Parasha Shemot
SAN DIEGO — In Shemot 3:11, after God asked Moses to go to Pharaoh in Egypt, Moses asks: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Hashem answers, “For I will be with you, and this is the sign for you that it was I Who sent you. When you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Not just with you, near you, but to be one with you, to experience fully your struggle, your anguish and your pain in accomplishing what is being asked of you.
Hashem appears to be saying “I will be one with you just as you are one with the people for whom you care so much.” Five times in the parasha, Hashem tells Moses that He feels the suffering of the Israelites. Moses, too, felt a tug to connect with his people. Hashem sees this and recognizes Moses’ special quality. We learn in this week’s Torah reading a most contemporary and timely lesson: We are not to simply see the suffering of others, but to experience it fully, as if it is our own–and act to reduce that suffering. As we reduce the pain in others, we then reduce our own.
Undoubtedly you can offer many answers as to why Moses, the most exceptional leader we have ever know, was selected by Hashem. Moses is portrayed as someone who consistently cares for others and beyond empathy, demonstrates compassion by acting on his feeling of care. Just as Hashem is one with his people, Moses is always filled with love, empathy and compassion for others as well.
Is this not the key to our thriving and flourishing at this time? Does it take a special person to turn towards others to help them lift their burdens? In Shemot Rabbah (1:27), we learn “He called out to him in the midst of the bush.” Why did Hashem say he would speak only to Moses? Because Hashem saw that Moses “put aside his own affairs to share in the suffering of others.”
Rav Eliyahu Lopian, teaches us that Hashem wanted the Israelites to earn His compassion by living it. Open your eyes to today and see this through the lens of our contemporary times. The Israelites, remember, had no real merit at that time, having sunk to a low level of impurity. Rav Lopian tells us that Hashem created a series of events in which the Israelites could show compassion one to another. Hashem would then show B’nei Yisroel His compassion. To receive Hashem’s compassion, we need to show it to ourselves, feel the pain of each other and open our hearts and hands with sensitivity to others. We are, after all, “Rachamanim B’nei Rachamanim,” merciful people and children of merciful people.
From Pharoah’s daughter who extended herself to Moses, to Moses who, despite leading the luxurious life of a prince, still reaches out with concern and compassion to the B’nei Yisroel, to Hashem who sees our suffering and steps in to deliver us, this parasha, appears to be an essential message for our times.
In Shemot Rabbah (2, 2) we learn that “Our teachers have said: Once, while Moses our Teacher was tending [his father-in-law] Yitro’s sheep, one of the sheep ran away. Moses ran after it until it reached a small, shaded place. There, the lamb came across a pool and began to drink. As Moses approached the lamb, he said, “I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. You are so exhausted!” He then put the lamb on his shoulders and carried him back. The Holy One said, “Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love – by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.” And recall it says in Shemot 2:11, “Now it came to pass in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers.” The sages tell us “do not read ‘grew up,’ but rather, ‘became great’ גָּד֖וֹל since Moses chose to experience the exile for himself by opening his eyes and his heart to his people’s suffering.
We are being called, right now, to open ourselves similarly one to another. To act responsibly to prevent the spread of COVID19, to stay connected and create ways to help others, to open our hearts so that no one ever feels alone, to step in with our empathy and demonstrate compassion. If we want to earn Hashem’s compassion, the parasha shows us a clear pathway. We learn from contemporary psychology that empathy involves responding to another’s emotions with emotions that are similar. Sympathy involves feeling regret for another person’s suffering. But compassion is caring for another person’s happiness as if it were your own and acting in a way to help others lighten their burden. For Moses, compassion, love and kindness were not indicators of weakness, but rather strength. The presence of compassion has the power to heal and its absence can be fatal. Moses reminds us to bring compassion to each other, to act kindly, to open our hearts to others, and then we too, as Moses, will be one with Hashem.
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com