Holy Discomfort

Holy Discomfort

Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and the 70 elders ascend the mountain, where they are granted a vision of God. The Torah tells us that beneath God’s Throne of Glory is a,

                                          “livnat hasapir” a sapphire brick.

Rashi, a Medieval commentator, explains that this brick recalls the bricks the Jewish people were forced to make in Egypt. It was placed there to teach us that God sees our suffering and is always present with us.

But if this brick represents the harsh labor of Egypt, why is it sapphire? Why not mud and straw?

The brick represents our suffering, and the sapphire represents the beauty and light we experience when the redemption comes. What begins as crushing slavery becomes something luminous.

There is a story told of a pregnant woman in Egypt, who was exempt from brickmaking. She did not have to go out to work. However, when she saw her husband staggering under the oppressive weight, she could not remain at home. She went out to help him. 

The grueling workload caused her to miscarry, and the tiny baby became embedded in a brick. 

The angel Gavriel brought that brick before God as a testimony. That brick became the sapphire brick under God’s Throne, and it came from someone who left her comfort zone to help another.

This is an important trait to recognize and emulate. 

We see the same trait in Moshe who grew up safe in Pharaoh’s palace. He could have remained insulated. But the Torah says,

                                   Vayar b’sivlotam, he saw their suffering. 

He didn’t see it, turn away and return to his comfortable life. He allowed himself to feel it. We learn that Moshe cried for his people and then proceeded to help them make bricks.

He chose discomfort, in order to help others.

Queen Esther, in the Purim story, could have stayed hidden in the palace. Instead, she says, ‘I will go to the King and plead for my people.’ She steps into danger and thereby becomes the agent of salvation.

What we see are people who when they see the suffering of others, move toward it, not away from it. They are driven to shoulder the burden and lighten the load of others just a little bit.

Perhaps that is why the brick is sapphire.

Because when a human being chooses compassion over comfort, something earthly becomes radiant. The mud of suffering is lifted beneath the Divine Throne and becomes heavenly.

Much love

Elissa