From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 1:29 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Pinchas,5768
The Secret to Success
By Rabbi Joshua ( secretly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
After Moshe has a census taken to determine to whom the Holy Land will
eventually be apportioned, the daughters of Tzelaphchad approach
him and tell him their story. Their father died in the wilderness and left no
sons, and, since the land was given to the male members of the various
families, their father was left without a portion. Why, they asked, should
their father's name be omitted ( 'lama yigara'-literally, 'why should it be
deprived'- Bamidbar, 27:4)) from his family be deprived of his portion?
Therefore, they said,give us a portion in Eretz Yisroel to establish our
father's claim to representation there. Moshe tells them to stand by while he
consults God, and comes back with the halacha in this case. Immediately after
this incident, God tells Moshe that he will not enter the land with the people,
and Moshe asks God to choose a leader for the people who will lead them in his
absence. Rashi notes that Moshe asked for the appointment at this time because
he had just seen that the daughters of Tzelaphcahd asked him to assure their
father's inheritance, and this made him think about his sons as his own
successor. God replied that Yehoshua, his student, would be the next leader,
and not Moshe's sons. Rav Moshe Sternbuch , in his Ta'am Va'as, notes in his
Ta'am VaDa'as notes that Moshe already knew that only sons inherit their
fathers, and that he would not lead the people into Eretz Yisroel,before the
entire incident of the daughters of Tzelaphchad.What, then, was it in the
presentation of the request by the daughters of Tzelaphchad, that moved
Moshe to ask for a successor precisely at this point of time.? Although Rav
Sternbuch offers an answer of his own, I would like to offer an alternative
approach.
Rav Moshe Tzvi Neriah,in his Ner LaMaor,cites a midrash ( Bamidbar Rabbah,
21:10) which says that the reason the incident at Ba'al Peor is mentioned
in the Torah next to the section which speaks of the death of the generation of
the wilderness is because the women of that generation did not participate in
the sin ofthe eigel,nor in the sin of the spies,nor in the incident at
Ba;'alpeor. In this sense,then,the women were more successful than the
men in remaining faithful to God while they were in the wilderness. Why was
this so? Rav Neriah then cites a verse in Micha (5:4) which is included in the
haftarah to parshas Balak, in which God tells the people, through the
prophet,that when He took them out of Egypt,he sent them Moshe, Aharon and
Miriam..Targum Yonasan there writes that Miriam was sent to teach the women.
Apparently,then,says Rav Neriah, Miriam was more successful as a teacher than
were Moshe and Aharon,despite the fact that we refer to Moshe as 'our teacher,'
and that Aharon was known for teaching the people to act kindly toward each
other,and perform acts of chesed.What,then,was Miriam's secret of success?Rav
Neriah sa that only Miriam,among the three teacher mentioned by Micha,sang and
danced with the people she was sent to teach. Although this is mentioned
only once, in regard to the song which was sung after the crossing of the
Yam Suf,we can assume that this was not the only time she sang and danced
danced with them. Rather,it is only brought as an example,and reflected
Miriam's usual practice of participating in the joyous occasions of his
followers. Otherwise, the singing dancing at the sea would have been viewed by
the women as something that was unusual and inappropriate. Participating in
this way helped develop a connection,or a bond, between Miriam and those she
was sent to teach,and accounts for her success in training them so well that
they remained loyal to their calling when the rest of the nation did not..
Based on these remarks of Rav Neriah,I believe,we can understand why Moshe
chose that time to ask God to provide a leader for the people.
Rav Yehudah Shaviv, in his commentary MiSinai Ba,points out that the expression
used by the daughters of Tzelapchad, 'lama yigara shem avinu ,or 'why
should our father's name be deprived,'is similar to the expression used by
those who a sked for a second chance to bring the korban Pesach thirty- eight
years before,when they said,'lama nigara,'or ' why should we be
deprived?' ( Bamidbar, 9:7).The incident with the daughters of
Tzelapchad,says Rabbi Shaviv, constitutes a continuation of that spirit of
personal connection with regard to doing mitzvos. This connection was needed in
performing mitzvos in Eretz Yisroel, as part of God's nation acting as a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation,serving as an example for all mankind..
The manifestation of this spirit at this time,says Rabbi Shaviv,reflected the
readiness of the people to continue their journey with the proper spirit,after
so many years of the journey that were filled with complaints against God.
Moshe,then, now understood,through the request of the daughters of Tzelaphchad
and the way in which it was phrased, that it was Miriam,who taught the
women through developing a close connection with them,who was able to permeate
their spirit in this way. Therefore, he implored God,to Whom he referred at
this time as the "God of the spirit of all flesh,' to choose,as the
leader of the nation,a person who could relate to the spirit of each
individual,as Rashi explains in his description of the essence of Moshe's
request. Leading the nation in this way, by developing a personal connection
with them,would help prevent a relapse of the condition that persisted
among the men in the wilderness for thirty-eight years.
Netvort archives are
temporarily available at http://www.yucs.org/heights/torah/bysubject/
Please address all
correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address -
JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
To subscribe to Netvort, send a message with subject line subscribe,
to Netvort@aol.com. To
unsubscribe, send message with subject line unsubscribe, to the
same address.
Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up
for FanHouse Fantasy Football today.