Moses Separates From His Wife
"Miriam and Aaron began speaking against Moses regarding the dark-skinned woman he had married." (Numbers 12:1)
What exactly was their complaint against Moses? According to Targum Onkelus and Rashi, they were upset that Moses had separated from his wife Tzipporah, the dark-skinned Midianite daughter of Jethro. Miriam and Aaron were able to receive prophecy without resorting to celibacy. Why did Moses feel it was necessary to separate from his wife?
In fact, the separation was Moses' idea. He was not commanded to do this. The Talmud writes that Moses came to this conclusion when God revealed Himself at Mount Sinai: "The Shechina only spoke with the Jewish people on one occasion and at a predetermined hour; nevertheless, the Torah warned them, 'Do not come near a woman.' Certainly I, with whom the Shechina speaks at all times and with no set hour, must do the same." (Shabbat 87a)
The sages noted that Moses was correct in his reasoning, and God approved of his action. After the revelation at Sinai, God told the people, "Return to your tents" (i.e., your families). But to Moses, God commanded, "You, however, stay here with Me." (Deuteronomy 5:27-28)
Why was this separation something that Moses had to figure out for himself? And why did only Moses need to leave his wife, and not other prophets?
The Human and the Divine Perspective
With all of the greatness and purity to be found in the human spirit, we are nonetheless constrained by our private lives and narrow concerns. Compared to the light of the Shechina that encompasses everything - a sublime light shining over all universes and all that they contain - our private lives are like flickering candles before a blazing torch. The cosmos are full of holiness - in all of their minutiae, in their processes of generation and growth, in their physical and spiritual paths. All of their heights and depths are holy; all is God's treasure.
However, in order to arrive at this higher perspective, a prophet must free himself from his limited viewpoint. The pristine onset of Daat (Knowledge) must be guarded from all influences that could lead to withdrawal within a private, personal love.
Moses, the faithful shepherd, could not be confined to the restricting framework of private life, even momentarily. Even from the natural perspective, his world was God's world, the overall world where all is holy.
This necessity for separation from all private existence was Moses' initiative. From the Divine perspective, all is holy and such measures are unnecessary. For Moses, however, it was essential. It allowed him to raise his sights to the elevated outlook. Separating from his family allowed Moses' soul to be constantly 'draw in' to the Soul of all worlds; it enabled the unique illumination of the Torah to make its appearance in the world.
Continual Light
What was so special about Moses' prophecy that, unlike all other prophets, he needed to avoid all private life? In Orot HaKodesh [vol. I p. 275], Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook used the following analogy to illustrate the qualitative difference between the prophecy of Moses and that of other prophets:
We cannot properly learn about the physical world only through the light given off by intermittent bolts of lightning. Even if the lightning occurs repeatedly, its lack of constancy makes such light inadequate. If, however, it is extremely frequent, than its illumination becomes a constant source of light.
The same applies to spiritual enlightenment. One cannot recognize the elevated realm, the light of holiness and pure morality, the rule of uprightness and the flow of the sublime without a continual illumination of prophecy.
"(Regular) prophecy is an intermittent light. Only the prophecy of the Torah, the prophecy of Moses, is a light that radiates continually. By its light, we will journey."
[Adapted from Ein Aya vol. IV p. 174]
"Miriam and Aaron began speaking against Moses regarding the dark-skinned woman he had married." (Numbers 12:1)
What exactly was their complaint against Moses? According to Targum Onkelus and Rashi, they were upset that Moses had separated from his wife Tzipporah, the dark-skinned Midianite daughter of Jethro. Miriam and Aaron were able to receive prophecy without resorting to celibacy. Why did Moses feel it was necessary to separate from his wife?
In fact, the separation was Moses' idea. He was not commanded to do this. The Talmud writes that Moses came to this conclusion when God revealed Himself at Mount Sinai: "The Shechina only spoke with the Jewish people on one occasion and at a predetermined hour; nevertheless, the Torah warned them, 'Do not come near a woman.' Certainly I, with whom the Shechina speaks at all times and with no set hour, must do the same." (Shabbat 87a)
The sages noted that Moses was correct in his reasoning, and God approved of his action. After the revelation at Sinai, God told the people, "Return to your tents" (i.e., your families). But to Moses, God commanded, "You, however, stay here with Me." (Deuteronomy 5:27-28)
Why was this separation something that Moses had to figure out for himself? And why did only Moses need to leave his wife, and not other prophets?
The Human and the Divine Perspective
With all of the greatness and purity to be found in the human spirit, we are nonetheless constrained by our private lives and narrow concerns. Compared to the light of the Shechina that encompasses everything - a sublime light shining over all universes and all that they contain - our private lives are like flickering candles before a blazing torch. The cosmos are full of holiness - in all of their minutiae, in their processes of generation and growth, in their physical and spiritual paths. All of their heights and depths are holy; all is God's treasure.
However, in order to arrive at this higher perspective, a prophet must free himself from his limited viewpoint. The pristine onset of Daat (Knowledge) must be guarded from all influences that could lead to withdrawal within a private, personal love.
Moses, the faithful shepherd, could not be confined to the restricting framework of private life, even momentarily. Even from the natural perspective, his world was God's world, the overall world where all is holy.
This necessity for separation from all private existence was Moses' initiative. From the Divine perspective, all is holy and such measures are unnecessary. For Moses, however, it was essential. It allowed him to raise his sights to the elevated outlook. Separating from his family allowed Moses' soul to be constantly 'draw in' to the Soul of all worlds; it enabled the unique illumination of the Torah to make its appearance in the world.
Continual Light
What was so special about Moses' prophecy that, unlike all other prophets, he needed to avoid all private life? In Orot HaKodesh [vol. I p. 275], Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook used the following analogy to illustrate the qualitative difference between the prophecy of Moses and that of other prophets:
We cannot properly learn about the physical world only through the light given off by intermittent bolts of lightning. Even if the lightning occurs repeatedly, its lack of constancy makes such light inadequate. If, however, it is extremely frequent, than its illumination becomes a constant source of light.
The same applies to spiritual enlightenment. One cannot recognize the elevated realm, the light of holiness and pure morality, the rule of uprightness and the flow of the sublime without a continual illumination of prophecy.
"(Regular) prophecy is an intermittent light. Only the prophecy of the Torah, the prophecy of Moses, is a light that radiates continually. By its light, we will journey."
[Adapted from Ein Aya vol. IV p. 174]