ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף יהושע 5:15

Shimon the Just mentioned only the pillars that ensure the survival of our soul. Had he referred to the needs of the body, he would have had to include food and other necessities for physical survival. On the Day of Atonement, culmination of ten days of preparation, the emphasis of this role of the Jew is even greater than at other times during the year, and we worship G'd in the manner of angels, abstaining from food and drink, just as spiritual beings. In fact, we desist from most physical functions that are not essential to our actual survival. Having thus approached a state of complete innocence, we are allowed to recite aloud, that which we dare no more than whisper during the rest of the year, namely the verse "blessed be the name of His glorious Majesty." Since this version is one that is plagiarised from the angels' liturgical repertoire, we would not dare do so without their consent. So far the Midrash. Since we note that the praise of G'd referred to is in indirect language, employing the pronoun "HIS," and since David in Psalms 145, and 72, has already employed similar terminology quite openly, one is tempted to ask why we cannot use said formula unabashedly all year round. The answer may be that all pronouns, or attributes, are merely a negative way of defining something. Since G'd is not understood by man, the nearest we can come to understanding Him, is the way He Himself explained it to Moses, i.e. "you will see My back." (Exodus 33,23) We arrive at a definition of G'd by a process of elimination. By comprehending what He is not, we form some idea of what He must be. The Talmud Berachot 31, states that Israel is more beloved than the angels, since the latter require three stages of elimination to arrive at G'ds name, whereas Israel needs only two such stages. The angels recite "holy, holy, holy," followed by the name of G'd, whereas Israel merely recites "Hear, O, Israel the Lord our G'd is One." The angels have to eliminate, i.e. separate themselves from three worlds, since they know both their own world, the one of abstract spiritual beings, as well as the two worlds which we know. Israel knows only two worlds, cannot distinguish what goes on in the world of the spirits. Therefore, it needs to separate itself only from the awareness of the two worlds containing matter before concentrating on praising the Lord. This gives the angels an advantage over the humans in that they can free themselves of even more encumbrance in order to come closer to the essence of G'd. When we commence the formula of the kedushah, the sanctification of G'd in our liturgy, we say "let us praise Your name O Lord just as they do in Heaven."..followed by the triple proclamation " holy, holy, holy," reflecting the havdalah, separation between the three worlds G'd has created, and the Creator Himself. Our own formula of praise is introduced by the words "Hear O Israel." The word "hear" describes a human function; humans employ physical ears to receive communications, since they can distinguish only the two worlds of the plants and the living bodies. But we do not praise the kinnuy, attribute, only the holy name itself. The angels, though they have a clearer comprehension, praise only "HIS" glorious Majesty, (not the actual NAME) In this respect we are more beloved than they are. In the words of the teachers of our Mishnah "chavivim yisrael, Israel is especially beloved. To sum up then: We address G'd directly in our formula of the keriyat shema, whereas the angels concern themselves only with some of G'ds attributes. Moreover, Israel recites the praises of G'd three times daily, whereas the angels do so only once a day. Many angels, individually get to do so only once in fifty years, (compare discussion in Chullin 91) We also have it on Talmudic authority that the angels are not permitted to recite their song of praise until after Israel has done so here on earth. Against this, we need to consider that the relatively infrequent occurrence of an event makes such an event more special, more distinguished. If it is true that the task of the angels is to promote G'ds work in the "lower" world, it makes sense that until Israel has praised the Lord, the angels are in no position to do so, having not yet completed their appointed task. In fact, it would be hypocritical for the angels to praise the Lord as long as Israel, G'ds standard bearer, has failed to do so. This is what the angel who wrestled with Jacob told him, when the Midrash quotes him as saying that he must now join in the Heavenly choir of praise to G'd. Only now, after he had found that Jacob did indeed possess integrity, had this angel accomplished his specific mission, and was able to re-join his colleagues. A second answer to our problem is that the verse "Blessed be Majesty, His kingdom forever and ever" is really talking about two separate aspects of Divine manifestations. The first half of the verse represents an acknowledgment of G'd as Creator and Supreme King, the second half talks about the manner in which He exercises His functions. Some people reach an understanding of the manner of G'ds guidance in the universe. Most people do not. Angels, however, when praising the Lord, automatically praise Him from both vantage points. Therefore, they use a formula which includes both aspects of the matter. On the Day of Atonement, when all of us reach a higher spiritual level than during the rest of the year, we can utter this formula with full voice, although the same thing would be presumptuous during the rest of the year. Pessachim 56, explains that since Moses had not used this formula of praising G'd, the sages were hesitant about arrogating such right to themselves. On the other hand, since Jacob was reputed to have used this formula according to the Midrash, they decided it should be used, but only sotto voce. The order of the service on the Day of Atonement, corresponds to the three principles laid down by Shimon the Just.

Besides, he asks "what good is my taking the Israelites out of Egypt when You are not telling me that I will bring them to the holy land?" G-d answered him in the order of his queries. A) "I shall be with you," do not worry about your life being in danger. B) "This is a sign for you", those who want to kill you are already dead. Concerning the purpose of redemption, the Jewish people will accept the Torah at this Mountain. Concerning their fitness for redemption, this has been discussed in the introduction to the book of Exodus. (6) When Moses seemed to have obtained confirmation of his fears that his mission did not include aliyah, entry into the holy land, he raised numerous objections suggesting that the ultimate redeemer, the one who would complete the task should take over this task immediately. All these objections were couched in diplomatic language, in order to sway G-d. However, Hashem, on His part persevered in trying to persuade Moses to accept the mission offered. Since G-d had identified Himself only in respect to Abraham, Isaac and jacob, not with the name hashem, Moses found reason to question in which way he should identify G-d to the people. So G-d said to him "you may identify Me as "Ehyeh,” the Eternal. This type of identification was to be reserved for the elders, who would understand the double meaning involved. (I exist, though I am not part of existence as commonly perceived) Moses admitted that this would suffice to identify the "sender," but felt that the "messenger" needed further identification to achieve credibility. He was told not to go beyond the identification offered. G-d refused to incorporate aliyah la-aretz, immigration to the holy land in the definition of "Sender." This was not to be revealed to the people at this stage, though it was part of G-ds plan. G-d said to Moses that He did not refuse to let him use the identification Of "G-d of Abraham etc.," but that He was right in that there should remain a mystique beyond that connected with His name. He instructed Moses to describe that mystique in the words "this is My name forever, and this is My memorial for all generations." (7) At this point, G-d turned to the nature of the mission. Since it is possible that the elders are aware that G-d exists and that redemption will occur, they would need to be convinced that Moses was the man who would be the instrument, that he was not a charlatan. They would need convincing that the encounter Moses claimed to have had with G-d, had indeed taken place. Therefore, Moses argued they will not believe me, but they will believe You, but they will argue that You did not appear to me. The elders do know that the gift of prophecy exists for those who are deserving, but how do they know that I am deserving? For this reason G-d gave Moses the miracles to establish his credibility with the elders of Israel. G-d then turns to Moses telling him that his request from Pharaoh should be only that the Israelites would leave Egypt. Although the whole redemption syndrome traditionally embraces also return to the land of Israel, Moses’s mission was restricted to the first part of that process, the departure from Egypt. In this way too, the obstinacy of Pharaoh would be demonstrated more dearly, since he refused even such a relatively minor request. The refusal to make any concession to Moses, in fact to enact new and harsher decrees, would serve as the legitimisation for subjecting Pharaoh to the plagues. (9) G-d implied that if Moses would ask Pharaoh, revealing the extent of his plans, Pharaoh would certainly not grant permission. Since even by using subterfuge, Pharaoh did not make the concession of allowing the people a brief holiday of three days duration, the penalty of the plagues would be more than justified. Had the Jewish people left Egypt for only a few days, as originally requested, borrowing valuable trinkets without arousing suspicions of the owners would hardly have been possible. Under the circumstances, however, the Egyptians would be happy to see the Israelites depart and would compensate them for the real estate they left behind by a few trinkets. This would not appear to them as a bad trade at all. The expression venitzaltem, commonly translated as "you will empty," can also mean "you will have ample excuse." In the event that anyone considers your taking these items as "stealing," let them remember what you left behind in Egypt. Alternatively, these trinkets can be considered as a goodwill offering on the part of the Egyptians, seeing that this is the spirit in which these items will be offered to you. (10) G-d tells Moses all this already at this stage, though the time for executing all these plans was still some time away; however, once knowing what had been planned, would give the Jewish people a chance to observe where the Egyptians kept their valuables. Since Moses still argued that the Jewish people would not believe him, G-d provided him with three miracles to help him identify himself. Miracles can come in three different forms: A) Something which seems impossible according to the laws of physics, such as turning iron into wool. B) Something that could conceivably be converted, given enough time, happening instead instantaneously; a piece of rotten wood will eventually disintegrate into dust; the dust may eventually serve as a breeding place for a serpent. Telescoping this process into something instantaneous, would be a miracle. C) The simultaneous existence side by side of two elements that are incompatible, such as ice and fire. The least impressive of these three kinds of miracles is number two. Turning wood into a serpent is remarkable only because of the instantaneous nature of the conversion. Should this kind of miracle not suffice to convince the elders, miracle number three, the more impressive one, would be produced. The existence side by side of normal tissue with tzo-ra-at, a form of leprosy, is against all known laws of physics and chemistry. Lastly, the completely unbelievable transformation of water into blood, would be convincing in the event the first two miracles failed to convince the onlookers. G-d was quite right then in emphasizing the progressive nature of these miracles. The Israelites would be impressed by the cumulative effect of what they were watching. Possibly, Moses had to prove three points to his people. A) G-d had chosen him as the instrument of their deliverance. This was proved by turning dead matter, wood, into living matter, a serpent. Who else but a prophet had such power? B) He had to prove that the people would be liberated; this was proved by healing that which was beyond known medical cures, i.e. the itzora-at. C) He had to prove that G-d would punish the Egyptians for their treatment of the Jewish people. This was demonstrated by smiting their source of life, their water supply. In this manner all three parts of the message Moses was to deliver to the people in the name of G-d became credible. (11) After it had become obvious to Moses that his mission would be lengthy, that it would encounter many obstacles, he said to G-d that his inadequacies in speech dated back to his birth already, but he had not mentioned same as long as he did not think that such an impediment would become relevant to discharging his mission successfully. Now that G-d Himself had revealed that Moses’s mission would be time consuming, extend over weeks or even months, he thought it was appropriate to mention this shortcoming of his. It could complicate the success of his mission further. (13) G-d answered Moses that if he had thought that his impediment was due to some other power, he should have appealed to that power. If, on the other hand, he was aware that his handicap emanated from G-d, it should be obvious that if G-d did not think the handicap was relevant to his being appointed, it should not really concern him either. Should Moses’s mission fail, on account of that defect, the blame would surely not be placed on Moses, but on G-d. Therefore, G-d would assist Moses in whatever he would say by providing a spokesman for him. In this way, everyone would be aware that all Moses’s utterances stemmed from G-d, since he himself did not possess the natural ability or fluency to present the case of the Jewish people. For this very reason, G-d did not remove Moses’s handicap. (12) Moses said "send the one who will be that intermediary." He had understood G-ds words "I shall be with your mouth," that not G-d Himself would assist him, but an intermediary. Since Moses himself was a shaliach, intermediary, he suggested that the other intermediary might as well carry out the whole assignment. Moses considered himself as only incidental to that other prophet, who he thought would also complete the part of the mission that called for the Jewish people to return to the land of their ancestors. (13) G-d became angry at hearing this, and He told Moses that the other prophet in question was Aaron, whose function would be to serve as Moses’s mouthpiece. Moses was reprimanded about feeling that the presence of another prophet would detract from his own glory. He was told that that very other prophet, his older brother, was already on the way to meet Moses, and would rejoice at the fact that Moses had been chosen as the redeemer. The unselfish nature of Aaron is stressed.