Although we cannot fathom the greatness of Moshe Rabeinu, perek 12 pasuk 5-8 talks about the attributes of Moshe Rabeinu. One of the qualities mentioned is that Moshe Rabeinu is a ne’eman – trustworthy. Rav Avraham Yafan, the Rosh Yeshiva of Novardohk asks: why is being trustworthy called an attribute? Isn’t trustworthiness a basic trait? For example, if you wish to hire somebody to do work for you, the first thing you’d find out is if he is trustworthy. Nobody wants to have any dealings with a person who isn’t trustworthy. So what’s the pasuk coming to teach us by saying that Moshe Rabeinu was a ne’eman?
Rav Avraham explains with the following mashal. Someone had to leave his hometown and traveled to a faraway place where he didn’t know anyone. He found the Jewish neighborhood and finds a nice family who opens their door for him and allows him to stay for a while. The first few days he is shy and uncomfortable. He thanks his hosts for whatever they give him and if he needs something, he asks in a shy manner. However, as time passes, this fellow grows more and more comfortable in his new surroundings. He now feels at home enough to enter the kitchen without permission and take whatever he wants without asking. Not that he is stealing, of course. He just feels at home, and that’s how one behaves in his own home.
Moshe Rabeinu was able to talk to the Shechinah whenever he wanted to. He was able to go into the upper realms whenever he wished, a level that we can’t begin to understand. There was no human being as close to Hashem as Moshe Rabeinu. When a person is so close and feels so “at home”, it would be understandable if he “takes something for himself”. Even the most honest person would feel comfortable to do something or say something for himself. But not Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe Rabeinu was a complete ne’eman. He was so trustworthy that he took nothing for himself. And that is the praise that the Torah testifies about Moshe Rabeinu.
Let’s try to touch on another wonderful quality that Moshe Rabeinu possessed, the quality of being an eved Hashem. Rabeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuva (shaar 2 os 21) says: “And whoever Hashem has granted with intelligence should place into his heart that Hashem has sent him into this world to do a mission and observe His statutes and His commandments. And he should only pay attention to do his mission. And at the end of days - if he did his mission trust-worthily - he comes back with joy and with eternal gladness upon his head; like a loyal servant that the king has sent on a mission overseas whose eyes and heart are only focused on the mission until he returns to his master.”
Rav Reuven Hechster (Mashgiach Mir Brachfeld) asks: Why in the mashal that Rabeinu Yona brought did the servant go to do a mission for the king overseas? Why couldn’t it be that he was sent to do a mission close to home? And what’s the significance of the fact that his eyes and heart are only focused on his mission?
Says Rav Reuven Hechster, the normal way in the world is that when someone is sent to do a mission in a nearby place, his focus isn’t solely on the mission. He will automatically try to accomplish other things that he needs to do along with carrying out the mission. For example, let’s say that you need to go to a certain store to accomplish your mission, but once you’re going there, you’ll grab the opportunity to buy something that you wanted for a great deal. At the end of the day, you accomplished your mission, but you can’t say that you are a messenger that’s only focused on your mission. You did the job, but you also did something for yourself.
However, a messenger that was assigned to carry out a mission overseas will only focus on his goal. He doesn’t know the place, he’s a foreigner there, and all he has is the address of his mission. This is the uniqueness of a mission overseas. The messenger is bound to be completely devoted to fulfilling his job.
That’s why Rabeinu Yona says that we have to imagine that we were sent to do a mission overseas, because we must serve Hashem without any other agenda. We must be completely focused on our mission of avodas Hashem.
A true eved Hashem is a person who understands that Hashem brought him to this world to keep His Torah and do His Mitzvos. He doesn’t try to “by the way” gain anything materialistic. His only pursuit is ratzon Hashem.
Chazal say that a malach can’t do two jobs. Says Rav Dovid Povarsky, it’s simple that one malach can’t do two jobs because a malach is created solely to accomplish his mission. His whole being is to precisely do his job and so he can’t possibly do another mission. If an angel would do a second mission, it would negatively impact the perfection of his first mission. A mission carried out by an angel must be completely perfect with the whole being of the angel focused on carrying out that one mission in its entirety.
Says Rav Dovid, a person who wants to perform his mission properly and be an eved Hashem has to invest his whole self in his mission. His whole being has to be focused only and completely on fulfilling the will of Hashem. Such a person is comparable to a malach.
Moshe Rabeinu reached the highest madreiga of an eved Hashem. His only will was Hashem’s will and he fulfilled his mission with complete devotion.
