Today, as no
doubt you are all aware, is the Yahrzeit of Moshe Rabbenu. The Gemora tells us
that not only this was his yahrzeit, it was also his birthday which was on ז אדר. The same
Gemora, in Megillah, relates that when Homon threw his lots, the פור, on which the name
Purim is based, he was pleased that it fell on the month of Adar because he
knew that Moshe Rabbenu had passed away on that day. What he did not know was
that Moshe Rabbenu was also born on the same day.
We all know that
Moshe Rabbenu was the greatest of the novi’im, of all the prophets that the
Bnei Yisroel have ever had and that his prophesy was true. This is one of the
13 ikrim that the Rambam enumerates.
In order that we
should perhaps obtain a glimpse, at least, of the greatness of Moshe Rabbenu, I
think we need to go back to the beginning of Shemos, where we are told וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי, man went forth from the house of Levi and he took as a wife,
the daughter of Levi. The Torah continues ותהר האשה ותלד
בן, the woman became pregnant
and bore a son, and then the Torah continues ותרא אותו כי
טוב הוא, and she saw that he
was good. Finally, the Torah says, ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים, and she hid him for three months.
What I find
remarkable is that there is no mention of a name, it does not say that Amram
took Yocheved and they had a son Moshe, no names are mentioned whatsoever.
Later on in
Torah, when the Yichus of shevet Levi is enumerated in detail, it states quite
clearly that Amram went and took his Aunt Yocheved, the daughter of Levi and
they had Aharon and Moshe as well as Miriam. But here at the time of the birth
of Moshe no mention is made of who his father or mother were, or a name for him
either. I find this very strange, in fact, we do not find this type of wording
anywhere else in Torah I believe. Why should it be so?
Furthermore, if
we look at the life of Moshe Rabbenu, we find a very unusual pattern, he was
hidden in the bulrushes, found by Basya the daughter of Pharaoh, brought into
the palace of Pharaoh and lived there for a number of years, brought up in a
non-Jewish palace in a non-Jewish atmosphere. He then went out and saw the
oppression that was meted out to his Jewish brethren, killed an Egyptian who
was hitting a Jewish person and fled to Midian when he was reported to Pharaoh
who wanted to kill him. He remained in Midian for many years and had no contact
with all his Jewish brethren.
In Midian, he
married Zipporah, the daughter of Yisro who had been the Kohen of Midian but
had become disillusioned with all types of avodah zorah.
When he was approximately
79 years of age, he had a special revelation, a burning bush. There Moshe was
instructed by Hashem to go back to the Yidden in Egypt and tell them that they were
going to be freed. He was also informed that Pharaoh will not listen to him and
that Hashem will mete out punishment to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Moshe was
instrumental in bringing the ten makkos on Egypt. Eventually Moshe was able to
take the Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, as we all know.
That was not
enough. The same Moshe led the Bnei Yisroel to the Yam Suf and the famous krias
Yam Suf, the miraculous splitting of the Red Sea (the Reed Sea) took place.
After that the Bnei Yisroel went for a further six weeks into the wilderness,
reached Har Sinai and this same Moshe, was the one that went up to receive the
Torah as well as the Aseres Hadibros written on special tablets of stone, which
were miraculous. The Yidden had this once off experience of a revelation of
Hashem actually speaking to them, all the Yidden together, 600,000 males of 20
years upwards and a few million women and children.
The Gemora in
Shabbos tells us in detail how great Moshe Rabbenu was. He went up to Heaven
and disputed with the malochim as to who should receive the Torah and explained
to them that the Torah includes mitzvos which only human beings can perform,
not angels. Remember Moshe went up to heaven for forty days and did not eat or
drink all that time. This was repeated three times in the space of 122 days.
All this was למעלה מן הטבע,
supernatural.
When he went up
to be instructed regarding the whole of Torah shel b’ksav and Torah shel baal
peh, unfortunately, the mixed multitude, the ערב רב, persuaded the Yidden to join in and
worship the golden calf, the עגל הזהב.
Moshe Rabbenu
was sent down from Heaven because of this, with the Aseres Hadibros, the
tablets in his hands. He threw them down, broke them and proclaimed מי לה' אלי,
who will join me, in punishing the Yidden who had actually served the idol. We
know that the whole tribe of Levi joined in, but the same Moshe then appealed
to Hashem not to destroy the Yidden, ויחל משה את פני ה'
אלקיו. Finally, the Torah says
וינחם ה',
Hashem reconsidered his intention to destroy the Bnei Yisroel immediately and
replaced it with the residue of that sin, leading to punishment from time to
time, as we are aware.
Moshe was indeed
a remarkable man, he could perform all these miracles, and he could also stand
up on behalf of the Bnei Yisroel as the needs be.
From where did
he have all these כוחות?
The Zohar Hakodesh
tells us an interesting fact. Three times in Torah our great ancestors are
called by their name, twice in repetition. At the time of the עקידה, just when
Avrohom was about to kill Yitzchok, an angel came and said אברהם 1 אברהם, don’t
kill him, don’t harm him at all.
When Yaakov was
about to go down to Egypt having learned that Yosef was the viceroy of Pharaoh,
Hashem appeared to him in a vision at night and said, יעקב
1 יעקב and Hashem told him, Don’t
be scared you are going down to Egypt, I will bring you back, Yosef will place
his hand on your eyes etc.
The third time
that Hashem called an individual was at the burning bush, when He said משה משה and
Moshe answered Hineni, here I am.
The Zohar tells
us that whereas in the first two cases, a line is put between the first word “Avrohom”
and the second “Avrohom” and the first “Yaakov” and the second “Yaakov”, there
is no line between the repetition of the word Moshe. The reason for this,
states the Zohar, is because Moshe was on the same elevated level from the time
he was born until the time he passed away. He was an איש
אלקים, all his life. Avrohom
and Yaakov had to elevate themselves from a lower level to a higher level and
the line between in the cases of Avrohom and Yaakov indicate this.
When Moshe was
born, the Torah states, ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא and Chazal tell us נתמלא
הבית אורה. The House became
full of light. This means that the Shechinah came down with the baby.
Let us return to
my question much earlier on as to why no names were mentioned when Moshe
Rabbenu was born, not his father, not his mother and not his own name.
Chazal tell us
that the early men, the ראשונים, knew why they gave a particular name to their children, it
could have been because of a happening later in the person’s life, such as ,פלג כי בימיו נפלגה
הארץ, because during
his lifetime and not when he was born, there would be the דור הפלגה, the
generation that built the tower of Babel. In the case of many of the children
born to Yaakov the names are an indicated of what was going to happen or had
just happened. For instance, דן was because Rochel said Hashem has judged
me, דנני
etc.
However, in each
case, a name sets a boundary or boundaries for the person, it is a sort of צימצום, a
curtailment. What I am suggesting is that Moshe Rabbenu was born on such an
elevated level that a name would have been a צימצום for him which would have affected his
greatness and his ability to perform miracles and to be למעלה
מן הטבע. To emphasise this, even
the names of his father and mother at the time of his birth were also not
mentioned. Therefore there would be no curtailment, spiritually in respect of
this, our greatest prophet, the person who brought down the Torah to the Bnei
Yisroel.
I am reminded of
a story about the Sfas Emes, the second Gerrer Rebbe, who was a genius from
boyhood. Another great Rabbi, a lot older than him, met him and was astounded
by his depth of knowledge and his piety and asked him “How did you reach such a
level”. The Sfas Emes explained with a parable, about the person who was
climbing up a very high mountain, lets say Everest, and of course, it took
weeks to reach the summit, when he got there, he found a child playing and he
said to the boy “How did you get here?” to which the answer was “I was born here”.
Similarly, Moshe
Rabbenu was born at this very high level and as we are told by Chazal, his
prophesy was of a higher category that any other Novi. He saw with a clarity
that no other prophet ever enjoyed, that which Chazal call אספקלריה המאירה.
At the beginning
of פרשת מטות,
Rashi comments on זה הדבר אשר צוה ה', that Moshe was the only Novi who could use the expression זה הדבר, this
is the commandment of Hashem, because he was only one who saw things absolutely
clearly. The other prophets had to use the expression, כה
אמר ה', Hashem said
(something) like this.
We also find
that Hashem told Aharon and Miriam, How could you dare speak about Moshe
Rabbenu בכל ביתי נאמן הוא, in My entire house he is the trusted one. At that time, the
Torah says והאיש משה ענו מאד, the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, מכל
האדם אשר על פני האדמה, more than
any other person on the face of the earth.
I believe that
Moshe’s humility stemmed from the fact that he had been given the privilege of
being the nearest to Hashem and having experienced revelation after revelation
carrying out the various makkos etc. and he, therefore, understood more than
any other human being, how small he was, in comparison with the mightiness of
the infinite ה' יתברך.
The Zohar states
איתפשטותא דמשה בכל דור ודור, the influence of Moshe continues in each generation.
We are now
approaching Purim and I mentioned that Homon was happy that the Pur, the lot,
fell on Adar, because Moshe Rabbenu passed away on ,ז אדר of which today is the anniversary. Homon
did not realise that Moshe was also born on ז אדר.
When Mordechai
learned about the decree against the Yidden, he took the Jewish children and
learnt Torah with them. This, together with the תפילות and fasting brought the downfall of Homon.
Eventually, ונהפוך הוא אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשונאיהם, the opposite happened, the Yidden (led by
Mordechai Hatzaddik and Esther Hamalka) ruled over their enemies.
The Torah shel
b’ksav and Torah shel baal peh which Moshe Rabbenu brought down from Har Sinai
and which he taught the Bnei Yisroel for 40 years continues to be the focal
point for us Jews, and on which our whole lifestyle is based. It is also the
pillar on which the world exists.
At this moment,
we are faced with a spiritual crisis in Eretz Yisroel. The continuing learning
of Torah in a pure manner, על טהרת הקודש, together with תפילות of ourselves and our
brethren worldwide will ensure that the attempt to undermine the Charedim in
Eretz Yisroel will fail and ונהפוך הוא אשר ישלטו היהודים
המה בשונאיהם.
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