Yesterday, as part of my morning studies with the kids, we chatted about the Hebrew birthday of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson of blessed memory, the Rebbe’s mom. Lucky for me, I was able to quickly insert a short JEM film about her life. The kids really enjoyed learning about her journey from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, France and later to the United States. While enjoying lunch with Chaya later that day, we talked about how the Rebbe visited his mother every single day, from the day they were reunited in 1947 until her passing in 1964. I find that humanizing our greatest heroes/heroines is what truly endears them to me, and hopefully to my children.
You see in this week’s Torah portion, Va’eira, we read about the one, and truly only, Moses. Interestingly, in the midst of Moses’ engagement with the Pharaoh, the Torah breaks to share with us the family lineage of Moses, Aaron and his son Elazar, and then goes back to the Pharaoh saga. Why the commercial message? Why the breakup in story flow? Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, who is credited with reviving traditional Judaism in Germany, explained that the Torah is humanizing Moses and Aaron. G-d wants us to know that despite the miracles they performed, despite their closeness to G-d, they were first and foremost human beings.
It’s easy, and too common, to turn righteous leaders, Jewish sages and blessed people into super humans, larger than life, but it’s wrong. When it comes to Moses and Aaron, we know their family. They enjoyed a mother, father, wife, sister, children, and second cousins. Yes, Moses was one of a kind, a leader par excellence, a prophet like no other, the Torah teacher of all time and expert plague deliverer, but he was no G-d. The Levi family tree serves as a reminder that humans are capable of reaching amazing spiritual heights. If your role model is a god, then emulating him/her is impossible, but in our case, Moses is the ideal mentor: A human with high self-expectations.
A noteworthy commercial indeed!
May G-d guard our brethren in Israel and the world over from harm and send us Moshiach speedily. May He protect the armed forces of Israel and the United States wherever they may be. Shabbat Shalom! Chazak!!! L'Chaim!!!