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Weekly Dvar Torah
FROM ERETZ YISRAEL Intellectual and emotional transmission of Torah
BY RABBI SHALOM ROSNER
In this week’s parasha, there is a formulation that appears only once in the Torah. The Torah states: “Moshe spoke to the L-rd saying” (Bamidbar 27:15). Typically, a verse would state that G-d spoke with Moshe. In this instance, Moshe initiated the contact. The verse stresses that Moshe spoke to Hashem. After being informed that he will only see but not enter the Land of Israel, Moshe asks Hashem to appoint a successor. Once again, we witness Moshe’s greatness. Rather than considering his own needs and desires as he nears his departure from this world, he first and foremost expresses his concern about the future of Am Yisrael.
Moshe specifically requests that Hashem select a leader for the nation so that they not wander like “sheep without a shepherd”. The language used is: katzon asher ayn lahem ro’eh which translates the same in English as katzon le’lo ro’eh. Why the addition of the term asher ayn lahem – “that they lack”? The Lekach Tov explains that this choice of words is to underscore that a leader’s main concern needs to be with the interests of the people (lahem), not their personal interests.
Hashem responds by informing Moshe that indeed Yehoshua will be his successor. In verse 18, Hashem instructs Moshe “you shall lay your hand upon him”. Yet, when Moshe appoints Yehoshua, it states: “He laid his hands upon him” (verse 23). The instruction was to do smicha, to lay with one hand, yet Moshe used two hands. It may seem trivial, yet, Rav Yosef Soloveitchik (Masoret HaRav) derives an important message from this distinction. The Rav explains in verse 20 that Hashem instructs Moshe to not only appoint Yehoshua but also “you shall bestow some of your majesty (hod) upon him”. This “majesty” was figuratively imparted via Moshe’s second hand.
There are two mesorot, traditions, that Moshe transferred to Yehoshua. One is the tradition of learning Torah. The second (hod) was experiential. For example, one can learn the laws of Shabbat yet not truly comprehend the unique and special aspect of Shabbat. To truly understand Shabbat, one has to experience it.
Yehoshua was selected not only because of his intellectual pursuit of Torah but rather because he never left Moshe’s side, as is stated: “His attendant, Yehoshua Bin-Nun, a lad, would not depart from the tent” (Shemot 33:11). Yehoshua learned from the way Moshe spoke to others, prayed, and conducted himself on a daily basis. It is interesting to note that Yehoshua is often referred to as lad (na’ar) even though he was clearly in his fifties! He had the attitude of a na’ar, someone willing to learn and absorb from every act of his rebbe. Therefore, Yehoshua merited two mesorot, the mesorah of the mind and the mesorah of the heart – transmitted via Moshe’s two hands.
Our task is to be able to transmit these two mesorot to our students and children. Torah is not just an intellectual pursuit, but one that has to pierce the heart and emotions of an individual. Like Moshe, we need to serve as a personal example and do all we can in order to convey the emotional as well as the intellectual beauty of the Torah.
Rabbi Shalom Rosner is a Rebbe at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Rabbi of the Nofei HaShemesh community. He is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www. mizrachi.org/speakers).
Pinchas Sidra Summary
2ND ALIYA (LEVI) – 26:5-51
The main descendants of each tribe are listed, as well as the overall number within each tribe, as counted in the census. When detailing the tribe of Reuven, the Torah recalls that Datan and Aviram were from this tribe and that the ground swallowed them in Korach’s rebellion. The overall census number is 601,730. “God said to Moshe saying, ‘the daughters of Tzelofchad speak properly… You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass over to them’”
(Bemidbar 27:6-7)
1ST ALIYA (KOHEN) – BEMIDBAR 25:10-26:4
G-d tells Moshe that Pinchas, Aharon’s grandson, is to become a Kohen in recognition of his righteous actions in stopping the public display of immorality described at the end of last week’s sidra. The names of the two offenders are given – Zimri from the tribe of Shimon and Kozbi, a Midianite princess. G-d commands Moshe to smite the Midianites as retribution for luring the Israelites into idol worship and immorality. Moshe and Elazar, the Kohen Gadol, are told to take a census of men above the age of 20.
Point to Consider: Why was Pinchas not already considered a Kohen if he was a grandson of Aharon? (see Rashi to 25:13)
3RD ALIYA (SHLISHI) – 26:52-27:5
G-d tells Moshe to apportion the Land to those counted in the census. The tribes with more people will receive proportionally more land area. Although this distribution was calculated mathematically, it was carried out through Elazar drawing lots, guided by Divine inspiration (Rashi). The main Levite families, who were not included in the census, are listed. They number 23,000 males above the age of one month. No one who was included in the first census when the Israelites left Egypt is included in this census, as they had died in the desert, apart from Yehoshua (Joshua) and Calev. The five daughters of Tzelofchad, a descendant of Menashe, ask Moshe to be given their deceased father’s share in the Land, as they have no brothers to inherit him. Moshe consults G-d about their request. are justified in their request and that, in the absence of sons, daughters are to inherit their father. Other hierarchical inheritance rights are stated. G-d tells Moshe to ascend Mount Avarim and look at the Land of Cana’an from afar, reminding him that he will not come into the Land because of his mistake of hitting the rock (see Bemidbar 20:9-12). Moshe asks G-d to appoint a new leader. G-d tells him to appoint Yehoshua, which Moshe does, in the presence of Elazar and the Sanhedrin (Rashi).
5TH ALIYA (CHAMISHI) – 28:1-15
G-d instructs Moshe to tell the Israelites to bring the twice-daily tamid (continual) offering, consisting of a male lamb, together with a flour offering mixed with oil and a wine libation. The additional Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh offerings are detailed.
6TH ALIYA (SHISHI) – 28:16-29:11
The special offerings for Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are also detailed.
7TH ALIYA (SHEVI’I) – 29:12-30:1
The Torah details the many extra offerings brought during Succot, including 70 bulls. Shemini Atzeret, the day after Succot, has its own set of offerings.
HAFTARAH
Taken from the start of the book of Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah), this haftarah is the first of the three ‘haftarot of tribulation’ read in the build-up to Tisha B’Av. The prophet is told by G-d that an invader will come ‘from the north’ to attack Jerusalem, as happened at the time of the destruction of the First Temple, because of the sinfulness of its inhabitants.
Hearing within the Darkness
BY RABBI SHMUEL REICHMAN
When Yaakov Avinu is finally reunited with Yosef after twenty-two years of separation, in what can only be imagined as an intensely emotional scene, Yaakov embraces Yosef, sobbing on his neck (Bereishis 46:29). Rashi, quoting the Midrash, explains that as Yaakov embraced Yosef for the first time in twenty-two years, he was saying k’rias Shema. What is the meaning of this? Why not wait until after this joyful and emotional reunion with his long-lost son to pray? The answer often given is that Yaakov was overcome by intense emotion and wanted to channel this emotion toward Hashem through reciting k’rias Shema. However, there may be a deeper layer here as well.
This practice of reciting Shema at seemingly puzzling moments occurs once again, later in the Torah. Before Yaakov’s death, he gathers his children to his bedside and attempts to tell them when and how Mashiach (the ultimate redemption) will eventually come (Bereishis 49:1). However, as the Gemara explains, at that very moment, Yaakov lost access to his nevuah (prophecy) and was unable to reveal this secret. When this happened, he was gripped by fear, worried that perhaps his inability to share his prophetic knowledge was due to a spiritual deficiency in one of his children; perhaps one of his children was not worthy of receiving this information.
Immediately, in order to relieve this concern, the Shevatim (tribes) declared in unison, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad!” Only after this declaration did Yaakov understand that his inability to see the keitz ha’yamim (the days of Mashiach) was not due to a lack in his children but rather because Hashem did not want to reveal these secrets at this point in time. Yaakov then proclaimed out loud, “Baruch shem kevod malchuso le’olam va’ed.” (Pesachim 56a)
What is the meaning of this exchange? How did the brothers assuage Yaakov’s concerns by reciting Shema? How did this prove that there was no lack in his children? In order to address these questions, let us delve into the spiritual concepts of seeing and hearing.
THE SPIRITUAL CONCEPTS OF SEEING AND HEARING
The spiritual concept of seeing is the idea of observing something as it is, i.e., in a completely static state, lacking any movement. When you see a picture, you grasp the entire image instantaneously. There’s no process of constructing or building the picture in your mind; everything is just there, at once, without any effort.
The spiritual concept of hearing, in comparison, reflects a process; a movement through time; an evolutionary progression; one of effort, concentration, and organization of parts. When you hear someone else speaking, you must collect all the pieces of sound together and then reconstruct them into a connected picture within your mind so that you can grasp their meaning. (When you read a sentence or witness a process, you are experiencing the spiritual concept of “hearing,” despite the fact that you are using your “eyes.”)
Hearing is a process of creating oneness out of fragmented parts. When you listen to someone talk, one word by itself lacks meaning and is forgotten. If you hear another few words, it still means nothing and fades to memory. The words from the past exist in a pool of knowledge and memory in your mind. You wait until the end of the sentence to give shape and meaning to the pool of words that created that sentence. When you finally finish listening to the sentence, you must then reach back into your memory and look at the sentence as a whole; only then does it gain meaning and clarity.
Speech exists only within time, where there’s a sequence of one word after another. If someone spoke all the words at once, you wouldn’t hear anything; it would just be noise. [At Matan Torah, Hashem originally spoke all ten dibros at once. This is because Hashem does not exist within time, so in that case, speech as well did not exist within time.] Thus, listening entails gathering disparate pieces into oneness. This is why the word Shema, which means “listen,” also means to “gather,” as we see when the pasuk says “Va’yeshama Shaul es ha’am” (Shmuel I 15:4). This can’t mean that Shaul “heard” the nation before war; it means that Shaul “gathered” the nation before war to prepare for battle.
SHEMA: HEARING WITHIN THE DARKNESS
We can now return to our original questions. Why did Yaakov recite Shema as he embraced Yosef, instead of fully experiencing this emotional reunion? The answer is that he did fully experience this emotional reunion precisely through his recitation of Shema! Shema represents the concept of process, of hearing in the darkness, of recognizing that one day all the pieces will come together. By saying Shema, Yaakov was expressing his recognition that all the years of darkness and pain that he experienced were ultimately leading toward this moment of revelation and clarity (Maharal, Gur Aryeh, Bereishis 46:29).
This also explains why the brothers responded to Yaakov by proclaiming Shema. To eliminate Yaakov’s concerns, they declared in unison, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” Only after this declaration did Yaakov understand that his inability to see the keitz ha’yamim was not due to a lack in his children, but rather because Hashem did not want to reveal these secrets at this point in time. How did the Shevatim eliminate Yaakov’s concern by reciting Shema?
Shema represents the idea of creating oneness out of disparate parts, just like listening involves gathering all the different words and pieces into a collective whole. At first, Yaakov was concerned that there was a lack in his children as individuals, but this concern was alleviated once he was assured of their spiritual purity. However, even once it was clear to Yaakov that there was no lack in his children, he thought that perhaps they were only pure as individuals, but not as a unit, as a collective whole. In other words, maybe they were twelve independent and separate Shevatim, unable to unite and harmonize as a single, cohesive unit.
The brothers therefore proclaimed, “Shema Yisrael.” We, the twelve Shevatim of Klal Yisrael, are united as a collective whole; “Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.” Just like Hashem is absolute oneness, so too we are a single nation, a collective whole. With this, it became clear that Yaakov did not lose his nevuah due to a lack in his children as individuals or due to a lack in their unity, but rather that Hashem had chosen not to reveal these secrets at this point in time. The question is, why did Hashem not want the Shevatim to know the timing and details of Mashiach?
Hashem did not want to eliminate our free will; He wanted us to live in a world where we have to listen! To hear in the darkness, to build toward Mashiach, without knowing when, where, or how it will take place; to embark on a genuine journey of “Shema Yisrael.”
Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is a bestselling author, international speaker, and the CEO of Self-Mastery Academy. He has lectured internationally on topics of Torah thought, Jewish medical ethics, psychology, and leadership. His bestselling book, The Journey to Your Ultimate Self, serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish thought. He is also a business, executive, and leadership coach and consultant, with a unique approach based on Torah values. After obtaining his BA from Yeshiva University, he received Semicha from Yeshiva University’s RIETS, a master’s degree in education from Azrieli Graduate School, and a master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He then spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Scholar. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and son where he is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago. To enjoy more of Rabbi Reichman’s content, to contact him, or to learn more about his services, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com
