[Avodah] Why is the narrative interrupted?

[Professor L. Levine via Avodah]

In parashas Shemos after pasuk 6:13


13 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.


The Torah interrupts the narrative of events in Egypt and gives the genealogy of Moshe and Aaron in 6:14_30.  The question is "Why?"


RSRH explains this in his commentary.


6:14–30 Immediately conspicuous is the interruption of the narrative by a genealogical
register interposing in its midst and concluding with the words:

הוּא אַהֲרֹן, וּמֹשֶׁה--אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יְהוָה, לָהֶם, הוֹצִיאוּ אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, עַל-צִבְאֹתָם. (v. 26),

 הֵם, הַמְדַבְּרִים אֶל-פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ-מִצְרַיִם, לְהוֹצִיא אֶת-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל

מִמִּצְרָיִם; הוּא מֹשֶׁה, וְאַהֲרֹן. (v. 27) — as though
these people were complete strangers to us, with whom we were becoming
acquainted here for the first time. Only in verse 29 does Scripture
return to the beginning of the narrative, repeat it, and continue it!

Let us now consider this genealogical register. It is not limited to
the lineage of Moshe and Aharon; rather, it briefly outlines the two
preceding tribes. So, too, in the tribe of Moshe and Aharon, the register

shows not only their direct lineage, but also the side branches: uncles
and cousins, great uncles and second cousins. Thus, we are shown the
relationship of their tribe with the preceding ones, and the relationship
of their family and house with the families and houses of relatives, in
previous generations and among contemporaries. We are also told the
advanced age reached by their father and their grandfather, which shows
us that not much time separated their demise from the rise of Moshe
and Aharon. Then, pointing to these two in the midst of this wide circle
of family and friends, Scripture repeatedly says: “these were the same
Moshe and Aharon” — on the day that God spoke to them! (see vv.
26–28).

If we further consider the point at which we are given this list of
their lineage and family relations, we can perhaps come to understand
the significance and purpose of all this information.

Until now, the efforts of Moshe and Aharon have been completely
frustrated. Were it not for later events, there would be no need for such
an exact list of their lineage and family relations. Now, however, begins
their triumphal mission, the likes of which no mortal had ever accomplished

before them or will ever accomplish after them. Now it is of
critical importance to present an exact list of their lineage and relations,
so as to attest thereby for all time to come that their origin was ordinary
and human, and that the nature of their being was ordinary and human.


Right from the earliest times it has happened that men who were
outstanding benefactors to their people were, after their death, divested
of their human image and, because of their “godlike” feats, were invested
with a “Divine” origin. We all know of a certain Jew, in later times,
whose genealogical record was not available, and because it was not
available, and because he brought people a few sparks of light borrowed
from the man Moshe, he came to be considered by the nations as begotten
of God; to doubt his divinity became a capital crime.

Our Moshe was human, remained human, and will never be anything
but human. When his countenance had already become radiant
from what he was allowed to see of God; when he had already brought
down the Torah from Heaven, and had already miraculously led the
people through the wilderness and won for them victories of God, God
here commanded him to present his genealogical record and thereby
affirm the fact that

בְּיוֹם דִּבֶּר ה' אֶל-מֹשֶׁה--בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם (v. 28), on the day that
God first spoke to Moshe in the land of Egypt, everyone knew his
parents and grandparents, his uncles and aunts and all his cousins. They
knew his whole lineage and all his relatives. For eighty years they had
known him as a man of flesh and blood, subject to all the failings and

weaknesses, worries and needs, of human nature, a man like all the
other men among whom he had been born and raised.

הוּא אַהֲרֹן, וּמֹשֶׁה--,

הוּא מֹשֶׁה, וְאַהֲרֹן

 הֵם, הַמְדַבְּרִים אֶל-פַּרְעֹה— they were flesh and blood like all
other men, and God chose them to be His instruments in the performance
of His great work; they were flesh and blood like all other men,
and they carried out His great work.

This “certificate of origin” is meant to negate in advance and forevermore
any erroneous deification, any illusion of an incarnation of
Deity in human form. It is meant to uphold this truth: Moshe, the
greatest man of all time, was just a man, and the position he attained
before God was not beyond the reach of mortal human beings.
The list of names is also meant to negate a second illusion, the
opposite of the first and no less dangerous. Thus the genealogical register
is not confined to the direct line of descent of Moshe and Aharon —
viz., Ya’akov, Levi, Kehas, Amram, Moshe — but lists also the tribes
that preceded Levi, with their descendants, and lists also the other
branches of the tribe of Levi. For although the certificate of origin
establishes as a fact the human nature of Moshe and Aharon, it might
also have fostered the belief that everyone, without exception, is fit to
become a prophet. A person who today is known as a complete idiot

could tomorrow proclaim the Word of God. God’s spirit could suddenly
descend upon an ignorant and uneducated person and teach him to
speak in seventy languages. Indeed, this phenomenon of imagined or
pretended prophecy is not uncommon in other circles. In their view,
the more intellectually limited and empty-minded the prophet of today
was yesterday, the more clearly this sudden transformation attests to a
Divine call.

This dangerous illusion, too, is negated by the family register. True,
Moshe and Aharon were men and nothing but men, but they were
chosen men. Had God wished simply to pick the first comer, there were
other tribes, besides Levi, who stood at His disposal; and within Levi,
there were other branches besides Kehas; and within Kehas, there were
other houses besides that of Amram; and among Amram’s children,
Aharon was the elder son and, like Moshe, was a worthy candidate.
God, however, chooses the worthiest and most exemplary to be His emissaries
who do His bidding. Before he receives his call, the human
being must attain the heights of human virtue. It was not Avraham or
Yitzchak but Ya’akov who became the true founder of the House of
Israel. It was not Reuven or Shimon but Levi who became the chosen
tribe. It was not Aharon or Miryam but Moshe who became God’s
emissary. One is chosen only if he has matured on his own to the point that he has
become worthy of being chosen.

We have already noted (above, 2:11–12) that, according to the Jewish
conception, neither weaklings, nor simpletons, nor those who are dependent

on others are chosen to be the bearers of God’s spirit. On the

contrary, even before he is chosen, God’s emissary must be — “healthy” in body, mind, and social standing. Healthy in body:so that deluded impostors (whose ill-health affects
their mental outlook) should not disseminate morbid hallucinations which will be
presented and regarded as visions of God. Healthy in mind: because only a mind
that has developed to its full human capacity can grasp and transmit
the Word of God. Healthy in social standing: because only a person
who is independent, who requires nothing for himself and seeks nothing
for himself, can understand people and assess situations objectively, as
befits an emissary of God.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20170129/22440fc3/attachment-0007.html>