Parsha Beshalach

Rena
Dvar Torah
1/29/07 HUC

Lean on me. When you’re not strong. I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on. For, well, for that’s the nice thing to do. When someone needs help we help them. When some one needs to be comforted we comfort them. When someone needs a hand, we give them a hand. It’s what we do. We all have friends, we all have acquaintances, we’ve all had those moments that we had to give something up to help someone else. We’ve missed a tv show, been late for a meeting, gotten a little less hw done than we had planned. We knew that the person needed the help so we did it.
Leaning on someone puts a fair amount of pressure on the person holding you up -- a lot of responsibility. Someone doesn’t go out looking to be someone else’s support – the duty usually falls upon the person, perhaps when it’s least expected. What are we to do if someone needs us? What role do we play in the person’s support? What are our obligations? What if you are the person needing help? Who can you depend upon to be there for you?
After God helped Moses part the sea, the Israelites crossed, started wandering the desert, and arrived at their next quandary. Amalek. Moses told Joshua to pick soldiers to battle against Amalek. Moses went to the top of the mountain with his brother Aaron and nephew Hur. When Moses held his hands up the people of Israel would dominate. Unfortunately his hands and arms began to tire. But, when he would bring his hands down they would start to lose. Aaron and Hur placed a stone under Moses for him to sit on. He was still tired. Aaron and Hur stood
“ מזה אחד ומזה אחד ” one on either side of him and they helped Moses by supporting his hands to keep them raised.
Were they commanded to do this? Some of the rabbis think so. I say, they knew what needed to be done. What else were they going to do? Watch everything go bad? Sit idly by? No, they helped Moses out. So they stood there as the sun went down and held up Moses' hands and the power of Moses' hands maintained the power of the people of Israel and they beat Amalek.
Sefer Ha'Aggadah explains, “Since Israel [is] in distress, I too will share their distress with them. For he who shares in the distress of the community will deserve to behold the community’s comforting”
As Jewish professionals we’re handed situations like this all the time – from our congregants, students, friends. We begin to bare the burden of both our community and ourselves. Now, it isn’t often that we find ourselves in the position of Aaron and Hur, needing to make an old man’s hands stay up so that a battle can be won, but we have similar encounters. Helping a friend get over a break up, guiding a congregant through the stages of mourning, preparing our students for bnai mitzvah – these are all mini battles, epics of their own.
Within each of us there is a little bit of Moses. A strong leader with a minor weakness. But his weakness isn’t bad – because needing someone’s support is, apparently, a respectable quality. Perhaps, having a weakness is even good.

May others find you to lean on should they not be strong.
But, just as important, May you always have someone to lean on when you’re not strong.