Parshat Vaera
Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer

Moshe Rabbeinu did not readily accept his mission to go to Mitzrayim and call for the liberation of Bnei Yisroel from bondage. Chazal explain that it took seven attempts until Moshe ultimately agreed to this assignment.

The Medrash identifies the bulk of these seven attempts as appearing at the beginning of Parshas Vaera, in which Moshe is repeatedly charged by God to go to Pharaoh and insist that he free the Jews.

Why is Parshas Vaera the stage for this back-and-forth exchange between Hashem and Moshe? Could not Moshe's repeated expressions of reluctance to fulfill the task, and Hashem's repeated charges to go to Pharaoh, be featured in Parshas Sh'mos, when Moshe was initially assigned to redeem the Jews?

The answer to this question may be deduced from the end of Parshas Sh'mos, in which Moshe is rebuffed by Pharaoh and then returns to God, asking why he was sent on such a failed mission. God replies that Pharaoh will indeed send out the Jews, and He provides Moshe with much encouragement and more details of His plan for His People's salvation.

It may be suggested that Moshe had to go through this frustration, followed by encouragement by God, in order to internalize the Jews' emotional plight. As was explained in the dvar Torah on last week's parshah, Moshe Rabbeinu needed to personally identify with his task. In this vein, Moshe needed to experience the frustration and despair of the Jews, who appeared to be in a hopeless position. Their slavery had endured already for over 100 years, and the promises of Yaakov and Yosef that God would redeem them seemed so distant and bleak. Although many Jews still believed in the ancient pledge that they would be freed and return to their homeland, the realization of this did not seem to be around the corner. So, too, did Moshe need to feel that he was up against a brick wall and sense that Pharaoh was unyielding to God's charge; Moshe had to experience the same desperation as the people he was to lead in order to internalize their emotions. Only then would God enable Moshe to succeed.

Thus, Parshas Vaera presents Hashem's assignment and Moshe's repeated decline of such, as Vaera commences on the heels of Moshe's display of despair, where Parshas Sh'mos left off. The repeated charges to Moshe Rabbeinu to fulfill God's mission for the Jews were necessitated by Moshe's internal feelings of hopelessness about the situation. It was specifically the internalization of this hopelessness which qualified Moshe to lead, as he identified with the people. This is why Parshas Vaera forms the beginning of the redemption process.

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