02 Jan PARASHAT SHEMOT: EVERYONE CAN SHINE BRIGHTLY!

Parashat Shemot begins
by listing the names of
Yaakov Avinu’s sons who
had come to live in Egypt.
At first glance, this list is
entirely unnecessary.
We just read several parashiyot about the
story of Yaakov’s family, and we are well
aware of who his sons were. Why is this
information repeated? Rashi explains that
when Hashem brings out the stars each
night, and when He brings them away from
the sky in the morning, He counts them,
calling each one by name. Similarly, He
repeatedly lists the names of the Jewish
People by name, showing how much He
loves them – that they are as great as the
stars. What does this mean? In what way
are we compared to the stars? And how
does this show Hashem’s love for us?
There are an enormous number of stars, but
each one is significant and plays a vital role
in the galaxy. And, although a star seems
tiny, it is actually gigantic, and critically
important. The Torah wants us to know
that we are each a star. Every single one of
us plays a vital role, and each one of us can
shine brightly, even if other people see us

– and we might sometimes see ourselves –
as small and insignificant. No one is
insignificant. We are all precious and
beloved to Hashem, we all have an
important place in the world, and we all
have the ability to shine brightly. Later in
the parashah, we read that Pharaoh rejected
Moshe’s demand that he release Beneh
Yisrael. He shouted, Hein Rabim Atah Am
Haeretz, V’Hashivosum Osum M’sivlosum
– that there were many slaves with work to
do, and Moshe was disrupting their labor
by giving them false hopes of freedom
(5:5). The Ben Ish Hai notes that Pharaoh
referred to Beneh Yisrael here as Am
Ha’aretz – “people of the land.” This
expression, the Ben Ish Hai explains,
means that Pharaoh saw Beneh Yisrael as
capable of nothing more than being Am
Ha’aretz, people who worked the land. In
his eyes, this is who they were, and this is
all they could ever be. He insisted that
there was no point for them to aspire to
anything more because this is who they
were, slaves who worked. Moshe’s
message was – and still is, to this very day
that we are not destined to remain Am
Ha’aretz. We are capable of much more,

and we are destined to much
more. We are like stars.
People might see us as
small, but we are large,
important, talented, and
capable of shining brightly
like the sun. I once had the
opportunity to visit the
Blind Museum in Holon,
Israel. A visit to this
museum is a remarkable
experience, being led by
blind tour guides through a
complex in the pitch black,
getting a sense of what life
is like as a blind person. After the tour, my
daughter, who was with me, asked me if it
is harder to be blind from birth, or to have
become blind during one’s life. I decided
to pose this question to our guide. “I don’t
know,” the guide said, “because I was born
blind. But I do know that I would never
want to be able to see.” I couldn’t believe
my ears. “You would not want to have the
ability to see?!” I asked in astonishment.
“No,” the guide confirmed. “I have been
blind all my life. This is all I know. I would
be scared to see.” I came away from this

brief conversation with a crucial insight
into human nature. People tend to fall into
their comfort zones, accepting their
condition, and are afraid to change. Their
lives can be so much better. They can shine
so much brighter. They can enjoy life so
much more, and accomplish so much
more. But they’re scared to leave the place
where they are. They’re afraid of change,
and so they stay stuck in place. Let’s all
have the courage to shine as brightly as we
can, to realize our full potential, and to stop
being afraid. We can be better. We can be a
star. So let’s do it.