Not Pleasant

Yesterday, after hearing the Bible Lecture in the series at Matan I had paid for, I went with a friend to another place for more Torah/Bible. I figured there was nothing to lose in trying it. Actually, it's amazing how much Jewish learning opportunities there are in Jerusalem in English. In Shiloh I study in Hebrew.

I was warned that the teacher likes medrashim, those are the "stories" that are part of the commentaries. Personally, I prefer the straight text and consider medrash inferior. This class was about Moshe, Moses. She (female teacher for women) mentioned a "discrepancy." Moshe refused G-d's command that he be the leader of the Jewish People. His excuse is that he has a speech problem. The medrash tells that he burnt his tongue when being tested for intelligence when an angel made him take red hot coal rather than jewels, if I remember correctly. Well the teacher said that speech therapists say that the vocabulary he used when making the excuse can't be pronounced by someone with that sort of impediment.

For years, I've been convinced that Moshe's reason was that he spoke with an Egyptian accent, which he learned in the palace. He didn't speak like an Israelite, and for that reason he felt that the Jews wouldn't accept him.

I've mentioned this many times, and the various rabbis consider it, when they hear it in my horrendously accented Hebrew, a good point. This lady gave the most ridiculous "put down."

"But the medrash says that he had a speech impediment."

I didn't argue. Some people aren't worth trying to argue with, and she seemed to be one of them. I don't plan on returning to those classes.