Torah thoughts for your Shabbos Table “And Yosef died, and all his brothers, and that entire generation.” Exodus 1:6) As we transition from Sefer Beraishis, which focuses on the foundations of Mankind and the Jewish People, to Sefer Shmos, which discusses the generations that suffered in Egypt and eventually left with great fanfare to accept the Torah and mitzvos, we are alerted that it is the end of an era. Such a transition can be very disheartening to those living through it. Gone were the luminous personalities such as Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The twelve sons of Yaakov, who had known the Avos personally and carried on their legacy, now passed away. Their descendants, mired in the Egyptian lifestyle, likely felt that they were bereft. “We have no more like those greats,” would be an understandable assertion. Yet, within a few verses, we are told that Pharaoh himself is aware that a great leader is about to arise. Moshe is born in the midst of a national crisis in which the decree was issued that all babies must be cast into the Nile. We know what was happening, but the B’nai Yisrael did not have the benefit of our perspective. All they knew was that the previous generation was gone and they had no leadership of that caliber. This sad saga repeats itself in every generation. We see leaders pass away and say, “There is no one like him,” and “It will never be the same.” Cynics say, “Today’s leaders are not real leaders; we need someone like X,” and they mention someone who is gone. Moshe, himself, argued that he was not worthy or fit to lead. He asked HaShem to send someone more fitting, but HaShem said “no.” He showed Moshe each generation and its leaders. It wasn’t sufficient to show the leaders, because each succeeding one would be but a shadow of the one before. However, when Moshe saw the generations, he understood that HaShem gave each one the leadership that it deserved and needed. They might not be like the leaders of yesteryear, but neither is the new generation like the Jews of yesteryear. From this exchange we find a striking message. We don’t have to be like the previous generations to be leaders. While of course we must strive to emulate them, we do not need to reach their level before we can achieve great things. When we find ourselves in situations where we can effect change and improve the lot of our People, we must recognize that this is a holy task being assigned to us by the King of Kings Who knows what we are and what we are not. Our task, like Moshe’s, is to not back down from the challenge, but to accept the yoke of leadership in whatever capacity it is given to us. Whether at a national level or simply within our own family or even over ourselves and our inclinations, our job is to try to be great and be the right person for the task at hand.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:00:20 +0000
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