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Written by: Nathan Light
In this week’s parshah we are introduced to, most probably, the greatest figure ever in human history: Moses. From this parshah and on, Moses becomes the central character in the Torah until it’s culmination. Moses developed such a close relationship with God that the Torah itself says: “Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, who God had known face to face” [Deuteronomy: 34: 10]. The start of this relationship is presented to us in this week’s parshah. By examining the very first encounter between God and Moses, perhaps we can develop an understanding of how one is meant to relate to God and how we can apply this idea to our own personal lives as well.
God revealed Himself to Moses in the form of a burning bush whose branches were not being consumed by the fire. Upon seeing this revelation, the Torah tells us:
“Moses thought, ‘I will turn aside now and look at this great sight ― why will the bush not be burned?’ God saw that he turned aside to see; and God called out to him from amid the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses,’ and he replied ‘Here I am!’ ” [Exodus: 3: 3–4]
Clearly, the Torah seems to focus on the fact that before Moses approached the burning bush, he first “turned aside”. Furthermore, it seems that God spoke to Moses only after He saw “that he turned aside to see”! Why was it necessary to mention this “turning aside” of Moses, and why did God deem it so important?
When approaching the issue of God and religion, so many people think they know better and choose to develop their own outlook on the issue. They come up with these ridiculous ideologies based on their own limited thought processes that allow them to negate religion and consequently negate God. This is an unfortunate outcome of one’s own inflated ego and sense of self-pride, for how can someone believe that he can out-think God!? God is infinite; beyond time and space! How can one apply frail human logic and reasoning when attempting to understand God!?
Before deciding to approach God, one must realize that he must step out of himself and “turn aside” from his own way of thinking. One must recognize that he is literally nothing compared to God, and that he must negate every part of himself when attempting to relate to Him (*See footnote*). Even Moses, who had already attained such unfathomable levels of wisdom and spirituality, knew this. Upon encountering God for the very first time, he understood that he had to forget whatever he thought he already knew and erase all of his previous lines of reasoning in the realm of religion and Godliness .
This idea applies to another category of people as well. There are many who have come to believe in God and have fortunately decided to become more observant in their religion. But at the same time they pick and choose which commandments they wish to follow! They say to themselves: “I’ll keep Shabbos and Kosher, but things like prayer and refraining from loshon hara (speaking badly of others) aren’t for me”. Again, this is a completely foolish line of reasoning. When one chooses to obey God’s will, they must also choose to negate their own will! There is no in-between.
This is something that requires a great amount of effort, and it can only develop over time. May we all be blessed to follow God’s will, and be able to go beyond the obstacles that we have created within ourselves.
Good Shabbos,
NZL
*This concept merely concerns the initial aspect of our relationship to God. Only once we reflect on God’s greatness and how tiny we are in His eyes, can we develop a true relationship with Him. But once we get past that step, we have to eventually recognize our own self-worth and what makes us unique as individuals. Each person on this Earth has his own special qualities and characteristics that set him/her apart from everyone else. We must strive to understand that uniqueness that we all possess and ultimately use it to build a pathway to serving God sincerely.
taken from : Tzipiyah.com
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