Parsht VaEra

Moshe's Reluctance to Lead

In this week's parsha, Moshe tries to get out of the mission that God gave him.

E already saw that at the Burning Bush, Moshe gave God a number of reasons why he could not go to Egypt to deliver His Message. His excuses included:

• Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh...?" (Shemot 3:11)
• "They say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" (ibid 13)
• "Behold they will not believe me" (4:1)
• "I beseech You, O Lord. I am not a man of words, neither from yesterday nor from the day before yesterday" (ibid 10)
  

God did not get angry with Moshe over these questions, but instead, answered each and every point. However, when Moshe again tried to get out of the mission, God finally got angry with him:

"He (Moshe) said, "I beseech You, O Lord, send now [Your message] with whom You would send." And the Lord's wrath was kindled against Moshe, and He said, "Is there not Aharon your brother…And he will speak for you to the people, and it will be that he will be your speaker, and you will be his leader" (ibid 13-16).

God had no problem with Moshe questioning Him. On the contrary, he expects us to question Him and to not accept His orders blindly. Therefore, He does not get angry with Moshe in the beginning.

However, when Moshe stopped the questions and simply said that he did not want to do it, God got angry. We have the right to question, but we do not have the right to shirk our responsibilities.

Moshe is therefore, punished. By trying to do get out of the mission, God reduced Moshe's role and promoted Aharaon in his place. Aharon would now speak to the people on His behalf.

Last week's parsha ends with Pharaoh worsening Israel's conditions of slavery. Moshe felt that it was God's fault and said so to him, again questioning his role.

"O Lord! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people" (5:22-23).

Again, God does not get angry, for Moshe's claim is legitimate. He simply tells him, at the beginning of this week's parsha, that He will soon redeem Israel. He then tells Moshe to go again to Pharaoh and ask him to free Israel. Moshe responds:

"Behold, the children of Israel did not hearken to me. How then will Pharaoh hearken to me, seeing that I am of closed lips? (ibid 6:12)."

It's unclear if Moshe is making excuses again. We had just been told that Israel would not listen to Moshe "because of [their] shortness of breath and because of [their] hard labor (ibid 6:9).

Moshe might be saying that he thinks that the reason they did not listen to him is simply because he's not a good speaker and therefore, God should send someone else.

The passuk does not say whether God was angry or not with him, but what is clear is that God demotes him again. God tells him: "See! I have made you a lord over Pharaoh, and Aaron, your brother, will be your speaker. You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron, your brother, shall speak to Pharaoh" (ibid 7:1-2).

Aharon will now be the one to speak to Pharaoh.

The Torah is trying to teach us that we do have a right to question as long as our questions are a search for the truth, rather than an excuse to refuse God's law.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat VaEra, entitled: "Hashem and the Avot" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2008/01/parshat-vaera-hashem-and-avot-this.html.

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaEra, entitled: ""Discovering God" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/01/parshat-vaera-discovering-god-when.html.

A further Sedra Short on Parshat VaEra, entitled: "Knowing God" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/parshat-vaera-knowing-god-before.html.

Parshat Ki Tissa

The Golden Calf

Israel witnessed frightening events when God revealed Himself to Israel at Sinai (See Shemot Chapter 20). They then saw Moshe go up the mountain into the eye of the storm, without any food or provisions. He had not been seen since.

Israel's reaction was "Make us a god (elohim) that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt we don't know what has become of him".

This is strange, because if they wanted a replacement for god, Moshe's disappearance is irrelevant.

We have therefore to alternatives to understanding the people's requests:

The people thought the Moshe was a god
The people wanted a replacement for Moshe

It is easy to understand why the people may have thought that Moshe was a divine being. The people had seen Moshe perform signs, the ten plagues to Egypt, the splitting of the Red Sea, the falling of the Manna and the water from the rock. Despite Moshe's insistence that they worship God, the people, with a primitive understanding of religion, may have still believed that he was a god.

However, even if the people did not think that Moshe we can still understand their request as a seeking a replacement for Moshe. If so, then why do the people ask for a

Within, Sefer Shemot, we have numerous examples where the word elohim, does not necessarily mean, God, but leader:

"Then his master shall bring him to the judges (elohim), and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post" (21:6).

"The plea[s] of both parties shall come to the judges (elohim), [and] whoever the judges (elohim) declare guilty shall pay twofold to his neighbor (22:8).

However, the most telling is:

"The Lord said to Moses, "See! I have made you a lord (elohim) over Pharaoh, and Aaron, your brother, will be your speaker" (7:1).

While it is also possible that Pharaoh also saw Moshe as a god, it is clear that God did not. Therefore, the word elohim does not necessarily mean God.

Therefore, by calling for the Golden Calf, Israel did not seek to replace God Himself, only Moshe. The problem, however, is that once the calf was ceated, the people forgot that it was merely a medium, but a god itself.
Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Ki Tissa, entitled: "Counting the People" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Another Sedra Short on Parshat Tissa entitled: "Blood Money" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html

Parshat Miketz

The Silence of God

God remains silent throughout the whole of the Joseph narrative. In fact, the Divine voice has not spoken since God ordered Yaakov to Bet El to fulfill his vow (Bereshit Ch. 35) and was not heard until He appeared to Moshe at the Burning Bus (Shemot Ch. 3) over 400 years later.

However, not only was God silent this whole period, He is absent throughout the latter part of Sefer Bereshit. That is correct. God does not appear in the Torah between Bereshit 35:13 and Shemot 2:34 (except for the killing of Er and Onen, in an episode set apart from the Yoseph narrative and God reassuring Yaakov over his descent to Egypt). Yoseph was sold, because his brothers hated him, he ended up in a dungeon in Egypt because of his mistresses rape allegations and he becomes grand vizier in Egypt because of his dream reading abilities. The Torah does tell us that God was the cause of all these events, as it does with Rachel's childlessness and eventual labor etc.

Nevertheless, these stories do not have a secular feel, for while the narrator does not explain God's actions, the characters all feel presence.

In these week's parsha alone, the main character's, even the Egyptians, utter God's ten times:

· Joseph replied to Pharaoh, saying, "Not I; God will give an answer (Bereshit 41:16)
· God is about to do He has shown Pharaoh (ibid 28)
· Pharaoh said to his servants, "Will we find [anyone] like this, a man in whom there is the spirit of God?" (ibid 38)
· Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, for "God has caused me to forget all my toil and all my father's house" (ibid 51)
· The second one he named Ephraim, for "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction" (ibid 52)
· On the third day, Joseph said to them: "Do this and live I fear God" (ibid 42:18)
· They turned to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" (ibid 28)
· May the Almighty God grant you compassion before the man (43:14)
· Fear not. Your God and the God of your father gave you a treasure in your sacks (ibid 23)
· God has found your servants' iniquity (ibid 44:16)

All the protagonists see God's hand, for both the good and the bad, working behind the scene. The most important claim will come in next week's parsha, when Yoseph placates his brothers by saying: "But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you" (ibid 45:5).

In the modern world we find it hard to see the actions of the living God. Many have therefore, concluded that He does not existed. From this narrative, we learn that God was silent even in the early biblical period. The conclusion to be drawn is not that He does not exist, but to find the way to see Him through the occurrences in our lives.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Miketz entitled: "Measure for Measure" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat Miketz entitled "One Dream or Two?" appears at: http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_parshablog_archive.html