Beshalach: Miracles and the Quest

 In 1970 c.e., The Grateful Dead released "Uncle John's  Band."  The first part goes: 

Well the first days are the hardest days
Don't you worry anymore
Cause when life looks like Easy Street
There is danger at your door
Think this through with me
Let me know your mind
Woah-ho what I want to know
Is are you kind?

Is this a commentary on parshath Beshalach?  The parsha deals with the first days, the emergence from servitude, the establishment of the nation.  We celebrate the event at the annual Passover Seder, our most festive meal.  But, in the story, there is danger at the door. Will the Egyptians come and round us up again? Will they slaughter us?  And once they are gone, what about water, and food, and water again.  Then there are new (eternal)  enemies...oy. Perhaps it is not just  whether or not Gd is with us, לֵאמֹ֔ר הֲיֵ֧שׁ יְ  בְּקִרְבֵּ֖נוּ אִם־אָֽיִן

The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tried the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD present among us or not?”

 it is also whether Gd is kind.

The parsha is a series of miracles.  The Exodus, the splitting of the sea [and all it involved], the sweetening of the waters of Mara, the  Mannah  (with a nod to the quail), water from the rock (I),  and the battle with Amalek. I have come to a more comfortable understanding  of  "miracle".  It is merely the occurrence of a very  improbable event.  Improbable events happen all the time.  Nasim Taleb  has made a career ( and a fortune) from the "black swan," as he dubs the improbable event. Miracles are expected... given enough time. . 

A Grateful Dead song can be commentary on the 4000 year old story because the underlying principle is   the human fabric.  Every normal  person comes to a place in life when she  asserts "independence."  This emancipation is from the parental providence and guidance, an exodus from the burdens and protections of childhood to the quest of making his own life. This break will require (almost) irrevocable assertions, a crossing of the Rubicon and its performance can be as difficult as the splitting of the Red sea. Irreparable damage to prior relationships  often occurs. 

The splitting of the sea was different from the 10 plagues.  Although some of the plagues involved a separation between the Hebrews and Egyptians, the splitting of the sea resulted in the destruction of the army of the oppressor. It was an unambiguous demonstration of liberation. 

Now you are out on your own.   It is now on you to find the necessities of life.   How will you avoid dying from thirst.  You find water, but it is bitter, poisonous.  It is an insoluble problem - until you are shown the unexpected solution.  This is the miracle of healing, rofecha. This is the cruel kindness of the world. 

Hunger is the next challenge. How will you feed yourself? Where does food come from? The answer is a surprise. All food comes from Heaven. The rain and the dew and the sun interact with the earth to make food.  You cannot eat for more than a day or two. In the US starvation is extremely rare.  Gd provides for everyone. I hope that the distribution will improve. 

The Israelites moved through the desert, following clouds that were perceived as divine messengers.  It leads them to oases, miracles without esteem.  Then they need water and there is no oasis.  So  a rock became the source of water.   It is the Rolling Stones, 1969: 

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need

The message: don't give up just because it is "impossible."  From some perspectives, it is all impossible. 

The end of the parsha, the battle with Amalek, is the most disturbing.  After the military victory over Egypt, after the struggles for water and food and water...  there are enemies, mortal battles.  And the battle will never end! 

 The LORD will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.”

I am reminded of my "aunt' Chana's admonition, the party line: "You will find everything in the struggle"

Bo: The Politics of Catastrophe

 The Torah casts the Hebrews in an ambivalent light. They can be enslaved, but they are dangerous in rebellion.   Before the plague of locusts, the burden of  the preceding  7  plagues has brought Pharaoh's vassals to say to him: הֲטֶ֣רֶם תֵּדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אָבְדָ֖ה מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Have you not already realized that Egypt is destroyed (by  denying these people their worship service)?

There is dissention in the palace. The counselors advise capitulation. Pharaoh enters negotiations, but the plagues will have to play out to completion.  The pattern of warning, plague, warning,  plague, followed by plague without warning, the pattern hinted at by  the acronyms of Rabbi Yehuda ( דְּצַ"ךְ עַדַ"שׁ בְּאַחַ"ב) must proceed. 

The plagues are not just to convince the Pharoah to let the people go.   Moshe's  request, as per Gd's instructions, is merely for a three day festival.  But the festival will allow the people, who have been in Egypt for 430 years,  to reassess what they are doing. They are a  people that has never  completely integrated into Egyptian society, but has had some role in its survival and glory.  They  will have an opportunity to ask themselves what they have been doing and what they will do in the future.  There is an echo of Jacob's conversation with Lavan   וְעַתָּ֗ה מָתַ֛י אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה גַם־אָנֹכִ֖י לְבֵיתִֽי׃   And now, when shall I make provision for my own household?”  A connection between Jacob's service to Lavan and the servitude in Egypt is made by the Hagadah מַה בִּקֵּשׁ לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת לְיַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ: Go out and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Ya'akov, our father;  It is not the taskmaster that subjugates the slave; it is the mindset of both of them  -and the social structure that mindset creates  - that removes the possibility of liberty from the serf.  The slaves could not be freed until they saw the possibility of independence. 

The plagues convince the people that powers far greater than the Pharaoh and his army exist and can impact history.  The opportunity to leave the bondage was always there, but the catastrophes make it easier - both by disrupting the Egyptian society and, perhaps more importantly, by allowing the Hebrews to assert an independent identity. 

The plague of death to  the firstborn   served to tear down the structure of the society.  The primary heirs, the justification for the rich to acquire ever more wealth, the receptacles of the hopes of the family, the recipients of the greatest privilege - were eliminated.  The struggle for primacy was now open.  Now the Hebrews, this tribe - descended from the second sons ( Isaac and  Jacob), led by a second son -  could reassess the system and democratize it somewhat. 

The purpose of the plagues is stated: וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔  And you shall explain to your child  The plagues are a key part of the story  that we retell at the Passover Seder annually.  They form a kernel of Jewish identity: alienated from the territorial  powers, reliant on miracles  that sometimes arrive - and sometimes don't. 

Va'era:  control over the future

The parsha opens with an enigma.  Gd says to  Moses

וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב   I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob....but I did not make Myself known to them by My name

Gd hid some aspect of identity;  Gd hid the currently revealed, the "true" name, from the patriarchs. The statement implies that a deeper epiphany was about to take place.

We are accustomed to the idea that much/ most/ almost all of /what we call Gd is hidden.  Our experience of the world is limited.  Since a person never reaches the limit of her understanding, the capacity for comprehension seems infinite.  This is an illusion, like all of our perceptions. 

The bulk of the parsha describes 7 of the 10 plagues. These plagues are the  display of Gd's might.   To us, they are also explainable natural  disasters: contaminated  water, changes in the fauna, insect infestations, animal migrations, animal disease, rashes, climate change.   To the ancient Egyptians and Israelites, it was magic, mediated through a magic staff that had consumed the magical staves of Egyptian magicians. וַיִּבְלַ֥ע מַטֵּֽה־אַהֲרֹ֖ן אֶת־מַטֹּתָֽם׃  Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods.

The observer has a choice of models...except that some of these events are predicted.  Pharaoh is given a choice before Egypt is stricken: let the people go to serve their Gd, or suffer the consequences.   The prediction shows the power of the negotiator.   Perhaps there is some recall that the Hebrew that brought his family to Egypt, Joseph, had  this power of prediction... but Joseph  could not present a choice.  This is a difference between the early revelation and what was happening now.  The Gd who revealed the future to the Pharaoh  in the days of Joseph, now demonstrates control over the future

When Gd answered Moshe's request for a name, it was accompanied by the statement that the name will be eternal. 

זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י לְעֹלָ֔ם וְזֶ֥ה זִכְרִ֖י לְדֹ֥ר דֹּֽר׃

And God said further to Moses, “Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: This shall be My name forever, This My appellation for all eternity.

 The Talmud (Pesachim 50a)  looks at the spelling  and derives

סְבַר רָבָא לְמִדְרְשַׁהּ בְּפִירְקָא, אֲמַר לֵיהּ הָהוּא סָבָא: ״לְעַלֵּם״ כְּתִיב.

Rava thought to expound upon the correct punctuation and enunciation of the name of God during his public lecture before one of the Festivals. A certain old man said to him: The word forever is written in the verse: “This is My name forever [le’olam]” (Exodus 3:15) without the letter vav, such that it can be read le’alem, to conceal, meaning that the name should be concealed.

What is in the (newly revealed) name? It is a name that Moshe does not pronounce.  Moses generally refers to Gd, as we do, as  AD..., not Y... How are these names related?

Gd gives two answers to the question: What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” when Gd  is introduced as the ancestral Gd.  The first answer is :“Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” This is an approachable idea: what will be will be.    The second answer, Y, the name we use in writing also has the idea of future yihiyeh within it, it also incorporates the present, hoveh. The secret within this name is that the future devolves from the present.  I speculate that translation of this name as  the Eternal comes from this conflation  of the forms of the verb to be. (To add the past, hayah,  one would need to rearrange the letters.)

The appellation that Moshe, and his followers, apply, AD... can be understood as the  master of the future, the One who decides which alternative future will come to be a present and, eventually,  a past. For the human, it is the recognition of this potency that is important for the almost powerless human.  We appeal to Gd, the force that can impact our fate. 

At the same time, Gd gives Moshe some agency in the negotiations with Pharoah.  Moshe pronounces details to Pharoah, and Gd executes Moshe's plan:

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ יְ    כִּדְבַ֣ר מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיָּמֻ֙תוּ֙ הַֽצְפַרְדְּעִ֔ים

 And the LORD did as Moses asked;

There is room for human decision ( perhaps, especially when dealing with other humans).  The futures is a cooperative endeavor. 

Our decisions are important.... in context.

Shemoth: the Egypt we carry with us

Shemoth: the Egypt we carry with us

 

Bricks appear at the beginning of the parsha and at the end.  

In the beginning we have: 

וַיְמָרְר֨וּ אֶת־חַיֵּיהֶ֜ם בַּעֲבֹדָ֣ה קָשָׁ֗ה בְּחֹ֙מֶר֙ וּבִלְבֵנִ֔ים

 Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and brick

An at the end we have the problem of keeping up with the brick quota after the raw materials are no longer provided: 

תֶּ֗בֶן אֵ֤ין נִתָּן֙ לַעֲבָדֶ֔יךָ וּלְבֵנִ֛ים אֹמְרִ֥ים לָ֖נוּ עֲשׂ֑וּ וְהִנֵּ֧ה עֲבָדֶ֛יךָ מֻכִּ֖ים וְחָטָ֥את עַמֶּֽךָ׃

No straw is issued to your servants, yet they demand of us: Make bricks! Thus your servants are being beaten, when the fault is with your own people.”

Bricks are mentioned in only one other place in the Torah  

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.—

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.”

Bricks create a  connection between the Egyptian  bondage and  the tower of Babel,  huge projects that did not please the Heavenly authority. 

The Babel project, the project of the other great conquering power in the Middle East, has this הָ֚בָה , hava, word translated "let us"  The same word introduces the plan to subjugate the Israelites 

הָ֥בָה נִֽתְחַכְּמָ֖ה ל֑וֹ   Let us deal shrewdly with them

The word conveys a sense of psuedo equality ( us) in an enterprise that is hierarchical ( who is saying the let, and what kind of permission is being requested) .  Somebody is going to make the bricks, someone else is going to place them, and a third individual or group is going to decide on the height and thickness of the wall.  In Egypt the intention is clear: to subjugate, and thus disarm, the imagined  Hebrew threat.  The reordering of the social structure is the primary purpose of the  "make work" construction project. 

 The great project, whether it is the store cities of Pithim and Ramses of Egypt or the tower of Babel, are ways to enlist the cooperation of large numbers of people who, for the sake of the work, put aside their differences of family and tradition.  The common goal unifies the diverse peoples and the roles (brickmaker, engineer) serve to keep the classes separate.  When the Israelites request a holiday of national unity, when they assert their difference, the pecking order is reasserted: 

Thus your servants are being beaten, when the fault is with your own people.”

Gd's instruction to Moses, to request the holiday,  cleverly turns the unifying endeavor into a dispute. 

Convincing Pharoah and the Egyptians to let the Israelites go was not the hardest of the tasks.  It was convincing the Israelites that hey should leave the place of their birth ...and employment.  They had to leave the great project, their life's work.  Ultimately,  they do not leave until the Pharoah sends them 

וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֮ אֶת־הָעָם֒ וְ  When Pharaoh sent the people. 

The Haggadah tells us:

שֶׁהָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מְצֻיָּנִים שָׁם ; the Israelites were exceptional there [in Egypt]

I have no doubt that there were  Hebrews with  extraordinary  insights and plans.  The children of Jacob had come to Egypt because of the brilliant rescue plan of Joseph. 

 I note that both the Tower of Babel and the Egyptian projects involve a  שֵׁ֑ם (shem) a name.  This week's parsha is called Shemoth: names.  The word also means reputation - build a name.  Jews have built a name for themselves  in the great human endeavor: in medicine ( Paul Ehrlich, Jonas Salk and many more) in science ( Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and many more) in politics ( Karl Marx and many more).  The modern Jew is proud of these numerous associations and it is a major connection to the Jewish people.  This role in the great projects is an aspect of  Egypt  that we carry with us.  Our connection to the Torah keeps it from dominating our lives. 

The masthead of the Jewish Daily Forward used to read: Die Befreiung das arbeiter vendt sich in das arbeiter allein: The liberation of the workers depends upon the workers themselves.  Choose your meaning. 

Vayechi: Choice and Fate

Vayechi is a recognition of fate.  It opens with the universal and ultimate  fate: death.  It is a time for reckoning since,  with the certainty of death, comes the inevitability of change; and the realization that one has no control over the postmortem future. It is a time for blessing, ultimate instruction  and legacy.

The entire parsha deals with Jacob's dying.  It starts by giving his "dates". 

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.

וַיִּקְרְב֣וּ יְמֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל לָמוּת֒  And when the time approached for Israel to die

Jacob  spent 17 years with Joseph in Egypt.  Joseph was 17 when he was sold into servitude in Egypt. Symmetry! For 17 years Jacob treated Joseph like a prince  - and made him the target of his brothers' wrath. They sold him into slavery. For 17 years Jacob and family lived under Prince Joseph - as they descended into slavery, 

  Jacob realized that he was the instrument for the long exile prophesied to Abraham.  

יָדֹ֨עַ תֵּדַ֜ע כִּי־גֵ֣ר ׀ יִהְיֶ֣ה זַרְעֲךָ֗ בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙ לֹ֣א לָהֶ֔ם וַעֲבָד֖וּם וְעִנּ֣וּ אֹתָ֑ם אַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃

“Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

 The exile was starting.  The strange land would be Egypt.  It all fit.  Nothing could be done. 

 Jacob  makes burial arrangements. He is to be buried with the ancestors in the Hevron, Canaan. (Karen and I have similar arrangements)   He bows to the power of his son who is able to make this huge undertaking happen. 

Jacob gives a series of blessings.  First, to Joseph's two sons.  He prioritized Ephraim, the younger, over Menashe, the first born.  

Names seem very significant in Jacob's blessings. With some of his sons, he makes that very clear: 

דָּ֖ן יָדִ֣ין עַמּ֑וֹ

Dan shall govern (yadin) his people,

גָּ֖ד גְּד֣וּד יְגוּדֶ֑נּוּ וְה֖וּא יָגֻ֥ד עָקֵֽב׃ (ס

Gad shall be raided (yegadenu)  by raiders (gadud), But he shall raid (yaged) at their heels.

Sometimes it is more subtle: 

יְהוּדָ֗ה אַתָּה֙ יוֹד֣וּךָ אַחֶ֔יךָ 

You, O Yehudah, your brothers shall praise;(yoducha).  

Jacobs turns Yehudah's mother's supplication  for granting her a fine son onto the obeisance  of his brothers. 

Perhaps this name significance also applied  implicitly to Shimeon  His mother named him "He has heard my suffering" (onah). Shimon is the one who hears the cry of the oppressed.   The rape of Dinah is called וַיְעַנֶּֽהָ׃  ( va'yi'aneha)  an oppression.  Shimeon heard it,  took it to heart, and he battled for her honor.

Levi, which means "attached", joined in that fight, he respected his attachment to Dinah.  

But Shimon and Levi did not coordinate with Jacob.  They launched their own plan, angering the surrounding tribes. Hence their cool blessing. 

Jacob may may have been offended by Menashe's name. 

וַיִּקְרָ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם הַבְּכ֖וֹר מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה כִּֽי־נַשַּׁ֤נִי אֱ  אֶת־כָּל־עֲמָלִ֔י וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־בֵּ֥ית אָבִֽי׃

Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, meaning, “Gd has made me forget  (nasheni) completely my hardship and my parental home.”

Perhaps this impacted on Jacob's choice of brother Ephraim to receive the slightly greater blessing.  Joseph insisted on  absolution from this decision; Jacob would not forgive it completely. 

By the end of the parsha, it is clear that the move to Egypt is the fulfillment of the  exile prophecy of Abraham. Joseph's pleading final instructions, for reburial in Canaan 

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וֵֽא  פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֛ע לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹֽב׃

At length, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. Gd will surely take notice of you and bring you up from this land to the land that He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

reflect that he, and presumably his brothers , knew that they would be in Egypt for a long time; and that it would not all be pleasant.  This ironic adventure: The envy, the dreams, the search for his brothers, the pit, the sale, the service, the attempted seduction, the prison, the dreams, the ascent, the dependency of the brothers on Joseph - it had all been the grand plan.  The immediate result would be servitude and suffering; merely another step toward the redemption of the great nation.  All of these events are part of a Grand Plan. It is best to be born  during the peaks of this sinusoidal plot. 

Th haftarah reflects the parsha's focus on the death of the ruling authority. David instructs his son, Shlomo, to avenge his father's grievances. The Haftarah reminds us that when the ruler is succeeded, scores may be settled, things change.  It foreshadows the next parsha, when a new Pharoah changes the terms of the lease for the Israelites.

The haftarah justifies the confabulation of the brothers, when they tell Joseph that their father had instructed him to deal kindly with his brothers,  despite their transgression against him. 

וַיְצַוּ֕וּ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֖ף לֵאמֹ֑ר אָבִ֣יךָ צִוָּ֔ה לִפְנֵ֥י מוֹת֖וֹ לֵאמֹֽר׃

So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before his death your father left this instruction:

כֹּֽה־תֹאמְר֣וּ לְיוֹסֵ֗ף אָ֣נָּ֡א שָׂ֣א נָ֠א פֶּ֣שַׁע אַחֶ֤יךָ וְחַטָּאתָם֙ כִּי־רָעָ֣ה גְמָל֔וּךָ

So shall you say to Joseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ 

We have no record of Jacob actually giving this instruction. What does the absence of such a statement mean? 

 Both justice and fate (the unfolding of the master plan) can seem cruel. Sometimes they are at odds,  The secret: Fate always wins.