Parshat Shemot
One way to describe the document we call the Torah is “a sustained protest against empire and abuse of power”.
The book of Shemot begins by sketching the story of Moses and his development.
Of all the stories the Torah could have chosen about Moses’ “early years” it focusses on just 3.
Story 1: Moses grows up in the palace of Pharoah as an adopted son of Pharoah’s daughter Batya. He goes out to see his brothers (not just physically leaving the world of luxury and opulant royalty behind him but also conceptually too he “goes out” of his royal bubble to empathise with his true brothers), and encounters an Egyptian attempting to murder an Israelite. He looks this way and that and sees no one and so kills the Egyptian burying him and thus saves the Jew.
Story 2: the next day he again comes out to his brothers and finds two Jews fighting and challenges them – “Wicked one why are you striking your brother”. The response is shocking the perpetrator retorts “Who made you a judge and ruler over us? Are you going to kill us like you did to the Egyptian the day before!?. Moses expresses fear as “now the matter is known”. The next day his fear is born in reality as Pharoah has heard of the incident with the Egyptian and seeks to kill his adopted grandson. Moses now a fugitive flees Midyan … which leads us to story 3.
Story 3: Moses encounters the daughters of Jethro who are being harassed at the well by the locals. The well in ancient times was a key place representing life and sustenace especially for shepherds. Moses saves the daughters from the local men.
These three stories chosen by the Torah are not by coincidence. The Midrash adds other stories but the Torah only has these three as they trace the moral development of Moses.
Story one is a story of Moses risking his life to save another Jew despite the dire consequences. He stands up for moral Justice regardless of the risk.
Story two tells us that Moses sense of Justice is not compromised by tribalism. He does not turn a blind eye because the two disputants are both Israelites.
Story three goes further to teach us the extant of Moses sense of Justice. He could easily have avoided confrontation after all this was a local matter and he was a mere visitor. He had no knowledge of the background to the dispute. Perhaps there were other issues between the Shepherds that led to the harassment etc. That made no difference to Moses who saved the women at personal risk.
We conclude from this that a clear moral compass together with the courage to stand up for what is right however unpopular that might make a person are key leadership qualities.
Our mystics teach us that every Jew has a spark of Moses inside him or her. We all have the ability to be moral leaders in whatever sphere we find ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom