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“ויהי ברדת משה מהר סיני ומשה לא ידע כי קרן עור פניו בדברו אתו” (שמות לד:כט)

“And it was when Moshe descended from Har Sinai… Moshe didn’t know his face shone as he spoke”

            This Passuk  seems a little surprising! At Krias Yam Suf and Har Sinai, the Jewish people reached an elevated stage. The ten Makkos, Ananei HaKavod, and the Man proved to them that Hashem fully controlled the world. Even a maidservant saw more by Krias Yam Suf than Yechezkel saw by the Maaseh Merkava.

            After that, there was Maamad Har Sinai, where their Neshamos saw the presence of the Shechinah itself, and just left their bodies and returned to Hashem. Hashem had to force them back into their bodies to revive them.

            In the height of all of this, while literally hours away from receiving the Luchos, the entire nation committed one of the worst aveiros just because of a simple miscalculation. The Chet Ha’Egel was commited by those same people, who were on such a high level days before. It was one of the worst drops in Jewish history.

            Moshe must have been on an extremely high level, considering that he had just succeeded in convincing Hashem to spare the Jews and to give them a second set of Luchos. While the Jews were all sinning on earth, Moshe steadfastly held strong to Hashem.

            The question bears asking. Why didn’t Moshe know, to some degree, that his face, which had just seen the actual presence of Hashem moments before, would be hard for the Jews to take in, being that they were on an extremely low level and yet he remained on a high one?

            We can learn from here the greatness of Moshe! With the terrible sin which they just committed, he could have thought negatively against Klal Yisrael. He could have looked down upon them and lost his respect. He could have thought about his greatness, and their lowliness.

            Yet, the passuk tells us “ומשה לא ידע כי קרן עור פניו”. He didn’t even realize. It didn’t even occur to him to think that way!

            There is a famous story. A man and his young son, Moshe, were walking on the streets of the lower east side of Manhattan. The father suddenly called out to his son “Moshe, come here”. A few seconds later, R’ Moshe Feinsteinזצ”ל , the undisputed leader of the generation, one of the greatest people to live for the past 200 years, was standing in front of this man. “What can I do for you?” R’ Moshe asked.

“ומשה לא ידע כי קרן עור פניו”

            How many times are we in a situation that we think of ourselves as so much greater and holier than others?

            Great people don’t ignore their enormous talents and capabilities. They don’t overlook their tremendous brainpower and Torah knowledge. They recognized the fact that it isn’t them! Hashem gave them the ability to succeed! Hashem intended for them to use it for Klal Yisrael.

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Parshas Ki Sisa