Friday, January 13, 2012

The Temple Institute: Moshe Grew Up

Can we do תפילות prayers for:

The Temple Institute?

That through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?

"Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers"
(Exodus 2:11)
Tevet 19, 5772/January 12, 2012

Moshe rabbenu - Moses our master - while still an infant was plucked from his mother's arms. He was placed in a basket of wicker and pitch, which was placed in the reeds of the mighty Nile river. There he was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh, the princess of Egypt, who instructed her handmaidens to fetch the tiny bark from off the waters. She named the bright-eyed baby Moshe - "For I drew him from the waters" (Exodus 2:10) - and brought him home to raise in the royal palace of the Pharaoh. Due to the perspicacity of his older sister who waited in the rushes to witness his fate, baby Moshe merited being suckled by his own mother, who served as wet-nurse to her own infant son.

Perhaps it was because he imbibed on his own mother's milk, or perhaps because his very name, Moshe, proclaimed that he was a foundling, Moshe never mistook the imperial family for his own flesh and blood, and as soon as he was of age, "he went out to seek his brothers." (ibid 2:11) It was then and there "he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers." (ibid) In one single verse the word "achiv - his brothers" - is used two times. No doubt the brothers he sought were those of his most distant memory and childhood fantasies. But the brothers he encountered were being sorely oppressed by the thugs of his own most powerful godfather. And there he saw it: "an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers." (ibid)

He could have hiked up his collar high, stuffed his hands back down deep in his pockets, adjusted slightly his dark green Ray Bans and walked the other way, pretending that he just doesn't see. He could have turned his back forever on the brothers that he never even knew, washed his hands clean of his own fading heritage and lived a life. But Moshe did no such thing. On the contrary, he struck down the man who persecuted his brother.

Again, having done so, Moshe could have stolen back to his royal abode. He could have quaffed down a beer, (a favorite beverage of the house of Pharaoh), and he could have pretended that it never occurred. Surely he would be pardoned if he only expressed proper regret. But Moshe did no such thing. On the very next day, Moshe ventured out again to seek his brothers. And if yesterday's encounter was an eye-opener to their pitiful plight, today was to be a real wake-up call. For on this day, when Moshe beheld two of his Hebrew brethren quarreling, he sought to intervene, only to be rejected and taunted and castigated by the very brothers he sought to save. Fearing for his life, Moshe fled.

He took flight, he crossed the fearsome desert and found respite at a Midianite watering hole. It was there he saw seven sisters, (but not his own), tending their father's flocks. Once again oppressors arrived and drove them from the well. And once again "Moshe arose and rescued them and watered their flocks." (ibid 2:17) Who was this man, their father enquired. Who was Moshe?

Never one to shy away from confrontation, Moshe intervened on behalf of his own oppressed brothers. He sought to make peace between two quarreling Hebrews, and he delivered rank strangers from danger. Yet none of these experiences were to prepare him for his next close encounter. When Moshe perceives "the thorn bush [that] was burning with fire, but... was not being consumed" (ibid 3:2) he meets up with what is a whole new experience for him. There was no conflict here. There were no good guys or bad guys, oppressors or oppressed. There was no immediate impulse for Moshe to act, only to contemplate and to listen. Moshe was an inveterate do-gooder, and this is what appealed to G-d. And now G-d was putting Moshe to the test. Behold, a conflagration, but nothing is being consumed. Can Moshe perceive such a thing, can he see beyond himself, beyond the here and now? Can Moshe accept the limits of his own powers of discretion and attach himself to a transcendent moral force that is ultimately beyond his own puny comprehension? This is where Moshe forever steps out of his role as lone ranger and becomes a prophet of G-d on High.

The remarkable thing about Moshe's rise from foundling to pampered youth to independent justice seeker and righter of wrongs to prophet of G-d and savior of his people, is that there really is nothing remarkable about it at all. While not all of us may boast such humble or fraught-with-danger beginnings, we all have ample opportunity to witness injustice and the freedom to not turn away from it. We all enjoy, in even the smallest moments, the potential to see the burning bush that is not consumed, to see G-d's majestic hand in every fine detail of our lives. None of us will ever rise to the prophetic heights of Moshe, but by the same token, were we not cut from the same cloth of human concern for one another and humility before the Divine, Moshe's story would mean nothing to us, nor could we ever ourselves be delivered from bondage.

Tune in to this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven gaze into the brave new world of the Book of Exodus and enter into the veritable heart of darkness of the Egyptian exile. In the blinking of an eye, Yosef and his amazing life-sustaining contributions to Egyptian society quickly turn to rust, and who was Yosef anyway? The "new" Pharaoh never even heard of him, and his only concern is what to do about his ever-increasing Jewish problem. Pharaoh summoned his advisers and the first Wannsee Conference took place with the participation of Job, Bilaam and Yitro. In this week's edition of Temple Talk, Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman contemplate the lessons of our history and consider our present - and future - in the light of the first Torah reading of the Book of Exodus.

IDF Soldiers on the Temple Mount: For the first time in ten years Israeli police stationed at the Rambam Gate entry to the Temple Mount allowed uniformed Israeli soldiers to ascend to the Mount. The ascent to the Mount by this large contingent of IDF soldiers was done in accordance with Jewish halachic law. Click here to learn more and see photographs.

This week's all-new Return of Prophecy teaching by Rabbi Avraham Sutton, is entitled, "Possibility of Differentiation: G-d created our world via a series of "disasters" which unfolded over the six primordial days. With each new "disaster" or differentiation of G-d’s essence our natural cosmic environment came into being. As G-d’s light diminished so did our ability to reach out and strive to draw near to Him." Click here to view.

Pharaoh employed sundry stratagems to uproot and destroy the children of Israel, chillingly reminiscent of recent and contemporary programs to annihilate Israel. yet, despite it all, Israel abides. But why did G-d put Israel in Egypt? What was the Egyptian exile all about? Click here to view Rabbi Richman's teaching on parashat Shemot (Exodus 1:1-6:1).