09 Jan PARASHAT VAERA: MOSHE WAS HUMAN

Surprisingly, the
Torah in Parashat
Vaera interrupts the
story of the Exodus
from Egypt with a genealogical record
of the first three of the tribes of Israel
– Reuben, Shimon and Levi. It lists the
names of the first several generations
that descended from these three sons of
Yaakob. Once the Torah reaches Moshe
and Aharon, members of the tribe of
Levi, this section ends, and the story of
Yesiat Misrayim resumes.
The commentators offered different
explanations for why the Torah found
it necessary to list the names of the
descendants of these tribes. A particularly
insightful approach was taken by Rav
Samson Raphael Hirsch (Frankfurt,
Germany, 1808-1888), whose yahrtzeit
is observed around the time this Parasha
is read, on 27 Tebet. He explains that
Moshe’s singular, exceptional stature
of greatness gave rise to the concern
that people would look to him as a
type of divine being. We know of other

religions that elevated their leaders to
G-d-like status, Heaven forbid, finding
it necessary to claim that the founder of
their faith was more than just a human.
Judaism, however, outright rejects such a
notion. We of course admire and revere
our spiritual heroes, but we firmly believe
that they were human beings, sharing the
same physical properties as the rest of us.
At no point did Judaism ever embrace the
notion that a human being can be a divine
being.
And for this reason, Rav Hirsch writes,
the Torah elaborates on Moshe’s family
background. It wants to emphasize that
Moshe, like us, was produced by a father
and mother who got married, and that he
had siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and
a large extended family. Before Moshe
confronted Pharaoh to bring the ten
plagues and put the miraculous process of
the Exodus into motion, it was necessary
for the Torah to emphasize that Moshe
was human, no less human than anybody
else, a member of a family.
Rav Hirsch’s explanation brings to mind

a brilliant insight of the Hatam Sofer
(Rav Moshe Sofer, Pressburg, 1762-
1839) to explain an otherwise perplexing
comment of the Midrash. When the time
came for Moshe to pass away, G-d said
to him, “Hen Karebu Yamecha La’mut”
– “Behold, the time of your death is
approaching” (Debarim 31:14). The
Midrash relates that Moshe responded
by questioning why G-d used the word
“Hen” in this context, in informing him
of his imminent death. Moshe had used
this same word earlier, in describing
G-d’s unlimited power and dominion
over the earth: “Hen L’Hashem Elokecha
Ha’shamayim U’shmeh Ha’shamayim”
(“Behold, G-d owns the heavens and the
upper heavens…” – Debarim 10:14).
Why, Moshe asked, would G-d use the
word that he had invoked in praising Him
to announce that he would soon leave this
world? The Midrash does not tell us how
G-d responded to Moshe’s complaint,
why He chose to use the word “Hen”
when informing Moshe that he would
soon pass away.

The Hatam Sofer explained that G-d used
this word precisely because Moshe’s
death served to preserve the belief in
G-d’s exclusive, absolute dominion
over the earth. Moshe’s passing was,
of course, a painful loss, but it was a
crucial reminder that he was only human,
that despite his unparalleled stature of
greatness, he was not a divine being.
And thus G-d informed Moshe about his
imminent passing with the word “Hen” –
hearkening to Moshe’s pronouncement of
G-d’s unlimited rule over the earth, a tenet
of faith which was reinforced by Moshe’s
death, as his mortality demonstrated that
he was human, and not a G-d.