One of the best parts of my job is empowering lay leaders to take their religion, their spirituality, their responsibility seriously. Congregation Kneseth Israel does precisely that and is committed to the process. This past Shabbat was Men’s Club Shabbat. There were 16 men who took an active role in leading the service. Some of them pushed themselves to learn new material or pushed beyond their comfort zones. One lead Ashrei for the first time. One lead the Torah service for the first time. And in mastering the material and wrestling with the language they learned something new, deepening their spirituality. One demonstrated a deep, resonate voice in his Torah blessings that I hadn’t noticed before. He jokes that is the only song in his songbook. One chanted the haftarah, his Bar Mitzvah portion, out of the Federation of Jewish Mens’ Clubs traveling Haftarah scroll, a thing of real art and beauty. And one delighted me with his D’var Torah on Parshat Bo. He delighted me because he taught me some things I hadn’t considered before. And his teaching strikes me as being right on target because it forces me to ask some questions at the end. He is our guest blogger today. Here are his words, unedited:
“SHABBAT SHALOM
Preparing for Men’s Club Shabbat is a real treat for me because I always learn so much and I am going to try today to convey some of that knowledge to you. For today’s Parsha I learned that our God is very literate and a delightful writer of systematic prose. I also learned from the story of the plagues how patient he or she can be, but how terrible can be the result of God’s exasperation with mortals. I also had to face the terrible moral dilemma of the retribution directed against the first born of the Egyptians in the final plague. Lastly, the phrase “Let my people go” has for me taken on quite a different meaning and import. There is a lot here to contemplate.
COME VS. GO
One of the first things I learned is that nuanced speech can be lost in translation and the story of the plagues is among the best examples of that. Today’s parsha is called “Bo’ which in Hebrew really means “come”. The word “Go” in Hebrew is “lech” and both Bo and lech are used in the recitations about the plagues. Yet whenever God tells Moses to meet with Pharaoh, no matter the correct Hebrew word, the English translation in your Chumash is always “go”. But, based on the English translation, I wondered why if God always tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and if Moses always tells or asks Pharaoh to “let my people go”, how come this Parsha is called “Come” rather than “Go”?
The answer can be found only in the Hebrew words and not in the English translations you have before you. When you discern the differences, a whole new and astonishing systematic prose is presented that makes sense.
Once you recognize the original Hebrew words, the symmetry of the passages not only becomes clear, but then they display a beautiful literary brilliance not possible to discern in the English translations. Unfortunately, as we read the parsha today, you will be able to look in the first line of the eighth plague for God’s direction to Moses with the correct Hebrew word Bo. But if you a moment to look at Chapter 7, verse 15 relating to the first plague, the blood plague, you will find lech is the right word for go.
The three systems of the nine plagues
Once I understood the difference between “come” and “go”, I could see a startling and unique system of very literate prose. It becomes a kind of acrostic, which you recall is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. Our familiar Ashrei is just such an acrostic.
Bear with me as I try to explain how Bo and Lech are used when God tells Moses to go or come as the case may be. I have handed out a list of the plagues just so you can follow me.
First one divides the nine plagues into three subsets of three plagues each, leaving the 10th aside for the moment:
1. Blood Go =Lech= 7:15
2. Frogs. Come=Bo=10:1
3. Lice
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4. Wild beasts
5. Pestilence
6. Boils
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7. Hail
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
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10. Death of the Newborn
Using this analytic device, we are able to discern certain patterns of characteristics of the plague system as a whole. The first pattern is that Lech “go to Pharaoh” as the English translations shows, appears only in the first plague of each of the three subsets. That is regarding plagues 1, 4, and 7.
Then we can see that Bo “come to Pharaoh” appears in the second plague of each of the three subsets, covering plagues 2, 5 and 8. See the symmetry? It’s “Go” in 1, 4 and 7 and it’s “Come” in 2, 5 and 8. We then can recognize that whenever “come” Bo is used it really means God says to Moses “come with me” and the action always is in Pharaoh’s palace with God at hand. Whenever “go” Lech is used, the action takes place outside of the palace with Moses on his own.
These two little Hebrew words translated properly really put the meat on the bones of the stories.
That leaves the third plague in each subset to be accounted for and what we then see is that there is no “come” Bo or “go” lech, because in the third plague in each subset, there is no warning to Pharaoh to afford him the opportunity to avoid the punishment and Pharaoh is not involved. The last plague is each subset is simply punishment for ignoring the first two plagues in each subset, and the third does not happen in any particular location. Remember 1, 4 and 7 are Lech and 2, 5, and 8 are Bo. 3, 6 and 9 are without confrontation or warning and so no Bo or lech.
There are a number of other non-random literary patterns regarding which of the plagues are public nuisances and which are private to the affected persons or when Moses show respect for Pharaoh and when Pharaoh is considered by Moses as an ordinary person. Okay, that is enough of this discussion of a unique and very interesting systematic description of the nine plagues by a gifted writer, no matter whom you think is that writer.
God’s patience
Concerning God’s patience, a matter we discussed to some extent last week in connection with an earlier parsha, it was not at all clear to me when God hardened pharaoh’s heart or why, until I recognized that is was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart and was obstinate through the first five plagues. Only when Pharaoh did not change his mind when he was free to do so, did God harden his heart so that the remaining five plagues would get the job done. God wanted pharaoh at that point not only to let the people go, he wanted what ultimately happened and that is that pharaoh begged all of the people to leave with their flocks, also permitting great treasures to accompany them. Yes, God said early on that he would harden the heart of pharaoh, but he did permit free will until Pharaoh proved he could not change his mind during the first five plagues.
One crime for another
Next in connection with today’s Parsha, how do we rationalize the killing of the innocent new-born Egyptians as retaliation for the past wrongs of Pharaoh and his Court? There really are awesome moral, theological and intellectual dilemmas presented within today’s parsha. Obviously, there are no sins committed by those Egyptian babies to justify the punishment of death, and even Pharaoh should be given some slack particularly when it was our God who hardened his heart during the final four plagues preceding the murder of the newborn. Moreover, neither God nor Moses warned Pharaoh or the Egyptians about this final calamity.
This gruesome infanticide is a heavy price for the liberation of our people, but I can only leave you with the question of what heinous crime justifies another. In the biblical history, we have seen God’s actual or threatened vengeance in the stories of the plagues, the Golden Calf, and Noah’s flood. Now, in our lifetimes, given the worldwide atrocities of recent years and the bombing of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki, it is a question we and our leaders should pose daily.
LET MY PEOPLE GO
Finally, let’s talk about letting my people go I am going to take the liberty of reading a Chabad sermonette that captures the theme better than I could say it:
Not surprising it’s called Let My People Go By Rabbi Yossy Goldman
“The words ring out again and again in the biblical account of the Exodus story, as Moses repeatedly demands of the unrelenting Pharaoh that he grant the Jewish people their freedom.
Actually, the precise words that Moses conveys to the stubborn monarch in the name of God are, “Shalach ami v’yaavduni,”
“Let My people go so that they may serve Me.”
“It is interesting to see how some expressions and phrases become memorable and popular, while others just don’t seem to catch on. “Let My People Go” became the theme song for the story of Egypt and the Exodus way beyond the Jewish community. It has been used as a catchphrase for a variety of political causes. Unfortunately, the last Hebrew word of the phrase somehow got lost in the shuffle: v’yaavduni —“that they may serve Me”—never quite made it to the top of the charts. The drama of the Exodus captures our imagination, while the fact that that the purpose of leaving Egypt was to go to Sinai, receive God’s Torah and fulfill Jewish destiny is less emphasized. The call to freedom excites the human spirit; the challenge of service and commitment, by contrast, doesn’t seem to elicit as much enthusiasm.”
Goldman then recalls days back in the early ’70s, when Jews the world over were demonstrating for their oppressed brethren in the then Soviet Union, demanding of the Russian government that they allow Jews the freedom to leave the country. Their rallying cry was, “Let My People Go!” Sadly, they left out the v’yaavduni. The demonstrators were so concerned about political liberties that they forgot a primary purpose of being free: to enjoy religious freedom and live fulfilled Jewish lives.
Indeed, for so many Russian Jews, obtaining their exit visas and acquiring freedom of movement did little to help them reclaim their spiritual heritage and identity. Seventy years of organized atheism behind the Iron Curtain left their toll. Goldman is delighted that they can live in Israel (or Brighton Beach), but the fact remains that far too many remain outside of the Jewish community and its spiritual orbit.
In South Africa, where Goldman now lives, this situation became blatant. Blacks have now enjoyed decades of democracy. There have been four free and fair elections where all citizens have had the opportunity to cast their ballots. It was a long, hard struggle, but political freedom has been achieved. And yet, while confidence levels in South Africa’s future are high, millions of people living there are still suffering from the very same hardships they endured under apartheid—ignorance, poverty and poor health. The masses remain impoverished and HIV/AIDS is still public enemy number one.
Goldman then observes that political freedom minus spiritual purpose equals disillusionment. Leaving Egypt without the vision of Sinai would be getting all dressed up with nowhere to go. It is not enough to let our people go. We have to take them somewhere. “That they may serve Me” means that we need to use political freedom to experience the freedom and fulfillment of faith, and a life of spiritual purpose dedicated to God’s service.
I end on that thought.”
So here are my thoughts. THANK YOU for explaining the “Come and Go” scenario because while I knew the words I had not cracked the puzzle and it helps. This is precisely the kind of puzzle that we as Jews, as children of Israel, G-dwrestlers are supposed to struggle with. You leave the moral questions–why does G-d harden Pharaoh’s heart, why does G-d kill innocent Egyptian children hanging in the balance, unanswered. Those we will need to wrestle with further and I invite people to wrestle with them here. However, thank you for bringing the last piece of the teaching from Goldman. It is not merely “Let My people go.” It is “Let My people go to serve Me.” If we forget the last part of the verse then we remain enslaved to some false gods or we run the risk of idolatry. Freedom comes with responsibilities. A responsibility you have taken quite seriously with this wonderful D’var Torah.
I enjoyed your guest blogger today and will have to wrestle with “Come and Go” to better understand. I so regret not having followed through with my desire to know and speak Hebrew. I even ordered Pimsleur’s course and was so overwhelmed that I quickly abandoned all efforts! As always, I am struck by the fact that most Jews (or so it seems) study the Torah on a regular basis. Most ordained Christians still study at a high level but Christian lay people do not. Your guest was very eloquent and has inspired me to make a better effort to understand Judaism and Christianity. Your guiding will be relied on!
My guest blogger would probably like your blog. He is a retired attorney who did transportation law and he is quite eloquent and with the firmest handshake I know, of anyone, not just the 80 somethings. Because we read the Torah yearly and because we read all of it or a third of each year our “Torah service” can be quite long as well as in an unfamiliar language. I think that helps people study it. I loved my “parshat hashavuah” class in college, much like our GenEx group, where we studied the portion and the commentaries weekly. It was the first time I heard the depth and the beauty of the scriptures, not just the stories we tend to teach kids. Leonard is right, we lose much in translation and pushing that further, any translation is a commentary. The original Puritans wanted to study the Bible on their own and not leave the Catholic hierarchy to explain it for them. William Bradford even wrote of his, “though I have growne aged, yet I have a longing desire to see, with my owne eyes, something of that most ancient language, and holy tongue, in which the Law and oracles of God were write; in which God and the angels spake to the patiarcks, of old time; and what names were given to things of creation” (Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, Little, Brown, 1856). And yet, his own Bible, which I was once fortunate to hold in my hands, in which he wrote his marginalia in Hebrew, was known informally as the Britches Bible. Why? It seems that the Puritans were prudish enough to think that G-d would not have allowed Adam and Eve to run around naked, so clothed them in…britches…the clothing of the day! So learning Hebrew is indeed important. But I would say that most people cannot understand the Hebrew in the prayerbook or in the Torah reading. It is an art form and takes lots of work. I would recommend a different approach than Pimsleur…or Rosetta Stone both of which are great for modern, conversational, Israeli Hebrew. Try First Biblical Hebrew Primer, 3rd Edition. http://www.abebooks.com/First-Hebrew-Primer-Simon-EKS-Publishing/11560868810/bd?cm_mmc=gmc-_-gmc-_-PLA-_-v01 By the end you will be reading the book of Ruth–and that might help you with your other question!
PS What criteria determines what we are? A Christian or a Jew? I feel like “half and half!” Half Christian, Half Jew. My daughter is a convert from Christianity to Judaism and her two daughters are Jewish. As is their father. I earned a Certificate of Study in Jewish-Christian Relations from Merrimack College. I must be feeling, at least a little, like the first Jews who became Christians, confused and conflicted and uncertain. Are there any books available on “dual citizenship?”
I think that there are some people who are “fellow travelers”. You, my dear, are one of them. You are certainly in the category of Righteous Gentile. Do you remember our conversation after your participation in the Merrimack College Kristalnacht Service? Or when I gave you the Hebrew name Devorah? I think that I missed a piece. Your full Hebrew name should be Devorah Ruth! Books on this topic? I will have to think.