Shabbat Parshat Beha'alotecha - 5763
Moshe Rabbeinu – “The Lonely Man of Faith”

(borrowing the title of the great essay by Rabbi Yoseph Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, ZT”L)

One of the central images of the parshah is that of the Menorah. At the beginning of the parshah we find that HaShem says to Moshe (BaMidbar 8:2), “Speak to Aharon and say to him, ‘When you light the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall the seven lamps cast light.’ ” And HaShem’s response to a momentarily frustrated and despondent Moshe, who complains about his inability to carry a difficult People by himself is that he should gather a Council of Elders and “I will take from the spirit that is upon you, and I will place it on them, and they will bear the burden of the People with you, so that you will not have to carry it by yourself.” (BaMidbar 11:17) To which Rashi comments, citing the Sifre 93, “What was Moshe like at this time? He was like a lamp that was placed in a Menorah, from which everyone lit their own lamp, and the original lamp lost nothing from its flame.”

Thus, we see Moshe, as the representative of HaShem, as a nearly inexhaustible reservoir of spirit, capable of delivering, in addition to the material needs of the People, also of supplying their spiritual needs. Let us try to imagine what life was like for Moshe Rabbeinu, our Great Teacher, in the Wilderness of Sinai, and before.

One element of his life was solitude; that is, of being the only human being present, on many occasions. We see this before his initial confrontation with G-d, “Moshe was shepherding the sheep of Yitro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; he guided the sheep far into the wilderness, and he arrived at the mountain of G-d, towards Chorev.” (Shemot 3:1) Later, after the Ten Utterances, the People are terrified, and plead with Moshe, “...You speak with us, and we will listen, but let G-d not speak with us, lest we die.” (Shemot 20:16) And the account of the Sinai experience continues, “The People stood from afar and Moshe approached the thick cloud where HaShem was.” (Shemot 20:18)

In Beha’alotecha, it is noteworthy that Moshe pleads with Yitro not to leave the Jewish People shortly before his confession of weakness to HaShem. For it was at a similar time of crisis that Yitro’s counsel had proved invaluable, as we see in Parshat Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law advises him not to assume the crushing burden of judging the entire Jewish People by himself. “...What is this that you are doing with the People? Why do you sit alone and the entire People is standing before you from morning till night?... You will surely become worn out, you as well as this People that is with you, for the task is too difficult for you, you cannot do it by yourself.” (Shemot 18:14,18)

In Beha’alotecha, Rashi, citing Midrash Tanchuma 16, asks, “Why was it necessary to install a new Council of Elders? Wasn’t there one already in place, even from Egypt-days, where we find HaShem telling Moshe (Shemot 3:16), “Go and assemble the Elders of Israel!?” And Midrash Tanchuma answers, “They died at Tavera, by a fire that emanated from HaShem, as delayed punishment for presumptuousness. For they were deserving of death from the time of an incident that occurred after ‘Matan Torah,’ where we find the following description of their behavior: “And they gazed upon HaShem” (Shemot 24:11), in the context of “And they ate and they drank,” described by the Midrash as “one who casually eats his bread while speaking to the King!” Thus, before this new Council was put into place, Moshe was literally alone in the leadership of Israel.

And, almost immediately after Tavera, we find the Jewish People up to their old tricks again, complaining about the desert menu, “Who will feed us meat? (and the commentators point out that this was an empty complaint, because they had a lot of meat available). We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free-of-charge, and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic...” (BaMidbar 11:4-5) And when this is followed by “And Moshe heard the People crying with their families” (Bamidbar 11:10), Chazal understand this to mean that the Jewish People were complaining about the “oppressive” Torah Laws regarding family life, specifically, the sexual relationships that were now forbidden to them.” (Sifre 90)

Moshe had been separated from his family at the age of three months, as the Torah describes in Parshat Shemot (Chapter 2), and grew up in the palace of the Pharaoh, raised by the daughter of the Egyptian ruler.

Moshe had fled to Midian after killing a murderous and sadistic Egyptian taskmaster. There he married Tzipporah, daughter of the Priest of Midian, and had two children. But at Sinai, he had to divorce his wife. There are two traditions concerning this: The first, that Moshe understood by himself that if the Jewish People, who were directly addressed by HaShem only once, had to separate themselves from their spouses for three days in preparation for that awesome moment, he, whose task it was to be at the beck and call of the Master of the Universe literally at all times, could not be a good companion to his wife (Masechet Shabbat 87a). And the second is that he still did not abandon his wife until he was commanded by HaShem, “But you, stand here with me.” (Devarim 5:28 – Avot D’Rabbi Natan 2:3)

On Sinai, his behavior was that of a Heavenly Angel, neither eating nor drinking for forty days and nights, while learning Torah from its Author.

And sometime later, when his face became radiant, he had to don a mask, and move his tent away from the Camp of Israel.

In one sense, Moshe was a lonely man of faith, separated by HaShem from his peers to be His representative.

And yet, Moshe was considered a faithful shepherd of his flock. He went to Heaven to obtain the Torah, and to wrest it from the objecting Angels, for his brothers on earth.

When HaShem threatened to destroy the Children of Israel, Moshe was pressed into service as their Defender. And he was willing to have his name erased from HaShem’s Book, if the Judge of the World would not spare them.

Moshe was the quintessential leader of the Jewish People, unquestionably the greatest human being who has ever lived until this time, but considered simultaneously as the “most humble man on the face of the earth.” (BaMidbar 12:3) His approach of self-sacrifice was what made him great.

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

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