Rabbi Todd Thalblum
April 2011
With the coming of the month of April, we once again find ourselves preparing for Passover. Very soon, we will be clearing our pantries of chameitz, stocking our shelves with “Kosher for Passover” foods, and readying ourselves for a week of matzah and gefilte fish.
At our seders, we will remember our ancestor’s story. We will recall how Moses was sent down the Nile river in basket, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and exiled from Egypt when he stood up for a Hebrew slave. We will retell the story of the burning bush and how Moses was commanded by God to return to Egypt to deliver the Israelites. We will recount the plagues that were visited upon Egypt and how we were ultimately saved by the parting of Red Sea and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
There are, of course, any number of lessons we can learn from the story of our people’s Exodus. One that recently struck me was a small midrash about the kind of bush through which God chose to speak to Moses. According to the Torah, the burning bush was nothing more that a mere thorn bush. It was extraordinary in that it burned without being consumed by the flames, but in every other quality it was simply a thorn bush.
According to the midrash, God had originally considered speaking to Moses from a tree. This idea, caused all the trees to argue about who was the most worthy of this blessing. The fig tree felt that he was the obvious choice since Moses was only able to navigate the desert with his help. He said, “Moses could see the green leaves of my crown from a distance, and he knew that there would be water wherever I grew. He drank the water near my roots, ate my figs, and rested in my shade. He would not have made it with out me.”
The carob tree, however, felt that she was a better choice, because Tzipporah, Moses’ betrothed, had used her fruit to make the wedding bread. It was this bread that Moses used to bless God at the feast. Therefore, she felt, she should be the one that God used to speak to Moses.
In turn, each tree put forth an argument detailing their own magnificence, until finally God turned to the thorn bush and asked, “Why are you so quiet?” The thorn bush answered, “There is no reason for You to choose me, I am small and unimportant and everyone hates me. Animals get caught in my branches, humans prick themselves on my thorns. My branches are too small for fires or houses, and I am even too short to provide shade.”
“But I have chosen you,” replied God, “to show that I am everywhere on Earth, even in the lowly thorn bush.” Then God was revealed to Moses through the “Chosen Bush” and he was sent back to Egypt to free our people.
At Passover, we remember the Exodus as if we were there with our ancestors being saved by God. We remember what God did for us, the “Chosen people.” “My people,” God says, “are like this thorn bush. The Egyptians burn them with hard work and try to destroy them, but they cannot be destroyed.”
Am Yisrael Chai - The Jewish People Lives.
Chag Sameach everyone
Rabbi Todd
With the coming of the month of April, we once again find ourselves preparing for Passover. Very soon, we will be clearing our pantries of chameitz, stocking our shelves with “Kosher for Passover” foods, and readying ourselves for a week of matzah and gefilte fish.
At our seders, we will remember our ancestor’s story. We will recall how Moses was sent down the Nile river in basket, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and exiled from Egypt when he stood up for a Hebrew slave. We will retell the story of the burning bush and how Moses was commanded by God to return to Egypt to deliver the Israelites. We will recount the plagues that were visited upon Egypt and how we were ultimately saved by the parting of Red Sea and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
There are, of course, any number of lessons we can learn from the story of our people’s Exodus. One that recently struck me was a small midrash about the kind of bush through which God chose to speak to Moses. According to the Torah, the burning bush was nothing more that a mere thorn bush. It was extraordinary in that it burned without being consumed by the flames, but in every other quality it was simply a thorn bush.
According to the midrash, God had originally considered speaking to Moses from a tree. This idea, caused all the trees to argue about who was the most worthy of this blessing. The fig tree felt that he was the obvious choice since Moses was only able to navigate the desert with his help. He said, “Moses could see the green leaves of my crown from a distance, and he knew that there would be water wherever I grew. He drank the water near my roots, ate my figs, and rested in my shade. He would not have made it with out me.”
The carob tree, however, felt that she was a better choice, because Tzipporah, Moses’ betrothed, had used her fruit to make the wedding bread. It was this bread that Moses used to bless God at the feast. Therefore, she felt, she should be the one that God used to speak to Moses.
In turn, each tree put forth an argument detailing their own magnificence, until finally God turned to the thorn bush and asked, “Why are you so quiet?” The thorn bush answered, “There is no reason for You to choose me, I am small and unimportant and everyone hates me. Animals get caught in my branches, humans prick themselves on my thorns. My branches are too small for fires or houses, and I am even too short to provide shade.”
“But I have chosen you,” replied God, “to show that I am everywhere on Earth, even in the lowly thorn bush.” Then God was revealed to Moses through the “Chosen Bush” and he was sent back to Egypt to free our people.
At Passover, we remember the Exodus as if we were there with our ancestors being saved by God. We remember what God did for us, the “Chosen people.” “My people,” God says, “are like this thorn bush. The Egyptians burn them with hard work and try to destroy them, but they cannot be destroyed.”
Am Yisrael Chai - The Jewish People Lives.
Chag Sameach everyone
Rabbi Todd