Moshe as a human
rafi
At the beginning of the parsha we are presented with the genealogy of Moshe and Aaron (and other prominent members of shevet Levi). The obvious question is why did the Torah wait until now to tell us who Moshe’s family was? We were introduced to Moshe when he was a child (although we don’t know his parents yet – “a man from the house of Levi…”) – since then we have followed his progress quite closely (not withstanding some missing years when he allegedly became king of Ethiopia etc) – only now when he is 80 years old are we told about his family.
R Hirsch suggests that we need to look at the placement of the genealogy more closely. After Pharaoh increases the hardship as a response to Moshe’s plea so that the Jews now need to collect their own straw it looks like the mission has failed. Moshe complains to Hashem that he has just made things worse. Hashem’s response is… now things will start to happen! Moshe is about to carry out the plagues and perform wonders in the land of Egypt – this gives rise to the well founded possibility, that Moshe was going to be thought of as a god (this is even hinted in the next passuk after the genealogy where Hashem tells Moshe that he will make him an “Elohim” to Pharaoh…). It was therefore of vital importance that this idolatrous notion is emphatically discarded - before Moshe begins to carry out the plagues and miracles. Moshe was a human, born to human parents of a human family. This also seems to be one of the reasons that Moshe’s kever was hidden – so that it wouldn’t become a shrine.
Yoni Sagal
Daniel Levy
Related to this discussion, I heard in a shiur yesterday that the Shloh Hakodosh has an amazing insight. When listing the names to contextualise Moshe’s lineage, the list is introduced “bnei Reuvain”… “bnei Shimon”… For Levi, though, the Torah says, “וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי-לֵוִי” . The Shloh explains this distinction.
Levi knew with Ruach Hakodesh that his sons would not participate in the shib’ud. His main concern was that his descendents, safe in Goshen, would be insensitive to their brothers’ plight. He worked hard to instil in them a deep humanity and concern for the suffering of the rest of the nation. He chose names to reflect this suffering and remind his children always.
גֵּרְשׁוֹן- stranger/Shmuel I 26:19 driven me away from attaching myself to the heritage of HaShem - כִּי-גֵרְשׁוּנִי הַיּוֹם מֵהִסְתַּפֵּחַ בְּנַחֲלַת ה),
קְהָת - I can’t remember how he explained this but another possuk refers to the shib’ud using a similar word) and
מְרָרִי (bitter).
וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי-לֵוִי, says the Torah. Look at the names Levi chose for his children. These are the names. This is who our leader is, this is where he’s from. A deep-seated, genuine, heartfelt pain when another suffers.
I would add that this parsha of names naturally reminds us of the parsha where we should have been told all these names (at Moshe’s birth). There, the Torah instead goes out of its way to conceal the names: וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ, מִבֵּית לֵוִי; וַיִּקַּח, אֶת-בַּת-לֵוִי. Why not just say the names? The Torah stresses this is not the experience of Amram as gadol hador, Yocheved as mother of the saviour, Miriam as the female lead or Moshe as a teacher. No names: הָאִשָּׁה הַיֶּלֶד אֲחֹתוֹ Without names, this is a story about a man, a frightened mother, a concerned sister and a vulnerable baby. It was the story of the suffering BN”Y in shib’ud mitzrayim. Every family suffered similarly. “It could have been anyone.” Except one group.
It could not have been the sons of Levi, who could have held themselves apart, aloof – exempt from all this suffering.
But it was. Levi suffered with his people. And Amram and Yocheved, following in Levi’s footsteps, did the same. וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ, מִבֵּית לֵוִי; וַיִּקַּח, אֶת-בַּת-לֵוִי
#JeSuisJuif
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