The uniqueness of Moses was that his soul did not just contain those souls that resonated with his particular path, but it contained each and every soul of the entire generation.
That is why Rashi comments that Moses, one single person, was equivalent to the entire Jewish nation, because his soul included the entire Jewish nation within it.
The Midrash relates the story of Reb Yehudah HaNasi who was once teaching his students and saw that they were not as alert as usual. He decided to say something humorous to wake them up and challenged them with a query: “When the Jews were in Egypt, they gave birth to six children at a time, but there was one woman who gave birth to 600,000 babies at one time! Does anyone know her name?”
The students all perked up with that question, but when no one could figure out who the woman was, Reb Yehudah HaNasi finally answered, “Her name is Yocheved, the mother of Moses.” In giving birth to a person who was equal to the entire Jewish nation, it was as if she had 600,000 babies.
On a simple level, this is interpreted to mean that she gave birth to a child who was equal in greatness to the entire Jewish nation. But on a spiritual level, she actually did give birth to 600,000 souls, because within Moses’ soul were included the souls of all the Jewish people.
Just as this was true in Moses’ generation, the same is true in every generation. There are many tzaddikim, and each is a tzaddik in his own unique way. He is a spiritual leader and guide in a very specific way to all the souls who are connected to him. In addition, there is a tzaddik who is the Nasi, the leader and collective soul of the entire generation, because his soul includes within it all the souls of the entire generation.
Indeed, the Tikkunei Zohar writes:
“The soul of Moses included the souls of all 600,000 Jews of his generation; the same applies to the tzaddikim, i.e., the collective soul, of future generations, all of whom are an extension of Moses.” They also include in their soul all the souls of their respective generation.
In the era of kings in Jewish history, this collective soul was most often the king of the Jewish people: King David in his generation and King Solomon in his, continuing in subsequent generations. After the destruction of the First Beis HaMikdash...
