January 12, 2024 /2 Sh’vat 5784
At the beginning of Parashat Va’era the Torah employs a string of verbs to describe God’s redemptive actions –
וְהוֹצֵאתִ֣י אֶתְכֶ֗ם מִתַּ֙חַת֙ סִבְלֹ֣ת מִצְרַ֔יִם
וְהִצַּלְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵעֲבֹדָתָ֑ם
וְגָאַלְתִּ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ בִּזְר֣וֹעַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבִשְׁפָטִ֖ים גְּדֹלִֽים׃
וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י אֶתְכֶ֥ם לִי֙ לְעָ֔ם וְהָיִ֥יתִי לָכֶ֖ם לֵֽאלֹהִ֑ים
I will bring you out from beneath the burdens of Egypt;
I will rescue you from servitude to them;
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, with great acts-of-judgment;
I will take you for me as a people, and I will be for you as a God.
[Exodus 6:6-7]
Rabbinic tradition refers to the four verbs as arba’ ge’ulot – the four redemptions.
These four languages of redemption match up with four decrees issued by Pharaoh all meant to suppress the Israelites: ever increasing hard labor which kept Israelite men from going home at night to be with their wives; requiring midwives to kill male Israelite babies; throwing those male babies in the Nile; withholding straw from laborers and still requiring them to produce the same number of bricks each day. And in turn, those arba’ g’zeirot align with four cups of comfort and consolation arba’ kosot shel nehama.
This may feel like Pesah four months early, and with good reason. These verses serve as the Talmud’s source for the four cups of wine at Seder. Yet here we are, in the heart of winter, counting up sufferings, praying for redemption, looking forward one day to consolation and comfort.
The mapping of suffering, redemption, consolation strikes me as a helpful guide to the struggle for civil rights in America in our time. Each has layers and levels, and they all seem to happen at once, over and over again.
In similar fashion, the rubric of layers of suffering, redemption, consolation describe (for me at least) the current war in Israel and Gaza. Horror atop horror for Israelis and Gazans alike; trauma atop trauma; resiliency atop resiliency; determination atop determination; generosity of spirit atop generosity of spirit; all in the same space and moment.
As ever, we continue to pray for peace and redemption, looking forward one day to consolation and comfort. In my mind’s ear I can hear Dr. King imploring ‘How long?’ Perhaps you can hear it as well.
Shabbat Shalom.
