During last week’s sermon, I touched upon the meaning of the word “Jew,” “Yehudi,” and explored a couple of explanations. Historically, Jew comes from the word “Judah,” referring to the final Jewish kingdom during the second temple period. The rabbis, however, believe that Jew comes from the word “modeh,” which means to agree or to confirm, meaning that our existence confirms the existence of God.
Not everyone in this room is comfortable with the idea of a God, and that is ok. Rabbi Nachman, in a very Socrates-like fashion, said that the deepest understanding one can have of God is realizing that they don’t have a clue whatsoever. That is actually the deepest understanding, for the more you try to intellectually grasp the divine, the more you realize that the human mind is not up to the task.
So when I say God, despite the fact that I do pray to, talk to, and try to connect to God all of the time, I have no idea what I mean by that. To me, God is a label we use to point to the deeper mysteries of the universe. Getting too caught up on the IDEA of God can actually misdirect you. It is very much like an exchange between the Buddha and his student Ananda that is recorded in the Shurangama Sutra and is the source for the famous Zen expression “a moon-pointing finger” (biaoyue zhizhi):
The Buddha told Ananda, “You still listen to the Dharma with the conditioned mind, and so the Dharma becomes conditioned as well, and you do not obtain the Dharma-nature. It is like when someone points his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, that person should see the moon. If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also. Why? He mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon.
It is easy to get caught up in the “idea” of God. Actually, disbelief in God can come from this. So can religious extremism. Similarly, it is easy to mistake the world we see us for ultimate reality. But Judaism is about exactly NOT doing that! So, a Yehudi, a Jew, is someone who confirms that there is a deeper level to reality that, although we cannot comprehend it, we can relate to, and appreciate it.
This ties in directly to this week’s parshah, where we find a number of the plagues God directed at the Egyptian people. The plagues were horrible and produced great suffering—but they also had a silver lining. They had a silver lining! Not just for us, the Jews who were finally freed, but even for the Egyptians.
There is a Midrash that says, “Our rabbis of blessed memory said that the plagues brought peace to Egypt…” Peace. How? How did these awful plagues bring about peace? Evidently, the Egyptians were engaged with violent border disputes with an ancient peoples referred to as the Kushites. Thus, when the plagues, such as the frogs, locusts, and hail came, they spread throughout all of Egypt—but they suddenly stopped at the border. Thus, the border disputes were ended, there was no denying exactly where Egypt ended, and Kush began.
Shemot Rabbah
רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה אָמְרוּ, הַמַּכּוֹת שֶׁהֵבִיא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל הַמִּצְרִיִּים גָּרַם לָהֶם שֶׁיַּעֲשׂוּ שָׁלוֹם בֵּינֵיהֶם, כֵּיצַד הָיָה מַחְלֹקֶת בֵּין בְּנֵי כּוּשׁ וּבֵין בְּנֵי הַמִּצְרִיִּים, הַמִּצְרִיִּים אוֹמְרִים עַד כָּאן תְּחוּמֵנוּ, וְהַכּוּשִׁים אוֹמְרִים עַד כָּאן תְּחוּמֵנוּ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁבָּאוּ הַצְפַרְדְּעִים עָשׂוּ שָׁלוֹם בֵּינֵיהֶם, הַגְּבוּל שֶׁהָיוּ נִכְנָסוֹת לְתוֹכוֹ הַדָּבָר יָדוּעַ שֶׁאֵין הַשָֹּׂדֶה שֶׁלּוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֶת כָּל גְּבוּלְךָ, גְּבוּלְךָ וְלֹא שֶׁל אֲחֵרִים
The rabbis know this, since the Torah says that the plagues spread to “all the borders of Egypt,” meaning ONLY the borders of Egypt, not through anyone else’s borders.
While the plagues were awful, the rabbis teach that they only lasted for 12 months. However, as the borders between Egypt and Kush had been fully established, we can infer that peace between them lasted for much longer.
Moreover, while this rabbinic teaching might seem a little whimsical, it also points to something important about life, and something important about being a Jew.
As we discussed, the deepest understanding of God that someone can have is to realize that they have no understanding at all. This applies to life in general. When we think of the plagues, we think of it as a one sided, black and white affair. It was bad for the Egyptians, and it was good for the Jews. But, our rabbis teach that, in the greater scheme of things, it was also good for the Egyptians—as well as the Kushites—for it brought about peace between them.
Life is like this. Life is like God. How many times have you experienced something only later to realize the true value of that experience. How many amazing, heartfelt memories, that when you recall them, they move you SO deeply, that you come close to tears? It could be a memory of your parents, your children, a lover, a pet, or a friend. We all have those kinds of memories.
But, if you think back to when you made those treasured memories, at the moment that you made them, how many of them did you know would become so important WHILE you were having that experience? I guarantee that, the majority of the time, you had no clue.
