Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

92
בלה תובשחמ
Hashem tells Moshe to go at the beginning of the day to the Nile and speak to
Pharaoh. Why meet him there and not in the palace? Rashi (Shemot 7:15) tells us
that Pharaoh would go to the Nile in the morning to take care of his bodily needs
but wanted to conceal this fact from his subjects because “ה-ולא ומצע השע,“ he
portrayed himself as a deity.
The pyramid is an appropriate symbol of Egyptian society. Pharaoh is perched
at the pinnacle with a small layer of privileged aristocracy underneath him. And
the entire structure rests on the backs of the lowly masses, who in turn sit on
the lowest level of slaves. Imagine a slave engaging the mighty Pharaoh in civic
conversation—impossible to conceive! For Pharaoh, the masses of people were
his personal chattel, property to be used as he pleased and to be discarded when
no longer useful. All of Egyptian society was geared to ensuring the comfort and
pleasure of the Pharaoh and his family and those whom he favored. There is an
unbridgeable gap between Pharaoh and the subjects he rules. How appropriate
then, that Pharoah’s name means “distance” or “separation.”
Contrast this modality of tyrannical rule with the servant-leadership displayed
by Moshe. Rather than cynically using his position to rule others, Moshe made
the incredible claim that he never personally benefited from his role as leader: “אל
יתאשנ םהמ דחא רומח“ (Bamidbar 16:15), “I have not taken even a single donkey
from them!”
Moreover, Moshe saw his own destiny as being intimately tied to the future of
his people. When threatened with annihilation, Moshe not only courageously
defends them, he is willing to die to protect them! “’ה ינפ תא השמ לחיו“ (Shemot
32:11). The Gemara in Berachot 32b gives six different interpretations of this
phrase. One of them is Shmuel’s statement that “םאו רמאנש ,םהילע התימל ומצע רסמ
ךרפסמ אנ ינחמ ןיא“ – Moshe was willing to die defending them, as the verse says: “if
not, then wipe me out from your book” (Shemot 32:32).
Significantly, Hashem also sees Moshe’s leadership as being intrinsically connected
with the destiny of Am Yisrael. When faced with the Chet Ha-egel, Hashem says
to Moshe— “דר ךל“ – “go and descend” (Shemot 32:7). The Gemara in Berachot
32a explains: Hashem said to Moshe: Descend from your position of leadership.
I only gave you greatness in order to better serve Am Yisrael.