Sedra Va-era presents the beginning of the process in which Moses takes the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. The Sedra begins with G-d’s statement to Moses: ‘I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob with my Name E-l Sha-dai but I was not known to them by My Name the Tetragrammaton.’
The verses continue with G-d saying that Moses will take the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt, and bring them to the Land which was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A few verses further on, G-d commanded Moses to again speak to Pharoah and to demand that he release the Israelites from his land.
There then follows an intriguing passage which seemingly interrupts the narrative: a detailed genealogy of Moses and Aaron, providing exact details about how they were descendants of Jacob through his son Levi, and then his son Kehat, and finally his son Amram. Then G-d again encourages Moses in his mission to Pharoah, and that despite his misgivings, Moses undertook this task. Then the Torah reports that when they spoke to Pharoah, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty three.
The Rebbe’s Discourse
The discourse asks two simple questions. Why does the Torah provide the genealogy of Moses at this point, and what is the significance of saying that he was eighty years old?
The Rebbe now refers us to a discourse by the Tzemach Tzedek in Or HaTorah which quotes the Torah commentary of the Panim Yafot by Rabbi Pinchas Halevi which states that the reason for presenting the genealogy of Moses and Aaron is to emphasize that they are the seventh generation from Abraham. The reason why this should be significant is that ‘all sevenths are precious’, and hence they have a special level of spiritual empowerment to aid them in their task to take the Israelites out of Egypt.
Further, Rabbi Pinchas continues to explain, the fact that G-d was revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by His Name E-l Sha-dai links with the six days of Creation. For the Talmud tells us that in the act of Creation the world was, so to speak, unfurling endlessly, and in order to crystallize it in a finite form, G-d had to say ‘Enough!’, in Hebrew Dai. By contrast, G-d will reveal His Tetragrammaton to Moses, and this Name expresses Shabbat, which is higher than the six days of Creation.
Shabbat is the seventh day, and this links with Moses being the seventh generation after Abraham. The seventh is ‘precious’, just as the Sabbath is precious above the other six days of the week.
The Significance of Eighty
Based on the same commentary the Tzemach Tzedek then considers the fact that the Torah tells us that Moses was eighty years old. In Psalms we read that ‘The days of our lives are seventy years, and if with Might, eighty..’. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that ‘seventy years’ relate to the seven attributes of the Divine Sefirot while ‘eighty’ reaches the realm beyond them, the eighth Attribute Binah, Understanding.
Kabbalistically, Binah, Understanding is associated with Might, as the verse states ‘I am Binah, Understanding, and I have Might’ and also that the Exodus from Egypt took place through the expression of a supernal form of Might.
Hence the Exodus is mentioned fifty times in the Torah, corresponding to the Fifty Gates of Understanding.
Connecting the Generations
We now understand why the genealogy of Moses is mentioned, to link him with Abraham and show that he is the seventh, with the special empowerment which that entails. This links with the idea that the Patriarchs link with the six days of Creation, in which G-d said ‘Enough!’, the Name E-l Sha-dai, while Moses expresses the Tetragrammaton beyond, the sacred Shabbat, the seventh day.
Further, by virtue of Moses being eighty years old, he was able to reach the Attribute Binah, supernal Understanding, which would provide the ‘Might’ needed for the Exodus.
In addition, taking Binah more literally as Understanding, this empowered Moses to receive the Torah and transmit it to the Jewish people. Moses could absorb the Divine Wisdom of the Torah and then, through Binah, communicate it to Joshua and the rest of the Jewish people.
Although so far, in this discourse, the emphasis has been on Moses, in fact he gains his power from the Patriarchs before him. The fact that he is the ‘seventh’ emphasizes the importance of Abraham, the ‘first’. This is why right at the beginning of the Sedra, G-d names the Patriarchs. In fact, the Talmud tells us the Redemption from Egypt is connected with the birth of the Patriarchs: each of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were born in the month of Nisan, and that is the month when the Israelites went free from Egypt.
The discourse explains that through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob great Divine radiance was drawn into the world, from the realm of Keter, Crown, the highest Sefirah. This was then consolidated by Moses, with the power of Binah, expressing supernal Might, bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. And then, also though his power of Binah, Understanding, he was able to receive the Torah at Sinai and transmit it to the Jewish people.
As the Talmud goes on to tell us, in Nisan the Patriarchs were born, in Nisan the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt, and in Nisan we will be redeemed from our current Exile. May this be speedily in our days!
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