Vaera 5772 - English

Rabbi Mario Gurevich. 

Beth Israel Synagogue, Aruba.

Parashat Va’Era contains two cryptic passages.

In Exodus 6:2-3 we read:  “And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him: 'I am the Lord;  and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name YHWH I made Me not known to them.’”

Countless commentaries exist, of course, regarding these verses, but the consensus indicates that Moses, after his first – and failed – presentation before the Hebrews and Pharaoh, is overcome with frustration and doubts whether he will succeed in the mission entrusted to him:  to convince Pharaoh and then lead the Hebrews’ liberation.

It is at this point where God seems to remind Moses that, even though He introduced Himself to the patriarchs only with His generic name, they never doubted, following faithfully the rules presented to them and, above all, not wavering in their certainty concerning the fulfillment of God’s promises, although they were not confirmed during their lifetime.

God stresses to Moses that, by revealing to him His ultimate name – the Tetragammon, the four letters we do not know or dare to pronounce, and which we read with the euphemism of Adonai –, He has established an unprecedented degree of intimacy between them, and that this should imbue Moses with an unlimited faith in the result of his efforts.

Apart from this, Moses has the certainty of witnessing, with his own eyes and in his lifetime, the fulfillment of God’s promises.

And it is here where we find the second cryptic passage:

Notwithstanding the above, Moses hesitates, perhaps due to his lack of self-confidence, and repeats once more what he said already in a previous paragraph (Ex. 4:10), although in different words:  “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?” (Ex. 6:12)

Once again, the term “uncircumcised” prompts innumerable lucubrations and commentaries.  As  happened with the text mentioned above, where Moses declares himself to be “slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”  Indeed, countless Midrashim concern themselves with this subject, attributing to Moses a stuttering condition and other troubles of speech and expression.  God’s answer is what clears up the situation:  “I will be with thy mouth… and will teach you what ye shall do” (Ex. 4:15).

That is the true meaning of the prophecy and what finally turned Moses into the greatest of the prophets who ever lived:  the prophet uses his own voice, but the word comes from God.

Politicians and demagogues of every ilk need to have oratory tidiness, discourse ability and rhetoric force, but for the prophet, the only important thing is the content of the message and his faith.

And it is not paradoxical, but rather the opposite, that the one person who would be considered the greatest of prophets, once hesitated and doubted.  That speaks to the mental and spiritual health of the man of faith.

Faith without doubts, absolute conviction, is only typical of fanatics and fundamentalists, of whatever faith they may be.  Doubt and hesitation are, on the other hand, characteristics of the healthy faith of people who know their way, but reasonably doubt themselves.

And because of that God gives us, in the first verse of today’s parashah, the testimony of the close intimacy granted by the knowledge of His name, and invites Moses, and all of us, to follow the example of our patriarchs and maintain our faith untouched.

Shabbat Shalom.