Original Torah: Ancient Words in a Modern Light

Shabbat Shalom-

This portion revels in images and word play. It contains some of the earliest proof texts (read: excuses) for
how Israelis pronounce Hebrew. I
actually saw this on a program on TV while I was in Jerusalem last year. Israelis tend to slurwordstogether and drop
the aspirant. ‘Ere are some examples: Rather than the
grammatically correct “Im Memaein”, verse 7:27 reads “Im Maein”. Saves a whole
syllable. The magical tricks properly
called “Lahatim” in 7:11 are called “Latim” in 8:3 saving another syllable.
Another merit to the Torah—it’s frugal… sometimes (darn genealogical lists).

Exodus is a book all about seeing God and being with God. The plagues
narrative of this week is one quite replete with such ‘proofs’ to the
unbelievers, whether Israelite or Egyptian. The Israelites would not listen to
the promises of Moses (6:12). They were
only temporarily impressed by the visual displays of the God’s power
(4:30). It was only with the actual
escape from Egypt with the Reed Sea closed behind them that they truly
believed, says the text (14:31). As
President Calvin Coolidge once said, “When I hear, I forget. When I see, I remember. When I do, I
understand”.

In the story, God manifests His essence physically as in, “HeNeH YaD YHWH
HoWYaH, Behold the hand of the Presence/Lord is present” (9:3). Can it be any clearer from the language what
the narrator believes? A simple rearrangement
of the letters for ‘presence/HWYH’ yields God’s intimate name “Lord/YHWH” of
contact and concern for the world. For
the narrator, the only possible way of understanding the plagues and exodus
story is through the lens of Godly presence.
The stories are a lesson to the Israelites. They begin with God announcing his innermost essence as his name
YHWH (according to one Biblical strand, 6:2-3), “God spoke to Moses and said to
him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by My name YHWH I did not make
Myself known to them.””

The images of the plagues assault us again and again. Movie after movie references or capitalizes
on the power and magnitude of the story, but they still lack their effect of
convincing the world of God’s presence.
In fact, the very Israelite generation that witnessed what the Bible
purports to be the most intimate encounter a group of people have had with the
Divine (20:14-18), disobey, disbelieve, and disregard Him (Num 13:1-14:44).

For thousands of years people in the Judean tradition saw God as ultimately
just. If He brought the plagues, the
guilty deserved it and the innocent were strengthened (Dt. 8:5, Brachot 5a)*. If He helped one side win a war, He punished
the other for its sins. For all this,
people have a very difficult time imagining God. “If only I could see Him for just one moment”, they think. But in the Israelite tradition, God is
reality. Only one completely
self-absorbed and cut-off could be ignorant of God, as if the axe glorified
itself over the logger (Isaiah 10:15).
Then how do we explain the suffering of the innocent (Brachot 7a)**? If we understand God as the thread that
weaves together the fabric of reality, then God is the creator and sustainer of
all. Since our reality, however, is on
the physical fabric, we are susceptible to physical scourges (Maimonidies,
Guide 3:11-12)***. Can we attribute
this to God? We may wax panglossian and proclaim “all is for the best” or we
can quote Ben Zoma “Who is rich? He who is happy in his portion” (M Avot 4:1).

In either case, we must recognize that the end result is not one of
philosophy, but of action. A God-fearing sinner is worse than a righteous
pagan. I believe the focus has become warped from ‘knowing God’s righteousness
and imitating it’ to ‘seeing God’s ways and feeling his presence’. In this light, as much as the emphasis of
the plagues is on ‘knowing and feeling God’, they were ultimately intended to
transform the people into righteous individuals. We may seek to explain tragedies and attribute them to God, but
in the end, it is our righteous responses that reveal our resolve. Thus, we manifest God’s presence by
acting justly. When I do, I understand.

See some 2^nd Temple-era responses to Justice
in the Plagues in a paper I wrote.

* Brachot 5a,
fuller text online http://www.jewishgates.org/taland/talmud/sjustice/suf4.stm

Raba (some say, R. Hisda) says: If a man sees that painful sufferings visit
him, let him examine his conduct. For it is said: Let us search and try our
ways, and return to the Lord. (Lamentations 3:40)

If he examines and finds nothing, let him attribute it to the neglect of the
study of the Torah. For it is said: Happy is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach out of Your law. (Psalm 94:12)

If he did attribute it, and still did not find, let him be sure that these are
chastenings of love. For it is said: For whom the Lord loves He corrects.
(Proverbs 3:12)

Raba, in the name of R. Sahorah, in the name of R. Huna, says: If the Holy One,
blessed be He, is pleased with a man, he crushes him with painful sufferings.
For it is said: And the Lord was pleased; he crushed him by disease. (Isaiah
53:10)

[….snip…]

And if he did accept them, what is his reward? He will see his seed, prolong
his days. (Isaiah 53:10)

[….snip…]

For it is said: For whom the Lord loves He corrects. (Proverbs 3:12)

**Brachot 7a:,
fuller text online http://www.jewishgates.org/taland/talmud/sjustice/suf5.stm

R. Yochanan further said in the name of R. Jose: Three things did Moses ask of
the Holy One, blessed be He, and they were granted to him….. Moses said
before Him: Lord of the Universe, why is it that some righteous men prosper and
others are in adversity, some wicked men prosper and others are in adversity?

[…snip…]

[You must] therefore [say that] the Lord said this to Moses: A righteous man
who prospers is a perfectly righteous man;

the righteous man who is in adversity is not a perfectly righteous man.

The wicked man who prospers is not a perfectly wicked man;

the wicked man who is in adversity is a perfectly wicked man.

Now this [saying of R. Yochanan] is in opposition to the saying of R. Meir.

For R. Meir said: only two [requests] were granted to him, and one was not
granted to him. For it is said: “And I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious,” (Exodus 33:19) although he may not deserve it, “And I will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy,” (Exodus 33:19) although he may not
deserve it.

*** BT Megillah 25a. “All is in
the hands of heaven but the fear of heaven.”