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THOUGHTS ON SHEMOT BY RABBI WILKINSON
This week we begin to read the second book of the Torah, Sefer Shemot and we learn how Yaakov’s family developed into the Nation of Yisrael.
Last year, as I am sure you will recall, I wrote about Moshe and how, despite being raised in the palace of Paro, he never felt estranged or distant from his Jewish brothers and sisters. I wrote about the incident recorded in Chapter 2 of Shemot where Moshe saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man. Having checked that he was not being observed Moshe killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
The following day Moshe saw two Hebrews fighting. When he remonstrated with them one replied by saying ‘are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moshe was frightened and the Torah tells us that he thought:” Indeed the matter has become known” Achein nodah hadavar…
It was a moment of profound insight, yet it was terribly disappointing and frustrating. “Achein nodah hadavar” marks that moment, when according to Rashi, Moshe understood why his people were in bondage and what was prolonging their exile.
Moshe intervened with concern and courage, protecting one Jew from the beatings of another. Nevertheless, Moshe was dealt a sneering and degrading retort which revealed that the prior death of an Egyptian at Moshe’s hand was not the well-kept secret Moshe had hoped it would be. Moshe’s reaction achein nodah hadavar simply seems to be expressing his own anxiety at having been discovered and dangerously exposed. However, the fact that he did not flee immediately, and waited until he was almost killed by Paro, relegates this phrase, in its simplicity, inconsequential and without purpose.
Chazal explain that “hadavar, the matter” refers us to the most pertinent subject to a Jew in exile, the understanding for which we yearn: why and to what end; how much and for how long. It follows that achein nodah hadavar signifies a terrifying epiphany. What did Moshe discover in the startling and defiant response of this Jew? Did he find that the exile was justified by a wanton lack of contrition, a denial of authority, or a disdain for personal courage?
Simcha Raz, the author, offers an interesting idea about this episode: Perhaps Moshe had been disturbed the day before that he alone reacted to a Jew who was being beaten. No doubt, the erstwhile advocate of his people would be able to justify their seeming indifference and defend his brothers. After all they were peace loving, submissive, foreign slaves, lacking in strength and self-esteem, and not at all disposed to physically battling an Egyptian under any circumstance.
Yet the next day as Moshe saw two Jews going at each other, his defence crumbled rapidly. Even the kind eye of their greatest protector could no longer see them as meek and timid slaves, unable to get in harm’s way for a brother. Now Moshe was puzzled even more than before, why no other Jew jumped into the fray to protect another, just one day earlier. Were they paralyzed by apathy or had they become indifferent to the pain of another? Could it be that Moshe was the only one of the entire nation who cared? Achein nodah hadavar…Now that is a painful moment! Moshe learned that the length and depth of our suffering is borne out of indifference and emotional lethargy. It is borne of being numbed by pain and no longer moved by it.
Maybe this is a lesson for us all. Maybe we have to become more attuned to the desperate cries of our orphans and our poor that fill our ‘Inboxes’, ‘WhatsApp’ messages and letterboxes daily. Perhaps we, too, have succumbed to the rhythm and comfort of inactivity and are not nearly responsive enough to the needs of Israel and the Jewish people.
Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger teaches that there is another part of the story that is not told explicitly by Chazal, but is so glaringly obvious, and that is the story of Moshe’s unrelenting response. Moshe was frightened and disappointed, disillusioned and worried to no end. Nevertheless, he did not for a moment cease his efforts to arouse the Jewish people and ultimately bring them to their destiny.
Shabbat shalom.
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