Parshas Va’eira 5782
They say you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you, but how careful do you need to be with the plate?
As the first three plagues unfold, Moshe makes a concerted effort to take a backseat. It is Aharon who wields the staff upon the Nile to induce the plagues of Blood and Frogs, and again upon the earth to solicit the Plague of Lice.
This is not happenstance. As Rashi notes:
לְפִי שֶׁהֵגֵן הַיְאוֹר עַל מֹשֶׁה כְּשֶׁנִּשְׁלַךְ לְתוֹכוֹ, לְפִיכָךְ לֹא לָקָה עַל יָדוֹ לֹא בַדָּם וְלֹא בַצְפַרְדְּעִים, וְלָקָה עַל יְדֵי אַהֲרֹן
שמות ז:יט
Because the Nile protected Moshe when he was cast therein, it therefore would not be struck by his hand hand—neither for Blood nor for Frogs—but was struck by Aharon’s hand instead.
Shemos 7:19
This same pattern is repeated when the Egyptian earth would produce the Plague of Lice. It would be Aharon, not Moshe, to strike the ground, for Moshe was indebted to the earth for having concealed the body of the Egyptian that Moshe had killed in last week’s parsha.
Showing appreciation towards those who cared for you is a fine attribute indeed. When one provides safety and security, a display of hakaras hatov is only fitting. It is no accident that “Jews” are called by that name; stemming from the Hebrew “Yehudah”, we are meant to be a people of hoda’ah, of giving thanks and displaying gratitude.
But are we to believe that such gestures should be extended to inanimate matter as well? Did the waters of the Nile actually extend themselves especially for Moshe? Was it a conscious decision on the part of the Egyptian soil that the body of the taskmaster Moshe had slayed be concealed within it?
Surely not. And as such, Hashem’s insistence that Moshe not be the one to bring the first three plagues about cannot be understood as giving inanimate matter its due. It is, after all, not the plate that fed him, but the arm behind it. And yet Hashem is conveying that following a good meal, the one who acts callously towards the dishes will have a hard time mustering sufficient gratitude towards the chef.
Put in other words, character is not automatic, but something that must be developed. And opportunities to do so must be sought after and seized. It’s not about the Nile. It’s not about the earth. It’s about Moshe being on the lookout to develop himself as a person and leader.
In the comic strip above (one of my faves), Calvin’s father conveniently cites character development as the reason for not purchasing a snowblower. A veiled excuse, perhaps, for the underlying disinterest in spending the money on such a steep purchase. And yet he makes an important point: Character is something that one builds, not something that is built on its own.
We can mistakenly use a far too passive framework for developing our character. Sure we can grow as people. Of course I’ll be a different person when I’m 50 than when I was 20. But life will take care of that for me. I’ll be forged by life’s experiences and develop my character along the way.
Calvin’s father believes otherwise. An opportunity to build character (and save a couple hundred bucks) should be actively pursued. We can design our life so as to avoid such opportunities or to actively create them. Hashem tells Moshe to actively create them.
Had Moshe struck the Nile or the ground of Egypt, they would have bore no grudge against him. This was not a natural opportunity to express gratitude; it’s one that had to be manufactured. Hashem compels Moshe to create the opportunity for growth even where life doesn’t naturally oblige.
It may well be that people are born into certain predispositions. Some may be naturally more focused and attentive, while others are natural-born space cadets. But Hashem’s directive to Moshe teaches that the story of one’s character need not end the way it begins, and that the narrative of how that change is produced can be one that we actively design. In crafting the people we wish to become—our sensitivities, middos, and temperament—we can play offense, not just defense.
Struggling with focus and attention? Don’t wait around for a task to come your way that’s so important you’ll be forced to give it your full-attention. Get on the offensive instead. Challenge yourself to periods of concentrated device-free work that can increase as you get better.
Interested in developing more gratitude? You can hope that you’ll respond properly the next time someone does you a favor or that your natural predispositions will make you feel blessed. Or you can follow Moshe Rabbeinu’s example and actively design your sense of gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal. Commit to sending one text a day showing a bit of appreciation to someone in your life.
We know full well that a slight frame can be transformed into a hulking one and that that transformation doesn’t take place through the normal course of daily activity that naturally comes a person’s way. With active determination, muscles can be developed to a point of complete metamorphosis. What is true of the body is similarly true of the spirit. A middah can be developed no differently from a muscle, so long as we create opportunities to do so, rather than waiting for them to happen.