Humility lifts the soul higher

בפסוק ומשה עלה ובמד' כל עלויך הי' מן המרום.

On the pasuk "And Moshe went up," the Midrash teaches: all your ascents were from on high.

The Sefas Emes opens that Moshe Rabbeinu's "going up" was not merely physical climbing — every elevation he reached was granted to him from Above, drawn down from the supernal realm.

עלית למרום דאיתא במדרש תשא בפסוק ככלתו מה כלה זו מצנעת עצמה ומגלית עצמה בשעת חופתה כן צריך להיות ת"ח צנוע במעשיו ומפורסם במעש"ט.

"You ascended on high" — as the Midrash in Tisa says on the pasuk "when he finished (k'challoso)": just as a kallah conceals herself yet reveals herself at the time of her chupah, so too a talmid chacham must be modest in his deeds yet renowned for his good deeds (maasim tovim).

A true Torah scholar lives with two motions at once — penimiyus (inner concealment) of genuine humility, while his good deeds shine out and bring kavod to Shomayim, just like a bride who is private yet radiant under the chupah.

וכן הי' במרע"ה עניו מאוד.

And so it was with Moshe Rabbeinu, who was exceedingly humble.

Moshe embodied this very paradox — the most exalted of men, yet the most humble of all.

וכאן עלה אל האלקים.

And here he ascended to Hashem.

Precisely because of his humility, Moshe was able to rise all the way up to the Divine.

וכן מצינו בר' יוסף דאמר לא תיתני ענוה דאיכא אנא ובעצרת אמר אי לאו האי יומא כמה יוסף איכא בשוקא.

And so we find with Rav Yosef, who said: "Do not teach that humility has ceased, for I am still here" — yet on Atzeres (Shavuos) he said: "Were it not for this day, how many Yosefs are there in the marketplace!"

Rav Yosef saw himself as nothing special — without the day of Mattan Torah he would be just another anonymous person in the street. Yet it was specifically this self-effacement (bittul) that made him a vessel for greatness.

דבאמת כפי הענוה שנמצא בגוף כך מתעלה ומתרומם הנפש.

For in truth, in the measure of the humility found in the body, so does the soul become elevated and lifted up.

This is the principle: the more a person lowers his physical self in genuine anavah (humility), the higher his neshamah is able to soar.

וזה הרמז חמץ בשתי הלחם.

And this is the hint in the chametz of the shtei halechem (the two loaves of Shavuos).

The two leavened loaves brought on Shavuos contain a deeper allusion that the Sefas Emes now unpacks.

כי חמץ רומז על התנשאות.

For chametz alludes to self-elevation.

Leaven rises and puffs up, so it represents the swelling of the self, a measure of "rising up" — but here it is harnessed for kedushah rather than gaavah.

ובעצרת מתרומם נפשות בנ"י הנפש שליט על הגוף דהתורה נקראת אש ונק' מים שירדו למקום נמוך רומז על גוף השפל ואז חל עליו התלהבות התורה שנק' אש ומתעלה למעלה.

And on Atzeres the souls of Bnei Yisrael are uplifted, the nefesh ruling over the body — for the Torah is called fire, and it is also called water that flows down to a low place, alluding to the lowly body; and then the fervor of the Torah, called fire, rests upon it and lifts it on high.

On Shavuos the soul masters the body. Torah is like water that seeks the lowest ground — it settles on the humble body that has made itself low — and there the "fire" of Torah ignites with hislahavus (passion) and carries the whole person upward.

שכן צריך להיות הנשמה ממעל צריך להתרומם למעלה.

For so it must be: the neshamah, which is from Above, must rise upward.

The soul originates Above, so its natural pull is to ascend back to its source.

והגוף מעפר צריך להיות שפל עד לעפר.

And the body, which is from dust, must be lowly, down to the dust.

The body comes from the earth, so its proper avodah is to remain humble, lowering itself to the very dust — which paradoxically frees the soul to rise.

ומרע"ה נק' איש האלקים מחצה איש ומחצה אלקים כמ"ש במד' וזאת הברכה.

And Moshe Rabbeinu is called "ish ha'Elokim" (man of Hashem) — half man and half Divine — as the Midrash says on V'zos HaBerachah.

Moshe uniquely held both worlds: a "man" rooted in humble physicality, and an "Elokim" dimension elevated into the Divine.

והחלק איש שבו הי' עניו מאוד וחלק אלקים נתעלה יותר מן המלאכים.

And the "man" part within him was exceedingly humble, while the "Divine" part was elevated even higher than the angels.

His lower half practiced extreme humility, and precisely through that, his higher half rose above the malachim themselves.

לכן כתיב עניו מכל כו' אשר על כו' האדמה.

Therefore it is written: "humble more than every... [man] who was upon... the earth."

The Torah specifies that Moshe was the humblest of all men "upon the earth" — his humility belonged to the earthly, bodily realm.

אבל למעלה נתעלה מכל.

But above, he was elevated beyond all.

On earth he was the lowest in humility; in the upper world he was raised higher than everyone, including the angels.

ורמז במקום שאין אנשים השתדל להיות איש היינו במרום.

And this is the hint in "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man" — meaning, on high.

The Mishnah's teaching is read on a deeper level: "in a place where there are no men" refers to the supernal realm, where Moshe strove to "be a man" — to elevate his human, earthly half all the way Above.

כמ"ש עיר גבורים עלה חכם:

As it is written: "A wise man scaled the city of the mighty" (Mishlei 21:22).

The chacham conquers even the fortress of the mighty — through the wisdom of Torah and humility, Moshe ascended to the highest places.

Summary: True greatness is a paradox of opposites held together — the more a person lowers his body in genuine humility down to the dust, the higher his soul ascends. Moshe Rabbeinu and the chametz of the shtei halechem on Shavuos both teach that bittul of the self is precisely what allows the fire of Torah to lift a person above even the angels.