Shemos - Slaying the Snake

you're listening to the weekly paraa podcast recorded with hm's never- ending assistance in Jerusalem in kodesh 5775 2015 this week's para is para shamos we have the beginning of the book of Exodus the story of the Jewish people their Exile in Egypt their Exile in MIM in that place mitam the constriction of the concept of 50 of the Transcendent realm the Jewish people go there and there they are enslaved by the forces of evil by Egypt which represents those forces and mosu Moses is sent by God is asked by God to be the to be the the messenger of God to bring the people to to release the Jewish people from their bondage from the forces of evil from their bondage to Egypt now in the conversation between Hashem between God and Moshe rabenu Moses Hashem asks him to go indeed to be the to go and be this Messenger to be his agent in releasing the Jewish people from their bondage moshu says I'm not worthy M says I can't speak properly Hashem says go hasem says go Hashem says go now in this conversation besides for moshino was speaking about his own unworthiness his own feelings of in inadequacy being a spokesman on behalf of the Jewish people on behalf of God mosh also feels that perhaps the Jewish people themselves do not have the Merit do not have the worthiness to be able to be released from their bondage to be able to be freed from Egypt so in chapter 4 verse one says to God M says to God he says the Jewish people are not going to believe me they're not going to listen to my voice they're not going to believe that God really revealed himself to me God says to MOS what's this in your hand look at what's in your hand what's in your hand and Moshe says he responds and says it's a staff says to mosu throw it down on the earth he indeed throws it down and the M the staff transforms into a snake runs away from it he sees that it's that it's it's a live snake it's a real snake it's become a snake he runs away God says to Moses send out your hand Reach Out grab onto its tail indeed he he reaches out his hand he holds on to it by and in his hand it transforms from a snake back into his staff now in trying to understand this back and forth the conversation between God and Moses trying to understand what is the symbolism what does the staff represent why does it turn into a snake why doesn't it turn into a sheep why doesn't it turn into I don't know it could turn into anything why does it turn dka specifically into a snake what is Hashem trying to teach Moshe Ru what is moshe's doubt what is Moshe afraid of that they're not going to believe that the Jewish people are not going to believe that God appeared to him what is Hashem saying to him what do the sign represent that's going to allay the fears of the Jewish people that's going to address the issue that MOS was concerned about so to begin to think about this we need to ask some questions we need to say well what is a staff what does the staff represent what is the concept of the snake what does it mean that the staff is turning into a snake and what does it mean that by grabbing onto the to the tail of the snake mosh Renu is able to transform the snake back into a staff what do each of these Concepts what is the staff what is the snake what is the transformation what's going on here in this conversation in explaining this idea and explaining the symbolism here Reb nasan gives us the beginnings he gives us a hint and hopefully we'll be able to expand a little bit on it and try to apply it for ourselves but he says that the concept of a mate the concept of a staff the word mate in Hebrew means a staff but it can also mean to lean because a person who needs a staff he needs it to lean on he can't he can't walk so well sometimes but he needs it to lean so what it represents is that a person can lean in One Direction or person can lean in a different direction there are different options in front of each person that's the the power free choice which every individual has and he can lean towards one side of his nature towards the side of good or he can lean toward a different side of his nature toward the side of not so good says Bo was concerned his his fear was that the Jewish people wouldn't believe him what does that really mean at the core that God didn't appear to them why would they believe that God didn't appear to them M was afraid that they didn't have the they wouldn't have the Merit to be able to leave Egypt they wouldn't have the ability to leave that Hashem wouldn't indeed be able to pull it off so to speak to be able to redeem them because of the fact that they had too many sins now what Hashem wanted him to see was that indeed it seems that way Hashem says take the mate take the staff which represents a person's his free choice he can choose to lean in One Direction or he can choose to lean in a different direction throw it down on the on the ground and what happens to that staff it transforms into a snake it transforms into a snake because the snake represents the side of evil represents the forces of evil in the world represents the Egyptians it seems like the Jewish people are following in the ways of the Egyptians it seems like the Jewish people are misusing their B they're serving idolatry they're using their their Free Will in the wrong way they're leaning in the wrong direction it seems to you that for that reason the Jewish people should not be able to be redeemed from Egypt but Hashem says to him don't make a mistake and think that they are not redeemable Hashem says pick up that staff it has turned into a snake it's so scary and so real that mosenu the Redeemer of the Jewish people runs away from the snake it seems like there's no way for him to redeem them Hashem says no don't run away stretch out your hand reach out to the Jewish people reach out to the Sinners lift them up pick them up by their tail and what happens they transform back into a m they get transformed back they're they're brought back to a place where they can choose again it seems like they've lost their ability to choose Hashem says it's not true they can still choose they can be transformed back into a mat back into a staff they can come back to their state of having free choice it seems like they've lost that but they can be returned there and it's through your efforts hem was saying was saying to thead mhu represents the sadic and it also the sad is not just about an individual who's a righteous individual but it's also about the power of choice that we each have the power of goodness that's inside of each and every one of us was saying to him you have the power to to to address the part hearts of CLA the Jewish people that seem to be out of control that seem to be too distant for me to ever come back to seem who seem to have completely use their their free will to to leave a relationship with me Shem says no don't think that things are lost don't think that it's they've gone too far there's always a possibility for them to come back there's always a good and you the sadic you MOS you Moses have the responsibility and the ability to be able to to pick them up by the tail to pick up that snake to pull it out of being the the the mat the choice that's gone too far to the left too far away from God has gone too far to separation the left side represents separation from God you have the ability to take it out of being a snake to transform it back into a m back into a staff back to be able to choose once again to to do what's right to do what's good indeed the Jewish people seem to be too distant to be red redeemed to be brought back into a relationship with me but that's not true the Jewish people can be redeemed they can come back to a state of M back to a state of being able to choose to lean in One Direction or another and through the T through the the the Commandments that I'm going to give them the direction they're going to get at Hari at Mount Si they're going to enter back into a relationship with me they're going to be able to lean into the direction of good to be able to choose the the goodness the wholeness or relationship with Hashem now now in thinking about this idea of rasan trying to understand the message that we can apply to our own lives we certainly see that moshu was right moshu was concerned that Jewish people didn't deserve to be redeemed he was right they were in a state of nahash they were in a state of being completely consumed by the evil of MIT of Egypt and Hashem confirmed that by by having him throw it on the floor and it transformed into a snake indeed the Jewish people were completely like that snake they were completely consumed by evil but thought that that meant that there's no chance for them it's not going to be possible to redeem them and Hashem said no it is possible it's possible for them to be brought back to a state of you know sometimes we look at ourselves and we say there are certain behaviors that we might be doing or there are certain interactions that we might have with our family whatever it might be and we think to ourselves you know this is something that's gone out of my control this is something that's that's beyond my and inde we find inaz we find desler speaks about the B point the the the point of Free Will where things are beneath one's Free Will and things that are above one's Free Will and we find elsewhere in kazal that that there there are indeed people who lose their they lose their free will they become so Shak become so entrenched in sin that it seems that it's impossible for them to have a choice they've lost their choice now what we see in rasan is that indeed that's something that can happen it's something that can happen to an individual but the T Maps out for us and shows us that it's possible to be stuck in that state and to be pulled out of that state to be able to get back one's free will to get back one's and so the question becomes how do I get back my how do I get back my free will if I have lost my free will if I've become so habituated to do certain things to do have certain behaviors to be to to interact in certain ways with my spouse with my children whatever it might be if that's happened how do I get out of that type of snaky situation that Nash Behavior so to speak how does one get out of it so I'm thinking and I don't think this is what rasan is saying but I do think that we can we can see it in theuk perhaps or we can see a hint to it in what rasan is saying in the in in the uh the symbolism here recently I had a conversation with a mentor of mine a spiritual mentor and and it came up that certain things there were certain things that I was doing that I wasn't I wasn't so happy about and and one of the things that he told me was that one of the most important things that a person can do is be honest be honest about the fact that this behavior is happening not try to deny it sometimes there's a behavior that I might be doing that I'm not proud of I'm not that is that's not good that's not uh you know it's not where I should be spiritually but when I acknowledge that is happening and I don't deny it I'm just open with people about it I admit it I admit it to myself I admit it to my friends the people who are on the same spiritual journey as me I admit it to that you know the things that I'm doing is is not is not really what I want to be doing instead of denying it and keeping it inside of me and keeping it a secret when I when I let it out so that's one of the most important things I can say in the morning or at night before I go to sleep I chose today not to be committed to my spirituality and it it doesn't mean that completely you know I'm not judging myself here just being honest in this particular circumstance or this particular Behavior I chose today and I have a choice I have a choice today whether to to continue along the lines there are certain things I don't have a choice over my initial reaction I don't necessarily have a choice over but my second thought my first action first thing that I do the action question is am I Maat on myself do I give myself up to to Hashem in my action or the actions I know I have I have free will I have free will it seems like the snake has taken me over but where am I where what am I choosing just a statement at the end of the day I chose today not to be committed to my spirituality know that type of statement helps me to be more aware of it the following day helps me to be more honest with myself when the choices are coming up when the challenges arise has this interaction with M says the Jewish people are not where they should be and Hashem acknowledges that and he says look indeed there's a snake here we have to call a spade a spade we have to call a snake a snake we have to be honest about the situation here and that snake is so real it's so scary mosh raain runs away from it and sometimes we look at ourselves and and we we are so saddened by our choices the choices we may have made that we want to run away we don't want to face it we don't want to you know grab this snake by its tail and Hashem says no come back reach down reach out your hand and be honest with what's going on reach out your hand this is not a judgment this is not a moral judgment I'm not a bad person because I've done these things but I need to be honest about it with myself with those who are around me who are traveling my spiritual journey with me I need to be honest with Hashem and when I'm committed to that Honesty what happens is indeed I pick up that snake by the tail and I say look this is this is my snake and what happens is the scary snake that seem to be overwhelming that seem to be out of control that seem to be without without boundaries all of a sudden it's like a little kid who the child the the the parent puts the child in timeout and says look this Behavior has to stop I need to be honest about it this is a red line I can't continue this way and so a person gets their back slowly we spoke about previously the idea of patience the idea of transcending but the idea here is that it's slowly it's patiently and it's honestly it's being honest about where we are in this moment in this day with ourselves with others with Hashem I want to bless you and I ask you to please bless me back that Hashem should help us to have that Honesty to recognize when we've used our when we used our M we've used our staff we've leaned the wrong direction hasem should help us to be honest with ourselves hasem should help us to be able to bring our staff to lean back to the center to get back our to get back our free choice to be able to connect with others who are also searching for that ability sh should help us to be able to lean back towards the side of good to transform the snake inside of us back into a m back into a staff and that staff is the very staff that will perform miracles for us and release us from our bondage and bring us to an exodus from our spiritual slavery and help us indeed be able to receive the Torah at Mount Si I thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes AR goldwag [Music]