Vezos Haberacha

After our parsha relates the death of Moshe the Torah attests to Moshe's greatness by saying ולא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה, there will never rise another prophet like Moshe. This seems to be in contrast, says Reb Elchanan Wasserman, with a statement from the Rambam that says        

“don't be like the fools that say that Hashem has predetermined a person from when he was first created, whether to be righteous or to be wicked; not true, each person has the potential to be great like Moshe Rabbeinu or wicked like Yiruvam.”

It seems that the Rambam is saying that every person can be as great as Moshe while the posuk is clearly saying that no one will ever reach Moshe's level. What does the Rambam mean?

Reb Wasserman explains based on a רד”ק in sefer Yehoshua that explains what the term ‘עבד ה means. We know that whatever a slave owns belongs to the master; everything that the slave has is really the master’s, so, really, the whole being of the slave is just for the master. This definition is befitting of Moshe as the עבד ה for all of Moshe's actions, thoughts and doings were all just for the sake of Hashem; being the servant of Hashem is what defined him. This is what the Rambam meant when he said that every person can reach the level of Moshe. Each person can reach the level where one's actions are all done with Hashem in mind, discerning what Hashem wants from me now. This is the situation He put me in, now how do I maximize whatever I am able to do for the sake of Hashem.

We see this exemplified by the last words of the Torah, לעיני כל ישראל, which Rashi explains to mean that Moshe broke the luchos right before their eyes which Hashem agreed with. The sefer Toras Moshe says, imagine how precious the luchos were to Moshe, as Moshe Rabbeinu himself said. “I gave my blood for this; I gave my soul for this”. On them was the writing of Hashem; we stood by Mount Sinai to receive them; they are what the world stands on. We can only imagine how connected Moshe was to the luchos, yet when he felt that it was in the best interest of Hashem to break them, he didn't hesitate. He didn't worry about all the work he had invested in them or how important they were; he did what he felt had to be done, what was in the best interest of Hashem.  This is the final lesson of the Torah, Moshe as the ultimate עבד ה.

This is the final lesson we must take, that whatever abilities we have, whatever we are blessed with, is given to us so that we can serve our Creator. That was Moshe's greatness. Whatever abilities he had, he used for Hashem. Although none of us can ever reach anywhere near the level of Moshe because we weren't given his abilities, if we use our own abilities in all that we do to bring us closer to Hashem and to do His will, then we too can be like Moshe. We, too, can reach the level of עבד ה!