) of Zohar! Life imitates Torah throughout the ages, does it not?)
The intended reason for the break appears to be to show that Moses and Aaron were indeed descendants of the patriarchs and therefore worthy by blood to lead this mission. ("It is the same Aaron and Moses...") Levi's sons included Kohath. Kohath's sons included Amran. Amran's sons were Aaron and Moses. Although we are given the names of Aaron's four sons, Moses' are not listed here, perhaps because they do not serve as priests.
After this intermission, God made an incredible statement to Moses: "See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet." (Ex. 7:1) How terrifying that must have been for Moses to hear! (Many years later Moses had flashes of ego, but certainly not here.) Also, God described His people as his "host" (or "ranks", depending on your translation.) Therefore we can infer that God intended Moses to lead God's own army.
God explained that Aaron may act as the speaker so long as Moses gave God's instructions exactly. He said that Pharaoh would not obey the instructions, for reasons other than Moses' speech impediment. Instead, God would "harden the heart" of Pharaoh. (And no, this is not the "harden my heart" of the 80's band Quarterflash, which was a protection of a jilted girl's feelings. Rather, this is arteriosclerosis of the spirit. Chabad.org says "Egypt, or Mitzrayim in Hebrew, shares the same root as the word meitzarim, meaning constrictions". Hardening of the heart, being unwilling to change while knowing that one needs to, is called "Pharaoh Syndrome" and sometimes affects us all.)
God rarely interferes with our free will. Why would God harden the heart of Pharaoh? Some do not want to believe that God intended to force a man to sin. However, perhaps God intended to teach a very clear lesson about Pharaoh's supposed divinity. By warning Pharaoh of the plagues that will befall Egypt and giving him the chance to accept the terms or deny them, He allowed Pharaoh to show how little he cared about his people. Common Egyptians and Israelites could experience the wrath of God, see Pharaoh beg for mercy, talk among themselves and come to the conclusion that Pharaoh was not divine. God explained in 7:5 "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord..." Later, God also reminded the straying Israelites that he freed them with wondrous signs and marvels.
Rashi's translation of the Hebrew is "hard", not "hardened", meaning that Pharaoh already possessed this character trait of inflexibility, even at the risk of serious harm. A footnote in The Midrash Says, explains, "Our Sages state 'One who is willing to purify himself is assisted from Above, but one who intends to defile himself is given opportunity to do so'. Man is free to chose his own direction in life. However, as he progresses in his chosen direction, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to retreat."
The Midrashic text shows how evil Pharaoh is by displaying his obsessive thoughts towards Moshe: "I will stab him. I will hang him. I will burn him..."
I think that perhaps even more than the Egyptians and the Israelites, Moses needed these plagues. Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the signs, but not to overturn God's, so that Pharaoh was forced to beg for mercy. What effect could this have had on Moses? Over the time these plagues occurred, Moses could not help but learn the lesson: Pharaoh was powerful enough to struggle, but not powerful enough to win. When Moses led God's army out of Egypt, he no longer wavered with uncertainty.
Chabad.org says that the Baal Shem Tov found Eastern European Jewry in much the same state that Moses found the Israelites in Egypt. After years of violent persecution, the Jews of the mid-1600s were numb, practicing but not feeling their religion. Although BESHT and God did not inflict plagues on the Cossacks, they did work together to warm the hearts of the numb Jews and thus reawaken them to a life infused with hope. Egyptians were dependent upon the Nile for their very lives; they even worshipped it. Chabad.org says when the cool waters turned to warm blood, it not only stunned the Egyptians, it thawed the numbed hearts of the Israelites.
Moses and Aaron appeared in the court of Pharaoh. (We must remember this was a new Pharaoh; the one whose daughter raised Moses died. Perhaps the Pharaohs are not distinguished by name because with the exception of the Pharaoh Joseph knew, they behaved much the same.) Moses, possibly remembered by Pharaoh's guards, was allowed in. Midrash says Moses waved his staff at the lions and bears guarding the palace gates and the beasts "calmed down and trotted along with Moshe and Aaron as obediently as lambs". As instructed, Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh; it turned into a snake. Although the court magicians were also able to produce snakes on demand, Aaron's snake devoured theirs. God triumphed over magic, but Pharaoh refused to heed the words and signs of Aaron and Moses.
God told Moses that Pharaoh was stubborn. (Proving Rashi's point.) He said Moses should meet Pharaoh early in the morning, when Pharaoh left the palace to bathe in the Nile. (Midrash says he performed his bodily functions in secret to enhance his appearance as a god.) God instructed Moses to warn Pharaoh that because he failed to understand the stakes yesterday, he would now perform a greater marvel: he would strike the Nile with his rod and all the water of the Nile and its disbutaries would turn to blood. Impressive and repulsive, don't you think? How would you like to have your bath water turn to blood with dead fish in it?
Egyptians were not only unable to draw fresh water, but also found that water stored in their homes in vessels and pots, turned to blood. Pharaoh, despite this dramatic sign, simply "turned and went into his palace, paying no regard." Is this how we expect a leader to react to the suffering of his people, deprived of the most immediate human need, water?
This passage, and several that follow, are difficult for me. Were every one of the Egyptians bad, even the children? What about the fish that died? Were they bad? Fortunately the Egyptian children were unharmed because in the following verse, "all the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water." However, Midrash says even the subterranean water and the juice of fruits turned to blood. Only the water in Goshen was unaffected, so the Egyptians bought water from the Jews. Midrash also says that Moshe was reluctant to smite the Nile, which protected rather than drowned him as a baby in a basket.
Several plagues follow in quick succession. The second plague is frogs. Frogs are cute, right? Not when they are in your bed, your oven and your bowl of bread dough. Although the magicians were able to produce frogs (just as they were able to turn sticks to snakes and water to blood), they were unable to make God's frogs go away. Pharaoh had to ask Moses to intervene on his behalf to remove the frogs. He even said he would let the people go to worship. The frogs did not just disappear; they died where they were, and the people piled them up in huge heaps of rotting flesh. I suppose God did not want this lesson easily forgotten.
Midrash makes the plague of frogs even more grotesque, like a low budget 1960's horror flick made in Japan. One "supersized" frog marched towards the palace, undeterred by the Egyptians beating it with sticks. It opened its mouth. Uncountable baby frogs poured forth. Then it whistled and even more frogs, accompanied by sea monsters with big teeth, emerged from the Nile. (If you go to archiemcphee.com, I'll bet you can find action figures for this very plague, or one similar to it!) Midrash even says the frogs entered the bodies of the Egyptians and once inside, screamed to be let out!
The third plague was definitely not cute enough for Archie McPhee: lice in unimaginable proportions. The very dust particles of the earth turned to lice. The magicians could not produce lice and told Pharaoh: "This is the finger of God!" We do not know if Pharaoh was plagued by itching himself. If so, he must have had the very hardest of hearts, knowing intimately how his people suffered and still refusing to listen. He did not ask Moses to remove the lice. Midrash says this plague freed the Israelites from their labors because there was no earth available for making bricks.
The following morning God sent Moses to meet Pharaoh on his way to bathe again. If Pharaoh did not capitulate, God would release swarms of insects everywhere but in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Midrash says that this plague included not only insects, but also lions, bears, weasels, sea monsters, scorpions and other beasts. Even the domesticated livestock ceased to be tame. So if you read of the plague of wild beasts and wonder if you missed a plague somewhere, it is the plague of insects on steroids. After this plague came to pass, Pharaoh summoned Moses and said they could worship their God. Moses replied that his people could not worship God within the Egyptians because the Egyptians would surely kill them for doing so. (Egyptians believed their ancestors were reincarnated as certain livestock.) They must travel three days' journey away to worship Him. It appears for a moment that Pharaoh relented. He said that he would let them go if they did not travel far and then he asked Moses, "Plead for me."
However, as soon as the insects disappeared, Pharaoh hardened his heart again. The Lord instructed Moses to ask for the release of His people again and to threaten with a plague of pestilence that would kill livestock - except the livestock of the Israelites. (This is a strange passage; it says all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but we see they owned livestock again in the very next plague. Did the Israelites sell to them?)
Next there was a plague of boils, which infected all, even the magicians. The seventh plague was special hail, each stone containing a ball of fire. Moses warned Pharaoh that he and all his people should bring his livestock and all belongings under cover. Those courtiers who believed in God did. The remainder lost their livestock, slaves and crops.
What was the fire for? I imagine its purpose was to prove this was God's hail. A certain Jewish philosopher from the Middle Ages, Hiwi, claimed that Moses' genius was being able to foresee when great natural events would occur and to place the Israelites there. If this were ordinary hail, perhaps... but hail with fire in it? He was called a heretic by the Talmudic Rabbis.
Pharaoh says, "I stand guilty this time. The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead for me..." Pharaoh, unlike Hiwi, was impressed by this hail. However, after the hail ceased, Pharaoh again became stubborn and would not let the Israelites go. Thus the parsha ends.
Earlier we saw that Chabad.org compared the pogroms of Eastern Europe to the slavery in Egypt. An Aish.com essay compares our modern times to slavery in Egypt.
Divine Providence has seen fit to put us back into Egypt. The turmoil of the last century, the two World Wars and the Holocaust that was a part of the latter put us in a situation where once again the vast majority of the Jewish people are ignorant of their Torah heritage. At the beginning of the current historic era which began after the Second World War, the percentage of the surviving Jewish nation that had enjoyed serious exposure to Torah knowledge was miniscule. Observant Jews comprised under five percent of the Jewish people while serious Torah scholars barely numbered in the hundreds. It is fair to say that for the first time in Jewish history since the encounter of Sinai, we, the Jewish people are once again in the pre-Torah stage existentially, just as we were before the Exodus. Not having received the Torah or being virtually ignorant of what it contains are identical states from a practical point of view.
The secret of our continued survival is once again dependent on our refusal to assimilate to the Egyptian good life in anticipation of being able to renew our old relationship with God.
In the meantime, we are being tested. God is waiting while we sort ourselves out into those who have a powerful inner vision that there is more to life than the modern world has to offer and those who elect to join. No one can be reasonably expected to drop his or her current attitudes instantaneously. But all Jews can be expected to be willing to hear some Jewish input. Observance and the powerful relationship with God that is associated with making the fulfillment of Torah the focus of one's life is a ladder that has many rungs. Each step in the climb to the top is precious and worthwhile. We are not necessarily obligated to reach the top, but we are all obligated to climb. No step up is possible without some Torah input.
God is always reasonable. He does not expect strict observance from the modern Jew who is ignorant of his own traditions and whose values and outlooks have been shaped by a culture that is dedicated to living wrong. But He does have the reasonable expectation that even the modern Jew becomes familiar with the book we have suffered so much to defend through our long bloody history. Whoever opens it will find that his appreciation for the Torah scholar and his respect for the Torah's vision of the world will grow by leaps and bounds.
Here is a lovely story from Chabad.org, "To the Point of Self-Sacrifice":
At a gathering on July 1 1985 marking the 105th anniversary of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson's birth2, the Lubavitcher Rebbe shlita related the following incident from the life of his illustrious predecessor and father-in-law:
It was during Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok's younger years, when the czarist regime still ruled the Russian Empire. A new decree against the Jewish community was in the works, aimed at forcing changes in the structure of the rabbinate and Jewish education. Rabbi Sholom DovBer dispatched his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok, to the Russian capital of Petersburg to prevent the decree from being enacted. When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok asked how long he was to stay in Petersburg, his father replied, "to the point of self-sacrifice."
Upon his arrival in Petersburg, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok learned that the decree had already reached the desk of Stolypin, the interior minister of Russia and arguably the most powerful man in the Russian Empire. The ruling Czar's intelligence (or lack thereof) made him a virtual rubber stamp for whichever minister the prevailing political climate favored; at the that particular time, His Highness was led by the nose by Interior Minister Stolypin, a heartless tyrant and rabid anti-semite who was personally responsible for many of the devastating pogroms which were 'arranged' for the Jews of Russia in those years.
Living in Petersburg was an elderly scholar, a former teacher and mentor of the Interior Minister. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok succeeded in befriending this man, who was greatly impressed by the scope and depth of the young chassid's knowledge. For many an evening the two would sit and talk in the old man's study. One day, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok told his new friend the purpose of his stay in Petersburg and pleaded with him to assist him in reaching the Interior Minister. The old scholar replied: "To speak with him would be useless. The man has a cruel and malicious heart, and I have already severed all contact with this vile creature many years ago. But there is one thing I can do for you. Because of my status as Stolypin's mentor, I have been granted a permanent entry pass into the offices of the interior ministry. I need not explain to you the consequences, for both of us, if you are found out. But I have come to respect you and what you stand for, and I have decided to help you."
When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok presented the pass at the interior ministry, the guard on duty was stupefied: few were the cabinet-level ministers granted such a privilege, and here stands a young chassid, complete with beard, sidelocks, chassidic garb, and Yiddish accent, at a time when to even reside in Petersburg was forbidden to Jews. But the pass was in order, so he waved him through. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok entered the building and proceeded to look for Stolypin's office. Those whom he asked for directions could only stare at the strange apparition confidently striding the corridors of the interior ministry. Soon he located the minister's office at the far end of a commanding hallway on the fourth floor of the building.
As Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok walked toward the office, the door opened and Stolypin himself walked out and closed the door behind him. The rebbe's son and the interior minister passed within a few feet of each other. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok made straight for the office, opened the door, and walked in. After a quick search, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok located the documents pertaining to the decree in Stolypin's desk. On the desk sat two inkstamps, bearing the words 'APPROVED' or 'REJECTED' above the minister's signature and seal. Quickly, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok stamped the proposed decree 'REJECTED' and inserted the papers into a pile of vetoed documents which sat in a tray on the desk. He then left the room, closed the door behind him, and walked out of the building.
Study for this parsha includes the JPS Tanakh and the Sh'mos edition of the book The Midrash Says, edited by Rabbi Moshe Weissman. Also I consulted Aish.com's Advanced Parsha pages and several of Chabad.org's devars. I did not attend TBI's Torah Study group this week. A side note: Chabad.org is the site of the most powerful line of Chassidism, the Lubavitch. Aish.org intends to represent Judaism in general.
This parsha begins with God's description of himself in Exodus 6:2: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai..." El is the name for the highest Canaanite god. Shaddai is the word for mountain, so literally, one of God's names for Himself is God of the Mountain. ( There is a "Midianite Theory" that the gods of Moses and Abraham were different. Since Moses first met God in Midian (now Jordan) while staying in the household of Jethro, a priest, the God of Moses was actually a Midianite war and volcano God, NOT the more empathetic God of Abraham who sat down for dinner and a conversation! In support of this theory, Moses' God did not disappear for a few years between visits. Moses' God would not leave Moses alone! The Revelation at Sinai happened in an atmosphere of threatened volcanic eruption: dense clouds of smoke and fire; the mountain even shook violently.)
However, doesn't the opening of this parsha disprove the Midianite theory? Doesn't it make clear that God considered Himself ONE entity, as we proclaim in the Shema ? (Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.) For God continues, "...but I did not make Myself known to them by My name..." followed by the unpronounceable Tetragrammaton, and His confirmation that He promised the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham.
So how shall we reconcile these two "personalities" of God? Kabbalah has a "tree" diagram showing all the Sefirot (attributes of God, using anthropomorphic terms) and explaining not only how He works within those attributes, but how we should attempt to emulate God, climbing the "tree" as far as we are able. Kabbalah calls loving kindness Chesed and severity/strength (tough love?) Gevurah. It appears that God used the attribute of Chesed more with Abraham and Gevurah more with Moses. There are other attributes being used, of course, but I have neither much talent nor much interest (these shortcomings tend to reinforce each other) in esoteric matters. I will leave a detailed description of the Kabbalistic attributes of God to others more talented than I.
Here are my "logical" thoughts: God knows each of His creations far better than we are able to know ourselves. Therefore, He knows how to approach us. Abraham always seemed to me a righteous man, hard working and faithful to God, but wishy washy in affairs of the heart. For instance, although he should have interfered in the squabbling of his wife and concubine, he did not, much to Sarah's displeasure. If God had dealt with Abraham as harshly as He did with Moses, would Abraham have been crushed? Perhaps.
Moses was filled with dread and foreboding. His "Egyptian insider" status, which no doubt was an advantage in this matter, increased his reluctance to act. If God had appeared as a friend or forgiving parent, would Moses have dilly dallied or not accepted his assignment at all?
Moreover, God gave Himself a name that is easy to understand, God of the Mountain, to Abraham, but a name that could never be understood, unpronounceable and meaning something like "I am what I am" to Moses. When as I child I demanded logical reasons for tasks my father expected me to do, he sometimes gave a similar answer! I didn't need to understand. I just needed to do.
This parsha contains one of my favorite understatements: "I am the Lord... I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements." (ex 6:6) (This second sentence also contains the alternate title for Maimonides' Mishnah Torah. After initial publication, some people advised Maimonides that calling his work "The Second Torah" sounded egotistical, so Maimonides gave it Sefer Yad haHazaka, Book of the Outstretched Arm, as an alternate title.)
Moses, as instructed, told the Israelites that God heard their cries and was ready to free them and take them into the Promised Land. However, the Israelites were literally made hope-less by their sufferings and did not believe Moses.
When God instructed Moses to ask Pharaoh for the release of His people, Moses protested that if the Israelites would not listen to a man with a speech impediment, why should Pharaoh? (Do all people, even our greatest prophets, share the trait of exaggerating a small fault to the point where it impedes necessary brave actions? I struggle with this myself. Words come easily to paper but poorly to my mouth. I shall have to remember the struggles of Moses - and his ability to rise above them.) God accepted the fears of Moses and included Aaron in his instructions.
There is an intermission here for an accounting of the descendants of many of Jacob's progeny. You may decide to go to the lobby and get a big bucket of popcorn or you may stay and wonder the significance of this break. (I noted that one of the sons of Simeon is named Zohar, the name later chosen for the most important book of Kabbalah. Zohar means "splendor". I find this very interesting because Simeon ben Yohai, often called only Rabbi Simeon, is the assumed author (father) of Zohar! Life imitates Torah throughout the ages, does it not?)
The intended reason for the break appears to be to show that Moses and Aaron were indeed descendants of the patriarchs and therefore worthy by blood to lead this mission. ("It is the same Aaron and Moses...") Levi's sons included Kohath. Kohath's sons included Amran. Amran's sons were Aaron and Moses. Although we are given the names of Aaron's four sons, Moses' are not listed here, perhaps because they do not serve as priests.
After this intermission, God made an incredible statement to Moses: "See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet." (Ex. 7:1) How terrifying that must have been for Moses to hear! (Many years later Moses had flashes of ego, but certainly not here.) Also, God described His people as his "host" (or "ranks", depending on your translation.) Therefore we can infer that God intended Moses to lead God's own army.
God explained that Aaron may act as the speaker so long as Moses gave God's instructions exactly. He said that Pharaoh would not obey the instructions, for reasons other than Moses' speech impediment. Instead, God would "harden the heart" of Pharaoh. (And no, this is not the "harden my heart" of the 80's band Quarterflash, which was a protection of a jilted girl's feelings. Rather, this is arteriosclerosis of the spirit. Chabad.org says "Egypt, or Mitzrayim in Hebrew, shares the same root as the word meitzarim, meaning constrictions". Hardening of the heart, being unwilling to change while knowing that one needs to, is called "Pharaoh Syndrome" and sometimes affects us all.)
God rarely interferes with our free will. Why would God harden the heart of Pharaoh? Some do not want to believe that God intended to force a man to sin. However, perhaps God intended to teach a very clear lesson about Pharaoh's supposed divinity. By warning Pharaoh of the plagues that will befall Egypt and giving him the chance to accept the terms or deny them, He allowed Pharaoh to show how little he cared about his people. Common Egyptians and Israelites could experience the wrath of God, see Pharaoh beg for mercy, talk among themselves and come to the conclusion that Pharaoh was not divine. God explained in 7:5 "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord..." Later, God also reminded the straying Israelites that he freed them with wondrous signs and marvels.
Rashi's translation of the Hebrew is "hard", not "hardened", meaning that Pharaoh already possessed this character trait of inflexibility, even at the risk of serious harm. A footnote in The Midrash Says, explains, "Our Sages state 'One who is willing to purify himself is assisted from Above, but one who intends to defile himself is given opportunity to do so'. Man is free to chose his own direction in life. However, as he progresses in his chosen direction, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to retreat."
The Midrashic text shows how evil Pharaoh is by displaying his obsessive thoughts towards Moshe: "I will stab him. I will hang him. I will burn him..."
I think that perhaps even more than the Egyptians and the Israelites, Moses needed these plagues. Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the signs, but not to overturn God's, so that Pharaoh was forced to beg for mercy. What effect could this have had on Moses? Over the time these plagues occurred, Moses could not help but learn the lesson: Pharaoh was powerful enough to struggle, but not powerful enough to win. When Moses led God's army out of Egypt, he no longer wavered with uncertainty.
Chabad.org says that the Baal Shem Tov found Eastern European Jewry in much the same state that Moses found the Israelites in Egypt. After years of violent persecution, the Jews of the mid-1600s were numb, practicing but not feeling their religion. Although BESHT and God did not inflict plagues on the Cossacks, they did work together to warm the hearts of the numb Jews and thus reawaken them to a life infused with hope. Egyptians were dependent upon the Nile for their very lives; they even worshipped it. Chabad.org says when the cool waters turned to warm blood, it not only stunned the Egyptians, it thawed the numbed hearts of the Israelites.
Moses and Aaron appeared in the court of Pharaoh. (We must remember this was a new Pharaoh; the one whose daughter raised Moses died. Perhaps the Pharaohs are not distinguished by name because with the exception of the Pharaoh Joseph knew, they behaved much the same.) Moses, possibly remembered by Pharaoh's guards, was allowed in. Midrash says Moses waved his staff at the lions and bears guarding the palace gates and the beasts "calmed down and trotted along with Moshe and Aaron as obediently as lambs". As instructed, Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh; it turned into a snake. Although the court magicians were also able to produce snakes on demand, Aaron's snake devoured theirs. God triumphed over magic, but Pharaoh refused to heed the words and signs of Aaron and Moses.
God told Moses that Pharaoh was stubborn. (Proving Rashi's point.) He said Moses should meet Pharaoh early in the morning, when Pharaoh left the palace to bathe in the Nile. (Midrash says he performed his bodily functions in secret to enhance his appearance as a god.) God instructed Moses to warn Pharaoh that because he failed to understand the stakes yesterday, he would now perform a greater marvel: he would strike the Nile with his rod and all the water of the Nile and its disbutaries would turn to blood. Impressive and repulsive, don't you think? How would you like to have your bath water turn to blood with dead fish in it?
Egyptians were not only unable to draw fresh water, but also found that water stored in their homes in vessels and pots, turned to blood. Pharaoh, despite this dramatic sign, simply "turned and went into his palace, paying no regard." Is this how we expect a leader to react to the suffering of his people, deprived of the most immediate human need, water?
This passage, and several that follow, are difficult for me. Were every one of the Egyptians bad, even the children? What about the fish that died? Were they bad? Fortunately the Egyptian children were unharmed because in the following verse, "all the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water." However, Midrash says even the subterranean water and the juice of fruits turned to blood. Only the water in Goshen was unaffected, so the Egyptians bought water from the Jews. Midrash also says that Moshe was reluctant to smite the Nile, which protected rather than drowned him as a baby in a basket.
Several plagues follow in quick succession. The second plague is frogs. Frogs are cute, right? Not when they are in your bed, your oven and your bowl of bread dough. Although the magicians were able to produce frogs (just as they were able to turn sticks to snakes and water to blood), they were unable to make God's frogs go away. Pharaoh had to ask Moses to intervene on his behalf to remove the frogs. He even said he would let the people go to worship. The frogs did not just disappear; they died where they were, and the people piled them up in huge heaps of rotting flesh. I suppose God did not want this lesson easily forgotten.
Midrash makes the plague of frogs even more grotesque, like a low budget 1960's horror flick made in Japan. One "supersized" frog marched towards the palace, undeterred by the Egyptians beating it with sticks. It opened its mouth. Uncountable baby frogs poured forth. Then it whistled and even more frogs, accompanied by sea monsters with big teeth, emerged from the Nile. (If you go to archiemcphee.com, I'll bet you can find action figures for this very plague, or one similar to it!) Midrash even says the frogs entered the bodies of the Egyptians and once inside, screamed to be let out!
The third plague was definitely not cute enough for Archie McPhee: lice in unimaginable proportions. The very dust particles of the earth turned to lice. The magicians could not produce lice and told Pharaoh: "This is the finger of God!" We do not know if Pharaoh was plagued by itching himself. If so, he must have had the very hardest of hearts, knowing intimately how his people suffered and still refusing to listen. He did not ask Moses to remove the lice. Midrash says this plague freed the Israelites from their labors because there was no earth available for making bricks.
The following morning God sent Moses to meet Pharaoh on his way to bathe again. If Pharaoh did not capitulate, God would release swarms of insects everywhere but in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Midrash says that this plague included not only insects, but also lions, bears, weasels, sea monsters, scorpions and other beasts. Even the domesticated livestock ceased to be tame. So if you read of the plague of wild beasts and wonder if you missed a plague somewhere, it is the plague of insects on steroids. After this plague came to pass, Pharaoh summoned Moses and said they could worship their God. Moses replied that his people could not worship God within the Egyptians because the Egyptians would surely kill them for doing so. (Egyptians believed their ancestors were reincarnated as certain livestock.) They must travel three days' journey away to worship Him. It appears for a moment that Pharaoh relented. He said that he would let them go if they did not travel far and then he asked Moses, "Plead for me."
However, as soon as the insects disappeared, Pharaoh hardened his heart again. The Lord instructed Moses to ask for the release of His people again and to threaten with a plague of pestilence that would kill livestock - except the livestock of the Israelites. (This is a strange passage; it says all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but we see they owned livestock again in the very next plague. Did the Israelites sell to them?)
Next there was a plague of boils, which infected all, even the magicians. The seventh plague was special hail, each stone containing a ball of fire. Moses warned Pharaoh that he and all his people should bring his livestock and all belongings under cover. Those courtiers who believed in God did. The remainder lost their livestock, slaves and crops.
What was the fire for? I imagine its purpose was to prove this was God's hail. A certain Jewish philosopher from the Middle Ages, Hiwi, claimed that Moses' genius was being able to foresee when great natural events would occur and to place the Israelites there. If this were ordinary hail, perhaps... but hail with fire in it? He was called a heretic by the Talmudic Rabbis.
Pharaoh says, "I stand guilty this time. The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead for me..." Pharaoh, unlike Hiwi, was impressed by this hail. However, after the hail ceased, Pharaoh again became stubborn and would not let the Israelites go. Thus the parsha ends.
Earlier we saw that Chabad.org compared the pogroms of Eastern Europe to the slavery in Egypt. An Aish.com essay compares our modern times to slavery in Egypt.
Divine Providence has seen fit to put us back into Egypt. The turmoil of the last century, the two World Wars and the Holocaust that was a part of the latter put us in a situation where once again the vast majority of the Jewish people are ignorant of their Torah heritage. At the beginning of the current historic era which began after the Second World War, the percentage of the surviving Jewish nation that had enjoyed serious exposure to Torah knowledge was miniscule. Observant Jews comprised under five percent of the Jewish people while serious Torah scholars barely numbered in the hundreds. It is fair to say that for the first time in Jewish history since the encounter of Sinai, we, the Jewish people are once again in the pre-Torah stage existentially, just as we were before the Exodus. Not having received the Torah or being virtually ignorant of what it contains are identical states from a practical point of view.
The secret of our continued survival is once again dependent on our refusal to assimilate to the Egyptian good life in anticipation of being able to renew our old relationship with God.
In the meantime, we are being tested. God is waiting while we sort ourselves out into those who have a powerful inner vision that there is more to life than the modern world has to offer and those who elect to join. No one can be reasonably expected to drop his or her current attitudes instantaneously. But all Jews can be expected to be willing to hear some Jewish input. Observance and the powerful relationship with God that is associated with making the fulfillment of Torah the focus of one's life is a ladder that has many rungs. Each step in the climb to the top is precious and worthwhile. We are not necessarily obligated to reach the top, but we are all obligated to climb. No step up is possible without some Torah input.
God is always reasonable. He does not expect strict observance from the modern Jew who is ignorant of his own traditions and whose values and outlooks have been shaped by a culture that is dedicated to living wrong. But He does have the reasonable expectation that even the modern Jew becomes familiar with the book we have suffered so much to defend through our long bloody history. Whoever opens it will find that his appreciation for the Torah scholar and his respect for the Torah's vision of the world will grow by leaps and bounds.
Here is a lovely story from Chabad.org, "To the Point of Self-Sacrifice":
At a gathering on July 1 1985 marking the 105th anniversary of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson's birth2, the Lubavitcher Rebbe shlita related the following incident from the life of his illustrious predecessor and father-in-law:
It was during Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok's younger years, when the czarist regime still ruled the Russian Empire. A new decree against the Jewish community was in the works, aimed at forcing changes in the structure of the rabbinate and Jewish education. Rabbi Sholom DovBer dispatched his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok, to the Russian capital of Petersburg to prevent the decree from being enacted. When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok asked how long he was to stay in Petersburg, his father replied, "to the point of self-sacrifice."
Upon his arrival in Petersburg, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok learned that the decree had already reached the desk of Stolypin, the interior minister of Russia and arguably the most powerful man in the Russian Empire. The ruling Czar's intelligence (or lack thereof) made him a virtual rubber stamp for whichever minister the prevailing political climate favored; at the that particular time, His Highness was led by the nose by Interior Minister Stolypin, a heartless tyrant and rabid anti-semite who was personally responsible for many of the devastating pogroms which were 'arranged' for the Jews of Russia in those years.
Living in Petersburg was an elderly scholar, a former teacher and mentor of the Interior Minister. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok succeeded in befriending this man, who was greatly impressed by the scope and depth of the young chassid's knowledge. For many an evening the two would sit and talk in the old man's study. One day, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok told his new friend the purpose of his stay in Petersburg and pleaded with him to assist him in reaching the Interior Minister. The old scholar replied: "To speak with him would be useless. The man has a cruel and malicious heart, and I have already severed all contact with this vile creature many years ago. But there is one thing I can do for you. Because of my status as Stolypin's mentor, I have been granted a permanent entry pass into the offices of the interior ministry. I need not explain to you the consequences, for both of us, if you are found out. But I have come to respect you and what you stand for, and I have decided to help you."
When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok presented the pass at the interior ministry, the guard on duty was stupefied: few were the cabinet-level ministers granted such a privilege, and here stands a young chassid, complete with beard, sidelocks, chassidic garb, and Yiddish accent, at a time when to even reside in Petersburg was forbidden to Jews. But the pass was in order, so he waved him through. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok entered the building and proceeded to look for Stolypin's office. Those whom he asked for directions could only stare at the strange apparition confidently striding the corridors of the interior ministry. Soon he located the minister's office at the far end of a commanding hallway on the fourth floor of the building.
As Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok walked toward the office, the door opened and Stolypin himself walked out and closed the door behind him. The rebbe's son and the interior minister passed within a few feet of each other. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok made straight for the office, opened the door, and walked in. After a quick search, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok located the documents pertaining to the decree in Stolypin's desk. On the desk sat two inkstamps, bearing the words 'APPROVED' or 'REJECTED' above the minister's signature and seal. Quickly, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok stamped the proposed decree 'REJECTED' and inserted the papers into a pile of vetoed documents which sat in a tray on the desk. He then left the room, closed the door behind him, and walked out of the building.
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