Parshat Beshalach Exodus 13:17 -17:16

Parshat Beshalach
Exodus 13:17 -17:16
Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Our Torah portion, Beshalach, is the next installment of the liberation of the Israelites. The ten plagues that God sent over Egypt in Parshat Vayera and Parshat Bo were powerful signs of God’s power and dominion over the various gods of Egypt. The plagues were sent to inspire the Israelites and at the same time humble and humiliate Pharaoh.
But God’s mightiest miracle is described in this week’s portion; the parting of the Yam Suf-the Sea of Reeds. Moses is told to lift up his rod and hold his arm over the sea and split it (Ex. 14:16). And that is exactly what Moses does. God drives the sea apart with a strong east wind. It wasn’t in one moment but the Torah is very clear. An east wind blew all night and turned the sea into dry ground. You might say it was a progressive miracle. The parting of the sea is something that took place not in an instance but over time, over hours, over night. It took time for the water to part. It took time for the Israelites to cross. It took time to move all those people from one side to the other.
And perhaps that is something that teaches us about the nature of miracles. We often think that they happen in an instance. We think of miracles as grand moments when the extraordinary happens. But they aren’t instantaneous like magic. Miracles, even the ones in the Bible, happen over time. And sometimes it takes us that time and longer to even figure them out and to make the connection that what we are a part of is the miraculous.

We search for meaning and for connection in our lives whether we are aware or not. When we experience the miraculous-a healing, insight, forgiveness, the birth of a child, or love these are Divine gifts in our lives. And there are many other miraculous moments too numerous to list. Our human task is to make meaning of these moments in our lives. Place them in a context. Relate them to the meta-story, to our own personal narratives and those of our families. Perhaps they may not seem as grand as the parting of the Yam Suf-the Sea of Reeds, but each of these is a miracle that we can experience. The key is to assimilate and process that this miracle is happening to us. The miracle is perhaps in acknowledging the Divine nature of the gift.
The Song of the Sea-Shirat Hayam that makes up a great section of this week’s parasha is the Israelites trying to make sense of this miracle. It is a poem of celebration and tries to weave the understanding of this miracle into their lives and into ours. It explains that God drove the “horse and rider into the sea,” even while providing deliverance for the Israelites.
We can only imagine what the people thought when they saw the waters parted. We can only imagine what the people thought when they saw the waters come crashing down upon the Egyptians, wiping Pharaoh’s army out. Relief? Joy? Sadness? Fear? Hope? Disbelief? Or was there the moment of affirmation of prayers that were finally answered for deliverance, liberation and freedom?
Yes, a miracle happened. God parted the Yam Suf-the Sea of Reeds and brought the final blow upon Egypt. Giving birth is never an easy process. But that night of labor, as the east wind blew, the Hebrew slaves walked the path between the walls of water, and a people was born. Yes, this was the miracle of birth and a divine gift of love.

Parshat Bo Exodus 10:1-13:16

Parshat Bo
Exodus 10:1-13:16
Rabbi Denise L. Eger

These three chapters of the book of Exodus are incredibly pivotal moments in the narrative of the Israelites. This week’s portion, Bo, contains the final confrontations between Moses and Pharaoh. The last of the plagues are sent upon Egypt by God because Pharaoh refuses to negotiate the release of the Hebrew slaves. Pharaoh remains entrenched in his world view even though God’s might and strength and power have wrecked havoc with the daily life of Egypt.

The first of the plagues that were visited upon Egypt in Parshat Vayera only made temporary impacts upon Pharaoh and his court. Pharaoh would immediately retrench and renege on his promise to let the Israelites go free when the threat was removed. “But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he reverted to his guilty ways as did his courtiers (Ex. 9:34).”

Thus God sends Moses again to Pharaoh to once again try and negotiate the release of the Israelites, “Go to Pharaoh.” Moses doesn’t wait to be summoned. He goes. He doesn’t wait for Pharaoh to change his heart and mind. Moses goes at the bidding and command of God. Moses accompanied by Aaron faces Pharaoh and challenges his thinking, challenges his very being. “Thus says Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?”(Ex. 10:3). Though God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh, the mighty king, who is so powerful, does not exert his own free will to overcome that hardening. Pharaoh stays put in his same mind set- a leader who does not learn from his mistakes.

God wants Pharaoh to understand his place in the world. Not as a god but that earthly kings are just that, earthly kings. But this threatens the whole of Egypt for the Pharaoh was a god. And so the ultimate plague, the tenth plague of the death of the first born is the answer to the cruelty of a Pharaoh that would order the deaths of the Hebrew boys at the hands of the midwives, Shifrah and Puah. The death of the first born of Pharaoh who would inherit the Pharaonic throne along with the crying and outpouring of all of Egypt who was touched by this disaster of mega-proportions is the final blow to the Pharaoh’s omnipotence. Moses and Aaron are summoned in the middle of the night and in haste the Israelites leave. The leader of the Egyptians is finally moved. But he changed his mind only when death and destruction defeated him.

All who are in leadership should take a moment to learn from these grave errors in judgment. When change is knocking on the door, when a new world view is about to unfold, a real leader pays close attention. A real leader looks deeply at all sides of the story and shouldn’t wait for death and destruction to be the order of the day. We can learn from Pharaoh’s mistakes and errors in judgments. And perhaps learn to listen to the voice of God shaping our own reality. Imagine if Pharaoh had embraced the glory and strength and power of God. Imagine if we would too.

Parshat Vayera Exodus 6:2 -9:35

Parshat Vayera
Exodus 6:2 -9:35
Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Why does God reveal God’s intimate name twice to Moses? In the book of Exodus in this week’s portion, Vayera, God is still speaking from the midst of the bush that is not consumed by flames. Ironically we call it the burning bush. Last week in Parshat Shemot God called out to Moses and revealed God’s name as “Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh” - “I will be that which I will become.” In the opening chapters of Exodus God’s name reveals something about God’s essence –that Source, that Presence that we call God is a process of creating, a process of becoming something, a process of transformation. This moment at the burning bush of Divine and human interaction points to the journey that Moses and the Children of Israel will embark upon. It is a journey of becoming a people and a nation.

But as our parshah opens, Moses is still at the burning bush that is not consumed by the flames. It burns and yet it is not used as fuel. There is a glowing and holy presence of God in its simple midst. Not a majestic tree but a simple and humble bush.

And there is a second revelation. God links God’s name again to the Hebrew ancestors, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob providing for continuity this time calling upon a name revealed in Genesis 17:1 to Abraham. God was called-El Shaddai.

This name El Shaddai is usually translated as God Almighty but some link it to the name of a mountain God. The bush that burns but is not consumed is located according to the text at Mt. Horeb which our tradition associates with Mt. Sinai. This God is a mountain God and speaks from the heights. But El Shaddai might also mean breast as the word for breasts is Shaddayim. This might be another way to see God as one who suckles and nurtures. The strength and heights of the mountain coupled with the intimacy of the breast makes our God both immanent and transcendent at the same time, both male and female imagery.

But in this week’s portion God’s name is revealed as YHVH. This four letter name of God is revealed in Genesis but now to Moses. But here is the difficulty. The patriarchs did know God by YHVH. So why in this second revelation does God tell Moses that God was not known to them by this name? I think that Rashi points to something so powerful in his comment on this verse. Rashi says that God did not “make Myself known to them by that Name” meaning that the essence of YHVH was not revealed to the patriarchs. Remember Moses relationship to God will become so close, so deep that Moses will come to know God “panim el panim” face to face. God will pass before Moses on Mt. Sinai and Moses will forever be changed. His face will glow and radiate the Divine Glory. And so this revelation at the burning bush (that also glows with the Divine Glory) foreshadows that Moses will know YHVH more intimately than any of God’s patriarchs.

For the patriarchs God promised redemption and liberation. But God is about to make real on this promise. And so the essence of God will forever be connected with not just the promise of redemption and liberation and freedom but the actual living of those ideals. And Moses will help God carry that message to the people of Israel and to the Egyptians as well.

God reveals the ultimate Name to Moses, his precious beloved one in the wilderness at the Mountain is also foreshadowing of the moment when this God will reveal the covenant to the People Israel in the stillness of the thunder. I am YHVH.

And so the redemption from Egypt begins. At a mountain height with God’s presence revealed in the fire and the hush of a voice that declares-I am Adonai your God. Moses heard it. The Children of Israel will hear it next. And Pharaoh will come to know the power, glory and might of Source of All Being.

Parshat Shemot Exodus 1:1 – 6:1

Parshat Shemot
Exodus 1:1 – 6:1
Rabbi Denise L. Eger

With this week’s portion we begin the book of Exodus or Shemot in Hebrew. Shemot does not mean Exodus; it means names as the book of Exodus begins with a listing of the names of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob when Joseph invited them. The opening verses are a bridge from the end of the Genesis story of Jacob’s and Joseph’s death to the situation the Hebrews found themselves in when a new Pharaoh took over.

The new king enslaved the Hebrews and made their lives miserable. He feared the multitudes of Hebrews that lived and came from the initial 70. They were an immigrant people who thrived and prospered in Egypt especially under the protection of their patron, Joseph.

So they were became slaves to Pharaoh. They were oppressed and their actions and movement greatly restricted. They were forced labor to build Pharaoh’s garrison cities. But the Torah portion tells us that the more they were oppressed the more children they had. It was the Hebrews response to survival! And so the Pharaoh orders the midwives two especially named Shifrah and Puah to kill the male babies but let the girl babies live.

There is a lot of discussion in the commentaries about Shifrah and Puah. Many of the Torah commentators identify Shifrah as Yocheved (Moses’ birth mother) and Puah as Miriam (Moses’ sister). Other commentators said that these two women were not Hebrew midwives but midwives for the Hebrews. While other commentators like Nachmanides tells us that Shifrah and Puah were the supervisors of more than 500 midwives because two could not meet all the needs.

But Shifrah and Puah are life givers not life destroyers and our torah portion says, Shifrah and Puah fear God and do not follow the king’s orders. In fact they lie to the king when summoned saying, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptians women; they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” (Gen: 1:19). They lie to the King. They protect the baby boys. They defy the court for a higher power that teaches “Choose Life”.

These two are indeed social activists. They challenge the law of the land. They defy the Pharaoh for their beliefs and religious convictions. Theirs is an act of civil disobedience; perhaps the first act. These two women whether Hebrew or Egyptian find strength in one another and in their faith as it says in the text they “feared God.” But in Hebrew the word fear and awe are the same root and a legitimate way to re-read the text might be to say they were in awe of God.

God blessed Shifrah and Puah for their courage and acts of social justice. Our texts tell us that God established households for them. Something not usually done for women! But as Rashi relates “The priestly and Levitical houses came from Yocheved through Aaron and the royal house came from Miriam for David was descended from her as explained in the Talmud (B. Sot 11b).

From Shifrah and Puah we learn to speak truth to power. To challenge indecency and challenge orders from imperial authorities that would violate our ethics and foundations of Torah. We learn from these two women about the sanctity of life and we learn that God wants us to challenge the oppressor.

There still is much work to be done in this regard. Let us be inspired by their work, their story and willingness to speak up.