Parshas Va'eira

In this week's parsha, the Torah tells us about Moshe and Aharon's many visits to Pharaoh's palace on Klal Yisroel's behalf, attempting to have the Yidden freed. In writing about them, the Torah sometimes mentions Moshe first, while other times mentioning Aharon first. Rashi notes this discrepancy, and points out that the Torah did it intentionally to tell us that Moshe and Aharon were of equal greatness, that neither of them was more holy than the other. But how can that be? It is well known that in absolute terms, Moshe was far greater than Aharon! Moshe Rabbeinu spoke directly to Hashem - "peh el peh adaber bo" - so how can we say that Aharon was on the same level as him?!

The answer is that in Yiddishkeit, we do not measure greatness in absolute terms, but rather in relative terms. If a person does his Avodas Hashem to the very best of his potential, Hashem values it as much as the avodah of great tzaddikim. While Moshe was an "Ish Elokim", attaining the highest levels of nevu'ah, Aharon's task was his association with people - being an "ohev shalom v'rodef shalom" - a task at which his excellence was legendary. And that is why the pasuk equates Moshe and Aharon - in Hashem's eyes, since Aharon worked to serve Hashem to the best of his ability, he was considered equivalent to Moshe Rabbeinu, the tzaddik hador.

We can learn from here an important perspective on how one should perceive his Avodas Hashem. A person does not need to reach the same spiritual heights as the gadol hador in order to be special in Hashem's eyes; rather, he must focus on his own personal mission, on what Hashem expects of him. And when a person internalizes this concept, he can unlock the greatness within himself, and rise to his own unique spiritual heights.

Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zatzal.