Moshe first questions whether the nation will actually believe him. He then objects to this role because of his speech impediment. G-d is patient and doesn’t react to Moshe’s hesitance, attempting to encourage him that He will provide him with all the tools he will need to succeed.

Moshe suddenly takes a totally different tack by claiming that Aharon is the more worthy candidate to lead the nation out of Egypt. Aharon had been devotedly guiding the people for eighty years as a prophet, during the course of the difficult years of slavery, while Moshe disappeared for sixty years, having fled from Pharaoh after his having killed the Egyptian taskmaster.

Moshe expresses fear that Aharon will be distressed over having to turn over the position he held so loyally for so many years, to his ‘kid’ brother.

It is first at this point that G-d’s ‘wrath burned’.(שמות ד יד)

G-d then informs Moshe that as regards his speech impediment Aharon will assist him in transmitting the messages, but as to his fear of Aharon’s being resentful, he is mistaken.

הנה הוא יוצא לקראתך וראך ושמח בלבו (שם), ... behold, he is going out to meet you and when he sees you he will rejoice in his heart.

With this assurance Moshe dutifully returns to retrieve his family from Midian and take on this noble mission.

Was that all it took to get Moshe on board? Did Moshe actually doubt whether Aharon happily accepted G-d’s divine appointment of Moshe? Even if Aharon was upset, does that stand in the way of the will of G-d to appoint Moshe and the deliverance of an entire nation from tortuous slavery?

How are we to understand Moshe’s continuous hesitance in light of the fact that G-d Himself directed him?

Perhaps Moshe worried that he didn’t have the ability to rise to the occasion. Although G-d selected him it was still up to Moshe to make the right choices in succeeding in that role. Just because G-d chose him it didn’t guarantee that he would overcome his weaknesses.

That self-doubt is a valid concern as even Yaakov questioned whether he would live up to G-d’s expectations of him. It was for that reason G-d was patient trying to coax Moshe to accept the challenge.

Moshe wasn’t doubting Aharon’s accepting the will of G-d as much as he was asserting his belief that Aharon was a sterling leader who devoted his every energy in empathizing with their plight and helping his beloved people in their troubles.

Moshe lacked the confidence in himself and the belief that he possessed the requisite qualities the people desperately needed in order to lead them out of slavery and guide them towards their magnificent destiny.

This is what ‘distressed’ G-d. The antidote was Aharon.

The Torah describes three characteristics about Aharon: הנה, behold; יוצא לקראתך, he went out towards him; וראך, he will see you.

The Midrash relates that these are three expressions associated with שמחה. (תורה שלמה שם אות עה)

A person who is confident about - one’s circumstances in life; one’s qualities; one’s mission and purpose - possesses the ingredients for happiness.

The expression הִנֵה ‘behold’ connotes presence and awareness, related to the similar word הֵנָה, here. When we encounter something new and exciting it is a ‘behold moment’.

Aharon, when ‘beholding’ Moshe, was conveying to him a sense of his noted and significant presence at a very special moment in time.

Aharon’s going, לקראת, ‘towards’ Moshe, expressed an eagerness to encounter his very talented and beloved brother, accentuating Aharon’s diminished importance in the presence of greatness.

When Aharon, ראה, looked at a person, he peered deeply within that soul, brilliantly making the receiver of his piercing confidence, aware of the special role that person was selected for.

Many of us are privileged to have that parent, Rebbe, Rebbetzin, mentor, sibling or friend, that infuses that sense of value we each desperately seek. When we feel that we are worthy, purposeful and special, and contribute meaningfully to the world, happiness reigns within our soul.

The Midrash states that the emphasis in the verse that Aharon bred happiness in his heart, teaches us that genuine happiness in the heart is greater than any expression, verbal or physical, that we can possibly exhibit.

Aharon in one moment was able to instill within his dear brother Moshe the confidence he needed to undertake this most remarkable mission.

The rest is history.

May we each realize the importance of instilling that sense in those closest to us. If we succeed, we will make the world a much happier place.

באהבה,

צבי יהודה טייכמאן