Overview
of the Torah Reading
To be read on Shabbat
Va'eira, 28 Tevet 5786/Jan. 17
Torah:
Exodus 6:2-9:35; Maftir: Numbers 28:9-15
Haftorah: Ezekiel 28:25- 29::21
Va'era
is the 2nd Reading out of 11 in Exodus and it contains 6701
letters, in 1748 words, in 121 verses
Va'era opens with
G-d instructing Moshe to tell the Jews His promise to free them, but
the Jews were not receptive due to their disappointment and harsh slavery.
Listed next is the lineage of some Jewish families, mostly that of Moshe
and Aharon. G-d told Moshe to perform a sign before Pharaoh: Aharon
threw down Moshe's staff which turned into a serpent. When Pharaoh's
magicians turned their staffs into snakes, Moshe's staff swallowed their
staffs. The first plague: all water in Egypt turned to blood. Pharaoh's
magicians also turned water to blood, and Pharaoh hardened his heart.
The water remained blood for seven days. Next was the plague of frogs.
This too the magicians duplicated. Pharaoh agreed to let the Jews go
worship, but once the plague ended, Pharaoh rescinded. The magicians
could not, however, duplicate the third plague of lice. They were awed
by G-d's power, but Pharaoh was obstinate. Afterwards were the plagues
of wild beasts, an epidemic on livestock, boils, and hail. The plagues
didn't harm the Jews. Each time Pharaoh made conditions and concessions,
but with the plague's conclusion, the promises evaporated.
An
Essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, Director of Ascent
(for a
free weekly email subscription, click
here)
In
this week's Torah portion, Vaeira, the verse says "And Moshe spoke
to the Jewish people [as instructed by G-d] and they did not listen
to Moshe because of their anguish of spirit and harsh labor" [Shemot/Exodus
6:9].
Why
was it necessary that the work be so hard that the Jewish people were
incapable even of listening to G-d's tidings of redemption given through
Moshe? True, it was a Divine prophesy at the Covenant Between the Parts
that "…and they will enslave them and oppress them …"
[Bereishit/Genesis 15:13]. Still, it is not clear
why the labor had to be so very difficult.
Some explanations from our Sages: The Bat Ayin, a chassidic Rebbe who
lived in Tsfat 250 years ago, suggests that despair opens a person to
a higher level of consciousness. The Seforno writes that since it was
their children who were meant to enter the Holy Land and not them, G-d
made it impossible for them to hear this encouraging message. It felt
irrelevant. The Midrash teaches in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ben Betera
- how can a person hear good news and not become happy? Because it was
hard for them to separate from idol worship [and so their faith in G-d
was weak].
Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe and author of the Tanya, whose
yahrzeit is this Thursday evening and Friday - 24th Tevet, gives us
an explanation that has a relevant message for each of us.
Through the enslavement in Egypt, grueling hard physical labor using
bricks and mortar, the Jewish people merited the most important single
event of the entire creation - receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. The
backbreaking labor had a Divine purpose. The Egyptian enslavement was
the crucible of the Jewish people that burnt out their spiritual impurities,
separating the bad from the good and elevating them to a higher spiritual
level.
This is the reason that the Torah was not given at the very beginning
of Jewish history, in the days of our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak
and Ya'akov, because in their days the coarse materiality of the world
was too manifest. The world and the Jewish people needed to be clarified
and purified to allow the world to be an appropriate vessel for the
revelation of G-dliness, able to draw down the infinite light that is
generated through the fulfillment of Torah and the commandments.
This
could only happen after the Exodus. Through the purification of the
Jewish people, who are the purpose of the creation of the world, the
physicality and materiality of the world was, and continues, to be refined
and G-dliness revealed.
[Adapted from a talk of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Shabbat Vaeira.
25th of Tevet, 5727]
It is a mitzvah to experience our own personal exodus from Egypt every
day. Just like for the generation that was enslaved, when we are faced
by great difficulties it is crucial to remember that the situation has
a purpose - the great revelation that will soon follow after. A Jew
must look forward and have faith in G-d. Every descent is for the sake
of the greater ascent that will come.
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
For
last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's Reading, see the archive.
FROM
THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically,
for an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more,
click to Va'eira
one sample:
The Zohar
.jpg)
Sovereignty
and the Serpent
From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation & commentary
by Moshe Miller
"When Pharaoh speaks to you and he says, 'Give me a miraculous
sign,' you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before
Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.'"
The staff
of Aaron swallowed the other staffs after turning back into wood, thus
demonstrating that occult powers were not involved. Instead G-d's ability
to override the laws of nature and the physical world became revealed.
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