(2) God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Adonai. (3) I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name Adonai. (4) I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.
(א) וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי ה'. יְלַמְּדֵנוּ רַבֵּנוּ, מַהוּ שֶׁיִּקְרָא אָדָם אֶת הַשֵּׁם בְּאוֹתִיּוֹתָיו. כָּךְ שָׁנוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ: אֵלּוּ שֶׁאֵין לָהֶן חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא: הָאוֹמֵר אֵין תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים מִן הַתּוֹרָה, וְאֵין תּוֹרָה מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְהָאֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס, וְהַלּוֹחֵשׁ עַל הַמַּכָּה וְאוֹמֵר: כָּל הַמַּחֲלָה אֲשֶׁר שַׂמְתִּי בְמִצְרַיִם לֹא אָשִׂים עָלֶיךָ כִּי אֲנִי ה' רֹפְאֶךָ. אַבָּא שָׁאוּל אוֹמֵר: אַף הַהוֹגֶה אֶת הַשֵּׁם בְּאוֹתִיּוֹתָיו.
(1) And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him: “I am the Lord; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob” (Exod. 6:2). May our masters teach us the punishment that is inflicted upon the man who speaks the Divine Name (i.e., the Tetragrammaton) as it is written? Thus do our masters teach us: The following have no share in the world-to-come: those who maintain that the concept of the resurrection of the dead is not derived from the Torah, that the law did not descend from heaven, the epicurean (heretic), and the one who utters (words of magic) over a wound while reciting the verse I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exod. 15:26). And Abba Saul added: One who pronounces the Divine Name as it is written will likewise have no share in the world-to-come.
(ז) ואולם טרם נבא אל הביאור אעיר על ענין יועיל זכרונו לביאור קצת דברי הספור הזה שאנחנו עליו. וזה כי הוא מבואר כי הרגל הנביא מתחלתו בדבר הקטן ההוא שאמרו חכמינו ז"ל רצוני מקדימת הידיעה בענינים הטבעיים וחוקיהם ומשפטם. יקרה ג"כ שימשך לפעמים אחר הדעות וההקדמות הטבעיות הקבועות בלבו. ויטה בהן מהדרך העליון אשר הוא דורך בו וימצא בו לזה עון אשר חטא ראוי לגערה ותוכחה עליו כמו שקרה לאברהם ושרה במה שצחקו על דבר ה' זה אמרו (בראשית י״ז:י״ז) הלבן מאה שנה יולד ואם שרה הבת תשעים שנה תלד. והיא גם היא אמרה (שם י"ח) אחרי בלותי היתה לי עדנה וגו' עד שהיתה התשובה לשניהם לדעתי היפלא מה' דבר כמו שפירש שם שער י"ט: וכבר השיב כיוצא בזה לירמיהו (ירמיה ל"ב) אני ה' אלהי כל בשר הממני יפלא כל דבר לפי שנתפלא עליו מהסכימו יתברך עם דעת חנמאל בן שלום דודו. ונסתפק אם מאתו הי' הדבר לפי מה שראה מהסבות הטבעיות כנגדו כנזכר שם שער
(7) Although we have said that in order to prepare for supernatural knowledge, sound knowledge of natural law is a prerequisite, we find on occasion that this very familiarity with natural law acts as a hindrance to recognizing when supernatural events are being invoked in history. Abraham and Sarah both laughed at the prediction of the angel that Sarah would give birth to a son at the age of ninety. They had to be reminded that "hayippaleh me-hashem davar" is anything too wonderful for God to accomplish? (Genesis 18,14) Similarly, even the prophet Jeremiah had to be reminded of this very fact when he doubted that the purchase of the field from his uncle was decreed by God, seeing that at first glance this ran counter to all that seemed logical. (Jeremiah 32,27). Also, when Moses observed the obstinacy of Pharaoh and the additional burdens imposed upon the Jewish people, (being at the beginning of his career) he turned to God asking "why did You cause things to become worse?" Moses had assumed that even when Hashgachah Peratit (Divine providence) is at work there has to be logic, i.e. natural law has to be operative side by side. God corrected him saying "now you will see,” meaning once the supernatural is at work the very opposite of what natural law dictates may occur.
(ג) ויאמר אליו אני ה׳. המהוה הכל בהשגחה פרטית. ולא כבו״ד הבונה בית אין כחו בבית אלא עד שלא נבנה אבל אח״כ אין הבית עומד בכחו אבל התבל שנבראת בשם אלהים היא עומדת ומתקיימת בשם הוי׳ המהוה הכל. ובזה נכלל תשובה על שאלת משה שכסבור דגזרת פרעה נעשה שלא בהשגחה ממנו ית׳ אלא בטבע הענין כמש״כ. והשיב דגם הטבע היא בהשגחה.
(3) I am Adonai. This teaches that the entire world is perpetuated by Hashem, utilizing Divine Providence. In contradistinction to a house, for example, that once it has been built the builder ceases work and it stands on its own, the world continues to exist only because Hashem keeps it in existence. With this, Hashem answered Moshe’s question in which he implied that Pharaoh’s decree was merely a result of natural events without Hashem’s Providence; Hashem replied that nature is also a result of Divine Providence.
Process theology recognizes every “thing” is really a series of events across time, a process, that emerges in relationship. We are each a process, and creation is a process. God is a process, revelation is a process. All emerge in relationship, meaning that no thing can be understood in isolation. Each event has an interiority in which it integrates the reality around it with its own choice about how to proceed. In addition, an exteriority in which it has an impact on the choices of every other event around it. We are all part of something interactive and dynamic.
In such a worldview, God is not outside the system as some unchanging, eternal abstraction. Instead, God permeates every aspect of becoming, indeed grounds all becoming by inviting us and every level of reality toward our own optimal possibilities. The future remains open, through God’s lure, to our own decisions of how or what we will chose next. God, then, uses a persistent, persuasive power, working in each of us (and all creation at every level) to nudge us toward the best possible outcome. But God’s power is not coercive and not all powerful. God cannot break the rules or unilaterally dictate our choices. Having created and then partnered with this particular cosmos, God is vulnerable to the choices that each of us makes freely as co-creators.
(ו) וזהו וארא אל אברהם, היינו שאצלם לא נתגליתי רק בבחינת ראיה ששם יש בחינת דין. וזה שכתוב באל שדי, כי שם שדי הוא בתוך העולמות מי שאמר לעולמו די וכו'. אבל ושמי ה' לא נודעתי להם, נודעתי דייקא, שלא נתגליתי להם בבחינת ידיעה שהוא בחינה עליונה למעלה מהאותיות ששם הכל חסד, כי עדיין לא הראיתי להם חסדי ולא נראיתי להם כי אם בבחינת ראיה שם שדי כנ"ל. וזה שכתוב לא נודעתי, ולא כתיב לא הודעתי, כי בחינה זאת העליונה באה ממילא על ידי טרחא גדולה ויגיעה עצומה בעבודת ה' בתורה ותפלה וצדקה לזכות לעבודת אלו שהם בחינות ג' אותיות ועל ידי זה זוכין שבא אחר כך ממילא בחינת ידיעה אבל אי אפשר לקבלה בעצמה והבן זה. וזה לא נודעתי, היינו בחינת ידיעה שבא ממילא ודו"ק:
(6) When God tells Moses in Exodus 6,3 “I appeared to Avraham,” God means that the patriarchs were not privy to the “second” level of ראיה “seeing=understanding,” only to the level of revelations originating in a domain in which Justice, דין is at home. This level is defined by God as ב-אל שדי, the power known as the “God Shaddai.” This name of God is widely known in many parts of the physical universe, and is an allusion to the God, Who, at the end of the sixth day of creation said: די, “enough,” before God sanctified the seventh day, the Sabbath. God added explicitly, that God had not revealed His name “Hashem” to the patriarchs, i.e. ושמי ה' לא נודעתי להם. The precise meaning of the word נודעתי is “I became revealed on the level of humanity gaining intimate knowledge of Me,” the dimension of Me that is manifest only in the regions “above” the world of אותיות, “letters.” In that region, as we have explained already there is no דין, attribute of Justice,” but only חסד the attribute of love, kindness. God implies that it was impossible for God to reveal this aspect of Godself to the patriarchs as long as God had not proven its existence through God having redeemed the Israelites from their miserable fate.
This is also the reason why God did not say to Moses: לא הודעתי להם, “I have not made known to them,” (active mode), but said לא נודעתי להם I have not become known to them, (passive mode). חסד, loving kindness, must be experienced by the recipient passively; doling it out when the recipient is not aware of it, i.e. something whose seed will take time to blossom and eventually ripen, cannot be defined at the outset in terms of its ultimate manifestation. This dimension if and when it manifests itself, does not require intervention by God in the affairs of men through miracles, but is a natural development, easily recognized by those who are privileged to experience it.
(ב) אִישׁ יְהוּדִי הָיָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה (אסתר ב, ה), אִישׁ מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיָה מָרְדֳּכַי שָׁקוּל בְּדוֹרוֹ כְּמשֶׁה בְּדוֹרוֹ, דִּכְתִיב בֵּיהּ (במדבר יב, ג): וְהָאִישׁ משֶׁה עָנָו מְאֹד, מַה מּשֶׁה עָמַד בַּפֶּרֶץ, דִּכְתִיב (תהלים קו, כג): וַיֹּאמֶר לְהַשְׁמִידָם לוּלֵי משֶׁה בְחִירוֹ עָמַד בַּפֶּרֶץ וגו', אַף מָרְדֳּכַי כֵּן, דִּכְתִיב (אסתר י, ג): דֹּרֵשׁ טוֹב לְעַמּוֹ וְדֹבֵר שָׁלוֹם לְכָל זַרְעוֹ. מַה מּשֶׁה לִמֵּד תּוֹרָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, דִּכְתִיב (דברים ד, ה): רְאֵה לִמַּדְתִּי אֶתְכֶם חֻקִּים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים, אַף מָרְדֳּכַי כֵּן, דִּכְתִיב (אסתר ט, ל): דִּבְרֵי שָׁלוֹם וֶאֱמֶת, וּכְתִיב (משלי כג, כג): אֱמֶת קְנֵה וְאַל תִּמְכֹּר. וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי. הָרְשָׁעִים קוֹדְמִין לִשְׁמָן, (שמואל א כה, כה): נָבָל שְׁמוֹ, (שמואל ב כ, כא): שֶׁבַע בֶּן בִּכְרִי שְׁמוֹ. אֲבָל הַצַּדִּיקִים שְׁמָן קוֹדֵם לָהֶם (שופטים יג, ב): וּשְׁמוֹ מָנוֹחַ, (שמואל א ט, א): וּשְׁמוֹ קִישׁ, (שמואל א ט, א): וּשְׁמוֹ שָׁאוּל, (שמואל א א, א): וּשְׁמוֹ אֶלְקָנָה, (רות ב, א): וּשְׁמוֹ בֹּעַז. וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי, לְפִי שֶׁדּוֹמִין לְבוֹרְאָן, דִּכְתִיב (שמות ו, ג): וּשְׁמִי ה' לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם. יְהוּדִי, לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ יְהוּדִי, וַהֲלֹא יְמִינִי הוּא, לְפִי שֶׁיִּחֵד שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כְּנֶגֶד כָּל בָּאֵי עוֹלָם, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב לֹא יִכְרַע וְלֹא יִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה. וְכִי קַנְתְּרָן הָיָה וְעוֹבֵר עַל גְּזֵרַת הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֶלָּא כְּשֶׁצִּוָּה אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ לְהִשְׁתַּחֲווֹת לְהָמָן, חָקַק עֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים עַל לִבּוֹ, וְנִתְכַּוֵּן כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַעֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים, וּכְשֶׁהָיָה רוֹאֶה הָמָן שֶׁאֵין מָרְדֳּכַי מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לוֹ, נִתְמַלֵּא חֵמָה, וּמָרְדֳּכַי אוֹמֵר לוֹ יֵשׁ אָדוֹן הַמִּתְגָּאֶה עַל כָּל גֵּאִים, הֵיאַךְ אֲנִי מַנִּיחוֹ וְאֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לַעֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים, וּלְפִי שֶׁיִּחֵד שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא נִקְרָא יְהוּדִי, לוֹמַר יְהוּדִי יְחִידִי. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים שֶׁהָיָה שָׁקוּל כְּאַבְרָהָם בְּדוֹרוֹ, מָה אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ מָסַר אֶת עַצְמוֹ לְתוֹךְ כִּבְשַׁן הָאֵשׁ וְהֶחֱזִיר וְהִכִּיר לַבְּרִיּוֹת גְּדֻלָּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (בראשית יב, ה): וְאֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ בְחָרָן, אַף מָרְדֳּכַי בְּיָמָיו הִכִּירוּ הַבְּרִיּוֹת גְּדֻלָּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (אסתר ח, יז): וְרַבִּים מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ מִתְיַהֲדִים, וְיִיחֵד שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְקִדְּשׁוֹ, וּלְפִיכָךְ נִקְרָא יְהוּדִי, דִּכְתִיב: אִישׁ יְהוּדִי, אַל תִּקְרֵי יְהוּדִי אֶלָּא יְחִידִי.
(2) "There was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital" -- [The word] 'man' (ish) teaches us that Mordechai was the equivalent of Moses in his generation as it says about [Moses] "and the man(ish) Moses was exceedingly humble." Just as Moses stood in the breach as it says (Psalm 106) "And He planned to destroy them if not for Moses who stood in the breach.." so to Mordechai as it says "He sought good for his nation and brought peace to all his people" Just as Moses taught Torah to Israel, so to Mordechai as it says [about Moses] "See, I have taught you laws," so to Mordechai as it says [that Mordechai sent out] "words of Peace and Truth" and it says "buy truth and sell it not" [about the Torah.] "And his name was Mordechai" -- When evil people are introduced in the text, they precede their names e.g. "Naval was his name" or "Sheba son of Bichri was his name." But the names of the righteous precede them e.g. "his name was Manoah," "his name was Kish," "his name was Saul," "his name was Elkana," "his name was Boaz," and in our text, "his name was Mordechai. This is to make them emulate their Creator as it says [about God] and My name, Jehovah, I did not make known to them. "Jewish" -- Why was he called 'Judean' if he was of Benjamin? Because he attested to the unity of God in the world as it says "[and Mordechai] would not kneel and would not bow] (therefore he was called a part of Judah which means 'to acknowledge God'). And [why] was he a contrarian that ignored the king's decree? Because when Ahasuerus decreed that everyone should bow to Haman, Haman started wearing an idol so that everyone would bow to the idol, and when he saw that Mordechai refused to bow he became very angry. Mordechai told him "there is a Lord who is above all the arrogant. How can I forsake him and bow to an idol?" Thus, because he attested to God's unity, he was called The Jew i.e. the only Jew. There are those who also compare him to Abraham. Just as Abraham threw himself into the furnace, came out alive, and caused people to recognize God -- this being what is referred to by the verse "and the souls they made in Haran" -- Mordechai also helped pepole recognize God in his own day as it says "And many people of the land converted to Judaism." [In conclusion] he attested to the unity of God and His holiness and was therefore called "the Jew".