Parshat Sh’mot begins with many names.
“And these are the names… Reuven, Shimon…” (Sh’mot 1:1) and so on.
Once the generation of those who descended to Egypt passed away, the people were called by a communal name.
“The nation of the children of Israel.” (1:9)
But later on, even this name was eliminated, and we were merely called “the nation” (1:20).
This was the way of ancient Egypt: to eliminate personal identity – the soul – and to transform the people into anonymous and insignificant individuals within the collective machine of those who built the great cities of the land.
And in the story of the birth of the redeemer, no names appear at all. There is a man from the house of Levi, a daughter of Levi, the child, his sister, Pharaoh’s daughter, her servant, and the mother of the child.
It is almost as if all personal identities have been completely erased.
Even Moshe himself was not known by his Hebrew name. His name has a double meaning. In Egyptian, his name means “son” or “water.” That is the meaning of the verse that tells us about Pharaoh’s daughter: “And he was a son to her, and she called him Moshe.” (2:10)
But his mother understood his Egyptian name as stemming from the Hebrew.
“And she [his mother] said, For you drew him out of the water” (“Meshitihu” is written without a yud after the tav, implying “you drew him out”).
Moshe grew up in two different cultures and with two missions in life.
As the adopted son of Pharaoh, he could have been the next king of Egypt. As the son of Amram, the tribal chief of Levi, he could have chosen to be the king of Israel.
“And Moshe grew up, and he went out to his brothers.” (1:11)
Ibn Ezra comments: “His brothers, the Egyptians.”
But the Ramban writes: “The Hebrews.”
Evidently, Moshe went out to determine just who his brothers were, to decide between the opinions of Ibn Ezra and the Ramban. When he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, he decided that the Hebrew man was his brother.
“A Hebrew man, from among his brothers.” (1:11)
The first act by the redeemer must be to identify with the suffering of the nation, and this had to take place before any revelation, before he heard the word of the Creator.
When the redemption began, Moshe asked himself, “Who am I?” (3:11), and he asked about the Creator, “What is His name?” (3:13).
In order for redemption to occur, it’s necessary to know in whose Name we are acting, what mission mankind is fulfilling, and in what style HaShem is guiding the world at any given time.
Moshe therefore emphasized that “I came to speak in Your name” (5:23) – specifically, not an anonymous mission.
“The stargazers of Pharaoh said to him that ‘the savior of Israel has been born, but we do not know if he is from Egypt or from Israel’.”
Two lessons can be derived from these words of our sages.
The first is that a full eighty years before the redemption, there were some who had a feeling that it was coming soon. But nothing notable happened for many years after that. Any observer would certainly have been disappointed and would’ve felt that all the talk of redemption was merely an illusion.
But this is the real secret of redemption. It progresses very slowly through hidden processes until it appears in its full light.
The second lesson is that the redeemer must have a dual identity. He must belong to his own nation from the point of view of his roots and to all the nations from the point of view of his culture. Only in this way can the redemption be complete and encompass Israel and the entire world.
