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Parshat Hashavua
Rabbi Michael Laitner Parshat Pinhas Rights and Responsibilities? ‘And Moses spoke to G-d saying: May the L-d, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, assign a man over the community. Who shall go out before them, and come in before them, who shall take them out and bring them in; so that the community of G-d should not be like sheep without a shepherd’ (Bemidbar 27:15-17) Many questions arise from these verses, but we shall look at the content of Moses’ request for a successor - an unusual request by itself! Moses stresses the responsibilities of office, rather than the trappings which come with it. This is similar to the Torah’s description of a Jewish king (Devarim chap.17) In a contrastingly difficult situation, Moses used the same description of G-d when praying on behalf of Korach’s cohorts (Bemidbar 16:22), asking that G-d should not be angry with the whole community because of Korach’s sin. Moses may have picked such phraseology to emphasise the effect of a leader on each individual in the nation. Rashi (11th century France) the major Torah commentator, explains that Moses’ choice of words alluded to G-d knowing our true intentions, so Moses prayed that the leader should be able to relate to each person as necessary and bear the responsibilities of leadership accordingly. This approach may also help us understand the word ‘pakad’ which is translated here as ‘assign’, but also means ‘remember’ (as with Sarah in Bereishit 21:1) or ‘count’ as used in our Sidra (26:51). Rashi explains that ‘who shall go out’ excludes those rulers who send others to do the tough work, without leading from the front themselves. These approaches to Jewish leadership can shed light on the reluctance of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel,8) to acquiesce to demands for the first king in Jewish history, when Samuel felt that desire for a king was not necessarily based on the Torah’s model. Return to Rabbi Laitner Parsha Home |
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