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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Pinhas
Numbers 25:10 - 30:1
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take for yourself
Joshua the son of Nun, an individual who has spirit within him, and lay (or
lean) your hand upon him, Stand him up before Elazar the Priest and before
the entire congregation, and command him before their eyes. And give
of your glory upon him in order that the entire congregation of the children
of Israel may obey him…’” (Numbers 26:18-20)
In these three verses we see the “passing of the guard,” the succession
of leadership from Moses to Joshua. And imbedded within the three
different actions which G-d commanded Moses to perform, we may begin to
define three different forms of traditional Jewish leadership.
Firstly, Moses was to “lay his hands” upon Joshua, an act which
expressed a conferral of rabbinic authority, semikha (literally a laying
upon or leaning upon), from master to disciple (cf. Mishnah Sanhedrin 1, 1).
Since Moses was traditionally known as Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our religious
teacher or our Rabbi, and since Joshua is Biblically and midrashically
pictured as Moses’ devoted disciple, it is perfectly logical to assume
that the first transference from Moses to Joshua was that of religio-legal
authority. Moreover, Moses was a great prophet who conveyed the Divine
word to his nation; since the scholar (hakham) is heir (and even superior)
to the prophet, and since the prophet was always expected to be a great
intellectual and spiritual personality, Moses was bestowing upon Joshua his
own authority as religious master and prophet (Rabbenu) by the act of his
laying of his hands (semikhah) upon Joshua.
Moses is then commanded by G-d to “stand Joshua up” before Elazar the
Priest. The Kohen Gadol or High Priest was certainly a leader in
ancient Israel – but his Divine service was formal, ritual and external,
very much limited to the Sanctuary or Holy Temple. It was
necessary for the Rabbi – scholar – prophet to be recognized and
respected by the High Priest, and vice versa; however, whereas the former
had to constantly bring the living word of G-d to the people and in the
process often came into conflict with the ruling authorities and even with
the majority of the Israelites, the latter merely had to perform the precise
Temple ritual so that the continuity of the Divine service from generation
to generation could be maintained. Joshua therefore had to appear, or
be stood up, before the High Priest, but he was not given the ritual
authority of the High Priest. Moses and Joshua were the seat of
religious, moral and ethical authority; Aaron and Elazar were the seat of
ritual authority. The Rav – Scholar – Prophet was expected to
teach and interpret G-d’s word for every generation; the High Priest was
expected to ritually perform and maintain the ritual structures from
generation to generation.
And finally, Moses was to “give of his glory (Hebrew hod) upon (Joshua) in
order that the entire congregation of Israel may obey him” (Numbers
26:20). In addition to being religious Rav – Scholar – Prophet,
Moses also served as authoritative King (cf Deut. 33:4,5), the chief
executive officer of the Israelite nation. This authority was the
power, or glory, he conferred upon Joshua as well. Rav Jonathan Sacks,
chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, defines the distinction between both
aspects of Moses’ leadership as that of influence verses power.
Moses, as master prophet and religious teacher, wielded enormous influence,
not only in his generation but in every generation, including our own
generation which still studies Moses’ divine words. Moses, as King
of Israel, controlled much power, and so - in the final analysis – managed
to quell the rebellions of all of his detractors: Korah, Datan and
Aviram, and Zimri ben Salu.
But influence and power are very different sources of authority. The
chief Rabbi sees this distinction as emanating from the Midrash Rabbah (Bereshit
21:15), which compares the giving over of power to “a pouring out from one
vessel to another,” whereas the conferral of influence is likened to
“the kindling of one candle from another candle.” When wine, for
example, is poured from one goblet into another, the first goblet becomes
emptied and devoid of its joy-giving liquid. Similarly, when a
political leader leaves office and his successor takes over, no authority
remains in the hand of the incumbent.
How different is the realm of influence. After the initial candle has
kindled its flame onto another candle, the light of the first candle has in
no way become diminished; much the opposite, now there are two candles
shining brightly, providing double the amount of light in the room. My
revered teacher, Rav Joseph B Saloveitchik, went one step further, when he
interpreted the Biblical text of our weekly portion at the celebration of my
class’s rabbinical ordination (hag haSemikhah). The “laying of the
hands” is usually interpreted as an inter-generational conferral of
authority: the master from a former generation is “handing over”
the authority of our ancient tradition (trado in Latin means to hand over)
to the younger generation.
However, says Rav Soloveitchik, that is not the picture presented by the
Biblical text. The Hebrew Samokh (Semikhah) principally means to lean
on, so that the picture being conveyed is that of an elderly Moses leaning
with his hands upon a younger Joshua. The message seems not to be that
of a young Joshua dependant upon the authority of an elder Moses; it rather
seems to be that of an elder Moses dependant for his support upon a younger
Joshua. Rav Soloveitchik looked at us, his student-rabbis, with great
yearning and expectations. “It is I who am dependant upon you.
Without you, my Torah and my unique teaching, indeed all of the traditions
which I imbibed from the previous generations, will all die with me.
You are my insurance policy. It is through you and your teachings that
my Torah will continue to live…”
This is why Moses had to put down Korah – who wanted to usurp power for a
false end – but encouraged Eldad and Medad, who were influenced by a
Divine spirit. And this is the true meaning of our Sages’ adage that
a father is never jealous of a child nor is a teacher ever jealous of a
disciple. Politics yield power, which disappears in the sand-dunes of
times; learning and piety breed influence, which last for all
eternity. The Israelite Kings are scarcely remembered while the
Israelite prophets and sages are still being studied and interpreted today.
Lust for power is ultimately consumed by fiery flames, while the influence
of Torah education will enable the light of the menorah to emblazon the path
to the tree of life in our return to Eden.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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