Parashat Shemot: What makes a hero?

• Date: 07 January 2021
• Author: DAVID WOLPE
• Published date: 07 January 2021

Thomas Mann attributes Dostoevsky's creativity in large part to his epilepsy, Abraham Lincoln's leadership has often been viewed as forged while battling depression, and the Midrash puts it very simply: "If a person uses broken vessels, it is an embarrassment, but God seeks out broken vessels for His use" (Lev. Raba 7:2). The hero is almost always one who has won battles inside himself or herself before struggling in the world.

When we ask why God chose Moses to be the premier prophet of our tradition, one might point to early incidents in his life: saving an Israelite from an Egyptian taskmaster, intervening in quarrels between Israelites, defending the daughters of Jethro – an activism and vigor that presage his later actions.

But deeper perhaps than his talent were his trials: a child born under the sign of death, taken away from the home in which he would have naturally been raised, and contending with a speech impediment; a man who, in fear of his life, had to run to another country. God chose a broken vessel.

When God approaches Moses for the first time, God's self-identification is "I am the God of your fathers." We remember that Moses has grown up separated from his own father. This man, who will have to be father and mother to Israel, did not have the experience of being parented on his own. (Yes, mother as well: remember Numbers 11:12, when Moses says to God, "Did I conceive this people, did I bear them, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a wet nurse carries an infant?'")

Moses's personal struggles enable him to summon the strength despite his initial unwillingness. Moses suffered serial difficulties and isolations. Taking on a destiny he did not want, he is betrayed by his own brother and sister (who both gossip about him and, in Aaron's case, help to build the golden calf), is constantly battled by the people, faces a full-scale rebellion and is ultimately barred from the land by God. The man who led Israel to the...