So glad to be here now and write in this blog again.
It is raining today, and it is WONDERFUL!! So happy to see the streets clean and shining, and the grayness of winter when the sky is covered with clouds. It's also a real delight when the sun manages to break through the blanket of clouds and light up everything. It happened twice today and it was so gladdening!
On Monday I gave a lecture about a country far away in which I lived and studied for a long time. I do it for fun from time to time, but often I feel emptied after it, wondering in my heart what value it has except for giving some good time and some non-essential education to the listeners. It's not like talking about Torah or G-d, which are eternal values for which it is worth living. For some reason, this time I felt less emptied after the talk. I try to figure out why, but I'm not sure. Perhaps I came more full to begin with.
On the way there I looked at the sky and saw the gorgeous colors of sunset upon the Jerusalem hills. I felt so blessed to be able to behold this. It was beautiful. When I waited for the green light to turn on so that I could cross the street, I saw a tiny group of birds flying together in an amazing harmony and coordination. They seemed black against the setting sun, but when they were right above my head I saw that their color was bright green. It was such a surprise, and it brought joy to my heart. It was a matter of two or three seconds before they were gone and out of my sight. The little joys of life.
Before I talk about this week's Torah portion, I want to say something that I heard about last week's portion. Yaacov blesses Yosef's children. He blesses Ephraim the younger before Menashe the first born. The great sage Rashi says that this blessing has indeed materialize later on in history: from Ephraim came Joshua the son of Nun who was the successor of Moses, and he managed to stop the sun in its tracks, while from Menashe came Gideon, who was great, but not as great as Joshua. In fact, the ten lost tribes, the Kingdom of Israel that separated from the Kingdom of Judaea and was then lost in the Assyrian exile, is often called Ephraim throughout the Bible. It is prophesied that in the End of Days, Ephraim will join Judaea again and the nation of Israel will become one. I wait for them to return. Who are they today, I wonder. I guess they are scattered all over the nations, and are slowly returning to us by feeling attraction to Judaism and then converting, not knowing that the roots of their souls are from Israel originally. I love reading the sages commentaries, because they bring to my attention things that I wouldn't be able to notice alone, and often these are real pearls and diamonds of wisdom.
This week's Torah Portion is that of Shmot ("These are the names of..."), which is the first portion in the book of Exodus. I feel a heavy feeling in my stomach whenever I think of all the troubles and tribulations we are going to go through in the next few weeks - the slavery, the cruelty of Pharaoh and his servants, the obstacles in the way to freedom, etc. But some good things are also awaiting us: the receiving of the Torah in the Sinai Desert, the manna and the different miracles.
Pharaoh enslaves the Children of Israel and asks Shifra and Puah the midwives to kill every newborn son. They fear G-d more than they fear Pharaoh, and they save the baby boys. When confronted about it by Pharaoh, they manage to go by unhurt. G-d was with them. I think we often find ourselves in such situations, just on a much smaller scales, in our daily lives: we have to decide whether to fear G-d or whether to fear the people around us, their opinions and expectations of us, etc. Whenever we choose G-d over people, G-d chooses us back, supports us and lets us know He is with us. I come in contact with many leftist, liberal, secular people, for whom religious people seem stupid, primitive or even cruel. But they are wrong and I know it, therefore I am not afraid to face them and stand for the truth. The world has lost its values, and if we continue this way, we will fall into anarchy, so it's important to stand for what is right.
Later we hear of Moses for the first time. He is a newly born child and his mother can hide him no longer. She puts him in an ark in the Nile, and the daughter of Pharaoh sees him and takes him in. Moses' sister suggests to her that she will bring her an Israelite woman to nurse him, and Moses is taken to his mother for nursing, but when he is weaned, he is sent to the palace.
He grows up, he sees the suffering of his people, and when he sees an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man, he kills the Egyptian. I always feel bad when I read this. Moses starts his "career" and adult life when he kills a man. With our modern day sensibilities, this is unbearable. But if I try to compare it to what happens in France, and how when they see a terrorist trying to kill someone they kill him without thinking twice about it, it makes it more understandable.
Moses runs away when he realizes this has become known. He runs away to Midyan and marries Zipporah, the daughter of the Midianite priest. He is a shepherd of their flock. There in Horev one day he sees a supra-natural sight: a bush burning with fire, but not consumed by it. G-d appears to him from the bush stating: "I come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of tha land unto a good land and large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite" (Exodus 3:8). Here the famous equation for Israel is stated again: Land = Redemption, Redemption = Land. G-d sees our suffering, and wants to redeem us. How? By taking us to our land, no matter that it is now populated by the Canaanite nations. The land is not promised to them, but to us.
G-d then tells Moses that He wants him to go to Pharaoh and talk to him and to the Children of Israel. Moses is humble and meek. He is afraid that the people won't believe him. He asks G-d what is His name. G-d says: "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh", or: I am that I am (in the original Hebrew the future tense is used). G-d also says that His ETERNAL name is THE G-D OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. G-d then gives Moses two signs - his stick becomes a snake and his hand becomes leprous. If these two signs won't be enough for the Israelites to believe Moses, he can also take water from the Nile, pour them on the ground and turn them into blood.
Moses is still not sure. "Oh, Lord, I am not a man of words, neither heretofore, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and of slow tongue" (ibid 4:10). G-d reassures Moses that He will help him, but it's not enough for Moses. G-d is angry with him. He then promises Moses the help of his brother Aharon.
Moses leaves Midyan with his wife and sons. He is commanded by G-d to tell Pharaoh: "Thus said the Lord: Israel is My son, My firstborn" (ibid 22). I think that the fact that we are G-d's first-born children causes much hatred against us throughout the world. People sense it in some subconscious way and resent us, because they are afraid that it means that G-d doesn't love them. But it's not true. G-d loves those who love Him, those who fear Him, those who walk in His ways, no matter which nation they come from. And there are those of the nations who don't suffice with just being loved by G-d. They want to be His first born, and they convert to Judaism. Here is a link to one such story of a Muslim Arab man from the PA who was jailed for murder in an Israeli prison and was exposed to Torah there, and then decided to convert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXCXQb_RQew (in Hebrew, couldn't find it with English subtitles).
Moses does the signs and wonders in front of the Israelites, and they believe him. Moses goes to Pharaoh and tells him the famous words: Let my people go! But Pharaoh doesn't, as G-d had told Moses.
Pharaoh makes things harder for the Israelites as a consequence, and the following verses sound like descriptions of Nazi behavior in the third Reich. He doesn't give them straw to make bricks, yet demands the same amount of bricks as before, and those who don't succeed in achieving this goal are beaten severely. The Egyptians, like the Nazis, appointed Jewish "Kapo"s to force their brethren to work and fulfill the required quotas. The Israelites complain to Moses and Aharon, and Moses complains to G-d. But G-d reassures him.
I feel like we're starting to sink when I read this - to sink into a dark time in our history, until the redemption that came with the actual Exodus finally took place. After this great darkness came a great light - the receiving of Torah and 40 years later the return to our land. And in modern time - after the dark abyss of the Holocaust, the great light of the establishment of the State of Israel came (a huge miracle that we tend to take for granted now) and the miraculous Ingathering of the Exiles, that were prophesied by all the prophets long long ago. Whenever I'm faced with secular arguments against the Torah, I just remind myself that all of us, me and the people around me, are part of a living wonder - the fact that we live here in Israel, after almost 2000 years of violent exile, and more than that - the fact that we are even alive, that we are still a nation. It's nothing but a HUGE, incredible miracle. What other nation survived as a nation without a country or a common language for even 200 years, not to mention 2000 years? and then returned to its land, revived its almost dead language, and all this is accordance with the Biblical prophecies? None. Only Israel, the first born of G-d. Not thanks to us. Thanks to Him.
It's pouring outside. The minimum temperature tonight is going to be 4 degrees (celsius) while the maximum temperature tomorrow daytime is going to be 4 degrees too. So who knows, we might even have snow. So now, a few minutes before I join friends of mine for dinner tonight, it's time to give you the recipe for the wonderful rich winter soup I cooked last week for Shabbat, and which turned out great.
Rich, nutritious Soup for a Winter Shabbat:
In a big pot, put the following ingredients: 2 zucchini (cut to cubes or pieces), a few cloves of garlic, two onions (cut to long pieces), many shallot onions (I love them! but they are not necessary if you don't have them), lots of big, thick mushrooms (cut to pieces), one big sweet-potato (cut to pieces), two or three small-medium size potatoes (cut to cubes), 2 carrots (cut to pieces), 3-4 spoons of brown rice, cubes of fresh beef (try to purchase organic if you have organic beef in your area). Cook everything with water (no need to fry anything, no need to add oil). Add salt, hot paprika, cumin and turmeric to suit your taste.
Serve boiling hot with a side dish of home made Tehini dip. I like to eat soup and throw a spoonful or two of Tehini into my bowl just before I eat it. It makes it thicker and richer, and the tastes blend nicely.
Possible additions for future trials: natural corn seeds, chicken instead of beef, tofu cubes to those who like it, celery and/or other green leaves, etc. I've tried this soup for the first time, so haven't tried all these additions yet. If you try it, let me know how it turned out. Taste it first without the Tehini. Then try to add a small amount of Tehini while serving, just to see if you like this combination.
To make home made Tehini dip:
Buy Sesame paste from a nature store or a supermarket. Fill a regular size soup bowl with sesame paste until it fills one third of the volume of the bowl. Add water to cover the paste in about one centimeter at first, add a little bit of salt, juice from half a lemon or more, then mix it all together. At first it's hard to mix it, but soon it becomes smoother and whiter. Add more water if you need to. Taste and add more lemon or salt if you need. You can make it thick or thin, but better not make it too liquid. Tehini is full of calcium and iron and I eat it almost daily with almost everything - especially potato based dishes and soups. I love the lemony taste of the Tehini and the texture of it.
I have an idea for a totally new soup for this coming Shabbat. If it turns out good, I'll share it here next week.
Shabbat Shalom!
Revital