Shemoth: Union

Shemoth: Union

What the Israelites were lacking in Egypt was a union, a body to negotiate for them, to get them their rights. 

It is only after Gd appears to Moshe that the idea of demanding consideration from the (very outnumbered) bosses occurs to anyone.  And when the demands are made (for a 3 day vacation) , and greeted with the usual fat cat solution of greater oppression (make the same number of bricks, but gather your own straw), the old-guard leadership immediately buckles, criticizing the new Revolutionaries.  Will the 777X be made in Seattle?

The emotional content of the story emphasizes how hard it is to protest alone. The overwhelming insecurity of demanding what is right...but no one is with you.  That is why Gd introduces the name Ehieh: I will be with you. When you are right, you are not alone. Gd is with you, so the power is with you. 

The women of the chapter are the heroes.  The midwives who dare to defy the murderous edict of Pharaoh.  Moshe's mother, who bends the law by placing her son in the river...but in a boat. Pharoah's daughter who openly defies the intention of her father.  Moshe's sister, who magnifies the defiance by offering a Hebrew wetnurse for the patently Hebrew child. Tziporah who circumcises her son with a rock (!) to rescue her  bridegroom of blood. Perhaps the women are less alone because they carry the generations in themselves.

One set of critical names that is dealt with in the parsha is the names of Gd. After some detours, Gd reveals to Moshe the name Y.  But we had seen this name before in Genesis The last appearance is in Jacob's blessing for Dan ( 49;18).  This name of Gd does not appear anywhere else in Jacob's blessings ( perhaps the one mention is  slip). This Y name does not appear for 10 chapters preceding 49.  Even when Gd appears to Jacob to go down to Egypt (46;2), it is not Y ( who previous appeared to Jacob, and Isaac and Abraham), but E.  The last time Y was evoked, Jacob was entering the land and fearing Eisov's approach (32;10),  the last time Israel was unified. It looks like Y was forgotten. Was it the disunity of Israel that caused the amnesia? No unity, No strength. 

With Gd on his side, Moshe can deal with the illusion that is our perception of the world.  Gd tells Moshe to  throw down the staff and it turns into a snake.  Gd tells Moshe to grab the terrifying serpent by the tail ( the wrong end), and Moshe does it...he knows it is only a stick.  He knows that the stick can be a deadly serpent.  He gets it, becuase Gd is with him 

Gd be with ye.