A man came to his Rav with a complaint: he had heard the Rav say in his drasha, “Anyone who pursues honor, honor flees from him, and anyone who flees from honor, honor pursues him.” Now behold, for a long time he had been fleeing from honor, and he did not see that honor was pursuing him. Why was this so?! The Rav saw that this man did not understand the meaning of “to flee from honor,” so he answered him wisely: as long as you flee from honor but you keep turning around to see whether it is chasing after you, it will not chase after you. Only when honor sees that you are not turning around to see whether it is after you, then it will come on its own.
Moshe Rabbeinu performs signs and wonders in Egypt; Pharaoh and the Egyptians are punished through him, and they should hate him. Yet the Torah says (11:3), ‘גם האיש משה גדול מאוד בארץ מצרים בעיני עבדי פרעה ובעיני העם’ - “Also the man Moshe was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and in the eyes of the people,” and this is perplexing: not only do the Egyptians not hate and despise the man who punishes them so much, but he is great and honored in their eyes?
The answer to this difficulty is written within the posuk itself: “the man Moshe was very great.” It is known that the word “very” alludes to lowliness, as Chazal said (Avos 4:4) - “Be very, very humble in spirit.” If so, the reason that “the man Moshe was great” is because of the “very,” and as the holy Torah testifies about him (Bamidbar 12:3), ‘והאיש משה עניו מאוד’ - “and the man Moshe was exceedingly humble.”
Do you want people to honor you? That is fine. Everyone wants to be honored, and the Torah teaches us to honor every person. But we must be careful that honor does not become a “goal.” Thus, the Gemara says (Nedarim 62a): “A person should not say: I will read so that they will call me wise; I will study so that they will call me Rabbi; I will review so that I will become an elder and sit in the yeshivah. Rather, learn out of love, and in the end honor will come.” And thus we see these matters as they occur in reality: one who wants people to honor him is demeaned in the eyes of others, whereas talmidei chachamim who study Torah for the sake of Heaven and not for the sake of honor are honred in the eyes of others, for “one who flees from honor, honor pursues him,” and “in the end honor will come.”
