Safe Humility and Real Humility
וַיִּחַר לְמֹשֶׁה מְאֹד וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל ה'...לֹא חֲמוֹר אֶחָד מֵהֶם נָשָׂאתִי וְלֹא הֲרֵעֹתִי אֶת אַחַד מֵהֶם.
Moshe was greatly distressed and he said to Hashem, “…I have not taken even a single donkey of theirs nor have I wronged even one of them.” (Bamidbar 16:15)
Our verse describes how, upon being accused of abusing his position of power over the Jewish People, Moshe protests to Hashem that he has not taken advantage of his position as leader to wrongfully appropriate anything of theirs or to wrong even one individual among them.
It is interesting to note that the aleph of the word “אַחַד” in the second phrase is vowelized with a pasach. This appears to be a departure from the norm where it is vowelized with a segol — “אֶחָד,” as is the case, for example in the earlier phrase (חֲמוֹר אֶחָד). In fact, this change in vowelization also seems to affect the meaning, for while the word “אֶחָד” simply means “one,” the word “אַחַד” denotes a prominent personality, as we find, for example, that King Avimelech refers to himself as “אַחַד הָעָם — the most prominent among the nation.”[1] What added insight does this observation give us into Moshe’s words?
The Meshech Chochmah explains. It is easy for a person to feign humility by acting humble in the presence of those who are clearly of a much lower standing than he. Since they are obviously not his equals, he does not risk any of his gestures of honor toward them being interpreted as if he actually considers them to be equal to or greater than himself, Heaven forbid. As such, this form of humility is “safe.”
The true test of humility is with one’s peers, since there is the danger that the honor he accords them is actually because he considers them to be equal to or greater than himself. Someone with false humility will therefore never apply it to his equals. Only a truly humble person will accord honor to those who might be viewed as real competition for his status.
This is the type of humility we find with Moshe. When Eldad and Meidad attained a high level of prophecy, and indeed, were prophesying about Moshe being denied bringing the people into the Land of Israel, Moshe responded by saying, “Would that all of Hashem’s nation would be prophets such as these!”[2]
This is Moshe’s intent by proclaiming before Hashem that he had never wronged any prominent individual (“אַחַד”) among the people, for, as a leader, it is primarily toward those individuals that any abuse of power on his part would have been directed.
A most profound lesson from the Meshech Chochmah, not only in the subject of humility, but also in terms of what can be gleaned by paying attention to a single vowel in the Torah.
[1] Bereishis 26:10.
[2] Bamidbar 11:29.