In this Parasha, Pinchas, we are reading about the first planned Jewish leadership shift. God turns to Moses and instructs him:
“Go up to the mountain of Avarim and see the land…and then you’ll be dead.”
Undoubtedly, this is difficult news. If we expected Moses to mourn the news, we are again surprised to discover Moses’ reaction wasn’t mourning and sadness. Instead, he turns to God and asks him to appoint another leader for the people in his place so that “God’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” The famous Torah commentator, Rashi, explained that Moses put aside his personal story and dealt with the nation’s needs, befitting a loyal and dedicated leader.
If we focus on Moses’s language in this request, we will discover two additional comments that complete the picture:
“God of the spirits, creator of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out before them and who will come in before them…”
The epithet “God of spirits and all flesh” is not common in the Bible. Why did Moses choose this as God’s title? Rashi explains to us that there is a close connection between this title and the personality of the wanted leader:
“‘God of the Spirits’ – what does it mean? Moses said before God: “Lord of the world, it’s visible and known before you, that there are many different opinions in nature among different people. Appoint a leader among them who will be able to bear each and every one according to his opinion.” The proper leader should be able to accommodate and accept all the types of people, for their opinions, their different lifestyles and their ambitions, which are sometimes opposed to each other.
A proper leader is not a leader of a certain group, of a certain sector. He is the leader of the entire nation and “gets the burden of each and every one according to his opinion”.
And hence the description of the role of the leader: “Whoever will go out before them and who will come in before them”. This difficult sentence is explained by Rashi in the following way: “Appoint then a leader, not as the kings of the nations who are sitting in their palaces and send their soldiers to war, but as I did. I went together with them to fight against Sihon and Og.” A worthy leader takes responsibility and walks at the head of the people. The commander’s call to his subordinates “Aharay- after me” was not formulated for the first time in the IDF, but by Moshe Rabinu.
Loyalty to the needs of the people, tolerance and responsibility, are the qualities of the ideal leader. These are the qualities that we seek to find in a leader, and these are the qualities that we seek to cultivate in ourselves and the precious treasures we are entrusted with nurturing – our children and apprentices.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen