Parashat Bo
January 6, 2022
Rabbi Amir Zinkow, Middle School Mishnah/Gemara Curriculum Coordinator and Limudei Kodesh Teacher
In chapter 5 of Pirkei Avot, there is a list of ten things that were created just before sundown on the sixth day of creation:
פִּי הָאָרֶץ, וּפִי הַבְּאֵר, וּפִי הָאָתוֹן, וְהַקֶּשֶׁת, וְהַמָּן, וְהַמַּטֶּה, וְהַשָּׁמִיר, וְהַכְּתָב, וְהַמִּכְתָּב, וְהַלּוּחוֹת
The mouth of the earth [that swallowed Korach]; and the mouth of the well [that accompanied the Jewish people in the wilderness]; and the mouth of the donkey [that spoke to Bilaam]; and the rainbow [that served as a covenant after the flood]; and the manna [that God provided the Israelites in the wilderness]; and the staff of Moshe; and the shamir [the stone-eating worm that helped build the Beit HaMikdash without metal tools]; and the letters; and the writing; and the tablets [all of the previous three things are of the Ten Commandments].
It is difficult to say what, if anything, these ten things have in common. Nine of them break the laws of nature as we know them; the rainbow that God shows to Noah after the flood is unique in that it does not. Many of them remind us of pleasant Biblical occurrences — for example, the manna and the well that nourished the Israelites in the wilderness. In contrast, the opening in the earth that swallowed up Korach and his group of rebels stands out as a painful memory. Nine of the ten appear wondrous in their very being, e.g. the rainbow, the well, the manna, the two tablets of the Ten Commandments.
But among the list, Moses’ staff is unique. If one saw this staff, presumably it would not have stood out as being anything more than a big stick. Contemporary archeologist Graham Phillips believes that the staff was so unextraordinary in appearance that it was unknowingly discovered and put on display in the Birmingham Museum (in Birmingham, England; the museum and most scholars remain skeptical of his claim).
But the staff was indeed extraordinary. In Parashat Bo, God performs the final three plagues in Egypt: locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. Locusts and darkness, like blood, frogs, and lice before them, are performed with the use of Moses’ staff. Going forward in the Exodus from Egypt, and later in the wilderness, this staff will continue to play a significant role. Moses will use it to signal that the Red Sea should split; he will bring it to the top of a mountain while Israel is battling Amalek. So ever-present is this staff in Moses’ hand that, at times, the Torah describes Moses raising his hand without mentioning the staff. It is left to the reader to assume he is grasping מטה האלקים, the Staff of God.
It is significant to note that the word מטה does not refer to just any staff in תנ”ך. In this narrative itself, a different word is used to describe the staffs that the general population should hold when eating their Passover sacrifice:
But among the list, Moses’ staff is unique. If one saw this staff, presumably it would not have stood out as being anything more than a big stick. Contemporary archeologist Graham Phillips believes that the staff was so unextraordinary in appearance that it was unknowingly discovered and put on display in the Birmingham Museum (in Birmingham, England; the museum and most scholars remain skeptical of his claim).
But the staff was indeed extraordinary. In Parashat Bo, God performs the final three plagues in Egypt: locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. Locusts and darkness, like blood, frogs, and lice before them, are performed with the use of Moses’ staff. Going forward in the Exodus from Egypt, and later in the wilderness, this staff will continue to play a significant role. Moses will use it to signal that the Red Sea should split; he will bring it to the top of a mountain while Israel is battling Amalek. So ever-present is this staff in Moses’ hand that, at times, the Torah describes Moses raising his hand without mentioning the staff. It is left to the reader to assume he is grasping מטה האלקים, the Staff of God.
It is significant to note that the word מטה does not refer to just any staff in תנ”ך. In this narrative itself, a different word is used to describe the staffs that the general population should hold when eating their Passover sacrifice:
וְכָכָה תֹּאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ מׇתְנֵיכֶם חֲגֻרִים נַעֲלֵיכֶם בְּרַגְלֵיכֶם וּמַקֶּלְכֶם בְּיֶדְכֶם וַאֲכַלְתֶּם אֹתוֹ בְּחִפָּזוֹן פֶּסַח הוּא לַי״י׃
This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to the LORD.
This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to the LORD.
Here, the word מקל is used for staff. The word מטה is reserved for a staff of leadership. Indeed, the same word is used to mean “tribe” throughout the תורה, as a מטה would have been wielded by the head of each tribe.
Ultimately and tragically, the מטה that Moses uses to lead his people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and through a battle with Amalek is the same מטה with which Moses makes his fatal mistake. It is with this very same staff of leadership that Moses uses on multiple occasions to sanctify God’s name through acts of power that, through another act of power, he will fail to sanctify God’s name. In Numbers 20, Moses attempts to provide the people with water in the same fashion he did earlier in their journey, by striking a rock with his מטה. When he sees that his first attempt doesn’t work, he strikes the rock again, after which the rock yields its bounty. God does not respond positively to this display of might:
Ultimately and tragically, the מטה that Moses uses to lead his people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and through a battle with Amalek is the same מטה with which Moses makes his fatal mistake. It is with this very same staff of leadership that Moses uses on multiple occasions to sanctify God’s name through acts of power that, through another act of power, he will fail to sanctify God’s name. In Numbers 20, Moses attempts to provide the people with water in the same fashion he did earlier in their journey, by striking a rock with his מטה. When he sees that his first attempt doesn’t work, he strikes the rock again, after which the rock yields its bounty. God does not respond positively to this display of might:
וַיֹּאמֶר י״י אֶל מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אַהֲרֹן יַעַן לֹא הֶאֱמַנְתֶּם בִּי לְהַקְדִּישֵׁנִי לְעֵינֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לָכֵן לֹא תָבִיאוּ אֶת הַקָּהָל הַזֶּה אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
After having led the people out of one land using this staff, Moses will not be allowed to lead the people into their homeland because of the staff. Sadly, the מטה that was the symbol of power and the instrument of miracles, was used for one too many displays of might.
In the story that sealed Moses’s fate, God had told him to speak to the rock, not to strike it (though this was the means by which Moses had extracted water from stone earlier in Bnai Israel’s wanderings). How is it that striking the rock now was a failure to sanctify God, when it was an acceptable way of doing so just years earlier?
The people of Israel, at different points in their growth as a people, needed different types of leadership from Moses. In their early days, seeing the wondrous power that God wields was necessary for them to break free from their slave mentality. Therefore, God demonstrated this power through Moses and through מטה האלקים. But years later in the desert (when Moses strikes the rock in the Book of Numbers), this type of awesome leadership demonstration was no longer necessary. Instead, the people needed to see a compassionate Moses, and by extension, a compassionate God, a God who speaks and listens, not one who bludgeons. In Moses’ failure to understand what his people needed from him, he also failed to bring them a holy experience of the divine.
Much as Israel experienced God through Moses, I experience Godliness through my relationships and connections with other people. When another person sees and understands me, God is sanctified in my eyes, because I believe that it is the Godliness in them that allows them to see and understand me. The Lord has instilled within us the power to be empathetic, to be able to see, understand, and know what other people need from us. Sometimes others need us to be listeners, sometimes speakers, and, yes, occasionally bludgeoners.
May we wield this awesome power to sanctify God in the eyes of all those who need to feel seen and understood. Shabbat Shalom.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
After having led the people out of one land using this staff, Moses will not be allowed to lead the people into their homeland because of the staff. Sadly, the מטה that was the symbol of power and the instrument of miracles, was used for one too many displays of might.
In the story that sealed Moses’s fate, God had told him to speak to the rock, not to strike it (though this was the means by which Moses had extracted water from stone earlier in Bnai Israel’s wanderings). How is it that striking the rock now was a failure to sanctify God, when it was an acceptable way of doing so just years earlier?
The people of Israel, at different points in their growth as a people, needed different types of leadership from Moses. In their early days, seeing the wondrous power that God wields was necessary for them to break free from their slave mentality. Therefore, God demonstrated this power through Moses and through מטה האלקים. But years later in the desert (when Moses strikes the rock in the Book of Numbers), this type of awesome leadership demonstration was no longer necessary. Instead, the people needed to see a compassionate Moses, and by extension, a compassionate God, a God who speaks and listens, not one who bludgeons. In Moses’ failure to understand what his people needed from him, he also failed to bring them a holy experience of the divine.
Much as Israel experienced God through Moses, I experience Godliness through my relationships and connections with other people. When another person sees and understands me, God is sanctified in my eyes, because I believe that it is the Godliness in them that allows them to see and understand me. The Lord has instilled within us the power to be empathetic, to be able to see, understand, and know what other people need from us. Sometimes others need us to be listeners, sometimes speakers, and, yes, occasionally bludgeoners.
May we wield this awesome power to sanctify God in the eyes of all those who need to feel seen and understood. Shabbat Shalom.