The Unorthodox Education of Moshe Rabbenu

He (Moshe) turned this way and that way, and he saw there was no man, and he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Shemot 2:12

True leadership is one of the most difficult qualities to achieve. It requires a rare combination of wisdom, courage, knowledge, and experience. Very few people possess all these qualities, and even fewer know the art of combining them in a balanced way.

In the first chapter of Shemot, we learn an astonishing story of how Moshe Rabbenu became capable of undertaking the arguably most challenging leadership role in human history: liberating a few million slaves from an entrenched dictatorship and transforming them into a nation of God. Moshe had the additional mission of teaching mankind the highest level of ethics.

One might think that the ability to inspire a few million people to love God would necessitate the best religious education, under the tutelage of the finest teachers. Such a person would have to be holy, and that would require a well-protected environment into which outside heretical ideologies could not penetrate, and where secularism would play no role. Only under such conditions might a leader emerge who would be great enough to experience an encounter with God, receive His teachings and guide millions.

Yet, the story of Moshe confronts us with an altogether different truth.

When Moshe first leaves the palace of Pharaoh to visit his enslaved brothers, he is struck by the hard realities of life. Right in front of him, an Egyptian strikes a Hebrew slave, possibly with the intention of killing him. With no hesitation, Moshe kills the Egyptian and buries him in the ground.^[1]

This is most astonishing. Why would Moshe take the side of the Israelite? Brought up in the world of Egyptian culture and instructed by elite Egyptian educators, possibly receiving private tutelage from Pharaoh himself to prepare him for the monarchy of Egypt in years to come, Moshe must have seen the Egyptian as a compatriot. This was a man of his own culture! Why take any action against him in defense of the Israelite?

And he saw there was no man

Nevertheless, it is clear that Moshe had warm feelings toward the Israelite, despite the fact that Hebrews were total foreigners to him. This is made very evident by the text, which tells us, “He came to see his brothers.”^[2] Whether Moshe was actually told that he was of Hebrew stock is not clear, but it is highly doubtful. His identifying with “his brothers” must therefore be the result of an inner voice that told him of his shared destiny with the Israelites. This must have put Moshe in a very difficult position. Psychologists would no doubt raise the question of dual loyalties. How was he going to be the next Pharaoh while feeling strong sympathy for the Hebrews, who were considered arch enemies of the Egyptian regime? What would he do to resolve this?

I once heard a deeper reading of one verse, which may give us some insight into this psychological quandary. After the Egyptian attacks the Israelite, we read:

He (Moshe) turned this way and that way, and he saw there was no man, and he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.^[3]

This may allude to Moshe’s psychological situation, albeit in a metaphorical way. Moshe suddenly realized that he was living in two worlds. While his youth was spent immersed in Egyptian culture, as far as knowledge, art and religion were concerned his heart was elsewhere. Deep down he heard a voice demanding the opposite of everything Egypt stood for. It is for this reason that “he looked this way and that way.” Moshe realized that he was at a crossroads in his life and that “there was no man.” Until he could decide to which world he belonged, he lacked identity and would have neither character nor strength. Consequently, he decided then and there that he was to be a Hebrew and therefore “smote the Egyptian man” within himself and, figuratively, buried him in the sand.

It is this decision that turned the world on its head, and sets the stage for events that would change the direction of history. Made in the blink of an eye, this is among the most radical decisions ever made in human history, eventually leading both Jews and gentiles to put God at the center of their lives and commit themselves to a higher ethical mission.

But Moshe must have also realized that by ending his ambivalent situation, he would be destroying his entire future. Not only would he not become the new monarch of Egypt, but he would surely turn the whole of Egypt against him, becoming a wanderer and refugee, with no money or future.

The makings of a hero

Heroism is in no way better demonstrated than by one who can say no and then calmly — or not so calmly — accept the consequences of his resistance, knowing all too well that usually that heroic act will vanish into oblivion. Many a great person has disappeared from the map of history because those around him or her could not grasp his or her message.

Yet, contrary to Moshe’s expectations, God reveals Himself to him at the burning bush, viewing him as the man suited to be the leader of the Jewish people. Had Moshe been educated by the best teachers in a warm Jewish environment, protected from the influences of the outside world, he would not have become the extraordinary man he was. He would have remained in Pharaoh’s palace, probably to become the next head of state in Egypt. He would have left no legacy that would turn the world on its head.

What is completely surprising is that Moshe became the prototype of the ideal leader not in spite of being raised in a world of idol worship, self-worship, and total lack of morality, but because of it! He became the greatest Jewish leader ever, precisely because of his secular, polytheistic, and morally empty education. It turned him into a fighter, determined to overthrow the false ideas he knew and recognized so well from the inside. It was the “rebel within” that made Moshe the leader of a nation whose function it is to fight and protest.

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm,” said Latin writer Publilius Syrus. But it is the resistance and rebel within a person that creates the real leader. Leadership, borne of opposition, can only emerge in an environment at odds with the comfortable. The one who can swim against the current knows its strength and will therefore become stronger himself.

We owe almost all our inner strength, not to those who have agreed with us, but to those who have opposed us.

Had Moshe been educated in a strong religious environment, with the best Jewish educators to guide and protect him from the influences of the outside world, he could never have become Moshe Rabbenu. Only in a foreign environment that challenged all Jewish moral criteria could a man like Moshe emerge.

Questions to Ponder from the DCA Think Tank

1. Rabbi Cardozo argues that Moshe was probably not told that he came from Hebrew stock, and that “His identifying with ‘his brothers’ must therefore be the result of an inner voice that told him of his shared destiny with the Israelites.” Do you think the plain meaning of the text supports this, given that Moshe’s own mother served as his nursemaid?
2. Moshe is presented as the first Jewish leader, and a rebel against Egyptian society and the education he received in the palace. He is also described in the Torah as the most humble of all men. How do you understand these seemingly contradictory character traits within one person?
3. Is great leadership always born of internal conflict? Are there other models of great leadership? Isn’t the ideal that a leader should match the needs of the people?

Notes:

^[1]     Shemot 2:12.

^[2]     Ibid. 2:11.

^[3]     Ibid. 2:12.