The Elders Who Weren't

Moshe Rabbeinu, at the burning bush, is commanded to speak to the elders and go with them to Pharaoh to request that he allow the Jewish people to go to the desert to worship Hashem. "He will not let you go," Hashem instructs Moshe, but after that, Hashem tells Moshe I will begin smiting Egypt, first turning their water to blood and ultimately striking their firstborn. 

This initial plan, though, is far from what in effect actually happens. First-off, the elders don't go with him. Secondly, Moshe's resistance to Hashem's command leads Hashem to command Aharon as well to join Moshe. Furthermore, Moshe's statement that the elders won't believe him lead Moshe to get tzara'at (often translated as leprosy), and very intriguingly, Moshe's query into how to define God's role - "What name should I tell the Jewish people that you are embodying here?" - leads Hashem to give Moshe clear instructions as to how to present the Almighty ("I will be who I will be), and in contradistinction, to the elders, the people, or masses, believe in Hashem and the signs Moshe has been given. 

I think that there is a very subtle message here that every leader and follower should take. As an aside, I believe that every leader at times needs to be a follower, and vice versa; in other words, life's complexity doesn't enable these roles to be crystalized but rather makes them at time fluid and changeable. 

The take-home message here I think is that when a leader believes in his followers they can excel and outstrip even the most far-reaching expectations. The Jewish people, forlorn and beleaguered by back-breaking work, believed in Hashem. That belief was made possible by Moshe's belief in them, and the question he asked of Hashem, essentially, "What clarity can I give them? How can I help them believe in You?" 

In sharp contrast, despite the sign that Hashem gave Moshe, the snake turned staff, the elders didn't believe in Hashem's salvation. The nation (Shemot 4:31) believed as one, the verb used being in the singular, reminiscent of the Jewish people's encampment at Har Sinai, which is also stated in the singular, prompting the sages to teach that they camped, "As one person, with one heart."

Belief in a human being, and his potential can surprise us, and give us so much than we could have expected, and so, when Moshe believes in the Jewish people it reverberates and percolates down to each and every individual, fusing their collective energies into one, a juggernaut that would leave with their heads up high, proud to be free, teaching the world about the abjectness of servitude and the true import of self-determination and declaration. 

Comments

  1. HaimJanuary 13, 2026 at 12:21 AM

    יישר כח, רואים שאתה מורה בנשמה שלך

    ReplyDelete

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