In this week’s reading, Moshe sees an Egyptian beating another Jew, and comes to his rescue — killing the Egyptian taskmaster, and putting his own life in danger. Why did Moshe take such a terrible risk?
The Jewish man is never identified by name. We never hear from him again — we don’t even know if he was one of those who left Egypt (to the best of my limited knowledge).
The Torah does not waste words, but tells us that Moshe saw the Egyptian man beating a Jewish man “from his brothers.” This answers our question, and this was what made Moshe the ideal leader of the Jewish people.
To Moshe, another Jew wasn’t merely another citizen of the same country, or a distant relative — he was immediate family, for whom he was willing to risk his life.
Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org
