Patience is a Virtue – and a Prerequisite for Redemption

The first five parshiyot of Sefer Shemot recount Am Yisrael’s beginnings as a nation, Yetziat Mitzrayim and Matan Torah. Of these first five parshiyot, we find stories of historical significance in four of them. In Shemot we are introduced to Am Yisrael and to Moshe Rabbeinu. In Bo we read about the Exodus from Egypt. In Beshalach we read about the splitting of the sea. Yitro recounts Matan Torah. The “odd parsha out” is Vaeira. There is no specific significant event in our parsha; just a number of events that will ultimately lead to the Exodus. Granted, some of those events are miraculous; but none of them are of singular significance like we find in the other four parshiyot. Rav Aharaon Lichtenstein suggested that the lesson of Parshat Vaeira lies precisely in the fact that there is no specific achievement contained within. We learn about the skills and attitudes that both Moshe and the people needed to develop and cultivate in order to be worthy of redemption. At the beginning of Vaeira we learn that Moshe’s message of redemption to Am Yisrael fell on deaf ears “לֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־משֶׁ֔ה מִקֹּ֣צֶר ר֔וּחַ וּמֵֽעֲבֹדָ֖ה קָשָֽׁה” The people were unable to hear Moshe’s message of hope due to “kotzer ruach” and “avoda kasha”.  Different interpretations have been offered for the expressions "kotzer ruach" and "avoda kasha" and the connection between them. Rashbam makes an important comment: “But they did not listen to Moshe' – at this stage, even though they originally had faith, as it is written, 'And the people believed' (5:31), for they had thought that they would have rest from their hard labor, but now it had only become worse for them." The people ultimately rejected Moshe’s message because they quickly became disillusioned by the fact that they did not experience an immediate improvement in their condition. They were certainly inspired by the appearance of Moshe and his message of hope; he even used the code words for redemption of “Pakod Yifkod”. But then things got worse for the people before they got any better. As Rav Lichtenstein put it: “The nation, lacking any historical perspective, was impatient. The people did not understand that redemption is a long, slow process; they expected it to happen all at once. Since there was no visible progress, they were disappointed, and started to complain. This is the meaning of kotzer ruach.” It should not be surprising that Chazal attribute impatience to Moshe as well. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 111a) teaches how Hashem was frustrated with Moshe’s questioning, compared to the faith exhibited by the patriarchs: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: Alas for those who are gone, the likes of whom will not be seen again! For I appeared several times to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov with the Name 'El Sha-dai,’ and they did not question My ways or ask Me, 'What is Your Name?' Vaeira tells the critical story of how Moshe and Bnei Yisrael learned patience. We are at the very beginning of a ceasefire-hostage release process. This moment evokes many different emotions. As Rav Lichtenstein notes: “The importance of Parshat Vaeira lies in the fact that it provides an answer to the problem of "impatience.” A reading of the parsha in its entirety shows how the process plays itself out and how God thinks of everything. Our parsha offers a sense of historical consciousness, and has much to teach us about the redemption that we have experienced in our own era.”