What is left to say about one of the most famous Bible readings? So much pressure…

Because so much has already been said and written about this parsha: Moses being rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, set in a basket on the Nile; the two famous midwives, Shifra and Puah, who go against Pharaoh’s command and rescue Hebrew babies; Moses and his problem with speech; the burning bush; Moses turning away from the bush, afraid to look at God; Moses protesting his assigned role as liberator; God’s naming himself “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh,” or “I am what I am; I will be what I will be.” Not to mention Moses as another in-between Egyptian/Hebrew like Joseph (Is there something significant about this under the surface?).

Here’s what struck me: 

The elements of nature (water, fire, air and earth) seem to play a really big role throughout this Torah reading.

1. Moses is named for being drawn out of the water (element #1).

2. Later, when fleeing for his life after killing an Egyptian slave driver, Moses sits by a well (water, again) where he meets his future wife (yes, I know, several romantic connections result from wells in Torah).

3. There is fire in the famous, unconsumed burning bush, from which an Angel of God emanates, and then God’s voice--into the air, of course (second and third elements).

4. In the burning-bush scene, God tells Moses to take off his sandals because this is “holy ground” he is standing on (earth!).

In addition, speech and the senses are very significant in this parsha:

1. Moses protests to God that he cannot be God’s messenger because the speech that comes from his mouth is “heavy.” He needs to use his tongue and voice, which must be expressed and heard.

2. Moses wants to know what to do if people doubt that this god made himself seen to Moses.

3. God becomes angry and points out that, isn’t God the one who gives and takes away speech, gives and takes away sight?

4. The speech is heard and miracles seen by the Israelites, but his speech falls on deaf ears, too, because Pharaoh refuses to heed Moses’ demands or requests, for which God prepares Moses.

5. And God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, numbing his feelings.

But let’s talk about Moses’ heart and hand. 

Moses worries that the Israelites will not believe him when he says he’s gotten a command from God’s own self. Will they have “emunah,”—faith in him? Will they trust him? And if they ask who this god is, what shall Moses tell them? 

This is where God gives him “signs,” and names himself; Tell them I am “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh,” or simply, “I will be what I will be”—not terribly reassuring, to say the least, to those who want to know, “Who is this guy??”

For the first “sign” to prove God’s power, God turns Moses’ staff into a snake. The third is the water of the Nile turning to blood (which we also understand to be a foreshadowing of what’s to come).

For the middle sign, God tells Moses to put his hand in his bosom. When he pulls it out, it’s all scaly and white like snow.

Did Moses touch his heart?

Moses is a vehicle for God; he speaks for God and represents what God wants for the world. Moses states that it is his speech that gets in the way of his ability to lead, but speech is often a reflection of what’s in the heart. Is this scaliness an indication of the state of Moses’ heart? Is Moses’ heart muddied like the waters of the Nile will be with blood later on, when push comes to shove?

Most importantly, does Moses’ heart need to be pure in order to serve God in this capacity as Great Liberator? Moses has killed an Egyptian, so the water/blood is already symbolic of what’s to come. Could Moses be questioning his ability to “speak” for God because of this?

Anyway, Moses protests and protests that he can not do this job, and God gets angry, but finally God says, okay, okay, I’ll let Aaron speak for you. But you’re still the leader!

God knows that Moses’ heart is not pure—whose heart is? But maybe it doesn’t have to be, any more than his speech. Moses is human, after all.

God can’t do it without Moses, nor can Moses do it without Aaron. Moses may be God’s chosen “leader,” but God also can’t do it without the smaller, quieter protesters, like the midwives, who have a huge impact by saving babies—look who they save, after all, but little baby Moses!! (And, speaking of the smaller, quieter protesters, the midwives’ hearts seem pretty pure—they know what they have to do—and their voices are strong when they speak to Pharaoh and slyly defend their actions.)

Maybe the focus on the elements of nature and Moses’ heart and speech are a reminder that God is all around us, found within everything and in every one of us: the fire, the water, the ground beneath our feet; our hearts, our voices.

“I will be what I will be” is a reflection of the constantly changing and developing world, and God will be whatever we need God to be in any given moment, constantly in flux, always available, through others, their hearts, speech, actions—and in the earth that is there to support us all.

There are people who say that physical illness is a reflection of what’s going on deep inside a body, and that this pandemic is a symptom of the sickness of our society.

Many people thought Covid-19 would be a thing of the past within a matter of months.

We may be transitioning from a wannabe-dictator, but we have not yet created a new kind of society, and the problems of the world are not solved through a vaccine.

Our hearts don’t have to be pure to speak up for ourselves nor to speak up for those who need speaking for.

But we do need to reach into our hearts, and have more faith in ourselves and in each other as vehicles of the Divine, capable of bringing about liberation for the world.