When he was brought to the royal palace, Moses stopped crying. And soon began to dazzle the king and his court with his intelligence. He became the most spoiled of children. And also the most precocious: at three years of age he displayed the gifts of a healer. And of a prophet. And since he was an exceptionally handsome child, people showered him with love. Batya, his adoptive mother, was constantly cajoling him. He was given all the advantages of the best education available; he studied with teachers from afar, stunning them with his industry and understanding. In hardly any time at all, he mastered several languages and the exact sciences. Pharaoh himself could not keep from covering the boy with signs of affection and often took him on his lap to play with him—an intimacy not without danger. One day, when the child playfully took the crown from the royal head and placed it on his own, the Pharaoh’s counselors were dismayed; they called it high treason and the priests declared it a bad omen. All agreed that the child should be put to death before it was too late. Fortunately, one advisor—an angel in disguise—suggested a less radical solution. Set two plates before the child, one piled high with gold and precious stones, the other with burning coals: should the child reach for the gold, it would bear out that he indeed harbored suspicious intentions and that he had to be killed, but if instead he reached for the hot coals, then it would simply mean that he was attracted by shiny objects. This was done, and Moses indeed stretched out his hand to touch the gold and precious stones, but the angel Gabriel pushed him so hard that his hand seized a hot coal and brought it to his mouth. Thus Moses was saved—but his tongue was burned, and from then on he stuttered.

Thereafter he became more prudent and therefore more secure. Perhaps some of the royal advisors continued to suspect him, but we are not told about it. In fact, we are told nothing about his adolescence. Did he have any contact with his slave brothers? Was he aware of his origins? There is no mention of it either in the Bible or the Talmud. We are told only that one day Vayigdal Moshe vayetze el echav—He grew up and went out to see his brethren. (The Gerer Rebbe interprets this as meaning: Moses’ greatness was that he went out to join his people.) How old was he then? Twenty, according to one source; forty, according to another. What is important is that he appeared among his brothers as a prince, with all the rights and privileges due his rank. An abyss separated him from the world of suffering. Yet the slaves’ hunger and suffering did touch him; so much so that he decided to intervene.

The Midrash tells us that on that day Moses saw strong men carrying light burdens and weak men straining under heavy loads; old men performing the tasks of young men and young men doing work suited for old men; men assigned to do women’s chores and women carrying out men’s work. So shocked was Moses by this sight that he decided to intercede on their behalf and arrange that from that time on, everyone was assigned work according to his or her ability.