What Is God's Name To You?

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai.

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

0:02  
Okay, put on my tale here. Anyone's welcome to join me putting on a talus or just taking a moment to close your eyes and inhale and imagine yourself wrapped in a garment of light and and attached to each of the corners of this garment is a fringe. Each one of those fringes representing all of the meets vote all of the different parts of our tradition that you do, that you don't do, the ones you know about the stuff you don't know about the stuff you love, the stuff you love a little bit less, and just all of it connected, none of it demanding anything in this moment, other than just presence here and just breathing in the gift of this moment. You

1:04  
the gift of a minion, a community of people to pray and aspire with to sing with

1:16  
the gift of being a traveler on an ancient voyage. Descendants of an ancient people,

1:30  
just taking a moment to breathe and feel your lungs and your belly breathing you

1:41  
barbucha Adonai, Cher, Keith shadow, but Mitzi, Vanu lagi, TAFE, but Seat, seat.

1:57  
Whenever you're ready, opening up your eyes You

2:06  
ah, mod

2:40  
Ruaha, on

2:51  
ru mishma

3:16  
Ti

3:24  
Rabbi Neena,

3:54  
shmati, music. So this week we begin the book of Exodus, and next week, on Monday is Martin Luther King Day. Martin Luther King Jr Day. It is always the case that the place on the Hebrew calendar that begins the story of the Exodus, you know, of the oppression of the Jewish people, and then the story of the plagues and the resistance of Pharaoh and the Exodus the, you know, crossing the sea and marching toward freedom that always, always, um. And it never, doesn't overlap with Martin Luther King Day on the American calendar. It's just always that way it it was in 1994 at my bat mitzvah, when I you know, it was Martin Luther King Day weekend, that weekend, and my parsha was Parshat Bo, which is the one where, you know, God says come to Pharaoh. Bo means come. And so there's a whole conversation the rabbi's have about, wait a second. Well, God says come, like God is with Pharaoh. So what like is that, is that to say God is with Pharaoh? I thought God was with the Israelites. And the point is, God is everywhere. And so the question is, where are you going to be, and where is Moses going to be, and where is your energy going to be in the story? Because God is everywhere, and God is God's energy is toward liberation. And so anyway, the confluence of these things on the calendar, I think, is always a very powerful thing, powerful to pay attention to, and particularly powerful, I think, in moments like the moment in which we are living now. So in advance of Martin Luther King day next week, and, you know, continuing to get into the story, but also next week, we're having a minion on Monday, which we're doing in person. We're going to do hybrid so like this link will be functional. You can sign in and we'll be there, but we will also be in our office, and we'll get some coffee and we'll we'll sing and do minion in person. We just thought it would be nice to get together, and we'll sort of amplify and inject songs into the minion structure that are like civil rights songs and sort of on theme for Martin Luther King Day. So if you have any recommendations or suggestions, I'm all ears, send them to me. Drop me an email I'd love to hear. And one of them, one of the, one of the songs that I was thinking about, actually Rabbi Rachel and Eli did with you on this past Monday. And so I wanted to, I wanted to bring that one back in. It is this Ali Halpert version of ASHRAE. And so she takes the usual ASHRAE, yoshibe, Teja O Ya Hala, Lu chala, I sing for you. I sing for all that's holy and is true. I sing for all creation, for life and liberation every day anew. So I'll practice that one today as we go into

7:50  
ASHRAE. ASHRAE Yosh Mei ashrave Teja ashrei oshvy, teith ha shvetacha, oh, yeah, hallelujah.

8:10  
Shreya, Shreve Teja, a shrejo Shreve de Teja, oh, yeah,

8:29  
I sing for you. I sing for what is holy and is true. I sing for all creation, were life and liberation every day

8:56  
anewha said, I live.

9:08  
Te he La da Dona. Te la ta Dona da berpien, la,

9:29  
hallelujah

9:42  
LA, I sing for you. I sing for what is holy and is true. I sing for all creation, life and liberation and. Every day.

10:10  
All right,

10:12  
oh, I'm like seeing all of this stuff in the chat here about everybody's daughters Bat Mitzvah who was during during this period on the calendar here. Oh my gosh, wow. That also happened to be happening during natural disasters all over the world, the earthquake in Norwich, the earthquake in Haiti, my God, Lord you all, what a world we live in, what a world it's nice to recall, though, like the, you know, the cycles, cycles of the calendar, the cycles of the Jewish calendar, that bring you back to, you know, those moments, like those moments that were, like, beautiful to remember, and also painful to remember what was going on in The world, and like, just holding all of it, holding all of it. All right, I'm gonna move into this one before we go into shahrit, partially because oziva Zimra de heli lishua, this is a line out of the Song of the Sea. And so this is part of the morning davening every single day. Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don't. It's also part of Hallel, which we sing on Rosh Chodesh, but it's one of the lines that Moses sings when the Israelites get to the far shore of the Red Sea. And, you know, sing for freedom and just realize, like they can relax, they can breathe. God is my strength And my song, and will be my salvation. When Rabbi sheffa Gold did a minion for us lo these many moons ago, when she was in town for a conference, she talked about how and I'm gonna, I'm not gonna do it justice, but my strength is effort that I make. But God and God's song, O, Z, V, Z, muratiya, God's song, that's not effort I know how to make. That's grace that's from beyond me, and somehow the combination of my effort and also my letting go, your effort and also your letting go is what will enable the future to be born. So take a moment now, as we go into Oz, I think about where you feel like you're making an effort right now, where you are efforting. Is it all necessary? Could you actually loosen the reins a little bit and probably lose nothing other than the sense of control that efforting gives you, but maybe gain some spaciousness and the possibility that you might be surprised.

13:14  
Oh, Zi the Zim rabbi, yeah.

13:28  
Lish

13:41  
Bayi, Li Shu O Z, the Z Marat de Lisi, Lee lishua.

14:19  
Lishua Well, O Z, of course, on your screen the Z, Murat ya, you can do the other part and make harmony. Vai lishua. O Z, buzz in the Rabbi lishua.

15:07  
All right, I want to pause. I want to pause davening before we go into the Shema to look at one of the first places God introduces God's self

15:25  
to Moses, or rather, the first place that God introduces God's self to Moses.

15:35  
So you'll notice I picked up here in Exodus chapter three, of course, Exodus. Chapters one and two, basically throw you right into the story, you know. And there arose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph. And then all of a sudden, all of the stature and privilege and security and wealth that the Jewish people had taken a sense of, you know, had, had felt comfortable and safe in, uh, mattered not at all, because a new pharaoh arose who was threatened by them and threatened by threatened by this people, this foreign people, this group that, you know, they came here. What do they want from us? They're going to join our enemies. If there were to ever be some kind of a some kind of a fight or a war, we have to oppress them and make their lives miserable. And so that is chapters one and two. Moses, of course, is born into this, but his mother throws him or places him in a basket and sends him down the Nile, because there has now been a decree that all Hebrew baby boys have to be killed. Pharaoh's daughter lifts him out and says, My goodness, look a little Hebrew boy. I think I'll raise him, which I was just reading one commentary this morning that asks the question like, you know, interesting that Pharaoh's daughter was like, at the Nile bathing, you would think she would have servants or something that would bathe her in the palace. So like, was there some reason why was she going down to the Nile in the first place? And one suggestion is maybe this was her own way of protesting her father's policies, knowing that people were throwing their children into the Nile and knowing that it was actually quite likely that she might find a child down there and then rescue it like that. That was actually part of her plan. It wasn't a surprise. It was, you know, it was what she wanted anyway. She raises this child, her son, in the palace. He grows up. He is a prince. But then, of course, he's a prince who knows he's a Hebrew, and he kills a man, and then he flees, because he's being, you know, he's basically fugitive. He ends up in Midian. He marries the daughter of a Midianite priest. He is, he's a shepherd. He's like following a sheep into a cave or something. He's tending the flock, and all of a sudden, the following happens. So here we are in chapter three, and I'm going to read this a little bit quickly so that we can get to this name, and then go back to the Shema. And then, if we have time, actually watch the prince of Egypt, just the section where this happens, because it's so good. Okay, so Moses tending the flock of his father, Yitro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, which is often thought of as Sinai, like the same place, the same region. And a messenger of yud Hei, Vav HEI appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight. Why doesn't the bush burn up? It's crazy. And when God saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him and said, Moshe, Moshe. The yom, the Yom. Er, hi, Nene, here I am. Moses said. And God said, Don't come any closer. Take the sandals off your feet. The place you're standing is holy. And God continued, a no he elohee, a vicha, I am the DA I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, elohi, Avraham, elohich, the elohei Yaakov. Does that sound familiar to you from anything else? And Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. God continued, I've marked well the plight of my people in Egypt, and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters. Yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. I've come down to the Egyptians. I've come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and bring them. Out of the land to a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey, region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites and Jebusites. The Cry of the Israelites has reached me. Moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Come now and I will send you to Pharaoh, and you will free my people, the Israelites, from Egypt. The younger Moshe el Hi, Elohim, Mia, Rohi. God says, There Moses to Pharaoh. Moses says to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt? And God says, basically, it's not about you. I will be with you, and that will be your sign that and that that I sent, that I'm the one who sent you. And when you have freed your people from Egypt, you will worship God at this mountain like you will come back here, and everything will be different. Moses says to God, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they ask me, yeah, right. What's his name? This god, this God of your fathers, you know, what shall I say to them? And God says to Moses, eh, yeah, I share a here. Oh, sorry about that. A year, a share a year, which means anybody want to attempt to translate that, eh? A share, eh? Yeah. I am what I am, I am, what I am, I sweet potato, what I sweet potato? Yeah, I am what I am. I will be what I will be. It's interesting, in the English, they don't even attempt to translate this. I hear a share. I hear, I mean, all of those are Hebrew words, yes, I will be what I will be. I am, what I am. I am becoming, who I am becoming. And thus he will say to the Israelites, eh, he a sent you. And God said further to Moses, He will speak to the Israelites. Yud, hey. Vav, Hey, the God of your fathers. ELO, hey, Avraham. ELO, hey. Yitzchak, the ELO K elohi, Yaakov, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This shall be my Name forever, my appellation for all eternity. Period, I'm going to stop there. Yeah. Well, first of all, you notice Lori and Susanna that the conversation God starts with Moses is very similar, if not identical, to the one that God starts with Abraham when Abraham is very focused on a task, and like Abraham, Abraham like the two, the twice, I don't know. Does anybody have any insights about like, why God needs to say the person's name twice in order for them to then say hinani? I

22:44  
do that often. You know, the Bible just repeats the same word to use as an intensifier. So maybe it's he wasn't literally saying it twice, but it's meant to indicate that it was very impressive. Like Moshe,

23:02  
uh huh. Okay, all right. So just, like an emphasis, it's emphatic. It's just, it's, it's Yeah. And so Meredith over here says, it may seem unbelievable the first time. Like, like, he says it the first time. And you have to imagine the person going, what did I hear something? And then it's like, Moses, God saying yes, you heard me. Moses. Leah, Ari Hashem, using all caps. Moses, all caps. Moses, yes, I love it. Uh huh. And Miriam, anyone with children can attest to needing to say a child's name multiple times to get their attention. Yeah. Yeah. With with Abraham, and I kind of feel the same here. With Moses, I figured they're, they're really focused. They're like, their attention is so completely absorbed in the thing that they're doing. In the case of Abraham, it's actually like, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's like anxiety producing. It's awful to watch because he's about to take a knife to His own Son and God has to yell out twice, Abraham. Abraham, stop, stop what you're doing. It's like Abraham has to shake himself out of this like trance that he's in. I mean, maybe Moses is in a trance here too. He's watching. You know, there are plenty of meditations on fire. You're just like watching a fire. And here's Moses watching a fire burn, strangely, not burning up this bush, but just illuminated. And maybe God needs to say his name twice, because Moses is like entranced. But then finally, he name me, which you know, just connotes like complete and utter presence and readiness. He name me is like, I am I'm here. I am ready. They have this conversation about Moses's shoes, take them off. But then, where do we know elohi Avraham, eloheit and elohiyako from Deena? Yeah. We. Use this now, you know. And actually, this is the first time that this has really been used. Because up until this point, you know, God said to Jacob, I am elohi Avraham and eloheit. But like he was talking to Jacob, so he did, you know, but so this is like, now those people are distant memories. You know, it's now been generations since Jacob Joseph has been forgotten, and so this is like a calling back to your ancestors and the God of your ancestors. And this is just the last thing I want to say about this, because I want to say the Shema, and then, as we do via hafta. I want to do that as a healing prayer this morning. But the phrasing of it is actually quite specific. It doesn't say elohei Avraham Yitzchak V Yakov. I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. It says elohei Avraham, elohei Yitzchak and elohei Yaakov, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. And one of the reasons for that is because each one of them had a very different relationship with God. God was essentially a different god to each one of them in some quite meaningful way. Obviously, God, the God of the universe, is the same, but their experience of this God, Abraham's experience was, you know, one of motivation, one of purpose, one of inspiration. This God sent Abraham on a journey his son Isaac. Oh, my God, that poor kid. God told his father to kill you, like his relationship is marked by fear. And Pacha get track is like a theme throughout, throughout the sages, there's, they're like Hasidic books and masters called Paja, like it playing off of the fear that I that was Isaac's relationship. And then, of course, you have elohiyakov. He wrestles with an angel. You know, he has, like, this whole thing that happens with the two wives. He has 12 children. His children are menaces, but then some of them are amazing, like, you know, and all of this is, is like wrapped up in his relationship with this God. And then, of course, he ends up in Egypt. And the narrative, and it's a very convincing narrative at that time that Joseph says is this was God's plan all along. I know you guys thought you threw me in a pit and that you were trying to kill me, and you feel really bad about that, but I now, with the vantage point and retrospect of I can look back with 2020, hindsight and say this was all divinely inspired. This was all part of God's plan. You know, like, would that we all could look at every part of our lives and say this was, this was actually God's purpose for me. And so they all end up in Egypt, and that's and that's part of the story. It was all part of God's plan. So I love Lori's question here, why do we call God Adonai and not a he that's a great question. So first of all, Yod, hey. Vav, Hey, if you notice, if you read Hebrew, is not exactly pronounced Adonai. It is Adonai is a euphemism. This, this word right here, yo Hey. Vav, Hey, it's Adonai is a euphemism. Just like a yay is a euphemism. I like these are all, it's like a finger pointing at the moon. You know, it's, you're not touching the moon, but you're, you're pointing the way. There. It's, you know, you're, you're pointing in that direction. So Adonai means Lord. And you know, at whatever point in Jewish history, somebody decided Lord Adonai was the way that we were going to just say this word, this unpronounceable word that clearly means something far more than my Lord. But you know I mean, and for those of you who are here on Monday too, we play with God language all the time, and I actually think it's very important to do that, so that we remember that the euphemisms that are often male and often hierarchical and often kind of regal are not truth. They are shorthand. And there are lots of different shorthands for God, and they're all necessary, and they all play a different role. I'm reading what Leah Ari here says, Eh is also the first person singular imperfect of the verb. I don't even understand how all of those words fit together. Leah Ari, you are very smart. First person singular imperfect of the verb to be so I think it might be a bit confusing if we tried to refer to Hashem as ehia, like barbucha ehia, because it's not that kind of name. Leah Ari. Can you come off mute and explain that?

29:47  
So? So it literally, eh, literally, literally means either I will be. I am being, I am becoming Hebrew only. Has two real tenses, the definite, completed past tense, like the perfect tense and everything else. So we know it's not a completed thing. I have been. We know it's first person singular, I. We know that the root of the verb is to be. We know it is I am being something. I think it would be confusing, honestly, if we were to try to sit to refer to Hashem as I am in our own, you know, prayer practice, evolutionarily speaking, like like for people who had a more comfort with Hebrew, I think it would have been very confusing for our ancestors, we could figure

30:42  
it out. Oh, all right, thank you, Miriam. I'm seeing that. We're gonna say Kaddish in a few minutes, and I'm sorry I'm running a little late here, and we will say Teresa Owen's name. Thank you. Yeah. You know this past Friday night, somebody, you know, a woman in her late 70s, early 80s. Um, came up to me after the service, and like this week, we are holding everyone in Los Angeles. Obviously, you know, people who have lost their homes, people who are still evacuated from their homes, people who don't know if they're going to get to go home a city that's going to spend, you know, the next half century recovering in some way, and then honestly, like, you know, it holds up a big mirror to the whole country and the whole world to say, like, what are we doing climate change wise? Like, why are we ignoring the reality of climate change, you know, and because this is what happens, and this is what it looks like, and we're all just sitting and we're holding it and and at the same time. And that feels, that feels like, Where is God in this where, you know, where is God to take us across the Red Sea, to miraculously protect us, to miraculously prevent the, you know, prevent houses from burning. And yet, at the very same time, there are people who actually have experienced miraculous redemption in this moment, like in this moment, their house was the one house on the block that didn't burn. Their grandfather, you know, managed to make it out of, you know, you could barely walk, but managed to make it out, and was and was spared. And they're deeply feeling the presence of God, deeply feeling in like, a visceral way that is, like, hard to explain. At the very same time as for other people, there's this question of, like, Where is God at all? And so this woman comes up to me was somebody who lost her whole family in the Shoah in the Holocaust, and said, like, that's what I'm struggling with. I just, I just, how do we, like, how do we do it where, you know, like, what's the answer? And, you know, it was one of those. It was one of those traps that they tell you in rabbinical school, don't fall for it. You know, meaning, like, what's, what's the answer, Rabbi, to this age old question that nobody really can answer, but everyone is a finger pointing at the moon. Everyone has their own, you know, complex relationship with God and and So Eric, you'll love this, because we ended up talking about Zalman shakter shalomi, Rabbi, Zalman, you know, who would say, like my relationship with God looks like it does today, but, yeah, you know, ask me tomorrow, I'll have a different answer, like that. There's not one answer. There's what I'm feeling today. And he and what Zalman said to her when she once asked him, he said, Don't let God off the hook. Don't let God off the hook. Like you don't have to somehow make sense of there being a God who is good and loving and all powerful and all knowing, who somehow let your family die in the Holocaust or let these houses. But you don't have to make sense of that, but you also don't have to let God off the hook. So I just want to hold all of that for all of us. And Rebecca, interesting, the answer how we continue to go on is essentially, eh, yeah, yeah. Beautiful. So okay with all of that swirling around and all of that as input into when we say Adonai Chad, Shama, Israel, Adonai elohinu, Adonai ekad, all of that is all of that is present when we say God's name, when we go into the Shema. So I'm going to, I'm going to take us into the Shema now and then as we come out. And I'm beginning to, I'm going to play the via hafta, just as a chant. And so as I'm playing, if there's someone that you're thinking about, who needs love, who needs healing, who needs care, who needs a prayer, you can put their name in the chat or unmute and say their name. So I'm going to just take a breath, gather all my seat. Seat into one, into a hand. I'm.

35:00  
Hold them over my eyes and take a breath for each Word of the Shema. Shema, Yisrael, Adonai,

35:22  
Adonai,

35:25  
elohinu,

35:32  
Adonai,

35:40  
tell Me. Lorraine,

36:51  
I live down

37:16  
the whole

37:38  
the whole

37:42  
of and

37:49  
you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your Being. And you will send these words and this love to everyone whose name you put on your list today. Maybe you'll send them a text. Maybe you'll send them just a little emoji of a heart to let them know you're thinking of them today,

38:21  
at a share. I share, it's

38:27  
kind of hard, all right, I'm gonna say Kaddish now, because we're already 10 minutes over. But then for those who want to stick around, I'll show you the short clip of the scene in The Prince of Egypt. When what we just read happens. You can, you can assess whether you think that they took liberties, and what you think of the liberties that they took with the text. So yard site for Lloyd Martin and Yvonne Jennings and Joan curlo and Mark nur love. Who else will be remembering this morning as we go into Cadiz mourners, Kaddish,

Teresa Owens and Nathan Pollock, thank you, Susan. And then I'll say for the star family who just lost their mother. Esta, oh, it is the Gregorian calendar yard site for your mom. Care. I can't believe that was a year ago. Elizabeth, wow. Wow. Is there anybody who would like to lead us in Cottage this morning?

39:56  
Okay, I will stand.

40:06  
Rabbi, amen. Amen, Israel, bagala visman, caribbe in room,

40:18  
amen. I

40:23  
Rabbi

40:34  
room

40:47  
may their

40:54  
memories be blessings. Elizabeth, was there anything after a year of coddish and memory, and you know, anything that you want to reflect on out loud about your mom or about the process,

41:12  
I appreciate you giving me that space. I can't believe it's been a year. Yeah, miss her every single day. And at the same time, I feel like I haven't spoken to her and ever. But for those who didn't know her, she was just full of laughter, love and light. And for those who do the New York Times, Wordle Ross's my husband's minion every day is that he uses the word laugh as his starter word, so that he thinks of her every day because she was just full of laughter and love and so thank you for letting me share that all of you. Yeah,

41:59  
that's a good one. Thank you. That's better than my my starter word is irate.

42:13  
But well, because it has a T, an A and a whatever, it has a bunch of L, but, oh, I do. That's a good one, yeah. But anyway, now, now I'll always remember laugh, and then I'll think of you, and I'll think of Carol. Thank you, yeah, oh, think of your mom, Carol. You prayed for Carol this morning? Yeah, yeah. All right, so, all right, for anybody who wants, I will now show you how DreamWorks adapted the the part that we just read. And actually, I think what I'll do here is I'll actually turn off the we'll turn off the recording, because so much of this is visual. You can't see it anyway. All right, do.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai