When word got out that Moses had killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave,

Pharaoh himself ordered that Moses be put to death.

So Moses had to leave his privileged life and flee Egypt.

He fled to a place called Midian, where he met Zipporah, the woman who became his wife.

She was the daughter of a Midianite priest

named Jethro. Moses and Sipora met at a well, where Moses stood up to protect Jethro's seven

daughters who were being bullied by some men. Moses hated evil, no matter whom it was directed

against, male or female, Jew or non-Jew.

One day, while hurting sheep, Moses noticed that a bush was on fire. But oddly, it was not

being consumed by the fire. Curious, he approached. As he did, he heard a voice from the burning

bush. It was God speaking. His message would

not only change Moses' life, it would change history. God told Moses it was time for the Israelites to

be liberated from their Egyptian bondage, and that he Moses was the man who would make this happen.

Moses did not want the job.

He was happily married, living with a family he loved and which loved him.

Moreover, he was a wanted man in Egypt.

He even described himself as a poor speaker,

and he had no reason to believe that the Israelites would accept him as their leader.

Who am I? He asked God that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites.

God answered all of Moses's objections, and thus began the leadership of the man who

dominates the rest of the Torah. So Moses went to Pharaoh. To no one's surprise, Pharaoh repeatedly rejected Moses's

demands to free the Jews. God then brought ten plagues on Egypt to change Pharaoh's mind.

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