SHEMOT 1:1-6:1, THE BOOK OF NAMES, EXODUS

  SHEMOT 1:1-6:1, THE BOOK OF NAMES, EXODUS

We start a new Book this week, Sefer Shemot, the "Book of Names".   The opening Parshah begins with a retelling of the names of Jacob's sons that came with him to Egypt.  They are all gone now; it's a different generation, but one that may have problems:

In this retelling of the names, the sons of Leah and Rachel are enumerated first, and then come the sons of their hand maidens (1:1-4).  From the way they are presented, one can draw an inference that the sons of the Matriarchs consider themselves higher than the sons of the handmaidens.  This differentiation may be a indicative of disunity and discord between the brothers.

Then we are told that: "The children of Israel were fruitful and swarmed (creeped?) and increased and became very very strong, and the land became filled with them". The use of the word "swarmed", וַיִּשְׁרְצ֛וּ in Hebrew is not complimentary.  Swarmed is interpreted as being lowly creatures.  You remember in the Book of Genesis when God says:  "Let the waters swarm a swarming of living creatures..."  In modern Hebrew a שרץ is a creepy crawly or a reptile or an insect.  No wonder the new Pharaoh is concerned.  

The question then is just what Pharaoh is going to do about it

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I'm listening to a tape of Rabbi Soloveichik on the opening sentence of the Book of Exodus where it says "And these are the names of the Children of Israel who were coming to Egypt...".

The Rabbi asks: Why is the present tense "were coming" used for an event that took place 210 years in the past?

The Rabbi answers that even after 210 years the Jews were not accepted: While it is true that they were present, it is as if they were outside the land because the locals did not give them a positive response. Indeed, they were made to be slaves, their male children slaughtered..

It is only in Israel that Jews can hold their head high. It is here that we are all brothers and sisters. Outside of Israel, Jews are only fooling themselves. The best they can do is try to assimilate. But even so, you will always be a stranger in a strange land.

Come on home to beautiful Israel, better yet to beautiful Nahariya.

https://youtu.be/WBugBEWVnpA

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NAMES

This week we begin a new Book, Sefer Shemot also called Exodus 
This is Rav Kook’s take on the 1st Parshah in Shemot:
The Parshah begins with “These are the names of the B’nai Yisrael…”.
The names of the brothers are enumerated

Names are very important in Judaism. A person’s name reveals a person’s potential. And in this case the potential of the B’nai Yisrael, the nation of Israel.

What exactly is our potential?  With due respect to the Levites, the לוויים, We are no longer the Twelve Tribes.  As best as I can tell the Twelve Tribes have been replaced by Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Secular, Humanist, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Chassidim. Misnagedim, Atheist, Haredi and Zionist Jews.  Obviously there has been some intermingling between the groups, but we are All JEWS nonetheless.  

Let us realize our God-given potential: Compassion and Social Justice.

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At Chapter 2, Verses 11-12 we learn about Moses as a grown man:

וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל-אֶחָיו, וַיַּרְא, בְּסִבְלֹתָם; וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי, מַכֶּה אִישׁ-עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו.

וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה, וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ; וַיַּךְ, אֶת-הַמִּצְרִי, וַיִּטְמְנֵהוּ, בַּחוֹל.

“Now it came to pass in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brothers and saw their suffering, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man from his brothers.

He turned this way and that way, and when he saw no man; he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand”.

This was not a crime of passion.  Moses was deliberate in his action.  He had intent and what is called in the court system, the requisite mens rea or guilty mind.

The Sages go out of the way to exonerate Moshe:  Moshe never raised his hand against the Egyptian; he either said the ineffable name of Hashem or only stared at the Egyptian, both of which resulted in the Egyptian’s demise.

 In the alternative:

The Egyptian taskmaster had laid eyes on the Hebrew’s wife. So the Egyptian woke the Hebrew at night and took him out of his house, and he returned and entered the house and was intimate with the Hebrew’s wife.

This was a capital crime, and Moses’ slaying of the Egyptian was tantamount to rendering justice to a wrongdoer.

An explanation as to why the Sages were against a Jew standing up for a fellow Jew has to do with the terrible losses that we incurred during the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba Revolt.  The Sages were reluctant to have Moshe  pictured as a hero, and perhaps inspire another costly rebellion.  We took this mindset with us into the Diaspora, and outside of Israel (and sometimes inside) it is still shamefully prevalent today.

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In the Parsha at the burning bush we hear for the first time Moshe being called by his name (3:4) -

וַיִּקְרָא אֵלָיו אֱלֹהִים מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה, וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה מֹשֶׁה--וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי

“…'Moses, Moses.  And he said: 'Here am I.”

We do not know what name Moshe was given at birth.  We do know that Pharaoh’s daughter called him “Moshe” which means “son” in Egyptian. as for example in Egyptian names like Thutmoses ('child of Thoth') and Ramesses ('child of Ra'),

 However, Pharaoh’s daughter may have also reasoned that since he was drawn out from the water, מִן-הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִהוּ,“מֹשֶׁה” is a fitting Hebrew name.

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In the Parshah at 3:8 Hashem speaks to Moshe telling him to deliver the following message from Himself to the Elders of Israel:

וָאֵרֵד לְהַצִּילוֹ מִיַּד מִצְרַיִם, וּלְהַעֲלֹתוֹ מִן-הָאָרֶץ הַהִוא, אֶל-אֶרֶץ טוֹבָה וּרְחָבָה, אֶל-אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ--אֶל-מְקוֹם הַכְּנַעֲנִי, וְהַחִתִּי, וְהָאֱמֹרִי וְהַפְּרִזִּי, וְהַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי.

“And I said, 'I will come down to bring you out from the hand of Egypt, out to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'””.

Moses is given an almost impossible job of galvanizing the B’nai Yisrael, to actualize their potential. It is a two-step process: firstly to seek their freedom, and secondly to make the Land of Israel their home. Moses and most of the generation do not make it to Israel. It takes 40 years of wandering to get us to the point where we are ready to fulfill Hashem’s promise.

Being in Israel today we are again fulfilling Jewish potential.

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In the Parshah at Chapter 3, Moshe Rabeinu meets Hashem at the burning bush. This is not a chance happening; it is an initial prophetic encounter. Similarly in the Haftarah portion, as read by Sephardim, the Prophet Jeremiah experiences his initial prophetic encounter.

Both men either out of modesty or fear are reluctant to proceed on their Divine mission:

Moses at 3:11-12 says to God:

 "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

And God responds:

And He said, For I will be with you, and this is the sign for you that it was I Who sent you. When you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

Likewise, Jeremiah at 1:6-7, “And I said, Alas, O Lord God! Behold, I know not to speak for I am a youth.”

Hashem responds: “… Say not, I am a youth," for wherever I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Fear them not, for I am protecting you, says the Lord.”

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                                  “Long Live King Mashiach”

Last week was the Christmas holiday. It celebrates the birth of Jesus, and whether you like it or not the most famous Jew of  all time.

There is a custom not to study Torah on Christmas eve. The custom is called Nittel Nacht.

"Nittel" is Yiddish for Christmas.   It is derived from the Latin natalis or maybe the Hebrew nitleh, the hanged one, referring to the crucifixion.  

Considering that Jesus is one of us, the most famous Jew of all time, this custom very popular with Chabad. To me it seems inappropriate.  

And tongue in cheek:  Maybe it is a matter of competition if your choice for the Messiah is a dead Rebbe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittel_Nacht?wprov=sfla1    

 

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In Parshat Shemot (3:13-14), Moses is told that with Hashem's help he will lead the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. And Moses asks:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר משֶׁ֜ה אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּ֨ה אָֽנֹכִ֣י בָא֘ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ וְאָֽמַרְתִּ֣י לָהֶ֔ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם וְאָֽמְרוּ־לִ֣י מַה־שְּׁמ֔וֹ מָ֥ה אֹמַ֖ר אֲלֵהֶֽם:

“And Moses said to God, "Behold I come to the children of Israel, and I say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?"

Hashem replies: "אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה "...I will be who I will be".

Is this a Divine Name of Hashem? What does it mean? What are the ramifications?

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It would appear that Hashem has made public His name to Moses.  Bearing in mind the significance of name revelation, what do we have here; what do we do with this information?

To me this is a watershed or seminal moment in Jewish knowledge regarding the ultimate being, God.  We have just been told what may be the personal name of God. 

Now don’t you say so what, no big deal.  It is a big deal.  We do not articulate the name of God when we read it in a text.  Instead we say Hashem or Adonai.  Many of us write the word God as G-d, leaving out the middle letter. We pronounce the individual Hebrew letters as a whole name, but say it as yud-kay-vav-kay, changing the letter hay to a kay.  In short, we go out of our way not even to get close to what may or may not be God’s name.  It is more than a sign of respect; it is a sign of awe.

And whether or not the name  אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה should ever be uttered, I will leave that up to you.  The only time that Hashem’s name was fully and correctly articulated was by the Kohen Gadol at Yom Kippur and only in the Holy of Holies. 

 It is called the "Ineffable Name of God".

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Rav Kook considers the following:

The redemption from slavery in Egypt is not a one-time rescue mission; it is continuous, happening even today:

God’s message to the Jewish people is that the Torah and its mitzvot enables us to attain the highest state of being. The Torah guides us throughout history, in all situations, whether we were a subjugated people in exile or a free people in our own land.

The Torah at that time prepared us to be an eternal nation, to overcome the challenges of future exiles. “'I Will Be’ with them in this exile; and ‘I Will Be’ with them in future exiles.”

 Today, the Torah allows us to overcome the challenges of a free people in the Land of Israel. 

I am not sure if I hold with Kook.  But what I do know is that we are not command to forget about the name אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה, or to cease from contemplating its meaning. Had that been what was intended, then it would not have been written in Sefer Shemot.  It is my belief that the meaning of אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה should be understood, and contemplated, and discussed, and remembered now and forever.

Rabbi Riskin takes the letter yad of אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה and substitutes the letter vais to get I will love who I will love. 

 This gives me the shivers…a loving God...Wow.

Christians do a take on this with the expression "Jesus loves you".

This is all good and fine except if you are being locked up in a Mexican prison.

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But for the heroism of women in Parshat Shemot there would be no Moshe Rabeinu:

SHIFRAH and PUAH, the midwives who blatantly disobeyed the Pharaoh, (1:15-21).

JOCHEVED, who put her life at risk in just giving birth to Moshe, and despite knowing if she had a boy, it was probable that he would die because of the Pharaoh’s decree, she still carried him to term. (1:22, 2:1-3).

MIRIAM, watched over her infant brother, bravely spoke up to Pharaoh’s daughter and arranged for her brother’s feeding, (2:4, 2:7-9).

BITYAH, Pharaoh’s daughter who defied her father by rescuing the Hebrew infant, named him Moshe and raised him as his foster mother, 

(1Chronicles 4:18, Shemot 2:5-10).

ZIPPORAH, saved Moshe’s life when he was about to be killed for not circumcising his son. She stepped in and did the circumcision herself, 4:24-26). An unattended consequence is that a women who performs the brit milah is called a Mohelet
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