Are we Slaves or are we Free?
In Parashat Vaera (“He appeared”), the Creator appeared to Moshe saying that He did not make Himself known to his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob asיהוה Yud Heh Vav Heh (YHVH). This could seem to be misleading because they knew the name YHVH. The verb “to know” implies an intimate relationship, in which they could see who He truly was. He said that He had made Himself known to his forefathers as El Shaddai, sometimes translated as all Powerful, Almighty God, but holds the idea of being a nurturer, from the word “shad” which means breast. God had in the past nurtured them (like a breast-feeding mother) but now the Israelites would see another aspect of Him, the God of action, of how He works.
This would be a war between the gods of the Egyptians and the God of the Hebrews. Moshe and Aaron were simply the spokesmen for יהוה and Pharaoh would represent himself as the god of the Egyptians. The world would soon witness the actions of the true God. In the process, Israel would recover their lost hope while Pharaoh would learn humility. When we grow up thinking that we are the center of the universe, we need things to happen to us that will bring us down to earth. The Hebrews were at the bottom and the Egyptians were at the top but the Creator would even out the playing field. The Creator would have Hebrews and Egyptians stand side by side and He would define their character through the circumstances that He put them through.
Exodus 9: 13-16 says: “YHVH then said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Say to him, “YHVH, God of the Hebrews, says this: Let my people go and worship me. For this time, I am going to inflict all my plagues on you, your officials and your subjects, so that you will know that there is no one like Me in the whole world. Had I stretched out my hand to strike you and your subjects with pestilence, you would have been swept from the earth. But I have let you survive for this reason: to display My power to you and to have My name talked about throughout the world”. (Exodus 9:13 – 16) How much clearer can it be?
Why didn’t God take the Israelites out of Egypt in one fell swoop or simply kill Pharaoh? Why did they have to go through all this? It’s important for us to understand that the Torah is teaching us life’s principles through these stories. The Creator gave us all His gift of Bechirah Chofshit, Free Will, the capability to decide for ourselves. In so doing, He seems to have limited Himself so that we could exercise it. The opposite seems to be true in the case of Pharaoh in Exodus 9:12, where it says, “But YHVH hardened the heart of Pharaoh and as YHVH had foretold to Moses, he did not listen to them.”
Many people believe that we live fully under God’s Will thus making Him responsible for everything that we do. They blame God for everything that has happened to them. I have spoken to survivors of the Holocaust who stopped believing in God, saying, “If there is a God, why did He allow these things to happen to us?” We need to understand that our God allows us to exercise the Free Will He gave us, even if it means that it leads us to the point of self-destruction.
I have worked for many years as a counselor at CDU (Center for Dependency Unit). The people who admitted to me that they had a problem, did well, but those who said, “What am I doing here? I don’t have a problem. I can stop anytime I want”, became more stubborn, thought that everyone else had the problem, not them, and would not accept help.
Have you ever met anyone who would never accept advice and when you offer it to them, they get insulted? Or people who are so full of pride that they look down on everyone and can never admit that they did anything wrong? How is it possible to get through to people like that? The only thing that gets anyone to change or ask for help is when the circumstances become so difficult that they have no other choice.
Here in this parashah, we read the verses in Exodus 6: 6-7 which have formed our tradition at Pesach. We raise four cups of wine referring to them: “I shall free you from the forced labour of the Egyptians; I shall rescue you from their slavery and I shall redeem you with outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement. I shall take you as My people and I shall be your God.”
It is more difficult to be freed from emotional slavery than physical slavery which is more visible. We cover over our emotional and spiritual slavery with good intentions, but this creates dependency, fear of changing the status quo, of what will happen to me, or of not being able to take care of myself. Why are there still so many nations in the world governed by dictators who exploit their people, leaving them with little or nothing? They don’t question them but allow themselves to be dependent. Even here, in so-called free countries, we believe the politicians who promise to take care of us if we give them our money and our lives. Why do so many people like that idea? For most of us, it is easier to be taken care of than to be responsible for ourselves and our families. We prefer to allow others to control us because we are afraid of taking care of ourselves. That is what I call spiritual and emotional dependency. These are the most difficult to be freed from.
The Creator did not only want to free Israel from Pharaoh, but He also wanted to free the Egyptians from him. When we have tunnel vision, it is hard to see the full picture. We only see one perspective but here we are being challenged to see the whole picture, not to have tunnel vision.
What is this teaching us for today? How can we apply these stories to our lives for our benefit? Why is the Creator giving us these stories of freedom from slavery? Have you asked yourself, “Am I attached to something in my life that I can’t let go of, that I can’t live without?” I am not speaking about only superficial things; there are subtle areas that we need to deal with… our status, our image, our name, our very being. Are we caught in certain addictive behaviours? Do we have fears in our lives? Do we live under the cover of superstition, afraid to move a finger unless the signs are ok? How many won’t make a move unless they read their horoscopes? How many have deep-rooted fears? Are we truly free? Emotional slavery is very subtle and slowly removes our capacity to make our own decisions. We don’t realize it because it develops little by little. I asked people who were addicted how they started. The most common was cigarettes. They almost always said…”everyone was doing it; they gave it to me so I started. I didn’t like it at the beginning, but they teased me so I continued until I got caught. I lied to myself saying that I could quit whenever I wanted to.” People who are addicted think that they can leave their addiction at any time, but they are only fooling themselves.
The Creator is teaching Pharaoh’s process to us for today. We become stubborn and continue this pattern until we lose the capacity to change. How many of us are at the threshold when there is still a possibility to change but we keep insisting that we can do it whenever we want to? Change needs to happen today; don’t lie to yourself that you will do it tomorrow, for tomorrow never comes. The Creator was showing Israel and Pharaoh that He was going to free them, not to be slaves either to Him or to others; He would free us to be ourselves because He made us in His likeness and image. We have His divine spark within us. God wants us to exercise our Free Will – Bechirah Chofshit so that we can be responsible for our actions.
What do religions teach us? Don’t worry, all you have to say is mea culpa or throw our sins on someone who will pay for them. The Torah teaches us that if you do it, you pay for it, that we are responsible and that no one can pay for our mistakes. No one likes that. Sadly others also end up paying for our mistakes.
Pharaoh’s stubborn pride made him so selfish that he didn’t even care when his people told him that they were defeated and to let the Israelites go or they would all be destroyed. In the next parashah, Bo we will see that he finally had to change his mind when it hit home with the death of his son. When will we open our eyes to examine the areas in which we are not doing right? Why do we continue the lie that if we look the other way, it will be okay, it will just pass?
The next step after Bechirah Chofshit is Kavanah, Intention. We can look like we are the most righteous person but the Creator is not impressed by our superficial behavior. He knows our hearts. He knew the heart and intention of Pharaoh. He knew that Pharaoh would constantly change his mind about letting the Israelites go. Why did He allow the ten plagues? Ten represents totality. Each plague represents one of the gods of Egypt so this indicates their total destruction.
When we open ourselves up to our Creator, He shows us the areas in which we need to improve. This is why I repeatedly encourage us to apply Psalm 139:23-24 which says Search me, O God, know my heart, see if there is something within me that remains hidden, reveal it to me so that I stop doing it and become closer to you.
We lie to ourselves so well that we believe them until they become a reality. We need to wake up and stop being slaves of ourselves, our egos, our pride. Yes, we commit mistakes, we do wrong, we lose our tempers etc., but when these areas are lit up within, we become the best we can be. We stop living by appearances and become real!
I love the book of Exodus because it tells us about the process of growth of the nation as well as ourselves, helping us grow from childhood to adulthood. The ones who never grow are the Pharaoh-types who can never admit that they do anything wrong. They cannot do the best for themselves because they are so self-destructive.
When we think that we are the centre of the universe, like Pharaoh, we lose perspective of those around us. When think more about ourselves than others, there is something wrong with us. We need each other, we need to help each other and that can only come with a dose of humility. Accepting that we have failures allows us to correct them and do better.
When a person says they never make mistakes, they cannot learn. Perfectionists are like that. There is a beautiful example of this in physics: an object moves from elasticity to plasticity to rupture. The Creator makes us to be like elastic; we can be pulled but will always return to our original form. But when we are stubborn, we pass from elasticity to plasticity where we can never return to being elastic. The final step is the breaking point, rupture; this is what happened to Pharaoh. I don’t want any of us to reach that point. May we still see the areas which need improvement and change them so that we can return to our elastic states. When we are flexible, we can grow and improve but when we are stubborn and refuse to change, we will be broken like Pharaoh.
Shabbat Shalom
Ranebi