There's a Part of You That Can ALWAYS Dream of Freedom [Shemos]

Okay friends, the story begins paras shamosis which is the book of Exodus. We start a new book and there's a certain irony in the book of Exodus which is [clears throat] the first few portions of it and the beginning of it is the start of our exiles, the start of our slavery in Egypt. Yet it's referred to as safer hagula, the book of Exodus, the book of redemption. And what we're going to notice in this parha on a larger scale is when redemption really starts. Redemption doesn't actually start when you leave Egypt. Redemption starts way before that. That's number one. But number two, how can we inspire other people and even ourselves to experience redemption? And I mean redemption on a global level, the coming of Msiah, redemption on a smaller scale. There's circumstances where we find ourselves in Egypt. We find ourselves being suppressed. Whether it be on a local level, whether it be internally, there's limitations. Limitations to a relationship, limitations to to experiencing joy and happiness. And sometimes those are um I don't want to say disguised as but because that's not the right word. Sometimes those are manifested as mental health limitations. Sometimes those are manifested as relationship limitations. Sometimes those are manifested as as um just the social dynamics at work. At the end of the day, it's gloss. It's exile. It's Egypt. Mashiach isn't yet here. But how can we see the light at the end of the tunnel? And how could we realize that the light at the end of the tunnel is not actually at the end of the tunnel. The reason why you see the light at the end of the tunnel is because you see the light where you are. The opening of the tunnel is at the end of the tunnel. That's where the light's coming from. But it's shining to you even when you're not yet at the end of the tunnel. And what I mean to say is even if we find ourselves in that tunnel, we could still find light. We could still find joy. We could still find happiness. We could still find freedom. [sighs] It starts with Moshe. Moshe is born in this para Moses. And Moshe is, this is going to sound a little sacriiggious, but I'm just going to say it. And Moshe had to be trained to be a leader. Moshe has to be trained to to learn how to take the Jewish people out of Egypt. So let let's just rewind here for a moment. The Torah recounts the tribes of Israel that had descended into Egypt. It names them. Then it discusses the bitter slavery that they're going through. Pyro realizes these Jews are multiplying way too quickly. They're going to take over Wall Street and Hollywood and soon they're going to be taking over Venezuela. I don't know. They're things are [laughter] things are going down. We're going to get blamed for they're going to we're going to get blamed anyways. But that wasn't Par's concern, right? He was actually scared. So he said, "Let's oppress them." And slavery begins. Moshe is I'm just going through the story real quickly. Obviously missing the the details here, but Mosha is born. Mosha is put in a basket. He's saved by Batya, who is Pyro's daughter, and raised in Pyro's house, which is an interesting thing because commentaries, you you know, when when Mosha first rocks up on the scene when he's an adult, what is the first thing we know about Moshe? He kills somebody. [laughter] kills an Egyptian who is beating a Jew. Okay, it wasn't murder. It was protection. It was justified. I'm just I think it's interesting. That's the first thing we know about him. Um but the Ramban puts it a little bit differently. He says, "What was Moshe doing there? He grew up in the prince's house. He grew up in Parro's house. What was he doing among the slaves?" He was informed that he was Jewish and he was excited to go see his people. And it's interesting, he never yet met a Jew necessarily. Yet he felt like these are my people and he stood up for his people and he was willing to take out that evil Egyptian that was oppressing another Jew for no justified reason. He was willing to take him out to stick up for his people. Now, commentaries do point out that Mosha's leadership is quite interesting because Mosha didn't grow up in Jewish community. He's never been to a bar mitzvah. How is he leading the Jewish people? He's never seen synagogue politics. [laughter] He's never He's never been unwelcome to a synagogue because he didn't buy ticket. I'm kidding, right? But what I mean is culturally he he [laughter] he's never been part of these people. So, how is he um how is he the Jewish? How is he going to lead them? So, some commentary say that that's the point because he didn't grow up with them. There was a certain appreciation he had when Moshe first rocked up on the scene. It says, "What's right before he sees that Egyptian beating up another Jew?" What does Moshe notice? I'll just quote the two words of the verse. He saw their in if you look at it English they probably translate it as their burden as their iniquity. But the word also means their tolerance. He saw how are you guys tolerating this? How is this acceptable? Why do you think this is an acceptable way of living? The reason why it was unacceptable to him is because of the background he grew up in. Pyro's home. He grew up in royalty. Because he grew up in royalty, he was able to expect of his people to live a life of royalty and then ultimately be able to redeem them. That's what the commentary of Israel says. Even though Moshe had that potential perspective in him, he still needed to be trained. After killing that Egyptian, he pyro found out and he was forced to flee for his life. He goes to the town of Midian. There's the whole situation with Ysro's daughters at the well, him protecting the daughters. He ends up marrying one of Yurro's daughters, Sipura. He has two children. And at this point, Moshe is walking in the desert of Midian. And he sees the burning bush that's not being consumed. It's on fire, but it's not being consumed. It's not losing any of its of its identity. It's remaining. And Moshe is just totally like, "What? What is going on here?" And he hears the voice of God. He meets God for the first time. God says, "Remove your shoes. this is holy space and approach me and they get into conversation and the truth is they get into debate. Go to the Jewish people. Go to Pharaoh. Let the Jewish people know redemption is coming. They're going to be free. There's going to be freedom. And Mosha says, "Uh, no. I'm not the guy. I I I don't think you understand. That's not me." [laughter] He gets into a debate with God. for like six days. And Mosha's argument is, and by the way, this is fascinating. Like the very first things we know about Moshe, [laughter] we don't know much about his education and his upbringing. I mean, we know when he was born, there was this beautiful light shining from him. We knew he had but his first encounter with God was a fight, [laughter] an argument. And his argument is, I'm just going to read the text here. And Moshe answers and he says, "They are not going to believe me. I'm going to show up to the Jewish people who are enslaved. Then I'm going to say redemption's coming and they're not going to be believe me. They're not going to listen to my voice. They're going to say, "God never appeared to you." To which God responds, "What are you holding in your hand? Here's the staff. Turn it into a snake." and plus the various other signs. Okay, I want you to imagine you're interviewing an employee to fill a very important role to lead an entire department and the the guy says just before you hire me, just know I might not be the guy because I don't actually believe in these people. [laughter] Okay, you might not hire him, right? But over here, the roles are reversed. Moshe didn't show up to the interview. The interview showed up to him. He wasn't interested. God approaches him. God is asserting that he's fit for this role, and he's saying, "But they're not going to believe me. God still wants him. God still, what is going on here? Why is Moshe doubting the Jewish people? How could Moshe doubt the Jewish people?" The truth is there was a split among the commentaries. There are some commentaries that say Moshe wasn't doubting the Jewish people and when he said they're not going to believe me, he wasn't doubting them. He was doubting himself. He was doubting his leadership capabilities. I'm sure these Jewish people are great people and I'm sure they'll believe someone. It's just me that they won't believe. I'm not the type of guy that they should be believing it. And you could attribute that to humility. You could attribute that to to misunderstanding of who he really was. You could attribute that to his fears of his inability to speak clearly because he had a speech impediment. There's a lot of things to attribute that too. That's the approach of the orim and some other commentaries, the Malim, the Ramban as well as Rashi. So this seems to be just a simple reading of the text. Say no. Moshe was doubting the Jewish people. He was literally doubting them. God says let them know redemption is coming. Moshe says not these guys. They are not buying it, man. Well, what kind of leader is that? Okay. So, God had to train Moshe and we'll we'll we'll get into in a moment how God ended up training Moshe. But I I do think it's very important that we explain Mosha's position and explain God's position just from Mosha's perspective for a moment. You know who Moshe was? Moshe was an empath. He was an empathetic person. Moshe felt people's pain. In fact, when he had fa when he had first met the b faced the burning bush, you know what the first thing he did was? I'm going to read the text and I'll translate. It says vast mohav. Moshe turned his face away. Elohim was afraid to look at the face of God to to sorry to gaze at God. God responds, "I see the pain, the iniquity of my people. I see they're crying out. I see their screaming. I know that they're in pain. I'm going to save them." And the Talmud says that Moshe was rewarded for looking away. He looked away. God exposes himself to Moshe for the first time. And Mosha looks away. And the Tal says Moshe was rewarded. This is the trackus. And many of the commentaries ask, well, why was he rewarded for looking away? Why is that like a good thing? Why is that admirable? So the Abarel says, one of the commentaries on the Torah explains something fascinating. What's going to happen if he gazes at God? He's going to get clarity. And when you have clarity, it all makes sense. And when it all makes sense, you lose empathy. That's why you're suffering. You don't want to do that. He didn't want to make sense of the Jewish people's suffering. We know God does everything for a reason. We know God means well. We know God's intentions are pure, but that doesn't that that's none of our business. Right? God has a plan. That's beautiful, but that's not my business. If you're in pain, I need to empathize with you. Moshe was an empath. Moshe was an empathetic person. He didn't want to have that clarity. He didn't want to make sense of the suffering. He looked away. God realized this is this is going to be the leader. This is going to be the guy. He really cares about his people. He's sacrificing spiritual clarity to know the ultimate truth so he can empathize. The bashtov used to say that everything hashem does everything that happens in this world is a lesson in our relationship to hashem and our service to hashem and our service to god. Everything said the bash can be traced back to a divine godly lesson. So somebody once challenged the bash and said what can we learn from an atheist who doesn't believe in God. You see the paradox here. Everything in life is a lesson of God. Well what do you what lesson about God can you learn from somebody who doesn't believe in God or somebody who believes that God does not exist. So the Bashmto said that when somebody's in pain when somebody is suffering instead of saying God knows what he's doing I believe in God. When somebody else is in pain be like that atheist. Do something about it. Try to help the person. Empathize our relationship with God shouldn't come at shouldn't cost our sensitivity toward other people. Actually, on the contrary, so much so that Moshe was willing to look away from God to forfeit that clarity. And the reason why I mentioned this is because Moshe was an empathetic person. And by the way, empathy is beautiful. Empathy is necessary. Everything in life has to exist in the right dose though because if you overempathize you can also blind yourself from how capable people really are. Moshe knew how much pain these people are in because of how empathetic he was. So empathetic he was willing to look away from God like the Barbanell says. so empathetic that the first thing he noticed was these people are in plain when he saw them and was willing to take out that Egyptian and and sacrifice his own life. He had to run away to Midion. [sighs] He was so empathetic. He sees these Jewish people enslaved for 210 years and he says, "God, you want me to show up to them and say, "Guys, I have good news. Redemption's coming." Great. Thanks, Moshe. Thanks, says the guy born in the prince's home who's never worked a day in his life. [laughter] How is that going to come off? How are they going to respond to that? Is that going to make them feel better or worse? This is a this is why Moshe was declining the the position. This is why Moshe was saying they're not going to believe me. He was doubting them, but he was doubting them because he empathized with how much pain they're in. He understood that they had 210 years of suffering, of trauma, of difficulty. And coming from a guy who grew up in Pharaoh's home, who never worked a day in his life or never had to work or struggle day in his life in that way, it you the last thing you want to hear is, "Guys, it's going to be great." It just doesn't work. I I have a a friend who loves dark humor. Anybody [snorts] any dark humor fans? Okay. Yeah. [laughter] Whenever when we were back in Yeshua, whenever something would go wrong, he would go, "Josh, look at the bright side." Exactly. Right. Waiting for him to respond. [laughter] Dead silence. Um the but the last thing you want to hear from somebody after 210 years of suffering of slavery of of oppression is guys see that light at the end of the tunnel look at the bright side. So Moshe is telling God I they're not going to believe me. They're in so much pain, so much suffering. Are they ready to actually hear about the possibility of redemption? And the answer is yes. Moshe was trained. Moshe had to be trained to be bold. And this is actually what was occurring at the burning bush saga. God was training Moshe. You're empathetic. You got that down. But you got to be a little bit more bold that don't lose your sensitivity. But believe in people, understand that they're capable. [snorts] And there are three verses here that I'll just share with you, three examples really in this story where God insinuates to Moshe that you got to look at these people a little bit differently. You can't just see them for their pain. Yes, empathize with their pain. No, don't define them by their pain. There are three examples. And before I get into these examples, I I just think it this is so important. You know, when I work with couples and and even individuals, really what I'm trying to figure out is not what is wrong with them or why they're in pain, but what are the possibilities that could happen? And I get accused all the time of being not not by clients but like by other people and you know in especially in the marketing space. You're being too positive. And the truth is it's I'm not being positive. I'm being honest. The possibilities are real. The possibilities are there. The capacity to appreciate those possibilities are real. And there it's not positivity, it's identity. Not defining people by their pain, yet still empathizing with their pain. And this is what God wanted, how God wanted Moshe to see the Jewish people. Don't define them by their pain. Define them by their ability to have greater possibilities. And there are three verses or three situations here where where God kind of hinted to and really educated Moshe to look at these people differently. And we could derive from here um the ability to believe in ourselves, to believe in other people, which is what God was trying to train Moshe to do. Number one, let's go back to the beginning of the portion, the beginning, the opening of the book where it's para shamos, the book of names, b these are the names of Israel, the Jewish people who've come to Egypt and it names the Jewish people again, the 70 souls, the 70 people, the tribes that have come down. [sighs] Um, truth be told, we've named them already, several portions ago, because when did they really come down to Egypt? Not just now, but a generation prior when they realized that it's Yoseph, Joseph, who is the viceroy of Egypt. Let's come down and get some food. Let's be taken care of. Let's live in the town of Gan. Let's reunite the family. And the Torah enumerates the people that have come down. It does it again. And here's what it says. This is where translations are dangerous. If you look in an English, and I didn't actually look at one in preparing for this lesson, but if you look in an English, my guess is it would say these are the names of the Jewish people who have come to Egypt. And that is incorrect. And I have a lot of complaints about that, which is not fair because I didn't actually verify that that's what it says, but I'm pretty sure it does. It doesn't say who have come to Egypt. If you translate it literally who are coming to Egypt, coming to Egypt, it's been 210 years of slavery. They've come down a generation prior to meet Yoseph. Slavery didn't start until Joseph died. So, they've been here for more than 200 for for more than 210 years. Why does it say who are coming to Egypt despite being in slavery and being in in pain and trauma and oppression and suffering for that long? There is a part of us that just showed up. There's a part of us that is untouched, untraumatized. And God says, "Stop talking to the traumatized version of them. Talk to them." Yes, they have trauma and pain and suffering, but why can't you talk to them? Anytime you meet somebody with trauma, this is true with me any mental health condition. uh and the the I I don't mean to say that I say this with all sensitivity, but anytimes there is some sort of acute mental issue, it isn't perfect. It's not pervasive. There is the person experiencing trauma, but somehow that person who's experiencing trauma showed up to tell the story. And maybe they're still working through it. Maybe they're still in pain. They showed up to tell the story. They're alive. They deserve credit for what they have accomplished because that's the non-traumatized version of them. The part of them that isn't traumatized. The part of them that isn't totally oppressed. The part of them that is capable of hearing possibility. I'll give you an example. I'll give you a practical example. I was once working with a client [snorts] who wanted to enhance his relationship with his spouse. He says, so I say he he says I I can't said why not. I get home and my trauma just too much too much. And this guy had happened to have a lot of trauma. Um like he really did. He had a lot weighing on him. I said, "What time you get home?" He says 8:00 p.m. I said, "Can you imagine you're on your way home to be home by 8 and as you're on the bus leaving from work, you go, "Oh, shucks. I forgot something at work in my office." And you're trying to figure out what it is. It's not your keys. It's not your phone. It's not your briefcase. It's I left my trauma. I left it on my desk. I said, "Can you imagine that for a second? Would that be a good thing?" He said, "That'd be great." I said, "I promise you it's going to be there tomorrow waiting for you on your desk. It's going to haunt you again. Don't worry. [laughter] Not going nowhere. But it's but for now, you don't have it. Would that be a good thing? That would be great." I said, "How would you know it would be great?" He says, "What do you mean?" Well, how would you know you forgot it? What would be different about you? What would your wife see differently in you? Okay, imagine the second day this time you for you remembered your trauma. You brought it with you, but what you noticed yesterday is still with you as well. How would you notice it showing up? Right? He begins to describe a part of him that the trauma does not touch because the trauma can't fully touch uh devour you or he wouldn't be here to tell the story. And this is what Hashem was telling Moshe. Yes, they're in 210 years of pain, but they're going to believe you because yes, they're they have trauma. Yes, they have pain. Yes, they have difficulty. But there's a part of them that just showed up to Egypt. It doesn't say in the text they're coming to Egypt. They've come to Egypt despite being here for already 210 plus years. Hashem is trying to inspire Moshe to look at the Jewish people a little bit differently. Example number two, [snorts] God appears to Moshe in this burning bush that hasn't isn't actually being consumed. Um, it's a thorn bush. Commentaries point out that the reason why it's a thorn bush is because God is insinuating to Moshe that I'm with you in the pain. I'm with the Jewish people in their pain. When I'm telling you there's going to be redemption, I understand the context of what's going on here. I understand the pain that's going on here. But the points out that God also understands that the Jewish people have the capacity of despite being in pain, being in the thorns, they could still be inspired. They could still have fire. They could still be They could still have the passion of this bush that's being on fire, not being consumed. The Jewish people have that burning heart and connection and yearning for redemption, yearning for Messiah. We can believe that Msiah could come tomorrow, today. Despite being oppressed for thousands of years, they could believe in redemption despite being oppressed for 210 years. Every individual can believe that tomorrow can be better despite the past not fully reflecting that. Example number three, and this really goes to the heart of how Moshe is being trained to look at the Jewish people, how God looks at the Jewish people, how we need to look at really any human being, and how we need to look at ourselves, which is it's just one line. God appears to Moshe in this burning bush. And what does God say? God says, "I've seen I've seen the suffering, the iniquity of my nation." That's in Egypt. I've seen their cries, their screams. Theel, again, we had mentioned him earlier. The Barbaranel asks an important question. Why is God saying, "I've seen the pain of my people. Well, they're not we're not his people yet. We're just people. We don't become his people till later. We're just slaves. The Abarbanel says, "Well, that might be how we look at it, but that's not how God looks at it. We look like slaves, but at heart we're his people. We feel like slaves, but at heart, we're still his people." And that's how God saw us. That's how God wanted. And this is what he's conveying to Moshe. This is how he wanted Moshe to see us. Don't look at them or have uh just for their pain, define them by their pain. They're my people. There's a part of them, of ourselves, of us that has the capacity to believe that this world can be better, that Mashiach can come, that there can be an experience of of of of divine connection no matter where we are, that this relationship, no matter how difficult can be healed, and that I don't have to be defined by the trauma or by the difficulty, despite how painful it is. If I find larger identity, larger definition, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.