Thoughts
on The Parsha
Parshas
Pinchas
Core
Credentials
וַיְדַבֵּר
משֶׁה אֶל ה'
לֵאמֹר:
יִפְקֹד
ה'
אֱלֹקי
הָרוּחֹת לְכָל בָּשָׂר אִישׁ עַל הָעֵדָה:
אֲשֶׁר
יֵצֵא לִפְנֵיהֶם וַאֲשֶׁר יָבֹא
לִפְנֵיהֶם וַאֲשֶׁר יוֹצִיאֵם וַאֲשֶׁר
יְבִיאֵם וְלֹא תִהְיֶה עֲדַת ה'
כַּצֹּאן
אֲשֶׁר אֵין לָהֶם רֹעֶה:
וַיֹּאמֶר
ה'
אֶל
משֶׁה קַח לְךָ אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן
אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ בּוֹ וְסָמַכְתָּ
אֶת יָדְךָ עָלָיו:
וְהַעֲמַדְתָּ
אֹתוֹ לִפְנֵי אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן
וְלִפְנֵי כָּל הָעֵדָה וְצִוִּיתָה
אֹתוֹ לְעֵינֵיהֶם:
וְנָתַתָּה
מֵהוֹדְךָ עָלָיו לְמַעַן יִשְׁמְעוּ
כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
וְלִפְנֵי
אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן יַעֲמֹד וְשָׁאַל
לוֹ בְּמִשְׁפַּט הָאוּרִים לִפְנֵי ה'
עַל
פִּיו יֵצְאוּ וְעַל פִּיו יָבֹאוּ הוּא
וְכָל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִתּוֹ וְכָל
הָעֵדָה:
וַיַּעַשׂ
משֶׁה כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה'
אֹתוֹ
וַיִּקַּח אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַיַּעֲמִדֵהוּ
לִפְנֵי אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן וְלִפְנֵי
כָּל הָעֵדָה:
וַיִּסְמֹךְ
אֶת יָדָיו עָלָיו וַיְצַוֵּהוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר
דִּבֶּר ה'
בְּיַד
משֶׁה
“Moshe spoke to Hashem,
saying, 'May Hashem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man
over the assembly, who shall go out before them and come in before
them, who shall take them out and who shall bring them in; and let
the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd.'
Hashem said to Moshe, 'Take to yourself Yehoshua son of Nun, a man in
whom there is spirit, and lean your hand upon him. You shall stand
him before Elazar the kohen and
before the entire assembly, and command him before their eyes. You
shall place of your splendor upon him, so that the entire assembly of
the Children of Israel will pay heed. Before Elazar the kohen
shall he stand, and he shall
inquire of him of the judgment of the Urim before Hashem; by his word
shall they go out and by his word shall they come in, he and all the
Children of Israel with him, and the entire assemble.' Moshe did as
Hashem had commanded him. He took Yehoshua and stood him before
Elazar the kohen and
ind before the entire assembly. He leaned his hands upon him and
commanded him, as Hashem had spoken through Moshe.”
-Pinchas
27:16-23
Hashem reminded Moshe
that because of his sin with hitting the rock, he would not be
allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel.
Therefore, a new leader had to be appointed. The new leader would
have to be one capable of following in Moshe's footsteps and leading
a stubborn B'nei Yisroel out
of the midbar (desert)
and into their next stage of
conquering Eretz Yisroel.
If we take the moment to read through the passukim
carefully, listening to the conversation between Hashem and Moshe, we
will find what the Torah values most when it comes to looking for
someone capable of leading the nation of Hashem.
The
Torah1
relates when Moshe davened
(prayed) to Hashem to ask that He appoint a suitable successor, Moshe
referred to Hashem as “elokei ha'ruchos”
(G-d of the spirits). Rashi2
explains that by using this expression, he was in fact davening:
“Master of the World! The personality of each individual is
revealed before You; they do not resemble each other. Appoint a
leader who can put up with each individual according to his
personality.”
It
is fascinating that if one stands two people alongside each other and
analyzes their features part by part, it is often very difficult to
figure out which part is so drastically different that the people
should have such unique features. Yet, it is a fact that people look
different from one another. Chazal tell
us based on the Gemara3
that just as our faces are not the same, neither are our minds. Each
person sees things in a different light from a different perspective.
Some thoughts may be similar while others will contrast as much as
black and white. A proper leader must be able to appreciate each
person's unique personality and be able to deal with each individual
appropriately. His task is the ultimate challenge of receiving people
b'seiver panim yafos4
Not merely always smiling or always serious, but rather “b'seiver”.
A leader must put thought
into his countenance depending on each individual, case by case. This
is one quality which Moshe stresses as being of utmost importance.
Someone placed in an authoritative position leading a group and
wanting to help them grow, must be able to be in-tuned to the
different dynamics that by definition exists and varies based on each
individual, and be able to wisely deal with each one accordingly.
Moshe continues
his tefillah (prayer)
saying that the leader should be
one who shall go out before them and come in before them. Rashi5
explains that Moshe was saying
the following: “Hashem, may You choose a leader who does not act in
the manner of the kings of the other nations who sit in their palaces
and send their armies off to war, but rather act as I [Moshe] did,
for I did battle against Sichon and Og.”
From this part of
Moshe's tefillah we
gather a second equally important attribute a leader must have,
namely he must practice what he preaches. It is very easy to lecture
and give commands and then sit back and watch as they get done, or
disciple when they do not get accomplished. However, such behavior is
less than insufficient, it is counter-productive. It gives quite a
mixed message when the one preaching does not act as such himself,
and it creates, whether consciously or subconsciously, a definite
confusion and possibly even a strong dislike or hatred to the one
giving the orders. A true leader does not ask of things he does not
do himself. If he is asking his subjects to go to war, he will lead
them into the war himself. If he is suggesting ways of living, he
will follow them as well. This is true even in a general sense of
leading, and so much more when the leader has the responsibility of
relating the commands of Hashem.
Continuing the
narrative in the Torah, the next couple of passukim relate
what Hashem responded to Moshe. Rashi6
states that Hashem told Moshe to take Yehoshua with words, meaning,
that Moshe should say to him how fortunate and privileged he is to
lead the children of Hashem. Yet, it is only one passuk7
later when Hashem continues to
tell Moshe to warn his successor that the job of leading B'nei
Yisroel is not an easy one. As
Rashi8
describes: B'nei
Yisroel are troublesome and
uncooperative.
Along these lines,
there is an old joke that a United States President phoned the
Israeli Prime Minister and started complaining about how difficult it
was being president over a country of people and having to hear the
constant complaints and being blamed for everything. The Israeli
Prime Minister replied, “Big deal. You only need to be president
over a country full of people. I need to be president over a country
full of presidents.”
B'nei
Yisroel is a hard nation to
lead, and anyone who leads B'nei Yisroel should
be reminded of this and that if they are to accept the position, an
understanding of this is imperative just as Hashem told Moshe to
forewarn Yehoshua appropriately. However, the correct mindset that
goes along with it is not a huge sigh, but rather as Rashi
puts so beautifully, “You are fortunate, for you are privileged to
lead the children of G-d!” A pure-hearted leader of K'lal
Yisroel does not get tired out
from helping the people and putting up with all the nonsense because
in the end of the day there is a drive which surpasses it all, and
that is the amazing privilege of being in a position of leading the
children of Hashem. This is the mindset necessary to be a good leader
of B'nei Yisroel.
The next passuk9
continues Hashem's instructions
to Moshe regarding appointing a new leader. Hashem tells Moshe to
place his splendor upon his successor. Rashi10
elaborates that Moshe's face was
like the sun and Yehoshua's face was like the moon. Besides for the
pashut p'shat (simple
explanation) fact that Hashem was stating that there will never be a
navi (prophet) or
leader as great as Moshe rabbeinu,
there is perhaps another underlying point being hinted to here. The
moon does not give off its own light, but rather just reflects what
it is able to get from the sun. Perhaps with this moshol
(parable) we could extract yet
another vital property of a Jewish leader. It may be true that as
generations go on, the light that the moon reflects gets less and
less, however the most important aspect is that it is reflecting its
light from the sun. No matter the “qualifications” of a leader,
the ultimate qualification is the fact he has a rebbe
and a mesorah
(tradition) going up to Moshe rabbeinu. Someone
who self-declares himself as being smart enough to lead is foolish
and is missing the most critical qualifier of having a rebbe
with a mesorah.
One must not be a leader with his own light but rather that which
reflects off the sun. This is yet another vital factor in choosing a
leader for K'lal Yisroel,
which we learn from Hashem's conversation with Moshe.
The Torah11
concludes this segment by describing that Moshe did exactly as Hashem
commanded him and took Yehoshua and stood him before Elazar Ha'Kohen.
Moshe then leaned his hands on
Yehoshua – giving him the first semicha in
history – and commanded him everything Hashem told him. Rashi12
points out that really, Hashem
commanded Moshe to lean his hand
on
Yehoshua, yet the Torah accounts that Moshe leaned his hands
on Yehoshua, more than Hashem commanded him, as if to demonstrate
that he was generously overfilling Yehoshua to the brim with his
wisdom.
The
Kli Yakar13
asks that according to Rashi's
explanation
that Moshe in fact did more than he was commanded, how could Moshe
have done so? Isn't that an issue of bal
tosef
– the negative commandment to add to mitzvos?
If Hashem gives a commandment with a specific number then we are not
allowed to add to that. For example, on Succos
we are commanded to bring four species. Not three and not five. So if
Hashem commanded Moshe to lean one hand, how could he have leaned
both his hands?
The
Kli Yakar offers
the following answer which givers further insight into the
responsibility of a Jewish leader. The Kli
Yakar writes
that Moshe was to lean his hand in the same way as we find by
karbanos
(offerings).
In the parsha of
karbanos,
the Torah also uses the singular form to describe the kohen
leaning
his hand on the animal, yet in practice it describes Aharon leaning
both his hands on
the karbon.
Moshe replicated the form of the commandment and practice as
mentioned by the karbonos
at the time of appointing Yehoshua in order to demonstrate that the
role of the leader is to bear the burden of the various sins and
mistakes of the nation. Just as the karbon
must
carry the burden of the aveiros
(sins),
so too a leader of K'lal
Yisroel must
be willing to be responsible for everyone under his care.
Perhaps
there is even an additional message which could be gleaned from this
Rashi and
Kli Yakar.
A leader must be there purely for the people and not for any selfish
purpose whatsoever. If one stops for a moment and thinks about
political positions, when a mayor, governor, or president must give
up his position after a complete term or by being voted out, one will
never find him truly wishing that his successor do as good a job as
he. Each president wants to be the one to be remembered and wants to
take up the biggest section in the history books. Often to try to
achieve this politicians will bad-mouth their successors or
sarcastically challenge them to do as good a job. However, those are
properties of a bad person and very far from the characteristics of a
good leader. A good leader wishes only for the ultimate success of
the people. This means that a good leader would do all he could to
try to find a successor that is just as good or better than himself
so that he could pass on his charge of taking care of the people he
loves to a suitable person. Perhaps this is yet another idea being
pointed out by the Torah and Rashi,
that Moshe was someone who truly loved and cared for the B'nei
Yisroel, therefore,
as depressing as it was to have to give up his position and prepare
to face death, Moshe put both hands on Yehoshua to express that he
wanted to give him everything he had with a beracha
(blessing)
that
Yehoshua have the capacity of strength and wisdom to lead K'lal
Yisroel like
Moshe himself.
The
mishna14
states
that there are four types of people who give tzedaka.
The first is someone who is willing to give tzedaka
(charity)
but wishes that no one else does. The mishna
refers
to such a person as begrudging of others. Here is a person who looks
like he is doing a nice thing by giving tzedaka
but
it is clearly for only selfish reasons. The proof is in the fact that
he does not want others to give. He cares more about being in the
spotlight, than the poor people having food to eat. He couldn't care
less about the poor people; if he did he would encourage others to
give as well. The same thing is true when it comes to a leader. A
good leader wants only what is best for his people. If there is
someone else helping him lead and doing a good job, he should not be
jealous, because as long as the people are benefiting, he should be
happy. Someone who tries to undermine the good of others is clearly
not a leader but rather a haughty person who wants to steal the
spotlight.
When
we speak of leaders, the term is not limited to a king or president
of countries or nations. Rather, a leader in K'lal
Yisroel includes
anyone of influence whether a friend, mentor, camp counselor, rebbe,
rav,
or community leader. The group could be big, it could be small; it
could be a less involved role or a more aggressive one. It could be
at work, or in school; with frum
people, or ones needing kiruv.
No matter the details, the guidelines from this week's parsha
apply
all the same. A key leader is someone who has a rebbe
with a mesorah and
understands and cares deeply for every individual in his sphere of
influence; and despite the trouble and white hairs that are bound to
come, he remains driven with the privilege he has to be involved with
the growth and helping of Hashem's children. He is also more than
happy to bear the responsibilities that come with his role without
any jealousy of those who are capable of inputting productively.
May
Hashem help us realize our own spheres of influence and guide the
leaders of K'lal
Yisroel along
the mindset of Moshe as he placed his hands on Yehoshua.
1Bamidbar
27:16
2Rashi
ibid.
3Berachos
58a
4See
Mishna Avos 1:15
5Rashi
Bamidbar 27:17
6Rashi
Bamidbar 27:18
7Bamidbar
27:19
8Rashi
ibid.
9Bamidbar
27:20
10Rashi
Bamidbar 27:20
11Bamidbar
27:22-23
12Rashi
Bamidbar 27:23
13Bamidbar
27:18
14Avos
5:16
