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Yitro As Moshe descended from the mountain (with the Luchos), he did not realise that his face was giving off rays of light....When Aaron and all the Jewish people saw.....they were afraid to come close to him.....When Moshe finished speaking with them, he placed a veil over his face. And when Moshe came to speak before Hashem...he would remove the veil from his face.... From where did these rays of light come? The Midrash says, after Moshe had completed writing the entire Torah as Hashem had commanded, drops of ink were left in the quill. This ink Hashem placed on Moshe's face causing these rays of light. The Rebbe R' Heshel asked, "This special ink which Moshe had been given from Heaven to write the Sefer Torah should have been exact, after all, Hashem knew exactly how much ink would be needed in the writing of the Torah?" R' Heshel answered. "Last week we saw that Moshe's name was not mentioned in the Sedra. This was because he had intervened on behalf of the Jewish people when Hashem desired to destroy them and said 'If so ... erase me from the book which you have written'. The ink which should have been used to write Moshe's name in last week's sedra, remained unused and was left over to cause his face to shine. After all this was ink devoted to the saving of the Jewish people." Perhaps one could also answer that the ink was left over from elsewhere. We find in Chumash Bamidbar the Torah states "Moshe was very humble." The word for 'humble' - WYNE is written without the letter Yud - WNE. It is explained, that out of his true humility, Moshe wished to limit his praise and therefore left out that letter Yud. This ink was left over and used to create the shine on Moshe's face. Moshe, as mentioned above, was "more modest then any man" and dealt with every person with humility and humbleness. At the same time he was the king of the Jewish people and had to command their respect and awe as would a King. In fact, the Halacha states, a king has no right to allow people to treat him without respect. He must be treated with the greatest honour, whether he likes it or not. Says R' Akiva Eiger, this is what the passuk above states. When Moshe dealt with the people he covered his humility with the veil of kingship. However, when he came to speak with Hashem, he removed this veil and remained "more modest then any man." R' Rafel of Barshad would say: "When I stand before the court on high, I will be able to answer all the accusations against me but for one. "They will ask me, 'Did you learn Torah?' I will answer immediately, 'I was an ignoramus.' "They will ask me, 'did you spend your time praying and without concern for the physical world?' I will answer: 'I was physically weak.' "Then they will ask me, 'Did you give Tzedakah,' and I will answer, 'I was poor.' "' If you are an ignoramus, and weak, and poor, then why were you so proud and arrogant?' they will ask. "Here I will have no answer." R' Noach of Kobrin would say: "Why is man referred to as 'a small world'? "Because if he regards himself as small, he is like a world, but if he regards himself as a world, he is small." |
