{"id":61854,"date":"2019-04-16T12:08:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T17:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=61854"},"modified":"2019-04-16T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T17:08:24","slug":"take-that-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/take-that-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Take That Step"},"content":{"rendered":"

In deriving meaning from Torah, the most innocent-looking words can pack a big punch. Just think about how Nachum ish gam zu<\/em> was able to find significance in the word \u201cet<\/em>\u201d (Chagigah 12a). A beginning Hebrew student might be taught not to translate this word, that it carries no real meaning \u2013 yet if we set our minds to it, we can learn a lot from those two little letters.<\/p>\n

So it shouldn\u2019t be surprising that a number of commentaries see a great deal of meaning in one little word in this pasuk<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a man of the house of Levi went<\/em>, and he married a daughter of Levi.\u201d (Shemot 2:1)<\/p>\n

So begins the momentous story of Moshe\u2019s birth \u2013 and according to many commentators, the word vayelech<\/em>, \u201cand he went,\u201d itself alludes to the momentousness of the occasion.<\/p>\n

Not everyone sees it that way, of course. Ibn Ezra, for instance, suggests that Amram (the man) and Yocheved (the woman) simply lived in different cities; he \u201cwent\u201d to her because they weren\u2019t in the same place and couldn\u2019t get married unless somebody went somewhere. No big deal.<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s the famous midrashic tradition that sees the \u201cgoing\u201d as a very big deal. The Gemara in Sotah 12a understands \u201cand he went\u201d idiomatically, telling us Amram\u2019s marriage to Yocheved was actually a remarriage that came about because he \u201cwent after his daughter\u2019s advice\u201d \u2013 or, as we say in English, \u201che followed her advice.\u201d And what was that advice, so significant that the Torah hints to it and the midrash fleshes it out and it led to Moshe\u2019s birth and growth into the savior of the Jewish people? According to the midrash, Miriam guided her father towards hope in the midst of hopelessness. He had separated from his wife because it seemed pointless to bring children into the world just to be killed, but Miriam pointed out that (1) some babies born would be girls, and wouldn\u2019t be killed, (2) refraining from having children at all removed not only their chance at life in this world, but also in the World to Come, and (3) Pharaoh\u2019s decree to kill the boys might not even be carried out, but as a tzaddik<\/em>, Amram would definitely be successful in his chosen course of action to prevent any births.<\/p>\n

The questions of certainty and uncertainty in Miriam\u2019s third point can be seen underlying the whole debate. Amram was so sure of how things would play out if he allowed babies to be born that he stepped back from action. His daughter, however, offered him a more complex picture of what was and wasn\u2019t certain, and ironically, opening up more unknowns gave him the confidence to take a step forward. It was still scary: he might (and did) have a boy, who would indeed be in danger because of Pharaoh\u2019s decree; the World to Come doesn\u2019t feel as certain as the one right in front of us; and it\u2019s hard to rely on a nebulous concept of personal righteousness and merit when confronted by the immanent reality of a powerful king\u2019s decree. Yet, Amram did it; vayelech<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ramban offers the same basic idea as the midrash<\/em> in a more streamlined, peshat<\/em>-oriented depiction, and it centers on that one word: \u201cScripture said [the word vayelech<\/em>] because he didn\u2019t worry about Pharaoh\u2019s decree, but took himself a wife to have children with her. Because with anyone who is zealous to do a new thing<\/strong>, it says this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeal and initiative can be tremendously powerful, positive traits that lead a person towards momentous accomplishments \u2013 but they can also be double-edged swords. Ramban goes on to offer several examples of pesukim<\/em> in which the word \u201cvayelech<\/em>\u201d indicates \u201czeal to do a new thing,\u201d and they\u2019re not all positive. \u201cAnd Reuven went<\/em> and lay with Bilha\u201d (Bereishit 35:22), for instance. Hoshea\u2019s marriage to Gomer bat<\/em> Devalim in Hoshea 1:3 \u2013 divinely mandated, true, but overall not an action we feel great about. \u201cCome (lechu<\/em>) and we will sell him to the Yishmaelim\u201d (Bereishit 37:2). Etc.<\/p>\n

Are we really to take the brothers\u2019 sale of Yosef as a model of zealous initiative? Is that step comparable to the step (literal and\/or metaphorical) Amram took to marry Yocheved?<\/p>\n

Maybe.<\/p>\n

In a similar explanation, Abarbanel suggests that the Torah emphasizes the marriage between Amram and Yocheved as being holy and in keeping with G-d\u2019s will \u2013 an important point to emphasize, he says, because Yocheved was Amram\u2019s aunt and \u201caccording to societal wisdom, it is not proper that a man marry his aunt\u2026.\u201d For this reason, says Abarbanel, \u201cThe Torah said \u2018a man went\u2019 \u2013 describing this matter with \u2018going\u2019 because it was a strange, surprising matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading Abarbanel \u2013 and Ramban, too \u2013 another English phrase comes to mind: \u201cHe went and did it!\u201d The word \u201cvayelech<\/em>\u201d isn\u2019t just about a surprising action, but about doing<\/em> something even though <\/em>it\u2019s surprising. I can\u2019t believe he took such a step!<\/em><\/p>\n

As Abarbanel highlights, sometimes an action is surprising because it seems<\/em> negative. As Ramban\u2019s examples indicate, some surprising actions actually are<\/em> negative.<\/p>\n

Rav Hirsch, yet another commentary who highlights the initiative and courage implied by the apparently superfluous word \u201cvayelech<\/em>,\u201d links the positive and negative results of a zealous personality. He points out that what he calls \u201cthe Levite spirit\u201d was alluded to in Yaakov\u2019s bracha<\/em> as a negative, but that the same trait was also \u201cto be the saving spirit in times of oppression.\u201d The same underlying character traits that led Levi to join his brother in killing the people of Shechem also allowed his children to upend the Egyptian oppression: according to midrashic tradition, the midwives who thwarted Pharaoh\u2019s initial decree were from Levi; Moshe\u2019s parents, who had to find the courage to risk having him, were from Levi. Moshe himself, we might add, had to take step after step out of his comfort zone to free his people.<\/p>\n

We all have comfort zones, and we often don\u2019t like stepping out of them. We might be worried about what people will think, as may have been a concern for Amram and Yocheved. We might be worried about rejection, like Moshe was when he protested time and again that nobody will listen to him. We might be worried that our choice will have terrible consequences, the concern we would have expected from the midwives and that is attributed to Amram by both the midrash and Ramban\u2019s peshat<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But as Miriam reminds her father in that midrash \u2013 if we stick with what we know or think we know, if we\u2019re too afraid to take a step into uncertainty, we\u2019ll lose all the good that could have come. And if we take the step \u2013 who can ever know where it might lead?<\/p>\n

In some of Ramban\u2019s examples, the action was a mistake; in others, it seemed odd but was actually positive (like Abarbanel suggests in the case of Amram\u2019s marriage to Yocheved). Yet he cites them all together, perhaps because in every case, vayelech<\/em> deserves to be recognized for what it is: a step towards something unexpected and\/or uncertain. We can respect the courage it takes to face that unknown, to make a choice and \u2013 excuse yet another clich\u00e9 \u2013 \u201cjust do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, we don\u2019t want to encourage haphazard steps towards dubious goals, with dubious motivation, just for the sake of doing something of note. \u201cJust do it\u201d is a tricky concept. Sometimes an action is surprising for good reason; sometimes, better that we just don\u2019t<\/em> do it. But sometimes, taking a risk \u2013 a step towards the unexpected \u2013 can have a momentous impact. And we might not know the impact that step can have, until we go and do it.<\/p>\n

Just consider how many decisions and actions, big and small, have shaped each of our lives. Naturally indecisive myself, I\u2019m often struck by how random many decisions can feel \u2013 and how easy it can be to change the course of history, or at least our lives or at least one day, in the moment it takes to just go one way or the other. The choice to click \u201csend\u201d on an email is a great example of an action that can be dangerous if not carefully thought out, but incredibly rewarding if it is: Do we apply for the job or not? Invite the Shabbos guest or not? Reach out to the person who hurt us, or that we hurt? Submit the article for publication? One click \u2013 and vayelech<\/em>, we\u2019ve taken that first step \u2013 and then stuff can happen.<\/p>\n

In the words of Amos Chacham, author of the Daat Mikra<\/em> commentary on Shemot, \u201cVayelech<\/em>\u2026 indicates the arousal to action and the transition from lack of action to a situation of action.\u201d<\/p>\n

In just one moment, with just one step, we can transform ourselves from \u201cinactive\u201d to \u201cactive.\u201d We can transform the unknown to known. And if we just do it<\/em> right, we just might transform the world.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, that\u2019s worth a little risk.<\/p>\n

\n

Sarah C. Rudolph is a Jewish educator and freelance writer. She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller,\u00a0Jewish Action<\/a>, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children, but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through\u00a0www.TorahTutors.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0www.WebYeshiva.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In deriving meaning from Torah, the most innocent-looking words can pack a big punch. Just think about how Nachum ish gam zu was able to find significance in the word \u201cet\u201d (Chagigah 12a). 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