In the Name of All Israel: The Leader Who Gives Himself

1“Moshe spoke to Hashem, saying: Let Hashem, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.”¹ The holy Ohr HaChaim asks: Chazal teach that dibbur, the word used here for “spoke,” implies harsh speech.² Why, then, does the verse say “Moshe spoke to Hashem” with vayedaber, when it is not fitting to speak harshly toward Heaven? We also need to understand the word leimor, “saying,” which has no meaning in our context. Everywhere else leimor means saying over to the generations and to others. But here Moshe was speaking to the Holy One, blessed be He, alone, so why say leimor?

2The Midrash says: “Once the daughters of Tzelafchad inherited their father's property, Moshe said, ‘This is the hour for me to ask for my needs. If daughters inherit, by right my sons should inherit my honor.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, ‘He who tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit.’ Yehoshua, who served you, deserves to serve Israel, so that he not lose his reward, as it says, ‘Take for yourself Yehoshua bin Nun.’”³ The holy sefarim, the Bikkurei Aviv in the name of the holy Rebbe R' Bunim of Peshischa, and the Divrei Binah, raise a well-known question here, one that is truly astonishing. Moshe Rabbeinu did not want to be the head of Bnei Yisrael at all, as the Torah relates in Parshas Shemos, where he pleaded to be excused from his mission.⁴ Why, then, did he ask for greatness for his sons here?

3aThe explanation rests on what we find at the beginning of the parshah, on “Pinchas son of Elazar …”: the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “By right he should take his reward.”⁵ Several holy sefarim, the Ohev Yisrael, the Kol Simchah and the Sifsei Tzaddik, ask: is there not a rule that “there is no reward for a mitzvah in this world”?⁶ My holy father and teacher, zt"l, explained it as follows. The Baal Shem Tov, zt"l, instituted that before every prayer and every mitzvah we say the declaration LeShem Yichud, “For the sake of the unification …,” with the words “in the name of all Israel.” What does “in the name of all Israel” mean?

3bWe may say as follows. We know that even when a person is privileged to engage in Torah and mitzvos, the accuser Above can still claim that the mitzvah was not done wholly for the sake of Hashem, blessed be He; and who could imagine himself righteous before Him? The remedy is to hand one's Torah and mitzvos over to the community, in the spirit of “he has nothing of his own.” Such a person does not do the mitzvah to gain merit for himself at all; all his deeds are for the community, to win merit for Klal Yisrael. Against this the accusers have no claim. An individual can be accused, but among the many there are surely some who engage in Torah and mitzvos purely lishmah, for their own sake, so the many cannot be accused. Along these lines we can also explain the words of the LeShem Yichud, “through that One who is hidden and concealed, in the name of all Israel”: by handing the deeds of his mitzvos over to the community, a person is covered [“hidden and concealed”] from every accusation.

4With this he explained the verse “when he was zealous with My zeal in their midst”: Pinchas handed over to the community everything he did, and that is “in their midst.” This also makes it clear why “by right he should take his reward.” The reason the reward for a mitzvah is not given in this world is that a mitzvah is something eternal, so its reward must be eternal too; it is therefore not fitting to give a person its reward in this world, which is not eternal. But the power of the many is eternal even in this world, as the verse says, “The Eternal One of Yisrael will not lie.”⁷ Since Pinchas handed his whole deed over to the community and was included within it, he was fit to receive his reward in this world itself. Those are his holy words.

5Along these lines we can explain our own subject. My holy great-grandfather, zt"l, explains in his holy sefer Divrei Binah why Moshe asked for greatness for his sons.⁸ Tzaddikim, he writes, always imagine that they have not fulfilled their duty in their time in this world. They believe that none of their holy service was complete, so they ask that their sons complete it and fill their place in that holy service. But the Holy One, blessed be He, knew the truth: Moshe Rabbeinu had completed his holy service, and the whole need to appoint a leader was solely for the sake of Klal Yisrael. That is the gist of his words.

6Yet at first glance a question remains: how could Moshe ask that his sons be the leaders so that they would complete his service in the world, for the good of his own soul? Surely the way of tzaddikim is not to think of themselves at all, but to give themselves up, as if ownerless, for the sake of the community. We find this in a teaching of the holy Rebbe R' Yechezkel of Kuzmir, zt"l,⁹ on the verse “Moshe went down from the mountain to the people.” Rashi explains: “This teaches that he did not turn to his own affairs, but went from the mountain to the people.”¹⁰ R' Yechezkel asked: what affairs did Moshe have? He explained that while Moshe was Above, he surely rose to great levels and attained a lofty grasp of holy things. For his own sake, it would have been good for him to turn, the moment he came down, to serving the Creator with that lofty grasp and those levels. But Moshe Rabbeinu did not do so. When he came down, he did not turn to his “affairs,” that is, his spiritual levels; instead he gave himself up for the sake of the people, to teach them and prepare them to receive the Torah. This was the praise of Moshe, the faithful shepherd: he set himself aside and did only what Israel needed. So far his words.

7It must be, then, that this request too, that his sons complete his service in the world, was not for himself or his own benefit; his intention was only for the community. If his sons completed his service, Bnei Yisrael would be privileged to have his holy service continue. So he asked that his sons after him complete it for the community, in keeping with his own service, which was only for Klal Yisrael, so that great merit for the many would come of it. This is what my holy great-grandfather meant.

8But the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him: “It is not as you think. Your service is complete, and you have no need for your sons to complete it. As for your wish that Israel's leader be one who will give himself over for the community, and whose every deed will also win merit for the many, Yehoshua too has attained this quality.” For we find that Yehoshua showed great mesirus nefesh, the readiness to give one's life, when he was privileged to serve Moshe.

9This explains why Moshe began with vayedaber, a harsh expression. At first he thought that some judgment here was holding back Israel's complete good, and that this was why his sons were not worthy to lead Israel. But then he heard from the Holy One, blessed be He, that in truth no lack or flaw, Heaven forbid, was holding anything back; on the contrary, this very choice was the best thing for Israel. As the Midrash explains, Hashem spoke at length of Yehoshua's mesirus nefesh for Torah: “He served you a great deal and arranged the benches of the beis midrash, the house of study.”¹¹ That is why Yehoshua is the most fitting to give himself over for Israel's good. So in the end Moshe saw in this only leimor, from amirah, which denotes soft speech, for this was truly the best course for the community.

10We stand now in the days of Bein HaMetzarim, the Three Weeks between the seventeenth of Tammuz and Tishah B'Av, mourning the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and waiting all the more for the righteous Redeemer. We must learn from this to serve the Creator with mesirus nefesh, for that will bring the redemption close to us. In this merit may the Holy One, blessed be He, have mercy on us very soon and speedily send us His Moshiach to redeem us from the exile, and may we see the Beis HaMikdash rebuilt. Amen, may it be His will.