We learn of it only through his own protests at having been chosen as Israel’s liberator. Lending further obscurity, Moses’ impediment is wholly self-described. Perhaps Moses was deeply shy, a shepherd who preferred the company of animals over people with their insatiable demand for words. A midrash explains that Moses’ impeded speech dated from infancy when the angel Gabriel had guided him to place a hot coal in his mouth. Rashi postulates that Moses had an actual speech impediment–perhaps a stutter or a severe lisp. The Torah does not identify the nature or origins of Moses’ difficulty. As before, Moses’ feelings of inadequacy center on his difficulty with speech, now captured, ironically, by his poetic lament: “I am uncircumcised of lips” (Exodus 6:12). God persists in his alternately tender and impatient wooing of the reluctant emissary, while Moses insists that he is unfit for the task. Parashat Vaera continues the conversation between God and Moses following Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh. Commentary on Parashat Vaera, Exodus 6:2 - 9:35
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