Va'era Parsha Lesson- No limits
For Year 2 of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one practical middah, character trait, to think about in the week ahead and steps we can take to attain it.
Background
At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Hashem commands Moshe to go and speak to Pharoah- to command him to let the Jewish people go free. This would be the beginning of the 10 plagues or makkos that Hashem brought against the Egyptians.
Moshe responded to Hashem by saying- “the Jewish people didn’t listen to me (when Moshe told over the prophecy that Hashem told him about the impending redemption). How is Pharoah going to listen to me as I am of heavy speech (a stutterer)?” The Torah then says that Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon.
Rashi explains that the reason why Hashem now spoke to both Moshe and Aharon, was because Moshe said that he was a stutterer, therefore Hashem made it that Aharon would be the one to actually speak to Pharoah, albeit as Moshe’s emissary.
Question
It wasn’t because Moshe said that he was stutterer, that Hashem made Aharon his intermediary! Rather it was because, in fact, Moshe was a stutterer! Why is Rashi “blaming” this on Moshe and attributing Aharon’s appointment to the fact that Moshe said he was a stutterer!?
Answer
From Rashi, and the Sforno amongst others, it is clear that the issue was NOT that Moshe was in fact a stutterer, but rather that Moshe complained to Hashem that he was a stutterer. Meaning, even though Moshe was a stutterer, he still would have been successful in his mission to speak to Pharoah. It was only because Moshe perceived this as an obstacle which would hinder his success did Hashem assign Aharon to be his spokesman to Pharoah.
Lesson
I think there are two important lessons for us to take away from this episode:
When we have a mission to accomplish something, a mission that we know is something we need to do, obstacles in our path are only going to stop us if we think they will. As we know, Hashem helps man in the path in which he wants to go, and therefore nothing will stand in your way- as long as one is determined and believes it is possible.
Once someone is under the impression that there are obstacles in his path that he cannot overcome, it will not work to try to “pump him up” and convince him that it is possible. Hashem did not give Moshe a speech and chizzuk that he really can do it- Hashem appointed Aharon instead.
First Step
The first step in living with this philosophy that the sky is truly the limit and that a person can accomplish anything he sets his mind to, is to realize and practice true free-choice. What this means is to identify the areas of life that the person can exercise his free will, and to accept responsibility for those actions.
If a person either:
- has outsized expectations of what he is capable of doing, or
- if he is under the impression that all of his actions are due to his circumstances,
both of these mindsets will not enable him to truly feel like he can do and accomplish what he sets his mind to.
A person is only as constrained as the limits he sets upon himself, but a person needs to start with small steps in order that he doesn’t immediately fail at doing things which are, at this point in his development, truly beyond him. Doing so will lead to quick disappointment and reinforce his mindset that he is in fact NOT capable of doing things that he should be able to do.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
