​Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
One of the best known pasukim in our parasha and the Passover Haggadah states: “On that day, you must tell your child, ‘It is because of this that God acted for me when I left Egypt.’” (Sefer Shemot 13:8, translation, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zatzal) In addition, it is the source text in Talmud Bavli, Pesachim 116b for the celebrated statement: “In each and every generation an individual is obligated to view himself as if he went out of Egypt.” These words highlight the notion that Yetziat Mitzraim is not some long ago historical event lost in the sands of time; rather, it is a constitutive element of our people’s identity that must be given voice at the Pesach seder.
 
So much emphasis, however, has been placed upon our verse’s interpretation in the Talmud that its direct meaning has been nearly lost. Yet, we must ever remember Chazal’s assertion: “Ain hamikra yotzai m’yidei peshuto—the simple and direct understanding of the Torah text must never be ignored.” This mode of analysis was prominently championed by the Rashbam (1080-1158), as is evident in his examination of our pasuk:
​
“...it is because of this” Hashem performed miracles for me in Egypt. Therefore, I am performing this sacrificial service. So, too, do we find in the case of the verse: “This is the day that Hashem created for me for I was on the highest of heights, let us rejoice and let us celebrate.” (The latter quote is based upon Sefer Tehillim 118:24, with the Rashbam’s interpolations in bold, translation my own).
 
The Rashbam strongly emphasizes the terms “for me” and “I,” and urges us to focus upon the personal salvation experienced during Yetziat Mitzraim that helped forge a powerful relationship between the Almighty and every member of the Jewish people for all time. As the famed verse in the Shirah proclaims, “…this is my God and I will extol Him, the God of my fathers and I will raise Him up.” (Sefer Shemot 15:2, translation my own) 
 
The closeness of our relationship with the Master of the Universe is underscored by Dovid HaMelech in Sefer Tehillim. These verses reflect his passionate belief in Hashem’s closeness to us:
 
"You are near, Hashem, and all Your commandments are true." (119:151)
 
"Hashem is near to the broken-hearted, and He saves those of crushed spirit." (34:19)
 
"Truly, His salvation is near those who fear Him, so that His glory dwells in our land." (85:10)
 
"Hashem is near to all who call Him, to all who call Him with sincerity." (145:18)
(Translation, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
 
A careful reading of these pasukim reveals a fascinating pattern. 119:151 teaches us about Hashem’s status; He is, by definition, “near.” This is somewhat parallel to 34:19 wherein, simply because a Jew is broken-hearted, Hashem is close to him or her. This, too, is a matter of status. In contrast, 85:10 and 145:18 clearly indicate that Hashem’s nearness is contingent upon our behaviors toward Him. This raises a simple and direct question: “If it is Hashem’s ‘nature’ to be close to humankind, why are our actual actions of any import in this regard?”
 
My rebbi and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993), known as “the Rav” by his students and followers, poses a similar question in his analysis of the Friday night Kiddush. He asks: “If Shabbat is sanctified since the very moment of Creation, why is it necessary for us to say the words of the Kiddush? What can we possibly add to that which the Almighty has already sanctified?” The Rav explains that although the essential kedushah of Shabbat is constant and endures eternally, when we recite Kiddush, we bear testimony to Hashem as the Creator of the Universe and thereby join Him as partners in the act of Creation, shutfim b’ma’aseh Bereishit. As such, our words spoken during Kiddush add to the holiness of Shabbat and raise it to an entirely new level of kedushah.
 
As suggested, I believe the Rav’s approach to Kiddush helps us answer our earlier question, “If it is Hashem’s nature to be close to mankind, why are our actions of any import whatsoever in this regard?” It is true that, by definition, Hashem is close to us. Yet, when we call upon Him in heartfelt sincerity, we reinforce our relationship with Him, just as Ya’akov Avinu did when he declared, “Mah nora hamakom hazeh—How awe-inspiring is this place,” Sefer Bereishit 28:17). Moreover, when we recognize Hashem’s awesome nature, our personal relationship with Him achieves profoundly higher levels of meaning.
 
With Hashem’s help, may we ever strive to call upon Him in sincerity and awe. Then may we proclaim as one: “…this is my God and I will extol Him; the God of my fathers and I will raise Him up.” (Sefer Shemot 15:2) V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
They may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

Rabbi David Etengoff
​
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
The Passover Haggadah lists the makkot in order of their appearance in Sefer Shemot: “These are the Ten Plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt: blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, slaying of the first born.” (Translation, http://www.aish.com/h/pes/h/Ten_Plagues.html) The first seven appear in our parasha, whereas the final three are found in Parashat Bo. The Torah teaches us that the overarching purpose of the makkot was in order that “… the Egyptians shall know that I am Hashem when I stretch forth My hand over Egypt, and I will take the children of Israel out of their midst…” (Sefer Shemot 7:5, this and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
 
Fascinatingly, while each plague profoundly affected every aspect of Egyptian society, only barad elicited the following statement from Pharaoh: “I have sinned this time (chatati hapa’am). Hashem is the righteous One (Hashem hatzadik), and I and my people are the guilty ones.’” (9:27) Pharaoh’s words contain three separate ideas: The recognition of his personal sin, the acknowledgment of Hashem’s righteousness, and the assertion of his and the Egyptian people’s guilt for having acted cruelly toward us.
 
Why did Pharaoh make this proclamation solely regarding this plague? Midrash Tanchuma Buber provides us with the following insight:

[Let us learn the reason for Pharaoh’s behavior based upon the manner in which most people would act:] If someone desires to go to war against his fellow man, and be victorious against him, he attacks him in an unexpected [and stealthy manner]. He then kills him and takes every possession that his enemy has. Yet, the Holy One blessed be He acted in an entirely different manner toward Pharaoh and proclaimed to him: “And now, send, gather in your livestock and all that you have in the field, any man or beast that is found in the field and not brought into the house the hail shall fall on them, and they will die.” (9:19) [It was precisely as a result of Hashem’s warning that Pharaoh,] following his experience of the [forewarned] barad, exclaimed, “Hashem is the righteous One.” (Parashat Vaera 20, translation and brackets my own)
 
According to this passage, Pharaoh was completely overwhelmed by Hashem’s merciful warning regarding the mortal danger that barad would entail. Nonetheless, because of his unlimited arrogance, he ignored Hashem’s adjuration, and his people suffered untold death and destruction. When he finally recognized the dire consequences of his behavior, Pharaoh had little choice but to proclaim, “Hashem is the righteous One.”
 
The Kli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, 1550-1619) takes a different approach regarding the underlying reason for makkat barad, focusing upon the question, “Why was this plague so pivotal to the Almighty’s plan?” He stresses that it was accompanied by thunder: “… Hashem gave forth thunder and hail …” (9:23), which played a crucial role in Pharaoh’s recognition of the Master of the Universe:

The makkat barad and the thunder came upon Pharaoh based upon his refusal to listen to Hashem’s voice with the proper majesty (“b’hadar”) to which it was due. Therefore, Hashem forced him to hear thunder that was both awe-inspiring and frightening in nature. As a result, here, and here alone, he confessed to his sin and declared, “Hashem is the righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones,” since [until this point,] he had denied Hashem’s existence and verbally proclaimed His non-existence. As such, Pharaoh sinned through his voice and spoke lashon hara [pejoratively] about his Creator. Consequently, he was punished through the sound of thunder…[Once, however, Pharaoh confessed his sin, Moshe declared,] “The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, in order that you know that the land is Hashem’s.” (9:29, translation, brackets and underlining my own)
 
The Kli Yakar depicts a scenario in which Pharaoh needed to be reminded of the Holy One’s existence and His ultimate majesty and power. This stands in stark contrast to one of the most stirring episodes in the early history of our people, namely Birkat Ya’akov. The first two pasukim of this section are written in the plural and serve as an introduction to everything that follows: “Ya’akov called for his sons and said, ‘Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days. Gather and listen, sons of Ya’akov, and listen to Yisrael, your father.’” (Sefer Bereishit 49:1-2) The great third-century Palestinian Talmud scholar, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, suggests this verse is teaching us that Ya’akov was about to foretell the future of the 12 Tribes, the Jewish people, and, by extension, the time of the Mashiach:
 
R. Simeon b. Lakish said: ‘And Ya’akov called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you.’ Ya’akov wished to reveal to his sons the ‘end of the days,’ whereupon the Shechinah [the Divine Presence] departed from him.” (Talmud Bavli, Pesachim 56a, translation, with my emendations, The Soncino Talmud)
 
Ya’akov initially assumed that the Shechinah had abandoned him due to some fundamental flaw in one of his children. As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish so beautifully explains:
​
Said he, “Perhaps, Heaven forefend! there is one unfit among my children, like Avraham, from whom there issued Yishmael, or like my father Yitzchak, from whom there issued Esav.” [But] his sons answered him, “Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God Hashem is One.” Just as there is only One in your heart, so is there only One in our hearts.
 
Ya’akov was so reassured by his sons’ outpouring of faith and loyalty to Hashem that he joyously declared: “Baruch shame kavode malchuto l’olam vo’ed,” a practice we continue until today when we recite the Shema.
 
May we ever choose the path of Ya’akov and his sons and embrace the Oneness of Hashem and the eternity of His Kingdom. Moreover, may our fervent tefilot help bring the Mashiach soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
 Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
They may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
A celebrated midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 17:4) teaches us that Adam was given the job of naming the animals of the world. Why was he given this responsibility? Why did Hashem simply not show him a “catalog” of the plant and animal kingdoms and tell him, when he saw this or that plant or animal, “this is the name by which it is to be called.” Why, instead, was Adam designated the active party?
 
I believe we can answer this question by noting Rabbi Eleazar’s famous dictum in Talmud Bavli, Berachot 7b regarding a person’s name:

How do we know that the name [of a person] has an effect [upon his life]?  R. Eleazar said: Scripture says, “Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth.” [Sefer Tehillim 46:9) Read not shammot (desolations), but shemot (names). (Translation, Soncino Talmud, with my emendations to enhance readability)
 
Clearly, a name is a crucial aspect, even a constitutive element, of the person or thing it denotes. If this is the case, we can now understand why Adam was given the task of naming the plants and animals of Creation. By so doing, he became a shutaf im Hakadosh Baruch Hu b’ma’aseh Bereishit—a partner with the Holy One blessed be He in the Creation of the Universe.
 
If the names of animals are so singularly important, all the more so are the names of the Creator. Unlike the rest of Creation, however, Adam did not name Hashem; rather, the Almighty, so to speak, named Himself. This is very logical, since the giving of a name suggests a certain amount of control over that which has been named, which would be an absurd notion in the context of our relationship with God, as He is wholly other.
 
The name “Hashem” appears 47 times in Sefer Bereishit, and a number of these instances take place in the context of the Holy One’s direct communication with the Avot. Fast forwarding to our parasha, Moshe asks the Almighty, “What should I tell b’nai Yisrael when they ask: ‘What is His name?’” While providing an immediate answer to Moshe’s question, it seems that the Almighty’s response simultaneously presents us with a serious exegetical challenge: “So shall you say to the children of Israel, ‘Hashem Elokai Avotachem--The Lord God of your forefathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Ya’akov, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation.’” (Sefer Shemot 3:13 and 15) This formulation appears to contradict an early verse in Parashat Vaera: “I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya’akov with [the name] A-le Shakai-Almighty God, but [with] My name Hashem, I did not become known to them.” (Sefer Shemot 6:3)
 
In his Commentary on the Torah on Sefer Shemot 6:3, Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra (1092 –1167) presents a deeply insightful resolution to our textual challenge. He opines that it was impossible for the Avot to have been unaware of the name “Hashem” per se, since, as we have noted, it is used liberally throughout Sefer Bereishit. The Ibn Ezra explains that the Avot knew this name as the shame etzem (proper name) of Hashem. They did not, however, know Hashem in terms of His actions that had yet to be performed in order to fulfill His promises. He calls this the shame toar (descriptive name) and emphasizes that this was a newly revealed aspect of God’s name. Moreover, he suggests that the true purpose inherent in Moshe’s agency was none other than: “… to make this name Hashem known [to mankind].” When viewed in this light, the name “Hashem” clearly carries the connotation of “He who fulfills that which He promises;” it was this new persona that Moshe publicized to the Jewish people, and the entire world.
 
May we be zocheh to behold Hashem’s kindness and mercy in the fulfillment of His promises to our people. May this time come soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
They may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.