Moses is concluding his great final address to his people, to the children of the generation that left Mitzrayim with him. He is really close to death now, in the last hours. The younger ones will go onward any minute, without him. Up til now he has been, more or less, directly channeling the divine word, getting them ready -- vayedaber ADONAI el Moshe. But here, it appears, he speaks his own heart.
The midrash tells us that, as Moses prepares for death, he has already been lifted up and brought for a tour, not only of every acre of the Promised Land, but also of all of history. So he knows what is yet to come. He knows about Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian exile. He knows about Rome. He knows that his dear people -- in future generations -- will suffer an inquisition and a holocaust. He says that it won't last forever.
And he finishes with a slip of the tongue. Chapter 30, v. 3: V'shav ADONAI elohecha et sh'vutcha v'richamecha. Literally something like, And God will return your captivity and will show you compassion. We expect, "And God will return you from your captivity. But instead, Moses says, "v'shav ADONAI…" God will return.
Megilah 29a: It has been taught: R. Simon b. Yohai said: Come and see how beloved are Israel in the sight of God, in that to every place to which they were exiled the Shechinah went with them. They were exiled to Egypt and the Shechinah was with them, as it says, Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt. They were exiled to Babylon, and the Shechinah was with them, as it says, for your sake I was sent to Babylon. And when they will be redeemed in the future, the Shechinah will be with them, as it says, Then the Lord thy God will return [with] thy captivity. It does not say here we-heshib [and he shall bring back] but we-shab [and he shall return]. This teaches us that the Holy One, blessed be He, will return with them from the places of exile.
The rabbis even ask (and remember, they are fresh here in the anguish of exile, setting up study houses even while they mourn the destruction of the Temple from which they were driven, back in Jerusalem):
Where [is the Shechinah] in Babylon?-Abaye said: In the synagogue of Huzal and in the synagogue of Shaf-weyathib in Nehardea. Do not, however, imagine that it is in both places, but it is sometimes in one and sometimes in the other. Said Abaye: May I be rewarded because whenever I am within a parasang, I go in and pray there.
It's like they say, 'Where is the Shechinah? In Caspar."
So this isn't only a teaching about, 'things will work out fine in the end.' If they do, then wonderful. But happy endings don't solve the problem of difficult presents. It seems that, as understood by R. Shimon bar Yochai, Moses is saying something else: that wherever we are, under whatever circumstances, the immanent, intimate aspect of the God is right with us.
And not only does this verse speak of God being present with us wherever we are, under whatever circumstances -- for after all, God is adon olam -- the lord of the universe -- God is everywhere all the time. But in some different sense, the Shechinah-aspect of God, the dwelling, close, immanent aspect of God, is specifically with us -- at this exact place, where we can throw a rock and walk in the door (which I think is the measure of a parasang.) Not just everywhere, but in some definite, sensual, intimate way, with us in the specific address of our exile. Don't make the mistake of thinking, oh well, God is across the street too. There's nothing special to God about me in this fix I'm in.
Moses goes on to say that one of these days God will -- in a pretty amazing turn of phrase -- circumcise our hearts, so we can love God fully, with all our heart and all our soul. But okay, that's in the future. Maybe right now it's not so easy. Maybe there is still a foreskin over our hearts. Maybe we only half-love God. Maybe we're distracted, depressed, fearful -- "serving other Gods." Even here, even now, God's presence can be entered into.
What would it be like to sense the Shechinah in our place of exile? How would we know, as Abaye does, that God is a stone's throw away right now? That we can just walk in the door and be in the Divine Presence. What would it be like to know that part of the Divine nature is that God has chosen to travel with us wherever we wander, to share the sorrows of our exile, even if we have uncircumcised hearts?
Today is the last of the seven Shabbatot of consolation, between Tisha B'av and Rosh Hashana. Most of the words of consolation, which are in the weekly haftarot, speak to the end of days, when all this sorrow will be behind us. I hope that day comes soon, for everyone. But somehow it feels more consoling to me to know that even now, the holy loving Presence of the Universe has chosen to share the present moment with us, and that we can enter into that Holy Presence right here and now.
© 2008 Rabbi Margaret Holub
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Updated 10/01/2008 (rge)