Reply To: Short & Sweet

Vayikra: For the People

The word ????? is written with a small Aleph. The Medrash points out that if read without the Aleph, the Passuk is using the same phrase in regards to Moshe that it does by Bilaam: ????, and Hashem �happened upon him.� Yet we know that Moshe was the greatest Jew to have ever lived, while Bilaam was rotten to the core – how are we to understand this Medrash?

The Kli Yakar offers a beautiful explanation. Although Bilaam was unworthy of Nevuah, Hashem still �used� him to send a message to the Jewish people. So too Moshe, despite his exalted state, was still not worthy of the revelations that he experienced. The reason Hashem spoke to Moshe ???? ?? ????, �face to face�, was for the sake of Bnei Yisroel.

R� Chaim Shmuelevitz offers a proof to this idea. Rashi on this Passuk cites from another Medrash that the entirety of the 38 years that Hashem was angry at Bnei Yisroel, He did not speak to Moshe. This shows that ??????? ??? ???? ???, it is only in the merit of the people that Hashem spoke to Moshe.

R� Dessler takes this idea one step further. This does not only apply to the Neviim, he writes; it applies to each of us. Whatever spiritual wealth we merit is not actually ours; it has been given to us to share with all of the Jewish nation.

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