ALWAYS ON CALL

“The Lord would speak to Moshe face-to-face as a man speaks to his fellow and he would return to the camp. But his servant Yehoshua, son of Nun, a lad, would not move from within the tent.” (Shmot 33:11)

In several places, the Torah notes that the quality of Moshe’s prophecy and his communication with God was considerably greater than any other prophet. Rambam describes Moshe’s unique relationship with God and his prophetic ability in the following passage (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:6):

“What is the difference between Moshe’s prophecy and that of all the other prophets? 1. [Divine insight is bestowed upon] all the [other] prophets in a dream or vision. Moshe, our teacher, would prophesy while standing awake, as [Bamidbar 7:89] states: “When Moshe came into the Tent of Meeting to speak to Him, he heard the Voice speaking to him.” 2. [Divine insight is bestowed upon] all the [other] prophets through the medium of an angel. Therefore, they perceive only metaphoric imagery and allegories. Moshe, our teacher, [would prophesy] without the medium of an angel, as [Bamidbar 12:8] states: “Mouth to mouth I speak to him,” and [ibid] states: “He gazes upon the image of God” – i.e., there was no metaphor. Rather, he would perceive the matter in its fullness, without metaphor or allegory. The Torah testifies concerning him [ibid]: [“I speak to him…] manifestly, without allegory.” His appreciation of prophecy would not be through metaphor, but through open revelation, appreciating the matter in its fullness. 3. All the [other] prophets are overawed, terrified, and confounded [by the revelations they experience], but Moshe, our teacher, would not [respond in this manner], as [Shmot 33:11] relates: “[God spoke to Moshe…] as a man speaks to a friend” – i.e., just as a person will not be awe-struck from hearing his friend’s words, so, too, Moshe’s mental power was sufficient to comprehend the words of prophecy while he was standing in a composed state.
4. All the [other] prophets cannot prophesy whenever they desire. Moshe, our teacher, was different. Whenever he desired, the holy spirit would envelop him, and prophecy would rest upon him. He did not have to concentrate his attention to prepare himself [for prophecy], because his [mind] was always concentrated, prepared, and ready [to appreciate spiritual truth] as the angels [are]. Therefore, he would prophesy at all times, as [Bamidbar 9:8] states: “Stand and hear what God will command you.”
He was promised this by God, as [implied by Devarim 5:27-28]: “Go and tell them: `Return to your tents,’ but you stand here together with Me.” This should be interpreted to mean: When prophecy departs from all the [other] prophets, they return to their “tents” – i.e., the needs of the body like other people. Therefore, they do not separate themselves from their wives. Moshe, our teacher, never returned to his original “tent.” Therefore, he separated himself from women and everything of that nature forever. He bound his mind to the Eternal Rock. [Accordingly,] the glory never left him forever. The flesh of his countenance shone, [for] he became holy like the angels.”

Moshe had the unenviable task of always having to be “on call.” Hashem could communicate with Him at any time, without warning. This is why he had to discontinue the intimate relationship with his wife. His sister Miriam criticised his behaviour to her brother Aharon because she believed that Moshe was no different to any other prophet. It was when God rebuked her that He made it clear that Moshe was in a different category completely, he was sui generis, one of a kind.  

The requirement to always be available is exceedingly difficult. Regular human beings cannot function under such conditions without suffering from extreme stress and anxiety. And yet, in our communication-obsessed society we have turned the average person into a Moshe. I was aware of this on a subconscious level but it was only when I saw an astute short video from American author Jason K. Pargin, (published 30 March 2025), that I realised the full extent of the problem. Here is a transcript of that video which begins with the image of someone receiving a missed text notification on a household appliance. The parts in italics are my own emphasis: “We all know this is killing us, right? That was somebody receiving a missed text notification on their vacuum cleaner. And that is a reminder that the way we are being asked to live now is objectively insane. Like, do you kids understand that for all of human history, for hundreds of thousands of years, until like 25 years ago, nobody was expected to be on call 24 hours a day? In fact, if you go back and watch a movie just from my childhood, the 1980s, if they portray somebody as having a job that requires them to be in constant communication, which back then required exotic technology, that was always shown as being an ultra high-stress job. These characters were always five minutes away from having a heart attack. It was universally understood that this was an incredibly high-stress way to live.

Kids, you understand that when I was in college, if somebody left the house just to go eat at a restaurant, they were as far off the grid as if somebody went to Mars today. You weren’t going to talk to them until they got back home near their landline phone. And if you called and they didn’t answer, that was totally normal and expected. When I was a teenager, there was no voicemail. When you called and they missed your call, there wasn’t even a caller ID to tell them that you had called. When I was a child, I had multiple friends who did not have phones. I don’t mean they didn’t have cell phones, I mean they didn’t have phones at all. The only way for me to speak to them was to physically go to their house. So the major change in life is not the existence of the technology that lets you contact anybody at any time. It is the social obligation to always be on hand to respond. To the point that if you don’t instantly respond, that is considered some kind of misbehavior. It is a mystery that needs to be solved. Why is this person acting like this? Why is this person acting the way every single human being who has ever lived for the entire history of the species until five minutes ago? So now when you see that the innovation is what they call the “screens everywhere vision”, where they have now created a world where you can take a phone call on your washing machine, where they’re trying to eliminate every last hiding place of your life.

Every moment when you could possibly not be on call. In fact, I don’t even know if young people recognize the term “on call”, which was the slang for, “hey I can’t relax or do anything fun, I have to stay near a phone”. Like there’s a crisis at my job, so I have to be on call tonight. I know that it’s annoying when old people like me say, well the reason we have anxiety is because of your phone. Like obviously you have legitimate reasons to be anxious, but I’m saying that on top of all that stuff, the additional requirement to be available for communication 24 hours a day no matter what you’re doing is an incredible emotional and psychological burden to add on top of everything else.”

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!   

Rabbi Liebenberg.

This week’s YouTube message:  https://youtu.be/J3LmVz59tMA?si=KlLh3sKLcHB07_MU

* PARSHAT PARAHParah, “the heifer,” describes the process whereby a person who came into contact with a dead body can once again attain spiritual purity. In the times of the Temple, every Jew had to ensure that he/she was ritually pure in the run-up to Pesach so that he/she could bring the Pesach offering in Jerusalem. We read this portion now to remind us that we have to start preparing physically and spiritually for the festival of Pesach that will take place in less than 30 days.