42 | JUNE 8 • 2023
D
avid Brooks, in his best-
selling book, The Road
to Character, draws a
sharp distinction between what
he calls the résumé virtues —
the achievements
and skills that
bring success —
and the eulogy
virtues, the ones
that are spoken
of at funerals:
the virtues and
strengths that
make you the kind
of person you are when you are
not wearing masks or playing
roles, the inner person that
friends and family recognize as
the real you.
Brooks relates this distinc-
tion to the one made by Rabbi
Joseph Soloveitchik in his
famous essay, The Lonely Man
of Faith. This essay speaks of
“
Adam I” — the human person
as creator, builder, master of
nature imposing his or her will
on the world — and “
Adam II”
,
the covenantal personality, living
in obedience to a transcendent
truth, guided by a sense of duty
and right and the will to serve.
Adam I seeks success. Adam
II strives for charity, love and
redemption. Adam I lives by the
logic of economics — the pursuit
of self-interest and maximum
utility. Adam II lives by the very
different logic of morality, where
giving matters more than receiv-
ing, and conquering desire is
more important than satisfying
it. In the moral universe, success,
when it leads to pride, becomes
failure. Failure, when it leads to
humility, can be success.
In that essay, first published in
1965, Rabbi Soloveitchik won-
dered whether there was a place
for Adam II in the America of
his day, so intent was it on cele-
brating human powers and eco-
nomic advance. Fifty years on,
Brooks echoes that doubt. “We
live,
” he says, “in a society that
encourages us to think about
how to have a great career but
leaves many of us inarticulate
about how to cultivate the inner
life.
”
That is a central theme of
Behaalotecha. Until now, we have
seen the outer Moses, worker
of miracles, mouthpiece of the
Divine Word, unafraid to con-
front Pharaoh on the one hand,
his own people on the other, the
man who shattered the Tablets
engraved by God Himself and
who challenged Him to forgive
His people, “and if not, blot
me out of the book You have
written” (Ex. 32:32). This is the
public Moses, a figure of heroic
strength. In Soloveitchik termi-
nology, it is Moses I.
A LONELY FIGURE
In Behaalotecha, we see Moses
II, the lonely man of faith. It is
a very different picture. In the
first scene, we see him break
down. The people are complain-
ing again about the food. They
have manna but no meat. They
engage in false nostalgia:
“We remember the fish we ate
in Egypt at no cost, the cucum-
bers, and the melons, and the
leeks, and the onions, and the
garlic!” (Num. 11:5)
This is one act of ingratitude
too many for Moses, who gives
voice to deep despair:
“Why have You treated Your
servant so badly? Why have I
found so little favor in Your sight
that You lay all the burden of
this people upon me? Was it I
who conceived all this people?
Was it I who gave birth to them
all, that You should say to me,
‘Carry them in your lap, as a
nursemaid carries a baby?’ … I
cannot bear all this people alone;
the burden is too heavy for
me. If this is how You treat me,
kill me now, if I have found favor
in Your sight, and let me not see
my own misery! (Num. 11:11-15)
Then comes the great trans-
formation. God tells him to
take 70 elders who will bear the
burden with him. God takes
the spirit that is on Moses and
extends it to the elders. Two of
them, Eldad and Medad, among
the six chosen from each tribe
but left out of the final ballot,
begin prophesying within the
camp. They, too, have caught
Moses’ spirit. Joshua fears that
this may lead to a challenge to
Moses’ leadership and urges
Moses to stop them. Moses
answers with surpassing gen-
erosity: “
Are you jealous on my
behalf? Would that all the Lord’s
people were prophets, that He
would rest His spirit upon them
all! (Num. 11:29)
The mere fact that Moses now
knew that he was not alone,
seeing 70 elders share his spirit,
cures him of his depression, and
he now exudes a gentle, gener-
ous confidence that is moving
and unexpected.
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
From Pain to Humility