There are certain words in the Torah which are code words. They have a literal meaning, but they also carry a thematic meaning, and each time we come across the word, it should remind of the theme that it represents. The best example I know of this is Rabbi Fohrman’s theory for the word מזה. The word literally means “from this”, but Rabbi Fohrman says that the thematic definition of this word is “shattered brotherhood” and here’s why: We first come across this word when Yosef is sent by Yakov to check on his brother and he meets a man who tells him נשאו מזה, they have traveled from this. Rashi hear quotes the מדרש that they “travelled” away from the brotherhood, i.e. they shattered the brotherhood that existed among Yaakov’s children. We see this word again when the Jews leave Egypt. Hashem says ואחרי כן גרש יגרש אתכם מזה, after [I kill their firstborn] they will throw you out from this. The theme here is that the Jews were able to leave Egypt when they dealt with the broken family dynamic of the brothers and fixed it (Rabbi Fohrman has an incredibly beautiful piece on how the קרבן פסח corresponds to the sale of Yosef and how it psychologically undoes the sale, let me know if you want to hear it and I can share it with you). And when the Jews come to הר סיני and they experience true unity כאיש אחד בלב אחד, they receive the לוחות, about which we know, מזה ומזה הם כתובים, that they were legible from both sides. But neither literally nor thematically does it mean legible. This word shows us that the nation had truly healed shattered brotherhood and they were able to see the clear picture of בין אדם לחבירו just as clearly as בין אדם למקום, and therefore they received two לוחות which contain these two sections and were legible through the “מזה”.
I think another thematic word is מחר. Literally it means tomorrow, but many times it also references the lifestyle of living in the present with the future in mind. And this is very often contrasted by the concept of היום, the ideology of living in the present with only a build up of the past behind you and no future oriented vision. This theme runs through all our interactions with עמלק. Whenever we fight עמלק the word מחר pops up. Moshe tells Yehoshua, מחר אנכי נצב על ראש הגבעה. When Dovid fights עמלק it says ויכם דוד … למחרתם, and we all know that Esther invited אחשורוש and Haman to a feast “מחר”, the next day, and that is when she struck to kill him. This concept first appears with Yakov and Eisav, who was the fore bearer of עמלק. Yakov tell Eisav to sell him the birthright כיום (the opposite of tomorrow), and Eisav says, I am going to die anyway, i.e. my tomorrow is meaningless. This contrast of מחר and היום that began with Yakov and Eisav became the foundation from which all other differences between עמלק and the Jews stem from.
What I wasn’t expecting to see was the word מחר popping up frequently during the story of the מכות. But, believe it or not, it does. It starts with the second מכה. This is the first time פרעה has a response to the מכה (by דם all we hear is that he didn’t turn his heart to the matter and simply walked away), and he asks Moshe to daven to remove the frogs. Moshe say something interesting, he says התפאר עלי, literally “glorify yourself over me” and tell me when to remove the frogs. He is telling פרעה, I am so confident in my God that I want you to challenge me, so I can show you just how powerful we are. פרעהo accepts the challenge and says leמחר, there’s that word. And Rashi says that he told him to daven today for the frogs to be removed tomorrow. This is very significant since in ancient Egypt there were magicians and sorcerers who were able to perform supernatural events using their knowledge and manipulation of the powers of nature. However, their power was that they knew when certain energies were present in the world and they were able to harness that energy. But their tricks always needed to happen immediately or else the energy that they were using would be lost. The best modern-day example of this (although it’s not an exact parallel) is someone who knows chemistry very well would be able to wow an audience by mixing certain elements and getting impressive chemical reactions. But they are only as powerful as their knowledge and they would not necessarily be able to perform a “trick” if someone in the audience were to choose which elements they should use. And if that audience member chose elements that don’t react together there would be no trick.
Moshe was telling פרעה that he is categorically different that the חרטומים, they can only do tricks when they decide the time, I am telling you to decide the timing and my God will still be able to perform. And פרעה asks to daven today for the frogs to leave lמחר, and this way Moshe would not be able to harness a current energy.
But I think the theme of מחר is also being introduced here. That life in the present with our minds on the future was born right now. and if you follow the מכות so many of them have the element of מחר. Hashem says by ערב, מחר יהיה האות הזה. By דבר it says, מחר יעשה יקוק את הדבר הזה בארץ. By ברד it says, הנני ממטיר כעת מחר. By ארבה it says, הנני מביא מחר (why these specific מכות as opposed to the other ones that have the element of מחר, I don’t know, but if you have any ideas please share them!).
This concept of מחר, shows us that Hashem was teaching us to learn the power of מחר, of living with the future in mind, and that is the way we will be able to beat our enemies. But, this is all contrasted when we actually leave Egypt, because the Pasuk says twice that happened בעצם היום הזה, as “in the present” as could be. Why the mixed message suddenly?
I think the message is as follows: Our mindset is supposed to be on מחר, on focusing on the future. The future of our nation, of our generations, of משיח, of עולם הבא. Most things we do in Judaism are for a future result, while we are not meant to get present pleasure. However, there is a danger to that. The danger of forgetting the past, forgetting the journey that we took as a people that got you to where you are standing today. Because in reality, both in space and time we are not lone beings. In time we are the most current part of thousands of years of Jews living through the Torah, and in space we are the lowest part of a branch that reaches up to the כסא הכבוד. And we need to remember that there is an עצם היום הזה, an intense present that connects our מחר with our Source.
I think this is reflected by two of the questions which we are about to quote at the Seder, the Torah first says והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר, we are to teach using the theme of “היום”, but later it says והיה כי ישאלך בנך מחר לאמר מה זאת, that our children are curious about the מחר. And I think it shows two vantage points. When we are teaching to our children we are coming from the past and moving further, so the quality that we must give over is the היום of the story. But when our children ask, they are reaching backwards in time to their elders, and they come with the quality of מחר.
Here is something extremely cool that I saw last night. After both discussions with the sons that I just mentioned, the Torah tells us about tefillin, to wrap it on our arms and against our hearts. And I think tefillin further carries the mixture of these concepts. The heart represents emotion, which is always in the present (which I am defining as the culmination of the past, not yet reaching the future). Children have no patience since they are emotional creatures. The eyes represent seeing, which corresponds to the mind which represents intellect and understanding (think of the phrase “ah, I see”), and intellect is mature and able to wonder about the future and forgo hardship in the present to gain more in the future. And this is the mitzva we are given after hearing about the relationship of one generation to another. And here’s the kicker: tefillin is just bringing it full circle. The Torah calls tefillin פאר, glory. And what were the words Moshe said to פרעה? התפאר עלי. Attempt to glorify yourself over me, while I know what the true outcome will be, that the Jewish glory will shine through illuminating for all of time because of your stubbornness and inability to see the Hashem is the One who connects past and present and rules the world.