Pro-Life Torah Va'eira

In this week’s Torah portion, Va'eira: Exodus 6:2 - 9:35, HaShem sends Moses and Aaron to demand Pharaoh release the Hebrews from slavery so they may travel into the wilderness to worship Him. Pharaoh refuses their demands, and his nation is plagued with water turned into blood that only Egyptians drink, an infestation of frogs, lice, and hordes of wild beasts that threaten only Egyptian households, the death of all Egyptian owned horses, asses, camels, oxen and sheep, the eruption of boils on every Egyptian citizen, and finally a firestorm of destructive hail that reigns down on the country, decimating every Egyptian thing that isn’t sheltered, These demonstrations of God’s existence, His presence in the world, His involvement in man’s activities, and His protection of Hebrew communities, wear down Pharaoh’s resistance, but not enough to change his mind. He refuses to release the Hebrew slaves.

The commentaries underscore Pharaoh’s hardened heart - his stubborn arrogance based on a narcissistic self-idolization and the understanding that his power and wealth will evaporate if the Hebrews leave. He suffers and allows the Egyptian people to suffer rather than surrender his position. Our sages also point out that God chose Moses, a shepherd, and Aaron, a peacemaker, to oppose a powerful, evil tyrant determined to destroy Jewish life and culture through forced assimilation, mandated infanticide, and hard labor meant to shatter the Hebrews’ faith in the God of Abraham. In this Torah portion, God comes out of hiding to reveal Himself through orchestrated plagues and supernatural events to reinvigorate and encourage belief in His dominion over the world and mankind. A growing number of Jews and Egyptians experience spiritual renewal that promises freedom from enslavement, oppression, and death.

Pharaoh reigns again through federal assaults on state and locally enacted laws that protect unborn children from execution, government funding of research using baby body parts extracted from living babies obtained from abortion, and huge subsidies to Planned Parenthood and medical schools to fund abortion training, legal war chests, and propaganda campaigns. This incarnation of wickedness has infiltrated Jewish institutions, leadership, and society, facilitating the demise of thousands of Jewish lives and the destruction of Jewish culture that Pharaoh failed to accomplish in his time. As we educate and provide support and healing, we pray HaShem soon reveals Himself in ways that break the hard hearts of abortion advocates, renew our belief and faith in His Providence, and motive all Jews and non-Jews to seek the path of Teshuvah and holiness.

Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.