Parashat Pinchas 5786
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
In this week’s Torah portion, the process begins of transferring leadership from Moses our teacher to his faithful disciple, Joshua son of Nun, who is chosen to continue his path and lead the people into the Promised Land. The Torah describes it as follows:
“Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit, and lay your hand upon him… And you shall bestow some of your majesty upon him, so that the entire congregation of the Children of Israel may heed him.”
(Numbers 27:18-20)
God commands Moses to perform the act of ordination before the entire nation, placing his hand upon Joshua’s head as a symbol of transferring authority and leadership to his disciple. In addition, Moses is instructed to impart to Joshua some of his spiritual qualities, particularly his hod (“majesty” or “splendor”) – the spiritual radiance that shone from Moses’ face after he descended from Mount Sinai.
The ordination indeed takes place, but the transfer of that splendor is not complete. The Talmud teaches:
“’And you shall bestow some of your majesty upon him’ – some of your majesty, but not all of your majesty. The elders of that generation said: ‘The face of Moses was like the face of the sun; the face of Joshua was like the face of the moon. Alas for that shame, alas for that humiliation.’”
(Bava Batra 75a)
Our sages describe Moses as the sun and Joshua as the moon. Just as the moon receives its light from the sun, so Joshua received his strength and spiritual stature from Moses, his teacher.
Yet the elders’ statement raises a question: What is the “shame” and “humiliation”? It was obvious to everyone that Joshua was not on Moses’ level. Moses was the leader who brought Israel out of Egypt, split the Red Sea, and received the Torah. Joshua, great as he was, could never be considered equal to his master. The fact that his face shone “like the moon” still indicates an extraordinarily elevated spiritual level. Why, then, do the sages use such harsh expressions?
A remarkable explanation is offered by Rabbi Chaim Berlin of Volozhin in Ruach Chaim (Avot 1:1). To understand it, we must first consider the sages’ teaching regarding the creation of the heavenly luminaries. The Talmud (Chullin 60a) relates that at the beginning of creation, the sun and moon were equal in size and brilliance. However, the moon complained to God: “Two kings cannot share one crown.” The sun, by contrast, saw no problem in such an arrangement. As a result of the moon’s complaint, its light was diminished, and ever since it has received its illumination from the sun. In the future, our sages teach, the moon’s light will once again shine as it did at the dawn of creation.
Against this background, Rabbi Chaim Berlin recalls another episode. In the portion of Beha’alotecha, Eldad and Medad remained in the camp when the seventy elders were summoned to receive the spirit of prophecy. In their humility, they felt unworthy of joining the others. Yet precisely because of that humility, they merited a unique and elevated prophetic spirit.
When Joshua witnessed this, he became alarmed and appealed to Moses:
“My lord Moses, restrain them!”
(Numbers 11:28)
In Joshua’s view, this situation threatened Moses’ status and the proper structure of leadership, in which one individual stands at the helm. He therefore asked Moses to stop their prophesying. Moses replied:
“Are you jealous on my behalf? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would place His spirit upon them!”
(Numbers 11:29)
Moses did not view additional prophets as a threat to his position. On the contrary, he saw it as a success. His aspiration was that the entire nation attain spiritual greatness. In his world, there was no competition over holiness or influence; there was room for everyone.
The elders’ statement now becomes clear. “The face of Moses was like the face of the sun” – Moses resembles the sun, which is unafraid to share its light. He sees no problem in having other leaders, prophets, and great individuals alongside him. By contrast, “the face of Joshua was like the face of the moon” – Joshua here reflects a perspective reminiscent of the moon’s original complaint: the concern that one person’s standing comes at the expense of another’s.
It was regarding this that the elders exclaimed, “Alas for that shame, alas for that humiliation.” The shame was not that Joshua was smaller than Moses. Rather, it was that he repeated the moon’s mistake by adopting the notion that there is room for only one person at the summit. Such a perspective is inconsistent with the spirit of Judaism, which sees another person’s success not as a threat but as a source of inspiration.
In our own lives, we often encounter people who seem to be pursuing the very same path on which we hope to succeed. Naturally, we may sometimes fear that their success will diminish our own opportunities. Yet the message that emerges from this Torah portion is different: there is no need to view another person’s success as a threat. We can choose instead to see it as a source of blessing, inspiration, and growth.
