Art by Phillip Ratner and Commentary By Ariel Ben Avraham Safed, Northern Galilee, Israel
“And these are the names (shemot) of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt (…)” (Exodus 1:1). Our Sages teach that one counts and names each thing that is precious to him, and Israel is indeed as precious as a son to his father, as it is written: “So said the Lord, ‘My firstborn son is Israel’.” (4:22). The Hebrew scriptures tell us about the Love of G-d for Israel and all His Creation, but have we considered our Love for Him? In the book “God as Love” we do not pretend to define with a human consciousness the indefinable Essence of the Divine, but to approach with our human traits the inherent and intrinsic Divine Love that creates and sustains us, and all His Creation. If Creation is certainly an act of G-d’s Love, it is what we conceive and understand as love the means to relate and communicate with His Love. We frequently mention the thirteen attributes of Divine compassion (34:6-7) as specific references for us to comprehend the Creator through our human consciousness. Ultimately, it is our individual choice to conceive Him and approach Him either as the loving and compassionate Creator or else. Common sense and the obvious plainly demonstrate the former, and every chapter of the Torah, and every assessment of our Sages illustrate and reiterate this Truth. The book of Exodus is clearly the living proof of G-d’s Love for Israel.
“Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: ‘Every son that is born you shall cast into the River’.” (1:22). Our Mystic Sages explain that every male child born both from Israelites and Egyptians was subject to this decree, and that the River (Nile) represents the materialistic lifestyle derived from ego’s lower desires and fantasies. Pharaoh (egocentric approach to material life) wanted every trait and aspect of human consciousness submerged (put to death) into the waters of materialism, and becoming virtually dead to the upper waters of higher consciousness represented by Love’s ways and attributes. From this passage we learn that without a rest from the world’s materiality in the place of the Creator (a place called Shabbat), life is meaningless. Without the awareness of the Creator, especially His Love, Creation is meaningless.
It is at this crucial moment of human development that a key aspect of consciousness needs to be born in order to guide its remaining aspects. This is what we refer as the highest awareness of the Creator in our consciousness, the awareness of the goodness that He is, as we are able to conceive it in our limited human perception. And it is represented by Moses: “And she (Moses’ mother) saw him that he was good” (2:2). It is also the awareness of Love that reaches out to all Creation, and particularly to our brethren: “He (Moses) went out to his brothers, and looked on their suffering (2:11), and this ordeal is not only the result of living under the duress of gross materialism but the division and separation that we suffer in our exile from G-d’s Love. Division, strife, quarreling, violence and hatred are illusions that trap us in the darkness of the absence of Love. “And Moses feared, and said: ‘Indeed, the thing is known’.” (2:14). Our Sages say that Moses saw that gossiping and tale-bearing were obstacles for the children of Israel’s Redemption, and he concluded that those were the “known” causes of their bondage.
“(…) the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry ascended to G-d by reason of the bondage.” (2:23). Mystic Sages explain that Pharaoh was dead to the awareness of G-d’s Love, and His constant rule over His Creation; and it is in the darkness of this spiritual death when our cry certainly reaches up to Him. Rashi complements this fact when he questions why G-d appeared to Moses in a thorn-bush and not in a different tree, and he answers that it was in order to illustrate and demonstrate that “In all their distress He too was distressed, and the Angel of His presence saved them. In His Love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” (Isaiah 63:9). And His Love is indeed the fire that is never consumed: “The bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2).
“And Moses said to G-d: ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?’ And He said: ‘I (My Love) will be with you, and this is your sign (humility) that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt (after they their attachment to lower consciousness), they shall serve G-d upon this mountain (the highest awareness of Divine Love, also the Temple of Jerusalem)’. (3:11-12); because Love is the Name of the Creator of all, the One and only true and real Essence that sustains all, and there is nothing else besides Him. Hence, as Love that He is, is also the Redeemer that delivers us from the darkness of ego’s materialism and negative aspects of consciousness: “This is My Name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation.” (3:15), the One that was, is, and will be forever.
“However, I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except through a mighty hand.” (3:19), because it is the power of Love that rules over all His Creation, as it is the Ruler over all levels, aspects and dimensions of consciousness. “And G-d said to Aaron: ‘Go to the wilderness to meet Moses’. And he went, and met him in the mount of G-d, and kissed him.” (4:27). It is in the mount of G-d, the highest awareness of Divine Love, where both loving kindness (Aaron) and righteousness (Moses) kiss, as it is recalled by King David: “Loving kindness and Truth are met together; Justice and Peace have kissed.” (Psalms 85:11). Truth and justice are inherent to each other (Moses), and so too Love and Peace (Aaron).
“And Pharaoh said: ‘Who is the Lord that I should hearken to His voice to let Israel go’? I know not the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go’.” (5:2). Ego’s pretension is to direct our existence as a separate, independent entity in order to control all aspects of consciousness (the children of Israel). In this illusory separation, ego disregards Love as the all-encompassing and integrating Essence of Creation. Ego creates its own individual “separated” reality based on desires derived from negative thoughts and misconceptions rooted in a sense of lack. This lack is the result of the illusory absence of Love in any of the aspects and dimensions of intellect, mind, emotions, feelings, passions, and instincts. Lack of food and the essential resources to fulfill our basic material needs (body needs related to instincts), lack of an object for our desires and carnal urges (passions), lack of recognition and fulfillment of our feelings and emotions in our relationship with our surroundings, lack of interest and concern based on lack of knowledge in our mind and intellect. These lacks are all triggers for ego’s frustration and consequent engagement in negative behavior and actions that darken and enslave our awareness in the lowest levels of existence. Then, in this predicament, ego does not know or recognize anything different than its own image, including rejecting Love as the Redeemer from its darkness.
The portion ends with this verse: “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, because by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land’.” (6:1), because it is the will of Love what creates and sustains everything, what transforms and transmutes our consciousness for us to know Him.
