The Gemara in Maseches Sota (13b) comments that when Moshe Rabbeinu passed away, a בת קול (Heavenly voice) announced throughout the entire camp, וימת משה ספרא רבה לישראל – “Moshe, the great scribe of Israel, died!”
The Maharsha brings two explanations for why Moshe Rabbeinu is referred to here as ספרא. One is that Moshe was the first סופר, the first scribe, as he wrote the first sefer Torah. Hashem dictated the text, and Moshe wrote the words on parchment, producing the first sefer Torah, and thus becoming the first סופר.
The second explanation brought by the Maharsha is that the word ספרא here means not “scribe” but, rather, “counter.” Moshe was called the ספרא רבה לישראל because he conducted two censuses, counting Benei Yisrael both at Mount Sinai, as we read here in Parshas Bamidbar, and a second time toward the end of his life, in Arvos Moav, as we read in Parshas Pinchas.
Why would this role, counting the people, be considered such a significant achievement that this is how Moshe is called when his death is announced?
Perhaps the Gemara here is teaching us that a leader’s most important responsibility is to “count” every one of his constituents, to make each and every one of them recognize that he matters, that he is needed. Moshe, of course, was singularly great in many different respects. He was the prophet who perceived G-d more clearly than any other prophet. He received the Torah from G-d and masterfully taught it to us. He was unparalleled in his devotion to the people, intervening on their behalf with endless self-sacrifice. He was the humblest of all men. But his most important quality was that he was ספרא רבה; he ensured that each and every person appreciated his own value and worth. He made it clear that everyone counted.
The renowned educator Rabbi Daniel Kalish recently remarked that he once had a conversation with a certain prominent rav, who proudly spoke about the numerous talks he had given to teens. In just the past year, this rav said, he spoke to some 3,000 teenagers.
Recalling this conversation, Rabbi Kalish remarked, “I would have been much more impressed if he had said that he had listened to 3,000 teenagers. Young people need to be listened to, to feel that they are heard, much more than they need to be spoken to.”
The most important job of an educator is to be a ספרא רבה, to make it clear to his charges that each and every one of them counts, and this requires patiently and respectfully listening to them, allowing them to be heard, and letting them know that they are important.
