by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

Our teacher Moshe, was unique. Known to us as “the father of prophecy” he is the only prophet to have communicated so directly with Hashem. “Like a man speaks with his friend,” so was the communication of Hashem with Moshe.

At the conclusion of the Revelation at Sinai, Hashem told Moshe that the people should return to “their tents,” to normal family relations, “But, you, Moshe,” Hashem continued, “shall remain with Me.” Thus, Moshe was specifically commanded to be always ready for revelation with Hashem, and was not permitted to return to normal relations with his wife.

This decision for Moshe to separate from intimacy with his wife was Hashem’s decision. Moshe was to be elevated to the level of a human who is always on call for the highest levels of communication with Hashem. This command of a holy man separating from his wife existed only in the case of Moshe. And it was this command of separation that Miriam, Moshe’s sister, was not aware of.

When Miriam heard that Moshe had separated from his wife, she spoke of his behavior with criticism to their brother Aharon. “Did Hashem not speak to other prophets as well.” She implied that, in her judgment, Moshe should not have conducted himself with greater righteousness than other prophets.

Miriam was punished with Tzaraas for speaking Lashon Horah, Indeed, she should have judged her righteous brother favorably and realized that he was acting under Divine directive. The way Hashem illustrates to her her mistake is most fascinating.

The verse tells us that Hashem called “suddenly” to Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam.

The medrash explains: For Moshe, Hashem’s sudden call was not surprising. He was always ready for high level Divine revelation. But Ahron and Miriam were taken by surprise. They ran to immerse themselves in a mikvah to ready themselves for revelation.

By coming to them “suddenly” Hashem made it clear, by their own experience, that Moshe was indeed different. It is as if Hashem said, “This is the type of relationship I have with Moshe. He is always on the ready for Me. Now you can understand why he, and he alone from among all the prophets, was commanded such an unusual command. Now you understand that Moshe is different.”

Moshe’s behavior would have been considered haughty and self righteous if he was not on the level. Once we understand that Moshe is indeed worthy of the level that he is observing, there is nothing objectionable about his behavior.

I am reminded of a story that occurred in Chicago about fifty years ago. The vice- president of a large company called a Jewish accounting firm asking for an appointment. The goal of the appointment clearly was to consider hiring them for their accounting needs. All went well with the phone call until they started discussing possible dates for the meeting. The vice president suggested a certain Thursday in October, and the accountant replied that the office would be closed that day for a Jewish holiday. The vice president took it in stride and suggested that they meet Friday. Once again the accountant replied that Friday was a Jewish holiday as well and they would be closed.

The vice president was a bit surprised but pressed on trying to make the relationship work. He said, “Well, we will be in town through Saturday night. If you prefer we can meet on Saturday.” To which the accountant replied that a Saturday meeting would also not work.

Exasperated, the vice president declared that if they were snubbed for three days in a row, they would find a different accounting firm to represent them.

The Yom Tov of Succos passed pleasantly for this accountant, and was followed by a delightful Shabbos. When the accountant showed up to work on Monday morning he was greeted pleasantly by the vice president and two other company representatives. They asked simply if now was a good time to talk business. The accountant must have registered surprise on his face, as if to say, “You promised me that if I didn’t break my holiday you wouldn’t give me the job,” so they explained.

“We came on Thursday when we got to town, and we saw that you were closed. We came back Friday and saw that you were indeed closed. So we asked the guard about you and he said, ‘Sure, they are always closed on Jewish holidays.’”

“So we asked him about Saturday. He said, ‘Oh, no, Saturday is different… Thursday and Friday are Jewish holidays. Those only come a few times a year. But Saturday- No- they never come in on Saturday.’”

“We discussed this among ourselves,” the vice president said, nodding to his colleagues, “and we decided that you are the real thing. With personal integrity like yours… we would like you to take care of our financials.”

Sometimes when we interact with others in a way that involves religious standards we find that they, or we, will place greater priority on one area or another. This is to be expected. No one is expected to be a clone of the other.

What is important is that the priorities expressed should be real. When they are real they should be respected.

The lesson of Miriam’s Lashon Horah is that Moshe’s behavior seemed haughty and out of place. But then we found out that his behavior was a true expression of self. He was to be respected for it because he did it as a result of a Higher Calling.

© 2015 by TEACH613