The conclusion of Parashat Shemot seems to leave us with an unsatisfied Moshe. Here he has done what Hashem asked of him, he has gone to Am Yisrael and has brought them to believe the unbelievable: Hashem will deliver them from the clutches of the strongest power on earth. Armed with his and their conviction, he goes to Par'oh, as Hashem has directed him. Hashem has promised, "I will be with you", and thus reassured, Moshe presents his request/demand to Par'oh. Unexpectedly, Par'oh not only refuses to accede to the request, but slaps a redoubled workload on the people. Moshe leaves Par'oh's palace, only to be confronted by the representatives of the people who blame him for their newfound woes. So Moshe turns to Hashem with what sounds like hurt and disappointment – I did exactly what You said, and things have only gone from bad to worse. Hashem reassures him, "Don't worry, just wait and see what's in store for Par'oh".
That's all? Just another prophetic flourish?
Thus ends Parashat Shemot, leaving Parashat Va'era to pick up the pieces. Hashem speaks again to Moshe, explaining the uniqueness of His revelation-through-fulfillment to Moshe via the Divine Name Y-H-V-H versus his revelation-through-promises to the Patriarchs. He lays out for Moshe the entire vision of His redemption – cessation of slavery, emergence from
"Vay'daber Moshe ken el b'nei Yisrael v'lo sham'u el Moshe mikotzer ruach ume'avodah kashah"
Rendered literally: "Moshe spoke thus to the people of
On the strength of this failure, Moshe responds to Hashem when He directs him to approach Par'oh now: "Behold, the people of
What is this kotzer ruach, this "short-spirit" which leads the people not to listen to Moshe? Some commentators link it to the hard work: the hard work left them no spirit to hear anything other than the immediacies of their situation. Ibn Ezra looks beyond the hard work and ascribes the short spirit to the length of the exile. Ramban explains that even though they believed in the vision, they were "like a man whose spirit is so depleted by his exertion that he doesn't want to live another minute despite the fact that he KNOWS that afterwards there will be relief". He also adds that the shortness of spirit was due to the threat of death they felt dangling over their heads ever since Moshe's mission to Par'oh. The Malbim explains that kotzer ruach is impatience in a deep, inner sense, the precise opposite of Hashem' quality of erech ruach, "long-spirit", deep inner patience.
But was it really the people who were unable to hear a deep message due to situationally-generated impatience? Perhaps it was actually a mirror of Moshe's OWN situation. After all, didn't Moshe say at the burning bush, "But they won't listen to me!", "They won't have faith in me"! Rashi has Hashem rebuking Moshe: They are faithful (as is indeed the case when Moshe comes to them at first), descendants of the faithful one (Avraham, of whom it is stated, "And he believed in Hashem"), while YOU, Moshe, in the end will fail to have faith (at the waters of Mei Merivah)!
It would seem then that Moshe is the one who is impatient! In fact, when he comes before Par'oh, at first he presents the demand to leave as an absolute, NOT in the carefully couched fashion that Hashem instructed him at Sinai. Only after Par'oh rejects it out of hand does Moshe then try again, this time trying to be faithful to the formulation he was given, but by then it is too late. Moshe KNOWS that in the end, they will leave Egypt not merely for three days, but absolutely, and he is impatient, wanted to skip to that step, for, after all, if Hashem is with him, what is to prevent the redemption from proceeding forthwith? If the prophecy is true, and Moshe KNOWS with every fiber of his being that it is, they WHY NOT NOW!!!!!
But Hashem knows that He must teach Moshe patience if he is to lead the people toward realized their destiny as the people who represent Hashem upon earth, and embody His traits. Moshe MUST be patient so that he can teach and model that quality for the people.
That this is one of the keys to the people failure to really listen can be seen in the wording of the verse: Moshe spoke thus to the people of
Why the second "Moshe"? The style of the Torah doesn't require the repetition, in fact, it feels out of place? The reason is that Moshe spoke THUS to the people, just as Hashem had instructed him, trying to be transparent and to allow the restorative vision of Hashem's acts that are just around the corner to come through clearly, but the people heard the impatience, and thus they heard not Hashem but Moshe, and MOSHE they didn't listen to – for he was impatient.
And when Hashem then turns to Moshe and directs him to go to Par'oh, that impatience comes dangerously close to despair and accusation.
But Hashem responds to Moshe by instructing him to take the next step, he commissions him together with his brother to undertake the mission, he gives him detailed instructions as to how to proceed. In other words, Hashem displays loving, understanding patience toward Moshe, until Moshe is ready to translate the flash of the redemptive vision/mission he has received into frustrating partial actions that, with faith, build toward a moment of completion.
I wanted to get this Pshat off on Wednesday. I wanted to be ready to write then, and not procrastinate. When time came and went, I was frustrated and filled with self-blame, and now it was once again Friday afternoon, with its hard word and here I am again, short of spirit. A lot of thoughts were swirling on this point, and some of them have come together, but not the way I envisioned. And as I write these last lines for the week, I want to hear Hashem telling me, "next Wednesday awaits", I want to be patient with myself in working toward Erev Shabbat liberation. As it is, I've finished an hour earlier than usual. One small step. I'll try to listen more carefully as He says, "It's O.K., send it off, and then go set up the candles".
Comments