Exodus Cycle Three VaEra 6:2-9:35

VaEra

Mitzrayim: Shadows. Terror. Lies…so many…the smallest of which is still big enough to burrow into the darkness. As Rabbi Nachman points out: When a man says the same lie twice he convinces himself of it. When he says it a third time he convinces others. Finally, he convinces the world. In Mitzrayim, little lies become teeming and fertile. They crawl underfoot, slither through the letters. They seem so slight in the big picture. No matter how slight though, they fit in the frame of this word. Mitzrayim.

Therefore, Mitzrayim is a gift. If we want to protect ourselves, we know where to look. In its solid one-word form it can be seen, recognized, known, and therefore, given our continual discernment, it stays where it belongs….as the Sfas Emes says…outside the point of God. This is crucial for our spiritual survival, There’s a whole process and flow happening within that point. It has to do with raising the Shechina and tikkun olam, the healing of the world. The last thing we want is a piece…small or large… of Mityzrayim to get caught in the sacred center. In short it certainly is our work to attract the darkness to raise it up. But carefully. Slowly, Bit by bit. God-like. Torah-like. As R. Nehemiah points out in Talmud, the word and I will bring you out (hamotzi) is also included in our blessing over bread. God will bring forth bread from the land. We don’t bring it forth (except as vessels of God). Mitzrayim doesn’t.

I guess because of my own personal experience I need to say more here: We must be careful. We don’t want to be blind-sided. We don’t want so much darkness flying into our system it clogs the offering- funnel. No matter the event, we want to step carefully. Weddings. Funerals. Births. How easy it is at these times to be so infused with the radiance of God that we forget Miztrayim altogether. The question therefore is how do we stay aware (and careful) on earth and flowing with God concurrently? And my guess is that perhaps if we see and know one construct…that presented to us by mystics and kabbalists … we can find a way to do our work even in the most unusual earthly light. Because as spiritual as we like to think we are…none of us are so beyond-human (yet) that we are not vulnerable to the sneaky energies of Mitzrayim. In fact, pretending to be God and to let it go only feeds into it. Pretending it isn’t there because it hurts too much …only feeds into it. Pretending we are so great that we are unaffected by it…only feeds into it. We need to face it head on…and one way this can be done is through the mystical.

Let’s look at the mystical in VaEra. Rabbi Simai expresses that the words I also have established my covenant with them…to give them the land of Canaan…(6:4) refers to the resurrection of the dead. (Bab Talmud Sanhedrin 90b). This is because it means that they (the Patriarchs) will rise up to receive the covenant. The idea of gilgul…recycling of souls…is inherent in this teaching…the constant flow of rising and offerings, birth and soul-death, rebirth. In Mishnah Pesachim (10:1) we are reminded of four promises of salvation. First, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Second, I will deliver you from bondage. Third, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. Fourth, I will take you to me for a people (6:6-6:7).

This is highly reflective of the four worlds and leads us to the Zohar. But first, I want to point out an interesting fact about the many names mentioned in these same lines (6:2-6:9). God, himself, is represented as El Shaddai once (the mystics of the Zohar relate El Shaddai to the Shechinah), as Elohim (God of justice) 3 times, and Adonay (YHWH, God of mercy) also 3 times. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are each mentioned twice. Moses is mentioned 3 times. And B’Nai Yisrael are mentioned twice. If we count, these are 18 openings (or portals) to Ein Sof. (The number 18 is the same as for the word Chay or life. It is a sacred number manifesting connection with God.) The two mentions of B’Nai Yisrael parallel the claim of the Talmudic rabbis that only 2 of 600,000 people leave Mitzrayim and only 2 (of 600,000) enter the Promised Land. Therefore, according to Rava…when the Messiah arrives only a few (as well) will find redemption.

The name Mitzrayim is in this same series of lines (6:2-6:9) and is also mentioned twice. One might think that the balance of the B’Nai Yisrael and that of Mitzrayim shows our pairing with it. One might think that it is therefore our responsibility to take on the yoke of Mitzrayim to bring it through the portals mentioned above, that we are in fact, included in those portals and therefore it is our responsibility to embody the raising, the exodus, the deliverance, the redemption, the intimacy with God…within our very physicality, our minds, our emotions, our hearts, our souls.

The Zohar in fact points out that the word mareh….a vision…resembles mar’ah…a mirror. VaEra, therefore means more than I appeared. It means I revealed my image through El Shaddai who is a mirror displaying another image, reflecting all supernal images (Matt). The Shechinah therefore (El Shaddai) reflects images of the higher sefirot and specifically tiferet or YHWH. This joining and divine reflection is further emphasized in Song of Songs and in kabbalistic prayers like Lecha Dodi. The Zohar itself emphasizes the upward movement (within us all) towards God by comparing these first lines of VaEra to the rungs of Jacob’s ladder.

In the end, we are each continually offering a great love to a holy being beyond name. There are portals for this, names, words. We aren’t doing it ourselves…through ego or choice. It is a natural rhythm, one that just exists. If we see ourselves as portals moving through portals, as vulnerable God-created vessels here for this very purpose every minute, at every event, no matter how close we get to God, no matter how borderline on the edge we are to being right under the two cherubim and in the Holy of Holies, we will remember the fact of Mitzrayim all around us. We can not, not even because of our love for God and each other, let the boundaries down, and open our portals too wide. Because then the nastiest little lies can enter too close to the point of God, too deep in the process. And it’s not a pretty scene.

So, may we be in love with God. May we be in love with each other. May we be among the few who leave Mitzrayim and enter the Promised Land and receive the Messiah. May we remain strong and aware no matter how close we get to God. May we understand our limitations. May we forgive ourselves for offering-up anything impure…whether during times of sadness or of great joy. May we be thankful for the word Mitzrayim…and for our ability to be vessels to lift it…bit by bit…to the holy radiance.