Va’era: Reaching Out

When Moshe repeats G-d’s promise of deliverance to the people of Israel, they respond not with hope, belief and trust in G-d, but with despair. The Torah writes ולא שמעו אל-משה מקצר רוח ומעבדה קשה, ‘and they would not listen to Moshe, for their spirits were crushed by cruel bondage’ (Ex. 6:9). Though we know that their suffering has been deep and long – they have cried out many a time to G-d – as Rashbam points out, this inability to have faith in G-d’s word or His ability to save them from their situation is in direct contrast with the language of last week’s parasha, where the Torah states ויאמן העם, ‘and the people believed’ (Ex. 4:31). How can it be that such trust and belief has seemingly vanished?

In their commentaries on this pasuk, the Rishonim look at the nature of this broken spirit, Malbim writing that the word ‘spirit designates inner spirit’, and that ‘their depressed spirits were too weak to bear and tolerate’ their workload.[1] Or HaChaim concurs on the sense of desperation exuded by this description of their anguish, writing that since Torah ‘broadens a person’s mind’ and the Israelites of this time had not received it, ‘the Torah may [be] describing the Israelites’ state of mind as “narrow minded, limited”’, unable to see beyond their seemingly endless torment.[2] Their depression is entirely understandable, as is their reticence to embrace Moshe’s words – as both Or HaChaim and Rambam point out, translating רוח קצר as ‘impatient spirit’ reflects both that they were ‘impatient at their fate’ following Pharaoh’s additions to their work[3], and that they greatly ‘fear[ed] that Pharaoh would put them to death’[4] if they did not complete their new workload. There are many interpretations of their anguish, yet one thing is clear: the people of Israel are overwhelmed by their bondage, physically, mentally and emotionally. They cannot allow themselves that glimmer of hope, for their hopes were crushed when they allowed themselves that glimmer in Shemot and nothing came of it.

Though they were aware of the covenant G-d created with Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, Tanach makes it clear that their trust in this relationship and the promise it entails has been lost within the clouding experience of bondage. As Nechama Leibowitz writes, their response holds ‘no trace of faith and trust; not even misgiving or even argument and opposition’. [5] They were ‘so downtrodden and crushed by persecution that they were unable to tune in even to the message of immediate relief and release from bondage’, let alone the greater promise of a homeland and Divinely mandated rulership of their own.[6] They are too busy trying to survive. Their souls are unable to see in the darkness of their trauma, Rabbeinu Bachya going so far as to suggest that their ‘collective condition was much like that of an individual who wishes himself dead as he can no longer bear the pain that he is enduring’; indeed, the length of their harsh bondage seems unending.[7] Through their cries they reached out to G-d, but they believe He did not reply. They can no longer hear anything beyond their own despair.

The narrative of the next chapters of Shemot depict how the people of Israel are able to surmount the effects of their crushed collective spirit and believe once more in the possibility of G-d’s deliverance, eventually leaving Egypt under Moshe’s leadership. I would argue that this change, this return to faith, comes as a result of G-d’s actions. The depth of their despair required the Israelites to have some proof, something tangible on which to hang any renewed hopes of redemption which might fortify their spirit. In matters of faith, it is difficult to ask for proof – the very definition of faith requires a belief in and step into the unknown. Yet here it can be argued that G-d provides that proof. Whilst the plagues, the signs and wonders, can be viewed as a way in which G-d proves that He is greater and mightier than the perceived central Egyptian deity of the time, Pharaoh, it appears as though they served a purpose beyond this.

In exhibiting His wonders and His strength, G-d provided proof to the Jewish people that He was in fact present, that He had heard their cries. By sending these tangible signs of strength, G-d created a space in which the Israelites could get back in touch with their hope and their capacity for it, allowing them to believe once more in the possibility of liberation from slavery, from the deep physical, emotional and spiritual despair in which they had lost themselves. G-d’s plagues and wonders strengthen that relationship bound within the covenant, and through Moshe and Aaron He reaches out to his people, just as they reached out to Him. This moment of deliverance is a pillar of Jewish experience, an event we remind ourselves of time and again; it was only made possible by reaching out for help and being held by the strength of what reached back. It is a testament to the power of our bonds with others, human and divine, and how strengthening those bonds in times of despair, even when it seems useless and futile, can change the course of what is to come.

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[1] Malbim on Va’era 6:9:1

[2] Or HaChaim on Va’era 6:9:1

[3] Or HaChaim on Va’era 6:9:3

[4] Ramban on Va’era 6:9:1

[5] Nechama Leibowitz, Studies in Shemot, (1976), pg.127

[6] Leibowitz, pg.127

[7] Rabbeinu Bachya on Va’era 6:9:1

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The author apologises for the delay in the arrival of last week’s article.