Have a little faith

G-d speaks a lot in this parasha. He says all kinds of things and I am confused by most of them. First He says to Moshe "Oh, for cryin' out loud, stop yer sniveling. Learn something from your ancestors. When I promised a land and a dynasty to Avraham and he had nothing but a couple of sons, did he complain? Did he ask upfront for my name as a guarantee that I am big enough to beat up all the other gods? Did Yitzchak? While suffering that whole hullabaloo with the wells and the tzuris his sons gave him, did he once ask for reassurances? Not even Ya'akov made such demands and lost faith so quickly, even when running for his life. Stop being such a ninny." Well, Moshe wasn't like the patriarchs. He was raised in Pharaoh's palace. What does he know? And even Rashi says that G-d actually did tell the avot His name, so what's up with that?

And then we hear that the whole "making life w-a-y more miserable for the slaves" was all part of the plan. Fine. What is the plan? To make the Egyptians behave so badly towards the Jews that they would deserve punishment. And you couldn't explain that up front?

Then Moshe brings up a very reasonable argument: "But, even the Israelites wouldn't listen to me; how in the world can I hope to get Pharaoh to listen?" Meaning "Look what happened last time I brought Pharaoh a message from You." Never fear, G-d comes up with a perfect solution: Aharon will speak for you. Oh, that makes perfect sense. That will make a great impression in Pharaoh's court. No wonder the two were laughed out of the palace.

You want to impress? Fine. Turn your staff into a snake. Sounds good until all the Pharaoh's magicians do the same and the miracle needs to be escalated. Those magicians are actually pretty good. They use their magic during the first two plagues, they pooh-poohed the whole thing as a "trick that everyone knows; kids' stuff." It's only by the third plague that things start to look serious, the magicians cannot undo the damage and after that they sort of give up. That's when Pharaoh starts being impressed. But G-d, starting with the 6th plague, hardens Pharaoh's heart. Now, how is that helpful? Sure, G-d wants to "beat Pharaoh up but good" and He needs the guy to be totally horrid for that, but it sort of seems like unnecessary show-offing, doesn't it?

So what's going on? Well, G-d is not playing with Pharaoh for Pharaoh's sake. He is trying to educate the Israelites. Remember His first complaint? "Your forefathers, with whom I made the covenant, did not see any of my promises come true and yet they never once lost faith. You, on the other hand, did not keep the faith even though I gave you my name and credentials. You had no patience and no long term view." Since G-d's plan was to take them out and make them into a nation of free people who choose to worship Him, He needed them convinced that He was 'worthy' of their faith. G-d did not care what the Egyptians will think of His powers and His promises. G-d wanted the Israelites so awed that they will never doubt Him again. Oy, was He in for a disappointment. Not that G-d doesn't know the future, but I think He sort of underestimated the Jews' attention span. 

In all the hoopla over the negotiations with Pharaoh and the plagues, one tends to skip over one glaring problem. What in the world does it mean "The Pharaoh's magicians did the same?" Wasn't the whole point of the magic tricks to impress upon everyone the greatness and uniqueness of G-d? How can this work if simple magicians can duplicate the deed? Never mind the bigger question "How in the world did they do that?"

Hubby is an amateur magician and people always ask "How do you do that?" And many times he reveals his secrets. And then everyone knows it is simply a trick that anyone can duplicate. But that's not what happened in Egypt. G-d really did turn the staff into a snake and the magicians really did do the same with their staffs. Turns out, says the Talmud (and quite a few of later commentators), that what we call 'magic' is a real force of nature, created by G-d for the purpose of running the natural world. Some people (of all nations) who have the ability and talent, are able to harness this force (through incantations and other kabalistic practices) and thus bend the forces of nature to their will; i.e. perform miracles. Unfortunately, not all who have these abilities also have the moral fiber to use them for good. That's free will for you. I always say that G-d must have been regretting the whole notion of free will since about 3 seconds after creating it. I would.

So the little lesson here, hiding in a very big and important parasha, is: G-d gives everyone certain abilities. What do we do with these abilities? That's the key question. It must be true; even Dumbledore said so. For example: G-d gave us something called 'monkey bread'. The only monkey bread I ever heard of was a sweet one. Yet, here is a recipe I came across while wasting my life in front of a computer screen, that describes a savory monkey bread. I will have my kids try it out (I'm too busy wasting my life in front of a computer screen, as mentioned) and you can try it, too, and tell me what you think. After all, it's all about how we use it.



Magic Monkey Bread


1 packet (2 1/2 tsp ) dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cup bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs dried parsley flakes
4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, combine yeast, warm water and sugar. Allow the mixture to stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add flour, salt and olive oil. Knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Combine butter, garlic and parsley in a small bowl. Punch down dough. Tear off a small piece, flatten to a disk and place a small piece of fresh mozzarella in the center of the disk. Wrap dough around the cheese and pinch to seal. Roll in melted butter mixture and place in a bundt pan. Repeat process until you have covered the bottom of the bundt pan with a layer of filled dough balls. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan.

3. Continue process to form a second layer, sprinkle with another 1/4 cup Parmesan. Create a third layer and sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan cheese. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature until doubles in size, about 45-60 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Uncover dough and bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and move to a wire rack to cool slightly. Cool in pan for 20 minutes and then turn onto a serving plate. 

Serve warm with marinara sauce for dipping.




We don't always understand G-d (Oh, who am I kidding? We rarely, if ever, do) but we really should not demand endless proof in order to keep our faith. The whole point of faith is to not require so much proof, no? It's really enough to believe He is on our side and that, whatever happens, He's in charge so it would somehow turn out to our benefit. And yes, I know, that is a very tall order. I am still struggling with this one myself. Every day.