Imagine being on vacation in Puerto Rico. You’ve just picked up your rental car and are on your way to the hotel but stop for dinner. You park your rental car in a paid parking lot and accidentally drive out the wrong way straight over tire-shredding spikes. The gate slams shut behind you and you’re stuck in place with four flat tires. You call the emergency number that came with the rental but the person on the other end doesn’t speak English. After a few minutes of rising panic and frustration, you’re ready to give up — when suddenly, a passerby notices what’s going on and calmly steps in to help, but by that time you are already shaken, embarrassed, and overwhelmed. We’ve all felt that way at some point; deflated and emotionally empty. Sometimes we are so exhausted or overwhelmed that even good news can’t get through. The words just wash over us like background noise. Not because they’re wrong, but because we don’t have the capacity to hear them. The Torah captures this exact human experience when Moses comes to the Jewish people with an incredibly uplifting message: You’re going to be redeemed. Your suffering is about to end. And yet, the Torah tells us, they did not listen to Moses. How is that possible? Ralbag (1288-1344) explains that the breakdown wasn’t about faith or truth. Even though Moses had the right message AND the people had the right desire, but they lacked the capacity to accept the message. Moses was completely clear, spiritually focused, grounded in truth, and absolutely certain about what the Almighty was about to do but the people were crushed — emotionally and physically. Their lives had become harder after Moses confronted Pharaoh. Their energy, hope, and emotional bandwidth were gone. Ralbag teaches that even when someone speaks with the best intentions and total clarity, the listener may simply not be able to absorb it. Truth needs a vessel but when the vessel is cracked, deflated, or overwhelmed, even the most loving and hopeful message can fall on deaf ears. We see this all the time in real life. Think of someone stuck in a terrible relationship. Friends gently point out the red flags by offering clear, concrete examples of how this person is being taken advantage of. From the outside, it seems obvious but the person in the relationship can’t hear it. Not because they’re foolish or stubborn, but because they’re terrified of being alone. The need for connection is so intense that even a bad relationship feels safer than no relationship at all. The friends’ message is true and their intentions are good but the listener doesn’t yet have the emotional capacity to accept it. That’s what was happening in Egypt. According to the Ralbag, Moses wasn’t wrong and the people weren’t rejecting him. They were simply too deflated to hear redemption. Pain had narrowed their inner world allowing survival mode to take over. When a person is in that state, logic doesn’t land, hope feels threatening, and even good news can feel like pressure. This is why G-d tells Moses later on to speak through Aaron. It had nothing to do with Moses’ ability to lead, rather it was because Torah understands something essential about human beings: how a message is delivered matters just as much as what is being said. It’s easy to get frustrated when pointing something obvious to a friend or coworker but if that obvious point isn’t being accepted, it’s an indication that the person or people don’t need more truth, they need more patience and presence—and sometimes they just need time. This teaching is incredibly relevant to our lives. We’ve all been on both sides of this dynamic. We’ve tried to help someone we love and felt frustrated when they couldn’t hear us and we’ve been the ones who couldn’t hear — not because we didn’t care, but because we were overwhelmed, lonely, scared, or exhausted. The Torah is telling us that it’s human. Redemption — personal or collective — doesn’t enter all at once. It enters when there’s enough ruach, breath or space inside to receive it. Until then, compassion comes first. Sometimes the holiest thing we can do is not to speak louder or clearer, but to help put a little air back in the tires. |
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