Va'eira: May He who makes peace in high places

Va'eira Exodus 6:2-9:35

How can we truly understand the sacrifices made for G-d's plan and for His land by people who so loved Hashem and who were so connected to His plan?

Perhaps insights from the Torah portion can be helpful. At the end of the torah portion of Shmot we encounter the following. Moshe and Aaron are verbally attacked by a very pained and troubled Israelite people whose terrible work load was going to be increased because they dared to ask to leave;

“And they said to them, “May the Lord look upon you and judge, for you have brought us into foul odor in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to place a sword into their hands to kill us.” (Exodus 5:21-22)

Moshe feeling the pain of his people cries out, “O Hashem! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people.” (Exodus 5:23)

Hashem responds to Moshe in this week’s Torah portion;

“G_d spoke to Moshe, and He said to him, : “I am HaShem (the L-rd). I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaacov, as E-l Sha-dai, but by my name HaShem I did not make myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:2-3)

This statement clearly needs to be understood, since we see that in fact that G-d did appear with the Divine name of Hashem to all our forefathers. To Avraham He appears, as He said to him,

“I am HaShem who brought you out of Ur Kasdeem.” (Genesis 15:7)

To Yitzchak, we see as well:

“He went up from there to Be’er Sheva. HaShem appeared to him that night.” (Genesis 26:23-24)

To Jacob as well, as we read:

“And behold, HaShem was standing over him and He said, ‘I am HaShem, G-d of Avraham your father and G-d of Isaac.’” (Genesis 28:13)

With the words “but my name HaShem I did not make revealed to them”, Hashem was actually saying something very dramatic and instructive. He is explaining that He did not need to reveal the attributes of the Ineffable name with or for the forefathers.

The name of HaShem (translated as “the L-rd”), as Rashi points out, is the essential name of G-d, working outside of the limitations of nature, in order to fulfill his promises and actualize them. Ramban (Rabbi Moshe Ben-Nachman) teaches that the name Sha-dai on the other hand, represents G-d working within the rules and laws of nature.

In all of G-d’s dealings with the Patriarchs, He is discovered, revealed and revered within the parameters of the natural world. The forefathers discovered the intimacy and the spiritual power of HaShem within natural reality. They did not need for Him to be revealed to them in some dramatic or supernatural way .they did not need to try to understand His ways.

In essence G-d was saying do not expect to determine how the plan of redemption will unfold. Trust that in the workings of this Divine plan there will be much that will not be understood in the natural “here and now”. But know that “there is a plan” and every individual making a decision to be part of this plan will be used to push that destiny forward.