A thought on Parshas Vaera
"...Ani HaShem...""...I am now known as HaShem..." (6:1,6)
The theme of this opening passage is that HaShem was known to earlier generations in a different manner, through a different attributional "name", than in the manner in which He was apprehended by the Jews in Egypt.
The Ralbag takes us into deep spiritual space this week. The Torah's lesson to us here is that HaShem guides and guards those who seek Him. This is known as hashgacha. The greater one's sense of relating with the Divine, the more precise and personal their experience of hashgacha.
HaShem took care of the patriarchs. They trusted Him as well as believed in Him and He protected and guided them. Moreover, He promised them in a covenant that they would grow into a great nation, whom He would redeem from suffering. He also promised that those descendants would return to the promised land.
We learned from the Ralbag back in parshas VaYeshev that there is a concept which I termed "infectious hashgacha." This is when a wonderful event may occur in someone's life but not because he or she earned or "deserved" it. Rather, a person may at times be the recipient of another deserving person's bounty. In that other person's merit, someone else is spared from danger r'l or shares by ripple effect in the virtuous person's good times.
Something akin to this was going to happen to us in Egypt. The promise had been given to the patriarchs that their children would be saved. We were their children. It seemed to us back in Egypt that being rescued from slavery would be in the merit of our avos through the covenant made with them. However, this ripple effect, the inherited hashgacha, might suffice to preserve us from destruction. As far as the second half of the promise, that the children would enter the Holy Land, that was a separate matter. It is one thing to be saved. That is physical. To ascend to the Promised Land would be spiritual. Someone else's merit may extend to other people at a physical level. Spiritual growth, however, is a very private and personal matter.
I can be richer because I associate with a good wealthy person. I can be healthier if I hang out with those blessed with good health. I can be upgraded if I travel with a frequent flyer. However, I cannot become "holy" because my neighbor is righteous. I cannot become a talmid chocham because my sons are. I cannot daven well because I sit next to someone who has great kavanna. Spiritual growth requires growth. It must be developed. It has to be earned and worked on.
This was the dilemma facing our nation in Egypt. We grasped the idea that we might see an end to our suffering because that is what the avos were promised. The miracles, the wonders, the signs and the ultimate ge'ula could not be assumed. They could not be granted to us through the agency of our great ancestors. We could not grasp that such great spiritual attainments could be within our reach. We doubted that.
This is what HaShem is explaining to Moshe. The promise to the patriarchs came through their having attained a level of relating with the Divine. It came through their knowing HaShem in the way in which He became known (Kel Sha-k-ai.) In Egypt, HaShem made His Presence known to us with shem HaShem. This is the way in which Moshe apprehended Him, and he taught this to the elders and transmitted this to the nation.
Grasping HaShem in that manner was a fuller and richer level of revelation. We learned to view the signs and wonders as indicative of His majestic omnipresence. Knowing Him through that attribution invited a closeness, a connection, which elevated our spiritual understanding of the Divine. With that elevated level came a more personal level of hashgacha. At that point, while the redemption had been promised already anyway, it was even more within reach through our own merit. Moreover, that spiritual ascendancy "earned us" the ability to ascend to Israel in our own merit.
The more wonders we saw, the stronger our attribution to the Divine of His might and His dominion. Reciprocally, the stronger our knowing, the greater we grew in our spiritual devotion. With that growth came deeper and more intimate hashgacha to the individual and to the nation. This is what HaShem explained to Moshe, and what Moshe instructed our beaten, awestruck and suddenly hopeful people. And we "got it" and continued to grow.
Wishing us more and more signs and wonders. Good Shabbos. D Fox
The theme of this opening passage is that HaShem was known to earlier generations in a different manner, through a different attributional "name", than in the manner in which He was apprehended by the Jews in Egypt.
The Ralbag takes us into deep spiritual space this week. The Torah's lesson to us here is that HaShem guides and guards those who seek Him. This is known as hashgacha. The greater one's sense of relating with the Divine, the more precise and personal their experience of hashgacha.
HaShem took care of the patriarchs. They trusted Him as well as believed in Him and He protected and guided them. Moreover, He promised them in a covenant that they would grow into a great nation, whom He would redeem from suffering. He also promised that those descendants would return to the promised land.
We learned from the Ralbag back in parshas VaYeshev that there is a concept which I termed "infectious hashgacha." This is when a wonderful event may occur in someone's life but not because he or she earned or "deserved" it. Rather, a person may at times be the recipient of another deserving person's bounty. In that other person's merit, someone else is spared from danger r'l or shares by ripple effect in the virtuous person's good times.
Something akin to this was going to happen to us in Egypt. The promise had been given to the patriarchs that their children would be saved. We were their children. It seemed to us back in Egypt that being rescued from slavery would be in the merit of our avos through the covenant made with them. However, this ripple effect, the inherited hashgacha, might suffice to preserve us from destruction. As far as the second half of the promise, that the children would enter the Holy Land, that was a separate matter. It is one thing to be saved. That is physical. To ascend to the Promised Land would be spiritual. Someone else's merit may extend to other people at a physical level. Spiritual growth, however, is a very private and personal matter.
I can be richer because I associate with a good wealthy person. I can be healthier if I hang out with those blessed with good health. I can be upgraded if I travel with a frequent flyer. However, I cannot become "holy" because my neighbor is righteous. I cannot become a talmid chocham because my sons are. I cannot daven well because I sit next to someone who has great kavanna. Spiritual growth requires growth. It must be developed. It has to be earned and worked on.
This was the dilemma facing our nation in Egypt. We grasped the idea that we might see an end to our suffering because that is what the avos were promised. The miracles, the wonders, the signs and the ultimate ge'ula could not be assumed. They could not be granted to us through the agency of our great ancestors. We could not grasp that such great spiritual attainments could be within our reach. We doubted that.
This is what HaShem is explaining to Moshe. The promise to the patriarchs came through their having attained a level of relating with the Divine. It came through their knowing HaShem in the way in which He became known (Kel Sha-k-ai.) In Egypt, HaShem made His Presence known to us with shem HaShem. This is the way in which Moshe apprehended Him, and he taught this to the elders and transmitted this to the nation.
Grasping HaShem in that manner was a fuller and richer level of revelation. We learned to view the signs and wonders as indicative of His majestic omnipresence. Knowing Him through that attribution invited a closeness, a connection, which elevated our spiritual understanding of the Divine. With that elevated level came a more personal level of hashgacha. At that point, while the redemption had been promised already anyway, it was even more within reach through our own merit. Moreover, that spiritual ascendancy "earned us" the ability to ascend to Israel in our own merit.
The more wonders we saw, the stronger our attribution to the Divine of His might and His dominion. Reciprocally, the stronger our knowing, the greater we grew in our spiritual devotion. With that growth came deeper and more intimate hashgacha to the individual and to the nation. This is what HaShem explained to Moshe, and what Moshe instructed our beaten, awestruck and suddenly hopeful people. And we "got it" and continued to grow.
Wishing us more and more signs and wonders. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 12:55 PM
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