spirit

torah portion

.

The Demands
Of Leadership

T

.

he Jewish people seemed
poised for entry into the
Promised Land when sud-
denly: “The nation became a group
of kvetchers, complaining evilly in
the ears of the Lord ... saying ‘Who
will feed us meat? Remember the
fish which we ate in Egypt for free,
the cucumbers, the watermelons,
the onions and the garlic?’”
The degeneration contin-
perspective. Each individual
ues; Moses cries out to God
had to understand how to
that he has no meat to give
utilize the gift of freedom
the nation and that he can
to find individual purpose
no longer bear the burden
and individual expression
of leading them. The Divine
within the context of God’s
response is to tell Moses to
land and God’s Torah. Each
gather 70 men from among
individual had to find his
Rabbi Shlomo
the elders of Israel who will
own instrument within the
Riskin
help bear the burden and
Divine symphony orchestra.
upon whom the spirit of the
They thought their discom-
Lord will rest.
fort stemmed from boredom
Why are the Jews so vexed
with the uniform, daily
and unsettled and how does
manna. What they really
God’s response alleviate their feel-
needed was individual nourish-
ings? They want meat and God tells
ment for their souls. At first, Moses,
Moses to give them 70 rabbis!
too, failed to understand what they
I believe that the subtext of this
needed and so, when he sent out the
trialogue between the Israelites,
scouts to tour the land and inspire
Moses and God is that Moses is now the people with its bounty, he told
being confronted by a new genera-
them, “Strengthen yourselves and
take the fruit of the land” and bring
tion, by the youth who left Egypt
back luscious grapes.
and are now maturing into adult-
Ultimately, Moses understands
hood.
this new generation requires a new
Each generation requires its own
leader: “Let the Lord God of the
teachers; each generation has its
differing spirits of the various flesh
own dreams, needs and vision.
and blood human beings appoint a
Moses was an exulted prophet
leader over the congregation, one
who came to the Israelites from the
who will take them out and bring
faraway palace of Pharaoh. Moses
them in, so that the congregation of
did not speak to the Israelites with
the Lord not be like sheep without a
his own voice because “He was
shepherd.”
heavy of speech and of uncircum-
Joshua was a very different type of
cised tongue.” He thundered with the
leader than Moses, a great scholar
voice of God, presenting the Divine
message of freedom and responsibil- and prophet, but also a man of the
ity. His power, which emanated from people. This made him the right
person to bring this generation into
the Divine, enabled him to unite the
the Promised Land. They had cried
nation and imbue them with the
out for meat but what they really
confidence to follow him and God
needed were rabbis: leaders, who
into the barren desert.
would prophesy from within the
Now, that the Jews had collec-
encampment rather than from the
tively left the land of oppression,
distant Tent of Meeting where God
followed their seer into the desert
resided. •
and were about to begin a new life
in the Promised Land, they had to
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is Chancellor Ohr Torah
put the general and elusive notion
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat Israel.
of national freedom into personal

Parshat
Bachaalotekha:
Numbers 8:1-12:16;
Zechariah 2:14-4:7.

jn

June 8 • 2017

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