Parshat Va'Era

​           “You can make me cry. You can break my heart.  But I'll never say we're through.  Even when I cry.  I can't stay mad at you…I bounced right back into your arms.  One thing you'll know for sure.  I won't be the one to.  Fall in love with someone new.  I'll love you till I die.  And I can't stay mad at you.”[1] 
            This week we read Parshat Va’Era.  Our story picks up right where we left off.  The words that Moses spoke to God were not pleasant ones.  “Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.’”[2]  Then, our parsha begins.  “The Lord/E-lohim also spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am God/Ado-nai.../וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי ה'.”    Why do we have this doubling of the language?  Spoke and Said.  Lord and God.  What is this seemingly superfluous wording coming to teach us?
            The Isbitzer Rebbe[3] explains that,
After Moshe Rabeynu spoke words against the blessed God, God rebuked him, and this is why the Torah says “[and He spoke/] Vai’daber,” “and E-lohim spoke to Moshe” (as opposed to “He said to him”), which is a form denoting difficulty.  The name “E-lohim” also teaches of this (judgement), so immediately after it says, “and He said [vai’omer] to him.”  This is like one who becomes angry at his friend, yet he loves him; so, when he sees his friend astonished and frightened, he then hints to him that all his anger was only outward and momentary.  Thus it is here, saying, “and He said to him, I am [Ado-nai],” for saying denotes softness meaning that He whispered to him that He is not really angry, God forbid.[4]
Sometimes we get angry at the people we love and care about.  While even God needs to express anger on occasion, that is only on the surface and it is fleeting.  Moses had been stubborn and confrontational. And though God wants it to be clear that this behavior is unacceptable, God still loves, and will always love Moses.
            Even when we are angry with those people that we are close with, and issues may need to be resolved, the key of this teaching is that we must remind those that we are angry with that we still love them, and we will always love them.  Whatever softness we can muster goes a long way in ensuring the offending party, that regardless of the misstep, the relationship is important and will continue.  There is no threat of complete separation.  This parsha reminds us that even if we make God angry, God will always love us.  And we, in turn, must remind those around us of the same thing.  Anger is momentary. Love is forever.
 
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ezra


[1] Lyrics by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Performed by Skeeter Davis.

[2] Ex. 5:22-23

[3] Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (Yiddish: איזשביצע, איזביצע‎ Izhbitze, Izbitse, Ishbitze) (1801-1854) was a rabbinic Hasidic thinker and founder of the Izhbitza-Radzyn dynasty of Hasidic Judaism.  Rabbi Mordechai Yosef was born in Tomashov (Polish: Tomaszów Lubelski) in 1801 to his father Reb Yaakov the son of Reb Mordechai of Sekul, a descendant of Rabbi Saul Wahl. At the age two he became orphaned of his father. He became a disciple of Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa where he joined Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk and Rabbi Yosef of Yartshev; both were also born in Tomashov. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel became Rebbe in Kotzk, Reb Mordechai Yosef became his disciple there; then in 1839 became himself a rebbe in Tomaszów, moving subsequently to Izbica.

[4] Mei HaShiloah, 1:66. Translation by Betzalel Philip Edwards, Living Waters, pg. 120