EXODUS X:1-XIII:16

ATTRIBUTES OF MOSHE

God assures Moshe (Moses) that Pharaoh has a “hardened” heart and therefore will not allow the exodus of the Hebrews from the country. This fact in turn will allow Egypt to be scourged with plagues in a clear demonstration of the superiority of the God of the Hebrews over the Egyptian deities. Moreover, the extraordinary demonstration of God’s power will serve to assure the Hebrews that they need not fear their overseers, because despite the development of Egyptian culture, God is really the one who guides the destiny of mankind and with the exodus will instruct even future generations about the wickedness of slavery, of the criminal yoke that one people imposes on another.

The patriarchs were the ancestors of the Hebrew people, but the one who assumed the greatest responsibility for forming the nation and left his personality forever stamped on this people was Moshe, the famous legislator and liberator. The most striking historical events were the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and the conquest of the Promised Land. 

Moshe starred in the first two episodes and laid the groundwork for the third of them. What were the characteristics of Moshe’s personality? The Torah only recounts a couple of episodes from his formative years. It highlights the common denominator of his concern for the fate of others, especially the weak, and a visceral reaction to injustice. 

These characteristics are manifested when he kills the Egyptian overseer who mercilessly beat the Hebrew slave, without considering the possible consequences on his person. She defends young shepherdesses who want to get water for their flocks. Where did he learn these qualities: solidarity with the persecuted and the inescapable commitment to justice? Although Moshe was breastfed by his mother (thanks to the intervention of his sister Miryam), the pharaoh’s daughter raised him, she was his adoptive mother. 

In the pharaoh’s palace he learned to act and, perhaps, to think from a royal prism, because he received the education of a prince. However, when he left the palace to inquire about the fate of the Jews, he was not deprived of the typology of the royal nobility that usually remains unperturbed in the face of the suffering of others; on the contrary, the nobility of his character led him to risk his personal safety in the palace when he felt it necessary to rescue a Hebrew victim.

Moshe demonstrated that at least 3 elements are required for leadership: vision, passion, and compassion. The leader’s commitment to values cannot be lukewarm, half-measures. Their action must be accompanied by the firmness of their decision. The leader must act with total dedication, with passion.

In the episode of S ‘ne, the burning bush of the desert that was not consumed, Moshe refused at first to fulfill the task that God wanted to impose on him, because he did not believe he was prepared for the mission, he considered that he did not possess the indispensable qualities for leadership. How different is the current environment, where excessive confidence in personal abilities is taught. Moshe demonstrates modesty, because he knows that leadership is the result of the trust that others must place in the person. The Chassidim are the ones who make the scholar their religious leader, their Rebbe.

Even in the most difficult moments, in the face of the refusal of the Pharaoh, who imposed greater limitations on the Hebrew slaves, by demanding the same number of bricks without offering the supplies that he previously granted, despite the different rebellions due to the discontent of the Hebrew people during the long journey through the desert, Moshe always saw clearly what the mission of the people was.  His vision was never clouded.

In accordance with Moshe’s vision, the goal was focused on the well-being of the long-suffering Hebrew people. He probably neglected his own family because his children do not appear later in the development of the events. All his performance was aimed at solving the problems of the collective, his people. The vision to act was framed in passion, which in turn was accompanied by compassion and solidarity with others.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 9  POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 11 PROHIBITIONS

4. Exodus I2:2 Consecrate the months (includes keeping the reckoning of the years and calculating the Hebrew calendar)

5. Exodus I2:6 Ritual Sacrifice of the Passover Offering

6. Exodus I2:8 Eating the meat of the Passover offering (on the night of Nisan 15, the first Passover Seder)

7. Exodus I2:9 Do not eat the Passover offering when it is cooked or insufficiently roasted

8. Exodus I2:10 Do not allow meat to be left over from the Passover offering until tomorrow

9. Exodus I2:15 Remove from the house all Chamets (leavened food) 

10. Exodus I2:18 Eating Matsah (unleavened bread) on the first night of Passover

11. Exodus I2:19 One should not possess Chamets during Passover

12. Exodus I2:20 Do not eat foods containing Chamets during Passover 

13. Exodus I2:43 Do not share the Passover offering  with an apostate Jew

14. Exodus I2:45 Do not share the Passover offering with a partial convert or a Gentile resident, even though he has ceased to worship idols

15. Exodus I2:46 No meat of the Passover offering should be carried  outside the house

16. Exodus I2:46 Not a bone of the Passover offering should be broken 

17. Exodus I2:48 Whoever is not circumcised cannot eat of the Passover offering

18. Exodus I3:2 Sanctify the firstborn in the Land of Israel

19. Exodus I3:3 One should not eat Chamets on Passover

20. Exodus I3:7 No Chamets should be seen  on Jewish property during Passover

21. Exodus I3:8 Narrating the events of the Exodus from Egypt

22. Exodus I3:13 Redeeming the firstling from a donkey

23. Exodus I3:13 To break the neck of the first-time donkey, if it was not redeemed