A Thought on Parshas Va'era

"...u'shmi HaShem lo nodati la'hem..." (6:3) "...but with My Name "HaShem" I did not make Myself known to them..." HaShem reveals to Moshe that when He communicated with the Patriarchs, the Name of HaShem was not used. It is important that we grasp the meaning of this. ibn Shu'aib begins with a midrash on the verse in Koheles - "la'kol ais" - there is a time and season for all things (3:1). The midrash explains: "HaShem had a fixed time for creating the universe; He set a time for Avraham to call out to His Name; he set a time for Moshe to introduce revealed manifestations of Divine Omnipotence". ibn Shu'aib explains: our verse does not say that HaShem did not reveal His Name to the Patriarchs; rather, He did not make Himself known to them through that Name. The Avos were on a supreme level of sanctity and were in intimate communication with HaShem. Our verse, however, intends to teach us that there is a time for all things, and despite the madreigos of the Avos, the time had not arrived for them to experience or encounter the Divine through those forms of miraculous manifestations which the Jews in Egypt needed to witness. HaShem advised Moshe that only now had the time arrived when His people needed to see wonders and signs involving the altering of nature. It was Moshe's merits which granted him the catalyst-status in "channeling" those Divinely sent miracles. The era of the Avos had not required such supernatural manifestations. Current events in Mitzrayim, however, required current interventions. ibn Shu'aib now asks the theological question: does this imply that all things which occur have been predestined? Does this midrashic approach suggest that events are fixed and set so that all that happens in the world is inevitable? The midrash would seem to imply that the persecutions in Mitzrayim and the response from Above were all pre-programmed. They had to happen, and had to occur when they did. But - what about free will and choice? What about autonomy? What about schar and onesh, if all things actually happen through prior scripting? If the wondrous Divine responses had already been etched into the calendar of history, that means that the deeds of the Mitzri'im, and of Benei Yisroel, were already in process and bound to happen. Have we no role in authoring our own deeds? Have individuals and has humanity and life itself been fully determined by Divine decree since the beginning of time? ibn Shu'aib responds that this is the deeper meaning of Rabbi Akiva's concise lesson (Avos 3:15) "ha'kol tzafoi v'ha'reshus nesuna" - all things have been foreseen yet permission has also been granted - HaShem has inscribed everything in His sefer from the beginning of time, yet "zeh sefer toldos Adam" (Bereishis 5:1) - every person writes his own sefer; we all are the authors of our life scripts. We do have that reshus, that autonomy. There needed to be a sense of HaShem in the world. Avraham wrote that chapter. There needed to be an exile, and a wondrous salvation. Moshe wrote that chapter. Have you written any good books lately? Good Shabbos. D Fox