“There never will be a prophet like Moshe again… and all that he did in clear sight of all of Israel.” – Devarim34:12
In the very last pesukim of the Torah, Hashem recounts the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Rashi teaches that “all he did in clear sight of Israel” refers to the breaking of the luchos. When Moshe came down from Har Sinai, he saw the Jewish people serving the Golden Calf. He took the luchos and, in front of the entire nation, smashed them against the rocks. Afterward, Hashem said to Moshe, “Yasher koach. You did well.”
This shows that the decision to break the luchos was Moshe’s. Only after he broke them did Hashem say, “Yasher koach.” The fact that he made this decision on his own illustrates his stature.
This Rashi is difficult to understand. While it shows us how bold Moshe Rabbeinu was, it also raises the question: What right did he have to break the luchos? The luchos weren’t his property; they belonged to Hashem. Moshe was sent as an emissary to bring them to the Jewish nation. If Moshe saw that the Jewish people weren’t worthy of receiving them, he should have gone back to their owner and asked Him what He would like done with them.
What makes this question even more difficult is that the luchos were among the holiest objects ever created. Even the broken pieces were kept in the Aron and carried around by Jewish people for generations. Destroying them was far worse than burning a sefer Torah. For Moshe to go ahead and break them seems completely inappropriate. Yet not only did Moshe do this, the Torah holds it up as an example of his greatness.
The answer to this question lies in understanding man’s role in the world. When Hashem formed man, He gave him the keys to Creation. As the Midrash tells us, Hashem said to Adam, “This is your world now. You are in charge of it; take care that you don’t destroy it.”
Moshe understood his role as the leader of the Jewish people, and he understood there are situations that call for bold decisions. He felt the Jewish people needed to recognize the gravityof what they had done. To understand the extent of their sin, they needed a clear visual message – almost shock therapy. Nothing would be as vivid as watching this most holy object being destroyed. So Moshe acted upon this. He was the man on the scene, given the position of leadership, and as leader, he felt it was his responsibility to teach the nation. This was the lesson they needed to hear.
This is an especially powerful point because the Torah calls Moshe the most humble man who ever lived. Typically, when we think of a humble person we think of someone who is meek and indecisive, not a man who is bold and brave. Yet this most humble man acted with such power and conviction that it almost sounds contradictory to the concept of humility.
The reason for this paradox is that when it comes to self-image, it’s usually either or – a person either feels he is lacking, unaccomplished and insignificant, and so spends his life trying to compensate for that sense of inadequacy, or he finds himself self-inflating – “I am important, significant, mighty, andgreat.” Both extremes are inaccurate.
A balanced sense of self can be better understood with a mashol. Imagine you walk past a construction site and in the center you see a large crane. This crane is picking up huge amounts of material with every scoop – enormous rocks, huge piles of dirt. Inside the cab sits Joe, the crane operator. You look at Joe and can’t help but notice he is terribly overweight. Then you observe Joe is a serious chain smoker, taking cigarette after cigarette without a break.