“Let ME help you” Rabbi Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings

Anochi Adonai Elohecha אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ

These three words from this week’s Torah portion, Yitro, altered the world view of the former slaves.

I am Adonai, your God

Three potent words inaugurate the Ten Utterances spoken at Sinai.
Some call them the Ten Commandments.
Perhaps made famous by the movie with Charlton Heston? (probably not!)
But they are a declaration not a commandment.
They are words spoken by the Divine to the Jewish people,
each person acknowledged.
In second person singular.

Anochi Adonai Elohecha אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ
Why do they begin this crucial section of the Torah?
Why are these words at the beginning of what will be carved into the tablets?
They provide no instruction just the emphatic pronouncement
that God is speaking to you.

I am Adonai your God.

You may have thought that the Pharaoh was God.
He made you think that,
but the plagues and the drowning at the sea proved otherwise.
And now you are free from slavery but not from service.

Anochi Adonai Elohecha אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ
You are not God. Some Other Being has that distinction.
Rather than humiliation, feel humble.
There is a Power, a Force, a Sacred Presence calling out to you.

I am Adonai your God.

I am the One who brought you out of Egypt.
I am speaking to you, guiding you on a path
where goodness and righteousness are in your power to pursue.

I know Who I Am: Anochi Adonai Elohecha אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ
Now it is your turn to figure out
who you are and what kind of person you want to be,

Let Me help you.

Shabbat Shalom!

Originally shared February 5, 2021