Letting Go and Letting Gd - Yocheved and baby Moshe
We begin this week the book of Shemos, Exodus.
In chapter 2, Moshe Rebbeinu is born to Yocheved and Amram. The Me'am Loez explains as follows:
"As soon as Moshe was placed in the Nile, the Egyptian occultists felt a change in the mystical matrix. The redeemer of Israel [whom they had forseen and warned Pharoah and which forseeing was the cause of the decree to throw all the males into the Nile] was in the water. Not bothering to analyze the phenomenon further, they immediately reported to Pharaoh "Israel's redeemer is gone. We no longer see signs of his power." With that, Pharaoh immediately gave orders to retract his decree that all infant boys be drowned...
One might wonder why Yocheved had Moses placed in the Nile, rather than leaving him in the house and trusting in Gd. Although Miriam stood and watched over the basket, the child would certainly have been safer at home.
Yocheved was willing to sacrifice the child's safety for the benefit of her people. She knew full well that the reason for pharaoh's decree to drown the Israelite infants was befause the redeemer of Israel had to be destroyed by water. She also realized that as asoon as her son was placed in the water, teh occultists would assume that he was dead. Furthermore, if thre was a Divine decree that her son die by watrer, by endangering him in the nile now, that decree would be annulled. "
When Batya, Pharaoh's daughter sought a wet nurse for Moshe, she accepted Yocheved, not knowing Yocheved was the mother. The Me'am Loez continues:
"Yocheved was thus able to take her own baby home and nuse him. This was her reward frmo Gd for disobeying Pharaoh's orders and allowing the newborn boys to live. As we have seen earlier, Yocheved was one of the midwives to whom Pharaoh had given orders that infant boys should be killed. Gd therefore rewarded her that on the same day that she placed her son in the river, he was restored to her. She was able to hold him in her arms and nurse him with nothing to fear [for the decree had been lifted]. She was even being paid for it by Pharaoh's own daughter. This is the kindness that Gd does with His saints."
"Yocheved nursed him for 24 months. During this time he matured much more rapidly than an ordinary child and by the time he was two he was like a mature young man."
What can we learn from Yocheved especially? Yocheved understood the spiritual reality of who Moshe was to become and of the spiritual forces that could affect him. Her behavior was completely aligned with following the spiritual realities, not following the natural pulls of a mother. She relied on Hashem and gave up Moshe to the Nile based on her emunah and understanding of the spiritual task at hand. The result was that Hashem looked after her natural pulls IN FULL! She got to take Moshe home and raise him for two years, nourishing him into the redeemer!
May the example of Yocheved be in our minds as we face our downward earthy pulls toward survival and communion and help us to shift our energy to align it with loving Hashem, fearing Hashem and emulating Hashem because all there is in our world and in all worlds is the simple unity of Hashem. May we be able to grow in our knowledge of this spiritual reality and rely upon it and discover the great simcha and joy of knowing that we are loved and never alone, but that we block this awareness by listening to the false messages of our earthy downward pulls.
In chapter 2, Moshe Rebbeinu is born to Yocheved and Amram. The Me'am Loez explains as follows:
"As soon as Moshe was placed in the Nile, the Egyptian occultists felt a change in the mystical matrix. The redeemer of Israel [whom they had forseen and warned Pharoah and which forseeing was the cause of the decree to throw all the males into the Nile] was in the water. Not bothering to analyze the phenomenon further, they immediately reported to Pharaoh "Israel's redeemer is gone. We no longer see signs of his power." With that, Pharaoh immediately gave orders to retract his decree that all infant boys be drowned...
One might wonder why Yocheved had Moses placed in the Nile, rather than leaving him in the house and trusting in Gd. Although Miriam stood and watched over the basket, the child would certainly have been safer at home.
Yocheved was willing to sacrifice the child's safety for the benefit of her people. She knew full well that the reason for pharaoh's decree to drown the Israelite infants was befause the redeemer of Israel had to be destroyed by water. She also realized that as asoon as her son was placed in the water, teh occultists would assume that he was dead. Furthermore, if thre was a Divine decree that her son die by watrer, by endangering him in the nile now, that decree would be annulled. "
When Batya, Pharaoh's daughter sought a wet nurse for Moshe, she accepted Yocheved, not knowing Yocheved was the mother. The Me'am Loez continues:
"Yocheved was thus able to take her own baby home and nuse him. This was her reward frmo Gd for disobeying Pharaoh's orders and allowing the newborn boys to live. As we have seen earlier, Yocheved was one of the midwives to whom Pharaoh had given orders that infant boys should be killed. Gd therefore rewarded her that on the same day that she placed her son in the river, he was restored to her. She was able to hold him in her arms and nurse him with nothing to fear [for the decree had been lifted]. She was even being paid for it by Pharaoh's own daughter. This is the kindness that Gd does with His saints."
"Yocheved nursed him for 24 months. During this time he matured much more rapidly than an ordinary child and by the time he was two he was like a mature young man."
What can we learn from Yocheved especially? Yocheved understood the spiritual reality of who Moshe was to become and of the spiritual forces that could affect him. Her behavior was completely aligned with following the spiritual realities, not following the natural pulls of a mother. She relied on Hashem and gave up Moshe to the Nile based on her emunah and understanding of the spiritual task at hand. The result was that Hashem looked after her natural pulls IN FULL! She got to take Moshe home and raise him for two years, nourishing him into the redeemer!
May the example of Yocheved be in our minds as we face our downward earthy pulls toward survival and communion and help us to shift our energy to align it with loving Hashem, fearing Hashem and emulating Hashem because all there is in our world and in all worlds is the simple unity of Hashem. May we be able to grow in our knowledge of this spiritual reality and rely upon it and discover the great simcha and joy of knowing that we are loved and never alone, but that we block this awareness by listening to the false messages of our earthy downward pulls.
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