Rabbi Rosenblatt explained a very deep concept which helped to explain how that while the important thing the Jewish people as nation did as commanded by G-d was to “borrow” gold from the Egyptians, that Moshe was actually sacrificing his own spiritual development in order to carry out an equally important mission which was to bring out Joseph’s bones from Egypt. Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Rosenblatt invoked an image from modern technology to introduce a fine but very deep point about the only person who ever talked face to face with G-d, Moshe Rabbeinu.

Dr. R. Rosenblatt exlained how you would see the Jewish people gathering gold (which would later be used to make the golden calf) on one screen, while in a split screen we would see Moshe writing one of the Holy names of Hashem on a piece of parchment and bringing up the bones of Joseph from the bottom of the Nile river. The important point that R. Rosenblatt went on to make was that while it was actually a self sacrificing thing for Moshe to busy himself in this manner, that it was the most important thing for his spritual development to do so. In the great rabbinic tradition of giving over what previous rabbis have explained R. Rosenblatt was explaining the deep and mystical thoughts of Shmuel Uceda,(1538-1602) Student of Rabbis Yitschak Luria, Chaim Vital, and Elisha Gallico. Author of Midrash Shmuel.

Rabbi Rosenblatt also shared his personal take about how it seemed that somehow it seemed like a negative view to see the Jewish people retrieving the gold that was left by the Egyptians that were drowned during the parting of the red sea. He also went on to explain that this was the proper thing to do for the Jewish people. However what about Moshe? Well it turns out that Moshe was doing the most important thing for his spiritual development at the time, and the explanation went as follows.

Yaakov, Joseph’s father, the third Patriarch from the line of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov was on a very high spiritual level. His purpose would not have been better served to remain in Egypt, to watch over (so to speak) the Jewish people during their sojourn in Egypt. Joseph however while he was also a righteous person was also closer to the level of the real man in the street sort of Jew. In other words, while Yaakov was clearly a Tzadik close to Hashem, and was thus able to accomplish the will of G-d, Joseph however was closer to the real Jew, who ended up living in Egypt. Now, R. Rosenblatt continued in his explanation of Rabbi Shmuel di Ozeda’s idea, Moshe’s spirituality was closer to that of Yaakov’s in that he was in a sense removed from the every day sensibility of the common Jewish man. Indeed one could imagine (my own thought is being explained here) that in order to be so clause to the mind, thoughts and will of G-d, that it indeed must even on some level be a necessary qualification to be somewhat aloof from the mindset of even the most righteous of the common man.