Dear Friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parasha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell ”

The Children of Israel multiply in Egypt. Threatened by their growing numbers, Pharaoh enslaves them and orders the Hebrew midwives, Shifrah and Puah, to kill all male babies at birth. When they do not comply, he commands his people to cast the Hebrew babies into the Nile.

A child is born to Yocheved, the daughter of Levi, and her husband, Amram, and placed in a basket on the river, while the baby’s sister, Miriam, stands watch from afar. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the boy, raises him as her son, and names him Moses.

As a young man, Moses leaves the palace and discovers the hardship of his brethren. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills the Egyptian. The next day he sees two Jews fighting; when he disapproves, they reveal his previous day’s murder, and Moses is forced to flee to Midian. There he rescues Jethro’s daughters, marries one of them – Zipporah – and becomes a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks.

One day when Moses was watching the herd, G-d appears to him in a burning bush at the foot of Mount Sinai and instructs him to go to Pharaoh and demand: “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.” Moses’ brother, Aaron, is appointed to serve as his spokesman. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron gathered the elders of Israel to tell them that the time of their redemption has come. The people believe; but Pharaoh refuses to let them go, and even intensifies the suffering of Israel.

Moses returns to G-d to protest: “Why have You done evil to this people?” G-d promises that the redemption is close at hand.

” Dvar Torah ”

What are the qualifications to become a leader of a nation? Well, in today’s modern day democratic society, it’s quite simple. The person has to be well educated, has to be an articulate speaker, has to have prestige, has to have a pleasant appearance, has to have experience in politics, and above all, has to be popular among the people in order to get their votes.

In this week’s Parsha, Hashem also chooses a leader for his nation to take them out of Egypt! Who does He choose? He chooses Moshe Rabeinu! But Moshe’s characteristics certainly do not meet today’s leadership standards. After all, he wasn’t popular among the Jews since he was raised in Pharaoh palace and was living away from the Jews for a few decades. He wasn’t a good speaker, since he had a speech problem. And being a shepherd for decades, doesnot leave him much experience in politics nor leadership! What is more amazing is that Moshe didn’t even need to run a campaign! On the contrary, he didn’t want to take the position and tried every excuse not to be chosen.
But Hashem was so confident that he is the only one suited to lead the Benei Yisrael, that he didn’t even pick any other candidates! So, what qualities did Moshe have that Hashem was fascinated by them? There had to be something special about Moshe that Hashem couldn’t find it in others. So, what was it?

Well, we don’t need to look far. Rabbi Frand says that the answer can be found in this week’s parsha. The Torah mentions briefly four incidents that talks about Moshe’s characteristics, which may indicate his qualities for leadership.

The first incident tells us that when he grew up, he went out to his brethren to witness their suffering. Although he lived in the lap of luxury in the palace of Pharaoh, he refused to sit back in comfort but went out to empathize with the suffering of his brethren.

The next incident was when he saw an Egyptian man hitting a Jewish man. He felt the pain for his fellow Jew which forced him to kill the Egyptian.

The third incident was when he went out and saw one Jew beating another Jew. Moshe was concerned and got involved to come to the aid of the victim. The Torah is trying to tell us that Moshe was not just concerned about a situation of an Egyptian beating up a Jew; even two Jews fighting troubled his conscious.

Finally, we are taught that Moshe’s compassion is not just for his fellow Jews. He goes to Midyan and steps in to protect Yitro’s daughters who are being taken advantage of by other shepherds. He stands up for the oppressed young girls who were not able to defend themselves.

In all four incidents, Moshe demonstrates the same characteristic, and that is, compassion towards fellow human beings. In all cases, it shows that he really cares about other people. We even see that he puts his own life in danger in order to save another life! And this is what Hashem adored about Moshe so much; his love for other people!! While other leaders of the time may have demonstrated qualities such as power, superiority, prestige and pride, Moshe demonstrated feelings of compassion, empathy, affection and caring for others. Hashem knew that the only one who can lead this difficult nation is someone who has compassion and love for his people, and that would be the one and only Moshe Rabeinu!

There is a Midrash which says that Moshe was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep one day, when one of them bolted. Moshe followed the runaway animal until it reached a body of water, where it stopped for a drink. Moshe compassionately said to the sheep, ‘If only I had known that you were thirsty, I would have carried you on my shoulders and brought you here! You must be exhausted from running . . .’ Saying this, he scooped up the animal, placed it on his shoulders and headed back to his flock.

Hashem said: ‘If this is how he cares for the sheep of another man, he is definitely fit to shepherd Mine . . .’”

Yes my friends, the greatness of a leader is not measured by his speech, accomplishments or popularity, but rather, it’s measured by how much he cares for his people! People in power, often loose sight of their goal, which is to take care of their people’s needs! Many leaders prioritize personal gain over the interest of their people. But the Torah is telling us otherwise. Moshe, the greatest leader of all times, was ready to give up his life for the sake of his people; something that we hardly see in today’s society.
In the eyes of Hashem, love, compassion, caring and humility are the greatest qualities found in a leader, not his talents, achievements or honor!

Accordingly, I’m proud to announce that the leaders of our community, both in past and present, carry the same characteristics as Moshe Rabeinu. They all became leaders because of their love and passion for the community. They’ve all put in enormous amount of their time in taking care of the community’s needs, without asking for any rewards or gratitudes, just because they love the people of our community. Those leaders who have left us, may they rest in peace, and those of them who are with us, may Hashem bless them and give them the strength to continue to do their amazing job. We raise our hats to them all!

Shabath Shalom & Regards;

Martin