Parsha_Push Parshat Va’era
Rabbanit Dr. Adina Sternberg
In our childhood, we were taught about four expressions of redemption (‘And I will bring you out’, ‘And I will save you’, ‘And I will redeem you’, ‘And I will take you’), which corresponded to the four cups of wine at the Passover Seder. As we grew up, we discovered that there is actually a fifth cup, which until then we had called Elijah the Prophet’s cup, corresponding to the fifth expression ‘And I will bring you in’. Over the years, more and more families, especially in the land of Israel, have incorporated into their Seder the interpretation of the last verse of ‘My father was a wandering Aramean’ – ‘And He brought us to this place’ – which corresponds to that same fifth expression that appears in our Torah portion: ‘And I will bring you to the land…’. Through this they show gratitude for another dimension of present day redemption.
In our Torah portion, after the first four expressions of redemption and before the verb ‘And I will bring you’, two more verbs appear: “And I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” While ‘and you shall know’ is a verb that refers to the people of Israel, and therefore might not be part of the expressions of redemption, what about “And I will be your God”? Is this not one of the promises of redemption?
One possibility is to see this as a single action together with “And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be your God.” But it’s possible that this action is part of Israel’s responsibility and is actually connected to ‘and you shall know that I am the Lord’. In fact, for God to be our God, there needs to be a mutual decision. It’s not just about God’s actions on behaf of the children of Israel – bringing out, saving, redeeming, and taking as a people. God needs to choose Israel as His people, and equally Israel needs to choose to see Him as God, and choose to know the Lord.
A passive redemption, where Israel is merely acted upon, is an incomplete redemption. To achieve complete redemption, Israel must be a partner in the process. Complete redemption is dependent upon a relationship between Israel and their God, a relationship that cannot exist without Israel making an active choice.