Making History Happen: Va’eira.21

 Making History Happen: Va’eira

By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

December 29, 2021

The second parasha of the book of Exodus, Va’eira (Ex. 6:2—9:35), is a mighty portion, filled with impressive and dramatic events: God reveals a new name by which to be known thereafter (the Tetragrammaton, usually transliterated as YHWH); Moses and Aaron appear before the entire court of Pharaoh, calling for Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves; and God inflicts the Egyptians with the first seven plagues, each more severe and hard-hitting than the one before.

The overarching story is that of the emergence of the Jewish People into history, a people specifically chosen by God to be a light unto all nations. 

Yet interwoven into this story is a list of names—the descendants of Jacob’s sons. We read about Moses’s father and mother (Amram and Yocheved), and we encounter people who will figure prominently in some of the later stories: Korach, the cunning and wicked rebel; Nachshon ben Aminadav, the chieftain of the tribe of Judah and—according to Midrash—the first to jump into the Red Sea, adding his strength to that of God and Moses; Aaron’s four sons are mentioned, two of whom will die after arousing God’s anger; and Pinchas—an early example of murderous religious fanaticism.

One could call this foreshadowing, no more than a literary device. But there is yet another lesson in this list of names: God may provide the historical outline, but on a day-by-day basis, it’s people who make it happen.

The Bible isn’t only about heroes and villains. It’s about humanity in all its diverse complexity. There are no cardboard characters in the Bible just as there aren’t any in “real” life. Each of us is a composite of our heritage (and often more than just one), of our fears and hopes, of our passions and apathy. God may draw the outlines of our stories, but we fill in the blanks. God sets up history, but we, through our choices and deeds, make it happen.

Parashat Va’era may be about gods and monsters, but it is just as much about the potential embedded in each of us ordinary folks to make a difference in the world—to be a source of goodness and freedom, or—God forbid—of evil and sadness. The choice—the power—is ours to exercise. May we use it well.

© 2021 by Boaz D. Heilman