EXOD74 "It is not right to alienate, scorn, and hate people who desecrate the Sabbath. It is our duty to befriend them and encourage them to fulfil the commandments." [Abraham S. Halkin and David Hartman, Crisis and Leadership: Epistles of Maimonides (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1985), 15-35]. In a daring stroke of interpretation, he [Maimonides] quotes the verse: "Do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving" (Prov. 6:30). The Crypto-Jews who [embrace Christianity publicly but remain Jews privately] come to the synagogue are hungry for Jewish prayer. They "steal" moments of belonging. They should not be despised, but welcomed. This is a masterly example of that most difficult of moral challenges: to combine prescription and compassion. Rambam leaves us in no doubt as to what he believes Jews should do. But at the same time he is uncompromising in his defence of those who fail to do it. He does not endorse what they have done -- but he defends who are they are. He asks us to understand their situation. He gives them grounds for self-respect. He holds the doors of the community open. The argument reaches a climax as Rambam quotes a remarkable sequence of midrashic passages whose theme is that prophets must not condemn their people, but rather defend them before God. When Moses, charged with leading the people out of Egypt, replied, "But they will not believe me" [this verse], ostensibly he was justified. The subsequent biblical narrative suggests that Moses' doubts were well-founded. The Israelites were difficult people to lead. But the Midrash says that God replied to Moses, "They are believers and the children of believers, but you [Moses] will ultimately not believe" (Shabbat 97a). Rambam cites a series of similar passages and then says: If this is the punishment meted out to the pillars of the universe, the greatest of the prophets, because they briefly criticized the people--even though they were guilty of the sins of which they were accused--Can we envisage the punishment waiting those who criticize the Crypto-Jews who are under threat of death and without abandoning their faith, confessed to another religion in which they did not believe?

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EXOD76 Moses defended the people. Did he like them? Did he admire them? Was he liked by them? The Torah leaves us in no doubt as to the answers to those questions. Yet he defended them with all the passion and power at his disposal. Even when they had sinned. Even when they were ungrateful to God. Even when they made a Golden Calf. He risked his life to do so. He said to God: "And blot me out of the book You have written" (Exodus 32:32). According to the Talmud, God taught Moses this lesson at the very outset of his career. When Moses said about the people, "They will not believe in me" [this verse], God said, "They are the believers, children of believers, and in the end it will be you who does not believe" (Shabbat 97a). The leaders worthy of admiration are those who defend the people--even the non-Orthodox, even the secular, even those whose orthodoxies are a different shade from theirs. The people worthy of respect are those who give respect. Those who hate will be hated, those who look down on others will be looked down on, and those who condemn will be condemned. That is a basic principle of Judaism: midda keneged midda. The people who are great are those who help others to become great. Moses taught the Jewish people how to become great.

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EXOD77 A teacher should respect his students. … A teacher must constantly learn. Moshe was bidden by the Almighty to show two signs to the Jews that he was to lead them. Shmos 4:1-3. His staff turned into a serpent and his hand became leprous when he removed it from his bosom. Rashi explains that the snake indicated that Moshe slandered the Jews (like the serpent of old) and that the leprosy was a punishment for having suspected people. In essence Moshe was saying, "Look, I've suspected you wrongly and I've spoken loshon hara against you." The question arises what kind of claim to leadership was this declaration? Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bock, Rosh Hayeshiva of Telshe, explains that Moshe demonstrated he had indeed made mistakes, but he was ready to learn. Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller, Rosh Hayeshiva of Telshe in Chicago, Jewish Observer, Sept. 1977.

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EXOD78 …tzaraat….has been variously translated as leprosy, skin disease, and scaly infection. Yes there are formidable problems in identifying it with any known disease. First, it symptoms do not correspond to Hansen's Disease, otherwise known as leprosy. Second, as described in the Torah, it affects not only human beings but also the walls of houses, furniture, and clothes. There is no known medical condition that has this property. Besides, the Torah is a book about holiness and correct conduct. It is not a medical text. Even if it were, as David Zvi Hoffman points out in his commentary, the procedures to be carried out do not correspond to those that would be done if tzaraat were contagious disease. [Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman, Commentary to Sefer Vayikra [Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1972), vol. 1, 253-55)]. Finally, tzaraat as described in the Torah is a condition that brings not sickness but rather impurity, tum'a. Health and purity are different things altogether. The sages decoded the mystery by relating this parasha to the instances of the Torah in which someone was actually afflicted by tzaraat. One happened when Miriam spoke against her brother Moses (Num. 12:1 – 15). Another occurred when Moses at the burning bush said to God that the Israelites would not believe in him. His hand briefly turned "as leprous as snow" [this verse]. The sages regarded tzaraat as a punishment for lashon hara, evil speech, speaking negatively about or denigrating another person.

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EXOD81 The cults always have a charismatic leader who is the central focus and force in the cult. This concept of one central authority figure who is the leader is alien to Judaism. The relatively modern invention of Rabbi is not a very Jewish idea. From a Jewish, religious perspective, there is nothing that a rabbi can do that any other person can't do. This includes performing weddings and funerals, which need no rabbi in Jewish tradition. The rabbi has no special privileges and no special link with God. The term rabbi merely means teacher. The greatest rabbi, that is, teacher in Jewish history was Moses, who was called Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our Teacher, and not Moses our Leader or Moses the Prophet. And yet, according to the Torah, Moses had a lisp or another type of speech impediment. One explanation is that this teaches us that although Moses was not a charismatic speaker, he was still the greatest teacher. That is not the Jewish way--to get people to follow Jewish tradition because of charisma. It was what Moses said that made him effective. The Torah itself inspired the people and made Moses a great teacher, not Moses' way of speech. Therefore, the notion of following a leader merely because he or she is charismatic, while basic to cults, is alien to Judaism.

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EXOD80 See [[DEUT293]] Deuteronomy 6:16 try DUTIES 401-5

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EXOD79 Everything is foreseen [on high], yet freedom of choice is given; and the world is judged with goodness, and all is according to the majority of deeds. ... Pirkei Avot, Perek III mIshnah 19. Admittedly, it is sometimes extremely difficult to reconcile this principle – "the world is judged for the good" – with the actual facts as we perceive and experience them. There is so much agony and pain in the world, so much grinding poverty and suffering that befalls the innocent and righteous. It requires faith to believe that the principle holds good eternally and everywhere--faith that were we able to see a whole picture, the complete ramifications and consequences of every person's every action, in the past, present and future, we would understand the good involved in every judgment that must be borne. We can truly appreciate how "the world is judged with goodness" only if and when we can perceive "the multitude of deeds" that are involved. When Moses was commanded to liberate his brethren from Egypt, he begged leave to refuse, "for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Scripture continues: "Then the Lord said to him: Who has given man a mouth? Who makes him mute, or death, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" [this and following verses]. Could the Supreme Intelligence that has created the continuing miracle of life, consciousness and articulation not obviate such defects as deafness and blindness? If a physical handicap is an "act of God," do not imply that it is a defect, that the Almighty has produced something imperfect and defective. If for the purposes of a person's life, for the tasks he is destined to do, the goals he is destined to achieve, he requires a physical handicap, he is given it. If the Almighty sends a Moses, with a speech defect, to Egypt, then He wants, needs an agent with a speech defect--for reasons known to Him alone. In His infinite wisdom and infinite power, the Almighty has designed the world as it is because it thus best suits His purposes and the purposes of His world. The same holds true for every individual, in accordance with the "multitude of deeds" involved in each case. Were we in a position to see the "multitude of deeds" we would realize His infinite goodness and kindness.

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EXOD82 At the burning bush, Moses said to God: "I am not a man of words. I am heavy of speech and tongue" [this verse]. By the time we reach Deuteronomy, the book named "Words," Devarim, Moses has become the most eloquent of prophets. Some are puzzled by this. They should not be. God chose one who was not a man of words, so that when he spoke, people realized that it was not he who was speaking but God who was speaking through him. What he spoke were not his words but God's words. That is why He chose a couple who could not have children--Abraham and Sarah--to become parents of the first Jewish child. That is why He chose a people not conspicuous for their piety to become God's witnesses to the world. The highest form of greatness is to open ourselves to God so that His blessings flow through to the world. That is how the priests blessed the people. It was not their blessing. They were the channel of God's blessing. The highest achievement to which we can inspire is to open ourselves to others and to God in love so that something greater than ourselves flows through us.

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EXOD83 We must do everything that we can to spare others envy. Rashi (verse 10) cites the Midrash which states that for seven days Moshe refused to be appointed as the leader who would take the Jewish people out of Egypt because he did not want to be exalted above Aharon, his older brother. The Midrash states that Moshe finally consented to go to Egypt to ask for the release of the Jewish people from bondage only when God said to him, "When Aharon sees you, he will be glad in his heart" (verse 14). Aharon will not merely pretend to be happy for his brother's greatness, but will sincerely experience happiness. Midrash Tanchuma. Moshe's behavior was truly amazing. Moshe, who loved the Jewish people exceedingly and was willing to sacrifice his own comfort and safety for their welfare, refused to be the one who would release them from their misery, and besieged God to choose someone else in his stead. Why? Because Moshe was afraid that Aharon would feel slighted in being passed over for this great position of leadership. To spare his brother this pain, Moshe was willing to forgo the greatest privilege possible: to be the one who would save the entire nation. Only when Moshe was convinced that his prominence would not cause any suffering to Aharon did he consent to accept it. From here we see how careful we must be to spare others from even the smallest amount of suffering. Since man was created in the image of God, harming a fellow human being is similar, as it were, to harming his Creator. This is a lesson we must constantly remember. Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel in Ohr Hatzofun, Shmos, p. 15. If two prominent people come to a town and only one is honored, the recipient of honor should honor the other person to prevent his feeling jealous. Moreover, this will cause others to also honor the slighted person. Sefer Chasidim 359. There are advertisements which proclaim: "You will be the envy of the neighborhood." This "goal" should be shunned by us. We must do our utmost to spare others from envy. Moshe was willing to make an enormous sacrifice to this end. We may not be able to reach Moshe's level, but we must at least be as careful as possible not to cause envy. We should avoid boasting about our accomplishments, abilities, plans, children, etc.

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EXOD84 … Aaron … demonstrated leadership ability. When Moses was hesitant to accept leadership and was concerned about his ability to speak publicly, God assigned his brother Aaron as his spokesperson. Moses was concerned that Aaron might be jealous that Moses was selected for leadership over him, but God assured Moses that this was not the case, and the Torah records that Aaron was actually happy for Moses and not jealous at all.

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