Parshas Shemos - Pull Yourself Together

Parshas Shemos

Pull Yourself Together

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים וַיֹּאמֶר לָרָשָׁע לָמָּה תַכֶּה רֵעֶךָ: וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט עָלֵינוּ הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּירָא משֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר

“He [Moshe] went out the next day and behold! Two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the wicked one, 'Why would you strike your fellow?' He replied, 'Who made you a man, a ruler, a judge over us? Are you saying that you are going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?”

-Shemos 2:13-14

After the death of Yaakov avinu and the shevatim,¹ the situation in Mitzrayim (Egypt) greatly deteriorated. Pharoah was very concerned that the growing number of Jews would create an environment suitable for a revolt.² In order to preempt this possibility, Pharoah decreed that from then on every new-born Jewish boy be killed,³ while the rest of B'nei Yisroel – with the exception of shevet Levi – gradually became slaves to Pharoah.⁴

The Torah tells us that despite Moshe having grown up in the palace of Pharoah, his eyes and heart were with his brothers slaving in the field.⁵ One day while Moshe was walking thorough he fields he witnessed an Egyptian man beating up one of the Jews. Rashi⁶ tells us that this Egyptian man had tricked a woman named Shelomis bas Dibri, who was the wife of this Jew, and had relations with her. Shelomis's husband returned home and realized what had happened. When the Egyptian sensed that he had found out, he began hitting him and threatening him and taunting him throughout the next day. Moshe rabbeinu saw this and could not sit back while one of his brothers was getting beaten up. So, the passuk⁷ (verse) describes that Moshe killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The Torah⁸ continues to relate that the next day when Moshe once again was walking around empathizing with his fellow working Jews, he saw two Jews – Dasan and Aviram – fighting with each other. He turned to the one who had his hand up in the air ready to strike and shouted to him, “Why would you strike your fellow?” The man replied, “Who made you a man, a ruler, a judge over us? Are you saying that you are going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” When Moshe heard this, the passuk⁹ tells us that he suddenly became frightened and thought to himself, “Indeed the matter has become known”.

On a simple level, it would seem that Moshe was afraid that people had found out what he did and out of despair thought, “The matter has become known.” However, Rashi¹⁰ tells us that Moshe had no regrets about what he did, nor was he particularly nervous that people had found out. Rather, Moshe was worried because he realized that there were informers within B'nei Yisroel who were willing to get their fellow brothers in trouble. When Moshe saw this he said, “Until now I was unsure why B'nei Yisroel should deserve to be slaves more than any other nation but now that I see that there are informers, I understand why they are deserving of such a punishment. Not only that, but if they are still willing to sink to such low depths, perhaps they are not fit to be redeemed.” This really scared Moshe.

The question that we must ask though is that Rashi is saying that Moshe wondered why B'nei Yisroel deserved to be slaves more than any other nation. Somehow seeing that there were informers among B'nei Yisroel answered this question. How did that help Moshe understand? Certainly the other nations have informers among them too. So what was it that made Moshe understand why we deserved to be slaves to Pharoah in Mitzrayim? It seems a bit extreme that because there be informers among B'nei Yisroel that we deserve to be slaves to Pharoah.

Later in the parsha, the Torah¹¹ tells us that Pharoah made things harder for the Jews as he stopped giving as many supplies to make the bricks, but never lowered his expectation of the quota he required in number of bricks. He appointed Jewish guards over groups of Jewish slaves and then had his own Egyptian taskmasters to watch over the Jewish guards. Rashi¹² tells us the Jewish guards were filled with mercy and did not want to put the extra pressure on their fellow Jews who were doing the hard labor. Therefore, more often than not, the quota would not be met. Being in managerial positions, these Jewish guards would be blamed for not putting enough pressure on the Jews to reach the quota, and in turn would be whipped by the Egyptian taskmasters. Rashi continues and states that because of the mercy that the Jewish guards had and their willingness to accept lashes instead of putting the extra pressure on the slaving Jews, these Jewish guards merited to be part of the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court).

At this point, we must ask a similar question as before. We know Hashem punishes and rewards midah k'neged midah (measure for measure). So, it must be that for some reason becoming part of the Sanhedrin was the proper reward for these guards who had mercy on the Jewish slaves. How could we understand this? What does having mercy on B'nei Yisroel and the willingness to accept pain for their not finishing their quotas have anything to do with becoming a prominent member of the Sanhedrin?

There is a certain business consultant who gets hired by companies in order to find issues within the company, point them out, and fix them for better performance. One simulation he does while on the job is to call a few executives and managers from the four largest divisions in the company and seats them, by division, by four separate tables. For example, he makes one table table for the accounting division, a table for the marketing team, a table for the finance team, and a table for the human resources team. He then announces to everyone in the room that he is now the new CEO and each table represents a division of the company. He then passes out two cards for each table – one card with an “X” on it and the other with a “Y”. He then gives the following instructions: There will be ten rounds where each team could put out either its “X” card or its “Y” card, but there is to be no communication between the tables; you could only discuss which card to choose with the members at your table. There are five simple rules. If all four divisions put down the “X” card, then each team loses $1. If there are three “X's” and one “Y”, then the three “X's” win $1 each while the team with the “Y” loses $3. If there are two “X's” and two “Y's” then the two “X's” win $2 each and the two “Y's” lose $2 each. If there is one “X” and three “Y's” then the “X” wins $3 while each of the “Y's” lose $1 each. If all four teams put down their “Y” card then each team wins $1.

Inevitably what happens is that each team starts off putting down “X's” for the first couple of rounds, hoping to make the most amount of money, but that of course results in each team losing as all four “X's” are chosen. Then one or two teams try putting down their “Y” cards hoping that others will do the same (remember, no communication between tables), but to no avail. They end up losing as the ones who kept putting down “X's” start tallying up a positive score. This goes on until the consultant goes around after five rounds and congratulates the teams which have been profitable and tells the teams which are carrying a negative balance to shape up fast. He then allows each team to say a message to the whole room. Some agree that everyone should be putting down the “Y” card in order to have consistent gains, but the competition in the air is too much to allow logic once the next round starts up again. After ten rounds, the consultant asks everyone to look at their score cards and points out that even the teams with the highest score has nothing compared to what it could have had with the consistent $1 each turn, let alone the aggregate of the four teams together. He ends with the strong message that oftentimes we allow our egos, emotions, and competitiveness to get the better of us and as a result we end up competing against ourselves without realizing.

Inside each member of B'nei Yisroel is a special neshama (soul) given to us by Hashem. Each shevet (tribe) in Klal Yisroel represents certain things and has unique talents and potential as represented in Birkas Yaakov (Yaakov's blessings to the shevatim), and each individual within each shevet has his or her own talents and potential as well. However, the power of Klal Yisroel does not come from its numbers but rather from its unity. Our task is to achieve the level of k'ish echad b'leiv echad – to become like one person with one heart.

When Moshe rabbeinu saw that Dasan and Aviram had informed to Pharoah about what he did, he realized that Klal Yisroel, as a nation dependent on its oneness and unit, deserved to be enslaved to equalize everyone and demonstrate that that no one was better than the next. Petty fights and competition within B'nei Yisroel does not benefit any individual in the long run and only pulls down the unity of B'nei Yisroel. On the other hand, when there are those such as the Jewish guards who were willing to take the hit for their brothers, people who share the burden of Klal Yisroel and would rather be pained themselves than to be the cause of pain for others, there becomes hope and such people are worthy of becoming part of the Sanhedrin – the rulers of B'nei Yisroel.

As hard as this may be to internalize, it is time that as a people we realize that as members of Klal Yisroel, an individual cannot become greater by pushing everyone else around him down, rather we only become profitable as a nation when we work together and maintain a steady and constant effort towards unity and helping each other. We no longer have leaders like Moshe rabbeinu who represent this idea in its fullest, but it is something that we should at least realize for ourselves.

May Hashem help us realize and prioritize what is important and what is not in order to help us unite as a nation and not remain as separate individuals or teams who are just trying to get the maximum without thinking of what the effect is with the rest of the proverbial company.

1Shemos 1:6

2Shemos 1:10

3Shemos 1:16, and 1:22

4Shemos 1:11

5Rashi Shemos 2:11

6Ibid.

7Shemos 2:12

8Shemos 2:13

9Shemos 2:14

10Rashi ibid.

11Shemos 5:6

12Rashi Shemos 5:14
Photo Credit: http://www.clker.com/clipart-people-holding-hands-in-a-circle.html