The Blessing of Anger

 

In this week's parshah, Vaera, in chapter 4, verse 14 of the book of Exodus, "The anger of YHVH was kindled against Moses." 

As I learn from Avivah Zornberg, this is the first time in the Torah that God explicitly gets angry with anyone.  And to me, that's puzzling.

There's no mention of anger against Adam and Eve, or the tower-builders at Babel. 

When God decides to flood the earth, in the time of Noah, there's no anger involved: instead, "it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0106.htm)

God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah without talking about being angry. 

God even determines to send plagues upon Egypt without attributing it to divine wrath. The Egyptians--the people Moses is supposed to go and harangue in this parshah--are to be punished, yes, and to be made an example of, but in the Book of Exodus, anger against them is completely absent. (Contrary to what Psalm 78 says about "the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil," which is quoted in the Passover Haggadah.)

So, God doesn't get mad at the Egyptians, but he does at Moses? What are we to make of that?

Here's my own personal interpretation: it's a preview of the special relationship that Moses will have with God for the rest of the Torah. It's all about getting Moses to speak.

God expects Moses to speak up. In fact, more than once, God expresses the intention to do something, only to tease Moses into talking God out of it! 

What's more, Moses does not have to stand on ceremony with God. We hear in Exodus 33:11 that God would speak to Moses "face to face, as one speaks to a friend." 

The only times when God really gets angry with Moses (as opposed to the many times God gets angry at the people of Israel) are the times when Moses refuses to speak. When (much later in the story), Moses hits the rock instead of speaking to it, as he has been commanded...

and right here in this parshah, where Moses casts around for any possible way not to be God's spokesperson to the Israelites, and to Pharaoh.

Apparently, God is on such special terms with Moses that nothing he says can make God angry--only his refusal to put his thoughts into words.

Master of the Universe, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable before you--and may I learn to speak up without holding back and making you angry with my refusal to relate. May I learn this from Moses, our teacher.

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I'm reading through Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg's amazing commentary on the biblical Book of Exodus, The Particulars of Rapture. Each chapter expounds one of the portions we read in the synagogue weekly. It's slow going because it is so rich with insights. To keep on track, I will post at least one insight weekly between now and mid-March, when (God willing) I finish the book.