Darkness Before the Dawn – Part 2
Rabbi Andrew Shaw
Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
Last week we discovered the code for Geulah, passed down from Yaacov to Yosef to the Children of Israel – pakod Yifcode.
Yet we also discovered that Moshe’s initial mission ended in failure, that the people deserted him and that redemption seemed further away than ever.
Let us continue our journey:
The first question we must ask is why did Hashem send Moshe on a futile mission? The answer is that He didn’t. Hashem’s command was simple.
So now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
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וְעַתָּ֣ה לְכָ֔ה וְאֶשְׁלָֽחֲךָ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהוֹצֵ֛א אֶת־עַמִּ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִמִּצְרָֽיִם:
Shemot 3:10
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What then follows in the text is Moshe disagreeing with the initial strategy. Hashem even gives him the code words!
Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your forefathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “I have surely remembered you and what is being done to you in Egypt.” ’
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לֵ֣ךְ וְאָֽסַפְתָּ֞ אֶת־זִקְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֤ אֲלֵהֶם֙ ה’ אֱלֹקי אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ נִרְאָ֣ה אֵלַ֔י אֱלֹקי אַבְרָהָ֛ם יִצְחָ֥ק וְיַֽעֲקֹ֖ב לֵאמֹ֑ר פָּקֹ֤ד פָּקַ֨דְתִּי֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְאֶת־הֶֽעָשׂ֥וּי לָכֶ֖ם בְּמִצְרָֽיִם:
Shemot 3:16
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However, Moshe insists this is not enough and as the midrash says, Hashem only gave Moshe the signs in keeping with Moshe’s own approach.
In the end Moshe claims he is not suitable due to his speech impediment and rejects the whole tactic that Hashem was suggesting. Eventually when he does go to Egypt, he turns what was meant to be an opening statement to Paroh into a mass movement.
Eventually after all has failed and Moshe and the people are despondent and in a worse positon than before Moshe came to Egypt– does Hashem then tell Moshe that now they are going to do it His way!
“Come, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he will let the children of Israel out of his land.”
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יאבֹּ֣א דַבֵּ֔ר אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֖ה מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרָ֑יִם וִֽישַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵֽאַרְצֽוֹ:
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If you compare this instruction by Hashem, it has hardly changed from His initial strategy above. It is as if there had to be failure before redemption can happen that it can’t be smooth sailing.
The understanding is that Geula is a process – pakod is a process.
Moshe didn’t fail, that is the nature of pakod.
Hashem shows Himself, then goes into hiding. The Medrash compares it to a gazelle, you catch a glimpse – then it is gone.
Pakod means to remember, but it is used in a specific way in the Torah
And the Lord remembered Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken.
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וַֽה’ פָּקַ֥ד אֶת־שָׂרָ֖ה כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמָ֑ר וַיַּ֧עַשׂ ה’ לְשָׂרָ֖ה כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽר:
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And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.
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וַתַּ֩הַר֩ וַתֵּ֨לֶד שָׂרָ֧ה לְאַבְרָהָ֛ם בֵּ֖ן לִזְקֻנָ֑יו לַמּוֹעֵ֕ד אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹקים:
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The Gemara in Rosh Hashana (11a) explains that Hashem was Pakod Sarah on Rosh Hashana. Yet Yitzchak wasn’t born till Pesach.
In this case Pekida is the conception – birth is going to happen, but it will take time, there will be pain, there will be difficulties – but birth is coming.
The beginning of Geula, is the conception, the pakod, which is the sudden dawning of a completely different way to think about the future. There is a small seed of freedom and people start to dream.
Pakod keeps the memory alive during the dark and dormant years, it is the genetic code for geula.
The Rambam explains that it is like being lost in a storm. Suddenly there is a flash of lightning and you can see clearly where you are heading and what direction you need to take. Then the lightning goes, and it is dark again and the work begins to make your way home, but unlike before, you now have the vision. Yet, still the journey home will be challenging.
The Gemara (Sotah 11b) states that we were redeemed from Egypt because of the women. They were inspired by the pekida, they never gave up hope.
That first geula process in Egypt is the model for the future. There are three stages. First there is the initial euphoria. That is then followed by despair as redemption seems further away than ever but then comes recognition of truth!
Today we have once again had the bracha of ‘pekida’ we have returned to Israel. Yet we understand this is only Reishit Smichat – the beginning of our geula, we have not fully arrived. However so much of the struggle, the pain, the despair has been experienced by our nation. It was those early Zionists both religious and secular who began to think differently, who began to believe that we could return. Who planted that seed.
However, what makes a Rav Kook different from a Theodore Herzl, is that Rav Kook realised that you cannot exchange the covenant with Hashem for mere love of the land or satisfy our yearning as a nation for meaning and significance with 19th century nationalism. We are far more than that, we are driven by that first Geula and its first stop on the way to Eretz Yisrael – Har Sinai.
As Rav Matis writes ‘Events now conspire to force us to confront the essence of Jewish identity unclouded by silliness. We either unabashedly confirm the commitments of Yisrael or we must accept an honourable oblivion.’
It is our choice. It is time to recognize the truth.
We see, certainly outside of Israel, wherever Jews do not connect themselves to the mesorah – they are tragically disappearing.
As Rav Matis concludes ‘There is only one choice – and eventually it must be confirmed. Still sustained by pacode yifcode, the covenant will not die and history will not leave us alone. There can be nothing counterfeit in geula and that is why it takes so long. The last myths must run their course, do their damage and expose their sham. The process has begun – gestation proceeds beneath the surface.’
So as we deal with a tremendous darkness.
A worsening global pandemic.
An America in crisis.
A rise in extremism globally.
A collapse in morality.
We must stay firm on our course, on our mission.
As we have done for the last three thousand years and realise that..
The dawn is coming.
Shabbat Shalom