Synthesis, Not Sin-Thesis
Moses, who is known to us as the Giver of the Torah, represented the ultimate intellect. His role was to think, probe and understand. If Moses would have dismissed G-d’s mysterious actions as being above the capacity of the human mind to grasp, he would have been remiss. G-d expected of him to question and Moses did what came natural to him.
Moses Disappointment
At the end of last week’s Parsha, Moses’ mission to Pharaoh seemed to have ended in a disastrous failure. Moses demanded that Pharaoh let the Israelites go so that they can serve G-d. Instead Pharaoh increases their oppression. Not only does he dismiss the proposal of giving them a little break, he now demands that they collect their own straw for the making of the bricks, without reducing the quota of bricks they had to produce.
Everyone, included Moses, was disturbed and disappointed. Moses, in fact, goes a step further. He actually protests G-d’s actions by declaring:
“L-rd! Why have you let so much evil come upon this people? Why did you send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done more evil to this people; but you have not even delivered your people!”
G-d’s Two Part Response
G-d’s response is divided into two parts. At the end of last week’s Parsha G-d simply states, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand shall he send them away, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.”
This week’s Parsha, Vo’eira, begins with G-d’s second response to Moses. To paraphrase the response based on Rashi’s interpretation, G-d rebukes Moses for having asked the question and for not being like the Patriarchs who did not ask questions but humbly accepted G-d’s decrees even when they did not make sense to them.
At first glance, Rashi seems to be saying that G-d was displeased with Moses’ protest. However, from a more profound view of what has happened here, it is clear that Moses was justified in his protest. Yet, G-d now expected Moses to reach an even higher level.
The Rebbe’s Approach to Moses’ Protest
The Rebbe explains that Moses protest was surely not a blasphemous act. G-d did not take him to task for blasphemy. On the contrary, Moses was to be commended for his profound love and concern for the Jewish people. He could not tolerate their suffering. Moses was motivated by an extreme passion for his people, which was, of course, the reason why Moses was selected to be the liberator of the Israelites in the first place. As a faithful shepherd, Moses was expected to do what he did.
Moreover, Moses, who is known to us as the Giver of the Torah, represented the ultimate intellect. His role was to think, probe and understand. If Moses would have dismissed G-d’s mysterious actions as being above the capacity of the human mind to grasp, he would have been remiss. G-d expected of him to question. And while there are instances where the human mind cannot fathom G-d’s ways, Moses, however, felt that he was compelled by virtue of his G-d given intellectual ability, to probe, question and get to the bottom of why things had gotten worse. As a faithful leader possessed with a keen intellect, Moses did what came natural to him.
Difference between Moses and the Patriarchs
The Patriarchs, by contrast, were recognized for the emotional approach that they followed in serving G-d. Abraham was the ultimate man of kindness and love. Isaac was the personification of awe and reverence. And Jacob was a synthesis of Abraham and Isaac’s manner of serving G-d. To be sure, they were also towering intellects; but that was not the predominant feature of their personalities. They were primarily required to cultivate the emotional response to G-d, which does not feel the need to rationalize everything that G-d does.
On the contrary, the romantic appreciates and even savors the element of mystery in G-d and His ways. The Patriarchs therefore did not ask for explanations from G-d; because their task was to cultivate the romantic side of Judaism, which is total devotion, which precludes the role of constantly questioning G-d’s ways.
Time for Moses and Us to Rise even Higher
In effect, the Rebbe explains, Moses was not faulted for his protest, but G-d was now challenging him to rise to a third and still higher level of spirituality that would allow him to reach the pinnacle of intellectual comprehension and still be capable of recognizing the transcendent and mysterious nature of G-d. Now that Moses was preparing the Jewish people for the Sinai experience, at which time heaven and earth were to “meet,” he was expected to reach a higher level that allowed them to fuse intellect with emotion, logic with faith and nature with the supernatural. It was not a sin for Moses to have protested, but now Moses was deemed capable of synthesis.
Now that we are preparing for the imminent arrival of
Moshiach, the culmination of the process of synthesis that was begun at Sinai, it behooves us to express our Judaism in multifaceted and even paradoxical ways. We should not be content with either the emotional or intellectual approaches to Judaism, but seek to integrate the complete spectrum of human experiences in our quest to get closer to G-d.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
