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Sermon for Sidra Shemos
December 2010
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman

Contrasts expose!

Take Pharaoh and Moses in today’s Sidra.

As we are told at the beginning of Shemot:
“A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph”. Because he didn’t know Joseph he chose to ignore the legacy of how Joseph had saved Egypt from the severe famine that had befallen the Middle East.

  The Rabbis disputed whether it was really a new king or simply the old Pharaoh who chose to forget Joseph, as his agenda had changed – something which quite often happens with political leaders.

So here we are shown a Pharaoh – a leader of weakness and not a man of principle!

Compare this to the Moses' appearance in the sidra. Raised under the very nose of Pharaoh – he matures – and as the verse states:
“And it came to pass in those days and Moses matured and went out to his brethren and he saw their extreme hardship”.  He witnesses injustices and with no regard to his own safety and comfort, he takes action, first killing the Egyptian abusing the Israelite and then rebuking two Israelites fighting with one another.  He is established as a man of principle!

  This is the Torah’s introduction to a man who will eventually be chosen to lead the redemption of his people from the bondage of Egyptian slavery.

Our Sidra thus exposes by contrast the greatness of Moses as opposed to the weakness of Pharaoh.

The Mishnah at the end of Sotah describes the period of “Ikvut Mishecha” – the period before the arrival of the Moshiach when “arrogance” will rule, and then it states: “The face of the “dor” (lit. generation), will be like the face of the dog”

R’ Yisroel Salanter explained this phrase in the following way. When one walks a dog, it runs out in front but every so often it glances back at its owner.  Said R’ Yisroel, so will the leaders behave like dogs; whilst running in front of the people they will forever look back for their approval.

Moses is considered the archetypical leader, principled, resolute and strong!

When we survey contemporary leadership sadly few fall into this category!

Well, maybe it’s a true sign that Moshiach is not far off!

  May he come speedily in our own day, Amen!