From Seed to Fruit Tree There was once a seed who felt pretty good about himself. He was good looking, quite tasty, had a healthy self esteem, and overall had a wonderful and pleasant existence. Then, one day, the good times came to an end. He was taken to the field and buried in the earth. As he began to germinate he was frightened of losing his identity and sense of self. Indeed overtime he was left dormant, cold and covered in earth. All growth and life seemed frozen. Over time however, a miracle occurred, the seed germinated and eventually grew far beyond its wildest imagination. From a seed it was transformed into a fruit bearing tree. The story of the seed is the story of the exile in Egypt. Referring to the experience of the Israelites, the prophet Isaiah proclaims: Those who came, whom Jacob caused to take root, Israel flourished and blossomed and they filled the face of the world with fruitage. (Isaiah 27:6 ) The difficulties, the pain, the numbness of exile were, in reality, a process which allowed us to let go of our limited identity, and connect to the infinity of G-d within our soul, and blossom exponentially. This truth can be observed in many areas of life. The greatest innovations, the most profound flashes of creativity, usually occur after a period of deep frustration with the status quo. When the scholar is truly frustrated and in pain because of an intellectual problem, when the artist experiences creative block, they are frustrated by the confines of their current perspective. The writer may think that the writer’s block is the problem, however, the reality is that the problem is the writer himself, for he is trapped by his limited perspective. The frustration produced by the block is the solution. The pain of frustration, breaks the shell, allowing the artist to touch the infinite reservoir of potential within their subconscious soul. This explains the conversation between Moses and G-d at the opening of this week’s portion. Moses’s first attempt to convince the Pharaoh to free the Israelites ended in disaster. Not only did Pharaoh ignore his plea, but Pharaoh intensified the harshness of the slavery. Moses returned to G-d and protested in pain: Moses returned to the Lord and said, "O Lord! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people." (Exodus 5:22-23) In the opening verses of this week’s Parsha. G-d responds to Moses: God spoke to Moses, and He said to him, "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name Hashem, I did not become known to them.” (ibid. 6:2-3) How do G-d’s words answer Moses’ question? Moses wanted to know why the difficulties had intensified. G-d explained that the patriarchs connected to a limited expression of G-dliness, as G-d expresses himself within the natural world, but they were not able to connect to the true infinity of G-d, to the name Hashem, which transcends time and space and limitation itself. Yet through the pain of the slavery the Israelites were able to break through to connect to the true infinity of G-d. Like the seed, they too lost their previous identity, yet precisely because they were forced out of their old, limited, self, they were able to grow into something far greater. They were able to transcend their limitations and connect to the true infinity of G-d. What about us? Do we too need to experience suffering in order to connect to the infinity of G-d? The Zohar explains that we can achieve exponential growth through spiritual challenge and effort. The spiritual equivalent of the slavery in Egypt is the challenge of engaging in Torah study, struggling to understand its depth and breath and laboring to reach the correct decision from the sea of discussion, debate, and opinions. The Zohar tells us that the challenge and difficulty that will force us to let go, and, like the germinating seed, break free of the confines of our finite existence, can be self imposed. When we challenge ourselves to grow in our study of Torah and commitment to Judaism, we hit the boundaries of our finite existence. The difficulty, the frustration, the pain, are the growing pains of the germinating seed. We must let go of our limited identity before we can experience infinity. (Adapted from Torah Or Shmos, and Lekutei Sichos Vaera vol. 21 sicha 2)
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