The final section of Parashat Behaalotecha tells the story of the inappropriate remarks made by Miriam and Aharon about their brother, Moshe Rabbeinu. They criticized Moshe’s decision to separate from his wife, claiming that this was unnecessary, as they, too, were prophets, and yet did not find it necessary to separate from their spouses. The Torah relates that as punishment for this lashon hara (negative speech), Miriam was stricken with tzaraat (leprosy). The Midrash teaches that Aharon, too, received tzaraat because of this misdeed.
We read that Aharon turned to Moshe and pleaded, “Al na tashet alenu hatat asher noa’lnu va’asher hatanu” – “Please, do not cast upon us the sin which we foolishly committed, and which we transgressed” (12:11). Moshe immediately turned to G-d and prayed.
The Or HaChaim (Rav Haim Ben-Attar, 1696-1743) notes that Aharon begged Moshe to forgive him and Miriam for the wrong that they committed, implying that Moshe felt offended and was angered by their words. In truth, however, Moshe was not affected at all by what Aharon and Miriam said. Immediately after telling us about the lashon hara spoken about Moshe, the Torah adds, “And the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more so than any other man on the face of the Earth” (12:3). The Or HaChaim explains this verse as informing us that Moshe paid no attention whatsoever to his siblings’ disparaging remarks about him. In his extraordinary humility, their words did not affect him in any way. He simply ignored them; he did not feel hurt or angered.
The Or HaChaim thus understood that Aharon mistakenly concluded that he and Miriam were punished because they angered Moshe. He assumed that he and his sister were stricken with tzaraat because of the anguish they caused Moshe with their words, so to cure the tzaraat, they needed Moshe’s forgiveness. But Moshe, in truth, did not feel upset by what they said. The reason why they were punished, the Or HaChaim explains, is that Moshe had the halachic status of a king, and there is a rule that a king does not have the authority to waive the honor owed to him (“Melech she’mahal al kebodo en kebodo mahul”). Even though Moshe did not mind that Aharon and Miriam spoke about him disrespectfully, they were nevertheless guilty of the sin of dishonoring a king. The Or HaChaim adds a second explanation for why Aharon and Miriam were punished despite not having offended Moshe. He notes that their remarks were also disrespectful to Hashem, Who had approved of Moshe’s decision to separate from his wife.
The Or HaChaim proves this point from the fact that Moshe responded to Aharon’s plea by turning to G-d in prayer. Rather than simply announcing that he forgave Miriam and Aharon, he petitioned G-d on Miriam’s behalf (Aharon had already been cured). Had Miriam been punished because she offended Moshe, he could have simply forgiven her. But since she was punished for a different reason, Moshe turned to G-d and begged that He cure his sister. Additionally, the Or HaChaim notes, if Miriam were punished for the anguish caused to Moshe, she would have been cured immediately after Moshe forgave her. But as Moshe was not hurt by her remarks, and she was punished for a different reason, Miriam’s tzaraat lasted for seven days and did not disappear as soon as Moshe forgave her.
Let us learn from the example set for us by Moshe Rabbeinu, the example of true humility, to have the strength and self-confidence to disregard and ignore people’s insults, avoid anger and grudges, and forgive rather than resent and fight back.
YERACHMIEL TILLES
RABBI ELI MANSOUR
