No Denial in the Nile
Dealing with the pain and suffering of others is a most difficult matter. Many grown people develop a coping mechanism, whereby they desensitize themselves to the pain of others or they are in denial that such suffering is real. This coping mechanism, while it might be necessary to prevent one from falling into a paralyzing depression, can also generate a very dangerous sense of indifference and cold-blooded insensitivity.
Moses More Mature than His Age
When Pharaoh decreed that all the Jewish boys shall be thrown into the water, Moses’ mother had Moses placed in the Nile River. Batya, Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the little basket. When she opened the basket, the Torah describes:
“She saw the child and behold it was youth crying and she had pity on him and she said, ’this is from the Hebrew children.””
Rashi, citing the Talmud, takes note of the apparent discrepancy in Batya’s description of Moses. On the one hand she sees a child, but his voice is that of a youth, indicating a much older person found and not a little baby.
While it is obvious that the Torah wishes to teach us that Moses was more mature than his age, why is it expressed by the sound of his voice?
One more question arises when we look at the end of the verse. Batya says, “This is of (or: from) the Hebrew children.” It would have made more sense to have written, “This is a Hebrew child.” Why does it say, “This is from the Hebrew children?”
Crying for the Pain of Others
Rabbi Meir Shapiro, one of the pre-Holocaust Jewish leaders, founder of the famed Lubliner Yeshivah, member of the Polish Parliament, once offered the following beautiful explanation.
How do we distinguish between the crying of a baby and that of a more mature individual? A baby cries for its own pain and need. A mature person cries when someone else is hurting as well. A baby who cries usually needs a comforting embrace by his mother, or some other soothing and nurturing action to get it to stop crying. A mature person, who cries because of the pain of others, will not be comforted by a warm caress.
When Batya opened the little basket she noticed a little baby crying. Her first reaction would be to pick the baby up and hold it in a tight embrace. Yet, despite her best efforts at trying to comfort the little child, Moses continued to cry.
Batya was dumbfounded. She never saw a child tat persisted in crying even after being held. It was not the self-centered cry of a child, Batya reasoned. This child is a youth. True, he cries the same way any baby would cry, but yet it seems that it was not its own comfort and need that caused Moses to cry. It is the suffering of others tat troubles his infant.
Batya therefore exclaims: “This is from the Hebrew children.” She did not mean to say that Moses was a Hebrew child. She meant to say that his crying was from the Hebrew children. Moses was crying because he had a intuitive sense of pain and anguish for the suffering of his fellow babies who were not as fortunate as he was to be saved by the daughter of the wicked Pharaoh.
Moses could not be comforted with the knowledge of his own salvation. From the day he was thrown into the Nile River, Moses was pained by the suffering of others.
Overriding Our Coping Mechanism
Dealing with the pain and suffering of others is a most difficult matter. Many grown people develop a coping mechanism, whereby they desensitize themselves to the pain of others or they are in denial that such suffering is real. This coping mechanism, while it might be necessary to prevent one from falling into a paralyzing depression, can also generate a very dangerous sense of indifference and cold-blooded insensitivity.
One of the most serious characteristics of the exile of Jews from their Land is the spiritual desensitization process that occurs in exile that enables us to cope with all the adversity exile brings in its wake.
The Torah tells us that the liberation of the Jewish people from their Egyptian bondage began not with Moses speaking to Pharaoh “Let my people go so that they may serve G-d,” rather it began when Moses cried uncontrollably because he could not bear the cries of the other children. This is the characteristic of Redemption and liberation.
While there was only one Moses, every Jew has an obligation to follow in his footsteps, by resisting the temptation to ignore the plight of others.
Crying and Pleading with G-d
In recent weeks and months, we have witnessed terrible tragedy in the Land of Israel and in this country at the hands of the most barbaric forces of terrorist inhumanity.
While we cannot fathom G-d’s ways and explain why these things happen, we must know how to react. First and foremost, we must feel empathy with all those who suffered. Our cry must be “from the Hebrew children” whose lives were lost and who lost their parents.
But this crying must be accompanied with heartfelt plea to G-d (that should accompany our increased actions of goodness and kindness):
“How much longer?!”
How much longer will we have to be in a world that is so violent and filled with hatred?
How much longer will the Jewish people be the targets of these haters and murderers?
When will the A-mighty bring Moshiach to take us out of geographic, emotional and spiritual exile and return us to our Holy Land, and usher in an age of universal peace and holiness. How much longer?!
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Shmos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
