06 Jan PARSHA IN PRACTICE: SKILLS FOR BETTER LIVING SHEMOS – AN ATTITUDE OF INGRATITUDE

How could Moshe be
the right man for the
job?!
We are so used to the
idea of Moshe leading the Exodus, that we
might not realize that he was, ostensibly,
an inappropriate choice for the position.
Considering that Moshe was rescued by
Pharaoh’s daughter and brought up in
Pharaoh’s palace, doesn’t it seem just a little
ungracious for Moshe to march into his
childhood home and threaten the very one
who had raised him?
Chazal say that Moshe could not have been
the one to summon the first three plagues
by striking the Nile or the ground of Egypt
because he owed hakaras hatov to these
elements that had protected him in his youth
(Rashi, Shemos 7:19, 8:12). If Moshe’s sense
of gratitude prevented him from hitting
even inanimate objects, then these feelings
certainly should have precluded him from
striking his former caretaker, Pharaoh! Why
didn’t Hashem just pick someone else for the
job?

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l answered that
Moshe was chosen for this mission specifically
because it would demonstrate blatant
ingratitude toward Pharaoh. The root of all
of Pharaoh’s evil ways was his lack of hakaras
hatov. It started with his decision to forget
all of the good that Yosef had done for his
country, as if he had never known Yosef at all
(Rashi, Shemos 1:8). Eventually, his “attitude
of ingratitude” led him to deny the existence
of G-d Himself (Shemos 5:2; Rabbeinu Bachya
to 1:8), as he brazenly refused to acknowledge
all of the wealth and power that Hashem had
given him (Chullin 89a). Everything Pharaoh
did – from his enslavement of the Jewish
people to his denial of their religious freedom
– was rooted in this terrible trait of ingratitude.
Rav Elyashiv explained that Hashem was
trying to send Pharaoh an urgent message
to stop being ungrateful and finally release
Yosef ’s descendants from slavery – and He did
so by showing Pharaoh just how painful it is to
be unappreciated. When Moshe came barging
through the doors of his childhood home and
threatened his former caretaker that he would

overturn Egypt with plagues,
Pharaoh was meant to feel
the sting of betrayal – the ache
of realizing that someone
he had sustained and
protected could now stand
before him with demands
and threats. Pharaoh was
supposed to internalize that
feeling and recognize that
he, too, had demonstrated
such a lack of hakaras hatov
by imprisoning Yosef ’s
descendants, Hashem’s
special nation.
It was Moshe who had the greatest chance of
conveying to Pharaoh the critical importance
of gratitude and convincing him to free
the nation; this is why Hashem chose him
to lead the charge. When even that proved
unsuccessful, Hashem had no choice but to
personally intervene and redeem us from
Egypt with signs and wonders.
We all have moments when we feel

underappreciated and taken for granted.
Feeling unappreciated is one of the most
painful emotional experiences we have – not
because of ego, but because gratitude is how
relationships confirm our existence. Before
dismissing that pain, the Torah invites us to ask
a harder question: Are there family members,
friends, or coworkers in our lives who may feel
this way because of us? With the right attitude,
even a proverbial “slap in the face” can help us
develop a deeper appreciation for the midah
of hakaras hatov.