PARSHAS SHEMOS | 21 TEVES 5769 | 17 JANUARY 2009

Moses tended the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the edge of the wilderness and he came to the mountain of G-d, in the area of Choreiv. An angel of G-d appeared to him in the heart of a fire in the midst of a thorn-bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was on fire but the bush was not being consumed. Moses said, "I will turn aside and see [investigate] this great sight. Why doesn't the bush burn?" When G-d saw that he turned aside to see, El-him called to him from the midst of the thorn-bush, and said, "Moses, Moses." (Exodus 3:1-4)

There is a Midrash that says that the burn-ing bush had been there for a long time. It was well know to the locals and many peo-ple came to see the "cool" bush (pun in-tended). But what set Moses apart from everyone else was that the bush didn’t merely catch his fancy, it was something he realized must be investigated. He was in-spired by what he saw, and he left the path he was on, to investigate this new reality.

He was willing to step out of the heady rush of life, to look into something that could provide him with more meaning. Only after G-d saw that Moses turned off his regular path to investigate the matter, did He call out to him and offer him the leadership role.

Many times people see things that are very powerful, but it does not cause any signifi-cant change to their lives. America was rocked by 9/11. Everyone is moved by the situation in Gaza. But for many, the novelty wears off and soon life continues as usual.

The father of a close friend of mine taught me the importance of taking immediate action when something dramatic occurs. His son, daughter-in-law and three grandchil-dren were in a boating accident in the Kin-neret Sea. Despite having life jackets, the frigid waters could have been deadly, and some of them developed hypothermia. It was only through a great amount of Divine Providence that they were located and saved just in the nick of time.

Immediately after finding out about the accident, he saw the episode as a gift from G-d and wanted to do something concrete to show his gratitude. He started by waking up an hour earlier every day to set aside time to study Torah. He committed to facili-tate the building of a neighborhood syna-gogue that was years in the planning but long in the coming. Three years later, the synagogue was built, he was still keeping his Torah study regimen, and his entire life was changed - all because he seized the moment when he saw a message from G-d.

In his commentary on Song of Songs (2:7), Nachmonides (1194-1270) discusses the importance of translating inspiration into some physical action. Inspiration is a fleet-ing emotion which on its own, has a very short lifespan. Putting inspiration into action gives it staying power. If we hear about a soldier who was just wounded in Israel, we can feel terrible, but how much more meaningful is it if we can say a small prayer for that soldier. When we wake up and walk outside into a glorious morning with the sun shining brightly and the air crisp and re-freshing, we can think about what a nice day it is, or we can say thanks to G-d for giving us such a beautiful day. And when we hear the news about yet one more rocket attack on Sderot, we can commit to studying ten minutes of Torah every day on behalf of our brothers and sisters living through such difficult times.

We all have good eyes, but the true leaders amongst us are those whose eyes and body are strongly connected.

Rabbi Burnham can be reached at rabbiburnham@partnersintorah.org

ויאמר משא אסרה נא ואראה את המראה הגדל הזה מדוע לא יבער הסנה

So Moses said, "Let me turn now and see this great spectacle -

why does the thorn bush not burn up?" (3:3)

I n this week’s portion we witness G-d designating the greatest leader the Jewish people ever had, Moses. Let's see if there is a lesson we can learn about what kind of person merits leadership roles. The Torah tells us of

the events leading up to G-d's appointment of Moses:

Parsha Perspectives RABBI LEIBY BURNHAM

S H E M O S

Talking Points RABBI ELAZAR MEISELS

1. SECRET AGENTS “The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew mid-wives. The name of one of them was Shifrah, and the name of the other was Puah.” 1:15

Shifrah - This is Yocheved, [Mother of Moses and Aharon] and she was called Shifrah because she would put the newborn into proper physical condition.

Puah - This is Miriam, [Daughter of Yocheved] and she was called Puah because she would make loud noises and speak and sooth the newborn, as do women who pacify a child that is crying. The word puah means shouting loudly as in: ‘I will scream like a birthing woman.’ - Rashi

The Hebrew midwives – There is no question that these were not the only two midwives who serviced the Jewish women, for there were in excess of 500 such midwives. Rather, they were the two administrators who ensured that Pharaoh received his share of the tax levied on this service. – Ibn Ezra, Chizkuni

It is almost impossible to believe that Pharaoh would have been so foolish as to ask Yocheved and Miriam, the wife and daughter of Amram, the leader of the entire generation, to murder all the newborns. They would be the least likely of all to obey. Rabbi Shimon Schwab zt”l explained, based on a Midrash, that Shifra and Puah concealed their identities and pretended not to be Jewish in order to gain access to the royal house and foil any plots against the Jews. Pharaoh never actually suspected them of being Jewish before this point and trusted them to carry out his nefari-ous scheme. The verse should be understood that they were “midwives who serviced the Jews,” not “Jewish midwives.”

2. WHAT’S IN A NAME “When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said, “I drew him from the water.” 2:10

She named him Moses - As Onkelos trans-lates it “shachalti” which means “extracting” in

Aramaic…In Hebrew “Mishisihu” means “I removed him,”... – Rashi

She named him Moses – Our sages teach us that when she witnessed the great miracle that had occurred in the salvation of Moses, Basya converted to Judaism and learned to speak Hebrew. This is how she knew how to call him a name in Hebrew that reminded her of the miracle of saving him from the water. For this reason, this is the only named used for Moses throughout the entire Torah. – Chizkuni (Rabbi Chizkiya ben Manoach)

She named him Moses – Basya was not necessarily proficient in Hebrew. Rather, she named him a name in Egyptian that describes how she withdrew him from the water and the Torah used Moses, the Hebrew equivalent of his Egyptian name. – Daas Zekeinim

She named him Moses – She called him this name to justify her desire to act as his parent. He was saved from the water where he placed by parents who abandoned all hope of saving him. He is therefore now mine, as I have saved him from certain death. – Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin)

The Einei HaEidah writes that the name Moses contains deep allusions to significant moments in the life of this great man. The Hebrew letter Mem has a numerical value of forty and sym-bolizes the forty days he spent on Mt. Sinai receiving the Torah. The Hebrew letter Shin is the first letter of the word Shishim and repre-sents the “Shishim Ribui” [600,000] Jews that he freed from Egypt. The Hebrew letter Hey equals five and represents the Five Books of Moses.

3. HIGH FIVES “An angel of Hashem appeared to him [Moses] in the heart of a fire in the midst of a thorn-bush. He looked and behold the bush was on fire, but the bush was not consumed.” 3:2

In the midst of a thorn-bush - And not another tree because, “I (G-d) am with him (Israel) during his times of trouble.” – Rashi

In the midst of a thorn-bush – This was an

ideal tree because a thorn-bush cannot be used in the construction of idols and images for idolatry. – Daas Zekeinim

In the midst of a thorn-bush – The Hebrew word for thorn-bush is “Sneh” and its letters also spell the word “HaNess” which means, “the miracle.” The Almighty was indicating to Moses that although the time to redeem the Jews from Egypt had not yet arrived, He was prepared to do so through a miracle. – Sifsei Kohein

Behold the bush was on fire – This was excellent training for Moses who would later experience fire and thunder on Mt. Sinai and need to remain undisturbed in the face of it all. – Chizkuni

Sefer Tikkunim points out that the word “thorn-bush” is found in these verses five times. This is the same number of times that the word “Ohr” [light] is found in the Torah’s account of the Creation of the World. The commentators explain that the world would be illuminated through the five lights of the Five Books of Moses. Perhaps the five occurrences of the word “thorn-bush” are hinting to the fact that the time to leave Egypt and receive the Five Books of the Torah have finally arrived.

Rabbi Meisels can be reached at rabbimeisels@partnersintorah.org

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Warren,

I too often wondered about the enlarged “bet” (also known as “beis”) in the begin-ning of the Torah and your question prompted me to finally explore the issue in depth. Through my research I discov-ered that very few of the classic commen-tators deal with this question, but the Se-fer Igra D’kalla, authored by Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira, devotes an inordinate amount of time to it. Although most of his explanations are deeply mystical in nature, I’ll share with you one that I found particu-larly illuminating and pertinent.

The Midrash writes that prior to creating the universe; the Almighty was ap-proached by each of the letters of the Aleph Beis and each one petitioned to be the opening letter of the Torah through which G-d would create the universe. For one reason or another, each letter was rejected until He settled on the Bet. When the “Tes” approached Him it argued that it was the most fitting letter through which to begin the Torah and create the universe since through him the eternal reward would be given to the righteous in the World To Come as the verse [Psalms 31:20] says, "Mah rav tuvchah asher tzafanta l'rayacheh" - “how great is Your good which you have stored away for Your close adherents.” The word used in

this verse for eternal good is tuvchah and it begins with a Tes. This indicates that somehow the letter Tes and eternal good are intrinsically united. The Almighty, how-ever, rejected his appeal because the letter Tes also begins the word tamei which means impure, and which He will one day use to refer to His nation, the Jewish people, in a derogatory fashion when He referred to them in the verse [Isaiah 6:5] as an impure nation.

Rabbi Shapira explains in his Igra D’kalla that contained within the Almighty’s deci-sion to use the Beis instead was also a desire to reward the righteous Torah Scholars not only in the next world, but in this one as well. Had the world been cre-ated with a Tes, that would have meant that the righteous could only enjoy their reward in the next world. By using the Beis, this limitation does not exist and here’s the reason why. The letter Beis only has three sides as the fourth side is open. This is the side known as Tzafun [north] and this is the same word [tzafanta] used in the verse by the Tes to symbolize the "heavenly stash" put away for the World to Come. It’s missing in the Beis because it symbolizes that the Torah offers reward not just in the World to Come, but on this earth as well. The principle is stored away for the future, but we may still benefit

from the interest generated even on this earth.

The enlarged Beis calls our attention to the use of the Beis in creating the Torah in order to reassure us of this important fact. Torah study imparts not just blessing in the World to Come, but right here on earth too. It offers a person the maximum reward in both existences; the physical and spiritual.

I would add to this the idea that the Beis, being the second letter of the Aleph Beis, represents the number two, and it's mes-sage is that the Torah is worthwhile not just in one world [spiritual] but in the sec-ond, as well.

Thank you for such an excellent question and blessings for continued success in your studies and growth!

I hope my explanation allows you to lay this question “to Bet”!

Regards,

Rabbi Elazar Meisels

Rabbi Burnham can be reached at rabbiburnham@partnersintorah.org

WINNING A LARGE BET RABBI ELAZAR MEISELS

Dear Rabbi, I'm curious about the large letter “bet” that starts the Torah in Berei-shis. Can you explain the reason it is written this way as it obviously has great significance? Warren B.

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In the Passover Haggadah, we (אsay that whereas Pharaoh at-

tempted to kill only the male Jews (1:16), Lavan wished to uproot the

entire nation. As the Haggadah is read on Passover when we relive the suffering of

the Egyptian servitude, why would it be written in a way which seems to mini-mize Pharaoh’s wickedness?

The Midrash teaches that if Aaron (ב

had known that the Torah would immortalize (4:14) the fact that

he went out to greet his returning brother Moses, he would have exerted himself

much more and would have gone out to greet Moses while dancing and playing musical instruments. Shouldn’t Aaron’s

actions have been purely motivated based on his assessment of what was

proper and appropriate in the situation and not based on the publicity he would

receive or how other people would judge him? (Imrei Daas by Rabbi Meir Shapiro)

Ozer Alport can be reached at ozer@partnersintorah.org

TABLE TALK FOR DISCUSSION AROUND THE SHABBOS TABLE

OZ E R AL P O R T

Soul Talk The Torah does not tell us much about the early years of Moshe Rabbeinu. In fact, almost eighty of the years of Moses’s life, the majority of which were spent in Midian, are not discussed at all in the Torah. Nevertheless, the Torah does give us a few hints regarding Moses’s character, from which we can attempt to understand what made him so great. Obviously, if the Torah chooses to inform us about several seemingly nonessential incidents in Moses’s life, we can understand that there are lessons we must learn from them re-garding what creates true greatness.

Rabbi Simcha Zissel of Kelm states that the vari-ous incidents the Torah relates regarding Moses all reveal the character traits that Moses needed to perfect before he could be chosen as the redeemer of the Jews, and before Hashem would reveal Himself to Moses at the , סנהburning bush.

The Torah first tells us (2:11): ויגדל משה ויצא Moshe grew up and ,אל־אחיו וירא בסבלתםwent out to his brothers, and he saw their bur-dens. As Rashi points out, this verse does not refer only to Moses’s physical growth, but also to the fact that he grew in stature within Pharaoh’s household. Normally, a person in this position would tend to focus his thoughts inward, toward the intrigues of Pharaoh’s court. Moses, however, focused his eyes and heart on the distress of his brethren. As the Midrash relates, he looked for ways to alleviate their pain, even by physically carrying loads of bricks to ease their burden.

The second incident related in the Torah reveals that not only was Moses concerned for his breth-ren as a whole community, but even witnessing

the suffering of a single individual pained him a great deal. The verse states (ibid.): וירא איש he saw an ,מצרי מכה איש־עברי מאחיוEgyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his breth-ren. Moses took action to protect his brother, and slew the Egyptian. The Torah then continues, telling us that Moses defended even a Jew who was suffering at the hands of another Jew (v. ויצא ביום השני והנה שני־אנשים עברים :(13 He went out ,נצים ויאמר לרשע למה תכה רעךon the next day and behold two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the wicked one, ‘‘Why would you strike your fellow?’’

Finally, the Torah shows us that Moses would defend the helpless and the innocent even when in exile himself, and even when the victims were not his people, by recounting the episode of the daughters of Jethro (2:17): ויקם משה ויושען ,Moses got up and saved them ,וישק את־צאנםand watered their sheep. In fact, the Midrash goes on to say how sensitive Moses was even to the sheep that he tended, carrying them on his shoulder when necessary, and demonstrating selfless devotion and caring. Witnessing this, Hashem said, ‘‘Now I see that you are eligible to care for My nation.’’

These simple basic acts of kindness laid the foundation for Moses’s selection as the leader of Hashem’s nation, and this is what the Torah deems important to tell us about his upbringing and early life.

With permission from Artscroll’s Daily Dose

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