V’ZOS HABRACHA
Moshe Rabeinu was the greatest prophet to have ever lived and achieved closeness to HaShem that is insurmountable. However, upon Moshe’s death in VeZos HaBracha, he gets what seems to be a mere two-word eulogy; ‘and Moshe died there EVED HASHEM…’ (32;5). This was the question bothering Rav Elchonon Wasserman which he addressed in his eulogy of the Chofetz Chaim. Rav Elchonon said that the words ‘eved HaShem’ are the greatest accolade that a person can be given…
For we have a halacha that ‘that which is owned by a servant is owned by his master’ (eg if my servant picked up a lost object I am the object’s owner). Thus, said Rav Elchonon, the Torah calling Moshe Rabeinu an ‘eved HaShem’ meant that any talent, skill, and all aspects of Moshe’s life were spent using them for his Master, HaShem. That was a greatness of Moshe, and is a high level that we can emulate in our own ways.
Sometimes two words can be more elequent than even 1000.
There is a joke that they say: Shmerel went to borrow a horse from his neighbor, Berel. “Sure, you can borrow my horse,” replies Berel. “But one thing you have to know about this horse. He is trained to start when you say ‘Baruch Hashem’ (thank God) and he stops when you say ‘Shema Yisrael’.” So Shmerel gets on the horse and practices. “Baruch Hashem” he says, and the horse breaks into a trot. “Shema Yisrael” he announces, and sure enough, the horse stops. After practicing a few times, he feels confident and begins his journey. As he is riding along a road, he sees that the road ends up ahead with a steep cliff. Suddenly Shmerel realizes that he has forgotten the word needed to make the horse stop. “Ashrei yoshvei vetecha,” he squeaks desperately. The horse keeps going. “Um – Adon Olam” he intones. The horse keeps going. “Eh – Aleinu L’shabeiach.” But the horse keeps galloping. Now fearful that he is about to die, Shmerel does what any good Jew would do when confronted with certain death. He screams out, “Shema Yisrael.” As trained, the horse stops suddenly — barely two feet from the edge of the cliff. Shaking like a leaf, Shmerel pulls out his handkerchief and wipes the sweat from his forehead. “Whew !!” he exclaims, “Baruch Hashem !!”
(ShortVort.com)