Moses’ first public action is an act of violence in defence of his people. He sees an Egyptian brutally beating a Jew; kills him and hides the body. What is interesting, is the moment before the action. The Torah states that Moses ‘looked around and saw there was no one’. The simple explanation of this statement is that Moses was checking that no one would see the subversive act he was about to perform. Yet the Rabbis read more into it. They interpret Moses’ checking that there was no one as investigating whether any righteous person would issue from this Egyptian. Would this man’s life have any future value? One could see this explanation as the Rabbis being uncomfortable with Moses impulsive violence and seeking to endow the act with forethought. Yet the bible is full of praiseworthy acts, undertaken impulsively. The Rabbis are here, however, saying something deeper that merits our attention. This Egyptian was a nasty piece of work. According to tradition he was not only a cruel brute, but an adulterer and rapist. Surely whoever killed him would be doing the world a favour. Yet the Sages ask us to probe deeper. In this evil man’s sorry life, is there not a spark of goodness that could be redeemed by a succeeding generation? Is this Egyptian’s existence really devoid of all purpose? In this case apparently yes. Yet this is not the only place the Rabbis prod us to ask such questions. According to the Talmud many wicked parents had righteous progeny, even to the extent that: ‘the descendants of Haman learnt Torah in Bnei Brak’. The Rabbis are here teaching us a valuable lesson. It is too easy to examine someone superficially and write them off. Or to look at where they came from and look down at them. One purpose of the experience of Egyptian slavery and the Exodus was to teach the Jewish people not to do this. As the Torah never ceases to remind us, we were once merely lowly slaves ; and look at what we achieved. For this reason also the seder service must first: ’begin in shame’, reminding us of where we came from. We must never succumb to the temptation of dismissing people or writing off their lives. Everyone has a purpose and everything has its place. We sometimes just need to look a bit deeper in order to discover it.
ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS
Rishon |
A new Pharaoh starts to persecute the Jews. He orders all the new born boys to be killed. |
Sheni |
Moses is born and put in an ark on the river. He is found and adopted by Pharaoh‘s daughter. |
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Shelishi |
Moses kills an Egyptian and is forced to flee to Midian. He marries and has a son. |
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Revi’i |
G-d appears to Moses in a burning bush and tells him he is to take the Jews out of Egypt. |
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Chamishi |
With great reluctance, Moses is forced to agree to his mission. |
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Shishi |
Moses returns to Egypt after being almost killed for not circumcising his son. The people believe him. |
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Shevi’i |
Pharaoh refuses to let the people go and increases their workload. The people attack Moses. |
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Haftorah |
Isaiah: 2;1-12: G-d will in the future redeem Israel as he did from Egypt. |
Sidra Statistics
Parshat Shemot
· has 124 verses ;
· is the 1st in Exodus, 13th in the Torah
· 2nd longest in Exodus, 14th longest in the Torah
· has no mitzvot.
