Parashat Va’eira

Va’eira

Today’s Parashat Va’eira includes both Shemot/Exodus 6:2-9:35 and Ezekiel 28:25-29:21. The Torah portion details the orders of HaShem to Moshe and Aaron to go tell the Pharaoh to let the children of Israel leave Mitsrayim. The Navirim Portion details the affliction that HaShem will pour out upon Mitsrayim during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Besides the afflicting of Mitsrayim, we see a common purpose of HaShem’s affliction. It is made most obvious in Ezekiel with a phrase that is repeated several times through out the portion “And they shall know that I am יהוה.” In meditating on this statement, another set of verses stood out as important.

Picking up on Verse 4 of chapter 7 of Exodus we read: “But Pharaoh will not listen to you”. I do not know about the rest of you but this reminded me of both being a child and a parent. How many times do children ask their parents to solve a dispute and the parent responds with “tell them I said to stop it.”? How often does the child think to themselves “What good will that do?” The child wants direct decisive action to correct what is perceived to be an injustice. The parent wants both children to simply obey them and act in love toward one another.

Yet in this case it is not a trivial childhood dispute that Moshe is pleading with HaShem for help with but the slavery of his entire people by the most powerful nation ever. So what is HaShem’s purpose in sending Moshe to speak to Pharaoh, when it is known this will not solve the problem? HaShem’s purpose is not just solving the problem for Israel but it is in solving the problem for the whole world. Israel was the starting point and the whole world is the end goal. We can see this plainly in verse 5 of the same chapter. “Mitsrayim will know that I am Adonai, when I stretch out My hand against Mitsrayim, and bring out Bnei-Yisrael from among them.” Moshe was just thinking of Israel but HaShem was thinking bigger than that.

It is also plain to me that this is not just true for ancient Israel but also for us. The story of The Exodus is not about Israel at its heart, it is about HaShem. As well, not to trivialize the hardships we encounter, our struggles are not about us either, they too are about HaShem. Through the trials and difficulties we encounter in life, he is made known to the whole world. It is not just through our victories as Israel was eventually victorious, but is also through our setbacks and failures just as Israel had encountered. When we can incorporate this understanding in our lives then there is no longer problems only opportunities to glorify our father through our very act of responding appropriately and living faithfully according to HaShem’s will. Exemplifying the idea of the living sacrifice.

We live in a time where we have ample trials and enemies. We are confounded and frustrated everyday in our personal lives, in our professional work, and by our elected leaders. We live in a world where the closer we grow to its creator the more incompatible we become with it. As we continue to engage with these forces that seek our harm and we respond beyond ourselves, aligned with HaShem’s will, then we will Experience our own Exodus from SIN and eventually this world, as HaShem is glorified through our lives.