Noach, Avraham, and Moshe Rabbeinu

 In my mind I divide the society into three parts. The Noach, Avraham and Moshe.Rabbeinu.

Noah -- back in his day was the most righteous. But if you look at everyone around, they were all depraved. So as righteous as Noach was, he may have still been racist or hateful. That's how I see racists.  In a depraved society, where people are being greedy, stingy, lusting after sex - lusting after domination, then everyone is looking out for number 1; themselves, in such a society, the racist at least appears to becomes the righteous.

A clear case is the situation in America.  Police officers are shooting and killing unarmed Black men with little or no impunity. And yet many people will defend these same cops and on top of that vote for Donald Trump, a man who raises the inspiration of racists.

In such a case, at least, the racists show compassion for "their kind" which is a step higher than being totally for oneself and throwing all of humanity under a bus. But nevertheless, it's a very low state indeed.

Then comes Avraham -- in this stage they know Torah -- or at least they have the capacity to reason out Torah. people try to live righteously, and are willing to spread the good word.  But I don't know if they would break any status quo. That's how I see many Jews today -- not all.

 And then there's the Moshe Rabeinu level (Moses). Moshe married an Ethiopian,also a Midianite, He brought the people to the level of getting prophecy straight out from Hashem. He was hopeful and brought some of the Egyptians that had been turning to Judaism (probably since Yosef haTzaddik's time) , and put the people ahead of himself. It is said that the Jewish people had fallen to the 49th level of tumah (impurity).  That means they could have had a Noach-type moshiach at that time, but for some reason, the much higher caliber moshiach, Moshe Rabbeinu, came.

What decided which moshiach would come?  The only thing I can think of is that the society in Noach's time must have fallen into the 50th level of tumah which was why they had to go.  No redemption for them; they just had to go.

Whereas in the case of the Jewish people in Egypt, they were at the 49th level of tumah and so redeemable.

The Moshe Rabbeinu level is where we need to be.  There the racists would be frowned upon.  There everyone will have a chance to be the best they can be and receive directly from Hashem.  This is definitely the level where Black folks can stand a chance to be normative and to function without the dread of racism.

Now, after the exodus from Egypt, many couldn't handle Moshe's disappearance when he went to get the stone tablets and built the golden calf. Upon Moshe's return, he saw that they had replaced him with a statue -- the golden calf.  Moshe threw the stone tablets and destroyed the idol.  Then he went and got new ones -- different ones. Now if someone goes to get a gift, then returns and sees the receivers are misbehaving and decides not to give them the gift, but rather to give them a different gift, I don't think that second gift would be of a higher caliber than the first one was.

I think that set us back to the Avraham stage. Back to not really changing any status quo but trying to live righteously and spreading the good word whenever possible, praying from a distance, (Or did we go back to Noach? Yikes!)

At any rate, the goal to strive for is the Moshe Rabbeinu level. Its great to call upon the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But maybe, just maybe we should be calling upon the G-d of Moses (that facet of G-d)?

The Moshiach In You

(Hi all! I'm Chaya, Miriam's sister guest blogging today.)

We are commanded to leave Egypt every day.

Although the Exodus from Egypt occured thousand of years ago, we find that "Egypt" can still exist within us. The Pharoah of today lusts to keep us his slaves through depression, despair, apathy, selfishness, and other negative character traits.

When we succomb to this foreign rule, our joy is stifled, and we cannot even hope for a better tomorrow. We all know that in life, there are hardships that can really crush us, seemingly too difficult to overcome. If, however, we find the strength to fight, we not only escape to freedom, but we become the agents to help others escape as well.

Moshe, son of Amram, dared to defy his Egypt. Born with a speech impediment and raised in Pharoah's palace, he witnessed the injustice done to his people. How easy it would have been to remain silent and hidden! But no. Moshe mustered tremendous amount of courage to return to his birthplace and demand the Jews' freedom.

And because of his humility and courage, he became Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest Prophet that ever was.

And his holy boldness infused the Jews with the energetic boost they needed to leave their Egypts. He was their Moshiach/Messiah.

After leaving Egypt, the Jews recieved the Torah at Mount Sinai and became their own nation. Our sages teach us that the Jewish nation was like a newborn with a lot of growing up to do. They wandered 40 years in the wilderness, refining their character traits until they were worthy of entering Israel.

Not easy. Even as they stood at the borders of the Holy Land, they succombed to lack of faith in G-d and spiraled into negativity. They complained that they would perish in this new land and desired to RETURN TO EGYPT!

Could it be that their immaturity and negativity prevented them from being a "Moshaich" to another?

Moshe Rabbeinu erred at the Waters of Merivah when he became angry at the Jewish people when they complained of thirst. They had complained one too many times. But, Hashem judges the Tzaddikim at a higher standard and therefore Moshe was denied entrance to Israel.

But what if the Jews had put aside their own needs and focused their attention on Moshe. What if they had banded together and demanded Hashem to let Moshe enter? What if they had tried to negotiate? Our Sages say there is strength in numbers, and that Hashem delights when His children work together. Could the Jewish people have been Moshe's Moshiach?? I believe YES.

This is why we are commanded to leave Egypt every day. To go to those places that stretches us out of our "speech impediments" and out of our selfish-ness so we can help others. We need each other so much. We are the keys to each others' salvation!! We can emulate Moshe Rabbeinu, gathering courage, energy, and G-'dly power to help others break free from their bondage.

Then the Exodus from Egypt occurs again. Perhaps we will not see it with our physical eyes. But spiritually, it is like a domino effect, one soul effecting the other, one arousing the other until the Final and Ultimate Moshiach will arise from his place.

G-d bless!