Parshas Vaera
Our Long Term Family Relationship with God
The Lord appears to Moshe at the beginning of this week’s parsha with a
recounting of His relationship with the fathers of Israel, Avraham, Yitzchak
and Yaakov. The Talmud comments that the Lord, so to speak, complained that
it is a sadness and loss that those who were once here and alive are no
longer so. This is in connection with Moshe’s complaint to God that since
the beginning of his mission to Pharaoh and to the enslaved Jews things had
gotten far worse instead of improving.
The fathers of Israel never complained in such a fashion when faced with
their own many tests and challenges. They fully believed in God’s promise
that all would somehow turn out well for them and their descendants. Avraham
and Yitzchak saw the “place from afar” and even though they would first have
to undergo the supreme test of the akeidah – the proposed sacrifice of
Yitzchak – they also saw “from afar” the Temple and the redemption of Israel
that would take place on that very spot of Mount Moriah.
God always preaches patience and a long term outlook on events. The rabbis
preached that the wise person was one who took the long term view of one’s
actions and is cognizant of how the future will view present behavior and
ideals.
Moshe’s task in Egypt is not to be fazed by the current rather bleak scene.
Rather he himself must be able to see the future which will be better and
even more importantly to have the Jewish people share his faith and belief
in that better future. Moshe is to be held to the standard of faith of
Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.
It is interesting to note that God appears to Moshe and to the Jewish people
always as the God of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov and not as the Creator of
the universe or other attributes that can be used to identify Him. We Jews
imitate that type of description in the Amidah prayers that we recite thrice
daily by blessing You, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak and the God
of Yaakov.
Our connection to God is through our parents, our ancestors, through the
founders of our faith and people. Midrash tells us that the voice that spoke
to Moshe at the burning bush sounded in Moshe’s ears and heart as the voice
of his father Amram. As long as Jews feel that the voice of their past is
speaking to them even now they will yet have a valid connection to Godliness
and holiness.
For so many Jews this ancient and vital chord of memory has been weakened if
not even severed. God is therefore no longer a personal presence or factor
in their lives. Truly they and we should mourn over “what has been lost and
can no longer be found.”
The Lord, so to speak, is the storekeeper who has serviced generations of
our family granting them credit and sustenance and we are His latest
customers applying for further credit from Him on the basis of our long term
family relationship with Him. Truly the past lives within us.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
