פֶּה אֶל פֶּה אֲדַבֶּר בּוֹ וּמַרְאֶה וְלֹא בְחִידֹת וגו' וּמַדּוּעַ לֹא יְרֵאתֶם לְדַבֵּר בְּעַבְדִּי בְמֹשֶׁה (יב, ח)
With him I speak mouth to mouth; in a vision and not in riddles... So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moshe?
One Must Fear The Ministers of Hashem:
Rashi states: “It does not say ‘against My servant Moshe’, but ‘against My servant, against Moshe.’ Against My servant even if he were not Moshe, and against Moshe, even if he were not My servant, you should certainly have feared him, and all the more so since he is My servant, and the servant of the king is a king himself! You should have said, ‘The King does not love him for nothing.’ If you claim that I am unaware of his actions, this statement is worse than your previous one.”
The Ketzos Hachoshen zt‑l served as Rov of the city of Stryi in Galicia. A group of chasidim who lived in the city once thought that he had slighted their Rebbe, so they spoke out against him in a very disrespectful way. The Ketzos proclaimed that he was placing them in nidui for 30 days. In response, they left the city and traveled to Lublin, to spend time with the Chozeh zy‑a. However, when they arrived, the Chozeh told his attendants not to let them because he could not go against the nidui.
After the 30 day nidui ended, the chasidim were admitted to the Chozeh, and they started telling him their complaints against the Ketzos and how he was opposed to chasidus. The Chozeh interrupted them and said, “We find in the Torah that Hashem got angry at Aharon and Miriam and asked them how they were not afraid to speak badly about Moshe. Rashi explains that they should have been afraid to speak against an eved Hashem even if it wasn’t Moshe or against Moshe even if he wasn’t an eved Hashem. What does this mean? Why would it be wrong to speak bad about Moshe if he wasn’t an eved Hashem?
“The answer is found in the Gemara (Brachos 27B) that says that Rav Yochanon ben Zakai said that Rav Chanina ben Dosa was like a servant standing before his king, and not like a minister before a king. Some Gedolei Yisroel are ‘ministers of Torah.’ Those are the ones who learn Torah day and night. Other Gedolei Yisroel are ‘servants of Hashem.’ Those are the ones who are busy with avodas Hashem and serve Him like a servant.
“Thus, Rashi is saying that even if Moshe had not been an eved Hashem, meaning that he was a ‘minister of Hashem’ who learned Torah day and night, one should still be afraid to speak badly about him. Your Rov is a minister of Hashem and it is forbidden for you to disrespect him at all!”