Ethics from the Parsha - SHEMOT

SHEMOT: STAYING POSITIVE

In this week's Torah portion, Moses replies to God's command of leaders and responds by saying that the Jewish people "will not believe" that God has spoken to him and "will not listen" to Moses' voice.

However, Moses knew the Jewish people were awaiting for a leader to come and lead them out of Egypt. Even Pharoah knew that a leader would take the Jewish people out of Egypt, which is why he issued the command to drown all newborn Jewish baby boys in the Nile.

Why therefore, was Moses confident that the Jewish people wouldn't allow him to be their leader?

Moses' fear was actually that the Jewish people would be so crushed by the years of servitude and back-breaking labour that redemption just seems too far off the horizon. He knew they would believe him in the theoretical sense, but he needed a sign to make their belief concrete and palpable in the physical realm.

If a miraculous sign was given, this would arouse their inherent belief to a more tangible state.

However, why was God upset at Moses' comment? He did not completely deny the Jewish people's belief in God and His messenger?

However, by speaking in such a manner, Moses was subtly insulting the Jewish people. God was upset that Moses didn't fully realise that the Jewish heart and spirit remains intact; and is impervious to the sufferings of the lengthy exile.
This can be comparable to an account recounted in the book and subsequent film "Defiance" that chronicles the remarkable bravery of the Bielski brothers, who led a Jewish partisan group in the forest and is renowned for protecting non-combatant civilians as well as fighters. There is an account that in order to rally the Jews and to raise their spirits, Tuvia Bielski recounts the story of the Jews and their exodus from Egypt. Just mentioning the story of the Egyptian slavery and exodus is seemingly enough to raise spirits.

But going back to Moses; surely this slight oversight wasn't so demeaning and shouldn't have been severe enough to warrant God's upset?

This is just testimony to Moses' greatness. The greater one is, the more severe his demeanours become. Take, for example, a student in school. At age 7, one can write several grammatical errors but still get a high mark in an English essay. However, at age 17, a lot more is expected form the student and even 1 or 2 grammatical errors can result in a low grade.

Therefore, from this incident, we learn the tremendous importance of always speaking positively about the Jewish people.