Moshe the Quintesential Reluctant Meshiach-Vayeira 5770

January 12, 2010
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There are many things we can learn from the Torah when we study it in a serious manner. Unfortunately there are many trends which shut down some of the various paths of understanding. When I began writing a job description, in an earlier Post, AharonMosheNow:

Most humble man on earth urgently needed to save an entire nation.

Experience Required: None

Some Heavy Lifting. Long Hours, nights and weekends. Must be able to follow directions. Deal with people. Conflict resolution. Work under close supervision. Salary: TBD

I was obviously was using humor to attempt to reveal some of the subtle irony which we can glean by understanding even just the simple meaning of the the Torah portion of the week. In attempting to write such things I am faced with a significant amount of cognitive dissonance. On one hand we are expected to understand the importance of humility specifically in context with Moshe Rabbeinu. Then again how do we then explain the dialogue that Moshe has with Hashem where he tells G-d, in Parshas Shemos, all the reasons why he is not the man for the job, the reluctant messiah. By the end of Parshas Shemos, Moshe is complaining to G-d about the mission:

…”My Lord, why have you done evil to this people, why have you sent me?”"-Exodus 5:22, Artscroll, The Chumash, The Stone Edition, pg 317.

Now we could say many things at this point to explain that from Moshe’s point of view, he came to Egypt in order to save the Jewish people from bondage, and now after her first meeting with Pharoh not only did things not get better for the Jewish people, but indeed they got worse. As the story line goes, Pharoh’s knee jerk response to Moshe’s request to allow the Jewish people to;

“…go for a three day journey in the Wilderness {to bring} offerings to Hashem” Exodus 5:3 The Stone Edition, pg 313,

was to make the work of the Jewish people (slaves) even more difficult by requiring the same quota of bricks without providing them with the straw which was the material which was needed to make the bricks. Now we can certainly understand that Moshe would clearly not be popular with the Jewish people for making their labor even more difficult then it already was. The other significant fact was that it was Pharoh’s reaction to Moshe’s request that made life in Egypt even more difficult than it already was.

It would be a grievous error to think that Moshe was put in charge of the redemption of the Jewish people, because he would be popular with his constituents and well liked.

However while Hashem did not provide Moshe with a detailed explanation of exactly what would happen during the process of freeing the Jewish people from their bondage in Egypt, he did tell Moshe, that Pharoh would not simply acquiesce to Moshe’s request but that G-d almighty would have to bring out a strong hand, and that he would have to strike Egypt.-Exodus 3:20.

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