Parshat Va’era – Janaury 24, 2025 / 25 Tevet, 5785

God is an understanding and empathetic therapist this week. This might seem like an odd area of focus given the fact that this is the Torah portion that brings the first seven plagues on Egypt. In the current midst of Israeli hostages returning home after over 400 days in captivity at the hands of Hamas in Gaza, we might need God the therapist more than ever. This week, God shows us something we can use to this very day: a beautiful and complete understanding of the fact that recovery does not take place in a moment. In the context of Torah, God understands that the transition for the Hebrew people from subjugation to self-determination will be intricate. This is true for every type of recovery; even in our own modern times. Whether it is recovery from substance abuse, from physical or emotional abuse, a toxic relationship, from trauma, even from being held hostage for 471 days; Recovery is a process, and one that will more than likely be ongoing with twists, turns, and ups and downs throughout a lifetime. In this week’s Torah portion, Va’era, Moses and Aaron come to us directly following what they thought would be a simple and righteous task. They have come into Egypt under God’s direction and insist that the Hebrew people be released from slavery in order to serve God. How have the Egyptian oppressors responded to this Godly directive? This demand absolutely makes the people of Israel’s lives harder right away. Pharaoh decides to make the already backbreaking work of the Hebrew slaves more difficult. Moses, the subsequently confused and concerned messenger, asks God, “Why have you done evil to this people?”

God assures Moses that the recovery of the People of Israel will be a process. The beginning of this parsha gives us what is often referred to as God’s 4 expressions of Redemption. God tells Moses, first “v’hotzeiti” I will take you out of Egypt. Second, “v’hitzalti,” I shall rescue you from their service. Third, “v’gaalti,” I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm. And finally, “v’lakachti,” I shall take you to Me for a people.” Rabbi Bachya, a Spanish commentator from the 13th and 14th centuries tells us that these 4 expressions of redemption refer to, respectively: God taking the people out of a slavery role even before leaving Egypt, God physically removing the people from Egypt itself, God splitting the sea and removing the power that Egypt has over the people, and finally, God will take the Jewish people as God’s own, giving them Torah and purpose as a nation. In rabbinic tradition, these 4 expressions of redemption are the reason behind the 4 cups of wine that we traditionally drink at a Passover Seder. We honor not just the journey, but each step taken that makes it up.

To this day, and in myriad different forms, there exist a multitude of steps to healing from an abusive or traumatic experience, and none are one-size-fits-all. Some of the steps that I ascribe to are: First, acknowledging trauma, abuse, or the problem that needs recovering from as it is. We need to honor that fact that the trauma or abuse is even present or has occurred. Once this step has been taken, one can then lean into their networks of support. Next, seeking appropriate therapy and professional help is likely vital. Finally, practicing meaningful self-care in an ongoing fashion will help to maintain wellness. Of course these steps will be different for each person, and for each situation. The common theme that runs through all of this is the fact that we need to understand that we cannot simply stomp into our own Egypts and demand an instant recovery. It can be easy for someone outside of a situation of trauma or abuse to be critical: These people are in a bad or toxic situation.Why don’t they just leave? How can they claim to love someone who treats them like that? Why don’t they just stop drinking? They’re out now, why can’t they just move on? Do we want to be like Moses and Aaron this week, waltzing in, asking for what we want and how we want it, and then expecting a smooth outcome? This is fairly unreasonable. There are so many factors to be cognizant of. What Pharaoh or Pharaohs are keeping someone feeling trapped in their Egypt, Mitzrayim, literally meaning, a narrow space, unable to budge, not just physically; but emotionally, or spiritually? What hearts have been hardened, or what habits have been ingrained into the system or psyche of both the oppressed and the oppressor?

The people of Israel were enslaved for at least 430 consecutive years before Moses and Aaron showed up with God’s plan to implement. The Israeli hostages we just saw return home were held for at least 470 days before being released. But what does it mean to truly be released? 20th century philosopher Isaiah Berlin coined terminology known as “Two Concepts of Liberty.” He posits that we have negative liberty, which can be described as the absence of any coercion by an external force. This is not unlike telling formerly enslaved people that they are free. There might technically be a lack of coercion, but people need to feel what Berlin would call positive liberty. This goes a step further than simply being free from a situation, and involves feeling empowered to master the self and to actually break free emotionally from any binding chains. This is often referred to as the difference between the freedom from and the freedom to. We can be technically free, but the beast of oppression, abuse, trauma and toxicity can still hang around one’s neck in a most crippling fashion. The toxic person, the toxic substance, the situation might be gone; this does not signify the end of bondage. True, God must first release the people from their physical bondage, God must then release the people from the environment in which they were slaves. God must then show the people that there is no one looking over their shoulder, ready to snatch them back into slavery. Sometimes a splitting of the sea needs to happen in order to prove that safety exists outside of constraints. Only once these “Freedom Froms” are worked through can the Torah finally be given. The Sinatic moment of receiving Torah; this represents the freedom to create a new people with dynamic and active purpose moving forward. What is the Torah of recovery today? Does the person in recovery feel empowered to begin a new and meaningful life? How will the hostages who will be granted their freedom from bondage transition into freedom to create a life wherein they actually feel free to become?

With perhaps more questions than answers, let us be blessed on this Holy Shabbat to take the lead of God as trauma-informed therapist this week: to understand that redemption and recovery, whether from the biblical chains of slavery, or from any modern situation, is a complex and multi-layered process that is rife with ups and downs, with forward and backward steps. May we be blessed to know that freedom from is different from freedom to. May we do all we can, with the help of our God, to enable ourselves and others to break free from the shackles of unwellness, and to embrace the Torah of our lives…a vast and unending source of wisdom, joy, truth, health, and perhaps most importantly, holy purpose beyond the chains of trauma. Everyone can get there, so long as even a glimmer of hope still endures. God understands the process, so let us be patient and kind with ourselves and with one another as we move out of our Egypts toward our own Sinais and beyond.

Shabbat Shalom.

– Rabbi Josh Gray