Bereishit: I am nothing.

A pasuk in Parshat Bereishit states, “And Hashem made two luminaries: The great luminary (haMaor haGadol) to rule in the day, and the minor luminary (haMaor haKatan) to rule at night, and the stars” (Bereishit 1:16). Rashi quotes Chazal and explains that originally the sun and moon were created equal. However, the moon came to Hashem with the complaint that two Kings can not possibly share one single crown. Hashem then commanded the moon to minimize itself, and then there was a profound difference between the sun and the moon. As a result, according to Chazal, the sun is much larger than the moon.

What is most distinct about these two “Great Luminaries” is that the sun generates its own light, while the moon is only a reflection of light of the sun.

Rav Yosef Soloveitchik suggests that this pasuk in Bereishit provides us with the Torah’s definition of the words “Gadol” and “Katan.”

The sun is called a Gadol because it is able to generate its own light. The moon is called Katan because it does not generate its own light. We express this very idea in a prayer at every Brit Milah. “This is the Katan, he will become a Gadol” – Zeh HaKatan Gadol Yehei. When a child is raised, he reflects the light generated by those who brought him into the world and raised him. But the blessing is that the child should take this light and generate his own power of illumination.

The source in which Rashi quotes Chazal is in Massechet Chulin 60b, which expresses an idea that can be seen as very contradictory. Said Hashem (to the moon): The righteous shall be called by your name. Yaakov the Katan. Shmuel the Katan. David the Katan. According to the Rav’s explanation, Yaakov, Shmuel HaNavi, and David HaMelech, by being Katan, only ever expressed “reflected” light and not their own. And not only does this verse refer to just them, but also all of the righteous, by which we could conclude that even Moshe Rabbeinu was a Katan.

When the Gemara refers to these great leaders of Klal Israel as Katan, it really means that the righteous who carry the world on their shoulders are those who who see themselves as nothing. Those who see themselves as merely a reflection of others. Moshe, the man who was chosen to receive the Torah, told Hashem that he was not good enough. King Saul hid when he was chosen as Israel’s first king. And King David, at the height of his glory, would sing songs about his worthlessness.

What is amazing about this is that Moshe, in the end of Parshat V’Zot HaBrachah, is referred to as a Moreh Gadol, but according to Chazal, shall always been known as a Katan. Why? Because every single Gadol HaDor, from Moshe Rabbeinu to Rabban Gamliel to the Rambam and the Chofetz Chaim, became a gadol, became great, by essentially being nothing. By having such a deep humbleness. Their own light is really the light of a Katan. A reflection of those who brought them up and made them a Gadol. A reflection of their parents, of their teachers, of their students, and of all of Klal Israel, making them fitting to be our leaders.

Parshat Bereishit, the Parsha of beginnings, teaches us that those who are truly great become so by being nothing.