Rabbi Yossi's Blog

 Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

If you are tangled up in ropes that are pulling you down and holding you back, you often need someone else to come and help set you free. It’s not always possible to “pull yourself up by the bootstrap” as people like to say.

The Torah, the guidebook for life, reminds us of this throughout the Exodus narrative. This story of the Torah is deemed so relevant that we are mandated to remember it every single day - not just on Passover. This is because each of us, in our own way, are bound in patterns of less than stellar habits, tendencies and traits that hold us back and pull us down.

And just like the Jewish people in Egypt couldn’t get out by themselves, they needed G-d to extract them, we also need outside assistance to overcome the things which hold us back. Even Moses, the most elevated of men, was unable to successfully confront Pharaoh alone.

“Come to Pharaoh,” says G-d at the very beginning of this week’s Torah portion. He doesn’t instruct Moses to “Go to Pharaoh,” rather he invites Moses to “come to Pharaoh.” 

“You’re not in it alone,” G-d informed Moses then, and He informs each of us daily. “I’m here to assist you in overcoming the challenges before you.”

Within our own temporal  - and truly temporary - existence there is no ability to satisfy our deep-seated need for relevance, value and meaning. Only when we get outside of ourselves and connect with the only true and ultimately essential existence - i.e. G-d - can we successfully transcend the limitations that hold us back from living up to our purpose. 

G-d invites each of us; “Come to Pharaoh,” let’s confront the negative together. By getting out of ourselves and connecting with G-d, we can successfully overcome that which holds us back. Along the way we’ll uncover personal relevance, value and meaning.