But why did they specifically emphasize Moshe’s being ‘born from a woman’ as an indicator of his flaw?

In our portion there are two references to this ‘weakness’, yet are portrayed in a positive light as the very evidence of our greatness.

In determining who shall be counted among the census, the Torah describes how each person presented themselves and ויתילדו, literally meaning to ‘give birth to themselves’ but more directly referring to their verifying their ancestry, according to some opinions, by actually bringing documentation.

The Midrash adds that it was this ability to establish their lineage that warded off the attempts of the other nations who jealously desired to receive the Torah as well. Hashem silenced them by challenging them to provide their ‘books of ancestry’ as the Jews had done. Unable to, they quickly retreated.

What is this vital trait to ‘birth oneself’ - ‘define one’s lineage’, that is the key to being worthy of receiving the Torah?

The Torah states “these are the offspring of Moshe and Aharon”, yet goes on to enumerate only the children of Aharon. We derive from this that the children one teaches, as Moshe had taught his nephews, even if they aren’t one’s biological progeny, are considered, כאילו ילדו,  as if one ‘gave birth to them’.(רש"י)

Why do we attribute this ‘motherly’ quality to Moshe their Rebbe?

Dovid HaMelech asserts, Behold in iniquity was I fashioned, ובחטא יחמתני אמי, and in sin was I conceived by my mother.(תהלים נא ז)

This sentiment echoes this fragility of man, born of a woman, who from man’s inception is the product of impulses that stem from man’s imperfection, who although man strives to act purely is inevitably a victim of selfish drives and fallible ambitions that are the fate of material man.

But within that reality lays the awareness that although we are vulnerable to these implanted influences nevertheless we all descend, through the combined wombs of all our historical mothers, from a collective of souls that are fused as one that stood together at Har Sinai.

It is the power within that body called ‘Klal Yisroel’, the Congregation of Israel, that infuses us with hope and confidence that we can overcome those deficiencies that infiltrate the pristine qualities of that united and impregnable soul.

The key lays within acknowledging that reality, virtually being ‘reborn’ - by remaining acutely aware of where we hail from.  It is in that consciousness that provides us the thrilling encouragement that we can succeed in our missions despite our blemishes.

When we know our source, our מקור, we can fuel our true inner will, our רצון. These two, מקוררצון, are numerically equal, 346, as they are two sides of the same coin. Fascinatingly the word מקור is often used to refer to the רחם, the womb.

When Moshe is tasked by Hashem with responding to these prosecuting angels, he expresses fear that he will be consumed by their fiery breath. Hashem instructs Moshe to grasp on protectively to His, כסא הכבוד, Throne of Honor.

Perhaps it is in this imagery of holding on to His throne, the source from where all of our souls were hewn, that our strength is sourced. It is this reality that indeed makes us greater than the angels and well deserving of the gift of Torah.

The Midrash quoting Mishlei describes the Torah as our mother, within whose womb we developed at Har Sinai. The verse states, בדרך חכמה הֹרֵתִיךָ, In the way of wisdom I instructed you, with the root of this word to instruct הרה, also meaning pregnant, as in the word הריון, intimating our being carried at Sinai within our pregnant mother, the Torah/Hashem.(שמ"ר ל ה)

The Gemara relates that the giving of Torah to Moshe on Shavuos and the period of forty days that he remained on high preparing to bring down the Luchos, correspond to the forty days of gestation when a child is formed.

At Sinai the mountain was suspended above us. The Gemara describes it as an inverted גיגית, a hollow basin. Might this visual of all 600,000 core souls situated within the הר(יון), the mountain, be reminiscent of a developing embryo in its mother’s womb?

Might our reliving this experience each Shavuos night, remaining ensconced in our study halls, ignoring the pull of the night, be likened to the fetus who knows only of the constant warmth and comfort of its mother’s womb and is oblivious to time.?

As we prepare to be reborn once again, returning to the womb of Torah, may we realize - from whence we come; the greatness that is part of our DNA; the connection of our mothers’ wombs to the ultimate womb, Hashem and His Torah.

If we focus on this we will be empowered to slough off the weaknesses of humankind, rising to the challenge of greatness, and be deserving of the greatest appellation, בנים של מקום, the Children of the Omnipresent, Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

באהבה,

חג שמח,

צבי יהודה טייכמאן