Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the hierarchy of various castes and roles in society, such as who receives priority in being rescued, in saving their objects, and other privileges. However, Judaism’s caste system, like its economic system, defies simple categorization. There is a strong free market, but also certain socialistic regulations such as debt cancellation in shemitta, prohibition against usury, and return of ancestral property in yovel. So too, there are strict castes and privileges based on nobility, religious lineage, and gender. But despite this system, there is a counterbalance. Even though high esteem and deference is given to a Cohen Godol, a mamzer who is a Torah scholar precedes a High Priest who is an ignoramus. Once again, though the Jewish world is a society of structure, privilege, and legacy, it isn’t stagnant. The elevation of character and intellect that proper scholarship and devotion achieve surpasses any legacy and familial privilege, making room for upward mobility and new talents.

The Mishna uses the Hebrew word kodem for “precedes.” As in English, it can mean “in time,” but also “in status.” The simple reading here is that the Torah scholar precedes the Cohen Godol in time—that is, he gets treated or responded to first. However, it also can mean precedence in status, as we shall see.

Yismach Moshe (Bereishis 10) interprets the unusual plural form in the verse about man’s creation: “Let Us make man” (Bereishis 1:26). What is meant by “us”? This is the partnership between man and God. Other animals fulfill God’s purpose as a species to support the ecosystem which allows man to thrive. But man’s ultimate fulfillment of God’s purpose is not just to live, but to independently develop character and intellect, aligning with and embodying God’s ways. This voluntary and independent act of free will is the ultimate high purpose, because it is the closest to the Godly traits of both goodness and absolute independence and power. Only man can do this, and only then is man’s purpose and God’s intention fulfilled. “Let us,” God and man, “make man,” fulfill the purpose of man’s creation.

There is an aggadah (Sanhedrin 38a) that explains why man, the pinnacle of creation, was created last instead of first:

If a person becomes haughty, God can say to him: The gnat preceded (kidamcha) you in the acts of Creation, as you were created last.

Yismach Moshe also interprets the word kidamcha not just as “preceded chronologically,” but also in hierarchy. How so? In the same manner that the High Priest is by default of a higher status, just as even a gnat is a complete creature created by God fulfilling its purpose. The person who strives for intellectual and character development can rise above the ordinary hierarchy. Therefore, man is told: “Don’t be arrogant. Really a gnat is superior to you at baseline, because it completely fulfills its purpose. If you do not fulfill yours, the gnat precedes you. But if you achieve and elevate yourself, then you surpass any legacy status.”