DO YOU HAVE A LONG TERM VISION?

The local news station was interviewing a 90-year-old lady because she had just gotten married for the fourth time.

The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 90, and then about her new husband's occupation. "He's a funeral director," she answered.

"Interesting," the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living.

She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she had first married a banker when she was in her 20's, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, and a preacher when in her 70's, and now - in her 90's - a funeral director.

The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.

She smiled and explained, "I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go."

Jewish trivia: How many times is the name Moshe mentioned in the Torah?

628 times, hundreds of times more than any other name.

There is a reason for it. Moses is the single most central figure in the Torah—and probably in all of Jewish history. 

Yet "Moshe" was not his real name. As the Torah relates, in this week's portion Shemot Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe by the river, where she saw a basket among the reeds. She opened it and saw a boy crying. Little Moses was placed there by his mom when he was three months old. She took the infant and raised him as a son, while his biological mother Yocheved nursed him.

Then the Torah says: The daughter of Pharaoh, called his name Moses, as she said, 'For I drew him from the water.'

Young Moses must have had a name by then, given to him by his biological Jewish parents the Talmud records the name given to him by his mother—either Tov or Tuvya. Yet, the Torah never once mentions that name. It only tells us the name given to him by an Egyptian princess, naming him years after his birth!

What is more, hers was an Egyptian name—yet it has become his eternal name. Does it make sense that the greatest Jewish leader would not even have a Hebrew name?

The answer becomes dramatically clear as we look at the first story the Torah tells about Moses as an adult.

It happened in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brethren and saw their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man. He looked here and there, and he saw there was no man; so he struck the Egyptian down and hid him in the sand.

An informer spread the story; when Pharaoh heard of the event, he wanted to kill him. Moses fled to another country.

Let’s analyze the background to the story. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace. He lived in luxury and tranquility. Pharaoh’s daughter raised him as a son. The Egyptian monarchy has been kind to this young Hebrew lad.

In contrast, the entire Jewish nation has been oppressed and persecuted. Egyptian taskmasters would regularly beat Jews, who were slave laborers. Entire Egypt turned into a gigantic concentration camp. What Moses saw that day was sadly the routine.

Yet, Moses the Egyptian prince goes out and when he sees a Jew being beaten, kills the Egyptian officer, while protecting a Hebrew slave—an act of treason toward the king who is his step-grandfather, and now wants his head!

If at least something substantial would be gained, I can understand. But what did he stand to gain from killing one Egyptian officer when the entire Jewish nation was enslaved by the brutal Egyptian regime, worked, beaten, persecuted and killed mercilessly?

Yet there was something far more at stake here.

Moses was a stepson, or grandson, of Pharaoh. He was raised as a beloved child in the Egyptian palace. Knowing what would become of Moses later, we can infer that Pharaoh and his daughter were enamored by this talented, brilliant, charismatic, fearless, humble, and majestic figure, a man who—as we would discover later—can change the world. Indeed, as the Midrash teaches, Pharaoh has appointed Moses as the Chief of Staff of the palace. Pharaoh was no dummy: you don’t do away with such a brain and talent in your midst! He was being groomed for leadership. In all likelihood, Moses would become Pharaoh’s heir or at least one of Egypt’s most dominant figures.

Now, if you were in Moses’ position and you observed a Jew being beaten, what would you have done?

I might have thought to himself: Stay put. Keep your anger to yourself. Let the Egyptian get away with his crime. You remain the loyal Egyptian prince, dedicated to your grandfather, the Pharaoh. Slowly but surely, climb the ranks. Play the game of politics and diplomacy. If you play this game of chess rightly, you might become Pharaoh’s successor. As the next king of Egypt, you will save not one Jew, but three million of them!

Yet, we know the path Moses chose. He didn’t hesitate for a moment, and cut down the life of the SS guard, right there, right then, and hid his body in the sand. At that moment he ended the dream: Not only would he not become the king of Egypt; he would become an outlawed fugitive, running for his life.

Moses, where is your little long-term vision?

The Rebbe explained Moses’ behavior.

Moses could not pay heed to any calculations, because he saw a Jew being beaten to death.

In the face of such brutality, he could not respond otherwise. All the logic in the world went flying out the window as he saw an innocent person being tortured to death. He struck the murderer and buried him in the sand.

This is what made Moses who he was: The love of Israel, and the love for truth, justice, and compassion, seared into the very essence of his being, burning aglow in every fiber of his soul.

Of course, Moses was not trying to be irresponsible and get caught. That’s why he tried ensuring no one was looking and he hid the body. Yet, he did not allow cold logic to keep him safe and distant while allowing the Jew to die.

Do you know for which Jew he gave up so much?  The Jew being beaten was no great saint… As the Midrash says, his name was Datan! He was one of the most infamous Jewish trouble makers in Egypt and in the desert, who has continuously rebelled against Moses.

It was this Jew—a very lowly person, with profound moral flaws, and later the greatest enemy of Moses—for whom Moses sacrificed his entire future and his very life!

All the names were given to Moses was Hebrew names—they could not convey his true sacrifice and why he was chosen by the Creator to change the vocabulary of humanity. It was the name given to him by the daughter of Pharaoh which captures the magnitude of the story:

It was this very name which helped inspire Moses to this moment. The name Moshe, “for he was drawn out of the water,” forever reminded him of his role in the world. When I was an infant languishing in a basket in the Nile, waiting to die, an Egyptian woman who owed me nothing, who was the daughter of the man who wanted all Jewish male newborns dead, could have easily ignored me and go on with her affairs. Yet, she stopped. She took notice. And she saved my life.

Now, years later, another “Egyptian” prince—her son—can also ignore a Jewish man waiting to die.

As Moses stood there, his very name Moshe—the one drawn from the water—would not allow him to rest. I am here because an Egyptian princess sacrificed herself to save me; must I not do the same for others? 

Do you know who can teach us this lesson best? A French Jew by the name of Adolfo Kaminsky, who is 94 years old today.  He is one of the great unsung heroes of our times.

It’s 1944, in Nazi-occupied Paris. Adolfo Kaminsky and three Jewish friends are operating a clandestine laboratory to make false passports for children and families about to be deported from France to Nazi death camps. The youngest member of the group, the lab’s technical director, is Adolfo. He is practically a child himself: age 18.

For years he never told his story. A book about him, “Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger’s Life,” came out several years ago.

Kaminsky was a professional forger. When Hitler marched into France in 1941, and Jews began being deported to their deaths, Kaminsky became a skilled forger. The man single-handedly forged thousands upon thousands of passports. He gave these passports to French Jewish children allowing them to be smuggled out of France and allowed entry into other countries as supposed citizens of those other countries.

Listen to this: This 18 year-old boy saved between 7,000 to 10,000 Jewish children in France! Some 11,400 children were deported and killed.

In a documentary about him he tells about the day when learned that in three days, 900 Jewish children will be arrested and sent to the gas chambers. This means he had three days to forge from scratch 900 passports to show that they are citizens of other countries!

He would have to stay up for nights, to get this work done. Remember, every passport had to be forged with exceptional skill. As he put it once, “one tiny error and that person gets sent to their death.” This was a strenuous job to say the least. How would he manage to forge 900 passports?

But, then he said, “I made a simple calculation: In one hour I can make 30 documents; if I sleep for an hour, 30 people will die.”

He stayed up and finished all the documents. All the children were saved.

Here is a man who realized how much was at stake. “If I sleep for an hour, 30 people will die.” Sleep he did not.

And you know what inspires me most about Kaminsky? As he was interviewed in an article about his new book, he was asked how he feels about his accomplishments? And he responded: I think mostly about all the children I could not save!

The lesson is vital and clear.

Sometimes, we see an injustice in our midst—a Jew being beaten, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We have good calculations of why to do nothing. We justify our passivity by claiming to “Let me work with and through the system; it will take years, but it will be far more effective.”

I am living in a palace—of calm and comfort. You want me to endanger all of it so that I can stand up for a helpless victim when I am not even accomplishing much?

How many youngsters and adults have lost their lives or their souls from such type of calculations?

Moses taught us otherwise—and it was this which made him Moses!  

When you see an innocent soul suffering, never ever stand by idly. Do something! Save the person.

It is the first story told about the first Jewish leader—and it remains the most important story of our people.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky