18 Adar 5781
Moshe's Shiny Face
by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher | first published here
The
Torah states, in Shemot 34:30, “Aaron and all the children of Israel saw
Moshe and WOW! The skin of his face had become radiant and shiny, and
they were afraid to approach him.”
When
Moshe came down from Har Sinai after his final 40-day stay in Heaven,
he brought the second Luchot with him. His face had a holy, supernatural
shine to it. Rashi says that this was the result of Hashem’s divine
hand which had protected Moshe when Hashem showed him a glimpse of His
glory as stated in Shemot 33:22.
Or
Hachayim quotes another source for this radiant shine on Moshe’s face.
The Midrash Shemot Rabba 47 says that when Moshe completed the writing
of the Torah, a bit of ink remained in his pen, which Moshe smeared on
his forehead, and this resulted in his unique radiance. Why was there a
drop of ink left over?
Or
Hachayim says that it was due to Moshe’s outstanding humility. When he
was commanded by G-d to write the words “Moshe was exceedingly humble,
more than any person on the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3), he could
not bring himself to write the word עינו (humble), with it’s proper
spelling, and therefore spelled the word ענו without the yud. It was
from this extra drop of ink from the missing yud that Moshe merited the
radiant shine on his face.
Rav
Pam would always say that true greatness in Torah goes hand in hand
with true humility. Thus, because Moshe was the greatest ענו therefore
he was also the greatest in Torah knowledge.
'Q'
ReplyDeleteI am saddened that it says video unavailable. What must I do to view it?
Hi 'Q'! I would be sad too, if I couldn't play it. But I can.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that you need to reboot or restart your device? Do you read my blog on a laptop, desktop or your phone?
On my phone I've been having trouble with videos, and it seems restarting it solves the problem.
Let me know how you make out, OK?
'Q'
ReplyDeleteWe found the problem. My granddaughter had signed in her google school account. That was why it said I had to have permission. Corrected! However, I don't know why a school account would restrict it, but that appears to be the case here in the USA under c0vid.