
את מי יורה דעה ואת מי יבין שמועה גמולי מחלב... (ישעי' כח-ט)
Yeshaya HaNavi discusses the many privations endured by Yaakov Avinu and his family during their journey to Egypt, and he relates the devastating fall of Malchus Yisroel to the depths of impurity. In his prophecy, Yeshaya questions if there is anyone left in the doomed kingdom to relay Hashem’s word and speculates on whether it would be better to start fresh with newborn babies who have just been weaned from their mothers. But what does one have to do with the other?
R’ Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlita (Rinas Yitzchok) explains that Chazal (Sota 12b) say, upon discovering baby Moshe in the water, Basya took him around to all the Egyptian wet-nurses, but he refused to nurse from any of them because as as Rashi explains,“A mouth that in the future will speak with the Divine Presence should nurse something impure?” This understanding is derived from the words of Yeshaya, “Whom shall one teach knowledge? And whom shall one make understand the message?” The answer is: “Those who are weaned from [their mother’s] milk ...” (Yeshaya 28:9). The Torah should be taught to the one who did not want to nurse from the milk of a gentile woman - Moshe Rabbeinu.
Says R’ Yitzchok, even the greatest Talmid Chacham needs to have the basics of Siyata D’Shmaya to ensure that nothing impure enters his body, through his mind or mouth. This is because he is charged with the most important task of all, teaching Hashem’s holy Torah to our children. How careful must we all be with what we allow to enter our own bodies.