Moshe Rabbeinu's Defining Moment: How Killing the Egyptian Created Jewish National Identity

The shiur opens with a fundamental question: What qualified Moshe Rabbeinu to become the redeemer of Israel? The Torah (תורה) provides no obvious credentials—only that he was a shepherd and killed an Egyptian. Moreover, why was Pharaoh so intent on executing him? As a prince with authority over Pharaoh's household (including all Jewish slaves, who belonged to Pharaoh directly), Moshe should have had immunity for disciplining an underling taskmaster. The Gemara (גמרא) in Bava Basra (60a) presents a principle: when Jews face persecution so severe that Torah and mitzvos are threatened, the law would dictate not marrying and not having children, allowing the nation to self-destruct—except that such a decree would be unenforceable. The shiur contrasts this with the story of Amram and Miriam before Moshe's birth. When Pharaoh decreed all male children be drowned, Amram divorced his wife, and all Jewish men followed. Miriam argued he was worse than Pharaoh, and he remarried.