Moses and the Enemies of Religion
Are power, arrogance, and shallow thinking the enemies of religion? Moses seemed to think so.
“[God] said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God… [God said] Now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you can take My people, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the Children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Shemot 3:6, 3:10-11)
So many lessons are implicit in these simple verses, which will be read in shul this Shabbat! Allow me to very briefly highlight three ideas that I notice when I read these words of the Torah.
First, I notice the common phrase, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” which appears here for the first time. The Torah does not waste words; why, then, does it not simply say, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” A classic answer is that Abraham had a unique relationship with God, and his own individual knowledge of the divine; the same was true for Isaac, as well as for Jacob. In fact, the same should ideally be true for every person, for each of us has a responsibility to seek God for ourselves, within the parameters of the traditions that have been bequeathed to us by our ancestors and great teachers. It is not enough to rely upon that which we heard from others. Instead, the Psalmist’s directive, “Taste and see that Hashem is good” (Psalms 34:9) is a requirement that devolves upon every human being. We need to learn from tradition, but we equally must attempt to encounter God personally, adding depth and experience to the traditions that have been passed down.
This is the theme of a little known and deceptively simple essay by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan entitled, “How Man Created God.” Years ago, when I first saw the title, I assumed that the theme would be the sad reality of man’s creating God in man’s image, thus allowing “God” to support whatever beliefs or lifestyle his human creator already espouses. But no: Rabbi Kaplan was insisting upon every person’s obligation to “create” God anew for himself. He writes, “Plumb the depths of existence and ask the ultimate questions: Why does the universe exist? Why does man exist? Why is there meaning to life? If you find God in the answers to these questions, then you have discovered the God your forefathers ‘created,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. But if you cannot find God this way, if the God created by your ancestors has no meaning for you, then search still further. Probe and search the depths of your life, the source of your being, and your ultimate concerns, whatever you take seriously without reservation. In order to do this, you might have to forget everything traditional that you have heard about God, even the word itself. But if you know that God lies behind all being, behind all depth in life, behind all genuine concerns, then you know much about God. You have created a God that is meaningful to you, a God that can make your life more complete. This is a God you cannot deny… If life has any meaning to you, then you have already created God, a God that gives your life meaning. And the God that you have created is just another aspect of the true God, the infinite, the unknown, the unnameable.” (Encounters p.46)
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”: the God Who appears somewhat differently to each human being. “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”: the God Who appeared to our ancestors. The God we personally encounter in our lives, in other words, is the same God Who entered into a special relationship with our own Jewish family, and broadly taught us the way He wants us to perceive Him. A genuine and deep relationship with God requires both the personal and the traditional.
Second, I notice Moses’ humility in his understanding that he was too small to “look” at God, and in his assumption that he was unworthy of speaking before Pharaoh. Moses was destined to become the greatest religious leader in Jewish history, the man who had a greater understanding of God than any human being who ever lived. Yet in describing the reasons that Moses became the most important prophet of all, the Torah emphasizes his unfathomable humility (Bamidbar 12:1-8). This humility was apparent from the moment God first spoke with Moses, and was reflected in his relationships with both God and human beings. In a world in which “Look at me!” has become one of the prime directives of life, and the acquisition of fame, the polestar that too often determines our life’s direction, the example of Moses must act as a corrective, a reminder that arrogance is antithetical to religious greatness.
Third, I notice Moses’ reluctance to assume the mantle of leadership. Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the Children of Israel out of Egypt?” - and the next twenty eight verses offer a prolonged argument between Moses and God as Moses tried to avoid the mission that God had planned for him. (Rashi on Shemot 4:10 suggests, based on textual clues, that this conversation continued for seven days.) While Moses was not given permission to avoid his divinely-mandated destiny, he viscerally ran away from power just as he ran away from the serpent (Shemot 4:3). Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, in fact, asserts that Moses’ reluctance to become a leader - expressed even more forcefully in the sixth chapter of Shemot - teaches us the normative requirement to initially refuse when we are asked to lead the synagogue services. (See Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik by Aharon Ziegler, pp. 69-71) Religion sometimes requires leadership, but that cannot blind us to the fact that power aligned with worship is a necessary evil. The last thing that authentic religion needs is a power struggle, or a fight over leadership.
(It is worth noting that God became angry with Moses’ refusal (Shemot 4:14). Rabbi Soloveitchik explains that when people are suffering and need redemption - when there is, in other words, a mitzvah to be performed - we must act immediately; we dare not refuse the divine call. When we are offered a position of leadership, however, we are mandated to accept it reluctantly, if we accept it at all.)
In an article that I composed earlier this week, I wrote, “Religious people are right to be afraid of the enemies of religion. Their mistake is too often in failing to identify that the enemy strikes from inside their own communities of faith. The enemy from without is less dangerous to faith than the accoutrements of religion that can destroy it from within. Among these are religion associated with political power, religion that devolves into self-satisfied arrogance, and religion that wallows in shallow thinking and belief.”
Only later did I realize that Moses’ initial encounter with God serves as a polemic against these three enemies of religion: that is, the poisons of shallow religion, arrogant religion, and religion aligned with power.
Let’s hope that when we read these verses this year, we internalize the message that shallow, arrogant, and powerful religion is not worthy of the name. At least that’s what Moses thought.