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Redemption By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
It was from a gentile psychotherapy patient 30 years ago that I fully understood the significance of why the Divine took the role He did at Sinai
The question appears in the commentary of Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra(d. 1164) on the very first verse of the Ten Commandments. The verse begins, "I am the Lord thy G0D who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: you shall have no other G0Ds besides Me."
In his commentary, Ibn Ezra cites as the source of this question his famous predecessor, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, perhaps the greatest poet in all of Hebrew literature and the author of one of the most indispensable works of philosophy in our tradition, the Kuzari.
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There have been several attempts to answer this question. Traditional Jewish commentators have struggled with it, and Christian students of the Bible have been hard put to justify the relevance of the Ten Commandments to all humanity, when it was addressed by G0D only to those whom He delivered from the land of Egypt.
Whatever forms these many answers take, one thing is undeniable. Two aspects of G0D pervade the first two books of the Bible. One is the aspect of G0D as Creator, and the other is the aspect of G0D as Redeemer. Genesis emphasizes that G0D is the Lord over Nature, while Exodus stresses His role as the Lord of History.
This column is not the place to discuss the central dynamic of the world of nature. But it is the place to identify the central dynamic of human history: the concept of redemption, or in Hebrew, geulah.
But what is "redemption?" It is a common word in the religious lexicon not just of Judaism, but also of Christianity and Islam. But what does it mean?
It was from my psychotherapy patient; let's call her Catherine, that I first fully understood the significance of the word "redemption," and why it was in His role as Redeemer that G0D chose to begin the Ten Commandments, and not in His role as Creator.
It was during a particularly emotionally charged psychotherapy session. Catherine was recounting the tragedy of her father's life. He had been a prominent attorney in pre-war Poland. He had been interned in Auschwitz as a political prisoner because of his participation in the Polish resistance against the Nazis. After the war, he returned to his hometown, but instead of being given a hero's welcome, he was shunned as a traitor for saving Jews. He was unable to return to his former prestigious position and chose instead to emigrate to the United States. But here he found himself unable to master a new language and was compelled to earn his livelihood as a janitor. He lived the rest of his life vicariously through his children, whom he helped obtain advanced professional educations.
As she recounted the story with great sadness, I expressed my empathy for her and spoke of individuals within my family who had had similar stories to tell after the Holocaust—to which she retorted sharply, "For you Jews, it was different. You have had a redemptive experience. You have rebuilt your culture, your religious communities, your educational institutions. My father had no such redemptive experience. He regained nothing of his glorious past. He died unredeemed."
Ever since that conversation, the word "redemption" has been replete with meaning for me. It is a process by which a slave becomes free, individuals become a nation, and those who were condemned to lives of emptiness become enabled to live lives of immense significance. If G0D the Creator brought forth yesh me'ayin, something from nothing, then G0D the Redeemer brought forth a people from the depths of the 49th level of degradation to the exalted summit of freedom and faith.
Hence, my personal response to Yehuda Halevi's question. The Almighty prefaced the Ten Commandments with the assurance that personal redemption is a real possibility—a possibility, though, only for those who absorb the ethical and moral lessons He was about to teach in those Ten Commandments. He redeemed us once from the land of bondage, and He offered us the tools to redeem ourselves again and again throughout our lives.
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Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, PhD is currently the Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union.
© 2012, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
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