EXOD72 When God wanted to explain the essence of God and His message to the Jewish people in freeing them from Egyptian bondage, Moses asked God, “What is Your name?” Not only man’s essence, but even God’s essence is revealed through a name. Judaism believes that the name of a person is so crucial that it can change and sometimes help determine a person’s personality and future. In fact, the Talmud states that a person’s name impacts upon his future life. Berachot 7b. There is a Talmudic story describing Rabbi Meir as “one who understood the meaning of names.” Yoma 83a When he and other Rabbis went to an inn, Rabbi Meir realized that the innkeeper’s name revealed that he was an immoral person. When everyone else put money in the safe at the inn, Rabbi Meir did not. The next day, the innkeeper denied having received any of the money. Since the name often defines a person, the Midrash states that parents should be very careful in choosing a specific name to match the essence of the baby because the name could determine if the child will grow up to be moral or immoral. Midrash Tanchuma, Ha’azinu 7.

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EXOD73 God has no image because He is not physical. He transcends the physical universe because He created it. Therefore, He is free, unconstrained by the laws of matter. That is what God means when He tells Moses that His name is "I will be what I will be" [this verse], and later when, after the sin of the Golden Calf, He tells him, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Exodus 33:19). God is free, and by making us in His image, He gave us also the power to be free. This, as the Torah makes clear, was God's most fateful gift. Given freedom, humans misuse it--as we noted earlier, Adam and Eve disobey God's command; Cain murders Abel. By the end of the parasha we find ourselves in the world before the Flood, filled with violence to the point where God regretted that He had ever created humanity. This is the central drama of Tanakh and of Judaism as a whole. Will we use our freedom to respect order or misuse it to create chaos? Will we honour or dishonour the image of God that lives within the human heart and mind?

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EXOD75 Do not assume or exaggerate guilt. … Moshe's saying that the Jewish people would not believe him constituted loshon hara and for this Moshe was punished (See Rashi to verses 3 and 6). The Chofetz Chayim asked why Moshe's statement was considered loshon hora. It was necessary for Moshe to ask for a visible means of proving to the people that he was God's messenger. Why did God punish him for it? The Chofetz Chayim wrote in the name of Rabbi Eliyahu Shick that Moshe's error was in saying, "They will not believe me," which is an absolute announcement. Moshe should have said, "Perhaps they will not believe me," which would show that their skepticism was but a possibility. He had no right to assume that they positively would not believe him. Shmiras Haloshon 2:13. From here we learn that even if a person must say something against others for practical reasons, he must be careful not to exaggerate. (See Chofetz Chayim 10:2; see B'air Mayim Chayim 4:43 for a possible exception).

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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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