Parashat HaShavua - Shemot
“Even in the concealment within the concealment, of course, of course, the Blessed One is also found there / ואפילו בהסתרה שבתוך ההסתרה, בוודאי בוודאי גם שם נמצא השם יתברך.” This song by Evyatar Banai and Barry Sokolov (among others), with its haunting melody, is based on a teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov about our awareness of God’s presence. He says: “There are two levels of concealment. When God is hidden in a single concealment, it is very difficult to find Him, but even so…it is still possible for an individual to toil and strive until finding God, since a person is aware that God is hidden from him / כִּי יֵשׁ שְׁנֵי הַסְתָּרוֹת, וּכְשֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ נִסְתָּר בְּהַסְתָּרָה אַחַת, גַּם כֵּן קָשֶׁה מְאֹד לְמָצְאוֹ, אַךְ אַף־עַל־פִּי־כֵן…, אֶפְשָׁר לִיגַע וְלַחֲתֹר עַד שֶׁיִּמְצָא אוֹתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ, מֵאַחַר שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ שֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ נִסְתָּר מִמֶּנּוּ.” (Likutei Maharan 56:3)
There is a second level of concealment, however, when God is so hidden from us that we do not even realize God is hidden: “But when God is hidden in a concealment within a concealment, in other words the concealment itself is concealed from someone who is then completely oblivious to the fact that God is hidden from him, then it is entirely impossible to find Him, since he has no knowledge of God / אֲבָל כְּשֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ נִסְתָּר בְּהַסְתָּרָה תּוֹךְ הַסְתָּרָה, דְּהַיְנוּ שֶׁהַהַסְתָּרָה בְּעַצְמָהּ נִסְתֶּרֶת מִמֶּנּוּ, דְּהַיְנוּ שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ כְּלָל שֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ נִסְתָּר מִמֶּנּוּ, אֲזַי אִי אֶפְשָׁר כְּלָל לִמְצֹא אוֹתוֹ, מֵאַחַר שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ כְּלָל מֵהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ.”
Thankfully, Rabbi Nachman does not stop there: “But in truth, even in all the concealments – even in the concealment within a concealment – God is certainly enclothed there as well / אֲבָל בֶּאֱמֶת אֲפִלּוּ בְּכָל הַהַסְתָּרוֹת, וַאֲפִלּוּ בְּהַהַסְתָּרָה שֶׁבְּתוֹךְ הַסְתָּרָה, בְּוַדַּאי גַּם שָׁם מְלֻבָּשׁ הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ.” This leads us back to our beautiful song, which echoes Rabbi Nachman’s reassurances that God is present even when doubly hidden. As the song continues: “Even behind the difficult things that happen to you, I (God) am standing there / גם מאחורי הדברים הקשים העוברים עליך, אני עומד.”
In this week’s parsha of Shemot, our centuries-long enslavement begins. Incredibly, it wasn’t even a punishment. The Torah tells us nothing about a previous sin so grievous that we needed to suffer so, unlike in other contexts where there is no hesitation to say exactly that. Here, almost to the contrary, our slavery is actually the fulfillment of a promise made by God, a promise that every year at the Seder we even thank God for keeping: “Blessed be the One who keeps His promise to Israel…, as “God said to Avram, 'you should surely know that your offspring will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and afflict them 400 years. / בָּרוּךְ שׁוֹמֵר הַבְטָחָתוֹ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא. שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חִשַּׁב אֶת־הַקֵּץ, לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּמוֹ שֶּׁאָמַר לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ בִּבְרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ׳וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם, יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי־גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם, וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה.’” (Gen. 15:13-14) Why were we destined to endure such an ordeal, and how were we meant to survive it?
The teaching of Rabbi Nachman, and the song based on that teaching, remind us that God is present, even during our most difficult times. To some, this raises the question of whether God’s inaction when present is worse than if God were absent. Of course, Isaiah teaches us that God is the “creator of light and dark, maker of peace and evil / יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע.” (Is. 45:7) In other words, difficult times are not necessarily an indication of God’s inaction because not all that God does is good from where we stand.
In his book Me’at Min Ha’Or, Chanan Porat suggests that the best we can do when faced with the incomprehensible suffering of our slavery – and perhaps other suffering as well – is not to ask “why,” but rather “for what?” (pp. 11-12) Put another way, what happens next? Can we cause some degree of redemption following suffering, or a proverbial exile? To answer this question, Porat turns to Yehuda HaLevi’s Kuzari: “If one’s mind is disturbed by the length of the exile and diaspora, and the degradation of his people…let him think of the manner of the delivery from Egypt and all that is put down in the paragraph: 'For how many favors do we owe gratitude to God?' It will not be difficult to picture how we may recover our greatness, even if only one of us remains / כְּשֶׁיַּעֲבִירוּ בִּלְבּוּלֵי הַמַּחֲשָׁב עַל לִבּוֹ אֹרֶךְ הַגָּלוּת וּפִזּוּר הָאֻמָּה וּמַה שֶּׁהִגִּיעַ אֵלֶיהָ מֵהַדַּלּוּת וְהמִעוּט…יַחֲשׁׂב בְּאֵיכוּת יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם וְכָל מַה שֶּׁנֶּאֱמַר בְּ'כַמָּה מַעֲלוֹת טוֹבוֹת לַמָּקוֹם עָלֵינוּ', וְלֹא יִהְיֶה קָשֶׁה בְעֵינָיו אֵיךְ נָשׁוּב לְקַדְמוּתֵנוּ אֲפִלּוּ אִם לֹא יִשָּׁאֵר מִמֶּנּוּ אֶלָּא אֶחָד.” (Kuzari 3:11)
May we always find comfort in God’s presence, and may we, in our tefillot and all our efforts to repair a broken world, cause God’s light and peace to overcome the dark and evil. And may we ever remember, and find strength and inspiration in, the miracle of our redemption that followed the suffering of our slavery.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor