וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י אֶתְכֶ֥ם לִי֙ לְעָ֔ם וְהָיִ֥יתִי לָכֶ֖ם לֵֽאלֹהִ֑ים וִֽידַעְתֶּ֗ם כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵיכֶ֔ם הַמּוֹצִ֣יא אֶתְכֶ֔ם מִתַּ֖חַת סִבְל֥וֹת מִצְרָֽיִם׃ וְהֵבֵאתִ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נָשָׂ֙אתִי֙ אֶת־יָדִ֔י לָתֵ֣ת אֹתָ֔הּ לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹ֑ב וְנָתַתִּ֨י אֹתָ֥הּ לָכֶ֛ם מוֹרָשָׁ֖ה אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר מֹשֶׁ֛ה כֵּ֖ן אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה מִקֹּ֣צֶר ר֔וּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָ֖ה קָשָֽׁה׃ {פ}
And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, יהוה, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I יהוה.” But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.
(ו) וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אָנֹכִי֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י אָבִ֔יךָ אֱלֹהֵ֧י אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִצְחָ֖ק וֵאלֹהֵ֣י יַעֲקֹ֑ב וַיַּסְתֵּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ פָּנָ֔יו כִּ֣י יָרֵ֔א מֵהַבִּ֖יט אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃
(י) וְעַתָּ֣ה לְכָ֔ה וְאֶֽשְׁלָחֲךָ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהוֹצֵ֛א אֶת־עַמִּ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ (יא) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים מִ֣י אָנֹ֔כִי כִּ֥י אֵלֵ֖ךְ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְכִ֥י אוֹצִ֛יא אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ (יב) וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ כִּֽי־אֶֽהְיֶ֣ה עִמָּ֔ךְ וְזֶה־לְּךָ֣ הָא֔וֹת כִּ֥י אָנֹכִ֖י שְׁלַחְתִּ֑יךָ בְּהוֹצִֽיאֲךָ֤ אֶת־הָעָם֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם תַּֽעַבְדוּן֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים עַ֖ל הָהָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃ (יג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֣י בָא֮ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ וְאָמַרְתִּ֣י לָהֶ֔ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם וְאָֽמְרוּ־לִ֣י מַה־שְּׁמ֔וֹ מָ֥ה אֹמַ֖ר אֲלֵהֶֽם׃ (יד) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃
(10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.” (11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” (12) And [God] said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” (13) Moses said to God, “When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers’ [house] has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is [God’s] name?’ what shall I say to them?” (14) And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh,” continuing, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh*Ehyeh sent me to you.’”
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֵ֛ת כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לֵאמֹֽר׃ {ס} (ב) אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑͏ֽים׃
(1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I יהוה am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:
Rabbi Yoḥanan himself said that the word anokhi that begins the Ten Commandments is an abbreviation for: I myself wrote and gave [ana nafshi ketivat yehavit]. The Rabbis said it is an abbreviation for: A pleasant statement was written and given [amira ne’ima ketiva yehiva]. Some say the word anokhi can be interpreted backwards: It was written, it was given, its statements are faithful [yehiva ketiva ne’emanim amareha].
(א) אנכי ה' אלהיך וגו'. .... אנכי ה' אלהיך. אמר ר' נחמיה מהו אנכי לשון מצרי הוא, למה הדבר דומה, למלך שנשבה בנו, ועשה ימים רבים עם השבאים, למד סיחתן של אותן השבאים, כשעשה נקמה באויביו והביאו ובא להסיח עמו בלשונו, ולא היה יודע, מה עשה, התחיל לספר עמו בלשון השבאים, כך עשה הקב"ה עם ישראל, כל אותן השנים שהיו ישראל במצרים, למדו סיחתן של מצרים, כשגאלן הקב"ה בא ליתן להם את התורה, לא היו יודעים לשמוע, אמר הקב"ה הריני מסיח עמהם בלשון מצרי, אנוך, אדם שהוא מבקש לומר לחבירו במצרים אני, הוא אומר אנוך, כך פתח הקב"ה בלשונם ואמר אנכי.
(1) (Exod. 20:2:) I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.....
I (Anokhi) AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. R. Nehemiah said: What is 'anokhi? It is an Egyptian word. To what is the matter comparable? To a king whose son was captured and spent a long time with the captors. He learned the speech of those captors. When <his father> had taken vengeance on his enemies and brought him <back>, he went to converse with him in his own language; but he did not know it. What did he do? He began to speak with him in the language of his captors. Thus did the Holy One do with Israel. During all those years that Israel had been in Egypt, they had learned the Egyptian speech. When the Holy One had redeemed them, he came to give them the Torah, <but> they did not know how to understand it. The Holy One said: Here, I shall converse with them in the Egyptian language. 'Anokh. In Egypt, when one wants to say "I" to a friend, he says: 'anokh.The word means “I” in Coptic. Thus the Holy One began in their language and said (in Exod. 20:2): I ('anokhi).
וִידִיעַת דָּבָר זֶה מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ ב) "אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ". וְכָל הַמַּעֲלֶה עַל דַּעְתּוֹ שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם אֱלוֹהַּ אַחֵר חוּץ מִזֶּה עוֹבֵר בְּלֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ ג) "לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל פָּנָי". וְכוֹפֵר בָּעִקָּר שֶׁזֶּהוּ הָעִקָּר הַגָּדוֹל שֶׁהַכּל תָּלוּי בּוֹ:
To know this matter is a mandatory commandment, saying: "I am the Lord thy God" (Ex. 20,2); therefore, whosoever supposes that there is another god besides This One, (1) violates a prohibitive commandment, saying: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ibid. –3), is denying the essential, because it is the great principle upon which everything depends.
(ד) ודע, שזה ה׳קול׳ גם כן אין מדרגתם בו שוה עם מדרגת ׳משה רבנו׳.
(4) It must, however, be noticed that the people did not understand the voice in the same degree as Moses did.
Moses ben Maimon[(1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (/maɪˈmɒnɪdiːz/ my-MON-ih-deez) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. He was born and lived in Córdoba within the Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain), on Passover eve, 1138 (or 1135)[d], until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam. Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. (Wikipedia)
This conception of Moses as interpreter of the divine voice for the people was developed much more radically by Maimonides, whose ideas Rabbi Mendel of Rymanóv carried to their ultimate conclusion. In Rabbi Mendel’s view, not even the first two Commandments were revealed directly to the whole people of Israel. All that Israel heard was the aleph with which in the Hebrew text the first Commandment begins, the aleph of the word anokhi, “I.” This strikes me as a highly remarkable statement. In Hebrew the consonant aleph represents nothing more than the position taken by the larynx when a word begins with a vowel. Thus the aleph may be said to denote the source of all articulate sound, and indeed the Kabbalists always regarded it as the spiritual root of all other letters, encompassing in its essence the whole alphabet and hence all other elements of human discourse. To hear the aleph is to hear next to nothing; it is the preparation for all audible language, but in itself conveys no determinate, specific meaning. With his daring statement that the actual revelation to Israel consisted only of the aleph, then, Rabbi Mendel transformed the revelation on Mount Sinai into a mystical revelation, pregnant with infinite meaning, but without specific meaning. In order to become a foundation of religious authority, it had to be translated into human language, and that is what Moses did. In this light every statement on which authority is grounded would become a human interpretation, however valid and exalted, of something that transcends it. Once in history a mystical experience was imparted to a whole nation and formed a bond between that nation and God. But the truly divine element in this revelation, the immense aleph was not in itself sufficient to express the divine message, and in itself it was more than the community could bear. Only the prophet was empowered to communicate the meaning of this inarticulate voice to the community. It is mystical experience which conceives and gives birth to authority.
Religious Authority and Mysticism
Gershom Scholem, Commentary, November 1964
https://www.commentary.org/articles/gershom-scholem/religious-authority-mysticism/
Menachem Mendel Torem of Rimanov also known as Mendele Rimanover (1745–May 29, 1815)[3] was a famous Hasidic Rebbe and one of the first five distributors of the Hasidic movement in Poland and Galicia together with Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin, Rabbi Yisrael Hopstein, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, and Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Epstein. Wikipedia
(טו) וְכׇל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת וְאֶת־הַלַּפִּידִ֗ם וְאֵת֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר וְאֶת־הָהָ֖ר עָשֵׁ֑ן וַיַּ֤רְא הָעָם֙ וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ מֵֽרָחֹֽק׃ (טז) וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה דַּבֵּר־אַתָּ֥ה עִמָּ֖נוּ וְנִשְׁמָ֑עָה וְאַל־יְדַבֵּ֥ר עִמָּ֛נוּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים פֶּן־נָמֽוּת׃ (יז) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֣ה אֶל־הָעָם֮ אַל־תִּירָ֒אוּ֒ כִּ֗י לְבַֽעֲבוּר֙ נַסּ֣וֹת אֶתְכֶ֔ם בָּ֖א הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וּבַעֲב֗וּר תִּהְיֶ֧ה יִרְאָת֛וֹ עַל־פְּנֵיכֶ֖ם לְבִלְתִּ֥י תֶחֱטָֽאוּ׃ (יח) וַיַּעֲמֹ֥ד הָעָ֖ם מֵרָחֹ֑ק וּמֹשֶׁה֙ נִגַּ֣שׁ אֶל־הָֽעֲרָפֶ֔ל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁ֖ם הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃ {ס}
ומשה נגש בפרקי ר''א גש לא נא' אלא נגש. מיכאל וגבריאל אחזוהו בשתי ידיו והגישוהו אל השכינה שלא ברצונו:
וַיַּעֲמֹד הָעָם מֵרָחֹק – כִּי כְּשֶׁרוֹאִין הָעֲרָפֶל, הַיְנוּ הַמְּנִיעָה כַּנַּ"ל, עוֹמְדִין מֵרָחֹק. וּמֹשֶׁה, שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינוֹת דַּעַת כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל, נִגַּשׁ אֶל הָעֲרָפֶל אֲשֶׁר שָׁם הָאֱלֹקִים – הַיְנוּ אֶל הַמְּנִיעָה, שֶׁבָּהּ בְּעַצְמָהּ נִסְתָּר הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ: עוֹד שָׁמַעְנוּ בָּזֶה מִפִּיו הַקָּדוֹשׁ, שֶׁהוֹסִיף לְבָאֵר הָעִנְיָן הַנַּ"ל, מַה שֶּׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ בְּעַצְמוֹ מַסְתִּיר אֶת עַצְמוֹ בְּתוֹךְ הַמְּנִיעָה כַּנַּ"ל.
The people kept their distance—For when they see the mist, the obstacle, they keep their distance. and Moshe—He corresponds to the daat (holy knowledge) of all Israel. entered the mist where God was—In other words, into the obstacle, which is precisely where God is hidden. We heard more on this from [Rebbe Nachman’s] holy lips. He added an explanation of the earlier point, that God Himself hides Himself within the obstacle.
Nachman of Breslov (Hebrew: רַבִּי נַחְמָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב Rabbī Naḥmān mīBreslev), also known as Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Rabbi Nachman miBreslev, Reb Nachman of Bratslav and Reb Nachman Breslover (Yiddish: רבי נחמן ברעסלאווער Rebe Nakhmen Breslover), and Nachman from Uman (April 4, 1772 – October 16, 1810), was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. He was particularly known for his creative parables,which drew on Eastern European folktales to infuse his teaching by creating deeply kabbalistic and yet universally accessible remedies, advices and parabolic stories, through which anyone can project himself into and draw spiritual and practical guidance. Wikipedia
Instead of a Love Poem
As from "Thou shalt not seethe a kid
in his mother's milk"
They made all the manifold laws of
kashruth;
But the kid is forgotten and the milk is forgotten
And the mother is forgotten
So from "I love you"
We made all our life together.
But I did not forget you
As you were then.
Yehudah Amichai, (1924-2000)
Yehuda Amichai (Hebrew: יהודה עמיחי; born Ludwig Pfeuffer 3 May 1924 – 22 September 2000) was an Israeli poet and author, one of the first to write in colloquial Hebrew in modern times. (Wikipedia)
Resources:
Aleph Beta David Fohrman,The Exodus From Egypt In The Bible
Understanding Yetziat Mitzrayim
https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/understanding-the-exodus-from-egypt
Religious Authority and Mysticism, Gershom Scholem, Commentary, November 1964
https://www.commentary.org/articles/gershom-scholem/religious-authority-mysticism/