Completed on 11-17-06 for my Bar Mitzvah the following January.
Rummaging through old memory boxes in my parents’ attic (while procrastinating a recent move), I stumbled upon my Bar Mitzvah drash aka speech on my torah portion, the section of the Torah assigned for me to read on my Bar Mitzvah. I figure after 15+ years it would be fun(ny) to revisit something that I remember took weeks to finish. Plus, with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, around the corner, it feels like the perfect time to squeeze some new meaning out of this portion.
drash (yes, that was my title)
My bar mitzvah parsha (or torah portion), is Vaera. In Vaera, Moses becomes a messenger of God by liberating the Jews from Egypt. This parsha starts out with God revealing to Moses that he is the Lord, and he wants him to free all of the slaves from Egypt. At first, Moses is reluctant, asking why he of all people had to deliver this message. (I know the feeling!)
It is also interesting that God chose Moses because Moses has a speech impediment. Why would God choose someone with a disability, especially in speech, to communicate a very important message? Does this mean that God wants to challenge people to rise above their disabilities? Or could it mean that the disability does not represent the person so they should not be evaluated by it?
God then tells Moses that Aaron will serve as his prophet. So, Moses goes on with Aaron before the Pharaoh and tells him that he is God’s messenger. To prove this, Aaron strikes his staff, which turns into a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians accomplish the same feat by turning each of their staffs into serpents too, but Aaron’s staff devours theirs. Still, Pharaoh is not impressed and will not free the Israelites.
Aaron then threatens Pharaoh with three plagues, at which point, Pharaoh finally agrees to free the Israelites. But Aaron is being tricked — once he ends the plague, Pharaoh withdraws his offer, as his heart hardens. So Aaron commands four more plagues, until finally Pharaoh liberates the Israelites from Egypt.
When I first read through the parsha, I was interested in the fact that the parsha refers to magic, and thought that this was more than a coincidence; this is because I have been interested in magic for two years, and recently I have even started performing. So, this topic obviously is significant in my life.
One of the questions I am interested in exploring is the difference between a magic trick performed by the chartume mitzrayeem, the Egyptian magicians, and the real magic, or miracles, displayed by God. I wondered what magic means? Is it just an illusion, or is it a real miracle that can change things forever? For example, the story of Hanukah has many miracles — the victory of the Israeli people against a greater force with the help of God, and of course the oil burning for 8 days, rather than one. So, I looked up the definition of magic, which is: *the art of producing a desired effect or result, through the use of various techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agents, or the forces of nature* — this just told me that magic isn’t real, it’s just an illusion. On the other hand, miracles are real and imply intervention by God.
So here — why does God first perform a miracle that Pharaoh’s men can mimic, using magic or illusion? Maybe this is God’s modesty, or like any good magician, he does not want to reveal everything at once, or use his best tricks first. In fact, the whole story of the plagues and the Exodus reveals incrementally more and more the power of God. God does not want to use such harsh punishment. At first, he wants to show mercy towards the enemies of his people.
God uses real magic, with an incentive to help, cure, justify, and change the world to make it a better place, whereas the Egyptian magicians tried to match God’s superiority, although they could only go until a certain point. Even at his most powerful, he is still only a messenger, one act of power.
Interestingly enough, when reading through my Parsha, I realized that the three times the magicians are mentioned, and fail, it says, “Pharaoh’s heart stiffened.” So I thought, why does Pharaoh’s heart keep stiffening right after the magicians attempt to counter God’s plagues and feats?
This first happens in chapter seven verses 11-14 with the staffs turning into serpents; next, in chapter eight verses 14 and 15 with the plague of lice; and finally, in chapter nine verses 11 and 12 with the plague of boils. When I started to answer this question, I wondered again, is this just God using his magic to influence others’ feelings? Looking at commentary on the subject, I discovered interesting interpretations, written by Moshe Greenberg, a Torah scholar. He says that Pharaoh’s first decision to not let the Israelites be free is his own decision, but as each plague advances, Pharaoh loses some of his free will. God knows Pharaoh does not want to admit his own defeat, so God re-enforces Pharaoh’s narcissistic ways, preventing him from doing teshuva, or going back into his heart. This is where the phrase ‘stiffening of the heart’ comes in.
Another question that one might ask about magic is, ‘Does real magic exist in our lives?’ Well, Moses was the Prince of Egypt, but he didn’t have real power. Even at his most powerful, he is still only a messenger. One can see this when Moses insecurely brings up his speech impediment, which had never hindered him before. So, one can infer that Moses hadn’t discovered real power until he had aligned with God. This is when he truly rises to the occasion and displays his confidence while liberating the Israelites. One can align with God, by trusting him, even when one is experiencing hardships. God always has a plan in mind, although it might seem opaque in the developing stages. This is exemplified, throughout the whole Parsha. Although it seems Moses and Aaron will never free their people, they believe in God and he helps them defeat Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
I think this is an important lesson to live your life by in today’s world. If you face your hardships and fears like Moses did, it gives you greater confidence in your life. It gives you the strength to face things you never thought you could.
current reflections
It’s nice to see I still use parentheses in my writing and talk about magic more than most. To my chagrin, I did use a dictionary definition for magic, which thankfully I shy away from during my current public speaking engagements (wedding toasts).
One thing I didn’t touch on before is the importance of not letting your weaknesses define you; instead, focus on your strengths. If your strength is that God is on your side, use that to your advantage. Another key lesson is knowing when to quit, especially when you’re outmatched. Pharaoh’s arrogance led him to challenge God, which was a poor choice.
There’s plenty more symbolism to explore, but since I’m no longer in Hebrew school and running low on energy, I’ll leave it here. Sometimes, the real wisdom is knowing when to stop (unlike Pharaoh).
unpublished alpha 