Rabbi Donniel Hartman, president of the Shalom Hartman institute in Israel, highlighted two relationships one can have with his or her Jewish identity and God. One relationship is portrayed in the book of Bereshit and the other in Shemot. In one of Abraham’s first encounters with God, it is written, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you’ I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing.” The other relationship one can have was relayed in this week’s parsha when God told the Jewish people, “If you will heed your God diligently, doing what is upright in God’s sight, giving ear to God’s commandments and keeping all God’s laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I God am your healer.” Contrast to the passive role shown in Bereishit, this week, the parsha portrays another way to connect with God and the Jewish identity. In Shemot, God continued to bless the Jewish people, on the condition that the Jewish people put in work in exchange.
The comparison of these two relationships shown in the Torah portrays the prevalent Jewish choice of passively or actively being a member of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were given the gift of life, and, in comparison to this incredible gift from God, they don’t have much to “owe” him in return.
These differing ways to engage in the world highlight God’s command in this week’s parsha. The Jewish people, coming out of Egypt, are expected to play a more active role in their Judaism and relationship with God. In Beireishit, God says that He will provide for the Jewish people, and in Shemot this remains true, however, the Jewish people have a new mission. They can no longer be given destiny, they need to actively participate in the world in order for God to provide for them. In Shemot, God gave humans the space to practice “Hishtadlus,” putting in effort. Whatever the scenario may be, perhaps strengthening one’s relationship with God, or friends and family, or even working on an assignment, one should remember how to be the Jews from the Exodus story. One needs to put in the work in order to have God’s help in succeeding. Rabbi Yossy Goldman, president of the South African Rabbinical Council, explains that the best recipe for success is putting in individual effort, and having faith that God will take care of the rest. God created the natural world and with that, the system of how the world works. He concealed himself behind the natural world, and every so often, as shown in this week’s Parsha when the laws of nature were defied and the Red Sea was split, God made a miracle. As we put our own “hishtadlus” into everything we do, God will take care of the rest. God wanted the Jewish people to succeed, however, the Jewish people have to play an active role in forming their destiny. They cannot sit back and wait for life to happen in order to create for themselves the reality they want to be living.
