Beit Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland
Of all the great theological questions of the Torah, one of the most profoundly simple appears in this week’s Torah portion. After being introduced to Moses and hearing the story of his birth, we find the future leader of the Jewish people wandering the fields with his sheep. It is there that he encounters a burning bush. Noticing that the bush was on fire but “was not consumed,” Moses turns to look, and is told by an angel of God to “not draw near and to take off your shoes because the place you stand is holy soil.” And so the story of Moses, God and the Jewish people begins–with a bush.
There is a Midrash that asks the question why when God could have chosen so many more majestic and impressive ways to appear to Moses, he chose to do so in the form of a humble bush. Yehoshua Ben Korha responds simply that every place in the world is filled with God’s presence, and that we should not question the inherent holiness of a bush, whether it is burning or not. Many centuries later the Hasidic movement added a different level of interpretation to this question, as Rabbi Shnuer Zalman of Lyadi said, that everything in the world, especially the most lowly of worldly objects is infused with the divine. (In many ways this is the core of Hasidic philosophy, that all we experience, from the most enlightening moments to the crumbs of a loaf of bread can be a pathway to experiencing Godliness.)
It is in this experience of the burning bush that the unique personality of Moses appears. If God had appeared as a dazzling light display, or a fiery and thundering mountain–and there will be a time for that–there is no doubt that everyone would have noticed. Yet, a simple bush in the middle of the desert, even one on fire, is not that unique of a sight and is bound to be overlooked. This uniquely fire-proof bush was a miraculous sight available only to those who truly were paying attention. To see a bush on fire and walk on past is not that odd, but to look long enough, to have the focus and attention to see that the bush was burning but not burning up, took a special character. This kind of ability to pay attention to each moment and to each individual was the quality of Moses that God needed in the leader of the Jewish people.
As we know, Moses shines as a leader, but also shows quite a few of his human flaws throughout the rest of his story. He continues to pay attention to his people, and to care for each and every individual. Yet he also makes mistakes and gets angry. Ultimately, the quality that shines through is his ability to stay with the holy task he is given; to guide his people to the Promised Land and to try his best to hold his community together. No one is perfect, but Moses was one of the few that had this kind of perseverance.
Our spiritual journeys can often be frustrating, and we may be waiting around for that moment of inspiration or enlightenment that always seems just beyond our reach. While we all thankfully have moments of greatness in our lives, those moments of “fire”, our prayers, our work, our relationships, sometimes just seem to be moving all too slowing towards their fulfillment. This can be frustrating, yet like all those who walked past the burning bush, it is all too easy just to move on past the simple holiness that is right in front of us. The essence of Jewish “spirituality” is that we must pay attention to the blessing of the simple moments, and we must keep the greater vision of our lives in front of us. We must channel this focus to move beyond ourselves, to care for our community and the world. It all begins when we simply turn aside and pay attention.
