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Sefer Shemos
Parashas Shemos
Shemos: Chapter 4, verses 27
And G-d said to Aaron go
towards Moshe in the wilderness and he went and met him at the Mountain of G-d and kissed him.
Ramban, ibid:
And
he kissed him - Aaron kissed Moshe, because Moshe was humble and honored
his older brother. Therefore the Torah did not say that they kissed each
other.
The
Torah did not tell us who kissed the other when Moshe and Aaron met in the
wilderness. We do know that they did not both kiss each other because the
word "kiss" is singular and not plural. The Ramban
tells us that it was Aaron who kissed Moshe since Aaron was the older
brother and Moshe was humble before him.
Even
though I am not sure that I understand what honor there is in having the
older brother give the kiss, I do feel that we can learn a great deal about
the
humility of Moshe from this act.
It
is the nature of people who are "important" to become haughty.
The haughtiness that results shows up in many areas of daily conduct. The
haughty speak different and act different than the rest of us. But they
also tend to "forget" how they should interact with family
members and previous friends and neighbors.
Moshe
Rabbenu lived in Pharoah's
house and grew up differently than the rest of his family and indeed the
rest of the Jewish people. Opon leaving Egypt and
moving to MIDYAN, he spoke to G-d about being
the leader of the Jewish nation.
It
would have been understandable had Moshe forgotten the law of honoring his
older brother and kissed him. But Moshe was so humble that all his
importance had no effect on him at all. He remembered who he must honor and
how that honor is to be given.
The
Seforno adds a dimension to Aaron's kiss: He
comments that Aaron kissed Moshe as one would kiss a holy object. In the Egypt of oppression, slavery and murder Aaron
was sensitive to holiness to such a point that he kissed his younger
brother as he would a Torah scroll.
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