by Pat Myers
With this week’s parsha, Shemot, we begin the book of Exodus, or, in Hebrew, the book Shemot, which means “names.” And the first few verses of Shemot list the names of Joseph’s 11 brothers, and the tribes named for them, as they began a new life in Egypt.
Then our Torah portion takes off with story after famous story: It starts by saying that Joseph died, and in succeeding generations the Israelites became numerous, and eventually a new Pharaoh arose who didn’t know about the greatness of Joseph a long time ago, and who tells his people that the Israelites are too numerous, a threat to the Egyptians, and that they need to take action. They impose burdensome taxes and of course the back-breaking slave labor of building the pyramids.
On top of that, the Pharaoh orders the Hebrew midwives Shiprah and Puah to kill all male babies at birth. They cheat their way out of that order, but then Pharaoh orders that all male babies be thrown into the Nile. That’s all Chapter 1.
Then in Chapter 2 we have the famous story of Yocheved giving birth to a boy and putting him in a basket in the Nile before anyone can kill him. Pharaoh’s daughter finds and adopts the baby even though she realizes he is a Hebrew. Miriam, the boy’s older sister, offers to find a nursemaid for him and conveniently finds her mother available to raise him, then bring him back to live in the palace – at which point the princess gives him the Egyptian name Moses.
Then, one verse later, we flash-forward to the episode of Moses’ killing an Egyptian man who was assaulting a Hebrew man, and of Moses fleeing to the land of Midian, with Pharaoh out to kill him, upon which Moses promptly gets married to Zipporah, he becomes a shepherd up in Midian, and they have a son, Gershom.
And boom, God has found his man to rescue the Hebrew people. God appears to Moses in the form of the Burning Bush, and tells Moses that he has heard the cries of the oppressed Israelites, “So now come,” God tells Moses, “and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
This mitzvah – a sacred task, one that is an honor to be given – is one that Moses simply does not want. And that’s what I’d like to talk about tonight, after reading a d’var Torah by Rabbi Beth Kalisch of Philadelphia.
Rabbi Kalisch notes that the Torah describes Moses as “a very humble man, more so than any being on earth.” As opposed to the power-hungry Pharaoh, no one can accuse Moses of leading the Jewish people for his own self-aggrandizement. And when God calls to Moses at the Burning Bush and charges him with the mission of going to Pharaoh and demanding the Israelites’ freedom, Moses humbly shrugs off the mantle of leadership – not once but five times in this parsha alone:
First, Moses is merely modest: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh . . . ?” he asks God. God has to assure him that God’s presence will be with him. Second, Moses worries to God that the Israelites won’t believe he has spoken with God, and will want to know God’s name. So God tells him what to say – “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” – “I Will Be What I Will Be” – and reassures him that “they will listen to you,” But Moses still won’t say okay; “What if they do not believe me?” he asks. This time, God offers to give him physical proof; the staff that turns into a snake; the healing of a skin affliction, and the promise of water turning into blood. Still, Moses is not ready to say yes to what God asks of him. He argues a fourth time, saying that he’s not good at speaking. When God reassures him that he is up to the task, Moses has no more excuses, but simply begs, “Please find someone else to do this!”
Rabbi Kalisch says, “Some years I read this interaction and feel inspired by Moses’ humility. This, I think, is what the world needs more of: leaders who lead only as an act of service to a greater good, not in order to feed their egos.” (Think, for example, about a candidate this year who reports that he’s running for president because God asked him to.) But upon further reflection, she has second thoughts: For Moses to show such reluctance, she says, “was not an act of humility, but of hubris. By making himself so small, he ended up making himself more important than the people he was being called to serve.” Not to mention that Moses forced God to explain to him over and over how he could possibly do this job – and then just wouldn’t accept his assurances. Finally God worked out a compromise: Moses’ brother, Aaron, would do the speaking, but Moses would still be the leader. The rest, as they say, is history, at least as the Torah tells it; with God’s help, Moses rises to the occasion, delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, and continuing for 40 years to be a reluctant but ultimately effective leader.
I think we can all identify with this situation of being asked to do things we find unpleasant to do, and insist that we’re just not up to the task, for whatever reasons we’re creative enough to come up with. As we traditionally start off the year with a list of goals to become better people, let’s become more conscious of the rationalizations that we make when we’re asked to step up, especially to do a mitzvah like leading a service.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy New Year.