By: Rabbi Jordan Silvestri, Head of School
Steve Martin, one of arguably the most famous comedians of the past few decades, was not a comedic prodigy. He was not very good at all.
In Adam Grant’s newest book, Hidden Potential, he discusses Martin’s historically horrific early performances. He was described as the worst comic in history. How could such a colossal bust turn out to be one of the trendsetters of the comedic community today? Adam Grant explains that it all came down to Martin accepting the idea of being comfortable with the uncomfortable.
As we turn our attention to this week’s parsha, Parshat Bo, we complete the final two plagues that are brought through Moshe ultimately leading the way for Pharoah to force the Jewish people out due to the heavy burden of the human losses that were incurred. This is the moment that Hashem has outlined from the beginning of the book of Shemot. One would think that the entire Jewish people would be clamoring as they await this moment with Moshe first in line. Yet, that is not how the parsha seems to frame it.
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ
Hashem said to Moshe, “Go to Pharoah as I have hardened his heart and that of his servants in order to place My signs in their midst” - Shemot 10:1
The Torah seems to imply that Moshe needed extra encouragement and a push to go and take charge of this next phase of the Jewish redemption from Egypt. I thought that we went through this already in Shemot when Moshe was reluctant in taking on the role of leader in the first place! Why is it coming up again?
When Steve Martin was attempting to break into the business, he would sit for hours watching, listening and mimicking famous and successful comedians. He attempted to regurgitate their work, with a bit of his own self sprinkled in, to no avail. He started losing stand up opportunities and was left to one area of comedy that he truly hated - writing.
Martin was not a natural writer nor was he proficient. He hated the idea of writing and was not comfortable with being forced into that world. He had two choices in front of him - face the music and be uncomfortable with writing inorder to stay in comedy or leave his first love forever. He chose, as Grant describes it, to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and the rest is history.
Moshe, faced with the newest reality of his tenure as leader, was not ready to take on this new stage. He was frightened, worried and concerned about whether or not he would be the right leader for this next stage of Jewish nation building. He began to cower, hide and take a more passive approach. As such, Hashem needed to provide him with a stronger push and a reminder that it is when we are most uncomfortable that we do the work needed to be the version best suited for success. Failure will come and it is when we embrace that frustration that we begin to really learn.
What a world it would be if failure was seen as a necessary and important part of the growth process? What school could we build where that tenet was at the core of the educational philosophy?