Va'eira

Hashem tells Moshe that He has heard the cries of the Jewish people who are enslaved in Egypt and that Moshe should go tell them that he will redeem the Jewish people, save them from the crushing burdens of Mitzraim, make them into his special nation and bring them into the of Israel. Moshe goes to the Jewish people to give them the news that soon they would be free; instead of the rejoicing one would expect, the Torah tells us לא שמעו אל משה מקצר רוח ומעבדה קשה, they didn't listen to Moshe because of shortness of breath and hard work. Hashem then commands Moshe to go to Pharaoh to tell him to send the Jewish people out of his land. Moshe replies, if the Jewish people wouldn't listen to me then surely Pharaoh won't listen to me.  

All the commentators ask what was the comparison? The Jewish people didn't listen to him because of   מקצר רוח ומעבדה קשה; they were overworked and could hardly breathe. Pharaoh, who didn't have any of those issues, perhaps would listen, so why was Moshe so sure Pharaoh wouldn't listen?

Rav Yosef Tzvi Ha’Levi explains,the Jewish people knew that this Egyptian exile was predestined for them from the time that Hashem had told Avraham that his children would be slaves. They also knew that the exile was supposed to last four hundred years. Since it was only two hundred and ten years, they were reluctant to get their hopes up and believe that the redemption was coming early. What Moshe told them was that it was actually the time.  He then gave them two reasons for the early redemption: first was מקצר רוח, translating it as if it was written מקוצר רוחניות, from a lack of spirituality, for we know they had already sunk to the lowest levels of impurity and second from ומעבדה קשה, the hard work; the work that they had to do was so hard that it fulfilled the hardships of four hundred years in only two hundred and ten. That’s what the posuk meant when it states that they didn't listen to him because of מקצר רוח ומעבדה קשה; they wouldn't listen to his explanations of why they were able to get out early. Now Moshe claim about Pharaoh is valid; if the Jews who stand to gain wouldn’t believe his reasons for the early redemption, surely Pharaoh, who has only to lose, won't listen to his reasons for the early redemption.      

At a family gathering, the Chafetz Chaim was lamenting about the state of his generation whom he felt were lacking in אמונה, belief in Hashem. The ר"מ בישיבת ראדין Reb Naftali said to him, what do you expect? Even when the Jews were in Egypt, they remembered the Avos and the Shevatim and knew that there was an end to their exile. Yet, the harshness of the exile made them fall into the darkest level of impurity. We, who are quite distant from the avos with no end in sight to our exile, why are you surprised that our אמונה is weak? The Chafetz Chaim said to him “excellent point; you will be an advocate for the Jewish people and your words should reach the heavenly throne".

Today, we must consider this same point. How can we, with no end in sight to out exile and with impurities all around us, increase our level of belief in Hashem?

Later in the Parsha, Hashem tells Moshe ראה נתתיך אלקים לפרעה; see I made you a lord over Pharaoh. The 'של"ה הק explains from the Midrash that when Moshe was a small child living in Pharaoh's palace, while riding on Pharaoh's shoulders, he took the crown off of Pharaoh and put it on his own head. Pharaoh saw this as a sign that Moshe would take his kingdom from him and therefore wanted to have him killed. The Angel Gavriel appeared as one of his advisers and told him to do a test with a hot coal and gold to see which he takes. If he takes the coal, you know he's harmless. With the angel’s help, Moshe selects the coal and puts it in his mouth which made it difficult for Moshe to speak clearly.

When Moshe came before Pharaoh to warn him and Pharaoh heard him speaking, he remembered the whole story of how Moshe got that speech impediment, realizing that his initial belief was correct. Moshe was going to try to take his kingdom from him. Now he was powerless to kill him. Many times we do something which, at the time, seems like the right decision, yet a little later on we realize that’s just what we didn't want to happen. Similarly, Pharaoh was correct in his reasoning to kill Moshe but then decided not to which came back to haunt him and his worst fears were realized. Why did that happen?  It’s because Hashem had different plans and worked it out that Moshe would be around to deliver the Jews from Egypt. Maybe if we take this to heart and recognize that Hashem is in control we will be able to strengthen our belief and Hashem will send someone once again to redeem us!