FOR B’HAALOS’CHA
STINKING HUMILITY
It is difficult to believe that, as recently as a few months ago, people were talking of a drought in the Atlanta area. This past winter was one of the wettest on record, filling all the lakes and streams to the brim. It erased any worries about insufficient water. And the Atlanta area was hardly alone in assuaging fears of rainwater scarcity. Many places around the country and around the world – including Israel – were inundated with deluges of more-than-usual rain during this past winter.
The rains have still not stopped. This spring has also been one of the wettest on record in Georgia, and elsewhere. In an extremely rare occurrence, it has rained in Israel during the current month of May.
Rain is normally considered a primary life-giving blessing. At the same time, abundance of rain can, at times, wreak havoc if its holding vessels are overwhelmed.
It seems that, with all the prodigious amount of rain, the water in parts of Fayette County, the county in which the Lew family lives, was adversely affected. Approximately two weeks ago, the water running from the faucets in hundreds of homes began to adopt an odor normally associated with earth or grass. Placing some of that water into the mouth has been a colossal challenge. Experts in the field have insisted that the water contains no contaminants, and is safe despite its foul stench. Yet, it does not help with brushing teeth, even with fresh and minty toothpaste. Lots of bottled water has been sold in our neighborhood lately.
Thankfully, this will be over very soon. The cup of coffee, the shower, the food in the pot and the water we drink, will taste like water again. Within a week, no one will give a passing thought to all this. The water will reassume its same “boring” configuration – and that is a shame.
Water is essential and critical. Nothing alive in this world can survive without it. Yet, people in the industrialized world expect to open a nozzle out of which clean water will always flow for drinking, cleaning, washing and cooking. It is also expected that the water, once used, will make its way out of the house through another pipe. As critical as it is, however, one hardly pays attention to this requisite unless a problem develops.
It has been a humbling lesson for us. The absence of access to an essential component of life has taught us how to appreciate life. It helps to be reminded, at least from time to time, that not everything is a right, but a privilege. It helps internalize the blessing of living in a generation and a location where everything is available at one’s fingertips.
Humility, especially in times of plenty, is an elusive trait. Without reminders, it is not always easy to remember how dependent everyone is on others – which is an important lesson imparted by the Torah in this week’s portion, “Be’haalos’cha.”
The portion records how the siblings of Moses, Miriam and Aaron, were privately discussing a peculiarity in the transmission of prophecy between the Almighty and Moses. Following this discussion, the Torah continues: “The man, Moses, was extremely humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth.” (B’midbar (Numbers) 11:3.)
The Talmud states that the juxtaposition of Moses’ humility and prophecy teaches how humility is a basic requisite of prophecy. In other words, humility is not a trait leading a person to being meek, weak, and shy. One could not be a prophet, a fearless leader, by being meek. Moreover, the Torah is replete with stories of how Moses, the most humble of “any person on the face of the earth,” confronted Pharaoh and other enemies of the Jewish people head-on. When needed, he also fearlessly stood before all the Jewish people.
Being humble is, rather, a recognition that nothing is taken for granted. It is knowing how not everything given to a person is a right. It is recognizing that should someone else be in the same position, he or she may do it better and more effectively.
When the Torah talks of Moses being the most humble of all people, it does not mean that he ignored his talents and his accomplishments. Neither does it mean that he simply disregarded flattery. It means that he was unpretentious. It means he was brutally honest, appreciating that even the greatest leader does not know everything and does not have the answers to all questions. He experienced freedom from thinking about himself.
This explains two anomalies in the above verse regarding Moses’ humility: 1) the verse describes Moses as “Ish,” or “Man.” Yet, the verse continues how he was more humble than any “Adam,” or “person.” Why the change in titles? 2) The word “earth” in this verse is “Adamah.” Other words in Hebrew, like “Olom,” or “world,” can also make the point.
The answer to both questions is about the recognition of humility. The term “man,” or “Ish,” connotes a physical position of power. The term “person,” or “Adam,” refers to a spiritual position of accomplishment. The verse is suggesting that Moses, as great a leader as he was, realized that the physical position of leadership should be humbling in the face of the spiritual accomplishments of “any person on the face of the earth.” And this is why the Torah employs the term “Adama” for earth, since that word, as well as the word in that same verse, “Me’od,” or “extremely,” possess the same letters as the word “Adam.” This implies that Moses was more humble than any person’s accomplishment, in any which way, and even of any generation.
The people living in Moore, Oklahoma had their lives change in an instant this past week due to a killer super-tornado. All of a sudden, regular people were forced to deal with fatalities, injuries, and massive damage. The dire situation there is shocking. It should also act as an awakening not just to generously help the relief efforts, but also to realize the blessing of life, family, and a roof over one’s head. (To assist in the relief, please go here:
It pays to be humble in order to recognize all the blessings that come to each individual, even in the very common form of clean-smelling water. In this way, one is more able to enjoy these blessings in good health.
SUMMARY: From even the most common and lowly phenomenon, one can learn to be humble and feel blessed.