Parshat Shemot:
I want to share a beautiful idea from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook that appears in Ein Ayah, his commentary on Aggadic ideas of the Talmud.
We are told that Moshe was instructed at the burning bush to go to Egypt and speak first to the Israelites and then go together with the Elders to give Pharaoh an ultimatum. Moshe’s response was, “But they will not believe me, nor listen to my words, for they will say, ‘Hashem didn’t appear to you’.”
Hashem therefore gave Moshe miraculous signs that he should use to demonstrate to the Israelites that G-d had appeared to him. He instructed him to throw his staff to the ground and it turned into a serpent, from which Moshe fled. He then was told to place his hand inside his clothing and when he removed it his hand was covered with snow-like tzaraat.
Our Sages explain that although these were primarily given to convince the Israelites, the specific signs were also a message to Moshe. The first being of creation that spoke Lashon Hara was the snake who slandered G-d by claiming that the reason Adam and Chava could not eat from the tree was because Hashem didn’t want them to have the same power as Him. And as we know, the skin lesion tzaraat was a punishment for Lashon Hara. Therefore Hashem was rebuking Moshe for speaking badly about the Jewish people by saying they wouldn’t believe.
Rav Kook explains that, deep within every one of us there is a profound faith in Hashem and His pure holiness, a wonderful treasure that is the source of happiness and eternal spiritual life. It is such a deep and fundamental part of the soul that even the person himself is hidden from truly recognizing it. And for sure it is absolutely impossible for another person to be aware of it.
Although Moshe was so great, even he could not see past the external hopelessness of slaves held in horrendous captivity for so many decades, to the brilliant fire of faith contained within. He was convinced that they would not be able to open their hearts to the possibility that there was an end to their suffering, surely it would be too risky for them to place their faith in someone only to see their hopes dashed.
But Hashem had an important message for Moshe. Whatever they may look like on the outside, inside every Jew is a fire that will always burn and you may never underestimate its power of faith however the dark the circumstances. They may be physically or spiritually battered, but they will never be lost.