Parshas Pinchas Leadership

By Rav Moshe Weinberger

Adapted for publication by Binyomin

Wolf

bly of Korach. Rather, for his own sin he died…” While we understand that Korach did not have a good reputation, why was it relevant to their claim to make sure Moshe knew their father was not a follower of Korach?

It must be that all of the complaints of Korach, his assembly, Dasan, Aviram, and their ilk shared one common denominator, as we see from their never-ending grumbling: “Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to cause us to die in the desert?! … You have not even brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey…” (ibid. 16:13-14). Their complaints all revolved around negativity toward Eretz Yisroel. “Let us turn around and return to Egypt” (ibid. 14:4).

The daughters of Tzlafchad wanted to make sure there was no room for error. Their claim to the land was only based on a love for Eretz Yisroel and a strong desire to cling to it. They were telling Moshe that their father was not part of Korach’s as- sembly. Rather, his “Zionist” credentials were impeccable. They wanted Moshe to know that their claim was based on a love for Eretz Yisroel. Nothing else. Their request was not based on a desire for wealth or property. That is why the pasuk traces their lineage back to Yosef (Rashi on ibid. 27:1). Just as Yosef loved Eretz Yisroel so much that he could not bear the thought of being buried in Egypt, so, too, the daughters of Tzlafchad were motivated purely by a desire to connect to the land.

In their request, the daughters of Tzlafchad do not even use the word “inheritance” or “property.” Rather, they only ask for a “portion.” All they wanted was to connect themselves to Eretz Yisroel. That is why they wanted to ensure Moshe knew that their father was not among the people who negated the Jewish people’s essential connection to Eretz Yisroel.

When Hashem tells Moshe to grant their request, He tells him (ibid. 7), “The daughters of Tzlafchad speak justly.” They word “kein, justly” does not only mean that they were right. It means, as the brothers said to Yosef as viceroy, “keinim anachnu, We are honest” (Bereishis 42:11). Although Moshe Rebbeinu was unimaginably great, on his level, he had somewhat of a blind spot. He had a suspicion that these young women only wanted a portion in Eretz Yisroel as a way of accumulating wealth or status. Hashem had to tell him, “No, these women are honest. Their desire for a connection to Eretz Yisroel is based on a pure and simple love for the land.”

Moshe, on his level, failed to recognize that the daughters of Tzlafchad were not part of the old generation, with its slave mentality and inability to intellectually and emotionally separate from Egypt. They were part of the new generation who was looking forward to taking possession of the land in order to live a full Jewish life there.

The truth is that we still do not understand how Moshe could have forgotten the halacha that a daughter inherits from her father when he has no sons. Is it possible Moshe never learned this halacha from Hashem? Rashi (on Bamidbar 27:5) explains differently: “The halacha eluded him. Here, he was punished for taking the crown by saying (Devarim 1:17), ‘And the matter that is too difficult for you, bring it, takrivun, to me and I will hear it.’” Outwardly, it seems that because Moshe showed too much confidence in himself, he forgot the halacha. The pasuk therefore says about him (Bamidbar 27:5), “Moshe brought, va’yakreiv, their matter before Hashem.” Could it be that Rashi means Moshe was being punished for a modicum of arrogance? Such an explanation is highly unlikely, as Hashem Himself testifies (Bamidbar 12:3), “And the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any other man on the face of the earth.”

We must also understand why Moshe was punished for saying, “And the matter that is too difficult for you, bring it to me and I will hear it.” Moshe said this almost forty years earlier, when he listened to Yisro’s advice and, instead of hearing all halachic questions himself, appointed judges over tens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands. So why was Moshe punished at the end of the forty years in the desert for the statement that he made to the judges almost forty years earlier?

Perhaps we can suggest an explanation. Yisro’s advice was certainly correct. It is impossible to lead a nation by personally adjudicating every personal question and interpersonal dispute that arises in the nation. It was necessary for Moshe to delegate his authority and handle only the most difficult cases. But the natural result of this was that, as the new generation grew up over the course of the forty years in the desert, Moshe Rebbeinu had virtually no personal contact with this new generation. He was busy managing the complaints of the Egyptian-born generation who were struggling with a fear of conquering Eretz Yisroel and a misplaced nostalgia for life in Egypt. Moshe was accustomed to leading Jews immersed in an exile mentality. For entirely legitimate reasons, Moshe lacked the opportunity for a personal connection with the younger generation who were ready, willing, and able to start a new life in the land of Israel. At the end of the forty years in the desert, they were the majority of the Jewish people.

The new generation, the generation of the daughters of Tzlafchad, grew up without a direct connection with Moshe Rebbeinu. Perhaps that is why Moshe was baffled by them. Their true intentions were not clear to him. He did not know whether their claim was driven by a desire for wealth or a sincere longing to connect to Eretz Yisroel. That is why Moshe forgot this halacha relating to inheritance as a result of saying, “And the matter that is too difficult for you, bring it to me and I will hear it.” It was not a “punishment” per why, immediately after the story of the daughters of Tzlafchad, Hashem told him (Bamidbar 27:12-13), “Ascend this Mount Avarim and see the land that I have given to the children of Israel. When you see it, you, too, will be gathered to your people just as Aharon your brother was gathered.” The new generation needed a new leader, explaining that this man was “ah fartzeitiker chossid, an old-fashioned chassid.” Meaning it as a great compliment, the chassid wanted the Rebbe to understand that his acquaintance was not one of those new-fangled chassidim, with a “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” connotation. Unimpressed, the Rebbe responded, “I don’t know what it says in your Haggadah, but in mine, it says, ‘At the beginning our forefathers were idol-worshipers… But now, the Holy One brought us close to His service…’ I don’t need to meet old-fashioned chassidim. I want to meet new chassidim.” sé. It was a natural result of the fact that Moshe was not connected to the idealism and longing for Eretz Yisroel prevalent in the new generation.

There is an amazing Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Chukas, Remez 763) related to this point:

“And you shall speak to the rock before them and it will give forth its waters” (Bamidbar 20:8). When a child is small, his teacher hits him, and he learns. When he grows up, [the teacher] rebukes him with words. So too, Hashem said to Moshe: “When this rock was young, you hit it, as it says, ‘And you shall hit the rock’ (Shemos 17:6). But now, ‘And you shall speak to the rock before them, and it will give forth its waters’ (Bamidbar 20:8). Teach one chapter [of Torah] over it and it will bring forth water from the rock.”

We see from this Midrash that the leader of the new generation was obligated to lead them differently than the previous generation. It was difficult for Moshe to lead a generation that did not grow up in slavery, who did not grow up under the Egyptian whip, the same way he led the old generation. The old generation grew up being treated like property. They were beaten and expected to be obedient subjects. They, unfortunately, only understood the language of the whip. But the young generation grew up with freedom and a sense of self-respect. That is why Moshe was unable to lead the new generation into Eretz Yisroel. He had limited contact with the young generation and therefore did not know how to communicate with them. The generation of Eretz Yisroel was the generation of “speak to the heart of Yerushalayim and call out to it” (Yeshayahu 40:2).

Moshe’s difficulty in fully connecting with the new generation was the reason

Yehoshua, who knew how to speak with the generation and who was in touch with the nature of the people who would enter Eretz Yisroel. Perhaps Mount Avarim refers to the avar, the past. Moshe stood upon the mountain separating the past from the future.

A chassid of the Rachmastrivker Rebbe in Boro Park, shlita, once introduced the Rebbe to an elderly Jew, proudly

May we merit to be new chassidim who live with Hashem’s will for our lives now and not merely mimic what Jews have done in the past. May Hashem cause us to merit more and more leaders who are connected to the past but understand the nature of our generation and lead us according to that understanding. With that, as it says in Shemonah Esrei, “Our eyes will see Your return to Zion with mercy.”