Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar. I wanted to take a moment to thank Alli Batalion for her thoughtful weekly edits to these writings, and a special thank you this week to Moshe Teitelbaum for his help with the message in this week’s Dvar. Please consider forwarding this to others, and I hope you enjoy... _______________________________________________ As Moshe descends Har Sinai with the second set of tablets, he is unaware of the radiance emanating from his face (34:29). The Midrash explains that after Moshe finished transcribing the Torah, the residual ink left on his quill accidentally touched his face and caused it to shine. Why would there have been extra ink? How would extra ink manifest itself as Moshe’s shining face? Ohr Hachaim suggests that when Moshe got to the passuk (verse) “and Moshe was the most humble man ever” (Numbers 12:3), he found himself unable to spell עניו ( the word for humble) and left out the yud. The ink not used for that yud is the extra ink that anecdotally got on Moshe’s face. This explanation highlights an ironic correlation: Moshe’s humility is in fact what caused his face to shine. The lesson worth internalizing is that sometimes the quietest people are the loudest. _______________________________________________ Quotation of the week: "Talent is God-given, be humble. Fame is man-given, be grateful. Conceit is self-given, be careful."