Parashiot Vaeira, Bo and, Beshalah  (Exodus 6:2-17:16)

These chapters in Exodus prepare us for the holyday of Passover that we will celebrate when we see the 3rd full moon from now.  Over the next 3 weeks, we read the story of the 10 plagues and the escape through the sea.  We are taught that this story is continually being reenacted in our lives.  And so we ask, what is our lesson for 5772?

Once again we enter into Pharaoh’s heart as we read the Exodus story.  Once again we feel compelled to act out the drama.  What do we find in Pharaoh’s heart-mind?  Our story hints at pride, duty, mission, a sense of entitlement, but also of wavering and doubt.  The text explicitly describes hardness, heaviness, stubbornness.  Sometimes Pharaoh’s heart is acted upon by the Divine, sometimes Pharaoh strengthens his own resolve, and then the heart develops autonomy. 

In our Jungian dream state, we are Moses and Aaron coming to Pharaoh at the same time that we are immersed in Pharaoh’s psyche and soul.  We are invited to “come to Pharaoh – bo el Paroh” –  expressly  “ because I (the Divine Director) have made his heart heavy”.  The Voice whispers and prods Pharaoh to be tough and not to give in.  Yet the Ear hears the groans and sighs of Israelite suffering.  The Voice bolsters the ego that is holding on desperately, strengthening Pharaoh’s resolve just so Pharaoh can break down and self-destruct.   Only by making of Pharaoh’s heart a vessel that can be shattered, can the next Paradigm be birthed as we cross the sea, our communal birth canal.  Pharaoh came with us on our flight to freedom, and that which no longer serves our evolution was drowned. 

But the residue of the traumas remains with us.  We still cry out and complain and we take another 40 years to work on learning the lesson of Trust (if we ever truly learn this as the rest of Tanakh describes).

I bless us to deeply meditate on this story this year, empathizing with each of its characters.  Perhaps through this lesson of compassion, a new paradigm for healing old stories will finally emerge.

With a prayer for wisdom-of-heart as we grapple with our Tradition,

Rabbi SaraLeya

24 Tevet 5772 - January 18, 2012