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1. Parsha Details
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1. Parsha details: Ex 13:17-17:16 (tri 14:26-17:16) [Haftorah Judges 4:4-5:31 Seph 5:1-31]
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2. Questions and a few observations
Summary: Moshe meets with Yitro, his father-in-law and his family rejoins him. Yitro gives Moshe some sound fatherly advice and Moshe sets up the system of judges in Israel. The children of Israel move to Har Sinai and there are several interchanges with God, including the offer of covenant and Israel's acceptance. Then we receive the Ten Commandment (Asara Dibreya) and some lesser mitzvot. This is a powerful Parsha!
I have not included any discussion of the Ten Commandments and will not in this week's discussion -- this topic warrants a separate discussion, which I will do at another time.
The interchange between Yitro and Moshe is interesting on several counts -- first, it denotes a transition from a loose familial system which was probably in existence in Egypt to that of a multi-tribal nation where disputes and agreements cross family lines. This is reasonable with a group in excess of 1.2 million people (600,000 men and 600,000 or so women and children and extra stragglers that came along out of Egypt, etc)
So how did the family scene change to an all Moshe scene? Possibly two were arguing, didn't like either family's idea of a solution, so they say to each other, "well, let's see what the great Moshe has to say about this" -- and boy, does he get bogged down. In his effort to be accessible to everyone, he had no personal time at all and everybody had to wait a long time to get his attention -- and sometimes that may have even taken too long.
Yitro says to Moshe, "If you shall do this thing, and God command you so, then...". But Moshe does not even have to consult the One -- Yitro's advice is so sound that it becomes obvious to Moshe that this is indeed the right way to go. Small matters do not need Divine inspiration or guidance -- just common sense, fairness and honesty. In fact, adherence to those qualities gets rid of much of man's strife....
So Moshe sets up a system of judges. Yitro must have known this model from other communities -- it is not a unique concept. Moshe may well have seen a similar system either in his time in Egypt or when he lived in Midian. He just needed Yitro to do a 'wake-up' call and help him recognize that Israel needed a national (tribal-independent) system now.
Then the Parsha turns to God and the interchange with Israel. An interesting note is that the Hebrew throughout this Parsha says "vayomer (Said) YHVH el Moshe" -- most of Torah uses "vadabeyr" (spoke) and then "ley'mor"(saying). In fact, this combination has only been used 6 times so far in Torah (of the 90+ times it is used in the middle three books (an average of more then 3 per Parsha) -- only once in Deut). And so we can infer a very intimate and comfortable interchange -- except that it is hard to picture thundering and lightning and blaring shofars and trembling mountains and trembling people as intimate and comfortable.
So what can we draw from this? Sh'khina abounds -- there are clouds and mists everywhere! And yet there is trembling. This is a people who are not used to being close to the Divine -- they are scared silly. A year ago, or so, they were quite comfortable complaining about the conditions and praying for relief -- be careful what you pray for.... you might just get it. Now, there is no way they can go back to that familiar rotten life they used to know. This God, whom they barely know, wreaked havoc with the Egyptians and with Mitzrayim in general -- he drown them in the Sea, even. And now He wants to talk to us?
Do you think they are open to seeing the feminine nurturing side of Sh'khina? Would you be open to the idea of getting close and 'at one' with the One? And so God says and talks -- and usually through Moshe. And that is just fine with the people. They may be pretty stiff necked, but in the general vicinity of this trembling mountain, they are in no hurry to run up to God and invite Her to tea.
They are still acting in fear when they say to Moshe that all that YHVH has said, we will do. We will see how this changes in next week's Parsha. And yet, they are ready to start really learning what is expected of them. The agreement is made, the Commandments are given and we even start to get some of the details of how these commandments are to be implemented in the group.
Momentous -- yes.
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3. Some Observations
"Ro'im" -- usually translated as they "saw" the thunderings and ... the voice of the Shofar. And this usually starts the now familiar discussion of 'how does one see sound' -- well the problem is not Torah -- it is our translation of the Hebrew Ro'eh as to see. It is MUCH more than see, just as Sh'ma is much more than hear. We would do better to translate Ro'im as they perceived and comprehended -- that is closer to what the Hebrew really means -- and that makes sense in this context.
The Hebrew also has some interesting spacing on the Ten Commandments -- but that is not surprising. What is surprising is the shape of the unique spacing throughout the Commandments. Some of the commandments are VERY brief -- two words. Others have longer explanations with them. But I will talk about this more on the separate discussion.
The rest of the Parsha does not have very distinctive spacing -- it is typical of this sefer. The Hebrew at first reading might appear choppy and even repetitive -- but not when you listen to it, especially with eyes closed. This is very dramatic Hebrew Poetry -- very graphic. The words are arranged to transport you right to the scene -- this is a verbal CNN image. Brought to you by WTRH......
All of the scenery -- the sounds, the feels, the sensations -- they are very graphic and emphasized and repeated with greater detail to build the picture. Torah is not a dry sequential history -- it is a graphic, powerful telling of our people's growth toward the One. There is history there, to be sure -- but it was not written to be a dry history report. These were living people who had the same feeling and failings that we do today -- and somehow they approached the Divine and found the Love and the Warmth and the Energy that is there. They were not perfect -- far from it. But that is part of the power of these recordings.
Was it a volcano? Hard to say. Perhaps. Does it matter? Not really.
Did God write the Ten Commandments with His Finger? Or was that a figure of speech? Does that really matter either?
Do you know of any other culture with anything as powerful and as 'good' as the Ten Commandments? Wouldn't life be grand if all of us really could follow these Ten through to their logical conclusions? WOW. The detail that follows really is the first level of explaining these Ten on a more day-to-day level.
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4. Exercises
1. Ro'eh: See sound. Perceive sound, comprehend sound. See lightning. Perceive lightning, comprehend lightning. See the Voice. Perceive the Voice, comprehend the Voice. Do you ro'eh?
2. Common sense: There are things that are 'small' that we know how to handle -- honesty, fairness and common sense are good guides for most things. Can you think of things that you can handle? What things are great and need Divine help? Do we pause and note the difference?
3. Sh'khina: What does the Divine feel like? Can you feel Her swirling and misting around and above you? How does one approach the One? Can one touch the Divine Mist?
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There are many traditional interpretations of the parsha that I neither talk about nor mention. That is done from a position of space. I trust that the average reader is either familiar with these or can find many of them easily in other commentaries readily available.
Thanks for reading this. If I have offended you, please forgive me -- that was not my intention. If you found some joy or happiness in reading this, thank you for allowing me to be a part. If you found a reason to think about something more deeply - kol hakavod and thank you!
And to the people giving me feedback thank you so much! I enjoy all of it. (Including the typos) You have made this weekly practice wonderful.
b'v'rakha,
Candy
(c) 2001 Candy Lobb All rights reserved
