Parshas Beha’alotcha
Humility and Prophecy
In relation to the degree of Moshe’s prophecy, the Torah describes Moshe as the most humble of all men. This Sicha analyzes the trait of humility as it relates to prophecy and explains why it is specifically humility that leads to the Divine Spirit.
This week’s parsha recounts the tremendous humility of Moshe Rabeinu. The verse describing his greatness is recounted in the midst of G-d’s response to the derogatory remarks of Miriam and Aharon’s regarding their brother Moshe. They were bothered as to why Moshe had separated from his wife. As a response, G-d demonstrated to them the awesome manner in which his G-dly presence was revealed to Moshe. The Torah tells us,
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Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe regarding the Cushite woman he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. They said, "Has the Lord spoken only to Moshe? Hasn't He spoken to us too?" And the Lord heard. Now this man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth. The Lord suddenly said to Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, "Go out, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting!" And all three went out. The Lord descended in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tent. He called to Aharon and Miriam, and they both went out. He said, "Please listen to My words. If there be prophets among you, [I] the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream. Not so is My servant Moshe; he is faithful throughout My house. With him I speak mouth to mouth; in a vision and not in riddles, and he beholds the image of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moshe?"
Bamidbar 12:1-8
By “The Lord suddenly” appearing to Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, He demonstrated the constant state of readiness which was required from Moshe to receive the frequent Divine revelations. The verse then goes on to describe the prophecy of Moshe and the manner in which it was greater than any other prophet. For, while by other prophets G-d appears to them when they are in a dreamlike state and in riddles, Moshe Rabeinu perceived G-d in person and with direct communication. G-d’s introduction to describing the level of Moshe’s prophecy is his unparalleled humility. From the fact that this is the prelude to the depiction of the prophecy, it is understood that it was because of this humility that Moshe merited to this tremendous level of prophecy.
Traits of prophecy
The Talmud describes the prerequisites for prophecy as follows:
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R. Yochanan said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, causes His Divine Presence to rest only upon he who is strong, wealthy, wise and humble; and all these [qualifications] are deduced from Moshe. Strong, for it is written, ‘And he spread abroad the tent over the Tabernacle;’ and a Master said, ‘Moshe our teacher spread it;’ and it is also written, ‘Ten cubits shall be the length of the board...’ Wealthy, [as it is written] ‘Hew thee,’ [interpreted] the chips be thine. Wise: for Rav and Shmuel both said, ‘Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world, and all but one were given to Moshe, for it is said, “For thou hast made him [i.e. Moshe] a little lower than G-d.”’ Humble, for it is written, ‘Now the man Moshe was very humble.’”
Talmud, Nedarim 38a
While from the above piece of Talmud it would seem that the characteristics of might, wealth, wisdom and humility are all equal prerequisites to prophecy, from the fact that the above verse in this week’s Torah portion only mentions the trait of humility, it is understood that humility is more directly linked with prophecy than the other traits.
Humility: the key trait
This is understood as well from another statement in Talmud:
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R. Pinchas b. Yair said: “Study leads to precision, precision leads to zeal, zeal leads to cleanliness, cleanliness leads to restraint, restraint leads to purity, purity leads to holiness, holiness leads to humility, humility leads to fear of sin, fear of sin leads to saintliness, saintliness leads to the [possession of] the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit leads to life eternal, and saintliness is greater than any of these, for Scripture says: ‘Then did You speak in vision to Your saintly ones.’ This, then, differs from the view of R. Yehoshua b. Levy. For R. Yehoshua b. Levy said: ‘Humility is the greatest of them all, for Scripture says, “The spirit of the Lord G-d is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings unto the humble.” It does not say, “unto the saints”, but “unto the humble”, from which you learn that humility is the greatest of all these. ‘”
Talmud, Avoda Zara 20b
According to the latter opinion of R. Yehoshua b. Levi that “humility is the greatest of them all,” and that it “leads to the Holy Spirit,” it is understood that it is not akin to the other traits of strength, wealth and wisdom, but that it is specifically humility that leads to the Holy Spirit. Humility is not merely a prerequisite to prophecy, but it actually leads to it. As the above Talmudic statement says, “Study leads to precision, precision leads to zeal, zeal leads to cleanliness, cleanliness leads to restraint etc.” Each trait is therefore not only a facilitator for the next, making its acquisition possible, but actually brings upon and directly leads to the following step. This idea of humility being directly linked with prophecy is clear from yet a third Talmudic statement. The Talmud relates as follows:
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When Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel; nevertheless they made use of the Bas Kol (Heavenly voice). On one occasion [some Rabbis] were sitting in the upper chamber of Gurya's house in Yericho; a Bas Kol was granted to them from Heaven which announced, “There is in your midst one man who is deserving that the Shechina (Divine Presence) should alight upon him, but his generation is unworthy of it.” They all looked at Hillel the Elder; and when he died, they lamented over him, ‘Alas, the pious man! Alas, the humble man! Disciple of Ezra!’ On another occasion they were sitting in an upper chamber in Yavneh; a Bas Kol was granted to them from Heaven which announced, “There is in your midst one man who is deserving that the Shechina should alight upon him, but his generation is unworthy of it.” They all looked at Shmuel the Little; and when he died, they lamented over him, “Alas, the humble man! Alas, the pious man! Disciple of Hillel!”
Talmud, Sota 48b
When they wished to express the trait that made Hillel and Shmuel the Little worthy of prophecy, they expressed the tremendous humility that these two sages had. From the fact that their humility was stressed as opposed to any of the other original qualities attributed to prophecy (strength, wealth or wisdom), it is understood that it is primarily humility that leads to prophecy. From the previously mentioned ideas it can be concluded that there are two aspects in humility: (a) it is equal to the other perquisites of prophecy and (b) it actually leads to prophecy.
Alas, the humble! Alas, the pious!
We can understand the different aspects of humility through analyzing a curious variation in the otherwise similar accounts regarding Hillel and Shmuel the Little. Both of the stories begin with recounting how a Bas Kol expressed that “there is in your midst one man who is deserving that the Shechina should alight upon him, but his generation is unworthy of it.” The difference is however, in the expressions of their eulogies upon their passing. Upon the passing of Hillel the Sages declared, “Alas, the pious man! Alas, the humble man!” They first mentioned his piety and then his humility. Yet, upon the passing of Shmuel the Little, he was eulogized as, “Alas, the humble man! Alas, the pious man!” Here, the first mention was his humility and afterwards his piety. The commentators explain that the reason that the Sages mentioned humility and piety in general, is because both of them are traits that lead to the Holy Spirit, as can be seen in the Talmudic statement quoted above (“saintliness leads to the [possession of] the Holy Spirit ...) This, then, differs from the view of R. Yehoshua b. Levy. For R. Yehoshua b. Levy said, "Humility is the greatest of them all.” Essentially then, there is a disagreement as to whether it is piety that leads to the Holy Spirit or if it is humility that leads to the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. As expressed by one of the commentators,
