Parashat Beshalah 5770
The Profound Word
Howard S. Joseph
http://TheProfoundWord.com
The Warrior
The Exodus is over but not over. Pharaoh decides to pursue Israel and try to bring them back. Not until the great adventure at the sea does the final blow against Egypt complete the Exodus. The great warrior God has permanently defeated the enemy. They are finished with Egypt.
The crossing of the sea is commemorated on the seventh day of Passover. Unlike the events in Egypt proper it does not engender its own practices. It is the final part, the last battle. The war is over.
So now we will look at how these events will be remembered and commemorated, how they will remain in the consciousness of the people.
The Egyptian experience inspires many social attitudes and practices. On the basis of the suffering we knew we should not inflict this on others. We know the soul of the stranger and therefore must treat strangers with care. We know the vulnerability of the weak and therefore must protect the weaker members of society: the widow, orphan and stranger.
Now let us look at what some of what we might call the ceremonial programs that are established zekher liyetziat mizrayim, in remembrance of the Exodus.
We return to chapter 13:1-16. In the Masoretic text this appears as two paragraphs. They are found in the Tefilin boxes [phylacteries] and recited by many communities after donning the Tefilin.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
- 2. Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast; it is mine.
3. And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for with strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
4. This day you came out in the month of Abib [Spring].
5. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring you into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall perform this service in this month.
6. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven seen in all your quarters.
8. And you shall tell your child in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt.
9. And it shall be for a sign to you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord?s Torah may be in your mouth; for with a mighty hand has the Lord brought you out of Egypt.
- 10. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.
11. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it to you,
12. That you shall set apart to the Lord all that opens the womb, and every firstling that comes of a beast which you have; the males shall be the Lord?s.
13. And every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break his neck; and all the firstborn of man among your children shall you redeem.
14. And it shall be when your child asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? that you shall say, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of slavery;
15. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh refused to let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast; therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.
- 16. And it shall be for a sign upon your hand, and for frontlets between your eyes; for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt.
Neziv again seizes upon the expression “strength of hand” which appears three times in this section, as well as the phrase “a mighty hand.” Somehow this passage is connected to the previous use of those terms
Neziv also looks at the broader question: why are so many activities directed here and elsewhere towards the remembrance process? True enough the Exodus story is the foundational one for the nation. But, one must admit that we are called upon to remember and celebrate it quite often.
Finally, Neziv is surprised that Moses took so long to reach the issue of the bekhor [first-born] which is what God asked him to do. He introduces many other matters until he arrives a the rules for the bekhor. Let us see how he understands the continuing process of creating the Nation of Israel, the theme of this book.
The subject here is that after the Torah advised [12,51]us that Israel left Egypt “al tzivotam,” [which seems to suggest an orderly and purposeful military formation- hsj] unlike a mass liberation of slaves in which each person is for him-or herself with no connection to the others to form a united group appearing as an independent nation. Israel, however, was liberated to be as a military formation united for a purpose.
Now the union formed by any independent people cannot survive unless they have strong leadership to help them face up to outside forces as well as destructive internal opinions which can destroy all blessings and strength. Israel, too, its name and purpose cannot survive in the world without strength of arm [hozek yad] to fight with the many nations who wish to remove us from our purpose and against the forces of desire and greed that can destroy the collective.
The strength of any nation lies in three things.
- 1. The sovereign and its flags. That is that there is a collective agreement [a social contract] to submit to the will of the king and to give their minds and bodies to elevate the glory of the kingdom. The king, too, must watch out for anything that can disturb the peace of the kingdom.
- 2. The heads of the army and the army. It is not the practice of a king to appear always before the army to instruct them and lead them. Therefore, they must appoint officers who can capably lead the army according their abilities. They too have to prepare and strengthen themselves. Those who do not focus and prepare properly are negligent in their work and are actually allies of the enemy.
3.Proper armaments with which to fight.
All this applies to the spiritual regime of Israel which is its only purpose in the world. Whether we are in our Holy Land or in exile these three elements are our “strength of arm.”
1. Accepting Heaven’s [God's] Sovereignty by submission to God’s service and will and to give our lives and means for God’s honor. We are to believe that God provides directly for us, His people, as we often see so clearly. From this we must believe that this is so, even when it appears that God hides His face from us.
- The leaders of Israel who are able to discern the will of God and to fight God’s battles. All Israel is bound to honor and revere them and to follow their guidance in matters that affect the survival of the nation…. When in our land and certainly in exile we must appoint capable leaders who wish to give themselves to this difficult task. If those capable of leadership do not put themselves fully to God’s service and leading Israel to it, they thereby are harming the collective. In Midrash Ruth there is a comment on the verse ?our chieftains will be firmly established? [Psalm 144:14]: At the moment in which the great ones of Israel [gedolei yisrael] do not care for Israel’s needs, the Blessed |Holy One begins judgment against Israel’s elders.
- Armaments. This is the Torah which is called the sword of Israel as is written in many places and we will explain further.
These are the three constituents of “strength of hand” of Israel.
Neziv presents the above comments in reference to the bekhor, the first-born, who were initially expected by the Torah to provide the leaders of the people. In telling Moses to “Sanctify to me all first-born,” God was asking for Moses to instruct them about their responsibility and train them for their role. They were to be part of the hozek yad of the new nation.
Then Neziv adds:
So too one who is set aside from the womb [for the task] must still prepare for it by learning for the battle of Israel that is the Torah. This is as any military chief. Besides all training in knowledge and in matters that do not apply to ordinary soldiers the chief must be proficient in weaponry like any soldier. So too all leaders of Israel. Besides possessing high intelligence and other abilities in the ways of the world, and patience in leading the community and similar good qualities which are not necessary for other talmidei hakhamim [Torah scholars] who carry the sword of Israel [the Torah], they need to excel in Torah matters [the sword of Israel] as well.
Now God says: “it is mine” [li hu], the first-born belongs to Me. Neziv comments:
Why did God choose them in particular? He acquired them when they were in danger of death [from the plague of the First Born] on the night of the Exodus. Therefore, it is upon them to be separate from ordinary worldly affairs and to involve themselves with service of God and service as leaders of Israel. Because of this God sanctified them in the womb so they will be prepared for this; this is the word of God.
Then Moses added to God’s word on his lips to explain to the first-born as well as to all Israel the necessity and purpose of all this so they should not say that the Blessed Holy One did this only for His glory when He acquired them by saving them so that Israel may wonder why does the Holy Blessed One ask for a reward, God forbid. After all, all belongs to God. Therefore, Moses explains that this [selection of the first-born] is for hozek yad, to strengthen the hand of Israel to face the future. This is the general concern of this section.
Therefore we must realize that these two paragraphs are among the fundamental principles of our faith similar to the first two paragraphs of Shema [Shema and veHaya]. The latter are fundamentals for each individual. The former are fundamentals for the entire Israelite nation so that they should know the basis of their existence in the world.
Well, now we understand why all these four paragraphs contain the instruction to be bound upon the arm and placed between the eyes and, of course, are placed in the Tefilin.
Alas, God’s intention for the bekhor did not work out. Their special place was removed after the Golden Calf episode and given over to the tribe of Levi who produced the priestly functionaries. Other leaders emerged from other tribes and eventually political leadership emerged from Judah. However, Neziv believes that the responsibilities here outlined are lessons for any of those who would emerge for the new nation.
Neziv continues at length to comment on this section explaining the various Passover practices as well as Tefilin as fitting into these goals. We will save these profound comments for another occasion.
Shabbat Shalom
Hayyim Shemuel Yosef
Shevat 15 5770
January 30, 2010
A weekly parashah essay based on the writings of Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehudah Berlin, the Neziv, in Ha’amek Davar [HD] and Harhev Davar [HRD]. Please feel free to distribute this material for educational purposes. All rights reserved.