My wife and kids were in San
Francisco last week. Upon their return, my wife expressed exasperation with our
son and getting him to put on Tefillin and pray in the morning. I chuckled, and
I told her to start by leaving him alone and not hock him. Putting on Tefillin and
praying should not sound like and receive the same visceral feeling as being
told to do homework or clean up one’s room.
So my wife said she wouldn’t hock him. Then I spoke to our son about it.
He explained that he puts on Tefillin, he prays and quite often he feels
nothing. He explained that he has been
taught how he should feel when he puts on Tefillin and when he prays, that if
he doesn’t feel that way, he thinks maybe he doesn’t believe. Clearly he was
upset telling me this because he was afraid that I would be upset. I laughed
and explain that I don’t always believe, certainly I didn’t when I was 13. I
didn’t really start believing until I became a parent. We talked, and I
explained that maybe he should stop listening to everyone tell him how he is
supposed to feel and instead focus upon an activity, a moment, something that
will give him a sense of God’s presence. Maybe such a “revelation” occurs at
sunrise, or sunset. Maybe it occurs when studying something difficult and
ultimately understanding it. Maybe it occurs during a moment of sublime peace
like sharing a moment with a loved one. Regarding the last possibility, I asked
if he planned to cuddle with me and watch the college championship football game
between The University of Georgia and the University of Alabama.
This week we read from Parsha
Va’Eira. In this Parshah, God reassures Moshe after Pharaoh mocked and
dismissed both he and Aharon. God explains that he will cause Pharaoh’s heart to
harden after each plague, but eventually Pharaoh will capitulate and free the
Hebrew slaves. God explains the various stages of redemption to Moshe. The
plagues begin. We are supposed to understand that each of these first seven
plagues is more severe than the previous plague: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild
Beasts, Animal plague, Boils, Hail. Moshe requests that Pharaoh permit B’nai
Yisroel to worship God for three days. At times, Pharaoh acquiesces and there
are moments he changes his mind. Sometimes he asks Moshe to pray on his behalf
and sometimes he doesn’t. One thing is clear, that whenever Pharaoh gets his
way (a plague ceases), something that would clearly indicate the power of God,
Pharaoh behaves like a petulant child. He returns to his arrogant self-centered
nature. It seems that Pharaoh is operating under an alternative set of facts
regarding Hashem’s authority and power. By the Parsha’s conclusion, the plague
of Hail has devastated the land and killed anything that was outside, Pharaoh
expresses the evolution of his belief system based upon facts, not alternative
facts nor upon an incorrect interpretation facts.
Two men, Moshe and Pharaoh, two
groups, Hebrew slaves and Egyptian task masters, experience a type of
revelation. Moshe is told by God, “Ani
Adoshem VaEira el Avraham El Yitzchak v’ El Yaakov B’Eil Shaddai U’Shmi Adoshem
Lo Nodati LaHem – I am Hashem, I
appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but with My Name
Hashem, I did not make Myself known to them (Ex. 6:2) With Signs and Wonders,
God wanted Moshe and B’nai Yisroel to know exactly who God is. V’Yadu
Mitzrayim Ki Ani Adoshem, BinToti et
Yadi Al Mitzrayim V’Hotzeiti et Bnai Yisroel MiTocham – And Egypt Shall know that I am Hashem, when
I stretch out My hand over Egypt; and I shall take the Children of Israel out
from among them (Ex. 7:5). With each ensuing plague, God wanted Pharaoh and
Egypt to know and accept, as fact, of God’ existence and God’s authority. What is being transmitted? Ani Adoshem – I am Hashem,
the fact that Hashem exists and has a covenantal relationship with his people. How is this fact transmitted? Vaiera – I appeared through signs and wonders or as a harbinger of plagues.
It depends who is experiencing the appearance and how that experience is
perceive. For the Egyptians, God displays God’s presence through plagues. For
Bnai Yisroel, God displays God’s presence through signs and wonders. That is to
say each interprets Gods presence according to their values, their perceptions,
their world view and their place within the world.
Clearly God made himself known
to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. However that revelation was not in the same
capacity as it was with Moshe Rabeinu. Clearly Pharaoh experienced a type of
revelation as well. As my daughter realized over the course of our discussion,
we all experience some type revelatory experience. As he is beginning to find
out, he needs to be open minded and open hearted about it. It may occur in a
comfortable familiar manner, and it may occur in an unanticipated unfamiliar
manner. As our son realized, not engaging in the activity guarantees that there
will be no possibility of sensing God’s presence He smiled and realized that
putting on Tefillin was just an activity that might allow for a possibility. I
smiled back and reminded him that it’s the same as cuddling with your dad
watching the ball game. Maybe the feeling of sublime peace and calm, that everything
is right in the world at this moment is indeed, a revelatory experience.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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