14 Jan PARSHAS SHEMOS: THE SYMBOLISM OF THE THORN BUSH

Parshas Shemos can
be considered a
historic parsha. A
seminal event in
Jewish history
occurred in this
week’s parsha that
has effects until today: This is the parsha in
which the Almighty chooses Moshe to lead
the Jewish people and it is the first parsha in
which the Almighty speaks to the Jewish
people through Moshe Rabbeinu.
We are all familiar with the famous incident
that inaugurates Moshe’s status as a prophet:
“An angel of G-d appeared to him in a flame
of fire from within a thorn bush. He saw and
behold! The bush was burning in the fire but
the bush was not consumed.” [Shemos 3:2]
G-d appeared to Moshe in the guise of a
burning bush. We often judge based on first
impressions. This is G-d’s introduction to the
Jewish people. Of all possible symbolisms in
which to introduce Himself, the Almighty
chooses the symbolism of a burning bush.
Why not a fir tree? Why not a mighty oak?
Why not a cedar tree?
Rashi explains: As a bush — and not as any

other tree — to indicate, “I am with them in
their time of trouble” (Imo Anochi b’Tzarah).
The Almighty is making a statement here. He
appears as a lowly bush to emphasize that He
is with us in our travails. G-d’s appearing as a
bush on fire was a metaphor that the Jewish
people could identify with in their times of
tribulation in Egypt. This idea of “Imo
Anochi b’Tzarah” is very much akin to
another expression often used to indicate
sharing the burden with a fellow Jew: “nosei
b’ol im chaveiro” (literally – carrying the
yoke with his friend).
But even more pronounced is Moshe’s
reaction: Moshe thought, “Let me turn aside
now and see this great sight – why will the
bush not be burned?” [Shemos 3:3]. The
pasuk says that G-d saw that Moshe’s intent
was to check out the phenomenon and
immediately thereafter it says that G-d called
to Moshe from the midst of the bush and
Moshe responded, “Here I am!”
Let us pose the following question: Who
would not be interested in checking out a
bush that was burning without being
consumed? People stop to check up on what
is happening even if they witness nothing

stranger than a house on fire. The fire is
consuming the house, but it still draws a
crowd of people who are “checking it out”.
No normal person in his right mind would
ignore a miraculous phenomenon such as a
flaming bush which is NOT being
consumed.
The way the pasukim are presented, they
seem to indicate that somehow the very fact
that Moshe came closer to check out the
phenomenon of the burning bush was what
prompted G-d to decide, as it were, “Aha!
He’s my man!” This is very curious, because
anyone would do this.
The Medrash asks this question and answers
that the Almighty was not impressed that
Moshe checked out the bush. According to
the Medrash “And G-d saw that he turned
aside to see…” [Shemos 3:4] is not referring
to the burning bush at all. It refers rather to
Moshe’s turning aside to see (when he was
still in Egypt) the affliction of the Jewish
people. Moshe was in the lap of luxury, a
prince in the house of Pharaoh and
nevertheless he went out to check up on the
welfare of his brethren and he saw their
suffering (Va’yare b’sivlosam) [Shemos
2:11]. This is the event referred to by “And
Hashem saw that he (Moshe) turned aside
to see” (“Va’yare Hashem ki sar lir’os”).
This is actually an attribute of the Almighty
– He descends from His Mighty Abode to
check up on the needs and welfare of His
nation. This is the metaphor of the Divine
Fire in the lowly bush. My “Shalom
Aleichem” (personal introduction) to the
Jewish people, the Almighty states, is the
message that I descend to be amongst them
in their time of need. I will pick a leader
for them who also carries this same
attribute of “Imo anochi b’tzarah” – when
you are in pain I am in pain as well!
There is a marvelous comment of the Baal
HaTurim in Parshas Miketz on the pasuk
“And to Yosef were born two sons before
the years of famine came.” [Bereishis
41:50]. The Talmud teaches the
significance of the fact that Yosef’s
children were born before the years of
famine and derives from here the Halacha
that a person is forbidden to engage in
marital relations with his wife during a
time of famine [Taanis 11a]. The principle
is that when people are suffering one
should abstain from acts of pleasure. Even
though abstaining from pleasurable
activities will not in and of itself relieve
the suffering of others it demonstrates that
one wishes to associate with those who
suffer: “Imo anochi b’tzarah” [I am with
him together in his time of travail]. Yosef

thus, like Moshe, was also one who suffered
together with his fellow man.
Listen now to the comment of the Baal
HaTurim: Only twice in the Torah do we find
the word “u’l’Yosef” [and to Yosef] – one is
the above quoted pasuk in Parshas Miketz
and the other is in Zos Habracha “And to
Yosef it was said: Blessed by Hashem is his
land…” [Devorim 33:13]. The Baal HaTurim
expounds this homiletically as a type of
“Gezeirah Shavah” [linguistic linkage from
which lessons may be derived]: Since Yosef
abstained from personal pleasure because
people were suffering, he merited that G-d
blessed his land. Indeed the portion of Yosef
was the most abundant and fertile region in
the entire Land of Israel. Rashi says this
explicitly in Chumash on the above-cited
pasuk from Zos HaBracha. This was a
“measure for measure” reward. One who is a
“Nos’ai b’ol im chaveiro” [bears the burden
of his fellow’s suffering] is deserving of a
bonanza.
Rav Matisyahu Solomon zt”l has a beautiful
insight along these same lines. In the blessing
of Yosef in Zos HaBracha it is written “and
with the delicacies of the land and its fullness;
and by the goodwill of He who rests in the
thorn bush…” [Devarim 33:16]. This is the
only place in the Chumash in which the
Almighty is referred to by the title “He who
rests in the thorn bush”! Rashi there makes
the point that Moshe is blessing Yosef with
the thought “May his land be blessed out of
the goodwill and contentment of the Holy
One, Blessed is He, Who was first revealed to
me in the thorn bush.”
The Almighty’s “Shalom Aleichem” to Klal
Yisrael was through the thorn bush to
demonstrate that He empathized and
associated with their troubles. He picked
Moshe, who was another individual who
empathized with the troubles of the people.
Finally, Moshe blessed Yosef who empathized
with the troubles of the people and invoked in
his blessing “the One who rests in the thorn
bush” because Yosef (like Moshe)
demonstrated the attribute that the Almighty
appreciates”: Nos’ai b’ol im chaveiro.”