Parshat Va'era-a deeper awareness of the meaning of the names of God

(based on writings of Rav Shlomo Goren zal)

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD.

וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם׃

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name יהוה.

וְגַ֨ם הֲקִמֹ֤תִי אֶת־בְּרִיתִי֙ אִתָּ֔ם לָתֵ֥ת לָהֶ֖ם אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן אֵ֛ת אֶ֥רֶץ מְגֻרֵיהֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־גָּ֥רוּ בָֽהּ׃

I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the mefarshim struggle with this exchange between God and Moshe,particularly as this seems to be a response to Moshe’s famous complaint to God at the end of last week’s parsha:

וַיָּ֧שָׁב מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֗י לָמָ֤ה הֲרֵעֹ֙תָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה שְׁלַחְתָּֽנִי׃

‘Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me?’

How is this question answered by referring to the Avot and the way they recognized God (by what name He made Himself known to them) ? How does the answer relate to the question?

Rav Shlomo Goren in the sefer Torat Hamikra gives a masterful answer to this question and thereby gives us a framework for understanding the events of the Exodus from Egypt. He begins by explaining the meaning of the various names of God.’El Shaddai’ is a name which is associated with the way that God functions in nature.He quotes Rashi’s comment on Shemot 23:21.

כי שמי בקרבו. מְחֻבָּר לְרֹאשׁ הַמִּקְרָא – השמר מפניו כי שמי מְשֻׁתָּף בּוֹ. וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ אָמְרוּ זֶה מְטַטְרוֹן שֶׁשְּׁמוֹ כְשֵׁם רַבּוֹ, מְטַטְרוֹן בְּגִימַטְרִיָּא שַׁדַּי (סנהדרין ל"ח):

כי שמי בקרבו FOR MY NAME IS IN HIM — This passage must be connected with the beginning of the verse: Take heed of him etc. — for (כי) My Name is associated with his (i. e. whatever he does, he does in My Name). Our Rabbis said that he (the angel) is Mattatron (מטטרון) whose name is even as the name of his Master, for מטטרון has the numerical value of שדי “the Almighty” (Sanhedrin 38b)...................

The name ‘Mattatron’ is used to designate the ‘angel’/spiritual force which is in control of nature.Tosephot (TB Yevamot 16b) explain that this name denotes to ‘sar haolam-angel of Nature:  אלמא מטטרון הוא שר העולם שנקרא נער’ :

This angel runs the world according to the rules of nature and does not vere from these ‘rules’ as fixed by God.

In contrast,the name ‘Havaya’ represents God’s actions in the world which are supernatural.Rav Goren quotes the verse in Tehillim(33:6) which states:

בִּדְבַ֣ר יְ֭הוָה שָׁמַ֣יִם נַעֲשׂ֑וּ וּבְר֥וּחַ פִּ֝֗יו כָּל־צְבָאָֽם׃

‘By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts……………………………’

implying that the creation of the heavenly world was done through the name ‘Havaya’ which designates an action above the laws of nature.

Rav Goren goes on to explain that the Avot recognized God through nature, as explained by the Rambam in the laws of idolatry(Yad Hachazah,Hilchot Avoda Zara:ch1:3).

As soon as this giant(Abraham) was weaned he commenced to busy his mind, in his infancy he commenced to think by day and by night, and would encounter this enigma: How is it possible that this planet should continuously be in motion and have no leader—and who, indeed, causes it to revolve, it being impossible that it should revolve itself? Moreover, he neither had a teacher nor one to impart aught to him, for he was sunk in Ur of the Chaldeans among the foolish worshipers of stars, and his father, and his mother, like all the people, worshiped stars, and he, although following them in their worship, busies his heart and reflects until he attains the path of truth, and, by his correct thinking, he understood when he finally saw the line of righteousness. He knew that there is One God; He leads the planet; He created everything; and in all that is there is no god save He. He knew that the whole world was in error, and that the thing which caused them to err was, that their worshiping the stars and the images brought about the loss of the truth from their consciousness. And, when Abraham was forty years old he recognized his Creator……………………………..

………...When the people who congregated about him asked him concerning his preachments, he replied by imparting knowledge to each and every one according to his mentality, to the end that he was able to turn him to the path of truth, until there congregated about him thousands, even tens of thousands, and they became the people of Abraham's household, in whose heart he implanted this great cause, concerning which he compiled books, and which he imparted to his son Isaac.3 Isaac, from his seat of learning, gave instructions and admonitions. And Isaac, in turn, imparted it to Jacob and appointed him head master, who, at his seat of learning, gave instructions and supported all who flocked to him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rambam is clearly saying Avraham’s method of bringing knowledge of God in the world is by showing how He functions through nature,and this tradition was handed down to Isaac and then to Jacob.

With this introduction, the first verses of our parsha now begin to make sense.God is saying to Moshe that in his interactions with the Avot, their overriding awareness of God was through nature, as represented by the name ‘El Shaddai’(which happens to be the same gematria as Mattatron-the angel in charge of nature in this world).

However ,with Moshe the awareness was different and was based on his ability to recognize God in His capacity as being ‘above the laws of nature’.We see this from a famous verse in sefer Shemot,in the same parsha as referred to above in Rashi’s comment on Mattatron.

הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁלֵ֤חַ מַלְאָךְ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ֖ בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְלַהֲבִ֣יאֲךָ֔ אֶל־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲכִנֹֽתִי׃

‘I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.

הִשָּׁ֧מֶר מִפָּנָ֛יו וּשְׁמַ֥ע בְּקֹל֖וֹ אַל־תַּמֵּ֣ר בּ֑וֹ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יִשָּׂא֙ לְפִשְׁעֲכֶ֔ם כִּ֥י שְׁמִ֖י בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃

Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him;’

In these verses God suggests to Moshe that He can send the angel of nature to be his guide in the desert to lead the Jews to Eretz Yisrael.Moshe rejects the offer and he conducts his leadership in the desert totally surrounded by the miracles of God-manna, well of Miriam, clouds of glory etc.Only when the Jews entered Israel under Joshua’s leadership did they go back to the natural order of creation and become subject to the laws of nature (planting, reaping, etc) as became their lives in Israel once the land was conquered.

Rav Goren goes further in his analysis by showing that in a world subject to supernatural leadership, everything happens without delay, whereas in the world of nature the time factor becomes important and can delay implementation of the desired request. With this further information we can now try to  understand the interaction at the start of our parsha and see how God answers’ Moshe’s complaint to Him of לָמָ֤ה הֲרֵעֹ֙תָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה.

Moshe was chosen by God to lead the Jews out of Egypt and he fully expected the events to happen according to the rules of the supernatural(name of God being”Havaya‘’).When he saw that the plagues were going to take a certain period of time, at least Moshe expected that things would not get worse for the Jews.However they did get worse and this is why Moshe asks:לָמָ֤ה הֲרֵעֹ֙תָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה.However God responds by explaining that the way in which the Exodus will happen is in the same way as He appeared to the Avot-through nature and taking time.The reason for this is explained in the next verse:

וְגַ֨ם הֲקִמֹ֤תִי אֶת־בְּרִיתִי֙ אִתָּ֔ם לָתֵ֥ת לָהֶ֖ם אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן אֵ֛ת אֶ֥רֶץ מְגֻרֵיהֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־גָּ֥רוּ בָֽהּ׃

I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.

In Israel the life will become based on the natural order of the world and God wanted the Jews to know this from the outset, as this was the whole purpose of the Exodus, to come to Israel.

With this approach we now understand that Moshe was debating with God about the ways of God in this world and God was telling Moshe that the way that Moshe advocates cannot be sustained in Israel on a permanent basis.This is the answer to him in mentioning the Avot and coming to Israel in this interaction at the beginning of Parshat Vaera.

Although this seems to be a very  deep analysis of the verses, I always feel that Rav Goren tries to ‘simplify’ and take us to the heart of the matter in his explanations and this is no exception.Maybe we can add that this is why we make the name ‘Shaddai’ with our tefillin, to emphasize to us that when we venture into the world every day we must never forget that God is present in the natural world and always remember and seek His presence in everything we do.A beautiful thought for us to contemplate upon at any time.

Shabbat Shalom Cherry Hill NJ/SCW Jan 2019