In honor of Passover 5785, it’s worth pondering a brief midrash found in the Talmud (Berachot, 9b), on a verse in Exodus, chapter 3.
When Moses meets God for the first time at Mt. Horeb, he says to God in verse 13: “When I come to the Israelites and say to them ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ – what shall I say to them?” God replies in verse 14: “I will be what I will be,” – which is, of course, a puzzling name. The midrash explains:
“‘I will be what I will be’ – said the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Moses: Go tell the Jewish people, I was with you in this oppression, and I will be with you in the oppression of future kingdoms.
“Moses said to God: Master of the universe, it is enough to talk about this trouble in its proper time!
“God replied, go say to them ‘I will be’ sent me to you.”
In other words, God called Himself “I will be what I will be,” explaining that “I am with you in this trouble and I will be with you in future troubles as well. Moses told God that talking about the future troubles of the Jewish people would only depress them now, and therefore God changed His name, and told Moses to tell the people that “I will be” sent me to you.
I would like to derive three lessons from this amazing midrash and connect them to the holiday of Pessah and to our current situation in Israel.
The first lesson is that God was with us in Egypt, and He said he would be with us in all of our future troubles. This is similar to the message of “V’hee She’amdah,” which we sing at the Seder every year: “And this promise has stood for our ancestors and for us. For not only has one enemy risen against us to annihilate us, but in every generation, there are those who rise against us to annihilate us. But the Holy one, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.”
Throughout history, our enemies have tried to destroy the Jewish people: Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, the Greeks in the time of the Maccabees, the Romans in the year 70, many medieval kings, Chmielnicki, the Nazis, and Hamas today. All of those enemies disappeared from the face of the Earth, yet we are still here to recite the Haggadah, 3,200 years later.
The second lesson is very relevant to our current political situation in Israel. In this midrash, God actually changes his mind as a result of His dialogue with Moses. Moses says that the name “I will be what I will be” will cause the Jewish people to be depressed, so God then changes His mind and changes His name!
The lesson is that if God is willing to conduct a dialogue with a human being and change His mind, how much more so must human beings conduct a dialogue with each other and be willing to change their minds. If we imitate God in the State of Israel today, we will be in a much better place.
Finally, there is a variant of this midrash in Exodus Rabbah (ed. Shinan, p. 128), which adds one sentence at the end. After God changes his name to “I will be,” God says: “To you I say my full name; to them I do not.”
In other words, rabbis, teachers, or Seder leaders need to tailor their message to their audience. Moses was capable of understanding God’s full name, “I will be what I will be.” The Hebrews, who were still slaves in Egypt, were not, therefore, God shortened His name.
So it is at the Seder.
We need to explain the Exodus in different ways to adults, teenagers, or young children.
Thus, for example, the staff of TALI: Educating for Jewish Pluralism has published a package of Seder questions, both in Hebrew and in a new English edition. There are four different sets of cards, and each set of cards is aimed at a different age group. This is an excellent educational approach, and I use these cards every year with our grandchildren at the Seder. Even though this year’s Seder has passed, the cards are still useful as teaching tools and as Passover holiday entertainment.
In summary, we learn three important lessons from this brief midrash found in the tractate of Berachot:
God was with us in Egypt, and He will always be with us, no matter what challenges we face.
If God can change His mind as a result of His dialogue with Moses, then we, too, must conduct dialogue with those who disagree with us and be willing to change our minds.
Rabbis, educators, and those leading Seders must adjust their language and their message according to the understanding or age group of their audience.
The writer, a rabbi and professor of Talmud and Jewish law, serves as president of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. in Jerusalem. His latest book is Responsa in a Moment, Vol. VI.