Last week at the Shabbat Assembly we talked about knowing your strengths and being proud of them. Moshe Rabeinu is called in sefer Devarim "the most humble of all people". As defined in a dictionary, humble means "1. Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful. 2. Showing deferential or submissive respect 3. Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly:"
These do not sound like Moshe’s characteristics. He was the leader of the Jewish People. Moshe took the Jewish People out of Mizrayim, the strongest country at the time. He spoke to Pharoah and put miraculous plagues on the people of Mizrayim. Above all, he spoke to God and argued with God on behalf of the Jewish people. These are not actions of a "meek, submissive" individual. Moshe needed to be assertive and proud, and to believe that what he was doing was the right thing. How could he be considered "the most humble of all people"?
I related to the students a story from my junior year in high school. I loved playing basketball and I was pretty good for a Jewish high school player. I gave 110% in every practice and game, and I wanted to win. In one game that year I remember something my coach told me during the timeout. It was a close game and we had the ball with 20 seconds left. We were down by 1 point. The coach drew out a play, a double screen for me to take the shot. As we left the huddle the coach pulled me aside and said, “ this is your shot. You are our best shooter. Even if they drop off one of your teammates to double team, you take the shot.” We ran the play to perfection and the shot went in - swish! One of my high school highlights for sure. It felt great to win, and win in the last moment. WOW! After all the hoopla, I asked the coach why he pulled me aside. He said that sometimes I was too nice with passing the ball and sometimes I gave up my shot attempt. He needed me to more assertive and realize that I was the best chance for our team to win in that situation. He said that people who know what their strengths are and use them are not arrogant people. They are people who recognize how to use their strengths. If you walk into school tomorrow and say to everyone, "Hey coach thinks I am the best and always pass me the ball, etc., that is arrogant and haughty.” I never forgot that conversation.
I think that this helps me understand my question about Moshe. Moshe had many strengths. He needed to use these abilities to help the Jewish People. He needed to be assertive and push Pharoah to the brink. He needed to fight for the survival of the Jewish People against God. He needed to judge the people in the desert for 40 years. He had all the makings of a person who could have been arrogant, haughty, pretentious, and nasty, but he was not. He was humble. For this reason he is called the most humble of all people. He had the biggest challenge to stay humble and he did.
It is important to know what our strengths are, and to use them when we need to, with pride. If someone needs help with a problem in school or on the ball fields, help him or her, and do it humbly. Follow the role model of Moshe, a person who had an abundance of talents, but who was, at the same time, the most humble of all.
