Parshat Vaera 5773

Drasha Rabbi Shaanan Gelman The Silent Groan Immediately before we are told about the four unique promises of redemption ( ), , , which we commemorate on the eve of Passover by drinking four cups of wine, Hakadosh Baruch Hu introduces Himself to Moshe Rabeinu under a new name:
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2 , -; And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him: 'I . , am the LORD; 3 , - - and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto --- ; Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name YHWH I . , made Me not known to them. , 4 - And I have also established My covenant with - -- them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of . , - their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. 5 , - And moreover I have heard the groaning of the , , children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in . ; , - bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.

What is the significance behind the name change? Why was God previously known as " "and now as ? According to Rashi, the name is an acronym for , He who said to His world enough. The Kli Yakar (Rav Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz) elaborated on this idea: " ( )

With the name Shadai, God placed a limitation on His World, ceasing to expand and add to its splendor. This alludes to a concept known in Chassidut as ,the intentional self-limitation of Gods influence in the world. He does this in order that the rest of the creatures develop a sense of independence and responsibility. In order for us to experience that independence, Hashem must first retreat from His world. And so connotes the reduction of Gods tangible presence in this world, His setting of boundaries and restrictions. It is for this reason that the name appears on the Mezuzah, since it is an object that demarcates a boundary at the threshold of every room and home.

When God uses the name ,it means that His presence is not felt as acutely in the world, He appears to be more aloof and mysterious. But the name has the exact opposite meaning it is an acronym for " ", , God was, is and always will be. He is the ever-present and Omnipotent One He has no limits, His presence is not restricted, His kindness is constantly made known. Now let us return to the opening of our parsha. Moshe is told I am the Lord, and my name is " ,"and though I have never made myself fully known I am now prepared to reveal Myself to you and through your proxy. At this point there is a peculiarity in Gods words: , - Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel The sentence contains a redundancy , literally translated as I, I have heard. It would have sufficed for Hashem to say ,why the addition of the word "?" This is the question posited by the , R Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak, the Rebbe of the Alexander Hassidim.
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" ... " , ", When the Almighty gazes into the inner workings of mans heart and in a time of pain and crisis, man often lacks the ability to pray in the name of God and lacks the awareness of the source of his pain, namely the absence of the Divine Presence

The Rebbe continues: ,"" "1... , " Nonetheless, there are times when man cries in the inner chambers of his heart and contemplates his origins and his end and his ultimate purpose in this world, and amidst those thoughts he is able to perceive his distance from The Holy One Blessed is He. And this is the meaning of the words :

The Yismach Yisrael adds that at those times man, who is introspective is able to feel the pain that Hashem experiences over his status, and that the truly conscientious ones spend their entire lives preoccupied with Gods pain.

", ." Meaning, that even the I I have heard in their prayers and in their groans amidst the impossible labor that they have been made to endure

To the untrained ear, all that could be heard emanating from the lips of the downtrodden Hebrew slave was a groan, and inarticulate and meaningless grunt. It would appear as if their pain was not developed into an actual prayer, but rather a garbled release of anger mixed with sadness and self pity, and nothing more. But the truth is that God hears within the groan a prayer. Within the unrefined complaint, Hashem perceives that from the depths of our souls we are calling out His Holy Name; a name we had never formally been told!

Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev once overheard the prayers of a fellow Jew in the shtiebel. To his dismay, it was clear to him that the man was not properly articulating his words, instead it sounded garbled and rushed. Rav Levi, usually known for giving everyone the benefit of the doubt walked up to the man in an uncharacteristic fashion and began mumbling in his ear. When the man asked the Rabbi why he was doing

this, Rav Levi explained that thats the way your prayers sound to .God But the man retorted quickly, setting the record straight, when a baby cries, does the mother or father have any doubt what the infant is asking ?for

In times of pain, and crisis, the words may be muffled and the recipient of our groans may be concealed, but our Father always hears His name !amidst the cries (Rav Shlomo Radumsker)2 alludes to this idea as well The used in this on the very same verse. He wonders, why is the word ? He explains or context? Why not another word for crying like , which implies a jealousy for contains the same letters as that
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the sake of God, as we see by Pinchas ( .) In other words, concealed beneath the generic groan exists a very focused and purpose oriented prayer. The Bnei Yisrael werent merely complaining about their pain and their circumstance, they were crying out because the shame that it brought to God that his people had been brought to such a point of depravity and that His name was seemingly nowhere to be found! I recently saw a beautiful story in Rabbi Paysach Krohns Reflections of the Maggid (page 62):

In each of our actions, our words and our complaints there is a hidden prayer a secret acknowledgment of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. In card games, experts are able to identify tells little cues which tip off the other players as to whether an opponent has a good hand or whether he is bluffing. This is true as well when it comes to our religious selves as well. We are constantly giving off tells, barely noticeable indicators of the thoughts which reside in our hearts. And though we arent consciously aware of them, Hashem takes note; He hears the " ,"the cry for Hashem amidst the nonsensical murmur. He is able to decipher the encoded message of the troubled broken heart.

If we can understand this idea, then we can appreciate one of the fundamentals of addiction and recovery. We seek to numb pain physical and emotional pain. Most of the time we are not acutely aware of the fact that we are trying to do so we cry out in with a ,a groan, hoping that someone or something will provide relief.

The famous philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) wrote in his Pensees (10.148):1

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that

there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.

We all have a God-sized hole which we seek to fill. It is a desperate clamoring for reprieve, and it doesnt necessarily present itself in a form which makes sense to the outside world. A person who is in pain will keep running to the refrigerator, finish off a gallon of ice cream, drown away her sorrow in pain killers and addictive television. In the recesses of a persons mind what they really seek is the ' , the Name of God, which has long been dormant. But at the end there is hope for repair. Because amidst the ,the meaningless groan of the Jewish children God hears His own name being called! He knows that only He can provide meaning, and mend the brokenness. Let us recognize the source of our strife and difficulty it stems from the fact that God has not yet been discovered:

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 ', And let us rediscover God converting the empty and ethereal into a meaningful and substantive ,zealousness and yearning for Hashem in our lives, our homes and our community.

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