Parshat Shemot
This is dedicated to my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal. May she have a complete and speedy recovery.
Question:
"The Children of Israel were fruitful, teemed, increased, and became strong - very, very much so; and the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7).
"Then Hashem said to me, 'The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is very, very great - and the land has been filled with bloodshed and the city has been filled with injustice, for they have said, 'Hashem has forsaken the land' and 'Hashem does not see''" (Ezekiel 9:9).
Note the extreme similarity between the language in these two verses. What is their connection?
Recall how in Parshat VaYigash, G-d appeared to Jacob "in night visions" (Genesis 46:2). In Parshat Vayigash I wrote, "What is the symbolism of 'night visions'? The Artscroll Chumash, basing itself off of the Meshech Chochma (by Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, 1843-1926), answers 'This is the only place where a vision is described in this manner, which implies impending darkness. At this moment, Jacob was poised to leave Eretz Yisrael for a long, long Egyptian exile, and he was right to be afraid of what would happen to his family there. The night of exile, when hope is enveloped in darkness, was about to begin, so God came in night visions to symbolize to him that though Jews would be exiled from their land, they would never be exiled from their God; He would always be with them' (page 257)."
In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, we find the Hebrews in complete darkness. As Nechama Leibowitz describes it "The picture drawn here of Israel is one of unrelieved gloom, characterless and faceless, devoid of personalities and bereft of leadership, a suffering, downtrodden mass with no heroic figures" (New Studies in Shemot, page 17).
At the end of chapter 2, we find that things are about to change:
"A long time then passed , and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were still groaning because of their subjugation. When they cried out because of their slavery, their pleas went up before God. God heard their cries, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God took heed [literally and God knew]" (2:22-25).
Nechama writes "God first appears in the role of object - the target of their groanings and cries. This is followed by four successive references to Him as God in the role of subject. This fourfold repetition of the subject by name rather than by pronominal reference before every predicate is grammatically deviant. It represents a foregrounding of the progressive re-appearance of God as a factor in the life of Israel, the progressive breaking down of barriers and resumption of the link between the upper and lower worlds. God heard, remembered, saw and heeded. The sudden and successive re-appearance of the Divine name in the text signalled the end of the period of His estrangement from the world. No longer would He work from behind the scenes but would act openly in full public view bursting forth into the arena history with a strong hand and outstretched arm" (18-19).
Immediately following this is the burning bush.
"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed" (Exodus 3:2).
What was its symbolism?
Rashi: from within the thorn bush: But not from any other tree, because of "I am with him in distress" (Psalms 91:15).
In other words, G-d cares and feels the Hebrews' pain.
It is here that we find G-d revealing the name "I Will Be Who I Will Be" (Exodus 3:14). Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits writes "It expresses the 'jutting out' of the divine being into time... The correct meaning of the text, therefore, is: I am forever present (for man). The rabbis in the Talmud give it the right interpretation when they remark: 'What is the meaning of ehyeh asher ehyeh? The Hole One said to Moses: Go and tell Israel that as I have been with them in this subjugation so shall I be with them in their future subjugation's by other kingdoms...' Brachot 9b." (God, Man, and History, by R. Dr. Berkovits, page 171).
Why is it so important to know that G-d cares?
When G-d appeared to the king of the Khazars telling the king that his intentions were virtuous but his actions were wrong, the king sought out a philosopher who proceeded to ridicule the whole idea of G-d desiring things.
"There is no favour or dislike in [the nature of ] God because He is above desire and intention. A desire intimates a want in the person who feels it, and not till it is satisfied does he become (so to speak) complete. If it remains unfulfilled, he lacks completion." In other words, if G-d desires, He is not perfect. If G-d is perfect, He does not desire.
However, the king responds by saying that he knows that this cannot be true because G-d told him! As much as the philosopher's position makes sense, G-d said otherwise!
R. Berkovits writes "The foundation of religion is not the affirmation that God is but that God is concerned with man and the world..." (God, Man, and History, page 15).
Thus the message we receive is that (although logically we cannot understand how), G-d cares and is going to act.
(G-d willing, I will elaborate on this on Parshat Yitro.)
Thus, we have a fitting end for our parshah:
"God said to Moses, 'Now you will begin to see what I will do to Pharaoh. He will be forced to let them go. [Not only that, but] he will be forced to drive them out of his land.'" (Exodus 6:1)
Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai
This is dedicated to my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal. May she have a complete and speedy recovery.
Question:
"The Children of Israel were fruitful, teemed, increased, and became strong - very, very much so; and the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7).
"Then Hashem said to me, 'The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is very, very great - and the land has been filled with bloodshed and the city has been filled with injustice, for they have said, 'Hashem has forsaken the land' and 'Hashem does not see''" (Ezekiel 9:9).
Note the extreme similarity between the language in these two verses. What is their connection?
Recall how in Parshat VaYigash, G-d appeared to Jacob "in night visions" (Genesis 46:2). In Parshat Vayigash I wrote, "What is the symbolism of 'night visions'? The Artscroll Chumash, basing itself off of the Meshech Chochma (by Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, 1843-1926), answers 'This is the only place where a vision is described in this manner, which implies impending darkness. At this moment, Jacob was poised to leave Eretz Yisrael for a long, long Egyptian exile, and he was right to be afraid of what would happen to his family there. The night of exile, when hope is enveloped in darkness, was about to begin, so God came in night visions to symbolize to him that though Jews would be exiled from their land, they would never be exiled from their God; He would always be with them' (page 257)."
In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, we find the Hebrews in complete darkness. As Nechama Leibowitz describes it "The picture drawn here of Israel is one of unrelieved gloom, characterless and faceless, devoid of personalities and bereft of leadership, a suffering, downtrodden mass with no heroic figures" (New Studies in Shemot, page 17).
At the end of chapter 2, we find that things are about to change:
"A long time then passed , and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were still groaning because of their subjugation. When they cried out because of their slavery, their pleas went up before God. God heard their cries, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God took heed [literally and God knew]" (2:22-25).
Nechama writes "God first appears in the role of object - the target of their groanings and cries. This is followed by four successive references to Him as God in the role of subject. This fourfold repetition of the subject by name rather than by pronominal reference before every predicate is grammatically deviant. It represents a foregrounding of the progressive re-appearance of God as a factor in the life of Israel, the progressive breaking down of barriers and resumption of the link between the upper and lower worlds. God heard, remembered, saw and heeded. The sudden and successive re-appearance of the Divine name in the text signalled the end of the period of His estrangement from the world. No longer would He work from behind the scenes but would act openly in full public view bursting forth into the arena history with a strong hand and outstretched arm" (18-19).
Immediately following this is the burning bush.
"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed" (Exodus 3:2).
What was its symbolism?
Rashi: from within the thorn bush: But not from any other tree, because of "I am with him in distress" (Psalms 91:15).
In other words, G-d cares and feels the Hebrews' pain.
It is here that we find G-d revealing the name "I Will Be Who I Will Be" (Exodus 3:14). Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits writes "It expresses the 'jutting out' of the divine being into time... The correct meaning of the text, therefore, is: I am forever present (for man). The rabbis in the Talmud give it the right interpretation when they remark: 'What is the meaning of ehyeh asher ehyeh? The Hole One said to Moses: Go and tell Israel that as I have been with them in this subjugation so shall I be with them in their future subjugation's by other kingdoms...' Brachot 9b." (God, Man, and History, by R. Dr. Berkovits, page 171).
Why is it so important to know that G-d cares?
When G-d appeared to the king of the Khazars telling the king that his intentions were virtuous but his actions were wrong, the king sought out a philosopher who proceeded to ridicule the whole idea of G-d desiring things.
"There is no favour or dislike in [the nature of ] God because He is above desire and intention. A desire intimates a want in the person who feels it, and not till it is satisfied does he become (so to speak) complete. If it remains unfulfilled, he lacks completion." In other words, if G-d desires, He is not perfect. If G-d is perfect, He does not desire.
However, the king responds by saying that he knows that this cannot be true because G-d told him! As much as the philosopher's position makes sense, G-d said otherwise!
R. Berkovits writes "The foundation of religion is not the affirmation that God is but that God is concerned with man and the world..." (God, Man, and History, page 15).
Thus the message we receive is that (although logically we cannot understand how), G-d cares and is going to act.
(G-d willing, I will elaborate on this on Parshat Yitro.)
Thus, we have a fitting end for our parshah:
"God said to Moses, 'Now you will begin to see what I will do to Pharaoh. He will be forced to let them go. [Not only that, but] he will be forced to drive them out of his land.'" (Exodus 6:1)
Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai
posted by Mordechai18 at 12:01 PM
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