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I appreciated reading this insight... Rav Hecht addressed Moshe's valid concern very well. As a woman with a significant speech impediment who is very involved and vocal in the public sphere, I am continually concerned about how I come across and I plan accordingly. Therefore, I surmise that Moshe's concern for how well he'd be understood probably entered into his first question to G-d as well. I ask that we all think about leadership and what made Moshe G-d's choice leader and spokesman for Am Yisroel. Today, we judge our leaders on the ways in which they express their thoughts and secondarily on content. One might hear another say, "I don't understand his point, but he's a great speaker." Contrarily, God doesn't seem to deem one's facility with speech to be the essence of leadership. Also, I conject, though I have no proof text, that Moshe's reliance on Aaron may have lessened over time because he became more confident and the "receivers" became accustomed to his speech. They mustered up the patience and incentive to lower their resistance, listen, and understand. A speaker with a significant speech impediment might be offering the listener a million dollars. If the listener has no patience at all to listen or to seek another way to understand, s/he might lose that million bucks. God's response to Moshe and what it conveys about leadership capacity and "reasonable accomodations&" (Aaron) is very important should be discussed as well. Thank you for this opportunity to reply.
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You make some excellent points. An interesting side issue, though, is the Ramban's idea that Moshe was concerned the second time that he would be insulting Pharaoh, or at least not giving him proper respect, by approaching him with a speech impediment. It is one thing to be concerned about the effectiveness of your communication in achieving your goal. It is also one thing to be concerned about the respect you may receive from the listener in allowing you to communitcate. But the question of why it may be considered a disrespectful act to approach Pharaoh with a speech impediment demands some contemplation. The one thought I had was that, since Moshe was speaking as the representative of Klal Yisrael, it could be deemed disrespectful to send a messenger, a spokesperson, who lacks aspects of form. This raises further questions of the relationship of form and substance as well as further questions of the relationship of the individual leader to the group.
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