Why did Moshe doubt the Jewish people? 🧐

today I'd like to talk about believing in people people need our empathy but sometimes empathy can ironically be at tension with believing in people sometimes we empathize with people's pain so much so that we get sucked in and almost seduced by their pain as it were to the extent that we forget about the strengths that they have now I'm not suggesting that we need to start preaching to people who are suffering how strong they are because they might not react well to that but we have to believe in the strengths that people have if I don't believe in your strength how are you supposed to believe in your strength when you're suffering so granted I need to empathize with the difficulties that people are going through but there has to be a balance where we empathize with people we feel the pain that people are going through but we have an understanding an underlying stance that you got this that I believe in you and not get seduced by the challenges that they're going through by forgetting the strength that they have by forgetting how far they've persevered at this point and this far let's take a glance in this week's paraa the Jewish people are being enslaved in Egypt they're going through a very bitter horrifying slavery Hashem appears to at the burning bush in midan when M was running away from par and he says that you're going to be the leader of the Jewish people you're going to announce the the Redemption to the Jewish people you're going to let them know that I'm going to set them free responds cynically answers he says they're not going to believe me they're not going to listen to my voice they're going to say that God never appeared to you MOA responds cynically why was he cynical why was he doubting the Jewish people some of harim take the stance that moin was actually doubting himself and there's reasons why he was doubting himself but the gorab is pretty explicit thatu was actually doubting the Jewish people and the gorah deres this from what the T next tells us that hasm says what's this in your hand mha says it's a staff hasem says throw the staff on the floor it turns to a snake and thear says that snake was the symbolism of lashara M had spoken about the Jewish people similarly when hasem told to stick your hand in your coat he sticks his hand in his coat and he develops SAS on his hand again the symbolism of you've doubted the Jewish people don't speak like that about my people they are they are believers childrens of believers they are children of Abraham and y of course they believe okay why ISU doubting the Jewish people how could what kind of leadership is this he is the leader of the Jewish people and his first call as leader is responded to with cynicism one way to look at this and I I saw this in a I thought and to me this was so insightful because I feel like this is a a trap that we often fall into was so focused on the pain they've gone through it's been many many decades since they've been involved and engaged in very harsh and bitter slavery and moain is thinking not that they're Heretics God forbid or not that they're that they're not faithful people it's just that they have so much pain they have so much suffering there's so much difficulty that they've gone through they've gone through so much trauma Mosin was so empathetic towards what they've gone through how could they possibly Envision or imagine or be hopeful toward gah you want me to inspire them with hope that there's going to be a better time when they're in the thick when they're in the thicket of difficulty and Trauma and and and pain how can I possibly do that this was the underlying reason for Mosa's cynicism he wasn't doubting the fact that at heart they might be faithful but there's just so much pain and hashem's response to Mishu is why why are you looking at them that way like these are children who are believers the children of Believers these are descendants of yes they are going through a difficult time and there's trauma and there's pain but why are you engaging in that version of them there is a version of them which is their Nish which has which which is not subject to the slavery which is not in pain and while the pain is real while the suffering is true while the trauma is true well so is their soul so is their Nish so is the part of them that isn't traumatized the part of them that is untouched there is a better version that you could talk to talk to that this was incredibly insightful at this episode where Hashem appears to M the burning bush I'll read from you what the P says God says come and see the pain of my nation that's in Egypt I hear their suffering I hear their crying because of the pressure you understand the pressure the pain that they're going through theel asks an interesting question why does Hashem say come and see the the pain of my nation we've become a nation officially from The Exodus of Egypt The Exodus has not yet happened at this point the Jewish people are engaged in idolatry or idolators many of them are idolators in fact the Zar points out that when we were crossing the Red Sea you know we could have said the Egyptians are idolators the Jews are idolators we're all just engaged in idolatry we're all doing bad things what Merit did the Jewish people have that God chose us okay this gets into the whole concept of and what the of hem really means but the points out that asem is calling us my nation while we're idolators before we've officially done tshua before we've been purified before we've become officially aem's Nation because he wasn't just looking at the trauma and pain and difficulties that we're going through Hashem was looking at us for who we truly were and who we truly could be one day we are going to become an amula we are going to be a nation a treasured nation that receives the Torah we are at heart a nation that are descendants of behind all that pain there's incredible resilience Incredible strength incredible incredible spiritual genes and hasem says this is my nation even in the thick of it Hashem is looking at that version of us and he's encouraging to do the same I want to read for you this calls them am my nation even though they were idolators they were I shouldn't say they were idolaters even though they were serving idolatry that was the behavior they were engaged in and they were defiled by the dirt if you will or the or that which was disgusting in in Egypt but the reason why he's calling him my nation because of the Merit of their fathers who they are end of what they have deep down inside in their heart and in their soul andm is looking at who they are ultimately going to be Thea are we looking at who people are now which might be pain which might be Behavior they less than proud of because of that pain because of the circumstances or are we looking at who people could be mo was looking at the pain Mo was looking at the trauma at the difficulties at the challenge es and hasm is saying if you look at them at a From a Different Light if you see a different version of them and you have that stance when you approach them they're going to be open to G they're going to be open to hope they're going to be open to Redemption they're going to be open to something much bigger you actually see this by the way in the beginning of the paraa the beginning of the paraa says this is the names of the children of Israel who have come to Egypt and in many translations in it says who have come or who came to Egypt but the mid points out something interesting who come to Egypt implies that they they're coming to Egypt like they they had just showed up as if they had just showed up to Egypt they've been in Egypt for many many decades and slavery has been going on for many many decades why are we saying they are coming to Egypt as if they had just showed up the mid says they're coming to Egypt did they just show up hasn't it been many many days since they've been here says coming they're coming to Egypt it's as if they had just showed up while they have been enslaved for a long time there is a part of them that is very uncomfortable with galus and very comfortable with hope very comfortable with the reality that they are children of and they are essentially Believers very comfortable the fact that they are going to be like the says an at some point and they can identify with that version of themselves because that version of themselves is very real when we approach people who are going through through difficult issues whether it's a sensitive issue a relationship issue a difficult issue a mental health issue we have to empathize with people but that isn't the only version of that person the pain that they're going through there is another version of that person and if we can identify that version of that person and talk to the version of that person we can actually bring out hope within them I'll give you example I I have a a mentor in the mental health field who had a client who was very depressed and he starts off his session with saying so what are your best hopes for our discussion today client says I I don't feel like I can have any hope I'm so depressed there was a point in my life where I was God forbid but even thinking of taking my own life I'm not at that point now but I was I'm going through a very ult depression I don't know if I can have hope well rather than depression what would you rather uh experience instead the client starts describing what he really wanted to experience what he really wanted which was happiness which was peace which was hope the therapist had this stance that beyond that behind all the pain and all the trauma and all the difficulties there is something there and I'm not going to give up on it it's there andu ultimately did the same he came to the Jewish people and he made his announcement to the Jewish people with the stance that there is a part of you that is open to this faith that is open to this belief and because he approached them with that stance as Hashem had commanded him to they ultimately did believe it's very easy to be cynical with people toward people to limit them and write them off as they're in too much pain they can't but we got to believe in people we got to empathize with the pain that people are going through but we also have to as it were empathize with the strength that they have to believe to believe in a bigger possibility that's my story and I'm sticking to it