10 Jun PARASHAT BE’HA’ALOTECHA: MOSHE’S EXTRAORDINARY HUMILITY

The final section
of Parashat
Behaalotecha tells
the story of the
inappropriate remarks
made by Miriam
and Aharon about their brother, Moshe
Rabbenu. They criticized Moshe’s
decision to separate from his wife,
claiming that this was unnecessary, as
they, too, were prophets, and yet did
not find it necessary to separate from
their spouses. The Torah relates that
as punishment for this Lashon Ha’ra,
Miriam was stricken with Sara’at. The
Midrash teaches that Aharon, too,
received Sara’at because of this misdeed.
We read that Aharon turned to Moshe
and pleaded, “Al Na Tashet Alenu
Hatat Asher Noa’lnu Va’asher Hatanu”
– “Please, do not cast upon us the sin
which we foolishly committed, and
which we transgressed” (12:11). Moshe
immediately turned to G-d and prayed.
The Or Ha’haim (Rav Haim Ben-Attar,
1696-1743) notes that Aharon begged
Moshe to forgive him and Miriam for the

wrong that they committed – implying
that Moshe felt offended and was angered
by their words. In truth, however, Moshe
was not affected at all by what Aharon
and Miriam said. Immediately after
telling us about the Lashon Ha’ra spoken
about Moshe, the Torah adds, “And the
man Moshe was exceedingly humble,
more so than any other man on the face
of the earth” (12:3). The Or Ha’haim
explains this verse as informing us that
Moshe paid no attention whatsoever to
his siblings’ disparaging remarks about
him. In his extraordinary humility, their
words did not affect him in any way. He
simply ignored it; he did not feel hurt or
angered.
The Or Ha’haim thus understood that
Aharon mistakenly concluded that he
and Miriam were punished because
they angered Moshe. He assumed that
he and his sister were stricken with
Sara’at because of the anguish they
caused Moshe with their words, and so
to cure the Sara’at, they needed Moshe’s
forgiveness. But Moshe in truth did
not feel upset by what they said. The
reason why they were punished, the Or

Ha’haim explains, is because Moshe had
the Halachic status of a king, and there
is a rule that a king does not have the
authority to waive the honor owed to
him (“Melech She’mahal Al Kebodo En
Kebodo Mahul”). Even though Moshe
did not mind that Aharon and Miriam
spoke about him disrespectfully, they
were nevertheless guilty of the sin of
dishonoring a king. The Or Ha’haim adds
a second explanation for why Aharon
and Miriam were punished despite not
having offended Moshe, noting that
their remarks were also disrespectful to
Hashem, who had approved of Moshe’s
decision to separate from his wife.
The Or Ha’haim proves this point from
the fact that Moshe responded to Aharon’s
plea by turning to G-d in prayer. Rather
than simply announcing that he forgave
Miriam and Aharon, he petitioned G-d
on Miriam’s behalf (Aharon had already
been cured). Had Miriam been punished
because she offended Moshe, he could
have simply forgiven her. But since she
was punished for a different reason,
Moshe turned to G-d and begged that
He cure his sister. Additionally, the Or

Ha’haim notes, if Miriam were punished
for the anguish caused to Moshe, she
would have been cured immediately after
Moshe forgave her. But as Moshe was
not hurt by her remarks, and she was
punished for a different reason, Miriam’s
Sara’at lasted for seven days, and did not
disappear right when Moshe forgave her.
Let us learn from the example set for
us by Moshe Rabbenu – the example
of true humility, of the strength and
self-confidence to disregard and ignore
people’s insults, to avoid anger and
grudges, and to forgive rather than resent
and fight back.