“Mouth to mouth, do I speak to him, in a clear vision, and not in riddles.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that Moshe Rabbeinu is unique in that Hakadosh Boruch Hu spoke to him “mouth to mouth.” Why isn’t the lashon “פה אל אוזן” – that Hashem’s mouth spoke directly to Moshe’s ear, and not mouth to mouth, for one hears words with his ears, not his mouth?
All nevi’im prophesize with the lashon of “כה”, while Moshe Rabbeinu also prophesized with the lashon of “זה”, as the posuk in Bamidbar 30:2 says, “זה הדבר”. All nevi’im were considered like a messenger, like someone one who receives money from one person and delivers it to another. Similarly, the nevi’im would receive words from Hashem, and then they would go to Klal Yisroel and deliver those words. The words that Hashem had told them would be repeated to Klal Yisroel, but the words were the words of the nevi’im.
This was not so with the nevuah of Moshe Rabbeinu, for the Shechinah spoke from within his throat. Thus, the words that came out of Moshe Rabbeinu’s mouth were not his own words repeating that which Hakadosh Boruch Hu said, but they were the actual words of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Thus, Moshe Rabbeinu’s nevuah is described as “זה הדבר” – “This is the actual word of Hashem.”
While the other nevi’im were like messengers who gave the amount of money they received, Moshe Rabbeinu gave Klal Yisroel the actual coins that he was given – the actual words, and not his own words. (אדרת אליהו)
The posuk used the lashon of “פה אל פה” as opposed to “פה אל אוזן” because Hakadosh Boruch spoke and placed those actual words in his mouth, so that when Moshe gave those words to Klal Yisroel, the words were the actual words of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu spoke to Moshe from His mouth, His words went directly into Moshe’s mouth, and Moshe Rabbeinu then passed along the words from Hashem’s mouth to the ears of Klal Yisroel. When the other nevi’im were given words of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, they accepted them, and then when they delivered the message to Klal Yisroel, they gave their own words to Klal Yisroel. In regard to all the nevi’im, the nevuah was פה לאוזן. The words went from the mouth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to the ears of the navi, and then the navi delivered that message in his own words.
Moshe Rabbeinu, who was exceedingly humble, totally nullified himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He was an eved Hashem in the truest sense of the words. There was no Moshe Rabbeinu as an individual. Rather, there was only Moshe, the Eved Hashem, the servant of Hashem; that was his very being. Thus, the lashon of “mouth to mouth” means that when Moshe spoke, it was as if Hashem Himself was speaking. Moshe’s mouth became Hashem’s mouth, as if Moshe himself was not there.
May we be zoche to nullify ourselves before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and may His Will thus be our will.
