Moshe's Speech Impediment/2

Moshe's Speech Impediment – "כְבַד פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן אָנֹכִי"

Exegetical Approaches

Overview

Commentators offer two main understandings of the phrase "כְבַד פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן" and Moshe's speech problems.  Midrashic sources claim that Moshe's impediment was physical in nature, causing him to stutter or mispronounce certain letters.  R. Yosef Bekhor Shor and the Ran suggest that this even enhanced God's glory.  Others, however, reject the possibility that Hashem sent a messenger with a physical disability.  Thus, Rashbam posits that after years in Midyan, Moshe was simply not sufficiently fluent in the Egyptian language, while Sforno maintains that he lacked oratory skills. Ibn Ezra combines these two approaches, suggesting that the doublet "כְבַד פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן" refers to a dual issue.

Physical Disability

Moshe's speech impediment was of a physical nature and involved difficulties in letter pronunciation or stuttering.

Sources:Devarim RabbahDevarim Rabbah (Vilna) 1:1Devarim Rabbah (Lieberman) Devarim 1:1 (p.4-5)About Devarim Rabbah, Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe RabbeinuOtzar HaMidrashim (Eisenstein p.358)About Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu,¹ Shemot Rabbah1:26About Shemot Rabbah,² R. SaadiaTafsir Shemot 6:12cited by R. Avraham b. HaRambam Shemot 7:1About R. Saadia Gaon,³ R. ChananelCited by R. Bachya Shemot 4:10About R. Chananel b. Chushiel, RashiShemot 4:10Shemot 6:12About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, Ibn EzraShemot Long Commentary 4:10Shemot Short Commentary 6:12About R. Avraham ibn Ezra,⁴ R. Yosef Bekhor ShorShemot 4:10About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, R. Avraham b. HaRambamShemot 4:10About R. Avraham Maimonides, RambanShemot 4:10About R. Moshe Nachmanides

Nature of the disability – There are a couple of possible variations:⁵

• R. Chananel specifies that Moshe had trouble with letters pronounced both with the teeth ("כְבַד פֶּה") and the tongue ("כְבַד לָשׁוֹן").‎⁶
• Rashi understands Moshe's disability to be a form of stuttering.⁷

Reason for the disability – The proponents of this approach generally agree that Moshe's condition existed from birth or early childhood,⁸ however there is some divergence of opinions as to why Hashem did not remedy the condition:

• Shemot Rabbah and Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu⁹ recount a legend of how Moshe's tongue was burnt in the course of a miraculous saving of his life.¹⁰ Ramban adds that Hashem may have avoided healing Moshe's condition in order that this miracle be memorialized.¹¹
• R. Yosef Bekhor Shor suggests that Hashem wanted to demonstrate that the Divine will could be realized even via a messenger lacking a silver tongue.¹² Similarly, the RanDerashot HaRan 5About R. Nissim Gerondi states that Hashem intentionally chose a leader who was not a charismatic speaker to insure that all would recognize that the miracles of the Exodus were brought about not by oratorical talents but rather by Hashem's will.¹³

Temporary or Permanent? These commentators differ regarding how Moshe was able to deliver the lengthy addresses of Sefer Devarim:

• Hashem removed the impediment while Moshe was still at the Burning Bush – This possibility is rejected by Ibn Ezra and Ramban.
• The disability was cured at the time of the national revelation at Mt. Sinai – Devarim Rabbah.¹⁴
• Moshe remained disabled, but Hashem alleviated the condition when necessary – Ibn Ezra.¹⁵
• Moshe's speech impediment remained, and Aharon and Elazar (after Aharon's death) continued to serve as Moshe's spokespersons throughout the forty years in the wilderness – Ibn EzraShemot Short Commentary 4:16About R. Avraham ibn Ezra.

Non-physical Disability

Moshe's speech difficulties related to his oratory and language skills rather than any physical ailment.

Sources:TanchumaDevarim 2About the Tanchuma, Lekach TovShemot 4:10About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, RashbamShemot 4:10Shemot 4:14About R. Shemuel b. Meir, RalbagBeiur HaMilot Shemot 4:10Beiur Divrei HaParashah Shemot 4:10Shemot 3-4 Toelet 18Beiur Divrei HaParashah Shemot 6:9About R. Levi b. Gershom, SfornoShemot 4:10About R. Ovadyah Sforno, ShadalShemot 4:10Shemot 6:12About R. S.D. Luzzatto

Nature of the disability – These commentators agree that the disability was not physical, but disagree as to the specifics:

• Moshe did not know seventy languages, and would thus be mocked at Paroh's court – Tanchuma.¹⁶
• Moshe did not know Egyptian well¹⁷ – Rashbam.¹⁸
• Moshe was not an eloquent orator – Lekach Tov, Sforno, Shadal.
• Moshe could not order his speech in a clear and organized manner – Ralbag.¹⁹
• Moshe did not have any special disability, and his profession of ineloquence was merely an expression of his innate modesty.²⁰

Cause of Moshe's disability – These commentators give various explanations in accordance with their respective understandings of the nature of the disability:

• Rashbam claims that since Moshe left Egypt when he was young, he did not remember Egyptian well.²¹
• Sforno claims that Moshe did not know how to speak before kings, and he suggests that this might have been because of a slow development of the speech organs.
• Ralbag claims that since Moshe was so spiritual and spent so much of his mental energy on being close to Hashem, he couldn't order his speech to make it comprehensible to other humans.²² According to Ralbag, this imperfection of Moshe began only with Hashem's revelation to him at the Burning Bush ("גַּם מֵאָז דַּבֶּרְךָ אֶל עַבְדֶּךָ").‎²³

Temporary or Permanent?

• The Tanchuma says that Hashem enhanced Moshe's language faculties, and thus by the time of Sefer Devarim, Moshe could translate the whole Torah into seventy languages.²⁴
• According to Rashbam, the lack of eloquence in Egyptian was relevant only in Egypt.²⁵
• Shadal claims that Hashem fixed this disability, and Moshe gradually became more eloquent.
• Ralbag maintains that the closer Moshe moved toward God, the further removed he became from man. Thus this condition persisted and had ramifications for the rest of Moshe's life. This is consistent with Ralbag's understandings of other flaws of Moshe – see Did Moshe Need Yitro's Advice and Moshe's Character.

Combination

Sources:Ibn EzraShemot Short Commentary 4:10About R. Avraham ibn Ezra²⁶

Nature of the disability – According to Ibn Ezra, Moshe's condition included both a medical condition from birth as well as a lack of eloquence stemming from not having spoken Egyptian in many years. Ibn Ezra differentiates between "כְבַד פֶּה" and "כְבַד לָשׁוֹן", and derives from the doublet that there was a dual difficulty.

¹ The Midrash appears in Yalkut Shimoni Shemot 166. RashbamShemot 4:10About R. Shemuel b. Meir, here, is likely referring to this work when he says "ואין לחוש לספרים החיצונים" (see Rashbam Bemidbar 12:1 where he explicitly cites this Midrashic collection).

² This section of Shemot Rabbah dates to the 11th–12th century and may have incorporated a version of the legend found in Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu (see below regarding some of the relatively minor distinctions between them). Cf. Lekach TovShemot 4:10About R. Toviah b. Eliezer who cites a similar story in the name of "יש אומרים". Note that RashbamShemot 4:10About R. Shemuel b. Meir, in apparently referring to and dismissing this legend, attributes it to "ספרים החיצונים". By RambanShemot 4:10About R. Moshe Nachmanides's time, though, the story is cited in the name of "רבותינו" and viewed as more authoritative.

³ R. Kapach renders the Arabic translation as "having difficulty in enunciating clearly".

⁴ Ibn Ezra here attempts to prove from the words "מִי יָשׂוּם אִלֵּם" that Moshe had a physical disability. See, however, Ibn Ezra in his Short Commentary 4:10 cited below.

⁵ See J. Tigay, "'Heavy of Mouth' and 'Heavy of Tongue' – On Moses' Speech Difficulty", BASOR 231 (1979): 57-67, who gathers the evidence from Semitic cognates which supports the defective speech option (as well as evidence for the lack of fluency in a language alternative), but notes that the available data does not allow for a more precise identification of the type of defect.

⁶ R. Chananel includes the sibilants זשרס"ץ in the first category and the dentals דטלנ"ת in the second. One might have reversed the categorization.

⁷ See אוצר לעזי רש"י regarding the old French word "בלב"א" (balbe) found in Rashi.

⁸ Thus "גַּם מֵאָז דַּבֶּרְךָ אֶל עַבְדֶּךָ" does not describe when the disability began (cf. Ralbag below), but rather that the condition did not improve with Hashem's revelation – see Ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, and Ramban.

⁹ There are slight discrepancies in the details between the two Midrashim, but their basic motif is the same. A similar story is found in the more ancient source of JosephusAntiquities 2:9:7About Josephus. According to Josephus' account, when Moshe was brought before Paroh, Paroh placed his crown on Moshe's head and Moshe threw the crown to the ground. In this version, however, there is no mention of a burning coal or Moshe's speech impediment, and it is Paroh's daughter who saves Moshe from Paroh's advisers.

¹⁰ According to this Midrash, when Moshe was a young child in Paroh's palace, he removed Paroh's crown and placed it on his own head. When many of Paroh's advisers (Shemot Rabbah simply mentions "חרטומי פרעה", while Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu specifies "בלעם הקוסם") presciently warned that this was a sign that Moshe would pose a future threat to the throne and should thus be killed, one advisor (Shemot Rabbah identifies him as Yitro, while Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu says it was the angel Gavriel in disguise) suggested to test Moshe by placing before him gold (Divrei HaYamim LeMoshe Rabbeinu has a precious stone) and a glowing coal and seeing which he would select. When Moshe reached for the gold, an angel intervened, placing his hand on the coal and saving his life. Moshe then placed the coal in his mouth, burning his tongue. The Midrash is likely influenced by the similar story in Yeshayahu 6:6-7, in which an angel touches a coal to Yeshayahu's mouth.

¹¹ Ramban alternatively suggests that Hashem did not remove the condition as a punishment for Moshe's employing of it as an excuse not to go to Paroh and not simply praying for it to be cured. Cf. Lekach TovShemot 4:14About R. Toviah b. Eliezer.

¹² Cf. Shemot Rabbah3:15About Shemot Rabbah. See, however, Shadal who dismisses this approach because of Hashem's response in 4:11.

¹³ See below for Rashbam and Shadal's objections to the possibility that Hashem's messenger would have a disability.

¹⁴ Cf. Tanchuma Devarim 2 below and see Tanchuma Yitro 8 which describes how Hashem removed all physical handicaps from the entire nation when they stood at Sinai.

¹⁵ See Shadal who dismisses Ibn Ezra's position.

¹⁶ The Midrash reflects a reality in which sages and members of the royal court knew many languages. Cf. R. Yochanan's statements in Talmud Bavli Sotah 36b regarding Gavriel teaching Yosef seventy languages before Paroh appointed him, and in Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 17a that the Sanhedrin needs to know seventy languages. See also Mishna Shekalim 5:1 that Mordechai knew seventy languages.

¹⁷ Rashbam suggests that the parallel term "כִבְדֵי לָשׁוֹן" in Yechezkel 3:4-6 has a similar meaning. For additional support from Semitic cognates, see J. Tigay, "'Heavy of Mouth' and 'Heavy of Tongue' – On Moses' Speech Difficulty", BASOR 231 (1979): 57-67.

¹⁸ Rashbam deems it impossible that Hashem would elect to transmit the Torah through a stutterer, and Shadal makes a similar argument against Ibn Ezra's position. See, similarly, the aversion of Talmud Bavli Sotah 12b to the possibility that Moshe had any physical deformity, and Tanchuma Yitro 8 which states that at Mt. Sinai Hashem healed all of the Israelites' physical handicaps. But cf. R. Yosef Bekhor Shor and the Ran above who adopt a completely opposite view.

¹⁹ Ralbag suggests that the dual description "כְבַד פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן" is merely an instance of "כפל ענין במלות שונות".

²⁰ Compare to Yirmeyahu's similar reluctance Yirmeyahu 1:6) to accept Hashem's mission.

²¹ Rashbam also explains that this made Aharon a good choice for the speaker's role, as his Egyptian was fluent. Shadal argues against Rashbam, as he finds it difficult to imagine that Moshe would have forgotten his native tongue. Rashbam, though may be maintaining merely that Moshe did not speak "King's Egyptian" like Egyptian nobility, even though he retained basic fluency. The plausibility of Rashbam's approach may depend in part on how much time passed between Moshe fleeing Egypt and his commission at the Burning Bush – see Chronology of Shemot 2-4.

²² See below for other interpretations of Ralbag which develop this position.

²³ In contrast to other commentators who interpret these words as Moshe saying that his condition did not improve with Hashem's revelation, Ralbag understands that the revelation itself aggravated the condition. Ralbag also appears to maintain that Moshe's spiritual connection with Hashem began before the Burning Bush. This relates to the dispute among the commentators as to whether Moshe's conversation with Hashem at the Burning Bush took place over many days (Vayikra Rabbah11:6About Vayikra Rabbah, RashiShemot 4:10Shemot 6:12About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, Ibn EzraShemot Short Commentary 4:10About R. Avraham ibn Ezra) or only one (RambanShemot 4:10About R. Moshe Nachmanides).

²⁴ Cf. Devarim Rabbah above.

²⁵ This raises the question of what language the Israelites spoke both in Egypt (note that Moshe's initial diffidence about his speaking abilities in Chapter 4 was connected to his mission to the Israelites, not to Paroh) as well as at different points during their years in the wilderness.

²⁶ See, however, Ibn Ezra in his Long Commentary 4:10 cited above.