Unlike Genesis, which was about individuals and families, Exodus, will be about a nation made up of individuals. Here in this first sedra of Exodus, parashat Shemot, we find the formation of a nation who begin as slaves and the emergence of Moses to lead them out of slavery. As such a two-part question comes to mind: why Moses and why now? I mean, think about it, was Moses the only person who held those ambitions? I therefore want to suggest two answers as to why Moses and why now.
The first answer is that he grew into his role. In this parasha we have the famous scene of Moses standing in front of a bush that is on fire but does not burn. Yet there are other incidents before the bush that we should be mindful of. First, we read how Moses was outraged at seeing an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish slave, so he killed the overseer (Ex. 2:11-14). Second, the next day when confronting two fellow Jews, Moses attempts to break up a fight only to be told “Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” The secret was out, Moses killed an Egyptian so he fled Egypt for Midian, where he spent the next 40 years of his life. And finally, as soon as he gets there his sense of “right” is further on display when he defends Yitro’s daughters over the water they drew from the well for their animals (Ex. 2:16-17). What do all three encounters teach us about Moses?
There is a Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 166:11) that asks why we read that Moses grew up twice. In Exodus 2:10 it says, “When the child grew up” and then again in 2:11, “Some time after that, when Moses had grown up.” Both times the word for grew/grown in the Hebrew are the same (vayigdal), but one reads as “grew up” as opposed to “grown up,” but why? The short answer is “context,” but Rashi reminds us that this has already been solved. In this case the “first time it refers to growth in stature (and) the second time to greatness.” I'd like to further suggest that the second time also had to do with his identity as a Jew and his sense of values that all people should be treated with dignity. When Moses arrived at that well in Midian it said he “rose to [the daughters’] defense, and he watered their flock,” standing up against the injustice of the other shepherds. Let's not read that as Moses flexing his masculine muscles before these young ladies, no, this was a man of conviction who had a passion to fight for others! After no longer being able to withstand the oppression of his own people, not only did he grow into a man to battle injustice, but he “grew up” to be the man who would lead his fellow Hebrews to freedom.
The second answer was he realized that his convictions were spiritually embedded within. In the narrative itself Moses’ preconditioned nature (see above) was further aroused at the bush in Exodus 3:2, also to be seen as the time when God and Moses formally met, so to speak. Regarding the bush when Moses came across it he noticed that it was “all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed.” Upon drawing closer to investigate this phenomenon when he “turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am (hineini).” This bush was a sacred moment for Moses, but it was a sacred moment for God as well. In that moment God knew that Moses' convictions to oppose injustice made him the right person to rise up and lead Israel to freedom, a partner for tikkun. I am sure that Moses was startled, but he responded to a sound that was not audible. But to really understand how Moses reacted we need to go back to the creation narrative of Genesis but also look forward to Israel standing at Mt. Sinai (Gen. 1:1ff and Ex. 19:16-25). In this case the common bond is nature: fire, thunder, plants, mountains and humankind (man and woman, Moses and all Israel). As I pondered the above I was drawn to the words of Psalm 19:1-3 that says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims God’s handiwork. Day to day makes utterance, night to night speaks out. There is no utterance, there are no words whose sound goes unheard.” Even if not the same, Moses responded to the nature he encountered that connected him to a world he could not see, just as Adam did in Eden and Israel would at Sinai. Is that not what the power of music does, such as nigun - a wireless melody, it has the ability to touch our inner being!
The Jewish theologian Arthur Green teaches that this encounter for Moses at the bush was identical to that of Adam’s in the Garden or what will happen to Israel at Sinai in as much as all were being asked, איכה (ayekah), where are you? Adam responded in denial whereas Moses responded in curiosity, הנני, “here am I,” and Israel will respond by saying, נעשה ונשמע, “we will do and we will hear!” At the bush Moses realized and responded to a personal conviction to stand against injustice, not just for himself, but for the sake of Israel. Now, whether you call it God, the universe or your sense of a higher power, this passage demands we take a moment to consider our own sacred moments that define us. But here, we are the inheritors of Moses’ conviction to oppose injustice, not just for the Jewish people but for all people. Is this not the same reason why we struggle to hold the dynamic tension of life together? On one hand we stand opposed to injustice and cannot let evil and hate win the day, while on the other hand we cannot stand by and watch innocent people, Jew or otherwise, die. Listen to the tension of that voice, because if we do not and stop caring, well per the words of Bob Dylan, “how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn't see?” In 2024 let's take extra time to see what we might have missed in the past by listening more to the convictions within. After all, is that not what Moses did as he grew?
Shabbat Shalom and Rosh Chodesh Shevat, Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
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