The Children of Israel were getting
impatient. Moshe had promised them that
he’d return from Sinai within forty days.
The fortieth day had dawned and their leader was nowhere to be
seen. A few troublemakers began to
agitate, and in no time at all, Aharon found himself facing a mob of thousands
demanding answers.
‘Where is your brother?’ they
clamoured. ‘This G-d who claims to have redeemed us from Egypt is nowhere to be
seen. We want a new deity to
worship.’ And with that, they gathered
their gold and silver and fashioned a Golden Calf. The people began to sing and dance around the
idol.
Meanwhile atop Mt. Sinai, Moshe was
just getting ready to descend to the people, Tablets in hand. G-d stops him and informs him of the
catastrophe unfolding at the foot of the mountain.
״וַיְדַבֵּר ה׳ אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֶךְ רֵד״. מַאי ״לֶךְ רֵד״? אָמַר
רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר: אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמֹשֶׁה: מֹשֶׁה, רֵד
מִגְּדוּלָּתְךָ! כְּלוּם נָתַתִּי לְךָ גְּדוּלָּה אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל יִשְׂרָאֵל.
וְעַכְשָׁיו יִשְׂרָאֵל חָטְאוּ — אַתָּה לָמָּה לִי? מִיָּד תָּשַׁשׁ כּוֹחוֹ
שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה, וְלֹא הָיָה לוֹ כֹּחַ לְדַבֵּר. וְכֵיוָן שֶׁאָמַר ״הֶרֶף מִמֶּנִּי
וְאַשְׁמִידֵם״, אָמַר מֹשֶׁה: דָּבָר זֶה תָּלוּי בִּי! מִיָּד עָמַד
וְנִתְחַזֵּק בִּתְפִלָּה, וּבִקֵּשׁ רַחֲמִים
“Hashem said to Moshe: Go and descend, for your people whom you have
brought out of the land of Egypt have strayed.”
What is the meaning of “go and descend”?
Rabbi Elazar said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: Moshe,
descend from your greatness. The only
reason I granted you prominence was for the sake of Israel. Now that Israel has sinned, what do I need
you for? Immediately, Moshe’s strength waned and he was powerless to speak
in defense of Israel. But when He
declared (Deut. 9:14), “Take leave of Me and I shall destroy them,” Moshe said
to himself, ‘This matter is dependent upon me.’ Immediately Moshe
rose and strengthened himself in prayer, and beseeched God for mercy for
Israel.
Can you imagine how Moshe must have felt upon hearing the news of the
Israelites’ fall from grace? Everything
up until that point had been going so splendidly. He had led hundreds of thousands, if not
millions, of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
He had crossed them over the Red Sea, and stood together with them
watching their oppressors perish forever.
He had brought them to Mt. Sinai and orchestrated a national covenantal
relationship between G-d and Israel.
And then G-d breaks the terrible news to him. What was Moshe’s initial reaction to G-d’s
announcement? He lost all strength and
will to deal with the situation. It felt
like all his efforts had been for naught.
The Israelites’ failure meant his own failure. He probably felt like curling up and disappearing. Feeling entirely inadequate, our Sages
present an image of Moshe standing there with nothing left to say, wallowing in
self-pity, so to speak.
But then Moshe realizes that there’s no time for self-pity. If he doesn’t pull himself together, it will
indeed be the end of the story for everyone.
He girds his loins, gathers all his strength, and begins to pour out his
heart to the Almighty. And not content
with prayer alone, he tops it all off with a challenge to our Father in Heaven. ‘Forgive the nation. If not, erase me from Your book!’ Once Moshe had reoriented himself, he was prepared
to do whatever it would take to secure the future of his people.
Life has its fair share of surprises and shocks. When challenges strike, it’s tempting to see
your problems through the eyes of number one.
‘Why is this happening to me?’ you ask, as the feelings of self-pity
begin to overwhelm you. But oftentimes,
you don’t have the luxury to wallow in your sorrow. Or to curl up into a ball and become invisible. There are people depending on you, and they
need you now more than ever. There’s no time
to think about how this is affecting you.
Your loved ones need your strength to carry them through the storm.
Maybe you’ve been laid off from work.
All you want to do right now is pull the covers over your head and escape
from the world. Maybe for a day or
two. Or a year. Who knows?
But that’s not going to help you or your dependents. They need you to pull yourself together and
start looking for the next opportunity, as quickly as possible.
Or perhaps the latest downpour caused heavy flood damage, with water
seeping into your house foundations.
You’re feeling really sorry for yourself. You worked hard on creating the perfect
basement, and now it’s all ruined. Sure,
the insurance will pay for it, but it will take months of hassle to get things
back to the way they were. Why shouldn’t
you just be allowed to hide away and avoid dealing with the problem? And so once again, you curl up and hope to
disappear, with the hope that the damage will magically be all gone when you
wake up. But life doesn’t work like
that. The water isn’t going to pump
itself out. You need to pull yourself
together for the sake of your family and find the inner strength to deal with
the crisis.
Or maybe it’s a work setback. Your
largest client has just pulled their account.
You could have one too many and become a useless wreck. But as department manager, your team needs
you! Now more than ever, they need you
to show leadership, to rise above the challenges, and declare your commitment
to forging ahead to bigger and better opportunities!
There were times in his life that even Moshe was at a loss as to how
proceed. Most people would have just
thrown their hands in the air. But Moshe
was our greatest leader, precisely because his self-pity didn’t last beyond the
initial moment of shock. He immediately
pulled himself together and acted as a leader should.
You are a leader. You don’t have the
luxury of taking time out to wallow in self-pity. Too many people are relying on you, whether
family members, team members, colleagues, or community members. May you always find the inner strength to
gird your loins and lead the way through the storm!
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