TO BE A MOSES

   Moses. A powerful name and a powerful image. A man who led the Israelites out of slavery into freedom, the freedom to be a nation, to be responsible for their own decisions, their own choices and that is what a leader must remember. He/She must lead by example, make the right choices, accept the consequences and accept that he is human with all that it means.
     Moses had to make choices from the beginning of his life. Perhaps he even realized that there is a dichotomy in his nature as he is raised by an Egyptian princess as one mother and has a "milk" mother who nurses him and who really is his birth mother. Does he feel the two cultures pulling at him? We do not know but perhaps it did as we can infer from other events in his life.
     When the young prince goes out one day he sees a sight which immediately bothers him, eats at him, and demands an immediate reaction and decision. A Hebrew slave is being beaten by an Egyptian overseer. What should he do? Should he walk by, pass it, remembering that he is a prince of the kingdom of Egypt, or should he stop and interfere with it, put an end to it.
     The Bible records that "He turned this way and that". What does that mean? Did he look around to see if anyone was watching for if no one was what then? Would he walk away as no one would see that and condemn him for it or would he stop and prevent a further beating for it was on him if there was nobody else around? What to do? Decision time.
     Or was the meaning of that statement that Moses looked within himself and knew he had to make a decision about himself. He needed to choose. His birth mother and his origin amongst the Hebrew slaves or his upbringing as an Egyptian prince and even if he chose that, the prince, did it not mean that he had to do something for the Bible has also said that the slave was his 'brother' - not his blood brother but a brother, a member of the tribe and for that one must intervene. Perhaps it went even further, that this brother was simply another human being and we must consider all humans our brothers, our family, and we cannot neglect or ignore that fact and what happens to them. We must act. We must make decisions, the proper ones, the ones that look away from our needs to those of others.
     So wherever Moses looked there was a decision awaiting. He had to choose. Who was he and what was the right thing to do. And what was right for others was not necessarily right for him in a personal manner, but it would be right in a moral manner and that was the crux of the matter.
When he chose, he chose freedom and right over slavery and privilege and his life changed forever.
    Yet even this life changing decision needed reaffirmation and when G-d spoke to him from within the burning bush, Moses answered "Who am I?" Who really is he, which Moses is he and what is he to choose for his life. He was not yet sure for the decision was so momentous that it needed more input.
     In Ethics of Our Fathers it states "In a place where there is no man, strive to be a man".     Some times one must be a man, an individual, a human being and not look away, no matter how easy it would be to do so. I just received an email today from an organization which discussed leadership and they stated that to be a Moses today, to be a leader today means  "To open your eyes to injustice.
To realize that if no else is doing something about it, then it is up to you.
To move out of your comfort zone.
To act.
To cry out: “Let my people go.”
      Any one person demanding to be a leader today must remember this. They must remember their responsibilities and obligations. They must remember that to be a leader means to be a selfless soul, forgetting one's own needs and putting that of humanity, be it a large or small group of humanity, first. Unfortunately we do not have such leaders, certainly not in the numbers we need. Look to the top - Donald Trump - and try not to cry and look locally  - David Israel - and see the selfishness of one not meant to be a leader for his interests are primary rather than those needs and interests of his group of humanity.
    It is too bad, for when we remember that we are humans, that we are no different from other humans, that the leader must accept that he or she too is human with all that implies, that his or her needs are not always achieved, no matter how good a leader he has become - then, and only then, will we have the leaders we need so badly. When power becomes secondary and humanity becomes primary - then we will have a person trying to be a leader in the image of Moses.
     May it come quickly and in our time.
I wish all of you a Happy and Healthy Passover and a Happy Easter for those who celebrate that holiday. Enjoy your families.
     I will not be posting again till Thursday due to holiday. please take the time to scroll back and read some postings that you might have missed.