Shemot Exodus 1:1-6:1
Va'era' Exodus 6:2-9:35
Bo Exodus 10:1-13:16
Beshallach Exodus 13:17-17:16
Yitro Exodus 18:1-20:23
Mishpatim Exodus 21:1-24:18
Terumah Exodus 25:1-27:19
Tetzaveh Exodus 27:20-30:10
Ki Tissa Exodus 30:11-34:35
Vayakhel Exodus 35:1-38:20
Pekuday Exodus 38:21-40:38
Personal & Universal Redemption
CONTEXT: The Book of Genesis closes with the deaths of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. Now, at the start of the second book of the Torah, we find their descendants, the people of Israel, still in Egypt, where they will be enslaved, and eventually, redeemed.
On the subject of the exile in Egypt and the redemption from Egypt: Just as on the level of the general, there is the Israelite nation, so too on the level of the particular there is the individual. And in a similar vein, I heard an interpretation [from the Ba'al Shem Tov?] of the verse, 'Come near to my soul; redeem it,' (Psalm 69:19), that before one prays for the general redemption, one must pray for the particular redemption – for one's own soul...
Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye (died c.1782), Toldot Ya'akov Yosef, Shemini, (Jerusalem, 1973), v.1, p. 296. (=Sefer Ba'al Shem Tov, v.2, p. 5.)
COMMENT: It is a truism of traditional biblical interpretation that the stories and laws of the Torah are not simply relics of the past or records of historical events and attitudes; rather they contain lessons, both explicit and implicit, for our own lives, today. This seems to apply doubly in the case of the story of the slavery and exodus from Egypt, events that are 're-lived' each year at the Passover Seder.
Jacob Joseph's point is essentially a simple one: The opening chapters tell the story of the oppression suffered by the people of Israel and their subsequent redemption. However, this oppression was not something suffered by the people as a whole, while leaving individuals untouched – how could it have been so? Rather, each individual had to go through it, and each individual who survived emerged at the other end into the light of freedom. And if this was true then, it must surely be true now. The fate of the individual is intimately bound up with that of the people. Political redemption begins with individuals recognising that they can each be free, that they can say 'no' to an oppressive system.
And the same is true of spiritual redemption. The spiritual freedom of the entire people can only be achieved if and when individuals recognise their subjection to material things, and learn how to use them for what is necessary for our welfare, rather than be used by them.
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Egypt as the Womb
CONTEXT: Exodus opens by reminding us of the names of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob during Joseph's tenure as second to Pharaoh. But, since we have already had this information in Genesis 46, is there any added significance to it here?
'These are the names the descendants of Israel that enter[ed] Egypt with Jacob; every man and his household. [...Every soul that emerged out of the loins of Jacob...]'
Exodus 1:1,5
Since the Torah has seventy facets and one of the them is remez ('hint, allusion'), then the descent of Israel into Egypt (MiTZRaYiM) alludes to a child when it is still in its mother's womb, between those boundaries (MeiTZaRYM).
And thus, we may interpret what is written, [namely] 'These are the names of the descendants of Israel' (Exodus 1:1) – which [represent] the soul's (neshamah's) powers, for just as in the body there are 248 limbs and 365 sinews, so too in the soul (neshamah) itself, and these are the soul's powers 'that enter Egypt'.
'With Jacob' – for they enter into the child while it is still a foetus within its mother's womb, with Jacob, which [represents] the inclination towards good.
And it says 'that enter' rather than saying that they had already 'entered,' because the Blessed One 'forms a person's spirit (ruach) within him,' (Zechariah 12:1) as explained in the Zohar (III, 42a), for as long as a person continues to grow, the soul (neshamah) continues to enter into him.
And similarly [the phrase] 'There is none holy like GOD' (I Samuel 2:2) is explained there. For even though Israel are holy, they are not holy of themselves; rather, the Blessed One makes them holy. This is the mystical meaning of 'For there is none beside You' (I Samuel 2:2) – [God's] holiness does not [derive] from others, but the Blessed One is holy alone, and the holiness of Israel is nothing without You.
Hence, 'For there is none beside You and no rock (TZUR) like our God' – [meaning] 'there is no craftsman (TZaYYaR) like our God' (Talmud, Megillah 14a). For an artist forming [shapes] on paper does not know how to form the internal organs: stomach, intestines, heart, liver and spleen. The Blessed One alone is not like this, but creates another form within the womb, [namely] the foetus within its mother's womb, and within the foetus, the internal organs and the spirit (ruach) as well. This is the mystical meaning of [the phrase]: 'forms a person's spirit (ruach) within him' (Zechariah 12:1) – the soul (neshamah) enters through by virtue of the body's continuous growth.
Therefore, it says: 'who enter Egypt' because the soul's powers enter little by little. Then, at the moment of birth, it is already a person ('ish); then 'every man ('ish) and his household entered' (Exodus 1:1), for the body is the soul's house. Then clearly all the powers of the body are 'entering.'
Hayyim Vital (1542-1620), Liqqutei Tanakh veTa'amei HaMitzvot (Jerusalem: Yeshivat Kol Yehudah, 1970), p.121.
COMMENT: If the Torah, as stated above, is relevant to everyone for all time, the question remains: What is its relevance? Hayyim Vital, in considering the relevance of the opening verse of the Book of Exodus, sees it as an allegory (remez) of birth and childhood, rather than simply as a statement of historical occurrences. And he achieves his aim with the aid of various word plays and analogies.
In Biblical texts, the terms nefesh ('soul'), ruach ('spirit') and neshamah ('soul') are often interchangeable, but in medieval Jewish thought they represent different aspects of the self, namely the physical, emotional and intellectual, respectively. Here, although Vital uses quotations that employ the term ruach, he is clearly concerned to describe the entry of the neshamah, the highest of the three souls most people can attain. Basing himself largely on the fact that the word haba'im ('enter', but usually translated in the past tense) indicates continuous action, he posits the interesting view that, unlike the nefesh and ruach that are present at birth if not before, the neshamah only enters the body gradually over time, as one matures throughout one's life.
Vital also draws us to another analogy: Holiness too enters from without; it derives from God alone, Who is our Rock/Craftsman.
This means that there should be no end to one's spiritual development; on the contrary, one must seek ever new ways of developing our neshamah, by seeking greater understanding of our world and our selves, and by challenging our own religious assumptions, lest they become too comfortable.
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The Exodus as Birth
CONTEXT: With Joseph gone, a change of regime brings a change for the worse in the official Egyptian attitude towards its Israelite minority. Israel is enslaved and made to do hard labour in the service of the Egyptian state.
'Then a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He said to his people: "Look here, the descendants of Israel are too many and strong for us."...So, they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pitom and Ra'amses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.'
Exodus 1:8-9,11-12
'Then a new king arose' – that is, the inclination towards evil, which is an 'old and foolish king' (Ecclesiastes 4:13, as interpreted in the midrash Kohelet Rabbah 4:14). 'Over Egypt' – while [the child] is still in the womb. 'Who did not know Joseph' – this is the Holy Blessed One. 'He said to his people' – these are the forces of uncleanness. 'Look here, the descendants of Israel' which are the soul's (nefesh's) powers 'are too many and strong for us'. What did he do? 'They built store-cities for Pharaoh' (Exodus 1:11), who [represents] the inclination towards evil. PaR'oH ('pharaoh') contains the same letters as Ha'oReF ('the neck', symbolising stubbornness), and the store-cities [represent] the body. [This was] in order to strengthen the inclination towards evil. 'Pitom' – this is the mouth (peh), for this is where all the desires for eating and drinking by which the inclination towards evil is strengthened. Hence, ' 'Pitom' [equals] Pi-Tehom ('the mouth of the deep'), because [people] say 'Give [me], give [me]' in regard to eating and drinking, while the deep 'swallows' continually. 'And Ra'aMSeS' – this is the gut (HaMSeS), gobbling food, which is 'the gut of evil' (MeSeS Ra'). 'But the more they afflicted them' – [i.e.] the forces of uncleanness and the inclination towards evil against the soul's (neshamah's) powers, 'the more they multiplied and grew', for as the body grows, the soul (neshamah) enters into it more and more, as mentioned above.
And the exodus from Egypt was like birth, and even the ten plagues are analogous to this...
Hayyim Vital (1542-1620), Liqqutei Tanakh veTa'amei HaMitzvot (Jerusalem: Yeshivat Kol Yehudah, 1970), p.121.
COMMENT: In this passage, Hayyim Vital continues with the allegory he began above, but now the emphasis is different. Jacob and his sons entered Egypt in order to seek refuge from famine, but with the arrival of a new king on the throne, their haven turns into a prison. For Vital, this symbolises the struggle that ensues when the neshamah, the intellectual soul, comes into conflict with the inclination towards evil, represented by the new Pharaoh and his cohorts. This inclination is that part of ourselves that is greedy for food and drink even when we are not really hungry or thirsty, that part of ourselves that is stubborn and lazy. It is the 'mouth of the deep' because there is no satisfying it. But the inner struggle between these higher and lower forces within ourselves leads to the purification and strengthening of the powers of the soul, Vital assures us. As we grow, our neshamah enters into us more and more. Birth does not bring the process to an end. 'Plagues' will come to test us, but our soul can triumph.
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Beyond Names
CONTEXT: Moses, the Hebrew who became an Egyptian prince, flees the country after killing a slave-master. Now a refugee, he becomes a shepherd for Jethro the Midianite, and incidentally, marries one of his daughters. Then one day, will looking after his flock, Moses encounters a strange sight: a burning bush that is not being burnt up. He turns aside to look, and hears God speaking. God commands him to lead the Israelite slaves to freedom. Moses hesitates; he offers excuses. The first of these is: what shall I say when they ask me what God's name is? God replies with the enigmatic sentence 'I will be what I will be' (3:14) and this is expounded in subsequent verses. This is the eternal name of God, but what is it's significance?
'This is My name forever (le'olam, literally, for the world).'
Exodus 3:15
Why do we say: 'O GOD, Your name is forever (le'olam, literally, for the world).' (Psalm 135:13)? The meaning is that the Tetragrammaton is called a noun in the [grammar] books, for it teaches that [God] makes all things exist. Nevertheless, [God's] greatness and illumination are higher and more exalted than all else, even more than [any] noun [could indicate], for who is it that gives vitality to these four letters [of the Tetragrammaton]? Isn't everything from [God] – may [God's] name be blessed, as it says at the beginning of Elijah's introduction at the start of the Tiqqunim: 'You are the perfection of them all and, when You remove Yourself from them, all names remain as a body without a soul' (Tiqqunei HaZohar, second introduction). Hence, 'O GOD, Your name is le'olam' (Psalm 135:13) – that is to say, when we call out [to You] and grasp hold [of You] by calling out the noun [that is the] Tetragrammaton, it is only 'for the world,' for only human beings can call You by name, in order to draw down Your care upon themselves. But in truth, the Blessed One is higher than all names.
Afterwards, I heard [people] say this in the name of the Ba'al Shem Tov – may his memory be a blessing for the world-to-come.
Ze'ev Wolf of Zhitomir (d.1800), 'Or HaMe'ir, Shoftim, (Warsaw, 1883), pt.5, p.26. (Quoted in Shim'on Menachem Mendel of Govarchov (ed.), Sefer Ba'al Shem Tov (Jerusalem, n.d.), vol.2, pp.10-11.)
COMMENT: This Biblical verse comes from a part of the Torah where the question of God's name arises, as Moses seeks for signs to convince the Israelites that he is truly sent by God to bring about their deliverance. Ze'ev Wolf of Zhitomir (or is it the Ba'al Shem Tov?) reminds us that even this most sacred divine name, the Tetragrammaton, the Four-Letter Name of God, is really only intended as an aid to human understanding and prayer. In fact, God is beyond all names, even this one which is said to come closest to describing God's nature as the One who causes and underlies all existence. Ze'ev Wolf tells us that although this name is technically a noun, it partakes of aspects of verbs. He is not trying to teach us about grammar, of course, but making the point that the Four-Letter Name represents the active power of God at work in all that is.
Those who take prayer seriously must keep in mind that the words we use, and most especially the divine names we employ, are simply pointers to a reality that is beyond words and names. To recognise this fact is to recognise the true significance of prayer.
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What Egypt Represents
CONTEXT: Moses, now accompanied by his elder brother Aaron, returns to Egypt to begin the process that will lead to redemption. At his first encounter with Pharaoh, the king is not impressed. He has never heard of this God. He will not let the slaves go, exactly as God had predicted.
'Then Pharaoh said: "Who is GOD that I should obey by letting Israel go? I do not know GOD!"'
Exodus 5:2
Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900) said: The vain fantasies and worthless thoughts that exist within human beings derive from the three roots of jealousy, desire and honour, which are the roots of the evil qualities [that we possess]. These worthless fantasies form a barrier to humanity's knowledge of the divine, for as a result of them no consciousness of God can enter the human heart.
The land of Egypt was totally immersed in these fantasies, and Pharaoh, [as] king of Egypt, was strongly immersed in fantasies; hence he said: 'I do not know GOD!' (Exodus 5:2).
In the first of the Ten Commandments it says: '[I am GOD your God] who brought you out of the land of Egypt' (Exodus 20:2). This is not [merely] the mention of a sign or a wonder [that God had done]. If it had been, it would have said: 'who created the heavens and the earth.' But 'who brought you out of the land of Egypt' [means]: [who brought you out] of the abyss of fantasy, and uplifted your thoughts until you adhered to Me. Therefore, the knowledge [that] 'I am GOD' can never be [totally] removed from you. And if, from time to time, fantasies enter your heart, [keep in mind that] in every case great thoughts (mochin degadlut) are clothed within them, for I have already brought you out from complete immersion in fantasy, analogous to the land of Egypt.
Therefore, of all the commandments it is said: 'in memory of the exodus from Egypt,' for Egypt itself [represents] the opposite of the Torah and the commandments, all of which are from the side of the exodus from fantasy.
Shabbtai Weiss (ed.), Me'Otzar HaMachshavah Shel HaHasidut (Tel Aviv: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1949), pp.125-126.
COMMENT: As is often the case in later Jewish literature, Egypt represents the opposite values to those of the Torah, for Egypt had to be left behind before the Torah could be given. Usually, Egypt is identified with idolatry, but here Rabbi Tzadok has given this image a more ethical dimension. Egypt now symbolizes that which distracts us from the true service of God (as idolatry itself does), namely, jealousy which makes us envious of what others have, desire which has no end since the fulfilment of one desire simply leaves one hungry for the next, and honour which makes us think we are greater than we really are. These are all fantasies which distract us from reality, which is the presence of God.
As ruler of Egypt, the land of fantasy, Pharaoh embodies the values of that land. Israel's departure from slavery represents the individual's departure from the world of destructive fantasy into the freedom of God's reality.
Of course, Rabbi Tzadok suggests, we can never be totally free of these fantasies, but we need not be totally immersed in them. When they come to us, we have search them to find their true meaning, the 'great thoughts' that lie within them. Fantasies are destructive when we allow them to rule over us, but instructive when we rule over them.
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Evil Loves Company
CONTEXT: Pharaoh has not drawn the correct conclusion from his first meeting with Moses and Aaron. Instead of letting the Israelite people go, he has decided that they are only listening to Moses and Aaron because they are lazy and have too much time on their hands. He decrees that the Egyptians will no longer provide the straw with which to make bricks. They will have to collect the straw themselves. The plight of the slaves has worsened, not improved. Since expressing anger against Pharaoh and his cohorts must have been dangerous, the slaves turn against Moses. And he, in his turn, declares his frustration to God.
'[Why do You cause evil to this people...] Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has caused evil to this people.'
Exodus 5:22-23
Question: Why does it say 'He has caused evil to this people' in the causative form (hif'il), [a question also] posed in the Zohar (cf. Zohar I, 208b) on the [previous] verse: 'Why do you cause evil...?' [The Zohar says that] two men spoke [to God] using this expression: Moses and Elijah (I Kings 17:20), and they used the causative form because they were enraged that the 'Evil Side' was dominant in the world, and the meaning [of their words is]: Why have you caused the 'Other Side' to rule over this people? But in that case, we have to explain why [Moses] went back and said 'He [Pharaoh] has caused evil to this people' in the causative form, rather than the simple form [kal, i.e. 'He has done evil to this people].
However, I have to explain that by not giving [the slaves] straw so that they would have to go from field to field gathering straw, Pharaoh intended that the Egyptians should beat them, so that the punishment would not be his alone, for it says in the midrash (Shemot Rabbah 1:8) that he had not wanted to enslave them, until [his courtiers] deposed him for three months; hence it says: 'Come, let us deal wisely with them' – in the plural – 'lest they increase' (Exodus 1:10), in order that the punishment should fall on all the [Egyptian] people and not just himself. Hence it says later: 'Then the Israelites' officers were beaten...and they said: "No straw is given to your servants...and the fault lies with your own people"' (Exodus 5:14-16) – [i.e.] now, the fault lies with all the [Egyptian] people. This is the reason why Moses said: 'Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has caused evil' in the causative form, for Pharaoh caused the others to do evil to Israel.
Nathan Nata ben Solomon Spira (1585-1633), Megalleh 'Amuqot (Bnei Brak, 1982), pt.2, p.36.
COMMENT: Rabbi Spira's comments concern social psychology, and particularly what might be called the psychology of evil.
Two beings are accused of causing evil in our text from Exodus: God and Pharaoh. Drawing upon the Zohar, Rabbi Spira excuses Moses for accusing God in this way; he spoke out of rage and anger. But what does it mean when it says that Pharaoh has caused evil; surely it would have been sufficient to say that he did evil?
Rabbi Spira's remarks suggest that Pharaoh needs to involve as many others in his evil plans as possible, in order to spread the responsibility as widely as possible, and thus apparently diminish his own. This is a tactic used by bullies at all levels since time began.
Most of us are not bullies, at least not most of the time. But under certain stressful conditions, the bully within us may surface. When that occurs, we must bear in mind the lesson of Pharaoh and what happened to him. And when we get sucked into the malevolent schemes of others, we must recall his story to mind. We must take care that we neither become bullies nor their pawns.
When Compassion is Revealed
CONTEXT: In the closing verses of the previous sidra, Moses expresses his frustration that God's promise of freedom for the slaves has not yet been fulfilled. At the start of this sidra, God reassures the prophet that all is going according to plan. God begins by stating that a new divine name is being revealed in this process, the name of YHVH, a name which has long since disappeared from the lips of religious Jews because it was considered to sacred for ordinary use. But, didn't the patriarchs know this name?
'God spoke to Moses, and said to him: I am GOD (YHVH). I was seen by Abraham, by Isaac, and by Jacob as God Shaddai, but (by) My name YHVH/ADONAI I was not known to them...Therefore, say to the children of Israel: I am YHVH/ADONAI...'
Exodus 6:2,6
Rashi (1240-1105) has explained [in effect, that] 'I did not make myself known to them' was not written here, but 'I was not known' [was], [i.e.] I was not recognized by them through My quality of keeping faith, by virtue of which I am called YHVH/ADONAI, for I am faithful to keep My promise...
In order to understand these matters in their internal aspects, we must note that our father Abraham took as his quality the [divine] quality of Hesed (Lovingkindness), and served the Blessed God with the quality of Hesed. Our father Isaac came and took as his quality the quality of Pachad (Reverence) [also known Gevurah, Might] that it may be known that there is a judgment and a Judge. Then our father Jacob came and took as his quality the quality Rachamim (Compassion) [also known as Tif'eret, Beauty], for he is the 'middle bar,' 'the dweller in tents' (Genesis 25:27), as is well-known from the holy [kabbalistic] books.
However, the continued existence of the world was impossible employing the quality of Hesed alone, since by virtue of the outpouring of too much good the generation of the flood and the men of Sodom sinned, as is well-known. [These events happened in Abraham's lifetime.] And similarly, Isaac's quality alone made it impossible for the world to continue, for it would bring judgment immediately upon those who sinned. Similarly, the world could not continue to exist with only Jacob's quality, which is the mixture of the [forces of] judgment and mercy.
This [might have produced] the establishment of the world...but, in the days of our father Jacob, who was a vehicle for Tif'eret (Beauty), i.e. for Compassion, this quality was, nevertheless, not yet [fully] revealed [and brought] from potential to actuality. Hence, all his days were spent in pain, with Esau, Laban, and his children, as is well-known. How much the more so his descendants during the enslavement and exile in Egypt. The quality of our father Jacob – peace be upon him – was not revealed until the time of the redemption from Egypt [when] Compassion – the quality of Jacob – was revealed to the Community of Israel, and went forth from potential to actuality.
Hence, 'I was seen by Abraham, by Isaac, and by Jacob [...]' The [letter] vav, [meaning] 'and,' in [the expression] 'and by Jacob' [represents] his quality, as is well-known. 'By God Shaddai' hints [at the fact that this quality] was still in a withdrawn state, and not yet [fully] revealed and brought from potential to actuality with respect to the Community of Israel. Hence, 'but (by) My name YHVH/ADONAI I was not known to them'-i.e., as is well-known, by the quality of Jacob, the quality of truth and compassion 'I was not known to them' yet. As Rashi explains: 'I was not recognized by them through My quality of keeping faith, by virtue of which I am called YHVH/ADONAI, for I am faithful to keep My promise' – that is, Jacob's quality, the quality of truth, as it is said: 'You give truth to Jacob' (Micah 7:20). 'Therefore, say to the children of Israel: I am YHVH/ADONAI...' means that from now on Compassion, i.e. Jacob's quality, will be revealed to the Community of Israel.
Kalonymos Kalman HaLevi Epstein (d.1823), Ma'or VaShemesh (Jerusalem: Levin-Epstein, 1970), on Exodus 6:2.
COMMENT: This verse (v.2) from Moses' conversation with God prior to his return to Egypt presents scholars with a historical problem. On the surface, its meaning seems to be that the patriarchs did not know God by the name of YHVH, and yet, in the Genesis narrative, this divine appellation is frequently used by them.
Kalonymos Epstein's answer to this conundrum is not, of course, a historical one, but a theological one, rooted in kabbalistic symbolism. It is a commonplace of kabbalistic thought that the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, represent the three central, moral sefirot of Hesed, Gevurah and Tif'eret. Of these three, Hesed and Gevurah are opposites, and Tif'eret is the factor that reconciles them. Epstein reads back into the history of the patriarchs, seeing them as embodying the attributes they represent. Thus, Hesed was ascendant in Abraham's lifetime, Gevurah during Isaac's and Tif'eret during Jacob's; except that Jacob, for all the compassion and balance that his life represented, suffered terribly at the hands of others, and it was he who led his extended family into Egypt where they would experience the slavery. These do not seem like the workings of Compassion.
Epstein argues that this is because Compassion was only begun in Jacob's time; it had yet to reach its full fruition. That would come only with the exodus. Therefore, God's statement that the patriarchs had not known God by the name YHVH is not really about the name as such, but rather about the quality of Compassion, Tif'eret, which it represents.
For us, perhaps the point is that the most important tasks we undertake in life may be those whose fruits may lie beyond our own lifetime. This does not mean that we should not bother with them. Our efforts may make life better for generations that will follow us. Jacob embodied Compassion, the balance between Lovingkindness and Might, even though it did not come to fruition while he was alive. The world still needs compassion. When we act with compassion we set up ripples that flow throughout life, well beyond the confines of our limited life spans.
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The Plague of Blood
CONTEXT: Because Pharaoh's first meeting with Moses and Aaron does not have the desired result of liberation for the slaves, God proceeds to bring the Ten Plagues down upon the Egyptians. In the first of these, the Nile is turned to blood, and as God explains beforehand, this is all due to Pharaoh's uncooperative attitude.
'GOD said to Moses: Pharaoh is stubborn (literally, heavy-hearted); he refuses to let the people go.'
Exodus 7:14
One must comment on the fact that this expression ['heavy-hearted'] is only written in regards to the first plague which was [that of] blood [v.14 & 27]. Also, the heaviness of the heart is not known at all before this [point in the text]. Look here, I have heard [something] about this in the name of the in-laws of the famous rabbi, our rabbi and teacher Lipa of the holy community of Chmelnik, and it seems to me that I also saw this written in a midrash later on, and that is [as follows]: 'Pharaoh is heavy-hearted' – for Pharaoh had had a change of heart, and it had become heavy. Thus far [what I heard or read].
Look here, it is well-known that evil things do not come from [God] – God forbid! – and [that in] all the evil that befalls people – God forbid! – it is the transgression itself that is disciplining them and 'the work of their hands shall be done to them' (Isaiah 3:11). 'Your evil will discipline you' (Jeremiah 2:19) 'and our iniquities, like the wind, blow us away' (Isaiah 64:6) – God forbid! Therefore, corresponding to the damage and evil that people do is the punishment.
And this is the reason that the first plague was the plague of blood, for it was of the same nature as his [Pharaoh's] damage and sin. For the evil was that he then made his heart heavy. Due to that sin a 'destroyer' was produced, and due to that, the plague of blood befell him. [The plague of blood] corresponded to the heaviness [of Pharaoh's heart], since there was too much blood, so that it [the heart] was filled with blood.
Moses Hayyim Ephraim of Sudlykov (d.1800), Degel Mahane Ephraim (Jerusalem, 1963), p.90.
COMMENT: In Biblical Hebrew, stubbornness is expressed with a number of different idioms, the most famous being 'the hardening of the heart', an expression used of Pharaoh a number of times in the narrative of the Ten Plagues. But here the expression is the slightly less common one, heaviness of the heart. In any event, the point that Moses Hayyim Ephraim of Sudlykov is trying to make would be the same.
In his view, God does not really punish wrongdoers, at least, not in the usual, rather primitive way we tend to think of God's punishment; that is, God does not intervene in history to bring down fire and brimstone, destruction and chaos, or whatever, despite the Biblical narrative which often states (or seems to state) that God does precisely that. For the Sudlykover, what seems to be God's punishment is really what we, borrowing a term from Hinduism and other eastern religions, might call karma, that is to say, it is not so much that God intervenes to punish. Rather, it is that our actions produce results that set up ripples in the world which ultimately come back to us. Good actions produce good reactions and bad actions bad reactions. Hence, the Sudlykover offers a solution to the ancient conundrum: If God made Pharaoh harden his heart, as stated in Exodus 7:3, before the plagues actually began, how can God punish Pharaoh for being stubborn? The Sudlykover presumably reads 7:3 merely as a statement of what would transpire, and states here that God did not actively punish the King of Egypt. In fact, it was Pharaoh's bad actions rebounding on himself, and that is why the first plague was one of blood, as substance so intimately connected with that 'heavy' heart of his.
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Three Kinds of Exile
CONTEXT: Niether the plague of blood, nor that of frogs, nor even that of lice, has changeed Pharaoh's mind and produced liberation for the long-suffering slaves. Now the fourth plague (variously understood as an infestation of flies or as an attack of wild beasts) is promised, but now for the first time, the land of Goshen, where the Israelites live, will be exempt from the suffering.
'I will set redemption (pedut) between My people and your people.'
Exodus 8:19
Rabbi Shalom of Belz (d. 1855) said: The word pedut, redemption, occurs three times in Scripture:
1. in the verse quoted above,
2. in Psalm 111:9 – '[God] sends redemption to [God's] people,' and
3. in Psalm 130:7 – 'With [God] [literally, him] there is much redemption.' These three promises of redemption correspond to three types of exile.
The first type: Jews in exile among foreign nations and lands. Hence the first promise [reads] 'I will set redemption between My people and your people' (Exodus 8:19).
More severe than this is the exile of Jews amongst [their fellow] Jews: A holy people whose children tread on its head, brothers that dominate one another, brothers that oppress one another. With respect to this exile we have been given the good news that '[God] sends redemption to [God's] people.' [It specifically says] [God's] people, [i.e. those of] God's children that have been given over to the oppression of their brothers, [God] will bring out of oppression into redemption.
But the most severe of all is the exile of a Jew with respect to oneself, with respect to one's physical desires. Redemption from this exile is only possible through the great efforts of a person living in exile. About this [type] it says 'With him' – with the person themselves – 'there is much redemption' (Psalm 130:7) When a person tries and exerts themselves to leave this exile, God helps and strengthens their hand, and '[God] will redeem Israel from all its transgressions' (Psalm 130:8).
Shabbetai Weiss, MeOtzar HaMachshavah shel HaHasidut (Tel Aviv: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1949), p.135.
COMMENT: In this passage, the concept of exile and redemption, which are effectively mirror images of each other, are pushed to their psychological limit. Political oppression of Jews by others is comparatively easy to understand and deal with. Our history is filled with examples in which circumstances (God) brought about our deliverance. But Shalom of Belz offers a social message, too. Oppression of one Jew by another is also on the divine agenda for future redemption. But the most difficult exile of all is a psychological one, in which one is alienated from physical desires, in that they control us, instead of us controlling them. The mental and spiritual aspects of ourselves should be in control of our bodies, not our bodies in control of our minds and souls. Here, Shalom of Belz suggests that we cannot simply call upon God to save us. We have to make the initial efforts to establish control, and then God will provide support for us in the struggle and bring ultimate redemption. Human effort must come first, before divine aid will arrive. Perhaps God waits to see if our efforts are really serious. Perhaps God acts as a wise teacher, making us learn by our own efforts, so the lesson will remain with us, entering into our deepest consciousness.
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The Evil of Insensitivity
CONTEXT: The sixth plague, of boils, has afflicted the Egyptians, soon to be followed by the plague of hail. Yet, Pharaoh is still so intent on keeping the slaves under his control that he is oblivious to the needs of his own people.
['Yet you are still exalting yourself over/oppressing (mistolel) My people, by not letting them go.']
Exodus 9:17
And in this holy parashah it says: 'Yet you are still exalting yourself over/oppressing (MiStoLeL) My people, by not letting them go,' that is to say, You have been afflicted with seven plagues, but felt nothing. That is to say that MiStoLeL means: You have made yourself like a path (MeSiLLah), so that you do not feel the plagues.
What the prophet [Isaiah] – peace be upon him – says is [another] example [of this]: 'Why do you seek more beatings, why do you still rebel?' And he goes on: 'From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness in it' (Isaiah 1:5-6).
Because of this, [from this point on], up to the smiting of the first-born, [God] did not bring any more plagues [that directly affected] the body, for locusts and darkness are not plagues of the body, or the like.
Joseph Karo (1488-1575), Maggid Mesharim (Jerusalem: 1960), p.52.
COMMENT: The word mistolel is of doubtful meaning, as our translation above suggests. Joseph Karo (or rather his maggid, the heavenly voice that speaks from out of his own mouth) makes a connection between it and the word mesillah which means 'a path'. A path is defined as a footway made smooth by numerous feet, but it is also a place on which nothing grows. Hence Karo's notion that Pharaoh had made himself like a path, that is, unfeeling, and therefore unable to grow. And why? Because he was really only interested in himself, and, as Karo points out, this verse comes after the plague of boils (Ex 9:8ff.), which is the seventh plague, but the first to directly affect the body.
In effect, Karo is pointing to Pharaoh as a model of what not to do. We must not become so self-centred that we are like a path, callous and unable to foster growth in ourselves and in others.
Avoiding Contamination
CONTEXT: With the seventh plague, of hail and thunder, now finished, Moses is once again commanded to pay Pharaoh a visit to present his case yet again. It is clear, however, that Pharaoh is still not yet ready to listen.
God said to Moses, 'Go [literally, "Come"] to Pharaoh [for I have made him stubborn...]'
Exodus 10:1
Rabbi Isaac of Vorki (d. 1858) said: Moses did not want to go to Pharaoh, for he was concerned about contact with a source of uncleanness, lest a bit of it stick to him – God forbid. Specifically, God did not say to him 'Go to Pharaoh' but 'Come to Pharaoh', meaning 'Approach him.'
The Ba'al Shem Tov of blessed memory (d. 1760) said something similar: A person who works with mud, no matter how much he may wish to avoid the mud or distance himself from it, even if he does this with many varied and lengthy tools, it is impossible for him not to become just at least a little bit dirty.
Therefore, God said to Moses: 'For I have made him stubborn' – I myself have caused Pharaoh's stubbornness. There is no cause for your concern and your fear. Come to Pharaoh for I dwell in every place. [I am there already] and I will guide you.
Shabbetai Weiss (ed.), Me'Otzar HaMachshavah Shel HaHasidut (Tel Aviv: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1949), p.138. (cf. Isaac of Vorki (d. 1858) & Menachem Mendel of Vorki (d.1868), Bet Yitzchaq (Jerusalem, 1992), p.44.)
COMMENT: God's command to Moses in our verse is a little bit strange. One might have expected the text to say: lech ('Go'); instead it says: bo' ('Come'). For the Vorker rebbe, 'Come' has the connotation of approaching, and he suggests that Moses was anxious about coming into contact with idolatry as exemplified by its most powerful leader. He was fearful that he would be contaminated by such a contact. Rabbi Isaac's answer to the problem is to suggest that God's command 'come' means 'approach God'. In other words, if Moses is worried about going before Pharaoh, he should think of it as coming before God, since if God is everywhere, how can Pharaoh, for all his wickedness, exist without the presence of God? So, what does Moses really have to be afraid of? It is God who has made our adversaries as they are; therefore, God is present when we confront them.
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Darkness and Light
CONTEXT: Two more plagues come to afflict the Egyptians: locusts and darkness. The locusts destroy crops throughout all Egypt, but the darkness leaves Goshen, where the Israelites dwell, untouched. They have light while the rest of the country lives in shadow. Is this just an absence of dark, or some extraordinary light?
'But all the people of Israel had light where they dwelt.'
Exodus 10:23
It is explained in the 'Or HaHayyim [by Hayyim ibn Attar (1696-1743)] that that light was part of the light hidden [at Creation, cf. Bereshit Rabbah 3:6]. See there. [Raphael of Bershad (died c.1816)] explained that that very light darkened Egypt, in line with what is said in the name of the Rav [Pinchas of Koretz] on the fact that the light blinds the eyes of the 'shells,' since they cannot bear the abundance of the light...
This is also the explanation of the verse [in] the parashah of Beshallach: '[And there was the cloud and the darkness;] and it lit up the night' (Exodus 14:20). For it is the same thing: For that very light that lit up Israel darkened Egypt, since they could not bear it and [so] were blinded...
The point is that the hidden light was revealed in Egypt since this light is implicit in all troubles, and when the darkness is greatest, precisely there is the light implicit. Therefore, since Israel in Egypt had been near the forty-nine gates of uncleanness, the light was revealed.
Everything in the world depends on the hidden light, and without it the world could not exist, as it says in the Zohar Terumah (II, 148b-149a): 'If it had been hidden away from absolutely everything, [the world would not have existed for even one moment].' See there...
From a text of the school of Pinchas of Koretz (1726-1791), Ms 803759 in Jewish National & University Library, fol.104a-105a.
COMMENT: For Pinchas of Koretz and his school, the ancient notion of the hidden light is very important, and they refer to it in a number of places. This notion arose from the apparent discrepancy in the Genesis creation story, where light is created on the first day, but the heavenly bodies which actually give light were not created until the fourth day. One midrashic response to this conundrum is to suggest that the light of the first day was a spiritual light that was hidden away for the righteous in the world-to-come, so that the wicked of this world would not benefit from it. (See the midrash referred to above.)
The Koretz school taught that this hidden light is, in fact, revealed from time to time in this world too, particularly, as here, in times of distress for the Jewish people. They use this concept to explain the biblical notion that all Egypt was afflicted with the plague of darkness, except for the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt. Normally, we take this to mean simply that they were not afflicted with the same plague, but Pinchas of Koretz takes it in a more positive way. The people of Israel were experiencing a revelation of the hidden light, and in fact, it was this revelation which produced the darkness in the rest of Egypt, since a light that is too bright might have the same effect on our sight as no light at all.
But of course, they do not restrict the effect of this hidden light to the plagues of Egypt or to national crises. On the contrary, by quoting the Zohar on this point, the Koretz school is indicating that the light of God is implicit in all situations, and in moments of stress, we may need to recall this fact in order to find the strength to endure and survive.
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Renewal
CONTEXT: The final plague has been announced; soon Egypt will be filled with the wails of those who have lost their first-born. The Israelites have preparations to make for their imminent release. The month of Aviv ('spring', now called Nisan) was to be the first month of the year, and on the tenth of Aviv, the people were to take a lamb for each household to serve as the Passover lamb, roasted whole and eaten on the first night of Passover.
'This month shall be the first of the months for you...'
Exodus 12:2
...Our sages of blessed memory have expounded this verse 'This month shall be the first of months for you...' [as follows]: 'If Israel had not been worthy of any other commandment apart from this one, that they should greet the face of the Shechinah (the Presence of God) once each month, it would have been enough for them. [For] here it is written "This month" and there it is written "This is my God and I will glorify [the divine]" (Exodus 15:2)' (Talmud, Sanhedrin 42a).
The fact is that this midrash alludes to the 'Community of Israel,' which is called the sanctified and unique Diadem of Israel, who are those 'born of the womb'. Therefore, [the Sages] ordained the blessing of the new moon, the Diadem of Beauty, for those 'born of the womb'. And when one recites the blessing of the new moon one is greeting the face of the Shechinah. Hence, they ordained that one should say it standing, not sitting, due to awe of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And it is well known that when a person sees the new moon and says a blessing over it, one is bearing witness to the renewal of the world, which is the essence of faith, and acknowledging the divinity of the One who formed creation, that [God] might renew the world as [God] renews the moon each and every month...
Rabbenu Bachya ben Asher ben Chlava (13th century), Perush 'Al HaTorah (Midrash Rabbenu Bachya) (Jerusalem: Blum, 1988), pt.2, p.53.
COMMENT: The Talmudic passage at the start of Rabbenu Bachya's exegesis deals with the little ceremony known as Kiddush Levanah, the Sanctification of the (New Moon) which is performed when the moon is visible, between seventh and fifteenth day of the Hebrew month. The Talmud in Sanhedrin draws together two verses that both include the word zeh', 'this', so that seeing and greeting the new moon (of which the first each year is considered to be the month of Aviv, Nisan in later Hebrew) becomes analogous to meeting God, to a spiritual experience, in other words. The Talmud is already using the symbol of the moon to represent the Shechinah, as is the case in the medieval Kabbalah.
For Rabbenu Bachya, as for many kabbalists, the Shechinah or Malchut (=Sovereignty, but also called Diadem in older texts) is also known as the Community of Israel, and represents a kind of ideal Jewish people, as if to say that the people of Israel at their best symbolize the divine presence on earth. The moon is an apt symbol for that presence, since it is sometimes more, and sometimes less, visible, much as the divine presence is sometimes apparent and sometimes not. (The expression 'born of the womb' does not literally mean 'born', but, since beten, 'womb' is a symbol for Malchut, the phrase indicates those with a special relationship to the Shechinah.)
But although there are clear kabbalistic references here, the main point here for me was in the last sentence. Acknowledgement of the new moon, the start of each month of the Hebrew calendar, is a recognition of the presence of God in human life, a presence that may be more or less obvious, but which always and everywhere promises renewal, provided we can open our hearts to access it in our own lives. The ceremony of the Sanctification of the New Moon teaches that with God renewal is always possible, for the individual and for society.
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How to Eat II
CONTEXT: In the course of describing the commandment of the Passover lamb, instructions are given on how to cook it and eat it. It had to be roasted, and eaten with matzah and bitter herbs by people who were all dressed and ready to depart from Egypt.
['You shall eat the flesh on this night...'
Exodus 12:8]
Since all physical actions provide an entrance to and a hint of spiritual things, and their fulfilment lies in physical action being attached to the spiritual in order to awaken the hidden 'root' of the spiritual through the external physical 'branch,' it is necessary that every physical act be accompanied by something hidden and spiritual. This is the purpose of saying a blessing over a commanded action, for a physical act is accompanied by a spiritual act, which is the word and the breath, and even higher than this, the thought within that word. There are three levels in this matter: 1. the action, 2. the word, [and] 3. the thought, and each one is more refined than the previous one...
...Our rabbis of blessed memory have said: 'If two people are eating the Passover-lamb, and one eats it for the sake of [fulfilling the commandment of eating] the Passover-lamb, and the other eats it for the sake of the physical act of eating, of the first it is said: "The righteous eats for the satisfaction of the soul" (Proverbs 13:25), while of the second it is said: "but the belly of the wicked shall be lacking" (Proverbs 13:25)' (cf. Talmud, Horayot 10b). In this way, they teach us that although eating the Passover-lamb is a physical act, everything follows from the intention (kavannah). If a person, by good intentions, draws spirituality from a holy source, as for example when one eats for the sake of [fulfilling the commandment of] the Passover-lamb, then that act, by virtue of this drawing down from on high, brings perfection to the soul...
Moses Cordovero (1522-1570), Tefillah LeMoshe, quoted in Isaiah HaLevi Horowitz (c.1570-1626), Sha'ar HaShamayim (Jerusalem: Levin-Epstein, 1973), pt.1, p.52.
COMMENT: The text is quite straightforward in my view, certainly by the standards of much of Kabbalah. Moses Cordovero was one of the great kabbalists of sixteenth century Safed, and one of the most lucid.
His point is based on the basic kabbalistic understanding of the relationship between spiritual and physical realms. These are not two distinct realms of existence; they are intimately interconnected, with the spiritual as the 'root' and the physical as the 'branch'. Therefore, each and every act we do, and most especially so-called religious acts (i.e. rituals) should involve both our physical and spiritual selves. And in the case of rituals in Judaism, where a blessing normally precede the ritual action, the act of saying the blessing mediates between the two realms, namely the spiritual as exemplified through one's kavannah, one's mental concentration on the ritual, and the physical, the actual act one is engaged in.
Turning to the ancient ritual of eating the Paschal or Passover lamb, he argues, based on a Talmudic precedent, that one's mental intention is an essential part of the fulfilment of the ritual. Indeed, it is a sine qua non. Without it, the ritual is worse than meaningless. With it, we may rise to spiritual heights and bring untold benefit to the world.
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Preparation for Prayer
CONTEXT: The details of the preparation, cooking and eating of the Passover-lamb, plus laws for the observance of Passover, form the main subject of Exodus 12. Starting at verse 21, we have instructions for putting the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of Israelite homes, that the inhabitants might be spared the ravages of the plague of the first-born.
'Then Moses called [all the elders of Israel] and said to them, "Draw out and take for yourselves [sheep for your families and slaughter the Passover-lamb]."'
Exodus 12:21
...The righteous person, at prayer-times, when one wants to pray or do the commands of the blessed Creator, must prepare on three levels.
First, as it is said in the Talmud (Berachot 5a): 'The early Hasidim used to wait an hour and then pray.' This means: they would think about the exaltedness of God before they prayed. Now, [the word] shohin ('wait') is from the expression 'and the man was wondering (mishta'eh) at her' (Genesis 24:21), that is, while [the early Hasidim] were thinking about [God's] exaltedness and greatness, they would wonder at the greatness of [God's] beauty. Everyone should think about the exaltedness of God as far as the 'place that one's hand can reach,' into the upper worlds, according to one's level. In this way one draws one's soul upwards into the upper worlds, receives the outpouring of holiness there, and then descends. This is the explanation of [the phrase] in the holy Zohar: 'to reach but not to reach' (Zohar I, 16b & elsewhere) and this is [also] the explanation [of the saying]: 'There is no person who does not have their hour' (Pirke 'Avot 4:3). Explanation: A person like this who does not have this hour to think about the exaltedness of God, as mentioned above, will not be considered as a [true] person in Your eyes.
The second aspect: One must prepare oneself to give enough of [this] great outpouring for the sustenance of all Israel.
The third aspect: When one is doing a mitzvah to do it wholeheartedly, with concentration (kavannah), with joy, and with great honesty.
This is the [meaning of]: 'and [he] said to them, "Draw out..."'. Explanation: When you draw your soul upwards by thinking about the upper worlds before doing this commandment of the Passover-lamb, 'Take for yourselves' – explanation: By this means, take for yourselves great holiness from above as you descend. 'Sheep for your families', that is, the second aspect – explanation: that you prepare yourselves to give and draw down sustenance for all the families of Israel. 'And slaughter the Passover-lamb', that is, the third aspect, while doing the commandment mentioned above.
Elimelech of Lyzhansk (1717-1787), No'am 'Elimelech (ed. by Gedalyah Nigal) (Jerusalem: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1978), v.1, pp.202-203.
COMMENT: The rebbe Elimelech of Lyzhansk offers us a set of meditations for the performance of various rituals, reading his teaching into a verse on the taking of the Paschal or Passover lamb, one of ancient Israel's earliest rituals.
The first instruction is that one should emulate what he says was the practice of the rather mysterious group known in the Talmud as the Early Hasidim. We are told they used to wait an hour before prayer, and Elimelech suggests that what they did during this hour was meditate on the greatness and power of God, and consider with wonder the beauty of God. Using kabbalistic imagery, he suggests that in doing so we ascend through the upper spiritual worlds, and by re-interpreting a saying from the Pirke 'Avot tells us that someone who does not do this is lacking in an area that is basic to our humanity.
The second instruction is that having received personal illumination during the first stage, one should mentally extend this spiritual illumination to include the entire Jewish people.
And then, finally, one can undertake the ritual act itself with full concentration. Only with as full an appreciation of 'the One before Whom we stand' as we can manage, and a wish to share that insight, can we truly be human. And only if we are truly human and present can we undertake ritual acts as they should be done. Anything else may be pleasant enough, but will not affect us as deeply.
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The First-Born Thought
CONTEXT: The fact that the first-born sons of the Israelites and of their animals were spared, when those of the Egyptians died in the tenth plague, means that all first-born in perpetuity are to be dedicated to God: the first-born of kosher cattle were to be given for sacrifice, first-born donkeys were to be killed and thus removed from normal use, while the first-born of the Israelites were to be redeemed.
'Dedicate to Me all the first-born...'
Exodus 13:2
The first-born is the first thought as one rises in the morning. One ought to dedicate it to GOD, whether it is a thought of love, as love of GOD, or of some other quality. And this corresponds to that: When a thought falls in with the qualities of the Other Side it is called 'the first-born of Egypt'. But the essential thing is to connect the [first] thought with its root, so that it should be solely for GOD alone, when one wraps oneself in the fringes (tzitzit). For there are a total of thirty-two threads [8 threads at each of the four corners of the tallit], and [thirty-two is the numerical value] of the [divine] name by which [God] struck the first-born of Egypt, as Scripture says: 'And GOD (VaYHVH = 6+10+5+6+5 = 32) struck down all the first-born [in the land of Egypt]' (Exodus 12:29), that is with the [divine] name of thirty-two. When one annihilates the first-born [thought] of the 'shells' one [automatically] connects oneself to the first-born of holiness. Therefore, immediately after putting on the fringes, it is possible for one to put on the tefillin, which [include within them] the section [that begins with the words] 'Dedicate...'
Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn (1797-1850), 'Irin Qadishin (n.p., 1885), pt.1, p.23.
COMMENT: I hate to get up in the morning. It's a fact. And I find that waking to a blaring alarm clock is worse than waking up by myself, though that is bad enough. Still, one has to get up. There are things that need doing, people that need you. And God 'needs' our service.
In the Ruzhyner's comments, he reminds us that our attitude to getting up in the morning is in our own hands. We have the power to take whatever thought we have on waking and either dedicate it to God, or not. Using the language of parashat Bo', he refers to the 'first-born' thought that is dedicated to God and the 'first-born' thought of Egypt, symbol since ancient times of idolatry. It is up to us to decide which way it is to go. Whatever the thought, it can be turned to God.
Continue to connect this thought, he tells us, with God during the act of putting on your tallit in the morning, and then your tefillin, which are, after all, mentioned in this same chapter.
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then the first thought is the most important thought of the day. This is also the message of the two of the great law codes of the middle ages, Jacob ben Asher's 'Arba'ah Turim and Joseph Karo's Shulchan 'Aruch. Both begin with laws for rising in the morning with strength and the readiness to do God's will.
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Holy War
CONTEXT: The Israelites are finally on their way, slaves no longer! But, as they set out from Egypt, they seem to be taking the longer way through the wilderness. Why? Is this simply a matter of strategy or is there a deeper matter of psychology here?
'When Pharaoh sent the people out, God did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, though it was nearby, because God said: Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. So God led the people around through the wilderness, [to] the Reed Sea...'
Exodus 13:17-18
It is possible to explain the purpose of [mentioning] war [here] as a hint of the war against the inclination [towards evil] (as has been expounded in the holy Zohar on parashat Ki Tetze LaMilchamah, 'when you go out to war'; Deuteronomy 21:10. See there.) For the Israelites were also still not rooted in perfect trust at that time; thus [God] was anxious [that they might] 'return to Egypt'. Therefore, 'God led the people around through the wilderness' so that they could receive the Torah and study with Moses, until they could become the Generation of Knowledge and allow trust take perfect root within them.
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), 'Ohel Torah MeHaRabbi MiKotzk (Lublin, 1909), p.12b.
COMMENT: It is sometimes said that life is a battle or a struggle, usually in the sense that we have to fight all kinds of external forces in order to make our way in life, forces like poverty, government, society, our own upbringing. For the Jewish ethical tradition, the real battle we face is that which takes place within ourselves, between the various psychological forces within that the rabbis of old subsumed under the names: the inclination towards good and the inclination towards evil. We might call them our altruistic and generous sides, though they could equally well have other names.
For the Kotzker rebbe, one of the main effects that the ascendancy of the inclination towards evil can have on us is to make us lose our faith or trust in God. Perhaps he meant that if we give into our greed when we know we shouldn't, it can lead to despondency, as we contemplate our personal failure. And yet, he would have said, God is a forgiving God, and our despondency is merely another enticement of the inclination towards evil.
The Torah verse suggests that God thought that the Israelites needed training in self-sufficiency before they could face the exigencies of war. The Kotzker goes further by suggesting that similar preparation is needed for the war against the inclination towards evil, training in the sensitivity that should come with Torah study. If we follow his recommendation, then we too can become a Generation of Knowledge, as the generation of the wilderness was known in rabbinic literature.
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Going Up
CONTEXT: The Torah tells us that the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt. Is the use of this verb indicative of the terrain they had to cross, or is there a deeper significance to this term?
'The Israelites went up armed [from the land of Egypt]...'
Exodus 13:18
...Rabbi Simchah Bunam, the Rebbe of Pshische (1765-1827) – may the memory of the righteous be a blessing – said: 'Jews need to go higher and higher. "Went up" ('alu) [means] "went higher."' 'Words from a wise person's mouth are gracious' (Ecclesiastes 10:12). The enlightened person will understand.
Yo'etz Qayyam Qadish Rokotz, Siach Sarfei Qodesh (n.p., n.d.), pt.3, p.130.
COMMENT: A rather terse statement from Rabbi Simchah Bunam, it suggests that the role of a Jew is always to reach ever higher in one's spiritual quest. Perhaps he also has in mind the word translated above as 'armed,' chamushim. In fact this word is obscure, and the subject of much interest among the commentators, some of whom connect it with the word 'chamesh' 'five' and then with the Torah, or chumash, as it is sometimes known because it is made up of five books. ('Five' in Hebrew is chamesh.) In which case, Rabbi Bunam intended to tell us that study of the Torah is one of our primary means of spiritual ascent, and the way we arm ourselves to face the challenges of life.
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Steadfast in Prayer
CONTEXT: The Israelites have left Egypt, but Pharaoh has had yet another change of heart. He is going to bring them back! To that end, he assembles his chariots and sets out after the ex-slaves. When they see Pharaoh's army bearing down on them, the Israelites panic, but Moses tries to calm their nerves.
'Moses said to the people: Do not be afraid! Stand fast and see GOD's deliverance which [God] will work for you today, for as you see Egypt today, you will never see it ever again. GOD will make war for you – be still!'
Exodus 14:13-14
'Stand fast and see' – Perhaps [Moses] intended to say to them that they should stand in prayer, just as they stood and cried out to GOD, as it is said in a nearby [passage]: 'And the Children of Israel cried out to GOD' (Exodus 14:10). Similarly, it says: 'I am the woman who stood by you here, [praying to GOD]' (I Samuel 1:26).
Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743), 'Or HaHayyim (Jerusalem: A. Blum, 1994), p.64.
COMMENT: In Exodus 14, 'Stand fast' probably means something like 'do not panic, be calm,' but Hayyim ibn Attar connects it with another verse, from the story of the birth of the judge and prophet Samuel, where standing is associated with prayer. So, here too, he argues, prayer is referred to.
And he may not be far wrong. Sometimes in moments of crisis and near panic, a prayer may have precisely the effect of calming the mind and the emotions, and then one may see a solution that was previously hidden, much as the Israelites suddenly saw the Reed Sea open before them, offering them final victory and freedom from their oppressors.
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The Power of Song
CONTEXT: Moses has split the Reed Sea, the Israelites have passed through safely, but Pharaoh and his horde are gone forever. The people of Israel break into a glorious song of praise to God.
'Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to GOD, and said: I will sing to GOD.'
Exodus 15:1
They each sang to each other, that is they sang the song altogether without any distinction or separation, until they were as one person, even though they were many...
Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743), 'Or HaHayyim (Jerusalem: A. Blum, 1994), pt.2, p.64.
COMMENT: If the Song of the Sea of Exodus 15 was sung by Moses and all the Israelites, why does it begin 'I will sing...' rather than 'We will sing'? Ibn Attar's answer is clear: their singing made them feel as if they were one, even though they were many.
The same psychological insight applies to all group singing, and especially to religious groups where, not only does the melody create an atmosphere, but the words also express deeply held beliefs and spiritual longing. Some modern religious movements have forgotten this basic fact to their peril, and the result is that some of their most gifted young people find their way to cults or other religious movements that offer them more of a feeling of belonging and sense of the spiritual.
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Silence Leads to Speech
CONTEXT: Most of Exodus 15 is taken up with the Song of the Sea, one of the greatest, and most inspiring, poems in the ancient Hebrew language.
'YaH is my strength and song; and has become my salvation.'
Exodus 15:2
'YaH is my strength and song' – for in those times they [the Israelites] were like small children. At the start of smallness (qatnut) one has the silence ('eLeM) of God ('eLoHYM) and has no speech. Later, one has speech, due to the power of YaH that is in the name 'eLoHYM. Hence, 'YaH is my strength and song' – i.e. the power of speech which is YaH 'and has become (vayehi) my salvation' as [our sages] have said: 'Every vayehi signifies trouble' (Bereshit Rabbah 42:3). This [represents] withdrawal (tzimtzum), and as a result of withdrawal, they were afterwards able to receive [God's] illumination. Hence, 'and has become my salvation.'
Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezritch (d. 1772), from 'Imre Tzaddikim, quoted in Torat HaMaggid (edited by Israel Klepholtz) (Tel Aviv: Pe'er HaSefer, 1969), v.1, p.135.
COMMENT: The Maggid of Mezritch has packed a lot of ideas into this short teaching, but the question he starts with is: Why does this text make use of the relatively rare divine name of YaH, rather than the more usual YHVH ('LORD' or 'GOD'). His answer has to do with another divine name, 'eLoHYM, which translates exactly as 'God'. It contains five letters in Hebrew: 'Alef, Lamed, Hay, Yod and Mem. Three of those letters spell 'elem, 'silence' (namely, 'Alef, Lamed and Mem) while the remaining two letters (Yod and Hay) spell out YaH. So, when one adds one name of God to silence, the result is another.
For the Maggid, silence here represents the state of 'smallness', a term by which the Hasidim designate a low, even depressed psychological state, exemplified here by the terror the Israelites felt at the approach of Pharaoh and his chariots. But the addition of YaH, representing the divine, transforms silence into speech, and smallness into greatness, an exalted state, a state of confidence and creativity; hence the text says: 'my strength and my song.'
But the next phrase begins with vayehi which according to rabbinic tradition is connected with trouble (associating it with 'vai', an exclamation 'woe'). The Maggid, in turn, connects this with the kabbalistic term 'tzimtzum', 'withdrawal', an expression he clearly gives a psychological slant. 'Withdrawal' here is not a purely negative term; it is seen as preparatory to divine inspiration. Indeed, withdrawal for the Maggid means making oneself receptive.
If we wish to achieve spiritual greatness, if we wish to make the most of our time on earth, we need to be able to make ourselves small and silent, that we may experience divine illumination. From this flows creativity and God's salvation.
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'What is It?'
CONTEXT: No sooner are the people of Israel liberated from Egyptian slavery than they start complaining about lack of food and water. In response, God sends the manna, a miraculous substance that forms on the ground each morning and from there the people can collect it each morning (apart from Shabbat). But, they have never seen anything like it before.
'They said to each other "What (man) is it? (or, It is man, manna)" because they did not know what (mah) it was.'
Exodus 16:15
One has to understand why, if they did not know what it was, they called it man (manna). Why did they not call it mah?
[Note] therefore that there are two kinds of [divine] influx into the world. One is what the righteous of each generation [brings] through their merit. This is called 'How (mah) great is the good that you have hidden away for those who are in awe of You' (Psalm 31:20).
The second kind of influx is that which enters the world because of the merit of the generation, which they deserve according to their own merit. This is called 'How (mah) wondrous is Your name throughout the earth' (Psalm 8:2,10).
Now, when Israel was [in] the wilderness, when they constituted a 'generation of knowledge', they were perfect in their righteousness, and they even had our teacher Moses, the true righteous one of the generation. So, when the influx of the manna came to them, they did not know through which merit it had come to them, through their own, which was [of the type] 'How (mah) wondrous is Your name throughout the earth' (Psalm 8:2,10) or through Moses', which was [of the type] 'How (mah) great is the good that you have hidden away for those who are in awe of You' (Psalm 31:20). [In other words,] they did not know which mah to attribute it to. Therefore, they called it MaN, because two times MaH (40+5=45x2=90) in gematria equals MaN (40+50=90), since they had two mah's, as mentioned above.
Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn (1797-1850), Sefer Kneset Yisra'el (Ostila?, n.d.), pp.67-68.
COMMENT: The question the Rabbi of Ruzhyn poses is this: If the people did not know what this stuff was, why did they call it 'man'; why not 'mah'? After all, 'mah' is the usual Hebrew word for what, not 'man'. His reply is to posit two different kinds of divine inspiration, based on his interpretation of two biblical verses where the word mah appears, coupled with the fact that twice the numerical value of MaH gives you MaN. The first type is that which is channelled through a gifted individual, and the second is that which comes through 'the generation', that is, the so-called 'ordinary' people.
These 'ordinary' people are actually capable of extraordinary acts of kindness and love and of great depths of spirituality. This seems to me to be the kind of merit that the Ruzhyner rebbe relates to the biblical verse: 'How (mah) wondrous is Your name throughout the earth' (Psalm 8:2,10). But sometimes all of us need the inspiration of someone else, someone who may be further 'advanced' along the difficult path to moral and spiritual perfection, a righteous person, in other words. A person of this type, who is 'in awe of' God may achieve even more than 'ordinary people' because he or she inspires others to become more of what they can and should be. So, let us be on the lookout for them. Perhaps, if we are in real, sharing relationships with those around us, we will find that we can do the job for each other.
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Hearing
CONTEXT: After the Israelites have journeyed further into the wilderness and defeated the Amalekites in battle, they camp at the foot of the Mountain of God, Sinai. Then, Moses' father-in-law Jethro (Yitro) arrives in the camp with Moses' wife and two sons. News of the exodus of the Israelite slaves has reached him, and he is eager to hear the story.
'Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people, that GOD had brought Israel out of Egypt.'
Exodus 18:1
In the Midrash Tanchuma (Yitro 2) [it says]: '"Jethro heard" – there are those who hear and suffer and those who hear and are rewarded... Thus "the nations shall hear, [and] be afraid" (Exodus 15:14). But Jethro heard and was rewarded, for he had been an idolatrous priest, but he came, attached himself to Moses [and entered under the wings of the Shechinah, the Presence of God].' Thus far the midrash.
One has to understand why the midrash teaches us this. For in one 'hearing' some hear and are rewarded and others hear and suffer. Jethro heard of the miracles of the splitting of the Reed Sea and experienced the fear of the blessed God; so, he came and drew near. The nations also experienced fear, but they fled from the blessed God, because they wanted to get rid of the fear.
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), 'Ohel Torah MeHaRabbi MiKotzk (Lublin, 1909), p.13b.
COMMENT: The midrash quoted above draws together a number of verses in this part of Exodus where the verb 'to hear' is used, thus contrasting the hearing that the nations did with that of Jethro. The midrash suggests that there was a difference in attitude to what they heard, but doesn't suggest precisely what that difference was.
The Kotzker attempts to reach behind the midrash to specify that difference. His view is that in both cases what they heard caused fear of God, but that only Jethro was courageous enough to stay with that fear. Sometimes people who have religious experiences of fear and awe retreat from those feelings, either by denying their reality or by escaping into cults where these emotions are artificially heightened and re-created in an environment separate from normal life. My reading of the Kotzker is that he is suggesting that we have to stay with those emotions, but integrate them into our lives, much as Jethro did by his conversion to Judaism, as the midrash intimates.
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'Great is Peace'
CONTEXT: Moses is pleased to see his father-in-law and greets him with all the honour that is due to his wife's father, the grandfather of his children, who gave him shelter when he fled from Pharaoh.
'Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, prostrated himself, [and kissed him, and they each asked after each other's welfare (shalom, literally, peace)].'
Exodus 18:7
Peace is so great that it precedes the praise of the Holy Blessed One. For thus do we find in the case of Moses: When Jethro came to Moses our teacher, he [Moses] didn't begin [by speaking] of the exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the Reed Sea, the Ten Commandments, or the manna, or of anything of his own, but of peace, as it is said: 'and they each asked after each other's welfare (shalom, literally, peace).' And only then did 'Moses tell [his father-in-law all that GOD had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt on behalf of Israel]' (Exodus 18:8).
From Sefer 'Or 'Olam, quoted in Reuben Hoeschke (17th century), Yalqut Re'uveni (Warsaw, 1883), pt.2, p.45a.
COMMENT: There are a number of famous passages in rabbinic literature (most notably in Perek HaShalom in the so-called minor tractate of the Talmud known as Derech 'Eretz Zuta) that extol the virtues of peace. This passage seems to be another addition to that collection. Here peace is placed above the retelling of God's activities.
Of course, in the context of Exodus, the meaning of the verse is simply that Moses and his father-in-law greeted each other, but Sefer 'Or 'Olam gives this added significance.
To me, this text suggested that peace should take precedence of our own religious 'truths'. Jethro was a pagan, after all, yet, according to our text, Moses did not confront him on religious issues, until they had re-established their relationship on a normal human footing.
We live in a society in which many different faiths, some old and some new, compete for our loyalty. Even within the Jewish community, many different ideologies make their appeal to us. It is also a society in which old religious boundaries are breaking down, so that many people find their way to faiths other than the one into which they may have been born. For some, finding faith (whether a new or an old one) means sliding into fanaticism, and this creates an atmosphere in which religious conflict becomes more likely. This text comes to remind us that peace must take precedence over whatever dogmas or ideologies we subscribe to.
On Friday 24 January 2003, the day before I shared this passage with my community, the Jewish Chronicle, Anglo-Jewry's weekly newspaper, carried a story that illustrated my point exactly. The Satmar Hasidic community in London, not traditionally associated with an open attitude towards other groups, had sent a letter to the local authority in support of continued funding for a Muslim community centre.
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Insight into Yourself
CONTEXT: Israel proceeds through the wilderness of Sinai in their progress towards the Mountain of God, where they shall receive the revelation of the Ten Commandments.
'In the third month after the Israelites had departed from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.'
Exodus 19:1
In the Midrash Tanchuma (cf. Yitro 8) [it says]: '"In the third month after the Israelites had departed from the land of Egypt..." Why wasn't the Torah given as soon as they departed from Egypt? Hadn't [God] said to Moses: "When you bring the people out of Egypt, you shall serve Me on this mountain" (Exodus 3:12)? Rabbi Judah bar Shalom said: "A parable of a descendant of kings who arose from an illness. His father said: 'Let us wait three months for him to recover [completely] from his illness. Then I will send him to the rabbi to learn Torah.' So too, when Israel departed of Egypt there were amongst them many people who had been damaged by the oppression. Said the Holy Blessed One: 'I will wait until they are [fully] healed, and then I will give them the Torah.'" Thus far the midrash.
But this is not clear! Hasn't the Midrash Tanchuma itself said above: 'Learn from the verse "It shall be healing to your navel and marrow to your bones" (Proverbs 3:8) that engaging in the [study of] Torah brings healing to the body'? In that case, on the contrary, it would have been appropriate that the Torah be given immediately when they departed from Egypt, so that they could be healed immediately and not have the illness prolonged for three months.
However, it seems that the explanation of the matter of this illness is that they did not recognize what they were lacking, [did not recognize] that they were really damaged by suffering the oppression of Egypt, an unclean place. Therefore, the blessed God waited for three months until they were [fully] recovered and their minds had settled, until they could recognize and realize what they were lacking, that they were damaged. For it was through recognition of the aspects of what they were lacking that they were able to be healed later by the holiness of the Torah, along the lines of what is written: 'O deaf, hear; O blind, look that you may see' (Isaiah 42:18).
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), 'Ohel Torah MeHaRabbi MiKotzk (Lublin, 1909), p.14a.