ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע
"On the borders (lit.wings) of their garments" – in allusion to God having delivered them from Egypt, as it states. (Ex XIX,4) "And I bore you on eagles' sings". The Tzizyot are to be placed on a garment having four corners but not on one that haws three or one that has five corners thereby alluding to the four different terms used by God in describing the deliverence from Egypt, for it states *Ex. VI 6-7) "and I will bring forth"," and I shall deliver", and I shall redeem", and I shall take out" Rashi Numbers 15:41
Our parsha relates at length, the account of Moses's refusal to accept upon himself the mission to go to Pharoah on behalf of the Jewish people.
One of the most meaningful objections that Moses raises against the acceptance of that role was 'for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue' Exodus 4:10.
Our rabbis are divided as to the meaning of 'slow of speech and of tongue'. The Rashbam explains Moses as saying, 'I am no longer expert in the language of Egypt for I ran away from there when I was young and now I am eighty years old,' indeed as we find in Yechezkiel 'someone who is not fluent in the royal language is named so.' 3:5' On the other hand the Ibn Ezrah maintains that 'a man of words: who knows how to speak lucidly not stuttering or murmuring or who lisps (lit. that finds certain letters hard on his mouth).' Even more than that the Ibn Ezra commented that 'he who says that Moses forgot the language of Egypt is not correct, for he [Moses] says two things, 'slow of speech and of a slow tongue'. Even more we can learn from the answer of God, (the One who decides 'whether man can speak or whether he is dumb',) that he is not talking about the Egyptian language.' What is the root of the argument between these venerable commentators.
Our Rabbis found it difficult to accept the fact that the greatest believer, Israel's first leader, Moses our greatest prophet, had a speak impediment. A blemish such as this damages the perfection of his image. Assigning an imperfection in this manner is almost scorn, or blasphemy; and this does not sit easily with the incomparability that has been attributed to Moses throughout many generations. It is for this reason that the Rashbam and others talk about a lack of knowledge of the Egyptian language.
I think that the 'forgetting of the Egyptian language' version doesn't fit in with the simple meaning of the Torah which continues 'who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him dumb.' There is no doubt that we are talking about a speach impediment or even an actual blemish connected with the functioning of the vocal chords.
In effect, the Torah makes no attempt to describe Moses as a human image devoid of faults and defects: Moses is pictured sometimes as impulsive, as angry, as despairing and sometimes even enraged, in short, as a flesh and blood character that allows identification.
It is interesting to take note that Moses does not request to be healed and God does not offer him healing even though it is within his power to miraculously cure Moses in a second. Rabbi Joseph Bechor Shor hints: 'If I so wanted you would speak eloquently but I do not want this for it is my honour that someone who has no mouth and no tongue should be my messenger, and that this great thing should be done by his hand.'
We know, that greater miracles than the fixing of blemishes and defects have been done to individuals, and even to entire communities. It is told in Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat Yitro: 'Rabbi Joshua the son of Levi said: when the Children of Israel went out of Egypt there were those of them that had handicaps as a result of the burdensome labour …. The Holy One, blessed be He said, 'It is not fitting that I should give my law to people with handicaps. What did he do? He hinted to the Guardian Angels and they went down and healed them.'
Moses remains here with his blemish and God offers him Aharon as a helper. 'And it will be that he will be for you instead of a mouth, and you will be to him instead of a God.'(Ex 4:16) From here we can conclude that Moses's inability to speak may not be a drawback at all in the eyes of God. Popular leaders have always needed fluency of speech. History is full of leaders whose strength came from their ability to carry a crowd with them, to excite them and to persuade them. Since the days of Demosthenes, Marcus Aurelius, Cato and until our days, rhetorical ability has always been considered a necessary characteristic and a real advantage for leaders.
But the advantage of rhetoric can sometimes be manipulated for evil purposes: It can sometimes be used to hide unfaithfulness. He whose strength is in his speech can get 'drunk on his fill'. Easily one can consider the form more important than the content, and the path from this to a lack of accuracy and then to untruths is short.
Today, when we listen to the contest that takes place in the media, we are often inclined to crown the victor according to rhetorical ability and not according to the depth of the position taken.
God knows that Moses the stammerer, is unable to excite his listeners, his words will be pronounced slowly without beauty. However his audience will judge him according to his content and not his style. And this is the leader, suited to bring the word of God!!!!
Jacob Zimmerman is the co-ordinatory for special education in the David Yalin Academy in Jerusalem.
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