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Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / Moshe Rabbeinu Was Only Human, Just Like You And Me

By Sivan Rahav-Meir/Translation by Yehoshua Siskin

Posted on 12/31/21

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
Dr. Shapsy Tajerstein, DPM - Podiatry Care.
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Something strange happens in this week's Torah portion. At the height of tension, a moment before Moshe and Aharon set off on their mission to speak to Pharaoh, to initiate the Exodus from Egypt, the Torah stops to describe in detail the brothers' family tree. Starting with Ya'akov Avinu, generation after generation, until the arrival of Aharon and Moshe themselves.

Two hundred years ago, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explained that the Torah wanted to shatter the widespread illusion that a great leader must be descended from God Himself. This is a destructive mindset, and the Torah takes pains to emphasize that Moshe, despite his performance of wondrous deeds, was human.

Rabbi Hirsch wrote as follows: "Our Moshe was human, remained human, and would never be anything but human. Everyone knew his parents, his parents' parents, his uncles and aunts, and all his other relatives. He was flesh and blood, subject to human nature with all its deficiencies and weaknesses, a man like all other men. Moshe's family history is meant to forever dispel the notion that his origin was divine."

From here we can learn something more: The same force within Moshe that brought about redemption exists in each of us. We cannot allow ourselves to push it aside, wait for a miracle, and live passively. We must act to change the reality around us. Moshe Rabbeinu was only human, just like you and me, and from him we learn the heights we can reach, if only we make the effort.

Shabbat shalom.