Shabbat Parshat Shemot - 5763
“The Prince and the Pauper”
(with apologies to Mark Twain)

Miriam had prophesied that "my mother will give birth to a son who will save Israel" (Megilah 14a). When Yocheved did give birth to Moshe, the "Chumash" says, "She saw him, that he was good" (Shemot 2:2). Rashi there cites the Midrash which says that when Moshe was born, the house became filled with light (Shemot Rabbah 1:19). Amram, the father of Moshe, according to the Gemara cited, upon seeing the fulfillment of his daughter's prophecy, "stood up and kissed her on the head."

It was the time of the harsh decree that all Jewish baby boys had to be drowned in the Nile River, because that was the advice that Pharaoh’s astrologers had given, to cut short the life of the one who had the potential to be the savior of the slave population of Hebrews. Moshe, placed in a basket by his grieving mother, and set afloat in the marshes of the Nile by his sister, Miriam, was found by the daughter of the Pharaoh. The Princess of Egypt saved the infant, gave him the name by which he is known to all generations and made the courageous decision to adopt him (securing for herself an honored place in the World-to-Come), despite her father’s genocidal policies.

When Miriam suggested that the baby be nursed by a Hebrew woman, Moshe returned to the house of his parents, where he received his deep attachment to the Jewish People with his mother’s milk, bonding with her and receiving also the foundation of a deep connection to his father. From his father, he also received at that time the beginning of an education in the traditions of his people, which engendered within him the love and respect that caused him to name one of his sons "Eliezer, because the G-d of my father had come to my aid." (Shemot 18:4)

Moshe spent his childhood in the royal palace, raised by the daughter of the Pharaoh, ultimately receiving from the priests and the magicians there a Harvard-and-Hogwarts (ala Harry Potter, “l’havdil elef havdalot”) style education there (though he learned what the world of “kishuf,” or magic that was centered in Egypt had to offer, only to understand what the opposition had up its sleeve, so to speak). Unbeknownst to the palace, he would slip out occasionally to observe the fate of the Hebrews, and to internalize a critical leadership "skill" of the heart - what the Saba of Kelm called the ability to be "nosei b'ol im chaveiro," to share his fellow's burden; to empathize with the suffering of his people.

His character was soon to be tested. One day, he observed an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jew mercilessly. The "Chumash" records that Moshe "looked this way and that" (Shemot 2:12) and "saw that there was no man." Rav Yissachar Yaakovson in "Bina BaMikra" cites the "Ktav V'Kabbalah" who explains that somewhat enigmatic expression as meaning that Moshe looked from person to person among the many observers, to see if any of his fellow slaves would come to the aid of their comrade, who was receiving the savage beating. When he saw that there "was no man," that no one was able to rise above the apathetic "slave mentality" sufficiently to "get involved," Moshe took action by himself, killing the Egyptian and burying him in the sand.

Another incident is then recounted involving the young prince. He meets two Hebrews fighting (according to the Midrash, they were Dossan and Aviram – Jewish troublemakers who were just now beginning their careers of being thorns in Moshe’s side), with one about to strike the other. Rav Yaakovson cites the Sforno, who explains that here Moshe takes no physical action but interrupts the fight verbally, attempting to exploit his royal presence and expecting the Jew, naively and unwisely but receiving here an education in the nature of the men he was dealing with, to realize the foolishness and inappropriateness of his actions, "Wicked man, why do you strike your neighbor?" (Shemot 2:13)

The third occasion we have to observe Moshe at a scene of conflict is in Midian, the country to which he has fled from execution by the Pharaoh, who now recognizes him as a dangerous threat to his kingdom. The daughters of Yitro, Priest of Midian, shepherding their father’s flocks, are being harassed by the local shepherd roughnecks, and Moshe comes to their aid. Here Moshe takes no violent action, nor does he attempt to point out their error to the Midianite male shepherds; he simply intervenes and protects the weaker party, as it says in Kohelet, "And the L-rd is always on the side of the downtrodden." (Kohelet 3:15)

Thus, the “Chumash” has painted the portrait of the man uniquely qualified to lead the Jewish People to freedom, physical and spiritual. He has within himself empathy and identification with his brothers, a deep understanding of his Tradition, and also the presence to stand as more than an equal in the royal palace, as he will need to do in the coming confrontation with the Pharaoh. He will be the Messenger of the Almighty, commanding the King of Egypt to “Let My People Go!”

But surprisingly, on the first night of "Pesach," or Passover, the night of the Seder, we note that Moshe's name is hardly mentioned in the Haggadah, the text we use for telling the story of “Yetziat Mitzrayim,” even though there was no human being more central to the story of the Exodus than Moshe! We find a clue to this anomaly when we realize that there is also no more central symbol that night than the Matzah. And the Matzah is in fact a double symbol. At one and the same time, it is the “lechem she’onim alav dvarim harbeh,” “the bread over which much is told,” representing expansiveness and Freedom; yet it is also the “lechem oni,” the “poor man's bread,” representing Slavery.

Moshe, in addition to having been a real person, arguably the greatest human being who ever lived was, in a sense, also a double symbol. At one and the same time, by virtue of having been brought up in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt, and infinitely more so by virtue of his position of “...in all of My Palace, he is trustworthy” (BaMidbar 12:7), referring to his status in the Palace of HaShem in Heaven, he represents ultimate human Freedom! Yet, by his identification with, and empathy for every single enslaved Jew, he represented Slavery. He was a “Prince” and a “Pauper.” As the “anav mikol adam,” the humblest of men, Moshe is hiding in the Matzah!

Of course, even our greatest leaders are but shadows of what Moshe was. But the Jewish attitude has always been “Yiphtach B'doro KiShmuel B'doro!” Even a Yiphtach, a far less than perfect Jewish leader in the time of the Shoftim, the Judges, must be accorded the same honor as was Shmuel HaNavi, Samuel the Prophet, the greatest of the Judges, who is compared to Moshe and Aharon. We must unite behind the less-than-great leader just as we would behind the great leader. And once we become a united nation, a “goy echad baaretz,” one People united in the Land of Israel, we pray that Hashem will bring forward the great leader that He has promised us, Mashiach ben David.

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

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