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Why did Moshe resist Hashem (ה׳)'s mission at the burning bush, and why did Hashem rebuke him for questioning the plagues' initial failure? The shiur develops the idea that Moshe couldn't grasp the possibility of total dveikus—where the Shechinah speaks directly through him, not as a messenger but as Hashem's transparent vessel. This hesitation to achieve complete bitul prevented the original mission design and explains his later complaint.
The shiur opens with a fundamental question on the beginning of Parshas Vaeira. Rashi (רש"י) explains that Hashem (ה׳) rebuked Moshe harshly for questioning why things worsened after his first encounter with Pharaoh. Hashem compares Moshe unfavorably to the Avos, who endured unfulfilled promises and suffering without questioning Divine conduct. What was Moshe's error? Did he lack emunah (אמונה)? Where did Hashem promise that redemption would be smooth and immediate? Rabbi Zweig traces the roots of this issue back to the burning bush. When Hashem first commissioned Moshe, Moshe objected: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" Rashi explains that Moshe was asking two things—his own unworthiness to speak to kings, and Klal Yisrael's lack of merit. Hashem's answer, according to Rashi, was: "It's not yours, it's Mine. I will be with you." The burning bush itself served as proof—just as the bush burns without being consumed because it does Hashem's bidding, so too Moshe would go on Hashem's mission and not be harmed.
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Parshas Vaeira, Shemos 3-6
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