¶ The Overlooked Wisdom of Uncle Moishe
I wish adults wouldn't stop listening to Uncle Moishe . I wish we would all listen to the musical genius Uncle Moishe more often , because the basic and most fundamental points of Jewish belief are always delivered in his songs .
The problem is is , when we get older , no matter where we hear the lessons again , whether through a CD of a singer or inside of a chumash , or from the mouth of an expertly delivered sermon from the great rabbi of your community , sometimes the same old lessons go off in your head and you say , oh , those are just children's stories , but you never relive Noah's
Ark of Romo Vino , the 10 plagues , ever as an adult and this , god forbid , could be one of the examples . I ask you to lend an ear just for a minute for a medrash that maybe you've heard before , but it's important to hear it as an adult . The Medrash Rabbah 13.3 .
¶ Mountains of Pride: The Medrash Rabbah
What's an example of the haughtiness of a person that causes himself to be lowered ? The gaiva gone wrong . Famous mountains that you've never heard of . The hill of Tabor , the gaiva gone wrong , ze , tovor , ve , karmel , famous mountains that you've never heard of .
The hill of Tabor , the mountain , the sprawling and majestic mountain of Karmel that came from the end of the earth , mezgoyim loymar . And they very pompously said sh'anu
¶ Mount Sinai: Humility's Great Reward
gevoyim ve'alenu ma'kodesh baruch hu nosi nesatora , give the Torah unto me , god , when you're going to have this great wedding with you and the Jewish people , and expose yourself and rip open the seven heavens . Expose , expose yourself and give the Torah to a people . Do it on me . Mount Tabor , mount Carmel , they argued .
But what's an example of being lowly , being humble ? Humble is the one who really gets all the honors , that is mount sinai . That said , I'm lowly , I'm nothing , unassumingly relaxing in the corner upon that mountain . God gave the torah . Now think about that for a second as an adult . This is the event of all events , the wedding of all weddings .
It's supposed to be the most miraculous thing . Just imagine the 100th dinner to celebrate Yeshiva's mirror , with all of the billionaire donors sitting
¶ The Genesis Lesson: "Let Us Make Man"
up there with all the great rabbis . But it's to be done very modestly , right ? Harsinai is the wedding of all weddings , the Torah of all Torah . The mountain of all mountains needs to be chosen . It can't just be a small little cheese and crackers festivity .
Imagine if a Rothschild was marrying a Shroun Rav Shmuel , kamenetzky wedding Rav Don Segel , any of the insert big , famous Jews , torah scholars , donors , benefactors . In that event , they're now joining forces , god and the Jewish people . We need a mountain , but God chose , like a trailer park home , a tiny , small , little mountain . Why would God do that ?
Because to teach the lesson the medrash is clear , the Torah is clear To teach you the importance of humility . To teach you the humble one is the one who wins , he's the one who gets all the honor , not in a way that you hear people saying I've been running for honor for so many years , I've been fleeing from honor , it hasn't caught up to me .
Those people most of the time are looking over their shoulder for the covet to run after them , but literally , to be an honest , unassuming person that it's not about me , it's about others . That lesson is taught by picking Harsinai and it makes the most incredible of all events small . Because how important . We see here is the lesson of Anipos .
The same thing , a similar lesson is done when Hashem . He says nasa , adam , let us make man . What do you mean ? Let us make man ? The creation of man only has one creator . The whole world only has one creator . There's only one Genesis by one entity . Why is God saying nav seh , plural , asking the angels ? Because Rashi tells us .
This verse does not hold back from teaching Listen to younger , ask advice from the smaller , be humble . How important it is the lesson of humility that , even at the event of all events , unassuming and humble mountain was chosen , and even by the very mentioning of the creation of man , god puts heresy on the line .
To teach the importance of humility , to do something practical
¶ The Power of Listening with Humility
. Why don't we listen to other people when they talk , not think we always know the answers , but to honestly , with an open ear , listen because , hey , maybe I'm not all that great and maybe someone else has something good to say ?
It's one of the important lessons that we heard as a child from the great Uncle Mychee that we need to rehash and rethink about now that we're adults . Thank you .