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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Shemos
Stop and Smell the Coffee
By: Daniel Listhaus
וּמשֶׁה הָיָה רֹעֶה אֶת צֹאן יִתְרוֹ
חֹתְנוֹ כֹּהֵן מִדְיָן וַיִּנְהַג אֶת הַצֹּאן אַחַר הַמִּדְבָּר וַיָּבֹא אֶל
הַר הָאֱלֹקים חֹרֵבָה
“Moshe was grazing
the sheep of Yisro, his father-in-law, the minister of Midyan; he guided the
sheep far into the wilderness, and he arrived at the Mountain of G-d, toward
Choreiv.”
-Shemos 3:1
After
running away from Mitzrayim, Moshe found his way to Midyan and married one of
Yisro’s daughters. The Torah[1]
relates that one day, while Moshe was shepherding Yisro’s sheep, he arrived
at Har Ha’Elokim and witnessed a burning bush which miraculously was not
being consumed by the fire. Rashi[2]
comments that the passuk (verse) goes out of its way to describe that
Moshe would guide the sheep far into the wilderness before allowing them to
graze, in order to publicize Moshe’s great care and respect of others’
property. Moshe wanted to make sure that he stayed far from any sort of theft.
Therefore, he travelled with the flocks of sheep great distance in order to
ensure that the sheep would not graze in the fields of others.
Although
Rashi explains the reason for the details in the latter part of the passuk,
the Kli Yakar[3]
is further bothered by the wordiness and amount of “unnecessary” detail in the
first part of the passuk. Why does the passuk have to tell us
that Moshe was grazing Yisro’s sheep? The Kli Yakar explains based on
the following. The mishna[4]
lists groups of people who are ineligible to be witnesses or judges. The gemara[5]
however notes that although shepherds were not originally included on that
list, when the Rabbis later observed that shepherds were intentionally sending
their sheep to graze in others’ fields, they added herders to the list of those
who cannot testify or judge. The Rabbis however were only concerned about those
who herded their own sheep. Those who shepherded the sheep of others, though,
did not fall into this category because there is a concept of ein adom
chotei v’lo lo – a person would not sin in a situation where there is
nothing to be gained by doing so. A person may be willing to steal in order to
protect his own flocks, but would not do so in order to help someone else unless
there would be a level of personal benefit to be gained. The reward would just not
justify the risk. Therefore, explains the Kli Yakar, the passuk
here does not merely state that Moshe was herding sheep, but rather specifies
that they were his father-in-law’s flock and elaborates that he made sure to
graze them far away from private property. These details were added in order to
remove any thought that might come to mind of chas v’shalom associating
Moshe with theft because of his job title.
The
obvious difficulty with this, as the Kli Yakar himself raises, is that
instead of the Torah writing that Moshe was a shepherd and then having to give
all the details to prevent any cause of accusation that Moshe conducted
business unethically like others in his field[6],
the Torah could have easily left out the detail that Moshe was a shepherd in
the first place. Why did the torah feel the need to mention that Moshe was a
shepherd and then have to go into detail that Moshe did not tend to his own
sheep, but rather Yisro’s and that he would take them far away to graze? The
Torah could have skipped the passuk altogether and found another way to
segue into the episode of Moshe finding the burning bush?
The
Kli Yakar answers that the Torah very much wanted to include the
information that Moshe was a shepherd because being a shepherd is associated
with nevuah (prophecy). So many nevi’im – in fact even the avos
and shevatim themselves – were all shepherds. This is not a
coincidence but rather logical for the following reason. Unlike most jobs,
being a shepherd allows one to have time to oneself admiring Hashem’s world. Reaching
a level of being a proper receptacle for nevuah requires an inner peace
with oneself as well as a deep appreciation of Hashem’s involvement in the
world. Such an experience could only be achieved by taking a step out of busy
life and taking a moment to catch one’s breath, introspect, and take inventory
of where one is holding himself as well as appreciating Hashem’s beautiful and
intricate world. This is why the passuk went out of its way to mention
that Moshe was a shepherd, despite the fact that writing it required a careful
clarification and the addition of a qualifying description accompanying it in
the passuk.
If
being a shepherd was a “perquisite” to becoming a navi then, in order to
escape the “busy” world of ancient Egypt and its surrounding cities, imagine
what it would take to achieve a level of hisbodedus today. In the age where
instant coffee takes too long to make, speed is indeed everything. There is no
time to dial, we must speed-dial; no time to read, so we speed-read; no time to
walk so we speed-walk. People play speed-chess, and do speed-yoga; activities which
used to exemplify deliberation and concentration are now just space fillers –
things which get checked off on a daily routine as a means of preoccupying ourselves
during breaks between tasks.
Everything we do has to be fast and quick, but
not because there is always something else to do. Rather, this attention deficit
disorder of task jumping and moving from one activity to the next is an
expression of our minds looking for something to preoccupy ourselves with
because anything is better than the alternative – being left with nothing but
ourselves. When there is nothing to do people become jittery because they are
uncomfortable with themselves and must fill the void by either listening to
music, mindlessly pulling out a smart-phone to pass the time, or engage in
extreme doing extreme activities, until our next task comes to us and we could
relax that there is a new item to attend to.
The secret to becoming
a navi, however, lies in doing exactly the opposite. A navi is
someone who is comfortable with himself and could sit in silence and have
nothing but his own mind and Hashem’s world to occupy himself with. He does not
need to be kept distracted nor requires preoccupation to stay mentally stable,
rather he is able to introspect and evaluate himself with an inner peace and
quiet.
This is why the
torah felt it necessary to write that Moshe was a shepherd. He was someone who
was able to achieve a level of nevuah through hisbodedus – being able
to just sit, think, reflect, and observe the world around him. Moshe had no
need for distractions and no need to keep busy. This is how he was able to
build a perfect relationship with himself and how he was able to achieve a
level of becoming a navi.
May Hashem help
guide us through our beyond-busy world and assist us as we take one step at a
time to slowly get to know ourselves better through hisbodedus, personal
reflection and evaluation, inner peace, and a deep appreciation for Hashem’s
world around us.
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