Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Belief in the Individual

וְשָׁמְעוּ, לְקֹלֶךָ; וּבָאתָ אַתָּה וְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל-מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, וַאֲמַרְתֶּם אֵלָיו יְ-וָה אֱלֹ-ֵי הָעִבְרִיִּים נִקְרָה עָלֵינוּ, וְעַתָּה נֵלְכָה-נָּא דֶּרֶךְ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְנִזְבְּחָה לַי-וָה אֱלֹ-ֵינוּ.

And they will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, 'The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now, let us go for a three days' journey in the desert and offer up sacrifices to the L-rd, our G-d.'

הָעִבְרִיִּים- The Jews. The Hebrews.
Avraham was called Avraham haIvri.

His children are called Ivrim.


Notice that Ivrim here is spelled with 2 yuds.

Every single Jew represents the entire nation. Each one of us has the courage to uphold and carry on the nation's mission - alone, against then whole world.

Moshe is telling Pharao:

The spirit that lives in me,
that moves me to speak,
lives in each member of the nation.

Down to the last man.

The spirit, the courage, and the determination of the whole are reflected in each and every one of its members.


See Rav Hirsch for an elaboration of this theme.

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