search
Bryan Schwartz
Law Professor, Author of "Sacred Goof" and "Consoulation: A Musical Mediation"

‘Where there is no one’ – Moses, Hillel, and Us

In this week’s Torah reading,  Moses begins his path to leading a revolution. Born a Levite among the Israelites,  raised by the daughter of Pharaoh, he is a prince of Egypt. But in one moment, he will define himself as not only an Israelite but a man capable of risking everything to fight oppression.

Today, I want to show how the Torah’s portrayal of that moment resonated over a thousand years later in the Talmud, in the words of Hillel, and can still inspire us today two thousand years after that.

We begin with Moses’ pivotal moment. He sees that a slave master is beating a Hebrew. The Torah tells us that Moses “turned this way and that and saw that there was no man; “ein ish.”   Moses slays the brutal slave master and hides the body.

The Torah uses few words to say much. It also compels us as readers to respond with more thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Even a word or two of the Torah can have enormous radiant power.

What does the Torah mean by referring to “ein ish”?

Literally, it means Moses, saw “no man” or “nobody. Is the meaning that Moses saw no potential witnesses? Was Moses’  concern merely that he would not be reported to the authorities?

Or does “ein Ish” mean something like “no one of character” – in Yiddish, we would say “no mensch”:  that Moses saw no one else who had the humanity and courage to intervene.

The Egyptian authorities eventually did find out. The rescued Hebrew apparently told the story to his fellow Hebrews. Perhaps the authorities overheard or later beat the tale out of one of their Israelite slaves.

In any event, Moses flees to the land of the Midianites.

There he sees a group of women trying to water their flock, and he sees them being bullied away by another group of shepherds. Although he is, in his own words, “a stranger in a strange land,” he comes to the aid of the women.

It was only after these two incidents of Moses standing up—for his fellow Hebrews and for strangers—that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush.

There may have indeed been “ein ish” watching Moses save his fellow Israelites or defend the Midianite women at the well.

Yet in the Torah story, someone – Someone –  else did see.

The Witness was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and  Jacob, the God of the Israelites, and the God of all human beings.

It appears that God was waiting for an ish to emerge, an ish who could be commissioned as the leader of the Israelite people. The Exodus, the receiving of the revelations at Sinai, and the return – all required a partnership between the Israelites and God. A supreme power could inspire and assist the Israelites. But they had to exercise their own freedom, make their own choice, and take their own  actions. They need to come together as a captive people, stand up, leave Egypt, cross the Red Sea, accept the Covenant, endure the Wilderness, cross the Jordan and fight for their place in their promised homeland.

In reading the sacred literature of the Jewish people, we step into a world of time travel.

A charming story in the Talmud: Moses could not understand all the intricacies of the Torah that God revealed to him. God brought Moses to be a silent witness to a Torah class a thousand years later, where Rabbi Akiba explained the mysteries; Menachot 29b.

Let us keep in mind the “ein ish” passage in Moses’ story and shift our focus to another sage who lived in the era of the first great rabbis – this time, Rabbi Hillel.

Hillel, like Akiva a few generations later, is a towering figure in the Jewish tradition. Like Akiva, he was a scholar, a rabbi, a sage, not a prophet or king. It was the scholars and teachers, who took the lead in keeping Judaism alive after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple.

The sayings of Hillel are preserved in the Talmud, and especially in Pirkei Avot — a unique part  of the Talmud. Pirkei Avot, unlike no other book of the Talmud, contains no legal material. It is not based on the Mishna.  Rather, it is a collection of highly compact sayings from generation after generation of sages. The most quoted and quotable sage is Hillel. Some of his sayings are widely known, even today, in mainstream popular culture “If I am not for myself, then who am I; if I am only for myself, what am I, if not now, when.”

Perhaps the most inspiring of Hillel’s sayings in today’s times is a lesser known one. It goes like this: “In a land where there is no man – “ein ish” – try to be a man.”   Hillel is almost certainly alluding to the “ein ish” episode concerning Moses.

Two millennia later, here, and now, the Jewish tradition is improbably- some would say miraculously – still alive. But many of us experience a hostility to the Jewish people, unlike anything we have seen before in our times. If you work at a university in the Diaspora, as I do, you can feel totally isolated in the face of ignorance and malice wrapped up in a mantle of expertise and moral superiority. The words of Hillel encourage you, even then, to try to stand up for yourself and your people here in the Diaspora and in the homeland in Israel.

A concise saying by a sage, no matter how brilliant, requires both context and interpretation.

There is a famous story in the Talmud about how Hillel conveyed the essence of Judaism in a single phrase. Hillel put forward a version of the Golden Rule – but added “the rest is commentary.”  “The rest,” the commentary,   is no small matter. Hillel himself was an utterly committed student and scholar of the Jewish sacred texts and all the further commentary they have generated – including his own sayings.

Hillel’s “ein ish” statement is immediately embedded in other sayings emphasizing the importance of not separating yourself from your people. Hillel also emphasized avoiding judging others until you have been in their place. He consistently looked for ways to welcome newcomers to the Tradition rather than rejecting them due to their initial lack of understanding or even disdain. Hillel tried to help people join the flock even if their first approach to him personally was disrespectful or taunting. Hillel, like Moses, appears to have been “the humblest of men.”   He recognized the human limitations we all have; “try to be a mensch,” he says. Standing up to oppressors does not mean celebrating your heroism or becoming enraptured in your own sense of righteousness. Your causes are promoting the factual and moral truth, the survival of your own nation, and the dignity of all.

In another saying of Hillel, reported in the Talmud (Brachot 63a),, Hillel cautions that “if you see a generation to which the Torah is dear, spread it…but if you see a generation to which the Torah is not dear, gather it and keep it to yourself.”   There are times when prudence and patience are called for, not immediate confrontation.

Faced with Jew-hatred, we must, to the extent that we can,  stand up for ourselves as individuals and as members of our people. We must do so with humility about our own individual frailties and the lapses of our own people. Yet we must also have the courage and wisdom that comes from our long history and from the sacred texts that  we have received, studied, and revered.

About the Author
Bryan Schwartz is a playwright, poet, songwriter and author drawing on Jewish themes, liturgy and more. In addition to recently publishing the 2nd edition of Holocaust survivor Philip Weiss' memoirs and writings titled "Reflections and Essays," Bryan's personal works include two Jewish musicals "Consolation: A Musical Meditation" (2018) and newly debuted "Sacred Goof" (2023). Bryan also created and helps deliver an annual summer program at Hebrew University in Israeli Law and Society and has served as a visiting Professor at both Hebrew University and Reichman University.  Bryan P Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Queen’s University, Ontario, and Master’s and Doctorate Degree in Law from Yale Law School. As an academic, he has over forty years of experience, including being the inaugural holder of an endowed chair in international business and trade law,  and has won awards for teaching, research and scholarship. He has been a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba since 1981. Bryan serves as counsel for the Pitblado Law firm since 1994. Bryan is an author/contributor of 34 books and has over 300 publications in all. He is the founding and general editor of both the Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law and the Underneath the Golden Boy series, an annual review of legislative developments in Manitoba. Bryan also has extensive practical experience in advising governments – federal,  provincial, territorial and Indigenous –and private clients  in policy development and legislative reform and drafting. Areas in which Bryan has taught, practiced or written extensively, include: constitutional law, international, commercial, labour, trade,  internet and e-commerce law  and alternate dispute resolution and governance. For more information about Bryan’s legal and academic work, please visit: https://bryan-schwartz.com/.
Related Topics
Related Posts