1.18.26 – Why Do You Tolerate This?

I had a wonderful Shabbat this weekend in two different synagogues in Grand Rapids—one Reform and the other a Chabad House. The experience was wonderful and eye-opening in many ways, and I would not trade it for anything. However, in the midst of the joyful experience, the one thing that I missed was our Friday night Zoom call and our Shabbat morning Zoom call. I hope you experienced a little bit of withdrawal 😊

In this week's Torah portion, Vaeira, God opens the divine aperture, shining a light upon darkest Egypt. God opened His conversation between Himself and Moses following Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh. Moses' response, after the event did not turn out very positive, was that he is unfit for the task. We addressed some of that this week. His feeling of inadequacy centers on his difficulty with speech.

The Torah does not identify the nature or origin of Moses' difficulty. It has been suggested that an actual speech impediment—perhaps a stutter or a severe lisp—was at the root of his feelings. There is a midrash that suggests that Moses' speech impediment dated from his infancy, when the angel Gabriel had guided him to place a hot coal in his mouth instead of reaching for Pharaoh's crown. Perhaps Moses was so profoundly a shepherd that he just preferred the company of animals over people with their insatiable demand for words. Maybe he did not like public speaking, like so many of us. No one else but Moses ever mentions his speech impediment as an excuse to ignore God's call. So perhaps it loomed larger in his own mind than as a handicap perceptible to others. Whatever the impediment's nature, it is clear that each utterance exacted a painful toll on Moses.

Consequently, God sent Aaron to be his brother's mouthpiece, and Aaron, as a faithful friend and brother, remained at Moses' side to heap seven out of the ten plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

In this Torah portion, in spite of his feelings of inadequacy, Moses never gave up. He was relentless. He believed in what he was saying, and he got the people to listen. Pharaoh's hard heart and mind were changed, and the Hebrew people were ultimately let go.

Moses' less-than-perfect communication ability was actually a reflection of his special and lofty soul (Num. 12:3). We revere Moses as the greatest teacher, outside of Yeshua :-), even with this flaw. On the flip side, had Moses been eloquent and gifted, there would always be room for skeptics to claim that the Hebrew people accepted the Torah, its truth, and its mandates only as a result of Moses' charisma. We all know that a captivating speaker can convince people of just about anything these days.

Since it was actually a challenge to listen to Moses, it became eminently clear that we did not accept Torah because we were wowed by Moses. We accepted Torah because we were wowed by God. Let us continue to be wowed by God (Ps. 119:18).

As many of you already know, the English translations of the Torah very rarely capture the multidimensional underpinnings behind the words. In the section that we call the "seven I wills" from Exodus chapter 6:6–8, God has Moses say to the children of Israel: "I am God, and I shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their slavery; I shall redeem you."

When we look at this with normal "hooked on phonics" lenses, we just see the physical burdens. But what is interesting is that the word for burdens can also be translated as the word tolerance. Hmm, very interesting, Professor Dumpling :-)

Tolerance is a form of burden-carrying, of accepting a challenge. If this perspective is correct—and I think it is—it could be read: "Say to the children of Israel: I am God, and I shall take you out from tolerating Egypt. I will liberate you from what you patiently put up with—tolerating Egyptian horror."

"Whatever you tolerate, you have given permission to continue. Nothing will change until you decide it should."

As I head into this first day of the week, this is a critical moment for me. It is the genesis of real redemption—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I am fairly confident that many of us have been subjugated to dysfunctional conditions, and we have learned to acclimate ourselves to that reality. This tolerance can be worse than the condition itself, since it keeps us stuck in our own prison. The beginning of the Exodus could only occur when the Hebrew slaves refused to tolerate the horrors they were enduring. If I am not fed up with being weak and bullied, with being a victim of addiction or fear, my journey of redemption cannot begin!

As the expression goes, "Easier said than done, but when it is done, it was easy!" Learned helplessness runs deep. Denying or repressing the depth of the dysfunction is a way of numbing myself to the suffering. I have got to be able to feel the pain of my own alienation in order to begin the voyage toward liberation in every domain of life.

Do you not think it is time that we stopped tolerating the lies and the abuse—in all forms—in our homes and communities? There are varying degrees of tolerance, that is for sure. But if we stopped to think about it, many of us have abused ourselves through the suffering that we have allowed to occur for years or decades, from feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, shame, guilt, and pain. Many victims—due to their profound pain and skewed sense of self—find temporary relief in all forms of destructive behavior. This is the slavery of Egypt!

Many fall prey to terrible addictions to escape their agony, haunted by unbearable nightmares that will not allow them to lead a normal life internally. It extends into our jobs, our physical health, and every area of life.

Exodus 6:6–8 says God will deliver you from your burdens (sivlot). Whatever you are tolerating, I am praying that each one of us will choose to escape under God's divine hand. There are some things that you tolerate that are necessary. How would I know the difference? Look at the outcome and the goal of your patient endurance. Some things you tolerate because you see the outcome and you have hope for the best days ahead.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, "What do I tolerate?" Or maybe the better question to ask is, "Why do I tolerate?"

Shalom,
Alan