פרשת פנחס
In this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu, realizing he will not enter EretzYisrael with the rest of the Jewish people, asks Hashem to appoint a new leader who will be proper and able to fill his place. Hashem answers Moshe that Yehoshua will succeed him. Thusly,Yehoshuabecame the first ordained rabbi in history, receiving Smicha from Moshe at the word of Hashem and would proceed to lead the Jewish people into EretzYisrael. However, we must ask the question: What happened to all the other Jews who would have made great leaders? Why didn’t Hashem choose them? There were so many other worthy candidates in that era! Why not choose Calev ben Yefuneh, the nasi of Yehuda who spoke out courageously against the spies, promoting Hashem’s will in the face of adversity? What happened to Pinchas who, in this week’s parsha, heroically speared Cozbi and Zimri, saving the Jewish people from being wiped out by a plague and displaying a righteous zeal for G-d’s honor? Also, any member of the Sanhedrin surely would have been better than appointing Yehoshua who was just a tribal leader. And of course we must ask, what happened to Moshe Rabbeinu’s own sons? Surely, they must have inherited many of the lofty character traitspossessed by their father who the Midrash says was an angel in comparison to all other men. There are a few Chazals that say that Moshe himself even wanted his sons to take over the mantle of leadership. So why did Hashem choose Yehoshua to lead the people?
The Midrash in BaMidbarRabba 21:14 says thatHashem chose Yehoshua because he was extremely dedicated to Moshe Rabbeinu and served him in every possible way. He would even get up early in order to arrange the benches on which the talmidim who learned in the OhelMoed would sit and be the last one to leave the Beis Midrash at night, constantly clinging to and promoting Moshe Rabbeinu’s yeshiva. The Midrash says that even Hashem Himself testified that of all of Moshe’s Rabbeinu’stalmidim, only Yehoshua truly served Moshe with all his strength. We can see a quintessential example ofYehoshua’s dedication and how closely he followed Moshe from the period of forty days when Moshe went up to Har Sinai to bring down the Torah. Yehoshua waited for Moshe at the edge of the mountain all forty days Moshe was up there! All other devoted talmidim went back to their tents, hoping to greet Moshe when he would return forty days later.Yehoshua stayed. Yehoshua thought thatsince there was a chance that Moshe Rabbeinu could come down the mountain earlier than anticipated, if he went back home he would risk missing precious moments to be with his rebbi. Yehoshua therefore preferred to stay at the bottom of the mountain all forty days, eagerly waiting to greet Moshe when he would return. However, I believe that the question above still stands. It’s true that serving talmideichachamim is extremely important and is essential in order to make an acquisition on the Torah. Nevertheless, just because Yehoshua served Moshe Rabbeinu doesn’t mean that he was qualified to be the leader of the Jewish people. Doesn’t one need the experience, personality, and vision to be a leader?
RavChaimShmuelevitz answers that the Jewish people don’t need leaders. We need the continuity of Moshe Rabbeinu and the Torah he taught. Therefore, the person who we want to be our leader must be the embodiment of the previous generations ultimately connecting us back toHar Sinai.Yehoshua was Moshe’s primary talmid and because he never left Moshe’s side, Yehoshua merited integrating Moshe Rabbeinu’s message more than anyone else. The crown of true service of one’s rebbi is achieving an ability to know how your rebbi will act in any given situation. Yehoshua, through his dedication, achieved a greater understanding of Moshe than all of the other talmidim and was able to incorporate everything Moshe stood for into himself. The AvneiNezer 352 says that Yehoshua was so close to Moshe Rabbeinu, that he was even more of a son to Moshe than his own sons were! Thusly,Yehoshua was the closest thing to Moshe Rabbeinu that the Jewish people had and throughhis leadership, it would be like Moshe Rabbeinu never left.
The gemara in Temura 16a recounts that when Moshe Rabbeinu was about to die, he asked Yehoshua to share any remaining doubts he had. If Yehoshua had any more queries, this was going to be his last chance to hear an answer from Moshe. Yehoshuawas surprised at Moshe. Surely he was prepared to carry on the tradition. “Did I even leave you for a second?”Yehoshua said. Immediately, Yehoshua completely forgot 300 halachos and 700 doubts popped up. The entire Jewish people were so angry at Yehoshua that they even wanted to kill him! Baruch Hashem that Osniel ben Kenaz was able to retrieve all the losthalachos through analysis, saving the entire nation from possible disaster. It seems from this gemara, that even Yehoshua, who unceasingly served Moshe, was expected to cleave to his rebbi until the very last moment. By being lax in doing so, something was lacking in Yehoshua’s service, and as a surprising consequence, the Torah itself was almost forgotten.Seemingly, if he would have fully appreciated that these were the last moments that rebbi and talmid would ever be together, surely he would have found something to ask Moshe Rabbeinu about! We, who definitely have what to ask our rebbis, should definitely make an especially special effort to take advantage of the time we have with them.
RavYisraelSalanter shared that he was a talmid who constantly clung to his rebbi. Everywhere his rebbi would go, he would follow him. He even walked home with his rebbi and came into the house with him. At certain times, when RavYisrael showed no interest in leaving, his rebbi would yell at him, “Come on! Will you leave me alone already?” However, RavYisrael testified, it was this persistence and constant closeness with his rebbi which made him into RavYisraelSalanter. By being with one’s rebbi and constantly following him, one can observe the true Torah approach to be demonstrated in all aspects of life. Through this a person can be the evedHashem that G-d really wants us to be. As the gemara in Sukkah 21b says “Even the casual conversation of Torah scholars requires study.”
May we all be zoche to cling to our rebbis!!!