We all have impeded speech

Va’era

Ex. 6:2 - 9:35

Précis: God reiterates His intention to free the Israelites from bondage and to create a covenant with them. Moses goes back to Pharaoh to seek release of the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses and we see the first seven of the fabled plagues: blood, frogs, fleas, beetles, cattle disease, boils, and hail. Pharaoh relents after each plague begins, deciding to let the people go, but then God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and he refuses to allow them to leave.

Ex. 6:10-13 “Adonai spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from his land.’ But Moses appealed to Adonai, saying, ‘The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech. So, the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.’”

            We focus our study this week on the phrase “impeded speech.” Pharaoh has already increased the burdens on the Israelite slaves due to Moses’ previous demands. Moses goes back to God and pleads to be excused, citing in part his “impeded speech.”  The meaning of the Hebrew is a bit uncertain, but can also be translated as “uncircumcised lips.”

            Tradition is not clear whether this means that Moses had an actual speech defect (recalling the midrash of his placing a coal in his mouth in lieu of a jewel as a babe when Pharaoh tested his loyalty). Others suggest that he was self-conscious and inarticulate.

            Nahum Sarna suggests a third option. While he grew up speaking Egyptian, he was away for so long that he lost his fluency in that language. Sarna then concludes that the real meaning is irrelevant, because Moses felt inadequate to speak on behalf of God to Pharaoh.

            But this, Sarna suggests is the “essence of Biblical prophecy.” The messenger is not conveying his own words, but rather those of God.

            None of us can be another Moses, but each of us can take up the challenges we face with humility and determination. We may even take a bit of courage from the story that God sent Moses, a man of impeded speech, to deliver His message. We, too, are limited, but with God’s help we can act.

            On the other hand, we cannot doubt that this means that we lose the ability to demur and to defer. If God could send a man of impeded speech to deliver His message, what possible excuse do we have to avoid our obligations?

Keep Trying

Vayechi

Gen. 47:28 - 50:26

Précis: As the Book of Genesis comes to a close, Jacob lived (vayechi) in the land of Egypt for 17 years and dies after giving a final, poetic, individualized ethical testament to each of his sons. In a great funeral procession, Joseph, his brothers, and Pharaoh and his court bring Jacob’s body to Machpela to be buried. At the end of the parasha, Joseph dies after exacting a promise to bring his remains to the land of Israel as well.
           

            This week, as we conclude the Book of Genesis, I thought that I would look at how the Book treats parenting. While most of us are aware of the stories of sibling rivalry throughout the Book, we don’t always think about parenting. For most of us, our introduction to parenting is mysterious. Where is the instruction manual?  Bereshit seems to be less of a “how to” book when it comes to parenting and ​has ​more of a “keep trying” message. Most parents in the narrative fail, but here at the conclusion we find hope​ in the reconciliation of the sons of Jacob.

            In the beginning, Adam and Eve must deal with the slaying of their son Abel by ​their son ​Cain. How did they manage? Did they feel guilty? What was their relationship thereafter with Cain? The text is silent.

Noah doesn’t do much better. Yes, he saves his kids from the Flood, but then one abuses him, and Noah curses another. Do we share Noah’s anger when we feel that our mistakes lead to our kids’ inappropriate acts?

When Abraham cries out to God “If only Ishmael would live before You!” he must have thought of himself as a failure at fatherhood.  Don’t we regret it when our kids move on paths we had not dreamed for them? Then the Akedah terminates the relationship between father and son. Imagine Abraham’s grief during the remaining decades of his life. That grief is shared all too often by parents who have lost a loving relationship with a child.

Esau and Isaac were rivals for their parents’ affection, resulting in their separation from each other for decades. When we show favoritism towards a child, don’t we chill the relationship with his or her siblings? The story of Joseph again shows the dangers of favoritism. Did Jacob recognize, too late, that he had repeated his own father’s error? Do we repeat the mistakes of our parents when we try to raise our children?

Bereshit ends with reconciliation and reunion. It suggests that as parents, even if we often get parenting “wrong,” hope always remains if we are open to our faults and if we keep reconciliation possible. We will err, but we have to keep trying. As my wife Abby reminds me, we cannot burn bridges. When things do not turn out the way we had hoped, we still have the chance to rectify the harm that might have been done by parents or by their children. This is a profoundly hopeful lesson.