EXODUS VI:2-IX:35

FAITH IN THE DIVINE PROMISE

These chapters relate what happened after Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews and God instructed Moshe (Moses) to  return to Egypt to gain his freedom. The biblical text will explain the development of the events that finally led to Yetsi’at Mitrayim, including the plagues that the Egyptians suffered before agreeing to the exodus. Va’era, “and I appeared, or appeared”, is the first word of this Parshah, and refers to the fact that God manifested Himself to the patriarchs under the Name of El Shadai, because He had concealed the nomenclature of HaShem(Jehovah).

This statement led some critics of the Bible to think that, since God had originally used the Name of El Shadai, it can be concluded that the Torah is a composite of two texts. One that identifies God as El Shadai and a second source that calls him HaShem. Echoing this difficulty, Rashi, in his indispensable commentary on the Torah, is of the opinion that the second Name was not used, because HaShem means “the God who keeps His word” and, since the promises that the Creator had made to the patriarchs had not yet been fulfilled, they only recognized the Divine characteristic implied by the designation El Shadai.

What does El Shadai mean? He is the God who said “da’i“, “it is enough”, the same word used in the famous song of Dayenu, repeated in the Passover Haggadah. Perhaps, the Shadai refers to the God who demands that a limit be placed on human desire, one of the foundations of Judaism. Many explain that Judaism teaches the control that a person must exercise over himself. From a certain perspective, almost everything is allowed, what is forbidden is abuse. This is the case about food and sex, for example. 

Judaism sets a framework, outlines the limits within which a person must act. Judaism does not exalt abstention from food or sex. It regulates activity: it punishes the glutton in accordance with the law of “Ben sorer umore” and with the commandment of “Lo tahmod” forbids cohabitation with one’s neighbor’s wife. In a world that differentiated only between good and evil, Judaism taught that one of the fundamental problems is excess. 

The Name of HaShem refers to the “essence” of God, to the fact that His word is inviolable, always fulfilling the commitment He makes. God had promised the patriarchs that their descendants would inhabit the land of Canaan and now they were in bondage in Egypt, a strange land, with no visible possibility of breaking the chains of slavery. As a result, Moshe’s task  was tortuous. He had to prove that God would fulfill the promise, notwithstanding the intolerable slavery imposed by the Egyptians. 

Although the formal instruction that Moshe had to comply with was to get the pharaoh to allow the Hebrews to leave, at the same time he had to convince an enslaved people that salvation was a real possibility. Moshe had to sow faith in the people, faith in the one God of the patriarchs who would fulfill the promise, as his Name, HaShem, testifies. Because faith is not a blind belief, nor the hope of the realization of an event in the face of the impossibility of it happening. Faith can become a horizon when the person concludes that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Moshe had to restore the people’s self-confidence. It was imperative that he demonstrate the fallibility and fragility of the Egyptian gods. That is why the biblical text will affirm in later chapters “Vayar Israel et haya hagedola…, vaya’aminu baShemuveMoshe avdo“, “And the people saw the ‘great hand of God’…’and the people believed in HaShem’ and in his servant Moshe“. 

It is not the saying that another religious confession exalts: “because it is absurd, I think”. The people “saw” the “mighty hand and outstretched arm of God,” because he defeated the Egyptian gods, bent Pharaoh’s will with the 10 plagues, and parted the waters of the Red Sea. Faith is born and strengthened when the individual concludes that the event in question is a possibility, no matter how distant and difficult its realization may seem.