From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 3:02 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Pinchos, 5764



                                                
                                               The Real Battle


               By Rabbi Joshua (combatively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


In this week's parsha, Moshe, after being told by God that he will not enter the Holy Land, asks God to appoint a new leader over the people, to take over after his death.  Knowing the difficult task that this leader will have to face, relating to the different personalities of so many people, Moshe asks for a person who will be fitting for the job. He thus says, "May the Lord, God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the assembly who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall take them out and bring them in ; and the assembly of the Lord shall not be as sheep that do not have a shepherd" (Bamidbar 27:16-17). Rashi explains that when Moshe used the expression 'God of the spirits of all flesh' he was thereby saying to God that the personality of each individual is revealed before Him, and He knows that they do not resemble each other. Therefore, He should appoint a leader who will be able to deal with each individual according to his particular personality. In response, God told Moshe to take Yehoshua bin Nun, "a man in whom there is spirit," (verse 18) as the new leader.

Rabbi Mattisyohu Solomon, mashgiach ruchani, or spiritual guidance counselor of the Lakewood yeshiva, in his Matnas Chayim, asks why Moshe himself didn't perceive Yehoshua's character and consequent qualification as leader of the nation. Yehoshua was his faithful servant, who never left his tent, and was always waiting to learn Torah from him. Why didn't Moshe understand that Yehoshua was the man for the job? Basing himself on the remarks of Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowotz, known as the Alter of Novhardok, in his work Madreigas HaAdam (Tikun HaMidos, chapter 3), Rabbi Solomon explains that God was telling Moshe that Yehoshua had an inner quality that enabled him to be the person best qualified to be the leader of the nation, able to relate to each one of them and lead him in the proper direction. That quality was the element of self-control. Yehoshua understood himself and his own character traits, and was able to overcome any temptations he may have had to sway from the path of the Torah. A person who is able to control himself, says Rabbi Horowitz, is a person who can relate to others, and thereby educate and lead each person in the path that he needs to follow.

I believe that Rabbi Horowitz's insight into Yehoshua's qualification for leadership is especially important in light of the dual role that Yehoshua was to play in leading the Jewish people. As anyone who is familiar with the book of Yehoshua knows, Yehoshua led the nation in the battles that they fought to conquer the Holy Land. On the other hand, as we know from the first mishnah in Pirkei Avos, or Chapters of the Fathers, Yehoshua was a link in the chain of the mesorah, meaning that he was the one who gave the Torah over to the next generation, after Moshe. These two roles, in fact, were not unrelated. Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakudah, in his classic work on Jewish thought, Chovos HaLevavos - Duties of the Heart - mentions an interesting remark of a pious man, or chosid , as Rabbeinu Bachya calls him. This pious man, relates Rabbeinu Bachya (Sha'ar Yichud HaMa'aseh, chapter 5), saw a group of people returning victoriously from a battle. He told them that they had won the minor battle, but now they must still fight the major battle. The major battle, he explained, is the one we must wage against the evil inclination and its armies. In Pirkei Avos (4:1), in fact, Ben Zoma teaches that the person who is truly mighty - a gibor - is the one who can conquer his 'yeitzer,' meaning, his passions, or, more literally, evil inclination. The mishnah there cites as proof to this teaching a verse in Tehillim (128:2) " He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that rules over his spirit than he who captures a city." It is through the study of Torah and dedication to it that one can conquer the forces that move him to sin. Yehoshua, who was constantly found in Moshe's tent, learning Torah from him and observing his ways, was the person who was able to be the true gibor, a person who is in control of himself and his inner forces. Therefore, he was able to relate to everyone in the nation, with their varied personalities, and serve as their leader in both respects - as a link in the chain of the tradition of Torah, and as a leader in battle.

 The Talmud, explaining an enigmatic incident recorded in the book of Yehoshua,  (5:13-15), tells us that on the night before the first battle he led in Eretz Yisroel, an angel of God appeared to him and criticized him for not being engaged in the study of Torah. On one level, we can understand this to mean that, before embarking on a battle, there is a need to review the halochos pertaining to warfare, to ensure that the battle will be waged according to all the dictates of Torah law. On another level, however, we can explain the need to learn Torah before engaging in warfare as a means of strengthening one's character. In order to be able to wage warfare in the manner prescribed by the Torah, it is first necessary to win what the chosid called the greater battle, the battle against one's passions, or the evil inclination. The intense experience involved in battle can easily lead a person astray, before, during and after the battle. The angel wanted Yehoshua to be sure that he maintained control over himself so that he could properly relate to the soldiers, as well. In order to do that, he needed to immerse himself in Torah before going to battle.

 According to the Midrash Rabbah to parshas Pinchos, God told Moshe that it was Yehoshua's devotion to Moshe and the Torah he taught him that made him qualified to lead the nation. Based on Rabbi Solomon's explanation of Yehoshua's qualification for leadership, we can further say that it was through his learning and continuous observance of Moshe's ways that he was able to understand his own nature, and control it. The Midrash Rabbah in the beginning of Bereishis tells us that God looked into the Torah and created the world. The deeper meaning behind this, according to Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch, who was the mashgiach ruchani of the Telshe Yeshiva in Lithuania before World War Two - is that human nature is shaped in conformity with the Torah. A person who masters Torah is able to understand himself, and thereby understand others, as well. Unlike the victors in the story told by Rabbeinu Bachya, then, Yehoshua first won the larger battle, mastering his evil inclination, and, armed with that conquest, went on to lead the people into battle, fighting it in accordance with the dictates of the Torah.



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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