At the beginning of this week's Parsha Moses implores God one last time to allow him to enter the land of Israel. Moses begins his request by saying אתה החלות להרות את עבדך את גדלך ואת ידך החזקה אשר מי אל בשמים ובארץ אשר יעשה כמעשיך וכגבורתך - You have only begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for what power is there in the heaven or on the earth that can perform according to Your deeds and according to Your mighty acts?
The way in which Moses says, "you have only begun..." has always had an impact on me. Moses, the person who our tradition says spoke to God face to face, the person who knew all the mysteries of the Torah, the greatest man to ever live, has only begun to understand God's greatness?!?! I would imagine, that if anyone in the world has ever understood God's greatness, it would be Moses. Yet, Moses himself admits to his own inadequacy in being able to fully grasp the greatness of God.
How often do we assume that we understand something, or really know the way things work, and as a result approach a given situation with less humility. When we come from this perspective we get angry at other people (or God) much more easily, and we fail to achieve our own potential greatness because of our own inability to absorb life lessons with a humble heart. Moses serves of an example of humility in his ability to recognize that even he doesn't know everything, and he has not seen everything, this is what makes him so great!
