Shmos שמות - An Open Heart
In
parshas Shmos Moshe rabenu flees from Egypt to escape the anger of Pharaoh. He
finds refuge with Yisro the exiled high priest of Midian and marries his
daughter Tsipora. One day while Moshe is shepherding the flock he comes to Horev,
the mountain of Hashem. There he encounters a bush that is burning, but never
the less is not being burnt up. When he
notices this he walks closer to get a better look and wonders why the bush is
not being consumed by the fire. At that point the angel of G-d calls out to
Moshe from within the flame and charges him to be the leader of Israel and take
his people out of Egyptian bondage.
Rashi
explains that Moshe went into the wilderness to graze the flock in order to
avoid having the sheep eat from the agricultural fields of others. He did this
because he was an honest man and was unlike other shepherds in that he was careful
not to negligently steal. According the Or HaChaim Moshe either was drawn to
the Horev by G-d or inadvertently wandered there by simply following the sheep.
The Sforno opines that Moshe specifically went to the Mountain of G-d in order
to meditate and pray. The common denominator between them is that Moshe was
drawn to sanctity consciously, unconsciously, or by the will of the Holy
blessed be He.
Rashi
explains that Moshe left the place he was at to come close to the burning bush.
The Sforno explains Moshe's reaction as, "I will contemplate and I will
see". In other words Moshe wished to understand what was happening.
The
Ramban explains that what appeared to Moshe was the glory of the Divine
presence. However he had not prepared his mind for prophesy but once he did
incline his heart and stepped aside to observe, then G-d called to him from the
midst of the bush. Other commentaries remark that in the splendor of ordinary
objects there is a hint of G-d presence and that when a person perceives it as
such, he is prepared to revelation from heaven.
In
the argument for the faith of the Israel the Kuzari (1:77) states, " One
must not deem it improbable that exalted divine traces should be visible in
this material world, when physical matter is prepared to receive them. Here are
to be found the roots of faith as well as denial". The Tanya (chapter 29) describes the
negative condition of dullness of heart טמטום הלב in which, "the heart becomes like a stone and
the person is not able to open his heart in anyway to service of the heart,
that means prayer. Also, sometimes he can not battle his evil inclination to
sanctify himself with that which is permitted due to heaviness of heart. The
advice of the Zohar . . . is that a stick that will not catch fire
should be shattered". The idea is that a person who has sinned should
allow himself to experience regret in order to remove the coarseness of heart
that is forming a barrier between himself and Hashem.
What we learn from Moshe and the burning
bush is that a person should be sensitive to their surroundings. Specifically
one's heart should be open to signs of Hashem in this mundane world especially
to phenomenon that can not be explained by nature. If a good person behaves
thusly his ordinary tendencies will bring him to faith and the word of G-d.
Blogspot link:
http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2013/12/shmos-open-heart.html
Hebrew:
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