Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Michael Segankohanim
In this week’s portion we read (7:26) Moshe and Aharon, Aharon and Moshe. Our Rabbis explain that this expression is coming to inform us that Moshe and Aharon were equally great; one was not greater than the other. R’ Moshe Feinstein finds this teaching quite problematic since we all know that Moshe was the greatest prophet. In fact, one of the thirteen fundamentals of Jewish faith is that no prophet was or will ever be equal to the level of Moshe’s prophecy!!!
R’ Moshe observes that this saying of our sages teaches us that greatness is not measured the way we may have thought. We may think someone who is smarter or more popular or more famous is a greater individual, but In the eyes of Hashem greatness is measured by how much each one realizes his potential. In the eyes of Hashem, someone who does his best at helping others, at serving Hashem and at being a kind person is as great as Moshe. We may never have heard of him and we may never identify him as one of the great personalities of all humanity, but in real terms – in the eyes of Hashem – such a person would be as great as Moshe.
This is exactly what the above verse means. Indeed, Moshe was a bigger prophet than Aharon. Aharon never could achieve the level of prophecy that Moshe attained. Yet in the eyes of Hashem, he was just as great. Why is this so? Because Hashem never expects us and never judges us by what we cannot achieve, rather he judges by the talents and potentials we were given, the abilities we were granted, and the opportunities we were presented with. All we have to do is try our absolute best, and if we indeed do our very best then we too are as great as Moshe.