Hi everybody,

Welcome to the second book that Moshe/Moses wrote: Exodus, or the Hebrew name Shmot which means names. Why is it called names? Well, that is a story for another day. Today I wish to look at the overall story that we read last week. It starts out by naming all the tribes/children that follow Yaakov/Jacob down to Mitzrayim, which is the Hebrew word for Egypt. We then have a new king who does not know about Yoseph/Joseph and is worried about being overrun by the sons of Yaakov and tries to lessen their numbers.  He first tries by enslaving them to hard work, and then by killing of the first born. Moshe escapes this fate by being placed in a basket on the Nile and being found and raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. Many years go by and one day Moshe sees a Egyptian slave-driver beating a Jew and Moshe kills him and buries him in the sand. This leads to Pharaoh wanting his head and Moshe fleeing to Midian where he meets his wife and has a child. One day while tending his father-in-laws flocks, he sees a burning bush that is not getting consumed, and as he looks at it, haShem (God) tells him to return to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the Jews go. He also tells Moshe that Pharaoh won’t let them go until he does wonders, because a “strong hand” is needed before Pharaoh will send them away. Moshe tries to get out of the task until haShem gets mad at him and tells him that his brother Aaron will help him. The parsha (portion of the week) ends with Moshe, Aaron and the elders asking for 3 days to worship haShem, Pharaoh saying no and making life harder for the Jews, Moshe asking haShem why, and haShem answering and saying just wait and see what he will do to Pharaoh.

Ok, that is the story in a nutshell. But what does it all mean? What is going on here? It appears that haShem is telling us that Pharaoh has no free will, and the Moshe really has no choice either. This seems to go against the fundamental belief of free will that is part of the Jewish family tradition. Perhaps we are looking at this at too high a level? A few years ago, when some friends and I were discussing this very issue, one of my friends, Chico, suggested that this makes more sense if we look at it as a battle inside ourselves. Let me expand on this idea.

In an earlier parsha, Avraham led his followers to the land, but there was a famine, so he took them to Egypt. Now the word for famine in Hebrew is raav which also means cravings. And the word for Egypt is Mitzrayim which means narrows, which I interpreted as discipline (from narrowing your actions). So, let us assume for a minute that the sons of Yaakov are a single body. They came to a narrow place to discipline themselves against a world of cravings. What is important to remember is that Yoseph was there waiting and preparing for them. His names means “to add,” which is very important, for his job is to sustain them, to add to them to keep them from getting too rigid in their discipline, from becoming too narrow in the focus. They are 12 and as 12 they each have their own way of doing and being. When the ruler of the narrow place, the part of a person that keeps them focused and disciplined no longer remembers that additions (Yoseph) are allowed, he becomes a task-master and a person becomes enslaved to a way of being. His path becomes dogma and is no longer alive. And this is what happens to the Jewish people. When they finally hit rock bottom, they shout out and Hashem hears them and sends them Moshe. Why Moshe? Because his name means to extract. And he represents the part of a person that comes from seemingly nowhere to extract a person from their stuck place.

So, let’s look at what we have, working with Chico’s idea, and assuming the sons of Yisrael are a single entity. We have a person who started out trying to get himself in order by discipline. He does very well. So well in fact, that he starts believing that his success requires him to never deviate from this single way of being (the king forgetting Yoseph). He has now become enslaved. This leads him to unhappiness, for when he deviates, he considers himself lazy and pushes himself even harder. The part of him that is unhappy cries out and another part of himself (Moshe) hears and wants to free himself from this slavery. Now understand, this slavery can be anything. It can be what drives someone to be a workaholic or an alcoholic. And it is important to know and acknowledge that it once served a useful purpose, maybe helping one become successful or relaxing them so they could be themselves. However it has now become a hindrance and must be thrown off. The part of oneself, the Moshe within, does not want or believe itself strong enough and asks, “Why me?” If one listens closely when one is at the beginning of making a huge change in one’s life, one can hear this conversation going on. Eventually the enslavement is so painful that the Moshe within is willing to come back and fight. The fight always begins with a simple statement of: “I want to connect with something more, something better.”  And the part of a person that likes what it has, or that is used to being that way, or is afraid of change because one’s identity is wrapped up in a way of being (Pharaoh), says, “No,” and comes down harder.

It is going to take some mighty wonders to make this change happen. And this is where we are left: knowing that a huge amount of effort is needed, and in deep pain because of the fear of change and of the effort to make a change in what is now a deeply engrained habit.

I wish everybody the courage to hold on during the next few weeks as we prepare and go through the wonders, and the pain required to change and become free. Remember that the parsha tells us that we (the sons of Yisrael) will not leave empty-handed, but with the wealth of Egypt on their children’s backs.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.