21 Jan WHAT’S YOUR POTENTIAL?

In this week’s parsha,
the Torah sometimes
says, “Moshe and
Aharon,” and other
times it says, “Aharon
and Moshe,” putting
Aharon first. Rashi
explains that the switch
is to convey that in Hashem’s Mind,
both were of equal stature. Therefore,
sometimes He says Moshe first, and
sometimes Aharon first.
As first, this is quite perplexing. How
can we say that Aharon was equal to
Moshe when the Torah says about Moshe
Rabbeinu that he was, “Anav meod mikol
adam – He was the most humble of men”?
The Torah also emphatically says, “V’lo
kam novi b’Yisroel k’Moshe – There was
never a prophet in Yisroel like Moshe.”
And the Torah further tells us that no one
‘saw’ Hashem panim el panim, ‘face to
face’ as did Moshe.
My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l,

zy”a, in his sefer Dorash Moshe, answers
that when Rashi says, that Moshe and
Aharon were equals, it means that they
both fulfilled their full potential. And
therefore, in the Eyes of Hashem, they
were of equal greatness. This is an oh! so
important fundamental understanding of
our mission in life.
Take, for example, the yeshiva boy who
is crestfallen because he has not mastered
an intricate K’tzos Hachoshen, like the
bocher next to him. But, in reality, this
boy’s tafkid, purpose, is to master the
Mishnah Berurah and the laws of lashon
hara. Or perhaps his mission is in the
world of sifrei machshavah, seforim of
thought like the works of the Maharal and
the Pachad Yitzchak.
But Rav Moshe’s lesson goes even deeper
than this. The Gemora in the first perek of
Bava Basra tells us about when Reb Yosef
was in a coma. When he came out of the
coma, his father, the great R’Yehoshua ben
Levi, asked him what he saw. Reb Yosef

told him, “I saw a vision
of the next world where
“Elyonim l’maalah
v’tachtonim l’matah –
Those who were above
here were below there,
and those who were low
here were great over
there.” R’ Yehoshua ben
Levi told him that he had
seen a clear vision. Rashi explains this
simply: that the rich miser who lived it up
in this world was lowly in the next world,
while the devout beggar who struggled here
was lofty in the next world.
Reb Moshe asks, “Why would we need
someone coming out of a coma to teach
us something so obvious?” He explains
instead that sometimes the Rosh Yeshiva
who is viewed with greatness in this
world might be of a lower stature in the
next world, while the devoted plumber
who is not so highly regarded in our world
might be a ‘top tomato’ in the next world.
This is because, Reb Moshe explains,
it all depends on how many rungs we
climb from the raw talent that we were
given toward our true potential. The
Rosh Yeshiva who was given much
raw potential might have only climbed
three rungs while the plumber who was
granted much less innate potential might
have climbed seven rungs.
This is what we say in our Rosh
Hashannah liturgy, “Maasei ish
u’f’kudoso –Every man and his station
in life.” It is possible that one person’s
potential lies in how he made a success
story out of a difficult marriage, or
another’s person’s potential might be
to be a caregiver for elderly parents.
While Moshe was the great man of
Torah, Aharon was the champion of
peace. Their missions were completely
different. This also underscores the
importance of the role of a parent, of
whom it says, “Chanoch l’naar al pi
darko – Educate one’s child according
to his way,” that already at a young age
the effective parent is helping his child to
identify what are his specific potentials.
This is also very important information
for a wife. Sometimes she might
feel down that her husband is not the
celebrated lamdan that her friend’s
spouse is. She must know that her
husband who is honest at his job and

makes a kiddush Hashem by his dealings
with customers and his employer is
fulfilling his tafkid, and is equal in the Eyes
of Hashem to the greatest masmid in the
Beis Medrash.
As the famous Chassidishe saying goes:
“Reb Zusha said, Hashem is not going to
ask me why I wasn’t like Moshe Rabbeinu.
Hashem will ask me why I didn’t live up
to being the best Reb Zusha that I can be.”
May Hashem bless us that we should all
recognize our potential and live up to it,
and in that merit we should be granted long
life, good health, and everything wonderful.