By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: VA-EIRA Exodus 6:2-9:3
"WITH MY NAME YKVK I WAS NOT KNOWN TO THEM"
At the end of last week's parshah of SHEMOS, we saw how, precisely when
Moses started the process of Geulah (redemption) by asking Pharaoh to send away
the Children of Israel, the latter responded by intensifying their oppression
and servitude. This caused even Moses to question his mission: "Lord, why have
You done evil to this people? Why have You sent me?" (Ex. 5:22).
Our parshah of VA-EIRA opens with G-d's answer to Moses. It contains a
profound teaching about faith. G-d promises, and it is up to G-d to deliver! He
can be relied upon absolutely to do so -- in His own good time. Even in the
thickest darkness, we must have faith that G-d will redeem us. We must
understand that the darkness is most intense just before the morning.
In G-d's answer to Moses, He says that He appeared to the patriarchs
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as "the Eternal G-d" but "WITH MY NAME YKVK I WAS NOT
KNOWN TO THEM" (Ex. 6:3). What does this mean? It is a fact that the essential
name of HaShem, YKVK -- expressing the perfect unity of G-d within and beyond
all phenomena -- was indeed known to the patriarchs, as we see many times in
Genesis. However, as pointed out by Rashi here, the Hebrew text (NODA'TI) does
not mean, "I did not make it known to them". Rather, it implies: "I was not
known and RECOGNIZED for my quality of truthfulness. as HaShem Who am faithful
in proving the truth of My words. For I promised them but as yet I have not
fulfilled the promise" (see Rashi).
An integral part of faith in G-d is to have faith that He will bring about
everything He has promised through His prophets, even if we cannot see how this
can possibly come about. The Exodus from Egypt is the proof of this faith, for
G-d had promised the patriarchs what He was going to do: "And also the people
that they will serve I will judge, and afterwards they will go forth with great
wealth" (Gen. 15:13-14). At the height of Egyptian power and arrogance, it
seemed impossible that this could come about. But in this and the coming
parshiyos telling the story of the Ten Plagues and the Exodus, we see that G-d
indeed brought it about.
No less essential a part of the promise than the redemption from Egypt was
that G-d will "bring you to the Land that I swore to give it to Abraham, to
Isaac and to Jacob, and I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU AS AN INHERITANCE -- I AM HASHEM"
(Ex. 6:8). It is not sufficient for the Children of Israel "go out from Egypt",
even in the spiritual sense of being released from the chains of servitude to
the evanescent material world. G-d's plan for a perfect world will be fulfilled
only when the Children of Israel dwell securely in their own Promised Land,
fulfilling all the commandments that are bound up with the Land. We must have
complete faith that G-d will bring this about.
KAL VA-CHOMER - "Light and stringent"
When the Children of Israel could not hear Moses' message of redemption
because of "shortness of spirit and hard work" (Ex. 6:9), Moses wondered: "If
the Children of Israel did not listen to me, how will Pharaoh listen to me?"
(ibid. v. 12).
Moses' argument is based on making an inference from a "light" case -- the
Children of Israel -- to a "stringent" case: Pharaoh. In Hebrew such an
inference is known as KAL VA-CHOMER, "light-and-stringent". In the written text
of the Five Books of Moses there are ten cases of arguments using KAL VA-CHOMER
(Rashi ad loc.) The ten cases are listed in the Tannaitic commentary on Exodus,
"Mechilta". The argument of KAL VA-CHOMER is one of the most important of the
hermeneutical methods by which the sages derived teachings by inference even
though they are not written explicitly in the Torah text. KAL VA-CHOMER is the
first of "thirteen rules of Torah interpretation" set down by the tannaitic
sage, Rabbi Ishmael. These have become part of the daily order of prayer, being
recited at the conclusion of the sacrificial portions prior to PSUKEY DE-ZIMRA,
the verses and psalms of the morning service. Besides Rabbi Ishmael's thirteen,
there are other hermeneutical rules, such as the Thirty-Two rules of Midrash
collected by Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yosi HaGalili (printed in the KLALIM,
"rules" of the Talmud, after Tractate Berachos).
As in the case of Moses' argument by KAL VA-CHOMER that Pharaoh would not
listen, all the other rules of interpretation are themselves contained in the
biblical text. It is through the application of these rules that extensive parts
of the Oral Torah were developed by the early sages and rabbis. When rules like
KAL VA-CHOMER are applied to the text, it is possible to infer new teachings
that are not explicitly written in the text but are logically implied. The
legitimacy of this method of argument is sanctioned by its use in the Biblical
text itself, as here. This shows the essential unity of the Oral and Written
Torah.
THE TEN PLAGUES
In the event, G-d took on the "harder" task of bringing down Pharaoh and
breaking his stony heart. This was what would make the Children of Israel
listen! This was accomplished through the Ten Plagues. The gripping account of
the first seven plagues occupies the greater part of this week's parshah of
VAYEIRA, while next week's parshah of BO bring us to the climax with the last
three plagues and the Exodus itself.
Many have sought to explain the sequence of plagues according to some
rationale. One of the most celebrated explanations is that mentioned by Rashi on
Ex. 8:17, quoting from Midrash Tanchuma Parshas BO #4, a Tannaitic source:
"Our Rabbis of blessed memory said: The Holy One blessed be He brought the
plagues upon them using the tactics of worldly kings. When a region rebels
against a king of flesh and blood, he sends his legions to surround it. The
first thing he does is to shut off their water supply. If they relent, all the
better! If not, he brings against them criers with loud voices... then arrows.
barbarian hordes. He hurls heavy weights at them. shoots burning oil. fires
cannon. rouses multitudinous armies against them. imprisons them. kills their
great ones. In the same way, the Holy One blessed be He came against the
Egyptians with the tactics of kings. With the plague of blood He stopped up
their water supply. The "criers" were the frogs with their loud croaking. His
"arrows" were the fleas. His "barbarian hordes" were the wild animals. The
"heavy weights" were the "heavy pestilence" that killed their livestock. The
"burning oil" was the boils. The cannon shots were the hail. The "multitudinous
armies" were the locusts. The Egyptians were "imprisoned" through the plague of
darkness. Finally, He killed their great ones in the plague of the first born."
A kabbalistic explanation of the sequence and rationale of the plagues is
provided in the writings of the ARI in Sha'ar HaPsukim (the Gate of the Verses)
Parshas Va-eira. The Ten Plagues correspond to the Ten Sefiros, ascending from
the bottom of the "ladder" to the top. Thus the seven plagues recounted in this
week's Parshah of VA-EIRA correspond to the seven "lower" sefiros, from
Malchus-Kingship up to Chessed-Kindness, while the three plagues recounted in
next week's Parshah of BO correspond to the top trio: Binah-Understanding,
Chochmah-Wisdom and finally Keser-Crown. According to this explanation, the Ten
Plagues came as successive manifestations of the 10 different aspects or
"attributes" of G-d's kingly power over all the world (the ten sefiros of
MALCHUS -- or "NUKVA" -- of ATZILUS). In this way the arrogant supremacy of
worldly power, the "Evil MALCHUS" -- the force that conceals G-dliness -- was
broken. Behind the nightmare to which Egypt was subjected -- apparently the very
opposite of SEDER, "order" -- lies the supreme order of the Sefiros.
THE PHARAOH WITHIN US
"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles, let not your
heart exult. Lest G-d will see and it will be bad in His eyes" (Proverbs
24:17).
We may not laugh over Pharaoh's downfall, because there is a Pharaoh in
each one of us. This is the stubborn MELECH (king) who rules in our hearts, in
our ego, our vanity and pride. I. me.!
Writ large in the drama of Moses coming against Pharaoh in the name of G-d
is the story of our inner lives, our daily conflicts and struggles in the test
of free will to which we are all subjected. One side of us -- Moses,
"conscience" -- knows what we should do. But another side -- Pharaoh, "the evil
urge", the king riding the chariot -- resists. There are constant ups and downs
in the trial of free will. Today one "wants to" -- Pharaoh relents. Tomorrow, he
hardens his heart again and resists.
Does it need plagues to beat this Pharaoh down? Or can we find better ways
to get free and to take our destiny into our hands?
Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Tov Umevorach!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org
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