With the death of Yosef, the Book of Bereishet (Genesis) comes to an end. The Book of Shemot (Exodus) chronicles the creation of the nation of Israel from the descendants of Yaakov. At the beginning of this week's Torah portion, Pharaoh, fearing the population explosion of Jews, enslaves them. However, when their birthrate increases, he orders the Jewish midwives to kill all newborn males.

Yocheved gives birth to Moshe and hides him in the reeds by the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter finds and adopts him, although she knows he is probably a Hebrew. Miriam, Moshe's sister, offers to find a nursemaid for Moshe and arranges for his mother Yocheved to be his nursemaid.

Years later, Moshe witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and Moshe kills the Egyptian. Realizing his life is in danger, Moshe flees to Midian where he rescues Tzipporah, whose father Yitro approves their subsequent marriage. On Chorev (Mount Sinai), Moshe witnesses the burning bush where G-d commands him to lead the Jewish People from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael, the Land promised to their ancestors.

Moshe protests that the Jewish People will doubt his being G-d's agent, so G-d enables Moshe to perform three miraculous transformations to validate himself in the people's eyes: transforming his staff into a snake, his healthy hand into a leprous one, and water into blood. When Moshe declares that he is not a good public speaker, G-d tells him that his brother Aharon will be his spokesman. Aharon greets Moshe on his return to Egypt and they petition Pharaoh to release the Jews. Pharaoh responds with even harsher decrees, declaring that the Jews must produce the same quota of bricks as before but without being given supplies. The people become dispirited, but G-d assures Moshe that He will force Pharaoh to let the Jews go.

PARSHA INSIGHTS

Imposter?

“Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the Children of Yisrael out of Egypt?” (3:11)

Everyone deserves to feel confident in who they are, because the fact that you exist testifies to the fact that Hashem created you, and that creation comes from love. If you don’t love yourself, Hashem certainly does, or why would he have created you?

But if you’ve ever questioned your success or found it hard to let go of your mistakes, you’re not alone.

An estimated 82% of people struggle with imposter syndrome, and 85% have low self-esteem. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that you’re a fraud and don’t deserve the things you’ve achieved. Low self-esteem is a negative self-perception that makes you judge yourself harshly.

While these two conditions have a lot of similarities, they’re not identical.

The term “imposter syndrome” comes from the term “imposter phenomenon,” which originated with psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978. Clance and Imes used the term to describe high-achieving women who felt fraudulent or inadequate like they had fooled people into believing they were successful.

Nowadays, imposter syndrome is used to describe consistent feelings of self-doubt, even in areas where you’ve performed well. A few common signs of imposter syndrome are:

Doubting your competence and skills

Negative self-talk

Getting upset when you fail to meet challenging goals

Overachieving or over-preparing

Sabotaging your own hard work

Attributing your success to something other than yourself

If you have imposter syndrome, you might feel like a fraud or tell yourself you don’t deserve the things you’ve achieved. Imposter syndrome can create anxiety that other people will find out you’re a fake and that you’ll fail to live up to expectations.

Low self-esteem means you judge yourself harshly, think negative thoughts about yourself, and focus more on your flaws than your successes. Unlike imposter syndrome, low self-esteem usually does not make you feel like a fraud, but you may still live in fear of failing or letting others down.

Some signs of low self-esteem include:

Lack of confidence

Thinking or saying negative things about yourself

Ignoring your achievements in favor of focusing on your failures

Sensitivity to criticism

Withdrawing from social activities

Sometimes, low self-esteem can cause or worsen mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.

Imposter syndrome and low self-esteem share similar signs, and the conditions can overlap. Having low self-esteem may make you more likely to experience imposter syndrome. Sometimes, having imposter syndrome and the anxiety that comes with it can lower your self-esteem.

A person with imposter syndrome has generally achieved some level of success in an area of their life, yet they struggle to attribute that success to their own ability.

A person with low self-confidence, on the other hand, may be too worried about failing to start working toward their goals in the first place. Low self-confidence generally impacts multiple areas of your life, while imposter syndrome is often limited to specific areas.

“Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should take the Children of Yisrael out of Egypt?”

Hashem answered Moshe’s two questions in order. “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” said Moshe. Hashem told him that he need not fear Pharaoh, because He would be with him. And, as for the merit of the Jewish People, Hashem replied they are destined to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai. They deserved redemption on the basis of their future loyalty to Hashem. This teaches us that we can be judged and even rewarded on the basis of our potential alone.

The fact that Jewish People would, in the future, listen to and obey Hashem, was sufficient to merit their redemption.

If Hashem rewards us even for our future achievements, how much more should we not denigrate our past achievements and think we are in some way imposters.