SHEMOS 1986

In the Torah portion Shemos we learn how Moshe Rabbeinu was chosen to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.  He did not feel that he was worthy.  He had not suffered the slavery of his brethren in Egypt.  He had been raised by an Egyptian princess.  He also had married a Midionite girl and did not have any connection with his people for a long time.  G-d, however, appeared to Moshe in the burning bush and told him that He had selected him to go down to Egypt and to save the Jewish people.  He protests and gives all sorts of reasons why he should not go.  The people would not believe him, etc.  G-d gives him three signs to convince the people.  He then says, "But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."  G-d loses His patience with him and tells him not to worry because He will send Aaron to help him.  Moshe then goes and asks his father-in-law's permission to leave.  If G-d had already told him to go, why did he have to request permission from his father-in-law?  He should have just told him he was going.
Then a very strange incident occurs.  It says, "And he was on the way at a hotel and G-d met him and wanted to kill him, and Zipporah took a flint and she circumcised the foreskin of her son and cast it at His feet and she said, 'Because a bridegroom, a blood you are to me' and He let him alone, and then she said, 'A bridegroom of blood regarding the circumcision.'" What's going on here! G-d had just told him to go down to Egypt, and now He wants to kill him?  What's going on here?  The rabbis explain that Moshe still had not made up his mind to go down to Egypt.  That's why he asked his father-in-law.  He was hoping maybe he would stop him.  He also was going down to Egypt at a very leisurely pace.  He was stalling.  He really did not want to go.

The reason why he did not want to go was because, even though he knew that saving the Jewish people was the right thing to do, he knew it could only be accomplished through added pain and suffering.  It would not be easy.  He did not know whether he was up to it.  That's why it says "and Zipporah took a flint and circumcised the foreskin of her son."  It was important that her son be circumcised.  It was necessary but yet it was painful.  We all know today that circumcision is beneficial and since World War II, most baby boys are circumcised among the non-Jews even, but the procedure hurts.  You give the baby some pain.  It is hard on the mother, etc.  Zipporah showed by her action that doing the right thing is not always easy and without cost.

After this time we find that Moshe no longer vacillates in his mission.  In life we have a tendency to think that if we do the right thing we will not suffer, and we will not cause others to suffer, but this is not true.  A doctor, in order to save his patient, must many times give him great pain.  It is not true that doing the right thing will not cause either you or others pain.  Moshe knew this.  He did not know whether he could take it, whether he had the courage to withstand the added pain that he knew was going to be the lot of the Jewish people when he would try to save them.  He, himself, would be subjected to ridicule.  It is not easy to do the right thing.  Sometimes it hurts terribly.

The Chalutzim, the pioneers who left Europe to go to Israel, knew they would never see their parents again.  They knew they were doing the right thing but it hurt.  I know my own grandfather and great-grandfather at ages 16 and 22 it was hard for them because they would never see their parents again and they did not.  They did the right thing.  What other choice did they have?  They could not stay in eastern Europe, but sometimes some of the young men and women had to leave even against their own parents' wishes.  It hurt.  It hurt the parents and it hurt them.  Many times people revel in doing the right thing so they it will hurt others.  I remember when our kids were small, sometimes when I spanked one, the other would say, "Give him more, give him more."  The child deserved the spanking, but the other should not revel in it.  There are people who like to have right on their side when they inflict cruelty.  When we do the right thing we must always do it with compassion.

Moshe did not know whether he could stand seeing others suffer, or if, when he caused this suffering, he could do it in a compassionate manner.  I know a case of a doctor who had a secretary for over 20 years who was now mixing up all the files.  She was a threat to the patients, and he knew he had to let her go, but it was hard.  How could he let her go after all these years?  After all, she still needed the job, but it was the right thing to do.  It gave him and her pain.  I remember when I was in high school, I was hired by someone at minimum wage to do what I thought was just answer the phone and take messages, but it turned out that the reason I was hired was because the boss, who was probably earning $100,000 a year, could not fire anyone.  He used to have me tell the people that they were laid off.  In business sometimes you have to lay people off if you are to stay in business.  I should have charged him $80,000 a year not minimum wage.  The boss did not act in a compassionate way.  He should have told them what a good job they had done, and how when business picked up they would be the first hired, etc., but, instead, he had a young kid abruptly tell them that they were through.  When we do the right thing we must do it compassionately.  Just because it is right does not mean that we can do it in a cruel fashion.

Even the signs that Moshe was given to convince the Jewish people that G-d had sent him conveyed some of the same message.  He stuck his hand in his bosom and it came back leperous.  He was going to be the subject, and the Jewish people, of much evil gossip, etc., but that should not let it worry them.  They should return their hand to their bosom and it would turn to its normal shape.  Many times in life we have to face challenges, but we should always do it with courage and do what we have to do; however, we should always do it with compassion.  Our hands should not flail out striking others even when they have spoken bad about us, but, instead, we should return out hands to our bosom and go on.  If we have acted with compassion the people will eventually understand, especially if we have tried to communicate and not cut them off cold.  In life we are called upon to do the right thing even when it hurts, but we always have to do the right thing with compassion.

In Israel today a new organization has been formed by parents of the non-religious protesting the fact that their children have become religious.  They claim that their children are breaking the families, are being ensnared by cults, medieval thinking, etc.  Where were these parents when the religious children turned secular?  Doesn't it hurt religious parents when they see their children turning non-religious?  Why was that all right but when a child becomes religious that is wrong?  Obviously, people have a right to choose their own way of life, and I applaud those who have chosen a religious way of life; however, these parents have a point.  Children, when they choose a way of life which I think is right, should do it with compassion.  They should not cut their parents off.  They should still maintain communication.  Religious children who were raised in non-religious homes and now became religious should treat their parents as parents.  They may not share the same values or be able to eat on the same dishes.  In life doing the right thing sometimes is very painful to us and to others.  We, though, must always do it with compassion and never do the right thing just so we can inflict pain.  We cannot run away from the challenges of life, but we can always be compassionate when confronting them.

I am reminded of the story they tell about a professor who was planning an expedition to Africa.  He put an item in the paper which advertised for an individual to accompany him to Africa.  The person should love to travel, know languages, and know firearms.  After a few days he received an applicant.  He asked the applicant, "Do you like to travel?" The fellow said, No, I hate it."  The professor then asked, "Do you speak languages?" The fellow answered, "No, only English; no Arabic or Urdu or Zulu."  The professor asked, "Can you handle a gun?" The fellow said, "No, I'm scared of them."  The professor then said, "Well, if that is the case, why did you apply?" The fellow answered, "I just wanted you to know that on me you should not count."  We count on each of us to do the right thing but to do it with compassion.