Musar על שמות 2:6

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.

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.