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Parshat Vaera 3 Tevet 5761, 27 January 2001 |
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Parshat Vaera 3 Tevet 5761, 27 January 2001 |
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 Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vaera (Exodus 6:2 - 9:35)Efrat, Israel - Lineage, or its Hebrew-Yiddish equivalent, yichus, is one of the most over-used words in our contemporary Jewish vocabulary, especially in more religiously observant circles. "What is his background, from what type of family does she come?", is a frequent first question asked by anyone interested in effectuating a match (shidduch). This fact of life makes the Biblical textual order in our Torah portion of Vaera strangely disjointed: the lineage of Moses, liberator of Israel and probably the most important Jew in Jewish history, is not fully presented to us with the account of his birth - which would have been eminently logical since he was found in a small ark floating on the Nile river by the daughter of Pharaoh - but is rather delineated for the first time here in Vaera well into his life and ministry just before the plagues against Egypt are about to begin. At his birth we are merely told, "A man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi, and the woman conceived and bore a son" (Exodus 2:1,2)- a virtually anonymous parentage! It is only five and one-half chapters and many incidents later that a complete genealogy is presented, and then only in our Torah portion and not in the first Torah portion of the Book of Exodus. This genealogical account is a fairly complete one, beginning with the tribe of Reuven, first-born to Jacob, and culminating with the advent of Moses from the tribe of Levi : "These are Aaron and Moses, whom G-d has said are to take the children of Israel from the land of Egypt they are Moses and Aaron." (Exodus 6:14-28)Why here, why in such a detailed manner - the account begins with the children of Reuven and Shimon before we even come to Levi and then goes on to present all the various cousins from the tribe of Levi alongside of Moses. And why are the order of Moses and Aaron switched in the very same verse which we just cited? ("These are Aaron and Moses they are Moses and Aaron"?!) Rav Samson Raphael Hirsh, in his remarkable and most contemporary interpretation of the Bible, forewarns our first question by explaining that until this point Moses really had not succeeded; after all, as a result of his first encounter with Pharaoh not only were the Jews not freed - not even for a three-day respite - but their work load was made even harder. From then on, the Israelites had to gather the straw in addition to their making the bricks! It is only from this point that Moses will begin to succeed, and even produce the miracles of the Ten Plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea. The prelude to the successful Moses is the description of his genealogy. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsh adds another most significant dimension: specifically at the time of the Moses' phenomenal success and even supernatural abilities - albeit the work of the Divine but effectuated by the hand of Moses - it is critical for the Biblical text to record the wholly natural and human biological birth of our greatest prophet. "Our Moses was a human being, born to human beings, remains a human being and will never transcend his fundamental humanity" (Samson Raphael Hirsh, ad loc). Every human being, not any single prophet or even redeemer, is a child of G-d as well as of his/her mortal parents, and every human being has the potential to reach the heights of a Moses. I would take Rav Hirsh's explanation one step further, and at the same time attempt to answer the other questions we have posed. At the conclusion of last week's Torah portion, we read one of the most mysterious and problematic passages of the entire Bible. Moses is directed by G-d to say to Pharaoh, "thus says the Lord (Y-HVH), My first born son is Israel'. And I say to you, send out my son so he may serve Me, and if you refuse to send him out, I shall kill your first born son'". (Exodus 4:22, 23) And then the text continues with an almost unfathomable incident: "And it happened on the road to the inn, and G-d met him desiring to slay him. And Zipporah (Moses' wife) took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, causing it to touch his feet. And she said, "you are a bridegroom of blood for me' and He released him; then she said, A bridegroom of blood for circumcision'" (Exodus 4:24-26).What happened here? Who wanted to slay whom, and why? What causes Zipporah to become the first mohelet in Jewish history? The midrash suggests that Moses had neglected to circumcize his son, either because he had promised his Midianite father-in-law Jethro that his first born would be raised for a life of idolatry (Mechilta Yitro 1) or because he was too involved in the process of redeeming his nation to worry about his paternal religious obligations (Rashi ad loc). In either case, Moses transgressed - and the Almighty sought to punish him. Zipporah saved the situation by circumcising her son in the nick of time. This story, when understood from this perspective, contains a dire message not only for Pharaoh but especially for the Israelites. You will remember that its prelude was a warning to Pharaoh that if he refused to free G-d's first born son, Israel, his (Pharaoh's) first-born son - and the first-born son of all Egyptians - would be slain, as a measure-for measure punishment. But at the same time, the entire Book of Genesis takes a very strong stand against primogeniture, the pre-eminence of the biological first-born, and in favor of meritocracy. After all, Abraham's first-born Yishmael is overtaken by Isaac, Isaac's first-born Esau is overtaken by Jacob, and Jacob's first-born Reuven is overtaken by Joseph (or Judah, by the end of Genesis). It is achievement in life rather than placement at birth, merit rather than biology, which prevails. Hence, G-d's referral to Israel as His first-born is both compliment and challenge, Divine choice but also Divine charge. Israel must be worthy of the premiership; otherwise, it will be forfeited, as was the case with the other first-borns of the Bible. And, to make the point indubitably clear, if Moses - the chosen of G-d to lead His first-born Israel - is lax in circumcising his son, a crucial religious obligation of initiating one's progeny into Jewish fate and destiny, an act which connotes sanctifying the physical and tempering the sexual, then Moses himself will be punished by G-d. Israel will only retain its elevated status if it deserves to retain it; Israel must be committed - even to the point of shedding blood - to its national and religious ideals; G-d is a loving but demanding bridegroom. I believe that this is the true meaning of the placement of genealogy in the week's Torah portion, immediately prior to the miracles which will make him the great liberator. Moses was chosen by G-d not because of his birth placement but because of his life's achievement, not because of his biology but because of his morality. Indeed, Reuven was the eldest son - Levi was only third in line; Datan and Aviram, sons of Reuven, Zimri, the Prince of the Tribe of Shimon, and Korach the next-in-line cousin of Moses, will all rebel against Moses because they demand leadership based on genealogy. When the Bible here delineates Moses' biological roots beginning with Reuven and culminating in Moses and Aaron, it is confirming the principle of meritocracy over primogeniture; even the eldest brother Aaron must play second-fiddle to the younger and more worthy Moses. Yes, Israel may be G-d's first-born son; but in order to retain that distinction, we must behave in a manner which is worthy and distinctive. Shabbat Shalom.
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