Beshalach: following orders

Beshalach: following orders

 On one level, Beshalach is about following orders.  Pharaoh orders the Israelites out of Egypt.  Gd leads the people in the dessert  and they follow the orders.  Gd, the Master of War ( ish Milchama), directs the movement of the Israelites into a strategy of entrapping the Egyptians.  The Egyptians presumably follow orders into the sea-trap. 

After the shirah, the issue of following orders becomes even more prominent. The cloud guides the people  into the dessert  Surprise: the water is not potable.  The people complain to and about Moshe and Aaron.  After the recent events,  they can't  ( dare not) imagine what would happen if they complained to Gd.  Gd shows Moshe a technological solution, the sweetening wood. Moshe follows instructions.  Gd the healer 

Oh yeah, food.  People need food.  And there is no food in the dessert. Gd rains down food , Manna, from heaven.  But there are rules associated with the Manna.  There is a limit on the amount  each person can take and consume.  No more, no less. This is the ultimate socialism. The state produces a sufficient quanitity.  The system works if everyone takes her allotment - no more,  no less.  Since Gd enforces the order, trying to cheat does not help this time.

Manna is also associated with Shabbath. Double rations on Friday, nothing on Shabbath.  The prohibition of Techum,  the  permissible radius, is given.  More rules.

The water problem recurs. The people are ready to stone Moshe.  Moshe brings forth water from the stone. This time he followed the orders correctly.  Later, when he does (what appears to be) the same thing ( in Bamidbar), he is sentenced to death and burial outside the land. When you follow orders, do it carefully, otherwise you may come to regret ( Yinachem) it. 

Finally, there is the eternal order to fight Amalek. We know Amalek.  They are the the people who follow orders.

Don't mess with Gd!

Bo: negotiations

Bo: negotiations

In the parsha, Bo, there are real negotiations.  You can tell because the two sides are talking about details.  Pharaoh will send the adult males to avoid the locusts - no deal.  The darkness motivates further concessions: all he people can go, but the animals must stay behind.  For the sake of  some sheep and goats, the firstborn of Egypt are slaughtered.  The irony of negotiations.  So close and the consequences are so dire.

But Gd has stated that the demonstration of power was the main point. That demonstration was enough to put the dread  of Chametz  upon the Jews to this day. 

More important, it established a night when  parents tell their children THE STORY. 

For me, it was the story of Egypt ... and the story of Treblinka. 

I am annoyed with my rabbis for telling me that Egypt was worse than the Holocuast.  But maybe it is true.  On some level even my parents believed that .

Negotiations always involve a negation.  A negation of the other.  A negation of the self.

Va'erah: revolution

Va'erah: Revolution

The appearance (of Gd) is the title of the parsha.  E tells Moshe  that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob merited revelations  but their  revelations were incomplete.  Those patriarchal revelations were in the form of  L- Shakai, the power that is sufficient, the provider, but the name Y (the Eternal)  was not known to them.

How did Gd appear to the patriarchs?  Avraham received promises (descendants, land)  and saw retribution ( Sodom),  Isaac saw rescue (Akeida, Avimelech).  Yaakov made deals ( 10%) and was given  permission ( to leave Canaan, to leave Lavan).

The main business of the parsha is seven plagues. Prior to the plagues, Moshe and Aaron show their stuff. They turn the sick into an alligator/serpent. The Egyptian magicians do likewise.  It is interesting to note that Moshe's stick ( magic wand)  swallows all the sticks of the magicians.  Was the stick increasing its power by this cannibalism? The benign explanation is that this part of the performance was merely to add to the intimidation of the audience (Pharaoh).  But it didn't work.  It would be like inviting the Japanese generals to the atomic bomb test in New Mexico.  Beyond a demonstration of technical ability, there needs to be a demonstration of will, the will to hurt the oppressor. Gd certainly has plenty of  this will, But Gd insists that each of the plagues be initiated by an act performed by Aaron or Moshe.


Now, Gd is the author revolution ( The Gd of Trotsky?).  The revolution  incorporates promise for the downtrodden and justice ( punishment) for the oppressors.

 To the barricades! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

Shemoth: What is in a Name?

Shemoth means names.  It starts with the  names of the twelve tribes.  The names that the Jews, many generations later, will use for their children.  To identify them with their people . So that the children can imagine  that they are descended from Joseph and his brothers,. descended from the ancestors that brought us to slavery in Egytpt. 

The Name that is most unusual is the Name of Hashem (the name, G-d).  Moshe, in the tradition of asking Gdly and angelic beings their names ( Jacob asks the angel, later Manoch asks his angel)  - and getting either no answer or an unintelligible answer - asks Gd to express an identity.  First Gd says " the future".  What is that? Que sera sera? Chronos? Fate? 

Then Gd says  Y...

.Notice that Moshe never addresses Y  by name.  Moshe calls Gd Ado.... This makes for a confusing Onkelos  (5:22)

The punch line of the parsha

כג  וּמֵאָז בָּאתִי אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, לְדַבֵּר בִּשְׁמֶךָ, הֵרַע, לָעָם הַזֶּה; וְהַצֵּל לֹא-הִצַּלְתָּ, אֶת-עַמֶּךָ.

23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath dealt ill with this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.'

It is all in the name. When Pharaoh says that he does not know this Gd, Y..., that is obviously true.  Brecause ( at this point) Y... is  no more than a name, Ultimately, Gd is the name to which we attribute actions and events  and sympathy  and a strong arm.

Ultimately all that is left is the name... and the attributions.