Shabbos Parashas Shemos - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Shemos - 5775 Rabbi Hal Miller

And afterward, Moshe and Aharon came and said to Pharaoh, "So said Hashem, the

G-d of Yisrael, 'Send out My people that they may celebrate for Me in the wilderness'."

[Shemos [5:1]

Our parsha introduces Moshe. He is set adrift in a basket in the Nile, picked up by an Egyptian princess. He kills an Egyptian who was striking a Jewish slave, then flees for Midian, where he meets Yisro. After hiding from the world as a shepherd for decades,

he stumbles across the burning bush, and meets G-d in person. He is afraid, yet not so much so that he isn't willing to argue with G-d about who should go to Egypt to rescue the people. When he finally begins his journey back to Egypt, he ignores the commandment of circumcision for his son, and his wife steps in to save the day.

None of this sounds like the big, strong, self-confident and righteous character that Charlton Heston played in the movies. Who is Moshe really?

Things begin to improve for him. He meets up with his brother Aharon, and together they sell their case to the people. Together they go before the leader of the strongest nation on earth at the time, the Pharaoh of Egypt. They don't beat around the bush, but directly order Pharaoh to submit. That sounds like Heston.

But right after our verse, Pharaoh says 'no', and Moshe crumbles. He returns to G-d and asks, "Why have you harmed this people?" [5:22] He begs to be relieved of his role--this after G-d had already told him that Pharaoh would not submit, but

would remain antagonistic. Did Moshe believe that G-d would win the day or not?

Ibn Ezra says that Moshe expected Pharaoh to lighten the load on the people once

the brothers had confronted him, and when this expectation was not met, Moshe began to doubt whether his involvement was appropriate. Ramban adds that Moshe expected

the plagues to begin immediately, and that the exodus was just moments away. When that didn't come about, Moshe was concerned.

Rav Hirsch writes that Moshe "thought he had utterly failed in his mission, and returned to the One Who entrusted him with it." This is different from Ibn Ezra and Ramban in that their opinions seem to center on Moshe's faith in G-d, while Rav Hirsch looks at Moshe's self-image.

Sforno looks at it from Moshe's personal viewpoint: "Why have You sent me? If the people deserve to be punished, why has it been done through me?"

All of these opinions are actually from Moshe's viewpoint. Moshe doubts whether G-d is going to measure up to his expectations, and whether he himself will measure up to G-d's expectations. But what is the real intention of the incident?

We know Moshe was the most humble man to have ever lived, and we can understand his worry that he might not measure up to G-d's expectations. But we are not talking here about the expectations of another human being. G-d, Who knows all, expects something from Moshe. He knows that Moshe can deliver. Why does Moshe not believe in G-d's

faith in him? If you know the end of a story, then you need not worry much about what happens in the middle--the end has already been written. G-d told Moshe he would be

leading the people out of Egypt. Wasn't G-d's word enough?

Nechama Leibowitz asks, "There is here no excusing of Moshe's conduct. In other words, the Torah wishes to show us that Moshe, for all his remarkable prophetic gifts, was still but mortal. In spite of the Divine revelation and promise, he recoiled in despair at the first setback he encountered."

Our parsha is about the growth of Moshe Rabbeinu, from abandoned baby to great leader. Each step along the way helped build the Moshe Rabbeinu we know and whom Charlton Heston tried to portray. Each step contributed to the level of faith in G-d that he eventually developed. The lesson for us is that we need to look at the experiences of our lives in the same way. We know that G-d knows the outcome, and that we are capable of whatever He puts before us. If we accept that He only puts before us that which is within our individual capability, if we strengthen our faith in Him, we can go forward to accomplish the mission He has set out for us.