In seeking spiritual highs, people often turn to moments of overwhelming emotion, or to exotic locations. Our culture perceives spirituality as a jolting transformation -- an overwhelming sense of God's presence that is different than ordinary experience. Such moments certainly occur in biblical and rabbinic Judaism as well.
Everyone knows that the principal symbol of Judaism is the six-pointed Star of David. But did you know that the Magen David only became a Jewish symbol in the Middle Ages? Despite its prominence on the flag of Israel and kiddush cups, the Magen David is a rather late representative of Judaism and the Jewish People.
Each of us is descended from parents. Without exception, a man and a woman were involved in your inception and birth, and generally in your childhood, teen years and early adulthood as well. How are we to respond to these people, how should we adjust to our own increasing powers of understanding, physical strength and financial ability in the light of the gratitude and respect we owe our parents for the care we received at an earlier age?
Surely, this Torah reading contains some of the most dramatic and well-known scenes in all of written literature. The liberation of the Israelite slaves by God, the pursuit of the fleeing Hebrews by Pharaoh and his army, the splitting of theRed Sea, with Israel crossing safely beyond and Pharaoh's forces drowning in the waters -- these scenes indelibly shaped the consciousness of the Jewish people throughout our tumultuous history.
Pharaoh and Moses are locked in a conflict between two opposing world views. Pharaoh represents a civilization built upon an obsession with death; Moses advocates a religion whose followers "choose life." Pharaoh stands at the pinnacle of a society which is organized in a strict hierarchy -- a world in which everybody is assigned a place below someone else, all in the service of the state and its enormous aristocracy.
God once again, Moses prepares himself to enter Pharaoh's court. Raised there from childhood, and having fled the court to avoid Pharaoh's anger, Moses now returns to demand the liberation of his people. Formerly a slave to the Egyptians, and adopted grandson to the Pharaoh, Moses must transform his inner nature to stand in a new role in court. Moses is summoned to grow in stature before he meets with the earthly king.
In many ways, Sefer Sh'mot (the Book of Exodus) is the most Jewish book of the Torah. It begins with the origins of the Jewish People as a nation--newly liberated from Egyptian slavery by the God who created the Universe, led to Mt. Sinai, where that same God established an eternal covenant with the Jewish People. The remainder of Sefer Sh'mot details the content of that covenant in the many mitzvot that comprise Jewish practice and then authorizes the building of a place of worship, the Mishkan (Tabernacle) so that God can dwell amidst the Jews.
REMEMBER THE MIDRASH OF THE BLIND PEOPLE AND THE ELEPHANT? EACH ONE TOUCHED A DIFFERENT PART OF THE ANIMAL AND THEN DESCRIBED THE ELEPHANT BASED ON THEIR OWN PARTICULAR PERCEPTIONS. ONE COMPARED THE ELEPHANT TO A LONG, POWERFUL TUBE. A SECOND PORTRAYED THE ELEPHANT AS AN ENORMOUS BARREL. A THIRD, FEELING THE ELEPHANT'S EARS, DEPICTED IT AS RESEMBLING LARGE DRAPES. EACH PERSON DESCRIBED WHAT THEY KNEW--ACCURATE AS A CHARACTERIZATION OF PART OF THE ELEPHANT, BUT COMPLETELY MISLEADING AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE ENTIRE ANIMAL.
With the opening of Sefer Sh'mot, the Book of Exodus, the Torah moves from cosmic origins to the role of God in salvation and history. As the Israelites find themselves in a descending spiral of servitude and suffering, their call to God unleashes the ultimate conflict, between the very wellsprings of life and liberation (that we recognize as God) and the embodiment of tyranny and pointlessness epitomized by Pharaoh.
Why is it that so many conflicts divide humanity? Shouldn't we all be able to recognize our common identity as people, regardless of our race, nationality, gender or religion? Why is it that our labels, which ought to represent our most beautiful ideals, so often seem to create conflicts and divisions where none previously existed?