Thesis: Moshe’s defining characteristic was overcoming his natural
inclination and recognizing people much less fortunate than himself.
Question: Why was Moshe rewarded for noticing the bush – anyone would have
stopped to look?
Answer: Moshe was rewarded for being someone who generally stops and notices things. Not just at the bush, but also in Egypt.
One morning in January 2007, in the
cold halls of Metro Station, in Washinton DC, a man stood playing on a violin. After
about 4 minutes a middle-aged man noticed him playing and smiled. But kept
walking to make his schedule.
After about 10 minutes, he received
a dollar that a woman threw in his hat without even looking over. A few minutes
later a young man leaned against the wall and listened, looked at his watch and
kept on moving.
That morning, the violinist played
continuously for 1 hour. During that hour, over 2000 people walked by. Only 6 people
had stopped to listen for a short while, 20 people gave him money collected a
total of $32.
When the man finished his
performance, no one noticed, no one applauded. There was just a silence that
took over.
This man was none other than Joshua
Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. The piece he played was one
of the most intricate pieces of music ever written.
Just 2 days before, Joshua Bell sold
out a theater in Boston with tickets averaging $100 each to listen to the exact
same performance. However, that morning, 2000 people had passed him without
even flinching.
In this weeks Parsha, Moshe notices
a burning bush.
וַ֠יֵּרָ֠א מַלְאַ֨ךְ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֵלָ֛יו
בְּלַבַּת־אֵ֖שׁ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַסְּנֶ֑ה וַיַּ֗רְא וְהִנֵּ֤ה הַסְּנֶה֙ בֹּעֵ֣ר
בָּאֵ֔שׁ וְהַסְּנֶ֖ה אֵינֶ֥נּוּ אֻכָּֽל׃
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה אָסֻֽרָה־נָּ֣א וְאֶרְאֶ֔ה
אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶ֥ה הַגָּדֹ֖ל הַזֶּ֑ה מַדּ֖וּעַ לֹא־יִבְעַ֥ר הַסְּנֶֽה׃
וַיַּ֥רְא יְהֹוָ֖ה כִּ֣י סָ֣ר לִרְא֑וֹת
וַיִּקְרָא֩ אֵלָ֨יו אֱלֹהִ֜ים מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַסְּנֶ֗ה וַיֹּ֛אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֥ה מֹשֶׁ֖ה
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִי׃
It seems from the pessukim that
Moshe was chosen because he noticed the burning bush. He saw what the people
around were ignoring. That is why he was chosen as the leader. He stopped and
looked.
However, the Medrish asks a burning
question – pun intended. It asks what is so special about Moshe looking at a
burning bush. Anyone would stop to stare at something interesting like that.
What was different here?
Says the Medrish, when the passuk
says “וַיַּ֥רְא יְהֹוָ֖ה כִּ֣י סָ֣ר
לִרְא֑וֹת” it does not mean he noticed the bush. Rather, Hashem saw that
he had stopped to notice the Jews in Egypt. It is picking up on special
language a Perek earlier where the Torah says
“וַיַּ֖רְא
בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם וַיַּרְא֙ אִ֣ישׁ מִצְרִ֔י מַכֶּ֥ה אִישׁ־עִבְרִ֖י מֵאֶחָֽיו׃”
And he SAW their affliction and he
SAW an Egyptian hitting one of his fellow Jews.
The Torah stresses the fact that
Moshe stopped and SAW people around him. Moshe, the price of Egypt, the
wealthiest and most comfortable man in town, stopped and noticed another Jew.
Says the Medrish, that is why Moshe
was chosen as the leader. He stopped to see another Jew.
In an incredible study conducted by
students at NYU in 2016, they found that as people identified as a higher class
were more likely to ignored people around them. In the study they measured how
long people looked at others around them while walking down the street –
specifically homeless people – and as people identified as being more “upper
class”, they looked less and less. The homeless became almost invisible to the
top group of participants, spending only a fraction of a second on them.
Their reasoning came from a
psychological concept called “motivational relevance”. We are naturally drawn
to give attention to things that are relevant to us and ignore things that are
irrelevant. Upper-class people are less likely to consider other people
relevant to them than those at lower class levels. In another study, they found
a similar result between people that were naturally gifted and good looking and
those that were less naturally gifted or good looking.
However, the group concluded that
this does not need to be the case. All groups of people were just as able to
have conversations with each other if they wanted. It was all about the initial
attitude that was different.
What made Moshe unique was his
ability to recognize even the lowest slaves in Egypt while he was at the
highest of the Egyptian cast. He not only noticed, but also recognized their
importance and inherent value.
The 2000 people that passed Joshua
Bell in the station, didn’t ignore him because he played badly, or they
disliked music. Rather they saw him as anyone else playing music out of
desperation like every other homeless person. Their “motivational relevance”
kicked in and they did not even notice one of the greatest violinists of our
generation standing right before them.
Baruch Hashem, many of us here are
blessed with money, food, shelter, and being naturally gifted. But not everyone
is. It is very easy to silo ourselves into groups of similar people, but it is
important to see the value and personality in everyone.
I would like to challenge everyone to think about people they have ignored because of their natural “motivational relevance” instinct. This can be other adults, but also children in the shul. Take the extra few minutes and build that relationship. It may be more valuable to YOU than it is to them.