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