Loneliness
A Message for Parashat Shemot 2017
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And God saw that he had turned aside to see, and Hashem called
to him from the midst of the bush and said “Moshe, Moshe!” And he said, “Here I
am.” (Shemot 3:4)
…And God’s messenger called out to him from the heavens and
said, “Avraham, Avraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Bereshit
22:11)
Moshe’s first encounters with God bear
several striking parallels to Avraham’s experience at the Akedah. The
way in which God first addressed the individuals and how they responded is
identical. Each underwent fateful moments on identified mountains – Har
HaMoriah by Avraham and Har Horev by Moshe. Both missions centered around the
destiny of a “unique son” – Avraham’s
Yitzhak, and God’s “My son, my firs-born, Israel” (4:22). And both Avraham and
Moshe experienced the near murder of their son – Avraham by his knife-wielding
hand, and Moshe by God, who “sought to put him to death” on his way at a night
camp (4:25).
Most important among these parallel
narratives, however, is the immediate aftermath of the individual’s adherence
to the command of God.
Avraham’s ascent to Har HaMoriah progressed
as a joint mission with his son, the verses twice stating “And the two of them
went together” (Bereshit 22:6,8), but his retreat from the mountain was alone –
“Avraham returned to his young men, and they stood up and went together to Beer
Sheva” (22:19). Avraham experienced
the tragic irony of reaching the height of his relationship with God at the
very moment his connection to his son was diminished.
Moshe’s mission
began with the support of others, as well. Following an emotional embrace with
Aharon, the brothers addressed the elders of the nation who “believed and
heeded” (Shemot 4:31). The two then addressed Pharaoh, as commanded by God, but
were met by an angry group from the nation upon their departure. The group
shouted at them, “Let God look upon you and judge, for you have made us
repugnant in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants” (5:21). It
was then that Moshe came to know the lonely existence of an eved Hashem.
It was a state-of-being first endured by his great-grandfather Avraham, several
hundred years before.
The person who finds God
is homeless, fatherless, and childless – not biologically but spiritually. He
is related neither to his parent nor to his child; he has to give up and
disengage. (R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik)[1]
The similar stories
of Avraham and Moshe are the sobering paradigms of true commitment to God. The
life of an eved Hashem necessarily entails difficult moments of
loneliness. As we strive to become genuine servants of God, we must be prepared
to summon our courage and strength during those moments of separation, when
choosing His word over that of society.
[1] Abraham’s Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch (New York, NY, 2008), pg.
78.