Elders and Youths: Every Jew's Own Mission

1“He sent the youths of Bnei Yisrael, and they brought up burnt offerings, and they slaughtered offerings …”¹ Rashi explains that “the youths” were the firstborn, and the Ramban gives the reason: at that time the service of the offerings was performed by the firstborn.² But the Ramban raises a difficulty: if so, why does the verse call them “youths”? The Ibn Ezra explains that they were the young men, the sons of the elders.³ But then why did Moshe take the elders' sons to bring the offerings, and not the elders themselves? Everywhere else the elders were given first place, and the Omnipresent honored them at Sinai and in Egypt. The Ramban also offers another explanation, according to the plain meaning: they were the young men of Israel who had never tasted sin.⁴ This too needs explaining. If they were more important than the elders of Israel, why were they not given first place at the gathering at Mount Sinai and at the redemption from Egypt as well? There the verse put forward only the elders, those “set apart for the yeshivah.”⁵

2Further on it is written: “He took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the ears of the people, and they said, ‘All that Hashem has spoken we will do and we will hear.’”⁶ But earlier the verse says: “All the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that Hashem has spoken we will do.’”⁷ Notice the difference. Why did they say only “we will do” at first, and answer “we will do and we will hear” only after the offerings had been brought?

3Perhaps we can explain this through a teaching of the holy sefarim: Klal Yisrael is Hashem's army, His hosts and His servants. Just as in a king's army each soldier has a task of his own, and may not leave the task he was given to do a different one, so within Klal Yisrael every single person has tasks and roles of his own. Each person's worth lies in carrying out his own task properly. It cannot be that everyone serves in just one kind of service, because Hashem, blessed be He, needs many different kinds of servants and doers of mitzvos.

4aThis lets us understand the whole episode. At the redemption from Egypt, the Omnipresent honored the elders and said to Moshe, “Go and gather the elders of Israel.”⁸ At that time the task was to bring about Israel's redemption. Ways had to be found to speak to Pharaoh so that he would send Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt, and a number of steps had to be taken to bring them out. We know that the elders have greater wisdom, as the verse says, “With the aged is wisdom.”⁹ There is also the saying, “Where there is old age, there is wisdom.”¹⁰ So the elders had to be called in as partners in the task, because at that moment their wisdom was needed.

4bThat is why Rashi explains on that verse that the elders were “set apart for the yeshivah.” He is speaking in the spirit of Chazal's saying: “An elder (zaken) is none other than one who has acquired wisdom, as it says, ‘Hashem acquired me at the beginning of His way.’”¹¹ The elders are suited to this, and this is their mission in this world. But this is no slight, Heaven forbid, to the stature of the youths of Bnei Yisrael. Each person has his own mission, the task for which Hashem, blessed be He, has sent him.

4cIn the same way, at the receiving of the Torah, Hashem honored the elders, as the verse says: “And to Moshe He said: Come up to Hashem, you and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel …”¹² Receiving and keeping the Torah needs the strength of the elders, because we must find counsel on how to keep it and must build fences and safeguards around it. But the service of the offerings is a matter of mesirus nefesh, the readiness to give one's life, which, as we know, stands at the very highest level. For this Moshe chose the youths, whose age and warm nature make them better suited to this service of mesirus nefesh.

5aThe verses now become clear. At first the people of Israel had a grievance in their hearts. The elders were put first and counted as more important than all the rest of Klal Yisrael, and the people did not understand why they too should not have a share in leading. So they said only, “All that Hashem has spoken we will do.” They would indeed do all that Hashem had spoken, but they did not also take upon themselves “we will hear,” which means understanding and hearing the reason behind it.

5bBut when the offerings were brought, they saw that the youths of Bnei Yisrael had been chosen to stand and serve before the Omnipresent. Then they understood the rule: each person has the task and the service meant for him, according to his nature. So they answered, “All that Hashem has spoken we will do and we will hear.” They took upon themselves “we will hear” as well, to serve Hashem with understanding and insight. For now they had grasped that this was not a matter of one part of Klal Yisrael being better than another, and that no one was being slighted; each person in Klal Yisrael has the task meant for him. It was now fully clear to them why Moshe Rabbeinu had first chosen the elders, and they accepted it gladly, of their own free will. They understood that this is the way of Hashem: when each person carries out his own mission, the will of the Creator is done and Heaven's Name is sanctified, and great things can be accomplished.

6Especially in our generation, the generation of “the footsteps of Moshiach,” the era just before his coming, everyone must understand this. All of us, elders and youths together, must act with united hearts. The youths should honor the elders and listen to the views of those greater than they, understanding that each person has his own level and his own task, suited to him alone. Through this may we be privileged to sanctify Heaven's Name and raise the glory of Torah and Chassidus. And may there be fulfilled in us the answer our righteous Moshiach gave the Baal Shem Tov, zt"l. The Baal Shem Tov asked him, “When will the master come?” and Moshiach answered, “When your wellsprings spread outward.”¹³ May it be fulfilled with the coming of the righteous Redeemer. Amen, may it be His will.