Perashat Vaera

Perashat Vaera Speaking From the Heart to the Heart – The Real Meaning of Kavanah By: Jeffrey Dweck Background This week’s perasha features the following sequence of events: 1. Last week’s perasha ends with Moshe complaining to G-d: “Why did you bring harm to this people? Why did you send me?” and G-d reassuring Moshe that He will do great things to Pharaoh and cause Israel to be let go. 2. G-d reintroduces Himself to Moshe as the G-d of the forefathers, and restates His everlasting promise. G-d also acknowledges Israel’s suffering and reaffirms that he will make great wonders in Egypt. 3. Moshe speaks to Israel a second time. Israel is unmoved and discouraged. Moshe is commanded to visit Pharaoh, complains about his feeble speech and is reassured by G-d. 4. The patriarchal lineage of Reuben, Shimon and Levi are given, ending with Moshe and Aharon being of Levi descent. 5. G-d commands Moshe again to visit Pharaoh, explaining that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart and do great wonders in Egypt. Moshe again complains about his feeble speech and is reassured by G-d. 6. The “signs” and plagues begin. Article Moshe resists his mission to go to Pharaoh 3 times on the basis of his “heavy” or “impeded” speech. In last week’s perasha, G-d actually gets angry and frustrated at Moshe’s insistence that he simply lacks the speaking ability to go to Pharaoh. Moshe complains of a “heavy mouth” and a “slow tongue” and G-d responds that it is He who created the mouth and He who creates the blind and dumb. In this week’s perasha, the complaint is now of Moshe’s “impeded lips” -- a blockage of some sort. G-d does not get angry this time. He is more accommodating and concedes to Moshe the various signs Moshe will use to convince first Israel and then (unsuccessfully) Pharaoh of his charge. Moshe had 2 distinct complaints. First, his actual inability to pronounce G-d’s message with ease. To this G-d gets angry and proclaims that it is He who created man’s ability to speak, i.e. that man has been given this capacity and should not, in the name of fear, humility, peace, or any other feeling or imperative, deny himself the right and obligation to use it. Being slow to speak is no excuse for being quiet. The second complaint was of an impediment or blockage – not an inability to speak, but an inability to reach others. This complaint is legitimized by G-d. Man may fear that his words (or even G-d’s words), well thought out, may not reach their intended audience, either because the speaker lacks conviction and the ease with which to present an idea, or because the audience won’t listen. In later biblical contexts, the expression “lips” has come to be associated with prayer (for example, “Sifateha Naot” in Shemuel 1 (with Hannah), in Hosea 14, 3 ("The offerings of our lips instead of bulls",) and “Niv Sifatayim” in Isaiah 57, 19). In the

Talmud (Berachot 34b), the connection between prayer and the spoken word is also made in an interesting story about Hanina ben Dosa, who always knew immediately whether his prayers would be answered or not, explaining that "If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, then I know it has been well received and the ailing person will recover. But if not, then I know that my prayer has been torn up by the heavenly court and not accepted." In halachic works, as well, the expression “’aral sefataim” has been used in the context of prayer (Rambam, Hilchot Tefillah, where prayer is described as a combination of praise, request and thanks: “If a man is fluent, he would increase his supplication and request and if he is of uncircumcised lips (‘aral sefataim) he would speak according to his ability - at any time he wanted.”). We open our very Amidah with the pasuk from Tehillim “Hashem, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.” There is a clear connection between Moshe’s reservations about his “uncircumcised lips” - his worry that his words won’t be accepted and that his audience won’t listen and our imperative to speak and to pray so that our words are accepted. Our sages have said that “that which comes from the heart goes to the heart” (based on a pasuk from Mishlei 27, 19). As with Hanina ben Dosa, speech is the result of what lies within -- our convictions -- and, consequently, how our words will be received. A person who fully believes in a cause or message will convey that message with ease and passion. Others will weigh words and fumble (try going to a sales meeting with a product line you don’t really believe is good). A person with a willing audience will land his message. Others will speak to no end. What better time than prayer to reach deep, with conviction and enthusiasm, for a message and passion we need to express? And what better audience than G-d to hear and accept that message?