LEAD TIDBIT
G-d Reveals His Will
"Therefore, say to Bnei Yisrael..." After the intentional "failure", at the end of Parshat Sh'mot, to convince Par'o to let the people go, G-d sends Moshe to the people of Israel (later to Par'o) to tell them of His intentions. He will takes us out of Egypt (in particular, but we can generalize this promise/prophecy - based on subsequent promises/prophecies - to reflect the ongoing promise to gather the scattered Jews from the four corners of the world), He will take us unto Him as a Nation and He will be our G-d, we will know that it was He Who took us out of Egypt, and He will bring us to the Land He promised to our ancestors and will give it to us as a Heritage (Morasha). Prophecies that are recorded in the Torah (and all of Tanach) are for us today, not just for the generation that heard it and experienced first fulfillment (so to speak). The prophecy and promises of the beginning of Parshat Va'eira are more than promises of what G-d intends to do. They reveal His will, for that time and throughout Jewish History. We as Jews are duty-bound to do His will as we would do our own, as it says in Pirkei Avot.

This has been a recurring theme in Torah Tidbits over the years, and the phrase, "it goes without saying" keeps coming to mind, except for two things. Something that really goes without saying, should not be said; and this message most definitely should not go without saying, no matter how often it is said and how many different ways it can be put.

G-d not only promised these things via Moshe Rabeinu, He WANTS them to be. He wants us to be His Nation. He wants to be our G-d. He wants us - individually and communally - to accept the Torah, to keep its mitzvot, to live by it, to become more holy thereby. He wants us to live in the Land He promised to our forefathers, and He wants that Land to be ours throughout all the generations since the birth of the Jewish Nation and on and on until the Complete Redemption and beyond.