Moshe Loved Peace and Pursued It
By Rabbi Goldman
Aharon Hakohen was known to be the one who loved peace and pursued it, however his brother Moshe Rabbeinu certainly loved peace and pursued it as well.
Korach, Dasan, and Aviram began a rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. They accused Moshe of misrepresenting the words of Hashem. Moshe reported that Hashem had appointed him to be in the position of the leader of the Jewish people and that Hashem had appointed Aharon to be the Kohen Gadol. They claimed that Moshe was never really given this position by Hashem, rather Moshe was power hungry, and he had taken the control of the Jewish people without it being the will of Hashem.
Korach, Dasan, and Aviram spread the rumor and the outrage against Moshe and they convinced many of the Jewish leaders to join them as they were going to challenge and accuse Moshe of misrepresenting the words of Hashem and taking the power over the Jewish people without Hashem’s instructions to do so.
Later, Dasan and Aviram accused Moshe of lying to the entire nation throughout the entire process of the Jews leaving Mitzraim. They accused him of manipulating the situation in a manner which led to Hashem taking them out of Mitzraim in a miraculous manner, but they claimed that Hashem had never actually intended to give them the Promised Land of Israel. Rather, they accused Moshe of manipulating the situation for the purpose of bringing about the downfall and destruction of the Jewish people.
The reality is that their entire accusation was completely false! Everything that Moshe had done was based on the exact instructions from Hashem. Moshe is described as an “eved neeman” (a trustworthy servant of Hashem) and an “anav mikal adam (the most humble of all people-ever). He had no intention to use his influence to bring about any personal gain for himself. He didn’t deviate one drop from following the will of Hashem and accurately transmitting the words of Hashem to the Jewish people.
The average person who would have been in Moshe Rabbeinu's position would have had a strong negative reaction to the accusations that he faced. Moshe was a devoted and selfless leader, who had given everything of himself for the benefit of the Jewish people, yet he was accused him of lying to them and misleading them. He even faced a public challenge from them as they tried to overthrow him from his position!
The standard reaction that we have to being criticized is to defend ourselves. Our reputation is very important to us and we generally do whatever we can to make sure that our reputation isn’t ruined by the accusations. We usually also go on a mission to assault our accuser’s reputation, both as a means of defending ourselves and as a means of paying the other person back for having hurt us.
What Moshe Rabbeinu did was totally the opposite. As he was being attacked and both his reputation and his position was being threatened (in an unjust and unprovoked manner), his main priority was for others. He wanted to stop the troublemakers from hurting the rest of the Jewish people and he wanted to even encourage his accusers to do teshuva (for their benefit)!!
Moshe was able to act in this manner because of his humility. He wasn’t interested in praise or power. His priority was to lead, guide, and help others, and he sincerely wanted everyone to follow the ways of Hashem. Therefore, when Korach and his clan were rebelling and accusing him of injustice, his concern was about the honor of Hashem and the benefit of the people.
In our relationships we often get caught up with focusing on what the other person has done wrong and we become obsessed with defending ourselves and being critical of the other person.
Let us learn the lessons from Moshe Rabbeinu. Let us focus on loving peace and pursuing it!! Let us love others and forgive them. Let us focus on being the best person that we can be ourselves, and let us be a great role model for others. When we follow this path we will end up being good people and we will have healthy relationships