From the Desk of Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky:

Parasha Shemot 

The Burning Bush -
Be Attentive in Life

 

Dear Friend,

While going through an airport during one of his many trips, George Bush encountered a man with long gray hair, wearing a white robe and sandals, and holding a staff.

George Bush went up to the man and said, "Has anyone told you that you look like Moses?"

The man didn't answer. He just kept staring straight ahead.

Then Bush said, "Moses" in a loud voice.

The man just stared ahead, never acknowledging the former President of the United States

The President pulled a Secret Service Agent aside and, pointing to the robed man, asked him, "Am I crazy or does that man look like Moses to you?"

The Secret Service Agent looked at the man and agreed.

"Well," said the President, "every time I say his name, he ignores me and stares straight ahead refusing to speak. Watch!"

Again the President yelled, "Moses!" and again the man ignored him. By now the President is burning from anger.

Feeling the President's burning ire, the Secret Service Agent went up to the man in the robe and whispered, "You look just like Moses. Are you Moses?"

The man leaned over and whispered back, "Yes, I am Moses. However, the last time I talked to a bush—and that bush was burning too—I spent forty years in the desert and ended up leading my people to the only spot in the entire Middle East where there is no oil."

Moses unlike his brethren suffering in slavery, Moses had been raised in the palace of Pharaoh and by Pharaoh’s own daughter, Batyah. A favorite of the king, as a child, he was not spared luxury. Moses could have easily chosen to isolate himself in the aristocratic life of a prince, oblivious to the hardship and suffering of the Hebrew race, targeted for abuse and annihilation. But Moses did not.

Moses leaves the palace, choosing to spend his time comforting and bringing relief to his brethren, the slaves. Quickly, he finds himself unable to stand idly in the face of injustice. To protect an innocent man being beaten senselessly by his Egyptian taskmaster, Moses kills the tormenting master, and then, to escape capital punishment, flees to the quiet lands of Midyan. There, he meets his wife, Tziporah, the daughter of one of the wealthiest and most influential men in town, Jethro, and Moses settles down into the favorite biblical occupation, shepherding.

It seems that life has worked out for Moses. The horrors of Egypt are a thing of the past. True, Egypt is a place of unspeakable crimes against humanity, but what can Moses, or for that matter what can anyone, do about that? Moses’ life in Midyan, hundreds of miles away from Egypt, is now secure, domesticated, and peaceful. He builds a family and grows old.

Moses is now eighty years of age. By all means, time to retire…

But then everything changes.

One day, Moses is shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, when suddenly, he witnesses a bush, “burning with a heart of fire” yet the bush is not being consumed, it is not being transformed to ash. Moses says,“Let me turn aside, and see this great vision! Why is the bush not being consumed?”

The Bible describes the following scene:

“G-d saw that Moses turned to see, so he called out to him from amidst the bush. ‘Moses! Moses!’ And he said: Here I am.”

G-d tells Moses that I have heard the pain and screams of the children of Israel in Egypt, and I have decided to save them. Now it is you, Moses, who I will send to Pharaoh, and you will take my nation out of Egypt. Moses becomes the greatest leader of all times, liberating a people from oppression and giving the world the Torah, paving a road in the jungle of history.

Just like Moses, whose life symphony at this point was slow and tranquil, far away from Pharaoh and the enslaved Israelites, and then suddenly is confronted with his burning bush and a new mission to change the destiny of the world, we too often find ourselves far away from our calling and destiny. We are living in our own orbit, “shepherding our own flock,” minding our own business, in our inner psychological wilderness.

But then, suddenly, we experience a “burning bush,” or what modern man likes to call a “light bulb moment.” A fire is ignited in our heart, a light bulb goes off in our mind. Our G-d within speaks to us about a larger mission in life.

But how can I know that the voice calling me is real?

The answer is when the fire burns and burns, yet never consumes your bush. The light bulb never dims or dies. It never wears or plays itself out. It returns again and again, the voice inside me never falls silent. Then I know that this is not a fantasy, but a mission. My inner fire and secret passion, my ‘heart of fire,’ can never be extinguished, can never be placated by any other lesser alternatives. I can run, but I cannot hide, because the fire will continue to burn inside me.

You know the story: Old Jacob is lying on his bed, very ill, waiting for his final breath.

All of the sudden, he whispers: "Judith, my loved wife ... are you there?"

"Yes my beloved husband... I am here by your side," Judith says.

Old Jacob whispers again: "Isaac, my son... are you there?"

"Yes, father... I am here with you," is the answer.

Old Jacob breathes heavily and goes on: "Sarah, my beautiful daughter-in-law... are you there?"

"Sure I am here by your side", says Sarah.

Old Jacob breathes one more time, waits a few seconds and whispers: "What about little Billy? Are you there, my grandson?

"Yeah grandpa, I am here too by your side," says little Billy.

Old Jacob breathes one more time, waits a little while and then open his eyes, looks around and says "Family, if you are all here, who is taking care of the shop?!"

There is no need to even take one step toward the bush. All G-d wants is for you to turn your head and notice the bush ablaze. Just be attentive enough in life that when the light bulb moment occurs, you will at least notice it. That is for some the most difficult and therefore most rewarding step: to turn their heads and see the moment. And when you do turn your head, when you do tune-in to the moment, you will be able to hear the call. Your inner Divine consciousness, your inner soul, will summon you: Moses! Moses! Declare “Hinani!” I am here. And listen, with your soul’s ear, to your mission, the mission of your life.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky