Moses the Man

In his Rosh Hashana sermon today, Rabbi Levi Meier is taking a bold step. For the Jewish New Year, he'll peel the mask off Moses. The pivotal man among Hebrew patriarchs, who led his people out of slavery in Egypt into the land that is modern-day Israel, is now under investigation. Close to 15 centuries after his death, two new books and a movie about his life unveil a new portrait--the sugarcoating he has worn for so long gets reduced to a semisweet glaze.

Like his sermon, Meier's book, "Moses: The Prince, the Prophet" (Jewish Lights), profiles an imperfect hero, which makes him all the more credible as a guide through modern dilemmas.

For his remake, Jonathan Kirsch burrows into the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, in "Moses: A Life" (Ballantine) and finds some discrepancies. Unlike the familiar, granite image of Moses, Kirsch sees a man torn by fits of violence, prone to arguing with God, marked by physical handicaps, reluctant to be a savior.

Both books are due in stores next month.

On the big screen, DreamWorks Pictures' animated film "The Prince of Egypt" comes closest to preserving the godlike facade of Moses, but it diverts from the original story by playing him up as an alienated man, born a Hebrew but raised an Egyptian, struggling with divided loyalties. The film premieres in December.

Old Gray Beard has been down this road before. Leaders of such mythic proportion seldom rest in peace. In the '50s, Hollywood captured Moses as a tower of physical and moral strength in "The Ten Commandments," with Charlton Heston playing the paragon of courage and virtue.

In the '60s, Moses was the liberator who inspired modern Jews in "Exodus," a bestselling-novel-turned-epic-movie that equates the struggle of the Jews to create a homeland in Palestine with the ancient escape from slavery.

The movies were anything but the first round of remakes.

Moishe, as his Hebrew mother would have called him, has been a work in progress since around 1200 BC, the estimated era of his life. Over time his image has been built on legends and lore more than sacred Scripture.

"The most important thing to know about Moses is that he's depicted in the Bible in stark contrast to the way he's portrayed in popular and religious culture," says Kirsch. "Those versions are sanitized, because a close look at the Bible text shows how the details of his life are perplexing and challenging."