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Parshat Shemot

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Jaimie Fogel, SFW '04-'05

In this week's parsha, Moshe becomes the designated leader of Am Yisrael.  The first incident the Torah records from Moshe's life as an adult is the incident of Moshe killing the Egyptian.  Soon after the murder, Moshe is chosen as the leader of the Jewish people. It seems that this incident, one of the only defining moments of his life which the Torah chose to reveal to us, is supposed to tell us something about his character which made him worthy to lead the Jewish people into nationhood.

The mefarshim on Chumash take different approaches to this story and the ambiguous way in which it is told.  The verb "vaya'ar b'sivlotam"- 'he saw their suffering' is one of the verbs which the commentators pick up on.  It seems that this reiya was not just Moshe looking at something on a perfunctory level, but a deeper type of visualization.  Both Rashi and the Seforno comment using the same language that Moshe "natan libo"- he (finally) paid attention to the suffering of the Jews.  The use of that idiom portrays Moshe in a less complimentary light.  He knew the Jews were suffering but only now after he grew up (as mentioned in the beginning of the pasuk), does he begin to really care to do something proactive about the inhumane situation around him. 

The Ramban's comments explain both a seeming superfluous term in the pasuk and the vaya'ar verb.  The pasuk before had said "vayigdal hayeled" and then this next pasuk says "vayigdal moshe" and the Ramban says that the second growth refers to Moshe becoming a bar da'at- he has mentally and spiritually matured.  He is now at an age where he can understand what is going on around him, and is also physically old enough that he has the capabilities to actually do something about the slavery situation.  It was at this point in time, the Ramban says, that Moshe was told he was a Jew.  His entire life perspective has now changed with this new piece of information about his true identity.  So he exits the palace walls to see what the matzav is with his real brothers.  He feels such an intense connection with them, that this seemingly slight injustice which probably went on everyday in Egypt, bothers him so much.  This interpretation of the Ramban paints Moshe not only a compassionate light, but in a tremendously zealous and profound way.  Even though he had just found out about his connection to these slaves, he could empathize with their suffering so strongly that it even pushed him to murder.  Whichever way one interprets the story, whether it was a belated relating to his brothers which came about from natural emotional maturity, or an impressively quick and emotional response to a new life-altering piece of information, this incident shows that Moshe was the kind of person who when witnessing an injustice, could not sit back and watch but went out to try to change the reality.

I heard a beautiful interpretation (by whom I cannot recall) for these pesukim which is not a contextual one, but nonetheless offers an extremely deep explanation for what took place in this brief scene.  Moshe grew up in the palace of Pharaoh, living a luxurious life free of Jewish servitude and yet, he was also a Jew who was destined to lead that nascent nation through forty of their most tumultuous years.  The pasuk says, "vaya'ar ish mitzri makeh ish ivri"- Moshe saw that the mitzri and the Jew inside of him were at war.  The two different mentalities and worldviews could not coexist any longer and the time had come for Moshe to choose one.  "Vayifen co v'co vaya'ar ki ein ish"- when a person tries to straddle the fence and lead a life neither here nor there, eventually it wears away at his essence and what is left is nothing-ein ish.  Moshe looked at himself, as the person he had become, and realized that he could not be both a Jew and a Mitzri.  The two lives were total and complete opposites with opposing value systems and beliefs which could never coalesce.  The time had come for Moshe to make a decision- would it be the five-star Egyptian palace or the difficult, burdensome but ultimately true path of the Jews?  "V'yach et hamitzri; vayitminayhu bachol" Moshe finally puts the Egyptian inside of him to rest by "killing" it and permanently commits himself to the values and beliefs of the Jewish people.  The killing was not merely a physical manifestation of Moshe's zealous love towards his brothers, but also a figurative killing of the Egyptian inside himself.

It is now understandable why this incident is revealed as one of the few details of Moshe's life prior to his acceptance of the leadership.  This was his declaration of selfhood.  He now knew the person he was meant to be and not only was he a complete Jew, but he was a Jew who could empathize with his people.  He would not be a leader who only cared about the friends dear to him or the people who were his greatest influences, but even the common Jews on the street- his true brothers.

Shabbat Shalom