Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Humility Of Moshe

Li-ilui nishmas ha-yeled ha-tahor Elisha Chanina ben HaRav Aharon Avraham and Chana Mindel

A Dvar Torah I once wrote.....

In Parshat Tetzave we find the strange omission of Moshe's name from the entire parsha. Much has already been said about this and some more is about to be said.

After the sin of the golden calf Moshe told Hashem that he should either forgive the Jews or מחני נא מספרך - erase me from your Torah. This parsha is a minor fulfillment of this "curse". But here the question presents itself - Moshe was such a great, devoted leader. Why does he deserve to have his name blotted out from the Torah? He was just trying to defend his people. 

Here we get to a fundamental point. The Torah relates that the Dor Haflaga [the gentlemen who built a tower. Many years later its twin was erected in downtown Manhattan] said "נעשה לנו שם" - Let's make a name for ourselves. Ever since then in all civilized societies people have been focused on "making a name for themselves", achieving fame and stardom. That is considered the pinnacle of human success. In the world of academia there is an expression - "Publish or perish". If your name doesn't appear at the by-line of an article that basically means that you have ceased to exist. Moshe Rabbeinu was different. He was the most humble of all men. When he pleaded for the Jewish people in essence he was saying "Hashem - Ich bin gornisht [I am nothing. I am certain that Moshe conversed with Hashem in Yiddish]. It's not about me. I am just a vessel, just a faithful servant." A servant is just that - someone who serves, not someone seeking personal glory. Moshe's sole concern was for the glorification of G-d's name through the Jewish people. 

Now we understand. As far as Moshe was concerned his name didn't have to appear in the Torah at all. Hashem in His more than infinite wisdom wanted it there but as a REWARD to Moshe his name was omitted from one parsha. So really this parsha says more about Moshe than any other. Moshe understood that the more self effacing one is the closer he can come to G-d. "Ego" is gematria "chamtz erev pesach". It is soooo not. But they should meet the same fate. Bittul. Nullification.   

Ahhhhh - we take this line of thought a step further. We know nothing of Hashem. All we know of Him is how He relates to the world. This is revealed to us so that we can emulate his ways [which of course is a great opportunity for me to use the word "emulate" which is one of my favorite words]. We spend a lot of time praising Hashem. This is NOT because He has an ego and needs us to constantly inflate it. The reason we praise Hashem is because the more we praise, the more our appreciation of His greatness is magnified which enables us to be elevated above our lowly earthly state. But Hashem Himself doesn't need any of it. On the contrary - he wants to show us that the ideal is achieved when His name is not even mentioned. This is a display of Divine humility [see Megilla ל"א]. 

That is a possible explanation of the mystery of the absence of Hashem's name in Megillas Esther. From His perspective the goal was to save His beloved children and not to "show his stuff". That is why His name is absent and the whole miracle was accomplished through natural means. A clear display of Divine humility. 

In the end, our Torah is called by the Navi Malachi "Toras Moshe". Moshe was self effacing - he ended up with the greatest name of all. The Torah of Hashem was "renamed" after him. Amalek is the arch enemy of Hashem in this world and thus their ultimate destiny is to be completely blotted out. When a nation is solely concerned with making a name for themselves they cannot last. When Haman was approached by Achashveirosh and asked how to give a special person honor he said to himself "Who would the king want to honor more than me." I need not tell you about his ignominious end. [GOOD WORD!!] As it says in Pirkei Avos נגיד שמא אבד שמיה [perek aleph mishna yud gimmel] - one who pursues a name loses his name.

On the yahrtzeit of Moshe may we connect to his soul and follow his ways.