The Attention Seeking Bush
A recent collection of one-liners and witticisms entitled 1,003 Great Things 黑料社 Being 黑料社contains a section called 鈥淲hat Passersby Said 黑料社 the Burning Bush.鈥� My favorite item on the list goes like this: 鈥淚gnore it; it鈥檚 only trying to get attention.鈥�
Moses, of course, doesn鈥檛 ignore it. His encounter with our attention-seeking bush lies not only at the heart of Parashat Sh鈥檓ot; it also describes the essential elements of spiritual awareness in the eyes of our tradition.
Here is the Torah鈥檚 telling, in the opening six verses of the third chapter of Exodus:
Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. Moses said, 鈥淚 must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn鈥檛 the bush burn up?鈥� When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: 鈥淢oses! Moses!鈥� He answered, 鈥淗ere I am.鈥� And God said, 鈥淒o not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.鈥� And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exod. 3:1-6)
It turns out that the way in which Moses chooses not to ignore the bush is filled with subtlety. Don Isaac Abarbanel (Portugal, Spain, Italy; 1437-1508) alerts us to the nuances of Moses鈥檚 approach with a pair of questions, always the starting point of his commentary. 鈥淪ince this was Moses鈥� first prophetic experience, when 鈥榓n angel of the LORD鈥� appeared to him (Exod. 3:2), why was he surprised at the bush not burning up, rather than at this more marvelous sight?鈥� How can it be that only the obvious grabs Moses鈥� attention as it obscures the more significant reality that lies before his eyes? Abarbanel鈥檚 next question sharpens his case: 鈥淚f Moses was standing on 鈥榟oly ground鈥� (Exod. 3:5), why did God wait until he turned to look before telling him to remove his sandals?鈥� Why can鈥檛 Moses get to the bottom line more efficiently, and why does God exhibit so much patience with him?
A slow, careful reading of this passage provides powerful responses to Abarbanel鈥檚 queries. Moshe Greenberg notes 鈥渁 motif of gradualness鈥� in this passage, essentially arguing that Moses鈥檚 鈥済rowing awareness鈥� is the point of the Torah鈥檚 story. Before leaning on Greenberg to identify the stages of Moses鈥檚 epiphany, a word about fire is in order. Fire in the Tanakh symbolizes passion. The key proof text for that notion arrives in words attributed to Moses himself that describe God as aish okh鈥檒a (a consuming fire) and as el kana (an impassioned God) (Deuteronomy 4:24). God as consuming fire stands in direct opposition to the image of a fiery bush that is not consumed鈥�v鈥檋asneh einenu u鈥檏al.The bush鈥檚 resilience tells us that something truly significant is occurring here.
The first step in Moses鈥檚 journey of spiritual awareness involves taking the time to notice our attention-seeking fiery bush. As the peshat commentary in Etz Hayim aptly puts it: 鈥渢o see that a bush is on fire is easy; to see that it is not consumed takes time and patience . . . 鈥� Moses practices mindfulness here, the necessary first step of awareness. Thoughtfully, carefully, he opens his eyes.
Only then does God call out to Moses, leading him to step two, the recognition that he stands in the face of mystery, on 鈥渉oly ground,鈥� and therefore must remove his sandals, coupled with his statement of accountability embedded in the word hineini鈥斺�渉ere I am.鈥� Here Moses exhibits a profoundly patient kind of reflection, a posture that enables him truly to begin to grapple with the mystery into whose presence he has wandered. Step two is big, and it鈥檚 deep, and it鈥檚 powerful; but it鈥檚 not the endpoint of Moses鈥檚 journey.
The humility represented by Moses鈥檚 hiding his face at God鈥檚 first-person self-introduction鈥攗sing the form anokhi, a word we鈥檒l see again when God delivers the commandments to Moses from the very same mountaintop鈥攃ompletes this cycle of deepening awareness. Thoughtfulness, reflection, humility: Moses shows us the way to genuine spiritual awareness.
Moses鈥檚 example matters profoundly in our world. Having lived through 9/11, we know what can happen when religious passion burns without a measure of gradualness to temper it. But we also know that gradualness divorced from passion is unsatisfying in the extreme. In this terse but rich story, Moses acts out the great spiritual task of our moment (and of his moment, and perhaps of all moments), which is to reclaim the creative tension that connects passion with reflective, thoughtful humility.
Done well, Moses鈥檚 example charts a path toward fruitful growth and well-being. An old interpretive motif, traceable in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew sources, teaches that the burning bush not only was not consumed, it actually remained green and even sprouted fresh blossoms. Thoughtfully encountered, fire yields growth. That鈥檚 Moses鈥檚 message.
A century ago, Solomon Schechter chose the burning bush as JTS鈥檚 emblem. It described well his unique blend of passion and reflection. May it long describe our commitment to a spirituality that fruitfully combines fire and humility: thoughtful reflection coupled with a burning passion to notice and experience God鈥檚 goodness in our still-unredeemed world.
The publication and distribution of the JTS Commentary are made possible by a generous grant by Rita Dee and Harold (z鈥漧) Hassenfeld.
