Parshat Yitro: The Commandments in God's Love

Our Sages reflect on why this portion is named Yitro, considering that in it the Ten Commandments were presented along with the Torah to the children of Israel.

 

“Now Moses' father in law, Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.” (18:1)

 

They point out among other things that the Torah had to be given to Israel and the converts who joined them, including Yitro, who said,

 

“Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities, for with the thing that they plotted [Pharaoh and the Egyptians], [the Lord came] upon them.” (18:11)

 

In this context, Yitro is considered the epitome of the idolatrous consciousness who later recognized the Oneness of God.

 

“In the third month of the children of Israel's departure from Egypt, on this day they arrived in the desert of Sinai.” (19:1)

 

Our Sages explain that seven weeks had to pass before the giving of the Torah, as a period of self-purification in which the children of Israel refined and redirected all aspects, levels and dimension of consciousness that were subjugated under the dominion of Pharaoh (ego) and the bondage in Egypt (attachment to lower passions and instincts).

 

After this self-refinement, the most transcendental event in Jewish history and consciousness took place: the embrace between the Creator and His Chosen People in which the Torah establishes that connection, the Oneness with Him.

 

“I am the Lord, your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (20:2)

 

This is one of the foremost and fundamental statements in which Judaism recognizes and acknowledges that only the Creator is, and His Creation exists because of Him and it is sustained only by Him; therefore He is our God.

 

We also must comprehend this statement in the context that it is written, meaning that He is the One who takes us from the bondage in the land of ego and its illusions to bring us to His reality, which is the only true reality.

 

The second as well as the remaining Ten Commandments are obvious implications of the first.

 

“You shall not have the gods of others in My presence. You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness which is in the Heavens above, which is on the Earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth. You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, and perform loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and to those who keep My Commandments.” (20:2-5)

 

The Creator is our One and only reality that we have to know through His Torah and Commandments. As we have mentioned before, He is a zealous God because His Love does not cohabit with anything different than His ways and attributes. This again is reminded.

 

“You shall not make [images of anything] with Me. Gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.” (20:19)

 

Hence we must not create any individual or collective fantasies and illusions for ourselves based on ego’s materialistic desires.

 

“You shall not take the Name of the Lord, your God, in vain, because the Lord will not hold blameless anyone who takes His Name in vain.” (20:6)

 

How can we afford the luxury of tampering or transgressing the Essence that is the Name with which we are created and sustained? We are responsible for the life we were given and for the Love of God that conceived it along with all His Creation.

 

“Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it. Six days may you work and perform all your labor, but the seventh day is a Shabbat to the Lord, your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your beast, nor your stranger who is in your cities. Because [in] six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.” (20:7-10)

 

We have mentioned in previous commentaries that God, the Shabbat, the Torah and Israel are One. Hence as co-creators with God we must emulate His ways and attributes, including working six days by being and doing His Commandments in order to prepare our way to be in His Presence and Oneness that is this special Day of Rest.

 

“Honor your father and your mother, in order that your days be lengthened on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you.” (20:11)

 

Again, life is reminded to be honored and respected through the ones who give it. Our mystic Sages teach that father and mother represent wisdom and understanding, and we as their offspring represent knowledge as the synthesis of both.

 

In this context our parents also represent the tradition, legacy and heritage we received from our ancestors and forefathers. Therefore we have to honor them.

 

This Commandment is clearly related to our life within the Land that God has given us which includes not only our history but our unification with Him.

 

“You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (20:12)

 

Our Sages explain that the first five Commandments are linked to our relationship with God and the remaining five to the relationship with our fellow man. This points out that indeed all of them are related to the Creator because we are His image and likeness. Murder negates life that is given and sustained by God’s Love as His manifest reality.

Adultery is one of the many forms of idolatry with which one rather lives in his/her own individual illusion than the one true reality that is God’s Love. Stealing falls into the same category in which the feeling of lack leads one to take what is not his/hers.

 

As we have said often, feeling lack is the manifestation of our separation of the Oneness that God's Love is, and it is equalized to taking His Name in vain. We must be responsible to be permanently aware of our constant connection with the Creator as an individual and collective awareness. That includes living in this Truth for ourselves and others, not allowing negative thoughts that make us fall into ego’s fantasies and illusions which may lead us to bear false statements against our fellow man.

 

Again we are reminded to be eternally zealous and vigilant of our connection with the Creator and not allowing any thought, emotion or feeling of lack.

 

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbor.” (20:13)

 

In our awareness of God’s Love we are provided in order to live in His ways and attributes, as it is written in this portion and reiterated countless times in the Torah.

 

“But Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, because God has come in order to exalt you, and in order that His awe shall be upon your faces, so that you shall not sin’.” (20:16)

 

Thus we realize that “sin” is the choice that we make instead of living in Love’s ways and attributes. Love is goodness and we emanate from by God’s Love with the goodness of His blessings.

 

“(…) wherever I allow My Name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” (20:20)

 

 

Parshat Beshalach: Always Cleaving to God's Love

“It came to pass when Pharaoh sent (beshalach) the people, that God did not lead them [by] way of the land of the Philistines that was near, because God said: ‘Lest the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt’.” (Exodus 13:17)

It is a natural reaction of our sense of survival to avoid anything that threatens our life, but in the context of this verse it is about our reaction against leaving the “comfort zone” created by ego’s fantasies and illusions.

Our oral tradition tells that the Tribe of Ephraim decided to leave Egypt on their own without Moses’ leadership, and were decimated when caught in their way to the Promised Land through the land of the Philistines. This means that it is not enough to have a clear sense of spiritual destination but to cleave always to the guidance of our constant awareness of the Creator's will. As we have said, this permanent awareness is represented by Moses.

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to cause it to lead them on the way, and at night in a pillar of fire to give them light, [that they may] travel day and night. He did not move away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire at night before the people.” (13:21-22)

The war against the illusions derived from gross materialism is indeed permanent. In order to win all the battles the most important weapon is to be aware of Love’s ways and attributes in all aspects of our life, because they protect us always.

“And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through his entire force, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. And they did so.” (14:4)

The complete glorification of our Creator certainly encompasses every aspect of consciousness, and ego’s powerful driving force is included, because they all have to sense and experience in their own dimension who is the Ruler of all. Once we sense and experience God’s Love in every layer of our existence, we have to embrace Him and trust Him as the true Ruler.

“Moses said to the people: ‘Don't be afraid! Stand firm and see the Lord's Redemption that He will wreak for you today, because the way you have seen the Egyptians today, you shall no longer continue to see them for eternity.” (14:13)

In the awareness of Love in our entire consciousness we will never see material illusions again. When Love leads, our consciousness quietly follows without questioning His will because “The Lord will fight for you, but you shall remain quiet.” (14:14)

Again this is reaffirmed.

“(…) and I will be glorified through Pharaoh, and through all his force, through his chariots, and through his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I will be glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen.” (14:17-18).

“And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, the entire force of Pharaoh coming after them into the sea; not even one of them survived. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the water was to them like a wall from their right and from their left.” (14:28-29).

The waters in this sense represent the understanding of separating our clear intention to follow Love’s ways from ego’s fantasies and illusions. These are drowned in this new awareness brought by “letting go and letting God”.

“And Israel saw the great hand, which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians, and the people were in awe of the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses, His servant.” (14:31)

At this height of awareness (represented by Moses) we are finally completely conscious of the Creator’s living presence in our life.

“Your right hand, O Lord, is most powerful; Your right hand, O Lord, crushes the foe. And with Your great pride You tear down those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning wrath; it devours them like straw.” (15:6-7)

Once again the Torah reminds us that Love does not cohabit with anything different than God’s ways and attributes. This is the context in which we understand God’s “pride”, “wrath”, “fire” and “jealousy”. These simply refer to Love’s incompatibility with fantasies, illusions, and negative expressions of human consciousness.

Let’s be aware that this process of cleansing and transformation is always through God’s Love.

“With Your loving kindness You led the people You redeemed; You led [them] with Your might to Your holy abode.” (15:13)

Our Divine destiny is to dwell in the Love of our Creator and being led by Him to His Place.

“You shall bring them (the children of Israel: our entire consciousness with its traits and dimensions) and plant them on the mount of Your heritage, directed toward Your habitation, which You made, O Lord; the Sanctuary, O Lord, [that] Your hands founded. The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” (15:17-18)

As we have said in previous commentaries, the Sanctuary (Temple of Jerusalem) represents the highest awareness of our connection with the Creator.

The following are essential words that are continuously repeated throughout the rest of the Torah because their message must be permanently present in our consciousness.

“And He said: ‘If you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, and you do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His Commandments and observe all His statutes, all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you; because I, the Lord, heal you.” (15:26)

It’s up to us to choose this constant awareness if want to live in the delights of God’s Love. The portion ends with the admonition to be always aware of our constant connection with the Creator of all.

“Then Moses built an altar, and he named it ‘The Lord is my Miracle’. And he said: ‘Because there is a hand on the throne of the Eternal, a war for the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation.” (17:15-16)

Our Sages teach that Amalek represents hesitation, uncertainty and doubt. These are the enemy we are commanded by Love's attributes to defeat in every moment of our life. Doubt is what makes us hesitate when choosing between ego’s materialistic desires and Love’s ways and attributes, from which our connection with God's Love depends. Once we empty our awareness from doubt, our choice will be clear between darkness and Light.

Parshat Bo: Freedom as Our Destination

Our sages broadly discuss the use of “coming” instead of “going” to Pharaoh, and conclude that coming implies that Moses would do so accompanied by the Creator of all.

“The Lord said to Moses: ‘Come (Bo) to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst’.” (Exodus 10:1)

In fact, there is no other way to either go or come to anywhere or anything we personally don’t have the power to transmute or transform, because any possible power only comes from the Creator. Dealing with ego is not an exception.

Ego, as well as our basic human instincts, is one of the most complex aspects of our consciousness we can’t completely control. This is not about controlling them but to direct them toward our individual and collective well being. Regarding these aspects we need in particular the company and guidance of God’s ways and attributes.

Our sages reveal for us that the “hardening” of Pharaoh’s heart is what contemporary psychiatry calls “the losing of free will”. This happens when one is unable to distinguish between good and evil.

It is a critical point in human consciousness when one only perceives negativity and does harm to others and himself because he can’t see any goodness at all. This is the result of obsessive negative patterns of perception and behavior that lead to one-sided approach to life.

The lesson to be learned in this biblical passage is not easy to grasp because it involves a deeper comprehension of the dynamics of our relationship with the Creator and His creation.

Losing free will as an impairment of perception has to be indeed extreme in order to make a clear contrast between darkness and light. In other words, darkness must be obscure enough to be able to fully recognize the light when it is fully manifest.

The primordial message here is that we have to be accompanied by God’s love in our dealings with material illusions and potentially negative aspects of our own consciousness, simply because we can’t do it on our individual understanding. There are material fantasies and illusions that are too far beyond our “control”.

This is the risk one takes by allowing his/her ego to be in control of those illusions. Hence the Creator “hardened” the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants to tell us that He is in charge and in control of His Creation. God does it in His ways, not ego’s ways.

“(…) and in order that you tell to the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and My signs that I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord.” (10:2)

Our oral tradition tells us that four fifths of the Israelites “died” in the darkness of their selfishness and egotism, which didn’t let them help those in need around them.

“They did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days, but for all the children of Israel there was light in their dwellings.” (10:23)

Egotism in its darkest expression is a real killer of anything considered cherished and loved in the eyes of human consciousness.

The story of the Exodus is indeed the confrontation of total darkness with total light, with no penumbra or “gray” in between. It is either one or the other as widely stated in Judaism’s ethics. This is why Moses did not compromise on Pharaoh’s requests.

“But Moses said: ‘You too shall give sacrifices and burnt offerings into our hands, and we will make them for the Lord our God. And also our cattle will go with us; not a hoof will remain, for we will take from it to worship the Lord our God (…)’.” (10:25-26)

With no exceptions, all aspects, traits, and dimensions of our consciousness (higher and lower) must be united and together under the guidance of God’s ways and attributes. This occurs when we allow (Moses) our highest awareness of God to guide the entire consciousness in consonance with His will.

“So the Lord gave the people favor in Pharaoh’s eyes; also the man Moses was highly esteemed in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people.” (11:3)

Again we are reminded that every aspect of God’s creation is under His will.

“This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year.” (12:2)

This commandment joins our daily prayers to remember our exit and redemption from Egypt. It also reminds us that in every moment of our life we have to make the right choice. It is the choice between remaining in the bondage of ego’s materialistic illusions, and exiting from them through the redemption that only God's love can give us in the midst of our worst ordeals.

It is the reminder that we must always keep in our hearts and souls.

“And this day shall be for you as a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a festival for the Lord; throughout your generations, you shall celebrate it as an everlasting statute.” (12:14)

Humbleness is the vessel represented by the unleavened bread that our ancestors ate in their transition from darkness to light.

“And you shall watch over the unleavened cakes, for on this very day I have taken your legions out of the land of Egypt (…), you shall not eat any leavening; throughout all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened cakes.” (12:17-20)

This is remarked again (13:3-7).

The unleavened bread is reiterated as the essential symbol of the way in which we abandon the land of egotism and gross materialism.

“And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: ‘Because of this, the Lord did for me when I went out of Egypt’.” (13:8)

The portion ends telling us to permanently bear this awareness in mind, heart and soul.

“And it shall be for a sign upon your hand and for ornaments between your eyes, for with a mighty hand did the Lord take us out of Egypt.” (13:16)

Only God’s love takes us from our darkness into His light.

Parshat Vaeira: The Regency of Love in Life

Our Sages teach that all the Divine Names mentioned in the Torah represent a particular attribute with which the Creator relates to His Creation: “I appeared (lit. was seen) to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as the Almighty God, but My Name YHWH I did not become known to them.” (Exodus 6:3).

Regarding YHWH, they indicate that it is related to abundant loving kindness and compassion. Hence we can understand it as Divine Love that sustains, relieves and redeems us from the bondage of negative trends in human consciousness, triggered by ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions.

As we have said often, the essential message in this blog -- God's Love -- is to conceive (from our human consciousness) the Creator through His Love, and relate to Him also through Love. The message is quite simple. If Creation is an emanation of God’s Love, therefore the Essence of Creation is also His Love. Such as we must conceive God's Love and relate to it.

It is also written that we humans were created at His image and likeness, thus we must understand our human identity as and emanation of His Love and relate to our Creator through Love as our common bond with Him.

This is the context in which we have to understand “And I will take you to Me as a people, and I will be a God to you, and you will know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of Egypt.” (6:7).

God’s Love summons us as our Redeemer simply because He is our Creator. He is the only One we have to know in order to understand who we are in His Divine Plan.

“Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel, but they did not hearken to Moses because of shortness of breath and because of hard labor.” (6:9)

When we achieve higher consciousness, and realize the message presented above, we become the Moses of our own awareness. Thus our purpose is to gather every aspect of consciousness (the children of Israel) and convey this message to them. This task is extremely difficult when these aspects are subjugated to the negativity of ego’s materialistic demands (“shortness of breath” and “hard labor”).

“(…) the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh everything that I speak to you’. But Moses said before the Lord: ‘Behold, I am of closed lips; so how will Pharaoh hearken to me’?” (6:29-30)

Here we see the dynamics of the Divine Plan when we have to fulfill the will of the Creator. He is the One that rules His Creation, and He shows the way to walk before His Love as the true sovereign of all dimensions of consciousness, ego included.

It is essential to realize that the task to harmonize our consciousness starts with directing our ego, because it is the most powerful force in human life. As we mentioned in our previous commentary on parshat Shemot, Pharaoh (ego) does not recognize any other power besides him. Hence the whole process of the Exodus from Egypt is about teaching Pharaoh who is the real God in our life.

When we realize God’s Love as our Essence and identity, He is the One who speaks to us and to our ego when we cry out to be released from darkness and return to Light. But sometimes even if we are aware of God’s Love in our lives we don’t fully believe that He can subjugate and direct our basic human driving force. Indeed ego is a powerful ruler hard to be dominated, even by Love.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘See! I have made you a lord over Pharaoh; and Aaron, your brother, will be your speaker’.” (7:1)

In this verse the appearance of Aaron as the complementary quality to fully embrace God's Love is clearly indicated. Our awareness of God (represented by Moses, our teacher) is indeed the natural ruler over ego, and it is our constant connection with the Creator (represented by Aaron, the High Priest) that executes this action (see commentaries on the book of Leviticus in this blog).

We have said before that Moses and Aaron represent two aspects of the highest awareness of God’s Love in our consciousness. We also learned that in Jacob’s final blessings to his children three dimensions of Israel’s identity were defined.

Joseph became the Birthright, Levi the Priesthood, and Judah the Kingship. Joseph encompasses Israel’s inheritance and legacy which are God’s Love in humankind manifest through Israel. Levi represents the spiritual connection with God’s Love as the highest awareness of Him in our consciousness. Judah represents the material manifestation of God’s Love in the physical world.

The portion continues with seven of the ten plagues that afflicted the land of Egypt in the process of making God’s Love the One and only Ruler over Creation, and the portion ends with ego’s obstinacy to give in to Love’s ways and attributes as the true conductors of life:

“And Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased; so he [Pharaoh] continued to sin, and he strengthened his heart, he and his servants. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not let the children of Israel go out, as the Lord had spoken through the hand of Moses.” (9:34-35)

Once again we are reminded of the power of ego in our consciousness and the struggle that we face to subdue it to Love as the key to redeem ourselves from the bondage of materialism in this world.

Parshat Shemot: The Awareness of God's Love

“And these are the names (shemot) of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt (…)” (Exodus 1:1).

Our Sages teach that one counts and names each thing that is precious to him, and Israel is indeed as precious as a son to his father, as it is written: “So said the Lord, 'My firstborn son is Israel'.” (4:22).

The Hebrew scriptures tell us about the Love of God for Israel and all His Creation, but have we considered our Love for Him? We don't pretend to define with a human consciousness our Creator, but to approach with our human traits His Love that creates and sustains us, and all His Creation. If Creation certainly emanates from God's Love, we conceive and understand Love as the means to relate and communicate with Him.

We frequently mention the thirteen attributes of God's compassion (34:6-7) as specific references for us to relate to our Creator through human consciousness. Ultimately it is our individual choice to conceive Him, and approach Him either as a loving and compassionate Creator or else. Common sense plainly demonstrates the former. Every chapter of the Torah and every assessment of our Sages illustrate and reiterate this truth. The book of Exodus is clearly the living proof of God's Love for Israel.

“Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: 'Every son that is born you shall cast into the River'.” (1:22).

Our mystic Sages explain that every male child born both from Israelites and Egyptians were subject to this decree, and point out that the River (Nile) represents the materialistic lifestyle derived from ego's negative desires and fantasies.

Pharaoh (the egocentric approach to material life) wanted every trait and aspect of human consciousness submerged (put to death) into the waters of materialism, and becoming virtually dead to the upper waters of higher consciousness represented by Love's ways and attributes. From this passage we learn that without a rest from the the material world (a time and place called the Shabbat), life is meaningless. Without our awareness of the Creator, everything seems meaningless.

In this crucial moment of human development, a key trait of consciousness needs to be born in order to guide its remaining aspects. This is what we refer as the highest awareness of the Creator in our consciousness, the awareness of His goodness, as we conceive it in our limited human understanding. This awareness is represented by Moses: “And she [Moses' mother] saw him that he was good.” (2:2).

This is also the awareness of Love that reaches out to all Creation, and particularly to our brethren:

“He [Moses] went out to his brothers, and looked on their suffering” (2:11).

This ordeal is not only the result of living under the duress of gross materialism but the division and separation we suffer in our exile from God's Love.

Division, strife, quarreling, violence and hatred are illusions that trap us in the darkness of the absence of Love.

“And Moses feared, and said: 'Indeed, the thing is known'.” (2:14).

Our Sages say that Moses saw that gossiping and tale bearing were obstacles for the children of Israel's redemption from slavery, and he concluded that those were the “known” causes of their bondage.

“(…) the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry ascended to God by reason of the bondage.” (2:23).

Mystic Sages explain that Pharaoh was dead to the awareness of God and His eternal rule over His Creation. In the darkness of this spiritual death our cry certainly reaches up to Him.

Rashi complements this fact when he questions why God appeared to Moses in a thorn bush and not in a different tree. He answers that it was in order to illustrate and demonstrate that, “In all their distress He too was distressed, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His Love and compassion He redeemed them, He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” (Isaiah 63:9).

God's Love is certainly the fire that is never consumed: “The bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2).

“And Moses said to God: 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?' And He said: 'I will be with you, and this is your sign [humility] that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt (after their attachment to lower consciousness), they shall serve God upon this mountain (the highest awareness of God, also the Temple of Jerusalem)'.” (3:11-12).

God'd Love redeems us from the darkness of ego's materialism and the negative trends in consciousness:

“This is My Name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation.” (3:15).

The One that was, is, and will be forever.

“And God said to Aaron: 'Go to the wilderness to meet Moses'. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.” (4:27).

The mount of God is our highest awareness of His Love, where both loving kindness (Aaron) and righteousness (Moses) kiss, as recalled by King David:

“Loving kindness and Truth are met together; Justice and Peace have kissed.” (Psalms 85:11).

Truth and justice are inherent to each other (Moses), and so too Love and Peace (Aaron).

“And Pharaoh said: 'Who is the Lord that I should hearken to His voice to let Israel go'? I know not the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go'.” (5:2).

Ego pretends to direct our existence as a separate, independent entity in order to control all aspects of consciousness (the children of Israel). In this illusory separation, ego disregards Love as the all-encompassing and integrating force in Creation.

Ego creates its own individual “separated” reality based on desires derived from negative thoughts and misconceptions rooted in a sense of lack.

This lack is the result of the illusory absence of Love in any of the aspects and dimensions of intellect, mind, emotions, feelings, passions, and instincts. Lack of food and the essential resources to fulfill our basic material needs (body needs related to instincts), lack of an object for our desires and carnal urges (passions), lack of recognition and fulfillment of our feelings and emotions in our relationship with our surroundings, lack of interest and concern based on lack of knowledge in our mind and intellect, all these lacks are triggers for ego's frustration and consequent engagement in negative behavior and actions that darken and enslave our awareness in the lowest levels of existence.

In this predicament, ego does not know or recognize anything different than its own image, including rejecting Love as the redeemer from its lack, either be real or illusory.

The portion ends with this verse:

“And the Lord said to Moses: 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, because by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land'.” (6:1).

God's Love creates and sustains everything, and also transforms our consciousness in order for us to recognize Him as our Creator.