I'd fallen behind in my learning and so when I spent some time with my rabbi last week I wanted to talk about Parsha Bo. For one reason, this parsha was my Father's (alav haShalom) favorite. I really wish that I knew why...but when we would reach this Torah reading my Father would light up and he seemed to study every word. I never asked...I wish I did...
My rabbi and I spent several minutes talking about that first word "Bo" or Come. G-d says to Moses, "Come to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants so that I may place these signs in his midst."
It's an interesting choice of words. If you or I were giving directions like this we would have said, "Go to Pharaoh..." Not, "Come to Pharaoh..." So the question must be asked, why would G-d tell Moses to "come" to Pharaoh rather than "go"?
Rabbi Schwarzbaum gave me a one word answer: "Faith". And then said, "G-d was telling Moses that he must not fear because G-d is everywhere even in the house of the despot. So, Moses was not going...but he was coming into the place where G-d resided at that moment in time."
Two days later a terrorist opened fire in Tucson killing six and wounding thirteen. Among the dead Christina Green a nine year-old girl who was born on September 11, 2001.
There are too many connections here, if you are a person of faith. We have the message of the Torah, read in shuls around the world, telling us that G-d is everywhere, "even in the house of the despot". What possible "signs" are in our midst? The murder of a bright girl who was born on a day of fear and terror but lived her brief life with energy and wonder. And the shock of a nation that now looks at how we conduct our political debate with words of hate and loathing which incite the ill.
Are we being reminded of something? Reminded that G-d is everywhere that all life, even those with whom we disagree, is precious? Reminded of what this country was like the day after September 11, 2001 when, with resolve, we stood shoulder to shoulder with a common purpose of a great nation. Reminded that hate breeds hate and what we say, what escapes our mouths, is something we need to pay close attention to?
I think...perhaps.
Our hearts and prayers are with those families. Speedy recovery to all and Refuah Shleimah to our country.
In Torah...
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