Rabbi Roodyn

Learning to Lead

I was teaching in a school in Manchester this week and I mentioned a concept that met with some resistance. I happened to say that when we daven we speak to Hashem, but when we learn Torah, Hashem speaks to us.

When we buy an appliance, we intuitively expect it to come with an instruction manual. Wouldn’t it be great if life came with instructions too? Well here’s the good news…. The word Torah comes from the word הוראה, derived from the same root as הוראות שימוש, instructions. The term Torat Chayim, therefore means ‘instructions for living’. This means that when we should take practical messages from every parsha in the Torah, because this how the Master of the Universe speaks to us.

Moshe Rabbeinu goes on a journey of maturity and development. Clearly an elevated and holy soul, he starts life as a בן, a son, and a ילד, child. But by the time he is found abandoned down the Nile he is crying with the maturity of a youth, something that attracts Princess Basya’s attention. ויגדל משה he grows up and is referred to as an איש, a man, someone who cares deeply about others and is ready to take responsibility for his brothers. It is this episode that forces him to flee to Midyan, and even there he takes responsibility, berating the shepherds and helping his future wife Tzipporah. Moshe is both attentive and caring, noticing the things that most people ignore and caring for each individual sheep, two pre requisites for leadership.

It is within this context and against this background that we have the episode at the burning bush where Moshe, the man who ultimately would speak to Hashem freely, face to face, has his first encounter with the Almighty. After some words of introduction, Hashem presents Moshe with his mission, to achieve the impossible and be the one who would take the Bnei Yisrael out of slavery. Moshe’s reply is מי אנכי, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should take the Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt? The use of the first person three times in this pasuk is striking. Moshe thinks that he has to do it himself. Hashem therefore pre-empted this by saying לך ואשלחך, ‘Go and I will send you’. This tautology jumps off the page until we realise that Hashem is saying, it’s not you, it’s Me. Hashem therefore responds to Moshe’s מי אנכי by saying אנכי שלחתיך, I am the anochi, not you.

Moshe then says it again, הנה אנכי בא לבני ישראל, behold when I come to the Children of Israel .. and they will say to me, What is His Name, what shall I say to them?  Hashem therefore tells Moshe, I am unlimited, unlike mortal man, the only thing that determines what Hashem shall be is… what He will be!

Moshe has to take his anochi, his sense of ego and realise that we as human beings are powerless but when we walk with Hashem, when we work to fulfil His mission there is no limit to what we can achieve. This idea is incredibly humbling, which is why Moshe can later be called the עניו מכל אדם, ‘the most humble of all men’. Perhaps this is why by the end of his life, Moshe is referred to as an איש האלקים, man of G-d.

Moshe then claims that despite this, the people won’t believe him והם לא יאמינו בי. Hashem responds by sending him tzaraas, this wasn’t a party trick. Rather tzaraas comes upon one who speaks Lashon Hara. Put simply, it’s slanderous not to believe in the greatness of the Jewish People.

He then goes further and says, ‘I am slow of speech’. To which Hashem responds in what to my mind are some of the most powerful pesukim in the Torah, pesukim that cause emotion to well up inside me every year

וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֵלָיו מִי שָׂם פֶּה לָאָדָם אוֹ מִי יָשׂוּם אִלֵּם אוֹ חֵרֵשׁ אוֹ פִקֵּחַ אוֹ עִוֵּר הֲלֹא אָנֹכִי ה’: וְעַתָּה לֵךְ וְאָנֹכִי אֶהְיֶה עִם פִּיךָ וְהוֹרֵיתִיךָ אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר:

But the Lord said to him, “Who gave man a mouth, or who makes [one] dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the L-rd? So now, go! I will be with your mouth, and I will instruct you what you shall speak. ”

Again Hashem is saying, it’s not about your natural talents, it’s about your commitment to our shared mission.

At this point Moshe makes his final plea and says שלח נא ביד תשלח, please send someone else, and Hashem responds with anger. As long as Moshe was clarifying legitimate confusions with G-d, there I a dialogue. Here,  Hashem shows him that his objections are inappropriate.

If there is one word that sums up parshas shemos it’s responsibility. Klal Yisroel has so many needs, physically and spiritually we can resign ourselves to things remaining the same. But Hashem works through people and their choices.  Things change when people take on responsibility. When they see an issue and seek a solution. They may not be naturally talented, there may be many obstacles. But there is nothing that builds like taking on responsibility.