AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED

TO HIM IN A FLAME OF FIRE FROM WITHIN THE THORN BUSH, AND BEHOLD, THE THORN

BUSH WAS BURNING WITH FIRE, BUT THE THORN BUSH WAS NOT BEING CONSUMED.

(Shemot 3:2)

from within the thorn bush But not from any other tree, because of

(Rashi Shemot 3:2, Judaica Press translation)

An angel of the Lord

appeared to him – R.

Judah b. Nehemiah said: Moses, being a novice in prophecy, God said: 'If I

reveal Myself unto him with a loud voice, I will

frighten him, and if in a low voice, he will think lightly of the prophecy.' So

what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He revealed Himself unto him in the

voice of his father. Moses then thought to himself: 'My father has come from

Egypt'; but God said to him: 'I am not thy father, but The God of thy father' (ib.

6).

(Shemot Rabbah 45:5, Soncino translation)

R. Eliezer

said: Just as the thorn-bush is the lowliest of all trees in the world, so

Israel were lowly and humble in Egypt; therefore did God reveal Himself to them

and redeem them, as it is said: And I am come down to deliver them from Egypt (ib.

8). R. Jose said: Just as the

thorn-bush is the prickliest of all trees and any bird that goes into it does

not come out unscathed, so was the servitude of Egypt more grievous before God

than all other servitudes in the world, as it is said: And the Lord said: I

have surely seen (raoh raithi)

the affliction of my people (ib. 7).

(Shemot Rabbah 2, Soncino translation)

The broad meaning of God's

appearance in the bush is this important truth: "No place is empty of the

Divine Presence, not even a bush" (Shemot Rabbah). Even

the lowliest place is not beneath being a dwelling place for the Divine Spirit.

All earthly existence, even that which is least important in human eyes, is

designated and prepared for a divine purpose.

(Rabbi

S.R. Hirsch Shemot 3:2)

Dedicated

to my mother, Dr. Hava Shur,

who was a key collaborator in the project of

translating Philo into Hebrew,

upon the occasion of her 80^th

birthday.

An Egyptian man as Preparation for Being a Man of God

Yaron Shur

Moses

grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at

their burdens. These seven Hebrew words [here translated] describe the first forty

years of Moses' life. Since Scripture is so sparing in its language, the Sages

of every generation have attempted to describe the process of Moses' education and personal development in various ways. He was,

after all, the man who reached the highest levels of leadership and prophecy in

Israel. The verse's seven words describe an unexplained process by which an

Egyptian prince comes to side with the oppressed and enters into a struggle against

the very Pharaoh who had adopted him.

Moses

grew up – in order to

comprehend the great drama and change that occurred in Moses' life it is

necessary to describe the process of his being raised and educated in Pharaoh's

house. Ibn Ezra found two reasons for attributing

importance to the fact that Moses grew up as a prince: "Perhaps God

arranged it for him to grow up in the royal house so that his soul would

achieve the highest level through education and custom, and not be lowly and

accustomed to a slave's home" and also "For if he had grown up among

his brothers and they knew him from his youth, they would not have been in awe

of him, since then they would count him as one of themselves." Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch states that Moses' education

combines "valor, health, and strength. Only a healthy body, whose strength

has not dissipated, can achieve the further requirements: clear thought that is

capable of drawing wisdom from the Torah which is open before all people, and

also wealth – implying independence." Philo of Alexanderia

lived before the destruction of the Second Temple in first century BCE Alexandria,

which was the center of Greek wisdom for hundreds of years and which produced

sages such as Euclid, the father of geometry and Ptolemy, the father of

astronomy. According to Philo, Pharaoh viewed Moses as his grandchild and sole

heir. He groomed Moses to eventually inherit his throne. Moses was educated in

Pharaoh's house of study, following an improved version of Alexander the Great's famous tutelage under Aristotle. Philo tells us

that Pharaoh gathered all of the greatest sages of the region from Greece,

Egypt, and Babylon in order to give Moses the widest and most general

education. Emphasis was placed upon philosophy, music, astronomy, the natural

sciences and mathematics. This description dovetails with the way RaMBaM describes Moses as standing before God and asking, Please show me Your ways. According to the RaMBaM in the Guide of the Perplexed I: 54, Moses was asking God to acquaint him with the laws of

nature.

The description of Moses' education seems to stand in

logical contradiction to the next words of the verse. And went out to his

brothers – why would the Prince of Egypt suddenly want to leave the

high walls of the royal palace? What brought him to feel any affinity to an

oppressed nation that worked for his adoptive grandfather and to think of those

slaves as his brothers? Philo explains the peculiarity of Moses' decision and

offers a deep and modern psychological explanation of Moses' choice to make

contact with his brothers. Philo says: "Therefore men in general, even if

the slightest breeze of prosperity does only blow their way for a moment,

become puffed up and give themselves great airs, becoming insolent to all those

who are in a lower condition than themselves, and calling them dregs of the

earth, and annoyances, and sources of trouble, and burdens of the earth, and

all sorts of names of that kind, as if they had been thoroughly able to

establish the undeviating character of their prosperity on a solid foundation,

though, very likely, they will not remain in the same condition even till

tomorrow… But Moses, having now reached the very highest point of human good

fortune, and being looked upon as the grandson of this mighty king, and being

almost considered in the expectations of all men as the future inheritor of his

grandfather's kingdom, and being always addressed as the young prince, still

felt a desire for and admiration of the education of his kinsmen and ancestors,

considering all the things which were thought good among those who had adopted

him as spurious, even though they might, in consequence of the present state of

affairs, have a brilliant appearance; and those things which were thought good

by his natural parents, even though they might be for a short time somewhat

obscure, at all events akin to himself and genuine good things" (Yonge translation). Philo sees Moses' departure from the

palace walls as a value-decision. Moses decides to connect with the Jewish

culture of his ancestors out of a feeling that it is his culture and that it

contains a truth which was missing in the culture he had studied in Pharaoh's

house. The departure from the palace led Moses to seek a new path.

And looked at their burdens Rashi explains: "He

directed his eyes and his heart to be distressed over them." Rashi is precise in reading the verse; literally, Moses

saw in their distress and not saw their distress. In their

distress – not a superficial sight, but rather emotional solidarity with

the sufferer. Here Rashi follows the midrash in Shemot

Rabbah (1:27):

And went out to his

brothers – two departures – that is to say

that the departures were mentioned in order to tell us that if not for his

desire to see Israel's suffering and to share in their troubles and toil he

would never have left Pharaoh's palace, for there he was much liked and loved.

According to the midrash, Moses' personal qualities

led him to take his leave of the palace. It was his brothers' suffering which

led him to leave the place where he had been so loved and accepted.

According to Rabbi Soloveitchik, this connection with suffering in the world

is Moses' central trait. In his article "Kol

Dodi Dofek" he

says that in Moses' moment of greatest closeness to God, when Moses asked Him,

Show me Your ways, he was asking to come into

contact with the source of suffering in the world and asked: "Why does

suffering befall man? Why does the righteous man suffer and the wicked man

succeed? This connection was not meant to provide Moses with theoretical

understanding of suffering or to enrich his understanding of the world, but

rather it was meant to help him search for ways to contend with suffering.

To conclude, the verse Moses

grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens describes in just a few words the stages of Moses'

development, which sprang from a combination of education and Moses' unusual

personal qualities. Education granted him abilities and broad-mindedness that

would later find expression in his leadership of the people. The prince of

Egypt demonstrated unusual personal qualities from the start. Moses did not

wait for events to reach his safe domicile behind high walls; rather he chose

to go out into the outside world where he met his brothers and demonstrated

sensitivity to their suffering and readiness to completely overhaul his own

life in order to contend with that suffering.

Moses' humanity is an important

key to the understanding of his later story. It is interesting to ponder the

word ish ["man"], which used to

describe Moses at the beginning of his road and which appears again in

connection with his impending death. When he meets Yitro's

daughters in our parasha he is described as an Egyptian

man. In the beginning of parashat VeZot HaBerakha in Devarim he is described as a man of God. Moses

traverses dramatic and complicated processes in the course of his unique life,

but through it all he remains a man. The possibility of remaining a man

even after growing up in the house of an all-powerful king is tested at the

beginning of his career. And went out to his brothers –

this demonstrates that he has remained a man. He prefers to remain a man, even

at the price of rejecting the crown. That ability reappears in his relationship

with God. The man who achieved the level of there did not arise

another prophet in Israel like Moses who knew God face to face was a man

of God, that is to say: he remained a man even when he arrived at the

pinnacle of spirituality. This is Moses' ability to contend with the great

honor that was his portion while also remaining true to himself. This is the

quality described in parashat Beha'alotkha

with the words, and the man Moses was very humble, more so than any

person on the face of the earth.

Prof. Yaron

Shur teaches in the Hebrew University and in the

Lander Institute.

The Oppressed Must be Saved from his Oppressor

without Regard for Nationality

Two Hebrews – They were Datan

and Aviram, who later left manna overnight (see

Shemot 16:20).

(Rashi on Shemot 2:13)

Hebrews

fighting – The verb fighting serves as an adjective which

indicates a continuous activity rather than the usual past conjugation of

Hebrew verbs. It implies that they were both constantly fighting, from which

the midrash concludes that

they were Datan and Aviram.

(Ha-Amek Davar, ad loc)

Two Hebrews – This comes

to order to commend Moses. It shows that he did not kill the Egyptian on the

previous day out of brotherly solidarity, but rather in order to save the

oppressed from his oppressor. The proof is that on the next day he rebuked a

man who caused strife with his fellow, even though both of them were Hebrews

and it would have seemed appropriate to sympathize with the victimizer (as well

as with the victimized), since he was one of his brothers.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel

Reggio, Italy ad loc)

Even When

Justified, the Killer Cannot Erase the Memory of the Killing

The Holy One, Blessed Be He said to Moses: "Moses, whose

son are you?" He replied: "The son of Amram."

"And Amram is the son of whom?" He replied: "The son

of Kehat."

The Holy One, Blessed

Be He said: "Are any of them still alive?" He replied: "They have

all died."

The Holy One, Blessed

Be He said to him: "And you want to live!?"

He replied,

"Master of the Universe, the first man [Adam] stole and ate against your

will, and you sentenced him to death, but I – did I ever steal anything from

you?! You wrote about me, My servant Moses,

most trustworthy in my house – how, then, can I die?"

He said: "Are you

greater than Abraham, whom I tested with ten trials?"

He replied: "Abraham

fathered Ishmael, whose descendents enslaved your children."

He said: "Are you

greater than Isaac?"

He replied: "Isaac

fathered one who will destroy your House, and his sons will kill your

sons."

The Holy One, Blessed

Be He said to him: "Did I order you to kill the Egyptian?!" Moses

replied to Him: "You killed all the firstborn of Egypt, yet I am to

die because of a single Egyptian?!"

The Holy One, Blessed

Be He said to him: "Are you comparable to me, killing and giving life? Can

you give life as I do?"

(From the midrash

Petirat Moshe found in Beit Hamidrash,

quoted in New Studies in the Book of Shemot

by Prof. Nechama Leibowitz z"l)

Even While on the Run, Moses Does not Desist

from Fighting for Justice

But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in

watered their flock (Shemot

2: 15-17). Moses came and sat

by the well but the shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to their defense, and he watered their flock. Moses came and sat

in judgment upon them, he told them: "Usually, men draw the water and

women water the flocks, here women draw the water while the men water the

flocks; there is a perversion of justice here."

(Avot

de'Rabbi Natan 20:1)

"Come and note Moses' humility; even

though he was fleeing like a commoner, and he saw the daughters of Yitro in distress, and he was not too proud to stand up and

draw for them, but his soul was that of a son of the daughter of the

king". This is to say that the awareness of his coming from the palace of

the great Pharaoh did not prevent Moses our Teacher from standing by those

unfortunate women who were robbed by the shepherds of Midian

and acting on their behalf in their distress. From his first steps in

approaching his brothers, upon seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he decided

that the proper course of action is to intervene, to attack the attacker and to

kill him. These events are testimony to his sensitivity to the suffering of

people and to the quality of his leadership; from here we learn that he is

qualified to be the faithful shepherd of his people.

 (Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Pashiyot

haShavua, pp. 195-196)

The Place On Which You Stand – It Is Holy

Ground! – What is Place?

The word HaMakkom – "The

place" is be understood figuratively, its application being that Moses' value

was very high, as is written, Who shall

ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who will rise in His holy place? One of clean hands and pure heart.

(Ha'amek

Davar, Shemot 3:5)

And Abraham returned to his place – to his humanness; he did not continue to

seclude himself and pray, even though it is possible to be alone and pray even

without revelation of the Divine Presence; he nonetheless discontinued his

contemplation of the Divinity once he understood the will of God, and returned

to his place.

(Ha'amek

Davar, Bereishit 18:33)

And I will go to my place and to my

land – to my value, that

I will not be a servant to others, and thus is its interpretation in Bereishit Rabbah on the verse

"And Laban returned to his place – to

his bad habits."

(Ha'amek

Davar Bereishit 30:25)

It is in this figurative manner that it is said: Blessed be the glory

of the Lord from His place, meaning, according to His rank and

the greatness of His portion in existence. Similarly in every mention of place

referring to God, the sole intention is to signify the rank of His existence,

may He be exalted; there being nothing like or similar to it

.

(RaMBaM,

Guide for the Perplexed, I, 8)

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