Making sense of the sedra: Va’era

Several years ago, Sivan Rahav Meir shared a striking story. A teacher in Israel asked his pupils to write down the three greatest leaders they could think of.

One boy wrote: My father, Moses, Bibi Netanyahu. The teacher was surprised. He knew the boy’s father had recently lost his job and was now delivering newspapers and helping in a bakery. After class, he gently asked the boy about his choice. The boy replied without hesitation: “Of course my father is number one. I see how hard it is for him to do this work, and yet he gets up every morning to support our family.”

That evening, the teacher phoned the father to share what his son had written. There was a long silence on the line, and then the father said through tears, “You have no idea what this call has done for me.”

At the beginning of Parashat Va’era, God reassures Moses that the redemption from Egypt is now set in motion. After the painful setback of Parashat Shemot, where Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh only intensified the suffering, God renews his promise to redeem the Jewish people, judge Egypt and bring Bnei Yisrael to freedom.

Moses and Aaron are commanded once again to go to Pharaoh and demand: “Let my people go.” The story feels ready to surge forward toward confrontation, plagues and redemption. And then, quite unexpectedly, the Torah presses pause.

In Shemot 6:14 we read “eleh roshei beit avotam”, and for 12 verses the Torah presents a detailed genealogy of Reuven, Shimon and Levi, culminating in the family tree of Moses and Aaron. Only then does the Torah return to the narrative, emphasising: “These are the same Moses and Aaron to whom Hashem spoke and whom he sent to take the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Why interrupt the drama of redemption with what appears to be a technical family list? This is a classic question of the meforshim. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch offers a profound answer. The Torah does not merely list Moses and Aaron. It introduces their uncles, cousins and extended family, and even records the ages reached by their father and grandfather. In doing so, the Torah makes a decisive statement: Moses Rabbeinu was fully human. He was a son, a nephew, a cousin, part of a normal family network.

Unlike religions that endow their founders with divinity, the Torah insists that Moses was flesh and blood. His greatness lay not in being divine, but in what a human being can become. This genealogy serves as a teudah – a certificate of origin, establishing forever that the highest spiritual achievement is within human reach.

Yet Rabbi Hirsch adds a second dimension. While Moses and Aaron were only men, they were chosen men. God’s spirit does not rest randomly. Moses was selected because of his character, integrity and moral stature. And God chose the younger brother to lead.

The message is deeply empowering. Leadership is not reserved for the famous or the exceptional. We all lead, especially in our homes, guiding our families through the ordinary

Rabbi Yoni Golker is at Magen Avot United Synagogue