Parshat Shemot: Shakespeare’s ‘Greatness’

William Shakespeare knew exactly how to crystallize human traits and experiences into timeless sound bites.

In Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5, Malvolio reads Maria's letter (believing it to have been written by Olivia's hand):

"If this letter falls into your hands, think carefully about what it says. By my birth I rank above you, but don’t be afraid of my greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them...."

This quote has been occupying my mind recently. Not because I think of myself as being great (in any of the dimensions described!) I am simply trying to understand how it can apply to the person we are going to meet for the first time in today's Parsha, namely Moses or as we know him - Moshe Rabeinu - Moshe our teacher.

The so-called ‘Prince of Egypt’ appears to have ticked all three boxes!

Exodus 2:

A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Rashi adds that when Moshe was born, the entire house was filled with light.

The Torah is informing us that Moshe's birth was notable and that he needed to be protected, hence her hiding him until she had no option but to place him in his 'Moses Basket' in order to save his life from Pharaoh's genocidal decree.

We know that over time, Moshe duly achieved greatness, but as for having it thrust upon him, the Torah does not hesitate from describing his reluctance in taking on the leadership of the people. The long dialogue described in Chapter Three is a case in point.

Gd says:

Exodus 3:

(10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.”

Moshe responds:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?”

Gd replies:

“I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

To which Moshe says:

“When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

Moshe is trying every which way to find a reason not to take on the leadership of Bnei Yisrael. Further along in the conversation, even after Gd has turned Moshe's stick into a snake and reversed it back into its original form followed by a miracle with his hand becoming leprous before reverting to its regular skin colour, Moshe is still arguing!

Gd tells him that He will turn the waters of the Nile into blood…and what is Moshe's response?

“Please, O L-rd, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Understandably at this point, Gd's patience is wearing thin!

And the L-rd said to him, “Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the L-rd?

Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.”

But he said, “Please, O L-rd, make someone else Your agent.”

The L-rd became angry with Moses, and He said, “There is your brother Aaron the Levite. He, I know, speaks readily. Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you.

Yes, my friends. Some have greatness thrust upon them!

It is not difficult to empathise with Moshe's dilemma. A man whom we are informed was the 'humblest of all men' has been forced to act against his better judgement. We know that Gd knew the measure of this man and that, yes, Moshe did end up becoming the inspirational leader that we shall discover over the rest of this Jewish year. But what can we, mere mortals who struggle to tick any of Mr Shakespeare's statements learn about greatness?

And to be precise, what is 'greatness' and who can judge it (granted that we don't have the close relationship that existed between Moshe and Gd)?

In trying to understand the nature of greatness, I don't think people would argue that Rabbi Sacks ztl was a very special human being. He inspired millions of people throughout the world as did the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Amongst our Gentile brethren, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King dedicated their lives to improving those of others (and King was assassinated for his efforts). Winston Churchill was possibly this country's greatest leader due to his courageous and isolated stand against Hitler. Can we decide into which of the categories each respective individual would fit? How many of the above would have followed Moshe's lead in struggling with the third classification? Who could wish to have 'greatness thrust upon them?'

Sometimes, there is no choice because decisions have to be taken and leaders need to be found. Some seek to fill the vacancy and as a result, 'achieve greatness' and some, very few indeed are born great. I think Rabbi Sacks and the Rebbe might have been blessed with this but how can we know?

'Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe' by Robert Matzen is a book that I recently heard through my phone's Audible app. It compared James Stewart the actor with a civilian who entered the air force as a Private at the start of the War and ended it as a Colonel. He retired from the air force in 1968 as a Major General.

It is hard to square the tall, gawky and hesitating pre-war actor with the decidedly non-celebrity decorated flyer at its conclusion but during his four-year service, he lost many comrades and nearly didn't make it through alive. Witness how he aged on celluloid between the late1930s and the films he returned to, starting with 'It's A Wonderful Life' in 1946. In his case, he achieved greatness, with or without it being thrust upon him.

Perhaps the significance of one's impact on others can only be truly measured after a person has departed this world. If that is indeed the case, then the fact that we never stop reading about Moshe Rabeinu's life and how he was the human conduit that led our ancestors out of Egypt to the banks of the Jordan River is testament to his achievements.

Being born great might be hard to quantify in others. Achieving greatness is no doubt easier but if all else fails, then perhaps our only path is through having it thrust upon us. If the result is that we impact the lives of others to the kind of degree demonstrated by the aforementioned people, then we can surely attest to the veracity of William Shakespeare's timeless quote.

Shabbat Shalom.