In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 2:11-12) we read: “It was in those
days when Moshe was grown that he began to go out to his brothers and he saw
their burden. He saw an Egyptian beating one of his Israeli brothers. He looked
all around and when he saw that no man was there, he killed the Egyptian and
hid his body in the sand.”
The Netziv in his commentary HaEmek Davar points out that it
doesn’t say that “he didn’t see a man”, rather it says “he saw that no man was
there.” He did see men, but there was nobody to turn to during this difficult
time. There was nobody who would step up and save the man who was being beaten.
Everyone around him was an enemy. Therefore Moshe took it upon himself to save
the man who was being beaten by killing the Egyptian.
In Pirkei Avot, Chapter 2, Mishna 6 we learn: In a place
where there are no men, endeavor to be a man.
This can be interpreted to mean that when nobody is
available to care for the needs of the community then those who are capable
must step up to the plate and take that responsibility upon themselves.
We have seen this very clearly this past week in
that we endured were much more difficult than anyone had predicted. Thousands
of cars were stuck on the roads, women in labor needed to get to the hospitals
to give birth, people were running out of food, diapers and formula.
Everyone who was available pitched in to help. Volunteers
with 4x4s helped rescue those who had been stuck in their cars for hours.
Ambulances picked up women in labor and took them to the hospital. Formula and
diapers were dropped off at the homes of mothers who couldn’t get out.
One supermarket that didn’t have electricity told the
shoppers to take what they need and come back after the storm to pay when the
cash registers would be working. When the shoppers returned in order to pay
what they owed, the owner told them that they can keep the money and to look at
the groceries as a gift.
A couple that got married the night of the storm went to try
to find a hotel room in
since there was no way to leave the city as they had originally planned. Upon
finding all of the hotel rooms booked they weren’t sure what to do. One of the
guests from the hotel saw that they were just married and offered them their
room.
We see that in these situations ordinary men and women
stepped up to do the right thing just as Moshe had done.
