Parshas Va'eschanan - The Unity of Hashem

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (6:4)

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ ה' אֶחָד

Hear oh benei yisrael, Hashem who is our G-d, He is One.

The Vilna Gaon comments on this passuk

הענין כי כל אמונותינו הוא בשם הויה, ובזה אנחנו נבדלים מן האומות כי כל האומות משיגין את שמו יתברך כמ"ש גדול שמי בגוים ובכ"מ כו' רק שאין משיגין בשם הויה רק בשאר השמות. וכולם אינם שם העצם רק שמות משותפים, לכן אינם דבקים בו יתברך רק עובדין אותו בשיתוף כי כל השמות אינן רק משותפין ומושאלין מפעולותיו, לא כאלה חלק יעקב שהם דבקין בשם זה... ולכן משה רבינו ע"ה לא הזכיר לפרעה רק שם הויה ודא אקשי ליה מכלהו, וז"ש ה' אלוקינו אלוקינו לבד והוא שם העצם שאינו מושאל מפעולה רק (מורה) על הויתו תמיד והויתו מעצמו

All of our emunah is in the four-letter Name of Hashem, and through this we are distinct from the nations. For all the nations know of Hashem’s Name, however they do not understand the four-letter Name of Hashem, only the other Names. And all other Names are not the actual Name of Hashem, instead they are Names through which you can approach an understanding of Hashem in conjunction with the consideration of other ideas which occur in olam hazeh. Therefore the other nations do not cleave to Hashem but instead they serve Him in conjunction with other forces which  are found in the world, because all of the other Names are understood in conjunction with other ideas and are merely Names that are derived from the deeds of Hashem.

This is not the lot of the benei yisrael however, who cleave to the four-letter Name of Hashem… And therefore Moshe only mentioned the four-letter Name of Hashem to Pharoh, and it was harder for him to understand this than any other Name of Hashem. (This is why the passuk says (Shemos 5:2), “וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה מִי ה' אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ” – “And Pharoh said, ‘Who is Hashem that I should listen to his voice,’ because Pharoh could not understand the four-letter name of Hashem.) And therefore the passuk says ה' אלוקנו, because only we serve Hashem as perceived through the four-letter Name of Hashem, and so Hashem is our G-d alone…

• If it was virtually impossible for Pharoh to understand the four-letter name of Hashem, but he would have been able to understand one of the other names of Hashem, then why did Moshe not mention to him one of the names of Hashem that he would have been able to understand?

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (4:19)

וּפֶן תִּשָּׂא עֵינֶיךָ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְרָאִיתָ אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶת הַיָּרֵחַ וְאֶת הַכּוֹכָבִים כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם וַעֲבַדְתָּם אֲשֶׁר חָלַק ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ אֹתָם לְכֹל הָעַמִּים תַּחַת כָּל הַשָּׁמָיִם.

And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These Hashem allotted to all other peoples everywhere under the heavens.

Rashi comments on this passuk:

אשר חלק וגו' לכל העמים: (מגילה ח') להאיר להם דבר אחר לאלוהות לא מנען מלטעות אחריהם אלא החליקם בדברי הבליהם לטרדם מן העולם וכן הוא אומר (תהלים ל"ו) כי החליק אליו בעיניו למצוא עונו לשנוא

Hashem assigned the sun, the moon and the stars to give light to them (to all peoples) (Megillah 9b). Another explanation, “Which Hashem assigned to them as deities.” He did not prevent them from going astray after them, but rather He allowed them to err through vain speculations, in order to drive them out from the world. Similarly it states, (Tehillim 36:3) "He made him err through what his eyes beheld until his iniquity was found so that he should be hated.” (Avodah Zarah 55a)

The passuk continues (4:20)

וְאֶתְכֶם לָקַח ה' וַיּוֹצִא אֶתְכֶם מִכּוּר הַבַּרְזֶל מִמִּצְרָיִם לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם נַחֲלָה כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה

But you Hashem took and brought out of Mitzrayim, the iron furnace, to be His very own people, as we see today.

• Why does the Torah describe Mitzrayim as an iron furnace specifically in the passuk that contrasts the avodas Hashem of the benei yisrael with the avodah zarah of the umos ha’olam?

The Michtav Me’Eliyahu explains as follows:

The mechilta says (brought in the hagaddah)

ועברתי בארץ מצרים בלילה הזה, והכיתי כל בכור בארץ מצרים מאדם עד בהמה. ובכל אלוהי מצרים אעשה שפטים, אני ה'. ועברתי בארץ מצרים, אני ולא מלאך. והכיתי כל בכור, אני ולא שרף. ובכל אלוהי מצרים אעשה שפטים, אני ולא השליח. אני ה', אני הוא ולא אחר.

The passuk says (Shemos 12:12)

וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מֵאָדָם וְעַד בְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל אֱלֹקֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים אֲנִי ה'

For on that night I will pass through the land of Mitzrayim and I will strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and animal, and against all the gods of Mitzrayim I will deliver retribution, I am Hashem.

“I will pass through the land of Mitzrayim” – I and not a malach.

“And I will strike down every first-born” – I and not a saraf.

“And against all the gods of Mitzrayim I will deliver retribution” – I and not the messenger.

I am Hashem, I am He and none other.

It is evident from the mechilta that the completion of the revelation of the shechinah at the time of makkas bechoros was from that which Hashem effected judgement against the gods of Mitzrayim.

The Michtav Me’Eliyahu explains that this is not simply because it showed that Hashem was more powerful than the gods of Mitzrayim, but  it was also because the mitzriyim served avodah zarah in combination with their weakened recognition of the power of Hashem. This means to say that they believed that Hashem ruled the world, but only together with the idols that they served, and that the idols were all partners with Hashem. Therefore from the fact that Hashem effected judgement against the idols it became evident that Hashem was not in partnership with the avodah zarah, because this would have precluded Him effecting any punishment.

Had the mitzrim purely served avodah zarah, then the slavery in Mitzrayim would not have been so harsh. This is because the ideal represented by the avodah zarah would have been limited, and there would have been less of a cause to which the benei yisrael would have been enslaved. Paradoxically it was exactly because the mitzrim served avodah  zarah be’shituf shem Hashem, so that they combined their notion of Hashem together with their idol worship, that Mitzrayim became an iron furnace in which the benei yisrael were enslaved. Since the limitlessness of avodas Hashem became confused into their avodah zarah, the slavery of the benei yisrael also became limitless, and this would have burnt the benei yisrael, as if it were, had they not been redeemed.

The Torah describes Mitzrayim as an iron furnace in the passuk which contrasts the avodas Hashem of the benei yisrael with the avodah zarah of the umos ha’olam in order to remind the benei yisrael that they should be careful to not even serve avodah zarah be’shituf shem Hashem, since this was what almost destroyed them in Mitzrayim.

This is also why the Vilna Gaon says that Moshe was careful only to mention the four-letter name of Hashem to Pharoh, although this represented Hashem in a way that it would be virtually impossible for Pharoh to grasp. Since the four-letter name of Hashem refers to Hashem separately from His involvement in olam hazeh, it is not possible to combine this understanding of Hashem together with avodah zarah. Moshe’s challenge to Pharoh was that he should recognise that he had falsely associated Hashem with his idols, and that he had misused his grasp of Hashem in order to further his idolatry and enslave the benei yisrael.

Only when Hashem destroyed all of Pharoh’s idols did he realise that he had rebelled against Hashem, whereupon he admitted to the truth and freed the benei yisrael.