Parashat Va’era (Exodus 6:2-9:35)

The parasha makes this very point in its opening verses with a nifty literary device called a chiasm.  A set of ideas are presented once, and then are presented a second time, in reverse order.  In this chiasm, God tells Moses four things:  I am God; I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I established a brit (covenant) with them to give them a land, and; I hear their suffering in Egypt.  (Note that this first presentation refers to the past.) God then proclaims, “I am God, “and  repeats the four things, but in reverse order, referring to the future:  I will take you out of Egypt; I will bring you to the land; I will give you the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and; I am God. (Exodus 6:2-8)

In Genesis God makes promises. According to Rashi  (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the pre-eminent 11^th century Jewish commentator), Exodus is different because God begins to act upon those promises and makes things happen.  In the modern world, the idea that things can change doesn’t seem like a big deal, or even a particularly Jewish deal.  Yet, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out (Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth)  , the idea that God is invested enough in the world to “mix in” to upend the status quo is a foundation of Jewish thought, and a source of Jewish hope throughout the ages.

Good Shabbos/Shabbat Shalom,

David

Dr. David Ackerman is the director of JCC Association’s Mandel Center for Jewish Education.