The descent of the children of Israel to Egypt is parallel to the story of the Garden of Eden and one of the deepest mysteries in the Torah. After God chose Abraham to be the father of the holy nation, one of the first things He told him is that his children would have to go into this painful exile.
And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, behold, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him. 13 And He said to Abram: ‘Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
There is a principle in the Torah that the greatest Godliness is hidden in the darkest places. The Kabbalah teaches that this is because the darkness also protects the Godly light. If this light was not hidden in the darkness its power would be used by the side of evil, and then evil would have unstoppable power in the world. In other words, this Godly light remains in certain dark and hidden places as potential to be awakened to Godly purpose. This light is hidden in souls and physical objects. When the souls and physical objects are trapped within a world that is dedicated to purposes opposite to God, its power remains trapped. This light and power is freed when it enters the service of God and the purpose of Creation, as we shall see in detail in the story of the Exodus.
After the defeat of Nimrod the power of idolatry gained its greatest expression in Egypt. There the pharaohs possessed tremendous knowledge of the secrets of the universe. Like Nimrod, they built the pyramids to draw down the power of the heavens for their personal glorification, power and tyranny over their fellow men.
The great pyramid of Giza, for example, remains to this day the largest man-made structure on earth. Despite its immense size it is situated so perfectly in alignment with true north that compasses are set in accordance with it, rather than the other way around. Every detail of the pyramid is designed as a mathematical model of the northern hemisphere, as well as the geometrical ratios of pi and the golden mean. In a documentary about the pyramid, an engineer responsible for moving large freight was asked what it would take to move a single stone from which the pyramid is built. The engineer said that to move a stone of such size and weight would take the largest crane in the world and a month preparation. This is what it would take to move one stone today with all our modern technology. And yet somehow, these ancient people had technology and power to build the largest structure on earth composed of thousands of such stones.
Egypt possessed also the deepest wisdom about the heavens and idolatry. Herodotus the father of Greek history writes that all Greek knowledge of the gods comes from Egypt. In other words, all the life force and wisdom of Greece was first in Egypt. But with all this great wisdom, Egypt was also a place of tremendous sexual immorality and cruelty. The Pharaoh’s created a civilization where all kinds of pleasure were permitted, and this pursuit of selfish pleasure in its various forms turned mankind away from the holy purpose of Creation. Yet it is precisely in this place where the power of the light of God was hidden and waiting to be released.
Joseph
The decent of the Children of Israel to Egypt began when the sons of Jacob sold their brother into slavery. Jacob had two wives Leah and Rebecca, and two handmaidens, Bilah and Zilpah, who gave him his twelve sons. Joseph was the first son of Rebecca, Jacob’s true love.
Joseph was very special in Jacob’s eyes because he saw that he would fulfill the mission of his own twin brother Esau who had failed to accept the service of God. The Kabbalah teaches that there were supposed to be four patriarchs, not only three. Esau was supposed to be the fourth and to marry Leah. Because he did not do his job, Jacob had to take on both tasks. The task of Esau was to go out and bring the teaching of God into the world, unlike Jacob who would remain in the tents of study in the land of Israel. Jacob saw that his son Joseph would fulfill the mission of Esau, and he gave him special attention and teachings that the other sons did not receive.
Joseph shared with his brothers and father his dream that the sun and moon and all the stars would bow down to him.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said to them: ‘Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves came round about, and bowed down to my sheaf.’ 8 And his brethren said to him: ‘Shall you indeed reign over us? or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said: ‘Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream: and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.
Joseph’s brothers were unable to acknowledge that their younger brother was the true Tzaddik of the generation. They were jealous of him, and the fact that Jacob had chosen him over them to receive his teaching, symbolized in his multi-colored coat. The brothers were each great and merited to be the father of the tribes of the children of Israel. However, they were not on the spiritual level of their brother Joseph. Joseph who possessed the divine gift of dream interpretation understood what his dream symbolized. The dream told him that his brothers must bow to him and his level of spiritual purity and righteousness in order for them to reach their own great levels. He also knew that if they would, it would bring the redemption.
The brothers were each struggling with their own particular temptations from their lower natures. They had yet to reach the level to overcome and acknowledge Joseph. Instead, the brothers justified their own failings and jealousy by their belief that Joseph was another Esau, a killer and megalomaniac who was a threat to the holy mission of their family. Consequently they decided to rid themselves of him. Initially they decided to kill him, but their brother Yeudah convinced them to sell him into slavery.
Joseph was taken down to Egypt by Arab traders who then sold him to the house of Potiphar, a minister of the Pharaoh. Joseph was blessed by Hashem and the works of his hands prospered and Potiphar gave him control of all his belongings, except his wife. His wife, however, desired Joseph and sought to seduce him. Although Potiphar’s wife was one of the most beautiful women, in the world, Joseph resisted this tremendous temptation time after time.
What kind of man could be given so much power and resist taking it all for himself? It is the way of men of power to only want more. The path of the Torah is one of restraint and boundaries — to do what is righteous. Joseph maintained his self-control in the face of the temptation to take Potiphar’s entire house and his wife for himself. It is because of this remarkable self-control over the forces of sexuality separated from his land and his people that earned Joseph the title of Tzaddik. In fact, he is the only person in the entire Five Books of Moses called Tzaddik.
Potiphar’s wife, however, stole Joseph’s clothes and feigned that he tried to rape her. Consequently, Joseph was thrown into jail for twenty-two years. Joseph was finally released by the Pharaoh who had heard from his ministers of his ability to interpret dreams. The Pharaoh told Joseph of his dreams, and Joseph explained how they portend of seven years of rich harvest and seven of famine. He also advised Pharaoh to prepare for the famine buy setting up storehouses. The Pharaoh recognized Joseph’s wisdom and immediately made him second in power to himself over all of Egypt.
The famine finally came and forced the brothers to come to Egypt. We cannot imagine the awful suffering that Joseph must have experienced, sold buy his very brothers as a slave at the age of seventeen, exiled from his land, suffering decades in prisons. And yet Joseph did not seek revenge. He saw the hand of God in all the suffering that he experienced. He saw that all that happened to him was for the ultimate good of his family, even though it had appeared to be the exact opposite.
The famine had occurred as God had revealed to Joseph, and the entire Mediterranean world was now dependent upon the storehouses of grain that Joseph had built for survival. All of Egypt sold themselves into slavery for bread. Through Joseph, the Tzaddik, the entire world was saved from starvation. If he had not come to bring this advice to Pharaoh, his family would have all died from hunger.
When the famine reached the Land of Canaan, Jacob sent his children to Egypt to buy the food they needed for their survival. He sent all his sons except for the second son from his wife Rachel, Benjamin, Joseph’s only other full brother. The brothers came before Joseph in order to purchase grain and other supplies. The brothers did not recognize that Zaphenaeth-Panea (Joseph’s Egyptian name), with his magnificent clothes and servants, the grand Viceroy of all Egypt, was in fact their brother Joseph. However, Joseph did recognize them.
Joseph questioned them to find out if his father and brother were still alive. The ordinary man would have sought out revenge for the terrible suffering he had endured, the time bound in slavery and in prison. But Joseph saw the hand of God in all that had happened to him. Instead of revenge, he designed a drama to force his brothers to see the wrong they had done, and to give them the opportunity to do true repentance – to return to God.
Joseph charged them with being spies. The brothers protested and told him that they were simple shepherds from the Land of Canaan. In order to prove this Joseph commanded them to leave one brother in his custody and to return with their youngest brother Benjamin. When they returned, they explained all that had happed to Jacob. Jacob refused to let them return with Benjamin for fear of losing another son. However, as the famine continued he was forced to allow him to go. In return, Judah vowed before his father that he would give his own sons if he did not return with Benjamin.
When the brothers returned to Egypt, they bought their provisions and they packed up their mules and headed out to return home. However, Joseph had one of his servants plant his goblet in the bags of Benjamin. The brothers then were confronted by Joseph’s guards but the brothers denied that they took the goblet, which Joseph was said to divine from. The brothers vowed that if one of them were found with the goblet that he could be put to death. The guards found the goblet in Benjamin’s pack and took him away to jail. Judah could not bare it and risked his life to come before Zaphenaeth-Panea and beg for mercy for his father. Judah explained how precious Benjamin was to his father and the vow that he himself took to protect his brother. He begged Zaphenaeth-Panea to take him for his prisoner and slave in exchange for his brother. Joseph saw now that his brothers had done true repentance.
As Judah said these words, Joseph could not restrain his emotions. He cleared the room of all his servants, turned to his brothers and cried:
I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?
Whereas they were willing to sell him into slavery so many years before, now Judah, the leader of the brothers was willing to give himself into slavery to save his brother Benjamin, who now stood in the place of Joseph in the house of Jacob. True repentance means that when we are faced with the same circumstances as when we did wrong, in this second time, we choose the right path. Joseph designed a drama that would allow his brothers this opportunity to do true repentance. He did this for the benefit of their souls and also so that the brothers could reunite with him in peace free of guilt from the past.
The entire book of Genesis begins with Adam and his sin. The consequence of this sin was the envy and rivalry that led to Cain’s murder of Abel, an event that reflects the evil of strife that had entered into mankind as a consequence of Adam’s sin. This theme is continued with the rivalry of Isaac’s children Jacob and Esau, and then between Jacob’s sons. However, the book of Genesis ends with Joseph overcoming his anger and seeing the hand of God, and bringing peace into his family. Consequently, Joseph brings his father and all his children to Egypt to protect them from the long famine. The Pharaoh gave them the land of Goshen where they tended their flocks and lived in prosperity under Joseph’s protection.
Joseph became the Tzaddik who is the foundation of the world, as his dream prophesied. He controlled the food supply of the entire Mediterranean region, and amassed all the wealth. In the end, not only did his family have to bow down to him, but the entire world had to bow to him. The entire world was created for Adam, and the entire world saved on account of Noah; and then all blessings were given to the world in the merit of Abraham. In the story we see that the entire world is saved in the merit of the righteousness of Joseph, who was able to go down into the darkness of Egypt and remain true to the path of life taught to him by his holy father Jacob.
Moses
The astrologers of Pharaoh prophesied that a child would be born among the Jews that would destroy the house of Pharaoh. In order to protect themselves the Pharaoh decreed that every male child born to the Hebrews must be drowned in the Nile. Jethro, the High Priest of Midian together with the Prophet and magician Balaam and Job were consulted by Pharaoh as to the means for exterminating the children of Israel.
Moses was born to Amram and Yocheved. Amram was the grandson of Levi, the family of priests among the children of Jacob. When Moses was born the entire house was filled with light. Tradition also tells us that Moses was born fully circumcised, a sign of the remarkable purity and Godliness of his life that was of miracles transcending nature.
When the family could no longer hide Moses from the Egyptians, they decided to place him in a basket and relied on the Divine protection that the child had hoping that he would be saved. His sister Miriam followed the basket down the Nile and watched as a daughter of Pharaoh rescued the child and decided to raise him in the house of Pharaoh. Miriam then offered to have her mother come nurse the child for her.
Pharaoh’s daughter named the baby Moses because she drew him out of the water. (In Hebrew the name is Moshe, which is based on the root word meaning “to draw forth.”) Torah is said to be like water, in that it is the source of life and the only thing which can quench the thirst of the soul. Moses, therefore, is that child who is drawn forth from the true water, which is the infinite ocean of Torah Wisdom.
A midrash relates that
Moses was a very large child at the age of three; and it was at this time that, sitting at the king’s table in the presence of several princes and counselors, he took the crown from Pharaoh’s head and placed it on his own. The princes were horrified at the boy’s act; and the soothsayer said that this was the boy who they had predicted would destroy the kingdom of Pharaoh and liberate Israel. Balaam and Jethro were at that time also among the king’s counselors. Balaam advised the king to kill the boy at once; but Jethro (other sources say it was Gabriel in the guise of one of the king’s counselors) said that the boy should first be examined, to see whether he had sense enough to have done such an act intentionally. All agreed with this advice. A shining piece of gold together with a hot coal was placed on a plate before the boy, to see which of the two he would choose. The angel Gabriel then guided his hand to the coal, which he took up and put into his mouth. This burned his tongue, causing him to stutter; but it saved his life.
Moses was raised a royal prince in the house of Pharaoh. He was thus unique among all his fellow Hebrews. He was given a complete Egyptian education in the arts of geometry, astronomy and astrology, the secret sciences of nature, and the metaphysical secrets of the Egyptian idolatrous priests.
Moses was caught between two worlds. Unlike all the other children of Israel, Moses had the freedom to choose the life of an Egyptian or a Hebrew, that is, a royal Egyptian prince or a Hebrew slave. The pivotal moment in his life when this choice is made is presented in the Torah.
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together; and he said to him that did the wrong: ‘Wherefore smitest you your fellow?’ 14 And he said: ‘Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? thinkest you to kill me, as you didst kill the Egyptian?’ And Moses feared, and said: ‘Surely the thing is known.’ 15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian;
Moses chose to not only identify with his people and their suffering, but he took action to defend them. He killed the Egyptian taskmaster and defended “one of his brethren.” The Torah does not name the Hebrew in order to show that it did not matter who was being attacked. Moses sought to defend all of his people, the trait of a true leader.
A similar theme is told in a famous story about Moses after he fled to Midian and married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro.
One day while watching his flock Moses noticed that a small lamb had gone astray. Moses spent many days looking for the lamb and traveled a great distance when he finally found the lamb and carried it back to the flock. God looked upon this action and saw that Moses had the soul of a true leader, because a true leader has the care of not just the great and important ones among his people, but for all his people equally. This is how God looks upon the world. He directs the world with love and care for the greatest good of every single creature equally.
All the great leaders of the Jewish people were shepherds, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David. A shepherd spends his time out in nature alone, patiently guiding and protecting his flock. He travels for weeks or months alone seeking pasture to feed the flock. All this time he is alone in nature underneath the stars. It was during this time that these great men sat in contemplation of life and spoke their heart out to God. In these times they forged through intimate conversation a powerful bond with the Creator. We shall discuss later on that it is this secluded meditation and intimate speech of the heart with God is the most important spiritual practice and teaching of the Jewish people.
It was one day while shepherding when one of the most famous stories of the Torah (Exodus, Ch. 3) occurred (Exodus, Ch. 3):
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said: ‘I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’ 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: ‘Moses, Moses.’ And he said: ‘Here I am.’ 5 And He said: ‘Do not come close to here; remove your shoes from your feet, for the place upon which you stand is holy ground.’ 6 Moreover He said: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their pains; 8 and I shall descend and deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me; moreover I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.’
11 And Moses said to God: ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ 12 And He said: ‘Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.’ 13 And Moses said to God: ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me: What is His name? what shall I say to them?’ 14 And God said to Moses: ‘I AM THAT I AM’; and He said: ‘Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.’ 15 And God said moreover to Moses: ‘Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial to all generations. 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have surely remembered you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they shall listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 19 And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, except by a mighty hand. 20 And I will put forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst thereof. And after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. And it shall come to pass, that, when you go, you shall not go empty; 22 but every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and you shall spoil the Egyptians.’
According to tradition, the meeting at the burning bush was one of the three periods of forty days and forty nights that Moses ascended to be with God and learn the depths of God’s wisdom – the Torah.
One of the most peculiar things about Moses’ encounter with God is Moses’ resistance to take on the mission.
10 And Moses said to the LORD: ‘Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, not yesterday, nor the day before yesterday, nor since You first spoke to Your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.’ 11 And the LORD said to him: ‘Who made man’s mouth? or who makes a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? 12 Now, therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.’ 13 And he said: ‘Oh Lord, please send by the hand of him whom You will send.’ (Exodus, 4:10)
Rashi, the great Jewish commentator, explains the deep reason. Moses was not refusing to go. He wanted to receive a commitment from God that he would not only lead the Jewish people out of the exile in Egypt, but that he would be able to lead the Jewish people into Israel and complete the ultimate redemption of the world. Moses knew that if he took the people out of Egypt that they were likely to turn from God and sin and that this would create the need for future exiles to atone again. Moses wanted God to assure him that he would lead the people into the land and build the temple that would last forever and begin the era of blessing and eternal love for humanity.
God could not give Moses this guarantee. And eventually Moses acquiesced and accepted his mission, knowing at least that there was a chance to complete the mission. Moses also learned that whether or not he would be successful, the mission he would take on would be the ultimate model for the final redemption.
In other words, the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt is a preview of what the future has in store. Every single detail of the story of the Exodus will have a parallel in the future redemption. In the future the Jews will be led out of their exile by a great leader amidst miracles and wonders that will leave the world in awe. There will be leaders who will resist, like Pharaoh, and there may also be Jews who will not accept the leadership of the Jewish Messiah who will stand in Moses’ place.
In order to truly understand the significance of the Exodus from Egypt we must first try to better understand what the religion of Egypt is. Egypt is a continuation of the tradition of Ham and Nimrod. Egypt became the repository of all the ancient world’s wisdom and spiritual practices. From a modern perspective the belief in many deities and powers that rule over nature seems “supernatural.” However, the opposite is true. The essence of pagan belief is a worship of nature and its powers. We must keep in mind that included in the pagan understanding of nature is the power of the spiritual forces that rule nature. These forces are based primarily on the twelve constellations. This is a common theme in nearly all ancient religions, namely that the stars are powers (that is, “gods”) that rule over nature.
A simple example of this is the power of the moon that has tremendous power over the tides, agriculture, as well as women’s menstrual cycles and peoples’ feelings. In modern thinking, this is because of natural laws of science. However, in the ancient world there is a picture of the heavens that includes the flow of life into the world. This flow of life is distributed through the motions of the planets. Each planet has a soul with intelligence and with a certain power that manifests in the world. The soul of the planet or constellation and its influence on earthly life is the source for the descriptions of ancient mythologies. These mythologies are found in civilizations all over the globe.
This structure is the basis of all astrology. Astrology is a very ancient understanding of the world that says that a person’s character is determined by the placement of the planets in the constellations at the time of birth. This is based on the idea that the soul of a person comes into the physical world from the highest part of the heavens and then travels down through various spheres. These spheres then influence the energies of the soul and body that the person is born into, and it is on this basis that s in astrology provides its remarkably accurate descriptions of character types and personalities.
Paganism is not a simplistic theory of nature as many history books say. In the watered down view of history, mythology is presented as ancient peoples’ naive attempt to explain the phenomena of the natural world in the absence of science. When science emerged then there was no need for mythology. This is not true. Pagan tradition is not focused on simply describing nature as we know it. It is describing a system of the influence of the flow of nature’s life force from heaven to earth through the system of the stars and heavenly spheres. Moreover, it included practices of magic and divination which sought to influence the flow of this life force through the contact with spiritual forces that ancient people called gods, but are really better described as angels. Angels are the powers that oversee the flow of life into the world. “Angel” literally means a “messenger”. God allows these angels to speak to man and to offer ways of communicating with them and gaining power over the flow of life force and blessing. These angels teach mankind various forms of religious practice that are known throughout the world.
Egypt reached the peak of man’s communication with angels and knowledge of the heavens and divination. The greatest marks of this understanding are recorded in the pyramids. This is the very reason the pyramids exist today, to remind us of the past and the greatness of these civilizations, their remarkable knowledge of the heavens, science, and their remarkable ability to build these structures that remain beyond our knowledge and capacity today.
The Egyptian religion was not a supernatural religion; it was a system of knowledge of nature which included the spiritual forces and powers within nature. These angels or gods are not separate from nature; they are the system of nature. It is with this wisdom that the Pharaohs were able to build their powerful civilizations.
One of God’s purposes in the Exodus and Moses’ mission was to announce to the Egyptians and the rest of the world the existence of the true Creator of Heaven and Earth. This could only be done in contrast to the religion of the day. Pharaoh and Egypt with all its knowledge of the gods and heavens does not know the God of the Hebrews. “Who is this God?” Pharaoh asks Moses. The story of the Exodus is God’s answer to Pharaoh’s question. The awesome miracles and wonders are God’s demonstration of His superiority to all the wisdom and pagan divination of the great Pharaoh and his priests.
The Exodus Story
The entire story of the Exodus and its miracles is hard to comprehend for the modern mind. When we see it being portrayed in movies, these ancient accounts are transformed into fantastic legends. The very story is fantastic and truly supernatural, because the very point of the event is to bring into physical reality the knowledge that there exists the power of God which is above all nature and all other spiritual powers.
The Jewish people have been entrusted to preserve the Torah through history.carry through thousands of years of history the message of the Torah: the purpose of Creation, the Laws of God, the development of the family and tribes of Israel, and the remarkable and miraculous acts God performed for the Jewish people in the eyes of the world.
The Torah is unlike any other book in history. Each Torah scroll must be hand written by a sincere Jew who observes Jewish Law. The Torah must be written with special ink, on the skin of a kosher animal, and in a specific script. The details of these laws of writing a Torah scroll fill an entire book. When a Torah scroll is completed it is not considered kosher or acceptable for use in a public reading unless it has been examined letter by letter by an authority. If there is any ambiguity in the reading even of a single letter, the Torah scroll is not kosher. Consequently every kosher Torah scroll in use by the Jewish people is identical after thousands of years of history of the Jewish people being spread out throughout the globe. If you compare this with the textual tradition of any other ancient text you will see how astounding this is.
On every single page of the works of Homer, Plato, or the Gospels, for example, there are ten to fifty textual variations. In other words, every ancient copy of nearly every page of ancient texts generally has many different versions based on the errors of scribes or interpretation. In more simple language, imagine the game of telephone when people pass a message around a room. At the end it comes out very different than when it started. The same is true for ancient books. Books are passed down and copied through history and they inevitably become different. The Torah established laws for its preservation so that its message could travel through time and space unchanged.
The preservation of the story of the Exodus is one of the central pillars of the Jewish people. The Torah established another law in order to preserve this message, and that is the holiday of Passover. One of the most primary commandments in the holiday of Passover today is the telling of the story of the Exodus. Each year on the first night of Passover, Jewish families hold a special meal and during the meal we are commanded to recount the story of Passover.
Raise the tray with the matzot and say:
This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and conduct the Seder of Passover. This year we are here; next year in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free people.
The tray with the matzot is moved aside, and the second cup is POURED.(Do not drink it yet).
Now the child asks “What makes this night different from all [other] nights?”
On all nights we need not dip even once, on this night we do so twice!
On all nights we eat bread or matzah, and on this night only matzah.
On all nights we eat any kind of vegetables, and on this night bitter herbs!
On all nights we eat sitting upright or reclining, and on this night we all recline!
The tray is restored to its place with the matzah partly uncovered. Now we say “We were slaves. . .”
We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the L-rd, our G-d, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children and our children’s children would have remained enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. Even if all of us were wise, all of us understanding, all of us knowing the Torah, we would still be obligated to discuss the exodus from Egypt; and everyone who discusses the exodus from Egypt at length is praiseworthy…
In the beginning our fathers served idols; but now the Omnipresent One has brought us close to His service, as it is said: “Joshua said to all the people: Thus said the L-rd, the G-d of Israel, `Your fathers used to live on the other side of the river – Terach, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.
“And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and I led him throughout the whole land of Canaan. I increased his seed and gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it, and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.”
Blessed is He who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed be He! For the Holy One, blessed be He, calculated the end [of the bondage], in order to do as He had said to our father Abraham at the “Covenant between the Portions,” as it is said: “And He said to Abraham, `You shall know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and make them suffer, for four hundred years. But I shall also judge the nation whom they shall serve, and after that they will come out with great wealth.’”
This is what has stood by our fathers and us! For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!
Go forth and learn what Laban the Aramean wanted to do to our father Jacob. Pharaoh had issued a decree against the male children only, but Laban wanted to uproot everyone – as it is said: “The Aramean wished to destroy my father; and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation – great and mighty and numerous.”
“And he went down to Egypt” forced by Divine decree. “And he sojourned there” – this teaches that our father Jacob did not go down to Egypt to settle, but only to live there temporarily. Thus it is said, “They said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the hunger is severe in the land of Canaan; and now, please, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
“Few in number” as it is said: “Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now, the L-rd, your G-d, has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”
“And he became there a nation” this teaches that Israel was distinctive there.
“Great, mighty,” as it is said: “And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied and became very, very mighty, and the land became filled with them.”
“And numerous,” as it is said: “I passed over you and saw you wallowing in your bloods, and I said to you `By your blood you shall live,’ and I said to you `By your blood you shall live!’ I caused you to thrive like the plants of the field, and you increased and grew and became very beautiful your bosom fashioned and your hair grown long, but you were naked and bare.”
“The Egyptians treated us badly and they made us suffer, and they put hard work upon us.”
“The Egyptians treated us badly,” as it is said: Come, let us act cunningly with [the people] lest they multiply and, if there should be a war against us, they will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the land.”
“And they made us suffer,” as it is said: “They set taskmasters over [the people of Israel] to make them suffer with their burdens, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pitom and Ramses.”
“And they put hard work upon us,” as it is said: “The Egyptians made the children of Israel work with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard work, with mortar and with bricks and all manner of service in the field, all their work which they made them work with rigor.” And we cried out to the L-rd, the G-d of our fathers, and the L-rd heard our voice and saw our suffering, our labor and our oppression.
“And we cried out to the L-rd, the G-d of our fathers,” as it is said: “During that long period, the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the servitude, and they cried out. And their cry for help from their servitude rose up to G-d.”
“And the L-rd heard our voice” as it said: “And G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
“And he saw our suffering,” this refers to the separation of husband and wife, as it is said: “G-d saw the children of Israel and G-d took note.”
“Our labor,” this refers to the “children,” as it is said: “Every boy that is born, you shall throw into the river and every girl you shall keep alive.”
“And our oppression,” this refers to the pressure, as it is said: “I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”
“The L-rd took as out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with a great manifestation, and with signs and wonders.”
“The Lord took us out of Egypt,” not through an angel, not through a seraph and not through a messenger. The Holy One, blessed be He, did it in His glory by Himself!
Thus it is said: “In that night I will pass through the land of Egypt, and I will smite every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man to beast, and I will carry out judgments against all the gods of Egypt, I the L-rd.”
“I will pass through the land of Egypt,” I and not an angel;
“And I will smite every first-born in the land of Egypt,” I and not a seraph;
“And I will carry out judgments against all the gods of Egypt,” I and not a messenger;
“I- the L-rd,” it is I, and none other!
“With a strong hand,” this refers to the dever (pestilence) as it is said: “Behold, the hand of the L-rd will be upon your livestock in the field, upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds and the flocks, a very severe pestilence.”
“And with an outstretched arm,” this refers to the sword, as it is said: “His sword was drawn, in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem.”
“And with a great manifestation,” this refers to the revelation of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), as it is said: “Has any G-d ever tried to take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, with trials, signs and wonders, with war and with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great manifestations, like all that the L-rd your G-d, did for you in Egypt before your eyes!”
“And with signs,” this refers to the staff, as it is said: “Take into your hand this staff with which you shall perform the signs.”
“And wonders,” this refers to the blood, as it is said: “And I shall show wonders in heaven and on earth.
When saying the following words “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke,” spill three times from the wine in the cup.
These are the Ten Plagues which the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians, namely as follows:
Blood.
Frogs.
Lice.
Wild Beasts.
Pestilence.
Boils.
Hail.
Locust.
Darkness.
Slaying
…Thus it is our duty to thank, to laud, to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to adore, to bless, to elevate and to honor the One who did all these miracles for our fathers and for us. He took us from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to festivity, and from deep darkness to great light and from bondage to redemption. Let us therefore recite before Him Halleluyah, Praise G-d!
What is most remarkable about the Haggadah that we read on Passover is that it does not mention Moses. The reason is that the essence of the event was the act of God Himself. The Passover account focuses on the relationship between God and the Jewish people
The story of the Exodus in the Torah focuses on the relationship between Moses and Pharaoh. This is because the Torah is about the development of the Jewish people and their message to the world. Therefore, the Torah tells the story of the dramatic change in history when the people of Israel receive their mission and how the idolatrous tradition and powers they have to confront in order to bring the knowledge of God to the world.
One should also keep in mind that the period of the ten plagues lasted an entire year. As each plague occurred Moses confronted Pharaoh, and each time Pharaoh’s priests and magicians were able to replicate the wonders and signs of God and Moses His messenger.
Moses had a staff that turned into a serpent, and so did Pharaoh’s priests and magicians. Moses turned the water into blood and so did Pharaoh’s priests and magicians. In other words, the Pharaoh and his people were not easily persuaded that the religion of the Jews was anything new or different. At this time, each of the peoples’ of the world had their various Gods and their own particular magic that they were able to do. The people with the greatest understanding of magic and divination were able to control others. Pharaoh was not going to give up his authority in the world so quickly. In other words, Pharaoh perceived the conflict as one pagan magician against another.
However, as the power of the plagues increased, it became more and more clear to the Egyptians that Moses and his God were clearly more powerful than the Pharaoh. At times, even the Pharaoh began to perceive this, and as each plague begins the Pharaoh summons Moses and asks him to pray to his God on the Pharaoh’s behalf in order to end the plague. The Pharaoh promises to heed to Moses’ request to let him lead his people into the desert to serve their God for a three day festival. However, once the plague subsides, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and the Pharaoh retracts his promise.
Finally, with the plague of the lice, the magicians acknowledge that they are unable to replicate the plague, and they say “surely this is the finger of God.” They begin to acknowledge the power of the God of the Jewish people. The plagues continue until the magicians say to Pharaoh, “surely Egypt is lost.” Pharaoh finally gives in at the plague of the death of the first born, and during this night the Jews actually slaughter and sacrifice the sacred animal god of Egypt, the lamb.
God has Moses lead the Jewish people the route of the See of Reeds so they cannot turn around. Pharaoh recants one last time and gathers his army to bring the Jews back to Egypt. He drives the Jewish people up against the Sea of Reeds, and here the greatest miracle of all occurs. Moses lifts his arms and a great wind comes and splits the sea before their eyes. The children of Israel cross. The Egyptians follow, and then the walls of the sea fall back and drown the entire Egyptian army as the children of Israel walk onto the dry land.
The entire story of the Exodus was heard throughout the entire ancient Mediterranean world. When Moses’ father-in-law Jethro comes to meet him, he tells Moses “Now I know that God is greater than all the gods, for in the very matter in which (the Egyptians) had planned against them…” to drown the male children in the Nile, God has done to the Egyptians by drowning them in the Red Sea. Jethro was the highest priest of the ancient world and had been initiated into every form of pagan worship. But now he turns his life away from everything he had learned before to acknowledge the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt…And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said: ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for in the very matter in which the Egyptians plotted against them. (Exodus, 18:5)
The Pharaoh had tried to destroy the Jewish people by drowning all the male babies in the Nile. What is most amazing to Jethro is that God in his revenge takes Pharaoh and his entire army and does to them what they wished to do to the Jews. God overturns nature to enforce ultimate justice.
There is a tradition that when the Red Sea split, all the water in the entire world also split. In Jewish thought, water is related to wisdom. In order for God to be revealed, the entire “wisdom” of the entire world had to be broken open. The word for Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, which means “a narrow, constricted space.” The Exodus from Egypt was literally the birth of the children of Israel into a holy people. Egypt was the womb, the narrow birth canal, and the splitting of the sea was the breaking of the water in the womb and the opening of the cervix through which this people were born into the world. God is the father who chose the Jewish people to be His holy nation to receive the Torah for humanity.
Through the dramatic story of the Exodus, God reveals Himself to the entire world that He is the Creator of all nature, of the system of the heavens (and its angels) and the earth. He therefore can choose a people to represent His will in the world to stand above the forces of nature. Unlike all the other nations of the world who worship the spiritual forces of nature, the Jewish people were chosen to bring to humanity the worship of the One True God.
When God is revealed, the Egyptians see that all the gods of Egypt are nothing in comparison to the True God. The revelation of God is also the revelation that there is something above nature, that is, the God who created all nature and the system of the heavens and His spiritual messengers.
Today secular society has much in common with the Egyptians. Instead of pagan wisdom, we worship modern science and believe in its knowledge and technology. Today we look at the world through the eyes of science. We see scientific knowledge as the true understanding and knowledge of what reality is. We look to science and its technology to control nature. So much so, that many have declared that there is no God. We believe that because of our knowledge and power to control nature, that we have truth. However, in the future just as God revealed Himself to the Egyptians, He will again reveal Himself to the modern world and the truths that we believe in today will be revealed to be as shallow and powerless as the ancient pagan idols in the presence of the One God and Creator of heaven and earth. It is not to say that there is no meaning and significance to science. It is just that the revelation of God shows that there are no real laws of nature; everything is the will of God. The same was true for the Egyptians. They believed they understood life perfectly, but were shocked to discover that their knowledge and power was nothing in comparison to the knowledge of God.
God comes to Egypt in an act of vengeance. God gives man freedom and the opportunity to worship other gods and powers. These acts are detestable to God and a violation of God’s original covenant with mankind. The civilization of Pharaoh’s Egypt was based on the pagan wisdom and magic of Ham, the son of Noah and the evil Nimrod. It was a civilization that did not recognize the Creator and sought to dominate nature and other humans for Pharaoh’s personal power. Its wisdom and achievements were not for the glory of the Creator, but for the glory of one man and his kingdom. The entire civilization was developed from a foundation that was against the will of the Creator and purpose of Creation. It was ruled by the spirit of the side of life that is opposed to holiness and the purpose of Creation to be a place of love and Godly wisdom. God is merciful, and all human actions have their purpose in the ultimate plan of existence. Nonetheless, God does judge the world and at times individuals or even nations are destroyed because of their rebellion against God. Every Passover the Jewish people celebrate the Exodus by singing special Psalms of praise to God. However, we recite a shortened version of them because our sages teach us that it is wrong to fully rejoice over the destruction of even our enemies because they are also God’s creation.
Mount Sinai
The Torah expresses the culmination of the Exodus with the following words:
And God saved Israel on that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. And they saw the great hand (that is, “the mighty power”) with which He used on the Egyptians, and the people believed in God and Moses His servant. (Exodus, 14:30)
This passage expresses a fundamental principle of Jewish faith. The faith that God taught us was not only to believe in God, but also to believe in Moses His servant.
Moses is the greatest prophet. He communicates the word of God to man. This is most clearly expressed in the story of the Revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
There is a law in the Torah that says the messenger of the king is like the king. Moses was appointed by God to lead the Jewish people. He is the messenger of the King of the world. Therefore, Moses stands to the Jewish people and the rest of humanity in the place of the King of the world.
Moses and every true prophet is a finite vessel through which the infinite wisdom and love of the Creator is communicated to man. A prophet is like an angel among men. An angel is a Greek word that literally means a messenger. In Hebrew the word is malach, which means an officer of the king through which the king expresses his rulership.
God is the King of the world. All the worldly kings are examples in the world of what the True King is. It is not the other way around. The Kabbalah teaches that the very purpose of the world is for God to be King. God cannot be King without a people. God gives us life, but in this one thing we are able to give back to Him. We have the power to establish Him as king. It is through our existence and our acceptance of God’s kingship, that His very kingship has power and reality.
The foundation of God’s kingship is His rulership over the world. His rulership is expressed through the giving of His Law — that is, the Torah (and Torah literally means “The Law”).
When we think of kings and kingship today, we think of human beings and their hereditary claims to power. Since we have been educated in the era of democracy, which is a rejection of the idea of kingship and the power of an individual over the many, it is hard for us to conceive how this metaphor illuminates the nature of God’s relationship to the world. Moreover, the entire concept of law in our world has been reduced to an arbitrary convention that makes society work, and is often an expression of the abuse of power.
In order to understand what the Torah expresses, we need to completely transform our idea of Kingship and Law. God’s Kingship is marked by one supreme quality. In Hebrew the word is kvod. Kvod means “honor” or “glory,” but it is a term that we need to explain. God is infinite love and goodness. He is the source of a majestic and splendid infinite light of love and goodness. This is the expression of His Kingdom. God wants to be King because He is filled with the desire to share His blessed goodness with His creation. To be King means that He spreads His superabundant wealth of infinite goodness with every creature. He provides all their needs, gives them life, and provides all their needs. God gives humanity the awesome opportunity to freely choose to become part of His blessed Kingdom and to live in the presence and experience of His glory. The role of creation is to sing with joy in immense gratitude and thankfulness for such a blessed existence. This is to give honor and to sing praise to God.
This is the true nature of God’s Kingdom. When we look upon the world today, this is difficult to perceive because of the pain, suffering, and confusion we see. However, this is because God has hidden His presence from the world. The truth is that in each moment and in the deepest darkness of existence, God’s infinite light is present. The course of history is the process of revealing this, and when it is revealed we shall all see that God was always with us, and everything that looked bad was in truth perfectly orchestrated to create the ultimate perfection of existence.
Faith is the work that God asks us to do, to believe in Him and to praise Him as King even when He is hidden. It is work and there is a reward for this faith. God hides His presence in order to give us the opportunity to do this work of faith and to earn its reward, because it is only work to serve God when He is hidden. When his blessed goodness is revealed, faith is effortless.
Although God is hidden, His presence is not completely absent. When we behold creation we see the marks of His amazing wisdom and intelligence. The wisdom and intelligence of the natural world fills us with awe. No one can look at the heavens and the stars and galaxies above us and not be filled with this awe: behold the smile of children and the blooming of flowers, the infinite variety of animals and plants, the abundant food and sustenance we are provided with; the incredible precision with which nature is designed in every detail to provide us all that we need from air to breath, water to drink and food to eat, the perfect atmosphere to live — every detail of nature is a miracle. But the greatest miracle of all is existence itself, the fact that there is something which arises from nothing and continues each moment to exist.
The sages teach us that creation did not become fully established in existence as an eternal world until the giving of the Torah. This is because the very purpose of the world is to establish God’s kingship upon the earth. This kingship was not established until God chose a people to receive His Law and the yoke of His rulership. This is the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people.
The Torah is God’s plan for creation. The Jewish people were chosen to be God’s nation of priests, a nation that would perform the holy service of God and through that way of life be drawn close to God and His wisdom and become the teachers who would spread God’s plan and teach God’s law to all of humanity. The Torah is presented in simple stories and basic laws for human functioning and God’s worship. However, encoded within the Torah is the deeper teaching of God’s purpose and the path to transform the world as we know it where God’s presence is hidden into a world where God’s infinite light will be fully revealed.
The revelation begins with Moses ascending Mount Sinai to spend another forty day period with God. God tells Moses that he should now declare to the Jewish people how he brought them from slavery and the house of Pharaoh to serve him, not as slaves, but as the holy nation with the purpose we have just explained above.
In the third month after the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 And when they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mount. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying: ‘Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will hearken to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.’ (Exodus, 19:1)
Moses spoke God’s message to the people who accept in unison the mission and the covenant.
And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. (Exodus, 19:7)
God then tells Moses that He will come and speak with him so that they shall see for themselves the special status of Moses, and that the words he speaks are truly directly from God. God says that the people will believe in Moses forever. This can be understood in two ways. One is the simple meaning that people will believe in Moses as he expresses God’s commandments in the Torah. The other meaning is that people will always believe in the Moses that is born in every generation.
And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever.’ (Exodus, 19:9)
The people are then prepared for the Revelation:
And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10 And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Go to the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready for the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. 12 And you shall set boundaries to the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mounaint, or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mounaint shall be surely put to death; 13 no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram’s horn sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.’ 14 And Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people: ‘Be ready for the third day; do not come near a woman.’ (Exodus, 19:10)
The Revelation
16 And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of a horn exceedingly loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the horn sounded louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, that come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.’ 23 And Moses said to the LORD: ‘The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for you commanded us, saying: Set boundaries around the mountain, and sanctify it.’ 24 And the LORD said to him: ‘Go, descend, and then you shall ascend, you, and Aaron with you; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.’ 25 So Moses went down to the people, and told them.
The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. 3 You shall not make to you a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; 4 you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; 5 and showing mercy to the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments. 6 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.
7 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 8 Six days shall you labour, and do all your work; 9 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, in it you shall not do any manner of work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; 10 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it. 11 Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God has given you. 12 You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. 13 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbour’s. 14 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. 15 And they said to Moses: ‘Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ 16 And Moses said to the people: ‘Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that you sin not.’ 17 And the people stood afar off; but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. 18 And the LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 19 You shall not make with Me–gods of silver, or gods of gold, you shall not make to you. 20 An altar of earth you shall make to Me, and shall sacrifice thereon your burnt-offerings, and your peace-offerings, your sheep, and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you. 21 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you lift up your tool upon it, you have profaned it. 22 Neither shall you go up by steps to Mine altar, that your nakedness be not uncovered thereon.
And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.
And they said to Moses: ‘Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ And Moses said to the people: ‘Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that you sin not.’ (Exodus, 19:1)
God spoke the first two commandments directly to the people, but then the people beg Moses to intervene because they are unable to continue in the overwhelming of awe of hearing the voice of God. And so the rest of the Ten Commandments are spoken by Moses to the people.
So we see that Moses is the very connection between the people and God. Moses has devoted his life to perfecting and purifying himself. Moses is the humblest man of all. He has given his will to completely perform the will of God in the world. He has ascended Mount Sinai and spent another forty days and forty nights being taught directly by God and living above nature without food or sleep, a man living like an angel and among the angels.
The Golden Calf
After the revelation at Sinai, the sages teach us that the world was fully repaired from the sin of Adam. The redemption of the Children of Israel from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah had now brought the entire world in a state of perfection. However, another test would occur and the world would once again descend into its state of darkness.
Moses was ascended Mount Sinai for the second period of forty days and forty nights. During this time there is a tradition that the Satan came and made a vision appear to the Jewish people showing them that Moses had died. Another tradition said that they made them count the forty days wrong. The people then feared that their leader and connection to God had died. They did not know how they could continue on.
When the Children of Israel left Egypt many Egyptians also begged Moses to join them saying that they had given up their gods and now wanted to follow the God of Israel. This group is called the “mixed multitude.” Tradition teaches us that it is the leaders of this group that approached Aaron, Moses’ brother and threatened to kill him if he did not make an idol for them. The mixed multitude still clung to the pagan worship of Egypt and believed that they could make an idol to stand in Moses’ place.
Aaron was a man of peace and always sought to resolve situations with peace. He knew that Moses would come soon and wanted to delay the people. Therefore he told them to collect gold for the idol. The mixed multitude brought him the gold and Aaron threw it into the fire and to Aaron’s surprise a golden calf emerged (Exodus 32:24).
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him: ‘Rise up, make us a god who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.’ 2 And Aaron said to them: ‘Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.’ 3 And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took it at from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: ‘This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ 5 And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said: ‘To-morrow shall be a feast to the LORD.’ 6 And they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.
7 And the LORD spoke to Moses: ‘Go, descend; for your people, that you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have become corrupt; 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said: This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt…
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were inscribed on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they inscribed. 16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraven upon the tablets. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses: ‘There is a noise of war in the camp.’ 18 And he said: ‘It is not the voice of them that shout for control, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the voice that I hear.’ 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger flared up, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder. (Exodus, 32:1)
The episode of the Golden Calf and the breaking of the tablets with the Ten Commandments seems like a great failure. However, it reveals a deeper lesson about life. Although the first tablets are broken, Moses ascends Mount Sinai for the third period of forty days and receives second tablets. Moses is commanded to give these tablets to Aaron to place in the sacred Ark, and also to place the broken tablets next to them. This is a consistent theme in Torah, uniting the broken and the whole.
Earlier in this book we discussed the Gate of the Return to God. When someone commits a sin, God forbid, and they return to God, he returns as someone broken, remorseful for what he had done. Through the process of return a person reaches a higher level because it is only when we are broken that we can reach a state of true humility and openness. As Tzvi Freeman puts it, “How can we find a place to put the infinite?” The infinite cannot be put in a finite place, that is a place of wholeness. Somehow when our wholeness is shattered, we reach a mysterious place of openness with the state of brokenness. King David writes in his Psalms,
God desires are a broken spirit and a broken and humbled heart. These sacrifices God does not turn away.
The highest state is then to return to our life, to our wholeness, but not to forget our brokenness. In the sacred part of our lives we must contain the broken tablets and the whole tablets. We have to maintain our wholeness and our brokenness. Our wholeness gives us the power and strength to live in the world through our individual will. Our brokenness is our acknowledgement that we are nothing but frail creatures formed by God. It is through this brokenness that we humbly recognize that all our strength comes from God and that we must have mercy and kindness to others who are also broken.
We need to keep both our wholeness and brokenness in mind. A famous rabbi once said that he has two pockets and in one pocket he keeps a note with a line of Torah that says that “each person must look upon the world as if it were created for him alone (to remember the specialness of our individual life and our responsibility for the whole world), and in the other pocket he had a note that says, “I am a worm and not a man” (in order to remember we are a creature completely dependent upon God and with no merit of our own).
