A Personal Experience of the Divine

This week’s Torah portion is the second in the Book of Exodus, Va’eira, which means, “and I appeared.” It begins with God returning to the topic of the Divine name. God makes several promises to the Israelites, and then returns to a second topic, that of hardening Pharaoh’s heart, first mentioned in the previous portion. God instructs Moses to speak to Pharaoh, that he send the people out of Egypt; and the portion goes on to give an account of the first seven plagues.

The portion reads at the beginning: “God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am yud hei vav hei (Being, Existence). I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai, God Almighty or God the Provider, or God who is Sufficient, but by my name yud hei vav hei I did not make myself known to them.” (Ex. 6:2-3). This introduces the theme of knowing. There is something new that God wants Moses and the Israelites to know.

God also says, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and take out my legions, my people the children of Israel, from the land of Egypt with great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am yud hei vav hei, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” (Ex. 7:3-5) We usually think that the 10 plagues were primarily for Pharaoh’s benefit, so that he would let the people go. But thinking about the changes that would occur, after the people left, the lives of Pharaoh and the lives of the Egyptians were not so very greatly transformed. The two excerpts quoted tell another story, giving us an additional perspective.

All religion is experiential. That’s why no one can prove the existence of God to anyone else, but each person can prove the existence of God to herself or himself. Being slaves, the people were sunk in a very low state: they were demoralized, probably even devoid of hope. Given that God can do anything, it would have been relatively easy to convince Pharaoh to let the people go. This was deliberately delayed again and again so that God could multiply the signs and wonders: what we have called the 10 Plagues.

The two much greater tasks than convincing one person to do one thing were to give each Israelite an experience of God’s Presence and mastery in the world, and also to unify the Israelites to the point that they would have hope and willingly follow Moses out of Egypt, to a place with no water and no food, no cities and no houses, no clothing and no resources. What person in their right mind would do such a thing? My favorite sage, the S’fat Emet quotes Midrash Rabbah, which comments on Proverbs: “God will grant wisdom; from God’s mouth, knowing and understanding. (Prov. II, 6). Wisdom is great, but knowing is still greater…For God gives wisdom; but to one who God loves, out of God’s mouth comes knowing and understanding. R. Isaac & R. Levi…taught, it can be compared to a rich man's child, who, on returning from school, saw a dish of food in front of his father. When the father offered him a helping, the son said: I would rather have some of that which you yourself are now eating. The father complied, on account of his great love for him, giving him from his own mouth. (Ex. Rabbah XLI:3) The S’fat Emet adds that “this is knowing in your very soul.”

It is one thing to have someone tell you that God exists and that God is Existence, and further that God will take you out of slavery. It is something very different and very precious to have a personal experience that forms the basis of an unshakable conviction that this is really true. This is God’s task, not only at the time of the bondage in Egypt. This is an ongoing task between the Divine and every human being. Is there anyone among us who has not had a strange coincidence, or a personal epiphany, or an experience of being led to do something or meet someone who came to be important in life? Is there anyone who has not felt support at a crucial time or received some kind of blessing that was totally surprising at the time?

We might ask, why should God care so very much to contact each person, in his or her very soul? Why did God enslave us in the first place? Why did God care so much to take the Israelites out of Egypt? The aim of taking us out of Egypt was surely not just to make our lives easier. The larger purpose was to improve the world: to improve human beings, human life, and to point the way to the knowledge of a universal spiritual body of law; to facilitate progress, goodness, and kindness; to make known a better way to live.

God’s task will never stop. It is eternal and ongoing, and each of us is a vital part of it. We are each coming out of a personal Egypt; and God cares very, very much that we do. May we know in our very soul that we are being fed from, to put it figuratively, God’s own mouth, and may we realize how very important each of us is to God and to the improvement of the entire world.