As we read the book of Exodus, I am often torn when we read this section of the Torah- it cries out as a national history; a development of us as a nation and of us as a community. But, there are voices that are not heard here. When I see the Children of Israel dancing in freedom, I think of the people through whom God channels in order to get them there.
There is a wonderful verse in this week’s parsha which we recite every morning during shacharit. “And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith in the Lord and His servant Moses.” (14:31)
Sure, it’s easy for the people to be completely awed by God’s works. But why is it that the Torah needs to mention that the Children of Israel believed in Moses? Moses isn’t a God, Moses didn’t take them out of slavery - God did.
I see that one verse as being full of a huge back-story. No matter how much Moshe did, no matter how vast the changes he was involved in, he was still not accepted by the people. When he saved the slave by killing the task-master, the slave’s response wasn’t ‘thanks’. He responded by implying Moshe might kill him as well. When Moshe leads the people on God’s path to the edge of the Red Sea, their response isn’t ‘great job’. Their response is; ‘Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt? Did you have to bring us out here in the desert to die?’
When the Children of Israel celebrate their new found freedom by dancing and singing on the shores of the sea, it is with Moses that they sing to God. And when a few days later, they find no water to drink, they again come back to blame Moshe.
So why am I torn and whose voice is missing?
My sympathies lie with Moshe. Is there nothing he can do right? Is nothing he does ever enough? Did anyone think that maybe just like they have doubts, he had doubts?
This is one of the voices missing- Moshe’s voice. When he stopped and asked why he was doing this did he say “let someone else lead today, I’m going to spend the day with my family”? When he missed the mannah pick up because he was talking with Mrs. Y about her son’s problem, did he just say, “Oh well, I guess we’ll have leftovers again”? Was his household the shoemaker’s household, in which his children go barefoot because he is too busy making shoes for others? I would like to hear Moshe’s explaining what it is that keeps him going.
And one of the other voices missing in this story is Tzipporah, Moshe’s wife. What did she think when the Children of Israel abused her husband? What did she think when he was due home for dinner but didn’t make it? What did she say when there was a knock on the tent flap at 2 in the morning? I would like to hear her voice explaining how she had the strength to be supportive when the Children of Israel are not. It is, after all, Tzipporah who allows Moshe to be Moshe. She is the one who said, “Hon, whatever you want. I’ll follow you anywhere.”
So I am torn, my sympathies lie with Moshe but I understand the fear of the people. Change and adventure and re-envisioning are scary and difficult, and the known is often easier than the unknown. But I think that verse also explains this. Amidst the arguing and the complaining, the Children of Israel also come to Moshe for the smachot, the celebrations. Amid the fear and anxiety, the Children of Israel and their leader could celebrate life’s unexpected turns as well. The Children of Israel saw God’s greatness, and believed in God and accepted Moshe as God’s servant. And as someone wise once said, “as long as the good days outnumber the bad, you can accomplish anything.”
May we all sing together as we continue our journey.
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