Yeshus

14 Shevat 5782

“Then Moshe’s father in law, Jethro, sacrificed burnt offering[s] and [peace] offerings to G-d, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to dine with Moses’ father in law before G-d.” (Shemos 18:12)

Rashi asks, “And where did Moshe go? [Why is he not mentioned here as partaking of the feast?] He was standing and serving them.” Moshe Rabbeinu, the “king” (Rashi on Shemos 18:1), not only prostrated himself to Jethro (Rashi on Shemos 18:7), he also stood and served him and the elders of Israel food. Jehtro was by no means a nobody, having been the foremost priest of idolatry in the world and renouncing it all for the belief in the one true G-d, but still, Moshe was Moshe. He just led a people, six hundred thousand strong, out of the most powerful nation on earth and won a decisive victory against Amalek. Still, Moshe had no sense of self, no yeshus, no feelings of inflated centrality. Because of this he was able to ascend spiritually to the highest heights. Where there is no sense of self-importance, there is “room” for Hashem.

“Now the nature of the Divine order is not like that of a human being, a creature of flesh and blood” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 21)

Yeshus is one of the greatest impediments to spiritual growth. The more a person realizes that he, as a creature of flesh and blood, has no relation or perception of the true nature of Hashem, the easier it is for him to live with Hashem. We see this in the lives of many Tzaddikim throughout the generations, Moshe Rabbeinu first and foremost, as described above. The Rebbe famously refused a new car for years. Rav Shteinman slept on the same thin mattress that he received from the Jewish Agency when he came to Israel in the early 1950s. The holy Ruzhiner Rebbe, despite his regal public appearance, went out in the snow with no soles on his boots.

They didn’t do this out of self-chastisement, chaz ve shalom, they didn’t have any sins in the normal sense of the word. They did this because they knew, as soon as they let a desire for the material, a desire for recognition, enter their lives, they would find it increasingly difficult to maintain the closeness to Hashem that was their life’s mission.

“And when I am with You I desire nothing on earth.” (Tehillim 73:25)

This verse can be read in two ways: “It is when I am with you that I desire nothing on earth” or “It is when I desire nothing on earth that a I am with you.” The latter supports what we see above, that when we free ourselves of worldly desires, desires of self-aggrandizement and importance, we let Hashem into our lives, to be with Him, in truth and purity.