JANUARY 11 • 2024 | 45
J
N

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION

Our Belief Is
Tested
M

oses and Aaron
came to Pharaoh
and requested, at
God’s bidding, that the Jews
be allowed to travel
into the wilderness
to worship. Pharaoh
refused and imposed
even greater hardships
on the Jewish slaves.
The Jewish officers
accused Moses and
Aaron of bringing
on further suffering.
Moses then asks God,
“Why do You treat
the people so badly?
From the time I came
to Pharaoh to speak in
Your name, he has done evil
to the people and You have
not saved them.” (Exodus
5:22-23)
God answers by saying,
“You will see what I will do.”
He then continues, “I am
the Lord (using the tetra-
grammaton YHVH) and I
appeared to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob by the name God
Almighty (El Shaddai), but
my name YHVH I did not
make known to them. I have
established My covenant
with them … I have heard
the cries of the people. I
YHVH will take them out
… I will save them … I will
redeem them …” (Exodus
6:3-8)
Although God had
appeared to the previous
generations by the name
YHVH, the patriarchs did
not know God by that name;
it connotes the special rela-
tionship between God and
the people and the promises
made to the progenitors of

the nation.
It is only when the cov-
enant and the promises
are fulfilled that it can be
said that this name
is “known.” God tells
Moses that all that has
taken place is part of
“the plan” and while
redemption is posi-
tive, it is not without
hardship, suffering and
tragedy.
Previously, the
nation had listened and
believed that God had
remembered the Jewish
people and that He saw
their affliction. (Exodus
4:31) Now, their suffering
did not allow them to accept
the vision of the promises.
They continued to believe
in God and the ultimate
redemption, but their present
condition kept them from
the reality of their relation-
ship with God.
It is not only suffering that
can blind us to this reality.
In Deuteronomy, “Lest you
eat and are satisfied … and
forget the Lord your God ...
and you say in your heart my
own strength and the might
of my own hand did make all
this wealth for me.”
Through suffering or com-
fort, hardship or abundance,
we must continue to realize
our relationship with God
and our mission in the world
as God’s people: to proclaim,
“Hear, Oh, Israel, the Lord is
our God.”

The late Eliezer Cohen was rabbi

of Congregation Or Chadash. This

article originally appeared in the JN

Jan. 10, 1997.

Rabbi Eliezer

Cohen

Parshat

Vaera: Exodus

6:2-9:35;

Ezekiel

28:25-29:21.

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