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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