This Sunday, January 14, marks 100 days since the fateful events of October 7. One hundred days since the horrifying attacks on southern Israel. One hundred days of captivity for those who are still held hostage by Hamas (you can read more about those still held hostage, and support their families, here). Fateful, fearful, excruciating days. And as that day approaches, as we mark nearly 100 days of the devastating Israeli response to October 7 in Gaza, we are experiencing what once would have been unthinkable: the Jewish state on trial for the alleged crime of genocide. This moment is so heartbreaking, in so many ways, that I honestly do not have a cogent thought to offer yet in response.
I am thinking about this week’s Torah portion, in which Moses returns to Egypt to begin the process of bringing the Israelites out from slavery. After receiving a beautiful promise from YHVH of the coming liberation, Moses brings the messages to the Israelites—who cannot hear it because of “kotzer ruach,” literally “constricted spirit.” In such a state—of exhaustion, fear, desperation—the possibility of true transformation just doesn’t seem possible.
After failing to inspire his kinfolk, Moses and his brother Aaron go on to confront Pharaoh, with the demand to let the people go. They are met with Pharaoh’s hardened heart, and the resounding “no” that leads to the beginning of the ten plagues. After each plague, Pharaoh seems to relent, only to harden his heart once more, and a return to the status quo.
Who is the audience for the plagues? In different parts of the story, it is the Israelites, the Egyptian people, and of course Pharaoh. In this strange and disturbing story, there is an entanglement of constricted spirits, hardened hearts, and calamitous, destructive events. Human stubbornness—and arrogant, self-serving leadership—leads to catastrophic suffering. Sometimes we can’t see through the maelstrom of calamity. But the promise, the Torah suggests, is that somewhere on the other side is real transformation. God will not allow Moses to sink into despair, and so, too, we can be buoyed up.
This week, God appears to Moses as YHVH—the verb name that implies Being and Becoming. It harkens back to last week’s revelation of the name Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, “I will be that I will be.” As we enter into Shabbat, may we find a taste of that Power of Possibility. May we find the strength to confront the Pharaoh's of our time, both within ourselves and outside of us, and know that, ultimately, a hardened heart will bring about its own downfall. May we remember that however hidden It sometimes seems, there is Something both within and around us that wants us to have faith that, truly, things can be different.
