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REACH OUT AND “TOUCH” SOMEONE

By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

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In Kabbalah we are taught that the bodily functions derive from their spiritual counterpart. Each part of our body is a reflection of G-d’s attributes, that He uses to relate to His creation. The most important and most dominant Divine attribute is kindness (chessed); G-d’s way of reaching out. Our hands, particularly, our right hand, parallels G-d’s instrument for giving the world all of its needs. To raise that hand against another is a gross perversion of G-d’s power that was vested in us.

Was Moses’ rebuke warranted?

Moses made his first venture outside of Pharaoh’s palace. What he sees troubles him deeply. An Egyptian Taskmaster is striking a Jewish slave. Moses quickly kills the Egyptian and disposes of him. The next day, Moses discovers something even more troubling than what he found the day before. He discovered two Jews fighting with one another.

How does Moses react to this bizarre scene of two Jews fighting, both themselves victims of terrible oppression and suffering?

In this week’s parsha the Torah relates that Moses rebuked them and said: “Wicked one (rasha), why do you hit your fellow?”

Our sages note that Moses applies the epithet rasha, a wicked person or evildoer, to the one who merely raised his hand to strike another. Despite the fact that he did not strike him in the end, Moses still considered this to be a wicked act.

The question can be asked why did Moses exaggerate the crime of this Jew? How can someone who merely expresses a desire to hurt someone else be regarded as a rasha?

The answer lies in a better understanding of what the idea of “raising a hand” implies.

 

Misuse is as Bad as Abuse

A better definition of a hand (or any other part of the body) is an organ that was created with a G-d given purpose. The hand (and arm) is the G-d given instrument of giving. No matter how sweet one can talk to another, the person cannot do an act of kindness, without the arm and hand. Of course, one can awkwardly give some charity to another holding the money in his mouth and the like, but that is not the purpose for which the mouth was created. The mouth was created for saying words of Torah, prayer and other positive verbal expressions, and the hand was made to be used for helping others.

In Kabbalah we are taught that the bodily functions derive from their spiritual counterpart. This means that each part of our body is a reflection of G-d’s attributes, G-d’s “body” or “instruments” that He uses to relate to His creation.

Of all G-d’s attribute, the most important and most dominant one is His attribute of kindness (chessed). This attribute of G-d is responsible for the whole concept of creation, which is G-d’s way of reaching out.

When G-d created the human body He designed it in a way that it should conform to His attributes. The reason for this is so that we can emulate G-d and thereby become Gdly in all of our ways.

Our hands, particularly, our right hand, is the parallel to Gd’s instrument for giving the world all of its needs. It is the ultimate expression of Divine kindness. To raise that hand, the earthly embodiment of G-d’s attribute of kindness, in a gesture that suggests hostility and the opposite of kindness is a gross perversion of G-d’s power that was vested in us.

Thus, Moses was utterly shocked when he saw a Jew—a descendent of Abraham whose whole life was dedicated to kindness—so abuse his instrument of kindness and attempt to strike another Jew.


Raising a hand at another, thus, is evil, not only because it is the prelude to the act of striking and hurting someone, but because it is the ultimate misuse of an instrument given to us by our Creator and that which parallels our Creator’s “hand” (attribute of kindness). While being abusive is certainly a crime, misusing one’s faculties is a crime in its own right.

 

Worthy of Redemption

This would have troubled Moses anytime. But it was particularly troubling to Moses, because this was the time that the Jewish people needed special kindness and compassion from G-d. The Jewish people in Egypt had reached the physical abyss and degenerated to the nadir of spirituality. They needed, now more than ever before, a Divine helping hand to shlep them out of the quagmire they were in.

How can the Jewish people be worthy recipients of G-d’s kindness, Moses wondered, when they were using their very instrument of kindness, their hands, for the very opposite of kindness?

There is an obvious lesson for our own day and age as we prepare ourselves to greet Moshiach and be ready for the ultimate Redemption.

Now, and particularly now, is the time that we have to “reach out” to touch someone who is in need of our assistance. Whether it is material help or spiritual support, our act of kindness elicits G-d’s reciprocal gesture. When we act kindly, it is what causes Him to “outstretch His arm” and take us out of the confining aspects of our lives, as individuals and as a people. Now, more than ever we need to know what are our G-d given resources and faculties so that we use them properly.

This too is a form of liberation. When we condition ourselves to act in ways that contradicts G-d’s purpose and intent, those faculties and talents are in deep trouble. They can be said to be in prison or in exile. To utilize all of our faculties properly is our way to bring about the perfecting and liberation of the entire Jewish people and indeed the entire world.