Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Shalom,
In the beginning of our Parasha, the Midrash Rabba states that Moshe had ten different names and each name was given to him by a different individual. A name personifies a person and shows in essence who the person is. Moshe was so great that one name wouldn’t contain all of his greatness and each name showed another aspect of what Moshe accomplished.
The name “Moshe” does not relate to him but to the individual who gave him his name, Batyah the daughter of Paroh : “She called him Moshe, she said because I drew him out of the water” (Shemot,2:10). We see that he was given this name because she drew him out of the water, but this wasn’t a simple act of “fishing.” It was an act of defiance, bravery, and self-sacrifice because by doing so she went against the decree of the king. If anyone wouldn’t follow his command, at least his own daughter should, yet she put her own life in jeopardy for the sake of a Hebrew infant.
This incredible self-sacrifice which brought about the saving of Moshe, says Harav Chaim Shmuelevitz of blessed memory, was injected into the body and soul of Moshe Rabbenu because anything that is invested wholeheartedly will be embedded into the one on the receiving end. And so this is how Moshe our master had the power of self-sacrifice and was able to lead us and protect us and pray for us even when his own life would be in jeopardy. This is the reason why of all the names he had, only the name Moshe was chosen by Hashem. This attribute was the source of all the other attributes he had.
Shabbat Shalom