Illustration Credit: Noa Kelner
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
How do you know when you’re grown up?
וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה (שמות ב:יא) –
רַב יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל בָּנִים אֵינָן גְּדֵלִין שֶׁהוּא אוֹמֵר וַיִּגְדַּל!?
... מַה הָיְתָה גְּדֻלָּתוֹ, שֶׁיָּצָא אֶל אֶחָיו.
“Moshe grew” (Shemot 2:11) –
R. Yehudah says: Don’t all children grow?! So why does the Torah have to tell us that Moshe grew?
... What was his growth? That he went out to his brothers.
It seems like the pasuk is telling us something not interesting at all, that Moshe was once a child and then grew up. So what?! R. Yehudah suggests the Torah is telling us something deeper. Moshe didn’t just grow physically into an adult, but he also grew ethically as a kind and caring person.
We see this from the next words in the pasuk (Shemot 2:11): “וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל־אֶחָיו וַיַּרְא בְּסִבְלֹתָם - Moshe grew, and went out to his brothers and saw their suffering.” For Moshe, growing up was about going toward his people, seeing their suffering, and treating them like brothers and sisters.
- What’s a moment you can think of when you’ve grown like Moshe and become more sensitive to others?
- In what way is becoming aware of others’ pain a kind of growth? How can we create more of that kind of growth in ourselves?
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