“Your G-d” — Special Relationship

In addition to proving Hashem’s involvement in the world, Yetziat Mitzrayim also demonstrated and initiated His unique relationship with us.

The fourth of the “languages of redemption” emphasized this point. After Hashem mentioned the first three phrases briefly in one pasuk, He devoted an additional full pasuk to the fourth: “And I will take you to Me as My people, and I will be your God, and you will know that I am Hashem, your God, who removes you from under the suffering in Egypt.”^[1] Hashem used the redemption from Mitzrayim to forge His special relationship with us.

Hashem began making this point even before the exodus — with the makot. The makot proved not just Hashem’s power, but also his special care for us. He showed this care by sparing us from the plagues He rained upon the Egyptians.^[2]

The exodus from Egypt and subsequent salvation from the hands of the Egyptians at Yam Suf cemented our relationship with Hashem and inspired us to exclaim, “Am zu ga’altah… am zu kanitah.”^[3] By redeeming us, Hashem acquired us.

Responsibility

This redemption added another reason why we, the Jewish People, must fulfill His mitzvot — He redeemed us from servitude to the Egyptians on the condition that we serve Him instead.^[4] Avodat Hashem is a privilege, but also a responsibility, a condition of our liberation.

The Kuzari^[5] saw this as the reason Hashem began the Aseret Hadibrot by introducing Himself as “your G-d who took you out of Egypt,” as opposed to the One who created the world. Though recognizing Hashem as creator is important, Yetziat Mitzrayim is the basis of our singular relationship with and unique responsibility towards Him.

Father — Son

Hashem equated His relationship with us to that of a father with his son. Though Hashem created all human beings in His image, He chose us as His children.^[6] All humans resemble G-d; we, the Jewish people, have a personal relationship with Him.

This equation was the basis of makat bechorot. By refusing to release the Jewish People, Pharaoh effectively held Hashem’s children hostage. Hashem responded by  exterminating all of his firstborns.^[7]

Moshe revealed our unique relationship with Hashem in Sefer Devarim by linking the prohibition of slashing ourselves or tearing out patches of hair in mourning to our status as His children.^[8] “Banim atem laHashem Elokeichem”^[9] — as Hashem’s children, we must carry and present ourselves with dignity.^[10]

Rebbe Akiva saw our personal relationship with Hashem as an added basis for our tefilot. After others failed to secure Hashem’s mercy during a drought, Rebbe Akiva addressed Him as “Avinu Malkeinu — our Father, our King,” and it immediately began to rain.^[11] Our referring to Hashem as “Avinu Malkeinu” evokes His special attention and mercy; He responds to us like a father's responds to his children’s cries. No matter how desperate our situation, we can always turn to our Father, Hashem, to beg forgiveness and ask for His assistance.^[12] 

One of Rebbe Akiva’s main talmidim, Rebbe Meir, used Hashem’s description of us as His children to prove the eternal nature of our special relationship with Him. Just as a son always retains that distinction, we are eternally Hashem’s people — even after we sin.^[13] Like rebellious children who always remain children,^[14] no matter how they behave, Hashem remains our Father. In fact, even when He is forced to exile us, He goes along with us.^[15]

Husband — Wife

Chazal saw our relationship with Hashem as even more intimate — they compared it to the relationship between a husband and wife. The source for this is the fashioning of the keruvim in the forms of a man and woman.^[16] Hashem addressed Moshe and the Jewish People from the space between these keruvim to teach us the husband-wife nature of our relationship with Him.^[17]

With this in mind, the midrash compares the Jewish People’s commitment and “meeting” with Hashem at Har Sinai to a bride at her wedding canopy^[18] and Rebbe Akiva explains Shir Hashirim as an allegory for the love between Hashem and the Jewish People.^[19]

A True Relationship

Relating to Hashem as our Father and Husband dramatically impacts the type of relationship we should strive for. We are meant to see avodat Hashem as more than just a responsibility or privilege. We should view it as a way of showing respect and love for Hashem, who we should see as a Father and spouse-like figure.

Understandably, the Rambam^[20] used Shir Hashirim’s description of lovesickness as a model for Ahavat Hashem.^[21] This lovesickness is also the prototype for the mitzvah of d’veikut (closeness to Hashem). The Torah uses the root davek (d,v,k) to refer to both (and only) man’s relationship with his wife and our relationship with Hashem because we should use our familiarity with the first as a paradigm for developing the second.

Our next piece will study these deeper, emotional sides of our relationship with Hashem.

Rav Reuven Taragin is the Dean of Overseas Students at Yeshivat Hakotel and the Educational Director of World Mizrachi and the RZA.

His new book, Essentials of Judaism, can be purchased at rabbireuventaragin.com.

^[1] Shemot 6:6–7. We express our recognition of this in the berachah of V’emunah Kol Zot after the nightly Keriat Shema, when we respond to our mention of Yetziat Mitzrayim (at the end of Keriat Shema) by expressing our faith that “Hashem is our God, and we are His people.”

^[2] Shemot 8:18; 9:4,6,7,26; 10:23; 11:17; 12:27. See also Rashi, Shemot 6:3.

^[3] Shemot 15:13–16.

^[4] The Sifri (Shelach 9) explains that this is why the Torah links mitzvah observance to Yetziat Mitzrayim. See Shemot 13:8 and 20:2, Vayikra 19:36 and 22:33, Bamidbar 15:41, and Devarim 5:15 and 16:12 (all) with Rashi.

This is why Moshe’s demand from Pharaoh was not just to release the Jews, but to release them to serve Hashem (“vi’ya’avduni”). See Shemot 7:26; 8:16, 9:1,13; 10:3.

See also Vayikra 25:42,55 and Shemot 3:12 and 12:25–26.

^[5] Kuzari 1:25.

^[6] Avot 3:14.

^[7] Shemot 4:22.

^[8] Though the Torah mentions the father-son relationship in Sefer Shemot, it seems that it was not relayed to the Jewish people till Sefer Devarim. See Avot 3:14 (and the Rambam’s commentary et al) which presents these two stages as independent clauses.

^[9] Devarim 14:1.

^[10] Rashi, ibid., 14:1. The Ibn Ezra and Ohr HaChayim add that appreciating His love for us should also deter extreme reactions to personal loss because we know that Hashem, our loving Father, has our best interests in mind.

^[11] Taanit 25b.

^[12] See Tur (Orach Chayim 115) who uses this idea to explain why we refer to Hashem as “Avinu” in Shemoneh Esreh’s Selach Lanu berachah about forgiveness. Tur also explains our usage of the similar term in the Hashiveinu berachah about teshuvah. See also Rashi to Devarim 6:7.

Children can also ask their father for help with their personal growth. Rebbe Akiva used this point to inspire belief in the potency of Yom Kippur even after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. Though we no longer have the Avodat Yom HaKippurim and the Sa’ir HaMishtalei’ach to atone for our sins, our “Father in heaven” is still available to purify us (Yoma 85b).

^[13] Kiddushin 36a. See how this idea expresses itself in both halachic (Shu”t Rashba 1:194 and Shulchan Aruch Y”D 159:2)  and hashkafic (Maharal, Netzach Yisrael 11) contexts.

^[14] Hashem Himself made this point to Hoshei’a when He commanded him to marry and have children with a harlot (Hoshei’a 1:2). The gemara (Pesachim 87a) explains the backdrop to this perplexing command. After Hoshei’a responded to Hashem’s complaint about the sinful Jewish People by suggesting that He exchange them for another nation, Hashem helped him appreciate His relationship with the Jewish People by challenging him to separate himself from his own disloyal wife and her children. The Maharal (Netzach Yisrael 11) explains that Hashem’s relationship with us, like the relationship of all parents with their children, is natural and (thus) eternal. No sin — no matter how severe — can sever it.

See also Shabbat 89b, where the gemara describes a similar conversation between Hashem and Yitzchak Avinu. At the End of Days, Hashem notifies each of the Avot that “their children” have sinned. After Avraham and Yaakov accept the Jews’ deserved punishment, Yitzchak responds by “reminding” Hashem that the Jews are (still) His children. At that point, the Jews show their appreciation to Yitzchak by identifying him as their Av. Yitzchak directs their attention to Hashem, our eternal Father.

^[15] Hashem first made this point to Yaakov Avinu when he left Eretz Yisrael (Bereishit 28:15 and then again in 46:4). See also Devarim 30:3 (with Rashi), Yechezkel 11:16-17, Megillah 29a, and Yoma 9b (with Rashi).

See also Shemot 3:2 (with Rashi), Vayikra 16:16 (with Rashi) and Bamidbar 5:3 and 35:34.

^[16] Yoma 54a.

^[17] See Yoma 54b and Iggeret HaKodesh of the Ramban, Perek 2. See also Yeshayah 62:5.

^[18] Mechilta Bachodesh 3; Vayikra Rabbah 20:10; Shemot Rabbah 43:1; Rashi, Shemot 19:17. Yeshayahu 62:5 is a Biblical source for this relationship. See Rashi, Bamidbar 7:1, who presents the day of the inauguration of the Mishkan this way as well.

^[19] This is how many explain Rebbe Akiva’s characterization of Shir Hashirim as “kodesh kodoshim (Yadayim 3:5) and his prohibition to sing it in bars (Tosefta, Sanhedrin 12:10). See, for example, Rabbeinu Bechayei, Kad HaKemach, Erech Ahavah.

^[20] Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 10:3.

^[21] Many Rishonim (Kuzari 1:95, Ma’aseh Hashem, Chelek Ma’aseh Bereishit 17), Achronim (Derushei HaTzlach [Derush 25 L’Yom Aleph DeSelichot], Migdal Oz L’Ya’avetz [Beit Midot, Aliyat Habitachon], Sefer HaBerit [1:13], Alshich [Shemot 16:31 and 19:1], and Tanya [1:2]), and particularly Kabbalists, saw Jews as special in another important way — our having a uniquely godly soul.

Though the basis of this idea, the pasuk which describes Hashem as “breathing” man’s soul into him (Bereishit 2:7), refers to mankind as a whole (see also Mishlei 20:27), they understood this to apply on a higher level to Jews. We are not only created in Hashem’s image, and we are not only Hashem’s children. We also have a semblance (see the Mishnah Berurah 46:3) of Godliness inside ourselves. See the Nusach Sefard version of the tefilah L’olam Y’hei Adam, which emphasizes this point.

This explains the hava amina (consideration of the possibility) of the Vayikra Rabbah (24:9) that we might be able to reach the same level of holiness as Hashem.

Rav Nachman MiBreslov (Likutei Halachot, Birkat Hareiach 4) and Rav Kook (Orot HaTorah 11:2) stress the importance of embracing the fact that we have a Godly soul, recognizing the value and significance it gives us.