What’s real anyway?

When we buy a candy bar or a box of cereal, all we see is the wrapper.  But is that all there is? Just because something meets the eye doesn’t make it real.  So, what is real? 

In this week’s Torah portion we read about Hashem’s instruction to Moshe to perform the various signs in front of Pharaoh. One of them is turning his staff into a snake. In turn Aaron’s staff swallowed all of the snakes and turned them back into a staff.

It seems odd; what is with all the magic? Sticks turning to snakes and then being swallowed back up by sticks!  Is Moses playing the magician? Is that the key to the Exodus?

The answer is beneath the candy bar wrapper.  What is really going on here is a transformation of the physical resistance and negativity of Egypt into something of holiness.  Like all of the Egyptian exile and exodus, it is designed to be a lesson and a teaching for us and l’dor v’dor, in each generation.

Moses Staff represents the idea of Divine energy being brought down into our physical reality.  (A staff has a top and a bottom and when standing vertical represents something moving from above to below.) All of our physical reality is an expression of Hashem’s energy.  

However, in order for us to function as independent thinking Humans and to not be consumed by G-d’s presence, the energy is hidden, like the candy bar in the wrapper.

That lends itself to snakes.   Snakes in the mystical teachings of Judaism represent arrogance and ego.  It represents a denial of G-d’s presence in our lives.

But once the true identity of the snake is exposed, the snake has no choice but to recognize its source and it ceases to be a snake and turns back into a staff. It becomes consumed by its true identity.

Moses began the journey of the Exodus by focusing on exposing the problem; Egyptian Arrogance, and Divine Concealment.  Once the problem is identified and exposed the symptom is healed. 

The messaging for us in our times is no different.  The imbalance of our lives and the anxiety and stress come from the notion that we are going at it alone.  Once we bring G-dliness into our consciousness the game is up.

This is reflected in this powerful passage from Hayom Yom.  

From my father’s sichot: Exodus from Egypt means leaving limitations and bounds, and Chassidus is to enable man to leave the restrictions of the material world.

There is a difference: The Egyptian Exodus means shattering and then departure, which is why they went away from Egypt. The Chassidic exodus means purification and correction, stepping out of worldly limitations and bounds while remaining in the world. This means, while functioning within the world we must transcend its limitations. We are to remove the limitations and bounds, and perceive the truth – that the world per se is truly good, since, after all, the natural world is what G‑d intended. This is attained through the avoda of Chassidus.

Hayom Yom Tevet 25

Best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom!

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