As we opened the Book of Exodus last week, we were quickly launched into the period during which the children of Israel began their history as settlers in the land of Egypt. Jacob's children and their offspring settled in Egypt and grew in great numbers. When Pharaoh became frightened of the risk that the Israelites posed, he enslaved the entire nation and then ordered the Israelite midwives, Shifra and Pu'ah, to murder any male babies that were born, an order which they refused to follow. Pharaoh followed these actions with a command to have all baby boys drowned in the Nile River. Yet, one brave mother hid her baby and then hid him in the Nile River reeds from which he was saved by Pharaoh's daughter, adopted by her, and named Moses. By the end of only a short few verses in the text, Moses is compelled to escape Egypt after murdering an Egyptian who had beaten a slave, arrives in Midian, marries Tzipporah, has two sons, and then sees the "burning bush," where he encounters God's presence for the first time. God commands Moses, who tries to refuse the role, to go back to Egypt, tell the people of Israel that he is God's messenger who will free them from slavery and take them to land promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

At the beginning of this week's parasha, Moses is again engaged with God, who is instructing him to speak to the people and tell them what was to come. Instead of embracing Moses as their deliverer, they rebuff him in disbelief. Moses again speaks with God, who instructs him to go to Pharaoh to demand that the people be freed, and responds that Pharaoh will not believe that he is the messenger of God and certainly will not free the people if the Israelites themselves did not believe that what he said was true. And, furthermore, Moses reminds God that he is a stutterer, hardly the right person to go before Pharaoh to speak on behalf of God and the nation which God is to free from slavery.

What is remarkable about these conversations between Moses and God is how easily Moses accepts God's existence, presence, and voice in his life, but how uneasily and reluctantly he accepts God's instructions. Surely, if Moses had enough faith to believe that God was, in fact, speaking to him, then why would he doubt God's ability to fulfill all that God was promising would come true?

Rabbi Matthew Bellas

Vice Principal of Judaic Studies/School Rabbi