STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS SHEMOS
5777
“FIRST THINGS FIRST”
“VACUUM CLEANER CAPTURES
SNAKE”
Yediot Acharonot, Evan
Ackerman, Friday, November 20, 2009
The
Roomba is built to vacuum dust independently under
One evening last week, Efi
turned on the robot and left the house. When she returned home she noticed that
it had stopped and was beeping. She tried to turn it back on but it would not
restart. Efi opened the machine and, to her horror, discovered a Vipera
Palaestinae, a venomous snake that had been sucked up by the machine.
The snake
was wound thoroughly around the cleaning wheel and had received injuries to its
head. By the time Eli came home the viper died of its wounds.
When Efi informed “IRobot”
of the situation, they were so excited to hear the story that they sent the
Frida family a remote control as compensation. “We were very lucky”, sums Eli,
“If the snake would have hid in the house and bitten one of the children, it
could have ended badly.”
The family of Yaakov Avinu grew rapidly. The
Egyptians hastily mobilized to impose a Final Solution to solve the (trumped
up) problems caused by the burgeoning nation. They enslaved the Jews
mercilessly, subjecting them to a horrific and inhumane workload. Years went
by, then decades, and centuries. The Jews had become an enslaved people, the
bane of Egyptian society. But they had scant memories of a glorious past, and
nebulous promises of a prominent future.
Finally, G-d hearkened to His People’s myriad
plaintiff cries and began to pave the way towards their redemption. G-d
appeared to Moshe ben Amram and instructed him to set the trajectory in motion
by standing before Pharaoh and demanding that he release his Jewish slaves.
Moshe desperately tried to shun the awesome
responsibility, reasoning that he was inadequate and incapable. But G-d was
adamant that he was the right person for the job and Moshe finally agreed to
embrace his mission. Moshe returned to his father-in-law Yisro in Midyan and bade
him farewell as he prepared to embark upon his fateful return to Egypt.
After Moshe set out on his way G-d spoke to him
again and reiterated the message he was to deliver to Pharaoh. After the Torah
concludes quoting G-d’s message to Moshe, it immediately segues into a peculiarly
traumatic event:
“When he
was on his way, at the inn, G-d encountered him and sought to kill him. So Tziporah
took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to his
feet; and she said, “A husband of blood you are to me.” So he loosened his hold
on him; then she said, “A husband of blood because of circumcision.[1]”
Rashi explains that an angel in the form of a
vicious snake had attacked Moshe. “The
angel sought to kill Moshe because he had not circumcised his son Eliezer.
Because he was remiss, he was to be punished with the death penalty. Rabbi Yose
said: Heaven forbid! He was not remiss. Rather he said, ‘Shall I perform the
circumcision and then depart on the journey? Traveling poses a danger to the
infant until three days (have elapsed from the circumcision). The Holy One,
blessed is He, has commanded me, “Go! Return to Egypt
This entire event seems difficult to understand.
The fact that Moshe was ‘derelict’ in circumcising his son was only because he
was engaged in the most sublime responsibility that he had just been compelled
to accept. Moreover, one who is engaged in performing one mitzvah is exempt
from performing any other mitzvah that may interfere with his performance of
the first mitzvah[2].
So why was Moshe at all liable for not circumcising his son?
Also, why is there no open space in the Torah
between G-d’s message to Moshe and this event? It seems that the Torah wishes to
emphasize that the two are connected.
I once heard the following explanation: The Torah here
is stressing that NO ONE is above the law. Even the great Moshe - who was en
route to become the emissary of G-d in redeemig His people, the future
transmitter of the Torah at Sinai, the only mortal who would ever speak to G-d
‘face to face’ in normal conversation as it were, and the consummate leader -
was subject to the laws and mitzvos like any other Jew. The Shulchan Aruch was
written, and is binding, from the simplest Jew to the most erudite scholar.
Rabbi Lazer Shach zt’l[3] explained that perhaps Moshe
was indeed exempt from circumcising his son, according to the letter of the
law. However, because Moshe was now setting out to fulfill such an integral
mission he should have realized that he needed every possible merit that he
could accrue. The mitzvah of circumcision is an incredible merit for all those
involved, and Moshe should have taken that into account. He may have been
exempt, but for the mission he was involved in the merit of that mitzvah was
indispensable. The great Moshe was taken to task for failing to realize that
point.
Truthfully there is a deeper idea contained in
this event, which serves as an invaluable lesson for those involved in communal
affairs: A leader or community activist must always remember that although he
is involved in holy work, he is never excused from his primary duties – caring
for his own family.
There was no greater activist on behalf of his
people than Moshe Rabbeinu. Yet he was held accountable for somewhat neglecting
his responsibility toward his own son. There is no separation between G-d’s
message to Moshe regarding saving the nation and the incident with the snake.
It demonstrated that just as saving the nation was a binding divine obligation
so was Moshe’s responsibility to perform his son’s circumcision. All of one’s
responsibilities notwithstanding, one can never forget that his priority is his
own family.
This idea does not only apply to the education of
one’s children, but in marriage too. Rabbi Chaim Freidlander zt’l[4] explains why marriage is such
a necessity for one’s personal growth. It is a wonderful mitzvah to be involved
in acts of chesed (kindness) for others. It demonstrates a level of altruism
and selflessness, and shows that the doer lives for others, not just for
himself. However, if one chooses not to involve himself in any particular chesed
for whatever reason, although he forfeits that opportunity, it is not
necessarily a detriment to the recipient. Someone else can step in and do what
is necessary. However, in regards to emotional, psychological, and physical support
of a spouse, only the other spouse has the ability to fulfill those needs. That
is chesed that is specifically incumbent upon the spouse, and no one can adequately
substitute for a spouse.
We lead very busy lives and we have many
responsibilities that need to be taken care of within limited amounts of time.
Still-in-all, we must realize that our primary responsibility is to our families.
There are many responsibilities that others can help us with, but no one can be
the parent of our children or a support mate for our spouse, aside from us[5].
“A husband of blood you are to me”
“He busied himself with arrangements for the inn
first”
Rabbi
Dani Staum, LMSW
Rabbi,
Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – ASHAR
Principal
– Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
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