Parashat Beha'alotecha: The Humblest of All Men

(והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה (יב,ג
And Moshe was a humble man, more than any man on earth.

Moshe, the greatest prophet, the greatest Jew in history, he was also the most humble? How could that be? How could he not know how great he was?

Before we attempt to answer this question, let’s explore another question. How does the Torah’s description of Moshe being humble relate to the pesukim before it? The pesukim first describe Miriam’s sin of speaking lashon hara about Moshe for separating from his wife, and then the pasuk says Moshe was the most humble person of all. How are these two things connected? Furthermore, wouldn’t it have made more sense for the Torah to say that Moshe was the most righteous and not to be blamed for separating from his wife?

The commentators explain that ענוה, being humble does not not mean that you do not recognize your greatness. It does not mean that you think poorly of yourself or to have bad self esteem. On the contrary, someone who is humble knows his strengths; he knows how positively people feel about him. But he also knows that all of his strengths and accomplishments are gifts from Hashem. In fact, the most humble people are usually the most righteous because they do not attribute their greatness to their own actions. The Netziv adds that being humble means he conducts himself without any concern for his own honor.

The Gemorrah presents an insightful metaphor. When one shakes a tzedakah box with only a few coins, it rattles and makes a lot of noise. However, if you shake a full tzedakah box, it makes very little noise. So too it is with people. A person who is full of many good qualities and accomplishes much has no need to boast. He feels fulfilled. But a person who feels empty inside makes a lot of noise about his few accomplishments to try to fill his emptiness.

The Medrash explains that Miriam slandered Moshe in his presence. Although he was insulted, he did not react. Hashem had to intervene to defend Moshe’s honor. Thus, Moshe’s humility was very connected to this incident, since it was his modesty that enabled him to overlook Miriam’s criticism.

Master educator and lecturer, Shira Smiles quotes Rabbi Feuer who explains that a six foot man will always consider himself tall/high if he compares himself to a five foot person. But if he compares his height to that of the sun, he will realize he is quite low. Moshe did not compare himself to other human beings. He compared himself to Hashem and always recognized how small he was in that comparison. Therefore, he remained the humblest of all men and appreciated how successful he was in being an eved Hashem.