It was wonderful to engage in prayer and learning with so many of you this past weekend!  Thank you as well for welcoming my mentor, Rabbi Kupetz.  He very much enjoyed his visit and was quite impressed with the WRJC community. 

I would like to share with you a short story about this week's Torah portion, Va-'era.  In Exodus 6:12, Moses protests God's request for his leadership and reminds God for a second time that he [Moses] is slow of speech. Moses' protest is recurring in these early chapters of Exodus and it is telling of his character.  He is not interested in a public role of leadership.  The Rabbis suggest that this tendency away from the public eye was literally burned into him at an early age.  

There is a Midrash (explanatory story) about Moses as a child, growing up in Pharaoh's palace.  The Rabbis tell us that at a young age, Pharoah perceived Moses to be a threat to his crown.  Pharoah often observed little Moses playing with Pharoah's crown and trying it on for size as a young child.  As a result, Pharaoh decided to test Moses and see if he would become a threat.  To test him, Pharoah placed before the boy two objects - a large shiny jewel and a hot coal.  If Moses reached for the jewel, Pharaoh would know that Moses wanted his crown and would become a threat and Pharaoh would have to kill him. 

Moses began to reach and moved towards the Jewel.  At that moment, an angel of God came and pushed Moses' hand towards the coal, sparing his life.  Moses grabbed the coal and burnesd his hand.  Because it was hot, he put his hand and the coal into his mouth to cool it off.  The coal burned the inside of his mouth and left him with impeded speech.  Thus Moses learned at an early age to shy away from fortune and leadership.

This is reflective of how God truly directs the interactions between Moses and Pharaoh by continually hardening Pharoah's heart and raising the level of suffering for the Egyptians.  God is in charge of Moses and his tendancies as a leader from a early age setting the entire stage for the story of the Israelite redemption from Egypt.  Nothing in this drama is left to chance!

Shalom,

Dan Utley