Moses: The Pivotal Prophet of Judaism

Moses was an extremely important figure in both the rising Jewish religion and in modern day Judaism teachings and practices. He is widely thought of as the best “prophet, leader and teacher that Judaism has ever known” (Rabbi Louis Jacobs, "Moses: In the Bible & Beyond.") Called Moshe Rabbeinu, meaning Moses our teacher, he was considered a person with human like faults and short comings yet acknowledged as the leader of a people’s freedom, the man who spoke with G-d and the instructor of a budding religion. His significance can be explained through his various merits, his largest one being the Exodus. Moses took the Hebrews out from their bonds in the oppressive land of Egypt and led to the promised Holy Land filled with milk and honey.

Like no other prophet before him, Moses was “a vessel for displaying God 's awesome powers…” (Jen Saunders, "What Significance Does Moses Have to the Hebrew People?") This not only allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt, but protected them along their way to a new land and cemented their faith in G-d. His most notable act was the ten plagues. G-d channeled his divine powers into Moses’s human vessel and made him turn the Nile into blood, let frogs, bugs, wild animals and locusts overrun Egypt, give disease to their livestock, riddle the people with boils, strike down a thunderstorm of hail and fire, bury them in darkness, and kill off every nonbelievers first born. (Chabad, “The Ten Plagues”) This certainly put the fear of G-d into the Egyptians. His next big act would be splitting the Red Sea. With the raise of Moses’s staff, G-d allowed him to part the sea, protecting the Hebrews of the advancing Egyptian army. Instances like this occurred, just enough for the Hebrews to reinforce their belief in the one and only, to praise no other and to follow the rules of no other. Through demonstrations, such as striking water out of a rock, Moses was the catalyst for Hebrews to accept their G-d. He was able to captivate a people into a zealous belief that lasted for many years to

Moses had the duty of not only leading these people into a new land, but guiding them as well, teaching them the things G-d told him to. Moses would meet with G-d in private and relay the messages to the Hebrews or sometimes “tuning” in his people to the words of G-d that described what they were and were not to do, them not being able to hear G-d by themselves, since their spiritual height wasn’t as large as his. The merging of all these tenets became the Torah, “traditionally translated as 'law '.” (BBC, “Moses”), which was authoritative in nature. He was responsible for “bringing the Torah to Israel and in interpreting the Torah for them.” (Rabbi Louis Jacobs, Moses: In the Bible & Beyond).The Torah encompassed every facet of life, it being an instructional guide on how live righteously, these rules reaching 613 commandments. 603 of the commandments all fall in categories under the Aseret ha-D 'varim or the Ten Commandments. (Judaism101, “Aseret ha-Dibrot: The "Ten Commandments"”) It was Moses who brought the two tablets, on which these regulations were inscribed on, down from Mount. Sinai and he was the one who explained these laws for the Israelites. He even was charged with “hearing cases and judging them for the people” (Judaism 101, “Moses, Aaron and Miriam”) By establishing these laws in G-d’s favor and facilitating them to teach and discipline his people, Moses put himself up for being one of the greatest