|
Isaac’s Parsha Corner – Shmot/Vaera 2023
Isaac Shulman
Shmot - The Book of Names
The book of Shmot is about names. The names are not just those of the mortals but also of the Immortal. Just like we were provided with the list of names of the sons of Jacob in the beginning of the previous week’s parsha, we are similarly introduced to God’s many names. Notwithstanding all of God’s many names, He remains first and foremost a unity of all His names. He is the penultimate echad, unity of One. He may have thirteen attributes (yud gimel midot) and other names not listed (e.g. Ehyeh, El Shadai, and others listed in the Mishnah Shavuot 35A). None of these different names minimizes His identity as Echad– the One. The unity is a combination of all His attributes.
And Moshe said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt?” (I am unworthy). And He (God) responded, “Because I will be (ehyeh) with you, and here is the proof that I have sent you, when you worship me on this mountain (Sinai- upon receiving the Torah). And Moshe said to God, “Behold I will go to the Children of Israel and I will tell them that the God of their forefathers has sent me to them. They will say to me (ask me), ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them? And God said to Moshe, ‘I will be what I will be (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh)’. And He said, ‘You shall say to the children of Israel ‘Ehyeh has sent me to you,’” (Ex. 3:11-14)
This section of last week’s parsha is steeped in mystery. The Ramban struggles mightily to explain the words suggesting that they refer to God’s mysterious names and qualities. (See Ramban ibid.)
Rashi, quoting the Midrash, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, I will be what I will be,”, “I am with you in this crisis as I will be with you in a future enslavement.”Ehyeh is a response to self-deprecation by Moshe. Who am I, in other words, I am unworthy. God responds, Ehyeh imcha, I will be with you, because I am always with those who consider themselves unworthy, who diminish their ego and their self importance. That is what Moshe is instructed to tell Bnei Yisrael, “I am with you, I am the God of the ones who are beaten down, of the powerless, of the slave.” I will always be that God, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. The sign is that the mountain which I chose to come down to earth is in the desert on a tiny mountain devoid of trees, vegetation, running brooks, streams, or any of the beautiful features associated with mountains. Har Horev, another name for Mount Sinai, is translated as a dry or desolate mountain. This may be the meaning within Rashi’s midrash of a future crisis. God continues, “Say this to the Children of Israel: This is my name forever and by remembrance for each generation.” Each and every generation will have some type of crisis and I will always be there for those most downtrodden.
In Parshat Vaera we learn of the other of God’s many names and the meaning thereof. I am a God who keeps his promise. I did not fulfill my promise yet to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but that is going to happen.
The two attributes, that of the God of the powerless and the God who keeps his promises, are worthy of our own emulation. As the pasuk says, “You shall go in his path.” Just as He is there for the weak and the powerless so should you be there for the weak and the powerless. Just as He fulfills His promises so are you to fulfill your commitments. Just as God’s unity is a sum of attributes, so a whole complete man (or woman), one who is striving for completeness, will perforce emulate these two attributes which are on full display in Parshiyot Shmot and Vaera.
Shabbat Shalom
| 
