Netvort Vezos Habrocha 5773:         Leading the Nation

By Rabbi Joshua (debatedly known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

The Torah, at the end of parshas Vezos Habrocha, records Moshe’s death, gives a description of Yehoshua’s succession as the leader of the nation and their acceptance of him as such, and lists Moshe’s special qualities and accomplishments. The final accomplishment mentioned is that he acted in an awesome way before the eyes of all Israel. Rashi says that this refers to Moshe’s initiative in breaking the luchos, the tablets on which the Decalogue was written, in front of the nation when they worshiped the golden calf. Why is this the last accomplishment of Moshe mentioned in the Torah, and how does it relate to Moshe’s death and Yehoshua’s succession?

Perhaps we can answer our questions by noticing different appellations given to Yehoshua in the two accounts of his succession, in parshas Ha’azinu and in parshas Vezos Habrocha. In Ha’azinu, the Torah says that Moshe and Hoshea spoke all the words of the shira to the people (Devarim 38:34). Hoshea was Yehoshua’s original name, but it was changed by Moshe to Yehoshua before the sending of the spies.  Rashi explains that the letter “yud” placed before the name Hoshea is part of God’s name, so that Moshe, by changing Hoshea’s name in this way, was praying that God should save him from the evil plan of the spies. The Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel says that Moshe prayed for Yehoshua when he saw his great degree of humility. Although Moshe himself is described as the most humble man on earth, he apparently felt that there are times when a person must express himself in a forceful way. My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, zt”l, explained that the letter “yud” indicates the possessive state, or the personal element. For example, the word “shulchan” means “a table,” while the word “shulchani,” with the “yud” at the end, means “my table.”  Yehoshua needed to express his own personality, his own devotion to Eretz Yisroel, in resisting the plan of the spies. Rashi, in Ha’azinu, says that the name Hoshea is used in reference to his reading of the shira together with Moshe because it was then that Moshe was handing the leadership to him in front of the people and yet he did not become conceited, but he considered himself to be the same person he had always been.

The end of parshas Vezos Habrocha introduces Yehoshua as Moshe’s successor, and is followed in Scripture by the book of Yehoshua, which tracks his career as the one who led the nation into Eretz Yisroel. In this capacity, he needed, at times, to deal with the people in a forceful way despite his inner feelings of humility. The Torah, therefore, refers to him as Yehoshua, the name that Moshe gave him, as a means of bringing out his personality and countering any recalcitrance on the part of the people. Perhaps, then, the Torah ends by referring to Moshe’s act of breaking the luchos before the eyes of the people to remind Yehoshua that Moshe, despite his being the most humble man on earth, asserted himself, at times forcefully, in leading the people, and that Yehoshua, as his successor, when the circumstances called for it, would also need to act in this way.

The Netvort presidium wishes the entire circle of Netvort readers a joyous Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah!