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Drash
for Shabbat Va'era Rather than focusing on the first six plagues and a retelling of the story, I found myself more interested in what this section of Torah can teach us about people, the suffering we choose for our selves and the suffering we impose on others. When Moses tells the people of Israel that they will be freed and that God will lead them to the Promised Land, the people are less than enthusiastic. They have become comfortable in their suffering. Pharaoh is comfortable with the suffering he imposes and addicted to the power and wealth it affords him. Whether or not we are aware of it, we all have power and wealth afforded through other peoples suffering and we also all suffer from our own addictions and the poor choices we make. Suffering is part of life’s journey and the suffering we knowingly impose on others will eventually come back to us. Only Moses hears the voice of God. Are the people of Israel and Pharaoh listening or have they forgotten how? Which voice do we listen to most when we make decisions? Is it the voice of desire and greed or the voice of compassion and enlightenment? As I prepare to watch my son become Bar Mitzvah, it is my deepest hope that he will see a bit of Moses in himself, that he will always listen for the voice of goodness, and that he will never be comfortable as a slave to his own suffering. Just as Moses led the people of Israel, it is now my Jacob’s turn to make his own path. May it be a path that brings happiness and peace to his life and to the world. Shabbat Shalom.
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