Rabbi's Blog
Rabbi Joel Landau (rabbi@adathisraelsf.org) has been the Rabbi of Adath Israel since May 2013. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem and has served previously as a congregational Rabbi in Charleston, South Carolina and Irvine, California. A full biography of Rabbi Landau is available here.
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In this week’s parasha (Exodus 6:2–9:35), there are many different interpretations of the verse 6:9:
"...ולא שמעו אל משה מקצר רוח ומעבודה קשה"
“...they did not hearken to Moses because of shortness of breath and because of hard labor.”
Specifically, there are many interpertations regarding what “shortness of breath” refers to. Almost all the commentaries assume that it was the people’s “shortness of breath” that prevented them from listening. R. Levi ben Gershon (1288- 1344), known as either Ralbag or Gersonides, has a unique interpretation. He says that it was Moshe’s “shortness of breath” that prevented them from listening. A practical lesson that we can learn from this interpretation is that if we have a message that we want to communicate and we know that we are right, we must make sure that we have enough patience to give it over persuasively. If we want others to listen to us, we need to communicate with them with patience.