[In the picture: Humility... Free Image - CC0 Creative Commons - Designed and Uploaded by PIRO4D to Pixabay]

[For articles on the “Sabbath of Behaalotecha" in Hebrew, click here]

Updated on May 28, 2023

Rabbi Dr. Yossi Feintuch was born in Afula and holds a Ph.D. in American history from Emory University in Atlanta. He taught American history at Ben-Gurion University.

Author of the book US Policy on Jerusalem (JCCO).

He now serves as rabbi at the Jewish Center in central Oregon. (JCCO).

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On a scale with hubris on one pole and self-abnegation on the other – both extremes contradict the values of Torah – humility is much closer to the latter. Humility – a behavioral conduct -- can only be seen in the presence of other people, when you turn far away from narcissism and the thought that ‘’My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth’’ (Deuteronomy 8:17).

This weekly Torah portion, Beh-ha'alotecha -- describes Moses as ‘’very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth’’ (Numbers 12:3); in fact, this is the only scriptural characterization of Moses besides being ‘’goodly’’ at his birth…    Moses’ humility is evidenced from the start of his saga in his going out from the palace to witness the suffering of his ‘’brethren’’ who were toiling in harsh labor. As it is likely that he did not know that he too was a Hebrew, coming out of the palace to see his ‘’brethren’’ might very well indicate that he was interested in all suffering people whom he considered to be his ‘’brethren’’.

[In the picture: Humility... Free Image - CC0 Creative Commons - Designed and Uploaded by ALESSA_ABRAMOFF to Pixabay]

To go on an assignment as God’s recruit and become an emancipator of an oppressed people is a big deal that promises a honorable citation in world’s history; yet, Moses humbly asks God: ‘’Who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh?’’ --- Send anyone else but me’’.   Many years thereafter one Gideon would ask God in the same humble spirit in response to his call to become an Israelite chieftain: ‘’How can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family?’’

Much later on the very day when the Sanctuary (or Tent of Meeting) is dedicated with pomp and circumstance, Moses shows his anger at Aaron’s sons. These two young priests had just lost their other two brothers who died mysteriously in the midst of a fiery ritual.  Erroneously Moses accused them of a deviation from the brand new protocol – not eating a sacrificial meat – even as they were mourning their two brothers.   Aaron, the twice-bereaved High Priest, responded to Moses by calling out his error. Moses received that rebuke well and ‘’it was well pleasing in his sight’’ (Leviticus 10:20). Admitting openly, as Moses did, one’s error is a rare manifestation of humility, even in the Bible.

[In the photo: Frederick Wenzel, Moshe, 19th century. The image is in the public domain]

However, in this weekly portion, the case for Moses’ humility is solidified and sealed. Hence, we are informed of the 70 elders that Moses recruited to share with him the governance of the people. When Joshua, his faithful disciple, informs him of Eldad and Meidad who prophesied within the camp – unlike the other 68 who did so outside the camp -- and suggested having them arrested, Moses rebuked Joshua for feeling jealousy for his sake. Moses would rather have all of Israel sharing equally his heretofore exclusive access to God’s word; why resent, let alone punish others who shared, however temporarily, his unique lucid perception of God’s messages?  Why should Moses have all the ‘’fun’’?  Indeed, many years thereafter, when Moses shares his honor with Joshua ordaining him as his successor, he does not suffice with laying on his shoulders only one hand as God instructed him to do. Instead, Moses lays both hands on him, an act that showed again his utmost humility.

[In the picture: Moses and Joshua. The image is in the public domain]

And that brings us back to our portion’s assertion that Moses was ‘’very humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth’’. The Torah invokes these words right after hearing his doting sister Miriam gossiping with Aaron about Moses’ wife of color followed by their joint slander of Moses’ seeming self-aggrandizement over them. It isn’t clear from the text whether Moses overheard them but due to his humility he chose not to respond.  Indeed, what would he tell them? That his prophetic access to God’s word was factually greater than theirs? Or perhaps, he did not hear them at all.

The Midrash asserts that Moses did hear his slighting but chose not to respond; God, however, felt it necessary to answer his two siblings and told them that Moses’s prophecy was greater than theirs.  Namely, Moses’ being exceedingly humble, or for that matter too righteous, was problematic, to say the least. Had Moses answered his siblings he might even have spared Miriam and Aaron from going from bad to worse, or from gossip to libel, even saving Miriam from the skin ailment of tsaraat that she contracted as her comeuppance.  Moses’ being very humble nudged God into the situation to set the record straight, a task that he himself had to do.

[In the photo: Miriam and Aharon are complaining. The image is in the public domain]

Hence, if we hear the slanting of another person, or of a cause that we share, or a value that we advocate being targeted with falsities – “You shall not bear false witness against your fellow man” (Exodos 20:16), clamming up is not a virtue, and might even be taken as consent or admission.

Being described as ‘’very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth’’ catapults this accolade to a unique level, meaning – according to a Midrash (Shimoni) – that Moses’ humility exceeded everyone else's who came before or after him.  It is a tribute that must be equally attributable to his adoptive mother, the Pharaoh’s daughter, who must have had something to do with her son’s humility…

Nevertheless, how would such a humble man write in the Torah his own praises?  Allowing the text to state that he was head and shoulders above everyone else, including Abraham who saw himself as mere ‘’dust and ashes’’, does not look as humble at all. The resolution to that quandary may be found in re-reading ‘’more so than anyone else on the face of the earth’’ and rendering the Hebrew text as ‘’more so, [i.e., not ‘’from’’ but] because of anyone else on the face of the earth’’, a reading that was suggested by the Gaon of Vilna. When we read this important verse in this way we come to understand that Moses recognized that he could learn something new and meaningful from every person. That is an admission that especially he, Moses, understood that there is so much to learn from almost every person in the world, for almost every person possesses skills and talents that we will never gain. Or in the words of the Rabbis: “Who is wise? The one  who learns from everyone.” When you realize that there is so much in others that is worthy of imitation you become the humblest person on the face of the earth, even as Moses was.

[For articles on the “Sabbath of Behaalotecha" in Hebrew, click here]