BASE TEN
HaShem brought His world into existence through the utterance of ten statements. These include “Let there be light’, ‘Let there be rakia’ and so on. The purpose of the creation of this world was to give Man the opportunity to serve HaShem by keeping and protecting the observance of His Torah.
If the purpose of creation was the keeping and protecting of the Torah, once Yaakov and his family became a nation why didn’t HaShem give us the Torah. Why did we have to go through the Egyptian exile and the subsequent exodus?
Furthermore, the first Commandment is to know that HaShem is the One Who took us out of Egypt. Why does the exodus find its way to the top of list? If the purpose of the world is that Man should keep and protect the Torah, would it not have been more appropriate to begin the Commandments with knowing HaShem is the One Who created the world?
The Gemara states that “HaShem wants our heart”. The Gemara is teaching that it is not sufficient for us to keep and protect HaShem’s Torah on the surface. Rather, HaShem wants us to be impassioned with a commitment to keep and protect His Torah. HaShem wants our commitment to His Torah to be an expression of a relationship. The Torah is not meant to be nothing more than a set of laws which must be observed. It was meant to be the vehicle by which we can develop an enduring love of HaShem and express it to Him.
Relationships develop through experience. For us to develop a relationship that would express itself through the Torah, we needed to be personally touched by HaShem. The reason HaShem waited for the Egyptian exile and its exodus before giving us the Torah was because our relationship with Him was going to grow from that experience.
The nature of any experience defines that relationship. So, for example, if I experience the generosity of a wealthy man who pays up all my credit card debt, my relationship with him will be built upon his generosity. If I experience the courage of the man who saved me from captivity my relationship with him will be built upon his courage and strength and so on.
HaShem wants our relationship with Him to be built upon His being Ein Od Milvado, ‘there is nothing other than He’. HaShem wants us to develop a recognition that within the entire world, there is nothing that has true existence other than He. Nothing has its own power, nothing can do and create with-out HaShem. Everything that exists in this world will sooner or later end its existence. HaShem is the only Being that cannot cease to exist. He has no beginning and has no end because He is Existence.
The function of the ten plagues was twofold. They were meant to punish the Egyptians and they were meant to demonstrate the absolute Existence of HaShem. Egypt was the greatest empire of its time. They had great military prowess, they had the greatest economy. Following what Yosef did for them, they were by far the wealthiest nation. With every one of the plagues HaShem demonstrated the absolute powerlessness of Egypt. Their mighty Nile, the source of their economic and agricultural greatness could be turned into a foul blood bath and so it was with every plague.
Our experience of being liberated from the Egyptian bondage by HaShem was built upon our recognition that nothing in this world has its own existence. Every power, every creature, even light and time are all governed by HaShem. Our relationship with HaShem was built upon His being ‘Ein Od Milvado”.
Perhaps the plagues came in the number ten to correspond to and to bridge the ten statements of creation to the ten Commandments.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind