Parsha Parenting: Parshas Shemos

The little boy next door has tattered sweaters and oversized, worn-out shoes.  He doesn’t have his own bike, but a shared family bike that is rusty and requires taking turns, with his other siblings. The boy is often busy helping at home, and isn’t always out playing, when all the other kids are playing in front of their houses on the block. How would our children respond to a boy like this? And how would we?

We begin reading from the Book of Shemos this week. The story of Moshe Rabeinu begins in the first parsha of the Book of Shemos (the second Book of the Five Books of Moses). Moshe Rabeinu’s personal story of a boy spared from a terrible fate, placed in a basket on the Nile River, discovered and adopted by Egyptian royalty and raised in the palace of the Pharoh is quite a saga for one parsha! It doesn’t end there—we watch Moshe grow up to become a privileged youth, a prince in the Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Yet, he is different.

Moshe steps out of his world of luxury, to take a look at how the other half, the slaves in Egypt, live. What is his response? Pained empathy. Moshe becomes a shepherd and tends to his vast flocks of sheep. Yet, when even one small lamb gets lost, he seeks it out, fetches it, and brings it gently back to its mother. It is these events that lead up to one of the most famous accounts known to us in ancient history. Moshe Rabeinu being chosen by the One Above to be the leader of his own people—the Children of Israel—was not based on his prowess, or his money, or his good looks. It was because of his character trait of loving-kindness, of caring and empathizing with those weaker, poorer and less fortunate than himself. As one who tended his flock tenderly, as one who saw his fellow man’s pain and wished to relieve another’s suffering, this is the making of a truly great leader.

THIS WEEK:  Let’s take a second look at the messages our children receive when we give charity, when we see people who are ill or weak, or when speaking about those in situations less fortunate than ourselves. Whether we can physically help the person, or not, our aim is to improve how we approach them emotionally and spiritually. We can, together with our children, pray for the unfortunate, smile at the ill, and offer a glass of water together with the charity that we donate to the poor person at our doorstep. These are the most deep leadership training skills, and the only place to learn them is in our homes.