Musar על שמות 2:26

First of all, the episode of the serpent, who spoke lashon hara of the Holy One Blessed be He and thereby brought death to the world. And (Bereshith 29:20): "If G-d will be with me and guard me," concerning which Chazal have said: "if He will guard me against lashon hara." And the episode of Joseph (Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought their evil talk to their father," this being the catalyst of the descent of the Jews to Egypt. And (Shemoth 2:14): "In truth, the thing has become known" (see Rashi there and what we shall write below). There, too, (4:1) Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, says: "But they will not believe me," and the Blessed L-rd counters (Ibid. 2): "What is this in your hand?" … (3) …and it became a serpent." Also there (6): "And, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." And (Ibid. 17:2): "And the people quarreled with Moses… (7) …over the quarrel of the children of Israel, etc." followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred with Israel, etc." And (Ibid. 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report, which applies to both the speaker and the receiver [of lashon hara] (as we find in Makkoth 23a), followed by (2): "Do not be after many to do evil." And, in reference to the me'il [the outer robe of the ephod] (Ibid. 28:32): "A border shall there be to its mouth roundabout," and the entire section. And (35): "And its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary, etc." And the entire section of Tazria and Metzora: the plague-spots of houses, the plague-spots of clothing, the plague-spots of men, (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit"— even outside of the camp of Israel. And his atonement— "chirping" birds. And (Ibid. 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people," (Ibid. 17): "Reprove, shall you reprove your neighbor, but you shall not bear sin because of him." And (Ibid. 25:17): "You shall not wrong, one man, his fellow," which relates to verbal wronging, which is also in the category of evil speech. And (Bamidbar 5:1): "And they shall send out of the camp every leper"— even if he were as great in Torah as Doeg. And (Ibid. 12:1): "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, etc." And the entire section of Shelach Lecha, which speaks about the spies. And (Ibid. 21:5): "And the people spoke against G-d and against Moses." And (Devarim 23:10): "When you go out as a camp against your foes, guard yourself against every evil thing [davar ra]," concerning which Chazal have said: "davar ra" may be read as "dibbur ra" [evil speech]. And in Tetze, the "giving out of an evil name [motzi shem ra]," and (Ibid. 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam, etc." And (Ibid. 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his friend in secret," which refers to lashon hara. And it is known that all of the "cursings" were preceded by blessings; and they opened with blessing, saying: "Blessed is he who does not smite"— whence we derive that one who is heedful in this is blessed.

And there are some [negative commandments] that some of the masses do not keep the main [negative commandment], such as wounding and hitting. For one that hits his fellow violates two negative commandments, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 25:3), “You shall strike him forty; you shall not add, lest you add.” And many transgress these negative commandments by hitting their wives. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 58b), “Anyone who raises his hand to strike another, even if he does not strike him, is called wicked - as it is stated (Exodus 2:13), ‘and he said to the wicked one, “Why should you strike your friend?”’ ‘Why did you strike,’ is not stated, but rather, ‘should you strike.’” And Job said (Job 31:21), “If I raised my hand against the fatherless.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 58b) [that] Rav Huna would cut off the hand of the striker. He would say, “And the high arm shall be broken” (Job 38:15).

It is written in the Torah (Shemoth 2:14): "And Moses was afraid, and he said: 'In truth, the thing has become known,'" concerning which Rashi says that Moses wondered why Israel was smitten more than all the other peoples, and now he saw why they deserved this [i.e., because there was lashon hara among them.] Now is it not written in Ezekiel 20 that they were guilty of great sins, [among them] idolatry, an extremely grave sin, in spite of which he wondered at [the severity of] their afflictions! How is it, then, that because the sin of lashon hara was added to this that his wonder was allayed?

And this [(abstention from lashon hara)] will certainly help hasten the coming of the Redeemer, speedily, in our days, as this itself furthered the redemption from Egypt, that there was not among them the sin of lashon hara. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, Parshath Emor: "Because of four things Israel was redeemed from Egypt: They did not change their names; they did not change their language; they did not speak lashon hara; and not one of them was found to be licentious." (As to the problem posed by Shemoth 2:14: "In truth, the thing has become known," the commentators have already discussed this.)

Keeping this in mind, we can understand a peculiarity in 18,6. There the Torah writes: "When the Levite who lives in one of your gates (towns) comes to the place G–d has chosen, he may do so whenever he pleases. He may serve in the name of his G–d like all his fellow-Levites who are in attendance there." The obvious question here is why, in describing the function of the priest, the Torah in this paragraph merely calls him: "the Levite," while in the preceding paragraph (18,3-5), it calls him by his rightful title? The appointment of the priest as a כהן, originated in the emanation חסד, as opposed to the appointment of the Levite as a tribe with special functions, which originated in the emanation גבורה. Because the priest is on a more elevated level than the mere Levite, his conduct is measured by a more exacting yardstick. The Torah alludes to this in verse 6 where the priest is reminded that he is basically judged as a Levite, i.e. by the standards of the emanation גבורה, otherwise known as מדת הדין, the attribute of Justice. The allegorical meaning of the words חלק כחלק יאכלון in 18,8 is that on the holidays, when all of the priests are allowed to eat a share of the sacrifices being offered, they all share the same standards. We know that the world is judged (Rosh Hashanah 16a) on the three festivals Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles in addition to New Year's when people's lives are in the balance. On Passover the size and quality of the forthcoming grain harvest is decided upon in Heaven; G–d decides on the size and quality of the yield of fruit-bearing trees on the Festival of Weeks, and on the water supply during the rainy season on the Festival of Tabernacles. These decisions are made by the attribute of Justice. The priests are to remind themselves of the activities of the attribute of Justice when they partake of the offerings on these festivals.

A person has two kinds of skin that serve as clothing/protection for man. One is the skin/leather of animals, i.e. shoes. The other is his own skin. We find in Job, 10,11, עור ובשר תלבישני, "You have dressed me with skin and flesh." The latter is the material part of man that he shares with the animal kingdom. Man whose physical origin was אדמה i.e. "holy soil" should have been garbed in כתנות אור, the word אור spelled with the letter א. The fact that this word was spelled with the letter ע instead, represented the demotion of man. He was now clothed in skin and flesh being compared to the animals since he had sinned. Moses ascended to a level where his face reflected אור as had been intended for all of mankind (compare Exodus 34,29 et al, כי קרן עור פניו). The word קרן אור suggests that the word for skin should have been spelled with the letter א in the first place. He gave off rays of light. He had been predisposed for such stature from the day he had been born, to wit his mother's comment at his birth "she saw that he was good" (Exodus 2,2). Our sages comment that this was in response to the whole house having been filled with light (Sotah 12). One of the superior qualities of Moses' prophecy was that he received communication from G–d without his body undergoing any kind of weakening, as we have explained elsewhere. This was a level Joshua had not attained. If Joshua stood on ground described as holy, then the ground Moses stood on must be viewed as the holiest of holy. This is why Moses had to take additional steps to sanctify himself.

I have found a beautiful commentary concerning this amongst the writings of the Arizal. We must understand why Moses bothered to set aside these three cities, seeing they could not perform their function until the other three cities of refuge on the West Bank of the Jordan had been set aside also (Numbers 35,13; compare Makkot 9). When we understand the Arizal's commentary on the problem of the cities of refuge, we will also understand why the Torah interrupted the report about the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people by mentioning already at this point that Moses set aside the three cities of refuge which were to be on the East Bank of the Jordan. The Ari zal sees in Moses' action an attempt at rehabilitation for when he had committed manslaughter and had taken it upon himself to slay the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew (Exodus 2,12). He had considered this killing in the category of a murder inadvertently committed because he had felt at the time that he was performing a מצוה by doing so. The first letters of the words הירדן מזרחה שמה, which describe what Moses did, form the acronym משה. The following words, אשר ירצח את רעהו are also an allusion to Moses. We have already described that Moses was the re-incarnation of Abel. The Torah here alludes to the first murder i.e. fratricide, when Cain slew his brother Abel. This is also alluded to in Exodus 2,11, when the Torah describes Moses as observing an Egyptian man: מכה איש עברי מאחיו, "torturing a Jewish man, one of his brothers." The Torah hints that the Egyptian was a former brother of Moses, i.e. a re-incarnation of Cain. In this instance the evil which had been part of Cain's character had re-surfaced in the character of this Egyptian. We have explained on another occasion that the נפש of Cain, i.e. his lowest spiritual part, was re-incarnated in the body of this Egyptian, whereas Cain's רוח, the superior part of his soul, was re-incarnated in the body of Yitro. The highest part of Cain's soul, i.e. the נשמה, was re-incarnated in the body of Korach. Korach made the mistake of quarrelling with Moses; this resulted in his גלגול failing to achieve its ultimate purpose. Yitro was of mixed feelings. When he became aware that he was wrong, had sinned, he converted to Judaism. At the end of the paragraph dealing with the cities of refuge the Torah writes: וזאת התורה אשר שם משה. This means that Moses determined the need to set aside these three cities of refuge at this time for his own sake.

I have found a beautiful commentary concerning this amongst the writings of the Arizal. We must understand why Moses bothered to set aside these three cities, seeing they could not perform their function until the other three cities of refuge on the West Bank of the Jordan had been set aside also (Numbers 35,13; compare Makkot 9). When we understand the Arizal's commentary on the problem of the cities of refuge, we will also understand why the Torah interrupted the report about the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people by mentioning already at this point that Moses set aside the three cities of refuge which were to be on the East Bank of the Jordan. The Ari zal sees in Moses' action an attempt at rehabilitation for when he had committed manslaughter and had taken it upon himself to slay the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew (Exodus 2,12). He had considered this killing in the category of a murder inadvertently committed because he had felt at the time that he was performing a מצוה by doing so. The first letters of the words הירדן מזרחה שמה, which describe what Moses did, form the acronym משה. The following words, אשר ירצח את רעהו are also an allusion to Moses. We have already described that Moses was the re-incarnation of Abel. The Torah here alludes to the first murder i.e. fratricide, when Cain slew his brother Abel. This is also alluded to in Exodus 2,11, when the Torah describes Moses as observing an Egyptian man: מכה איש עברי מאחיו, "torturing a Jewish man, one of his brothers." The Torah hints that the Egyptian was a former brother of Moses, i.e. a re-incarnation of Cain. In this instance the evil which had been part of Cain's character had re-surfaced in the character of this Egyptian. We have explained on another occasion that the נפש of Cain, i.e. his lowest spiritual part, was re-incarnated in the body of this Egyptian, whereas Cain's רוח, the superior part of his soul, was re-incarnated in the body of Yitro. The highest part of Cain's soul, i.e. the נשמה, was re-incarnated in the body of Korach. Korach made the mistake of quarrelling with Moses; this resulted in his גלגול failing to achieve its ultimate purpose. Yitro was of mixed feelings. When he became aware that he was wrong, had sinned, he converted to Judaism. At the end of the paragraph dealing with the cities of refuge the Torah writes: וזאת התורה אשר שם משה. This means that Moses determined the need to set aside these three cities of refuge at this time for his own sake.

The latter's 3 souls, i.e. the "lower" soul, life force נפש, was re-incarnated in the body of the Egyptian who was slain by Moses. (Exodus 2,2) His "middle" soul, רוח, was re-incarnated in the body of Korach, whereas his "upper" soul, i.e. נשמה was re-incarnated in the body of Yitro. Cain had killed Abel because he had wanted Abel's second twin sister for himself. She was re-incarnated in the person of Tzipporah, and that is why Yitro represented Abel at that point.

(Shemoth 2:14): "And Moses was afraid, and he said: 'Indeed, the thing has become known.'" (see above, Chapter IV)

Moses was jealous of the Egyptian, as it is said, "And he smote the Egyptian" (Exod. 2:12). And so we find in the case of Elijah, when he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant" (I Kings 19:10). And so is it said, "In that he was very jealous for My sake among them" (Num. 25:11), and the Lord, may He be Blessed, gave him his reward for this as it is said : "Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace!" (Num. 25:12). And it is said, "… Ye shall not be afraid of any man …" (Deut. 1:17). Now he who reveres the Lord, may He be Blessed, will gladly offer his life for the sanctification of God's name. As it is said, "Whoso is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me. And all the Levites rallied to him" (Exod. 32:26), and it is further said, "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand" (Num. 25:7).

All this helps us understand the Midrash Shemot Rabbah 1,32, on the verse איש מצרי הצילנו "an Egyptian man has saved us," that the daughters of Yitro described their rescue at the hands of Moses as having been the work of an Egyptian (Exodus 2,19). Surely Moses did not claim to be an Egyptian! The Midrash then describes a person who had been bitten by a wild ass as rushing to the river to get relief for his feet. As soon as he gets to the river, he finds a baby about to drown in the river. He reaches out, and saves the baby. Had the man not been bitten by the wild ass, the baby would have drowned. Similarly here. Had Moses not killed the Egyptian, and had he not been forced to flee for his life, he would now not have been in a position to help Yitro's daughters. This is what those daughters meant when they said "an Egyptian man has saved us." They attributed their rescue to the Egyptian whom Moses had killed.

This also helps explain Yitro's question "ואיו, למה זה עזבתן את האיש" (Exodus 2,20) "where is he, why did you abandon the man?" The sequence should have been , למה זה עזבתן את האיש, ואיו, "why did you abandon the man, and where is he?" Then the letter ו would be justified as a letter denoting something additional. Yitro was not clear whether he should understand the words איש מצרי literally, i.e. an Egyptian, or whether he should read a more profound meaning into it as we have just described. Therefore, he said "call him so he can eat bread." These words would be appropriate both if the man was indeed an Egyptian in which case he deserved to be rewarded at least with a meal. If, on the other hand, איש מצרי meant what we have just described, then the words "call him and he shall eat bread" is a euphemism for offering Moses one of Yitro's daughters' hand in marriage, since clearly one of them was meant to become Moses' wife. This is why he said ואיו, the letter ו both at the beginning and at the end of the word אי "where?" That letter could then be applied to either possibility. It would then be a reminder of G–d's original question "אי" "where is your brother Abel?" (Genesis 4,9) Another possibility is the one mentioned by the Zohar, that the letter ו is symbolic of the sign, אות that G–d gave Cain, i.e. a letter from the holy Torah, so that no one who came across him would kill him as a murderer. (Rosenberg Montreal edition page 42)

The seventeenth thing to remember is that it is a very good quality to keep away from people when he can save himself from them, and sit in his room alone. For most transgressions are committed by two or more — for example, fornication, gossip, lies and flattery — and from all of these he who sits alone is saved for he will not vaunt himself over any man and he will not hear their idle talk. For when he stays with them he is obliged to rebuke them in three ways : either by striking the offender, as Phinehas did when he took the javelin in his hand (Num. 25:7); or with words, as Moses our Teacher did, when he said to the wicked man, "Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" (Ex. 2:13); or in one's heart, as David said, "I hate the gathering of evil-doers, and will not sit with the wicked" (Ps. 26:5). And who can constantly keep quarreling with such people, inasmuch as they constantly transgress? But when you sit alone you avoid all this guilt and you are saved from many transgressions. But pious people one should join and one should sit near them and learn from them, as it is written, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise" (Prov. 13:20).

I have explained why Moses named Gershon as he did, and why his second son Eliezer is not mentioned until Exodus 18,4, long after the Exodus. Only at that point does the Torah give the reason he had been called Eliezer, since G–d had already saved Moses from the clutches of Pharaoh.

If we want to explain the verse according to its simple meaning, we can accept the commentary of the Ran: Since Moses was the "father" of all subsequent prophets and his accomplishments as a prophet were far above the laws of nature, as vividly described in Deut. 34,11 how can we understand that he was afflicted with a physical blemish such as a stutter? He could not even control ordinary nature! How could a person underprivileged by nature rise to become a master of nature?! There is hardly a greater blemish than if someone cannot express his thoughts due to a physical handicap! Man's entire advantage over the animal kingdom is the ability not only to formulate thoughts but to express them! Moreover, we know from a number of sources in the Talmud such as Nedarim 38, and Maimonides, that G–d does not grant the gift of prophecy to people who do not possess physical prowess, wealth, wisdom as well as the virtue of humility and that Moses possessed all of these attributes. How then could Moses be plagued by such a deformity? In Sotah 12, where the verse in Exodus 2,6 in which Pharaoh's daughter finds a crying lad, i.e. Moses, is discussed, we find the description of Moses both as a ילד, young child, and as a נער, a description normally reserved for a boy entering his teens, not for a three months old baby. Rabbi Yehudah explains this to mean that Moses had a voice as strong as that of a נער, though he himself was a ילד. Rabbi Nechemyah questions this by saying that this would be considered as a physical deformity, and that is obviously not satisfactory! What he means is that if a minor blemish is inconceivable in Moses, how could a major blemish such as his difficulty to express himself be acceptable! When the Torah describes the creation of man in Genesis 2,7, we are told ויהי האדם לנפש חיה, which Onkelos translates as man becoming a talking spirit.

It is written of Moses that "I have drawn him from the water" (Exodus 2,10). When pondering the statements of our sages, we must remember that though they may be describing things physical, i.e. water, marble, etc., these are merely euphemisms for matters spiritual. The same applies to the verse "and the name of the one was Eliezer." The word "the one" refers to "The One," i.e. G–d. His name could not be revealed until the giving of the Torah, since only then did it become clear how Moses was particularly qualified to assume the role he had been assigned by G–d. Since he had already possessed all the basic qualifications, he could now ascend further, i.e. Mount Sinai, receive the tablets, etc. When Job in 28,12, asks rhetorically "where is חכמה, wisdom to be found?" this is an allusion to Moses; i.e. only people who are already spiritually and physically prepared, will achieve that stature (being the re-incarnation of הבל, (another meaning of whose name is "heat" which purifies). Being the re-incarnation of Abel meant having been purified by fire into being sinless. (Shabbat 89 describes Moses as being fearful of the heat, הבל, that emanates from the mouths of the angels since the latter are sin-free creatures, seeing they have no body). The immediate re-incarnation of Abel had been Shet, some of whose descendants survived the deluge, i.e. became the founders of mankind. The world's survival depends on Torah. The word me-ayin quoted previously in Job 28,12, equals 101 in numerical value (מאין). This is a hint at what our sages say when they claim that if one studies a subject matter one hundred times, this is not as good as when one studies it one hundred and one times (Chagigah 9).

Moses' teacher was the angel זגנזגל (=100+1 for the value of the word itself) whose name has a numerical value of 101. In other words, he was the source, or מאין, of Moses' wisdom, חכמה. We see that the verse "והחכמה מאין תמצא" is a hint referring to Moses, to whom the principle that once you possess the basics you will be endowed further was applied. The relationship between Moses and Yitro became possible after Moses had killed the נפש part of Cain's re-incarnation in the person of the Egyptian who had abused or killed a Jew (Exodus 2,11-12). Yitro had absorbed the "higher" soul, נשמה, of Cain, and as such could -"twin"- Moses who had absorbed the נשמה of Abel.

The allusion -רמז- to all this we find in the numerical value of the words המצרי [ויך את] the word hamitzri equalling 345, the same numerical value as that of משה. The word ויך itself equals 37 when you add an extra value of "1" for the word itself. This is the numerical value of the name הבל. After that Moses fled and joined Yitro.

Although Noach did not compare favourably with Abraham, it is entirely possible that, had he lived during the time of Abraham, he would have been so inspired by Abraham that he would have equalled the latter in stature. After all, also Abraham had been told by G–d: "Walk before Me and become תמים, perfect" (Genesis 17,1). The view that Noach did not compare to Moses can be explained by the statement of Rabbi Berechyah in Bereshit Rabbah 36,3 who proves that Moses was more beloved of G–d than Noach since the Torah first refers to Noach as 6,9) ,איש צדיק) and later on as 9,20) איש האדמה). In the case of Moses we find him first referred to as an Egyptian, i.e. איש מצרי (Exodus 2,19), whereas later on he is called איש האלוקים (Deut. 33,1).

Rabbi Berechyah means to tell us that from the moment Moses had become an איש, he was headed towards his ultimate achievement. His early youth foreshadowed his career. This is true in spite of the fact that at one point the Midrash Shemot Rabbah 45,5 comments that when Moses began to prophesy he was a relative child, i.e. immature in the ways of prophecy, since he had asked to be shown G–d's glory. Moses progressed constantly, until at the end of his life the Torah testifies that no one ever again attained his stature as a prophet and a man of G–d. The reason that he is described as איש, a title denoting that he was someone of stature already when he was a young man, is to indicate that sparks of G–dliness already came forth from him, such as when -as an act of jealousy on behalf of G–d- he killed the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew. He displayed his close attachment to G–d already at that time. Our sages expressed this thought when they said that Moses slew the Egyptian by uttering the Ineffable Name of G–d when cursing the Egyptian (Midrash Hagadol Exodus 2,20). We observe that even when engaged in an act at the beginning of his spiritual development, Moses is already described in a complimentary fashion, –

I have explained a Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah on Noach where Moses and Noach are contrasted. It says that Moses was more beloved than Noach, since the latter is first described as איש צדיק, a righteous man (Genesis 6,9), whereas later he is called איש האדמה, man of the earth (Genesis 9,20). Moses, on the other hand, is first called איש מצרי and later on he is called איש האלוקים.

The Torah is telling us that if only Adam had not sinned, his body would have been as holy as the כתנות אור, the garments of light that man was meant to wear in Gan Eden. Under the circumstances, these garments have become כתנות עור, garments of skin and flesh, something physical. As long as Adam did not need those garments, he was placed in גן עדן, to help preserve it since he was not a stranger, i.e. זר, in that environment. Once he had become forced to garb himself in garments made of materials that come out of the earth he had become a stranger in that environment, and this situation did not change until Aaron became anointed by holy anointing oil as High Priest. Compare what I have written earlier in Parshat Tetzaveh, concerning Moses performing priestly functions dressed only in a white tunic instead of in the High Priest's garments. This meant that he had never been a זר, stranger, at all; the whole house filled with light at the time he was born (Exodus 2,2, as quoted in Sotah 12). Moses' unblemished condition continued until, in the end, he himself radiated light, as we know from Exodus 34,29. This is as if he had been garbed in the כתנות אור, that we described as the state of man in his innocence in גן עדן. This is what was meant by the white tunic in which he performed the sacrificial service. It meant he did not need to do anything to rehabilitate himself in order to achieve the state of holiness necessary for a High Priest to perform sacrificial service, זרות, alienation, was a condition that did not come into existence till after the כתנות אור, garments woven out of light, had been withdrawn, to be kept in hiding until the future, the time of the Messiah, just as the original light G–d had created at the beginning of the creative process had also been "hidden" due to man's sin (Compare Tanchuma Noach 3). Moses did not have to wait for that light to re-appear.

Rabbi Berechyah means to tell us that from the moment Moses had become an איש, he was headed towards his ultimate achievement. His early youth foreshadowed his career. This is true in spite of the fact that at one point the Midrash Shemot Rabbah 45,5 comments that when Moses began to prophesy he was a relative child, i.e. immature in the ways of prophecy, since he had asked to be shown G–d's glory. Moses progressed constantly, until at the end of his life the Torah testifies that no one ever again attained his stature as a prophet and a man of G–d. The reason that he is described as איש, a title denoting that he was someone of stature already when he was a young man, is to indicate that sparks of G–dliness already came forth from him, such as when -as an act of jealousy on behalf of G–d- he killed the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew. He displayed his close attachment to G–d already at that time. Our sages expressed this thought when they said that Moses slew the Egyptian by uttering the Ineffable Name of G–d when cursing the Egyptian (Midrash Hagadol Exodus 2,20). We observe that even when engaged in an act at the beginning of his spiritual development, Moses is already described in a complimentary fashion, –

The meaning of Rabbi Shemuel bar Nachmeyni in Sanhedrin must be that Korach claimed that Moses' prophecy was not of a higher level than anyone else's and that he was perfectly within his rights to pursue a normal married life. Korach first wanted to reduce Moses to the level of a person who receives his prophetic inspiration not from G–d Himself but, indirectly. He described Moses as a טירון in his stature as a prophet. This would make Moses like all other prophets, i.e. אשת איש, a wife, someone who is a recipient rather than an initiator. When the Talmud described the accusation levelled against Moses as being that he was חשוד באשת איש, the meaning is not the customary "suspected of consorting with a woman married to someone else," but to his status as a prophet being comparable to the status of any married, lady i.e. passive rather than active. As someone born of woman, he was the product of a man's drop of semen. This is a veiled reference to Exodus 2,1: וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי, "A man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi." All of this illustrates the beginning of Moses' career as a prophet, when he received indirect inspiration, such as when G–d had to impersonate the voice of Moses' father Amram. The reason that the Midrash tells us this is to indicate that despite the as yet indirect inspiration, there was early on already a tendency towards the male, active, rather than the female, passive. G–d was already hinting that He wanted to disabuse Moses of the fact that he was merely another creature sired by a father and a mother. When G–d told Moses: "I am the G–d of your father," He meant that there were three partners involved in the making of a human being. G–d wanted Moses to appreciate that He had a major share in creating him because He also had a share in creating his father. As to G–d having adopted the voice of Moses' father, this was to remind Moses that he was born of human seed. This accounts for Shemot Rabbah 3,3 reporting G–d as saying as part of the deception: באתי אליך בפתוי, "I have come to you in a deceptive manner." G–d referred to the original seduction practised by the serpent on Eve in Paradise which is the reason that nowadays the origin of man is the proverbial טפה סרוחה, "evil-smelling drop of semen" familiar to us from the saying of Rabbi Akavyah in Avot 3,1. If Adam and Eve had not allowed themselves to be seduced into sinning, all seed would have been holy seed. The whole subject of the covenant, the ברית מילה, which is performed on the reproductive organ, is designed to reconsecrate it to G–d. This ברית is no less holy to G–d than the laying of תפילין which originates in the Celestial Regions. The world, as we have repeatedly explained, is founded on a pillar, on the צדיק, who is the יסוד, foundation, of the universe. The mystique of the covenant of circumcision is that one is thereby able to sire children of a similar spiritual niveau. Ever since the sin, when Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked and became ashamed on that account, and the whole rite of circumcision became connected to ערוה, nakedness and shame, observance of circumcision has become much more crucial. Man's attachment to material values stems from the original sin. This sin is the reason why Moses did not immediately merit prophetic insights without any intermediary and was called a טירון. G–d mentioned Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because all three were examples of תקון, repair-work, performed to the damaged spiritual state of the universe.

it is well known that Kabbalists have said that Korach was the re-incarnation (גלגול) of Cain. Cain had to undergo three גלגולים, one each for his נפש, his רוח, and his נשמה. They were the Egyptian whom Moses had slain; Yitro, Moses' father-in-law,as alluded to in Judges 4,17. In that verse Yael is described as the wife of Chever Hakeyni, the word "Hakeyni" being a reference to her being descended from Cain." He reappeared in the guise of Korach. Moses, on the other hand, was a re-incarnation of Abel whom Cain had killed. Moses took revenge on behalf of Abel on three separate occasions. 1) When he killed the Egytian who was the re-incarnation of Cain's נפש. This is hinted at in the wording ויך את המצרי. The numerical value of ויך, when you add one digit for the word itself, equals the numerical value of הבל, i.e. 37. The word המצרי, equals the numerical value of משה, i.e. 345. 2) Yitro deferred to Moses by giving him his daughter Tzipporah as a wife. She was the (גלגול) of the extra twin that had been born with Abel, on whose account Cain had slain Abel out of jealousy. When Korach now started a quarrel he simply reverted to the pattern in which his original ancestor Cain had acted. 3) Moses then killed him (i.e. caused his death), fulfilling the Torah's commandment that if someone has shed innocent blood, his own blood will be spilled by human hand (Genesis 9,6). We must understand that verse as telling us that the very person who had been slain, will in due course slay his murderer. This is why we find Moses, who was in reality the re-incarnation of Abel, slaying Korach who was the re-incarnation of Cain. The fact that Korach's death was due to the earth swallowing him was also an example of the punishment fitting the crime, since the same earth had been remiss when it opened to hide the evil deed that Cain had committed, and "covered" his blood (compare Genesis 4, 10/11). All this is explained by the Tziyoni.

We have explained on several occasion that the שר העולם, the angel to whom G–d has entrusted the proper allocation of the food- supply in our world, is called Mattatron, or נער. Moses' function too, was to provide for the needs of his people. He is already referred to as נער when the daughter of Pharaoh found him, although normally he should only have been referred to as ילד (Exodus 2,6). Our commentators have said that Moses' voice was like that of a נער. The very name משה is also an acronym for מטטרון שר הפנים. On Exodus 24,1: ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' our sages comment that Moses' name was Mattatron, just like the name of his teacher. When the Torah commenced the Book of Leviticus with the words ויקרא, this is a choice expression for all those who are מושפעים, direct recipients of G–d's favor. This is another dimension of Proverbs 9,1-3 which we discussed on page 739, i.e. נערותיה תקרא, that Moses called out to Aaron and his sons, etc. The latter were also comparable to angels, as pointed out by Malachi 2,7 that the priest is an angel of the Lord. Every time the Torah refers to a girl as נערה, the word is spelled without the feminine ending, i.e. it is written נער, although we read it as נערה. The description of Moses as נער then is an allusion to his function being similar to that of Mattatron.

Datan and Aviram accused Moses and Aaron of misleading the people when they said in 16,14: "should you gouge out those men's eyes? we will not come!" These words alluded to a metaphysical dimension, that Korach was the reincarnation of Cain. All our commentators say that when Moses slew the Egyptian (who was part of Cain's reincarnation as we have explained), it was Datan and Aviram who told on him and who made an issue of Moses' taking the law into his own hands, etc. (Exodus 2, 13/14). Now they concentrated on their greed for money. This was because, according to tradition, they had become impoverished as a result of having reported Moses' action to Pharaoh. When Moses had been bidden to return to Egypt the Torah said that all the people who had sought his death had already died (Exodus 4,19). Since Datan and Aviram were obviously still "alive," this meant that they had lost their influence to cause harm, since "poor people, childless people, leprous people, and blind people are considered dead people" (Zohar Beha-alotcha 153, Nedarim 64). Our sages also say that while in Egypt both Datan and Aviram were childless, and not like the other Jews who had been blessed with an abundance of children. They now lost the children they had fathered since the Exodus, due to their rebellious behaviour. It is almost certain that they were afflicted with צרעת, seeing that this is the standard penalty for malicious gossip, something they had certainly been guilty of. Even if their bodies had not been afflicted by that disease, certainly their souls had become afflicted by it. The Zohar explains Proverbs 21,23, "He who guards his mouth and tongue guards his soul from troubles," i.e. מצרות נפשו. He says we should read instead מצרעת נפשו, from afflicting his soul with "leprosy." By sarcastically asking: "Are you going to gouge out the eyes of these men, etc.?" Datan and Aviram described a method of "death" of someone who is compared to the dead since he does not possess eyesight. This explains Rashi's comment on Exodus 4,19, where he quotes Nedarim 64 that the poor are considered as if dead. Their sin consisted of greed, the opposite of the virtue of enjoying one's share, which is the true wealth.

The patriarch Jacob, who is described in the Torah as איש תם, as opposed to אדם מועד לעולם, was the first person since Adam who did not fit that mould. He was extremely careful not to waste even a single drop of his semen so that he was able to describe Reuben, who was born to him when he was 84 or 85 years old, as ראשית אוני, the product of his first drop of semen (49,3). As a result [of not being guilty of sins committed while asleep. Ed.] he had to pay only half the damage for any sins he committed, i.e. his death was not total, he did not die as Jacob, only as Israel, as we have explained at length in פרשת וישלח. Significantly, Jacob was 130 years old when he arrived in Egypt. Both he and his descendants made up for the 130 years that Adam had emitted semen nocturnally without sleeping with his wife. The redeemer (Moses), whose skin later on radiated light like a קרן, (Exodus 34,29) was born when his mother Yocheved was 130 years old (Sotah 12 on Exodus 2,2).