A Midrash for Monday
“These are the words that Moshe spoke… (Deuteronomy 1:1).
The Jews said to Moshe, “Yesterday you said, ‘I’m not a man of words’ (Exodus 4:10), but now you’re talking so much!”
Rebbe Yitzchak explained, “If you’re speech-impaired [as Moshe Rabbeinu was], speak many words of Torah and heal yourself. Moshe [when he began to address the Jews at the beginning of Devarim/Deuteronomy] had already learned the entire Torah.”
When Moshe tried to resist being appointed the Israelites’ savior, he told God, “I’m not a man of words.” God asked him, “Adam knew all the 70 languages? Where did he know them from? Don’t think ‘not being a man of words’ is an insurmountable problem.”
Midrash Tanchuma, Devarim #2
© Copyright 2011 O. Bergman
