(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (2) A messenger of יהוה appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. (3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” (4) When יהוה saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” (5) And [God] said, “Do not come closer! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground!” (6) and continued, “I am the God of your father’s [house]—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (7) And יהוה continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. (8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (9) Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. (10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.” (11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” (12) And [God] said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” (13) Moses said to God, “When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers’ [house] has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is [God’s] name?’ what shall I say to them?” (14) And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh,” continuing, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh sent me to you.’” (15) And God said further to Moses, “Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: יהוה, the God of your fathers’ [house]—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you:
This shall be My name forever,
This My appellation for all eternity.

אהיה אשר אהיה I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE — I will be with them in this sorrow — I Who I will be with them in the subjection they will suffer at the hands of other kingdoms (Berakhot 9b). Whereupon Moses said to him: Lord of the Universe! Why should I mention to them other sorrows: they have enough with this sorrow! God replied to him: You have spoken rightly — כה תאמר THUS SHALT THOU SAY etc.… Ehyeh, “I will be” — without the addition of אשר אהיה "what I will be" which has reference to future sorrows — has sent me unto you”.

אהיה אשר אהיה. I will be that which I will be, existing always as One from Its own perspective. And because of that, It is obligated to love existence and to hate every diminution opposed to existence, as It says, "For I do not desire that the dead die." And therefore, [too,] It is obligated to love equity and justice, which have existence as their endpoint, and to hate iniquity and cruelty, which bend crookedly toward loss and diminution, and so, hates the Egyptians' violence and cruelty against you.

Why is "Noah Noah" (Gen. 6:9) written twice? Each and every righteous person in the world has two spirits. One stays in this world, while the other is in the World to Come. And so we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, named all the righteous twice: "Moses, Moses" (Ex. 3:4), "Jacob, Jacob" (Gen. 46:2), "Abraham, Abraham" (Gen. 22:11), "Samuel, Samuel" (I Shmuel 3:10) with the exception of Isaac. He is not named twice because when he approached the altar to be sacrificed, the soul that was within him in this world left him. And because it is said of Abraham, "blessed are You who resurrect the dead", so only the soul of the World to Come was returned to him. And that is why you shall find that the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was not unified (on any righteous person in his lifetime). It was unified only on Isaac, because he was already considered as dead. He was like those who pass away from this world. The verse therefore states: "Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones" (Iyov 15:15) because He does not unify His name on the righteous during their lifetimes.

אהיה אשר אהיה, the first word אהיה is the name of G-d; the second is an explanation of why G-d is called אהיה. In other words: the reason why My name is אהיה is because I am eternal, immutable. I am therefore a most reliable G-d, in the sense of dependable helper and saviour, as I will always be around. My “lifespan” is not as that word suggests a limited period, but I am not subject to any limitations. I will still be on the side of the Jewish people at the time when I redeem them from the sufferings in Egypt, as already promised by Yaakov to Joseph in Genesis 48,21. In other words, the name revealed to Moses here by G-d was not a new name. Yaakov had already been familiar with it. It is one of the attributes of G-d, Who has many attributes. G-d tells Moses that anyone who legitimizes himself as speaking of the G-d called אהיה, will be believed. The fact is that the Israelites did believe Moses when he identified himself as speaking in the name of this G-d, as we read in Exodus 4,31.

Why is "Noah Noah" (Gen. 6:9) written twice? Each and every righteous person in the world has two spirits. One stays in this world, while the other is in the World to Come. And so we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, named all the righteous twice: "Moses, Moses" (Ex. 3:4), "Jacob, Jacob" (Gen. 46:2), "Abraham, Abraham" (Gen. 22:11), "Samuel, Samuel" (I Shmuel 3:10) with the exception of Isaac. He is not named twice because when he approached the altar to be sacrificed, the soul that was within him in this world left him. And because it is said of Abraham, "blessed are You who resurrect the dead", so only the soul of the World to Come was returned to him. And that is why you shall find that the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was not unified (on any righteous person in his lifetime). It was unified only on Isaac, because he was already considered as dead. He was like those who pass away from this world. The verse therefore states: "Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones" (Iyov 15:15) because He does not unify His name on the righteous during their lifetimes.

אהיה אשר אהיה, the first word אהיה is the name of G-d; the second is an explanation of why G-d is called אהיה. In other words: the reason why My name is אהיה is because I am eternal, immutable. I am therefore a most reliable G-d, in the sense of dependable helper and saviour, as I will always be around. My “lifespan” is not as that word suggests a limited period, but I am not subject to any limitations. I will still be on the side of the Jewish people at the time when I redeem them from the sufferings in Egypt, as already promised by Yaakov to Joseph in Genesis 48,21. In other words, the name revealed to Moses here by G-d was not a new name. Yaakov had already been familiar with it. It is one of the attributes of G-d, Who has many attributes. G-d tells Moses that anyone who legitimizes himself as speaking of the G-d called אהיה, will be believed. The fact is that the Israelites did believe Moses when he identified himself as speaking in the name of this G-d, as we read in Exodus 4,31.

(20) So Moses took his wife and sons, mounted them on an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God with him. (21) And the LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go.