Sources from essay by Rabbi Joshua Mikutis in The Mussar Torah Commentary
I want to suggest that core to navigating any uncertain time is anavah ("humility"). Humility is not about lowering ones self worth, but embarking on a deep understanding of the forces that surround us, shape us, and direct our actions. And an ideal engagement with humility is not surrender but a willingness to grapple with those absurd forces beyond our control and to proactively shape our reality into the world we seek to build. Key to anavah is knowing how to understand our own place in the world. Anavah should not diminish our sense of self but sharpen our understanding of the world to show us that failure is not permanent but a way of pushing us in a new direction.
-Rabbi Joshua Mikutis
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk noticed something strange in the text and asked Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Varkaw about an earlier promise God had made to Moses: Vshamu l’kolecha - "They (the Israelites] will listen to you" (Exodus 3:18). If this promise did not come true, can it be the case that God's words have failed to come to fruition? Our second Rabbi Menachem Mendel parses the verse carefully. He explains that the text is very specific to say l'kole-cha rather than use b'kolcha —that is, "to your voice" rather than "in your voice"— implying a looser connection between Moses's words and the people. The text seeks to say, "It is your voice alone that the people will listen to, not the specific content of your words," since, at this point, the people are too spiritually and physically oppressed to understand the fine details of their redemption. However, even if they cannot hear Moses's words, they can hear his voice. They can tell that in their hour of sorrow and pain, God's servant is there for them.
-Rabbi Joshua Mikutis
The Chatam Sofer connects his understanding of the immediate importance of our longing for God to the Ramban's interpretation of God's famous and opaque self. description, ehyeh asher ehyeh, "I will be that I will be" (Exodus 3:14) as "Just as you are with Me, so I will be with you.' The Ramban and Chatam Sofer both suggest that God's presence is directly linked to our capacity to cleave to God. This is an empowering idea-our actions in the world can change the essence of the Divine. Moses may experience himself as alone and useless, but just as earlier he did not necessarily perceive the impact of his words on the oppressed Israelites, here he might miss that his engagement with God has divine repercussions.
-Rabbi Joshua Mikutis
When we find ourselves in moments of difficulty, a practice of ana-vah can push us to ask three questions: How might my impact be different than expected? How can I find the Divine in this moment?
How can the story of those who came before me support me at this moment? If we engage in this personal reflection, we can work toward following the path of Moses, who later in the Torah is noted to be "a very humble man, more so than any other human being on earth" (Numbers 12:3).
-Rabbi Joshua Mikutis
Questions to Ask
- In times of failure, how have you been able to use anavah to understand your stumbling?
- What forces do you think allowed Moses to rise to the occasion at their time of need?