Springboard For All Greatness

Harav Hagaon Yosef Elefant Shlita

In this week’s parashah, which discusses the machlokes of Korach va’adaso with Moshe Rabbeinu, there’s a side incident that seems a bit trivial but is actually very telling. We know that of Korach’s whole assembly, his own sons did teshuvah at the end. Chazal describe that the bnei Korach were already in the pit, and at the last second they had a hirhur teshuvah and they were saved.

What prompted them to do teshuvah? The Midrash, in this week’s parashah, explains that after Dasan and Aviram said לֹא נַעֲלֶה — we’re not going to Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe Rabbeinu lowered himself and came to see them. Upon seeing this, the bnei Korach said to themselves, “Our father is busy saying that Moshe Rabbeinu is a baal gaavah, and all he wants is power and control, but we see that he’s mevater on his kavod and he’s prepared to come down to try to placate Dasan and Aviram.” This spurred them to say, “Wait a minute — something’s wrong with our father’s whole narrative. Moshe Rabbeinu is a true anav!”  That is what prompted their teshuvah.

Moshe Rabbeinu’s humility in lowering himself to go to Dasan and Aviram to placate them and not being makpid is not a side point about him, but a central point.

At the end of Parashas Behaaloscha, in middle of the Torah’s account of the tragic incident with Miriam and Aharon, Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells Aharon that Moshe is the greatest anav: וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה עָנָו מְאֹד מִכֹּל הָאָדָם. There’s something very interesting about the placement of this passuk, as we will explain.

The sefarim explain that Moshe Rabbeinu was mevatel himself by attributing everything to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and that is what anavah is. Anavah is not something bein adam l’chaveiro, but is, rather, bein adam laMakom, as the Gemara (Sotah 5b) teaches regarding a baal gaavah: אין אני והוא יכולים לדור בעולם.

A baal gaavah attributes all his maalos to himself, whereas an anav recognizes that he has maalos and kochos, but he attributes them all to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

The Meshech Chochmah, in Parashas Shemos, says that Moshe Rabbeinu’s supreme anavah was a sign of his constant dveikus in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because the moment a person’s mind wanders away from awareness of Hashem, he automatically sinks into himself. The fact that Moshe Rabbeinu was the anav mikol Adam indicated that he was the most davuk in Hakadosh Baruch Hu of any human being, and his mind never wandered away from Hashem. That’s what kept him in his state of anavah.

Accordingly, say the sefarim, Moshe Rabbeinu’s zechus to receive the Torah, and his unsurpassed level of nevuah, were all the result of his anavah and total, constant hisbatlus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That explains why all the other nevi’im prophesied with unclear vision — באספלריא שאינה מאירה — while Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophetic vision was absolutely clear, like looking through a clear glass, because there was no “zich” in the way. Nothing was his own; he knew that everything he had was from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

R' Chaim Volozhiner, in Ruach Chaim at the beginning of Pirkei Avos, says that Moshe Rabbeinu’s anavah was the cause of his being the one to receive the Torah — so much so, that if someone else in history would achieve as much anavah as Moshe Rabbeinu, that person would be mekabel Torah b’shleimus.

 If Moshe Rabbeinu’s anavah made him a suitable vehicle for receiving the Torah, then why would the Torah mention the critically important fact that he was the anav mikol adam — the only description in the Torah of this maalah — specifically in middle of the story of Aharon and Miriam denigrating him? Why not mention it in the context of Moshe Rabbeinu bringing down the Torah?

The answer can be found in the Rambam, at the end of Hilchos Tumas Tzaraas. The Rambam discusses the sin of Miriam, who spoke badly of Moshe, and he notes that her offense was relatively minimal, considering that she was his older sister, who was moser nefesh for him, and her intention was for his benefit. Her only mistake was to equate him with other nevi’im. The Rambam adds that in any case, Moshe Rabbeinu was not makpid about what she said, as the Torah states that he was anav mikol adam.

The Rambam is telling us something fascinating: that Moshe Rabbeinu’s anavah was the reason he wasn’t makpid. Presumably, the Rambam derives this from the Gemara (Shabbos 35) that states that a person should always be an anav like Hillel and not a kapdan like Shammai, which implies that anavah and kapdanus as polar opposites. In what way are these two attributes opposites?

Kapdanus means that a person is concerned with his own kavod (or perceived lack thereof), or their own opinion, or their own “zich,” while anavah means that a person has nothing of his own, so he has nothing to be makpid about. There’s no “me,” no “I think” or “I say.”

Unfortunately, many people walk around with k’peidos. Some people go as far as to declare that they are makpid in this world and in the next. I always wonder whether they really think that in the next world, when they’re basking in the radiance of the Shechinah, if they’re going to carry their k’peidos with them. In any event, the Rambam is teaching us a remarkable thing: that the reason the Torah stresses Moshe’s anavah in the middle of the story of Aharon and Miriam is to explain that although Miriam spoke negatively about Moshe, he bore no resentment toward her because of his anavah. Since he didn’t feel that he owned anything, there was nothing for him to be makpid about.

Miriam’s only mistake, says the Rambam, was to equate Moshe Rabbeinu to all other nevi’im. When a person hears that someone else considers him just a regular person, and not as great as he thinks he is, then he is typically filled with indignation: “What do you mean? How can you say that?” But because Moshe was such an anav, not owning any of his gadlus and not attributing it to himself, it made no difference to him if Miriam was mistaken about his true level. By mentioning that Moshe was the anav mikol adam in the context of this incident, the Torah is stressing that his anavah was the reason he was not makpid.

Moshe Rabbeinu’s anavah and total hisbatlus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu enabled him to receive the Torah, brought him to the level of פֶּה אֶל פֶּה אֲדַבֶּר בּוֹ, and earned him אספקלריא המאירה — yet the Torah left us to figure that all out. If not for the Maharal, the Sfas Emes, R' Yerucham, and R' Chaim Volozhiner, we wouldn’t know that this is what earned him those levels. But Moshe Rabbeinu’s ability not to be makpid on his own kavod due to his anavah is expressed openly in the Torah. This teaches us just how critical it is not to live with kpeidos and not to be busy with “zich.”

We find a similar idea reflected in last week’s parashah, when Eldad and Meidad were prophesying. Yehoshua’s response was: אֲדֹנִי מֹשֶׁה כְּלָאֵם, to which Moshe answered: וּמִי יִתֵּן כָּל עַם ה' נְבִיאִים — “Let everyone be a navi! What does it bother me that there’s competition, so to speak? I don’t own the nevuah!”

R' Chaim Volozhiner makes an incredible statement in Ruach Chaim, at the beginning of Pirkei Avos, based on the Gemara’s teaching (Bava Basra 75) that Moshe Rabbeinu is compared to the sun, while Yehoshua is compared to the moon. The moon, says R' Chaim, was the one that argued, during Brias Ha’olam, that the sun and moon could not be the same size, because אין שני מלכים משתמשים בכתר אחד. That’s why the moon’s size was reduced. In this sense, Yehoshua was similar to the moon, because he was opposed to Eldad and Meidad having their independent nevuah: אין שני מלכים משתמשים בכתר אחד. Moshe Rabbeinu, however, was not bothered by their having nevuah — just like the sun, which was not bothered by the moon being the same size. Due to his incredible anavah, he was not makpid when someone else also had the ability to prophesy.

Coming back to this week’s parashah, of all the mega-events of the parashah — Korach va’adaso, the ground swallowing them up, the 250 machtos — there’s a little incident that shook the world and changed history. Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t say, “What a chutzpah of Dasan and Aviram that I called them and they don’t come.” Instead, he went to them!

In today’s treifeh world, when a person is mevater and swallows his kavod, that is viewed as weakness. But Moshe Rabbeinu wasn’t weak; he was an anav. And an anav is not makpid, because he doesn’t consider anything to be his own. So Moshe Rabbeinu had no problem going down and trying to placate Dasan and Aviram. And that incredible incident, which on the surface seems trivial, shook the bnei Korach to the core. Upon seeing the true dargah of Moshe Rabbeinu, and recognizing that he was anav mikol adam, they understood why he was Moshe Rabbeinu: because his anavah enabled him to swallow the slight to his kavod and not be makpid on anything. He wasn’t makpid on Eldad and Meidad, he wasn’t makpid during the incident with Miriam, he wasn’t makpid on Dasan and Aviram. The bnei Korach understood that this was Moshe Rabbeinu’s essence, and that prompted their teshuvah: לַמְנַצֵּחַ לִבְנֵי קֹרַח מִזְמוֹר.