In the parshios that we are reading these days, we learn about arguably the greatest person to ever live, Moshe Rabbeinu. Did you ever wonder why we call him Moshe Rabbeinu and not the more customary sequence, Rabbeinu Moshe, in the same manner that we say Rebbe Yochanan and Rav Ashi, putting the title first? In the Sefer HaChaim, written by the brother of the Maharal of Prague, he asks this question and gives a fascinating answer. He says that this deviation reveals that Moshe was not chosen because he was rabbeinu, primarily because of his great intellectual prowess (which he assuredly had). Rather, he is identified this way because he comported himself as a mere Moshe, a humble man. As the verse testifies, “V’ha’ish Moshe anav me’od mikol adam” – And the man Moshe was the humblest of all men. Therefore, we put the name Moshe before the honorific Rabbeinu. The Sefer HaChaim says it’s for a similar reason that we say Yishaya HaNavi and Yirmiyahu HaNavi and not the reverse, HaNavi Yishaya and HaNavi Yirmiyahu.
We have another example of this phenomenon in recent times. We called the Gadol HaDor by the title Reb, namely, Reb Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, zy”a. The man who himself gave smicha (rabbinic ordination) to thousands of people wasn’t ever referred to with the honorific Rav. He was universally referred to using the more casual Reb. I believe this carries the same message. It wasn’t only his unparalleled gaones, genius in Torah, his incredible hasmada, diligence, and his remarkably pure character. It was also his unsurpassed humility that endeared him to all Klal Yisrael.
In general, Klal Yisrael chooses its great people very differently than does the other nations. Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt”l, zy”a, never ran for office. Rav Pam, zt”l, zy”a, never strutted his credentials. To the contrary, they ran from honor and it was that very humility that knighted them to be the leaders of our people.
It’s also remarkable that the words “Moshe Rabbeinu” (rabbeinu spelled with a yud after the beis) is exactly the gematria of 613, because it would be Moshe Rabbeinu who would give the Tarya”g mitzvos, the 613 mitzvos, from Hashem to Klal Yisrael. The Sheim HaGedolim writes that there was never a Tanna (from the period of the Mishna) or Amora (from the period of the Gemara) who was called Moshe, in honor of the unique greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu. The Ramban writes that he didn’t refer to the incredible Rambam as Rabbeinu Moshe in deference to Moshe Rabbeinu. On the tombstone of the Rambam is the epitaph, “Mi’Moshe ad Moshe lo kam k’Moshe,” that from Moshe Rabbeinu to the Rambam, there was never anyone like Moshe (the Rambam). It’s interesting that later in time, in Krakow on the grave of the Rama, Rav Moshe Isserles, the posek who added to the Shulchan Aruch the halachos of Ashkenazi Jewry, it also says “Mi’Moshe ad Moshe lo kam k’Moshe.”
The name Moshe itself, one of ten names that the Medrash tells us Moshe Rabbeinu had, was given to him by Basya, Pharaoh’s daughter, to commemorate the miracle that her hand stretched out, telescoping 400 amos (cubits), to retrieve him from the water of the Nile. Thus, its explanation “Min hamayim mishisihu,” is that “I was enabled to draw him from the water.” It also connotes that Moshe Rabbeinu caused all future Jewish boys to be saved from the water for, when he was put into the Nile, Pharaoh’s stargazers told him that the future leader of Klal Yisrael was already cast in the water. So, in essence, Moshe Rabbeinu saved all future Jewish boys from being drowned.
But the name Moshe (mem-shin-hei) is also so obviously fitting for this future leader of Klal Yisrael because it is composed of the same letters as the Name Hashem (Hei-shin-mem). For, as the verse tells us, “Lo rao panim el panim k’Moshe” – No man saw G-d face to face like Moshe. Furthermore, there is a Medrash that teaches when Moshe was shepherding Yisro’s flock, one of the sheep became feverish and sluggish. Moshe Rabbeinu lovingly lifted it up onto his shoulders and carried it back to the corral. Hashem announced, “Since this is the way you take care of your flock, I want you to take care of My flock.” How incredible that the name Moshe is the same letters as the word mi’seh, from a sheep (by changing the letter shin to the letter sin), for it was from a sheep that Moshe was chosen to be the leader of Klal Yisrael. The Gemara tells us shma garim, a name foretells the destiny of a person. How clear this is when we look at the name of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Finally, Rabbeinu Efraim reveals that the name Tziporah, Moshe Rabbeinu’s wonderful wife, has a gematria of 375. This is the same gematria as l’Moshe, meaning to Moshe, indicating that although she lived in faraway Midyan, and was the daughter of a former Midyanite priest, she was Moshe Rabbeinu’s true bashert.
When we see future events embedded in Jewish names, it precludes the element of chance and strengthens our emunah. In the merit of our studying about this great man, may he be a meilitz yosher, a good intercessor, that we may have long life, good health, and everything wonderful.
Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.