Rabbi Ari Kahn
Parashat Pinchas 5775
Moshe’s
Mantle
As the Israelites move closer to entering the Land of
Israel, issues of inheritance come to the fore. This is true regarding the Land
itself, on the one hand, but also in terms of leadership on the other hand.
Moshe, who will not enter the Land of Israel, raises the question: Who will be
the new leader? Moshe insists that the People of God not be left leaderless: “Let God's community not be like sheep
that have no shepherd.'” (B’midbar 27:17)
From the manner in which the request is made[1],
and from God’s response,
it seems that this is not simply a political or military appointment. The
person God chooses will have the unenviable task of filling Moshe’s shoes.
Replacing a legend in any industry is difficult; replacing
Moshe seems impossible. In fact, a similar challenge is recorded in the Book of
Kings, as the great prophet Eliyahu (Elijah) prepares to leave his student and
heir Elisha. The master offers his anxious student one final blessing or wish:
And it came to pass, when they had crossed over (the
Jordan), Eliyahu said to Elisha, ‘Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken away from
you.’ And
Elisha said, ‘I beg
you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’ (2 Kings 2:9)
In what might at first seem to be a haughty or presumptuous
request, Elisha asks not for the power of his master, but for double the power,
twice the capabilities of the great Eliyahu. In fact, Elisha was far from
haughty or power-hungry. He was fully aware of the greatness of his teacher, of
Eliyahu’s
unsurpassed gifts as a prophet and leader. If anything, Elisha felt inadequate
to step into the enormous void that Eliyahu would leave behind, which led him
to seek out some way to compensate for the shortfall in leadership and vision
he foresaw. In Elisha’s mind,
only an endowment of twice the power, twice the insight and vision, would be
enough to compensate for his own lack of talent. Only in this way would he, who
paled in comparison to his great teacher, be able to meet the challenge and fulfill
the needs of the soon-to-be-bereft generation.
In contrast, when God answers Moshe’s plea for a replacement, God instructs
him to take “take Yehoshua
son of Nun, a man of spirit,… and invest him with some
of your splendor so that the entire Israelite
community will obey him.” (B’midbar 27:18,20)
Why should Elisha, the man chosen to replace Eliyahu, receive
“twice the power” of his predecessor, while Yehoshua,
the man chosen to replace Moshe, receive only “some of the splendor” of Moshe? To be sure, Moshe’s prophetic ability was unique. No other human being before
or since will ever achieve that proximity to God.[2]
Therefore, by definition, Yehoshua could not have been given “twice the power” of his teacher. But this does not
explain why his mandate was so curiously limited from the outset.
We may say that this conundrum goes beyond the question of
succession, and sheds light on the underlying issue that created the need for a
change in leadership in the first place: Moshe could not enter the Land of
Israel because, simply put, he was too great. The people could not completely
understand or properly estimate Moshe’s capabilities. Instead, his unique relationship with God
became a crutch that they had come to rely upon too heavily. Had Moshe
continued to lead them into the Land of Israel, they would have remained
passive, simply standing by and waiting for miracles to solve their problems
and fulfill their needs. They would have become spectators rather than
participants in Jewish history.
When God gives His commentary on Moshe’s death, He explains that Moshe was “guilty” of using too much of the power God had bestowed upon him.[3]
By striking the rock, Moshe and Aharon gave the impression that they, and not
God, were the source of this miracle. At this point in their development, the
people had to be weaned from their reliance on miracles, from their expectation
that miraculous events were the norm. The
supernatural seemed natural to them. Now, their impending entrance into the
Land of Israel would require them to shift into a different mode of existence:
The manna would soon be replaced by agriculture, and their sustenance would no
longer be insured through the agency of Moshe, Aharon and Miriam. Rather than waiting
for their leaders to perform miracles, the people would now become partners
with God.
Eliyahu and Elisha lived in a time of religious anarchy.
The people were deeply involved in idolatrous worship, and the novice Elisha would
have to seamlessly take up the mantle of leadership once worn by Eliyahu.
Elisha was well aware of what lay ahead, and he wisely asked to be endowed with
even more power than his teacher: The Jewish People needed to see the power of
God; anything less would have fallen short of what would be necessary to stem
the tide of paganism that had washed over the nation. On the other hand, Moshe’s generation had witnessed unparalleled
miracles each and every day. They had no need for one more miracle. What they
needed was to begin a new chapter, in which their own relationship with God
would blossom and grow through the continuous acts of faith and adherence that
would make up their everyday life in the Land of Israel. Moshe’s unique, miraculous form of leadership
was what they had needed in the wilderness; the next chapter would be written in
a different style, under the leadership of a man who was endowed with a small
portion of Moshe’s
spiritual capabilities – but
with the capabilities most suited to the life that lay ahead of them in the
Promised Land.
For
a more in-depth analysis see:
http://arikahn.blogspot.com/2015/06/audio-and-essays-parashat-pinchas.html
[1] In this section
Moshe addresses God in an unusual manner: “Let the Omnipotent God of all living souls appoint a man
over the community.”
No comments:
Post a Comment