At the start of this week’s Torah reading, Sh’mot (Exodus 1:1-6:1), there are 70 Israelites living in comfort in Egypt; at its end, they number multitudes, but in slavery. Pharaoh has decreed the drowning in the Nile of every male Israelite newborn, but one such baby is pulled out of the water and survives:

When Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. 12 He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand 13 When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” 14 He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known! 15 When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well (chapter 2:11-15).

The adult life of Moses, receiver of the Torah who led Israel out of slavery and guided them for 40 years in the desert to the borders of the promised land, begins with what was, at best, an act of vigilante justice, quite possibly an unjustified homicide. It is followed by an exile that lasted, according to the rabbis… 40 years. Both of these 40 year stretches brought on tremendous amounts of suffering, but they apparently had to happen: the Torah rules out short-cuts. Just as the Israelites weren’t ready to enter the land right after leaving slavery, so, too, was Moses not ready to confront Pharaoh and liberate the Israelites; first he had to move out of Pharaoh’s court and become a shepherd.

For those of us – all those reading this newsletter — who agonize over the unending oppression of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people by the injustice and violence of the conflict in the Middle East, it is essential to realize that a just peace (actually, anything approaching peace) will not arrive through a clever advertising campaign, or the much desired departure of an incalcitrant leader. It may not come during our lifetime, or even that of our children. Like Moses, who tended sheep in Midian for many years, we will have to channel our passions into the slow but steady job of daily nurturing our flocks.

When Joshua Bell played Bach on his Stradivarius in the Washington DC metro for 43 minutes last January 12th (you’ll find it on the internet, with a recording), only 7 people stopped to listen. If Moses had been in a hurry, he would not have noticed a bush burning unusually…

Recent Articles by Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom

• Pinehas: Human Rights and the rejoining the human family - July 18th, 2008
• Huqqat: Human Rights, Blemished Leadership and the Moral Sphere - July 3rd, 2008
• BeMidbar: Human Rights and The Triumph of God's Hope - May 30th, 2008
• Emor: Promise, Justice, Non-violence, and Peace - May 7th, 2008
• Durban 1: What really happened at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance - March 3rd, 2008
• Shemot: Channeling our passions - December 29th, 2007
• Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom - December 13th, 2007
• Vayyiggash: Equality and economic justice - December 13th, 2007
• Bedouin Rights - September 1st, 2006

Categories: Shemot
Tags: Bo, court, fen, human rights, order, palestinians, peace, settlers