Growing Day by Day משה רבינו the Example of After 120 years we will each be called upon to give an accounting of our life in front of the Ultimate Judge. We will give a report on the success of our mission, because only we have the capacity to.ה' fulfill such a mission and to be in the immediate presence of Every Jew is created אל-הים ; 1 בצלם therefore, each of us has the potential to become great. Yet we all start small, and sometimes it can take a lifetime to achieve our potential. We see this clearly illustrated in פרשת שמות through.משה Just like every person, he starts off small and throughout the פרשה we see how he gradually develops his,מדות until at 80 years old he reaches the level of.משה רבינו becoming In the beginning of משה,שמות hadn t yet had enough time to grow spiritually, and is therefore referred to as. הילד However both explains that רש '' י. 2 ויגדל הילד use similar phrasing of פסוק יא and פסוק י the first use of the word ויגדל is referring to s משה physical growth and the second mention in פסוק יא is in terms of spiritual improvement. Only now in פסוק יא is משה given a name, thus signifying his spiritual development as he gradually grows closer to fulfilling his mission. בראשית א:כו- ויאמר אלו-קים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו וירדו בדגת הים ובעוף השמים ובבהמה ובכל הארץ ובכל הרמש הרמש על הארץ. 1 2 שמות ב:י-י"א שמות פרק ב ויגדל הילד ותבאהו לבת פרעה ויהי לה לבן ותקרא שמו משה ותאמר כי מן המים משיתיהו: (יא) ויהי בימים ההם ויגדל משה ויצא אל אחיו וירא בסבלתם וירא איש מצרי מכה איש עברי מאחיו: 27
28 Yet this is only the beginning of s משה growth process, as.מידות he views every stage of life as a means of strengthening his We see how משה grows stronger in.פרק ב ' פסוקים יא-יב 3 His compassion for ישראל wasבני so great, that he could not bear to see them being beaten by s פרעה taskmasters. משה was so greatly distraught by the. 4 ויך את המצרי Egyptians, beatings that he hit and killed one of the s משה character is of utmost explains how this trait in רב הירש importance. משה felt that it was his duty to help an innocent,מדות s 'משה improvement in person being harmed. Although we see he still had not yet reached his ultimate level of leadership. This is evident in ב ' פסוק יב,פרק when משה turned and saw that there was no one around רב הירש.ויפן כה וכה וירא כי אין איש goes onto explain how this proves that at that moment, משה lacked the daring boldness which rushes without thinking into danger. Although משה was far from being a leader at this point in his life, he had grown much closer.פרק to fulfilling his potential than the very beginning of the in every stage of עבודת ה s 'משה thirst for strengthening his his life is what enabled him to become a leader. After פרעה condemned him for his action against the Egyptian, he was forced to flee מצרים and he traveled to פסוק יז.מדיון portrays a further development of s משה character, רב הירש 5.ויקם משה ויושען וישק את צאנם 6 explains כהן how shepherds came and pushed the seven daughters of the them, came to help משה away and mistreated them, however מדיון simply out of kindness, in order to aid mistreated beings. 3 שמות ב:י"א-י"ב שמות פרק ב ויהי בימים ההם ויגדל משה ויצא אל אחיו וירא בסבלתם וירא איש מצרי מכה איש עברי מאחיו: (יב) ויפן כה וכה וירא כי אין איש ויך את המצרי ויטמנהו בחול: 4 רב שמשון רפאל הירש על התורה שמות ד:יד ד"ה ויפן כה וכה 5 שמות ב:י"ז שמות פרק ב ויבאו הרעים ויגרשום ויקם משה ויושען וישק את צאנם: 6 רב שמשון רפאל הירש על התורה שמות ב:יז ד"ה וישק את צאנם
29 משה רבינו Growing Day by Day the Example of In ג,פרק Moshe entered a new stage of life in מדיון when he became a את צאן. 7 רעה This not only implies that משה literally be- משה tells us how מדרש comes a shepherd, but figuratively too. The was chosen to lead בני ישראל due to the compassion that he displayed towards one helpless animal. When he brought the sheep to a river for water, one lamb did not come so משה went over to the משה,ה animal and carried it to the water to allow it to drink. Like cared about each individual in the group, not just about the group as a whole. And here משה proved himself worthy of becoming a משהhad s ה children. Only now, at the age of 80, shepherd for reached the level of becoming a leader. One would think that since משה had now reached the level of undertaking such a challenging mission and had gained such a high level of authority, he would feel accomplished and would perhaps feel no more of a need to grow. But this is not the end of his personal development; משה constantly stove higher and always realized that the מדריגה that he was on at every stage of his life was פרשת only a fraction of what he can achieve. Throughout the rest of continuously משה we see clearly how ספר and the entire שמות developed himself through the rest of his life until his death where he was described in ספר דברים as ' עבד ה. 8 משה And one of the main reasons for this was his humility. In שמות פרק ג,ספר when ה' commanded משה to take בני ישראל out of משה,מצרים questioned his own 9 10 מי אנכי כי אליך אל פרעה ability, משה explains how the fact that רב הירש. שמות ג:א שמות פרק ג ומשה היה רעה את צאן יתרו חתנו כהן מדין וינהג את הצאן אחר המדבר ויבא אל הר האלו-קים חרבה: 7 8 דברים לד:ה דברים פרק לד וימת שם משה עבד ה' בארץ מואב על פי ה': שמות ג:יא שמות פרק ג ויאמר משה אל האלו-קים מי אנכי כי אלך אל פרעה וכי אוציא את בני 9 ישראל ממצרים: 10 רב שמשון רפאל הירש על התורה שמות ג:יא ד:ה מי אנוכי כי אלך אל פרעה
30 saw his complete unsuitability for the work made him the most suitable for it. He goes on to explain how ה' required a man who was the greatest חכם and at the same time the greatest.ענו This is such a valuable lesson that משה רבינו teaches us. משה started out small and through many years of constant growth he managed to become משה רבינו and continue growing until ultimately he became. 11 האיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה Each one of us possesses a divine soul and therefore each one of us has the potential to achieve greatness. But משה highlights the fact that greatness does not come easily or instantly. We see this too in יהושע.ספר At the beginning of the יהושע,ספר is referred to as יהושע בן נון 12 and only by the end of his life in פרק כד is he referred to as ' יהושע בן נון עבד ה 13. Like,משה it took יהושע a lifetime to become a true ה'.עבד This further teaches us that it takes many, many years of one s life to achieve our potential and often up to a lifetime. The first מזמור in ספר תהילים discusses the worthiness of one who immerses oneself in.תורה It begins in פסוק א by referring to this person as 14 האיש and only in the last פסוק of the מזמור does it change from איש to צדיק 15, again signifying this vital message. It begins with We all.צדיק to highlight the fact that any person can become a איש have the potential to become a leader in our own unique way,,הילד starts his life as משה just as,איש though we all start as an small and untitled. Yet only by emulating the ways of רבינו,משה by using every stage of our lives as an opportunity for growth, of 11 במדבר יב:ג והאיש משה עניו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה: 12 יהושע א:א ויהי אחרי מות משה עבד ה' ויאמר ה' אל יהושע בן נון משרת משה לאמר: 13 יהושע כד:כט ויהי אחרי הדברים האלה וימת יהושע בן נון עבד ה' בן מאה ועשר שנים: תהלים א:א אשרי האיש אשר לא הלך בעצת רשעים ובדרך חטאים לא עמד ובמושב לצים לא 14 ישב: 15 תהלים א:ו כי יודע ה' דרך צדיקים ודרך רשעים תאבד:
31 משה רבינו Growing Day by Day the Example of strengthening our ' ה,עבודת growing closer to our mission and always remaining humble can we eventually reach the level of becoming a true צדיק and a leader.