Dvar Torah for Parashat Shmot
Rahel Bat Or
January 1, 2002

In our Torah portion this week, we witness a dramatic meeting between Moshe and God. Because of this meeting, Moshe begins his journey toward freeing the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and becoming the prophet who brings the Torah to our ancestors. While reading about Moshe’s reaction to this meeting, I thought about how each of us receives information from God. How do we react when God speaks to us and how do we integrate those messages into our lives?

I believe God speaks to us regularly but we are often too busy to pay attention to God’s words or too frightened to really listen to what God is saying to us. I believe it takes great courage to listen to God’s voice and even more courage to follow those words and make changes in our lives.

In some ways, most if not all, of us have already had the experience of hearing and listening to God. We all decided to be here at this school, at this time. I believe that God influenced our decisions.

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To examine the process of engaging with God more deeply, I would like to look at Moshe’s encounter with God and see what we can learn about hearing and listening when God speaks directly to us.

In the first verse of Shmot, chapter 3 we are told that “Moshe…drove the flock into the wilderness and came to Horev, the mountain of God. An angel of God appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush.”

Moshe is not where he usually pastures his flock rather in a place that is holy. He is intrigued and distracted enough by the sight of the burning bush to turn aside to see it.

There are wondrous events that occur right in front of us and we do not turn aside because we are too distracted by the non-wondrous parts of our lives. God could be standing right in front of us and we just do not see the signs. Because Moshe ventured to a different realm on that day, he put himself in a holy place and made himself available to God’s presence. Taking the unfamiliar path may also be the way that some of us connect with God.

God does not appear to Moshe immediately, but sends an angel to attract Moshe’s attention. Once he has turned aside, God arrives to speak directly to Moshe. Sometimes it is someone else or something else that first diverts us and then once we are attentive, God is there to speak to us.

In chapter 3, verse 4, we learn that “When God saw that [Moshe] had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush.”

God calls Moshe’s name twice. The first time, God is calling the physical part of Moshe, the part that can hear the voice of God. But the second time, God calls to Moshe’s soul, to the part of him that can feel the presence of the divine even if he can not yet name it. God wants all of Moshe’s attention. And Moshe hears God’s voice only because he allows himself to be both physically and spiritually open to something he does not understand and can not exactly see.

We also can open our spiritual awareness to the divine around us. We can begin by seeing the natural beauty, the winter skies of Jerusalem, the trees blowing in the wind, the shape of buildings on the horizon. And then we can move to see the beauty and holiness in each person we encounter, despite our similarities or differences. By doing this, we become more alert to the possibilities of witnessing God in our lives, including hearing God’s words that are directed specifically to us.

When Moshe hears God call him, he replies, hineni, "All of me is here and I am ready." Moshe has opened his body and soul and become ready to listen with all parts of his consciousness.

What does it mean for each of us to be present with all of ourselves and ready to experience the holiness around us? How much of the time do we spend in this state of readiness, being available, really available to God’s words?

In verse 5, God says to Moshe “‘Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.’”

Even though God has an urgent message for Moshe, God wants one more thing from him. He has to stand a respectful distance away from God and remove his shoes to make himself become even more vulnerable. Now he is ready to completely experience the holiness of the land and of God standing before him.

The first words Moshe speaks are “’Mi Anochi?’” He means Who am I to be worthy of this difficult task and this honor?

Most of us are so overwhelmed by the tasks that our everyday life requires of us, that we don’t stop to think what God is asking us to do. We think that we are not equal to the challenges that lie ahead of us. But while it is arrogance to be sure that we can do everything, it is also false modesty to think we can not do what God requires from us. As Moshe was, we are righteous and holy enough to follow God’s words.

In verse 13, we read one of the most enigmatic interchanges in the Tanakh, Moshe asks God, “Who shall I say sent me?”

God gives Moshe this answer, EHYEH ASHER EHYEH.

I believe that this name tells us how we are supposed to continue growing and changing. EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, I am becoming what I will continue to become. God continues to become who God has always been, and we continue to become who we really are. For the sake of God and ourselves, we peel off the layers we no longer need so we can see ourselves and others more clearly. Then God becomes more of who God really is to us. We are the ones who change and open our awareness. God is always who God is and always knows who we are. We see God more clearly each time we look consciously at and for God.

And finally in chapter 4, verse 1 Moshe says “Please O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” God finally becomes angry and says, “I made you exactly as you are and you are who I want to go.”

Eventually if we do not follow our spiritual path, we will be stopped and forced to pay attention. It may be by a physical illness, a long period of unemployment, the end of a greatly desired relationship. We each have a path that we have to follow and if we avoid it for too long, we will be brought to it, in whatever ways attract our attention.

God will get angry with us if we resist and avoid God’s words and work for too long. If God has a task for us, no matter how large or small, we have to actively engage in that process. In Pirke Avot Rebbi Tarfon teaches us that “the day is short, the work load is large, the workers are unmotivated, the reward is great and the Master is insistent. It is not for you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.

The Sages of the Mishna tell us that if it is time to pray and we cannot stand up and face Jerusalem, then we are to turn our hearts toward the Holy of Holies. The Sages knew that it is this opening of our hearts that is at the center of having a spiritual life and a genuine and ongoing conversation with God. When our hearts are open and focused on our spiritual path, we are open to God in all God’s incarnations but when our hearts are closed or too fully occupied in other places, we are less likely to hear God’s call.

Moshe’s encounter with God is a model for each of us who want to be more connected to God. Seek out the unfamiliar places, physical or emotional. Allow yourself to be distracted by the unusual or unexpected. When God gives you a task to do, no matter how big or small, and even if you think it is impossible, begin it anyway. Trust in God’s wisdom.

May we each become more open to God’s voice in whatever form it takes and may we increasingly have the ability to follow it into the unknown and holy in our lives.