- "The midwives feared G-d" (Exodus, 1:17)
In every hospital with a maternity ward, a small percent of children die at birth. The Jewish midwives feared that should a child die, they would be blamed for listening to Pharaoh's decree. Therefore, they prayed, and Hashem granted them a miracle, so that even the children who were meant to die at birth continued to live. Thus, through their righteousness, they caused the children "to live."
- "She called him Moshe" (Exodus, 2:10)
We know that Moshe had many names. The name his parents gave him at birth was not Moshe, but Tuvya. So the question becomes: Why did he keep specifically this name for his entire life, if it was not his real name (and, in fact, only received it 3 months after he was born)?
Even though Moshe knew that this was not his real name, he retained it and used it out of gratitude, so as not to forget the one who acted kindly towards him. Whenever he was called Moshe, it reminded him of being drawn from the water by Batya, Pharaoh's daughter. This is why the word Rabbeinu follows the word Moshe- to show us that Moshe is Rabbeinu- our teacher. It is a lesson in humanity, humility, and recognizing goodness.
On the other hand, the Rambam was known as a scholar, and through his works, he educated many generations in Torah. For this reason, he became known as Rabbeinu Moshe, Our teacher Moshe Ben Maimon.
Moshe Rabbeinu is numerically equal to the number 613. This is because he gave us the Torah, which consists of 613 mitzvot (commandments).
Numerically, Rabbeinu Moshe equals the same thing, alluding to the fact that the Rambam wrote the Mishne Torah, explaining all 613 mitzvot
- He turned here and there but saw nobody. (Exodus, 2:12)
When Moshe saw a Jew being beaten, he could not believe it. Why was nobody protesting the fact an innocent Jew was being beaten for no reason? Immediately, Moshe "turned here and there", he went to the police, government and even to the "humanitarians". "Do something!" he said.
After turning to all sides and "saw nobody" he realized that the world doesn't consider Jewish blood human. Therefore, he had no choice but to take the law into his own hand and kill the Egyptian.
1 comments:
It is my understanding that when Shemos 2:12 speaks of Moshe turning here and there on all sides that he was actually able to see the past, the present, and the future.
He was able to see the act that caused the Jewish man to be beaten, the Egyptian who was beating the Jew had lain with the Jewish man's wife and now sought to murder him. Moshe had seen this through a prophetic vision and felt justified in revenge. (Can't say I blame Moshe.)
But in the end, we know that Paroah had claimed the Jewish people had become too great of a people and feared us. Albeit, no one, not one Jew, had given him cause t fear a Jew. (Sounds like hitler, doesn't it.) And it all boils down to people hating Jews. No sense in hating, even more so, no sense in hating eaceable people like Jews. We always stand for peace, and encourage others to do the same.
Love4Torah
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