Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Vayikra
At Eretz Hemdah, one can say "From Moshe to Moshe there was no one like Moshe." We will start with the Moshe of all of Klal Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu, who received the Torah at Sinai. We will then continue with our Rav Moshe Ehrenreich, who emulated the former.
The Ba’al Haturim, basing himself on a midrash, points out that the small aleph in the first word of our parasha ([Hashem] called out [to Moshe]) is a hint at Moshe’s humility. It is well known that humility is a condition for greatness in Torah.
The ability to listen deeply to the call one receives is critical, and is a requirement for all great Torah scholars. This includes listening to the difficulties of others, and internalizing Torah concepts in a way that Torah can serve as a Torah of life, even in the corporeal world.
We continue with ideas from my eulogy of Rav Ehrenreich. The prophet Micha cried out: "A chassid was lost from the Land, and he who is upright among men is no longer" (7:2). Chazal applied this pasuk to the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu: A heavenly voice said to Moshe that he had enough in this world because the World to Come was ready for him. Hashem appeared to him as One Who prepared to receive Moshe’s soul. Moshe began to beseech Hashem: You created the world with the Attribute of Mercy, and with it You lead Your nation. The voice consoled Moshe: "Your righteousness goes before you." The angels eulogized him: "Where will we find wisdom and what is the place of insight?" The heavens cried over him, "A chassid was lost from the Land," and the land cried, "…and he who is upright among men is no longer" (Avot D’Rabbi Natan II:4).
So, Moshe was wise, insightful, merciful, righteous, a chassid, and upright. Our mentor, Rav Moshe Ehrenreich zt"l, was Moshe Rabbeinu’s disciple. He was a brilliant Torah scholar, who was sharply analytical. He also employed compassion in regard to every halachic question that came before him (including in the conversion courts). He was righteous in all his ways, and would notice the good in every person. He searched for justice as a dayan and taught his students of dayanut to do the same. He was yashar (upright) in the way that the Netziv described the patriarchs in his introduction to Bereishit. It is in this light that Hashem instructed Avraham to "walk before Me and be unblemished" (Bereishit 17:1), and in this way that Moshe taught Bnei Yisrael, "Be unblemished with Hashem" (Devarim 18:13).
Rav Moshe Ehrenreich was a chassid, not just because he grew up in a Hassidic family. Rather, his Torah was what the Yerushalmi (Terumot 8:4) called "mishnat chassidim." We already learned how the angels bemoaned the loss of the chassid.
All of these attributes stem from the small letter aleph, the great humility despite his incredible achievements. May Rav Ehrenreich’s memory be an inspiration to his family, his students, and all of Israel.
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