God pleased with Moses’ compassion, empathy

For Shabbat, Jan. 18, 2020

Parasha Shemot

By Michael R. Mantell, PhD

Dr. Michael Mantell

SAN DIEGO — In Exodus 3:11, after God has asked him 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 simply, “I will be with you.” 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 is saying, I believe, “I will be one with you just as you are one with the people for whom you care so much.”

Undoubtedly you can offer many answers as to why Moses 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 them as well.

Is this not the key to our flourishing: empathy, compassion for others? Does it take a special person to turn towards others to help them lift their burdens? In Sh’mot 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.”

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 about another person’s happiness as if it were your own and acting in a way to help another 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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Dr. Mantell writes a d’var Torah each week for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family worship.