In this week’s Torah portion, Va’era, Moses is revisited by God after Moses’ message is rejected by the enslaved Israelites. When God instructs him to go a second time to deliver his message to Pharaoh as well, Moses complains, “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of  impeded speech!” (Exodus 6:2)

The Hebrew for “impeded speech” is arel sfatayim, which literally means “uncircumcised of lips.” The most common understanding of this idiom is that Moses is reminding God that he has a speech impediment that makes him difficult to understand. 

A Midrash explains that this impediment arises from a test to prove whether or not the baby Moses was the one the court viziers had forecasted would usurp the Pharaoh’s rule. They placed two objects before the baby: a golden crown and red hot coal. If Moses were to reach for the crown, that would prove that he was the usurper. Moses began to reach for the crown, but an angel redirected his hand to the coal, which he picked and touched to his lips, thus giving him his impediment.

There is, however, another explanation for Moses’ complaint regarding being one with arel statayim. Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Ger, in his classic Sfat Emet, suggests that “if the children of Israel refuse to listen to their leaders, there can be no leaders who are able to speak, who can become a mouth for them.” He quotes Psalm 50:7 in support: “Pay heed my people, and I will speak.” He then continues, saying: 

“As long as there are those who will listen, then there can be those who speak, because the power of the leader issues from the people. For this reason, if the children of Israel listen to Moses, his mouth would be opened, his speech would be fluent, and his words would reach Pharaoh. But that if they don’t want to listen to him, he is effectively made into ‘a man of impeded speech,’ and how then should Pharaoh heed me?”

What the Gerer Rebbe is saying is very profound. The impediment to Moses’ speech is physiological; it is psychological. It is not that he stutters, or lisps, or has difficult saying certain letters or sounds. It is that the Israelites’ refusal to listen to him has undermined his effectiveness in speaking to the Pharaoh, even if he speaks at the behest of God!

The Israelites, unhappy with their lot and with the extra burden they felt was placed upon them by Moses’ perceived failure as a leader, do not allow him a second chance. They turn a deaf ear to all that he has to say and turn their backs on him as a leader. Without their support, without their acceptance of his leadership, Moses is prevented from being the type of leader who can go and face Pharaoh with any confidence. If those whom he was chosen to lead do not listen, what is the chance that his adversary, the most powerful figure in the then-known world, would?

Moses ability and, therefore, authority to lead comes not from God, after all, but from the Israelites themselves. So it is with leaders in general. To be effective leaders and not mere tyrants or bullies, leaders are required to bring a message to which people will listen and on which they will act. Anything short of that is impeded speech.

Shabbat Shalom!