Exodus Cycle Two Shemot 1:1 to 6:1

Shemot

There are many names. They can be seen as individual and/or as one. They are gifts. They are born from each other and soon merge. Then, more are born and the process continues. It strengthens. Survival of one means that of the whole. Survival of the whole means that of one. So no doubt there’s a structure within, a delicate linking. And it’s this exquisite and concealed series of links, the actual vessels of connection, this masterful wheel of creation, that is Ein Sof.

Think of a touch, skin to skin. Think of a kiss. Think of a kind word. A glance. Each is a link that reveals and transmits the divine code.

But first, what is a name? In Shemot, we read that the Pharoah’s daughter names Moses, that God can be YHWH, El Shaddai, Elohim or Ehiya (I am). Mystics say there are 72 names of God and in the Amidah we read may His name be blessed. The dead have names. We often recite may his/her name be remembered for a blessing. Some names in Torah are mentioned even if they aren’t central to story. We begin to wonder. Why must we know the midwives who refuse to kill the sons of the Israelites? Why must the father-in-law of Moses have seven names (Rashi)? What about the descendants we will never read about again? One thing we realize. While a body is the vessel that holds the soul, a name is also a vessel…but in our minds. It holds both body and soul. It holds the idea of the person, the emanation.

There are other vessels that hold emanations. These vessels also have names. They aren’t people-names. They are divine. Together they are called the sefirot. For example, there’s wisdom and knowledge. There’s the Shechinah and foundation. When balanced there is a center where kindness meets power, where we speak with God.

In this parasha we watch as the Israelites proliferate. We watch as Moses is saved in the reeds as a baby, is taken in by the royal family, kills a servant and has to escape. Finally, he does speak with God.

Another way of seeing this is that the names are dimming. The vessels are being weakened. There’s a downward spiral and it’s not being caused by the new Pharoah or by others. There’s no such thing as others in the eternal structure. It’s being caused by the unrestrained gevurah within ourselves. Just as we can be fruitful and multiply…just as we can rise…the darkness caused by our own lack of balance can bring the whole into a state of trauma and stasis.

You can even call it a sort of spiritual post traumatic stress disorder. And you can see it happening in Egypt as well as in the Garden of Eden. You can see it as our primal reactions to our births as well as to a whole century of destruction and greed. I don’t think anyone this day and age can claim to be immune to SPTSD.

So there we are, slaves in Egypt. You would think we’re never going to find a way out of our misery. For, after all, isn’t one name connected to the other? And doesn’t that mean that the pain and doubt is therefore passed among us all?

This brings us back to the links I spoke about before. They connect name to name. It is the basic structure. It is there and just one spark within them blocks the pain from moving through. Moses, who has turned from the realm of gevurah, can see this, can see God. God therefore appears to Moses in the heart of the fire, in the place of love and balance. And through this link of vision God sends His light.

What we learn here is that sight alone is itself a solid funnel through which we have the power to transmit and receive the sacred. And if sight is a funnel so is touch. So are our senses of hearing, taste and smell.

How wonderful. There’s an actual process of healing. And the more we take part in this process, the more we begin to propel ourselves far from all that is stuck in stasis. It’s all about sending sparks through our hands to the hands of another being, sending acceptance through our eyes into the eyes of another, allowing our words to be the transmission of kindness. Then, the closer we will be to watching all names roll like a wheel right into the Promised Land.

Yes, the structure is the connection. And all of these names are important in that they bloom from it, thereby helping us to see and strengthen it. So, all we need to do to be in the connection is to love each other. And if done with forethought and decision we knowingly link eternal love one name to the next. We knowingly become Torah in a real and vibrant way.

So may our movements be clear and deliberate. May our vision be from the heart. May we allow each step towards God to be filled with the force of compassion and joy. May we see clearly the God in each of us. May we all heal each other and rise from darkness. And may we be aware of the eternal blossoming of names so we can be active in the greater structure of Ein Sof.