‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Pinchos
“Pinchos… turned back my wrath from upon the B’nei Yisroel…” (Bamidbar 25:11)
When describing Pinchos’ actions, the pasuk says “Pinchos… saw… and took a spear in his hand” (24:7). The gemara (Sanhedrin 82a) asks “What did Pinchos see?” The gemara quotes Rav who explained that when Pinchos saw what was happening, he remembered the halacha Moshe taught them. He asked Moshe, ‘Great uncle, did you not teach us when you descended Har Sinai that one who lives immorally with a Kusee, zealots can exact punishment (lit. meet up with him)?’ He replied, ‘He who reads the letter, let him be the agent (i.e., to carry it out)’.”
On one occasion when a secular Israeli leader arrives in Tzefas a group of yeshiva bochurim wanted to arrange a demonstration to protest his anti-religious views. When their rebbe, Rav Mottel Pogemanski zt’l, heard about their plans he was bothered by it. He told them that it is apparent from the aforementioned exchange in the gemara between Pinchos and Moshe that Pinchos’ zealotry was not based on an impulsive whim but was very calculated. As the gemara says, “He saw and remembered the halacha”. It was no different than the manner in which one puts on tefillin with meticulousness and alacrity. He first discussed it with his rebbe; only then did he proceed.
Rav Pogemanski told his students that a demonstration, as well as any act of zealousness, has to be arranged with level-headedness and consent of Torah leaders, not based on anger and frustration.
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“May Hashem, G-d the spirit of all flesh, appoint a man over the assembly… and let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that do not have for them a shepherd.” (Bamidbar 27:17)
During his inaugural address as the new Rabbi of Vilna in 5643, Rav Yaakov Yosef zt’l (the future Chief Rabbi of New York City), asked why the pasuk doesn’t say more concisely ‘and let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep without a shepherd’?
He explained that one who tends his own sheep may be tending to all their needs – making sure they have grass for pasture, water to drink, are protected from the elements and from predators – but they are doing so primarily for their own benefit, so they can sell or fatten the sheep.
Moshe Rabbeinu was not afraid that Klal Yisroel would be without leadership. Rather, his fear was that the leader would not care for the nation as much as his own prestige and aggrandizement. His efforts may only be so that he has followers who adhere to his demands and not because he truly loved them.
This is what Moshe requested from Hashem “let them not be like sheep that do not have for them a shepherd.’ Moshe implored Hashem that the Jewish leaders love the nation and be motivated solely by such altruistic love. He wanted the leader to be like a shepherd who cared ‘for them.’
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“He leaned his hands upon him and commanded him, as Hashem had spoken through Moshe.” (Bamidbar 27:23)
Rashi comments that Moshe leaned on Yehoshua with added emphasis and ‘a good eye’, and that he made him “like a vessel that is full and overflowing”.
The Dubner Maggid once asked the Vilna Gaon how one can influence and educate others. The Gaon replied with an analogy: One should take a large cup and surround it with a number of smaller cups. He should pour the liquid into the large cup, and it will overflow into the smaller cups. That is how one influences, others. It must spill over from his personal passion and efforts.
Based on this idea, Rav Chaim Kanievski shlita explains that this what Rashi means that Moshe made Yehoshua like an overflowing vessel. He taught him the ideal way for him to lead – by demonstrating by example until his actions overflow to his followers, so that they will want to follow his lead.
In a similar vein, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky ztl noted that educators must view themselves more as mashpi’im (influencers) then mechanchim (educators). The word mashpia is related to the word shipua, something inclined or slanted. Educators must be like a slanted roof from which everything flows down to what is below it. What educators do, what they think, and what values they hold dear trickles down to their children, and leaves a lasting impression.
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Sources: Rav Pogemaski – Kuntrus Doresh Tov; Rav Yaakov Yosef – quoted in Kehillas Yitzchak; Dubner Maggid – Ohel Yaakov, parshas Tazria; Rav Chaim Kanievsky – Ta’ama D’kra
Rabbi Staum can be reached at stamtorah@gmail.com.