Moshe’s inability to speak was also planned precisely for his needs and for the mission he was sent to perform.
This is an encouraging thought for everyone who wishes their life was different. They say, "If my life was as I want it to be, without the challenges I go through, I could serve Hashem much better." Be aware that your challenges aren’t by chance. They are exactly what you need to bring you to the perfection that Hashem wants from you.
Everything for the Good
In reference to the slave-work in Mitzrayim, it states (1:14) בעבודה חייהם את וימררו קשה, "They embittered their lives with hard work.” We would assume that these words are chanted in a bitter, sad tune, but the trop on these words is ואזלא קדמא, which is a happy tune. Rebbe Yitzchak Vorke zt'l explains that this is because the bitter work freed Bnei Yisroel from galus. They were supposed to be in Mitzrayim for 400 hundred years, but because of the hard labor, they were freed from Mitzrayim after only 210 years. קדמא ואזלא can be translated as "they left early." This is the reason that חייהם את וימררו, "they embittered their lives," is said in a happy tune. This is an example of when we think something is bad, but it is for the good.
At the end of the parashah, Moshe asks Hashem (5:22) הזה לעם הרעתה למה, "Why have You done bad to this nation?" Hashem replied (6:1) אעשה אשר תראה עתה ישלחם חזקה ביד כי לפרעה, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them out..." The key word here is ועתה, "Now you will see." The hardships the Jewish nation is enduring are so they can be redeemed now. Otherwise, they would have to wait another 190 years.
Moshe was punished for complaining and for saying הזה לעם הרעתה למה, "Why have You done bad to this nation?" Hashem said (6:1), לפרעה אעשה אשר תראה עתה מארצו יגרשם חזקה וביד ישלחם חזקה ביד כי, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them out, and with a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land." Rashi writes, "You have questioned My ways [of running the world]... Therefore, תראה עתה, now you will see. You will see what will be done to Pharaoh, but you won't see..." the miracles I will perform for the Jewish nation to conquer the seven kings living in Eretz Canaan.
Moshe complained to Hashem, and his punishment was that he couldn't enter Eretz Yisrael. The Ohev Yisrael zt'l (beginning of Va'eira) explains that this, too, was for Moshe's benefit.
The Ohev Yisrael explains: If Moshe had come to Eretz Yisrael, the seven nations would have fallen before the Jewish people without saying a word, and Moshe would immediately build the Beis HaMikdash. If Moshe had built the Beis Hamikdash, it would never have been destroyed (see Sotah 9.). But we needed the option of the Beis HaMikdash being destroyed because that is what saved us when we sinned. As Chazal explain, חמתו שפך ואבנים עצים על, "Hashem poured out his wrath on the wood and stones of the Beis HaMikdash, and the Jewish nation survived." Therefore, it was for our benefit that Moshe couldn't come to Eretz Yisrael. Moshe knew all of this and was at peace with the decree forbidding him entry to Eretz Yisrael.
So, once again, what seemed to be a tragedy was for the good, and it is always that way.
The Midrash (Shemos Rabba 1:32) says, "Yisro was a komer, a priest for avodah zarah, and he recognized that avodah zarah was all foolishness. He decided to do teshuvah. He came to this realization before Moshe arrived. He called together the people of his city and said, 'Until now, I served you, but now I am old. Choose another priest.' They put Yisro in cherem [because they understood that he no longer believed in their avodah zarah]. They decreed that no one take care of his sheep or work for him. He sought shepherds to tend to his sheep but couldn’t find any. So, his daughters had to take out his sheep. They would go out early because they were afraid of the shepherds."
Therefore, it states (2:16-17) בנות שבע מדין ולכהן אביהן צאן להשקות הרהטים את ותמלאנה ותדלנה ותבאנה ויגרשום הרועים ויבאו, "And to the kohen of Midian was seven daughters, and they came and drew [water], and they filled the troughs to water their father's flocks. But the shepherds came and drove them away." It seems that things were going bad for Yisro and his family. He didn't have sons. His daughters were the only people working for Yisro, and they constantly struggled with the shepherds. But good came from it. Yisro became Moshe Rabbeinu's father-in-law because of these problems. As it states (2:17) ויגרשום הרעים ויבאו אביהן רעואל אל ותבאנה ,צאנם את וישק ויושען משה ויקם מיד הצילנו מצרי איש ותאמרן ,היום בא מהרתן מדוע ויאמר ואיו בנתיו אל ויאמר ,הצאן את וישק לנו דלה דלה וגם הרעים לשבת משה ויואל ,לחם ויאכל לו קראן האיש את עזבתן זה למה למשה בתו צפרה את ויתן האיש את, "The shepherds came and drove them away. Moshe got up and saved them and watered their sheep. They came to...their father. He said, 'How could you come so quickly today?' They replied, 'A Mitzri saved us from the shepherds, and he even drew water for us and watered the sheep.' He said to his daughters, 'Then where is he? Why did you leave the man? Summon him and let him eat bread. Moshe desired to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Tzipporah to Moshe."
So, in retrospect, Yisro gained so much from his "problem." That is how it always is. Hashem only gives us good; even that which appears bad is for our good.
This is a lesson for all people who are going through hard times. We must believe that excellent things will come from our challenges and hardships.
When Yaakov met with Yosef for the first time in twenty-two years, he said (Bereishis 46:30) הפעם אמותה, "Now I can die..." The Shelah Hakadosh explains (b'derech tzachus) that Yosef was going to support his father, and it is embarrassing for a father to be supported by his children. Therefore, he said, הפעם אמותה, "It is like death to me." But this negative feeling granted Yaakov Avinu so much good. Reb Shlomo Kluger zt'l quotes a Midrash that Yaakov Avinu was destined to live for 130 years, but since he suffered the humiliation of being supported by Yosef, he was granted another seventeen years of life and was niftar at the age of 147. Let us learn from this that when things seem bad, they are all for the good.
The Or HaChaim (Bereishis 47:28) writes, "Yaakov never had respite and calm. Immediately when he was born, his enemy Eisav was there. When that problem wasn't yet resolved, Lavan came to the scene to harm him. Then came the episode with Dinah, and he endured the distress of losing Yosef." The Or HaChaim explains that the best years of his life were the final seventeen years when he lived in Mitzrayim with his family. The Or HaChaim writes that those final years made his entire life feel worthwhile. He merited those final years from the hardship and shame he endured because his children supported him.
So, we shouldn't complain when we go through hardships because there is always a purpose. The humility that Yaakov suffered the final seventeen years of his life allowed him to live the best years of his life.
People complain and moan, "Why must it be this way? Why can't I be self-supporting?" But with a deeper look, we can recognize how much he gained from this problem. Let this remind us not to complain, and to believe that everything is all for our good.
