Parshat Vaera

In this week's parsha we begin recounting the story of the Jews exiting Egypt, the most powerful and mesmerizing story of our history. Pharaoh rejects the demands of Aharon and Moshe despite witnessing the miracle of the staff changing into a snake followed by the first seven plagues. The text indicates to us that Pharaoh hardened his heart and then eventually has his heart hardened an interesting story in of itself.

The story which to me is the most intriguing is described in the opening few sentences of the parsha.

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה׃ וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם׃

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name יהוה.

Despite the greatness of those who preceded him, Moses receives the revelation that is God's name. Although it remains only one of God's many names which reflect the infinite personalities of God, the four letter name remains of a certain spiritual significance.

Although the academic may explain away this revelation of God's name as providing further detail to dissonant stories (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Name_Bibles for a little side reading on this) I think that the revelation of the name is indicative of the standard of person that Moses is. It is hard to fathom the awesome person that Moshe must have been for the almighty to share a piece of himself with the great leader.

I think the calibre of any leader is measured by how those who work with them respond to them as individuals. The best of them help people understand themselves but more importantly as valued confidants they assist people in growing.

Moses was the greatest Jewish leader of all time. May we aspire to be just like him.