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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Shmot
The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Aasher Ben Haim
The Chatam Sofer alludes to the progression of Moshe’s activities. First, he defended one of his brethren from a foreign oppressor. Once he felt as a full-fledged member of Bnei Yisrael (as the pasuk mentions, despite his upbringing as a member of the Egyptian aristocracy), he was reacting to a relatively clear cut injustice. Next, he stepped in where one Jew was attacking another. Here, the oppressed was no closer to him than the attacker. But he still had an interest, and perhaps a double interest, in stopping the altercation. Firstly, one of his clan was about to be hurt. Secondly, the pasuk implies that he was as troubled by the deteriorated moral level of the offender as he was by the prospect of the potential victim’s getting injured. Finally, Moshe took on a band of foreign shepherds who were causing problems to a group of foreign girls. Here, he seemingly did not have any personal reasons to take a stand, yet he did.
According to this presentation, it appears that the highest act of righteousness was that in which he saved the Midianite girls. If so, we should expect that Moshe would go on to a career of human rights activism, saving poor and lowly citizens and nations from their oppressors all over the world. Yet, we don’t find Moshe becoming a universalistic savior. Rather, his acts of leadership and pursuit of justice were reserved for the members of his own people. So why is there a need to stress his progression toward concern for people unrelated to him?
It is a greater mitzva, in certain respects, to do charity at home. Indeed, halacha requires that one should give priority to charity given to relatives and neighbors before people who are distant (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 251:3). On the other hand, if one is kind only to those close to him, it is a possible sign that he is not really a kind person. Rather, he desires that things should be good for him, and he sees those who surround him as an extension of himself. Although it is right for someone to fight off the attackers of those close to him, not everybody who does so is altruistic. Some may just be hateful people who enjoy joining a fight against outsiders.
Moshe’s instinct to defend his fellow Jew was a sign of love for his fellow Jew, not hatred of Egyptians. He was able to demonstrate that point and train himself by continuing to care for his fellow man in situations that weren’t "us against them." He demonstrated it further by getting involved in fights that had nothing to do with him. Then it was clear that Moshe would be a leader who would stand up for his whole flock, irrespective of tribal or political affiliation. Hashem then instructed him to take the sterling, personal qualities he had honed and apply them at home, in service of his own nation.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
