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Judaism, Torah and Talmud

Themes

In order to understand the commentary and the meaning of the parasha, read first the parasha and identify the various themes, noting down the number of the verses in the spaces provided below.

The parasha describes the following episodes:

- reminder of God's plan: the people need to understand what is meant by "I am Hashem" and live with Him, in His image (Shemot 14, 4);
- Pharaoh pursues the terrified bene-Yisrael (Shemot………….);
- Hashem's response, his plan and explanation (Shemot……….);
- The crossing of the Red Sea (Shemot………….);
- Moshe's Song (Shemot………); Miriam's Song (Shemot……..);
- Marah where the waters are bitter (Shemot……..);
- The revolt of the people at Elim (Shemot………);
- The manna (Shemot………); and the quails (Shemot………..);
- The commandment to keep Shabbat and the first Shabbat (Shemot……. );
- The murmurings at Massa and Meriba (Shemot………):
- The battle against Amalek; the roles of Moshe and Joshua (Shemot……..):
- God's promise regarding Amalek and Moshe's pronouncement (Shemot…. );

The mitzva

There is only mitzva in this parasha, which is the 24th in the Torah. It commands:
Shevu ish tahtav, al yetze ish mimekomo bayom hashevii
"Abide ye, every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day" (Shemot 16, 29).

In accordance with the method which we have learnt and which has been transmitted to us by the Shla, the meaning of the parasha must be understood in relation to the mitzva which it reports. Thus we must make a link between: Shabbat, the mitzva "of not leaving one's place," and the liberation from Egypt described in this parasha.

We see that the entire parasha consists in a series of displacements which the people do not understand; we will be able to understand them, with the help of the Sages.

The peshat (literal meaning, first level)

The Sages tried to determined to what distance the restriction on movement covers on Shabbat for man and his possessions.

In the book of Mitzvot (Sefer hamitzvot), the Rambam, Maimonides said that this restriction began at a distance of over 2000 cubits, that is around 1200 meters further than the borders of a city. In Mishne Torah, he sets this distance according to the size of the encampment in the desert (12 times greater, i.e. 14 kms. 400).

The Ramban, Nahmanides, notes that these measurements are not prescribed in the written Torah but were transmitted by the oral Torah by our Sages and they understood this verse to mean that one must not carry an object from one's private domain to the public domain and vice versa during Shabbat, as is explained in Tractate Eruvin, page 48. In fact, the two issues (carrying and travel) are linked and, the distance set by the rabbis is 1200 meters from the borders of a city (see Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 376-416). One can consider the Eruv as a fusion of domains.

The ultimate goal

We must not forget what is the purpose of the liberation from Egypt: this was revealed to us in parasha Va-ayra and we must go back to it.

" This means to:

--- elevate creation which was symbolized at its highest level by Egypt (knowledge, power, management, political, theological and moral life, centered on nature and on acknowledgment of the divine powers which are called "Elokim"),

--- to a higher level through the revelation of the supreme order and power which is "Ani Hashem, I am Hashem:" this is how He reveals himself in order that the powerful shall obey him for he is a God of covenant, who listens, liberates, is near, and dwells with man, in a central place which is the land of Israel. This long sentence represents the plan described in Shemot 6, 2-8.

And Moshe's task is to convince the king of kings (Pharaoh, paro) to submit to the reality of the King of kings of kings.

" And to make of religion an exercise of the heart; this is why it is said that Pharaoh hardened his "heart." (See the phrases on the heart, at the end of this commentary).

The present goal

Our Sages note (according to Rabbenu Yaakov Abuhatsera) that:

" This program was the initial plan of creation.

" Three earlier attempts at tikkun (reparation) failed; in the generation of the Tower of Babel, in the generation of the exile and in the generation of Noah.

" The plan is taken up again by the generation of Moshe when the people prepare themselves morally by becoming the "children of Israel" and, with the will of Hashem, they descend into Egypt to make a fourth attempt at tikkun.

This is what we are told in the first verse of our parasha (Shemot 13, 17-18): the three-fold repetition of the word haam, the people refers to the three generations who failed, and at the fourth they become bene Yisrael, as shown below:

Vayekhi beshalah Paro et haam
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go,

velo naham Elohim derekh eretz plishtim ki karov hu
that God led them, not by way of the Philistines, although that was near;

ki amar Elohim pen yinnahem haam bireotam milhama veshavu mitzrayim
for God said: Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.

vayassev Elohim et haam drekh hamidbar yam suf
But God led the people about, by way of the wilderness, by the Red Sea;

vahmushim alu bene Yisrael meeretz mitzrayim
and the children of Yisrael went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

" This is why it is written that Pharaoh "let the people go," beshallah, for he was carrying out the divine order for a fourth attempt at the reparation of the creation.

Why does the mitzva relate to space ?

What is the relationship between this plan and the one mitzva in the parasha?

The Shla will help us find the answer. He bases himself on the teachings of the Sages whose explanations are too complex to be discussed at this point.

" All the space in the world could be sacred, and a place of communal habitation in holiness (kedusha) like in the garden of Eden, with the Temple as the center and as the sanctuary of the divine presence (which we will come to in the 3rd book, Vayikra, Leviticus).

" But this world, as symbolized by Pharaoh's Egypt, negative forces can dominate, except for the holy space which is found symbolically in the restricted space permitted for Shabbat. This is called Tehume-Shabbat, "the domain of Shabbat" or "domain." It corresponds to 2000 cubits. There, if one keeps to it, one increases the presence of holiness in the world and the destructive forces loses their strength in all the surrounding areas where they dominate. This is how Shabbat has saved Israel and the world.

" The Sages demonstrate the exact parallel between the word tehum and the new revelation of God's name which Moshe receives when God tells him: ehiye asher ehiye, I am that I am ; the word ehiye is repeated three times in parasha Shemot. Without going into the exact demonstration, it is clear that Moshe had to justify himself before the elders of his people and show them proof based on gematria, the mathematical value of the letters of God's name; Moshe asked for proof and received the revelation of the name Ehiye.

This is the basis of the link between

" the meaning of space in Judaism,
" its delimitation on Shabbat,
" the permission sought by Moshe to leave Egypt and enter a holy pace.

We are told this because we too must learn to live constantly in this place of holiness: this is the meaning of departure, and of all the displacements and stages described in the parasha.

This is why I called this study: "a people who journey towards God."

A problem which is eternal

- Jews always face these questions: "In what country should we live? Will we have to leave it one day? Which is my country, my place? Should we live at the center of things or in places of exile? Is it the right moment to live here or there, for my people and for myself?"

These are questions which are central for all Jews.

We must respect the dilemma of every individual and group, for no one has Moshe's clarity of vision. He stayed with the people, journeyed at their rhythm, without despising them; he did not "flee" alone to some holy place. He loved his people, accepting their doubts, mistakes and vacillations.

- The rest of the world also senses that the problem faced by Jews is one of space and that Judaism is not just a "spiritual" religion like other religions. They speak of the "wandering Jew;" they say that "they are everywhere;" they expel them and challenge their right to their land.

We see, in the parasha, that Hashem too asks himself the same question, which is contained in these two words: "where to be." Thus:

- Elokim said to Himself, at the beginning of the parasha: "lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt" (Shemot……)
- The bene Yisrael question Moshe: "Wherefore hast thou broughtest us up out of Egypt?" (Shemot……..).

Two tribes then asked permission from Moshe to settle East of the Jordan.

One does not leave

All these reasons explain the need for the commandment against leaving the place of holiness (Shabbat) once we have attained it.

The Shla points out in his commentary, that, for the same reasons, the High Priest, the Cohen Hagadol, is commanded not to leave the sanctuary (Vayikra 21, 12). An important Jewish law is that we must not descend from a level of holiness, kedusha.

The tendency to flee from happiness

Because of the tendency of Jews to be always on the move, to flee from the Garden of Eden, and because stability is hard for them, they are given numerous commandments to remain in one place and to "sit down." This is the meaning of "yeshiva" --

" the importance of praying in the same place,
" the importance of sitting down to study.

In just the same way, parents say to their children: "can't you just sit down quietly a bit instead of constantly jumping around."

Instability is life, but it also reflects an inner difficulty in understanding oneself.

(Advanced students can refer to the following sources on "yeshiva" ; Taanite 8 a, Yoma 28 b, Tanhuma 58, 3 and Tana debe Eliahu rabba 3, 13 and 18.)

When a Jew is troubled and wants to flee, it is because he does not know how to live simultaneously in the two domains to which he belongs and which are really only one: the sacred and the secular.

Thus we see the intense debate which is currently splitting the nation of Israel, the split between hilonim (secular) and datiim (religious).

- The term hilonim in Hebrew does not mean "secular" as in English but means "foreign, external": to be here or not to be here, to be from here or not to be from here, or how to "leave," these are the questions that confront Jews. The term dati, is also a wrong term, for it portrays "religion" as a closed cult, which is not Judaism: Judaism is a global culture, an anthropological vision that involves the development of the whole world.

- The problem is also reflected in our names. Should we keep or not keep our original names, particularly our Jewish first name for this immediately reveals "who we are."

- Then there is the question of whether or not to cover one's head, which is also a spatial identification of ourselves as Jews.

- The question of whether to affix or not the spatial sign of Jews, the mezuza.

" The question of kashrut: should one eat or not in a kosher restaurant and be seen to be different.

Behind all this is the question, "to be or not to be," for choosing "to be" means to live in a space; it means choosing between a cultural life or cultural suicide. It means: "I have set before thee life and death….therefore choose life"(Devarim 30, 19).

I am not trying here to offer solutions to others. We are simply studying the parasha together, and discussing questions which are eternal for Jews.

The fundamental problem -- double allegiance

Other nations are not mistaken when they refer to the issue of the double allegiance of Jews for Jews are always torn between the place they share with others, and their historical, holy place, which is that of the Creator, his covenant and his revelation. Our parasha poses all of these questions.

The question as put by the Creator in the parasha

Often physical illnesses are the manifestations of real problems, but we know that these are confused, unhealthy manifestations.

In contrast, the parasha wants to show us how Hashem poses the problem of place and makes it clear.

Beshallah 13, 20-21 says: "And they took they journey from Succot and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And Hashem went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; that they might go by day and by night."

The bene Yisrael asked themselves the problem from a horizontal perspective (where to live, here or there?) while Hashem poses it differently:

1. first, in time when he says: be simultaneously day and night, walk in day-night, and he adds, to the day, the cloud of night, and, to the night, he adds the fire of day.
2. then he asks the question in another way: wherever you will be, your problem will be the same for "I am the place of the world," the makom.

We already encountered this attention to two simultaneous elements in Bo, the preceding parasha, which dealt with the new moon and the need to determine the emergence of the new light in the midst of darkness. Now, in this parasha, the Torah teaches us that this is done, not in static contemplation, but during the walk of life. I recall someone who painted his face at Purim, reflecting simultaneously day and night, as though to say: this is what a Jew is: "night and morning, the first day."

The movement which led people away from Judaism 2000 years ago abandoned this concrete, spatial dimension as the place of holiness, believing that the end of time had come and that the spatial circumcision (mila) was no longer necessary. But mila also means "word" and it is therefore the vehicle for the Torah. The abandonment of this union of heart, body, space, time and knowledge led to countless tragedies in human history. This is because men lose their sense of direction when they do not let themselves be guided by the Torah. The constant self-inquiry, which characterizes the Jewish people, has repercussions on all of humanity.

Just like the Jews of 2000 years ago, the Israeli Jew of today also confronts this problem and the complex challenge of time and space, but he mainly tries to resolve it in a one-dimensional way, takhless, practically, concretely and immediately, and refuses to confront the complexity of life and of thought. Or else, he escapes in a whirlwind of trips around his central place.

The history of the Jews is the history of all these ways of being, from the time when Avraham understood that Jerusalem is the center of everything and from the time Moshe took us out of Egypt to return to this place, after the experiment of Egypt.

The duality of life and of space

The "life'of a Jew based on tradition should not be susceptible to superficial, external influences.

" Life, in Hebrew, is hayim (lives), in the double/plural, for life is double;
" Similarly, Jerusalem Yerushalayim, the goal of the journey of the Jews, also has the double form (the ayim represents more than just the plural; it is a pairing), for Jerusalem is double: heavenly and terrestrial, Jerusalem of the present and of the "rebirth" to come, as notes the Rosh, Baal haTurim on Bereshit 22, 14. Unfortunately the English word "Jerusalem" reduces it to one dimension, that of the present.
" If Jerusalem loses this double character and is reduced to just Jerusalem, then it is natural that it will become the possession of those who are most powerful;
" But if it remains double, Yerushalayim, then it is eretz hakodesh, the Holy land, and not "my" land, or "my" refuge.

One should re-read the Rashi's first commentary on the Torah in order to understand the Jewish concept of our country.

We can then understand how those who are unaware of this, view this space as a cake which can be split into sections through negotiations based the new world religion, which is the rights of man and nations. In actual fact, no other would allow this to be done to its territory. Only Jews feel guilty about their rights, partly as a result of 20 centuries of oppression and partly because of the interest taken by the rest of the world in this land. The problem is not simple, particularly as a large part of the Jewish people, even those who live in Israel, are ignorant of the traditional meaning of their land.

The situation is complicated by the clash between national identities, especially when one people -- the Palestinians -- use their identity as their instrument of war and conquest, whereas most Jews feel guilty about using the same instrument. (350,000 Palestinians assembled in one day to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem: how many Jews came to pray at the Western Wall?)

It was quickly apparent to Moshe that his call to leave Egypt caused many difficulties and aroused considerable resistance and opposition to him.

Halakha

The Zohar interprets Shemot 13, 21, where Hashem gives us the duality of day-night, as placing us internally at the intersection of two directions: "Hashem went before them, as a column of cloud in the day in order to guide them, and at night as a column of fire in order to illuminate them so that they could walk in day and night." Let's examine this interpretation closely.

Jews are a people who are always "walking." This is the meaning of the word halakha which is not a code of religious rules but a light for Jews as they walk forward. Even when Jews are studying, they move!

The Zohar begins by quoting from Psalm 22,1 "ayelet shahar" (the doe of the dawn). A Jew must be try to live like the nimble doe, who is so pure and close to nature that when she sets off, she awakens the dawn of all creation. Why the dawn? We shall find out. (Refer to the commentary on Yom Kippur for the symbol of the doe.)

The Zohar continues by saying that a man who studies the Torah is loved in the world above and in this world. This is so because the Torah, which is the source of life of these two worlds, has a relationship of love with both of them, and with the man who study the Torah and love it. Hashem listens to this man and never abandons him, not in this world, nor in the world to come.

A Jew lives therefore at the intersection of these relationships and, if he accepts them, he receives life at every level of existence and ipso facto brings life at all these levels to the rest of the world. This is the role of the Jew, of the tzaddik, in the world. This is also the basis of the traditional view that a person who studies Torah has a collective role - that of sustaining and improving the world.

Then, to support its thesis, the Zohar quotes a verse from the beginning of the book of Yehohua (Joshua) which is linked to the verse from our parasha: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein day and night, vehagita bo yomam valayla" (Yehoshua 1, 8).

Hashem spoke thus to Yehoshua, following the death of Moshe, and told him to live in a state of "day-night," just as He taught the Children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, to walk with Him "day and night."

The Torah teaches us here why it is so important and urgent for Hashem to tell this to man, and we need to understand the reason. The Zohar explains this step by step.

Most men only live by day - the domain of the surface - and sleep by night, like the animals. Jews say that the day is only complete if it is linked to the night (Bereshit 1, 5: "and the evening and the morning were the first day"). Similarly man is only complete when he integrates the clear and the obscure into one entity, and when he succeeds in walking continually in these two dimensions, whether by day or by night.

The Torah, all heart

If he lives this way, like Yehoshua or like the Children of Israel in the desert, then a Jew lives in harmony with the name of God, who created this dual world, just as the Torah begins with the letter beit, which is 2.

Commenting on this parasha, Rabbenu Bahya says that the whole of the Torah, from beginning to end, is heart, lev: from the first letter (beit) to the last (lamed), which together form the world "heart, lev) and link the first word of creation (Bereshit) with the last word (Yisrael). As tradition says "lefi aniut deati, with the poverty of my mind," I see in the Hebrew word "lb" which is pronounced lev, a lamed of direction "to/towards" and a goal, which is beit, 2. The heart-lev does not mean to possess, it means to orient oneself towards the other person, as is written: "ani le dodi vedodi lo, my beloved is mine and I am his" (Song of Songs, 2, 16).

Practicing this art

It is for this reason that we are advised to get up at midnight, the moment of 2, of the meeting place between day and night, and study for it is at this moment when the union of the two worlds is at its height. This is expressed in the last but one verse of the Song of Songs: "Thou (feminine) that dwellest in the gardens, the companions (masculin) hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it." Many such metaphors of conjugal union are applied to the happy union that takes place in study between a Jew-Israel and his Creator.

Then there is the phase of darkness and fatigue before the morning when, once more, there is union through the dawn, when Hashem gives us the gift of light with the 18 blessings of the morning, and the long prayer of Shaharit which reconstructs our beings.

The text says that in this way a Jew is with Him, which is indicated in the letter vav in the phrase: "and Hashem went before them, ve hashem olekh lifneihem." The examples of the patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov and David (who are known as the "4 wheels of the chariot of the shekhina") show us to what extent they themselves achieved this fullness of life - journeying with Hashem. This is why they always accompany Hashem, for we need them as guides.

The Zohar ends its commentary by noting that the bene Yisrael walked day and night, not because they were fleeing or were lost, for God was protecting them, but because this type of march, in the union of the two worlds, leads to perfection and peace, according to the Hebrew meaning of shalom, which does not mean "peaceful," but means whole. There is no completeness in the superficial light of the day alone, nor in the deep darkness of the night alone, but only in the union of day-night.

This parasha shows how Hashem teaches us how to walk in the true, double dimension of life, just like a kindergarten teacher supports a small child in his first steps.

Application in our own lives

In contrast, the modern media and our consumer society, take us in the opposite direction: instead of a continual walk in both day and night, we are placed passively in front of a newspaper and television screen and told that every purchase, vacation, program, material possession or fashionable outfit will fill our lives with joy and bring us instant happiness.

The Torah dares to respond: "lies, for you are only selling air, paint and plaster."

The Torah tells Jews:

" not to go in this false direction (for not everyone has the power of Moshe to confront falsehood and we are not accompanied by Aaron and his words of prophecy), as expressed in the first verse of the Psalms: "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly;"
" to dare to cross the wilderness of poverty and change at every level, in order to renew ourselves and continue in the path of God;
" to accept as normal the complex union of darkness and light in our lives, which can take various forms in the different stages of our lives;
" to study the Torah, as a dialogue where questions are constantly posed and discussed;
" to constantly walk in this path of study;
" and to be, as God said to Yehoshua, "strong and brave" (hazak veematz) as was Moshe; indeed, these words, which are repeated three times to Yehoshua, represent the way of life of Jews and are linked to the numerical value of Moshe's name, as well as to that of Hashem.

A Torah of life

The Torah defines for us the basis of life. We can accept it or reject it, but we cannot say we it has not been given to us, nor can we say that it is not suited to reality or to the fundamental needs of human existence or to thinking men.

Mediocre, like many of the bene Yisrael, out of impatience or fear, we are quick to flee and reject this proposition and the truth of the Torah. In response Moshe told us (Shemot 14, 13-14):
"Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of Hashem, which He will work for you today; for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians today, ye shall not see them again no more for ever. Hashem will fight for you (Hashem yilahem lakhem), and ye shall hold your peace! (veatem tahrishun)."

Moshe responded to our fears with firmness, authority and reassurance.

What is his reassurance? This is his solution: yes, there will be a battle, but if you live with Him, simultaneously day and night, then Hashem himself will fight through us or at out sides in all the battles, day or night.

Moshe ends his response with the imperative: "and ye shall hold your peace!"

Today

What we are told is that we should live simultaneously a double dimension in the immediate present, which is called hayom, "in this day, today." The word hayom is full of meaning in the Torah, the prophets, the Psalms, the prayers and in the symbolism of its letters.

Hayom is the optimistic, joyful space-time of Jews; it is the place of strength and creativity in the walk of life; it is the place where one hears the harmony of nature and creation.

Who would not wish to hear for all time, and at every moment, the words of the Shema: "hayom im shamoa" (n this day, if you listen to me), the Song of Songs, the Psalms, the love letter which we read and reread and which is the Torah, the song of Moshe and the song of Miriam.

This involves the extraordinary union of black and white, of light and darkness which join together, like the wondrous Hebrew calligraphy of Shemot, ch. 15

And if this march of unity begins between man and the Creator, it can continue with others.

The sanctuary

The person who lives in this unity of day and night, which is both hidden and revealed, and is connected to Hashem, will see the world as an enormous sanctuary where, as in the morning prayer, the different sides of man, the soul and the nefesh, express themselves and praise God: "barekhi nafshi, bless my soul."

The encounter

The encounter with the other must be done in this place, where the other is accepted in both his or her dimensions.
But this meeting is not easy: Paro (Pharaoh) plays his part and Amalek, from generation to generation, tries to exterminate Israel. The Pesah Haggada forces us to repeat this over and over again, until we achieve liberation. The important thing is to live the encounter "today."

We must never withdraw and lament that "others will always persecute us, they are by nature evil." And others should never say: "you believe you are a superior people." To be loved and to have been given the Torah has nothing to do with superiority: it is simply a responsibility which we have been given.

Responsibility

In addition to our moral obligation, we have the advantage of knowing all that happened in the past and we have received, in a direct transmission since the beginning, every historical and existential detail of this truth.

The problem then is one of being faithful, as in love.

Judaism is not a spiritual religion; it is a process of continual creation and creation renewed, it is an eternal song to creation. Jews are not just an ethnic group with special rituals and codes.

What the Torah teaches us explicitly is that Hashem, the Creator, walks with us and that, if we accept these complex dimensions of life, we can walk with Him.

It also teaches us that we are wasting our strength by demanding, complaining, criticizing, and doubting, and that we should use it in order to learn how to hear the messages of love which the Creator gives us hayom.

A Jew is never alone; this is why he has had the strength to survive throughout centuries. .

He traverses them like a woman traverses a pregnancy; this is why Moshe's Song is recounted in the feminine voice (shira) and only when the story is finished and maturity attained, does the Song end and a new one (a masculine one), shir (shiru lashem shir haddash) begins. Read Psalm 96. The change from shira to shir corresponds, according to Rabbenu Bahya, to the difference in the Tanakh between the terms yeshua and yeshuot.

Why so many stages?

We are told that the promised gift of completeness is not given to us once, but requires many stages. This is in order to:

" give us reassurance (bitahon)
" test us in order to see whether we truly want to walk with Hashem
" test the quality of our heart.

More than anything, Moshe tells us to be silent, so that we will hear the battles waged for us by Hashem. "Hashem will fight for you, Hashem yilahem lakhem, and ye shall hold your peace! Veatem tahrishun."

A proposition

Look at the picture of the place which is the center of all this: Yerushalayim, which we can see and feel hayom, today (click on Jerusalem, on the front page of the site, or on the images of flowers).

May Yerushalayim be shalem soon. Amen ken yehi ratzon.

Exercises

1. Now re-read the parasha in the perspective of what we have described.
2. Begin to read the Pesah Haggada from the same point of view.
3. List the themes you see in the parasha and the points most relevant to you.
4. Discuss them with those close to you.
5. Memorize the following words:
place, makom
domain, tehum
holiness, kedusha
sanctuary, mikdash
sitting position, yeshiva
day, yom
night, layla
day and night, yomam valayla

6. Memorize these expressions relating to the heart:
VaHashemyire lalevav
But Hashem looketh on the heart. (I Samuel 16, 7)

Hakadosh Barukh Hu liba bae
Hakadosh demands the heart. (Sanhedrin 106 b and Rashi, in Arameic).

Ikar hateorah cula teluya balev
The essence of the Torah, is based on the heart. (Rabbenu Bahya, Introduction to parasha Beshallah)

7. Look up

Abuhatzera
Rambam
Ramban
Tikkun
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