Of all of his incredible qualities and accomplishments, the Torah praises Moshe for his humility. When Miriam and Aharon spoke badly about Moshe for having separated from his wife, the Torah interjects with the words: והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על־פני האדמה “this man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any man on the face of the earth."
Hashem then responds to Miriam and Aharon’s criticism, explaining that Moshe’s level of prophesy was superior to their own and required him to maintain purity at all times. The commentaries explain that the reason Hashem addressed their criticism rather than Moshe, was also on account of his humility. Moshe was so humble, that he did not feel pained or slighted by their words. The Ramban writes that even though he could have answered the accusations, Moshe would never respond and cause strife to protect his own honour.
The describes Moshe as ענו מאד, exceedingly humble. Rabbeinu Bachya explains that by adding the word מאד, the Torah is alluding to the extent a person must go to eradicate pride and arrogance.
For most Middot, a person should take a middle path. For example, one should not be excessively serious or excessively light-hearted. The appropriate path is a balanced middle-ground. Likewise, a person should not be miserly and hoard their wealth, or overly generous and squander their wealth.
One of the only exceptions is arrogance and humility. In this Middah, the middle-path is not encouraged. A person must go to the extreme of humility as much as possible. This is taught in Pirkei Avot which states מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח, a person must be very very humble spirited.
Whilst none of us can attain the level of humility of Moshe Rabbeinu, we all have to try to emulate this quality to the best of our ability.
But what does being humble mean?
We often think of humility in terms of someone who weak, poor, meek or lowly. Some people only become humbled when confronted with illness or tragedy ח“ו. But this is not the true Middah of humility. This type of humility is imposed by circumstance. True humility is a choice.
Moshe was the most gifted human being in wisdom and prophesy. He was also wealthy and physically strong. He had tremendous accomplishments and spoke to Hashem face-to-face. Moshe was self-aware. He knew of his greatness and yet he was completely humble. His humility was not due to a false assessment or self-deprecation.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that Moshe understood that all of his talents and qualities were gifted to him by Hashem. They were not self-attained for him to take pride in. On the contrary, if someone else had been granted the same qualities, they may have achieved even greater things than he had.
True humility does not mean to be self-deprecating, to ignore one’s skills, talents and accomplishments and to exaggerate one’s shortcoming and failings. We should know our talents and capabilities, but instead of being cause for arrogance, by recognising them as gifts from Hashem, our strengths call on us to evaluate ourselves.
In his work Be’er Mayim Chaim, the great Chassidic master Rabbi Chaim of Czernowitz (a Talmid of the Maggid of Mezritch), teaches that true humility is attained through closeness and Dveikut to Hashem.
He illustrates this with an analogy of a person who stands in the presence of a great king and is instilled with a sense awe and nullification. The more a person is aware that they are always in the presence of Hashem, the more humble they will be.
So it makes sense that Moshe, who attained the closest possible relationship with Hashem, would be the epitome of humility.
Like all other Middot, humility is a feeling or mindset. In Hilchot Deiot, the Rambam teaches that when a person wishes to change their Middot, they do so through their actions. For example, a miserly person can train themselves to become generous through repeated acts of generosity. In the words of the Sefer Hachinuch, “the heart follows after one’s actions".
The key to humility is though our behaviours. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks ז“ל famously taught, “humility is not thinking less of one’s self, but thinking more of others".
The Chovot Halevavot writes that the ways of humility include; acting kindly towards and doing favours for others, judging others favourably, not speaking badly about others and forgiving others when they speak badly about you. Moshe valued every Jew and saw them as more precious than himself. For this reason he was willing to forgo being written in the Torah for the sake of the Jews who had worshipped the Golden Calf.
We might not be able to become ענו מאד - very humble, but we can all become ענו יותר - more humble, by being more aware of always standing in Hashem’s presence, by seeing our talents as gifts and by valuing every person and by being kind, generous and forgoing.